Reading the coastline in Iron Tide Command

Iron Tide Command clicked for me the moment I stopped treating every map the same. Because raiders attack from the water, the shape of the coast basically tells you where to build. Narrow inlets are your friend — funnel enemies through them and you can defend with far fewer units.

I used to spread my defenses evenly, which just meant everything was weak everywhere. Now I identify the two most likely landing spots and commit hard to them, leaving light patrols elsewhere that I can reinforce with the swipe-to-move controls once a wave commits.

Resource flow is the other half. Don't over-build early. I keep a small reserve so I can react to a surprise wave rather than being locked into a layout. The missions that beat me were always the ones where I'd spent everything and had nothing left to adjust with.

Between missions, I lean slightly toward defensive tech until I understand a map, then switch to counterattack upgrades on the replay. That two-pass approach made the harder levels much more manageable.