Dubloon Disaster Guide

Elhoof · Oct 31, 2010

Guide to Dubloon Disaster

Link:http://www.neopets.com/games/play.phtml?game_id=772

v1.0 Wrote guide. Probably need to format but very tired, material is all there.
v1.1 Cleaned it up a bit added 'Scallywag code' (thanks bobbarr243)

Introduction

[justify]Had a bit of time free and decided to write a guide for Dubloon Disaster (DD), a particularly interesting game cause it has (imo) a nice looking avatar attached to it. To get game avvies you can either be good at games OR get good at games (or SS :lol: ) fortunately, for DD you don't need amazing twitch skill or particularly good reactions all you really need is a basic strategy and some patience.[/justify]

Elements of the Game

This is you . You can go forward and backwards (Up and Down keyboard arrow keys) and turn left and right (left and right keyboard arrow keys). The boat is very agile in fact if you are just going straight forwards and in the right direction you can outrun anything in the game. Note that turning while either going forwards or backwards slows you down significantly. Hence you should move in a straight line where possible, take your time getting your direction right so you won't need to turn as much when your flitting by mines.

This is your mortal enemy. It will trail you like a lost sheep, a murderous kamikaze sheep that is. Regardless of where you are on the map it will follow you, the closer it is to you the faster it moves. A maximum of 9 mines can be on the map and another important fact is that mines can blow each other up ie. if two mines are close enough to each other they will both blow up.

This is the most annoying part of the game for me. It rarely appears (maybe 1 in 10 <1000 point games and 1 in 3 <2000 point games) but when it does it will try to suck in everything in its vicinity, aka you and any mines. If you get sucked in you die . It also messes with my favorite strategy.

This is how you earn points in DD. If you get real lucky maybe you can get to the avvie in 3 dubloons XD . Realistically, getting the high value dubloons just speeds up the process of getting the points you want, if you suck these won't make a difference.

Basic Skills

When I first started playing DD I just tried to avoid mines as much as possible and sped around picking as many dubloons as I could. That didn't work really well because sometimes even when i did everything right they just spawn on-top of me and BOOM gone. So to get to a decently high score a different strategy is needed.

The most basic skill in DD is to be able to manipulate mines, remembering that the closer you are the faster they move. In either of the two strategies that I use you need to be able to 'Herd' mines together, which you can see in the diagram below

Herding

When you can 'Herd' the mines you will also be able to get them to blow each other up as you can see in the diagram below

Explosion

Reverse

The final basic skill is driving in reverse, ie. going backwards with your little boat. The reason this skill is useful is because when you go purely forward or backwards you move at full speed. When your turning left or right while moving you slow down significantly, if you can move forward or backwards well then you only need to be able to turn 90 degrees, as opposed to 180 degrees if you only go forward. Messing around with reversing is probably the biggest cause of me dying stupidly, you don't need to be able to do this well to do decently but will help tremendously if you can.

STRATEGIES

Blow 'em up

The most basic (workable) strategy is to just constantly blow all the mines up ie. let the mines build up to 2+ and then get rid of them. If I were to use this strategy I would only build 4-5 or so else it gets pretty cluttered. The major weakness of this strategy is that with a little bit of bad luck (ie. a mine spawning on top of you) you can lose which can be particularly frustrating when your nearing your goal score. This strategy is easy to implement but is risky.

Shaping

My main strategy is to force the mines into a particular shape that is manageable. The basic intention being to have them as snuggly packed together as possible covering as little areas as possible. This gives you more room to maneuver around and pick up dubloons safely. Obviously you can make any kind of shape you like but here are a few I'm familiar with.

The Blob

This is my favorite 'shape', it's a little rough round the edges and simple (like me ). I generally have no trouble forming this shape, though occasionally you need to reform it. If there are a couple errant mines that don't fit easily into the blob you can always blow 'em up and reform the shape.

The Doughnut

While it sounds delicious this is not a good 'shape', sometimes it just forms accidentally and can be tricky to reform. The reason this 'shape' sucks is because mines move faster the closer they are to you. This means that regardless of the angle you come from the doughnut just gets fatter, reforming is also difficult. The Doughnut takes up space in the pool leaving you less room to maneuver. If a dubloon spawns in the middle of the Doughnut you'll have a minor headache. Avoid this shape if possible.

The Line

This is a good shape that is hard to form but very versatile. Transitions into other good shapes easily. Again, the key is space to maneuver and cause the line is skinny there is lots of room to move.

With any 'shape' the key is to take as little room as possible, so muck around with whatever suits you. Unfortunately no matter how great your shape is you may have to start again because of one annoying factor...

The Whirlpool

The Whirlpool sucks in everything and can even kill you. That is not the worst part of it either, as with a little practice you can avoid getting sucked in. However as you can see from the diagram your mines get sucked in as well which means that you have to make a new shape. Annoying but won't kill you most of the time.

Tricks

Some tricks to mess around with and maybe find a use for.

A situation that looks like certain death :O

And again, is this the end of our krawk-ish hero?!

Nope. If you time it right you can have mines blow up right on top you and not take a scratch. Possibly related to this is a situation where you speed right next to (practically ontop of) a mine and it looks like it tries to speed towards you then just leaps limply to the side. Hard to describe and impossible to screenshot but give it a try.

Pausing

So your playing DD and you almost have the avvie, but suddenly there is a knock at the door Scarlett Johansson/Miranda Kerr/Insert Random Hot Chick is at the door :funky:. But you want that avvie soooo bad. If only you could pause

As you can see in the diagram the points are not zero but cause there are no mines you can go answer the door :yup:. This is real simple, you just blow up all the mines and you can let the game sit indefinitely.

Code

You can type in "scallywags" to generate a whirlpool. This can be good if your using Blow 'em up but I would not advise it if your trying to Shape. You can always save it as well as something to use when your cornered, though if your in that bad a situation you probably can't type that fast so you should hotkey it or something. (thanks bobbarr243).

Conclusion

So will my guide let you get the pinnacle of Neopets Gaming?

aka can I guarantee you a trophy?

Short answer, Nope. 19k plus score by the end of the month is more about ridiculous patience less about technique. If you want trophies timing is most important, try to get a decent score at the beginning of the month.

However, with a little bit of training and patience you may be rewarded in one way or another...

If you really get down here's a motivating screenshot

By Elhoof

Comments and criticisms are welcome but be gentle lol first guide ever (I already know I should format a little nicer)