The Modern Hippy Male

Bioshock 2 Tips and Tricks (part 1) – Plasmid Guide

In Bioshock 2 the system of plasmids has been brought back roughly the same as it was in Bioshock one. However, there are many plasmids to choose from and while they all have their own particular uses, you only have a small amount of adam which to buy the plasmids with. This guide’s intention is to help guide you in your decisions in buying plasmids to avoid wasting adam on unnecessary plasmids.

First off, I strongly recommend doing every little sister collection you can, in order to maximize the amount of adam you collect. Also I suggest rescuing the little sisters, for two reasons, first because the animation for harvesting adam from the sisters is quite disturbing (particularly because the little sisters constantly comment and the game really tries to make you feel guilty for hurting them). Secondly, while you get about a third more adam overall from harvesting, saving the little sisters will get you tonics and other useful items that you couldn’t otherwise get. Some of these are necessary for completing a few of the achievements.

Now, as for choice of plasmids, the key to choosing plasmids is ultimately determined by your game play style. Which, is a wonderful thing about Bioshock 2, the game is designed to easily handle a wide variety of styles. However, there are four key plasmids which, no matter the game play style, will be useful. These plasmids are Electro Bolt, Incinerate, Winter Blast, and Security Command. The first two are plasmids you get throughout the course of the events of the story as well as Security Command. As for the utilization of these plasmids, the general strategy for using the plasmids is to firstly stop enemies and secondly to injure them. To utilize these plasmids properly you need to upgrade Winter Blast and Electro Bolt to the third level as soon as possible. When Winter Blast is at the third level it freezes enemies into a solid block of ice with a tap instead of having to charge, similarly with Electro Bolt the chain lightening function is available at the third level with a tap instead of having to charge the move to achieve the same attack. It is important to upgrade these two plasmids because they prevent enemies from moving which is essential to wining the big battles against the tougher enemies. Next, Security Command is a rather useless plasmid until it is upgraded at least once because the first level it only redirects security bots and cameras to attack a single foe which isn’t necessary as the game gives you plenty of opportunity to hack the security systems which allows them to permanently work for you. At the second level however, the Security Command summons security bots that will fight for you. Lastly, the Incinerate plasmid is going to be your general attack plasmid. It causes continual damage as long as the enemies are on fire. Enemies that are on fire also have the opportunity to set other enemies on fire if they run into them. In addition, Incinerate causes the most damage, so you should upgrade it when you can, but it is not essential as it is already really powerful. The level upgrade of the Incinerate plasmid follow the same path as Winter Blast and Electro Bolt, with the third level being the second level charged attack as a tap and the charge as a continuous stream of the plasmid’s power.

Bioshock 2: Electro Bolt Plasmid:
What it does: Electro Bolt shoots electrical bolts to stun enemies. (it will also electrify water)
At third upgrade level: When Electro Bolt is at its third upgrade level the chain lightening effect (where the bolts jump from one enemy to the next) will occur with a tap of the button rather than having to charge it first.

Bioshock 2: Incinerate Plasmid:
What it does: Incinerate sets your foes ablaze. Enemies that are on fire can set other enemies on fire by running into them.
At third upgrade level: Incinerate increases in damage when it is upgraded.

Bioshock 2: Winter Blast Plasmid:
What it does: Freezes enemies, slowing their movement and attack.
At third upgrade level: When Winter Blast is at the third level it will freeze enemies into a solid block with a tap of the button rather than having to charge it first.

Bioshock 2: Security Command Plasmid:
What it does: Security Command redirect security bots to attack enemies instead of you.
At third upgrade level: Security Command level 3 upgrades the two security bots you can summon from the level two upgrade to their maximum.

FarmVille: Tips and Tricks – Easy FarmVille XP Tip – Level Up FarmVille Faster

If you’ve been playing FarmVille anywhere near as long as I have, odds are you have a surplus of coins. That is, if you have resisted the urge to buy the FarmVille Villa. Also, if you are at all like me, you have been wondering what you could spend all of those FarmVille coins on. Well.. what better to spend them on than XP. Now, I know what you might be thinking, that I’m going to tell you to go out and buy some buildings or decorations. But I’m not. To be honest, that is a horrible idea. If you’re familiar with FarmVille XP tips, then you might be thinking that I’m going to pitch you the FarmVille XP Hay bale trick. Nope. In fact, the FarmVille XP trick I’m going to explain gets you almost twice the FarmVille XP for your coins.

If you are not familiar with the FarmVille XP Hay bale trick, scroll down a bit and look for the section where I explain it.

I look at FarmVille in the same manner as I look at all other facebook games. If you want to get the most out of the game, the most bang for your buck (or coin), you need to do a little math. So, lets examine the FarmVille XP Hay bale trick more closely. Hay bale’s cost 100 coins and earn you 5 XP. Once you buy the hay bale, you can sell it and earn back 5 coins. This adjusts the cost of the hay bales to be 95 coins.

95 / 5 = 19

This means it costs you 19 coins to earn 1 point of FarmVille XP using the FarmVille XP Hay bale trick.

Now, lets look at the next method.

FarmVille XP Plow / Plant / Delete Trick

Do you like the nice long name for this trick? Thank you, I came up with it all by myself. It may be ugly, but it is 100% spot on for what this trick involves. So, here is what you do. First, you plow a plot of land. The cost to do this is 15 coins and it earns you 1 FarmVille XP. Next, you plant the cheapest and highest XP giving seeds = FarmVille Soybeans. They cost 15 coins, and give 2 FarmVille XP. So let’s break it all down.

Plow: 15 coins + 1 XP
Plant Soybeans: 15 coins + 2 XP
Total: 30 coins + 3 XP

30 / 3 = 10

This means that for every 10 coins we spend, we will earn 1 FarmVille XP. This is way better than the 19 : 1 ratio we were getting out of the FarmVille haybales trick.

Now that we have confirmed how much more beneficial the FarmVille XP Plow / Plant / Delete trick is over the FarmVille XP Hay bale trick, I’ll walk you through what you do.

Pick a section of your FarmVille farm. Instead of doing one plot at a time, try doing 9 at a time. Plow each plot of land if they haven’t been already. Now, click on the FarmVille market button and select the Soybeans. Plant the FarmVille Soybeans in each of the 9 plots. Once that is done, you will have spent 270 FarmVille coins and earned 27 FarmVille XP. Now, select the delete tool and delete each of the plots of land. Soybeans are not the best crop to plant, and waiting for them to be ready to harvest would mean that you wont be able to repeat the trick. Once they have all been deleted, re-plow the 9 plots and repeat the process. Each time you do this you will spend the 270 FarmVille coins and earn 27 FarmVille XP. It’s that simple.

For the sake of argument, if you were to spend roughly the same amount of coins on the FarmVille XP hay bales trick, you would end up spending 285 FarmVille coins and have earned on 15 FarmVille XP. It’s a no brainer. The FarmVille XP Plow / Plant / Delete trick is superior.

The FarmVille XP Hay bale Trick Explained

The FarmVille XP Hay bale trick is quite simple. All you do is buy the cheapest haybale (100 coins), and then sell it (if you can) and get 5 coins back. So, it costs you 95 coins to earn 5 FarmVille XP. This is probably the most popular FarmVille XP trick or tip around. That being said, however, it is inferior to the FarmVille Plow / Plant / Delete trick.

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Facebook Dream World Tips and Tricks – First Impressions

I just started playing Dream World and I’m quite impressed. The game truly is an RPG (Role Playing Game). With so many other games on facebook that make the claim of being an RPG, it is refreshing to see one that actually fits the bill. Leveling up, weapons, items, armor, attack ratings, defense ratings, skill points, money, XP, training, pets / familiars… this game is good stuff.

Dream World - World Map

Dream World Tips and Tricks – Get More Skill Points

As you level up in Dream World you may want to invest a few Learning Points into the other class skills. For example, if you are a Ranger, your class skill with be Gun, but you can still purchase skill levels in Sword and Magic. Doing this will give you a lot more skill points. At level 21, I invested 3 points into each (6 total). I got the first upgrades for 1 point each, and the second upgrades for 2 points each. My Dream World skill points were at 26, now they are at 44. After that, I went back and purchased the next level of upgrades for each at 3 skill points a piece and now I have 52 total skill points. For a small investment of 12 learning points I have more than doubled my total skill points.

Dream World Tips and Tricks – Leveling Up

As with other games, you level up by increasing your XP (Experience Points, referred to in game as EXP). Although there are likely a few other ways to increase your XP, fighting monsters is likely the quickest way. When you gain a level, your max hitpoints are increased, your energy and skill points are refilled and you earn some “learning points.” After leveling up, visit the Training Center in town to spend your learning points to purchase new skills, to improve already obtained skills, or to increase your attributes.

Dream World Tips and Tricks – Attributes

Attributes can be thought of as rankings of specific aspects of your character. In the Facebook Game Dream World, there are 5 different attributes: Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Quickness. Each attribute is accompanied by a value. The value denotes how proficient your character is in each particular area. Strength increases your melee attack effectiveness and allows you to equip more items. Constitution increases your maximum health. Intelligence increases your magic attack, skill points and allows you to learn more skills. Dexterity increases your magic and gun attack and critical strike rate. Quickness increases your melee and gun attack as well as your defense.

Dream World Attributes

Dream World Tips and Tricks – Elite, Boss and Special Enemies

Elite enemies are random encounters that you will come upon during your journeys. They do more damage and have more health than normal, non-elite enemies, but they yield more experience when defeated. Along with elite enemies, there are also bosses and special enemies that you will come across. To confirm that you are in fact fighting an Elite, Boss, or Special enemy, the name of the enemy will be displayed in red or purple.

Dream World Boss

Dream World Tips and Tricks – Skills

When fighting an Elite, Boss, or Special enemy in Dream World, it may become necessary for you to use a skill to defeat said enemy. To do so, select the skill from your skills list and then click the Use Skill button. The Use Skill button will then be replaced with a meter that fluctuates between being full and empty. Clicking on the meter when it is closer to full will use the skill to a greater effectiveness (more damage). Keep an eye on your skill points though, they only refill once a day, or when you level up.

Dream World Skills

Dream World Tips and Tricks – Puzzle Box

There are two different types of puzzle boxes that I have seen thus far. One is sort of a Minesweeper style puzzle that must be unlocked, and the other is a color / combination based game.

Firstly, I will be discussing my strategy for solving the Minesweeper style puzzle box.

Dream World Puzzle Box

As you can see from the description, “The metallic Puzzle Box is locked electronically, and can be opened when all 4 correct buttons are pressed.” Click on the Open button to begin.

Dream World Puzzle Box Example

Again, reading the description we see that the “Number Indicators for each button indicate how many of [the] button’s adjacent buttons (excluding diagonals and itself) are correct buttons. (0 means all buttons adjacent to that button are incorrect).”

In order to help myself solve these puzzle boxes, I created a simple Excel Spreadsheet. The spreadsheet doesn’t do anything fancy, it just helps me keep track of everything.

Download the spreadsheet: Puzzle_Box

Dream World Puzzle Box Helper

I start by setting the spreadsheets puzzle board to match that of the one I’m currently trying to solve. You can do this easily by finding which sections of your current puzzle board are marked with a number 0, and copying and pasting that square from the section below the puzzle board in the spreadsheet, into the appropriate place on the puzzle board. Once that is done, I start by placing a bold X in the center of all of the sections that I know cannot have a button pushed. This means to place a bold X in the center of each section adjacent to a 0, as shown below.

Dream World Puzzle Box Helper - Step 1

Now we have an easy to read, visual reference of what buttons cannot be pushed, and what buttons are still possibilities. For some Dream World Puzzle Boxes, this is the only step that needs to be done. As There are only 4 buttons that need to be pressed, sometimes the 0 are placed such that there are only 4 possible buttons to press.

The next step is to start to solve the Puzzle Box. Firstly, we can see that the top row requires one button in the middle, otherwise, there would be no way to satisfy the requirements of the upper left, and upper right buttons having at least 1 button pressed adjacent to them as we are not able to press either of the buttons below either of those squares. Place a mark in the center of the upper middle square (I use a bold, upper-case C to denote buttons that will be pressed). Moving on we see that the middle row requires one button to be adjacent to the center (we already have this in the upper middle), two buttons required for the middle left, and one for the middle right. Placing a mark in the middle center seems like the right choice at the moment, so lets do that. This satisfies the middle right, and half of the middle left’s requirement. Now, moving down to the bottom row we know that we have to put a mark in the lower left to satisfy the middle left’s requirement… however, in doing so we violate the rule of the lower middle square of having only one adjacent button pressed (we would have two buttons pressed, the middle center, and the lower left). To satisfy the middle left squares requirement, we would then need to place a mark in the upper left square. Doing this would require three buttons to be pressed and would solve the Puzzle Box. But, there is a problem. We have to press 4 buttons on the box, not 3. Although we satisfied the Puzzle Boxes requirements, we have done so in one too few button presses. Now, remove all of the marks except for the upper middle square, we know that one is necessary. Next, try placing a mark in both the upper left and the upper right squares. Doing this satisfies the requirements of the upper middle square, and the middle right square. In addition, the mark in the upper middle square satisfies the requirements of the upper left, upper right, and middle center. Now, we only have 2 more requirements to satisfy, that of the lower middle, and middle left. Both of these squares require one more button to be pressed adjacent to them. Placing a mark in the center middle square would not work as it would make three marks adjacent to the upper middle square, and two marks adjacent to the middle right square. The only option left is the lower left. Place a mark in the lower left and then check each square to make sure its requirements are satisfied. You should end up with what looks like this.

Dream World Puzzle Box Helper - Step 2

They are all satisfied, now lets give it a shot and see if we made a mistake!

Dream World Puzzle Box Example - Completed

Download the spreadsheet: Puzzle_Box

Dream World – Color-based Puzzle Box

The color-based Puzzle Box requires a much different strategy.

Dream World Color Puzzle Box

The description states “The metallic Puzzle Box is locked electronically, and opens when the correct sequence of colors is submitted by selecting a color for each column. Sequences may contain the same color more than once. Press ‘Open’ to test a combination and get updates.”

Pressing the Open button the first time reveals the puzzle board and allows us to begin.

Dream World Color Puzzle Box Example

The puzzle board states that C denotes the number of columns with the correct color, P denotes the number of color choices in the wrong column, and A denotes the attempts left before the box self-destructs. To reiterate, the goal is to find the proper sequence of colors for each column to unlock the Puzzle Box. You have 6 attempts to deduce the correct combination and get the sequence correct, and the sequence may contain the same color more than once.

I will show you this puzzle solved and explain my strategy.

Dream World Color Puzzle Box Example - Solved

Please note that your previous attempts are displayed below the Puzzle Box after they have been made, for easy reference. As you can see from the picture above, I start each Dream World Color Puzzle Box with all 4 red buttons pressed. Because there are no values for either C or P, I know that there are no Red buttons in this sequence and I’m able to move on to Green. I select all Green buttons for the next sequence and I can see that there is one Green Button, and it is in the correct location. This doesn’t help me determine where exactly it is, but it is essential for the deduction process. Next, I move the first green button to Blue, and submit again. Now, we have no colors in the correct columns (as denoted by the 0 value for C), and 2 colors that are correct, but in the wrong columns. This tells me several things. First, I know there is one Blue button, one Green button, and two Yellow buttons in the sequence (because there are no Red, and only one each of Blue and Green, the two remaining buttons must be Yellow). Second, I know that the Green button is in the first column, I can determine this because in Attempt #2, I had a value of 1 for C, and that is the only color that changed in Attempt #3. Third, I know that the second column is not a Green, because the first column holds the only Green button. I now know the exact number of each color that is in the sequence, and the location of one of the Colors, so I have to determine the location of the other 3 colors. In Attempt #4, I swap the buttons in the first to columns, and set the third and fourth columns both to Yellow. This gives C a value of 2, and P a value of 2. This confirms that I have the 4 colors used in the combination correct (one Green, one Blue, and two Yellow), and that two of the color’s locations are correct. Because I know that the Green in the first column is correct, my next attempt is to swap the second and third columns with each other. This preserves the Green in its location, and the the Yellow in the fourth column. This turned out to be the correct sequence and unlocked the Puzzle Box.

If my last guess above had turned out to be incorrect, the only other possible sequence would have been Green, Yellow, Yellow, Blue. This means that using this technique, this Puzzle Box sequence can be solved correctly each and every time.

Dream World Tips and Tricks – Wiseman Trivia Questions and Answers

As you progress through the game, you will, from time to time, come across The Wiseman.

Dream World Wiseman Trivia

The Wiseman has 3 options, Accept (to have a chat with him), Trivia, and Fight. Pressing the Trivia button presents you with any one of a wide range of trivia questions.

Dream World Wiseman Trivia - Answer

If you answer the question correctly, you will be rewarded with Coins and Experience.

Dream World Wiseman Trivia - Correct

I have gathered several of the Dream World Wiseman Trivia Questions below and provided the answers. If you would like to contribute, please submit the questions and their answers as a comment to this post as you come across them.

Question: What state is the Wolverine state?
Answer: Michigan

Question: Chaplin attacks the machine age in inimitable fashion, with sharp pokes at other social ills and the struggle of modern-day survival.
Answer: Modern Times

Question: What sister island of Trinidad is just a short air hop away?
Answer: Tobago

Question: Who invented the aerosol?
Answer: Erik Rotheim

Question: music : 70’s chart toppers: name the artist: you and i?
Answer: Rick James

Question: Name the heaviest flying bird of prey.
Answer: Andean condor

Question: Who invented James Bond?
Answer: Ian Fleming

Question: Popular social dance during the eighteenth century; done in rows or circles, it may have derived from English country dancing.
Answer: Contredanses

Question: mckinley what u.s secretary of state bought alaska from russia for 7.2 million dollars?
Answer: Seward

Question: Who died three days after Elvis Presley?
Answer: Groucho Marx

Question: Name the first full length color cartoon talking picture.
Answer: Snow White

Question: U.S. President, John Quincy ______.
Answer: Adams

Question: what word may be used to refer to a group of peacocks?
Answer: Muster

Question: what soap revolves around the corys & the matthews?
Answer: Another World

Question: gene hackman stars in a mystery drama about surveillance and wiretapping called?
Answer: The Conversation

Question: As sly as a ______?
Answer: Fox

Question: What is Blondie’s maiden name?
Answer: Oop

Question: what european country uses ch on its automobile licence plates?
Answer: Switzerland

If you would like to contribute, please submit the trivia questions and their answers that you come across as a comment to this post.