hicks, ive beatin hard so it is posible and the reason why it seems harder than extreme is because of the creep speed. in extreme most strats fall short around wave 150...and to beat that you need wave 400...so yes extreme is hard very hard.
kavu that makes sence, as the unlocking extreme is saved to your comp while the badge is via kongregate. once i played for nearly 4 hrs then let it run. my score was stuck at 3700(wave 370ish) and when i woke up i was on wave 1900+ dead but my score(on kongregate) was still 3700
and to get a high score you must use a powerfull strat (from what ive heard) a "super-tight lazer rocket chain" is the best you can get on the map lyne you can fit a ton of lazer turrets in there again its explained in the forums on playr.uk
how to beat hard is in the forums in the website posted as the game loads. the railgun and others you listed are the "super turrets" however the combos from the reg turrets are way more powerfull and cheaper than any of them the combo only however will take a preexisting combo and make it only fire that combo (no normal shots and a huge range too)
to get a combo to work try this. select the map line on easy
place a rocket(red) turret about mid-way down the map so that the range just covers the start. then upgrade its rate 2 times and then max the power. after you got the power up put a lazer(green) turret next to it (hit "C" to see if they are in range to combo) then up its power to max then enjoy. to combonly this you just place the combonly near it wait for it to turn red then click and there you have it.
ok how to use the combonly...place a combo near it (all the turrets with the power maxed only. you can upgrade other stats but it makes no difference when you change them) then wait the if there is a combo present (may need to make sure every turret is in range of the combonly) it will turn red then blue then green then yellow, wait for it to turn the color you want (as i said below each combo has a color to it) click it when its your color
red = rocket
blue = cannon
green = lazer
yellow = tazer
go to the website thats posted at the beginiing then look for a combo list. how you know what combo is going to fire is, whatever color turret fires first will be the combo turret. like for instance lazer rockets (one of the best combos) is a red combo where the rocket turret fires 1st and a green combos off of it.
"blackhole" refers to a specific combo where a black hole is created and it eats creeps and any missles that come near it. the combo is 3Y1G(and maybe a blue im not sure really) it doesnt kill creeps it just swallows them thus not generating money or score
umm the 1st run is normaly the easiest i dont know what problems your having, the str is pretty regular imo you have some quick guys (more agil less str) and you have some that are just avrage i dont have any problems untill 4-5 rocket launchers per group till then im ok