FarmVille: Tips and Tricks – Trap Farmer, and Farm Faster

As some readers have already commented, if you trap your farmer, you will be able to perform all tasks more quickly. If your farmer is trapped, he or she will not be able to reach the field or tree that you are trying to harvest (or whatever). Because of this, the task is carried out without traveling to the location. Although the percentage meter still has to finish prior to the task being completed, without having to walk to each individual location you will be able to complete tasks much more quickly.

Trap Farmer Tip: Technique #1 – Hay Bales

You can setup hay bales on one edge of your farm so that, when you want to trap your farmer, you can simply walk in the middle of two, then move the third in front of the opening to trap him or her. Or, you can do the same in the middle of your FarmVille farm by adding a forth hay bale to the open side.

Trap Farmer Tip: Technique #2 – Fence

Instead of buying hay bales, you may already have fences around your farm you use to keep your animals from wandering about. If so, have your farmer walk into the fenced area, and then block the entrance. Otherwise, you can simply use fencing instead of hay bales for a better looking trap.

Trap Farmer Tip: Technique #3 – Load Trapped

In my opinion, the best way to trap your farmer is when the farm is first loaded. To do this, simply load your farm and look at where your FarmVille farmer is. Before moving him, trap him by placing hay bales or anything else on all 4 sides of him or her.

Your farmer will not move diagonally, so you don’t have to worry about those spot. Now, he is trapped, and will be trapped whenever you load your farm.

Trap Farmer Tip: Cheap Blocking

Although some people will tell you that the hay bales are the cheapest to use to trap your FarmVille farmer, they have likely forgotten about signs. Just to the left of your FarmVille farm name you will see a button that looks like a chat bubble from a comic or cartoon. Click that button and place a sign post on your farm, type out a message and click ok. Now you will have a free, non-passable object that can be used to block your farmer.

FarmVille XP Trick

I will be posting soon about a trick in FarmVille that will allow you to turn your cash into XP, without having to wait for crops. This works great for players that find themselves with hundreds of thousands of coins, and nothing to spend them on. Why not use them to level up? Check back for this post within the next few days.

Facebook Game: Superhero City Tips and Tricks

So, I login to facebook and see an ad that says, “Tired of Farming Games? Play Superhero City.” While I normally don’t click ads, or even read them for that matter, this one caught my interest. A bit of text in the body of the ad said, “3D animated battles.” This made me wonder exactly HOW 3D and HOW animated they really were. I decided to take the leap and check it out. I was pleasantly surprised.

At a time when facebook games are being remade by Zynga and their large workforce, it takes a very different game to stand out from the crowd. I used to think that in order to create a very different game, you have to have a large workforce, or an original idea. The facebook game Superhero City has forced me to rethink this. While it’s theme, game mechanics, and many of it’s features are the same as other games available, there are a few other things that help it stand out. So, read along with me, oh addict of the online game, and I promise to dispense the aforementioned features in as entertaining a manner as possible.

Superhero City: 3D Animated Battles

The 3D Animated Battles in Superhero City are just great. Rather than clicking a button and having the game spit back pure numbers, you actually get to see the battle unfold. Seeing both of your stats, and, if out gunned, hoping for that lucky strike that gives you the advantage. And if you’re playing from your cubicle on a not-so-scheduled break, the ‘Skip to End of Battle’ button keeps you from HAVING to watch each battle.

Here’s a shot of my character, haytred, and my nemesis of the moment, the tyrannical, Drinkalot.

I ended up pulling out the victory in this match, but it was close. Here’s a shot of the final blow.

Superhero City Tip: How to Win Battles

No matter what, there is always a small chance that you will be critically hit and lose the battle. Disregarding that, however, there is no reason you cannot win each and every match you go into. In order to help explain this tip, I think it would be beneficial to know what stats come into play in a battle in Superhero City.

The Stats:

• Attack

used in offensive battles — Those where you instigated the fight.

• Defense

used in defensive battles — Those where you did not initiate the fight.

• Agility

used in both battle types — This determines your chance to dodge an attack.

• Battle Life

used in both battle types — This is the amount of life that you have at the start of each battle.

• Energy

not used in battle — This is used to perform missions and does not influence battles.

One thing that I have noticed, is that people that are new to these style of online games immediately think that pumping all of their stat points into attack will guarantee them a victory each match. This is simply not the case. In the majority of online games that I play, the attack stat is not used at all when you are being attacked, and, as a result, are defending. This means that if you have 5,000 stat points in attack, and your base 1 in defense, if you get attacked by another player, you will likely lose.

The second most common thing I see normally amongst people that have played a few online games, and are aware of the differences outlined above (attacking / defending) is the even distribution of stat points. While this is a good, middle of the road tactic to take, it is seldom the best approach.

In yet another group of slightly more experienced online gamers, I notice the pumping up of the health stat. The belief here being that if you can outlast your opponent, you will have the advantage.

However, one point has proven to be unerringly true: there is one stat that is superior to the others. To discover which stat this is, one must consider the style in which the intend on playing the game. For instance, if you are online regularly, and enjoy an active play-style, perhaps pumping your attack score would be the best approach as you will be online often to do a lot of attacking. Conversely, if you are not online as often, you may wish to pump your defense stat, to allow you to better fight off those that will be coming after you while you’re offline. Or, if you do not intend of fighting at all, and don’t mind losing matches, put your points into energy and boost the number of missions / quests / jobs you can do each day.

All of this being considered, some games will have one distinct stat that gives more benefit than the others. Within the facebook game Superhero City, this stat is Agility. While having a high Attack helps you when you decide to fight a foe, and a high Defense helps you when someone decides to fight you, Agility helps you in each case. Having a decent amount of Attack / Defense in Superhero City will increase your odds of dealing more damage to your opponent when Attack / Defending, respectively. But, having a high Agility increases your odds of evading a hit completely, receiving 0 (zero) damage.

As with other online games, having a large team / mafia / group will help you in battle. In Superhero City, each member of your team is able to bring one Attack, one Defense, and one Movement ability into battle. These help boost your Attack, Defense, and Agility scores. So, have a large team, and buy enough of each ability so that each team member has something to use.

When attacking a superhero in Superhero City, be sure to look at the superhero’s win / loss record before selecting them as a target. Instead of attacking me, with my record of 328 / 71, you should look for someone with more losses. A superhero I just found has a record of 137/1363.. easy prey.

Also, be sure to check the superheros team size before attacking. As you know from reading above, a superhero with a large team can bring more abilities into battle, boosting their attack, defense, and agility scores.

To sum up how to win battles in Superhero City:

• If you will be battling often, don’t skimp on your Attack stat.
• Agility is used when attacking and when being attacked. Having a high agility score means you will evade more attacks. Evading attacks means you receive no damage at all.
• Have a large team.
• Make sure each team member has an Attack, Defense, and Movement ability to use in battle.
• Check the superhero’s record before attacking. A superhero with more losses will likely be an easier target.
• Check a superhero’s team size. A smaller team means they will bring less abilities in battle, causing them to have lower attack, defense, and agility scores.

Superhero City Tip: Energy Ticks Quick

Unlike many other online games or facebook games, Superhero City awards you an energy point every 1 minute. With your small starting energy pool, you may want to increase your energy stat quickly to help you maximize your energy recovery.

The premise behind this tip is simple, if your energy is full, you cannot earn more. If your energy is always filling back up, you will always be benefiting. Consider this, if you have a maximum of 20 energy when you login, you can spend 20 energy before having to wait for more. However, if you have 40 energy max, you can spend 40 before having to wait for more. Taking this a step further, in order to benefit the most from 20 maximum energy, you would have to login every 20 minutes. With a max energy of 40, you would only need to login every 40 minutes.

By this logic, the optimal energy, in my opinion, would be 720. Having a max energy of 720 in Superhero City means if you spend all of your energy, you will have 12 hours before you need to login again to make sure that your energy is not full. This means logging in when you wake up, and again at night would be perfect.

Another benefit to having a large energy pool is that your energy is fully replenished each time you level up. If you had 720 maximum energy in Superhero City, when you level, you would have a full 720 energy to spend to help you toward your next level more quickly. This is one of my favorite Superhero City tips. It is very simple, very beneficial, and applies to many of the online games out there. Not the least of which, games which offer an energy refill once per day (Mafia Wars).

Superhero City: Character Customization

This is one category in which Superhero City really shines. When you first start the game, you get to decide your characters sex, build, skin color, hair style, hair color, and clothing. With a few options to choose for each, there are many different possible combination. Whatever you decide upon can be changed later by clicking on Player, and then clicking Edit Avatar. Also, your avatar is used in your battles!

Superhero City Accessories and Items: Amulets, Bracers, and Rings
Another very cool feature within Superhero City is the ability to equip accessories and items. This is a basic feature of Role Playing Games that has not found it’s way into many online games, or facebook games. In Superhero City, you can equip an amulet, two bracers, and two rings. You can earn some of these items from performing missions, or you can buy them from the in-game store. Another bright spot of Superhero City is the fact that you can buy some items without using real money, only in-game currency. While it is true that the best items require real cash, at least there is an option that doesn’t include opening your checkbook to fill these item slots.

While I am new to Superhero City, I have found it very fun. The differences from other facebook games, although not many, are very good. The Superhero City 3D Animated Battles alone are worth the time of getting to know a new game, not counting the character customization that you can do.

Add and enjoy Superhero City!

Related Articles:

• Facebook Game: Superhero City Tips and Tricks

Facebook Game: War Machine Tips and Tricks

I noticed my friends posting about the Facebook Game War Machine a couple days ago, but I didn’t pay much attention. Then, with one post, there was a picture of the Devastator, a purchasable unit within the game.

This brought back memories of Battletech and MechWarrior, games that I played a long time ago. This struck my curiosity and I decided to check the game out.

War Machine: First Impressions

The Facebook Game War Machine is a lot like many other web based facebook games you may have played. Mafia Wars, for instance. War Machine is a mission / energy based game with, quite literally, a War Machine theme. You can battle other players, as well as static game bosses. Battling and completing War Machine missions can reward you with tokens which can be redeemed for units and attribute points. Not unlike many other facebook games, War Machine rewards you for having a larger Alliance. Having friends that play War Machine means they can be added to your alliance. For every 5 alliance members you have, you will bring an extra assault unit into battle. A few unique aspects of the game are the use of formations and a combat rank system (discussed below) which rewards you by making other units available for purchase.

War Machine Tips

Here are a few War Machine tips I’ve come up with that I think will be helpful.

Tip #1: Increase your stats by training
Did you know that you can increase your stats without leveling up? The only limitation is that you can only do it once every 24 hours. To do this, login to the game and click on the Emperor button. Next, click on the Training button that appears below the main War Machine navigation. After that, decide which stat you would like to increase and click the corresponding Train button.

Stats you can train:
Attack . . . . +1
Defense . . . +1
Health . . . . +10
Energy . . . . +1
Stamina . . . +1 — Takes 48 hours.

Remember, you can do this once every 24 hours. Not knowing about this feature would be a big disadvantage.

Tip #2: Choose your battles carefully
Although you can play the game without fighting, you likely will not be able to keep yourself from getting attacked. This unfortunate fact leads me to make the suggestion that you gear up for at least a little defense, and keep your cash in the treasury. Also, it is important to note that by increasing your combat rank you can purchase better units then you would be able to get otherwise. Fighting Bosses is a good way to increase your combat rank, and sometimes rewards you with bonus units, however, fighting players may be your best option. Before you attack another player, click on their player name under the Contender column. Clicking their picture will take you to their profile, but clicking on their player name will take you to their War Machine page. You can see what units they have equipped in their force. Doing this will allow you to check their stats and units to help you determine if you are strong enough to defeat them.

War Machine Formations

War Machine Formations determine the number of each type of unit you can bring into battle, not counting the extra assault units you can bring into battle based on the size of your alliance. They state the number of Commanders, Assault units, and Structures you can use in battle. At the time of this post, there are only two ways to acquire War Machine Formations: 1) Earn them as a reward from certain War Machine Missions 2) Purchase them using War Chips, the games currency, which can be obtained by purchasing with real world money.

The known (to me) War Machine Formations:
Standard Formation
Commander: 1
Assault: 2
Structure: 0
Obtained: This is the formation that you start War Machine with.

Vanguard Formation
Commander: 1
Assault: 2
Structure: 1
Obtained: You have a 35% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Red Sands Assault within The Red Sands mission group.

Squadron Formation
Commander: 1
Assault: 3
Structure: 1
Obtained: You have a 35% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Intercept the Convoy within the Blackmarsh mission group.

Urban Formation
Commander: 1
Assault: 3
Structure: 5
Obtained: You have a 25% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Red Sands Occupation within The Red Sands mission group. This mission is available once you achieve 100% completion on the 4 primary missions under The Red Sands mission group.

Platoon Formation
Commander: 1
Assault: 5
Structure: 2
Obtained: You have a 25% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Engage Commander Kuzma within the Swamps of Andar mission group.

Batallion Formation
Commander: 1
Assault: 7
Structure: 3
Obtained: You have a 25% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Annihilate the Caravan within the Tyrol Outpost mission group.

Council Formation
Commander: 4
Assault: 2
Structure: 1
Obtained: You have a 25% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Fallen Hero within the

Swamps of Andar mission group. This mission is available once you achieve 100% completion on the 4 primary missions under the Swamps of Andar mission group.

Brigade Formation
Commander: 2
Assault: 7
Structure: 4
Obtained: You have a 25% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission The Volcanic Plains within the Ashrock mission group.

Forward Formation
Commander: 2
Assault: 8
Structure: 6
Obtained: You have a 25% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Challenge the Magistrate within the The Spire mission group.

Swarm Formation
Commander: 2
Assault: 10
Structure: 6
Obtained: You have a 25% chance to obtain this formation when completing the War Machine mission Ancient Relay within the the Arctis mission group.

Siege Formation
Commander: 3
Assault: 10
Structure: 0
Obtained: Purchased with 50 War Chips from the emperor. Although all other items sold by the emperor have a limited number available, there is no amount associated with the Siege formation. It may be replaced with another formation at a later date, however.

War Machine Combat Rank

Combat Rank in War Machine is an interesting part of the game. By battling and defeating other players or bosses, your combat rank will increase. As your combat rank increases, units will be unlocked and become available for purchase.

War Machine Combat Rating, Rank, and Reward Information
Combat Rating: 200
Rank: Soldier
Unlocks: Tempest (assault)

Combat Rating: 500
Rank: Veteran
Unlocks: Exterminator (assault)

Combat Rating: 1000
Rank: Slayer
Unlocks: Mayumi (commander)

Combat Rating: 2000
Rank: Warlord
Unlocks: Command Center (structure)

Combat Rating: 5000
Rank: Assassin
Unlocks: Valkyrie (assault)

Combat Rating: 10000
Rank: Tyrant
Unlocks: Goliath (assault)

War Machine Missions

Below is a listing of the War Machine mission groups and the missions they contain. I intend to include reward information (cash amounts, XP, and units/formations) as well as what each mission requires. However, this will not be available at the time of this post and will be added soon. Bookmark this article and check back in a few days.

To unlock the next mission group, you must complete 3 missions (to 100%) in the current mission group.

To unlock the Unlocked Missions for each mission group below, complete 100% in all 4 primary missions.

To unlock the Secondary Missions, you must first unlock the unlocked mission listed for that particular mission group. Then, you must perform the unlocked mission one time.

The Red Sands mission group
Primary Missions:
1) Scout the Red Maw Compound
2) Red Sands Assault
3) Liberate Allied Prisoners
4) Engage Commander Gustav
Secondary Missions:
1) Heroic Strike
2) Beneath the Red Sands
3) Escort the Prisoners
4) Burning Embers
Unlocked Mission:
Red Sands Occupation

Blackmarsh mission group
Primary Missions:
1) Establish a Base
2) Intercept the Convoy
3) Destroy the Dreadnaught
4) Burn the Red Maw Emblem
Secondary Missions:
1) Mining Operation
2) Salvage the Wreckage
3) The Blackmarsh Deluge
4) Purge the Jungle
Unlocked Mission:
Hidden in Blackmarsh

Swamps of Andar mission group
Primary Missions:
1) Capture the Foundry
2) Engage Commander Kuzma
3) Defend the Foundry
4) Capture the Hyperion
Secondary Missions:
1) Restart the Foundry
2) Destroy Kuzma’s Force
3) Reinforce the Foundry Defenses
4) Analyze Hyperion Schematics
Unlocked Mission:
Fallen Hero

Tyrol Outpost mission group
Primary Missions:
1) Annihilate the Caravan
2) Liberate the Commandos
3) Tyrol Ambush
4) To Ashrock!
Secondary Missions:
1) Capture the Survivors
2) The Counter-Offensive
3) Lord’s Vengeance
4) Flanking Advance
Unlocked Mission:
Rage of the Skyfist

Ashrock mission group
Primary Missions:
1) Engage Malachi
2) The Volcanic Plains
3) Rescue Natasha
4) The War Machine
Secondary Missions:
1) Seize Malachi’s Emblem
2) The Cleft
3) Natasha’s Plan
4) The Path of Dread
Unlocked Mission:
Deadalus

The Spire mission group
Primary Missions:
1) Horde of the Red Maw
2) Siege the Spire
3) Deimos Uprising
4) Challenge the Magistrate
Secondary Missions:
1) Fall of the Horde
2) The Foundation
3) Rygar’s Revenge
4) Redemption
Unlocked Mission:
Surgical Strike

Arctis mission group
Primary Missions:
1) Assault the Arctis Mines
2) Battle for Magmos Valley
3) The Divine Shield
4) Ancient Relay
Secondary Missions:
1) ?
2) ?
3) ?
4) ?
Unlocked Mission:
Decrypt the Orbital Cannon

Add and enjoy War Machine!