Welcome to the: Warcraft III Tower Defense (TD) F.A.Q.

======================================================
Welcome to the: Warcraft III Tower Defense (TD) F.A.Q.
By: rerun141
You can contact me at: [email protected]
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:
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_______________________________________________________________________________
| 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 [email protected] (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 [email protected] (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 [email protected])

==================================================================================
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.
([email protected]). Thank you very much. Bye.