Evil Island is a new real-time strategy game from Channel 4, where you must build your base, collect precious resources and conquer other evil masterminds’ bases. The game starts slow, with you having only a couple buildings and a couple of thousands of coins and metal (the two main resources in the game). As you progress, you’ll be able to build defenses, walls, many different buildings that will expand your coin and metal stashes and that will earn you more resources.
If played smartly, Evil Island can be a tremendously rewarding experience. You are able to complete single-player campaign missions which are a great source of income, and after you upgrade your bunker (the main building in the game) you’ll be able to invade other players, and to be invaded by other players, for a chance to earn tens of thousands coins and tons of metal.
Now, the most important thing in Evil Island is upgrading buildings at right moments, constructing only those structures that can give you an edge, and making your base impenetrable for enemies. If you play it right, you may not be so successful at invading other players, but your base will grow and prosper ultimately allowing you to build large armies capable of leveling other players’ bases in less than a minute. We played Evil Island for hours and hours and gathered lots of advice, tips, and tricks that will help you in getting your base to firmly stand on its feet, while also generating lots of income. So, let us begin.
1. Upgrade The Vendor And Recycling Center First
After you start the game and collect some resources you’ll have enough money and metal to upgrade a couple of structures.
We advise you to upgrade the vendor and recycling center first, since they generate resources, and upgrading them will increase your income. After you upgrade the two buildings, build more of them. You can have up to three vendors and recycling centers so make sure to build all of them and upgrade them first. This will make your income to skyrocket very fast, allowing the further base expansions.
Next in line for upgrading and constructing are the band and the warehouse. The two buildings let you stash your coins and metal and upgrading them will increase your stash. Since coins are more precious than metal (we’ll talk about why in a bit), make sure to upgrade the bank first.
After you upgrade both constructions, build an additional bank and upgrade it to level two. This way you’ll have three vendors able to generate coins at a pretty fast rate, and you’ll never fill up your stash, giving you lots of coins to construct and upgrade buildings.
Remember, the bank should be upgraded before the warehouse.
2. After Building And Upgrading Resource Buildings, Upgrade Your Hotel
The hotel is the place where your troops reside in and upgrading it will increase your soldier limit. You’ll be able to train more combatants, which will make conquering other bases much easier and much faster. For the first couple of campaign missions (the first five) 20 grunts are enough, but for later missions make sure to upgrade the hotel, enabling you to train up to 30 grunts.
This will give you an edge when conquering other bases and will earn you tens of thousands of coins and metal. 30 Grunts are able to vanquish all bases (up to Diamond Atoll) so make sure to upgrade the hotel after you finish the work on resource buildings.
3. Coins Are More Valuable Than Metal
While both coins and metal are needed for expanding your base, coins are much more important. Out of all constructions, just a handful can be upgraded with metal. Most of them will ask thousands of coins so make sure to have a huge stash and to build at least two banks.
Metal is also important, but with it, you are able to upgrade just a few buildings. On the other hand, combat units are trained with metal, but since during the early-game, you’ll need just grunts, which are pretty cheap to train, focus on increasing your coin income. This way you’ll be able to expand your base much faster, and to construct important buildings without waiting for hours and hours to collect enough coins.
4. Spending Crystals On The Second Builder Is Not Worth The Price
You start Evil Island with one builder, a constructor that is responsible for upgrading existing and building new constructions. With one builder you have to wait for the current construction to finish before moving on to the next one. While having the second builder might seem like a perfect way to expand your base faster, having just one is more than enough.
Firstly, many buildings need just a few minutes to finish, and you can speed them up for free (if the time needed is one minute or less) or you can watch a video ad to speed up the construction (if the time needed is two minutes). So, basically, you won’t have to wait long before being eligible to construct or upgrade another building. And even if a building needs ten minutes or half an hour to finish, it will be pretty costly so you won’t have enough resources to start building another one after the current gets built.
So do not buy the second builder. It is very expensive (costing 100 crystals, a premium resource that can only be bought with real money), and you’ll have to spend a couple of bucks to buy crystals since the game will give you just 50 crystals at the beginning, and you will not be able to get more for free.
5. While Attacking Other Players And Doing Single-Player Missions Focus On Destroying Enemy Buildings, Don’t Worry About Defenses
The main dish in Evil Island is attacking other bases. You can attack AI bases in the single player campaign and after your bunker gets upgraded to level 3, you will be able to attack other players in multiplayer battles.
When deciding to attack a base, focus on destroying buildings since destroying them will give you coins and metal. Defenses are there just to slow you down and to kill your soldiers, so try staying away from them if possible.
The best way to attack another base is to find the spot far away from defenses, but close enough to other buildings. Once you pick the sweet spot, deploy your units as fast as you can and then just wait for them to destroy as many buildings as they can.
For maximum impact, deploy your troops near the enemy’s bunker since destroying the bunker will give you the biggest part of the coin and metal prize. Even if the bunker is close to defenses, it is better to deploy troops near the bunker and they destroy nearby defenses than to deploy them far away from the bunker and then not being able to destroy the bunker when your troops get squashed by defenses, or when the timer runs out.
6. You Have Two Minutes To Create As Much Mayhem As You Can Before Returning To Your Base
In Evil Island, each attack lasts for two minutes, in addition to 30 seconds you have to scan the base before deploying troops. So, make sure to have the maximum number of troops before attacking another base, so they can cause the biggest damage to enemies.
As we already said, focus on destroying the bunker first; it will take the longest to destroy, but destroying it will give you the biggest chunk of the potential prize. And then you can use the remainder of the time to destroy other buildings that will give you a smaller amount of coins and metal. And remember, defensive structures (turrets, tesla towers, satellite dishes, SAM missiles, walls, and other) don’t give you resources after you destroy them.
7. Grunts Are More Than Enough For Obliterating The First 9 Campaign Bases
Evil Island has lots of units to build. From grunts to powerful tanks and air units, but for the first nine single-player missions grunts will be more than enough. During the last couple of missions they won’t be able to destroy all buildings but will be able to obliterate buildings that give coins and metal, and that’s enough.
Yes, you won’t get a three-star rating, but that’s not important. It doesn’t matter if you fail to level all buildings, you should destroy just those that give prizes. Just make sure your hotel is upgraded and that you train all available units before launching an attack on an enemy’s base.
Also, grunts are pretty deadly for invading other player’s bases in multiplayer, but make sure to take all of them with you when you decide to invade. On the other hand, rocketeers are solid for defenses; they have more health, but are slower than grunts and their attacks are slower. So, do not build them, until you unlock more units, just build grunts. They are cheap, can take a solid beating, their attacks are pretty fast and when there’re lots of them they are a deadly force.
Further, you should upgrade barracks only when grunts become too weak to conquer enemies’ bases. The best way is to keep the barracks at level 1 until your bunker is of high enough level to build advanced units like mechanized ones.
8. Focus On Researching Money And Troop Bonuses
In Evil Island, the research center is where you can research various upgrades, buy battle bonuses, and some other special items. Research points (in the form of potions) are rewarded when you level up your base by constructing new buildings and destroying bases.
You should focus on researching money and troop upgrades, such as faster coin gathering, more hit points for your units, and increased attack of your soldiers. Also, research that gives your defenses an area-of-effect attack is also very important. You shouldn’t research faster and cheaper construction, and faster metal income since that won’t lower the time needed and the construction significantly, and as we already said metal isn’t as important as coins.
The research center also offers battle bonuses like healing, orbital attack and shield bonus. They cost crystals and you should buy some but use them only when they can turn the tide of the battle, and never use them in single player missions since they can be won without using battle bonuses, although without getting a three-star rating.
9. You Can Replay Single-Player Missions
One great feature of Evil Island is that you can replay single-player missions, even those on which you earned a three-star rating! This is an excellent way to get extra coins, and the metal you invest in recruiting troops will be returned once you obliterate enemy’s base. We advise all players to often replay single-player missions, especially those that can be finished easily and without so many troops. Your coin stash will climb much higher if you replay missions than if trying to beat tougher missions featuring stronger bases.
Until you expand your base and unlock advanced units, it is strongly advised to replay campaign missions – you’ll have more coins, will be able to build more structures, and will have enough resources to upgrade your buildings. And even when you manage to unlock powerful units, it’s always better to invest a tiny amount of metal on training grunts (they are very cheap and they train very fast) and destroy weaker bases than to build your forces for hours, spending tons of metal only to be squashed by defenses found on later campaign levels and in other player’s bases.
Now, after you upgrade your bunker to level 3 you become eligible for multiplayer. This means you can invade other players’ bases, but it also means they can invade your base stationed on Evil Island. So, in order to keep your base intact and to gently enter the multiplayer mode, we prepared a couple of tips that will help you when deciding to upgrade the bunker to level 3.
10. Before Upgrading Your Bunker Surround Your Base With Walls
This is important since walls keep enemies at bay and are a great way to slow down enemies’ advance. Make sure to surround your base with walls, and not to leave any gaps because other players will notice that and will launch an attack near those gaps.
Level 1 walls are just fine. They are very expensive to upgrade (2500 per one tile) so you shouldn’t upgrade them. It is better to spend that money on constructing defensive structures.
11. You Should Rearrange Your Base Before Upgrading The Bunker
You can rearrange your base by tapping on the four arrows located on the lower left corner of the screen. Make sure your base is tightly packed, without any gaps between buildings. Also, on the rearrange screen you can see the areas of effect of your defense, so make sure that not a single part of your base is undefended. If needed, rearrange defenses so they can cover the biggest part of your base.
Further, before upgrading the bunker to level 3 you can lay only 40 wall tiles. It is possible to completely surround your base with walls, but only if the base is tightly packed and without any gaps between buildings. As you construct more buildings, visit the rearrange screen and make adjustments and lay down more wall tiles (you will be able to build more wall tiles after the bunker gets to level 3) so that you base stays surrounded by walls.
12. You Shouldn’t Invest Resources In Defensive Structures Until You Decide To Upgrade The Bunker
Defensive structures are useless until you become eligible for multiplayer. Once you decide to level up the bunker and allow other players to invade your Evil Island base, make sure to build all the available defenses and to upgrade them to the max before upgrading the bunker.
Also, place them so that they cover the biggest area of your base as possible. They should stay outside walls, surrounding your base so they can be most effective against enemy soldiers. This way, enemy soldiers will have to first destroy your defenses, and only then they will be able to start wreaking havoc on your base, but walls should steal some precious seconds, giving your Evil Island base a chance to survive.
Maximizing your defensive potential should be your main focus once you enter multiplayer. Forget about new buildings; do not construct them until you finished building and upgrading all available defensive structures. And as soon as you unlock a new defensive structure, save up money to build it and to upgrade it at least to level 2.
And never leave your base defenseless; make sure to always have some defenses built. Leaving the base defenseless is like begging other players to attack you, it’s just dumb. If you want for your Evil Island Empire to prosper, always have the maximum number of defensive structures defending your base, at all times.
13. Max Out Your Coin And Metal Stash Before Upgrading The Bunker To Level 3
This is important since level 3 bunker means other players can invade your Evil Island base. By having your resource stash filled before making the upgrade you’ll be able to build new buildings and upgrade the existing ones as soon as the bunker gets upgraded.
Focus on building defensive structures, especially the satellite dish first and after that, build a new vendor, upgrade it and then upgrade your existing vendors and the two banks. This way your coin income will greatly rise right after the bunker levels up. Also, if your base was too big to enclose it with walls, place additional wall tiles until you make your base impenetrable.
14. Make Sure To Place Satellite Dish In The Center Of Your Base
The satellite dish is extremely powerful defensive installment. It packs a heavy punch, has a huge area of attack, and it will slaughter enemy troops with its area-of-effect attack.
Because of all those features, it is best to place it right in the middle of your Evil Island base so it can deliver its attack anywhere inside the base. Believe us, once other players see that your walled base features the satellite dish in the middle they will think twice before deciding to invade you. And one more thing, as soon as you build a satellite dish, level it and it will kill 60 grunts in a matter of seconds. An excellent defensive structure that is quite expensive but also stronger than three turrets and one Tesla tower combined.
15. Buy The Magnetic Bowtie
Your research center offers some reverse-engineered gadgets stolen from secret agents. While other gadgets aren’t that effective (the tactical vision goggles grant you 5 percent extra components, and the laser watch gives your troops 2 percent more damage) the magnetic bowtie is a completely different story.
It costs 25 crystals and grants you ten percent more gold and metal acquired after the battle. This can be very helpful; in just ten won battles you can get a 10,000 more coins than without the magnetic bowtie. So, if there’s one item that’s worth its weight in crystals it’s the magnetic bowtie. Make sure to buy it as soon as possible, because, in the long run, the bowtie is one hell of a gear piece.
16. Until You Gain Some Renown Points, Single Player Missions Will Be More Lucrative Than Invading Other Players’ Bases
For each successful invasion of other player’s base, you get three renown points. And until you win three or four victories you’ll be only able to invade bases that store a humble amount of resources, about 3,000-4,-000 coins and metal.
On the other hand, single-player missions can bring you more than 7,000 coins and metal so instead of just playing multiplayer battles, replay the most lucrative campaign missions and invade other players from time to time, only when you have lots of resources at your disposal.
And remember, losing a multiplayer battle will remove two renown points meaning that if you want to be able to invade bases with tons of resources you have to win three or four battles in a row. And that’s only possible if you have your barracks upgraded and if you have training grounds in your Evil Island base. Since training grounds cost 75,000 coins, we advise you to replay campaign missions until you save up the money. Only after you build training grounds can you successfully invade other people’s bases, since most of them will have lots of defenses and will obliterate your troops in less than a minute.
Thank you for reading our Evil Island guide. We tried to collect all the available tips and tricks and to make your early-game as pleasant as we could. If you follow our instructions your Evil Island base will be ready for the invasion, and you’ll be getting lots of coins and metal from replaying campaign missions. And once you decide to play multiplayer battles, you’ll know what to do in order to make your base impenetrable for other players. Thanks for reading and happy gaming!