1. Where Should You Start?
Hi everyone, I'm 재뷰리, a player from Server 1.
How did you all first find your way into this game?
I can't speak for everyone, but I'm pretty sure most of you got hooked watching those cute yellow Minions
running back and forth chopping trees and picking fruit.
At its core, that's what this game is about and what you came here to do:
isn't it basically 'a game where you chop wood and put up buildings'?
But then from the tutorial onward, it's do this, do that.
You don't even know the buildings' names or where they are, but it's 'upgrade this' and 'you need that.'
Go chop wood, go pick fruit, you're short on wood.
After a hectic few hours you finally get through the tutorial,
and from there it's another mad dash of doing this and that to level up your Life Tree.
For those just starting out,
and for those still grinding toward a level 30 tree,
I'd like to share some simple tips and a guide based on my own experience.
To be honest with you now,
I don't actually like this kind of building game very much.
At first, construction takes 5 or 10 minutes, but later on it becomes 2 days, 5 days, a week,
and if you want to rush things and build fast, spending real money becomes practically mandatory,
so even when a game had me hooked, the moment a build took 5 hours, I'd quit on the spot.
Thankfully, this game showers you with 'Speed Up' items that cut down the time needed for construction and research.
Even as a new player, you won't feel too pressed for time except when leveling up your Life Tree. So feel free to take some of that pressure off.
2. Which Building Is Where?
I'll explain everything around the view inside your Village, showing you where things are so they're easy to find.
This is probably the screen you'll see most while playing.
It's the first thing you see when you enter your Village,
and the screen where you hauled resources back and forth to your Life Tree during the tutorial.
There isn't much to do here after the tutorial,
but at the Logging Academy marked with the yellow circle on the right,
you'll later do a one-time upgrade that lets you harvest Golden Trees,
and at the 'Storage' building in the red circle at the bottom right, certain upgrades
let you increase the total amount of resources you can protect if your base gets destroyed by an enemy.
These are the resource buildings you'll find by dragging all the way left from your Life Tree.
It's one of the screens you'll be seeing often.
They accumulate resources hourly, and going clockwise from the top right
they provide [Gold, Fruit, Helmet Enhancement Stones, Nails, Equipment Enhancement Stones].
They form the foundation of a solid economy. Depending on how much you upgrade these buildings, the gap between you and players with lower-level ones widens quite a bit over time, and the basic resources you can collect every hour are surprisingly decent.
Just check them every time you log in and collect so the resources never hit the cap.
The upgrade priority is Gold Mine - Orchard - Helmet Lab - Equipment Lab - Equipment Workshop.
If you drag all the way right from your Life Tree,
you'll find the second most-visited screen, where the Barracks, Boot Camp, and Hospital sit side by side.
As you'd expect, you produce soldiers at the Barracks,
house those soldiers at the Boot Camp,
and soldiers wounded in field battles against enemies get moved to the Hospital.
You'll need to upgrade them all evenly, without overdoing any single one.
The priority is Barracks - Boot Camp - Hospital.
These are the statues you'll find by heading up and to the right from your Life Tree and crossing the river.
There are statues for each role, like Tank, Warrior, and so on,
so upgrade the statues that match the roles of your first-team Guardians whenever you get the chance.
For reference, the master level of each statue is 100.
Follow the small trail leading further up from the statues and you'll come face to face with the Golden Tree.
The Golden Tree can only be harvested in Action Mode, where you control your Boss Minion directly,
and it's a wood resource that respawns every ten-plus hours. Harvesting it fully gives you around 3M wood.
It's extremely useful in the early game, so check on it regularly and harvest it.
Head down toward the 6 o'clock direction from your Life Tree and you'll find the schedule Mission Log and the General Store.
The Mission Log shows upcoming Guardian release schedules and the server's Fortress Conquest schedule,
so it's good to check it regularly and prepare ahead.
As for the General Store on the right, through the VIP Shop, Diamond Shop, and the like,
you can buy the resources you need with Diamonds.
Beyond that, there's the Arena, a piece of content that runs every day,
and the Raid Camp, which is essential for Life Tree upgrades.
The Arena is at the bottom right of the Boot Camp,
and the Raid Camp is outside the walls at the very bottom left.
3. Which Buildings Are Must-Upgrades?
If you've just started, your goal is to get your Life Tree to level 30.
The Life Tree's max level in this game is 30,
and only at level 30 do your Guardians get their max level and max soldier count, letting them show their full power.
Life Tree upgrades basically require leveling up your lab plus key buildings.
Key buildings include the Barracks, Boot Camp, Guild Hall, Raid Camp, Hospital, and so on.
For example, to upgrade to a level 28 Life Tree, you first need to have built a level 27 Tactical Academy and a level 27 Barracks, and so on.
Keep checking your Life Tree regularly to see which buildings you need to upgrade to reach the next stage,
and carry out your construction accordingly.
Every construction, aside from the resource buildings covered above, consumes Wood and Gold,
and since Wood makes up most of it,
focus on Wood and collect it through plundering and gathering until around base level 24.
At lower levels, resources pile up quickly and construction finishes within a day or two anyway,
so here's the info on which buildings are required when building your Life Tree at level 27 and above.
Life Tree level 27
Requirements: Tactical Academy level 26, Raid Camp level 26
Life Tree level 28
Requirements: Tactical Academy level 27, Barracks level 27
Life Tree level 29
Requirements: Tactical Academy level 28, Guild Hall level 28
Life Tree level 30
Requirements: Tactical Academy level 29, Boot Camp level 29
4. Economy First, or Growth First?
By this point, some of you may be wondering:
I get that you level the main buildings in step with your Life Tree, but what about the rest?
The explanation above said that with resource buildings, the economy gap grows depending on how much you upgrade them,
so isn't focusing only on Life Tree construction a loss?
You're right, the economy matters. On top of that, just constructing buildings raises something called building combat power,
which counts toward your total combat power, so you'll have to upgrade them all eventually anyway.
But in my experience, rather than those who stacked up their economy bit by bit and played it safe,
the players who picked their focus decisively and sprinted for growth first
tended to stay a step ahead through the early and mid game.
In the end, construction is a stepping stone for Tactical Research, so starting and finishing your research even a little earlier than others seems to pay off more in terms of combat power.
Those who diligently level up their resource buildings and build a solid economy
will have a somewhat easier time with resource income later on,
so choose how to grow based on your own playstyle.
Personally, I recommend prioritizing your Life Tree level.
5. Gathering the Resources You Need for Construction
Here are some simple tips for gathering construction resources.
1) Diligent plundering.
Since I started this game, there hasn't been a single day I didn't use up my plunder attempts in full.
Until level 27, don't overthink it - just scan hard and hit targets, going for Wood above all.
You can't grow fast as a peaceful farmer.
For the fun of the game, plunder members of other guilds weaker than you - grab resources and enjoy the thrill of combat,
and let the flame wars that break out along the way give you a taste of the tension too.
For enemy guild members stronger than you, there's also the option of breaking their base with rally support from your guildmates to squeeze out resources.
If plundering other guild members on your server is tough, comb through Village 1 - there are quite often jackpots hidden among the bots. The early bird catches the worm.
2) Mayhem.
As far as I know, going by server days, Mayhem, where you can earn Wood, stays open until a certain point.
Don't skip it - participate hard and stock up on resources.
If you keep Berserk Mode running and fight hard, you should be able to pull in around 40~60M in a single day when Mayhem is open.
3) Gathering.
Starting from 11 o'clock Korea time, at 3-hour intervals -
11 o'clock, 2, 5, 8, and so on - Resource Nodes open across the server.
You can spend 5 Stamina to mine resources. It may not look like much right now,
but keep at it and the gap grows huge.
*On Server 1, competition for Resource Nodes is still fierce - some players camp inside a node for hours
and drain it down to the very last bit.
4) Rosie rallies.
Keep just enough Stamina to fight in the weekend guild battles, and use most of what you have to run Rosie rallies hard from Monday to Wednesday - securing resources for yourself while looking after your guildmates' resources too.
No matter how many times you run Rosie, it never comes up short - it's incredibly generous content.
6. Wrapping Up
As you push through construction, you'll hit stretches that feel a bit stuck and rough.
For me it was when raising my base to level 27,
and again going from 29 to 30.
Push through those stretches, and the fun of growing kicks in again once you enter the next stage,
so let's all pull together, tough out that cursed wood-hell stretch,
and keep playing this game together for a long, long time.
Thank you for reading this long post.