Need help, this game is pure evil!

[el Darkness]

I think I may skrewed myself. I have yet to instal heat protection on my City so I can travel to Ashfall and I already have Global Threat at 5! Do you guys think I can make it? I am playing at Still Learning difficulty. I always thought I am not bad at strategy games or management games. I also played a lot of Dyson Sphere Program (before enemies were added) so I know how automation games work and yet I think I have screwed myself maybe even beyond repair.

I usually stayed as long as I could on map trying to make most out of it. This must have screwed me, but how otherwise should I have been able to collect resources I need? Should I stay only a little while on each map? Perhaps until I deplete Exploration options?

Currently I have around 337 workers (Cycle 942) and all Administration upgrades, few upgrades elsewhere. Was it a bad choice? I know that Workers will play also against me by increasing Global Threat, but how am I supposed to quickly exploit a map without Workers? I am a bit after half of the research tree and slowly getting to half Infrastructure upgrades. City lvl 3, can upgrade it to 4, but I am reluctant to further increase my population.

Now I have made Excel recipe helper to figure out which recipes are the way to go for Flux Production, Power production, Research production and for Upgrade Materials only to discover most of them SUCK compared to base technology. I can make Power from Tar, Acid, Glueberry and from Smoke Gel but ONLY Acid can beat basic power production and it is available only on certain maps. I was comparing production without any buffs or debuffs, only base recipes. I have to say, this game was made by pure Evil Genius. So much effort put to making so many recipes and hiding those that would be actual upgrades behind a forest of sidegrades and DOWNGRADES. I am truly impressed.

If there is something I am missing, please let me know. I would hate this run be cut short by Derps (I now they are called Drep, but this name is more fitting).

Best recipes I have discovered:
Flux I can efficiently make using Crushed Feather Stone, I have a big surplus so I can throw it away, perhaps it was one of my mistakes to collect so much (over 5k). Carbon Mix would be good, but it is not available everywhere, also I need Carbonite. Tar is meh, it can be usefull with buffs.
Research, just now I discovered Refined Tar Research, while not best, it is reliable, I can always use this recipe. Acidwood or Carbon would be good if I could use them, but I do not have enough. Smoke Gel and Nightmare are trash.
Upgrade Materials, Carbon and Copper are good if only I can get some stockpile I will use one of these (preferably Copper). Glueberry is meh, usable but not good, but Sticky Tar is just detrimental.
Power... THERE IS NO GOOD WAY TO MAKE POWER BEYOND PLACING MORE POWER GENERATOR. All of the advanced power recipes are trash, Power from Tar was bad even on a map that increased Tar production by 50%. Glueberry power is bad while Smoke Gel power is again trash. Only good way to generate Power is from Acid but this can be done only in certain maps.

Sorry for my rant, overall I like the game and I thank Dev for the effort, but the lack of good Power production is making me crazy. :)

Please let me know if you think I have made mistakes (and where). Maybe I have missed something important?

[Suncrash]

You should be fine, land somewhere else, build the heat protection, then fly to the ashfall range to get those missing resources. Make sure your city is well defended, build more defenses if needed.

[el Darkness]

I have just landed in the ashfall, after I collected about 300 or was it 500 Nightmare Plating. I think Global Threat grows a bit slower now (when Global Threat is high does it grow more slowly?), I managed to slow it down by 8% with Archeological discovery. I am still at 5 Global Threat. My population is on the way to 400.

Honestly I was mostly worried I will be at Global Threat 6 when I get there. I think I was staying too long on every map before. Also I managed to catch up with Research, though Upgrade Parts and Infrastructure are way behind. It is a pity that we cannot see how close/far from a Global Threat increase we are.

I would highly appreciate some pointers, how big population should I have at this time? Where should my research by at? And of course how many Infrastructure upgrades should I have? Also I read somewhere on this forum that Administration upgrades are actually a trap since it is increasing the population. Boy I would love some good guide for this game. :)

Thx for the reply, I will keep fighting. But for a moment I thought I have cornered myself and there is no way out, just struggle and pain. Though I have to admit myself to a shameful practice of scouting for new maps with save scumming. That's how bad I thought my situation was.

[Suncrash]

Originally posted by el Darkness:

I would highly appreciate some pointers, how big population should I have at this time? Where should my research by at? And of course how many Infrastructure upgrades should I have? Also I read somewhere on this forum that Administration upgrades are actually a trap since it is increasing the population. Boy I would love some good guide for this game. :)

I honestly can't say, there's not one way to play the game and certain stats that you need to be in. The global infestation does increase a bit more slowly later on, and it also slightly adjusts according to your progress, so if it feels you're at infestation 4 level but you're infestation is already at 5, it will slow down a bit and give you a chance to catch up.

[el Darkness]

Originally posted by Suncrash:

I honestly can't say, there's not one way to play the game and certain stats that you need to be in. The global infestation does increase a bit more slowly later on, and it also slightly adjusts according to your progress, so if it feels you're at infestation 4 level but you're infestation is already at 5, it will slow down a bit and give you a chance to catch up.

Good to know game can give me a little breathing room. :)

[chrisd]

Is there any more planned updates for the game? Haven't seen any activity in a while.