2023 Wildlife Event Minigame & Strategy Guide!
Hello! My name is MooingCat and welcome to my minigame tutorial and event strategies for the 2023 Wildlife Event! In this guide I will go through all the rewards you can get in this event, I'll guide you through the mechanics of the minigame, and go over strategies on how to get the most out of the event!
You can also check out my videos on the event:
Table of Contents
Event Rewards
Let's start by quickly looking at the rewards, because there are some really good ones this event!
Main Building: Panda Reserve
The Panda Reserve is a 4x5 building with 10 levels, and is the main chain building of the Panda Reserve chain set. Sadly, like in the previous two events, this building also requires a special "Golden" upgrade kit to upgrade to the final level, but more on that in the strategies section! Let's first look at the Level 9 building:
Note: Where values depend on age, they will be displayed as "BA-SAJM" values.
Panda Reserve Level 9:
- Size: 4x5 (road required)
- Population, Happiness, Coins, Medals
- 8-14 Forge Points (0.36-0.64 per tile)
- 30-35 Goods (1.36-1.59 per tile)
- 1 Unit (of building's age)
- 12-26% Attack for Attacking Army (0.55-1.18 per tile)
- 5-12% Attack for City Defense (0.24-0.55 per tile)
When upgraded to level 10 with the golden upgrade kit, the building turns into the Panda Shrine:
Panda Reserve Level 10: Panda Shrine
- Size: 4x5 (road required)
- (More) Population, Happiness, Coins, Medals
- 12-18 Forge Points (0.55-0.82 per tile)
- 40-70 Goods (1.82-3.18 per tile)
- 3 Units (of building's age)
- 18-33% Attack for Attacking Army (0.82-1.5 per tile)
- 12-30% Attack for City Defense (0.55-1.36 per tile)
For a full comparison with other buildings check out my sortable table!
The level 9 building is alright, nothing amazing, but not too bad either. At level 10 the building is definitely better, with a very respectable attack boost and good other boosts/production, especially for GE5. That said, this is definitely a step back from the last couple of events, though to be fair those buildings have been quite bonkers. For most players I would definitely place this building!
Limited Building: Golden Panda Statue
This event has yet another way of giving the golden upgrade kit for free. You can get some fragments through the event, the rest you need to pick up from this 1x1 limited building. Every collection for 150 collections you get 1 fragment of the golden upgrade kit (150 needed), so at most after 150 days you will have a full golden upgrade kit. As I'll go over later on, you will get some fragments from the event itself, so you won't have to wait this long.
Panda Pathways: Chain Buildings
In addition to the main Panda Reserve, there are also three 4x2 chain buildings that can be chained below the main building. As you can see, two of these are aimed at helping GE5 fighting, while the last provides a decent amount of forge points. Interestingly, these are the first chain buildings with scaling values depending on age, meaning they aren't really that great in lower ages anymore.
Bamboo Bridge (Level 1)*
- Size: 4x2 (no road required)
- Happiness
- 6-15% Attack for City Defense (0.75-1.88 per tile)
Purple Bamboo Park (Level 1)
- Size: 4x2 (no road required)
- Happiness
- 6-15% Defense for City Defense (0.75-1.88 per tile)
Lotus Flower Lake (Level 1)
- Size: 4x2 (no road required)
- Happiness
- 6 Forge Points (0.75 per tile)
Grand Prizes & Milestones
To get the main building fully leveled you need at least 280 progress towards grand prizes. This will give you 1(!) upgrade from Milestones, level 1 + 7 regular upgrade kits from grand prizes, 30 golden upgrade kit fragments, and the Golden Panda Statue. If you reach 340 you will get 30 more fragments, and if you get all the way to 440 you will get all the 150 fragments you need for the full golden upgrade kit immediately. The Grand Prizes will first have a few unique rewards, before it starts looping between 380 and 760 progress.
| Progress | Rewards (Unique) |
|---|---|
| 0 | Panda Reserve Level 1 |
| 20 | 1 Minigame Ticket |
| 40 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 60 | 40 Goods |
| 80 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 100 | Panda Reserve Level 1 |
| 120 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 140 | 1 Minigame Ticket |
| 160 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 180 | 250 Goods |
| 200 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 220 | 10 Blueprints |
| 240 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 260 | Golden Panda Statue |
| 280 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 300 | 50 Next Age Goods |
| 320 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 340 | 30 Golden Upgrade Fragments |
| 360 | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| Progress | Rewards (Looping) |
|---|---|
| 380/780/.. | Panda Reserve Level 1 |
| 400/800/.. | 300 Goods |
| 420/820/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 440/840/.. | 90 Golden Upgrade Fragments |
| 460/860/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 480/880/.. | 1 Minigame Ticket |
| 500/900/.. | Golden Panda Statue |
| 520/920/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 540/940/.. | 30 Golden Upgrade Fragments |
| 560/960/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 580/980/.. | 10 Blueprints |
| 600/1000/.. | 60 Goods |
| 620/1020/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 640/1040/.. | 20% Attack Boost |
| 660/1060/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 680/1080/.. | 1 Minigame Ticket |
| 700/1100/.. | 50 Goods |
| 720/1120/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
| 740/1140/.. | 30 Golden Upgrade Fragments |
| 760/1160/.. | Panda Reserve Up. Kit |
New "Red Panda" Buildings!
In addition to the main building, we also have two cash only buildings that you can get from the event pass. You can get up to 2 selection kits from Leagues, for any further buildings you need to spend real money on the event pass. That's a shame, because the buildings are quite good ... and they have red pandas! ... :/
Himalayan Firs Lv2
- Size: 2x2 (road required)
- 10-15 Goods
- 2-8% Attack for Attacking Army (0.4-1.33 per tile)
- 2-8% Attack for City Defense (0.4-1.33 per tile)
- 1 Finish Goods Kit Fragments (13 Required)
Rhododendron Field Lv2
- Size: 2x2 (road required)
- 2-5 FPs
- 10-18% Defense for Attacking Army (2.0-3.6 per tile)
- 10-18% Defense for City Defense (2.0-3.6 per tile)
To see all the event pass rewards, check out the fandom wiki
Daily Specials
You can get the new Panda Reserve chain buildings from daily specials if you are interested in them.
There are a lot of daily specials that can be considered good, so for a complete list check out the fandom wiki ("list of possible Switched Prizes"). Below are a select few of my top recommendations:
- Mountain Reserve Selection Kit: My top pick for combined attack/defense for attacking army. You can also get this in the Wildlife 2023 Epic Selection Kit.
- Sentinel Outpost: My top pick for defense for attacking army.
- Winners' Plaza Selection Kit: Highest attack per tile from this event (in latest ages).
- Vineyard Estate Selection Kit: A good choice for a lot of FPs, Attack, and/or Defense quickly, especially for players in lower ages (that don't plan to advance quickly), or those who want a lot quickly regardless of age.
- Knights Pavilion: Nice little building for unit production, if you need that.
- Insect Hotel: Nice building to have for current age productions in events.
You can compare all the available buildings from daily specials in my sortable table. For all available event buildings + daily specials, you can use the following link: https://mooingcatguides.com/wildlife-buildings
Leagues
This event has a league system based on points you get from breaking blocks and collecting chests/paws.
In the leagues, you can win the Panda Pathway (chain buildings) selection kit in Apprentice and above. In Professional and Zoologist you can also win a full golden upgrade and up to 2 red panda selection kits.
The points required on beta are not usually a good estimate for live servers.
Quest "Cheat List"
Below you'll find my "cheat list" for the quests in this event. This is not a complete list of quests, that you can find here on the fandom wiki. This is a list of quests you might need to plan ahead for, but I always recommend that you check out the complete list yourself to see if there are any other quests you might find challenging. Also, only the "difficult" part of a quest will be shown. For example, a part like "pay X coins" will not be included.
Event Mechanics - Minigame Tutorial!
The event mechanics are the same as the last two years, so if you have played it before you should have a good understanding of how it works. Still, it can be quite a difficult minigame to play at times, so here is my tutorial on the minigame!
Currency: Tickets & Coins
This event has two "currencies". You need "Tickets" to play the minigame, and within the minigame you have a few different ways to spend "Coins" to help you out.
Coins:
- Starting: 200
- Daily Logins: 22*20 = 440
- Rush Quests: 30*10 = 300
- Daily Quests: 22*15 = 330
- Milestone: 100
- Total: 1370 Coins
You can also get Coins from Incidents.
Coins Diamond Costs:
- 100 Coins for 150 Diamonds
- 400 Coins for 500 Diamonds
- 2000 Coins for 2400 Diamonds
You generate a free ticket every 8 hours, but only as long as you have less than 4 tickets. So in order to play as many games as possible, you need to play every day.
Tickets:
- Starting: 4
- Daily Quests: 22
- Grand Prizes: 2 (for free)
- Free Daily Tickets: up to 3*21 - 1 = 62
- Total: up to 90 Tickets
It is also possible to get tickets from Incidents, but not very often judging by beta results. You can also buy tickets:
Tickets Diamond Costs:
- 1 Ticket for 200 Diamonds
- 4 Tickets for 750 Diamonds
- 10 Tickets for 1800 Diamonds
Minigame Guide
For a tutorial of how the minigame works, and some general tips on how to play it, check out my minigame guide video!
Event Strategies
Alright, let's talk about strategies. For this event there isn't actually a lot of strategy involved, most of the challenges of this event come from actually playing the minigame well. The main strategy choice comes down to when you play the minigame, so let's talk about that. Just as a reminder, you need 280 progress to get the Panda Reserve fully leveled, so that will be the target for my analysis here.
When should you play the Minigame?
First of all, you should always play at least 3 boards per day! As mentioned, you get a free ticket every 8 hours, but only if you have fewer than 4 tickets at hand. This means that you always want to use at least 3 tickets per day to ensure you always generate these free tickets. These tickets account for just over 2/3rds of your total tickets, and depending on how well you play a lot of them will be required to get the main building fully leveled. You start the first day with 4 free tickets, so on day 1 you should try to use at least one of these as quickly as possible after the event launch. If you want to maximize the number of tickets you can spend on a given day you should try to have 3 tickets ready when the daily special resets, but as this is midnight it might not work for your sleep schedule. If you can't spend at midnight, I recommend spending all your tickets in the afternoon each day so that you can generate the free tickets during the night/next morning.
You do still have 22 tickets from daily quests and 2 tickets from grand prizes that you can control when you want to use. My recommendation is to use these on daily special(s) you want, which means only completing the daily quests during those days. To make this easier, I recommend completing all the rush quests as quickly as possible, then wait until the first time the daily special(s) you want appears. There are a lot of good daily specials this event and some of them come multiple times, for example the Mountain Reserve can be won both as a separate selection kit, and as a part of the Epic Wildlife selection kit. This means that you will get the Mountain Reserve at least 2 days, likely more with switches, so you are able to spread these 24 tickets across multiple days for a more relaxed time. That said, nothing wrong with saving all for the final day, which should have the Epic selection kit (since "Epic" kits were introduced it has been like that in all events - but Inno can still switch this up if they want to be party poopers :P).
How should you spend Coins?
Another common question is when to spend your coins. I strongly recommend spending most of your coins on additional moves, buying boosters is simply too expensive. In total you get 1370 coins, and the top booster pack costs 1230 ... that's 90% of your total coins, which means you can only really buy it in the final days of the event. If you are out of free boosters and you think a booster can really be valuable on your current board, you could buy it individually, but for the most part I think additional moves are more valuable.
So, if you plan on buying additional moves, how often can you do it? You have 1370, which spread over 90 games is 15.2 per game. Or in other words, you can spend 65 coins for additional moves every 4.3 games. With some coins here and there from incidents, that's probably closer to once every 4 games. That doesn't mean you should only spend every 4th game, but that's roughly how frequently you can spend. And it also doesn't mean you should limit yourself to buying 10 moves after a game, if you think an additional 10 will help.
In general, I recommend buying additional moves when doing so can get you 2+ paws. I suggest that you keep a rough track of how much you've spent compared to the number of games you've played, then you can adjust how frequently you buy additional moves going forward :)
Can you get the Panda Reserve fully leveled for free?
To get the Panda Reserve fully leveled you need to collect 280 paws. For free you can around 90 tickets, which means you need 280/90 = 3.11 paws per game to get there. This is definitely possible, but it does require that you play at least decently well. On beta this year I was able to get 4.73 paws per game (here's a spreadsheet with my results), in past years I've been closer to 4 paws per game. Below is a table of how many paws you will pick up at a few different paws/game numbers.
| Paws / Board | 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.11 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boards | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
| Total Paws | 180 | 225 | 270 | 280 | 315 | 360 | 405 | 450 |
| Missing/Excess Paws | -100 | -55 | -10 | 0 | 35 | 80 | 125 | 170 |
How many Daily Specials can you expect?
Honestly, this is a very tricky question to answer, but based on my experience from this and previous events, I get on average a daily special every 3-4 boards, my go-to number is once every 3.33 boards, so 3 daily specials per 10 tickets. How accurate this is I don't know, but I know that this event is a good one for daily specials. If we're using the 3.33 number, that's 27 daily specials during the event. A big downside is that you have to spend a lot on days when the daily special doesn't interest you, but when you get a daily special you want you can get a decent amount of them.
For example, if you are after the Mountain Reserve I wouldn't be surprised if you get it as a daily special 3-5 times during the event, so let's say 4 times (from both MR kits and Epic kits + switches). This means you can spend at least 4x3 = 12 generated tickets, or if you enter each day with 3 tickets that's closer to 6 tickets per day, so 20-24 free tickets. Then you also have 24 tickets from daily quests / grand prizes, so you should definitely be able to spend 40-50 tickets on Mountain Reserves. Using my 3.33 estimate, that's 12-15 Mountain Reserve kits, or around 2 full Mountain Reserves.
Diamond Spending Costs
It can be a bit tricky to estimate, but let's give it a go! You need 380 paws per additional Panda Reserve, so let's look at the cost for different paws/board numbers. I recommend spending most of your diamonds on tickets, so as a reminder here are the ticket costs:
- 1 Ticket for 200 Diamonds
- 4 Tickets for 750 Diamonds
- 10 Tickets for 1800 Diamonds
If you plan to buy tickets for 2+ Panda Reserves, it might also be beneficial to buy some coins, but I would probably not spend more than 2.4k diamonds for 2000 coins. So you could add that number to the table below, though keep in mind with those extra coins your paws / game should increase as well.
| Paws / Board | 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.11 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paws | 380 | 380 | 380 | 380 | 380 | 380 | 380 | 380 |
| Boards | 190 | 152 | 127 | 123 | 109 | 95 | 85 | 76 |
| Diamonds | 34.2k | 27.4k | 23.1k | 22.4k | 19.8k | 17.2k | 15.4k | 13.8k |
As for daily specials, with my estimate of 3 per 10 tickets, the cost would be around 600 diamonds per daily special, which is a really good price! If you feel comfortable with the minigame, I can absolutely recommend spending diamonds for additional tickets to get more daily specials!
And that's it for this guide! I hope you found it helpful, and please let me know in the comments if you have any questions!
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Event Rewards
- Quest "Cheat List"
- Event Mechanics - Minigame Tutorial!
- Event Strategies!
- Diamond Spending Costs
- Comments
