Creston wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 13:23:

Saboth wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 08:57:

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 17:23:
They definitely nerfed autoballistas. I used them like mad in OMD1, but gave up after one shot with them in OMD2. They were too slow, and perhaps Verno is right about them not prioritizing air, but things got through past them too often.

I feel as if they compensated for their infinite health by nerfing them, so you can pick them and not worry (but they don't kill anything), or pick archers that are much deadlier but one wolf can kill like 8 of them if you don't watch their back.

I'll still pick archers.

I dont't think ballistas hit nearly as hard as they used to either. Were they always counted as a guardian instead of a trap?

They weren't considered guardians in OMD1. Not sure what they fall under in OMD2. If they're considered guardians, they are basically worthless.

Creston

Saboth wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 08:57:

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 17:23:
They definitely nerfed autoballistas. I used them like mad in OMD1, but gave up after one shot with them in OMD2. They were too slow, and perhaps Verno is right about them not prioritizing air, but things got through past them too often.

I feel as if they compensated for their infinite health by nerfing them, so you can pick them and not worry (but they don't kill anything), or pick archers that are much deadlier but one wolf can kill like 8 of them if you don't watch their back.

I'll still pick archers.

I dont't think ballistas hit nearly as hard as they used to either. Were they always counted as a guardian instead of a trap?

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 17:23:
They definitely nerfed autoballistas. I used them like mad in OMD1, but gave up after one shot with them in OMD2. They were too slow, and perhaps Verno is right about them not prioritizing air, but things got through past them too often.

I feel as if they compensated for their infinite health by nerfing them, so you can pick them and not worry (but they don't kill anything), or pick archers that are much deadlier but one wolf can kill like 8 of them if you don't watch their back.

I'll still pick archers.

Verno wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 14:27:
There are many traps that get overlooked or have secondary benefits. A lot of people use Brimstone almost exclusively but I feel like the Floor Scorcher is a better trap. It has physics effects in addition to its AoE damage, a fast reset and adds to combo multipliers in a big way. You can put one beside a cliff for example, pointing inward toward the lane and it will flip monsters over the edge in addition to doing damage to things.

The steam trap is awesome too, its only like 250g and you can put a grinder or wall blade 2-3 tiles then it will flip things upward into those traps which adds greatly to your combo scores. Haymakers work well on ceilings for flyers in addition to owning stuff on the ground. Using spring traps to fling things across gaps into void walls is comedy gold too.

Anyways I highly encourage people to experiment and dick around. There are a ton of viable trap scenarios for every map, I actually respec'd between every single Nightmare level to keep trying new things.

Also, AutoBallistas are really the only good trap against flyers unless you can place arrow traps on the path the flyers will take.

I don't know, I hate them because they don't prioritize air targets like archers do. So if your ground box is anywhere near the ballistas, they will waste their cooldowns on kobolds and shit while the flyers go straight to the rift. In the story levels this isn't a big deal but in Endless mode there is no good solution to flyers. Shock zappers suck and archers are wasted money. You basically just have to handle them yourself.

Also, AutoBallistas are really the only good trap against flyers unless you can place arrow traps on the path the flyers will take.

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 13:44:
Also good to know. I love spring traps, anyway.

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 13:21:

Creston wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 12:06:

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 11:27:
Ditch the main weapon and go back to the crossbow. Autofire, headshots and headshots-giving-mana. I couldn't imagine some of the levels without being able to stun/headshot ogres for 4-5 hit kills.

I didn't even know the sorceress COULD use the crossbow? Though I have to say the charm ability is supremely overpowered and useful.

Funny, I'm still not 100% certain what a combo is in this game

It's when you kill an orc after he's been affected by 3 or more traps. So if he's on fire from brimstone, walking in a tar pit, being mauled by a grinder, and gets hit from a mace while you're shooting a crossbow at him and there's a lightning storm going on, that's a 6 hit combo. Combos are really the key to scoring in this game (that and killstreaks, but combos are far more easy to pull off.)

Creston

Good to know. I inadvertently get combos, but never create explicitly for combos. And, I suppose, it rewards you for having lower-powered traps.

I typically max out the traps I use as soon as possible and try to let my traps do as much killing as possible to max score. But my scores tend to be mediocre - outside of one that I'm ~750 on (had been ~250, and no clue how I did so well) my scores aren't good. I've been told that scoring and 5-skulling are entirely different skills, so I'm not sure I'll ever go back looking for scores.

I liked the charm, but never put skulls into improving it. I use lightning and crossbow exclusively, except for the final level which forces me to also use ice (stupid lightning bats.) I haven't even tried the crazier weapons like the hammer or the polymorph because I always feel there are better things to put skulls into. I would use the wind belt, but it doesn't blow away ogres (had to insert a word there) like it did in OMD1. It may be something you can upgrade to, but without knowing I'm not trying. I greatly enjoyed pushing them into acid in the original. Maybe I didn't and I'm misremembering, but I'm pretty sure that one of my key strategies was pushing anything that got past my traps back into my traps, and know I killed some wolves by pushing them into lava.

I love this game and could talk about it for hours.

the fact that DLC is 1/3 the cost of the game sucks, except that it's a $15 game, so I'm fine with it ; )

nin wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 10:15:
Not wild about DLC so soon, for OMD, I'll probably check it out.

Creston wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 12:06:

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 11:27:
Ditch the main weapon and go back to the crossbow. Autofire, headshots and headshots-giving-mana. I couldn't imagine some of the levels without being able to stun/headshot ogres for 4-5 hit kills.

I didn't even know the sorceress COULD use the crossbow? Though I have to say the charm ability is supremely overpowered and useful.

Funny, I'm still not 100% certain what a combo is in this game

It's when you kill an orc after he's been affected by 3 or more traps. So if he's on fire from brimstone, walking in a tar pit, being mauled by a grinder, and gets hit from a mace while you're shooting a crossbow at him and there's a lightning storm going on, that's a 6 hit combo. Combos are really the key to scoring in this game (that and killstreaks, but combos are far more easy to pull off.)

Creston

Verno wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 11:30:

In the first one you had to defend multiple hallways / areas several times, but at least it was made in such a way that it was possible to do for a single player. (Portals to shift between the two areas, and most levels had a clever little knack where you could re-route the enemies to all get funneled into a single area where you could killbox them.)

OMD2 just has completely separate areas and you have to run like fucking mad to defend both of them. My biggest issue with it, however, is how much I seem to have to use my character's main attack to kill stuff, and there's no autofire. Grrrr.

I hear ya but you just gotta rethink your approach bro. I had some really frustrating moments in the SP because I kept trying to use the same trap setups for every map and stuff I was comfortable with. In the end I just had to change things up and it all fell into place. For example on some levels where the approaches are too far spaced I will wall off one, lay a bit of brimstone down in front to nail sappers and then setup a killbox at a choke point.

I've 5 skulled everything on both characters and in Nightmare, there are some levels with a frantic setup in the early parts but everything is more than doable in SP. If anything I find co-op a bit frustrating at times because you're limited to 6 slots so you have to do a lot of back and forth. If you need some examples to get you started just holler at me on Steam.

I guess I may just switch back to the warmage and just abuse the shit out of tar pits.

Sorceress with Steam Traps with chill and Haymakers with stun is pretty amusing. Acid with slow helps a lot too. Tar is awesome but the Sorc has a bit more versatility and greater combo opportunity IMHO. Also don't forget the Decoy got hella buffed, it has health regen now and its unique upgrades are great.

Beamer wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 11:27:
Ditch the main weapon and go back to the crossbow. Autofire, headshots and headshots-giving-mana. I couldn't imagine some of the levels without being able to stun/headshot ogres for 4-5 hit kills.

Funny, I'm still not 100% certain what a combo is in this game

Verno wrote on Aug 27, 2012, 11:30:

Sorceress with Steam Traps with chill and Haymakers with stun is pretty amusing. Acid with slow helps a lot too. Tar is awesome but the Sorc has a bit more versatility and greater combo opportunity IMHO. Also don't forget the Decoy got hella buffed, it has health regen now and its unique upgrades are great.