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Tip of the Week #6 - Selling Harvesters

By Windonut - 20th September 2012 - 17:27 PM

Date: September 17, 2012
Game: Tiberium Alliances, patch September 20, 2012
Author: Windonut
A what can be called revolution that goes up against how the game is supposed to be; selling your Harvesters. In many bases the bulldoozers driving on the Tiberium and Crystal patches are the heart of the interior, however many top ranked players have been selling them. The idea is simple, get rid of your Harvesters and some of your Silos, and replace them with Power Plants and Refineries, to increase both your Power and Credit production. This way you prioritize the researching of the next base, which can only be bought with a lot of Credits. Credits are at most importance since it's the only part in the game that generates without having the luxury of a PoI giving them as a bonus. There are however up and downsides to this story.

A player base can have up to 40 construction slots, which can be achieved by upgrading your Construction Yard to level 25. Now, every base also has 12 patches of both Tiberium and Crystal (some bases have a different Tiberium-Crystal ratio, the standard ratio is 6-6, however 5-7 or 7-5 is also possible). If you want to have the highest Crystal and Tiberium production, you need Silo's connected to them. Worst case scenario means that you need 6 Silo's in order to have the best production, but sometimes you're lucky and you're good to go with 4 or even 3 Silo's. Let's take the worst case scenario, and add the construction slots up. This would have to mean we're already on 18/40 construction slots. Now let's add the unique buildings (Barracks, Factory, Airfield etc.) Without adding any Power Plants or Refineries we're sitting on 25/40 construction slots used. This means that we have 15 slots left for Accumulators, Power Plants and Refineries. This seems like it's enough, however imagine killing a Forgotten Base a few levels above your own; you'll run out of Power.

Now let's see it from the other side, meaning that we're playing without Harvesters. If we'd sell our 12 Harvesters, and keep 2-3 Silo's, we would be having 30 free slots for Refineries, Power Plants and Accumulators. If you compare it to the old 15 free slots, in theory that would have to mean that you'd have double Power and Credit production for that particular base.

Now we have that in perspective, let's go back to the very basics of Harvesters. Harvesters produce Crystals and Tiberium. Tiberium gives you the opportunity to upgrade your Harvesters, so that you can generate more Tiberium so that you can get even higher level Harvesters. This is an endless cycle, and the cycle is increased by the PoI's of your Alliance. This will give the base more personal score, and grow faster, however it reduces your Credit production.


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Pros and Cons of Selling Harvesters


Cons
You're more vulnerable, since you won't generate any Tiberium for 24 hours after your base has been destroyed. After your base has been destroyed, your Alliance bonus is cut off for 24 hours, meaning the Tiberium production is stalled, which makes it hard to repair your base. Having Harvesters in the base gives you the opportunity to generate Tiberium, even after the base has been destroyed.

You'll have a lower Tiberium Production. The only Tiberium income you rely on is the one that your Alliance provides, and the Tiberium you loot from killing Forgotten. More Tiberium means that there's more Tiberium to be invested in the base, meaning the base will grow faster compared to a base without Harvesters.

You'll lose score on the personal and Alliance leaderboards; upgrading Harvesters gives more points (score) than upgrading Refineries of the same level.

If you're low level with 1 or 2 bases, selling your Harvesters is not good. In that stage. the growing stage, your focus lies more on researching new units rather than researching new bases. Also, in that stage, finding a high level Alliance with a high Tiberium bonus is hard. You need the Tiberium production from your Harvesters to grow.


Pros
Adding more Refineries increases your Credit production, for you prioritize the researching of the upcoming base. When it comes to growing, getting a new base will give your growth a boost. You'll have a new base for even more Refineries, so that next base is very close.

There's more freedom in the amount of each building; without Harvesters you have more Construction Slots, which means that you can add as much Accumulators, Power Plants and Refineries as you want.

Adding more Power Plants increases the amount of buildings that you can upgrade. After you've killed a Forgotten Outpost, Camp or Base, you'll be swimming in the resources, most likely written in red numbers. If you want to spend this, you're going to need a lot of power. Especially Crystals, since upgrading units in an army require a lot of power.

Having a lot of Refineries and Power Plants provides your Construction Yard a ''meatshield''. If a base is under attack, it's important to have your CY and DF in the very back of your base, covered in buildings. Having a lot of buildings in front of your Construction Yard and Defense Facility is actually a second defense, which can be way more solid compared to a base covered with Harvesters, for Harvesters are are at random places spread across the map, Refineries and Power Plants can be placed practically everywhere.


Breakdown


Now, there are 4 cons and 4 pros, which makes it a tie. However it's important to know which pro or con is more important than the other. Before that the importance of personal score needs to be known.

Personal score is achieved by upgrading buildings/units to the next level, some buildings/units give more score than others. If a new base is researched, buildings/units are upgraded from level 1 to the max level you can achieve with the starter resources in that new base, meaning you'll go up in the rankings big time. Now, your personal score is just a part of the Alliances' total score. If you have a high personal score, that will mean the alliance will also have a higher score, so having more bases > more score > higher alliance rank. Also, a new base gives the opportunity to get more firepower, a new base will have an army, so a new backup plan if your first attack didn't get the Total Victory. Having more bases is not only important for the personal score, but also for the Alliance score. More bases means you're helping your Alliance grow in the rankings. Will this affect your alliances performance? No. The only way you're actually helping your alliance is by holding PoI's, so the alliance ranks higher in the PoI leaderboards, however new bases will make the Alliances' territory bigger, and therefor should be researched.

Personal score can be seen as an activity reference, if you're high ranked, that means that you're actively upgrading buildings/units daily. Having a high rank won't affect your performances, however indirect it does help you getting more resources, thus growth. Now growth is a very important word, since it increases your average base/defense/army level. If you are upgrading Refineries on a daily base, that means that your Credit/h production will grow.

So to come to a conclusion, selling your Harvesters and replacing them for Refineries and Power Plants is a very good idea. On the long term, getting a new base will give you more advantages than pumping your Tiberium and Crystal production up for that single base, slowing down the process of getting your next base. Like Napoleon Hill quoted; Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness. Sacrificing your Harvesters for Refineries and Power Plants will give you a huge advantage in the near future.