The Unofficial
A F T E R L I F E
Strategy FAQ
Version 1.0
Last Updated: 11 July 1996, 08:30 GMT
Written by: Todd M. Lewis
(Beowulf92@aol.com)
GROTESQUELY BORING LEGAL-SOUNDING STUFF
DISCLAIMER
The purpose of this FAQ is to aid the public regarding strategies for
use in the game Afterlife, by LucasArts Entertainment Company. In no way should
this promote your killing yourself, killing others, or killing in any other
fashion.
Todd Lewis claims NO responsibility regarding any illegal activity
concerning this FAQ, or indirectly related to this FAQ.
TRADEMARK INFORMATION
Afterlife is a trademark and is copyrighted, and is so acknowledged.
Any trademarks not mentioned
here are still acknowledged.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
This article is Copyright 1996 by Todd Lewis. All rights reserved.
You are granted the following rights:
I. To make copies of this work in original form, so long as
(a) the copies are exact and complete;
(b) the copies include the copyright notice and these paragraphs in
their entirety;
(c) the copies give obvious credit to the author, Todd Lewis;
(d) the copies are in electronic form.
II. To distribute this work, or copies made under the provisions
above, so long as
(a) this is the original work and not a derivative form;
(b) you do not charge a fee for copying or for distribution;
(c) you ensure that the distributed form includes the copyright
notice, this paragraph, the disclaimer of
warranty in their entirety and credit to the author;
(d) the distributed form is not in an electronic magazine or within
computer software without obtaining
prior explicit permission must be obtained from Todd Lewis
(e) the distributed form is the NEWEST version of the article to the
best of the knowledge of the
distributor;
(f) the distributed form is electronic.
You may not distribute this work by any non-electronic media,
including but not limited to books,
newsletters, magazines, manuals, catalogs, and speech. You may not
distribute this work in electronic
magazines or within computer software without prior written explicit
permission. These rights are
temporary and revocable upon written, oral, or other notice by Todd
Lewis. This copyright notice
shall be governed by international copyright law.
If you would like additional rights beyond those granted above,
write to the author at
"Beowulf92@aol.com" on the Internet. Thanks for suffering through
all that stuff. You're a swell
person, and will make one Hell of a Demiurge.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ring One: Introduction
[1-1] Foreword
[1-2] About the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ
[1-2-1] Is the FAQ related to the Afterlife Official Player's Guide?
[1-3] Getting the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ
[1-3-1] Via Usenet
[1-3-2] Via Internet FTP
[1-3-3] Via WWW
[1-3-4] Via BBS
[1-4] Adding to the FAQ
[1-5] Acknowledgments
[1-5-1] More Acknowledgments
[1-6] Accurate Information
Ring Two: Game Fundamentals
[2-1] Beliefs
[2-2] Zoning
[2-2-1] In Heaven
[2-2-2] In Hell
[2-3] Balance
[2-4] Vibes
[2-5] Diversity
[2-6] Efficiency
Ring Three: Making Money
[3-1] The Basics
[3-2] Train your own Angels and Demons
[3-2-1] Riots
[3-3] Roads
[3-4] "X" Marks the Spot
[3-5] Lost SOULs
[3-6] Banks
[3-6-1] "Heavenly" Loans
[3-6-2] "Devilish" Investing
Ring Four: The Structures
[4-1] Rewards
[4-1-1] Contentment
[4-1-2] Charity
[4-1-3] Temperance
[4-1-4] Diligence
[4-1-5] Chastity
[4-1-6] Peacefulness
[4-1-7] Humility
[4-1-8] Generic Virture
[4-2] Punishments
[4-2-1] Envy
[4-2-2] Avarice
[4-2-3] Gluttony
[4-2-4] Sloth
[4-2-5] Lust
[4-2-6] Wrath
[4-2-7] Pride
[4-2-8] Generic Sin
[4-3] Everything Else
Ring Five: The Planet
[5-1] Beliefs
[5-2] Sins and Virtues
[5-3] Technology
Ring Six: Nothing Bad Ever Happens To Me (Yeah, Right)
[6-1] Birds of Paradise
[6-2] Bats Out of Hell
[6-3] Heaven Gets the Blues
[6-4] Hell Freezes Over
[6-5] Heaven Nose
[6-6] Hell in a Handbasket
[6-7] Paradise Pair of Dice
[6-8] Disco Inferno
Ring Seven: Strategies
[7-1] The Early Game
[7-2] The Mid Game
[7-3] The Late Game
[7-4] Player tips
[7-5] Cheats
[7-6] War Stories
Ring Eight: Miscellaneous
[8-1] Internet resources
[8-2] World Wide Web sites
[8-3] Other FAQs and texts
[8-4] Bugs
[8-5] Patches
[8-6] Errors in the Afterlife Instruction Brochure--er, Manual
[8-7] Conclusion
[8-8] Revision History
Ring Nine: There is no Ring Nine.
----------------------
Ring One: Introduction
----------------------
[1-1]: Foreword
===============
Afterlife is "the last word in sims," by LucasArts. In this game,
you must develop two separate planes
simultaneously. Quite some effort has gone into describing the
scenario: there is a planet that IS NOT
EARTH, full of EMBOs (Ethically Mature Biological Organisms). When
they die, their SOULs (Stuff
Of Unending Life) have to go somewhere. That's where you come in.
The mysterious Powers That Be have made you a Demiurge, responsible
for both Heaven and Hell.
Your clients will be the incoming SOULs. If they have been bad, they
will be punished according to
their sins in Hell. Of course, we're talking about the seven
biggies: Envy, Avarice (otherwise known as
Greed in a recent blockbuster), Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Wrath, and
Pride. If those SOULs have been
good, they will be rewarded in Heaven for the seven corresponding
virtues: Contentment, Charity,
Temperance, Diligence, Chastity, Peacefulness, and Humility.
This game is a "simulation," like Sim City and its cousins. You must
zone for structures, teach a
workforce, provide living accomodations, recover from
disasters...but we'll get to all of this shorty.
[1-2] About the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ
=================================================
Welcome to v1.0 of the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ. I hope you
find it both amusing and helpful.
It became painfully obvious that the documentation provided with the
game didn't paint a complete
picture. Sure, there's enough to get you started, and there's also
plenty of help along the way, but
there wasn't a lot of printed reference material. Hopefully this FAQ
will fit the bill. There's not much
else to say at this point, as this is the first version. Don't rip
it apart too badly.
"Unofficial" means that this FAQ is not supported by LucasArts.
Afterlife is the name of the game.
FAQs are (F)requently (A)sked (Q)uestions.
Revision classification works something like the following. If a new
version of the FAQ has only a
small amount of information changed or
added, the version number is increased by 0.1, and is called a
"minor revision." If a new version of the
FAQ has a substantial amount of new information changed or added,
the version number is increased
by 0.5, and is called a "standard revision." If a new version of the
FAQ has a huge amount of added
or changed information, major parts of the FAQ are rearranged, or
major parts of the FAQ are
rewritten, the version number is increased by 1.0, and it is called
a "major revision."
You may be wondering why chapter numbers are enclosed in either [
]'s or * *'s. The definition of
these is as follows:
[ ] Chapters enclosed in square brackets mean that the information
contained in the chapter has not
been updated since the previous FAQ. Since this is the first
version, all chapters will be enclosed in [
].
** Chapters enclosed in asterisks mean that the information
contained in the chapter is new or has
been updated for the current version of the FAQ you are reading.
Pretty simple, eh?
[1-2-1] Is the FAQ related to the Afterlife Official Player's Guide?
====================================================================
No, the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ is not related in any way
with the Afterlife Official Player's
Guide other than in topic. Nor is the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy
FAQ meant to provide competition
to the Afterlife Official Player's Guide. Get it? I'm not making any
money here, nor am I trying to. My
only reward is seeing my own name at the top of this thing. So stop
thinking about making my life Hell
with some kind of lawsuit.
[1-3] Getting the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ
===================================================
[1-3-1] via Usenet
------------------
The Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ is posted on the following
Usenet groups:
(1) comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
The 'Subject:' line of the post will be "[Afterlife] Unofficial
Strategy FAQ v?.?" where "?.?" is the
version number of the FAQ.
[1-3-2] Via Internet FTP
------------------------
New releases of the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ can be found
at the following Internet FTP
sites:
(Well, actually nowhere yet. But if someone would care to carry it
and let
me know I'll note it here. I'll even give you credit for it.)
The file name of the upload will be "alifes??.faq" where "??" is the
version number of the FAQ.
[1-3-3] Via WWW
---------------
New releases of the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ will be found
on the following World-wide
Web sites:
(Again, nowhere yet. But if someone would like to post it on their
page and let me know, I'll make
note it here. I'll even give you credit for that, too.)
HTML versions of the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ can be found on
the following World-wide Web sites:
(Seeing any similarities yet?)
[1-3-4] Via BBS
---------------
New releases of the Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ will be
uploaded to
other BBSes as the opportunity arises. The file should be
"alifes??.faq" where "??" is the version
number of the FAQ.
ATTENTION: ALL BBSes, CompuServe, America On-line, and all other
information services. PLEASE conform to the naming standard of the
Unofficial Afterlife Strategy FAQ when placing this file on your
system. The file name should be
"alifes??.zip" where the "??" is the version number of the FAQ or
"alifes??.txt" if the FAQ is a text file
instead of
PKZIPped.
[1-4] Adding to the FAQ
=======================
The words [blank] or [incomplete] indicates a section that needs
filling in. I depend heavily on
contributions from people like yourself to make this FAQ whole. Want
some recognition? Help me fill
in the blanks.
If you have something to add to the FAQ, please send E-mail to
Beowulf92@aol.com, with the
subject "Afterlife USG," and explain what your addition is. It will
be reviewed, and if accepted, added
to the next FAQ version. In the E-mail, please supply your name and
E-mail address.
Please note that all submissions to the FAQ become property of the
author (Todd Lewis) and that
they may or may not be included. By
submitting to the FAQ, you grant the author permission to use your
submission in any future
publications of the FAQ in any media. The author reserves the right
to omit information from a
submission or delete the submission entirely.
[1-5] Acknowledgments
=====================
LucasArts for making this game.
My wife Jill, who has no idea her name is in here.
And a big thanks to everyone else who sent something my way, or posted
answers to questions in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic. I gave
credit to all persons whose ideas I
included in this FAQ. Forgive me if I miss anyone. If for some
reason I HAVE missed you, PLEASE
send me E-mail so I can give credit where credit is due.
[1-5-1] More Acknowledgments to Some Guys Who Don't Even Know Why
=================================================================
A huge "Thank you" and an "I'm sorry" to:
Hank Leukart (ap641@cleveland.freenet.edu),
author of the "Official" DOOM FAQ;
Edward Kenworthy (ekenworthy@cix.compulink.co.uk),
author of the Unofficial Civilization 2 Strategy Guide;
Both of whom I have shamelessly copied ideas and formats for
organizing this FAQ.
[1-6]: Accurate Information
===========================
An attempt has been made to make the information in this FAQ as
accurate as possible. However, if you discover that some little imp
has been successful at having a
false tip included in this FAQ, please let me know immediately.
---------------------------
Ring Two: Game Fundamentals
---------------------------
This Ring will cover some of the basic topics that you should try to
keep in mind while playing. If you
don't want to read this incessant rambling, go ahead and skip over
it. Go on. Go. You'll be back.
[2-1] Beliefs
=============
Okay, first you need to understand something about your future
"clients." Whether or not the SOULs
even come to you for processing depends on their beliefs. In
Afterlife, there are two broad categories.
NAAA: No Afterlife At All, and AAAA: Absolutely Always An Afterlife.
An NAAAist is an EMBO
who doesn't believe in an afterlife. So when he croaks, he won't be
comin' a knockin' on either one of
your gates (Pearly or otherwise). Therefore, all SOULs you will be
dealing with are AAAAists.
Let's break it down further. Within AAAA, there are two
subcategories. HAHA: Heaven and Hell
Await, and HOHO: Heaven Or Hell Only. In other words, a HAHAist
believes that she will first be
punished in Hell for her sins, then will go to Heaven to be rewarded
for her virtures. A HOHOist
believes that he will only go to one realm or the other.
Remember when I said that there were two subcategories of AAAA?
Well, I lied. There are two
more. OCRA: Only Cloud Realms Await, and OPRA: Only Pit Realms
Await. These believe that only
one realm exists, period. An OCRAist would only go to Heaven,
regardless of her sins or virtues. An
OPRAist...well, you get the picture.
Hang in there, just a few more of these dull descriptions. Now that
we've determined where our
SOUL believes it will be going, we would like to know what it will
be doing there. Two more
categories. SUMA: SOULs Undergo Multiple Afterlifes, and SUSA: SOULs
Undergo Singular
Afterlifes. A SUMAist believes that he will be rewarded or punished
for every virtue or sin, while a
SUSAist believes that she will be rewarded or punished only for her
most prominent virture or sin.
Almost done. There's the matter of reincarnation to deal with. You
guessed it, two more categories.
ALF: Afterlife Lasts Forever, and RALF: Reincarnation Always Loops
Fate. An ALFist does not
believe in reincarnation. This makes him a _PERMANENT_ guest (he's
there for eternity). A
RALFist believes in reincarnation. This makes her a _TEMPORARY_
guest. These are important
distinctions.
Lastly, all of these categories can be mixed. A HOHOSUSAALFist would
believe that upon his
death, he would travel to either Heaven Or Hell Only. Once there, he
would be rewarded or punished
based upon his one predominant virtue or sin, and that he would be
there forever. As you can see, a
HOHOSUSAALfist is a pretty easy SOUL to handle.
[2-2] Zoning
============
Just as in Sim City, where you had to create "zones" for
residential, commercial, and industrial
building, you must specify zones in both Heaven and in Hell. The
difference is that in Afterlife, your
zones are where your Fate Structures are built. Fate Structures are
the buildings where the SOULs
actually go in Heaven or in Hell. Once a zone has been defined, the
Fate Structures will appear
automatically as needed, until the zone is filled.
[2-2-1] In Heaven
-----------------
You must create zones for each of the seven virtues. Each virtue is
designated by its own color:
Green is Contentment
Yellow is Charity
Orange is Temperance
Brown is Diligence
Purple is Chastity
Red is Peacefulness
Blue is Humility
Multicolor is Generic Virtue
In Heaven, Fate Structures are called Rewards.
"Heaven needs to be compact, and easy to walk from point to point.
SUMAists expect to go to blue
first, then work their way back to green. Put blue closest to the
gates, and work from there. Heaven
likes small zones of color next to each other."
[jarrell@solaris.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell)]
"I just 'spider' roads out from the gate, one leg for each reward,
with plenty of space, training centers,
and utopias in between blocks and immediately around the main gate.
This grows harder to do as the
pop. expands, but it's quite doable with a little monkeying."
["Kagetora" ]
[2-2-2] In Hell
---------------
You will be punishing bad SOULs according to their sins. There are
seven sins, and you must create
zones so that your Demons may build the corresponding Fate Structures.
Green is Envy (nice touch)
Yellow is Avarice
Orange is Gluttony
Brown is Sloth
Purple is Lust
Red is Wrath
Blue is Pride
Multicolor is Generic Sin
In Hell, Fate Structures are called Punishments.
"Hell is the opposite.. The damned expect to suffer, so long walks
are important, both between the
gate/karma station and zones, and between zones. It should take a
while to walk from point a to point
b. SUMAists expect to go to GREEN tiles first, and work down to blue
(Hell thinks the sin
importance is REVERSE from Heaven.) Which means green should be
FARTHEST from the gate.
Hell hates zones of color next to each other, and favors large
single blocks of color."
[jarrell@solaris.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell)]
[2-3] Balance
=============
Okay, remember reading about Permanent and Temporary SOULs? At any
given time, any Fate
Structure will have a mix of the two. When a Fate Structure is
well-balanced, it has been set so that it
is providing the proper mix of activity for its residents. In other
words, if you had 100% permanent
souls, you would want to set the Fate Structure to "mental
activity," which is designed for permanent
SOULs. You can adjust the balance for each Fate Structure in the
Microview window.
X-Sender: cosmos@ianet.net
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 04:06:22 -0400
To: Rai@happypuppy.com, rob@happypuppy.com
From: Dwight Taylor
Subject: Unofficial Afterlife FAQ part 2
Balancing is another Herculean task. I think LucasArts threw it in there so
that we would have to click
on individual structures, and while we're at
it, why not appreciate the neat drawings and humorous biographies
that go along with them?
Otherwise all of that detail would go unnoticed.
The easiest way I've found is to use the "Flatten Hell/Heaven" buttons,
then use the Microview to click on a square. Keep the Microview window
open to the Balance screen. Now just rip through and adjust the sliders
until you see white. Also, by turning on the Autoscroll function,
you can
easily maneuver the Punishment/Reward zones so that you can select
individual squares without constantly having to move the Microview
Balance window.
Pressing the "A" key during game play will reduce the size of all of
the structures in the game. Topias,
Gift Structures, Gates, etc. included. Makes it much easier to "see
around" those really tall buildings.
Lastly, you don't have to close that window for your changes to take
effect. Just click on the next box
and be on your way. When you're finished, deselect the "Flatten"
buttons if you want to see all of
those Fate Structures packed together.
"Balance - If they gripe, I look at the map, click around, and make
sure that the most populated
buildings are balanced. Fixing those is enough to make things happy
withought driving you crazy in
micromanagement. " [ooba@red-branch.MIT.EDU()]
"Unfortunately, that isn't enough. If each 3x3 zone has a 2x2 and
several 1x1 buildings (the common
growth pattern), and you only balance the big ones, you will never
grow 3x3 buildings...Therefore, I
just don't do it by hand (except for maybe the first two or three
zones during the first minute or two). I
consider the cost of using the macro manager to autobalance all of
Heaven or all of Hell (when they
get really bad) simply a part of the cost of running the zones. Yes,
in the mid stages of a game, I have
paid 50M cents to balance a plane. It is worth it.
"It actually tends to pay itself back in growth, believe it not. But
manual balancing: fooey!"
[sjenkins@access.digex.net (Scott A. Jenkins)]
[2-4] Vibes
===========
"Vibes" are weakly described, at best. The first question is "Where
do these things come from?" The
answer is from the buildings and structures. All of them. Gates,
Karma Stations, Topias, Fate
Structures...the works. Basically, vibes come in two flavors:
pro-evolutionary, and anti-evolutionary.
Well, they're are actually described as being good or bad, but those
designations have polar effects in
Heaven and Hell. Let me explain.
Since Heaven is such a happy place, good vibes are pro-evolutionary,
while bad vibes are
anti-evolutionary. I doubt that any Reward in Heaven produces "bad
vibes" that we would associate
with hatred. Rather, I prefer to think of it as "In this structure,
the SOULs are only incredibly blissful,
as opposed to unfathomably ecstatic over there."
Now, in Hell, vibes work in exactly the opposite manner: bad vibes
are pro-evolutionary, while good
vibes are anti-evolutionary. Once again, I doubt that any Punishment
in Hell that produces good vibes
promotes happiness. Rather, the SOULs there are only awfully
miserable, as opposed to the
demonically tortured. You get my drift.
Back to the topic at hand. A structure that is operating under
pro-evolutionary vibes is more likely to
be spontaneously upgraded (assuming there's enough zone space around
it, if needed) into a more
fancy version. Want some of those ultimate 3x3 Fate Structures shown
in the Technical Manual? Then
you should have your zone subjected to pro-evolutionary Vibes.
The Vibes that a particular Fate Structure emits will always be
constant. "The Perfect Spot Cosmic
Backrub," a Reward for Chastity, will always emit Very Bad Vibes.
Vibes from Fate Structures
appear to have a range of one square. So if you're waiting for your
"Perfect Evening" Reward (which
just happens to be immediately adjacent) to get upgraded to
"Cherubopolis," you may have to wait a
while due to the Bad Vibes from "Spot."
Once a zone has evolved to its highest form, I usually ignore Vibes.
"The
Big Tease Shower Towers," a 3x3 Punishment for Lust, emits Very Good
Vibes. Who cares? The next XX0,000 lustful SOULs just found a home,
and I'm paying very few
Demons to watch over them. Of course, anti-evolutionary Vibes can be
countered by placing Topias
or Gift Structures.
"Use the vibe map - it helped me a lot. And those gift structures can
really make an area explode with growth if they're placed right.
This is
a game about PLANNING, as far as I can tell."
[dleary@umabnet.ab.umd.edu (David Leary)]
"Gates and karma stations ALWAYS put out anti-vibes, i.e. vibes that
are WRONG for their plane.
Keep them away from zones. Bigger structures spread their vibes
farther. A level one gate affects 3
squares, level 2 hits four squares... Training centers and Topias
always put out pro-vibes. I like to put
a training center between the gate and the first fate zone. Provides
the buffer I need, plus they tend to
cancel out. Gift structures put out major pro-vibes, and each
counteracts 1 disaster with its area of
effect. (Typically 10-15 squares or so). Siphons put out toxic waste
and bad vibes. Which is what you
want in Hell, so putting it in the middle of things helps; and is
bad for growth in Heaven."
[jarrell@solaris.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell)]
[2-5] Diversity
===============
Diversity is a measure of the amount of variety to be found in
Heaven and in Hell. Not surprisingly,
these two planes have opposite needs. In Heaven, SOULs like to
intermingle with each other, from all
the different colors. So diversity in Heaven contributes some amount
of positive influence that may
contribute to efficiency. Hell is exactly the opposite. You want
those SOULs to be bored out of their
minds, so being undiverse is desirable.
Here's the key to diversity: intelligent zoning. In Heaven, you want
blocks of the various colored
Virtues mixed together. In Hell, you want to have blocks of the same
color, separated from all the
other colors by a good, long walk.
"When computing for your adjaceny bounus (part of your efficiency
score) a tile will look at all the
surrounding tiles to see what color they are. It gets a bonus point
for each that's the same color, and
three for each that's the same color, and same type/species (Hell).
Heaven it's +3 for different color,
+1 same color, different species. This then gets averaged out and
folded into the efficiency score.
"So Hell does give you bonus for large monolithic blocks of the same
color
vs. lots of seperate areas of a single color."
[jarrell@solaris.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell)]
[2-6] Efficiency
================
Here is another one of those vague concepts. In Afterlife,
"efficiency" seems to be dependent upon
balance, and your Angel or Demon Quotients (in Heaven or Hell,
respectively), over a period of time.
A new Fate Structure may not be that efficient. But higher
Quotients, along with extremely well
balanced Fate Structures will lead to better efficiency grades. "So
what?" I hear you ask. Well, the
better your overall efficiency, the faster your SOUL rate will
climb. In other words, higher efficiency
equals better profits.
Allow me a small aside, and let's talk about _real_ efficiency. Not
some distorted concept that is
described above. The real choice you have to make is what type of
efficiency is most important to
you? The capacities of Fate Structures increases over time. The
highest population density available
on a "per square" basis is found in the highest 2x2 structure.
However, the highest demon (or angel) to
SOUL efficiency is achieved by using a 3x3 structure.
Here's an example from one of my games: "Ignorance Ain't Bliss" is
the top 2x2 punishment for Lust.
It can currently hold 627,200 SOULs, and
requires 1,500 Demons. "Big Tease Shower Towers," the 3x3 punishment
for Lust, currently holds
800,000 SOULs, and requires 1,625 Demons.
Here's the math: 627,200 / 4 = 156,800 SOULs per square. 800,000 / 9
= 88,889 SOULs per
square. That makes "Ignorance" 76% more efficient than "Towers," on
a SOUL per square basis.
627,200 / 1500 = 418 SOULs per demon. 800,000 / 1625 = 492 SOULs per
demon. That makes "Towers" 18% more efficient than "Ignorance," on a
SOUL per demon basis.
Now, since paying my Demons (and my Angels) is a major contributor
to my overhead, I'll stick with
the 3x3 structures. Especially since I don't
seem to be running out of real estate in Heaven or Hell. If however, you
want to keep a Fate Structure at its current level of evolution, be sure
to "lock" it, and pay the per year cost in pennies. This would be a
particularly desirable option if you
wanted to improve the pro-evolutionary vibes for a particular zone.
Using an advanced 2x2 structure
that gives off the appropriate vibes may be more important to you
than either type of efficiency
described above.
------------------------
Ring Three: Making Money
------------------------
Now, this _is_ the $64,000 question. Let's see here, that would be
6,400,00 pennies. Do I have your
attention yet?
[3-1] The Basics
================
Earn more than you spend. It's that easy, right? The number of SOULs
you have accomodated in
both realms times your SOUL rate is your only source of income. It
should be pretty intuitive that the
way to earn a higher income is by raising the SOUL rate, or
increasing the total number of SOULs.
Conversely, you can increase your total profits by reducing your
"overhead," or the amount of money
you must spend on upkeep.
[3-2] Train your own Angels and Demons
======================================
In the early game, this one item can turn your budget around more
quickly than any other. If done
properly, training your own Angels and Demons can increase the
efficiency of your Fate Structures
(which in turn raises the SOUL rate), as well as reduces your overhead.
Lets assume for the moment that your zones in Heaven are all set,
and that SOULs are flowing in.
There will be a finite amount of jobs for your Angels. Initially,
all of your Angels are imported.
Through the use of a Training Center, you can train "homegrown"
Angels to replace the imported
ones. You are, in effect, "firing" the imported Angels. Since the
number of working position remains
fixed, you are replacing the expensive imported Angels with
homegrown ones. Reducing the amount
of imported workers is important, and is one of the earliest ways in
which you can reduce a portion of
your overhead.
I recommend starting with the Seraphim State College and/or the
Hellward Bound Retreats. You
should place these Training Centers near your Gates, or any other
highly trafficked areas. This
placement will make them more effective in recruiting. Note that
lowering the admission percentage
does not mean that these TCenters produce workers at a lower rate. A
Community College of the
Clouds can train up to 100 Angels per year, while a Seraphim State
College can train up to 250
Angels per year. The number of SOULs currently being trained depends
on how many
PERMANENT SOULs walk by that TCenter. If you have 1,250 or more of
these SOULs passing
by, then an acceptance rate of 20% will still produce the maximum
number of Angels each year (250).
By lowering your acceptance percentage, you will raise your Angel
Quotient (AQ) or your Demon
Quotient (DQ) over time. Higher quotients will lead to higher Fate
Structure Efficiency, which in turn
results in higher SOUL Rates (see, there was a point to all of this
after all).
[3-2-1] Riots
-------------
Be careful with those TCenters, though. When Jasper and/or Aria remind
yu that less than 10% of your Demons/Angels are imported, TURN THOSE
CENTERS OFF! Have
you ever seen rioting Angels or Demons? Not pretty. Especially if
they start a chain reaction. In my
first game, I kept the percentage of imported workers between 0 and
2%. Big mistake. When the 3x3
Fate Structures finally appeared, many of those Angels became
unemployed. Idle Angels ran amok,
and started destroying Fate Structures in Hell, which put several
Demons out of jobs. Now idle
Demons rioted in Heaven, which created more idle Angels. You get the
picture. Before too long, I
was staring at a bunch of empty roads! Kowabunga time.
[3-3] Roads
===========
After glancing at the Afterlife Official Player's Guide, I notice
that the formula used to calculate how
much you are charged for the upkeep of a road is some nasty
logarithmic beastie. The bottom line is,
the more SOULs that walk on a road, the higher the upkeep.
Early in the game, you'll want to stick to fairly short roads. The
upkeep you spend on really long
roads--especially in Hell--can quickly bury you. In Hell, I try to
use a long series of "S-curves," which
is basically one long road that keeps twisting back and forth. If I
need to create more room for zoning,
I just "nuke" a corner, extend the road, and lay down a new corner.
[3-4] "X" Marks the Spot
========================
Another way to reduce the number of imported workers is to "Nuke"
low-populated Fate Structures. Doing so will free up some of your
homegrown Demons or Angels to go displace imported ones elsewhere.
It will also cause your
SOULs to really pack it in to the remaining Rewards or Punishments.
Keeping your Fate Structures
populated at high percentages encourages their growth into higher
capacity versions. Notice that by
redistributing your homegrown workers, you are in essence "firing"
the imported ones.
[3-5] Lost SOULs
================
Losing SOULs is the quickest way to early bankruptcy. You will be
charged one full penny for every
SOUL lost, even if your SOUL rate is a fraction of one cent. You
will want to pay close attention to
Jasper and Aria, as well as your Graphview to see which zones may
need a little extra space. Also
keep in mind that your Gates can (and will) reach their own limits,
as well as your Karma Stations and
Ports.
[3-6] Banks
===========
When you start becoming a little desperate, you'll want to think
about building a bank (or two, or
three). The banks on each plane work a little differently.
X-Sender: cosmos@ianet.net
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 04:06:44 -0400
To: rob@happypuppy.com, Rai@happypuppy.com
From: Dwight Taylor
Subject: Unofficial Afterlife FAQ part 3
[3-6-1] "Heavenly" Loans
------------------------
When you take out a loan from a Heavenly bank, you must make yearly
payments for 100 years, with
interest. The interest rate for Heaven is:
Int(Heaven) = 1% * (the total number of loans you have outstanding
from Heavenly banks)
So if you've built three banks, your interest rate for the first
loan will only be 1%. If you take out a
second loan before you've finished paying off the first, your
interest rate will be 2%. This gradual rise
in interest rates may eventually bankrupt you if you don't start
turning a profit soon.
[3-6-2] "Devilish" Investing
----------------------------
If you take out a loan from a bank in Hell, you won't have to make
yearly payments. You won't even
be charged interest. The penalty is that you put a whole bunch of
SOULs at risk if you don't pay off
the loan in the next 100 years. This fact can be exploited:
"You need money, and it doesn't seem there's a way to get it without
always increasing your debt ?
We have the perfect solution for you in Hell, let me explain...
"Build a bank (a small one or a big one, it depends on your needs),
and then build another one just
like it. Let's call them bank A and bank B. Now, since banks in Hell
will NOT charge you interest, but
just bet that you can't pay them back (they will take souls after
100 years if you don't pay them back),
we'll use that fact at our advantage.
"Borrow from bank A (let's say 10M$). After 95 years (there's a 5
year buffer zone to avoid
problems) borrow the same amount from bank B. Pay back bank A with
the $$$ you just borrow
from bank B. After 95 years, borrow 10M$ from bank A again. Pay bank
B what you owe them with
that freshly borrowed money. Repeat this procedure until your cash
flow is high enough to pay the
bank without having to get another loan. There you go, 0% interest
loan in Hell..."
[asthur@gmgate.gamemaster.qc.ca (Daniel Blanchard)]
-------------------------
Ring Four: The Structures
-------------------------
The following is a list of many of the Fate Structures. I don't have
them all yet, so if you notice a few
missing, drop me a line and let me know. They are arranged in order
from the lowest capacity to the
highest.
[4-1] Rewards
=============
Remember here that Good Vibes are pro-evolutionary in Heaven, and
are therefore desirable. You
may wish to "lock in" an advanced 2x2 Fate Structure before it gets
promoted to a 3x3 building, if the
vibes are better. The last Reward listed in each category is the
highest possible (this I know from the
Technical Manual).
[4-1-1] Contentment
-------------------
Vacation Slides Of The Gods - Very Bad Vibes
The Good Neighbor - Moderately Bad Vibes
Coffee Shops Of The Word - Moderately Bad Vibes
Karaoke Korners - Slightly Bad Vibes
The Choir Invincible - Slightly Good Vibes
Envy Aid - Moderately Good Vibes
Brahmatic Bovine Bliss Ranch - Very Good Vibes
[4-1-2] Charity
---------------
You Are Already A Winner - Slightly Good Vibes
Lost And Found - Moderately Good Vibes
The Good Space - Very Good Vibes
The Incredibly Lost Episodes - Moderately Good Vibes
The Final Piece Convention - Moderately Bad Vibes
Ascetic Mountains - No Vibes
[4-1-3] Temperance
------------------
The Perfect Party - Moderately Bad Vibes
Lands Of Milk And Honey - Slightly Bad Vibes
Deux Ex Diner - No Vibes
Hog Heaven - Slightly Good Vibes
Sickeningly Sweet Sugar Savannas - No Vibes
Party Town - Very Bad Vibes
[4-1-4] Diligence
-----------------
Your Home is Your Castle - Very Good Vibes
The Eternal Afternoon - Moderately Good Vibes
It's a Cat's Life - Moderately Good Vibes
Mom and Pop Shops - Slightly Good Vibes
Paradise University - Slightly Bad Vibes
Cloud Nine Labs - Moderately Bad Vibes
Towers-A-Go-Go - Moderately Bad Vibes
Divine Engines - Very Bad Vibes
The Final Frontier - Very Bad Vibes
[4-1-5] Chastity
----------------
Valentine Town - Slightly Bad Vibes
The Only Non-Sleazy Singles Bar In Creation - Moderately Bad Vibes
The Perfect Spot Cosmic Backrub - Very Bad Vibes
Palaces Of True Love - Moderately Bad Vibes
Wedding Day Redux - No Vibes
Castaways - Slightly Good Vibes
The Perfect Evening - Very Good Vibes
Cherubopolis - No Vibes
[4-1-6] Peacefulness
--------------------
Perfect Playgrounds - Moderately Good Vibes
Fishing Holes - Slightly Good Vibes
Heaven's Complaint Department - No Vibes
USDA Local #777 - Slightly Bad Vibes
Board Games - No Vibes
Fight The Power! - Slightly Good Vibes
The 19th Tee Links - Very Good Vibes
[4-1-7] Humility
----------------
Humble Pie - Slightly Good Vibes
Press Conference - Slightly Bad Vibes
You Oughta Be In Pictures - Moderately Good Vibes
Humble-mentary - Moderately Bad Vibes
Monuments To Humility - Very Good Vibes
DNA Park - Moderately Bad Vibes
Keys To The City - Moderately Good Vibes
Look To The Stars - No Vibes
[4-1-8] Generic Virtue
----------------------
Good Heavens Theme Park - Very Good Vibes
[4-2] Punishments
=================
Likewise, Bad Vibes are pro-evolutionary in Hell. Etcetera, etcetera.
[4-2-1] Envy
------------
Out Of The Frying Pan - Moderately Bad Vibes
Another Man's Shoes - Moderately Bad Vibes
Survey Of The Damned - Slightly Bad Vibes
Hell Octoplex 666 - Slightly Good Vibes
NoBody Burgs - Moderately Good Vibes
Escher Pits - Very Good Vibes
[4-2-2] Avarice
---------------
Jerky City - Slightly Good Vibes
The Collective - Moderately Good Vibes
Bingoslypertukaw! - Very Good Vibes
Booty Island - Moderately Good Vibes
Carousels Of Greed - Very Bad Vibes
DisCorp - No Vibes
[4-2-3] Gluttony
----------------
Taco Inferno - Moderately Bad Vibes
Sticky's - Slightly Bad Vibes
Pinhead Pizza - No Vibes
Bahb's All-U-Must-Eat - No Vibes
The Bowels Of Hell - Very Bad Vibes
[4-2-4] Sloth
-------------
The Itch - Very Good Vibes
Sweat Shops - Moderately Good Vibes
Bitter Harvest Fields - Moderately Good Vibes
Convention Of The Damned - Slightly Bad Vibes
The Enchanted Forest Of Cable - Moderately Bad Vibes
666 Pennants Over Perdition Theme Parks - Very Bad Vibes
[4-2-5] Lust
------------
Lust Freezers - Slightly Bad Vibes
Punishing Peep Show Pavillions - Moderately Bad Vibes
The Laundromat - Very Bad Vibes
Purple Passion Pulsing Plasma Pods - Moderately Bad Vibes
Screaming Subspace Voids - Moderately Good Vibes
Dates From Hell - Very Good Vibes
Roboto - Very Good Vibes
Ignorance Ain't Bliss -
The Big Tease Shower Towers - Very Good Vibes
[4-2-6] Wrath
-------------
Immortal Backalley Battle Warriors - Moderately Good Vibes
The Real Underworld - Slightly Good Vibes
The Post Office Game - No Vibes
Hellrose Place - Very Bad Vibes
Terrorville - Slightly Good Vibes
Illuminatiland - No Vibes
War! (What Is It Good For?) - Very Good Vibes
[4-2-7] Pride
-------------
The Age Of Aquarium - Slightly Good Vibes
Doll House - Slightly Bad Vibes
SOUL Farm - Moderately Good Vibes
The Zoo - Moderately Bad Vibes
[4-2-8] Generic Sin
-------------------
A World Of Pain - Very Bad Vibes
[4-3] Everything Else
=====================
Well, this section would include stuff like Gates, Topias, Training
Centers, Siphons, Limbo Structures,
Omnibogles & Love Domes, Karma Stations, and Gift Structures. Since
most of these buildings are
explained thoroughly in the manual and the game itself, I'm leaving
them out. For now. If some of you
purists out there _really, really_ have to have that info in here,
let me know. I'll get around to it. Sure I
will.
---------------------
Ring Five: The Planet
---------------------
No, this isn't a singular movement by Holst. This Ring deals with
that annoying little ball floating in the
middle of your screen. The one with all the EMBOs on it. You know,
your clients living in a
non-deceased mode.
[5-1] Beliefs
=============
So far I've encountered two reasons to mess with the EMBOs' beliefs,
besides the obvious "because I
can:"
1. To encourage expansion/growth on either of the planes. Remember
waaay back at the beginning of
this FAQ I was talking about a HOHOSUSAALFist? No? Then go back and
read section [2-1]:
"Beliefs." See, I told you that you'd go back. Anyway, if you want
to influence the incoming SOULs
towards any particular belief system, now's your chance to do it.
Want more permanent SOULs (i.e.,
more permanent, revenue generating ones)? Then pick a heavily
populated square and influence
someone to believe in ALFism. Want to run a Heaven-only game? Then
OPRAists are the ones for
you.
2. Because those pesky helpers told me to. Yes, just like everything
else in this game, the planet can
become "unbalanced," if you will. I got a little message from both
Jasper and Aria saying that "The
people on the planet believe in an afterlife, they just don't
believe in Hell (or Heaven, respectively)." I
had to open the Planetview, select Tenets, and influence some Joe
(or Joan) to go spread the word.
"I find the planet thing very useful. Pouring enough money into the
planet in one game resulted in a lot
less traffic through my reincarnation stations - a BIG savings in
money in the long run, since I didn't
have to upgrade to the top-of-the-line, ever. Not sure if I came out
ahead (tinkering with the planet's
tenents was expensive) but it was interesting..."
[dleary@umabnet.ab.umd.edu (David Leary)]
[5-2] Sins and Virtues
======================
Want to make things a little more interesting on the planet? Then
give the EMBOs a healthy nudge of
some naughty vice. Maybe those EMBOs are killing each other a little
_too_ efficiently. Or perhaps
you just don't have enough Cow Corkscrews (Brahmatic Bovine Bliss
Ranches) for your liking. Now
it's time to add a dash of Virtue.
"Before starting time, go down the planet, select the highest
population area (or the most central; or
you may only have one) and use the virtue controls to inspire
demonic lust with the maximum power
you have. It's relatively cheap now, and it'll turbo charge your
population for millenia. Check
occaisonally to see if a booster innoculation is needed. Note this
will cause Hell to get a LOT more
people than Heaven. You can balance this, if you like, by inspiring
Heavenly peace, which is good at
precenting wars in later eras that have nuclear war (rampant nuclear
war triggers armageddon and
ends the game). Or pick two virtues, and lean the balance back
towards Heaven."
[jarrell@solaris.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell)]
"One thing I noticed also is that if your "HATE" factor is pumped up
pretty high (demonic or so), you
keep getting the "Conquering Empire kills 40K worth of your
population" disaster. It gives you a quick
boost in the afterlife realm, but doesn't do much for your planet
pop. Hiring a few poets to do a little
love promotion worked wonders." [sragan@hsf.uab.edu (Stan Ragan)]
[5-3] Technology
================
Lastly, you can sHell out some sense--I mean, cents--to help the
EMBOs aquire technological
advancements. Doing so can be beneficial, because these discoveries
will allow higher population
densities (especially the first two, Pottery and Irrigation), or
make more of the planet habitable
(Boating, Navigation, Aviation). Just be sure that your world is
pretty peaceful when those cute little
EMBOs discover Nuclear technology.
------------------------------------------------------
Ring Six: Nothing Bad Ever Happens To Me (Yeah, Right)
------------------------------------------------------
First of all, let me say that I'm not going to describe each and
every one of these "disasters." All that
info is contained in the Instruction Brochure--er, Manual. This Ring
is devoted to the strategies you
should use to protect yourself against these undesirable events.
Besides saving and reloading the
game, which would be cheating, now, wouldn't it.
So if any of you have some suggestions, e-mail them to me and I'll
insert them here.
[6-1] Birds of Paradise
[6-2] Bats Out of Hell
[6-3] Heaven Gets the Blues
[6-4] Hell Freezes Over
[6-5] Heaven Nose
[6-6] Hell in a Handbasket
[6-7] Paradise Pair of Dice
[6-8] Disco Inferno
----------------------
Ring Seven: Strategies
----------------------
[7-1] The Early Game
====================
"I build one 3x3 block of each color, one training center (lowest
grade, set immediately to the most
selective recruiting rate), one topia, one karma station, and one
gate. I interpose the topia and the
training center between the gate/karma station and the fate zones,
to mitigate the bad vibes they emit. I
also start off tapping a couple of ad infinitum rocks near the
gate/karma station, since these emit bad
vibes."
[sjenkins@access.digex.net (Scott A. Jenkins)]
"When building cheaper gates in the beginning of the game, be aware
that the best gate needs a 4x4
square!" [Assasins@interramp.com (STaSiS FieLDeR)]
[7-2] The Mid Game
==================
[7-3] The Late Game
===================
"Do you think you're hot??!! Then aim for 1 Billion SOULs per plane.
At this point, you can build
Love Domes/Omnibolges. Once you build these structures, you can nuke
most of your fate structures
and catch up on your sleep since you bought this game ."
[Assasins@interramp.com (STaSiS
FieLDeR)]
[7-4] Player tips
=================
Pressing the "A" key during game play will reduce the size of all of
the structures in the game. Topias,
Gift Structures, Gates, etc. included. Makes it much easier to "see
around" those really tall buildings.
"What works for me, on medium, is to initially build only on one
plane. I usually start with Heaven,
because it is less expensive (shorter roads). The idea is that you
are financing only one zone, until it is
profitable. At this point, there will be enough SOULs to make the
other zone profitable
almost immediately." [ sjenkins@access.digex.net (Scott A. Jenkins)]
"The key for me was getting the number of Imported Angels/Demons at
10%. If you have more than
10% you're paying way too much in pennies. If you have less than 10%
you run the risk of riots. So, I
built 2 traning centers (the top-of-the-line and the one below it)
in both Heaven and Hell at the very
start. I make them recruit at maximum until the number of
Angels/Demons is about 50% imported,
then I reduce the training center acceptance rate a little in order
to keep the AQ/DQ up. My AQ is
currently at 116 (with 10% imported) but my DQ is 96 (with 26%
imported). Those Q's make for
efficient buildings!" [scotts@bangate.compaq.com (Scott Shaffer)]
A word about road upkeep: I think that the cost of roads is
calculated by how heavily trafficked they
are. I found a cluster of Rocks in hell far away from my
Punishments. I dropped Ad Infinitum Siphons
on them, connected the siphons with a road, and then ran the road
down to the river. Voila! Rivers
conduct Ad Infinitum. By making sure at least one road from my Fate
Structures touched the river, I
prohibited SOULs from travelling on those roads used for Ad
Infinitum--thus shaving a few pennies.
"SOULs that are visiting more than one fate zone (SUMAists) will
visit them in the reverse order of
importance. So in Heaven, blue needs to be closest to the gate, but
in Hell it has to be farthest away.
"If you want to reduce the reincarnation stats cheaply, make the
karma track long; SOULs forget their
past lives during the trip [thus making them doubt
reincarnation--Beowulf92], and that reduces the
percentage." [jarrell@solaris.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell)]
[7-5] Cheats
============
First of all, let me state that I don't condone hex-editing games.
Perhaps I'm too much of a purist, but
if you have to cheat _that_ badly to win, then perhaps you shouldn't
play. Just return the game, get
your money back, and claim you beat it anyway. Soapbox off.
"Money cheat: Gives you 10 million pennies. Type $@!
"Use it up to 5 times. The 6th time the deathstar will appear and
start blasting away at your afterlife.
I'm not kidding...the dialog box that warns you is labeled "I have a
bad feeling about this..." with the
text "Look at the size of that thing!" and the button "Use the Force"...
"The Hidden monster is a Max the bunny. Type, in caps, three times
(ignore the fact that windows will
start popping up because you're triggering commands): SAMNMAX
"The diversity bonus is as such... (It's the real easter egg). Go to
hell. Switch the view to north (up).
Go off into some corner you aren't using. Build a circular road that
surrounds an empty 7x7 area. You
don't *need* the road, but it'll light up the tiles and make it
easier to see their colors; otherwise they'll
all be gray. Go into Divine Intervention.
"Starting in the north most corner, and working your way down to the
right, lay out one each of 1x1
zones of all colors, starting with green and down to blue. Then
starting with the northern green do the
same thing down to the left. Now fill in the rest of the rows
across, starting with the color that's there,
and cylcing back around when you run out. So the first couple of
rows would be
G Y O BR P R B
Y O BR P R B G
"etc. You'll get the entire multicolored glob. Start time. If you
did everything right, get a surprise
building (that does nothing for you, but is cute). Read the text,
it's the easter egg from the designer."
[jarrell@solaris.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell)]
[7-6] War Stories
=================
Love to hear 'em!
-------------------------
Ring Eight: Miscellaneous
-------------------------
Okay, everything that didn't fit neatly into one of the earlier,
neater Rings is being dumped here.
[8-1] Internet resources
========================
(This line intentionally left blank)
[8-2] World Wide Web sites
==========================
http://www.lucasarts.com
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/3805
"I know the page ain't much...I'm just learning this HTML stuff."
[briar@worldnet.att.net (linda hubbard)]
[8-3] Other FAQs and texts
==========================
Thou shalt have no other FAQs before mine. Well, at least let me
believe that this is the first one for
Afterlife, okay?
[8-4] Bugs
==========
To the best of my knowledge, at the time of the writing of this FAQ,
there have been no reported
bugs on the Net (aside from some folks who just can't for the life
of themselves get this game to work
on their old 286's).
[8-5] Patches
=============
I just told you that there weren't any bugs discovered so far. So
why would this game need a patch? If
it ain't broke, don't break it.
[8-6] Errors in the Afterlife Instruction Brochure--er, Manual
==============================================================
None that I'm aware of, besides being a little thin (and yup, I did
just waste about seven lines telling
you so).
[8-7] Conclusion
================
"Abandon every hope, who set out to write a FAQ." - Dante (sort of)
That's it!!! This thing is finally finished. Unfortunately, I've
been thinking SO much about Afterlife while
writing this beast, that I don't even want to look at it for a
while.
My best game so far earns about 400,000 pennies every year, at the
Medium difficulty level--without
cheating, and still subjecting myself to Bad Things. Using the
Macromanager to Autobalance all of my
structures is S.O.P. Now it's time to fiddle more with the planet.
Hope this FAQ helped. Drop me a line, and let me know how your games
are going.
[8-8] Revision History
======================
Version 1.0 Initial Strategy Guide (You've been reading it).
