- Joined
- Jul 19, 2005
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- 5
Edit: Added some illustrations.
This guide is intended for newbies, though experienced players may have some fun with it as well. It is non-comprehensive, and is not intended to be the end-all-be-all-guide. This is written during version 350.
1. Object of the Game
2. Playing the Game
3. Etiquette
4. Surviving
5. Prospering
6. Winning
7. Resource Managment
8. Tips
9. Conclusion
1. Object of the Game
Warhammer 40K TD is a Tower Defense (TD) Game, meaning you build towers which do damage to passing creeps as they try to reach a destination. For example, as creeps walk from point A to point B, you build towers that shoot them, and hopefully they don't reach point B. TD games are typically macromanagement games compared to micromanagement games, meaning you focus on economics, tower choice, and tower placement, rather than clicking individual abilities and managing troops, though there is often a small amount of that. In WH40KTD, only a select few high-end (meaning you usually get them at the end of the game, and only one or two) towers require micromanaging, and even those often have the autocast function built-in.
In this particular TD, the point B the creeps are trying to reach is in the center of the map. There are 8 point A's the creeps come from: long grassy corridors under the protection of a player each. There is a square leading around the center with 8 small patches of grass for players to additionally build on. Creeps go down the initial grassy lane, go in a clockwise rotation around the middle, and then head into the center from 4 openings at the cardinal points.
2. Playing the Game
The Red player, typically the host (though many hosts switch to gray), chooses a difficulty level (Normal, Adept, Gosu, or Impossible), and then each player chooses his or her race. The races in WH40KTD are modeled off of races from the "board" game. Once a player has selected their race, they may build towers on their area to shoot down creeps which are coming in about 30 seconds. Each race has its own selection and style of towers, each requiring different strategies. Players recieve gold for slaying creeps and for successfully completing a level.
Banking also takes place at the end of each round. I will not discuss banking extensivly in this guide. The banking system allows you to earn 10% interest off of all gold stored in your bank account at the end of each level. Typing the command "-ab" for autobanking sets up the automatic withdrawing and depositing of your bank account, and is recommended.
Several levels are "air" levels, in which creeps fly over your towers, while some levels are "boss" levels, including only two creeps per person, instead of the usual group, but two creeps with a lot of hit points.
3. Etiquette
It is good form to only build on your own territory, meaning to long grassy strip you start on and your little patch of grass out front. You may build on other people's land if they give you permission. You can build anywhere you want on the map, but you may incur a bit of hostility, not to mention seeing your towers getting slain (players can forcibly sell off offending towers on their territory with the fuckoff tower). The little strips of land, I believe, are technically gray's territory (gray being the player who defends the middls circle last), but are traditionally reserved for the players who are closest to them. Standard issue things to remember are fair-play and courtesy, as with all things.
4. Surviving
I will start out with all colors but gray (who is covered below).
Many newbies first start by mazing (building towers in a twisted intestine like pattern to force creeps to stay near their towers longer) their corridor of grass, as most other TD games reward such behavior.
WH40KTD encourages mazing, however the little strip of grass in front is probably your single most valuable asset. Start off by building some units on that little strip.
This will allow you to not only take out some of your creeps, but also the creeps of those counterclockwise from you, as those creeps will pass by your towers as well. Folks who just build creeps in their long corridor do not have that double opportunity.
At level 5 you will encounter your first air level. Air levels are beaten by fast splash damage as a large clump of flying creeps will pass over your towers very quickly, and fast splash damage is needed to damage all of them at once. Anti-air units are built into every race. You can tell an anti-air unit from the second set of damage it has indicated. For example, a unit might have 25-30 Siege Fast and then to the right 80-90 Chaos Very Fast. The first set is used on ground units, and the second set is used on air units. Build at least one or two on your little strip out in front to help survive air levels.
At level 8 you will encounter an unmarked siege level. Siege levels in other TD feature units with fortified armor, requiring special towers to take down easily. Level 8 is an unmarked siege level, because armor type does not play nearly as an important role in WH40KTD as it does in other TD. Be sure to build some chaos and/or siege towers for level 8.
Level 16 is your first boss level. Do not click on the boss during this time. Do not do anything. Clicking on the boss, according to gaming lore, is a cause for dropping folks. Whether or not this is true, a lot of people, 1 or more, tend to drop on level 16. Just don't do anything, and supposedly that helps.
For Gray, build your towers in a spiral pattern around the middle. You only need three units at the 4 cardinal points, but make sure that one of them is slightly away from the circle, thus preventing blocking (and having creeps eat your towers).
Here is a rough outline of a very effective spiral for gray in the middle. Note that there are four little mini-spirals in the corners to make more effecient use of space. Creeps come in from the right.
Hopefully folks build anti-air towers, but if not, watch where their creeps will go, and try to block accordingly with your own anti-air towers. For level 16, have a huge spiral maze and some very high damaging towers, as you will mostly likely get a ton of boss kills.
Most games will end on or before level 30, 32, and 33. Don't worry if you don't survive those ones, as it is very difficult and you will get better with time. That, and you have to rely on your fellow players, who might be new also. Don't worry about it, and have fun.
5. Prospering
Spam a high number of cheap troupes along your little strip of grass out front in the beginning and try and get as many kills as you can.
Once you have enough to get higher end units, go for it. Be sure you have anti-air for level 5, in fact, have over-kill anti-air to make up for the person to your side, and the two counterclockwise from you who forgot to build anti-air. As soon as feasible, sell off most of the cheap troupes to get one fast, splashing, high damage tower to take out tons of units. Be sure to only build on your land, but if you get a really good tower, you can wrack up a ton of kills. Quality > Quantity. Save up for the better tower when you can,
(a row of low towers with a big tower on the corner is a solid build)
instead of building several lesser towers (except in the very beginning).
(a mix of low end towers instead of one higher tower is not usually the best move unless you have something particular in mind)
A mix of stun, slow, splash, and high damage is useful. (variety is good).
6. Winning
Level 5, 8, 16, 30, 32, and 33 are killers for most games.
On level 5, make sure everyone has anti-air and a lot of it. Compensate for the people counterclockwise of you if needed.
Level 8 is the unofficial siege level, so have chaos and siege damage. Chances are, the people next to you forgot or didn't know, so you'll save the day.
Level 16 is the no-clickie-boss level. Don't click on him, and try to kill him with fast high damage. If you can't kill him, damage him enough so that gray can (gray needs the money help anyway).
Level 30, 32, and 33 include the two primary creators of the game in boss form and the burning cows. A particular mix of towers is needed for this on higher difficulty levels, but since this part is about winning, here is one way you can do it.Gray can spiral out in an effective maze using three races, Chaos Khorne, Necron, and Chaos Slaaneesh.
(level 32, after two or three hits from C'tan)
A boss, or any unit, that is -100 armor getting hit for 5k and 6k on a fast and steady basis will drop. This is particularly important on level 32 vs. Ralle ("Me") who has a huge amount of divine armor and lord knows how many hit points.
(before debuff)
(after debuff)
(enjoy the carnage)
This all requires an almost prohibitive amount of gold, which is gotten from boss levels and banking (if you have 6-7k gold from one boss, build enough to survive and then let the interest pile up each level. You can get well over 10k this way). Another good thing to do as gray is to sell off that first piece of lumber at level 15 to have several high damaging towers by level 16. Interest is the key.
Beating the game at impossible is always tough to do and requires a lot of cooperation. The above build, though, will finish the game for you. Just add four more C'tans, about 20 more Bloodthirsters, and 4 more Keepers of Secrets (with proper interest and teamwork, it is very doable).
7. Resource Management
Type -ab at the beginning of the game to start gaining 10% interest on all your gold. It is, of course, better to save than to spend, but you'll have to get a feel for when to build that tower and when to wait a level or two.
You get 1 lumber for every 500 creeps you kill, which is used to buy a new race builder, or a superunit. If you are gray, you get 1 lumber also at level 15.
In version 350, you can now buy and sell lumber, and buy lives. Unless you will immediatly use your lumber, sell it for 1500. You can always buy it back for 1500, and that gold can help your interest. Being able to buy lumber also allows those players who have insane ammounts of cash to buy multiple super-units and several extra races. If it is towards the end of the game and you have too much gold to spend, you can also start pumping out extra lives if you don't think you'll survive.
8. FAQ and Tips
If you are gray, sell that first lumber at level 15 and pump out a few high end units to kill the bosses at level 16. You'll make about 6-8k gold out of it.
Always build on the little strip. Don't maze in your corridor unless you really know what you're doing.
Quality is better than quantity, unless you are mazing.
Try to build something nice early game. For Chaos, get a prince out instead of a terminator. For necron, get out that destroyer. For eldar, get the avatar. For Ork, get an upgraded killa kanz, etc.
If you have the gold for it, extra races can be fun. If you know the races well, you can do some fiendish combinations.
If you have the admin tower and people are doing well, turn on the extra spawns so gray gets some kills.
Don't bag on folks that don't have a clue; let them play and they might learn something from watching you.
Expect to lose the game when other players don't know what they're doing. You can point stuff out and help them, but do it nicely because otherwise you'll piss them off. Don't have the expectation that they'll listen to you, but every now and then they'll surprise you.
Don't ask to borrow money from gray after level 16. Gray needs it more than you do.
Ask folks to remove towers they build on your land first before using the fuckoff tower, just to be nice.
Unit exchanges can benefit folks, for example: If I am Khorne and another player is Necron, I can give them a berzerker and they can give me a deciever (build, and then give). I would pay them 325 gold, since deciever costs 400 and berzerker costs 75. Things that give bloodlust and auras are nice to give/sell etc. to other players. Once you build something they requested/bought from you, it's good to give it to them (with the give player button). Unit exchanges happen only rarely, so don't expect to see them in every game.
9. Conclusion
Have fun, try new races, and try different things. It is my desire that this guide has helped, informed, and/or entertained you in some way. It is not-comprehensive, but it is here. GL and HF.
Flowers of Evil
[email protected]
This guide is intended for newbies, though experienced players may have some fun with it as well. It is non-comprehensive, and is not intended to be the end-all-be-all-guide. This is written during version 350.
1. Object of the Game
2. Playing the Game
3. Etiquette
4. Surviving
5. Prospering
6. Winning
7. Resource Managment
8. Tips
9. Conclusion
1. Object of the Game
Warhammer 40K TD is a Tower Defense (TD) Game, meaning you build towers which do damage to passing creeps as they try to reach a destination. For example, as creeps walk from point A to point B, you build towers that shoot them, and hopefully they don't reach point B. TD games are typically macromanagement games compared to micromanagement games, meaning you focus on economics, tower choice, and tower placement, rather than clicking individual abilities and managing troops, though there is often a small amount of that. In WH40KTD, only a select few high-end (meaning you usually get them at the end of the game, and only one or two) towers require micromanaging, and even those often have the autocast function built-in.
In this particular TD, the point B the creeps are trying to reach is in the center of the map. There are 8 point A's the creeps come from: long grassy corridors under the protection of a player each. There is a square leading around the center with 8 small patches of grass for players to additionally build on. Creeps go down the initial grassy lane, go in a clockwise rotation around the middle, and then head into the center from 4 openings at the cardinal points.
2. Playing the Game
The Red player, typically the host (though many hosts switch to gray), chooses a difficulty level (Normal, Adept, Gosu, or Impossible), and then each player chooses his or her race. The races in WH40KTD are modeled off of races from the "board" game. Once a player has selected their race, they may build towers on their area to shoot down creeps which are coming in about 30 seconds. Each race has its own selection and style of towers, each requiring different strategies. Players recieve gold for slaying creeps and for successfully completing a level.
Banking also takes place at the end of each round. I will not discuss banking extensivly in this guide. The banking system allows you to earn 10% interest off of all gold stored in your bank account at the end of each level. Typing the command "-ab" for autobanking sets up the automatic withdrawing and depositing of your bank account, and is recommended.
Several levels are "air" levels, in which creeps fly over your towers, while some levels are "boss" levels, including only two creeps per person, instead of the usual group, but two creeps with a lot of hit points.
3. Etiquette
It is good form to only build on your own territory, meaning to long grassy strip you start on and your little patch of grass out front. You may build on other people's land if they give you permission. You can build anywhere you want on the map, but you may incur a bit of hostility, not to mention seeing your towers getting slain (players can forcibly sell off offending towers on their territory with the fuckoff tower). The little strips of land, I believe, are technically gray's territory (gray being the player who defends the middls circle last), but are traditionally reserved for the players who are closest to them. Standard issue things to remember are fair-play and courtesy, as with all things.
4. Surviving
I will start out with all colors but gray (who is covered below).
Many newbies first start by mazing (building towers in a twisted intestine like pattern to force creeps to stay near their towers longer) their corridor of grass, as most other TD games reward such behavior.
WH40KTD encourages mazing, however the little strip of grass in front is probably your single most valuable asset. Start off by building some units on that little strip.
This will allow you to not only take out some of your creeps, but also the creeps of those counterclockwise from you, as those creeps will pass by your towers as well. Folks who just build creeps in their long corridor do not have that double opportunity.
At level 5 you will encounter your first air level. Air levels are beaten by fast splash damage as a large clump of flying creeps will pass over your towers very quickly, and fast splash damage is needed to damage all of them at once. Anti-air units are built into every race. You can tell an anti-air unit from the second set of damage it has indicated. For example, a unit might have 25-30 Siege Fast and then to the right 80-90 Chaos Very Fast. The first set is used on ground units, and the second set is used on air units. Build at least one or two on your little strip out in front to help survive air levels.
At level 8 you will encounter an unmarked siege level. Siege levels in other TD feature units with fortified armor, requiring special towers to take down easily. Level 8 is an unmarked siege level, because armor type does not play nearly as an important role in WH40KTD as it does in other TD. Be sure to build some chaos and/or siege towers for level 8.
Level 16 is your first boss level. Do not click on the boss during this time. Do not do anything. Clicking on the boss, according to gaming lore, is a cause for dropping folks. Whether or not this is true, a lot of people, 1 or more, tend to drop on level 16. Just don't do anything, and supposedly that helps.
For Gray, build your towers in a spiral pattern around the middle. You only need three units at the 4 cardinal points, but make sure that one of them is slightly away from the circle, thus preventing blocking (and having creeps eat your towers).
From there, spiral out around and around.
(note that it is a good idea to mix units. That pic is just illustrative.)
Here is a rough outline of a very effective spiral for gray in the middle. Note that there are four little mini-spirals in the corners to make more effecient use of space. Creeps come in from the right.
Hopefully folks build anti-air towers, but if not, watch where their creeps will go, and try to block accordingly with your own anti-air towers. For level 16, have a huge spiral maze and some very high damaging towers, as you will mostly likely get a ton of boss kills.
Most games will end on or before level 30, 32, and 33. Don't worry if you don't survive those ones, as it is very difficult and you will get better with time. That, and you have to rely on your fellow players, who might be new also. Don't worry about it, and have fun.
5. Prospering
Spam a high number of cheap troupes along your little strip of grass out front in the beginning and try and get as many kills as you can.
Once you have enough to get higher end units, go for it. Be sure you have anti-air for level 5, in fact, have over-kill anti-air to make up for the person to your side, and the two counterclockwise from you who forgot to build anti-air. As soon as feasible, sell off most of the cheap troupes to get one fast, splashing, high damage tower to take out tons of units. Be sure to only build on your land, but if you get a really good tower, you can wrack up a ton of kills. Quality > Quantity. Save up for the better tower when you can,
(a row of low towers with a big tower on the corner is a solid build)
instead of building several lesser towers (except in the very beginning).
(a mix of low end towers instead of one higher tower is not usually the best move unless you have something particular in mind)
A mix of stun, slow, splash, and high damage is useful. (variety is good).
6. Winning
Level 5, 8, 16, 30, 32, and 33 are killers for most games.
On level 5, make sure everyone has anti-air and a lot of it. Compensate for the people counterclockwise of you if needed.
Level 8 is the unofficial siege level, so have chaos and siege damage. Chances are, the people next to you forgot or didn't know, so you'll save the day.
Level 16 is the no-clickie-boss level. Don't click on him, and try to kill him with fast high damage. If you can't kill him, damage him enough so that gray can (gray needs the money help anyway).
Level 30, 32, and 33 include the two primary creators of the game in boss form and the burning cows. A particular mix of towers is needed for this on higher difficulty levels, but since this part is about winning, here is one way you can do it.Gray can spiral out in an effective maze using three races, Chaos Khorne, Necron, and Chaos Slaaneesh.
Gray uses Khorne Berzerkers to bloodlust everything,
Khorne Bloodthirsters (with bloodlust autocast turned off) to do high fast splash damage (5k crits easy),
Slaaneesh Keeper of Secrets for the -100 armor debuff on autocast (turns bosses into cat food),
Necron Decievers for a massive aura on all of your troupes,
and Necron C'tan Stargods at the four corners of their space to provide damage on the way in,
(level 32, after two or three hits from C'tan)
and then 6k splash hits constantly on everything in the middle maze.
A boss, or any unit, that is -100 armor getting hit for 5k and 6k on a fast and steady basis will drop. This is particularly important on level 32 vs. Ralle ("Me") who has a huge amount of divine armor and lord knows how many hit points.
(before debuff)
(after debuff)
(enjoy the carnage)
This all requires an almost prohibitive amount of gold, which is gotten from boss levels and banking (if you have 6-7k gold from one boss, build enough to survive and then let the interest pile up each level. You can get well over 10k this way). Another good thing to do as gray is to sell off that first piece of lumber at level 15 to have several high damaging towers by level 16. Interest is the key.
Beating the game at impossible is always tough to do and requires a lot of cooperation. The above build, though, will finish the game for you. Just add four more C'tans, about 20 more Bloodthirsters, and 4 more Keepers of Secrets (with proper interest and teamwork, it is very doable).
7. Resource Management
Type -ab at the beginning of the game to start gaining 10% interest on all your gold. It is, of course, better to save than to spend, but you'll have to get a feel for when to build that tower and when to wait a level or two.
You get 1 lumber for every 500 creeps you kill, which is used to buy a new race builder, or a superunit. If you are gray, you get 1 lumber also at level 15.
In version 350, you can now buy and sell lumber, and buy lives. Unless you will immediatly use your lumber, sell it for 1500. You can always buy it back for 1500, and that gold can help your interest. Being able to buy lumber also allows those players who have insane ammounts of cash to buy multiple super-units and several extra races. If it is towards the end of the game and you have too much gold to spend, you can also start pumping out extra lives if you don't think you'll survive.
8. FAQ and Tips
If you are gray, sell that first lumber at level 15 and pump out a few high end units to kill the bosses at level 16. You'll make about 6-8k gold out of it.
Always build on the little strip. Don't maze in your corridor unless you really know what you're doing.
Quality is better than quantity, unless you are mazing.
Try to build something nice early game. For Chaos, get a prince out instead of a terminator. For necron, get out that destroyer. For eldar, get the avatar. For Ork, get an upgraded killa kanz, etc.
If you have the gold for it, extra races can be fun. If you know the races well, you can do some fiendish combinations.
If you have the admin tower and people are doing well, turn on the extra spawns so gray gets some kills.
Don't bag on folks that don't have a clue; let them play and they might learn something from watching you.
Expect to lose the game when other players don't know what they're doing. You can point stuff out and help them, but do it nicely because otherwise you'll piss them off. Don't have the expectation that they'll listen to you, but every now and then they'll surprise you.
Don't ask to borrow money from gray after level 16. Gray needs it more than you do.
Ask folks to remove towers they build on your land first before using the fuckoff tower, just to be nice.
Unit exchanges can benefit folks, for example: If I am Khorne and another player is Necron, I can give them a berzerker and they can give me a deciever (build, and then give). I would pay them 325 gold, since deciever costs 400 and berzerker costs 75. Things that give bloodlust and auras are nice to give/sell etc. to other players. Once you build something they requested/bought from you, it's good to give it to them (with the give player button). Unit exchanges happen only rarely, so don't expect to see them in every game.
9. Conclusion
Have fun, try new races, and try different things. It is my desire that this guide has helped, informed, and/or entertained you in some way. It is not-comprehensive, but it is here. GL and HF.
Flowers of Evil
[email protected]
