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@TrevF I am using Chrome, but the game still will not load, after several attempts. @GameTommy I don't even have anything like those... I keep getting the message, "[10] Setup has failed: Loader bypassed" written across the bottom of the game screen. If anyone finds a more proper fix, please comment it, so we can vote it up.
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For people having trouble loading the game, try disabling your anti-tracking addons (for me I disabled Adblock Plus and Ghostery.) That allowed me to play this game.
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Why would you offer to let us join The Casual Collective if registration is disabled?! WHY dangle bonus stuffs in front of us if we can't acquire it?! =( BAAAHHHH!
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game works fine for most people, so if it doesnt work on your machine better check your computer instead of blaming kongregate...
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All of these games not working now must either be flash player's recent versions, kongregate itself, or browsers moving towards the new html standard. May be different things for different games, but likely just one of those. I think I've heard going in to private mode where your flash saves aren't recorded somehow bypasses the issue???
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Eh. It's a decent game, but really slow paced and repetitive. Each level feels pretty much the same and it's not interesting until right as the levels end. Strategy/buildup is always the same, the enemy wave pattern is always the same ... it just feels lacking overall. 3/5
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[10] Setup has failed: Loader bypassed
What? That's new...... Lots of comments about the game working/not working, so my guess is that it works, but only sometimes.
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3 different browsers, 2 different computers, even trying from fresh boots. Game loads to 100%, shows the Casual Collective logo, then goes to what I'm assuming is the title screen. I can't play the game but I can mess with the volume. The game does not work & it's obviously not on my end. Usually only Unity games give me *problems*
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Still works fine. All badges can be earned. If you are clueless simply watch/play the tutorials. If you can't load the game the problem is your browser or its' settings, not this game.
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Easy badge: Complete the "easy" mining mode. They had to put "easy" in quotes because it's actually far from easy. 35% through and I get slaughtered. Not easy, not fun. Skipping this badge, and rating one star because I can't rate fewer.
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The key is that you get 100% resources back for selling basic stuff that hasn't been upgraded. So you can splurge like crazy to get high mining rate or to add tons of basic lasers and then just cash them back in when you don't need them. The only place you actually upgrade is your core base, where you want a repair thing, missile launchers and eventually some thels and pulsers.
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Basic strategy for beating madness mining mode: build a few solar plants then rapidly start building as much mining stuff as you can. Do not upgrade the miners and try to only expand in one direction. When the red ships get close, build 5 or 6 basic lasers in their way, then sell those lasers when the reds are dead. Repeat for all the other waves and keep aggressively expanding your mine. When the boss ships come sell EVERYTHING except your core base, and quickly add 5 or 6 missile launchers and ~15 lasers. Once the bosses are mostly dead, start expanding again in the other direction and use more lasers this time. If you've done it right you will complete the mission before the 3rd boss wave.
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But there's one last question I found to be very interesting. A lvl 2 Missile Launcher costs 900m, has 480 range, and fires 2 missiles at a time that do 500 damage each. A lvl 3 Missile Launcher costs 1,900, has 576 range, and fires 4 missiles at a time, each of which does 550 damage. I haven't tried it yet, but lately I've been thinking: what if I build 2 lvl 2 ML's, instead of 1 lvl 3? It should be almost the exact same fire power: the 2 lvl 2's should fire about the number of missiles as a single lvl 3. And lvl 1's cost 400m, have 400 range, and launch 1 400-damage missile at a time. And the nice thing about the lower lvl missiles is greater flexibility, in addition to reduced cost. So this is the strategy I'm contemplating: max lvl THELs for taking out motherships, with some missiles for swarmers. I might use a ratio of 4 lvl 3 ML's, 4 lvl 2 ML's, and 20 lvl 1 ML's, plus maybe 10 THEL's, to hit them at all ranges.
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While pulsers vs. basic lasers seems pretty clear-cut to me, with basic lasers clearly much better, I think THELs and missiles are more complicated. Fully upgraded missiles cost 1,900m compared to a fully upgraded THEL for 2400m. The missiles have much longer range and do 550 damage each. And at those prices, you can launch 100 missiles from your launchers before the launcher is more expensive than a THEL. Most missions will end before then. And I've found missiles to be by far the best way to down swarmers. But THELs are quite good at taking out motherships, and excellent for taking out most other ships. Plus, missiles are useless against ring ships. So in the end, I think the best thing is to have some missiles and some THELs, but to keep the missiles off most of the time.
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This is probably pretty obvious if you've been playing a while, but after experimenting for a while I've found Pulsers to be pretty much pointless to build. They do fire more rapidly than basic Lasers, but they do a lot less damage, and cost a whole lot more. basic Lasers cost 100m and do 30 damage; Pulsers cost 200, 350, or 650m, and do 12, 14, or 16 damage. Their superior range is nice, but even combined with the higher fire rate it doesn't come close to making up for the reduced firepower and additional cost. So I'd say just spend whatever minerals you were planning to spend on pulse lasers on basic lasers instead, or maybe missiles or THELs.
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Practical best survival strat: build a ring of laser turrets, sprinkle some lvl 2 THEL (after the 800m upgrade), some lvl 2 missile turrets and some repair stations with the lasers, then build a wall of relays on the outside. Make sure internal power structure is a web instead of long lines. Put a few capacitor around the perimeter. Voila! You still die.
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Theoretical best survival strat: mine out everything without upgrades, sell everything while snaking to a corner, then build up a base there. Without rocks you'll have the highest weapon density, and enemies only on one side.
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Beautiful game. The combination of resource management with the flexible tower defense genre made for a thoroughly enjoying experience. However, I will give bacon/beer to anyone who can get the second badge on their first couple of tries. It took a lot of tea and late nights for me to get that one.
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If you can't play this game. Press "get flash player" where the game would appear and it loads flash in the window.. Stupid chrome update :(
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I failed the madness-level a couple of times because I was only using basic miners trying to preserve units. It got much easier when I used upgraded miners and got to 2000, then 4000, then 6000 units mined per minute.
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Found out the reason for "[10] Setup has failed: loader bypassed": You need to accept third-party site cookies, then it works (at least for me). What a shame for CasualCollective. Please upvote so others can see this.