Killing Eden Acid Clouds

[Norsehound]

I've tried playing the Plymouth Starship colony game on "normal" a few times... and I'm always defeated by the inevitable three-way attack of Eden units. I think I can handle everything they can throw at me... with the exception of one unit:

The Eden Acid Cloud.

What's even worse is when the incoming wave includes more than one acid cloud Tiger.

I'm wondering what the common strategies for Plymouth players are in tackling the Eden units. Is there a weapon system I should be focusing on? Should I have a certain number of refineries cranking out x amount of units per turn? How to I stop them!

I can't just flood them with Scorpions, despite the plentiful common ore I got. We all know how acid clouds eat up arachnid units, don't we?

Any advice would be helpful- otherwise I consider this colony game unbeatable.

Thanks in advance

:op2:

[Hidiot]

I've won it on normal a long while ago.

I just moved my main base lower, to an area in which I get a lava wall on the left and half of the upper part of the base as fast as I could, leaving my old base's essentials there as a bait for early attacks.

With an initial combination for defense, Mics and Foams, I could hold off until the waves started containing panthers. (already had Acids by that time). A minimum of 4 common smelters on two mines is advised to supply a min of 4 factories that churn out units in your main base.

When going for a second base, for the rare ore, it's a good idea to have all your weapons researched. Once rare ore starts coming in, use a couple of factories there to make ESG  and EMP Tigers, with a few RPG's to help with Tigers for defense. Using GuradPosts is also a good idea.
While you're setting up that 2nd base, defend your main base with a combination of EMP,Foam,RPG,Mic Lynxes.
After you get a rare ore income and your rare ore outpost is getting defenses, your main base needs some too. Since Tigers are very sow, you'll need to split them between the two points the attacks come from. Keep one or two factories building EMP and ESG lynxes in case you need emergency reinforcements on either side.

The idea is, by the time enemy Tigers become a common thing, you'd better have your own Tigers or you'll have a really tough time.
When an attack came in, I'd focus my units to take out the acids and thors, just to reduce losses. EMPs come in very handy here, keeping such units from doing too much damage.


Remember, this is what I could recall from long ago, and not the only way of beating the map on normal.

If you're fast ,as in starting a new research just as the old one got done and building a new unit just as the other one got finished, you'll have better chances.

[Arklon]

Don't use lynx vs. acid cloud (that's their speciality).

[Highlander]

Hello Norsehound!

I'm afraid you've gone head on into, what I think is the most difficult singleplayer mission. At least it's the one I've had most trouble with. (Finally beat it on hard approx 1 year ago)

For the singleplayer missions there is a way, not cheating exactly, but your manipulating the game somewhat. I'll pm you that one if you still really stuck


When the scenario starts I'm sure you've gotten the basics down, with getting more ore and setting up your base out of the lava's way. (My take on this is just to build straight east from the CC towards the mining locations over there)


I think you can go up until about 6-700 marks before the computer starts getting serious. In this time I suggest you take good care of your base, pay attention to morale, research upgrades for your buildings, stockpile some ore, and set up vec factories to cover the 6 entrance points. (I used 4 vec facs on 3 locations. 1 by my initial base, 1 to cover a 3 bar common down south and 1 right next to my rare mine(the closest one).
Please note that you don't have to keep the active at all times. Use them to reinforce your troops in a tight occasion, or to replenish your troops after an attack, otherwise keep them idled.


My suggestion for weapons is simply:
Early on: Micro's (Upgraded ofc)
Before Tigers: EMP/Micro Lynx groups. Though get ESG/Rare asap.
Late game: EMP/ESG Tigers. (If your quick enough to utilize them, place some ESG lynx right next to the entrance points, and let them fall back slowly to cause some damage before Eden groups reach your defense lines)
In late game, it might be a good idea to keep an extra spaceport with a EMP missile on aswell, in case your defense lines get breached.


A few other tips: Don't research unnecessary morale stuff, turn the game speed down, get as much ore as you can defend.

If you need some more exact locations of where to put defense etc, let me know.
 

[Hidiot]

I'm playing that map on normal right now.

The AI has done some really weird things... it has retreated its stationed armies whenever it sent any until the second volcano erupted  :blink:

Meh... all goes well until your rare ore outpost gets wiped out...

[Sirbomber]

Don't use lynx vs. acid cloud (that's their speciality).

Don't use Scorpions, either. Ever (though especially not against an Acid Tiger).

[Hooman]

I beat this one on hard a long time ago. I put my base just out of the lava's way, and built an extra refinery right next to the mine that would eventually get taken out by lava. I just tubed over to do that. Having a refinery that close will greatly increase your ore intake, and by more than enough to cover the cost of that one refinery. I never bothered to relocate my base. I find that's much too costly. If you need more ore, consider starting to tube towards it fairly early on.

As for the attacks, I find the easiest way to deal with the computer is to kill them early on before they get too aggressive. Go for their expansions first, since they are initially not heavily defended. Even if you can't kill their main base, you at least won't have to deal with units comming from their expansions.

I never build scorpions. Their only possible use is to defend against EMP. Anything other than EMP will just eat through them like they're nothing. Since there's little to no point in attacking with only EMP, this makes scorpions quite useless.

When attacking area of effect weapons, such as acid cloud, sticky, ESG, and even EMP, try to send your units at them from seperate directions, even if this means attacking more or less one at a time. This will limit the damage you take, without really decreasing how much damage you do. This of course helps when the unit is by itself. If it's part of a group, this won't work so well.

You should also consider moving up to intercept attacking forces. If you get them while they're moving, you'll often catch them in a single-file formation, which makes them easier to pick off. It also seperates out the faster and slower moving units, such as lynxes and tigers. If the only thing left are some slow moving tigers, then it's much easier to manoeuvre around them, and attack from lots of different directions at once.
 

[Hidiot]

Even if you can't kill their main base, you at least won't have to deal with units comming from their expansions.

Uh, Hooman... Plymouth Starship doesn't have any Eden bases. Plym Starship II does.

[Freeza-CII]

plymouth early sticky later emp extra later emp missile

[Norsehound]

I've heard Eden shows up eventually and builds a base somewhere to the south. Then the Blight shows up. Presumably this is because, after starting the Blight, Eden comes to steal your resources

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone recognized the pattern Eden deploys their forces in. They seem to like splitting their forces at times, between the North-West, the South-East corner, and the plain to the south. I know at one point during the game (I don't know what mark), Eden sends a gigantic wave from the west, splitting against the higher and lower parts of the western ridge.

On many of my saved games I have a rare ore mine tucked away at the northern most mining point. Eden seems to leave this alone in favor of going through that western gap, past my structure factory, and into my CC. I thought it would be a good choke point to place some guard posts, but these keep dying.

I find Acid cloud to be the most annoying adversary of the game (over Thor's hammer even), because of their extreme range. They can sit back and pommel your units without any kind of reprisal. Since I'm focusing on getting better weapons and heavier chassis, I don't have the Scout Drive researched, and so can't close the distance with the Acid Clouds (and their friends) before my force has lost half it's health.

Reading the forum here did give me some tips though- I've used Scouts to kamikaze the first few lynxes before they reach my turrets

:op2:

[Hooman]

Uh, Hooman... Plymouth Starship doesn't have any Eden bases. Plym Starship II does.

Heh, my mistake. Thought he was talking about the second one.

I don't much play the levels without enemy bases. They're not as fun. Plus, I don't really like being forced into defensive mode.


What if you anticipated where the computer entered the map, and sat there so there was no distance to close? Spread out a bit of course, so acid doesn't hurt too much.
 

[Norsehound]

What if you anticipated where the computer entered the map, and sat there so there was no distance to close? Spread out a bit of course, so acid doesn't hurt too much.

That's the problem.

The only pattern I've been able to recognize is that the Eden attacks usually come from a direction where your defenses are weakest. If they're evenly spaced, they seem to split their forces... which in the end might be greater than if they had come from one direction.

I don't mind playing a defensive game as long as there's a chance of winning. I've tried playing this colony game several times already with various strategies... none of them seem to be a winner. If that massive Eden wave doesn't do me in, my forces being destroyed at the last 6-7 enemy Tigers usually does.

:op2: