Guide:Top10

Here's a new noob tip sheet: Realize, as the title says, that I've only been playing for 5 days, so these tips are written by a noob, for noobs. Criticism thus shouldn't be about how the strategies pointed to here don't jibe with yours at Level 6,000,000. Frankly, it's annoying as hell to hear a veteran player tell a noob that "Hedgehogs suck for mining and you should buy a Colubra with four mod slots and yadayadayada... what's the problem they only cost 50,000 credits! Geez, noobs don't know anything". What I AM looking for is criticism directed to the points I raise in the tip sheet. If I've made errors, which is quite probable, these should be corrected before the sheet goes to Noobland. Also, if you respectfully disagree with the strategies pointed out, great! Veteran comments which show why I'm wrong in my assumptions are welcome, not in the least because I'll learn from them.

Just please contain yourself regarding why these beginners' points won't work on Faction Planets or at high levels.

Thanks, Macunaima

13 things I wish I knew before I started to play Tinywarz (written 5 days after starting)

### Noob tip #1: You don't want a base.

Oooh, look! Buildings! They’re neat! They’re sexy! I gotta get me some right away!!! Right? Wrong.

As a noob, your main objective is to power up. This means lots of time spent on a training planet, shooting bandits (to get experience for your leader and crews) and gleaning ore (for money). Training planets allow you to deploy a base, but a refinery on a training planet only gives one ore a turn for sixty turns. It will cost you some 3 command to deploy, plus extra command for the power plant. Ore sells for around 3 creds; command points for 250. There is thus no way that a base on a training planet will ever pay for its deployment. It is a complete and utter waste of resources.

**Moral:** Do not buy bases until you’re off the training planet.

### Noob tip #2: It’s all about credits.

Credits are the medium by which the cost of everything can be compared. Take the time to cost something out before you build it. Maybe you can buy it cheaper on the black market. Here’re some basic prices for you to use in your estimates (realize that these all fluctuate according to supply and demand):

1 ore = 4 creds (actually closer to 5 creds when you consider noob CPs spent to extract)

1 command point = 450 creds

1 tinybuck = 15,000 creds

Now, given this, let’s take a look at prices on the black market. A Hedgehog Utility vehicle takes 450 ore to build and 3 command points. That prices out to 3150 credits or the equivalent of 787.5 ore. As I write this, there are seven Hedgehogs on the black market for under 1000 creds and three under 500.

**Moral:** Do not build something before you see if you can get it cheaper on the black market.

*(As of 15feb2010, the Market Price for ore is 1.10 a unit, and command points sell for 180 creds apiece, so construction vs. buying on the market is not as clear-cut, particularly for mods and buildings. **However!** The basic principle - calculate out the cost to construct it yourself, then compare to prices on the Market - is still useful.)*

### Noob tip #3: When it’s not about credits, it’s about Command Points.

Noobs tend to pooh-pooh Command Points. You get 50 of them for free everyday without even paying, right? Ironically enough, though CPs are free everyday, they are the second most precious resource in Tinywarz – second only to Tinybucks. You need command points to do pretty much everything in the game – certainly everything FUN. It takes 3 CPs just to mine, and that’s with your crappy Hedgehog which will spill half the ore lode across the landscape getting it out. It takes another 1% of your army's combat efficiency in CPs to land on a planet (that's usually 10 CPs). And, of course, it takes CPs to build anything.

All this means that you need to economize CPs as much as possible: if you don't use them, someone else will buy them from you. In fact, the EASIEST (but least fun) way to make money as a noob is to SELL your CPs (unfortunately, only possible if you are a paid player). 3 CP, sold for 750 creds, is a much better "buy" than than the 150-200 ore (450-600 creds) that those CPs will extract from a mining operation.

The easiest way to economize CPs is to quickly finish your turns on planet. You get .1% of your army's CE value back in CPs every time you click on “end turn” while it’s yellow. The second easiest way to economize CPs is to buy on the black market rather than build, as buys cost nothing at all in terms of CP.

One way in which is easy to lose Command Points is by evacuating from a planet before its hits horizon. This costs your drop fee once again. And if you REALLY want to burn through your CPs like a faction lord, drop and evacuate REPEATEDLY during the same orbit...

**Moral:** Save CP as much as you can by fast turns and buying on the black market.

### Noob tip #4: Strux are lost when your trade them.

Unlike many other games, technology is not permanent in Tinywarz. Tinywarriors are barbarians who can read but can’t remember or think for themselves. In order to build anything, they need plans – strux. If you give away or sell your strux, you will no longer be able to build what they represent. Strux come in three flavors: simple, intermediate and advanced. The more advanced, the rarer and more difficult it is to get. It’s like a booster pack in a trading card game: a strux set comes with an advanced, a couple of intermediates and a bunch of simples.

**Moral:** Do not sell or trade strux until you know what you can use them for. You may not get them back soon. Don’t trade advanced strux for simples, one-for-one.

### Noob tip #5: For noobs, it ain't about tinybucks.

On day two, I traded four irreplaceable Strux for four tinybucks. Have I done anything with those TBs since? Hell no. Well, I managed to sell one of them for 16,000 creds, which was an OK deal, but… TBs are good for several things, none of which need concern you until you get above level 5 and leave your starting faction. They allow you to revive crew who are above level 5 in experience and this is good, but you won’t have any of these for at least a week. Apparently, they’re good for faction operations and you can also use them to buy paid days and sets of strux, but those cost a hell of a lot. If you're playing on that level, bite the bullet and just PAY Frizz for days or sets of strux. It’s cheap and the man’s children need to eat.

**Moral:** Don’t worry about tinybucks until you start getting some crews above experience level 5.

### Noob tip #6: Do not join a faction until you know what they are about.

You begin in either the Rebel Combine or United Federation default factions. When you join a player faction, you lose the ability to use the RC/UF's strux, which contain all the beginning units. In fact, you may find that you can't build anything if you join the wrong faction… and there are plenty of crappy factions out there.

Having one’s own faction is THE status symbol for mid-range players who like to feel that they are “making it” in the game. But factions are only useful when there are a lot of players in them, contributing to the common welfare of everyone. Factions get stronger from recruiting new players, so every day you'll receive at least 5 or 6 invitations, many from factions that were born yesterday. These mean nothing. They do not prove that the faction likes you or that your fellow players think you’re hot. Think of these invites as the tinywarz version of junk mail and toss them out.

If you are a polite, productive and useful player, you’ll be able to pick your faction when YOU are ready. You should only think about doing this when you’re about to leave the training planet, around experience level 5. Until then, try to learn about what each faction is like and what they can offer YOU.

If you DO drop into the wrong faction, be aware that you can drop right out again without an invite into the default factions. You'll be randomly posted to either the UF or RC. By the way, faction leaders get 20 tinybucks if you sign up with them and THEN become a paid player. One strategy, then, is to power up, join the faction of your choice and politely ask that half of that bonus - or 10 TB - be remitted back to you. Hell, it's your cash, right? And even if you don't do this, if you have the patience to wait to powerup before paying, you'll give the faction of your choice a nice little wedding gift when you join.

**Moral:** Stay in the Rebel Combine or United Federation, the beginning default factions, until you are familiar with the game's other factions and can choose which is right for you.

### Noob tip #7: Your first goal is to get money and experience.

As a noob, the way to get cash and experience is to go to a TRAINING PLANET (different from the PRACTICE PLANET), shoot up bandits (which gives your crews and leader experience) and mine ore (which you can sell for credits). Here’re a few things to keep in mind in order to maximize your noob ops on the training planet:

1) Drop onto a planet at the beginning of its orbit and stay until horizon. Training planets have an orbit of 60 turns. It costs you 1% of your army’s total CE in command points (+/- 10) in order to drop and it’s free to go back up as long as you stick out the whole cycle. This means you should get in early and stay until you're automatically kicked back up due to the planet crossing the horizon.

2) Pick on weak bandits, run from strong. Let the vets sneer at you for running. They can afford to. Losing a Hedgehog to a bad combat result will cost you 300-1000 creds – 2100 if you build it. The average noob mining expedition takes back 1000-1500 ore (that’s 4500 credits). One bad combat result can really screw with your bottom line… and then there’re costs for crew resurrection to consider and any mods you may have lost on your vehicles. In my first few trips to training land, I left the landscape scattered with expensive scrap…

3) Do not salvage. Sure, it looks like free ore, right? Wrong. The salvage order costs 3 command to give (750 credits) and most dead bandits won’t return more than 50 ore (150 credits). You thus blow 600+ credits on every salvage op.

4) Mine ore until it’s gone. This is obvious. It costs you 3 command (750 credits) to do a mining op and you’re not likely to get back that cost if you scram before tapping the mine for all it’s worth.( From darrentbc, you cant move while mining)

5) When all else looks bad, stay at home and sell command. Given the poor mining capacities of noob vehicles like the Hedgehog, you might actually make MORE money staying at home than mining. A mining op costs 3 command points (750 credits) and often gives back far less than the 250 ore which would be needed to break even. In other words, if you don’t mind sitting on your butt for a week, you can accumulate 350 command points as an unpaid player. These can be sold, when you are a paid player, for 87,500 credits. The 10 trips to the training planet that those command points would finance, on average, will net you 15,000 ore if you're lucky, or only 45,000 credits. Thus, if you have great discipline, I suggest that you log on only once a day to learn the rules and talk, maybe go to the practice planet for a few battles. Start week two by becoming a paid player (100 command per day), sell your accumulated CPs and put together the tailor-made noob force of your dreams.

Remember, however, that you need to be a PAID PLAYER before you can sell CPs, so this strategy only works if you are planning to pay up sooner or later.

**Moral:** Mine and gain experience for your first week of play on the training planet. Stay there, no matter how tempted you are to drop elsewhere.

### Noob tip #8: Mining costs lots of command points. Raids for experience cost little.

You may be able to organize three or four good mining missions a day if you scrimp and scrounge command points, use cheap units and run from most bandits. However, there will come a time when you’re down to, say, 20 command or less. Instead of wasting that on a run that will only allow you to mine 4 or 5 times, take your best unit, put your commander in it, team it up with a crew that needs experience and go kill bandits on the training planet. 2 units are quick and easy to maneuver. If you use them in tandem to only kill bandits that are as weak as or weaker, you’ll quickly run up a lot of experience with little risk. Also, experience gained is in inverse proportion to your force size. This means that low CE armies gain experience quicker than high CE armies. Finally, the fact that you only have two units means that you’ll be getting command point refunds for quick play every turn. If your attack force is less than 1000 CE and you really click fast on the "end turn" button, those 20 command points can mean three trips planet-side to earn experience. Rotate your crews through your second unit so that they all get experience and allow them to kill some stuff, too (i.e. don't kill everything with your commander or only he will grow).

**Moral:** When low on command, stop mining and start raiding for experience.

### Noob tip #9: Don’t sweat the upgrades for your commander.

Your commander is the only crew whose abilities you can control. There are three sorts of upgrades you can buy for him with level points, gained from experience: gunnery and pilot skills (the color bars on your crews), special commands you can give to your units (like mining and salvage, which you begin with) and special abilities. You can buy a few upgrades of these at the beginning and almost every noob quickly finds he hates what he bought. DON’T PANIC! The only thing you really NEED to consider at first is if you want your commander to be able to pilot a meka right off the bat. If you do, you need to upgrade his piloting skill by one, immediately. If it's all too much for you to think about at first, a very good beginning mix is an upgrade to piloting and gunnery skills. Otherwise, there’s plenty of time for you to make up abilities later. You get points for going up each level and you won’t be doing anything serious until level 5 anyway. This gives you time to get a feel for the game and figure out what kind of ability strategy you want to use for your commander. When in doubt, I’d say choose mining or gunnery related abilities. Gunnery will help you kill things and thus gain you more experience and skill upgrades faster. Mining will allow you to conserve those precious command points by making ore extraction operations quicker and easier. The only thing you absolutely SHOULDN’T buy in the beginning are union-related abilities, as these are only good for buildings, which you won’t be deploying as a noob (see Tip #1).

**Moral:** Don’t buy building related abilities. Otherwise, there are no ability choices that are so bad you’ll need to start over.

### Noob tip #10: Be considerate and polite, even when you're killing people.

This should be obvious to anyone out of their teen years, but seeing as how many noobs aren’t… Tinywarz is a SOCIAL game, not a computer game. Aside from bandits, everything you see is controlled by someone, somewhere. If you log on and start filling the chats with spam, beg for gifts, whine, refuse to read the noob guides before asking questions regarding play, or gratuitously insult other players, you will quickly make a reputation of yourself as a jerk and someone to be avoided or killed. Any hole you can dig yourself into in Tinywarz can eventually be gotten out of except this one. If people associate your handle with a disagreeable player, your only choice will finally be to dump your position and all you’ve invested in it and START OVER.

You may be 10. You may be 50. I guarantee that there are people of both ages and everything in between playing this game. Tinywarz is a social environment open to everyone. If you run around playing the snot-nosed brat or the know-it-all curmudgeon, people will remember and your gameplay will eventually suffer accordingly.

So… Play nice.

Note that this doesn't mean BE nice. Kill whomever you want. Blow stuff up. Backstab people. But as they say, "It's all in the game. It ain’t personal”. If you gank someone, it costs you nothing to be cordial afterwards. As a corollary, I suggest that if you want to play the high-rollin’ playakilla, you start by slapping around players who routinely make pests of themselves, not just to you but to everyone in Tinywarz. (Great. I’ve just put a big target on my forehead for every f@#ker out there who thinks that advice like this IS pesty and annoying. Nevertheless, it needed to be said).

**Moral:** Gentility generates gentility. Be cordial to people, even as you gank them, and it'll probably generate some good karma for you. At the very least, it'll ameliorate some bad karma. An entertaining psychopath is much more fun to play with than an annoying one.

### Noob tip #11: Avoid Salvaging.

It's not worth your while to salvage stuff on training planets. It will cost you 2 command points to do it, but you'll probably only get 1 ore for it. Do the math.

**Moral:** Don't salvage, especially on training planets.

### Noob tip #12: Don't buy stuff you can't use.

If you're an unpaid player, you can't use unique mods and vehicles. For this reason, don't buy them unless they are an investment to sell to someone else.

**Moral:** If you're unpaid, be aware of what you can and can't use.

### Noob tip #13: Don't go straight for paid days.

When you are first starting, you should focus first on your own level until you reach level 5, and then train some crews to at least level 5. Only then should you worry about paid days, because if you don't have any crews with which to use intermediate/advanced units with, why have them?

**Moral:** Don't buy paid days right away!

V1.3 upgraded on 5.4.07, 11:31, United States Central Time. Contributions included in this update from Paladinlove, Cma, Tessie, RoseThorn, F22Raptor and whistles384. Plus CBX taught me a lot of what I know.