The Furious Angels
FA Discussion => Off Topic => Topic started by: Manic Velocity on May 30, 2011, 08:30:22 pm
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http://www.shadowcities.com/
I've been waiting for this game to release in the US for a few months now, and it has finally hit the US app store. It's a pretty interesting take on mobile MMOs. It's still in active development, but from what I've seen so far it's pretty solid.
You're put in the role of a mage, and your city is the battleground against other players. Using the phone's GPS, you travel around your city searching for "Energy Gateways", which act as hotspots for game activity. I've already found two that are near my house.
You swipe runes on the touchscreen to enact various spells. Attack, heal, etc. "Spirits" are essentially NPCs that you have to defeat for XP and Energy points.
Campaigns open up where you and members of your chosen faction have to battle against players in the opposing faction. You fight NPCs and eachother to build enough energy to "claim" your city.
Players can set up teleportation points around the city, so if one of your friends needs help, you can warp to them in the game instead of having to physically travel to them.
The game is free, but you can get a bit more of an edge by buying mana potions. Otherwise you have to wait for your mana to refill every 10 minutes or so.
If you have an iPhone, I highly recommend this game.
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What was your mana score? I got 86.9 =p and which faction did you choose? I went with the animators =p
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I got the same mana score. I think it's the same each time you start.
I went with Architects. The description makes them sound steampunk-y. Couldn't resist.
So far I'm at the top of the leaderboard in my area for the current campaign!
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Is there someplace that shows you what the runes are for different spells?
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Tap the yellow icon at the top-left to bring up your profile. Scroll down to see what spells are available at your level. The spell's icon indicates the shape you draw to activate it.
The game teaches you new spells as you level up. It looks like you learn a new spell every two levels or so. I didn't learn to cast Beacons (teleportation points) until level 6.
And I'm not sure if this is a bug or what, but I noticed I would often go a couple hours without any NPC spawns in my area. And I noticed that by performing a "Dewarp" spell (drawing a "U" rune) it reloaded my map at my current position and dropped NPCs on me. So I'd just wait until my mana was full, and was able to call up a batch of NPCs to kill. Quick and easy XP and energy.
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Lol Manic... exploiting the game already :P
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I downloaded this. I want to go towards an enemy area that is on my map, but every time I click on a place to warp, it says my team needs to own it for me to go to it. I figured out I can put down a dominator which will let me move forward, but I can only have two of them, so I keep having to destroy one and losing any progress towards "capturing" areas.
Basically I can only hop between two spots where I put down dominators.
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I downloaded this. I want to go towards an enemy area that is on my map, but every time I click on a place to warp, it says my team needs to own it for me to go to it. I figured out I can put down a dominator which will let me move forward, but I can only have two of them, so I keep having to destroy one and losing any progress towards "capturing" areas.
Basically I can only hop between two spots where I put down dominators.
I was able to place a third Dominator at level 5.
I'm still learning as well. I have a warp beacon attached to an Energy Gateway. The Help menu says Energy Gateways are supposed to supply power to Dominators and beacons, but it doesn't seem to be charging my beacon.
What's everyone's name? If we're on eachother's friends lists we can warp to eachother in-game. I signed up as "ManicVelocity".
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I am "Tbone", but I am a plant dude...not an architect.
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I am "Tbone", but I am a plant dude...not an architect.
So you and Venlar will be able to warp to eachother, since you're in the same faction.
But I can see you both in Cloud View whenever you're online. :)
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fun stuff, i'm "Eeth" in-game.
friend of mine has an iPhone app concept designed out which uses this same location-based control design. interesting "research" for us to do, ha.
Shadow Cities is pretty damn cool and well done for sure.
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Eeth and I will build beacons and then take over our neighborhoods. Then we will expand and take over Manic's neighborhood! Gwahaha!
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oh em gee. totally downloading this. what an awesome concept for a little game :D
besides, angry birds is making me mental. this sounds like a great excuse to drain my battery.
87.5 mana score :P
find me, victoriah.
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I have a beacon!
Victoriah, I can't find you :(
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boo :( its case sensitive lol
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things i've learned so far... "helping" someone kill a spirit, just takes it from them. no shared xp :(
(sorry Venlar!)
also, you cannot harvest your dominator if you are far from your "home" location. i set some up at Tbone's neighborhood and all for not. no harvest for me.
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I set up three dominators at my office, so I can harvest energy while I work all day.
Tons of people in my area are setting up beacons all over the state. The Architects are screaming ahead of the Animators. I even found an Enemy Gateway near my house. It says there are enemy dominators nearby, but I'm having trouble pinpointing them.
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Yeah, I can't quite get to the enemy dominators. I have a guy directly north of me. Problem is, I can't warp to the location b/c we don't control it. But we can't control it unless we warp there and take out the dominators. Catch 22...
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You should be able to harvest your dominator even if it is at my place. You have to wait for the energy to fill up. You'll notice a red circle around it, which means it is ready to be harvested.
The more gateways we take over, the more energy you get when you harvest. So when you make a dominator at my place, don't just put them all at Park Glen. Spread out until you find a gateway that is neutral and link your dominator to that. Right now we have 4 gateways for +7 energy. We need more!
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It's a good idea to keep your dominators in places you frequent often. Or move them around as you move around. You can't harvest a dominator that is too far from your actual location. I have people in southern Utah placing dominators at my beacon in downtown Salt Lake City. The dominators are full, but they can't be harvested by their owners because they're too far away, and they're not bother to destroy them. So it's a lot of wasted energy.
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It's extra energy for YOU, though, because you get a bonus for the conquered gateways when you harvest!
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your beacon get nuked Tbone? i don't see it on my cloud view any longer.
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Weird. Do they reset or something? It was gone, but nothing else around it was. Just the beacon...
It's back up now.
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(noticed you're back up now, i know they can run out of energy by draining your dominators if you don't have enough powering the beacon.)
haha, holy shit this is fun...i made my way around up to the dude to the north of your place Tbone, as soon as i showed up he started nuking my ass, guess i didn't catch him sleeping, lol. this could get really fun and interesting very soon.
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oh hells yeah! i went into Slyk's hood and nuked his ass while he was sleeping, lol! this is so much fun. i've found that a good way to move around it to keep warping to a target until it puts you slightly in the direction you want to move, then spawn a dominator (and destroy it if it doesn't spawn in the direction you want to travel) and keep leap-frogging to where you want to go. it can be a bit tedious at times but i got in a very satisfying kill on Slyk :D
got 3 quests done in that pvp process as well!
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Yeah, I was doing that with someone last night. We leapfrogged each other to get to his neighborhood and killed his dominators. I tried killing him, but it said he had beginner protection. That's how we took over Arlington Forest from him! Gwahaha!
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i think at lvl 6 their beginner protection goes away. Slyk was high enough to kill today, let's grief him until he decides to move IRL!
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still only lvl 5 >.< .. this game sure is a fun time kiler though :D
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I came in first place for the first round of the campaign. 50 mana bottles. I bought a few gateways around town. :)
And I recently hit level 11. Five dominators is awesome energy harvesting for the team.
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You weren't on my list. Must be local. I was in the top 5. Got 5 mana bottles.
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i got top 5 in my area too, gonna be a lot harder as more kids join up. pretty sure the campaigns are broken down approximately by state. (seems about right here in missouri anyway)
i see Venlar and Tbone have beacons up. it's nice to be able to jump to more dense areas. Not a lot going on in my neighborhood. up in Kansas City though there's a lot of friendly action, not much in the way of enemies to get to though.
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i just found out today that you can "heal" your dominators, have one up to 2464 hp, curious how high it will go, (can hp boost other things too, have a Spirit Catcher, which i've yet to see in action, guess it acts as a defender if if baddies show up?) to increase their max health. makes it a pain in the ass for one guy to sneak in and take em out while you're sleeping :)
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Speaking of, I had one guy sneak in and take everything out while I was sleeping. lol
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I took out a few enemy dominators and beacons yesterday after work. It was kind of weird tracking them down, since the map doesn't really give exact locations of structures.
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Do you have to physically travel to them?
This game sounds weird, but interesting. I think I might get it.
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The enemy tried to push into Boston today... they made a big mistake. I used the chat to rally up dozens of ppl and push them out. You're now looking at the proud shadowlord of Boston Garden... go Bruins... =p
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woo, Venlar! i dropped in on your hood, looks like a great place for action. much better than where i am. Tbone is in a great place too, and yeah T, make sure you heal everything up 2500+ health on your doms, that will just piss them off they have to hit it so many damn times to take it out. Put up a Catcher (heal it up too, should be able to get to 1300+) to defend your doms, if an enemy casts within range of the Catcher it releases what it has caught to attack them. have yet to see it in action, i really want to though.
And G, no you don't have to physically travel to these places, you can see your in-game friends' beacons and teleport to them anytime. The second mode of travel is "warping" to items on the local map. Learning to leap-warp is a very handy skill. Putting down dominators until they spawn in the direction you want to travel, then warp to it until it warps you on the other side of your creation, then continue the tedious process :)
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Ok, I'm slowly figuring out the strategy to this game. Here we go...
Beginning
You start out wherever you are in real life. Hopefully you're in an area with a lot of gateways. Gateways are basically sections of the map that can be taken over. Instead of being confined to your physical location, however, you can "warp" around to be places that you aren't. You can warp to friendly gateways, other players, dominators, catchers, wards, and beacons. Dewarping takes you back to your physical location.
There will be little spirits flying around. Follow the tutorial to figure out how to kill them and get xp. Xp helps you level up. AP gives you points to use on attributes. Energy helps your campaign ranking (the two teams are competing to see who can get more energy, basically). Now let's take a look at the spells...
War Spell
This is your attack. Willpower makes it stronger. Make sure you level the spell itself all the way up and keep your willpower high.
Heal Spell (Aria)
This is used to heal yourself and teammates. This is also used to boost the health of your beacons, dominators, catchers, and wards. Helped by Willpower, so again, keep that high.
Summon Beacon
This will allow you and friends of yours to Warp to your location, meaning you can warp back home and work on your stuff even when you're at work! Think of this as establishing your home base. Beacons can only be summoned at your physical location, unless you level it up to Rank 4, I believe.
Dominators
Dominators can be summoned to take over gateways. They can also be used as warp locations to get around a little better. On top of taking over a gateway, dominators gather energy (the currency of the campaign). This can be harvested to help your team and help you move up the leaderboard. If you have a lot of gateways that can be taken over in your immediate area, it might be a good idea to use each dominator at your disposal to take over a different gateway. If your area is sparse, then you might want to use them all to take over one gateway. The enemy can take over your gateway once they destroy all of your dominators.
Warp
Used to get around. Doesn't take any mana. You can warp to any friendly structure, gateway, or player.
Dewarp
Takes you back to your physical location.
Catcher
A catcher can be used to protect your area. Spawn it and it will slowly capture a spirit. Once that spirit is captured, if an enemy goes in your area, it will release that spirit to attack him. Leveling it up strengthens the spirits that you catch.
Ward
A ward is a guard that attacks the enemy when it casts a spell near it. I haven't gotten high enough level to figure out how they work.
Attributes
One AP increases an attribute up to 15. After 15, it takes 2 APs to level up an attribute. I suggest leveling all of your attributes up to at least 15 to take advantage of the 1 AP price. Also, there are missions that give you a LOT of XP for getting an attribute up to 10, so don't leave any behind!
Willpower - increases damage and heals. I recommend keeping this very high.
Intelligence - increases mana pool. I would keep this moderately high.
Vitality - increases mana/hp regeneration rate. Definitely want to keep this high, especially if you plan on having long play sessions and don't want to waste mana pots or wait a long amount of time.
Endurance - increases HP for you and your structures. Keep this at medium. I think it's better to do the damage and have the mana, because if you run out of mana, you'll be helpless while the rest of your HP is drained anyway.
What Do I Do?
Do as many missions as you can to level up. Build dominators. Try to keep them harvested. As soon as you level up enough (level 5 or 6), build a BEACON. This will allow your friends to jump in and help you defend/take over. Visit other beacons to find unique spirits for your missions or help others attack/defend.
Your beacon requires power. Dominators take over gateways AND build power for your other structures, so make sure you always have all your dominators down. When you level up enough, you'll be able to build a Catcher. Cast a catcher to defend your beacon/dominators.
Use your heal spell to boost up the HP of your structures so that they aren't as easy to take down. When you can cast Wards, set them up as defense.
PvP
Use friends to help you move around. I use a leapfrog method to warp to each other to kind of walk around and attack things. You can also destroy a dominator and temporarily use it to get around. Just be aware that it will cause your structures to not have enough power to operate.
Shadow Lord
If you save up mana pots instead of using them to refill your mana, you can buy things. You can purchase gateways, which puts your name permanently on it. Someone can outbid you to take it away, though, so keep pumping in mana pots to make sure it remains yours. Do this enough, and it will increase the level of that gateway, giving you harvesting bonuses.
*work in progress*
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My spawn is getting camped now. Can't even keep a beacon up. My location pretty much has the most PvP I've seen in this game (lucky me). I say when we get high enough level, we set up a base at my place and use it as our PvP zone!
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Excellent guide. Much better than anything on the game's website.
A word on "Dominator Hopping": This is obviously easier if you have more people to lay down Dominators, allowing for the leapfrogging that Tbone mentioned. But I've noticed that doms are more likely to spawn on your right side, depending on which way your camera is facing. So if you want to move West, turn your camera to face South (so that West is on your right side) and drom a dom. It's about a 1-in-3 chance that the dom will spawn on your right, giving you a means to warp West.
It's a rather slow and mana-costly way to move, but it is very effective if you can't physically travel to set up a beacon.
EDIT: Also, your Dominators power all of your structures, regardless of how far apart they are. You can place a beacon at one location, and place all of your doms miles away, and the beacon will still work.
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this game is insane. i put up a beacon at work. there are a lot of gateways around there. and make friends too!
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im playing now, heironymus, dang you people for getting me hooked..
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this game is insane. I put up a beacon at work. there are a lot of gateways around there. and make friends too!
Good point about making friends... I've just been adding as many people in the area I can find. I can now beacon into downtown Boston which is crawling with spirits and a warzone with the architects. I can imagine any major city esp downtown and famous areas are going to be huge pvp and xp opportunities.
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My neighborhood has become the PvP hotspot for the state, I think. I'm now surrounded by enemies. I think at least three architects live in my neighborhood. I'm constantly having to rebuild. At least I have lots of friends!
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how many "spell specialization points" did you guys get when you hit lvl 10?
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how many "spell specialization points" did you guys get when you hit lvl 10?
Uh, one
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ok cool, wanted to make sure i didn't "lose" a point by not spending it before leveling. i was at 2 when i hit level 10, but i had one that i hadn't spent from when i hit lvl 9.
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t your beacon was missing for some of the day lol
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I've been at work all day. If I'm not constantly rebuilding, it goes down. I'm constantly getting attacked from the Borg and east. I'm pretty sure they see if it's vulnerable every 15 min or so.
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where should i start putting my spell points now? should i upgrade my healing? (for when we have epic battles i can be the heal bitch) or should i upgrade my wards? (so i can put them down and they'll help us out with firepower in our epic battles).
curious what people think, and/or what others are doing. i already have my offense spell maxed and my warp spell maxed (lets me cast catchers/wards/beacons when i am away from my local spot).
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Is anyone still playing this? I just started back up since my move is finished, so now I'm in a new location.
If you are looking into it, sign up here (http://www.shadowcities.com/signup/Tbone/)!