Other Games Mage Tower's - Tower Defence question

[em11ma]

I've been wondering recently about the best amount of mage towers to use on a track. In a lot of games I play, players will suggest lining the whole track with them so the mobs stay on fire. This seems to work well and I find mobs will die quicker when I have about a dozen or so mage towers covering the whole map. But recently I've played a game where the rest of my team said not to do this, as it does not do anything and is pointless. Does anyone know the best way to use mage towers? and if it is good to use lots or just a few leveled up ones at the start and end?

 

[betty's oldies]

I've been wondering recently about the best amount of mage towers to use on a track. In a lot of games I play, players will suggest lining the whole track with them so the mobs stay on fire. This seems to work well and I find mobs will die quicker when I have about a dozen or so mage towers covering the whole map. But recently I've played a game where the rest of my team said not to do this, as it does not do anything and is pointless. Does anyone know the best way to use mage towers? and if it is good to use lots or just a few leveled up ones at the start and end?

From what I remember, mage tower effects do not stack. This is why more experienced teams do NOT recommend you to place mage towers close to each other but rather spaced apart. I'll give an example with two scenarios.

Example: Your mage tower has a range of 10 blocks (or 20 blocks diameter). You have exactly 2 mage towers you can build. The track from start to finish is 40 blocks long in a straight line. In both scenarios, you place your first mage tower 10 blocks away from spawn (you currently cover the first 20 blocks of the track).

• Scenario 1: You place your second mage tower 3 blocks away from the first tower (13 blocks away from spawn). Tower #1 will cover the first 20 blocks, but because tower #2 is 13 blocks away from spawn, it covers only 3 new blocks while tower #1 has already covered the first 20 blocks. The result is that you cover only 23 blocks of the track because the mage effect does not stack. Thus, the remaining 17 blocks of the track are uncovered.

What you can do instead is this:

• Scenario 2: Instead of placing your second mage tower close to the first one, you instead place your second mage tower 20 blocks away from the first one (this is 30 blocks away from spawn). The result is that you cover the first 20 blocks with tower #1 and the next 20 blocks with tower #2, allowing you to cover the entire track. This gives you MUCH more value out of your mage towers.

I explain the reasoning behind scenario 2 in more detail below.

Spoiler: More details

Taking what we know of this, we know that:

• Fire does not stack with other fire towers. Similarly, poison does not stack with other poison towers. Likewise, ice also does not stack with other ice towers.
  • This is a very common mistake many beginners make.
• Quality > quantity. 1 level 4 mage tower fires once every second. This is significantly better than 5 level 1 mage towers as:
  • You use up only 1 tower slot instead of 5 slots.
  • You fire 1 time per second instead of 1 time per 5 seconds per tower (which means that the lv1 towers that fire may not do anything because previous towers already fired).
  • 1 level 4 mage tower covers more area for its cost (space is also a cost too, not just the money). The range is also higher too.
  • Mages placed in L-shaped or U-shaped curves get even more value.
    • Since mobs walk mainly in the middle of the track, you can get slightly more value out of your tower by carefully placing your tower to cover just the middle portion of the curve.
• Every time you build a tower, that means you've used up that building slot and nothing else can be built over that area unless you sell the tower. When you sell a tower, you get only a partial refund. This further emphasizes that you want every bit of money to fully count. There are a limited number of building slots in the game.
  • In the early game, money is your bottleneck. In the late game, space is your bottleneck.
  • Placement counts. Some towers gain or lose effectiveness depending on where and how they're placed.
    • In games where both teams are evenly matched (offensively), it boils down to how well towers are placed. Even one tower that is sub-optimally placed can weaken the team's defense enough for the attacking side to succeed.
  • 3 blocks apart is the length of a 3x3 tower slot. Similarly, 5 blocks apart is the length of a 5x5 tower slot.
    • In the example above especially in scenario 1, if this were in a real game then this scenario simulates placing two mage towers directly next to each other.
    • Scenario 2 instead simulates this by placing the 2nd mage tower approximately six 3x3 spaces away from the 1st tower.

EDIT: Added comments to "more details" (using tower slots to measure distance and tower placement at L/U-shaped curves).

 

[Shotgun]

The above post is very accurate and all correct, there's just one thing I want to add:
The burning of troops (fire) does not stack, however, the fireballs (Level IV) do.
This brings up the question: are the fireballs from a Mage Level IV worth it to be placed compared to other towers space wise? The answer involves a lot of calculation but more experienced players would immediately answer it with no without any calculation because it's pretty obvious. Only a part of the tower works and therefore other towers, fully functioning, placed instead of the "stacking" mage are more effective.

Respect and compliments to @betty's oldies for the detailed explanation given above.

 

[betty's oldies]

The above post is very accurate and all correct, there's just one thing I want to add:
The burning of troops (fire) does not stack, however, the fireballs (Level IV) do.
This brings up the question: are the fireballs from a Mage Level IV worth it to be placed compared to other towers space wise? The answer involves a lot of calculation but more experienced players would immediately answer it with no without any calculation because it's pretty obvious. Only a part of the tower works and therefore other towers, fully functioning, placed instead of the "stacking" mage are more effective.

Respect and compliments to @betty's oldies for the detailed explanation given above.

It's been about 4 years for me since I've played TD. Thanks for adding onto the fireball effect. (I left this out as I wanted to emphasize on the application of the mage tower at any upgrade level.)