The Basics
If you want to learn the basics about foraging, I'd suggest taking a look at the YPPedia Articule. This will give you all the information you need regarding controls and pieces. I won't go into those bits in detail, but I'll try to stick to the strategy of things.
Piece Combos
You clear pieces by matching three or more like pieces in a row. Because you're moving four pieces any time you rotate them, it's obviously very possible to clear more than just three pieces at a time. Any time you clear more than three pieces in a single move, you get a "piece combo". Take a look at the following image - you can see a good example of a piece combo:
Moving the pieces counter-clockwise, as shown, would lead to a triple piece combo (you'd clear nine pieces at once).
As far as I can tell, scoring piece combos in this way has nothing to do with your final score. The only thing it does for you is to increase the number of special pieces you get to appear on your board. I'll discuss special pieces a little later in this lesson.
Crate Combos
So if clearing pieces doesn't impact your score, what does? As best I can tell, the only impact on your score is which crates/chests (from here on, I'll refer to crates and chests collectively as crates) you clear and, more specifically, how you clear those crates.
There's the possibility of clearing multiple crates at the same time with a single move. I'll call this a multi-crate clear. Here's a good example:
Making a single move will clear two small baskets at the same time. When you do this, you get a message that says "2 crates cleared!".
This is a good move, but it's difficult to set up and impossible to do with anything larger than 2 small crates without the use of a special item. Nonetheless, if you can clear multiple crates with a single move, you'll dramatically improve your score.
Notice that, in order to pull this off, you need to make sure that the pieces under both crates match. In my case, I had two brown pieces beneath them so I could clear both brown pieces with a single move and thereby clear both crates at once. If the pieces don't match, you can't pull off a multi-crate clear without a special piece. And, because you need to have two rows of space to move pieces, you need to plan this move out before you reach the bottom of the board.
Another combo is a sequential combo, or a "combo clear". A sequential combo is similar to a multi-crate combo in that a single move removes multiple crates from the board. However, the difference is that, rather than all of those crates being cleared at the same time, you clear one crate, which leads to another crate clearing, which may lead to yet another crate clearing. Take a look at this scenario:
The two crates of limes are stacked directly on top of one another. Clearing the brown pieces beneath the bottom crate will cause the bottom-most crate to be cleared from the board. As soon as that one is cleared, the one stacked on top of it will also be cleared. This results in a crate combo, and you'll see a message like this:
Rather than a single message saying that you cleared two crates, as we saw earlier, you get one message per crate and, once all crates have been removed, you get a message such as "Double" or "Triple". Again, these combos help your score significantly and are much easier to set up than the multi-crate clears.
And, of course, you can combine those different combo types into a single clear, like this:
Clearing the three stones at the bottom will clear both crates at once and the little crate stacked on top will clear afterwards. As you'd expect, you get a mixture of messages when you make the clear:
Crate Size and Scoring
I do believe that the size of the crate cleared has a direct impact on your score. However, I do not believe there's much you can do to determine what size crates come onto your board - it seems to be random. As such, I don't worry about the size of the crates, except for one aspect...
I'm much more concerned about making sure I get the larger crates in combos, as opposed to the small ones. For example, if I get a large crate on one side of the board and a small one on the other, I might just clear the small one by itself, hoping to get another crate on top of the large crate so that I can include the large crate in a combo.
One additional tactic I use has to do with how crates enter the board. To facilitate combos, you want the crates to appear as close to one another as possible (preferably beside or right on top of one another). Crates "force" their way onto your board - by that, I mean that they'll displace pieces to make room for themselves. That said, I've never seen a crate displace another crate to make room. So, if you have a crate at the very top of the board, there's no way another crate could appear above it as long as it's there. Because of this, as soon as a crate appears on the board, I'll try to get it at least a few rows from the top immediately, even if I have no intention of clearing it any time soon. That, at least, gives me the opportunity of having another crate appear directly above it.
Along with that, let's say I have on crate about half way up the left hand column and no other crates on the board. I'll try to make clears above that crate to "encourage" another crate to appear there. I have no evidence that this actually works, but it makes me feel better, so I do it. ;)
Setting Yourself Up For Success
There are a few basic rules of thumb to live by. For one thing, always work from the outside in. You want this:
In this case, I have an empty column, but it's way on the outer edge and I can still get to all the pieces I need to get to in order to clear these two crates. This is what you do not want:
In this case, I can't get to any of the pieces I need to reach in order to clear the crate on the left side. I'm now stuck at the mercy of special items to get through this board. This is the absolute worst case because, the more moves it takes to clear that crate, the worse your score is going to be - and it's pretty much impossible to come up with any sort of combo off that crate.
Special Pieces
Of all the special pieces, I find most of them to be a total nuisance except for the machete. In my opinion, the other pieces exist only to save you from screw-ups (like my previous situation). In such a case, only a special piece like this case save you:
Unfortunately, when you get in such a situation, all you can do is hope for the correct special piece to appear. To help move this along, try to make piece combos and do it in the correct portion of the board. For example, if you need a shovel on the far left (as I did), there's no real point in making a clear on the far right. Unlike crates, special pieces do not force their way onto the board - you have to make room for them with clears. The more piece combos you make, the better the chances of generating a special piece.
The machete, on the other hand, is a great tool for helping you score well. Like Treasure Haul, where it's beneficial to have a red gem in the top row to help clear chests, it's very useful to have a machete in the bottom row. This can help you generate some very high-scoring combos. Take a look at this situation:
Because I have a machete in the lower row, I can line up multiple crates that, without the machete, I'd have no hope to clear. I would certainly not recommend getting all these crates lined up and then hoping for a machete to come along but, if you get a machete and can get it to the bottom of the board, you can do things like this to improve your score considerably.
I won't discuss the other special pieces much except to mention that the earthquake is an excellent way to get a machete against one of the walls, where it can do you the most good. ;)
Conclusion
Questions? Comments? Let me know. Otherwise, happy puzzling!
