[469] Both Defensive and Offensive Fortress

I've been thinking about this too.

The best offensive tower is something that you can throw up quickly, is relatively sturdy, provides cover from missiles, but allows you to fire back. Something that won't cost a lot, is quick to build and won't matter if you lose it. I'm sure we've all seen these, that usually entail a stone base, a doorladder or a bridge to hop up the four/five tiles to the main door, and then maybe an extra layer for archers and buffering from a cata on top.


The best defensive tower is a monstrosity of compartments (so that if the enemy takes one section, they have to fight just as hard to take another, and another, which gets around the main flaw in many towers which is as soon as someone gets in a door, it's gone), arrow nests, cata traps, shops of all flavours and of course a spawn. Nice and tall, plenty of supports, and with, perhaps most importantly a competent builder for repairs and reclaiming lost compartments. Ideally more than one, but even if there's just a few offensive style towers between it and the flag, any tunnellers will have a harder time to surface.


The interesting thing here is that over time the offensive can grow into the defensive, but the defensive can't go back to an offensive. This is a nice little way to show KAG is a fundamentally offensive game involving the use of momentum and attack strategies. Although in some circumstances it is more efficient to defend, you're essentially handing the enemy breathing room and the opportunity to fuck you over long term via regrouping and cata spam assualting.


So, in summary, I don't think a tower can do both effectively, due to the nature of an assault, in which speed and cheapness is essential.