====================================================== Welcome to the: Warcraft III Tower Defense (TD) F.A.Q. By: rerun141 You can contact me at: rerun141@hotmail.ca This is the first version: 0.3 Thanks for visiting; I hope I can help :) ====================================================== ============================================================================= Table Of Contents ============================================================================= I. Introduction II. Mazing and Mazing TDs -A: The "Art" of mazing -B: Cube D -C: The Maul series -D: Noob Killer TD -E: Zoatar TD III. Powerhouse TDs -A: Archer TD -B: Moon Dog TD -C: Azote Vil's Team TD (under construction) -D: DBZ TD IV. Other TDs -Orc Burrow Td V. Info. Tables (under construction) VI. Credits VII. Legal Info ============================================================================= I. Introduction ============================================================================= Whether your naturally bad at R.T.S. (like me), get bored easily, or can whip any other WCIII player into submission you may find yourself on Battle.net's custom game board. TDs make up over 40% of the great games amateur programmers show off here. The range from extremely easy (orc borrow D) to bordering on impossible (Cube D: ultimate). From the quick and simple (Archer Td) to the challenging and complex (The maul serious: trying to name them all is a challenge in itself :P). Now I'm getting ahead of myself. Some of you may be wondering; just what is a TD? Basically, they are custom games in which large groups of increasingly tougher enemies move in a set path towards an ominous goal. If enough of them reach this point, you and your team lose! They only way to stop them is by creating an arsenal of unique attack towers along there path. Now that exams are finished I get back to this F.A.Q. This version new version adds data on the current board favorite, Zoatar TD. ============================================================================= II. Mazing and Maze TDs ============================================================================= My favorite TDs and the ones seen most often are those involving mazes. A maze is a group of towers placed in a certain way to force the enemy units to pass by your more powerful towers more often. A good maze can make a tower 4 times more potent then that tower would be alone. This section A) explains how to maze and B) gives strategies for the two main Maze TDs: Cube D and the Maul Series. ============================== Section A: The "Art" Of Mazing ============================== For a maze to be effective it must do a couple of things. First, it must affect all enemies that come your way (excluding air units of course). This is a big problem for purple and orange in the Maul series. Since the units come at these positions from different angles heading for different waypoints a poorly constructed maze may do a lot less damage then its worth. Ex: ___________________________________________ ||| RED'S LEAKS ||||||||||||||| ||| ||||||||||||||| ||| ||||||||||||||| ||| ||||||||||||||| ||| TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | ||| T | ||| T TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | ||| T T ORANGE'S AREA T YELLOW'S| ||| T T T T LEAKS| ||| T TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT T | ||| T T | ||| TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | ||| | ||| ||||||||||||||| ||| ||||||||||||||| ------------------------------------------- The "T"s represents oranges towers. Though it may not be obvious if you haven't played before, yellow's leaks will enter the spiral, work there way to the middle and then out again. Meanwhile, red's leaks will pass down the side, barely touched. A few better mazes (and ones seen most commonly) look like this: ______________________________________ ______________________________________ | RED'S LEAKS |||||||||||| | RED'S LEAKS |||||||||||| | |||||||||||| | |||||||||||| | |||||||||||| | T |||||||||||| |TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT |||||||||||| | T T |||||||||||| | | | T T | | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | | T T | | T T | | T T | | T TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT T YELLOW'S| | T T T YELLOW'S| | T T T LEAKS| |T T T T LEAKS| | T T T | | T T T T | | T T T | | T T T T | | T T T | | T T T T | | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT T T | | T T T T | | T T | | T T | |TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT T|||||||||||| | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT|||||||||||| -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- The first is another spiral like design that can be quite effective in the early game. The second is simply a basic yet effective maze modified to fit this strange area (It may be hard to see but the enemy units will travel up and down the maze passing the same towers repeatedly). A good maze should also take full advantage of the waypoints. Waypoints are small areas on the map each enemy MUST touch in an exact order. A great example is the classic Wintermaul wars strategy: _______________________ || INCOMING UNITS ||| || ||| || ||| || T ||| || T ||| || T ||| || T ||| || T ||| || T ||| || T ||| || T ||| || T >| || T G| || T R| || W T E| || T Y| || T >| || T | ----------------------- The units must walk don to the way point, turn around had back up to where they came from enter the tower lined path, and make their way down again. When playing as Grey, a more complicated use of the waypoints can result in a "double-block" ________________________________________________________________________ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||T W1 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| W1 ||||||| |||| T |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||| | T |||||||||||||||||||| | | T | |PINK'S TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT GREEN'S| |LEAKS T LEAKS| | T | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| W |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To reach there their first waypoint, Pink's leaks must travel back around through orange, yellow, purple and green's area. To reach there second, Green's leaks must do the same thing (beginning with purple and ending with pink). Now we're coming to the section end here's a little test how would you maze this? _______________________________________________________________________________ | | | ________________________________ ______________________________ | | | | | W1 ENEMY START | | | | | | ______________________ | | | W5 W4 | | | | | | | | | | | | __| | |_____________ ______________| | | | | | | | | W6 W3 W2 | |_____________________________________________________________________________| Recognize this? It's a modified version of Blues area in Cordial Spam's Cube D. I came up with a way to have your enemies pass waypoint 5 4 times. Can you see it? Answer Below: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * _______________________________________________________________________________ | T | | ________________________________ T_____________________________ | | | | | W1 T ENEMY START | | | | | | T_____________________ | | | W5 W4 | | | | | | | | | | | | __| | |_____________TTTT______________| | | | | | | T T | | TTTTTTT | | W6 W3 W2 | |_____________________________________________________________________________| Enemies must pass waypoint 5 to go from 1)The start to W1. 2) W1 to W2 3) W3 to W4 and 4) W5 to W6. If you put powerful towers at W5 you are set! There are plenty of other great mazes and I hope you came up with on, because the section is over! ============================= Part B: Cordial Spam's Cube D ============================= The first TD I got into was Cube D, an extremely well constructed TD with 100s of maze possibilities. It contains 30 levels; 23 ground, 7 air; and can be played at 6 different difficulties: pansy, easy, normal, hard, insane, and ultimate. Unfortunately, I can't help you to beat ultimate. I know nobody who can. But I can certainly show you how to conquer pansy through insane. First a little game data. TOWERS (As of 4.8): Defense Towers: low damage, No special effects, atks land and air, 4 upgrades Ground Towers: High damage, No special effects, atks land, 4 upgrades Snare towers: low damage, slow poison, atks land and air, no upgrades Frost towers: High damage, Freeze (slow effect), atks land, no upgrades Anti Air towers: High damage, no special effects, atks air, 2 upgrades I now about the enhanced towers, but I never use them. Levels: 1)NOOB 2)BIGGER NOOB 3)ARMORED NOOB 4)FLYING NOOB 5)DUDE 6)LEET DOOD 7)ELEET DOOD 8)FLYING DOOD 9)SCARY DOOD 10)MAD COW 11)GOBOO 12)BATBIRD 13)BOBO 14)MEOW WOMEN 15) FAN BOY 16)FLYING FANBOY 17) FAT FANBOY 18) FUZZIER WUZZIER 19)BARKMAN 20)PURPLE POOT 21) AYCHE PEA 22) AYCHE PEA Q-TI 23) ROB THE ZOMBIE 24)NOT A FERRET 25) HORSEY MEN 26) LIVING MEAT BLOB 27) FUZZIEST WUZZIEST 28) 29) ********** 30) MR. ROBOTO Cheats and bugs: cheat: In versions 4.0 and lower. Select many worthless buildings, pause game, and type -sell repeatedly. This gives tons of cash but annoys many players. Including me! BUG: In versions 4.7 and 4.8 building indomitable ground punisher (last upgrade of ground tower) or air destroyer (last upgrade of Anti-Air) before round 8 will result in mass disconnection. DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ========== STRATAGIES ========== Right now this version contains 1 sratagy (mine). It will be beat any level up to hard simply and can be used on insane if you have good anti-air (just like all insane strats). If you have a strategy that can beat hard or better e-mail me instructions or a replay a rerun141@yahoo.ca (notice the .ca). I will try it out and if it works, post it. Thanks in advance. RERUN'S STRATAGY O.K., when explaining my strategy I will use the following terminology: ____________________________________________________________________ | A2 | | _____________________ ______________________________ | | | | | W1 A1 ENEMY START | | | | | | _______________ | | | W5 W4 |A3| | | | | | | | | | |_______ | | | A6 |________ A5 ________| | | | | | | | | | | A4 | | | | W6 W3 W2 | | | |_____________________________________________________________|__|_| Now lets get started. After round 8 you're on your own but you shouldn't have much trouble. Don't forget air is every 4 rounds! ROUND 1: Build three ground towers, in a line, to the left of W4, upgrade the middle one. As you gain gold from kills, build a line of ground towers between at A6, starting at the far right and building left. I find it helps to tell the person behind you that you will build here. ROUND 2: upgrade the other 2 towers next to W4. Block A5 with defense towers (it will only take 2) build one more tower in the line at A5, there should be two spaces left along this line. DON'T BUILD HERE. ROUND 3: Upgrade 3 of the ground tower in the line at A6, save the rest of your gold for now. When kills bump up you to 15 gold, build an anti air tower between A5 and W3. ROUND 4: build another anti air tower next to the first with your starting gold. With the gold you get from kills block A1. Make a line at A4 so that A1 and A3 are separated from A4, but have access to each other Your map should look like this (D fir defense tower, G for ground, A for Air) ____________________________________________________________________ | A2 | | _____________________ ______________________________ | | | | | W1 D ENEMY START | | | | G | | __D____________ | | | W5 GW4 |A3| | | | | | | G | | | |_______ | | | GGGGGGGG|________DDDD________| | | | | | | AA D D | | | | DDDDD | | | | W6 W3 W2 | | | |_____________________________________________________________|__|_| ROUND 5: If you have the cash, build a frost tower at the end of the line at A6 (leaving one space). Use the cash you get from kills to upgrade the towers in A6 and block A2. Round 6: Build a snare tower in front of A6, continue to upgrade towers at A6, build a second row of ground towers behind the first, starting at the far left, working right and leaving one spot at the end. Round 7: continue to upgrade you towers at A6. Make it I priority to upgrade you Anti-Air over the next to rounds and build 2 more. Round 8: as usual upgrade at A6, and keep anti-air. This is what you'll be doing for the rest of the game. If the person beside you leaks build a block between his W4 and the W5. Currently, you map should look like this. (F is frost, S is snare) ____________________________________________________________________ | D | | _____________________ _____________________D________ | | | | | W1 D ENEMY START | | | | G | | __D____________ | | |GGGGGGGGG GW4 |A3| | | | | | | G | | | |_______ | | | FGGGGGGGG|________DDDD________| | | | | | | S AA D D | | | | AA DDDDD | | | | W6 W3 W2 | | | |_____________________________________________________________|__|_| This strategy forces enemies to pass A6 4 times, if you're wondering how, go read the maze section! ======================= Part C: The Maul Series ======================= Duke WinterMaul's WinterMaul has inspired over 10 TDs. To document complete data on all these games is currently not me goal. (But will be included in later versions... Maybe). Currently This F.A.Q. will be a place with minor info on each version and on popular elements. So lets get started Versions (that I have seen, there may be more): Wintermaul, SummerMaul, FireMaul, OceanMaul, TropicaMaul, SpaceMaul, and SimponsonMaul (the current favorite.) WINTERMAUL/SUMMERMAUL/FIREMAUL: Elements: Tech Center: Pros: cheap Cons: none Average: damage, speed. Towers: Enhanced arrow tower, sniper post, V2 rocket launcher, ion cannon center, and nuclear missile silo. Where to use them: GREY! The towers are cheap enough to get a good maze up quickly, and have good towers to handle air (ion cannon centers) Earth Gate: Pros: splash damage Cons: expensive Average: damage, speed. Towers: Nature Pool, Teran Protector, Gaia's box, Land Quaker, Gaia Where to use them: Front lines (red, blue, or teal) splash damage is much more effective when the units appear in large groups. Ice Freezer: Pros: slow ability. Average: damage, speed, cost. Cons: None. Towers: Icicle Tosser, Snowball Launcher, Blizzard Master, Water Sprayer, Nova-Creator Where to use them: Anywhere, these towers are always good. Forge of Fire: Pros: damage, speed. Average: none. Cons: cost. Towers: Flame tower, fire dancer, meteor watcher, blast furnace, flame staff Where to use them: purple and orange. If limited room, you need more power! Power Plant: Pros and cons: sorry, I never use these towers, I have no idea. Towers: Shock Tower, storm caller, chain lightning tower, thunder rod, battery Where to use them: one thing I do know is batteries rock! This can be your second choice at any spot Undead portal: Pros: hero, damage Cons: cost Average: speed Towers: Shock Tower, storm caller, chain lightning tower, thunder rod, battery Where to use them: anywhere, these towers have limited special ability, I usually use them as my second element to get a couple heroes Levels: 1)scout 2)engineer 3)night ranger 4)barbarian 5)Baby Dragon 6)stalker 7)water runner 8)ice troll 9)wolf rider 10)BOSS: ice general 11)hover craft 12)goblin machine 13)frosty reptiles 14)demonic pets 15)matured dragon 16)ice shard golem 17)eternal spirit 18) supply tanks 19)walking corpse 20) BOSS: Frost Lieutenant 21) Totem carrier 22)Unholy knight 23)crystal mage 24) frozen infernal 25) adult dragons 26)Polar Bear 27)possessed huntress 28)corrupt chieftain 29)Ancient Dragons 30)Boss: Duke wintermauls. Bonus: Osama Bin Ladden Look alikes, Suddam Husein decoys, John Cowan, Sparta 606s, demon sheep. SimpsonMaul/ForestMaul/OceanMaul: under construction. ========== strategies ========== Know any good strategies? E-mail them to me at rerun141@yahoo.ca (notice the .ca). All I'm posting for now is the classic double block: DOUBLE BLOCK STRATGY____________________________________________________ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||T W1 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| W1 ||||||| |||| T |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||| | T |||||||||||||||||||| | | T | |PINK'S TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT GREEN'S| |LEAKS T LEAKS| | T | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ====================== Part D: Noob Killer TD ====================== As the name suggests, this game is extremely difficult if you don't know what your doing. Once you learn the ropes, its not that hard. Begin bye building five guard towers forming a semi-circle in front of your flame. Continue building guard towers in a spiral pattern. By round six your maze should look like this (red's view) __________________________________ | | | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | | T | | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT T | | T F T T | | T TTTTTTTTTTT T | | T T | | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | ---------------------------------- (There will be fewer towers). Now build an elemental builder and continue building a spiral bye building two stun towers, then a lightning, two stun, then a lightning, over and over. Once you've circled around again begin a simple maze at the end. Eventually, bye the more powerful builders and add a tougher arsenal. (you normally win by round 15). ================= Part E: Zoatar TD ================= The current favorite Td out there features 90 towers in 5 different elements. It also features a hero battle arena (where you and 4 others take on hordes of creeps) as an alternative way of making gold. Elements: From what I've seen, mystic is best in the front, spirit in the back. Savage can be good if mazed well. Heroes: Tyrade and Thrall are by far the great hero choices, though at least 1 melee, usually demon hunter, is good as well. Personally I go for Thrall. Remember your heroes rarely even make level 5. Don't judge them by their ultimate! Towers: each element contains 8 towers that can be upgraded once and one ultimate tower (requiring most of the upgraded towers) that can also be upgraded once. Upgrade all towers and try to get an ultimate fast! Cheats: in version 1.2b, red gains cash every time he presses the *esc* key. Holding it down usually creates instant win! Stratragies: you don't have the option for fancy mazes like in Maul and Cube D. ------------------------ | | | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT| | | |TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | | | | TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT| | | |TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT | ------------------------ just back and forth lines will do fine. Remember to upgrade fast. (Remember send your strats to rerun141@yahoo.ca) ================================================================================== SECION III: POWERHOUSE TDs ================================================================================== Any TD where your towers can't touch the enemy's path is what I call a powerhouse TD. It requires little strategy or technique, more experience. Once you've learned what towers give the bang for their buck, you will have no problem (unless your teammates suck!). So lets get started. ========= Archer TD ========= This is relativity small (6 player) relatively easy (you should be able to be able to beat it any time your allies don't do stupid things). Its 30 levels long (beginning at 0, ending at 29) and has between 10 and 20 towers. To win the game you must: for the fist 4 rounds build spear trolls. Then upgrade, and then build burning dead. Congrats, you win. To make it even easier, use your castle to build slaves, then sell them for a huge profit. Good luck with this one, you won't need it! =========== Moon Dog TD =========== This fairly decent game changes from version to version, though one thing stays relatively the same. 12 ice towers at you intersection works wonders. Begin with your basic towers spending as little as you can until you can afford the first ice tower. As it rakes in cash build more. Then switch over to Tesla Towers and hell casters. It sounds simple but proves a lot harder then archer TD. If you like to cheat, build a bunch of worthless towers, select them, pause, and then type -sell over and over. =================== Azote Vil's Team Td =================== This is a rather strange TD for a couple of reasons. First, beating all 99 levels is almost never required (beating the first 20 is rarely required) because you are playing against one other team. Second, while mazing is possible, it is almost completely ineffective. If you are one of the middle players (player 3,4,7 or 8) it is best to quickly get an elemntal builder and mass lightning towers. If you are the first line of defense (1,2,5,6) build a cannon tower and continue to upgrade to level 5. Do this over and over. If your allies are good you will win, If they aren't, you die! ====== DBZ TD ====== This game is a little more challenging then archer TD, but poorly made and definitely not hard. Begin by building a solar flare tower and spend the extra cash on energy blast towers towers. Upgrade a.s.a.p continually building the most expensive tower at each tier. Build a super saien when they become available. Goodluck. ================================================================================== Section IV. OTHER TDS ================================================================================== Some TDs are a class by themselves. Namely these. Currently this section is relatively small but will soon include Matrix D and orc Tax collector Td. ============ Orc Burrow D ============ Possibly the most boring TD, Orc burrow D seems kind of fun for the first 20 of its 50 levels, and then it dies. After the first 5 rounds, two or three people are in control of the game and the others might as well drop, they have little or no chance to catch up. The best way to get this control is to build as close to the corners as possible. If you're in the top 3 after round 5, order one of the middle players to research magic sentry. This game has nasty invisible units. Save up, when you have 6 gold, by a Wendy, level up in brilliance aura. Then buy a troll shaman. Use brilliance aura to boost the shaman's manna quick enough to make a wall of sentry ward near your towers. Once the units are stuck. You win. Keep your wall well maintained and endure the next 30 levels of bore... ====================== Tax Collector's Orc TD ====================== Though this is really a maze TD I put it here because of that added feature, choosing the amount of enemies you face and when you face them. This strange ability gives this TD much more strategic depth then most others. I am definitely not a pro at this but I can give you the basic strategy of all none noobs, after that your on your own. First off, always pick the black rock builder. Begin by constructing two lines of burrows, about 6 in each, up the sides of the path. Always order the highest amount of enemies you KNOW you can handle (usually 8-10). Then begin to upgrade your towers. If your upgrading in the early rounds you can order 15+ enemies at a time. When the upgrading is done, advance to more powerful towers and continue the two lines. NEVER order more guys then you can handle, even if your partner can easily take down the leaks. Doing so will result ================================================================================== Section V. Data Tables ================================================================================== In the future this section will contain data on H.P.s of enemy units and tower damages. I'm sure you're just dying to read this (sarcasm people!). but its currently under construction. ================================================================================== Section VI. Credits ================================================================================== Thanks to all the game creators: Cordial Spam, Duke Wintermaul, Dungeon master (and retch), and LoR20. Thanks to Game F.A.Q.s for giving me a place to post this F.A.Q Thanks to all the contributors: oh yeah, no contributors yet... ================================================================================== Section VII. Legal ================================================================================== All the words in this document are copyright 2003 rerun141. Your free to have the ideas, I'd love you to share them with your friends, but please don't steal my work. If you want to include this on you site, email me. (rerun141@yahoo.ca). Thank you very much. Bye.