But now about what options are available for collecting cacti.
In the beginning, each player has a platform in the middle of his cactus factory, on which a cactus stands. He can break this down normally with a swipe of his hand and this is counted towards his collected cacti. However, since a cactus is very boring and does not yield much, additional cacti can be bought on this platform. The collected cacti are used as currency. With the purchase of another field, the price for the next field increases. Thus, in the beginning, only a certain amount of additional fields can be acquired, since at some point the prices will be too high.
In order to increase the yield in other ways, players must contact the various Macs (NPCs) on the map. These can be used to acquire further upgrades, abilities, and tools. In order to be able to unlock the locked doors for new areas, you must contact the Cactusmacs. This one is in the main room and sells keys to open the various gates. The keys will only be offered to you according to your score. Right at the beginning, each player receives the key to the researcher’s room.
The Researchmacs is located in the research room, where further game content can be unlocked and improved. This includes, for example, increasing the yield of mined cacti on the central platform or reducing the respawn time. These improvements take time, and initially, you can only upgrade one at a time. You can also unlock other important Macs here.
This includes, among other things, the Forgemacs, where various tools can be purchased. The most important tool here is the “cactus hoe”. This enables a more efficient and easier dismantling of the cacti on the built-up fields. The tools collect XP through their use and can also be further improved at the blacksmith as the game progresses. This can achieve further benefits, such as increasing the XP collected to improve the hoe or breaking down several cacti at once.
This and much more supports the player to further increase his number of cacti mined by hand. However, the player must be permanently present and work on his field. If the player has reached a decent number of cacti, he has the opportunity to purchase cactus farms from the Researchmacs.
The farms passively generate cacti over time. Even if the player is not online or in another game mode, these will be generated and counted on the next visit. In this way, however, fewer cacti are produced than can be achieved with manual mining.
All farms can also be further improved over time. This increases the yield and the player unlocks the appearance of a golden cactus. There is a small probability that this will appear on the player’s field and, after mining, increases the yield of the collected cacti extremely over a certain period of time. Now the player has some ways and means to move up to number one on the leaderboard. He has to assert himself every season and not let the other players overtake him.
