For Epics I have

SAC
ACampB
TMB
ACacheB
AV

Currently a batch of Uncommons are upgrading to Rares and in 16 hours +/- I'll have the following Rares

TMB
QS
ACacheB
RCB
AC

So soon I'll be able to kick-off the Rares upgrading to one Epic and the Epics off to the first Legendary. But which Epics to Legendary of the choices?

I need help deciding if I should upgrade SAC or AV to legendary.

I'm going with TMB for the Rares to Epic.

TIA.

i would go with AV, with the extra money it bring in, you should be able to just buy all the armies you need (provided you didnt waste AP on useless advancements)

AV assuming you do market strat.
If you don't know market strategy, learn market strategy.

AV is the easy choice for Legendary here. For Epic, I would go with ACacheB given those choices.

Thanks for the replies.

I've been using SAC in the Epic and it has 2h41m before an AV upgrade to legendary can start. Once it's ready it'll go into upgrade mode.

I kinda did waste AP at first and I won't waste 150 to rebalance. :)

So far increased army camp production is at 490% of 500% and additional mercenaries is 50% of 150%.


Is improving additional mercenaries w/AP and buying them with TMB a better value over ACacheB?

I'm in Rise and Fall of Roman Empire right now collecting 18.2817k money per second w/Epic TMB. Without TMB the collection is 12.8594k /s. That's noticeable.

Epic ACacheB is +16% increase. But how do we know the base number in the cache before bonus?

It sounds like you're not playing with Market Strat. Normally your income from territories/bonuses becomes utterly irrelevant as soon as you reach the first Market. A high quality TMB can help you get to the first Market a bit faster, but ACacheB is better because it makes cache surfing better and it also gives you more troops in general for the entire level, to a non-trivial degree. As mentioned above, you should read up on Market Strat.

AM is the single most important advancement. IACP is nearly irrelevant (except for WZIB, and until you reach the first Market (where it is useful to boost your drafts and your FC/CR size)). With only 50% AM, you'll be stuck filling out armies at the end of levels with army camps for a loooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggg time. With enough AM, you can eliminate that slog at the end entirely.

If you're crunching nearly all of your artifacts into just one L and one E, I might suggest taking a pause on that. AV, SAC and ACacheB are all really important artifacts, going without any of them will be rough. That being said, SAC is useful at any rarity, even poor, the other two much less so. Everything else you listed is far from a top 3 pick and I wouldn't feel too bad about crunching.

Also, https://pkmx.github.io/wzi-levels/ can tell you, among other things, how many armies are in the army caches on a level.

Good points & links.

At the beginning of the game I was focusing on building armies, scoring techs and digging artifacts for AP. The AP was used on increased caches, mine production, etc. These were needed for scoring tech. Getting all the techs and digs increase AP and that was my strategy.

After reading many posts I'm convinced of MS.

Most of the artifacts were cashed. AV is upgrading to L and will be ready in 4d1h. The TMB to E will be ready in 1d14h. Now I'll focus AP to AM. The JS is maxed so all was not wasted.

Does AP carry over from level to next level?

It's easy to get caught in the army camps trap based on the early levels where they actually matter (especially when you have no artifacts and no advancements). But, the further you advance the more you'll see their contribution shrink compared to your total armies earned (visible with stats 1+), <1% is very normal for later levels.

AP and advancements are permanent, and so stay with you from level to level (until you Superascend, but don't worry about that yet).

I have maxed out additional mercs and have epics for army, territory $ and bonus $ boosts. With the market strategy, money is not a problem so AV at epic is fine. I just made my first legendary and I chose Triple Strike. This is a BIG impact on clearing the biggest territories in each level, saving mercs and IMs. My next legendary will be QS and then AV. Getting more money from markets is not needed right now (I'm in phase 3) as I am mainly constrained by hospital upgrade times. Eventually AV will be more valuable , but not yet. So far, the only level where epic AV falls short is Treskelion but Super Power IM on the 99B (250B with max increased mercs) merc camp gave me 2.5T mercs and an immediate ability to clear the map.

At this point I've got

AV - Legendary
TMB - Epic
ACampB - Rare

Some other lower stuff.

IACP is @ 480% of 500%
AM is @ 62.5% of 150%
JS is maxxed @ 25%

I've been applying all AP to AM.

I'm trying to figure out how to get more AP. I get the levels done before all the digs are complete.

in 100 000 AP point, it will be super ascend n°3 for me.
It is very long.

I have 2 insane artifacts : alloy value and army cache boost.

it is time to have a new artifact in superascend, no? It would be a legendary.

Wich one? army camp boost? hospital boost? draft boost? superchareg army camp?Other?

My preference would be sac, followed by acampb, then HB

Experience is a great teacher. I changed my mind. I'm running out of money about 70% thru Hardened China. Back to mining for cash so I can complete upgrade of last two hospitals. Still think TS was the best first legendary but my second one will be AV and then QS.

TS and QS is a bit overkill, but if it works for you that's great!

+1 to Otto's answer

Koala, Most maps have 3-4 territories that require QS to complete quickly. Legendary TS and QS both return plenty of armies (equal to free Inspire Mercs) and can be used at the same time. And after the 16 hr cool down, can both be used again. So having both should save a day on most maps (I complete most maps in 2-3 days. Saving a day is 33%.). When I can complete a map in hours instead of days, having both will be redundant, but at where I am now (rare/epic, phase 3) it is the clear correct choice IMO.

Lets define "quickly" here. During my first ascension, several maps took me several days. Having a legendary TS would be amazing back then and feel like rushing instead of sloggy progress.

However, the goal must be to finish a map within, lets say 6h or less. 2h for getting to the first market, and general buying alloys from markets and clicking territories and such (not in one batch, but distributed over the 6h). 2 further hours to get the hosps to lvl 2 and 2 further hours to get hosps to lvl 3. If you have enough AM (and can afford them with a proper AV artifact) that should be enough for most maps.

Every argumentation which includes using a TS or QS twice is FAR AWAY from completing maps fast. I even get troubles to use SAC in every level and have to skip it every 2nd map.


At the stage where you are planning to get a 1st or even 2nd legendary artifact, you usually shouldnt target for a completion time of days (due to TS/QS cooldown), but for hours. And if you PLAN for days, then the maps will also TAKE you days.

Aim for more!

"if it works for you that's great!"

I had a bit of a different experience on the first playthrough, and now it's a matter of a few more drafts+occasional arenas for me if I start over.

Epic TS is kinda lackluster right before first ascension.

The usual routine of mine is to start level, SAC + request an army, make it to market and go forward (hospitals+ markets). Upgrade hospitals once (twice on pre ascension).

Thus said it would be nice for your progress to join a clan. See if any active clan is open for you to join.

Edited 10/7/2023 17:04:33

WarTog plans for days.

:::munches popcorn::: 🍿

In such a case, add some additional time for the popcorn! Didnt include that in my estimation. My bad.

"I get the levels done before all digs are complete"

That's fine. All the levels have digs so move on when you've cleared the digs you need (ex. common to complete 4 for upgrade).

Some added tips before ending a level
1. Start a long dig. Gives you time to find the first market and a good dig site in the next level.
2. Complete critical cool downs of artifacts or slots you need for the next level.
3. Use unused time warps to get extra artifacts.
4. Complete Hardened China ASAP. It gives a bonus of 10% reduced dig time.

I just completed Hardened China. Took 4 days. Had 22 time warps at the end so I super powered them into 42, picked up 4 commons and completed a common to uncommon upgrade for free.

Yes, Otto, 4 days! In my second pass thru the maps. First pass I didn't even try and also skipped Trisk. I took 40 days to complete Huge Europe in my pre market strategy days. I suspect I will complete it this time in under a week. Aiming for hours is fine but the reality is that progress always comes in small steps. Planning for the next few months tells me to upgrade QS. Planning for next year says upgrade AV Guess which one I'll do first.

Edited 10/8/2023 17:23:35