Looking for Some Kickass

It’s been a tough year for Kickass Torrents, one of the most popular torrent sites as of late. Back in July of 2016, the alleged founder of Kickass Torrents, Artem Vaulin, was arrested in Poland and charged with some pretty heavy crimes. They included:

  • Criminal copyright infringement
  • Conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement
  • Conspiracy to commit money laundering

Ouch!

In addition, the web site domain was seized and shut down. However, mirrors and copies of the site were quickly re-established online and a weird cat and mouse game has persisted as many users seek viable alternatives to Kickass Torrent for all their downloading needs.

Earlier this month, the country of Australia started ordering DNS blocks on the various mirrors.

Meanwhile, young Artem was just released from solitary confinement on bail. His bail was a hefty $108,000 and his passport was confiscated, so he’s stuck in Poland while he waits to find out whether he will be extradited to the United States.

He was recently interviewed by the Verge, just two days before being released. It’s a fascinating story.

Meet the Bandit – The Newest Troop in Clash Royale

When she officially arrives in the game, the Bandit will be unlocked in the Jungle Arena (Stadium 9). She’s a unit which has the capacity to dash to nearby targets, dealing double damage if she hits on a target along with her dashboard.

It is possible to force the Bandit by setting said units that are poor in order to prevent her from releasing her dash attack on your more powerful units to target weak units such as Skeletons. The Bandit cannot dash towards targets which are within 4 tiles of her.

Take advantage of this and location melee troops to prevent her from using her dash. Minus the dashboard, she has low attack and will be killed with any mini-swarm like Guards or Goblin Gang. The Bandit is quite powerful against units that are spread out as her dash attack can quickly catch up out components and deals double damage.

The Bandit can dash through The Log and also boulders without getting knocked back. Goblins are a favorable Elixir trade for the Bandit.

If a Spawner building is area 3 tiles away from the Bandit being then placed by the river at the edge of the river can permit her to dash to the Spawner building although this does not work with buildings that are defensive.

There’s an event right now where everyone with serious skill has a shot at getting the Bandit. In this challenge, gameplay is like a routine Draft Challenge. They will soon have the ability to get the Bandit early, in case the player reaches 12 wins for the first time.

Need some tips for the Bandit Draft challenge? Try these.

The Bandit gets the same hit points as a Nighttime Witch of equal level. She does the same damage per hit as an equal leveled Miner but she doesn’t do damage that is reduced to crown towers and she deals double damage when dashing.

The Bandit’s personal name is Juno, as is shown if the language is establish to Japanese.

Her dash damage does then Battle Ram, Dark Prince, and the Prince, but she’s also quicker than them. She’s very speedy, just like a good Bandit.

Sadly, I didn’t win the Bandit challenge, so like most of you I will have to wait a few days for her to arrive permanently in the game. In the meantime, I’ll be content with Bandit videos on YouTube and screenshots.

 

Clash Royale – A Review

Typically the most popular ones that I’ve learned of do things like allow you to constantly lively on Clash of Clans (so you just get assaulted when your required strike cool down happens) which true were a larger price before recent upgrades in addition to the skill to “phantom strike” which amounts to constantly retrying an assault without that strike really enrolling. I have read that quite several top-grade families do these sort of stuff to keep their win runs rolling, until they find one which works as they can efficiently brute force attack strategies that are distinct, then run that strategy on the live servers. Oh, there is also a variety of unethical techniques for getting stone.

Lately some new policies were declared by Supercell on honest and safe play.

Breaking that down further are faced with amassing groups of numerous cards, distribute across multiple groups, subsequently used in a thirty card deck. If you have never played a game that way before as amazing as the Hearthstone tutorial and onboarding procedure is, you are still speaking less of a learning curve and more of a learning wall. Only how hard it’s to create a competitive deck for most players leads to never truly ever needing to learn the best way to construct a deck of the own, and only looking up what other players are playing, reproducing those decks.

Relatively, Clash Royale features a few dozen cards of which players choose eight cards that are exceptional to construct a deck. This looks a little overly fundamental- especially if you are a veteran of other card games. It is really quite amazing, as with just eight cards to work with once you allow it to settle in, it becomes instantly see-through which cards are not functioning in your deck and are.

The MOBA and RTS components are also considerably simplified. Success comes from not only by how intelligently you use your units, but how precisely and fast you are capable to command them. On earth of popular RTS games like StarCraft, top-grade players are issuing their military with hundreds of orders a minute. Likewise, the split second decision making you see in top-grade MOBA play is not credible.

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The training mode for Clash Royale (more screenshots here)

Placing where you summon these units is not unimportant, as instead of micromanaging an army, an incredibly fundamental AI similar to assaulting base is used by everything. Each unit acts somewhat differently, although some attack the closest thing to them and a few might prioritize targeting constructions. Cards have a projecting cost related to them, using the Elixir resource that you simply may likewise understand from Clash of Clans.

Like most card games, the expense of cards behind the scenes of the game, although usually escalate with strength degree is a rock paper scissors-like system where more affordable cards played correctly and at the perfect time can completely counter apparently strong cards that are high-priced.

clashroyalecharacterredkingangry
The King is Mad!

As an example, the Prince is the first epic poem card new players will encounter. He costs after a short interval will rapidly charge toward the closest unit or construction and strike with a huge assault, and five elixir to play. Initially you encounter this card, you will necessarily feel like it is completely overpowered.

Nevertheless, after testing and thinking about a bit, you will find the Tombstone card which is uncommon instead of epic poem, but costs three elixir instead of five, will completely shut down the Prince. The catch is, have responses to dangers like the Prince, and you have got to manage your hand of cards. The whole game is full of cards which have become powerful, but can be readily countered, although this can be only one example. Despite the fact that the card pool and deck size may not seem large, the depth of strategy is astounding.

A game that is typical afterward calls for initially selecting your eight cards which meld together good in some sort of strategy that is cohesive with responses to the various kinds of hazards you might run into. From there, you seek for an adversary, and are matched up with someone who has the same prize amount as you (more with this later). From there, you dump cards out, and have the ability to knock down one or more of the crown towers while shielding your own, and finally ruin your adversary’s principal King tower. Games have a hard limitation of choosing definitely no longer than four minutes, which will be truly only another smart wrinkle in the game.

crredprince
The Red Prince can’t see!

If indoors of both of these minutes you find a way to ruin the principal King tower of your adversary, you win. The game advances to an additional minute which will be generally where things get real as you and your competition only rapid fire throw cards. By the end of that three minutes that are accumulative, whoever has ruined the match is won by more towers. Where the first player to ruin any tower wins if things are tied, you are given another minute of sudden death. If after death that is sudden no one manages to try this, the match finishes in a tie. Ideally, you need to ruin all your competition’s towers, as crowns for each tower ruined gather. If you accumulate ten you unlock a Crown Chest which typically has a significant number of cards and gold. Gold?”

Chances are you are likely thinking, “Well, all this seems pretty rad, but what is the rub?” It’s a free to play with game so being suspicious of other freemium shenanigans and pay walls is not only unreal. Every four hours, you’ve two slots for these chests that are free and you get one free chest, so to optimize your freebies you will desire to be checking in on the game one or more times every eight hours. After finishing the tutorial, winning conflicts awards torsos of distinct degrees of rarity (uncommoner chests contain more cards and gold) and it is possible to hold a maximum of four of these prize chests. Silver Chests, which are the most common prize chest take three hours with the Superb Magic Chest, now the greatest chest in the game, taking a whole day to unlock to unlock. As an example, if you have got a Gold Torso in your stock, you will probably need to hang on to that to unlock it as that is an eight hour timer it is possible to have while you sleep counting down. If you’ve got four chests in your stock, it’s impossible to thus open up that stock slot and earn more until you unlock one.

Obviously, you may also pay to bypass these timers, and Clash Royale shares a premium money that is similar to Clash of Clans because they are using Gems. Like any money that is free to play game with timers, the quantity of premium it takes to jump a timer scales up considerably with the number of time remaining. Although it takes some time to collect any significant amount also, like all these games, the premium money is doled out at regular times. Stone will also be used to purchase chests and gold in the in-game shop. Chests bought by you possibly having four chests in your stock already this manner are opened promptly and are not affected.

Complicating matters a bit farther is the constant leveling-up system that exists both for you as a player along with individual cards that may lead one to gathering as many cards as possible. Say you get a fresh card from a torso, it is possible to clearly instantly play with that card in any deck. But what if in your torso that is next you get duplicates of that same card? Well, you join that card to degree up one degree. When a degree is gained by a card, the well-being a component has are both improved by ten percent. The curve for cards getting degrees is important, and while it just took you two cards and five gold to get a card to degree two, it will require four cards and twenty gold to reach level three, ten cards and fifty gold to reach level four, and so forth. Updating a card awards encounter that will be rolled into your “King degree,” your entire expertise degree which additionally makes your in-game towers more strong and have more hit points. Purchasing gold looks like the greatest way to spend your stone as gold is used not only to update cards, but also purchase cards you mightn’t have from the day-to-day rotating in-game card store.

Another completely optional (but quite valuable) degree of complication comes from joining a family. Where up to fifty players can band together to give cards to each other, which actually is the finest method to get both experience and any cards much like Clash of Clans, the game has a surprisingly compelling societal component to it, you might be missing. To sweeten the deal farther, for every common card you contribute you will get five gold and one experience point, for rares you will get fifty gold and ten experience points. So, usually, it is advantageous to join a family and purchase rares and commons with gold out of your own card store, as you essentially only get that gold back in addition to experience points as you share cards. Families increase in status as the members of the family gain prizes, and prizes additionally function as both a progression system that is constant together with are made.

This entire set up will be instantly recognizable to you personally if you have played Clash of Clans. It functions great in CoC, so it is not much of a surprise that Supercell brought over that same system. Your complete ranking in the match against competitors is situated how many prizes you’ve. While, clearly, losing a match does the reverse winning a match causes one to acquire prizes. At prize brinks that are particular, you progress to completely new stadiums which not only appear different, but also unlock additional cards which your torsos could include. It is gating content predicated on ability level, in addition to an excellent system that functions nicely for matchmaking. New players just have use of a tiny card pool, but as you play and get better, you get access to more cards which further complicates the game (in a superb way) in addition to the selections you will make when constructing decks.

There’s been a ton of backlash encircling the chest timers while the game was soft established, and while timers in match are a typically annoying machinist, the great part of how all the free to play components of Clash Royale work is that there is nothing stopping you from simply playing the game all day long if you need to. Considering the game through the lens of “Well, whatever, I am not getting cards what is even the point of playing,” is completely disregarding the fact that what you actually need is prizes as even if you can not hold added chests to unlock because your inventory is complete, you can still freely level up to distinct stadiums and in the procedure, make those chests that you are opening feature better things. Also, Clash Royale is quite definitely a skill-based game, and the greatest means to get at ability-based things will be to keep playing with it. An improved way to examine the torsos is similar to Hearthstone has day-to-day quests. If you curently have finished your Hearthstone quests you might play a few more rated games only to keep upwards ranking. Playing with Clash Royale for a few more decorations is no distinct.

Since the soft start went online, where I do not actually care from playing, I am at the point now. Instead, I am doing everything I can to grind as much as the stadium that is next to unlock another grade of cards. There is nothing restricting me from hitting that next unlock aside from the time and my own ability in the game, I need certainly to play. Also, once you settle in to where developing prizes gets tough, the game loses which are quite a bit of interesting and gets more exciting as you are often confronted with really even matches, frequently finishing in wild sudden death triumphs. (Recall, in a game similar to this you are not going to win on a regular basis, and anything over a 50% win rate is considered quite great.) Overall, you are never ever going to make everyone happy with your free to play monetization in a game, but after you really get playing Clash Royale and realize that chests are not the end all-be-all of progress, you start to recognize just how generous it all is.

If you need to see what top-grade play resembles, the game even has a rotating group of replays they are calling “Clash TV”. This functions as quite a amazing carrot on a stick as it is possible to see cards in use which you do not have yet, or even possibly players using strategies you haven’t thought of doing yet for cards that you do have. In Clash TV, you are probably only seeing players who’ve spent a ton of cash on the game, but, actually, and that is good, things that are absolutely typical of most you had be a viewer of. What exactly you see can continue to be useful to you personally as a player that is free.
It is difficult to find many things to whine about as it pertains to Clash Royale, as it is without spending a cent a truly quite interesting game which I Have been playing for weeks and I do not actually see that changing. Supercell has recently released some new cards, although it will be interesting seeing the type of program they keep up with as it pertains to new content, although I was a bit concerned about the card pool possibly stagnating. Considering such games live and die by how much they are supported by their programmers, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find a continuous drip feed of new material slowly funneling into Clash Royale.

When Clash Royale, its sister franchise, seemed on the scene, my instinct was to run a country mile. Yet, for the benefit of completeness that was journalistic, I felt compelled to check it out. I headed into my first match straining under duress. I left it with a popular itch to play with another. Right away. And another, and another, until I was compelled to acknowledge that truly, Clash Royale is not extremely bad.

It is an actual mini-cellular MOBA. Unlike other games for the reason that hallowed turf, it does not take a ton of gear around from its PC roots. Matches are quickly, at 4 minutes before a draw is declared tops. You can find just two lanes. Each player has three fortresses, and the objective will be to ruin over your competition does. There is no heroes just various melee troops and distinct missile which you launch onto the board at a period and location of your choosing. The AI takes over and steers them.

It’s possible for you to choose eight units into conflict. There is a default option eight everyone gets at the start, and a modest collection of ones that are new it is possible to unlock through play or pay. It is a bit like a card system where you update those you’ve got or can place things in and from your deck as you get access to them. As you rank upwards, you get entry to more and more cards and this slow drip keep the learning curve shallow and fine.

If it appears astonishing that there is any learning curve in any way in this kind of straightforward, stripped down game, that is not up to the guru of the layout. Components do not have but what there’s creates an elaborate net of attack and counterattack many numbers. Swarms of little components can be immediately removed with splash damage. Flying troops can effectively counter splash damage units. Flying troops are not invulnerable to swarms of missile units that are little.

That would be enough to make an appealing game. Yet abundance is added to the mix through a thousand miniature choices in placement and timing that can help win a conflict. You pay through a refilling bar of elixir for units. You must throw a combination of components into the offensive down one lane, to win through to an enemy fortress.

The result is a beguiling and surprisingly deep combination, where there is a touch of lots of ability and randomness in your card collection. With things being quickly and so easy it is ideally suited to the mobile medium. The rapid matches, predominance of multiple, interlocking set and player ability and upgrade systems make it alarmingly addictive. An instant five minute session can enlarge to consume a hour.

Larger is the monetisation model, which can be so odious that it makes me wish Clash Royale wasn’t as bad as it’s. Winning matches wins you chests, which carry cards and gold. You want gold, because it is the only dependable method to get the strongest cards and updates your existing cards. Nevertheless, you can just possess four chests at the same time, and opening one takes up to twelve hours. If you don’t pay with premium, real-cash fueled, the timers to be taken by currency away.

The reality is that while you are able to free of charge, play forever in theory, unless you pay you’ll lose lots of matches and will fight to get anywhere. It does not have to be a handsome sum, unless you’ve the patience of a saint but it is still efficiently a paywall. And if you are at all impulsive, or if the game gets its baits that are large in you, it’d not be difficult to spend a fortune. Top players happen to be choosing about countless dollars.

What is so heartbreaking and infuriating about that is that Clash Royale would have worked on a Hearthstone design pay model. Earn gold quests or through successes, up to some daily limitation that is reasonable. Purchase card packs with actual cash, or with your gold. It is made lots of gain for Blizzard. But SuperCell were not met with that. They picked the path that was greedy and made what could happen to be a really amazing game into merely an excellent one.

Depressed, but it is an educational and powerful metaphor for the direction mobile gaming is apparently going. So we are stuck by Clash Royale . Love this game that is outstanding and hasten the death of the things we adore, or overlook a strategy game that is fantastic and stick to our principles? On the premise that I am in too tiny a minority that cares about the latter, Iwill need to urge we go with the former.

Clash Royale is a multiplayer, card-established, MOBA-lite, tower defence game from Supercell, the giant developer and publisher behind Clash of Clans.
Due to its free to play with branding and construction, it might be tempting to compose away Clash Royale as a cash-in or a pay when it’s among the most advanced and well-designed mobile multiplayer encounters on the App Store now.

Clash Royale is a hybrid of tower defence and collectible card games in which two players face off on a tower-load battle field with a custom decks of eight cards. They use these to attempt to ruin the towers of their competition while shielding their own within a three minute period of time.

Players earn crowns when towers get ruined, and the player with the most crowns by the end of a match is declared the victor.

They can not only spam the most powerful cards to steamroll opponents while players can buy cards.

The game’s elixr meter (not too unlike Hearthstone’s mana system) restricts the number of cards that can be utilized at one time, making placement and timing essential factors to success in Clash Royale.

Outside of matches, chests which reward them with new cards and money are earned by players. If players collect enough cards of precisely the same kind, they are able to pay some gold while earning new cards gives them choices to alter their deck up.

Clash Royale additionally features a location to see replays, which supplies lots of content between matches, family system, and a card store.

For a game that is enjoyable enough by itself, these extra features make it a long-term and pleasing encounter.

On the other hand, the components that actually make Clash Royale stand out are its fine tuned sense of quick and balance -yet-fulfilling game design.

Additionally, even if you are playing with decks of cards that are fundamental, there are feasible strategies to allow you to take down decks high in cards that are uncommon and epic poem, and this all is workable in a three minute blast that is brief, sweet, and quite pleasing.

Clash Royale is a heck of a package. Top to bottom, it is an incredibly enjoyable experience that’s so nicely put together it is difficult to put down.

December Update for Clash Royale

Clash Royale’s December Update was overshadowed by the release of Super Mario Run, but there was lots of early Christmas joy and goodness to behold! And hey, if you’re an Android owner and can’t play Super Mario Run anyway, then you’ve got plenty of Clash Royale to pay attention to.

Lots of Events

  • The Crown Duel Challenge arrived on December 16
  • The Crown Duel Tournament was held on December 17. Watch the results here:

 

  • The Clan Chest Event is coming on December 19. Ooh, wait. That’s today!
  • The Electro Wizard Challenge is coming on December 23.

Epic Changes

  • Starting this Sunday, you can now ask for and donate Epic cards with your Clan mates. But only on Sundays!
  • Epic cards now cost less in the shop
  • Epic chests give more and scale with your current Arena.

Jungle Arena

There’s a new arena coming. It unlocks on January 13.

New Cards Coming

  • There are several new cards coming to the game along with the Jungle Arena.
  • The first new card will be the Dart Goblin.

Card Balance Changes

Lots of card balance changes. Good news if you like the Elite Barbarians!

 

Elite Barbarians in Clash Royale

Black Friday brought a little present for Clash Royale fans: Elite Barbarians. These guys are pretty awesome. It’s a pair of barbarians that are bigger, stronger, faster and more powerful than the regular barbarians in the game.

They’re also a little bit more expensive at a cost of 6 elixir (instead of 5) but make up for it in overall awesomeness.

Orange Juice gaming has a nice overview video of the new troop here:

 

Want to know even more about the new Elite Barbarians in Clash Royale? Take a look at the troop page on Wikia. Some of the highlights are:

  • 420 hit points, 110 damage, and 73 dps at level 1
  • 613 hit points, 160 damage, and 106 dps at level 5
  • 978 hit points, 256 damage, and 170 dps at level 10

This guide from Clash Royale Arena also tells you everything you need to know about the new Elite Barbarians.

 

Happy Birthday, James M. Barrie

You probably don’t know who James M. Barrie was. That’s okay. Most people don’t.

But do you know who Peter Pan is? Of course you do. And Peter Pan wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for James M. Barrie. He’s the Scottish playwright who wrote Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. The play was performed first in 1904, although the play itself was not published until 1928.

James M. Barrie died in 1937 in London, just before the onslaught of World War II.

The play was adapted to many different formats, and probably the most famous is the Disney animated movie, Peter Pan. BTW, did you know that Disney Movies Anywhere makes it easy to watch that movie? Well, when it’s not in the vault. Love it!

peterpanfly

The Walt Disney Company has probably made more money off James M. Barrie than anyone ever thought possible.

TinkerBell, who is one of the key characters from the play and movie, went on to become a staple of the Disney franchise.

She was pretty much the mascot of Disney following the movie, appearing in the title sequence for the weekly Disney TV show, and also in the logo sequence for many movie releases. Disney used her as the foundation of its powerful Fairy franchise, which has spawned more books and movies than you can count.

But it all started with the humble Scottish playwright, James M. Barrie. He was the subject of another movie, Finding Neverland. It stars Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. It also features Dustin Hoffman, who played Captain Hook in the movie, Hook (1991).

Happy Birthday!

Living in the Bone Pit

Yesterday I wrote about Clash Royale, specifically about the best troops to have and some tips and tricks. Today I’d like to talk about arenas in the game.

bonePitClashRoyale

In particular, Bone Pit, where I’m really spending most of my time. Not by choice. It’s just that I can’t seem to get to 800 Trophies, which I need to graduate from this godforsaken heap of skeleton dung.

But first, we should take a quick look at all the arenas:

  1. Goblin Stadium
  2. Bone Pit
  3. Barbarian Bowl
  4. P.E.K.K.A’s Playhouse
  5. Spell Valley
  6. Builder’s Workshop
  7. Royal Arena
  8. Legendary Arena

As you can see, I’m barely through the list. Stuck on Arena 2. When I do get 800 Trophies, I’ll advance to the Barbarian Bowl, where I will unlock a bunch of new troops, including the Skeletons, Minions, Tombstone, Bomb Tower, Giant Skeleton, and Balloon. Those last two are wicked-awesome Elite cards.

But before I can unlock any of those cards, I need to get to the aforementioned 800 Trophies. Wish me luck. Lots and lots of luck.

 

 

 

Clash Royale Troops and Tips

Wow, I have been playing Clash Royale for the past month or two and it’s really very easily my favorite game in a long time. It is a simple card battle game played against other players in real-time. The battles are quick (most last just 3 minutes) and the gameplay is fun. I haven’t spent any real money on it yet but I think it is just a matter of time. Haha.

clashRoyaleChests

The meat and potatoes of the game are the cards that you collect. These are the troops that you put into battle to achieve glory! Here is a very simple rundown of the tips and strategies you can put into place with the cards available in Clash Royale.

I also got a lot of ideas here: Clash Royale Cheats and Tips.

If you’re really stuck, take a peek in the Clash Royale Forums over over in the Clash Royale section of Reddit. Lots of friendly peeps in there.

OK, here’s the skinny on all the troops.

Arrows – These currently counter groups of small troops. Not a ton to say about it, but it’s been one of the most popular cards in the game since the soft launch due to how versatile it is. Great against minion horde, goblin barrel, and princess.

Musketeer – I see a lot of people do this, but don’t put her in front of a charging prince. You’re better off taking the tower damage than donating 4 elixir. Musketeer is possibly the best troop counter against princess, out-ranges a cannon (good for punishing someone playing defensively), and does a lot of standalone damage. She’s good by herself both offensively and defensively, so she synergizes with everything. Weak against lightning and any high damage troop you can put on top of it.

Valkyrie – Does damage in an area around her in a circle. You can drop her right in the middle of a bunch of squishy troops (spear goblins, skeletons, etc) or between a witch and her skeletons. Great with freeze and great against small troops in general.

Freeze – This can be not bad against any large group of troops that would do damage for you. It goes well with any high damage, balloon, or hog low well-being troops like goblins.

Elixir Collector – This trades 5 elixir now for 7 elixir later (assuming it doesn’t take damage). This is more significant than it sounds, because it allows for some expensive push combinations that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. For placement, I think your first should always be in the middle of the map.

Skeleton – High damage, super low cost, super low well-being. Much the same to goblins. They’ve absurdly high damage for their elixir price when you can keep them living, making them really great against to use with halt or hog pushes.

PEKKA – TThere is a tooltip in Battle of Families that says that HER armour is too heavy to get launched from a spring snare. Valk, great against double prince, golem. Poor against inferno and little troops.

Knight – Cheap tank, surprisingly good damage to tower if it gets ignored. This is a very good card to drop on squishy ranged troops as they cross the river (witch, musketeer, bomber). Good for split pushes, a cheap front line, or defense. Weak against air and in the current meta barbs seem to be more popular.

Fireball – Good defensively or offensively because you can very easily hit multiple targets. I actually don’t think this card is very good for the current meta because most of what it can 1 shot will die to arrows for cheaper. It’s great against 3 musketeers, barbs (they’ll survive but your tower will 1 shot them all), huts, and minion horde.

Witch – She does splash damage and summons skeletons in front of her. Good defensively, especially against things like prince pushes or skeleton army. Countered by dropping damn near anything on her as soon as she crosses the river.

Skeleton Army – Good against any single target troops like PEKKA, mini pekka, prince, etc. Countered any sort of splash like witch or bomber.

Baby Dragon – Air, tanky, and splash but does so little damage it wouldn’t make a small cry if it with a hit directly to the face. Good vs poorly placed spear goblins (kills them all in 1 shot) or minion swarm (needs to be placed in front of them so he doesn’t get beaten up during the deployment time)

Archers – Great standalone damage to tower, hits air units, lots of range. Additionally for spreading troops outside vs hog a superb economical option / balloon or freeze freeze. Mainly countered by position (like losing goblins immediately on top of them).

Mini PEKKA – Lowish health, high damage, single target. This is really useful with freeze or for countering hog. It’s also a great card to split push with because if ignored it will take out their tower.

Bomber – Cheap, high splash damage, doesn’t hit air. Good to put behind a golem but you’ll be in danger against air. Hard counter to barbs and any small troops.

Giant – Tanky and only goes for buildings. Good to put as a front line for any sort of squishy high damage troops. Also good for drawing tower fire before you throw a goblin barrel in.

Prince – Very high single target damage. Don’t drop anything squishy directly in front of him! Can be a good choice defensively to deal with troops such as the hog then counterpush hard. Weak against groups of small troops like skeletons.

Goblins – Similar in gameplay to skeletons. Also worth noting that they’re a bit better at higher level due to towers requiring 3 shots to kill them (as opposed to 2 at tournament levels). High damage, low cost, low health.

Spear Goblins – Cheap, ranged, and they hit air. Good if you’re struggling against air and good if you’re trying to keep your elixir cost down. Decent to send in behind any tanky troops.

Goblin Hut – Spawns spear goblins and is good for setting up to push. This can be effective defensively because it is very hard to push into. Countered by pushing the opposite lane – also vulnerable to spells hitting the hut + tower.

Goblin Barrel – Best when the tower is in some way distracted, countered by arrows or partially countered by dropping troops nearby to kill them quickly.

Lightning – Good againts 3 musketeers, building based decks, baby dragon, musketeer, wizard. I’d only advise playing this if you’re going to do heavy damage to at LEAST 2 things (likely tower + a 4ish elixir troop or building).

Minion – Low health, high damage air. Can be useful defensively since a lot of troops can’t hit air. Also good in decks that utilize a lot of small units (like goblin barrel). Countered by wizard, zap, or any splash.

Bomb Tower – Can’t hit air but is really good against clumps of ground troops. It’s good against hut decks, barbs, witch, etc. Countered by air and lightning. Can also be countered by saving elixir while it slowly dies to time (playing collector is very good for this).

Tombstone – The skeletons can help a bit for pushing a lane or for making pushes with expensive single target troops like prince or PEKKA near impossible.

Balloon – Due to being air, this troop is actually 1 square less sensitive than hog about being dragged toward the middle.

Giant Skeleton – Blows up for a ton of damage in the area after it dies. This is very good for countering guys who commit to all in attacks on you, especially from medium health units that will lose most of their HP in the blast (musketeer, valk, double prince, etc).

Barbarians – If you play these in the middle of the map you can split them into a 2×2 attack forcing your opponent to either counter both sides or take a bunch of damage.

Cannon – Hits ground and is a very low cost building choice for dragging hog or balloon away from the tower. If played correctly this card can get even more value from disrupting pathing than it does from the actual cannon fire.

Barbarian Hut – Usually played with Goblin hit as part of a gimmick deck, but I don’t think they necessarily have to be played together.

Rocket – Highest crown tower damage spell in the game. People use this a lot with siege decks, but it also has some very good defensive use if your opponent goes all in against you.

Rage – This seems to be best used as part of a slow push (hut decks, PEKKA or golem starting from the back, elixir collector up). If your opponent plays this they’re likely going all in with their elixir.

Minion Horde – Instead of paying 3 elixir for 3 minions you’re paying 5 elixir for 6 minions. What a steal! If you’re using these against arrows play them defensively.

Ice Wizard – The splash is good against small troops and the slow is good against everything. Can be useful against balloon because the slow is enough to let your tower get a lot of extra shots in.

Tesla – You can freeze this before it pops up to avoid it messing with hog/balloon pathing. A bit more expensive than cannon but it hits air. Timing spells as you go in for your attack helps with this.

Wizard – He can devastate a whole minion horde in 1 shot with the right timing. Best against small units and best placed behind something tanky. If you need to defend against him and only have small units wait until he locks onto your tower (or something big) before you drop them.

Mirror – Lets you play the same card twice for 1 extra elixir. If you’re going to use this you should be playing a card that is difficult to counter because you’re overpaying to begin with.

Poison – Good against small troops. Also a good choice to play with hog, although so far in the game it seems to have been outshined by freeze.

Mortar – 4 elixir siege unit. Plays similar to X-bow but because it’s cheaper you have more options to defend. Plays well with anything that can defend it (inferno, tesla, minion horde, barbs, cannon).

Golem – The tank of all tanks. You can use him defensively by placing him in front of double prince pushes.

Royal Giant – Honestly, I’ve never seen this used effectively and in my opinion it’s because it’s a really badly designed unit. Who wants their tank in the back? I hear it works well against mortar, but I’ve never seen it used effectively. Countered by just pushing random buttons on your phone.

3 Musketeers – This really isn’t as laughable of a unit as people make it out to be. If your opponent doesn’t have the right troops up to defend against this (for example, if they just played hog freeze) they are going to be in big trouble.

Princess – Has long enough range to shoot from across the bridge. She deals splash, which makes her hard counter goblins and minions. Arrows counters her up until level 5.

Dark Prince – Similar to the regular prince, but he isn’t quite as tanky and has a shield that absorbs some damage. He also deals splash damage, which makes him a great candidate in front of the prince.

Zap – A bit less damage than arrows but has a stun. Useful against skeleton horde, minions (especially for the decks that try to force you to waste arrows), and the stun is useful against just about everything. The main complaint seems to be that it can’t 1 shot minions, so spear goblins tends to go pretty well in these decks.

Inferno – Kind of like burning ants with a magnifying glass, if this stays on the same target it does bigger and bigger damage. Hard counter to golem and PEKKA. It’ll win against a lone prince for the same elixir cost and can be useful just to have presence in the middle of the map (pulling troops into the “kill zone”).

Vampire Madness

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Totally stoked for Vampire’s Curse Island on Poptropica which is now available for everyone to play this afternoon. I have been playing Poptropica for a while and this is the twenty-fifth island they have made. There used to not be very many at all but 25 is a lot! This one is about vampires. You have to rescue a girl from Count Bram who is basically Dracula. He lives in a castle near a village and it’s a scary place. It is hard in places, especially the part called the Great Hall which is completely dark until you light all the candles up in it. I figured it out with a little help from some cheats!

Poptropica Cheats for Vampire’s Curse Island

The end is great too. I don’t want to spoil too much but Count Bram discovers you and there’s a big chase scene at the end. I guess I did kind of give it away. lol.

Back and playing CP again

Hey everyone. I haven’t been playing CP for a long time (almost a whole year) so this blog hasn’t been updated very much at all. I just started playing again and I think I missed a few things like some new parties.

But I think a lot of the parties this year were old and recycled from earlier parties so maybe I didn’t miss too much. I can’t believe they gave away the blue wizard hat again at the Medieval Party. lol. That one is so old!

Going to do Mission 11 today because that is new. I finished up Mission 10 a few months before I left CP so it’s like I never really left!