Chaos Insane Survival - Whodunnit?

[JeanDeaux]

I've been trying to hit this achievement for a very long time now and just can't seem to find the right path to get there. Anyone have any luck at making this one and if so, what's your tips?

I know you can't make any headway with only 4 survivors, you have to get lucky and get at least one walk-on, two would indeed be lucky. I'm mixed on the balloon to search for more peeps, most of the time it's a wasted trip but it's a great day when you bring back another warm body.

I make fast for the weapons, flamethrowers, and tailor bench, getting a maze trap built ASAP. Clothing is tough, they wear out very fast and it's tough to get mats for real armor so it's a lot of time crafting wardrobe items. I usually pick the Desertum for the warmer winters, I can survive in camp huts instead of building shelters which take up a huge amount of time but would be necessary to survive in any other map with a winter and snow.

This gets me typically to just short of a years survival, once the scissor hand creatures come it's all over since walls fall like leaves in the wind and flamethrowers get destroyed quickly with not enough mats coming in to keep them operational.

Getting a bit frustrated on this one, so hopefully someone has some good tactical advice to follow.

[flo125]

its hard to answer like this bcs i dont know how you play but here are some advises:
- the most ressources you stock, the biggest are the waves of monsters. to limit impact of big waves, try to NOT collect and harvest too much
-also the more buildings and other things, it increase the number of monsters. specially fences: if you build kilometers of useless fences it will increase the number of monsters.. try to build a smaller base may be? (but i dont know how you play!)
- attacking early monsters (specially with snipers) and trying to kill first the most dangerous can help
- if your survivors are in a closed area (inside a closed building for ex) when the wave attacks, the pathfinding is not working and monsters attack the fences to go direct to your survivors, instead of pathfinding to your trapped entry
- you can try to "pack" your flammthrowner inside walls to make them more protected from ennemies, and put at least 3 in a row. your survivors must help to protect them by shooting the monsters dammaging them.
having more survivors does not make the game easier, the waves will be bigger with more survivors.
-may be you can watch some games on streaming to find some ideas how to play?

[nodabba]

The guide I followed: https://www.gamenguides.com/stranded-alien-dawn-insane-difficulty-tips-and-tricks

[Kyden139]

There's a few checkpoints to clear playing insane+chaos and it sounds like you're failing at the 3rd one. So first good job on getting that far!

First checkpoint is the first attack wave. You want to survive without needing massive healing. Best chance is to scavenge a gun and shoot/run til the wave is done. A gun isn't the only way to accomplish this, but it is much easier so you might want to restart until you get one in an early scavenge. Keep your base, storage and farms small.

2nd checkpoint is the 4th or so attack wave. Too big to fight with only weapons, need a flamethrower. Do NOT need a maze. Just make a fenced in square (stone is fine) with a 3-wide funnel. You're not killing much with your bows anyways, so you don't need any shooting time. 2 flamers are better than 1, 4 are better than 2.

Now you need to research power and automated turrets asap. Tailoring is fine, but you don't need to stockpile 4 of everything, 1 of each in storage is fine. Then replace what gets used. Don't force equip anything, just let them wear out entirely and they'll grab something new. You also need to scavenge until you get a cpu chip and some electronics. Salvaging usually gets this, so make sure you have spaceship deconstruction.

3rd checkpoint is the scissorhands or shriekers. Shriekers are the worse wave, scissorhands are easier. Need a turret up before they spawn. I build a laser turret for its bigger range and no misses. You might survive 1 of these waves, but once they spawn they'll be in the next waves as well. You need a turret. I build a max height stone foundation in my defense box and put the turret on that for extra line of sight. One turret can last a decent while.

4th checkpoint is Sobrius only and is extreme cold waves. This is where I'll finally construct a building and move people inside.

5th checkpoint is fliers around year 3. You can win before this comes, otherwise get flak turrets up in preparation.


Key is keep it small. No excessive storage, no excessive building (not even for a maze). 4 people is fine. Builder, farmer, researcher, crafter are the roles.

When fighting have your people target specific bugs and not autoaim. Broodmothers - junos - shriekers - scissorhands - exploders are the targets in order. Anything else the flamers will take care of do not worth micromanageing. Balloon expeditions are good for guns since you won't be able to craft them for a long time. Go to ones that sound promising.

[Stimpacker]

Kyden is super helpful. I was able to do it with his advice.

Checkpoint 1: First attack wave
I think this is the hardest phase. Below example is one of my unlucky playthroughs. No gun found before Day 6. Had wooden fortifications researched. Rushed to build them and a small stick fence AND had to craft bows. Barely got them up in time and barely survived without getting too hurt. They broke through and had to go hand-to-hand without spears.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3118693338

Checkpoint 2: 4th or so large attack wave
I rushed flamethrowers for this. Rushed metal refinement and fuel to unlock. Got them just in time too.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3118695219

Checkpoint 3: Shriekers or scissorhands
Sad, still no gun found, but with enough flamethrowers further forward, you can outrange the shriekers. Key is to double fence the flamethrowers so they don't get destroyed from the sides/rear. I wasn't able to get turrets up by this time. Too many research to enable in time - electricity, solar, wind, battery, electronics, CPU, turrets.

Checkpoint 4: Sobrius cold snap
Manageable if you plan for it. I tried constructing a building before cold snap hits. Doesn't work well. Once they venture out to work, they die. So get winter clothing tailored in time. Full set gives -25C tolerance.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3118696428
Edit: Want to add that my guys are still fighting with bows. Sad but doable.

Hummingflies are a non-issue with turrets up.

I think the must-have breakthrough for Insane is Component 3D Printing (electronics, cpu). Nice to have is fuel fermentation. Otherwise, crafters will be busy non-stop cranking out electronics, cpu and fuel and have no time for clothes, tools, bandages, weapons, healing balm, etc.

[o-XPapaMikeX-o]

Flamethrowers Refinment, and wooden barracades,,,,. Keep the place small (not to small tho) and keep an ey on electricity,,, about in the third year you will be attacked frome above

[Kyden139]

To get turrets researched in time, be very intentional in your choices.

Lightning rods, weapons, tools, antibiotics, smelting, flamethrowers, deconstruction are first. Fuel fermentation as a breakthrough is worth it too.

Then go straight into power. Wind turbines first, then turrets. After turrets, backtrack into battery, solar, and flare shielding.

Skip oil completely and get fuel from manure instead. There's normally enough nearby until you get a delivery drone (after your 1st turret).

I skip fortifications and construction basics until later. (First turret on the ground). Even tailoring can wait.

[JeanDeaux]

Thanks guys, looks like my strategy wasn't too far off. The first tip with the smaller base has noticeable differences, so I've been keeping it small. I'm already inline with everyone else's comments; so I think I'm on a good path. Next is finding a good map and I think I've finally found one, I'll let you know.

[Zep Tepi]

First checkpoint passed with no weapons. I guess we'll see how far I can get. Thanks for the tips!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3118815095

Added: forgot I'm using the 50% wave mod. Gonna keep going on that to practice then turn it up later. Had 24 spawn, Rakha needed two bandages. They might have made it at full strength but it would have been more iffy. Anyway, tables have more durability than the stone fences.

[flo125]

i always skip the defense tower and weapons crafting at start, i find the bows so useless.. i rush baloons and on insane theres a good chance to find superordinator (that gives you infinite cpu core) or armory (that gives you infinite weapons) by short exploration. if you have not much benzin wait for the security signal event, and taming ulfens can be a fun way to set defenses for early game: you put their beds near to the entry with some traps and they can carry

Originally posted by Stimpacker:

Checkpoint 2: 4th or so large attack wave
I rushed flamethrowers for this. Rushed metal refinement and fuel to unlock. Got them just in time too.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3118695219

you dont need to separate that much the flammthrowners, 3 together packed with walls (from building) can carry and are well protected from shrieker's range, if you want to reseach buildings early its a good option

[Jazzman]

A final thing to consider when attempting insane chaos achievement is your survivors. You can win without getting any other survivors if you pick the right mix. Ken, Sora, Rita, Jack was the team I used for my first win. Ken should be nonstop scavenge, Sora / Rita nonstop observing useful things, Jack collect wood/stone for initial defense. However, any survivor can be useful.. I just wanted to maximize initial scrap, when I got balloon I wanted additional things to find, and I wanted to make sure at least 3 survivors were combat focused.

Insane / chaos is no joke in the first 2 years. Afterwards you can probably coast to the win if your defense / kill zone is ideal (defended flame throwers, long winding maze, and as many turrets as you can build preferably laser).

Personally, I only play on insane/chaos now as I find the other difficulties/moons too manageable. I will say the RNG in this game keeps me on my toes with chaos moon... got to love the targeted lightning strikes if you are not fast enough on getting lightning rods.

[ꓤOꓕ∀NƎƎꓭꓭՈꓭ 🙃]

Originally posted by Jazzman:

got to love the targeted lightning strikes if you are not fast enough on getting lightning rods.

I just started a new jungle solo survivor playthrough after buying the DLC and on Day 1... Thunderstorm.
Lightning strike... Ken down.
Reload.... same thing.

Reload... rush build a shelter, draft Ken and stand under shelter until thunderstorm passes... also sleep since there isn't much else to do (didn't have time to build research table).
That worked!

Reloaded and tried the same 'technique' and it worked again.

I built a torch near some debris and a shooting target nearby and began moving stuff from crash site to stockpiles under roof when suddenly...

Thunderstorm #2.

I did not have lightning rods researched so I Drafted and hid Ken under the shelter roof again to wait out the storm.

Lightning strikes my torch in the field.
Lightning strikes the shooting target.
Lightning destroys my torch.
Lightning destroys the shooting target.

Ken is still safe under the shelter... this time while researching lightning rods.

My conclusion.... The sky hates everything it can see.
Keep everything under a roof until you have lightning rods.