holepercent

unless all us beta leaders get a special builder...

first, welcome to the forum. it's a good start. but ve is supposed to be that. very easy. almost any build can complete the game on ve. consider checking out the great ronald hunt (all games played on vh). watching some of the pros replays can also help to improve. feel free to ask questions about strategy, builds or other stuff.. practice more and eventually make the transition to playing in veryhard samerandom...

and here i go again. another 6-element game ending with periodics. eletd_pbeta_099_pub_61_14ronalds.w3g

how to build so fast? this comes with speed. you need some idea of what towers you want for that wave. another technique is learn the hotkeys for all towers. for arrows, it's 'b' 'a' and click. so basically it goes 'b''a'(mouse click), 'b''a'(mouse click) until you get the number you need or another way is shift click where after 'b''a', hold down the shift key and click the number of towers required, then double click any of the towers just built and press 'u' to upgrade. less than ideal elements is something that will happen in random. that's one of the challenges of playing random... knowing what to build comes with experience and a through knowledge of the towers (as well as being a member of the dev team and one of the few lead beta testers).

had a quick review of the game.. i only picked out some of the areas to be improved. i'm sure cisz has plenty more to add... first up, consider memorising the standard arrow openings to avoid overbuilding and gaining less interest than you could have. you built 2 or 3 of the basic elemental tower. generally, this is avoided in favour of upgrading to the amplified form. since you are on random mode, all towers sell for 100%. you know what attack is strong and weak against what elemental? Avoid building towers that deal 50% damage to the wave lvl 7 - a fire cannon deals 50% damage to water wave. in this case, you should stick to arrows instead of building the basic fire tower. lvl 9 - an amplified fire tower is stronger than 3 basic fire towers. lvl 13 - again, fire towers are a bad choice against a water wave. since dark was available, use dark towers. lvl 17 - use fire towers against a nature wave. dark towers should have been rebuilt to fire. wave 19 - darkness deal 50% to light. wave 20 - flame tower placement. it belongs to the bottom corner of III, the short pass placement, where it retargets quickly instead of following a creep on the first pass. in non-chaos mode, the elemental order is fixed. as such, you should always use the strong element where it is available. It is much easier to plan the elements ahead, unlike in chaos mode. maybe this replay might help you improve

a replay just for fun.. i didn't expect to actually finish this game but it ended up that the waves came and i found myself facing ronalds... enjoy! unfortunately played in short mode so i can't upload this for the great ronald hunt... eletd_pbeta_074_pub_61_41ronald.w3g

definately needs an option to turn the autocast off otherwise the towers are wasted. for tidal, should be autocast off when built/by default. the player turns the autocast on when he becomes lazy to manually cast it. about quark autocast. is some form of waypointing possible? otherwise, it's quite pointless to autocast the teleport back to same spot. it's wasting the ability if it casts on first attack as all autocast towers do.

interesting idea to start. More details/elaboration would be better. . but it does feel like a different way of applying effects already in the game. aoe dmg is something like hydro/quaker even to a certain extent nova. unless something like a .25/.5 sec stun? could try this and other ideas for the concept out in a private beta...

it is used in some builds or in random mode games with lvl1 in all elements. for one very good replay, check out the double noleak replay played by cisz and jolin012 here

the main game would start immediately with the standard votes after the say 10min (or a votable time) timer runs out, so no, players wouldn't be waiting for hours for the main game to start (and i doubt any host would select infinate time in a online multiplayer game, not unless he has nothing better to do, in which case just add the host to your banlist). in any case, i don't forsee this being used much in online games apart from single-player build testing, inhouse games, and practicing troublesome levels for group noleak replays.

or if the computer players really cannot be removed, have a special tournament version (since the tournament is coming up) for 6 players, the 4 computer spawns and 2 slots for obs/refs. the areas for the 2 players that were removed could be replaced with a extented multiboard with extra information about the plays made, elements etc...

agreed. now as i gave the tower some testing for builds, it's really overkill on the effects for the tower (especially as the tower loses its efficiency by mid-game)

would be useful for single-player build testing. maybe multiplayer could be a 10min timer before the real game starts. agreeing with the rest, the creeps that would be sent should be a wave which can be picked by the player. if the player is allowed to pick the gold, then it may not be what the player would actually have in an actual game (those who worked on private beta would know when the commands were used). what i was thinking for realistic testing is that after the wave is picked, the player has gold corresponding to how much gold he would have in a game without interest and be allowed to overspend slightly.

never really realised that.. i would think most are more used to hitting 'U' twice to upgrade to super. few i know click the upgrade button..

well played by both players.. some parts were pretty close... but congrats on the double noleak...

agreed. well and blacksmith casts the buff on the furthest tower in range. and it does get quite irritating when it casts on temporary arrows/cannons that would be sold after the level instead of the real damage towers. it's also difficult to manually cast every buff especially with other towers in play..

would be useful. i would prefer the option of another option on the builder for lvl2 duals/triples and above that are available. happens in random when you have elements at diffferent levels and need to know what upgraded towers are available. listing the lvl after the tower isn't really good as the tower changes name as it upgrades. it may confuse newcomers as they might end up looking for a lvl 2 magic tower when it's named sorcery. quite minor but still worth mentioning...

The holepercent's guide to 4.0 UPDATE: my full guide is in the making in club element. once i have content for every section, the guide would be transferred over to the strategy forums. random and pick guides, this build list, build design and placement guides, replay HQ and other random extras. would take some or should i say a long time before i successfully complete the full guide... For all interested: The Element TD DRAFT!! (mainly for inhouse 3-5 players of around equal skill) the draft starts with the removal of the 5 duals and 7 triples from the pool the pool consists of the 15 duals and 20 triples. Each player removes from the pool a dual of his choice. 5 duals are removed. if less than 5 players, host picks the rest of the removals. Each player votes 3 triples to be removed from the pool, 7 triples with most votes are removed from the pool duals removed from the pool cannot be built, not even as intermediates to triples. triples removed from the pool cannot be build. next, the elementals are drafted Each player picks a element and a tier, like fire3. any tier, including higher tiers, can be picked. Other players can pick the lower tier if they also want that element at that tier. Or you could pick the lower tier at your next pick. see the example below. If host desires, interest and pures must also be drafted, in which case, no more pures and interest will be added after the draft ends. If not, host can add interest and pures himself after the elements are picked. each player has 2-3 picks. at the end, combine all the picks. the optimum is around 15 (12 elementals, 2 interest, 1 extra pure). all legal tiers are added into the pool. if only tier1 and 3 is picked, tier1 and 2 enters the pool. lowest tier available is added.. downgrade to lowest possible if lower tiers are not drafted. example: 4players (12 picks total, 3 picks each) draft order (player 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4) earth3, water1, fire2, nature1, nature 2, earth1, light2, water2, fire1, earth2, dark1, water3. final elements in the pool: water1-3, earth1-3, fire1-2, nature1-2, dark1, light1. Usually, 2 interests and a extra pure is added (host choice/drafted) order is decided by the players in game but only those in the pool can be summoned. the format provided some excitement and fun for all in trying to work around the restrictions of the towers and elements removed from the pool. Build list for 4-element builds DNEF Duals: magic,disease,gunpowder,flame,blacksmith,mushroom Triples: voodoo,flamethrower,roots,quaker DNEL Duals: disease,gunpowder,trickery,mushroom,life,quark Triples: roots,oblivion,laser,enchantment DWEF Duals: poison,gunpowder,magic,hydro,kindle,blacksmith Triples: muck,corrosion,flamethrower,zealot DWEL Duals: poison,gunpowder,trickery,hydro,ice,quark Triples: muck,hail,laser,polar DNEW Duals: disease,gunpowder,poison,mushroom,well,hydro Triples: roots,drowning,muck,flesh golem LFNE Duals: electricity,life,quark,flame,blacksmith,mushroom Triples: nova,gold,enchantment,quaker LFND Duals: electricity,life,trickery,flame,magic,disease Triples: nova,jinx,oblivion,voodoo LWFE Duals: ice,electricity,quark,kindle,hydro,blacksmith Triples: windstorm,polar,gold,zealot LWFD Duals: ice,electricity,trickery,kindle,poison,magic Triples: windstorm,hail,jinx,corrosion LFNW Duals: electricity,life,ice,flame,kindle,well Triples: nova,windstorm,tidal,impulse LDFE Duals: trickery,electricity,quark,magic,gunpowder,blacksmith Triples: jinx,laser,gold,flamethrower LDWN Duals: trickery,ice,life,poison,disease,well Triples: hail,oblivion,tidal,drowning LWNE Duals: ice,life,quark,well,hydro,mushroom Triples: tidal,polar,enchantment,flesh golem DWFN Duals: poison,magic,disease,kindle,well,flame Triples: corrosion,drowning,voodoo,impulse WFNE Duals: kindle,well,hydro,flame,blacksmith,mushroom Triples: impulse,zealot,flesh golem,quaker Build list for 5-element builds LDWFN: Duals: trickery, ice, electricity, life, poison, magic, disease, kindle, well, flame, Triples: hail, jinx, oblivion, windstorm, tidal, nova, corrosion, drowning, voodoo, impulse LDWFE: Duals: trickery, ice, electricity, quark, poison, magic, gunpowder, kindle, hydro, blacksmith Triples: hail, jinx, laser, windstorm, polar, gold, corrosion, muck, flamethrower, zealot LDWNE: Duals: trickery, ice, life, quark, poison, disease, gunpowder, well, hydro, mushroom Triples: hail, oblivion, laser, tidal, polar, enchantment, drowning, muck, roots, flesh golem LDFNE: Duals: trickery, electricity, life, quark, magic, disease, gunpowder, flame, blacksmith, mushroom Triples: jinx, oblivion, laser, nova, gold, enchantment, voodoo, flamethrower, roots, quaker LWFNE: Duals: ice, electricity, life, quark, kindle, well, hydro, flame, blacksmith, mushroom Triples: windstorm, tidal, polar, nova, gold, enchantment, impulse, zealot, flesh golem, quaker DWFNE: Duals: poison, magic, disease, gunpowder, kindle, well, hydro, flame, blacksmith, mushroom Triples: corrosion, drowning, muck, voodoo, flamethrower, roots, impulse, zealot, flesh golem, quaker Build list for 6-element builds LDWFNE: Duals: trickery, ice, electricity, life, quark, poison, magic, disease, gunpowder, kindle, well, hydro, flame, blacksmith, mushroom Triples: hail, jinx, oblivion, laser, windstorm, tidal, polar, nova, gold, enchantment, corrosion, drowning, muck, voodoo, flamethrower, roots, impulse, zealot, flesh golem, quaker

i'll cut disease out. Towers to add could be mushroom (combined with well), maybe hydro and gunpowder. i'm working on my WDNE no leak replay on the public beta. (i did it earlier with a private beta). still needs some refinements to cut out a small number of leaks here and there...

would be good if you could post a replay of the game.. it's be easier for us to advice you on the build. or at least provide the element order and towers that were in play. when i did DNEW, i used 1 pure water and 1 pure earth.

first, i would like to say break out of the 3.0 mindset. 4.0 can be considered a different game and what works in 3.0 might not work now, for example the old lwfd which there is no close equivalent in 4.0. Gone are the days of imbalanced builds and towers. the 15% slow speed for all 4 aoe slow triples (roots,nova,muck and windstorm) is a deliberate decision. you'll need 2 of the aoe slowers to get max slow. also, random mode means making the best out of the set that you were given. there is no set build in random, otherwise why call random?? in most games, not all elements/towers would be available. Experiment with all the towers first, finding out what works and what doesn't. about the waves/elementals being too strong, it's part of the game. if you find difficulty clearing the waves, try lowering the difficulty. 4.0's VH is designed to challenge even the more experienced players.

yes. the lvl 3 elements are for pures and lvl 3 duals.

when i played as host in competitive mode in a game with 3 players without changing the settings, i could see everything. so i'm thinking it's a bug??

DNEW means a build with those 4 elements. you'll finish with 3 lvl 3 elements and a lvl 2 element.

it depends on placement and builds as well.. electricity can only hit maximum of 4 targets. poison tower can hit much more than 4 with aoe slowing in play. most of the towers are quite balanced (i would say) so it really depends on the setup. the 'best damage' tower might not always the best all the time.