Blooncyclopedia:Strategy guidelines: Difference between revisions

*Strategies should mainly recommend when and how to use gameplay elements and compare elements with similar roles. You should only outright state that something should not be used in situations where it's practically unusable (e.g. [[Trade Empire (BTD6)|Trade Empire]] in [[CHIMPS]]) or is genuinely so terrible that it has no practical purpose in any situation whatsoever (e.g. [[Viral Frost (BTD5)|Viral Frost]] in ''[[Bloons TD 5]]''). In the latter case, being blunt is preferred; "[[Viral Frost (BTD5)|Viral Frost]] does absolutely nothing to improve on [[Arctic Wind (BTD5)|Arctic Wind]] in any way" and "[[Trade Empire (BTD6)|Trade Empire]] in [[CHIMPS]] is the equivalent of two tier 2 Buccaneers for $34,000" get the point across much better than "Viral Frost is generally considered an unnecessary upgrade to Arctic Wind because it is not much more effective at slowing Bloons" and "Trade Empire is not worth purchasing in CHIMPS because it does not generate cash and the damage and attack speed bonuses are not worth the cost".

*Strategy sections shouldn't be used to explain game mechanics. You can mention mechanics or interactions for context (e.g. "because of interaction X, you should do Y"), but specifics should be saved for the lede or a "mechanics" section, not a strategy article/section.

**Generally not involve expendable items unless the subject is way too difficult or impractical to beat without them, and shouldn't involve expendable items that can't easily be obtained en masse. You can ''recommend'' consumable items as a way of making things easier (e.g. "If you're struggling, use a [[Cash Drop (BTD6)|Cash Drop]] to buy your Hero on the first round"), but they shouldn't be the crux of the strategy unless absolutely necessary. "Spamming high tier [[Insta Monkey]]s makes Half Cash easier" isn't helpful advice.

Strategy articles should focus primarily on how to use the subject in general (or how not to use the subject in general). Every facet of the subject should at least be given some usage tips on a strategy article, though those usage tips can be in the vein of "don't use this ever" or "this mechanic is useless in 95% of cases" if necessary (see [[#General guidelines]]).

In many cases, there are ways to optimise the subject for specific scenarios; these scenarios are worth mentioning on the subject's strategy article, but the details are usually better saved for articles about those scenarios where they're more relevant. In the case of ''Bloons TD'', usually if someone is struggling to beat a specific map/mode, or they want to get better at a specific event, they're going to that map/mode/event's page, not the page for a specific tower, so it's better to structure articles around that. For example, it's worth mentioning that [[Ice Shards (BTD6)|Ice Shards]] is exceptional in [[Race]]s, but the details of how to use it in Races should be saved for Race mode's strategy article, since that's where people go to find information about how to optimise Races.

Details about synergies between different gameplay elements should be saved for articles about synergies (e.g. [[Strategy:Bloons TD 6/Synergies]], [[Strategy:Bloons TD Battles 2/Loadouts]], and [[Strategy:Bloons Card Storm/Decks]]).

==Minor strategy sections==

If a subject has its own strategy article, then the subject's main page should contain a strategy section that links to it with {{temp|main strategy}} and a few bullet points of generally important tips (just so the section isn't empty). Details should be saved for the strategy article.