CF's Help Archive

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Over my time as a Helper I've written up quite a few pieces of advice and mini-guides. I take alot of care and time over my replies, some of them are very long, and it seems a shame to keep them locked in the Helper section when someone could be benefiting. Obviously they're not just generic guides, they're written with the specific question the helpee asked in mind, so they might not cover all the points of a topic.

So I'm going to post up some of the longer ones which are still relevant and comprehensible in this thread. This post will be the index which I'll update as I go along. Unfortunately I only have the replies recorded. The questions asked have been lost in the system, but I've put in bold roughly what the gist of the question was.

Hopefully someone will gain something from them.

Post Index
1. Initiative
2. Buying and Using Credits / Blueprints
3. Increasing AR mod
4. Government Defence Recalling / Not appearing
5. Harriers
6. Insurance / Getting rid of units
7. Growing/Planting/Game Basics
8. RPG route
9. Thug routes
10. Protestors / Spec Ops (fighting robos and apaches)
11. Becoming a Staff Member
12. Fantasy Routes
13. Random Stuff [Sleep Mode, Good Defensive Routes, Getting Picked On, Alliance Titles, Deleting Your ID]
14. Flakking, Sweeping, and Good Use of Basics

I'll try and tidy this up over time :p
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
What is initiative?

Subject: re: Question: Initiative
Initiative determines in what order units fire in a battle. In bushtarion, units don't fire continuously, they launch their one volley and then do no more damage for the rest of that battle tick (other than take damage themselves). The initiative is then the order in which these volleys are delivered between friendly and hostile armies. Initiative is then how fast a unit is, and the lower the number the faster it is.

Eg. in a battle between allied ninjas and assassins vs hostile officers and snipers, the assassins will fire first as they have the lowest initiative (see the manual for each unit's initiative), then the snipers will fire, then the ninjas, and lastly the officers.

If two armies facing each other both have units of the same type (ie things with the same initiative) it is the defending units that fire first if there is a clash of initiatives.

Along with the list of unit initiative's in the manual, there's also a nice summary in the wiki (link near bottom of menu on the left).
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Is the blueprint technology 5 credits? I already have 2, why does it say I must buy 5 more?

Sent to: flat Wed 25th Mar, 2009. 19:23:11 GMT
Subject: re: Overview: Blueprint Tech
The blueprint technology is indeed 5 credits, you won't have to pay any more than that.

However, the minimum number of bush credits you can buy in a single transaction is 5. You can't buy 3 to make up to the 5 for the blueprint, so unfortunately you're going to have to buy 5 more, and you'll then be stuck with 2 spare again.

What you could do is buy 8 now, then you'll have 5 ready for next round. That way you won't be stuck again needing 3 but having to buy 5. Bush credits don't disappear at the end of the round.

Or if you buy up to 7 you can hold on to the two spare for future game cash / id booking purchases.

--------------------------
Why can't I develop secret agent training grounds?

Subject: re: Blueprints
The final development on each tech tree must first be enabled by purchasing the blueprints at a cost of 5 bushtarion credits. These can be purchased using the "Purchase/UseCredits" link on the menu on the left. Each bushtarion credit costs £1, or the equivalent in your currency. For more details on purchasing, please see the wiki page: http://www.bushtarion.com/wiki/index.php?title=Manual_EC_Purchasing

At this point in the round there is no way of deveolping secret agent training grounds without buying credits or getting someone else to send them to you. During the final 11 days of the round the blueprint technologies become free, but if you want to develop them before then you have to get hold of some bushtarion credits.

I think this is what you were asking about, but if you are aware of what I've said and instead are having difficulty purchasing credits, then let us know and we'll either forward the problem to Azzer, or let you know how to contact him. The Official Helpers have no control over the purchasing system.

----------------------
When will gamecash be enabled?

Subject: re: Overview:
At some point about 7 days in to the round game cash purchasing will be enabled. It isn't enabled immediately at the start of the round as this would give an unfair advantage to those able to purchase.

When game cash is first enabled it will only be for small-ish sums (usually starts on 25 bil). The weekly limit will then be increased as the round goes on, adjusting according to how much the average player is earning.

-----------------------
What methods can I use to buy credits?

Subject: re: credits???
Credits have to be purchased through one of three mediums: PayPal, WorldPay, or via SMS (mobile/cell phone text messaging).

Whether you are able to use a savings account to pay for credits depends on whether PayPal, WorldPay, or the SMS payment handlers will accept your particular account, and whether your bank will allow you to make online payments with that account, all of which is outside the control of Bushtarion. This can vary from bank to bank, and between different account types, so I can't say with certainty whether you will or won't be able to.

If your account doesn't have a major make of credit/debit card (eg Visa, Mastercard, Maestro etc), then I very much doubt you'll be able to use that account to pay with.

If this is the case, you could try asking someone (eg parent/friend) who does have a credit/debit card to make the payment for you, and then settle up with them with cash.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Can I gain AR mod while attacking, and is it worthwhile?

Subject: re: AR Mod
Yes, it is possible for a solo to increase their AR mod if they loose troops while attacking. However the increase is less than what you might gain from loosing troops when defending. Suiciding troops is a tactic sometimes used by higher ranked solos who have to keep a high AR mod to avoid being preyed on by the top alliances.

AR mod is given by losing lots of units in a single tick, not a few units on many ticks, so the trick to raising your AR mod would be to work out how many troops you are able to get by without, and then to work out if losing them would be worth the cost. Nobody has exact figures for what losses give what AR mod, so the only other advice I can give is to experiment!

It might also be worth remembering that since the introduction of age 5, AR mod is easier to gain, but also drops more rapidly, so the benefits from suiciding will not be as long lived as before.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Government defence recalled for the close tick. Why?

Subject: re: Government Defence my Arse
Unfortunately, as you are discovering, the government will recall defence if the size of the attacking mob drops below the threshold required to trigger government defence.

As you have shock troopers, you are probably killing a fair amount of the attackers troops on the range and middle ticks. This will reduce the size of the attacking mob, and possibly make the mob smaller than what is required for the government to be there.

One way to avoid this is to send your LET (killing) units away for the first two ticks, so you don't kill any of the attackers and the government won't withdraw.

Anti-Rape can be a confusing business. Hope this helps, and message back if there's anything you don't understand.

-----------------------
I have 75% AR mod and government defence still doesn't come when I'm attacked!

most likely the person attacking you hasn't sent enough for government help to be triggered. If your AR mod is at 0% then the attacker has to send 1.45 times your total score in the mob he sends to trigger AR. If you have an AR mod of 75% then this reduces to only 0.36 times your total score that he can send, but remember that it is your *total* score (so land, developments etc as well as troops) whereas the attacking mob score only takes into account troops, so it is possible for the attacker to send a sizeable mob at you even with a high AR mod.

Without knowing what your score is and what was in the mob sent at you I can't calculate whether or not you should be getting government defence. You can try checking yourself by working out the total cost of the units attacking you (see manual for unit costs) and dividing that number by 500 to get how much score they are worth. You can then compare that with your total score times 0.36 (assuming your AR mod is still around 75%). You should find that the first number is smaller than the second number.

If it isn't, then either you've calculated wrong, or else there is actually another problem, in which case get back to us.


Sadly government defence isn't there to save you every time you are attacked. Getting attacked is part of the game, and if you could never get attacked, it would be the same for everyone else, and no-one would ever attack each other.

It would be a shame to quit over some mean spirit picking on your ID. You could try to find help by joining an alliance, either by using the in-game application system (go to alliance page and click on an alliance's name) or go to the recruiting section of forums and see if anyone has any spaces.

I hope that's cleared things up, and good luck!
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
What are Harriers good and bad points?

Subject: re: Harriers
EMPs have been removed now, but some of this is still relevant

Harriers are very much intended for hunting robotics players, and are fairly ineffective against any other route. The most common robotics sub-route is PAs, so harriers are usually used in conjunction with EMP warriors, the EMPs taking out the PA flak, and then the harriers dealing with the CWs and TDs.

Harriers are also useful if you are playing ranger heavy, rather than harrier heavy, as they do a reasonable job as armour strippers, allowing your rangers to unleash their full potential.

Harriers overwhelming weakness is the ease with which they die, so if playing harrier heavy, if you feel you won't destroy an enemy, it's probably best not to fight at all.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Can I un-hire my units?

Subject: re: Hiring:
Unfortunately there's no way of selling units.

If you're *really* desperate to get rid of some units you absolutely don't want, you can suicide them by sending them to attack someone large, and you'll get a fraction of their worth back as insurance. However, this doesn't work for gardeners as gardeners don't get insurance, instead you get injuries from them.

---------------------------
Why am I having to pay insurance?!?

Subject: re: insurance
Insurance is a good thing for you, not a bad thing!

You never have to 'pay' insurance, insurance in bushtarion is just you getting some of the cost of your dead units back.

So when you see something like this on a battle report:

Died: 507,651,814 [£10,849,477,842,300] friendlies dead. 156,026,294 [£3,437,243,791,500] enemies dead.

You gained 339,204 effectiveness.
You will soon be receiving £168,030,112,250 insurance.

the amount of insurance it says you will soon be receiving just means you will soon be having that amount of money put into your funds. It's a good thing :D not a bad thing.

To see when insurance is added to your funds, go to 'overview' and look under the 'insurance gains' section there (it won't be visible if you don't have any up-coming insurance gains).


In short, don't worry about insurance, you don't have to pay for it, it's just there to let you re-buy some units if you get killed.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
My seeds are disappearing / Not growing into Plants

You gain seeds independently of growing into plants (seed gain is controlled by harvesters), so you whether or not you are gaining seeds won't affect the planting process.

Firstly, check that you are using the 'Maintenance' rather than the 'Supply Depot' page. It often happens to the best of us that we forget, get mixed up, and end up selling seeds rather than growing them.

Secondly, make sure you have enough gardeners to grow your seeds. Each gardener you have can grow 100 seeds per tick, so if you have 1,000,000 seeds you will need 10,000 gardeners to grow them all in one tick.

Finally, make sure your gardeners are at home. They can't grow seeds into plants if you've sent them out attacking.

If you're doing all these things, and you are growing in sun as you say, then you shouldn't be having any problems.

----------------------
How do I get bigger / get more staff?

In bushtarion you use acres on which to plant plants, from which you can gather seeds with harvesters, grow them in to other plants, and sell these for money.
You can then use this money to hire units (hiring page on the menu on the left) or develop new units (development page).

It is advised that you work through the in-game tutorial (you can re-enable it in 'ID settings' if you have disabled it. The bushtarion wiki page (see the link near the bottom of the menu on the left) also has a wealth of information, on both the basics and finer details of the game. You might particularly want to have a look at the quick start guide: http://www.bushtarion.com/wiki/index.php?title=Manual_BC_Quick_Start

Asking 'how to get more workers' is quite a broad question. Taken literally, the answer is click the 'Hiring' link on the menu on the left, although I suspect you might be asking about how the whole game works. Please take a few moments to do the tutorial and look at the quick start guide, and if you have any other questions do feel free to ask us :)

Good luck, and have fun!

-----------------------------------
How do I make money?

you do indeed have the right idea on how to make money, there is no way other than selling seeds or growing them into plants and then selling them.

Firstly, to make sure your acres are actually producing seeds, check that you have assigned all your acres to a land type on the 'land management' page. Acres don't do anything until they've been assigned a type.

Secondly, check that you have planted as many plants as you can on those acres. Each acre can have a certain number of plants planted on it, and it is these plants that produce seeds for you to sell/grow. If you go to the 'maintenance' page you should be able to see whether your acres are full or not.

Thirdly, make sure you have enough harvesters. Having loads of planted up acres is no good if you don't have any units to pick the seeds! Each harvester can pick 250 seeds per turn, so assuming you have around 1000-2000 land you will probably need about 300-400,000 harvesters to pick the maximum seeds your acres can produce.

Also remember that growing seeds into plants and then selling the plants is usually more profitable than just selling the seeds. However, to do this you needs to have enough gardeners (harvesters can't help with growing), and you also need the weather to be sunny otherwise you will lose alot of seeds.

Finally, sadly, you will need a little patience. Players can spend up to a week saving up for the most expensive developments. You can't just turn into a trillionaire overnight!


I hope everything I've said makes sense to you. As well as 'request help', you can also go through the ingame tutorial (re-enable it in ID settings if you disabled it), or the manual and wiki pages (see links bottom left) have a wealth of knowledge.

----------------------
How many ticks in a day? When does autumn start? How will the weather change?

Subject: re: the weather
A bushtarion 'day' takes 6 ticks, whatever the season, and that amounts to one real time hour. Summer finishes and autumn starts on the first tick of september, which is just under 31 bushtarion days away, ie 31 real time hours away.

Autumn (or 'Fall' if you are more familiar with that term) usually consists of a fairly even mix of sun, cloud and storms, however there is no way to know for sure what the weather will be like.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Can you give me an overview of RPG route's units?

Subject: re: Militery: Weak and strong points
Shock troopers are the first real protection the military-RPG route gets against flak attacks. Officers and privates provide very little protection. The key thing about the shock trooper is that it targets ALL, meaning it is very effective against flak, however it is not very useful at taking out hostile LET units, as they will usually be flakked. Shocks are particularly useful to alliances due to their low eta, meaning they can move quickly to defend against many incomings. Shocks are very useful to have while you are still developing, but once you have RPGs and Snipers they are generally not needed.

The sniper is the main health killing unit on the RPG route. It has high health damage, but almost no armour damage, meaning that on its own it is often ineffective at killing enemy LETs, but when used in combination with the RPG, or other armour stripping units such as the striker or assassin, it is a very powerful unit. It is not recommended to buy too many snipers until you have developed RPGs, as their lack of armour damage will seriously reduce their efficiency.

The humvee is intended purely as a LET flak unit. It has very high armour for what it costs, but its damage is minimal. Solo RPG players often buy humvees to absorb damage for their rpgs and snipers, however buying lots of humvees will reduce how much damage you can deal, so they are often ignored by players in alliances, although some alliance players do like to take advantage of the humvees low eta and high armour to rush quick defence to allies who are being rushed by other low eta units.


The RPG route as a whole relies heavily on having the RPG trooper unit. The shock trooper is useful while you are developing and while other people don't have decent LETs, but it won't keep you safe once other people have finished better developments. The sniper needs the RPG to allow it to be effective, and the humvee doesn't do enough damage to keep you safe. I would recommend buying only what you need of these units and to develop RPGs as fast as you can, which are the most important unit on the route.

For more advice on routes, units and tactics, or if you don't understand any of the terms I've used (eg flak, LET/ALL etc) please have a look in the bushtarion wiki (see link bottom left), although if you have any more questions do feel free to ask us :)

--------------------------
What are officers and privates good for?

Subject: re: Milatery
Officers strength lies purely in when they come out in the round, being one of the first ranged lethal units available. Once stronger units are available they become obsolete, and should only be used for dealing with other basic units.

Privates only real use is to 'sweep' for other units, that is to fire after your hippies/yobs etc to make sure they haven't missed anything. Privates can also potentially be used as LET flak, however the military routes all have other units higher up the tech tree which are more effective at this.

Both do small amounts of health damage and negligible armour damage. Best bet is to ignore them as much as possible and develop better units quickly.

If you are unfamiliar with any of the terms being used (flak, sweep etc) look them up in the bushtarion wiki page (link on the menu to the left).

--------------------
How should I go about using Recruitment Officers?

Subject: re: Intelligence:
This depends on what you want to bribe. Recruitment officers have good health damage and armour damage, so unless you're going after really heavily armoured units (CyberneticWarriors, ApacheLongbows), then you don't really need to worry about armour stripping the units you want to bribe.

So the difficult bit isn't in trying to get the recruitment officers to do enough damage. The hard part is keeping them alive long enough to fire. There are a number of things you can do to help them live; buy plenty of humvee flak, kill enough of the enemy with RPGs so that there is still enough to bribe but not enough to really hurt you, or try and find an ally with sirens, who can stop the enemy firing but still allow you to bribe hostile units.

Ultimately, to bribe well you need to be opportunistic. Alot of targets in your range will have their troops set up to make it very difficult to get any useful bribes, but there will always be a few targets in your range who have just taken alot of troop losses, or have a bad troop set up, so you need to be patient and hack alot of targets.
You might also want to consider last-ticking or mid-ticking if you are being attacked. TerrroristLeaders smash up the RPG route on the ranged ticks, but if you last tick them with ROs then you could bribe lots of them and make that thug player think twice about hitting you again.

So, concentrate on keeping your ROs alive long enough to fire, and be patient and opportunistic in your target selection. That may mean having to wait a few days for a good target to come up, which can be annoying, but you have to play it carefully because ROs are really quite fragile.

------------------
Are shock troopers useful later in the game?

Subject: re: RPG shockers late game
Most RPG players tend to ignore shocks once they've got RPGs. 99 times out of 100 RPGs or snipers will be more useful. Some players like to keep a few around as an extra slap in the face, but they don't really have enough damage to deserve using up funds that could be spent on RPGs. You wouldn't want to use them for last tick damage unsupported, considering how late they fire. They'll almost always end dying alot and doing little damage back.

That said, they are great units for early/mid round play. Low eta, good survivability and good damage on flak make them worth spending on until you can bring out your high end units.

----------------------
What's the best ratio for RPG route?

Subject: re: Journal:
This depends entirely on your play style, there is no 'best' ratio.

In general, RpgTroopers are your offensive units and snipers/humvees are your defensive units, so spend more on one or the other depending on how you want to play.

For example; a player in an active alliance might only buy RPGs, maximising their offensive capabilities, because they can rely on their alliance to defend them against RPG's natural enemies (SAs, TLs, Vamps).
On the other hand, a defensive solo player might buy very few RPGs and instead invest in their defensive units (snipers and humvees), perhaps with the ratio 1:2:3 rpg:sniper:humvee, or maybe even more humvees than that.

As I said, it depends entirely on your playstyle; allied or solo, offensive or defensive. Also, always make sure you have *some* snipers if you choose to go purely offensive, and make sure you have *some* RPGs if you choose to go purely defensive. RPGs and snipers need to support each other.

--------------------
A Terrorist Leader play keeps killing me! Is there anything I can do?

Subject: re: 4th time being zero`d
Mostly you're screwed :p

The game very much operates on a "rock, paper, scissors" scheme. Unfortunately RPGs are paper and TLs are scissors.

If you are determined to hurt this guy in any way possible, then I'd suggest getting more humvees to try and absorb the TL damage and allow your snipers to fire. So maybe 1:3:5 RPG:Sniper:Humvee, or something similar.

The trouble with this though is that it ruins your offensive capabilities, and leaves you open to attack from other routes.

Most top RPG players tend to accept that they can't beat TLs, SAs or vamps, and don't even try to make themselves able to fight them. They simply mass on RPGs and rely on their alliance to cover them against those units, or rely on their own activity/contactability to ensure they can't be stealth rushed.

If you want to try and hurt this guy, then go ahead and try. I think you'll probably only meet with limited success though. A better option might be to try and get into an alliance that will defend you against TLs. RPG is very much a route for alliance play.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Can you outline Thug - Petrol Bomber route's strengths and weaknesses?

Subject: re: Attacking
Thugs strength lies in having a wide variety of cheap units useful in many situations, which is why most alliances find them essential. They are particularly strong early in the round with the Petrol Bomber unit dominating for several crucial days at the start. Thug's main unit is clearly the Terrorist Leader, it's stealth and relatively low price being it's main assets. The TL is the best offensive unit on the thug route. However, the biker unit is also very useful to alliances being the main damager of protestor units. Hooligans and Jeeps are also very useful support units, although not so strong on their own.
Terrorists aren't so popular for thug players in alliances, but they are very useful for solo thugs, as they usually guarantee any attacker will lose alot of INNs and not be able to land, so people searching for targets often ignore them and look for easier targets.

Thug's gaping weakness is armour. Hooligans in mass can disable some armour, although to be effective you have to have enough to leave you open to any other attacker. Terrorist leaders can deal with small amounts of armour, but can't really damage larger armour players. Vampires and Secret Agents can also cause problems if a thug player is massing one type of unit and isn't defending in depth.

Thugs is probably the most versatile route and can be played in many different ways, so your strengths and weaknesses will depend largely on how you play the route.

-----------------------
What is Thug - Petrol Bomber route most effective against?

Subject: re: Routes
Thug PB route can be played in many different ways, so which routes you are effective against depends largely on what units you choose to buy.

Most thug players, once fully developed, opt to mass terrorist leaders. They are definitely the most efficient units on the thug route, being fairly cheap, stealthed, fairly early firing, and doing a reasonable amount of damage for their cost. With mass terrorist leaders you have to be opportunistic in your targets. Very few routes are inherently weak to you, and nearly all can be set up to counter you, with the glaring exception of RPGs. You have to assess your targets and decide how you will do in a certain situation. eg apaches *should* destroy thugs, but there's every possibility you'll come across one you can beat.

There's no guaruntee that you definitely will or won't be able to defeat a certain route with thugs, so unfortunately I can't just hand you a list to go hunting. It's usually a safe bet though that you will beat RPGs, and that robots will beat you, but again in certain situations eg. if you have chosen to mass hooligans, and the enemy robot has very few PAs, then you might be able to come out on top.

Another popular thug tactic is to mass thug route's cheap units, ie lots of hoolies and PBs. Once again, you have to be opportunistic, and judge each situation on it's merits. In theory, ANY route with the right set up will destroy mass PBs. But not everyone is set up to do that, so you need to search for people who are low on health damagers or low on early firing units.


I'm sorry I can't be more specific than that. Basic rule with thugs: avoid robots, RPGs are usually easy targets, and with all other routes you'll have to make up your mind based on what the enemy has. Hope that's clear :)

-----------------------
What's the best way to destroy Terrorist Leaders?

Subject: re: Overview:
Secret Agents and Vampires are the only units which can destroy TLs on even terms, and do so without letting the TLs even fire, so those are your best bet.

Other than that, it's a question of numbers. Apaches, robotics routes, and fantasy:dragons route can all attack TLs if they have a size advantage. However, TLs in large enough numbers can beat all of these. With some help armour stripping, PoMs can also do very well, although you are then only distracting rather than killing.

Rangers and RPGs should always stay well clear of TLs if unsupported.

So, to deal with TLs, use SAs or vamps if you can, and you'll win easily. Otherwise you need to pile on the robots/dragons/PoMs in numbers.

---------------------
What's the point in Terrorist Leaders? They seem under-powered for a purchase unit.

Subject: re: Alliance Overview:
The point of TLs is to be an all-round useful unit. It's true that they don't have the AD of a striker or the HD of a SA, but then they have far more HD than a striker and far more AD than a SA. And they're relatively cheap and have stealth rushing potential. So while they don't excel in any particular area, they can at least be useful against almost any opponent.

There isn't really any route that I can point to and say that TL will always destroy it. The easiest target is usually RPG, but even then you can be caught out if they have too many snipers. That said, there are very few routes that I can point to and say you can never beat them. A poorly set up striker player, a poorly set up nano player, a poorly set up sorc or ranger, could all potentially be targets, even though they are usually considered strong against thugs. You just have to be opportunistic when looking for targets.

I don't know what branch of thugs you are, but the most successful thug players usually only use TL as a component of their army, and not as the only unit, so you might want to consider how combining TLs with your other units might open up potential targets.

---------------------
How do Terrorist Leaders do against Military routes?

Subject: re: Military:
TLs are very good against the RPG route. As for harrier route or apache route, TLs do averagely, so then it comes down to a question of numbers. With TLs you can hit someone a fair bit bigger than you if they're RPG route, but with harriers or apaches you have to be a bit more careful. If they don't have many rangers or apaches, then go for it. But if they have a fair number of those then make sure you're not hitting them if they're a similar size or larger than you. As a rough guide, you need at least 2-3 TLs per ranger or 4-5 TLs per apache.

So, just to clarify, very good against against RPGs, and capable but not amazing against apaches and rangers.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
How many Assassins do I need to fight Cybernetic Warriors? What's a good set up for playing Spec Ops without Secret Agents?

On a good day, and if you can make the ALL component of assassin targetting come to bare on the CWs, with a bit of luck and if you don't mind the enemy getting a few shots back at you then if you're feeling ballsy you can go for 2 assassins to a CW. However, I wouldn't want to do that unless I had to and wouldn't feel safe with less than 3 assassins to a CW, and preferably more if I can manage it. But then I don't like to let the enemy fire at me at all. 3:1 will certainly win convincingly.

However, the difficulty with attacking robos is that the nasty units, the CWs and TDs, are usually hidden behind a wall of PAs, shields or nanos. So be sure to work out in advance how many of your assassins will actually be firing on the CWs, and think about how many might have died from PA fire.

As for general spec ops tips: assassins are your offensive units, ninjas and traps are your defensive units, so spend more on one or the other depending on your play style. If you are in a reasonable alliance or are an active attacking solo then the more assassins the merrier, with just enough ninjas to effectively sweep, so perhaps 5:1 sins to ninjas, maybe different depending on what you want to attack. If you're playing with a smaller alliance or as a more defensive solo then plenty of ninjas to flak your assassins, maybe 1:2 or 1:3 sins:ninjas. Be sure to keep a good supply of spike and sleep traps, as much as a deterrent to people searching through your news as anything else.

Without SAs spec ops target options are fairly limited. Robos and Strikers can be hunted with assassins, but otherwise you'll either have to get lucky and find someone who can't beat ninjas (which is pretty rare late game) or make generous use of flak attacks.

--------------------------
How do Assassins do against Striker route?

Subject: re: Fighting Apache/Striker
You'll find that alot of striker players mostly spend on strikers rather than apaches. Strikers are easy kills for assassins as the strikers do almost no damage back even if you don't kill them all. So just on strikers you can get away with 1:1 and come out on top, though to really damage them you'll need 2:1 or better.

Apaches, on the other hand, are nasty. They're very close to being the most heavily armoured unit in the game, so don't underestimate how many assassins you need to kill these things. 3:1 is a bare minimum, and that's if you can make the assassins ALL component fire on the apaches to a significant degree. If the enemy has enough flak to negate your ALL component then really to be safe you need more like 5:1, although you could still win with less as long as you don't mind taking some damage in return.

As for ninjas, this very much depends on how many grenadiers, marines etc the striker might have. Strikers and apaches themselves don't *really* need to be swept with ninjas, assassins should be able to do the job by themselves, although it's always a good idea to have a few ninjas sweeping just in case. So judge your ninjas based on the enemy's fleshy units and keep a handful spare for the armoured units.

---------------------------------------
What are good targets for Political Masterminds to attack?

Generally, try to avoid armour and hit purely health-based targets. Spec-Ops is ideal, Vamp players without too many gargoyles, and RPG players without too many snipers/shocks, should all be fairly easy targets.

Not many units in the game are really capable of damaging PoMs, so when attacking you want to think more in terms of keeping your flak and thieves alive. So, for example, you could also quite easily attack ranger or striker players. Your poms won't do anything to them, but strikers/rangers can't do damage back to you either, and provided they don't have many f117s/apaches, then your INN flak will be fine too.

So, to sum up, when in doubt try and avoid armour, but be opportunistic if you see an easily flak-able target.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
How do I become a member of staff?

Subject: re: Overview:
I'm going to quote an old forums post Azzer made on this subject, because after all he's the one who makes decisions on staff. To sum up quickly for you: by becoming an active member of the forums and IRC community and proving to be a competant and reliable member. Sorry this is a bit long, but it's more comprehensive than anything I could write:

"I've had a number of "requests" from players either wanting to, or asking how to, become a forum moderator, IRC Operator, or an Official Helper... and while I will soon be looking for some new "official helpers", a couple of forum mods, and perhaps 1 or 2 IRC operators, this won't be done through players asking me to "Join the team", or through any "application process" (as was originally done when we had an entirely "new staff").

So how would you ever get to be one of these positions? Well, it'll be through being "spotted", and there are 3 areas in particular you can work on if you want the chance of being "spotted" (and note this may mean being spotted by myself, or other members of the community who suggest for me to check you out, in which case I'll look up your forum post history, Wiki history, account history, and ask/look out for on IRC)

* Forums: Activity on the forums - but with posts that are always helpful, never arrogant or aggressive, always offering as much help or advice as you can to any new players or players requesting help/advice.
* IRC: Activity on IRC, both as a friendly/fun person that can happily sit talking about anything for hours on end (keeping morale up and community spirit alive), but also being able to talk wisely, and nicely, about Bushtarion, particularly if anybody is asking for advice/help on any subject at all.
* Wiki: Anybody that seems to be contributing a lot to the Wiki - which can be simply tidying up all the articles already there (fixing broken links, typos, grammar, and always "labelling" your modifications correctly), but preferably adding lots of new articles, content to already existing articles, whole new guides, and perhaps having the inspiration to think up entirely new sections for the Wiki to expand in to (such as the "Guides" section added tonight, which I need players to start thinking about in terms of possible guides you can write to help new & old players alike).

Also important is history - but only bad history. New people to the community could well be asked to partake in any official positions if they have shown during their "stay" here they follow any/all of the above things - it isn't limited to an "elitist inner circle" or anything.... the history I refer to is actually older players that have a bad history in any medium (account locks, forum trouble, IRC trouble, etc.) - if you have a history but would like to "join the staff", then be sure to start following the above 3 things closely, and sticking to the rules completely.

Finally, people that always seem friendly, bubbly, polite - especially if you can do all of that and still have a laugh - will stand above the crowd too; good personality is a good thing to have! "


That quote is a few years old, but I think still holds true. If that hasn't answered your question, I don't know what will :)
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
What's the best set up for the vampire route?

Subject: re: Vampier Route
Note: this is from before mummies and werewolves had their stats swapped

This will depend on whether you are in a strong alliance, where you will usually be supported by other routes, or whether you are in an inactive alliance or solo.

In either case, you want to get to gargoyles as soon as possible, giving you some ranged firepower.

Once you're fully teched, if you're with a strong alliance you'll probably want to just mass vampires. Gargoyles and werewolves both have their uses, but other routes can fill those roles much better. In past rounds it was still useful to have some gargs and werewolves to strengthen your middle tick, to allow you to attack alone. But with the change to vamps allowing them to fire middle tick, this isn't so much of a concern.

If you're playing solo or with an inactive alliance, you won't be able to rely on allies to fill the gaps that massing vampires leaves, so you'll need to invest more in werewolves and gargoyles. Both these units have good survivability, which is always handy, although only mediocre damage. Werewolves allow you to deal with a certain amount of armour, although you'll never be able to stand up to the most heavily armoured routes. Gargoyles provide a certain amount of armour to your army, and act as a strong lethal sweeper.

Because changes have been made to the route for this round, nobody is able to say with certainty what ratio will do best. As I said, if in a strong alliance, then pure vampires will probably be most effective, but if you're having to rely purely on your own resources then a mixture along the lines of 2:3:4 were:garg:vamp will be a safer option.

--------------------------------
What's the best set up for the Sorcerer route?
This one is from before some of the changes to magic side fantasy

Fantasy is certainly a fun route. I'll assume you mean sorcerer side from the dragons comment.

Getting dragons is definitely recommended. Without it most routes will be able to overpower your sorcerers. Although sorcerers should still be the main component of your army, dragons add a heavy punch at the end which will scare many hostiles away. They also strengthen your otherwise fragile last tick.

Dragons, however, fire quite late, so you want to invest mostly in sorcerers which fire reasonably early and deal a nice amount of damage. Their ALL targeting can be a hinderance, diverting damage away from hostile LETs, although it can also deter many would be attackers who are usually guarunteed to lose alot of flak. ALL targeting also makes sorcs useful to alliances for damaging political masterminds.

You may also find a use for sirens. I personally don't like them, I find that they die too easily for their cost and don't stun as much as I would like, however I've seen them used to great effect in some situations, so if you feel you know what you're doing with them there's no harm in having some.

Most sorc players don't bother much with golems or witches. If you feel you need flak for certain situations then certainly by some. But generally the money is better spent on more sorcerers.

Fantasy magic is a very versatile route and can be played in many different ways, so don't take what I've said as the only way to go. A solid starting ratio would be 5:3:1 sorc/dragon/siren, but you may want to experiment and move on from that.

I don't have huge amounts of experience with sorcs, so if another helper wants to add more that would probably be good, I just thought I'd get back to you as no-one has replied yet. Hope that helps,

---------------------------------------
What's the best ratio for Dragon route?

I was rather hoping someone else would answer this, seeing as I've never played the route myself, but I'll do my best.

The crucial point to grasp about this route is that 2 out of your 3 early firing ranged units target ALL only, meaning you will often have trouble targeting enemy LETs effectively. On the other hand, it makes you very difficult to flak, and suprisingly effective against protestor units.

Sorcs should be the main unit of your army. Dragons pack more of a punch, but they often fire too late to be able to decide the course of a battle. Sirens fire earlier than sorcs, and can be useful in some situation, but don't actually kill anything and die fairly easily, so you can't base an army around them. Witches don't fire range, and iron golems don't do enough damage alone, so it has to be sorcs you base your army around.

With that in mind, there are a few directions you can go. If you can get dragons, they're a great addition, providing a powerful punch behind your sorcs, which can scare away many attackers who otherwise be able to take on pure sorcs. So some people just go for sorcs and dragons. Something like 2:1 or 5:2 sorc:dragon will make you very scary in defence, although not particularly effective offensively, seeing as your sorcs will usually be hitting flak, meaning you will be relying completely on late firing dragons to deal with hostile LETs first tick.

Others advocate using IronGolems both as LET flak for sorcs/dragons, and to clear flak before the sorcs fire, allowing the sorcs to fire on more important units. This can open up a few more attacking options than a pure sorc/dragon combo. If you're unable to get dragons, I would definitely go for this tactic. Perhaps something like 3:3:1 golem/sorc/dragon, or 1:1 golem/sorc if you can't get dragon.

Witches aren't worth touching, in my opinion. Sirens do have their uses in some situations (notably dealing with TerroristLeaders), particularly if used in conjunction with allied units from other routes, so it's certainly reasonable to add some to your army. If you're finding yourself coming up against terrorist leaders quite regularly then you might want to buy lots of them, but otherwise I wouldn't add more than :1: for sirens to the ratios I mentioned above.

To sum up, any mix of golems, sorcs and dragons will be strong defensively, and you can add sirens to suit your tastes. It's not a particularly common "pro" route, so nobody is really sure what the "best" tactic is with it, although I have seen others use the tactics I mention above to great effect.

--------------------------
What's the best ratio for the Vampire route?

This one is from before mummies and werewolves swapped statistics
Subject: re: Alliance Overview:
'The ratio' depends on your situation, how active you are, and how you want to play the game.

Vampires are your best offensive units, so if you can rely either on your own activity or on a strong alliance to help defend you then you can go all out on vampires. It's usually useful to have some gargs sweeping behind your vampires though, and a few werewolves for if you're being last ticked, so something like 6:3:2 vamp:garg:were would be a good attacking/alliance ratio.

If you can't rely on an alliance to defend you then you'll probably want to spend a bit more on gargs/werewolves, as this will make you a bit more 'rounded' and able to defend against a wider range of opponents. However, it can detract from your offensive capabilities, so it's up to you to decide whether you want to risk being unable to defend yourself against certain routes in order to boost your attacking power. Something like 3:2:2 or 1:1:1 vamp:garg:were would be a strong defensive ratio.

I haven't said anything about mummies so far, which is because I have very little experience with them. Many vamp players ignore them, but for their cost they do have a fair amount of health and do a reasonable amount of damage, so you might want to experiment with them. I'm sorry I can't be more help than that with mummies.

-----------------------------
What are Dragons good and bad against?

Subject: re: military
The thing about the dragon route is that it can be fairly good against almost any route, and yet it doesn't do amazingly against any route in particular. This tends to make it a *very* strong defensive route. People searching for targets will tend to skip you if they see alot of dragons, as they know they're going to take a fair bit of damage whatever happens, whereas another target might be easier. And sending dragons to defend an ally will give the person hitting that ally alot to think about whatever their route is.

So the route and the unit are very tough. The trouble is both the dragon unit, and all the other units on the route, are relatively late firing. This means it's very difficult to attack someone without taking losses. The dragon route is mainly armour based, although does have some health too, so the trick is to look for targets which don't have a decent armour/health combo, or indeed don't do any armour damage at all. Spec Ops players with no/few assassins are fairly easy for dragons to beat, although your gardeners will take a beating. The other thing to look for is targets with only late firing units. A ranger player with lots of rangers and hardly any harriers is a nice target for dragons, seeing as dragons fire before rangers. A thug player with lots of PBs and not so many TLs can also be a good choice. The trick is always to be opportunistic in choosing targets. EG. I wouldn't recommend fighting RPGs with dragons, but if you happen to know that a particular RPG player has hardly any snipers then you can easily beat him. Just gotta look for players who can't make that armour/health combo needed to kill dragons.

I've talked about options assuming you're mainly attacking with the actual dragon unit. But as I've said, the route is a very versatile one, and many players ignore dragons completely and just use sorcs, golems and sirens, which opens up different attacking options.

But however you play the route, the result is usually the same: you are rock solid and very scary in defence, but not really able to attack without taking some losses due to your late firing units.

-------------------
What's the best way to kill Vampires?

Subject: re: military
Vampire route doesn't have an effective anti-armour unit, so your best bet is always heavily armoured units to kill a vampire. A robo with plenty of tyrant drones is ideal, and a striker with plenty of apaches can also be effective. Dragons are fairly good too, although vampires still do do some armour damage, so make sure the dragons are effectively flakked, and make sure you'll do enough damage on the range tick.

If you are defending against a vamp player, secret agents and poms are very effective. Secret agents can't effectively be used to attack a vamp player, but in defence they're perfect. Poms of course don't kill, but they do very well against vamps so it might be useful to throw some poms into the mix to limit damage to your other units.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
Is sleep mode worthwhile?

Subject: re: 3 Quick Basic Question
Sleep mode puts all developments on pause and vastly reduces your income, so you have to weigh that up against what you might gain from sleep mode. Is losing 15% of your land more harmful than losing 24 hours income, for example? That comes rather down to personal play-style, how ambitious/paranoid you are and how fast you want to grow.

That said, if you really think you're vulnerable and likely to be wiped out while you're offline, then it can be a sensible option. Trouble is, you can't use it all the time or you'll never grow, so it's usually best to use it sparingly.

If you are 'a beginner with no defence systems' as you put it, then it's probably best to ignore sleep mode and try to develop as quickly as possible. Finishing developments is far more important than preventing the odd land grab, land which can be easily replaced.

---------
How can I find a good alliance?

Head over to the forums (link at bottom of menu on the left) and have a browse through the recruitment section or make a recruitment post of your own to find allies. If you make a few enquiries and a post of your own, you'll probably find an alliance fairly quickly. Just remember not to post up your ID.

-------
What's a good defensive route?

As far as defensive routes go, that depends on your ability to buy the purchase unit for a route. For example, Ranger route can be very strong defensively if you can buy F117s, but if you can't it becomes rather weak on it's own. The same is true of the bunker route (needs sentry turrets), sorcerer route (dragons), all thug routes, both other spec ops routes, and as far as defence goes striker route too.

If you can't get the purchase unit, I'd recommend the nanobot branch of robotics, or the political mastermind branch of protestors. If you can buy it, then the bunker route is far and away the strongest defensive route, although also the most boring. Strikers with marines, rangers with F117s, and sorcerers with dragons are also strong defensively.

------------------------------------------
Help! I'm getting picked on!

Subject: re: getting picked on
Usually if someone's picking on you it's because you're an attractive/easy target. So the way to deal with that is to make yourself unattractive to the people attacking you. If they're repeatedly flakking you for land, then buy up on flak killers and stay low on land, if they're repeatedly sending bribe runs on you then don't buy what they want to bribe and get nasty LETs instead.

If this doesn't work, or if the person is picking on you to be vindictive rather than simply because you're easy land/bribes, then you may need to enlist some help. Try joining an alliance (see the recruitment section of the forums, or try clicking on alliance names on the alliances page). Or try getting some decent PNaps (again, recruitment section is useful here).

Without more specific details of your situation I can't give any more detailed advice than that, so get back to us with some details of what you have / the attacker is doing if you want more specific advice. Also don't hesitate to ask if you don't understand any of the terms I've used.

-------------------
How do I change my alliance title?

Subject: re: Title
If you are referring to your alliance title, then to change it you must have been given the ability to change it by your alliance leader. If you haven't been granted the ability then you can't change it.

If you have been given the ability, then simply click on your name on the "your alliance" page and you should link through to a page with some basic info about your ID (acres, score etc) and an editable box with your title in. If you've been given the ability to change other people's titles, then you do exactly the same thing; click on their name on the "your alliance" page.

-----------------
I want to restart my ID. Can I keep my current name and still restart?

Subject: re: !help
If you go to 'ID Settings' on the main menu down the left of the screen, then there is a link at the top of the ID Settings page called 'Delete This ID'. Go there, type "delete" without the "s in the box and hit submit. Your ID will then be in deletion mode for a certain amount of time (usually 24 hours). If you log back in during this time then delete mode will be cancelled and you will have to start the 24 hour countdown again if you still want to delete.

This only deletes your world 1 ID, ie. the name infront of your 4 digit ID, IngameName[xxxx]. This does not delete your account, eg. my account is CFalcon, but that is not my ingame ID. You can still log in to your Account while your ID is in deletion mode, you just can't log in to your ID.

Once your ID is deleted, go to the 'Register New ID' link on the account portal page. You can reach the account portal page now by clicking the 'Account Portal' link on the main menu, although once your ID is deleted you will be automatically directed there. Register a new ID there and you're done :)

Your account name will still be xxxxxxxxx, and your new ingame ID name will be whatever you set it to be when you register your new ID. It's *highly* unlikely that anyone will register a new ID with the name you want in the couple of hours between your old ID deleting and you creating a new one, so you can almost certainly use the same ingame name if you want.
 
Last edited:

CFalcon

Official Helper
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
680
Location
Kent UK
I'm sure I've got more than enough hippys and yobs. Why can people still steal my land?

Subject: re: News:
I will talk you through why this is happening below. I advise you to read it, because the concepts here are key to success at bushtarion. However, if you don't want to read it all and want a quick solution: don't buy even numbers of hippies and yobs. Buy about 5 hippies to every yob you buy. You want to use yobs as "sweepers", not as a main unit.


What you are experiencing are two of the key concepts of bushtarion; flakking and sweeping.

The person attacking you is using gardeners to absorb the fire of your hippies and yobs to let the thieves grab land.

Now this is the tricky bit: Let's say 1,000,000 hippies can distract 1,000,000 gardeners. HOWEVER, 900,000 gardeners and 10,000 thieves will still be able to get land from you.
This is because the defending hippy damage is split up before they fire. They *don't* go through all the gardeners, and then whatever hippy damage is left gets applied to the geos. I repeat, that does NOT happen.

What DOES happen is that because the thieves make up such a small percentage of the attacking mob, only a small percentage of the hippy fire is directed at the thieves, so they may not all be distracted. I've been talking about hippies, but the same applies to yobs.

Also, remember that geo-phys thieves are *considerably* stronger than gardeners. For example, a million yobs can disable more than a million gardeners. However, they can barely disable 100,000 geo-phys thieves.

I don't have the battle report for this anymore :( But it consisted of allied hippys and yobs firing on hostile gardeners, the yobs seemingly underperforming, and the hostile land thieves still getting through

Now, when we combine all these things together, the battle report you posted is the result, so I'll talk you through it.

1. Your hippies fire, and they distract about as many gardeners as they normally would, nothing strange there. Because the enemy thieves make up such a small percentage of the mob, and because they are so strong, only a tiny number are hit.

2. The enemy still has about 320,000 gardeners left as well as about 30,000 thieves. This means that only a fraction (about 10%) of your yob fire will be directed at the thieves. [ 320,000 gardener + 30,000 geo = 350,000 total enemy troops left. 30,000 geos divided by 350,000 total = 8.5% ]

3. You have 1,300,000 Yobs. They will be able to take out the remaining gardeners easily. However, only 8.5% are firing at geo-phys thieves, ie. 110,500 yobs firing at thieves. 110,500 yobs can't disable more than about 15,000 geo-phys thieves.

4. So, out of his 30,000 thieves, only 15,000 are taken out by your yobs, and a very few others will have been taken out by hippies. But the result is still that some thieves will get through to steal land.

This same mechanism of flakking and splitting of damage applies to all types of units, so you can see how it becomes very interesting, tactical, and rather beautiful once you start moving up to high-powered units.

So how do you combat this problem? While you haven't developed past hippies and yobs the key is to try and have as many (or even more) hippies as the enemy has units. That will mean your hippies can take out ALL the enemy gardeners. This will allow your yobs to concentrate completely on the enemy thieves. Also remember you need about 10 yobs to every enemy thief. The bushtarion term for this is to use hippies as "flak killers" and yobs as "sweepers".

Once you have developed better units, the same principles apply. If you have small droids, they fire after yobs. You can then use small droids as your sweepers, and use yobs as flak killers. Or if you get sleeping gas traps, you can use the traps as your flak killers and still use yobs as your sweepers. But that all depends on your tech route, which I don't know.

I'm sorry this is such an essay, but it's not a simple topic to explain and it is key to bushtarion. I also think it's rather beautiful in bringing tactical dimension to the game, so I wouldn't want you quitting over it.

You can read more about flakking in the manual here: http://www.bushtarion.com/wiki/index.php?title=Manual_EC_Flakking

and about sweeping here: http://www.bushtarion.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sweeper

I hope this has been useful. If you don't understand any of the terms I've used, or are still unsure about anything, don't hesitate to get back to us :)

----------------------
What's the point in yobs?

Subject: re: hippies vs yobs
Well, firstly, although the stats in the manual wouldn't seem to indicate it, yobs do actually do more damage to INNs, even though their percentage firing at INNs is smaller. This is because the *'s in the manual are only a guide, and not the actual unit statistics.

But more importantly, hippies and yobs are supposed to be used in conjunction. It's no good having lots of one and none of the other, because you'll end up getting "flakked". If you want more details on flakking either look at the page in the manual here: http://www.bushtarion.com/manual/index.php?S=2&E=5
or get back to us with any questions.

Because almost all players use the flakking technique, it is generally advised to have roughly a 4:1 ratio of hippies to yobs, using your hippies as "flak killers" and your yobs as "sweepers", the flak killers taking out the majority of the inexpensive flak (like gardeners) and the yobs sweeping behind to hit the leftover important units (like wheelbarrowers).

I hope that's all clear; if you can understand flakking (which isn't entirely intuitive, even veterans can get it wrong) then it'll be clear why to use them both together. Get back to us if you're unsure of anything :)
 
Last edited:
Top