At first I was a little miffed about the ships hiding behind the invincible base when the flagship is out, but then I realized that it's just another challenge to overcome, and one that you can plan for. Go back and beat old levels to get more skill points to spend. While each level is comprised of a similar progression, some of the levels are different in what strategies work best to kill the boss.
as you move up in the game levels all you need are a few glue cannons, 1 beacon tower, and then a LOT of moab maulers and a few sun gods. In levels after freeplay starts you need moab maulers above everything else. You need to start building banana farms as soon as possible. The extra cash is critical in later stages.
I felt that the game was a little too simple. The enemies would attack each other as well, which was great, but I haven't found a level that I thought was too challenging. The overall concept is nice, though.
You need to include a hotkey for the meteor ability. I've lost a few brilliant badges because I can't fire off the meteors quickly enough on the final boss (like level 11 for example)
You can buy the upgrades at the higher price without having to buy all of the intermediate steps. I was fully upgraded before the end following this plan. If I had incrementally upgraded, then I wouldn't have been able to do it.
one of the things I really like about this game is that I can play the same save file from any computer, as it is tied to my Kongregate profile. There are very few games like that here, so bravo.
Another comment. I used skill points to increase my intelligence, which says "Increase magic attacks, skill pts. Learn more skills" After increasing the intelligence score, it did not increase any of those things. My attack stayed the same, my available skills stayed the same, and as far as I can tell, my # of skill pts per level will remain tied to my new level.
As a general rule I'm not a big fan of games that allow people who pay to have a major advantage. That said, I think that if you had some other way to earn gems in game, then it would be more worthwhile.
the game is still fun, though I like the improvements made to Gemcraft Ch 0 better overall. Beating epic bosses just takes lots of mana the first time around. I was having problems the first time through until I read the guide provided by the developer. Good stuff. Can't wait for the third installment.
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