Hard Update 1.25.x.x

[aceace]

pls help. after last update (i think it was last Thursday 16/3) the game doesnt load anymore. so, it shows Rovio, exient, then games wallpaper with progress bar. and when progress is full, the game always crashes. last time i could open it – 16/3/17

version 1.25.6 (amazon fire phone)
i received ‘dead end’ character in previous quest, and then the game was updated with new quest for ‘blaster’?? character.

[julrey]

Thanks for the explanation on the “thumping”. Unless this is a glitch with a fix in the works having to fight off characters offscreen seems like downright cheating to me. Not that it matters, because on the levels right before I started encountering the thumping I was pretty much clearing everything scorable on all five levels and still not maxing out on points. It seems like a major case of diminishing returns was built into this new feature where you’re not able to power up your bots fast enough to keep up with the escalations in spark run difficulty.

[Optimus_Pig]

I think the shotgun pigs firing from offscreen have been there pretty much since the beginning. The problem here is that their firepower has been ramped up massively, so we’re actually noticing it.

This is a lot like when ABT increased the TFs’ level cap from L10 to L15 back in mid-2015 I think it was. The shotgun pigs became so powerful that TFs were getting slaughtered even at L15.

[julrey]

Now that you mention it I do remember that, but I thought that was more a matter of they fixed a glitch rather than they kept the offscreen flying pigs but just balanced out the damage. Either way, every day the spark runs seem to get exponentially harder to the point where I project I’m only a week away from them being completely unplayable altogether. It’s almost like there’s an intentional cap built in that assures that, no matter how far you progress in levels on the spark run, you’re still only going to be getting x# of sparks per day: the point potential goes up by at a rate less than or equal to the difficulty level, so you’re working harder and losing earlier to achieve the same results day after day.

[Joel]

I got a soft update to 1.24.4.9 (iOS) sometime today (I think it was today). Wondering if that means they are going to JARSU a new event in 20 minutes…

[The Dark Knight]

@joel687 new event is up i ust make a new thread.

[Asen_77]

Level 20 ( second try ) – almost same as yesterday. This time with a lot flyin pigs that hurt all my bots, only difference – this time I was even closer to the astrotrain. He was already flown over the last bot, but he didn’t survive to the end. Same point as yesterday …

[Optimus_Pig]

Went with Sparkrun L12 again this evening and it was probably the easiest Sparkrun I’ve had in over a week.

Just like I did the day before, I started the run with UM. Unlike the day before, I also ended the run with UM.

The big difference tonight was three-fold:

– encountered maybe one or two flying pigs per zone, max. And didn’t encounter any flying pigs underground at all;
– I didn’t see a single one of the special Blue or Purple (or any other colored) Cross pigs
– NO THUMPING. For whatever reason, I didn’t take any of the thumping damage – I wonder if this was due to the off-screen shotgun pigs getting killed by UM’s acid attack?

I did take some damage from WMTs (those buggers were all over the place – way more than usual – but UM is tough enough to make it past them).

I just wish that Rovio would make the difficulty levels consistent. It makes no sense that I can get slaughtered in one Sparkrun and then glide through almost unmolested in the next, and both are at the same difficulty level and I’m using the exact same TFs.

Also, has anyone else noticed that WMTs don’t give any spark points?

[Optimus_Pig]

Gem output from lab spins seems to have dropped even more since the x.9 soft update. I’ve only earned ten gems in the past 24 hours despite having almost full materials racks twice.

[Joel]

@optimuspig – I just did my spark run, and I did not get sparks for killing wmts. Not going to bother trying to kill them, then

[Optimus_Pig]

@joel687

OK, thanks for confirming.

So it looks like the following do NOT give any points towards the Sparkrun:

– Walking Mortar Towers
– Sharktihogs
– Balloon pigs

On the other hand, it would appear that floating pigs (the guys in the water in lifesavers) and gold blocks are the high value targets.

[julrey]

That is utterly bizarre. “Hey, let’s make the softest targets the highest earners!”

[Optimus_Pig]

It’s JARSU. Nothing surprises me any more.

[Optimus_Pig]

Tried L15 again today. I made it through to Astrotrain with only one TF death, but I fell short of the points target. First TF was UM, second TF was EGL.

Same as yesterday, only a few flying pigs showed up, making the run much easier to complete.

[werehamsta]

Not only I died om the sparkrun today, but the transformer froze in the air while being transported to the Astrotrain. Had to close the game -> no sparks at all :(.

[Gabee1611]

Ultimate Megatron is the best tf to use in the spark run right now. In my Level 17 spark run, I think he killed about 15-20 flying pigbots before he eventually died at the end of the fourth part. Easily finished the run with my second tf.

[Asen_77]

Level 20 ( third try ) DONE. Tomorrow level 21. Extremly easy run. E Grimlock survived to the last part, and was killed from few flying pigs. No problem at all. Finished with second bot Ratchet. Scores that I earned was very small and after 210% bonus I get only 70742 points which gave me 3/5 of the sparks – 174 from 290.

[aceace]

any advice? the game still doesn’t load. version 1.25.6.10

[Asen_77]

@aceace At what device you can’t play? There is some problems with Amazon devices.

[aceace]

@asen , fire phone. it worked during more than 2 years. but a week ago it failed.

[CD]

I’m now having the same issue as aceace. After the main screen loads, it crashes. Everything was fine until 30 minutes ago. I’m using a Samsung Tab A,

[Asen_77]

Level 21 ( first try ) – nothing unexpected. Tons of flying pigs and three bots dead until end of four part. Today team was E Grimlock, Ratchet and Nemesis. Points at level 21 neded for full sparks promotion are 125700 and sparks are 300. Today I earned 3/5 of points – 180 sparks. Tomorrow again with level 21.

[Anonymous]

The soft update may have made Spark Run a bit easier.

I was just running EGrimlock when a whopping 3 flying pig swarms in a row show up. 2 of them included a Regen Pig. Somehow, I managed to destroy all 3 swarms without any crashing into Grimlock. Their health seems to have been decreased. Even Regen Pig went down quick.

Maybe Rovio is actually making an effort?

Also, for some reason, Bludgeon is exactly the same for me, despite him being level 15. Still only 3 projectiles per shot.

[Optimus_Pig]

Tried L16 for the first time tonight and managed to both make it all the way through to Astrotrain (barely) AND earned full sparks – for the first time in over a week.

Everything was going smoothly at first. UM was demolishing everything in his path (except WMTs) until the Flying Pig Swarm arrived about halfway through Zone 3 (today it was the Beach). Barely managed to fight off the swarm, which took him down to 1/5 health. Was astonished me is that L15 UM fully accessorized still needed two hits to kill a Flying Pig.

UM died about half way through Zone 4 (another Pig Swarm of course) and EGL took over from there. EGL died just before Astrotrain did its flyover in Zone 5 and GSG replaced him but was nearly overwhelmed by yet another swarm and just barely made it into Astrotrain in time.

They really need to do something about the Pig Swarms. I thought the thumping Shotgun Pigs were bad, but I think the Flying Pigs are actually worse.

[Optimus_Pig]

Tried L17 for the first time. Ran with UM, EGL, and GSG.

Pig Swarms arrived en masse in Zone 3. The rest is self-explanatory.