I have to agree, this is a horrible way to get people to spend money. My friend wasted 400 bux and got none of the new levels. I would recommend no one spend any money on this, maybe they will get the message this type of extortion doesn't work. People just want to see something in return for what they buy, they don't want to pay for a roll of the dice. If they want to have premium levels that you need $100 imp bux to unlock so be it, but don't do this 5% chance to win crap. What they should do is have new levels unlocked through completing ingame puzzles. Perhaps you can collect pieces for these puzzles in the imperial levels. They need to do so something to make the game more interesting, especially if they want people to spend real money.
I got Endor Adventure on my first go by sending out a Best Chance Salvage Droid to Endor. However, another launch yielded a worker VIP. This isn't quite the same as the Complete Gacha mechanic that was banned in Japan a couple years ago, but it's along the same lines. This is very much a slot machine mechanic, using in-game currency that is doled out at a rate which stacks the odds greatly against the player. I have about 70 Bux available, so I'll see how far that gets me. After that, the game will probably stay on my phone, but it'll go along with all the other NimbleBit games I don't play anymore. Besides, I've got Disco Zoo to take its place!
"Slot Machine" mechanics aside, the addition of the confirmation dialog for "?" bitizens will make unlocking scenes a HELL of a lot easier. Also, what makes everything worse is that even though each planet (provided you even have a planet as an option to scan) shows a single level as a reward, there are two level rewards per planet - a commercial and a residential level. So dig in for the long haul, everyone. If you DON'T have a planet to scan, and you have a free droid available, it's best just to wait until your next free rescan, or try once to see if you can get a planet. The "shipwreck" rare rewards are just 'limited edition' bitizens.
Yes, I just got a Kashyyyk Shack level. At this point, it's kinda like rubbernecking a trainwreck. How much worse can it get? And will I be able to look away?
It's kind of like an abusive relationship. They put this BS in, but they also add in the yes/no option for "?" bitizens, which makes triggering scenes almost foolproof, and finally add Facebook syncing for Android. So they're adding increased functionality at the price of non-merit-based rewards. The better way to go about this would be adding a dynamic where the more levels you had, indicating an investiture of time and effort, increased your chances measurably for acquiring a rare level or bitizen.
Likely the horrible return rate was a purposeful design decision that won't change. They know a lot of players have a big stack of free bux, and they want them to spend them, so that they will have to start buying them, not just collecting them.
Well, they could do the following (on the off-chance any devs will ever read this): 1. Make the 'cheapest' salvage drone purchasable by credits and limit you to ten per 24h, making them cost 0-100k in credits, the first one being free, and the remaining nine costing 10k more apiece. Any drones launched after the tenth start going up in price by multiples - 150k for the 11th, 200k for the 12th, and so on. Right now there's very little to do with credits in-between non-event level releases, it'd be nice to be able to do something with the massive pool of credits a lot of us have at our disposals. 2. Add the reward of another salvage scan to the pool. 3. Remove all "you already have this, here's 3-5 bux" results. 4. Reduce the mid-grade probe price to 5 bux. Remove all 'imperial level items' from this scan. 5. "Basic" scans for credits on the same rules as #1, "targeted" scans for 5 bux, allowing you to tailor what you're looking for (planets, shipwrecks, debris/asteroid fields). 6. Keep the most expensive probe at 25 bux, but 'guarantee' a rare drop, as these can be rare bitizens as well as levels, keeping the incentive to keep rescanning. Remove all 'consolation prizes' for this level. 7. List specifically the percentage rate of getting a rare. Someone's going to find it in the code eventually, so if the current rate is "5%/7.5%/10%" people are going to be extremely pissed off. 8. Elimination of the automatic rescan. If you're lucky enough to nail planet results, you shouldn't be forced to lose that scan because of a countdown.
Send out a salvage droid, when it returns, press on the cargo to reveal what it found. If it isn't something you want, immediately reboot your phone without ever pressing "Continue". Relaunch the game and your bux are returned! Rinse & repeat until you get what you want.
Tried that twice on an android phone. Once with forcing a game quit, and once with a reboot. Didn't work either time, it already stores the results even before pressing continue.
Me too. I send an email to support, but I wondered if it was intentional. It does feel like this game is quickly moving away from the NimbleBit model, so who knows.
There's a good tip on farming for new levels over on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/tinydeathstar/comments/1zcw93/farming_for_levels/ Also, I just realized that they have to make these levels available later. One of the levels is probably an imperial level and if they disappear it, then future imperial missions can't be completed. Oh wait, you can just ignore those missions by paying bux. Maybe they do have a (not so) cunning plan here.
Well, it was kind of fun while it lasted. I was just thinking about a time when the game felt like a solid piece of software, but then I remembered that it was really buggy for the first several months. And once the performance started improving, they started adding a lot of features that rubbed me the wrong way.
Salvage Droids Suck: I'm Done The salvage droids sucked all the remaining fun out of this game. I spent over 200 bux and got nothing for it besides packs of useless Imperial Level items; I didn't get one level in return. And now it looks like Kashyyyk is going to disappear before I get the level. Screw it, LucasArts, you've lost a user!
If they do honestly remove the level permanently, then yes, screw this game. The only way I could currently live with the current implementation is if the levels remain available forever, and you can at least take a free poke every other day or so at a planet if the slot machine mechanic allows it to pop up on the first 'free'/inexpensive option. The addition of the debris/asteroid fields is stupid, though. Who gives a damn about non-specific loot?
I think thats me out, I missed Imperial Marches and was gutted enough by that but now its obvious that there will be more and more levels and Ltd Edition Bitizens that cannot be unlocked without spending real money. And I refuse to do that! Plenty of good free games out there, and even good ones that you pay for but you only have to pay once! Screw whoever made this game, I left a negative review on the Google Play store, but has anybody noticed how many short, positive reviews it has? By people with no profile pics? Who can't spell? Seems like someone is padding thier ratings to me, this whole thing stinks.
The salvage droids work as a fix for getting Imperial level items I was glad to get my 20 control panels
What the heck does any of this added new junk have to do with Star Wars?! Seems to me this is just more crap to try and get peoples money instead of true Star Wars fan service. If only they cared as much about the Star Wars IP as tinyrebelgames cares about Doctor Who. Doctor Who: Legacy knows how to create a free game that makes me want to spend money!
