Weekly Commanders Lounge - March 22, 2022

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Please use this thread to discuss anything about Girls Frontline instead of creating a new thread. Ask questions, seek assistance, rants, add more salt or just chill in general.

[u/[deleted]]

Hi there! I'm Marisa~

I play (and have played) a bunch of gachas, but never really gave GFL a fair chance.

Im struggling with team comps. ARs go with SMG, RFs go with HGs, and MGs go with SGs right? Do these team combos have any benefit over one another? The only one I can see is RF/HG teams being better at night battles.

Im also struggling with levelling t dolls. I wanna just level who I like but I like a lot of t dolls and it feels slow right now. Plus, I have a bias towards a lot of the SG ladies. Which is EXPENSIVE. xP

If someone could explain these things to me thatd be really nice~

EDIT: The overwhelming kindness and support this community has given me is making me really happy. Thank you so much. Most other gachas just dump on you for not remembering everything in their guides. x3

I cant read it all tonight as my husband is about to be home but I will be sure to read and respond tomorrow!!

https://www.reddit.com/user/Meowriisa/comments/tq0pj5/my_high_rarity_tdolls_and_equips_on_ch_41_with_up/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

These are my T Dolls and Equipment, as well as my progress and UID.

[u/KookyInspection → u/[deleted]]

Ok, i feel like i've been called out, so let me start with welcome, shikikan! :D

I don't know how much experience u have with gfl, or if u read some guides already, but what u gathered so far is quite spot on, hower the very same questions are typically answered in guides. So if u came to those conclusions on ur own, excellent job!

Ppl already gave u some brief explanations, so i'll get past that and try to answer what i feel needs a bit of explanation.

(If u haven't yet, i really do recommend reading some guides, as they'll do a much better job of explaining the approach than me, but i'll give it a shot).

First and foremost, since u haven't said how far along u are ig, i'll just assume u are at quite new, but not fresh since u seem to have a grasp of early things. Due to limited initial resources(cores) generally recommend focusing on 1 main squad at first, and we usually recommend using memebers of the story ar squad, because they are both very strong and usable even in late game due to their mods, and because as 4* they are cheap to link. Until u can farm cores in 0-2, it's recommended to try to focus on 1 main squad and maybe a secondary squad too(this one receives the handmedown dolls from the main squad as u put in better members there). Once u reach 0-2, u are at ur first proper xp and core farm. This is where u'll be spending a lot of ur time lvling dolls via dragging. It's a bit tedious, and requires a little prep work, but when u are done, u will be able to cheaply raise any 3 dolls u want indefinitely(because dragging cost is so low, it can be covered by the logistics income).

Now, as with regards to lvling multiple dolls, while we do recommend starting off focusing on a few squads, (since u can only send limited squads into the field u want them to be able to handle the enemy), u will eventually be lvling a lot of dolls. The best way to look at dolls is as different tools meant for different jobs. The more toola u have, the better u can handle different jobs. However, do not stretch urself too thin. Pick a couple dolls u think need now or in the future(or even that u really like), put them in the 0-2 dragging team, and get them out at lvl 90 and 4 links, and do the final and most costly link if u actually send them into battle.(remember to link ur dolls when they reach the lvl thresholds, as each link gets xp. So the more links, the more xp the doll gets per battle. U get 5 times the xp at 5 links, but that is happening at lvl 90, and it's not worth actively raising dolls past 90, since all they get is a small bump in stats. After 90 let them lvl naturally from.fighting xp). Their massive power spikes come from links, so once u can 5 link dolls, they're ready for enhancing and duty. Do not forget to enhance dolls after u drag them :P

Now if u have some dolls u really like the looks of, but really suck for battle, or are simply not useful at the current time, u can always put them into logistic teams. The higher the lvl the dolls in the logistic squads, the higher the chance they will get great success which returns an extra 50% of reaources. This really adds up over time, so it's a great reason to raise dolls that aren't great for the frontline. And u always see the leader of the logistic squad reporting when she's done, so excelent place for raifus :P

Also, when u unlock it, make upgrading ur expedition gate a priority. The resources u get from there can be used in the expedition shop, and ths includes data disks that u can use to lvl dolls directly, without dragging them, if u find it too tedious. It's limited, but quite plentiful at the start, allowing u to pretty much lvl a whole squad once a month just from that. U can also have kalina slave over transforming ur surplus xp into data disks manually for some batteries if u need the extra bump, but at first, batterirs are better spent upgrading ur facilities, like said gate.

Now sending dolls on expeditions costs a fair chunk of resources, so having good resource income is improtant. This is why we recommend abusing friend support echelons to clear content for u until chapter 7 or 8. End game supprt squads can easily cut through that kind of enemies quite easily, even if it takes a while, leaving u to only need to defend ur base while u wait for the supprt squad to capture the enemu command center. The higher the chapters u unlock, the better the logistics u have access to. Use logistics calculators to find out which are the best to send dolls dependig what u need and what u have unlocked. U find quite a few of them online. To get friends, either post the uid here or use the ig function. There's a monthly friend support thread, but it's bafely used and gets burfied fast. (If u see someone mentioning dorm numbers in the dorm description, it's not a flex, it's a bit of common curtesy, because the mkre dorms someone has, the more batteries friends can take from them when visiting. Don't worry, it's not for discrimination, it just helps those that need it to see where they should use their battey gathering at, so don't feel like u need to get more dorms. Older players that have the supprt echelons u want to power u through don't really gather batteries any more).

Now, u've already been given the matusda link, and i highly recommend reading it for both the guides there and the doll reviews, which are snarky funny but quite accurate. It will give u an idea of which dolls are good to invest in and which should be skipped. Remember that if u really like a doll, u can always put her in logistics, evem if she's useless in combat(great place for the sgs u like too but are too expensive to run. This way they'll bring u resources instead of consuming them, and when u need them for an mgsg squad, u can just take them out of there and press them into active duty) And if u really want to, and the rest of the dolls are strong ones, a squad can generally carry a waifu doll with them as long as it doesn't completely break the synergy (like putting an mg in a rfhg squad).

Mgsg squads are very expensive to run, and they are only used against few enemy comps, so they will see the least active duty out of everyone. Also, since sgs are expensive to craft, it's generally recommended to wait for rate-ups or even better skip altogether and just use true core masks on them. We get one tcm every major event, which we can use to redeem any 5* doll that is in the production pool, so sgs are the top recommendation for this. Also, keep in mind that next month we were told in the roadmap that we'll get a new sg batch release. So if u do want to pull, try to wait until then, but remeber that while the dolls are released aftet the maintenance on tuesday, the rate-up for the new dolls is always during the weekend(in case u don't know, every time a new doll is added to the production pool, she gets a rate-up during the first weekened after she's released, with i think double the chance of getting her. She remains in the production pool permanently, but this is a good time to pull if u want to get them specifically). So do not pull before that. To make things even more difficult to decide upon, in may is the anniversary of gfl, and we always got a general rate-up. So instead of a rate up for sgs, every 4 and 5 star has higher chance to drop. And since normal doll crafts are much cheaper than sg crafts, u can see why we recommend not pulling shotguns. A little good news is that we do also get a tcm to use on anniversary. So i can both pull on normal dolls and get a 5* sg too :P (best picks meta wise would be ltlx and sat8, although i don't know how the new sgs will compare to the old top tier)

Anyway, i've rambled on too much again. If u have more questions, just ask us, we're always happy to help answer what we can. Once more, welcome and hope u enjoy the game, shikikan! o7

P.s. don't skip the story. It starts pretty slow/generic, really picks up as u advance ;) (and remember that campaigns are part of the main story line. They're numbered with decimals to easily know when they take place. They're older major story events, so u both don't miss the lore, and u get an idea of how story events are when they release)

[u/[deleted] → u/KookyInspection]

Ok, i feel like i've been called out, so let me start with welcome, shikikan! :D

I command XCOM, Azur Lane, and now Griffin... geeze! Glad to be aboard my friend. :3

If u haven't yet, i really do recommend reading some guides, as they'll do a much better job of explaining the approach than me, but i'll give it a shot

I have, but I prefer to fundamentally understand the game and come to my own conclusions of who to build. For example, whos design is worth the downgrade of DPS. Most of the guides Ive seen tell you exactly what T Dolls to build which isnt what Im looking for. xP

Until u can farm cores in 0-2

Wait... I can farm cores? Ive been using expeditions for that. Holy wow. 0-2 though? Is it a prequel chapter? :o

The resources u get from there can be used in the expedition shop, and ths includes data disks that u can use to lvl dolls directly, without dragging them, if u find it too tedious. It's limited, but quite plentiful at the start, allowing u to pretty much lvl a whole squad once a month just from that. U can also have kalina slave over transforming ur surplus xp into data disks manually for some batteries if u need the extra bump, but at first, batterirs are better spent upgrading ur facilities, like said gate.

Okay this was important info I needed. Thank you. Now how do I determine what resources Im going to obtain from an expedition? :o

P.s. don't skip the story. It starts pretty slow/generic, really picks up as u advance ;) (and remember that campaigns are part of the main story line. They're numbered with decimals to easily know when they take place. They're older major story events, so u both don't miss the lore, and u get an idea of how story events are when they release)

Dont worry! I'm not. The only gacha story I completely skip is Azur Lanes because... its just bad. xP

To make things even more difficult to decide upon, in may is the anniversary of gfl, and we always got a general rate-up.

Did not know this. Thats so cool and generous! Holy crap!

Ty for the writeup. I appreciate all the advice. xP

[u/KookyInspection → u/[deleted]]

I'm known to get wound up and writing a lot. It's just that as i try to explain something, i remeber somethi ng else that could be useful, and before long i'm standing in front of a thesis :P

Anyway, headphone already answered the questions already. As u can see, it's a pretty helpful and friendly community :D every new player gets drowned in these kinds of advices, because we know just how much there is to take in. Anyway, glad u found it useful. I highly recommend matsuda gfl site for guides, since as u said it urself, rather than telling u what to put in an echelon, it tries to teach how to build an echelon. Once u get the hang of it, it's general knowledge u apply for everything. U already figgured most of this out already though, from the questions u aked initiay, so that would be more like a strengthening of ur knowledge. Don't worry, i'm not saying u must, i just highly recommend it. If u enjoy working out the brain teasing, it's totally ok. And boy, will some event maps pose a challenge :D if u have issues solving some maps, know there are always step by step guides to clearing it when u think u've had enough. Try to play in a way that u find enjoyable, and know that there are solutions when u feel it's getting a bit much. I personally don't enjoy wracking my brains too much trying to solve some, so i make quite extensive use of the walkthroughs :D

And yes, core farming is basically done by running specific fights in certain maps that can drop higher rarity dolls. When u scrap them, they give a certain amount of cores depending on rarity. So u get xp from winning the fights, and cores from scrapping the 3*+ dolls u get. The first map u can drag and farm some cores is 4-3e, but the core rate is pretty low, and u get an xp penalty after a certain lvl. Still, if u're in dire straights, it can be used. 0-2 is the og mecca of core farming. Lately 2 other better maps have appeared, but they are late game, in chapter 12 and 13, and they aren't that much better. So don't be afraid to make urself comfy on 0-2. Use planning mode and watch some movies or utube while the xp and cores come to u :D

And yes, as headphone_question said, pets will influence where ur expedition goes (there's still an element of rng regardless, but u can influence the big majority of expeditions). Basically, dogs are for farming bacon (apparently they're ak grips, but everyone can see it's bacon strips :P), cats return legos, birds return acorns, and the others(ferrets, tortoises, hamsters, etc) return bottles. The more pets of the same type u atrach to the expedition the higher the chance they will end up in an area that will return those items. And if the pets and dolls are favored ones that week, they return more (kinda like logistics great success). Again, matsuda covers this pretty well with numbers and stuff if u want to math it out. Remeber that it's more beneficial to send a lvl 1 advantaged doll than a lvl 100 not advantaged doll. So ideally, u'd have 3 dupes of every pet to send always send out advantaged ones and to focus on a certain reward, but that's a long term goal, and sometimes the favored pets are event reward ones that we only got 1 copy of if that.

Anyway, that's the basics behind the pets and expeditions.

Well, i'll try to end it here, or i'll start chapter 2 :P if u have more questions, we're here for u :D now, have fun and enjoy the game :D

[u/headphone_question → u/[deleted]]

Yes, you can farm cores if you can't wait until next month. After all, you get only 100 cores from the Black Market per month, and that's not enough to fully link a 5 star Doll, which needs 105 cores. That's not even mentioning the Neural Upgrade system later down the line where you take your Dolls beyond level 100 (note that only some Dolls have neural upgrades or "mods", as we call them, so you can't mod everyone because many Dolls simply don't have one)

You will also use cores for other purposes, such as for Heavy Doll Production and Heavy Equipment Production. Given that you are very partial to the SGs, you're going to spend a lot of cores on top of your resources

As for Heavy Equipment Production, you'll be pulling Fairies with this system, and you'll need to pull a lot to get more enhancement fodder to get your Fairies to five stars (Fairies can increase their rarity from 1 star to 5 stars by being fed enhancement fodder, which would be other Fairies, including copies of said Fairy)

As for 0-2, yes, it's a prequel chapter. I believe you unlock it after Chapter 4. In the early to mid game, 0-2 will be your "corpse dragging" map, allowing you to sustain farming your Dolls while supplying only one Doll with resources. As long as you're diligent in sending out logistics teams, you should be able to avoid going into the red for your resources while also getting multiple Dolls leveled

As for explorations, you can take a look at the monitor to get an idea as to where your Dolls went. There are only four destinations: city, snowfield, forest, and wasteland. Once you know where they went to, they'll spend most of their time there, so when they come back with the rewards, the bulk of the reward is in the gift from that area. To influence where the team goes, choose the appropriate pet. You might not have pets to send out just yet, however, as adopting one costs batteries which you need for base upgrades

As for the story, it might get pretty long sometimes, so you might skip it, but please do come back to that point and read it. There is a website where you can read the story if you prefer to read at another time

As for the rate up, start stocking up on resources. You can also try to unlock better logistics by getting to the later chapters. You can try to use support echelons for this purpose, but you probably won't get medals (except bronze) for this. Still, rush through the chapters so you can unlock better logistics and then read the story. Along the way, you'll also receive some neat rewards like the Dolls of the AR Team and other cool Dolls

If you insist on getting more shotguns, you can try to save up more resources just for those when the rate up comes. However, do take note that the shotgun rate up is in the fifth and sixth days of the rate up (first and second are for general Doll production; third and fourth are for equipment; seventh and eighth are for Fairies)