Field Training

What Field Training is

Field Training pairs a new player, a Cadet, with an experienced one, a Mentor, while the Cadet finds their feet. The Mentor sets the Cadet a goal each week, sends them short notes and answers questions in a group chat. The game pays the Cadet for finishing their weekly goals.

It is a way to learn the game from someone who knows it, not a trade: nothing ever moves between the two players. No Cash, no Gold Bars, no gear, and a Mentor is not added as an Ally. A Mentor is never paid anything either. What a Mentor gets is recognition: Log lines when their Cadets do well, their name on a graduate's profile, and an Award of their own.

Everything happens on one screen: tap More on Home, then FIELD TRAINING. The screen explains who it is for, whichever side you are on.

Becoming a Cadet

• Any account below Level 25 that has finished or skipped the tutorial can ask for a Mentor. There is no limit on how old the account is.
• Ask on the Field Training screen. You are paired as soon as a Mentor is free; until then you are on the list, and the screen says so.
• You stay a Cadet until you graduate at Level 30, and you can leave at any time. If you pass Level 25 while you are still on the list, your request stays good.
• While you wait, you still get a weekly Drill (below), so being on the list costs you nothing.

Becoming a Mentor

To apply, a player needs to be Level 100 or higher, have an account at least 90 days old, and have played in the last 3 days. Apply on the Field Training screen.

• Applications go to the Mentor Board, a group of trusted players chosen by the game team. Board members vote, and two approvals make a Mentor; two rejections turn the application down, whichever comes first. Every vote gives a reason.
• A rejected player can apply again after 14 days.
• The game team can also appoint a Mentor directly.
• A new Mentor starts with Taking new Cadets switched off, so nobody is paired with them by surprise. The gear at the top of the Field Training screen opens MENTOR SETTINGS, where a Mentor switches it on and ticks the languages they can train in.
• A Mentor trains 2 Cadets at a time. Switching off Taking new Cadets keeps the Cadets they already have.

How pairing works

Pairing is automatic. When a Mentor has a free place, it goes to the Cadet who has waited longest, and each Cadet is paired with the free Mentor who played most recently, so Cadets get someone active.

• Language: a Cadet is first matched with a Mentor who trains in the Cadet's game language. After 24 hours on the list, any free Mentor will do, so nobody waits forever.
• Both sides get a Log line when they are paired, and the Mentor gets a notification.
• If a Mentor stops being one, their Cadets go back to the front of the list.

The weekly Drill

Every week, at the Monday 12:00 UTC reset, a Cadet is offered three Drills, each a goal of a different kind that suits their Level. A Drill is half the size of the matching Weekly Task.

• The Mentor picks one on the Cadet's row. The pick is fixed for the week and progress counts from that moment.
• Sgt. Rourke steps in if the Mentor has not picked within 24 hours of the reset, or of the pairing for a Cadet paired later in the week, and for any Cadet still on the list. He sets the first Drill on offer. A Cadet is never without a Drill.
• Finishing it pays the Cadet Drill Cash, from the game, once. The amount is set by the Cadet's Level when the Drill was set. The Mentor gets a Log line saying it is done.
• The Drill belongs to the Cadet for the week, so it carries on if their Mentor changes.

Field Notes and the Muster

• Field Notes: once a day (between one 12:00 UTC reset and the next), a Mentor can send each Cadet a Field Note: one of ten set messages of encouragement or advice, never free text. The Cadet sees the latest one on their Field Training screen.
• The Muster: when a Cadet has not played for 48 hours, their Mentor can send a MUSTER, a notification calling them back. It works at most once a day for each Cadet.

Promotions and graduation

A Cadet is promoted at Level 10 and Level 20 and graduates at Level 30. Each promotion and the graduation give both sides a Log line. A promotion only counts while the Cadet is paired, so a Level reached on the list is not one.

• Graduation ends the pairing and frees the Mentor's place for the next Cadet.
• Both sides see a congratulations message the next time they open the game, once.
• The graduate's profile shows Trained by and their Mentor's name, and their Field Training screen shows a Graduated card with the promotions they reached.
• The Mentor's graduates count toward the Merit Award, the one Award that pays no Gold Bars. Its ranks are reached at 1, 2, 5, 10 and 25 graduates.

The group chat and its safeguards

Each Mentor has one group chat with their Cadets. A Cadet opens it with CHAT WITH YOUR MENTOR; a Mentor from the Group chat box above their Cadets. A red number counts unread messages, and new messages send a notification, which has its own Chat switch in the notification settings.

Field Training is open to players of every age, so the chat is built to keep it about the game:

• No contact details. Links, web addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, handles for other apps and the names of other chat and social apps are refused, with a message saying why. Mentioning another member of the chat by name with @ is fine.
• A Cadet only sees messages from the moment they joined, never an earlier Cadet's conversation.
• It is not private. The Mentor Board and the game team can read every Field Training chat, and the Mentor Board can post in it; a Board post carries a BOARD tag. The chat's banner says this, and that messages are deleted after 180 days.
• Messages are limited to 200 characters, and the usual chat rules and mutes apply. See the Community Guidelines.

Reporting a message from the other side of your own pairing puts the pairing on hold: the Cadet cannot open the chat and the Mentor cannot contact them until a Mentor Board member looks at it. The Board can resume the pairing or end it; if nobody answers within 24 hours, it ends. Neither side's Log line mentions the report.

Leaving and reporting

• A Cadet can leave at any time, from the Field Training screen or the chat. They can ask for a new Mentor whenever they want.
• A Mentor can release a Cadet, who goes back to the front of the list.
• Either side can report the pairing from the Field Training screen. It ends at once and the report goes to the game team.
• Two players who have parted are never paired again, whether one left, was released or reported the other.
• Leaving never takes back Drill Cash already paid.

Parents can read more about how Field Training and its chat are kept safe in the Parents Guide.