Friday, May 31, 2013

What Is An Empire Battle And How Can I Get Some?


To start off with, lets get familiar with your own Empires base.
There are 9 Buildings in your base:
Head Quarters (HQ), Sniper Tower (ST), Armory, Hospital, 2 Safe Houses (SH) and 3 Ware Houses
Each building starts of with 3 slots for Defenders, except the HQ which starts with 6. Each building can also house a number of Offensive players. Each building has special abilities that affects everyone in EBs and normal game play. Here is a rough over view of what each building can do:


HQ:
Donations Upgrade – by increasing this you raise the amount of money you can donate a day to upgrades. The earlier in the game you get this leveled the faster you can upgrade and build things.
Combat Training – all members get a bonus % to their attacks depending on the level
Fortification – all members get a % bonus to their defenses depending on the level
Leadership – expands the maximum number of members your empire can have
Extortion – extra income per hour for all members
Building Health – increases your HQ's hit points
Defender Slots – increases the amount of defenders you can have in the HQ

Hospital:
Health Pack Recharge Rate – lowers the time it takes to make a health pack
Building Health – increases your Hospital's hit points
Defender Slots – increases the amount of defenders you can have in the Hospital


Sniper Tower:
Attack Bonus – increases the damage done by offensive players in the ST by a % depending on level
Building Health – increases your ST's hit points
Defender Slots – increases the amount of defenders you can have in the ST


Armory:
Token Recharge Rate – lowers the time it takes for your tokens to regenerate
Building Health – increases your Armory's hit points
Defender Slots – increases the amount of defenders you can have in the Armory


Safe Houses:
Defence Bonus - increase defense in building bonus by % based on level
Building Health – increases your SH's hit points
Defender Slots – increases the amount of defenders you can have in the SH


Ware Houses: So far no upgrades

So that is your base in a nutshell. Now what? Now we prepare for war!!
*This is how we in the Militia do it!
First off proper communication: When talking about a building we use the standard phone key pad:
Top Left – B1, Top Right – B3, Middle L – B4, Middle R – B6, Bottom L – B7, Bottom R – B9
So it will look like this on your screen:
B1 B2 B3
B4 B5 B6
B7 B8 B9

In EB's Classes come into play big time, here is the circle of life for classes:
Enforcers > Assassins > Heavy Weapon > Sniper > Enforcer
Enforcers are great at defending your base do to their high def and hit points.
Assassins can see and attack the enemies in the enemies back row, this is called the Back Door.
Snipers can see into the second row of buildings and pick off people from there.
Heavy Weapons are the rulers of destruction, they are experts at wrecking buildings and splash damage.

In the Militia we have Lt's assigned to people placement and building placement, all you need to do is pick a class you want to be and build it up. We recommend new players after level 15 be Heavies for starting out. For a few reasons found in my earlier posts. Now on to the fun part.

First off ALWAYS make sure you have 10 stamina set aside for the battle. This is your entrance fee.
Once you are in you will see 2 bases, the one on the left is yours and the one on the right is the enemies. On the top of the page you will see each others Empire names and a little icon on how many members they have. That number does not indicate how many of those members will be playing in the battle. On the bottom of the page you will see a red tab and a blue tab. The blue tab is YOUR Empire chat, the red tab is the Battle Chat where both Empires can trash talk each other, share codes, have a good time.
In the Militia we are strong believers in Good Sportsmanship so try and keep it clean, even if they are nasty and offensive.... We are also strong believers in Revenge and Team work so if that ever happens we will be instructing all our members in Black Ops Missions. Lol “We Live For The Swaaaaarm!

The first thing everyone should do is attack ONCE. The reason being is that ALL members begin the battle “asleep”, this means your tokens regenerate every 10 min instead of 5. When making your first attack, pick the softest target so you do not take to much damage. (we are currently working on battle plans so targets in the future may change) Next our Snipers will give us the location they think the HQ is in and the Assassins will let us know if their B9 is a strong target or a WH. Once a battle plan is picked a Lt. will give the order to open fire. During this time snipers will take out designated target defenders, assassins will start cleaning out the “Back Door”. ONCE a building is cleared of defenders, Heavies lay into the buildings to bring them down. Enforcers are the defenders of your base. In the Militia only the KEY defenders are allowed to use health packs to keep our base from falling.

Here are a few Tips to help everyone get on the same page:
  1. If you are finding the enemy is too strong, it is OKAY too sit on your tokens until a building opens up and help destroy the building
  2. Do Not spread out our damage, concentrated damage is the fastest way to take out an enemy, Lts will pick a building and everyone work together to take it out
  3. Focus on Defenders only, unless there is an active offensive player, we can always come back for them once the buildings are destroyed
  4. When attacking and your health is almost down to 200 hp, STOP attacking people and only attack buildings, once your hp is below 200 you no longer count as a defender (if your in a defensive slot) and you give the enemy a point for dieing
  5. When attacking defenders work together to lower ALL Defenders to less than 400 hp WITHOUT executing them, let the heavies know to get ready, give them a few seconds and then execute all defenders at the same time opening up the building to the Heavies

    **You only take damage if you attack another player or your being attack directly, you take no damage from attacking buildings.
    ***When looking for actives there is ONLY ONE way to tell if they are active, they will have points! on every player there are 2 bars, the top bar shows how many battle points they have and the bottom bar shows their health. If the top bar says 0 pts but they are no longer asleep.... that just means someone attacked them and woke them up, they are still inactive until points start showing up.

    It will take practice and good communication but team work will pay off and together we will become Victorious!!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

How To Be A Big Fish In A Small Pond!

I figure before I hone in on certain topics I should just do a quick insight on 101 for Beginners. If your just starting out you will find that until level 15 you are stuck with being an Enforcer. That’s okay, Enforcers rock once you get them going. It is important to know that if you are joining an Empire like FTS Militia that has a power house foundation of members, you may find yourself in EB's getting A LOT of Defeats and loosing health really fast.
That is do to a few factors:
  1. we win a lot more than we loose so we jump up the tiers really fast
  2. your stats are not high enough to take on high level players
  3. your PvP level is not high enough to make a difference
Its rough at the start but like in all Mafia based things everyone starts at the bottom, how fast you climb the ladder is up to you.

Our recommendation if your just starting out at level 16, switch classes to Heavies and focus only on buildings. This way you stay unhurt and your helping pave the way by wrecking buildings. If your unsure what class you really want to be, hang onto your class coins and try them all out before you waste them on a class you don't think you will play (experience talking).

“But Lord Jugrnot how can I get better NOW!”
Well, here is a rule of thumb that has work for me and a few “grasshoppers” I've trained:
  1. get your energy to 50, then your attack followed by def to 50 also
  2. while doing that use your stamina for Player vs Player only
  3. once those 3 stats are at 50 move your Attack and Defence up to 100
  4. if your finding you don't have enough stamina dump some into there (cost 2 for 1 point)
  5. Continue this circle until you start winning most of your attacks

When it comes to your energy and stamina, an easy rule to use is “If its empty when you go to bed and its almost full when you get up, that’s enough stamina and energy” .... for now. Once you get established, you can boost those however you see fit. There are also 4 Gangs you can pay tribute too, each gang gives you a stat boost by 1 each day (2 days if its Cartel), so use that to your advantage.

Player vs Player.... Do I Have Too?”
No. If you like getting your butt handed to you and your money getting taken from you at the most inappropriate times, than no you don't have too. PvP is what keeps you alive, look at it as being the kid who bullies stay away from because you know Black belt or something like that. The higher your PvP level the less damage you take when attacked/attacking and the more damage you dish out when attacking/being attacked. In EB's the higher your PvP level the harder it is for someone to get a victory on you. So in my book PvP is really important.

The best way of leveling your PvP is focus on the people who have less than 500 allies and are the same level as you or higher. If you “farm” people lower than you by 2 levels or more you do not get Battle Points that are used for leveling and you do not get much of anything out of it. Another way of getting PvP points is by invading someone. This only works in your favor if you have way more allies and gear than they do. Talk to some of your High ranking PvP players in your empire to find out what their tricks are and find one that works best for you.

Do You Want To Be My Friend?
Allies are important to, so making friends is easy as 1-2-3! You will need a min of 500 allies to unlock the last seat at level 100. The Under Boss seat gives you a x1.5 Atk and Def bonus for Boss fights and PvP.
The easiest way to do this go to this site:
Enter as many as you can/want and allies will never be a problem again. Hint: The earlier you do this the easier you'll have it. The annoying thing of having that many friends is EVERYONE wants you to help them, the plus side is you get gifts ALL the time. Another way to get allies is post your code every chance you get, on Empire War Chats, Empire World Chat (10 free posts then 10 favor for 100 posts), peoples walls, line chat, emails..... well you get the idea.

Well there you have it, some hopefully helpful tips for getting started/back on track! Go get some!

*FTS Militia members, it is very important for you to build your PvP rank high and fast to stay competitive with the gangs we go up against. If you are having troubles with lack of weapons or stats etc, please ask your Lts or myself for help. It's what we are here for. Also if you are below Level 50, please change your class to Heavy for the time being. I will be posting on Classes in the near future.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Bosses: What's In It For Me

Bosses are one of the best ways to get experience and goodies! There are two classes of Bosses:
  1. “Tech Lab Bosses” where you need to collect pieces of an item that you then build to be able to summon that Boss.
  2. “Job Bosses” where you need to compete this Boss fight in order to move on to the next Region.

In each fight you participate in you will gain experience, money, battle points, class coins, class experience, respect points, empire points and depending on the amount of battle points weapons/armor and Empire drops. Battle Points in Boss fights are like battle points in PvP except that they are used to determine your standing on the Boss Leader board and not your PvP level.

Each Boss has Tier Levels where they drop Epic Items. I will list the Boss, Epics dropped, Tier Levels and best class to use in fighting them to get you the most points. A quick reminder, the class you use in the boss fight has NO effect on your chosen class for EB's. You will however earn a little experience for that class while it is used in the fight. Also if you want to get the most bang for your buck, you will want to set up your Boss fighting Lts and only attack using 1 Stamina an attack. This will net you the most XP, BP and damage over all. Let us begin...

Job Boss - “Ghost Killer” - District 4: Meat-pack

1 Epic Threshold: 1,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 2,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 3,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Tank Ammo    8 attack / 8 defence
Lucky Strike   12 attack / 6 defence
Tank Engine    3 attack / 2 defence
Eagle Eye       18 attack / 15 defence (2nd best in game rifle)
Hegemony      14 attack / 11 defence
Overall recommended class: Sniper
Job Boss - “The Titan” - District 6: Westside
1 Epic Threshold: 3,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 6,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 12,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Sara's Jewelry          (3/5 summoner only)
The Business Man    20 attack / 20 defence (best in game gear)
Tank Chassis            4 attack / 3 defence
Predator                  13 attack / 17 defence
Golden Boy             15 attack / 15 defence
Hegemony               14 attack / 11 defence
Overall recommended class: Sniper
Job Boss - “The Mastermind” - District 7: Italy
1 Epic Threshold: 10,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 18,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 25,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Divine Intervention     12 attack / 15 defence
The Sceptre               14 attack / 20 defence
Tiebreaker                 17 attack / 10 defence
Auto9                        16 attack / 11 defence (rare item)
Joey Pepperoni          14 attack / 15 defence (uncommon drop)
Mastermind's Rook    15 attack / 22 defence (legendary drop +10% def to Mastermind)
Overall recommended class: Assassin
Job Boss - "Doomsday" - District 8: Russia

1 Epic Threshold: 30,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 50,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 80,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Iron Curtain                30 attack / 30 defence
Aladdin                       19 attack / 15 defence
Iron Hammer               31 attack / 15 defence
Auto9                          16 attack / 11 defence
Rasputin's Skull            34 attack / 17 defence (legendary drop current bonus unknown)

Overall recommended class: Assassin
Tech Lab Boss - “Skull Soldier” - summon with Skull Ring
1 Epic Threshold: 6,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 12,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 18,000 pts

Epic Drops:
SS 69 Rims       1 attack / 1 defense
SS 69 Engine     2 attack / 4 defense
Tank Fuel          4 attack / 2 defense
Red Eye            8 attack / 12 defense
Penetrator         6 attack / 9 defense
The Russian      7 attack / 5 defense
Overall recommended class: Sniper
Tech Lab Boss - “Skull Elite” - summon with Skull Watch
1 Epic Threshold: 12,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 16,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 23,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Sara’s Beauty               (4/5 summoner only)
Penetrator                    6 attack / 9 defense
SS 69: Transmission     4 attack / 2 defense
SS 69: Tire                   3 attack / 3 defense
The Underdog              22 attack / 13 defense (best in game melee)
Tie Breaker                  17 attack / 10 defense
Overall recommended class: Heavy
Tech Lab Boss - “Skull King” - summon with Skull Medallion
1 Epic Threshold: 20,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 40,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 60,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Flower’s For Sara     (2/5 summoner only)
SS 69 Body              4 attack / 4 defence
Golden Boy              15 attack / 15 defence
World War III          30 attack / 10 defence (Best in game heavy weapon)
Hurricane                 23 attack / 8 defence
Tank Armour            3 attack / 5 defence
Concrete Block        Empire Drop (used to upgrade HQ leadership lvl 3)
Overall recommended class: Heavy
Tech Lab Boss - “The Illuminati” - summon with Stolen Painting
1 Epic Threshold: 15,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 30,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 55,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Sara’s Pumps                    (1/5 creator only)
Apache Rotator                6 attack / 4 defence
Apache Headset               15 attack / 15 defence
Apache Gun                     18 attack / 14 defence
Rainmaker                        20 attack / 16 defence (Best in game Pistol)
Magnum ‘Golden Eye’      15 attack / 12 defence
Tie Breaker                       17 attack / 10 defence
Apache Tail                       4 attack / 5 defense (uncommon drop)
Apache Fuel                      5 attack / 4 defence (uncommon drop)
Enzo's Law                       22 attack / 17 defence (legendary drop +10% def to Enzo)
Steel Beam                       Empire Drop (used to upgrade HQ lvl 4)
Concrete Block                Empire Drop (used to upgrade HQ leadership lvl 3)  
Overall recommended class: Assassin
Tech Lab Boss - “Red Phoenix Clan” - summon with Stolen Diamond
1 Epic Threshold: 30,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 50,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 85,000 pts

Epic Drops:
Sara's Locket            (5/5 creator only)
Apache: Gun             18 attack / 14 defense
The Avenger              25 attack / 18 defense (best in game rifle)
The Warmonger         17 attack / 16 defense
Omakase                   19 attack / 14 defense
Sin's Phoenix             22 attack / 17 defence (legendary drop +10% atk to Sin)
Steel Beam                Empire Drop (used to upgrade HQ lvl 4)
Concrete Block         Empire Drop (used to upgrade HQ leadership lvl 3) 

Overall recommended class: Enforcer
Tech Lab Boss - “The Medellin Resurrection” - summon with Ancient Statue
1 Epic Threshold: 30,000 pts
2 Epic Threshold: 50,000 pts
3 Epic Threshold: 85,000 pts

Epic Drops:
General Lee                     25 attack / 20 Defence
Magnum ‘Golden Eye’     15 attack / 12 defence
Aladdin                            19 attack / 15 defense
Leviathan Torpedo           22 attack / 15 defense
Leviathan Plating              15 attack / 22 defense
Leviathan Gun                  18 attack / 17 defense
Leviathan Engine              10 attack / 7 defence (uncommon drop)
Leviathan Navigation        8 attack / 9 defence (uncommon drop)
Diablo's Deamon              22 attack / 17 defence (legendary drop +10% atk to Diablo)
Steel Beam                       Empire Drop (used to upgrade HQ lvl 4)
Concrete Block                Empire Drop (used to upgrade HQ leadership lvl 3) 

Overall recommended class: Sniper

Where's My Money?

In this game as in life money gets stuff done! Real or fake you need money, I however am not here to talk to you about using your hard earned cash on a game. I'm here to talk to you about how to make and use your extortion money and buying properties. The fastest way to make money is start low and max out.

The first property you can buy is a Restaurant, each one brings in an extra $250 an hour, buy all 10 and you are making $2,500/hr. It seems like it takes forever making money sometimes but if you spend your money smart and buy up all the low properties to max and do jobs, boss fights, EB's and even some PvP, you will have enough money to buy/build what you need and be able to donate to your empire.

This is so far the easiest and fastest way to buy properties:
Restaurant $250 / maxed $2500
Condo $500 / maxed $5000
Night Club $1000 / maxed $10000
Mansion $2500 / maxed $25000
Casino $7500 / maxed $75000
Island $10000 / maxed $100000

Now there are also properties that give you bonuses, when these are maxed I have been told they add an extra $1000 to your income on top of their bonuses. They are:

Hospital 1% reduced heal cost / maxed 10% RHC                                           (build after Condos)
Real Estate 1% reduced cost of properties / maxed 10% RCOP                       (build after night club)
Construction Company 1% reduced build time / maxed 10% RBT                    (same as above)
Arms Factory 1% reduced cost on equipment / maxed 10% RCOE                  (build during or after Casino)
Personal Armory +1 to your LT's Attack / maxed +10 attack                            (same as above)
Boxing Gym +1 to your LT's Defence / maxed +10 Defence                             (same as above)

With the new bonus packs that the Dev's are coming out with there have been a couple NEW properties that have yet to be assigned:
Rail Yard brings in $100 / hr with 5
Mega Casino brings in $150 / hr with 5
Sports Arena brings in $250 / hr with 5
As I said they have yet to be assigned a region or a purpose and to buy another of each is somewhere in the $33 TRILLION price range so just wait until the Dev's have finished the game upgrades before dumping money into them.

Now the most important building any of you 'forget-me-nots' will need is your Safe House. This building keeps your hourly income safe. It however is not necessary or feasible to get all 10 at once. You will know its time to upgrade it when you go to sleep, get up and find your money coming in is RED. This means your wasting precious money. My rule of thumb is when I wake up I pull it out of the safe house, go make my donation to my Empire and bank the rest. Before I go to sleep I clear out the safe house and bank it. If you are not running into your SH being in the red, you are either ahead of your money which is good or your not making enough yet. Lol

Another small note about getting the most out of your money, just like in real life the bank wants whats in your pocket. They however charge a 10% deposit fee on all your monies. The best way to get around this is buy the LT Charmaine (make her your right hand before going to the bank), her 1 star bonus is -10% Bank Fee, it will soften the blow. Also by being part of an Empire and donating you will notice that the HQ has a bonus build called Extortion. Each level your empire builds brings in extra money for EVERYONE. So please help donate so everyone can benefit. If you are unsure if you can contribute, ask your LT in charge of Donations to help guide you in what is the acceptable amount for your level and where you should be donating.

Lastly the best way to get your money working for you is to go through one regions jobs and 5 star it out before moving on to the next one. This helps in multiple ways:
  1. you are gaining experience and money without having to buy more equipment and Lts
  2. you are leveling up and getting stronger (power building) before moving onto the next Boss
  3. you have more money to buy your properties with sooner and faster

    Now get out there and get some protection money from that store down the street, we have an Empire to build!

WE LIVE FOR THE SWAAAAAAARM!

Greetings and welcome to the FTS Militia's "Guide To Successful UWE Character Building".
First off I will point out I am not a super Geek so I will not be talking formulas and equations on how this game works. I am hear as the Voice of the Militia's Crew on tips and tricks for getting you off to a good start.

A little background for anyone joining us who is new or has no idea what I'm talking about. 
UWE stands for Under World Empires, a game for anything IOS related.
It takes you into the underworld of Crime Empires like the Cartel, Mafia, Syndicate and Street Gangs.
You can be a free agent and do what you please or join an empire and help wage war against other empires to be the best there is. One great thing about this game is the Empire Battles where one empire is pitted against another and they try and level each others Bases. Only the fastest and strongest survive.

Our Empire FTS Militia is actually an expansion of another Empire called For The Swarm. The original empire was built before Empire Battles was created by the game designers and we had maxed out our member cap. We found that there where only 20% of the people participating in the EB's which started to frustrate some members who wanted to be competitive and have fun. After a discussion about not wanting to kick people out who have been there from the beginning, we decided an expansion Empire was needed, so I volunteered to lead the Charge. So here we are a crew of 12 volunteers set out on a mission to build a team whose primary focus is on EB's and having fun.

We are (at the time of this post) only 19 days old and we have already climbed our way up to the same tier as our Mother Swarm for EB's and our record to date is 20 wins and 2 losses. Just a quick note, Yes FTS is based on Star Craft and no you don't need to know anything about Star Craft to join. Lol
It just adds an element of fun to our little group. One tool that has been a HUGE asset to our Crew is an app called "Line Chat". Its is a free app and it allows us to communicate in real time with each other which is great for tactics during battles and helping other people develop their stats. We can take screen shots and post them to have our Crew help someone out, get a chuckle or target certian empires who are causing trouble.

Well that should do for an Intro, I will be posting as often as I can on Tips and Guides to help everyone out. If you have requests or things you think I need to add or over look, feel free to let me know.
WELCOME TO THE SWARM!