Article byPeterYR
Table of Contents
- Why 252?
- 252 Base Basics
- Budgeting Your Power
- Example 252 Setups
- Building the Base
- Operator Rotations
Compared to base layouts with 3 Power Plants, the 252 exchanges a Power Plant for an extra Trading Post or Factory. Many other facilities are left at low levels, but the extra facility’s production is well worth it. A 252 is able to produce significantly more EXP and LMD than other base setups. Without 3 Power Plants, not all facilities can be fully upgraded. Dorms in particular are left at very low levels, mostly level 1. This is a blessing in disguise, though: slower Morale recovery means there is little benefit to more frequent Operator rotations, compared to triple-Power-Plant setups like 243. Even with intensive management (6-hour rotations), a 243 falls short of a 252’s production, since a 252 has an extra Factory. In other words, less management is needed for peak performance. Lastly, since many facilities are left at low levels, it costs far fewer base materials and LMD to set up. Dorms in particular are extremely expensive to upgrade. By leaving them at level 1, you can save up to 384,000 LMD (worth 1536 Sanity) from crafting costs alone! However, since not all facilities are fully upgraded, setting up a 252 can be somewhat complicated. This guide will walk you through the process of planning out and building your 252 base. For information on other base layouts, and a basic overview of base facilities, click here:Why 252?
A 252 base setup includes 2 Trading Posts, 5 Factories, and 2 Power Plants. There are two ways to split up EXP and Gold production between the factories: The 2 Power Plants can’t support a fully upgraded base, so some buildings have to be kept below max level. As a result, there are multiple variants of 252 setups, with different ways to distribute power between Factories, Dorms, the Office, and the Reception Room.252 Base Basics
2 fully upgraded Power Plants yield 540 power. This isn’t enough to fully upgrade the entire base, so you’ll have to plan out how to level each facility. A table of example setups is given at the end of this section. Data on facilities is provided by cube #1588's Base Information PDF. First, decide how much you want to upgrade the facilities on the right side: the Reception Room, Workshop, Office, and Training Room. Upgrading these facilities provides certain benefits, but leaving them underleveled lets you allocate more power to Factories, increasing their production. All of these facilities consume 10, 30, and 60 power each at level 1, 2, and 3 respectively, except for the Workshop (which always consumes 10 power). Note that these facilities cannot be downgraded. If you change your mind down the line, you can upgrade any of these facilities, but this cannot be undone. With the power that remains, determine how you want to upgrade your Trading Posts and Factories. These facilities both consume 10, 30, and 60 power each at level 1, 2, and 3. Make sure to save at least 40 power for Dorms. This step is simple. With the 40+ spare power remaining, you will build 4x level 1 Dorms for 10 power each. If you have enough spare power, upgrade a Dorm to level 2. It’s possible to run a 252 with only 3x level 1 Dorms, for only 30 power. However, the reduced Dorm space can make Operator rotations difficult to plan out.Budgeting Your Power
Right Side Facilities
Trading Posts and Factories
Dormitories
If you don’t want to plan out your base yourself, here’s a table of example 252 setups, provided by Forge #2341's spreadsheet. “Slots” refer to Operator slots in Factories. For example, 5x level 3 Factories can hold 15 Operators total, so a 252 with maxed Factories is called a “15-slot 252”.Example 252 Setups
252 variant Trading Post levels Factory levels Dorm levels Reception Room level Office level Training Room level 11-slot 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 3 12-slot 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 2 3 13-slot 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 3 14-slot 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 15-slot 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 0 1 1 3 15-slot, no Training Room 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 15-slot, level 1 Training Room 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 15-slot, level 2 Training Room 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 2
Now that you’ve got a plan, it’s time to build your 252. It’s fine to just upgrade whatever you want, as long as the end result is the 252 setup you’ve chosen. Here are some tips: In a completed 252, 2 Factories always produce Battle Records (EXP), and 2 Factories always produce Gold. The remaining 5th Factory is flexible, and can be set to either one.Building the Base
The 5th Factory: EXP or Gold?
A 252’s low-level Dorms are slow at recovering Operators’ Morale. 12-hour (twice a day) rotations provide good performance, and there is little benefit to more intensive management. New players often make the mistake of rotating all base Operators at once. This strategy requires more base Operators, puts unnecessary stress on Dorms, and may not be feasible with 252’s low-level Dorms. You can significantly reduce the amount of base Operators needed with staggered rotations, only rotating about half of a facility at once. For example, here’s now to rotate Operators in a level 2 Factory: Level 1 Dorms restore at least 2 Morale per hour, while Facilities will drain 1 Morale per hour at most, often less. As such, an Operator only has to rest for 1/3 of the time, working for 24 hours and resting for 12. With these staggered rotations, this facility needs only 3 base Operators, instead of 4. Operators in the Control Center provide a 5% reduction to Morale loss to all base Operators, regardless of base skills. A fully staffed Control Center reduces Morale loss by 0.25 per hour, which makes your rotation timings a lot more flexible. Stagger your Control Center rotations by swapping out at most 3 Operators at once. Amiya provides a 7% boost to Trading Posts, so make sure to keep her in the Control Center for at least 24 hours at a time. If you have Swire (who has the same boost), make sure at least one of them is in the Control Center at all times. (Amiya and Swire’s skills don’t stack.) As shown above, a level 2 Factory can be staffed with only 3 Operators. The Reception Room also has 2 Operator slots, and can be rotated similarly. For level 3 Trading Posts and Factories, you have 2 choices: Some Operators have base skills that synergize with other skills. For example, Texas/Lappland/Exusiai and Vermeil/Cuora/Noir Corne. For these trios, you may want to rotate the entire facility at once, even if it requires more Operators to do so. More information on Operator base skills can be found here: Each Power Plant only has 1 Operator slot. You can treat both Power Plants together as a single 2-slot facility, and rotate similarly with 3 Operators:Operator Rotations
Time Operator 1 Operator 2 Operator 3 Start Working Working Resting 12 hours Working Resting Working 24 hours Resting Working Working Control Center
Trading Posts, Factories, and the Reception Room
Power Plants
Time Operator 1 Operator 2 Operator 3 Start 1st Power Plant 2nd Power Plant Resting 12 hours 1st Power Plant Resting 2nd Power Plant 24 hours Resting 1st Power Plant 2nd Power Plant 36 hours 2nd Power Plant 1st Power Plant Resting 48 hours 2nd Power Plant Resting 1st Power Plant 60 hours Resting 2nd Power Plant 1st Power Plant
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