My first ascension took me over two years which I posted about here: https://www.warzone.com/Forum/699140-first-ascension-stats-strategy

Thanks to some great input about strategy from y'all on that previous thread, it took me just over three months for my second ascension. I passed most levels within 24 hours and, up until about the Netherlands, was breezing through them! It began to be a bit slower and harder at that point, but still way faster than previous! This time through, I replayed very few levels.

Below is my current strategy and stats. As before, any tips or ideas to improve it are welcome!

New Strategy:
Basically, the Market strategy.
1. Upgrade the first army camp as quickly as possible and get to the first market as quick as I can
2. Buy from the market to obtain any market-strategy-tech-tree techs I can
3. Use my Legendary Alloy Values artifact to get a bunch of money from the market
4. Upgrade one army camp through a cost of $1B and use my Epic Supercharge Army Camp artifact on it
5. Use leftover money to buy mercenaries and get to the next market, picking up any convenient hospitals along the way
6. Use the next market to get more of the market-strategy-tech-tree, then as much money as I can
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5, kicking off some hospital upgrades along the way.
8. Once I have all hospitals, upgrade them and use two time-warps.
9. Usually by now I have all market-strategy-tech-tree upgrades, but if not, then I halt all progress except to focus on obtaining them
10. At this point I prioritize mercenary camps and army-caches, then money and resource caches

General:
* I take as few territories as possible along the way until I have hospitals upgraded and the market-strategy-tech-tree accomplished.
* As much as possible, I'm taking advantage of joint-strike, even if it means slower immediate progress or having to take a cache before I have the increased-caches tech yet.

Helpful Websites or Threads:
* This site is amazing for level stats! https://pkmx.github.io/wzi-levels/index.html
* The maps: https://imgur.com/a/OTDDS1L
* The best alloys for selling at each mine: https://www.warzone.com/Forum/697993-best-alloys-markets

Stats:

* Amount of real life money spent: $0
* Tutorial Level first played: 2021/03/02
* First Ascension: 2023/06/16 (2y, 3m, 14d)
* Second Ascension: 2023/09/26 (3m, 10d)

Hardened Levels Played
Added one this time through:

* Ursa Luna
* Peloponnesian War
* Siege of Feldmere
* Copper Creek Castle
* Far Land
* Old Town
* Scandinavia and the Nordic Countries

Artifacts
Legendary

* Alloy Values (112%)

Epic

* Supercharge Army Camp (120-minutes)
* Army Cache Boost (16%)

Rare

* Bonus Money Boost (40%)
* Army Camp Discount (6%)
* Hospital Boost (8%)
* Resource Cache Boost (40%)
* Money Cache Boost (16%)
* Mercenary Discount (8%)
* Tech Discount (6%)
* Hospital Discount (6%)
* Item Values (16%)

I also have 4 uncommons, 4 commons, and 1 poor to be sacrificed to future upgrades.

Advancements
1,471 to spend (after beating europe huge, after ascending)
* = maxed
Phase 1

* Increased Army Camp Production: 260% / 500%
* Increased Copper Production: 80% / 200%
* Increased Cache Money*: 100% / 100%
* Joint Strike*: 25% / 25%
* Increased Ore Sell Values*: 100% / 100%
* Discounted Mine Upgrades*: 25% / 25%
* Mine Visibility: 3 / 66
* Increased Tin Production: 40% / 200%
* Increase Smelters Speed: 25% / 50%
* Additional Mercenaries*: 150% / 150% (big help, this!)
* Statistics*: 4 / 4
* Increased Idle Time: 300 / ~~

Phase 2

* Auto-Conquer: 20% / 50%
* Increased Cache Resources*: 100% / 100%
* Army Camp Discounts*: 30% / 30%
* Mercenary Discount*: 50% / 50%
* Increased Alloy Sell Values*: 100% / 100%
* Increased Draft Sizes: 50% / 300%
* Auto-Upgrade Army Camps: 10% / 100%
* Increased AP*: 25% / 25%

Phase 3

* Start with Tech: 2 / 10
* Increased Money from Bonuses: 40% / 100%
* Tech Discount: 6% / 30%

Require 17,433 more AP to be spent in Phase 3 to access Phase 4