Levels 216-230 (and beyond) with the super charger

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3411498#Comment_3411498

Thank you Sir for your hugely insightful comments. That goes way out to support my suspicions about levels deliberately placed in the game to catch us out, just before the legendary ones. I have long noticed these pre legendary ones tend to be "special" and often harder to beat than the rating would suggest. "I must keep my win streak boosters" is a psychological trick played then on players as they approach that fiery, devilish red icon on the map. Now placing all the worst levels at the back of course also means those timed boosters we got at the start of the episode are likely to have just run out as well. Mind games! And perhaps even more cunningly, putting some easy algorithms in with the impossible ones in those levels will mean they'll show up at "hard" or maybe not event that, which does not sound all that bad. Genius!

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3411012#Comment_3411012

Ya they don't really do anything to the win ratio but can make the wins faster. It is a placebo. Back when they had the old super charger that worked on wrapped and striped… those were fun. They were also way too good as they could hit stuff over gaps. Short time we had to test them but they were super fun.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410635#Comment_3410635

On 224. The three jelly covered fish have always been there.

Also it specifically has two difficulty mechanics with it. It has the "you shall not pass mechanic" (never happens on the first play through) and what I refer to as the "break your streak before a legendary level" mechanic (usually only on the first play through).

Basically it is either an easy pass if you do things "right" or it will break your streak if you make a few bad moves. Even using additional boosters after said mistakes might not help. You see this type of level here and there but 224 is one that really stands out to me.

Additionally, after you fail it can, but not always, just go straight into a "you shall not pass" board. Hard levels, pre 2000ish, have a shockingly high occurrence of "you shall not pass".

Lastly I am not sure I have ever seen a lucky board on 224.

I think I probably was wrong to mention the super charger in my header because it adds absolutely nothing to the outcome of any of these levels. It doesn't even seem to make much of a difference to how long it takes to complete them. As planned, in the evening before the charger ran out I spent an hour and a half crushing more episodes in tandem with these two games. I let go of the super charger for the iPhone game on the first nightmare level I encountered, which was level 234. The next was one of the few legendary levels. iPhone without super charger passed with two moves spare, iPad with super charger passed with 4 moves spare. All the unmarked levels were the same and super easy for both games just with starting colour bombs. I got up to level 265 and all levels played out the same except two. Level 250 the super charger game passed on the last move and the normal game had to pay 10 gold bars to pass. Level 265 was the other way round: The super charger game had played a UFO and then also 10 gold to pass, the normal game passed with 10 moves left (I'd forgotten to enable the starting colour bomb, so was playing without boosters, which might have helped)

The lesson (so far) is:

At early levels the super charger has no noticeable effect or benefit over just playing normal colour bombs

This is likely because these levels are 100% manufactured and controlled in their outcomes. There is probably zero player participation or choice at these levels unless you deliberately make nonsense moves. This is quite obvious from my little study above since I was playing only the hinted moves throughout. King are running tests again this September. I think it must be a "September thing" because if I remember right we also saw lots of strange goings on last year at this time.

They've announced the next set of super chargers today already. So I'll keep going a bit longer, but to be honest these levels are so easy now I'm finding the game quite boring, even in testing mode.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410755#Comment_3410755

Hello, It was under the info on royalty but I don't know how to post a link.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410800#Comment_3410800

Thanks I had it once when they made the change from windows but not since I couldn't remember what it was called.

@cookiemae

This is the Super Charger

I couldn't edit or add to my comment but I wanted to know what is a super charger? How important is it? The chocolate box is not needed to complete a level but there is a lot of comments here about it are the rewards that great or is it the fact that it upset people that they can't compete it. Jw

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410752#Comment_3410752

Hi there, I love your cookie icon!

I should get mine changed really, but I'm not sure I know how to.

@christinewupp @Alienscar

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410656#Comment_3410656

Thanks, that does fit in quite nicely with my theory.

could I recommend level 224.

Not sure what to make of this level @christinewupp

I failed it in my first attempt but completed it on my second

No boosters.

On my first attempt I mostly ignored the hint and played my own moves concentrating on the bottom of the board. I followed the hint only when it suggested a Fish move.

This is the how it looked near to the end and I still had seven jelly to collect when I failed

My second go was very different. I followed every hint and received the following.

Unlike my first attempt the game didn't suggest as many Fish during this attempt.

As you can see finished with seven lives spare. A Fish still removed the last jelly.

MannyFae

I passed level 224 on my cat account with a color bomb + fish combo on my fifth attempt, and on my main account with two color bomb + fish combos on my third attempt. All boards were full of fish (I like the new term 'pescatory').

I didn't follow the hints and didn't specifically avoid fish, but rather tried to make the most of everything the board gave me.

Oh and something else I seem to have generally found since the beginning of the month: The ofl boards more often seem to start off with or involve wrap + stripe combos, as opposed to colour bomb + wrap or stripe, which seem to have become rarer. I also noted this in the above episode.

@MannyFae @Alienscar @michimune @Nobody1 @SirPyroOfLight?

Now what is the significance and what have I learned from my little experiment? That these levels are all easy because of the super charger? Well, that's hardly news, you may say.

But look closely, and you will find that what this really tells is that King are currently experimenting with new algorithms. Both my games are part of a test group that is trialling how the new "fish" based algorithms perform against the old-fashioned lucky board based ones, let's call those "ofl", (sorry there is no vegetarian option).

For all of September I have noted this change: Some episodes in the 10,000 seemed to be "fish" episodes as well, and no matter what I was trying to do, I could not get an "ofl" board but was forced to pay for extra moves to get to the next episode, which then like a breath of fresh air gave me back some enjoyment with lots of "ofl" boards.

I have also noted that the end of level sequences, whether ofl or fish based boards, seem to always be fish now. This requires a little more study, but whether in the midst of an easy level or with our last two moves of a harder one, I always seem to see the conclusion involving jelly fish.

Generally I seem to find in all my games that obvious fish boards usually take a little longer to pass if unrated, and more often lead to "near miss" finishes.

My hunch is that all this testing is part of a general drive to simplify the algorithms so that the AI can cope better with them and control level difficulty better and also change level difficulty from one week to the next. I also wonder if King are experimenting with how to best control level outcomes for groups of players with certain events or features, to integrate the two. This episode certainly is set up for players to NOT lose their super chargers or win streaks. Overall my best guess would be that these changes are not malicious but designed to free up memory space, and avoid glitches. Both of my iPhone and iPad games above are very old. A lot of poorer people in places like Asia or Africa, where King probably are hoping to attract new players, might only have older devices, so I think it's probably in the best economical interest for King to keep the game running on old devices. That's my theory.

I'll tag a few people who might be interested in "algorithms". Any thoughts?

Also if anyone would like to try out one of these levels, could I recommend level 224. On my Cornflower account I passed it on a first attempt with an ofl board, no boosters. However in my Allium account I cannot seem to get any ofl boards at all and cannot pass. In fact in that account I get a circular offer of increasing moves as well when I fail: it's +5, then +7, then+10 moves, but after the + 10 it goes back to just +5. I wonder if that game is stuck in a loop, so that it will never get the easier version that is passable without boosters. I did give up after about 15 attempts though. But this level might give you an answer to your question if new players get different versions of levels from those who scroll back. Many of the levels don't, but those rated "hard" might indeed do that.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410538#Comment_3410538

It would have taken me literally days since I would have had to wait, repeatedly, for my lives to refill. In practice of course I managed to get around that problem. I cannot recall exactly how long I was playing. I think I played half an episode in one hour, and then paused as I was fed up. I was determined to avoid using gold at all costs, but I did use some boosters to try and speed things up.

In another test I might spend gold and see how long it takes using all the means available. But I was determined to get to level 200 without paying for any extra moves.

iPad: super charger + stripe, passes with 26 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger + stripe, passes with 25 moves remaining

iPad: super charger + stripe, passes with 12 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger + normal candy, would have passed with 9 moves remaining, but carried on with suggested moves and finished with 5 moves remaining

iPad: double super charger combo, passes with 14 moves left

iPhone: super charger + stripe, passes with 13 moves left

(Now this one is special, because I tried it with my Allium game and failed repeatedly, up to 20 attempts, both with or without starting boosters, more on that later)

rated "hard"

iPad: super charger + fish followed by another super charger + fish, passes with 20 moves left

iPhone: wrap + stripe (!), followed by super charger + fish, passes with 20 moves left

As you can see from this, this level is indeed special. Is this a new version? It has fish embedded on the board.

rated (notoriously) legendary

iPad: double super charger followed by normal match 3, passes with 10 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger hits normal candy followed by super charger hits normal candy, passes with 4 moves remaining

Cornflower failed of course.

iPad: wrap + stripe, passes with 6 moves left (I think I ignored any fish based recommended moves on this one, so did not follow the hints exactly)

iPhone: double super charger, instant finish

iPad: double super charger, passes with 15 moves remaining (new pescatory algorithm)

iPhone: super charger + stripe, finishes with 6 moves remaining (old algorithm)

iPad: wrap + stripe followed by colour bomb + fish, passes with 11 moves left

iPhone: 3 match including a fish, passes with 7 moves left

Rated "hard"

iPad: super charger + stripe, passes with 11 moves left

iPhone: super charger + wrap, passes with 2 moves left

Cornflower passed easily with an old fashioned lucky board (no fish seen until near the end)

Level 230 is of course now an Alien Invasion level. Now we get dragon droppers to replace the missing aliens I was brave and used super charger combos on both, one of them was double super charger. Easy pass.

At level 200 the win streak and super charger appeared. I played one episode, which was easy on both devices.

This morning I played the next episode taking notes. (Screenshots are from a different device scrolling back, so ignore the booster count)

Both devices were playing with starting colour bombs. IPad also had timed wrap+stripe for the first half of the episode from Daily Win (did not use the other timed boosters)

After the first few levels I only played the moves as hinted by the game

Boosters are locked. No rating.

iPad: passes with 11 moves left

iPhone: passes with 11 moves left

Cornflower scrolled back and passed with 12 moves left

Boosters locked.

Rated "hard"

iPad had fish-based moves: passes with 12 moves left

iPhone has old-fashioned lucky board (no fish involved): passes with 10 moves left

Cornflower fails

These were the only boosters locked levels. The next have the super charger. Both device get three super chargers per level.

iPad: got double super charger

iPhone: got double super charger.

Of course just one double colour bomb passes this level.

(I tested all the unmarked levels with Cornflower as well. They were all passed with no boosters, but of course took a lot longer)

iPad: double super charger, passes with 3 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger + stripe, passes with 2 moves remaining

iPad: super charger hits normal candy, passes with 3 moves left (but finger slipped and made the wrong move once)

iPhone: super charger + striped candy, passes with 8 moves left

It took me days to reach level 200!

Out of interest @christinewupp when you say 'days' how many hours do you mean?

When I first started playing Candy Crush in 2021 it took me five days to complete 203 levels, so your 200 in days doesn't seem that different.

Comments

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3411498#Comment_3411498

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3411012#Comment_3411012

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410635#Comment_3410635

On 224. The three jelly covered fish have always been there.

Additionally, after you fail it can, but not always, just go straight into a "you shall not pass" board. Hard levels, pre 2000ish, have a shockingly high occurrence of "you shall not pass".

Lastly I am not sure I have ever seen a lucky board on 224.

The lesson (so far) is:

At early levels the super charger has no noticeable effect or benefit over just playing normal colour bombs

They've announced the next set of super chargers today already. So I'll keep going a bit longer, but to be honest these levels are so easy now I'm finding the game quite boring, even in testing mode.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410755#Comment_3410755

Hello, It was under the info on royalty but I don't know how to post a link.

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410800#Comment_3410800

Thanks I had it once when they made the change from windows but not since I couldn't remember what it was called.

@cookiemae

This is the Super Charger

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410752#Comment_3410752

Hi there, I love your cookie icon!

I should get mine changed really, but I'm not sure I know how to.

@christinewupp @Alienscar

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410656#Comment_3410656

Thanks, that does fit in quite nicely with my theory.

could I recommend level 224.

Not sure what to make of this level @christinewupp

I failed it in my first attempt but completed it on my second

No boosters.

On my first attempt I mostly ignored the hint and played my own moves concentrating on the bottom of the board. I followed the hint only when it suggested a Fish move.

This is the how it looked near to the end and I still had seven jelly to collect when I failed

My second go was very different. I followed every hint and received the following.

Unlike my first attempt the game didn't suggest as many Fish during this attempt.

As you can see finished with seven lives spare. A Fish still removed the last jelly.

MannyFae

I didn't follow the hints and didn't specifically avoid fish, but rather tried to make the most of everything the board gave me.

@MannyFae @Alienscar @michimune @Nobody1 @SirPyroOfLight?

Now what is the significance and what have I learned from my little experiment? That these levels are all easy because of the super charger? Well, that's hardly news, you may say.

Generally I seem to find in all my games that obvious fish boards usually take a little longer to pass if unrated, and more often lead to "near miss" finishes.

I'll tag a few people who might be interested in "algorithms". Any thoughts?

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3410538#Comment_3410538

In another test I might spend gold and see how long it takes using all the means available. But I was determined to get to level 200 without paying for any extra moves.

iPad: super charger + stripe, passes with 26 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger + stripe, passes with 25 moves remaining

iPad: super charger + stripe, passes with 12 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger + normal candy, would have passed with 9 moves remaining, but carried on with suggested moves and finished with 5 moves remaining

iPad: double super charger combo, passes with 14 moves left

iPhone: super charger + stripe, passes with 13 moves left

(Now this one is special, because I tried it with my Allium game and failed repeatedly, up to 20 attempts, both with or without starting boosters, more on that later)

rated "hard"

iPad: super charger + fish followed by another super charger + fish, passes with 20 moves left

iPhone: wrap + stripe (!), followed by super charger + fish, passes with 20 moves left

As you can see from this, this level is indeed special. Is this a new version? It has fish embedded on the board.

rated (notoriously) legendary

iPad: double super charger followed by normal match 3, passes with 10 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger hits normal candy followed by super charger hits normal candy, passes with 4 moves remaining

Cornflower failed of course.

iPad: wrap + stripe, passes with 6 moves left (I think I ignored any fish based recommended moves on this one, so did not follow the hints exactly)

iPhone: double super charger, instant finish

iPad: double super charger, passes with 15 moves remaining (new pescatory algorithm)

iPhone: super charger + stripe, finishes with 6 moves remaining (old algorithm)

iPad: wrap + stripe followed by colour bomb + fish, passes with 11 moves left

iPhone: 3 match including a fish, passes with 7 moves left

Rated "hard"

iPad: super charger + stripe, passes with 11 moves left

iPhone: super charger + wrap, passes with 2 moves left

Cornflower passed easily with an old fashioned lucky board (no fish seen until near the end)

At level 200 the win streak and super charger appeared. I played one episode, which was easy on both devices.

This morning I played the next episode taking notes. (Screenshots are from a different device scrolling back, so ignore the booster count)

Both devices were playing with starting colour bombs. IPad also had timed wrap+stripe for the first half of the episode from Daily Win (did not use the other timed boosters)

After the first few levels I only played the moves as hinted by the game

Boosters are locked. No rating.

iPad: passes with 11 moves left

iPhone: passes with 11 moves left

Cornflower scrolled back and passed with 12 moves left

Boosters locked.

Rated "hard"

iPad had fish-based moves: passes with 12 moves left

iPhone has old-fashioned lucky board (no fish involved): passes with 10 moves left

Cornflower fails

These were the only boosters locked levels. The next have the super charger. Both device get three super chargers per level.

iPad: got double super charger

iPhone: got double super charger.

Of course just one double colour bomb passes this level.

(I tested all the unmarked levels with Cornflower as well. They were all passed with no boosters, but of course took a lot longer)

iPad: double super charger, passes with 3 moves remaining

iPhone: super charger + stripe, passes with 2 moves remaining

iPad: super charger hits normal candy, passes with 3 moves left (but finger slipped and made the wrong move once)

iPhone: super charger + striped candy, passes with 8 moves left