Verification method: source, version, checks

The verification method describes where the numbers on the wiki pages come from and how they are checked. Every table of stats, costs and rewards is assembled from the data of the installed game rather than copied from other guides. Each one carries a version it belongs to and a day when it was last checked. This page explains how to read those marks and where the line runs between what a program has verified and what a person is responsible for.

Source: game data

The "game data" mark next to a number means it was taken from the numeric tables the game application keeps inside itself. They hold hero stats by level and star, building costs and times, the research tree, event rewards and recruit odds. The tables were extracted from the installed game and are read directly, without manual retyping, and there are 728 of them. The values in the tables are the base ones, and the result in the game can differ because of bonuses and events. Numbers with this mark do not retell player observations and are not taken from third-party guides. Checking showed that outside guides regularly diverge from the data, and the wiki links to none of them.

Version 1.0.87

All wiki tables are built from the data of game version 1.0.87, the Android build distributed through Google Play under the package name com.phs.global. A separate date of the data capture was not recorded, so the "Verified" date on each page serves as the reader's reference point. When an update comes out, the tables are rebuilt from the new version and the number in this section changes. Until that rebuild, the numbers on the pages may lag behind what the updated game shows, and such differences are best reported in a comment under the page.

What is checked automatically

A program, not a person, puts the numbers into tables and text. The author of a page writes the prose and leaves a place in it for a value. The value arrives from the data, which all but rules out a typo in a number on a page. Before publication the whole set of pages is assembled twice and compared. A page that changes from one run to the next is held back until the cause is found. The Russian and English versions are compared by numbers, and if one holds a value the other lacks, publication stops. Separate checks cover numbers in a page description that are missing from its text, empty tables, links to pages that do not exist and pages nobody links to. The last step is a style check: em dashes, jargon absent from the game, a page without a lead paragraph and a section that opens with a table.

What is checked by hand

Wording, advice and ratings are written and checked by a person. Terms are compared against the Russian and English localization of the game, so that "Sanctuary", "Antitoxin" or "Exclusive Weapon" are called on the wiki the way the game calls them. Hero ratings, upgrade orders and spending advice rest on numbers from the data, but the conclusion is drawn by a member, so such sections are proofread separately. Common advice from third-party guides is treated as a hypothesis. Each one is checked against the tables, and only confirmed advice reaches the wiki, often together with the reason it holds. Claims of the form "the most expensive", "the only source" or "the game has none of this" require going through every record rather than one convenient example. Without that pass they are not written.

How unverified claims are marked

A number without a check date and a source link is not published on the wiki. Where a full check has not been done, the text says so plainly. Instead of "the game has none of this" it names the tables where nothing was found. Instead of "the largest" it says "one of the largest" and names what it was compared with. Lists from outside sites, such as gift code lists, are given with a note of who calls what working and the date the snapshot was taken. Activities that exist in the game but have no page yet are listed in a separate section of the Events page. That way a reader does not look for a description that is not there. Pages written by members by hand carry the same facts card with dates and a source as the ones assembled from data.

How to read "Verified"

The "Verified" date answers one question: when the numbers on the page were last checked against the game data. It does not move on a layout edit and does not coincide with the "Last edited" date, which changes on every save. A fresh edit next to an old check date means someone corrected the text without re-checking the numbers. Beside it stands "Source", a link to the game's page in the app store for game data or to the publisher's page when the numbers were taken from there. If the check date is older than the game version installed on the reader's device, the numbers may be out of date. The About page describes how to report that.

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