Quackoria Play
Pond Defence
Sneaky foxes are creeping along the path to the duck house. Post geese, dogs and fences beside the trail and honk every fox back the way it came.
Pond Defence is a tower defence game with a fixed path and three things to place on it: geese, dogs and fences. Foxes walk the path towards the duck house, and your job is to fill their fear bar before they arrive so they turn and run.
The mechanic that makes it more interesting than it first appears is that fear barely fades. A fox that has been honked at drops only a tiny amount of fear per second, which means partial damage inflicted at the very start of the path is still there at the end. Nothing you do early is wasted. A cheap goose placed at the first corner is not a weak tower — it is a tower that softens every fox in the wave for the whole length of the walk.
The other thing worth knowing before you spend is that the dog is not the upgrade it looks like. It costs twice as much as a goose and delivers only about fifteen per cent more fear per second. What you are actually buying is reach: a dog covers a much wider circle. On a path that doubles back on itself, one well-placed dog can cover two stretches at once, and that — not raw output — is when it earns its price.
How to Play
- Press Start, then Next wave to send in the first foxes. They walk in from the left edge along the winding path and head for the duck house on the right.
- Pick a guard from the bar under the board: Goose (20 seeds), Dog (40 seeds) or Fence (15 seeds).
- Place geese and dogs on any grass cell; the closer to the path, the more foxes they reach. Fences go on the path itself and slow foxes down until they wear out.
- Guards honk and bark at foxes in range. Each honk fills a fox's scare meter; a fully scared fox turns around and runs off.
- Every fox that reaches the duck house costs one of your five hearts. Scared foxes earn seeds for more guards.
- Press Next wave when you are ready. Waves get bigger and faster, so keep building.
Controls
Desktop
- Arrow keysMove the cell cursor
- 1 / 2 / 3Select Goose, Dog or Fence
- EnterPlace the selected guard on the cursor cell (or start the next wave if it cannot go there)
- SpaceStart the next wave
- RRestart
- MToggle sound
Mobile
- Tap a guard buttonSelect Goose, Dog or Fence
- Tap a cellPlace the selected guard there
- Tap Next waveSend in the next wave of foxes
Gameplay tips
- Fear barely fades — about four hundredths a second. Damage done at the start of the path is still there at the end, so early cheap guards are never wasted.
- A dog is not a better goose. It costs twice as much for about fifteen per cent more output; what you are buying is range, so put it where the path doubles back.
- Guards always target the fox furthest along the path, not the nearest. You cannot aim them, so place them where the fox you most want stopped will pass.
- Fences do no damage. They buy time by slowing foxes to under half speed, and they burn out after about seven seconds of contact.
- Scaring a fox refunds six seeds and clearing a wave pays eight plus two per wave number. Later waves fund themselves if you survive them.
- Your forty starting seeds are exactly two geese or one dog. Two geese covering the early path is almost always the stronger opening.
- Waves only start when you call them, so there is no penalty for taking a moment to place something before pressing Next wave.
About the game
Ten points for every fox that turns and runs, fifty for every wave cleared. Five lives, lost one at a time whenever a fox walks the full path to the duck house. You start with forty seeds, which buys exactly two geese or one dog.
The economics are tighter than they look. A goose costs twenty and delivers about 0.34 fear per second at short range. A dog costs forty and delivers about 0.39 — barely more — but reaches much further. You are paying double for range, not for power, which makes dogs worth it on corners where the path doubles back and worthless in the open.
Every fox scared off refunds six seeds and every wave cleared pays eight seeds plus two per wave number, so later waves fund bigger builds. Foxes get faster by five per wave, tougher by twelve per cent per wave, and more numerous: wave one sends four, wave ten sends eighteen.
Fences are the odd one out. They go on the path rather than beside it, they do no damage at all, they slow a fox to under half speed, and they burn away after about seven seconds of contact — faster if several foxes are standing on them at once.
Frequently asked questions
How do I score?
Ten points for every fox that flees, and fifty for every wave cleared. A fox only counts once it has actually run off the left edge, not when its fear bar fills.
How many lives do I have?
Five. One is lost each time a fox reaches the duck house at the end of the path.
Is the dog worth twice the goose?
Only sometimes. It costs double for roughly fifteen per cent more fear per second — what it really buys is a much wider range, so it pays off on corners where the path passes twice.
Do fences hurt the foxes?
No. They slow a fox to under half speed and nothing more, and they wear out after about seven seconds of contact. With several foxes on one fence it burns down proportionally faster.
Does damage to a fox wear off?
Barely. Fear fades at about four hundredths of a point per second, so partial progress on a fox effectively lasts its whole journey.
Which fox do my guards shoot at?
Always the one furthest along the path that is in range, not the closest one.
How much harder does each wave get?
Foxes gain five speed and twelve per cent toughness per wave, and the count rises steadily — four foxes on wave one, eighteen on wave ten.
Do waves start on their own?
No. You press Next wave when you are ready, so there is no time pressure between waves.
