Gear

Four kinds of gear

Gear is the weapons and vehicles that make your squad strong. It comes in four kinds, and they all fight together:

• Armory gear is bought with Cash in the Armory. Each item unlocks at a level, it costs upkeep every hour, and you can sell it back for part of its price.
• Illegal Goods are bought with Gold Bars in the Black Market, which sells a different selection every two weeks. They have no level requirement and no upkeep, and you can sell them back for half the Gold.
• Limited Edition gear is never sold: it is won, mostly by finishing first in a tournament. No upkeep, and it cannot be sold.
• Crafted gear is made in the Workshop from blueprints and parts that Clan Bosses drop. No upkeep, and it cannot be sold.

There is no limit to how much of any kind you can own. What limits your strength is how much of it your squad can carry.

Carriers: how much gear counts

Every piece of gear needs someone to carry it. Your carriers are:

• you;
• your Allies, up to a cap that rises with your level;
• your Mercenaries, hired with Gold Bars in the Black Market, up to a cap that also rises with your level. A Mercenary is yours for good.

Each carrier holds one weapon and one vehicle. Gear beyond that does nothing in a fight, so a bigger squad is worth as much as better gear. The Squad tab on your profile shows your carriers, your Allies and Mercenaries against their caps, how many carriers have no weapon or no vehicle, and any spare gear that is not counting.

Allies over your cap stay your friends; they just carry nothing until a higher level makes room for them, which happens on its own as you level up.

Line-ups: which gear fights

You never equip gear by hand. The game picks it for you, from all four kinds at once:

• your Attack Line-up is your best gear by Attack, and fights when you start a fight;
• your Defence Line-up is your best gear by Defence, and fights when someone attacks you.

So one item can make your Defence Line-up and not your Attack one, and buying a single strong piece always helps if you have a carrier free. Your profile shows the Attack Power and Defense Power that result, and the Squad tab lists what is in each Line-up. In the Armory, a crafted or Limited Edition card says whether the item is IN YOUR LINE-UP or OUTRANKED BY YOUR GEAR. The Combat guide covers everything else that adds to Attack and Defence.

The Armory

The Armory has five tabs: Weapons, Vehicles, Keys, Powerups and Event. Weapons and Vehicles each split into Standard, Illegal and Crafted, so every weapon or vehicle you own is in one place.

• A Standard card shows the item's Attack, Defence, upkeep per hour, price and how many you own. An item you have not reached yet shows the level it unlocks at instead of a price.
• Buying opens a sheet where you type a quantity. It shows your upkeep now and after the purchase, so you can see what you are signing up for before you pay.
• Selling uses the same sheet, and shows exactly what you get back.
• Unlock early: beating a Mission Boss for the first time unlocks a group of Armory gear before its usual level (see Missions and bosses).

The bar at the top shows your Hourly Cashflow, your Income less your upkeep. Upkeep is only charged for Armory gear, and a clan's Doctrine can cut it. How upkeep is paid is in the Resources guide.

The Black Market

The Black Market sells for Gold Bars and has four tabs:

• ILLEGAL GOODS: 25 weapons and 25 vehicles at a time, cheapest first. The stock changes every two weeks, on Monday at 12:00 UTC, and the tab counts down to the next change. Every Illegal Good in the game takes its turn before any comes back, so one you missed will return. Buy as many as you like; to sell, use the Illegal tab in the Armory, whose card shows the Gold you get back.
• SERVICES: Tactic Points, passive tactic points, Keys, Mercenaries, and Ammo and Energy Crates, each of which refills that bar.
• LIEUTENANTS: where you recruit Lieutenants.
• TREASURY: Cash Packs, which turn Gold Bars into Cash (see Resources).

Because Illegal Goods cost no upkeep and need no level, they are the way to put strong gear on your carriers early, if you have the Gold for it.

Limited Edition gear

Limited Edition gear is the prize gear. Each tournament in the rotation has its own piece, won by finishing first. In the Civil War tournament, where players fight for a Faction, every member of the winning Faction gets its piece. Your Limited Edition gear sits in the Armory's Event tab.

It is the only gear with an on and off switch. Each card reads IN YOUR LINE-UP, OUTRANKED BY YOUR GEAR or BENCHED, and a benched item is left out of both Line-ups. It has no upkeep and can never be sold.

Crafted gear

Crafted gear is made, not bought, and reaches past the strongest gear the Armory sells. It sits in the Armory under each Crafted tab and takes its place in your Line-ups like any other gear. How to find blueprints, gather parts and craft is in the Workshop guide.