It multiplies TOTAL energy production, not Effective energy production. It works as intended, you just thought the system is different than what it is. It applies all positives before any negatives, that's all there is to it.
@karatecheetah8
This glass cannon-y build does well, I suggest Ice element as third element maxed due to how fast enemies get later on, but otherwise after that you can mostly do whatever you feel like after all that as a foundation. Just keep in mind dying really isn't that bad when you have most of these in the blueprint, remember that you may need to manually end a run when you end up with a god run, but otherwise you can just have fun at that point. You can also change the order a little for when you get what then what I described (special resource income especially,) what matters most is you get them before most other upgrades. Good luck to you, and remember to have fun with this game!
@karatecheetah8
Earth element should be the second priority for elements, due to how strong high attack speed and a 3 sec stun is when the chance to proc said stun and to pierce elemental resistances is high enough. This upgrade is interchangeable with maxing crit chance, due to how crits are very potent when you go late enough in a run. Don't invest into factor much until you have a fair bit in everything else you want, it's not as potent as you might think at first glance. But it should still be invested some, otherwise that's a waste of crit chance, but it's not as valuable as most everything else in the offensive tab without hundreds of levels put in it.
@karatecheetah8
Then you should invest into the gem chances and resource % bonus (max the gems, every increment of 100% bonus for resources should be your goal) in Utility, also in blueprint, as those will expedite your ability to further gain buffs for the tower. Special resources (also max it, flat amount first) should be next, interchangeable with or in tandem to Resource % because you get blueprint points with the Special way faster that way. The resource % is necessary for better starts early game, which equates to much better late games. Which you'll definitely need to even get to tier 2 so you can *actually* max the factory, you'll have to get to wave 1000 in hard mode to unlock that. But that's probably for later.
@karatecheetah8
The Void/Darkness element modifier, attack speed (includes rapid fire)/Multishot, and some Elemental piercing (min 20% to pierce is good) should be initial priorities for your Tower, but, that is best achieved with a maxed factory, so overall Max factory as soon as possible. The second and first production lines are priorities. Then get those named offensive abilities in the blueprint, in tandem, until maxed. (I'm splitting it up btw, it was too long.)
@Kirschnik, a Breakthrough is a random "Click-to-get-a-random-boost-in-X-amount-of-time event," that can only occur if you have all Sectors unlocked. The cooldown between each appearance doubles each time it activates, and you will get a tutorial ingame (if you have tutorials on) to explain them when you have your first one, which should (roughly) be the same instant you buy the last sector. There are 2 entire pockets of Specialist Nodes that let you upgrade them. They don't really seem worth it, as the first phase for them costs 4K specialists MINIMUM, going all the way to 10K. Also, I agree with you, a Q&A tab or something similar would be extremely Useful.
Hope this, and my other comment, helps anyone! (Darn the Character limit.)
@uxilator, that is because of your Buy Multiplier. I experienced the same issue; my Multiplier was on one Orbit for me, though when you hover over the node, it only tells you the price of one Phase. One Orbit is equivalent to having the multiplier on One Extension on the sectors screen, so the game keeps you at the same buy multiplier no matter which screen you're on. I hadn't realised this until after starting my second run, so I tried to get to 40 again as fast as I could, to reassign the way the game expected you to do your very first time. A better tutorial on the Buy Multiplier would have prevented this, instead of the brief mention that is currently in place.
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