====================================================================== PixelJunk Monsters (Encore/Deluxe/Ultimate/Ultimate HD) Scoring System ====================================================================== ==== Info ==== FAQ by Patrick Coyne patrick.coyne at gmail dot com aka Mr. Nutz ===== Intro ===== When you start playing PixelJunk Monsters, your goal will probably just be survival. Pass the level with some of the flock intact. Once you get the hang of it, you'll shoot for total flock survival, which gives you the coveted rainbow. As you improve, you'll start thinking more about efficiency: do I really need this many towers to pass the level? Do I really need to spend gems and money on specialty towers, or can I do it with just the base set? You may be wondering about the "Interest" upgrade available at your base that you never, ever purchase. Interest doesn't help you kill more monsters, why bother? Well, this is where high scores and the leaderboards metagame come in. By being as efficient and greedy as possible (even to the point of sacrificing some of your flock), you can push your score higher and higher on the leaderboards. I'm not a high score expert, but I found myself interested in exactly how score is calculated, so I put this faq together. ===== Score ===== Score is calculated at the end of a stage and is based on several factors. If you are playing online, your score is uploaded for possible ranking on the leaderboards. Scores achieved on "casual" difficulty are not eligible. ============== Coins and Gems ============== Each coin collected = 1 point Each gem collected = 100 points It's important to note that you are awarded points when coins and gems are collected. It does not matter how many you have in your possession when the battle is won. If you collected 10,000 coins and 20 gems during the course of a stage and by the time the boss was defeated you had spent every single one of them, you would still receive 12,000 points for coins and gems. Coins earned as interest at the end of waves also count towards coins collected, which is why the Interest upgrades are so important for higher scores. Note there are a few ways to lose points as well. ============= Losing Points ============= Running into an enemy - minus 1 point per coin dropped Selling a tower - minus 1 point per coin dropped, minus 100 points per gem dropped So what to do if you run into an enemy or sell a tower? Make sure you collect everything that was dropped. At that point, the event was zero-sum. So if you sell a black arrow tower and that drops 90 coins and 2 gems, you've just lost 290 points. Pick them up before they disappear! ============== Selling Towers ============== So if selling towers is zero-sum, is there a point? Yes! When you first started thinking about score, you may have thought it had to do with the number of coins and gems you had in your possession once the boss was defeated. As the boss moved along the path, you may have rapidly sold the towers behind him in order to boost your score, supposedly. You can see now that this doesn't work. However, any tower sold before the final wave will contribute towards greater earned interest. Think of it this way: Money collected but never spent: best (earns interest every wave) Money spent on towers, but later reclaimed by selling before the boss wave: good (earns some interest) Money spent on towers, but never reclaimed: bad (no interest) Based on the above, you can see why you want to 1) get money and gems as early as possible, 2) spend as little as possible on towers and 3) get Interest upgrades as early as possible. Note that gems don't impact earned interest. However, consider this: say you never picked up a gem. You built an arrow tower, danced it to black, then sold it. The two dropped gems result in 200 points being deducted from your score. If you failed to collect them before they disappeared, is it possible to end the round with a negative score? =============== Losing Treasure =============== If coins or gems sit around for too long without being picked up, they will start to flicker and eventually disappear. If a monster is killed near the edge of the screen, any coins or gems it drops off-screen will slide back on-screen so that you can pick them up. Beware bodies of water. Any coins or gems that are dropped in the water are gone for good. This can happen when killing land-based monsters near the water or flying monsters over the water. There are stages where flying monsters make a b-line right over the water to get to your base, so the inclination is to setup lasers and blast them ASAP. You'll lose every bit of treasure they drop this way. See if you can take them out over land instead. You can also lose coins and gems by selling towers near the water, or killing land-based enemies on a bridge. ======= Gem Use ======= Once you've obtained all the available Interest upgrades, gems spent on tower research will not hurt your score (remember: collecting gems gives you score, not retaining them after the boss is defeated). However, unless you absolutely need the researched tower to pass the level, gems are likely better spent on upgrading existing towers or landmines. =================== Other Score Sources =================== Each flock member present at the end of a wave: 10 points All 20 flock members present at the end of a wave bonus: 100 points Defeating the boss: 1000 points So flock-wise, for a 20 wave stage, if the entire flock survives until the end, you get: (20 flock x 10 points x 20 waves) + (100 bonus x 20 waves) = 4000 + 2000 = 6000 points If one flock member dies in round 1, your flock score will be: (19 flock x 10 points x 20 waves) + (0 bonus x 20 waves) = 3800 + 0 = 3800 points Losing that one flock member cost you 2200 points. If you lose 2 members in round one: (18 flock x 10 points x 20 waves) + (0 bonus x 20 waves) = 3600 + 0 = 3600 points A difference of only 200 points. So it’s really the first one that has the biggest impact. If you are using a scoring strategy that involves losing flock early(because you don't want to spring for certain specialty towers, perhaps), you'll have a lot of score to make up (potentially 2200 coins or 22 gems worth, or more). ========== Techniques ========== Some techniques for maximizing your score. Search Trees Early: In every stage, 3 random trees have coins hidden inside that you reveal by walking over them. There is also one tree with a gem. Getting the coins early means more interest, so if you can find them all in wave 1, you are in good shape. Get Interest Upgrades Early: Your primary upgrade targets are Interest. The base interest is 5%. The upgrades are 10% (7 gems), 15% (8 gems) and 20% (9 gems). You have to get the Interest upgrades in order. The earlier you get these the more money (and score) you'll rack up each wave. Sell Towers as Soon as You Can: If a particular tower is not necessary for future waves, sell it. The coin proceeds will improve your earned interest in all remaining rounds. The gem proceeds can be used for interest upgrades, tower upgrades or landmines. There is no interest earned after defeating the boss, which means the last interest-generating wave is (boss wave) - 1, typically 19. By the end of this pre-boss wave, you want to have sold every tower you have, so that all of your assets are liquid and interest-earning. Once the boss wave starts, you are no longer concerned with interest, so go hog-wild building and upgrading towers to defeat the boss. It won't cost you anything score-wise to be completely broke at the end of the boss wave. Sacrifice Flock for Score: There may be situations where allowing certain monsters through and sacrificing flock will increase your score in the long-run. Yes, this means no rainbow, but you don't need a rainbow to get a high score. Combine Waves: Depending on the level, it is possible to have the next wave of monsters start while the current one is still running. This happens if at least one monster from the previous wave is still alive. It is then possible to start killing monsters from the next wave and collecting their coins. By the time the last monster of the previous wave dies, you'll have even more coins earning interest for that wave than you would normally. ======= Sources ======= pixeljunk.jp GameFaqs message boards