Xantippe's Abyss Walkthrough

You begin in the south-west corner with your Commander, 1000 metal and 1000 energy. A deep chasm cuts the map in two from west to east. Arm's base fills the north side, behind two Annihilators, four Guardians, eight Defenders, 11 Merls and 20 Samsons. On your side of the chasm, far to the east, stands an Arm Big Bertha with a small guard. The mission asks you to capture that Bertha and destroy the Annihilator. If the Bertha is destroyed, you lose.

On Medium, Arm sends nothing at you. Only one Construction KBot has orders to move, so you can build in peace. The real work is to take the Bertha without hitting it, give it enough energy to fire, and let its 4096 range break the defences that out-reach most of your own guns.

The Battlefield

The abyss runs right across the map between about z 1650 and z 2050, and its floor lies far below the plain. The only crossing is a raised causeway at its east end, around x 2500 to 2700. The south is open ground with craters and all nine metal deposits. The Big Bertha sits in the east inside a broken ring of Dragon's Teeth. The ring has gaps on its north-west, west and south sides, and its east side is open.

The numbers on the map are the plan; the letters are Arm's positions. The units shown are those of Medium.

Map of Xantippe's Abyss 123456ABCDEFGH
The planEnemy positionsYour unitsEnemy unitsHover a dot to see the unit and its orders. · Map 3,072 × 5,632 pixels · Scroll or pinch on the map to zoom; drag to move. Hover over a feature or a resource for its details.
  • 1Your start. Deposits worth 223 lie on either side of the Commander, at (472, 4984) and (728, 5224).
  • 2Two more deposits: (1496, 5240), worth 223, and (1528, 4856), worth 122.
  • 3A deposit worth 223 and room for a forward base. Two more deposits worth 223 lie to the north-west, at (472, 3512) and (952, 3144).
  • 4Gather your army here, outside the west gap in the Dragon's Teeth and out of the Sentinels' reach.
  • 5An Advanced Radar Tower here sees the whole Arm base and stands out of reach of the Annihilators and Guardians.
  • 6The south end of the causeway, the only way across the abyss.
  • AThe Big Bertha you must capture. It waits until it is attacked. If it is destroyed, you lose.
  • BA Sentinel on the north side of the ring, 352 pixels from the Bertha.
  • CA second Sentinel on the south side. Four Zeus and a Construction KBot are also inside the ring.
  • DAn Annihilator: 2500 damage a shot at a range of 1200.
  • EThe second Annihilator, in the far north.
  • FA Fusion Reactor. Its death blast reaches the Advanced Radar Tower, a Guardian and several Merls and Samsons round it.
  • GThree Bulldogs at the north end of the causeway. They wait until they are attacked.
  • HA Guardian with a range of 1250. It covers the causeway.

Patrols and Guards

Arm has no timed attacks on Medium. These are the orders its units carry.

Arm units What they do
Construction KBot in the ring Patrols between (2656, 3792) and (2661, 3098) from the start, past the Bertha.
Big Bertha at A, and the Zeus at (2560, 3184) and (2528, 3728) Wait until they are attacked.
Zeus at (2448, 3504) and (2704, 3840), both Sentinels No orders. They stay where they are.
Three Bulldogs at G Wait until they are attacked.
Six Merls at (1056, 1072), (1312, 512), (1280, 1504), (1680, 1520), (2064, 1488) and (2992, 1520) Wait until they are attacked. Four of them stand along the north rim of the abyss.
Five Merls and 20 Samsons in the base Wait 60 minutes, then have no further orders.
Annihilators, Guardians, Defenders Fixed defences.

The Plan on Medium

Build the South (0:00 to 15:00)

  1. Put Metal Extractors on both deposits at 1, then Wind Generators (the wind runs from 400 to 2000) and Solar Collectors. Nothing comes for you, so put everything into the economy.
  2. Build a Vehicle Plant and send Construction Vehicles to the deposits at 2 and 3, then to the two in the north-west.
  3. Meteors fall on this map at every difficulty. Each does 100 damage over a small area. Keep one builder near your base to repair.
  4. Build an Adv. Vehicle Plant and an Adv. Construction Vehicle. Start a Fusion Power Plant (1050 energy) as soon as you can afford it.

Take the Bertha (15:00 to 30:00)

  1. Build four Mobile Artillery and six Goliaths, and gather them at 4.
  2. Shell both Sentinels with the Mobile Artillery. Its range of 620 beats the Sentinel's 430, and both towers stand more than 350 pixels from the Bertha, while a shell splashes only 24 around it.
  3. Send the Goliaths in through the west gap for the four Zeus and the Construction KBot. A Zeus has 875 hit points and a range of only 180, against the Goliath's 400. The Zeus at (2448, 3504) is just 238 from the Bertha, so before each attack make sure the Bertha is not behind your target.
  4. Walk the Commander through a gap and capture the Bertha. Do not use its Disintegrator anywhere inside the ring.

Break the North (30:00 Onwards)

  1. Each Bertha shot costs 1500 energy, and it reloads every 7 seconds. Finish the Fusion Power Plant and build an Energy Storage (3000), so the next shot is always paid for.
  2. Build an Advanced Radar Tower at 5. Its radar reaches 2880, which covers every Arm unit north of the abyss.
  3. Fire at the Annihilators first. Each has 1410 hit points, and a Bertha shell does 2000. Then the Guardians (2477 hit points, two shells each), the Defenders and the Fusion Reactor at F, which takes two shells and damages much of the base round it when it dies.
  4. When the Guardian at H and the guns near the crossing are gone, take the Goliaths over the causeway from 6 to G. The Bulldogs have 2102 hit points and a range of 320, so the Goliaths can fight them from outside their reach.
  5. You win when the Bertha is yours and the Annihilator is destroyed. If the Bertha's energy cost is too slow for you, an Intimidator (range 5120, 2400 damage) can share the shelling.

What Changes on Hard

  • Your start is the same. Arm has 62 units instead of 60.
  • There is a second Big Bertha at (2480, 3648), also inside the ring and also waiting until it is attacked. You lose only when every Bertha you own is destroyed.
  • The Zeus at (2448, 3504) and (2704, 3840) now wait until attacked, and the one at (2528, 3728) has no orders.
  • Six Bulldogs wait at the north end of the causeway instead of three. A fifth Guardian stands at (944, 1216) and a ninth Defender at (1664, 1024). The near Annihilator stands at (1264, 1184).
  • Aircraft patrol the north. Two Hawks patrol from 0:55 between (2848, 928) and (555, 926). Two Brawlers patrol from 2:00 from the west end of the abyss to (2705, 1460), along its north rim.
  • There is no Fusion Reactor and there are no Wind Generators, and only 14 Samsons. Each Annihilator shot costs 2000 energy, and Arm starts with 1000.
  • A second Construction KBot waits 30 minutes at (1184, 1056). The computer player keeps all the income its buildings make, against 70 percent on Medium.

Which Units Beat Theirs

Arm unit Its threat Your answer
Annihilator 2500 damage at range 1200 The captured Bertha: one 2000-damage shell beats its 1410 hit points
Guardian Plasma cannon, 360 damage, range 1250 The Bertha (two shells) or an Intimidator
Sentinel Laser, 180 damage, range 430 Mobile Artillery (range 620)
Zeus Lightning gun, 180 damage, range 180 Goliath (2845 hit points, range 400)
Merl Rocket, 500 damage, range 800 The Bertha. A Merl has 540 hit points.
Samson Missiles, range 600, 90 damage to aircraft Keep your aircraft south of the abyss
Defender Missiles, range 700, 97 damage to aircraft The Bertha. A Defender has 295 hit points.
Bulldog 2102 hit points, plasma cannon with range 320 Goliaths, from 400

Metal and Energy

All nine deposits lie south of the abyss, and the surface metal value is only 3. Six are worth 223: (472, 4984) and (728, 5224) at 1, (1496, 5240) at 2, (1368, 3992) at 3, and (472, 3512) and (952, 3144) in the north-west. Three are worth 122: (1528, 4856), (2424, 5064) and (2824, 4456). Rocks on the southern plain hold 750 metal in all, and the 23 Dragon's Teeth round the Bertha are 8 metal each.

There are no geothermal vents and no tidal power. The wind runs from 400 to 2000, and a Solar Collector gives a steady 20. The Bertha needs 1500 energy for each shot, so the Fusion Power Plant (1050) is the heart of the late game. Two make the shelling much faster.

Traps

  • The Bertha must survive. If it is destroyed, the mission is lost, and its own death blast does up to 2000 damage within 258 pixels. Attacking it also ends its wait.
  • The Zeus beside the Bertha, the Bulldogs and six of the Merls wait until they are attacked. Hit one only when you are ready to finish it.
  • An Annihilator and the Fusion Reactor each die in a blast of up to 2000 damage within 258 pixels. Keep your Goliaths back when they go.
  • Meteors fall all game. One meteor does 100 damage, so repair buildings that are hit more than once.
  • Your aircraft meet 20 Samsons and eight Defenders over the Arm base. Keep them on your side of the abyss.

Back to the mission page.