01. The Two-Tiered Reward System
Oilfield Strike uses a "two-tiered" rewards system as follows.
A. Collection Milestones (Fixed Loot)
Based on total oil collected in the round. These do NOT depend on rank — hit the threshold, get the bundle.
| Threshold | Key Rewards |
|---|---|
| 10,000 oil | Training Speedups + Resource Chests (small bundle) |
| 25,000 oil | Same tier |
| 40,000 oil | Same tier |
| 75,000 oil | Upgraded bundle — adds Badge Blanks ×10 |
| 100,000 oil | Same upgraded tier |
| 150,000 oil | Final milestone — same as 75K tier |
Aim for at least 75,000 every battle to hit the Badge Blank tier.
B. Final Collection Rank (Top 500)
Ranked by total oil collected across the entire battle. This is the big one — Diamonds are the headline reward.
| Rank | Diamonds | Other Notable Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4,000 | 14-Day Skin + 80 Badge Warrants + 50 Badge Blanks |
| 2–3 | 3,600–3,800 | Skin + Warrants + Blanks |
| 4–10 | 3,000–3,400 | Warrants + Blanks (no skin past rank 5) |
| 11–50 | 2,000–2,500 | Warrants + Blanks + Chests |
| 51–200 | 800–1,200 | Warrants + Blanks + Chests |
| 201–500 | 600 | Warrants + Blanks + Chests |
02. Battle Timeline
The battle is exactly 30 minutes. Here are the key moments you need to know:
Battle Starts
TP into center, deploy squads to Lv. 3 oilfields, send a squad to hunt patrols for tech XP.
"Hidden Oilfields in 60s" Warning
This is your recall cue. Start pulling squads off regular oilfields to prepare for hidden spawns (or use a teleporter right before Hidden Oilfields spawn to instantly recall all your squads).
Phase 1 Hidden Oilfields Spawn
Hidden fields appear and stay on the map for 5 minutes (until 15:00). Race to drain them — 200 oil/sec, full drain in 20 seconds.
Scattered Oil Refresh Wave 2
Second scattered oil drop spawns. Wave 3 follows at 12:00.
"Phase 2 Hidden Oilfields in 60s" Warning
Second recall cue. Prepare for Phase 2 hiddens at 20:00. Scattered waves follow at 21:00 and 22:00.
Phase 2 Hidden Oilfields Spawn
Same as Phase 1. Stay for 5 minutes (until 25:00).
Refinery Opens (7 Minutes)
The highest oil-per-second instrument in the event. Even rank 10 pays 20K oil. Always attempt this.
Battle Ends
All oil in transit (being mined or marching home) counts toward your final score. You DO NOT have have all your squads back home to count. Farm until the very end!. Settlement mail at 30:10.
03. Map & Zones
The map is a 240×240 grid divided into three concentric zones. Higher-level oilfields and stronger patrols concentrate toward the center.
| Zone | Area | Oilfields | Max Fields | Patrol Mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 — Outer Ring | Full 240×240 | Lv. 1 | 300 | 80% weak / 20% strong |
| Zone 2 — Inner Ring | 150×150 | Lv. 2 | 100 | 50% / 50% |
| Zone 3 — Center | 60×60 | Lv. 3 | 30 | 20% weak / 80% strong |
The Lv. 3 hunting ground is just 6.25% of the total map area with at most 30 fields scattered across it. TP into the center and you're never more than ~60 grid squares from the next Lv. 3. This is why "TP near a Lv. 3 cluster" is the universal opening move.
04. Oilfield Economics
| Field Type | Oil Reserves | Collection Speed | Drain Time | Guard Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lv. 1 Oilfield | 8,640 | 8/sec | 18:00 | 682K |
| Lv. 2 Oilfield | 17,280 | 16/sec | 18:00 | 1.95M |
| Lv. 3 Oilfield | 34,560 | 32/sec | 18:00 | 18.8M |
| Hidden Oilfield | 4,000 | 200/sec | 0:20 | None |
All Three Grades Drain in the Same Time
All normal oilfields drain in exactly 18 minutes at base speed. Volume scales proportionally with speed. Picking Lv. 3 isn't about "more oil per second" in isolation — it's about fewer captures needed. Less time spent marching and redeploying means more time collecting.
06. The Tech Tree
Tech XP ("Battlefield Experience") is earned by killing Armed Patrols — the wandering monsters, NOT oilfield guards. Weak patrols give 75 XP, strong patrols give 150 XP. You need 5,400 XP total to unlock the full tree (about 36 strong kills or 72 weak kills).
You pick one choice per tier — the other locks for that round.
Tier 1 (200 XP)
+1,080 oil/min passively. Over 25 minutes of remaining battle ≈ 27,000 oil.
Zero-effort, zero-attention income. Starts ticking the moment you unlock and runs whether you're AFK, fighting another player, or stuck in a recovery cooldown. Doesn't compete with combat, marching, or scattered-oil pickups — it's pure background payout. Predictable and uncontested: nobody can take it from you.
Hard-capped — no skill ceiling, no scaling. Even a half-attentive player beats it with Hunter inside ~20 patrol kills. Doesn't compound with anything else in the tree. The 27K ceiling is also a best-case assuming you unlock it in the first 5 minutes; unlock it late and the payout shrinks linearly.
You expect to be distracted during the round (work call, second-screen, kid duty); OR your spawn zone has been picked clean of Armed Patrols and you can't reliably hunt; OR you joined late and don't have time to learn the patrol routes. Also a fine pick for new players on their first run who just want a baseline guaranteed payout while learning the rest of the event.
+1,500 oil per Armed Patrol kill. At ~19 kills ≈ 28,500 oil and keeps scaling.
Pays you for work you have to do anyway. Unlocking the full tech tree requires 5,400 XP ≈ 36 strong patrol kills, and most active players exceed 40 kills by the end of a round. At 40 kills = 60,000 oil; at 60 kills = 90,000 oil. The skill scales linearly with effort, and every patrol you kill for tech XP is also paying out cash. Free synergy with Tier 5 Arm Up if you go offensive.
Stops paying once patrols thin out (other players clear them too — by minute 15 most strong patrols in the center are gone). Useless if you get caught in PvP and can't disengage to hunt. Zero payout during the final 5-min refinery push when nobody's hunting anymore. Requires a hero squad dedicated to patrols, which is a queue slot you could be using for oilfields.
You're playing the round actively and intend to grind XP — which is true for 90% of players. The math always favors Hunter unless you have a specific reason to AFK. Strongest if you can sustain a dedicated patrol-hunting squad for the first 15 minutes alongside your oilfield squads.
Tier 2 (500 XP)
+12,000 troop capacity per squad. More troops on a field = faster gather rate per deploy.
Direct output multiplier on every gather for the rest of the battle. Gather rate scales with troops present, so +12K capacity ≈ +40% troops over a default ~30K squad → ~40% more oil/sec on every field. Compounds multiplicatively with Tier 4 Gather Efficiency and Tier 5 Rapid Collection. Also raises your combat ceiling for capture fights and refinery contests — a bigger squad survives PvP exchanges longer.
Marginal value if you're running a swarm style (small squads → many Lv. 1 fields), because Lv. 1s drain fast enough that the bigger squad finishes only seconds earlier. Also less valuable if your spawn zone is genuinely sparse in Lv. 3 oilfields — capacity matters most where long drains exist.
You're holding position in the center Lv. 3 cluster (Zone 3); OR you plan to contest the Refinery (a fatter squad survives whale-on-whale trades better); OR you're committing to the recommended oil-max path (Capacity → Success Bonus → Gather Efficiency → Rapid Collection), since all four skills scale with each other.
+25% in-event march speed. Saves ~5–15 seconds per non-teleported deploy.
Real value once you're TP-poor — you only get 5 free Advanced Teleporters per 360-second cooldown window, and paid TPs scale up in cost. Outside that, every redeploy is a walk. Across 30 minutes with 15+ deploys, +25% march can save 2+ minutes of dead time. Also lets you reach scattered oil drops and hidden oilfields before competing probe squads.
If you TP'd to center and stay inside the central cluster, your marches are already 10–20 seconds — +25% only saves ~3–5 seconds per deploy. And the alternative (Capacity) gives a permanent gather-rate boost, which compounds far harder over a 30-minute battle than shaving travel time. Outside-the-event march buffs are also disabled, but the gather-rate buffs are too — neither helps the other choice.
You blew your TP budget early in Phase 1 and need to reach the Phase 2 hidden oilfields on foot; OR your spawn was assigned far from any Lv. 3 cluster (rare corner-of-map placement); OR you're committing hard to Tier 1 Hunter and want to chase patrols across zones rather than wait for spawns near you.
Tier 3 (900 XP) — Most Undervalued Tier
+5,000 oil on a successful oilfield capture (60-second cooldown shared across all captures).
Highest single-tech multiplier in the tree. 10–15 captures across a 30-minute battle = 50,000–75,000 bonus oil, rivaling the value of the entire pre-Tier-3 stack. Pays on EVERY field level — even a cheap Lv. 1 cleanup capture is worth 5K. Synergizes with Tier 5 Arm Up if you go offensive (more contested captures means more triggers).
60-second cooldown caps the ceiling. A "perfect" route would be 1 capture / 60s ≈ 30 triggers × 5K = 150K — but in practice you bunch up cleanup captures (clearing a Lv. 1 cluster) and waste the bonus on the second/third in the cluster. Effectively zero value if you park on one Lv. 3 for the entire battle without redeploying.
You're moving between fields regularly — which is the correct play for almost everyone. The only style this doesn't fit is "lock down one Lv. 3 and defend it for the entire round," which no one actually does. Take this by default.
+5,000 oil on a failed occupation attempt (60-second cooldown).
A consolation-prize skill that turns intentional sacrifice plays into a net positive. If you're a smaller player chip-attacking whale-occupied Lv. 3 fields to trigger the Extra Drop mechanic (Section 10), each failed capture pays you 5K. Also works as denial — you waste a defender's hero on a recovery cooldown AND pocket 5K for the trade.
A competent player rarely fails captures — oilfield guards are deterministic AI you should beat every time, and you should recall rather than march into a fight you'll lose (oil is kept on recall). Picking this is essentially betting on your own poor outcomes. Even at 5 failed attempts the payout is 25K, vs Success Bonus baseline of 50K+.
You're a smaller player whose only real impact is chip-harassment on whales' soaked Lv. 3 fields (intentional Extra-Drop bait plays); OR your alliance is running a coordinated denial play where multiple weak squads sacrifice themselves into one opponent's fields to burn their hero pool. Don't take it if you're playing for personal oil maximum.
Tier 4 (1,500 XP)
+15% gather speed on all occupied fields, passive. ~5,760 extra oil per full Lv. 3 drain.
Pure passive — no timing, no positioning, no risk. Applies to every gather for the rest of the battle. Stacks with Tier 5 Rapid Collection (the two buffs use different categories per the buff IDs, so they multiply). Compounds with Tier 2 Capacity (more troops × faster gather = quadratic-feel output gain). Disproportionately valuable because outside-the-event gather buffs (alliance tech, VIP, items) are explicitly disabled inside Oilfield Strike — this is one of only two ways to raise your gather rate at all.
Almost nothing. The only honest counter-argument: if you die a lot on contested fields, you never complete the drains that the multiplier applies to, so the bonus collapses. But the answer to that problem is "don't die," not "skip Gather Efficiency."
Almost always. The only reason to skip is if you're losing 4+ contests per round and genuinely need Hero Recovery to rotate squads. For everyone else this is auto-pick.
−30% hero recovery time (5 min → 3.5 min) after a hero is defeated in battle.
Genuinely useful if you're committing to high-combat play: refinery contests where whales swap squads every few seconds, aggressive PvP, or weak-hero chip plays. Lets you keep a thin hero roster in rotation instead of running a bench-deep army. Also helps newer players who don't yet know which fights to walk away from.
Literally does nothing if your heroes don't die. Strong players recall before getting hit (oil is kept on recall) and only engage when they're certain to win, so they burn 1–2 heroes per round and don't need the buff. Tier 4 is your last shot at a passive output multiplier — passing on Gather Efficiency here is a heavy oil opportunity cost.
You expect to lose 4+ contests per round (deep refinery contest, denial play, brand new to the event); OR your hero bench is thin and you'd otherwise run out of usable heroes mid-battle; OR you went Failure Bonus at Tier 3 and are committing to the kamikaze chip-attack build.
Tier 5 (2,300 XP)
+66% Penetration for 60 seconds (5-minute cooldown). Buff attaches to squads deployed during the activation window.
A combat skill, not a collection skill. Penetration is a flat percentage that bypasses enemy defense, so it scales linearly against tankier opponents. Two real use cases: (1) hunting whale-occupied Lv. 3 fields for the Extra Drop pickup (Section 10) plus the Tier 3 Success Bonus; and (2) contesting the Refinery from 23:00 onward, where 1v1 trades against other players are constant for 7 minutes. Uses a different buff ID (30000034) than Rapid Collection, so it doesn't share a cooldown bucket with anything else you'd care about.
Pure waste if you don't engage in PvP. Most rounds, players are too spread out and busy collecting to actively spawn-camp each other. Even when you do engage, Penetration only narrows the damage gap — it doesn't flip a fight you'd genuinely lose against a much stronger opponent, it just reduces the cost of fights you'd win anyway. Picking this over Rapid Collection sacrifices ~12K–18K guaranteed oil for variable PvP upside.
You're a top-power player whose primary income IS PvP (refinery contesting, Lv. 3 theft, Extra Drop hunts); OR your alliance has coordinated a refinery-control play; OR you've built the full offensive stack (Hunter → Capacity → Success Bonus → Hero Recovery → Arm Up) and want every combat lever the tree offers.
+50% gather speed for 60 seconds (5-minute cooldown). Buff persists with the squad for the entire drain, not just 60s.
The in-game text reads "only applies to Squads deployed during the skill's effect period" — but once the buff attaches to a deployed squad, it persists for that squad's entire drain. So one activation right before deploying to a fresh Lv. 3 covers the full ~4-minute drain at +50% gather. At a 5-minute cooldown you get up to 5 fires per battle, realistically 2–3 well-timed ones = 12,000–18,000 extra oil. Compounds multiplicatively with Tier 4 Gather Efficiency and Tier 2 Capacity.
Timing-dependent. Fire it without an immediate deploy and you waste the buff entirely. The 60s activation window is short — if you're in a queue conflict or your hero is on cooldown right as the buff is up, the cooldown chews through the window for nothing. You also can't double-dip: it only affects squads deployed in those 60s, not the squads already mining elsewhere.
Your strategy is collection-focused (Hunter → Capacity → Success Bonus → Gather Efficiency → Rapid Collection); OR you're a mid-tier player without the power to seriously contest PvP / refinery whales; OR you're rotating onto fresh Lv. 3 fields every 4–5 minutes (each rotation is a Rapid Collection trigger).
Recommended path for oil-maximizing: Hunter → Capacity → Success Bonus → Gather Efficiency → Rapid Collection (RLLLR). Estimated value vs. baseline: +130,000–160,000 oil with no extra combat risk.
Important Note: This recommended path was generated by an AI review of the code and the buffs and has not been tested. My typical tech tree choices are LRLLR. I will provide an analysis once I have a chance to fully test this path in the next event
Important: Your usual outside-the-event march speed and gather speed buffs (from alliance tech, VIP, etc.) do NOT work inside Oilfield Strike. Only the in-event Strike Skills affect march and collection speed. This is why Tier 4 and Tier 5 choices are disproportionately valuable.
07. The Refinery
Refinery Occupation Rank Rewards
Ranked by cumulative seconds occupying the Refinery (opens at 23:00, runs 7 minutes). You only need 1 second to qualify.
Tracking is cumulative, not longest streak. Multiple short occupations add up. Even rank 10 (20K oil) dumps into your collection total — it can push you past a milestone threshold.
Don't skip this even if you're outclassed. Even rank 10 (20K oil for 5–10 seconds of presence) returns 5×–10× more oil per second than your best alternative. The refinery is the most efficient oil source in the entire event when you can sneak in. I finished 5th in the ranking in one event with only 4s in the Refinery. I've also won events with 0 time in the refinery and the 2nd place finished holding it for the entire 7 minutes (earning him 100k oil).
How Occupation Works
- ▸ Tracking is cumulative seconds, not longest streak
- ▸ Multiple short occupations add up
- ▸ Only 1 squad per player allowed at the refinery
- ▸ Refinery oil counts toward your collection total
The Typical Refinery Scenario
- ★ 1–2 whale players fight over ranks 1–3
- ★ Ranks 4–10 are usually decided by whoever bothers to show up
- ★ 60 seconds total → rank 4–8 = 30K–55K oil
Tactical Refinery Moves
- When possible prior to 23:00: Try to scout around the field (innermost tier) to see what the competition looks like. In theory, you really need to be PD30 with all T10 troops. Anything below that is going to be an uphill battle for the refinery and you're likely better off using that squad to continue to collect and ignoring the refinery entirely. My most recent event (when I held it for 4 seconds), I had only spotted one other level 30, so I thought I had a chance and decided to go for it.
- At 22:00: Pre-position your base as close to the refinery as possible (or even do this with your initial TP of the game). Have your strongest squad ready to deploy (pull them back if they are collecting). This also means being aware of what their healing status is and either A) not sending them out between 18:00-23:00 where they might be defeated and therefore unavailable, or B) recalling them from collection if you see a stronger player incoming.
- At 23:00: Deploy immediately. If empty, you're rank 1 by default until displaced.
08. Teleporter Strategy
The Basics
- ▸ 6-minute cooldown between free teleports
- ▸ In a 30-minute battle, you get 5 free TPs (at 0:00, 6:00, 12:00, 18:00, 24:00)
- ▸ Paid TPs during cooldown cost escalating Advanced Teleporters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (up to 15 total per window)
- ▸ Paid charge count resets when cooldown expires
Most Players Only Use 1–2 Free TPs
Each unused free TP is a missed redeploy opportunity worth potentially tens of thousands of oil. A fresh Lv. 3 cluster after a TP beats sitting idle on a drained field. Never let a free TP sit unused.
Suggested TP Cadence
09. Combat & Hero Recovery
💚 Officers Are Unlimited & Can't Die
Your officers are unlimited in number and cannot die during Oilfield Strike. Their levels sync to your highest-trained officers outside the event. You can always deploy a full squad. Don't conserve officers — there's no cost.
⏱️ Hero Recovery: 5 Minutes
The only cost of losing a fight is your leading hero goes into 5-minute recovery (3.5 min with Tier 4 Hero Recovery tech). Each hero recovers independently. Losing 2+ heroes in quick succession can cripple your combat ability for several minutes.
What Buffs Work Inside Oilfield Strike
| Buff Source | Combat Power | March Speed | Collection Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance Tech / Personal Tech / VIP / Skins | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Strike Skills (in-event tech tree) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Your normal march speed and gathering speed buffs are completely disabled. The Strike Skills tree is your only lever for march and collection speed.
PvP rules: You can attack oilfields occupied by other players — including your own alliance members. You cannot attack anyone's PD/castle. Same-alliance theft is fair game, so communicate with your alliance.
10. The Extra Drop Mechanic
The most easily-missed mechanic in the event: If your squad is on an oilfield has collected more than 3,000 oil and an attacker successfully takes the field, a large amount of oil drops as scattered pickups on the ground — up to 6,000 oil from a Lv. 3 field. ANYONE can grab these drops.
🗡️ For Attackers
Watch for occupied Lv. 3 fields where the defender has been gathering for 2+ minutes (they've banked 3,000+). A successful capture scatters up to 6,000 oil in drops, plus you get the field's remaining reserves AND your Tier 3 Success Bonus (+5,000). A late-stage capture on a soaked Lv. 3 is the single highest-value single action in the entire event.
🛡️ For Defenders
Once your squad has gathered 3,000+ oil from a field, you become a juicy target. Your options:
- • Recall before the attacker arrives — oil is kept on recall, confirmed. You avoid the drops and the hero cooldown.
- • Stack hero power so you're not a viable target — defeat the attacker and keep mining.
11. Strategy & Priority List
TP to Center, Deploy to Lv. 3 Cluster Immediately
At battle start, TP into Zone 3 (center 60×60) looking for a cluster of at least 3 relatively close Lv. 3 oilfields. Send "max minus 1" squads to collect Lv. 3 oilfields (moving on to a Lv. 2 if there are not available Lv. 3 closer). Use your last squad to hunt Armed Patrols for tech XP.
Grab Every Scattered Oil Drop You See
Scattered oil collection uses a free probe squad that doesn't take a queue slot. Always have it active. Each drop is 1,000–6,000 oil for zero effort. NEVER don't have this squad collecting scattered oil.
Recall Before Hidden Oilfields Spawn
The 60-second warning at 9:00 and 19:00 is your cue. Pull squads off regular oilfields so they're free to race for the much more valuable hidden spawns at 10:00 and 20:00. Or use a TP the moment they spawn to instantly recall all your squads. Hidden oilfields collect at 6.25× the speed of Lv. 3 fields.
Use Free Teleports Aggressively
You get 5 free TPs — burn them. After draining a cluster (~12 min), TP to a fresh one.
If you are PD30 with all T10 troops, Always Attempt the Refinery (23:00–30:00)
Even 5–10 seconds of occupation = 20K oil (rank 10). That's more than 10 minutes on a Lv. 3 field. Send at least one squad.
Don't Fight Unless You Know You Can Win
Hero recovery is 5 minutes. Losing a hero takes them out of nearly half your remaining battle. If an enemy march is incoming and you can't win, recall your squad — you keep all collected oil on recall.
12. Pre-Battle Checklist
13. Quick Reference Cheat Sheet
| If… | Then… |
|---|---|
| You're about to enter | TP into Zone 3 (center), nearest Lv. 3 cluster |
| You see the 60s Hidden Oilfield warning | Recall squads, pre-position a fresh full-load squad in center |
| The refinery is open and you're idle | Send one squad to the refinery, period |
| Your Lv. 3 squad hit 3,000+ oil and an enemy is incoming | Recall — keep what you have, avoid drops and hero CD |
| 2+ heroes are in recovery | Stop attacking; just collect and probe |
| Rapid Collection is off cooldown | Pop 1–2s before deploying a fresh squad to an unclaimed Lv. 3. TP to recall all squads, then pop it and redeploy them all again. This DOES NOT apply to squads already deployed |
TL;DR — The 30-Second Version
- 1. TP into the center zone immediately. Deploy max-1 squads to Lv. 3 oilfields, use last squad to hunt patrols for tech XP.
- 2. At the 60-second Hidden Oilfield warning (9:00 / 19:00), recall everything (or TP) and race for the much faster hidden fields.
- 3. The tech tree is your biggest edge: Tier 3 Success Bonus alone can be worth 50K–75K oil across a battle. cluster worth 30K+ oil.
- 5. At 23:00, send a squad to the Refinery. Even 5 seconds there = 20K oil. Don't skip it. Only if you are PD30 with all T10 troops
- 6. Don't fight unless you'll win. Hero recovery is 5 minutes. If attacked, recall — you keep all collected oil.