Excellent Introductory Knowledge for "Orcs Must Die! 2"

Tips on how to enjoy the game even more; primarily meant to enhance early experiences so people can start sooner at enjoying the game even more

Part 1

Welcome. Most of the content of this guide was originally section was initially a forum post ( http://steamcommunity.com/app/201790/discussions/0/684839199820149833/ ) but then a recommendation was made to make this into a guide. I did so, so that the information may be more easily found. However, feel free to respond to the forum post if you have any feedback.

Here's a bunch of information that is often not immediately intuitive. Most experienced players will find out about most of these tips over time, but many would probably enjoy the game even more if they knew about some of this information even earlier.

And, with this much information, maybe even some experienced players will learn an item or two. Enjoy.

=== Integration with Steam: Bringing up interface ===
Press Shift-Tab while in the game. (This is assuming that the game was installed from Steam.)

=== Available keypresses ===
If you can't press G to start the first round, that is probably because you haven't pressed B to check the skillbook. Even if the selected skills are exactly what is desired, checking the book is a requirement.
After you place the first trap, you cannot view the skillbook again. (So, in multiplayer, you cannot see the changes that the partner has made.) Retry the level if changes are desired.

Pressing M will make the map larger or smaller. (This is mainly good to know because of a bug mentioned later.)

=== How multiplayer works ===

First, you must use Steam's service. The other person's Steam account must be your friend. One person invites the other person. The inviter gets to choose settings. Also, the inviter can restart a level.
Either player may pause by bringing up the menu which shows up when the Esc key is pressed.

The enemies that show up in a level will often be tougher than the ones that show up in multiplayer. So, instead of Lightly Armored Orcs on Wave 1, Medium or Heavy Armored Orcs may show up. Additional enemies may show up. You also start with less money (but your partner also gets money), and you are limited to 6 items (per player).

Press Enter to chat, or use the Options menu to select which key is used for Push-To-Talk. (It defaults to Mouse Button #4, which is not the scroll wheel. So, many mice won't have them.) Using "Left Control" has been known to work okay. The setting won't really matter, though, if a microphone is not available.
For further discussion on voice chat: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2848933

===How to find other people online to play===

Method 1 (probably more likely to get instantaneous results?)

Go to:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/OMD2Cooppartners

If the upper-right corner says "Login", click that.

Go to:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/OMD2Cooppartners

Click "Join Group"

Go to:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/OMD2Cooppartners

Where it shows the number of members, click on that number.
See who is online.

Alternate method of seeing who may be available:
In the "System Tray"/"Message Notification Area", click on the Steam icon. Choose "Friends". Then choose the "Groups" tab. Expand the "Orcs Must Die! 2 - Co-op partners!" group.


Method #2 to find other people to play online:
Go to:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/201790/discussions/0/846941710301694105/
Next to where it says "Showing 1-15 of # comments", to the right of that are page numbers.
Click on the last page number.
Review the posts on the last page. Perhaps even review posts on a prior page or few, depending on how much recent traffic there has been.
If all of those posts seem very old, create your own post.
If someone does look like a potential partner, click on their avatar icon. Then, once at their profile page, click "Add Friend". Hopefully they will show up in your Steam friends list shortly after.

===Mods note===
Mods are available. However, note that progress made (like skulls picked up) will be abandoned if you play with mods. Also, you won't be eligible for Leaderboards.

Once you download mods, when you start the game you may run the "OMD 2 Mod Launcher". Simply click
"Launch Classic Mode". That will prevent you from experiencing the drawbacks.

To find new mods, go to http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse?appid=201790
If you find a good one (e.g. Nananea's "Flash Fire Ring" at
steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=160844616 )
then just click the "Subscribe" button on the mod.
That will add the mod to your mod list, which should be visible when you start up the
"Orcs Must Die 2!" program. There will be checkboxes where you can decide which mod(s) to use.

===Leaderboards Note===
Note: If you're playing without the expansion packs, then other people may be getting scores by using
additional traps, like the Spike Wall (which can push big guys backwards and off their feet; excellent
to do at the top of stairs). So you might not be competing on an even playing field. You'll have
most of the traps, so you might still score high. This is not to say that you'd be hopeless. Just
know that the playing field isn't completely even.

Also, see the note in the section about Mods.
Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
TOOGAM [has Orcs Must Die! 2] Nov 5, 2013 @ 2:24pm
Hmm, it seems there is an effective limit to the length of a single post. So, the following information has been split off to go into this next post.

===Recommended Settings===
Go to Options, Video, and switch "Windowed" from "Fullscreen" to "Full Window".
You may find that it has no effect, but it has two effects when you Alt-Tab out. First, it doesn't seem to disrupt network communications as much. Those disruptions can cause the game to effectively lock up (showing a dialog box complaining about networking) for the other player.
Second, it allows you to interact with other windows (other programs) and be able to see the game in the background.
It seems likely that this setting might have some effects, like game performance (speed) or perhaps proper functionality, for some computers. However, on other computers, it might have no negative side effects, so the above change is recommended (to at least try).

Go to Options, and set "Show Timer" to "Yes". That will show a timer near-ish the upper-right corner of the screen. This is nice when you're trying to beat a certain par time (which can lead to a reward in the currency of skulls).

Also, on the Options screen, there is an option called "Space After Load" that may be set to "No". This makes it so that the player does not need to press the space bar after the loading screens. The only compelling reason to not do this is to allow more time to read the tip shown in the lower-left corner. In multiplayer games, setting this to "Yes" may allow your partner to wait less.

As noted elsewhere, the default "Push-To-Talk" button may not be available for many computers.

=== Characters ===
The Sorceress is superior to the War Mage. This is simply an opinion: she doesn't have Tar or the Whirlwind from the Hammer. But she has Polymorph, Charm (which is actually useful when converting powerful characters), and more mana. After completing Story Mode, her Glide lets her jump from the upper bridge to the lower bridge on "The Crossing". Those are highlights. She also has Ice Vent.
She also seems to be the character that fewer people start with. After building up one player, many players don't bother to build up a second character of the other type.

=== Obtaining ===
http://store.steampowered.com/app/201790
In the right frame, there is a "Download Demo" button.
Or, better yet, spend money!

=== Achievements ===
--- Hidden Achievement ---
"Six Degrees", "Catch the Robot disease" can only be obtained by playing multiplayer.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=33885755
http://steamcommunity.com/app/201790/discussions/0/882961070468500166/

--- The "Stay Classy" achievement ---
This is not possible unless the first "Orcs Must Die!" has been purchased.

Part 2

=== Respec ===

There is no penalty for re-spec'ing. A player may choose to sell all purchasable upgrades, including access to new weapons and traps, and improvements to items. The amount of skulls returned is 100%, so there is no penalty for this. In fact, there is an achievement for this.
However, that leaves the character without any upgrades. So, the logical thing to do will be to upgrade.
That can be annoying to the other player who needs to wait on multiplayer. It is better to just try to play with whatever upgrades have been purchased before, and earn more skulls. Even better than spending skulls specializing in one skill, or specializing in another skill, is to just get more skulls and afford both skills.


=== Endless Mode ===
Yes, getting to level 50 is possible. It can be quite challenging.
In fact, after reaching about level 45, the game doesn't get much harder. As the player continues to accumulate some money, it is possible to add Spores. For those with the Fire and Water DLC upgrade, the Floor Portal resets notably faster, and has less problems. (With Spores, unwanted slaves can only be dismissed between rounds. Floor Portals don't have unwanted slaves.) People have used those traps to become essentially unkillable, and reaching much higher levels. Level 1,400 is known to have been exceeded, with over 400,000 moon dust (money) in pocket at the time.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183352100

Note that the game does end up having some problems on higher levels: spored enemies may be less prone to catch the attention of live enemies, and so the might not be killed. Eventually, the game may crash (perhaps due to too many objects, like coins or power-ups?)

Money does end up coming in at a much slower pace on higher levels. Mr. Moneybags stops coming after round 100, but has quite a lot of health at that level. (He can be killed if he keeps walking into a Floor Portal. Another great way is to use Vampiric Gauntlet's immobilize. Just hold down the left mouse button: there's no need to convert health to mana. He will time out in a short while, and he will leave behind money when he does.)

For those interested in very high levels: Preferred items to use are the ones that don't lower hit points. Instead, they cause enemies to fly into pits/lavas/acid. Lava is, in fact, not instant death: eventually enemies may survive in the lava. However, they don't get out, so they will eventually timeout.

Note that Spring Traps can jam. When this occurs, they become unable to interact. They will not flip enemies, and cannot be sold (making floor space rather useless). Floor Scorchers don't have that issue, but they also don't flip heavy enemies.

Levels with flying enemies will likely be challenging. Trying to get those levels to auto-play is expected to simply not work once enemies are generated with more starting health.

The easiest level is probably "The Tower", which comes from the "Are We There Yeti?" DLC enhancements. (It is a remake of Level 15 from the first game.)

Another good level can be "Close Cliffs".
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3189001

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjS6e9Xwd10

Hint: Do not flip guys into the pits near the rift. If an Earth enemy gets flipped, it may split and then come back up. It might even come back up a different ledge than it came from, and so appear right by the rift. This is fairly rare, but often irrecoverable, so can effectively lead to a loss of rift points.

Both of those levels have had very high Wave numbers (hundreds, or higher) associated with them.

Passages also has just one rift, and can be controlled fairly well. Use two barricades to block the lower middle chamber, so that orcs need to walk down stairs to get to the rift. Also place barricades to block the East passage, and the stairs near the first door. This will cause all enemies to need to walk to the North stairs, where traps can be concentrated.

=== Playing Recommendation ===
Check out the "Weekly Challenge". Note, of course, that a level will be swapped out after a week. The weekly challenges do repeat, eventually. The challenges can be a bit challenging, as they restrict which items the player(s) may use. Making progress on Story Mode first is probably going to be more enjoyable for people new to the game. However, remember this option after beating the Story Mode once.

=== Bugs ===
--- Map pop-up ---
On occasion, the map may pop up in the middle of the game. Press M to make it go away. (Or, while playing on a map, press M to intentionally cause it to pop up, to see what is being talked about.)
This is fairly rare, but multiple people have experienced it.

--- Wave count upon end of a game ---
The Wave counter that is in the upper-right corner may show a different number than the Wave count in the middle of the screen. They may even be as much as two off.

SixOkay (staff from Robot Entertainment) has noted that the score on the leaderboards is supposed to reflect the last completed level. So, it may routinely be one level lower than the last wave that was being played.

--- Glide ---
Sometimes, when the sorceress activates Glide, she can turn directions while gliding. Other times, she can't. In theory, releasing the space bar might fix this. Although, there will often not be sufficient time to really try that.

Part 3

=== Strategy ===
--Upgrades--
At least the first part of this section is simply a matter of opinion.
I had a lot of fun starting out as a Sorceress, and starting with upgrading the the Acid Sprayer trap and then the Brimstone trap. I've seen people take other routes, and it seemed a bit less fun. Having an effective wall-attacking trap and then using Brimstone works well to make the game fun.
Brimstone seems okay, until you upgrade it. Once it is fully upgraded, it moves from okay to awesome. The upgrades will seem expensive, and a person may sensibly wonder if it is worthwhile investing more in the skill instead of trying out other skills. However, the answer is: yes. Maximize Brimstone early and it will quickly become very lovable. As long as you're not an Orc.
Many people like the War Mage's tar, but multiple rows of Brimstone can also often slow guys down substantially, while taking care of Kobolds. It doesn't do anything to Fire Ogres (but does quite well for Frost Ogres). Instead of just slowing down guys so that they can be killed with other traps or manual intervention, Brimstone often kills guys so that they don't even need to be killed by other means.
By heavily investing in Brimstone upgrades, the player will be able to do substantial damage to most ground forces on modes other than Endless, as well as early waves in Endless mode.

After that, get all sorts of different items to try them out, and see which ones rock and which ones... rock less.

--Skulls--
Getting 5 skulls on a level basically involves two things: Lose no rift points, and beat the par time. Know that dying will take away 3 rift points.
Try very, very hard to not spend time on the "Go" breaks (where pressing "G" is needed to cause the horde to advance) if there is a goal to get a 5 skull rating. Instead, press G to allow the orcs to start coming, and purchase new traps while they are starting to walk. (In Multiplayer, your partner also needs to do this. If your partner doesn't do that, press Esc to stop the timer, and tell your partner this.) The timer doesn't start at the beginning of the map, but once the timer starts and the first orcs come, keep making progress.
Killing enemies nearer to the door may help lead to levels being beaten quicker. Also, don't let an enemy live in order to try to re-build mana before advancing to the next level. These things take time. Not doing these things can lead to game play that is more hectic, as well as success in being slightly below the par time.

For a first play-through, repeating a level to get 5-skulls might be a lower priority than just completing the Story mode on War Mage difficulty, in order to get access to the free items (weapons and traps) and to get the additional movement ability (which is accessed by pressing the Space Bar twice; once to jump and the next time to enable the movement ability. Each character has their own unique movement ability: for the sorceress, try pressing the space bar down, releasing the space bar, and then holding it down.) By the time you can 5-skull a level on Nightmare difficulty, getting 5 skulls on War Mage difficulty will be a piece of cake.

--Misc Strat Info--
Combos and Kill Streaks can reward money. Money is not just for satisfaction: it allows more traps being purchased, which can lead to enemies being able to die more quickly (and, therefore, completing rounds more quickly).

Push traps are often overlooked: if enemies can be pushed into death (pit/lava/acid), this is often a cost effective way to completely kill smaller enemies. Killing smaller enemies may also allow other traps to be available for larger enemies. They are often a great investment (on some levels, and much less useful on other levels).

Be sure to check out the "Trap Reset" trinket! That can make Brimstone and Floor Portals even more useful.

Void Wall can be excellent with a Wind Belt that has had its primary upgrade performed three times.

The Rift Defender's active ability is a stun effect: it affects all enemies on the entire map.

High scores tend to be obtained by people who obtain high combos. Some people have published information about how to obtain high combos. Kill Streaks are different than combos. Kill Streaks lead to getting more money, and more points, but not nearly as many points as combos.


Other tips/opinions:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/201790/discussions/0/864979455200132067/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/201790/discussions/0/810939351541441359/

For a primary weapon, the Sorceress's Charm effect is really good once Ogres start to be released. People may really question Charm's effectiveness when they try it early in the game, because the enemies are weak. Use the mana effectively by using this on big guys, and then it will start to seem effective, and may even be loved.

Note that the Dart Sprayer trap has an upgrade to charm enemies. That is not the same Charm effect! (The Dart Sprayer works on Mr. Moneybags, while the regular Charm effect does not.) The big difference is that the Dart Sprayer's charm does not last nearly as long; buy the time the affected enemy gets in range of other enemies, the effect may be half over. The sorceress's Sceptor of Dominion has a Charm effect that is really useful (although it does take a chunk of mana, which can prevent some over-use.)

For the War Mage, a lot of people don't care much for his default weapon (the blunderbuss). People with the Family Ties downloadable content upgrade may find that they like the Stone Staff better. It attacks much more quickly, and can be fairly effective. The downside, though, is that it really does require a lot of mouse clicks to be effective. This is so true that people may find their finger gets tired from all the clicking. Even still, it is effective, so it is being mentioned here.

=== Forums ===

For finding people multiplayer, there are:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/OMD2Cooppartners
and
http://steamcommunity.com/app/201790/discussions/0/846941710301694105/

For people wanting info on the Six Degrees achievement, see the hyperlinks mentioned in this section of the guide.

For other topics, the most official OMD2 forums may be the ones that Robot Entertainment. The staff at Robot Entertainment, the company who made OMD2, might be more likely to notice posts there.

http://forums.robotentertainment.com/forumdisplay.php?41-Orcs-Must-Die!-Series
http://forums.robotentertainment.com/forum.php

(Note that some of those forums are for OMD1, not OMD2. Carefully check the name of a forum before delving into it.)

However, Steam does also have its forum as well. At the time of this writing, those forums seemed to be more heavily utilized.
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions
may point people to:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/201790/discussions

There are other forum pages as well:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1218&order=desc&page=3
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/f-1218.html
(found from http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/ )
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/f-1218-p-7.html
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1218

=== Additional website(s) ===
http://orcsmustdie.wikia.com

Yes, videos are allowed to be created:
http://support.robotentertainment.com/customer/portal/articles/341316-i-want-to-make-gameplay-videos-of-one-of-robot-entertainment-s-games-and-i-d-like-to-place-ads-on-these-videos-am-i-allowed-to-do-that
( http://v2.robotentertainment.com/forum/topic/Seeking-Permission-Monetize-Video-Review-Orcs-Must-Die-2 )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mQeQWWPeeY

FamTies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kNagBKxLOQ

Fir n H20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOU9eRkR_sM

Yeti?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GosNyAMRCF0

It seems that Nananea has played at least some content before public launch. So, consider that to be unfair. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGqR9l1zy4

--
TOOGAM

[Foozo]

Thanks for all the info!