Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Seeing a LOT of questions/concerns in the comments about not getting enough dark matter (
) in your game. You’re not able to keep up with the calendar, and you’re afraid you won’t get everything. And many of you are asking for tips on how to get more Dark Matter..and faster.
So let’s quickly breakdown the math and how to succeed in getting everything….
First, let me say I didn’t do a math post initially because I didn’t think we needed one. This event should be easy peasy…but seeing so many of you with concerns it may be a little more confusing to some of you than I initially thought. So I’m happy to break it down for you now…
Now, let’s establish a few things….
-To succeed in ANY event in TSTO you need to log in continually over a 24hr period. No this doesn’t mean being in your game every minute of every day. This means you need to log in more than twice a day to be successful. If you can’t do that, and you’re not willing to spend donuts, then you’re not going to get every prize an event has to offer. There is just no way.
-Successful tapping in this, or any event, comes in logging in every 4hrs. Everything is built on a 4hr schedule…so going in once every 4hrs is the best (and most efficient) way to operate during events.
-The Ralph way of tapping…don’t over think it. Just have fun and tappa, tap, tap.
So let’s talk about a tapping schedule. Many of you are concerned that you’ll have to go in every 4hrs around the clock, and you’ll get no sleep. This is NOT the case. As I’ve established over past events…you simply need to log in 5 times a day. ANYONE can do that…and you’ll still get 8hrs of sleep a night. (heck even 4 times/day should work).
Here’s my tapping schedule:
6AM, 10AM, 2PM, 6PM, 10PM then I go to bed….
And, honestly, there are many times I forget 1 or 2 time slots/day. Or I’ll spend weekends with my family and will forget to tap. And I STILL get everything.
But following that schedule, or something close to it, will work. The key is log in every 4hrs…4-5 times per day. And you’ll succeed.
Now that we’ve established a scheduled, let’s talk about the math.
There are several ways to earn dark matter during Act 1. I’m just going to cover the freemium ways that apply to everyone. If you have premium characters/buildings that earn currency..well you’ll just be WAY ahead of the game 🙂
-First…the Multiverse Homers. EVERYONE is given FIVE multiverse Homers to use for this event. Those 5 Homers each earn 33 /4hrs at the PolyVac.
So that is 165/4hrs…from just the Multiverse Homers.
-Second…the Robots. If you tap ZERO Robots in your town, every 4hrs you’ll have 80 Robots in your town. If you go to the PolyVac and start up the mini game it’ll instantly clear all 80 Robots for you, and you’ll get the credit. (So no crazy searching for these robots has to happen. More details can be found here). So you get 1 per Robot….
So that’s 80 /4hrs…just from the Robots.
-Third…the SciFighter Game. Play that once every 4hrs and try to tap between 30-40 Robots each time (it’s not hard to do…just tap the flying Robots…more details on how to play this one can be found here). And you’ll earn roughly 130-180/4hrs from the mini game.
So let’s total this up…
So at the lowest (with the Sci-Fighter Battles at 130/4hrs…you can earn more) it’s 375/4hrs.
Just for logging into your game for 1-2 minutes every 4hrs.
You multiple the 375 x 5 times/day…That’s 1,875. MORE than enough to keep up with the 1,847/day average you need to keep up with the Calendar.
That’s JUST from logging in every 4hrs. It does not include the questline OR neighbor actions (you can earn an additional 180/day from neighbor actions).
So here’s the key to getting it all….
-Log into TSTO EVERY 4hrs, 5 times/day.
-When you’re in: clear the Multi Homer’s tasks (and reset) and play the Sci Fighter Game.
-Launching the game will clear the 80 robots that have built up in your town over the last 4hrs (so you don’t have to search for them).
-Once in the game try to clear at least 30 of the flying Robots (as part of the game).
This will take you a matter of minutes every 4hrs…just doing those few things ALONE and you’ll be successful!
Hope this helps some of you who are stressing out about this event. Really…it’s easy. Just step back. Take a deep breath…and log in every 4hrs. And you’ll be successful! 🙂
Thoughts on the math of the event? Are you having success or struggling to keep up? Have you been using these methods? What tapping method have you been using? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
Quote “-Log into TSTO EVERY 4hrs, 5 times/day.”
So… you folks don’t sleep/work? Am I the only one who sees a problem with a solid 5x/day, 20hr/day regimen?
I _just_ (an hour or so before the act ends) got Sgt Skinner, and I’m a daily player w/ regular friends visits (have been for years).
I don’t believe this warrants a “really, it’s easy,” post, but ymmv.
Not happy.
Loving many aspects of this event– using nonessential (new) characters for grinding, extending the crafting through the event and effectively putting crafting decisions into the players’ hands, and all the fun blowuppy robot stuff… but this episode’s difficulty (timewise) is making me reconsider playing the game altogether.
I have a life, maybe even three, and rarely get enough sleep as it is; to ask me to regularly interrupt those lives AND do without sleep just to keep the status quo is too much (imho).
Just my two cents.
tldr: Happy I finally got Skinner, not happy for the stress; am reconsidering time spent on next two episodes/stages.
Also, apologies if I sounded grumpy! It was late, and I was. Very much appreciate Alissa and the whole crew here <3
2 hours left and I am at 21.5k. Sorry no way if you have a job (cannot log in at work) to get this done. Hope it doesn’t gimp the rest not having Sgt Skinner…
Well, a lot of people can’t play games at work, can’t have their iPad or phone at work, or don’t have wifi or a signal everywhere they go. I just don’t think logging in every 4 hours is realistic as a standard. I didn’t expect to get all the prizes because I’m in a busy spell at work, but I wasn’t expecting to struggle to get the hover car. Oh well.
Yaay!
I did it with only a few hours left to spare
I’m saving Sargent skinner’s task for act 2
Thank god I caught up with the calendar
I too am behind for the first event ever and I even bought all of the extra event currency items. I set the timer on my phone to alert me every 4 hours and I still am struggling with the last two prizes.
Um super shocked at the difficulty this time around.
I “lost” 4 days due to a festival trip and still need 5000 currency, I’m pretty sure the final prize is not for me. Too bad, I hope I won’t need skinner that much for the next phases. 350 donuts is too much for just a character.
At least 2 of my daily logins are on my phone instead of my iPad, and I almost always lose Scifighter when playing on my phone, earning only around 90 matter. When playing on my iPad, I usually tap 35-40 robots, maybe a few more if I use a flash. So I’m probably only averaging 110-130 dark matter per game.This may be the first event I can remember where skill plays a significant role in whether you earn all prizes, regardless of how many times you log on.
I am about 5500 away from Sgt. Skinner, don’t think I’ll make it by the deadline…
I have 3,600 left to go in a little less than 2 days, I played at 6 already today and I don’t think I’m going to make it
Others were a lot easier to make
For me, the reasons were that I 1) work and sometimes can’t login every 4 hours, 2) I am sabbath observant and that’s 24 hours shot right off the bat
I have 75 neighbors and only 6 are keeping up with the calendar. This is the first event I’m falling behind. It does seem like a lot of people are struggling with this one. I might be able to get the last prize in act 1. Fingers crossed.
I always finish events early, usually get 1-2 rounds of bonuts. I’m playing this event exactly the same as all the rest and I’m behind. I probably won’t get Skinner before round 1 ends. Something is definitely different this time.
Sergeant Skinner’s quest pays out event currency but I find it as a waste to use up the 500 event currency since I have all five of the prizes and I really don’t care about the scifact bonus. If I wait to send him on his quests until act 2 drops Thursday will the currency carry over?
Normally at this point I usually collecting bonuts but for some reason I am 1000 away from the fifth prize with two days left. I play four times a day and I am wwaayyy behind.
I will have to spend some donuts and predict that EA will put the bonus currency up to two gems per robot
Upon visiting my Neighboreenos, I can confirm the ONLY Tappers close to (or have completed) getting all of Act One Prizes have used Donuts to buy Premiums that generate Dark Matter!! The rest – 90% – not even close!!
I – Mr Bifocals – can do the every 4 Hours (except last Saturday, I did a double shift at work)!! I – Mr Bifocals – am not tapping 30 to 40 Robots in Sci Fi Battle (I’m lucky if I get 20)!! That’s using a 6 Inch Phablet, btw!!
Getting 1 Flash from Nuclear Power Plant daily is 1 time daily I win the Sci Fi Battle (obviously it costs Donuts to get more Flash and win more Sci Fi Battles)!! As a Long Time Tapper, this may be the 1st time I don’t get each Prize from each Act (since 2014) – an I know I’m not in the minority here!!
Congrats EA, for the 1st time you’ve created an Event where it’s obvious that spending Donuts is the only way a Tapper is going to earn everything!! You’ve also made available some nice Freemiums to Craft – which is why I won’t waste Donuts on Premiums this time!!
That’s what the you get for irritating this long-time Tapper (if I have more Neighboreenos quoting on me? Blame yourself, EA)!!
Just, ditto. Loooong time player, first time I am so far behind. I play four times daily, five on weekends. I am not even close. Not sure what happened on this first act.
Why can’t you win a battle without using the flash? I’ve won all but one of my battles (there’s a “story” behind why I lost the one battle I lost), and rarely use the flash (I’ve certainly never bought any more than the game had given me for free).
All anyone who is working has to do is sneak in the bathroom and play the game. That should be simple enough.
Not if you rely on Wi-Fi and your office doesn’t have it.
Sorry if I’ve missed a post, but how do “Future Bucks” actually work? Where do I spend them? Are they a grafting currency for a later act?
Thank you.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2016/08/17/sci-fi-springfield-101-crafting/
This one explains it 😀
I have a neighbor with over 56,000 dark matter. I tap multiple times a day and am barely keeping up with the calendar (I should be able to get Sgt. Skinner within the next few days). I am maxing out the dark matter from my neighbors. What am I doing wrong and how can some people be so far ahead of me? It was much easier to get all the prizes in the Super Hero event.
Since Sgt Skinner would likely become the second playable character to live in my storage, I’m not super worried about winning him. In fact, I might go out of my way to avoid winning him.
Yeah I’m likely not going to get everything from this first act. I was in Italy when the event launched, only able to log on to wifi twice a day and even then it was miserably laggy. Did better in Britain, I had 4G there but still my schedule didn’t allow for logging in more than a few times a day. Oh well…I have cool pictures and a sunburn 😀
lol I think you got something WAY more valuable than pixelated prizes 😉
I am also feeling this even is way harder than any other. I’ve been playing almost 3 years and usually I have last 5 days of each wave for bonuts log in 4 times a day. This time I am below calendar and I don’t know if I will get last prize. I hope they decrease the amount required for waves 2 and 3 or this event will be quite disappointing.
I do love that I don’t have to hunt for the robots all over the place just scifight and done. I’ve never been able to log in every four hours for any of the events and easily got all the good stuff. I am behind this time but hopefully I’ll catch up… if not, oh well. Thanks addicts
I’ve been playing TSTO for years now and I (as far as I recall) I’ve never had a problem getting all of the prizes by logging in 3 times a day (usually morning, lunch and before bed). But the last event (Superheroes II) I didn’t get the last prize during the first section and this one (even though it’s ridiculously easy) I’m way behind (I’m at 11K something and should be at 16K something).
Do you all get the feeling that EA is starting to require more of a time commitment in these events if you want to acquire all of the prizes (without spending donuts that is)?
No. Frankly, I think they’ve been making it easier!
Yes and no, this one is clearly in the hard lane, and some are in the easy lane. I think they have two different developers making the different events, and one of them is an a******, and one is more lenient.
One of the daily challenge prizes is 1,100 dark matter. If you get something else you can try and change the prize once a day.
That’s bad advice – just tried this and didn’t get an event specific task… Just one to earn cash… So missed out on what little dark matter was on offer 😞
Or you could have just dismissed that one again tomorrow…
“you simply need to log in 5 times a day. ANYONE can do that”
Sorry, but that’s not true. Many people work jobs in which they can’t use Tapped Out at specific times of the day. Or they have other commitments that prevent logging on every 4 hours awhile awake.
Not everyone has the luxury of accessing their game at specific moment throughout the day.
Please respect that some people in your audience have lives that are different than yours. Thanks.
Please know we respect that people have lives and not everyone can log in all the time. I am one of those people. As of now, I am 200 or so away from the 4th prize and will probably squeak by for the last one. One thing I like is that I can quickly do the actions. I just go on when I have a spare moment. Best of luck getting everything.
Bang on !
Seems most posts from guys who are logging on 4 to 5 times a day are making steady progress ( although there is always the nerd who finishes 5 days in front of everyone else & likes to boast about it !!! ). However for the rest of us, who have other commitments it is a slog & hard to catch up, which is fair enough I suppose as the more you put in the more you get back.
Just don’t keep ramming it down our throats how easy this event is !
This is the easiest event we’ve ever seen, in the sense that you don’t even have to tap the robots. Just log in after 4hrs and start up the mini game. Your robots are all cleared. This is the first one I can remember, in…well…EVER..where it takes less than 2 minutes to log into your town and clear it entirely. Usually you have to spend some chunk of time searching your town for the tappables wandering around…and you don’t always get credit for all of them.
“So let’s talk about a tapping schedule. Many of you are concerned that you’ll have to go in every 4hrs around the clock, and you’ll get no sleep. This is NOT the case. As I’ve established over past events…you simply need to log in 5 times a day. ANYONE can do that…and you’ll still get 8hrs of sleep a night. (heck even 4 times/day should work).”
i felt i should quote that whole paragraph, to show how you’ve pulled one line and taken it out of context. alissa was talking about being able to do the necessary tapping without having to lose any sleep over it. she wasn’t suggesting that anyone, regardless of their circumstances, should be able to manage that. she had already established that one must be somewhat dedicated to this game to unlock everything these events have to offer. i get that you might be frustrated about not being able to unlock all the prizes, but certainly you get that ea’s target audience probably doesn’t fit the people in the kinds of situations you’ve described. and that is just life son.
so, how about you please have some respect for alissa and the mods that run this site, as they have busy lives of their own and still manage to compile all this quality information together, all free for your perusal (as you’ve clearly done, just not quite well enough).
I do respect that. But you also have to realize that these events…all events…require a log in commitment. If you can’t log into your game multiple times a day you’re not going to get everything. It’s just a fact.
I have a full time job, a 9 month old and a million other things going on. The fact that I can get into my game for less than 2 minutes to clear it is helpful even if I use mobile data to do it. And no I don’t always manage every 4hrs. And there are often times I only get in once on the weekends.
Listen, if you want everything you have to work to get it. For plenty of players that means taking your phone into the bathroom at work every 4hrs. For others that means not getting everything. But don’t scream and yell at me for trying to break it down for people.
There are always going to be conflicting views & opinions as to what constitutes an ” easy ” event.
What is very clear however is the hard work & commitment Alissa & her colleagues put in, day in day out.
While I agree it’s not practical for most people to log in 5 times a day, I log in 4 times a day around my job: morning, lunch, when I get home and last thing before bed. As Alissa says, it only takes 2 minutes (if that) to log in play the mini game and put the alternate Homers to work. This is definitely the easiest update in terms of time commitment.