"With this last colony, the Empire will fulfill its objective of reconquering from the Great Western Crater, where Empire City rises, to the foothills of the Great East Sea. This site also has great value for the Empire, as here lay the remains of a large statue that the ancient humans built before the great pandemic devastated the world. Little do we know what it represents but us, the survivors of the new world, consider it our Goddess of Destiny, the symbol of how humans reconquered the world and became the masters of our own destiny once again. Build a great colony for the glory of the Empire and resist the attack from the most powerful swarms of the known world."
Note: this mission has no mini swarm, so you don't need to defense up all directions until cleaning out the map.
Final mission of campaign. Command center is stuck between four big Villages of Doom, there are multiple giant infected on the map. Terrain features neither pockets nor big open areas fit for city (except in starting area). Edges of map feature huge seams of gold. There are a few stashes of food and batteries just outside colony entrance. Total oil pools count is 13, but many of them are on the edge of the map.
This mission is longer than usual and earlier swarms give 12 hours to prepare instead of 8, but later waves have been altered to include more dangerous infected.
| Day ⇅ | Swarm type ⇅ |
|---|---|
| 13 | Normal |
| 26 | Normal |
| 36 | Normal |
| 49 | Normal |
| 56 | Harpies only, from all entrances on one side (thousands) |
| 62 | Venom only, from all entrances on one side (thousands) |
| 67 | Behemoth only, from all entrances on one side (several dozens) |
| 73 | Giants only, from all entrances on one side (around a dozen) |
| 80 | Normal final wave from all directions, plus several giants, several behemoths and extra special infected |
The two main challenge of this map are: surrounded beginning, and the special swarm from day 56 on.
All extra starting units, as well as Artillery Transportation, are highly recommended. Keep soldiers and wasps close to command center.
It is highly recommended to place the first Great Ballista at the east of Command Center to guard the east entrance.
Expand south with 5-10 spread out rangers. If runners start appearing, fall back, clear them out, wait a few hours and start pushing again.
Put 3-4 ballistas and walls 6-9 tiles above southern entrances. Don't try to push all the way to entrance without an army of 20-30 soldiers, it will trigger villages.
Consider rushing shock tower by day 13. First swarm may come from north, and northern entrances can only support 1-2 towers. While swarm sizes are normal, their noise will attract more infected from villages and mutants increasing their size 3-5 times.
Before expanding, kill nearby mutants first. To do that, start pushing just near colony entrance; when mutant's icon starts moving, fall back behind walls and order units to target strong units first. After that expand as usual.
Beware of map corners. On 800% difficulty they contain hundreds of specials: venoms north-east and south-west, harpies north-west and south-east.
By the end have at least one fallback line between outer defense and every city block, generator district and wonders.
You should clear out the map before the swarm at day 49. You can build up 2 armies of soldiers to push both north and south-east. Wait for titans to deal with venoms at south-west.
Prepare for full-direction defense with everything you got. Remember: wider defense line take less pressure, while "Choke points" on the edge of the map need extra defenses. Shock towers are basically useless after clearing normal swarm. Go for Great Ballistas and Executors.
Note: if your colony takes severe damage during any special swarm, you will be doomed.
The best way to deal with Harpies swarm and Venoms swarm is a large army of Titan. Keep them at the center of the map, and send them to defense points once you know which direction the swarm comes from (remember to keep wide paths across your colony). Executors are also recommended.
Behemoths and giants: lots of units behind thick walls. 2 days before wave slow units should be ordered to move to command center, so they have enough time to reach the front. Spread units across all entrances on announced side of the map. Add wave breakers. Consider deleting towers to increase attack density. If walls get destroyed faster than attackers, add another layer behind and order units to fall back. Snipers are the best unit to deal with these waves, followed by buffed soldiers. 2 rows of stone towers filled with soldiers and snipers can deal with behemoth wave with little loss, while the giant wave may deal some damage.
Last swarm is normal swarm from all sides, but with several giants, behemoths and more special infected. Perfect defense is possible, but shouldn't be relied upon; instead, make sure to have functioning fallback lines in advance. You can build the final defense around the three choke points of the starting area. If you built your full defense and army currently, the last swarm will be a piece of cake.