Too much "dead" time in the game: non-play overhead, etc.
The "Tips & tricks" link has nothing.
Overall, simply a grind of game mechanics to get the badges. The upgrades don't follow much of a story line or alter the actual play.
About half of the controls don't work. For instance, I have yet to find anything that will *actually* switch weapons on my "self" character. Too much overhead in the mechanics for what is basically a "grind" game.
Love being able to take over the boss. The English errors in the text are a real turn-off; the clunky controls are also a problem, and the non-working shoulder trigger (neither SHIFT key works, and space is too far for combat). Nice play, good learning curve.
Oooohh-kay ... I just ran a series of stats experiments on the card-flip gambling game.
Even allowing for the double-dealing that keeps the first card in the 6-10 range, the game is cheating outrageously on the second flip. For instance, when I get a 10 on the first flip, the second card is far too likely to be an ace than any other card.
Got all the hats.
Got all the jump upgrades.
Don't need the speed, since it doesn't seem to translate to horizontal reach.
Making the top 100 when I play.
Now what? Fun, but what to do with all the petals?
Multiple hats, body color & style, turf management on the plateaus, or maybe a one-run grenade on a block or stalactite? How about a restart from point of death -- at one petal per meter of progress? Can I become a tiny elephant?
Simple strategy notes:
When you're deciding whether or not to bank, the break-even risk points are roughly:
6 dice: there's no risk -- ROLL!
5 dice: 3300
4 dice: 1700
3 dice: 400
With fewer dice, it's generally not worth it -- once you factor in both the free turn and the 3-zilch risks.
Rational uses something very close to this;
Cautious is more conservative, and Reckless has higher limits for low quantities of dice.
However, since none of the AIs will split a just-rolled pair, you can easily develop a better strategy and turn the tables on the RNG.
Historical note: Gaby did not invent the game -- he merely encountered a nicely playable variant, play-tested some rule details, and then did a very nifty implementation. There's a lot of work put into the variety and range of achievements.
In other places, with other variants, this game is known as "Farkle", "Pig Out", "Bull", "Guts", and simply "the dice game" (which is how I first learned it).
If you can't handle the difference between a really, really good RNG and real-world dice, then go play with real-world dice. Set your own parameters for the AI's; Gaby's consisted solely of "With N dice left and M points banked, [roll / dont' roll]."
BOTTOM LINE: The luck effect is minor, but statistically real (my 300-game study was posted on the Zilch discussion board). However, ascribing any undue, long-term suffering to this effect is simply a dystopic fantasy you've constructed in your own mind. The actual "stacking" figure is well below the standard deviation of scores; the AI's advantage is more than 50-50, but less than 60-40 for winning the game (and Reckless is, indeed, a suboptimal player).
I went three rounds with Gaby on the randomness, maybe in mid-2009.
Although the game does not cheat, per se, the pseudo-random-number generator (RNG) in use is not quite up to staying independently random over strings of 20-plus die rolls.
Gaby's code is fair, in that it uses the same die-roll mechanisms for both you and the AI. The AI is pretty simplistic in its strategies. There are two reasons for the perceived differences in the AI's luck:
(1) Almost all of the perceived difference is the old innumeracy problem of *perceived* event frequencies versus actual frequencies. Until you can quote a series of independent experiments with a t-tailed or chi-squared calculation to back up your claim, you are not qualified to comment on whether this game is stacked.
(2) As it happens, those simplistic strategies get a slightly better long-term result from the non-random aspects of the RNG.
Clunky controls kill the game. The game really suffers when I need to memorize which things do an do not have hot keys, when I have to learn the basic game mechanics by trial and error, and when full speed requires three hands.
Nice, simple concept, but the user interface doesn't standup to the desired game play. I've died twice just trying to get around the controls to properly extend game play.
How about some quick back-up and erasure keys? It's pretty annoying to type a 15-letter word, see that I've already used it, and have to backspace over the whole thing.
If you have a game based on vocabulary, you need to include a pretty large vocabulary in your lexicon. I lost time and points for "verisimilitude", "multiplicitous", and one other word I can't recall now.
Three words: repetitive stress injury.
Hint for others: once you get to having a shield around your tank, make one last spiral lap to build up your reserves. Then head straight out from the center until you hit the edge of the world. Travel the perimeter to find the boss.
I beat the game in only 3 hours this way.
However, it still needs the upgrades from the later versions. It gets highly tedious in this version.
BUG MODIFICATION: following the mouse and directional keys seem to be mutually exclusive. I'm not sure how to switch between them. The surpsie control changes make the craft too difficult to fly. Giving up on the game on day 25; there are plenty of games that work as advertised. Yet Anotehr Upgrade Game.
BUG: I've bought up two levels on the option "increase thrust and decrease fuel consumption". Flights still last only 19 seconds, same max height, etc.
BUG: up-arrow and W keys do not kick in the booster. Left-button works, but that's the only thing I've found.
FOLLOW-UP BUG: neither key set works; doesn't maneuver, doesn't shut off the engine, etc.
BUG: I pick up more fuel, boost into a gate, haven't hit any objects, and the software decides that the flight is over. ???
BUG: documentation hasn't been proofread. Message me if you want me to take a run through the text.
The game mechanics are a pain. This needs much better configuration. I didn't bother to use any of the mines or explosives until level 37 normal, because the lost time in moving off the playing area, grabbing the item, and placing it simply takes too much time. By the time I have to use the bombs, they're barely more effective than my firearm. I can't imagine how this is supposed to work on a harder mode.
Also, it's silly to use stone-age key bindings. Let me configure the movement and shooting keys, and at least give me hot keys to choose the bombs and mines.
Finally, there should be a description of the monster mechanics somewhere. Don't leave me guessing as to what these critters are supposed to be, or what aspects of the graphics I'm supposed to avoid.
This is a good start, but I'm just tired of playing the beta version. "Badge of the Day" should be reserved for more mature games. This one isn't far -- one or two upgrade releases should do it.
Okay; I played on normal mode, got 14 flags, and then had to wait about 8 levels for one of the taken flags to clear so I could claim it again. Then the software didn't respond for a while, and I knocked off 1.5 waves while it was figuring out that I was on the flag stand. Finally, I got the flag while I was knocking off wave 40, the iron fists, and I added the point to the fire rate.
/// When I got the last fist, the "You win!" window came up. The "Back" button doesn't work, and I don't have credit for the 15th flag, not even after waiting 5 minutes. Another broken spot ...
@Runedude561: You read the directions. As they say, you play the airlift card. Click on the "120" circle as if it were a territory. Since you cant, abandon it, you get only 119.
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