Once you begin to accumulate so much money you've maximized everything, make the planetary shield. Then slowly sell off your economic centers, and replace them all with launchers (except for 2 more laser defenders).
Using this technique I ended with 4,163 population and $12,547. And the Dreadnought only took out two ion cannons before he died. :D
I really like this game. 5/5. Nice music, fun gameplay, good challenge, and decent replayability. I can't wait for more of this guy's work.
Now research Energy weapons, and build a defending laser.
From here on, it's very simple, if you made it this far: just build & upgrade out from this center, with bunkers spaced so they never overlap (5 bunkers max total). Build symmetrically as you can: just build an identical structure on either side and upgrade it to max first (except bunkers, only upgrade them to max when you're maxing out your money).
The whole back row will be economic centers for a while, and the middle row will be maxed missile launchers & level 1/2 bunkers. This is the pattern: bunker launcher launcher, &c.
The front row will have the three ion cannons, two laser defenders, and the rest launchers.
Then research Advanced Economics and build an Economics Center (back row center), then upgrade it.
Now research Advanced Nuclear Weapons, and build a Missile Launcher, and upgrade it all the way to max. Build it to the right or left of the bunker. (Yes this takes a while, but it is worth it to upgrade one of these all the way first, before building more launchers.)
Upgrade the bunker once.
Build another missile launcher on the other side of the bunker and upgrade it all the way.
Build two more economics centers, one on either side of the one already there. Upgrade the existing one before building the new one.
Here is how I win on Apocalypse:
First off, 3 ion cannons in the front & center, and a bunker one row back and center. Upgrade the middle ion cannon ASAP, and they will all still stand. Once it is upgraded, the enemies will begin firing at it, so upgrade the least-damaged ion cannon to the side next. Then upgrade the middle ion cannon again to level 3. (You won't need to upgrade it again until you have so much money you literally don't have anything else to do with it.)
The "fight scenes" could be fun, but when you have to learn while you play, and failure means you restart the level, it really isn't fun to have to do that.
Make the controls more intuitive, or give more visual feedback for the player, or just spell out what you want them to do.
I never get close to damage with the normal game but usually lose the "boss fight" because I can't figure out what it wants me to do.
(I quit after losing to the Wizard boss.)
Something needs to be done about the edge of the playing field. It was frequently necessary to launch off of a floor with only one block of room; this reduced enjoyment.
Also I bet if you call it a "gravity force generator" or something, and not a "gun," you'll get a lot less complaints about not being able to blow up stuff.
Otherwise nice work.
First things first...Get and use a pixel font. I missed 100% of the "story" because I couldn't read the fuzzy fuzzy letters.
Really fun gameplay, except for the airplane level. Why can't I shoot out the tires on this car? Or hit the fuel line in the plane? It was the most "unrealistic" level.
Otherwise plenty 'o fun.
Level 12 is bugged. I do the whole thing, get the green arrow or whatever, and then *poof* restart the level. As though I'd just gotten there.
Otherwise, this is an original game, to be sure. I enjoy it thoroughly, and the music works well with the "rewinding" concept. Fix the bugs and this's a 5/5 easily.
Maneuvering around the room should not be a challenge. It really, really is. Sometimes pushing "left" and then "right" immediately won't leave you where you started.
The whole thing was great until sword-n-shield. The controls weren't in need of precision until then, and there, it just fell apart. 20 tries, and I am still at it. I had no real trouble with any of the other challenges and certainly not career mode.
I enjoy these bot arena games, but oy...fix that wretched challenge #4. I think most of the people here are complaining about it, anyway, if they complain at all.
Good work overall.
Please add WASD control, and / or something to make you have to click less to decide battle tactics. Repetitious battles are ok; they can be fun. But you gotta reduce the carpel-tunnel!
This is a lot of fun, and I look forward to the next chapters. Also--i like the music!
I bought the very best equipment in the game. My stats remain unchanged; my HP remain unchanged, my MP remain unchanged.
No equipment seems to do anything...though I am having fun playing.
The save function is more broken than any other save function I have ever seen in any flash game, ever.
I would probably like this game, if it simply worked. Sorry guys, but that's pretty integral to a game like this.