Should We Use GOLD or DIAMONDS for UPGRADES? Well it depends on a few assumptions, as follows ...
Let's first look at the threshold OR break even point where the intrinsic value of DIAMONDS equals that of GOLD. It is also assumed that the player is pretty well caught up and no more than one BASE TIER below the prevailing level. This does NOT necessarily exclude lower TIERS, on the contrary it works BEST at lower levels since the cost of upgrades are cheaper, so the numbers quoted would be reduced accordingly, in particular, diamonds production. We had to start somewhere so I chose the most expensive scenario possible. Based on player input, I shall produce examples that include all of the TIER LEVELS.
(1) I have taken an aggregate of the cost to upgrade a newly acquired weapon, for example. I've calculated that 300 GOLD is equal in "value" to 1.58 MILLION DIAMONDS. This figure is based mainly upon the cost of collecting those diamonds, which typically come from competing in PvP battles.
Next we need to determine how many DIAMONDS we can expect to collect from a PvP victory.
(2) The return from a PvP battle must be at least 35K DIAMONDS to make it cost effective to pay for upgrades using DIAMONDS.
(3) If your average take in DIAMONDS from PvP battles is LESS THAN 35,000 per victory, then it is most likely cheaper to pay for upgrades using GOLD since it will cost you more GOLD to win those DIAMONDS.
(4) If your average diamonds take is GREATER THAN 35,000 then it's best to use DIAMONDS for upgrades.
Now we need to consider the relative cost of collecting DIAMONDS. If you're using GOLD that was acquired other than by paying for it using REAL MONEY, then the following does not apply; the above should provide you with enough information to make an informed decision as to whether to use DIAMONDS or GOLD for upgrades.
(5) This is very subjective and depends in large part on why a given player is competing in PvP. Simply put, if you are competing solely for the purpose of collecting diamonds, then losses are important because the net take is ZERO for the battle and consequently lowers the average take per battle.
(6) Additionally, since you're competing to collect diamonds, WIN STREAKS become somewhat less important, but the LOSS that resulted in a broken win streak is as important as any loss in the context that it will lower your average take in diamonds.
Now this is still a work in progress and needs further work and refining, but it should provide the basic information needed to make the decision as to whether to use DIAMONDS or GOLD.
Next up ... I will explore the "actual" costs of performing upgrades when using DIAMONDS.
PLEASE ... any input is not only welcomed, but expected. I need input from as many players, as possible, at varying levels and stages of the game to further refine these estimates. I would ask you to provide the cost of typical upgrades such as weapons or base using GOLD and DIAMONDS.
KUDOS
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
0
Comments
My third point is a little complicated so bear with me. There is benefit to turning Gold into Diamonds and then turning Diamonds back into Gold. Here is how that works: When you use Gold to buy Energy credits, you can then use those energy credits to win the Milestone awards both in the Silver and Gold Leagues and in the Global. You can then use the Gold you win as well as from watching the videos if that is available, to buy still more Energy Credits. If you redeem your accumulated Gold during the VIP Event you receive consumables such as Medkits and Grenades as a bonus. Thls cycle adds significantly to the advantage of using Gold to buy Energy and using Diamonds for upgrades.
... health, energy, equipment ... battles, victories, awards ... purchases ... gold. cash, diamonds ... weapons, drone, base ... tactics and strategy.
There are always multiple goals or objectives that must be met at any given point in time.
The trick is to accomplish all of this in the most efficient way possible whilst preserving the reason we play games at all ... for the FUN of it.
The issue of Gold versus Diamonds is central to this cost efficiency and the simple test you set out is 95% of the final solution. I have no sense of what Vault sizes people are getting, so I am hoping some folks will share their data. BTW, my current Vault take is 64 - 65 K and and I am rejecting any contest with less than 60 K in the kitty, but my situation may not be typical. Obviousy, your formula dictates that I use Gold only to buy Energy, and buy everything with Diamonds, but, as they say: Your mileage may vary.
Thanks for all your work!
I'm pleased to be of any assistance ... so I'll close this introduction (with BRADR752's help) by stating that the "obvious" is running up those assassination points (the RABBIT) ... the not so obvious is collecting those diamonds (the TORTOISE).
An additional note FYI is that these estimates were weighted on the high end of the scale deliberately. I wanted to be able to refine "downward" as more data is collected and in anticipation of TIER 14 ... so as your time permits, please post your numbers regarding tier, game level and cost in diamonds and gold for the various upgrades.
As a starting point, I must say, this is an issue of real importance to the player with a moderate budget, but probably won't provide much help to the low budget player.
If your budget is less than $100 per month, it makes no sense to use that budget to buy a few upgrades that may make little or no difference in the quality of your gaming experience. Simply use your budget to buy Energy credits and a few Medkits and enjoy the extra play.
If you are on a high budget (over $500), this thread may not help. Spend your bucks any way you please and you will come out on top.
It is only for the moderate budget player ($100-$500 per month) that this issue has importance. Spending your bucks wisely can make a huge difference in how far your budget will take you during the month.
For the modest budget player things have gotten pretty tough: The Android Global is now outside the budget of any moderate budget player. A $500 monthly budget is barely enough to put you on the Leaderboard one Global a month. Now the Silver League which has been the mainstream of moderate budget players, appears to be broken as well.
This means that the player of modest means has to adopt a new strategy. We are just beginning to work our way through the New Order, but here is what appears to be the case now:
First, establish a monthly gaming budget.
Second, buy in for the month at the largest sum that the budget allows. A single $100 purchase gets you 3200 Gold, five $20 purchases will net you only 2400.
Third, decide whether you should use Gold to upgrade or Diamonds, based on Scorpion's analysis above.
Forth, however you decide to spend your monthly Gold budget, do it only during a single VIP Event, where you will get the maximum VIP bonuses.
Fifth, if you determine based on your average take that it is to your advantage to use Diamonds rather than Gold to upgrade, pre-buy Energy credits during a VIP Event to get the freebies.
Sixth, don't forget to figure Medkit costs into your budget. I am currently using a Medkit in 6% of my contests during the Global, that means I need to pre-buy 6 Medkits for every 100 Energy Credits I buy.
Seventh, don't bust your budget.
and Eighth, have fun and kick butt!
Hope that helps.
25 VICTORIES per Global Event Day (625 AP).
2,500 AP TOTAL ... SILVER LEAGUE qualification.
This will require 3 WINS / HOUR over an 8-10 HOUR game play window.
TOTAL DIAMONDS COLLECTED: 6,812,000 DIAMONDS (Global); MOE 250K.
TOTAL COST: $0.00.
TOTAL AP SCORED: 2,588.
ELAPSED TIME: 40 hours.
AVERAGE DIAMOND TAKE PER WIN: 62-64K.
Based on current weapons available; to fully equip the weapon would take roughly 2-3 weeks.
*********************************************************************
*********************************************************************
SAMPLING #2: goals are modest and represent a player on a moderate budget ($20-$40 / week).
40 VICTORIES per Global Event Day (1,000 AP).
4,000-4,500 AP TOTAL ... SILVER LEAGUE qualification.
This will require 3-6 WINS / HOUR over a 12-16 HOUR game play window.
Purchase of MedKits and Grenades as needed ... Rockets and Knives are optional.
TOTAL DIAMONDS COLLECTED: 11,863,000 DIAMONDS (Global); MOE 250K.
TOTAL COST: $29.99 (750 GOLD).
TOTAL AP SCORED: 4,507.
ELAPSED TIME: 48 Hours.
AVERAGE DIAMOND TAKE PER WIN: 62-64K.
Based on current weapons available; to fully equip the weapon would take roughly 1-2 weeks.
Here's a quick recap of what we need to collect:
Game Level
Tier Base Level
Weapons and Ratings
Diamond Cost for Upgrades (weapons and base)
Gold Cost for Upgrades (weapons and base)
Screen Shots are fine ...
9 Hours of play
27 Battles fought
999.56K diamonds won
37.02K Average win
$0.00 Cash spent
Game Level - 120
Tier Base Level - 13 (2 Economy upgrades)
Weapons and Ratings - 12.5 LORDSHIP 571.39K & 11.5 NAGA 203.78K
Diamond Cost for Upgrades (weapons and base)
LORDSHIP
Level 4 upgrades - 700.9K x 4
NAGA
Level 2 upgrades - 216.01K x 4
Base
Level 1 Upgrades - 2.41M x 3
Level 2 upgrades - 2.73M x 3
Gold Cost for Upgrades (weapons and base)
LORDSHIP
Level 4 upgrades - 214 x 4
NAGA
Level 2 upgrades - 102 x 4
Base
Level 1 Upgrades - 420 x 3
Level 2 upgrades - 550 x 3
Great report, concerned. You have shamed me into a more thorough accounting tomorrow AM. Scorpion will be so excited.
**SMILES**
You know what would really motivate me? itunes gift cards, preferably in large denominations. Hint, hint!
I can do that ** SMILES ** I'm full of surprises and when you least expect it ... :cool:
In advance of the data, my quick assessment is the Diamonds vs Gold change over is about Lvl 10.3. Prior to that, you are unable to wing enough diamonds from matches to compensate for the direct upgrade. At the 10.3 you switch from cheaper to purchase direct to a purchase with Diamond.
Here is some additional reference information to help your analysis. I use the following Codes to simplify my life.
V - Vault maximum
C - Maximum collection before you must transfer to vault
P - Maximum Payout for PVP
G - Gold cost
x.x - Tier / Level . Updrade rank (e.g. a Base would be tier 10, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 for the 4 levels)
Base - Tier 9 Maxed
9.3 - V512K, C43K, P14.5K
Base - Tier 10
10.0 - V512K, C43K, P14.5K
10.1 - V588.8, C49.75, P16.7K
10.2 - V665.6, C55.9, P (should be Cxx/3) Have not gotten one yet
10.3 - not there yet
Rook - 12.5 Sniper (bought from the Last VIP for 350 Gold)
lvl 1 - D280k, Gold 86, Cash742K
Orcus - lvl 10 tesla
4 - D213.58K, Gold 125
Lute - 11.5 Assault
4 - D385.73K, Gold 204, Cash 983K
I am mostly a 'freemium player' and don't buy gold. I did for the Rook on sale this week as it will support me for a couple months. Some thoughts on weapons from a casual player.
Assault - Must be upgraded to max 3, with Fire rate of 4 to be value added. I figure you should have 6M in cash, and max out your diamond vault before you purchase. If not, you end up unable to compete. Good for Current Base + 3.0
Sniper - Same as assault, but I only upgrade to complete the campaigns
Telsa - Good out of the box for me, at my level. Good for Current Base + 4.0
When I state what a weapon is good for, it assumed you are willing to play the full 5 minute PVP battle and in some cases, you are at the ragged edge of winning. It does require some tactics and at the limits of effectiveness, you end up needing to not make more than 2 or 3 mistakes or you either require a medkit or lose.
Just some thoughts. I have appreciated all of the analysis you have been doing. Figured I should create an account to help with some of the lower level.
Christopher
Updated with corrections and added 10.2 base payout
I thank you Sir ... this will be very useful and you're absolutely correct, until you reach level 10 the diamond production is so poor that it wouldn't be practical to use diamonds for upgrades. Therefore it's important to reach that level as soon as possible to take advantage of this strategy.
Thank you again ...
As of right now with 9 1/2 hours remaining, my Free energy constitutes 41.3% of my total Energy consumed, but Diamond production only constitutes 7.2% of my Total Diamond increase for the 3 1/2+ days of the Global. This is from my maxxed out Tier 13 Base Economy producing at 21.3 K per hour, which represents the maximum obtainable in the game right now. The takeaway here is that free Energy credits are a substantial contributor to the overall success of current play, but Diamond production has limited impact, even at maximum production. Average Vault size is THE factor in success in the current game.
Agreed ... by diamond production, I was referring to all aspects of obtaining diamonds, most importantly PvP. Maybe a poor choice of words on my part? Semantics? Either way you get the diamonds, it's directly linked to the level of your BASE TIER, provided your weapons are in sync and properly rated.
Regardless, your point is well taken.
TOTAL VP: 777
TOTAL AP: 9457
TOTAL DIAMONDS: 27.2 M
DIAMOND PRODUCTION: 1981 k
DIAMOND WINS: 25.2 M
TOTAL ENERGY SPENT: 380
FREE ENERGY: 170
OUT OF POCKET ENERGY: 210
TOTAL COST: 1460 GOLD
TOTAL COST: $45.42
AVERAGE VAULT: 65 K
Good Man ... Now where should I send that gift card? Is there a way to reserve one for you online at the Apple Store? **SMILES**
Once one abandons the futile attempt to win weapons in the Global and concentrates instead on max Diamonds and Gold, League play is actually more valuable than Global play since Silver League has a 50 Gold milestone each day and Gold League has a 100 Gold Milestone daily, while Global has a single 50 Gold milestone for the entire 4 days.
The Vault sizes are roughly the same throughout the week, so it seems like the savvy player concentrates on the Daily Gold milestones in League play.
My current plan of attack is to spend roughly the amount on play each day. For me 100 battles a day gets me 350 Gold over the week, lots of Diamonds for upgrade, and slows my fall down the All-Time Leaderboard.
Moreover, while this does involve some cost (I calculate it at $75/week) it gives me a level of play that I find enjoyable and doesn't interfere with RL.
A Silver League strategy should yield 200 Gold per week and be nearly free.
This is great news because the 13.5 ANTELOPE (rather it's clone) should be available in this weekend's VIP and MORE IMPORTANTLY (for those willing to try on our new strategy) 14.5 TESLA, 15.5 ASSAULT and 15.5 HEAVY will be available during the next HEAVY Global VIP/Super VIP Event (next week).
I'll grab the new 13.5 SNIPER this weekend in preparation for the next REGION UPDATE.
My strategy's schedule is to wait for the 15.5 TESLA, 16.5 ASSAULT and 16.5 HEAVY. These should be available in exactly 1 month + 1 week (late September) if my predictions hold true to form.
How many times has SCORPION steered you wrong?
The most important element of this strategy is PATIENCE ... thanks to GLU I have plenty of it LOL
Good Luck and Good Hunting !!!
Your observation is spot on ... I have been cruising through the Global and concentrating on Silver League play. The DIAMOND and GOLD yield is greater and costs absolutely nothing.
When they actually bother to offer Gold and Silver League play, that is.
This is true ... over the last couple of months, we've lost 5-7 days of play between Global, Silver and Gold, across all platforms, due to some sort of GLU foul up ... days that we can never get back. Since we essentially play for diamonds, the impact is minimal however for most players looking to craft a weapon, this is devastating and explains why so many have departed.
In a way, the new strategy not only sets us free for bigger and better exploits, but it also offers a degree of "shielding" from GLU's missteps. The only thing we cannot mitigate is lost days of competition ... but we're protected from that as well, to some degree..
You do realize that PvP (non global, non league) pays out better diamonds. In fact the only thing that is lost when they cancel an event is the milestone GOLD. VP bumps up also. So I guess we ARE insulated against ALL GLU foul-ups after all. Ha
Our new strategy even insulates us from GLU screw ups. Our only vulnerability, as I see it, is if they cancel a VIP Event on the wrong day, in the wrong week of the month.
The film du jour is "American Sniper" ... how appropriate **SMILES**
If you require further details or recommendations, post a message in this thread or send SCORPION / BRADR752 a PM ... we will be happy to assist.
Good Luck and Good Hunting !!!
05:12 PM on 07/30 09:02 AM on 07/31
Banish the hacks and everything is fine again.
*** A Brief Moment in History ***
TOOBAD is more of a process than a philosophy; one must adhere to a predefined schedule of events to maximize it's effectiveness.
The whole idea was spawned from a serious discussion (brain storming, if you will) on how to best utilize DIAMONDS and GOLD when performing upgrades.
BRAD and I periodically have these brain dumping sessions where we analyze game achievements, goals, costs and benefits., and then look for ways to improve our strategy. Admittedly, these discussions are way over the top and most average players usually cannot follow them until we've actually reached a conclusion and formulated a solution. It also took gathering statistics over the course of several Global and League Events to prove out the hypothesis.
It works something like this ... I'll usually set down the hypothesis (fantasy) and BRAD will inject his actual experiences. I'll crunch the numbers and together we'll determine the costs ... we tweak and refine and sometimes we'll have a "brain storm" and the data starts pouring out.
The moment of clarity occurred when we realized that the best way to perform upgrades was during the VIP Events, and not just any VIP Event ... the VIP Event that coincides with the release of a new region and base tier ... the HEAVY WEAPON Global.
Obviously we've expanded the scope to include BASE upgrades and DRONE upgrades as well, so we eventually dropped the 90 DAY PLAN (originally meant for weapons) and shortened the name to just TOOBAD; but the entire "philosophy" is based on obtaining DIAMONDS and using those DIAMONDS in the most effective way possible.
Level 130
Base Tier 10: Sentry 10.1 (665.6 D/405 G)
Gun 10.1 (665.6 D/405 G)
Health 10.3 (819.2 D/585 G)
Economy 10.4 Vault=819.2
C- 68.8/P- 23.3
Spear Elite- 14.5 Sniper, level 1 upgrade 892 D/110 G
Torch Elite- 13.5 Tesla, level 1 upgrade 492 D/100 G
Doberman- 13.5 Assault, level 1 upgrade 493 D/100 G
Hope this helps. Huggles