The Battle Catsis a popular and long-running Japanese mobile game made by PONOS. For those who don’t know, it’s atower defense gamethat plays very similarly to the old Age of War flash games. It’s an entirelyPvEexperience, with the goal is to protect your base with a wide variety of cats, and to defeat your opponents base. The premise is basic, but the execution has so much charm, that it’s possible that even those who haven’t heard of the game have come across at least one of the myriad of absurd cat designs that this game makes. This article will cover the basics of the game, as well as some give suggestions for players deciding to give the game a try.
9The Currencies
They Aren’t As Confusing As They Look!
The Battle Cats, like mostgacha games, has various currencies, and while these look daunting initially they’re actually pretty simple This is because many of them do the same thing, and are honestly just for flair. The first are tickets, traps, and other methods of “pulling” from banners, and are likely the first currency players are confronted with when they log in. These are found on the Capsule pages, where you try for new characters. These tickets are rewarded either for logging in, or completing missions or events, and they are simply for adding characters and boosts to your roster.
Cat Food is the basic currency of the game and is used to purchase just about everything in the game from boosts to the aforementioned tickets. XP can be used to upgrade Cats, your Base, as well as other stats like Cat Production Speed. Energy is expended whenever you play a level, existing to timegate your progression.
8The Boosts
They’re There to Help You!
These exist simply to alter the standard gameplay loop in some way, and are used up in the process. These can be simple like granting 50% more XP if you can complete the stage, or tactically useful like starting your base off with upgrades that would have to be earned throughout the duration of each level. Often, these are rewards designed to alleviate the grind of repeatable missions, or allowing you a slight advantage for stages you are confident you can clear with a little help. Don’t feel too paranoid about these, and use them as you see fit. They’re more about increasing quality of life than anything else.
7Treasures
They Help You Get Ahead!
Sometimes, after completing missions players will be rewarded with a treasure. These are themed around the mission they come from, and come in Inferior, Normal, and Superior qualities. These alone won’t do anything, but they come in sets that when completed grant bonuses to unit health, Base health, and unit attack power (aptly named Cattack power). These are represented by little coins over the missions, and they can be Bronze, Silver, or Gold depending on their quality. The drop chances for these aren’t terrible, though the Superior treasures will often require multiple re-runs of the same stage. This is a bit tedious, and casual players can mostly ignore this if they just want to mainline the first couple chapters, but these upgrades will become a requirement later on as the game will expect you to be able to match the unit output and Cattack power of the enemies it sends you.
6Understanding Unit Purposes
They Each Have Their Unique Strengths!
This only really becomes relevant for those who are pushing into the harder difficulties, where spamming units no longer becomes a viable option, and strategy has to be employed before even starting missions. There are essentially three main types of Cats: Meat Shields, Ranged, and Frontline. The terminology for these can change depending on who you talk to, but the concept is the same. Meat Shields exist to keep enemies away from your base, Frontlines are used to deal damage at close range, and Ranged characters deal damage at range. Things get more complicated, with there being units that do area of effect damage, and units that can stun or do more damage against specific enemy units, but all of the characters fall into this general categorization. The ideal strategy is to have enough of each to prevent the enemy from being able to advance, but this will require experimenting with each level.
5Mission Types
Don’t Let the Non-Linear Design Scare You!
Missions are the levels that you play in, but they can be a bit confusing because the progression is mostly non-linear. The game begins with the choice between Empire of Cats Chapter 1 and Event Missions. Missions in Empire of Cats Chapter 1 get sequentially more difficult, but provide the means to upgrade, even giving a great unit at the end. Event Missions range in difficulty so that players of all levels can take part in it, and typically provide event tickets that can be redeemed for chances at new characters. Bouncing between these is not only fun, as many of the events have cool twists, but good for filling out the roster, especially in early game when each new addition counts!
4Keep Your Duplicates!
They Have More Use Later On!
Whenever you’re pulling from the various capsules inThe Battle Cats, you have two options: use them, or exchange them for XP. However, there is no duplicate protection in the game, so it is possible to get multiple of the same unit or upgrade. At first glance, these repeated units and upgrades seem to have meaning, and it’s tempting to turn them into XP, but there are far better uses for these. First-off, units and base upgrades can be overlevelled, which allows for further bonuses after reaching the cap of 10. They can also be traded in for a currency called NP after getting past the 3rd chapter of Empire of Cats. NP is used for further upgrading units with Talents, a gameplay mechanic that becomes prevalent at that point.
3Understand Different Enemy Types
They Have Exploitable Weaknesses!
The Battle Catshas many different enemies that come in many shapes and colors. Each enemy that is encountered is added into the game’s Enemy Guide. This guide won’t give you all of the information surrounding the enemy, but it does tell you what they do, the debuffs they can apply, and what type they are. See, many of the different characteristics enemies have, like their color, or whether or not they walk vs float, make them more or less vulnerable to the different cats. Using the Cat Guide and the Enemy Guide in tandem will help players who want to get deeper intoThe Battle Catschoose what units to use for each level.
2Use Gamatoto!
It’s Free Currency!
Gamatoto is a little helper, indicated on the main menu by a little caving helmet with a lamp embedded in it. This little guy isan idle-styleminigame withinThe Battle Catsthat allows you to acquire boosts and XP while not even playing the game. The concept is simple: you choose how long you want him to be gone for, wait the allotted time, and get the reward when its over. On top of being able to find Boosts, Cat Food, and XP, Gamatoto will also find building materials and assistants. These assistants will simply help him when building or going on other expeditions, and the building materials are used for changing your base type. These different bases have different bonuses and drawbacks, with many effecting the way the Cat Cannon’s functionality. He can also find Catamins (a play on vitamins) that can speed up his current expedition, or be used to enter secret stages, like you would use energy. Use Gamatoto. Not only is this free loot, but his expedition logs are generated adlibs thatcan get pretty funny.
1Pay Attention to Tips!
They Are a Big Help!
The Battle Catsmay genuinely have some of the most helpful tips in gaming history. Popping up in the main menus from the game’s mascot, these tips can be cycled through by clicking on the dialogue blurb. While some of these are used to comedic effect, others are ridiculously helpful, breaking down main game mechanics, and giving high level strategy tips. From how different boosts and event currencies work, to how different team compositions can assist in battle by granting game-long buffs, there are many useful nuggets of information in there. It’s interesting, because so seldomly do games outright help the player in the wayThe Battle Catsdoes. Honestly, if you took all these tips and compiled them into a single document that could be read in-game, there wouldn’t even be a needfor guides. It’s almost comical how many there are, and how often you will encounter new ones, even after dozens of hours.
