1. Tactics and the Academy, a Real Headache
Hello, this is 재뷰리, a Server 1 player.
Given that Neuphoria is a strategy simulation (SLG) and survival-building game,
construction and research are its very foundation — even players brand-new to this genre
will quickly feel just how important they are.
But the first time you open the Academy, you're greeted by Development, Economy, Guardian, Soldier, and so on —
the category list alone is overwhelming,
and the detailed researches pile up even higher. For all the new players feeling dizzy from it all,
I've decided to write a shortest-route guide.
2. The Top Priority of Tactical Research
The very first goal for new players should be
unlocking the Guild Duel reward boxes up to stage 21.
From the Guild Duel reward boxes you get Honor Points, Tactical Medals, Enhancement Stones, resources, Guild Duel Treasure Chests, and more —
resources with outstanding value for the investment, obtainable every single day.
Opening these even a single day earlier than everyone else is
the easiest way to build a lead in the early game.
The later this research gets, the bigger the resource gap grows — more than you'd expect —
so set every other research aside and rush the reward-unlock researches first.
Starter Rewards in the <Development> tab
Next, Uncommon Rewards in the <Economy> route
Then back to <Development> for Rare Rewards
Then over to the <Guild Duel> tab for Epic Rewards, Legendary Rewards, and finally Mythical Rewards
Once you complete these researches, depending on your guild members' daily Guild Duel performance,
you can earn up to 21 reward boxes 'every day'.
If you tap on each research, the prerequisites are shown in the detail section (Cost) at the bottom,
so check ahead of time and only level the prerequisite researches as far as needed,
and unless stated otherwise, put just one level into each node along the path,
ignoring the minor researches and pushing straight up.
2. Next Step: Simple Guardian Research
The Guild Duel reward box researches demand quite a lot of prerequisite research levels in the <Guild Duel> tab,
and if you've been faithfully meeting those requirements as you level,
your main Life Tree should be around level 20 by now.
From here until Tree level 27 is the phase where you steadily build up your fundamentals, bit by bit.
1) Among the researches in the <Economy> tab, steadily level the ones that raise your Gold income first,
focusing mainly on the cheap, simple researches whose resource cost is set under 20m.
2) If you only do internal researches like resources, your Combat Power will fall behind and the game can lose its fun,
so it's good to make modest progress on the Guardian Combat Power researches in the <Guardian> tab.
If you invest too heavily here early on,
both your resource costs and Tactical Speed Up costs become excessive,
so focus on the role groups of the Guardians you mainly use, usually to about level 3, maximum level 4,
and you'll be in good shape.
3) Next up is the crown jewel of tactical research, the long-awaited <Royal Guard> tab.
The level 1 research here has prerequisites of
Tactical Academy level 24 or higher and [Legendary Rewards] or higher in the <Guild Duel> tab above.
I've already been through it all and mastered everything, but if you're just entering this stage,
don't rush over to research this just because finishing Legendary Rewards made it available —
I strongly recommend unlocking everything up to [Mythical Rewards] before touching it.
Our next goal is the long-awaited T10 soldiers, so until then, for the <Royal Guard> researches,
absolutely do not over-invest — just put 1 level in each to open up the path.
3. T10 Soldier Research
It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that all the groundwork so far
was for this T10 soldier research. In the past, T10 was the final stage of soldier tiers,
so the groundwork for it had to be prepared in painstaking detail. However,
with the arrival of T11 soldiers and patches reducing the resource cost of T10 research,
it has become much more accessible.
Surprisingly, only after mastering 'all' of these sub-researches does the T10 Minion at the very bottom become 'trainable'.
This is where the pressure of Medals and Gold begins.
For Medals, unlock the Guild Duel boxes as early as possible and participate diligently in Guild Duel and Mayhem to secure as many as you can,
and from your home Tree's level 20s, saving up and stockpiling Gold in advance is essential.
If you're quick, you can start putting single levels into the sub-researches from level 24,
but going all-in on this research can wait until your home Tree is around 27.
Starting then is plenty, because to master the research and produce T10 soldiers anyway,
a level 30 Tactical Academy and level 30 Barracks are required, so there's plenty of time.
You'll only ever be short on resources —
keep grinding, and once you produce T10 soldiers your total Combat Power rises by about 1m.
A small tip for when you work on this research:
there's no need to force everything up to the same level all the way to the Soldier ATK research at the very top —
it's easier to level the lower-tier Hospital researches to 10 and 10 each first.
4. All Class Guardian Enhancement Research
All Class enhancement at the very bottom of the <Guardian> tab
Even after completing T10 soldier research, there's no time to catch your breath.
Personally, I think players with some spare resources and Speed Ups should finish the All Class enhancement researches
before heading to T11 soldier research,
but watching how others level, most people only take the All Class enhancement researches to about level 2-3
and then move on to T11 research.
It's your call — I don't think there's a fixed priority.
Both are essential, and both are excellent researches for boosting Combat Power.
One thing to note, though: the All Class enhancement researches have base research times like 30 days,
so if you don't have a decent stash of Speed Ups saved up, it's something to think over.
5. The Long-Awaited T11 Soldiers
The endgame of Tactical Research: T11 soldiers.
Personally, T10 was more painful for me — T11 was comparatively easygoing to level.
When I was leveling it, T10's resource costs were far higher than they are now,
and above all, T11 requires fewer prerequisite researches than T10.
That said, true to T11 form, the resource consumption is still staggering.
Filling out your Plunders with worthwhile targets every single day is a must.
T11 really is in a different league.
When I first produced T10, I thought T10 soldiers could beat anyone and went around picking fights,
and while my Combat Power had gone up, against enemies holding T9 soldiers whose total Combat Power was higher than mine,
I took heavy soldier losses, and sometimes even lost to T9 despite having T10 soldiers.
With T11, just producing them raises your Combat Power by a whole 3m, and the soldier stats are on another level,
so from this point on, the tier gap between T11 and everything below becomes glaringly obvious.
6. Other Great-Value Researches
There's one tab I haven't mentioned even once while explaining this shortest tactical growth route.
That's the <Soldier> tab. You can safely progress while touching this route as little as possible,
and if you really want to dip in, just lightly do one or two researches with extremely low resource costs.
It's the tab you level with whatever's left after everything else, so don't worry about it.
To wrap up, here are a few researches that aren't part of the essential route but are well worth leveling.
1) <Development> Bonus Barracks, Boot Camp Expansion, Survival Ability
2) <Economy> Resource Protection
3) <Royal Guard> Increase Morale
These researches aren't essential, but they're great-value picks with strong effects — level everything else first, and invest in them later when you have room.
Thank you for reading this long post.