Tug of War

## Introduction

Wing Fighter version 1.7.36, released October 16 2022, introduced a new challenge called "Tug of War" that gives players another activity that can produce resources like diamonds, fighter shards etc. and for the first time allows a way for direct player-vs-player contests.

Each player has their own asteroid field, which has various resources that can be scavenged. Fighters, from the player's existing arsenal, can be assigned to haul the resources. The fun begins if another player tries to grab the same resource, engaging in a tug-of-war, where the stronger fighter wins.

Here are the official rules from the in-game screen:

1. Rich mineral resources have been found in the Asteroid Belt. Each player can build a collection center and have its own mining area here.
2. In the mining area, one resource chest can be automatically refreshed per hour, up to a maximum of 8. Player can refresh resource chests manually.
3. The higher the level of the collection center, the higher the max level of the refreshed resource chests.
4. Player need to send fighters to escort resource chests back to the collection center. The higher the total power of the fighters sent, the less time it will take.
5. Player can loot other players' resource chests. A player can only be looted once by the same opponent at a time.
6. When two players scramble for the same resource chest, the player with the higher power will win. When both sides have the same power, the defending side will win.
7. When the number of resource chests in the player's mining area is less than 3, the resource chests cannot be looted.
8. Each transport or looting consumes 1 point of fuel. Replacing fighters during transport does not consume additional fuel.
9. 1 point of fuel can be automatically restored every 90 minutes. Player can store up to 16 points of fuel.

## Terminology

**The Mining Area**: Also known as "Field" - each player has one, which contains material that can be scavenged by the player, or looted by others. The mining area can hold up to 8 resources at the same time, with resources added at random times until capacity is reached. Up to 5 resources in the mining area can be "refreshed" (replaced with new resources) for free every 6 hours, or at any time by spending 60 diamonds.

**The Collection Center**: Graphically depicted at the bottom of the mining area, it's the place where all resources are collected. It can be leveled up by using Nano Material, which leads to higher level material being dropped in the player's mining zone. Collection Centers can go up to level 50.

**Resources/Material**: The stuff that can be scavenged or looted. This includes several types of stuff that can be used elsewhere in the game:

* Stars
* Fighter Shards
* Alloy Plates
* Diamonds
* Pilot EXP Cards
* Modules

A new type of resource is the "Nano Material". Nano is used only within the Tug of War challenge, to level up the Collection Center.

Each type of resource container also has a level, as indicated by the number on the bottom-left of the container. The higher the level, the higher the reward, Resource levels go up to 11.

**Fighters**: These are the regular fighters in the player's hangar, that perform a special role of hauling resources back to the player's collection center. Each fighter's battle power, as shown in the fighter selection screen, determines how much power they can use when hauling the resources. The higher the power, the more likely they are of fending off challenging players, and the quicker they bring the resource back to the collection center. Multiple fighters can be used for a haul, up to the resource's max power.

**Max Power**:

This is a special term that indicates the maximum amount of power that can be used to haul a specific type of resource. Even if the fighter used has higher battle power, only power up to Max Power Available is used. Max Power depends on the type of item (Diamonds seem to have the highest amount) and level (the higher the level, the higher the Max Power amount). If a fighter has battle power below Max Power, multiple fighters can be used.

**Transport**: Collect a resource from the player's own field. Collection takes a variable amount of time. Collection time is lower with:

* Shorter distance from the collection center
* Higher level fighters
* Lower level resources
* No looters challenging

**Loot**: Collect a resource from another player's field, challenging the other player in a tug-of-war if the resource is already being transported. Loot time is lower with:

* Shorter distance from the top of the screen
* Lower level resources
* Higher level fighters
* No player defending

**Fuel**: Each run (Transport or Loot) costs 1 unit of fuel. Each player has a fuel tank that holds 16 fuel units, and fuel replenishes at 1 unit per 90 minutes.

**Opponents**: Each player is randomly matched against a list of 3 opponents that they can Loot from. The opponents are typically, but not always, within 2 RC levels of the player. The opponent list can be refreshed every 5 minutes.

**Foes**: Players that have looted from you in the past 3 days. You can loot back, in a "Revenge" action.

**Refresh**: There are 2 types of refreshes available, a player can refresh up to 5 resources from their own Mining Area (they're replaced by 5 other random resources), and also refresh their list of Opponents. Each are free based on a timer, or can be done more often by spending diamonds.

## Gameplay and Strategy

Fuel is the limiting resource, that determines how often a player can scavenge resources. The player also constantly has to make decisions on whether to transport their own resources, or loot from another player.

1. **Build up your resource center first:** By leveling up your resource center, your own field generates higher level resources.
2. **Don't use all your fuel**: Save some for when good resources pop up in your field or in one of your Opponent of Foe fields.
3. **Don't challenge in tug-of-war unless you can win**: You can see the opposing player's fighter power and max power. If your own fighter can do better, consider challenging, otherwise don't bother and save your fuel. Remember: In a power draw, home field advantage (the "defending side") wins.
4. **Check both Foe and Opponent fields for good resources**: There's no functional difference between the two. Check as many fields as you have access to before determining what to use your precious fuel on.
5. **Play often**: New resources pop up frequently.
6. **Refresh your Opponent list sparingly**: If you have a high-level lootable opponent, consider keeping them on your list. A refresh may give you lower level opponents.

##### Types of players

* **The loner**: Usually high level players, that prefer to stay within their own field because it tends to generate better resources than most other players. Loners don't want to get on other players "Foe" lists by looting them, staying off the radar as much as possible. Loners also vigorously defend their own field from looters, especially for nano material, which they recognize as the most precious resource. Sometimes they bait other players by leaving high-level material on their field, waiting for looters and defending against them. They see this as a way of discouraging other players from looting.
* **The parasite**: Players that don't care so much about advancement of their own resource center, but prefer to loot other higher level players for resources. Parasites refresh their Opponent list until they find players with good resources to loot, sometimes stopping the refreshes once they find a high level player that may not defend often, keeping that player in their Opponent list like a prized possession. Parasites also hope that the players that they loot take revenge, so that they stay in their Foe list for 3 days, leading to repeated looting.
* **The opportunist**: Players that strike a balance between looting and upgrading, but don't have high enough resources to challenge the top players. Opportunists tend to pool fighters together to make targeted loot strikes when they think they have a good chance of success, but mostly operate in a stealthy way meant to not make waves and incur the wrath of those more powerful. Although viewing themselves as noble, opportunists aim to advance to high ranking positions.

## Other Resources

* Cost and benefits of Collection Center upgrades