The Bow Bar in Edinburgh had a Blind Dark Beer Festival where they had 26 different Stouts on across several weeks across their Cask and Keg line. You tried a beer and gave a mark out of 10 for that beer and submitted it to be averaged with all other score.
The results are seen below.
But what interested me was how i scored blind (using Ratebeers system) against my existing RateBeer Score.
So in Winning Order I tried
22 - Pilot Mochaccino: 4.3 against existing 4.2
17 - Cromarty Brewed Awakening 3.9 against existing 3.8
24 - Fyne Sublime 3.9 against existing 4.0
5 - Loch Lomond Silke 3.6 against existing 4.0
8 - Brewdog Brixton Porter 3.1 against existing 3.5
4 - Orkney Dark Island 2.6 against existing 3.8
10 - William Bros Midnight Sun 4.1 against existing 4.2
2 - Guinness 3.0 against existing 2.7
Im please to see that with the exception of Dark Island no score was Way off and that half of them were within 0.1 of original Score.
More interestingly the one score that was way off was a Keg version against a beer i would normally have in Cask.
I was also interested to see that despite my worry that my general feelings towards Brewdog in this one case at least hasnt effected how i score their beer, and in fact i scored it lower blind that my existing score.
and who would have thought Guinness is better than i thought.
Monday, 15 December 2014
Golden (half) Pints 2014
In a break with the Traditional Golden Pints, Im going to run down my Top 15 beers of the Year and then look at what i says about me.
In Date Order.
Hawkshead Imperial Stout (Oak Aged)
Well this one just sneaked into the list as it was the tail end of 2013(but after any 2103 writings so would be unfair to exclude) Hawkshead would certainly make my top 5 UK breweries mostly for the consistent quality and depth of there core range. But this one falls firmly into my Oh i love it category. Its Big (8.3%) Black, and on Cask. What more could a boy want.
DuClaw Divine Retribution No. 2
A bottle i sadly have no recollection of, and this is the main reason i started using ratebeer, to keep track of what i thought of beer (and again the main reason i do not rate to style as im interested in what I like best) but again from my notes i can see why i liked this, it was a fruity big stout.
Arizona Wilderness American Presidential Stout
Unlike the DeClaw this one has left a clear impression. It was the best of the Copenhagen beer Celebration, and again a Big Black beer. The biggest disappointment of the festival was by the time i tried to get more they had nothing left.
Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb!
Another one from CBC and another Big Black stout, we very quickly see an unexpected pattern forming. This was one of a set with a special Chocolate edition available at the festival, and though the chocolate one was nice it was a clear winner for the Core beer, This is the First of the Beers i was lucky enough to revisit and it just seemed even better when i had it in bottle a few months later
Lervig Once You Go Black
Another CBC and the biggest surprise of the festival. While ive had several good beers from Lervig i just never expected to be as blown away as i was by this one, This was my 2nd choice of CBC and it was just a hairsbreadth away from the Presidential, and no surprises for spotting yet another big black beer.
Magic Rock Bearded Lady Pedro Ximénez BA
and Finally another CBC beer this time returning home to the UK with Magic rocks Bearded Lady. Now ive always been partial to a Bearded lady of two, and im a big fan of Pedro Ximenez so it was of no surprise that i liked this one as much as i did, it being my 3rd pick of CBC
Brøggeren Birkestout
And it turned out i couldn't escape Copenhagen without picking up another top beer. Bringing the total for 1 weekend to a third of my top 15. This was a random find in one of CPHs many bars (Fermentoren) and a beer that was so good, that we returned to have another before heading for our plane and as such came within a hairs breadth of missing my plane. The only time i've nearly missed a flight. But it was well worth it.
Buxton Double Axe
And at last a beer that isnt Black, however it is Big and its probably my favourite Double IPA ever. I had this first on Keg, and it was great but not stunning, but as well as making a great IPA it showed signs of actually aging into a great barley wine so when i went to buy some bottle i made sure to pick up a few extras for deliberate aging. But then a spanner in the works, The beer was even better in bottle that it had been on keg. With the side effect that i drunk most of them, leaving me less aging than intended.
Siren / De Molen Empress Stout
Back to big and Black and my favourite of the Rainbow series, well not at first, again we have an improvment on revisit. At first i had on keg along side all the other rainbow series, but at IMBC it was available on Cask and for me and my personal preferences it was substantially lifted(it also didnt hurt that it was the best value beer of the year being only £3 a pint)
Siren / Evil Twin Bourbon Barrel Even More Jesus Coffee
Even More Jesus always scores well from me, but this was my favorite so far, i do like coffee in my beer, but am often not a fan of bourbon aging, but Ryan really seems to have a knack for these things and this beer just hit all the right amounts of everything for me.
De Molen Fruit IPA Mango Habanero
And onto the another non Stout , this was an interesting one as it was a blend of two beers available at the De Molen Festival available both individually and as the blend and this one was a clear example of the sum being greater than its constituent part, both were decent enough. But the Spice was tempered by the sweetness of the mango in the blend making this the beer of the festival for me.
New Glarus Strawberry Rhubarb
Were heading towards closing down one of my tastings, whe from a bag this is pulled out. Instantly everyone sits up as the Raspberry tary and Cherry Red from New Glarus are cracking beers, this one didnt sound quite as interesting to me, but boy was a wrong. Its a real shame i had to share this with others, but as it wasnt my bottle in the first place im just glad i got to try it.
Buxton Berry Sake Bastard
Buxon have really been producing a lot of new beers this year and so many of them are shining, and this is one of the brightest, i wasnt a massive fan of the original version of this but the barrell aged version , the big fruit and a light funky back bone just tingled my tastebuds in all the right places
Magic Rock Dark Arts Barrel Aged With Raspberries
and so we return to the darks all be it the not quite so big darks, with a Barrel and raspberry aged Dark arts, Ive always been partial to raspberries so im always interested to find a good beer thats been raspberried up and this one hit the mark, its got all the characteristics of the original, but with a massive raspberry hit. Whats not to like.
Highland Barrel Aged Orkney Porter (Isle of Arran)
and here we finish off with the last of my top 15, and it nicely bookends the list as when asked for my Favourite UK brewery the first two names out of my mouth are usually Highland and Hawkshead. So its fitting that i start and finish the list with these breweries. Again when asked, i will happily tell anyone who asked that i think the Best Scottish beer in regular production is the standard Orkney Porter, great in Bottle but Even better in cask. So it was with some delight (given how rarely we see the base beer in cask) that i was able to try this in cask which lived up to everything i could have hoped for.
So theres my Top 15 for the year, looking as formats we see
7 Keg
2 Bottle
1 Cask
2 Bottle and Cask
2 Bottle and Keg
1 Cask and Keg
From the scoring of those in multiple formats,(and its no surprise) I clearly prefer Cask > Bottle >Keg
Looking at Locations we have
3 CBC
1 CBC and Home
1 CBC and De Molen
3 Home
2 Hanging Bat
2 Hanging Bat and Home
1 Hanging Bat and IMBC
1 Fermentorem
1 De Molen
From which i can only conclude that it takes the Hanging bat a whole year to replicate CBC (they really should try harder) and that even through hard work and dedication i still get much more good beer out and about than in bottle at home.
and Finally looking at Styles
11 are Stouts in one format or another
2 are Double Ipas
2 are Fruit beers
There really no surprise there anyone that knows me knows that i always have been a stout fan, and i dont see that changing any time soon, but when the right beer comes along i can be tempted from the Dark Side.
and now onto the Standard list
In Date Order.
Hawkshead Imperial Stout (Oak Aged)
Well this one just sneaked into the list as it was the tail end of 2013(but after any 2103 writings so would be unfair to exclude) Hawkshead would certainly make my top 5 UK breweries mostly for the consistent quality and depth of there core range. But this one falls firmly into my Oh i love it category. Its Big (8.3%) Black, and on Cask. What more could a boy want.
DuClaw Divine Retribution No. 2
A bottle i sadly have no recollection of, and this is the main reason i started using ratebeer, to keep track of what i thought of beer (and again the main reason i do not rate to style as im interested in what I like best) but again from my notes i can see why i liked this, it was a fruity big stout.
Arizona Wilderness American Presidential Stout
Unlike the DeClaw this one has left a clear impression. It was the best of the Copenhagen beer Celebration, and again a Big Black beer. The biggest disappointment of the festival was by the time i tried to get more they had nothing left.
Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb!
Another one from CBC and another Big Black stout, we very quickly see an unexpected pattern forming. This was one of a set with a special Chocolate edition available at the festival, and though the chocolate one was nice it was a clear winner for the Core beer, This is the First of the Beers i was lucky enough to revisit and it just seemed even better when i had it in bottle a few months later
Lervig Once You Go Black
Another CBC and the biggest surprise of the festival. While ive had several good beers from Lervig i just never expected to be as blown away as i was by this one, This was my 2nd choice of CBC and it was just a hairsbreadth away from the Presidential, and no surprises for spotting yet another big black beer.
Magic Rock Bearded Lady Pedro Ximénez BA
and Finally another CBC beer this time returning home to the UK with Magic rocks Bearded Lady. Now ive always been partial to a Bearded lady of two, and im a big fan of Pedro Ximenez so it was of no surprise that i liked this one as much as i did, it being my 3rd pick of CBC
Brøggeren Birkestout
And it turned out i couldn't escape Copenhagen without picking up another top beer. Bringing the total for 1 weekend to a third of my top 15. This was a random find in one of CPHs many bars (Fermentoren) and a beer that was so good, that we returned to have another before heading for our plane and as such came within a hairs breadth of missing my plane. The only time i've nearly missed a flight. But it was well worth it.
Buxton Double Axe
And at last a beer that isnt Black, however it is Big and its probably my favourite Double IPA ever. I had this first on Keg, and it was great but not stunning, but as well as making a great IPA it showed signs of actually aging into a great barley wine so when i went to buy some bottle i made sure to pick up a few extras for deliberate aging. But then a spanner in the works, The beer was even better in bottle that it had been on keg. With the side effect that i drunk most of them, leaving me less aging than intended.
Siren / De Molen Empress Stout
Back to big and Black and my favourite of the Rainbow series, well not at first, again we have an improvment on revisit. At first i had on keg along side all the other rainbow series, but at IMBC it was available on Cask and for me and my personal preferences it was substantially lifted(it also didnt hurt that it was the best value beer of the year being only £3 a pint)
Siren / Evil Twin Bourbon Barrel Even More Jesus Coffee
Even More Jesus always scores well from me, but this was my favorite so far, i do like coffee in my beer, but am often not a fan of bourbon aging, but Ryan really seems to have a knack for these things and this beer just hit all the right amounts of everything for me.
De Molen Fruit IPA Mango Habanero
And onto the another non Stout , this was an interesting one as it was a blend of two beers available at the De Molen Festival available both individually and as the blend and this one was a clear example of the sum being greater than its constituent part, both were decent enough. But the Spice was tempered by the sweetness of the mango in the blend making this the beer of the festival for me.
New Glarus Strawberry Rhubarb
Were heading towards closing down one of my tastings, whe from a bag this is pulled out. Instantly everyone sits up as the Raspberry tary and Cherry Red from New Glarus are cracking beers, this one didnt sound quite as interesting to me, but boy was a wrong. Its a real shame i had to share this with others, but as it wasnt my bottle in the first place im just glad i got to try it.
Buxton Berry Sake Bastard
Buxon have really been producing a lot of new beers this year and so many of them are shining, and this is one of the brightest, i wasnt a massive fan of the original version of this but the barrell aged version , the big fruit and a light funky back bone just tingled my tastebuds in all the right places
Magic Rock Dark Arts Barrel Aged With Raspberries
and so we return to the darks all be it the not quite so big darks, with a Barrel and raspberry aged Dark arts, Ive always been partial to raspberries so im always interested to find a good beer thats been raspberried up and this one hit the mark, its got all the characteristics of the original, but with a massive raspberry hit. Whats not to like.
Highland Barrel Aged Orkney Porter (Isle of Arran)
and here we finish off with the last of my top 15, and it nicely bookends the list as when asked for my Favourite UK brewery the first two names out of my mouth are usually Highland and Hawkshead. So its fitting that i start and finish the list with these breweries. Again when asked, i will happily tell anyone who asked that i think the Best Scottish beer in regular production is the standard Orkney Porter, great in Bottle but Even better in cask. So it was with some delight (given how rarely we see the base beer in cask) that i was able to try this in cask which lived up to everything i could have hoped for.
So theres my Top 15 for the year, looking as formats we see
7 Keg
2 Bottle
1 Cask
2 Bottle and Cask
2 Bottle and Keg
1 Cask and Keg
From the scoring of those in multiple formats,(and its no surprise) I clearly prefer Cask > Bottle >Keg
Looking at Locations we have
3 CBC
1 CBC and Home
1 CBC and De Molen
3 Home
2 Hanging Bat
2 Hanging Bat and Home
1 Hanging Bat and IMBC
1 Fermentorem
1 De Molen
From which i can only conclude that it takes the Hanging bat a whole year to replicate CBC (they really should try harder) and that even through hard work and dedication i still get much more good beer out and about than in bottle at home.
and Finally looking at Styles
11 are Stouts in one format or another
2 are Double Ipas
2 are Fruit beers
There really no surprise there anyone that knows me knows that i always have been a stout fan, and i dont see that changing any time soon, but when the right beer comes along i can be tempted from the Dark Side.
and now onto the Standard list
1. Best UK Cask Beer – From Above that would have to be The Siren Empress but the Highland BA Porter was just behind.
2. Best UK Keg Beer – again taken from above Buxton Berry Saki B*astard.
3. Best UK Bottled beer – in whats fast becoming a repeat of the above, the Buxton Double Axe.
- Best UK Canned Beer – a tricky one aa none jump to mind but it would almost certainly be something by Beaver Town
4. Best Overseas Draught – Arizona Wilderness Presidential Stout
5. Best Overseas Bottled beer – New Glarus Strawberry Rhubarb
- or Canned Beer – Bud Chelada Picante
6. Best collaboration brew – again have to the Empress but outside of that the Even More Jesus Coffee making it a Collab Double for Siren
7. Best Overall Beer – Take your pick from the Above. Its far to close to call, but the Cask Lover in me Screams the Empress again.
8. Best Branding, Pumpclip or Label – Interestingly Most of my favourite beers have been from the Bat, or Festivals where there is very little Branding.
9. Best UK Brewery – See above where I say Hawkshead, Highland but lets add Siren and MagicRock to the Mix.
10. Best Overseas Brewery – Im going to stick with De Molen, i like there beers, there festival and Meno so its a triple win for them
11. Best New Brewery Opening 2014 –
12. Pub/Bar of the Year – If i dont say the Bat i may be Barred, so The Hanging Bat
13. Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2014 – Im going to go all Mystic Meg on you and say SpitFire
14. Best beer and food pairing – Nothing beats those deep fried Pickles and any beer in Small Bar Bristol
15. Beer Festival of the Year – Im going to go against my beer Grain here and say Borefts at De Molen, a festival is about way more than just its beer, and De Molen seem to get everything right.
16. Supermarket of the Year – Waitrose as it’s the only one I buy beer from. ( I cut an pasted the Hanging bat one and edited it but im leaving this alone)
17. Independent Retailer of the Year – I’ve bought more beer from Beer Hive than anyone else this year.(and this one)
18. Online Retailer of the Year – Eeberia, is the only one ive used and twice Buxton had enough beers i wanted to justify an order.
19. Best Beer Book or Magazine – Dont read any
20. Best Beer Blog or Website – Given i only regularly read TheBeerCast so its well placed for 2nd place
21. Best Beer App – Twitter
22. Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer – @whatjoewrote he probably makes me smile in the most simon like manner.
23. Best Brewery Website/Social media – Siren, no one quite insults me the way Ryan does. (though many seem to try)
Tuesday, 28 October 2014
Rate the Rater
Off the back of another interesting post from @BoakandBailey here
I got thinking, just what do brewers think of my Rates.
I know many are flawed, I know many are done from small samples. I also know that I go back to beers I love time and time again and rerate. But most of all i know I really enjoy my beer life.
Every new beer is an adventure, a mystery waiting to be unfurled. Now there are a few brewers that hold no mystery any more. I can pretty much predict what its going to be like and on the whole I avoid them, unless they are placed in front of me. But even some brewers that I've long found very middle of the road can come out an produce a beer that certainly make my top beer of the month, if not year.
So here the chance for brewers to rate my reviews.
I suspect some of my friends may be tempted to send comments in and that cool. But I am seriously interested in what brewers actually think of MY reviews. So anyone can comment, but please state if your a brewer. So i can see if there are any difference in opinions there.
To keep it all nice and anonymous goto https://www.guerrillamail.com/compose choose a unique non persistant email address and email your comments to cgarviereg@yahoo.co.uk
I will follow up with a post if i get enough feed back. So if you dont want quoted (not that i will know who you are) but if youd still rather not be quoted just say so in the email.
Note Gorilla mail needs no setup. It creates instantly a temporary account(lasts 2hours)
Or leave anonymous comments
I got thinking, just what do brewers think of my Rates.
I know many are flawed, I know many are done from small samples. I also know that I go back to beers I love time and time again and rerate. But most of all i know I really enjoy my beer life.
Every new beer is an adventure, a mystery waiting to be unfurled. Now there are a few brewers that hold no mystery any more. I can pretty much predict what its going to be like and on the whole I avoid them, unless they are placed in front of me. But even some brewers that I've long found very middle of the road can come out an produce a beer that certainly make my top beer of the month, if not year.
So here the chance for brewers to rate my reviews.
I suspect some of my friends may be tempted to send comments in and that cool. But I am seriously interested in what brewers actually think of MY reviews. So anyone can comment, but please state if your a brewer. So i can see if there are any difference in opinions there.
To keep it all nice and anonymous goto https://www.guerrillamail.com/compose choose a unique non persistant email address and email your comments to cgarviereg@yahoo.co.uk
I will follow up with a post if i get enough feed back. So if you dont want quoted (not that i will know who you are) but if youd still rather not be quoted just say so in the email.
Note Gorilla mail needs no setup. It creates instantly a temporary account(lasts 2hours)
Or leave anonymous comments
Monday, 18 August 2014
Beer after Independence
A comment was made in passing on my facebook profile suggesting that Independence could have a vastly negative impact on the Future of the Scottish Beer market. So it got me thinking, and raised many questions that I'm hoping more enlightened people than me might have an answer/opinion on.
How do cross border sales work. As i understand it Alcohol Duty is payable in the destination country. So this leads to several sub questions.
How do cross border sales work. As i understand it Alcohol Duty is payable in the destination country. So this leads to several sub questions.
- Would Independence make all cross border sales more likely to have to go through a wholesaler (as paperwork for direct selling to a pub too much hassle) Leading to less choice in Scottish pubs?
- Would it be easier for Brewers (especially the better ones) to sell mostly to England thus avoiding having to pay duty up front.
- Would Wholesales want to deal with the extra hassle of Cross-border shipments.
This Document was referenced (from 2011) which suggested that the current Scottish Government would like to raise Beer duty in line with Whisky. This would create imbalance between Scotland and England Duty rates. If i have calculated correctly raising duty to Spirit levels, would see Duty on a 4.1% pint from 43p to 58p (or a bit over £10 per cask) , given the questions above,
- Would an increase in Scottish Duty make Scottish Brewers more likely to sell to England.
- Would any increase in Duty lead to Brewery Closures.
Now it may be that I've totally misunderstood how the market works, so welcome all comments on the issue, or even further question.
Id especially be interested in Brewers who think Independence will make life harder or easier.
Personally, if i have understood it right we could well see the loss of direct to pubs sales, but dont think we will see more Scottish Brewers selling exclusively or even mostly to England unless the Tax rate (which given the date of article i dont put much credence in) becomes vastly different.
Id especially be interested in Brewers who think Independence will make life harder or easier.
Personally, if i have understood it right we could well see the loss of direct to pubs sales, but dont think we will see more Scottish Brewers selling exclusively or even mostly to England unless the Tax rate (which given the date of article i dont put much credence in) becomes vastly different.
Thursday, 29 May 2014
My Independence fears
First off, I’m not going to make any bones
about it. I’m for the Union, I was born in UK, all be it in the Scottish part.
I’ve lived in the UK all my life, I grew up immersed in UK culture: watching
British TV, listening to British music, but with all the access I needed to
Scottish culture. In the past, could Scotland have been better represented
across all media? – absolutely - but my kids are growing up in different
cultural environment. All told I’m British and happy with that.
Looking back,
every time (or at least all that I can remember) in every UK general election I
got the MP I voted for, so it could be argued that I’ve been more than fairly
represented in the Government. Yes, I haven’t always had the Government I hoped
for, (nor, indeed, have some of those I’ve voted for lived up to my hopes and
ideals) but Scottish Government hasn’t always been the one i wanted either(nor
lived up to my hopes and ideals).
So I’m not in favour of Independence, but you
know what, I could live with it, if it was the overwhelming view of the
Scottish population. However I don’t believe there is that view and here’s my
fear. In September we go to the polls, and if we vote for Independence it’s
pretty much a one way ticket, there no second vote in five years (like a
general election). I believe this is a crucial decision, and one we should be
absolutely sure of. If even 1 vote more than 50% of those voting vote yes, we’re
going independent. We could end up with a situation where the majority of the
population don’t want independence but the pro yes vote is better mobilised and
gain that 50%+1 vote required. My worry is the real danger that, just for
polling day, enough people may be persuaded to vote yes, even though they are
not fully convinced.
The polls have always shown that there is no
real appetite for independence in Scotland. The BBC recently carried an article
(here) Showing the opinion polls of recent months where those in favour of
Independence has sat at about 35% More interesting are the Historical polls
(here and here) that clearly show that on the whole support for Independence has rarely
ever risen above 50% There is just no overwhelming appetite for Independence in
Scotland. If that ever changes, that there is consistent overall support for
independence, then even if it’s not my choice I’m happy to accept it. But we
should not be making an irreversible choice unless were absolutely sure it’s
the right choice.
To me this split is like a divorce and I don’t
believe any sane person decides to get a divorce if they’re only half sure it’s
the right thing to do.
If your
one of the 30-40% that have always been for independence go out and vote for
it, but for any of you not sure, I urge you to think about this carefully. We
don’t get to back away from it if it doesn’t turn out the way we wanted or
expected but If appetite grows for independence then the chance will come again
to vote yes.
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Doctor Who Legacy : Expert Level High Defence
Heres the third walk through ive done for the Expert levels, and this one once again uses a non maxed team and ive done it a couple of straight times through with no trouble so with luck this should get you through this one with the minimum of Fuss.
As seems to be common with the expert level they are not that difficult if you can survive until your teams powers kick in, and the Secret is finding the team that will allow you to do this.
So heres my team and the first wave.
You will notice its got a couple of Bombers to get past those high defense baddies, the Blue Silence for its awesome stunning ability, and in a break from my normal choice of Character, the Brother and sister combo of colour changers to pink(so unusual was it that i had to play them both up to level 31 to get the power kicking in 1 round earlier). As you will see we need a lot of healing to last until the silence is ready. I have also chosen the 10th Doctor for the extra healing if needed.
The main 2 perks is set increase HP +5% on both and to select resist lock on both.
The first few rounds just get as many combos as possible. Ignore the locked gems unless you can easily unlock one or two, But make sure to get 1 combo or your powers dont count down. Do this until the first attack, if you have enough Pinks to get 2 combos plus at least 1 other colour that should be enough to fully heal. But if not choose to convert green or yellow as gives the best selection of pinks. Remember you only need a half heal this time , where as next turn they are going to both attack, meaning you will need a bigger heal. So the best choice may not be the one that give you the most pinks but gives you enough to get a decent heal. As soon as your BOMBERS are ready, target the RIGHT Pterodactyl, Leave the left alone we will kill that with normal slow attrition. The round after the bomber is set, the Silent will be ready so use him, and it should be plain sailing from here. Again were mostly playing in order to keep our health up while the bomb does its work.
The Attacks order is Left (8000) , Both (8000 +5000) , Left (8000), Both (8000+5000), now they are STUNNED for 3 rounds. So the Aim is to make sure you have 8000,13000,8000,13000 HP prior to those attacks.
.
Entering Wave 2 you should have your 2nd bomber free, and both Angie and Artie. But its the Bomber we want , and we can immediately target the LEFT Velociraptor as it does Bigger damage. Then target the right Velociraptor for normal attacks. Remember that your main aim is to keep Health at MAX so use Angie or Archie as needed. The Left Velociraptor will be bombed before it even get a chance to attack. Do not use the Silence. Once the Bomber you most recently used is down to 3 rounds till active , use the other bomber to target the remaining Velociraptor (as we want one bomber ready on going into wave 3) and just pass the rounds keeping health up.
On Entering wave three. Bomb and stun the Ankylosaurus and the The Tenth Doctor + is all your.
If this has been helpful ,or youve further advice, corrections then please leave a message, its nice to know if this is helpful
As seems to be common with the expert level they are not that difficult if you can survive until your teams powers kick in, and the Secret is finding the team that will allow you to do this.
So heres my team and the first wave.
You will notice its got a couple of Bombers to get past those high defense baddies, the Blue Silence for its awesome stunning ability, and in a break from my normal choice of Character, the Brother and sister combo of colour changers to pink(so unusual was it that i had to play them both up to level 31 to get the power kicking in 1 round earlier). As you will see we need a lot of healing to last until the silence is ready. I have also chosen the 10th Doctor for the extra healing if needed.
The main 2 perks is set increase HP +5% on both and to select resist lock on both.
The first few rounds just get as many combos as possible. Ignore the locked gems unless you can easily unlock one or two, But make sure to get 1 combo or your powers dont count down. Do this until the first attack, if you have enough Pinks to get 2 combos plus at least 1 other colour that should be enough to fully heal. But if not choose to convert green or yellow as gives the best selection of pinks. Remember you only need a half heal this time , where as next turn they are going to both attack, meaning you will need a bigger heal. So the best choice may not be the one that give you the most pinks but gives you enough to get a decent heal. As soon as your BOMBERS are ready, target the RIGHT Pterodactyl, Leave the left alone we will kill that with normal slow attrition. The round after the bomber is set, the Silent will be ready so use him, and it should be plain sailing from here. Again were mostly playing in order to keep our health up while the bomb does its work.
The Attacks order is Left (8000) , Both (8000 +5000) , Left (8000), Both (8000+5000), now they are STUNNED for 3 rounds. So the Aim is to make sure you have 8000,13000,8000,13000 HP prior to those attacks.
.
Entering Wave 2 you should have your 2nd bomber free, and both Angie and Artie. But its the Bomber we want , and we can immediately target the LEFT Velociraptor as it does Bigger damage. Then target the right Velociraptor for normal attacks. Remember that your main aim is to keep Health at MAX so use Angie or Archie as needed. The Left Velociraptor will be bombed before it even get a chance to attack. Do not use the Silence. Once the Bomber you most recently used is down to 3 rounds till active , use the other bomber to target the remaining Velociraptor (as we want one bomber ready on going into wave 3) and just pass the rounds keeping health up.
On Entering wave three. Bomb and stun the Ankylosaurus and the The Tenth Doctor + is all your.
If this has been helpful ,or youve further advice, corrections then please leave a message, its nice to know if this is helpful
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Doctor Who Legacy : No Blue Gems: Save the World!
Again i hope to take you through a way to beat another Expert level, though unlike OneShot i think this one isnt such a fool proof plan.
The BIGGEST hurdle by far is to survive until your team powers kick in, especially as if they 2 ships attack at the same time your change of survival is VERY slim. So one approach is slogging it out until you get that lucky set where they do no attack at the same time in the first 7-8 rounds. But again hopefully some of the info here will show another approach (but again one that needs a little luck) to get you on your way.
No the Image above is the starting position and it looks like your facing two very similar enemies but nothing could be further from the truth. The Left one has 500000 Hit points where as the left has about 30(i wasnt able to get exact count),however the right one also has a fairly hefty resistance being at least 30,000 but less than 37000(after the Perk reduces it). Meaning that you usually only do 1 point per person.
So if target the 2nd ship and manage to get 5-6 hits every time you may make it before they both target you. Or you can try for a nice big set of combos where 1 of you allies manages to beat the resistance(and this how ive always managed it)after all beat resistance by about 30 and its gone. Sadly neither is that easy to do (but there again this is EXPERT level)
So if you can survive about 8 rounds i think its then fairly plain sailing with the following team.
As i think the key to this level is not letting them both attack at once and the simplest solution to that is to keep at least 1 stunned, With these 3 stunners, you have a a total of 8 rounds stunning, meaning you can keep them in a cycle. I have Clara in there for HP and healing and the Blue adispose to convert to Blue giving you some blue gems, But as most killing will be done by the Doctor your personal preference should be fine. The thing to Watch is the Wave Change over. If you use a stun and then finish the level right away, your then out of sync and your third stun wont be ready on time.
But Actually theres one missing person,and thats the Doctor, Once again i have gone for the 6th Doctor as his 50% damage all be it over several rounds makes him a great killer of the High HP enemies. Just keep powering him up and using him to take the ships down one at a time.
As for perks i think the main ones are Increase HP +5% twice, Ignore Red Enemy defense, reduce red damage, and i was originally leaning to resist stun 2 rounds but i think id go with Resist Bomb.
The second Wave is much like the first but with Hit points being 700,000 and about 60, (sadly i have not managed to work out the resistance on the 2nd wave)
The 3rd wave is a single Bigger Ship and as long as you have timed your stuns correctly you will have no problems here. So be very carefully coming out of the 2nd wave not using stun if possible so all are ready or nearly ready.
See that Bomb, It got me as i didnt have the stuns on this play through synced and entered the wave 1 round of stun short. Meaning the Bomb was placed. From then i was sorted or so i thought, but then the bomb totally wiped me. Hence choosing the Reduce bomb damage perk.
So there you go, i hope it helps. If it does do leave a comment as its nice to get feed back, but any comments always welcome. Have fun and GOOD LUCK
The BIGGEST hurdle by far is to survive until your team powers kick in, especially as if they 2 ships attack at the same time your change of survival is VERY slim. So one approach is slogging it out until you get that lucky set where they do no attack at the same time in the first 7-8 rounds. But again hopefully some of the info here will show another approach (but again one that needs a little luck) to get you on your way.
No the Image above is the starting position and it looks like your facing two very similar enemies but nothing could be further from the truth. The Left one has 500000 Hit points where as the left has about 30(i wasnt able to get exact count),however the right one also has a fairly hefty resistance being at least 30,000 but less than 37000(after the Perk reduces it). Meaning that you usually only do 1 point per person.
So if target the 2nd ship and manage to get 5-6 hits every time you may make it before they both target you. Or you can try for a nice big set of combos where 1 of you allies manages to beat the resistance(and this how ive always managed it)after all beat resistance by about 30 and its gone. Sadly neither is that easy to do (but there again this is EXPERT level)
So if you can survive about 8 rounds i think its then fairly plain sailing with the following team.
But Actually theres one missing person,and thats the Doctor, Once again i have gone for the 6th Doctor as his 50% damage all be it over several rounds makes him a great killer of the High HP enemies. Just keep powering him up and using him to take the ships down one at a time.
As for perks i think the main ones are Increase HP +5% twice, Ignore Red Enemy defense, reduce red damage, and i was originally leaning to resist stun 2 rounds but i think id go with Resist Bomb.
The second Wave is much like the first but with Hit points being 700,000 and about 60, (sadly i have not managed to work out the resistance on the 2nd wave)
The 3rd wave is a single Bigger Ship and as long as you have timed your stuns correctly you will have no problems here. So be very carefully coming out of the 2nd wave not using stun if possible so all are ready or nearly ready.
See that Bomb, It got me as i didnt have the stuns on this play through synced and entered the wave 1 round of stun short. Meaning the Bomb was placed. From then i was sorted or so i thought, but then the bomb totally wiped me. Hence choosing the Reduce bomb damage perk.
So there you go, i hope it helps. If it does do leave a comment as its nice to get feed back, but any comments always welcome. Have fun and GOOD LUCK
Friday, 25 April 2014
Doctor Who Legacy : One Shot in One Shot
With A bit of Luck this Guide to What team to use and what order to play should allow you to complete the One Shot Expert Level in One shot assuming a combo average of at least close to 3.
The Key to this level is Poison, so your team needs the two main poison characters Leveled at max for best effect Doctor 4* (but 3* does) and Unit soldier at least Level 31(higher will help by having more heal and HP).
You will also need a High level 3* minimum Punishment Medic to Cure Poison.
The Rest of your team needs, HP and Healing. Attack is gonna be irrelevant here. The rest of your team is just here to keep you alive. So Characters with High HP and Healing powers are Cooool Daddio.
If your team doesn't Hit about 12K HP don't bother trying. The 2 Toclafane if attacking in the same round do 10K damage.
Then its simple. STAY ALIVE thats the first key aim. Keep an eye on Healing. Don't Use pink gems when you don't need them where possible.
Then count down the 8 Rounds utill the Unit Soldier is Ready, while trying to Maximize Combos to get the Doctors abilities at 2nd Tier. Do not use the Doctor power until the Previous Poison has elapsed as poisons do no Stack, So the Doctors poison should be about round 14 (at tier 2). Then the soldier will go again at about round 19 targeting the Middle Baddie (The Vortex) The Doctor will do 50% and the Soldier 25%, twice. Now due to rounding errors id Make sure you target this a few times to just make sure.
Then start targeting the other 2, once with the Doctor Twice the other with the Soldier 4 Times.Again the Same approach. Stay alive so watch those HP especially if both look to attack in same cycle. Let the Poison work will you collect as many combos as you can till the next poison Power up is ready.
So what about perks. Ignoring the S-Perks as not every one will have them. Id choose +5% health twice, as your not gonna care too much about damage. But you may as well chose a colour for the +5% go for the one with the most damage in your team.
I would Turn Off weakness Enhance, and set Debuff Resistance to resist poison just in case your not paying attention(but if you are you should take NO poison damage)
Here is the Team I used. As can be seen Doctor is only 3* Unit Soldier is only Level 21 and just to prove it doesnt need to be a Maxed out team i included a level 21 Character.
And Heres a couple of screen grabs during the game and my final position.
The Key to this level is Poison, so your team needs the two main poison characters Leveled at max for best effect Doctor 4* (but 3* does) and Unit soldier at least Level 31(higher will help by having more heal and HP).
You will also need a High level 3* minimum Punishment Medic to Cure Poison.
The Rest of your team needs, HP and Healing. Attack is gonna be irrelevant here. The rest of your team is just here to keep you alive. So Characters with High HP and Healing powers are Cooool Daddio.
If your team doesn't Hit about 12K HP don't bother trying. The 2 Toclafane if attacking in the same round do 10K damage.
Then its simple. STAY ALIVE thats the first key aim. Keep an eye on Healing. Don't Use pink gems when you don't need them where possible.
Then count down the 8 Rounds utill the Unit Soldier is Ready, while trying to Maximize Combos to get the Doctors abilities at 2nd Tier. Do not use the Doctor power until the Previous Poison has elapsed as poisons do no Stack, So the Doctors poison should be about round 14 (at tier 2). Then the soldier will go again at about round 19 targeting the Middle Baddie (The Vortex) The Doctor will do 50% and the Soldier 25%, twice. Now due to rounding errors id Make sure you target this a few times to just make sure.
Then start targeting the other 2, once with the Doctor Twice the other with the Soldier 4 Times.Again the Same approach. Stay alive so watch those HP especially if both look to attack in same cycle. Let the Poison work will you collect as many combos as you can till the next poison Power up is ready.
So what about perks. Ignoring the S-Perks as not every one will have them. Id choose +5% health twice, as your not gonna care too much about damage. But you may as well chose a colour for the +5% go for the one with the most damage in your team.
I would Turn Off weakness Enhance, and set Debuff Resistance to resist poison just in case your not paying attention(but if you are you should take NO poison damage)
Here is the Team I used. As can be seen Doctor is only 3* Unit Soldier is only Level 21 and just to prove it doesnt need to be a Maxed out team i included a level 21 Character.
And Heres a couple of screen grabs during the game and my final position.
Doctor Who Legacy : Lessons in Perks
Ive been playing Doctor Who Legacy the Game , on Android, Kindle and Apple since before Christmas,More or less when it was first release and have found my self addicted (in a good way) to it.
At its heart its a Simple Match the Gems themed game with a Nice Dr Who skin. Now theres some story there but i find that more distracting and am pleased to note the ability to turn of is coming soon, but the reason for this Blog is they just released a whole load of updates, more levels and a 'Perks' system that allows you to customise your team. This adds a whole extra level of complexity to the Game, which in my eyes is a good thing.
However theres not much info out there yet on the perks and while playing one of the Expert levels recently i was able to gather a couple of pieces of what i think is useful information i wanted to share with any other players Interested.
1) If youve bought the premium S-perk Heal Enhance, and select Heal 10% when a ally uses the power, then combining this with a Rank 4 Punishment Medic gives you 10% heal every two turns(making her one of the best healing characters available with a high hit point team. But as this works with all allies, choosing a few other low turn around powers such as colour change can mean that you easily have a heal of 100% in about 8-9 rounds. without ever needing the pink gems.
2) This one is more complex and i hope to get Clarification from Tiny Rebel on this. But the Weakness Enhance needs to be used with CARE against enemies that have a Resistance to damage(ie ones that ignore the first X amount of damage done)
The Reason for this is my experience of the One Shot Expert Level. I noticed that my Level 4 11th Doctors Rank two power of 10000 damage was only doing 500 points to the Red Toclafane. Now this was Really worrying as it seemed to be soaking up an awful lot of my Attack.
But with some experimenting i realised it was the Weakness Enhance that was the problem.
Looking at the Right BLUE Toclafane first
The Doctors 1st Tier attack did =2k Damage , and the 2nd tier= 7k damage . So the Resistance for that Toclafane must be 3k
For the Left Green Toclafane its slightly trickier, as its
Doctors Attack/2 (ad its Blue vs Green) so Tier 1 only did 500, and tier 2= did 3k Damage
so that 5k/2 -X =500 and 10k/2 -X - 3k So X(resistance) is 2K
But as i said i originally had the Weakness Enhance on and it says Blue to Green is -25% damage
So trying it out again i could see 1st tier was 1 damage and 2nd tier =500 damage and this is where i think things look odd.
it would appear that its for 2nd tier 10K/2 -2k - (10k / 4) = 500
So the Colour enhance down side is that it takes a Quarter of the FULL amount off after the Resistance happens,
This also explains why it took me 40 minutes to kill just this one Toclafane. As i needed over 8K damage from any one charactrer to do anything other than 1point
as its 8K /2 - 2k - (8k/4) =0
Given that all of my Blue character had attacks of 804-1111 I needed nearly EIGHT times multipliers to even start to touch it. Man im totally surpirsed i did any DAMAGE at all.
3) From the Sums above its Clear that Perk 1 Attacks +5% and Colour Enhance =5% dont apply to doctors Power.
4) And just cause i wasnt Clear on what colour Knowlege perk was for a while, it Ignores 25% of the Resistance to damage of what ever colour is chosen.
5) Bombs and Poison Attack Directly and do not get influenced by Resistance. This means in the One Shot Level the 6ths Doctors Poison is particularly effective.(wish id known that before i did the level) and in the "A very Sontaran Christmas" A bomb will kill the toclafane instantly as thought its got a HIGH resistance it only has 25 hit points. So even a 1st level Bomber could kill it.
At its heart its a Simple Match the Gems themed game with a Nice Dr Who skin. Now theres some story there but i find that more distracting and am pleased to note the ability to turn of is coming soon, but the reason for this Blog is they just released a whole load of updates, more levels and a 'Perks' system that allows you to customise your team. This adds a whole extra level of complexity to the Game, which in my eyes is a good thing.
However theres not much info out there yet on the perks and while playing one of the Expert levels recently i was able to gather a couple of pieces of what i think is useful information i wanted to share with any other players Interested.
1) If youve bought the premium S-perk Heal Enhance, and select Heal 10% when a ally uses the power, then combining this with a Rank 4 Punishment Medic gives you 10% heal every two turns(making her one of the best healing characters available with a high hit point team. But as this works with all allies, choosing a few other low turn around powers such as colour change can mean that you easily have a heal of 100% in about 8-9 rounds. without ever needing the pink gems.
2) This one is more complex and i hope to get Clarification from Tiny Rebel on this. But the Weakness Enhance needs to be used with CARE against enemies that have a Resistance to damage(ie ones that ignore the first X amount of damage done)
The Reason for this is my experience of the One Shot Expert Level. I noticed that my Level 4 11th Doctors Rank two power of 10000 damage was only doing 500 points to the Red Toclafane. Now this was Really worrying as it seemed to be soaking up an awful lot of my Attack.
But with some experimenting i realised it was the Weakness Enhance that was the problem.
Looking at the Right BLUE Toclafane first
The Doctors 1st Tier attack did =2k Damage , and the 2nd tier= 7k damage . So the Resistance for that Toclafane must be 3k
For the Left Green Toclafane its slightly trickier, as its
Doctors Attack/2 (ad its Blue vs Green) so Tier 1 only did 500, and tier 2= did 3k Damage
so that 5k/2 -X =500 and 10k/2 -X - 3k So X(resistance) is 2K
But as i said i originally had the Weakness Enhance on and it says Blue to Green is -25% damage
So trying it out again i could see 1st tier was 1 damage and 2nd tier =500 damage and this is where i think things look odd.
it would appear that its for 2nd tier 10K/2 -2k - (10k / 4) = 500
So the Colour enhance down side is that it takes a Quarter of the FULL amount off after the Resistance happens,
This also explains why it took me 40 minutes to kill just this one Toclafane. As i needed over 8K damage from any one charactrer to do anything other than 1point
as its 8K /2 - 2k - (8k/4) =0
Given that all of my Blue character had attacks of 804-1111 I needed nearly EIGHT times multipliers to even start to touch it. Man im totally surpirsed i did any DAMAGE at all.
3) From the Sums above its Clear that Perk 1 Attacks +5% and Colour Enhance =5% dont apply to doctors Power.
4) And just cause i wasnt Clear on what colour Knowlege perk was for a while, it Ignores 25% of the Resistance to damage of what ever colour is chosen.
5) Bombs and Poison Attack Directly and do not get influenced by Resistance. This means in the One Shot Level the 6ths Doctors Poison is particularly effective.(wish id known that before i did the level) and in the "A very Sontaran Christmas" A bomb will kill the toclafane instantly as thought its got a HIGH resistance it only has 25 hit points. So even a 1st level Bomber could kill it.
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