Spark Run!

[Lemongrab]

@asen That’s a bug, there are no new levels at Spark Run. I saw that multiple times after playing Lv 160. Thought it’s true so I tried it for 100 gems and eventually played the current max level (160) again. They will announce if there are new levels for Spark Run when there’s a new hard update available.

[Asen_77]

@lemongrab I told I see this for first time today. Previous days I didn’t watch close this moment. Thanks.

[Optimus_Pig]

This is getting ridiculous.

I had another total wipe out today.

My first TF didn’t make it halfway through the first zone.

And it wasn’t the flying pig swarms that got him – he was just overwhelmed by shotgun and laser land pigs.

[Asen_77]

Also I see tons of missle after update, which are hard to kill with UM. Two days in a roll I am getting 3/5 of the full sparks promotion.

[datguygamer]

Missiles are being a pain in the butt now.

[Asen_77]

@datguygamer I changed places of first two bots. First put Dead End and he is dealing well with them.

[datguygamer]

I put Dead End in the 2nd slot. Honestly, Blaster is dealing very well with those things. One shot can destroy other missiles that are close by.

[Quickgamer]

@datguygamer

Use Scopornok instead of Blaster if wanted

[Optimus_Pig]

Level 90.

I needed exactly 180,000 points to get 4 out of 5 increments.

Scored exactly 180,000.

I wish I’d taken a screenshot.

[Anonymous]

@quickgaming Scorponok is no good for destroying the many blocks that make up a significant portion of your overall score in the Spark Run.

@all

If people are having trouble with missiles, I’d suggest using any of the Grimlocks before I’d use a bot like Galvatron, Shockwave or Scorponok.

Personally, I haven’t really felt like the new abundance of missiles in the Spark Run has been all that big of a problem to begin with.  My current lineup is Blaster, Ultimate Megatron* (see comments below), Nemesis Prime, and Ratchet.

Many of you probably feel that Deadend is a notable omission from my list! Here’s my rationale:

1) My complaints with Deadend, despite his obvious strengths

– It’s pretty hard to get his two back-to-back shots to hit different targets from each other

– I don’t love how he has a long pause between pairs of shots

– It’s pretty difficult to destroy all targets (I inevitably leave behind some stone blocks if there are a lot of them in  a given stage).

2) With Blaster and UM, I’m destroying pretty much everything I come across. Maybe UM leaves a few WMTs alive here and there.

3) Nemesis and Ratchet both have issues with WMTs and helipigs, but they destroy everything else rather easily. (They also happen to be my only two fully-promoted bots. UM and Deadend are both close, and I’m working on Blaster now.)

4) Nemesis is clearly my preferred choice over both Ratchet and Deadend, because he just destroys all blocks SO easily. Using him is very low-stress for me, in part because I simply accept that I’m not going to be destroying any WMTs or helipigs (except the boosted ones, ironically), so I don’t worry about even targeting them. I just try to avoid WMT fireballs, and I use zen to accept the damage of kamikaze helipigs.

(Note: It’s important to equip Nemesis with his Acid Rounds accessory, otherwise he doesn’t destroy all stone blocks.)

5) I go back and forth between preferring Ratchet and Deadend as my fourth bot, but it rarely matters, because I’m usually able to complete the Spark Run with only Blaster and UM. So I’m sticking with Ratchet for now, since he’s 10% more promoted than Deadend.

*Despite being nerfed a few months back, Ultimate Megatron still destroys almost everything, when equipped with the Armada (+25% gravitational force) and Flail (acid rounds) accessories.

(Note: I think it’s Flail that’s the more important piece of the puzzle, but I haven’t tried using him without Armada, so I can’t say for sure.)

But anyway:

– UM can take out WMTs if you’re patient.

– The blast radius of his weapon is good enough to take some missiles down even when you don’t directly hit them (i.e. if you hit blocks near the missiles, as they get close to you). That being said, missiles are definitely his biggest weakness.

– He’s GREAT against helipigs.

[Anonymous]

I should add that I’ve been playing the Spark Run on level 160 for a few weeks now. Once Rovio/Exient changed the Spark Run (in the latest hard update) to be more varied, I’ve easily been able to get 1352 sparks every time with the team above, despite Blaster only being promoted to 55% so far. I’m hopeful that once he’s all the way up to 140%, I’ll be able to get the full 1690 sparks sometimes.

[ramonpontes]

My considerations about the general discussion:

Best bot (IMO): Dead End.
He can kill enemies quickly, especially WMTs, so I have more time to focus on structures after that, and he can stand a chance against flying pigs. I miss some structures for sure, but the enemies are worth more sparks than single blocks.

Flying pigs: There is simply too many of them. My only bots that can stand against them are Dead End and UM, but now they appears in many swarms. I can’t avoid damage, and often they kill the second bot immediately.

Missiles: I don’t have difficulty avoiding being hit, but they are a huge distraction. While I’m worried about destroying them, I miss a lot of targets, and many times, I’m hit. by enemies. Missiles + flying pigs are definitely the most deadly combination.

The layout of the stages: I think it is was a good change. They added enemies, and I think that theoretically it is possible to maximize the score. But the difficulty increased a lot. I had no problem in finishing the stages on my previous runs, now I barely reach the astrotrain with my last bot.

The good part is that I’m already on level 160. If I got killed a few steps before enter the astrotrain, I still get the sparks, and I don’t have to worry about unlocking the next level.

[JestaCat]

Is it just me who thinks the flying pigs abilities and difficulty levels don’t seem right?

It seems the pigs with extra health or armour are easier to kill than the standard ones! I suggest this is a fault that is creating the swarm issue we all seem to notice.

[Daniel Cho]

@jestcat That’s correct. The flying pigs aren’t that strong anymore. However I see so many swarms that my  poor bludgeon is wrecked in a matter of seconds.

[Optimus_Pig]

How many sparks do we need to go from 0 to +140%?

[Anonymous]

@optimuspig

i’m not sure exactly, but roughly 77,500.

[Asen_77]

There was exact points that is need for every level. Something close to that points were full promoted to 140% from zero. If someone find them, lets place them here and I will put them in first post of this topic, so everyone could find them easily.

[Quickgamer]

@asen

There is a topic about spark levels

@datguygamer

I have 10299 sparks so should I promote E.Starscream?

[Anonymous]

@asen Do you mean this thread?

ABT infographics

Using the data from the chart on that thread, plus the confirmed 500 Spark increment from each level added since the chart was made, getting a bot from 0-140% costs 82,550 Sparks.

@poptimus @optimuspig

[datguygamer]

@poptimus Oh hey, haven’t seen you in a while.

@quickgaming For this event or SparkRun?

[Quickgamer]

@datguygamer

For sparkrun.

[Optimus_Pig]

@partshade

There’s that page, and I think there was another one as well, but only had a Sparks chart.

But the chart only goes up to +105%.

[Optimus_Pig]

Here’s the other page:

Spark Levels

@werehamsta updated it to +140%

It requires 82,550.

[datguygamer]

@quickgaming While you CAN promote him, in the long run, he won’t help you. Reason being, in lower levels, he will be fine but in higher levels, those swarm of flying pigs will wreck him instantly as being an Energon variant, he will take more damage. I don’t advise promoting him. Promote the ones that usually have high health. They can survive longer in higher levels of Spark Run.

[Quickgamer]

But who will I promote

@datguygamer