Multiplier weirdness

[drmathochist]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature, but the behavior seems odd. It's about the resource counters.

These shots are before and after a move:



I moved the flame in the middle of the bottom row to the right, completing both the flames and the leaves at the same time. The flames and the leaves each count up by six, and the crystals count up by six.

Now here's another example:



I move the wind near the top to the left, which lets the drop fall down and complete the drops. The wind falls and completes the winds, and a "x2" flashes on the screen. The winds count up nine, the drops count up six, and the crystals count up nine.

So if I understand this correctly: I have an automatic multiplier from my element mastery, which makes each of my resources count two at the top of the screen (the legend on each of the powers says 1.1 -- another bug?), and I get one crystal for each resource cleared. This is standard behavior.

I should ask here: the multiplier from element mastery doesn't count for collecting crystals? Adjusting that would go a long way towards relieving the tedium of mining crystals.

When a second row is completed in quick succession it gets a multiplier. Now each resource counts three at the top, and as two crystals. So multipliers add? That is, a wind worth one on its own gets another one from element mastery, and another one for the follow-on. It seems like "multipliers" should multiply -- a wind worth one gets doubled to two for mastery, and that gets doubled to four for the follow-on.

Anyhow, my main question is this: why doesn't completing more than one row simultaneously merit a multiplier? That is, why don't my flames and leaves in the first example get increased?

[Danielle Cassley]

I'll think about this one.

[asmeurer]

Is there any kind of special bonus for getting more than three at a time. It is possible to get up to 5 at once in one row. And what about completing a conjoined row and column (like an L shape). With that, you could potentially get up to 7 at once. Any bonuses for this?

[drmathochist]

No, you can't get L-shaped completions. I've gotten that sort of setup, and just one row or one column goes, not both the row and the column.

[murphy]

for me, Ls work perfectly. it's the first cool move I learned ^^ you need to put in the corner piece last, of course.

[Mav]

As far as I've seen, 5-block "L" chains set off with the corner block are perfectly doable (if rare). If I remember right you can also do 5-block "T" chains (even less common).

[Danielle Cassley]

There is potential for even more shapes than that. But those work, its been tested.

[drmathochist]

I'm not sure what the difference is. I've seen an opportunity for an L-shape to come up and it didn't clear.

Come to think of it, the corner piece was dropped in when another row below it (and occupying the corner) was cleared. Maybe the reason it didn't recognize the L shape has something to do with the other thread where someone saw similar behavior. In that case it only cleared three blocks out of a four-block row.

[jacobtgaines]

You must have switched the corner block with another block, making it an unusable 5 piece L formation like this:

x
x
oxx

When you moved the blocks over, up, or down, the block you are moving must switch positions with nearby blocks when they're being moved, hence the inability to make an L formation.

x
x
oxx <x (moving the x block to the left, setting up an L)

x
x
xoxx

[tgmdbm]

i had a 10 block block shape but i realised it could have just as easily been a 12 block shape. the only problem is you have to be incredibly lucky for the last few rows to come up good...

xx
xx
ooxx
ooxx
ooooxx
ooooxx

rotate the board to the right.

I was able to pull off a 9 using this method but due to the timing of the fall, it cleared some of the blocks before the others had fallen into place.

[asmeurer]

Jul 15, 2008 22:40:58 GMT -5 tgmdbm said:

i had a 10 block block shape but i realised it could have just as easily been a 12 block shape. the only problem is you have to be incredibly lucky for the last few rows to come up good...

xx
xx
ooxx
ooxx
ooooxx
ooooxx

rotate the board to the right.

I was able to pull off a 9 using this method but due to the timing of the fall, it cleared some of the blocks before the others had fallen into place.

Didn't think of that. I guess with rotations quite a few could be created at once.

By the way, when I said L shape, I meant 3x3, not 2x2.

[Danielle Cassley]

The crystals and resources collected changing when you move a block may be related to a delay in the hud being updated with the stats. Its on my list to look at shortly in more depth

[drmathochist]

Jacob, no. It was more like


 x
ooxx
o x
 x


Move the o up and get


 x
oooxx
 x
 x


The row disappears, the x falls into place, and only the row or the column (I forget which) vanishes.

[drmathochist]

grr.. how do you make the monospace printout?