Economy and Armory

In frontier defense all pilots earn money when damaging titans, killing enemies and earn money when certain conditions are met. For this guide we will call it the economy. The economy plays a crucial role by allowing players to buy an assortment of abilities and tools from the armory. Everything is bought at the armory during each intermission.

Money earned in combat

On the topic of earning money, In combat against titans the more damage you deal to them the more you earn money, Titan kills do not provide an extra reward so finishing off titans won’t give an additional benefit to you money wise. When it comes to the other enemies they don’t give money when damaged. These enemies are: reapers, plasma drones, cloaked drones, ticks, mortar specters, grunts and stalkers. Instead they give a bounty on whoever does the finishing blow. The more enemies you damage or kill the more money you will have.

Money earned at wave completion

Money will be inherently earned when certain conditions are met. Upon a successful wave, each player during intermission will get a set amount of money after each wave win depending on difficulty, keep in mind that wave 5 does not count since the match ends, assuming all waves are won.

The bounties are (each x# is the total amount earned when 5 wave is completed):

Difficulty Money Earned
Easy $700(x4)
Normal $700(x4)
Hard $600(x4)
Master $500(x4)
Insane $400(x4)
  • $100($400)(x4) given to each pilot if the harvester takes no hull damage.
  • $100(x4) will be rewarded to the wave mvp.
  • $100(400)(x4) will be rewarded to any pilot individually that didn’t die in the previous wave.

If a player has joined later into the match they will sometimes(unclear) get a flat amount of money depending on the team’s previous wins. Unless it’s wave 5 then the match ends before money can be spent.

What to spend money on

It is always recommended to always buy arc traps if unsure. You can never have enough, harvester shields are another good ability to use but you must remember to activate them when needed. More will be discussed in the armory section.

Helpful Team habits

Some things to make a habit of are contributing any excess money once you have bought everything you need, always contribute all of your money if you do not feel like buying anything. This is a team game so everyone should help out, dump any extra money at the end of wave 4 especially. Announce to your team if any money is in the armory waiting. If you intend on buying things then they must have a use in mind. Pilots must make sure to not die and let the harvester get damaged because every time its damaged the team loses a vital 400 dollars each round that could’ve been put to use. Furthermore if all of the pilots did not die that’s another 400 per round, so 800 extra at the end of each round will be 3200 extra dollars for the team excluding the final wave. There will always be an MVP so an extra 100 will always be awarded.

Armory

The armory is a shop that supplies the following items and abilities for a price. It will only open during intermission.

Items/abilities that can be bought

Shop Item Price/Cost
Amped Rounds $100
Amped Battery $400
Nuke Rodeo $500
Arc Trap $650
Turrent $1,200
Harvester Shield $1,200

Amped rounds

Pilot gains a permanent amped buff on the primaries, sidearms and anti titan weapons, will not apply to ordnances. Switching weapons in the menu during intermission will not remove amped weapons. Picking up weapons from the floor will not receive amped weapons unless amped weapons is bought again. Amped weapons will be removed once the pilot dies.

Amped rounds are a must buy, a meager $100 dollars is a cheap price to get heavily buffed pilot weapons. Weapons like the SMR get a huge damage buff so it is recommended to get amped weapons if you need to earn titan meter fast. Amped weapons can make pilot gameplay much easier against enemy titans and reapers. Make sure to not die so you don’t lose your amped buff.

Amped Battery

A supercharged battery that can repair titans out of doomed state, any titan healed by an amped battery will get a full set of chassis shields. Amped batteries provide 10 core.

Amped Batteries are the main and only way to efficiently heal titans. If a titan that is doomed is given one it will get one block of health and shields regardless of doomed state health. If the battery is inserted into a non doomed titan it will give two blocks of health and replenish any missing chassis shields. Amped batteries must be used with strategy as they are expensive. In many cases it is better to let low health titans eject saving 1200$ or 800$ dollars that can be invested into something more permanent like arc traps. Monarch and Ronin with highlander kit are the only exceptions when it comes to this as Monarch is a huge investment with her leveling game mechanics. Ronin With highlander is a huge asset and should get as much core and health as possible. In some cases if it’s the last wave and all titans are damaged then spending on batteries can be worth it, it is all up to the team and situation. If only $400 is left on wave 5 intermission then always get an amped battery.

Did you know that amped battery’s give 2 blocks of health to a Monarch with survival of the fittest equipped.

Nuke Rodeo

Once a Pilot is rodeoing an enemy they will insert a nuke into the titan causing it to nuke eject , dealing damage to anything nearby. Pilot will be launched into the air after a successful nuke rodeo initiates.

Nuke Rodeo is the most coin flipping ability in the game, on one end you can perish in an instant, or end an entire wave of enemies in seconds. In order to initiate a Nuke rodeo, you must rodeo a titan so the nature of this ability is inherently dangerous. Equipping cloak or stim tacticals can help with survivability. If you plan to use Nuke eject on maps with ceilings you should use phase shift or expect certain death after a nuke rodeo. If you use a nuke eject on other nuke titans they will explode as well so do your best to avoid landing back down as they can harm you with the subsequent explosions, using the Hover kit can help you stay in the air to wait out the explosions. Nuke eject will only damage you. Your allies or harvester won’t be harmed. A big problem with nuke eject is that it takes a while before it is initiated so there is a big chance a friendly titan or pilot will kill the titan you are rodeoing by stopping the nuke rodeo. Try to nuke rodeo healthy titans that are surrounded. Teamwork will be needed since nuke ejects nearby will kill you if facing Nuke titans. Nuke eject can be a quick way to neutralize a nuke titan that has sneaked near the harvester, nuke titans that have been rodeo will not damage Allie’s of harvester but nuke titans doomed from nuke rodeo will still be dangerous. Arc titans are the only titans you cannot rodeo due to their arc field killing you. It is not recommended for players to buy nuke eject since the goal is to not lose your titan. it is better to spend the limited money on permanent investments like arc traps to make a smoother and easier game. In essence the nuke rodeo is a high risk high reward ability and mass nuke rodeo builds are viable, considered a deviant/niche play style.

Arc Trap

A permanent static trap that will strip chassis shields and stun enemies. Arc trap is immune to damage.

Arc traps are one of the best items one can buy at the armory. They will strip the entire enemy titan’s chassis shields upon detonation, this is most apparent on master and insane since all titans spawn with chassis shields. Arc traps are able to stun any enemies that come into their circumference this includes plasma and cloaked drones. Arc traps will rearm themselves shortly after activating. Arc traps will remove Legion and nuke titan gun shields. Arc traps will animation cancel certain abilities like Tone tracking rockets, Ion vortex shield, Scorch thermal shield, mortar titan attacks on harvester or Northstar plasma railgun charging. Stalkers that get hit by an arc trap will stay stunned and powered down, if they dont get stunned again they will begin to run towards the harvester. Arc traps will cause ticks to explode Arc traps will cause plasma drones to not fire for a time. Arcs traps will require some game sense in that you need to know where enemies will come in that specific wave. In some maps like Angel city it is recommended that you move arc traps to another spot.

Once you play enough you can predict where enemies will come, place arc traps during intermission so you don’t endanger yourself. The more arc traps there are, the more enemies will be stunned. Arc traps will significantly help give more chances for titans to deal dps like Tone titans and Legions. Arc traps will reduce the speed and cause huge amounts of disruption amongst the ranks of the enemy. Avoid putting arc traps very close together as they will all activate at once, keep them spaced out so one enemy can’t activate them all. Place arc traps at mortar titan spawns to disrupt their attacks allowing more time to kill them without harvester dying. Arc traps will activate on titan falls but the effects will be negated by the titan fall shields. Arc traps will prevent plasma drones from attacking and show cloaked enemies. Arc traps are the main counter to maps with huge amounts of nuke titans like rise, exo planet and homefront. The only enemy immune to arc traps are arc titans until they are doomed. Keep arc titans as top priority to kill first as they will activate arc traps. Arc traps require more game sense but will give exponential returns to the initial 650 investment.

Turret

Automated turret that will fire upon any enemy in view. Will be targeted by enemies and if destroyed it will power down, any pilot can revive it.

Turrets are a good tool to deal with the small enemies allowing players to focus on the bigger targets. Turrets can target reapers and titans but will do little damage to them, however if the players buy multiple turrets you will find that they can stack tons of damage, even killing reapers in seconds. Turrets are a massive investment and should not be bought on every single map and difficulty’s master and insane as arc traps are a much better investment. Maps that are good for turrets are homefront, war games, rise, drydock. Maps with lots of drones and other small enemies that take away your dps. Turrets will be targeted by the enemy so keep a lookout if you need to repair your turrets. Place turrets near the harvester in areas that the turret can shoot out of. Avoid areas with a lot of enemy traffic or you will find your turret dying every second. If in doubt, avoid buying turrets and get arc traps instead. Turrets are more for less skilled pilots as arc traps are the preferred item to buy.

Harvester Shield

By pressing the [HOME] key it will make the harvester immune to all damage for a short period of time.

Harvester shield is a good insurance policy to prevent harvester death. These are invaluable on 5th waves where the stakes are the highest. Players should keep note that they cannot activate the harvester shield if they are terminating a titan or if they are on the death screen. Harvester shield does require timing and game sense. Players can punch nuke titans to harvester and then activate harvester shield to effectively kill nuke titans without damaging harvester, keep note that this strat is the LAST resort and is a symptom of a bad team. Harvester shield is a good purchase if players are unsure of how the next wave will turn out. Since harvester shields require timing to be used, make sure only the skilled players buy and use them. An example of a skilled player using the harvester shield is to wait until it’s just about to deplete and then activate it, buying some time. If a nuke is on the harvester it will have the nuke eject buildup so for a second the player should wait before activating the harvester shield. Activating the Harvester shield shouldn’t be a reaction to damage but should be a preemptive action. Harvester shields are a sign that the team is dysfunctional or unskilled in some way as the harvester shouldn’t die in the first place, still it is a good foolproof ability when solo Que or insane.