SURVIVAL INSANE: HOW?

[Jeronimo]

Please explain how to win this. Seems quite impossible, much harder than it used to be.

[HolgFromHell]

There are already some other threads dealing with this topic.
As far as I know you need to do heavy flanking to beat on higher levels.

[Jeronimo]

Originally posted by HolgFromHell:

There are already some other threads dealing with this topic.
As far as I know you need to do heavy flanking to beat on higher levels.

Yes I used to win with this strategy (like with the overlord cheese) but even that does not seem to work anymore.

[Commander Tom]

Build crawlers and wasps, put them on the flank.

[that_lightworker]

After so many tries, I finally beat Insane I. I flanked wasps and kept upgrading to level 4 and 5, as well as being heavy with other units (using drop cards) on the same flank and front-side in order to ambush their tower. The 70,000 rod cards helped too, plus any big unit drops that can help slow down advances on the weak side. Also important is to upgrade the core towers to level 4. I had no idea the down time gets -2 seconds each upgrade; that makes a big difference. I've gotten to round 15 a hand full of times, but with this alteration I finally won after a couple tries with 172 health left. Good luck!

[Jeronimo]

I reached Insane 2. It seems that upgrading the undefended tower also helps a lot. But insane 3 and above still out of reach or extremely RNG dependent.

[Anilman]

I did insane many times. I sold all units(drop cards) i did go full wraith or wasp and so on.you need luck for good cards(range buff).some combos doesent work.but u always need to flank and upgrade the towers.

I did win with mustang spam but i was very lucky because the Bot didnt use fire that much.

U also need money to upgrade the units. So dont use shield or nuke cards.

[that_lightworker]

Nice, I never thought about selling drop card units. I can never get my unit strategy right because I'm always trying to counter the odd placements which strap me of cash.

An upgraded fire badger at the top of each flank helped me the last time, but I haven't been able to get it again on Insane II. 3 scorpions with double-shot and healing were pretty cool too until this point; will need more. My favorite is upgrading a level 6 Rhino with healing, but still not good enough (hacked). Will give mustang spam (and other unit spams) another chance and see if I can have at least half as many units as the enemy with some of the extra funds.

[Eugen]

Overlord didnt worked at all for me until Insane 1 or 2. If you wanna beat Insane 4: I focus on huge Crawler spam, supporting them With melting points. Wraith, Wasps, Phönix are good support units for some time. I attack from one strong flank/base side (only crawler + 1 Wraith with beam). The oppposite side is carefully placed in backline so they benefit from debuff (crawler + Melting Point (Wraith, Phoenix, Wasp)).
It's extremly important to constantly balance out your units in terms of having something against Tanks (Vulcans, Rhinos) and Air. Like Phoenix, Wasp... but Melting point should replace all these units by time entirely. If you balance it out properly enough the AI will tend to give you much weaker opponents. If you focus to much on crawlers (the total money you've put overall in melee units) the AI will give you a truely hard counterattack. So make sure you spend enough money for anything else rather than melee units in your "break times".

In the end you may end with a max. Upgraded Crawler and 2-3 Upgrades for Melting Point maybe Debuff Upgrade from wraith or maybe restistance buff from Overlord (but I dont like it honestly). If you get a free Upgrade module: Use it on a Unit you wanna sell. Upgrade this unit and then sell it to get extra cash...

Crawlers, Phoenix, Mustang, Marksman, Wasp are good units to start with.

Dont Buy any ability cards like rods, smoke, acid, ... until it's emergency (to not die in this round). Nuke could be still usefull but only if you have a good run.

[Avallach]

After being stuck on Insane ! for a while, I tried Wasp / Worm / Wraith. Cleared it the first time, and then did the same all the way through Insane IV. Just put everything on one side (front line & flank) and upgrade towers (max on your weak side, a couple on the other). Crawlers as chaff, optionally with replicate, and only promoted when they've lost all their durability (some will never get enough xp though, and you'll have to re-buy). A defensive crawler and wasp is generally enough to take care of flanks on your strong side, and weak side doesn't matter.

Mostly sell unit drops to keep promoting / teching. I did keep late boats for photon emission though when they dropped a couple of times, but did fine without them the other times. Also some dropped / starter phoenixes for EMP (I'm not sure they contributed much, but just in case). I tried keeping a high level wraith when it dropped once in early rounds, but ended up selling it after a couple of rounds to prioritise wasp / worm promotions - low level wraith is fine as long as it has range to keep it from taking fire, and they weren't needed early (possibly not needed at all, but still nice to have).

Usually ended up with 10-12 wasps (half of them level 9), 3-4 worms, 2 wraiths. Wasps and worms fully teched, wraiths just range and degen.

Rounds 12 and 15 were generally the hardest, even on Insane IV. Round 18 tended to be pretty easy, with all the extra levels you have by then.

This worked every time, but It certainly trivialises things. Not really a challenge after you've figured it out. Props to anyone that can beat it with a more balanced composition!

[applenta]

Well done, if you could beat insane mode, you can probably beat anyone.

[Kyuss]

Experimentals are soooo much fun, they really really are...i dropped a nuke on exp melting point and did literally zero dmg. Lucky for me that there wr only 3 of them. Survival is just RNG&experiMENTAL madness and needs a rework imo

Originally posted by Commander Tom:

Build crawlers and wasps, put them on the flank.

Early game yes, late game they get evaporated (most of the time)

[Jeronimo]

Originally posted by Kyuss:

Experimentals are soooo much fun, they really really are...i dropped a nuke on exp melting point and did literally zero dmg. Lucky for me that there wr only 3 of them. Survival is just RNG&experiMENTAL madness and needs a rework imo

Originally posted by Commander Tom:

Build crawlers and wasps, put them on the flank.

Early game yes, late game they get evaporated (most of the time)

I went as far as Insane 3 in duo. Yeah it's a lot of RNG. Kind of stupid, especially some starting setup which are randomly attributed make you lose immediately and you get snowballed. Basically 2 games out of 3 you can just abandon to roll the dices again from the get go.

Pampers game design.

[Kyuss]

Originally posted by Jeronimo:

I went as far as Insane 3 in duo. Yeah it's a lot of RNG. Kind of stupid, especially some starting setup which are randomly attributed make you lose immediately and you get snowballed. Basically 2 games out of 3 you can just abandon to roll the dices again from the get go.

Pampers game design.

100%. Would love to know/understand the reasoning behind it. Amazing game but survival...meh.

[IIFriggII]

its a counter thing.
in insane1 its med-air aoe, accel-lasers, extremely high air HP.
and its r12 and 15 that are abnormally hard ^^

[that_lightworker]

I had a perfect 4000 health heading into round 15 Insane 2, then got obliterated. That's Insane!