Respawn of the Dead (or: Cookie Crypter)
December 6, 2020 7:47 AM Subscribe
Incremancer: it's like an ant farm except the ants all get out and also the ants are zombies and also this is a good thing. Idly grow yourself an army of adorable tiny undead brain-hungry zombos and consume increasingly large and dangerous groups of humans, one overflowing graveyard at a time.
Production stopped, need more blood.
posted by The Bellman at 8:25 AM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by The Bellman at 8:25 AM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I cruised through levels 1+2. 3 was harder. On 4 my poor zombies get overrun and shot before anything good can get going.
posted by doctornemo at 8:37 AM on December 6, 2020
posted by doctornemo at 8:37 AM on December 6, 2020
You can replay earlier levels to get more materials if you get stuck.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:48 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:48 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
No kongregate link here: https://incremancer.gti.nz
posted by valdesm at 9:04 AM on December 6, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by valdesm at 9:04 AM on December 6, 2020 [10 favorites]
Don't tell me, this is by the same person who made Pincremental?
posted by deadaluspark at 9:18 AM on December 6, 2020
posted by deadaluspark at 9:18 AM on December 6, 2020
The link valdesm posted will remember any progress you made on Kongregate.
I got stuck on level 5, but am now re-running 4 and building resources/upgrades
posted by nubs at 9:24 AM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I got stuck on level 5, but am now re-running 4 and building resources/upgrades
posted by nubs at 9:24 AM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I thought this was going to be a post about cordyceps.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:25 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:25 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Kill the cops first. This is not a political statement; it's just good zombie strategy.
posted by The Bellman at 9:27 AM on December 6, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by The Bellman at 9:27 AM on December 6, 2020 [9 favorites]
Gotta to hand it to those cops, maintaining a steady stream of suppressing fire even while they're being eaten to death
posted by Flashman at 9:33 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Flashman at 9:33 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
This is oddly soothing.
posted by brundlefly at 9:50 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by brundlefly at 9:50 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Tried clicking to spawn zombies but nothing happens so now I'm just watching a bunch of villagers peacefully living out their lives.
posted by dazed_one at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by dazed_one at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
No sound on iPad. Doesn’t seem to have a sound on/off toggle, either.
posted by darkstar at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2020
posted by darkstar at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2020
I don't have sound on desktop either, darkstar. I'm assuming there just isn't any!
posted by cortex at 10:16 AM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex at 10:16 AM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yeah, can't seem to get past level 1 because clicking does not spawn zombies.
posted by dazed_one at 10:20 AM on December 6, 2020
posted by dazed_one at 10:20 AM on December 6, 2020
Which ones are the cops?
posted by doctornemo at 10:25 AM on December 6, 2020
posted by doctornemo at 10:25 AM on December 6, 2020
the blue ones with guns whose brains you eat
posted by cortex at 10:27 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex at 10:27 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
Finally hit level 10 and OMFG.
Also, damn you Josh for posting this on a day when I needed to get some things done.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:31 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
Also, damn you Josh for posting this on a day when I needed to get some things done.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:31 AM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
Heh. I highly recommend just letting it sit and checking back later, those little green fellas will keep at it and slowly chip away at the human population.
posted by cortex at 10:32 AM on December 6, 2020
posted by cortex at 10:32 AM on December 6, 2020
Yeah, level 10 is a bear. Level up for strength and health before you hit it. Also, energy replenishment rate and max energy are key, as these will let you spawn more zombies faster.
Thanks for posting!
posted by the sobsister at 11:49 AM on December 6, 2020
Thanks for posting!
posted by the sobsister at 11:49 AM on December 6, 2020
You can adjust your graveyard setting at the end of each level before starting the next so I've been setting my bone collectors and auto-spawn to zero at the end of each level for max energy refresh. When a cop (or later what I presume are army guys with automatic weapons) you can just drop like 5 zoms on them at once. Once bones start accumulating and I've got a greater zombie population I turn bone collectors and auto-spawn back up and just let nature run it's course while I buy more upgrades.
I don't usually get sucked into clicker games but this is great!
posted by Mister_Sleight_of_Hand at 11:59 AM on December 6, 2020
I don't usually get sucked into clicker games but this is great!
posted by Mister_Sleight_of_Hand at 11:59 AM on December 6, 2020
level 10 is a bear
Wait 'til you hit level 20. Oof. Great feeling though when you finally manage to raise a big enough horde to sustain itself and rip through the rest of the level.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:29 PM on December 6, 2020
Wait 'til you hit level 20. Oof. Great feeling though when you finally manage to raise a big enough horde to sustain itself and rip through the rest of the level.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:29 PM on December 6, 2020
Has anyone caught a VIP yet? seems to need a lot more zombie speed than you can achieve on the first run-through.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:38 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:38 PM on December 6, 2020
I just got one on level 15, Kyle. First time.
Also one of my favorite somewhat sadistic things is when you have 400+ Zombies and one human left cowering in the small corner of a building and they all just swarm on his ass.
I'm enjoying this way more than I expected.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:42 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Also one of my favorite somewhat sadistic things is when you have 400+ Zombies and one human left cowering in the small corner of a building and they all just swarm on his ass.
I'm enjoying this way more than I expected.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:42 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
I've caught most of the ones I've encountered (Level 5's got away), usually by waiting for them to run and then spawning zombies directly in their path.
posted by box at 12:43 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 12:43 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
So, some things I've learned:
-I keep my max energy low, because your graveyard will only autospawn zombies when the energy is full - this way I get regular, periodic zombie waves coming out
-having zombie cages is great - you can carry zombies over into the next town, giving you a big push to start
-building out the fence can be really helpful for those levels with a heavy police/army presence at the start; zombies take less damage inside of it
-keep building up zombie damage and strength - I'm finding speed less important right now than just being able to have lots of tanky zombies
-do invest in things like having killed villagers become zombies - I'm building up hordes pretty quick
-if you feel stuck, cash in your prestige, buy some upgrades, and start again - it makes a big difference!
posted by nubs at 1:05 PM on December 6, 2020
-I keep my max energy low, because your graveyard will only autospawn zombies when the energy is full - this way I get regular, periodic zombie waves coming out
-having zombie cages is great - you can carry zombies over into the next town, giving you a big push to start
-building out the fence can be really helpful for those levels with a heavy police/army presence at the start; zombies take less damage inside of it
-keep building up zombie damage and strength - I'm finding speed less important right now than just being able to have lots of tanky zombies
-do invest in things like having killed villagers become zombies - I'm building up hordes pretty quick
-if you feel stuck, cash in your prestige, buy some upgrades, and start again - it makes a big difference!
posted by nubs at 1:05 PM on December 6, 2020
This kinda reminds me of that Washington Post virus transmission animation from back at the beginning of the pandemic. I wonder if anyone's tried making a game like this (from the human perspective) to illustrate Covid transmission? Public health guidelines instead of magic spells, that sort of thing
posted by Flashman at 1:11 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Flashman at 1:11 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
The mobile game Plague, Inc. is in that general area.
posted by box at 1:30 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 1:30 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Restarting because I didn't pay attention to VIPs and let them escape. Appear every 5 levels and give permanent bonuses!
posted by hat_eater at 1:49 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by hat_eater at 1:49 PM on December 6, 2020
Ah, yeah, OK, the thing on the VIP levels is to turn the graveyard spawns down to 0 so that you have a full reserve of zombies ready to plop down when the VIP starts running.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:51 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:51 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Also, damn you Josh for posting this on a day when I needed to get some things done.
For me, it's the opposite, (sorry Ufez) I'm so enjoying this on a day where I'm just sitting around listening to some new records and avoiding the cold. Perfect for my mindset atm!
posted by jeremias at 2:05 PM on December 6, 2020
For me, it's the opposite, (sorry Ufez) I'm so enjoying this on a day where I'm just sitting around listening to some new records and avoiding the cold. Perfect for my mindset atm!
posted by jeremias at 2:05 PM on December 6, 2020
Btw, one of my favorite strategies is if you have a big group of zombies about to head into a building full of humans, add a sacrificial zombie to the furthest corner of building.
This splits crowd up, and after the lemming-like humans kill the sole zombie they turn around and get wiped out by the brain-thirsty horde, muahahahah.
posted by jeremias at 2:09 PM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
This splits crowd up, and after the lemming-like humans kill the sole zombie they turn around and get wiped out by the brain-thirsty horde, muahahahah.
posted by jeremias at 2:09 PM on December 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
I keep my max energy low, because your graveyard will only autospawn zombies when the energy is full - this way I get regular, periodic zombie waves coming out
Note you can turn "Zombies to Spawn" up and down in the Graveyard menu; instead of keeping your max low, you can grow it but just spawn fewer zombies instead, and get that same regular smaller clump but also have an energy reserve. (Like, if you have 50 energy, you get five zombies every energy refill; if you have 150 energy and set it to spawn 5, you'll get clumps of 5 at the same rate, but also have a spare 100 energy to use at will at any given moment.)
posted by cortex at 2:19 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Note you can turn "Zombies to Spawn" up and down in the Graveyard menu; instead of keeping your max low, you can grow it but just spawn fewer zombies instead, and get that same regular smaller clump but also have an energy reserve. (Like, if you have 50 energy, you get five zombies every energy refill; if you have 150 energy and set it to spawn 5, you'll get clumps of 5 at the same rate, but also have a spare 100 energy to use at will at any given moment.)
posted by cortex at 2:19 PM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Not immediately obvious, but you don't have to build the Construction buildings in sequence.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:28 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:28 PM on December 6, 2020
Is there an autosave for this? I'm on level 25...and I think I need to stop playing.
posted by the sobsister at 2:28 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by the sobsister at 2:28 PM on December 6, 2020
Also, has anyone figured out the benefit of killing what looks like an Olympic torch bearer? The flame seems to transfer to the zombie, but I can't tell what else this means.
Also, exploding zombies are a great way to use few zombies to hit a bunch of humans.
posted by the sobsister at 2:30 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also, exploding zombies are a great way to use few zombies to hit a bunch of humans.
posted by the sobsister at 2:30 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
If you have at least one active bone collector when you beat a level, they'll gather the remaining bones on the map. If you don't have at least one active bone collector at the end of the level, you won't get that.
Hitting 'Gigazombies' immediately after hitting 'Energy Charge' is pretty satisfying.
posted by box at 2:55 PM on December 6, 2020
Hitting 'Gigazombies' immediately after hitting 'Energy Charge' is pretty satisfying.
posted by box at 2:55 PM on December 6, 2020
If you think you need to restart (eg missed a VIP or something), use your prestige instead. That restarts you, with whichever buffs you spent your prestige on.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 2:59 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 2:59 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Published Oct. 30, 2019 with 1,047,559 gameplays
So this was not originally written during the COVID-19 pandemic?
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 3:40 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
So this was not originally written during the COVID-19 pandemic?
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 3:40 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also, has anyone figured out the benefit of killing what looks like an Olympic torch bearer? The flame seems to transfer to the zombie, but I can't tell what else this means.
At first the only benefit is you kill someone who is setting your zombies on fire, which eventually kills them. One of the upgrades you can find though is "Blazing Speed," which will make any zombies that catch on fire run even faster.
posted by solotoro at 3:48 PM on December 6, 2020
At first the only benefit is you kill someone who is setting your zombies on fire, which eventually kills them. One of the upgrades you can find though is "Blazing Speed," which will make any zombies that catch on fire run even faster.
posted by solotoro at 3:48 PM on December 6, 2020
I just pressed the "detonate" button for fun while chasing down the last civilians. That level yielded a lot more bones on completion.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 3:53 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 3:53 PM on December 6, 2020
Yes, I'd level up before multiple-of-5 levels, so catching the VIP is doable. You can't retry the levels for that, you'd have to prestige.
posted by Pronoiac at 4:41 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by Pronoiac at 4:41 PM on December 6, 2020
How do you cheat in games like this? How do I give myself more energy or faster energy?
posted by geoff. at 4:46 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by geoff. at 4:46 PM on December 6, 2020
I'm finding Detonate is pretty much good at everything:
* Double brains and bones: Detonate before killing the last civilian
* Catch VIP: Detonate and immediately spawn zombies on top of them
* Finish level faster: Zoom out, Energy Charge, Detonate, quickly click on as many occupied buildings as possible
geoff.: that would be Energy Charge, a spell you can buy from the right building.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 4:47 PM on December 6, 2020
* Double brains and bones: Detonate before killing the last civilian
* Catch VIP: Detonate and immediately spawn zombies on top of them
* Finish level faster: Zoom out, Energy Charge, Detonate, quickly click on as many occupied buildings as possible
geoff.: that would be Energy Charge, a spell you can buy from the right building.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 4:47 PM on December 6, 2020
Oh that's pretty easy, just go to the console: GameModel.addEnergy(10000)
posted by geoff. at 4:47 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by geoff. at 4:47 PM on December 6, 2020
How do I lock a variable in Chrome's devtools? Like with a hex editor you could freeze a variable. while (true) { GameModel.energy = 9999 } just locks up the thread which I guess makes sense .
posted by geoff. at 6:05 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by geoff. at 6:05 PM on December 6, 2020
Best I could figure out: setInterval(function(){ GameModel.addEnergy(999)}, 30);
If you want to make the game really not fun.
posted by geoff. at 7:17 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
If you want to make the game really not fun.
posted by geoff. at 7:17 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
If you detonate your zombies right after humans remaining hits 0, you'll automatically collect the huge number of bones they leave behind (provided you have at least one of the bone gatherers out).
posted by Pyry at 7:36 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Pyry at 7:36 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Hi from level 58, after a couple of prestige resets. Probably going to do another of those after building a parts assembler to see what creatures I can build.
Levels above 50 have tougher enemies, though they look the same. But you can have a giant skeleton fight for you, so there is that.
posted by maxwelton at 11:25 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Levels above 50 have tougher enemies, though they look the same. But you can have a giant skeleton fight for you, so there is that.
posted by maxwelton at 11:25 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Oh, and your save game won't remember your auto settings, if you have those. Pretty amusing.
posted by maxwelton at 11:28 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by maxwelton at 11:28 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Once you have the power, the best strategy I've found for VIPs is a combo of "earth freeze", to freeze everyone in place, and "energy charge", which essentially allows you to place as many zombies as you can click your mouse in the 15 seconds it lasts. Just create 1.4 jillion zombies on top of the frozen VIP and you're generally good to go.
posted by maxwelton at 11:35 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by maxwelton at 11:35 PM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
How I've been playing:
posted by eruonna at 7:02 AM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
- Get 100% zombification
- Build plague spikes
- (Get Infected Bite and Infected Corpse)
- 0 zombie spawn rate, maximum bone collectors
- Don't click at all, just wait...
posted by eruonna at 7:02 AM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
For those curious (I was!), the giant skeleton you unlock after level 50 will take all your trophies, but you can re-earn them after a reset and the giant skeleton stays as a permanent thing.
posted by nubs at 7:40 AM on December 7, 2020
posted by nubs at 7:40 AM on December 7, 2020
I don't think I understand how cages work. Can someone explain?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:57 AM on December 7, 2020
posted by jacquilynne at 7:57 AM on December 7, 2020
When you finish a level, a cage will keep up to n of your, uh, living zombies, where n gets bigger as you build more cages. At the start of the next level, those zombies will be instantly spawned for free. I think the first cage is 5 zombies, so you'll get a little 5 zomb bonus at the start of your next map, and it scales up from there.
posted by cortex at 7:59 AM on December 7, 2020
posted by cortex at 7:59 AM on December 7, 2020
Took me a while to find in options that you can set it to start the next level automatically, allowing you to really let it run in the background.
Except I've found that (at least using valdesm's link) the game will only keep running as long as the browser is in focus. I can be on any tab and it will keep playing, but if I try to do something else, like say answer a work email in Outlook, the whole thing pauses until I come back to this browser.
posted by solotoro at 8:08 AM on December 7, 2020
Except I've found that (at least using valdesm's link) the game will only keep running as long as the browser is in focus. I can be on any tab and it will keep playing, but if I try to do something else, like say answer a work email in Outlook, the whole thing pauses until I come back to this browser.
posted by solotoro at 8:08 AM on December 7, 2020
You can control what the cages do from the graveyard menu - you can set it to auto-release at the start of a new level, or release them manually, or sacrifice them for parts.
posted by nubs at 8:09 AM on December 7, 2020
posted by nubs at 8:09 AM on December 7, 2020
i'm still confused as to what the civilians with the torches do, and how/when zombie dogs get spawned? i'm only at level 24 though. is there a wiki or something?
posted by LegallyBread at 9:19 AM on December 7, 2020
posted by LegallyBread at 9:19 AM on December 7, 2020
i'm still confused as to what the civilians with the torches do, and how/when zombie dogs get spawned? i'm only at level 24 though. is there a wiki or something?
From observation and reading the "info" dropdown panels on each spell/effect, these are my hypothesis about that:
...1) Civilians with torches light your zombies on fire, which does damage to them over time. Amusingly, you can get a spell effect to make burning zombies run faster, although I'm not sure what/if there is a benefit to that.
...2) Zombie dogs start out as non-zombie dogs who will fight you. They get infected and turn just like humans do. The enemy (non zombie) dogs are brown, and seem to specialize in rapid closing attacks. Once a dog gets infected and turns into a zombie canine, they turn green, and then become an asset for you.
posted by seasparrow at 9:30 AM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
From observation and reading the "info" dropdown panels on each spell/effect, these are my hypothesis about that:
...1) Civilians with torches light your zombies on fire, which does damage to them over time. Amusingly, you can get a spell effect to make burning zombies run faster, although I'm not sure what/if there is a benefit to that.
...2) Zombie dogs start out as non-zombie dogs who will fight you. They get infected and turn just like humans do. The enemy (non zombie) dogs are brown, and seem to specialize in rapid closing attacks. Once a dog gets infected and turns into a zombie canine, they turn green, and then become an asset for you.
posted by seasparrow at 9:30 AM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Letting it run in the background is not necessarily a good thing because there is no way, at least that I found, to make it automatically buy things with blood, brains and bones. As the levels go up the numbers, health and damage of the civilians, police and army go up and the zombies do not without purchase. So sooner or later the zombie enemies (the good guys?) overwhelm the meager flow of zombies at the beginning of a level. Especially since the zombies only swarm, and without human intervention don't focus the army and police and so get picked off from a distance.
Oh, and the game takes a sharp turn at level 50. No idea how to deal with it.
posted by rtimmel at 9:35 AM on December 7, 2020
Oh, and the game takes a sharp turn at level 50. No idea how to deal with it.
posted by rtimmel at 9:35 AM on December 7, 2020
So this is the reason for the Prestige tab, which for folks who aren't neck-deep in idle/incremental games is not obvious: you can restart the game with accumulated Prestige points (which you get n of for beating level n for the first time on a run), which you can then spend for permanent upgrades that persist across future runs. Improved resource income, some automation features, etc. Getting past 50 is (presumably, I haven't pushed this far yet) a matter of Prestiging after successful runs to bulk up your resource generation and zombie stats enough to make forward progress once it gets Hard.
posted by cortex at 9:39 AM on December 7, 2020
posted by cortex at 9:39 AM on December 7, 2020
Is there an autosave for this? I'm on level 25...and I think I need to stop playing.
It seems to save automatically - last night after finally getting shut down in autoplay at Level 50 I downloaded a save file (Options) and closed the tab, but this morning when I clicked on the link up there it was back where I'd left off without needing to load the save file.
posted by Flashman at 9:39 AM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
It seems to save automatically - last night after finally getting shut down in autoplay at Level 50 I downloaded a save file (Options) and closed the tab, but this morning when I clicked on the link up there it was back where I'd left off without needing to load the save file.
posted by Flashman at 9:39 AM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
there is no way, at least that I found, to make it automatically buy things with blood, brains and bones
One of the Prestige items can help with this.
Oh, and the game takes a sharp turn at level 50. No idea how to deal with it.
Yeah, oof. Suspect getting the Creature Factory built might help with this? but building that is an undertaking of its own as it needs insane amounts of blood.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:45 AM on December 7, 2020
One of the Prestige items can help with this.
Oh, and the game takes a sharp turn at level 50. No idea how to deal with it.
Yeah, oof. Suspect getting the Creature Factory built might help with this? but building that is an undertaking of its own as it needs insane amounts of blood.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:45 AM on December 7, 2020
Interface oddity: on my iPad, it registers pinch and zooms better horizontally than vertically.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:06 AM on December 7, 2020
posted by Pronoiac at 10:06 AM on December 7, 2020
I swear.
EVERY TIME one of these incremental games pops up on MeFi, I am sucked into spending dozens of hours in it. And just when I’ve purged the last one and think I’m safe, another one comes along with a slightly better hook.
Waitaminnit...I see it all so clearly now: MeFi is the biggest incremental game, and I’ve been playing it for almost 20 years!
posted by darkstar at 11:38 AM on December 7, 2020 [14 favorites]
EVERY TIME one of these incremental games pops up on MeFi, I am sucked into spending dozens of hours in it. And just when I’ve purged the last one and think I’m safe, another one comes along with a slightly better hook.
Waitaminnit...I see it all so clearly now: MeFi is the biggest incremental game, and I’ve been playing it for almost 20 years!
posted by darkstar at 11:38 AM on December 7, 2020 [14 favorites]
*waves hand floridly* THE PRESTIIIIGE
posted by cortex at 11:42 AM on December 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by cortex at 11:42 AM on December 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
I'd be interested if anyone has any theoretical guides for the parts factory...do you leave all the machines on auto, or do you let them level up in order (something like 80, 60, 40, 20) until you're producing the batch converter and then only let it auto up?
The bigger machines produce more parts, but at a slower pace. Is a duplicator costing 1M parts producing the same as a batch converter costing the same? I suppose I could math it out.
Oh, I just learned all the armor you get notifications for are hung on the skeleton by clicking on the skeleton icon.
posted by maxwelton at 11:42 AM on December 7, 2020
The bigger machines produce more parts, but at a slower pace. Is a duplicator costing 1M parts producing the same as a batch converter costing the same? I suppose I could math it out.
Oh, I just learned all the armor you get notifications for are hung on the skeleton by clicking on the skeleton icon.
posted by maxwelton at 11:42 AM on December 7, 2020
If you "prestige" after beating level 50 (which is a good point anyway, since you'll then re-earn the trophies you give up to the skeleton warrior), you can upgrade your blood+brain income substantially to make the next round faster ("auto buy" is also worth getting, but "auto construct" isn't really IMHO unless you plan to let it run totally unattended).
50-75ish:
With prestige-upgraded income you just buy (or auto-buy) the normal zombie upgrades to roughly keep pace with the stat growth of the humans.
75-125ish:
At this point the fixed +damage upgrades aren't going to cut it to keep pace with human state growth, so you need something that itself grows exponentially: the "rune smith"'s "rune shatter" gives you 10% health+damage growth that stacks exponentially (e.g., 9 shatters = 1.1^9 = 2.35x multiplier).
125+:
At this point I stopped earning enough blood income to shatter frequently enough to keep pace with the humans. I suspect the end-game after this is to transition entirely to 'creatures'.
posted by Pyry at 12:37 PM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
50-75ish:
With prestige-upgraded income you just buy (or auto-buy) the normal zombie upgrades to roughly keep pace with the stat growth of the humans.
75-125ish:
At this point the fixed +damage upgrades aren't going to cut it to keep pace with human state growth, so you need something that itself grows exponentially: the "rune smith"'s "rune shatter" gives you 10% health+damage growth that stacks exponentially (e.g., 9 shatters = 1.1^9 = 2.35x multiplier).
125+:
At this point I stopped earning enough blood income to shatter frequently enough to keep pace with the humans. I suspect the end-game after this is to transition entirely to 'creatures'.
posted by Pyry at 12:37 PM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
Oh, and the game takes a sharp turn at level 50. No idea how to deal with it.
Lots and lots of zombies is what worked for me; spawn them all around the base and let them go after everyone. Pay attention to which angles are still open/getting fire, and spawn more there. Eventually, they push things out enough that the foes start targeting them instead of the base. At that point it feels a bit more like a regular level; the opponents that are quite far out will just stand there and wait.
Oh, I just learned all the armor you get notifications for are hung on the skeleton by clicking on the skeleton icon.
Yes, and make sure you actually drag the armor onto the appropriate icon on the left, rather than just assuming an auto-equip like I did.
posted by nubs at 2:27 PM on December 7, 2020
Lots and lots of zombies is what worked for me; spawn them all around the base and let them go after everyone. Pay attention to which angles are still open/getting fire, and spawn more there. Eventually, they push things out enough that the foes start targeting them instead of the base. At that point it feels a bit more like a regular level; the opponents that are quite far out will just stand there and wait.
Oh, I just learned all the armor you get notifications for are hung on the skeleton by clicking on the skeleton icon.
Yes, and make sure you actually drag the armor onto the appropriate icon on the left, rather than just assuming an auto-equip like I did.
posted by nubs at 2:27 PM on December 7, 2020
Creatures so far (I'm working my way through levels 90-100 after having prestiged 3 times):
Stone Golems seem...okay? They're certainly very tanky and supposedly they draw aggro from enemies but it's really hard to judge the impact of how much fire they're actually drawing. Not all of it, that's for sure. It seems like my Skeleton Champion dies less often when he's around a Stone Golem than he does when they head off in different directions, but that's about as definite as I can be.
Air Golems are pretty useless. They're very fast, which typically means they rush out in front of the main mass of zombies and get overwhelmed when they're out there by themselves. (This is also a good reason not to equip too many "+1 movement speed" items on the Skeleton Champion.) I can imagine that there'd be some appeal in using them to chase down VIPs, but I have yet to encounter a VIP where "spawn a bunch of Gigazombies right on top of them" didn't get the job done.
Fire Golems just kind of indiscriminately spray little blobs of fire. Very, very high damage - great for the beginning parts of a stage where you're surrounded by soldiers - though indiscriminate burning tends to wear down your zombies as well and can make it harder to get/keep a horde at critical-mass size if it's already struggling. (Though you can more than offset this by combining them with Water Golems.)
Water Golems are my favorite of the bunch. Mid-range stats but they have what seems like a pretty powerful AoE healing effect. They're about the same speed as zombies, so they quickly wind up surrounded by a big mob of zombies that the Golem keeps healing, and the zombies in turn act as a big wall of damage sponge to keep the Golem healthy.
posted by mstokes650 at 2:48 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Stone Golems seem...okay? They're certainly very tanky and supposedly they draw aggro from enemies but it's really hard to judge the impact of how much fire they're actually drawing. Not all of it, that's for sure. It seems like my Skeleton Champion dies less often when he's around a Stone Golem than he does when they head off in different directions, but that's about as definite as I can be.
Air Golems are pretty useless. They're very fast, which typically means they rush out in front of the main mass of zombies and get overwhelmed when they're out there by themselves. (This is also a good reason not to equip too many "+1 movement speed" items on the Skeleton Champion.) I can imagine that there'd be some appeal in using them to chase down VIPs, but I have yet to encounter a VIP where "spawn a bunch of Gigazombies right on top of them" didn't get the job done.
Fire Golems just kind of indiscriminately spray little blobs of fire. Very, very high damage - great for the beginning parts of a stage where you're surrounded by soldiers - though indiscriminate burning tends to wear down your zombies as well and can make it harder to get/keep a horde at critical-mass size if it's already struggling. (Though you can more than offset this by combining them with Water Golems.)
Water Golems are my favorite of the bunch. Mid-range stats but they have what seems like a pretty powerful AoE healing effect. They're about the same speed as zombies, so they quickly wind up surrounded by a big mob of zombies that the Golem keeps healing, and the zombies in turn act as a big wall of damage sponge to keep the Golem healthy.
posted by mstokes650 at 2:48 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
What's the little red cross icon that flashes above the humans in larger groups? Do they have a healer?
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 3:07 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 3:07 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
What's the little red cross icon that flashes above the humans in larger groups? Do they have a healer?
I believe they do. It's the same visual effect that your zombies get from Water Golem heals, or from Harpies dropping bombs combined with the "What Doesn't Kill You" skill, so I have to assume it means the same thing. I don't know if there's a way to visually tell which human is the healer, though.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:14 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
I believe they do. It's the same visual effect that your zombies get from Water Golem heals, or from Harpies dropping bombs combined with the "What Doesn't Kill You" skill, so I have to assume it means the same thing. I don't know if there's a way to visually tell which human is the healer, though.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:14 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's the one in Crocs
posted by Flashman at 3:18 PM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Flashman at 3:18 PM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
Upon close inspection there's a person with a white mask and bluish clothes that seems to be a healer.
posted by Wulfhere at 3:48 PM on December 7, 2020
posted by Wulfhere at 3:48 PM on December 7, 2020
Kill the cops first. This is not a political statement; it's just good zombie strategy.
There's a rather wonderful thing you can get once you have Runesmith: infusing the Rune of Life with bones increases the chance of "Damage Reflection". It's fun seeing Bang Bang and Shooty open up on a spawning of zombies, only to find themselves bleeding profusely from the head.
Also turning the zombie spawning rate way down and the harpies way up seems to work pretty well. The few zombies that do spawn attract the cops, who then damage themselves by shooting at them; meanwhile there are plague bombs being dropped everywhere. Haven't seen the populace mount a workable defense against harpies yet.
posted by flabdablet at 5:36 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's a rather wonderful thing you can get once you have Runesmith: infusing the Rune of Life with bones increases the chance of "Damage Reflection". It's fun seeing Bang Bang and Shooty open up on a spawning of zombies, only to find themselves bleeding profusely from the head.
Also turning the zombie spawning rate way down and the harpies way up seems to work pretty well. The few zombies that do spawn attract the cops, who then damage themselves by shooting at them; meanwhile there are plague bombs being dropped everywhere. Haven't seen the populace mount a workable defense against harpies yet.
posted by flabdablet at 5:36 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'd be interested if anyone has any theoretical guides for the parts factory...do you leave all the machines on auto, or do you let them level up in order (something like 80, 60, 40, 20) until you're producing the batch converter and then only let it auto up?
30-second scratchpad for Factory Parts per second and Zombie Damage/Health ROI cutoffs: Web preview, .XLSX, .ODS.
[Obvious disclaimer that this is the result of literally two minutes' work at 3AM and also a completely naive ratio-based approach that doesn't attempt to evaluate time-to-profit or anything like a proper incremental game solver would.]
Upon close inspection there's a person with a white mask and bluish clothes that seems to be a healer.
Dropping zombies in the path of a fleeing Teutonic Jesus(TM) to gradually slow him down until the horde catches up with him is the best part of the late early game (I know it's a medic but for some reason the sprite reminded me of Picture Bible Jesus and it stuck).
I recommend Prestige resets at 49, 51, and 76 in order to beat level 100. That's what I did and it felt right (there's an obvious reason to restart after the level 50 unlock, and you run into a soft economy wall in the mid-70s after that). Went with 5 storage/10 rate upgrades for my first reset or two, ended at 5/15 for all resource types plus the one-time purchases. I sort of lost interest after beating level 100 since there really weren't any new construction paths, just a multiplier on the level 50 unlock and an increasing shift in focus to Creatures.
posted by Ryvar at 6:04 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
30-second scratchpad for Factory Parts per second and Zombie Damage/Health ROI cutoffs: Web preview, .XLSX, .ODS.
[Obvious disclaimer that this is the result of literally two minutes' work at 3AM and also a completely naive ratio-based approach that doesn't attempt to evaluate time-to-profit or anything like a proper incremental game solver would.]
Upon close inspection there's a person with a white mask and bluish clothes that seems to be a healer.
Dropping zombies in the path of a fleeing Teutonic Jesus(TM) to gradually slow him down until the horde catches up with him is the best part of the late early game (I know it's a medic but for some reason the sprite reminded me of Picture Bible Jesus and it stuck).
I recommend Prestige resets at 49, 51, and 76 in order to beat level 100. That's what I did and it felt right (there's an obvious reason to restart after the level 50 unlock, and you run into a soft economy wall in the mid-70s after that). Went with 5 storage/10 rate upgrades for my first reset or two, ended at 5/15 for all resource types plus the one-time purchases. I sort of lost interest after beating level 100 since there really weren't any new construction paths, just a multiplier on the level 50 unlock and an increasing shift in focus to Creatures.
posted by Ryvar at 6:04 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
I just have to say how much I appreciate the title “Incremancer.”
I mean, the consonance alone is positively inspired.
posted by darkstar at 9:26 PM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
I mean, the consonance alone is positively inspired.
posted by darkstar at 9:26 PM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
125+:
At this point I stopped earning enough blood income to shatter frequently enough to keep pace with the humans. I suspect the end-game after this is to transition entirely to 'creatures'.
I don't think it is as the cost of upgraded creatures increases faster than their benefits. Prestige + invest heavily in the rate upgrades is working for me so far; that and getting (vary rare) drops of Legendary armor for the skeleton, which gets you automatic casts of the spells.
Past 200 now and I think at this point that's all there is to see; no new offer from the skeleton at 200.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:47 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
At this point I stopped earning enough blood income to shatter frequently enough to keep pace with the humans. I suspect the end-game after this is to transition entirely to 'creatures'.
I don't think it is as the cost of upgraded creatures increases faster than their benefits. Prestige + invest heavily in the rate upgrades is working for me so far; that and getting (vary rare) drops of Legendary armor for the skeleton, which gets you automatic casts of the spells.
Past 200 now and I think at this point that's all there is to see; no new offer from the skeleton at 200.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:47 AM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
My Zombie cages aren't working! I do not get zombie carry-over. Any tips?
posted by Orlop at 9:53 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by Orlop at 9:53 AM on December 8, 2020
After a couple of days I've run out of new things to construct and things to buy with limited ranks, so I think I won?
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:00 AM on December 8, 2020
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:00 AM on December 8, 2020
The skeleton gives you a new offer once they hit level 50 (and probably also at skeleton level 100, but I stopped at game level 200-something and skeleton level 50-something).
As for a stopping point, I'd say you can declare victory at level 100 and all things constructed-- after that it's just more of the same indefinitely but with bigger numbers.
posted by Pyry at 10:39 AM on December 8, 2020
As for a stopping point, I'd say you can declare victory at level 100 and all things constructed-- after that it's just more of the same indefinitely but with bigger numbers.
posted by Pyry at 10:39 AM on December 8, 2020
Just figured out on a whim and to my great relief that double-clicking on the trash icon on Skeletor's inventory screen will prompt it to trash everything not already equipped, so you can just update the good stuff and then chuck the rest without having to do it manually one at a time.
posted by cortex at 11:14 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex at 11:14 AM on December 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
That Skeleton can have some odd effects; I was seeing Detonate get randomly cast every couple of minutes, and thought maybe it was a new enemy, but it turned out to be the hat my Skeleton was wearing.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:16 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:16 PM on December 8, 2020
Does anyone know what triggered the change from spawning a single zombie per click, regardless of energy, to spawning as many as you have energy for? And if there's a way to turn it off?
Same deal with the upgrade purchases- super annoying that it wants to auto-spend all my prestige in one upgrade rather than spreading it around.
posted by Jobst at 12:29 PM on December 8, 2020
Same deal with the upgrade purchases- super annoying that it wants to auto-spend all my prestige in one upgrade rather than spreading it around.
posted by Jobst at 12:29 PM on December 8, 2020
Jobst, holding down shift or control switches to spend-everything mode. I’ve noticed that sometimes it doesn’t register that the shift key is no longer pressed, which is probably what happened to you. Pressing the shift key again fixed it for me.
Fortunately, the buttons change to show what your purchasing depending on whether or not you have the key pressed.
posted by danielparks at 12:33 PM on December 8, 2020
Fortunately, the buttons change to show what your purchasing depending on whether or not you have the key pressed.
posted by danielparks at 12:33 PM on December 8, 2020
no new offer from the skeleton at 200
Ah: the skeleton makes you a doubling offer every 10 new trophies collected; so if you miss a VIP or two the offer is correspondingly delayed.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:41 PM on December 8, 2020
Ah: the skeleton makes you a doubling offer every 10 new trophies collected; so if you miss a VIP or two the offer is correspondingly delayed.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:41 PM on December 8, 2020
Interesting thing once you unlock the Factory - the parts generation appears to keep accruing even after the end of a level (once all humans are dead and the popup sits for the next level) and something in there has also given me 15k blood a second that keeps going as well... went to run errands and came back with nearly 200m blood and 15m in parts around level 50. Infinite blood for the blood god!
posted by FatherDagon at 1:24 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by FatherDagon at 1:24 PM on December 8, 2020
But yeah, general strat from l1 is to get a fistful of damage upgrades and then sink everything you can into fully unlocking 'soul is mine' so that all corpses turn to zombies, using brains to upgrade your energy gen for a while.
When you can get the graveyard constructed, use bones to upgrade your energy cap, it's way more efficient than brains.
When you get spells, unlock them all - energy charge + gigazombies + shift-clicking means you can drop a horde of superzoms in the middle of a population center, then earth freeze to halt the crowds and let the munching commence.
Always detonate right at the last couple humans, the amount of bones you get back is way higher than the number it shows gathered at the end of level (i.e. it says you get back ~3000, but your stockpile increases by 25000 or so). This may be due to upgrades on the bonebarrows? I thought that was to increase how quickly you pick up existing bones, but maybe it's more of a multiplier on bones collected.
posted by FatherDagon at 1:31 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
When you can get the graveyard constructed, use bones to upgrade your energy cap, it's way more efficient than brains.
When you get spells, unlock them all - energy charge + gigazombies + shift-clicking means you can drop a horde of superzoms in the middle of a population center, then earth freeze to halt the crowds and let the munching commence.
Always detonate right at the last couple humans, the amount of bones you get back is way higher than the number it shows gathered at the end of level (i.e. it says you get back ~3000, but your stockpile increases by 25000 or so). This may be due to upgrades on the bonebarrows? I thought that was to increase how quickly you pick up existing bones, but maybe it's more of a multiplier on bones collected.
posted by FatherDagon at 1:31 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
something in there has also given me 15k blood a second
I think it's if you end on a fail state - all living beings are frozen (including their health), but any zombies still animated aren't, so even if they aren't eating someone at the exact moment of failure, they can wander around to find a victim. A fate even worse than undeath for the little guys frozen and getting chomped without ever dying, and brains and bones won't budge, but a good way to refill blood while you step away.
posted by solotoro at 6:35 AM on December 9, 2020
I think it's if you end on a fail state - all living beings are frozen (including their health), but any zombies still animated aren't, so even if they aren't eating someone at the exact moment of failure, they can wander around to find a victim. A fate even worse than undeath for the little guys frozen and getting chomped without ever dying, and brains and bones won't budge, but a good way to refill blood while you step away.
posted by solotoro at 6:35 AM on December 9, 2020
A few maybe more esoteric details I've picked up.
You can spawn zombies anywhere on the map, including inside "buildings".
The simulated people tend to react to the presence of "lots of zombies" by running away. You will see a yellow "!" above their head when this has been triggered. I think it's purely quantity and not quality. So, one thing I've seen that works to clear levels quickly is to drop single zombies or gigazombies into lots of buildings. This can be useful if you have "prestiged" many times.
Another strategy that can be useful with the "death explosion" skill is to drop single a zombie into a building, let it get killed and explode, then repeat. This can wear down the occupants, since they will tend to clump together and take the splash damage again. If you're quick you can do this to several buildings at a time.
If your brains/blood are at maximum capacity and you have a Runesmith, the excess seems to be automatically infused into your runes. I prefer this because it seems to keep both runes in sync with each other, rather than letting one get ahead of the other and needing to bring them back in sync for an efficient "shatter".
Creatures that exist at the end of one level are automatically brought to the next level, for free. I'm not certain, but I think they might get a heal as well? So, one possible strategy might be to level creatures up with parts even if it means that you cannot reasonably afford to re-create them if they die - as long as they are durable enough to survive the level, maybe they get healed back up for the next round?
posted by rustcrumb at 11:44 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
You can spawn zombies anywhere on the map, including inside "buildings".
The simulated people tend to react to the presence of "lots of zombies" by running away. You will see a yellow "!" above their head when this has been triggered. I think it's purely quantity and not quality. So, one thing I've seen that works to clear levels quickly is to drop single zombies or gigazombies into lots of buildings. This can be useful if you have "prestiged" many times.
Another strategy that can be useful with the "death explosion" skill is to drop single a zombie into a building, let it get killed and explode, then repeat. This can wear down the occupants, since they will tend to clump together and take the splash damage again. If you're quick you can do this to several buildings at a time.
If your brains/blood are at maximum capacity and you have a Runesmith, the excess seems to be automatically infused into your runes. I prefer this because it seems to keep both runes in sync with each other, rather than letting one get ahead of the other and needing to bring them back in sync for an efficient "shatter".
Creatures that exist at the end of one level are automatically brought to the next level, for free. I'm not certain, but I think they might get a heal as well? So, one possible strategy might be to level creatures up with parts even if it means that you cannot reasonably afford to re-create them if they die - as long as they are durable enough to survive the level, maybe they get healed back up for the next round?
posted by rustcrumb at 11:44 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's something that's very 2020 about dropping a bunch of zombies on the doctors.
posted by ktkt at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ktkt at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm up around 60-something and now whenever I try to buy anything or build a zombie or construct anything, the only option is "as many as you can afford". I can't find an option to shut this off, and it's kind of annoying. :/
posted by rmd1023 at 1:06 PM on December 9, 2020
posted by rmd1023 at 1:06 PM on December 9, 2020
rmd1023, see my comment above. Short version: try pressing shift or control once.
posted by danielparks at 1:11 PM on December 9, 2020
posted by danielparks at 1:11 PM on December 9, 2020
Just figured out on a whim and to my great relief that double-clicking on the trash icon on Skeletor's inventory screen will prompt it to trash everything not already equipped
Single-clicking, and if you hover over the trash icon you get a tooltip explaining it, and somehow I only just noticed this.
The endgame is harpies; fast harpies with multiple bombs = very quick conversion of most of the humans.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:24 PM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Single-clicking, and if you hover over the trash icon you get a tooltip explaining it, and somehow I only just noticed this.
The endgame is harpies; fast harpies with multiple bombs = very quick conversion of most of the humans.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:24 PM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
(and also the harpy bombs leave enough bones behind that there's no longer much point in micromanaging an end-of-level Detonate.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:25 PM on December 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:25 PM on December 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
prestiged after first run with 22k prestige points; set everything to auto; forgot about it for a day and left it running. returned to find my little zombie dudes autoing level 256.
currently at:
-24T blood capacity.
-16 creatures, around level 15 each. 9 water, 3 fire, 1 air, 3 earth.
-level 63 skeleton warrior.
-14 harpies with full bombs that do 19k damage.
-nothing much left to do.
posted by what does it eat, light? at 8:20 PM on December 9, 2020
currently at:
-24T blood capacity.
-16 creatures, around level 15 each. 9 water, 3 fire, 1 air, 3 earth.
-level 63 skeleton warrior.
-14 harpies with full bombs that do 19k damage.
-nothing much left to do.
posted by what does it eat, light? at 8:20 PM on December 9, 2020
Well, despite many messages saying it was saving to the cloud, the game lost an entire day of progress overnight, so I think I'm done. Thanks, technical difficulties, for saving me from obsessively playing another incremental!
posted by jacquilynne at 6:24 AM on December 10, 2020
posted by jacquilynne at 6:24 AM on December 10, 2020
Can you see your skeleton's stats anywhere? He seems less durable than my golems right now. Guess I need to feed him some more trophies.
My skele picked up a "legendary sword" at level 8 that casts earth freeze. Now at level 35+ and I haven't found anything better (or even another item that casts a spell). A time warp one would be great.
posted by Jobst at 7:11 AM on December 10, 2020
My skele picked up a "legendary sword" at level 8 that casts earth freeze. Now at level 35+ and I haven't found anything better (or even another item that casts a spell). A time warp one would be great.
posted by Jobst at 7:11 AM on December 10, 2020
If you hit 'stats' at the bottom it shows stats for your zombies and the skeleton (but not for creatures for some reason). The skeleton seems to simply have 10x the health and damage of your zombies-- I don't think it directly improves from leveling, rather higher levels -> better equipment -> higher zombie stats = higher skeleton stats.
posted by Pyry at 8:29 AM on December 10, 2020
posted by Pyry at 8:29 AM on December 10, 2020
I have a level 45 "red" sword which casts Energy Charge, and level 49 "red" gauntlets which cast incinerate. Agreed, time warp something would be very nice. I presume there's a "red" type of everything, but even "gold" items are infrequent enough I still have blue pants.
I am auto-ing my way back up to 275, as I reset the skeleton and gathered the prestige. Around level...60? this go-round all shop items with limits were purchased, etc., etc. Creatures are level 14, I think I had them at level 20 by 275. Wish that could be auto. Skeleton is currently at level 68.
I'm going to let it run on auto until level 300, see if anything happens there.
On Energy Charge, BTW, you can go into the graveyard and add as many bone collectors or harpies as you can click. I've had 82 harpies at once doing that...they go away back to "normal" levels when the energy charge runs out.
posted by maxwelton at 12:02 PM on December 10, 2020
I am auto-ing my way back up to 275, as I reset the skeleton and gathered the prestige. Around level...60? this go-round all shop items with limits were purchased, etc., etc. Creatures are level 14, I think I had them at level 20 by 275. Wish that could be auto. Skeleton is currently at level 68.
I'm going to let it run on auto until level 300, see if anything happens there.
On Energy Charge, BTW, you can go into the graveyard and add as many bone collectors or harpies as you can click. I've had 82 harpies at once doing that...they go away back to "normal" levels when the energy charge runs out.
posted by maxwelton at 12:02 PM on December 10, 2020
Harpies lose their effectiveness somewhat around level 100 as it takes several bomb hits to kill a human, rather than just wasting entire groups of them with a single drop.
posted by maxwelton at 12:05 PM on December 10, 2020
posted by maxwelton at 12:05 PM on December 10, 2020
I gave up after 400 or so as there was nothing new happening except for numbers getting bigger, maybe there's something at 500, but unlikely.
posted by Marticus at 12:45 PM on December 10, 2020
posted by Marticus at 12:45 PM on December 10, 2020
Time warp / Energy charge at the end of turn and Gigazombies at the start of the next one is a wickedly effective combo.
posted by hat_eater at 6:10 PM on December 12, 2020
posted by hat_eater at 6:10 PM on December 12, 2020
I let it run over the weekend. As of level 550, no new construction options or any other new upgrades for purchase. I'm at 36 rune shatters, I have over a tera-whatever (liter?) of blood with 10^17 cap, in the hundreds of millions of brains (4 billion cap) and bones, billions of parts. Coming back, the only thing I could do that wasn't already auto purchasing was upgrade my golems and increase my bone collectors and harpies to better match my current energy rate.
My skeleton did do their offer again to double work if I gave them all my trophies. It was somewhere between the skeleton's level 121 and 169 (maybe 150 I guess, but I don't think they are actually happening at obvious round numbers). At this point, my skeleton has four pieces of armor at epic level, ie the red ones that also cast magic - its shield casts incinerate, both its chest and gloves cast energy charge, and its boots cast time warp.
Dunno if this is gonna turn out like Realm Grinder where if you wait around they'll eventually update for more progression at higher levels, but I don't think I'm gonna wait around to find out. I'm approaching a final wall at this point - my zombies have only about 20% of the health and damage of civilians, and they'll only fall farther behind. I could prestige one last time to see some marginal improvements, but while a weekend of running got me nearly 1M prestige points, I've already bought so much in that menu from previous runs that I don't think I could even double everything again. I'm calling this one "won".
posted by solotoro at 7:00 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
My skeleton did do their offer again to double work if I gave them all my trophies. It was somewhere between the skeleton's level 121 and 169 (maybe 150 I guess, but I don't think they are actually happening at obvious round numbers). At this point, my skeleton has four pieces of armor at epic level, ie the red ones that also cast magic - its shield casts incinerate, both its chest and gloves cast energy charge, and its boots cast time warp.
Dunno if this is gonna turn out like Realm Grinder where if you wait around they'll eventually update for more progression at higher levels, but I don't think I'm gonna wait around to find out. I'm approaching a final wall at this point - my zombies have only about 20% of the health and damage of civilians, and they'll only fall farther behind. I could prestige one last time to see some marginal improvements, but while a weekend of running got me nearly 1M prestige points, I've already bought so much in that menu from previous runs that I don't think I could even double everything again. I'm calling this one "won".
posted by solotoro at 7:00 AM on December 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
Level 627 here and same; I'm just holding out for one final piece of red armor.
(Also I accidentally upgraded out of a lower-level Time Warp armor and that was a big mistake; the automatic Time Warps really speed up progression.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:17 PM on December 14, 2020
(Also I accidentally upgraded out of a lower-level Time Warp armor and that was a big mistake; the automatic Time Warps really speed up progression.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:17 PM on December 14, 2020
Would you say there is a method to the red armor? I've played to level 400 a couple of times (with prestige resets, etc) and still only have two pieces. That would be my only reason to keep it running.
posted by maxwelton at 1:15 PM on December 14, 2020
posted by maxwelton at 1:15 PM on December 14, 2020
Seems to be entirely random as to when it drops + what spell it carries. Although the Pandemic spell seems to only exist on red armor.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:14 PM on December 14, 2020
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:14 PM on December 14, 2020
After I got the skeleton, I now get this periodic yellow flash on my Prestige tab, but I don't know what it means.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:00 PM on December 15, 2020
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:00 PM on December 15, 2020
The yellow flash just means the skeleton has made a kill which added some prestige points. You can see a little P+ flying across to the button sometimes, when it gets there, there is the flash.
posted by maxwelton at 11:11 PM on December 15, 2020
posted by maxwelton at 11:11 PM on December 15, 2020
So I'm considering this won, as well, though my patience ran out before We had a deal, Kyle's did. I'm at level 602, have done four prestige resets, collected four pieces of red armor (actually seven, but three were replacements for pieces I already had). My four pieces do Earth Freeze, Energy Charge (2x) and Gigazombies. I had an Incinerate, which wasn't very useful.
Skeleton is at level 219, 42 rune shatters, golems are at level 15. 49 harpies flying around, though their bombs at this level take about 20 direct hits to kill a human, so they're not that great. 920 energy, blood maxed out at 1e15, 4B brains, 2.2B bones, parts are still being used to build more factories, because why not. Prestige ranks are all about level 35.
BTW, don't take your golems much over level 15, or spawning them becomes so expensive you'll never generate any, despite the big numbers above. Ask me how I know...
On auto-play, it takes about four hours to go from zero on a prestige reset to level 600 using auto levels. I found all VIP levels required manual intervention after about 500.
I guess we all should be glad these things have a grind-limit? I much prefer the paperclip model, though, where there is a definite win-state.
posted by maxwelton at 11:29 PM on December 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
Skeleton is at level 219, 42 rune shatters, golems are at level 15. 49 harpies flying around, though their bombs at this level take about 20 direct hits to kill a human, so they're not that great. 920 energy, blood maxed out at 1e15, 4B brains, 2.2B bones, parts are still being used to build more factories, because why not. Prestige ranks are all about level 35.
BTW, don't take your golems much over level 15, or spawning them becomes so expensive you'll never generate any, despite the big numbers above. Ask me how I know...
On auto-play, it takes about four hours to go from zero on a prestige reset to level 600 using auto levels. I found all VIP levels required manual intervention after about 500.
I guess we all should be glad these things have a grind-limit? I much prefer the paperclip model, though, where there is a definite win-state.
posted by maxwelton at 11:29 PM on December 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I figured it out. I was confused at first, because it adds to future prestige, and not current.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:30 PM on December 15, 2020
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:30 PM on December 15, 2020
don't take your golems much over level 15, or spawning them becomes so expensive you'll never generate any
Yeah, there's definitely a level at which the replacement rate of spawning new golems falls below the death rate of them getting killed. The factories do eventually pick up the slack if you wait it out. I seem to have reached approximate stasis at level 20 golems with typically around 10/16 alive.
Still don't have a red helmet! although I did pick up some Time Warp legs which have sped the auto-play progression up.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:05 AM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yeah, there's definitely a level at which the replacement rate of spawning new golems falls below the death rate of them getting killed. The factories do eventually pick up the slack if you wait it out. I seem to have reached approximate stasis at level 20 golems with typically around 10/16 alive.
Still don't have a red helmet! although I did pick up some Time Warp legs which have sped the auto-play progression up.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:05 AM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
After you collect all of the trophies through 800, the Skeleton will make another offer to eat trophies again and bump his XP rate to 1600%.
posted by Pockets at 9:30 AM on December 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Pockets at 9:30 AM on December 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
(sighs, re-opens window)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:14 AM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:14 AM on December 31, 2020 [6 favorites]
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One slightly unclear thing that's good to know: you can commence construction on a project (like the aforementioned graveyard) even if you don't have all the resources on hand to finish constructing it. It'll just pause and wait until you've collected enough blood/brains/bones to do another chunk of it, passively resuming whenever it can.
posted by cortex at 7:51 AM on December 6, 2020 [1 favorite]