Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
So we’ve got ourselves a fun little episode tie-in on our hands! Ok well maybe not fun to some of you…more like a distraction from the casino event. BUT to me they’re fun. I always love episode tie-ins because they get me excited about the upcoming episode.
Anywho…this week’s episode tie-in is all about Mars. Sorta. And of course, as with all episode tie-ins, a few new premium items have arrived in our stores to try and entice us to go “all in” with this week’s episode. But with that limited time label it can be intimating trying to decide what you should spend your donuts on, or what should be a total pass. But don’t sweat it, we’re here to help you break down the pros and cons of each item.
Wondering if you should add the Mars Colony to your Springfield? Well before you hit that confirm button let’s break down the pros and cons of this Mars hot spot to your Springfield…
Decoration: Mars Colony
Donut Price: 200 donuts
Size: 13×19
Unique: Yes, only 1 per Springfield
Conform-O-Meter: Vanity +100
Leave Our Games March 16th
Pros
-Looks cool
-Comes with a short questline
-Upgradeable so it’ll allow you to continue to work on it after the questline
-Animated when tapped (lights light up and a little rover drives around)
Cons
-Does not earn income or bonus %
-Cannot change facades once you upgrade
-No character interaction
Final Thought:
Premium or Freemium:
Honestly, this is a total pass in my opinion. It’s oversized and overpriced. Complete waste of 200 donuts. Other than it looking cool it really just takes up a ton of space and serves no benefit to your town. So personally I’d pass on this one…
Of course in the end it’s completely your decision, we can only tell you what we would or wouldn’t do…and I can tell you I’ll be passing on this one. After playing around with it in my B town, it’s just not worth the donut investment for me. I’d rather spend my donuts on something else. Of course that’s just my opinion, I know y’all will have your own takes on it. So whatever you decide just be sure to make your final decision before it leaves our games on March 16th.
Here’s a look at the questline associated with it and the requirements to upgrade at each level…
A Colony For Ants Pt. 1
Auto start when purchased
Make Homer Mock Mars- 6s, Earns $35, 1xp
A Colony For Ants Pt. 2
Homer starts
Upgrade the Mars Colony
Make Homer Mock But Secretly Love Mars- Cannot complete until after you’ve upgraded….3hrs, Earns $200, 55xp
Upgrade requirements:
Level 1 view
Level 2 view
Level 3 view
Fully upgraded.
Sponsorship task is 3hrs for each Entrepreneur…
And here’s a closer look at the signage on the Colony…some of it is pretty funny:
What are your thoughts on the Mars Colony? Will you be spending the donuts to bring it to your Springfield? Or have you already? Where have you placed it? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
The worst donut purchase ever! I want my money back!
When this was first offered, I thought it was a “no brainer” that I would be getting it. Though now after reading this post and its comments, it has given me pause. I thought this would be right up my alley, but I didn’t count on it being “ant sized”. This has gone from a “definite buy” to a “sitting on the fence” addition. I still *may* get it, but I have to say I’m a little disappointed about it now.
I’m disappointed that the latest Update from EA hasn’t brought the game to Level 60 by now (since this episode tie-in Update doesn’t offer anything to advance you thru the Casino Event? I am choosing to ignore it!) …..
There isn’t anything Freemium, none of the Premium Items interest me, so I am saving my Donuts for anything Casino Event based that’s of interest (which has offered some amusing stuff) 🙂
The building is freemium if you run the questline…
I only found one thing I like about it and that is that it’s a total pass for me and the first pass I’ve been able to make for a while now lol
I tried to post this yesterday, so sorry if it’s a duplicate.
http://i.imgur.com/Qz0EJOk.png?1
Looks awesome!
That works SO well!! By enclosing it as you have, it looks like it’s way recessed into the ground, which makes the small size of stuff make sense, visually. (I know the “real” rationale is that it’s a model, but who puts a model outside? They’re usually on a table or pedestal in an office somewhere.) Your solution is brilliant!
Thanks 🙂 I originally wanted the walls because sudden changes in ground cover bother me a little, so whenever I can ease the transition with fencing or a road, I do that. (I also had to use a few benches in this case.) The recessed effect was just an added bonus.
What fence is that?
I just thought it looked really neat, so I picked it up. I can’t wait to place it in a NARA themed area!
Hello, I just have a question. After sending out entrepreneurs for the first time I am not seeing an upgrade icon on my mars colony. The entrepreneurs finished their task already and there are no more pending tasks on the left side for mars. What am I missing?
You’ve got to tap Mars to upgrade it
Hello Alissa! I noticed this was from March 11, 2016 but for some reason it just randomly came into my “premium store” last week. I started playing a few months ago after a long hiatus, but I didn’t realize that it was not new to everyone else but me. It is like the Tailgate, except that I can’t upgrade past Level 3, there’s just no option to. Any suggestions? Thanks as always for your insight and this website content, it is very helpful and fun!
It came back because it was re-released with the Sci Fi Event..so intentional.
So you’re stuck trying to get to level 4? And it shows Both tasks are done? If that’s the case try storing and replacing it. If that doesn’t work, contact EA could be something wrong in your game.
I keep having an issue where the ability to upgrade after finishing the last tier doesn’t happen. I just upgraded to level 2 and I can’t send my business owners to collect sponsors and clicking on the colony doesn’t do anything/bring up any menu.
Make sure that every business owner is done with his/her Job with the town census. The same thing happened to me but then I saw that I didn’t tap on Luigi after he was done. (it does not show where they are)
Anyone having any issues with the latest task play casino games? I’ve click on go to it puts me at moes slots, I play but it never says challenge clear.
Sometimes you have to do it 5 or 10 times. Are you seeing 1/5 or 1/10 anywhere on the daily task screen?
Just wanted to say, love the app. Oh yeah and the Mars colony is a total pass
It is very rare for me to say considering my 300 donut whale purchase but that Mars deco is too expensive for me!!
On a different note, Where are those dang Martinis’??
I disagree with the people who say it looks cool,
It’s more out of scale than anything else in the game,
There are 20+ buildings spread out in the colony but the whole thing takes the space of one or two large buildings 📏 📏
🙂
It looks right for a scale model, though. (Which it is.)
Is it supposed to be a model? That would explain a lot
🙂
Yup. I had planned to think of it as such anyway, but the quest dialogue confirmed it. (And the “colony for ants” name of the questline is also alluding to it being a model, in a semi-obscure reference sort of way.)
I know, right? What is it, a school for ants???
I’m probably going to pretend it’s some kind of playground/junkyard for the babies to play in. Put it near the Wall E Weasels and the petting zoo.
This woulda been cool as an expansion, using the rocket from the space event as transport
I’m passing on this one even though I love my lil green man and space in general.
Way too many donuts plus way too much space (no pun intended)!
Thanks Alissa for confirming I did the right thing!
It is quite large but a fun and unique decoration. It cost me $200 million so yeah I really wanted it, that and the submarine and I couldn’t justify spending real money in my current situation but I must say I can go a long time without seeing another rat Trap truck.
http://i.imgur.com/Qz0EJOk.png?1
Wow! 200 Donuts and not even a bonus percentage? What’s going on with EA and the premium items lately? It’s almost like they don’t want us to buy them. This does look awesome, but the size and lack of benefit to my town make it a pass for me, too. Thanks for the great post, Alissa!
If you like space/science/mars or anything like it pick it up just for the pathfinder animation. However, since it cannot upgrade/change skins once finished I got a bit of buyer’s remorse. BUT if you’re on the fence it ties well with the tie-in building and the NARA stuff. Planning on creating a Frink/NARA area now. 😀
I agree totally…I love space stuff and my only regret is that you can’t change it around and there’s too little animation.
Is the pathfinder animation part of the last upgrade it do you lose it when you max it out?
Naw, it’s still there when it’s maxed out. It catches some phat air on the little ramp, too.
Got it, looks cool, but part of me wishes I didn’t blow the 200 donuts on it. As usual should have waited for the SiB but hey, it looked cool so couldn’t resist. Still, will add to my spaceship area once I finally get around to designing it. Have fully upgraded, but for now design wise Vegas takes over.
This won’t be a surprise to my neighboureenos at all, but I bought it lol I did some clearing and placed it with my other space-themed items 🙂 I really dig how it looks!
did you really buy 4 whales through legitimate means? also wondering how you had the safari casino and all the other craftables way back at the beginning of act 1? i’d love to add you back as a neighbor because you had some great designs, but i suspected something was amiss…
First of all, I did not have those things since Act one! I don’t know what your problem really is, tapebelt, but it can’t be with me at all. And yes, through legitimate means. People can surely say I have stated several times that my husband is concerned for my impulses lol I’m sad that you left, but I did nothing wrong. Especially nothing to deserve the things you said and implied as well.
Whoa. There is no way anyone could have gotten those items so early unless their game is hacked and mine most certainly isn’t. I have stated how my husband worries about my spending habits when it comes to this game several times lol What about the persons who purchased the colony? Do you question how they got it as well? I was sad that you left but now that I know why, then alright!
I rarely post as is. I decided to post more because I like it here and I like so many people, inclusive of you, and now I might as well continue lurking so job well done. I hope you never get attacked for something you didn’t do especially in an environment where you cannot defend yourself as you would like to. It’s an awful feeling. Have a great day though.
tape I can attest for Pizza-high, she’s a neighbor of mine and has been..well forever. She’s also been around here forever…I think since we first started, am I right? So I’ve gotten to know her via the site and via email exchanges we’ve had. She plays 100% legitimate and often talks about her donut spending habits. It is possible to have gotten the two items early if you spent donuts…i had them in my B game (you know the one where I spend several hundred a month in). you use donuts to level up, via buying coins and playing the machines. Then you use donuts to buy the items. If you don’t have enough resources for one of the crafting items you can spend donuts on them. The only ones you can’t spend donuts on directly are the upgrades themselves. So to do it would take some time, but it is possible.
Let’s not accuse anyone of hacking unless we see something crazy suspicious like they have Act 3 prizes and it’s only Act 1. Or they have multiples of the same unique building..although we know sometimes this happens legitimately (I believe it happened to you during Terwilligers Tape).
Some people really do spend $100/month on TSTO…hey like I said a few weeks ago if you took out buying coffee every week that’s a $100 savings right there. So maybe PH doesn’t buy coffee daily instead she spends her money in TSTO. Or you know, we don’t fully know everyone’s financial situation. Just because something doesn’t make sense to us doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense to someone else. Just ask Ryan how many times I shake my head at this spending in TSTO….
PH (hard to not call you your real name here lol) I’m sorry I didn’t catch that one as it went through I would have immediately counteracted what Tape said. I can 100% vouch for you that you play a legitimate game.
I love you both and hope you both continue to be a part of this community. 🙂
It’s ok. It makes me laugh.
lol and i’ll still shake my head at you…
You should
my apologies for jumping to conclusions… it can be easy to misunderstand what people are trying to say through their typing, and in retrospect i realize i probably could’ve been more diplomatic about my question to you, but i wasn’t trying to attack you. we had been neighbors for a while, i knew you were a commenter on here, and rather than drop you and not say anything about it, i honestly just wanted to know what the deal was. you had the safari casino and the other craftables much earlier than any of my other neighbors, which was what caught my eye in the first place, and then when i saw the 4 whales, i couldn’t help but think you must’ve gone to the dark side, so to speak. i’d never seen anyone else with more than one whale, and simply couldn’t fathom anyone spending 840 donuts (if you bought during the black friday promotion) for 4 of them.
i want you to know that i truly regret making you feel awful or adverse in any way, and for dropping you prematurely, rather than waiting to ask you about it first. i want to stress though that my intention was not to attack you, and hope that my compliment about your great designing and my desire to have you back as a neighbor helps back up that sentiment.
Many of my neighbours have more than one whale & 8 of those have at least 3 (idk if any of them have more now, I tend to lose track). But I love the whales! Geez! Anyway, yes, you should have asked and I do believe you were nasty about it. None of this stuff is even important to everyday living. It’s a game & you have a right to not be someone’s neighbour for whatever reason. The way you went about it was a poor choice. I spoke to Al (Yes, I call you that) this morning and what is done is done.
Hey Alissa, Is there going to be a Springfield Showoff every month, or every two months, or two weeks, or etc? The last showoff was last year. Also, what happened to caption This! (sorry if I seem a little demanding. I know you have a job and a little addict to take care of) 😊
My thoughts on it all…
Showoff we will slowly return to the site. It was more Alissa had to take a leave, then I had to take a leave just recently… so we wanted to focus more on critical stats and information that Player’s needed most on the site. Hopefully we will have more soon, it is also just lately EA is stuffing our faces full of so much content, there isn’t much room for anything “extra”. Lol. Just keep watching the site, lots of cool things we hope to have return as soon as we can. 🙂
As to Caption This, that is more dependent on what kind of pics we get. For instance, if we just get images of a Character on a Task… it is just a Character on a Task. Now if we get a pic of a lot more going on in the picture that almost tells a story just looking at it, than those are more “Caption This” material. Just think of it as the age old saying of “a picture can tell 1000 words”. A picture that tells a great, funny, or hilarious story may not be easy to get all the time. You have to catch things at just the right time and place.
https://flic.kr/p/EeqQka
Caption this one Bunny! 🐰 🐇
🙂
NSFW 😛
Not nearly as much as some of the more unfortunate lineups she’s had in my town, usually while Freddy’s out drinking.
So the buildings in the colony are as small as they look in your screen captures?
Yea that’s zoomed in all the way
Has anyone else noticed that the casino goers now give out 20 chips!?
I was surprised nobody else has mentioned this! 20 chips was exciting. I can get the last prize from act 2 today and save my tokens for act 3.
You’re not planning on going for any bonus rounds?
The skeptic in me says that means there are now 50% fewer gamblers which in turn cuts the chances to earn craftable currency in half also.
I was indecided, so thanks for the opinion. I will pass. Looks sort interesting but 200 donuts…a bit high.
I got it, but it’s a bit of a letdown. It has a big footprint, but the little buildings and signs on it are quite small. It doesn’t add a very interesting silhouette to my town.
A Mars ant colony, eh? Sounds like another target for the 50ft Magnifying Glass…
I don’t have a wordpress so I will add that I “like” your comment.
Thank you so much for posting pictures of those signs!
(‘Zerz appears to be an American version of a tapas restaurant, no? But I’d love to have one in my town…wish they’d make some of the Mars colony buildings available for Earth’s Springfield!)
http://bit.ly/1QSQqqC
i thought the tailgate party was cool enough to blow 200 donuts on, but i’m glad i checked this out in some neighboring towns first… even on my tablet, all the details of the buildings and billboards are just too small for me to really enjoy. will be passing on this.
I want this so bad, I’m such a space nerd but 200 is a lot of sprinkles I’m sooooo torn. Thanks for the info Alissa, but I’m gonna half to pick this up. Love the App by the way.
I bought it, because Mars. I’m leaving it at level two for the time being, though. Hopefully there will be an option added to change the skin on it so I can get it out of my task book, but I do really like it.