If you are new to Upland, new city releases are exciting, and in Dale the Llama’s opinion the best part of the game! Imagine having the ability to buy your favorite property – a downtown skyscraper, your favorite restaurant or bar, a big mall, etc. You just have to get there first! It is a race!

Even if you are a brand new player who has reached Uplander status (less than 100,000 UPX net worth) you have a unique opportunity to start off with fast growth during a new city release by minting FSA properties. New players who have invested more than 100,000 UPX and reached pro level have not need to worry. There are more than enough quality properties to mint that are not FSA. The number of FSA properties in a city vary from around 15%-70%, where only in beginner cities are the amount of FSA properties more than 33%. This post will go into detail the different strategy for new players who have never participated in a city release – what to expect, and how to set yourself up for growth!

Whatever your strategy is, make sure to avoid these common mistakes during a new city launch! Also, make sure you take our quiz to make sure you are adequately prepared. Dale recommends reading this page that describes the entire new city release process and clarifies a number of frequently asked questions about the topic before moving forward. If this is your first city release, make sure to learn how to prepare for it.

A few basic things to know beforehand:

  1. FSA properties (Fair Start Act). This can be a double edged sword. On one hand, it is in place so that new players have an equal opportunity to buy properties all over the map, including collections. These are properties that the big whales can’t buy, but many are willing to pay higher markups for collection FSA properties. The downside of FSA properties is that you may only sell 2 of them per calendar week, and holds true even after you pass the 100,000 net worth and make it to a pro. Click here to read more about these properties. You can only mint 3 FSA properties each day, and a total of 30 over your lifetime. These restrictions make it difficult to amass a large amount of valuable FSA properties, and selling them off will also take several weeks.
  2. Vanilla mode. All cities have collections. An example of a collection is holding 3 properties in the same collection neighborhood or specific street. The collections are always predetermined prior to a city release. Vanilla mode means that these collections are only revealed after the city has been released, and the properties in that neighborhood have been minted. This makes the release more interesting as you must familiarize yourself with the city and guess as to where collections might be. Read more about vanilla releases here, and read our top 5 reasons why we prefer vanilla releases.
  3. You must have reached uplander status (10,000 UPX net worth ($10)) in order to sell properties. The easiest way to become an uplander is to buy UPX. For the average player, the best value to set you up for fast growth during a new city release would be to take advantage of the best starter value promotion when creating your Upland account.
  4. Watch this video for more insight from YK2012. As an Executive he has participated in over 20 city releases.

The following strategies are primarily for players with a net worth of less than 100,000 UPX. Players that have a larger starting net worth or liquidity for a new city release have near infinite options as how to prepare to mint properties in a new city. Each city is unique, and provides many different alternatives depending on a players long term strategy and liquidity. The Upland Guide can work with you to create tailor made strategies (you always need a plan B for new city releases) that will set you up for success in the Metaverse. Email us to inquire about our services.

Important information during the launch.
Sends:
Keep in mind the number of sends you have. You can only have a maximum of 11 sends at any given time. During launches there are usually more sends than normal that are dropped around the city. You may be eager to jump around the city looking for properties to mint. You never want to get to a situation where you do not have any sends left. If you are down to your last send, make sure your next send is to a paper airplane!

Collections:

If collections are known prior to the launch, many consider buying property there first. These are the most sought after and have the highest chance for resale. The rarer the collection, the higher the markup (and mint price) you can expect. On the other hand, there is an alternative strategy of not actively seeking out collection properties as the competition for them will be high. There are plenty of other popular neighborhoods or properties that can greatly increase in value that are not part of collections. Going to mint collection properties can be high risk, but also a high reward.
Even if the release is in vanilla mode, don’t forget to make your standard collections if you haven’t already done so. By completing the following collections, you can get approximately another 3600 UPX:
A: Newbie collection – Add one property to the collection
B: King of the Streets collection – Add 3 properties on the same street
C: City specific collection – Add 3 properties in the specific city (not be available during vanilla mode)
D: City Pro collection – Add 5 properties in the same city

Click here to read about the best strategy about completing these collections.

Don’t forget to read about the new city release process and how to prepare for it a new city release.