Buildable Tier 8 Units

New, buildable Tier 8 units are coming soon!  These can be built in the Barracks 4, Shipyard 4, or Air Hangar 4.

Tier	Land Units	Strength	Code
8	Dragon Infantry	900	UM80
8	Sleeper Artillery	950	UM81
8	Beast IFV	1000	UM82
Tier	Sea Units	Strength	Code
8	Mermaid Assault Sub	900	UT60
8	Grimm D7 Carrier	950	UT61
8	Shaman Battleship	1000	UT62
Tier	Air Units	Strength	Code
8	Djinn Fighter	900	UB61
8	Voodoo Gunship	950	UB62
8	Midnight Bomber	1000	UB63

Quotes from the game:

• "All New Tier 8 Units are Here!"
• "Dominate the battlefield! Tier 8 units are here, more powerful than ever! Also new levels up to 85!"

The Scion

The Scion will be the next and 14th Tier 8 unit to be released.  It is an Artillery unit with base Strength of 1300 and comes fully upgraded with 1560 Strength--the same as for the Kilowatt (Battleship) and higher than the other existing Tier 8 units.  The Scion's item code is UM83.

The Scion is the strongest Artillery in Empires & Allies now.  It is tied with the Kilowatt for being the strongest military unit in the entire game.

Trivia: Scion is a line of cars made by Toyota.

The Kilowatt

The Kilowatt will be the next and 13th Tier 8 unit to be released.  It is a Battleship with base Strength of 1300 and comes fully upgraded with 1560 Strength--higher than any of the existing Tier 8 units.  The Kilowatt's item code is UT49.

The Kilowatt is the strongest Battleship in Empires & Allies now, being the same Tier as the Poisedon USV but having 44.4% higher Strength.  It is also the strongest military unit in the entire game, beating out the Beacon, Nimitzern, and Venom by 8.3% in Strength.

According to Wikipedia:

The kilowatt is equal to one thousand (103) watts. This unit is typically used to express the output power of engines and the power consumption of electric motors, tools, machines, and heaters. It is also a common unit used to express the electromagnetic power output of broadcast radio and television transmitters.

The Venom

The Venom will be the next and 12th Tier 8 unit of the Crimson Hand Battalion to be released.  It is a Fighter with base Strength of 1200 and comes fully upgraded with 1440 Strength--the same as for the Beacon and Nimitzern and higher than that of the other nine existing Tier 8 units.  Like the Nimitzern, the Venom comes with the new Shield upgrade.  The Venom's item code is UB52.

The Venom is the strongest Fighter in Empires & Allies now, being the same Tier as the Harpy but having 50% higher Strength.

The Nimitzern

The Nimitzern will be the next and 11th Tier 8 unit of the Crimson Hand Battalion to be released.  It is an Infantry unit with base Strength of 1200 and comes fully upgraded with 1440 Strength--the same as for the Beacon and higher than that of the other nine existing Tier 8 units.  The Nimitzern's item code is UM71.

Note that the image contains a new green icon showing a sword in front of a shield.  This represents a new, 6th upgrade.  This Shield upgrade seems to protect a unit from a single hit.  Tier 8 units come fully upgraded, so they automatically get this Shield upgrade.  The new upgrade is also available for purchase with Empire Points for almost all other units.

The Nimitzern is the strongest Infantry unit in Empires & Allies now, being the same Tier as the Artemis but having 33.3% higher Strength.

Beacon Submarine

The Beacon Submarine will be the next and tenth Tier 8 unit of the Crimson Hand Battalion to be released.  It is a Gunboat with base Strength of 1200 and comes fully upgraded with 1440 Strength--higher than that of the other nine existing Tier 8 units.  The Beacon's item code is UT35.

According to the pre-released image, the upgraded Strength of the Beacon is 1440, which is much higher (+33.3%) than the 1080 Strength of the Artemis and the Gordon Bomber.  The pre-released game files also indicate that the Beacon's Tier is 8.  This information may be incorrect and Zynga may update it in the near future.  It would be more consistent for such a huge jump in Strength to belong to a Tier 9 unit.

Favorite Tier 8 Unit

On April 16, 2012, I set up a Facebook poll asking which Tier 8 unit in Empires & Allies is your favorite one.  The Gordon Bomber was not included at that time.  Here are the results of that poll as of today.

The Artemis--the newest released unit in the poll--was by far the winner with almost 64% of the votes.  The second most popular Tier 8 unit was the Chimera with only 11.6% of the votes.  The Poseidon USV came in third with 8.4% of the vote.  The least popular were the Harpy, Pegasus, Triton, and Kraken.

Tier 8 Unit	Votes	%
Chimera	29	11.6%
Cerberus	13	5.2%
Artemis	159	63.9%
Kraken	9	3.6%
Triton	7	2.8%
Poseidon USV	21	8.4%
Harpy	5	2.0%
Pegasus	6	2.4%
Total	249	100.0%

Another poll on Facebook has been started and includes the Gordon Bomber:

http://www.facebook.com/empiresandalliesblog

Be sure to check out all the choices by clicking "3 More...".  Some players might have forgotten to do that on the previous poll, which may explain why the Harpy and Pegasus received so few votes.

The Gordon Bomber

The Gordon will be the next and ninth (and last?) Tier 8 unit of the Crimson Hand Battalion to be released.  It is a Bomber with base Strength of 900 and comes fully upgraded with 1080 Strength--the same as for the Triton Carrier and the Artemis, and higher than that of the first six Tier 8 units.  The Gordon Bomber's item code is UB30.

How much money does Zynga make from sales of Tier 8 units? #2

In my earlier article, "How much money does Zynga make from sales of Tier 8 Units?", I estimated how many total Triton Carriers were offered for sale and from that how much money Zynga makes from sales of these and other Tier 8 units.  Here is an update using data on the newest Tier 8 unit, the Artemis Infantry.

The Artemis

The Artemis will be the next and eighth Tier 8 unit of the Crimson Hand Battalion to be released.  It is an Infantry unit with base Strength of 900 and comes fully upgraded with 1080 Strength--the same as for the Triton Carrier and higher than the first six Tier 8 units.  The Artemis' item code is UM43.

The Tank icon in the image is probably incorrect.  The game files indicate that the Artemis is of the Infantry class.  This would make more sense since there is an existing Tier 8 Tank in the Cerberus.

How much money does Zynga make from sales of Tier 8 units?

I was curious how many Tier 8 units were offered for sale--in particular, how many Triton Carriers since that's what's currently on sale.  To figure this out, I pieced together two pieces of information that I gathered at nearly the same time.

Data

First, the image above tells us that 44% of the total Triton Carriers offered for sale have been claimed.  That means 56% have been sold.

Second, I used Charles Proxy to find out how many Triton Carriers are currently available for sale.  The image below tells us that that number is 341.

Estimate of how many are for sale

It's critical that I got these two pieces of information less than one minute apart because that means they can be combined.  If 341 units are left, 44% have been claimed, and 56% have been sold, then that means approximately 341 / 0.56 ~  609 were originally offered for sale.

I repeated this procedure a few more times.  From all my data and from the fact that a nice, round number is more likely, I think it's safe to say that 600 Triton Carriers were originally offered for sale.


How much money does that make Zynga?

Each Triton costs 800 Empire Points, so 600 of them cost a total of 600 * 800 = 480,000 EP.  Let's say 1 EP = 0.10 USD.  Then each Triton costs 80 USD, and 600 of them cost 48,000 USD.

Assuming an average discount on EP purchase of 20%, the exchange rate is 1 EP = 0.08 USD.  Then each Triton costs 64 USD, and 600 of them cost 38,400 USD.  This assumes all EP used to buy Triton Carriers are paid for in USD or an equivalent rate in other currencies.

Assuming Zynga actually sells all 600 units, they earn around 38,400 USD.  This may not actually be the case as we know the Pegasus was only 87% claimed at the end of its offering period.

I don't know how many of the other Tier 8 units were offered for sale or how many of the future ones will be.  Let's assume 600 of each.  From all nine Tier 8 unit types, Zynga will take in revenue of around 9 * 38,400 = 345,600 USD.

I assumed the 600 units per Tier 8 unit class were for the whole world.  It's possible that it's just for the U.S. or for a particular set of game servers that I happen to be associated with.

The Triton

The Triton Carrier will be the next Tier 8 unit of the Crimson Hand Battalion to be released.  It is a Carrier with base Strength of 900 and comes fully upgraded with 1080 Strength--higher than that of the six existing Tier 8 units.  The Triton's item code is UT09.

(Zynga made a blooper with the original image released, which showed the base Strength of 900.  This was inconsistent with similar images of other Tier 8 units that showed their upgraded Strengths.)

Pegasus 87% Claimed with 1 Second Left

Sadly, the Pegasus was only 87% claimed with just 1 second left.

World Domination Cheaters

Are you curious about how many players are possibly cheating in World Domination?  So was I...

Here are some statistics on the last 100 players I fought against in World Domination.  Players that I fought multiple times count only once each.  These battles occurred over the past week (March 14-20, 2012), but I took a break from World Domination for 3 of those days.  In that time period, my Dominance Rank progressed from 54 to 56.

This table shows the % of opponents that had a given number of Tier 8 units (the Chimera and its brethren):

# of T8 Units	% of Opponents
0	47%
1	9%
2	23%
3	20%
4	1%
5	0%

Basically, about half of my opponents used at least one Tier 8 unit in their World Domination Defense Force.

Here's a similar table that includes both* Tier 8 units and World Domination units that players definitely shouldn't have had access to (Phoenix Bomber, Sea Hive Carrier, etc.).  I excluded the Buzzard Autogyro since many players could have received them as rewards from an earlier quest.

# of Units*	% of Opponents
0	45%
1	5%
2	19%
3	29%
4	2%
5	0%

Keep in mind that probably some of these players actually paid for their Tier 8 units.  It would be interesting to know what percentage that actually is.  Well, we know that the ones with World Domination units they can't possibly have unlocked yet are definite cheaters.  That gives us a lower bound for how many cheaters there are.

# of Cheat Units	% of Opponents
0	87%
1	8%
2	4%
3	1%
4	0%
5	0%

We see that 13% of my opponents are definite cheaters.  The actual % might be as high as around 50%--it depends on how many of those Tier 8 units are legit.  It could be even higher since some people are tactful enough not to use illegal units in their World Domination Defense Force.

The percentage of players with Tier 8 units who are definite cheaters is approximately (11 / 53) * 100% = 21%.  I'd bet the actual % is far higher.

This may or may not be a good estimate for how prevalent cheating is in Empires & Allies.  Keep in mind that this analysis was for players who were matched up with me; they had Domination Rank in the mid-50's and most of them had Attack Wins close to mine.  There is probably far less cheating among lower-level players, and greater amounts of cheating among higher-level players.

Codes: Tier 7 and Tier 8 Units

[June 25, 2012: I haven't updated this in a few days, but will do so soon.]

Data for new units subject to change!

If you see tables that look like this anywhere else, it's because they copied it from here or from another copycat!

I hope it's obvious which units have which of these subtypes:

• subtype = "army"
• subtype = "navy"
• subtype = "air"

Tier 8 Units	Strength*	Code
Scion (Artillery)	1560	UM83
Kilowatt (Battleship)	1560	UT49
Venom (Fighter)	1440	UB52
Nimitzern (Infantry)	1440	UM71
Beacon Submarine (Gunboat)	1440	UT35
Gordon (Bomber)	1080	UB30
Artemis (Infantry)	1080	UM43
Triton (Carrier)	1080	UT09
Pegasus Copter (Airship)	1020	UL49
Poseidon USV (Battleship)	1020	UA68
Cerberus (Tank)	1020	US54
Harpy (Fighter)	960	UB05
Chimera (Artillery)	960	UM14
Kraken (Gunboat)	960	US91
Tier 7 Infantry	Strength	Code
Super Red Flag Infantry	830	UM76
Super Karmen Infantry	780	UM66
SpecOps Commando	770	UM55
Red Flag Infantry	750	UM60
Elite Flea Infantry	740	UM38
Elite Mantis Infantry	725	UM30
Mantis Infantry	700	UL76
Flea Infantry	670	UM20
Kodiak EXO Infantry	650	UL57
Tier 7 Artillery	Strength	Code
SpecOps ADATS Artilleries	850	UM78
Super Lincoln T100 Artillery	810	UM74
Red Flag Artillery	790	UM65
SpecOps Coyote Artillery	770	UM56
Elite Tarantula Artillery	760	UM32
Tarantula Artillery	750	UL78
Elite Bison Halftrack Artillery	750	UM33
SpecOps Jackrabbit	730	UM24
The Bison Halftrack Artillery	700	UL80
Tier 7 Tanks	Strength	Code
Super Red Flag Tank	850	UM77
Armadillo Tank	850	UL79
Secret Service Rhino AFV	820	UM64
Elite Wombat Tank	810	UM50
SpecOps Wiesel MK20 Tankette	810	UM39
SpecOps Griffin Tank	810	UM18
Griffin II Tank	800	UM17
Badger Tank	800	UL77
Elite Griffin Tank	780	UL90
Elite Doberman Tank	760	UL75
SpecOps Grasshopper Black (1)	750	UM29
The Griffin Tank	750	UL81
Elite Badger Tank	720	UM31
Golden Doberman Tank	700	UM13
Tier 7 Gunboats	Strength	Code
Varun UUV-2 Sub	880	UT45
SpecOps UUAV Drone Gunboat	870	UT48
Elite Sand Shark Hovercraft (2)	860	UT07
Sand Shark Hovercraft	850	US59
Gator Patrol Boat	700	US58
SpecOps Narwahl	700	US78
Elite Narwahl Submarine	680	US70
Narwahl Submarine	650	US62
Elite Gator Patrol Boat (T6)	545	UT06
Tier 7 Carriers	Strength	Code
Super Tanay Carrier	900	UT42
SpecOps Nuclear Sub Carrier	860	UT43
Logger Head	810	UT08
SpecOps Leviathan Black	800	UT03
Tanay Carrier	790	UT25
Super Basilosaurus Carrier	770	UT34
Sea Hive Carrier	750	US57
Elite Stonefish Carrier	730	UT12
Albatross Carrier	700	US61
Elite Leviathan Carrier	675	US82
Elite Sea Hive Carrier (T6)	645	UT02
Tier 7 Battleships	Strength	Code
Super Jefferson T300 Battleship	850	UT46
SpecOps Barracuda	850	UT44
Sand Shark Hovercraft (2)	850	US59
Karsen UMBSC-4 Battleship	830	UT40
Elite Hammerhead Battleship	820	UT17
Yamato III	800	US56
SpecOps Devilfish Patrol Boat	790	UT16
Ekranoplan Black	780	UT24
Elite Yamato III	780	UT01
Ekranoplan Black	780	UT24
SpecOps Man O' War Battleship	770	US86
Man O' War Battleship	750	US60
Tier 7 Fighters	Strength	Code
SpecOps Ghost Bat Fighter	870	UB55
Owl Fighter	850	UA55
X-Cillian Fighter	840	UB35
Super Razor Fighter	820	UB47
Super Razorhawk Fighter	750	UB37
Elite Dual Fang Fighter	710	UA98
Ghost Bat Fighter	700	UA52
Dual Fang Fighter	695	UA89
Elite Tiger Moth Fighter	680	UA65
SpecOps Fledermaus Fighter	660	UA88
Tiger Moth Fighter	650	UA57
Elite Ghost Bat Fighter (T6)	490	UB08
Tier 7 Airships	Strength	Code
Elite Gemini Copter	880	UA81
Super Ronan Copter	810	UB42
Secret Service Vulture Copter	810	UB39
SpecOps Vulture Black	800	UB12
Elite Tigerfly Copter	770	UB34
Elite Buzzard Autogyro (3)	760	UB10
Buzzard Autogyro	750	UA54
Super Tigerfly Copter	730	UB33
Gemini Helicopter	700	UA59
Tier 7 Bombers	Strength	Code
SpecOps Locust Bomber	830	UB43
SpecOps Condor Black	820	UB11
Elite Phoenix Bomber	820	UB09
Phoenix Bomber	800	UA53
Elite Locust Bomber	780	UB29
Sparrowhawk Bomber	750	UA58
Elite Sky Whale Bomber	700	UB15
Tier 7 Titan Parts	Strength	Code
Cronus (head, Tank)	825	PT51
Cannon (shoulder, Artillery)	775	PT63
Missile Pod (shoulder, Infantry)	725	PT62

*Strength shown for Tier 8 units is when the units are fully upgraded (5/5) since they come that way.  For other units, the base Strength is shown.

(1) The SpecOps Grasshopper Black is a Tank, even though other Grasshopper units are Soldiers.
(2) The regular Sand Shark Hovercraft is a Battleship, while the Elite Sand Shark Hovercraft is a Gunboat.
(3) The Elite Buzzard Autogyro's icon in combat is that of a Fighter, but it really acts like an Airship.

Point (3) is definitely a mistake by Zynga.  Points (1) and (2) might be mistakes or they might be intentional.  They all might be changed in the future.

The Pegasus

The Pegasus is the sixth special Tier 8 unit to be released.  It is an Airship with base Strength of 850 and comes fully upgraded with 1020 Strength--the same as for the Cerberus and the Poseidon USV.  The Pegasus' item code is UB05 and has worked in the game since March 16, 2012.

The Pegasus is a winged horse, usually white, from Greek mythology.  Is "pegasi" a valid plural form?

Here is the Pegasus in its docking station:

Here is an icon of the Pegasus in combat:

The Pegasus was "unofficially" released on March 15-16, 2012.  It was officially released March 17-18, 2012 (depending on your time zone).

Tier 8 Units

So far, the list of special Tier 8 units is shaping out to be:

1. The Chimera (Artillery, 960 Strength) UL49
2. The Kraken (Gunboat, 960 Strength) US54
3. The Harpy (Fighter, 960 Strength) UA68
4. The Cerberus (Tank, 1020 Strength) UM14
5. The Poseidon USV (Battleship, 1020 Strength) US91
6. The Pegasus (Airship, 1020 Strength) UB05
7. The Medusa? (Soldier?, ? Strength)
8. ? (Carrier?, ? Strength)
9. ? (Bomber?, ? Strength)

Pegasus Hint

This ad for the Poseidon USV shows up as a pop-up in the main game screen.  Notice anything different?  "Buy the Pegasus now!"  It looks like the "Pegasus" name was inadvertently leaked.  Or perhaps it was done on purpose in order to stir interest from players who willingly spend 800 Empire Points each for mythological Tier 8 units.

This leak has been confirmed by a second source who provided a screenshot of his ad (not posted here).

This isn't a guarantee, but it looks like the next special Tier 8 unit to be released after the Poseidon USV will be the Pegasus.  It will probably be an Airship.


Tier 8 Units

So far, the list of special Tier 8 units is shaping out to be:

1. The Chimera (Artillery)
2. The Kraken (Gunboat)
3. The Harpy (Fighter)
4. The Cerberus (Tank) 
5. The Poseidon USV (Battleship)
6. The Pegasus? (Airship?)
7. The Medusa? (Soldier?)
8. ? (Carrier?)
9. ? (Bomber?)

[Source of image: Mark J Henter, "Empires & Allies Group" on Facebook]

The Poseidon USV

The Poseidon USV is the fifth special Tier 8 unit to be released.  It is a Battleship with base Health of 850 and comes fully upgraded with 1020 Health--the same as for the Cerberus.

The Poseidon USV was nice enough to give us a little photo shoot.  Here it is posing in its docking station:

Here it's showing off its guns in combat pose:

It just came out officially on March 6-7, 2012!

Tier 8 Units

So far, the list of special Tier 8 units is:

1. The Chimera (Artillery)
2. The Kraken (Gunboat)
3. The Harpy (Fighter)
4. The Cerberus (Tank) 
5. The Poseidon USV (Battleship)
6. ? (Airship)
7. ? (Soldier)
8. ? (Carrier)
9. ? (Bomber)

The last four are not necessarily in order of release, but the order stated would fit the pattern seen so far (except the Airship and Bomber might be switched).  I believe the names of the others have been released, but I don't recall them.  The Phoenix would probably be a Bomber.  [Oops, there's already a Phoenix Bomber unlocked by World Domination.]  The Medusa would probably be a Soldier.  The Pegasus would probably be an Airship, or, less likely, a Carrier.

The Cerberus: Is It Worth It?

This offer just came up within the last day.  The Cerberus is the fourth and latest special Tier 8 unit released.  (The other mythological units were the Chimera, the Kraken, and the Harpy, in that order.  There are also some units unlocked by World Domination that could be considered Tier 8.)  It is a Tank-class unit and comes fully upgraded with 1020 Health--making it the best unit in the game so far.

Would you be willing to pay 800 Empire Points for this unit?  In real USD, that's around $80 with no discounts or around $32 with a 60% discount.  That's 4 to 10 times the minimum wage in the USA.  Is it worth it?

You would be paying to receive exactly one unit.  There is no unlock for it to be built.  Having just one (or maybe a few), you might be reluctant to use it in battle for fear of losing it.  On the other hand, you could have recently unlocked the Elite Doberman Tank or the Elite Griffin Tank and fully upgraded them to 912 and 936 Health, respectively--not a far cry from the 1020 Health of the Cerberus.  Either one would have cost around 300 EP, much cheaper than the Cerberus.  Also, you would have been able to build a multitude of Elite Doberman Tanks or Elite Griffin Tanks.

Another issue is the exclusivity of having such an awesome unit as the Cerberus.  If you've played Empires & Allies much, you've probably ventured beyond your empire to visit or invade others.  In doing so, you've probably noticed that some empires have several, or even tens, of Tier 8 units.  You may have wondered, Did this player actually buy all these units?  Or is there some kind of hacking going on?

Is the Cerberus all that special then?  Is it worth it?  Does the unit lose much of its appeal as a collectible to you if you knew so many other copies existed?  What if you suspected these copies were potentially due to hacking and that the Cerberus and its brethren might be created in indefinite numbers?

Whatever you decide, you better not take too long.  The Cerberus is nearly half-claimed by now, and there's less than 2 days left for the remaining limited quantities to be claimed.