I’ve been playing for about two months (Level 85, CPT (328,000 valor), 530 Allies, 14K attack, 16K defense) and I’d like to share some thoughts on tips and tactics. I’m not an expert, and these are just my observations and opinions of what I’ve experienced. This game, that really has no end, is a marathon and not a sprint. So take your time, build slowly and have fun. I’m eager to hear your comments on my tips:
1. NEW PLAYERS:
a. BUILDING: Be VERY careful building your Shipyard. That’s one of the first things you’re prompted to build, but the location is tricky. The system will allow you to “expand” the land almost anywhere, but you might not have the right location where you can actually place the Shipyard. You won't know until the land is cleared, only to find you can't actually place the Shipyard at that spot, which is frustrating. I expanded three areas on shore until I found a place the Shipyard could sit. I was able to use those spots later for other things, like a Desalination Plant, but at the time it was agravating. You need an area that is about 2/3 land and 1/3 water. When you build something, look closely at the photo of the item to see how it needs to be placed (e.g., Dry Dock is similar).
b. GOALS: I usually follow the prompts to “build” this structure or “upgrade” to this level, however not always. Each time you complete one of the Goals, you get a bonus that might range from $15K to $200K. One of the early Goals is to make the Base look nicer by building four decorations. I did, then deleted them to save space for more structures. Later you’re prompted to build more decorations, which I did, and had to buy things a second time. Later still you’re asked to build 75 items. If you keep deleting items, you have to purchase them again. Also, the best thing to use for "decorations" to meet this Goal is "oil barrels". They are the cheapest thing and have a very small footprint, so you can place them in all the little gaps between buildings.
c. LAYOUT: Shove everything together tightly, like a game of Tetris. Many items have different footprints, so try to slide things around to maximize the amount of structures you can place in your base. I started trying to lay things out logically, barracks far from industrial buildings, guard towers around the perimeter, but realized that’s silly. You get no points for appearance. Just lay down as many income producing buildings as possible and make everything as densly paced as possible.
d. MONEY: You need money, LOTS OF MONEY. So your goal should be to constantly build MONEY BUILDINGS. While you’re building new structures (i..e, Oil Derrick, Storage Silo) you should also Upgrade existing facilities to increase the payout. It can get complicated to decide if you should spend X dollars to upgrade something in Y hours to get an additional Z dollars per hour, but that’s part of the fun of the game. Also, some will say to always upgrade facilities that pay out every 12-24 hours. There is some value to that train of thought. However when I play, I like to get money. So I’m happy to have my Supply Depot give me $1,440 every 5 minutes at Level 7. If I’m actively playing for an hour, it’s nice to get more money quicker. I’d rather spend $8K to upgrade my Storage Silo in eight hours to get a higher hourly payout rather than $693,000 to upgrade my Ore Mine to get $112,00 every 48 hours. There’s no right answer here, it’s just how you want to play the game.
e. VAULT: ALL MONEY SHOULD BE IN A VAULT. Always, Always, Always put your money in the Vault. Continually increase the size of your vault. It might cost $20,000 to increase your vault capacity, but you can lose that money in less than a minute if you’re attacked. You still have total access to your money, it’s just safe from being stolen. Always pay to increase your vault size. At later levels it will take over 100 hours, and you want to stay ahead of this time lag, becuase some Money Buildings cost a lot, and you dont' want to have $400,000 to $500,000 at risk if you're saving up for a $1,500,000 building and your vault is limited to $1,000,000.
f. MISSIONS: I like to do the Missions that are featured in the Goals. You Level Up quicker and get cash for each mission you complete. Also, I like to raid. But you have to be careful. Do “Raids” not “Attacks” when you’re new. Check your profile to make sure you know your “Attack” and “Defense” score. Click on small green Bull’s-eye icon, -> green Raid button, -> “Rival’s Profile” to see what their stats are. Don’t attack them if your attack score is lower than their defense score, look for someone else to Raid. With each Raid or Attack, you earn Valor Points. These are used to promote you. This is also key to increase your promotions.
g. BALANCE: Try to keep balanced in your game. Do missions, raids, building upgrades, new structures, and expanding your base. Initially, the focus needs to be on Money Buildings, but at level 85, when I see a PVT or SPC, that’s who I’ll raid. Those guys are being wiped out by everyone at level 85, I don’t see any way they can survive or grow. They are constantly being picked apart for money or units. With each raid, they loose money, units and valor points and are constantly being decimated. Don't be that guy. Do Raids and get promoted, but don't grow to fast or our of balance.
2. EXPERIANCED PLAYERS:
a. TROOP COUNT: I've discovered that after 50 units of each Troop, you don’t get “credit” toward your attack or defense score. So if you have 50 scouts, you get 50 defense points, but if you have 74 scouts, you only get credit for 50. So I stop buying units at 50, and divert my money for new units. I realize that some missions might require 75 Scouts or 90 Rangers, so when I have that mission, I will buy them, but when I’m looking to spend money, I’ll slowly build up units until they reach 50 and no further.
b. DEFENSE SCORE: When I’m trying to decide which units to buy, I divide the defense score by the cost and buy the unit with the higher number. For example, a Fighter Jet (1 point / $4,000) = 0.00025 points per dollar. A Ranger costs $2,000 with 1 defense point = 0.0005. If you have $4,000, It makes more sense to buy two Rangers and get 2 defense points instead of one Jet with only 1 defense point. This helps me to economically get the largest defense score.
c. ALLIES: The more the merrier it seems. I understand that the more allies you have, the more of YOUR UNITS come into play during a raid, however I’ve read some comments that having too many allies seems to hurt you. From what I’ve seen, the only factor in how you’re seeded is your Level. I’ve seen people at Level 85 with 150 allies and with 1,500 allies. So the number of Allies doesn’t seem to be a sorting factor, only the Level. So it makes sense to me to have as many allies as possible. Instead of spending GOLD on allies, just use this website to add allies, or just copy and paste the ID# that people post in Comments. It’s just as easy to Copy/Paste in MW that to type the numbers from this Forum. With the Forum, I’ve decided to send invites to people at the end of the list, working my way backward, instead of the beginning of the list, since the people who have posted their ID# more recently are likely to be more active players.
d. ITEMS: When a new item is released (e.g., Cosmonaut Box), immedialty use any gold you have saved to open the box the first time. You are likely to be the one of the "Top 250" or even "Top 50" and the awards you get are simply insane. For 15 gold bars, you would get a "Rugged Outlander" with an A/D score of 220/347. That's an AMAZING gift for just 15 gold bars. I didn't know this, and did the "free" opening, and when the system told me I had to wait 59 minutes, but that I only needed one "gear" to be in the Top 250, I was shocked. I was hoping to wait out the 59 minute delay, but with 16 mnutes left, the count went to 2 gears. In retrospect, I should have used 15 gold, reset the timer for 15 gold, and opened another box for 15 gold, but I didn't have 30-45 gold, becuase I squandered it early or wasted it on trying to defeat a Boss.
3. SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES (i.e., “Bosses” and packages) There are at least three types of special events that I’ve seen, 1) Bosses to beat, 2) Items to locate, and 3) Crates to buy. There are great benefits by collecting these items that I wasn’t aware of when I was new to Modern War, so here’s my tips:
a. BOSSES: Always fight these, even using money if necessary. Never use Gold, NEVER. There are three ways to fight the Boss, 1) a free “Quick Attack”, 2) a “Force Attack” which costs increasingly more money, and 3) a Mega Attack that costs gold. Each time you beat a Boss, you get a very valuable special troop. These troops are equivalent to those purchased with gold. They are also indestructible. So ALWAYS fight the Bosses and use both QUICK ATTACKS and FORCE ATTACKS to beat the boss. If you end up spending $20,000 to $40,000 on Force Attacks and win, you’ll get a great Gold Type Unit, and a huge amount of money as a bonus, which often exceeds what you spent. You might spend $20,000 to beat a Boss and get a unit that is similar to what would cost you 45 Gold Bars. You might have to time your attacks, doing a Quick Attack every 20 minutes so you can recover your health, to progress. I haven’t been able to defeat a Boss past the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] appearance using only money (i.e., $40,000 per Force Attack every 20 minutes). I wasted $320,000 over two hours with six attacks and the Boss didn't die before the time expired and he “escaped” so I lost my $320K. I’m not willing to use real money to buy Gold, so I’m happy with the six items I won. I've seen two or three "Bosses" so far, and I didn't take advantage of each Boss until the last round I played, becuase I didn't know how valuable the payout was.
b. ITEMS: These function like Bosses, but have a random feature. These are things like Nuclear Cores, HAZMAT Boxes, Launch Codes, etc. When you are fighting a Boss, if you defeat it, you get a Special Troop. There is a key difference with the "Items." You have to “open” the Item with one of three methods, 1) Free, 2) Pay, or 3) Gold. Only gold will open the item 100% of the time. Free seems to open the item about 10-20% of the time. Unlike a Boss however, you have to collect opened items (e.g., 2-4) to get a special troop. If you pay to open an item, you might get a troop or you might just get cash (e.g., $500,000) or you might not open the Item at all, so it's a big risk to use money to open Items. I rarely pay to open an item, unless I have lots of cash I don’t mind blowing.
c. CRATES: You can apparently buy a special crate with Gold. I’ve read that you usually get something great, but I’ve never done this. I don’t buy gold, but I collect it for free, but I’d rather just buy a Special Troop instead of buying a Crate and rolling the dice, but I'm eager to hear what experiances others have had.
4. GOLD & MONEY
a. FREE GOLD can be gathered easily, but slowly. You can get 1-3 gold bars each day, just by watching short ads (10-30 seconds). At the Gold Icon, click the small + sign, then “TAP TO EARN FREE GOLD”. Often, the top item will be to view some videos (e.g., Sprint cell phone, Jack Daniels, Visa). You can also sign up for various offers. Some are free, most cost you money. I’ve signed up for a few free ones and never got the gold, so I’m over that. IGNORE those posts that say "copy and post this message on 25 boards and get..." That's just silly spam.
b. FREE MONEY: You can get free money if you “visit” allies each day. You get can get up to $25,000 each day if you visit 25 allies. Every 24 hours you can repeat this. Click the Clipboard (Lower right), then Add Allies, then My Allies, then the red “VISIT” button. Just work your way down the list. Visiting up to 25 people. It’s a bit tedious, taking about 4-5 minutes to do this process 25 times, but it’s free money! While you’re visiting people, take some time to look at their Bases and get some ideas of how to set up your base.
c. DON'T WASTE GOLD: Don't use gold trying to defeat a Boss, buy a Medical Pack, upgrade a building early, restore your Stamina, etc. Just be patient and in a few weeks, you can buy a cool Special Troop that’s indestructible. Collect your gold slowly. I wasted it initially becuase I didn't know you could collect free gold, so learn from my mistakes. You get FREE GOLD when you are promoted from PVT to SPC to CPL. That’s 15 gold bars. At SGT and above, you get cash and special troops. So turn that initial 15 bars into something of lasting value.
I hope you found these tips helpful. If you appreciated this information, feel free to add me as an Ally.
My ID# is 968-554-392.
