Hi! New here. I pretty much registered solely for the GemCraft Zero discussion... XD Call me Schwa.
So, I finally beat this game last night, and GEEZ, the ending freaked me out rather severely. O__O I mean like I wouldn't touch the game for half a day because I thought it would eat me or something. (Obviously an exaggeration but you get the point, I hope.) Prior to that I had played this game every day for almost a month, taking my time (I was in no hurry to beat it or anything; I never even knew how many bosses there were to fight or whatnot)... Out of the five Boss Stages and the Final Battle at the end, the levels I was at during each fight when I won were 50, 99, 140, 160, 191 and 192 in that order-- could be off on some of those but that was about right. Every moment of the game was FANTASTIC. The fantastic-ness was questionable when I spent a full hour on Arcane Mode on some stages trying to beat it with the ultimate score and DYING on the LAST WAVE (mainly talking about Stage 65, which is easily the most epic map in the game), but even the drama moments helped to make it even more wonderful-- no game is this awesome if it doesn't offer the player every possible emotion.
I would have to say my favorite aspect of this game is the Anger Blast spell (you know, Anger Shrines)... ^^ I have a rule where I'll never drop a Gem on any Shrine unless it's Level 6 or higher and Pure colored, because I'm real paranoid about getting every possible 300-point Shrine Amulet Bonus possible. For the Anger Shrines, if I'm doing great by then in the way of Mana and Mana Income, I'll have a Level 7 or even Level 8 Pure Gem or two saved up for the last 10 waves of the battle-- it works even better if there's like two Giant Monster Waves in a row coming up, and Stage 50 is great for this... I'll cast Anger on those Giant Waves like 5 times, then call both of those and like two Normal Waves at the same time, let them all come out of their buildings, keep the Level 7 or 8 Gem poised above the Anger Shrine with the mouse button held, and drop it as soon as I notice my Mana drop 200 points at once ('cause by then it means I've stopped gaining Mana and started losing it). If my Mana is close to 9k or 10k when the Anger Blast goes off, it'll wipe out like 150 out of my 200 monsters at once and mortally wound the Giant ones, which my Tower Gems will finish off. The feeling I get after doing that is truly awesome and makes my want to shout "F--- YEAH! EAT IT YOU DOGS!!" Hehehe...
So after beating the game, I went around the forums here and saw this thread, looked at a few pages, and DANG guys, you're all pretty hardcore. A billion points? WOWZA BO BOWZA. I'd love to learn how to pull that off-- I think my highest score ever was 70,000-something, and that was WITH the x3 multiplier. O_O (I was watching this guy on YouTube pull it off on Boss Stage 2 and he had his entire screen literally FILLED with Level 8 or 9 Tower Gems and his cursor was moving so fast I couldn't keep track of it... I doubt I could ever hope to achieve that level of skill. It was almost horrifying.) That said, this thread almost intimidates me. Almost. XD I'm posting here 'cause I love the game, not because I'm great at it. ^^
I'm looking forward to future discussions here, though no promises that I'll check back super often-- I do other things too you know. n_n
yes, I really over angered the monsters. They had 153 or so million HP, and like 4K armor. They were almost unhittable, even to my chain of 10 grade 9 and 10 R/P gems.
Oh Jesus, YOU'RE Ulegh. Wow. I feel like I'm talking to a celebrity here, at least a small-time one if not greater... Yes sir, those YouTube videos of yours were ASTOUNDING. On every possible level. You definitely have a fan in me.
Thanks for all your tips! About half of this is brand new information.
For the Mana Farms, in the past I always just built five traps at the start, in this order: Blue, Orange, Orange, Orange, Green, all Grade 3 Pure. I noticed in your videos you eventually had the entire monster path fully covered in Orange traps (though now I'll assume those were Red-Orange-- in fact I think I remember in the Boss Stage 2 video you spent a little while creating Grade 4 Reds and Oranges with Transmution and combining them; it never occurred to me you were putting them in the traps, the mouse cursor was moving so fast I couldn't tell). I'm going to have to practice that.
When I use Mana Pool many times in one match it REALLY does make a difference-- I haven't noticed a difference in score (though I know there is one) but I notice I re-gain my Mana back at a much more amazing rate. I have to ask: When do I know for sure when the best times to upgrade Mana Pool are? I'm trying to think about how I'd balance this with upgrading the Mana Farm and Tower defenses (i.e. which to upgrade further and when). I'm guessing I'll get it with practice though too... ^^
I use Anger a lot, true. Not 8 to 10 times, but after beating the game I've felt confident with 5 to 6 for each wave, then just 3 for any Armored or Swarm waves, and for the Giant waves I might Anger more than 6 but sometimes they kill me no matter what even if I only use Anger one time. x_x (Stage 62 on Arcane Mode was literally impossible to win for me. Even when I never used Anger at all after Wave 25 they STILL killed me. I almost cried in frustration then.) I have died a LOT via over-Angering; it never fails, I'll always get greedy for the extra points and then they rush me. (It actually is a little embarrassing for me to state this when you and the others can easily Anger them 8 to 10 times and sometimes with Grade 6s and do just fine... I mean you did say you've put hundreds of hours into playing this and I've only played for a month, but even so, fehhh. It'll be another one of those practice areas for me I guess.)
I love Giant Monsters. Not only are they slow, not only do you gain lots of mana for killing them, but when they finally go down they make this huge burst and rawr-sound effect and the satisfaction is like "HAHA, nailed 'im!" (You should have seen my reaction when I killed the first Arcane Guardian boss and it exploded. I was so thrilled I looked through my MP3 folder until I found some adequate victory music and played it for a while. YES I AM A NERD, SUE ME. XD)
Okay, question about the Shrines: How do you even manage to make a Grade 15 Pure? O___O The highest I've EVER gotten was Grade 10 and it was like five colors or something which made it lame (and not fit for use in a Shrine; you don't get the 300-point bonus unless the Gem is Pure too). For the Exp. Shrines I spend about one third of the battle struggling to save enough Mana to create a Level 6 Pure ASAP so I can use it on the Exp. Shrine and get the 300-point bonus, and I'm lucky if I can get it made before Wave 12 (this caused me an immense deal of heartache on Stage 17 Normal Mode, which not only has a two-charge Exp. Shrine, but a one-charge Transmution Shrine AND only 18 freaking Waves to get the three Level 6 Gems in... I re-started many times because I would NOT accept the victory if I didn't get all three Level 6s). Something tells me now I was "Doing It Wrong". x_x
Super Gemming is something I've never even heard of until now. That's totally amazing. I know it's important to get to Level 9 at least once during the battle so you get the bonus for it, but aside from that it sounds more profitable to just stick to Level 7s and tack a bunch of 6s of one of its two colors endlessly onto it to make it a powerhouse. I'll have to remember this one. ^^
I had no idea duals were better in traps or for bombs-- I always thought Pure Trap Gems were best because the point of a Trap wasn't damage, but rather its effect, and a Half-Orange Trap could only take off half as much Mana... People say in this thread that the Red Gems in Traps are awesome but I never saw how, because when you put it in a Trap it doesn't even list a special effect anymore. x_x Someone will have to explain that to me I think...
Thanks for your help! Some of your strategies sound confusing, but it's probably because I'm more or less a n00b at this still... XD I shall get better, and it shall probably take a long time but I'm in no hurry. ^^
In closing, there is one thing that REALLY bugs me about this game.
Schwa, red affects the trap when you mix a grade 4 red with a grade 4 other gem. Red makes it hit 5, then 6 monsters per shot. 6 monsters is I think grade 7.
What you were doing wrong was probably, the fact that you didn't mana farm enough. Even the whole road covered with only grade 3 oranges is good.
Also, you might want to try doing ENDURANCE mode, it gives unlimited waves. Like 512 of them. By wave 30, you should have grade 5-7 R/O gems in all of the traps, depending on the map.
And Ulegh's mouse was moving so fast cuz he sped up the video, the actual thing would have taken hours.
By wave 50, have some R/Y grade 12-14 gems in a few traps. They own. Also, a few R/P grade 9-10 gems in beginning of the road.
don't kill yourself over the Shrine Burst amulets, 300 XP is only a lot if you are a low level.
4K armor? it's crazy. You should anger no more than 300 armor(compare to your damage(200-800)). don't over or under anger per wave just like lankhr says.
If you angered a wave 16 times, you probably should skip 1 or 2 wave without angering them(The problem of too much anger is their armor, and bigger armor means you need grade 13 or higher dual gems quickly).
Schwa, do you want my save game? it's level 300+, so you can play endurance mode with full skills(makes you no worried about skills anymore)
Btw, do you guys know where is the best university to take M.M Master degree? Thx You guys should watch lankhr vid on youtube. Lankhr, ask you father a new computer. VGA Geforce 9800 and Pentium Quad-core Extreme(only for extreme person only bwahahaha).
acyually, I had 315. And I had like 15 or so grade 14 R/Y/O gems. They weren't dual cuz it would take too long. their speed was 1017, damage like 200-1000 or so, 6 monsters hit, and 8.6 mana gain per hit. they passed like 9 or 10 times before killing me. they were wave 60, I lived till wave 80
I also found out that O (orange) + R (red) grade 3 don't give the red special. You have to use atleast grade 4 + grade 4 to get the 5 hit special. And yes, 6 monsters is about grade 7.
Like this, if you want to give red special, just add more Red gem. But you get all special when grade 8 above.
Grade 3 R/0, if you combine 3 grade 2 Orange and 1 grade 2 Red, the Red special will not appear, just add grade 3 Red, problemx done.
acyually, I had 315. And I had like 15 or so grade 14 R/Y/O gems. They weren't dual cuz it would take too long. their speed was 1017, damage like 200-1000 or so, 6 monsters hit, and 8.6 mana gain per hit. they passed like 9 or 10 times before killing me. they were wave 60, I lived till wave 80
Like master Lankhr says, Dual is the best, you will need more damage in later waves.
Have anyone research R/G? It makes 1000 monsters quickly reduce to 400 monster, I try this before. Combine 7 grade 6 G with 1 grade 6 Red. Put R/C after and before the R/G.
I think, to put all traps with R/O is not good(Except you have several thousands monsters)
I think any R/C-Put something here - R/C is a good combo trap.
So, what do you think of your own combo trap? Have experienced make a combo trap that makes you feel "this combo trap is good for slowing" or "this combo trap is good for damage"
yayformeee, do you find R/Y/0 stronger than R/O? What is your highest score in endurance? Mine is 1,5M XP
Yes Master Lankhr, and this is real life, we just haven't meet each other. If I have enough money I will travel to your house and saying "Hi Master Lankhr, may the force be with you."
Lankhr, 5,5 mil XP? So you play like 20-30 hours a game?
It's the white screen thing still pop-up? Well, ask your father to buy new computer and combine it with your own money.
Try the performance of several PCs by playing GC with 2000 monster on it, and see which one have less lag. You can also try to score the computer by using Sisoftsandra(benchmark software) But it's not certain since it just count general speed(not true speed when you play GC)
I think the Quad-core Extreme, VGA 9800 and 8 Gbs RAM is around $1000 you will have no graphical problem with this spec.
Say to your father "Dad, buy me new computer, I'm going to use it a lot when I attend university, and I will using my money too" "Really?" "Yes, I will need a PC with better graphic and speed"
'break your piggy bank' Kaching!
Go to the nearest PC store, check the prize, make friend with the vendor(ask him if he plays Gemcraft too, you can be his Master too), test the performance, take home your new PC.
Btw, don't throw your old PC, you might want to learn intranet, and how to do LAN settings in your own house later.
well Lankhr... supergemming works if the grades of gems you incorporate into the bigger one are lower by at least two than the grade of the main gem, so getting a grade 8 dual with a ton of grade 6's will work, but a grade 7 with grade 6's will not.
About specials - you have to watch, if you see a grade 3 R/O with points in red mastery lay 2 or more "zaps" each time it fires, then the special still works even if it's not displayed. I haven't tested this, but it should work regardless of the visibility of the red special text - if you have any level of red mastery, it works on a R/* gem regardless of the level of the red special in that gem.
Good news about a PC tho you need to learn some ways to tune it, however, I'd recommend your dad to settle with Windows XP and not get Vista unless required by his business.. it's too dam slow.
surfthenet, my trap combo gem is R/C/P (yep, a triple), these generally fire fast enough to hold all the monsters in place which they can hit, and since trap gems have a target lock, these serve as "acidic" traps, slowly devouring monsters caught within. I'd intersperse them with R/Ys, being the fastest damage dealers out there, with the best damage a trap can provide. I believe this set of traps is good for both slowing, trapping (shocking), armor piercing AND damage, cumulative.
