past a map with survivors. You will not lose any population due to not having shelters for them, but you can't find any survivors by recruiting until you have shelter space for them. On the first turn, build a lab, (2 if not a goofball), and send everybody else exploring. (Don't forget to buy a minting license and set up your messengers first.) On your second turn, switch research to Marketing, build at least 2 more labs and start building shelters, then send everybody exploring again. You can play the minigame for enough population to staff the labs you build each turn. When you have enough shelters built, go ahead and send 1/2 your population exploring and 1/2 recruiting. Try to build at least 1 or 2 labs a turn. - DargonBait
Yes the mini game helps a lot getting extra pop to start is very nice and so is getting the minting money so you can mint from start and have a decent pop. i do hate the minigame so i normally shoot for 60 pop to start with and build 1 lab a turn for every turn after first and just minigame for 10 extra people that's 4 to work in the lab 3 to work in minting and 3 extra per turn. later on keep enough labs so your using 10%-15% of your total pop in labs you have 150000 people you should have 15000-20000 people working in labs.
however for early recruit and explore like db said send everyone exploring until you have the shelter space after that i send 1 person recruit rest explore until you reach buses once you have everything up a running to get buses going i send 51 people exploring the rest recruiting until you reach a number where your using all of your buses and this number will change every turn you bring in more land when you have enough pop to man all buses on recruit side then i use that number and send rest exploring after awhile you'll reach max buses for both.
if you read the wording under where you put in the recruit and explore pop numbers heres a copy paste of what it says.
Recruiting takes 130 Gallons of Gas per bus, per day at your current camp size.
You can send out a max of 411 buses for your land size and Vehicle Research
You need 1 staffed garage per 4 buses for fueling (max fueled buses: 1000)
Yes, those same garages can fuel another four buses for exploring.
You can only assign 1 bus per 50 people.
so from what that says with my VT research and land size i should be able to send 411 buses out recruiting so 411 buses at 50 pop each that's 20,550 people I should send recruiting then send the rest exploring and the next turn you'll prob be around 415 buses etc.. it always raises and so should your numbers.
derp's fast growth guide v3.1
this guide is not necessarily designed for "novices", but rather for those with a little bit of experience looking to push themselves.
A) Starting Essentials
1 minting license - invaluable to early growth. using auto-trade allows you to focus on growth during those early turns instead of having to panic of resources.
to get a minting license you must either donate $5 and trade it in for 2500 credits to buy it, or ask another player to give you enough if you don't want to donate.
2 mini-game - this is very useful for getting the early peoples. use the q key to skip and map that does not have a "survivor" on it. there are 4 different maps with survivors including 1 with 3. to save additional time after you have rescued the survivor(s), right click on the map and select "forward". the mini-map can be time consuming but a little bit of investment can go a long way in a quicker start.
B) Starting the Round
turn 1
mini-map to find survivors until your available shelter is -20. build a shelter 3. send everyone else exploring.
turn 2
mini-map to -60 shelter space, build 3 labs and 3 shelter 3's, set 3 messengers, buy minting license, assign minters, set autotrade to buy building supplies to 5, send everyone else exploring. [Never, ever, send people out recruiting unless you have the shelter space or are building it that turn. You WILL lose all the excess population when your recruiters return. - DB]
turn 3 +
each turn
(optional) mini-map for four additional survivors until you get buses, build about 1 lab and 2 shelters per turn until about 27 labs, send 1 recruiter and the balance exploring, make sure you auto-trade for buying is up to date
C) Research Order
marketing 10 - maxing value of minting license ASAP
tacking 10 - with marketing gives research for comm facilities. won't be powered but can still create/join alliances.
ingenuity 10
architecture 10 - can now build buses, buses = awesome, can also build factories which are the most important basic research early on and the only one you'll ever need if a goofball
vt 5 to 10 - boost bus gains
power 10 - gas generators = great efficiency and means you aren't reliant upon power mastery for growth.
recycling 10 (unless goofball)
vt 10-20
mastery
recreation 10
time management 5
recycling 10 (if goofball)
waste management 5
vt 20 to 40
path research
balance of research to fit your needs/desires/specialties
some research may vary based on mastery/specialty/play style. if it takes you to long to get through turns before mastery, add in recreation 10 and time management 5. if you feel like taking risks you can do the feed once every 4 days. this allows you to get with fewer people devoted to resources, but if you forget to feed you can lose 20% of your population. it also may let you skip/put off other research.
D) exploration recruiting ratios
until you have buses use 1 recruiter and send the balance exploring. there is less variance in exploring so your overall net returns will be better in the long run. make sure you have lots of shelter space to accommodate wandering survivors as they will be the big boosts to your population until buses.
after buses developed send at least 51 exploring and the balance recruiting. when applicable maintain a balance of 10% of your free population exploring and 90% recruiting. don't use exact percentages, just move exploring up in increments of 50.
when your recruits build up to 5 day max search, stop pushing extra people their and push them into exploring until exploring is at 2 day max, then push your recruiting to 20x circumference, then push explorers to 1/2 the 5 day max searched or enough to max out buses, whichever is higher.
E) buses = life
buses have many variables and you must pay attention to ALL of them. to send out more buses you need sufficient gas and garages, more land and more VT research and last but not least more actual buses which need lot space.
every bus you send out gives a bonus to your returns. this means sending 51 people and taking 2 buses is FAR better then sending 50 which only lets you take 1 bus. pay close attention to the italicized text in the recruiting/exploration screens as they glean very valuable information about your bus levels.
very frequently you'll short yourself buses form insufficient gas, garages or simply not having enough buses, so look to those problems first.
F) don't underestimate land size.
land and research are the only things you can't really "catch up on". there is no land aid. land size is the base core determinant in your exploration and population returns. while you can't catch up in research either you can easily make do with less, but this is not true with land. not only is there a betterment in returns, but also more space to put more key buildings.
COMMON MISTAKES
1) fearing leaving anonymity - this can lead to inhibiting your own growth... bad idea
2) over investing in research - research is important but you shouldn't inhibit your growth to achieve it.. in the long run you'll get more research faster by not over investing your manpower early
3) unlocking advanced research when you are not going nuke path, there are few rewards and nowhere near worth the effort for a non-nuke path and the penalties are severe to your regular research which is far more valuable to you
4) under-valuing getting a mastery - getting a mastery as fast as possible helps your whole team and yourself at the same time and when everyone in your alliance does the same thing you'll all become more powerful/efficient collectively far more so then worrying about your camp's individual status first
5) failing to realize how important growth is and most often overlooked is land you might ask but i don't even need the land that I've got, so why do i need more? the answer is because land is one of the staple elements in all returns and its the one resource that lacking it can slow you down and make it hard to catch up on... there is no "land aid" last thought - despite the value of land, ingenuity is not a valuable mastery because that variation in land returns is much smaller then recruiting returns
6) fearing being hit - during the early stages of the game your growth should be on an exponential curve so losses early tend to mean very little especially since the damage your opponents can do is very limited. later in the game you might find yourself doing crazy things to try and avoid being hit. usually you put yourself in a worse spot and get hit anyway. sometimes you're better off just taking your beating and move on. instead of that 50 turns you spend trying to run around with score and getting hit anyway you could have been 50 turns more towards rebuilding
7) rebuilding right away later in the game - often times when you get hit late in the game you may feel the urge to rebuild quickly. many times this results in whatever you just built getting blown up again. remember once your camp is blown to hell there is only so much left to destroy. fight the urge to rebuild instantly and instead wait till you have a good build-up of turns (300-400) and then rebuild... you'll be able to manage a MUCH more effective state that way and not have wasted turns just to see all the effort get reset again and again
8) if i leave everyone alone they won't attack me, they just won't notice me - this couldn't be more wrong... the more veteran the player the less likely they are to leave you alone. while they may not focus on you as an unknown, they (especially military minded players) will hit early and often and for as much damage as possible. additionally not taking advantage early can really come back to bite you and/or your allies later. There ARE times to strategically hold back, but if you won't attack because you hope to not get noticed is a pipe dream.
9) "there is noway i can possibly recover!" this game is designed for it to be very friendly in terms of rebuilding. and the later in the game the easier it is to rebuild. it may require that you sit tight for 300-400 turns, but with 300-400 turns and in an alliance with tracking mastery, you can recover at an astonishing rate. because of diminishing returns, when your population gets knocked way down you actually have the opportunity for very large returns, very quickly. many players go through the process of rebuilding every few days after getting pounded and go on to have very successful rounds. like anything more experience helps, but try not to get discouraged just because your camp lost a fight and you lost 80-90% of your civilian population. if you're in an alliance with population aid set up, this recovery can even be faster and more dramatic.
I would just like to add that while Derp was brilliant at this game, I always did WORSE when I followed his 'guide' then when I didn't. Same with Loki's guide (which is directed almost exclusively at mil pathers anyway). Derp's 'newbie mistake' guide is very useful, but everything should be taken with a grain of salt. This game very much comes down to personal playing style/preference/etc. Use this stuff as a starting point, but don't just stop there. Experiment. Find what works for you and what doesn't. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Everyone makes them, the important thing is that next round you learn from them. But mostly, play to have fun, not just to win. This game is unique in that there are tons of ways to 'win' other then pure score, and there are tons more ways to 'win' that you don't even get trophies for (for example, a personal favorite challenge of mine is to see how many masteries I can get in a round).
Title: Labby's Research Stuff
Subject: my thoughts and what not on research
Arguably the thing I'm best at in this game is research. It's kinda funny how many people ask me for research advice and what not. And research is definitely something almost all newbies, and even some vets struggle with. Well, here's a guide (of sorts) to research, as well as a few thoughts on camp builds as necessary.
Early game, many people make the mistake of spreading out their research too much. The get all sorts of topics to 10, then wonder why it takes them forever to get their mastery. With a little planning, you only need Marketing 10, Tracking 10, Ingenuity 10, and Architecture 10 (basically, unlock Comms and Factories/generators). Might also get PG to 5 (I often do, because no offense to anyone, but I'm the only one that can really get PG as fast as I need it). Then, get started on your mastery (if assigned) or role (such as unlocking vehicles). Get your high level research out of the way early, because the more research you have, the slower your research goes. Best to get the slow research out of the way before you get too much other research slowing you down. Remember, low level research (0-10) goes 2-3, even 4x as fast as high level (60-70) research.
Labs. Labs are one thing everyone underestimates. Many people are under the impression that over a certain amount, labs don't do anything. That's blatantly not true. However, how much labs help decreases as you number of labs (and amount of research) increases. I haven't actually crunched the numbers (and probably never will), but I know that with 3 masteries finished (by your camp that is), and running 3.5mil labs as a nerd, it takes an additional 1.5mil labs to make any sort of noticeable dent on your researching speed. However, if you take that same camp, and drop it down to 500k labs, your research will effectively halt, even on low level research. That's why I frequently get ungodly numbers of labs.
Masteries are where life gets interesting. Everyone wants the mastery that will help them most, instead of the one that will help the alliance most. That's why generally the Alliance Leader will distribute masteries based on who can use the other benefits the most (or in some cases who can get it the fastest). Typically, a Nuke Pather gets Power Gen, an Econer VT, Mil path Gardening and Mechanical Engineering, while Domestication and Tracking both go to whoever's willing to take them, and is hopefully nerd (or at least, not pop). There are 4 masteries that are pretty universally considered mandatory, and several more that are pretty handy to have. Then there's the ones that are almost useless. so first, the mandatory ones:
- Power Generation - Free power, saves TONS of pop on generators. Also allows whoever masters it to assign more pop to building cruise missiles, patriots, and sats.
- Domestication - 1/4s food usage. Also significantly increases production of farms for the camp that masters it
- Vehicle Transportation - Land vehicles use no fuel. Also allows the camp that masters it to send signifigantly more pop recruiting/exploring in buses.
- Tracking - Recruiters find max possible people. Also increases firepit production significantly for the camp that masters it.
- Gardening - lowers food intake of army to that of normal pop, and increases garden production for mastering camp. It should be noted that there's a bug that makes it so when both Gardening and Domestication are mastered, armies don't use any food at all.
Other useful masteries:
- Recycling Prospecting - Basically the same as Domestication, only for Disposables.
- Architecture - Significantly increases the defense each building gives, and you never have to worry about storms again, as buildings are now strong enough to withstand even the worst storm.
- Housing - further boosts the defense of shelters, and doubles how much each shelter can hold
- Ingenuity - Same as tracking, but for land.
- Coercion - minimum army competency set at Competent
- Recycling - Pop now use 0 disposables (except during winter). Buildings use the normal amount though.
Mostly useless masteries:
- Time Management - mastering camp gets an additional 100 turns. Alliance gets additional 100 turns of storage.
- Spatial Logic - Storage space is doubled, and food never rots again. Does not apply to lots or hangers
- Communications - Never have to build another comm relay again.
- Marketing - Eliminates taxes for the whole alliance. Does, however, have the useful side effect of making the camp that gets it have to pay their people basically nothing.
- Medical tech - Medical Facilities 100%
- Recreation - Same as MT, only for Recreation Centers
- Wall strength - Laser fencing. Makes ops victories vs the alliance virtually impossible. Militia, guard posts, walls, and barbed wire do basically the same thing.
- Waste Management - Eliminates all waste. Incinerators take up little room and take MUCH less research.
Ok, now that I've said all that, let me add that all masteries ARE useful. However, the last group I don't think are worth the time they take to get. Or the research. Also, there are no masteries for any T3 research topic (the purple ones), however, Mil Tactics and Weapon Design both increase army effectiveness, so it's not uncommon for mil pathers to get those to 70. Food Prep 5 effectively eliminates all rotting. I've never noticed that getting it higher helps anything.
The focus paths. The 3 paths are in no way created equal, most noticeable in research. Gold takes massive amounts of gold and pop, yet almost no research. Mil takes large amounts of both. And Nuke takes insane amounts of research, and a decent chunk of pop to boot. Many people say that Mil path is the most difficult path, because it requires large chunks of pop, and a decent chunk of research. I disagree that it's the hardest path, but I do agree that it's the hardest to win with. Anyone can do reasonably well at mil path with a little thought into what they're doing, and some planning ahead. Winning...well that mostly just takes luck. Nuke path take extreme amounts of planning ahead in research, but other then that is pretty simple (build up pop, build nukes, repeat). It should be noted that Nuke has the highest theoretical score (unmodified by vic score of course). Econ path is probably the easiest over all, as long as you can get the massive quantities of gold generally needed. However, Econ has a pretty solid cap on it because of the huge land demands (mil also has this problem, but can overcome it with Vic Score).
Well, I think that covers everything. If you still have questions, feel free to ask.
Mech Guide:
Every round I get people asking about mechs, and every round I tell myself I'm gonna sit down and write out a short guide to mechs. And every round I don't. This time I've decided to do it BEFORE the questions start rolling in. So here goes:
The common misconception is that all mechs are essentially the same, just getting better as with 'size'. The Med Mechs are basically just upgraded Light Mechs, and Heavy Mechs are just upgraded Med Mechs. In theory, perhaps, that's even true. In practice, it has been my experience that all are actually quite different, filling different roles
Light Mechs: The best mech for taking on Infantry and Choppers. Vehicles and other mechs shred them however. Recoilless Rifles also hold their own, but Light Mechs deal with them better then any of the other mech types.
Med Mechs: The best anti-tank vehicles in the game. Note that they also do nearly as well against choppers, and reasonably well against infantry. H Mechs still kill them though, and even Light Mechs do depressingly well against them (especially if they're defending). Generally considered the best all around Mech, and as such is the most frequently used
Heavy Mechs; Easily the most specialized of the mechs. They're the Mech-Killers of the game. They do alright against vehicles (though not as well as Med Mechs), but often get shredded by Recoilless Rifles and Choppers. Shock Pistol-wielding Militia have even been known to tear them a new one. I actually use H Mechs less then either of the other mech types because of how few a camp can have, their cost, and their limited role.
It's important to note that with good planning, the weaknesses of all the mech types can be almost completely nullified.
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