General Farming Guidance FOR NOD Players
**Since WCS 2023 will be a morale world...farming season approaches. This guide is to help players of all skill levels. This should be taken as general guidance, and higher skill players will likely deviate based on individual play. Please reach out or post below for additional tips, tricks, techniques, and anything else you wish to discuss. For GDI players that have figured out farming perhaps posting a guide using the format below will be useful. :)**
This farming guide is broken up into milestones related to army units researched. It also assumes all SP is used for CP. That means an account needs to be fully funded. Below are other assumptions that are important:
1. Average of 15 CP per OP is used. General guidance is to kill your OP-chain regardless of distance because the average RT used will generally be around 15 CP per OP if a player kills every OP in their OP chain.
2. Max RT used per 1-shot OP should be 1-hour or less. As player level increase, SP for CP increases. This leads to RT used per OP to decrease down to around 30 minutes per OP on average. On average means that majority of shots should be low, but some higher usage of RT can be used. This applies to average CP per OP as well.
3. All OPs are 1-shot only. No exceptions.
4. Farm area is fully utilized which means bases can’t be moved easily to squish bad OPs for a better OP.
5. This is for NOD only accounts
6. Army design is based on shooting all OPs spawned. That means this guide is not used for players wishing to be fully optimal in shooting OPs. Additionally, this guide is designed for a player to be consistent, spend as little time farming and simming to farm which leads to sustainable farming and reduces farming burnout.
7. Offense Research is prioritized over base building and rank.
8. The ranges in levels should be used as guides based on RT usage and ease of taking down OPs.
9. Distraction units are extremely important.
10. The army build type is helpful for farming, but also for digging when needed. It follows the concept of increasing army points as fast as possible, with a few select high level units, some mid-level units, and the rest to be low level and distraction level units. Mid-level and low-level units should be used as shields for the high level units.
Before Vertigo
1. If morale worlds have malus at +4: Use least amount of CP per RP to gain vertigos. Usually, this means building an army to level 8-9 and activate level 14 or 15 tunnels. The goal here is to maximize RP per shot and finish an OP within 3 hits or less.
2. If morale worlds have malus at +7: Use least amount of CP per RP to gain vertigos. Usually, this means building an army to level 8-9 and shooting level 16-17 bases.
After Vertigo
2. The goal is to get Command Center to equal the tunnel level (level 15) as fast as possible, and to level 2 vertigos to level 14-15 as quickly as possible. Keep all other units equal to or under level 8.
3. From this point forward, 1-shot OP rule is mandatory. No camps. Ever.
4. Drop down to shoot level 10-12 OPs if level 13 – 14 OPs are not 1-shots.
5. During this phase Base 2 should dropped, and RP for scorpions should be researched.
After Scorpion
1. Scorpions should be researched once level 14 and level 15 OPs are being shot. Scorpions increase the range of OPs that can be easily 1-shot. The goal is to have 1 scorpion equal to the level of OP or minus 2 level (for example, level 14 OP = Level 12 or 14 scorpion).
2. At this point it is also helpful to have 1 venom that is high level similar to scorpion (for example, level 14 OP = Level 12 or 14 venom). At this point the tunnel activated is a level 16. That means a players account should have CC = level 16, 2 vertigos = level 14, 1 scorpion = level 12 – 14, 1 venom = level 12 -14. A player should also be working to have Airport = between Command Center level and – 4 levels of Command Center (for example, CC = level 16. Have airport between level 12 – 16. At minimum, the level of RT buildings should equal the level of highest non-building take down unit (scorpion, venom, cobra, etc)
3. After scorpion is researched, push for B3. After B3, push for cobra and cobra shield.
After Cobras
1. Cobras are extremely important to combat flak towers before salamanders are researched. However, the catch is that at least 2 cobras need to be +2 levels of flak towers. That means if a flak tower is level 20. At least 2 cobras need to be level 22.
2. At this point, it is important to increase airport to equal the level of Cobra at minimum. If cobras = level 22 then the airport needs to be level 22 to level 24. If RT is an issue (especially before shields) consider investing in airport that is 2 levels higher than cobras.
3. This may be controversial, and it is selective on cred production, and cred from farming, but the next important offense research after cobra shield should be sniper, salamander, and then 4th base. However, this is dependent on play. Some players would rather run with a few high level cobras for most of server to drop bases faster. This all depends on play style. However, the key trick to remember is that more offense researches = more options to shoot OPs with 1 shot. This helps clear crappy OPs that would be hard to shoot from the farm area.
4. Also consider that defense researches will be needed and that it would be wise to have SW on all bases 100 percent of the time. This is insurance against surprise PvP and will also reduce spies from determining if PvP will happen since many alliances start building SW before PvP. If SW is required for all bases at a specified level, it eliminates this signal and makes it harder for challengers to plan for PvP.
Some Other Tips and Tricks
1. Identify easy NOD OPs to shoot.
a. Construction Yard at edge of the of the Forgotten base layout.
b. Preferably, no air defense units or structures in line to the Construction Yard or air defense units or structures can be lured to one side and/or defeated by existing offense units.
c. Once flak towers are unescapable, high level cobras can severely hurt these flaks, and vertigos along with vertigo shields can be used to bypass and kill CY.
2. As offense POIs are gained, usually only 2 high level vertigos will still be needed. When Salamanders are researched fully with heal, usually 1 high level vertigo will be needed.
3. Salamander should be researched before level 30 outposts. This will enable a player to hit more OPs with 1 shot. Until then, high level shielded cobras should be used to take down or be used as shields for forgotten flak towers.
4. When Salamander re-heal is researched should be based on how effectively RT is being used. Salamanders use up a lot of RT. A player must account for the high RT costs through a higher airport level until salamander re-heal is researched. Preferably, I would push for this upgrade before base 5 or 6.
5. If players will not fully fund or spend SP on CP then CP cost per OP becomes extremely important. In fact, its a trade off between time and CP usage. A player should aim for 13 CP per OP or less if costs to buy CP from SP is prohibitive. But this usually means waiting and giving up on OP-chains if OPs spawn out of the 13 CP range. That's the trade off.
This farming guide is broken up into milestones related to army units researched. It also assumes all SP is used for CP. That means an account needs to be fully funded. Below are other assumptions that are important:
1. Average of 15 CP per OP is used. General guidance is to kill your OP-chain regardless of distance because the average RT used will generally be around 15 CP per OP if a player kills every OP in their OP chain.
2. Max RT used per 1-shot OP should be 1-hour or less. As player level increase, SP for CP increases. This leads to RT used per OP to decrease down to around 30 minutes per OP on average. On average means that majority of shots should be low, but some higher usage of RT can be used. This applies to average CP per OP as well.
3. All OPs are 1-shot only. No exceptions.
4. Farm area is fully utilized which means bases can’t be moved easily to squish bad OPs for a better OP.
5. This is for NOD only accounts
6. Army design is based on shooting all OPs spawned. That means this guide is not used for players wishing to be fully optimal in shooting OPs. Additionally, this guide is designed for a player to be consistent, spend as little time farming and simming to farm which leads to sustainable farming and reduces farming burnout.
7. Offense Research is prioritized over base building and rank.
8. The ranges in levels should be used as guides based on RT usage and ease of taking down OPs.
9. Distraction units are extremely important.
10. The army build type is helpful for farming, but also for digging when needed. It follows the concept of increasing army points as fast as possible, with a few select high level units, some mid-level units, and the rest to be low level and distraction level units. Mid-level and low-level units should be used as shields for the high level units.
Before Vertigo
1. If morale worlds have malus at +4: Use least amount of CP per RP to gain vertigos. Usually, this means building an army to level 8-9 and activate level 14 or 15 tunnels. The goal here is to maximize RP per shot and finish an OP within 3 hits or less.
2. If morale worlds have malus at +7: Use least amount of CP per RP to gain vertigos. Usually, this means building an army to level 8-9 and shooting level 16-17 bases.
After Vertigo
2. The goal is to get Command Center to equal the tunnel level (level 15) as fast as possible, and to level 2 vertigos to level 14-15 as quickly as possible. Keep all other units equal to or under level 8.
3. From this point forward, 1-shot OP rule is mandatory. No camps. Ever.
4. Drop down to shoot level 10-12 OPs if level 13 – 14 OPs are not 1-shots.
5. During this phase Base 2 should dropped, and RP for scorpions should be researched.
After Scorpion
1. Scorpions should be researched once level 14 and level 15 OPs are being shot. Scorpions increase the range of OPs that can be easily 1-shot. The goal is to have 1 scorpion equal to the level of OP or minus 2 level (for example, level 14 OP = Level 12 or 14 scorpion).
2. At this point it is also helpful to have 1 venom that is high level similar to scorpion (for example, level 14 OP = Level 12 or 14 venom). At this point the tunnel activated is a level 16. That means a players account should have CC = level 16, 2 vertigos = level 14, 1 scorpion = level 12 – 14, 1 venom = level 12 -14. A player should also be working to have Airport = between Command Center level and – 4 levels of Command Center (for example, CC = level 16. Have airport between level 12 – 16. At minimum, the level of RT buildings should equal the level of highest non-building take down unit (scorpion, venom, cobra, etc)
3. After scorpion is researched, push for B3. After B3, push for cobra and cobra shield.
After Cobras
1. Cobras are extremely important to combat flak towers before salamanders are researched. However, the catch is that at least 2 cobras need to be +2 levels of flak towers. That means if a flak tower is level 20. At least 2 cobras need to be level 22.
2. At this point, it is important to increase airport to equal the level of Cobra at minimum. If cobras = level 22 then the airport needs to be level 22 to level 24. If RT is an issue (especially before shields) consider investing in airport that is 2 levels higher than cobras.
3. This may be controversial, and it is selective on cred production, and cred from farming, but the next important offense research after cobra shield should be sniper, salamander, and then 4th base. However, this is dependent on play. Some players would rather run with a few high level cobras for most of server to drop bases faster. This all depends on play style. However, the key trick to remember is that more offense researches = more options to shoot OPs with 1 shot. This helps clear crappy OPs that would be hard to shoot from the farm area.
4. Also consider that defense researches will be needed and that it would be wise to have SW on all bases 100 percent of the time. This is insurance against surprise PvP and will also reduce spies from determining if PvP will happen since many alliances start building SW before PvP. If SW is required for all bases at a specified level, it eliminates this signal and makes it harder for challengers to plan for PvP.
Some Other Tips and Tricks
1. Identify easy NOD OPs to shoot.
a. Construction Yard at edge of the of the Forgotten base layout.
b. Preferably, no air defense units or structures in line to the Construction Yard or air defense units or structures can be lured to one side and/or defeated by existing offense units.
c. Once flak towers are unescapable, high level cobras can severely hurt these flaks, and vertigos along with vertigo shields can be used to bypass and kill CY.
2. As offense POIs are gained, usually only 2 high level vertigos will still be needed. When Salamanders are researched fully with heal, usually 1 high level vertigo will be needed.
3. Salamander should be researched before level 30 outposts. This will enable a player to hit more OPs with 1 shot. Until then, high level shielded cobras should be used to take down or be used as shields for forgotten flak towers.
4. When Salamander re-heal is researched should be based on how effectively RT is being used. Salamanders use up a lot of RT. A player must account for the high RT costs through a higher airport level until salamander re-heal is researched. Preferably, I would push for this upgrade before base 5 or 6.
5. If players will not fully fund or spend SP on CP then CP cost per OP becomes extremely important. In fact, its a trade off between time and CP usage. A player should aim for 13 CP per OP or less if costs to buy CP from SP is prohibitive. But this usually means waiting and giving up on OP-chains if OPs spawn out of the 13 CP range. That's the trade off.
