I think the issue is that the delay between ball hitting and popping is way too big. Also, for some reason it only counts a miss on the ball AFTER the one that actually missed. If you wait between each shot, then the game stops freaking out, but it's still pretty luck based because miss is considered as anything that doesn't match 3, and on level 3 there's enough colors that you tend to fail because there's no way to make a match.
On Area 5 bonus 2, use mostly shockwaves to kill the boss fast. On Area 5 bonus 3, go to the far left and scrape the bullets; if you have an absorption panel you should be able to get full energy.
To beat the dragon, buy every (yes, every) tile on level 15, and give your adventurers some HP/empty tile equips. It takes forever, but they regen back to full by the time they figure out where the dragon is.
Found a bug. Somehow, I got the card for level 6:7 even though I didn't use every funnel. There was an extra splitter directly next to the funnel I didn't use, which might be why it worked.
afffffff. I dived into the lava the instant before I was going to rescue the next princess, so I get to see the start of the ceiling break animation taunting me from the launch summary screen :(
Lucky Tower 1 was deliberately arbitrary and luck-based, while secretly giving you some control to make it not too annoying. Lucky Tower 2 tries to be a standard game, but actually is about as arbitrary as the first one. See, the first one is nice because it's not trying to be fair, it's trying to be silly. Lucky Tower 2 isn't bad, it's just that once you try to make it serious all the quirks in the game start feeling annoying because they don't fit.
Just so it doesn't get lost: if you name yourself "almostpapa" at the start of the game, you start the file at rank 30, with 35 customers unlocked and all but the 35th one being gold rank. Should give you the first 3 badges instantly. Then you can grind out 16-17 days for the last one, which is more than any reasonable person should do to enjoy this game.
Bullet: Useful early on, but gets outclassed quickly. Low damage in large area, in later levels the damage is too low to be useful.
Rockets: Nice damage, lets you concentrate on dodging, often kills stuff before it can shoot. Useful for most levels in the game, but absolutely horrid at asteroids.
Acid: Never bought it
Pulse: Useful for bosses + asteroids. High damage, okay spread. Not bad for regular levels but not amazing either.
Laser: Kinda bad until upgraded. Once upgraded it's the best for clearing levels without getting hit. Nice coverage, damage is good enough to kill most enemies.
It is entirely possible to solve the puzzles without guess and check. The last possible levels are really killer though, it takes so long to get a good footing.
Also, here's a funny money making glitch. Buy the Vanguard, then travel to a place where Narcotics are expensive. Max out cargo by buying grain, then downgrade to on foot. Now buy the max amount of narcotics. You should have bought -120 narcotics and earned over 1 mil. Travel to a place where narcotics are cheap and sell them. You should lose some money, but still earn a profit of 200-300k. If you're feeling lucky, you can also surrender to Buccaner parties, which has a chance of them stealing half your cargo. That way you only have to sell -60 instead of -120.
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