DJLinus

Yep. And my last task is going to end around 12:20, which sucks. I really don't like this change from past events' "24 hours from when you start the first task" to a strict "midnight to midnight" time limit. I'm a fairly frequent tapper and I find it very constricting. (Today's not the first unfinished round of Cecil's jobs for me.) I imagine it's terrible for the folks who can only play a few times a day.

davidh777

Yeah, this'll be my second or third time not finishing, and like you I play regularly. My tasks start at 9 p.m., and I think I only got one in last night so that must have four to six hours as well.

Canis Firebrand

Nice.. was a good day for the weekly mystery box.. I got Kearny. new tasks/quest line... but he also works to get event currency..

kenbuzz

I got home before 6pm to get Task 3 started, then found out at 10pm that Task 4 was a 6h as well. But I got lucky because I also just got my weekly Mystery Box prize, which was 30 Donuts. So I begrudgingly spent 20 of them to hurry that final task, convincing myself that I'm up a net of 10 Donuts.

kenbuzz

Way ahead of schedule. Got Saturday's prison today and I'm nearly at 5,000 masks overall.

Canis Firebrand

I'm ahead as well. Which is nice. I got the prison unlocked yesterday. It's a 24hr build. It'll finish in 30 minutes yet for me. I'm at about 5800 masks. Almost to level 14 I think in the Monsarno building.

davidh777

Of course I finished today's tasks with 12 hours to spare.

DJLinus

Last night I figured I'd push my bedtime back past midnight to get the first task out of the way while I slept. Of course it's a one hour job. Seemed like a total waste.

I don't mind when Cecil's jobs total 4 hours, but if we're also going to get some days that really push it into the double digits, I'd rather they all cap out at, say, 8 or 10 hours. Especially with this "midnight to midnight" schedule.

kenbuzz

I decided to level-up Monsarno to 17, because there's a fairly significant jump in Fertilizer earn rate. That's about as far as I'll take it. The cost is 2400 Fert + 400 Corn, but the increased Fert earn rates are really good:

1hr Task: 4 -> 5 (+20%)
2hr Task: 6 -> 8 (+25%)
4hr Task: 10 -> 13 (+30%)
8hr Task: 18 -> 23 (+27%)
Weighted Average = +28.5%

Level 18 increases Corn by the same margin (big whoop - got TONS of Corn), but Level 19 increases DNA:

3hr Task: 3 -> 4 (+33%)
6hr Task: 5 -> 6 (+20%)
12hr Task: 8 -> 10 (+25%)
Weighted Average = +24.4%

But to get from 17 to 19 costs a total of 5250 Fert and 875 Corn. Not planning to go there.

Don't care about the Farmer's Market, though saving Corn/DNA for the gas station seems an achievable goal. If I can get that AND the Market, cool, but I'd prefer the gas station if I can get only one. I've got nearly $6M in cash but am waiting for Act 3 (or the inevitable mid-event Level-Up) to ensure there's not some $2M building I need to spend it on. Otherwise it'll go for the last two land tiles ($2.5M) in the SE corner of my Springfield.

Just got the Opera House build started this morning. Should be getting Sideshow Bob tomorrow morning.

majorjoe23

I doubt there will be a multi million dollar item in an event. They'll do that for higher level upgrades because at that point people are racking up cash, but they generally try to keep event prizes achievable for players who are still at lower levels.

kenbuzz

IIRC, the last two Level Ups included a $2M building necessary for the main quest lines to begin. I'll go check...

L-51: $1.2M for Monroe Family Therapy Center
L-50: $1.0M for Municipal House of Pancakes
L-49: $1.1M for D’Amico Smmer Home
L-48: $0.7M for Gold Navy
L-47: $1.0M for Quimby Compound

Okay, it's been $1M.

majorjoe23

Yeah, things are pricier once you hit the higher levels, but events are available for people who are still struggling for cash at levels 1-15. At those levels it's a struggle to get $50,000, so a $2 million event building would be nearly impossible.

The level buildings will keep getting pricier, but event buildings tend to be free to $5,000.

davidh777

Visiting Krustyland pays off as I got the once-every-three-months donut prize in the balloon game!

There's a bug that prevents the two-hour fertilizer-earner Don't Care About the Future from being a highlighted task.

bippitty

Started with that task. Now "Work the land" is doing the same thing for me. Quite annoying.

Jacoby Ellsbury

After about 2 years and 2 months I think I am quitting this game. Not really fun anymore for me, I'm not even keeping up with this GMO task. Been busy with clash of clans and Boom Beach which I just downloaded both 2 months or so. I'd probably still be playing TSTO if they provided more land but I'm just throwing buildings any where all bunched up on top of each other with no relation and I've put in too much work to blow it up again. I never shared my username here as it's associated with my name and I don't want to connect the two but I am neighbors with a few of you on there. I still have about 10K donuts from a hack job over a year ago so I might just buy the buildings and leave them in storage in case I change my mind. This is the longest I have ever played a game (almost)daily by a long shot so it was fun while it lasted just not anymore.

davidh777

I'm getting it too.

Bummer, but I understand.

Raul3

Level 52 now available.

I'm finishing phase 2 today.

Level 20 and 15 with my buildings. Not leveling them up any more.

davidh777

Level up, but they still haven't fixed the untagged event tasks.

I'm at levels 22 and 13 and haven't upgraded in the last few chances. I know I'm losing out on event currency in not upgrading the HQ, but the herbicide would just increase the area. (I think they increase the reward with every other upgrade.) I actually have enough to craft the farmer's market if I want to but not the Gas 'n' Grub.

Sure is weird to just let Sideshow Bob casually walk around town.

DJLinus

I'm guilty of my muscle memory kicking in every now and then, making me tap on Bob as soon as I see him.

bippitty

What I read was that the herbicide upgrades increase rewards every level through 15. After that they only increase the area.

I had been boycotting Sideshow Bob. I hated getting dragged around the map by him. I hope that mechanic has been totally scrapped.

kenbuzz

Correct. All levels pay 3 Gas Masks but increasing craft item payouts through level 15:

Lvl 1 = 4 items (DNA OR Fertilizer OR Corn)
Lvl 2-4 = 7 items
Lvl 5-7 = 9 items
Lvl 8-10 = 13 items
Lvl 11-12 = 16 items
Lvl 13-14 = 21 items
Lvl 15+ = 25 items

The cost to upgrade to a specific level is 60 Corn + 60 DNA, times the level you're leveling from. So to go from level 10 to 11 will cost you 600 of each.

Stopping at Level 5 or Level 8 makes sense economically. If you look only at the levels that actually increase your reward and the cost to get there from the last reward-increasing level, the table looks like this:

Starting at Level 3 (which you have to get to via questlines)
Lvl 5: Get 2 items (=9-7), pay 420 (180 for Lvl 4 + 240 for Lvl 5) = 210 per item
Lvl 8: Get 4, pay 1080 = 270 per item
Lvl 11: Get 3, pay 1620 = 540 per item
Lvl 13: Get 5, pay 1380 = 276 per item
Lvl 15: Get 4, pay 1620 = 405 per item

Your cumulative cost to go from Level 3 to Level 8 is 1500 for 6 items, or 250 per item. Going beyond Level 8 increases your cost - it will never be more economical than this.

davidh777

So I'm at herbicide level 13 now, and it says going to 14 would only increase the area. Sounds like 15 would be the last benefit but maybe I'll ignore the last two levels.

Is it better to go on DNA tasks or fertilizer? I didn't see anything on tstoaddicts in a quick skim.

I started Mr. Burns'

kenbuzz

Well, there are THREE big craft prizes, one for each part of the ongoing Terwilliger "adventure".

(1) Farmer's Market = 15250 Fertilizer + 3600 Corn
(2) Gas and Grub = 8300 DNA + 4600 Corn
(3) (spoilers!) = 9600 New Currency + 4600 Corn

Total needed = 15250 Fertilizer + 8300 DNA + 9600 New Currency + 12800 Corn

These should be your target amounts if you want all three premium items. After you've hit these levels, any extra can be freely spent on other things.

Edited to Add: I just passed the Fertilizer target, have 11300 Corn, and 6100 DNA, and just got Dr. Robert. For right now, I'm not worried about Corn and am concentrating on earning DNA. Those characters who don't have a DNA task are available to help with the side tasks, like Burns' Money Mountain. The only thing I need to determine is if I'm willing to have a character who can earn DNA get sidetracked into the new Dr. Robert thread. Fortunately it's only Homer, Lisa, Dr Robert, and 4 random Springfielders... several of whom have no DNA/Corn/Fertilizer generating tasks:

Malpractice Makes Perfect:

kenbuzz

Level 13 is a relative "low" point. 14 gains you no tangible benefit, and the cumulative cost to get to 15 makes the items you're getting MORE expensive than what you're paying now. Unless you're lousy with DNA and don't mind paying a lot more to get a little more, I would call it quits at 13.

I would focus on generating DNA until you get to 8300, then switch to Fertilizer. You will be able to generate BOTH when Act 3 begins, but you'll be focusing on the new currency then... so stockpiling DNA right now seems to make more sense.

Raul3

I'm suffering really bad right now. I'm kind of OCD, and I have 7 pending tasks! Seven!!!!

The ones from Level 52, the one from Mr. Burns, 3 from the event, etc.