Deflation Mode

"Start with $50,000 cash and that's it. No more money is earned during play. You start at Round 30, and Banana Farms and other cash generating abilities are disabled. How far can you get?"

- Description in BTD5 when mouse scrolls over the Deflation Mode icon



Deflation Mode is a special mode introduced in Bloons TD 4 Expansion and subsequent games, excluding Bloons TD Battles and Bloons Monkey City. In Deflation Mode, the player starts out at round 30 (or 21 in Bloons TD 4 Expansion) with 50,000 money, but every cash generating method (namely popping bloons, completing rounds, Banana Farm, Supply Drop and Cash Injection) is disabled. Upgrades that can modify the value of cash or give more cash, like Monkey Town, Bloon Trap and Support Chinook, will have their cash generating effect negated, although their other effects will still work (if they have any). Selling towers, however, will still refund cash. This Deflation mode shows the icon of a bloon deflating.

This mode can be very challenging, because the player cannot make any more money for the duration of the game. Fast-Track Mode can be activated, but will have no effects on the amount of starting cash or the round number. Saving is allowed in Bloons TD 4 Expansion, and while the game itself won't be saved, it will be saved in the original Bloons TD 4, suffering a glitch. Saving is also allowed in BTD6, just like every other non-Co-Op game mode. Deflation, unlike any other mode, is the only mode that has unlimited rounds. In every game except for Bloons TD 6, the difficulty played is Medium. In BTD6, the difficulty played is Easy, and returns as simply "Deflation" and only requires a set number of rounds to be beaten in order to win.

Helpful Premium Items (BTD5)

 * Monkey Tycoon: Allows towers to be freely adjusted mid-game if they prove inadequate.
 * Double Cash Mode: An extra $50,000 money can come in handy making a total of $100,000.
 * Bigger Beacons: Monkey Villages give discounts in a wide radius, saving a lot of money.
 * Special Agents: Can be very helpful for adding more firepower and supporting other towers, especially Meerkat Spy, which can save the player from buying a Monkey Village with the Radar Scanner and Super Monkey Storm which effectively delay game overs by a round every few uses.

BTD5

 * Use Monkey Villages, Specialties and Specialty Buildings to have lower prices.
 * Technological Terror is bad to use in this mode, because the ability requires much time to recharge, it can't pop Camo Bloons. However, if the player has Monkey Tycoon activated, they can achieve high rounds by selling and rebuying, or by placing a village to get radar
 * The Dart Training Facility Level 3 can be useful, as it gives a free Dart Monkey every ten rounds. While it may not always be useful, it can be very helpful when bloons leak.
 * In BTD5, the Banana Farm on Deflation Bug used to be very helpful as it allows to get more money. However, the scores obtained by using this glitch were wiped when this glitch was patched.
 * Spamming MOAB Maulers is a good method to get very high rounds in Deflation, as mass of them can even achieve high rounds (even 100 and over in certain tracks) without premiums. However, it's recommended to have a way to pop the leftover ceramic bloons, like Arctic Wind, with level 3 Ice Fortress activated, placed at the end of the track. With Double Cash, the player can also buy four Ninja Monkeys with Sabotage Supply Lines ability to slow down the bloons the entire time.

Glitches

 * In Bloons TD 4 Expansion, the game can be saved, and when the player goes to the original Bloons TD 4 it will lead to the Firecracker track in the round where the game was saved with the towers and money that the player had when the game was saved.
 * Banana Farms are disabled in this mode, however, by using the hotkey 'F' for Bloons TD 4 Expansion and the hotkey V for Bloons TD 5, it is still possible to place them. They will not give the player any money, but they can give lives if the Premium Upgrade Healthy Bananas is purchased. This has since been patched, but only in Bloons TD 5. For a few days, in Bloons TD 5, it was possible to earn more money via this glitch.
 * In BTD5 Mobile, Supply Drop and Cash Injections are not disabled.
 * In Bloons TD 5, an update made impossible to get cash by selling towers. This was patched.
 * In Bloons TD 5 Mobile, it used to be possible to earn more money by using the Heli Pilot's ability and Bloon Trap. These will only earn a few thousand cash, and gives lives instead of cash every second time, but if multiple are bought, it is possible to get a Temple of the Monkey God. This has been patched.
 * In earlier versions of BTD6, Obyn Greenfoot's Wall Of Trees ability would give cash in Deflation Mode. This has been patched before Version 2.0.

BTD5

 * Deflation Mode was used in Daily Challenges for the first time in January 31, 2012 in the Archipelago track. Due to the nature of the mode making it very easy to copy a playstyle and win, this mode is rarely used in Daily Challenges.
 * It is impossible to get a single Temple of the Monkey God due to the fact they cost $100,000 and are upgraded from Sun Gods. Likewise, it is impossible to get a single Ray of Doom without Double Cash, as they cost $55,000 and are upgraded from Laser Cannons.
 * When player gets a game over, it shows 2 deflating bloons instead of showing skulls.