P&S – New Player – Sprint to HQ6

Target Audience

As a new player of P&S, or an experienced player who is creating an alt (alternate character), these are some tips and tricks to get you started.

Overview and Orientation

There are three parts to the game, “Puzzles & Survival”:

• You start in the sanctuary, where your headquarters (HQ) is located.  Inside your sanctuary, you progress through story missions (called story chapters) while you build and upgrade buildings in order to accomplish certain goals, and then you upgrade your HQ to increase your might.  The main goal of the game is to upgrade your HQ as high as possible.
• When you do puzzle missions (called campaign chapters), you go to the puzzle map by clicking on the V-22 airplane located at the top-right (north-east) corner of your sanctuary.  On the puzzle map, each puzzle chapter has several levels, and new levels unlock as you progress.  Each level gets harder, and  you will need to upgrade your heroes to defeat them.  When you attempt a puzzle mission, you use “AP”, and when you no longer have enough AP, you can go back to your sanctuary to let your AP recharge.
  Beating puzzle levels gives you books, and various items such as Noah tokens (get hero fragments from Noah’s Tavern) and speed-ups that help you build, research, or train faster.
• When you reach story episode 3, you will go to the world map to kill a zombie.  The reward for defeating zombies is antiserum (used to level up your heroes), hero fragments (“frags”) which you collect to get new heroes, and other power ups such as gear promoters and enhancers.  When you attack a zombie, you use “stamina” (or “stam”), and when you are out of stam, you can go back to your sanctuary to let your stam recharge. 
  If you are part of an alliance, you can “rally” other alliance members to attack a zombie lair.  You need at least one other participant in order to rally, and thus you can’t attack lairs unless you are in an alliance.  Lairs reward you with antiserum, as well as boxes that contain all sorts of useful stuff.
  You can also use the world map to gather resources, such as food, wood, steel, and gas, which you need in ever-increasing amounts to build and upgrade your buildings.  Also, during special events, other items may appear on the world map, such as the “Destroyer”, merchants, and special buildings.
  Although there are other players on the world map, there are rules about who you are allowed to attack, especially if you are a member of an alliance.  Do not attack other players unless you know what you are doing, or have approval from your alliance leadership.

Etiquette

• Do not attack other players.  Although you can steal resources, repeatedly or randomly attacking other players could get you kicked out of your alliance, or even marked as “Enemy of the State” (EOS), and the entire state will come after you.
  If you attack a player, you will have troops that are injured and killed, and so will they.  If you aren’t careful, you could lose all of your troops in one hit!  Injured troops require food and other resources to heal, meaning, you have to choose between growing and healing.
• When you begin a new character, you start off with a generic name, like “S123….”.  Be sure to change your name so that other players know that you’re a real person, and most alliances require it.  Having a bunch of generic names (also called bot names) is just too confusing.
  To change your name, click on your picture (upper-left), then click on the pencil to the right of your player name.
• Do not leave dirty tiles.  When you gather resources, make sure you empty them completely.  If you don’t it will prevent that resource (“tile”) from regenerating.  If you have to stop gathering for some reason, post the location in state chat, and then make sure you go back later to finish or “clean” them.  “Tiles” are food, wood, steel, or gas.
  Before you click “Dispatch” make sure “Gatherable” in the lower-right matches “Resources” on the left.  If Gatherable is lower, go find a lower level resource tile.  T1 Vehicles (Taxis) have the most carrying capacity.
• The first to start marching toward a resource tile owns it.  NOT, the first to arrive.  If you accidentally march on someone, message them.  Try to recall or both people can use a 2-hour shield.
  Accidents happen – if you hit someone’s tile or someone hits yours, don’t get bent out of shape.  Let your R4/R5 know about the situation, and they can help resolve it.  Most of the time, nothing was done intentionally.

Beginner Objectives

• The first objective is to make it through the tutorial!  At the end of the tutorial, you should be at headquarters (sanctuary or HQ) level 2, and you should have beaten puzzle mission chapter 1. 
• If you have not done so, bind your account to Google, Apple, Twitter, or Facebook.  Hit the plus sign, click the “settings” gear, then Account.  If your account status is “safe”, then click the “Claim” button to get some diamonds!  Otherwise, click “User Center” then “Bind Account”.  Click on one of the icons to bind your account.  If your phone is lost, stolen, or damaged, you can recover your P&S account and all of your characters.
• At this point, you get Malcolm and Doc as heroes.  To beat puzzle chapter 2, use antiserum to upgrade Malcolm, Doc, Amber, and Queenie.
• At the end of puzzle chapter 2, you rescue Barbie.  Upgrade your HQ to level 3, and complete story chapter 2 to unlock Barbie as a hero.  Keep upgrading Malcolm, Barbie, and Doc as much as possible to beat puzzle chapter 3.
• Upgrade your HQ to level 4, then beat story chapter 3.  You should be at the beginning of puzzle chapter 4, and at this point, you should recruit your first couple of 3* or 4* heroes from Noah’s Tavern.  Up your stronger heroes, including Barbie, Malcolm, and Doc in order to beat puzzle chapter 4.
• You can’t start puzzle chapter 5 until you finish story chapter 4.  To beat story chapter 4, join an alliance and hunt zombies.
  [Update, 8/28/23: The most recent time I went through this process, it allowed me to start puzzle chapter 5 immediately.  I’m not sure if this is because of an update, or if I had completed all of the other pre-requisites.]
• Once story chapter 4 is complete, you can beat puzzle chapter 5 level 1 (5-1), and NOW you can talk!
• To finish puzzle chapter 5 (campaign chapter 5), keep upgrading your 4* heroes.
• Once you complete the dependencies for HQ6, you should have enough resources to upgrade.
• Once you hit HQ level 6, be sure to build  the following buildings:
  • Vehicle Depot, which allows you to build vehicles.  The Vehicle Depot should be located below the Shooter Camp, between the Fighter and Rider Camps.
  • Alliance Hall, which allows you to receive reinforcements.  The Alliance Hall should be located to the left of the Fighter Camp, between the Radio and the Bank.
  • Hall of War, which allows you to reinforce other players.  The Hall of War should be located
  • Trap Factory, which makes traps to help defend your sanctuary.  The Trap Factory should be located between the Arena and the Research Center.
• Set your wall fortification.  You can assign 5 heroes to you wall to help defend your sanctuary in case you are attacked by another player.  Click Wall..Fortification Overview.  Initially, you only have a few heroes, so just assign your top 5 strongest.

Tips

• You won’t be able to talk until you beat puzzle level 5-1.  This means you can’t put anything in state chat, alliance chat, nor respond to other players’ mail.
• If you see a glowing skull inside your sanctuary, click on it in order to unlock new areas where you can build buildings.
• As a new character, you get the following gadgets for free:
  • 2 name changers, allows you to change your player name
  • Starter Relocate, which automatically relocates you near an alliance when you first join one.  You can also use the Starter Relocate to fly to another state (one that you don’t already occupy).
    Once you join an alliance, reach HQ level 6, or reach the 6th day, your Starter Relocate will be removed from your bag.
  • 6-day shield, which keeps your sanctuary protected from other players.
  • 1 day unlock for 2nd build queue, which allows you to build two buildings at once.
• If you intend to take this character to another state with one of your other characters, you must use flight tickets.  To use tickets, get your HQ up to level 15, join an alliance, and buy one flight ticket from the alliance shop (under other).  If you grow above level 20, you will need an ever-increasing number of tickets, so it’s a good idea to accumulate some over time in case you need them.
• After you use your free 1-day build queue, you can buy a 2-day build queue for 250 diamonds.  This is one of the best ways to keep growing quickly!
• Once you unlock research, research “March Queue I” as quickly as possible.  This gives you a second march queue for hitting zombies, joining rallies, or gathering resources.
• HQ level 6 gives you access to view the leaderboard.  As your headquarters progresses, you will unlock additional capabilities.
  • Upgrading fighter / shooter / rider / vehicle camps allows you to create more powerful troops
  • At HQ level 8, you can equip gear, which boosts your might and your fighter / shooter / rider stats.  When your gear factory reaches level 8, you can equip chips, which boost your stats even further.
  • At HQ level 10, you unlock the Ruins.
  • At HQ level 15:
    • This is the minimum level required to fly to another state.
    • You also unlock marks of glory, which further boosts your stats.
  • At HQ level 16 + Gear factory level 16, you unlock modules, which further boost your stats.
    • You also unlock the Pit, where you can mine rare earth that can be traded for resources or module material
  • At HQ levels 18 and 20, you will be allowed to participate in certain events.
• HQ level 6 is the minimum level where you can pay 300 diamonds to start an alliance.  However, especially in a more mature state, you should really try to join an existing alliance rather than start your own.  Joining a bigger alliance will help you understand how events work, what rules of the state are, and help you better understand how alliance game mechanics work.  Later, as you become more experienced, you can choose to start your own alliance.
• As you progress, be sure to keep updating your wall fortification.  Set a reminder and review it every couple of weeks.  As you get new heroes and level up existing ones, your wall defense needs to change accordingly.

Revision History