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[Guide] Higher Age Units Guide v2.20

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
I have started a new city, my plan is to negotiate all zones up to future era, all in bronze age.
i will then abandon or complete a quest and see what happens.

i wonder if the future quests will start while still in bronze age.
The Surveillance Nexus is gained from a side quest, not a story quest, and it seems like that quest will trigger in any age. However, to get hovers, you have to push the story quests, and so far as I know you can't do that in any age lower than InA.
 
Part 4: Contemporary to Future Era Troops

This section covers the ability of the player to get up to Future Era troops in all ages InA and above. It is still possible to get even higher troops in these ages, but that information can be found in the next part.

Skipping the PME Tech Blocker
Despite there being a PME tech blocker at the end of the PME story, it is possible to skip this blocker to get units higher than PME while still in InA (or higher). To do this, there's a couple of short steps to follow.

First, don't complete the PME story. Stop the questline at the abortable quest "Your Choice: Truth or Dare." If at any point past this you collect or abort this quest, your next story quest will take you back to PME and you will be tech blocked. After you get tech blocked, you are stuck on the story until you age up to PME with no way around it.

Next, scout the CE map as shown in the spoiler below. Specific provinces must be skipped, or you will get tech blocked on the CE story.
Skip the provinces that are red.
z70aYfp.png

Then, you have to choose whether you want TE troops or not. Receiving them will cost an extra technology to research, but they can help you fight the map easier. If you are limited on the technologies you have available to you, I would recommend avoiding TE troops and instead using that tech to receive even higher troops, such as AF or OF ones that will be more powerful. Each path is described below.
If you want TE troops, then do the following:
  1. Scout Torrinhos and abort an RQ. Then complete an RQ or side quest that is NOT Truth or Dare.
  2. Then scout and take Villariba to the North (do not scout Bajatai).
  3. Finally, scout Rio Roxo and abort an RQ to start the TE Story on "Meet Miguel Mantos", and follow the story from there.
See the TE troops section further down to learn which troops you can receive.

Thanks to @KingJMobile for helping figure this out.
If you don't want TE troops, then scout the TE map as shown below, skipping the three provinces marked in red.
yIQX9Pi.png

In this case, take up to and including the first FE province, Agadar, and then complete an RQ or side quest that is not "Truth or Dare" and complete what CE story quest(s) you are given. The story should then jump to FE. Make sure that you complete Agadar via negotiation, however, or you'll miss out on 3 extra FE Hover Tanks (heavy units).

When taking provinces from CE until the first province of FE, DO NOT complete any RQ or side quests. That will cause the story quest to jump to CE, and immediately after that either to CE or TE. Only after taking the first FE sector is it safe to complete a RQ or side quest.

CE Troops (PME only)
If you are in PME, you will receive the full CE questline, which includes the CE tech blocker quests. To avoid this, you must scout the cMap as shown below, skipping two of the provinces.
Skip the provinces that are marked in red.
z70aYfp.png

After doing so, if you want TE troops complete the CE story and continue onto the TE map. If you want to skip the TE troops to save an extra tech, scout the TE map as shown below and take the first FE provinces before completing the CE story.
Skip the provinces marked in red.
yIQX9Pi.png

The CE story will ask you to scout one of the skipped provinces, but this is fine. Just don't take it! Make sure to abort through recurring quests as you progress through the story, since there are a good amount of CE side quests that give units that can trigger as you move through the story. You can get 2 Missile Artillery (artillery units), 2 Attack Helicopters, (fast units), 2 Assault Tanks (heavy units), and 3 Anti-Aircraft Vehicles (ranged units). The CE story will need 1 tech to be researched.

After the CE story, if you didn't scout the TE map you will receive the TE story questline. If you instead scouted the TE map as shown above, you will skip to the FE story line.

Also, note that by negotiating all 4 of the Sheik's provinces (Amaryah City, Khail, Batif, and Hafar Al Karak), you will receive more diamonds from the CE storyline.

It is possible to receive the 2 Attack Helicopters (fast units) side quest in ages as early as ME, but the conditions to trigger this quest are unknown.

TE Troops
If you chose to receive the TE troops in an age lower than PME, you should be able to receive 2 Combat Drones (fast units), 2 Stealth Tanks (heavy units), 2 Anti Materiel Snipers (ranged units), and 1 TE Champion (heavy unit). Special thanks goes to @Xivarmy and KingJMobile for figuring this out.

If you chose to skip over the TE questline to go for Hover Tanks first and want to go back to receive TE troops, you can do so. After finishing the FE storyline (or further, as long as you do not reach the quest Persuasion in OF that will tech block you), scout and take the first skipped province in TE, and the questline should jump to TE. Take the remaining TE skipped provinces as well and complete the questline. You should get the units described in the paragraph above.

If you are in PME or CE, you should be able to receive the entire TE questline and all the troops. On the TE cMap, be sure to fight sectors of Torrinhos. This will yield additional troops, namely 2 Anti-Materiel Snipers (ranged units) and 2 Ultra AP (light units). In total, the player can gain 4 Microwave Blaster (artillery units), 4 Anti-Materiel Snipers (ranged units), 2 Ultra AP (light units), 4 Stealth Tank (heavy units), and 2 Combat Drones (fast units), and 1 Champion (heavy units).

No matter what age the player is in, the TE story requires one technology to be researched.

Also, as a side note, a TE cultural building, the Surveillance Nexus, can be given from a side quest after taking Rio Roxo in ages as early as InA!

FE Troops (Hover Tanks)
Once you start the FE story, to get the extra 3 Hover Tanks, be sure to negotiate Agadar, the first province owned by Joy Danba. Then, later on the cMap, be sure to negotiate in Kalabuye (the second province owned by Joy Danba) and to not completely take either Bisoraba or Kalabuye before receiving the 3 Hover Tanks quest "Greetings from a Friend." Once you get the Hover Tanks, it no longer matters whether you fight or negotiate the rest of Kalabuye. Danba's provinces are marked in green on the map below.
Make sure to negotiate these to get extra hover tanks!
OhVDKIU.png

Only take sectors as requested by the FE storyline. Especially, do not take the province Kolaburg completely until the quest "Down the Rabbit Hole," as otherwise you will have to research an additional technology. Also, be sure to take sectors of Fort Buntu by force, since this will yield 2 Rail Gun (artillery units) and 2 Satellite Spotter (ranged units).

Also, if the player receives the quest "An Old Acquaintance," they will receive an additional 3 Exoskeleton Soldier (light units). It is not quite known how this quest can exactly be triggered, or what causes it not to be triggered. I got this quest when negotiating all the FE provinces.

In total, the player can gain 4 Hover Tanks (heavy units), 6 Exoskeleton Soldier (light units), 2 Drone Swarm (fast units), 2 Rail Gun (artillery units), and 2 Satellite Spotter (ranged units). The FE story requires 3 techs to be researched, 4 if the player takes Kolaburg completely before the quest "Down the Rabbit Hole."

After the story quests jump to FE, the story follows along normally. The player is not tech blocked after they skip the CE blocker until they reach the end of the OF story. To see more information on the AF and OF stories, troops, and cMaps, see Part 5. The only real limiter past this point is the number of techs the player has left to research for quests.
Update on my progress. I didn't realise that I was supposed to skip the 2 provinces completely and scouted them. I had 12 techs left originally and planned to not get te troops. Then a quest came up for research and that left me at 11. I was annoyed but I could still get some AF troops. I get to the end of the CE questline today and it tells me to research stress management. This would leave me with like 3 techs. Is there any way I can skip this or have I screwed it up badly?

Thanks,
Chewbacka5
 

KingJMobile

Active Member
Update on my progress. I didn't realise that I was supposed to skip the 2 provinces completely and scouted them. I had 12 techs left originally and planned to not get te troops. Then a quest came up for research and that left me at 11. I was annoyed but I could still get some AF troops. I get to the end of the CE questline today and it tells me to research stress management. This would leave me with like 3 techs. Is there any way I can skip this or have I screwed it up badly?

Thanks,
Chewbacka5

Bad luck Chewbacka; I think you have messed up, so I think you're tech blocked. Where were you on CMap when you got the CE Quest? And did you get any CE units from side quests (just remotely interested)?
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Update on my progress. I didn't realise that I was supposed to skip the 2 provinces completely and scouted them. I had 12 techs left originally and planned to not get te troops. Then a quest came up for research and that left me at 11. I was annoyed but I could still get some AF troops. I get to the end of the CE questline today and it tells me to research stress management. This would leave me with like 3 techs. Is there any way I can skip this or have I screwed it up badly?

Thanks,
Chewbacka5
Since you're at the quest that needs you to research Stress Management, you're tech blocked until you age up to CE and are able to actually research Stress Management. Unfortunately you're stuck until that point, and there is nothing you can really do about it.

You'd probably need a truce tower if you want to save some diamonds...
Also @hippobuttamus I'd recommend actually aging up to Iron Age and leaving as many BA techs unresearched as possible, because then you could simply buy goods and trade for them rather than paying diamonds. A TT would be helpful here as well, and anything that could generate goods/FP. I had a friend recently working to do something similar, and they ran into a problem getting enough coins around the PME/CE maps, so getting a CF or maybe even a Virgo Project could come in handy too.
 
You'd probably need a truce tower if you want to save some diamonds...
For my newish USA Iron Age world, I'm building a TT next. I won't waste time aiding specific buildings, but just ensure I've lots of higher age friends. By the time I get to IA, I'll likely have enough higher age goods to negotiate when needed to maximize # of AF/OF troops i can get (e.g. neg. all native provinces on the Oceanic Map).
Having a TT early on will save a lot of time. Right now, trading up from IA to OF/AF for goods takes considerable time in my Beta world. (I just built the TT on Beta; helps a lot but wished I'd had it back in in IrA).
 

jalepeno04654

New Member
This guide is AMAZING. Quite literally game-breaking. But there's one little gap...what do you DO with all these higher age troops once you get them? Now that I've had hovers for several months, and 4x turturrets a couple GBG seasons, here's my thoughts:

To get the most out of the units, go nuts on attack boost. Every bit of boost helps you comparatively waaay more than people fighting with same age units, because your units have much higher base strength. Hover tanks are ~4x the base strength of InA howitzers. So when you see a building offering say a 5% boost...it's essentially 20% for you. Said another way, you get the same strength improvement from a 5% boost that a same-age battler gets from a 20% boost.

I've found 3 specific battle groupings which work great. What "low" v. "high" attrition means for you will vary based on your boost; so GET MOAR ATTACK BOOST.
  1. Low attrition: 8x OF/AF fast units (Eels and Recon Raiders) in any mix. I'd estimate that >90% of the time you can insta-kill all opposing units without taking any damage to any units. At 0% attrition in GBG, I've gone dozens of battles in a row without any damage and I have 23. Once they take 2 hits, swap them out. Timed myself soloing a tile in GBG diamond, and averaged <5 seconds per battle including any swap outs. Once you're taking multiple hits every battle, it's time to move on up to....
  2. Medium-high attrition: 4x turturrets + 4x rogues. Almost as good as fast movers at avoiding any damage in low attrition, turturrets can handle much higher attrition battles than fast movers. I find that I can safely keeping using them until one has taken 4-5 hits total. Once I go back for rocket artillery, will see if adding those in helps or hurts.
  3. Medium-high attrition: 1x hover + 7x rogues. You only need one at a time to stretch your attrition as far as it will go. Depending on your diamond stock and risk tolerance, can use damaged ones quite a lot. I'm naturally risky (have had Inno replace 3 so far...lol), but generally rotate them out once they have 3-4 hits to let them heal up.
Start with fast movers, once attrition is too high, I'll use turturrets until they need healing then rotate through all my hovers...then go do RL for a few minutes, come back, and turturrets are ready for use. I easily average 5k hits per GBG season, and the biggest reason I don't do more is I get bored and go read a book.

Full disclosure #1: I'm up to ~900/660 attacking army boost. For me, low attrition is anything under 40, medium is 40-80, high is 80-???? I maxed it at 125 when I was at like 750/550. At that point, I would occasionally lose a full strength hover in a battle, and they take damage pretty much every battle, so it gets pricey to keep them going.

Full disclosure #2: I have never bought diamonds. I get all I need from 4 diamond mine cities which do GE IV each week. But thanks to all my guardian angels who do spend real money subsidizing my play! You're the best!
 

weak peasant

New Member
In the Artic Future guide, the combination strategy: lluliaq is misspelled as lluliac. Normally not a big deal, but these sectors have many names that are very similar, so the spelling needs to be correct.

1653751871333.png
 
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spartacus2.0

Well-Known Member
This guide is AMAZING. Quite literally game-breaking. But there's one little gap...what do you DO with all these higher age troops once you get them? Now that I've had hovers for several months, and 4x turturrets a couple GBG seasons, here's my thoughts:

To get the most out of the units, go nuts on attack boost. Every bit of boost helps you comparatively waaay more than people fighting with same age units, because your units have much higher base strength. Hover tanks are ~4x the base strength of InA howitzers. So when you see a building offering say a 5% boost...it's essentially 20% for you. Said another way, you get the same strength improvement from a 5% boost that a same-age battler gets from a 20% boost.

I've found 3 specific battle groupings which work great. What "low" v. "high" attrition means for you will vary based on your boost; so GET MOAR ATTACK BOOST.
  1. Low attrition: 8x OF/AF fast units (Eels and Recon Raiders) in any mix. I'd estimate that >90% of the time you can insta-kill all opposing units without taking any damage to any units. At 0% attrition in GBG, I've gone dozens of battles in a row without any damage and I have 23. Once they take 2 hits, swap them out. Timed myself soloing a tile in GBG diamond, and averaged <5 seconds per battle including any swap outs. Once you're taking multiple hits every battle, it's time to move on up to....
  2. Medium-high attrition: 4x turturrets + 4x rogues. Almost as good as fast movers at avoiding any damage in low attrition, turturrets can handle much higher attrition battles than fast movers. I find that I can safely keeping using them until one has taken 4-5 hits total. Once I go back for rocket artillery, will see if adding those in helps or hurts.
  3. Medium-high attrition: 1x hover + 7x rogues. You only need one at a time to stretch your attrition as far as it will go. Depending on your diamond stock and risk tolerance, can use damaged ones quite a lot. I'm naturally risky (have had Inno replace 3 so far...lol), but generally rotate them out once they have 3-4 hits to let them heal up.
Start with fast movers, once attrition is too high, I'll use turturrets until they need healing then rotate through all my hovers...then go do RL for a few minutes, come back, and turturrets are ready for use. I easily average 5k hits per GBG season, and the biggest reason I don't do more is I get bored and go read a book.

Full disclosure #1: I'm up to ~900/660 attacking army boost. For me, low attrition is anything under 40, medium is 40-80, high is 80-???? I maxed it at 125 when I was at like 750/550. At that point, I would occasionally lose a full strength hover in a battle, and they take damage pretty much every battle, so it gets pricey to keep them going.

Full disclosure #2: I have never bought diamonds. I get all I need from 4 diamond mine cities which do GE IV each week. But thanks to all my guardian angels who do spend real money subsidizing my play! You're the best!
My turturret build if there aren't any eels and gliders in the opponent army: the same amount of rogues as the amount of medusas in the opponent army and the rest of the slots filled with turturrets

Recon raider's range and defense are too low and they don't have stealth... get a traz if you are low on eels

Rocket artillery are useless...
 

jeffj2

Member
Hello - My status and a question:
- had to use all Indy techs, but still in Indy (with no techs left there)
- completed PME cmap, took all provinces and won extra troops
- at Part 4, and have NOT collected or aborted "Your Choice, Truth or Dare"
- my 3-quest bar shows 2 normal recurring quests, and the "Your Choice" quest
----
How does the first CE Story Quest get triggered? I don't see it. I have scouted the first CE province and the Story quest has still not appeared.
pic
gyazo.com/81c32dc181aa0444dd4772d6c449bcd6
Thx...Jeff
 
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Sharmon the Impaler

Well-Known Member
Full disclosure #1: I'm up to ~900/660 attacking army boost. For me, low attrition is anything under 40, medium is 40-80, high is 80-???? I maxed it at 125 when I was at like 750/550. At that point, I would occasionally lose a full strength hover in a battle, and they take damage pretty much every battle, so it gets pricey to keep them going.
I don't know how you do this , I am almost triple your attack and I only get 107 on auto and 119 on manual.
 

KingJMobile

Active Member
Hello - My status and a question:
- had to use all Indy techs, but still in Indy (with no techs left there)
- completed PME cmap, took all provinces and won extra troops
- at Part 4, and have NOT collected or aborted "Your Choice, Truth or Dare"
- my 3-quest bar shows 2 normal recurring quests, and the "Your Choice" quest
----
How does the first CE Story Quest get triggered? I don't see it. I have scouted the first CE province and the Story quest has still not appeared.
pic
gyazo.com/81c32dc181aa0444dd4772d6c449bcd6
Thx...Jeff

If you follow the guide, you should get your first and only CE story quest: “Dictator’s Death”, after scouting the first TE province and aborting an RQ. If you start the story in CE, you risk facing the CE tech blocker.

You’re safe now, but I would advise setting your RQs to something you won’t complete such as Unbirthday Party or finish productions or research a tech before moving on so that you don’t accidentally start the CE story.
 

jeffj2

Member
Thank you Kingj. Exactly the confirmation I needed...after getting this far. Appreciate the fast response.

So I guess this means that I will plow thru and fight the non-red CE provinces.

I'll set my RQ's like you said to unbirthday, and I can start taking the Progressive Techs so I can be viable there.
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Thank you Kingj. Exactly the confirmation I needed...after getting this far. Appreciate the fast response.

So I guess this means that I will plow thru and fight the non-red CE provinces.

I'll set my RQ's like you said to unbirthday, and I can start taking the Progressive Techs so I can be viable there.
Just still make sure to keep Truth or Dare as one of your RQ slots
 

Hannes254

New Member
Uber, first of all thank for all the magnificent work and effort you are putting into this guide!
I need some clarification on how to correctly skip the CE story when choosing not to get FE troops. Specifically, my question is: after not doing any RQs or side quests while taking the CE map, when exactly should I restart the story?

In Part 4, at "No to TE troops", the guide says: "take the first PROVINCE, Agadar, then complete an RQ other than truth or dare."
But two sentences later, the guide says: "Only after taking the first FE SECTOR is it safe to complete an RQ or side quest."

So, when exactly should I do an RQ to restart the story: after completely taking the full province of Agadar, or should I do it after taking Agadars first sector?
Maybe it's not even making a difference - I just want to make sure to do it right.
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
Uber, first of all thank for all the magnificent work and effort you are putting into this guide!
I need some clarification on how to correctly skip the CE story when choosing not to get FE troops. Specifically, my question is: after not doing any RQs or side quests while taking the CE map, when exactly should I restart the story?

In Part 4, at "No to TE troops", the guide says: "take the first PROVINCE, Agadar, then complete an RQ other than truth or dare."
But two sentences later, the guide says: "Only after taking the first FE SECTOR is it safe to complete an RQ or side quest."

So, when exactly should I do an RQ to restart the story: after completely taking the full province of Agadar, or should I do it after taking Agadars first sector?
Maybe it's not even making a difference - I just want to make sure to do it right.
So far as I can remember there's no difference, but I'd take the entire province.
 

jeffj2

Member
I never got the TE story line to start.
I scouted and took Torrinhos. Then I aborted a RQ to get to a RQ that I could complete. Then I received 3 side quests (Crazy Commander, Gadgeteer, and Media Control). I aborted one and completed the other two. After that, the quest went back to 2 RQs.
---
The guide often says "scout" a province, when the guide means "scout and take" a province. Example in "NO to TE troops"
"If you don't want TE troops, then scout the TE map as shown below, skipping the three provinces marked in red."
In this case above, the guide should say "...scout and take TE map provinces..."
---
So now, I am also concerned about not getting FE troops since the questline is only showing:
- Truth or Dare
- 2 RQs
....and I have taken provinces up thru Santa Nerea, while skipping the "red" ones
 

KingJMobile

Active Member
I never got the TE story line to start.
I scouted and took Torrinhos. Then I aborted a RQ to get to a RQ that I could complete. Then I received 3 side quests (Crazy Commander, Gadgeteer, and Media Control). I aborted one and completed the other two. After that, the quest went back to 2 RQs.
---
The guide often says "scout" a province, when the guide means "scout and take" a province. Example in "NO to TE troops"
"If you don't want TE troops, then scout the TE map as shown below, skipping the three provinces marked in red."
In this case above, the guide should say "...scout and take TE map provinces..."
---
So now, I am also concerned about not getting FE troops since the questline is only showing:
- Truth or Dare
- 2 RQs
....and I have taken provinces up thru Santa Nerea, while skipping the "red" ones

From your perspective, it looks as though you've messed up your chances for TE units (sorry bud). For FE units, if you skipped the TE provinces, just make sure you have stopped completing and aborting RQs until you negotiate the first FE province, and get the FE story to start.

You can still get 2 Combat Drones, but don't worry about them until you start the FE story.
 
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