Went to Gleba first -- how to deal with stompers?

[decanoic]

I am on my first playthrough of Space Age, and I went to Gleba first. I have a decent-ish starter base set up (about 1 red belt of copper and iron), and I found the spoilage mechanic to be great fun and honestly just a good time all around. However, I find dealing with the enemies on Gleba is pretty challenging and I'm not really sure what to do. Admittedly some of this is on me as I turned down pollution absorption to 40% for land and spawners -- that makes Nauvis feel a lot better in my experience but I didn't realize Gleba would be that much of a step up.

I have just crossed 30% evolution (66% time -- it took me a while to figure out Gleba production), and I'm not sure how to deal with these medium stompers. Here are a few images --my brain fruit outpost (rocket turrets only where the attacks come from):

11-15-2024, 17-56-29.png (791.9 KiB) Viewed 2537 times

a typical attack group:

11-15-2024, 17-57-35.png (1.12 MiB) Viewed 2537 times

the results of said attack group:

11-15-2024, 17-57-59.png (853.46 KiB) Viewed 2537 times

I have not neglected upgrades that badly:

11-15-2024, 17-58-50.png (348.17 KiB) Viewed 2537 times

This particular attack wasn't that bad -- a lot of the time I lose about half the turrets and most of the belts. It's only the stompers that are any threat at all. The small guys and the strafers just explode when they get near the turrets or get blown up by the mines. But I want to move on to a different planet but I don't feel like the situation on Gleba is quite handled. So what can I do?

Here are the options I have considered:

1. Just shut down Gleba and come back after I finish other planets and have better production and defenses. This seems super lame.
2. Maybe remove all the mines? The stompers seem mostly immune to them or destroy them before they can do anything and I feel like maybe they do something weird with the aggro. Certainly the bots replacing the mines cause a fair amount of attrition. I'm not sure this would really let me walk away though.
3. More upgrades?
4. More rocket turrets? I already have to import carbon from space to make enough explosives, and the friendly fire from rockets is rough
5. Switch to normal rockets? I had been doing this and I felt like the explosive rockets kill the stompers faster. Also it would seem intuitive that explosive rockets would be effective against big clumped up groups like I tend to see.
6. Clear out all nests in pollution cloud? I haven't done this because it's honestly quite challenging to get these stompers down. I guess I could remote suicide drive a tank in. The pollution cloud is pretty big:

   

   11-15-2024, 18-13-03.png (649.36 KiB) Viewed 2537 times

Anyone have good ideas?

[BlueTemplar]

What worked for me to take out close / new nests (which don't have too many stompers) :
(but then I have Power Armor mk2, so it might not work for you)

2x Discharge Defense (no upgrades). Be careful to stagger them. They stun the stompers to the point where they're barely stomping any more. Eating Bioflux before and if necessary, during combat, helps a lot.

P.S.: Also, to make defense easier, I'm using a trick similar to how on Nauvis you can,

if you have trouble with Biter armour, only kill biter spawners, and leave Spitter spawners to absorb pollution instead

.
On Gleba, you would try to

leave small rafts alive, since they only produce wrigglers, which can be even stopped by walls !

Note that you have to be careful with the previous tactic, since

Discharge Defense doesn't discriminate with its targets

.

[HadesSupreme]

Options I can think of:

1. Plop down a tank, go out and shoot nests. Obviously higher tech stuff would help too but the tank alone should do well enough with some rocket fuel as long as you don't get stuck. If you have some equipment to throw on it like shields or exoskeleton that'd make it very easy.
2. Import Uranium from Nauvis to upgrade your turrets with ammo that instagibs everything.

For missile turrets I think regular missiles are best, make sure they are set to prioritize the stompers. Arguably the gun turrets should prioritize them as well.

Thankfully Gleba does unlock the Spidertron, with a few of those around you can clear out nests easily without wasting much of your own time.

[BlueTemplar]

Spidertron is late Gleba tech, and we're talking about early(ish) bases.

Have you actually tried those two ? I kind of doubt even uranium turrets and uranium tank can do damage fast enough to not get stomped on. Also, you might not have uranium ordnance yet, and this would make your defenses stop being self-sufficient.

[Yoyobuae]

Spidertron is late Gleba tech, and we're talking about early(ish) bases.

Have you actually tried those two ? I kind of doubt even uranium turrets and uranium tank can do damage fast enough to not get stomped on. Also, you might not have uranium ordnance yet, and this would make your defenses stop being self-sufficient.

Try the tank against stompers. No need for fancy uranium ammo. Just regular will do. Try the flamethrower too. You'll be in for a surprise.

Physical projectile damage and weapon shooting speed helps a lot too, but that's not required to beat small stompers.

[MEOWMI]

I have been told it's important that mines are further away, prior to when the enemies aggro to turrets, for them to be properly effective. Explosives are a great choice anyway, and as such, rocket turrets and explosive damage upgrades should most likely be high priority.

For me, running around and clearing nests was exceptionally effective, aided by the fact that I spent the effort to get rare tier exos, allowing me to outrun enemies and cover large amounts of area. Simply normal mk2 armor and normal exos would do the job too though. The machine gun was inadequate against stompers, but good enough for run-and-gunning egg rafts, and simply running away after decimating the nests means that the enemies despawn. A rocket launcher helps a lot too against nests.

Nests seem very slow to re-expand, compared to Nauvis, and in fact, this strategy was so incredibly effective, that I have yet to face major attacks from any rebuilt nests and by now spidertrons can be dispatched to easily deal with them. (It is in fact kind of hilarious how one-sided spidertrons make the fight.)

I can imagine it would be important to clear out some more space for your spore cloud to naturally dissipate and to allow you time to upgrade your defences. Personally I never had to ship in anything extra to make explosives, no doubt in large part due to the greatly reduced number of attacks after clearing so many nests. Also, you can make some "waste" nutrients from bioflux just to turn into rot and then into carbon, if you're really having explosive shortages.

Personally I have not bothered with explosive rockets very much, because their friendly fire potential is fierce when inside your own base, especially with damage upgrades, and the only real threat in my mind are stompers, which are singular enemies. Honestly if explosive rockets deal more damage to them then that's fine, I just can't tell if that's a thing or not and I never tested. Still, you best beware of friendly fire. I have accidentally destroyed a few valuables in my base just by using explosive rockets, when I clearly shouldn't have.

Lasers and guns can deal with the smaller mobs, it's just the stompers that I desperately needed to get rockets for since I had no other weapons tech. I also took it very seriously and prioritized explosive damage upgrades for a good while, just to help guarantee a kill on the enemies ASAP. The big ones have a lot of health, and it feels like it becomes a game of "kill quickly or be killed quickly."

[Nidan]

For hunting them in the field, I found

the flamethrower pretty nice. Hit them once, then kite them until they die. One shipment of ammo will last you quite a while

. PLD takes care of the rest. (I did Gleba last, and didn't bring anything but my power armor mk 2. All Nauvis tech, expect for batteries mk 3 (which are absolutely necessary if you fight stompers with PLD alone (which is a chore)).
For stationary defense I'm not sure yet. I don't think my rocket turrets can unload fast enough for medium stompers.

I don't think flamethrowers will kill fast enough. Tesla's stun is probably nice, but looks more like an AOE weapon rather than single target damage. Maybe both weapons combined.

[BlueTemplar]

I can imagine it would be important to clear out some more space for your spore cloud to naturally dissipate and to allow you time to upgrade your defences.

I just got biolabs at 0.76 evolution (DWM), and so far my tactic of

killing regular rafts while leaving small rafts alive

seems to still work well :

base

Gleba_76evo_biolabs.png (461.78 KiB) Viewed 1906 times

You can see a wriggler swarm coming in.

I had to add and connect roboports, and significantly increase the number of laser turrets to deal with the big wrigglers. And especially add walls so that precious quality imported turrets are hardly ever lost. (As long as I notice new medium rafts in time.)
(I guess with lower evo, a player with less than my 4 laser damage and 4 laser shooting speed would still need something like this ?)

You can see the closest medium raft at only 2 chunks away from pollution on the top right - I'll have to deal with it before I leave.

As for taking out new expansions (still with the above tactic in mind), here's what I use :

Gleba arty

Gleba_arty.png (822.05 KiB) Viewed 1906 times

(I should probably figure out how to request ammo in the blueprint for those gun turrets directly.)

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

Copy blueprint

(This is of course a solution that only works if you already have those Vulcanus pre-requisites...)

[decanoic]

Thank you all for suggestions and ideas. Unfortunately I am playing with controller (steam deck), so my speed/accuracy of clicking and movement wasn't really fast enough to take down enemy rafts with either the tank or just powered armor; I tried a few times and it wasn't really working. What I eventually did was:

• more turrets. I needed a full line of rocket turrets, with doubling up on common attack zones
• more upgrades. explosive 8 or 9
• just accept losses. That's why I have a base I guess

That got me limping along, with only losing corners of perimeter defense at a time, until I had completed essentially all the non-infinite gleba research. Then I got a spidertron and could easily clean up the egg rafts -- I did the trick of leaving the small ones to help absorb and limit spore cloud, and that definitely helps the cloud from expanding out. I think it also helps to keep from new bases spawning in, too.

All that let me move on (I did Vulcanus next and it felt laughably easy after Gleba). When large stompers start coming they will likely destroy the entire base, but hopefully I should have other planets completed by then. And even if I don't I have a large off-planet stockpile of those precious stack inserters so it's no big deal if I lose Gleba entirely.

I do think that the amount of static gleba-tech-only defenses needed to defend a farm are too high, and that difficulty of the different mob types are too different -- wrigglers and strafers are essentially non-entities, but stompers are incredibly hard to deal with. Maybe the movement speed of stompers should be a little lower to make static defenses a bit more viable, and the other two units possibly buffed so they pose some kind of threat.

[BlueTemplar]

Congrats !

I think it also helps to keep from new bases spawning in, too.

Yeah, that's part of the trick : IIRC that's how it worked on Nauvis pre-2.0 : biters prefer to settle away from most buildings (including spawners, but IIRC excluding worms), so it would probably work like that on Gleba too.

wrigglers and strafers are essentially non-entities

I think strafers outrange at least gun turrets ?

[mako00]

I think strafers outrange at least gun turrets ?

Only in theory - in practice they tend to circle strafe around one turret, walking right into the range of other turrets.

[Khazul]

Gleba isnt a great place to go first. Best visited after you have

artillery turrets and tesla turrets and tesla weapon and the mech armor

.
Best progression seems to be

Vulcanus->Fulgroa->Gleba->Aquilo

.
As some of the production can

spawn loads of critters in the middle of your base sometimes, tesla turrets are semi-essential

.
I would suggest abandon Gleba for now, go to

Vulcanus, and work through that and Fulgora

. (Assuming you have the means to get off the planet, else have fun with the critters

Edit: Redacted

[Nemoricus]

I haven't placed a single turret on Gleba yet. No artillery, no tesla turrets, not even a gun turret. I've only been attacked once, and the spidertron I had on the planet cleaned it up.

Power armor Mk 2 with exoskeletons and a bunch of stacks of rockets did well for clearing out the pentapod nests near my production sites.

[The Phoenixian]

Spidertron is late Gleba tech, and we're talking about early(ish) bases.

Have you actually tried those two ? I kind of doubt even uranium turrets and uranium tank can do damage fast enough to not get stomped on. Also, you might not have uranium ordnance yet, and this would make your defenses stop being self-sufficient.

I can vouch for the viability since I played with the tank on Gleba after going there first. It worked amazingly well against early pentapods of all stripes. No uranium ammo needed. Might fall off later, but by the time big stompers came around I already had spidertrons. Much like power armor, spidertrons, or the player, they can also be shipped with the equipment grid pre-installed. As long as you're careful to get the right tank in the rocket and place that item, and not a generic blueprint/cursor tank, it ships with a single rocket launch and comes out just fine.

Explosives in general feel like they're meant to be the solution for Gleba, since you can also place landmines in the gridlines between trees for the agricultural tower and it will just work. Might mess up if they're not fully grown, but if it fits between two fully grown trees it won't interfere with anything.


EDIT: I'll also add that a remote tank seems to work great as a solution to the odd medium stomper until spidertrons are available, since my main "strategy" for defense was just to keep my spore cloud clear and place a few turrets around to deal with all the little things. (For what little they ended up being worth.) Lasted more than long enough to get rocket turrets, and the one time something did crash through to chew on the bio-loop an unequipped tank took out the medium stomper pretty easily. All the rest that was needed was spare parts on-planet, a buffer chest nearby to be accelerate the rebuild, and some cold-start equipment. I saved some images of the aftermath, and reloaded a save to catch an image of the attack in progress.

Mid-attack

Five minutes later

[mako00]

You absolutely don't need tesla turrents and artillery for Gleba (source: I'm making 400 packs/m just fine here without them). And you doubly don't need them for hatching wrigglers.

You do want to spread your radar network to cover your whole pollution cloud. And you do want a tank to kill pesky egg rafts when they get too annoying (tanks are highly resistant to stomping, and cannon shells work well on pentapods of all sizes).

For static defense, have rocket turrets with yellow rockets against the big guys, and gun/laser turrets against anything else.

Also, I find that it helps to spread out your defense line - further away from your agri towers, and with more space between the turrets. This dramatically reduces the damage from stompers when they can't just break a dozen turrets in one stomp.

[mrvn]

Stompers have 50% physical resistance. But no mention of fire and explosion. So try some flame throwers. Then build a little basic science production on Gleba and research the rocket turrets locally.

And as always clearing nests ahead of the pollution cloud is the way to go. Decide when and how to attack each nest, don't let them attack you.

[BlueTemplar]

OP said mines didn't seem to do anything on defense. But maybe because there were just so many stompers in an attack wave ? (Looks like a dozen of them, in a mix between small and medium ?)
EDIT : and as you can see they already have rocket turrets.