The best base upgrade is the one that removes the limit stopping your next completed loop. The official game confirms that both the treadmill and base can be upgraded, but it does not publish the live names, costs, level caps, capacity gains, or protection effects.
Read the live upgrade first
Open the upgrade interface at your own base and record the displayed name, current level, next cost, and stated effect. Do not infer function from icon size or location. A “base” purchase could change capacity, structure, protection, income handling, or another system depending on the current build.
Buy one level only when you can state the intended result. Then test that result before buying again.
Prioritize by bottleneck
This keeps spending tied to a result. If the purchase does not affect the test, inspect whether it requires activation, another level, or a different system.
Balance treadmill and capacity
Speed creates access and reduces carry risk; capacity lets more useful pets contribute. Early on, buy enough capacity to use the boxes you can safely bring home, then invest in treadmill progress so better routes become realistic.
Do not expand far beyond what your income and defense can support. Empty capacity produces no money, while a powerful treadmill with no stable pet income can make the next level unaffordable.
Treat defense as loss prevention
Upgrade protection when repeated raids remove more progress than another Speed purchase would create. Read the current description and test the behavior because no official public table explains shields, locks, cooldowns, barriers, or immunity.
Combine any proven protection with awareness and shorter routes. A base system should support good habits, not replace them. Use How to Protect Your Base for lobby timing and recovery.
Keep a purchase record
Write down the level, cost, stated effect, date, and before-and-after result. This makes it possible to compare efficiency and notice a change after an update. Avoid publishing a full cost curve from a partial session; later levels can use different scaling.
If a trail, luck, opening, or other upgrade appears, keep it separate from base and treadmill fields until the client explains its effect. Similar simulators do not guarantee identical systems.
Upgrade mistakes
- Copying costs or level caps from another date without checking the menu.
- Buying several levels before testing the first one.
- Expanding slots while pet income is too weak to fill them usefully.
- Ignoring protection while long routes expose valuable pets.
- Assuming a cosmetic-looking purchase changes Speed or income.
- Treating a gamepass name as a normal base upgrade effect.
A practical purchase order
Establish one pet-income loop, buy the treadmill or training improvement needed for a familiar route, add capacity when the next useful pet has nowhere to go, and add proven protection when raids become a repeated loss. Revisit the order whenever a different bottleneck appears.
Use the Money Guide to fund purchases and How to Train Speed to verify treadmill value. The right upgrade order is the one that increases completed boxes and protected income in your current session.
Check an upgrade after reconnecting
Before ending the session, capture the visible level and the behavior you just tested. Rejoin once when practical and confirm that the purchased level, unlocked slot, or protection state still appears. This separates a permanent upgrade from a temporary activation, server effect, or display refresh. It also catches purchases that need an extra equip or claim step.
If the display and behavior disagree after reconnecting, do not buy the next level immediately. Reopen the upgrade interface, check whether the price changed, and repeat the smallest relevant test. Preserve screenshots of the label and result when reporting a bug. A clear before-and-after record is more useful than an assumed upgrade tree, especially on an experience that can update between sessions.
Verification boundary
Upgradeable treadmill and base systems are official. Exact upgrade names, prices, level counts, training multipliers, capacity gains, defense effects, and reset behavior require current-client evidence. Keep those fields dated and leave unsupported values out.