----------------------------------- pttd - periodic table tower defense ----------------------------------- pttd is a tower defense game involving the periodic table. Launch ------ javac -sourcepath source/ -d pttd/ source/com/perennate/ptgame/PTApplet.java appletviewer index.html Basics ------ The objective of the game is to destroy attacking units before they make their way across the map by building towers. To win, you either survive past every wave of attacking units, or you create the Uuo tower (the most expensive tower in the game). The map is in the shape of a periodic table. Ninety spots are available for constructing towers, although for the spots in the transition metals section, you have to build a base (which has an associated cost and time) before you can proceed to construct towers. Each tower is either an element or a molecule. Generally, element towers are upgraded down a group. For example, a sodium tower can be upgraded to a potassium tower and a krypton tower can be upgraded to a xenon tower. Quarks are the currency-like unit in pttd. You start off with one hundred quarks, spend it on constructing and upgrading towers, but can get more by either building Group 17 towers or by killing attacking units. Towers ------ The first towers that can be constructed are H, O, N, C, B, La, Ac, He, Be, and F. The last three require you to build a secondary base before they can be built, while the rest can be constructed on a base directly. To build these, click on any Base spot and then select one of the green rectangles that appear at the bottom of the screen. While constructing or upgrading towers, the tower will change to black; during this time, the tower will not attack units or otherwise do anything. Once it is finished upgrading, it will change to the new tower name. Upgrading towers is similar to constructing: just select the tower by clicking it on the map, and then click a green button that corresponds to your desired upgrade. Alternatively, you can press <u> to upgrade without having to click the green buttons. Note that if there are multiple upgrades, this will select the first one, so be careful! Note: some towers have a limit on the number you can build! Units ----- Attacking units try to make their way across the map without getting destroyed by your towers. Units will come from the left and right sides, go across horizontally, then vertically, and then finally go back to the side that they came from (you will see what I mean after you play once). This means that the towers at the top and bottom are particularly important because units from both sides will cross them. Units have a certain amount of health. Each time a tower deals damage to the unit, its health decreases. There are four types of attacking units: normal, aquatic, small, and dark. Normal and small units are basically the same and are the most common. Some towers deal extra damage to aquatic units. Dark units have a significant amount of health, but the noble gas towers deal a lot of damage to them. Dark units are also immune to certain abilities like freeze and reflect. Units spawn every sixty seconds, starting at the twenty second mark. Alkali metals ------------- Group I towers, from hydrogen to francium, are the most basic tower. They fire one projectile every second at a unit, with the damage dealt by the projectile ranging from 3 for hydrogen to 300 for francium. Francium also has the reflect ability, where one unit every second is reflected back for two seconds. This is because francium would be very reflective if it were collected in bulk. Acids - HF to HAt ----------------- H can be upgraded ot either Li or HF. If you choose the latter, you get access to this special group. These acidic towers deal double damage to aquatic units, and have a higher firing frequency than alkali metals. HI and HAt also have cool abilities: HI is used to produce acetic acid, so does 6 damage per second to every aquatic unit on the map, while HAt is unstable, so does 8 damage to every unit (not just aquatic) on the map. Alakaline earth metals ---------------------- These towers deal huge amounts of damage in bursts. They fire one projectile every six seconds, and the damage goes from 500 to 35000 from Beryllium to Radium. Boron group ----------- The Group III towers, starting with Boron, are useful in various ways. Boron is a dopant, aluminum is aluminum, gallium is used in microelectronics (can increase your efficiency), indium is used in liquid crystal displays, and thallium is used in electronics too. Thus, they decrease construction time by a percentage (from 5% up to 50%). Carbon group ------------ Carbon group towers are also useful, but in different ways from those in the Boron group. Carbon and Silicon can be building blocks for life, Germanium is used in semiconductors, tin is tin, and lead is used in batteries. Thus, they decrease upgrade costs by a percentage (from 5% up to 30%). Note: although the cost is decreased, you still need the original cost to be able to upgrade the tower. However, the number of quarks removed from your total quarks will be the lowered amount. Also, some modes have limits on the number of Carbon group towers you can have. Nitrogen group -------------- These towers have a poison-like effect where units are dealt damage per second over time. Liquid nitrogen is very cold, so it can slowly slowly cool units. Phosphorous is used in many nerve agents. Arsenic is poisonous. Antimony is toxic. Oxygen group ------------ These towers are very different from one another. Oxygen and sulfur are essential elements for life. Oxygen increases upgrade speeds by 20%, and sulfur increases construction speeds by 20%. Selenium and Polonium will kill all units with less than a certain percentage of their original health. It's 5% for Selenium and 10% for Polonium. Tellurium is used in metal production, and decreases cost of building bases on transition metals by 10%. Water ----- Oxygen can be upgraded to water instead of sulfur. Water slows all units in a radius. Water can then be upgraded to ice, which freezes one unit per second for three seconds. Lanthanides ----------- Lanthanides are often used as catalysts, which speed up reactions. Similarly, lanthanide towers will increase the attack speed of nearby towers by (X * 10)%, where X is the atomic number minus 56 (i.e., X is the position in the lanthanide series). Actinides --------- Actinides are mostly radioactive. They are used in nuclear weapons, Actinide towers will trigger a nuclear explosion every six seconds, dealing (X * 800) damage to nearby units, where X is the atomic number minus 88. Noble gases ----------- Finally, the noble gasses. These are your only suitable defense against dark units. Additionally, if you manage to upgrade all the way to Uuo, you automatically win the game. It's hard, though. End --- Well, that's it. Good luck and have fun!