60 Hours in and there are TOO many monsters

[Noa]

I am loving the game, and I do realize it is a work in progress. And maybe this is something that is already in the plans to be worked on...
I played through the available campaign, and have never enjoyed how many monsters there are, or how frequently they come. I want to do as the title suggests, Craft The World! However I am 60 hours into my current world and I have 6 portals opening at night, pouring monsters out, obviously way faster than my piddling 12 dwarves can manage. I've bought all the mithril weapons, they are geared out in mithril as well, and they just cannot handle the amount of monsters coming out of these portals. Now the monsters are breaking through the rocks the way my dwarves break earth. The monsters have invaded everything. Since they do not die underground, I cannot keep my dwarves alive.
I was wondering if this is something that will be toned down? If I play through the campaign and build the portal as quickly as I can, the monsters are not that much of a problem. They are frustrating and annoying, but I just move my home when they are just too many to fight. I do not think that is the goal of the game though, to finish as fast as possible.
Maybe I am the only one having a problem with the amount of monsters with this many hours in a world. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

[iamaplayer]

This is why there are difficulty settings. Why don't you try Easy Mode for a more or less peaceful experience?
I like the big monsters' rush, therefore I play on Nightmare difficulty.

To learn how to defend my shelter best: when I got the game, I played on Normal, then I switched to Hard, and now I can handle any attack on Nightmare Mode.
It takes time to learn and get used to being under big waves of attacks.

[Noa]

I should not have to play on easy to craft my world. Under campaign you cannot change the difficulty, which is where I spent most of my time the first time around.
I've played a total of too many hours to actually admit to, and I was doing alright defending my world on normal until today's patch. The monsters only just began chewing through stone as if it no longer mattered. I liked the rush of monsters when the timer went off. I have pitfalls, tesla towers, ledges, my shelter area was surrounded in 4 layers of stone, and I would take possesion of a dwarf and pick off the mobs until the sun came up. But today, that just became inpossible. It did not even take the mobs until sunrise to break through the stone and walls. I think 5 layers should prove to be something of a challenge... They also spawn on my tesla towers which sit alone and midair in zapping range, and previously they would damage it, but rarely actually break it down within one wave. Now they have it broken in under a minute.

I would love to watch you play! I cannot imagine playing on nightmare. Do you have so many portals opening nightly? Instead of playing on easy, do you have any tips or suggestions? I would really like to survive 8 open portals nightly without spending the entire time on monster duty. I'd like time to build.

[iamaplayer]

Well, my best defense is usually offense: besides having good armors, I make sure the dwarves have also good weapons.

When I see a wave coming, I let them approach my shelter close to some Tesla tower (level 3 max upgrade), then I click on a few monsters so that the dwarves attack together.

Before any invasion, I make sure they're fuly healed.

Usually, dwarves will get hit to the point they become scared to fight, so I click on them individually to send them to bed, while the rest of them fight.
My army is like this: 2 Archers, 1 Mage, the rest are warriors (not talking about skills, but about function only).
By the end of the battle, every warriors are sleeping or heading to bed, while the archers and mage finish off the wave.

I haven't tried with the new patch, however, with last patch the doors were very fragile, and still, I almost always avoided to get them broken by invasions.

In case enemies break the door, inside my shelter I've got some barriers, traps, and Tesla Towers, also, with an elevator, I still place some ladders which seem to help a lot.

This makes me want to write a guide someday :)

Edit: usually the waves will be on 3 nights in a row, the first night being the hardest of all.
So on the 4th day, I build things, craft, mine etc...until the invasion timer reaches zero.

[Invest]

Hi OP my girlfriend is currently RAGING at the exact same situation like you are.

She plays on easy and shes in the current game for many (30?) hours and she loves to build her castle. But she has two problems:

1. Too many monsters
2. BUG: ALL her dwarves are stuck in one elevator and don't move out or in or do anyhting else. She can't delete the elevator or do something else.

She is sooooooooooooooo angry and annoyed because she loves the game and loves to build stuff but there are just tooo many monsters to rebuild everything (specially when the dwarves are bugged).

Also she hates the fact that monsters spawn even if the timer still runs.

Developer pls add an extra "difficulty" for people, but not peaceful! My girlfriend loves the monsters but only frequently and when the time runs out.

Regards, Invest

[Mean.Cloud]

Invest, she would have to start over -- but have you considered my Improvement Mod? It would tone down the invasions considerably.

[wj]

I also found the invasions became too much after I had sunk many hours into the game. It was fine for a looong time, but then it just became too much.

[badmanticore]

I've noticed since the patch my walls have also been getting annihilated and the constant portals every night hardly gives me enough time to rebuild and collect later on in the game. If they attacked when the timer expired thats fine but every night is making it too much to repair and actually get some progress in the mines or building more bases.
@ Invest Ive had the elevator bug happen to me twice now and how i would fix is it by destroying the elevator. To do that i had to walk my stuck guys up near the elevator until i had the correct one with the destroy job. Elevators are also a nice little deathtrap when enemies are near and your troops are sitting on them in wait mode. To avoid elevator bugs ive been doing 3 things i never make them overlap each other on the same line, second i dont put a ladder or path through the roof directly above them, and third i dont put a ladder on its route all the way up i put ladders spaced apart just on each level i found if you have a ladder on the back wall behind the elevators your guys will sit on them in wait mode ( had guys get killed by the little shadowy guys in the mines because of it) also putting warehouses on the elevators path seems to mess it up sometimes too but ive been doing this still with not many problems. If they all get stuck pathing back and forth pacing grab one, two, maybe even three and walk them away from the elevator or better yet up a level to the next elevator waiting spot it (sometimes) fixes their path. Pic of how i have my elevators to try avoid bugs > [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/kpU69Qp.jpg[/img]

[badmanticore]

err sry http://imgur.com/kpU69Qp

[Crowmire]

For me, the latest patch was awesome, since before, the enemy swarms couldn't brake the walls at all. They also slowed down the game. Now the game runs better and the swarms actually do something more than just annoy me.
I currently play the game on hard and with permadeath on, and only difference with portals/enemies I've noticed is how durable and how hard the enemies hit.

I do understand some people want to focus on building, but I don't think extra difficulty is the way to go. I'd rather add an option to custom game to reduce/increase the amount of portals.
I'd use it too, since I believe my old computer won't like multiple portals anyway. Also some might want extreme challenge and want to add even more portals.

[iamaplayer]

Originally posted by Crowmire:

For me, the latest patch was awesome, since before, the enemy swarms couldn't brake the walls at all. They also slowed down the game. Now the game runs better and the swarms actually do something more than just annoy me.
I currently play the game on hard and with permadeath on, and only difference with portals/enemies I've noticed is how durable and how hard the enemies hit.

I do understand some people want to focus on building, but I don't think extra difficulty is the way to go. I'd rather add an option to custom game to reduce/increase the amount of portals.
I'd use it too, since I believe my old computer won't like multiple portals anyway. Also some might want extreme challenge and want to add even more portals.

Excellent ideas!

[badmanticore]

I understand that the walls were holding up for way too long before but some people are on easy so they can build and are now having trouble. I myself am on normal at 30 hr and it would seem i would lose 1-2 brick walls a night before the update now im losing up to 4 brick walls and 5 stone when i get the bigger siege skeles and let them go to town. For people that just got into it and havent been trying the harder difficulties it seems to be a large increase. I dont mind that they are doing this i now actually have to fight , repair, and manage my time better. Any control over what spawns, how many portals, even distance in which portals can spawn from your main warehouse would be great for sandbox. Id get rid of the legions of skeles and put the bigger guys in and save on some fps maybe its intense when daylight hits all those skeles. Boss waves and such would also be great. Even something to tell me what is spawning the next night would be nice just for a start. Also iamaplayer is right the best defense is offense i just gear all my dwarves with bows use the horn spell and open up the wall they fill those skeles full of fire arrows and i clean up on bones and brains for energy potions in the morning.

[Crimson]

I deleted the game and swore never to touch it until they fix these insane hordes of monsters, THEY EVEN SPAWN INSIDE MY WALLS NOW! .. it's ONE thing making monsters to give you a reason to gear up and build walls etc, but ANOTHER when a crafting game suddenly turns out to be a SURVIVAL GAME!! .. I can't even find time to enjoy digging the ground! Actually the entire game focuses on the surface! ... Might as well call it "Zombie Rush" or something! This is NOT "Craft the World" !!? It is literally "Survive the World"

"Oh lets see how many hours can you survive on a crafting game! because like it or not, eventually everything you built will be ripped and shredded to pieces, have fun!"

[Antearz]

Remember that your not Supposed to Fight the Waves with Dwarfes.

Its Tower Defense Game.
Craft your Defenses.

Dig 2 Deep Holes on each side of your Base 10 tiles deep 3 tiles wide.
This will slow and Reduce Monsters.

Your Base itself can build up as well.
Stone Walls.
Steel Doors.
Traps and Spikes
And Defensive Turrets on Towers.

A Good Fortress can hold even 10 Portals without your Dwarfes moving a Finger :)

Check Youtube for Craft the World Defense Guide.
You will see that the Monster Waves are Super easy to Survive. :)