Looking for some advice on how to clear crystals

[Pingu_the_Great]

The last time I played this game was back in Ye Olde Days when I was coughing up my in-game money for in-game research. Clearing crystals was a snap and damn necessary too. Having re-bought it on Steam (because reasons) I've found that clearing crytals is seemingly imposible. I can clear crystals worth $1500 or less, but the $2000+ ones get down to around $1000 at mission end. What am I doing wrong?

I've got collectors and extraction tuning. I'm on the moon atm. I notice that only 4 factories will work on any crystal at any time. Experiments with factory/collector numbers suggests that 3 factories are necessary for crystals up to $1000, 3 factories and at least one collector are necessary for $1500, and I Don't Bloody Know for $2000+. Any tips from skilled players on how to clear crystals?

And as a bonus question, are reprocessors any cop?

[cprince]

Well... it's got some complicated maths behind it but you can get a feel for it with trial and error.

First of all you're right, 4 refineries to one crystal. This is the same for everything in RotT - 4 reprocessors and 4 collectors per factory for maximum awesome. The fourth one often makes the greatest value for money.

The tricky part with the refinery addons is they are very expensive so you want to get them positioned in such a way that you can maximise efficiency of placement, eg. a bank of 4 collectors between two banks of 4 refineries operating on two separate clusters of crystals.

As a general rule I only have one cluster of 4 collectors and reprocessors on a map and plonk them next to the best bunch of refineries / crystals. They're too expensive otherwise.

So now we've got the number of buildings and their placement sorted, what's left... hmm.

Ok, time. The collectors speed up refining - hurrah! But reprocessors slow it down again - boo! You'll have to play it by ear and come up with a balance.

Now, you're only mining on the Moon at the moment and the Moon levels aren't all that long. You can be shrewd and extend the time you get to mine crystals by "delaying" gidrahs en-route by plonking little mazes of barricades in front of them away from your guns. They sit there merrily bashing away at the barricades with nothing shooting at them and you get to mine the lot - hurrah!

That might be a bit boring though, so fortunately, there's a crystal scavenging bonus at the end of the level, which will give you a % of the basic potential of all remaining crystal on the level, based on the tech you have researched.

If you have no extra refining tech, you get 10% of the value of all remaining crystal. If you have just one of collectors or reprocessors, you get 15%. If you've researched both, it's 20%! You don't even have to build any on the map - just so long as they're researched.

If you play your cards right (or more specifically your reprocessors and collectors) you'll make so much money by the end of the Moon the Titans will be absolutely enraged and repeatedly kick your arse until you're broke again.

[Pingu_the_Great]

Cheers! Must confess wasn't expecting one of the devs to give some advice! By way of thanks, I've just bought the one Puppygames game I don't own on Steam.

[cprince]

Thanks :) You're welcome.