I'm kind of addicted to the Fun mode with 10k gold. The design I'm working with is two Us intertwined with one another, and it carried me through level 83.
I love all tower defense games Posted by Seatarsprayan (Member # 7634) on :
I think the 10k mode is impossible to win (at least without juggling). I hate the flying creeps the most.
Posted by Godric 2.0 (Member # 11443) on :
I admit... I'm a Hordes of Orcs addict.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
Oh, I thought Tower Defense was a chess strategy. I was all ready to be schooled.
Not that your little game isn't charming in its own right... Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
I like them on a basic level. I get annoyed with ones that are more about scoring points rather than actually defending your tower.
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
This is the design I've been using variations on, but nothing's cracking level 83. Anyone know how to improve on it?
You bastions with enhanced pellets seem a bit pointless unless you upgrade the pellet towers. Even with a full upgrade of the enhancing tower, you only get +50% damage IIRC, and that makes your pellets go all the way to 7.5. I suggest you drop an enhancement tower and use the money for upgrades. Oh, and freeze towers just before strongly upgraded squirt towers ftw!
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
That was my pre-game setup -- I'd used all my money, and I couldn't earn more until I started. The pellet towers are placeholders, usually for squirt towers and the occasional swarm and bash towers.
The boost towers aren't worth it unless you can get them enhancing five or more towers, at which point they're AWESOME. So you basically HAVE to build a path around little forts, while making the route as long as possible. I'm honestly lost on how to improve this.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Oh, ok. Pre-setup. Then I don't know.
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
Was a big Gemcraft fan. Waiting for the sequel.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
The sequel's already out, and it is great: http://www.towerdefence.net/ (check out the other highly rated games there, too).
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Having played around with it, I have a thought: Combine your bastions into one long one, like so:
SSSS SBBS SSSS
The four squirts that are adjacent to two boosts get a 100% bonus. Compare to the two-bastion layout:
SSS SSS SBS SBS SSS SSS
The two bastions have 18 squirts boosted to 150%, for 27 squirt-equivalents. The double bastion has six at 150%, and four at 200%, for 17 equivalents. Dividing by the number of fully upgraded squirt towers, we get 27/18 = 1.5 (naturally, since each tower is boosted 50%), versus 17/10 = 1.7. Going to a triple bastion:
SSSSS SBBBS SSSSS
we find a ratio of (6*1.5 + 4*2 + 2*2.5 = 22) / 12 = 1.83. This sequence is going asymptotically to 2.5, at the limit where the edge squirts don't matter. Conclusion: Build bigger bastions!
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by fugu13: The sequel's already out, and it is great: http://www.towerdefence.net/ (check out the other highly rated games there, too).
Prequel, technically. Not to split hairs.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I refuse to acknowledge something with no connecting material to suggest it came 'before' as a prequel Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
I haven't completed "Chapter 0", but my suspicion is that
*SPOILER if you haven't played to the end of the original "Gemcraft"*
The evil, unstoppable force that overtakes the protaganist at the end of "Gemcraft" is what the protaganist of "Chapter 0" becomes at the end of his arc. The "loading progress bar" with the tentacles bursting out of the humanoid figure as he walks along seems to reinforce this suspicion.
Posted by Magson (Member # 2300) on :
Heh, I've played so many different versions of this game it's not funny.
For some ideas of what others have done, might I suggest youtube?
SOE's new "Free Realms" even has a couple of TD mini-games in it. The ones I've found so far use penguins as the towers, or anotheer uses a kind of "wasp-man" (bixie). I'm sure I'll find others as I continue to explore the game.
FWIW, my favorite version of TD is at www.candystand.com and is called "Vector TD."
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
I'm just glad they upped the difficulty in Chapter 0. The orignial Gemcraft was stupidly easy.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Eh. They changed it (Tower Defense, that is), now it sucks. I can't find the 100-wave mode anymore. Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
I've been playing Chapter 0 for the past two days 0_0 HELP! I've been sucked in!
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
Just finished the thing, kind of relieved. No flash game should take up that much of one's time...!
Gemcraft Chapter 0: *SPOILER*
I was pretty much on target with my plot prediction, not that Gemcraft is exactly great literature. The ending has you unleash the Evil Uberbad by trying to take the Gem of Eternity for yourself; as the next game opens, Uberbad is using the life-force of both the protaganist of Chapter 0 and the protaganist of Chapter 1 to take on a form that will allow her to reclaim the powers she had before she was sealed away.
Morale of the story, kids: if all the most powerful wizards in the world warn you not to touch it, and it's sealed behind monsters and multiple layers of magical wards in an underground fortress that looks suspiciously like a tomb, maybe there's a reason.
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