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.
These tips go beyond the basics. They're the strategies experienced players use to play more efficiently, the hidden mechanics most people miss, and the optimizations that compound over a full playthrough. If you're just starting, check our beginner's guide first.
Essential Tips
1. Use the pause key as a core mechanic, not an emergency button
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.
2. Scout with exactly one Ranger
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.
3. Identify the two or three chokes the map gives you before day 15 and commit everything to them
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.
4. Convert wooden walls to stone before the wave that first includes specials
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.
5. Place every Tesla Tower well inside the perimeter
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.
6. Clear Villages of Doom deliberately with Snipers and a Titan escort between waves, never accidentally with a Soldier's rifle noise
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.
7. Research through the Wood Workshop into the Stone Workshop and then the Foundry in that order
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.
8. Budget oil from the moment your first Oil Platform goes up
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.
9. Watch the wave direction arrows and reinforce asymmetrically
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.
10. In the campaign, spend tech points on colony economy before combat upgrades for the first several missions
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.
Advanced Strategies
Build Optimization
The difference between an average build and an optimized one is massive. See our builds guide for full breakdowns.
For Ranger (A-Tier):
- Focus on One infected can end a run combinations for maximum output.
- Core gear: Wooden Wall
- Stat priority: Offensive stats first
For Soldier (A-Tier):
- Versatile approach that handles any situation.
- Core gear: Stone Wall
- Stat priority: Balanced stats
Mechanic Interactions
Understanding how They Are Billions's systems interact is where the real optimization lives. Our combat guide covers this in detail.
One infected can end a run + Noise attracts the horde: Infection spreads building to building. Combined with Noise attracts the horde, every action has a noise radius.
Score factor sets difficulty and reward + Villages of Doom seeded on the map: Before generating a Survival map you set swarm size, map type and duration, and the game converts those into a percentage score factor. When paired with Villages of Doom seeded on the map, these clusters hold dense packs of infected including chubbies and other specials.
Tesla Tower energy grid scaling: 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.
Equipment Efficiency
| Equipment | Best Use Case | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wooden Wall | Sealing chokes in the opening 20 days | Cheap, fast and made of the resource you have most of on day one. |
| Stone Wall | Permanent perimeter once the Stone Workshop is running | The real defensive line. |
| Great Ballista | Early to mid game walls where noise still matters | Fires heavy bolts with very little noise and often skewers several infected in a line. |
| Shocking Tower | Choke points where the horde arrives densely packed | The first tower that genuinely deletes crowds, using electricity to vaporise packs of weak infected at once. |
| Executor | Late game walls holding the final wave | The Great Ballista upgraded into an automated gatling cannon, and the strongest static defence available. |
Location Efficiency
The Deep Forest (Available from the start): 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.
The Dark Moorland (Unlocks at 20 percent score factor): 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.
The Peaceful Lowlands (Unlocks at 40 percent score factor): The name is a lie. Wide open terrain means enormous wall spending, large lakes block a fifth to two fifths of the buildable area, and multiple Villages of Doom threaten from different directions at once.
The Frozen Highlands (Unlocks at 60 percent score factor): Cold changes the maths rather than the enemy. Buildings burn extra energy staying warm and units move more slowly, though the infected are less aggressive to compensate.
Caustic Lands (Unlocks at 100 percent score factor): The final Survival map and the hardest score modifier, with the densest special infected population and one giant Doom Village. It tends to generate with more chokes, which is the only mercy it offers.
Mistakes Even Veterans Make
- Walling the entire buildable area thinly instead of sealing two chokes properly, which leaves nothing to spend on towers.
- Firing on a wandering group with Soldiers near a Village of Doom and pulling the whole village into a colony with wooden walls.
- Placing Tesla Towers near the perimeter, so the first breach depowers a whole bank of Ballistas and Shocking Towers.
- Expanding housing for gold income without expanding food and energy first, then watching the colony stall at negative income.
- 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.
Pro Quick Tips
- 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.
- Start with Soldier, switch to Ranger when ready
- Invest in Wooden Wall above everything else
- Clear areas in order: The Deep Forest → The Dark Moorland → The Peaceful Lowlands → The Frozen Highlands → Caustic Lands. See our maps guide
- One infected can end a run + Noise attracts the horde together are stronger than either alone
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 Beginner's Guide
- 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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