Anti-Zombie Strategies

[Shadowdrake]

Bump for the return of the living dead. (The overdramatic flavor text makes me smile ) 

[LascielsShadow]

Made it to round 66 on the first try this year, not too bad. I may or may not have stolen borrowed a setup from someone else's 2019 post for try number 2 just to see if I'll have as much success as they did. (My first setup was a line of reds and greens in the front, and then a line of purples and thunders, and a shallow water in the back beside my tower just for bonus points when the game finally ended.)

Edited October 25, 2022 by LascielsShadow

[missy_]

Does anyone know the maximum XP we can farm? I didn't do any farming yet this year. I set up an anti-zombie strategy for the board, but I only have 35 total points/cost to work with. I don't know if that's the max of points (max cost) or if there's more.

 

Here's my current strategy while I determine if this is my maximum XP or if I can gain even more: So far, my Vampire dragons have summoned more Vampires and my Magma, Thunder and Ice dragons have summoned one Guardian of Nature.

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by missy_

[Tiira]

Didn't remember that this is a slow game to play. I placed some towers around my base in the afternoon, very randomly, without any strategy at all... but apparently it will still take while before they can defeat me. 😹

 

Maybe I will try with a more clever arrangement tomorrow. By then, my base should have been destroyed. 👻

[Shadowdrake]

2 hours ago, missy_ said:

I only have 35 total points/cost to work with

35 is the max, yeah. When your game ends it'll tell you how many exp you get and how far you are to the next level, but if there's no message about the next level you're at max.

[missy_]

1 hour ago, Shadowdrake said:

35 is the max, yeah. When your game ends it'll tell you how many exp you get and how far you are to the next level, but if there's no message about the next level you're at max.

Okay, thanks!   At least I won't farm for experience unnecessarily. 
 

Observation: Using Vampires is interesting because unlike all other minions, Vampires don't have a cooldown and can spawn other minions by occasionally turning zombies into Vampires. However, the Vampires they create die instantly when they are attacked because they only have one HP, unlike our Vampire towers which have three HP. Still, the Vampires that are turned act as a shield for our other minions, plus they can kill zombies.  
 

Observations about Guardian of Nature towers/minions: On the round they are summoned, they don't attack. They attack the following round, releasing a wave of bright energy (2 damage), rest two rounds, rinse and repeat. GoN towers attack three times, rest six rounds (two rounds after each attack), then leave the battlefield after 10 rounds to maintain the balance. It looks like maybe our Thunder/Magma/Ice minions can only summon one Guardian of Nature at a time? although I'm not 100% sure about that.

Edited October 25, 2022 by missy_

[Shadowdrake]

I've been doing some testing with the towers and the aeon is just completely incomprehensible. I have no idea what triggers it to work bc it didn't do anything for two games even while neighbors were being attacked, and only finally predicted when almost everyone was dead.

[missy_]

Shadowdrake, that is interesting about the Aeon. I am wondering, when the Magi teleports zombies to the back of the battlefield, if the teleported zombies can land on top of zombies that already are there and effectively destroy any zombies that were on the squares before them. Probably not, but would be fun if they did. 
 

I'm trying out the Sophrosyne. I'm sure I used it the first time we had Rise of the Zombies, but I can't remember if it was any good. My board is moving fairly slowly at the moment, so I don't know at what point the zombies will attack it, and I forgot to put a healer nearby. 😬 I may try a configuration without it next time since the cost is so high.

[missy_]

I didn't last that long -- until Round 134. I lost my first minion on Round 70 - a Vampire. I thought he was getting enough healing for that stage of the battle, but apparently not. The Guardian of Nature was especially handy in Round 71 when it killed up to five zombies in one blow.

 

This time, I'm removing the Sophrosyne (although it was cool to watch it wipe out all zombies in one fell swoop) and the Magi and adding more Magma dragons and some Green dragons. Also trying to position the White dragons more strategically.
 

 

ETA: If anyone can solve this mystery in Round 22, I'm trying to figure out how a zombie got close enough to attack my Ice dragon. (See underneath spoiler.) My guess is the zombies probably pop up randomly on squares, not in any particular order and the zombie that attacked the Ice dragon probably spawned toward the front and died during this turn. But do they spawn along the front row this early? 🧐

 

 



 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by missy_

[Kelkelen]

Made it to 120 on my first round of remembering how to play!  Now, to try a more carefully chosen tactic...

 

(I tried having 2 Aeons in my last game, but I'm not sure if they did anything, either!)

 

ETA: Up to round 133 so far, although my central Green has been killed -- The rest are still standing, with a GoN on the board.

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Kelkelen

[0x08]

I have finally unlocked every single tower. What is the optimal setup for a long-lasting keep?

[Stromboli]

This has been working well for me. Magmas and Greens out front for damage, Ice and White second line for buffs, and Thunder ranged bois in the back. Plus visits from the GoN, of course.

the two Greens in the back row were probably unnecessary, probably should've left a blank spot and plunked in an Aeon or something. But it's been running too long for me to want to reset now 😂

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Stromboli

[0x08]

2 hours ago, Stromboli said:

This has been working well for me. Magmas and Greens out front for damage, Ice and White second line for buffs, and Thunder ranged bois in the back. Plus visits from the GoN, of course.

the two Greens in the back row were probably unnecessary, probably should've left a blank spot and plunked in an Aeon or something. But it's been running too long for me to want to reset now 😂

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

Let's see how this goes.

[missy_]

Welp, made it to Round 167 ... the Vampires might be a weakness in my defense, so I've removed them from my front line for the next battle.

 

I am adding a Pink dragon to see how the charm spell works. I also added more Thunder since they have good AOE damage. I had one point left over, and I could have thrown another Green dragon in there, but I ended up throwing a Vampire in there for the chaos.  At that point I've pretty much lost anyway. 
 

[Kelkelen]

Up to 160, but 3 of my front line have fallen: a Magma, a Green, and a Vine.  I'm not sure how well the Whites will hold up!  Things started going downhill around Round 120 or so.  May they hold the line!

[missy_]

8 hours ago, Kelkelen said:

(I tried having 2 Aeons in my last game, but I'm not sure if they did anything, either!)

 

22 hours ago, Shadowdrake said:

I've been doing some testing with the towers and the aeon is just completely incomprehensible. I have no idea what triggers it to work bc it didn't do anything for two games even while neighbors were being attacked, and only finally predicted when almost everyone was dead.

I wondered about having more than one Aeon! Theoretically, it seems it could help and that they could help each other predict the battles, but it doesn't sound like it works in practice.

 

Random observations:

 

* I wish the Whites healed better. It seems like they mostly heal a single target? Although late in my last battle, they might have been healing two targets, but only 1 HP. 

 

* During rounds 31-60 it would be great if three zombies did actually spawn; then we would have a quicker idea of whether our strategy is working.

 

* Testing: It would be great if we could test and figure out exactly which tiles these minions control/have effect on.  Although time is not on our side.

 

* I wish there was a way we could actually win the game. 🙃 

 

* Wouldn't unlimited cost be awesome?? 😍

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

I've decided to start over with a three-row instead of a four-row strategy, due to the fragility of the Whites, plus allowing them to heal more targets (even though through observation, it appears they usually heal only one target). Although I feel somewhat uncomfortable about letting the zombies have control of the first row.

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by missy_

[Kelkelen]

26 minutes ago, missy_ said:

Random observations:

 

* I wish the Whites healed better. It seems like they mostly heal a single target? Although late in my last battle, they might have been healing two targets, but only 1 HP.

 

I'm noticing the same thing about the Whites -- I thought they would fully heal all the dragons in the adjacent squares, but it really looks like they only affect one dragon at a time, for 1 HP at a time.  I wonder how the target of the healing is determined; do they heal the dragon with the most damage? Or start with a certain tile and then go clockwise?  Hm....

 

32 minutes ago, missy_ said:

* I wish there was a way we could actually win the game. 🙃 

 

* Wouldn't unlimited cost be awesome?? 😍

 

It would be pretty cool if you could "survive until dawn" at 500 or something. 

 

Yes!  But I also like the limits being part of the game mechanic.  I think I just want to be able to completely fill my side of the board with good pieces!

[Shadowdrake]

They can heal multiple dragons, it's just that zombies are unlikely to do much damage until they're swarming at 4 spawns a turn. But they only heal 1 hp per dragon per white, so at 100+ rounds where zombies start hitting for 2 you need multiple whites around a dragon to keep up.

 

 

 

edit: last time we had this game, someone survived 1000+ rounds with a pretty simplistic layout, mostly magmas and whites. similar to this 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Shadowdrake

[insolentboi]

I've honestly just been throwing stuff at the wall, but I'm currently at round 47 with this setup. Seems to be working pretty well!
 

[Shadowdrake]

TJ seems to have fixed the glitch where the rounds only spawned 2 zombies instead of 3, so if 30-60 suddenly seem less survivable that's why. Also, if anyone has some of the trio towers but not all, please let me know if the GoN still appears bc he may have fixed that glitch too. Still behaves the same.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Shadowdrake

[missy_]

Shadowdrake, thanks for the info about round 30-60! That will be helpful, I believe.

 

I've changed my mind again and reset.  😭 I missed my Sophrosyne (actually wanted two of them, but cost) Here goes:

 

 

 

[Shadowdrake]

"WHO HAST SUMMONED ME? oof ow gon why"

 

Anyway, singlet trios are still summoning GoNs fine.

[Luckystarz103]

"Sometimes in a war against darkness, stalemate is victory"

 

White magma wall still the goat?

 

started it in the first hour of event but got unlucky and lost at round 175ish, blame it on myself for putting 2 lightning bois north and one east, instead of just copying ye old 2019 screenie 💀

Edited October 27, 2022 by Luckystarz103

[Kelkelen]

Okay!  Although my first dragon fell at about Round 120, I survived until Round 250!  

 

Trying a new tactic, now:

* pulling the front line back to the 3rd row

* going for high hit points with the Greens

* trying Ice to slow the onslaught from 3 squares away, instead of 1 with Vines

* a full healing wall of Whites -- there is no secondary line of defense.  If the wall is breached, we're done for! 

* two Thunders for ranged attacks and maximum attrition

* strategically placed Purples to hopefully allow more frequent healing from Whites and attacks from Thunders

* aaaand I had a point left over, so why not a sacrificial Vampire for kicks?

4 hours ago, Luckystarz103 said:

"Sometimes in a war against darkness, stalemate is victory"

 

White magma wall still the goat?

 

started it in the first hour of event but got unlucky and lost at round 175ish, blame it on myself for putting 2 lightning bois north and one east, instead of just copying ye old 2019 screenie 💀

I think it still depends a little on the randomness factor, sadly -- last time, at least one other person fell before 500 with the same setup as the 1K magma wall.  But I am rooting for you!

 

Also!  Come ON, Ice dragons!  Did ALL THREE of you have to use your attack on the same round, for ONE little zombie?  Hmph!  Maybe I should move them to the outer columns, so that they won't all fire needlessly at once.

[0x08]

18 hours ago, 0x08 said:

Thanks for the tips!

 

Let's see how this goes.

218 rounds later...

Still sustaining!