Age of Darkness Testing - What's the BEST Wave Defense? FIND OUT! - Part 1

[@JesseBakerH]

Really interesting to see. I really hope they rebalance a lot of the units and buildings or add some meaningful choices to defend. It feels like we're missing something currently.

[@catbert7]

Yeah, I think there are a lot of technically viable defensive strats right now but they are not super well balanced in terms of cost-effectiveness. It's also really hard for the players to determine that, hence the vid. Part 2 accounts for a lot more, and includes my recommendations for balancing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqvcc3tnhNVrpbM

[@TheSuperColonel]

I was very surprised at the flamers and the sentinel's cost-effectiveness. Disappointed in those nonmobile anti- trash flame towers. They look like shock towers from TAB but crap......maybe need a slight buff. Flamers can also move and clear the map...... Arbalest nerf IMO was justified, before that they were too "anti all" IMO. Maybe they could receive some MS boost back, halfway between current and pre-nerf. I never see pikeman's beings used anywhere defense or clearing map, Imo they need some kind of buff to be more viable. You should have shown upgrades for the siege, units, etc. Or your faction of choice if it makes a difference. Maybe also try different upgrades with the same amount of units on the same wave. Like range 1+all other dmg vs all dmg etc. I don't have this game yet, but I consider getting it once I finish TAB on 800%. Still, IMO this game still needs some polish and balance changes. Seems fun. Thanks for the video and youtube algo.

[@catbert7]

Yeah, units are King at the moment. Flame Towers got recently nerfed. Before that, they were quite good. Arbalest nerf didn't really do anything but make the game harder, yet, because they neglected to give melee a way to deal with Lobbers and Boomers, which is the first step to the diverse clearing armies they want to see. The damage nerf only accomplished making Damage upgrades even more dominant, since they still one-shot Crawlers with that. Nerfing their move speed was just altogether bad; did nothing to solve the problem. Yeah, Pikemen definitely need some changes. I'd start with being able to attack through Walls, and more knockback. Siege upgrades are all Range and Stun; the obvious choices (though the Range effects are certainly anything but obvious). Volatist and Rebel are both good. Order is pretty crap. This was done with Rebels, obviously. Volatists need a few more Arbs/Archers, but Sentinels and Flamers (strangely, they are considered melee) perform a bit better for them. I don't see any point in different upgrades, to be honest. Range just doesn't really have any benefit, against a constant stream of enemies. It means you can hit them a bit further out but it will also take more shots to kill the bigger guys (which are their targets). I've discussed this with someone in great detail in this forum post, where you can find the numbers and logic breakdown: steamcommunity.com/app/1426450/discussions/0/5154944131336612824/ If you have great patience for dealing with bugs, then I recommend it ;p There are some significant differences from TAB, some of which I like. It certainly does not have as much content right now, of course. I keep a list of the differences, which you may find useful: - No infection. - Start with Hero. - There is a unit upgrade tree, in addition to the usual tech. - No illogical noise mechanic, drawing enemies from across the map. - No restrictions on placing buildings next to each other. - Can build anywhere your units/buildings have vision. - During Waves, deadly Fog covers map where you don't have buildings. - Enemies spawn in the Death Fog. - Day/Night Cycle, where enemies are faster at night, and mini-bosses spawn. - Mini-Bosses give upgrade resources when killed. - Units push each other around, causing problems for the player. - No Wonders. - No Power or Oil resources. - No Doom Towns. - No Campaign or Editor at this time; just Survival mode and custom modifiers for it. - Controls are not as good (No grid view/Box select buildings/Super-zoom, etc.). - Final Wave comes from the previous Wave spawn points. - Less trading. - Can build to edge of map. - Enemies do not enter the map from the edges. - No enemy that jumps walls. - Can Repair much closer to enemies. - More melee units. - Farms are circular, rather than square. - Ignitable Walls, instead of Spike Traps, but they aren't worth using. - Not Steampunk. - Can place Mines on top of minerals. - No Gold upkeep on defenses. - Currently lots of bugs.

[@num2007]

what army composition do you recommend to clear the map?

[@catbert7]

Do you hear birds chirping? Don't miss Part 2, New and Improved, where we examine the full cost of fully optimized compositions, plus Fire Arrow vs Tower Damage, and Pike+Sentinel! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqvcc3tnhNVrpbM *Amazingly, V0.8 (Armor Update) has really not changed this much, other than that Sentinels are no longer viable, due to stacking, and Pure Archer is no longer viable, due to Armor.*