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Defense Grid: The Awakening - Official Minithread of Tower Defense Bliss

Zero Hero

Member
I paid full price on the words of pilonv1 and Frag the other day and it was money well spent. I'll be playing this for a long time. Thanks guys! :D
 
people should try grinder. 100 waves of walkers....

concussion towers plus meteor == carnage for that, i think i ended up wth almost 500k in score.

that said i swear some of the top scores must be abusing some kind of bug.
 

pilonv1

Member
Blue Geezer said:
people should try grinder. 100 waves of walkers....

concussion towers plus meteor == carnage for that, i think i ended up wth almost 500k in score.

that said i swear some of the top scores must be abusing some kind of bug.

i want to but I'm still stuck on the final mission of story :(

Are the story challenges or other modes any fun?
 

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
pilonv1 said:
i want to but I'm still stuck on the final mission of story :(

Are the story challenges or other modes any fun?

That last mission is pretty damn hard, it took me 10+ restarts and I beat every other level on the first attempt.
 

pilonv1

Member
Iadien said:
That last mission is pretty damn hard, it took me 10+ restarts and I beat every other level on the first attempt.

same here, its driving me insane. Probably restarted 15 times, ended up taking a week away from it
 
The last mission is such a bitch. I restarted so many times I broke down and looked online to cheat2win, but the advice didn't help. I eventually got it on my own. Gotta build from the back out and try and get both waves going down the same path. Which is easier said than done.

Such a great game. It's a shame no one on here is playing it, but that's GAF. I'm sure it'll get more attention once it's on XBLA.
 

webrunner

Member
It's on sale again, part of the Indie games sale. I picked it up.. having fun so far. I like to put flames on corners, and each cluster of towers needs to have a slow at the beginning, and a laser, and then cannons, teslas, and guns to taste. Meteor and Missile I stick out of the way... And I like how in some levels if you place towers well you can actually hit them at the computer core (eg: the first level you get upgrades, the top tower in the bottom cluster can hit there if it's a yellow gun)
 

Vorador

Banned
webrunner said:
It's on sale again, part of the Indie games sale. I picked it up.. having fun so far. I like to put flames on corners, and each cluster of towers needs to have a slow at the beginning, and a laser, and then cannons, teslas, and guns to taste. Meteor and Missile I stick out of the way... And I like how in some levels if you place towers well you can actually hit them at the computer core (eg: the first level you get upgrades, the top tower in the bottom cluster can hit there if it's a yellow gun)

You WILL need Meteor towers on the later missions. They're really useful since they do splash damage and have extremely long range.
 

tmaynard

Member
Picked this up last night. Never really took the time to try out any of the tower defense games, but I'm completely sold.

I'll be spending many hours on this game.
 

tmaynard

Member
Just played for a couple hours...


This game really fills in a gap in my gaming life. I have always loved RTS games, but there was a huge glaring problem: I fucking suck at RTS games.


In the past, I would go out and buy an RTS and absolutely love it. I'll get the basics down and then I'll get to a point where I hit a plateau of suck, while my opponent keeps getting better and continues to absolutely destroy me.


You'd think I would learn to just stop buying RTS games. But, I'm stupid. In fact, I have several on my list right now that I plan on buying as soon as they come out/drop in price. I'll more than likely continue to suck at them and end up getting discouraged, but I love all the gameplay elements they provide.


Then, I downloaded Defense Grid.


It may be a little awkward to compare a tower defense game to an RTS, but it does a wonderful job at filling that gap of upgrading units and taking down enemies while keeping it very simple. It's a lot of fun without breaking your heart as you see your entire setup you spent an hour on get destroyed in 5 minutes. :lol


Now, I have something that I can actually progress at while I continue to get my ass kicked at RTS games. :D
 
I saw this thread, read it, and thought, `looks like crap`. Then I opened Steam, and thought about downloading the demo. Instead I watched the trailer, and thought `that looks like crap, and not fun at all`.

Then, for some reason, I bought it. I thought `fuck it, it`s only 5 bucks`.

Then I played it for about 8 hours straight.

Game is fucking awesome, and fun fun fun. Will buy this again for XBLA since my notebook can only run it smoothly on medium graphic detail.

BUY THIS FUCKING GAME!!!!!!!!

Edit: Fuck, wrong Tower thread :(
 
So, that Garbage Collector/Disposal level. Whatever it's called.

Goddam. I've had at it about 10 times now. Anyone have a good strategy?

EDIT beat it, cannons were the key. I created a line of 4 cannons in a row and focused on upgrading them.
 
Alright I probably just really suck, but does anyone have any pointers on level 9 "Flight Plan"? I can finish the level just fine, it's finishing the level with all 24 cores that's making me want to throw my keyboard at the wall. In fact I make it through almost the entire level unscathed, but then the final wave comes with a fucking Rumbler that just. won't. die. I've Backspaced to the last checkpoint 30 goddamn times and restarted the whole level at least 4 times and tried all sorts of different strategies to get at that fucking slug on steroids and I just can't kill it. I've tried lots of Infernos, lots of Lasers, lots of Infernos + Lasers, a Meteor, and an upgraded Tesla (all as much as my resources will allow obviously), and at most I can't get its health down to less than 1/4 before it skedaddles out the door.

There seem to be a bunch of obstacles:
1) Temporals only affect them sporadically. No shit, I have zoomed in on the goddamn thing and watched as a Temporal shoots a wave out with the Rumbler well within its radius, and the goddamn thing doesn't slow down. I'm not kidding. It doesn't help that the Temporal has a fire rate of about once an hour, so even a Level 3 Temporal only has about a 50/50 chance to catch a Rumbler and do anything useful (why the fuck doesn't upgrading a Temporal increase its ridiculously slow rate of fire?)

2) Laser, and to a lesser extent, Inferno towers all have the very annoying tendency to always fire at whichever alien is farthest along the path. Since the Rumbler shows up surrounded by about a dozen lesser aliens, the Lasers always always always fire at the lesser aliens for the entire time the swarm is in their radius, leaving the Rumbler completely unscathed. I've surrounded the path with 4 fucking Laser towers in 1 stretch and watched helplessly as they all fire at every alien except the Rumbler, except for the last half-second its in their radius. I realize it doesn't really fit the genre, but for the purposes of this level I would love the ability to direct the towers to only fire at the massive fucking blue slug, and not the other things that Gun and Cannon towers take care of just fine. Infernos are supposed to have a wide cone of damage, but even at level 3 it only seems to affect the swarm of 5 aliens that flies just ahead of the Rumbler.

3) Probably the biggest obstacle is just how incredibly short the path to the exit is. There are a grand total of maybe 20 tower spots close enough for a Laser to hit the path, and that might sound like a lot, but if you've played the game imagine how fast the damn Rumbler moves.

ETA: D'oh, gave the wrong level name/number.
 

desverger

Member
For Veil of Ice, your basic strategy would be to make the longest possible path out of machinegun towers (they're cheap), I used the lower route. Drop a few cannons and meteor towers around the map to give fire support against the strong aliens. Laser towers aren't so great in this map, but you probably could put one in each of the "bridge-ends".

If you can make a long, winding path with lvl 2 machinegun towers that has a few temporals to clump the enemies so the meteor towers can hammer them, you should be good.

For the flying enemies, two lvl 1 missile towers in the far left of the map are sufficient.

Edit: I really started to appreciate the machinegun towers only later in the game, and it was funny to notice how much easier they made some of the earlier maps. They really are the best bang for your buck, especially upgraded.
 
Whoops, my bad, I was actually talking about level 9 "Flight Plan" in which there's no way to direct the path of the aliens. Thanks for the Youtube link.
 

Vorador

Banned
faceless007 said:
Whoops, my bad, I was actually talking about level 9 "Flight Plan." Thanks for the Youtube link.

Check related videos XD that guy has made strategic videos for every stage.
 
Heh, thanks, but in that guy's video, the Rumbler still gets away with 3 cores. Impressive how he survives for so long with just 4 towers in that 1 corner though.
 
If you're only losing one alien and it's in the last wave, hit them with the space laser.

I've been slowly working my way through getting gold in all the challenge modes to pick up the final achievement and getting over my aversion to using the orbital laser was something that happened very early on. It can be part of a good strategy.

Also, as a general rule, a small bunch of fully upgraded towers (MGs and a temporal) is almost always preferrable to a really long path.

In that level, just concentrate on the 8 squares in the middle and the four or five above it. If you don't want to use the laser, have 2 or so fully upgraded tesla towers waiting for it near the end. Probably 4 of those 8 squares will see the enemy twice so concentrating on those is the best strategy. Also I'd recommend you give up on laser towers for this map and stick with MGs.

On the things you said: I've never seen a temporal fail to work on something in its radius when the blast wave passes them. Ever. Also all guns fire at the alien they can see closest to the exit, or, if it's not the same, the closest alien they can see to the exit with a core. This is a part of how you place inferno towers. It's also why waves of speeders run through, and why boss waves start with a bunch of fodder.
 

desverger

Member
Yeah, the orbital laser is bad for your score. I don't think you get any resources from the aliens it kills (resources = score).

At one point I was blasting 3 of those big red aliens with the orbital laser at the end of the map and wondered why I didn't get a medal :lol
 
desverger said:
Yeah, the orbital laser is bad for your score. I don't think you get any resources from the aliens it kills (resources = score).

At one point I was blasting 3 of those big red aliens with the orbital laser at the end of the map and wondered why I didn't get a medal :lol

AFAIK you don't lose points, you just don't get points. So yeah, using it against the boss enemies is the most difficult but if the amount of points you would get from the kill is less than the amount you lose in the difference between purchase and resale of the buildings you create just to kill it then there's not much point, which is why it's not always a bad thing to use the laser. It also probably means you've got a less than optimal setup, but you don't need the absolute optimal to get golds in any of the maps.
 

Davidion

Member
desverger said:
Yeah, the orbital laser is bad for your score. I don't think you get any resources from the aliens it kills (resources = score).

At one point I was blasting 3 of those big red aliens with the orbital laser at the end of the map and wondered why I didn't get a medal :lol

You should never, ever, have to use the orbital laser, in my opinion.

I beat the game without a single lost core in any map. I'm surprised that people are going laser later in the game; that, inferno, and tesla, were pretty much never used in any of my games and in my opinion are completely inferior to other choices.

Edit: Do'oh! old thread.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Davidion said:
Edit: Do'oh! old thread.

No worries man! I'm sure newcomers are going to appreciate the tips.

Myself? I find lasers and inferno towers useful...but I never have more than 1-2 of each. Inferno towers are great early on for taking out the small units which would waste firing time from your stronger towers. The lasers are good where you're sure only single powerful units will be crossing, since their damage needs to tick for a long time to be worthwhile.

I totally think I'll be double dipping on Wednesday. Best singleplayer Tower Defense out there, and the controls should be very well suited to the 360 controller.
 

Davidion

Member
TheExodu5 said:
No worries man! I'm sure newcomers are going to appreciate the tips.

Myself? I find lasers and inferno towers useful...but I never have more than 1-2 of each. Inferno towers are great early on for taking out the small units which would waste firing time from your stronger towers. The lasers are good where you're sure only single powerful units will be crossing, since their damage needs to tick for a long time to be worthwhile.

I totally think I'll be double dipping on Wednesday. Best singleplayer Tower Defense out there, and the controls should be very well suited to the 360 controller.

Really? I didn't think the tower selection bit would fit the controllers, guess we'll see.

See what you said is the problem with lasers and infernos, they're just way too situational, same goes for teslas. Cannons are just too versatile for just about everything, whereas guns are great as cheap blockers and bonus damage. Concussion does inferno's job, except it does it with better damage and no field-of-view limitations AND level ups to something much more monstrous than infernos.

I love this game though, even it doesn't get enough word of mouth love. A decent sequel would be bought by me with no hesitation.
 
Level 3 cannons placed at the end of a long run is the key to success on just about every level, particularly those that allow the cannons to hit multiple paths.
 

Nelo Ice

Banned
xbhaskarx said:
So the XBLA version has some brand new levels, right?

yeah
http://defensegrid.hiddenpath.com/node/331
The Xbox 360 version of Defense Grid incorporates all of the latest tweaks and optimizations that make the other platform versions of the game so engaging. In addition, the Xbox LIVE Arcade version of Defense Grid includes the never-before-released Borderlands mission pack containing four new advanced maps that introduce new configurations and require new strategies to overcome. Three new challenge mode types also infiltrate your bases bringing the total number of challenge modes to over 100 beyond the story and campaign missions of The Awakening & Borderlands. There are hours and hours of optimization, strategizing, and engrossing play that will have you protecting the cores from those alien vandals.
 

Vorador

Banned
gregor7777 said:
Level 3 cannons placed at the end of a long run is the key to success on just about every level, particularly those that allow the cannons to hit multiple paths.

Combine them with meteor towers and machine gun towers and you've got a winning strategy in almost every stage.
 
I could have written that closing comment myself. I dislike tower defense games but was converted very easily by this game. It's too smart to pass up. Really makes you think and doesn't make you 'speed click' very often. It's fun to watch but easy to follow.
Even my girlfriend got addicted and she doesn't even know what an rts is let alone a tower defense game.
 

LAMBO

Member
Haven't played too many of these games. I liked pixeljink monsters, but Defense Grid blows it away in all ways. For some reason I really liked the dialogue of your computer companion, thought he was a better character than 90% of games i play.
 

Servbot #42

Unconfirmed Member
kai3345 said:
I don't understand the appeal of Tower Defense games. It's just put down a few towers and watch.

the appeal at least for me is that they are strategy games that are not too chaotic, i get overwhelmed with modern RTS titles so defense tower give me a more laid back experience.
 
Never heard of this until now. I don't have a 360, so I would get the PC version... but now that I see it costs 2x as much and is missing some maps, screw that. I'll wait till it hits a weekend sale for $10 or no deal.

It's too bad too, because it looks really fun.
 
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