EDF 6 / Earth Defense Force 6 - Things that suck

Sadly this list will be long 😞

EDF 4.1 - Missions Data - Info, tips and details

As it's easier to me I'll use reverse order of missions.

Mission 38 - High Density

A photo of the map of the second phase so that you can see the location of the tunnel exits spitting silver spiders and gold ants. To be clear, the silver spiders one is visible with 2 over it in the middle left, the first in the middle of the road is one of the golden ants tunnels, and the one on the far right just left of the rightmost crane and below the radar in the pic is the second golden ants tunnel. 

The tunnel to the right of the central goldies one, which is almost hidden by a warehouse, is a bogus tunnel, and no enemies spawn from it.

It is possible to destroy tunnels as they're spawning without enemies aggroing. Solo, you can only go for one. Very useful at the start of each wave, especially in the 2nd where you can destroy either the central goldies (easy) or the silvers (harder), and you must use a powerful and precise weapon (Monster-S, Stringer J3 / J7).

Suggested loadouts and basic strategies for EDF 5 Super Challenge DLC2 missions on multiplayer

Strategies are obviously somewhat different in multiplayer from the solo runs. For starters, you have the choice to use different classes and take advantage of each class's abilities.

DLC 2-13 The Last Stand 2

1 Air Raider - Combat Bomber KM6 Plan X18, Absolute Bunker DZ, ZE Blaster, Nix Assault

other ARs - Combat Bomber KM6 Plan X18, ZEXR or Combat Bomber KM6 Plan Z4, ZE Blaster, Nix Assault (or Barga to be a decoy)

Bunker to help all survive at the beginning, X18 is awesome due to the large number of silver spiders, ZE Blaster works nicely in open spaces. Z4 only really good against tadpoles, deroys and drones, but will wear down others too.

1 or more Rangers - Blazer and Buster Shot, Hybrid Protector XE

Blazer is very good for deroys, transports and blue tadpoles, Buster is exceptional for anything near, particularly silver spiders.

Wing Diver - Dragoon Lance ZM, second weapon Rapier to handle few enemies in close combat. Gleipnir is another option, it won't kill anything but will break most enemies' movements and attacks slowing them down.

Fencer - Dexter Automatic Shotgun ZGXE or YH7 Dispersal Mortar and Spine Driver MA, FGX High Altitude Impact Launcher and GX Arm Hound or Rapid Hound, Dash Cell G and Add Booster G

This mission has 5 waves and it's a bazillion times easier in multiplayer than solo. Incredibly it will even usually work with largely uncoordinated players. The only really important thing to handle is the red bees transport and the tadpoles, including 2 blue ones in 4th wave.

The weirdest thing about this mission is the transition between the first 3 waves and 4th wave. Supposedly it's 20 secs after all enemies from the first 3 waves are wiped out, but it's unreliable, and even the jp wiki mentions this. Anyway, it's important to leave the drone bomber alive, as it's the least obtrusive enemy on all 3 first waves, and take that chance to regroup to handle the 4th wave which is the worse.

At the start AR should install shields, and he and Ranger should handle deroys, while WD and Fencer should handle silvers. Drones are the least problematic enemies if you're inside the shields, so these should be the last. Again I stress that you should just avoid and ignore the bomber drone.

2nd and 3rd waves are "just" 30 gold ants and 1 heavy frog. A WD or Fencer on top of the future spawning silvers transport (front left from start) can aggro the enemies on these waves, so other classes can turkey shoot them).

Golds will spawn around the buildings beyond the rail overpass to the right of starting position. It's important to handle golds ASAP because during the 3st wave, 3 squads of NPCs will spawn around the right end of the rail overpass, and these will be very useful as decoys and help for the 4th wave. You can capture either the WDs or Fencer squads, or both, Rangers should be left there to die while annoying golds and tadpoles in the wave (or all of them).

Kill bomber, when grouped and shield protected under the red bees transport, which is the center one, and will stay around back leftish from the start position. When red bees transport opens, WD and Ranger should destroy it and falling red bees, better one class should destroy the red bees transport (essential) and another the goldies, AR kill golds and tadpoles around NPCS (tadpoles will take time to arrive) with X18, Fencer missile them. Fencer missiles will be awesome for blue tadpoles as it keeps them rolling around. Focus on killing tadpoles and the 10 dropped frogs (after the red bees and their transport of course). If you can drop the gold ants transport (right front from start). The silver spider one is the least problematic leave that for last.

5th wave of 12 giant enemies will spawn, including 1 gold queen ant, a red giant bee and a silver king spider, once there is just 1 transport or 5 enemies alive including transports. Five hugely armored War Bargas will come to help once you've killed 4 of the big enemies, so just handle 4 of them which is easy with the firepower of the players, stall for the bargas to appear and turkey shoot the big enemies left while bargas entertain and destroy them. Bargas will handle queen bees and king spiders, but giant bees are more problematic for them. If the silver spider's transport is not downed at this point one of the bargas usually stays on top of it, and will aggro silver spiders under that transport (and other giant enemies).

I already did this mission 3 times with randoms, it's amazingly easy when at least 2 know what to do.

DLC 2-12 The Last Stand 1

Strategy 1

1 Air Raider - Heavy Bomber Phobos Z Plan 4, Combat Bomber KM6 Plan X18 or Tempest ATS, Absolute Bunker DZ, Nix Assault

other ARs - ZEXR, ZE Blaster, Guard Post M3, Nix Assault (or Barga to be a decoy), Z4, X18 or X5 (X5 does massive damage to what hits)

Phobos to destroy scenery and break enemies, KM6 X18 to destroy hives and wreck other enemies (very viable here due to the sheer number of silvers that generate a lot of points). X18 is faster to come, so aim Phobos first if using on the same enemy / hive. Tempest is more powerful to handle hives, can handle pylons, can handle frogs and can kill the giant red bee, but it will be troublesome to use with more than 1 big guy in sequence. It's always unreliable too.

Be careful that 2nd AR ZE Blaster will reach gold ants spawning from nearest pylon, when buildings are gone.

Silver spiders will provide 1700 points for each kill. For comparison, red bees will give 90, a gold ant 150, a colonist 420 (armored or not) and even a queen ant or bee around 1800. So it's easy to see the importance of leaving a silver spiders nest for last if there's an AR with points-based weapons (X18, X5, Z4, Phobos, Spritefall (not good here...)).

1 or more Rangers - Blazer and Buster Shot, Hybrid Protector XE

These will be the main defenders, especially against small stuff. Buster Shot is excellent against silvers, golds and big guys if they get near. Blazer against frogs, bees and pylons (since AR won't be able to destroy them, except theoretically could using the Nix).

Wing Diver - Dragoon Lance ZM, second weapon irrelevant, but Rapier to handle few enemies in close combat. Gleipnir is another option used on a corner, it won't kill anything but will break most enemies' movements and attacks slowing them, and it won't reach the pylon and its gold ants. Raijin Limit Custom could be interesting but be really careful with it, it has a spread shot and you can hit several enemies or hives / pylons at the same time

Focus on near enemies with Dragoon Lance ZM.

Fencer - Dexter Automatic Shotgun ZGXE and Spine Driver MA, dual Maximum Disruptors or dual 35mm Cannon, Dash Cell G and Add Booster G

Fencer can be a going deep team mate dragging all enemies behind him while the others shoot them, but he has to be very good to survive.

The Fencer (and WD) movement isn't useful, especially while red bees are on the map. Focus on near enemies like the WD. He's still good in case something goes wrong  (like the WD) to take a hike to the opposite corner of the map, aggro all moving enemies there, and come back to revive everyone else if necessary. Dual Maximum Disruptors can help with big guys. Mobility could always come in handy.

Fencer and WDs moving fast around the map will almost certainly mean the continuous death of rangers and ARs playing, as they can't escape. Even inside Nix Assault can become troublesome to survive as there will be enemies spread all over the map, and gold ants and silver spiders attacks in multiplayer do severe damage. So don't be selfish...

No missiles, no rockets, no aiming weapons.

Start by occupying one of the corners that have a pylon near it. Install shield, send phobos towards pylon, X18 dead center on bees hive. Destroy all incoming bees, ants and spiders, then stop. Rebuild and reinstall the shield, and get a Nix. Phobos should be used to clean the area around the stand position to make it easier to destroy coming enemies.

AR ONLY advances in the Nix and destroys next red bee's hive. Returns immediately to shield and rinse and repeat, destroy small enemies. Be careful at this point to NOT piss ANY of the dropped frogs. Rebuild and reinstall the shield, and get a Nix.

AR goes and piss a group of frogs with Nix. Handle them, and small enemies. Do this for all 6 groups of frogs, you can also destroy the nearest gold ants pylon at this stage.

With all 18 frogs dead, you can destroy the nearest gold ants pylon, if you didn't, then either the last gold ants pylon or the nearest silver spiders hive. If going for the 2 gold ants pylons you should change to the nearest corner to each of them, before handling them. Try not to aggro any of the big enemies that will spawn. The advantage of going for the near silver spider hive us that you can attack the Red Queen Bee later without aggroing small enemies.

Of the big enemies, the most dangerous is the Giant Red Bee, so focus the X18 and Phobos on her, and whatever else is necessary to kill her. Even if all big enemies will wake, AR will have a huge number of X18s and Phobos refills to use at will, the ranger(s) will help with what is alive.

After all this handling the last spiders hive(s) and / or gold ants pylon is a joke compared to all that happened before.

Some coordination is required, it's not possible to do this one just shooting around. There are no NPCs throughout the whole mission.

The mission is easy as long as you don't rush it and piss what you shouldn't have.

Strategy 2

1 Fencer - Spine Driver MA and YH7 Dispersal Mortar, Dash Cell 5 and Add Booster 5 but G's preferable

1 Air Raider - KM6 Z4, Phobos Z 4, KM6 X18 (or X5 or Vesta DA)

Ranger - CA90, Blazer, running enhancement

WD - Gleipnir ONLY used on corners, Heaven's Gate D10 for likely suicide missions to destroy nests, pylons and Queen Bees as alternative to AR destroying nests and Ranger pylons

A strategy that just requires a Fencer to run around the map, and revive teammates while they suicide since they can't keep up the pace with him.

The only problem is dealing with the 2 bees nests, and to a lesser extent the 2 Queen Bees. From the rest, he can simply run away.

Occupy one corner near goldies pylon, better the front left one, AR sends Z4 and X18 to the nearest bees nest. Both should be rebuilt, and use them again when bees are closing. Fencer runs away in the direction of the destroyed nest, hopefully almost all the bees are gone. Ranger should try to kill what he can, they will likely die. Fencer goes around the map and revives them, they kill what they can and die again. Rinse and repeat until all enemies are on standby.

Go to the opposite corner, rinse and repeat, if frogs wake up there's no issue now. Ranger should use Blazer to destroy when possible nearest goldies pylon. Fencer should start to YH7 or use other weapons to damage the opposite goldies pylon to the place where AR and other players are. Once most frogs and the nearest goldies pylon to AR are gone, Fencer can destroy the other goldies pylon.

If Ranger is in the corner where red Queen Bee spawns, installing CA90 around that area is smart. If not, AR should send Z4, Phobos, X18 (these in this order) over red Giant Bee, if CA90 is there use it too. If the other Queen Bee wakes up, there's no issue Fencer can run away from here and she's a lot easier to destroy. Fencer keeps doing laps and waking up team mates, they kill what they can, and they die. Destroy the nearest silvers nest, and leave the last one so that AR can gather points.

Fencer will do most of the job, but it's just running around. AR is essential for its huge destruction, and there are a bazillion points to be gained on each attack so they will replenish fast. Without him, taking down the silver King and Golden Queen Ant takes forever. Plenty of crates for Fencer to pick. Even easier with 4, with 2 ARs, or 2 Fencers to assure one doesn't die. WD will run out of steam behind Fencer. Fencer (s) needs to wait in each corner for enemies to aggro there, otherwise they can all be over them when he returns near the AR (and other players). Ranger can be slightly ahead of AR so that he has time to install CA90's, which will have more than enough time to rebuild on each Fencer lap.

Fencer must be careful using YH7 near-dead team mates, even dead they can be blown away to awkward positions and mess up the run.

Fencer can use YH7 to blast away and destroy Queen Bees if necessary. Don't try to use Spine on them, its range is lower than the Queen Bees attack range.

Boring but simple and effective. Even simpler with 4, particularly with 2 ARs. One should then bring a Bulge Z for pylons. Vehicles are irrelevant, they shouldn't get away from their position.

Running away players if more than 1 need to keep together so that enemies don't spread around each other, but on both.

DLC 2-10 Engage Alien Troops 2

1 Air Raider - 150mm Cannon ν Lapis, ZE Blaster, Absolute Bunker DZ, Nix Assault

Vulcan Cannon and 105mm Rapid-fire Cannon are dreadful idea here. The chances to hit multiple enemies are huge. ZE Blaster works well against Red Drones which are some of the worst enemies.

1 or more Rangers - Blazer and Buster Shot, Hybrid Protector XE

These will be the main defenders. Buster Shot is excellent against near enemies. Blazer against everything far.

Wing Diver - Dragoon Lance ZM, Gleipnir good against red drones. As I said for mission 12, Raijin Limit Custom could be interesting but be really careful with it, it has a spread shot and you can hit several enemies at the same time

Fencer - Dexter Automatic Shotgun ZGXE and Spine Driver MA, 35mm Battle Cannon or 38mm Rage Cannon, Dash Cell G and Add Booster G or Muzzle Stabilizer S

The strategy is similar to mission 12. Occupy one back corner, left one from start is better due to elevated terrain of the destroyed silos, which will make it easier to hit enemies over the sea, particularly the red drones with the ZE Blaster or Blazer. Lapis is very good to level terrain and destroy scenery.

The biggest issue is a perspective error and you can be hitting a flying enemy that is much further back than it seems, so traveling along the map left side can help to check if they're far from the back where the most dangerous enemies are stacked. You need to handle as many flyers first as possible, particularly red drones. You should piss just one, kill everything that comes along, then proceed. Ranger is probably better for this, or fencer, go near hit one, retreat ASAP to shields. Always rebuild shields. The biggest problem is waking multiple deroys, 2 or more with a few drones and heavies and the shield will be gone in a snap.

The giant deroy has a bazillion lasers, try to get him alone at the end. Deroy missiles from pods are very weak, they won't destroy the shield. Deroys and red drones like to travel near non-aggroed enemies only hit them if you're sure not to wake anything else, so using something like a 105mm or Vulcan on them is usually a really bad idea.

As in the case of mission 12 this is easy if you are patient and do things quietly and with care. If you piss many of them at the same time it's 99.99% sure game over.

Some coordination is required, it's not possible to do this one just shooting around without a ton of armor. The starting squad of NPCs can be captured or not, they will be wiped out pretty quickly anyway.

DLC 2-8 Engage Aggressors 5

2 or 3 Air Raiders - Combat Bomber KM6 Plan X18, ZE Blaster and Nix Assault

Since the mission has only silver spiders and they provide a ton of points you can almost continuously call X18s. If they're almost all upgraded they do good damage and ZE Blaster will help finish the last ones. Just be careful to send X18 slightly to the front of the Nix as if done on top of it, the center of the attack can destroy it.

As a third weapon, each one can bring a different one from Guard Post M3 or Zone Protector ZM, Cannon Gun DZ which works really well here and can kill silvers in one attack, ZEXR is underpowered but an option.

One can bring a War Barga but it will be crushed in a snap by the silvers.

Ranger - Blazer, Slaughter EZ or Buster Shot, plus Reverse Shooter X and Hybrid Protector XE.

May I remind you how dangerous it is to use the Buster Shot near teammates. You can kill them faster than a silver spider...

Wing Diver - Rapier plus Phalanx, and Mighty core or VZ Plasma Core.

Mobile, handle stray near spiders and pick crates.

Fencer - mobile, close combat loadout (Dexter Automatic Shotgun, Spine Driver MA, Jackhammer MA, Dash Cell and Add Booster).

Mobile, handle stray near spiders and pick crates.

The strategy is to stay in the startup area. Install turrets and start X18 festival when silvers are approaching. Since X18 is fast unlike Z4 in everything (coming and time to recall), it can be an almost continuous summoning of them. All waves except the last will be almost in a row.

The last wave spawns away from the furthest beach so it takes some time, so be careful and save X18 when there are few silvers around and definitely rebuild turrets. The last wave has a lot of spiders, but they won't all come at once so it can be done.

No explosives, you'll be together so it's a really bad idea. The Nixes have them, but it's a close and somewhat controlled explosion.

Tons of crates thought.

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions - Hints and tips

 This is a work in progress and likely will take a long time. Sorry...

Geometry Wars is one of my favorite games of all time and one of the best shoot'em ups ever done. A simple idea with almost flawless execution and mighty fun to play.

This is a guide with a few pieces of information and ideas to help.

Smart bombs

Smart bombs will kill all enemies on screen (except titans that will be destroyed to their next level). None of the enemies killed by a bomb will yield ANY points. However depending on the occasion, level and number of enemies on screen a huge cloud of geoms will be available. For this reason, the bombs are awesome to use when you have the Magnet special and you have a screen as full of enemies as possible for a huge increase in multiplier.

Specials

Specials will appear at specific points on some levels. The order is usually set and you'll get the same ones in the same sequence over time. A few levels have random specials from the start or after a certain point. Yes, there's a ton of RNG influence on the game. The available specials are:

Quad Fire

Split Fire

Reverse Fire

Missile

Trail Bomb

Magnet

Shield - enemies destroyed by the shield will not yield points, but you can pick their geoms

Drones

Drones are essential to help to achieve the coveted 3 stars on each level. Don't even bother with these until you've maxed the most important drones and supers.

Attack - the best drone, hands down. The best for aggressive play and to control the flow of the level. Unlocked once you beat the first boss (you just have to win, you'll get 1.000.000 for beating each boss, that's the 1 star objective, so even without picking any geoms getting 1 star is assured if you finish the battle)

Collect (unlocked at Ruby boss in adventure, level 10) - hugely overrated. For starters, the collect drone is hugely incompetent in its task so you'll always have to supplement its work in geom collection anyway (you'll see this a lot in level 29 with clouds of geoms just behind you and the idiot picking one or two elsewhere)

Second, it will give you bad practices and experience for the Retro trophy or achievement, to score 10.000.000 on Evolved Classic Level before losing a life. If you don't know how to pick geoms efficiently you'll never get this one done.

Even with these issues in mind it will provide you with the easiest way for some levels to get the 3 stars, and unfortunately, it's the only one you can have in pacifism levels.

Snipe (unlocked at Opal boss in adventure, level 30) - hugely underrated but this is by far the best second drone. It's essential for almost all rainbow, checkpoint and deadline levels, as it's reasonably efficient and it will enhance hugely the advance of the next wave by killing the out-of-the-way enemies. It's dreadful for a few kids of levels like the titans ones. The easiest way to see how good it is is to play level 1 with maxed-out snipe and turret (I can easily do with Snipe 1.35 million score, 610 multiplier and with Collect 950k score, 580 multiplier).

A good example of this:

https://youtu.be/h4YV5LdN_v8

Supers

Turret (unlocked at 80 stars in adventure) - The first super will unlock automatically at 12 stars, for turret you'll need 80. It's not hard to get 1 star in all levels up to 49, getting a few of the 49 to 2 or 3 stars neither, just some time to get there. Until then use Homing (unlocked at 24 stars in adventure), which isn't very good but it's what will be available. The other 3 are almost useless, no need to upgrade. Turret is simply the best and essential.

Special levels

Gate Dash - Beat Col the Developer high score of 4,769,150 on Gate Dash (level 12)

Information:

Red gates

50 points, 6 geoms

Yellow gates

500, 20 geoms

Each end of the gate will provide half the points.

You can also destroy, usually by accident, gates as they're spawning, this almost certainly won't add geoms and its score can also fail to add.

Achieving the goal of 4,769,150 is not easy at all. The worse is that this requires some luck. Let me start by saying that I hate pacifism levels, I agree that the idea is a really good one, but that isn't good enough for me. I truly hate them, as my head focus on the wrong area, the ends and not the connsting line.

This started to puzzle me because I could do clean runs of the level, even quite good ones and would not achieve the required score, and that since the Vita and PS3 days. Achieving the 3 stars was regular but not much more. Worse, I could do similar scores with bad runs, and once with a terrible run on the Vita with 2 deaths I did slightly more than 4 million. I read a lot of advice about this but what I read was even more puzzling as wasn't agreeing with what I obtained.

When I did this on the PS4 I recorded several runs and started to figure out the whole problem. Even better picked some videos from youtube with runs from this level and there was the justification I was looking for.

With a plain and clean run, even pretty good with a few yellow gates and not much time lost at the start with very far apart gates the best you can hope for is around 4.1 or 4.2 million, and extremely unlikely 4.3 million which is not good enough. However, there are special circumstances that can at any point make your score start to go up a lot and even through the roof and I think these are:

- hitting several gates in sequence with an extremely short time between them, the more the better

- hitting 2 or more crossed gates at the same time, preferably in a sequence too

Only the game programmers will know the exact details, unfortunately.

This video will show it better than any of mine could do:

https://youtu.be/S9JHm8ykpNw

at roughly 49.5' (with 16 secs left of the allowed 1 minute time) he hits a gate and it scores 13550 points, and he had less than 2.4 million score. At 57' he has hit 14 gates in a lucky run, granted with 3 yellows (crap how lucky is that the yellows all spawn almost in his path) and the last red gate in the sequence is providing a whopping 492500 points and his score has grown by an astonishing 3 million. This was achieved in 7 secs and 3/4 through the level, when his multiplier is still low... The next gate he hits after the sequence provides a measly 20150 points... And his best yellow gate score in the sequence gets 173500, roughly a third of the best red one...

Not saying this guy isn't good, because he is VERY good, but this is a one in a thousands run.

In most of my runs, I get mostly mangled gates or 90% of them spread around the map...

Of course, you don't need this kind of run, but in one without a 500k-800k sequence, you'll never achieve the 4.7 million required.

BTW it's quite possible to get the trophy with deaths. Well, this guy had the trophy and could have died 2 or 3 times...

So all you need is sheer luck and some talent for this one.

Nufo Flow - Beat Phil the Developer high score of 21,478,525 on Nufo Flow (level 24)

Each wave has 1 pink NUFO and 10 yellow ones

1 pink NUFO = 20 geoms, 2500 points

1 yellow NUFO =  300 points  (can't figure the maths on these ones, as I never get a correct value although I'm positive of the 300 at start, but for instance 75.300 at 241 multiplier, and 160.550 at 341x which gives slightly over 312 for each one; blowing up more than one at the same time does not increase individual yellow NUFO score)

Waves:

15 with 1 pink NUFO and 10 yellow ones (max 301 multiplier attainable)

5 with 2 pink NUFO and 10 yellow ones

10 with 1 new red block per wave

10 with 1 new violet spinner per wave (destroyable, don't respawn if they die)

1 new cyan seeker per wave (don't think it gets worse, as like it needed anyway... 😂😑😑😑😑)

Essentials for this objective:

- turn off the music to hear the spawning chimes for the pink NUFO's, this is crucial

- concentrate on pink  NUFO's these are the ones to get. They're the only clear source of geoms at start and they're worth almost as many points as the 10 yellow ones, and good look in consistently hitting all 10 yellows on each spawn

- try to reach a nearby mine and stay near it before the pink signal will chime. When the red NUFO (s) spawns it (they) will travel to the point you were at that moment. When 2 spawn, they can travel from different distances so they will reach you at different times, thereby hitting both is quite hard sometimes

- red orbs will spawn roughly on the side of the screen opposite of your location. So if you were at the left side of the screen at center height, the red orb (s) will most likely spawn on the right side of the screen along with the yellow orbs. Obviously, the worst place to be at chime time is at the top or bottom of the screen because you'll have less time to react however don't be picky, and the best possible place is at left or right, near the center

- it's best to avoid blowing up the red of a wave (and yellows) and prepare better for the next one than to risk a likely death or a less favorable position for the next wave. This will be more essential once you reach the 2 pink NUFO's spawn time

- to get Phil's score you'll likely have to survive until the red block spawn's time. It's possible to achieve before that point, but you'll have to be pretty lucky with yellow NUFO's casual hits in the later waves when you'll have a larger multiplier from the pink supplied geoms, and not miss almost any pink ones

I eventually got the rhythm on the PS4 to get regularly 16-19 million scores but it still can get pretty frustrating as it can be seen by this screen snapshot:

Beyond this good luck is all I can say. You'll need it and some skill.

Nufo Flow is still a lot worse than the Gate Dash one. 10 million is 3 stars, you need more than twice that. Less luck is involved here though.

Information for levels

14 - Cubism - Rainbow - 3.500.000

Snipe here is king, he's a master at eliminating stray painters and enemies which is more crucial than getting geoms or attacking. This level is difficult as the sides of the rectangle are small and it's easy to land on a bad spot while changing to another side, so try to stay in the larger sides of the rectangular box. Super states are random, and they influence a lot the outcome of the mission. Getting at least 2 Magnet ones will be crucial to achieve the goal.

Due to the highly random nature and the bad view angles of the mission it's not a appealing one to make, so just aim to achieve the 3 stars.

16 - Pianola Roller - Evolved - 5.000.000

This one is hard. Very hard. I do think it's one of the only ones involving shooting that I never got the 3 stars on the Vita version.

Not only the pianola itself is hard as nails with cycling changes and red walls, there's tons of all kinds of seekers at the same time. It's crucial that you take advantage of the 4 super states to achieve this one. The super states spawn at roughly the same time and the same spot (something that can make them tricky to get if they're on the other side of the pianola from your position.

19 - Infected - 3.000.000

This level is mostly annoying for a few reasons. The bad collision detection will shine a lot, the enemies will instaspawn on top of your ship and instakill you and sometimes your ship just does not seem to stop if you stop moving. Even so, it does become interesting if you manage to get the whole idea and don't have the previous craps destroying the play. As in all infection levels, attack is the best drone.

Supers are set and crucial to achieving the goal:

- quad fire

- split fire

- quad fire

- split fire

 - and zilch from the last one, no more candies

If you pick them all and grab a good amount of geoms (only cells with yellow center provide them) you'll either pass or be near the goal when the last super ends, if not use the bomb and turret and you'll surely get it.

One of the good techniques to learn and use here is to milk what is available instead of going immediately for the super. In the first one, a cell will spawn almost simultaneously with the super, then 2 cells. Try to get these before going for the super, which grated is not easy if they spawn on top of the super itself. Don't try to be greedy and go for the next 2 cells, you'll likely miss the super. Following this technique will enable you an almost continuous session of supers until the last one ends which will make this level considerably easier.

If you want to proceed the best way is to stay near the border shooting and moving either clockwise or reverse, only shooting towards the middle if necessary.

Neither the bomb nor turret are completely effective when used, but they'll help to clear a good area to pick a ton of geoms and give you room to breathe.

25 - Intensity - Evolved - 15.000.000

This one will get pretty intense like the title says. It's a favorite of mine.

You can get all supers here and they're random in time of appearance and which ones. So this is a level that is very luck based. There will be several phases in which a specific kind of dangerous enemy will dominate to annoy, in the following order which is set:

- rockets

- green seekers

- snakes

- pink splitting seekers

- red and blue berserk seekers

The last ones spawn around the 11 to 12 million range, these are the toughest to handle if the screen is too hectic, which is usual, so use a bomb (which hopefully you still have) or trigger the turret if you're in trouble. Remember that to kill red and blue seekers, avoid them, then shoot back at the blue part.

Try to pick the pink NUFO's loot it will help to increase the multiplier, but there's usually a gazillion geoms around to pick.

Most helpful supers will be quad fire, missile and magnet. But they're random, so you can't choose...

It's not hard to reach the 3 star goal, but you'll need some training, effort and luck

29 - Planet of Peace - Pacifism - 10.000.000

Red gates

50 points, 6 geoms

Yellow gates

500 points, 20 geoms (crap, took me more than 50 restarts to get the first yellow gate without any blue seekers to be 100% sure of this one)

Oh boy... This one is and was truly dreadful to me. I hate this, suck at this, what can I say to help... A few ideas:

 

- ALWAYS aim for the center of the gates

- never stress to get a yellow gate, and never aim for a blinking one, you can get a nasty surprise

- never stop when there are greens on screen

- AVOID as much as possible the equator line and the poles, as especially cyan seekers will instaspawn and instakill you (can't even grasp how many times I died because of this crap)

- never go through a gate if enemies are approaching for the other side hoping to blow them too, 80%+ of the time you'll die, so don't do it (how many times I did this stupid mistake too)

- green seekers always spawn in pairs (first time it's 1, second 3, third 2, fourth 1, fifth 1 (followed by smaller orange ones), and more waves), so count how many you killed to know how many are remaining

- try to play pacifism levels together, to help your brain focus on the task, as it's completely different from the shooting ones

To me, the worst is the yellow spinners as they seem to hog around gates or completely avoid them, which makes it really difficult to blow them. The difficulty spikes a lot once they show up between the fourth and fifth green spawns.

When you reach the 2 stars goal it's still a long way to the 3 stars. After this point focus on blowing up all gates you can with any kind of enemies. If you don't do it, the number of enemies on the map will become impossible to manage, and you'll find most gates blocked by them. Also, blue seekers start to become more streamlined and faster if you don't kill them, becoming more dangerous than green ones. Don't stop from the 2 stars announcement, just keep going to the less crowded areas and use all gates to kill whatever you can.

I eventually managed after 3 or 4 times within a few thousands.

32 - Titans Revenge

Titan levels all all a few issues:

- titan enemies can and will spawn over you and due to their size it's very difficult to avoid them as you either won't have enough time or can't because there are other enemies.

- when big titan enemies break up they'll spawn 4 medium enemies, and it's not unusual at all that one will spawn over you even if the titan was somewhat far from your position (this drives me insane)

- some of the medium titans will travel at a huge speed when spawned and they become VERY dangerous

- the best titans to break up and finish are the blue diamond ones as these will home on you, second red squares and violet stars which are easier to finish; all others are dreadful

- be careful using a bomb in these levels, as they will break up all big titans in medium ones and all medium titans in the small ones, and you'll likely be in a huge mess, so using the special after the bomb is always a bright idea (if you have enough time to do so 😂😑)

- obviously, the worst drone for these is snipe, attack is the best

35 - Endurance - Deadline 10 mins - 200.000.000

You'll have 3 specials, and 3 bombs.

This seems harder than it is. I got it on the 2nd time I tried on the PS4. Died more than 20 times (probably more than 30), at least 2 times 3 deaths in a row, but still managed.

The best drone is the attack one, but snipe can do it too (I've done it with both). But attack enables better scores and chances of reaching the 3 stars goal.

What is crucial is to try to pick as many geoms as possible, kills is important but secondary. Ignore the gates, they can provide a bigger score, but your goal is to survive and you can't by focusing on the gates. If your shots rebound on them great, if not no big deal. Also remember enemies go through gates. Black holes, will eat gate too (nice!...).

Supers are set and appear at certain times or as near the supposed time as possible. It's possible to miss the 30 secs one if you die too close to that time, all others seem to spawn anyway even if you die near their intended appearance.

9 minutes - missile

8 minutes - magnet

7 minutes - split fire

6 minutes - reverse fire

5 minutes - shield

4 minutes - quad fire

3 minutes - shield

2 minutes -  quad fire

1 minute - shield

30 secs - quad fire

Just before each super, a blue and red berserk seeker will spawn, and you can expect other ones around the 30 secs time towards the end.

It would be fantastic if you could take a huge advantage of the 3 turrets near the end of the level, but enemies spawn in waves and the game does seem to even slow wave spawning if the turret is active, so it's not as good as I expected. Anyway picking and using the quad fire is a really good option, so don't hesitate to use a bomb, or the turret in the 2 last ones to get them, as usually the screen is so hectic that even getting the supers is tough. The magnet is good, but you need a reasonable mess in the screen for it to be awesome, but if there are tons of enemies on screen use a bomb when it shows up.

The game goes in a crescendo depending on how long you'll survive. Around 1 minute without dying you can expect things to be really tough. So to help on this when the level starts it's a good idea to die around the 30 secs, so that when you reach the time for the super it's still manageable and at a timing where there will be a reasonable number of enemies on screen. If you die just before a super spawns you'll see that it will be wasted as you can't take adavntage of it due to the miserable number of enemies. Of course a better options is simply to not die at all for 10 minutes :-) ...

The best I could do was slightly more than 3 minutes alive but it's absolute chaos and there's a lot more enemies than blank space on screen (still used 2 bombs to pul that trick and yes I was quite lucky)

39 - Hexend - Checkpoint - 7.000.000

Yuck. One simple solution. Try not to die. Period.

In all checkpoint levels, you can die all the times you want. This is not serious if you die at the start of a wave. But if you die near the end you'll have lost precious seconds and get a whole new wave to handle, and no time back. For example, if you take 12 seconds in a wave and die, and then take another 15 in the next one when you revive you just spent 27 (plus respawn time) on a single wave. So if you die near the end of a wave, abort and retry, as you will probably won't make it. Better if you don't die at all until the 7 million 😂 ...

The royal PITA will be the pink seekers waves. The area is too small and you can't exactly choose where you'll be in the maze when they show up. The first wave is after you pick the magnet super, it will be the last one with it still active. This one can usually be handled without many issues. But slightly after this waves seem to be random, so it's difficult to say when they will present an issue. Just be ready to use the bomb or turret (terribly inefficient here) to help. I also played levels where I had consecutive waves of smaller triangle seekers, as waves seem to be random after the second super.

It's not very hard, but will require some work.

41 - Limit Twist - Snipe - 1.000 bullets

The biggest error here is being Uncle Scrooge and try not to use the weapon to save bullets. Collect will be useful here, but it's bloody incompetent as expected so will need some help. Shoot without using your weapon like a machine gun, don't let the seekers and rockets stay alive too long. Getting the pink NUFO's loot will help. Try to reach close to 1.000.000 points, which can be done with around 750 bullets, then use bomb when there's enough enemies that you're almost in trouble on screen, pick all possible geoms and trigger turret when in trouble again. You should have now well over the required goal and still more than 200 bullets to use.

42 - Running in the Family - Evolved - 10.000.000

Probably the best, most fun and rewarding of all levels. Attack drone is crucial here. The only point is understanding the mechanics. A wave of rockets will spawn from the last point you were. The idea is to go out a bit and shoot back and pick all geoms. Ignore most of the other enemies just shoot in a shower fashion to get rid of them. Rockets provide a lot of geoms and you'll get a huge multiplier here. Don't let the spawn center of rockets be very far from the middle center of the screen. The level is generous with supers, use the shield super to reposition the spawn of rockets in the center if necessary by staying there. Once you get how it works it's really easy to make huge scores. This level is good for geom farming, you can get 2000-3000 in less than a minute. Thinking of it, it's probably the best one for that.

Have fun on this one, it's a blast (I hope...)

44 - Turbine Cube - Evolved - 3.000.000

A hard level.

The better drone is snipe, as it will help you survive longer. Be prepared to use the bomb when a large cloud of small yellow or pink seekers that divide into smaller ones spawn, as these can be tricky to escape. Use the turret a little after that when any tough wave spawns and you should get the 3 stars.

46 - Super Rock Crust - 1.500.000

This one is insane without the snipe. As the level progresses you'll have enemies in such bad spots that only the drone will get them. Progressing as fast as you can is the key and the snipe helps a lot on that too. Try to pick as many geoms as possible. The only super will be a single quad fire, really useful on this level... Dying will somewhat clean the map of red blocks for a while but you'll lose precious time if you had almost finished the previous wave. Don't hesitate to use the bomb if you're taking a long time to find an enemy to progress. Not terribly difficult, but annoying.

47 - Royal Disease - 1.000.000

´

Use attack. It's tricky to get to the 3 stars, and very hard to go beyond 2 million. There's only 1 super, a quad fire, and you must use it well. The trick here is to shoot 1 or as many cells as you can near your bubble then pick the geoms before they disappear, as you can't grow your multiplier otherwise. Do the same when the super shows up, which you can't miss, kill a few cells, pick geoms, return to bubble or go to a new one. After this try to survive and pick all geoms possible until trapped then trigger the turret which is not very effective here. Pick all geoms possible while the turret is active. Try to survive longer, but it becomes really hard. Luck in the position of the bubbles will help a lot, but this is a short tactical level I'm enjoying now more than I expected (same with 21, King Pond).

49 - Super Sequence - Evolved - 150.000.000

This seems hard but it's not. It requires above all patience, lots of it. The sequence is always the same:

- purple spinners

- red squares

- yellow spinners

- cyan seekers (quad fire super at start)

- orange rockets

- white disks

- pink NUFOs (split fire super at start)

- orange seekers

- green seekers (quad fire at start)

- snakes

- red and blue berserk seekers (magnet super)

- pink splitters

You should aim to get your multiplier at least until the 1.200 in the first 3 waves (better if you reach 1.500 of course)  Check videos on how it's done, not difficult just boring and methodic. In the cyan seekers wave circle around the center, roughly halfway to the border, creating a huge bubble of seekers following you in the end (this is fun), shooting them back and picking geoms. In the rockets phase you'll have to stay in the center or one of the corners when the waves become full border, the center is a lot easier than the corners. The white disks moving at 45 degrees angles are always unreliable, the better place to stay is in the lower right corner. The pink NUFOs wave is essential, you can get 500 geoms here, and put your score well over the 100-120 million (even a lot more if you're good). The next wave, the orage seekers, you'll start with the split fire still active, handle in the same way as the blue seekers, circle around screen and create a huge wave of them in the end. If you have done it really right until now you'll have the 3 stars on this wave. The green seekers are not as difficult to handle as it seems, also you have the 2 bombs if necessary. The green seekers are easily handled by going on one direction then turning back and shooting in a shower fashion. Then will come the snakes, which are not awful, just don't be greedy with picking geoms like with white disks, stay near a corner to be safer. Next wave is the berserk seekers and you'll probably die. Not an issue, you have 3 lives (hopefully you did not die until now :-) ). The last wave is the pink splitters and you'll probably won't make it beyond this one. Try to survive the first single side waves, then use the turrets when you get surrounded from the 4 sides, the score will literally skyrocket. Even if you got here in your last life, you'll surely have the 3 stars.

This is mostly patience and coolness, not my strong suits. There are more than 10 levels much harder than this one to get 3 stars.

 

Retro - Score over 10 million on Evolved Classic Level before losing a life

Well this is hard as was expected. 10 million with 1 life isn't a walk in the park. Difficulty progress is related to points, so you better get all geoms possible before reaching 1 million. There's a distinct chime that signals you have won an extra bomb and life (you have turned off the music haven't you...):

- at 150k

- at 1 million

- at 10 million (bingo!)

DON'T look at the scores, it will only stress you. When you hear the second chime things will get hairy, just endure and if you hear the third you got what you want.

Now the really bad news: each game you'll play is completely random from start to end. You can get no black holes up to 1 million, or a lot starting at 50k. You can get no gates or a lot. After 1 million you can get waves of snakes, or waves of pink seekers, or black holes at the 4 corners (once got these 3 times in a row). Usually, after 1 million you get 3 consecutive waves of the same kind of enemy. Around the 5 or 6 million points 1 or 2 berserk blue and red seekers will usually spawn. The difficulty is varied, sometimes at 2 million, it's complete stress, and sometimes until 6 million is relatively easy. It all depends on the luck you have on what spawns. There's a cadence to the spawning waves, and a distinctive sound for a new one, but it's difficult to follow if you're firing and killing enemies.

Use the bombs wisely, you have 5 (I'm assuming the 1 million barrier is gone...). Don't hesitate to use them on these occasions:

- waves of red seekers from 4 corners

- waves of snakes from 4 corners (these weirdly can vary in the number of snakes, and sometimes they don't spawn in all 4 corners, only one with this feature I can remember)

- when the berserk seekers spawn, as surely you'll have no chance to deal with them without dying

- when you have black holes in the 4 corners, with some active and some other wave spawns in the corners too (unless it's greens it's sure the black holes will blow)

- a huge wave of red seekers or snakes that spawns around you

All these are sure death, as unless you're extremely lucky there will be a lot of other enemies around at the same time. Take immediate advantage of the bomb to collect as many geoms as possible.

Other good info to know:

- if you have an active black hole and either a rocket line or any enemies spawn on the 4 corners blow it immediately, the chances the black hole will explode into saucers is very high

- green seekers spawn 5 from each corner (easiest ones to handle along with blue ones)

- rockets provide 3 geoms, so kill them and collect geoms ASAP; they also make your game hard as they move too fast and are difficult to avoid if you're dealing with something else

- avoid going to corners from 1 million onwards, you'll surely regret it

- waves of rockets coming from the top or bottom of the screen are very hard to avoid especially if enemies spawn from the 4 corners in the next wave

- when there's a warning buzzer from a black hole, the next enemy sucked will spawn saucers unless you shoot the black hole; however a rocket can blow a black hole without the warning sound playing (because they have more geoms?), and I think a snake too.

As some said wisely about EDF (best thing I read on the game) it's always the small stuff that kills you. I usually die 50% of the time with purple spinners, 25% with smaller remains of pink seekers and rockets, and the remainder from all other stuff.

EDF 5 - Air Raider's guide to handling cave missions

If the Air Raider had a few issues in cave missions in EDF 2025 and 4.1, in 5 he can be the either best or the worst class to handle them.

He's the best in all cave missions where he can bottleneck enemies in tunnels, for the simple reason that it's the only class that can cover 2 sides of the tunnel (or even 3) at the same time and he can easily rotate through 3 sets of weapons that can likely deal damage from good safe spots. Once you have a vehicle you can use it too, and the turrets will rebuild in the background. It can also provide powerful firepower that will make him handle these with ease.

However, he's also the worst if you have to fight in open and large caves without an option to retreat to tunnels. Unfortunately, there are 2 missions in the main campaign that fall into this area and these are really hard to handle, although you can make your chances better by using better gear, specifically DLC2 ones if playing in Inferno.

The basic strategies to handle cave missions are:

- bottleneck enemies in tunnels, preferably in ones where there's just one end or where there are few to no chances of not getting all enemies coming from one of the sides

- equip 3 sets of turrets and use them wisely so that you always have one set covering the tunnel where enemies will come from, or spread them on two sides if necessary, and always have one rebuilt and preferably set up to use when the one running is exhausted

- correct use of vehicles will help with movement, either to progress, run away or shoot in all situations

- you need knowledge of enemy spawn points and waves, and what triggers them. The AR is the knowledge and brains class and all this is a lot more important in these missions as you need to prepare turrets and apply the right ones to handle what will be coming. Scouting with the WD in easy or normal can help in this.

- driving the Depth Crawler will be essential, even in walls and ceilings (this does drive me nuts as I get lost with the inverted controls 😁), but it has been greatly improved from 4.1 so it's not that hard to take advantage of it. Be careful however where you travel it's not unusual that due to clipping issues you end outside the map area without any chance to return and the mission is ended (very common on DLC1-11 for instance)

- there's no way to avoid unexpected damage through walls from enemies, either spider webs, cosmos flamethrowers, ants acid, Araneas grabs, or whatever craziness will happen. These "happenings" are a trademark of Sandlot EDF games, and even though they're less prone to happen in EDF 5 they're still common

Turrets

Turrets are awesome on EDF 5. Not only do they rebuild automatically in the background when they end (or you force that) there are 2 new ones that can be awesome.

FZ-GUNs - If you can use them, these are by far the best. They last a long time, stun enemies and hit several at the same time with the same turret, they do decent damage, you can have decent numbers of them with up to 5 of the best one, they rebuild fast (although it's true that once fully upgraded all turrets rebuild in the same time, 29.4 secs) and won't damage vehicles if installed on them. They do have issues as they will damage and stun you, vehicles and NPCs if installed on terrain, but will just damage NPCs if installed on vehicles (or you if you're outside the vehicle). If correctly installed near a spawn location they can freeze and kill the whole group of enemies.

ZEX Launcher - The ZEX Launcher is dangerous as it can easily damage extensively you, your vehicles and NPCs due to the large blast area. However sometimes they're awesome as they not only damage multiple enemies with the same blast, they project them hopefully away from you, although it's not unusual to have them sent towards your location particularly in the case of silver spiders. They won't kill any enemies in one shot, but manage to keep most at bay from you and work nicely against frogs and cosmos. However, they are pretty bad in open caves ( for instance they're a nightmare to use on mission 86 Secret in the Dark ) as the chances of damaging you and the NPCs become pretty big and can be dangerous too in missions with intricate caves as they will target enemies that can't be reached but technically are closer and can hit you (as it happens in DLC 2-6 Underground 3 ).

ZEXRs and ZERA - These are your bread and butter turrets. Not total problem solvers, but they provide all-round stellar service. Their biggest plus now is that they won't ever damage you, your vehicles or any NPCs either if they're on the ground or installed in vehicles. Unfortunately you can only have one set of them 😞. Their biggest problem is dealing with high-powered enemies and short duration. Most of their siblings are toys (ZE-GUN10, ZE Sniper).

ZE Blaster - These are the "worst" of the bunch. Although they are still good, they're very slow at tracking enemies and due to the small spaces where you'll usually have to use them, they are not very efficient. It's very usual that they're hitting and stunning an enemy, then another jumps over them and they lose a long time tracking either the last or the new one. They do work nicely on open caves though so they can make your life a lot less miserable in some missions ( 86 Secret in the Dark 😰 ). These need experimentation as I had a lot of bad experiences with them and the other 3 will generally work better.

Vehicles

Depth Crawler - no choice here but there are differences between the ones you can have. The Depth Crawler IV Custom and V are almost equal, with the latter being faster, with more armor and slightly better weapons, but be careful with the Rapid Bazooka as it can damage the DC if you accidentally shoot NPCs or enemies very near you. The Depth Crawler IV is interesting if you have many tunnel exits or silver spiders as the cannons are slower but do a lot more damage per shot, and you risk no self damage unlike with the Rapid Bazookas. The Depth Crawler S Range Custom has an interesting flamer weapon but it gets empty pretty fast, and it's just available up to tier 52 which is pretty basic and difficult to be useful beyond hardest.

The machine gun is nice but imprecise and shooting angles are sometimes weird and make precision aiming difficult. Lots of ammo on them though.

EDF 5 - Fencer's road to Inferno's end

After saying dreadful things of the Fencer for years and refusing to play with him, I decided to give him a serious try in EDF 5 since the WD annoys me too much. And it's fun. He has improved a lot since the 4.1 game.

The first thing that makes him awesome to use are the Dash Cell 5 and Add Booster 5 enhancements, or even better the DLC2 G versions of them. In weapons, the Spine Driver's are awesome and the best piercers since the Blasthole Spears were largely nerfed, and provide dash. They match nicely with the Dispersal Mortars or Dexter Automatic Shotguns, giving jump boosting. The High Altitude Impact Launchers when reasonably upgraded for lock-on time, range and number of targets, and the Arm Hounds provide some laziness and ease to handle large crowds and flying enemies. Just using these I was able to solve more than half the missions 50+ of the main campaign and a lot of the DLC ones with 4k armor, and I'm a basic player with him.

EDF 5 - Guide, Air Raider's road to Inferno's end - Part 2 Missions 1-90

The mission strategy page was getting too long, split it in parts so that it would be easier to manage.

Mission 90 - Broken Land

I did this mission on hard with the Naegling to farm drops from Deroy legs and make them almost harmless. On inferno that is very hard. The mission can be easily be solved by using a powerful gunship attack that will mostly destroy deroys in one shot (105mm Rapid-fire Cannon Z is a good one, Vulcan can miss due to buildings), ZEXR and a good Nix to survive.

But as I was writing this I thought if this couldn't be solved in a messy total war run and after all it can. Using your reliable Phobos and the sometimes very useful Electromagnetic Wall it can be done without many issues. Nix ZC will help in teasing Deroys due to attack power and armor. The always reliable ZEXR will cover your ass, and the NPCs one, while you're playing with the deroys. The max deroys I was able to piss or destroy at once was 9, of the 11 that are on the map. The 11 at the same time would be hell as there's 2 missile deroys and these are a pain as you'll have the map full with their missiles.

And even the frail Naegling can do it too...

Nix ZC run:

https://youtu.be/q63LKwWiaVY

Naegling run:

https://youtu.be/42UdzNrq69o

Mission 89 - Flying-type Extermination

There are 2 ways to do this mission. The fast and the slow ones. Either has risks. Everything in this mission is tied to how much health the hive has, as passing certain thresholds will trigger a wave. The danger is always advancing the mission too fast which will trigger several tough waves at almost the same time and things can get REALLY hairy. I'll only detail the waves in the slow way.

It's very important to roll, dash or fly IMMEDIATELY to the front right when the mission starts to capture the WD squad. This isn't that difficult to achieve and it will give you more control of the mission, as the WDs will be the first ones to start the fight if they advance. It's crucial for the slow version too.

Fast version requires Combat Bomber KM6 Plan Z4, Guard Post M3 and Life Vendor ZD, the last 2 reasonably to full upgraded. For vehicle, Nix ZC provides the easiest life.

Capture WDs and both ranger squads, follow left Nix. When Nix's starts shooting install Guard Post, preferably in a way it covers both Nixs. Stall the game until you can get a Nix ZC, don't use KM6 for now. You can either use now a Life Vendor or leave them all for the end.

When you have the Nix, start using KM6 on the hive. The first big wave of bees is easier to kill, they spawn in the hole in the hive middle right, shoulder howitzer helps in that. As you use KM6 a voice will say a giant bee is coming. Turn around and align Nix's feet to the giant bee. Exit Nix and use KM6, as the bomber attack will be done from your current position and direction you're looking if you don't choose a destination area. When the giant bee is gone turn around, the next step will be when 2 anchors drop, one on each side of the hive. Keep sending KM6s all the time when you can, replenish Life Vendor and Guard Post (you should have 5 of the first and 3 of the second, so take this into consideration and how long they will last, Guard Post can be rebuilt but there's no time for that).

When anchors drop turn Nix feet to left anchor, exit, use KM6. Turn to the other anchor, repeat. Anchors should go down with one KM6 Z4 attack. As you continue to use KM6 you'll hear a message that a giant bee is coming, it will be from the front right, roughly where the right anchor was. Another large wave of bees can spawn from the hive after this, so keep using KM6 on the hive until it goes down, which will also kill many bees. If you want to pick crates leave the last giant bee alive. As long as you keep moving it's no big deal as most stings will miss, but try to pick all health crates for the NPCs

Of course it's also important to get more Nixs when you can. It will probably lead to some failures but it works.

https://youtu.be/rOORBf0HqQs

Slow version requires Combat Bomber KM6 Plan Z4, Guard Post M3 and ZEXR, the last 2 reasonably to full upgraded. For vehicle, Nix ZC provides the easiest life.

The most important for this version is the waves of enemies that will appear that are related to the nest health. In order:

- bees, red and normal from the hole just right up from middle of hive (easy to use shoulder howitzer to kill most of them)

- giant bee + bees coming from the back

- bees, red and normal from the hole near the bottom left down of hive

- 2 anchor, both dropping drones, left one also spiders, right one red ants

- giant bee coming from right back, roughly position of right anchor + bees from all over the map

- bees, red and normal from the hive

Between all these waves bees will stop coming from hive to you if you don't attack them after the last ones that were aggroed are killed. At most 1 or 2 stray bees will show up, NPCs will take some time but will kill them. However some of the Rangers have rockets, they can inadvertently summon a group of bees, thankfully it will be a small one.

There are a few VERY important things to notice:

- after the third wave, when the next one will be the 2 anchors it's highly advisable to use the shoulder howitzer to destroy the hive, because if you use KM6 Plan Z4 you won't have it when anchors drop and it will take some time to get it

- it's EXTREMELY important to check and be sideways or in an oblique angle so that the hive is not hit inadvertently while you're using Z4 to kill bees, I lost a few times by doing that mistake in the 5th wave, and you'll have in a snap more than 100 bees around you. And the queen. So turn the Nix feet reasonably away from the hive (but not 180 degrees...). Remember Bombers will be sent in the direction you're if just called immediately without positioning, by just exiting Nix, calling bomber and enter again quickly.

- if you have 1k armor or less staying outside the Nix with bees it's a gamble, you can die in a sec, so avoid it. NPCs have more health and last longer than you.

- using the shoulder howitzer is really dangerous when there are bees around, the chance you'll hit a passing one is high and you'll wipe out almost all NPCs as the cannon blast is big and they can't survive a 10k hit.

From start roll, capture the 3 squads, follow NPC Nixs, install  ZEXRs when the shooting starts to help them. Fall back to the road near the canyon which was left from your start. I stayed just after the cliff to the left of the road starts, and there's a small path to go down to the canyon. The cliff to the right gave some protection and you have a clear view of the hive. Install next ZEXR for stray bees. All going well you should have the Nix shortly. If bees settle down before you have it use KM6 on the hive. If you have the Nix do the same, but it's safer.

Before using KM6 always install 3 ZEXR turrets in front of you and another to the left side of the Nix near you, install Guard Post(s) When you use KM6 the first large wave of bees will spawn. If you have the Nix try to use shoulder cannon on the spawning point, hole almost top right. Whatever happens it's likely the NPC Nixs and the Tanks that will arrive are wiped out. From this point on all enemies will focus on you. Kill everything, rebuild ZEXRs reinstall them, but just this time put 3 behind the Nix and the last one on the same position, as the next wave of bees + giant one will come from your back.

Use KM6 on hive. Giant bee will come, you can use KM6 if you position it towards the giant one but it's dangerous, revolver is usually enough to kill the big one and smaller ones too. Use the cannon on the big one if you're sure no issues can arise (kill NPCs...).

When it's quiet rebuild ZEXRs, Guard Posts, install, etc. Use again KM6 on hive, another wave of reds and normal bees.

When it's quiet rebuild ZEXRs, Guard Posts, install, etc. Now DON'T use KM6. Next wave is the 2 anchors you want KM6 ready to use on them. Start using cannon from nix on hive. Refrain for activating ZEXR. When the message says and anchors drop, exit Nix, activate ZEXRs and use KM6 on left side anchor. It's important to put the marker over just half or slightly more of the anchor towards outside, that is not the hive side. This is important to avoid hitting also the hive which will trigger the new wave. Don't worry the anchor will blow anyway. This will refill KM6 again use on the other anchor, remember you'll have to do the same, hit it towards the outside. Kill all enemies, there will be drones, spiders and red ants besides bees.

When it's quiet rebuild ZEXRs, Guard Posts, install, etc. Now DON'T use KM6. The reason now is that a KM6 attack can trigger the next 2 waves simultaneously (I did that twice...). So again use Nix cannon, activate ZEXRs, kill all small bees.

Now 2 options. Either you want to pick crates, you should not kill giant bee. She'll probably be over the cliff to your right it will likely not hit you and NPCs.

If you don't care about crates, kill giant bee, rebuild, install, use KM6 on hive, hive will die, last bees wave will come, abuse the KM6 as now it's safe.

If you care about crates and the giant bee is in a harmless position, rebuild everything, install, use KM6 on hive, hive will die, abuse KM6 on bees, and walk around dragging the giant one picking crates when almost all small bees are dead, just as I did in the fast version recording.

A nice deatiled description for the TL;DR people 😋😊

Mission 88 - Threads Everywhere

This one can be almost a joke. Just capture the NPCs for minimal protection, and Phobos Z the road ahead, until you get to center and do the same to the 4 anchors. Vesta can be used6, keeps the road /burning for sometime. ZEX Launcher 1 to front, 1 to left and 1 to right, to level down buildings and clear view a bit more while killing the very few stray small fish. Naegling will help in the total laziness, so you don't even have to move to finish mission as you'll be able to kill the wandering Retiarius (oops Araneas) from your starting spot.

It will be just more boring waiting for some small fish to rebuild Phobos if necessary.

Plenty of ways of solving this one, you can probably figure out one even easier.

Mission 87 - Approaching Monster Balls

Largely known to be exploitable (go right along the river, hide in rocks to right of waterfall, use any non explosives weapon to kill pill bugs), but it's also easy to do even with hard class weapons.

https://youtu.be/bwEmcvMaLJ4

Mission 86 - Secret in the Dark

I did wrote in one of the pages of the blog that the AR had much improved weaponry to handle cave missions. However he can only take advantage of them if he has bottleneck points. This is a open cave mission so it's not easy at all to him.

You can't do this mission with the AR without reasonable to good control of the Depth Crawler, likely including wall climbing and some ceiling travel.

Due to how complex the cave is, it's very easy to get killed by a single stupid ant or similar enemy. The radar map doesn't help a lot here, due to the complexity and varying height of the terrain, you're never sure where the nearest enemies really are. You have some NPCs but they'll die pretty fast, and on this mission you can't have them join you

Mission 85 - Incoming Larvae

A relatively easy mission that the only difficulty is to survive until you have a exoskeleton.

https://youtu.be/yZITaPpQNa0

Mission 84 - City of Giant Pylons

A extremely easy mission. A few giant anchors, but enemies will be in standby mode once they spawn again, soit's just a matter of handling one by one. Pick NPCs, fill back. The level 43 Heavy Bomber Phobos Plan 4 is enough to level down the area and kill small stuff, bring Vulcan or similar to destroy anchors, ZEXR to kill the enemies and a Nix or anything to just hop inside and probably kill a very few stray enemies. Only drones will annoy you for sometime.

Mission 83 - Defeat Archelus

This mission is easy, as long as you don't almost use the Barga 😂. Bring ZEXR to handle the small stuff wave, then Vulcan or similar to damage Archelus, possibly a Bulge Laser too or whatever you want to try (no, Tempests are a bad idea here). A good exoskeleton that you'll be able to summon once the small stuff is gone. 

Barga is slow as molasses, Archelus keeps running away if you're unlucky. So get rid of him using your own weapons and it will be fine and faster.

Mission 82 - Reclaiming Base 228: Retreat

Like 83 this mission is easy, as long as you don't almost use the Barga 😂. Bring ZEXR to handle the small stuff waves, Phobos to massacre Colonists and help with Cosmos, Guard Gun is good for keeping exoskeleton alive. Either Red Guard or Nix ZC, the first if you want to pick weapon crates.

Hide in Barga when necessary until exoskeleton shows up. Use beginning to install ZEXRs for later, while the Barga is activated and enemies are in standby. Activate ZEXRs when the first wave of ants shows up. Both ant waves will likely eat Barga if you do the mission with him alone. In the end focus on laser cosmonaut and everything will be fine.

https://youtu.be/Wns6qEjydJM

Mission 81 - Reclaiming Base 228: Stage 3

This is a scripted mission and it's not hard with the right gear. On each wave you can actually let all NPCs die, they will respawn at wave end. Bring FZ-GUN MX and ZEXR. Third weapon can be ZEX Launcher, but it's dangerous, ZERA-GUN works too. Depth Crawler IV.

It's crucial to advance rapidly before the scripted NPCs so that you can install the flame turrets on the walls just next to the closed doors (2 on each side, 3 on one if you have 5), and the ZEXRs on the floor (all on the floor just before the door). Activate them all once the doors open. If you have the ZEX Launchers, throw them inside the  room AFTER the doors open (it will surely massacre the NPCs too). Summon DC when possible, use it to kill stray enemies that manage to exit room.

For wave 2 (pill bugs) and wave 4 (red ants, spiders, colonist and cosmonaut) only approach doors when you have rebuilt what you need, so that the script wait for you.

In the ramp after 1st room, use DC or ZEXR to kill pill bugs. If you use ZEXR, rebuild them fast.

Do the same as 1st room for third wave.

For 4th wave, don't install any turrets, throw them to the distance when door opens and activate. When everything is mostly dead, don't advance too much to avoid triggering wave 5.

Wave 5 will be pill bugs coming from back, and spiders from below. install flame turrets in the long tunnel where wave 4 was. If necessary use exoskeleton in room 3 to help with pill bugs. Install ZEXR in the tunnel going down to kill spiders.

Wave 6 will be after another door, use the same strategy with turrets on door sides and floor. On this one door will seem to be broken but it will work.

Wave 7 is another door. Use same technique, but do expect your NPCs to die on this one and a bunch of ants and cosmos survive and go afer you. Either use DC or exoskeleton from room 3 to help.

Finito, but likely not much time to pick crates from last room, unless you keep one of the cosmos alive, which will be better to do with the exoskeleton.

Mission 73 - Light Defenses

I really wasn't seeing the light for a easy solution for this one. In the end I checked the wiki and the obvious was there. You need to take the Red Guard for its speed and more importantly the Guard Assist Gun G which will help your Nix last while you go anchor hunting.

Bring ZEXR, capture NPCs and use ZEXRs while falling back to collect points for the Nix. When Nix has arrived, shoot Guard Gun to feet. Optional, if ZEXRs are available, or want to wait for them, install 2 in the Nix legs and activate them. Your first goal is to go inside the labyrinth of shields and destroy the spiders anchor at front, then deal with the other spiders one in back and finally the bees one. This will destroy the spawns for almost all troublesome enemies. Then recover and summon new Nix.

Repeat procedure and destroy the shield bearer at the center that is protecting the oversized anchor and destroy oversized anchor using Nix or a third weapon (bulge laser, gunship attack).

Deal with the isolated black ants anchor, then all the shields that are alone. Finish the last black ants anchor, leave the red ones as the final as reds won't do much damage to your Nix.

Hopefully the rangers are almost all still alive, so that the ones equipped with rockets can help clear the landscape to help with crate picking.

Mission 60 - Mountain Investigation

https://cris3fgametipsandgrumbles.blogspot.com/2021/11/edf-5-60-mountain-investigation-ar-wd.html

Mission 58 - Hidden Threat 

Ouch! A mission completely in thick fog, with just a few moments of some visibility. It's not easy at all. I couldn't figure out the pattern of the less foggy moments, so you can't even rely on that. Anyway, it's a really good idea like night missions.

There are roughly 90 enemies on the map (10 of them silver spiders). When they're down to 70, you get a middle deroy, another when their number drops to 50, and 3 more when there's just 30, with one of these a nice missiles one 😑.

This is the city map of mission 108 (more destroyed there) and 85 among others. You start roughly near the start position of 85.

I decided to go with full attack mode, so I brought Phobos Z 4, Phobos 4, ZEXR and Naegling XEM. ZEXR is mostly useless here, as you can't really stay quiet, and there are too many structures around, so I changed to ZEX Launcher, which is always dangerous and you definitely want to get as away from it as much as possible for he sake of your and yours WD NPCs health. KM6FX and the second highest Phobos are also useless, as they only have a narrow hit area and deroys especially move very fast, so by the time the attack arrives it will certainly hit zilch. Phobos 4 may be a hard level weapon, but reasonably upgraded can still kill normal spiders in inferno, but even better will destroy deroy leg segments.

I started by dropping 2 ZEX to front, capturing WDs and rolling left. When I reached next intersection, you'll have a small open area to the left, dropped last 2 ZEX Launchers I had. Then started to Phobos the area where enemies are, which is reasonably easy since the Phobos marker will help to locate it, this while moving back to map border.

You'll get several Phobos refills, I used them all, which always meant that I got the 5 deroys in a row 😂. You should try to use Phobos on deroys when you can to help reduce their attack power, or with some more luck destroy them. When you get XEM destroy all deroy segments you can, and hopefully also hit silver spiders. Then drive back along with the map towards the right from start and then up when you reach its end. The biggest issue will be the missile deroy as this one is usually the rightmost one from the start so it will be the last one you'll hit. The most troublesome part is getting a new XEM due to the dreadful option now that you can only summon it to the heat of the action.

In the end, you'll have a few remaining Araneas and spiders in the middle. Still took me around 10 tries to achieve this. There's still luck involved.

I also did it with the NixZC, but stayed with this one in the border map area after dropping the last ZEX

launcher. Also works, but hitting the Deroys with the cannon shoulder or machine gun is not easy at all. The missiles are slow as hell but help a bit too.

In both cases you must rely on WDs to kill silver spiders, as you can't handle both the deroys and silvers at the same time. But I should probably not be must and handle it more easily, By killing at least the 2 first deroys before asking for the last 3.

It's a fun mission and I don't think that anyone except a full mobile fencer can have a easy life on this one, using missiles across the map.

Doing this mission with weapons below level 78 which are the ones you could get on mission 57 would be peachy... Nix ZC, Naegling XEM, Phobos Z, ZEXR are all beyond that range. 😋

Publishing videos of this mission is really useful... 🤣

Mission 53 - The Army Group Raid

If you want to try the robot toys this is the mission to do it. Robot Bomb DZ or a very upgraded Robot Bomb Type D (both damage and range) is fun to use, but it's only viable in a easy level like this one. Even so be careful not to piss more than 3 enemies at once, be aware of the Robot Bomb blast area as enemies can go near you and bring a Blacker for its speed as a escape plan (or a powerful exoskeleton, speedy probably better due to area needed to cover). Gunships will be much more effective, or a bulge laser. Spritefall is not a good option for powerful enemies in Inferno.

Mission 52 - Underground Trap

This mission with weapon limits on is very hard. Well it's still hard without them.

With weapon limits you're limited to level 75. At that level only decent turrets are ZERA-GUN, FZ-GUN MD and ZEX Launcher. The mission is a lot easier with the ZEXR-GUN, FZ-GUN MX and ZEX Launcher, but still problematic. Depth Crawler is mostly irrelevant as it has a minor role.

All tunnels have enemies, except a small one that you can see in the attached video, it's roughly in your back left.

Pick your NPCs and head there, this must be done in a snap without failures and always rolling. I had to find specific drop locations and order to make it work with weapon limits. At first you must focus on the extremity where you enter the safe spot as gold ants will come that way, then you must focus on the other one as silver spiders will come from that end. However this is unreliable, and you can still get all kinds of enemies from both ends. There's only 2 FZ-GUN MD, so you need one on each end. You need to be focused on when to rebuild the ZERA, as you need it ready when ZEX Launcher ends.

ZEX Launcher is extremely dangerous to you and NPCs. You can expect to die roughly half the times from it. It's important to try to launch it as far as possible towards the other caves, to try to avoid these issues, so if necessary take some risks to throw them.

Of course you can always have bad luck and the turrets will land in a enemy or corpse and they will be gone in a snap.

https://youtu.be/NYg9qOq9Fcw

Mission 51 - Attacking the Fleet

Another Archelus pays a visit mission, a not that easy one. There's a very important change mid mission that I detail in missions data.

I did bring Phobos 4, which is almost useless except for levelling down the area, as the transports block its effects. 150mm Cannon D, but 190mm Cannon will also work, just with a really long reload. ZEXR for bees and general killing, you need the 150mm and Phobos so that the area has few structures or these won't be even remotely effective. A Red Nix.

Level what you can at start but avoid the 2 or 3 big items between the NPCs and the bees transport, don't capture NPCs. Keep destroying the area in front of you so you can attack and kill the red ants. Do this until you can summon the Nix. Use ZEXRs when bees come, reload them as soon as all bees are killed. Be aware bees are dangerous for a still AR, keep moving.

When you have Nix, put 2 ZEXRs on each side of it, leave 2 near NPCs (don't capture them), destroy nearest bees transport, turning on ZEXRs just before reaching it.

Level the area near NPCs more.

Continue attacking red ants in the back front, until you have at least another Red Nix (I would suggest 2). Use ZEXRs if more bees come from the remaining transport that has them. When you have 2 more Nixes, install all ZEXRs near NPCs and destroy the leftmost transport that had red ants.

Archelus will come, and the last bee's wave will come too. Retreat to NPCs, capture them and activate ZEXRs. Now using Nix make Archelus go away. ZEXRs will probably handle the last bees, and all you'll have is red ants from now on which are easy to handle with a flamer nix and don't do much to damage to them.

All NPCs will certainly die in this phase, but they'll recover once Archelus is gone and there's no red ants. Killing the remaining 2 red ants transports is a joke, compared to the rest of the mission.

You'll never make it if any of the 2 remaining transports when Archelus arrives will drop bees, as handling them and Archelus is hell.

No crappy limpet needed 😋

 

Mission 50 - Airborne Fighters: Part 2

The fun way to do this mission is with the Naegling. However it's no piece of cake. Only the XEM is able to do reasonable damage to the Deroys, which is a weapon beyond what you could get in this mission, but with the level 65 one you'll get nowhere.

Mission 47 - Survivors 

This is not a totally easy mission. There's 30 Cosmonauts, 4 of them with shotguns. That's 11 more than in hard. They're all in a small area of the map, so it's very difficult to get just the attention of one group and it's highly likely that a few more will come. It's not unusual for half of them to come and then it's hell. A Blacker will be really nice to escape around the map edges due to speed, and its cannon can be useful too. If you want to use weapons within the mission range 105mm Rapid-fire Cannon and Vulcan Cannon M1 will work, but most times won't kill cosmos in one attack.

From start, wait a little, then gather the nearest NPCs to use as bait, from front right and then doing a arc to the left (Rangers, WDs, Fencers, Rangers, Rangers). Unfortunately they will likely piss some cosmos and the dance will begin sooner than you want.

There's a group of rangers on the far left that have rocket launchers, you should leave this guys to their own problems.

Mission 44 - Culling the Flying-Type

A really hard one. 4 waves of bees, with the second and third having 120 of them, 30 red ones in the third. The 4th wave has a giant bee, not a red thankfully.

It's the only mission where there will be Naegling NPCs, 2 of them along with 2 exoskeletons. The problem with these 4 NPCs is that they do the worst thing with flying enemies: stay put. So, they're massacred in a snap. If they're alive by the 3rd wave it's truly fantastic. Be aware that all classes face death shortly after all the NPCs are wiped out, unless there's just a few bees left (REALLY very few, and yes it can include the giant one which is the least of your troubles).

Decoys can help, if you have time to insert them in a nice place before the next wave comes and you must know where they're coming (see mission data page). ZERA even fully upgraded is a joke here, it will kill 10 bees with some luck. Only ZEXR will work, which is a high end weapon for this mission, ZEX Launcher is within limits but due to the huge number of bees it's a bad idea as you'll likely help to wipe out the NPCs even faster, and you too. KM6s are the most useful weapons here. Spritefalls don't work as bees are too much spread and over the NPCs and you.

Naegling isn't viable, once the bees come to you it's wiped out in a snap. Or worse you just need 1 or 2 stray bees to wipe it out (but managed to do this mission once with it).

On EDF 5 everything is too fast, specially wave transitions, and it's unlikely you can breath between them, let alone plan quietly things for the next wave. Rebuild times for most weapons are not realistic to use on this one.

I've done it with some loadouts but none is peachy. If I find a stellar one that makes this a walk in the park I'll post.

Mission 41 - Assaulting the Outpost

This one seems daunting but it's not. Can easily be done with Nix Red Armor, ZERA-GUN, Spritefall Power Mode and Vulcan Cannon M1 or 105mm Rapid-fire Cannon Y. These are all weapons below level 70, within the range you could get by reaching this mission.

At start capture both ranger squads, then hide right behind the first buildings, proceeding forward. When NPC Titans and exoskeletons are within the outpost range, start killing frogs with Vulcan and hitting cannons in the outpost with Spritefall. Spritefall will penetrate outpost and hit batteries and cannons below the hull.

When you have the nix, there are 3 other squads to capture around the outpost: Rangers with sarge to right, WDS in the back and fencers to the left. Outpost will walk later to the right so starting in this side is probably a good idea (not what I did 😁).

There's good detail of the outpost here:

https://www.gematsu.com/2017/10/earth-defense-force-5-details-aranea-giant-outpost-enemies

Prioritize taking down all the batteries, especially the ones above that have missile pods on their sides and the red rays smaller cannons. Vulcan or 105mm will hit anything protruding from the outpost. Spritefall will hit everything. Use both extensively to destroy everything you can. They're spread around the outpost.

The outpost will eventually get up. When it does prioritize urgently green small cannons under it. Use Spritefall on them. These will damage extensively you and NPCs. Cannister shots from the Red also work but take more time and it's more difficult. Ants and drones will be a good source of points, kill them with flamer, machine gun and ZERAs

Use ZERA to help reduce numbers of drones and ants. Pick all health crates possible.

When you destroyed all the cannons above and under the outpost, follow it, use fresh ZERA and hit orange center when it's opened. Try to do this in an area without buildings to be easier. Eventually, some colonists will also drop and they will be easy to massacre as they show up with the Red flamer and machine gun.

Rinse and repeat until the outpost goes down.

An impressive mission, the outpost is really well done.

Using more powerful weapons this mission is a lot easier of course.

Mission 40 - Brutal Battlefield

https://cris3fgametipsandgrumbles.blogspot.com/2021/09/edf-5-m40-brutal-battlefield-inferno.html

Mission 39 - Current Headquarters

What an absolute, royal, giant PITA to do this mission with weapon limits. Be prepared, it takes 45 mins to 1 hour... if all goes well.

I did it with the same loadout as 41, Nix Red Armor, ZERA-GUN, Spritefall Power Mode and Vulcan Cannon M1. Just the ZEXR would make this gigantically easier. The Nix ZC would be awesome too. But being stubborn as a mule I decided to go the hard way.

It's going to be long...

First problem. You have 8 transports, 2 with juicy silver spiders, 1 with purple ants which are thankfully toys compared to the silvers. The problem is when 4 transports are down you get a bonus of 50 bees plus 5 red ones. Which will be located around the areas where the silver spider transports are. Nice eh?

Second problem, There are a ton of drones, 80 to be exact. Well not A ton but you don't want them all at the same time, so reducing their numbers a few at a time is a smart option.

Third problem. There are 18 frogs. 8 of them with plasma cannons. These will hit you from across the map. They also have a weird behavior in this mission, as they attack in squads, in a different way from most missions. If you want to know more check the japanese wiki:

https://w.atwiki.jp/edf5/pages/228.html

OK, plan. First thing you want to get rid of is all 18 frogs before downing ANY transport. So piss with Vulcan the drones that are more advanced. Use ZERA to help kill the ones that follow. Keep doing this until you can't get any near drones. This should not be enough for the Nix. Next step is killing the spiders from the nearest leftmost transport, using Vulcan and ZERA. Always rebuild ZERA of course...

When you have a Nix, should be safe to deal with frogs. Start with the red ones, the shotgun ones. They'll come in squads, but with some luck just 3 or 4 at a time. They're far enough for you to be able to kill them with Vulcan while the ZERA and NPC rangers deal with likely spiders and drones.

The most delicate part will be to deal with the 2 groups of plasma green frogs that will be near the silver spiders transports. They're too far to use the Vulcan, you'll likely to have to resort to the Spritefall (at least my Vulcan couldn't even get near, it never changed to red meaning that it had range). Spritefall hits a large area, so you can be sure besides the frogs, silvers will come too (and normal spiders and drones 😐😁).

At least there's one plus in the mission. Since all enemies are in standby mode the ranger squad will recover if you kill all near enemies, so they can die in all skirmishes, there's no problem as they'll reappear,

Now that all frogs are dead, next problem. Transports. There's 3 that need to go first. Yep, the 2 silvers and the purple ones. These are on right but to the back. You can't make any of these the 4th to be destroyed as bees will come immediately once you down the 4th transport.

So you have to go right a lot to avoid the first normal spiders transport and wait for NPCs. Then proceed to the purples one in a path that is far from the transports to each side. Remember you'll have to babysit the NPCs so they don't make a mess...

To deal with each transport do this:

- approach the transport in a way that enables you to shoot the opening but not alerting the enemies below it

- install ZERAs

- just after the transport opens, aim and shoot spritefall to the opening center. This will help to hit the center of the drop area and hopefully more bugs.

- activate ZERA, enter Nix, shoot cannister shots from both sides to transport opening, it probably won't come down before closing

- deal with enemies if necessary (only in the silvers will probably be really necessary)

- when it opens again finish the job

- rebuild ZERAs if there's no aggroed enemies

Spritefall step won't be necessary for transports with normal spiders, the ZERA is enough to kill them.

Rinse and repeat for the first silvers transport. Silvers take some time to die with ZERAs, with Nix's revolver and flamer. Use cannisters wisely you need them for the transports.

You'll probably have a few Nixs near start perhaps you'll have to make a big boring trip back to get another and return.

The second silvers will be the more troublesome as it's at a very low height, but can still be done. Abuse the revolver and flamer.

Now that the 3 bad ones are gone, return to start position. Take down right transport with spiders. Bees will come and settle in areas where the silver spiders transports where located.

The bees will be separated in 2 groups, but near each other.

Next goal is kill bees. Install ZERAs in road with some distance between them, doesn't need to be big. Next check the more isolated group of bees (probably the left one), and use the Spritefall in a bee towards its end horizontally, but if possible in the middle back to front. This will kill a few bees, while minimizing chances of pissing too many enemies at once. Activate ZERAs, enter Nix and walk backwards using revolver to kill bees.

Rinse and repeat until there's just a few bees (less than 5). If you need point for anything (nix, Spritefall) kill spiders from left transport as many times as necessary until you have what you need.

At this point all that should remain is 3 transports with spiders, 1 with red ants, some drones (or none) and a few bees (or none). Just handle each transport as before, skipping the Spritefall step as it's no longer necessary.

Phew, this really was long.😂

This mission is troublesome to do with low weapons. It takes time, cool head and patience. With high end weapons it will be a lot easier but I don't think it can be done in full frontal assault mode. Too few NPCs, too many spiders.

EDIT

With Heavy Bomber Phobos Z Plan 4, Nix Red Guard, ZEXR-GUN and Guard Assist Gun G this mission is a lot easier, but still not possible to do full assault. Phobos is really good here since most transports are high from the ground, it's effective against colonists and bees will be on the ground after they show up.

Mission 35 - Berth

This mission is long. An Outpost will show up once you've downed 3 of the 7 transports on the map. It will stay for more than 10 minutes on the map...

The best weapons are the ZERA-GUN and a gunship attack like the level 50 105mm Consecutive Destruction Rapid-fire Cannon or the level 43 105mm Rapid-fire Cannon D. Complement with Guard Post M3, which will be better than the Gun one and since most enemies are in standby you've got plenty of time to install them on the exoskeleton. For vehicles use the Powered Exoskeleton Nix C3, which although slow as molasses will have the benefit of being the Nix ZC little brother, so plenty of options to deal with everything. I tried to be a smart ass and use the level 45 Nix Red Shadow but was creamed twice. This is if you want to respect weapon limits for the mission (level 68).

If not bring ZEXR, an even better gunship attack, and either the Nix ZC or the Red Guard and it will be a lot easier.

At start pick both ranger squads and farm the ants from the first transport until you have a nix. You'll get rid of most of the drones too in the bargain. When you have the nix follow the river, pass by the bridge, and pick the fencer squad from ahead.

Now you should kill all 8 colonists walking around. A good place to snipe some is a small hill just to the right after the bridge in the road going to the beach. Some ants will probably come along with the colonists. Two are patrolling near the beach, you'll have to climb a hill, just opposite the one I mentioned across the road. These 2 will walk around the red and gold ants, it's better to wait for them to exit the beach to the road above it before pissing them.

When you finish the colonists, you should decide which of the 3 transports to take down. I would advise making it the third one the black ants one near the bridge, just up the hill to the left. This will enable you to quickly go back beyond the bridge by the road to the back of the map so that you're away from the outpost hits and in peace to handle the incoming drones and 5 colonists. BTW the 5 colonists will always come in a compact group (that's why the Red Shadow which is clearly a hard-level weapon was creamed...😂).

If you're respecting weapon limits it's probably wise to get rid of the 2 worst transports, the gold ant's ones. To get the one on the other side of the map you have to go almost near the waterfall, then follow the road to the beach. The WD squad will show up, but it's not easy to save them, as you'll need to concentrate on the golds and not the reds. You should always send the turrets before advancing (install Guard Post...) and you can throw them nearer the beach so that they kill the reds once the golds are dead, but it's not easy. I managed to still have 2 alive after I downed the gold ant's transport, but when the WDs arrived most golds traveled to the reds transport and I used the Nix revolver to shoot most while I was crawling towards the gold's transport which was closed by now. Remember the idea is not to down the reds transport... Of course, this will be a gazillion easier with the ZEXR as these will cream the golds, the reds, and everything else that will come.

Return to the bridge and go down the road for the next gold's transport. This one is easier, but be careful descending to the beach. I put the ZEXRs on top of the cliff instead of the beach, so when I started to go down the golds creamed my Nix C3. I could return to the bridge where I could get another spare Nix but decided to summon another. Stayed slightly out of the transport and when the golds dropped, shot the gunship attack to the first, it will kill almost all, and NPCs dealt with the rest (install Guard Post...) as long as you don't stay quiet which is the worse for some enemies. Just my luck the Nix got stuck on the top of the transport. The only resort was to wait for the NPCs to bring down the transport. They did at the 5th or 6th gold ants drop. This long chat just to show that with some creativity and thought you can solve some thorny issues successfully.

Golds gone, return to the bridge, go up the hill, down blacks transport.

Go immediately back the road before the bridge rebuild turrets and wait for the onslaught of drones. C3 revolver and burner will help too (another problem for the flimsy Red Shadow, not much luck with drones). When the 5 colonists arrive, kill one with a gunship attack then use Nix to cream the other 4.

Bring down the last 4 transports when the outpost is gone. Finito.

Mission 34 - Cave Invasion Final Stage

This mission is interesting, except that the map is a mess, and difficult to figure where to go.

There are 5 queen ants, one of them gold. And unlike hard and below, two waves of termites (wasn't expecting these).

Being the Limpet hater I did use them since I made a mess in my first run when the second termite's wave come and wanted to see if it also worked.

Bring ZEXR, FZ-GUN MX, Depth Crawler IV Custom, and either ZEX Launcher or Limpet Splendor ZD.

The idea is to bottleneck enemies at the entrance to the cave where you started and further back, so always fall back to this place when necessary. At the start throw ZEXRs to kill frogs and ants that will come, use FZ-GUN too. You won't get a DC for now.

Proceed in the large cave. There will be a big pillar in the center, with a shallow water area behind it. There are 2 queen ants there, along with some smaller stuff. They're usually separated by the large pillar, so you should go to the left and drop one or 2 ZEX Launchers, then retreat and go right and drop all other ones, but these are more difficult to place as there's a lot of smaller pillars in this area. Once you get a look at the queen ant moving it's good.

The other 3 are further away behind the right queen. The limpet will reach them if you shoot some pellets to the right place, which is not easy. DON'T ACTIVATE anything for now. Retreat to start cave, activate either limpet or ZEX Launcher and they will come. What they mean depends on what you get, but at least 2 queens should come. Queens do enter your start cave so fall back to the tunnel. Drop ZEXRs first and FZ-GUNs further near the tunnel. You'll have the DC but be careful, some gold ants can still manage to go near you.

When everything that was coming is dead return to the water shallow area, by the left side. No enemies should be here, if there are then repeat the last steps. Go slowly to allow rangers to keep up with you. When you're reaching the end of the shallow area wave of termites will spawn in your back. Use ZEXRs, stay inside DC. If you left the rangers behind they will be crushed and it will be harder for you.

What will remain is the eggs area, hopefully without the 3 queens. If they're still there, repeat the process you did before, falling back to the start cave until all queens are dead. Don't advance too much near the eggs to avoid triggering the last termite's wave.

Proceed to the eggs by the left side (it's easier), always wait for the rangers. When you're reaching them, the second termite's wave will spawn. Repeat, use ZEXRs when they're arriving, stay in DC.

Dealing with the eggs is a joke compared to the rest of the mission.

Another mission I just finish and forget, if it wasn't the dreadful maze would be better but I guess that was the difficulty Sandlot wanted to add.

Mission 33 - Cave Invasion Stage 2

Oh crap. A scripted mission in a giant cave 😑. If you want to follow the script this is hard as during the 2 last waves you'll be in the open cave or almost.

Hating this mission I cheated, and used the ZE Blaster, as I was losing my patience with the ZEX Launcher issues. I still used it thought.

There's 2 groups of NPCs, the sarge group is the scripted one. They will recover if they die. But stupidly, if the sarge dies but other soldiers are alive, you must return and kill them or the mission won't progress, as only when the leader is present they will proceed...

Bring ZEXR, ZEX Launcher, ZE Blaster and Depth Crawler IV Custom. Drop ZEXRs and activate near first group of ants. Drop below to cave bottom ZEX Launcher, activate, this is to kill spiders wandering below.

You'll get the DC probably before second group. Repeat, hopefully ZEXRs will rebuild before that.

Next is a tunnel with a smaller cave holding spiders, one of them silver. Use ZEXRs, some installed on DC top if you want.

From now on there will be 3 waves that are traps and need some attention, especially the last 2. As you're exiting the cave where the spiders were, drop ZEX Launcher turrets along the tunnel before reaching its end. When the wave spawns activate ZEX Launcher, they will be dead in a snap. Rebuild them ASAP.

You'll cross an arch, enter a tunnel, go into a cave, then another small tunnel going down where you'll reach a ledge that will be larger to the right. Here 2 large waves will spawn in the wall opposite the ledges, with black and gold ants. As they spread all over the place this is hard, so try to install ZEX Launcher on the wall where they spawn, and ZEXR and ZE Blaster on the ledge.

Once finished, the script will proceed to the last wave, which will be near the bottom maze. Throw ZEX Launcher below, ZEXRs too, and use ZE Blaster near you on the edge of the path. These 3 will not probably be enough to kill all silvers but will almost do it, making it easy to finish the mission.

It's unreliable. You can try to use FZ-GUN instead of ZEX Launcher or ZE Blaster and always try to fall back to a tunnel where you can bottleneck enemies, the only problem is that ants can easily come from your back too.

This is one of those missions I just finish and forget.

Update: This mission is HELL to do with weapon limits, you'll be limited to weapons level 66-67 and the AR has mostly crap or toys for inferno. Well, I did it after all, but yes it's hell. The strategy is significantly different from the better weapons version. If it's already dangerous to follow the sarge to the 2nd trap, to the third it's suicide. A goldie can wipe your ass any sec thought.

https://youtu.be/mBSs-ORgK3k

Mission 32 - Cave Invasion Stage 1

This mission isn't awful because you're able to bottleneck enemies on small tunnels when there's a ton of them. ZEXR and FZ-GUN will be your friends, the third is largely irrelevant probably a Guard gun/post and install it on the Depth Crawler. You can also try the robot toys, but they behave very badly in caves. In the last cave all enemies are on standby, enter it drop ZEXRs then retreat and block the tunnel with FZ-GUNs, just be careful because there's an upper tunnel before reaching the large cave, so further back in the corner is the ideal position since you will avoid shots from enemies and it will be easier to keep yourself and NPCs healthy. Use DC to help as the number of enemies can be overwhelming and some can pass the flames (it's a large number of golds and purples, along with spiders).