Tower Lab Calculator
Optimize your Gem Rushes & Research Efficiency
Note: Rushing is more efficient for longer durations. Wait until distinct deadlines (like 7 days or 24 hours) to maximize efficiency if possible, but generally, longer rushes yield lower cost-per-hour.
How to Use the Tower Lab Calculator
The Tower Lab Calculator is designed to help players of The Tower - Idle Tower Defense make smarter decisions about their research upgrades. The game uses a complex system of multipliers involving Lab Speed, Relics, and Elite Cell boosts that can make it difficult to know exactly how long an upgrade will take.
Features
- Real Research Time: Input the "Base Time" shown in the lab menu, and apply your personal multipliers (Lab Speed Research, Relics, and Cell Boosts) to see the actual wall-clock time you will wait.
- Gem Rush Optimizer: Determine exactly how many Gems it costs to finish a research instantly. Our calculator uses the official tiered cost formula to give you precise values.
- Efficiency Analysis: The Gem Rush tool analyzes your potential rush to tell you if it's a "Good Value" or "Bad Value". Rushing short upgrades is expensive, while rushing long upgrades (7+ days) is the most efficient use of Gems.
What affects Lab Speed?
Several factors combine to determine your true research speed:
- Lab Speed Research: The primary multiplier found in the Main research tab.
- Relics: Event rewards like the "Platinum League Badge" provide permanent percentage boosts.
- Elite Cells (Triangles): Temporary speed-ups (1.5x to 5x) applied to specific lab slots.
Tips for Efficient Gem Rushing
Many new players waste Gems by rushing upgrades that only take a few hours. The game penalizes short rushes. To get the most out of your Gems:
- Aim for Long Rushes: Try to only rush labs that have >7 days remaining.
- Permalock Labs: Use this calculator to plan "Permalock" slots where you speed up critical research like Attack Speed or Lab Speed itself.
- Check before you click: Use the Gem Cost tab to see the "Gems per Day" rate. A lower rate means a better deal.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Even veteran players can fall into efficiency traps. Avoid these common errors:
- Rushing Short Research: Never gem-rush a research that takes less than 24 hours. The cost-per-hour is nearly double that of a week-long research. Save your gems for the longest timers.
- Ignoring Lab Speed Level: Your "Lab Speed" research is a multiplier that compounds over time. Ignoring it means every future research takes longer. Use this calculator to see how much time a few extra levels of Lab Speed would save you on a 30-day upgrade.
- Forgetting Relic Bonuses: Event relics like the "Platinum League Badge" add up. A 4% boost might seem small, but on a 50-day research, it saves you 2 full days. Always check your active relics before planning a long research slot.
- Wasting Elite Cells (Triangles): Don't just boost random labs. Focus your 2x and 3x Elite Cell boosts on your "Permalock" labs (like Attack Speed or Lab Speed) to maximize the time saved. A 2x boost on a long research yields more raw time saved than on a short one.
FAQ
Is the Gem Rush formula accurate?
Yes. We use linear interpolation between the game's known data points (1h, 24h, 7d, 30d, etc.) to estimate the exact cost. It is accurate usually within 1-5 gems of the in-game value.
Why doesn't my game time match the calculator?
Ensure you have entered your Lab Speed research multiplier correctly (e.g., 1.50, not just level 50) and checked all active Relics. The "Base Time" you input should be what the game shows effectively before your speed multipliers are applied if you are looking at wiki data, or use the time displayed in-game to reverse-calculate.
Read Also: