![How to redeem '3rd Echelon' map - [DEPRECATED; GAMESPOT REMOVED THE PAGE] for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction](https://steamsolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/how-to-redeem-3rd-echelon-map-deprecated-gamespot-removed-the-page-tom-clancy-s-splinter-cell-conviction.jpg)
Overview
YOU!YES YOU!ARE YOU STRUGGLING IN BTD BATTLES?!ARE YOU A NEW PLAYER WONDERING WHAT THOSE MONKEYS AND RED EGGS ARE DOING ON YOUR SCREEN!Well wonder no more as this guide will give you easy-to-digest strategy tips to help you win those crucial first few games.
What is happening on my screen?
Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
Opposite the screen with those towers and some other junk I’ll come to later, is a long and busy menu featuring static images of the bloons I discussed earlier, which when you click send out the bloon type descibed.
How do I win and is there currency?
Sending bloons is the primary way to beat your opponent, as better bloons that take longer to pop unlock, as the game progesses using a round counter at the top centre, and allow you to send these bloons like a trigger-happy clicker madman at your opponent. Every time one standard red bloon makes it from the entrance to the exit of the map, a life, demonstrated by the green counter at the top, will be lost, while better bloons deal more damage to your opponent’s (and your) lives. Also, there is a currency as sending these bloons, as a side bonus, grants you income boosts, to counteract the cost of sending bloons in the first place. Income is displayed by the green number in the central blue panel that also happens to tell you your cash total, an number that allows for bloon sends, tower purchases, and upgrades, different things ganering a higher price the more effective they are (and the semen shooter). Income is earned every 6 seconds and the more bloons you send, the more you earn every six seconds, with better bloons giving you better income boosts per send.
What do those towers you mentioned actually do?
Those towers are key, as they are your defense from the automatically sent bloons thrown at you every round, as well as bloons sent by you pesky opponent. Drag a tower from said menu in the bottom left-ish, drag it on the map where its range (highlighted by a darker cirlce) touches as much of the bloons’ path as possible to help your tower shoot bloons everywhere. Obviously some towers cost more and you’ll need to wait to buy them BUT! cheaper towers, for obvious reasons, should be used until you have a high enough income from sending bloons that you can buy better towers and even upgrades, which are highlighted when you select a tower. Upgrades are useful little things that improve your towers in various ways, and there are two paths of upgrades per tower, a left side and a right side. The notation for upgrades is written as follows – X-3 or 3-1, with the first number being the left side of upgrades and the second being the right side. Also, you can only upgrade 2 on a side if you have 3 or over on the other e.g. if my dart monkey tower (the basic loking monkey which is the first tower the tutorial told you to place) is upgraded to 3-X then it can only upgrade to 3-2 before the right path is locked and I can only get the last left side upgrade. At the very beginning, your towers will only have the first and second upgrades for both sides, but as you win games and get battle score, more towers and their powerful tier 3 and 4 upgrades can be unlocked using the game’s currency, medallions, earned from spin the wheel bonuses and victories in battle arenas.
How am I meant to win?
In BTD Battles, going into every game you will pick a loadout of towers, 3 different ones of your own choice and a 4th bonus tower with all tier upgrades unlocked for that game. The combination and synergy of the towers is where the strategic side of Bloons comes in to play. Early on, I recommend using the ninja monkey, bomb tower and tack shooter. Begin by placing down a ninja monkey near the back or centre of the track and upgrading it to 1-X, then wait until round 2. Round 2 is when the first bloons become available to send, and you should send as many of the red bloons as possible to up your eco. If your opponent is doing the same, upgrade your ninja to 2-X to deal with it. Next up, on round 4, tightly packed blues and spaced pinks unlocked (spaced bloons are bloons with large gaps between each send of bloons) unlock. Stop spamming reds and spam tight blues, as this will up your eco more per send and be more of a challenge for your opponent. If your opponent is doing the same, either get a 2-X bomb tower or a 2-2 tack shooter (in a spot where its range hits as much of the track as possible), and your defenses will be set for a good while. Round 6, send the green bloons, then save up before round 8 and spam a few yellows as though they are expensive, their speed and strength make them dangerous early game. After all this spamming, your eco should be around 400-450, maybe higher, and now you should save up for your game-winning send. Wait until round 13, making sure to add to your defenses only if your opponent rushes, sell one of your towers, and press that regen button on the far bottom right. Then send lots of the black and white zebra bloons as fast as you can. This, against similarly low-level opponents, and even against higher opponents, will kill them 90% of the time. If it doesn’t, you might be screwed, but build up defenses and send bloons for income till round 19, then save up till round 22 and then send the large looking red bloons that have unlocked that round, not the ones on round 20. Send 1 or maybe sell a tower and send two, and your opponent is again, likely to die. Before the large bloons come out, press the bloon boost button on your opponent’s side of the round counter. BTW, on your side of the round counter is the tower boost, which will help you deal with mini-rushes (a rush is a large bloon send intended to kill) and large rushes too.
What towers should I pick?
Good question, random Steam user. To begin with, ninja, bomb and tack shooter are perfectly fine. You’ll lack camo lead for now but save one or two of the road spikes as they can break apart the lead layer for round 12, then rush on round 13 as discussed. Once you have the battle score, though, upgrade your dart monkey to 3rd-tier (3-X & X-3) and swap in the dart monkey for the ninja, and make sure in games to upgrade to X-3 as fast as possible for great early game popping power. If you want camo, get a 2-3 and you’ll be set. Use bomb towers on strong targeting (beneath the image of your tower when selected on the left hand side, there is a menu thingy that says ‘Target: First’. Press the arrow on the left on this menu thingy and your tower will now shoot the strongest bloon in its range.) to deal with standard leads. After a fair few wins, make sure to purchase the farm as soon as possible, as it can replace the tack shooter (which in your old strategy can be used as an emergency for grouped bloon popping power) as a powerful way to earn money. Instead of sending bloons for income, wait out the first round by using a road spike, then buy a farm and one dart monkey, Upgrade your farm to 1-X, while upgradeing your monkey to X-3 slowly but surely, then get a second 1-X, then get them both to 2-X hopefully by round 8 or 9, then sell both at round 12 and send the aforementioned rush. If your opponent defends, rebuy farms using the income gained from the rush, and send the big red bloons on round 22 as said before.
Tips and suggestions: conclusion
In short, BTD Battles is easy to win early on if you know the basics and pick the right strategy. I hope you enjoyed this guide, and if you have any queries, message me and I’ll try to responds. Additionally, watch a few BTD Battles videos by people like Blaze It (not his modding ones) and aliensrock50 (again, not modding vids) for some good strategy videos (disclaiming – watching MasterOv and GamingWithSalt videos will make you worse at the game and may result in loss of brain cells). Thanks for viewing, cya round!