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Ah, "lost souls." Most preachers would lead you to believe this means poor chumps who made bad decisions and ended up in the hot place. In Afterlife, ending up in hell isn't so bad, and making the grade to enter heaven isn't much better. In fact, a steady stream of stuff-of-unending-life (souls) going to hell (and heaven) helps to keep the pennies flowing. Lost souls are really dead men who haven't had their particular afterlife needs met, and who walk off into limbo. Too many of these can truly make the life of an aspiring Demiurge... hell.

The basic yin-yangs of heaven and hell

Remember that in this game, heaven means a nice, cushy afterlife and hell means a rough painful existence forevermore (well, not always, depending on a soul's belief system). Short roads with diverse fates are for heaven; long, confusing walks to one's well- separated punishments are the rule in hell.

A good initial itinerary of structures in both heaven and hell will include a gate, a 3x3 block of fate tiles for all seven fates, a topia, a training center, a siphon, a karma station anchor with connecting karma track and karma portal anchor, two ports and maybe a bank. Almost all of these structures will need to be connected to a road, except fate zoning, which should be within three tiles of a road. Remember to connect siphons to rocks.

Each structure puts out vibes, which affect the structures around it. As you'd expect in heaven, good vibes are pro-evolution and bad vibes hinder the evolution of neighboring structures. In hell the opposite is conveniently true. Make frequent use of the microview function to get building descriptions, and mapview function to keep tabs on how your structures are affecting each other. Note that gates emit counter evolutionary vibes. Training centers or topias are good structures to place near gates, to help cancel out the negative effects.

Lost souls in the initial portion of the game are generally related to fate zoning deficits. If a spike appears, change the tempo immediately to divine intervention (a good habit to get into whenever there's trouble), and flatten the tiles. Make sure the fate tiles are within three tiles of a road, all roads are connected, enough siphons are available (use mapview again) to make sure the zoning is charged, and that there's no counter evolutionary karma portal anchor near by.

A well-trained principal is hard to find...

The quantity and quality of your labor force of angels and demons will affect the success of the game greatly. If fiery haloes start showing up in heaven, or golden haloes in hell, too many workers are idle; this will result in much destruction. Not enough workers means higher labor costs from a larger imported labor force. Training centers will regulate these situations to some degree. In the training center microview, the centers can be toggled to accept a certain percentage of applicants. Angel Quotient (AQ) and demon quotient (DQ) are a grade of the efficiency of the workers. A high acceptance rate will turn out more angels and demons, but with lower efficiency. Being more selective will result in more intelligent and efficient workers. Efficiency rates can vary between 50-150. A good starting point is a 50acceptance rate and AQ's and DQ's of around 100.

Topias and Ports are also regulators of the work force. Topias house your work force and need to be monitored, so that new ones can be built or existing ones upgraded as they become filled. Ports hold large amounts of angels and demons. They're good to lay down when there's trouble involving workers who need to be reduced in a hurry.

Planetary intervention

Not only does a budding Demiurge have to worry about heaven and hell, but there's also a whole planet undergoing disasters and slowly making its way to nuclear technology to worry over. It's tempting to alter technology, since it increases population over time, but the higher the technology the greater the threat of nuclear war. High technology levels are best countered by increased peacefulness on the planet. Tampering with sin/virtue levels is best done in small measures and with frequent game saves. Be ready to counter an unexpected result of a sin/virtue change with its corresponding opposite.

Disasters will impact heaven and hell frequently. Floods, earthquakes, and similar events will lead to the rapid influx of souls into the afterlife. Once again, reducing the tempo to ensure there are enough gates, fate zones, and workers to handle the increased population will make the best of the situation.

The nice thing about special buildings and bad things

Special buildings repel bad things. Heaven's Vista Enhancement Doohickey will shoot down Birds of Paradise for a radius of eight tiles, while hell's Ugliness Engine will waste Bats Out of Hell at the same range. Heaven's Audio Improving Embophone will protect against the Blues at a range of about nine tiles, and hell's Crinkly Cacophony Contrivance will repel a Disco Demon at a similar radius. Heaven's Paradise Pair O' Dice will be repelled by the Fluffy Comfort Dispenser for about a 12-tile radius, and hell's Tactile Degradation Gizmo will keep the Freeze at bay at the same range. Heaven's Scent Atomizer and hell's Flatulence Ol-Factory will keep the Nose at bay at around 10 tiles out. The Basket is countered for approximately 11 tiles by the Creamy Candy Castle in heaven, and by the Wellspring of Unsavoriness in hell.

When a billion souls are reached in heaven and hell, Omnibolges and Love Domes are granted. These structures are very tempting to lay down, because they're essentially perfectly balanced, self-regulating mini-heavens and hells which offer nice, pro-evolutionary vibes for a whopping 16 tile radius. No fuss, no muss, even the labor cost is paid for by The Powers That Be. Note though that these structures can take a big bite out of the population of other fate tiles; this may lead to all the usual woes of unemployed workers. In addition, their occupants are not included for Soul Rate computations. Fortunately, admission rates can be adjusted just like training centers. Planning ahead by reducing the number of available workers and re-evaluating current zoning can minimize these structures' negative effects.

There is one nice thing about Bad Things: they can be toggled off! Don't be a macho Demiurge who has to play tough all the time. Sure, you take a hit on the Soul Rate, but toggling off the Bad Things for a time, especially in the middle portion of the game when money is tight, may help you reach that 1 billion served mark.

And don't forget Jasper and Aria

Afterlife provides advisors in the form of Jasper and Aria, who are actually fairly intuitive and helpful. Make use of them frequently, especially in the early stages of the game as the foundation for your realms is laid down. By following their advice and the tips above, The Powers That Be may bless and keep you so that Ragnarok n' Roll or the Four Surfers of the Apocalypso never trouble your domain.

mmorphon00@yahoo.com

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Page Updated Mon Feb 28, 2000 8:25pm EST