how are people getting through these stages so fast? just took me like 6 months or sometime to super ascend for a 5th time

By the time you hit SA6 you should have some pretty decent artifact wealth and at least a couple +%AP boosts. Those make a big difference in both getting your AM up to where it needs to be faster and also reducing the required armies from AM to clear a level, as well as getting you to the first market faster.

In general, a level should look like*:
- cache surf + CRA to first market (<1h)
- drain market, buy mercs and repeat until you have all Hospitals and Markets (~5-10m)
- upgrade hospitals if needed (0-4h)
- clear the remaining 80-90% of the level (~5-10m)

On SA1, you won't have a good enough AV artifact to do this, and even if you did, you would come up short on armies anyways, because your AM isn't high enough. That means there's another step after the last one above which reads something like "- wait on army camps/drafting to fill the army shortfall (hours, days, weeks, ...)", which is by far the slowest part of an Idle level. This is why AM is the most important advancement to take and one of the reasons why A$B is one of the most popular artifacts (and almost certainly the best first Insane) - they're the most effective way to shrink and eventually eliminate this step entirely. Once you get there, you too can start knocking over levels in basically the time it takes to upgrade the Hospitals.

One wild guess: Are you dumping a whole lot of AP into IACP? If so, that's a trap and will be a big reason why you're going so slowly. IACP seduces you in the early levels where it still makes a difference, but it rapidly becomes irrelevant (moreso the later you get in the levels) and drains AP that could have been spent on AM.

* The early levels (before Far Land) have mediocre to non-existent cache surfs, and the very early ones lack Markets entirely. This makes them a constant boondoggle and generally problematic/slow. For a 6 month long SA they're probably a drop in the bucket for you still.

ahhh interesting. I do a little IACP but will stop. have insane alloy, army cache, time warp and army camp production as artifacts.

is joint strike still the premier advancement or should it all go to additional mercs? How far up do people generally boost it, 150%?

what's cache surf and CRA? do you even upgrade army camps, or anything really? or put all money to mercs and hospital, ignoring the skill tree?

Edited 10/29/2024 18:03:31

A little IACP is ok, it's pretty cheap up to 100% or so. 500% is very expensive though. See my posts over here for a more thorough breakdown: https://www.warzone.com/Forum/778254-phase-four-advancementslegendary-recommendations

JS is incredible but so obviously good and cheap that hardly anybody doesn't max it out very early on, so it's just generally more or less assumed that you max it ASAP. I take AM up to 125% now, but I don't play many levels before SAing again and have significant artifact support as well. You'll need to figure out what you actually need for your specific situation, as it will change over time. You will probably need a segue into IASV and MD before you get AM up to your target, where exactly depends on your +%AP and what levels you're playing.

CRA = Clan Request Armies
cache surf = hop from army cache to army cache (ignoring everything else) until you hit the first market

Most levels have a "gap" in the army caches available where you won't have enough to get to the next one, that's generally where you want to fire off your CRA to bridge the gap. If you do it right, you don't need to use any active artifacts nor any powers. Insane A$B helps a lot, Legendary A$B is still workable though.

For the post-early levels, I stop upgrading army camps after I fire off my CRA, as that's moments before I hit the first market and army camps become completely irrelevant. I buy the tech that matters using the markets (better hospitals and cache tech - sometimes also the cheaper merc techs, depends on the level). Mines are 99% ignored, with two notable exceptions (Geopolitics (not post-early, but noteworthy anyways) and HRome). Most levels have tons of money left over at the end that's basically useless.

18 supers: +250%AP, 10 artifact slots:



P.S. Probably last SA which I got enough SL without playing extra levels before hex.

Thirty-sixth Super Ascend!

New bonus: +25% AP
Kept: Insane A$B, ACampB, Legendary AV, TW, SAC, RCB, MD, CB, BMB, TMB, MCB, HB, Rare HB, IM, DB, SAC, Uncommon SC
Bonuses: +15 slots, +450% AP, 0.8^3 dig time

My Legendary MCB finally finished cooking this SA and using it was underwhelming, much like last time. There are a few instances where it's noticeable but mostly it's not really worth the swap in/out.

The extra AP altered my path a little again. After Far Land (and HFL) I jumped to 1066 AD and then on to HOT and HScandi followed by AEG (swapped with China to farm an SL) and Hex Earth. It's getting to the point where I almost don't play any post-early levels anymore, which is a weird feeling. The large AP dump from HFL continues to grow and really pushes along the SA. Soon I'll probably jump straight from HFL to HOT. I'm not there yet, but I'm starting to see a future where taking +100 starting AP would be more helpful than +25% AP, as the +25% AP has a fairly small impact on the early levels.

Next up: +25% AP, TBD

I have super-ascended a twenty-seventh time.

Boon chosen: +1 artifact carryover

Total boons: +300% AP, +15 artifact

Artifacts carried over:

* Insane Army Cache Boost
* Insane Army Camp Boost
* Legendary Alloy Values
* Legendary Supercharge Army Camp
* Legendary Time Warp
* Legendary Mercenary Discount
* Legendary Resource Cache Boost
* Legendary Cache Boost
* Legendary Bonus Money Boost
* Epic Hospital Boost
* Epic Territory Money Boost (wzib; upgrade)
* Epic Triple Strike (HCCC)
* Epic Idle Time (wzib fodder)
* Rare Money Cache Boost
* Rare Speedy Crafters (wzib keeper)
* Rare Inspire Mercenaries (upgrade)
* Uncommon Item Values (downgrade)

Next time: maybe another +1 artifact

13th SAsc for me fellaz…another +25% AP leaving us at 200% AP boost and 7 artis: ITW, IIM, ISAC, I$B, IA$B, IACB, IAV

Took me longer this time because I ran out of SL’s but I have to start getting used to it.

Everything’s coming up chillhouz!

Thirty-seventh Super Ascend!

New bonus: +25% AP
Kept: Insane A$B, ACampB, Legendary AV, TW, SAC, RCB, MD, CB, BMB, TMB, MCB, HB, Epic IM, HD, TS, Rare SC, SS
Bonuses: +15 slots, +475% AP, 0.8^3 dig time

Bringing the HB back up to Legendary again completes the set of regularly used artifacts in Legendary. I'll have to math it out a bit, but I believe I can bring down my final AM target a little again (from 125%). With EH out of the picture, the new bottlenecks are HScandi and Hex Earth (although the Legendary HB isn't relevant here).

Despite the extra AP, my path didn't really change this time. I am getting closer to jumping straight to HOT from HFL, but not there yet. After that, I'm not sure what the next speedup is, maybe bringing Breaking Green down to L2 hospitals, which is semi-close. Anything beyond that is pretty far away though.

One of my Rare yolo digs at the end turned up an Uncommon. While that didn't make me a liar for once, I did opt to cash in some CW artifacts to bring my 2x Uncommon up to Rare. I'll have to start taking slots again soonish or make another Insane.

I'm still not sure what my next Legendary will be, the current default is IM, but I'm only lukewarm on that at best. We'll see what RNG drops in my lap.

SA38 will be the last I'll have a super-SL for! Technically, Plateau Assault has 2 more SL available, which will allow for another super-SL, but that won't be until SA41.

Next up: +25% AP, TBD

Thirty-eighth Super Ascend!

New bonus: +25% AP
Kept: Insane A$B, ACampB, Legendary AV, TW, SAC, RCB, MD, CB, BMB, TMB, MCB, HB, IM, Rare SC, ACD, SS, TW
Bonuses: +15 slots, +500% AP, 0.8^3 dig time

This was technically my first 3 day SA (in that the day only changed 3 times, but it really took just under 4 days). I had the benefit of being able to super-SL to Hex, but not needing to farm any SLs after... because there aren't enough for another super-SL left! Next SA will take me through Plateau Assault and that will take longer, especially the first time as I have no idea what I'm doing there.

My second Hex run is now quite comfortably pushing me past the AP required to complete P4, I'm probably not too far off from being able to drop down to just one Hex run and save the IM, I still have tons of IMs left though, so I'm not too worried about that.

Speaking of IM, I ended up making a Legendary IM as nothing else more interesting presented itself. I still don't have any plans to use it, but we'll see. The next Legendary is even more up in the air. I guess I should start thinking about my next Insane some more.

Next up: +25% AP, TBD

I ran out of skips around super 24, and stopped running Hex.

I ran out of skips around super 24, and stopped running Hex.

That's an option too, although I can't say I love it at this point. That would mean probably ascending (and thus playing EH), and roughly a dozen HOT/HScandi/HRome runs vs 1-2 Hex runs. I'm pretty sure I can make Plateau Assault faster and less painful than that, but we'll see soon.

Is Plateau Assault faster than Siege Of Pameromon? Siege has bigger army cache.

Is Plateau Assault faster than Siege Of Pameromon? Siege has bigger army cache.

A fine question! I have no idea, I haven't played either of them yet. I know Plateau Assault is the go-to level for Zinthos and Xeno though, so that's where I'm starting. It is the max distance (so, "easiest") level from Hex though, assuming CSL10. To get to Siege of Pameromon you would also have to complete EH (with CSL10), which is a bit of a downer in and of itself.

Falling in love with idle again after almost 2 years. That's my 4th super

Edited 11/9/2024 17:49:16

5th super took +25%
Bonuses
+50% AP, 3 slots

Insane AV,ACB,ACB,QS.
Rare CB

50th Super Ascension

Total bonus: +800% AP, +200 starting AP, 18 total slots

Artifacts:
Insane Army Cache Boost
Insane Army Camp Boost
Insane Hospital Boost
Legendary Alloy Values
Legendary Supercharge Army Camp
Legendary Time Wrap
Legendary Mercenary Discount
Legendary Resource Cache Boost
Legendary Speedy Crafters
Legendary Cache Boost
Legendary Inspire Mercenaries
Legendary Idle Time
Legendary Tech Discount
Legendary Triple Strike
Legendary Bonus Money Boost (upgrading)
3x filler slots

The current artifact goal is to make an insane inspire mercenaries, so each super will no longer consume IM powers from levels. Then, continue to accumulate artifacts to upgrade cache boost to insane for another 12.8% boost.

For bonuses, I'm trying to grab a few +100 starting AP to jump start the very early stages, probably planning to get to +400 before switching back to stacking more +AP% again.

I have super-ascended a twenty-eighth time.

Boon chosen: +1 artifact carryover

Total boons: +300% AP, +16 artifact

Artifacts carried over:

* Insane Army Cache Boost
* Insane Army Camp Boost
* Legendary Alloy Values
* Legendary Supercharge Army Camp
* Legendary Time Warp
* Legendary Mercenary Discount
* Legendary Resource Cache Boost
* Legendary Cache Boost
* Legendary Bonus Money Boost
* Legendary Territory Money Boost (upgrade)
* Epic Inspire Mercenaries (upgrade)
* Epic Idle Time (kept fodder)
* Rare Hospital Boost (downgrade)
* Uncommon Money Cache Boost (downgrade)
* Uncommon Item Values
* Common Ore Values
* Common Tech Discount (fodder)
* Common Speedy Smelters (fodder)

Next time: who knows

19 supers: +250%AP, 11 artifact slots:



2 Firsts in this SA: 1st faster than two weeks and 1st without using sSL.

Thirty-ninth Super Ascend!

New bonus: +1 slot
Kept: Insane A$B, ACampB, Legendary AV, TW, SAC, RCB, MD, CB, BMB, TMB, MCB, HB, IM, Epic ACD, MC, TS, Rare SC, OV
Bonuses: +16 slots, +500% AP, 0.8^3 dig time

RNG really had its way with me this time. Not only did it once again make me a liar by dropping a Rare SC into my lap from a Rare dig early on (no better dig available at the time), but it then proceeded to skunk me on three Uncommon digs, leaving me bottlenecked on digs at the end of the SA. It's not all bad though, I would have needed the extra slot soon and having the slack Rare helps noticeably. I could technically have just stopped digging when I turned up the Rare too, but that would be silly.

My first Assault of the Plateau went reasonably smoothly. It tacks on another 2h to an SA because it requires L2 hospitals, but that plus Hex is still broadly preferable to the alternative. Somewhat to my surprise, I was able to buy all of the mercenaries on PA by the end, meaning I had plenty of armies left over. If I didn't have Insane A$B and Legendary MD plus RCB, I suspect it would have been a whole lot rougher. The last two resource caches there are actually pretty juicy, whereas the money caches are quite weak.

I ran the numbers this SA and concluded that L2 hospitals Breaking Green should be feasible now, and will try that next SA. If it works, that would leave only three levels still needing L3 hospitals (SoF, CCC and China).

I also realized that the jump straight from HFL to HOT I've been moderately excited about coming up soon actually doesn't matter at all, because to reach China I'll still need to finish at least one more regular level after Far Land.

Next Legendary is... I guess... probably ACD. Not sure how much I'll actually bother to use that, but there you go.

Another first this SA was that I was able to crack P4 before starting Hex. I had a monstrous 15% BH for that first run, which made it slightly easier.

Next up: +25% AP, TBD

what was your strategy at Assault of thr plateu? did you used IM power?