Knuckle Cracker

Rather than take the bottom of the map first, head up the right hand side and try and take out as many ship spawners as possible. If you do not have an early advantage just holding your ground becomes very very difficult, let alone advancing!

LaserGun and Economic ships can stay out of the green energy range, and early amp gem(s) can upgrade energy range for the Fast Ships, and BigLatchers/Demolishers should be built ASAP to build the mines and attack the two resting ship stations. In 5 minutes you should have conquered all the "first map division"! (Almost the only way to capture Siege and Mini Thor ship pickups in time before enemy's big ships start attacking)
Edit: Early omnis also help with "latching"

I started by getting the mini-Thor to get it built as fast as possible, iirc I think I also took out one of the nearby mk7 spawners. Then lathing the 2nd row of spawners(by the 3 islands). After that it was a gruesome battle using my mini-Thor to defend aswell as timed counter-attacks to slowly take over the map bit by bit, in order from bottom to top. It was doable but just barely, this is where some of my criticism of the ships comes in, sometimes the ballshots would take out the enemy quite easily and sometimes it would miss completely. Careful placement is needed but there still was a element of chance. I think I saved and reloaded at least 20 times making my total playtime on this map around 4 hours or so.

In retrospect it would definitely be a better choice to focus on the upper part thus avoiding most of the ship battles completely, but in my run I had troubles dealing with the cannons so I focused on getting my fleet up instead, hoping the fourthcoming ships wouldnt to be that bad. By the time I realised that my tactics werent optimal, my stubbornness and conviction that it was still doable made me continue on.

To take the entire bottom, half the middle and the top right hand corner but then the big nasty ship came through and wiped me out again and I just lost the will to live, this happens from time to time in this map!!! Disable as many ship builders as early as possible as the map becomes savage at around 20 mins or so.

Don't forget that you can only destroy the enemy mine (and build your own mine) and the stationary ship once (while it's CM is very vulnerable). Without the energy mine, the building will be slowed down and you can latch it later (focus on latching other stuff)

Laterals (the land with the piercing cannon) can be easily taken with omnis. A single Hammer Mk2 can tank damage without being destroyed. And also, there's enough space in green range for your demolisher :D
You can destroy the two Mk7 stations (near the Mini-Thor pickup) by using Siege Ships from the laterals. Demolishers should be used to protect against other ships.
It's also time to build 2 grabbers and leave them over your friendly emitters (of the starting point). Accumulate particles and throw them against the Latche Bus that comes from the middle. The lateral Latche Bus should be destroyed by your Demolisher.

Siege Ships take Mk7 stations down quickly. But never forget the micro-management: Mk7's shots will hit hard almost all your ships. At this point your HQ should be very far from the fight.
Well... when I was playing to upload I had managed to reach the top of the map before the 2nd enemy Mini-Thor wave came (and yes, I was with my Mini-Thor), making it easier. Ah, I came from the laterals. I didn't advance from the middle.
If its not your situation, try going straight from the middle and hitting the super energy mine to unpower enemy ships and piercing cannons.

This time my CN has spent 95% of the time in the top 3rd picking off stuff while the battle rages below. The challenge is managing both hence lots of saves, loads and pausing!

#Opening
Upgrade defensive strut.
Lathe the two mines.
Build three omni right and one left and leave till they collect the gems.
Upgrade omni reactors and mine energy.
Move three omni to the right corner where they can convert energy mine, mire land and pickup lathe ship.
Move one omni to left corner to pickup lathe ship.
Build other ships as energy allows
Use HQ to convert left corner mine, then the other mines on the lower left. Ships without mines are easy game to destroy while waiting for destructor ships to bulld.
Upgrade build speed (you will build a lot of ships.

#Phase two.
Take the cannon on the left side (use a couple of sacrificial omni to deplete its energy before sending in the lathes.
Mire the mid left island and get siege ship.
With destructors, destroy the mid-left ship (this might have been a cunning time to nab the mini-thor). Destroy its energy mine for a quick victory.
Raid the top side of the map. The more ship spawners you destroy the easier it will be later.
Focus on the cannon - then put an omni in their place.
Once the enemy MK7 come on line, retreat. If you haven't destroyed say six of the top row of ships and several of the second row, restart.

#Phase three
Clear out the bottom of the map. With the siege ship this should be easy.

#Phase four.

Destroy the cannon the siege ship from the right hand side. Don't try to advance up the right flank.

#Phase five.
Attack the central MK7 ships and get the minithor if you didn't get it earlier (which might have been much easier)
Lots of micromanagement.
Use one lathe ship to keep reclaiming mines at the bottom of the map. Omni can fit the lower right corner and two of the flip emitters.
With luck you can bait the mobile MK7 ship into strut so it keeps having to be repaired. Otherwise it is a pain.

#Phase six
With the minithor attack the top energy mine (clearing out other stuff on the way. Once the top mine is converted, the game will very soon be over.

Take bottom two mines, build two omni right and one left island, destroy HQ and use one amp gem for defensive structure. Allow omnis to take amp gems then move to bottom corners to collect lathe units. I then just slowly built up a fleet here but did not push out at all for 5 mins. Meanwhile...

When CN is ready to respawn landed just to the right of the centre of the middle tier and took the mine and then the ship spawner (just to the right of centre) before moving in to take the Mini Thor tech. As soon as the mine was taken I built an omni on the extreme bottom right of its range and landed it on the middle right island to take out the gun and collect the tech In retrospect may have been better to go left as you can take out a flip emitter).

The second the Mini Thor was collected I headed North as quick as possible and took out the whole lower line of spwaners and ship builders causing havoc with my HQ before heading for a corner and slowly working my way in for the next 10 mins.

Down below slowly pushed out into bottom corners and then up one side and then secured whole of the bottom. Thor came online at about 15 mins and it got easier. Kept all units together as much as possible, strength is in numbers in this level.

Very handy trick – you can trick the big guns on the top line with your HQ. Approach a gun at an angle of about 45 degrees. Just before you are in range place your ship as horizontal to the gun as possible. Rather than shoot at your HQ the gun will aim where it thinks you are going. Pause and quickly place your ship at 90 degrees or greater. The gun will then shoot in that direction with a little splatter that you should be able to avoid. Make sure that every movement of your HQ is to the extremes even if you only want to shuffle an inch. With a little practice you can work your way in and take out the guns with nothing more than your HQ. I was able to prevent the MiniThor from building making the map a lot easier.

Also do not underestimate the support ships. They are self powered and so work best outside of an energy mine radius and they can build ships here without any drain on your network. Vital for quick rebuilding if a MK7 destroys most of your fleet. And this will happen. A lot.

I started the same way everyone else did, with the omnis going left and right.  As soon as the two energy mines were made I disabled lasers and cannons on my HQ (to conserve energy) and sent it north to gather the miniThor tech and to nullify one of the two mk7 spawners.

Then I flew it all the way to the top and destroyed the two left most structures.

Then went south and destroyed the 8 structures floating in the center of the top. Then flew to the top right and destroyed the two on that corner.

At that point I parked the HQ in the top right where he stayed until it was finally destroyed mid game.

Basically at that point I held my ground at the bottom until the mini thor was completed and then it was a standard battle.

Dodging mk7 fire was key, and destroying those nightmare inducing latheship terrors before they undo much of your work. I found the "Fast Ship" was perfect to destroying them with a single kamikaze mission. If one wasn't available the Laser Gun also makes a great suicide mission.

The demolishers and the Shield ships were pretty much useless and I ignored them. Support ships were critical. I found that sending both support ships up the side along with the minithor and 2 BigLatchers they almost kept up with the energy requirements. That's what I used to finally take the top. Once I got that central energy mine, it was a rush of relief.

Thanks Joao for the nice game.

I'm going to post my custom modules in Custom Modules Thread after finishing the 2 last maps.

Install HQ, Defensive Struc, Omnis, gems, Omni techs, pin down the left with the HQ, two Omnis each way.

Wasted a little HQ lathing time, by letting the guard ship on the next island build.

Get lower-left under control and mired, build everything available. Amp Demolisher. Press right, placing the Demolisher at extreme range and backing it up.

Control right corner once maintained rocketry depletes and then destroys the big ship. Another amped Demolisher. Put both on one side, fighting the station pairs. Eventually they will break through. Capture. Use freed-up power to take the other side. You now have breathing room. The three spawners are ready to assault, but I didn't hold the middle mine.

At some point, various ships start attacking. The Varro is worse than the mini-Thor, because the latter is more vulnerable to the particle-based weaponry. The Varro takes the hit in the front two MK7s, and keeps shooting as it retreats. Ram anything without an MK7 with a Fast Ship, 2/3 odds it survives. Extremely effective against those Lathe barges. If you have a pair, have then tag-team, one wounding the hull, and the other diving for the Core thereafter. This keeps both alive if done properly.

Omni rush to get the Siege Ships (right, then left). A little micro-dodging with stacked Omnis helps. Start building large ships in the still-protected starting area, with the helpful blue plasma. Amp the Siege Ship(s).

Push up from the left island, then right. This will take a long time, and you will lose a lot of ships, because you have nothing good against MK7s. Eventually, you will have the left of the second area.

Start chipping away at the twin MK7 ships. Eventually, they'll lack for the power to shoot. You will have problems from the other ships coming down. Persevere. Get the last remaining ship. By this point, you should have two Support ships, and know that when the MK7s stop firing, the Demolisher can come into its own.

While the Mini Thor builds, consolidate, and begin to fire at the MK7 station above you, left of the island. Again, patience. You't forget to keep managing the positioning to prevent an inopportune Varro. Work out where a Siege Ship needs to go to take out a Mini-Thor over that metallic land.

When you have a mini-Thor, the map is almost over. One Siege ship and the Demolishers can hold your base at the left-middle, and the Supports can shift power up as the lathes attack. Start at one end, work your way along, and finally go down at the right-hand egde to fry the ship you left alive earlier.

It takes a long time to recover if that happens when you are attacking and about to field an assault from the big visitors.