Planetary Annihilation

Planetary Annihilation

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When all else fails: Astraeus evacuation
By Durandal
In the midst of a giant invasion? Unable to hold out against horrific DOX-spam? All hope lost? Fear not, for you still have one hope: Astraeus.
   
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Introduction

First of all, thanks for clicking on this guide! I do appreciate it.

I'm gonna keep things short and snappy, so I'll only be going over the basics and some extra tips in this guide.

If you have suggestions for improvements, do tell me! :)
Evacuation Stage One: Gotta go to space
The art of Astraeus Evacuation is a finicky one because it should only be used as a last resort. If you have a teleporter and the location of the second teleporter is secure, use the teleporter.

As such, Astraeus Evacuation takes into account the idea that your base is under an unstoppable assault that you absolutely cannot counter without risking your commander. It is also assuming that you actually have a good orbital defense and that you don't have a million Avengers floating above you.

These little ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ will be a frequent cause for Astraeus Evacuation.

So, let's assume your Commander is in his fortified little sanctum. The enemy is at the gates and moving in FAST. You have maybe ten, twenty seconds before they get within attack range. What do you do?

Well, first things first: you need an Astraeus. If you already built one for the express purpose of evacuation, good on you! Why are you even reading this guide? Tips? Anyways, if you HAVEN'T built an Astraeus, you better hope the enemy attack hasn't totally shattered your eco. The Astraeus is reasonably quick to build, and as the highest priority of any game is to keep your commander alive, building an extra SXX can wait; get your OrbiFabs onto the Astraeus ASAP.

Right, so it's finished. The enemy is getting closer; maybe your Commander is already shooting at them. The next bit is simple: make the Astraeus pick up your Commander and fly into orbit (and hope to god the enemy has no Bluehawks or other Tactical Missile troops).

NOTE: AA UNITS CAN SHOOT DOWN ASTRAEI WHEN THEY ARE ON EARTH! MAKE SURE YOU GET IT TO SPACE ASAP AND DON'T EVACUATE WHEN UNDER AIR ATTACK!

Make sure you have these lovely little things in bulk.

In my experience, even in the midst of a giant ground attack, well-defended Orbital bases tend to hold very well. This is because, unlike on the ground, the defensive unit (Anchors) is far, far more powerful than the offensive (Avengers). As such, a good ring of Anchors (as you should have) will do wonders for keeping your now-orbital Commander safe.

So, your Commander is now in orbit and (hopefully) well defended. Time for the next stage.
Evacuation Stage Two: To the moon! ...maybe
The second stage of the evacuation is super important: planning where the hell you're going.

Now, this obviously all depends on circumstance. If your system is totally based on one planet, then you're not going anywhere; instead, build a metric ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of SXXs, secure an area on the planet, and land your Commander down there to rebuild.

Assuming there are other planets/moons, however, you need to do a bit of planning. Prepare to build a number of ARKYDs and send them on suicide runs, because you need to know what the safest place to land is.

Your first choice might be near a giant metal deposit. DON'T DO IT. When your enemy realises that you've evacuated to orbit, they'll be trying to figure out your next destination, and they WILL be guarding the larger metal deposits. My favoured place of evacuation is a tiny, irrelevant moon, just because they tend to be overlooked when expanding. Make sure to scout out a number of locations, then move on to the deployment.

Obviously, the enemy will have Orbital Radars set up, so you can't remain invisible forever; however, you can trip up your enemy in many a way.

And, obviously, you're going to need eco if you want to survive. Lots of it.

If you have control over a gas giant and have lots of Jigs there, perfect! It's best to have an income even without landing near metal deposits.

First: build a crapton of Astraei (credit to catnapper for giving me the correct plural form) and prepare them for launch. When you've properly selected a location, you're gonna want to launch all the Astraei at scattered locations. Make your opponent wonder where the hell you're going. If you have ten empty Astraeuses, launch the one with your Commander in the middle. Also, send two or three Avengers along with each Astraeus, just to keep your enemy busy with your fake Astraeuses and to protect your actual one.

!!REMEMBER!! The Astraeus has pathetic health and will be picked off easily by nary a single Avenger or Anchor. If the Astraeus dies while it holds your Commander, you're ♥♥♥♥♥♥. Choose wisely. (Yes, I know at some stage it comes down to luck, but don't be an idiot about placement)
Evacuation Stage Three: Secure, Contain, Protect
(please don't sue me, SCP Foundation)

Right, so Stage Two has worked! You've successfully brought the Astraeus carrying your Commander to a "safe" location. Now, it's time to bunker the ♥♥♥♥ down.

First of all, bring along some OrbiFabbers. You're going to have to set up an Anchor defense ASAP, because your enemy will figure out where you are on short notice. Then, scout the planet itself for a suitable landing spot using an ARKYD. Also try to ensure that little to no enemies are on the planet; if there ARE enemies, surround your landing spot in a giant ring of Anchors.

The rest is really quite simple. Land. Build up your army. Bumrush any enemy installations on the planet. Secure it and bide your time, slowly expanding your might until you can crush your enemy for ever daring to humiliate you.

And all the while, your Astraeus will be watching you proudly.

Conclusion and Disclaimer
So that's that. The rest is simple gameplay like any other.

Please note that Astraeus Evacuation is by NO MEANS a strategy even remotely guaranteed to work. It relies on far too many variables. The idea of this guide and the tactic is to give you a final, all-else-is-lost strategy for when there ARE no other options. Recovering from your main base being compromised is terribly difficult, but if you want to extend the game and give your enemy the metaphorical finger whilst they chase you around the system, then this is the way to do it.

As such, please don't always expect this to work. But if it does, then great! I'm happy to have helped you win.

Thanks for reading the guide. Comments and suggestions highly appreciated.

See you later, Biologics.

27 Comments
Splod 18 Jun, 2016 @ 8:40am 
Oh.
Durandal  [author] 18 Jun, 2016 @ 7:52am 
Stage Two, around the bottom
Splod 18 Jun, 2016 @ 5:37am 
It was? I didn't see it.
Durandal  [author] 18 Jun, 2016 @ 3:00am 
Already in the guide, but thanks for the suggestion anyway ;)
Splod 17 Jun, 2016 @ 4:15pm 
I just found something that can help with this:
If there's more than two planets, you could send extra Astraeus to the other planets to act like a decoy.
Nedw4rd 1 Apr, 2016 @ 4:20pm 
An Astraeus?

More like my commander's racecar to a metal planet.

Such an emotional ending!:steamsad:
TYKUHN2 31 Mar, 2016 @ 8:02pm 
"I'm proud of you for escaping with me, decimating this planet's defenses and setting up a nuclear arsenal even Russia is envious of"
Captain Bigman 27 Mar, 2016 @ 3:37am 
I don't know but when I shift-tabbed it was one of those 3 right there. :steamhappy:
Durandal  [author] 26 Mar, 2016 @ 10:57am 
Holy shit, it did. What the hell you guys

( :) )
Durandal  [author] 26 Mar, 2016 @ 10:56am 
Was. What, did it climb up again somehow?