Maxed out my party, full mutations, all stats maxed, all caravans. Seems like the save was reset when the game was updated. For me, personally, that gets a 1 star rating, no question.
Strategy that works for me:
1)Get in front of one of the enemies orbs and shoot back at it until its gone. Aim to be taking them out right from the beginning.
2)Focus on weapons initially (homing missiles are great, as is the triple shot, the secondary canons not so much) and then engines when the orbs circle too tight for you to keep up.
3) Keep your allied units at least as upgraded as the enemy, they (not you) will defend your base.
4) Take the fight to the enemy and be aggressive!
Clear 5/5 game. Would like the option not to auto-switch weapons so that you can do a complete knife run (although not sure how this would go on the end boss?)
Very much appreciate the subtle story told. To be able to do this at any level without words is worth of respect. At times I found my self distracted from winning by the game, another great sign of the high level of ambience created.
So I lost one battle. Ok. No money, so no troops. No way to make money with no troops. Basically stuck looking at the map. It's a nice enough map, maybe a 3/5 for the map? Looking at a map as a game ... probably closer to a 1/5?
I really liked this game when it first came out and I still do. For me I found victories or losses were dependent on how I played not the game dynamics.
ERROR: I had two viruses but when I upgraded the virus so it went through walls it went back to me only having 1 virus but kept the upgrade cost at 52500 for an extra virus.
So many better shooters out there. Clearly the dev has the skill and time to make a great game but seems afflicted with a desire to screw the player to the point where the fun just is not there. BTW I recommend the Plasma + Splash for Atropos.
 "Caravan Beast"){kind=icon}
 "Royal Squad"){kind=icon}
 "Frozen Islands"){kind=icon}
 "Snail Bob 7: Fantasy Story"){kind=icon}
 "Ether War"){kind=icon}
 "The Valley Rule"){kind=icon}
 "My Friend Pedro"){kind=icon}
 "Vortex"){kind=icon}
 "Solarmax 2"){kind=icon}
 "Beasts Battle"){kind=icon}
 "Dangerous adventure"){kind=icon}
 "Creeper World 3: Abraxis"){kind=icon}
 "RPG Shooter: Starwish"){kind=icon}
 "Forbidden Arms"){kind=icon}
 "Fantasy Kommander"){kind=icon}
 "Surgeon Simulator 2013"){kind=icon}
 "Infectonator 2"){kind=icon}
 "Reactance 2"){kind=icon}
 "Hammer Ball"){kind=icon}
You are welcome :)