Ok Torn citizens .. I'm two years in and I still consider myself a newbie .. but I've picked up a few ideas that worked for me .. use them or discard them .. essentially play the game your way, whatever makes the game fun for you ..! 🥳🥳🥳
I suppose there's nothing particularly new here .. just a different perspective ! 🤔
Let's be honest .. we're never going to catch up on battle stats to gamers who've been playing the best part of 20 years .. so .. you do you ! 😁
TL;DR .. Some bullet points 👉 (in no particular order)
• always be in education
• always be in cooldown for drugs, boosters and meds (exceptions apply !)
• Get married !
• always be flying (once past level 15) or racing (start as early as you can imo)
• read all the tutorials you can .. more than once .. but still take it under advisement .. play the game your way !
• Get in a good faction .. preferably with over 2 million respect .. you'll get better perks for faster growth
• Take as many drugs as you can .. xanax for battle stats or cannabis for Crimes .. up to you .. mix it up !
• In my humble opinion .. do not level hold .. well, not straight away anyway !!
• If you can afford it .. use refills daily
• As soon as you can .. get some passive income started
• Have Donator status or buy donator packs
• Be in a company which suits your playstyle
• Get as many merits as you can .. and spend them wisely (you can buy extra too !)
• Do your Missions !
A little more detail ....
Education .. opinions vary, as with most things .. but I agree with BIO1340 Introduction to Biochemistry then BIO2127 Intravenous Therapy .. enables you to draw and use blood bags .. can make a bit of money .. but also can help out your faction and merits to be gained ! Personally after doing a couple of the Sports Science courses for gym gains I went all in for CBT3870 Batchelor of Military Arts and Science to get started early on weapon XP .. followed by all of Sports Science, then (as I'm in a Crime faction) .. PSY3690 Batchelor of Psychological Sciences for those sweet Crime XP gains (and plenty of passive DEX too)
Cooldowns .. the only reason to not have your cooldowns running continuously is if you're about to go into a Torn event where you want to start with '0' cooldown to take full advantage of it (eg .. International Beer Day where beer is 5 x more effective) .. or a Ranked War .. although sometimes it's nice to have a vicodin boost for 'first contact' !
Marriage .. we're not talking about a deep and meaningful relationship here (although that can happen) .. if you're lucky, an experienced player will take you under their wing .. allow you access to a 'private island,' an airstrip for flying (see below) and maybe even a vault to store your money .. all on top of halving the rent/upkeep.. the other benefit is high happiness (high happiness = better training gains) and merits .. another long term proposition !
Racing/Flying .. Flying is self explanatory .. Flying = income .. and merits to be gained. Get to level 15 ASAP to unlock the ability to jump on a plane ! Racing is sometimes considered a bespoke past time .. but again .. merits to be had, and with the recent 'buff,' racing skill is acquired quicker. Similar to weapon xp .. its a long haul, so the earlier you start the better.
Tutorials / Guides .. read, read and read again .. don't fall into the trap of asking questions in 'General Discussion' which are most likely covered already in the Tutorials .. I can personally recommend several .. anything written by Mug, Baldr, Emforus and Andyman are worth your time .. but there are loads of great, informative guides .. subscribe to them, read them often. Find your playstyle !!
Faction .. get in a good faction, over 2 million respect will give you access to great perks .. most good factions will take newbies on, and bring them on .. and don't think 'minnows' can't help out .. you can 'Chain Watch' and throw temporary weapons for your big guns !
Drugs .. xanax is Torn City's drug of choice .. 250 Energy per pill .. but there are others .. LSD is the poor man's xanax, cannabis is a criminals dream, vicodin boosts your battle stats .. and again (golden thread here) .. merits to be gained !
Level Holding .. some people swear by it .. but I think its a mistake .. when you level up you gain life .. and merits .. there will come a time when you may have to hold level for a while and let your battle stats catch up a bit .. but it isn't yet !!
Refills .. Nerve and Energy refills are a must once you can afford them.
Passive Income .. Bank and Stocks .. read the guides .. but don't forget MCS (Energy) and CBD (Nerve) Stocks .. not cash, but can earn you some. Also look at the Community Competitions, and even submit a few comics .. there's plenty of different ways to earn some cheddar !
Donator Status or Donator Packs .. more Energy and quicker regeneration. This one's simply about being on a level playing field with everyone else.
Companies .. there are Torn jobs and player run companies. Once you've decided on your playstyle, find a company with perks that compliment it .. eg. I'm in a Candle Shop for the extra free Energy I can get from job points. A friend of mine who wars a lot is in a Gas Station for the 'Cauterize' perk (look it up !)
Merits .. as you gain honour bars and medals you can spend them in a 'merits tree' to enhance parts of your game .. everything from increased bank interest to passive battle stats, reduced education time to better weapon damage and accuracy. As before, decide on your playstyle and spend your merits accordingly, but don't worry, you can always reset them !
Missions .. Duke gives out missions on a daily basis .. some people don't bother with them .. but make sure you do them .. they provide mission points with which you can buy books and weapon mods .. don't bother buying anything else with them, apart from maybe special Ammo .. but even that you can get from crimes 2.0 now ..
A Few "Don'ts" that I "did"
Don't ..
• Rush into spending merits, and then buy points to reset them .. it can get very expensive .. if you're patient, we normally get a free reset around Christmas.
• Buy rubbish Ranked War weapons .. especially when drinking alcohol in real life !!
• Ask daft questions on the 'General Discussion' forum .. in fact, just dont post anything on that forum at all ! .. use the 'Q&A' Forum instead.
• Put expensive items on the market place .. you will get 'buy mugged' .. find a trusted trader and use them .. I recommend VladBull .. but others are available ! .. essentially "Don't put expensive items on the market place without protecting yourself" .. you can fly or self-hopitalise too ..