Sprout TD

[Guest GipFace]

After years of hiding, Zoator has released a new TD called Sprout TD. Two days after its release, I have no-damage cleared it on easy.

http://rapidshare.com/files/46231818/Sp ... y.w3g.html

Normal and Hard difficulties are a beast because the HP is upped (by 33% and 66%), but I think they are doable.

Ultimate tower tech trees

Basic: Rock Thrower > Stone Hurler > Land Mammoth > Frost Bringer > Elven Commander

Advanced: Furbolg Destroyer > Mystical Knight > Demon Lord > Sky Staff > Elven Priestess

Divine: Toxic Master > Frosted Bear > Elven Frigate > Juggernaut > Shattered Heavens

As you can see, I did not go after the Basic Ultimate, opting for three Lv3 poison towers (Basic: Forest Archer > Chaotic Treant > Sea Mistress > Toxic Maiden) instead. I follow the ultimate tower tech trees for Advanced and Divine.

So try it out today! It's a Zoator TD, so you know it'll be an instant classic. Get it at zoator.com, or just find a game on B.Net since it's the latest rage. Unfortunately, you never get enough money to make a fair variety of the 81 towers, and most of the towers suck due to the final level (see below). You can't mass one type of tower due to each level changing types, like Element TD. In EleTD, half damage can be circumvented with AOE slow, but in Sprout TD, slowing is incredibly weak. Splash damage also sucks because there are way too many status immune levels for my taste. You're better off with higher-damage single target towers instead. Level 28 (immune fortified) is especially difficult.

For example, Peon Launcher's 1100 siege damage and large splash (highest damage Advanced tower) looks good on paper until you hit air or medium armor (or any status immune level). This would have introduced variety, but the final level (level 50) is hero armor with magic and status immunity. This means that you must center your strategy around the chaos damage tower that deals maximum damage against cost (Shattered Heavens) or else you'll lose. Too bad.

[if you want to kill the indicator unit at the end of the game, simply spam Stone Hurlers (Basic: Rock Thrower > Stone Hurler) because massing Level 1 Bash will cause the indicator unit to freeze.]

[Guest Sancdar]

It's a Zoator TD, so you know it'll be an instant classic.

Yeah, like Switch TD.

[Guest GipFace]

Yeah, like Switch TD.

B.Net players don't have the intelligence to play that TD.

[Guest Sancdar]

I wouldn't know, the only public games of it I've seen hosted were DL only...

As for Sprout TD, it's bitch-hard. The tech tree is confusing and seems largely random, and you don't have much time to consider it by mid-game. Air and Spell Immune levels basically have their way with you. After three games I've only made it to level 47 on Easy, which basically just walked through my maze and obliterated what little was left of the tree after 45.

[Karawasa]

GipFace's post reads like an advertisement . After visiting the forums (dead) and taking one look at this map (mediocre), I've decided that this is definitely not a classic.

[Guest Sancdar]

I don't think either of those judgments are really on the mark.

[Guest GipFace]

Sprout TD 1.0 is a helluva lot better than Element TD 1.0.

The tech tree is confusing and seems largely random

Actually, it's quite uniform...

Basic: The basic sprout has three tier I towers. Each of those tier I towers has two towers which advance the tree and one that doesn't (except Rock Thrower which only has one tier II tower). Each tier II has two unique tier III and one backtrack. Each tier III has one unique tier IV tower and one backtrack. All tier IV towers will backtrack the tech tree except Frost Bringer, which allows the Ultimate (Frost Bringer).

Advanced: The advanced sprout has has three tier I towers. Each tier I tower has two tier II and one backtrack. Each tier II has two tier III and one backtrack, but only one of those tier III will go on to tier IV. This means there are 12 tier III and 6 tier IV. The bad tier III only has a backtrack, while the good tier III has a tier IV and one backtrack. The tier IV towers backtrack except for Sky Staff, which allows the Ultimate (Elven Priestess).

Divine: The divine sprout has three tier I towers. Each tier I tower has three tier II and no backtrack! Each tier II has one tier III and one backtrack. Each tier III has one tier IV and one backtrack. Tier IV backtracks, but Juggernaut allows the Ultimate (Shattered Heavens). Shattered Heavens is the best tower in the game, so that devalues all other Divine towers.

[Karawasa]

I don't think either of those judgments are really on the mark.

Alright, "crap," was too harsh for the map. It is a lot better than a lot of other maps, but I still did not like it. As for the forums, they are most certainly dead.

[Guest Sancdar]

Sprout TD 1.0 is a helluva lot better than Element TD 1.0.

The tech tree is confusing and seems largely random

Actually, it's quite uniform...

Basic: The basic sprout has three tier I towers. Each of those tier I towers has two towers which advance the tree and one that doesn't (except Rock Thrower which only has one tier II tower). Each tier II has two unique tier III and one backtrack. Each tier III has one unique tier IV tower and one backtrack. All tier IV towers will backtrack the tech tree except Frost Bringer, which allows the Ultimate (Frost Bringer).

Advanced: The advanced sprout has has three tier I towers. Each tier I tower has two tier II and one backtrack. Each tier II has two tier III and one backtrack, but only one of those tier III will go on to tier IV. This means there are 12 tier III and 6 tier IV. The bad tier III only has a backtrack, while the good tier III has a tier IV and one backtrack. The tier IV towers backtrack except for Sky Staff, which allows the Ultimate (Elven Priestess).

Divine: The divine sprout has three tier I towers. Each tier I tower has three tier II and no backtrack! Each tier II has one tier III and one backtrack. Each tier III has one tier IV and one backtrack. Tier IV backtracks, but Juggernaut allows the Ultimate (Shattered Heavens). Shattered Heavens is the best tower in the game, so that devalues all other Divine towers.

Obviously this isn't that clear while you're actually playing the map. I bolded parts where it seems especially arbitrary. Which tower should I logically pick to advance myself? What path logically leads to a certain ability I might want? Considering the limited amount of gold (which is random for some reason), I can't afford to build the wrong path and find out. It's an EXTREMELY unfriendly system, which, combined with the already unfriendly system of having no builder, as well as the currently fairly extreme difficulty changes (flying + spell immune = gg) means that the map will never get any popularity on B.net.

[Guest GipFace]

Which tower should I logically pick to advance myself? What path logically leads to a certain ability I might want?

Want the tech tree in all its complicated glory?

Red = Backtrack tier

Green = Same tier (arrows indicate which direction)

Blue = Advance tier

Description is COST then type of damage (N=normal, P=pierce, S=siege, M=magic, C=chaos), then any abilities. SLOW means that the tower shoots slower than most. I didn't do one for Divine because no sane person would deviate from the Ultimate tech as stated in my first post.

What can this tell us? The only basic towers worth your time are Toxic Maiden and Forest Priest. On the way to those techs, you get Sea Mistress and Forest Warrior which deal normal damage. You get a couple more options in Advanced, but as you can see, the towers aren't too creative.

For best results, do not get an additional basic seed because Advanced towers are much more efficient per dollar. You want to get Advanced Seed ASAP. The $54 Sea Warrior is just as good as the $80 Sea Mistress.

[Karawasa]

Those pictures confirmed my belief that this game is not worth my time.

[Guest Sancdar]

Yeah, kind of. The thumbnails are pretty much ridiculous.

[Guest minddrifter]

Those tech trees have to be a joke, right? There's no way someone could seriously make that and actually think someone is gonna try and read that mess, at least I hope not. I couldn't even look at it without getting a headache, lol.

[Guest GipFace]

I made those charts primarily for myself because I wanted to know what was the most efficient route for my no-damage clear. If you only read the blue lines, the tech tree is easily understandable. The tree starts from the middle and branches out toward the borders. What makes the chart a mess is all the backtracking. One shouldn't backtrack because the higher tier towers are more damage efficient.

Why do people lose lives even with humongous mazes? Because they spend half their money on the least efficient tower.

One thing I forgot in the advanced tree: Voodoo Master backtracks to Flaming Furbolg.

[Twilice]

Pretty cool TD. But need some balance.

[Guest left.side]

<3 those tech trees. srsly.

[Karawasa]

Thanks for making Element TD look better Gipface .