What to Buy in the Raft Wars Shop, and When

How the money works

Every level you win pays out a sum, and the shop between levels is the only place to spend it. The shop sells grenades, rockets and upgrades to the raft. Nothing carries over from a lost level, so the money you have is the money you won, and the temptation is to spend all of it on rockets after the first fight. Do not: the early enemies go down to tennis balls, and rockets bought on level two are rockets you do not have on level eight.

Spend on the raft first

A better raft takes more hits before your characters go swimming, and unlike ammunition it is never used up. It is also the one purchase that makes every later level easier rather than one level easier. When the shop offers a raft upgrade and you can afford it, take it before any ammo.

Grenades before rockets

Grenades are the better value for most of the game, because the mid-game enemies come in pairs and a grenade between them hits both. Rockets earn their price only against the last few levels, where single enemies carry enough health that a ball takes four turns to shift them. A sensible order: raft when you can, then a few grenades each level, then rockets once the enemies stop falling to a grenade.

When to hold the money

If you clear a level without using any paid ammunition, leave the shop alone. Two levels of savings buys the raft upgrade that would otherwise wait until level six, and a raft on level four is worth more than grenades on level four. The exception is the level after a loss: if you have just been sunk, buy whatever finishes the enemy that sank you, because losing twice costs more than the money.