Rattlesnake Canyon! [UNRELEASED EXCLUSIVE]

[This game feature is unreleased and the information has been gathered from unofficial sources, as such some elements may change.]

Get the anti-venom ready for Rattlesnake Canyon! Yes, just when we were all expecting to hear more details about the Oregon Trail it seems Zynga has other ideas on where to send us! All those teases are apparently to guide us in the wrong direction, away from the REAL destination of our first expansion.

As has long been suspected it would appear that you visit Rattlesnake Canyon via the signpost on your homestead, the graphic and text will have changed just like the Oregon Trail...

You'll soon spot that Toto, we're not in Kansas any more! We believe you'll be welcomed and guided through the Canyon in the same way as Jack introduced you to the original homestead but we don't know if the grizzled one will be there again or if a new NPC will be introduced. Hank, Fanny, Bess etc are all left back at the original homestead so it could be that Jack is too, this is unconfirmed.

All coins, wood, food and inventory move across, a "derelict" cabin is provided straight off and in the screenshot you'll see that some animals and crops can be planted. From what we can tell there will only be limited crops available because of the different land type perhaps? The canyon's yellow background suggests a more arid environment than the fertile fields of the old homestead.

So far it appears that only tomatoes, potatoes, flax, corn, sunflowers, wheat and cotton survive from the old homestead and no trees, BUT the eagle eyed amongst you may well have spotted this:

Yes, it appears CACTUSES are now harvestable items, apparently in the same way as trees are now, so not disappearing and needing replanting. Whether they will still only be available as debris or a horseshoe purchase we really don't know. It appears the Markets vary depending on where you are so even if Cactuses are buyable, it doesn't mean that they'll be available on the homestead for coins.

There will also be a limited choice of animals it seems, with just goats, cows and oxen open for purchase but there is a suggestion of new animals including proper brown buffalo that begin in the same fashion as the injured animal but actually grow.

Because of changes to the game some varmints are also not in Rattlesnake Canyon, there are no Foxes or Coyotes, seemingly because there's no chickens, geese or turkeys (we've yet to discover if "disallowed" animals in your inventory can be placed, probably not) and there's no bears because there's no lumber trees growing (Wood can only be got as a resource from the original homestead although we believe thorns might grow in the canyon).

Groundhogs will still pop from crops but at a reduced rate. Obviously with the name of the place Rattlesnakes can also appear and apparently have been set to attack from more than just debris, they can also appear when harvesting crops and tending to animals. However, instead of the multi-clobber varmints they are on the homestead the bigger chance of them appearing is offset by them being a single-clobber varmint, in the same fashion as the Coyote.

It would appear that new missions are being brought out specifically for the Canyon, and each set of missions, Home and Canyon, will only appear down the left hand side of the specific location:

As you can see, the missions so far seem to be introducing the new harvestable Cactuses and requiring the planting of wheat, possibly a plotline about setting up camp and making sure the new area has food? As it stands we don't have specific details on these missions but we'll try to bring them to you ASAP.

Apparently the new Missions window will show missions from both Homesteads (we're not sure if the mission numbers are specifically coloured blue for Home and yellow for the Canyon or if this is just random). It seems though that nothing you do on a different stead will count towards the other, so harvesting wheat at Home won't count towards the mission on the Canyon.

As you can see, it appears that any mission from Home will have a return button under it to take you back to your original homestead.

So, limited market items, a change in varmints and being able to harvest debris! Although I'm not sure it'll be worth the many bites I think we're going to get... (anyone else spot the bit about "medical supplies", eh?)

April Items!

As some of you have already seen in game there's a new April Fools Collection coming as part of a few things to do over April Fools.

The Collection is a Canned Snake, a Dribble Glass, Fake Vomit, a Finger Trap and Itching Powder.

This gives the very nice reward of 200XP and a Debris Cactus.

Just like the previous St Patrick's Collection and Spring Collection these items can drop from ANYTHING you do on yours, or your neighbours homestead throughout the whole of April.

There's also a series of five April missions, for all the info click HERE.

We'll be bringing you more information on missions and other items as we get it!

GIDDY'AP, Pardner!

All that walking get your worn out around the ol' stead? Well give them piggies a break and hitch a ride from the new rideable horses!

Check out the missions HERE


First you will need to build yerself a Corral to house them horses.. For this you will need a slew of new building materials:

10 Horse Salt Licks; 10 Hay Nets; 10 Bags of Stone Grit; 15 Gate Hitches; 15 Lunge Lines; 15 Fence Beams

After you have built yer Corral you can purchase a horse from the menu option.



When placing yer horse on the homestead you will get the option to name yer horse ( the name can be changed later through the Manage Horses option)


Once placed it will take 4 clicks to grow the horse to adult (rideable) stage. Yer adult horses will stand next to a hitching post with a saddle on them to indicate that they are now rideable. Now just click on the horse and select "Ride Horse" from the options menu. As you do chores whilst riding yer horse yer horse will gain XP and level up. To dismount from yer horse just click on the horse's hitching post and select "Dismount" from the options menu.

Hovering over your horse while it is placed on the stead will give you information such as type, level, etc about each horse. For more information on how to level up your horse check HERE

Treats

Treats are boosts that can be fed to horses to double XP for the next few tends. At the moment these are only available as a horseshoe purchase.
Carrot – double xp for 3 tends - 4HS
Apple – double xp for 7 tends - 8 HS
Sugar Cube – double xp for 11 tends - 12 HS
Buying treats work like boosts and will give an option to feed the horse right away.
If the horse is “Boosted” with treats, it will glow.

We also have a new collection to find when tending and using our horses for 1 Carrot treat and 25 XP

A New Zynga Crossover Sets Up Quick Building Bonuses

Zynga appear to be making a new promotional crossover with small business support website Intuit.com which will see the introduction of two promotional missions that reward a Building Ready bonus.

The mission details are HERE and you may spot the reward is a Building Boost.

Well, when selected the new boost will bring up a fancy new cursor that says the fun is about to begin...

When clicked with, this new boost will make any building instantly ready, in other words make its Daily Bonus ready to collect straight away.

Finshing the two missions will give you 7 of these beauties plus one of the three from mission one you need to use to complete a mission two task, so a very healthy return

So, a helpful boost?

We'd love to hear your thoughts on promotional missions like this and crossovers on our Facebook Page.

The Law of Diminishing Rewards!

It would appear that the recession is hitting home on the Frontier as well as in real life... as the reward levels for some of the hardest and nastiest missions in the game have been cut.

Ask any older player which missions stick in the head as the worst and you can be sure it'll be some or all of these four little beauties...

	Master Farmer II - Plant and Harvest 300 Flax.
	Master Farmer III - Plant and Harvest 1500 Peanuts.
	Found a Town II - Collect 500'000 coins.
	Found a Town III - Collect 1'000'000 coins.

These are nightmare missions for differing reasons. The Farmer missions because they eat up space and take so loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong to complete, with having to PLANT not just HARVEST the crops it took a seemingly endless time.

As for the founder missions, the nightmare there was simply the fact that once you hit the right bank balance it took it all away, flinging you back into bankruptcy and leaving any players who hadn't planned ahead woefully short on cash... at which point you could be sure the game would throw a new mission at you that needed spending bucketloads of coins.

The only silver lining was the rewards at the end, but it seems the credit crunch has hit and these too have been cut back....

Mission		Original Horseshoe Reward...		New Horseshoe Reward
Master Farmer II		5		1
Master Farmer III		15		3
Found a Town II		10		2
Found a Town III		25		5

So, as you can see all horseshoe rewards for new players have been cut by 80%... So if you get a friend or family member who asks about the rewards, here is the answer, it's not a glitch or a problem in the game, the rewards have been cut from what older players will remember.

Is it because with expanded homesteads it's easier to do? Is it because they're not as hard as Zynga thought they would be initially? Remember to share your thoughts on our Facebook Page.

Will We Be Visiting Oregon Soon?

Interestingly, in one of the most obvious hints yet about which game expansion is coming first the popup teaser on the Oregon Trail has changed, lost it's "Coming Soon" designation and added in a new hint or two...

It seems another traveller might visit one day and, instead of bringing the pox, will bring an invite to Oregon! Interestingly it mentions teamwork so possibly co-operative play?

Who knows, it may still be some time before we see this for real, after all we've had those signposts since the game started last year but this is the first time one has seemed to be a step closer, so it may just be appearing in the next few months!

Spring Has Sprung

I see trees of green... and new injured animals too!

We may all have seen the trees in Frontierville have returned to being green but their change signals more than just a colour change! We're going to be seeing new injured animals and new missions... plus another collection dropping with the frequency of other recent specials such as the New Year Collection and the St Patrick's Day.

For the three Spring Is Sprung missions click HERE

Now, onto the new animals!

While tending trees, both lumber or fruit, you might come across a Black Egg containing a Black Turtle or a Teal Egg containing a Black Robin...

They need caring for with seven Fuzzy Blankets, again requested from friends. It works much the same way as an injured animal.

If that's not your thing, while tending rocks and grass you may come across a burrow which will contain either

A Bear Cub or a Chinchilla!

Feeding them seven Juicy Berry's each will then "heal" them and make them a tendable animal on your farm. As usual the berries are requested from friends.

Along with the new animals doing pretty much anything will pop up some familiar collectibles... The Spring Weather Collection that was attached to the Spring Groundhog are having their own version of Groundhog Day and are returning with a new Reward for trading them in, a Mud Puddle and 50XP.

Any other info if and when we get it! But if you have anything to say about the new animals or missions be sure to visit our Facebook Page and have your say.