Anomaly Korea - Achievement Guide

This guide is aimed at providing a clear overview of what is required to earn all achievements on Anomaly Korea, as well as providing general hints and tips along the way that may be of some use when attempting to go achievement hunting. Hope it helps!

Introduction

This is not a guide on how to complete missions on certain difficulties, but rather a tool as to how to unlock certain achievements that require a nudge in the right direction. There are a total of 35 achievements with various tasks and objectives at hand.

This introduction provides a basic summary of the enemy towers, friendly units and ability types at your disposal. The same information and more can be obtained ingame.



Six different unit types to bolster your attacking and defending capabilities. Each unit type has 3 possible upgrades. (Top left to bottom right: APC; Crawler; Shielder; Horangi; Dragon; Supply)



Six different enemy towers that will challenge your attacking and defending options in various scenarios on the battlefield. (Top left to bottom right: Blaster; Scorcher; Flamer; Stormray; Hacker; Energizer)



Five different abilities that will bolster your attacking and defending options. Each ability is gained as you progress through the campaign, much like units and enemy towers. (Top left to bottom right: Boost; Repair; Smoke; Decoy; Airstrike)

Basic Hints & Tips

Below is a list of basic hints and tips to help optimise your chances of success during the campaign and when enduring Sun-Tzu Trial missions.

• Shuffling / Relocating Units: This is the best method by which you can avoid sustaining heavy casualties and ultimately blocking you from completing objectives or obtaining achievements. This strategy is taught in the very first mission as the game directs you in relocating your first APC to the back of the squad to avoid losing it to upcoming towers. Using this strategy with your shielded units will give you a near infinite shield as you juggle between the two tanks.
  
  
• Airstrikes: Once you unlock the airstrike ability make sure you use them wisely. You can take out multiple towers simultaneously if you position your airstrike so it covers a dense location of towers. The same damage output is inflicted on a tower regardless of where you set the airstrike, so do not worry about the center being the most lethal as it is not applicable.
  
  
• Chaining Supply Units: Chaining roughly 2-3 supply units will allow you to bolster your attacking and defending options with a near unlimited chain of abilities. If you feel you lack defensively, you may wish to invest in two supply units producing repair, and a third producing smoke or decoy. If you feel your defence is competent enough, you can set one to produce airstrike and another to produce boost. Mix and match and see what you get.

Basic Achievements (Part 1)

Top Gear

Description: Upgrade a unit

Upgrade any unit.

My Private Arsenal

Description:Purchase 10 units

Purchase any 10 units across any number of sessions/missions.

First Gold

Description: Earn 5 gold medals.

Earn five gold medals from any mission(s) on any difficulty. You can obtain a maximum of 2 medals for each mission, and a total of 24 medals covering 12 missions.

• Medal of Ruthlessness: Destroy all towers for that given mission (where possible - may differ for time restricted missions).
  
• Medal of Efficiency: Do not lose any units under your command for that mission.

Collector

Description: Collect 10 abilities

Collect any 10 abilities dropped by destroying towers or supplied by air support throughout the mission.

Helpful Hand

Description: Use abilities 100 times.

Use any ability 100 times. All abilities contribute towards this achievement.

Versatile

Description: Use every ability 5 times each.

Use the boost, repair, smoke, decoy and airstrike abilities five times each. These are not restricted to individual missions therefore feel free to repeat missions (essentially grinding) if it makes it easier.

Basic Achievements (Part 2)

Threat

Description: Destroy 5 towers.

Destroy five towers you encounter on the map. All tower types contribute towards this achievement.

NOTE: This achievement may be bugged if you fail to achieve it after completing the first or second mission. However, you can apply your own fix by following the steps below.

Go to "My Computer" -> "C drive" -> "Users" -> "<name of your user>" -> "My Documents" -> "Anomaly Korea" -> "iPhoneDefUser" -> Delete the following two files in this folder: "achievements" and "achievements.alt". In my account the path to this file looks as follows: C:\Users\Space Pirate\Documents\Anomaly Korea\iPhoneDefUser

War Monger

Description: Destroy 100 towers.

See 'Threat' achievement for details.

Humanity's Hero

Description: Destroy 1000 towers.

See 'Threat' achievement for details.

Pocket Change

Description: Collect $2500.

Collect $2,500 by destroying towers and collecting Carusaurum.

Banker

Description: Collect $10,000

See 'Pocket Change' achievement for details.

Fire Away

Description: Use Horangi Tank's special attack 10 times.

The Horangi tank has a special cannon fire ability. Trigger this ability ten times across any mission.

Main Supplier

Use a supply unit to spawn 10 abilities.

The Supply unit will spawn abilities as you progress through a mission. Collect ten of the spawned abilities across any mission to unlock this achievement.

Challenge Achievements

All In The Family

Description: Destroy each tower type at least once.

There are a total of six different enemy towers as mentioned in the introduction. Destroy each tower type at least once in order to unlock this achievement. You will be confronted by the final tower (Hacker) on mission 9, thereby unlocking this achievement.

Psyche Out

Description: Fool a hacker into attacking a decoy.

The decoy ability automatically attracts the attention of almost all towers within a radius. Spawn a decoy ability near a Hacker tower (mission 9 onwards) to unlock this achievement.

Blitzkrieg

Description: Destroy 10 towers in 10 seconds.

The airstrike ability will become available to you on mission 8 - also the mission most easiest to unlock this achievement. You will start the mission with 1 airstrike ability in your pool. Using only your units and abilities (airstrike being an exception), destroy the first three towers you encounter (indicated in an orange circle on the image below). One of the destroyed enemy towers will drop another airstrike ability. Use both airstrikes on the two groups of 6x Blaster towers as indicated in the yellow circles below.

Convoy

Description: Build a squad of 6 units.

You can do this two ways. You can either sell off all your units at the end of a mission in hopes of accumulating $600 needed to purchase six un-upgraded APC tanks OR you can jump in to mission 6 and start off with $600 and purchase them from the get-go.

Pimp It Up!

Description: Fully upgrade a unit of each type.

Every unit type has three possible upgrades. Upgrade the APC, Crawler, Shield, Horangi, Dragon and Supply unit across any mission to their maximum upgrade capacity to unlock this achievement. You can either do this as you progress through the missions OR by selling off all your units and purchasing upgrades for the tank you wish to max out.

Grinder

Description: Earn 500,000 points.

Points are earned by destroying towers with the amount varying depending on the tower type and difficulty setting for that particular mission. Additional points are earned at the end of a mission for any unspent abilities, cash and surviving units. Feel free to grind missions if it makes it easier.



To view your current pool of points earned, select the main story mission selector. Your overall points are displayed on the top left hand side under global score as shown above.

Mission Challenge Achievements (Part 1)

Ace Rookie

Description: Complete mission 1 without losing any units, with 4 Boosts remaining, on Advanced difficulty or above.

On advanced difficulty or above the game spawns more enemy towers and they tend to be a little more ruthless. As this mission requires the survival of all tanks with four boost abilities remaining, it is fundamental to utilise the skill of shuffling and relocating tanks (as mentioned in the "Basic Hints and Tips" section) and taking the least tower clustered path possible to ensure minimal damage and ability consumption.

Medal of Valor

Description: Complete mission 2 without losing any units, without using Boost, on Advanced difficulty or above.

You will be highly dependent on the repair ability therefore try not to overuse them and instead utilise the skill of shuffling and reallocating units in the squad (as mentioned in the "Basic Hints & Tips" section). I would strongly suggest upgrading units as you progress through the mission by collecting as much Carusaurum and destroying towers without going suicidal. By bolstering the armour and damage output of your units, you will stand a better chance of survival.

Head On

Description: Complete mission 3 attacking 5 scorchers head-on, on Advanced difficulty or above.

You are required to destroy five Scorcher towers while facing and travelling in their direction (as indicated in green on the image below). You will not unlock this achievement if you drive past and then happen to destroy the tower (as indicated in red on the image below) or if the tower happens to survive and you go in for a second attempt.


An unupgraded APC and upgraded Crawler tank should be sufficient to supply a decent amount of fire power initially. You will earn more income as you progress through the mission giving you more flexibility to invest in upgrades and more Crawlers to deal increased damage. Feel free to utilise your abilities to maximise your damage output and ensure minimal to no casualties. Boost will be your best friend in areas where other towers are present in great numbers. Scorcher towers can be a pain and the best way to combat them is either with smoke or repair (or a combination of both).

Tank Lord

Description: Complete mission 4 using only unupgraded tanks, on Advanced difficulty or above

Have a squad consisting of only unupgraded Horangi tanks. Keep an eye on the special fire ability of these tanks as it will come in handy against towers with increased armour. Utilise the shuffling and reallocation skill (see "Basic Hints and Tips" section) to avoid using all abilities. Using other units will not contribute towards this achievement.

Protector

Description: Complete mission 5 without losing your Shielder, on Advanced difficulty or above

Take a good look at the map and set your path accordingly. The indicated bombing zones will destroy everything within the explosion radius except for any Carusaurum which may be present. I would suggest, where possible, to enter and leave the zones as quickly as you can to trigger the countdown. Return to bombing zone once the towers have been destroyed to collect Carusaurum.

Some Blaster towers will be present outside of the indicated bombing zones on the map, therefore you must utilise shuffling and reallocating units (see "Basic Hints & Tips" section) to maximise chances of survival and maintaining a maximum shield threshold between your units. Spend the Carusaurum on upgrading units to increase their damage and armour.

Master Blaster

Description: Complete mission 6 destroying all towers, on Advanced difficulty or above

Start off with a single unupgraded APC and two Crawler tanks upgraded once each. Set a direct route through the middle towards the first databank, leading to the third, and finally down to the second. Click on the two images below for an enlarged view of the path.


The strategy is to cripple the enemy damage output by clearing most but not all towers present at the databanks. Once the majority of towers have been destroyed in databanks 1 and 3, head over to databank 2 and destroy all the towers. The remaining towers in databanks 1 and 3 will take some time to destroy the data, therefore buying you enough time to scout the map and destroy any remaining towers with time to spare. You may want to trigger the boost ability once you enter the databank zones to increase damage output and inevitably reduce both ability consumption and damage inflicted on your own units.

Do not attempt to collect any Carusaurum until you have cleared most of the towers in databanks 1 and 3, and all towers in databank 2.

Mission Challenge Achievements (Part 2)

Scrooge

Description: Complete mission 7 buying just a single unit, on Advanced difficulty of above.

I found the Crawler unit to be the most ideal unit type for this achievement. Select a single Crawler unit and apply two upgrades. As you destroy towers and collect Carusaurum you will have enough funds to invest in a third upgrade. The third upgrade will destroy Blaster towers with a single rocket fire; 2 rockets for Stormray towers; and 2 rockets for Energizer towers. Avoid clusters of enemies and use as many abilities as needed.

Purchasing additional units will not contribute towards this achievement.

Sudden Strike

Description: Complete each of the sectors in mission 8 in under 1 min 50 sec, on Advanced difficulty or above.

Start off with a single APC and two Crawler units. Upgrade the two Crawlers as you progress through the mission and bolster your attacking power. Every unit makes a difference therefore you will have to spam abilities on the battlefield to avoid sustaining heavy casualties. Set the shortest route possible (Ideally in less than 1 minute and 45 seconds). Use the airstrike ability to destroy towers located in spots which may extend your route and ultimately timer. Use the boost ability to extend the firing rate and range of all units. Use a combination of both decoy and smoke against clusters of Stormray and Flamer towers.

Ground Control

Description: Complete mission 9 not triggering any airstrikes, on Advanced difficulty or above.

Start off with a single unupgraded Horangi tank at the front, led by two Crawler tanks with a single upgrade each, and finally a Supply unit producing the airstrike ability.

Set a path following the least most tower inhabited area. You should be fine so long as you avoid triggering any of the designated airstrike hotspots on the map. The airstrike ability in your ability pool and those produced by the Supply unit will not prohibit you from unlocking this achievement, therefore be sure to use them in areas posing the greatest threat. I personally use them on Flamer and Stormray towers because they tend to drain the most health which results in the consumption of multiple abilities which may come in handy at later stages of the mission.

Cautious Captain

Description: Complete mission 10 without activating a single energizer, on Advanced difficulty or above.

This isn't a very difficult achievement to obtain so long as you're careful with your squad path and surroundings. Locate the Energizer towers situated across the map and also take note of tall structures such as buildings, mountains or large boulders near those towers. Ideally these structures will serve as an obstruction to Energizer towers and therefore renders their ability useless. These are also locations where you should consider using abilities to make quick repairs or attack neighbouring enemy towers. Use this to your advantage.

I would recommend firstly attacking the surrounding towers when confronting the three central Energizer towers. Driving head-on towards the Scorcher towers will get you killed in seconds. The last thing you want is to activate an Energizer tower.

Annihilator

Description: In mission 11, destroy every tower in each special zone, on Advanced difficulty or above.

You must destroy all towers within the four individual zones in order to unlock this achievement. Only aim to destroy towers within the four respective special zones, though you may find it necessary to leave the zone in order to use an ability that would otherwise be locked, such as repair.

Avoid charging into the centre of a zone or into large swarms of heavy artillery towers as you will ultimately be walking to your death. Instead, set a path following the outside of the zone. Use the combined power of decoy and smoke where possible to ellude the towers.

TIP: Air strikes can be initiated before your vehicles engage with the enemy. Identify potentially high level threats and use this strategy to your advantage.

Pyrophobia

Description: In mission 12, destroy all energy relays without your squad catching fire, on Advanced difficulty or above.

You must destroy the three energy relays in the three corners of the map in order to unlock this achievement.

The central alien stronghold will fire beams that will cause explosions to nearby gas tanks. Look ahead the map and avoid driving into these traps even if you need the Carusarum for upgrades or new units. It isn't worth the risk. Flamer towers also contribute towards stopping you from unlocking this achievement so be extra careful not to get burnt by them.

You will unlock the achievement once you have destroyed all three energy relays without having to destroy the central stronghold.

Completion Achievements

Hero

Description: Complete the campaign.

Complete the campaign on any difficulty setting - Casual, advanced or hardcore.

Hardcore Hero

Description: Complete the campaign on Hardcore difficulty.

Complete the campaign on hardcore difficulty setting.

Golden God

Description: Earn all gold medals in the game.

See 'First Gold' achievement for details.

Sun-Tzu

Description: Complete all Art of War Trials.

Complete all Art of War Trial missions. Art of War Trial missions are unlocked as you progress through the campaign story.

Special Thanks & End of Guide

I would like to specially thank the people below for their efforts in getting the achievements to work after so long.

• Allmighty Pudding - For working tirelessly with the community to find a possible fix. Much appreciated!
  
• The 47 - For finding the problem associated with achievement bugs. Thanks a bunch for your efforts!
  
• Code11 - For explaining the mission 4 and mission 5 challenge achievements and directing the iPhoneDef fix after testing with The 47.
  
• Wedge - For adding depth to the 'Head-On' achievement and for providing a source to fix the 'Sudden Strike' achievement bug.
  
• Sleja - Thank you for confirming the achievements work as they should.
  
• DMDuncan37 - Suggesting a tip for mission 11 to make the journey slightly less tiresome.

That should wrap everything up. If you have any further questions feel free to ask.

Thank you for reading and happy gaming!

Guide Change Log

9th May 2015 - Updated most achievement descriptions with added depth and detail to fully explain what is required of the player. An image has been added to the 'Head-On' achievement to further clarify the requirements.

11th May 2015 - Updated information for the 'Sudden Strike' achievement.

4th August 2016 - Added a community suggested tip to a mission 11 associated achievement.

[Nicantob]

Thank you very much! Intresting thing I found. Head On Achievement told that your need "Complete mission 3..." But I received it when I destroy 3rd Scorcher dyring my 2nd try. I did not recieve it at my first try by myself so I tried to follow you guide at the second time.

[NCS ENG]

You can check out exactly how to beat all the Art of War missions via this YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBP2X-dp99y2IdN0D2QaohwaXdCp7YpIx

[ToxicDog]

Hello, I added your guide here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=963020290
I hope you enjoy it ^^

[Strategius]

I am just wondering if you are allowed to restart from a checkpoint to still unlock some achievs. I had a lot of trouble with not unlocking achievs. My conclusion would be that you have to finish the level without restarting at a checkpoint. For example I finished Level 7 with a single unit but didn't get the achiev. That was because I restarted at the beginning from the first checkpoint then the game counted it as a further unit (I had to buy this single unit again of course). As I finished the level without restarting it unlocked just fine. I think this tips are missing and would have been very helpful to me and save time.

[Ult]

Hi DMDuncan37. I'm glad this guide has helped you. I have added your tip to the guide. Thank you for contributing! :)

[DMDuncan37]

Thank you for your guide
TIPS MISSION 11 : you can use Air Strike before enter the zone (no air strike)

[Ult]

1) For your first playthrough I'd recommend playing on casual just so you can familiarise yourself with the different units and abilities. You can then attempt advanced or hardcore with the knowledge and confidence of a feasible strategy for each mission. Up to you though. If you trust your tower offense skills then go for it.

2) You must complete all 12 missions of the main campaign on hardcore difficulty.

3) I have no idea. It does seem somewhat out of place though, lol.

[DeRockProject (jongyon7192p)]

Do you recommend I play this game on advanced or hardcore difficulty on my first playthrough? And do I need to beat ALL missions in hardcore to get the hardcore achievement?
Also, lol, this is set in Korea, but there's an achievement named after a chinese guy. I mean, okay, Sun-tzu's pretty cool so I guess it's okay. His name is pronounced "Son-ja" in korea.

[Ult]

Great! Sudden Strike appears to be working. Thanks for the help!

@Sleja Welcome. Congrats on 100%.

[sleja]

I just got the Sudden Strike achievement today without reinstalling the game. I did restart some checkpints but it was the first time I played this mission on advanced difficulty. Oh and thanks for the guide, it helped me big time with other achievements.