Base development is the foundation of your account in Last War: Survival.

Your Headquarters (HQ) determines your overall progression level and unlocks higher building levels, additional features, stronger troops, higher Hero limits, and later progression systems.

A strong base is not created by upgrading every building as fast as possible. The goal is to keep your important progression moving while avoiding unnecessary resource and construction-time waste.

Build with a plan: HQ first, prerequisites second, supporting systems third.

Base Development Priorities

A useful overall priority is:

1. Headquarters progression
2. HQ prerequisite buildings
3. Tech Center / Research progression
4. Main troop-type building
5. Barracks and other required military buildings
6. Hospitals / Drill Ground / Alliance Center when required or strategically useful
7. Resource production
8. Secondary and lower-priority buildings

This is not a rule that every account must follow identically.

Your priority can change depending on:

• HQ level
• Current bottleneck
• Main squad
• Server age
• Season
• Alliance goals
• Available resources
• Upcoming events

The important principle is to avoid spending your best resources and builder time on low-impact upgrades while an important milestone is waiting.

Understanding the Base

Your base contains several categories of buildings.

Core Buildings

Core buildings determine much of your account progression.

Examples include:

• Headquarters
• Tech Center
• Alliance Center
• Wall
• Drill Ground
• Hospitals
• Barracks
• Troop Centers

These buildings are particularly important because some of them are direct HQ prerequisites.

Military Buildings

Military buildings support troop development and combat progression.

These include the buildings associated with your troop types:

• Tank Center
• Aircraft Center
• Missile Center
• Barracks
• Drill Ground
• Hospitals
• Emergency Center and other support systems, where available

Your main troop-type building should receive appropriate priority because it contributes directly to your main combat progression and can be required for HQ advancement.

Economy Buildings

Economy buildings provide or support resource production.

Examples include buildings that produce:

• Food
• Iron
• Gold
• Later-game resources such as Oil

Economy buildings are useful, but they should not automatically take priority over HQ prerequisites, Research, or important combat progression.

Headquarters

The Headquarters is the most important building in your base.

Upgrading the HQ can:

• Unlock higher building levels
• Increase the Hero level cap
• Unlock additional features
• Improve account progression
• Increase general combat-related statistics
• Open access to later progression systems

The HQ is therefore the central target around which your base development should be planned.

HQ Upgrade Rule

Before starting an HQ upgrade:

1. Check all required buildings.
2. Check the resource requirements.
3. Check the construction time.
4. Check whether a special Research requirement applies.
5. Check upcoming events.
6. Prepare the necessary resources.
7. Prepare the required speedups if you intend to finish early.
8. Start the HQ upgrade when the timing is favorable.

Do not wait until the moment you want to upgrade your HQ to discover that a prerequisite building is several levels behind.

HQ Prerequisites

HQ upgrades require specific supporting buildings to reach the required level.

The exact requirements change as you progress through the game.

Common prerequisite buildings include:

• Tech Center
• Barracks
• Wall
• Drill Ground
• Hospital
• Alliance Center
• One of the main troop centers

A useful planning method is:

Current HQ
    ↓
Check Next HQ Requirements
    ↓
Identify Required Buildings
    ↓
Upgrade Prerequisites
    ↓
Prepare Resources
    ↓
Start HQ Upgrade
    ↓
Immediately Prepare the Next HQ

This prevents your HQ progression from stopping because a prerequisite was ignored.

HQ 1–30 Progression

During HQ 1–30, the game progressively introduces additional prerequisite buildings and higher resource requirements.

The exact requirement for each level should always be checked directly from the HQ upgrade screen in-game, because requirements, costs, buffs, and progression systems can change with game updates.

The general pattern is:

• Early HQ levels are inexpensive and fast.
• More prerequisite buildings appear as you progress.
• Tech Center requirements become increasingly important.
• Wall, Barracks, troop centers, Hospitals, Drill Ground, and Alliance Center become relevant at different milestones.
• Food, Iron, and later Gold requirements increase substantially.
• Construction times become long enough that planning and speedup management become critical.

For a current account, the in-game HQ requirement screen is the final authority for the exact next upgrade.

HQ 31–35: Age of Oil

HQ 31–35 is different from the earlier progression.

Access beyond HQ 30 requires the relevant Age of Oil / Base Expansion progression.

The later HQ levels also introduce Oil as a major resource.

The known HQ 31–35 prerequisite structure is:

| HQ Level | Required Buildings / Requirement | |---|---| | HQ 31 | Tech Center Lv. 30, one main troop center Lv. 30, Barracks Lv. 30, required Base Expansion / HQ Expansion Research | | HQ 32 | Tech Center Lv. 31, main troop center Lv. 31, Barracks Lv. 31, Wall Lv. 31 | | HQ 33 | Tech Center Lv. 32, main troop center Lv. 32, Barracks Lv. 32, Hospital Lv. 32, Drill Ground Lv. 32 | | HQ 34 | Tech Center Lv. 33, main troop center Lv. 33, Barracks Lv. 33, Wall Lv. 33, Alliance Center Lv. 33 | | HQ 35 | Tech Center Lv. 34, main troop center Lv. 34, Barracks Lv. 34, Hospital Lv. 34, Drill Ground Lv. 34 |

The exact wording of the required Age of Oil technology can vary between guides and game versions, so use the requirement shown in your own Tech Center/HQ interface as the final authority.

Current external references agree that HQ 31–35 requires the Tech Center, Barracks, your chosen troop center, and the rotating supporting buildings shown above, with the special expansion technology and Oil becoming part of the progression. citeturn0search0turn0search3

Tech Center Priority

The Tech Center is one of the most important buildings in the game.

It is important for two reasons:

1. It is frequently an HQ prerequisite.
2. It controls your Research progression.

Research provides permanent account improvements, so allowing the Tech Center to fall behind can create a major progression bottleneck.

A strong base should therefore keep the Tech Center close to the level required for your next HQ milestone.

Tech Center Strategy

A practical approach is:

HQ Goal
   ↓
Tech Center Requirement
   ↓
Upgrade Tech Center
   ↓
Research While Preparing Other Buildings
   ↓
Complete Remaining HQ Requirements
   ↓
Upgrade HQ

Do not treat Tech Center upgrades as an afterthought.

Choosing Your Main Troop Center

Your main troop type should influence your building priorities.

The three primary troop types are:

• Tank
• Aircraft
• Missile

Your chosen troop center can be one of the important HQ prerequisites at higher levels.

Once you have committed to a main combat direction, avoid unnecessarily spreading resources across all three troop types.

A focused main squad generally gives better value than trying to build every troop type equally.

Barracks

Barracks are important for troop training and can also be required for HQ progression.

Do not automatically upgrade every Barracks to the highest possible level.

If only a specific Barracks is required for your next HQ milestone, prioritize the Barracks that satisfies the requirement.

Additional Barracks can be developed later according to your training needs.

Drill Ground

The Drill Ground supports troop and squad development and can become an HQ prerequisite at specific stages.

When a Drill Ground is required:

• Upgrade the required one first.
• Do not over-invest in additional levels unless they provide meaningful value.
• Coordinate the upgrade with your HQ plan.

The goal is to satisfy progression requirements efficiently rather than upgrade every supporting building equally.

Wall

The Wall can become an important HQ prerequisite at several progression stages.

Wall upgrades can also consume significant resources at higher levels.

Plan Wall upgrades in advance instead of discovering at the end of an HQ push that the Wall is behind.

A good approach is:

Check Next HQ
      ↓
Wall Required?
      ↓
Yes → Prepare Wall Upgrade
      ↓
Continue Other Requirements

Hospitals

Hospitals become important both for combat readiness and for specific HQ requirements.

Hospitals are particularly valuable when:

• You participate heavily in PvP.
• Your alliance regularly fights.
• You are preparing for Enemy Buster.
• You need additional healing capacity.
• A future HQ level requires them.

Do not neglect Hospitals simply because they do not directly increase squad Power as dramatically as some other upgrades.

A stronger army with insufficient healing capacity can be a serious liability during PvP.

Alliance Center

The Alliance Center supports alliance-related progression and can be required for HQ advancement at certain levels.

It also improves the value of alliance assistance and other alliance interactions.

Because alliance activity is important throughout the game, keeping the Alliance Center reasonably developed is usually worthwhile.

Builder Management

Construction time is one of the most important hidden resources in Last War.

A builder that sits idle is lost progression time.

However, this does not mean that you should upgrade random buildings simply to keep a builder occupied.

The correct goal is:

Keep builders active on useful upgrades.

Builder Priority

Before starting a construction, ask:

1. Is this building required for HQ?
2. Does it unlock an important system?
3. Does it improve a major combat/economy bottleneck?
4. Is there an upcoming event that rewards construction?
5. Is there a better use for the builder?

If the answer is no to all of these, the upgrade may not be worth prioritizing.

Construction Timing

Construction should be planned around both progression and events.

Whenever possible:

• Start important upgrades during construction-scoring events.
• Use construction speedups during valuable scoring windows.
• Activate relevant buffs before starting long upgrades.
• Coordinate with Alliance Duel and Arms Race.
• Avoid delaying an important HQ upgrade purely for a small event benefit.

The best timing is the timing that gives you progression + event value without creating a major account delay.

Construction Speedups

Construction speedups should be treated as saved time.

They are especially valuable for:

• HQ upgrades
• HQ prerequisite buildings
• Important combat buildings
• Event scoring
• Major milestones

Do not waste large construction speedups on low-value upgrades simply because the speedup inventory is full.

Builder Buffs and Construction Bonuses

Before beginning a major construction project, check whether you have useful bonuses available.

Possible sources of construction efficiency include:

• Survivors
• VIP
• Alliance buffs
• Research
• Temporary event buffs
• Other account bonuses

The exact available bonuses depend on your account and current game state.

The general principle is:

Stack useful construction bonuses before a long, expensive upgrade.

Resource Planning

Base development requires large amounts of:

• Food
• Iron
• Gold
• Oil at later stages
• Speedups
• Specialized upgrade materials

Do not begin a major HQ push without planning for the complete chain of requirements.

For example:

HQ Requirement
      ↓
Building A
      ↓
Building B
      ↓
Resource Requirement
      ↓
Construction Time
      ↓
Speedup Requirement

A good HQ plan accounts for the entire chain rather than only the HQ itself.

Resource Bottlenecks

Your lowest resource is not necessarily your real bottleneck.

The real bottleneck is the resource or requirement preventing your next valuable upgrade.

Examples:

Enough Food
Enough Iron
Not Enough Gold
        ↓
Gold is the bottleneck

Or:

Enough Resources
Required Building Too Low
        ↓
Construction is the bottleneck

Or:

Buildings Ready
Resources Ready
Construction Time Too Long
        ↓
Speedups are the bottleneck

Always identify the actual blocker before deciding what to gather or spend.

Resource Buildings

Resource production buildings provide passive income, but they should not automatically take priority over core progression.

Upgrade resource buildings when:

• They are required.
• Your economy is genuinely limiting progression.
• The upgrade provides meaningful long-term value.
• You have spare construction capacity.
• The upgrade fits your event timing.

Avoid upgrading every production building equally while important combat or HQ progression is waiting.

Gathering

Base development also depends on active world-map gathering.

Whenever your marches are not needed elsewhere:

• Send them to resource nodes.
• Collect them when finished.
• Send them again.
• Prioritize your current resource bottleneck.

An idle gathering march is lost income.

Construction + Events

One of the best ways to improve base efficiency is to combine construction with event rewards.

Before completing a major upgrade, check:

• Arms Race
• Alliance Duel
• Construction events
• Seasonal events
• Personal milestones
• Alliance milestones

The ideal outcome is:

Building Upgrade
      +
Construction Points
      +
Alliance Duel Points
      +
Event Rewards

This is commonly called double-dipping or maximizing the value of one action.

Arms Race

Arms Race phases can reward different progression actions.

When a construction-focused phase is active, you can often increase your total value by timing eligible building completions for that window.

However:

Do not delay a critical progression upgrade just to score a small amount of event points.

Use timing when the delay has little or no negative impact.

Alliance Duel

Alliance Duel is another major reason to plan construction timing.

If your alliance is competing seriously, coordinate your construction completions with the appropriate VS day.

This can turn normal base development into:

• Personal progression
• Alliance Duel points
• Alliance rewards
• Personal rewards

The exact schedule and scoring should always be checked in-game because event rules and rotations can change.

Base Development and Research

Base development and Research should progress together.

A common mistake is to push buildings while allowing Research to fall far behind.

Research provides permanent bonuses to:

• Construction
• Research
• Troops
• Heroes
• Economy
• Combat

Your base should therefore support a continuous Research cycle.

A good account has:

Construction Active
+
Research Active
+
Gathering Active
+
Training Active

whenever practical.

Base Development and Heroes

HQ progression increases the available Hero progression ceiling and supports access to stronger account development.

However, simply increasing HQ level does not automatically make your main squad strong.

Continue investing in:

• Hero levels
• Stars
• Skills
• Exclusive weapons where available
• Equipment
• Squad synergy

Base development should support Hero development, not replace it.

Base Development and Troops

Higher base progression supports stronger troop development.

However, training more troops is not always the best immediate investment.

Prioritize:

1. Main troop progression
2. Important troop tiers
3. Main squad capacity
4. Training efficiency
5. Secondary troop development

Avoid spreading resources across every troop type without a clear purpose.

Base Development and Drone

Drone progression is another major combat system.

Your base should provide enough development capacity to support:

• Drone level
• Drone skills
• Drone components
• Main squad combat progression

Do not allow base development to become disconnected from your Drone and Research progression.

Base Development and Survivors

Survivors can provide important development bonuses depending on their skills.

Some Survivors can improve areas such as:

• Construction
• Research
• Resource production
• Training
• Other economic or military functions

Before starting a major construction project, check whether your current Survivor assignments provide useful construction or economy bonuses.

For maximum efficiency:

Choose Development Survivors
        ↓
Assign Correct Skills
        ↓
Activate Relevant Buffs
        ↓
Start Long Upgrade

VIP and Base Development

VIP progression can provide account bonuses that improve development efficiency.

Depending on your VIP level and current version of the game, benefits can include improvements related to:

• Construction
• Research
• Resources
• Marches
• Combat
• Other account functions

VIP should be considered part of your overall development strategy rather than a completely separate system.

HQ Rush vs Balanced Development

There are two broad approaches to base development.

HQ Rush

A player prioritizes reaching the next HQ level as quickly as possible.

Advantages:

• Faster access to higher-level systems
• Higher Hero level cap
• Earlier access to advanced content
• Faster long-term progression ceiling

Disadvantages:

• Other buildings may fall behind
• Resource pressure increases
• Prerequisite bottlenecks become more severe
• Supporting systems may not keep pace

Balanced Development

A player keeps major supporting systems closer to the HQ level.

Advantages:

• More stable economy
• Better military development
• Fewer severe bottlenecks
• Stronger overall account

Disadvantages:

• Slower HQ progression
• Delayed access to higher-level systems

Which Is Better?

For most players, the best strategy is a controlled HQ push.

Push the HQ aggressively when:

• You can meet the prerequisites efficiently.
• Your main combat systems are strong enough.
• You have the resources.
• The next HQ unlock provides meaningful value.

Slow down when:

• Your economy cannot support the next milestone.
• Research is severely behind.
• Your main squad is underdeveloped.
• Your supporting buildings are creating major bottlenecks.

The goal is not simply to have the highest HQ.

The goal is to have the strongest account your HQ level can support.

Base Development by Account Stage

Early Game

Focus on:

• HQ progression
• Unlocking important buildings
• Main squad development
• Basic Research
• Active construction
• Continuous gathering
• Joining an active alliance

Do not spend large amounts of resources on low-value optional upgrades.

Mid Game

Resource and construction planning become much more important.

Focus on:

• HQ milestones
• Tech Center
• Main troop center
• Combat Research
• Hero development
• Equipment
• Drone
• Event timing
• Construction speedups

Try to make major upgrades score event points whenever practical.

Late Game

Late-game progression becomes heavily dependent on planning.

Focus on:

• HQ 30+
• Advanced Research
• Age of Oil progression
• Oil production and management
• Main troop center
• Long construction timers
• High-value combat systems
• Event optimization
• Resource reserves

At this stage, wasting a long construction slot can represent a significant amount of lost progression.

Age of Oil and Advanced Base Development

Once your account reaches the later progression stage, Oil becomes an important part of base development.

Do not treat Oil as simply another version of Food, Iron, or Gold.

Plan around:

• Oil production
• Oil-related Research
• Base Expansion requirements
• HQ 31–35 costs
• Additional Tech Center progression where available
• Season-specific objectives

The Age of Oil progression introduces additional planning requirements and makes resource management even more important. citeturn0search0turn0search3

Common Base Development Mistakes

Upgrading Random Buildings

Not every building provides equal value.

Better approach

Prioritize HQ prerequisites, important combat buildings, Research, and meaningful account improvements.

Ignoring the Tech Center

Allowing the Tech Center to fall behind can block both Research and HQ progression.

Better approach

Keep it aligned with your next HQ milestone.

Leaving Construction Idle

An idle builder represents lost progression time.

Better approach

Prepare the next useful upgrade before the current one finishes.

Building Everything Equally

Resources and builder time are limited.

Better approach

Concentrate investment on your main progression path.

Spending Resources Too Early

Large HQ pushes require preparation.

Better approach

Save resources and speedups for important milestones and event windows.

Ignoring Events

Completing a large upgrade at the wrong time can mean missing valuable rewards.

Better approach

Check Arms Race and Alliance Duel before major completions.

Delaying HQ Without a Reason

Some players become too focused on making every building equal.

Better approach

If the next HQ level provides meaningful benefits and the prerequisites are manageable, prioritize it.

Rushing HQ Without Support

The opposite mistake is pushing HQ while the rest of the account is too weak.

Better approach

Keep your main squad, Research, troops, and economy strong enough to support the new HQ level.

Upgrading Every Troop Type

Spreading resources across Tank, Aircraft, and Missile progression can slow your main squad.

Better approach

Prioritize your main troop type first.

Ignoring Hospitals

A powerful account with insufficient healing capacity can struggle during PvP.

Better approach

Develop Hospitals as required and maintain enough capacity for your combat activity.

Daily Base Routine

A simple daily routine keeps your base efficient.

At Login

• Collect completed resource production.
• Collect completed gathering.
• Send marches back to gather.
• Check Construction.
• Check Research.
• Check Training.
• Check Events.
• Check Alliance Duel.
• Check Arms Race.
• Check available buffs.

During the Day

• Keep construction active.
• Keep Research active.
• Keep training active when appropriate.
• Keep gathering marches active.
• Complete daily activities.
• Participate in alliance activities.
• Save important items for valuable events.

Before Logout

• Start a useful construction.
• Start Research.
• Start troop training if appropriate.
• Send idle marches to gather.
• Check tomorrow's event focus.
• Prepare the next building requirement.

Weekly Base Planning

At the beginning of the week:

1. Check Alliance Duel.
2. Check Arms Race phases.
3. Identify your next HQ milestone.
4. List all required buildings.
5. Estimate resource requirements.
6. Estimate construction time.
7. Prepare speedups.
8. Decide which upgrades should be timed for events.

During the week:

• Complete the required prerequisites.
• Keep Research active.
• Keep gathering active.
• Use construction speedups strategically.
• Avoid unnecessary upgrades.
• Rebuild your resource reserve after major spending.

HQ Push Checklist

Before starting a major HQ upgrade:

• [ ] Next HQ level checked
• [ ] All prerequisite buildings identified
• [ ] Tech Center requirement checked
• [ ] Main troop center requirement checked
• [ ] Barracks requirement checked
• [ ] Wall requirement checked if applicable
• [ ] Hospital requirement checked if applicable
• [ ] Drill Ground requirement checked if applicable
• [ ] Alliance Center requirement checked if applicable
• [ ] Special Research requirement checked
• [ ] Food prepared
• [ ] Iron prepared
• [ ] Gold prepared
• [ ] Oil prepared if required
• [ ] Construction speedups prepared
• [ ] Construction buffs checked
• [ ] Event timing checked
• [ ] Next HQ requirements already considered

Base Efficiency Checklist

Before starting any building upgrade, ask:

• [ ] Is this building required for HQ?
• [ ] Does it unlock an important system?
• [ ] Does it improve my main combat progression?
• [ ] Is it currently a bottleneck?
• [ ] Is there an event rewarding this action?
• [ ] Can I use construction buffs?
• [ ] Am I using the correct resources?
• [ ] Will this delay a more important building?
• [ ] Do I need the building now or later?
• [ ] Will my next HQ requirement need this building soon?

The Ideal Base Development Cycle

Use this cycle throughout your account:

CHECK NEXT HQ
      ↓
IDENTIFY PREREQUISITES
      ↓
PLAN RESOURCES
      ↓
UPGRADE REQUIRED BUILDINGS
      ↓
KEEP RESEARCH ACTIVE
      ↓
CHECK EVENT TIMING
      ↓
START HQ UPGRADE
      ↓
USE SPEEDUPS WHEN VALUABLE
      ↓
CHECK THE NEXT HQ REQUIREMENTS
      ↓
REPEAT

Base Development Priority Framework

When deciding what to upgrade next, use this order:

1. HQ REQUIREMENT
        ↓
2. IMPORTANT UNLOCK
        ↓
3. MAIN COMBAT PROGRESSION
        ↓
4. RESEARCH / TECH PROGRESSION
        ↓
5. ECONOMIC BOTTLENECK
        ↓
6. EVENT OPPORTUNITY
        ↓
7. SECONDARY IMPROVEMENT

If an upgrade does not fit anywhere in this framework, it may not be a priority.

Final Rules

If you remember only a few principles, remember these:

### Rule 1 The Headquarters is the center of your base development.

### Rule 2 Know the next HQ requirements before starting random upgrades.

### Rule 3 Keep the Tech Center progressing.

### Rule 4 Keep builders active, but never upgrade useless buildings just to avoid idle time.

### Rule 5 Prioritize your main troop type and main squad.

### Rule 6 Save resources and speedups for important milestones.

### Rule 7 Use construction bonuses before major upgrades whenever practical.

### Rule 8 Time major construction around Arms Race and Alliance Duel when possible.

### Rule 9 Do not rush HQ so aggressively that your main combat systems fall behind.

### Rule 10 Do not delay HQ unnecessarily just to make every building equal.

### Rule 11 Plan your next milestone before completing the current one.

### Rule 12 Check the in-game requirement screen for the exact current HQ requirements.

Summary

Base development is the foundation of your account in Last War: Survival.

The strongest development strategy is not simply to upgrade everything as quickly as possible.

Instead:

• Prioritize Headquarters progression.
• Prepare HQ prerequisites in advance.
• Keep the Tech Center progressing.
• Focus on your main troop type.
• Keep construction active.
• Manage resources carefully.
• Use speedups strategically.
• Coordinate major upgrades with events.
• Keep Research running.
• Maintain your main squad and combat systems.
• Prepare for the next HQ milestone before the current one is finished.

The ideal account development loop is:

PLAN
 ↓
PREPARE
 ↓
BUILD
 ↓
RESEARCH
 ↓
TIME EVENTS
 ↓
UPGRADE HQ
 ↓
STRENGTHEN COMBAT SYSTEMS
 ↓
PREPARE THE NEXT MILESTONE
 ↓
REPEAT

A high HQ is useful. A well-developed HQ is powerful.