CityVille Cheats and Tips: Energy Guide

CityVille Building
CityVille, arguably the most anticipated social game of this season, was launched by Zynga just today. And, of course, we want you folks to have as fun a time as we are building our cities. That being said, managing your resources and tapping every possible source is going to maximize your time in CityVille and thus your overall enjoyment and personal happiness. (Yes, these games are that powerful.) Energy, the most important resource in nearly every Zynga game, is scarce, but it's not impossible to find.

Look after the break to find some tips that will increase your time in CityVille to potentially unsafe levels.

Energy MeterWaiting:
This is obviously the first logical option when you see that Energy timer being ticking. However, only one Energy point will refill every five minutes. So, if you just got into this and want to squeeze as much fun as possible out of it, we suggest you employ this method as a last, last resort.

Batteries:
The main source of Energy in CityVille, Batteries can be gifted for free as well as bought through the game's build menu (pictured below) for City Cash. Just click "Build" and then the lightning bolt icon to access the Energy shop where you can buy Batteries that give either 3, 7 or 12 Energy for 3, 6 and 9 City Cash, respectively. Though, there are some more fun ways to replenish Energy.
Battery Shop

Visiting FriendsVisiting Friends:
My personal favorite, visiting friends daily grants you a whopping 3 Energy for nothing among other rewards like XP, coins and Reputation points (this stat returns from FrontierVille). The more friends you help, the more oomph you'll have to do things back Home. Not to mention you'll look good around your friends, who might come around and help you out some in return.

Gifting:
As we mentioned before, Energy can be gifted to other players for free, which means your friends can do the same for you. Just click on the "Free Gifts" tab that rests on top of the game screen to the left of "Play." From there, you can select one type of gift to give out at a time--in this case that being either 1, 2 or 3 Energy Points (much less than Zynga's other games) with the latter two locked until you reach certain levels.

Collections:
Speaking of gifting, certain Collections (pictured below) in CityVille will yield lots of Energy if completed. This can be done through playing the game normally, collecting from properties like the Toy Shop and Coffee House, but there's a neat little feature called the Wishlist that might help. In your Collections menu (click on the icon to the right of the arrow), you'll see that every item in each Collection has a small button that looks like the RSS symbol. Click that to add it to your Wishlist and then click "Share" to broadcast exactly what you need, which should increase your chances of friends sending you those very items.

Collection
Going about your Business:
Just as it sounds, just doing normal tasks like collecting from properties, planting and/or harvesting crops and chopping down trees all have a chance of restoring spent Energy. Albeit small, work is progress and progress leads to...

Leveling Up:
Second only to visiting friends (personally), gaining levels restores huge amounts of Energy. Nothing beats the feeling of being on your last point of Energy as you build the City Hall, only to level up off of that last point of XP, launching you forward to finish the job.

Unfortunately, there aren't any cheats or get-energy-quick schemes in CityVille that we know of... yet. But with your help, we just might be able to figure out this game's little quirks that might help us maximize our Energy even further. So, if you find any interesting (and possibly unintentional) ways to nab some extra juice, why not let us know? It'll both help this guide and make you look even more awesome in front of your fellow mayors.

CityVille Halloween Sale sees items marked up to 50% off

If you'd like to purchase some of the Monster-themed goodies in CityVille's Halloween store, but aren't willing to pay the high prices expected of you, you'll be happy to know that some of them have been discounted in price in anticipation of the quickly approaching Halloween holiday, and that some are even marked at 50% off.

Here's a rundown of the items that are on sale, along with their new prices.

Dead Man Cave (Home)

    Costs: 30 City Cash - 25% off


Gnome Dome (Community Building)

    Costs: 60 City Cash - 20% off


Grooving Mummies (Decoration)

    Costs: 12 City Cash - 20% off


Atrocious Apartments (Home)

    Costs: 52 City Cash - 20% off


Troll Tree House (Home)

    Costs: 40 City Cash - 20% off


Poltergeist House (Home)

    Costs: 189,000 coins - 30% off


Fairy Ponderosa (Home)

    Costs: 975,000 coins - 25% off


Haunted Library (Community Building)

    Costs: 14,000 coins - 50% off


Ominous Estate (Home)

    Costs: 600,000 coins - 20% off


Spooky House (Home)

    Costs: 13,875 coins - 25% off


Witchwart Academy (Community Building)

    Costs: 13,800 coins - 40% off


Frankenstein's Lab (Home)

    Costs: 45 City Cash - 25% off


Transylvania Station (Community Building)

    Costs: 53 City Cash - 25% off


Forsaken Fortress (Home)

    Costs: 68 City Cash - 20% off


Ghost Ship (Decoration)

    Costs: 51,000 coins - 40% off


Jack-O-Lantern (Crop)

    Costs: 3 City Cash per square - 40% off


Ok, so only one of these items is actually priced at 50% off, and if you've been trying to reach the total 8,000 Monsters you need living in your city before Halloween, you likely already have a Haunted Library in your town anyway. Still, if you've been looking for some extra incentive to purchase some of these premium Community Buildings and homes, and the simple fact that they're expiring soon wasn't enough, here's another reason to bust out the premium currency.

Furthermore, from now until the end of the day on Halloween, if you redeem a Zynga Game Card within CityVille, you'll receive 20% extra City Cash when you do so. That is, if you redeem a card worth $25, you'll receive the full dollar amount of $25 in City Cash, plus 20% extra. Zynga may call this a "sale," but it's more like a "bonus," as you're not really saving any money on your end. Even with that being the case, it's still something to keep in mind if you were contemplating redeeming a Zynga Game Card in CityVille in the near future anyway.

Check out the rest of our Halloween coverage right here.

Will you splurge on any of these items while they're on sale, or will you redeem a Zynga Game Card and then save your extra City Cash for later use?