Completed the campaign on Normal difficulty, very well done overall. I had a good bunch of fun and challenge. Replaying again on Hard, and making lots of notes for a guide. I'll post what I already have (up to the Boar mission) early next week.
Congrats on completing the campaign. I'm still on the dense with this one. Looks intriguing. Nullzone: I look forward to seeing what your guide is all about.
Well, I can definitely recommend it, if that helps you choosing a side of the fence Guide won't be anything extraordinary, no indepth analysis or somesuch. Just what gets me through the game, basic mission hints, build order, that kind of things.
[GAME GUIDE] Part 1 - some general blabla Now, let's cover some basics first: I am writing this guide while playing on Hard mode after I won on Normal. Enemy units have more hitpoints and do more damage in Hard. But the main difference is that on Hard almost every enemy has a Ward, and you need to plan for removing a lot of them over the missions' course. However, the basic advise for completing a mission still stands on easier difficulties; it's just, well, easier Stuff about the strategic Base and Planetary System Map part: - I won't mention all the time that you need to restock your army, that's pretty much expected. - If possible, always let mission timers (almost) run out: this gives you more time to collect resources, upgrade stuff, etc. I'll note whether you can safely let a timer run out or not. - For the levels of the Base, I am counting down. So, the top floor is 1, next one down is 2, then 3, etc. Digging and destroying rocks get more expensive the further down you get. Building costs for rooms do not change, though. - Sometimes in the "Base" parts, I'll make recommendations like "Dig 3 right", shorthand for "3rd floor down, dig out an empty room on the right side of the elevator shaft". - Foundries and Uranium Factory: Credits to xcxc for reminding me about those. Each Foundry and Uranium Factory needs one Mine on the Planetary Map to provide the raw materials for it. Also, each Foundry/Factory has its own timer for when it delivers resources. If you try to build more F/Fs than you have Mines, you even get a huge warning popup that "This room will not produce resources until you secure additional mines". So, for example: With 2 Foundries level 1 and 2 Mines, you have 2 separate timers for resource delivery running. Each gives you 10 Metal when the timers is up. When you build a third Foundry now, it won't have any effect. But conquer an area with a 3rd Metal mine, and your third Foundry will also deliver 10 Metal regularly, on its own timer. NOTE: Originally I thought that you only need one of each, Foundry and Uranium Factory. So I built only one of each in this playthrough so far. Currently I am at the "chapter" where you liberate planet Kali, and I almost always had enough Metal and Uranium to build what I want. While everything is running at full steam just fine for now, a second Foundry could be handy in the near future. So I'll build one now, and keep an eye on it if it's needed or if you can do without. However, there was a short phase where I was short on Metal and had to wait a bit to restock my army. If you want to be on the safe side, build a second Foundry as soon as you secure the second Mine and can afford it. I don't know yet if you'll need a third one. On my normal playthrough, I was at max Metal constantly (with a Storeroom I) way before the endgame. - Upgrading units in the Research Center: Most of the time, you will be pressed for resources, and cannot do everything at once. When it comes to upgrading units, always give your Mechs priority. Next in line should be the Jeeps, simply because we'll use so many of them. Then followed by whatever unit makes the most sense at that time: e.g. when the next mission requires a lot of Tanks, and we still have an upgrade left for them, it's a good idea to do that one first - if it completes before the mission comes up. - You can only add one module of each specific type to a unit. E.g. 2x Protection+1 is not possible, but Regen+1 and Regen+2 is. Combaty stuff: When I write about how I won a mission, that's what worked best for me. By all means, experiment on your own, what fits your playstyle and works for you. And if you find another way to win one, let us know in the thread Also, most of the time I will not give turn by turn breakdowns, but a general tactics overview. E.g. a "push west with your Mech, conquer the nearest west Base" can take several turns to actually complete. - Targetting: Painting a target with the Targetting Drone (aka "Spotter") doubles your damage output, e.g. from 5 to 10 (very handy to get rid of e.g. those 10HP Crabs with one pimped Arty shot). I did not check what happens with crits, or how damage reduction is applied in this case. Painting does NOT stack! So, no need to paint the same target with two Drones. - Wards: Wards are those purple shield bubbles around units. They block one incoming attack completely. So, in most cases it's better to use a cheap low-damage unit (Jeeps, looking at you) to blow the Ward, and then followup with enough damage to ideally destroy the unit in the same turn. - Damage Reduction: Also pay attention to Damage Reduction (DR), especially when you absolutely have to take out an enemy unit right now, like those pesky Hackers. I got a nasty surprise more than once, when my damage calculation was off and it didn't die, because I forgot to check for DR. - Support Fire: Another nasty trick the enemy likes to use (and you can do too). When an Arty piece has a small cannon icon next to it, it incidates it's capable of Support Fire. This works very much like Counterattack, but on every unit of ours within range of the Arty that attacks an enemy unit. In some missions you can earn a veritable firestorm to the face when you are in the wrong spot. You have been warned
@Alexey: Feel free to copy any or all parts of my guide to your Wiki, permission happily granted Oh, and a request: Can we get a visual indicator (like those small Counter Attack icons) that a unit has Damage Reduction?
[GAME GUIDE] Part 2 - Your Units: Jeep and Arty Attack Vehicle ("Jeep"): Your bread and butter cannon fodder, chaff, Ward remover, light damage dealer, base catcher, younameit. On top of being fast and versatile, they are your cheapest unit at 1AP. They should have upgrade focus right after your Mechs. With 2 Module slots at level 4, you can gear them out for different roles, from glasscannon damage dealer to damage sponge. I try to always keep a Forcefield on them: With their 4 base HP, the 1 Damage Reduction lets them survive a 4 Damage hit, the most common attack around for some time. A Regen+1 module as second one is a good choice for a good while, for when they survive the first hit. Putting in HP+1 doesn't make much sense early on, as with 5HP they will still fall to 2 attacks almost without fail. However, when the enemy standard damage increases from 4 to 5, that additional HP again allows them to survive one hit. And I strongly prefer 5 damage wasted on a Jeep than having it thrown at my Mech As I mainly use them for Ward removal, base catching, and cheap chaff, for my playstyle e.g. extra damage or extra critchance is pretty much wasted on them. With the Advanced Armor module (HP+3/AP+1), you can get them up to 7HP, which makes them quite resilient. But the huge downside is that their AP cost doubles to 2. Unless there are very specific circumstances that demand otherwise, I always keep them at 1AP cost, to make it easier to get them out en masse. Artillery ("Arty"): I rarely used Arty on my Normal playthrough. That changed after playing Uranium Wall on Hard: Pimp them out for extra range and damage, keep them save behind your lines, and they can wreck some real havoc. I'm using them more often as longrange snipers now. Range+1/AP+1, Dam+2/HP-2 Modules: Really good setup in my opinion. The only downside is that it turns them into glasscannons, so use the extra Range to keep them out of harm's way. When I talk about Arty or "pimped Arty", I refer to this setup unless I say otherwise. Dam+1 & Dam+2/HP-2 is another option for even more hurt. But it's very risky: While being down to 1HP doesn't make a difference from 2HP, 4 Range quite often puts you into enemy firing range. And well, then you are toast.
finished the game on normal. some spoilers below: Spoiler one tip I could give is for the destroy the augment dropship missions. if you're in a hurry and don't need the augment parts, you can use the 3 battle armors(knight/heavy tank/lionheart) as tank/bait (for modules: stack protection + regen) and have the chancellor(modules: damage/mobility) rush the dropship (usually going around the mountains) and snipe it. AI never go back to the dropship to defend it (atleast on my playthrought). I only had capacity for 70 units and 3 iron ore factories and had 130/70 units and max ores/uranium near the end of the game because I rarely use units besides the battle armors once I acquired 3 of them. only upgraded the battle armors and no units.
@xcxc: Congratulations on completing the game! And thanks for the tip. I figured out something similar, but yours is much better - no unit losses. Mind if I add it to my guide? With proper credits, of course. Also, thanks for the reminder to check the Foundries and Uranium Mines. GUIDE UPDATE: I just added a piece about them to Part 1 of the Guide.
sure no prob the heroes only strategy probably won't work on hard mode (haven't tried yet). also don't fret if you're heroes gets destroyed just to complete the mission objective. they always come back! (except for 1 or 2 storyline quest)
Works, I just tried zero losses except the 2 Mechs I used as bait. Depends on when they get shot down and if they achieved what you wanted, but I'm quite sure that's what you mean . As seen above, sometimes using them as bait and sacrificing them works perfectly fine. But other times you overestimate yourself, expose them in the wrong spot, etc. and they get nuked right on turn 1 or 2. Important unit out of the picture, and a good chunk of AP went down with it.
[GAME GUIDE] Part 3 - Chapter 1: The Landing Where we get to the meat of things: Actual missions and things on the map and in your HQ. Chapter and title are my own idea, those are not from the game itself. Would be nice to have them there too, though A note about the format: Two parts here: "Mission", describing how to win the fight. And "Base", about what to do in your HQ and on the map. But now, without further ado: Chapter 1: The Landing From arriving at our new home, to showing the current governor the final door. After some story, we have our first fight: Mission 1 - Not Completely Helpless: Nothing special here yet. At the start, deploy 4 Jeeps: 2 in the West, 2 all the way North. Shoot down the enemy Drones, and capture the 2 Bases in the West. All your Base... wait, different game: Now that we have our HQ, it's building time. Floor 1 - Right side: Build Factory, Hangar, Hangar. Floor 1 - Left side: Build Tactical Center, and dig out 2 empty rooms. Build some Tanks and Jeeps. If you have Credits left, build an Elevator down to Floor 2. Mission 2 - The Weak Point: Again, nothing difficult yet. Deploy 3 Jeeps. 2 go Northeast, 1 captures East Base. Capture NW and SE bases, done. Base: Build 3 Tanks, 2-3 Arty, 10+ Jeeps. 1 Left: Build Workshop. 2nd Floor: Dig right. Modules: Jeep gets HP+1, Arty Dam+1/HP-1, Mech & Tank get Regen+1. Use the 4 day countdown mostly to dig out some empty rooms, and to collect resources. Mission 3 - Rescue Mission: Turn 1: Deploy 5 Cars. Take NW and NE Bases. In the South, kill the enemy Drone. t2: Take South and North Bases, East kill the Drone, also take the far East Base. t3: Take the Bases in East, Center, and West. Ignore the enemy Heavy for now. t4: A Heavy and Healer appear West. Take the NW Base. West deploy your Mech and a Jeep to kill Healer. t5: Drop 2 cars Southside to protect your Bases there. You'll start losing the East, leave it be. Focus on the West side, with Tanks, Arty, Jeeps supporting your Mech. Sneak the NW car down south near map edge. t6+ is holding action: Converge back toward crashed ship, try to minimise your losses. Base: 18 days till attack from the spy satellite, make the most of it. Immediately fly to the next mission area - "The Importance of Metal". Upgrade the Tactical Room. NOTE: The Tacroom does not produce Creds while it's upgrading. Same applies to the Foundry and Uranium Factory, they don't produce Metal and Uranium when they are busy remodeling. Second floor right build Foundry, left build 2nd Factory. Don't wait too long with the next 3 missions, push through to get at the resources. Mission 4 - The Importance of Metal: Use your Mech with a Regen module to snipe - Turrets and Arty as primary targets, then the rest. Lead up northways on the left side with at least two Tanks, then 3-5 Jeeps and Arty. Don't bring them in piecemeal, the Tanks should move as one blob, the Jeeps as another. The Arty hangs back and shoots down whatever comes in range. Later, use a Targetdrone to paint the enemy Copter for a quick takedown. Keep sniping with your Mech, and slowly push forward. Continue till done, with the first mine captured it gets easier. Base: On 1 left, build a Research Center (can't keep 2 busy yet), save gold for upgrades. Dig 2 left. When you have Creds left over, build a second Foundry. NOTE: I did not do that during this playthrough, for the simple fact that I thought I only need one Foundry to utilise all the mines. Well, credits to xcxc again, turns out I am wrong on that. See Guide Part 1, the section about Cute Fluffy Bunnies.. nah, about Foundries, obviously And we need to upgrade our units for the Meatgrinder mission. Not strictly needed, but very good to minimise losses. Upgrade Mech to lvl4, the other units till you run out of Uranium. Tanks for Range+1, rest HP+ and whatever else is possible. Build 2+ Tanks, at least 7 Jeeps. Mission 5 - Meat Grinder: Push a bit with Jeeps, but mainly hold your position until you have enough AP to deploy your Mech or a Tank. Then hold the center Base, and push West to conquer there. Finally, kill all enemy units. Base: Nothing much this time: Upgrade Copter twice. NOTE: Do NOT lose the Attack Copter in the next two missions, you'll need it right after those. Mission 6 - Uranium Wall: Modules: Mech Regen+2, Arty Range+1, Copter & Tank Regen+1. You get 35AP for deployment, no reinforcements. My setup: Mech, Tank, 2x Jeep, Copter, Target Drone, 2xArty. Take things really slow: Don't rush forward into certain doom. Instead, let the enemy come to you. Snipe units off with the Mech and Arty. You can clean out almost all enemy units before moving in to capture the Base or kill the remaining units in it. Base: Build an Uranium Factory, and a 2nd Research Center. Upgrade the Turrets to level 4. Mission 7 - Satellite Attack: Goal: Defend till turn 14. At first I got curbstombed. Then I brought half a dozen turrets with HP+3/AP+1, 3 Arty, 5 Tanks, ~15 Jeeps, Copter: And the mission didn't feel hard anymore, the buffed Turrets made a huge difference. Keep your Mech in reserve till you really need it - e.g. when the enemy Mech shows up in the SW. Reward on Hard: 500 cred, 20 metal, 5 uranium, 2 combat drones. Worth it? You decide. But sure makes a good challenge. Turn 1: Capture the 3 Bases in range with Jeeps. Deploy an Arty to support the South. t2 needs some concentrated firepower down South, I used the Copter and Scorpion. Turret on NE base to hold it, you lose the Jeep next enemy turn (no surprise there). If you have AP left, drop a Turret into the South Base too. t3 brings a Copter in the North. Finish off the Scorpion in the South. t6 Drones coming in from North. t10 Jeeps arrive from NW, Mech in SW. t11 Block SE off with some Heavies, or a Drone gets through and kills an Arty. Base: Let the 2nd Satellite Scan's 4 day timer almost run out before you tackle the Baron, ideally down to the last hour. This lets you stockpile some more resources. When that timer runs out, it's game over, so ensure it doesn't. Mission 8 - The Boar: Preparation: - Give the Move+1/HP-1 to the Attack Helicopter: you need something flying, durable, and fast. If you use an Attack Drone, the Crab to the East will shoot it down. - Gear the Jeeps for raw damage (e.g. with the Damage+ modules) OR staying power (Ward, extra HP, Regen); but keep their cost down to 1AP. - Have 5-6 Turrets (you'll lose them), give them the HP+3/AP+1 module. - Gear everything else as you want, you'll have overwhelming forces to kill the Baron. Now, the way to win: This took me a long time to figure out, but in hindsight it's obvious. I tried everything I could think of to force my way northwards, only to get overrun on turn 10 at the latest every time. Remember, the goal is to destroy the Baron, not conquer the whole theater. See that neutral Base across the river to the East? Get your Copter out and fly it toward the neutral Base every turn you can. You should reach it around turn 8. At your Homebase, only bring out what you need to defend and can easily replace (I used lots of Jeeps and my Turrets, plus an Arty to kill the Mech). The attacks will eventually stop. The goal is to have the max of 35 AP when you get in range for the Baron, to bring out as many heavyhitters as possible in one turn. When your Copter takes the neutral Base, wait a few turns and build up AP. Then move North with just enough units to capture the two Bases near the Baron. Once you have those, unload everything and the kitchen sink into him. He should fall within two turns. Base: - Build a Laboratory 1, mine's on 2 left. - Dig 3 right. - Once the Lab is up: Build a Targeter for your Copter and Drone. Regen+1 for Scorpion and/or Drone (for the Drone, it's an alternative to the Targeter); or for your Mech or whoever needs it, often depends on the mission which loadout is best. - Let the timer for the "Sands of Freedom" mission almost run out, to gather resources. Timer up = game over. Mission 9 - The Hacker: Last mission of the opening chapter, and looks quite tough at first glance: - You do not get reinforcements, the 35 starting AP is your army. - You get 5AP/turn, not that much to keep a larger army going. But looks can be deceiving, it's actually quite easy with the right approach: - Bring only heavy-duty stuff like the Mech, 2x Tanks, 2x pimped Arty (I lost both), Scorpion (for extra damage), and Jeeps as filler if you think you need them (I didn't). - Drop off in the NW, that starting position has the least enemy Turrets and Arty. - Take it slow, let the Mech take the brunt of the damage and remove Wards. Snipe with your Arty, supported by the Scorpion if you need an extra damage+1 . - Note that some of the enemy Crabs can do "Taunt": This means when you are within the range of its effect, you have to attack the Crab. Can be circumvented by careful maneuvering sometimes. - After a few turns, the Hacker will come your way. Retreat anything that could be dangerous to you - like your Tanks. Optional: Throw a Jeep at it that it can waste its control on. Focus fire the Hacker. Base: Almost done here, let's wrap up and open Chapter 2, shall we? - Do not upgrade the Crab yet, waste of resources. Save it for later when you have more of them. - Upgrade at least one Factory. - Optional: Build a 3rd Factory, but that's not strictly needed yet. And/or dig 3 left or 3 right. UPDATE: Except for a very small timewindow where you upgrade your Factories AND need to restock lots of units at the same time, you should never need 3. - Lab: Build at least one more Regen+1 (for the Crab, and whoever else can need it as filler). And that concludes my guide on Chapter 1. We survived a combat landing, conquered some provinces, and made the current governor vacate his chair for us. Pretty neat. Onwards to Chapter 2 - The Liberation of Kali.
My pleasure, Alexey As I wrote earlier, feel free to copy it over to your Wiki. Then it's all in one place, and doesn't get lost when this thread gets longer. I don't have enough time to do that, let alone learn how to operate a Wiki first Chapter Two is coming up well, by the way. I should have it out early next week. Don't think I can manage during the weekend.
Yes Nullzone, thank you for the guide. I took the dive and downloaded this morning. I'm sure I will enjoy.
Always welcome If you have any questions, ask away. And if you have any suggestions for the guide (e.g. because something's not clear, or I forgot something), let me know; always good if I can improve a guide.
I have two requests, folks. First, @Alexey: Could you please add an option to skip (good) or completely suppress (even better) cutscenes? I am replaying missions so much for the guide, by now I am thoroughly annoyed by having to tap away so many dialogue windows @Everyone: I could need some tips for winning the mission "Preon's Escape" on Hard. No luck so far, and I am running out of ideas how to tackle it. UPDATE: Found a way wrote it down on dead trees though, so no writeup yet.
[PROBLEM] Travel times not shown/calculated correctly @Alexey: Looks like you got a problem or two with the travel time calculation. Note that the described problems only occur with interplanetary travel. Travel from one region to another on the same planet so far always displayed correctly. Problem 1 - Interplanetary travel times shown on left different from those on the right: This did either not occur earlier in the game, or I simply didn't notice. I am currently in the phase after "Fly away with Preon" mission, collecting resources. Interplanetary travel times display differently in the info popup on the left than in the info area on the right. Example: Traveling from Scifia to Elonia, it says 14h 21min for Branson's Anomaly, but on the left it says 5h 16m. See screenshot "Different Travel Times". Next, screenshot "Travel Time Up 1" shows that the timer on the left now says "15 min" with 51 min on the right side. "Travel Time Up 2" shows 1h 15m on the left, and 49 min on the right. I can reproduce this with my current save, made a copy of it. Do you have iTunes Filesharing activated in your game? If yes, I can send you the saves. Problem 2 - Interplanetary travel time counting up not down: Just now, I got the weirdest behaviour so far: On the right side notification area, the travel time was counting down, while in the info popup for the region it was counting up from a much lower value until it exceeded the time shown on the right. Note that when I first checked via the leftside popup, it displayed the travel time I ultimately see on the right - screenshot "Travel Time OK". Problem 3: Move into orbit first to shorten interplanetary travel times: Sometimes - not always - when I move into orbit first (by selecting a region on a different planet, then changing travel goal) the flight time is significantly short (e.g. 4 hours instead of 14) than when flying from the region I am at directly. I don't have screenshots as I cannot reproduce it right now. Questions: And I have two questions about travel times: 1) Why are travel times to specific regions on a planet so much shorter than the others? Example: From Kali to Scifia region Herbert Dunes it shows 3h 21min, but to Zelazny Ore Deposits it's 14h 42 minutes. See screenshots "Travel Times Region 1 & 2". UPDATE / Problem 4: This is not consistent, as far I can tell. I just tested flying from Scifia to Kali, and now get a travel time of under an hour to all 3 regions there (this is the shortest ever, by the way. Normally, it's more like a day or so. Not sure if something's wrong here, too). Similar applies to all others regions on the other two planets: Now, the travel time is suddenly exactly the same to all regions of a planet - this never happened before. Actually, I think this is another problem I just stumbled onto, and I can reproduce it with my current save. 2) Is there some planetary movement taken into account that we players do not see on the map? I noticed that the flight times from one planet to another change, e.g. first it's 15 hours from Scifia to Kali, then a week or two ingame time later, it's only 5 hours. I cannot reproduce it consistently, so I don't have screenshots currently. Something else: Also, one mission shows an empty mission goal, but I forgot to note down which one it was exactly. Screenshot attached.
@Alexey: Next, here comes some criticism of the resource distribution game design, particularly in "phase 3" of the game, after the "Fly away with Preon" mission. Up to that point resource rewards/gains and time to research/build stuff are pretty much okay. After that mission, in the phase where you need to build the 3 rooms to find and destroy the Augment Mothership, resources are totally off the whack: I am swimming in Metal and Uranium, but Credits and time to build are the real blockers. Building/Research times are way too high for the higher-level buildings, modules, and power-ups: 3 days to upgrade the Lab from level 2 to 3? Way too long. Second is the insanely high credit costs for room upgrades, module building, and unit power-ups: 1200 credits for Lab 2 to Lab 3? And 1000-1600 Creds for the high-end modules, plus hundreds of credits for a single unit power-up, is way too much for the amount of Creds you get as mission rewards. I didn't do a proper calculation or note down numbers for everything. But a rough ballpark estimate gives me at least a month of in-game time and 50+ missions (and quite likely a 100+) I need to complete to upgrade the units I need (and that is not all of them; mostly the Mechs and Jeep, everything else is not strictly needed for endgame) to level 10. All of this is too bad: You have those cool modules and high-level unit abilities in the game, but no real way to show them off. Now, playing on Easy and Normal difficulty, it's perfectly doable to win the game with level 4 units only. But it's still a waste that during regular gameplay (which Normal difficulty is by definition) the player does not get to see and use the higher-level stuff. Then, on Hard difficulty you need those upgrades to stand a good fighting chance. But it is an incredibly tedious slog and grind to get them. I am curious if noone mentioned this during playtesting. If you want players to experience the full progression during regular gameplay, it should only need a small amount of grind to get there, say 10% to 15% of the total playing time you need to complete the game at a normal pace; maybe 25% if you want your game to be more grindy. Without doing a lot of numbercrunching, I can't make any well-founded suggestions. But as a ballpark idea, I'd halve all build times and credit costs. For the high-end stuff maybe go even further, reduce the costs by 60%-75%, so they progress only slightly beyond what the most expensive mid-tier upgrade costs. Example for numbers I think are way too high: Upgrading the Attack Helicopter from level 4 to level 5 already costs 400 Creds; which is not cheap, but doable still. But then, upgrading one Mech from level 7 to 8 costs 750 Creds (on Hard, I need to play 2 missions at least to get that) and 1d 16h. From 8 to 9 it's 850 Creds and 1d 21h, and 9 to 10 is 1000 Creds and 2d 2h. Some general observations: - Level 3 Factory isn't needed at all. It only gives you the option to build the Crab and Scorpion Tanks. Crab I almost never use - and, compared to the regular Tank - needing level 3 for it is overkill. And Scorpions I get so many from mission rewards that by now I either disassemble them or use them as chaff/sacrifice units. - Even level 2 Factory I only need on the rare occasion when I lose an Attack Helicopter. All the other units you get from the level 2 Factory I never need to build: Combat Drones and Hunter Mines I never use, they are just not good enough for my playstyle. And Support Helicopters I get enough as mission rewards that I only built one so far. My suggestion: Do away with the Factory upgrade levels completely, and just tie them to the level of the Tactical Center. - I never need 3 Factories. Except for one very short phase where I upgrade them from level 1 to 2 and go through a lot of units at the same time, 2 Factories are enough. - Same goes for Foundries and Uranium Factories: I never need two Uranium Factories, I get way more than I can ever spend. Except for a not too long phase during early mid-game where I need a lot of Metal to upgrade units and build new ones at the same time, I always have more than enough Metal as well - wouldn't need the second Foundry at all, and could even tear down the first one and just get my Metal from mission rewards. - On the other hand, with the long upgrade times in the Research Center, I could need a third one - if we leave the high upgrade costs in Credits out of the picture for now (I wouldn't be able to pay for keeping 3 Research Centers upgrading all the time). - The 120 Creds you get every 8 hours from the Tactical Center are just a token amount. To have any impact in late-game with the current setup, it needs to be a lot higher: 500 Creds per 8 hours at least, maybe even 1000+. - Hangars and army size: First, even on Hard difficulty, the army size of 100 you get with 4 level 2 Hangars is more than enough. I think 75 or maybe even less army size would be enough; but then I admittedly like to hoard units, mostly just in case I need to sacrifice some (I like to be prepared). Example: I usually have 5 Tanks and 3 Artillery stockpiled. I never need that many Tanks in one mission, and 3 Arty only very rarely. But I have them, so I can bring out another if e.g. I have to place an Arty inside enemy firing range to take out a unit. Upgrading Hangars to level 3 is not needed at all. However, I would not do away with them completely, as they do put a good limiter on early- to mid-game. My suggestions: Increase the base amount of units you can have without any Hangars. Increase the extra amount of army points you get from upgraded Hangars: upgrading from level 2 to 3 only gives +10 army points, I'd make that at least 25 instead. Decrease the army point costs for the Attack Helicopter and the Scorpion Tank. I think that the 5 AP the Arty costs should be the maximum, and not 6 or 7.
^ same thoughts. although i finished the game in normal, it's actually my second playthrough. on my first play through I made all the foundries and uranium factories which by mid - game i'm drowning with those resources. so on my second playthrough i knew better and made just 2 foundries and 0 uranium factories. had to really build the rooms I only needed since the lab upgrades are really expensive. only went as far as the 7th upgrade tree of the battle armors.
