WildHare [2173250] —
Original article
Read on to find out how new players can become competitive by following a few basic tips and taking part in Torn's monthly and annual events!
Everyone knows that the first thing you should do when you join Torn is dive into the forums. That's what I did when I arrived here on October 2nd, 2018. I just missed the Elimination event, so I had plenty of time to start reading everything I could find in forum guides and the wiki while making my way through the tutorial missions.
The second thing you should do is join a faction. And the third thing you should do is familiarize yourself with Torn's Calendar, because there are things going on in this city every single month! If you know how to use these events correctly, they can help boost your progress way beyond those of your peers. But which events are suitable for newbies? And what do they involve?
Let's find out as we take a look at all of Torn's confirmed events and how to use them, based on my own experiences in my first year of playing.
AWARENESS WEEK (January 20-27th)
This boost week gives all Torn players increased awareness abilities, which allows you to find better items on the City Map. Looking for items on the city map costs no energy and its something you should definitely be doing during your first weeks in Torn. I joined in October, so in hindsight, I should've known to save my awareness book (Finders Keepers) to use in this week, as these bonuses stack, and my rewards would've been even greater!
Some items found in the city map can be worth hundreds of millions (or even priceless like books!). If you really want to optimize yourself for this week, then join an awareness boosting company beforehand (candle shop, fireworks stand, or zoo), max your merits spent on awareness and complete the psych course "Attention and Awareness" for a further 10% boost. This event begins at noon on the 20th and ends at the same time on the 27th.
VALENTINE'S DAY (February 14th)
All daily events start at noon on the day before they are marked on the calendar. So in the case of Valentine's Day, the bonus actually begins at midday on the 13th and lasts until the same time on the 15th. During this period the Love Juice drug item is given out, and can usually be found spawning at the docks on the city map.
This item reduces attack costs to 10 energy from 25 energy on this day only, and many factions used this bonus to perform chains, conduct wars and perform territory invasions in 2019. Make sure you've stacked plenty of energy ahead of this day to make the most of it. If you're not in a faction or yours isn't planning anything special, you can still use this day to go on a mugging spree or shoot for one of the many attack merits on offer, such as consecutive attacks, finishing hits or unarmored attacks.
EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY (March 1st)
Any player who is employed in a starter job will receive three times as many job points during this event. If you've moved on from the starter jobs and have been hired by a regular company, any training the Director gives you will also be tripled, in addition to the triple boost to your job points. Make sure you have a good Director who is actually going to train you on this day and don't be shy about reminding them!
ST PATRICK'S DAY (March 17th)
St Patrick's Day is another event which combines an item giveaway with a bonus effect. In this case, alcohol effects are doubled for 48 hours, and bottles of Green Stout are given out on the city map too. Green Stout gives you 5 nerve per use, but this increases to 10 on this day, meaning it's the perfect time for a crime spree. I definitely took part last year and will again this year. It's also worth asking if your faction can further take advantage of this holiday by considering the various crime and alcohol faction specials.
APRIL FOOLS (April 1st)
This is marked on the calendar with the unsettlingly vague description of "Expect the unexpected". However, that's not strictly true, as while certain one-off events might take place like a parcel giveaway, all Torn subscribers are gifted one of each happiness reducer on April 1st: Stink Bombs, Toilet Paper and Dog Poop. So if you're a sub, don't forget to log in on this day!
EASTER EGG HUNT (April)
Easter Sunday can take place anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th, but Torn's Easter Egg hunt always occurs between the 5th and 25th of April. Throughout this time, small easter eggs will appear on random pages of Torn for you to click on. Each colored egg gives you a certain bonus, and if you collect all of the eggs, you can exchange them for a gold one which gives 250 happiness when eaten, plus an honor bar and 20 points the first time you collect it.
You can use certain tools to notify and highlight eggs so that you don't miss any eggs, but the most important thing is to be as active as you can. I did quite well last year, as I received 10 tokens for finishing 2,258th!
420 DAY (April 20th)
Cannabis increases nerve by 2-3 points, but on 420 Day this increases to 6-9 points. This could make the day mildly useful for committing crimes or going for your 50 cannabis merit, but most people use it to try for the overdose merit instead, as your chances of overdosing are increased by five during this event. I tried to achieve this last year but failed. I will try again this year for sure!
MUSEUM DAY (May 18th)
You should stock up on plushies and relics ahead of May 18th, as this event lets you trade items in at the museum for 10% more points than usual. I didn't have my history degree last year which allows you to do this, but I do now. I'll stock up on items for trade-in to take advantage of the bonus this year. If you're a plushie runner, it's also worth researching what happens to their prices before, during and after this event, which you can do by reading the newspaper's Market Reports.
BLOOD DONOR DAY (June 14th)
Once you've finished the IV Therapy Biology course you are able to draw your own blood and fill up an Empty Blood Bag item. Doing so will reduce your life by 20% and medical cooldown by 3 hours. On Blood Donor Day, these life and cooldown penalties are halved, giving you a good opportunity to stock up for yourself and your faction! However, you should be careful about doing this, as some factions have been known to start wars during this event, in the hope that their opponents have maxed out their med cooldown filling blood bags.
MR AND MS TORN (July)
This is a popularity contest which lasts from the 5th to the 25th of July. New players might want to avoid this event early in their Torn lives, as it requires you to put up a photo of yourself, and this can lead to you receiving some unwanted attention.
WORLD POPULATION DAY (July 11th)
World Pop Day offers players a great chance for new players to boost up a few levels, as it provides three times as much experience as usual for attacking players. It used to be limited to attacks which left people on the street, but this was changed in 2019. As a level holder, this day didn't hold any interest for me and I still doubt I would do anything special here going forward.
WORLD TIGER DAY (July 29th)
The second of two July events is World Tiger Day, which provides a 5x boost to hunting experience. Hunting can be performed in South Africa, where you can kill wild animals in exchange for energy and in return for a reward. This is a good chance to work towards your hunting merits too. I didn't do much with this last year, but I might try to do it this time around.
INTERNATIONAL BEER DAY (First Friday in August)
The 2019 calendar shows this event as occurring on the 2nd this year, but in 2020 it will take place on the 7th. IBD gives you five times the usual nerve gain for drinking beer only - other alcohol items are unaffected - and I love this day, as it's another good one for a crime spree, working on those crime merits and boosting your natural nerve bar with crime experience. Beer is pretty cheap, but it's cheaper if you buy it in advance of this day.
ELIMINATION (September)
The first major competition of the year runs from the 5th to the 25th and involves teams of players fighting to the death until only one is left standing. There are plenty of guides out there which will tell you what to do during this event, but you'll need to put in a certain amount of effort if you're going to take part - teams don't take kindly to leechers!
I wanted the merits and I wanted to be a fairly high contributor on my team, but while I was committed to giving it a good shot, I wasn't going to spend all my FHCs and job points since I had a plan for the Dog Tags competition too. However, I did want to experience what Elimination was like, and I had fun with it. I did pretty well for my level and stats, and I enjoyed my time as a Hillbilly fighting alongside a few faction mates. I was ranked 29th on my team and performed 51 attacks per day - there was only one person on my team younger than me that placed higher, who was another member of my faction!
TOURISM DAY (September 27th)
This event lets players bring back twice as many items back from foreign nations as usual, and this boost applies to all of the bonuses given by companies or suitcases too. You'll need to be level 15 to travel, of course, and it also helps to have a Private Island with an airstrip too, even if it's only rented, as this will enable you to whiz back and forth between Torn and other countries several times before the event is over.
It's a good idea to play the long game with your haul, however, as the market for flowers and other imported items tends to crash in early October thanks to this event. Prices might not be the best if the market is flooding, but just try to have enough cash to stockpile if prices get too low. It always pays to play the long game in Torn City.
CAFFEINECON (October 15th)
2019's CaffeineCon marked the release of the three new low-energy cans, and it also brought with it a double boost to the effects of all energy drinks. We aren't sure if more energy drinks will be given away on this date next year - likely not - but the energy bonus will return. Many people used it for training this year, and there are certain books which can make this event even more useful for those looking to boost their fighting stats.
HALLOWEEN (October 31st)
My first event in Torn was the 2018 Trick or Treat event, and because the first version didn't require energy or strong stats I took to this event like a rabbit to its hole. I quickly studied the mechanics and developed a strategy where I'd fly or self hosp quickly after trick or treating. My faction had a laugh by using ToT on each other before we realized we were all just hurting our chances to do well in the event.
We shifted gears and focused on teamwork, with threads set up to track anyone who did a trick or treat on us and got candy so that we'd continue to have a nice target list. We watched the hospitals for people hiding and used the early active targets trick to find people. It was fun, short, and I did really well, collecting 147 treats, placing into the top 250, and getting the Halloween mask which I sold for substantial cash at my age (along with selling much of the Halloween candy and energy drinks for cash over the next few months).
2019's event was different, as it did require the use of energy and stats, with treats only gained by attacking people. I got another 250 finish this year, but only by spending more resources than anticipated. I overdid it a little and could have held back a bit, but that's not usually my approach to things. "You have received a limited edition Jigsaw Mask '19 for being in 27th place with 147 treats collected."
I have been told that 2020's event will use a similar format, but there may be some tweaks to come, so make sure you keep an eye on the newspaper before the event begins to find out the details!
DOG TAGS (November)
Dog Tags is a tough competition where each player has a tag and must collect as many of other people's tags as possible. In 2018, as a newbie, I went into this event going for the merits which are given for collecting 50 and 250 tags. I got to 50 pretty quick and kept going for the 250, reaching it at the halfway stage. I then took a brief break to train with the candy day that falls right in the middle, which I'll mention shortly.
After I got to 250, I started slacking off, not realizing how well I was really doing. The anonymous top ten scores are posted throughout the event in the newspaper, and after some quick calculations, I realized I could have likely managed top 25 if I had continued my efforts. This is what has driven much of my first year of torn; off and on planning for Dog Tags 2019. I didn't focus on this exclusively, but it was always in the back of my mind.
When 2019's event arrived I stacked my energy and started off going for one-hit targets to create a buffer of tags, hoping to protect my tag from being taken. Then I switched to farming inactives that were still fairly easy to beat most of the time, but still worth more points. The vast majority of my tags were from inactives and worth 15 points each. While inactives are easy to find at the beginning, it gets harder to find them and more tedious as the event continues.
I did well during this event, coming 10th overall despite a glut of new players joining in and everyone's useful tactics being published in the newspaper! I attribute my success partly to the fact I kept my mouth shut about how big my stockpile of tags was!
DIABETES DAY (November 14th)
I skipped this event due to it happening during Dog Tags, but Diabetes Day is good for new players who want to gain some low-budget happy jumps for training, as it provides a 3x boost to the happiness provided from eating candy. In my first year I managed to do this and get my 250 tags merit, though, so it's not impossible to combine the two! Just make sure you buy your candy nice and early, or save up the candy you collect later in the year from Christmas Town.
SLASH WEDNESDAY (Second Wednesday of December)
Currently, this is the last 48-hour event on the calendar, and it provides a 75% reduction to all hospital times. Taking place on the second Wednesday of December, this feels like a good time to chain, since your targets will get out of the hospital quicker. I feel like I'm missing something about the optimal way to take advantage of this day though. NPCs will get out of the hospital faster too I'm assuming, so it's maybe a good day for mugging them and traders, as people will have shorter self-hosp stays.
CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY (December 14th-25th)
Before Christmas Town opens, Duke's annual giveaway begins on the 14th, with items thrown in the dump and given away via his forum threads on a daily basis. Searching in the dump requires energy, so I'd only recommend doing this when you have a little to spare before you log off. It's much easier to get items directly from Duke by performing his daily tasks, which can involve anything from taking a picture through to posting a poem or a social media post.
CHRISTMAS TOWN (December 18th-31st)
I was on a vacation and didn't have much time for CT in 2018, but what time I did have to spend there was very profitable. You will come across a lot of items in Christmas Town, and you can use these to sell in the new year to make yourself a considerable amount of money for training supplies, stock buy blocks or even a PI. Make sure you sell wisely though, as cans, boosters and candies tend to fall in value throughout the first few months of the year due to this huge influx.
GENERAL TIPS
So that's my guide to the year's events and how I used them! As an addendum, here are a few more general tips which I picked up from my first year in Torn City.
Join a Faction
Within a couple of days of joining Torn I was snatched up and recruited into the White Rabbits by Nue (known as Remilia/Alice at the time). This has been my home ever since, along with a fantastic cast of characters there. It's also where I met my fantastic spouse Poochskunk, who I've been married to for nearly as long.
I think White Rabbits has produced an impressive number of placements in competitions over the last year for a faction of our level and membership, which I think is a result of the support, teamwork, and mentoring done here. Having a faction that supports players in competition and takes advantage of teamwork as much as possible is invaluable. Many who have moved on to other factions remain good friends of the faction. I expect that will continue for those that are typically the best and brightest of the White Rabbits.
Be Active
While the guides on the forum are great and all, they're even better when combined with the learning experience of being active inside a friendly faction. After joining White Rabbits, I soon began training enough to enable myself to hit targets on Baldr's list and then focused on attacks with almost all my energy, participating in small chains frequently and using any Xanax or refills I could get.
I learned fast in my new surroundings and quickly became one of the chain watchers/leaders on these small chains, so I was often given xanax and/or refills to keep the chain going or progress it. This helped me reach level 15 well before new player protection wore off, which in turn meant I was able to fly and finally make some decent money.
Subscribe
Sometime during this early period, I decided to get donator status and became a subscriber. I wanted to support the game and wanted the chance of a book showing up on my doorstep each month. Meanwhile, I continued to mix chaining and training and placed 3rd in our faction's 30-day respect competition for the month of October with me not even a month old yet.
Don't Make Yourself a Target
A lesson I quickly learned and sometimes re-learned is that I really wanted to stay unknown in the game outside of our faction. To be competitive and successful as a newer player you need to stay under the radar. Some things make that tough, such as my enthusiasm during faction wars, and my achievements in Dog Tags, but overall I've done pretty well - up until I wrote this article!
I have very few forum posts and have avoided public chats as much as possible. So many new players are their own worst enemies by being too vocal in public places, and then they wonder why they get mugged so much. If you have success in competitions, that'll be enough of an attention grabber that you really should try to avoid it in all other areas of the game when possible.
You can take this further realizing that every action you take can potentially generate information for other people who are looking for their next mugging or bounty target. So be careful about things like a purchase from the market..."oh look, they are buying FHCs and cans during dogtags".
Level Holding
At some point during my early game, I hit level 18 and decided to hold. Then I saw the results of my participation in Dog Tags 2018 and I made a decision to hold my level at least until the next Dog Tags competition a year later. I wanted to come into it at a lower level to see what the experience was like as a level holder. It was also interesting to see how many free defends I could get. Level holding isn't all roses - having that smaller health bar can be frustrating - but I think it was worth it.
Read the Newspaper
I'll admit that I cursed a few times as most of the Dog Tag strategies and tips we held closely to ourselves in the faction last year eventually became public knowledge in newspaper articles. On the plus side, it seems that many people playing a text based game never read articles or forums, so things weren't as bad as I thought they would be. (Seriously, they already gave away really good info about hunting for inactive players that still have their dog tag, so go read the newspaper articles).
Use Xanax Properly
Beyond that, it's popping xanax whenever you're off drug cooldown, flying, and making sure you stick with it. To me, sleep was important to me sticking with it for the full two weeks, so I didn't set alarms to interrupt my sleep. If I happened to wake up in the early morning, I'd fly back from where I went for the overnight flight.
Establish a System
Figure out your "system" for finding and tracking targets, either in Dog Tags or for mugging. This could be a spreadsheet, bookmarks and bookmark folders, or your own custom scripts/website/etc. Look for ways to acquire targets faster and use your flight times or evenings curating "short lists" of targets, so when you land you'll have a quick list to go through before flying again. Some might get attacked between you finding them and going to use them, so remember to check their defends right before you attack.
Job points/FHC/cans/other sources of energy
These are all supplements that I used and can help you when you are going for quantity over quality. Note that I used these sparingly during Dog Tags (I blew most of my saved job points, a stack of FHCs, and some cans on Halloween 2019). I'd say you can still do very well in dog tags without them though. If you decide to splurge, do it early in the competition when inactive targets with valuable tags are easier to find. Get an early buffer of tags going!
You don't have the be the best
Overall, I'm not the player with the strongest stats for my age or level, nor am I the wealthiest or most efficient player in any given area. However, I feel my Torn experience is pretty well-rounded and I'm becoming fairly knowledgeable. I have researched and put lots of thought into strategies that have served me well. I have managed to sleep and still have a family life, have a moderate level of success here in Torn, and overall, I've had fun!
Now that I'm doing this article, I can't expect to continue to stay mostly unknown. That's ok though, as my next phase will be continuing to work on merits with a little more focus, and I'm sure I'll set and achieve more goals for myself. And with some luck and skill, I hope to occasionally exceed them again too!
The second thing you should do is join a faction. And the third thing you should do is familiarize yourself with Torn's Calendar, because there are things going on in this city every single month! If you know how to use these events correctly, they can help boost your progress way beyond those of your peers. But which events are suitable for newbies? And what do they involve?
Let's find out as we take a look at all of Torn's confirmed events and how to use them, based on my own experiences in my first year of playing.
AWARENESS WEEK (January 20-27th)
This boost week gives all Torn players increased awareness abilities, which allows you to find better items on the City Map. Looking for items on the city map costs no energy and its something you should definitely be doing during your first weeks in Torn. I joined in October, so in hindsight, I should've known to save my awareness book (Finders Keepers) to use in this week, as these bonuses stack, and my rewards would've been even greater!
Some items found in the city map can be worth hundreds of millions (or even priceless like books!). If you really want to optimize yourself for this week, then join an awareness boosting company beforehand (candle shop, fireworks stand, or zoo), max your merits spent on awareness and complete the psych course "Attention and Awareness" for a further 10% boost. This event begins at noon on the 20th and ends at the same time on the 27th.
VALENTINE'S DAY (February 14th)
All daily events start at noon on the day before they are marked on the calendar. So in the case of Valentine's Day, the bonus actually begins at midday on the 13th and lasts until the same time on the 15th. During this period the Love Juice drug item is given out, and can usually be found spawning at the docks on the city map.
This item reduces attack costs to 10 energy from 25 energy on this day only, and many factions used this bonus to perform chains, conduct wars and perform territory invasions in 2019. Make sure you've stacked plenty of energy ahead of this day to make the most of it. If you're not in a faction or yours isn't planning anything special, you can still use this day to go on a mugging spree or shoot for one of the many attack merits on offer, such as consecutive attacks, finishing hits or unarmored attacks.
EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY (March 1st)
Any player who is employed in a starter job will receive three times as many job points during this event. If you've moved on from the starter jobs and have been hired by a regular company, any training the Director gives you will also be tripled, in addition to the triple boost to your job points. Make sure you have a good Director who is actually going to train you on this day and don't be shy about reminding them!
ST PATRICK'S DAY (March 17th)
St Patrick's Day is another event which combines an item giveaway with a bonus effect. In this case, alcohol effects are doubled for 48 hours, and bottles of Green Stout are given out on the city map too. Green Stout gives you 5 nerve per use, but this increases to 10 on this day, meaning it's the perfect time for a crime spree. I definitely took part last year and will again this year. It's also worth asking if your faction can further take advantage of this holiday by considering the various crime and alcohol faction specials.
APRIL FOOLS (April 1st)
This is marked on the calendar with the unsettlingly vague description of "Expect the unexpected". However, that's not strictly true, as while certain one-off events might take place like a parcel giveaway, all Torn subscribers are gifted one of each happiness reducer on April 1st: Stink Bombs, Toilet Paper and Dog Poop. So if you're a sub, don't forget to log in on this day!
EASTER EGG HUNT (April)
Easter Sunday can take place anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th, but Torn's Easter Egg hunt always occurs between the 5th and 25th of April. Throughout this time, small easter eggs will appear on random pages of Torn for you to click on. Each colored egg gives you a certain bonus, and if you collect all of the eggs, you can exchange them for a gold one which gives 250 happiness when eaten, plus an honor bar and 20 points the first time you collect it.
You can use certain tools to notify and highlight eggs so that you don't miss any eggs, but the most important thing is to be as active as you can. I did quite well last year, as I received 10 tokens for finishing 2,258th!
420 DAY (April 20th)
Cannabis increases nerve by 2-3 points, but on 420 Day this increases to 6-9 points. This could make the day mildly useful for committing crimes or going for your 50 cannabis merit, but most people use it to try for the overdose merit instead, as your chances of overdosing are increased by five during this event. I tried to achieve this last year but failed. I will try again this year for sure!
MUSEUM DAY (May 18th)
You should stock up on plushies and relics ahead of May 18th, as this event lets you trade items in at the museum for 10% more points than usual. I didn't have my history degree last year which allows you to do this, but I do now. I'll stock up on items for trade-in to take advantage of the bonus this year. If you're a plushie runner, it's also worth researching what happens to their prices before, during and after this event, which you can do by reading the newspaper's Market Reports.
BLOOD DONOR DAY (June 14th)
Once you've finished the IV Therapy Biology course you are able to draw your own blood and fill up an Empty Blood Bag item. Doing so will reduce your life by 20% and medical cooldown by 3 hours. On Blood Donor Day, these life and cooldown penalties are halved, giving you a good opportunity to stock up for yourself and your faction! However, you should be careful about doing this, as some factions have been known to start wars during this event, in the hope that their opponents have maxed out their med cooldown filling blood bags.
MR AND MS TORN (July)
This is a popularity contest which lasts from the 5th to the 25th of July. New players might want to avoid this event early in their Torn lives, as it requires you to put up a photo of yourself, and this can lead to you receiving some unwanted attention.
WORLD POPULATION DAY (July 11th)
World Pop Day offers players a great chance for new players to boost up a few levels, as it provides three times as much experience as usual for attacking players. It used to be limited to attacks which left people on the street, but this was changed in 2019. As a level holder, this day didn't hold any interest for me and I still doubt I would do anything special here going forward.
WORLD TIGER DAY (July 29th)
The second of two July events is World Tiger Day, which provides a 5x boost to hunting experience. Hunting can be performed in South Africa, where you can kill wild animals in exchange for energy and in return for a reward. This is a good chance to work towards your hunting merits too. I didn't do much with this last year, but I might try to do it this time around.
INTERNATIONAL BEER DAY (First Friday in August)
The 2019 calendar shows this event as occurring on the 2nd this year, but in 2020 it will take place on the 7th. IBD gives you five times the usual nerve gain for drinking beer only - other alcohol items are unaffected - and I love this day, as it's another good one for a crime spree, working on those crime merits and boosting your natural nerve bar with crime experience. Beer is pretty cheap, but it's cheaper if you buy it in advance of this day.
ELIMINATION (September)
The first major competition of the year runs from the 5th to the 25th and involves teams of players fighting to the death until only one is left standing. There are plenty of guides out there which will tell you what to do during this event, but you'll need to put in a certain amount of effort if you're going to take part - teams don't take kindly to leechers!
I wanted the merits and I wanted to be a fairly high contributor on my team, but while I was committed to giving it a good shot, I wasn't going to spend all my FHCs and job points since I had a plan for the Dog Tags competition too. However, I did want to experience what Elimination was like, and I had fun with it. I did pretty well for my level and stats, and I enjoyed my time as a Hillbilly fighting alongside a few faction mates. I was ranked 29th on my team and performed 51 attacks per day - there was only one person on my team younger than me that placed higher, who was another member of my faction!
TOURISM DAY (September 27th)
This event lets players bring back twice as many items back from foreign nations as usual, and this boost applies to all of the bonuses given by companies or suitcases too. You'll need to be level 15 to travel, of course, and it also helps to have a Private Island with an airstrip too, even if it's only rented, as this will enable you to whiz back and forth between Torn and other countries several times before the event is over.
It's a good idea to play the long game with your haul, however, as the market for flowers and other imported items tends to crash in early October thanks to this event. Prices might not be the best if the market is flooding, but just try to have enough cash to stockpile if prices get too low. It always pays to play the long game in Torn City.
CAFFEINECON (October 15th)
2019's CaffeineCon marked the release of the three new low-energy cans, and it also brought with it a double boost to the effects of all energy drinks. We aren't sure if more energy drinks will be given away on this date next year - likely not - but the energy bonus will return. Many people used it for training this year, and there are certain books which can make this event even more useful for those looking to boost their fighting stats.
HALLOWEEN (October 31st)
My first event in Torn was the 2018 Trick or Treat event, and because the first version didn't require energy or strong stats I took to this event like a rabbit to its hole. I quickly studied the mechanics and developed a strategy where I'd fly or self hosp quickly after trick or treating. My faction had a laugh by using ToT on each other before we realized we were all just hurting our chances to do well in the event.
We shifted gears and focused on teamwork, with threads set up to track anyone who did a trick or treat on us and got candy so that we'd continue to have a nice target list. We watched the hospitals for people hiding and used the early active targets trick to find people. It was fun, short, and I did really well, collecting 147 treats, placing into the top 250, and getting the Halloween mask which I sold for substantial cash at my age (along with selling much of the Halloween candy and energy drinks for cash over the next few months).
2019's event was different, as it did require the use of energy and stats, with treats only gained by attacking people. I got another 250 finish this year, but only by spending more resources than anticipated. I overdid it a little and could have held back a bit, but that's not usually my approach to things. "You have received a limited edition Jigsaw Mask '19 for being in 27th place with 147 treats collected."
I have been told that 2020's event will use a similar format, but there may be some tweaks to come, so make sure you keep an eye on the newspaper before the event begins to find out the details!
DOG TAGS (November)
Dog Tags is a tough competition where each player has a tag and must collect as many of other people's tags as possible. In 2018, as a newbie, I went into this event going for the merits which are given for collecting 50 and 250 tags. I got to 50 pretty quick and kept going for the 250, reaching it at the halfway stage. I then took a brief break to train with the candy day that falls right in the middle, which I'll mention shortly.
After I got to 250, I started slacking off, not realizing how well I was really doing. The anonymous top ten scores are posted throughout the event in the newspaper, and after some quick calculations, I realized I could have likely managed top 25 if I had continued my efforts. This is what has driven much of my first year of torn; off and on planning for Dog Tags 2019. I didn't focus on this exclusively, but it was always in the back of my mind.
When 2019's event arrived I stacked my energy and started off going for one-hit targets to create a buffer of tags, hoping to protect my tag from being taken. Then I switched to farming inactives that were still fairly easy to beat most of the time, but still worth more points. The vast majority of my tags were from inactives and worth 15 points each. While inactives are easy to find at the beginning, it gets harder to find them and more tedious as the event continues.
I did well during this event, coming 10th overall despite a glut of new players joining in and everyone's useful tactics being published in the newspaper! I attribute my success partly to the fact I kept my mouth shut about how big my stockpile of tags was!
DIABETES DAY (November 14th)
I skipped this event due to it happening during Dog Tags, but Diabetes Day is good for new players who want to gain some low-budget happy jumps for training, as it provides a 3x boost to the happiness provided from eating candy. In my first year I managed to do this and get my 250 tags merit, though, so it's not impossible to combine the two! Just make sure you buy your candy nice and early, or save up the candy you collect later in the year from Christmas Town.
SLASH WEDNESDAY (Second Wednesday of December)
Currently, this is the last 48-hour event on the calendar, and it provides a 75% reduction to all hospital times. Taking place on the second Wednesday of December, this feels like a good time to chain, since your targets will get out of the hospital quicker. I feel like I'm missing something about the optimal way to take advantage of this day though. NPCs will get out of the hospital faster too I'm assuming, so it's maybe a good day for mugging them and traders, as people will have shorter self-hosp stays.
CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY (December 14th-25th)
Before Christmas Town opens, Duke's annual giveaway begins on the 14th, with items thrown in the dump and given away via his forum threads on a daily basis. Searching in the dump requires energy, so I'd only recommend doing this when you have a little to spare before you log off. It's much easier to get items directly from Duke by performing his daily tasks, which can involve anything from taking a picture through to posting a poem or a social media post.
CHRISTMAS TOWN (December 18th-31st)
I was on a vacation and didn't have much time for CT in 2018, but what time I did have to spend there was very profitable. You will come across a lot of items in Christmas Town, and you can use these to sell in the new year to make yourself a considerable amount of money for training supplies, stock buy blocks or even a PI. Make sure you sell wisely though, as cans, boosters and candies tend to fall in value throughout the first few months of the year due to this huge influx.
GENERAL TIPS
So that's my guide to the year's events and how I used them! As an addendum, here are a few more general tips which I picked up from my first year in Torn City.
Join a Faction
Within a couple of days of joining Torn I was snatched up and recruited into the White Rabbits by Nue (known as Remilia/Alice at the time). This has been my home ever since, along with a fantastic cast of characters there. It's also where I met my fantastic spouse Poochskunk, who I've been married to for nearly as long.
I think White Rabbits has produced an impressive number of placements in competitions over the last year for a faction of our level and membership, which I think is a result of the support, teamwork, and mentoring done here. Having a faction that supports players in competition and takes advantage of teamwork as much as possible is invaluable. Many who have moved on to other factions remain good friends of the faction. I expect that will continue for those that are typically the best and brightest of the White Rabbits.
Be Active
While the guides on the forum are great and all, they're even better when combined with the learning experience of being active inside a friendly faction. After joining White Rabbits, I soon began training enough to enable myself to hit targets on Baldr's list and then focused on attacks with almost all my energy, participating in small chains frequently and using any Xanax or refills I could get.
I learned fast in my new surroundings and quickly became one of the chain watchers/leaders on these small chains, so I was often given xanax and/or refills to keep the chain going or progress it. This helped me reach level 15 well before new player protection wore off, which in turn meant I was able to fly and finally make some decent money.
Subscribe
Sometime during this early period, I decided to get donator status and became a subscriber. I wanted to support the game and wanted the chance of a book showing up on my doorstep each month. Meanwhile, I continued to mix chaining and training and placed 3rd in our faction's 30-day respect competition for the month of October with me not even a month old yet.
Don't Make Yourself a Target
A lesson I quickly learned and sometimes re-learned is that I really wanted to stay unknown in the game outside of our faction. To be competitive and successful as a newer player you need to stay under the radar. Some things make that tough, such as my enthusiasm during faction wars, and my achievements in Dog Tags, but overall I've done pretty well - up until I wrote this article!
I have very few forum posts and have avoided public chats as much as possible. So many new players are their own worst enemies by being too vocal in public places, and then they wonder why they get mugged so much. If you have success in competitions, that'll be enough of an attention grabber that you really should try to avoid it in all other areas of the game when possible.
You can take this further realizing that every action you take can potentially generate information for other people who are looking for their next mugging or bounty target. So be careful about things like a purchase from the market..."oh look, they are buying FHCs and cans during dogtags".
Level Holding
At some point during my early game, I hit level 18 and decided to hold. Then I saw the results of my participation in Dog Tags 2018 and I made a decision to hold my level at least until the next Dog Tags competition a year later. I wanted to come into it at a lower level to see what the experience was like as a level holder. It was also interesting to see how many free defends I could get. Level holding isn't all roses - having that smaller health bar can be frustrating - but I think it was worth it.
Read the Newspaper
I'll admit that I cursed a few times as most of the Dog Tag strategies and tips we held closely to ourselves in the faction last year eventually became public knowledge in newspaper articles. On the plus side, it seems that many people playing a text based game never read articles or forums, so things weren't as bad as I thought they would be. (Seriously, they already gave away really good info about hunting for inactive players that still have their dog tag, so go read the newspaper articles).
Use Xanax Properly
Beyond that, it's popping xanax whenever you're off drug cooldown, flying, and making sure you stick with it. To me, sleep was important to me sticking with it for the full two weeks, so I didn't set alarms to interrupt my sleep. If I happened to wake up in the early morning, I'd fly back from where I went for the overnight flight.
Establish a System
Figure out your "system" for finding and tracking targets, either in Dog Tags or for mugging. This could be a spreadsheet, bookmarks and bookmark folders, or your own custom scripts/website/etc. Look for ways to acquire targets faster and use your flight times or evenings curating "short lists" of targets, so when you land you'll have a quick list to go through before flying again. Some might get attacked between you finding them and going to use them, so remember to check their defends right before you attack.
Job points/FHC/cans/other sources of energy
These are all supplements that I used and can help you when you are going for quantity over quality. Note that I used these sparingly during Dog Tags (I blew most of my saved job points, a stack of FHCs, and some cans on Halloween 2019). I'd say you can still do very well in dog tags without them though. If you decide to splurge, do it early in the competition when inactive targets with valuable tags are easier to find. Get an early buffer of tags going!
You don't have the be the best
Overall, I'm not the player with the strongest stats for my age or level, nor am I the wealthiest or most efficient player in any given area. However, I feel my Torn experience is pretty well-rounded and I'm becoming fairly knowledgeable. I have researched and put lots of thought into strategies that have served me well. I have managed to sleep and still have a family life, have a moderate level of success here in Torn, and overall, I've had fun!
Now that I'm doing this article, I can't expect to continue to stay mostly unknown. That's ok though, as my next phase will be continuing to work on merits with a little more focus, and I'm sure I'll set and achieve more goals for myself. And with some luck and skill, I hope to occasionally exceed them again too!
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