Love the game, hate the game. I bought Radiant Defense packs, and I do enjoy the game, it's just so asterisk hard! It makes me want to bite through my desk. This game needs a playful mode - it is simply impossible to just quickly fire it up. Every single time it eats 30-60 minutes. And it is really frustrating. I'm up to mission 6, with all previous missions on 3-skull, since I am kind of a veteran. But this thing is driving me nuts. NUTS! I can almost, almost, but not quite get enough cash. I'm always a tower behind, always making sacrifices to just make it through. In my defense (ha), the tower AI is kind of bad, for example the 3 fully upgraded missile towers simply fail against 6 suns because a) searchlight locks on a different creep than the towers, b) for some reason missile hits another creep sun if it is in the way, which happens a lot and c) because I can almost reach, but no quite I am hemorrhaging money every wave after a while. I keep needing blades and mines and, even with recouperators it's not enough. I'm sure there is some trick to it I'm missing. I thought Mission 1 and 2 were hard before I discovered recouperators. Wish it had better docs, that help page is kind of short. Also, creeps seem to have unusual health. I'm likely using the wrong towers, still, in previous missions a few flame towers would strip shields in decent time. In mission 6, they just won't fall. 6 flamers, 2 lasers, and the explody-core superweapon just won't bring them down. Again with the mines, with the hemorrhaging cash and the slow spiral into oblivion. The other laser tower (that fires rarely) can bring down shields in 1-2 shots, but there are 49 of the lil' bast... creeps. Is there a better help, guide, some numbers? Is it better to upgrade a tower, or just build another? How much more firepower do upgrades bring? Do more flame towers stack? I have learned many lessons the hard way and they could have been avoided. Like the fact that all pulse towers that slow creeps sync up eventually and any crossover range is wasted. They don't sync when placed, but will. If they would fire in sequence, they would have been worth the cash. Oh, and, also, hello everyone, I'm new here and yes, I always ramble in my posts.
I'm with you on this one. I gave up on the second to last mission. It's just not fun anymore. The tower ai is murder inducing. And let's not mention the aliens with shields. Way too many of them. Oh well. Perhaps the DEVS could add a casual mode or tone it down a bit(as far as hps/shield strength). The number of aliens is fun but coupled with the crappy tower ai/hps/shield str... I've grown weary...
Dang blast it, I think I found the problem. The first turnaround bend was one module too short and that confused the cannons. Same setup, same path (basically), except now the star-thing cannons are ripping through. I'm on wave 34/40 and I'm sailing. Over 500 cash, losing money to interest cap and I actually fast forwarded wave 32 (regenerators) because there was no point. The missile launchers and the cannons were so effective I had to replay the wave with a recouperator closer to the starting point. I understand that the difference between win and lose is a single module, I can live with that, after all it's an integral part of the game. But it should not rely on tower AI. The problem was that with minus one or two modules creeps never exited tower targeting range and instead of focus firing on some poor creep while the others went around the wall and back, they kept rotating and always trying to fire at the escaped straggler, thus losing out on massive amounts of damage due to splash. I'd better finish the game before making further comments. Yep, that was easy. 6 master star cannons and 3 missile launchers ate it in one bend. Anyway, my point is that some veteran gamers like myself will always try to do better (nice scoring scheme, BTW), as long as there is fun and some challenge in it. But most people only feel they have accomplished something if they win. I'll replay a level 10 times for fun if I win, 10 time upset if I lose. IMO, Warcraft did it best. If you lose, it offers to retry or lower difficulty. Each time you lose, you get 10% more cash. Or 10% lower hitpoints. And no online score. Call it frustration-proof gaming.
It is better to upgrade the weapon. Fully upgraded weapon (Master) has the approx. strength of its 6 basic versions. The cost of all upgrades is usually just the price of 3 (Basic) weapons. However, you often need to maintain more of the less upgraded weapons to effectively cover the route. Every upgrade brings about 20-40% more firepower. The numbers would be misleading, unless they would be very detailed and well understood - because each upgrade improves everything - Damage, Range, Rate of Fire, Secondary Effects, Splash Damage, Projectile Speed/Particle quantity etc. The description of every weapon simply reviews its strengths and weaknesses. - Damage of multiple Flamer fires stacks. More Flamers prolong the duration of burning - however, the damage of burning itself (that little flame that continues to damage creeps even after they're not directly under fire) does not stack. - The best way to deal with multiple shields is to build Stormguard Tesla. It often helps to build a Tachyon Generator nearby to keep the creeps in Tesla's short range longer. Tesla is best positioned inside the sharp bend of the route. - The most important tactics is to not overspend on easy waves. Every dollar you save contributes to the efficiency bonus. The more money you save = the more money you get! - Turrets always acquire the nearest target in their range. You can use this when planning the route or when deciding the best spot for a new weapon. Wish you the best of luck!
I see. I was asking because I usually build kill zone(s) rather than spread out the damage because I have better control over who escapes, faster feedback (I find out it's insufficient before creeps hit home) and because I like carnage. In various games it is better to keep building before upgrading, since if an upgrade costs as much as the tower itself and adds 20% damage one needs to keep building until space runs out, then upgrade. Without figures, it's hard to guess. Some are pretty obvious, like the standard turret which comes to life on first upgrade. Cannons, less so. Flamers, anyone's guess. Good info, right there. I like numbers But, admittedly, in this care they are not needed. It seems obvious from your answers that upgrading is the way to go in most situations. Not all, though, for example multiple cannons improve damage reliability. The dancing bugs, for example, fear multiple barrels. So, flamer does 100 damage per second, then, after it's no longer under fire, 5 per second for 10 seconds. 2 flamers do 200 per second, and after exiting fire, 5 per second for 20 seconds? This is just info, frankly, by later waves lingering burn damage is minimal - flamers are only good against swarms. But flame damage straight-stacking, that is good news. You know best, I'll try that. Though my experience thus far is that two teslas and one tachyon don't strip shields at a fast enough rate. I still rely on blades. Not the best of tactics resource-wise, but during-wave middle-of-creeps builds strip a lot of shields for just 25 bucks. And speed is of the essence, otherwise a lot of hits from the launchers go to waste. That is indeed good advice. Against my instinct, I hold off on purchases and upgrades even if they are the next logical step - the key to success (and score) is cash and all those bonuses stack. Is this ever likely to change? Tower AI is a deciding factor in builds, IMO you could get a whole new campaign if you tweak the behavior of towers and a few other minimal changes. Don't know about the people at large but me I'd play the game again with a different AI and different tower stats. For example, laser towers that hit through the first creep and keep going would completely change strategy. It seems to me like a nice, cheap way to provide replay value. On a related note, is the game going to get other content aside from maps? New towers, upgrades for towers that don't have upgrades, etc? Also, don't tell anyone, I'm not on iPhone, I'm actually on WP7.
I love this game Finished it and wanting more. Is there a way to see your score for each level? I'd like to try and beat my score on some of the levels but how can I see what I'm trying to beat?
level 33 in mission 7 Can't seem to get past it, and have not made any upgrade purchases. I guess I'll have to setup my account now for purchases, though this will be my first one. Here is my setup, I'm sure I could improve slightly my efficiency, but am doubtful I can finish the mission without the purchase. Also, for those interested in Robotek, there is an excellent strategy guide at http://robotekxl.com
Allow me to make things a bit better. I am stuck in the exact same spot as you, with all known packs bought. It's just hard. Also, while i DO support buying the backs, they're just that nice to have and Hexage deserve it, it will NOT get you out of a bind. Yes they have better towers, but they are also more expensive to set up, upgrade, etc. The extra pack, for example, allows you to upgrade 85$ cannon to 120$ missile. Missiles have twice the range and miss less, but they do miss, a lot, and the power just doesn't cut it. The game makes a point out of forcing you into the best 90%+ of what can be done, if you get one or two waves wrong you never recover. If you want to beat the game you have to: Run the first 2-3 levels in each possible setup. See which one leaves you with most cash. If you have recouperators, do another run, see if it's worth it. See, this is what I mean with the packs not helping. Recouperators double money from creeps, BUT: * require 200$ on "research unit" * Require 60$ on each recouperator * Each one has a radius of 1, so you're gonna need like 4-5 if you do kill zones. More if you play for attrition. Total: 440$. This kind of money is recouperated in 4-5 waves, and by then whatever poor defense you have is going to be overwhelmed. The key to success is doing each wave several times, and juuuuust squeezing by each time, keeping as much as possible cash in the bank. Later one, you'll need firepower and superweapons that those cost an arm and a leg. Also, Hexage, you lied to me. Teslas vacuum large, hairy rocks on higher levels. I had 6 of them along the way, combined with tachyon slowers, didn't strip a single shield. Lasers are obsolete up that level, 2 fully upgraded lasers didn't strip ONE shield. There are only two ways to strip 24 shields in relative effectiveness: Neutron core and blades. One is 800$ and doesn't fire twice in one wave, so you only fire it once, so you have to wait for them to go in further, so there's not enough time. Not to mention your sense of humor pumped 80 shielded enemies and 20 large shielded enemies. I finally got them down with a combination of: 2 omega cannon blasts, about 20 blades, one neutron core and 2 showdown superweapons. I also had 6 elite flameras that did nothing, 4 cannons and 3 missile launchers fully upgraded (master). Problem is, next level I get 10 suns, tough fight, I'nm low on cash and all my supers were depleted because they don't charge between levels. I've been at mission 7 since yesterday. I am aware I'm likely not routing them right, as always, it's the route that makes or breaks. Still, I have a constant feeling that weapons are losing effectiveness. I didn't mind tons of cash in a tower when one blast nuked a whole bunch of creeps, but now I have 4 and they varely bring down minions from spawners. Not to mention at level 30+ I have quite the firepower, but I can only bring down 2 suns. 2. Out of 10. How do you do it? Also, I HATE, HATE, HATE flying saucers. They are WAY too fast. And being armored, they are vulnerable to explosions (let's face it, poison does nothing) and the towers that do physical damage are: Cannons (slow), Missile (slow) and mines. 20 saucers means 20x15 (per mine) 300$ minus. They bring -what- 100? I'm starting to think there is no mission 8, it's not finished and you just made 7 impossible. I kid, but really, how hard is this game? Is it normal to keep good people in a mission for days? Weren't games supposed to be fun? So, anyone, if you made it though missions 6-7-8, how did you solve shielded enemies, and did you use recoups from the start and then saved money, or did you just go for bust and minimize costs no matter what? I'll take any help I can get.
I'm stuck on 8, End the feed. I can't agree more with Ndi. I get tired of just laying down blades for the shields. Rows of blades is how I did it. But to me, that just isn't fun. It's not even strategic. It's seriously beyond abysmal, barely scraping by to get SLAUGHTERED next round. Oh well, too bad. I really like the style of this TD though.
Hints and tips - Teslas are a must against groups of shielded enemies. You would be much better off with just one or two of them, fully upgraded. It helps to place a Tachyon Gen nearby, so that the groups slow down and amass around Teslas for few extra pulses. - Lasers can't handle crowds well, even when you build batteries of them. Lasers are great for reliable finishing of wounded escapees and many other threats. Their best positioning would be rather far from each other so that they cover the entire route. -Armored enemies are resistant to the splash damage made by explosions, however they take extra armor-piercing damage from the impact of Missiles and Cannonballs. Which means these heavy weapons are great against single armored targets, but not the crowds. Spray is where it's at! Biocid Spray is absolutely essential in dealing with armored crowds - its damage completely ignores the armor. - Judging by the situation you describe I'd say that you manage your economy pretty well, so the routing would be most likely the only trouble. Feel free to send the screenshot of your setup to our support e-mail address. Laying lots of Blades is not an endlessly sustainable tactics (as far as I know). Sooner or later you'll be needing solid foundation in a working system of weapons. However, Blades can help you with the economy pretty well, especially on Mission 8 where you can use blades to kill early enemies in the range of your Recuperator. That said, even Mission 8 can be finished without Blades and Recuperators. I've seen it.
mission 9 help. anyone managed to finish mission 9? no matter what I try I can't get past the first few waves!!! managed all the other missions without too much trouble. any help would be appreciated.
Dude, they just don't work on high levels. Mission 7, wave 37 is comprised of 30 shielded enemies. You try it, let me know (raw power, no tachyon) how many Teslas did it take to strip them all of their shield before they made it to 1/4 of the track. Remember, they still need to be killed, and some are energy weapon resistant, and if they get to 1/2 course they are already exiting range of cannons. By then you rely solely on missile batteries and those take time to launch, travel and hit and they won't hit during bends because creeps outmaneuver them. So that's on average < 1 creep a salvo, they just don't have the time to kill them. I'm curious, because one tesla is just pitiful, it hasn't stripped a shield since mission 2. Two I tried and didn't strip a single shield, not even on wave 33-34 where it has 3 big brains and 40 or so little brains, or the ones with the green, round, all-shielded (like 20 big ones and 80 small). The little small buggers just won't give up their shield with 2 full teslas. By that level, I needed 4 blades for them, they are just that mean. And I can't just invest in teslas like nuts, before that wave there are three waves of regenerators and spawners, I need AOE and plenty of it, my cash goes into missile towers. I thought superweapons were expensive, missile tower is 120+50+70+100+140=480 EACH. And you need like 4 of those, plus at least 3 recoops, one tachyon, and maybe a couple cannons for good measure. And that's just for raw meat. This works poorly against saucers and robots (armored targets take several hits each, and regenerate), and very poorly against tougher enemies, like suns, because searchlights highlight a different target than towers shoot at. They also work very poorly against fast enemies. So I need more than just that. (added after beating M7) I have ran my own experiments. I takes 3 fully upgraded teslas, WITH slowing tachyon, to strip ONE shield (it has also been pounded on by conventional fire). One could get better results if it convinces the creeps to go up and down by the same Tesla. This isn't the best setup because of other tower AI. If you build one-module zigzag, cannons and flamers are useless. The best results are to be had with narrow entry: Use modules to force creeps in a long tunnel before entering the labyrinth, where they get slowed down, in range of recoops, pounded by flamers from all directions and slowed (and electrified). Further away, cannons that fire salvos along the corridor so they don't miss and further away missile towers. Now that's a kill zone. Unless you're shielded and don't care. I have LONG given up on lasers, about mission 4. 2 fully upgraded lasers near the spawn point can't strip a single shield. And they aren't exactly cheap, so I can't use 10. They worked well up until M4, one or two in the middle for good measure picked off wounded enemies and cleaned up. And flamers are quickly catching up, I need 2 flamers to really hurt wave 1. After wave 5-10, all they do is light their cigars. It takes 6 of them to see the bar change and frankly this don't do as well a job as standard turrets. Thay are also 120, standard turret is 75, and start upgrades at 25 versus 50. Poison towers also do too little damage to rely on. The do soften enemies up, but they are much to high a price to pay for something useless against shields and poor against high health. Money is way better spent on concussion. By wave 13, a fully upgraded sprayer doesn't take 20% of their health. So I'll need like 6 of them, spread all over, meaning that a) I have no control over who gets away until it's late in the trip b) Fast enemies take little damage c) Short range d) Poor spin speed (not good near spawn where poison needs to be delivered early e) They are useless against any other enemy, making them very, very expensive. It's cheaper to just use slow, rely on missiles to whittle them away and then just spam mines. I am, I routinely go into the 500s, but that means one more missile tower. Or one more tesla. Each wave brings 100-200, so that's 3-4 waves with no builds for ONE tesla. I saved every penny for 10 waves and still no shields. Also, the limited amount of blocks on Mission 7 isn't great. This is annoying, because you did one best route before game launch and are forcing me to guess it by trial and error. This one-approach is kind of annoying, not including routing bugs. (route bug) The creep route changes for no good reason. Adding a square that is not changing their route (filler to place towers) sometimes changes creep route from hugging a wall to outside access (same distance, world of difference). This further compounds the issue of a single solution. One module in the wrong column gives a different path, even if the actual route is identical, but creeps no longer hug the wall. And since I'm on bugs, there is a sound issue if I get a message during the game, I lose high freq noise, sound is dull. One needs to press "win to swap out, then count to 3, then press back to restore high quality sound. Also, music is quiet when volume is maxed or min, but if one goes though volume, suddenly at about 13/30 music jumps to loud again. Also, description for the yellow lava-like creatures says it hides dark matter from "plane sight". Might be a pun, might be a typo, I'm not that familiar with English humor. These might be WP7.5 only bugs. Also, cannons do the idle spin even if there are enemies in range. Don't they know they are going to fire again? Why are they spinning away? Also, is it me or do they sometimes fire before they lock on a target? If they have enemies in range but are facing the wrong way, they sometimes fire anyway, so when they finally align they aren't ready to fire. I noticed, they are pure gold in the first few waves, way, way better than any other tower. A couple blades can do more than 2 flamers and a turret. And it only takes one recoop. I'm sure it can. I'm also pretty sure that there is likely one way to do it, with minor variation. This makes is more like a Mastermind game than a free form TD. What's annoying is that it takes 30 minutes to realize you're wrong. Also, really, look into shielded creeps at high levels. Lower levels and lower missions are fine. Mission 4 I used flamers to strip shields. Mission 7, wave 33+, I need 20 blades. -------------- I finished mission 7, with great pain. The 37th wave, with the shields, I used all my stoogely cunning to get through: all the blades I could afford, sold almost all my cannons for cash to get blades (cannons kind of lose power late game compared to missiles), then got more blades. Then a few waves gave me money (spawners and regenerators are easy with 4-5 fully upped missile launchers). Then the robot wave(s) with the shield and fast regeneration I could only pass by scorched earth (pumped cash in blades and mines). Sold my explody core superweapon (which is the best way by far to strip shields en-masse) and my Omega cannon, my remaining cannons, and sat on the cash to get interest. In the end, pushed all my cash in 2 more missile launchers. My gamble paid off, there were no more shielded enemies and the end boss died in about 15 squares. Tachyon slow, tesla shock (25%), searchlight (200%) and 6 fully upgraded Seraphim missile launchers. He should have brought a shield.
Well, hints? It isn't going well. Where's the recoup? What did you use as towers to start and where? Cannons miss, the path's too wavy. Flamers are expensive and insufficient. Turrets kind of work, but I need like 3 and that drains starting money.
Here is how I've managed to finish mission 8: I used 3 modules to form a line of defense below a single module at the beginning. I put recuperator on that single module, put bioacid spray right below and two cannon turrets on both sides of bioacid. The key is to save $600 as quick as possible and buy Megablast. Once you have the Megablast, you do not need to spend money on turrets. Use it to kill those pesky aliens and save money for Omega cannon and Terrorshock. Blades are great to use near recuperator and to protect the spiral. Keep your money balance above 500 and spend extra money to place Gauss lasers to cover the path to spiral. Gauss guns do not miss.
There isn't enough cash for that, I'm going to assume you did this with a little time. 200 (research for recoup) + 60 (recoup) + 90 (spray)= 350. 150 left, cannon is 85. One cannon, a few blades. Also, I found that the cannons are useless, they miss so much they're a waste of money by any standard. I went with fire and spray and a few blades to get my cash up. It works, I get over 500 fairly easily. But from there on ... Your game must be different . Yes the blast core is nice, but soon, very soon, you're in deep, deep trouble. By wave 10 (or so), you're facing shielded enemies the blast only strips, but not kills, you need firepower and plenty of it. (blades for me) Also, around wave 12-13, (or maybe 10? it's all a blur) you get swarm. Swarm consists of 60 creeps, fast enough to be immune to cannons, spray and fire but strong enough to withstand a blast from just about any tower. $150 never-miss Gauss cannons don't have enough juice in them to stop the creeps in one shot and there's a lot of them. Megablast is useless because they don't swarm in a bunch, but one after another and, with the speed boost, they fill the trace around the map 3 times over and some left. Blast can only take on one. The other two just go through. All this is moot by the time monkeys (second time) arrive. Even with megablast, the small monkeys are in the yellow/red, big moneys barely scratched. I have tried so far: * Save money, buy slow superpower. There isn't enough firepower to even survive swarm 1 (60 Bart Simpsons) * Save money, buy megablast. Swarmed. (3 times the length, one megablast) * Save money, buy omega. Swarmed. Fired cannon 3 times, killed like 30. Blades and fire, another 10 or so. There's 20 left, 10 lives. I can make it, but barely. No future. * Save money, buy Slow, then spend on towers like crazy. Passes swarm, not enough firepower to pass moneys. * Save money, forget superpowers, spam long range, strong Gauss. Seemed to work for a while, swarmed by moneys (Gauss can't kill a money in one shot, get swarmed) * Save money, go for classic. Cannons, fire, slowdown, turret. By swarm time, cannons are red with shame, fire doesn't even shave them (too fast), Huh. in my game, 4 blades don't stop a single Bart Simpson. (The aliens in the swarm level look like Bart larvae). Sail right through. Slow included. Also, monkeys. All moneys can go through 4 blades no problem, they have so much health blades fall apart after 4 enemies. It takes 3 mines to stop one big monkey. This would have been sound advice if it weren't for one detail. Gauss are too weak. In the first 10 waves, priceless. After that, 2 shots per creep, by which time there's too many. Also, I noticed that creeps don't die when they explode, they die AFTER. Meaning, even if one Gauss fired and killed a creep, another Gauss fires on the same creep, wasting precious firepower. And with their range, there's always overlap. I still have one more thing to try. Thus far, I've been focusing on a kill zone, at the beginning, where the recoup is. I will try attrition, with more towers all over the map. Though with the tower targeting AI I'm trying to cut down on that. Especially since flamers, the best thing to happen to attrition, rotate when they have nothing to do (as do cannons) so they are almost always facing the wrong way. I can sync up the first flamer but after that it's just miss after miss. Everything is so g****n expensive. I cut costs everywhere, barely make it, save up 500$ and they it's all gone on one single tower that makes so little difference it's depressing. I'll try attrition (and my all time favorite, the launchers, but with all those corners, I'm going to be frustrated). Anyway, thanks for the help, it's a good starting strategy (similar to mine) but (as with mine) there's ever so slightly not enough cash. Can't tell if there are subtle differences in the WP7 port ir if it's simply a case of a missed detail (some tower upgraded, too many blades, who knows).
I am also stuck. I need to use blades to pass the first few waves, and i fall behind in the econ game with little investments into new towers.
I was wondering if any of you guys/gals ever tried beating the game without purchasing the IAP's? I'm sure it's possible.
I.am.attempting just that feat. Will screencap setup if successful but it will require a bit of luck on certain levels.
