Games and More

Yesterdays I talked a bit about the game Ikariam.  Today I thought I would go into a little more detail and give a few tips.

You begin the game on an island with as many as 16 other villages.  Each island has two resources available:  wood and a luxury item (wine, marble, crystal glass, or sulfur).  All of the building cost wood to create and/or upgrade.  Every building but the academy will eventual cost marble as well.  The academy requires crystal glass to upgrade.

The palace and the governor’s residence require wood for the first level, marble to complete the second, then crystal glass and finally wine.  To establish a colony you must have a palace and you can only have as many colonies as your palace has levels.  Additionally you will need to build governor’s residences in your colonies with the same number of levels as colonies otherwise corruption will run rampant in your colony.

The town hall, academy, barracks, trading post and town wall can all be built immediately.  All other buildings require research in the academy to create.  The more levels your academy has the more scientists you can have researching producing faster results.

So as far as deciding which colonies to create in what order consider that all buildings (except the academy) eventually require marble to create and/or upgrade.  Crystal glass is needed to upgrade the academy and train spies.  Sulfur is needed to train soldiers.  Wine is for keeping your citizens happy.

I hope that helps you establish fruitful colonies and have great success at the game.

If you liked the idea of Travian but found the game play to involved or perhaps you are simply looking for another game in which to conquer try playing Ikariam.  The initial start up is easier.  Instead of balancing four resources in order to expand you only need to worry about lumber to begin.  Also, Ikariam uses gold so trade is easier to facilitate.

However, do be careful how you spend your initial luxury goods because the are necessary for later expansion and are not always available through trade.  Also, you can not settle new territory until you have created a palace (and you are only allowed one colony per palace level).  As each island only has one luxury good chose your colony placement with care.

Good luck.

Travian is a building and conquering online game.  You start with a small village and try to conquer the world.  I linked to it in a previous post, but now I thought I’d give a few tips.

In your starting village you only have 20 building sites (not including the rally point).  However, there are thirty-one building you can construct.  So choose your buildings with care.  Are you going to be a world conqueror?  Then stick with the military buildings.  Are you going to be a diplomat?  Then stick with the trade buildings.  Also bear in mind that your palace can only be built once and the stonemason can only be built in that town.

And before you get all gun hoe with thoughts of conquering remember your palace has to be a level 10 before you can conquer or found new villages.  I hope this helps you on your quest to take over the world.

If you only have a few minutes a day–or only want to take a few minutes a day, try the My Farm application on Facebook.  (As with all Facebook applications you will be required to sign up with Facebook.  It is free.)  For just a few minutes a day you can run an online farm as well as fighting hunger.  (A portion of the proceeds go toward fighting world hunger.)

The application is still being designed and improved.  However, you can currently plant crops and grow orchards as well as buying a few farm animals.  The next improvements include raising farm animals and collecting eggs from the hens.

Also, as a Facebook game there is a social element.  You can visit friends’ farms and give them gifts of trees and animals.  Give it a try I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Do you enjoy building up forces?  Seeking out enemies to conquer?  Maybe building up a trade network and harvesting supplies?  Travian has all this and more.

You choose a race - Romans are the most versatile, Guals the best at defense and Teutons are good for attack (but not recommended for new players).  Then you are given a town to run.  To the right of the screen will be a little man who will guide you through the first few steps of running your town.  After you’ve completed the tutorial he will disappear.  You may feel you don’t need help getting started, however, you get bonuses for completing the various tasks in the tutorial so I recommend walking through it.

A nice feature of this game is the 14 day beginner’s luck.  None of the other players can attack you for 14 days.  This gives you a little time to figure out how the game works and to create a few military units.  This also gives you a little time to discover some of the other players and join an alliance.

Give it a try.  You wont be disappointed.

As a child I always enjoyed playing trading card games because I am a collector.  The thrill of hunting out new cards, the anticipation when opening a new package of cards that was the reason I played.  Well Facebook has an online trading card game that takes advantage of those things.

Pack Rat is a collectors dream.  You choose a set of cards you’d like to collect like the “Arctic Adventure” or the “I do” collection.  (Each set has a different number of totals cards.)  Then you pursue your cards.

You can steal cards from your friends that is choose an inferior card from your deck and try to drop it in a friends deck for the card you desire.  If the cards are the same color or close in point value your odds of succeeding are higher.  Once you’ve stolen (or attempted to steal) from a friend their cards are temporarily safe and you can only propose trades with them.

Trades work like they do in all trading card games.  You offer them a card you think they want for a card you want.  You can also offer or ask for credits if the values of the two cards differ.

Credits are the game currency you can use them to purchase new cards from the stores.  You start the game with a little currency.  As you play you will occasionally find more currency hidden somewhere on the screen (sometimes under one of the cards in a friend’s deck).  Every once and awhile you will get really lucky and find a draw card, which allows you to draw a new card from the deck.

Pack Rat can be played free of charge or a $10 monthly fee will allow you access to broader markets for card purchases.  So unleash your inner collector and take a look at Pack Rat.  (You will have to register with Facebook in order to play.)

So you want to do a little shopping–maybe buy that princess bed in the luxury shop.  Well, you are in luck.  There are a number of ways to earn coins in Pet Society.  (Probably to keep people from getting board.)

You always have the option of going to the bank and buying coins.  However, I prefer to avoid spending money on my games.  So here are your other options:

• There is a daily lottery that ranges between 50 and 500 coins.  (It is usually 50 coins.)  So log in every day to collect more coins.
• Visiting your friends will earn you 20 coins a day per friend visited.  Visits to cafe pets do not qualify only those pet’s who belong to people you’ve marked as friends on Facebook.  However, you can meet other pet owners at the cafe and then add them as friends to your Facebook account.  Also only one visit per friend will earn you money.  (Although the visits will continue to earn you paw points and count toward your trophy totals.)
• Extended bathing, brushing and feeding can lead to coins.  This works on other pets as well as your own.  Any pet with flies at the cafe is a good choice to visit if you are looking to earn coins in this manner.
• Earning trophies will also win you coins.  The higher the trophy level the greater the number of coins.  Trophies can be won for playing games with your pet (ball, Frisbee, jump rope), spending money, visiting friends and races.
• Races are another good way to earn money.  For each first place race you win 30 coins.  However, you are only allowed to run 10 races per day.
• Betting is a way to earn coins.  However, I have found that I always simply break even when I try to earn money betting.
• Playing games with your pet will win you coins.  However, this can be a time consuming process as you only win one coin every 5 or 6 throws or jumps.
• Take your pet for a walk and shake all the trees.  The trees in Pet Society are money trees and if you shake them sometimes the “fruit” will fall.  Only one coin ever drops from a tree at a time so again this can be a tedious way to earn coins.  However, if you are on your way somewhere else with your pet walk rather than use the shortcut keys.  After awhile those coins can add up.
• Finally, each time you level your pet you are rewarded with coins.  So any action that earns you paw points will eventually earn you money.

Good luck and happy shopping.

Pet Society is actually a fairly simple game to master but there is always plenty to do.  Your pet gains levels by collecting “paw points”.  These points are awarded for nearly every activity in the game.  Even the mundane tasks of feeding and bathing your pet.  Incidentally, you will want to keep your pet well fed and bathed.  An underfed pet becomes very lethargic and slow making it difficult to complete tasks.  And an unwashed pet starts to attract flies and repel friends.  As you gain new levels your pet is rewarded with better soaps, brushes, toys and houses.  You even receive coins with each new level.

Which brings me to another aspect of the game.  Coins can be exchanged for food, clothing and furniture.  There are a variety of clothing styles available to dress your pet or for a real change you can take your pet to the stylist.  (The stylist offers more options than when you initially designed your pet.)  Furniture choices are also varied and include both common place and luxury items as well as a variety of wall and floor choices.

If spending coins is your pleasure I will be discussing how to earn coins in more detail tomorrow.

As a mother I thought it best to start with a game my daughter enjoys playing with me.  Pet Society is a social game in which you care for a virtual pet.  Your pet can visit friends, go shopping, play games and win a variety of trophies.

The game is simple to understand and you are reward with coins and/or paw points for nearly every activity you perform–even bathing your pet.  To play you will need to sign up for a Facebook account.  However, they are free.  Also, because it is on Facebook, you control who you and your child will be interacting with.  (Unless you go to the cafe.)

Once you’ve set up your Facebook account search the applications for Pet Society.  Tomorrow I’ll discuss a few game tips.