Sci-Fi Springfield 101: Crafting

Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!

The nerds have invaded Springfield!  Ok just one nerd, and he’s not all that bad.  And only in Springfield can Professor Frink, with the help of Homer, open up a black hole that transports doppelgangers, robots and Stephen Hawking (!) to our pocket sized Springfields!

Love it or hate it, EA has proven over the last year + that crafting is here to stay.  While the prizes themselves are pretty self explanatory, collect this to earn these prizes, crafting is a whole other “animal”.  Crafting requires some self direction.  You decide what you want and collect the items to craft accordingly.  Sometimes this is successful and sometimes it’s not. And, as with all things, for some events crafting is easier than others.  This event is a combination of a few different techniques we’ve seen in the past (Leveling Up (Casino Event) and 1 Item for Crafting (Superheroes 2) and adds some new dimensions (Future Bucks).

Now I know some of you still have questions about what to craft, if you should craft or Level Up, what happens in future Acts…so, as we’ve done in the past, we’re here to break it all down for you.  So let’s take a look at the basics of Crafting for Act 1…

As always we’ll start with the basics…

When Does Crafting Start?

Crafting starts via the main questline when you start Do Me A Solid and build the 3D Printer (Free)

This will appear after you’ve triggered Dark Matters Part 7.  For more on the questline check out our Turbo Tappin’ Post

How Do I Access the Crafting Menu?

Just like every other event the Crafting Menu is accessible via the Event Hub.

The purple hologram trophy is your event hub.  Click on it and you’ll access your event hub for this event:

From there you want to find the crafting Icon, third one down on the left, that looks like this:

Tap on it and that’ll bring up your Crafting Menu (Also known as 3D Printer):

You can also access your Crafting Menu (the quick way) by tapping on your 3D printer in Springfield…

When Does Crafting End?

Crafting is avaialble for the ENTIRE event.  You read that right…the ENTIRE event.  So you have until September 20th to craft everything!

Plenty of time…so take your time.

What Is the Crafting Currency?

So it’s 1 crafting currency for the ENTIRE Event (as of right now), with another crafting currency as an option for later.  (more on that in a second).

The crafting currency for the event is Robot Parts:

The other item…that’s an option for later…Future Bucks (again more on that in a second):

How Do I Earn Crafting Currency?

For Act 1 you earn Crafting Currency by tapping Robots (1/robot tapped) and by playing the SciFighter Mini game (Payouts vary on that one)

Ok, So If I Need Robot Parts to Craft What The Heck Are Future Bucks?!

Future Bucks  are an alternate form of currency for the crafting menu.  They’re used once you’ve MAXED OUT your quantities of items you can craft.  You cannot use future bucks until you’ve maxed out your Demos.

Demo?! What the Heck is a Demo?!

For this event Demos are craftable items.  Instead of calling it an item, they’re referring to it as a Demo.  You can only spend Robot Parts on Demos.

Think of Demos as Samples of each item for crafting.

Huh?! 

Ok so here’s a better explanation.  For each item you craft there’s a cap on it.  Meaning there’s  a cap on how many you can craft via Robot Parts.   Prior to reaching that cap the items are referred to as Demos.  Like trying a product out prior to spending money on it, you’re demoing it.

When you’ve maxed out the demos for an item you’ll see this popup:

Ok So Where Do Future Bucks Come In?

So each item has a Demo Limit (some are limited at 11, others might be 1..and then fall everywhere in between).  After you’ve reached the Demo Limit you can no longer spend Robot parts to craft the item.  Instead if you want more you’ll have to spend Future Bucks to purchase it.  Making more sense now? 

Bottom-Line: You can’t use Future Bucks (even though you’ll earn them…and build them up) UNTIL you’ve maxed out the demos for an item (the amount you can buy via Robot Parts).

So if you have a Daily Challenge to buy something with Future Bucks, just hang onto it for now.  You’ll be able to complete it soon.

So Let’s Back Track a Little Bit, How Do I Earn Future Bucks?

Once you’ve reached Do Me A Solid Pt. 3 and completed it (which is the crafting questline), you’ll start to earn Future Bucks the same way you earn Robot Parts.  1  will popout of every Robot Tapped.  And you’ll earn them via the SciFighter Mini Game.

You will earn these in addition to Robot Parts.  Not instead of.  So don’t panic about not earning Robot Parts as well.

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Whew…does that clear some of that up?  Let’s move onto Levels

What’s the Deal With the Crafting Levels?  What do They Do?  And Should I Level Up or Craft?!

So with this update, similar to the Casino update, there are Levels for crafting.  Unlocking each level will unlock a new item to Craft.

Leveling up will cost you Robot Parts .  Now here’s an aspect I’m really happy about…unlike the Casino Event…you do NOT have to choose between Leveling up and Crafting.  The Robot Parts you spend to Craft items will count towards the Robot Parts needed to Level up!

What does this mean?  Well basically if it costs 600  to move up to the next level, and you want to craft Holo-Tulips (which cost 40  each)..you don’t have to decide between Leveling up and Crafting.  Simply craft the Holo-Tulips and 40  will be deducted from the 600  required to Level Up.

So for the first time…you DO NOT have to decide between Leveling Up and Crafting, because you’ll Level Up WHILE you Craft!

Ok, maybe I’m a little too excited about this.  But really, is there anything better than a two for one deal?!

So How Many Levels Are There?  How Many  Does It Cost to Level Up? 

Currently there are 19 Levels.  Here’s a cost chart:

You start at Level 1, so that’s not included here

Level (to reach)	Cost	Unlocks
2	300	Hover Street Sign
3	600	Dome-icile
4	700	Hover Bench
5	750	Atomic Hula Hoop
6	1200	Holo-Tree
7	800	Mushroom Office Building
8	850	Luminescent Flowers
9	900	Mobile Dome
10	950	Fountain of Tomorrow
11	1000	Parked Hover Car
12	1050	Parcology
13	1500	Retro Style Townhouse
14	1100	Global Housing
15	1100	Teleporter Billboard
16	1200	Tomorrow’s Costington’s
17	1500	Office Towers
18	1200	Homer’s Dream House
19	1500	Future Buck Conversion Pack

And no,it’s not a running total.  You’ll need to start from 0 each time to level up.  So in total you’ll need 17,900 to reach Level 19.  So craft wisely my friends 🙂

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Update: Some of you are questioning how to complete Part 4 of Do Me A Solid. Here’s the you have to do to complete it:

Completed All Required Demos for Any Item
Use Future Bucks to Get Items

So what this means is…you have to clear out the Demos for any item.  Meaning craft as many with Robot Parts as you can (so in the case of holo tulips, craft 12 (to max it out) and you’ll complete the required demos).

And then where it says use Future Bucks, after you’ve completed the required demos it switches to Future Bucks.  So use those to buy an item.  And you’ll complete the task.

If you’re still confused about future bucks and demos re-read the post above. 🙂

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Now I know this is usually the place where I breakdown each and every crafting item and tell you if you should craft it or not.  However, this post is already insanely long so I’m not going to do that in this post.  Instead, I’ll have another post breaking down each and every crafting item, and how many you can get.  As well as letting you know how many Future Bucks it’ll cost once you’ve maxed out the demos.

My best advice, for now is craft what you like…and bank those Robot Parts.  Remember you have the ENTIRE Event to craft.  There’s no rush to do it all right now.  Take your time, bank the parts and decide what you like. 🙂

And finally I’d like to end with my own thought on this.  I like this way of crafting.  It’s fun, it’s different and there’s ZERO pressure to craft quickly.  And best of all you don’t have to choose between leveling up and crafting.  Really good job with this one EA, a really good job.

What are your thoughts on crafting?  Any items you can’t wait to pick up?  Thoughts about Leveling up this time around?  How about the switch to Future Bucks later?  Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!