Successful starting strategies
From IceWars Documentation
There are several strategies for the first couple of hours, it is yet to be determined which one is the best. Generally it should be said that it is very important not to waste any construction time. If you want to use the construction queue, build the Construction worker settlement as soon as possible, and try to have something in construction at any given time.
Important Note: These strategies all work best right at the start of each round. If you register at some point later, using the industrial as a guideline is probably the best idea, maybe build an additional tent or two at the beginning. you should always keep a look at your resources and turn off the use of construction bonus points every time your resources drop close to the point where you can't keep on constructing, also you should turn off the bonus points any time you are not on the computer, so that no construction time is wasted.
- 1. The Researcher
resources: 1000 iron / 1000 steel / 1000 energy / enough ice and water (will not be important within the first 48 hours) / 30 workers
first we construct:
1 tent
-3 Iron
produces 10 workers instantly
then we go on with:
1 Small iron mine
-100 Iron / -50 Steel / -50 Energy / -10 Workers / 3h construction time
production in this time
30 Iron / 30 Energy / ca ? Workers
The iron mine allows you to construct the next building:
1 Small steel mill
-150 iron / -50 steel / -50 energy / -10 workers / 3h construction time
production in this time:
90 iron / 27 Energy / ca ? workers
we must not change the Transformation yet, because you will need the iron! we just built the steel mill to be able to construct our first research lab
By now, we still have the following resources
870 Iron / 900 Steel / 957 Energy / ?? Workers
However, a research lab costs:
1.000 Iron / 250 Steel / 10 Water / 500 Energy / 50 Workers
So we still need some Iron
The next thing to do is to open the emergency box containing iron.
after 30 minutes we will have 515 more of iron (production + the box)
By now, we should have enough resources to construct our first Small research lab. I am not that sure about the workers, because the German version of this tutorial advises to construct 2 tents last, however I am pretty sure that if you build one tent first, you should have enough free Workers by this time. if not, just construct another tent.
My advice for the first research would be Construction Techniques, because you will get some free construction bonus minutes and can construct several buildings very fast. You should take a look at your water, it must not drop to zero, because otherwise your workers will die, you should also take care of energy, because it is needed to transform Iron into Steel and if it drops to zero your research will stop. You also should build the Construction worker settlement as soon as possible, maybe even before the first iron mine, to ensure you don't waste too much construction time. By now you should know enough about the game to go on on your own.
- 2. The Industrial
First, we construct the Construction worker settlement w/ outhouse. Then we build Iron Mines. At least 6 of them. If you lack of workers at any time, build Solar Panels. After those, we construct a Steel Mill and 2 more Solar Panels. Then we continue to construct Iron Mines and Solar Panels until we have enough Iron and Workers to construct our first Research Lab. However, at one point before the Population reaches its limit, we will also have to construct a Small House to create more space for new workers.
The target of this is twofold: first, we don't need any tents, which will save us some construction time. Second, we will have a solid economy and will be able to continue construction without much worries about our resources. Because lots of people will probably use the strategy "the researcher", lots of them will most likely have completed the first research by the time you have set up your lab, and this will cause the number of research points to drop a bit. However, since the researchers will reach the first construction bonus minutes, they will be able to equalize and maybe even overtake the industrials' production again, it remains in question which of these two strategies is the better one in long terms.
- 3. Storm the High Score
Attention: it is absolutely necessary to start within the first hours of a round to successfully use this strategy
Just build Small Houses. Every Small House will grant you 3 Points in 15 minutes construction time, an Iron Mine would just get you 6 points in 3 hours. The houses are a waste of resources and construction time if you really want to play the game, however, it will make sure that you will be at the top of the highscore during the first couple of days.
