Can You Be a Grand Master? by Docktor |  |
The first in a series... Life is pretty good here in Neopia. Our only job other
than taking care of our pets is to play games, really, though many of us also
have shops that keep us very busy. We can earn NP at quite adequate levels to
support our pets and their lifestyles, but... is there more to games than just
playing?
Neopians get their scores added to the high score tables, and if you do really
well, your high score can get you a trophy and daily NP. But there's another
aspect to your game scores, and that's what I want to write about now. As you
play games, you can click on the My Scores button or link on most of them and
see what your current list of scores is on all the games you've played. You
can also get to it from your own description page on the High Scores line. The
main thing is, not only do you get a numeric score on games, but you get a Ranking
title too. The 6 rankings for a game are Beginner, Amateur, Novice, Expert,
Master and Grand Master.
Every week, I'll be writing an article explaining some of the details of how
to become a Grand Master at one of the games here in Neopia. Please note that
these are not "how to play" articles that list the keystrokes and all that.
Rather, they are specifically designed to discuss how to best become a Grand
Master at the game.
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This week: Nimmo's
Pond
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This week, it's about one of the newest games around, Nimmo's Pond. This game
is much like the old Asteroids game that some people remember as something from
the Pong era, but with several interesting twists. First of all, it's got a
frog--I mean Nimmo--in the middle of it! A good philosophy for almost every
shooter type game is: don't get hit.
In Nimmo's Pond there is no time limit, so just take your time and control
your Nimmo carefully. The only thing that will time out after a few trips across
the screen is one of the flies, but except for weapon powerups, if you don't
get hurt, you won't need them. I start out by shooting whichever lily pad seems
to be moving the fastest, because it's more likely to come quickly at you and
bump you. Then I clean up the small ones that result from shooting that one,
to keep the number of things I have to watch to a minimum. I also rarely move,
and try to keep myself slightly below center (about where you start out anyway).
If I do move, I slow and stop myself as soon as I can, and just spin to aim.
Aiming is kind of coarse in Nimmo's Pond, but usually the pads will float into
your line of fire, and ammo is free and unlimited.
By not moving, you keep your paddle power maxed out all the time and available
for when you really need it. Sometimes it seems that all the pads are converging
on you from every direction, and that's when you need to have a bomb handy.
Always keep all 3 bomb spots filled if you can, and use one of them as a last
resort. If you try to escape instead, you're likely to bump or get bumped before
you can really get back in control. Be sure to keep powering up the same weapon.
There are three, and I prefer the Spread weapon (yellow flies) because of the
aiming accuracy issues I spoke of.
The Launcher is okay unless the pads get close, and then you can end up shooting
over them and having to move. So, in this game, just keep whittling away at
the lily pads, and stay safe. You do get points for eating flies, but be sure
you don't gobble up any for a weapon other than the one you're using, or it'll
reset to that weapon at a level one. Don't get hurt trying to get a fly unless
it's absolutely critical (like a red health fly when you're almost out of health).
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Next week: Pyramids
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Docktor
is Grand Master of Nimmo's Pond and several other games. He holds the Grand
Master position in the new "Game
Strategies Guild" where strategies such as presented in this article
are discussed among the members. |
