Lands of Jail - Time Optimization Tips

Tips to Help You Optimize the Time Resource

Ву AntoN_ggkk.

In Lands of Jail, time is money. Here’s a series of tips to help you optimize the Time resource (used for constructions, research, training), moving from a beginner level to an intermediate one.

I’ll only use the term “construction”, but the same logic applies to almost all development activities (research, healing, training, etc.).

Tip #0:

The obvious one – invest in percentage bonuses for speed-ups from the Lab or by leveling up special Criminals.

Tip #1:

Buy the second construction queue.
- This is the only purchase (around €3) that is almost mandatory in the game.
- Other things like the march queue or the dispenser are useful, but if you play well, you can manage without them.
- The second construction queue, however, is a true game changer.
- Being able to build two structures at once is absolutely crucial, especially during your first month of gameplay.
On the other hand, buying the third construction queue isn’t really worth it in the long run.
- If you optimize your building times properly, you’ll soon find that most buildings are maxed, and you’ll be waiting only for the Director’s Office to upgrade – making that third queue often redundant.

Tip #2:

There are two main ways to speed up development:

(a) Ask for help from your Alliance teammates
(b) Use speed-ups [>>]

Since (a) is free, always try to get as many Alliance Helps as possible before using (b). (a) depends on how many teammates are online – which can be tricky, especially in the endgame – so don’t expect to always get the full help.

Personally, I’m happy if I get about 70% of the max available helps. So, it’s really important to be in a very active Alliance with lots of members online.

Example:

Construction: Bathroom
Build time: 100 minutes
Help from each teammate: -5 minutes
Max number of helps: 10

As soon as I get 7 out of 10 helps, dropping the time from 100 → 65 minutes, then I consider using speed-ups [>>]. The effectiveness of teammate help depends on your level of the Communication Center.

Tip #3:

Take advantage of your sleep time.
- This tip is especially useful from Director Level 16 and above.
Always plan what you want to build overnight!
- If you usually sleep around 8 hours, make sure your development queues are filled with tasks that take at least 8 hours to complete.

Tip #4:

Use your offline time wisely.
- This builds on the previous tip: Before logging off, check all your queues.
- If any of them will finish before you come back online, speed them up and restart a new one before logging off.

Example:

I’m about to log out and plan to return in about 2 hours.
One of my buildings has 30 minutes left.
I speed it up with [>>], finish it, and queue a new one that takes 2 hours or more.

Tip #5:

Check daily events before building.
- Many events reward you for using speed-ups.
- Planning your quick builds during those windows can be very profitable.

Tip #6:

Focus on the Director’s Office.

Here’s the rule:

The level of your Director’s Office sets the maximum level other structures can reach.
But here’s the catch – the combined time for upgrading the Director’s Office and its prerequisites is often greater than the total time needed to upgrade all other buildings.

Let’s say your prison has:

D = Director’s Office
D1, D2 = Prerequisite structures for the next Director upgrade (usually includes the Communication Center)
A to Z = All other buildings

Usually, the build time of D + D1 + D2 is longer than the combined time of A + B + … + Z.

What does this mean?

If you have two construction queues, one should always be reserved for D1, D2, and then D.
Otherwise, you’ll end up with everything maxed out – except your Director’s Office – blocking your progression and wasting time and resources [>>].

I hope this guide – though it may seem basic at times – is helpful, especially for newcomers. In reality, these tips apply to most games of this genre.