"Orcs Must Die!" Catch-All

For some reason Steam won't let me into Orcs Must Die! today. I keep getting the message:
"This game is currently unavailable. Please try again at another time."
All my other Steam games work fine. Anyone else ever have this happen?

cartoonin (I think) was having that problem last night. I was playing happily and he said he couldn't get it to launch at all the whole night.

EDIT: Just launched it, worked for me. Not sure what's wrong for you guys.

Try verifying the game cache in steam (right click the game, should be in there, or in properties of the game or something) and defragmenting it.

Playing through again with the right traps / weapons is a lot more fun. I hadn't realized how much I was relying on the satchel to make up for poor trap design. Also: I hadn't realized how barriers work until now. So expensive, though.

Jolly Bill wrote:

Playing through again with the right traps / weapons is a lot more fun. I hadn't realized how much I was relying on the satchel to make up for poor trap design. Also: I hadn't realized how barriers work until now. So expensive, though.

There's an upgrade to reduce the price of the barriers. I'm contemplating that purchase now.

Jeff-66 wrote:
Jolly Bill wrote:

Playing through again with the right traps / weapons is a lot more fun. I hadn't realized how much I was relying on the satchel to make up for poor trap design. Also: I hadn't realized how barriers work until now. So expensive, though.

There's an upgrade to reduce the price of the barriers. I'm contemplating that purchase now.

It reduces it to 700 gold. Good if you plan on using them a lot, which I do.

Wow! I finally topped the friends leaderboard on a map. Rebirth, the first part of Act 3.

121st overall too.

carrotpanic wrote:

Try verifying the game cache in steam (right click the game, should be in there, or in properties of the game or something) and defragmenting it.

Yup, verified and defragged in steam did the trick.

Having finished the campaign, I was going back through and five-skulling some levels I didn't do so well on the first time. I *still* wasn't beating a lot of scores.

Now -- oh yeah! sh*t's on! I'm number 14 on one level.

(hint: I was wondering what purpose the Kill Streaks and Combos that pop up served. The answer -- score bonanza!)

And finished!

Fun game. And happy to say I'm in the top 10 (1st page) of leaderboards on all but 2-3 maps. And I do have 54 friends that own OMD, so I'm not cheating. It does look like maybe 7-8 of you have played less than an hour, but everyone else has put in some time, mostly 2+ hours, up to a few guys with 18+. I'm at 13 myself.

Did the first Nightmare level because I figured that was easy. But I might go back and try to finish the 5 or so maps I didn't 5-skull before I continue with Nightmare.

Confused at the score/skull mechanic. I actually have a score or two that is in the top 5 of friends but I let one speedster get through and so I only got 4-skulls. Very weird.

All in all a very great game. Might keep pushing for achievements. Although I saw there were some, like not using any traps on Act 2/3 map, that I'm not too sure about.

Stele wrote:

And finished!

Fun game. And happy to say I'm in the top 10 (1st page) of leaderboards on all but 2-3 maps. And I do have 54 friends that own OMD, so I'm not cheating. It does look like maybe 7-8 of you have played less than an hour, but everyone else has put in some time, mostly 2+ hours, up to a few guys with 18+. I'm at 13 myself.

Did the first Nightmare level because I figured that was easy. But I might go back and try to finish the 5 or so maps I didn't 5-skull before I continue with Nightmare.

Confused at the score/skull mechanic. I actually have a score or two that is in the top 5 of friends but I let one speedster get through and so I only got 4-skulls. Very weird.

All in all a very great game. Might keep pushing for achievements. Although I saw there were some, like not using any traps on Act 2/3 map, that I'm not too sure about. :shock:

Click the stats option when you finish a level and it will tell you exactly why you got the number of skulls you did. Up to 4 are based on how may orcs get thru and 1 is a reward for completing the level within the time limit for a total of 5.

WTF, every level on this game is pretty easy and then BAM! The last level is ridiculous. I don't know how I can keep from getting overrun when those stupid kobolds with barrel blow up all my barricades.

Kobolds will prioritize you over a barricade. Give them some bait.

Get some brimstone traps! They burn kobolds up like nothing else. Other fixes are archers and autobalistae.

You could also try paladins. They can soak up many kobolds and if they fall they eventually get back up again.

Sinkwater wrote:

WTF, every level on this game is pretty easy and then BAM! The last level is ridiculous. I don't know how I can keep from getting overrun when those stupid kobolds with barrel blow up all my barricades.

Try playing around with the rings - from memory, the lightning and fire ones were both pretty effective.

Sinkwater wrote:

WTF, every level on this game is pretty easy and then BAM! The last level is ridiculous. I don't know how I can keep from getting overrun when those stupid kobolds with barrel blow up all my barricades.

Tar traps combined with your destruction mechanism of choice. The wall grinder that sucks them in is a good choice. Also, a line of fire from the fire ring will usually catch an entire wave. The lightning storm, while it covers a larger area, will let some slip through.

Stele wrote:

Confused at the score/skull mechanic. I actually have a score or two that is in the top 5 of friends but I let one speedster get through and so I only got 4-skulls. Very weird. :?

Combos are where the score is. My best score on one level (Library?) I only managed two skulls, but a very high score. Went back and played for a safe five skulls, but finished with 50-60% of the score.

Skulls and score really aren't related.

Tamren wrote:

Get some brimstone traps! They burn kobolds up like nothing else. Other fixes are archers and autobalistae.

You could also try paladins. They can soak up many kobolds and if they fall they eventually get back up again.

Brimstone especially. The first one in the chain hits the brimstone - Boom - Boom - Boom - Boom - Boom.

If you're going to barricade on that level, you MUST take out the kobold sappers quickly. They exist to destroy barricades.

Oddly, they seem to ignore my paladins and run straight for me. That gets interesting while hanging out in the center by the rift.

I ended up revamping my strategy on the final level halfway through, when I had spare money. Instead of funneling the two sides without ballistas to my defense on the two ballista sides, I ended up tearing down my barricades and making defenses on all 4 sides, all 8 paths.

Only reason I didn't get 5 skulls is because I had some archers wander around in the early waves, hiding behind barricades, and I had to hunt them down. Ended up a full minute+ over on time.

Can someone tell me the benefit of wall blades? They have such a short reach (1 tile) that I was reluctant to use them when I could use the arrow-wall trap.

Tagging.

I'm loving this game. I play it with my son. I set up the traps, he fights the orcs.

Jeff-66 wrote:

Can someone tell me the benefit of wall blades? They have such a short reach (1 tile) that I was reluctant to use them when I could use the arrow-wall trap.

Not me. I just use arrows everywhere too.

Stele wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:

Can someone tell me the benefit of wall blades? They have such a short reach (1 tile) that I was reluctant to use them when I could use the arrow-wall trap.

Not me. I just use arrows everywhere too. :?

You can't argue with the animation of the blade wall.

Stele wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:

Can someone tell me the benefit of wall blades? They have such a short reach (1 tile) that I was reluctant to use them when I could use the arrow-wall trap.

Not me. I just use arrows everywhere too. :?

I think they (and all insta-kill traps) are meant as an endpoint for a trap based combo. Something like Spike-trap, arrow-trap(pushes them onto a steam trap), Steam trap blows them up into another arrow trap, arrow trap pushes them into a blade trap.... Which, in my experience, doesn't really work because the individual components reset on different timers and the arrow wall 'push' is a bit unpredictable. Just like the catapult.

Jeff-66 wrote:

Can someone tell me the benefit of wall blades? They have such a short reach (1 tile) that I was reluctant to use them when I could use the arrow-wall trap.

I avoided them at first as well, but if you can funnel orcs next to the wall, the blades do a TON more damage than the arrows do. I'm only realizing this now that I'm going back through specifically focusing on each weapon as you get it.

Jolly Bill wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:

Can someone tell me the benefit of wall blades? They have such a short reach (1 tile) that I was reluctant to use them when I could use the arrow-wall trap.

I avoided them at first as well, but if you can funnel orcs next to the wall, the blades do a TON more damage than the arrows do. I'm only realizing this now that I'm going back through specifically focusing on each weapon as you get it.

Ah ok. So maybe they'd be good for ogres if you can get them close to them. I'll give them a shot.

I LOVE this game, btw. So fun, and it's got a lot of potential for expansions and/or sequels. So much could be added to it to make it even better.

When xmas rolls around, I'll be gifting OMD a lot. /fan

That's easy. Path narrows down into a two square wide corridor/doorway? Put a barricade on one side and a wall blade on the other side.

Or you can put wall blades on both sides.

Or you can put blades on one side, and put arrows behind a barricade on the other.

Or you can put a push trap on the other side to shove more orcs into the blades.

So many wonderful orc chunk possibilities!

EDIT: Oooo, put a brimstone on the floor in front of the push trap to shove BURNING ORCS INTO THE WALL BLADES!

LilCodger wrote:

That's easy. Path narrows down into a two square wide corridor/doorway? Put a barricade on one side and a wall blade on the other side.

Or you can put wall blades on both sides.

Or you can put blades on one side, and put arrows behind a barricade on the other.

Or you can put a push trap on the other side to shove more orcs into the blades.

So many wonderful orc chunk possibilities!

EDIT: Oooo, put a brimstone on the floor in front of the push trap to shove BURNING ORCS INTO THE WALL BLADES!

You're even more twisted than I remember.

Stele wrote:

I ended up revamping my strategy on the final level halfway through, when I had spare money. Instead of funneling the two sides without ballistas to my defense on the two ballista sides, I ended up tearing down my barricades and making defenses on all 4 sides, all 8 paths. :lol:(

That's what I did from the beginning as well. Started with some archer guardians spread out on the battlements around the rift, then added more defenses as I got money. Managed to beat it on the first attempt.

carrotpanic wrote:

You're even more twisted than I remember.

You wouldn't believe how therapeutic this game has been after work lately.

I've taken to extended gazes at the long hallway leading to my office, and the small open space on the other side ... definitely need some brimstone in front of that door. The fire door. Heh -- irony.

Lars wrote:
Stele wrote:

I ended up revamping my strategy on the final level halfway through, when I had spare money. Instead of funneling the two sides without ballistas to my defense on the two ballista sides, I ended up tearing down my barricades and making defenses on all 4 sides, all 8 paths. :lol:(

That's what I did from the beginning as well. Started with some archer guardians spread out on the battlements around the rift, then added more defenses as I got money. Managed to beat it on the first attempt.

I restarted after wave 2, when I figured out which door they were coming from next and was able to adjust accordingly. But beat it the first time after that.