Due to recent updates from Chillingo and LambdaMu, this strategy no longer works. It was a fun twist to the game, but due to this strategy, many players are playing this game in a way that was not intended by the game developers. Therefore, the Astro Church no longer gives you land at the cost of utopium, now the church simply says "Rate the Game and ye be blessed!" With a link to the app store to rate the game. None of the strategies on this page work anymore. But while you are here, be sure to check out some of the other pages on the Pixel People Wiki!
Pixel People has an alternate way to play other than the standard method of leveling up. This is commonly known as the "Casino/Astro Church" method.
Before we start, this is not the "best way" to play, in fact for many people, it will be simply frustrating and slower. In pure mathematics as determined by the developer themselves, the cost of this strategy is more or less equal to standard leveling. This is also why they are allowing it to remain a viable option.
So this is not a way to cheat the game.
Before we get started[]
This method requires a lot of Utopium, it requires at minimum 8u for each +1 land. The game (with no astroglass) requires approx. 260 land to complete (v1.40).
You can level up to a max of 110 land (or 120 with a catch). You will need 1200u for land alone but wait, thankfully this method is entirely about astroglass items.
We want only astroglass houses, decor and trees. Thus in a perfect game, you only need 158 land to complete the game, which is +48 land/384u from the last level we can go to.
However, this is a perfect game, you are quite likely to need more or be extremely patient.
The one other thing to mention before we start, this method is 100% based on luck, the Casino is your only source of housing (with only coin cost, you can also receive housing from Missions for a U cost). As such, there is a possibility, that if you do not win any housing, that you will be stuck for quite some time.
Getting Started![]
Hooray! You haven't been put off yet! Congratulations, at its basics this method is very simple, there are only three absolute requirements.
- Obtain the Dreamer gene
- Obtain the Astro Church
- Obtain the Casino
Use the Astro Church to acquire +1 land for a donation of 8u.
Use the Casino to spin (cost 500k) for a chance to win astroglass (land free) houses, trees, decor (and animals that you have previously unlocked).
Do not expand past 120 land, after this the Casino will cost increasingly large numbers until 10 million.
Note: Many people will recommend stopping at 110 land, this keeps your Animal Shelter surprise cost at 250k, if you go to 120 land, it will cost 266k.
This is up to you, personally I only obtain animals through collecting hearts and duplicates from the Casino, so I went for 120 land, I do not know the maths if it is actually more effective to focus on CPS and buy animals at 250k or to spend the same time collecting hearts. There is also the fact that CPS is more passive (refresh every 10 minutes etc) vs hearts that require active play. I'll leave it up to you.
You can choose to get to this stage however you wish, this is my method, it is not necessarily always about being the most optimal, I rate not being bored as an equally important attribute when possible.
Note: You start the game at level 0, any time I mention level, it is the number currently showing in the Expand screen, hence the first level you can buy is level 1. It is also assumes you are familiar with the game, as I would not recommend this as your first town.
Also some people choose to stay at level 0, you can do so if you wish but other than the challenge of it, I see zero benefit. The higher you go the better the coin rewards from the surprises will be, if you get to 120 land, you will actually get 250k from the biggest reward, 2 of these is a bonus Casino spin. For me, this is very beneficial.
Let's do it:[]
The tutorial will force you to to place down a Rocky Mansion and put Engineer in it, this can be the last Rocky Mansion you ever have to use.
Option 1 - Quicker to first special gene:
Build 2x Rocky Mansion.
Option 2 - Strong start with minimal land usage:
Sacrifice the initial free 25u in to 1.1 million coins from the Shop interface. Expand your way to level 7, unlocking Atomic Cottage. You should have 6u at the end. Build 2x Atomic Cottage and come back in 2 hours. This also increases the reward from heart surprises, which you will be opening *a lot* of.
Option 3 - Absolute hardcore minimalist
For completionist sake, there is one more method I believe is the most efficient possible in terms of land. Proceed with Option 2 but do not build anything. Splice 1 clone to fill your tutorial house. Collect hearts waiting for coin surprises until you can expand to level 8, now you can build Shiny Towers. This would naturally take a long time, of course if you buy some U with real money and convert to coins, you can get here instantly. Build 1x Shiny Tower. Note however, the heading "Special Gene Unlocked".
Note: The final goal is to replace ALL your land using houses with astroglass housing, so everything ends the same. It is merely a question of how long you will wait on luck from the Casino to have rooms available for cloning and how long those land using houses remain a bane on your land counter.
Splice your way to a population of 7 (you start at 3), since you need a Secretary for Utopia HQ and you can not work on Astro Church. I recommend:
- Mechanical Engineer (Mechanic + Engineer)
- Assistant (Mechanic + Mechanic)
- Sheriff (Mayor + Mayor)
- Deputy (Assistant + Sheriff)
Special Gene Unlocked
The game will now award you your first special gene, I'm fairly confident this always happens at population 7 as I've tested it numerous times. Ok, one of two things happened:
You got the Dreamer
Congratulations, that's exactly what you wanted.
You didn't get the Dreamer
Decision time, the next Special Gene awarded to you will happen randomly, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest any theory is correct. You still have a lot of land you can use before you need the Church, so you're technically ok, but if you don't get the Dreamer later, your game is effectively crippled.
If you went with Option 1, the decision is easy, restart. You have nothing invested except 10 minutes to pass the tutorial. If you went Option 2, it is still fine but Atomic Cottages take 2 hours, so there is a delay for each attempt. If you went Option 3, you are better off seeing if a Dreamer appears later.
If you got the Bureaucrat, I would recommend you continue to play (and follow on below), this gene is also required. The downside is, you are limited to exactly the land you have right now, if you do not get the Dreamer by the time you reach max land, you are stuck! This game can longer follow this method. The upside is, once you have the Casino, at least you can stop using land for housing, so it gives you quite a buffer of time to get the Dreamer.
After you have the Dreamer:
Yay! One thing is guaranteed now, you will never be short on land. You may get to stages where you will be waiting long and boring times but at minimum, you can always expand your land (coupled with collecting Utopium from trees).
Splice your way to an Astro Church:
- Philosopher (Dreamer + Dreamer)
- Preacher (Dreamer + Philosopher)
Time to test Lady Luck! Bring on the Casino:
On the way to the Casino, we will need to:
- Obtain the Bureaucrat special gene
- Obtain Utopia HQ building
- Obtain the Socialite gene from the mission Party Animals
- Obtain the Gambler gene (unlocks Casino)
The requirements for these goals will actually take you on a useful path, let's outline it on the biggest genes:
- Obtain the Animal Trainer, which also nets you the Animal Shelter.
- Obtain the Civil Servant, which also nets you Utopia HQ.
- Obtain the Mathematician.
- Obtain the Party Animal.
The Bureaucrat:
The above relies entirely on your luck of landing this gene, the Civil Servant is actually very easy to get and along with it, the HQ. But without The Bureaucrat, you're stuck! There is no sure fire way to get him either, simply start splicing genes that will be useful and hope for the best :)
Animal Trainer is the obvious choice, along the way you'll also get the Farm (which for 3 hearts, will give you 1 minute of double coins on every building, very useful for generating Casino spin money).
You are naturally reliant on normal housing at this stage, build the best you can for minimal land usage. Every house you put down is going to take some time to get rid of with an Astroglass alternative. If you haven't got Shiny Towers yet, it might be worth having a small town that can generate you ok CPS to save up for level 8.
Use as many trees as you feel is good for you, trees are only 1u, even if you put down 25, it will only take you 1 day of dedication to break even. Then you can delete them as you need the land for buildings.
I would recommend ZERO decor, the discounts are not worth the land usage, in this early game, the wait times are not significant and you need patience for this method anyway, so exercise it here :) Also in v1.4, the Casino spits out an unhealthy amount of decor, you will absolutely hate decor, I have over 100 decor plazas. (The developer has said this is balanced in v1.41, do not update if you want to max your spirit first).
I got the Salesman/Explorer/Something else:
That's unlucky :( Unfortunately all you can do is continue to splice clones that will be useful to you and hope your next special gene is the Bureaucrat. I will mention however, that one of my special genes unlocked without any splicing, in fact, all I was doing was collecting U from trees. There is a possibility that it is also time-based or some other factor. However splicing is the most consistent action, so I can not really say.
Yes! I got the Bureaucrat:
Congratulations, you're on your way to the end. Simply follow the above, get the HQ, get the Gambler (Party Animal + Mathematician). Enjoy the Casino!
What now:
- Collect as many hearts as you can handle!
- Reduce the amount of hearts you need for a surprise (you will need a Research Center)
- Pick a building to stack that favors your play style to generate coins
- Complete your animal collection so the Casino can become a viable option to get all your future animals, you will be spinning a lot and the majority of your spins will be animals, this is another reason why I went to 120 land, the Casino handled my animal needs just fine.
- Use animals to complete missions at Utopia HQ, this is actually a very good source of Utopium, animals have no other purpose, so feel free to use them all (except what you might need for the Gene missions).
- Splice your way to the end of the game :)
I've finished the game:
Congratulations! Now, if you did not do it perfectly, get working on getting rid of all those non-astroglass items :D