Something that has bothered me since it was implemented, is the water protector. It is the single most powerful tower available to the public, but I have not seen a single person actually use it. Ever. Sure, there are people who gain control of it when they claim whatever base it happens to be in, but no one upgrades it once they have it. They don't even make an effort to keep it alive. It seems that, for most people, it's just a free tower to start out with, and it's no big deal if it dies. So, let me throw out some data and make a few comparisons.
First, I need to explain how I evaluate costs. I estimate the most expensive cost of something. If it requires gold, I assume that I will need to trade in lumber for it. As the rate for doing so is 50 Lumber for 1 gold, something that costs 1G and 50L, to me would have a total lumber cost of 100L. So, here's a quick list of the upgrade costs for the water protector (column one) and a regular flame tower (column 2.)
Level 1=Free Free
Level 2=100L 5L
Level 3=750L 15L
Level 4=1500L 30L
Level 5=2750L 60L
Level 6=5500L 100L
Now then, why did I choose to include the flame tower? I'll get to that in a bit. For now, let's compare the damage for each tier. This table will be laid out the same way, with the water protector in column one, and the flame tower in column 2.
Level 1=151-155 184-208
Level 2=301-305 229-253
Level 3=701-705 268-292
Level 4=1001-1005 302-326
Level 5=1501-1505 339-363
Level 6=2501-2505 414-438
A few things to keep in mind here; both of these towers deal chaos damage, which is why I have chosen to compare them. The water protector has very fast as its default attack speed, while the flame tower begins with fast and gains very fast after a few upgrades. So, while the flame tower initially hits harder than the other, it also hits less, resulting in a lower damage output.
Last thing to keep in mind here is range. For those of you that don't know, the width of one square (the size of a tiny lvl 1-4 lumber mill) is 48. So, by dividing a units range by 48, you find out how many squares away it can hit a target.
The water protector starts with a range of 750, and upgrades to 800 at level 6. However, this point is almost negligible, as its current placement only allows it to hit melee attackers and flying mobs that have crossed over your wall. You can forget about using this tower to protect your repair bots/mechanics from any ranged mobs, or an air mob that has flown past it and into your lumber area.
The flame tower starts with 525, and gains 25 range per upgrade, maxing out at 650. Even though its initial range is much lower than the water protector, being able to place it closer to your walls lets it be used more effectively.
So, how many flame towers do you need to put out a similar or higher amount of damage in comparison to the water protector? Well, it depends on what level the protector is. I will concede that this next portion relies upon my estimation of the difference between their attack speeds, and it is entirely possible that my numbers are off a bit.
For this simulation, we will use a tower defense based on 7 flame towers vs the water protector, and compare the costs for each defense.
At level one, the protector is incredibly outmatched by level one flame towers.
At level 2, the protector is still outmatched by level one flame towers. At this point, you would have spent 100L on the protector.
At level 3, it is on par with 7 level 1 flame towers. At this point, you would have spent 850L on the protector.
At level 4, it is outmatched by 7 level 2 flame towers. At this point, you would have spent 2350L on the water protector, or 35L on the flame towers.
At level 5, it is outmatched by 7 level 3 flame towers. At this point, you would have spent 5100L on the water protector, or 140L on the flame towers.
At level 6, it is outmatched by 7 level 6 flame towers. At this point, you would have spent 10,600L on the protector, or 1470L on the flame towers.
Again, let me reinforce the point that those were estimated comparisons. Actual numbers may vary. However, even if the numbers vary slightly, there's a huge price gap for such a similar amount of damage.
I haven't brought it up yet, but at level 6 the water protector gains a magic ability. It costs 25 mana to cast (the protector has a mana pool of 200 which refills slowly over time, or can be refilled using the Tree of Vigor.) This move sends forth a wave that deals 2500 damage to enemies in an area. I don't have the stats for the magic ability that the flame tower casts, so I can not make a comparison here. The only advantage that the protector has is that you can control its ability manually, and it has almost no cooldown.
Alright, I'm done throwing numbers around. Kudos to anyone who actually read through all of that. I still have a couple points to make, but they're number free.
Let's talk about placement.
The base that the water protector was originally designed for, was the Garden of Eden. It was a small base, and the protector was the center piece of it. If upgraded, the protector was able to defend every area of the base from every threat such as melee mobs hitting the walls, air mobs flying into your base, or ranged mobs targeting your repairs. With the current placement in the Summer Cottage Garden, the protectors only cover the lower half of the base, and just barely shoot far enough to hit melee attackers on the walls.
And what if the water protector dies? Well, if it dies, you're left with a pool of water that you can't build on. In the original base, that would have been a crippling blow if someone was actually relying on a tower based defense, as there wasn't enough room for many towers due to that pool. That's not so much of an issue now, since the SCG base is so large. But since this tower is meant to be the main attraction of that base, losing it kind of sucks.
So, here's what I would like to see done in order to make this tower more practical to use
- First and foremost, lower the cost of it. I would say that spending roughly 3500L on it would be enough for what its final upgrade does. That's a little more than the cost of a rainbow blasting staff.
- Take it out of the SCG base, and move it to a smaller base with a single entrance, like its original base. That, or make the SCG base have a single large entrance, and have the protectors range increased to compensate for it.
- Give the owner some way to revive it. It sucks to lose this thing if you actually want to use it, and an air boss smacking away at it can make short work of it.
