I mostly like the power up points system the way it is now. Saving the points (rather than spending them early) to me is more risky as you may not be able to spend them later on. The longer you can hold them the more they appreciate in value. Finding the optimal time to spend them is part of developing a strategy.

Having said that, here are a few ideas on how the system might be tweaked:

1) Hotkeys for the power-ups would be nice but something out of the way so I don't accidentally bump them. Maybe... A,S,D,F,G? or A,S,D,Z,X? In a way this might solve the problem of the OP as you cold hold the key down to rapidly sell the power up points.

2) Unused points could be converted to score at a depreciated rate at the end of a game. Say 10% or 50% of the current rate? So they wouldn't be completely lost.

3) A slightly different idea might be to also convert lives to points at 100% or even 200% of the current rate at the game's conclusion. This would obviously only affect games who go to the end as anyone who dies would have no lives left to cash in.

Ps - When I say "rate" I mean the value of power up points to score points. If spending 2 power up points gets you 50 score points then the current rate is 1:25.

I agree with Stereo's first paragraph completely. Don't fix what isn't broken. On the other hand if something is broken -- like you keep forgetting to convert your points at the end of your round -- fix that.

For what it's worth, I feel your frustration. I've done the same thing, especially early on. But once you associate that last-second panic with the thought, "Crap! I've gotta convert my points!" ... it starts to become easier. I think part of the reason I've played this TD game about 20x longer than any other before is because it really isn't dumbed down. You have to work to get the sense of achievement.

Quote from StereoPanic:

"3) A slightly different idea might be to also convert lives to points at 100% or even 200% of the current rate at the game's conclusion. This would obviously only affect games who go to the end as anyone who dies would have no lives left to cash in."


Well the problem with this is that lives cost 200% Power-Ups as Extra Points, right? This would create a way to auto-spend points on end becuase it gives 200% and costs 200%, having the same value as using extra points, with clicking half as much.