##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ########## #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@@@@### #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@@@@@@@### #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@## #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@#@@@# #@@@# #@@@@#######@@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@##@@@# #@@@# #@@@@# #@@@@@@# #@@@##@@@# #@@@##@@@# #@@@# #@@@##@@@# #@@@@# #@@@@@# #@@@@@@@# #@@@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@#@@@# #@@@@# #@@@@@# #@@@@@@@# #@@@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@# #@@@@# #@@@@@# #@@@##@@@# #@@@##@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@# #@@@@# #@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@@# #@@@@# #@@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# ##### ##### #@@@@#######@@@@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@## #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@@@@@@@### #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@# #@@@@@@@@@### ##### ##### ##### ##### ########## ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Game: KKND ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Author: Shaun Chen ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Alias: Skasian ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Platform: PC (DOS) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Genre: Real-Time Strategy ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Email: [email protected] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ FAQ Version: 1.10 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Last Update: 08/01/08 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ Copyright 2007 Shaun Chen ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% Table Of Contents %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 1. Legal Stuff 2. Version History 3. Author's Welcome 3.1 - Acknowledgements 4. System Requirements 5. Game Overview 5.1 - Basic Controls 5.2 - Glossary 6. SURVIVORS Walkthrough (Missions) 6.1 - THE NEXT GENERATION 6.2 - BUILD AN OUTPOST 6.3 - WITHSTAND THE RAIDING PARTY 6.4 - RESCUE THE SCOUT 6.5 - TOLL GATE 6.6 - EXTERMINATE THE VILLAGE 6.7 - PROTECT THE CONVOY 6.8 - BACK TO THE BEACH 6.9 - RESCUE THE COMMANDER 6.10 - OCCUPATION FORCE 6.11 - GIVE ME LIBERTY 6.12 - SURGICAL STRIKE 6.13 - HOLD THE BRIDGE 6.14 - THE ROUT/RETREAT 6.15 - BESIEGED 7. EVOLVED Walkthrough (Missions) 7.1 - RETURN OF THE SLUGS 7.2 - REPEL THEM! 7.3 - BUBBLIN' CRUDE 7.4 - RAID THE FORT 7.5 - AMBUSH 7.6 - SIEGE 7.7 - RELEASE THE PRISONERS 7.8 - SMASH THE CONVOY 7.9 - FIGHT FOR TERRITORY 7.10 - CLOSE ENCOUNTERS 7.11 - IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD 7.12 - THE BIG ATTACK 7.13 - BATTLE FOR THE ISLANDS 7.14 - THE FINAL ASSAULT 7.15 - COUNTER-ATTACK 8. Advanced Gameplay 8.1 - Unit Veterancy 8.2 - Building Infiltration 8.3 - Tips and Tricks 9. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 10. Installing KKND on New OS's 10.1 - With CD 10.2 - With Image File 10.3 - Running KKND 11. Understanding the AI 11.1 - Oil Tankers 11.2 - Unit/Army Production 11.3 - Unit Micromanagement 12. Conclusion ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 1. Legal Stuff %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advanced permission from the author. Use of this guide on any other web site or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All content in this guide is Copyrighted 2007 by Shaun Chen. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Only the sites listed below have permission to publish this work or to display it: http://www.gamefaqs.com http://www.supercheats.com http://www.neoseeker.com If you wish to use all or part of this guide on your site, e-mail me and ask. If you wish to use info from this guide, please acknowledge that you have done so in the appropriate manner. The latest version of this guide can always be found at www.gamefaqs.com. Should you see this guide appear on any other sites other then those listed above, please notify me by email. If you have questions about this guide or wish to provide input, then I am happy to listen, just email me with "KKND FAQ" as the title and leave a name so I can credit your contribution. Constructive criticism is also welcome. ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 2. Version History %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Version 1.00 (29th December 2007) - The Guide is born. It covers all basic formatting and layout requirements as well as a complete walkthrough for the Survivors and Evolved campaigns. Covers many other little things as well. Version 1.10 (8th January 2008) - Added 2 more sites to display the guide on. - Added 2 more sections to the 'Tips and Tricks' - Added 1 tip to mission 6.9 - Added 1 Acknowledgement ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 3. Author's Welcome %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Welcome to my KKND guide. I am a full-time university student as of now and apart from my real name I am more commonly known online as 'Skasian'. I first encountered KKND when I was 7 or 8 years old. My parents bought it for me at that age and also played the game. It was my first RTS game I've played and I read the entire instruction manual when I was 8 years old (not saying I understood it all but hey...). KKND has been one of my family's Favourite/Classic games of all time and it was what sparked my to write this guide. Both my parents have completed both the single-player campaigns and I have completed both at least 7 or 8 times each now. I really like KKND due to its simplicity and straight-forwardness in which the game was designed. Considering it was made such a long time ago, I'd give it an 8/10 as an overall score for the game. I believe that I am fit to write this guide due to my experience and love of this game, and this is how the guide started. ------------------------- 5.1 Acknowledgements ------------------------- Here is a list of people and organizations that I would like to thank: - My Parents, for teaching me how to play this game and buying it for me - My Sister, for putting up with me hogging the computer a lot of the time - My Auntie, for lending me her internet connection several times to check info - GameFAQs, for hosting this guide - www.replacementdocs.com, for an electronic version of the game manual when I lost mine - http://www.dosbox.com/ for the emulator to play the game on my Windows XP system - Credit is given to my mum for the [OIL DERRICK] trick ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 4. System Requirements %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% [Minimum Requirements] - MS-DOS 5.0 or higher* - Pentium 90 MHz or faster processor - 28MB disk space (+ 1 or 2 MB for save files) - 16MB RAM - 1MB VESA compatible PCI video card - 4X-Speed CD-ROM - Keyboard and Mouse *Note: Systems running higher then Windows 98 will not be able to directly install the game, although it is still possible with third party software. [Recommended Requirements] - Pentium 120 MHz or faster processor - Sound Blaster or better sound card [DOSbox Requirements] - Check DOSbox homepage for more information ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 5. Game Overview %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% KKND (Krush Kill 'n' Destroy) is a PC real-time strategy game produced developed by Beam Software, Melbourne House and Electronic Arts in 1997. The game is based on 2 races (Survivors/Evolved) which have survived the holocaust of a nuclear war. The story goes that there was a massive nuclear war in 2079 which wiped out the majority of Earth's population. Those that stayed on the surface evolved into mutant-like creatures while others sought refuge underground to avoid the nuclear fallout and remained in human form. In 2141, the underground 'Survivors' decided to resurface and reclaim the land that they once owned. The mutant 'Evolved' had already populated the surface and had no intent on returning the land to human hands. And so, another war breaks out...the winners...you decide! The game features a standard 1 resource system (oil) and has a basic load up on resource at one point, then unload at another point method of gaining income. Units are produced by purchasing them overtime while high tier units can be accessed via upgrading your technology level. Buildings are built overtime and slowly appear on the map. The game is considered to be a simple yet 'fast-paced' game, similar to Starcraft where units die quickly. View of the map is fixed from an slightly angled sky perspective. While movement/units/buildings around the map are based off square blocks and no overlapping is allowed. The map has the black 'Fog of War' like most other games but does not have reappearing 'Shroud'. It features a pretty cool sound track and sound effects aren't too bad either. ------------------------- 5.1 BASIC CONTROLS ------------------------- ~Left Click~ - Selects a Unit or Group of Units (Once Selected) Issues a move command over passable terrain (Once Selected) Issues an attack command on a unit (Once Selected) Displays Status Bar (Hitpoints/Veterancy) - Increases the production of a unit by 1 - (When Building) Places a building ~Right Click~ - Deselects all selected Units and Structures as well as canceling the ? command - (Hold anywhere on Map) Fast Scrolls around the map - (On Unit production button) Decreases the production of a unit by 1 ~ESC~ - Brings up the In game Menu ~Alt~ - (Hold) Allows you to issue an attack command on your own units and structures ~CTRL + [1] to [9]~ - Creates a Control Group with the specific number ~[1] to [9]~ - Selects a Control Group assigned to that specific number ------------------------- 5.2 GLOSSARY ------------------------- (To avoid confusion between the same things but different words) Survivors = Humans = Symmetrics = Slugs Evolved = Mutants = Freaks = Freakers HP = Health = Hitpoints Cash = Money = (Oil) Resource = Income AI = Enemy = Computer = Opponent Derrick/Rig/Oil Rig - These all refer to the same unit, the one that deploys over a patch of oil. Oil Deposit/Oil Patch/Fuel/Crude Oil/Oil Site - The bubbling black substance that you see on the map as a black blob, used for resources. Oil Tanker/Tanker/Truck/Transport - The vehicle that transports the oil to the Power Station. Power Plant/Power Station - Same building, the one that the tankers off-load the oil to. Infinite-Queue/Spam - Queue up more then 10 units of one sort so that the production number turns into an infinity symbol. The creates a constant production of that unit as your resources allow. Droid/Mech/Technical/Sentinel - The various powerful robots that are released from the white bunkers when you approach them. Tech/Teching/Leveling Up/Researching - This refers to the action of researching via the Research Lab (Survivors) or the Alchemy Hall (Evolved). This increases the 'Technology Level (Tech)' of the building the action is performed on. If no building is stated, it is meant that you perform this action on all available buildings where order doesn't matter. Dak'en Holme - You will hear this name a lot, and in case you didn't know, this is YOUR NAME when you are playing in the Evolved campaign. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 6. S U R V I V O R S %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1 THE NEXT GENERATION Difficulty: Easy Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units Failure Conditions: Lose All Units Tips: -The key to winning this map is to make sure all your units engage the enemy at the same. Make sure your vehicles don't run ahead and engage before your infantry. You start off with a small task force in the bottom right of the map. Group your infantry to '1' and vehicles to '2' to make your task easier. Move your infantry to the front and wait a bit and you will be attacked by a few mutants. Make sure you get your vehicles to engage as soon as your men start shooting. After you deal with that wave, head up the ramp and across to the right, past the petrol station and kill the enemies there. Head over directly to the left of the map and kill the 2 Berserkers standing there. About this time a squad of about 5 men will head towards your position from your starting location, kill them and then proceed down the ramp towards the top 'valley' area of the map. Right down the ramp is a few men, kill them and head towards the right to find a Dire Wolf. After they are dead, head across to the left and take out the remaining mutants to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.2 BUILD AN OUTPOST Difficulty: Easy Victory Conditions: Collect 5000 Resources Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -There is a fixed amount of enemies on the map and none will spawn off the map. Therefore you can alternatively take out all the enemies on the map and just sit back and relax and wait for victory. Select all your units (including your Derrick) and move them south through the tunnel. It make be advisable to send your infantry through first to avoid a traffic jam. Past the tunnel are a few Berserkers, take them out, then plant your Oil Rig on the patch of oil in the center. Split your troops evenly to guard the left entrance and the bottom entrance, then proceed to build 2 Power Stations south of your Outpost. The first attack will be from the left. Sit around and defend your position until you reach 5000 resources to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.3 WITHSTAND THE RAIDING PARTY Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: There is a fixed amount of enemies on the map. Instead of waiting for them to attack you; you can venture out and kill them all off for a faster victory. Infantry are also more cost effective on this map, don't bother vehicles. Select all your units and move to defend the oil rig from the left entrance where you were defending last level. Build a 2nd Power Station as close to the tunnel entrance as possible. When that is done building, start training SWAT men (put the queue on infinite). The first attack arrives on the left and alternates. Start sending your infantry to the front lines as they are produced. An important thing to note here is that your oil tankers and power stations have a high threat value and will likely be the first targets. Use this to your advantage; let your Oil Tankers tank the damage and if the infantry seems overwhelming or gets too close to your tankers then squish them! Use your men to kill off the enemies as they try to kill your tankers, then sit back and defend until all the enemies die in their attacks or build up an attack force your comfortable with and venture out and kill all the enemies to the top left and bottom left of the map to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.4 RESCUE THE SCOUT Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: Bring the 'Scout' back to your starting position (marked with an X) Failure Conditions: Lose All Units, 'Scout' Dies Tips: -Use your ATV (All Terrain Vehicles) to squash infantry, it's much faster. -Same as the first level, try to engage with vehicles and infantry at the same time. Move your men south to find a Dire Wolf and a few men, squash as necessary. Move along the ridge and head right and dispose of any enemies you encounter. A few enemies will spawn from your starting location a few minutes into the level and attack you from the rear so watch out for them. Once you hit the right edge of the map, work your way up along the side until you find a bridge. Send a Dirt Bike across the bridge and to the top left of the map to find the missing scout. Send him on his way to the big X where you started the map. Don't forget to protect him on his way back, watch the attacks from the left. Once he reaches the area marked by the X, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.5 TOLL GATE Difficulty: Hard Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Try to position your buildings so you don't block the right-side access to the oil patch. -Make sure you squish the Sappers (grenadiers) as they will decimate your infantry. -The units moving along the 'highway' will not stop at anything, so careful they don't squash your infantry. Cross the river to the south of your starting position. Set up your Outpost just past the river, north of the trees. Send your flamers along with 2 ATVs and your 4x4 Pickups to guard the northern entrance (where the ramp is). Send the rest of your units to guard the southern approach (above the LARGE clump of trees south of your base). Place your Derrick on the oil patch left of your base and build a Power Station beside it. Then build a Machine Shop to the right of your Outpost followed by another Power Station to the left of your placed Oil Rig. After your Machine Shop is built, queue up a Derrick and place another Power Station to the left of the previous one and send the Derrick to the far left oil patch. Infinite-queue up ATVs and Riflemen and when you have spare cash, start investing in a Power Station to the right of your Machine Shop. Once the Power Station is built, send the tanker to the leftmost rig so you should have 2 tankers per oil rig. Reinforce your defenses on both side periodically while massing an attacking army. Once have a decent size army defending your top entrance, move them up along the ridges to the spawn area which is slightly towards the right up 2 ramps. Once you have enough units, move your army right of your base and work your way down until you hit the 'highway'. From there head right and destroy the supply base. Don't forget to monitor your defenses to make sure they haven't completely fallen. After you've destroyed the supply base to the east, move your force as well as any troops defending the southern approach to attack the main base to the west. Makes sure you leave some units in the destroyed supply base as the AI might try and rebuild it. Work your way in, and watch out as the AI will try to rebuild its defensive structures and buildings so take them out before they are rebuilt. After you raze the base, victory is yours. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.6 EXTERMINATE THE VILLAGE Difficulty: Very Easy Victory Conditions: Destroy the Mutant Base and Return to the starting area marked by a X Failure Conditions: Lose All Units Tips: -You do not need to destroy all enemy units on the map, therefore avoid what you can. Don't bother engaging the units in the other lanes. -There is no time limit so take your time. -The returning opposing army will only appear after you have destroyed all the buildings in the base. Therefore when you only have 1 building left, start moving all your slow moving units (infantry) towards your starting location to ensure a faster victory and your units won't be caught by the returning army. -The Victory Condition is not triggered until ALL of your surviving troops return to the X region. This is another reason to get a head start in moving your infantry back early so you don't have a long wait for the walk home. This is a fairly easy and straight forward mission. Take your entire army up the left lane and work your way through the stationary troops and defenses. Once you reach the base, take out the turrets while squashing the troops in the area. Then it's a matter of killing the buildings in the area and when you're done, head back to the starting area where the X is marked to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.7 PROTECT THE CONVOY Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: At least 4 'Convoy Tankers' make it to the allied base Failure Conditions: More then 2 'Convoy Tankers' are destroyed Tips: -Use the 'Technical' found in the bunker located 2/3's of the way along the road to the south up on the ridge. It makes the level a lot easier. -It is crucial to squash infantry in this level as you will be outnumbered at some points. -Be careful with your use of RPG's as they are in-discriminatory and will damage your vehicles. (I used them to defend the rear) Move forwards and clear the troops in your immediate path to the left. Then send your 3 Dirt Bikes along the road (don't stop to engage anything) until you see an oil patch. Head down from here and up a ramp, past all the enemies stationed there and head left until you see a bunker. Release the technical there and wreak havoc on any visible enemies in the region. With your army that is defending the convoy, make sure you move slightly ahead clear the road ahead. Check the little coves north and south along the road for enemies and clear them out and move along towards the west. After your main army reaches the oil patch mentioned before; there is a 'village' north and about 30-40 berserkers and Shotgunners stationed there. Use your ATVs/Flame ATVs and squash all the troops (click behind them). Just before your convoy reaches the oil patch, enemy units will spawn at your starting location and attack you from the rear. Use what units you have left to guard the rear, while your Technical clears the road ahead. Once the road ahead is clear, send the technical to help the rear, then when ALL surviving tankers reach the end and exit the map, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.8 BACK TO THE BEACH Difficulty: Easy Victory Conditions: Destroy All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Fire is your friend. Spam fire based units and you will win. -Repair Bay is too slow to be effective. Don't bother building it. This is a basic skirmish sort of map. Your army is split into 2 for you already, so send the right group north to clear out the oil patch and to defend the top entrance (stay out of the Grapeshot Cannon's range). Place the rest of your starting troops to the left of your base to defend the assaults from that direction. Send your derrick north and setup at the first oil patch. Build a Research Lab followed by a Machine Shop and extend north; then place 2 Power Stations on either side of the oil rig. Queue up a Derrick and extend north with 2 more Power Stations and setup your 2nd Derrick north (will just be out of range of the Grapeshot Cannon). Research your Machine Shop and Outpost to the next tier and then infinite-queue ATV Flamethrowers and Flamers. Reinforce both sides and then when you have about 10 Flame ATV's and 20 Flamers, push through the top defenses and take out the outer enemy rig. Then send a two pronged attack from both sides at the main enemy base. You should overwhelm them with your fiery might, then victory shall be yours as their base burns to the ground. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.9 RESCUE THE COMMANDER Difficulty: Easy - Normal Victory Conditions: Destroy All Enemy Units and Structures and Free the captured Commander Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures or Lose the Commander Tips: -Stay away from the 3 Grapeshot Cannons on the north side of the enemy base. -May be common sense but kill the units coming out of the buildings before attacking the buildings. -There are no off-map spawns, so hide your rescued Commander in a safe corner somewhere will be fine; no real need to defend him provided you have the enemy base under control. -Yes, it's possible to finish 90% of this level with just the Sentinel Droid although its much faster if you help with other units. -Make sure you use the sabouteurs to take out buildings as they give you early income. -An easy way to stop your enemy's tankers from dumping their load is to park your ATV or any vehicle in front of the ARROW where they usual attach to the Power Station. In this level, this completely halts their production. -Don't destroy the enemy derrick across the bridge. Your Oil Tankers can actually refuel at the enemy derrick! (Save $1000) Send your 4x4 to the left to pick up the Sentinel Droid. Then move all your forces to the right and locate your base. To the right of your base is a bunker with 1000 resource credits in it, make sure to get it. South of your base is a Grapeshot Cannon, spread all you non-sabouteur units around it then engage at all at once. Move across the bridge to find an enemy Oil Rig and Power Station but be wary as the AI might or might not decide to send a sapper behind you to take out your sabouteurs. Use your sabouteurs to take out any buildings you find. When you reach the main base you can use your Droid to kill the turret as the Droid out-ranges it provided you don't just click to attack. Click to attack then click on an area that is outside the turrets range but still in range for your droid to fire back, this ensures your droid doesn't take unnecessary damage. Move your way in and destroy the buildings you see. Leave the 3 defenses to the north last. Once you've used your sabouteurs and gained some cash, build a Machine Shop and 2 Power Stations south of your base and then train 1 Derrick to occupy the lower oil patch past the bridge. When your income starts rolling in, pump out as many ATV's as you can which you will be using as cannon fodder. After you've destroyed all the buildings and freed the imprisoned Commander, send him somewhere safe in the corner of the map. Once you have 10+ ATV's send them in from the north as a distraction for the 3 Graphshot Cannons while your Droid pounds them to the ground from the south. When they fall, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.10 OCCUPATION FORCE Difficulty: Hard Victory Conditions: Destroy All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Repair Bay isn't worth your efforts. -Fire is your friend. Use them! -The trick is to keep up the pressure, keep reinforcing your attack armies. Again another straightforward skirmish map. Move your army east and take out anything you encounter on the way until you reach a river. Around the river area are 3 oil patches which you will be utilizing. Setup your Outpost just south of the river bend, followed by a Machine Shop, Power Station to the north and another Power Station to the east across the river. Split your troops in half and place half of them west of your Outpost to defend that frontier and send the other portion to the right edge of the map, up the ramp and head north until you reach a bridge - hold that bridge. Queue up 2 Derricks which you will place to the north and across the river. Get some early SWATs and ATVs to help defend both sides and start investing in a Research Lab and Power Station to the right across the river to extend to the 3rd oil deposit - plant the 3rd Derrick when you have the money. Start teching up until you can't anymore, then infinite-queue up Flame ATV's and Flamers which will reinforce the defenses on both sides. Build more tankers so you have 2 on each oil rig. Once you have a sizeable attack force of about 10 Flame-ATV's and 20 Flamers (Make sure you have units still defending the bridge), head north to the right and make your way to the enemy's outer oil rig. Attack from there into the opponent's base. Once your in, send your other army defending the western frontier to attack from the other side to make a 2 pronged attack. Send more men to backup both attacks as necessary. Once you destroyed the base, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.11 GIVE ME LIBERTY Difficulty: Hard - Very Hard Victory Conditions: Destroy All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Unless you take the approach that I suggest, this level will be overwhelmingly hard, so I suggest you pay attention. -If you have too much difficulty attacking the enemy, then sit back and make use of all the fuel points on your side of the map. You will outlast the AI in terms of oil deposits running out. In other words if you survive long enough the AI will run out of money while you will still have income, in this case winning is rather easy. -Make sure you get the Plasma Tank before the AI gets a hold of it. -(Most Importantly)! Micromanage your Plasma Tank and KEEP IT ALIVE, this is crucial for defending your base during the early stages of the game. -For the oil points near your base, limit the tankers to 2 each, and for the further ones limit them to 4 per point. Over-crowded points will cause congestion and lead to a complete stall in your economy. -The AI will only attack you once it has trained its complete set of unit. (E.g. all its available units from the lowest to higher tier). So time your assault in between the waves. -The AI will only attack you from one direction (area) if you follow my build, so focus on defending that one area and keep a watch on it to make sure your units are still alive there. -If you use Barrage Crafts, be VERY CAREFUL about friendly fire. Fast enemy units can rush into your defensive line and cause your entire defenses to kill each other if you're not careful! (Yes, I have lost about 15 Crafts before due to 2 Dire Wolves running in between them). <SETTING UP BASE> Immediately send all your units and your Mobile Outpost north. Follow the road on the left of the map and you will run into the early enemy attack force. Send your 4 Dirt Bikes ahead to find a bunker and release the Plasma Tank stationed inside it. Use what you have to take out the enemy attack force, and then make your way to the right of where you came into contact with the enemy and you will find a lone oil rig, destroy it. Gather all your troops and head to the left of the map where the bunker was. You will see a T-Junction north-west of the bunker which is also marked by a 'Stop' sign. Park all your troops in between the 2 buildings south of the stop sign and keep your Plasma Tank in between the buildings to the right, north of the bunker on the road. Setup your Outpost in between all the craters south of the bunker, and follow it up with a Machine Shop to the left and extend with 2 Power Stations, one at each oil deposit on the left side of the map. Queue up 2 Derricks and place them on the left side of the map when they are ready. Keep around 8-10 units to use as cannon fodder for your defensive line. Once you have the money, build a Research Lab and extend a Power Station towards the right oil patch and then extend downwards with another Power Station for access to the bottom 3 oil patches. As you progress you will be building Derricks and Tankers to occupy the oil patches to the south. Then as money allows start teching up your Machine Shop, but don't forget to keep units as cannon fodder. <TO DEFEND YOUR POSITION> The aim here is to have your defenses hold while you set up a strong economy. An important part of this is to have your Plasma Tank deal most of the damage you will be requiring while not taking any damage. To do this, firstly when you see the enemy heading towards your defensive line, engage with anything other then the Plasma Tank. This will focus enemy fire on that unit. At this time send the Plasma Tank in from the flank to attack the enemy but be sure to move it around so it doesn't get too close and gets attacked. Continue to build units to use to sacrifice in this manner for your defense, I'd suggest using units that can take a fair amount of punishment and can move around at a decent speed. Preferably the Flame ATV as it deals out high damage/can squish infantry/fast/durable for its price. Remember that the Beetle/Missile Crab both have a slow attack that flies through the air. If you see it coming for a unit, move it around to avoid unnecessary damage. After you reach Barrage Crafts, set up a line of them near the stop sign, about 10 of them should be enough to hold off the enemy. But beware of friendly fire! <PREPARING YOUR ASSAULT/ASSAULTING> At this point you may consider building a second Machine Shop anywhere not crowded. You should have a very strong economy and you might notice you are floating a lot of spare cash. Use your first shop to bolster your defensive line while using your second to mass produce Flame ATVs. Once you have around 25-30 Flame ATVs, send them up the right side of the map and huge the edge closely to avoid unnecessary contact. Kill the Missile Crab along the way and travel below the ruins of the Statue of Liberty. Attack from the right side of the map where the outer oil rig is located. After destroying it, keep some units there as the AI will be bound to try and rebuild around the area. Then when you have an army of your size you are happy with, storm the enemy base from both sides and you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.12 SURGICAL STRIKE Difficulty: Very Easy Victory Conditions: Kill the 'Chieftain' Failure Conditions: Lose All Units Tips: -Sniper are better then RPGs in nearly every way. Use your Snipers and keep them alive! (Snipers do a decent amount of damage to vehicles you will find) -Don't bother with the RPGs; this mission is very easy to finish with just snipers. -If you want to put your RPGs to use, then park them on the site of destroyed buildings so when they are being rebuilt, your RPGs will take them out. -Veteran units (Red Health Bar Border) regenerate health over time -You can kill everything on this map with just your 4 snipers, but it does not help you at all and just slows down your progress. Avoid what you can as the enemy doesn't come looking for you. -The only mistake you can really make and the only way you will fail this mission is if your snipers get squashed by a tanker, so take care. You shouldn't have any trouble at all finishing this mission provided you don't rush in. Starting off, select your snipers and move them east and you will encounter a bunch of infantry running at you. Kill them with ease and work your way right, whilst staying on the high ground. Feel free to dispose of units that are on the lower ground by firing from above. Keep going until you reach a ramp and head down to regroup with your other group of men (kill any resistance you encounter on the way). You now have 4 snipers, move onto the high ground again just south of where you found the 2nd group of men. Make your way along the path in a southerly direction and kill what you encounter. Exit the high ground down a ramp and you will see an oil rig. Don't get squashed by tankers, you can kill them if you want but no need. Kill the enemy units in the area, and the enemy turret. Your snipers out-range the turret, so make sure when you're attacking it your snipers aren't being needlessly attacked. After you take down the turret head up the ramp it was defending (to the left), and then work your way left into then enemy base. Taking out the buildings is neither necessary nor useful, just run in and take out any threats and in front of the Clan Hall is the Chieftain. Kill him for an easy win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.13 HOLD THE BRIDGE Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: Kill All Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Keep your starting defenses alive, they help a lot in the early stages. -You may build bombers after you've fully teched, they are fun to use but not really necessary. -Suicide 3 or 4 Dirt Bikes into the enemy base to reveal the fog of war to gain a permanent insight into what they are doing. This helps to prepare for incoming attacks and also useful if you plan on using bombers. You might want to do this so you can attack without running into an army later on. Send one technician to each bridge and one Anaconda Tank to each bridge to defend against the first attack. Repair the Missile Battery on each side when they are about to fall. Once you deal with the attack, extend to the bottom right corner with a Power Station for that oil rig. Queue up a Derrick and 2 ATVs and 2 Technicians (one for each bridge). Place the Derrick on the western oil deposit and extend to it by building a Research Lab followed by a Power Station. Queue up another Derrick for the other oil deposit on the right and extend to it by building a Power Station nearby. Tech up and queue up 2 Anacondas when you reach that tier (one for each bridge) and fill up your oil routes with 2 tankers per point. Then pump out around 5 more Anacondas for each bridge to prepare for the next attack coming very soon. Hold off the attacks by building more units as necessary until you finish teching. Make sure you keep a technician behind each defensive structure for emergency repairs. Once you reach max tech, infinite-queue Autocannon Tanks and Barrage Crafts. Split your Barrage Crafts between the 2 bridges and use their huge splash damage to defend against enemies congested on the bridge. Make an army of Autocannon Tanks in your base to use for your assault and once you have around 15, send them across the left bridge. If you want to at this point you may build bombers to nuke the enemy base with later on when you want to attack. Once across the left bridge take out the Grapeshot Cannons and the oil rig. Once you're across the bridge the enemy army will try and engage you. This is your change to send what ever units you have across both the bridges while your Autocannon Tanks are holding the enemy army. Once across both bridges, push into the enemy base from both sides and wipe them off the map to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.14 THE ROUT/RETREAT Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: Survive for 30 minutes Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Early on, don't bother trying to expand to the oil deposit in the top-right of the map as it is too hard to defend, costs too many resources and is too far away. Later on you may and it will make your job easier but not necessary. -The enemy has no base on this map, they consist of stationary troops that will attack you based on a timer, and off map spawns that are also based on timers. The off map spawns are to the north-west and south-west corners of the maps as well as to the north edge and western edge of the map. -Don't let your oil rigs fall as it will greatly hurt your ability to defend. Repair them if necessary! -Watch your defensive lines! Don't let units sit there being plummeted by a Beetle while the rest of the units just watch. -If you find radar helpful then tech up your Outpost to get it. Defensive Structures aren't really needed. Send your 2 Barrage Crafts and RPGs to defend the bottom left approach just left of where the oil patch is. Send the rest of your men to defend the north-west approach, above your existing oil rig. Extend to your existing oil rig by building a Power Station. Queue up a Derrick and place it on the bottom left oil patch. Extend to it by placing a Research Lab then a Power Station. Produce 2 ATVs for each defensive line and start teching up your Machine Shop. Everytime your reach a new tech level, build 1-2 vehicles of that tier for each defensive side. When you have spare money, build another Power Station closer to the bottom-left rig to make a total of 4 Power Stations (2 tankers on each site is enough). When you reach Anaconda Tanks, build 3 and place them just north of your outpost as the AI will attack there with a few troops soon. Keep teching up and building vehicles to bolster your defensive as you go until you reach max. Then just infinite-queue Autocannon Tanks and Barrage Crafts and spread them across your 2 main defensive perimeters and send a couple north of your Outpost to help from time to time. After a while your oil rigs will both run out of juice. This should be around half way into the level. You can expand to the top-right here if you want. But it's not necessary as you should have lots of Barrage Crafts and Autocannon Tanks to defend with. If you don't expand to another fuel point then I suggest building a Repair Bay and repair your tanks slowly since you will be sitting around for a while waiting. Continue to sit and defend and try to keep your units alive by actually moving them and ordering them around when necessary and you should have no trouble surviving for the rest of the time provided you dodge the attacks. Wait a while and you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.15 BESIEGED Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Suicide your starting Dirt Bikes to reveal as much terrain as possible, it will help when attacking and defending. If necessary, build more Dirt Bikes to reveal into the enemies bases as it also helps targeting bombers. -There are 2 Computer opponents on this map, one to the north-west and one to the south-west. -Autocannon Tanks are probably a better choice then Barrage Crafts as you will want to avoid the friendly fire. Starting off send, your 2 Anaconda Tanks to defend the existing top oil rig. Send the rest of your army south to defend the oil deposit located on the green highlands. Extend to the top-most oil site by placing a Research Lab followed by a Power Station. to the left of your Machine Shop, place another Power Station for the oil rig beside it. Extend towards the southern oil site by placing a Power Station towards it. Then start teching up starting from your Machine Shop then Outpost. Once you have Flame ATV's you may want to invest in 2 or 3 for each defensive line to hold of the preliminary attacks. Once you've got access to Autocannon Tanks, infinite-queue them and use them for the duration of this level. Start producing Bombers when you have the cash, as they may/may not come in handy but best to have them about. When you have about 20 Autocannon Tanks, move west and take out the lone Grapeshot Cannon, then head to the north-west and take out the dark-red AI opponent. If you have Bombers available and have suicided Dirt Bikes to reveal the enemy base. Drop a bomb on their massing army in their base before you make your approach. Keep sending back up units if your attack force takes casualties. After the base is destroyed, head south into the valley and take out the turrets and the oil rigs. Then move your surviving forces to the left edge of the map and head down that side until you reach the other AI base. Destroy what you encounter and don't forget to send your forces defending your base to assault from the other direction to make a 2 pronged attack. Keep sending fresh produced units to support your attack. Once again use bombers to take out the army if you can see into their base. After you destroy all the buildings you have finished the survivor's campaign! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 7. E V O L V E D %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.1 RETURN OF THE SLUGS Difficulty: Very Easy Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units Failure Conditions: Lose All Units Tips: -Try to engage with both your Animal units and Infantry at the same time -Don't engage too many enemies at once, work you way through one by one Group your infantry as '1' and group your Dire Wolves as '2'. Make your way east and take out the infantry approaching you. Head along the ridge whilst taking the high ground and kill the 2 men by the craters. Then head south along the right edge of the map and make your down to the lower ground then back west again. Kill what you encounter along the way and finish off the rest of the humans on left of the map for the win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.2 REPEL THEM! Difficulty: Very Easy Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -Shotgunners are your best unit for this map -You have no income, nor base building capacity, just focus on pumping out men and attacking. Infinite-queue up Shotgunners. Once you have build around 15, take all your men and head south-east to find the enemy rig. Take out all its defenders and the rig itself and continue to head south-west to dispose of the human base. Around this time your base will be attacked, defend it with the Shotgunners that have been produced from your Clanhall. Attacks will come from the north, east and south, but are very easy to fend off. You should send out your men to kill off the out lying troops around the map to speed the victory. Once the base is destroyed and all enemy troops lying around the map are dead, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.3 BUBBLIN' CRUDE Difficulty: Easy Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -There is an area on the top ridge overlooking the northern enemy base where you can place a Scorpion and it will be in range of attacking the enemy Machine Shop. It's on the located left of the left most tree on the top ridge, to the left of your base along the top of the map. Use this position and take out the enemy building and ensure an easy victory. If you use this area, the AI will come attack you so your defense will be to defend your scorpion -Scorpions can squash infantry Move your troops to the left along the high ground, north-wets of the oil deposit. Setup your Derrick in the valley below and extend to it by placing a Blacksmith followed by a Beast Enclousure then a Power Station at the entrance to the valley (ramp thing). Then infinite-queue Scorpions, and when you have the money; place another Power Station in the valley to speed up your oil collection process. If you want there is an oil deposit to the south of your base in the south-east corner of the map, which you can use but it is not necessary. Attack the base firstly by using the high ground position explained in the 'Tips' section. Then take some Scorpions (5) and head to the south-west corner of the map (via the south-east) and take out the enemy oil supply. Then once you have enough scorpions (10 or so). March into the enemy base in the north-west and raze it to the ground to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.4 RAID THE FORT Difficulty: Very-Easy Victory Conditions: Retrieve at least 2 Oil Tankers Failure Conditions: Lose All Units or more then 2 Oil Tankers Tips: -Engage only what is necessary -Squash groups of infantry -Try to engage with infantry and vehicles/animals at the same time, don't let your infantry fall behind -Pyromaniacs decimate buildings and defensive structures -Watch out for enemy Tankers, they will squash your groups of infantry if your not paying attention. Kill them for safety -You start in the bottom-left corner; the 4 Oil Tankers to capture are located in the top-right Move east and into the lower grounds by going north down the ramp. Take out enemies you encounter in the area. Then return to the high grounds again and head north-east where you will encounter a Dirt Bike and a few more men. Kill them and keep heading north-east, past a oil rig and you will hit the enemy base. Take on only what buildings you need to (i.e. Turrets) and kill the enemies that will come to try stop you taking the Oil Tankers. After the tankers are under your control, send them on your way back to the large X marked back where you started the mission. Defend the tankers on the way back but fortunately resistance is minimal and you should have no problems bringing the tankers home and once 2 of them reach the X, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.5 AMBUSH Difficulty: Very-Easy Victory Conditions: Survive until all enemy Units are dead Failure Conditions: Lose All Units Tips: -Easiest way to defend the bridge is to just make a wall of units and another wall of units behind the first. Move units up into the holes once your front lines die out. Take your little party west across the bridge and immediately head south. A large enemy force will attack you after you cross the bridge, DO NOT ENGAGE but run south as fast as you can until you hit a 2nd bridge. Cross it to meet up with the rest of your forces. Hold the bridge by placing as many units near it as you can (don't place units on the bridge, rather place them so that the enemy is jammed up on the bridge and you are blocking them from getting off). Sit here and keep killing the enemies that come at you. After every wave, you will receive off map reinforcements that spawn in from the east of your position. After a while all the attacking enemies will die from attacks and you will win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.6 SIEGE Difficulty: Easy - Normal Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -1 Machinegun Nest can take out 1 Anaconda Tank by itself -Keep your defensive structures alive as they help a lot at the start, it therefore goes that keeping a Mekanik beside the likely damaged structures is a good idea -If you want to build closer to the rig, it is more effective to destroy your own Power Stations (hold down ALT and click to destroy the Power Station furtherest away) and rebuild closer, then to extend via Beast Enclosures, as in these levels you are unable to produce Oil Tankers alone Take your units and head south and travel in the directions the tankers are going and you will encounter a little resistance. Kill them and immediately run back to your base to defend the oncoming attack. A few Anaconda Tanks will attack you from different sides, so fend them off with your units. Then head south-east and take out the units that are preventing you access to the bottom right oil site. Research your Beast Enclousure and infinite-queue up War Mastodons to defend the top side of your base with as it will be the only side that will be attacked from now on. Extend to the bottom 2 oil rigs by building Power Stations towards them. Destroy the Power Station in your base if you want to build closer to the rigs. Time your attack after the enemy has tried to make his push, then storm into the stronghold north with 15+ War Mastodons and make sure to bring in more as they are produced. Take out the Guard Towers first and then the units. Kill the rig in front of you then head left around the forest of trees to destroy the other oil rig which will halt the AI's economy. Then proceed to destroy the rest of the base as you please to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.7 RELEASE THE PRISONERS Difficulty: Easy Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units Tips: -Watch out for splash damage on you groups of infantry (i.e. Missiles from the Missile Battery) -You have limited amounts of vehicles in this map (only the ones you start with), try to keep them alive. -If you haven't won after the enemy base is dead, back-track along the way you came and you will probably find that something has been rebuilt by the AI Take your Monster Truck into the valley below to the north and squash the 3 SWATs there. Then via the high ground to the right, assault the first prison and free the prisoners there. Then take your Monster Truck to the west and squash 3 more SWATs. Proceed down the ramp where the SWATs were with you whole army and work your way down to the enemy base, taking out the stationary defenses first when you arrive. Then stop the enemy oil tankers by destroying their rig so no more units are produced and proceed to trash base to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.8 SMASH THE CONVOY Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Convoy Tankers Failure Conditions: Lose All Units or Convoy Tankers reach the Allied Base Tips: -Always attack the front tanker first and work your way backwards -Rush! Use your units' abilities to fire while moving to your advantage as you advance on the front tanker -Kill the units defending the convoy first as the more units you lose, the harder and slower it becomes to kill the tankers. -If you have good micromanagement then use the enemy Barrage Craft by luring it with your fast units to attacking their own tankers Immediately rush south with everything you got. Stop at nothing and kill the 4x4 Pickup as you pass it, but try not to slow down too much. Once you hit the bottom of the map, turn left and you'll see a road, follow it north to find to convoy. Don't stop, it is important that you catch up to the front tanker so shoot what you can while moving along with haste. You should catch up to the first tanker somewhere around where the Barrage Craft is. Your fast units should be engaging it first and will draw its fire. Use this to your advantage by dodging the missiles and killing the craft with your other units not being attacked. Remember to keep your slower units moving to catch up. Once you have killed the front tanker, kill the tankers one by one working backwards. If you do it correctly and fast enough, you should be able to kill the entire convey before they reach the Anaconda Tank and Sappers up ahead just past the Barrage Craft. Once all the Convoy Tankers are dead, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.9 FIGHT FOR TERRITORY Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -If you want to build closer to the rig, it is more effective to destroy your own Power Stations (hold down ALT and click to destroy the Power Station furtherest away) and rebuild closer, then to extend via Beast Enclosures, as in these levels you are unable to produce Oil Tankers alone -Time your attacks so you don't run into the enemy army -When attacking, kill the Missile Batteries first but at the same time march your War Mastodons along so that the back ones can fire and squash infantry as well -Leave a unit or 2 at the outer rig after you destroy it as the AI will try and replace what it lost there Head north and lead with a Monster Truck. Squash the 4 RPG's you see along the way the keep going until you hit the top of the map where you will encounter some enemies, kill them and move along the top ridge along the top of the map and head to the right till you run into your broken-down base. Build 3 Mekaniks to repair each of your buildings (don't repair the existing Power Station as you will be destroying it) then build a Power Station to the north-east (right of your Beast Enclosure). Queue up 2 Derricks, and send them to the top-right oil site and top-left oil site (the one you passed on the way to the base). Extend to the top-left oil site by building an Alchemy Hall followed by a Power Station. Get your units to defend the southern approach as it will be the only direction you will be attacked from. Start teching up your buildings and infinite-queue up War Mastodons. To the left and right in the valley below are 2 more oil sites which you should expand to. Do this by first building Power Stations down the ramp towards the sites and destroying the ones furtherest away (refer to tips). You will need to move your army to defend from a more southern area to expand outwards. Once you have an army of about 15 War Mastodons, head to the south-east corner of the map to take out the enemy oil rig as well as its defenders which will severely weaken the AI's economy. Then attack the enemy's main base to the south AFTER they have made their attempt to attack. Send all your available units on the map to attack their base, stampede in and overwhelm them for the victory. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.10 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS Difficulty: Easy Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -To make your job a lot easier and slow down the enemy economy and attacks, send your Mech (after you've secured the oil patch north of your base) to the east and follow the river around. You will see an oil patch and a 'Power Plant' sort of structure. Stand your Mech to the right of the oil patch, just above the round silo thing under the cliff so you can see the tankers loading up on fuel. From this position you can attack the tankers but not the rig. This will make the AI lose 1 source of income while at the same time, they will spend money reproducing these tankers instead of building up their army. Be careful though as doing this will provoke the enemy and they will attack your main defensive line when their tankers are being attacked (your Mech won't be attacked provided you've pushed forwards with your main army) -Time your main assault on the base so that you don't end up dealing with an army and 4 Missile Batteries at the same time Send your Dire Wolf to the bottom left corner of the map and retrieve the Mech. Send your army north of your base and position them where the crossing to the river is, just south of the oil patch. Extend to the existing oil rig on the western side of the map by building an Alchemy Hall, Blacksmith then Power Station. Build another Power Station towards the southern oil patch and queue up a Derrick one your Blacksmith is built. Build a Beast Enclosure north of your Clan Hall and start teching up your Blacksmith so that you can produce Oil Tankers (You will want 2 for each of the 2 rigs you have). The first wave of attacks is small so deal with it, squashing what you can on the way. Start teching up your Beast Enclosure till max and then infinite-queue Giant Beetles. Expand your base outwards towards the north when you start building your beetles by placing a Derrick across the river and extending to it by building a Power Station north of your Beast Enclosure. Once your Derrick is in place, you will need to move your defensive line forwards, just above the Derrick but make sure you're out of range of the Missile Batteries ahead. After you have moved forwards, send your Mech to attack the enemy southern-most rig by placing it below the cliff to the east as mentioned above in the 'Tips' section. Amass a large army (15+) of beetles and storm the enemy base north, taking out the splash damage units first such as the Barrage Crafts or the Missile Batteries if they are closer. Once the base is down, you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.11 IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD Difficulty: Normal - Hard Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -When placing your buildings, try not to block the ramp areas around your base as it will cause traffic jams with your tankers when you start moving units around -Giant Beetles won't be able to attack the enemies below the cliff is you position them at the very top edge of the cliff. However if you fall back so that the enemy has to travel up the ramp a bit, your beetles can attack from the side of the cliff where you see the cliff just start to form -As with most maps, time your attacks so that you attack AFTER the AI wave has attacked you Send your War Mastodon to the west and down the ramp to take out the enemy Dirt Bike. Send the rest of your force to guard the eastern entrance, just above your Clan Hall. Extend west by placing a Blacksmith and Alchemy Hall. When your Blacksmith is built, queue up 2 Derricks for the oil patches to the south-east of your Clan Hall and southern valley of the map. Build a Power Station below your Clan Hall for the Oil Rig there and then build another Power Station just above the entrance to the ramp for the southern Oil Rig. Be careful not to block the ramp completely with the building. As your first load of money comes in, build up a third Power Station to the west for the western oil patch, again don't block the ramp. Get a Beast Enclosure up north of your Clan Hall (don't block the ramp!) and build 3 or 4 scorpions to help defend against the first wave of enemies, build more if necessary. Start teching up so you can purchase 2 tankers for each of the rigs. Follow this up by purchasing a Derrick for the western oil site. As your teching up you may need to build some units (anything you like) to help defend until you reach maximum tech level (don't forget you have to defend both entrances). Once you have access to the Giant Beetles, infinite-queue them up and defend your base with them while sending your spares to the western side of the map to amass an army of about 15+ beetles. Then push up the western edge of the map to the top left corner and take out the rig and batteries there. Move into the enemy base from both sides at this point and wipe out the remaining resistance to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.12 THE BIG ATTACK Difficulty: Very Easy - Easy Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: -It is actually possible to finish this level by building only 1 Bike & Sidecar and using your starting units only although this takes ages and is quite hard. -Experiment a few times to find the position where you can block tankers in front of their Power Stations -Build more units to back up your blocking units should they die -Keep enough resources to set up a Derrick and Power Station at the start -Watch out for friendly fire as both the Giant Scorpions and War Mastodons have splash damage -Avoid the Missile Batteries at all costs, just run past them. Take them out later on when you have a nice army of units. The developers obviously weren't expecting any players to rush the AI on this map so due to that fact, the AI starts with no units and has to build all its tankers from the start. So for the first 4 or 5 minutes, the AI is only building Oil Tankers. The only defense for the base is an odd man or 2 and the Missile Batteries around the area. Now Missile Batteries have a huge weakness in that they are horribly inaccurate while attacking moving targets. Using this fact you can very easily defeat the enemy here. As soon as the level starts, move your 3 units north until you hit the top edge and make your way to the right until you find the enemy base. Run through the Missile Batteries and avoid damage, then head south of where the 2 Power Stations are in the base. Position 2 of your units in front of each of the Power Stations to block the tankers for offloading their fuel. Move them around in necessary until you find the correct position. Watch out for friendly fire so your units don't kill each other, build more units and rush them in if necessary. While blocking, attack and destroy the 2 Power Stations. The AI will continue to build tankers even though it's under attack so you have no real threat. Once the Power Stations are down, you have checkmated the AI as they have no income and all that remains is to destroy their base however you like. You start with 5000 resources, so just keep enough to build a Power Station and a Derrick, that way you have a source of income and the AI doesn't. Build up slowly to whatever you feel comfortable with and destroy the enemy base to win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.13 BATTLE FOR THE ISLANDS Difficulty: Normal - Hard Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures (including off-map spawns) Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: - Keeping an eye on your Mech is important; make sure you put him to good use - Rush the AI's outer position - DO NOT let your Mech die - DO NOT destroy the Oil Rig in the center of the map (the enemy one) - The oil patch you start near (top left) is completely empty, so don't waste money placing a rig there - There is a spawn point located on the north edge of the map for the AI where they will spawn 6 (3x2) units on a timed-interval so watch out for them - Don't forget to keep killing tankers and towers in the middle as they come - 3 tankers for the top rig and 2 for the bottom rig (if you do expand) is good enough to avoid traffic jams - Once you destroy the AI's income, 5 Missile Crabs + Mech is enough to destroy the base if used properly - The map doesn't finish until a certain time (when all the units finish spawning). So when the base is dead just defend the north side and wait The AI on this map will send the majority of its tankers to the oil rig located in the middle of the map. This is defended by 2 Cannon Towers which are detrimental to your starting forces. As you start the map, send 1 Dire Wolf to the top right corner of the map to release the Mech. Send another Dire Wolf to the bottom left of the map to reveal your base. March your army + Mech south of your starting position and you will meet 2 bridges. The southern one leads to your base, while the eastern one leads to the oil rig mentioned at the start. March your forces across the eastern bridge and try not to get jammed on the bridge then proceed to take out the 2 Cannon Towers. Remember to bring in your Mech behind your forces as you must not let your Mech die or take too much damage. Take out the Oil Tankers fueling up but DO NOT destroy the rig itself so watch your fire! At the same time as you attack, you should have control of your base. Build a Derrick and send it to the closest oil patch north across the bridge. Extend south with an Alchemy Hall and Power Station then start teching to purchase 1 more tanker making a total of 3 tankers for the rig across the bridge. Now the forces that you sent to attack would probably all have died except for the Mech if done correctly (this shows you the deadliness of Cannon Towers). Park the Mech around the rig area remembering not to kill the rig, but kill the tankers as they approach to refuel. The AI will keep wasting their money building tankers for this rig and trying to rebuild the Cannon Towers in that area so kill them before they are completely rebuilt. Because of the AI is wasting money like this, you won't have to worry about them building up an army to attack you. Back at your base you will want to build 2 or 3 scorpions or similar units as there is a chance that the AI managed to build the initial Missile Barge and will come looking for your base soon so fend that off. After that your basically free from any attacks coming from the enemy base. About every 10 mins, the AI will automatically spawn 6 units from the north side of the map, so make sure you have a few units to defend your rig with (at this point I had already teched up to Missile Crabs so it shouldn't be a problem). Max tech up all your buildings and get some Crabs out. Once you have 3 or 4, push through the Cannon Tower south of your base and destroy that oil rig, which means the AI now has no income left. The rest of the game is a breeze, just watch for the attacks coming from the north and build up your army as you like and wipe out the human base in the bottom-right corner. Take control of the oil patch to the south of your base and use it to produce Missile Crabs to defend the northern side where your rig is. The map doesn't end until all the off-map units have spawned so you might have to wait around for a bit till you win. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.14 THE FINAL ASSAULT Difficulty: Normal Victory Conditions: All the Chieftains (named 'King Zog's) must survive until All Enemy Units on the map are dead Failure Conditions: Any ONE of the Chieftains die Tips: - Forget the Blacksmith; it's a waste of money to build and tech up - You'll only need 2 tankers and 1 oil site for this mission so just build a 2nd Power Station for your 2nd tanker - Units seem to have a high affinity for your Clan Hall, so they will generally attack the building instead of your Chieftains standing beside it. Use this to draw fire and use your Chieftains to kill the enemies that get through - Missile Crabs are more cumbersome and cost more then Giant Beetles, this is why I would prefer to go beetles instead of crabs for this mission so you don't get blocked in - Building placement isn't that important in this map, so long as you don't block your units from getting to your defensive lines - Only tech your Beast Enclosure as you don't need the infantry and a radar doesn't help much when your base fits pretty much in your entire screen - If you have a nicely sized army and can't be bothered to wait, then you can venture out and kill the enemy units lying around the area for a faster victory - Snipers are deadly, careful of them running through and going straight for your chieftains - The main vehicle attack comes approximately at 10:00 into the mission and is focused on the north-west - A sniper attack comes in at 12:30 mins and is focused on the south. These snipers will likely make a run for your chieftains so squash them is the easiest option - Save the game a few times to avoid accidental deaths and annoy restarts - There are off-map spawns that come on a time-interval. So the map does not finish till all the spawns have been released. The last spawn arrives at 26:00 - Off-map spawns attack the north-west and south-east entrances Send the northern group that's sitting with your Dire Wolf in your base to defend the top entrance where the Machinegun Nest is. Build a Mekanik to repair this defensive structure and build another Mekanik to idle behind the Grapeshot Cannon to the south. Try to keep these defenses alive in the early stages. Make sure your Chieftains are sitting well inside your base so that the Clan Hall is the first thing encountered. The first wave of attacks will be from all directions consisting of infantry. Squash what you can and use your Chieftains to kill the units that are engaging your Clan Hall to the north-east. Place 2 Power Stations in the area near the oil rig and build an Alchemy Hall anywhere you want so long as it's not blocking any paths. You can safely tech up till you get Giant Beetles then infinite-queue them up and use them to defense all sides. You have 5 defensives sides to watch here which are: North-East, North-West, South-East, South-West and South. Although the south and south-west perimeter can be defended by the same units from inside your base. This will also be the side in which you will encounter the most enemy units. Hold off against the enemy attacks until all the enemy units have died from attacking and you will win. Just be careful that any suicidal units that may squash the Chieftains don't make it through! Also the map doesn't finish until all the off-map spawns arrive so sit tight and hang on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.15 COUNTER-ATTACK Difficulty: Hard - Very Hard Victory Conditions: Kill All Enemy Units and Structures Failure Conditions: Lose All Units and Structures Tips: - Move your Clanhall Wagon to an open space and double-click on it to deploy it - Time your attack so you assault the base after your enemy's forces have died trying to attack you - 2 tankers per site is enough for this stage for all sites - a lot of enemy units such as the Barrage Craft and RPG Launchers have a slow attack that travels. It is crucial to keep your units alive by dodging incoming missiles - If a unit falls on low HP, pull it back behind your lines so it can still attack the enemy, but is no longer being targeted. Keeping units alive this way increase your damage output - Make sure 1 or 2 units don't run out by themselves when the enemy approaches. Have all your defensive units engage the enemy at roughly the same time. Deploy your Clanhall wagon where it starts and extend to the right with a Blacksmith and then 2 Power Stations, one for each oil site on the eastern edge. Build a Beast Enclosure north of your Clanhall so units have a clear exit and extend to the bottom-left area with an Alchemy Hall. Your starting cash will be enough to build all this plus upgrade your Beast Enclosure twice and build 2 Derricks for the 2 right oil sites, so do this. Split your forces evenly to the north of your Clanhall and to the west, just past the plateau of land sticking out. Make sure you keep your defending forces out of the range of the Cannon Towers in the area. With your first batch of income, get some War Mastodons and Giant Beetles to help defend both sides and tech your Beast Enclosure at the same time as well as deploying a 3rd Power Station to the left of your Alchemy Hall and using this tanker for one of your existing Oil Rigs. Infinite-queue up Missile Crabs and Giant Beetles when you have access to them and use them to defend both sides. Then start teching up your Blacksmith and purchase a tanker for the Oil Rig that only has 1 tanker at the moment. Try to maintain around 4 or 5 units defending each side and monitor them every time the enemy attacks, keeping your units alive here is crucial (read tips for more info). If you are starting to gather units then start investing money into a 3rd Derrick as well as 2 more tankers for the south-west oil site. Once you have all 3 sites up and running, max tech all your buildings. When one of your defensive lines has gathered about 15+ units, push them forwards to the enemy rig ahead of your defensive position and take it out. Then establish a new defensive line there. Do this with both sides and make your way forwards. Slowly push forwards on both sides as you get about 15 units massed up. As you push forwards, place more Oil Rigs if you find your existing ones running out of juice. You should have no problem building up and attacking the bases now as you have a steady income and should have massed a huge army by now. Wipe the survivors off the face of the earth, and you have finished the evolved campaign congratulations! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE FINISHED THE GAME!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 8. Advanced Gameplay %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% This section covers more in-depth knowledge and concepts of the game. This information covered here is not crucial to gameplay but once known, it may help general gameplay across a broad range of scenarios. ------------------------- 8.1 UNIT VETERANCY ------------------------- - All units (People, Animals and Vehicles) can gain experience through battle. - Gaining experience in battle promotes them through the veterancy ranks. - Units gain experience by FIRING on enemies (excluding buildings), NOT by KILLING them. - All infantry units (not animals) can heal themselves over time when they are standing still after they have achieved a rank of Blue or Red. There are 3 levels of veterancy, indicated by the colour of the status (Health Bar) located above a selected unit. These are: ~Grey~ - Little or No Experience in battle - Normal Fire Rate and Accuracy ~Blue~ - 'Experienced' in battle - Slight increase in Fire Rate and Accuracy - Very Slow health regeneration ~Red~ - 'Veteran' in battle - Noticeable increase in Fire Rate and Accuracy - Slow-Moderate health regeneration ------------------------- 8.2 BUILDING INFILTRATION ------------------------- When you construct any building (including the Oil Rig), you will notice a bar with red blocks under the buildings Health Bar. This indicates the number of defending units inside that building. The only units that are affected by this figure are the Saboteur (Survivors) and the Vandal (Evolved). These units are capable of Garrisoning and Ungarrisoning buildings. Saboteurs/Vandals can be sent into a friendly or enemy building. (The unit will die when sent into any building) - If they are sent into an enemy building: It will DECREASE the garrison by 1 (indicated by the reduction of 1 red block). Once the building has run out of garrisoned defenders, 1 more Saboteur/Vandal will completely destroy the building. Destroying the building via this method kills the unit but also gives you a full cash refund on the complete cost of the destroyed building (see below for example*). - If they are sent into a friendly building: It will INCREASE the garrison by 1 (indicated by the increase of 1 red block). A building may be garrisoned to a maximum of 5 red blocks. After that no more can be sent in. *Example* There is a Power Station with 2 Red Blocks in its status bar. I send 2 Vandals into it. The building now has no Red Blocks left, nothing happens. There is a Power Station with 2 Red Blocks in its status bar. I send 3 Vandals into it. The building is destroyed and I get $1300 in cash (which is the price of a Power Station). [Author's Note] Although this sounds like a very nice option to destroy the enemy with, it is very unreliable and not a viable option at all. Reasons are as follows, Saboteurs/Vandals have: - A small amount of HP - Very poorly armed, bearing only a weak pistol - Aren't faster compared to other infantry units - Can be squashed - You need quite a few of them as they are likely to die so you need backups. This results in a group of them, making them even more eye-catching to squash - Even though they are only $100 each, the money for the group of them can be better spent elsewhere - A Monster Truck or ATV parked in the base will counter any amount of them All that taken into account, I would not suggest people using Saboteurs and Vandals at all in the game. ------------------------- 8.3 TIPS AND TRICKS ------------------------- This sections covers some helpful tips and tricks in general that may help you throughout your missions. Some may seem pretty basic and you may already know them, but you'd be surprised to find some people don't. [BLOCKING TANKERS FOR OFFLOADING] This method works best against the computer if they have no alive units and are busy building more tankers instead of troops. This may also work in multiplayer games as a method of stalling your opponent's income with a cheap unit for a while during an attack. (refer to 11.1 Oil Tankers for more info on why this trick works on the AI) To do this, position a vehicle/animal type unit (the larger the better) in front of a Power Station where the tankers normally reverse into. This is the area indicated just outside where the arrows on the Power Station are. Sit an unit there so the tanker cannot enter the Power Station but do not destroy the Power Station as if you do the tanker will redirect itself to another station should one exist. Just sit there and attack units that come to kill you or kill the tankers but watch out for your own units attacking the blocking unit as tankers can sort of overlap with other units like this. This is great as against a computer, it may completely stop their economy if you block all their stations and they have no real counter-able units deployed. Also works wonders against the AI as the tankers will not redirect themselves to an open Power Station should their assigned one become blocked. Against a human player though, your blocking unit will become a top priority to be destroyed and will be hunted down fast. However, in a live game every second counts when your tankers are traveling and you will gain that slightest advantage. You can also use this as a deterrent or use this when your opponents are looking at a battle elsewhere on the map. [FREE TANKER KILLS] Similar to the method mentioned above, however this time you won't be blocking. When you manage to secure an enemy Oil Rig, DO NOT destroy it! Rather sit your units around it and destroy the tankers that approach. The computer players will also spend money building lost tankers so long as you do not destroy the Oil Rig, you can force your AI enemy to waste money building tankers that are destroyed upon arrival. This method slows down the enemy production of units and will slow down their attacks. Take care though, as when you attack the tankers you may provoke the AI to come looking for you. (Refer to 11.1 Oil Tankers for more info on why this trick works on the AI) [ATTACKING WHILE MOVING] a lot of units have the ability to shoot while moving, such as the ATV, Missile Crab, Barrage Craft just to name a few. This is important feature to a unit as it allows you to: A) Attack things while moving to a location B) Attack an enemy unit while dodging attacks Point A) can be highlighted by an example where you are attacking a base. One of the first structures you will want to destroy is the Oil Rig which may be at the back of a base. Destroying it is extremely annoying and delays income a lot. While on your way to the back of the base, click to attack a nearby building then click to move again so your unit will engage that building while traveling. Across a large amount of units, this will cause a significant amount of damage to buildings. Point B) can be highlighted by an example where a Bike & Sidecar can defeat a lone Barrage Craft easily without taking damage. Run up and attack the craft and then order your unit to run circles around the enemy. The missiles ejected from the Barrage Craft will be unable to keep up with the moving unit and thus unable to hit it. This shows dodging attacks while attacking an enemy. [SQUASHING] All vehicles and animals apart from the lowest 2 for each race can squash all infantry. This is extremely important as: A) Infantry are grouped into huddles of 5 B) Its much, much faster then shooting at them (unless you have splash) C) It can cause the enemy units to fire on themselves A) The game is made so that when you select a group of infantry units, they into a little close squad of 5 men. This makes them a prime squashing target as you can kill 5 in one go. B) Infantry do have a bit of HP despite their small size. An instant kill vs. a 4 second kill, there is a clear choice there. C) Running a unit in amongst the enemy army may cause splash damage units to fire on themselves, resulting in the army taking damage as well as losing infantry. There is an exception to squashing though. This is generally when you have a high damage splash attack that is made to decimate infantry such as the Giant Beetle's acid attack. Since attacking in this case will mean you don't lose a unit by suiciding one into the enemy army. The other exception is when your units are slow and cumbersome (generally the higher tier ones). In this case your unit won't make it to squash the infantry before they are killed most likely. [NO SHROUD] Unlike nearly all modern RTS games, KKND does not feature 'Shroud' (which is considered one of its major downfalls especially in multiplayer games). The black stuff covering the map is called 'Fog of War' and the Shroud that I am referring to is the lightly coloured black stuff that you will see over the map in other RTSs after you have explored that area. It is the effect where you can still see the terrain but you cannot see units in that area unless it's under your units'/buildings' line of sight. Because of this, once you have explored an area on the map, you will always have complete sight of it for the duration of the game/mission. Having a complete map view is greatly beneficial, here is how to use it effectively. To utilize this effectively, on every stage you should explore as much land as you can without coming into contact with the enemy. On stages in which you have the ability to produce units, you should build a squad of about 4 Dire Wolfs/Dirt Bikes and scout out the map. Rebuild them should they die and you need more. Using this method you should suicide a squad into the enemy base if one (or two) is/are present. This is important as once you can see into the enemy base this lets you: 1 - See what the base looks like and what units it contains. 2 - See when an attack is heading your way and from which direction. 3 - Plan your attack on the enemy base. 4 - Time your attack so you don't run into the enemy army on the way. 5 - Drop an aerial payload on the AI's massing army. In multiplayer games, a singular scouting unit early on is very common as it will give away the opponents strategy for the rest of the game. This is one of the main reason why KKND is such a fast-paced and quick ending game when played in multiplayer form. If your are ever having difficulty on a specific stage then, when the level starts, explore as much of the map as possible by suiciding your units in all directions. This will give you an overview of what the map looks like and what to expect and will also allow you to plan where you want to place your buildings and set up your defenses. After you've decided you can just hit 'Restart Mission' and then play it out properly. [USING BOMBERS] - ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have the opponent's base scouted out by any means necessary before targeting a bomber. - Never use them to try to take out buildings. They are MUCH more effective against units. - Bombers CAN BE SHOT DOWN! Don't target them deep into enemy territory if you know they will have to pass by a lot of enemy units or defenses on the way there. - Don't try to bomb a moving army. You will nearly always miss... - Against the computer, bomb their army when it's about to reach its max capacity before you attack. - Against a human player, I doubt you will be able to build one before the game ends assuming both players are decent. But in general, I don't suggest the use of bombers in multiplayer games as they aren't that useful. [SETTING UP KILL-ZONES] A Kill-zone is basically an area where an army that enters will be decimated due to outnumbering or flanking or positioning etc... Multiplayer games are too fast-paced to have time to plan anything like this but this is perfect against a straight-minded computer. The following steps will demonstrate the basic layout of a Kill-zone where D is the defenders (you) and A is the attackers (AI). 1 - Identify an area or a path that the AI always passes through or uses to attack you. 2 - Box it up using the following formation or something similar, keeping in mind to keep your flanks well away so that they don't get engaged first. (The attackers are heading downwards towards the double-line defense of D's) AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA D D D D D D D D D D DDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDD 3 - When the attackers engage your primary defensive line, move both of the flanking forces in from the sides and crush the enemy. D AAAA D D AAAA D D AAAA D D AAAA D D AAAA D DDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDD 4 - One the enemy is dead, reinforce what died in the defense and reset both of the side forces back to their 'hidden' positions. Somewhat simple and may be obvious to some, but it works surprisingly well against the computer as they will attack the same area repeatedly provided you monitor it every attack. [LURING/DIVERTING ATTACKS] When you're under attack from the AI, one of the things you should consider before the arrival or the enemy force is to send a fast unit out to take the first bit of damage while avoiding as much as you can. This will cause all the units that fired to gain 'aggro' (want to attack) on the now fleeing unit. Run your unit behind your army and around the general area your army is but make sure you keep it only slightly out of range so the AI will chase it. This way you can focus many of the enemy units' fire on the one unit and cause some units to chase that unit around recklessly. If you are not under attack, you can provoke the enemy army into attacking you prematurely before they mass up by attacking an outlying building and running back to base (just not too fast). This method can also be used on mission where there are units lying around the map. You can drag these lone units into your defensive lines so you don't have to deal with them at a later stage. [SPEED IS ESSENTIAL] Alot of the game will become easier if you have faster movements as with the strategies posted for each mission may only be possible if you are fast enough. This could mean you need to turn your mouse sensitivity up but otherwise general tips to help improve your speed. Use control groups! Set infantry to '1' and vehicle to '2' is the most basic setup. Otherwise you can go for '1' as the slow units and '2' as the fast units. This will help greatly as it saves on you having to try and selected specific units mingled together. Hold down right-click when scrolling. This triples (at least) the speed in which you can scroll around the screen by, enabling you to get to the scene of the battle in a much shorter time. [OIL DERRICKS] { Credit to ~ My Mum } Oil Tankers can refuel at ally or enemy Oil Derricks. This means sometimes when you have established a foothold around an enemy oil site. Don't kill it as you can save yourself $1000 and just use the opponents Oil Derrick instead as long as you make sure you don't kill it accidently. This is also good because you get to kill free enemy tankers that come to refuel as explained in a previous trick. ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 9. Frequently Asked Questions %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% "I'm running Windows XP or similar and I can't install KKND help!" - Newer operating systems don't support KKND installation. However you can still install and play the game. Refer to "10. Installing KKND on New OS's" "How do I install from a CD image?" - As long as you didn't get the CD image illegally, refer to "10. Installing KKND on New OS's" "How do you save the game, the save button doesn't work!" - The Save function is rather unusual in KKND. Firstly you need to access the save menu through 'ESC', once there selected a slot you wish to save to and then type a description for the save file. Then you physically have to press 'ENTER' on the keyboard as pressing the 'Save' button on the screen does nothing. If you've done it correctly, it should have gone back to the main paused-game menu and you should see your save in the load menu. "My Oil Rig has run out of oil, how do I move it?" - Unfortunately, you cannot move Oil Rigs after they have been planted. They serve no real purpose once they run out of oil, and if its existence annoys you then you can hold down ALT and destroy it with one of your own units. "I have money, and the building is white. But I can't build the building, why?" - First of all check if your Clan Hall/Outpost is still alive. Once it is destroyed you cannot build anything apart from replacing it. - Some buildings have limits and you cannot build too many of them. (I.e. You can only have 4 Power Stations and 8 Defensive Structures etc...) "I've fully teched my Clan Hall/Outpost, why can't I purchase Aircraft yet?" - Access to the bombers are only available when your reach max tech level for the Outpost AND Machine Shop (Survivors) or Clan Hall AND Beast Enclosure (Evolved). - The Aircraft are only limited to the later missions, you might not be far enough yet. "My Mech/Droid is damaged, how do I repair it?" - Unfortunately you cannot repair the robotic units from the bunkers. So keep them alive as long as you can! "Are there any Cheats for KKND?" - No, not that I know of. If you know some you are welcome to contribute by emailing me. "I'm really having trouble beating XXX Level, please help me!" - Read the guide and tips for that level again. - Read the "8.3 Tips and Tricks" section which may help on that mission. - Read the "11. Understanding the AI" section to help against your opponent. "I lost my manual, where can I get a new one?" - You can get a free electronic copy at www.replacementdocs.com - You can order a printed copy from www.replacementdocs.com - You can contact EA games and you can purchase one off them (although the game is quite old so they might not have stock anymore) ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 10. Installing KKND %#################### ##################% on New OS's %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% KKND runs off a DOS platform and as far as I know, Operating Systems (OS) after Windows 98 will no longer a lot of DOS based games. KKND is one of these games that happens to be not supported. This section is for people who are running an OS that is newer then Windows 98 or cannot install KKND for some reason may also use this method. This method involves using a third-party program called 'DOSbox' which basically emulates a virtual DOS on your computer. You can google this program to find it as it is free to download or you can find it at this link: http://www.dosbox.com/ The current version right now as of writing is 'DOSbox 0.72'. Note: I do not endorse the usage of pirated software, so please go grab yourself a real version if you are using a pirated CD or CD image. ------------------------- 10.1 WITH CD ------------------------- If you have the KKND CD then after installing DOSbox: 1 - Create a folder in your C: drive called 'Games' 2 - Run DOSbox and input the following commands: (note that 'X' is the drive in which your CD is located, go to 'My Computer' to check if you are unsure. Default should be D: or E: drive) mount C C:\Games mount D X:\ -t cdrom -ioctl D: install 3 - The game should now start the install process so let the game install itself to C:\KKND 4 - If it asks for the Sound Card, choose SoundBlaster if it is available otherwise it doesn't matter 5 - If needed the port address should be 220 6 - If needed IRQ = 7, DMA = 1 ------------------------- 10.2 WITH IMAGE FILE ------------------------- If you have a CD Image File of KKND (these are usually identified but not limited to the file types .iso .mdf .mds .bin). You will need to mount the image using another program. Either use 'Alcohol 120% or 52%' or you can use 'Daemon Tools' which is a free download. Refer to the programs 'help' functions or refer to the help available on the program's internet site if you are unsure how to mount images. But you will need to mount your KKND Image File to any drive. Then after installing DOSbox: 1 - Create a folder in your C: drive called 'Games' 2 - Run DOSbox and input the following commands: (note that 'X' is the drive in which your CD Image is located, go to 'My Computer' to check if you are unsure. Default should be F: or G: drive) mount C C:\Games mount D X:\ -t cdrom -ioctl D: install 3 - The game should now start the install process so let the game install itself to C:\KKND 4 - If it asks for the Sound Card, choose SoundBlaster if it is available otherwise it doesn't matter 5 - If needed the port address should be 220 6 - If needed IRQ = 7, DMA = 1 ------------------------- 10.3 RUNNING KKND ------------------------- To play the game afterwards, make sure you have your CD-ROM inserted in your drive or the CD Image mounted then: 1 - Run DOSbox and enter the following commands: (note that 'X' is the drive in which your CD Image is located, go to 'My Computer' to check if you are unsure. Default should be F: or G: drive) mount C c:\games mount D X:\ -t cdrom -ioctl C: cd kknd kknd 2 - KKND should run now and you can press 'ALT + ENTER' to toggle full screen As of version 0.72 of DOSbox, the mount line does not need the '-ioctl' part so you can skip it if you want, although it doesn't change anything if you leave it in. ========================LAGGING?======LAGGING?================================ If your game is lagging or running slowly you may need a better computer as emulating through DOSbox takes a lot of CPU power. Check the DOSbox website for System Requirements. If your computer meets the requirements then you will need to increase the amount of CPU cycles DOSbox is using. This is done by: 1 - Before entering any other commands type: cycles=max 2 - Try running the game, if it still lags try: cycles=60000 3 - Try running the game, if it still lags then increase the number until it doesn't. Increasing the cycles may make your computer lag if you are trying to do something else at the same time. So you can only increase to a certain extent depending on what CPU you have. Check the CPU usage in 'CTRL + ALT + DELETE' task manager to monitor how much CPU is being used up as you increase the cycles. ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 11. Understanding the AI %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% One of the most important aspects about beating the game is knowing about the AI, whether is it a little bit of knowledge or so much as to say to created the game, every bit helps. The AI I'm referring to here is generally the 'Computer Opponent' that you face in every level. Sometime I may use the term in a different context where AI will mean how the game is made to do something in a certain way (such as how units find their way around the map). The following are the points which you should know about the AI and each is explored in greater detail below as well as their applications where applicable. All the following points have been gathered through my own experiences and a lot of these points are what led me to formulate a lot of my 'Tips and Tricks' in the earlier section. ------------------------- 11.1 Oil Tankers ------------------------- For the human player (that's you), your tankers will behave as if they are working in a line drawn straight from the Oil Rig to the nearest Power Station, deviating from this path only when necessary (i.e. blocked). This means that when you are handling more then one Oil Rig/Power Station, you will need to control how many tankers go to each rig and each station. Once you have commanded them once they will follow this path unit given a further command. This is also important for tankers built out of the Blacksmith as they will automatically join the nearest 'rig to station' line. Keeping an eye on this is crucial as having too many tankers on 1 Oil Rig will cause traffic jams and could end up in all the tankers stopping all together. Here are some GENERAL rules to follow (subject to changes due to terrain variations): 1 - No matter where the Oil Rig is located, a minimum of 2 tankers should be used. {Note: A 'Power Station block' (PSB) is the size taken up by 1 Power Station} 2 - If the distance from the Oil Rig to Power Station is: 0 ~ 1.5 PSBs = 2 Oil Tankers 2 ~ 3.5 PSBs = 3 Oil Tankers 4 ~ 5.5 PSBs = 4 Oil Tankers 6 ~ 7.5 PSBs = 5 Oil Tankers (+ 1.5 PSBs = +1 Oil Tanker) etc... 3 - If you have more then 1 Power Station for an Oil Rig, have the number suggested in (2) going to the nearest Power Station and then send the spare tankers to the outer Power Station. 4 - Due to the loading area of the Power Station being on the south side, tanker seem to work better when the Power Station is built to the north of the Oil Rig compared to the south. For the AI (computer opponent), the game is programmed so that on each level, each 'rig to station' line has a minimum number of tankers needed. The AI will always have an Oil Tanker queued up should the number of tankers in that line fall below the required amount. For you (the player), this gives you a very neat trick where you can force the computer to waste money by building tankers (refer to 8.3 Tips and Tricks). The next thing to know about the AI tankers is that they will always go to the station that they are assigned to when they are produced unless it is destroyed. This allows you to perform a different trick where you block tankers (refer to 8.3 Tips and Tricks). Apart from these points there are a few other small things that should be self evident, these are: 1 - Oil Tankers will NEVER deviate from their path to squash infantry. 2 - Oil Tankers will take the shortest route even if it is heavily occupied by the opponent. 3 - Oil Tankers will NEVER leave the Oil Rig or Power Station until it has COMPLETELY loaded/unloaded all its fuel. A thing to note is that an Oil Tanker will be destroyed if it is unloading at a Power Station and the Power Station is destroyed by any method. ------------------------- 11.2 Unit/Army Production ------------------------- In any mission where you are playing against a computer opponent and they field the ability to produce units via buildings, then there will be a set number of each unit for the AI to produce to form its army. An example may be: (1 Dire Wolf, 2 Scorpions, 3 berserkers, 2 Shotgunners and 1 Pyromaniac). What ever the army line-up is, the following rules apply: 1 - The AI will NEVER attack on its own accord until it has built the entire set of units programmed for that mission. 2 - The AI will try to produce ALL the units at the same time, but due to pricing differences, some will be built before others. 3 - If the AI is provoked (you attack their building for example), then the AI will attack you with whatever units it has produced thus far for its army. Units produced after the provoking incident will start massing in the base again to try and complete another set of units. 4 - When the AI decides to attack you, it will generally (for most missions), set an 'Attack-Move' command on your Clan Hall/Outpost which means they will engage anything along the way to that building. What does all this mean for you? Well, these allow you to perform a few tricks outlined in '8.3 - Tips and Tricks' but apart from that, knowledge needed for each point mentioned before is as follows: 1 - This allows you to plan your attacks and gives you a pre-emptive on AI assaults. 2 - This will allow you to pretty much tell what is about to come out of the buildings. The cheapest units will come out first followed by the most expensive logically of course. Also means that the army will be weaker at one point due to weaker units being completed first. 3 - You can prevent a huge army attacking you by splitting up forces by provoking the enemy and you can drag the enemy force away a bit like this as well. 4 - You can use buildings as Cannon Fodder to soak up your damage while your units fire away so long as the enemy encounters the building before it sees your units. The computer will NEVER build Technicians/Mekaniks or Sabouteurs/Vandals. However the computer WILL capture bunker units if they are left on the map for too long. ------------------------- 11.3 Unit Micromanagement ------------------------- The computer players have very poor micromanagement (micro) in this game. Even if a unit can easily dodge and attack, it will not do so and it will not pull near death units out of battle. The AI NEVER uses the repair bay or equivalent evolved facility. Once it orders a unit to engage a building, it rarely will switch targets even if a unit starts attacking it. The only form of intelligent play that the AI utilizes is during an attack, when most of the army has been destroyed and there is clearly no way the AI's forces will defeat yours, they will retreat straight back to base. The AI will always charge directly at the same point every attack unless there is something closer to engage so it will walk directly into a 'Kill-Zone' if you set one up. For the human players, when you order one or more units to move to a location, it will do so via the shortest route possible. Units will dance around stupidly in the same spot should the path become temporarily/permanently blocked so you may need to re-issue movement commands; especially if you are moving larger units. This is also why it may be a good reason to move your infantry through a hole/ramp separately apart from your vehicles so they don't end up tangling your vehicles up. Units can attack friendly units via the 'ALT' command although they cannot 'Attack-Ground'. ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % ##################% 12. Conclusion %#################### % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% That brings you to the end of this guide. Thank you for reading this guide; I hope you have enjoyed playing this game and look forward to helping you again in a future guide. [2007] Shaun Chen (a.k.a. Skasian)
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