Protector IV

Protector IV is a new part of the popular fantasy strategy game of the ‘Protector’ Tower Defense series with advanced features and elements of RPG.

HEROES AND CHARACTERS
As a mercenary commander you rely on your heroes to accept and complete quests. The world is simply brimming with possible heroic candidates. Each hero has their own statistics and commands 2 types of units. Experience is earned from every quest they're assigned to and they can be equipped with up to 3 powerful items. They also have their own set of skills which you can increase. As heroes grow more powerful so do the units they command. Many items in the game allow the customization of heroes, ranging from simple renaming to element switching and commanding new units.

MONEY AND FINANCE
Money makes the world go round and in the Kingdom of Arkandia it's essential. You earn money within quests from killing the evil creature waves, this can be spent to hire new units, upgrade existing units or pave new tiles.. But any money you save until the end is then added to your personal wealth. Due to logistical costs only a percentage of the money is transfered, based on several skills and item properties. Personal wealth is used to hire new heroes and buy new items on the global map.

EXPERIENCE AND LEVELS
During quests units you place earn experience, this can then be spent (along with some gold) to upgrade that unit. The experience is deducted and the next upgrade will costs a bit more. Heroes also earn experience based on how much experience their units earn. The player character earns experience based on how much the 3 assigned heroes earn. the percentage of each is increased via both player and hero skills. Every time a hero or the player increases a skill it deducts experience and increases the cost of the next increase.

LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING
All good commanders need to know something about leadership. Your character has various different skills that can be increases at the cost of experience points. These all improve various different things and make your entourage more effective. Leadership is the skill required to hire more heroes, you can command up to 20, though only 3 can be assigned to each quest. This allows you to build a regiment capable of taking on any type of enemy you might encounter.

LOGISTICS AND LIMITATIONS
Every skill in the game, player character or hero specific is limited to a level of 20. However this limitation can be over-ruled by equipping a hero with a skill increasing item.. So a hero with tactics of 20 wearing 3 items that increase tactics by 5 will have an effective tactics bonus of 35. It could be efficient to focus skills in particular areas to take advantage of this since a melee skill of 35 would grant a staggering 70% damage bonus to all melee units!

STORYLINE AND LORE
The Kingdom of Arkandia is a fascinating place filled with different factions all seeking more power and to expand their influence. While there is one main storyline like in previous Protector games don't be suprised if you see different branches of the storyline leading you in new directions, all of the factions have their own stories to tell. Look around and befriend them and you might just learn more about the world you're playing in.

GENERAL ATTACKS
In order to kill enemies your units must attack them. There are 3 types of attack in the game: melee, ranged and magic. These attack are different but damage is dealt in the same way. Every unit has it's base damage (you see this in their information window) but this damage is then affected by things like player skills, hero skills, items, armor, resistances, elemental combinations, debuffing effects and more. So while it may appear the unit will do a wimpy 9 damage as a base, it may end up doing far more.

SPECIAL ATTACKS
As units earn skills they will begin to learn special attacks. Things like slowing effects, poisoning, crippling and debuffing. Each unit has their own selection of special attacks. If 2 units with the same effect attack the same enemy, the effect won't stack together but the strongest will be counted. Two attacks of the same type and power will simply refresh the time the effect lasts for (weaker effects will be ignored).

INFLICTIONS
An enemy can be inflicted by some of the unit's special attacks. If they are their healthbar will change colour depending on the infliction they're under. Each unit can be inflicted by multiple different effects at the same time. These effects last a certain amount of time which is increased via the heroes specialism skill. Unlike previous Protector games no enemy is immune to an infliction, even powerful bosses can be slowed by a lowly crossbowman even if they can't be damaged by them.

ENEMY ABILITIES
Like your units enemies have special abilities too. If the enemy possesses one it will be listed on the incoming wave screen, these can be flying, fast, absorbing or regenerating. A hidden special is also the ability to repeat. Should you not kill the wave on their first run through it might just come back to have another go! Watch out for special abilities they can destroy an otherwise solid defense layout.

ITEMS & EQUIPMENT
Each Hero can equip up to 3 different items, the effects from these items all stack together to form bonuses for the units under their command. The skill increases from items can breach the level cap for individual skills and prove to be extremely powerful. Along with equippable items there are various other items the player can find that are used once and dissapear. These can be very valuable and powerful so look out for them. They might be just what you need to get past a troublesome quest.

VICTORY AND DEFEAT
So you lost a level, huh? Not to worry, you'll still gain a little experience and possibly if you got far enough some wealth and loot. Losing is a part of the game, some quests require special thinking. Storyline quests can always be repeated but normal quests will rotate and become unavailable should you fail. Winning a quest will award faction reputation, but losing the quest won't have a negative effect, so don't worry about losing too much, perhaps you should try a new tactics, new heroes or build up your strength doing other quests first.