Build an ion cannon and upgrade to lvl 2, then place a bunker under it. Then build 2 ion cannons next to your first one about 1 space apart. Then place a bunker under each cannon. At some point, they are going to damage your cannons badly, so sell them and the 2 other bunkers after a few minutes then upgrade your ion cannon to lvl 3. Then upgrade your ion cannon to lvl 4. After that do economics then missile launchers and the rest will be easy.
I think we all made the mistake of underestimating the usefulness of the fortified bunker at first. I mean, if you don't have one of those, then you won't make it past hard.
But overall awesome game! The only thing I can think of to make it better is more variety in weapons and enemy ships!
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