CIFI - Cell: Idle Factory Incremental Might feel daunting, but when you learn the basics progression and growth will make up for everything. This Beginners Guide will help you figuring out the game basics, dont get stuck and optimize your progression.
Contents
- 1 Ships
- 2 Diamonds, tokens, and supporters pack
- 3 Arcade
- 4 Level Points Distribution
- 5 Loop Resets (LRs) advice
Ships[edit source]
Each ship unlocks new mechanics, which have their own rank-up requirements and installs. Every install gives multipliers to various resources such as Cells, mp gain, and others unlocked in the future.Your installs scales from crew members count. When you have maxed your Crew members AND have enough Cells, you can evolve your ship. Evolving a ship will increase your crew member cap, change the appearance of the ship and importantly – will provide a large multiplier relevant to that ship's resource.
Note: Loop reset doesnt reset ship evolutions
Important rules of install distribution!
1. Diminishing returns: Each additional point in an install gives a lower relative bonus compared to your first point. This means that excessive points in a single installation can be worth much less than well balanced and intentional installs.• the first point into any install unlocks its bonus. Every new bonus is always multiplicative• Further points into installs improve the bonus additively: the 2nd point will improve the bonus by 100%, the next one by 50%, then 33.33%, 25%, 20%, 16.67%, 14.29%, 12.50%, etc. So going 50pts deep into 1 install while completely neglecting a similar one is very wasteful
2. Each multiplier to single gen/cells is equal in terms of boost to production. x10 to Mk4 gen (in both short and long term) gives you as much as x10 to Mk1 in Cell production. So, as long as we're talking about installs/boosts that affect single gen or cells, point distribution is 1:1.
Explanation:
The image below shows how generator multipliers are all equal regardless of which generator they affect. The difference is just the strength of the bonus and the cost. The top cells are a control, all gens output 1 of each starting with 1 mk 8 no others. The middle set is starting with 1 mk 8 and mk 6 outputs 100% more mk 5's. The bottom set is mk 8 out putting 100% more mk 7 gens starting with 1 again so all starting conditions are equal. This remains true to the pattern no matter how many ticks it continues for. This is also true for any of the generators compared to any other generator and regardless of starting amounts. The biggest effect overall is not getting bonuses to higher tiers but getting more in total of the highest tier generator or unlocking a new tier. This can be quite hard to do as cell do not grow as rapidly as the generator costs so it is advised when selecting output bonuses to always choose the strongest bonus over which generator it affects.
However, if any boost gives multipliers to more than 1 Generators, then point distribution changes. For example, boost affecting 3 gens should get three times as many points [this rule works for every upgrade affecting gens/Cells in the game]
Important note: Aux installs that boost TECH upgrades affect every gen that you've unlocked, so if you have up to mk4 – they should get x4 installs; if you have mk8 – x8
3. Two separate installs affecting same thing (for example: Cells) apply separately. If you have two separate installs each giving you x100 to Cells, then your cells multiply by (100*100).
Diamonds, tokens, and supporters pack[edit source]
Ad booster
It is useful and you should utilize it at all game stages. Best part of it – timer does not progress when you are offline.
Tokens
Tokens from chests -> Diamonds from chests -> Time skip -> MP and Gens [Keep MP and all the generators at a 20:1 cost ratio. The costs of all generators should be equal]For Tier 2:Tokens from chests -> Daily rewards -> then you either get ~200-250 levels in mp/shard, or max all gens tier 1+2 (Costs should still be equal for all gens)
Diamonds
Tokens special -> then save them until you unlock The Demeter -> Shards special -> MP special -> Shard cards -> Mp cards -> Save diamonds for The Zeus materials -> Materials -> Some in AP -> all small cards -> big cards (E-F-D) -> Save for The Ouroboros (~20k)You can neglect cards if you’re close to Ouro to save more diamonds.
Supporters packs
They are not necessary for progress [I have played for 11 months without any and got to [[TheOuroboros|]], but if you can afford them – you can buy them, as they will smoothen your progress. NoAD (starter pack) + Autoclickers and Speedster is cheap and will make your progress easier. Also, this is good way to support Devs:>
[Keep in mind that most of this message is written for people that are getting 100% of their daily chests, which is the case that for NoAd with/out Clickers+Speedsters. If you are full f2p, then your focus differs - you should not buy cards, only special upgrades]
Arcade[edit source]
You should play it if you can. Game is still running when you are in arcade, and in the end, you will get extra ticks based of amount of points you got. At the start of the game, this is huge boost (if you get 30-40 ticks from arcade with 7s tick this is like extra 4-5 minutes). Also, there soon will be overhaul of Arcade, and having points before that will be really helpful.
Level Points Distribution[edit source]
Most of the actual power comes from LP doublers, so overall it doesn't matter this much, but I recommend on either spending only 10 in Cells and then going 1:2 Mp:Shards, or something like Cells:Mp:Shards = 1:2:2Overall, just spend less on Cells than you spend on Mod Points and Shards. I've done 1:10:10 and felt good. Others did 1:2:2 and still was good. Someone did 1:1:1 and also turned out good.
Loop Resets (LRs) advice[edit source]
CIFI is a long game with a lot of waiting. You shouldn’t rush your Loop Resets (LRs). Make them all meaningful and ensure that each one counts. On my first LR I got 78 Mod Points (MP), but it took me a lot of time. Your first LR should take you 4-8 hours to get as much MP as possible. Get Fast Loop mod, Daily rewards, Arcade, Time dilation, MK1+MK2 duo output (to open your way to Cell Loop reduction modules),spend the rest into Time dilation and mk1 and mk2enhancements. Next run you can get Mk4 gen Loop Mod (LMs), which costs 50 mp, and then aim for Cell Loop reduction modules.
You should not spend multiple LRs saving for one thing (for example: saving MP from 3-4 LRs for only one Loop Mod). Make each of your LRs count.
[Important note: to perform LR, you need to complete enough Loops. This is Loop Requirement. For example, to perform LR 5 -> 6 you should fill at least 7 loops. For LR 6 -> 7 it is 8 loops. The more LRs you have, the bigger Loop Req growth will be. This is why you shouldn’t perform LRs too quick: you can “brick” yourself, which means you'll need to wait quite a long time to perform another LR. In the early game you especially don’t have means to get yourself out of this besides waiting.
Here is some anti-bricking advice:
1. So when I press the Perform Loop Reset I will see that i need to do ABC Loop Fills to unlock it.After this "Perform Loop Reset" button its unlocked you can do instant loop based on Tick requirement 0/1 or Cell requirement x Cells(green value - "x cells" you make per tick vs grey value "y Cells")If x Cells value is higher than y Cells after 5 Instant loop fills = you are safe.If x Cells becomes lower than y Cells after ONLY 5 instant loops you are in danger / brick.
2. To avoid bricking you can use the following logic:On the loop confirmation screen you will see "Next loop reset requirement"Compare this number to the number of loops you can complete quickly before your cells required per loop catches up to your current cells immediately following a loop reset - we'll call this your "buffer"To ensure you will not brick, a good rule of thumb is to ensure Next loop reset required does not go above your buffer minus 5 loops
There are several Tools to help you with LRs. Most useful ones for beginners are: Mod tree Optimizer with Guide for Optimizer
My suggestion is to spend 1-6 hours per LRs. You may find that shorter or longer LRs may work better for you given your particular mods. Experiment and see what works best for you.
Guide by kingarthur_666 @ Official CIFI Discord
