Hello,
Just recently stumbled on this forum. Some great advice. Also just wanted to share a courtyard strategy I've worked out that I think is rather effective. The excel file attached shows what it usually looks like by the end.
View attachment 18160
g=gun
s=slow
sa=surface to air
a=artillery
It takes ground units from each of the vertical lines 76 steps and the horizontal line 102 steps to run through. I've tried to squeeze more out of it, but I don't think it's mathematically possible.
Start by building the ring around the outside with just guns and slow to start the maze. Then build the inner maze with rockets and slow. As necessary, upgrade the inner rockets to either artillery or SAM and once those are done, start replacing the outer gun turrets with either according to whats needed.
With this strat, I find that there's barely a difference (~5 levels) between the highest one I can complete on basic and courtyard, despite the much more challenging layout. All my upgrades are level 28 (except explosives at 27) and I got all the unlocked features for the towers that I use. With that, I just barely beat 119 on courtyard.
Hope it helps. Any improvements are welcome.
Anyone have a good one for ruins? I'm having trouble with that map.