War Economics: When Should You Speed Upgrades With Gold?

Fellow Pilots,
Happy Friday!  Don't forget the Art of the Assist contest begins Monday.  We will announce the first week's theme at that time.  Some of you asked where you will post your responses  It'll be on the War Robots Forum, so make sure you are registered.  I'm told there will be a much bigger contest with a similar theme (basically, to have your buddy's back!) running on a prominent YouTube channel, so you should DEFINITELY play as a team.

News: update 3.6 is out for Android and will be out for iOS next week.  Content creators were told that we should "expect a major round of buffs/nerfs" in the next update.  The U will suggest (again) that all Dash bots should be significantly less robust and that Shocktrain should annoy rather than annihilate an enemy team.

We are often asked when using gold to expedite upgrades is a good idea.  Assuming you have purchased all five available hangar slots (BY FAR THE FIRST PRIORITY), here's a basic set of principles:

1. Buy gold-priced items first.  In other words, if you need Orkans, a Fury, or a Lancelot, get them.  
2. Use gold to keep your upgrades running while you are not playing.  So if it takes a small amount of gold to finish one and start on the next, go ahead.
3. Long upgrades are a better value.  The longer the upgrade, the lower the unit cost in gold.
4. NEVER use gold to buy an upgrade while another is in progress.  Thanks to Nix for reminding me; this is among the most wasteful things you can do in the game.  

Here's why long upgrades are the place to spend gold - the costs do not increase in a linear fashion.  Upgrading a heavy weapon (other than Zeus, for which costs are a little different) to level 6 takes 17 hours, and can be expedited for about 315Au.  The very same weapon can be upgraded to level 12 in 114 hours.  If that took the same gold price, about 15 per hour, as the 17 hour upgrade, you'd need almost 2000 gold to expedite the step.  But that actual price turns out to be around 800Au.  Stating this the other way, upgrades in the last 24 hours are the most expensive. If you didn't have the gold to speed the upgrade when it first starts, let it complete and save your gold for the next one.  I'm always gold poor, so I would wait for this four and a half day upgrade to finish even if I was sitting on 350Au.

Speaking of being gold poor, I've been asked if I would post my hangar, so here's the main one, which I use in every situation except Domination on Yamantau or Canyons:

Here's the long range group.  It sometimes changes to include Tridents or different robots.

I looked at my spreadsheet today and even after selling a bunch of stuff, I have 20-some robots at level 8 or above, 50 or more weapons at 10 or above, and a group of junkers that I use to play "six pack" (level 6 and below) games.  I also still have stuff like Hydras and Spirals that I will probably never bring up because they are soooooo dreadful boring to play.

As you know, mining/farming/acquiring gold is a slow process for most pilots.  If you manage your tasks, finish first here and there, and run a lot of beacons, you can average 100Au per day and about 3000Au a month.  Buying gold is MUCH faster and MUCH more expensive - 100 USD purchases almost half a year's gold, 14500.  Obviously, some players don't spend real money on the game, because that can get outrageous very quickly.

So, use your gold carefully - Orkans first, then the long upgrades at the time they begin.

Have a great weekend,

Dr. Yat

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