Completed Let's play: Horde! (Finished)

[Monocause]

Darth, I'd go for a knight contract and place two or three knights in strategic locations. Also, you should invest in magic items - I don't remember exactly, but the ATM card was important as were the weapons. Without them you'll get screwed real fast.

 

[HanoverF]

Forget the shop and invest heavily in methane producers to keel the trees global warming style

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Forget the shop and invest heavily in methane producers to keel the trees global warming style

Or maybe he could start making Jet?

 

[Claw]

Darth, I'd go for a knight contract and place two or three knights in strategic locations.

Yeah, like the ends of your walls. That way they can intercept Hordlings running along the wall.

Also, I don't get why you place traps haphazardly around your cows instead of just walling them in. Are walls that expensive compared to traps? Even so, you should at least have put down a solid trench imo, not leaving gaps for Hordlings to run through.

Last not least, you seem to keep far too much money in the bank. In economic games, I usually spend as much money as possible early for the returns.
In other words, buy more cows. And more wall. And more traps. More of everything. Only save as much money as you think you really gonna need.
Just think if you had bought one or two more cows in spring, you could've earned back that investment already I believe.

 

[Cthulhugoat]

Okay, what?

 

[Rabidredneck]

Archers behind walls, Like Claw suggested knights at ends of walls, Maybe try placeing that Horde bait at the opposite side of a pit trap, see if that leads them to a spiky death.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Tried this out myself after seeing this. I think you're boned though. I had just under 1900 gold at the end of the first area, and I could have had more like 2500 if I'd sold all the cows beforehand. Even with that much money I'm getting screwed in the second area by all the speedy smart fuckers. Bastards managed to kill 2 of my cows even with a knight on 3 sides and a wall on the third. The knights do a damned good job though. First time I used one he killed like 8 or 9 of the bastards for me in about 5 seconds. It was very lucky positioning/spawning, but still.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Also, I don't get why you place traps haphazardly around your cows instead of just walling them in. Are walls that expensive compared to traps?

Never thought about it... *self-induced facepalm*. Tbh, this is the first time I'm actually using the walls extensively, I almost always leave them alone and buy the knight contract instead.

Okay, what?

These hearts pop up when you get hit.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Okay then, gonna update soon, buy the archers and see what happens.

stay tuned

 

[Darth Roxor]

Right, so following your votes, I bought the archer contract and set off to the third year in the Tree Realm of Alburga

Spoiler

We start off traditionally: dig out the weed.

After that, I took Claw's advice and hid the cows entirely behind a wall. I also moved them to the north, since we get attacked mostly from the south with substantial enemies coming from the north.

And I hired an archer to secure the left flank (a bow icon on the map), because there are less enemies incoming from there, so while I guard the east flank, he should be dispatching sneaky hordlings that try to ambush us from the other side.

So, without further addendum, let's call in THE HORDE

So here's the plan: I take out what comes from the east and then go aid the archer in the west, since he's not perfect and he TOO can be eaten by the hordlings. Actually, archers are a lot less sturdy than knights, because knights attack faster when something gets next to them, so seeing them fall is rare.

Pop!

and daze! Notice the amount of enemies in the lower right corner - I killed 6 and there are 3 left, so the archer is doing his work pretty dandy.

splat!

Although he kind of sucks at protecting villagers.

But all in all, not a bad result. Check the 'next fees' section - that shows how much we need to pay the hirelings (knights, archers). Not only do the faggots take 60 when we recruit them, but also 60 each season...

Okay, I need CASH.

Goodbye HP! Alas, gold is more important!

Extended the wall and bought a cow.

Chauncey is emo so he cuts down some more trees.

And we buy another cow.

Seven hordlings... I'm afraid we all know what it means.

One cock tries to sneak in through the north

I dispatch of him quickly, seems the archer also scored a kill.

More shitheads tried to come from the north. They must have detected the cows on their quest compass.

Fuck. At least now we have archer support

SHIT!!! And I don't even have cash to plant some bombs, because I spent everything for the fucking cows!

TAKING HITS!

One faggot's down.

So is a villager... I drop a piece of meat to distract the tank and put him in a good position for the archer to shoot.

ANOTHER ONE?!?!?!?!?

No, no, no, nonononononononono LEAVE THE ARCHER ALONE!

Saved him in time fortunately, although got dazed in the process.

Archers are neat. They get up fast and start shooting again.

boom!

Oh yes, thanks for voting for the archers, people. They are REALLY useful. And I mean, really.

Harrharrharr, now we have 10 cows, which means 250 income from them alone.

Cutting down more trees to fund another archer

And here he is. He'll help me cover the east flank.

Lotsa again.

Notice the lake in the bottom of the map. It's really conveniently placed, since many hordlings try to swim through it and drown.

Haha, suckah stepped into one of the derelict cow pen traps.

Taking out some hordlings that are away from the archers' view. The bowmen really do a splendid job in protecting the village.

And then I hear 'HELP!!!!'

And arrive in time to save a peasant.

More beasts try to get to the cows.

Ever since I hired the archers, I'm getting significantly better results...

And now for some magick!

Pop! The cows and walls disappeared and now we have 1500 gold. Well, I did it because it's the third year's winter, so I *THINK* we should be transferred to a new region after this, and leaving cows and fortifications behind is just a waste of cash.

I leave the two hirelings to protect the village though

Send in the beasts!

Jumpers again... jolly. What I hate about the jumpers, is that they are ABSOLUTELY unpredictable. One moment they are in the south, but a second later they can run away to the north and cause more havoc

Smile, you're in candid camera!

Dammit. At least there aren't THREE of them like the last time.

Taking hits.

But the good mr archer took him out with a headshot. It's also a good idea to run over the tougher hordlings' (shamans, tanks, some thieves) corpses because they leave gold behind them pretty often if not always.

At that point I also heard a panicked shout 'CHAUNCEY!!!'.

Yup, that means something just attacked the other archer, so I proceed to investigate expecting another tank

and what do I see? A FUCKING THIEF? GAH. These bowmen seriously SUCK at defending themselves. Oh well, at least I won't have to pay him another 60 gold this season.

Uh... these results are a weebit awful.

Oh yes, and you'll gladly make a martyr of yourself and take away that burden for yourself, HUH? His real name is probably Jebediah.

And hohoho. We aren't sent to another region yet. FFS.

Right, so now we have a rather shitload of cash, but we'll have to spend most of it on walls and cows when we get back. Should I buy anything from the shoppe? YOU DECIDE!

 

[RK47]

No don't buy anything. I think you're near the final season of that zone. Prepare for the next zone. And yeah, archers ftw

 

[Damned Registrations]

It's too late now, but that flamethrower is a godsend for taking out the trees and the fuckers that hide in them. It's not really useful for killing the little shits, but you can torch a lot of trees for 20 gold, or roast a tank without getting yourself hurt. Some other stuff I've figured out:

-Shamans can charm your archers. BAD.
-Cows don't turn ground to stone if they're spread out enough. This is kind of important if you have large numbers of cows. 30 cows in one area make for a LOT of stone, so much it actually fucks over your village and crops, and makes it hard to get around.
-A bigass moat at the bottom of the 2nd area is a good investment. Probably spent 800 gold+ on mine by the end, but over 4 years it's killed hundreds of horde. Easily worth 3 or 4 archers. I didn't even have to move for the first year or so, it just drowned entire waves. Just don't gimp your town by building it too far north.
-If you notice one of the red weed things while you're in combat, you can trample it before it grows.
-Bombs are a total pita to use, but probably good for blowing up multiple tanks at once.
-The third area has two of the most awesome items imaginable. It's also a fucking nightmare.

 

[dragonfk]

Embrace yourself.

In last season, in the last year at the area you are I just got 10 jumpers and 7 tanks... What a joy...

 

[Rabidredneck]

Enjoying the thread, keep it up!

 

[Dire Roach]

It seems like terrain management is a lot more cost-effective than buying weapons. Do hordlings automatically navigate around walls in the fastest way possible, or do they run into them and try to tear them down first? If it's the former, you could try surrounding the village with cheap fences and leaving several open gaps that are guarded by knights. If it's the latter, you could try building walls next to the water in a way so that they're more likely to get slowed down and drown before they can get out.

 

[Ashery]

It seems like terrain management is a lot more cost-effective than buying weapons. Do hordlings automatically navigate around walls in the fastest way possible, or do they run into them and try to tear them down first? If it's the former, you could try surrounding the village with cheap fences and leaving several open gaps that are guarded by knights. If it's the latter, you could try building walls next to the water in a way so that they're more likely to get slowed down and drown before they can get out.

Tried the first suggestion and it doesn't work. I had an opening in my fence two tiles away and the hordling broke down the fence and took out a couple cows.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Haven't tried the fences but it works if you use walls. They seems to attack for a while then give up and wander a bit. If it's a really long stretch they'll probably break through before finding an entrance, especially if there's a good number of them. I found putting a knight outside a long wall works well though. They wander up and down it till they bump into him generally. The problem with walls is that tanks walk right through them. But tanks are always a bitch. Can't even drown the fuckers. The things the archers are good for can be handled with bait anyways, and can't break through walls.

Knights + walls seem better than archers to me. Less cost over time, less likely to die, and they don't get charmed by shamans.

Don't knock the items though. That ring can save your ass (Or the ass of several cows at least) and the flamethrower is pretty much the only safe way to handle multiple tanks storming your village.

 

[Ashery]

...Yea...

Knights are fucking amazing against tanks. Five tanks walked one at a time, right after each other, into a knight that I was supporting...and only the first and last managed to even reach the knight. Even then, it only took one or two more swings to finish'em off.

I'm definitely leaning towards the wall and knight approach. Maybe an archer for last ditch cow defense, but that's it.

How far do archers shoot anyways?

 

[Damned Registrations]

Pretty damned far. The problem is the arrows don't go through crap and aren't perfectly accurate. They can save a cow or villager from a ways off from a one shot weakling being eaten (If they bother to target it) but they'll probably miss if it's something spazzing around, or if it's a crowded area with lots of houses/cows/trees.

The archers really shine in the 4th area though, which I'm nearly through now. Walls aren't really an option there, I think.

 

[Ashery]

Walls aren't much of an option in the swamp either.

Not as if it really matters, though, as I have four knights protecting my eastern houses/crops that 90% of the hordlings go for and an archer for last ditch cow defense (I have 30 cows out, with only a small patch of wall that I ended up giving up on due to the swamp not having a predictable retreat pattern.)

The lack of walls hasn't hurt me yet, as I've only lost a single cow in two years. Would've lost half a dozen if it wasn't for the ring of teleport, though.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Each new season lasts a year longer than the last though. After 3 years you can easily have a bigass wall up in the swamp.

Well, assuming you didn't play with Roscoe and burninate all the trees.

 

[Ashery]

What happens when you burn all the trees?

And what was that dragon item you could buy in the third area?

 

[Damned Registrations]

Try it yourself and find out

 

[Balor]

By the way, do you know that if you actually GROW trees in the realms you can get a REALLY good item?

 

[Balor]

And can anyone please suggest me sound settings that make sound work right?
It hiccups quite often - not utterly unabearable, but more then noticeable and distracting.