I dislike the Zenith Guards! I have a hard time with any mech who can damage your own building, and that laser of theirs is the worst example of that to me. “Let me shoo—oh noes, reset—aw now what do i do ¬_¬”, usw.
– from a Rust buckets’ fanboy.
My favorite element of the Zenith Guard was that they taught me the value of a Science Mech. I think it’s clever that they’re likely to be many players’ second squad after RW, because at that point they’re used to having three attack class mechs and it gets taken away in ZG; but then you realize that Science Class mechs are extremely valuable.
Also I’ll join in on the endorsements for Rusting Hulks. Definitely my favorite theme and name for a squad (I like to image that the jet is just an old-world fighter jet they repurposed into a mech with some future tech), and very powerful, particularly if you get the right set of upgrades from Time Pods. Once it clicks you’ll really enjoy them.
Finally got the Lightning War achievement on normal difficulty after twice missing it by ~1m30 and once by ~15s. I’m glad my stubborn refusal to drop down to easy has worked out. :)
Absolutely cruised to my first normal Rusting Hulks win last night with Silica (2 power to be able to attack twice if you don’t move) as my time traveler.
Was really trying to go for the achievements (which I got, woo), but ended up just crushing the game. Coming down even harder on “upgrade move first for most mechs, all the time” tip - it’s almost always the most valuable upgrade.
Silica bouncing twice in the jet was good as expected, but not as crazy-awesome as I’d hoped - though filling the map with smoke in general is pretty powerful.
Ended up using the rocket mech’s fart aspect of its weapon (leave smoke behind you when attacking) way more than in previous runs since I was focusing on trying to hit the “12 damage with smoke in one battle” cheevo, and it’s really quite good.
Got the Confuse Beam for my science mech, and it was a lifesaver. Flips a Vek’s attack direction with a (duh) beam attack, which isn’t that good in and of itself, but by virtue of giving the science mech another attack vektor it opened up new options and saved my bacon more than once. Love those science weapons that don’t require any power!
Overall, RH is so crazy freaking good. Such a versatile, powerful squad. <3
To avoid any frustration with the smoke and take heavily advantage of its overpower, I think that Camelia in the jet is required. This is why she has been my longest running pilot.
There is a beauty preventing the veks from doing much of any move in a mission’s last turn.
My years observing the life forms around here inform me that the appropriate reply seems to be
You go, girl!
2/3/4 island wins complete on Normal mode with Rift and Rusting. Things were getting too easy so I upped it to Hard mode; running through the 2-island victories with the rest of the squads on that mode. Getting the win on the first or second try, with the exception of the ice team, which is proving to be a challenge. (Thank God!)
Also, I just want to confirm to everyone that even though it may look like you’ll have more coins than stuff to unlock, don’t worry, you’ll need to earn every coin to unlock everything. ;)
Went from struggling badly to utterly crushing a 3 island win with Flame Behemoths and getting all three achievements in that run. Fun squad. Really gotta abuse that fire and trust in it. Also remembering that vek who emerge into flame catch fire.
I would argue that Camilla isn’t all that good in the jet. It’s inherently web-resistant, and avoiding smoke isn’t hard even when you’re dropping it all over the place. Remember, your smoke doesn’t damage you with Rusting Hulks!
This happens to me a lot. The game is so good at warning you what will happen, but I tend to overlook the blast icon.
Finally had my first loss. Using the Zenith Guard, I was one turn away from the win, but couldn’t find a way to deal with a crab hitting four pylons at once. This squad suffers more than most with the random building arrangement in the final levels, since there are often no good straight lines for the laser without hitting a pylon, and there’s no ranged option to dislodge enemies behind obstacles.
I think the key with these guys is the shield ability, more so than the laser ability.
Sorry, I meant web-resistant in the sense that it can still do something useful even if webbed. The other two mechs both have pushes as well – I’ve just never found webs to be that bad against Rusting Hulks.
One thing I’ve gotten better at over time is initial mech placement. You can see enemy move range when you’re deploying – making sure nobody gets webbed (that you’re not prepared to deal with) in that first enemy turn can go a long way.
Woo, finally got all the achievements.
I’m really enjoying the relatively hidden depths of the game. One example is initial mech placement (as mentioned by @inactive_user): early on I just dropped mechs pretty much wherever, then I progressed to not putting them in line with a building to make it safe to just step out of the way of firefly shots aimed at the mechs. Next up staying out of range of leapers and scorpions (and other attacks in some cases), and most recently trying to form arrangements that will draw attacks that target multiple squares to somewhere they’re not very dangerous.
I also find my self significantly re-evaluating the relative values of pilots. Currently loving Harold (push adjacent tiles on repair). Such an incredibly useful ability to solve problems.
I invest in movement first in almost all cases. Some team-defining exceptions like the jet range and Building Chain for the lightning whip do exist, but move is incredibly, incredibly important.
@krayzkrok There’s a lot of depth to each team. I highly recommend switching squads if you’re beating your head against a wall with the Hulks.
I finally got the secret character.
Too bad he’s not an Engi. I’d rather have one of them to power the reactor.
It’s nice to still be seeing new things after playing through to the end 20 times, even if it’s just a little bit of dialogue.
Got all my regular squad cheevos! Still haven’t won on hard, heh.
Depends on the team, but boosting dmg on one mech is usually priority one for me. Those end bosses are mean on each island and have a ton of HP. Gotta have some ability to whack them in a few turns or they really make you suffer.
Yeah, it all depends on the squad. Freezy dudes in my experience really need the damage output from boosting shootyguy asap.
Thou hast thine money’s worth!