Desert map on Nightmare is retarded

[Nev]

Mutants are WAY too sensitive on this map. I have had mutants rush my base from the far end of the map, before even Day 10, if I lose one tent. I have mutants rushing my base even if I'm not doing anything and they're not close.

The desert map feels ridiculously unfair, I am able to do 80 days on Nightmare with every other map, even the Caustic Lands, but I haven't cleared Desert once yet. And when I lose in those maps it at least feels fair. But it feels frustrating when it happens in the Desert, like I've just wasted my time

[Andrewbh2003]

yep no secret that 800% is harder than 900%

wastelands has always been a pain but the 50% more sensitive to noise modifier ON mutants is really really strong

it is possible but i will definitely agree it is ridiculously hard i would even go as far as saying "slightly" imbalanced as well

[Mortal]

If you want to have a better life in this map, you need 3 lines of defense.
First Balistas > then walls > then spike traps..
Balistas do less noise than any other tower, and the spikes make sure they won't attack the walls too much. Cause when zombies attack walls they do sound.

Anyhow, get to a point you have like 30 or more snipers and then you can kill mutants.
Don't take any unnecessary risks.

[Glioburd]

I feel your pain, I've chained the retries on this map for 2 weeks because of Mutants xd

[Snooch]

I think your problem is not building enough defence fast enough. I too have had attacks happen randomly but I have also had like 20 soldiers blasting zombies and nothing comes running from afar. I think they added this "feature" so if you were not going fast enough you die quickly rather than playing for 3 hours then dying cause you were no where close to having enough defences.

Having a lot of balistas and army seems to prevent the sudden charge from nowhere. Could also be how far along the tech tree you are. I have noticed that not having balistas and walls around my whole base by turn 20 usually means a bunch of Harpies and Mutants come running for literally no reason.

tl;dr Build faster, get balistas covering every opening, then start your army. If you leave a gap the zombies *will* walk there.

It's a very unfair game, but that is why it is fun when you do win.

[Nev]

Originally posted by Snooch:

Having a lot of balistas and army seems to prevent the sudden charge from nowhere. Could also be how far along the tech tree you are. I have noticed that not having balistas and walls around my whole base by turn 20 usually means a bunch of Harpies and Mutants come running for literally no reason.

This is such a confusing, retarded design decision if that's how the game works. If this exists, it's not communicated to the player at all in any way except utter failure. How is anyone supposed to know this rule exists in the code, even when it happens to them?

I haven't experienced this on any other map, so if it's just the desert, that's mental

I'm gonna fight until I win it, but honestly, i think it's gonna feel like a fluke rather than a win

[Glioburd]

Originally posted by Snooch:

Having a lot of balistas and army seems to prevent the sudden charge from nowhere

What? I'm extremely skeptical about this statement. They just come if they have been triggered by a noise or by a mutant, whatever your number of balistas or your army size.

In the wasteland, I died most of the time to the swarm coming with a mutant, triggered by the defense of the third wave. Until I decide to up my walls to stone walls early. It was really the problem : despite 20 snipers + ~3-4 balistas, the walls never lasted long enough.

Don't forget in early game : do not let any zombie hitting your wood walls. And split your units: do not hunt zombies in a stacked group with a+click to prevent quick high amount of noise.