How To Win? Hold Fire!

Day 2,268, 19:19 • Published in USA Peru • by Hazelrah
GOOD EVENING eUSA!

First of all I would like to thank Alvaro SPAIN for allowing me to translate his original article for publication in the U.S. Gracias amigo!

Second, I would like to thank Tirant II for tipping me off to this strategy on the eusaforums and for showing how far behind the USA really is when it comes to D1 powerhouses (Only 30 D1 citizens have strength >2k compared to 150 citizens in Chile and Argentina.)


You are about to read a large amount of information, the TL😉R is:
Low Level & High Strength = Good. So good it's worth dying for.
You have undoubtedly noticed by now that there are mini-battles between divisions that decide who wins each campaign. The divisions are divided up by experience points.



Each battle victory provides varying amounts of points, and 83 points are needed overall to win the campaign.



So while old, experienced, and strong tanks like Romper used to be able to single-handedly carry a campaign, their influence is now diminished (only slightly) while making room for more inexperienced players in the lower divisions. Now, a strong (greater than 10,000 strength) player with less than level 24 experience can have more influence on the outcome of a campaign than a level 37 player with only 15,000 strength.

With that in mind, here's a guide to a new battle strategy:

GUIDE TO DIVISION HOLDING

First, lets define holding.

Holding is gaining as much strength as possible while acquiring as few experience points as possible.

A HOLDER MAXIMIZES STRENGTH WHILE MINIMIZING EXPERIENCE!

Strength is achieved mainly through training, which I'll elaborate on, but can also be achieved through certain missions and working daily. The latter are not ideal for holders because both provide minimal strength and extraneous experience points.

Being a holder is a slow and boring process at first (you mean I can only click one button!?) but can be extremely rewarding to both player and country for those who commit to the role. Since being a successful holder can be expensive, lets outline 3 possible ways to quickly gain strength:

1. Sponsored Rebirth: This is ideal. Find someone who is willing to sponsor you. This may be the government, a Military Unit, someone who trusts you, or even an old account that you're willing to retire, and invest those resources in a second version of yourself. You can use a sponsor's loans to upgrade your training camps and buy contracts after you commit to rebirth (leave your account and create a new one).

2. Spend real money: Most people, except maybe Oblige, prefer not to spend RL money, but it's always an option. If you choose to spend money, it is all the more important that you follow this strategy for holding and use your money wisely.

3. Self-Fund: In this case holding is tough but not impossible. It would take about 4 months to save enough to upgrade all training camps an😛 begin to get contracts. The money needed can be earned through working (keep an eye on experience though), earning gold through medals and missions, or inviting friends and earning gold from their experience.



Whichever way you decide to fund it, here's the breakdown of the strategy:

TANK RATING

What makes holders different?
Their tank rating, or TR. TR is equal to experience divided by strength.



The LOWER your TR the better, because it means you will have a greater damage influence within your division when it comes time to tank. Tanking is the moment when a holder finally decides to take action on the battlefield and begin acquiring experience. The recommended time to begin tanking is when a holder reaches at least 15,000 points of strength, although you can hold as long as you like.

There is a tool called "Coeficiente Tanque eRepublik" that calculates your "Tank Rating" and shows it on your profile. I can't link to it here, but you should go look for it.


You can see that my TR is quite poor 🙁

STEPS TO BECOMING A HOLDER

Before we talk about the training camps, lets talk about rocket factories.

Rockets will be an important source of income during the holding stage. By creating two rockets a day you can achieve 100,000 damage points and be able to get a "Battle Hero" medal, and 2 Gold, without acquiring experience points.

You can only build 2 rockets per day, but you can save one and spend 3 in a day if you choose. I recommend buying a rocket factory from the first day of rebirth. It will be yours forever will be instrumental in becoming a low division tank.

You will find the rocket factory upgrade under the "Advanced Buildings" tab in the "My Places" menu.


As you can see in the image, there are 5 levels of rocket factories, which are gradually unlocked with the achievement of higher experience levels. Level 0 to 24 will only have access to one star rockets. Building a Q1 rocket costs 10 weapons of each quality, Q1 through Q6. If you want to build two rockets you need 20 weapons Q1 through Q6.

As the Q of the rocket goes up, so does the number of weapons required to build it, as well as the amount of damage the rocket provides.



Once you have built the rocket, it will be ready for use in any battle and will appear to the left side of the fight button. Click the rocket and you will instantly get 50,000 damage points (for Q1) without a lick of experience.



A good website where you can hunt easy BH's with just rocket damage is eAnalyzer.

TRAINING CAMPS

We've arrived at the most important topic of division holding, training camps.
Training camps are the most important method of increasing strength quickly.
Training consumes 10 energy and provides 2 experience points each day per camp.
The amount of energy consumed and experience gained is proportional to the number of training camps used.
For example, if you train with all 4 camps, you will lose 40 energy and gain 8 experience points.



The four training camps are:
1. Weight Room: The weight room is Free and you have access to it from Day 1.

2. Climbing Center: Using the Climbing Center to train costs 0.19 gold without a contract. It is available after Level 3.

3. Shooting Range: It costs 0.89 gold to use the Shooting Range without a contract. It is also available after Level 3.

4. Special Forces Center: It costs 1.79 gold to use the Special Forces Center without a contract. It is also available after Level 3.

Quality of training camps

Each training camp can range from 1-star to 4-star quality. The more stars the bigger training bonus and the more strength gained. Below are tables that outline the upgrade cost, the training cost, and the strength bonus for each quality of the 4 training camps.





You can see that as the quality increases, the upgrade cost and the strength gained increase but the overall cost to train remains the same. This means that once you cover the upgrade costs, the cost per strength gained daily is much lower.

TRAINING GROUND S UPGRADES


As you have seen, it's expensive to upgrade the training camps, but that's where the deals come into play. Admin offers a sale on training camp upgrades about once a month. These offers reduce the price of upgrading training camps by 45%!

Here are the upgrade costs during a 45% off sale.


The cost of using all 4 training camps each day is 2.87 gold.
This daily cost is too high for many citizens, but our dear admins give us the opportunity to train with contracts.


What's a contract?
Contracts allow us to use training camps at reduced cost.
Contracts usually go on sale once a month and give us the opportunity to train with a discount from 50% up to 90% off.



Contracts last 30 days and cost 25 gold for a 50% discount or 53 gold for a 90% discount.

30 days would normally cost 86.1 gold.
With a 50% contract it would cost 43.5 + 25 = 68.5 for a total savings of 17.6 gold.
Buying the 90% contract would cost 8.6 + 53 = 61.6 for a savings of 24.5 gold each month.

EGOV4YOU



Among many other things, Egov allows you to quickly compare your strength stats to those of other holders.
I identified a couple "holders" in Division 1 (Level 0-24) to give you some examples:

In Portugal, tygas god is one year old, yet is only Level 24 and has a strength of 26,708. His Tank Rating is a mere 0.15 !! How appropriate that his "About me" says "not today" to XP.


Another good example of a holder is ericic . Like tygas god, ericic is only Level 24, which puts him in Division 1, yet he boasts an even lower TR at 0.12 and a strength of 36,562!



CLOSING COMMENTS:

Why be a holder?
Not only does a low TR allows you to deal more damage, experience determines your level, and your level determines the division you fight in. If you gain experience quickly without maximizing strength, you will run into stronger foes in the higher divisions. The goal is to have the highest strength in your division, and bring those lower division domination points home to your country.

Why focus on strength training?
While weapon quality plays a role, strength is the most important variable in the damage equation. By gradually building up strength, you are ensuring your ability to tank for your country in the lower divisions and beyond.

How do I become a holder?
You could try to earn trust and petition aid from your government, political party, or military unit. These organizations are greatly helped by increasing the number of strong D1 and D2 fighters.

Other countries have begun campaigns to increase the number of "holders" and I urge the USA to follow suit. If you are interested in sponsoring a holder or want to leave your weak D4 account and become a holder please leave a comment below or contact me privately.



OPPORTUNITIES
-EZC has a Military Fitness Academy geared toward weak D3 and D4 players like myself who might consider rebirth. Contact Gnilraps for more info.
-The Department of Interior has a BU2SU program that helps active players in low divisions gain strength by upgrading their training centers. You must be level 21-28, a member of a USA friendly MU, and active daily. Fill out this form to apply.
-My personal aim is to take a leading role in this movement, and I will work with any currently established groups and any future groups to coordinate an active "holding" program within all of our current MUs. If you are interested in either of these programs, you are currently attempting to become a "holder", would be interested in joining an elite D1/D2 MU, or you would like more information of any kind PLEASE message me.

Let's go get 'em USA!


Patriotically and Diplomatically yours,

David O. Wilson