In the interest of fairness, let me explain what these stats mean before hand.
Success in Tower Defense is limited to a certain upper bound (which I have not quite established), because two competing factors inevitably intersect:
Enemy health: Exponential (1.25^n)
Allied Money: Linear (60 + (x * n) )
Exponential growth inevitably overwhelms linear growth, so unless I am wrong about money growing linearly (it could grow based on the amount of damage dealt to the enemies, which is also exponential). However, signs and observations dictate that, at some point, money begins to run out and things get increasingly harder to build. This shows there is some upper limit.
Now, this means that to maximize how far we can go in Tower Defense, we have to maximize how much damage we do per dollar, as we start to quickly run out of dollars in later levels, and in earlier levels we don't get much to begin with anyway!
However, if we gauge purely by how much damage we do per dollar, we ignore the range factor, and get false readings. For the purposes of the statistics, I have assumed that range is a linear scale, which observation confirms. To elaborate, range is a multiplier that arises through this: (range / 100).
Of course, merely calculating the damage|range per dollar is not sufficient to explain HOW to maximize Tower Defense returns, but it does show what the resulting placements should look like.
On to the stats!
Code:
Lightning Damage Range $ Lvl $ Dmg per $ BVR
Deployment 40 100 40 40 1 1
Code:
Fire Dmg Range $ Lvl $ Dmg/$ BVR
Deployment 4 100 18 18 0.22 0.22
Level Two 12 100 20 38 0.32 0.32
Level Three 36 110 30 68 0.53 0.58
Level Four 108 150 50 118 0.92 1.37
Level Five 300 160 80 198 1.52 2.42
Level Six 2056 190 600 798 2.58 4.9
Level Max 7021 200 1500 2298 3.06 6.11
Code:
Water Dmg Range $ Lvl $ Dmg/$ BVR
Deployment 5 100 10 10 0.5 0.5
Level Two 15 150 20 30 0.5 0.75
Level Three 45 150 40 70 0.64 0.96
Level Four 135 180 80 150 0.9 1.62
Level Five 405 200 160 310 1.31 2.61
Level Six 1215 200 320 630 1.93 3.86
Level Seven 3342 200 730 1360 2.46 4.91
Level Eight 6684 215 1000 2360 2.83 6.09
Level Max 7335 300 1000 3360 2.18 6.55
Code:
Nature Dmg Range $ Lvl $ Dmg/$ BVR
Deployment 5 100 15 15 0.33 0.33
Level Two 10 100 20 35 0.29 0.29
Level Three 45 110 40 75 0.6 0.66
Level Four 136 150 80 155 0.88 1.32
Level Five 405 160 160 315 1.29 2.06
Level Six 1215 190 320 635 1.91 3.64
Level Seven 3645 200 640 1275 2.86 5.72
Level Max 9000 215 1100 2375 3.79 8.15
Code:
Flower Dmg Range $ Lvl $ Dmg/$ BVR
Deployment 9090 150 2000 2000 4.55 6.82
Level Two 15050 100 5000 7000 2.15 2.15
Level Three 909090 90 15000 22000 41.32 37.19
Damage, range, $ (cost) are simple to understand. The next column is total level damage, which is the accumulations of costs till that level. Next over is damage per dollar, raw, which is the raw damage per dollar ratio. The last column is with range factored in.
As you can see, excluding third tier flower, the highest damage per dollar is the first tier flower. Factoring in range, the nature max outruns it by a healthy margin however.
Third tier flower rapes all other values; this is the thing to aim for in the end game.
Conclusions:
Lightning outbeats all others for a significant number of levels, 3 across the board. It can be used as a quick stopgap measure, but fire outruns it as a stop gap measure, for a pretty small price increase.
Fire is the best deal in the middle game. It has a very low cost, under 1000, for a rather high BVR of around 5, and can be built quickly. However, its end game is the lowest of the three mains, and thus shouldn't be used except as a stop gap measure.
Notes: Use as stop gap in endgame
Water is the lowest dmg/$ of all in the max level, however with range factored in, is beat only by the green max. However, the additional range MAY be a factor, in placement.
Notes: Placement can render a higher amount of damage in endgame.
Nature has the highest BVR, which factors in range, and thus in the end game is the most economical. However, its dmg/$ is low UNTIL the end game; its second to last level is comparable to fires second to last level, despite such a higher cost. Nature is the way to go for the end game, but not for stop gap measures.
Notes: Best value, without factoring in placement. Try to put at end of hallway.
Flower has the highest in the end game (which is almost unobtainable), and is the only one to go DOWN when leveling up. The first tier is comparable to the max of nature, though at a reduced cost (which doesn't really matter, as it is insignificant). Unfortunately, the range means it sucks in the end game.
Notes: Get the third tier flower. WINRAR.
Next up: Placement notes.
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