Numantian Games left Early Access on 18 June 2019 with The New Empire, a 48 mission campaign carrying more than 60 hours on top of the existing Survival mode. The custom engine pushes up to 20,000 infected on screen at once, and a single one reaching an unwalled house can end a four hour colony in about 90 seconds. Everything hinges on wall placement, noise discipline and the score factor you set before the map generates.
Starting They Are Billions can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
They Are Billions is a strategy game built around One infected can end a run and Noise attracts the horde. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ranger | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Soldier | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Sniper | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Thanatos | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Titan | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Soldier. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Titan as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn One infected can end a run
Infection spreads building to building. A single zombie that reaches an unprotected house converts it, the occupants become infected, and within seconds a chain reaction eats a district that took an hour to build. There is no partial loss in Survival, only a colony that holds or a colony that does not.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how One infected can end a run works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to The Deep Forest
The starting Survival map, available immediately. Plenty of pockets and natural choke points, and no special infected anywhere on the map, which makes it the place to learn wall economy.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Stone Wall: it's the most accessible early upgrade. The real defensive line. Far more health than wood and the minimum requirement before any wave that includes specials arrives at your gate.
Step 4: Understand Noise attracts the horde
Every action has a noise radius. Soldier rifles are loud, Ranger bows are near silent, and buildings such as sawmills and quarries broadcast constantly. Infected Harpies are the most sensitive and can be provoked from 36 tiles away, so a single careless engagement can pull a wandering group into your wall.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to The Dark Moorland
Gorges and rivers carve the terrain into narrow lanes, so fortification is cheaper than it looks. This is the first map that introduces special and giant infected.
Essential Mechanics Explained
One infected can end a run
Infection spreads building to building. A single zombie that reaches an unprotected house converts it, the occupants become infected, and within seconds a chain reaction eats a district that took an hour to build. There is no partial loss in Survival, only a colony that holds or a colony that does not.
Noise attracts the horde
Every action has a noise radius. Soldier rifles are loud, Ranger bows are near silent, and buildings such as sawmills and quarries broadcast constantly. Infected Harpies are the most sensitive and can be provoked from 36 tiles away, so a single careless engagement can pull a wandering group into your wall.
Score factor sets difficulty and reward
Before generating a Survival map you set swarm size, map type and duration, and the game converts those into a percentage score factor. Each Survival map unlocks the next by clearing it at a minimum factor, rising from 20 percent for Dark Moorland up to 100 percent for Caustic Lands.
Villages of Doom seeded on the map
These clusters hold dense packs of infected including Chubbies and other specials. Provoking one before you have towers means the entire village walks at you at once, so they are cleared deliberately with Snipers or left alone until stone walls are up.
Tesla Tower energy grid
Tesla Towers extend energy coverage across the colony, and defensive buildings need power to fire. If a Tesla Tower is destroyed or infected, every Great Ballista, Shocking Tower and Executor inside its radius goes dark at once, which is how well-walled colonies still collapse.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Walling the entire buildable area thinly instead of sealing two chokes properly, which leaves nothing to spend on towers
2. Firing on a wandering group with Soldiers near a Village of Doom and pulling the whole village into a colony with wooden walls
3. Placing Tesla Towers near the perimeter, so the first breach depowers a whole bank of Ballistas and Shocking Towers
4. Expanding housing for gold income without expanding food and energy first, then watching the colony stall at negative income
5. Treating the final wave like the previous ones
It arrives from every direction, so a colony fortified on two sides only is already lost when the timer starts.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand One infected can end a run and Noise attracts the horde
- Choose Soldier as starting build
- Clear The Deep Forest main content
- Acquire Stone Wall or equivalent upgrade
- Reach The Dark Moorland
- Use the pause key as a core mechanic, not an emergency button. The game is built around pausing to issue orders, and no amount of mechanical speed will replace stopping the clock during a wave to retarget six units individually.
- Scout with exactly one Ranger. Sending a pair doubles the noise footprint for no extra map coverage, and one Ranger can outrun almost everything on the map if it wakes something it should not have.
Tips for New Players
- Use the pause key as a core mechanic, not an emergency button. The game is built around pausing to issue orders, and no amount of mechanical speed will replace stopping the clock during a wave to retarget six units individually.
- Scout with exactly one Ranger. Sending a pair doubles the noise footprint for no extra map coverage, and one Ranger can outrun almost everything on the map if it wakes something it should not have.
- Identify the two or three chokes the map gives you before day 15 and commit everything to them. Colonies fail because they wall a large perimeter thinly rather than a small one properly.
- Convert wooden walls to stone before the wave that first includes specials. Wood buys you the opening third of the run, and rebuilding under pressure costs more stone than upgrading calmly ever would.
- Place every Tesla Tower well inside the perimeter. Defensive buildings need power, so a tower destroyed on the edge silences an entire section of wall at the exact moment it matters most.
- Clear Villages of Doom deliberately with Snipers and a Titan escort between waves, never accidentally with a Soldier's rifle noise. The choice of when to wake them is the largest single decision in a Survival run.
- Research through the Wood Workshop into the Stone Workshop and then the Foundry in that order. Skipping the middle tier delays Assault Rifle and Telescopic Sight, which are what unlock Soldiers and Snipers.
- Budget oil from the moment your first Oil Platform goes up. Titans and Thanatos both draw on it, and arriving at the final wave with the research done but no oil to field the units is a common way to lose a good run.
- Watch the wave direction arrows and reinforce asymmetrically. Early waves usually come from one or two directions, which lets you spend on those sides only, but the final wave arrives from everywhere and needs a complete perimeter.
- In the campaign, spend tech points on colony economy before combat upgrades for the first several missions. The New Empire's 48 missions get harder faster than your unit roster improves, and gold throughput solves more problems than damage does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does They Are Billions have a campaign?
Yes. The New Empire shipped with version 1.0 on 18 June 2019 and contains 48 missions with more than 60 hours of play, set under Quintus Crane's orders to retake territory from the infected.
Why did my colony die in seconds?
Infection chains between buildings. One infected reaching an unprotected house converts it, its occupants spread outward, and a district can fall before you finish reacting. There is no partial failure state in Survival.
Which Survival map should I start on?
The Deep Forest. It is unlocked from the beginning, has natural choke points to work with, and contains no special infected at all, so you can learn wall and economy pacing without Harpies jumping the line.
How do I unlock the harder maps?
Clear the previous map at a minimum score factor: 20 percent for The Dark Moorland, 40 for The Peaceful Lowlands, 60 for The Frozen Highlands, 80 for The Desolated Wasteland and 100 for Caustic Lands.
Which unit should I build most of?
Rangers early, because they are cheap and quiet, then Snipers once Telescopic Sight is researched. Thanatos and Titan are specialist tools that need oil, so they come after the economy supports them.
More They Are Billions Guides
- They Are Billions They Are Billions Overview
- They Are Billions Best Builds
- They Are Billions Tier List
- They Are Billions Walkthrough
- They Are Billions Tips & Tricks
- They Are Billions Weapons Guide
- They Are Billions Combat Guide
- They Are Billions Boss Guide
- They Are Billions Maps & Locations
- They Are Billions Crafting Guide
- They Are Billions Classes & Characters
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