Cobra Locations share some core principles with regular locations but use a slightly altered banking mechanism. Basically, you can choose the place, the time and the size of a full payout yourself. This may sound good at first, but when it comes to banking and building a 'large' army, COBRA locations are nothing like regular locations, although even the latter seem to have changed payout-wise on higher levels. COBRA locations are simply a means for exchanging troops at a premium price. Here is how the system works in detail:

A full payout does not seem to require the payment of any interest, i.e. in theory you can trigger a full payout at any time, on any location and any level. So, while paying interest is not a requirement for getting a full payout, its size is mainly determined and directly dependent on the interest paid. The payout level seems to be a secondary factor, if at all. The bottom line is that, at best, COBRA locations will return your investment. As to the full payout itself, there is evidence that you will get parts in addition to units in 66% of all cases. Furthermore, those parts can account for an average of 4,25% of your full payout. This is important to know as Cobra locations do overpay, this means that you can win more parts than you have storage capacity for.

Case Study (for screenshots please visit 'The Cobra File' website):

You get a full payout with a total worth of 528.325 in parts on a level 51.

1. Scenario: You pay only 50% of your debt to the bank, i.e. you kill units worth around 264.000 parts and go for a payout on another level 51. With a little luck you will get a full payout worth around 265.000 in parts. In this case, the actual payout size was 1.9% more than expected (which is quite rare): 270.000.

2. Scenario: You pay 100% interest, i.e. you kill units worth 1.056.000 parts and go for a payout on another level 51. With a little luck, you will get a full payout worth around 1.056.000 in parts. In this case, the actual payout size was 7% less than expected: 977.635. ​

An updated version of "The Cobra File" is now available for download that implements these findings. It also provides a new feature: the user friendly, easy to use and accurate 'Force Calculator' that beats any presence chart any time!