Anyone got any tips on how to beat the Watercube challenge?

So as my title implies, I am having a lot of trouble beating the Watercube challenge. As soon as I set up my base (playing as Psi-Corps), the enemy comes right at me. This is really aggravating since I have no way of breaking out of my base and into open waters. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. 

My current route is spamming T1 Defenses and then building up a Battleship force as the Allies, I haven't tried it with Foehn yet. 

Two Words: Last Bastion.

 

Play as Last Bastion. Get a barracks and spam Knightframes. I recommend having about 50 Knightframes at each end of the island. They'll keep invading forces off the island, as long as you resupply them. As soon as you're able to build Buzzards, start spamming them. A combined force of 50 Kightframes and 50 Buzzards at each end will absolutely wreck anything that approaches. Make sure to cover your base and your ally's base with Signal Inhibitors. The AI Enemy loves to spam missile strikes and superweapons. Make sure to get Uragan, as he's very useful in destroying several of the smaller outer defenses/bases. He's also good for defending against Kirovs. It's also a good idea to build a Tempest Architect and a Boidmachine. These two aren't useful for direct damage, but they are good to use to weaken the base before you attack it. Also, the Great Tempest can one-shot Naval Shipyards. Once the island is secure, It's time to go on the offensive. Use Uragan to clear some of the forward bases and naval patrols. Try to avoid getting Uragan killed, but if he dies, just train him again. Amass a force of around 40-50 Buzzards, and sneak them around the edge of the map behind enemy lines. You might catch some flak from AA ships, but those die easily. Move your forces back to the Foehn base in the northeast. Ignore any AA fire and focus on destroying the Tech Nuclear Reactors, then the Windtraps. Once the base is de-powered, take out the Construction Yard. Continue to destroy Windtraps until there are none left. Then, take out the Barracks and War Factories. Make sure to kill Knightframes along the way, because if you leave too many Knightframes alive, your assault force will die quickly. Sometimes, the Enemy will be an idiot and fire superweapons on your Buzzards, which will blow up parts of his own base. Once the Foehn base is neutralized, destroy the Chinese and Pacific Front bases in a similar manner. Always de-power the base first, then take out the production, then whatever's left. After the three main bases are neutralized, the remaining enemy force will fall without too much effort.

 

TL;DR - Play as Last Bastion. Spam Knightframes and Buzzards. Cover base with Signal Inhibitors to block superweapons and Missile Strike spam. Defend base with Knightframe spam. Overwhelm opponent with Buzzard spam. Victory is yours!

I did it on Medium as Scorpion Cell by drilling into the missile bunkers with 3 engies and tyranting the heck out of the nuclear power plants. My partner was StolenTech (Nablis123, as always) who picked china and used the Curtain as support. His EMP is also valuable against the Magnetrons (especially) and Marauders while Gyrocopters can handle the Clairvoyant waves.

 

If you don't want to get swarmed by Superweapons and Harbingers, you might want to take out all the tech power plants, even the normal ones. Foehn and Allied can rebuild their power back online if you only take down their PPs.

 

Oh and spamming AAs is a must. Invaders, Pteranodons, Buzzards, Norio and Artillery ships are going to give you tough times. Ofc, if you are too slow, Harbingers may say hello.

 

I tried Signal Inhibitor once, but that is tedious and costly, while the map barely gives you any movement space. One low power moment might cost you the whole game. Clairvoyants are nasty and your naval forces might get denied if you're too slow.

Edited by Handepsilon, 21 April 2017 - 07:19 AM.

I played it as Coronia (with Al), also as US and Confederation (with a human ally). The general strategy is to take out the Foehn base as soon as possible, until they can build the Tempest and the Harbinger, and the second objective is to deny Magnetron and Marauder attack waves.

The latter is easy with Pteranodons (around 5 at waves' spawn points), Wolfhounds, Warhawks to some degree, Dragonflies, Gyrocopters. To defend from those who've managed to pass, build a force of AT and AA infantry and position them in the top left side of the island, and for Magnetrons do the same on the right side. You can also use navy to snipe incoming amphibious vehicles, but it might be tricky to get to their spawn points (which are easy to memorize: there's a very small rock near each one).

While you are establishing the defence, cover the entire base with Inhibitors if you're Foehn (which makes the challenge super-easy) and start gathering an invasion/expeditionary force. Soviets can build Kirovs to take out Tech Missile Bunkers and power plants, Allies can do Stallion drops and Barracuda snipes (which is risky however, considering the airstrip can be destroyed any moment), Epsilon has Basilisks and Foehn is just OP can slowly expand with Jackals+Engineers and not worry about SW strikes. You can also use fleet to deal with the targets you need to snipe.

One of the most effective ways to deal with enemy bases is to sneak a transport with a bunch of Engineers and Spies into it (you may want to clear the area with a SW strike first) and capture any building, then build Barracks and defence structure near it (you should have it on standby), so you can spam Engineers and take over the entire base with support of your commando. Use Spies to shut down the power so automatized defences won't be a treat. Be aware of Invader hordes and Basilisks, because they will always come after your infantry: launch the assault immediately after your forces on the island have killed another pack of Invaders. I recommend to begin with the Soviet base because it is the easiest direction to go: Flak Cannons are the worst stationary AA on the map so your Kirovs can easily get to that Expansion post and destroy everything there with little resistance, so you can secure the little island and get access to more resources + missile bunkers. In general, the eastern direction is the easiest to approach, because Soviet units are weaker than Allied/Foehn ones and their defences are worse as well (except for Hammers, which can be easily removed). To capture the Foehn base, strike it with a SW to remove defences and units guarding it, or sneak a group of aerial assault units along the eastern border to do the same (basilisks and kirovs work great there), then deliver the transport and capture everything you can. With that strategy you can get rid of enemy bases quite fast and also get some new tech. Allies have Stallions which can be used with Chronosphere, Epsilon has Drillers for the same effect, Soviets can sneak a group of 2-3 Borillos filled with 3-4 Engineers each, Foehn can use Jackals for the same thing. If you're fast enough, you can take care of Foehn base before it gets its superweapons up.
Also, if you left enemy refineries alive, you can steal a lot of money, which is quite handy considering the amount of ore on your base.

TL;DR: assault bases one by one counter-clockwise, capture everything you can, try to kill Epsilon forces near their spawn points, use navy if necessary.

Edited by Damfoos, 21 April 2017 - 08:18 AM.

Step 1: Defend as allies

Step 2: WCD the back of Foehn base

Step 3: Chronoshift your MCV there

Step 4: Base this flippin AI base with your own base.

 

 

Alwyas works.