Plane mission - what am I doing wrong?

[UncleGus]

Is the object of this mission speed? Because I can't seem to quite get my defenses established before I get steamrolled by near-invincible Behemoth biters. Is it just really hard on Hardcore difficulty? Because I had no problems with any of the previous missions. I tried researching straight for the plane tech and got steamrolled. I tried putting resources into keeping turrets armed and got steamrolled. I tried making solar panels to reduce pollution and got steamrolled. I tried making laser turrets and got steamrolled. I tried making capsule tech and got steamrolled. What's the trick?

[Koub]

Must admit I have never tried the campaign Maybe should I give it a try.

[DaveMcW]

Is it just really hard on Hardcore difficulty?

There are no Behemoth biters on Normal difficulty.

[UncleGus]

Oh, I see. Well, that would certainly help. But normal difficulty is the lowest setting. What about oldschool difficulty? And is the a way to change the setting in a save game? I don't fancy starting again.

[DaveMcW]

Ok, I just checked hardcore in 0.12.24 - no behemoth biters there either. How long exactly does it take for them to show up?

[UncleGus]

Maybe an hour or so?

[UncleGus]

Okay, so I installed the steam version then loaded my game. I saw that the version number jumped up a couple of minor versions, so I restarted the level. This time I have got much further than before and no behemoths. I have stacks of laser turrets in place and I should be all set to build the plane shortly.

So maybe just an issue with the map design that was fixed or something?

[UncleGus]

Spoke too soon. 1hr10min and steamrolled by Behemoths again.

[DaveMcW]

I guess it is a scenario design problem. You don't get the tech needed to fight behemoths, because they didn't exist when it was designed.

One thing you can try is efficiency modules everywhere, to reduce pollution and slow the biter evolution.

[UncleGus]

Okay, so I just finished it. Turns out it's the final level of the campaign too. In the end, I just had to really step up my production game and be really efficient. It was a very valuable level to play in that sense because it forced me to iterate, learn and improve. I actually managed to fend off two waves of Behemoths in the end. I found a second wreck that had more laser turrets in it; that was significant. And I also managed to research laser turrets and the improvements up to level 3 as well, and they were quite good against the Behemoths.

So that's the campaign completed. On Hardcore difficulty. Right, now I'm ready for freeplay.

[vanatteveldt]

By the sound of it you are (way) more than ready for freeplay .

Welcome to Factorio!

[painting4]

we have planes now?