artifracture is a game whose mechanics we should all be familiar with!! i'm sure we've all played some variation of connect-3 at one point or another. once upon a time, i held one of the highest scores in the world on a social, online connect-3 style game that was very similar to artifracture (/shameless bragging) so i was PRETTY HYPE to see this released.
the FR team has managed to put a little bit of a twist on the classic game model, one that affects how you play and, more importantly: how to make the most treasure for your time
What Makes Artifracture Different? wrote:
Artifracture changes up the 'standard' game model by adding a set number of fossils of certain types you need to obtain per level instead of just letting you run loose with a timer and a score goal. this means that instead of the quintessential strategy of 'making absurd combos to rack up mass numbers of points' we need to focus on making a quota
before we get into a proper guide, here are some things you need to remember about the setup of the game:
- you cannot interact with the game board while match animations are occurring
- the timer still ticks while match animations are running
- the timer does not change from level to level
- your payout for each level is the same no matter what your score for that level
- you DO NOT GET ANY TREASURE if you do not clear the level, regardless of score
@ohdeanfell 's numbers approximately matched my own when i played, so i'm quoting their post on the subject from the payout thread:
ohdeanfell wrote on 2015-09-14:
This is what I got! (I'm not always the best at numbers so feel free to correct me if my math looks wrong anywhere!) Seems like it caps at 4000t per level around level 14, but maybe it increases if you get further, idk!
1. 400
2. (+575) 975
3. (+800) 1775
4. (+1050) 2825
5. (+1300) 4125
6. (+1550) 5675
7. (+1850) 7525
8. (+2150) 9675
9. (+2500) 12175
10. (+2850) 15025
11. (+3200) 18225
12. (+3550) 21775
13. (+3900) 25675
14. (+4000) 29675
15. (+4000) 33675
1. 400
2. (+575) 975
3. (+800) 1775
4. (+1050) 2825
5. (+1300) 4125
6. (+1550) 5675
7. (+1850) 7525
8. (+2150) 9675
9. (+2500) 12175
10. (+2850) 15025
11. (+3200) 18225
12. (+3550) 21775
13. (+3900) 25675
14. (+4000) 29675
15. (+4000) 33675
so as we can see, after level 14 the payout caps off at 4000t. that's okay, because past that point we run into the biggest issue the game runs into with its quota-based system: those animations.
animations eat up time that you don't get back. past level 14, the sheer number of matches required to move on to the next level is so high that the simple act of matching them all takes supremely lucky rolls to minimize the amount of time spent 'animation locked.'
the timer runs for 2 minutes on the nose for each level, so that's 2 minutes you have to meet the fossil goals listed at the top of the game window when the level begins.
i timed myself.
i was able to reach level 13 in 12 minutes. after that, each level requires just about the whole two minutes to complete. (ranging from 1:40 to 1:57 for me) knowing that i'm a little bit faster than average, i'm going to estimate that level 14 should take roughly 17 minutes for someone who isn't hopelessly addicted to and thus super practiced at this particular gametype.
that's 17 minutes for 29675t
very, very nice! this is a nice, high number that means it will take you roughly 45 minutes to max out your lucky streak for the day--slightly better than runestones and comparable to shock switch.
depending on your level of skill, stage 14 will take a maximum of 27 minutes and 46 seconds. this assumes that you finish every level with exactly one second remaining on the timer. this is obviously not optimal, as at that rate it will take you something like an hour and fifteen minutes to reach your treasure cap.
so how can we speed this up?
Shaving Off Seconds wrote:
• because score doesn't matter, focus on the three types of tile you need to collect. if those tiles are scarce on the board, try to clear as much as possible in the shortest amount of time to bring new tiles in.
• try to avoid triggering long chains unless the board contains a LOT of a type of tile you need or you need to mass-clear non target tiles--chains almost always eat up more seconds than they're worth
• whenever possible, match 4 or 5 instead of just 3! this adds to your tile totals and allows more new tiles to enter the game board
• if you can't quickly find a match that goes toward your tile total, clear another match. even though it doesn't affect your payout, it clears off part of the board and shuffles the lines to make a match available
• try not to neglect any part of the game board. if there are a lot of matches in the bottom right quadrant that you need, by all means grab them all, but make sure you don't get 'tunnel visioned' and start focusing so intensely on that corner that you lose seconds trying to find matches where there are none anymore. there are other tiles waiting to be matched in other places!
• try to avoid triggering long chains unless the board contains a LOT of a type of tile you need or you need to mass-clear non target tiles--chains almost always eat up more seconds than they're worth
• whenever possible, match 4 or 5 instead of just 3! this adds to your tile totals and allows more new tiles to enter the game board
• if you can't quickly find a match that goes toward your tile total, clear another match. even though it doesn't affect your payout, it clears off part of the board and shuffles the lines to make a match available
• try not to neglect any part of the game board. if there are a lot of matches in the bottom right quadrant that you need, by all means grab them all, but make sure you don't get 'tunnel visioned' and start focusing so intensely on that corner that you lose seconds trying to find matches where there are none anymore. there are other tiles waiting to be matched in other places!
there are also power ups that will randomly drop into the gameboard as you clear tiles. these are activated when you click on them.
this means that the only way to move them is to switch another tile into their place by clicking the other tile first. otherwise the power up will be triggered. they'll naturally fall when matches below them are made, but other than that the only way to move them is to slide them out of the way of a match.
let's look at the two types of power ups!
Dynamite
- appears as a dynamite icon with a lit fuse
- destroys all tiles in a 3x3 square with the dynamite tile at the center
- 3x3 square does not stay inside the bounds of the gameboard when against walls
- exploded tiles count toward score and target tile quota
When is Dynamite best used?
dynamite works best under two conditions: when several tiles from your quota are arranged around it in a way that doesn't allow them to be swapped into a match, or when you need to clear a small chunk of the game board quickly to allow new tiles to come in.
save the dynamite until one of these criteria is met, and try not to push it directly against walls or into corners where it's no longer surrounded by tiles--it stays at the center of the explosion even when it's only bordered by 3 tiles.
Shuffle
- appears as a white die with a glowing yellow border
- shuffles the tiles currently on the game board into a new configuration
- costly on time
When is Shuffle best used?
shuffle works best under just one condition: when the game board is rife with tiles you need that are sitting too far away to be matched. the probability that they will be swapped either directly into matches or close enough to be matched is reasonably high.
the only other time you should trigger shuffle is when one or two types of tiles are dominating the board and you need to clear them to free up lines. if you have to trigger it this way, make sure any tile matches you actually need are already off the board, as the likelihood that they'll reappear able to be matched is slim.
MAXIMIZING TREASURE wrote:
all right. now we know how the game works, how the power ups function, how to shave off every second possible to make your treasure-grab as quick and painless as possible. how do we use this knowledge to maximize profit?
similar to runestones, it's all about knowing when to reset.
similar to runestones, it's all about knowing when to reset.
using all of the info above, if you reach level 12 and start to struggle hitting the tile quotas within the time limit, there's no reason to continue to push forward, as 13 and beyond start to rely much more heavily on luck.
at no point is there any reason at all to push beyond level 15. at that stage, the sheer number of tiles required to move on is so large that waiting on animations is going to eat up almost the entirety of your timer. you need to get incredibly lucky to break into 16 and beyond. i would personally not recommend going higher than 14, since that's where treasure caps anyway, but if you've got the game down pat you may as well take the extra two minutes to try and squeeze out 4kt more. otherwise, this is where you hit the refresh button on your browser and start over.
why just stop instead of gambling on breaking into 15?
because in two minutes, you match a LOT of tiles. literal hundreds. even if you don't succeed in moving to the next level, you'll have, in attempting to hit it, moved that much closer to fatigue and thus burnout on the game--for no profit. when you have to spend 45 minutes looking at the same handful of symbols and reacting quickly, fatigue can cost you the last 3 stages of the game on your next couple of run-throughs, and those last 3 stages make up more than a third of your total treasure haul.
if you find yourself struggling to pass any level, the same applies. you'll get faster as you learn to apply all of the above information--it becomes second nature with time.
now get out there and get matching!
-cantrip
