I have been playing Dragon Dimension since it was first released by MZ. You would think that with the amount of time I spend on the game that I would be aware of the shortcuts that are built into the game. As Cinder can attest, even long-time players such as myself (more on this later) can be unaware of time-savers available to players.
Part of playing any game wisely is knowing the shortcuts or tips that can help you build your account effectively or protect yourself and your investment. Some tips, however, come in handy when you have an alliance-mate that you like to pick on!
In this article, we will spend some time collecting various tips and strategies that will make your time on the game more productive and fun.
Tip Number 1 – The Marketplace does more than feed resources to your Alliance.
I am a member of the Alliance Savage of Darkness (~DRK) and what players outside of our Alliance may not know is that we like to mess with one another when we are not competing in events. One of my closest friends on the game, and oftentimes the victim of my inane silliness, is Budz. Since we are both traps, Budz and I are vigilant and watch for attack or rally notifications.
However, notifications sometimes do not come through. In ~DRK we devised a method to counter the lack of notifications. If we believe that a player is not on, and is unaware they are under attack, we will bombard the player with reinforcements or resource marches.
This strategy, however, can also be used to really mess with your mates! I was bored late one night and decided to send a slew of resource marches at Budz to see how he reacted since I suspected he was asleep. I was right, of course, and Budz chewed me out because he thought he was in the process of being zeroed by another player.
Not to be outdone, Budz started doing the same to me at random times overnight to see if he could wake me up. To counter this, we would port to different parts of our kingdom and hope that the other did not find us.
Did you know that you can use your Marketplace to locate members of your Alliance who are hiding from you? All you need to do is click on the Marketplace, locate the name of the player you are searching for, and click the blue Help button. Next, select a resource and amount (it can be as little as one) to send to the player and click the blue Help button at the bottom of the screen.
After confirming you want to “help” your friend, just follow the blue footsteps to their current location. Voila! Now you can find any member of your Alliance no matter where they try to hide from you. Remember, this only works if they are in the same Kingdom as you.
Tip Number 2 – Keep Your Research, Build, and Train Queues Running all the Time
If you have unlocked the additional build and research queues available in your Empire, you can run two builds, two types of research, and one training queue at the same time. Since these functions are available to you, why not use them instead of leaving them idle? Remember, this is a timer-based game. The longer you allow a timer to run, the fewer speeds are needed to advance to the end of the timer. The queues do, however, have additional uses.
For instance, as a trap, I am always looking for something that will give me an edge. One thing that I learned long ago was to use my training queue to keep replacement troops on hand in the event multiple rallies set on me at the same time. Once the first rally hits, I heal all troops in the hospital and then speed the training of the troops that I have in my queue so that I immediately replace my losses before the next rally hits.
This tactic is particularly effective if you are trying to maintain a controlled burn as the lower tier troops that you are using to create the burn are often wiped out in the first attack. To keep the appearance of weakness, you do not want the second hit to “put out the fire” as this will deter continued attacks. Another queue trick that can be effective involves the building queue. As many of you know, when you advance your Stronghold from 79 to 80 you obtain a stat that counters Dragons – 10,000% Dragon Armor Break.
If you are a trap, and would like to capture an attacking Hero, start your Stronghold 80 build in the queue and leave the build running until a likely suspect decides to hit you. Just before the attack hits, speed the build to completion, thus launching the Dragon Armor Break, and capture the attacker’s Hero. Remember, this will only work once and may not work against all accounts. If a max player attacks you, 10,000% Dragon Armor Break may not be enough to capture the Hero.
Tip Number 3 – Check your Hero and Gear Before Starting Researches, Builds, or Training.
Have you ever forgotten to switch to Economy Gear before starting upper-level research? It has happened to me more than once. As you can imagine, failing to use your Economy gear can be quite expensive. For example, if you have Hero III equipped with Obsidian Knight gear and attempt to research level 8/10 of the Empire Defender Defense node in the Wild Combat Tree, the time and resource investment would look like this:
As you can see, this mistake is going to cost you almost 3,883 days of speed ups to complete unless you are willing to cancel the research at half the cost of the resources. By comparison, had you equipped Hero I with Magister Research Gear the time and resource investment would look like this:
The speeds necessary to complete the research are now down to a little over 1,018 days, which is much more manageable. As this is a timer-based game, accidents like this can be very costly! Avoid this by simply checking your gear and Hero before undertaking costly research or builds.
Tip Number 4 – Remember, not all Research Trees are the Same!
If you have spent any amount of time completing research trees in Dragon Dimension, you know that the method by which you complete the trees is not always the same. For some trees, the Strategic Research Tree associated with unlocking T6 Strategic Troops, for instance, you must complete each node in progression.
For others, like the Wild Combat Research Tree needed to unlock T6 Wild Troops, you can jump around and pick which nodes you want to focus on. The flexibility offered when you can pick which research nodes you want to complete allows you to focus on the stats that your account needs.
As a trap, I immediately focused on the Empire Defender Health and Empire Defender Defense nodes in the new Wild Combat research that recently dropped given how high the available stats are. This allowed me to increase my stats without paying for unnecessary research.
Tip Number 5 – Open All / Use All / Combine All is not your Friend
Developers often add “convenience features” into games to make our lives easier. This can range from sliders to the ability to open multiple items at once. Too much of a good thing, however, can be bad. In Dragon Dimension, increasing your VIP to 51 unlocks the Use All Resources button in the Resources tab within the My Items tab.
IT’S A TRAP! DON’T DO IT! Why you ask?
Simply put, your Empire has a limited ability to protect your resources based on the level of your Storehouse. For my account, with a Storehouse level 79, I can protect 4.17B of any resource. If I lose an attack and have more than 4.17B of any resource open, the attacker will gain a certain amount of my T1 Resources from my stores. You can avoid this result if you never open more resources than necessary to complete the tasks you are working on or, alternatively, only the amount your Storehouse is able to protect.
What happens if you fail to follow this tip? If other players catch on that you have opened all of your resources then they could farm your account for the resources they need.
Another convenience feature, unlocked at VIP 66, is the ability to open all crafting materials and gem chests. No risk of being farmed for these, of course, so why is this a problem? There are certain events that cycle through the game that require you to combine crafting materials for rewards.
Some of these rewards, for multi-part events that require you to Combine Materials, Scout Players, use Hero XP, etc., are harder to obtain if you have not maintained a store of crafting materials to combine. Since the rewards for these events can be substantial, and at times only available through these events, leave yourself the ability to participate and only open what you need. If you have already crafted certain gear sets, leave those chests in your inventory until they are needed.
Finally, never use Master Combine. The master combine function exists within the Forge for cores, pieces, gems, materials, and banners. This function is available to combine lower-level items into higher-level items and should rarely be used for the same reason that open all crafting materials and gems chests should not be used.
Again, you want to make sure that you have a store of the items necessary to complete any Event that MZ provides. Completing events provides items that your Stronghold needs without you buying a pack to obtain the item.
Tip Number 6 – Use Dead Empires to your Advantage
Have you noticed the number of dead empires that exist within your kingdom? To many players, dead accounts are a waste of space, but I view them as an untapped resource for active players. As you know, leveling up your Hero requires Hero XP. Did you know that you can gain Hero XP for free by attacking a dead account? Absolutely! You can also use this tactic to level up gear that is subject to Set Gear Leveling in the Gear Workshop.
For this to work, you need to send an attacking march against the dead empire and be sure to include the Hero you are trying to level up in the march. Assuming that there is a dragon in the empire, your Hero will gain XP as a reward in the attack. If you are trying to level up your Set Gear, you will need to be sure to have equipped that gear on the attacking hero during the march and to have the appropriate unlock material needed.
Another great use for dead accounts is to farm for any resources you may be missing. Once the T1 resources are exhausted, upper-level resources open for collection as you continue attacking.
* Pro Tip – You can complete the rotating Hero events even if your Hero is locked by using this tactic. As a trap, I want to control the level of Hero I display to my targets. I can do this by keeping my Hero locked, and prevent leveling up, while still obtaining the rewards from the event.
Tip Number 7 – Protect your Stronghold at all Times
You spent a lot of time, money, and effort to build your account in the Dragon Dimension so take appropriate steps to protect that investment. Obviously, the best protection against losses in the game is to use a shield when you cannot watch your account. Life, if you are living it right, can get in the way of the game! Here are some things you can do to protect your investment:
- Join an Alliance and get to know the members. Time after time I have seen members of my Alliance step away from their account for a moment due to real-life issues only to be attacked while their attention was elsewhere. Joining an Alliance can help protect your account through reinforcements, resource bombing, or even a 911 Room for your Alliance on Line.
- Complete events to obtain the Loyalty needed to purchase shields.
- Stay active in Line rooms like GOW Real Tips, Carol’s Trap Room, or Traphouse/Real Tips2. Oftentimes, early notice of issues in the games, such as unexpected stat fluctuations, event issues, or other problems come to light in these rooms. Forewarned is forearmed!
- Most importantly, always log off in your best defensive gear and banners. Although this will not protect you if you are absent for a long time, it may be just enough to prevent your account from being zeroed and the loss of your Hero.
Tip Number 8 – Know what Buttons Actually Work
At the beginning of this article, I told you that even long-time players may be unaware of time-saving tips. At my expense, I will share an embarrassing story with you.
As a trap, the ability to heal troops quickly is critical to my success against multiple rallies intermixed with solo attacks. For the longest time, I healed each troop type individually in my hospital because I did not know that the Queue All button in the Hospital worked. I did not find out the button worked until I was discussing Hospitals with Cinder, WorldWonder, and BadSanta on Line.
You can imagine my embarrassment when Cinder and WorldWonder informed me that the button worked. In my defense, the button did not work when Dragon Dimension was first released. Moreover, the button still blended into the background on the screen, as it had when it was not operational.
If you are curious as to what I am talking about, here is the magical button that speeds up the time it takes to heal troops:
* Pro Tip – Open the maximum amount of resources that your Storehouse can protect prior to the start of a KvK so that you do not have to add resources when healing troops. Throughout the event, add resources to replace those used in healing. It may not seem like much, but it will save you time when healing troops. This is especially true if multiple rallies are set on you at once.
Tip Number 9 – Use Shielded Strongholds to Hold Troops you do not want to Lose
In the current state of the game, where a strong account can send a Heroless solo march with a dead dragon and T6 troops against another strong account and wipe out the defending player’s Elite Mercenaries, this tip could save you a lot of money. Consider this, it costs approximately $99.99 to train around 2,200 Elite Mercenaries for use in Rallies. Now, consider that you have over 40,000 of these troops and another player sends a solo against you and wipes out all your Elite Mercenaries. That, my friends, is a bad day at the office!
Now, this result was not always true and, in fact, worked then did not work and then worked again. Thinking that the issue had been fixed, players who had lost their Elite Mercenaries during the first KvK component of the Days of War event added those troops back into their accounts only to lose them again during the second KvK portion of the event. Madness!
Setting aside the fact that no one really knew that this attack configuration was in play until they lost their Elite Mercenaries unexpectedly, once word filtered out that it was happening players could have protected their Elite Mercenaries by sending them to shielded strongholds in their Alliance.
This tactic works with any troop or dragon that can be used to reinforce another player. In the future, if an issue arises in the game and you need to protect a weaker dragon that is causing you to burn or you need to protect a category of troops, just send them to a shielded stronghold until it is safe to recall them to your stronghold!
Tip Number 10 – Maximize Events for Free Stuff
Each of us spends hours every day in Dragon Dimension. While you are on the game, take the time to complete the rotating hourly events. Currently, completing Hero events will reward you with 6,000 Hero Energy, 7 25% Winged Boots, 30,000 Loyalty, and 1 Advanced Teleport.
While not all the events reward you with items that your Stronghold needs, some do. Take advantage of those that do. Cinder wrote a great article that provides a wealth of information about maximizing events. You can read it here:
Optimize Your Dragon Dimension Events
What’s Next?
In my next article, I will explore and explain some tips on what it takes to be an effective filler for Rallies!
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