Topic

Easy Way to Get Subway Badges

Hi everyone.
For all of you who are exasperated at how long it takes to achieve the Subway badges, I have a quick solution. It's been available ever since we got our /homes and allowed me to get all the Subway badges after dedicating myself for about 9 hours of real life game time. It's very specific and it does work. When I started this technique I had 40-something rides under my Glitchen belt.

At the time there was a glitch in Glitch so that even though you had actually travelled the correct number of times to get the badges they didn't show up right away. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but I just kept riding the Subway and eventually I got all the badges (I maybe had to ride an extra 40 times or so).

So here's the technique:
Step One: go to your nearest Subway station and buy a ticket
Step Two: hop on the ol' Subway and wait for the screen to load completely
Step Three: type /home and let the screen load completely
Step Four: go Back to World; this will put you back in the Subway station
repeat
Step Five: buy a ticket
Step Six: hop on Subway
Step Seven: go /home
Step Eight: go Back to World
repeat

Doing this I would often see the same people on the Subway several times while doing this technique. I would tally up 2 or 3 rides for their one, plus I didn't have to wait at each Subway stop, etc. Now, if you have other badges to get and like to multitask then just hang out on the Subways and do whatchyougottado. But for those who either have most other badges already or can't multitask (like me!) then this is the technique for you.

And besides, have you ever been on a real subway? They're disgusting! Full of used bubble gum (it got so bad that we can no longer make bubble gum with our Bubble Tuners; Glitchen weren't able to actually get off the Subways anymore becuz their feets were sticking to the floor). Much better to just get in and get out.

Good luck.

Posted 5 months ago by Gordon Lughsen Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Thanks for the tip, Gordon. :)
    Posted 5 months ago by Capt. S.T. Weasley Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for the helpful tip. I will definitely try this to get the first badge. Not sure I will have your perseverance to get all the badges though - 9hrs of RL game time hopping and and off the subway - ouch!
    Posted 5 months ago by geekybird Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I was told that each time you go back to the station after going /home you also have to buy a ticket to the alternate route (red then blue and vice versa) to the one before or it will consider it the same ride as before?
    Posted 5 months ago by Cleops Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Cleops: Nope. Each time before you ride you do have to buy a ticket, but I didn't have to switch it up between blue and red lines.
    Posted 5 months ago by Gordon Lughsen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • fascinating.
    Posted 5 months ago by WalruZ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sits back and watches TS change this loop hole :P
    Posted 5 months ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I did it this way, but didn't advertise it.  So unless they change the count to only apply if you get on at one station and leave at another station it should be ok.  Not saying they couldn't change it, but I'm thinking the coding for that would be truly horrible.
    Posted 5 months ago by Tibbi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There was a bug, definitely: if you got into the same instance as before, your "it counts toward the badge" counter wouldn't increment.  I don't know if this has been fixed.  It's why people often had to ride many more times than they thought they should.
    Posted 5 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • And besides, have you ever been on a real subway? They're disgusting

    Just thought I should defend the Washington, DC Metro.  It's quite nice.  I wish my town had one like it.
    Posted 5 months ago by Biff Beefbat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I can confirm that the switching lines thing is a good idea.
    Maybe the OP is on a slow connection, but if you hop back in too fast on the same line, you'll quite likely wind up in the same train instance you came out of (symptom: the train is really close to leaving when you hop back in, even though you're the only person on it).
    Posted 5 months ago by Jus​tin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • :)
    Posted 5 months ago by Rook Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LOL  and as an example.. this no longer works :)
    Posted 5 months ago by RainyRain Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ...which is why I probably woulda spread this by word-of-mouth rather than in the forums, so as to lengthen the time it worked before it got nerfed. Oh well.
    Posted 5 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Indeed, Rook. Pretty sure I got my subway badges legit, even though this trick was available. I just crafted while I was on the train - helped towards the kitchen repair badge!
    Posted 5 months ago by Stuv Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm sure you did :) 
    Posted 5 months ago by Rook Subscriber! | Permalink
  • OK, so back to the "legit way", what counts as a ride?

    I.e., do you have to get off and on again at each station for the counter to increment or does it increment for stations you pass through?
    Posted 5 months ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, is it just me who thinks the whole 60s wait thing is a bit much?

    I mean, I've always rather liked riding the subway but that kills it for me. I already have such limited time available to play (unless I stay up until stupid o'clock, which yes, I do on occasion) that I don't want to waste it waiting around on the subway. It's all very well saying do xyz while you're there but it usually means I would have to go /home to sort my bags and pick some stuff up first which seems a bit silly? I mean why not just shorten the wait to 15s and let me craft at home?

    I wouldn't mind if I regularly met people on there but even back in the day that rarely happened to me. This may be partly due to being in the UK. I notice if I play past midnight there are about three times as many people around...
    Posted 5 months ago by geekybird Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I used to do something like that but I decided it was almost as fast and more productive to stay on the train and get off at the next stop. Repeat.  Change fruit or tune bubbles on the train.  It depends on how long it takes for your screen to load.  I'd just as soon stay on the train than go home.   
    Posted 5 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Whenever I want to work on subway badges I first go to auction and buy lots of cherries.   
    Posted 5 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Janich: You do have to get off at each station for a ride to count, it doesn't count the stations you pass.

    A way to fix the 60 second wait is to have subway riding parties. Get three people (works best if exactly three but can work with more if people are very well organized) and then there is no wait. You take off as soon as the third person hops on. I spent hours riding the subway for this badge, a lot alone, but I made some good friends on the subway and really enjoyed riding with other people.

    As a side note, I promised myself while spending mindless hours on that subway that once I got the top badge I would never ride the subway again. I still haven't, haha.
    Posted 5 months ago by SkyWaitress Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Now the devs will find out.
    Posted 5 months ago by daniel5457 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @SkyWaitress: same here! That was such a grind.
    And yes, it's true. There are many other badges that can be worked on while riding the subway, but for those of you who are impatient like me, I like this way much better.

    And I hope the devs won't change this. It's not a bug, just a quick way to giterdone.

    Good luck everyone!
    Posted 5 months ago by Gordon Lughsen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Riding together used to make the train leave to fast and it didn't count as a new ride - so although it was less boring, some of us had to ride a ton of more times to get our counts up. 
    Posted 5 months ago by snarkle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • And as a side note, my 'ride tally' went up even though I kept getting on the same train I had just left. The same 4 or 5 people would be there riding while I was going back and forth to /home and then back to world.

    So basically going on the same train 3 times didn't negatively affect my total ride count; it kept increasing.
    Posted 5 months ago by Gordon Lughsen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • While I agree that this isn't a "bug" - and I assume that if the devs haven't chimed in on this that this isn't considered an exploit by the people who count - I do think it is something that will be changed.  Right now the ability to go home at any time from anywhere with no cost or cooldown creates a variety of presumably unintended consequences.

    If you want to use this method to get your subway badges, I'd do it sooner rather than later.  Of course this isn't exactly a super quick fix.  You probably encounter at least 10 second loading time three times for each subway run plus the time it takes you to actually enter commands and board the subway, so 503 subway visits may still take over 4 hours of grinding.
    Posted 5 months ago by Humbabella Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Uh, when I go home from the subway and then try to go back to world, it sends me to the default location of Awash Wash, not back to the subway.
    Posted 5 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Shepherdmoon. . .hmmm. I'll try it myself (logging in now) and see if that happens to me or not. Thanks for the update.
    Posted 5 months ago by Gordon Lughsen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just to clarify what snarkle is saying about group rides - the rides still incremented the 'you've been here' counter without counting toward the badges.  I was at 550-something on the 'youve been here' counter before I got the 503 rides badge.
    Posted 5 months ago by Tribeca Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's not a "group rides" issue.  I have the same problem.  There was a bug in the counter at one point (may still be, as far as I know) and it only had to do with the individual, not a group. 

    Things we know that cause the counter to miscount:
    Getting back on the same instance of the subway car. (can happen if you leave the car, and get back on going the same direction very quickly).

    Disconnecting while you are riding and then reconnecting again (the counter increments, but it doesn't count towards the badge)
    Posted 5 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Tribeca & WindBorn: Yep. The Glitch must still be in effect. I sent a request to TS when I was getting my subway badges several months back, and they said to just be patient. . .and eventually I got all the badges.
    Posted 5 months ago by Gordon Lughsen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Looks to me like this is now resolved, when you go /home and then go back to World it seems to be just sending you wherever and not where you were before.
    Posted 5 months ago by katykicker Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's actually not a new thing.  The giants frequently have trouble remembering where you were if you go /home from someplace other than a street in Ur. 

    Going /home from a game or a subway car will, very often, send you some place different when you /leave.
    Posted 5 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's a great tip. I wish i'd known before. I had to get my badges the hard way, the really hard way. Where you had to exit the station each stop so your count registered.

    Even so, I was over a hundred rides over the count before I got my badge.
    Posted 5 months ago by Jugni Subscriber! | Permalink