Dream Catchers

[pegasiswolf]

(note: i will update this page regularly as new helpful sites are recommended to me)

INTRO:

The goal (as usual) is ur bilge pump.. u want it yellow.. or yellow sparkly... and once u are there.. its just a matter of maintaining it...u can actually slow down a bit... and better plan out the big combos... tho if u wait too long between moves (i think its 10 seconds) the game will read that as if u made a swap.. but didnt clear anything.. so dont just STARE too long..lol

The key is a good start!!!! get sparkly as fast as u can.. then its easier to stay there.. and COMBOS.... bingos and sea donkeys will keep ya sparkling.... dont go for just clearing 3's unless it will help u to set up other moves or u really have nothing else... and just need to mix the board up.. as these dont increase ur pump... they only keep u from going down (if done in 1 move.. if done in more than 1 move can actually make you go down)...and NEVER waste moves... unless setting up larger combos....taking 2-3 moves (at most) to set up a 3x3..or bigger.... is better than just clearing a 3

and if bilge is high.. stay at the top...above the water... point values go way up when water is high... so smaller combos are worth more than they usually are...

THE PLACE TO START:

http://yppedia.puzzlepirates.com/Bilging

http://yppedia.puzzlepirates.com/Bilge_scoring

http://yppedia.puzzlepirates.com/Bilging_tutorial (my FAVORITE part of this page.. are the pictures of what makes the different combos.. by seeing them displayed like that.. u can better recognise them when actually ON the puzzle... )

VIDEOS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE3zj3bXKck (good audio to walk u thru the strategy and how scoring works.. and also shows the value of a good combo to begin with)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=puzzle+pirates+bilge (bad quality video.. but shows the value of starting off quickly to sparkly.. then u can afford to make some mistakes.. and the pump stays sparkly...cause you got a good start and had moves to spare..lol)

ADDITIONAL PLACES TO VISIT TO PERFECT UR SKILLS:

http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=7261 (good explanations of how different moves affect the pump)

Last edited by pegasiswolf on Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

[noushka]

WOW Pegasis, I have nothing to add, except that yes, it IS 10 seconds a move:)

One thing that helps is if you think of bilging like a bank account. Each click you make takes money out, each combo you clear puts money in, the bigger the combo, the more cash goes in. If you can get a bingo fast, then a few 3x3 or 3x4, you get your pump and your bucket rocking and sparkling away!

Mind you i hate bilge, it makes my head spin!

[pegasiswolf]

bilge just came naturally to me... and my whole family actually... never even read a tutorial until after i had gotten my ultimate..lol.. same with ray (donskelator) our family just seems to have the bilging gene....

ive had to work hard to learn the other stations.. especially CARP.. wow.. i used to plank myself if ordered to carp... i just refused it... but then i took the time to read a bunch and watch videos and such.. and i have no problem with it now.. tho the highest i have gotten is renowned (currently and steadily master now i think)...

i have only tried treasure haul a couple times.... and even tho similar to bilge.. it frustrates me.. not sure why...lol

i can get master or higher on all the other piracy stations tho.. so overall i think im a pretty well-rounded pirate... just not EXCEPTIONAL at any one thing.. (tho could be ult in bilge again if i wanted im sure.. but its sublime.. i would rather spend my experience on other stations to increase my experience there.. and get multiple sublimes hopefully)

im currently #4 or #5 in bnav experience.. and am one of the FEW illustrious bnavers in the game...

ok.. who got me rambling??? noush? is it ur fault this time? rofl

[Nostale]

I still suck at bilge =(

[Godforsaken]

erm, peggy the scoring of TH is WAY different, I know most people (including me) try to make big combos in bilge, but I THINK the scoring in TH is get it moving quick, and keep the combos going, I play like that and I can usualy get excell-increds... I once beat a ult THer in the list, like most puzzles if I get down to it I can get it up to GM or legendary...

[Tsuker]

hello, i waited a long time to write this one because:
1) because all the tutorials for this puzzle are bad... they always tell you the same thing do big comboes dont do small ones.. this is why i am writing this to show you HOW TO SET UP DONKEYS AND VEGASES! and not just tell you to do them. (hint to the opening pegs did )

2) because this took along time to perfect to constant incredible

so assuming you know basic mechanics read this and hopefully it will help you:

-there is only one rule to bilge, everything you do must be done to set up a donkey or higher! anything lower is worthless.

this is how to set donkey +:

1) the screen is 12 squares high and 6 long and to get a donkey you must set at least 3X3X3X3 seeing this means that ALL the donkeys will have only 2 colors in the 6 row, like this:



this is the only way to be able to set up the donkey in bilge because this is the only configuration that alows a 4 clear with one click.

now, to set up this row of only 2 colors do small clears like 3's and 4's. now you might think: "i have to do loads of moves to get just 1 donkey!"
but just to let you know the lowest donkey is worth at least 10 moves that clear nothing and it lets you stay at incredible, so dont worry about spending moves it is worth it.

here is an example for a special row set up, notice the large ammount of moves done:

Before-

After-


2) now you have a row with only 2 colors, 3 of each now your task is to see at wich rows there are simmiler colors to the row you have set up, look first at the closest rows then after you find one move to the next line.
like this:

Before:

After:

(That is a Vegas by the way)

3) after you set it correctly to at least a 3X3X3X3 look for additional pieces to make is a 3X3X4X3 and above (any 3X3X3X5 is a vegas), remeber that any piece you add is at least 6 more no point moves so you can build your next combo.

and that is it!
4) however this is only guidline to get incredible, the trick is noticing wich rows are more prefferable to be the 2 color main row and not clearing stuff that mess up your combo and noticing how to do the "final assembly" without messing everything.

and a final note:
this is what i call the second way of playing the bilge game, the first and more natural one is to click what you can and hope for the best, wich will usually get you exells and goods but is no where near an assured incredible. the reason why the latter one is more natural is because bilge needs at first very little score to get to incredible level so people think that that is a good way to get an incredible but it usually fails after a while and cannot keep up with more the 10 mins of constant bilging incredible.

Last edited by Tsuker on Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:54 pm; edited 1 time in total

[Xdukex]

Tsuker - thanks for this. I'm terrible at bilge, and this offers me some hope. I've been clicking and hoping and got a Bingo once, and have never heard of a donkey or vegas in Bilge, so this is all new. But I'm not too clear on a key point.

Tsuker wrote:

2) now you have a row with only 2 colors, 3 of each now your task is to see at which rows there are similar colors to the row you have set up, look first at the closest rows then after you find one move to the next line. like this: YABBAY XXYABX YYXYXX - your row YABBXY ABBYYX as you can see you can easily move the X's to the places so it will set up to be activated once clicking the right spot and also the Y's

Problem is that I can NOT see what to do here. It says to move the Xs somewhere but it beats me to know where that would be. Can you be a little more specific for us binging-impaired?

I see there's ABBA in the top row. Should I start singing?

[Tsuker]

i thought the letters will work here too like with the carp tutorial and sailing tutorial i did, looks like it doesnt .
i will try to upload actuall pictures from game.