I'm so bad at this game.

[NomadUniverse]

I just cant figure out how you're all getting these high numbers. I've never made it into the trillions let alone these crazy undectillion and googol and other unfathomable numbers. Just when you think you have something good going you all of a sudden cant make your targets.

I did well with straws but ultimately they're a trap. I've tried early points boos things like cheese house. I had a great cactus jack build going, clearing the board almost every turn, but that too turned out to be a trap.

I can "win the game" but most of the time I only make it at most another 10 levels into endless. Most of the time on average though I barely scrape in one restock. I see all these amazing builds popping off crazy big numbers and can never replicate them. Is there something I'm missing that I can easily understand and do to make things a bit less brutal?

[NomadUniverse]

Incase anyone is still reading this, i've finally got a good game running right now as i write this. Squid mode, Mushroom slot 1, then a preg test followed by 4 upgraded squid, then an upgraded cheese house in 7. It is POPPING OFF. Very happy. x9999 nearly every turn. Up to round 95, but surely it will end at some point.

[Sinsling]

If you want a combo that can pop off real fast when done right, look for the drainer or(or even and) the croissant perk, with a kazoo+ and a jacks item.

[nterveti]

This game's progression is a bit weird in that the quota rubber-bands based on how high the pegs get and what multipliers they have. The more restocks you get and the more doubles get applied, the higher the quota becomes. That can throw off your build.

To get really high numbers late-game, you want to set up some repeating process you can farm for points. Example: Straws and cactus + jacks work well as board-clearers, but they fall off because the quota just grows too fast. The most straightforward way to deal with this problem is to look for items that double the pins, like the kazoo or Jake the Snake. Now you have to balance out the popping power and the rate of doubling so you can keep popping stuff for as long as possible. It's an iterative process.

Also, it's a roguelike, so failure's part of the process. Even when you've picked up a sense of what works and what doesn't, sometimes you just don't get anything that works. You have to keep trying, experiment with the different properties and interactions, and maybe you'll find another way to make it work.

TL:DR; to keep up with the quota you have to find ways to improve on your existing build over time, even if it's pretty good as-is. Set up a loop you can use to farm points.

[Bellpepper]

you want +points early and things that 'scale' off the board later.

+Points are good for generating cash early but are ultimately self defeating since they will quickly make the goal numbers too high. If you can clear the board by definition you'll pass the quota no matter how high it is (until Endless)

[PuscHELL]

last update made it worse

[InevitableCheese]

Originally posted by PuscHELL:

last update made it worse

This right here.

[NomadUniverse]

Not long after I made this post I ran a game right through to the round 467 crash, then did it again a couple of days later. Did my first Bologna Tony run today and maxed it out, I had a total score of Googol at round 81 and I was hitting single round googols at round 40.

I think it's save to say I'm no longer bad at it.

[MH DOOM]

I just got this game and the demo made me think it was more chill but i've lost so many games before round 30 and i don't know what to do with myself.

[NomadUniverse]

Originally posted by MH DOOM:

I just got this game and the demo made me think it was more chill but i've lost so many games before round 30 and i don't know what to do with myself.

It's a bit of a grind while you get to know the game. Once I learned what items to take early and the synergies the early game play became a lot less grindy.

Once you unlock other modes as well it gets a lot more interesting. Squid mode, Propeller hat mode, and bologna mode are by far the funnest. You just have to get those standard wins to get stars to begin with.

If I could start over with what I know I'd unlock bologna first then use that to get stars for the rest. I've never lost on bologna.

Look for multipliers and point adders early on. A cheese house or poop head is good, kazoo is good, tree...get the pegs doubling up and Nubby can last a bit longer, or go for straight up board clears using cactus and jacks. the Cactus Jack build wont do you any good in endless though so change it up before you get there if you plan on doing endless.

[Ledwicke]

really just unlock baloney tony to unlock the rest and you can get crazy numbers almost every time

[JimmyD]

tony jr is how i broke the game the first time, just way more opportunities to buy items and rerolls to make an OP build