Tips & Tricks

### General Gameplay Tips

* Items you are dragging, or have selected, will have a tile highlight shadow below them. White means the item can be merged, Black/Grey means the item can not be merged.
* If it can be merged, wait to merge it instead of using it right away. Lack of space and having no use for the items are the major exceptions.
* Merging 5 at once is always more effective than 3 at once. It will cost more in terms of land space, however.
* Large group merges will do merge-5 math for you, but will opt to merge 3 once or twice so that only 1 item at most is left as a remainder. Covering all of the (touching) free spaces with a single item before merging can be good use of your time.
* When deciding where to place a harvested item, creatures start scanning for an empty space in the top and work downwards. A scan is made for a clear space, touching, in order: (Needs confirmation)
	+ Identical item(s)
	+ The highest level available item of that chain
	+ The lowest level available item of the 'parent' chain
* Items left on an island when it's 'cleared' will be put into bubbles. Use this power wisely:
	+ The more bubbles on your map, the more strain on the machine you're gaming on: too many and the game will start to lag or jump. Sometimes it will be better to sell low-level items than put them in bubbles because of this.
	+ Keep organized what bubbles you do have. Place them around the edges of the cleared map, identical items almost stacked and merge chains clustered together.
	+ Regularly check your bubble stock against what you're about to put into bubbles, so you don't end up with more than 5 of a given item floating around.
* Try to focus on only one or two merge chains at a time, so it's easier to get to those Wonders.
	+ Combine putting away anything you're not working with, idle creature harvesting, mass-merging the lowest level harvested, and merge-5 for the higher level items to really race to the Wonder.
* Higher level Creature Houses let Creatures regain their stamina more quickly.
	+ Only so many creatures can effectively rest in a single House at a given time, although any number of creatures can hide in a single House at any given time. (Needs confirmation)
* Forgotten Statue quests can be changed by pressing the green button on the bottom right of the quest window and watching an AD.
	+ This can be very useful when the quest is asking to harvest or merge an Item you don't have access to yet, or when it asks for clearing a large amount of barren land.
* Items that you can tap to spawn something, when they don't show the created item on the sprite, will show a glitter or sparkle effect around them when they are ready. This includes Wonders.
	+ Before merging, always tap items that spawn things - like Pearl Oysters or Coin Leaves. At worst you can sell what spawns.

### Currency & Spending Tips

#### Spending & Shops

* Make sure to open the shop occasionally to check if you've unlocked anything. You won't be able to buy eggs from the egg/creature menu unless they've been unlocked AND clicked in the shop menu.
* Check out the Daily Deal, once you have a bit of Pearls to spend.
	+ There are 4 items on offer at a time, including Special Pouches and Mana Stones.
	+ Occasionally the Daily Deal has something for sale for Diamonds, including Creature Eggs and Creature Homes.
	+ The stock can be refreshed once per day by watching an AD, and will refresh at about Midnight every day on its own.
		- Daily Deal stock carries over if you play on a different device, but you **might** be able to refresh the shop a second time from a different device.
* All eggs go up in price for each one you buy via the Main Store or Creature Menu. The price is the same in both menus. Coin purchased eggs go up 5 coins each time. Diamond purchased eggs go up 1 Diamond each time.

#### Coins

* Coins are mostly used for buying Creature Eggs
* Any object you Sell will earn you coins, including the diamond-unlock Mysterious Cloche items and special Chests.
	+ Some objects can only be thrown away - these will have a button with a garbage can instead of a Sell button with a price.
* Coin Objects can be merged. The profit of merging them is greater for each level merged. The top tier Level 9 Platinum Coin is worth 23,000 in the bank.
	+ When merging 3 at a time, 6,561 Level 1 Old Coins makes a single Platinum Coin, for a profit of 16,493 in the bank gained by merging.

#### Pearls

* Pearl Objects are mergeable. Level 1 Shiny Pebbles are worth 1 pearl in the bank. Level 9 Queen of Pearls is worth 23,000 pearls in the bank.
* Pearls are used to unlock Special Satchels, to speed up the Forgotten Island spawning, and to purchase most items in the Daily Deal shop.
* Pearl-unlocked Special Satchels contain items of the listed Item Chain, the level and number of which depends on the level and price of the Satchel.
	+ Satchels usually contain a couple items of the chains the listed item is harvested from and harvested for. IE: A satchel said to contain Starry Corals will likely have a few Mineral Deposits and/or Pearl Oysters.

#### Diamonds

* Diamonds are the premium / 'microtransaction' currency. They can be bought for real money from the Shop: Diamonds screen. Most purchases of Diamonds come with a couple of bonus items.
* Diamonds CAN be earned in the game, as mergeable Diamond Objects. A Diamond is worth 1 diamond in the bank when tapped, a Clear Diamond is worth 4 in the bank, and a Flawless Diamond is worth 15 in the bank.
* Diamonds are used to purchase many premium Creature Eggs, Nests, and everything on the Shop: Specials screen including chests of Coins or Pearls, and Gift of Life statues that will spawn a large amount of the named Item Chain.

#### Mana Stones

* Mana Stones do not have a bank, but the value of the tapped mana stone is immediately applied to the cost of the Chest Cloche in the bottom left of the map.
* Tapping a Mana Stone worth more than the cost of the Chest Cloche will NOT waste the value, the extra will roll over into paying for the next chest. You can pay for many Chests this way if you tap a top tier Mana Stone and the chests do not cost much.
* Mana Stones are tap-produced from Arcane Statues

#### Life Essence

* Life Essence does not have a bank, but the value of the activated Life Essence orb is immediately applied to the cost of restoring any uncovered Barren Land.
* Overflow Life Essence value will jump from a newly healed square to the nearest square(s) of Barren Land, in a mostly-predictable pattern.
* Life Essence value will dissipate and be wasted when the LAST available Barren Land is healed.
	+ Uncovering more Barren Land while there is still Life Essence value streaming around the map will keep it from being wasted.
* Desolate Land, with a raised black ribbon border, will NOT be healed by Life Essence value, it can only be healed by merging the item off of it.
	+ Desolate Land will attract active Live Essence value as if it were Barren Land. Life Essence value will flow on to the next available Barren Land, if there is any.

### Creature Tips

* Creature Eggs and Nests become available to unlock after Awakening a given number of Forgotten Islands, or after participating in an Event.
	+ To actually buy the Eggs or Nests, they have to be unlocked by tapping on them from the Shop: Creatures menu.
* Creature Eggs go up in price with every one you purchase in the regular store or Creature Menu. Worth Mentioning twice.
* Eggs can sometimes be bought on the Shop: Daily Deal screen. The price on the Daily Deal is in Pearls or Diamonds, and is NOT bound to the current price of the Eggs on the Shop: Creatures menu.
* Eggs, and Nests, can be found by clearing land on Forgotten Islands and the main land.
* Eggs, Nests, and Creatures can be gifted for completing Events and Season Goals.
* Eggs are produced by some wonders.
	+ Cactus Wonder produces Llamadary Eggs
* Eggs can be harvested from some item chains:
	+ Sinkholes can be harvested for Tormundi Eggs
* Eggs or Creatures can be produced by some item chains:
	+ Cocoons can produce Didosaur Eggs or level 1 Didosaur
	+ Special Cocoons can produce Florasaur Eggs or level 1 Florasaur
* Special Chests will contain Eggs or Nests. These need to be unlocked by paying Diamonds, and the price depends on the Rarity, Level, and amount of things inside.
* A Mysterious Cloche with an Egg, Nest, or Creature inside can be gifted when merging, or for completing goals in the Creature Museum. These need to be unlocked by paying Diamonds, and the price depends on the rarity and level of what's inside.
* Merging creatures isn't all benefit:
	+ You gain Creature Power to uncover more land on the main island
	+ The creature(s) created start awake and over-filled with stamina - so you can get more done right away
	+ The game's processing load is reduced a little bit - so it may help a game that's lagging or jumping
	+ You lose total creature stamina with every merge, even when merging 5. Generally a creature line gains 1 stamina per level.