Why spend real money here?

[Ozyborn]

Worthless. HQtrying to get it to 9. Think you can stock up enough alloy? Not going to happen. You keep getting attacked over and over losing more than you can get in raids. Been trying for 2 fucking months Can never get more than 1.4 million when hit again. Usually by player level 9 and 10.

So screw this game.

[PhoenixAZ1899]

You have to binge play. Also helpful to be very picky about your opponents. Bypass people with less than 300k alloy, for instance. If you are in a good squad, you can also get lots of loots from winning squad wars. If you are not in a good squad, there are plenty available. Check signatures and the squads section of the forum. Good luck!

PS-You can also expose your HQ for an almost-guaranteed defensive loss so that you only get looted once.

[Sigma582]

Showing my signature here just in case

Hard to get alloy for lvl9 HQ? what would you say about lvl10 air command? (5m credits)

In fact just like Phoenix said, play long streaks, attack only those bases where you can grab good loot, don't be afraid to lose medals in exchange for a chunk of resources. When you are not playing utilize protection at your best - put HQ outside, don't break protection if you are not readu to play another long streak.

[ChiptheFish]

Ozyborn: Best way to top up your vaults is a successful squad war victory; also the planets you are fighting on affect your loot grabs - for Rebels I can usually get more loot than I can spend on Tatooine and Dandoran.

Also - like they others mentioned, to take loot and keep lots of it you'll need to be online and active to prevent an attack and then go attacking over and over; even ignoring a 1 star "WIN" for pure loot grabs, aka "Farming"...which you might not want to do if medals are important to you.

Hang in there! If you're going to buy crystals to support the devs, use them for extra repair droids, not credits or alloy.

[Python6]

Squad wars are the single biggest impact to my ability to upgrade now at level 9. Fully max your storage and one victory can generally fund an upgrade. In between those times, you gotta setup your defense to trade minimal lose for protection so you don't get hit multiple times and lose all your resource gains. Make sure your squad fights as many wars as possible during the max rewards periods since those guarantee full storage fill for either alloy or credits.

[ObiWanKenobi2016]

Worthless. HQtrying to get it to 9. Think you can stock up enough alloy? Not going to happen. You keep getting attacked over and over losing more than you can get in raids. Been trying for 2 fucking months Can never get more than 1.4 million when hit again. Usually by player level 9 and 10.

So screw this game.

I was stuck at level 8 for a long time too. As Phoenix and others have said, you can get the alloy/credits if you binge play (aka 'grinding'). Personally I found that quite hard and time consuming at level 8 (it is easier at level 9, and much easier at level 10). For me, Squad War wins were the answer, but you need to be in a good squad to maximise your chances of that. I only got into Squad Wars when I moved squads. Check out forum signatures and the recruitment section to see who's recruiting.

As to spending real money, I would also strongly recommend ChiptheFish's advice. If you're going to do it, do it on crystals to buy droids. If you spend on alloy or credits you may lose it after one or two attacks. More droids enable more upgrades at the same time.

I haven't spent any money on this game. I don't like the In App Purchase model. But at times I have been sorely tempted.

1,767 crystals to go for my 5th repair droid ...

[syncpan77]

As a form of gratitude to the creators?

I don't spend money on it but wouldn't mind if there were a way to donate. Really don't care for rushing upgrades and all that but do think they deserve their thanks at least.

[Poene]

To the OP: I too was lvl 8 three weeks ago but during a max squad rewards week I received a max alloy reward. That allowed me to upgrade my HQ to 9 and I'm very happy with it.

Like the others here say, there are really only two ways to get the necessary resources:
- grind non-stop for several hours (like 3-5 hours depending on your luck) to fill your alloy reserves
- be a part of a squad that wins squad wars

Seems like you don't do the first thing and you aren't privileged of the second.

For me squad wars are my main income. My droids can barely keep up with all the goodness that comes my way from this source.
I rarely do PVP anymore (unless to do my daily tasks like destroying 8 alloy generators).

[BertO]

Slightly off OP's track. I bought two droids (well half of droid four, all of droid five) and found that worthwhile for me considering how much I play. I can imagine those who have pockets deep enough to splash out of speeding air and deka repairs have fun getting lots of attacks in in a short time so more power to them I guess.

Is it worth spending money on the game? To me yes. Will I spend more money than the $30AUD I have spent in the last 18 months? No. Will I feel ripped off if they close the servers down or increase cooktmes or make some other change that adversely affects my game play? Kinda, but I know the risks involved in spending money on "freemium" games and will accept it for what it is if it happens.

And to the OP, you need to work on your attack style. There are whales around offering over 1 million alloy. If you can't level up either you are rushing and have a base and loadout that isn't ready, or you need to work on your looting skillz.

[ObiWanKenobi2016]

Slightly off OP's track. I bought two droids (well half of droid four, all of droid five) and found that worthwhile for me considering how much I play. I can imagine those who have pockets deep enough to splash out of speeding air and deka repairs have fun getting lots of attacks in in a short time so more power to them I guess.

I agree.

Is it worth spending money on the game? To me yes. Will I spend more money than the $30AUD I have spent in the last 18 months? No. Will I feel ripped off if they close the servers down or increase cooktmes or make some other change that adversely affects my game play? Kinda, but I know the risks involved in spending money on "freemium" games and will accept it for what it is if it happens.

I've played this game off and on, for more than two years now. Some of the updates have ruined the gameplay for me, so I stopped playing for a while. They were later fixed, and I came back. As a Free to Play player, I was disappointed, but not outraged. If I'd spent real money, I would have had stronger feelings about it.

And to the OP, you need to work on your attack style. There are whales around offering over 1 million alloy.

The OP said he was level 8. In my experience, bases with 1 million currency available to loot are only on Level 10 bases and rare. In all my time playing the game, I've been hit for that much once, and I've taken an imp for that much once. For an 8, the OP is unlikely to be offered such a base to hit, and even if he was, he wouldn't have the units or capacity to get the rewards. Players with that many resources available are good enough to protect that level of rewards.

As a form of gratitude to the creators?

I don't spend money on it but wouldn't mind if there were a way to donate. Really don't care for rushing upgrades and all that but do think they deserve their thanks at least.

syncpan77, my friend, you make a very different point, and one I have a great deal of sympathy with. I get a lot of enjoyment from this game, and from the squad I am in. I would gladly have paid for this game after a free trial period. The developers deserve more than my thanks. But at this time, I don't want to condone or encourage In App Purchases.