Sir, We Have an Orc Problem

You spend the Build phase in Sir, We Have an Orc Problem stacking chokepoints and walls across a map, certain the layout will hold — and then the Battle phase starts, tens of thousands of orcs pour in at once, and it becomes obvious how much of that plan was optimistic.

Build and Battle: The Two Phases of Sir, We Have an Orc Problem

Every stage runs through two distinct halves. The Build phase hands players a map and lets them construct strongholds and chokepoints meant to trap, block, and funnel incoming enemies into manageable lines. The Battle phase then switches the player into active management of the fight itself, deploying additional firepower — including bombs and nukes — to finish off whatever the fortifications alone can’t handle.

What makes the Battle phase distinct from a typical tower defense wave is scale: a single battle can spawn tens of thousands of enemies at once, closer in spectacle to a massive battle scene than a handful of creeps trickling down a lane.

New players tend to over-invest in Build phase defenses and then coast passively through Battle, missing that active management — timing bombs and nukes rather than just watching the fortifications work — is where most of the late-game difficulty actually gets handled.

Incremental Progression Across Runs

Sir, We Have an Orc Problem layers incremental-style meta-progression on top of each individual stage, meaning strength carried between runs matters as much as any single Build phase layout. A weak fortification on a fresh run can still succeed if enough meta-progression has accumulated behind it, and a strong layout can still fall short early on without that backing.

That progression structure is part of what’s kept players returning stage after stage — the tower-defense fundamentals stay consistent, but the numbers behind them keep shifting run to run.

How many enemies can appear in a single Sir, We Have an Orc Problem battle?

Tens of thousands at once in a single stage’s Battle phase, which is what gives fights their massive-battle scale rather than a typical trickle of enemies.

What’s the difference between the Build and Battle phases?

Build phase is about constructing strongholds and chokepoints ahead of time; Battle phase is active management of the fight itself, including deploying bombs and nukes once the wave is underway.

Sir, We Have an Orc Problem earns its scale honestly — a fortification that looks airtight during the Build phase gets tested for real once tens of thousands of orcs show up during Battle, and the incremental progression behind each run is what makes the next attempt feel different from the last.