Aemira's Guide to Becoming an Expert at Key Quest! I. Introduction Welcome to my very first guide here on NF. In here I will impart you with the knowledge of a self-proclaimed "expert" KeyQuest player. I can't guarantee that you will win every time, as a lot of the game depends on luck, but by reading this guide you will learn several strategies to help you win. I will hopefully be adding pictures later to help further explain a bunch of the stuff. Sections: I. Introduction II. Computer specs, etc. III. Game basics and Lingo IV. Know your element! IV. Know your boards! V. Mini-games VI. Power-ups VII. Priorities / Gameplay strategies VIII. Collecting Prizes IX. Dealing with Quitters/Cheaters. X. Parting advice II. Computer Specs, etc. To be able to play Key Quest at optimum rate I would recommend playing using the Firefox browser with adblock running (as the ads changing at the top of the screen can lag and distract you). Obviously, the more RAM your computer has, the faster it'll run. Really KQ doesn't require too many resources, but I've found that it's a little bit slower on my Mac than when I am using my PC, and the mini-games tend to run noticeably faster on the PC. It will be easier for your to win a lot of the mini games if you are using an actual mouse (and not a trackpad like on a laptop). Another big factor in KQ's speed is your internet connection. Unfortunately, if your internet is slow you'll be less likely to win any mini games and you might even disconnect from the game, which means losing. (Has happened to me on several occasions when my roommates are taking up too much bandwidth *sigh*). Obviously you also need to have the latest version of Flash player installed to play it. I wouldn't worry too much about any of this though. There is a link floating around some where to a low quality version of the game, which if I find again I will add a link to. III. Game Basics and Lingo There are a lot of guides out there for game basics, so I won't cover things here like what a token is or how to create a new game. But here are some tips that might help you play. How the $*#@ do you mute the horrible music? If you're like me and have experienced the bug where the "mute" button in the top right corner of the screen is not working, you can achieve the same thing as muting the music by looking in the "chat" box clicking on the "settings" icon, which looks like a little gear. Then scroll down to the part of the settings where it says "sound volume" and move the setting all the way down. Your sound will now be muted, thank god. Game Lingo People on the KeyQuest boards use a few of the following terms to refer to things in KeyQuest. KQ = KeyQuest "5k 5 key 2 player game" / "5k|2p" = refers to playing a game with one other player until both players reach 5,000 neopoints and 5 keys before racing to the finish space. KQ Buddy = some one you play KQ with all the time. They often become your neofriend and then neomail you when they want to play with you and set up a private game where one of you invites the other. Quitter = Some one who leaves the KQ game before the other player wins. Cheater = Some one who skips their turns after bad power ups are used on them. Often are also quitters. IV. Know your element! Each key quest token has its own element. You can check what the token's element is by going to your collector's case or researching it on a Neopets fan page like: http://www.thedailyneopets.com/neopets- ... se-tokens/. Some common tokens' elements are: - Green Cybunny - earth - Yellow Poogle - water - Blue Bruce - light - Red Meerca - air - Ylana Skyfire - dark - Royalboy Scorchio - fire Why is it important to know my token's element? It's important to know your token's element so that you can avoid landing on a different element and so you can attempt to land on your own element. Knowing what element you are can also help you decide which starting place works best for you on the board you are on. Does it matter what element I have? No, for the most part, it really doesn't matter what element you have. The only thing to keep in mind is that there are some keyquest boards that only have certain elements on them. The only instance of this, though, is the Moltara board, which only has Earth and Fire element squares, so I would advice not to play on this board unless you're using a token with a Fire or Earth element. V. Know Your Boards! It's going to help you win if you know about the board you're going to play on. It's also wise to choose which board you're going to play on based on how much time you have to play and what token you are using. Here are some tips and some info on each of the current boards in order of easiness to win. Haunted Woods This board was the first KQ board released. It's very simple and I would rate it as one of the easiest boards to win. My favorite token element to use here is dark, but it's also equally as easy for the other elements. Recommended token element: Any element will suffice for this map, but my favorite lately has been water, but I often use dark and fire as well. Which starting place should I choose? Again, this depends on your token's element and your strategy. For this board if you plan on landing on your token's element space I would start on: Water - #1 bottom left space, #2 any other space Dark - #1 top left space, #2 bottom left space Fire - #1 bottom right space, #2 top right space, #3 bottom left space Light - #1 top right space, #2 bottom left space Earth - #1 top right space, #2 bottom left space Air - #1 bottom left space, #2 top right space, #3 Top left space However, for this board, there is another strategy which relies on just manually collecting all of the keys instead of trying to land on your token element or getting the treasure chest. In this case, your goal is to start from the bottom left space. Which order should I collect the keys in? This depends on which space you start on. With the most common strategy though, you will start on the bottom left space. If you start on the bottom left space get these keys in this order: White, Yellow, Red, Blue, *attempt to land on the treasure chest to get green*, and if you don't land on treasure chest, get green by going back up through the portal on the bottom then going left. If you start on the bottom right: Blue, *aim for treasure chest, get yellow*, Red, Green, *go up to yellow if you didn't get the treasure chest*, *on your way back down, try to get the treasure chest again to get White*, *if you don't get the treasure chest turn left and don't go through the portal, go get white and come back to the key door by going down* If you start top left: Yellow, Red, Blue, *attempt to get white at treasure chest*, green, *get white manually if you didn't get the treasure chest* If you start top right: Red, Blue, *try to get yellow at treasure chest*, Green, *yellow if you didn't get treasure chest*, *try to get white at treasure chest again, if not get white manually* Where is my element space? Water - near the bottom left corner Fire - to the left of the key door Air - near the top left corner Dark - near the top left corner Earth- near the bottom right corner Light - near the top right starting place Where is the treasure chest space? The treasure chest space is near the key door and the bottom portal. Haunted Woods Mini-map Picture: **Coming Soon Terror Mountain and Neopia Central These are actually the same as the Haunted Woods map, just with different decorations. I would avoid these though as the extra decorations seem to lead to lag. Refer to the Haunted Woods info above. Moltara Moltara is probably one of the easiest boards to win, tying with Haunted Woods in terms of ease. However, Moltara is only easy if you have an Earth or Fire element token because there are only Earth and Fire elemental spaces. If you aren't playing with an Earth or a Fire token, I would suggest not joining a Moltara board if you are trying to win fast. Because of this, I'm going to save time and only talk about strategies on this board in terms of Earth or Fire. Recommended Token Element: Either earth or fire, but I prefer fire for this map. Which starting space should I choose? Earth - #1 Bottom Right, #2 Top Left Fire - #1 Bottom Left, #2 Top Right Where is my element space? Earth - Near the top left starting space, near the bottom right starting space, to the left of the white key space Fire - Two are near the top right starting space, and two are near the bottom left starting space What order should I collect keys in? Starting at Top Left - Blue, Red, Yellow, *if you can land on the treasure chest space, go through portal and get green*, White, *try to get green from treasure chest if you haven't already* Starting at Top Right - Red, Blue, *hopefully use a power-up to teleport out of the area* Yellow, *if you can land on the treasure chest space, go through portal and get green*, White, *try to get green from treasure chest if you haven't already* Starting Bottom Left - Green, *attempt to get White from treasure chest*, White (skip if you got it from the treasure chest), Yellow, Blue, Red Starting Bottom Right - Green, *attempt to get White from treasure chest*, White (skip if you got from treasure chest), Yellow, Blue, Red Where is the treasure chest space? The treasure chest space is to the right of the portal on the very bottom of the map. Sweets 1 and 2 Sweets 1 and 2 are the same board but just a different style. I would avoid Sweets 2 at all costs though since it's very laggy and ugly anyway. Sweets 1 is actually pretty easy to win, despite all of the different portals and starting places. It's probably the most popular board since it's default the first board that shows up on the drop down menu when creating a new game. Recommended Token Element: - I recommend using either Dark, Fire, Air, or Water for this map. But really all elements have a pretty fair chance at gaining the advantage in this map. Which starting space should I choose? Dark - #1 Top Right, #2 Top Left Water - #1 Bottom Left, #2 Bottom Right Earth - #1 Bottom Left, #2 Bottom Right Fire - #1 Top Right, #2 Top Left Light - #1 Bottom Left, #2 Bottom Right Air - #1 Top Left, #2 Top Left Where is my element space? Light - Right next to the treasure chest space near the bottom left. Water - To the left of the bottom left green portal. Dark - Near the portal as you exit the "island" with the yellow key Air - Near the white key (across from the key door) Fire - Near the green portal on the top right of the map. Earth - Near the key door (closer to the blue portal) What order should I collect keys in? Top Right and Top Left - Yellow, Green, Red, *try to get blue from the treasure chest*, *if you didn't get blue from treasure chest, get it by going through the portal*, White Bottom Right and Left - Blue, *try to get yellow from the treasure chest*, red, green, *if you didn't get yellow from the treasure chest, go get it by going through the portal*, White Where is the treasure chest space? It's near the bottom left of the map next to the red key and the bottom left green portal. Springtime To be honest, I'm not a master of the Springtime map yet. It's one of the harder maps and is more time consuming than the others, so I wouldn't recommend it if you want a quick win. Recommended Token Element: I would go with either fire or dark for this map. Which starting space should I choose? In general, try to get the top left and if not, go for the top right. Also try to have a dark element token for this, as I find that's easiest. Fire - #1 Top left, #2 Anything Water - #1 Bottom Left, #2 Top Left Dark - #1 Top Left, #2 Top Right Earth - Either top left or top right, neither is better. Air - Can't decide yet. Light - #1 Bottom Right, #2 Top Left Where is my element space? Dark - near the treasure chest and key door space Fire - near the portal on the top left. Water - Near the bottom left part of the map. Earth - Near the top right part of the map. Light - Near the bottom right part of the map. Air - *coming soon* What order should I collect keys in? -Starting at Top Left: Red, *try to get green from treasure chest*, Blue, Yellow, *get green if you missed treasure*, White - Starting at Top Right: [justify]-Option 1: Blue, Yellow, White, Red, *try to get green at treasure chest space* - Option 2 (if you're dark element): Land on your dark element space, white, blue, *try for treasure chest and get green*, red, yellow - Option 3: Blue, White, Yellow, Red, *try for green at treasure chest space*[/justify] - Starting at Bottom Right: Yellow, White, Blue, *try for green at treasure chest space*, Red - Starting at Bottom Left: [justify]Option 1: Green, *go up through portal* Yellow, White, Blue, *try to get red at treasure chest space*, Red if you haven't gotten it yet Option 2 (It might pay off to do this one since Green is the hardest key to get and it will probably just be stolen from you anyway): Yellow, *go through portal*, Red, *get green at treasure chest*, White, Blue Option 3: Yellow, Blue, *green at treasure chest*, White, Red Where is the treasure chest space? Near the key door space and the top right starting position. Picture of Minimap: (Coming Soon) Tiki To be honest, I hate this board and have only played it a few times. It's extremely hard and I wouldn't recommend playing on this board if you want to win fast. I'll add some tips for this board once I get more experience with it. Neovia This map is rather new. I haven't mastered it yet. However, this map is the most interesting and fun out of all of them in my opinion. There are just so many possibilities to land on minigame spaces, elemental spaces, powerup spaces, and portals that creating a definite strategy for this board is pointless/not possible. However, I would not recommend this board if you're trying to go for a fast win since luck beats strategy here. That being said, here's what I've been trying to do so far. Recommended Element: At this point, my favorite elements to use for this board are Fire, Earth, and Dark. Where should I start?: (question marks mean I'm not quite sure whether there's any huge advantage to starting there). Dark - #1 Top Right Fire - #1 Top Left, #2 Bottom Left(?) Earth - #1 Top Right, #2 Bottom Right Water - #1 Top Left, #2 Top Right Light - #1 Top Left (?), #2 Top Right Air - #1 Top Right (?), #2 Top left - While these could be good for landing on your elemental space, it should be noted that it'll be easiest to land on the treasure chest by starting at the top right and it will be easiest to get back to the key door if you get sent back home while you're about to win if you start on the top left. What order should I collect keys in? - I can't really say yet. Just do what seems fastest and what will get you to the treasure chest space. Also try to collect the green key or the red at the treasure chest since they are a little bit out of the way compared to the other keys. Neovia Mini-map: VI. Minigames! Here I'll provide some tips on the minigames. I can't guarantee you'll win them as some of them depend on whose minigame screen loaded faster. And on how much of an attention span you have. All mini games are easier to win if you have a desktop mouse. Esophagor Feeding Game - This game is very laggy so if your connection is fast you're a lot more likely to win. - Basically just wait till the esophagor pops up and throw food at his general area by clicking on him. I try to click more at the top of his face/mouth because the food seems to go in better that way. - When the Esophagor starts to turn light green quickly move your mouse down and click on the arrow icon on your chosen color guy. This is so your guy can duck and you won't have to wait a bit before being able to throw food at the Esophagor. Spyder Game - Try to collect the metallic things toward the top first. This way the wait time in between grabbing them won't be too long. - If your opponent has the same strategy, you could try getting one of the purple orbs to freeze their spyder or one of the blue orbs to pick up pieces faster than them. But this could also be a waste of time, as the metal ones are worth more points and they don't refresh on the screen. - This game is very glitchy at the moment and often your spider won't go all the way down. Or a metallic piece won't disappear after you actually picked it up. Try not to aim for these glitched pieces as it will just waste your time. Alien Orb Game - This game is really retarded and kind of laggy. - Basically you want to click as fast as you can to collect the orbs and stay out of rang of the exploding volcanoes at the bottom. Pink orbs are worth way more than blue orbs so it's your goal to get as many pink orbs as possible before your opponent does. To get pink orbs, though, you have to be resting on a blue orb. Sometimes you can't click pink orbs for some reason. When this happens, just move to a different blue orb and try to get a different pink orb. When the volcano below erupts and the pink orbs are refreshed you will be able to grab them again. Flower Garden Game - This game is all about whether or not you can water two flowers at once. There are certain spots on the screen where you can click to do this. Try to start this game by when the game is still loading on that screen that tells you what to do put your cursor right about the dot of the "i" in the word "wait" on the instructions. If you get it right, you should be able to click right away when the game starts and get the two flowers on the right growing at once. If not, just readjust the second time. - To get the two flowers on the left to grow at the same time, move your cursor so the handle of your watering can is at the tip of the top most petal on the orange sunflower. [justify][/justify] - Don't wait for the flower to finish its growing animation, once your bucket is up right again, click again. - When it's time to cut the flowers, click the scissors icon on the right side of the screen. Make sure you click in the very middle of the flower itself when cutting it. Do not try to cut the stem. Cut from right to left. Wait till all flowers are grown until you cut them. - Glitches to be aware of: often you will "lose" your mouse during this game. I don't really know of a good fix for this. If you return to the normal map screen after the mini game is over and your cursor is just missing, I've found it reappears again after you get another mini game. Pet Pet Pet Bug Catching Game - This game is nearly impossible to do with a laptop mousepad. Make sure you have a desktop mouse. - You don't need to make a circle, just make a triangle that connects. - Your triangles don't need to be perfect, one side can be super long, and you can connect the last side anywhere along that line, even if it's not at the very end of the long line. - Try to get multiple petpetpets with each move you make. The more you get, the higher your score gets, and the less likely your opponent is to catch up. However, this could also slow you down if the petspetpets are spaced really far apart. I like to get 2-3 at a time but go really fast. Sometimes I'll be outrageous and do like 4+ at a time though. Petpet Fishing Game - Try to get the fish closer to you first. - Try to aim for the Goldie's first. (They're the big gold fish and they give the most points.) - To catch fish, click in front of their faces to cast their line. Try not to cast your line right onto the fish because then the fish will just be stunned and you wont be able to reel them in. - If a goldie is right next to another fish, hit the other fish with your line because this will stun the other fish, but if still close enough to the goldie, allow you to catch the goldie. - Wait until your fish has yellow line things above them before you begin clicking repeatedly to reel them in. (If you start clicking before this you'll lose the fish and have to start over.) - This game is timed so try to work faster than your opponent and be smarter about which fish you choose. - Sharks are second best, but the small fish are easier/faster to catch so if you're only a little bit behind and there's not much time left go for the smallest fish. Flower Memory Game - This game is so damn boring, I usually just look at a different tab in my browser when it comes up. - This game will always start with the flower on the very left. Get ready to click there at the beginning of the game. - Make sure you click in the middle of the flower itself because the flash programmers were jerks and made the hit area for this button not as big as it should've been. - Try to be the first person to click the first flower because whoever gets points first will be the winner if there is a tie (and there most likely will be a tie if neither of you screws up). Matching Mini Nova Game - This game is often superrrrrr laggy for people, so take advantage of that if your screen loads first/fast. - Move as fast as you can to match pairs that are closer together. (Side by side or adjacent or only 1 nova away). - Again, try to be the first person to match a pair because in the case of a tie, the first person who scored will win. Fruit Blaster Game - This is another game that sucks if you don't have a desktop mouse. - Try to go for the black fruits and sometimes the red fruits. Click as fast as you can, but try not to click too many times in one area because it won't let you click again in a new area until your last click finishes its animation. (If that makes any sense.) - If you're bored of playing mini games or you just wanna be weird, move your mouse around strangely like you're taunting your opponent or attempt to spell something out because they can see your cursor. Petpets in the Rain Game - Try to follow/cover as many pets as you can at one time. - Powerups of different colors will fall from the sky. Try to get the pink ones as that will give you double points for every petpet that you're covering. Some will make your umbrella bigger and some will shield your umbrella from the thunder clouds that will screw you up. (I'll update this as to what colors the other powerups are once I play the minigame again). VII. Powerups! Here's a list of different powerups and great occassions to use them in. (**Pictures coming soon.) Elemental Power-Ups: These are power-ups you can get by landing on your token's elemental space. You can only carry one of each of these, so if you land on your elemental space, but then land on an elemental space of yours again and get the same powerup twice, one of them will simply be replaced. Super Key Grabber - Allows you to grab 2 keys from any player. (Unless they have a protection from hexes, which they can get by landing on their own elemental space.) - I would say use this as soon as you possibly can before your opponent can steal it or use a whirlwind powerup on you. Super Pile of Dung - Allows you to place 2 piles of dung any where on the map. - Can be useful is your opponent is on their way to the key door or treasure chest space. - Can be used to surround your opponent to buy you 1 free turn. - Can also be used to block off a path so your opponent is forced to go in a different direction. (For example, if there's a fork in the road where you can choose between going left or right and you block out the right way, they can only go left). Swap Key Rings - Allows you to swap key rings with another player. - Use this as soon as you can, but make sure it's favorable to you when you do this. - Before using this you should mess up your own keys (like if you have another powerup, you could try to change your keys all to one color.) - Or before using this, you should make no effort to collect any keys and let your opponent do all the work for you. Super Catapult - Lets you send 2 players to their starting space. - You can use it on just one player if you want. - You can use it on yourself to bring yourself back to another key you missed that's closer to home. Super Boots of Flight - Lets you roll 3 different dice. Possibility of going 18 spaces in total! - Use this as soon as you can so your opponent doesn't steal it. Normal Power-Ups: Gummy Die - This is the most important powerup you can get. Lets you choose number of spaces you're going to move. - Try to save this until you're close enough to a treasure chest space and use it to land on the treasure chest space. - If your opponent has one of these and they're close to winning or close to a treasure chest space, try to steal it from them if you can. Rainbow Sticky Hand - Lets you steal a powerup from another player. - If your opponent has a rainbow sticky hand, then steal theirs before you use yours to steal their good powerups. - If your opponent has two rainbow sticky hands, but you only have one, do not use yours to steal theirs because they'll just steal it back in the end. Just keep it in case they steal another one of your powerups. But if they have only two sticky hands and no other powerups and you only have 1 rainbow sticky hand as a powerup, you might as well just use it to steal one of theirs so they end up with only 1 sticky hand at the end. - If you opponent has a sticky hand, you might want to hurry up and use whatever good powerups you have so they don't end up getting it. Virtudice - lets you go 6 spaces. - You can attempt to use this to get to the treasure chest space or your token's elemental space. - If you're no where near close to landing on either of those spaces, I'd say just use it as long as it doesn't mean you'll land on a bad space, like a different elemental space (unless you want the chance of being reversed) or a question mark space (if you're totally winning and don't want a good random event to happen) or a minigame (if you aren't good at minigames or if you want the game to go faster). Tornado Ring - Changes powerups of whoever it's used on to different random things. - It's hard to say when to use this as it could give your opponent better power-ups as well. - You can also use this on yourself if you have oner or more crappy powerups besides this, like battle dice or more tornado rings. Battle Dice - allows you to duel another player for the possibility of winning a better power-up. - This really is luck since it's a game of rock paper scissors. - Don't use this if you can't afford to give your opponent the opportunity to gain the upper hand (i.e. if you're already winning). - If I ever use these, I try to do it toward the beginning of the game just to make it more fun. - If I'm playing a game with more than 2 players and I'm losing, I won't hesitate to use this with another player who isn't winning so that if either of us get a good power-up we can use it against the person in the lead. Transporter Helmet - Allows you to switch places with another character. - I often like saving this for later in the game because it's useful if both you and your opponent have all of your keys and you're racing to the finish. - If you're racing to the key door and your opponent uses a powerup like reverse directions or morthog on you, then you can use this to get back in the lead. - If your opponent is across the map where you want to be, or about to land on a treasure chest space (and you aren't already winning and they have the gummy die and they're gonna use it next), you should use this. Rainbow Water Fountain - Allows you change the color of one key of yours or your opponents'. - If your opponent is about to enter the key door and they're winning, use this to change one of their keys into something else that would be hard for them to get again. - If you have a spare keyring powerup, use this to change a key of your opponents' so that they have multiple of a key you need. Next turn use your spare keyring powerup. - Use this to change one of your keys to a different color you need if it's all the way across the map and it would be easier for you to go around in a circle and get the key you changed again manually and/or also give you the chance to land on the treasure chest space in the process. Spare Keyring - Allows you take spare keys from an opponent. - Not a huge fan of this powerup. Sometimes I'll use it in conjunction with the Rainbow Water Fountain powerup and steal keys of the color that I need. - Use this if your opponent has extra keys and they're about to change one of their own keys to a diff color they need by using the Rainbow Water Fountain powerup or they are going to use one of their extra keys in conjunction with the Distraction Potion power-up to steal one of your keys. Distraction Potion - Allows you to swap one of your keys for one of your opponent's keys - Use this if you have two or more of a certain key color and need a different key color that your opponent has already. (i.e. you have two greens, your opponent has 0 greens and 1 yellow - you steal their yellow and give them one of your greens.) - Use this if your opponent is about to win. Steal a key from them that would be harder for them to regain and give them a key that's really close to them. - Try not to use this to steal keys from your opponent if they have double of the key you want to steal, as it'll benefit them. (i.e. you have two greens, your opponent has 0 greens and 2 yellow - you steal 1 of their yellow and they end up with 1 green and 1 yellow.) Don't do this unless you're 90% sure you're going to win like the next turn. Boots of Flight - Allows you to roll 2 dice. - Feel free to use it whenever. - You may want to wait to use it if you're 5 or less spaces away from a treasure chest space or your elemental space. Bottled Quicksand - Forces person it's used on to skip a turn. - Try to use this as soon as you can too so it isn't stolen and used on you. - I love geting these because it'll speed up the game. If I'm playing with more than 1 other player I use it on the opponent that's the laggiest/slowest. Catapult - Sends 1 player home. - Same tips as the double catapult except it only works on one player so you gotta get your priorities straight. Think about whether it'd be more beneficial for you or your opponent to be sent home. Key Grabber - Steals 1 key from an opponent. - One of the best powerups. Use ASAP so it's not stolen. - Try to steal a key that would be harder for your opponent to regain. Giant Rock Mote - If it hits an opponent, it causes them to skip a turn. -Will go for 15 squares. - Use it if you have no other better power-ups to use. Mortog - Jump to a space in front or behind of your opponent. - Use this if your opponent is near the key door and you have all your keys and want to get closer. - Use if your opponent is near a key you need. - Use if your opponent is closer to the treasure chest and you have a gummy die you can use. Misdirected Compass - Changes the direction of a player. - Use on your opponent if they are about to land on the treasure chest or go through the key door to win. - Use if you wanna be a jerk and prevent your opponent from getting a key. (Just make sure it doesn't benefit them if they go the opposite way.) - Use on yourself if a random event caused you to change directions, or if one of these is used on you and you're sent going the wrong way. - Use on yourself if it'll make you go back and get double of a key you already have so that you can use a rainbow water fountain powerup or distraction potion powerup (given that you already have these). - Use on yourself if it will give you another chance to land on the treasure chest. Pocket Mini-game - Starts a mini-game. - Use if you need more powerups or want the chance of winning another key. - Use if you're losing anyway and don't care if the game becomes longer. - Don't use if you're bad at mini-games or want the game to be short. Pile of Dung - You can place 1 pile of dung on the board. - Same as the super pile of dung. - Also remember you can place this in the key door if your opponent is about to win. (Given they will probably cheat and skip their turn and then go through in the end anyway). Pocket Portal - Allows you to teleport to any portal space on the map. - Use if it gets you closer to a key you need or closer to the treasure chest space. - Use if it gets you closer to the key door if you already have all your keys. - Use if you're going in the wrong direction and it's close enough to where you are to help you turn around. Giant Lint Ball - Prevents an opponent from collecting items for 1 turn. - Use with caution, this tends to piss people off and causes them to quit because they are babies. - Use if you know your opponent isn't afraid to use these types of powerups themselves. (Especially if they have a sticky-hand and they're going to steal it from you). - Use if your opponent is about to land on a treasure chest space using a gummy die powerup. (Even if they cheat and skip their turn, this will buy you a free turn.) ((Oh my god, that was a lot of powerups. Let me know if I missed any.)) VII. Priorities / Gameplay Strategies! The basic stategy of the game is to try to land on the treasure chest space as much as you can as it gives you neopoints and keys and a powerup. However, it's also helpful to land on your token's elemental space, as the rewards are really good powerups and a random good event. You need to decide whether it would help you more to land on the treasure chest or the elemental space at any time in the game and know which one to aim for. Benefits of Landing on your Elemental Space: - You can get reward charms. Reward charms could be any of these: - Going 3 extra spaces. - Taking an extra roll. - Being allowed to move to any key on the map. (You can use this to get closer to the key door if you're already winning, or closer to the treasure chest, or just to get a key that's far away.) - Being protected from negative effects (like direction being reversed, losing your powerups, having a powerup used on you so you skip your turn or can't collect any more items, or losing your keys( - Being allowed to duel another player (same as using the duel dice powerup, only accept to do it if you're up for a game of chance.) - Being able to choose to not be affected by any direction changing powerups or events. (Make sure that when you accept this you don't want to turn around any time soon. Sometimes it's better to say no to this.) Why you should avoid other Elemental Spaces that aren't your own, or why you would want to take the chance of landing on them: - You can be "hexed" when you land on another elemental space. However, there is a chance that landing on one can help you. - You could lose a powerup. - You could change directions. ** This could be good if going in the opposite direction would bring you closer to a key that you still need, the treasure chest space, your own elemental square, or the key door if you have all your keys. - You could only be allowed to roll a 1, 2, or 3 the next turn. - You could not be allowed to collect items/keys your next turn. - You could be sent back to your starting place. ** This might be good if it brings you closer to a key you dont have yet, or the key door if you already have all your keys. - You could have all of your power-ups changed randomly. ** This might be good if your power-ups suck. (i.e. they're all duel dice). Why minigames can be good or bad: - Minigames are only good if you're confident that you can win them. Sometimes your opponent is just way better than you at them or your internet is just too slow to take them and you always lose. If that's the case, try to avoid them. - Minigames can be good because sometimes the prize for winning will be your choice of any key color or a really good powerup. - Minigames can be good if you're playing a 5k/5key game - you gain neopoints after every mini game. - Minigames are sometimes bad because they take up a lot of time and they're boring. If you want a fast game, you should try to avoid them. Why it's important to land on the treasure chest space so often: - Like I stated before, it rewards you with 1 power-up, 1 key of any color, and about 1000 neopoints. - If you're playing a 5k/5key game the key to winning is landing on this space. - Some keys are too out of the way and it's easier to just leave it to chance to try and land on this space than to waste 3+ turns going after a key you might not get to on time. When should I try to land on a "?" or "Random" space?: - I like landing on these toward the beginning of the game because sometimes it'll add new keys to the board, reward everyone with a powerup, or allow you to roll a 12-sided die the next turn. - It's also good to land on these when you're losing because there's a possibility that all players will be sent home or only be allowed to rolls up to 3 spaces. (Which will buy you time.) What are some instances when it's more important to land on an elemental space than the treasure chest space? - Sometimes you will have to choose between your elemental space and the treasure chest space. It's more important to land on the treasure chest space if you're already winning. It's more important to land on the elemental space if you're flat out losing or you're behind, because the powerups you get from the elemental space will be able to help you get back in the lead. - However, it's hard to say because sometimes if you're 95% sure you're going to lose in the next turn or so, you should opt to land on the treasure chest space so you at least get some more neopoints from that game. When is it better to land on an elemental space that isn't your own instead of a mini-game space? - If you hate mini-games and you're bad at them and you could benefit from one of the effects of landing on a different elemental space than your own, I would say go for the elemental space. - If you don't mind mini-games, and there's no need to risk landing on the elemental space, just go for the mini-game. Counting ahead: - Every time you roll you should count the spaces to see the possibilities of where you can land. By doing this you'll know how close you are to a treasure chest space or an elemental space. - Also you will know whether or not you want to go left or right or up or down when the possibility to change directions comes up. VIII. Collecting Prizes! You can collect your prizes at the end of each game by clicking on the "go to vault" button. -You can collect up to 10 keys worth of prizes every day. - You can earn more than 10 keys a day and save extra keys for use on another day. - You can collect up to 5,000 neopoints per game. (No matter if in a game your total NP amounts to more than 5,000 NP.) - You can collect up to 40,000 neopoints a day from KQ games. (I'm not *too* sure about this one, but I'm pretty sure it's no more than 40k. If you know more about this please let me know.) - The item prizes are random, but there are different prizes each season. - Gold Keys: Can give you paint brushes, red codestones, map pieces, rare seasonal items (i.e. in Fall 2010 you can get a snorkle snout!), neggs, codestones, or junk. - Silver Keys: Can give you Neggs, Codestones, seasonal prizes (Fall 2010 they've been confirmed to give out snorkle snouts!), or junk. - Copper and Iron Keys: Can give you junk, codestones, or bottled faeries. They also give less items. (I believe iron keys only give up to 2 items). IX. Dealing with Quitters/Cheaters! Being quit on is going to happen to you at one point or another. There are a few ways you can try to avoid it or deal with it. What is quitting and why is it bad? Quitting is when some one leaves the game before their opponent wins. It's super annoying and such a waste of time for both parties as it usually happens JUST before the winner enters the key door to win. Quitting is bad because if pisses you off if some one quits on you or if you quit on some one, you don't get your silver key. (Silver keys also give you prizes!). It's also bad if you quit purposely because there is a possibility that your opponent will report you. If my internet disconnects and I "quit," can I still be reported? The person you were playing with could get pissed off and report you but in this case they don't really have any proof you did it on purpose. A good way to avoid pissing them off is to neomail them and say you're sorry but your internet disconnected (if you remember their username). If you don't remember your username you could always post on the KQ boards and say "whoever I was playing with last I'm sorry for disconnecting!" These two things aren't very necessary since the freeze rates for quitting aren't that high as far as I know. But it's just more polite to explain what happened. *shrugs* What is cheating and why is it bad? It's considered cheating if you skip a turn when a bad power-up has been used on you. Cheaters will do this when power-ups that do things like disable them from collecting items for the next turn or stop them from going in the direction they want to go (like piles of dung blocking a certain path they want to turn to instead). It's bad to do this because you can be reported for it. It also wastes a lot of time and could agitate your opponent and cause them to quit on you. Ways to avoid being quit on: - Find some one on the boards who claims to not quit to play with you. - Avoid joining games in the "Newbies" section. (Newbies often get upset if you win too easily and leave). - Join 3+ player games (chances are at least one of them won't quit.) - Memorize the names of people who have quit on you in the past and don't start a game with them if you see them. - Throw your opponents a bone. Don't be so hard on them . Using tons of powerups on them and completely owning them will encourage them to get pissed off and quit because they are sore losers. I don't recommend always doing this though since it's annoying and means the games will be longer and harder for you to win. Ways to deal with being quit on: - You can be a jerk and report them. Which is wasting your time, but could end up in them getting a warning. - The best way to go about doing this is the memorize your opponent's name at the beginning of each game, as quitters are less likely to talk. - Just ignore it and play a new game. Things not to do in regards to quitters/cheaters! - Never post their username on the boards if you are making a board complaining about a quitter/cheater because people will be jerks and report you for "harrassment!" What to do if your opponent is AFK/gave up and seems to keep missing their turns. - While this could mean an easy win for you, the game will end after they are idle for 2 turns. - In order to keep the game going, try to land on a mini-game space before their 3rd turn of being AFK comes around. Doing this will make it so that when the mini-game is over, the 2-turns till they get disconnected will be reset. - Or you could just try to get all your keys and get to the key door before the 3rd turn. - Or you should let them disconnect and start a new game with some one who's actually there because waiting for them to join the mini games will take forever and there might be a chance that they will come back and close their browser or they will finally disconnect due to internet problems or something. X. Parting Advice Remember a lot of winning Key Quest depends purely on luck! There are random events in the game that could happen for no reason (random powerups received, randomly transported to another space, allowing you to exchange one of your keys). These events can either help or hurt your chances of winning. So good luck playing and thank you for reading my guide! I hope it helps you! This guide was made in September 2010 by Aemira for use on Neofriends.net only, unless you otherwise have my permission! Edit: There have been a few updates/changes to KQ lately. I'll play a bit this weekend and see if any of the updates affect any of the strategies I wrote in the guide.
Re: [LE] Guide to becoming a KeyQuest expert & winning Wow, I thought I knew a lot about Key Quest and then I read this and found out that apparently I didn't even know the half of it! This guide is really amazing.
Re: [LE] Guide to becoming a KeyQuest expert & winning Thank you! Let me know if you have any questions about anything. ~~~ I've updated the guide a little bit after having played the springtime and neovia maps over the past couple of days. Still not to sure about those though. I also added some pictures but I'm still working on getting pictures for all of the mini maps.
Great guide although I was wondering if you know of any strategies for the mini game where you cut doughnutfruit from a tree and drag it to your basket?
Great guide! Here are a few extra tips: Flower Garden Game After clicking “OK” at the start hold your cursor direct under the lowest ‘S’ in the text. Don’t move – just directly click on start – you ‘water’ the first two flowers directly. Esophagor Feeding Game -wait for the countdown and don’t click directly after the start, because he moves after the countdown, mostly a little bit down. Flower Memory Game -On the last flower in 'your' row, click as often as you can (so that it flashes red) – this give a few extra points Fruit Blaster Game Try to move around, clicking as fast you can (once) on the fruits, doesn’t matter which colour it has, try finding the best “path” of fruits (where the fruits are near to each other), so that you are moving around the whole time. Super Key Grabber You can grab only ONE key if you want. Click after the first Key on the ‘X’ The Super Key Grabber turns (takes a while) into a normal Key Grabber, which you can use a second time. Battle Dice If your opponents battle themselves, note theit choices. It can help if you know which favorites someone starts with. If you often play against the same players, it can help to make a kind of statistic. Try to be not calculatable – use different “start”- choices. Petpets in the Rain Game Petpets have the color of the player around them when they're under their umbrella. You can’t take them away with yout umbrella, but pay attention when your opponent gets hit by Lightning. Then you can take over his/her petpets. Don’t change the petpets often, those who are for a long time under your umbrella, give you more points than “new” petpets. Don’t have mercy with your opponents. When you can use a power-up against them then DO IT, but don't use too many power-ups on the same player - he can leave the game. Be cruel AND wise! Don't give up! A game that seems lost, stil can be won! Evan if a player uses tons of power-ups against you - stay cool and DON'T give up! Even if you loose - you still get the won NPs and a key with some Stuff. If you want to play on, don't stop after 10 keys, you can use them another day.... Don't stop thinking during the game. Always have your keys (and the missing ones) and the keys of your opponment(s) in mind. After wining a mini-game - you have 15 seconds to choose (perhaps a key) and knowing which keys you need, helps to quickly decide. Think about it before a mini-game starts. (which Key and power-up would be the best). Don't make any extra-turns on the board - even if you have 5 keys and the others have 1/2/3 Keys - It could mess up your game. If you can win - Then DO IT! Hsv (-forever) about 600 Keyquests - aprox. 400 gold - aprox. 150 silver aprox. 49 3rd and ONLY ONCE 4th
Thanks for your contribution! I didn't know that about the flower memory game! What I try to do is cut all the fruit above my basket first for easy points (since I don't have to care about dragging it over into my basket). After that, I will go over my opponent's baskets and drag fruit over to my own basekt. With the fruit that's left, I'll just really fast cut it so the extras fall to the ground (and the opponent can't score more points).