Are you looking for fun games to try during this Play-to-Airdrop season? Wild Forest might be just the game for you, especially if you're a fan of RTS games. You're in luck because we'll cover the beginner basics of Wild Forest and how to participate in their play-to-airdrop campaign. But before we get started, let's first get a quick rundown of what Wild Forest is all about

Wild Forest is an RTS game on the Ronin blockchain. Think of it as combining the tower placement mechanics from tower defense games with unique units from games like Clash Royale. The twist? You can manually place, command, and micromanage these units! Sounds fun, right? Let’s get you started.

Wild Forest is primarily a mobile game available for Android and iOS devices, but you can also play its PC version via Mavishub. Once installed, you can sync and link your Ronin wallet to connect your progress and assets to the game. Don't skip this step, as linking your wallet is key to receiving rewards from the airdrop campaigns if you end up eligible.

Game Basics 

When you start the game, you'll see your base and the enemy's base mirrored on the map. The map has small patches of land you can occupy by placing your units there for a period of time. Once occupied, you can place structures in that territory, with the number of structures you can place depends on how many slots the territory has.

Structures

Aside from your home base, Wild Forest features three main structures: the Mine, Barracks, and Tower. The Mine produces mana, a resource that replenishes over time and is needed to summon units and upgrade structures. Think of mana as the lifeblood of your operations, enabling you to keep the battle going. The Barracks are where your units are summoned. Each unit requires mana to be brought into play, and as you upgrade your Barracks, you unlock the ability to summon more powerful units. The Tower, on the other hand, is your defensive stronghold. Place it within your occupied territory, and it will automatically attack enemy units within its range, helping to fend off assaults on your base.

Units

Another core concept of Wild Forest is its fun and whimsical animal units that you can place and command on the battlefield. Basic units include classic swordsmen, knights, and snipers, each with distinct roles like damage dealers, tanks, and utilities.

Each unit has its own stats, such as health, armor, range, and movement speed. The variety of units allows for diverse strategies and tactics. As you progress in Wild Forest's leagues, you will unlock more powerful units to form your competitive battle deck. These units can be collected and upgraded, making your army stronger and more versatile with each battle.

The Battle

Your goal to win Wild Forest battles is to destroy the enemy's base while preventing them from destroying yours. Simple, right? Not quite. High-level Wild Forest gameplay can be quite complex. One unique mechanic is the Day and Night Cycle. During the day, both sides can see the entire map, which allows for strategic planning and movement. At night, parts of the map are hidden by the "Fog of War," only revealed by units within that fog. This mechanic adds a layer of strategy, as you must anticipate enemy movements and plan your attacks accordingly.

The unique aspect of Wild Forest is that you can manually place and command each unit you summon, making for competetive gameplay that involves micromanaging your units for optimal strategy. This adds depth to the game, as you'll need to think on your feet and adapt to the evolving battlefield.

Unit Progression and NFTs

To dive deeper into the game and become competitive, you need to understand the progression of units, represented as cards, and how they convert into NFTs and fuse into higher rarity NFTs.  Bu before we go through, let's briefly discuss the common in-game currencies:

• $FGLD (Forest Gold): Used for NFT level-ups and in-game purchases. This soft currency is essential for upgrading your units giving them better battle stats.
• Essence: Obtained by transforming unused units into a valuable resource. Essence is a relatively new currency in Wild Forest, allowing you to convert unwanted units into something useful.
• $WF: An on-chain web3 token for premium purchases and unit rank-ups. This hard currency drives your progress in the game, enabling premium purchases like battle passes and tickets to events.
• Shards: Copies of units required for level-ups. Shards are crucial for upgrading your units and increasing their power.

As you progress in the game and reach higher league levels, you will unlock new units and acquire shards, which are copies of your units. You then have the option to continuously upgrade the stats of your units by using Forest Gold (FGLD).

On the other hand, another way to power up your units is by converting them into their corresponding NFT versions. Once they are converted into NFTs, they will have certain stat boosts, and some of them even have special battle perks depending on their rarity. You can mint your units into their NFT counterparts in the inventory section of the Wild Forest website. 

NFTs can also be continuously upgraded into higher rarities. However, take note that this process requires burning a specific number of NFTs plus a certain amount of $WF tokens.

Meanwhile, if you are eager to boost your deck's power immediately, you can purchase NFT units and packs on the marketplace. This will help you speed up your progress and climb the leaderboards quickly.

Play-to-Airdrop Campaign

To boost your Honor Points (airdrop points), actively engage in the various activities offered by Wild Forest. Compete on the leaderboards by participating in battles and aiming for a high rank, as top players earn more Honor Points, which can be exchanged for valuable rewards. Complete Wild Forest Quests that range from simple tasks to more challenging objectives, earning shards, gold, and sometimes even rare NFTs. Participate in special events like the "Signal Fire" event, where you can receive in-game items such as shards, gold, or NFTs just by checking in daily. 

Gameplay Tips and Strategies

Maximize Reward Tracks: For free-to-play players, you can grind the Trophy Road, Arcade, and Battle Pass reward tracks for shards and other currencies by playing regularly and completing the required tasks. These tracks offer a steady stream of rewards, helping you progress in the game without spending real money.

Leverage Unit Perks:  If you are competing for a high ranking on the leaderboards, you probably have higher rarity NFTs. To bolster your deck even more, you should incorporate "perks" into your battle deck. You can find detailed information about perks here.

Build a Killer Battle Deck:  Building a competitive Wild Forest battle deck is left to the player's creativity and knowledge of which units are best for the current meta. Some decks focus on low-cost units to use as scouts and get a head start in occupying territory. Others focus on slowly building an army while stalling and defending, waiting for an all-out attack on one side of the map. To be Hondes, higher rarity NFTs in Wild Forest give significant battle stats, usually making quick work of free-to-play players. If you want to boost your progress, you can buy NFT units on the marketplace and rank them up further if you are willing to spend some assets.

Master Micromanagement: The unique aspect of Wild Forest gameplay is that you can micromanage every single unit you summon. On an even playing field, mastery of this skill will turn the tides of battle. You can command a single unit to scout one side of the map while your other units occupy the other side. Use kiting methods for your ranged units and outmaneuver melee ones. if you are having trouble micromanaging your units while playing on a mobile device, you might want to try out the PC version instead. 

Memorize Maps and Use Unit Range: Every game starts on a random map, and over time, you will memorize certain features such as blind spots, fog of war locations, and certain terrains that allows you to outrange towers. Knowing these features gives you a strategic advantage.

Attack Strategies: When targeting enemy barracks or mines, eliminate defending units first. Barracks and mines can't defend themselves, so focusing on destroying the defending units first will secure your objective more effectively.

And that's a wrap for our Wild Forest guide! We hope these tips and tricks help you on your journey to earning $WF tokens and conquering the Wild Forest. Dive in, strategize, and dominate the battlefield.!