Level for test = Modesto, CA. Shift 1


Stats pre test



Level setup with 5 towers, growth tower upgraded twice, other towers not upgraded



Stats post test



Test clearly shows that stats for tower upgrades are number of times towers have been upgraded and not towers that were upgraded.

Level for test = Woodland, WA. Shift 2.


Stats pre test



Forgot to take a screen shot of the level, sorry. Upgraded hired hand with cattle prod twice, no other hired hands purchased.


Stats post test



Test clearly shows that stats for hired hand upgrades are number of times hired hands have been upgraded and not hired hands that were upgraded.

Level for test = Modesto, CA. Shift 1

Pre level stats


Built 3 towers and upgraded one twice


Delete upgraded tower


Post level stats


Clearly shows that tower upgraded and then sold during a level still count towards stats.

This is a follow up to test 3, so deleting a tower still counts towards stats, but what about removing a level 3 tower and building another and upgrading that ?, theres a fair few levels with limited space but potential for lots of cash, this could easily double up your upgrades potential per level.

Level for test = Modesto, CA. Shift 1

Pre test stats


Built 4 towers and upgraded one of them twice to level 3


Sold all towers


Built a new tower on same location as previous level 3 tower and upgraded the newly built tower also to level 3. Should count as 4 upgrades if worked.


Post test stats


Results show this clearly works.

This information is very useful for maximising productivity.




As this information shows you can build two level 3 water towers for the cost of one level 3 grain tower, and as we have just shown selling an upgraded tower and then building another on its place and upgrading that counts towards your stats. So for best productivity any empty spaces dump water towers and upgrade. Sell and rinse as money allows, then on the final wave sell up, then build, upgrade and sell then rinse again with any and all remaining funds to maximise tower upgrades gained.

What about the ultimate in rinse and repeat. To start a level build and upgrade what you can with starting funds and then quiting back to menu ?

Level for test = Woodland, WA. Shift 1


Pre test stats



Starting funds allowed me to purchase and then upgrade three water towers to level 2



I then quit back to menu before even starting a wave


Post test stats



As the stats show it recorded 3 upgrades for this test, very intresting. This requires further testing.

Before we start the next test we need to find out which level has the highest starting funds with which to play with.

Booker, TX. Shift 1 has the highest initial starting funds by far with $295

For for those that care heres the list


It is worth pointing out that Booker, TX Shift 1 only offers cattle prod hired hands ( ignoring cleanup crew types due to cost ), this shouldn't be problem for those also grinding for hired hands upgrades for their stats, I will explain why later.



The achievements we are going for require 5000 turret upgrades and 2500 farm hands and we start with $295 on Booker, TX Shift 1.

So the aim is to spend $98 on farm hands and $197 on turrets to give us a 2:1 ratio on upgrades. Obviously the ratio you require may differ depending on your current stats and if you have already obtained the hired hands upgrade achievement then just spend it all on turrets.

Cheapest method for getting tower upgrades.
We already worked out earlier that water towers are cheapest to build and upgrade. We calculated that a level 3 tower costs a total of $76 and giving 2 upgrades towards our totals. An even cheaper method is upgrading it once to level 2 then selling, building another and upgrading works out at $68 and also giving us 2 upgrades towards our totals.

Cheapest method of getting hired hands upgrades.
Well this isn't something we have looked at yet and so before we begin with any further testig its time to find out.



Kind of obvious from the start but best to check the cattle prod farm hand is the best value for upgrading, lets just check which is best value two level 2 or one level 3

2 x level 1 = $60
1 x level 3 = $56

So unlike towers it is better value to upgrade farm hands to level 3, which is a good thing that since the only way to clear farm hands is to sell the tower.



Booker, TX Shift 1 gives us $295 to play with. If you just require towers then thats 8 x level 2 water towers. if you are still after both achievements than that means you can have either

5x level 2 water towers and 3x level 2 prodders = $276
or
6x level 2 water towers and 2x level 2 prodders = $270

The difference between the cost of a level 3 and level 2 cattle prod and the cash we have to play with makes no difference, your always going to end up with some unusable pocket change... or does it ?, lets not forget we can sell and use that money before we quit and restart.

Time to put Booker, TX Shift 1 under the microscope.

First off, we had previously tested that when starting a level and building and then exiting to menu the stats recorded. However we are looking for the fastest possible way to grind these numbers so I wanted to test if the restart option was used that the stats would record.


Pre test stats


I started Booker, TX Shift 1. I built 8 water towers, upgraded them, hit escape and pressed restart and built another 8 water towers and upgraded them and then quit back to menu


Post test results


It worked !



So time analysis of a clean start, buy and then restart with a 10min test on Booker, TX Shift 1.

Towers only.

Pre test stats


Post test stats


Over a 1 hour period that would result in a massive 1578 tower upgrades !!!

When using this method I strongly advise just focus on keeping your momentum going, if you make a mistake just ignore it. If you build the wrong tower forget it and skip to the next tower. If you select the wrong level just quickly build 3 water towers and upgrade and then quit, just keep the momentum going.

Also remember to use the keyboard shortcuts. LMB on build location, press "5" on the keyboard to build a water tower move along to the next pad and repeat till you have 8 towers then go back to the first click it with LMB and press "1" on the keyboard to upgrade it, then move to the next.

*** edit *** I found during my later testing that rather than building 8 water towers and upgrading you could build seven level 2 and one level 8, marginaly faster. Build all 7 then go back to first and upgrade all to level 7 then upgrade the first to level 3. However I did notice that sometimes if you are fast the first tower is still being upgraded to level 2 by the time you go to upgrade to level 3.

As such if you are a person with average reflexes then the 7x2 and 1x8 method may be best for you, if you are Speedy Gonzales then the 8x2 method is probably best for you.

Ok for this test we are going to be testing a 10 min run on Booker, TX Shift 1 building six level 2 water towers and two level 2 cattle prods. This is going to be slightly more complex as not being able to buy the hiard hands while towers are being built, as such I think best method would be build 8x1 towers then 3x1 hired hands, then upgrade hired hands then upgrade towers. There are also a few more keyboard shortcuts to remember in sequence.

I am not going to practice this before running test as such expect the number of towers per hour to plummet, however take into consideration that my HR achievement popped well before I had 2500, so I hope you will not have to use this method before long and can then switch to towers only which you can see if very fast.


Pre test stats


Post test stats


So this time around we have totals of 1290 tower and 462 hired hand upgrades per hour.

The sequence this time around is select the build site press "5" then move to the next untill you have built 6 water towers, then go back and select the first pressing "3" and on the second. Then go back and select the first and press "3" again and on the second. Then go back to the first and select and press "1" and proceed to upgrade the remaining water towers with "1".

Test 1 Dixon Shift 2 - Time 11m16s - Towers 38 - Hired Hands 18 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 205 Towers & 97 Hired Hands

Test 2 Dixon Shift 2 - Time 11m44s - Towers 34 - Hired Hands 19 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 173 Towers & 97 Hired Hands.

Test 3 Dixon Shift 2 - Time 12m33s - Towers 34 - Hired Hands 17 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 170 Towers - 81 Hired Hands.

Dixon Shift 2 averages over 3 tests. 182 Towers & 91 Hired Hands per hour.

Please note these are not quite a guide for 3 stars, at the end of wave 13 I sold everything and spent the money on more upgrades, if you sell up at the last moment should work for 3 Stars.

Pointless using this level to obtain these achievements as only grain and growth towers, and no hired available.

However as it is likely that you will obtain the hired hands achievement well before the towers achievement, I will do tests for this level for those that have obtained the hired hand achievement and are just trying to obtain the last few tower upgrades to see if it is faster than other levels once you reach that point.

Test 1 Modesto Shift 1 - Time 3m49s - Towers 8 - Hired Hands 0 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 125 Towers

Clearly shown from just 1 test no worth it even if you are only trying to grind for tower upgrades

Images shown should net you 3 gold stars, towards the end of the final wave as usual if going to the max upgrades sell up upgraded towers and upgrade more, do not do this if going for 3 gold stars as the requirements for the level is build no more than 5 towers not 5 at once.

Pointless using this level to obtain these achievements as only grain, water and growth towers, and no hired available.

However as it is likely that you will obtain the hired hands achievement well before the towers achievement, I will do tests for this level for those that have obtained the hired hand achievement and are just trying to obtain the last few tower upgrades to see if it is faster than other levels once you reach that point.

Test 1 Modesto Shift 2 - Time 3m40s - Towers 16 - Hired Hands 0 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 261 Towers & 0 Hired Hands

Unlike shift 1 shows potential and warrants a further test.

Test 2 Modesto Shift 2 - Time 3m45s - Towers 17 - Hired Hands 0 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 272 Towers & 0 Hired Hands.

Modesto shift 2 doesn't show bad per hour results for towers, however the level is considerably shorter than Woodland shift 2 as such time would be wasted starting and finishing games and in the menus using this level. Woodland shift 2 averages for towers are at least 30 moire per hour and real world considerations taken into account of time between games I would confidently state that even if only going for towers Modesto shoft 2 is not time well spent.

Modesto shift 2 averages 266 towers per hour over 2 tests.

Test 1 Woodland Shift 1 - Time 3m34s - Towers 16 - Hired Hands 3 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 269 Towers & 50 Hired Hands.

Test 2 Woodland Shift 1 - Time 3m49s - Towers 15 - Hired Hands 4 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 235 Towers & 62 Hired Hands.

Test 3 Woodland Shift 1 - Time 3m54s - Towers 14 - Hired Hands 9 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 215 Towers - 138 Hired Hands.

Woodland Shift 1 averages over 3 tests. 239 Towers & 83 Hired Hands per hour.

It is worth pointing out a few things with this level and similar levels.

Firstly this is a short level with limited funds, spawns and placements. It is difficult to maintain a balances upgrade program evening out the number or tower and hand hands upgrades, increasing one clearly has a detrimental effect on the other.

Second, when working out a routine to grind additional time factors need to be taken into account. Doing 4 or 5 longer games will have a higher net gain per hour than doing 12-15 shorter games with a similar hourly output as time spent starting and ending games as well as time in menus needs to be taken into account

These pics will not net you a 3 gold stars. For 3 gold stars limit your hired hands to only 2, one on each track just before the largest gaps between placements on each. Only upgrade to level 1 or 2 at most and focus on growth and food and only as much water as required.

Test 1 Woodland Shift 2 - Time 6m45s - Towers 38 - Hired Hands 22 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 337 Towers & 195 Hired Hands.

Test 2 Woodland Shift 2 - Time 7m28s - Towers 35 - Hired Hands 28 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 281 Towers & 225 Hired Hands.

Test 3 Woodland Shift 2 - Time 7m07s - Towers 36 - Hired Hands 25 - Works out over a 1 hour session - 303 Towers - 210 Hired Hands.

Woodland Shift 2 averages over 3 tests. 307 Towers & 210 Hired Hands per hour.

These pics should net you 3 gold stars, please note image 7 might be wave 7 or 8, unsure as game bugged out and stopped updaing cashflow and wave number. If this happens just press "ESC" and it will update, hence why wave 9 pic is ok, just did not notice before then sadly.

So here we are the conclusion.

From my initial testing of levels, if you prefer to grind the old fashioned way the best level I found before ending that testing method is....

Woodland Shift 2 averages over 3 tests. 307 Towers & 210 Hired Hands per hour.


However if you want to get these achievements the qickest way possible follow the info provided in Test 6 or 7 depending on your needs.

7th March 2015 the speed method outline in this guide has confirmed to work


Sadly the tower upgrade achivement did not pop early like the HR achievement and required the full 5000 to pop

Disclaimer...
I wrote this guide mostly in one sitting, I didn't sleep well last night and its taken about 11 hours start to end, I'm rubbish at math and my spelling is hopeless, appologies to the grammar police and anyone else I offend with any minor errors, if you find an error and would like to point it out, then I will correct it. This is my first steam guide and my first game guide in nearly 15 years, criticism is welcomed but please be constructive.



I would like to take this opertunity to thank Mighty Rabbit Studios & Relevant Games for their effort in making this enjoyable game as well as highlighting the unpleasent truth about the food industry. I look forward to your future projects, just no more grindy chevos, pretty please.