If you are a coop player or a veteran that has conquered the Dyson Sphere with nearly boring regularity feel free to disregard this discussion. If you are new to Reforged Eden (RE) then perhaps the discussion may be of value and I thank you in advance for feedback.

New players are introduced to terms "early game" "mid game" and "late game" and may wonder what these terms signify. There are nearly 3X the opinions of what these terms mean as there are players and here is one of those.

"Early game" has a fairly obvious beginning and transitions to "mid game" when the player unlocks the Project Eden missions starting with "Make Contact with Terran Forces". This introduces the player to the Lead Researcher on the UCH Research Vessel in their starting system who has information regarding the Progenitors. While there are many missions that comprise mid game, one theme seems to weave throughout the player's galactic experience and that is the goal of unlocking the gateway to Progenitor space. Once the player has done so, they follow the story line until they are invited to visit the Dyson Sphere. This has the player warp to the Dyson system and visit four sectors until finally being directed to find a way into the Dyson Sphere at Sphere Access. Upon arrival, the player map has a single chevron and that is the Space Elevator. Unless warned in advance (such as this article is doing), the new player blithely travels forward until they are confronted with the real challenges of the Sphere. Continuing the original thread, surviving the Sphere is not in itself the transition from mid to end game. IMHO, that transition is when the player visits the technology tree and realizes that in order to get any further in the game they will need to expand their CPU past the 2.1 M Reforged limit. When the player has successfully done so, again in my opinion, they have moved into end game. The Dyson Sphere is one of several means of doing this since it delivers the very delicious Advanced CPU Core with its 1 M upgrade as a reward for finishing the mission. But finishing the mission is the challenge for the single player and even more challenging is doing it with off-the-shelf mid game technology and equipment. But the authors never intended the game to be unplayable and the Sphere reflects that since it is not actually 1 mission but 4 as of RE 1.5. If the new player is patient and persistent, then they will prevail as the authors intended.

Phase 1 - The Symbiotes.

As mentioned earlier, the unknowing player will start moving their CV toward the Space Elevator and somewhere between 7 and 3 km from the Elevator be confronted by a converging cloud of Symbiote drones. The drones themselves are found elsewhere in RE but at the Sphere they seem to come in very high numbers. Of themselves, they are no worse than other drones but Symbiotes are pack hunters. If unprepared the player's shield, hull and avatar are rapidly disintegrated by the coordinated energy blasts of the drones. As noted elsewhere, Symbiote battles are very violent and very short. There are likely hundreds of means of defeating the Symbiotes at the Sphere but even off the shelf mid game technology can accomplish this.

When I first looked at the Symbiote formation, I was reminded of the massed armor attacks noted in WWII and that war actually presented an effective means of defeating them. Erwin Rommel perfected the technique of charging his panzers at British armor formations and try to turn their flank using the classic "swine array" attack. But if the panzers were unable to turn the flank of their opponents, they would fall back and hope for the British to pursue and if they did they would fall victim to Rommel's 88 mm anti-tank weapons. This happened so frequently that Rommel quoted the Duke of Wellington : "They came at us in the usual way and we threw them back in the usual way."

Space batteries with 4 turrets use a single CPU plus 1 basic extender. I would approach to about 6 km from the elevator and spawn in 4 missile batteries, 2 flak and 2 minigun arranged in a square around my attack CV. I would then plunge ahead and try to break up the Symbiotes as in a swine array attack plan. I then hit the breaks and reverse back into the protection of my batteries. If successful, the Symbiotes break up into individual attacks and your CV turrets and the spawned batteries can cut them to pieces. But even if they still try to coordinate their attack, you can still employ a Rogue Roll to try to distribute their fire around your vessel. The battle is over when you are alive and surrounded by Symbiote wrecks. Exit and collect. Congratulations. You have survived phase 1.

Phase 2 - The Progenitor Defense Arrays

If the player is not afraid to burn resources, then the Sphere is actually better approached with specialized CVs for each phase. For phase 1, any number of non-quantum CVs can do the job. In my case, I built a private CV that was a cross between Spanj's Vendetta and the Proteus gunship. The Vendetta has the classic wedge that typifies a swine array attack formation while the Proteus uses layers of hardened, combat and xeno steel to insulate the player in an armored cocoon. The CV sacrificed everything for turrets and was only about 3K below the 2.1 M limit. And in Reforged, blocks are not penalized against the CPU so layer as much as you feel safe but can still move in the vehicle.

The Progenitor Defense Arrays (4 surround the Space Elevator) have 14 double-sided ion turrets with each turret having 4K hit points. To attack them I used a simple CV with 2 double sided 375 mm artillery turrets. Again, this phase 2 CV was stripped of everything else and managed to work with a single Improved CPU added to the core and basic CPU. Inch the CV forward until the 375's begin to pick up the scent and then be patient as they snipe each battery in turn. There is something very satisfying in watching the secondary explosions as the 375's de-fang the Arrays.

When the turrets falls silent even as you inch forward, you have managed to survive phase 2. But be sure to visit the Arrays. Each Array has a pair of Ultra cargo at the top and 8 Very cargo around the midsection with 4 reinforced containers at the base. All four will give you some impressive Epic weaponry like the Gauss shotgun and nearly 50 Progenitor Technology fragments.

Phase 3 - The Elevator.

At first glance, the elevator may seem the domain of an SV or even the player going full EVA with an Epic weapon. Going down the shaft, the player has to negotiate several interlocking blocks obstructing the pathway. They have only about 100 HP and are easy to destroy. But after about 12 such blockades, 4 ion turrets need to be destroyed to advance further. A skilled player with a shield SV and rail guns (or even the new sledgehammer torpedo) can do so. Instead I built my 3rd private CV that was 3x3 blocks to fit down the shaft and mounted at the front was a single 375. Inching forward after taking out the 12 blockades, the 375 acquired the ion batteries and went to work. But the single 375 will take more time. Be patient. After the first set of 4 ion turrets yet more blockades. After about 4 more, a 2nd set of 4 ion turrets await the player. Same procedure. After taking out all 8 turrets you are nearly there. Some more blockades need to be taken out before reaching the bottom of the shaft but there are no more turrets. You have survived the Elevator.

Phase 4 - The Watcher

At the bottom of the shaft are 4 portals, each with a control console. At any of the consoles you enter into dialogue with the Watcher who warns you that it is not too late to turn back. Of course you ignore the Watcher and enter a portal to be transported into a large room with a large set of blast doors at the opposite end. As of 1.5 you can breathe easy and gather loot from the boxes in the room and act like a kid at Christmas with your new Advanced Core. But be warned. If you go up to those blast doors, evil whispering beckons. Work in progress.

Enjoy