Antons is an Orbital Tower Defense Game made by me for the game jam. Unfortunately, I couldn’t submit it on time. It was one heck of a strategic journey.
Link to Antons Post
Play Antons Here!
The game is so tuff and requires some decent tricks to win it. Here are some of the tips and tricks that might help you in surviving the alien waves in Antons.
1- Always keep some space
Each orbit has a capacity after which no more antons can be added in it. The first orbit only has a capacity of 4 antons. This is not enough and so, the start of the game might be rough. Basically, build 3 deb traps and 1 solar sat. Let them do their work. When anyone of them is destroyed, build moon and start transfering the deb traps onto the next orbit.
Always make sure that all orbits atleast have space for 1 anton. That way you can easily push the newly built anton to the farthest orbit.
2- Maintain Deb Traps all the time
This game is all about managing the antons. Antons are build using debris (or deb). There are only two ways to earn deb:
- Deb Trap trapping the debris flying in the space.
- After each level, you receive some Deb as reward.
In other words, if you don’t have any Deb Trap and debris (to build Deb Trap), your game is over. Always keep Deb Traps in such positions where it can collect as much debris as possible while ensuring minimum damage to it.
Now, here’s the fun fact. It’s not possible! You can’t have Deb Traps that collect debris and also, at the same time, are untouchable by the aliens. To collect Debris, Deb Trap must be present in the outer most orbit. That not only ensures debris collection but also makes sure that the aliens will most likely damage it.
In a nut shell, there are three things to keep in mind:
- Deb Trap are the most important unit and there must be a lot of them.
- Deb Traps are the Defense Line in the early game. They are the weakest unit but they are cheapest as well. In other words, quantity matters here.
- Always keep backups of Deb Traps ensuring constant debris income.
3- Ensure Infinite Power
The values in this game are crazy. They come and go real fast in the later waves. In other words, having infinite (too much) power ensures consistent antons supply to the last/far orbits even when solar satellites are getting destroyed.
Solar Satellites (or Sat.) are the units that provide power. Power is a requirement to push the antons in the next orbits. It doubles every next orbit for all antons.
The yellow aliens move fast and can destroy solar satellites without you noticing it and soon, you will be unable to push antons to the next orbits resulting in less space and ultimately, the game comes to an end.
When I have control over 5-6 orbits, I usually end up filling* the first 3 orbits with solar satellites. Don’t use solar sat as defense i.e having solar sat in the last/far orbits. It is a very bad move and have no advantage whatsoever.
4- Don’t rush for the next orbit
Apart from the power, moon is the also required for pushing the antons to the next orbit. Moon is pricey and requires some patience. Don’t wait for the moon before even establishing the existing orbits. Even if you built the moon and pushed it to the last orbit, having more orbits only meant more space. It does not meant that you have more stability. Infact, it’s the opposite. More orbits can lead to instability if the previous orbits are not fully established and well maintained. It is harder to maintain the far orbits considering the power expenses and orbital capacity in mind.
On the other hand, it is also quite a loss if your moon get destroyed. All of a sudden, you completely lost control over your far orbit and your sensitive orbits are now exposed.
5- The game is too easy? Don’t fall for it!
My intent is to make sure that the first 5-6 waves are for preparing. The real battle starts at wave 7 and further. Purple aliens are the real headache but there is a solution for that too.
See before and after in the pics below. It is in Hard difficulty and as you can see, the outer defence is gone. Guess what happened after that! I lost.
6- Meteor or Comet?
In the early game, one should make Metoer but late game demands Comets.
Meteor, Comet and Asteroids are the real defense power. But unlike Deb Trap, they don’t collect debris. Having them in the further most orbit decreases debris income because now, the debris will hit them and not Deb Trap.
Meteor is cheaper than Comet but Comet is double the strength as compare to Meteor. Now, here is the thing that makes comets better: Comet is 75% more expensive than a Meteor while giving 100% more strength. In other words, Comets are better.
But Meteor will occupy more space for less price. Meteors will ensure more stability in the early game.
7- Pause the game
If you have never played the game or is not good at it, play the game and pause a lot. Try to predict where the enemies will hit. Understand the health of your units. Make decisions that are supposed to make it more stable and be consistent with it.
8- Asteroids!!?
It is a useless unit. Don’t bother using it. xD
Asteroids are undestructable but only exist for 15 seconds. They are pretty expensive but they can work best under following situations:
- When you are losing and you simply want to stay a bit more longer to have a better highscore.
- When you are facing purple aliens!
The joy when an asteroid simply removes all the purple aliens. It is absolutely awesometacular! It is tricky but if you manage to do so and in a proper way, asteroids can prevent huge damage that purple aliens can do to all the other antons.
*Not complete filling. I always leave one space in each orbit (at first 5 orbits).
To be honest, even I don’t know everything about the game. Maybe someone can play it better than me. Just try out the game and give me some feedback so that, I can make it even better.
