After spending some weeks working up to level 50, was looking forward to defogging and taking over the archipelago.
Then I found that before I can do that, I have to
a) earn enough beans to get the fairytale castle
b) earn even more beans to pay 8900 beanstalk per sector, above the costs of actually conquering them.
Way to turn a happy moment into a massive downer, BB. I wonder how many folk have quit at this point over the years?
c) You're gonna want to use elite troops to take over most of those sections. Much cheaper.
Revise your idea of what it's gonna take to get hat expansion area.
Still a happy moment, but it's far from over when you hit 50. Lots and lots left to do. Before you can easily take over the expansion area you'll have likely earned way more beans than that...
If you want/need to do it immediately, you'll need TONS of Cavalry for it. You can actually do most of it with Recruits if you don't mind spending like 60,000 of them to complete everything. I found that you could devote 3 generals you don't really use and just slowly take out camps when you have the spare troops and time. Follow the archipelago guides for the most efficient way.
You can also get by *slowly* by MMA+1R sacs when you have MMA downtime. Before you go to sleep for the night, send your MMA(s) out. Repeat. For many days.
I think I took a year and a half to reach level 50. Of course, at that time, that was the highest level. When they introduced the archipelago, I did exactly what KarlyleBI suggested. 1r MMA sacs one after the other for months when I wasn't doing anything with them (so overnight and during the day I'd send them). Not quick but cheap. It's part of a long game that I'm sure could be steamrolled over, but I don't think it is unreasonable that it takes time.
Beans are rather easy to come by now that people at level 55+ are getting so many more of them than they need. Like the epic farmyard, you could really use it to grow your island, but by the time you get there, you don't really need it any more.
Not to forget, you can clear the sectors and uncover the next piece and clear that as well without having to claim it before advancing. So as you clear it (which puts you into the same shoes as the rest of us having been 50 at that point and no access to Elite troops either), you can gather/trade beans/stalks on the side as you progress, that's just a "minor" difference between fresh 50s and long term 50s, we were simply able to claim them as soon as we cleared them without needing to bean up first.
On the other hand, beans are near worthless now compared to before (although they were already sinking in price when the expansion hit), so that makes it a lot easier to trade for the amounts of beans needed. You can most likely skip the FT Castle since exceptionally too many people have one sitting idle wasting space, bunch of people won't mind to convert beans to stalks for you for free, save the buff at best, though I'd throw even that one in.
With that said, 9000 Stalks is cheap enough to me compared to the value that the space will give you, it's pretty much priceless (no BB, I didn't say blank check for you :P).
Gotta agree with the MMA sacs on clearing the Arch. It takes a while but it's worth it. I was sending my MMA's every couple of hours, then cleaning up the camps with a Major and whatever it took to get it done. No worries on beans, you'll have more than you need before you know it if you run VLT's to level up to 51 and beyond. Or like Ceruhe said, you can trade for them pretty easily these days. Chin up, level 50 is just the beginning!
"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking." ~ Marcus Aurelius
The information was there.Originally Posted by Llewelyn1966
You chose not to prepare yourself.
Well thanks for your advice everyone and :P to EpsilonSilver - I didn't bother to read up on things I couldn't do for weeks in advance. I honestly expected all the battles, it's the buttload of beanstalks I find unnecessary - it's not even like the first sectors are cheap and they get more expensive, or that the costs become harder to find (like, it could start with coin, then add other different resources; there would at least be variety then). I've parked a BHG on the first bit to peck away at the camps a bit at a time, in the 3rd area (the first one you fight for) - since it doesn't matter if it takes a while.
You'll note that I was complaining of having to fight.
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