Tuesday 21 January 2014

A new Four-Ingredient Machine in Family Farm

One reason Machines, aka Gear, are unlocked only at specific Levels in Family Farm is because of the Ingredients that they require to produce Items.  Machines can be as simple as using a single ingredient.  More sophisticated Machines use three Ingredients.  Now, there is a Machine that requires four different Ingredients.  It is the Stir-Fry Machine.  Required Ingredients are: Salt, Ginger and Bean Oil.  It is the fourth Ingredient that determines the Item that is produced.  In this case, when I studied the List of 'types' of Stir-Fry Dishes that the Machine can produce, I noticed that they basically were Vegetables that were not used in any other Machines or anywhere else  except possibly in the Kitchen.

This makes the Stir-Fry Machine of interest to the high-level Players who gather Achievements in every Crop and probably have hundreds of Winter Squash, Bell Pepper, Lentils, Green Beans and other high-level Crops in their Barn awaiting a potential use.  For the low level Player, it makes the Stir-Fry Machine a bit daunting.  The price tag attached to the unfinished Machine, in the form of 50,000 Coins, is a little daunting as well.

Recently, though, I have made a practice of purchasing every possible Animal or Machine in Family Farm.  I therefore purchased the Stir-Fry Machine, decimating my store of Coins, without any knowledge of the Ingredient List or number of Ingredients that would be needed.

It is an interesting Machine.  At my current Level, I have unlocked many of the Ingredients that serve to determine the type of Stir-Fry made, apart from Radicchio, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts and Broccoli.  This brings me to another aspect of Family Farm that I ignored at lower levels.

Whenever a new Crop is released, it is available ordinarily to ALL Players for a limited time, irrespective of their level.  It may be connected to a special Quest or Mission as well.  Even if a Player is not interested in completing the Mission, it is not a bad idea to grow a few of these Crops before the time period expires.  What occurs when the time period expires is that the Crop is given a Level Requirement that usually is quite high.  At that point, you no longer will be able to grow the Crop until you reach the Level of Experience required to unlock it.

A little note here about Machines or Gear in general:  I am a deeply conflicted person in a way, as my natural inclinations are to prefer an unmechanised society to one that is ruled by Machines.  Like Tolkien, I see the ugliness produced by Industrialisation but at the same time, I write strategy game guides for MACHINES.  Gaming systems and computers are Machines and they are a big part of my life as well as my own creative landscape. 

It is ironic though that my favourite game on Facebook is a game that features Machines.  In fact, I have a friend who no longer plays Family Farm because of the focus on Machines, although she would be pleasantly surprised by the nature of the Machines added to the game in the past year.  Originally fairly functional, new Machines now are incredibly attractive, whimsical or inventive.  Cases in point are the Marzipan Machine, the Machine that produces Hawaiian Leis and the Ornament Maker that features little Elves inside a Snow Globe dancing about while they make Christmas Ornaments from the lovely Tinsel Crop and one other Ingredient.  The Machines in Family Farm are fun and creative.  They could seduce any Luddite into abandoning his or her rejection of Machinery.

Friday 17 January 2014

Why Perform Quests for Rewards One Does not Need... Answer is found in the Farm Club




By joining a Family Farm Group on Facebook, one can find guides to the various Quests that appear both on the left side of the screen and in the Quest Menu, accessed by clicking on Darryl's face on the right side of the screen.  One reason why these Quest guides are useful is that they allow players to grow or collect Items that are needed for the Quest in advance.  Another reason is that the Reward for completion of the Quest is given and a Player then can decide whether or not to pursue the Quest at all.

Often for mid-level or high-level Players, the final Reward for a Quest will be a Machine or Animal that produces the same Item as another Machine or Animal one has.  Thus, the Machine or Animal really is not needed.  Why then should one bother to perform the Quest?

There actually are a number of reasons why one should perform every Quest that is available even if the Reward is almost a duplicate of an Item one has.  First of all, Machines that are given as Quest Rewards tend to produce faster than the ordinary variety of the same Machine found in the Market.  Even if the Machine is identical to one that the Player has, he/she will earn valuable Experience Points by completing any Quest.  Finally... and this can be the most important reason of all...  the Quest Reward may be a requirement in the Farm Club.

The Farm Club is a fairly new optioni n Family Farm that can be accessed by clicking on the little buidling to the left of (and outside) the Player's Farm.  Here you will find Trees, Animals and Machines listed in groups of three.  If you have all three Items in any group, you will receive a little Reward.  Completion of any List will give a specific number of Points as well.  These count towards a more significant Reward.

For those of us who love the Mythical Animals such as the Unicorn or Pegasus, it is the Farm Club that gives us the opportunity to collect new Animals that cannot be obtained through any other method.   A number of the Point Rewards in the Farm Club have been Pegasi  or Unicorns.  I believe that the Crystal Pegasus and the Sapphire Pegasus both were Farm Club Collection Rewards. 

There ia another feature of the Farm Club that can be useful to Players who missed a Quest with a specific Limited Edition Tree, Animal or Machine as its final Reward.  If the Item appears in a List in any Collection Group and you were unable to obtain it previously,  you may have the option to purchase it for premium Cash (RC).  This is a method by which a Player can obtain an Item that is not available in the Market.

There are mini-games that allow Players a chance to win special Limited Edition Items.  Included among these are some of the Pegasi and Unicorns.  I never have won ANY Item through the mini-games but I am singularly unlucky.  I was able to obtain a couple of Pegasi and Unicorns that otherwise could be found only in the mini-games through the Farm Club Collection Lists.  In a game that rewards Players with premium Cash regularly, I am happy to spend that Cash on a special and rare Pegasus or Unicorn if I cannot obtain it through any other method.

I am writing this post in the middle of January in 2014.  in the past fortnight, there have been a few new Quests.  I was not that excited about the Rewards for some of them but suspected that I might need them for the Farm Club.  In fact, new Collection Groups were added to the Farm Club last night and because I had completed all the recent Quests, I was able to redeem the prizes for all three of the new Collection Lists instantly, obtaining a significant Reward afterwards in the form of a new Unicorn, the Pink Lace Unicorn.

The Pink Lace Unicorn is shown at the top of this post.  The Sugar Plum Fairy stands to her left and was a Reward for a Christmas Quest.  All Unicorns and Pegasi eat Vigourous Herb, a very attractive mythical Crop that is fitting for such rare creatures.  Each then produces a different, unique gem.  The Pink Lace Unicorn produces a Pink Heart Diamond.  When fed into the Jewelry Maker, it produces a Pink Heart Diamond Ring.  The two Items are shown below.

Thursday 16 January 2014

Daily Log-In Machine Rewards

Family Farm is wonderful in that faithful daily log-ins ALWAYS give Rewards.  Every few days, a Player who has logged into the game every day for weeks will receive 10 RC, the premium cash that is used in this game.  This is fairly unique among games that are found on Facebook.  This aspect of the game, as well as the fact that Crops NEVER wither or die, is one of the reasons I have been playing Family Farm loyally and regularly for over a year now.   The other very positive aspect of this game is that there are no Energy limits.  One can plant, harvest or produce and collect Products to one's heart content without ever being forced to quit because Energy has run out.  Other games attempt to force Players to purchase additional Energy using Premium Cash.  I find that strategy irritating and rather dishonourable, in all honesty.   Players who like a game will invest real money in it, but it is better to allow them to CHOOSE how they wish to invest it rather than cornering them by exhausting their Energy.

Occasionally, Family Farm will add another Reward for Players who log into the game daily for a month.  Each day that you log into the game, you will receive a small Reward in the form of an Item.  At the end of the Month, provided that you have received every daily Item, you will receive a special Reward that takes the form of a Machine or Animal.  If you did miss a day, you will be given the opportunity to purchase the missing Item for premium Cash.  In Family Farm, this usually costs 3 RC.

Is the final Reward worth it for Players who have missed Days and must purchase missing Items?  That is the question I wish to address in this Post.

For a Player who is mid-level or high-level, it definitely is worth the price, but for low-level Players, if the Reward is a Machine, it usually is a fairly sophisticated one that requires Ingredients that low-level Players may not be able to grow or produce.  Obviously, Players will advance in experience and as Levels are raised, more options become available.  Any Reward can be left in the Gift Box indefinitely.  The Reward Machines can be fun to use and they often are included in a requirement to obtain a Farm Club Reward, but they never will be required for a regular Quest or Mission.  They are 'optional' Machines rather than vital ones.

The Reward at the end of January 2014 will be a very attractive special Coffee Machine that will produce unique types of Holiday Coffees as follows:

 Candy Cane Coffee:
  Ingredients:  Sugar, Coffee Bean

Holiday Cheer Coffee:
  Ingredients:  Eggnog, Coffee Bean

Hawaiian Coffee:
  Ingredients:  Coconut Milk, Coffee Bean

Autumn Harvest Coffee:
  Ingredients:  Pumpkin, Coffee Bean

Cupid's Kiss Coffee:
  Ingredients:  Caramel, Coffee Bean

Merry Christmas Coffee:
  Ingredients:  Roast Chestnut, Coffee Bean

As you can see, there is only one type of Coffee that uses two raw Ingredients in the form of the Autumn Harvest Coffee that requires Pumpkin and Coffee Beans.  Pumpkin, however, is a Crop that is not available to low-level Players.   The rest of the Products require Ingredients made in other Machines.  Eggnog, however, is made in the Hot Drink Machine which is available to all Players.