How do you fund covert 38 (and higher)?

[Norbe]

It is nice to see that this thread has got quite a good response. I think it is an interesting debate.

Several people have mentioned that trading is a great way to get resources, and I am sure most people here know that the majority of my ingame income throughout the years has been due to trading. But most of that was done in 2008-2009 when there was a large variance in the markets. Nowadays the trade markets are remarkably stable, and I struggle to see where any significant profit can be made. Field Marshall mentioned that he was buying naq at 0.17 and selling at 0.2. A variance of only 0.03c per tril. Considering the exorbitant charges paypal make on international transactions, there is in reality, hardly any profit in that at all. Back when I was buying/selling it was 0.5 per tril to 0.7 per tril, which is a far bigger variance of 0.2c per tril, and even then paypal ate an annoying chunk.

Honestly, had I continued my trading and saving for levels throughout 2011, I could have had covert 38 a while ago. I do know I bought and lost over 1 billion UU during wartimes last year, plus probably 300 tril naq in weapons and repairs. That came from the reserves i'd built up over years of trading. Had I not done that, and put everything into naq, I would have covert 38. But I did not have the luxury of foresight, knowing that the game would take the turns it has done.

I guess we all have our time in the limelight, and mine is for the most part, over. This thread was perhaps a way for me to reminisce of the one time I made it onto page one, and aid in the acceptance that I simply shall not be saving for covert 38 and challenging those with the claims to fame. Instead I shall fade out into the obscurity of the masses.

More importantly though, I wanted to give those players who are in my position hope that there are ways to do what may seem to be nearly impossible.

Special Note @ KJ - TÅF do run alliance programs for covert levels. I am simply unable to afford the payments required for the schemes to be effective.

~Norbe~

[Loki™]

Don't say that norbe! Farming is easy and if you resist spending too much on stats and stuff it will eventually pile up to that 800t.

[Borek]

I'll be honest with you Norbe, farming and raiding are just not worth the time and effort. The amount of time you need to spend to get the funds together you would be far better working in a bar part time or something 3-4 nights a week for a few weeks, month tops, and just buying the naq off some sucker who is selling their hard work (ok yeah they probably just use a farm-script, but whatever they still gotta put in some effort lol).

Other thing about farming and raiding is you run a very high risk of getting burnt out and pissed with the game, not to mention having to get AT's.

Now i agree with the people who say trading is good, buying and selling and playing the fluctuations in the game based around wars can net good money, but honestly, 800t naq you can get for $150, that's a weeks wages even at a low paid job, so do you wanna spend a week working for cash to buy it or 6 months working at the game...

Lets face it the game is stale and dull, i don't mind doing a little farming, but i cba to get level 38 on my account, honestly i could buy an account with level 39 with the money i can make working and earning a wage than spending the same time in-game "working" on farming, raiding etc. That's if i felt it was worth spending on the game, for me, nah, i'd rather get out-powered by a cash-bloated account than waste my time and money to compete. It's an old, stale, boring browser game, sometimes you just gotta get real and say Meh, just don't care about being massed

[Lord Jadedog]

Play the market..
Take major advantage whenever the holiday black market comes around, sell your UU or NAQ for cash around the first week of december.. because thanks to the doubled rates the player market will crash for the next 4-5 months.

+10

I guess we all have our time in the limelight, and mine is for the most part, over.

~Norbe~

Don't give up

[Norbe]

Well said Borek, and I totally agree with everything you said. For me the joy of this game has always been about finding the clever tricks and tactics that enable me to compete with those who fund their gaming habits by other means. In the past there have always been ways to achieve that. Did they have better accounts than me? Yes. However for the most part, even though it was a challenge I could, at least to some degree, hold my own. Now it feels like there is no viable way to do this.

Because of these changes, the game has also lost it's charm and it's appeal to me. It is no longer a challenge I feel is achievable, or even worth trying to achieve. Especially when the goalposts are set so very far away.

My real worry is that if an experienced player like myself feels like it's too much, what must a newbie who starts and wants to build their own account from the ground up be going through. No amount of "come back to the game" emails from the admin will change that.

Don't give up

Oh don't worry. You won't see a for sale or a quitting thread from me just yet. I'll be around to help those in TÅF and TÅÅE for a good while longer.

~Norbe~

[Rudy Peña]

Because of these changes, the game has also lost it's charm and it's appeal to me. It is no longer a challenge I feel is achievable, or even worth trying to achieve. Especially when the goalposts are set so very far away.

And thats the reason why you fail before you even attempt it, cause it cant happen. People tend to call that "Quitting before even starting" or "failing before even starting".

Thats the kind of talk that makes people think its so hard to do something. No wonder you arnt in your "limelight" cause once the bar started going higher, you rang the bell.

[Loki™]

Because of these changes, the game has also lost it's charm and it's appeal to me. It is no longer a challenge I feel is achievable, or even worth trying to achieve. Especially when the goalposts are set so very far away.

And thats the reason why you fail before you even attempt it, cause it cant happen. People tend to call that "Quitting before even starting" or "failing before even starting".

Thats the kind of talk that makes people think its so hard to do something. No wonder you arnt in your "limelight" cause once the bar started going higher, you rang the bell.

What he said.
There are certain guys in TL with top accounts who haven't spent a dime and they didn't get there by thinking they can't get there.

[xDaku]

It takes 3 weeks for an aggressive farmer like me to get the amount required - 2 months for a casual farmer if he actually started it with a frame of mind to see it till the end (rather than get distracted and start spending elsewhere). It's not tough to do, there are tonnes of people with 38s now that got it without spending a dime - nor did they spend every second on this game. It's about actually doing it, rather than letting the task scare you.

And about what Borek said (spending a week's pay for it rather than a month or two of farming), yes, you could do that. But, and some might not agree with me on this, while others might think I'm just blabbing out of my mouth (in some people's eyes I usually am ), there's no replacing the pride and satisfaction of farming up 400T to mass down a huge def. Like you Norbe, I enjoy the task of trying to compete with the spenders by ingame means, and to a certain level it's not possible, but people seem to forget this is a MMORPG. The point is to do your dues to get the growth you want. Spenders will always be a step ahead and that's not exclusive to this game.

With an old player like you, I can see why it must get tiring always having to go that extra mile to compete, and I don't think it's that the task has gotten tough that's got you bothered, but rather you're just tired. Infact, getting those levels now is much easier than it was a few months ago. Farming's much easier now; pretty much everyone can do it if they tried. It's not any tougher than what it was before. I think the problem you have isn't that it's tougher, but that it's the same.

[~Thamuz~]

It takes 3 weeks for an aggressive farmer like me to get the amount required - 2 months for a casual farmer if he actually started it with a frame of mind to see it till the end (rather than get distracted and start spending elsewhere). It's not tough to do, there are tonnes of people with 38s now that got it without spending a dime - nor did they spend every second on this game. It's about actually doing it, rather than letting the task scare you.

And about what Borek said (spending a week's pay for it rather than a month or two of farming), yes, you could do that. But, and some might not agree with me on this, while others might think I'm just blabbing out of my mouth (in some people's eyes I usually am ), there's no replacing the pride and satisfaction of farming up 400T to mass down a huge def. Like you Norbe, I enjoy the task of trying to compete with the spenders by ingame means, and to a certain level it's not possible, but people seem to forget this is a MMORPG. The point is to do your dues to get the growth you want. Spenders will always be a step ahead and that's not exclusive to this game.
With an old player like you, I can see why it must get tiring always having to go that extra mile to compete, and I don't think it's that the task has gotten tough that's got you bothered, but rather you're just tired. Infact, getting those levels now is much easier than it was a few months ago. Farming's much easier now; pretty much everyone can do it if they tried. It's not any tougher than what it was before. I think the problem you have isn't that it's tougher, but that it's the same.

+1 and Amen.

[Norbe]

It takes 3 weeks for an aggressive farmer like me to get the amount required - 2 months for a casual farmer if he actually started it with a frame of mind to see it till the end (rather than get distracted and start spending elsewhere).

Chatting with another player on the subject, and doing a bit of maths. The following comes up:

Covert 38 costs 832 tril naq.
Average hit of 30b naq profit using 15 ATs (which is about my average).
416,000 attack turns must be used to make 832 tril naq.

The other player points in over a year, his outgoing turn useage is:
Attack Turns Used(1) 94,642

Now this particular player definitely fits into the category of active. Much more so than I. He logs in often and farms when he has time on the days he is not on PPT. And still it takes over 4x more farming than he has done in a year.

So daku - 2 months for a casual farmer? I'm thinking you need to check that one again. More like two years.

But I do agree with your point about it's more me being tired with the game after having played it for so long, and that is ultimately where my lack of commitment is coming from. I've spent more than 5 years of my life sat at a computer. There is a whole world out there to explore, hense my reluctance to sit for months on end farming for a covert level.

~Norbe~

[Loki™]

Attack Turns Used(1) 49,095
That's my usage this week and I haven't played that much. Only a farm run here and there amids reading for my exams. So I don't think 94k a year is too active unless he farm with a +20t strike.

[Norbe]

Attack Turns Used(1) 49,095
That's my usage this week and I haven't played that much. Only a farm run here and there amids reading for my exams. So I don't think 94k a year is too active unless he farm with a +20t strike.

How long in terms of time did that take you?

I can use 500-800 turns per change. Even at the higher end of the scale, i'd have to be online for 30 hours during a week to use that much. To me that is very highly active. A full time job is anything above 37 hours a week.

~Norbe~

[Scar Face]

Attack Turns Used(1) 49,095
That's my usage this week and I haven't played that much. Only a farm run here and there amids reading for my exams. So I don't think 94k a year is too active unless he farm with a +20t strike.

^^What he said, u actually need to be active like 5mins every turn change, so doesn't take a whole lot of time to be honest. In a single turn with a proper farm list, speed and a bit of luck u can get from 1-5trill depends what u aim for. On a single day an active player probably logins 3-4times so 6-8turn, which would add to: 8-40trill per day. Now then u have the weekends, free days from work, maybe a injurie or a headache when u got basicly nothing to do, but if we only take 5 days as such on each week: 5x 8(40), 40trill per week a minimum or 200trill as a max or smth like that for an ACTIVE player. Even at 40trill its 5,2 months as a minumum level of playing, without combining that with UU sells, naq trading, planets, income, UP, etc... So its quite possible, u just have to get a system going.

[Loki™]

It's all about the turn supply really.

[xDaku]

I use 50k turns a week, farm anywhere from 200-250T from that. I usually get around 8 -12 TCs a day in, and that's when I'm on the computer chatting on msn or watching a movie or something. And if not, I come back for the 4-10 minutes it takes to go through my whole farming procedure.

Now, if I want to meet my quota I'd have to increase my farming to about 210-220T per week to make up for repairs and turn costs. That's not too bad of an upgrade.

For a casual player, 10T a day seems a reasonable bar to set. That's 70T farmed in a week and if done consistently, 3 months and a bit (counting in repairs and turn costs). Now, the fact is sometimes people will farm less, and sometimes they'll farm more. That's where the difference in calculations come in, I was a bit off by saying 2 months, but even 3.5 months is not too long a time. That's keeping in mind, this is a casual player we're talking about - not someone who currently dedicates proper time for this game.

Oh and, if you farm 2T per turn change - 10T is 5 turn changes. And you only need to be on the computer for about 5 minutes per turn change so 25 minutes of play time total.