Defense Grid - The Awakening

[Kelric]

I can't make it past Gaurdian's Fall level.

I've tried about 10 different configurations now. Last config was guns and infernos at the start then cannons, and inferno, then tesla at the end. Have 2 meteors on each side of the map. Almost all towers upgraded to level 2 and few tesla at the end to level 3. I made it to level 20 but I can't kill the last few before they nab the last cores.

Don't bother with so many Infernos and Teslas. Do you have Cannons at that level? I can't remember. Switch over to more of those.

[Effidian]

I just got my last gold medal. I actually got 9th place on one of them. And I got it right after I remembered the following tip.

Don't underestimate gun towers. They are cheap to upgrade, and a cluster of level 3 gun towers can somtimes do what a cluster of cannons cannot (lots of enemies), for a lot cheaper.

[Effidian]

I can't make it past Gaurdian's Fall level.

Spoiler:

Okay, I just tried it. I used 7 gun towers (6 red, 1 yellow), 1 temporal (red), 1 missile (yellow) and the orbital laser once. Build guns on the 2 spots near the the power nodes, 3 guns and 1 temporal on the 4 spot across from them, and 2 more guns near the group of 4. I put the missile tower near the entrance.

Just work on upgrading those. I used the orbital laser for 2 of the faster guys that got through on wave 20.

Edit: Added spoiler tags.

[Kelric]

Two or three upgraded gun towers can do A LOT of damage.

[Lassr]

I can't make it past Gaurdian's Fall level.

Okay, I just tried it. I used 7 gun towers (6 red, 1 yellow), 1 temporal (red), 1 missile (yellow) and the orbital laser once. Build guns on the 2 spots near the the power nodes, 3 guns and 1 temporal on the 4 spot across from them, and 2 more guns near the group of 4. I put the missile tower near the entrance.

Just work on upgrading those. I used the orbital laser for 2 of the faster guys that got through on wave 20.

that did it. Fairly easily too.
Never would have thought to just concentrate a bunch of the cheaper beginning guns and upgrade them. I was trying to incorporate some of the more powerful guns and it just wasn't working.

[Grey Fox]

Two or three upgraded gun towers can do A LOT of damage.

One Red Gun tower can often decimate the first couple of waves on it's own on most levels.

[B Dog]

Two or three upgraded gun towers can do A LOT of damage.

One Red Gun tower can often decimate the first couple of waves on it's own on most levels.

I've also found that, once available, a single, fully upgraded concussion tower can do ridiculous amounts of damage. Pair one of those with some upgraded gun towers and just watch the little turds explode.

[Kelric]

Two or three upgraded gun towers can do A LOT of damage.

One Red Gun tower can often decimate the first couple of waves on it's own on most levels.

I've also found that, once available, a single, fully upgraded concussion tower can do ridiculous amounts of damage. Pair one of those with some upgraded gun towers and just watch the little turds explode.

I haven't tried that yet. Probably should.

[Moliere]

30 hours of play time in 2 weeks. I think I've gotten my $5 worth.

I completed 74% of the Achievements without actively changing my playing to get them completed. I managed to beat every Story and Story Challenge level with a silver or gold medal. The only exception is the last map. I got a gold medal in Story mode, but haven't been able to hold all my cores in the Challenge mode. Around wave 10 the Turtles come out followed by Racer swarms and Rumblers causing me to always lose a couple of cores. The maps got a lot easier once I understood the value of upgraded towers versus zerg towers and line of sight for the gun towers. It doesn't help having a cluster of gun towers blocking each other.

My best map looks like Waste Disposal. I'm ranked 320 in Story mode and 173 in Challenge mode. Now if I can just do something about Last Stand in Challenge mode.

[Effidian]

I'm going back and improving some of my scores. Trying to get my rank < 1000 on all maps. Gun towers seem to be the way to go, at least going for score. I use them a lot more than anything else.

[dbt1949]

I can see I'm never going anywhere near the top in the rankings unless it's for games played.


Yeh, I'm going more towards maxed out gun towers and less on the others now myself. The cannons slow rate of fire is a killer. Still need them for the bosses tho. Infernos and Telsas don't seem to work near as well, even maxed out, than a maxed out gun tower. Maxed out Concussion towers on U turns work pretty well.
Playing the grinder games slows the game to a crawl later in the game. I keep my finger constantly on the F button.

[Effidian]

I can see I'm never going anywhere near the top in the rankings unless it's for games played.

You've got some good scores up there. I've got all mine < 1000 now (except for the ones that aren't possible, like the first one). Here are some tips on what I do (sorry if these are obvious, I couldn't think of any really secret ones).

* I use backspace *a lot*. Since I'm trying to build as little as possible, as late as possible, I use backspace to help with that. If one slips through, I go back. If I build up too much and the mobs don't last long enough, I go back and try building/upgrading less.

* I general, I try to build so that the mob gets to the end of my build and dies. If they are dying at the beginning, then I've probably built too much.

* Looking at the level and figuring out what tower would be most effective in which places is key. Other than the Tesla tower (which I still can't figure out a good use for), I've used everything. Sometimes there is a spot that just screems for a certain type of tower, and placing it in that spot, give you a huge bang for the buck.

* Related to the above, you don't always want to cluster towers together. Some maps are better putting the right tower in the right spot all over the map.

* Temporal towers are a HUGE benefit. Upgrading them is relatatively cheap (300 per upgrade) and the range increases pretty significantly.

* As mentioned, gun towers are pretty much a corner stone of most maps. Some maps/modes they don't make as much sense, but in general, they are pretty much a key tower.

* Use the orbital laser. Sometimes it costs a lot less to use it and lose the resources from the mob, than to build/upgrade several towers to take it out.

Playing the grinder games slows the game to a crawl later in the game. I keep my finger constantly on the F button.

Just in case you don't know. If you hold down 'F', then bring up a property window on a tower, it will stay in fast mode. I've used this several times to make it work like a toggle.

[Bakhtosh]

That last map was pretty easy once I got my plan nailed down. I could probably gold medal it with some tweaking.

Also, as I read on the Defense Grid forums, If you have a line of guns. Put cannons behind them. Yeah, the cannon's firing arc will be blocked as the guys go by, but cannons have a long reload time, so they'll fire as the Mob comes into Line Of Sight, reload while it's blocked, then fire again as it comes back into sight. This is useful on those 4 square corners where you don't want guns blocking the firing arc.

[Bakhtosh]

If you want to medal, you need to keep the cores in the holder. Yeah, it turns out you can tweak your design and get a few more points by having cores stolen and returned, but work on that AFTER you get the first part down. If at all possible, make the enemies pass by your kill zone of upgraded towers twice BEFORE they get to the core. If you can then send them out by a different path, do so. You don't want your cores dropping near the entrance where a fresh unit can carry them off. I like taking the exit path down near my main kill zone so those upgraded towers can focus on the fleeing units without having to build additional towers to attack the exit path.

A red meteor tower does a LOT of damage.

I only needed multipe missile towers on the last mission. I think I could have handled the other maps with one yellow tower and the already built guns & cannons.

[Effidian]

My new goal is to get all my ranks < 200. I kicked ass on the Story Challenge mode of Fire Control and Veil of Ice, getting 8th in both of those.

Barrier to Entry is killing me. I haven't yet figured out a strat for a higher score on the Story, Story Challenge, and 10 Tower modes. I was starting at the beginning and working my way through the levels, but after several attemps, I've skipped it and will have to come back to it.

[dbt1949]

Did anybody ever notice that in the last game (Last Stand?) that around wave 20 you get a bunch of fliers in and the formation they're flying in spells 'Hope"?

[Grey Fox]

I think my new goal is to beat Effidian on the Leaderboard on every level

[Bakhtosh]

I'm trying to get gold medals on all of the story maps and I'm having fits with Standing Orders. I pared my defenses down to the top zone (with just a few towers in the bottom zone). I didn't build a missile tower.

Do I lose any points for allowing the bad guys to live long enough for them to reach me at the top zone? I can't understand what I did wrong. Any tips?

[Effidian]

I think my new goal is to beat Effidian on the Leaderboard on every level

That'll give me a new goal.

I'm trying to get gold medals on all of the story maps and I'm having fits with Standing Orders. I pared my defenses down to the top zone (with just a few towers in the bottom zone). I didn't build a missile tower.

Do I lose any points for allowing the bad guys to live long enough for them to reach me at the top zone? I can't understand what I did wrong. Any tips?

Spoiler:

Here is one that works. On the area at the top where there are 6 spots, put 5 guns and one temporal (the temporal toward the top of the map, in the middle). Put more gun towers across the road from that and up toward the power nodes (as needed). I also stuck a missile tower in the area off to the left. Use the orbital if something gets through.

Upgrade those, and that should get you a gold.

Edit: I came up with a slightly better layout. On the 6 spot, put 4 guns on the outside, then a temporal and a concussion on the inside. Across from them, in the corner closest to where the mobs enter, put a cannon. I believe I also used a missile tower, but just a green one (I think).

Edit: Added spoiler tags.

[Bakhtosh]

That worked great. Thanks.

I had issues on containment. I keep having a problem where my meteors and cannons stop shooting. I think it's some sort of memory leak.

I finally got gold on it by relying more on guns & temporal. It's frustrating to not be able to use two of the more powerful weapons.

[dbt1949]

I'm having problem with the Veil of Ice scenario. I think I made it thru once out 111 dozenty times. What's the secret?
Thanks!

[Butterknife]

I got my second gold medal last night! Yeah, I suck. Well worth the $5 I paid for it, though. It sure seems like I have been able to get a lot of game for my money lately.

[Bakhtosh]

I'm having problem with the Veil of Ice scenario. I think I made it thru once out 111 dozenty times. What's the secret?
Thanks!

Here's how I got my gold:

Spoiler:

Start with the 4 in a row near the entrance. This assures they can only go south and gives you a great kill zone since it's a douple pass. Red is Inferno Yellow is Temporal. That gun to the south has an amazing field of fire. Magenta is stuff you can add later if you want to make them run a maze. You need to block off that far southwest bridge. You could (now that I look at it closer) run 3 towers at an angle below the middle bridge that would not only funnel them to the middle bridge, but do damage at the same time. As you get the money, add towers that will lead them down the western curved bridge and back by your 4 initial towers. Then it's just a matter of funneling them where you can do the most damage and upgrading the towers that get a double pass (near the core and near the entrance). I was able to keep almost all of the aliens away from my core.

[dbt1949]

Thanks! I'll be giving her a try tonight.


BTW how did you handle the first flying wave or two?

[LawBeefaroni]

Wow, I did that one completely differently. Sent them to the top right corner in the beginning IIRC.

[dbt1949]

That's the way I usually do it but I have been experimenting with the southern route here lately but it wasn't as long as this one.

[Bakhtosh]

Thanks! I'll be giving her a try tonight.


BTW how did you handle the first flying wave or two?

Spoiler:

I think I let my guns handle the fliers in this one. In my original setup, the two SW guns hit them early. Then they fly right through my upgraded guns near the core. If you find your guns can't swat 'em, a missile between the two curved bridges is a great spot that won't break the path.

My first time through, I had a complicated path in the first area with lots of towers. But I could'nt get the gold. The advantage of this path is that it only takes 4 towers to get started and it only takes 12 towers to make them take the long way around the map. Then it's just a matter of upgrading and optimizing their path to bring them close to your shooters.

Now I'm printing out Waste Disposal's map to plan my attempt at gold.

[dbt1949]

I didn't get a gold but I did get a silver.
I even managed to survive the grinder scenario altho I had to add a LOT more guns.

[McBa1n]

Welp, I played the hell out of this game - and due to the fact I was trying to speed up IRL with the "F" key and having dreams about shepparding everything from spiders to naked women using 'guard towers', I've decided it was time to stop playing. That said - I havn't had a game hook me so heavily like that in a long time - is there anything else out there with the visuals/guns? Just farting around with desktop games right now, I'm missing the 'wow' that defense grid was giving me.... Although I'm only about an hour into finding something comparable.

[Lyno]

Welp, I played the hell out of this game - and due to the fact I was trying to speed up IRL with the "F" key and having dreams about shepparding everything from spiders to naked women using 'guard towers', I've decided it was time to stop playing. That said - I havn't had a game hook me so heavily like that in a long time - is there anything else out there with the visuals/guns? Just farting around with desktop games right now, I'm missing the 'wow' that defense grid was giving me.... Although I'm only about an hour into finding something comparable.

Plants vs Zombies! The game that led me to getting Defense Grid. Now you can dream about planting sunflowers and peashooters

[McBa1n]

Welp, I played the hell out of this game - and due to the fact I was trying to speed up IRL with the "F" key and having dreams about shepparding everything from spiders to naked women using 'guard towers', I've decided it was time to stop playing. That said - I havn't had a game hook me so heavily like that in a long time - is there anything else out there with the visuals/guns? Just farting around with desktop games right now, I'm missing the 'wow' that defense grid was giving me.... Although I'm only about an hour into finding something comparable.

Plants vs Zombies! The game that led me to getting Defense Grid. Now you can dream about planting sunflowers and peashooters

NOICE going to check it out right now. I was reading the thread about plants vs zombies earlier and then my brain fogged out and totally forgot to check it out... DUHHH
Thx!

[Jaymon]

If you are looking for another tower defence game, you may consider Gemcraft. its a flash game available from the usual suspects, Armorgames, Kongregate, newgrounds, etc.

No it does not have fancy graphics, but the gameplay and strategy are quite good

[Bakhtosh]

Managed to snag 41st place on Ancient Research!
w00t!

Wow, and 556th on the next to last map. I think I may finally be getting the hang of this game...

[Bakhtosh]

DBT, I see you got a couple of the 1 type of tower achievments (firebug, shell shocked). What map did you use?

[dbt1949]

For the fire towers I used "Out of fuel" and for the cannons I use " Fire control". I didn't go for good scores, just to get those achievements.

[Bakhtosh]

I tried getting gun crazy on Story Challenge mode on Cold Storage, and it didn't give it to me.

What mode were you in?

[dbt1949]

Out of Fuel. Pretty much just line the first row completely and the left side row by the core center with gun towers and max em out.

[Bakhtosh]

Story, Story Challenge, some other mode?

[dbt1949]

Story challenge or 10K limit I think.

[dbt1949]

A little helpful hint.
One thing I have learned (after playing over 300 games ) is that after you put the aliens on fire (from infernos or lasers etc) and you hit them with the orbital laser you will get the resources for them.