Farbor.

[Neko187]

I failed on my first attempt pretty bad and phase 2 seemed less likely to succeed so I started over. Does anything outside that map change at all if you beat it in phase 2?

No, nothing changes.

you can drop all 3 command nodes on the center island and nullify 1 pair of building nodes and the spore tower on the bottom right corner

That's not possible.

Yes it is.

Edit: In fact, it's even possible through some command node juggling to nullify the upper right build nodes. not sure if it's worth it though...

[4xC]

No it is definitly not worth it. The corner islands are the only hope for establishing an economy. And notice how little health the CN's have in the pic.

[ThirdParty]

Yeah, I found this a difficult map, and didn't do terribly well.  I'm not a very fast player; I'm more of the slow, methodical type.

I secured the northwest and southeast islands by moving quickly at the start.  I put snipers on the power zones to try to slow down the enemy ore harvesting, and expanded to the small creeper-free islands on the north and south (had to use guppies for the south one), so I could fill them up with snipers too.  (Though I had an accident; an enemy spore hit the northern island.)  Then I tried to assault the western and southern islands.  Unfortunately, I was rushing and my assault on the western one failed somehow; I did manage to get a solid foothold on the southern one, though, and fill it up with anticreeper.  Around this time the enemy ship launched.  Oops.

I now had twenty minutes to reach the northeast corner.  I gave up on trying to take the western and southwestern islands, and instead just ordered some guppies to ferry spare ore and energy from my stalemated northwest base to my active southeast base.  At this point I had six operational ore mines (well, as long as my snipers could keep them from being crushed; it takes about 3-4 snipers per mine), and my forge had completed all range upgrades; so I dismantled the old guppy-supported sniper base on the tiny island between the main island and the south island, and replaced it with a landline and some sprayers.  They were able to establish an anti-creeper foothold on the southwestern end of the main island, and I successfully got a connection in place.  From there it was an easy ten-minute sprayer-supported march across the main island.

(I guess that's fairly similar to what MatrixQ did, although he seems to be using more firepower and less anticreeper.)

[creeper killer]

Anti-creeper is your friend.
Really helps get a stable foothold on the main island with relays.

I beat it at like, 96% construction xD.

[Neko187]

No it is definitly not worth it. The corner islands are the only hope for establishing an economy. And notice how little health the CN's have in the pic.

Your point? They don't die when they lose all their health, just get sent back to orbit.

[Fisherck]

This is a run-through by me before the release. I still haven't made it this far since the release (too busy...). But, not only is it possible to take out the bottom right platforms, it's possible, with extensive micromanaging to place a foothold on the main island :) I hope to eventually make a video of how to do this once I make it there. Very slowly...

[Clean0nion]

Okay... so I did in the end beat the map at 63%.

Here's how I ended up doing it. (long post)

Spoiler

On the south east island, I put down a CN and some collectors, relays, etc. Added two beamers and some mortars. Built my way up to the emitter and nullified it, then put a sniper on the PZ. I did the same on the north west island as well, but added more reactors and a forge.

Once the creeper's ore collection was complete, I destroyed both snipers, and put a Bertha on each PZ.

I then spent the next while building up my reactor supply, and put all of my aether into energy efficiency, along with a bit of packet speed.

I then built and charged around 20 guppies, 15 on the north island and 5 on the south. On the south island, I built about ten cannons, and about five mortars on the north island. Once both these and the berthas had charged, I moved the cannons to the central island, on the northwest corners just above the exclusion zone. When the cannons were the same distance from this spot as the mortars, I began moving them as well to the same spot. When the mortars were halfway there, I paused.

I arranged the destination of all the weapons into a ring so that I could fit my third CN into the middle. I also sent all of my guppies as near to it as I could. Finally I aimed both berthas at the site's approximate location. Then I unpaused.

When the weapons were about to land, I threw down the CN, and the berthas fired at almost the same time. Having a Bertha on a PZ means its ammo can store two shots and it fires three bombs in a triangle shape instead of one. This cleared the space very well, and it was a safe landing.

I moved the weapons about, one by one, so I could fit in a few collectors and reactors. Then guess what I did?

Spoiler

I BUILT A LINE OF SHIELDS AND DUMPED A NULLIFIER AT THE END.

[close]

Yes I did. Level complete, no emitters destroyed, no sporers destroyed, no anticreeper used, no expansion to other islands. And 63%.

[close]

For someone who complains on the forum so much, I think I did pretty well. Thanks to all you guys for helping me, and sorry to all the people I called liars and hackers. Except those who are.

[Grauniad]

Spoiler

Spoiler

LOL... funny that. :)

[close]

[close]

[Neko187]

Okay... so I did in the end beat the map at 63%.

Here's how I ended up doing it. (long post)

Spoiler

On the south east island, I put down a CN and some collectors, relays, etc. Added two beamers and some mortars. Built my way up to the emitter and nullified it, then put a sniper on the PZ. I did the same on the north west island as well, but added more reactors and a forge.

Once the creeper's ore collection was complete, I destroyed both snipers, and put a Bertha on each PZ.

I then spent the next while building up my reactor supply, and put all of my aether into energy efficiency, along with a bit of packet speed.

I then built and charged around 20 guppies, 15 on the north island and 5 on the south. On the south island, I built about ten cannons, and about five mortars on the north island. Once both these and the berthas had charged, I moved the cannons to the central island, on the northwest corners just above the exclusion zone. When the cannons were the same distance from this spot as the mortars, I began moving them as well to the same spot. When the mortars were halfway there, I paused.

I arranged the destination of all the weapons into a ring so that I could fit my third CN into the middle. I also sent all of my guppies as near to it as I could. Finally I aimed both berthas at the site's approximate location. Then I unpaused.

When the weapons were about to land, I threw down the CN, and the berthas fired at almost the same time. Having a Bertha on a PZ means its ammo can store two shots and it fires three bombs in a triangle shape instead of one. This cleared the space very well, and it was a safe landing.

I moved the weapons about, one by one, so I could fit in a few collectors and reactors. Then guess what I did?

Spoiler

I BUILT A LINE OF SHIELDS AND DUMPED A NULLIFIER AT THE END.

[close]

Yes I did. Level complete, no emitters destroyed, no sporers destroyed, no anticreeper used, no expansion to other islands. And 63%.

[close]

For someone who complains on the forum so much, I think I did pretty well. Thanks to all you guys for helping me, and sorry to all the people I called liars and hackers. Except those who are.

Pics or it didn't happen.
Also: do you WANT Virgil to nerf them?
Another Also: Not the fastest time.

[PsudoSage]

Well, this level is definitely a GG for me. I've watched videos, read advice, spent ages constantly pausing to micro everything and still cant even get close. I've spent hours on several attempts and its just not happening, i really hope this level gets a nerf so i can continue with this game, its been really good up to this level, such a shame for a time based level to ruin the whole thing.  :'(

[teknotiss]

Well, this level is definitely a GG for me. I've watched videos, read advice, spent ages constantly pausing to micro everything and still cant even get close. I've spent hours on several attempts and its just not happening, i really hope this level gets a nerf so i can continue with this game, its been really good up to this level, such a shame for a time based level to ruin the whole thing.  :'(

well you may have tried, but you haven't mastered the whole energy management thing yet. :)
i like to overbuild, but you can't on this one, i didn't even build terps, i just crammed in reactors as fast as i could wherever i could.
the key is to stay just in the green with energy production.
also every second saved in the early game is worth 10's of secs later.
so get a few collectors on each single emitter island, when i had 2 collectors i started a blaster (you will be in deficit still but you need to get out asap). then more collectors and then reactors, one at a time. get a mortar per island when the C is getting a bit heavy, and you should be good to get going.
good luck with that, and don't quit, this mission is hard, but a lot of the community maps are going to be much harder.
this isn't a reason to give up, it's a challenge to improve your skill level.
8)

also pause alot!  ;)

[PsudoSage]

I have been managing my energy properly on this level, i have tried constantly pausing for every thing thats built to set up my next build, no terping or anything just mortar, blaster and a sprayer to start with. Ive tried making lots of reactors but it just doesn't help, reactors take so long to build and this is a time map. I started trying this map at 5:30pm yesterday, its now 2am and im still nowhere with it.

[Michionlion]

I have been managing my energy properly on this level, i have tried constantly pausing for every thing thats built to set up my next build, no terping or anything just mortar, blaster and a sprayer to start with. Ive tried making lots of reactors but it just doesn't help, reactors take so long to build and this is a time map. I started trying this map at 5:30pm yesterday, its now 2am and im still nowhere with it.

You do know that there are two stages in which you can complete the map, before and after the ship is launched, correct?  Because that gives you a total of 30 minutes, which should be PLENTY of time.

[PsudoSage]

After several hours and with only 2% to spare I finally did it. Still got the rest of the level to beat but ive saved a slot after destroying the middle thing. Time for a tea break

[Michionlion]

After several hours and with only 2% to spare I finally did it. Still got the rest of the level to beat but ive saved a slot after destroying the middle thing. Time for a tea break

First or second stage?