I made being a fish x1000 more dangerous...
Table of contents
- In the game of strategy, sometimes less is more; focus on quality over quantity to build a winning defense.
- Strategize your placements wisely; the right tower in the right spot can make all the difference in damage output.
- Leave a mark that echoes through the game, because every choice counts in the battle ahead.
- Strategically place your towers for maximum damage and watch the chaos unfold.
- Sometimes you have to gamble everything to unlock your true potential.
In the game of strategy, sometimes less is more; focus on quality over quantity to build a winning defense.
Hello fellow engineers and welcome to Fish TDX! If you like synergies, this game is for you. It's a tower defense game where you've got to defend against fish. Basically, fish enter from the sea on the left and swim through a river; if they get out to the right side, you lose some health. We only have 10 Health to start with, and for some reason, we also have 10 quid. Our quids have holes in them, which made me think they were donuts at first, but they are definitely quid.
Before you do anything, you need to extend your map. You actually get a choice: do you want to add just one branch, or do you want to add a separate branch or three separate branches? As you do so, you actually get better stuff. If we just extend in one direction, we get a grass plot, which doesn’t provide any extra buffs. However, if we choose the swampy one, we get a sort of swampy tile that generally has poison areas. If we split three ways, we not only get three coins and health, but we also receive a volcanic tile, which will add burning effects. For now, since I'm a bit cautious, I’m just going to go with a straight extension, resulting in a grass area.
Now, looking at the towers down here, I think I’ll go for a glass shard tower, which does eight bleeding shards. The bleeding effect means that hit enemies take more damage, so it's good to have that early on. You can also see that there’s a dandelion nearby; that spot will get the dandelion buff, which increases the chance effects for diagonal towers by 1.5. Unfortunately, none of these towers have a chance to do anything right now, but we can move towers at no penalty, which is quite good.
Finally, I have four quid remaining, so I can buy one more thing. We have this mine tower that does explosives, and I can also add a fix that makes flail projectiles swing faster and do more damage. So, let’s add that to my flail and then start the wave. Here come the fish! The glass shard has bleeding damage now, and we can speed up time, which is quite useful. The bleeding effect is working, and by the time the fish reach our flail, it should really take them out.
We gained 10 income, and we also get interest. For every five coins you have, you get one interest, so it’s beneficial to save your cash if you can. Now, we need to add another plot. I think keeping with the single line is probably the best strategy. Oh look, it’s a swampy one! These snakes apply poison damage to any tower placed on top of them. If I place a tower on that snake, it will apply poison damage, and adjacent towers will do 1.5 times more poison damage. However, that’s at the end of my run; I need stuff at the start.
Down here, we have a combustible tower that has a chance to do explosive damage. Remember the glass shard? If we give that a chance buff, it could do quite a lot of explosive damage. What I might do is add another glass shard in that area. Now, I have seven quid, so I should get an extra quid because of the interest. Let’s take a look at the fish; they are bleeding, and when they reach the flail, it should take them out effectively.
We are getting extra interest because we had five coins, which is great. First things first, we gain an extra plot. I think I’ll go for the beach level this time. However, I might save all my money unless I can add the fix to the flail as well, but it won’t let me. Okay, fair enough. Let’s add the poison damage to the flail, which will then do 1.5 times poison damage. I’ll add another flail there and give it the strong swing upgrade. We should still get two quids worth of interest, and hopefully, we will be a lot stronger as well.
The fish are all bleeding, and when they reach the flail, it’s doing a lot of damage. They might get past the flail since they get stronger as rounds go on, but we have more flails and poison damage. We gained two interest, 10 income, and we’ve just leveled up, allowing us to access tier two stuff.
If you look down at the bottom, the Barbed Arrow tier 2 costs three and shoots a bleeding arrow. These have a huge range, so it might be worth placing it on the poison tile. I also noticed a lighthouse; towers placed on top of it have a massive range. If I place that there, it will significantly increase the range of my towers. That’s a huge range—that’s impressive!
Now, let’s consider our next move. What’s the purple tile? I feel like it’s probably best to proceed with caution and make strategic decisions moving forward.
Strategize your placements wisely; the right tower in the right spot can make all the difference in damage output.
The gameplay involves a strategic approach to dealing with waves of enemies, specifically fish, which become stronger as rounds progress. Initially, the fish are all bleeding when they encounter the flail, indicating significant damage. Although they may get past the flail, they will face more flails and poison attacks as the game continues. With a recent level-up, the player has access to tier two items, including the Barbed Arrow tier 2, which costs three and shoots a bleeding Arrow with a huge range. This feature may be beneficial when combined with the poison mechanism.
The player contemplates the use of the Lighthouse, which allows towers placed on top to have a massive range. The player humorously notes, "oh my good, that is a massive Ranger, that's huge," indicating excitement about the potential of this tower. They consider the strategy of focusing on single routes until later rounds to maximize damage early on. It’s important to note that there is a limit to the number of towers on a tile; exceeding three towers results in diminishing damage output. For example, four towers yield only 60% damage, while three towers maintain 100% damage.
With 19 quid available, the player decides to roll for better items. They successfully create a massive range crossbow with a chance to explode, preparing for the next wave. As the enemies approach, the player observes the effectiveness of their setup, noting that the arrows are ripping through the fish. They also earn three quids worth of interest at tier two, which allows for the introduction of cluster mines that shoot a spread of explosives—ideal for early damage.
The player considers placing a fridge to slow enemies as they approach the flails, enhancing the overall damage from multiple sources. They find a strategic spot for the fridge, ensuring it works in conjunction with the flails and poison damage. As they progress to wave five, a new enemy type, a dolphin, appears. This dolphin can only be hit when it jumps out of the water, but fortunately, it gets annihilated, yielding four quids worth of interest.
Continuing with the strategy, the player navigates through the beach levels, which present limited options for placing tiles. They identify a rock that increases damage for diagonal towers by 1.4 times, prompting them to place an arrow in a beneficial position. As the wave progresses, they utilize explosives and bleeding effects to maximize damage against the dolphins.
The player then encounters a mining plot that increases the sell value of towers placed on it by two each wave, prompting them to consider placing an explosive tower there for future profit. They also evaluate other towers that deal 1.5 times burning damage or generate gold per adjacent tower, weighing the risks of diminishing damage output against potential gold gains.
As they prepare for the next wave, the player notes that it consists mostly of fish and one dolphin, which is manageable. The crossbow and poison damage are effective, leading to a successful round with five quid interest. Upon reaching a new tier, they discover tier three items, including a barbed flail that releases a bleeding flail. The player contemplates replacing a tier one item with this new addition, considering the overall strategy and effectiveness of their current setup.
Leave a mark that echoes through the game, because every choice counts in the battle ahead.
In this game, the objective is to leave an explosive trail at the end. Perhaps we can just leave it at 35 quid, which could accumulate to six quids worth of interest by the end. Let's see what the wave has in store; it’s just a load of fish and only one dolphin so far, so nothing too terrible.
We have the crossbow shooting from the bottom, and we’re applying poison damage. That dolphin has like four different effects on it; it just got isolated. Currently, we have five quid interest plus the gold artifacts. Ooh, and it’s a new tier! Now, at the bottom, we have tier three stuff.
There’s a barbed flail that releases a bleeding flail rather than just a normal one, so it might be worth replacing the tier one item. I think I might actually leave it there and then add that instead. What else do we have? This one at the end costs four quid and inflicts damage over time per energize stack. There is an energize weapon that makes enemies faster, but I think we can get different things that actually help us. We haven’t really built an energized strategy yet, but it could be something we want to try later.
For now, I might shove a fridge there so enemies are slow as they go through that flow. Oh yeah, I need to add another map piece, so let’s go for another straight. We have a frosty area where touching towers inflict slow. Any towers I place on the white squares will do slow damage. The blizzard towers placed on top inflict stun, so they also slow enemies.
Nice! We can slow down enemies at the end. It’s probably worth rerolling to see what we have. What’s that? A wobbly flail that releases a poison gas flail that wobbles in the air. Okay, we can combine that with the previous one, so that will be slow and poison at the end—not bad. However, it is going to get harder soon; trust me, I’ve played a few rounds of this, and it’s a difficult game.
That dolphin is out in front and isn’t taking any damage. Actually, there are two dolphins; they have a lot of health. I assume they can’t escape down the sides, so they have to go down the middle. That’s good! That dolphin just died of poison. Phew! A whole load of cash again.
Now, I might give a strong swing to this bleeding flail and maybe do a cheeky roll. Do we have anything good? We got another wobbly flail; I could place that there. There’s also the big boom, which increases explosive size, so I could apply that to my early mines up there. Okay, nice!
By the way, we need to buy the extra plot. We’ve got the Void plot, which deactivates all towers at the start of the wave—interesting. The serum towers placed on top gain a small enhancement. We also have stealth, which doesn’t count towards tower count for isolated or plot damage multiplier. Fog touching towers have stealth, and the Obelisk towers placed on top have huge range.
I’m not entirely sure how the Void plot will work, but let’s start the next wave with 46 quid on us. For now, it’s just dolphins and normal fish. That’s all it is at the moment. We’re getting some good bleed damage, which means things take way more damage later on. We’ve got all sorts; there’s that other flail, and that dolphin is poisoned. Yes, it didn’t even get to the explosives.
Some of these are getting quite far through the map now, but thankfully we survived and got a load of cash. We’re halfway through the waves. First up, let’s take another plot. I guess we go to the top B; we get four quid on this top B, so it’s like an explosive one. TNT towers placed on top of this have more powerful explosions and emit a damage-dealing aura. Nice!
Then there’s the acid, which has a chance to inflict acid that leaves a pool of acid on death. Oh, and it’s worth noting that acid and radioactive do 1.5 damage and 1.5 range—ah, interesting! Right, what weapons do we have in the shop? We got puffer fish, which does poison spikes, and keenai, which is an energized one that I haven’t gone for this time. We also have some hammer flails, big booms, and the strong swing. I think I’ll roll these.
Yeah, none of these seem very good, not going to lie. All right, here we go! The Sniper Tower shoots critical bullets with a map-wide range, so you can literally put this anywhere. I think putting the sniper next to these radioactive barrels is a good idea because then they will do radioactive damage in a huge wave. If this has unlimited range, maybe we’re radiating the whole map.
I could potentially add some bleed to this sniper as well. Yeah, let’s do that. We then start the wave, and we still have 50 quid to spend in the future. The question is, are these guys getting radiated? I’m not sure they are. I think that green thing is healing everything, so none of them are getting bleed or anything. Okay, it is down now, so everything has bleed damage. How far has that gotten through? Oh no, that’s going to...
Strategically place your towers for maximum damage and watch the chaos unfold.
The gameplay experience seems very good, not going to lie. All right, here we go! The Sniper Tower shoots critical bullets with a map-wide range, so you can literally put this anywhere. I think putting the sniper next to these radioactive barrels is a great idea because then they do radioactive damage in a huge wave. If this has got like unlimited range, maybe we're radiating the whole map. I mean, it could potentially work as well if we add some bleed to this sniper.
So, let's do that! We then start the wave, and we still have 50 Quid to spend. The question is, are these guys getting radiated? I'm not sure they are. I think that green thing is healing everything, so none of them are getting bleed or anything. Okay, it is down now, so everything has bleed damage. How far has that gotten through? Oh no, that's going to the end! We lost a life, but thankfully we killed everything else.
Oh, and we've just unlocked some new towers! I think it is probably time to spend our cash. We have 67 Quid and we got tier four weapons unlocked, like this ice shotgun. First off, let's just add another plot. Wait, is it costing me health to do this? Well, that's not good. Anyway, let's add another sniper; I'll put it up there so it has the acid stuff.
What I might do is get rid of that fridge and move it over there. Actually, yeah, I'm going to add the ice shotgun to that spot. Then, I'm going to roll these. Oh nice! What do we have here? A cannon that does explosive damage and stuns! I feel like stunning in front of the flaves would be good. How big is the range? Oh, I could shove it in there or maybe up there. That's a damage multiplier because it's got the rock.
Then, I got another sniper; maybe I'll shove that there so we have two acid snipers. I’ll then make that fla spin a bit faster. I'll do another roll and got another ice shotgun, so I’ll shove that there. Another cannon can go there. What are these? Minefield leaves explosive mines at random places in range. I mean, we could place it there, I guess, and see how that gets on.
After another roll, we got another sniper. I could make that a stun one and shove that there. Maybe another cannon in here; this one has the sunflower stacks, so sun increases range, damage, reload speed, and effective potency for a tower. I might shove an ice shotgun there as well. Right, I think we're probably good. I'm going to save 20 Quid just because I can't really add too many more towers without losing damage. I may want to lose these towers at some point soon. For now, though, let's just start the next wave.
We do only have three lives this time, and we got some big old fish with shields in there. Oh man, look, it's going mental! Everything's spinning like crazy! Yeah, you can see the radioactives working. Some of these do get radioactive from my snipers later on, so that definitely has worked. Check out all of this stuff! I think one of the fish had a bounty there as well, so we got extra cash. We did the acid thing; oh, that was actually a good round!
Anyway, down here is getting a bit risky because we're going to—oh, I thought this was gain heart; this is actually lose heart! So, I've got to split at least once. I guess we take that one because it's got three coins. So, yeah, we only lost one heart there. On these ones, Cricket adjacent sport Towers have faster reload. I haven't seen any sport towers yet.
Okay, if I shove my sniper next to there, it does freeze damage, so that's good. Let's roll these. Oh, just loads! I could just get loads of snipers! We got three freezing snipers in there; hopefully, that helps us out. A rocket launcher? Oh yeah, that's got a big area! Okay, I might shove that on the bush because that doesn't count, so I can have another one on that bush and then just another one in here in general.
Maybe I can put some mines down like that, and then if I were to roll and get another rocket launcher, I can shove that in that bush—no questions asked! We then got the big boom; I'll put it on one of those and see what happens. Right, let's start the wave and see how we get on.
Down here, there's a load of dolphins, and there's one of those horrible deep-sea things. There's also a whale now! The whale stays underwater for ages. I don’t know what the feet icon means; it's got loads of feet for some reason. But yeah, this thing I'm quite worried about; it's got loads and loads of status effects to it. Look at how many! I mean, it just exploded; it was too much for it. The whale, though, is taking a bit of a beating but still has quite a lot of health. It seems to be just swimming straight through the land—not ideal!
Maybe that's what the feet are for—new Elite Feet! That lets the fish run across land to the exit. Okay, that's what it was doing. But right now, because we split last time, we have different routes we can go.
Sometimes you have to gamble everything to unlock your true potential.
Let's start by observing what happens down here. There are a load of dolphins, and among them is one of those horrible deep-sea creatures. There's also a whale. The whale stays underwater for ages, and I don't know what the feet icon signifies; it has loads of feet for some reason. However, I am quite worried about this creature because it has loads and loads of status effects. Just look at how many! It just exploded; it was too much for it. The whale, though, is taking a bit of a beating but still has quite a lot of health. It seems to be swimming straight through the land, which is not ideal. Perhaps that's what the feet are for—allowing the fish to run across land to the exit.
Since we split last time, we have different routes to go. We only have one heart left, so I guess we split two ways. I'm not sure how I'm meant to get hearts back. The money bag generates gold each wave, and I think these cauldrons placed on top gain a small enhancement that increases all stats. Does that mean we gain more gold each wave? Maybe we should place it there. I feel like I need to find something that gives me health if such a thing exists. Alternatively, I could opt for a rocket launcher. I see a rocket launcher, and I want it! If I do that, I think I will have a bigger range. That seems like a good idea, but the trouble is I feel like next round is going to be my last goal since I have no lives left.
Well, anyway, let's see what happens. There’s a big old fish here, and there are so many little baby fish as well. They are getting close to my explosive area. The explosives seem to be doing the job, so yes, that was another win. There was a new enemy in there: the toadfish, which blows up and is temporarily invulnerable. Right, anyway, I’m not sure what’s going to happen here because I have no hearts remaining. Do I just roll and hope I find something that gives me lives? I don’t think there is anything that does. Should I gamble and take the one with one heart, or do I just not extend the map?
I can start the wave without extending the map; I didn't realize. Oh, I’m actually an idiot! Anyway, let’s hope we can take out this wave. I guess that’s the gamble: you extend the map, but it costs you some hearts. However, it gives you more places to put weapons down. I have taken the ultimate gamble, trying to get as many weapons as possible. Will it pay off? Oh, I’m an idiot! Look at all that cash! We’ve just unlocked some new towers.
What the hell is that? A wizard that shoots long lightning chains? Oooh, interesting! I feel like I should probably get rid of some of these early towers, so let’s bin that. That gave us some cash back. Maybe I should place the wizard there. Oh, what have we got here? Lightning ice shoots lightning ice that inflicts freeze. These are some cool weapons! What is that as well? An air bomber that shoots homing planes dropping explosive mines? Okay, what I might want to do is get the air bomber and place it on the TNT so that it has more powerful explosions.
This is down to 60% damage, so let’s move a sniper and maybe place it over here in the stun area. Then, I’ll move those mines just so they’re up here on a normal one. Now, for the lightning ice, do I swap one of the fridges with it? Because fridges aren’t really needed, I don’t think. So, we’ll place the lightning ice at the tip of that island. Huge boom triples explosive size! Oh, I didn’t realize that has a small radius. Mr. Air Bomber, I’m going to have to move you probably up here to the start. I’m then going to give huge boom to that, and I think I’ll get rid of that shard thing since it’s like a tier one.
I’ll put a lightning upgrade on there and another lightning upgrade on there. I might actually sell everything on here and then put some better stuff down. So, lightning definitely goes there. Maybe I should get rid of that bomb as well and put the snowstorm there. Oh wait, this isn’t a tower; this is an a fix. Oh, I tell you what! Could I add snow to one of these lightning guys? What about this one? It would poison and slow enemies—amazing! Then I have more lightning there. We’ve turned into a lightning build right now.
I think I’ll get rid of these flails; they’re too low-level and swap them with wizards. Alright then, we’ll start the wave. Oh no, we’ve got a fish with legs running over everything! Although, oh, a new effect: radioactive and volatile. Nice! Look at the number of effects things have; there’s so much going on. The whale, when it pokes its head up, gets frozen, poisoned, and radioactive. It’s like, “Right, I’m going back underground!”
An enemy has gotten through! What I might do is swap this shotgun, which is my freezy thing, with the lightning ice. Then what I might want to do is swap this little crossbow for an air bomber. Yeah, look at the range of that—incredible! I think I’ll get rid of that flare and maybe move it to there, then make the air bomber a poison one. Alright, yes, here we go—the huge bomb! We’ll shove that onto there for a huge radius with huge bombs. Then we’ll start the next wave.
This game is so random; you’re just killing fish! Oh my goodness, look how fast that thing is! Why is it so fast? If that gets to the end, we’re screwed! Okay, it’s stuck; it’s stuck! Oh man, I think it got stunned. That was scary! Anyway, the swordfish is a new enemy with pretty fast speed and health. The killifish has a 20% chance to dodge projectiles—dodgy! I think I’m going to get rid of you for another wizard. We’re just going full on wizard build now.
Oh, that’s a new weapon: a nuclear bomb, a deadly explosive! Okay, well, let’s get rid of those towers and place a nuclear bomb there. Oh yes, look! We can give it a huge bomb as well, so if enemies actually make it that far, that’s sort of like the final straw. I think I should place loads of nuclear bombs. Should I have a nuke in the tree? Yeah, why not? Actually, can I replace anything further up? Yeah, let’s replace that cannon with a nuclear bomb and maybe that shotgun as well. Then we can see how it all works.
So, we’ll start the next round. Just a couple of fish are getting completely destroyed. Look at all the lightning chains in there! Right, there’s a fast fish going out the front again. The nuke is about to go off—boom! Oh, it completely missed! Wait, where’s the nuke shooting? Oh my goodness! Meanwhile, this is going quite far towards the end. I don’t like this; I don’t like this! If that gets to the end, we’re screwed! No! Oh, it’s game over! We were doing so well.
Still, that was Fish TDX, a super fun game that feels like a combination of Bloons TD6 and Super Auto Pets. I think that’s how the previous game, Bug TDX, which I haven’t played yet, was described, and I can see what people mean. Anyway, it was a lot of fun! If you enjoyed this, please hit the boost button. For now, I’ll say peace, love, and fish. Bye!