Why is this game so damn hard?

[Parthon]

Mission 13 was almost impossible, it took me like 10 goes of very tight practice to get it done. Mission 14 and 15 were even worse, and mission 16 is literally impossible.

Starting off under a pile of creeper, and then you get assaulted by creeper, drones and phantoms. It's literally impossible because you just don't have the energy to defend against all the different attacks.

[Jackeea]

It's not literally impossible though? Just scoot underground, build up your energy, and figure out efficient ways of dealing with the 3 different attacks at the start. Pause a bunch to give yourself time to think.

You've got more time to breathe than you think, just because the start is a really rough one. Use shields to stem some of the waves of creeper and excavate terrain to place down more reactors.

There's also nothing wrong with just starting the mission up and seeing what happens. Did you know, for example, that the area in the middle-left that fills with drones doesn't open by itself? The creeper inside is frozen, so if you can stop creeper falling on it, you can just ignore that section until you stabilize a bit.

[Strategic Sage]

None of the maps are impossible. There are multiple ways to beat all of them, and plenty of demonstration playthroughs on YouTube if you get stuck. It was meant to be fairly challenging, and ultimately players decided they didn't like that fact so the most recent games in the series are less so for the most part. Which a lot of people have complained about.

Be careful what you wish for :)

[fractalgem]

gotta get your energy production up sooner instead of rushing weapons, then. like sage saand jackee said, though, you have a bit more time than you might think, even though you can't turtle your way trhough this map.

[fractalgem]

A little tip on 13: you can absolutely rush plugging the top pool with a shield to stall for time, and plug the bottom one with a sheild as well. then two shields if you want to stall the top for even more time, and another 3 shields if you want to stall it still more. that can save you a lot of energy early on to focus on the middle section and building up moar reactors. Just improved my time on it that way today.

[N4D3]

On level 16 my solution was - I moved the Liberation ship up and to the right into the pocket where it is safe, then dug out the dirt to the right of the pocket for reactor space, then cleared the room below this area, and then took out the drone production, and then cleaned up the creeper on the surface. Hopefully this helps you with the level.

[alexander.julian.erhard]

On 16, you can delay the surface creeper from getting to the bottom and releasing the drones for a long time by just building rows of shields (those are very cheap), or even permanently by building a row of repulsors (a bit more expensive, but way cheaper than defending against creeper and drones with blasters, and even low intensity should be enough).

For the creeper digging towards you from below, a shield and two blasters should be enough.

[Mdbgamer]

Mission 16 is meant to really test your patience in my personal opinion. Like some have said, there's multiple ways to beat each mission, you just have to think your way through it. Don't rush, have some patience. What I did for mission 16 was moved the liberation ship up to the very top right, built about three Phantom coils, built a blaster, and slowly worked my way down to clean ground again until I could start building up. That prevented problems with Drones and kept me covered from phantoms. It's a game of patience and strategy. My method was perhaps the least effective, but it *worked*.

[FireNinja474]

You can issue orders while the game is paused. Select to build, move, etc. and it will happen when you unpause the game.

Use a leapfrog tactic to advance: Make two (or more) units. Move one forward while the other one stays put blasting the creeper.

Mission 13 is one of the hardest levels I have ever played in any game.
Repulsors will hold back the creeper at the top and below the ship. The below one may need a shield. Get the crystal (looks like a colored diamond) first.

Mission 14 Make a launcher and blaster to get the phantom coil tech. Once you have it, make some for defenses. Watch the far left at the edge of the level because the creeper will break the ground.

Mission 15 Move the ship. Position it so you can dig out the two red crystals and build next to the gate at the top left. Get the crystals. Build a few reactors and a phantom coil. Then build blasters on each side. After that the level is just slowly advancing using blasters and launchers on each side.

Mission 16 You need to move the ship underground. Dig out the ground where it is thin. Some blasters will hold back both the creeper and drones. Make coils for defense.