- First of all, I'd suggest starting a Vinesweeper game soon after a farming run (attaching an amulet of nature to the last herb you plant if that's how you roll
, if not those then perhaps your last tree) that way you can maximize your farming xp/hr.- Second, you MUST understand the way minesweeper works. I'll explain it first in words, then with a video that helps greatly with the basic batterns from a friend of mine.
In minesweeper, you click different spots on a board filled with tiles. These spots reveal either a number, a blank area, or a mine. Revealing a mine ends the game. Revealing a blank area reveals several numbers around it. And those numbers that you uncover represent the number of mines within the eight immediate squares of that square. When you're sure you've found a mine, you can right-click and flag it. The game is won by revealing all squares that aren't mines.
Vinesweeper is very similar. yet quite a bit easier. You dig up different patches in a field. Seeds represent mines in this system. You don't want to dig them up, you want to flag them. But as soon as you flag them, nearby farmers or rabbits will go after them. Farmers are good, they'll give you points for a correct flag. Rabbits are bad, they eat your flags (which cost 500 gp/ea to replace if you flag incorrectly or a rabbit eats your flag). You kill rabbits by feeding them ogleroots (can be bought at low price from middle NPC) before they get near your flags. Be warned though, once a rabbit is near your flag and going after it, you're screwed. It's got that thing. So be very aware of whether or not rabbits are around. Also, whenever a seed is dug up or a flag is picked up/destroyed, the immediate area by that flag is cleared entirely. That does NOT mean that the seeds that were in that area are now gone. But new ones may have been introduced. This is very important to remember as sometimes a farmer clears an area you're working on. But if you remember where certain seeds were that you had not flagged, you can still flag them and get points. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, this game also uses numbers and empty squares to represent the same things as minesweeper does. The game is never won persay, except in the way of points gained for your own use.
Now, you may be thinking, "I've never gotten more than 1k pts! I've never played Minesweeper! How in the world is this of any use to me?" Well, if your farming level was a bit pathetic like mine, you may want to consider trying a diet of tree/herb planting with vinesweeper mixed in. (Extra random tip: Add the time at which you plant things to your ignore list so you can check without visiting your patch whether it is done or not. I.E: Trees 5pm, Fruit 530 pm, Herbs 545 pm) I managed to get from 58-74 farming in little under a week.
Don't know if it sounds worth it yet, but it was definitely a huge plus for me. Plus the game is loads of fun once you know how to play. So let's get started on how to play it without inspecting!-----------
The only things you need to bring are
Spade
Money (I'd suggest up to 50k)
Some stats on Vinesweeper.
Digging up a seed: -10 pts
Farmer finding correctly flagged seed: 100 pts
Bunny eating your flag: 0 pts
Being nearby farmer finding correctly flagged seed: 10 pts
Immediately you can tell the best way to do this isn't to follow a pro
Unless you consider 2.5k farm xp/hr worth your time.First, I want you to watch this video, no. I don't want you to watch it. I want you to study it. Because you'll be tested very soon!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nNoJ-8p27HM
Every bit of that is very valuable to being able to flag basic patterns. So what have we learned from that video?
- Empty squares mean all eight surrounding squares are empty and therefore safe to dig on or assume that there is no seed on it.
- A few basic patterns.
:: A "1" in a corner means to flag directly opposite of that 1's surrounding empty spaces. The rest must be empty spots. This is probably the most common pattern by far.
:: A "1 2 1" pattern directly beside a line of empty spaces means that only spaces beside the 1's can be flagged. Anything else would be impossible.
:: A "2 3 2" pattern directly beside a line of empty spaces means that all three spaces by the pattern can be flagged safely. Again, nothing else is possible here.
:: Possibly one of the most powerful patterns, besides knowing how to combine all of these patterns at once, is stringing lines of 1's. Be absolutely sure you understand why this is the way it is. And once you do understand it, you can quickly remember how to flag the pattern this way: Place each flag three spaces from each other (two patches in between).
Now let me explain some stuff not explained in the video.
- People will often come up and mess around with your spots. No worries, you're smarter than them now. Just flag them as you see them or 3-4 flags in a row (as I do). You'll occasionally meet the smart fellow who actually knows all of this and wants to play with you. Well if you're that social, go for it. But be warned, you only get 10 pts per seed if they were flagged by someone else nearby you. As opposed to the 100 you'd get on your own. This clearly means you lose out on xp/hr. I'd strongly suggest moving to a different spot.
- It is a mathematical fact that corner spaces reveal "cascades" more often than side spaces, and side spaces reveal more "cascades" than middle spaces. What the hell is a cascade? That's a term for the empty areas uncovered while playing Minesweeper. These areas are critical to being able to find flags quickly. Does this mean you should dig in all the corners only? No. For two reasons, one, your player is not your mouse cursor and you can't just run from one corner of the field to the other all the time. Secondly, the farmers are rarely on end corners while rabbits often are. So it'd be pretty poor judgment on your part to flag around there.
- Instead, dig along the fences, these count as "side" areas and are more likely to reveal cascades.
- Now, sometimes while digging along fences, you'll get lines of 1's or 2's. This is VERY good. Why? Well you can think of the fence as your line of empty spots beside a pattern because there simply cant be a mine in those spaces. Hence, if you dig a 1-2-1 while hugging the fence, you can flag those 1's. But wait! Don't flag them yet .... see how long this pattern goes on. If you get ....
1 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 1
You can flag them as
F - 0 - F - 0 - 0 - F - 0 - 0 - F - F - 0 - 0 - F
(121 combo) (1 string) (1221 combo) (1 string)
- Also, 1 2 1 combos can apply for boxes, corners. What am I talking about?
Say you have ...
- Code: Select all
2 1 2
1 1
2 1 2
You can flag all four of those 1's. This is a rarer pattern though. It comes in more handy with 1 boxes.
- Code: Select all
1 1 1 1 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 1 1 1 1
What to do here? Some people would just leave it and be like "aw that stunk." Tsk tsk tsk. You left a lot of easy flags. Just dig randomly immediately around the box of 1's until you uncover a seed or two seedless positions, whichever comes first. If you dig a seed, well you know where a seed is! If you dig two consecutive seedless spots, you know where two are (based on the 1 stringing pattern, a flag must be on either side).
Hence, since it's more likely we'll dig up a seed ... (E will mean you infer the spot is empty, F will mean you flag that spot)
- Code: Select all
? E E F E E E
? 1 1 1 1 1 E
? 1 1 x [seed dug up]
? 1 1 E
? 1 1 E
? 1 1 1 1 1 F
? E E F E E E
Now the left side here is more complex, it can be either FEEFEEF going from up to down, or EFEEFEE. How would we figure this one out then?
Simple again
Avoid it. I don't mean ignore it. I mean work around it. Use 1's surrounding a seed to determine that those 1's are essentially empty spots now, since you know where that one seed is. Hence you can dig all around it (except at the seed position of course) and keep using those numbers to clear away the field. I wouldn't suggest doing this if other people are around, but if you're in your own little area and no one else seems to want to bother you, go for it! Just be sure you have enough flags to cover it!Now you may be asking, why on earth wouldnt I just inspect that top left patch in the above diagram? You could, but it takes forever to inspect. At least 10 seconds, and a lot of times it doesn't even work. In that time you could have uncovered several other flags and been clearing away another position.
Oh and of course, flags. In minesweeper you had unlimited flags, but would lose if you had any flags on non-mines at the end of the game. Vinesweeper takes the reasonable route for a faster-paced game and makes flags a constantly replenishable item. And to prevent players from spamming flags, they've made them fairly expensive too. Flags cost 500 gp to replace. But you only need to replace them if you incorrectly flag a spot or your flag is eaten by a rabbit (doesn't matter if there was a seed under the flag or not in this situation). To replace your set of 10 flags, which is the most you can have at any time, just run on over to the center of the field over a stile and right click the outside farmer. He has an option to buy flags and an option to buy roots (the roots option being useful if you are just coming in and have no roots to kill bunnies with). You'll know you're doing well when you stop having to pay him for flags for the most part
. Sometimes when a patch is being cleared due to a seed being dug up/flagged, your act of flagging is interrupted. Just flag the spot again, no worries.I think I'm going to add a video/some pictures of my own to elaborate on some of my techniques for you guys. If a picture says a thousand words, then it's said about all I have in here. lol
EDIT: Here's a short video on one simple flag run at vinesweeper with a bit of voice narration from myself. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K-DKf4d6-90
Hopefully this will clear some things up and you can stand my voice for a few minutes, I am a bit sick right now. I noticed afterward that I missed a string of 1's on the right near the end that could have made my last flag a lot faster. Oh well, still got it pretty fast.
Also, you'll notice that I didn't buy more flags until the farmer uncovered my last seed; it seems you have to pay for that flag as though it were missing if you don't wait for it to be uncovered first. Just a heads up there! Don't want to pay more than you have to.
Someone here pointed out that Q made a vinesweeper guide himself. Yup, I think this still has a lot to offer though. I'll include a link to his guide to just for kicks. We can get all the vinesweeper guides that are worth anything here baby! http://www.truthscape.com/html/ts_Truth ... weeper.htm
Post any questions or comments here and I'll be sure to address them asap.
