Bloody Good Mini-Mode Was Way Too Difficult

[Kranst]

What is up with this mini-mode? Has anyone else three-starred this yet?

There are 9 rounds at 600 points each for 5400. In addition, you gain 90 gold throughout the stage for a possible additional 900 points if you can save your gold, which would bring the theoretical total score to 6300. You need 4200 for the third star, leaving you with 2100 points of error.

However, this is not even possible. Nights 5 through 9 borderline require you to use all your gold unless you sacrifice points from your protection and time scores. But the worst part is that you will almost always lose over 100 points from time no matter how fast you clear the wave, leaving you with maybe 300 points leeway. But you are guaranteed to have rounds where you get under 150 points on time. The margin for error is ridiculously small.

The other mini-modes were challenging to three-star, but you could learn from them and improve your strategy. This felt like you needed to constantly brute force each round until you had a barely acceptable time score, which is unknown until you complete the round, at which point you cannot reset the day.

Has anyone else experienced this mini-mode yet? What did you think?

Even min-maxing the best possible score I achieved was 4275...

[jamesng323]

I haven't been able to figure out the last night of that one yet. I always get killed by the spiders and I suspect that I need a sniper tower somewhere to slow them down but if I do that then I lose to the previous waves.

[Kranst]

Originally posted by jamesng323:

I haven't been able to figure out the last night of that one yet. I always get killed by the spiders and I suspect that I need a sniper tower somewhere to slow them down but if I do that then I lose to the previous waves.

I had two Ballistic Spires west, two Archer's Spires south, and two Fire Spires east by the end. It was absolutely brutal. As you said, you need the Ballistic Spires to slow down the spiders, but it makes it borderline impossible to combat the waves before. The only way I was able to do so was resetting until I was able to body block with barely any health left.

[jamesng323]

Thanks I will try again with this and let you know if I figure out anything for 3 stars. But just getting a victory looks hard enough already.

[jamesng323]

Ok, well I beat it with 3589 and 2 stars with only a few buildings destroyed here and there. But 4200 seems impossible and I'm not even going to try for it. I'd love to see a video of you doing that 4275 score you claim.

[Kranst]

Originally posted by jamesng323:

Ok, well I beat it with 3589 and 2 stars with only a few buildings destroyed here and there. But 4200 seems impossible and I'm not even going to try for it. I'd love to see a video of you doing that 4275 score you claim.

Nice! Even beating it was brutal. I should have thought about taking one, but there was so much of me retrying days over and over again until I assumed the time score was good for the round. I will likely not play it again just for a video, because it is incredibly frustrating and took many hours, but I can leave some points I remember for anyone else. I would not be able to do it first try even with my method.

• Trampling over enemies with the War Horse perk right up until you die, and healing with gold immediately after is crucial. The elite enemies will always contain the gold you need. The best possible scenario is to kill them while leaving the gold on the ground, and only picking it up when you need health. This maximizes how long you can run over enemies.
  
  
• The Blood Wand will only take away as much health as it takes to one shot the enemy unless it has more than you, leaving you with critical health. Always use your active ability on the elites for the gold. This allows you to heal nearly instantly if you need and gives you more time to trample enemies.
  
  Credit: jamesng323
  
  
• If a tower is destroyed, you might as well retry the day if you are attempting to get three stars. The margin for error is so small you cannot afford it. You lose 28 points for every tower that is destroyed.
  
  (Two Ballistic Spires west, two Archer's Spires south, and two Fire Spires east.)
  
  
• Body blocking the large tentacle enemies while locking on to one with ALT is needed to get through those rounds with all your towers. If you already have stacks on an enemy, do not use your active ability. Save it for the next. You can also push them a good distance away from your towers. Once these enemies start to show up, you will need at least one Ballistic Spire to help slow them down.

Hopefully, some of these tips help. I will write more if I think of anything else.

[faktum49]

Hello there,

I have completed the 3 stars.
I agree that this is by far the most difficult and punishing challenge.
And there is a kind of small RNG on the focus of the enemies that can be frustrating. Knowing that we are not allowed a single mistake on the 9 nights.

4200 <=> 466.67 per night, so 100 (successful night) + 250 (perfect) + 116.67 (time bonus)
After a night, check your time bonus score. Make sure you are above 117. Some waves are generous and others are not. If you make good time scores, you can afford a night or two below.

According to the wiki, the formula for time score is:
+250 × ( [90s − {total time − time of last spawn} ] ÷ 85s)²
I think the devs averaged out the possible times, and it's close to impossible to go much higher than 4300 points (+4500 points <=> an average of over 150 per night).

Otherwise, like the others, two Archer's Spires south, and two Fire Spires east, but for me one Healing Spire first west, then final wave one Ballistic Spire.

The Healing Spire can tank enemy tentacles and allows you to stand still (which allows you to deal damage faster) while regenerating health to use the active ability. And in the last wave, it allows you to regenerate to use the active on the spiders by repositioning yourself within range.

The Ballistic Spire only allows you to manage the last wave with the spiders (although they can all pass on the right... => reload, unless they bodyblock)

Very satisfying to get to the end of it nevertheless.

Currently, I can redo the 3 stars quite easily, but without restarting (not a single night) it's a different story!

[Kranst]

Originally posted by faktum49:

Hello there,

I have completed the 3 stars.
I agree that this is by far the most difficult and punishing challenge.
And there is a kind of small RNG on the focus of the enemies that can be frustrating. Knowing that we are not allowed a single mistake on the 9 nights.

4200 <=> 466.67 per night, so 100 (successful night) + 250 (perfect) + 116.67 (time bonus)
After a night, check your time bonus score. Make sure you are above 117. Some waves are generous and others are not. If you make good time scores, you can afford a night or two below.

According to the wiki, the formula for time score is:
+250 × ( [90s − {total time − time of last spawn} ] ÷ 85s)²
I think the devs averaged out the possible times, and it's close to impossible to go much higher than 4300 points (+4500 points <=> an average of over 150 per night).

Otherwise, like the others, two Archer's Spires south, and two Fire Spires east, but for me one Healing Spire first west, then final wave one Ballistic Spire.

The Healing Spire can tank enemy tentacles and allows you to stand still (which allows you to deal damage faster) while regenerating health to use the active ability. And in the last wave, it allows you to regenerate to use the active on the spiders by repositioning yourself within range.

The Ballistic Spire only allows you to manage the last wave with the spiders (although they can all pass on the right... => reload, unless they bodyblock)

Very satisfying to get to the end of it nevertheless.

Currently, I can redo the 3 stars quite easily, but without restarting (not a single night) it's a different story!

Nice work! I never went as far as to look into the math, but that is good to know! I can see how the Healing Spire would be good to stall too, and would likely reduce how much body blocking would be needed. I do not think I could pull it off again without restarting either haha. That would be tough!

[jamesng323]

Thanks for the tips. I figured out many of the tips that you're describing but I didn't know about body blocking the large tentacles and pushing them away from the towers. I will try that. Otherwise it would be impossible to complete without getting a tower destroyed.

I finished with 2 fire spires east, 2 ballistic towers south and 2 archer spires west. But blocking the large tentacles means this can change.

"The Blood Wand will only take away as much health as it takes to one shot the enemy. Always use the active ability on the elites for the gold." Not exactly true. If you were to run out of health using the active ability then it will reduce you to a very low amount of health and you deal less damage to the enemy and not one shot them.

[Kranst]

Originally posted by jamesng323:

Thanks for the tips. I figured out many of the tips that you're describing but I didn't know about body blocking the large tentacles and pushing them away from the towers. I will try that. Otherwise it would be impossible to complete without getting a tower destroyed.

I finished with 2 fire spires east, 2 ballistic towers south and 2 archer spires west. But blocking the large tentacles means this can change.

"The Blood Wand will only take away as much health as it takes to one shot the enemy. Always use the active ability on the elites for the gold." Not exactly true. If you were to run out of health using the active ability then it will reduce you to a very low amount of health and you deal less damage to the enemy and not one shot them.

No worries, the body blocking helps a lot on those rounds!

And you are correct, the Blood Wand is limited by your health if the enemy has more. I was trying to convey that you can safely use your ability on the majority of elite enemies to get gold to heal without worrying about being dropped to critical levels. It also avoids having to auto-attack the elites which gives you less time to trample enemies. I will amend that in my post, thanks!

[jamesng323]

Actually you can't do that. If you are at full health and the elite enemy is at full health and you use the active ability then you and the enemy will both go down to a very low level of health but you won't actually kill it and you can't get the gold. I'm thinking the elite ogres of wave 8 and the elite warships in wave 7. I'm still trying to figure out wave 8 - seems very hard to kill the swordsmen without losing the firespires.

[Kranst]

Originally posted by jamesng323:

Actually you can't do that. If you are at full health and the elite enemy is at full health and you use the active ability then you and the enemy will both go down to a very low level of health but you won't actually kill it and you can't get the gold. I'm thinking the elite ogres of wave 8 and the elite warships in wave 7. I'm still trying to figure out wave 8 - seems very hard to kill the swordsmen without losing the firespires.

Weird... When I use my ability on elite Slimes, Ogres, and even Big Spiders, albeit losing far more health, it one-shots them and I have varying amounts of health to spare depending on the enemy. But yes, the elite Warships will have a tiny amount remaining, so I will usually get some autos in beforehand and pick up a few gold right after while dodging the projectiles. And of course, the Tentacles have so much health that you do less than half.

Wave 8 I used the same strategy of trampling, using the active ability on elites, and saving and picking up gold for healing whenever possible. (Only taking one or two gold at once is ideal.) It is extremely tight, but you can finish the round with about 10-20% health remaining on both towers. You can also try corralling them into a group by walking side to side in front of them to either slow them down a bit or lead them away from the tower that is worse off.

The more I think about this the more I feel this is way too punishing of a mini-mode...

[jamesng323]

Do you have any levels that you haven't completed yet? I have finished all of thronefall with all the quests in the campaign with 3 stars on all mini-modes except throneball and this one. Perhaps I can help you if you're stuck on any of them and make a video guide just for you.

In return, I'd ask that you make a video of this mini-mode with 3 stars. I know that it is punishing and you took a few days to do it so I don't know if this trade would be worth it for you. But then again, if you're asking me to make a video guide then the level is probably very difficult and I'd have to remember my old strategy again and with the new version it would mean a bit of figuring out for me.

So what say you - you want to trade?

[Kranst]

Originally posted by jamesng323:

Do you have any levels that you haven't completed yet? I have finished all of thronefall with all the quests in the campaign with 3 stars on all mini-modes except throneball and this one. Perhaps I can help you if you're stuck on any of them and make a video guide just for you.

In return, I'd ask that you make a video of this mini-mode with 3 stars. I know that it is punishing and you took a few days to do it so I don't know if this trade would be worth it for you. But then again, if you're asking me to make a video guide then the level is probably very difficult and I'd have to remember my old strategy again and with the new version it would mean a bit of figuring out for me.

So what say you - you want to trade?

Appreciate the thought, but this mini-mode was my last to complete, so I had finished all of Thronefall before I posed this discussion and moved on to my next game. I was just curious if anyone found this as difficult as I had. Sorry if the text tips are not enough, but I do not have plans to make a video. Though I am certain someone else will soon.

Enjoy Throneball though, it is a fun one!

[jamesng323]

Well it was worth a shot. Thanks for all your tips.

[Qeynos]

I tried it out – it's possible to get three stars even without any structures being destroyed. After multiple attempts, I achieved a score of 4221.