|
|
| Are you going to check out my booty grab thread too? |
| Go to the "view forum" at the top of the page |
|
19% |
[ 404 ] |
| Click the sticky "Best booty grab tanks..." |
|
24% |
[ 495 ] |
| Enjoy the best tanks on gaia! |
|
43% |
[ 901 ] |
| Nope, don't want to booty grab (you made me cry) |
|
12% |
[ 251 ] |
|
| Total Votes : 2051 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:45 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:47 am
 |
|
|
|
HOW TO FIND AND PLAY GAMES OF BOOTY GRAB
1. Browse through threads until you find a tank that looks like the first tank. Notice how it says "BOOTY GRAB" and the tank below doesn't?
Don't see this? 'Active' booty grab games are random. Just keep looking, it may take a while to find one that is glowing.
2. Click on that tank (in step 1) and a new window will open up that looks like this:
This window doesn't come up? If no new window opens, make sure your pop-up blocker is turned OFF. Window opens but all you see are fish swimming around? Wait for a while for all the fish to load. If nothing still happens, the game is already over and you missed it. Close the window.
3. You can change the settings to make the game easier to play. If you lag, change the game quality to "low" or "medium." If you still lag, change the size option to "small." You can also enter full screen if you want (see last picture in post).
4. To collect gold, move your mouse across the screen. Be careful not to have your mouse leave the game, it will not move your character if you do! Your character will follow the mouse, picking up anything it runs into.
5. When the game is over, this screen will appear, telling you how well you did:
Does this screen not appear? Wait for a while, if it takes longer than 10 seconds, something is wrong. If it has a message below (Saving game, or generating results), then it has frozen (if it stays this way). Either way close the window.
6. The booty grab window. Here you can see all the parts of the window and what each button does.
a. This displays how much gold the owner has earned from other people playing booty grab on their tank
b. (Not related to booty grab) Shows the names of the fish in the tank
c. (Not related to booty grab) Shows the overall health of the tank
d. (Not related to booty grab) Shows the temperature setting of tank
e. Turns sound off/on (currently set to on)
f. Full screen. Pressing this will make the game fill up the entire screen
g. Game Quality Option. Low looks worse, but doesn't lag. High looks the best buy may cause lag
h. Game Size Option. Makes the window Small or Large. Large gives you more room to play but small will help reduce lag.
How to find and play games of booty grab | Power ups and power downs | Extra drop items, game settings, and tips | How to make gold + High scores | Fish statistics | Making a tank | Working your tank | FAQ and screenshots |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:47 am
|
|
|
|
POWER UPS AND POWER DOWNS
This section is all about the power ups and how to use them to your advantage. All power ups and power downs last for 10 seconds EXCEPT time, which is +/-4 seconds.
Avoiding power downs:
Order to avoid power downs and reason:
 Time - Self explanatory, if the fish in the tank are generating 10g per second, you lose out on 40 gold.
 Size - Very hard to collect, also your overseer shrinks both horizontally and vertically.
 Speed - Gold is usually 'clumped,' therefore little effect.
 Gold - No effect if you have no gold power ups.
It is important to note that this order fits most games, but not all scenarios (as in if you have to take one, take one lower on the list). There are times that you will avoid a power down further down the list before one above it. ALWAYS avoid power downs in the last 5-10 seconds of the game, as gold is still falling when the game is over!
When to take a power down:
Sometimes it is better to take a power down, here are some general guidelines:
 Take a size or speed power down when you can collect the same power up afterwards: The reason is that if you collect the power down and then the respective power up, the power up will be active and there will be no power down on the screen to worry about.
When to take a speed power down: If you have no real way of avoiding a size power down without keeping yourself from lots of gold, take it if a) the gold is clumped, b) you can follow it with a size power up.
In the last 4-5 seconds, if there are too many power downs for you to avoid, consider taking a time power down to end the clock and remove all remaining power downs. Otherwise it is [almost] NEVER worth taking a time power down.
Watch where the power down is going! Try to slip 'under' it when it goes up so you don't get trapped! It is easy to try to avoid it, and miss a lot of gold in the process, just to end up taking it because it trapped you!. Usually they travel in the shape of a 'w' across the screen, but sometimes they travel in more of a 'n' or 'm' shape.
Pace your power ups:
When you have a power up 'in effect,' avoid collecting the same power up until your time is almost out or the power up is about to leave the screen. Note: When the timer is at 3/4 finished, you have about 1 second left for that power up. Also, sometimes it is advantageous to wait to collect a power up until it will be more useful (i.e. there is a big clump of gold that will fall in 4 seconds). Always collect a power up when you have a gold power up active!
Gold power up/down:
 The gold power up and down is unique, so it gets its own section.
First off, if you do not have a gold power up in effect, taking a gold power down has NO effect, so don't worry about avoiding it.
Second, if you do not have a gold power up in effect, wait as long as possible to collect it so that you have a better chance of one showing up before it expires (so you have +3, not +2).
If you do have a gold power up in effect and another one is on the screen, wait until you are almost done your first one to collect the one on screen (maximize your gold bonus).
You can only have a maximum of +3 (two gold power ups), but collecting a gold power up when at +3 will keep you there and reset your time limit (for the power up).
glowing gold + gold power ups work in a way that is very profitable for you! The glowing gold "multiplies" the value you earn off of each piece of gold by either 2x (green), 3x (blue) 5x (red). When you get a gold power up, it increase the value you earn off of each piece of gold, so suddenly (1 + 1) x 2 = 4 This is great as the "multiplier" is applied AFTER the gold bonus of +1 (or +2 if you have 2 gold power ups in effect). So with 2 gold power ups a blue gold coin is worth 9 gold.
How to find and play games of booty grab | Power ups and power downs | Extra drop items, game settings, and tips | How to make gold + High scores | Fish statistics | Making a tank | Working your tank | FAQ and screenshots |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:57 am
|
|
|
|
EXTRA DROP ITEMS, GAME SETTINGS, AND TIPS
EXTRA DROP ITEMS:
Sometimes fish will drop items during a game of booty grab. This is very exciting as it could be a hermit cat (worth a couple thousand gold), a giftbox (2k-6k value), or occasionally other items that are worth lots more (i.e. dark knight fish). I HIGHLY SUGGEST that you go out of your way to pick up any floating items as they are often worth as much or more than the gold you collect for the entire game.
All fish can drop random items, but it appears that high trigger fish have higher chances of dropping items.
Some current things to look out for (may not be a complete or up to date list):
-Pink or Blue magical giftbox
-zOMG rings (very rare)
-Hermit Cat
-Dark Knight Fish (sometimes)
*****NOTE: Until it is fixed, if you get 2 items in 1 game, you don't get any items D: ******
GAME SETTINGS:
LAG = EPIC FAIL! Therefore it is important to know how to have the optimum game settings to prevent lag.
Adjust the GAME QUALITY setting to the best for your computer (usually but not always low).
Change the SIZE OPTION to small if you are still getting lag.
Close other open programs that may be using up your computer's resources.
Minimize any other open windows that may be impacting your performance (or close them out)
Flash Player:Make sure you are running Flash 10. If not, go download it!
CPU v. GPU: If you are running a discreet graphics card, (this option only seems to be available on windows), you can right click on an aquarium and get a variety of options for flash. Here you should see if flash is set to utilize your GPU or software render (CPU). Since you have a GPU, you want to make sure flash is NOT set to only software render, this way it will use your GPU as much as possible. (I think this is only available in flash 10)
Are you having trouble keeping your mouse in the screen?? Do you keep leaving the booty grab window and end up missing gold or hitting power downs? TRY FULL SCREEN! Yes, try full screen. If it lags too much, too bad. Else, you have all the space you need to fail your mouse biggrin .
TIPS OF THE GAME:
Watch how fast the gold is falling. Some gold falls faster than others, use this to determine which gold you have to go after now and which gold you will get 'later.'
The further you move the mouse from your 'guy,' the faster it moves!
Try full screen if you don't lag but keep moving your mouse too far.
Tapping the game window before the countdown starts will help with some fish. (details in next section)
Obviously I haven't put everything that will help you grab more gold, this part is just to help new people. Keep reading on the next section for power tips.
How to find and play games of booty grab | Power ups and power downs | Extra drop items, game settings, and tips | How to make gold + High scores | Fish statistics | Making a tank | Working your tank | FAQ and screenshots |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:59 am
|
|
|
|
HOW TO MAKE GOLD + HIGH SCORES
Now this is the section you are really looking for if you are a middle class gaian and need some more gold to get those items you really want! This section is for someone who either just wants to play for 20-30 minutes a day and make 30-60k or someone who wants to play for a few hours and make +200k!
FINDING THE TANKS:
The key to making lots of gold is quite simple. Find a place with LOTS of great tanks! (actually, you are already there... I have all the best tanks here!) Make sure that when you play these threads you bump the owners thread, it cost them a lot to make the tank you got gold from. Minimum number of good tanks needed in a thread is 75 to ensure continuous games, but too many means you miss tanks on other pages. Just cycle through the pages, playing any available games of booty grab. Sometimes it is good to have two or three places to grab in case all the games are full or nobody is glowing on one.
In addition to having your grab thread(s), lots of people have a topic that appears on the 1st page of the gaia aquarium forum when they glow. Just click on a topic where someone is "glowing" to get a game of booty grab!
SUMMARY: Subscribe to two or more threads with lots of great tanks and just cycle through pages to find games. Check the Aquarium forum for threads labeled "GLOWING" and check them to see if there are glowing tanks.
Hey, and don't forget, I have the best tanks on gaia right here for you to play with!
GREAT THREADS:
Right here! Collection of the best tanks to exist, no kidding!
The best tanks on gaia, all better than pure dolphins! (low lag version) .
Check out "Pure Grunny" if you want to try and get more pink gift boxes!
INCREASE YOUR GOLD:
Tapping trick: HellsHollywood has done a great job at describing this, so instead of re-inventing the wheel, here's the link.
Scalable tank: A what? Did you notice how every tank on my thread has a "direct tank link?" Seems pretty useless doesn't it when the tank is right below it? WRONG! My link loads the original game window without comments. To grab more gold with this type of tank:
Open the link in a new window and minimize the other window
Stretch the window across your entire screenMake the window shorter (up down) to make the tank smaller (reduces lag)
You can now put your mouse in the 'black' area and it will still follow it! (no more running off the screen, hooray!)
Proceed to grab more gold than you usually do
HIGH SCORES:
I'm not carrying any of the high scores over from the last thread, but I'm starting a new high score list. I have more strict rules this time though! I want it to look pretty D:
To get your tank in my high score wall of fame, you must have at LEAST 3500 gold and I'm really picky about the image! Must be from photobucket and MUST be a 16:10 ratio of just the game area (when you crop it or use paint to select the portion you want, the first size/second size = 1.6). Please don't send me scores from double booty week or anything like that. Just regular scores.
 
Societal Downfall: 5100 -- Moogle Voodoo: 2617
How to find and play games of booty grab | Power ups and power downs | Extra drop items, game settings, and tips | How to make gold + High scores | Fish statistics | Making a tank | Working your tank | FAQ and screenshots |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:05 pm
|
|
|
|
FISH STATISTICS + PRICE GUIDE
Ah, the best part of my guide that makes it so GREAT! This is the area that will help you decide what tanks are best to play (for earning fast gold) and deciding what fish you want to buy smile .
Glowing Gold:
Check out the gold power up/down section for full details. Gold that is glowing green doubles (2x) the value of the gold, gold that glows blue triples (3x) the value of the gold and gold that glows red (5x) the value of the gold.
Trigger & Gold Generation rate:
Certain fish glow, and therefore trigger booty grab, more often than others. As a general rule, the high chance a fish has of triggering a game, the more gold it generates. The 'chances' of a fish triggering booty grab is provided by gaia. The rate of gold generation is obtained through careful procedures to ensure accurate data!
**NEW: Return Index - This value allows quick calculations with MP price to determine how profitable a fish is. Return index is simply 34 (slots/game) * 7 (games/week) * [Life] (weeks) * [total] (gold/60sec) / 1000 (gold).
Pricing guide for mini-monsters:
I have priced out the mini-monsters that *might* be worth putting your booty grab tank. These prices reflect what you can pay for the fish and still make a 50% profit (i.e. if you spend 500k, you make 750k total, so 250k profit over the life of the tank). Note: these values are only accurate as of May 2010. I do not know if glow rates have changed, so use with caution!
Profibable price suggestions:
Fish name - [price for new tanks] - [maximum price]
Airshark - 133-333k * __________ Giant Stone Coatl - 99-248k *
Lawnshark - 57-142k ___________ Landshark - 35-87k **
Outlaw Wolf - 36-89k ___________ Gnome Major - 32-81k
General Mayhem - 37-94k _ _____ Waterspout - 28-70k **
OMGWTF - 28-70k ** _ __________ Lorelei - 28-70k **
Grunny Sub - 31-78k _ __________ Bladed Vase - 32-81k
Kokeshi Doll - 17-42k ** ________ Katsumi's Kokeshi - 28-71k
Gnome Courier - 20-51k ________ Feathered Coatl - 19-48k
Predator Prairie Pup - 16-40k _ __ Kokeshi Collectible - 19-49k
Gilroy - 19-47k _________________ Gnome Inhabitant - 14-36k
Alpha Gram - 16-39k _ __________ Buzz Kill - 17-44k **
Landstrider - 17-44k ** _________ Laceback Galoshes - 13-33k
Labtech - 9-22k _ _______________ Labtech Jumper - 9-22k
Walker - 13-33k _ _______________ Lightning Bug - 13-33k
Purse - 9-23k ___________________ OMFG - 14-35k **
The price range reflects the number of games you get in a day. The first price should be used for new tanks as it is 2 games per day. The second much higher number is for 5 games per day. Not many people get more than 5 full glows per day. Even the best tanks don't always fill at 2:00 am.
** This number is not accurate by as much as +/- 15%
* You can spend a bit more on these fish as they have a higher cost, so % profit is higher.
Note: To determine prices I have used the following variables: % of time fish glows for all of your glows in a day, average gold users grab from that fish, life of fish, 34 players per game (full tank), 2 games per day - 5 games per day. Again, DO NOT BUY FISH that cost more than the second number due to only having a maximum of 5-7 glows each day!
How to find and play games of booty grab | Power ups and power downs | Extra drop items, game settings, and tips | How to make gold + High scores | Fish statistics | Making a tank | Working your tank | FAQ and screenshots |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:09 pm
|
|
|
|
MAKING A TANK
I've expanded upon the section for tank owners and now have it in 2 parts. This first part gives you the info on making a *potentially* profitable tank! The follow section will tell you how to take your tank and actually make a profit biggrin . Be warned: according to my informal poll, with about 250 respondents, 20% of people who make a booty grab tank actually make a profit; 20% break even; and 60% lose gold.
#1 Rule of making gold: Do not go half in. FULLY stock your tank as quickly as possible. If you spend 400k on 8 fish and don't put anything else in, you WON'T make your gold back! But if you spend 1000k on 17 fish, you may make a profit.
Step 1: Price out your fish
"Math Formula" of pricing out fish:
There is not set fish that you should stock your tank with, but I will give you two basic formulas for picking the most efficient set of fish for your tank. This just gives you an idea of which fish are a better price (Note the new 'recovery index' is a simplified version of this, higher recovery index with lower cost (gold) is better).
Formula 1: Cost of recovery
Take the cost (in gold) of the fish and divide it by the life expectancy of the fish (in weeks).
Formula 2: interest rate
Take the gold generation rate of the fish (gold/minute) and divide it by the cost of the fish (in gold). Multiply this number by 0.45 if it is a swimming (upper) fish and 0.60 if it is a bottom (ground) fish.
Generally want the highest "interest rate" for the lowest "cost of recovery." Fish with low trigger frequency (low - med) or low gold generation rates ( < 120 g/m) should not be used for your tank (one or two are okay)! You should only price out fish that have gold generation rates of +120g/m. You can also make a 2 axis graph to help you visualize. See graphic for example (PLACEMENT OF FISH IS NOT ACCURATE):
Step 2: Fish Habits
Now that you know which fish are a better price, it's time to throw out the 'bad apples.' You now need to know which fish glow more and which fish glow in large groups! Labtechs DON'T glow in large groups, only 1/2 of them glow at a time, so they aren't a good choice. Watermeats are medium trigger and only glow in small groups, they get thrown out too! Get my point yet about glow habits? Here are the things to find out:
How many glow at a time? (i.e. usually 17 dolphins glow at once) More glowing means more gold and less work!
Fish that glow on the ground compared to higher in the tank allow people to grab more gold (more gold for you).
Do people want to play your tank? The more people want to play your tank, the less work it will be for you to get full games.
Realize that you can still make a profit with fish that break some of these rules! i.e. 17 giant stone coatls usually glow in groups of 11, but people almost always grab 2500+ gold and so if you get every glow to 34/34 players, you will double your profit... but catching 6-8 glows in a day??? Not easy unless you already have a very 'public' tank. Picking fish with good habits means you only need 2-4 full glows a day to double your profit.
Other tank combos/options that work well:
Here I talk about some other options for tanks that don't always follow the formula. I will discuss the pros and cons of each type of tank to give you some insight into making tanks. This is more 'advanced user' material and should only be read if you are a bigger risk taker, like to analyze trends, or just have lots and lots and lots and lots of gold.
Style 1: Most gold possible tank
This method of tank is very simple but requires lots of gold. Stock your tank with the fish with the highest drop rate of gold. When Lila the mermaid came out, people would make tanks of only Lila's. This is very expensive, but you can make a lot of gold because this style of tank is very popular and makes the user (and then you 25%) lots of gold. Dolphins, outlaw wolves, giant stone coatls, and airsharks are good for this right now.
Pro: Lots of people will want to play it, gets you invited to better booty grab threads, makes more gold each game than other tanks. People might actually stalk your tank and catch your glows.
cons: Hard to afford, may cost you more than you make if you don't get enough publicity.
Style 2: Low Lag = More gold
Basically you want the user to have the best fighting chance at getting gold from your tank so that you get more gold! For this type of tank you want to avoid fish that have lots of details (causes lag). Also look at the total number of gold pieces that are spit out as they cause lots of the lag. Momos are bad for lag... some people avoid high lag tanks. Fish that throw out only glowing gold are usually lower lag since there are less gold coins for the same amount of gold.
Pros: More people are willing to play your tank (and can), still good gold return, usually cheaper to set up
Cons: Fish might not be as popular (less people search for tanks like yours), don't get the best gold generation rate for your fish.
Style 3: Popular Tank
With this type of tank you are putting fish in that everyone wants to play and will seek out. People will look for threads that have the 'best fish of the day' and play your tank more often. Often this fish can be the one that generates the most gold, maybe it's a tank full of mini-monsters, maybe it's a tank meeting some other criteria? One example is having grunny subs because they drop pink gift boxes regularly.
Style 4: Low cost good profit
Now, this is the tank everyone wants, so it's hard to get! You really have to be on top of prices all the time and know what fish you want. Once people know that a fish is worth buying for booty grab, the price will go up and up and up. You need to buy before it goes up! For example, lawnsharks were selling for 30k when they came out. I know someone who made about 6 million gold profit (WOW for just spending 500k???) off of his lawnshark tank. Now look at the price, over 100k each. You really have to combine everything in this guide about buying the right fish to be able to make a tank like this. i.e. I bought my outlaw wolfs at 55k each by being very careful.
For a few more tips check out Manny's simple booty grab!
How to find and play games of booty grab | Power ups and power downs | Extra drop items, game settings, and tips | How to make gold + High scores | Fish statistics | Making a tank | Working your tank | FAQ and screenshots |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:15 pm
|
|
|
|
WORKING YOUR TANK
Just having a good tank is not good enough! As stated above, there are now lots of great tanks and you need to have your tank visible if people are going to play it. This requires lots legwork, but once you get set up, it may require no work at all to maintain. Note, invites are very important for your tank, but don't count on them until you have 30-50 invites! Even that might not be enough.
Since you can't catch your tank every time it glows, try to spend no more than 1 million on mini-monsters or 2 million on fish the first time you build a tank. This way you can build up the number of invites and your popularity so that when you spend 4 million on a tank, it will take off like wildfire! Until your tank gets very popular/invites, you will need to watch your tank for glows go here to find out when your tank is glowing. That or watch your tank with a different account that can see the glow. Once your tank is glowing, have your account post in tons of threads in the GA (gaia aquarium forum) so people play your tank! Also make a 'glow thread.'
Group stalking:
Since we just talked about watching your own tank until it glows, wouldn't it be nice if other people would do the same for you? The term is tank stalking and the increasingly popular idea of group stalking is almost mandatory! Find a small group of people to help you do this. Whenever someone is online, they should be checking all tanks and bump their thread when it glows, thus giving you players. In return, each player looks out for the rest of the group, ensuring that more of your glows are caught and played! Getting a good group of people is hard, but if you can get people who are on at different times of the day, it is best.
A glowing thread for your tank:
Lots of people just monitor the GA forum and play booty grab by going into topics that say the tank on the first page is glowing. So, this is called a glow thread. Every time your tank is glowing, you post in the thread so people know you are glowing. They will come play you. Your title is important to success. You must let them know you are glowing and if you have good fish, more people will come to play your tank if your title lets them know you have good fish. You can also put a link in your signature to your glow thread asking people to bump it when you glow (doesn't get you a lot of players, but 5 free players is better than 0). Glow threads will not always get you 34 players, so make sure you post in a few other places too! And they won't get many players if it doesn't get bumped lots times during your glow.
To make a glow thread:
Post a new thread in the GA with the title "making a glow thread --- do not post please"
Post 15 times or until the first page is full.
Delete every post except the first one! This way your tank will be the first thing they see. NEVER have your tank on a lower post on the first page.
Change the title to something else that will make people want to grab. A generic title is " ( ( ( ( GLOWING ) ) ) )"
Click the "reply" button (not the quick reply)... Copy and paste the address in the top of your window into your signature as a URL with the title "bump here when glowing"
[url="paste URL here"]BUMP HERE[/url] when glowing
Tank invites:
So, tank invites are still important, but how do you get them? Well, you can go look for threads under construction and PM the owner to see if you can post. Check the "test forum" as well as the GA for new threads under construction. You also get invites from people just looking for tanks. When your tank glows and your "now glowing" thread gets bumped, there is a chance that someone will invite you. So having a glow thread is extra good biggrin
There are a number of people who play booty grab but disable signatures for various reasons. Now, this doesn't sound bad as they still see your aquarium, but it is!!!! They cannot bump your 'glow' thread! It is very important that whenever you get an invite you put a link to your glow thread in your post. I cannot stress this enough. One extra bump might get you 5 extra players.
How to find and play games of booty grab | Power ups and power downs | Extra drop items, game settings, and tips | How to make gold + High scores | Fish statistics | Making a tank | Working your tank | FAQ and screenshots |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:22 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:23 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:31 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:34 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
