Foreword: This is not the only way to get started in Torn City. There are plenty of other ways. This is one way to do it. This method allows you to excel in Battle Stats, while still ultimately building Networth. Focusing on your Battle Stats allows you to join a stronger Faction sooner, which will get you better Faction perks sooner, making you that much stronger than you would otherwise be for each day spent playing. The point isn't to become stronger than older players. The point is to be stronger than everyone who joined on the same day you did, without spending RL cash, or No-Lifeing the game to get there. This guide is basically a reiteration of the method that I used to start Torn city, written almost entirely from memory(with me filling in the rest with math from the wiki and spreadsheets I've created on my own), but it is not my own invention. I am very much a product of the existing Torn community at the time I started playing, and this guide is, at it's core, the product of others' hard work(Hank, et. al.). My goal here is to preserve this method for future generations of Torn players without infringing on Hank's right to have done what he did with his own guide, by shamelessly attempting to repost it. But, since I can no longer refer people to Hank's guide, I'm rewriting a new one from scratch as well as I can.

Color guide: CRITICAL // Warning // Important // Core Info // Benign Notes

Please read the entire guide before you begin. Doing otherwise can end up wasting resources due to the timing involved.

There are two major barriers to performing what is known variously as "Happy Jumping" or "Premium Training".

One is Donator Status.  The other is cash to acquire some items.

The only "freemium" method to obtain both is to sell losses until you can afford the materials to complete STACKING and JUMPING(about $19 million), plus one Donator Pack from the Item Market or Bazaars(~23 million).  Total cost is about $42 million.  Usually, you can expect to sell losses between $200k-$300k.  Sometimes you'll find players paying more, and you'll also most likely find some players who will refuse to pay you after you've lost fights to them.

Selling losses is generally ill-advised, but for the purpose of this guide only, if you're unable to spend any real cash on Torn, it's the best way to do this guide.  It is not the best way to get money in Torn, and should never be used if you're not following this guide.

Subscribe if you can:
If you can afford $4.84 monthly to subscribe, do it from day one. Buying Donator Packs in-game is the cheapest way to gain more Energy(critical for gym gains), but having that all taken care of in the first place frees up your in-game cash for other things, and makes everything else that much easier. https://www.torn.com/donator.php As an added bonus, you can potentially get books as a monthly subscriber reward.

The only way remaining for a new player to do this solo, is to buy two Donator Packs with real money from https://www.torn.com/donator.php. Only one Donator Pack($5 USD) sold to another player should suffice to get you started, beware of buy-muggers and trade-muggers(people who mug you directly after buying something from you). Syrup of Ipecac is cheap, and should be used before trading for anything over about 15 mil. You'll want to use the second Donator Pack yourself for the Donator Status extra energy.

If you're not a new player, the good news is that you can shift gears and begin this guide today without any negative impact. Torn is a Marathon, not a Sprint. Starting today is better than restarting today(though the developers have provided a method for you to restart your account from 0-day, should you wish to do so; I will not be providing instructions to that effect).

PREPARATION AND ITEMS:
Prior to the moment you begin "stacking* Xanax below, you want to keep spending all your E in the gym.  Generally speaking, you'll want to train in whatever stat your current gym has the best * rating in, but during this guide, you want to try to keep your stats roughly equal.

Required supplies: (>3 day 2700 Happy Castle Rental), ~100 boxes of tissue(purchase from Bits and Bobs), 3 Xanax, 5 Erotic DVDs, 1 Ecstasy, 25 points, ~$2,000 cash, and 20 new player refills New player refills no longer exist.(Approximate total cost is $19,000,000).
Note 1) Since Battle Stats are a core focus of this guide, this is the first major step toward that goal. This training method is known variously as Premium Training, or a Happy Jump. This is not the last time you will do this.
Note 2) If you're new, find this guide valuable, reply to this thread, like the thread, rent a Castle, and send me that log, I will send you some money to cover a few days of your Castle rent.

After you get your new place rented, move in, and have all of the items above, go ahead and use Box of Tissue until your happiness stops increasing or you run out of tissues.

STACKING (takes 18-32 hours)
1) Ensure your Booster Cooldown(orange beer bottle icon) is less than 18 hours(you want it to be zero before you begin the Happy Jump; all this is still just preparation).
2) With your Energy at max, take a Xanax(400 Energy)(from this point until your training, do not use Energy for anything(No praying, no dump searching, no selling losses, no missions, etc).
3) Let your Drug Cooldown run out, and then take another Xanax(650 Energy).
4) Repeat #3(900 Energy). Some guides will recommend stacking four Xanax from 0 E instead of three Xanax from 150 E. Both are valid methods. Each drug you take carries with it an inherent risk of overdose, and a Xanax OD will zero your E and Happy, rendering your happy jump null and void. It's up to you to decide if the extra 100 E is worth the risk.  Stacking 3 Xanax in a row and getting lucky with your cooldown all three times means you'd be ready to jump after 18 hours.  Stacking 4 Xanax in a row and getting unlucky with your cooldown all four times means you'd be ready to jump after 32 hours.  Average time for 3 Xanax would end up being 21 hours, average for 4 Xanax would be 28 hours(7 hour cooldown is average).

JUMPING (should take you no more than a few minutes; you have a 15 minute deadline under ideal circumstances)
5) Ensure your Drug Cooldown and Booster Cooldown are both at 0.
6) Ensure the minutes on the Torn Clock are just after the :15 minute mark(:00, :15, :30, :45). Happiness resets at these times. You want to start just after the reset, to give yourself as much time as possible.
7) Use 5 Erotic DVDs, followed immediately by 1 Ecstasy.
8) Train all your Energy at the gym.
9) Use a points refill, and train all that too.

The goal here is to keep your stats roughly balanced with each other for a time. This keeps you at your most effective for battle for the next step. You should have little trouble taking out targets with anything less than about 7,000 total battle stats.

POWER-LEVELING!
LEAVE your targets on the street. This allows you to attack them again in 20-30 minutes.
With ~7k Battle Stats, it should be a simple matter for you to find your own power-leveling targets. With Donator Status, you also have access to advanced player search. Buy a Macana from the item market, as it is the cheapest, most effective weapon you can obtain at this point. Here's a public list someone else made with more potential leveling targets. Make sure to check activity before assuming these are "safe" targets.
Here's one way to find other potential targets worthy of further consideration:
Using Advanced Search(binoculars; top right), look for targets from Level 20 to 30, Aged 4600 to 11000 days, with 0 to 200 offences, who are Offline. Feel free to release the stops from there to widen or change your result pool.
Basically, what you're looking for is a higher level combined with a very low User Activity score. This will indicate a relatively weak target.
Further considerations: Low total Awards(indicates low activity), High Total Attacks won/lost/stalemated, high Hunting skill, lots of travel to China, UAE, or South Africa(all represent Energy wasted or not spent training), low networth, low or no Xanax taken, low or no Donator days, low or no LSD taken, low or no Ecstasy taken, low or no refills used. Taken all together, these indicators can give you a rough indicator of your target's relative strength.
Be sure to buy some Pepper Spray from Big Al's Gun Shop to give yourself an extra edge against these targets. These purchases share the same 100 item limit as other NPC stores.

After reaching level 15:

Use Yet Another Torn Application to find flowers and plushies in stock overseas.
1) Fly.
2) Buy Plushies or Flowers. Try to find work in a Flower Shop.
3) Sell them to other players.
3a) Repeat steps 1-3.
4) Obtain a Large Suitcase.
4a) Rent a Private Island, or find cheap co-habitation in one.
5) Repeat steps 1-3.
6) Buy a Bazaar.
8) Buy a Laptop.
9) Buy a Stock Ticker.
10) Repeat steps 1-3.
11) Find and join the best faction you can(more total respect is better). Preferably, one that grants + travel items and/or + gym gains.
12) Use this profit to buy more EDVDs, Xanax, Ecstasy, etc, and continue training hard. Be sure to satisfy your faction's minimum requirements at all times, so you can keep those awesome perks. Be sure to make some friends in the process.

Use your Bazaar to sell your plushies and flowers while you fly. Use your Laptop and Stock Ticker to stash profits in the Stock Market(remember to buy low) while you're in the air, so people can't mug you as soon as you land. Sell the Stocks either immediately while you're still in flight(kind of risky), or wait for it to increase a bit(potentially more risky). Remember to save a reserve of cash so you'll have cash to buy when you arrive at your overseas destinations. Stock sales award cash via a cashier's check, which you can only withdraw from the bank when you're Okay in Torn City. This is no longer recommended. It's no longer possible to buy or sell stocks while flying, and selling stocks doesn't send you a cashier's check anyway. The best way to sell your plushies/flowers using this method is to find a reputable buyer in the Trading Post forum and sell your stuff to them. This is the best way to keep yourself safe from muggers. You *can* still use a Bazaar to sell your stuff, but doing so includes the inherent risk of being buy mugged.
Another alternative is to get with a faction with members who are willing to trade in sets for you. Trading sets in for points is almost always a profitable action, and factions are the only way to trade points without using the Points Market. Still, selling points on the market after your trade-in still carries the inherent risk of being buy mugged.

Storing your spare cash in stocks is still a great idea. There are lots of profitable stocks available at different price points.  LSC and THS are two great beginner stocks to buy.  Use the proceeds to afford more Happy Jumps, or reinvest with the primary goal of eventually maxing out your Torn City Bank and buying your first SYM block(I always sell my Drug Packs, but if you like gambling, you can open them instead, and just sell most of your Vicodin).

Eventually, and it won't take long, you'll reach a point where you are financially self-sufficient. Aim to use the EDVD + ecstasy training method until ~180,000 total in each stat. Whenever you aren't able to Happy Jump, use as much natural Energy in the gym as you are able.

Reference my New Player Tips and Answers Guide for more great advice for new players.

If you ever want advice, or have questions about anything in Torn, you're more than welcome to look me up in-game. If, as a result of this paragraph, I get too many people contacting me, I may simply ignore your request, but unless and until that happens, I am more than willing to take the time to explain something to you, or refer you to a guide for it if one exists. Remember: Never ask to ask a question! If you contact me, just ask your question. If you ask to ask me a question, I'll probably either ignore you, or give you a snarky response/ask you a silly question right back.

If you found this guide helpful, please reply to it to share it with others by keeping it at or near the top of the thread list.

Winged_Cougar