There are certain common "gag combos" or "gambits" that are good to know and use during battles. Some are good for solo battles, some are better with two, three or four toon teams. Some are good for low-level cogs, some are good for high-level cogs and some are good for a mix of cogs. Keeping in mind that for each round, you have 20 seconds or less to choose - once the last toon has chosen a gag, the round commences immediately. So within that 20 seconds, you must go through a series of "calculations."
1. Assess the cog threat - that is, know what level and states the cogs are in - thus, determine what kinds of gags will defeat them in one round. Cogs in full health will usually require different strategies than cogs that already have been damaged.
2. Assess the state of your fellow team mates. If one or more toon is at risk of going sad, toon-up might take precendence over attack gags. (See also "Buying Time for Toon-up")
3. Assess the gag strength of your fellow team mates. The success of gag combos depends on gag levels being adequate for the cog threat. This part is usually the most challenging because you can't see the gag inventory of your team mates - you don't know what gags they have on hand (unless you have been able to keep track of what gags they have been using). So that means that often you have to rely on what gags they have chosen within that 20 second window. Sometimes, the situation may require a toon to make up for an inadequate gag or even a missing gag (a toon chooses a different gag or fails to choose one at all).
4. Select the gag you will deploy. This part, in combination with step 3 - can be the most critical in the success of a battle. You must be able to recognize what gag combo the team is agreeing upon - assuming there is agreement, and you might need to also determine if that gag combo is appropriate given the cog threat or health of the toons.
This is a lot of calculations to do within 20 seconds or less. Knowing and memorizing the common gag combos and gambits helps response time and selection of an appropriate gag. Over a series of battles inside multi-story buildings and cog HQs, you have the opportunity to assess the gag strength and inventory of team mates - you can figure out what types of gags (toon-up, sound, drop, trap, lure) each toon has (either by usage or by looking at their profile), and you can assess whether they understand gag combos and battle strategies.
Also, when limited to speedchat - which in itself can be cumbersome and slows down your response time - you have to determine and/or communicate what strategy or gambit the team will use. It is not uncommon for either one or more toons to not "get it" - especially less experienced toons (not necessarily by laff level) - or simply, because of delays, time runs out to change or select gags for one or more toons.
Usually, the first toon to select a gag chooses the gambit and the other toons will follow. However, there can also be "seniority" - the highest laff level toon gets to choose the strategy, regardless of who chooses gags first. This is often true when there is a choice between lure or sound - and usually lure has precendence over sound. (Sometimes, a stubborn toon will insist on using whatever gags they are "working on" - regardless of whatever strategy the team has chosen - and spoils the team effort)
Sound combos
Sound combos are an often used gambit for teams facing two or more cogs. In cog HQs - and the occasional street battle - where toons face waves of 4 cogs at once, sound is often the gambit of choice. It is quick and simple to understand - everyone selects a sound gag that collectively, will defeat the cogs in one round, and therefore, minimizes the number of gags required and more importantly, the risk of cog attacks. It does not require dependency on a sequence of gags working. However, in order for a sound gambit to work, the toons must have high enough level sound gags. For level 10 cogs (i.e. the highest level cog in the group is a level 10) - four elephant gags will be adequate, while a level 11 will require two fog horns and two elephants. A level 12 cog will require three fog horns and an elephant. Since toons can carry only 3 fog horns, judicious use of fog horns will help prolong the sound combo option in long campaigns. In the factory, mint and DA office, there are sometimes sound barrels to restock during a campaign.
Trap-Lure-Drop combos
The trap-lure-drop combo is the second most often used combo because trap is less common gag track and the combo depends on the relatively low accuracy lure and drop gags. Also, this combo usually is limited to the successful defeat of only one cog, at most, two. But if the lure is successful, the remaining cogs, if any, will be unable to attack in the next round(s). This combo can be successfully used to defeat level 12 and v2.0 cogs in one round with as few as 3 toons. It is also interesting to note that this combo works more often than the lure or drop gags alone. This is due to the increase in accuracy that the trap gag has on lure and drop. A successfully trapped cog is stunned if it survives, and the subsequent drop gag will usually hit. This combo is good for toons needing to work on their drop track. With four toons, two of the toons can both use drop.
Squirt combos
Squirt, being highly accurate, should be used in more risky situations - such as when laff levels are low, or other gags have been missing. While squirt gags are less powerful individually, squirt combos can be very effective for even level 12 cogs - especially if they have been lured. Two rain clouds or even two seltzer and a rain cloud can defeat a lured level 12 cog.
Level 7 combos
Level 7 gags are unique in that they all work on all the cogs at once, and are very powerful. The rarity and animation of level 7 gags also make them a delight to watch in action. Also, unlike the lower level gags, level 7 gags are maxxed from the moment you earn them. However, as powerful as they are, combos are sometimes required to defeat full-health level 12 cogs. The wedding cake requires level 12 cogs to be lured in order to defeat them in one round. The opera sound gag needs the help of a fog horn or two elephants. The geyser can't defeat even lured full-health level 12 cogs, so it needs to be helped with throw, squirt or drop gags on each level 12. The Toontanic drop gag can defeat full health level 12 cogs by itself. The train trap gag requires lure, and a follow-up of sound, throw, squirt or drop on a level 12 cog.
Friday, December 19
Buying Time for Toon-up
Often during a battle, a toon-up is needed by one or all toons. However, regardless of whether or not the cogs can be defeated in the current round, it is sometimes better to buy some time to toon-up all the toons to full laff - in anticipation of the next round in the battle or next battle in a campaign. Also, It is a good practice to end a campaign with all toons at full laff. To buy time, one toon uses the appropriate lure gag, while the other toon(s) use the appropriate toon-up gag. With teams of 3 or 4 toons, the best approach is for the healthiest toon to toon-up all the other toons, and ideally, for another toon to toon-up that toon with a targeted gag. When there are only two toons on the team, the toon doing the luring ( and hence, receiving the toon-up) should reciprocate in the next round if possible.
Play like a pro
or at least look like one.
Seriously, here are some things you should know in order to play well.
1. Know your strength. It's very important to know what level cogs your gags can defeat in one round. Keep in mind that your strongest gags will get stronger the more you use them - until they are maxxed. If you plant gag trees, some of the gags will increase 10% in strength once the tree is mature and fruiting. A birthday cake gag starts out at 40-something and goes up to 100 when maxxed. An organic birthday cake (gag tree) will do 110 point damage - that's enough to defeat a lured level 11 cog. Why is it important to know? So that you can make sure you choose the right gag to finish-off a cog in battle. It is best if you develop a second sense about this, and especially - can quickly figure out what gag to use to in combination with other toon's gag in order to defeat a cog in one round, and not have to risk losing laff points. Why not just use the most powerful gag you have until you run out? Exactly - using a higher level gag than necessary will mean that you may not have your powerful gags later when you most need them - inside buildings and HQs.
2. Learn to jump. Timing is everything. To defeat goons and get through obstacles in higher-level cog HQ's beyond the Sellbot HQ, you need to be able to accurately and precisely jump your toon. Practice, practice practice. Not being able to jump accurately means you will endanger your toon and risk going sad. I recently did a DA's Office B (Lawbot HQ) and we were passing a set of goons. One of the toons went sad unexpectedly - I think he lost some laff points getting squashed by stompers, but when he couldn't jump out of the path of some goons, he went sad. And the really tragic thing is that we were almost finished - there was only one set of cogs left after doing 3 floors of what must have been 12 cogs per floor. When you go against the CFO, you will likely need to be very good at disabling goons and avoiding their deadly cone of death. The larger goons can cost you 24 laff per hit. Even 100+ laff toons can't survive too many of those in a row.
3. Power of observation. in many battles, it's very important to know the level of the cogs coming out of the elevators - because too often you can NOT see their floating tags that show their level - and you don't want to wake a lured cog without being able to finish them off. Knowing the level of the cogs means you can select the right level gag to do the job.
Other things to observe: the capabilities of your fellow toons during battle. Besides the Laff Meter, you should know which gag tracks they have, and the level of gags. All too often, I've entered elevators without really checking and find out once we're inside a building or cog HQ, and finding out that one of the fellow toons has very low laff and/or missing toon-up or sound. After a few very very close encounters with going sad, I now check that there is at least one toon in the party that has toon-up.
Seriously, here are some things you should know in order to play well.
1. Know your strength. It's very important to know what level cogs your gags can defeat in one round. Keep in mind that your strongest gags will get stronger the more you use them - until they are maxxed. If you plant gag trees, some of the gags will increase 10% in strength once the tree is mature and fruiting. A birthday cake gag starts out at 40-something and goes up to 100 when maxxed. An organic birthday cake (gag tree) will do 110 point damage - that's enough to defeat a lured level 11 cog. Why is it important to know? So that you can make sure you choose the right gag to finish-off a cog in battle. It is best if you develop a second sense about this, and especially - can quickly figure out what gag to use to in combination with other toon's gag in order to defeat a cog in one round, and not have to risk losing laff points. Why not just use the most powerful gag you have until you run out? Exactly - using a higher level gag than necessary will mean that you may not have your powerful gags later when you most need them - inside buildings and HQs.
2. Learn to jump. Timing is everything. To defeat goons and get through obstacles in higher-level cog HQ's beyond the Sellbot HQ, you need to be able to accurately and precisely jump your toon. Practice, practice practice. Not being able to jump accurately means you will endanger your toon and risk going sad. I recently did a DA's Office B (Lawbot HQ) and we were passing a set of goons. One of the toons went sad unexpectedly - I think he lost some laff points getting squashed by stompers, but when he couldn't jump out of the path of some goons, he went sad. And the really tragic thing is that we were almost finished - there was only one set of cogs left after doing 3 floors of what must have been 12 cogs per floor. When you go against the CFO, you will likely need to be very good at disabling goons and avoiding their deadly cone of death. The larger goons can cost you 24 laff per hit. Even 100+ laff toons can't survive too many of those in a row.
3. Power of observation. in many battles, it's very important to know the level of the cogs coming out of the elevators - because too often you can NOT see their floating tags that show their level - and you don't want to wake a lured cog without being able to finish them off. Knowing the level of the cogs means you can select the right level gag to do the job.
Other things to observe: the capabilities of your fellow toons during battle. Besides the Laff Meter, you should know which gag tracks they have, and the level of gags. All too often, I've entered elevators without really checking and find out once we're inside a building or cog HQ, and finding out that one of the fellow toons has very low laff and/or missing toon-up or sound. After a few very very close encounters with going sad, I now check that there is at least one toon in the party that has toon-up.
Saturday, December 13
Finding Cog Types by Street
Many TT tasks require finding and defeating a specific type of cog - bossbot, lawbot, cashbot or sellbot. Eventually, after defeating enough of a type of cog, the Cog Gallery can become a cog radar and show how many of each type and kind of cog are present on the street. Defeat even more cogs and that same cog radar will show how many buildings are present.
However, the cog radar only works on the street you are on, so sometimes you have to go to each street at a playground to find the type you seek. Toontown actually has some rules on what types of cogs you will be able to find on each street (with the exception of a cog invasion - in which you will find the same kind of cog on every street and inside every building*). The rules about what types of cogs are on each street are general guidelines - that is, at any given moment, the percentages vary widely. I think this has to do with cog invasions displacing the normal resident cogs, but also - other toons may have hunted specific types or kinds of cogs to temporary extinction. If this is the case, you can change districts and search the same street.
Below is a chart summarizing the rough percentages of cog types by street. Some streets will have predominantly one type of cog (up to 90%), and some streets will not have any of a specific type - barring a cog invasion. Still, it is a useful chart that I've consulted myself numerous times and should be useful to other toons.
I am currently considering compiling a more detailed chart of where to find specific kinds of cogs - e.g. Name Droppers - but I have to do some research to figure out the feasibility and accuracy of such a chart.
*except the factory, mint, DA's office or cog golf courses).
However, the cog radar only works on the street you are on, so sometimes you have to go to each street at a playground to find the type you seek. Toontown actually has some rules on what types of cogs you will be able to find on each street (with the exception of a cog invasion - in which you will find the same kind of cog on every street and inside every building*). The rules about what types of cogs are on each street are general guidelines - that is, at any given moment, the percentages vary widely. I think this has to do with cog invasions displacing the normal resident cogs, but also - other toons may have hunted specific types or kinds of cogs to temporary extinction. If this is the case, you can change districts and search the same street.
Below is a chart summarizing the rough percentages of cog types by street. Some streets will have predominantly one type of cog (up to 90%), and some streets will not have any of a specific type - barring a cog invasion. Still, it is a useful chart that I've consulted myself numerous times and should be useful to other toons.
I am currently considering compiling a more detailed chart of where to find specific kinds of cogs - e.g. Name Droppers - but I have to do some research to figure out the feasibility and accuracy of such a chart.
*except the factory, mint, DA's office or cog golf courses).
Navigating
Toons eventually earn the ability to teleport to a specific playground, but until they do, they have to run through connecting streets. While there are signs indicating which playground streets eventually lead to, the signs do not tell you the name of the connected street. For example, from Toontown Central, you know that you can take Silly Street to get to Daisy Gardens, but you don't know which Daisy Garden street is at the other end of Silly Street. Often it can be useful to know when you are looking for specific shops on a street.
So I've made a simple chart showing which streets connect.
So I've made a simple chart showing which streets connect.
Nutty River
I'm not sure when this started, but certain districts (servers) have become popular and informally dedicated to certain activities. The most widely known is Nutty River. It is the district that seems to be busy most of the time - so that the only way to get there is to teleport to a friend who is already there.
Nutty River is usually very busy because of a few reasons. First is that there are often back-to-back cog invasions. When there is an invasion, all experience points in battles are doubled. In 5 story buildings, on the fifth floor, which is normally already tripled, you get 6x the normal points during an invasion. This is the fastest way to level-up your gags.
If you are lucky and you need to defeat a great number of the same cogs - say Name Droppers, or The Minglers - you might encounter an invasion of them on Nutty River. Once, I had to defeat 240 Bean Counters. It took a long time and several invasions of Bean Counters. Note: an invasion usually only lasts about 10-15 minutes - in which time you usually can only defeat about 6-10 cogs on average. The best way to maximize the number of cogs you defeat during an invasion is to enter a building and defeat cogs as fast as you can - which often means good teamwork and lots of one round kills.
Cog invasions can actually be summoned by toons. Toons get the power to summon a specific type of cog as a reward after they have defeated the Chief Justice in a Lawbot HQ battle. But on some districts, the invasions are summoned by Toontown operators (Disney).
Other rewards: when you defeat the VP (sellbot HQ) - you receive an SOS card - good for various help during a battle - from healing, to restocking, to making all the cogs miss. When you defeat the CFO (cashbot HQ), you get the ability to restock gags during a cog battle, give everyone nearby toon a gift of jellybeans. When you defeat the CEO (bossbot HQ), you get the ability to "fire" any cog in a battle.
Nutty River is usually very busy because of a few reasons. First is that there are often back-to-back cog invasions. When there is an invasion, all experience points in battles are doubled. In 5 story buildings, on the fifth floor, which is normally already tripled, you get 6x the normal points during an invasion. This is the fastest way to level-up your gags.
If you are lucky and you need to defeat a great number of the same cogs - say Name Droppers, or The Minglers - you might encounter an invasion of them on Nutty River. Once, I had to defeat 240 Bean Counters. It took a long time and several invasions of Bean Counters. Note: an invasion usually only lasts about 10-15 minutes - in which time you usually can only defeat about 6-10 cogs on average. The best way to maximize the number of cogs you defeat during an invasion is to enter a building and defeat cogs as fast as you can - which often means good teamwork and lots of one round kills.
Cog invasions can actually be summoned by toons. Toons get the power to summon a specific type of cog as a reward after they have defeated the Chief Justice in a Lawbot HQ battle. But on some districts, the invasions are summoned by Toontown operators (Disney).
Other rewards: when you defeat the VP (sellbot HQ) - you receive an SOS card - good for various help during a battle - from healing, to restocking, to making all the cogs miss. When you defeat the CFO (cashbot HQ), you get the ability to restock gags during a cog battle, give everyone nearby toon a gift of jellybeans. When you defeat the CEO (bossbot HQ), you get the ability to "fire" any cog in a battle.
Tuesday, December 9
Best time to use a gag
Toon-up - best time to use: ideally when the cogs are lured and/or the other toons will be able to finish off un-lured cogs. I've seen bad uses of toon-up: when the toon would have served the team better by assisting in the defeat of a high-level cog, than to toon-up some small laff point loss. The result is that a cog lives to inflict more damage on another or all toons, and the small laff restoration is fleeting. Obviously, if a toon is in danger of going sad, there should be a toon-up - but sometimes it is hard to determine which toon should be doing the toon-up. Ideally, it should come from the healthiest toon, as toon-up doesn't affect the one giving the toon-up. If all toons need toon-up, then a second toon may use a targeted toon-up on the one giving the group toon-up. (targeted toon-up gags: feather, lipstick, fairy dust. group toon-up gags: megaphone, cane, juggling cubes)
Trap - best time to use trap: anytime a lure gag is being deployed. Also, keep in mind that trap also increases the chance of lure working - especially low-level lures. Even one deployed trap will increase the chances of a group lure working. So if lure has been missing, deploying a trap in the next round will increase chances of lure working. I've experienced low-level lures missing 3-4 times in a row. When there is a trap deployed, lures miss only 1 out of 4 times or even less often.
Sound - the best time to use: when other toons can also use sound, and when the sound gags can defeat at least one of the cogs. Sound can be used on lured cogs - but you won't get the bonus damage points as you would with throw or squirt gags. Sound is also seems slightly better for stunning cogs for increasing drop accuracy than throw or squirt - but this is a casual observation on my part.
Lure - best time to use lure is when there are several cogs in a battle, or one high-level cog which you can't defeat in one round. However, another often overlooked reason is simply to eliminate the risk of a gag missing. Throw, squirt and sound gags almost never miss on lured cogs. This can be critical if toons are low on gags or laff points and may not last another round of battle.
Throw - best time to use throw: last round to defeat a cog. Throw gags are the staple, along with squirt. But even early in a toon's life, throw gags are more powerful than squirt, and so, many toons use throw more than squirt. However, it is wise to try to keep a balance in using throw and squirt. Squirt will miss less often than throw, and is good to use when the previous round of throw has missed.
Squirt - best time to use: as a last resort. Squirt is the most accurate but least powerful of the gags, and is the second to last to be deployed (drop being the last) - so the best chance of it being deployed is when all the toons use it in a round. It can also be used to stun cogs for drop or lure. Since squirt has high accuracy, it is also good to use when you want to minimize risk of a miss and another round of battle.
Drop - best time to use: in the same round as a trap and lure on the cog being trapped. Trap will do lots of damage to a cog when there is a successful lure, but don't stay lured. So if the trap doesn't finish off the cog, it should be hit with another gag (throw, squirt, sound or drop). And since trap does leave the cog stunned (if it survives the trap) - it really increases the chances of drop hitting - though still not 100%, maybe about 75-90%. If you plant a drop gag, it slightly increases it's accuracy and damage (once the tree is fruiting). In practice, you need to estimate whether a deploying trap will finish off the cog or not - or you won't get the chance to deploy your drop gag. You also want to try to finish off the cog with your drop, if you can, so judicious selection of which drop to use is helpful to minimize damage from all cogs.
Trap - best time to use trap: anytime a lure gag is being deployed. Also, keep in mind that trap also increases the chance of lure working - especially low-level lures. Even one deployed trap will increase the chances of a group lure working. So if lure has been missing, deploying a trap in the next round will increase chances of lure working. I've experienced low-level lures missing 3-4 times in a row. When there is a trap deployed, lures miss only 1 out of 4 times or even less often.
Sound - the best time to use: when other toons can also use sound, and when the sound gags can defeat at least one of the cogs. Sound can be used on lured cogs - but you won't get the bonus damage points as you would with throw or squirt gags. Sound is also seems slightly better for stunning cogs for increasing drop accuracy than throw or squirt - but this is a casual observation on my part.
Lure - best time to use lure is when there are several cogs in a battle, or one high-level cog which you can't defeat in one round. However, another often overlooked reason is simply to eliminate the risk of a gag missing. Throw, squirt and sound gags almost never miss on lured cogs. This can be critical if toons are low on gags or laff points and may not last another round of battle.
Throw - best time to use throw: last round to defeat a cog. Throw gags are the staple, along with squirt. But even early in a toon's life, throw gags are more powerful than squirt, and so, many toons use throw more than squirt. However, it is wise to try to keep a balance in using throw and squirt. Squirt will miss less often than throw, and is good to use when the previous round of throw has missed.
Squirt - best time to use: as a last resort. Squirt is the most accurate but least powerful of the gags, and is the second to last to be deployed (drop being the last) - so the best chance of it being deployed is when all the toons use it in a round. It can also be used to stun cogs for drop or lure. Since squirt has high accuracy, it is also good to use when you want to minimize risk of a miss and another round of battle.
Drop - best time to use: in the same round as a trap and lure on the cog being trapped. Trap will do lots of damage to a cog when there is a successful lure, but don't stay lured. So if the trap doesn't finish off the cog, it should be hit with another gag (throw, squirt, sound or drop). And since trap does leave the cog stunned (if it survives the trap) - it really increases the chances of drop hitting - though still not 100%, maybe about 75-90%. If you plant a drop gag, it slightly increases it's accuracy and damage (once the tree is fruiting). In practice, you need to estimate whether a deploying trap will finish off the cog or not - or you won't get the chance to deploy your drop gag. You also want to try to finish off the cog with your drop, if you can, so judicious selection of which drop to use is helpful to minimize damage from all cogs.
Using sound on lured cogs exception
The sound gags are unique in that they affect all cogs at once in a battle, except for level 7 gags of any type and some lure gags (magnets) - but lure gags don't do damage directly. However, sound gags are relatively weak in the amount of damage they actually do individually.
Very typically, toons with sound can team up and use sound to literally blast their way through legions of high-level cogs. For level 11 cogs and below, two fog horns and two elephants will defeat them in one round.
However, for toons without sound gags, the alternative strategy is to use lure to immobilize them - that is, prevent them from attacking, allow time to heal and a safe opportunity to defeat cogs one at a time. The challenge is that sound gags "wake" lured cogs - all of them at once - effectively undoing what the lure gag did. Thus the rule of thumb "Don't use sound on lured cogs."
As with any rule, there are exceptions, and as with any exception, it is not widely understood - its not in the rule book.
Sound, as a gag, should generally be used when it can defeat a cog in one round - and that generally means all or most of the toons in a battle using sound in that round. If you are the only toon using sound and they are not defeated in that round, you will most likely be the target of all the cogs attack - and if you woke the cogs from their lured state, you'd also be the target of your battle-mates wrath. Exceptions abound, but let's focus on when to use sound.
Drop gags are relatively powerful for their respective levels, but are highly inaccurate. I've observed that at times, drop gags on solo battles are about 25% accurate - that is, only one in four will hit. Higher level drop gags get more accurate, but in general, it's likely to miss more often than not - unless the cogs is stunned. You can stun a cog with sound, throw or squirt gags in the same round. Oh, and drop never ever works with lured cogs. In order for drop to work on lured cogs, you have to wake them from their lured state.
When there are two or more lured cogs, and most of the toons want to use drop, the only way to wake all the cogs at once is with sound. This situation is rare - (thus, it is an exceptional condition). Say there are two lured cogs and three or more toons battling. Two or more toons want to use drop on both cogs. At least one toon needs to use sound to wake up both cogs and stun them for the drop gags to have any chance of hitting.
Very typically, toons with sound can team up and use sound to literally blast their way through legions of high-level cogs. For level 11 cogs and below, two fog horns and two elephants will defeat them in one round.
However, for toons without sound gags, the alternative strategy is to use lure to immobilize them - that is, prevent them from attacking, allow time to heal and a safe opportunity to defeat cogs one at a time. The challenge is that sound gags "wake" lured cogs - all of them at once - effectively undoing what the lure gag did. Thus the rule of thumb "Don't use sound on lured cogs."
As with any rule, there are exceptions, and as with any exception, it is not widely understood - its not in the rule book.
Sound, as a gag, should generally be used when it can defeat a cog in one round - and that generally means all or most of the toons in a battle using sound in that round. If you are the only toon using sound and they are not defeated in that round, you will most likely be the target of all the cogs attack - and if you woke the cogs from their lured state, you'd also be the target of your battle-mates wrath. Exceptions abound, but let's focus on when to use sound.
Drop gags are relatively powerful for their respective levels, but are highly inaccurate. I've observed that at times, drop gags on solo battles are about 25% accurate - that is, only one in four will hit. Higher level drop gags get more accurate, but in general, it's likely to miss more often than not - unless the cogs is stunned. You can stun a cog with sound, throw or squirt gags in the same round. Oh, and drop never ever works with lured cogs. In order for drop to work on lured cogs, you have to wake them from their lured state.
When there are two or more lured cogs, and most of the toons want to use drop, the only way to wake all the cogs at once is with sound. This situation is rare - (thus, it is an exceptional condition). Say there are two lured cogs and three or more toons battling. Two or more toons want to use drop on both cogs. At least one toon needs to use sound to wake up both cogs and stun them for the drop gags to have any chance of hitting.
Wednesday, December 3
Teamwork
In many battles, especially in Cog buildings and Cog HQ's, toons will be battling in teams of two to four, and in boss battles, up to eight toon teams. Therefore, understanding team strategy becomes essential in survival. Battling high-level cogs (level 8-12) requires much more team work than battling low-level cogs (level 1-7). Short, low-level cog battles are much more tolerant of mistakes, while longer, high-level battles really test toons strategy and gag inventory, not to mention laff points.
Not surprisingly, many toons lack good understanding of teamwork and team strategy. Some of this may be due to lack of complete understanding of how gags work and the risk factors, but a significant part seems to be due to the personality of the actual players. These toons exhibit minimal support for other toons, prioritizing their own personal goals above that of the whole team - often jepoardizing the survival of other toons during battles.
It is necessary to state the obvious for those players: teamwork is the key to long term success - both on TT and in the real world.
Not surprisingly, many toons lack good understanding of teamwork and team strategy. Some of this may be due to lack of complete understanding of how gags work and the risk factors, but a significant part seems to be due to the personality of the actual players. These toons exhibit minimal support for other toons, prioritizing their own personal goals above that of the whole team - often jepoardizing the survival of other toons during battles.
It is necessary to state the obvious for those players: teamwork is the key to long term success - both on TT and in the real world.
Tuesday, December 2
Introduction
To a casual observer, Disney's Toontown online may seem like a child's game with it's cartoon characters and animations. But a deeper look reveals not only technical sophistication, but also addicting game play that rewards advanced strategies and on-the-fly calculations of probabilities and risk. In fact, strategy can change quickly depending on a number of factors for the same challenge or task. Layer upon this is the team play required for more advanced tasks - ranging from two players to eight. Then there's the social aspect of general cooperation and making "friends" interwoven into the game play which can range from one-time encounters to long-term relationships. Altogether, the Toontown universe and community makes for some very interesting reflections of real-world behavior that begs examination.
Though there are many similar aspects between Toontown and other online community-supporting games like Club Penguin, World of Warcraft, Second Life and even console-based games like Halo, Tooniversity is going to focus on Toontown (TT) because of it's broad appeal to players of a very wide age range - pre-school to adults - and it's G-rated nature, and make occasional references to other massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG or "morps").
(Interestingly, the major unofficial TT-based community sites maintain similar G-rated content restrictions and privacy guidelines - more on this later.)
Tooniversity will present advanced strategies for game play on Toontown, as well as commentary on various aspects of TT - primarily TT's reflections of real-world social and "economic" issues.
Though there are many similar aspects between Toontown and other online community-supporting games like Club Penguin, World of Warcraft, Second Life and even console-based games like Halo, Tooniversity is going to focus on Toontown (TT) because of it's broad appeal to players of a very wide age range - pre-school to adults - and it's G-rated nature, and make occasional references to other massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG or "morps").
(Interestingly, the major unofficial TT-based community sites maintain similar G-rated content restrictions and privacy guidelines - more on this later.)
Tooniversity will present advanced strategies for game play on Toontown, as well as commentary on various aspects of TT - primarily TT's reflections of real-world social and "economic" issues.
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