Well, this game certainly embodies the three things I've come to expect from Diseased Productions: 1.) As many enemies onscreen at a time as my processor can handle. 2.) Red. 3.) Black (and sometimes gray).
So basically, in order to get the hard badge, you have to avoid even CREATING more than 10 troops, ever (because it continues to count your casualties even after you pass wave 50), make it past wave 50 (and somehow know when you've done it), and then lose on purpose. Yeah, that's pretty hard. :\ Still, I'm going to upgrade from my previous comments and say that this is actually a pretty decent game. But it still has a clunky, unfriendly interface (can't cancel anything, can't see your troops when they're in bunkers, can't move troops on top of a corpse until it fades away...unfortunately, the list still goes on and on), the onscreen clutter eventually makes even my dual-core gasp for air, you have to read external guides to really figure out how to play it, and it still progresses painfully, PAINFULLY slow. So now it's a 3/5. If all of these things were fixed--ALL of them--I can see upgrading this to a 4 or even a 5.
Good game overall, but the endgame is a major drag. Having to kill hundreds, literally HUNDREDS of enemies to achieve "ally" status with all of your friendly factions, even after you've done every single other quest available, is just not right. By the time I hit it I'll already have level grinded my way to godhood.
Oh hey, no confirm on the surrender button either. Have you ever actually played a video game before? I highly recommend that you try it sometime. Pay special attention to what makes an interface fun and intuitive as opposed to a frustrating, confusing piece of crap. I'll give this a 2/5. One "benefit of the doubt" point because based on some of the other comments it looks like it could potentially become enjoyable if you're masochistic enough to experiment for several hours and figure out what everything does.
This is probably the worst interface I've ever seen in a tactical game. I roll over one of the kajillion icons that cover half the screen, read all the tedious text as my soldiers continue to die, and I STILL have no idea whether a given item will help me in a given situation. Oh, and thanks for not prompting me to confirm when I accidentally click on the reset button. For that matter, thanks for calling it "reset." That's so much less ambiguous and confusing than "INSTANTLY ERASE ALL OF YOUR SAVE DATA."
I'm pretty sure I just earned all of the badges and the card in a single game and didn't get anything. No connection problems either that I can tell. :(
It's also worth noting that the "reckless" AI tempts deviation by being less likely to quit while he's ahead, so to speak. That means he'll zilch (and lose) a lot more in the long run, but he also has a higher chance to have a ridiculous run of luck. And it's human nature to only remember and complain about the sucky things that happen to us, so if anything all the whining is proof that the system works rather than proof that it doesn't.
Note of course that all probabilities are subject to wide deviation from their expected outcomes for a small number of rolls. I suggest that you roll each and every scenario a million or two times. If you still see a discrepancy from the odds I've listed below, THEN you might actually have a case for the "OMG COMPUTOR PLAYR TEH IS R1GDZOR'D!!" scenario.
Actually, that's not a bad idea. Here's a little list of probabilities for you math-impaired whiners out there. Assuming that each die has an equal chance of coming up as any given number every single time: Zilching with 1 die: 2/3 (66.7%); zilching with 2 dice: 4/9 (44.4%); zilching with 3 dice: 8/27 (29.6%); zilching with 4 dice: 16/81 (19.8%); zilching with 5 dice: 32/243 (13.2%). Note that for three or more dice I'm not taking into account the odds of getting -of-a-kinds, so the odds of zilching are actually slightly lower than what I've listed. Odds of rolling a straight: 5/324 (1.5%); odds of rolling 3 pair: same as straight; odds of rolling a no score: 1/162 (0.6%). I have a feeling I'm calculating the no score probability wrong. Feel free to correct my math if you find out any different.
I have to admit some of the achievements are annoying. 10 straight games without a single zilch? Even if you're throwing five dice, which is the safest throw apart from "free" rolls, there's still a 13% chance that you'll zilch! Over the course of that many games the law of averages makes such a feat virtually impossible.
Oh geez, I just got three free rolls in a roll and won the Obliterator award. You should really stop making the dice rolls favor the human player, it's really unfair. Or wait...maybe it's, like...RANDOM or something. :O
Whoa, whoa...a massive wave of irony just hit me. People hate this game because it involves luck...yet they are still playing it...so they can acquire a card...for freaking KONGAI. A card whose intrinsic ability as well as ALL FOUR ATTACKS involve an element of luck above and beyond the extreme amounts of luck and guesswork that the game already involves. O_o
Yes, psidra, I'm looking at you, you who claim to hate this game but for some reason are still hanging around and presumably, since you're complaining about the difficulty of the hard badge, still playing it.
You complainers must be a real joy to be around on family game night. You know what? Yes. You're all right. The RNG is designed to favor the computer and screw you over. The creator, who opposes all things good and fun, made it that way on purpose. Do you know why he did this? Because he, like everyone else in your life, hates your stupid craterous stubble-bearded snot-crusted face.
 "Eternal Red"){kind=icon}
 "Mud and Blood 2"){kind=icon}
 "Hands of War"){kind=icon}
 "Shore Siege!"){kind=icon}
 "Damn Birds"){kind=icon}
 "Zilch"){kind=icon}
 "Renegade Commanders"){kind=icon}