But is this optimal? Another statistic helps to answer that question: out of 2,910,594 monsters killed over the course of the game, 64% were killed by a single tower shot. The two graphs paint a clear picture: the vast majority of mana was spent on crafting gems with high damage output. The graph on the right aggregates this data into categories: critical hit, bloodbound, chain hit, and poolbound grouped together as 'damage output' gems armor tearing, suppressing, poison, and slowing as 'weakening' gems and mana leeching as an 'economy' gem. The graph on the left breaks down mana expenditure by gem color. The graphs below illustrate how much mana was spent on the various types of gems. What insights are revealed by the statistics archive? This archive can help explain why the minimalist tower-focused approach is so effective, and how the game can be rebalanced to encourage more diverse playstyles.

Thankfully, the game compiles a vast archive of statistics on the player's actions - monsters killed, mana expenditure, XP gained on each field, and so on. Together these constraints ensure that mindlessly pouring points into a favorite skill will quickly reach diminishing returns.ĭespite thoughtful constraints such as these, the vast majority of the game can be completed using only a small fraction of the available resources and possible tactics. For example, the number of points required to increase a skill is proportional to the current level of that skill, and unspent points increase the player's starting mana pool. There are a number of systems in GCS that are designed with safeguards to prevent abusive strategies.

Gemcraft 2