Diana Frances Spencer (1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997)

Diana, Princess of Wales

An

English princess

with

an

Egyptian boyfriend

crashes

in a French

tunnel,

driving

a

German

car
with a

Dutch engine,

driven

by a Belgian

who was drunk

on

Scottish whisky,

followed

closely by

Italian

Paparazzi,
on

Japanese motorcycles;

treated

by an American doctor,

using

Brazilian medicines.

This is

sent to you by

someone

using

Bill Gates's technology,

and

you're probably reading

this on your computer,
that

uses Taiwanese

chips,

and a

Korean monitor,

assembled by Malaysian

workers

in a

Singapore plant.

The above is just part of a mass email that was circulating around that Diana’s death truly defines what globlisation is about.

I learned about Diana's death when I was at the waiting lounge in Bangkok on 31 August 1997 after checking in for my returned flight. Everyone was solemn with eyes focused on the projection screen. It was there and then that I learned that the car crash happened at 12.23 am. Diana arrived at the hospital at 2.06 am and was pronounced dead at 4.00 am.

Lord John Stevens conducted a three-year investigation into Diana’s and Dodi Al Fayed’s death and published an 832-page report on 14 December 2006 which basically concluded that there was no evidence of conspiracy and that it was merely a tragic accident.

There are people who questioned the depth and hence the reliability of the inquiry, especially Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of Harrods and father of Dodi Fayed.

Perhaps we will never know.

The full 832-page Operation Paget Report (3.9MB) can be downloaded here.

A 9-page Overview of the Report (83KB) can be downloaded here.

Shortest Essay

An university creative writing class was asked to write a concise essay containing the following four elements:

1) Religion
2) Royalty
3) Sex
4) Mystery

The prizewinner wrote:

"My God," said the queen, "I'm pregnant. I wonder who did it?"

Taxis in Singapore and Other Cities

Well I don’t see dead people but I see many colourful taxis. I think it is safe to say that no other cities in the world have such an array of colourful taxis other than Singapore.

We have the old yellow top black body (Yellow-Top Taxi), yellow (CityCab), red (TransCab), light green (SMART Cab), light blue (from Comfort Taxi), dark blue (Prime Taxi), silver (Premier Taxis), copper (Prime Taxi) and white (SMRT Taxi & SMART Cab). Adding to the colourful arrays is when some of the taxis are painted with advertisements on their bodies.

Not only are they of different colours, they are also of different made. For examples, yellow CityCab taxis can be Nissan Cedric, Toyota Crown or Hyundai Sonata. They also come in different sizes, according to their made and the number of seats, from the usual 4-seater to 8-seater. It is estimated that Singapore has 23,000 taxis of 29 different types.

Once upon a time, you can easily identify a taxi by just the shape and colour of the vehicle. Now it is better to just look out for the taxi top lights. If there is one on top of an approaching vehicle then it is a taxi. Of course, if the light is blue then it means that taxi is vacant and available for hire. If it is red, it means it is not available for hire, which is the opposite of what it is in Tokyo. In Tokyo, red light means available, yellow light means not available and green light means available but the night time surcharge (20% on top of the metered fare from 10.00 pm to 5.00 am) is in operation.

Besides being colourful, I think the fare structure must also be one of the most complicated. There are simply too many different charges – peak hour charges, midnight charges, location charges, public holiday charges – and they varies according to the time and day of the week too.

I don’t want to comment on the various charges except the CBD (Central Business District) Surcharge and the Current Booking Fees (the charges when you call for an immediate taxi).

Trips originating from the Central Business District Area incur a CBD Surcharge of $3.00 from 5.00 pm to midnight on Mondays to Saturdays. I think to levy this on Saturdays is totally not justified.

During the weekday peak hours, which last from 7.00 am to 9.30 am and 5.00 pm to 8.00 pm Mondays to Fridays, one has to pay an additional 35% on top of the metered fare. Calling for a taxi during these peak hours costs $3.50 instead of the usual, non peak hour’s rate of $2.50. However the booking fee of $3.50 applies till 11.00 pm, and not 8.00 pm, on weekdays. This is something which I don’t understand and don’t think it is fair that the higher charge applies till 11.00 pm.

I remembered distinctively that calling for an immediate taxi in Honolulu was free of charge. In Hong Kong, there was even a 10% discount on the metered fare!

Taking taxis in Penang and Kuala Lumpur was a bit off-putting as you need to know whether the driver would use the meter, as required by law, or he didn’t intend to and charged you a higher fare.

I remembered an incident when I wanted to go to Klang from Kuala Lumpur. I didn’t know that certain taxis were only allowed to operate within certain locations. The taxi that I took was not allowed to drive to or into Klang. But the driver said nothing till he came across a traffic policeman. It was then that he was a bit worried and told me that the truth and that he could be fined. My immediate thoughts then were, one, I would not be responsible for the fine, and more importantly, I would not want to go to any police station to file any statement and delayed my journey as I was expected at Klang at a certain time. Eventually, the driver paid off the traffic policeman to let him go. I reached Klang without much delay and was half hearted as to whether to pay the unfortunate, though it was his own doing, driver something extra.

There were some drivers in Bangkok who also wanted not to charge according to the metered fare but they were generally less aggressive than their Malaysian counterparts. There were occasions when they took more passengers than what was legally allowed.

In Sydney and New York, there were slight language problems with those non-native cab drivers.

I think if Singapore allows people from China to drive taxis, tourists as well as locals will also have language problems. As it is now, I have witnessed several cases where bus drivers from China were not able to respond to queries in English.

The best taxi services I had experienced so far are in Tokyo and Osaka. The taxis are clean, very comfortable, fully automated doors, and operated by neat, professional looking and polite drivers who wear white gloves. Well I suppose one should expect such standards since it is not cheap to travel by taxi in these cities.

Flag-down charge is JPY710 (used to be JPY660) or SGD10.65, base on exchange rate of SGD1.50 to JPY100. But this is for the first 2 km. Compared to Singapore’s flag-down charge of $2.80 or $3.00, depending on which taxi you hailed, for the first 1 km. At SGD0.20 for every 385 metres, a 2 km ride will cost SGD3.40 to SGD3.60 just based on distance.

Every 288 metres will cause the meter to go up by JPY90 (SGD1.35) compared to Singapore’s SGD0.20 for every 385 metres for journey below 10 km and SGD0.20 for every 330 metres above 10 km.

Stalled traffic in Singapore will cost SGD0.20 for every 45 seconds, compared to Tokyo’s JPY90 for every 105 seconds of waiting time. That’s roughly SGD0.60 for every 45 seconds of waiting time in Tokyo.

In Singapore, the Midnight Surcharge, between the hours of 12 midnight till 5.59 am, is 50% of the metered fare. In Tokyo, it is 20% of the metered fare between the hours of 10.00 pm till 5.00 am (used to be 30% from 11.00 pm to 5.00 am).

Third Person Who Has The Same Birthday As Me

Just found out that one of the founders of an email list which I subscribed to has the same birthday as me though he was born in 1943. He even has the same first name as me. Had been “chatting” with him for the past one year. Indeed a very pleasant surprise.

My Birthday

On my birthday I usually think of two persons and wonder where they are, what they are doing or how they have been. These two persons have the same birthday as me, though different year.

The first one is a guy, one year my junior, whom I met during my NS days. We were posted to the same camp. I worked for S2 and he for S3. We celebrated our birthdays three times together before he went to London for further studies. We kept in touch for several years through correspondence and the last I know of him was he was appointed as a lecturer in one of our polytechnics.

The other person was actually his neighbour, a girl who was five years younger than him. He introduced her to me and I met her only twice.

I have yet to meet or know of any one who was born on the same day as me. Wouldn’t it be some kind of cosmic timing if that person was lying next to me in KK Hospital on that day!

I usually don’t work, take leave and travel during my birthday. As far as I can remember there were only two occasions when I failed to do so. Once I was on guard duty (during my NS days) and the other was when there was an important company event which I had to take care of and attend.

This coming birthday is kind of significant to me. That’s’ because I will be half a century old. I suppose this maybe a mark or a turning point of sort, as of late I had been thinking and reflecting on many things, which might explain some of my posts. However, what don’t really sync is that I don’t feel that old. Well I supposed I looked physically or biologically my age, but certainly my mental age is much much less (RTFLOL). That’s good isn’t? Still young at heart. Well, as the saying goes, the only difference between a boy and a man is the price of his toys.

I was born in the 7th month of the lunar calendar. It is said that those born during this period are supposed to be intelligent and can see dead people. I think I am intelligent enough. After all I passed my examinations not because I studied hard. I hope I don’t ever have to say to anyone, “I see dead people” or point to an empty space and utter, “Dead man walking.”

Three weeks back, surveillance cameras were installed in our lifts together with a monitor above the lift on the ground floor that allows people to see what’s going on inside the lifts. The monitor however switched from showing images from inside the lift you are waiting for and those from the other lift at the other end of the block. So if you have people inside only one of the lifts, you get images that at one moment shows there are people and the next without. Hey, where did they go? Were the humans? Oh, there they are again. Anyway, I digressed.

These well-known people have the same birthday as me, though different year:

Leo Tolstoy (1828)
Wayne Osmond (1951)
Shania Twain (1965) and
So Yi Hyeon (1984).

From the above you should be able to tell and end the speculation about day I was born in.

As to how I will spend my birthday this year, well I don’t have concrete plans. I am on leave till Tuesday and had actually thought of spending the weekend in a hotel since I got special discounts but decided not to waste the money; might as well spend it on more chocolates. Might do some shopping as I have not shop for anything, other than chocolates and ice cream, for almost a year! Need some new clothes and socks. As I am a lazy person who doesn’t like to go out just to buy something (if I do, I need to do so first thing in the morning when the shops open for business), I might end up just staying at home reading, watching tv or simply just lazing around relaxing. After all I had already stock up on ice cream, sorbets, chocolates and titbits for this whole week!

Internet Addiction

You know you have internet addiction when…

1. You wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning to go to the bathroom and stop to check your email on the way back to bed.

2. You turn off your computer and get an awful empty feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one.

3. You decide to stay in college for an additional year or two, just for the free internet access.

4. You laugh at people with 56.6 modems.

5. You think a person's social status is directly linked to the speed of their modem. (It's not?)

6. You buy your mother-in-law a modem so you can flame her.

7. You start using smileys :-) in your snail mail.

8. You laugh hysterically every time you see your mailman.

9. You don't understand why God doesn't have an email address.

10. You find yourself typing "com" after every period when using a word processor.com

11. You put your web site URL on all your Christmas cards.

12. You can't correspond with your mother because she doesn't have a computer.

13. When your email box shows "no new messages" and you feel really depressed.

14. You are anxiously waiting for Solitaire to become an Olympic sport.

15. You don't know the gender of your three closest friends because they have nondescript screen name and you never bothered to ask.

16. You refer to your house as your homepage.

17. You move into a new house and you decide to netscape before you landscape.

18. In real life conversations, you don't laugh, you just say, "LOL, LOL."

19. Your family always knows where you are.

20. Your kids complain about the phone bill you're racking up.

21. Your sex life consists of a lot of downloading.

22. You rename your dog "Fido" and ask him to do more than fetch the paper.

23. You spend half a plane trip with your laptop in your lap and your child in the overhead compartment.

24. You refer going to the bathroom as downloading.

25. You start tilting your head sidewyas to smile. :)

26. You have called out someone's screen name while making love to your significant other.

27. Your spouse now complains of you moving your fingers in your sleep instead of talking.

28. When looking at signs, you wonder why they are always "yelling" at you.

29. You get a tattoo that reads, "This body best viewed with Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher."

30. Immediately after reading this list, you email the URL to someone! (please do)

Well if you suspect yourself or someone who might be addicted, you can do some self-tests at the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery website.

Who Are Playing Autobot Stronghold?

I guess apart from music, sports and games are the other universal languages.

Since I had put up hints and guides to the Autobot Stronghold game two weeks ago, 86 people from all over the world googled and came to my blog to read about them. Some of them made more than one visit and came back a number of times. I hope they found what they wanted to know here and benefited.

From US, they are from Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Of interest is the person from South Carolina. He (reasonable to assume it is a “he” as it is more likely that a guy would be interested to play such a game) is from a small city call Goose Creek which is only 84 sq km with a population of about 30,000. Cool.

There are people from New Westminster, Quebec & Vancouver in Canada.

Players from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru too.

Europeans from Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and UK.

Australians from Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.

Asians from China (Hunan), Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan (Yokohama), Malaysia (Serdang), and Philippines.

Surprisingly, only one from Singapore. I don’t think this person is my cousin’s son who introduced this game to me as he managed to clear all 50 Waves before I did. Furthermore he wanted me to show him firsthand the way I cleared the game and I did.

It would have been interesting to know the age of these people. I just wanted to know whether, and I reckon, I am the oldest player.

Yes, destroy the Decepticons!

Highest Possible Score - Autobot Stronghold

You will get 278,050 Points if you managed to destroy ALL the Decepticons. If you “Send Next Wave” the very moment you can, you will get another 721,520 Points. But this is usually not quite possible. As such, theoretically, the highest possible score is 1,999,570 (278,050 + 721,520 + 1,000,000 Bonus Points).

For a detailed description, how to clear all 50 Waves, video walkthrough and the ultimate cheat of this game, go here.

Café Oliv @ East Coast Road

I have been to Café Oliv on a number of occasions but the first time was sort of a chance accident. I had originally wanted to have hainanese pork chop rice for lunch but the shop was closed. So I walked by Café Oliv and perhaps because it was early, around 11.30 am, the shop’s lights were not on but the sign did say “Open”. I went in and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

The pictures of dishes in the menu were vividly attractive, looked appetizing, and representative of the end products that were presented on the table in front of me.

One of the appetizers that my colleagues and I like is the White Button Mushroom Fritter ($7.90). They are basically battered whole white mushrooms coated with bread crumbs and fried to crispy. The inside is still soft as tofu and moist.

A 3-course set lunch of a soup, entrée and a drink costs $10.90 plus 10% Service Charge (that’s $12.00). I believe they didn’t have service charges when they first opened the Café as it was a selling point then and their website still say no service charge.

The soup, which comes with the set, is always mushroom soup, which I enjoyed. I don’t mind if there isn’t any other choice.


I usually do not have cold drinks after lunch nor do I go for tea or coffee. As such I usually tell the service staff that I don’t want any drink even if it is included in the price. The second time I was there, I asked whether I could have more soup instead since I don’t want the drink. I said it was perfectly alright if they cannot accede to my request. The service staff said no problem and told the kitchen staff to give me more soup. She did have to explain to the kitchen staff why. Now I don’t have to ask as she could remember me though on my following visit after the above incident, she only remembered when I told her I don’t want any drink when she asked me for my choice. I guess not many people, or perhaps no one, ever said they don’t want any drinks that are part of a set meal.

There are eleven choices for the main course. One of which is the Parmesan Cheese Chicken Cutlet with Coriander Dill Cream.


If you like crispy food, then this is the choice. It is crispy outside but the chicken is still moist and soft inside. I liked this so much that I had this consecutively on some of my subsequent visits.

Another main course is the Braised Half Spring Herb Chicken (in?) Brown Sauce. The menu does not have that word in parentheses.


The chicken was well braised and soft. I felt that the herb was not strong enough and was slightly overpowered by the brown sauce. This is just a personal preference. Overall, not bad.

A single scoop of ice cream is just $2 and it was a huge scoop. We even asked whether they have erroneously given us a double scoop instead.


I tried the crème burlee ($6). Not creamy and soft enough and too sweet for me. The sugar coating was not done well either.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, desserts are half-priced.

Overall, not a bad place, in terms of food quality and pricing, for a simple meal. Click here for menu.

Typhoon Morakot

Last night TVBJ (SCV Channel 48) suspended all scheduled broadcast to telecast live the HK Artistes 88 Fund Raising Campaign for Taiwan victims of Typhoon Morakot which struck the island on 8 Aug 09, falling one year’s worth of rainfall in just three days.

During the four-hour telecast, many past and present actors and singers, including some from Taiwan who flew to HK, performed to raise more than HKD50,000,000 for the victims. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Gary Chao Ge sang an English song, The Greatest Love of All.

In between songs and commercials, I switched over to TVBS-News (SCV Channel 49) to get an update of the situation in Taiwan.

Here are some of the things I learned.

The six badly affected areas are Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Hualien, Taichung, Tainan and Taitung. Apparently the worst in 50 years.

Buildings don’t just collapse when there is an earthquake. They also collapse when there are severe mudslides and floodwaters. A hotel in Taitung County, the Jinshuai Hotel collapsed into the Jhihben River after its foundations were eroded by surging floodwaters. Fortunately all staff and guests were evacuated a day earlier.



70% of the students in an elementary school were either dead or missing.

Thousands of pigs drowned; possible outbreak of disease.

Water supply had been cut off to an estimated 280,000 people. A youth, queuing for water, said he had not bath for the past seven days nor did he dare flushed the toilet.

Because of political sensitivity, US cargo planes cannot be stationed in the affected area. They have to return to an offshore base several hours of flight away. (You go figure this one out.)

Some Taiwanese rescue planes were not utilised as official documentation for the authorisation were either not done or received. (Again, you go figure this one out too.)

In an online CNN poll, 82% of people think that President Ma Ying-jeou should resign because of a nearly week’s delay in assisting the victims. The poll had stopped when it hit 82%, after rapid increase.

Some of the victims were given instant rice or noodle that does not require hot water to cook. Just add about 150 ml of (cold) water into the mix, cover for 50 minutes, and you have instant rice with vegetables. And there are at least six varities to choose from. Perhaps one of the better innovations that is useful and practical in times like these.

So far 126 confirmed dead and more than 24,000 people have been evacuated.

Awfully Chocolate

Awfully Chocolate does not sell chocolates. I guess most people know that by now since they have been around since 1988. They sell three types of chocolate cakes (All Chocolate, Chocolate Banana and Chocolate Rum & Cherry), which most people know, and they sell chocolate ice cream, which some people don’t know.

Back then their first shop at Joo Chiat, which had since closed, made headlines with their all white minimalist décor with just a counter. You will be forgiven if you thought it was a reception counter for an aesthetic clinic or consultancy firm because they do not display their cakes at the shop front. All their cakes are kept in the cooler at the back of the shop which is cleverly condoned off. They still maintain this design concept for all their stores. When shown a video of my cousins’ children running around in the Awfully Chocolate shop in Cluny Court, my cousin’s Filipino domestic helper thought that they were at someone’s house.

Back then when you think of chocolate cakes, you think of them and the Chocolate Etoile by Temptations. I, and I think many people as well, have outgrown them as they are many choices nowadays. I still enjoyed them but I will not deliberately go all the way to their stores to get them.

I am writing this because I was there several days ago; because I like to recommend their ice cream; AND because they scoop their ice cream from the display tub! No mention of NEA regulation! (read my earlier post on Andersen’s Ice Cream).

Their ice cream, Hei (黑) or Black, is pure dark chocolate ice cream and very bitter as if you are eating frozen dark chocolate. Highly recommended.

It costs $3.80 for a single scoop or $11.80 for a pint. If you want them delivered to you, you can order online but there is a minimum order and a delivery charge of $10.70.

Ultimate Cheat for Autobot Stronghold

The best cheat ever is how to continue playing even if your Stronghold has been completely destroyed.

Here's how:
The moment the last Decepticon breaks into the Stronghold and when you start to hear the sound that signal the end of the game, quickly click on "Pause" to pause the game. Subsequently when you click on "Resume to Play" you will be able to continue playing till the end. However do note that the screen will become darker as if you are now fighting the Decepticons in the night.

For a detailed description, how to clear all 50 Waves and video walkthrough of this game, go here.

For an introduction to this game, Autobot Stronghold, and where to play, go here.

Andersen’s & Subway’s Food Logic? (At Parkway Parade)

I was given two ice cream mangoes from India. I was told to put them in the fridge and eat them with vanilla ice cream. As I only have chocolate ice cream in my fridge, I went to Parkway Parade yesterday to get the vanilla ice cream.

I went to Andersen’s Ice Cream and asked for a pint of vanilla bean ice cream, which happened to be the flavour of the month. The guy checked and said there wasn’t any. I went, “Can’t you scoop a pint from here (pointing to the full tub on display in the freezer)?” He replied, “No. It is against NEA regulation.” Various thoughts crossed my mind then. One of which was: if you are not allowed to scoop from the tub then how come you can do so for customers who just wanted a single or double scoops? Or did NEA say one can only scoop no more than twice at any given moment or from any given flavour?

I have bought ice cream from Haagen Dazs, Hokkaido and others, and none of them had told me they were not allowed to scoop from the display tubs in the freezers. I didn’t bother to rationalise with that guy and went to Cold Storage to get a pint of, yes, Andersen’s Vanilla Bean ice cream.

Several weeks back I decided to try the sandwiches at Subway at Parkway Parade. One of the signs said something like “add $1.50 for a salad” if you ordered a 6-inch sandwich. So I told the guy serving me that I would like to have the salad as well. He went on to explain that unlike other establishments where “add $X amount for Y” meant when you buy a particular first item you just needed to add an usually lesser amount to get a second item (in other words, upsizing, or value-added meals) “here” (Subway) it meant if you didn’t want the bread then you just needed to pay another $1.50 for the salad. In other words, exchange your bread for a salad and pay another $1.50 on top of what you were paying. I asked what sort of logic was that and if that was what it was supposed to mean than the sign was misleading. He went on to justify that “at Subway we sell sandwiches, we don’t sell salad”. I didn’t bother to rationalise with him further.

Would anyone want to buy and eat a sandwich without the bread? You might as well just ask for a scoop of tuna fish. And if you are so proud of your main food item then why bother selling other “secondary” food items? Anyway, the sandwich was nothing great – just plain simple sandwich. And with that kind of pricing, it was not worth it.

Flag Day

Sometimes I wonder whether people donate because they really wanted to or just “purchase” a sticker to avoid getting “harassed” again.

I don’t usually donate on flag days. I just smile and politely indicate “no”. It is my money and I won’t donate just to get others off my back. I have no problem indicating to many of them along the way that I don’t intend to donate especially if it is to some organisation which I have not heard of or I do not support. Even if I donate, I don’t take the sticker and definitely will not paste it on my shirt. I might paste it on a plastic bag if I was carrying one.

Sometimes I also wonder whether those people who are out collecting volunteered or were “assigned” to do so. Most of them just stand there looking very bored. If you walk near enough to them, they might trust the tin can towards you; otherwise they are not going to approach you. Many student volunteers just walk around. Were they expecting people to go towards them and donate? Perhaps to be fair to them I think they might be “afraid” to approach people. I guess nobody briefed them on how to collect effectively.

It was NUS Flag Day yesterday and I was approached outside Novena Square at around 9.00 am by one of the undergrads who smiled sincerely. I smiled back and indicated no. I went inside the shop and ordered my breakfast and while eating observed that the two undergrads approached passersby immediately upon seeing them. And they did that each time with the same enthusiasm.

When I came out of the shop, the other undergrad approached me and asked whether I might have some spare change to donate. Seeing how hard they had worked, I chose a dollar-coin and dropped it into the tin can, knowing that the money would go towards 20 charities. I took the sticker and pasted it on the plastic bag which I was carrying. I proceeded to buy some stuff and when I passed that way again, another undergrad approached me. I showed her the sticker and she smiled and said, “Thank you. Have a nice day.” I thought that was nice.

I think from now onwards, if I do donate at flag days, I will try to display the sticker more prominently (no, still not going to paste on my shirt) not so much that I would not be asked to donate again but to save someone from wasting his/her effort and time to ask me.

I think I might approach a volunteer collector on my own accord and surprise him/her with a donation without been asked. Perhaps this might make his/her day and if he/she had volunteered and worked hard, it would probably make his/her effort worthwhile too. This doesn’t cost much to do. It could just be 10 cents.

Win, Clear 50 Waves & Score at Autobot Stronghold (Step-by-Step Guide)

Completely Reorganised & Updated on 8 Aug 09

The Five Autobots
A description of the characteristics of each of the five Autobots.

Bumblebee – rapid fire, close range, low damage - costs 10 Sparks; 8 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 10 Sparks for all other upgrades - it can only target one Decepticon at a time.

Jazz – moderate fire, close range (better than Bumblebee), inhibits movement - costs 15 Sparks; 12 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 15 Sparks for all other upgrades - it doesn’t do any damage, but can considerably slow the movement of any advancing Decepticons.

Ironhide – moderate fire, mid range, homing missiles - costs 20 Sparks; 15 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 20 Sparks for all other upgrades - it can damage multiple Decepticons occupying the same space; use Jazz to slow and pack the Decepticons together for Ironhide to destroy them together.

Ratchet – reduced (slow) fire, ground attack only, long & wide blast range - costs 30 Sparks; 24 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 30 Sparks for all other upgrades - can damage multiple targets in wide spaces; useless against Starscream (jet).

Optimus Prime – moderate fire, wide range, upgrades to multiple targeting - costs 50 Sparks; 50 Sparks for all upgrades -the ultimate killing machine especially when upgraded to the max.

Optimus Prime will only be available once your Score is more than 100,000 Points.

The Six Decepticons
The six different types of Decepticon, in order of their appearances, are:

Insecticon (crab) – appear from Wave 1 (destroy each to get 1 Spark and 100 Points)

Shockwave (soldier) – appear from Wave 3 (destroy each to get 2 Sparks and 250 Points)

Starscream (jet) – appear from Wave 10 (destroy each to get 1 Spark and 350 Points)

Ravage (scorpion) – appear from Wave 11 (destroy each to get 1 Spark and 400 Points)

Galvatron (coloured solider) – appear from Wave 25 (destroy each to get 2 Sparks and 500 Points)

Brunt (armoured tank) – appear from Wave 30 (destroy each to get 10 Sparks and 1,000 Points)

General Guidelines
Use at least one each of the five different Autobots. You can actually use less types but let’s have all of them to work as a team.

Upgrade to the max the Damage levels of each of them. You can upgrade the Damage levels of each Autobot twice. Then upgrade at appropriate times, the Response and Speed of each. Note that Speed is not the speed of firing but the speed to turn and aim at a different target. Response is actually the speed of firing.

Position your Autobots to cover all tracks so that you don’t have to waste Sparks on upgrading the Range (except for Bumblebees, which is a must, and Ironhide, or even Ratchet).

Destroy the Decepticons as early as possible so that they have less chances of going near the Stronghold.

Don’t be too concerned about protecting your back (near the entrance of the Stronghold) – letting some Decepticons go through the Stronghold is fine. You are allowed 20 Decepticons to pass and enter the Stronghold. This has no bearing on your Score hence letting one or two of them break into the Stronghold is not a concern. You can work on not letting any go through after you have at least managed to clear all 50 Waves.

Improving Your Score
The amount of resources you use to defend the Stronghold has also no bearing on your Score. It does not mean that if you use less Autobots or have more Sparks, the Score will be better.

The only way to increase your Score substantially is to “Send Next Wave” as soon as possible.

Rather than wait for Brunts, which travel extremely slow, to within target range, "Send Next Wave" earlier not only to get extra Points but also to earn more Sparks when you destroy Decepticons from the next Wave to upgrade your Autobots, especially when you need the upgrades to destroy the Brunts, which are the hardest to destroy.

You can get more than 61,000 Points if you Send Wave 50 fast enough.

The following shows how much additional Points you can add to your Score if you immediately “Send Next Wave”.

You cannot “Send” Wave One – it starts by itself

Wave 2 – 172 Points	Wave 27 – 7,133 Points
Wave 3 – 253 Points	Wave 28 – 7,745 Points
Wave 4 – 338 Points	Wave 29 – 8.475 Points
Wave 5 – 419 Points	Wave 30 – 8.958 Points
Wave 6 – 504 Points	Wave 31 – 9,672 Points
Wave 7 – 584 Points	Wave 32 – 11,149 Points
Wave 8 – 671 Points	Wave 33 - 12,385 Points
Wave 9 – 758 Points	Wave 34 – 15,168 Points
Wave 10 – 847 Points	Wave 35 – 17,014 Points
Wave 11 – 910 Points	Wave 36 – 18,155 Points
Wave 12 – 1,160 Points	Wave 37 – 18.791 Points
Wave 13 – 1,657 Points	Wave 38 – 23,409 Points
Wave 14 – 2,045 Points	Wave 39 – 24,449 Points
Wave 15 – 2,367 Points	Wave 40 – 24,682 Points
Wave 16 – 2,589 Points	Wave 41 – 29,243 Points
Wave 17 – 3,184 Points	Wave 42 – 32,172 Points
Wave 18 – 3,544 Points	Wave 43 – 35,771 Points
Wave 19 – 3,955 Points	Wave 44 – 39,626 Points
Wave 20 – 4,042 Points	Wave 45 – 40,940 Points
Wave 21 – 4,314 Points	Wave 46 – 47,186 Points
Wave 22 – 5,142 Points	Wave 47 – 52,526 Points
Wave 23 – 5,479 Points	Wave 48 – 52,796 Points
Wave 24 – 6,039 Points	Wave 49 – 58,325 Points
Wave 25 – 6,521 Points	Wave 50 – 61,072 Points
Wave 26 – 7,183 Points

Note that the above Points may vary by 10 Points depending how fast you click the “Send Next Wave” button.

You get a bonus of 1,000,000 Points to your Score when you cleared all 50 Waves.

You will get 278,050 Points if you managed to destroy ALL the Decepticons. If you “Send Next Wave” the very moment you can, you will get another 721,520 Points. But this is usually not quite possible. As such, theoretically, the highest possible score is 1,999,570 (278,050 + 721,520 + 1,000,000 Bonus Points).

The 50 Waves
Decepticons come in three directions: the Bottom, Middle Right Side and Top Right Side. Out of 50 Waves, 34 Waves will come from the Bottom and Side. Six Waves (from Wave 34 onwards) will come from the Top.

The following shows what you can expect from each Wave.

Wave 1 : Side - 2 Insecticons
Wave 2 : Bottom - 4 Insecticons
Wave 3 : Side - 4 Shockwaves
Wave 4 : Bottom - 6 Insecticons
Wave 5 : Side - 6 Shockwaves; Bottom - 4 Insecticons
Wave 6 : Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 7 : Bottom - 12 Insecticons
Wave 8 : Side - 10 Shockwaves
Wave 9 : Side - 15 Insecticons; Bottom - 4 Shockwaves
Wave 10 : Side - 4 Starscreams; Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 11 : Side - 6 Ravages
Wave 12 : Bottom - 10 Shockwaves
Wave 13 : Side - 8 Ravages; Bottom - 15 Shockwaves
Wave 14 : Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 15 : Side - 4 Starscreams; Bottom - 10 Ravages
Wave 16 : Side - 15 Shockwaves; Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 17 : Side - 20 Insecticons
Wave 18 : Side - 20 Shockwaves; Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 19 : Side - 20 Ravages
Wave 20 : Side - 6 Starscreams; Bottom - 6 Ravages
Wave 21 : Side - 20 Insecticons
Wave 22 : Side - 15 Ravages; Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 23 : Bottom - 20 Insecticons
Wave 24 : Bottom - 15 Shockwaves
Wave 25 : Side - 20 Galvatrons and 6 Starscreams
Wave 26 : Bottom - 25 Ravages
Wave 27 : Side - 10 Starscreams; Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 28 : Side - 20 Shockwaves
Wave 29 : Side - 8 Ravages (spaced-out); Bottom - 15 Galvatrons
Wave 30 : Bottom - 1 Brunt
Wave 31 : Bottom - 15 Shockwaves; Side - 10 Insecticons
Wave 32 : Side - 8 Starscreams; Bottom - 8 Ravages (spaced-out)
Wave 33 : Bottom - 20 Galvatrons
Wave 34 : Top - 2 Insecticons (spaced-out); Side - 30 Insecticons
Wave 35 : Side - 10 Starscreams; Bottom - 30 Ravages
Wave 36 : Side - 10 Starscreams
Wave 37 : Side - 8 Starscreams; Bottom - 5 Brunts
Wave 38 : Side - 15 Galvatrons
Wave 39 : Bottom - 30 Ravages
Wave 40 : Top - 10 Insecticons; Bottom - 5 Brunts
Wave 41 : Side - 30 Insecticons
Wave 42 : Bottom - 20 Shockwaves
Wave 43 : Top - 3 Brunts; Side - 8 Starscreams
Wave 44 : Side - 10 Starscreams
Wave 45 : Side - 10 Ravages; Bottom - 15 Galvatrons
Wave 46 : Top - 10 Insecticons; Bottom - 4 Brunts
Wave 47 : Side - 15 Ravages and 8 Starscreams; Bottom - 5 Shockwaves
Wave 48 : Top - 13 Galvatrons; Bottom - 13 Galvatrons
Wave 49 : Side - 20 Starscreams and 10 Ravages; Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 50 : Top - 2 Brunts and 10 Galvatrons; Side - 10 Starscreams and 20 Ravages

A Possible Team Combination
Most strategies involved defending the mid-section since that is the path of the Starscreams.

If your goal is simply to clear 50 Waves, without any concerns on how much your Score will be, in other words, just playing the game in a leisurely manner and letting each Wave be sent automatically, then one simple, but effective, team is:

- two Bumblebees – upgrade both to the max (Damage, Speed, Response, Range)
- one Jazz– upgrade to the max Damage and Response
- one Ironhide – upgrade to the max
- one Ratchet – max Damage & Range
- three Optimus Primes – max Damage

The above is more than enough to clear all 50 Waves. There will be sufficient Sparks for you to purchase more Autobots than the above team. You might want to add another Bumblebee, one or two more Jazz and one or two Optimus Primes.

Start the game with one Bumblebee and one Ironhide, upgrade and add the others along the way.

If you want to clear all 50 Waves and have a Score as high as possible, then you cannot wait for the system to "Send Next Wave"; you will need to "Send" it yourself. You can still use the above team combination but you will need to tweak your additions, change the sequences of upgrades depending how fast the Decepticons are approaching.

Walkthrough
Rather than write lengthy details, I decided to show a recorded game which was played at a semi pace; not too slow but not too fast either. I deliberately avoided "Send Next Wave" too early at several junctures so that the video clip could be clearer. The Score could have been higher than 1,704,044 that was achieved in this game.

As there is a size limit to the video that I can upload here, I have to split the entire video into 5 parts.

Part 1 - Wave 1 to 19


Part 2 - Wave 20 to 30


Part 3 - Wave 30 to 39


Part 4 - Wave 39 to 48


Part 5 - Wave 48 to 50


Ultimate Cheat
How to continue playing even if your Stronghold has been completely destroyed?

Here's how:
The moment the last Decepticon breaks into the Stronghold and when you start to hear the sound that signal the end of the game, quickly click on "Pause" to pause the game. Subsequently when you click on "Resume to Play" you will be able to continue playing till the end. However do note that the screen will become darker as if you are now fighting the Decepticons in the night.

Please leave a comment as I would like to know whether this has been helpful, useful or perhaps you know something that I don't and would like to share with others. I would also like to know which city and country you are from.