The Tycoon at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Infiltration |
| Tagline | A magnate who turns even defeat into profit |
| Grid battle ability | On capture fail, +12~34 gold |
| Weapon | Staff |
| Grid color | Black |
| Disaster immunity | Drought |
| RPG strong genres | Cargo · Supply |
| ARCADE bonus | Defense |
In the official lore, the Tycoon is a magnate who sees even war as a deal. Cane in hand, he surveys the battlefield like pages of a ledger, and he has a knack for walking out with his stake even in defeat. To him, a loss is seed money for the next investment. Attack a Tycoon's tile and you may hear "Did you calculate the ROI on this attack?"
How failure turns into income
The Tycoon's ability only works when a battle is lost. Here is what one failed attack gives you, step by step.
- When you pick a target, the "Attack?" bubble shows your win chance, the ticket cost and the gold on offer. Being a Tycoon doesn't change any of those numbers.
- Tickets are consumed based on the land's level, win or lose.
- If the capture fails, the Tycoon effect pays 12 to 34 gold. The gold appears on the defeat screen, and your gold history under Record lists it as "Tycoon Effect."
- The same failure also counts toward the daily "Solace : Fail" quest, which pays tickets once you complete it.
- If the capture succeeds, there is no Tycoon effect; you get the capture gold plus the land-count bonus (enemy land ÷ 100, up to 99 gold at 9,900+ enemy tiles).
Easy to mix up: the 1 gold you receive when your own land is captured is a reward every job gets. The Tycoon effect is paid when you attack and fail, so the two are separate rewards.
Why the Tycoon holds up against big targets
The 9AM Briefing's "Want more gold?" list includes "Attack big landholders," because the extra gold scales with their land. Their tiles, however, are often upgraded or capitals. The win rate guide gives -24% at 1 star, -28% at 2 stars, -32% at 3 stars and -36% for a capital, plus -18% when the owner is a Guardian. The bigger the target, the more often you fail, and the Tycoon turns those failures into gold.
- Tickets stay the same: high-level tiles cost more tickets. If tickets are your bottleneck, the Assassin (1 ticket per attack) fits better; if you want something back from failures, pick the Tycoon. Both are Infiltration jobs.
- Mind the distance: you lose 1 for every 1,000 tiles between the land you attack from and your capital. Attacking a big target from land near your capital cuts down on failures.
- Spending it: gold from the Tycoon effect works like any other gold, for territory upgrades or a Job Pass.
The Tycoon in RPG mode: merchant of the trade routes
The Tycoon is listed under "Advantaged jobs" on Silk Road, Voyages of Zheng He, Trans-Saharan Trade Route, Spice Route: Indian Ocean Trade and Age of Discovery. Every one of them is a trade route, a natural fit for a merchant, and a matching job gets more attack and takes less damage for the whole mission. On their Cargo legs you haul goods such as silk, porcelain, salt, spices and supplies.
The Tycoon's leg advantages are Cargo and Supply. On a Cargo leg each crate slows your walk, and purple-glowing "Thieves" may steal a crate and run. You must bring at least one crate for the destination boss to appear, and a Tycoon is slowed less per crate. On a Supply leg your move gauge drains faster, and supply crates dropping from the sky open automatically when you stand by them, refilling HP and the move gauge; a Tycoon gets more healing from them. Age of Discovery has both a Cargo and a Supply leg, so you collect both leg advantages there.
The Tycoon in Arcade, disasters and clans
ARCADE: the Tycoon's matching stat is Defense, shown in the Practice Mode stat card as "Current job Tycoon → Defense." Each stat maxes out at 10, and any overflow is split evenly among stats below 10.
Disasters: lands hit by the daily disaster are reset and can't be claimed for 24 hours. The Tycoon is immune to Drought but no other disaster, so check the Disaster Forecast as well.
Clan battles: in the "Critical Hit" matchups, the Tycoon lands critical hits on the Warrior and takes them from the Miner. Against a clan with many Warriors, a Tycoon is worth fielding.
Switching to Tycoon, and common mistakes
Change jobs from the Job menu in your profile with a Job Pass, sold in 48-hour blocks for gold or in the shop. You can change once right after buying or recharging; after that, each change locks for 24 hours, and when the pass expires you switch to Starter automatically.
The Tycoon suits players who fight many battles a day and often take on big targets with uncertain odds. Watch out for these mistakes:
- Only attacking near-hopeless tiles: you get failure gold, but the tickets are still spent and your land doesn't grow.
- Expecting ticket savings: saving tickets is the Assassin's ability.
- Expecting a bonus on wins: the job paid extra on successful captures is the Miner.