Improved Level Cap Income

The Simpson's: Tapped Out is a funny little game for a number of reasons, and not simply due to the award winning humor that is the very bedrock of the entertainment value that the multimedia effort from which it springs is founded -- the television show itself often contributes in very meaningful ways to the game you see.

At its heart, even though TSTO was created as a Freemium Title, the wizards behind its creation chose to buck the established trends, creating a F2P game that really is Free-to-Play in the sense that, with a bit of care and a well-planned Strategy, the game can be played without the need to actually spend real-world Money -- the antithesis of the F2P genre if you think upon it.

With that in mind we thought you might like to know about an odd transition that the game makes once the player has reached a certain point in Game Play -- that is to say the manner in which the game slowly becomes easier the more advanced you are in playing it.

Meeting Expenses

As is apparent in the structure of our Guide for TSTO, this is a level-based game, with level-restricted Missions and Quests and, as your town is leveled-up, offers a constantly expanding selection of Missions and Quests with each new level unlocked.

That is very important as an element of Game Play because the higher your town level gets, the wider the selection of structures and Characters as well as objects in the game you will find.

Naturally the higher level you achieve the more expensive it becomes to add new structures, objects and Characters...

The good news is that your Income rates also increase with each new level and with many of the objects, Characters, or structures that you add to your Springfield.

A perfect example of this is the way that key elements of the underlying game structure help to cause the player to build into their game an infrastructure that leads to a self-supporting game environment.

What we mean by this is that simply by following the prompted paths for Building and expanding your game you will naturally expand the size of your town and in so doing, expand the availability of the wide variety of Missions and Quests as well as the individual Tasks that each of The Characters that you add to your town can perform.

$100K Price Tags?

Early in Game Play as you are placing homes like the Orange House, they seem to be more and more expensive -- and on that subject that a house costingt nearly $25K may seem expensive, but that pales in comparison to many of the Mission-prompted construction projects that are literally required in order to maintain forward progress in The Story-mode of the game!

Happily you will find that your average daily Income from the combined taxes you collect on each structure, with the income produced by the typical 12-and-24-hour Tasks for each of your town's residents, will quickly generate the sort of regular income that allows you to pay for those expensive Mission-prompted structures over periods as brief as a day or two.

At the moment (specifically at the time that this was written) the level-cap for the game is Level 37. If your game is at or near that point then you have reached a level of Game Play in which there are a number of significant Cash-sinks (that is to say, ongoing Mission-based efforts that require you to spend more Money than you have).

It is often upon reaching this point of play that the temptation to spend Money on Donuts in order to save time in Building and, perhaps more disturbing, feed the need for Cash by exchanging Donuts for in-game money (the worse possible decision you can make) that the game seems to feel a bit harder...

The Missions that you are working towards completing -- and make no mistake even if you are near or at the Level-Cap you will still find that there are outstanding Missions and Quests from previous levels as well as entire new sets of Missions prompted by the addition of new Characters either via the many holiday events or special events -- so you still have plenty to do!

Always bear in mind that even when you feel like you have a handle on and are managing the main game, there are always the two primary expansions to the game to be tended to -- the Squidport Waterfront and the Krustyland Expansions.

No matter how well-tended and well-covered your Springfield is, or how may free Donuts you managed to earn by “Leveling up” to Level 37 over and over, there will always be something else to spend Money and time on. Always.

Economic Zones

You will know that you have achieved stasis when you visit the in-game store and the contents that are available to you for purchase consist of just the following:

• Premium Structures (ie: the Coliseum, Stadium, Volcano Lair, and the like)

• The Color-Based Homes

• Squidport Premium Structures

• Cash Sink Structures (like the Sunsphere and Popsicle Objects)

At the very end of the list will be the Mission-locked structures -- for instance at the time that I write this the only such structure in my store is the Office of Unemployment, which requires Part 15 of the Weekend Dad Mission which will eventually come once that point is reached).

With the game at this point, and having reached the Level-Cap, what we end up with is a game that may feel like it has reached the point at which we are essentially treading water, but which is actually a very strategic point demanding faithfully executed daily play simply to create a sizable bank of in-game Cash for the massive expenses that we know are coming as soon as the level-cap is raised and the next phase of the game is rolled out!

Before we address the whole issue of how reaching the level-cap offers the strategic opportunity to begin banking resources for the future that will quickly arrive sometime soon, first we need to examine some of the elements we should be addressing but that easily remain out of sight (and therefore out of mind!).

Squidport Dilemma

The Squidport Expansion is quite possibly the most tedious of the game expansion efforts to date, largely because it is concealed in the open, being what often feels like an extension of the town itself though in reality it is anything but...

Fully embracing the Squidport Expansion to the game basically means having placed and expanded what is at the very heart of that expansion: Boardwalk Sections.

Elsewhere in the Guide we have covered extensively the massive expense that is associated with Building the Squidport Boardwalk - and make no mistake here, it is an incredibly expensive and time-consuming effort if you stay on top of it, which it appears very few players actually do...

By the time you have reached a point at which the Level-Cap has been hit the average cost of a single Boardwalk Section works out to $10K in-game Cash AND a build time of two full days (48 hours) so this is not a part of the Expansion process that is perceived to be fast by any stretch of the imagination.

Oddly having reached that point in the game a great many players choose to ignore the ongoing hassles that expanding Squidport entails -- precisely because it is a very real and often annoying (as well as expensive) element in Game Play.

This would be a mistake.

When you examine the base target goals for Squidport, even if you made the decision to pack everything into as small a Boardwalk area as possible, you should still have ended up placing and Building - at the minimum -- the following exclusive structures as part of the Missions and Quests that are associated with the Expansion:

• Crypto Barn (Shop)

• The Frying Dutchman (Restaurant)

• Houseboat (Residence)

• The Itchy and Scratchy Store (Shop)

• Just Rainsticks (Shop)

• Malaria Zone (Shop)

• Much Ado About Muffins (Restaurant)

• My First Tattoo (Shop)

• Turban Outfitters (Shop)

The above list does not take into account the Squidport-exclusive Characters, objects, and special Decorations that are also present (or can be depending upon how you choose to spend your discretionary Donuts mind you).

Because this is an Expansion area it is easy to forget that it also contributes to your overall Income as its own special economic zone, so bearing that in mind is a good idea.

While none of the Premium structures or Characters are required -- remember anything in the game that is required in order to advance the primary story-mode will be obtainable without having to spend Donuts -- that is not to say that there will not be Premium Items that are exclusive to Squidport that you may actually desire to own!

A shortlist of those objects includes but is not limited to the following:

• Basketball Game (40 Donuts)

• Boardwalk Fountain (75 Donuts)

• Ferris Wheel (120 Donuts)

• Fiddler Character (50 Donuts)

• Fire Eater Character (70 Donuts)

• Handsome Pete Character (80 Donuts)

• Hotdog Stand (20 Donuts)

• Juggler Character (60 Donuts)

• Mime Character (40 Donuts)

• Planet Hype (150 Donuts)

• Popcorn Stand (10 Donuts)

The above Decorations and structures do not include the additional catalog available for purchase via in-game Cash rather than Donuts, and while there is no good reason not to indulge in those as much as you like (or you can afford) it is important to remember that placing these Items requires available space on the “Squidport Boardwalk” and that means Building and expanding the Boardwalk.

Perhaps a more important consideration for you to bear in mind is a matter that is not so apparent right now -- that being the future.

The reason that ignoring the Boardwalk once you have obtained sufficient space in which to place the various objects that were required in order to complete and advance the related story-mode Missions and Quests is that the development of Squidport is in no way, shape, or form, complete.

That is to say that you can reasonably anticipate that, as the Level-cap in the game is increased (and it WILL be increased) so too will the utilization of this Expansion element in the game be increased.

Roughly translated what that means is that, some time in the near future, you can expect to need additional Boardwalk real estate -- so players who chose to ignore this part of the game and thus failed to put in the Money, effort, and perhaps more significantly the TIME in continuing to expand the Boardwalk will later find themselves faced with an awkward challenge.

They will need space to place new objects and structures and not have it.

There have been hints that eventually the Boardwalk will be treated to the same sort of attention that the main game and, to a limited extent the Krustyland Expansion has already received (the Xmas event saw Krustyland get a new ride) with the possibility of time-sensitive Missions, Quests, or placements.

Try this scenario on for size: You have already reached the point where Building and placing a single Boardwalk section requires $10K and TWO DAYS of build time, and you are suddenly confronted with a TV Show Tie-In Event or a Special or Holiday Event that is time limited (perhaps lasting only a week or less) in which you need to have six or eight Boardwalk slots available and you have none.

Suddenly you are presented with circumstances that, for you to fully complete the related Missions, you have little or no choice in the matter of having to spend real-world Money on Donuts in order to hasten construction of Boardwalk Pieces (at the 2-day build rate that translates to spending a whopping 24-Donuts per Boardwalk Section just to build and place them, and that is in addition to the $10K per piece you still have to spend!).

I can easily imagine kicking yourself for not planning ahead and Building the Boardwalk sections back when that meant simply spending the in-game Cash and then waiting out the build timer... Just observing is all...

The benefits of maintaining your attention to Squidport and its Boardwalk, even when you do not choose to purchase the Premium elements, still means that you will have the option of better organizing those elements that you do possess due to The Story-mode play.

In conclusion -- and stressing that the development team has made it clear that they are not done with Squidport -- it seems sensible therefore that it should remain on your radar and part of your daily play efforts.

Krustyland Dilemma

Unlike Squidport -- which has experienced something like a hiatus in terms of active game Content for the last seven levels or so in the game -- Krustyland has continued to have attention paid to it with each of the regular game expansions as well as some of the Holiday and Special Events.

Speaking for myself I can honestly point out that while tremendous progress has been made towards flagging, completing, and tucking in the vast majority of the Mission lines for the main areas of the game, I still have a large percentage of the Krustyland Missions and tasks left to do!

At this point and considering long-term play and progress, despite having reached the Level 37 cap and with the majority of the primary story-mode Missions well in hand back in Springfield, it is nonetheless fair to characterize both my success and progress in Krustyland as only fair-to-medium!

An informal poll that was managed simply through visiting my 99 Neighbors I can reasonably estimate that I am about equal to around 50% of them, but I am considerably behind 20% and that is with my actively working on the Krustyland side of the game ever since the Expansion was unlocked.

To put this in perspective for you, and underscoring that my efforts in this respect represents an aggressive progress level dictated by the need to complete this Guide, my Krustyland at the time of writing this (January 2014 and at the Level 37 Cap) consists of the following largely Mission-based presence in the park:

• Death Drop (attraction)

• Eyeballs of Death (attraction)

• Fleet-A-Pita Truck* (food/restaurant)

• The Food Needle (food/restaurant)

• Fried Dough Stand (food/restaurant)

• Gift Shop (shop)

• Happy Elves Ride** (attraction)

• Hot Dogs Stand (food/restaurant)

• Itchy & Scratchy Store (shop)

• Knock Over the Fuzzy Guy (attraction)

• Krustyland Burger (food/restaurant)

• Krustyland Entrance (infrastructure)

• Krustyland Shuttle (infrastructure)

• Popcorn Stand (food/restaurant)

• Radioactive Man: The Ride (attraction)

• Ring Toss (attraction)

• Sideshow You (Mini-Game)

• Sleeping Itchy's Castle (attraction)

• Strike 3 (attraction)

• Twirl 'N' Hurl (attraction)

• Wet & Smokey Stunt Show (attraction)

• Wheel of Chance (attraction)

* Purely optional Mission/Quest related.

** Christmas 2013 Prize.

The above list of added objects and structures for Krustyland does not include the Decorations and other objects that are used to make the Game Play environment more attractive, being simply the various elements that at some point related to one of the Missions/Quests in the game, the primary story-mode of which has yet to be fully completed.

The development team has made it clear that the future of the game includes a future for Missions and Quests beyond the aforementioned story-mode Mission line that already exists. That being the case, and considering that rides tend to take up the bulk of a single Expansion square.

It seems reasonable therefore, that just as is the case with Squidport back in Springfield, continuing to keep Krustyland as part of our daily Game Play routine and, naturally, continuing to expands the playable area for Krustyland is not simply a good idea, but may very well end up being an important matter once the game catches up to the point at which all three areas begin to expand together.

The continued completion of the Krustyland Missions is especially problematic in that many of the Missions and Quests require the participation of Springfield Characters who are often otherwise engaged either in required Missions/Quests there, or as is more often the case, who end up being committed to discretionary Tasks simply out of a lack of attention being paid to Krustyland!

That being the case, you will very likely find it helpful overall to visit the Missions or Quests outstanding in Krustyland prior to committing your Characters to discretionary Quests in Springfield. Just saying.

Level-Cap Opportunities

Once your game reaches the point where you are either approaching the Level Cap or you have reached it, and you have completed the active Holiday or Special Event Missions and Quests, you will find yourself at the status quo point that also obtains outside of the Holiday and Special Events, wherein aside from the ongoing story-mode Content that you should be actively pursuing, this leaves a fine potential for putting aside resources for the future.

What I mean by that is really very simple -- when there are no massive or group Tasks pressing your population into service, and where your Characters are not otherwise committed, you can easily put the bulk of them -- if not all -- on a 12 or 24 hour Task schedule with an eye towards Building a large warchest of funds aimed at covering the future expenses of which we know a massive amount is coming.

How much that target amount should be is not known -- as it is rather a question of pure speculation -- but it seems pretty clear that spending your in-game Cash on objects like the Escalator to Nowhere ($1M), the Popsicle Skyscraper ($2M), 50ft. Magnifying Glass ($3M), or the Sunsphere ($750K) are probably not the wisest choices for making use of your current banked cash. Just saying...

The state of my Springfield at the present time (January 2014) is pretty similar to that of most of my Neighbors, which is to say that save for the above handful of massively expensive Decorations that do nothing more than simply decorate the landscape (so to speak) and of which I possess none, the following city contents allows for a daily Income in excess of the average needs, meaning it offers an excellent means of accumulating Cash towards future Building costs.

The following table depicts the actual state of my town - which is an average layout so should be a good comparison for your town and, more important, illustrate both how much you can be saving, and where the savings are coming from:

Note: In the interest of including the full Income generation, the P-Income Column lists the income created by structures that required spending Donuts to obtain, while the N-Income lists only the income for structures that are acquired without spending Donuts (real Money).

In the case where an otherwise Premium Structure was acquired through the Mystery Box, Homer Buddha, or as an Event Prize, that Income is added via the N-Income line rather than the P-Income line since it is entirely feasible you could also obtain the structure freely in that manner.

No. is the number of that structure built and generating Income, while Level is the level required in order to obtain that structure. Both the P-income and N-Income equal the daily income multiplied by the No. The first figure in each line is the Base Tax Amount, while the second figure is the Actual Tax Amount collected which includes the Bonus.

At the end of this table is a summary that provides the totals realized.

* Premium Structure, Business, Character, or Object -- This item was obtained via spending Donuts, and so its contribution to the average daily revenue stream will be discounted from the adjusted daily Income to provide a contrast between target Game Play and indulged game play.

The Premium structures that are listed under the N-Category were obtained as Prizes and not purchased via Donuts.

** Structure was obtained via a Holiday or Special Event.

+ One of the three-piece construction that together make up the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Owned by Mr. Burns, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is a non-revenue producing structure that consists of the Control Building, the Reactor Core, and the Cooling Towers. The Christmas 2013 Event added a candy-cane-like costume for the Cooling Towers.

^ Building won as the prize for the Homer Buddha which was in turn a prize from the Weekly Mystery Box Prize.

^^ A Premium Item that was won via the Weekly (free) Mystery Box Prize System.

Note: The revenue from Krustyland is not included in this assessment primarily due to the fact that, while it does pay-out XP, it does not pay-out in-game Cash, but rather the Krustyland Tickets in place of it. Boy Krusty has quite a racket going there!

Adding It All Up

There are two distinct revenue streams in play here -- the Tax based revenue and the Task based revenue. The Tax revenue is obtained from the Buildings and some objects in town, while the Task based is obtained from The Characters.

The table above tracks the Tax based revenue on a 24h timer, which is to say that the game is only being logged once per day to harvest all of the Buildings/objects and reset the 24h Tasks for The Characters.

Players who choose to use the 12h timers will, on average, more than double their Income in spite of the fact that many of the structures/objects will still only be able to be harvested one time per 24h period.

The following are the base amounts minus the Bonus Percentages...

The Tax Table breaks down as follows:

(1) Tax Income for Regular Structures Listed = $23,618 / $44,332

(2) Tax Income Premium Structures Listed = $2,565 / $4,806

(3) Tax Income Total ((1) + (2)) = $26,183 / $49,138

Task Income is represented with the typical 24h reward of $600 multiplied by the 48 number of Characters in town available for the 24h Tasks -- though we don't include any of The Characters that lack a 24h timer, but you should probably add their 12h Task (or longest Task) into the total.

So for our Springfield the total revenue gained from a simple 24h schedule works out to $28,800 base and $53,952 with the Bonus. Add the Tax to the Tasks and you get $54,983 base and $103,090 with the bonus applied.

Therefore using the Bonus plus Premium Total of $103,090 we should easily bank $721,630 per week for every week that a Holiday or Special Event is not running. Now for the complications...

Unless you have already unlocked all of the Land Expansion blocks available in the game by the time you reach the Level 37 Cap, the need to pay to unlock the available land Expansion slots is one element of play you will be constantly confronted with.

Bearing in mind that, like a lot of players, I already consider my Springfield to be too big and too complicated as it currently stands, one can only imagine (with foreboding) how much worse that state will become before the game has to be expanded again...

Finding the Balance

Striking a balance is logically the best plan, and the easiest way to accomplish that balance is by declaring some arbitrary amount of Money that you consider the minimum available balance is the most attainable Strategy that I can think of.

For example when I first realized how fruitful adopting a maintenance-based posture outside of Holiday and Special Event play would be (bearing in mind that these events happen so frequently that it often feels as if there is always one event or another active) I originally thought that a half-million-dollar base account balance would be the minimum goal, the idea being to spend everything above that in the purchase of Land Expansion blocks.

Ideally the best approach is to set a minimum balance in your mind and then force yourself to stick to it.

Considering the low-end to the high-end of the structure costs as we approached the Level-Cap at Level 37, determining the comfort zone for your nest egg or warchest or whatever you choose to call it should be a relatively easy process.

The range of Building costs for the last few Levels has been:

• L30 -- $132,800 -- Herman's Military Antiques

• L31 -- $114,500 -- Wolfcastle's Mansion

• L32 -- $324,000 -- Calmwood Mental Hospital

• L33 -- $276,000 -- Springfield Wax Museum

• L34 -- $379,500 -- Springfield Knowledgeum

• L35 -- $391,500 -- Spinster City Apartments

• L36 -- $247,500 -- Noise Land Video Arcade

• L37 -- $310,500 -- Office of Unemployment

With that high-end spread it is reasonable to presume that the typical Building cost extended through the next ten levels or so will easily top-out above $500K -- so from my point-of-view, savings of a minimum of $1M to a comfortable $2.5M does not really feel out of line.

What you choose will depend a lot on how aggressive you end up being towards unlocking new Land Expansion blocks.

Since the game does not base any of the economy-to-cost factors on unused land, there is no reason not to have as much unlocked as you can manage.

It may be a bit simplistic on the face of it, but our past experience with the game suggests that, like nature -- which abhors a vacuum -- given sufficient time the developers will seek to fill any available spaces.

With that well-established fact in mind, we've estimated that having a minimum of 10 open and unused Land Expansion slots available seems like a good conservative number to target.

So in a nutshell, 10 open Expansion slots and $2.5M in the bank are the target numbers.

Following the easiest (for you) to maintain time slot will likely mean either a 12h or 24h schedule, working towards that balance. That pretty much wraps the package up neatly.