This guide is in the process of being updated, if you notice something is off, if there's a section or information I should add, or if I should clarify something further, please reply below or send me a mail :)

This guide is not aimed at new players, it is aimed at players who are entering the "mid game", and want an extra push in becoming a better player.


Intro:

This guide is specifically for the people who need that extra step in the game, or want to improve their long term game. This guide will cover several different topics, all focused on optimizing game play and getting the best bang for your buck. If you have any questions about anything you see here(or anything in torn really), don't hesitate to mail me. I know its cliche, but no question is a stupid question.



Contents:

• Basic Optimizing
• Merits
• Companies
• Passive Income
  
• Pharm temps
• Ammo & Mods
• Chaining
• Scripts & Discord
• Looking out for opportunities

Basic Optimizing:

There are plenty of ways a player can increase long term game through fairly simple means.
I will keep this rather brief, as most of it is self-explanatory. Most of these already have guides(or are too simple to need one), so they go here. Some of these have separate guides about them, I will hyperlink to them if I find them.

• Take as many Xanax as you can a day.
  
• Donator status
  
• Be in a good company(or own one!)
  
• Passive income VIA Stocks & Bank
  
• Be in a faction
  
• Always in Education
  
• Buying as many merits from the points shop
  
• Spending your merits effectively
  
• Always be in a race or flying
  
• Don’t waste energy and nerve
• Using the right weapons and armor
  
• Using the right temps
  
• Always be using refills
• Always be on Booster CD
• Use books to their fullest potential

Merits:

There are a LOT of easy merits in the game, if you take a few minutes and look around in the awards tab, you can easily find merits that will only take a few minutes/days. There are too many easy merits to list, so I will just give a few examples.

(class A in racing)
(100 viruses coded)
(revive 10 people in 10 minutes)
(100 special ammo used)
(participate in an NPC fight)
(defeat an opponent after hitting them in 10 different body parts)
(defeat someone after losing to them within 10 minutes)
(defeat a faction member)
(defeat someone with 2x your stats in a solo attack)

Some of these will take literally 5 minutes, some might take a while. But they are easy. I HIGHLY suggest spending a few minutes finding out which ones are easy. If you can get some of them in a few minutes, go do it. But if it is a merit that takes a year or two, start working towards it. The sooner you start the sooner you finish.



There is already a full guide on easy merits made by Tempest, go check it out!


Level Holding:

Level holding is probably the #1 "mistake" people make in torn. It has it upsides and downsides, but I am a firm believer that level holding hinders your game-play. Here is why:

1) You have less life
Life is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. With more life you lose less, you can fight harder targets, you have more sustain. Having less life means a single lucky crit can take you out, you heal less with meds, can't fight those equal to your stats, serotonin has less effect, etc. The list goes on! You cannot fight effectively if you get knocked out on turn two.

2) You have less merits
You naturally get merits as you level up, with the ability to buy merits from the point shop at every even level. That's 50 merits you can buy simply by being level 100, that is an immense advantage to your game-play. You also hit rank triggers at level 2, 6, 11, 26, 31, 50, 71, and 100. You also get milestone honor bars at 10, 50, 75, and 100, and milestone medals at every 5 levels. In total you get over 80 merits by being level 100. That's a lot!

It can be the difference between making 50% more from your bank interest, having an extra 5% crit rate, an extra 50% hosp time, having an extra 50% health, having weapon mastery. Upgrade now!

3) You won't be a chaining target*
I hear this reasoning time and time again, and i've never found it compelling. I AM a chaining target, my level and my stats have always been a bit mismatched due the way I play and the way I progress, it's never been an issue for me. I also was a mission target for three years, and am on multiple leveling guides.

Most people also completely avoid active players as chaining targets, because players who are online can adapt their temporary usage, ask their faction to retal you, and depending on how even in stats you are, fight back. Whenever I am chaining and I have a close fight while defending, I usually med up to full and hosp them for that sweet retal bonus, and usually never get attacked by them again.

(*) now for the footnote, there is a point where this IS a concern, if you're level 100 with 1B total stats, you're going to get shit on endlessly. But as long as you keep your natural level progression going while still hitting the gym, 99.9% of the time you'll be fine.



Companies:

Always be in a job that increases your long term gain. Making 2M dollars in a PSF does not count.
There's three reasons to be in a company:

1) Improve your stats/long term growth
These are jobs like 10* Fitness center, Music Store (For early game gym EXP), Ladies/Gents Strip Club, Adult Novelties, etc.
These jobs make your growth even girthier, and provide an advantage for your long term growth. If you're a def/dex whore or want to be, get into a strip club NOW! If you're happy jumping and in a position to, get into a 10* AN. A good company can make your gains so so much better.

2) Energy
Any job that gives energy is worthwhile, Farms, Game Shops, Candle Shops etc. This makes you a much more attractive for factions who chain and or war.
NOTE: These perks are NOT BEST for training, they are best for fighting, you are better of being in a 1) type company if you're hitting the gym all the time. 30-70ish energy a day isn't going to beat 10% def/dex gains.


3) $$$$$$$$$$$$
Running companies are extremely lucrative and will fuel you into becoming rich as f**k. Simple as.
Money is king. It all comes back to cash at the end. If your wallet is thick, your stats can be thicker, end of story. PSFs, LMs, Mining Corps, Oil Rigs, TV stations. These things can print money like no tomorrow, and making million and millions a day can be your Can/FHC/SE money. Why do you need 10% def/dex gains when you can just buy a few SEs with the insane profit you make?



Passive Income:

Why make money yourself when your money can just make money for you?
If you aren't actively trading or investing your money, get passive income ASAP. It is free money that adds up to insane proportions.
This is so important it deserves it's own section just so you're aware of it. Max your bank, get your stock BBs running, get PIs to rent out.
There's a billion guides on this, just look around. Here's one that looks solid.

This also applies to:
- Buying cans at X-Mass time and selling during the summer
- Museum day
- MCS and CBD, put a value on that nerve & energy and see if it is worth the ROI to you
- So so much more



Pharm Temps:

Pharm temps are OP.

Assuming you've done the better educations first, get the Biology bachelor as it allows you to use pharmacy temps in an attack.
Each pharmacy temp gives you +500% to that stat for 2 minutes. (Serotonin, gives you 300% def and heals 25% of your max life.)

I am absolute f**king gremlin when it comes to these temps, I've fought in wars where my stats are weaker than 70% of their members, I bring up 10 people to attack, order them by their stats, I pop a sero, I pop each of an epi/tyro/mel and then I run through them all using flash grenades/HEGs feeling like a beast. They can be kind of expensive, but in the scale of a war, especially if you're already using FHCs/Cans, it isn't too much.

Even if you're not in a position to use all 4 temps, maybe the war is really really tight and you can only get one attack in, or your frugal/poor. a single injection can do so much for you, especially if you're in a strip club. At the time of writing I am in a ladies strip club, which means I get a ridiculous 450% defense and 37.5% life. This means I can take less meds to replenish HP, and can sustain in fights for so much longer.



Missions, Ammo, and Mods:

Do your damn missions, end of story. Mods and books are some of the single most powerful items in the game, an extra 5% crit rate, an extra mag, extra accuracy, or whatever is insanely powerful, and will impact if you win a fight much more than you can imagine. 30% gym gains in a stat for a month, or ugly energy can boost you ahead of the competition easily.


I personally don't think it's worth it to buy ammo in the mission store, since you should be saving for books and mods instead.
However you gain a very large advantage over your opponents with special ammo, so get as much as you can! Also, get a BAG BB for monthly payouts of special ammo. Its 1.3b for the entire block, if you have the spare cash, buy it.




Here is a graph of the damage special ammo does, it's crazy how good this stuff is. Single handedly the strongest thing I utilize in a war.




Chaining:


Chaining is something every faction has had to do at some point. The primary goal of chaining is for respect, so if you are a faction leader or a faction member. Optimize for it! Encourage your faction to get as much respect as they can per hit. Getting people to choose better targets, and choosing better targets yourself will add up. Factions who can farm well will gain a large advantage in faction upgrades.

Before you chain, look for targets beforehand that are high level, and give you a high FF bonus. If there are fake walls up for the chain, use them! They are a GREAT way of getting more respect.

I personally spend a xanax or two before the chain looking for high level, low stat targets that I can beat easily, that way I can get insane respect per hit. If you're making 200 hits but get 3.5 respect per hit, you're wasting your time and your energy. It makes you a very valuable faction member and there's merits to get from farming respect too.





Scripts & Discord:

There are plenty of scripts to enhance your gameplay out there. Take a few minutes and look around the user scripts forum and get yourself some shiny scripts. They should all be legal there. Scripts are very useful for the small things in torn that make it better.

Another great thing. Discord & Bots! Factions with discord channels might also have discord bots. Torn related discord bots can give you alerts on mug targets, stocks, faction wars, trends in items, the list goes on.

Also, discord is a great place to meet people and have fun in your faction. Torn is a game, if you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing something right.





Looking out for opportunities:

This guide is by no means the end of optimization. If you pay attention and look around you can find little things you can do every day that gives you an edge long term. Almost everything in this game can be optimized. Go and make yourself stronger.





Closing:

I hope you enjoyed reading this guide, and I also hope my writing was good enough to understand. If you have any questions about torn in general, or the guide either reply to this thread or mail me. I'm always open to questions.

Have fun torn-ing, and happy optimizing.