When you look at the surface of the video game Bills Must Be Paid, you don’t generally get the sense of complexity and anxiety, but as the game moves to later stages with bills piling up on the table, it will not take too long for the problem to sink in. This will happen as the game is designed around failure. Here in this article, we are going to touch upon the best advanced tips for the video game Bills Must Be Paid.
Tip #1 | Don’t Ignore Stamina Skill Upgrades
The game has many stamina-related upgrades indirectly affecting your damage and the time you will spend on a round. Everything in the game drains your stamina until you can’t swing your hammer anymore. While at earlier levels with small piggies, you can get away with low stamina, but in later levels you will deal with a bit tougher piggies that require more attack swings to smash, which means more stamina consumption per piggie on the desk.
Sometimes the hammer swings will rise up to 10 or 15 hits to kill a single piggie; each swing costs stamina, so in short, you will spend almost half of your stamina smashing just one piggie. Raising grip strength, upgrades, and common stamina increases will take you so far in the game.
Tip #2 | Prioritize More Loot and Luck
A simple round can spawn piggies that throw out a ludicrous amount of coin, all thanks to upgrades in Luck and More Loot. By default, your luck stat sits at 0, so you will not get any bonus coin boost by smashing a piggie. The chances of seeing a jackpot are non-existent until you invest in the perks that allow you to get lucky with your piggie smashing and earn more than the last 4 to 7 piggies combined, or even more.
This is absolutely true in the early phase of the game, where piggies yield less currency, while you have enough to pay the bill and upgrade, but it will not pay off later when the bill’s cost will blow through the roof. Start investing in Luck and More Loot, and it will pay off on all the piggies you will encounter in mid- to end-game.
Always get the loot upgrades, then you can put your focus on the rest of the abilities such as attacking faster and dealing more damage per strike. While the latter ones are useful, to afford them you will need a solid amount of coins, which you can only get by hitting jackpots and breaking the glowing piggies.
Tip #3 | Switch Hammers
Don’t stick to one hammer; each hammer has a distinct attack style and specialty attached to it. Some of them hit wider, while some land nothing but precise strikes all day long. The game also spawns piggies based on the same hammer styles; some of the piggies can be hit as they are a bit bigger than the rest or come in hordes, and some are so hard-shelled that you will need to land nothing but precise strikes on them to smash them.
What you shouldn’t do is rely on just a single hammer; this will greatly suppress the efficiency of your round-run. The goal is always to destroy as many piggies as possible; if you are just stuck with breaking one, then you will greatly lower your money income for the level. That’s why it is always better to switch hammers to constantly get into the flow of the game.
Tip #4 | Bills
Discard the notion that you will be able to make the money for the bill in the last round, after spending it all on an upgrade; if the game spawns only common piggies without the special one, your entire run is messed up beyond repair. There is a theme of unpredictability to the piggie spawn, and sometimes you will get lucky and get a decent amount of money per round with the jackpot whale; other rounds you might not see any jackpot, as you will have to settle with an average coin yield.
Balance your budget for bill payment than spend it on the upgrades. You also have the option to ask Toni, your friend, to lend you some money at 10% interest.
The game also makes it harder as the amount on the bill will always be higher in the next week compared to the previous week. When you are making a good amount of dough per single round, don’t ever spend it all on upgrades and purchases.
I would recommend setting a specific amount for upgrades, and others should be saved for the bill payment. If you made $200 in the last round, and the bill sits at $300, you can get an upgrade worth $100 or $50 to balance the budget.
Tip #5 | Selecting Proper Cards
After you pay your bill, you are allowed to choose between three cards; some of them provide great bonuses while others are stat boosts. Always pick the stat boost, as they naturally grow with the flow of the game. As you get more skill upgrades, these stat boosts from the cards also enhance and support the overall stat increase of skill upgrades and from normal weapon purchases.
In the card selection, always avoid the cards that offer temporary boosts; you want the cards that provide a long-term stat offering. Such as Faster Swings or Critical Chances. These stats will also merge with the stats from the skill upgrade to make them more efficient.
Tip #6 | Filing for Bankruptcy
Eventually you will hit a wall, where the bill for the next week will be a ridiculous amount compared to the actual money you will make in the week. It’s a sign that you are leading to bankruptcy, which makes it the end of this run. There is another way to use this method to get better at the next run. Every time you pay $50 on your bill, you will get a Legacy Point, which you can invest to make the character stronger. Early on, treat your runs as a means to gather the most amount of Legacy Points.
Don’t for a second assume that you are about to beat the game; just focus on paying as many bills as possible to gather a good amount of Legacy Points. You can keep track of the points in the top-right section of the HUD. Once you have gathered enough, Declare Bankruptcy; this will put you on the next cycle or next run. Here you can get the upgrades to make even more money and smash even more piggies. You will soon find out the next run is far too easy compared to the first one; this feeling of advancement goes up with the more Legacy Points you invest in the game.
Note: You are losing your progress with your file for Bankruptcy, but at the same time you are coming back stronger. The time it took you to clear 20 rounds will be much faster the second time, then the third time, and it goes on. It’s important to note that you are always going to make more money after coming into a new cycle.
Tip #7 | Legacy Point Purchases
When you have a certain amount of Legacy Points, you can buy rings and amulets to raise your stat further than ever before; these are the long-term progression that will carry over for you for the rest of the game. Think of them as permanent upgrades. When you are buying a ring, you don’t have to go in a sequential order; each ring has a Legacy Point cost attached to it.
Once you pay the cost, you will obtain the ring, and its effect will get activated forever until you hit reset. Since you don’t have to go sequentially, you can be specific about your ring choice. You can choose a ring in the fourth column that grants a unique passive bonus and then head to the second or third row and grab the point in a different column.
This adds customization to your overall character or game progression. Whereas in other roguelikes, you must upgrade A to unlock B, then C, here you can directly unlock C, then Z, only if you have the Legacy Points at your disposal.
Tip #8 | Not All Piggies are the Same
Some of the piggies yield high coin, and others restore stamina; prioritizing what to hit becomes a task in itself. When you are low on stamina, you should bet on the piggies that restore stamina so you will push it a bit further before the round ends.
You can also think about saving one or two piggies that restore stamina for later on, if you are waiting for any glowing piggie to appear that will give you the jackpot. While initially you might adapt to the way of smashing everything that moves on their desk, later on you must be careful about the piggie types so you can make decisions based on your current upgrades.
Tip #9 | Don’t pay Early
When you are on your second and third cycle, paying the bills early makes sense, but that isn’t necessarily the best decision. Unless you are getting some perk that gives you a bonus luck or bonus coin boost to the next round. But generally, you should think about paying the debt on the last day, so you will earn more without having to pay next week’s bill amount. You will have a good set of days before the collectors come knocking on your door for the payment; take advantage of each day and make the most, and pay the bill on the last day.
Note: But if you are making too much, and you are on your fourteenth or fifteenth cycle or New Game+, then you should pay early so you will earn the Card bonuses. Here, paying early makes sense, as you must catch up to the high-paying rounds or late-game sections.
