Seriously need a strategy guide...

[mcsproot]

Ok so my last game was going pretty well, or so I thought. Until my base was automatically discovered at the start of Year 5. Then the first invasion fleet included an Ultrasan and Mega Tank. The Ultrasan ripped Gino apart in less than 10 seconds. I had a few Tier 4 powers and all of the Tier 4 passives.

Is Tier 4 really poor tech for Year 5? But it takes so long to train, and unless you know the tech tree in advance, you can't anticipate what you'll get as the next tier is hidden until you've trained the previous tier.

Also, is it better to focus on one region at a time, doing hit and runs against higher level cities? Does destroying their patrols help keep them down, or is it a way to simply prevent them intercepting you for awhile? In my last game I had captured all Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities except for a couple of Tier 3 cities, which made each region have a red border. Does spreading out my attacks cause other regions to contribute to the KDF which causes them to tech up faster? Or do I need to lose on purpose sometimes to keep my reputation level down?

I do get that sometimes it's better to not conquer a city so you can let them rebuild and loot them more later, especially for Purpletonium.

But yeah, I just can't figure out some of the behind the scenes mechanics and could use a guiding hand. I used to be pretty decent at this game, I even got the Moscow Rule for conquering Moscow in a single attack, so considering how badly I failed this time I have no clue how I made it so far before.

[Zatronium]

Ultrasan rips you to shreds in a single shot even when you have T5 skills. The only way to kill him is to let him fire at some buildings, hit him, and then run away again. If he catches you in an open area you're probably done for.

Actually, I think his ability is too OP so I nerfed it in my patch. It's one thing if he was a boss fight but you also have all the other nearby tanks, ships, and avatars to deal with. Though his laser's damage is nerfed do beware that I added tracking so it'll hit you more easily. You can see here[github.com] in the onTick() function that he now specifically tries to attack the player before he hits any buildings. More balance changes will be coming in later versions of the patch.

I find it's better overall to capture as many cities in as few attacks as possible, but switch to beat down another city if the threat level goes too high. Repeatedly attacking a city just gives them time to build up a bigger war chest and increases your threat level. Repeatedly leaving a city without capture will cause them to see you as a huge threat: they will eventually stage surprise attacks with missile cruisers and dozens of laser planes because they know you like that city. Multiple attacks without a capture I believe also leaves you with lower reputation.

Reputation allows you to ask a city to surrender, lower its guard, or stop contributing war funds, but to my knowledge does not affect attacker strength. Attacker strength is probably determined by how much money they've saved up, threat level, and number of super factories. (I think threat level is shown as DEFCON in-game, I forget)

Once I'd captured every city except for one or two T5s the attacks I got were laughably small. Also, unit classes in the game's files have money values assigned to them. So, this is what my assumption is based upon.

[mcsproot]

Messaggio originale di Zatronium:

Ultrasan rips you to shreds in a single shot even when you have T5 skills. The only way to kill him is to let him fire at some buildings, hit him, and then run away again. If he catches you in an open area you're probably done for.

Actually, I think his ability is too OP so I nerfed it in my patch. It's one thing if he was a boss fight but you also have all the other nearby tanks, ships, and avatars to deal with. Though his laser's damage is nerfed do beware that I added tracking so it'll hit you more easily. You can see here[github.com] in the onTick() function that he now specifically tries to attack the player before he hits any buildings. More balance changes will be coming in later versions of the patch.

I find it's better overall to capture as many cities in as few attacks as possible, but switch to beat down another city if the threat level goes too high. Repeatedly attacking a city just gives them time to build up a bigger war chest and increases your threat level. Repeatedly leaving a city without capture will cause them to see you as a huge threat: they will eventually stage surprise attacks with missile cruisers and dozens of laser planes because they know you like that city. Multiple attacks without a capture I believe also leaves you with lower reputation.

Reputation allows you to ask a city to surrender, lower its guard, or stop contributing war funds, but to my knowledge does not affect attacker strength. Attacker strength is probably determined by how much money they've saved up, threat level, and number of super factories. (I think threat level is shown as DEFCON in-game, I forget)

Once I'd captured every city except for one or two T5s the attacks I got were laughably small. Also, unit classes in the game's files have money values assigned to them. So, this is what my assumption is based upon.

I noticed when I attacked Sydney after attacking North and South American T3 cities they seemed to field a lot more units against my attack on the city. I guess because I hadn't attacked that region for over a year they had a good cash stockpile?

I also can't figure out how Threatening works. I see red down thumbs and green up thumbs, but I've had cities refuse me on a green up thumb and accept on a red down thumb. Also I can't figure out what the numbers mean. I think the upper number is threat and the lower number is reputation, but even when my reputation is really high compared to the other number I frequently get refused.

I often used 'turn off alarms' so I could attack more often, as you always catch a city By Total Surprise and don't have to use Stealth Attack.

I think another way I screwed up was building too many Purpletonium buildings. I think next time I'll save it for Training only.

As a side note, if I have trained all abilities in that tier, am I safe to destroy that Training building? I'd assume so, which would save on costs.

Also, some tips on base defence would be good. I usually try and build a wall around the whole island with some laser and gun turrets dotted about but I'm not sure how effective that is. I usually have all my buildings clustered in the middle.

And is it better to focus on one or two regions and ignore the others, making hit and runs on higher level cities, or to spread out over the whole world and capture all lower tier cities? I'm not sure what the coloured border around each region means. Is the KDF a global thing, or does each region have it's own KDF budget? Did I screw up by annoying the entire world leading to a huge KDF global budget?

[Zatronium]

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

I noticed when I attacked Sydney after attacking North and South American T3 cities they seemed to field a lot more units against my attack on the city. I guess because I hadn't attacked that region for over a year they had a good cash stockpile?

Yeah, their increased DEFCON level caused them to put more of the region's money toward defense. That said, attacking other regions will also spread threat to neighboring regions. If you repeatedly attack North America then South America, Europe, and Asia will gain some threat but I believe Africa and Australia would still mostly ignore your existence.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

I also can't figure out how Threatening works. I see red down thumbs and green up thumbs, but I've had cities refuse me on a green up thumb and accept on a red down thumb. Also I can't figure out what the numbers mean. I think the upper number is threat and the lower number is reputation, but even when my reputation is really high compared to the other number I frequently get refused.

I don't think anyone really understands that one. I'd have to decompile the source to tell you. My guess is when you have a thumbs up it means the chance of your provocation being accepted is higher. But for all I know it could be like the weather controller - it does nothing.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

I think another way I screwed up was building too many Purpletonium buildings. I think next time I'll save it for Training only.

I did that the first time around too, hah. I'll be changing the cost of buildings in the future so you can build purpletonium buildings and then not have them drain your entire stash within a year. The purpletonium upkeep costs are absurd. That said, I will also need to nerf the power of some buildings to compensate.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

As a side note, if I have trained all abilities in that tier, am I safe to destroy that Training building? I'd assume so, which would save on costs.

Yes. Do note that the same is not true of healing facilities; multiple ranks will increase the healing rate. This isn't noted in the tooltips in the base game so I did a bit of experimentation.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

Also, some tips on base defence would be good. I usually try and build a wall around the whole island with some laser and gun turrets dotted about but I'm not sure how effective that is. I usually have all my buildings clustered in the middle.

Turrets in the base game have a major bug. They fire once every 2.5 seconds instead of according to the fire rate stated in their tooltip. They ALSO can't fire over walls, weirdly enough. They're pretty much useless for defense unless you build about 5 of them in a cluster and put a single wall unit in front for enemies to assault. I suppose your method works too, but then when missile cruisers attack later on they'll be blowing everything up and you'll need to rebuild after every attack.

I fixed the bug, allowed them to fire over walls, and then nerfed their damage. I personally think this is a better balance - though I may still need to increase the upkeep costs and/or reduce the damage of laser turrets.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

And is it better to focus on one or two regions and ignore the others, making hit and runs on higher level cities, or to spread out over the whole world and capture all lower tier cities? I'm not sure what the coloured border around each region means. Is the KDF a global thing, or does each region have it's own KDF budget? Did I screw up by annoying the entire world leading to a huge KDF global budget?

So long as you keep ahead of the KDF's budget you're fine regardless of the method you use. One of the ways to do this is to not buy every skill in a tier. Skip ones that you find useless for your desired method of play and it'll help a lot.

Thing is, regardless of who you attack most other regions also gain DEFCON levels against you. Like I mentioned - their DEFCON level spreads to other regions. So the more efficiently and more skillfully you play, the more progress you'll make against the KDF.

Their finances are regional and base attack finances are funded by the region nearest to your base. Once they have enough money they'll buy a super factory which dramatically increases the speed at which they can build enemy kaiju (avatars). I'm not really sure what the speed limits are I just know there's a limit to how much a city or region can build. That limit gets higher as you gain a higher DEFCON level against the city or region.

You may notice the DEFCON is lower when you come back to the city. This is because that DEFCON level has been spread out to the rest of the region while you were away. Later in the game when the region's DEFCON is high you'll enter cities and they'll already be at DEFCON 2 or even 1.

[mcsproot]

I thought the DEFCON was attributed to the city level. Maybe it's because I work in tiers usually, but level 2 cities are always at DEFCON 4 for me, level 3 and DEFCON 3 and so on.

At least I've noticed that the upgrades follow a trend. Maybe I should try and find a tech tree so I can determine in advance what to take, as some abilities I like are tied behind abilities I don't like.

I guess next time I'll try focusing on one or two regions instead of splitting up my attacks across the world.

I also figured that the HAARPsicord seems pretty much useless. It seems only level 4 and 5 cities are affected by events so until you're ready to hit those it's not a good investment. Aaand at this point I read your post properly and see that the Weather Controller is broken. Good way to lose loads of Purpletonium there. Would be nice if you could target a city or region to change the weather, making it dry to make fires spread or making it stormy to cause extra damage etc.

Also, do you know what the different buildings do? I know that some buildings give more food or power or knowledge etc. But what about Hospitals, Fire Stations and Police Stations? I figure that Fire Stations put out fires faster so if you destroy them then fires last longer. I've seen Police Station and Army Bases spawn units but they don't do so very often, the units that appear when Reinforcements Have Arrived pops up give me more problems.

But what about Hospitals?

Can you tell me more about how the different satellites work? Like does the Mind Control sattellite only have one use after you launch and opt to use it? I figure that the Orbital Dropship is single use, not sure about the others.

You keep mentioning Missile Cruisers. When I've been intercepting patrols and Gino, I find Missile Cruisers to be barely above Destroyers in threat. Cruisers do more to me as they can often attack farther than me, so they get a few free hits.

As a side note, my favourite defensive option is the shield, though it seems DEFCON 2 and 1 units can often bypass it.

Thanks so much for your responses, they've been very insightful.

[Zatronium]

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

I thought the DEFCON was attributed to the city level. Maybe it's because I work in tiers usually, but level 2 cities are always at DEFCON 4 for me, level 3 and DEFCON 3 and so on.

Eeeeyup you are correct. It seems I was wrong about that. I just went and checked with a new game and indeed they were at DEFCON 1. That means the general threat level of the region is determined by a mechanic separate from DEFCON level. My mistake.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

I also figured that the HAARPsicord seems pretty much useless. It seems only level 4 and 5 cities are affected by events so until you're ready to hit those it's not a good investment. Aaand at this point I read your post properly and see that the Weather Controller is broken. Good way to lose loads of Purpletonium there. Would be nice if you could target a city or region to change the weather, making it dry to make fires spread or making it stormy to cause extra damage etc.

Yeah, some buildings are implemented in the EXE. But insofar as the HAARPsicord is concerned I wasn't able to find the implementation in the EXE either. It may just do nothing. But if it does do something the effect is very unclear.

I'm not very fond of "mystery boxes" when it comes to code. The HAARPsicord doesn't appear to have an effect but I do know that Shrubby's 'invisible' revival effect (it's also not implemented in the script, even though Goop's revival skill is) will crash the game. So, I removed it from the game.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

Also, do you know what the different buildings do? I know that some buildings give more food or power or knowledge etc. But what about Hospitals, Fire Stations and Police Stations? I figure that Fire Stations put out fires faster so if you destroy them then fires last longer. I've seen Police Station and Army Bases spawn units but they don't do so very often, the units that appear when Reinforcements Have Arrived pops up give me more problems.

But what about Hospitals?

Fire stations do put out fires faster but the effect isn't usually very noticeable. In fact, the effect is not even scaled by size afaik, the "FireSuppressClass" only affects the size of the visual graphic.

Army base:

-- Special: Every ten seconds it makes a percentage check, 
	-- 1-20% Spawn one light tank. 
	-- 21-50% Spawn tank. 
	-- 51-80% Spawn one attack chopper unit. 
	-- 81-100% Spawn one heavy tank

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition()
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  20 then spawnUnit("LightTankClass",     spawnPos);
	elseif choice <=  50 then spawnUnit("TankClass",          spawnPos);
	elseif choice <=  80 then spawnUnit("AttackChopperClass", spawnPos);
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("HeavyTankClass",     spawnPos);
	end

Naval base:

-- Special: Every ten seconds it makes a percentage check, 
	-- 1-20% Spawn one infantry unit. 
	-- 21-50% Spawn one patrol boat unit. 
	-- 51-80% Spawn one Assault chopper unit. 
	-- 81-100% Spawn one Destroyer 

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition();
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  20 then spawnUnit("InfantryClass",      spawnPos);
	elseif choice <=  50 then spawnUnit("PatrolBoatClass",    spawnPos);
	elseif choice <=  80 then spawnUnit("AttackChopperClass", spawnPos);
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("DestroyerClass",     spawnPos);
	end;

Hospital/Medical Center:

	-- Special: All adjacent defence ground units are healed one point every second 
	local withinTiles = 2;
	local healAmount = 1;
	zoneHealGroundUnits(self, withinTiles, healAmount);

	-- Special: All adjacent defence ground units are healed one point every second 
	local withinTiles = 4;
	local healAmount = 3;
	zoneHealGroundUnits(self, withinTiles, healAmount);

(uh, the code comment on the medical center is wrong >.>)

Police station:

	-- Special: Every ten seconds it makes a percentage check, 
	-- 1-50%-nothing happens. 
	-- 51-80% Spawn one infantry unit. 
	-- 81-100% Spawn one jeep unit. 

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition();
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  50 then -- nothing
	elseif choice <=  80 then spawnUnit("InfantryClass", spawnPos);
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("JeepClass",     spawnPos);
	end;

Police precinct:

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition();
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  50 then -- nothing
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("InfantryClass", spawnPos);
	end;

Port authority:

	-- Special: Every ten seconds it makes a percentage check, 
	-- 1-30%-nothing happens. 
	-- 31-70% Spawn one infantry unit. 
	-- 71-100% Spawn one patrol boat unit. 

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition();
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  30 then -- nothing
	elseif choice <=  70 then spawnUnit("InfantryClass",   spawnPos);
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("PatrolBoatClass", spawnPos);
	end;

Reserves base:

	-- Special: Every ten seconds it makes a percentage check, 
	-- 1-20% Spawn one infantry unit. 
	-- 21-50% Spawn one jeep unit. 
	-- 51-80% Spawn one recon chopper unit. 
	-- 81-100% Spawn one light tank

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition();
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  20 then spawnUnit("InfantryClass",     spawnPos);
	elseif choice <=  50 then spawnUnit("JeepClass",         spawnPos);
	elseif choice <=  80 then spawnUnit("ReconChopperClass", spawnPos);
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("LightTankClass",    spawnPos);
	end;

Security facility:

	-- Special: Every ten seconds it makes a percentage check, 
	-- 1-20%-nothing happens. 
	-- 21-40% Spawn one infantry unit. 
	-- 41-80% Spawn one rocket trooper unit. 
	-- 81-100% Spawn one rocket truck unit. 

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition();
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  20 then -- nothing
	elseif choice <=  40 then spawnUnit("InfantryClass",       spawnPos);
	elseif choice <=  80 then spawnUnit("RocketInfantryClass", spawnPos);
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("RocketTruckClass",    spawnPos);
	end

Security post:

	-- From Design: Special: Every ten seconds it makes a percentage check, 
	-- 1-30%-nothing happens. 
	-- 31-70% Spawn one infantry unit. 
	-- 71-100% Spawn one jeep unit. 

	local spawnPos = self:getWorldPosition();
	local choice = randomInt(1, 100);
	if choice <=  30 then -- nothing
	elseif choice <=  70 then spawnUnit("InfantryClass", spawnPos);
	elseif choice <= 100 then spawnUnit("JeepClass",     spawnPos);
	end;

Most of these don't spawn until the kaiju is less than 500 units away from the building.

[Zatronium]

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

Can you tell me more about how the different satellites work? Like does the Mind Control sattellite only have one use after you launch and opt to use it? I figure that the Orbital Dropship is single use, not sure about the others.

Nope! I don't know much about them except that the weather one did absolutely nothing. xD

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

You keep mentioning Missile Cruisers. When I've been intercepting patrols and Gino, I find Missile Cruisers to be barely above Destroyers in threat. Cruisers do more to me as they can often attack farther than me, so they get a few free hits.

Cruisers have a lot more health so they won't die from incidental attacks. And as you say, they have long range. Aside from that their damage output is nothing special. Problem is on a base attack their long range will reach the inner parts of your base if you aren't paying attention.

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

As a side note, my favourite defensive option is the shield, though it seems DEFCON 2 and 1 units can often bypass it.

Thanks so much for your responses, they've been very insightful.

Yup mine too. You're very welcome.

[mcsproot]

It seems that the Hospitals are very weak. 1 HP per second to enemies is rather pathetic considering how much damage you put out, and they have to be near them.

[Zatronium]

Messaggio originale di mcsproot:

It seems that the Hospitals are very weak. 1 HP per second to enemies is rather pathetic considering how much damage you put out, and they have to be near them.

It's not when you're a low level. But, perhaps at some point I can scale the healing.