Is it possible to succeed in Guild Trade War?

Up until today, I thought the cross-server (C.S.) event Guild Trade War just wasn't for me. After all, the people who always win it seem to have retainers with earnings of 2.5 billion and, at the moment, I've just finally made it to 230 million. But, I discovered some things by experimenting and am currently sitting at the 3rd spot. I may get knocked out by the end, but there are some things you can do to survive!

Firstly, there are three ways to earn points: 

Hunt. Someone either has to post a hunting order OR you can post one yourself if you have a Hunt Order. I *did* have one this last time that I had earned in some previous event. Otherwise, I think the only way you can get them is by topping up and acquiring at least 98 VIP exp in one day. The best thing to do is to keep an eye out for other people posting them, but they go f-a-s-t, so you have to jump in quickly.

Fight. The easiest and most obvious way to earn points is to do the Fight option with all of your retainers (see a hint about this down below). You can only use each retainer 3 times a day.

Challenge. If you have challenge vouchers (the yellow and red ticket looking things or advanced challenge vouchers (the red ticket) you can also use them for additional fights. The easiest way to use them is to go through your Log and counterattack people who have attacked you or just challenge people in the notices. You can get a hint at their strength by visiting them first if you want.

So, here are a few further tips, some of which I wish I had figured out this morning instead of after I'd done most of my battles for the day...

• Save your challenge vouchers for this event. I had a number of them that I'd earned in past events and maybe even picked up during top ups. 
• For EVERY fight or challenge, be sure to fully incentivise your retainers if you can afford it! You can temporarily increase their earnings over 40% for each battle by spending some coin. In this way, even poor lowly Teamaster Kang can make a difference.
• Be careful who you challenge as some guilds really stick together. Someone in S14 Ur guild attacked me repeatedly and so I challenged back...and then it seems like half their guild jumped in! You'll get to know which are the guilds to avoid (I've noticed Ur and EVIL in particular).

If you have any other tips or hints you've discovered for this event, please add them in comments!

Welcome to Sisters of Battle!

Hi! Welcome to the Guild! I'm Sister Althia, the current Guild Master, though the leadership may change depending on holiday and work schedules to make sure there's coverage and no disruption. Your other leaders / vice master(s) include Sister Rioto, Sister Selene, and Sister Howardita. 

I've put up this (very) brief blog to be a place for people to go for quick info on the guild, especially if you haven't joined the guild Discord server, which is recommended but not required. 

The Discord server is, however, a great place to go for tips (like solutions to those pesky drugstore puzzles), coordinate for events, or just hang out. But please feel free to also post questions here if you like as a comment and I will do my best to answer them. I'm constantly discovering new stuff about this game (there's A LOT going on).

Always ask questions if you need something! And, have fun!

How do I get more retainers?

There are a number of ways to get additional retainers, so I'll list them here from easiest to hardest:

1. Level Up. As you level up (by gaining prestige and earnings), you will also sometimes unlock new retainers. To find out what you get on your next level up, click your portrait in the upper left corner and then click Preview. You can see that what your next upgrade reward will be (either a retainer or a beast, usually).
2. Retainer Cards. Collect retainer cards (or fragments of retainer cards, which you can then merge) from events, Lucky Draw, or by buying them in Exchange Shops. They can then be exchanged for retainers or beauties in the Lucky Draw Exchange Shop. And, once you've purchased all of the beauties/retainers there, you can then use any retainer cards to upgrade a retainer's Talent, making them more powerful.
3. Recruitment. In the suburbs, under Recruit, you can see an area with a bunch of potential retainers and beauties. To recruit them, you will need to collect a certain amount of items. The easiest to gather are tokens for Pathfinders and Grandmasters (requiring only 20 to unlock), which can be purchased in exchange shops, earned in the Infirmary, won during events, etc.
   
   More challenging to gather are event-only tokens such as for King Yama (via Ghost Market), Grand Chancellor (Wise Strategy), and the rest of the Masterminds, etc. It will take a number of events before you can possibly unlock these as you need 100 to get a retainer, though the higher you rank in an event, the more tokens you will receive.
   
   Also of note is that you can get Jade Fragments to unlock Beauties of Qinhuai -- the difference with this is that all of the beauties can be unlocked with any jade fragment; when you merge them, you have to select which type you want (Verdant Jade, Dream Jade, etc.) You will sometimes collect a particular type of jade during an event (for instance, the Restaurant C.S. Event offers Empyrean Jade) or the jade fragments (as in the Feast C.S. Event). The great thing about these beauties is that they are both beauties AND retainers.

Ultimately, it is a game of patience and collecting. You can speed things along by making purchases and there are some events in which it is basically impossible to earn the related retainer without doing so, but it isn't necessary to do well in the game to unlock them.

What should I do after I join the Guild?

Please change your username to start with "Sister" (or, alternatively, "Brother"). This makes it easier to pick out fellow guild members for participating in feasts and events and presents a unified face to others. This is particularly important now for C.S. events now that we have some alliances! If they don't know who you are, you may get attacked accidentally.

Please participate in the Guild area as much as possible (Sideline, Construction, Overseas Trade, and Escort). Construction is especially important as it is how we build up the guild funds needed to send caravans in Overseas Trade.

Try and support your fellow guild members by attending their feasts and participating in events, marrying their heirs, etc. Become in-laws if you have the space!

Please join the Guild Discord if you can or check this blog for news if you can't.

Are there any rules?

Just a few that are actual rules!

• Have fun.
• Real life always comes first ;-) 
• Please notify someone via guild chat or the discord server if you know you'll be away, especially if it will be for 3+ days. Otherwise, you *may* be removed for inactivity (generally after 2 weeks or so). You may also be removed if you continuously disappear for days at a time without notifying anyone.

Overseas Caravan Trading Schedule

Update: 19 September

After we hit level 6 and opened up a bigger caravan, I've been concentrating on using the guild funds on the three largest caravans, generally kicking one off around 10 (server time) and then the next (if there are enough guild funds) after the first is filled 3-4 hours later. We don't always have enough to launch all three, so please do your guild construction! Thanks!

If you have trade banners, please feel free to launch a caravan at any time, especially any of the top 1-4 options.

I attempt to send out the caravans on a set schedule. However, they may sometimes run a bit late. I always try to get them out at least within the half hour. The schedule right now is (all times are noted in Server Time):

10:00 -- 90K caravan

12:00 -- 200K caravan

16:00 -- 350K caravan

17:00 -- 30K caravan

The 10K small caravan isn't included in this list but can be kicked off by anyone with trade banners as well at any time. Honestly, you're welcome to kick off any of them if you have the banners for it, but if we have the guild funds, they will get launched. But if there aren't enough guild funds to launch all of the caravans, things may get rearranged. 🙂 

If you feel these times leave you out, let me know. As we are all in different time zones, I am certainly open to rearranging the schedule.