Yeah, I've started to play a browser game... I know that I said I never would, but my colleagues at work decided that we should start a war. Even my superiors play with us and organize raids and stuff.. it's rather interesting XD
The game itself is, like most browser games, half pay to win - half time investment. Once you have your base to level ~10 (which will take about 1-2 days) you can login twice a day and gather your goods.. so it's not that bad.
Tiberium Alliances is, like most browser games, simple at first, but if you want some advice and optimization let me give you a little tutorial to make the start easier:
Like the original game, you have several resources to spend in different kinds of units. The "standard" resources would be
Tiberium
-> used to build/upgrade Buildings (your basic buildings and defense buildings)
-> used to repair Buildings
Crystals
-> used to build/upgrade Units (Offensive and Defensive Troops, Vehicles, Aircraft)
-> used to repair Units
Energy
-> used to upgrade Buildings and Units (like, everything)
Credits
-> used for Invention
the "advanced" resources would be
Command Points
-> used to attack NPC or Player bases, the further away the target base, the more points are spent on an attack
Invention Points
-> used for Invention
Supply Points
-> 10 Points are used up every time you use a package, this system is in place to limit the pay2win options
Repair Time
-> Time you have left to repair your vehicles, if it reaches zero you can no longer repair your offensive units, this system is in place to limit amount of attacks
Tiberium/Crystal to Energy ratio is kinda large (around 4:1). For example upgrading the Command Center from Level 13 to 14 cost 334,5k Tiberium and 83,635 Energy. Upgrading a Vertigo from Level 12 to 13 costs 354,8 Crystals and 88,704 Energy.
So a perfect production would be 2 times as much Tiberium & Crystals as Energy. This however is quite difficult to calculate since you have two types of production. Once you have the permanent production, which is simply resources over time. This production is affected by the Level of the Building as well as certain connected buildings and alliance boni (more on both points later). The second would be the Packet production, which is the way the games keeps you to login twice a day - or you loose resources. These packages are produced every x hours, capping at a max of 6 hours (so with the non-paid maximum of 2 packages that makes 12 hours of maintenance-free time).
You start with only a few buildings to create and you can place more if you Level up your Construction Yard (1-2 new buildings per upgrade level). But keep in mind that the level of NPC sites spawning around you is affected by the level of your Construction Yard! So you better have a good offensive squad if you plan on raising that level.
The tutorial Missions will explain the basics of placement, which Building affect others and stuff like that, but I will repeat it here as well.
Construction Yard (CY)
-> Main Base building
-> determines the maximum amount of "Basis" buildings you can have
-> affects the level of NPC sites spawning around you
-> if it get's destroyed, all other buildings are destroyed as well
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
Harvester (H)
-> harvests either Tiberium or Crystals
-> permanent production, affected by silo
-> packet production, click to collect
-> MUST be placed on tiberium or crystal field
Power Plant (PP)
-> produces energy
-> permanent production, affected by crystal fields and Accumulator
-> packet production, click to collect
=> best placement would be on 2 or more crystal fields next to one or more Accumulators (see below for examples)
Silo (S)
-> raises maximum Storage for tiberium and crystals
-> boosts permanent production for tiberium and crystal harvesters
=> best placement will affect several fields of either crystal or tiberium
Refinery (R)
-> produces Credits
-> permanent production, affected by Power Plants and Tiberium Fields
-> packet production, click to collect
=> Power plants boost the permanent production more than Tiberium Fields do, so 2 PP are more effective than 2 TF
=> best placement would be beneath several PP or TF
Accumulator (A)
-> raises maximum Storage for energy
-> boosts permanent production for Power Plants
=> best placement will affect several Power Plants
Command Center (CC)
-> determines maximum offensive units
-> determines maximum upgrade of offensive units
-> if destroyed, you cannot attack anymore
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
War Factory (WF)
-> allows to build vehicles
-> affects repair time of all vehicles
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
Hand of NOD (HoN)
-> allows to build infantry units
-> affects repair time of all infantry units
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
Airport (AP)
-> allows to build aircraft
-> affects repair time of all aircraft
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
Defense Headquaters (DHQ)
-> determines maximum defensive units
-> determines maximum upgrade of defensive units
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
Defence Facility (DF)
-> repairs ALL defensive units up to 70% since last attack
-> if destroyed, all units will not regenerate after an attack (if they were destroyed, they will respawn with 1HP)
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
Fist of Kane / Eye of Kane / Blade of Kane
-> assistance artillery against a target
-> ONLY ONE of those can be build at a base, so you would need 3 bases to build all of them
-> UNIQUE building (can not be placed next to other unique buildings - 1 cell distance needed)
I won't go into details with offensive or defensive units - since those are rather self explaining. Just keep in mind that you better upgrade your HoN, WF and AP to your current unit level, since otherwise it will cost you much more repair time to repair those units!!
I will tell you how you best place your resource producing units however, since that is sometimes hard
How your tiberium and crystal fields are distributed is determined randomly when you create a base and cannot be altered. It will stay the same all the time, even when your base gets "destroyed" (a base is never truely destroyed - it will regenerate over time and you may have to place it on a new area, but you won't loose any buildings). So you have to make the best of it.
If you have the luck of 2 or 3 crystal fields next to each other - with several fields free to the left and right (or bottom and top, however it is placed), you can create a very nice energy farm.
XX S XX
CF CF CF
PP PP PP
A R A
the silo is only needed if you plan to harvest those crystal fields, but since ONE silo covers 3 fields that's quite decent. Silos stack - so on the XX fields you could place other silos as well for more boosting. The same works for a 2 CF as well, not as effective of course. If you have a Refinery at a better place, build another Accumulator for even more power output. Btw - ONE refinery is enough unless you are able to farm Forgotten 'Base's on a regular basis, then you will have more invention points than credits, but up to that point you are fine with just one Refinery.
Okay, that should be enough to get you started - if you would like more advice or need some help let me know. I play at World 34 and I am currently located at the east sector. I would recommend that you install Greasemonkey and some of the several scrips that offer Simulation of fights or let you repair all units automatically and stuff - but that's up to you.
