Win, Clear 50 Waves & Score at Autobot Stronghold (Step-by-Step Guide)

Completely Reorganised & Updated on 8 Aug 09

The Five Autobots
A description of the characteristics of each of the five Autobots.

Bumblebee – rapid fire, close range, low damage - costs 10 Sparks; 8 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 10 Sparks for all other upgrades - it can only target one Decepticon at a time.

Jazz – moderate fire, close range (better than Bumblebee), inhibits movement - costs 15 Sparks; 12 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 15 Sparks for all other upgrades - it doesn’t do any damage, but can considerably slow the movement of any advancing Decepticons.

Ironhide – moderate fire, mid range, homing missiles - costs 20 Sparks; 15 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 20 Sparks for all other upgrades - it can damage multiple Decepticons occupying the same space; use Jazz to slow and pack the Decepticons together for Ironhide to destroy them together.

Ratchet – reduced (slow) fire, ground attack only, long & wide blast range - costs 30 Sparks; 24 Sparks to upgrade to 2nd level of Damage, 30 Sparks for all other upgrades - can damage multiple targets in wide spaces; useless against Starscream (jet).

Optimus Prime – moderate fire, wide range, upgrades to multiple targeting - costs 50 Sparks; 50 Sparks for all upgrades -the ultimate killing machine especially when upgraded to the max.

Optimus Prime will only be available once your Score is more than 100,000 Points.

The Six Decepticons
The six different types of Decepticon, in order of their appearances, are:

Insecticon (crab) – appear from Wave 1 (destroy each to get 1 Spark and 100 Points)

Shockwave (soldier) – appear from Wave 3 (destroy each to get 2 Sparks and 250 Points)

Starscream (jet) – appear from Wave 10 (destroy each to get 1 Spark and 350 Points)

Ravage (scorpion) – appear from Wave 11 (destroy each to get 1 Spark and 400 Points)

Galvatron (coloured solider) – appear from Wave 25 (destroy each to get 2 Sparks and 500 Points)

Brunt (armoured tank) – appear from Wave 30 (destroy each to get 10 Sparks and 1,000 Points)

General Guidelines
Use at least one each of the five different Autobots. You can actually use less types but let’s have all of them to work as a team.

Upgrade to the max the Damage levels of each of them. You can upgrade the Damage levels of each Autobot twice. Then upgrade at appropriate times, the Response and Speed of each. Note that Speed is not the speed of firing but the speed to turn and aim at a different target. Response is actually the speed of firing.

Position your Autobots to cover all tracks so that you don’t have to waste Sparks on upgrading the Range (except for Bumblebees, which is a must, and Ironhide, or even Ratchet).

Destroy the Decepticons as early as possible so that they have less chances of going near the Stronghold.

Don’t be too concerned about protecting your back (near the entrance of the Stronghold) – letting some Decepticons go through the Stronghold is fine. You are allowed 20 Decepticons to pass and enter the Stronghold. This has no bearing on your Score hence letting one or two of them break into the Stronghold is not a concern. You can work on not letting any go through after you have at least managed to clear all 50 Waves.

Improving Your Score
The amount of resources you use to defend the Stronghold has also no bearing on your Score. It does not mean that if you use less Autobots or have more Sparks, the Score will be better.

The only way to increase your Score substantially is to “Send Next Wave” as soon as possible.

Rather than wait for Brunts, which travel extremely slow, to within target range, "Send Next Wave" earlier not only to get extra Points but also to earn more Sparks when you destroy Decepticons from the next Wave to upgrade your Autobots, especially when you need the upgrades to destroy the Brunts, which are the hardest to destroy.

You can get more than 61,000 Points if you Send Wave 50 fast enough.

The following shows how much additional Points you can add to your Score if you immediately “Send Next Wave”.

You cannot “Send” Wave One – it starts by itself

Wave 2 – 172 Points	Wave 27 – 7,133 Points
Wave 3 – 253 Points	Wave 28 – 7,745 Points
Wave 4 – 338 Points	Wave 29 – 8.475 Points
Wave 5 – 419 Points	Wave 30 – 8.958 Points
Wave 6 – 504 Points	Wave 31 – 9,672 Points
Wave 7 – 584 Points	Wave 32 – 11,149 Points
Wave 8 – 671 Points	Wave 33 - 12,385 Points
Wave 9 – 758 Points	Wave 34 – 15,168 Points
Wave 10 – 847 Points	Wave 35 – 17,014 Points
Wave 11 – 910 Points	Wave 36 – 18,155 Points
Wave 12 – 1,160 Points	Wave 37 – 18.791 Points
Wave 13 – 1,657 Points	Wave 38 – 23,409 Points
Wave 14 – 2,045 Points	Wave 39 – 24,449 Points
Wave 15 – 2,367 Points	Wave 40 – 24,682 Points
Wave 16 – 2,589 Points	Wave 41 – 29,243 Points
Wave 17 – 3,184 Points	Wave 42 – 32,172 Points
Wave 18 – 3,544 Points	Wave 43 – 35,771 Points
Wave 19 – 3,955 Points	Wave 44 – 39,626 Points
Wave 20 – 4,042 Points	Wave 45 – 40,940 Points
Wave 21 – 4,314 Points	Wave 46 – 47,186 Points
Wave 22 – 5,142 Points	Wave 47 – 52,526 Points
Wave 23 – 5,479 Points	Wave 48 – 52,796 Points
Wave 24 – 6,039 Points	Wave 49 – 58,325 Points
Wave 25 – 6,521 Points	Wave 50 – 61,072 Points
Wave 26 – 7,183 Points

Note that the above Points may vary by 10 Points depending how fast you click the “Send Next Wave” button.

You get a bonus of 1,000,000 Points to your Score when you cleared all 50 Waves.

You will get 278,050 Points if you managed to destroy ALL the Decepticons. If you “Send Next Wave” the very moment you can, you will get another 721,520 Points. But this is usually not quite possible. As such, theoretically, the highest possible score is 1,999,570 (278,050 + 721,520 + 1,000,000 Bonus Points).

The 50 Waves
Decepticons come in three directions: the Bottom, Middle Right Side and Top Right Side. Out of 50 Waves, 34 Waves will come from the Bottom and Side. Six Waves (from Wave 34 onwards) will come from the Top.

The following shows what you can expect from each Wave.

Wave 1 : Side - 2 Insecticons
Wave 2 : Bottom - 4 Insecticons
Wave 3 : Side - 4 Shockwaves
Wave 4 : Bottom - 6 Insecticons
Wave 5 : Side - 6 Shockwaves; Bottom - 4 Insecticons
Wave 6 : Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 7 : Bottom - 12 Insecticons
Wave 8 : Side - 10 Shockwaves
Wave 9 : Side - 15 Insecticons; Bottom - 4 Shockwaves
Wave 10 : Side - 4 Starscreams; Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 11 : Side - 6 Ravages
Wave 12 : Bottom - 10 Shockwaves
Wave 13 : Side - 8 Ravages; Bottom - 15 Shockwaves
Wave 14 : Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 15 : Side - 4 Starscreams; Bottom - 10 Ravages
Wave 16 : Side - 15 Shockwaves; Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 17 : Side - 20 Insecticons
Wave 18 : Side - 20 Shockwaves; Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 19 : Side - 20 Ravages
Wave 20 : Side - 6 Starscreams; Bottom - 6 Ravages
Wave 21 : Side - 20 Insecticons
Wave 22 : Side - 15 Ravages; Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 23 : Bottom - 20 Insecticons
Wave 24 : Bottom - 15 Shockwaves
Wave 25 : Side - 20 Galvatrons and 6 Starscreams
Wave 26 : Bottom - 25 Ravages
Wave 27 : Side - 10 Starscreams; Bottom - 8 Insecticons
Wave 28 : Side - 20 Shockwaves
Wave 29 : Side - 8 Ravages (spaced-out); Bottom - 15 Galvatrons
Wave 30 : Bottom - 1 Brunt
Wave 31 : Bottom - 15 Shockwaves; Side - 10 Insecticons
Wave 32 : Side - 8 Starscreams; Bottom - 8 Ravages (spaced-out)
Wave 33 : Bottom - 20 Galvatrons
Wave 34 : Top - 2 Insecticons (spaced-out); Side - 30 Insecticons
Wave 35 : Side - 10 Starscreams; Bottom - 30 Ravages
Wave 36 : Side - 10 Starscreams
Wave 37 : Side - 8 Starscreams; Bottom - 5 Brunts
Wave 38 : Side - 15 Galvatrons
Wave 39 : Bottom - 30 Ravages
Wave 40 : Top - 10 Insecticons; Bottom - 5 Brunts
Wave 41 : Side - 30 Insecticons
Wave 42 : Bottom - 20 Shockwaves
Wave 43 : Top - 3 Brunts; Side - 8 Starscreams
Wave 44 : Side - 10 Starscreams
Wave 45 : Side - 10 Ravages; Bottom - 15 Galvatrons
Wave 46 : Top - 10 Insecticons; Bottom - 4 Brunts
Wave 47 : Side - 15 Ravages and 8 Starscreams; Bottom - 5 Shockwaves
Wave 48 : Top - 13 Galvatrons; Bottom - 13 Galvatrons
Wave 49 : Side - 20 Starscreams and 10 Ravages; Bottom - 10 Insecticons
Wave 50 : Top - 2 Brunts and 10 Galvatrons; Side - 10 Starscreams and 20 Ravages

A Possible Team Combination
Most strategies involved defending the mid-section since that is the path of the Starscreams.

If your goal is simply to clear 50 Waves, without any concerns on how much your Score will be, in other words, just playing the game in a leisurely manner and letting each Wave be sent automatically, then one simple, but effective, team is:

- two Bumblebees – upgrade both to the max (Damage, Speed, Response, Range)
- one Jazz– upgrade to the max Damage and Response
- one Ironhide – upgrade to the max
- one Ratchet – max Damage & Range
- three Optimus Primes – max Damage

The above is more than enough to clear all 50 Waves. There will be sufficient Sparks for you to purchase more Autobots than the above team. You might want to add another Bumblebee, one or two more Jazz and one or two Optimus Primes.

Start the game with one Bumblebee and one Ironhide, upgrade and add the others along the way.

If you want to clear all 50 Waves and have a Score as high as possible, then you cannot wait for the system to "Send Next Wave"; you will need to "Send" it yourself. You can still use the above team combination but you will need to tweak your additions, change the sequences of upgrades depending how fast the Decepticons are approaching.

Walkthrough
Rather than write lengthy details, I decided to show a recorded game which was played at a semi pace; not too slow but not too fast either. I deliberately avoided "Send Next Wave" too early at several junctures so that the video clip could be clearer. The Score could have been higher than 1,704,044 that was achieved in this game.

As there is a size limit to the video that I can upload here, I have to split the entire video into 5 parts.

Part 1 - Wave 1 to 19


Part 2 - Wave 20 to 30


Part 3 - Wave 30 to 39


Part 4 - Wave 39 to 48


Part 5 - Wave 48 to 50


Ultimate Cheat
How to continue playing even if your Stronghold has been completely destroyed?

Here's how:
The moment the last Decepticon breaks into the Stronghold and when you start to hear the sound that signal the end of the game, quickly click on "Pause" to pause the game. Subsequently when you click on "Resume to Play" you will be able to continue playing till the end. However do note that the screen will become darker as if you are now fighting the Decepticons in the night.

Please leave a comment as I would like to know whether this has been helpful, useful or perhaps you know something that I don't and would like to share with others. I would also like to know which city and country you are from.