How does the speed multiplier and interest work?

[haupty]

Hi guys, love the work you're still doing after all this time. I've been playing since the beginning (remember rainbow towers and interesting towers?) and had fun helping you with the starcraft version testing a little bit. Anyway I just wanted to say I've been having a great time with the mobile version, I love the double speed and skip to next wave features! Anyway here's my question:

 

I haven't been trying to hard to get a high score till recently and now that I am, I'd like to know more about how they work. I usually do builds that really take their time such as far right side on grove (numpad 6) and slow towers, always making sure to have the creeps make two passes so I get maximum interest, but now I'm wondering if that is helping my score or not. The speed bonus is based on how fast the wave dies, and not if you have the double speed on, right? And if the score awards me for both net-worth and speed, has anyone done any kind of testing to see which provides the bigger score, trying to kil the waves asap versus dragging it on to get more interest ticks? I'm just curious if anyone knows before I do the testing myself.

 

[haupty]

I ran a simple tests to try and find out, I did a simple no frills build on normal and ran it once in my usual fashion of buying time and building interest, and then again trying to rush it and kill each wave in one long pass. On my long game I ended it with a score of 243,200, a speed modifier of 0.8, and a net worth of 97,360. Then when I did my rush build I got a score of 339,099, a speed modifier of 1.3, and a net worth of 71884!

 

I was blown away by the difference! So it appears playing fast is far superior to playing for net worth. I had been playing the interest game since way back when interest was an element you could buy and hoarding cash was the way to go, so I never assumed the best way to play changed. I was going to run the test a few more times to make sure, but with the spread beings so big I don't think the result would change much. Anyway, thought I'd share so others know and don't make my mistake. Maybe you can add something about that to a tips screen or something.

[Karawasa]

Thanks for that feedback. We may very well adjust the networth bonus. We want both strategies to be viable.

[haupty]

The one thing I have noticed is viable is if you want to do the slow and efficient type builds I favor, is just going up in difficulty. I always played on hard out of habit, but in my continuing tests on how to build score, have noticed just going up to insane difficulty rewards a much better score for the same build. So maybe I was wrong in thinking networth bonus would make up the slack in score, and instead need to max out the difficulty.