The following post was submitted by one of our Addicts Regulars..Totbox. Perhaps you’ve seen Tot in the comments a time or two ;)…Yes Totbox is back with some insightful TSTO musings for us all!
Howdy Pilgrims,
…I mean, Hello Neighbors!
As you know, you should visit your neighbors everyday (not your real life neighbors, your TSTO neighbors). During some events, neighbors are critical. What I have learned is Friendliness and Courtesy are key. So I have a few suggestions. Stop what your doing and let me shine a Light on the subject. 🙂
Every so often events have Event-Tappable-Critters (etc… I mean ETC).. I’m not sure if there is another official term or name for them. You know, Merrymakers during Christmas, Gamblers during the Casino event, Nightmares during the Nightmarish THOH event, etc. ETCs!! And there are Droppables (again maybe a better term out there), such as Formless Terrors, and Prospectors. Those Droppables are crucial to the point of this post and the Stop/Drop Light. Before I get into the thing about the Stop/Drop Light there are a few things to go over.
First and foremost (which I guess I should have said first) make sure that during an event to let your visiting neighbor have easy access to your main roads (since that is usually the place event-tappable-critters and Droppables are found). Solution: if you have a Teleporter or Monorail – Project Board place it near the DropOff Site (place that the game forces you to land/start during the event). DropOff Sites: During the Wild West it is the Saloon, during Casino event it was Burn’s Casino. Traditionally not during events it is either The Simpson’s house or the Springfield Heights Tunnel.
So place the other teleporter or (Monorail) Rail Yard close to your main roads. This is just one way to be a good neighbor.
Fun fact, did you know the city of Buffalo, New York is considered “the City of Good Neighbors”? Yet the only living Buffaloes are in the zoo. In our game we neither have an Official City Zoo (petting zoo doesn’t count) nor Buffaloes, which you’d think during a Wild West event we might have some (Buffaloes)… Maybe for a Connie Appleseed event down the road? But I digress… Like a Good Neighbor, TSTO Addicts is here. *poof*
Second (and not as important as the other points I’m going to make), Monorails: If you have a Monorail it is requested that you take the closest tracks away from the station so that it doesn’t run, which may cause glitches and delay’s to visiting neighbors. I usually just turn the Station sideways(which disconnects the other rails) and turn it back right after the event.
Third. (Finally getting to the Point of this Post!!) The Stop/drop light! With the Casino Event over, I realized that the Multi-colored Spotlight could be used as an indicator for visiting neighbors.
Selectively changing it from Red, Yellow and Green near the newest DropOff Spot can help visiting neighbors know what You (yourself) is up to. You don’t need 3, you can do it with just one (I just liked the look with 3).
Green Light = You are available to tap Droppables within the usual 4hr time frame.
Yellow Light = You are away from the game for a little while (highly likely to return within the usual 4hr time frame)
Red Light = You are in bed or away from the game (and highly not likely to be back within 4hrs)
This is on the honor system, and yes some people may forget to change their light (not going to name any names… She knows who she is) :p
What that means when seeing it in a neighbors town: Green = drop as many droppables as your comfortable with, Yellow = maybe just drop one droppable or check back a little later, Red = move on, there isn’t point wasting points at that time (you can come back a few hours later to check or drop a droppable off at someone else’s town).
Since the rumor that the Wild West event has no Bonuts, I may turn on my red light until the next act (when I get to that point, where I don’t need the currency). And I know some of you jokers out there that May think the Red Light means something else (shame on you) 😛
So did I enlighten you? Do you have any other Good Neighbor tips you’d like to share? (again… Shame on SOME of you). Any idea what the other colors could indicate? Do you have the Song “Roxanne” stuck in your head now? Think you’re going to give this a Go? Any better terms out there besides “Droppables” and “Event-Tappable-Critters” (ETC)? Ever play Red light/Green light as a kid? Ever wonder if you lived next door to a Horse, that it would be your Neigh-bor? Is it a beautiful day in your neighborhood? Leave a comment, you know that comments Light Up our days. 🙂
Great ideas! Always looking for ways to be a better neighbour! Thanks for the suggestions.
Since players reside all over the globe, I was thinking it would be helpful to be able to see each neighbors time zone.
That wouldn’t mean much if someone lived on the opposite side of the world but worked nights 😃 🚦
I used to visit every one of my 100 neighbors every day, but since the monorail event my game crashes every few visits. I kept doing them all anyway for a while, but it took forever and was more frustrating than fun, so I basically gave up on it. I keep hoping each new update will fix it, but it is still the same. (I’m on an iPhone 6+.)
Now I visit during events (and I always bounce around to get different neighbors each day), but I only do visits between events occasionally. Seeing friends’ designs is one of my favorite parts of the game, so it’s a bummer that part of the game has been so buggy for me for so long.
I like the idea of the red light and to extend when we are away on vacation. However I don’t remember if I crafted a red light lol.
The light is from the Casino event, i think it was the ‘multi coloured spot light’ but you need to change the colour yourself.
If you place it in your town then tap on it, you can change it (you need to keep tapping it until the colour you want is showing) 🙂
It’s actually a light that you tap on to change its colors…the same light can be blue, green, white, red, yellow, and one other color I can’t remember off-hand.
It is the light with the orange ring at the base
In case anyone didn’t notice, all the casino lights had different coloured rings around the base depending on what type of light it was
🚦 😃
Awesome ideas Totbox! Unfortunately since the missing neighbors glitch has hit me I can’t participate in any of them, I am not showing on at least 5 friend lists (2 of my kids, my husbands and 2 of Smedglings games). So no visitors for me ): Anyway I really love the “Drop/Stop Light.”
I’m not going to rearrange my town for random strangers that don’t play the game super often and likely do not read this site that will have no clue what my coloured lights mean. I play this game for my enjoyment, not the slight chance that I may make someone else’s game easier. All you need to do is play more often and you’ll get all the prizes instead of relying on strangers to save you time and help you earn stuff.
Thanks for taking the time to write your post and help give these guys a break on creating content but yeah…
Most neighbours graffiti, play once every few days, don’t return the favour when you give them prospectors etc and copy my town. I’ll leave my town as it is and play normally, thanks.
P.S. I get that you’re trying to start something but unless EA suggests it in game it will not catch on and is mostly a waste of time. Nice of you to try to make things easier for others but it’s just a game and they won’t get it. Just play and have fun, whether that is doing your own thing or following what this post says. I will not be taking part but thanks.
Before anyone starts to yell at this comment…remember EVERYONE is entitled to their opinions here. Whether we agree with them or not, and whether they agree with the post or not. This comment was approved because it is respectful…while stating an opinion. So let’s remember the Guidelines work both ways…
Thanks! 🙂
Grrrrr😠
I have to say I sort of agree with what you are saying. Except for my daughter and grandson I don’t know any neighbors on a personal level. I have some that faithfully come to my town and I reciprocate when I can but I certainly don’t make this a priority in my life. ALL my neighbors are at level 59 (except the boy) so their visiting is for donuts, not to help me. I’m a premium player so I visit occasionally and whether they keep me as an occasional player or not is up to them. When there is an event like this one I will visit other towns to help out.
I’m at that “I will wear purple” age – and by the way, with my gray hair that gets more compliments than the red I used to have I look great in purple – I’ve raised two adult children (and helping to raise a third person) so there are no feelings left that haven’t been hurt. My opinion is; Delete me if you don’t like my visiting behavior. There is a huge group of “add me” posts if I am in need.
I think what you’re missing is that a lot of the “regulars” who hang out on this site and post a lot are also neighbors of each other. I don’t think that Tot was trying to start something on an EA scale…this was just a little something that those of us who hang out together might like to try with each other. You’re certainly free to choose not to participate (I don’t know how many neighbors of yours are from this site anyway, considering how they seem to treat you…my neighbors from here are generally really awesome neighbors to have in the game), but I, for one, thought it was a super clever idea when she posted it and was one of the first to encourage others to participate. And I didn’t have to rearrange anything in my town to do so…I already had an extra light in inventory and just placed it near the entrance to my Old Springield.
I’m totally fine with you expressing a negative opinion about Tot’s idea — as Alissa says, everyone here is entitled to his/her own opinion — but I’m honestly not sure why you felt the need to express your opinion the *way* you did, in a somewhat unpleasant and lengthy way…perhaps a simple, “no thanks…seems like too much work” or whatever would have sufficed (especially considering that she’s just a member of the community who had an idea to share with everyone and took the time to write a whole post about it)? But, if it made you feel good to get that out of your system, then at least you made one person happy!
Eh okay, then don’t do it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
LOVE that ASCII emoji….where do you get the character for the mouth, though?
Copy and paste 😎
and the “cool” prize goes to Stephiegeee ……….
I so wish I could be layed back
😃🔫
Hahaha I have 5 kids… It’s a learned trait.
Haven’t read other replies to your comment yet but the thing that came across to me was…..your neighbours sound a bit disappointing,
Maybe you should consider replacing some with people you can actually speak to, …. most of us here have some neighbours who comment here
😃 🚦
Good job Totbox! I’ll put the red light up right away. I’ve already reached the end of the Act 1 prize track and can barely keep up with sending Prospectors back to others. I’m glad we’re neighbors! 😀
I think it’s clever, but maybe too clever. I would forget to change it, and Sandra makes a good point about the latter part of your sleep maybe having you wake within the tappable window. I do however like the idea of putting a red light when you have all the prizes and resources will no longer help you. I am still just about to unlock the hats and then will need to turn in for the rib place. After I have that, I will place a red light near my saloon for sure.
I came here to address “Any better terms out there besides “Droppables” and “Event-Tappable-Critters” (ETC)?”
Well, firstly, I like both of those (minus the “critter” part). Secondly, I wrote up a bit going over the terms…but since I really couldn’t figure out any conclusions…I’ll just say that some alternatives are “Capturables” and “Event NPC”.
🙂 if you take away the “critter” it would be Event-Tappables (which is fine) and the short form would be E.T. Lol, I don’t want anyone phoning home :p. also the “C” makes it jokey. ETC, etc. etcetera. I’m not shooting down your comment for going against it, nor shooting it down at all, thought this gives me a chance to explain my goofy thinking and making an E.T. Joke in the process.
“Capturables” is Ok but then maybe I should change the name of the Stop/Drop Light to Capture Light.
I did think “Event NPC” at first but was afraid people would think of Chippy, Nessy, Dancing Reindeer.
I wasn’t sure if there was any offical Code name that pre-existed.
Yeah, good point on chippy.
I think we should go with ET. ET used his finger, too…..
Lol, I wonder what kind of ETs we’ll get next Halloween :p (oh wait they did the alien invasion already)
my neighbors dont take anything seriously, a lot of my neighbors don’t decorate their towns at all, they just throw stuff around in corners, got no roads, and their towns are basically non existent because they don’t really make it look like a town. It’s just random stuff placed and thrown in and look stupid. I got rid of a lot of people off my list because of that. Other than me, from my entire list I am the only one that actually decorates. So, a light switch wouldn’t work, especially since most of them are not from this site, I got people from other places like youtube, and other strange forums
You might want to check out the Add Me area of this site and replace your current neighbors with some new ones from here. I currently have a pretty great group of neighbors, pretty much all of whom have decorated towns (many much more impressive than my humble little ‘burb) and are active in my town at least during events. Probably about 2/3 of those neighbors are folks I got from this site.
Let’s not get too serious on the neighbor thing, it’s just a game.
For some players they just like to alert their neighbors. Especially since many our friends from this community…it’s just friendly and a fun thing to do, should you want to. Not everyone has to play like this…but some like to. So let’s keep that in mind 🙂
T-Box: Another great read. I must ask though, what praytell might we be thinking…maybe a District of Crimson Lights perhaps? 😀
I don’t feel like my neighbors would care even if I did it. I have built the word “Friends” with an arrow at Springfield heights (which is the new permanent starting point for non-events from what I’ve seen) directing people to my house farm and no one seems to actually follow it.
One thing I find useful to neighbors for events that I picked up from an old neighbor is that I remove all streets except for a section surrounding the event area. That way all the tapables neighbors need should be right there for them and they don’t have to go searching for them.
As long as that strip isn’t too crowded….
I have my town set up in strips, 5 road squares between each strip of road. So during these events I keep the roads on both sides of the strip where I’m placing event things. So there should be at least 10-15 road blocks, so I hope it’s not too crowded.
Hate that! Unless it’s a very large strip. The characers get so crowded up, it’s almost impossible to tap the tappables. I deleted a neighbour who only had about a 2″ section of road in his whole town. Just too much trouble.
I’m not a fan of that, either. Even worse is when someone did that for a previous event (or between events) and that little patch of road is nowhere near the drop zone…hate having to look all over town to try to find the one place where I can tap on the bandits (or whatever it is for other events).
I have done Road Moats around Event DropOffs before, never deleted all my other roads, but I really only have one long strip (Evergreen Terrace) leading to Squidport (which is lengthy).
I also have seen small land strips and Event Road Moats in other neighbors towns (the road moats are ok if distant to other roads) but this time around the ETC seem to hang around my Evergreen Terrace more…. Maybe because I’m using dirt roads instead of streets??
I did think about bringing it up but again most people around here like there Huge Springfields and massive roadways (nothing wrong with it) but I figured it would rub to many people the wrong way just by suggesting such a thing. The Monorail Project Billboard and teleports solve the majority of that issue (if everything is placed in the best places).
But the monorail teleport only helps if you want the players to go to that area. I use it for myself when I’m working on getting rail pieces, but I don’t imagine anyone else who visits my town has a use for it. I’ve never used it in neighbor towns because to me that’s just another random area of the town, I don’t know that being there would help what I was there to do.
I’m not expecting everyone to move their Rail Yard closer to main roads, I just wanted to let some people realize that is a neat feature, and it does work in neighbors towns (visiting). I move it back after Events are done. (Same would go for the teleporters which I do not own, it’s just an option). LOL, sometimes I click on a neighbors Billboard or teleporter and I Warp and find myself in the middle of no-where and say “that was pointless”. It’s a game, some take it seriously and others don’t. There isn’t a right or wrong.
Hello neighbor!! Your strip of road isn’t too crowded btw, I’ve never had problems tapping. My town isn’t very large so I *think* it’s easy to get to event tappables (correct me if I’m wrong please).
Since we’re new neighbor’s I get directed to the saloon and had to search for what you were talking about. But it might be that some neighbor’s think you’re pointing to the buildings right below the arrow, not that they should scroll further down to the house farm. Perhaps arrows continuing down until it hits the house farm or bringing the farm closer to the arrow would help.
Great idea will add light by saloon right away. Most of my neighbor’s know I’m always around at least 4 hours unless sleep, which didn’t happen last night didn’t sleep till 6:00 phone woke me at 8:00.
I’ve been dropping prospectors as time limits come up, if I can’t drop because their town is full I move on, then in next 4 hours I drop more as I get them, when I’m through I go back to friends I missed so most of my friends get at least one😊 Even if I’m not getting anything but money & xp, thinks it’s good neighbor practice.
Stop light would help though, great ideas Tot!
Lol. Nope.
Geez, Tot – I only forgot *once*! 😛 😉
I didn’t realize that “guests” can also use teleporters and the project board, too! Maybe this will mean that I’m a bad neighbor, but I don’t want to mess with my design (and, in the case of my teleporters, my own convenience) by moving them around to a different location, but my guests are certainly free to use them as is. Fortunately, my town is not as big as some (I’ve been fairly economical with my land and I still have lots of purchaseable land left), so I don’t think it’s too hard to get around my town.
Thanks for the article; the idea with the light really is a clever one. The only problem is, the red light can be kind of misleading….I realized recently that if I put it on red at bedtime, then I’m cheating myself (and my neighbors) out of potential bandit tap yields, because, for the second half of my sleep time, I’m within the 4-hour tapping window. So, I’ve started using yellow for overnight.
Also, I have a question…why keep your light on red once you’ve finished the act? If this event is like the others, the hats and pick axes should continue over into the next act, so you might as well keep collecting them, no? I think once I’ve finished this act, I’ll use the red light overnight, but will continue to use green or yellow during the day, so as to get a nice running start into Act 2!
I don’t think they carry over…
Clues won’t, but most likely hats and pick axes will carry over.
My town is kind of dump and tap but it’s because I lack creatively and I don’t have a lot of time I play daily tho
I’ve been doing the light thing, but my Monorail is running two trains at the minute,
Is it slow to load for neighbours?
Shall I stop the Monorail?
let me know,
and thanks to Totbox for the idea
🚦 😃🔫 🚂🚃🚃🚃 🐎 🐎 🚦
Never had any trouble visiting Lee ♡
I’ve disconnected it now, after all, it’s a bank holiday weekend, and as everyone in England knows……….
On holiday weekends they stop the trains for maintenance and use replacement buses,
“Please allow an extra 4 hours for your journey”
🚅= 🚌 🚦 😃
I admit I’ve been a very bad neighbor. Lately I get more annoyed by the neighbor aspect than get any joy out of it. I’ve already completed the prize line so, yeah. And the prospectors are just to annoying to try to catch. I’ll be a good neighbor. Sorry I haven’t been visiting daily but I’ve got over 200 prospectors to drop so those who have them coming will be getting them in spades. I have tomorrow off so I’ll probably set aside a couple of hours to hit poeple back.
And if I am a neighbor of yours please give Yr prospectors to those who need them more. I won’t mind, I don’t keep track of who visits me when. But there are people out there hoping they’ll get everything in time, help them instead.
Neat idea!! Now to find a spotlight to remove from my casino set up…
None in inventory? I had a few, along with other stuff that I crafted up to use up my materials at the end of the casino event.
Nope I used all the ones I crafted in my casino area. I found a few that weren’t making much of an impact though and moved one to the wild west area 🙂
Very good idea. I’ll go and redesign a bit now. I didn’t realise tapping the project board in a neighbour’s town took you to the rail yard, either.
I confess I have a bit of a dump and drop town at the moment, because the events are coming too quickly to take the time to make it nice! That’s why I have a triple ring of road around the ‘town square’, and delete all my roads other than these during events.
Awesome idea! I am still redesigning my town, it’s been forever though. But I will get right on this.
Thanks!
I’d hate to accidentally mislead with a light – sometimes I’m a 4 hour, sometimes 6 or 8. Maybe not using a light at all means “I’m unpredictable – take your chances”.
One thing I do is often skip the first few players in my town completely, as they get so much action. I’ll also take the time to start from the end of the alphabet about half the time. But I’m sure a lot of us do that already.
Sounds like yellow would be the appropriate light for your situation.
Great idea…. I’m on board 😄
Mine is on green….well for now anyway 😬
This is pretty clever! Didnt have that song in my head but now i do. Great…just great. Lol
I think morse code messages built with bushes (small for dot, large for dash) would be more illustrative. Plus it would keep you busy.
Changing
… — .-. .-. -.– –..– / .. / .- — / .- .– .- -.– / ..-. .-. — — / – …. . / –. .- — . / ..-. — .-. / – …. . / — — — . -. – / .–. .-.. . .- … . / … .- …- . / -.– — ..- .-. / .–. .-. — … .–. . -.-. – — .-. … / ..-. — .-. / … — — . — -. . / — — .-. . / .– — .-. – …. -.–
to
…. — .– -.. -.– / -. . .. –. …. -… — .-. … / .. / .- — / .- .-.. .. …- . / .– . .-.. .-.. / .- -. -.. / .– .- .. – .. -. –. / – — / .- -.-. -.-. . .–. – / .- .-.. .-.. / –. .. ..-. – … / -.– — ..- / …. .- …- . / -… . . -. / .– .- .. – .. -. –. / – — / -… . … – — .– / ..- .–. — -. / — .
would be truly awesome.
🙂
LOL!
If I didn’t have to work this morning, I’d totally look up the Morse code key and translate those! How long did it take you to post that?
Well, hours, honestly. I had to translate the messages I normally place on my front lawns by blinking them to my personal TSTO assistant. But it’s worth it to bring this important info to you, and that’s why I hire the best.
Seriously, though, just 5 seconds…I used a morse code generator. Yay, internet!
Does it work in reverse? That would be great for me, lol!
Waits patiently for Sandra to finish work and translate…
You’re gonna be waiting until the weekend, then (if I can find it again by then).
We’ll wait….
After reading many comments in the past days another point to make is
DON’T be PRECIOUS, it’s not all about you, if your neighbor-eeno doesn’t treat you as you would hope then TURN THE OTHER CHEEK.
With all the glitches and problems going on with this event then there could well be a justifiable reason why your friends aren’t reciprocating with the same generosity and good will as you show them. Be the better person, don’t be short sighted and delete them for a perceived wrong, after all why have you got friends? You are there for them, not the other way around.
I am going to do this. Good job Totbox. I also like the teleporter idea too 🙂
Great Post. I like the light option. A number of my neighbours have poorly designed towns (just dump and drop, if you ask me) and it does make it difficult to find bandits. One more glitch: after visiting my neighbours this morning, the time clock for Robbing Springfielders at the Krusty Burger was reset to 4 hours. It happened yesterday when I visited Krustyland (tested it this morning and it was OK).
I realized a few events ago that the neighbors that dump and drop are not worth keeping. There are a lot of nice players that take time and pride in there towns. Any time I go searching for new neighbors now, I am very picky and delete any dump and tap towns. I also no longer care if I have 100 neighbors because the events limit you and I rarely have the patience to tap all 100 everyday with all the delays in visiting.
I don’t know, some of my town is a little “drop and dumpy” because I’ve gotten too much in too little time. I don’t design as I go during an event and I won’t even attempt to redesign until after. And I’m a nice neighbor! :p
I should have been more clear. You can tell the difference between a town that is purely dump an drop and when the the person is just waiting to get everything then design. I am talking the towns where EVERYTHING is just piled and you wonder why the people are even playing. I design as I go as much as I can and I will admit I am not the best at it but I think it looks nice. I do also have a bit of a house farm which changes as I need space or money but the rest I try to keep pretty.
Great idea! Done!
Mines on red till act two ♡
Yes, but is that anything to do with prospectors?
😃
Careful now Lee ♡ …you know I bite…
Mines are a terrible thing to waste.
😉
I will set a red light up when I get my last prize.