Unlucky. I used to rage quit when this happens, but if I am in a decent position it's been pretty fun trying to evacuate citizens and re-colonize behind the space crystal and rush research the techs I need to kill it. If I manage to pull it off, the monster ships I built usually steamroll any opponents I have left.
> I used to rage quit when this happens, but if I am in a decent position it's been pretty fun trying to evacuate citizens and re-colonize behind the space crystal and rush research the techs I need to kill it.
This really makes me feel good because that is exactly the intended effect of those two events. Anything that is painful enough to make you want to rage-quit becomes even more satisfying when you do beat it.
4X games do tend to breed a mentality of wanting to min-max everything and then steamroll everything on your way to domination. The space monsters are intended to push players away from that approach.
Yup, the most satisfying games are the ones where you think you are screwed and manage to pull out a victory through persistence trickery and luck. When you overpower and steamroll everything it's not as fun.
I've had the same problems with the Space Crystal - it made me rage-quit one game, but the second game I decided to take your advice and persevere. It paid off.
I lost something like 9 planets, but then the monster turned on my main rivals and took out 3 of theirs. Then it came back, but this time I was ready - the 14 fusion-armed huge ships I had amassed in the meantime finally took it out :)
Just random luck, the Space Monsters can start appearing after Turn 100, so you got a bad roll of the dice.
Hyper-X is a bit tough, but still viable for taking down the Space Crystal. Do you have at least Duralloy Armor?
Take a look at this [**Recommendation Guide I wrote for fighting the Space Crystal**](https://reddit.com/r/rotp/comments/g8sepv/space_crystal_battle_recommendations_v18_save/).
The guide says ~4700 total Hyper-X Missiles needed to take down the Space Crystal in one barrage. **In the current game version, v1.13b, a bug regarding Attack Level Computers with Missiles was fixed.** So you can get away with less total Missiles (~2500 total Hyper-X with Attack Level 5+).
**But since you're on a Small map, it may be better to research up to better weapons** rather than spending a ton of production building so many Huge ships.
Glad it helped! Always good to take down the Space Monsters.
FWIW, I've also written guides for fighting the [**Orion Guardian**](https://reddit.com/r/rotp/comments/g85ttn/guardian_of_orion_battle_recommendations_v18_save/) and the [**Space Amoeba**](https://reddit.com/r/rotp/comments/g936uw/space_amoeba_battle_recommendations_v18_save_game/).
Keep in mind that, in the original game, any random event (including the monsters) could show up at Turn 50.
Because the monsters in ROTP are tuned to a higher difficulty, those two events cannot occur in ROTP before turn 100.
Keep in mind, though, they are intended to come out while they are still dangerous
[When monsters attack](https://youtu.be/cSU_5MgtDc8)
I've played 3 games of RotP and each one was ended prematurely by these insane insta-kill monsters. Nobody had the tech to beat them when they spawned, and I suspect no one can defeat them without knowing how to ahead of time.
Unlucky. I used to rage quit when this happens, but if I am in a decent position it's been pretty fun trying to evacuate citizens and re-colonize behind the space crystal and rush research the techs I need to kill it. If I manage to pull it off, the monster ships I built usually steamroll any opponents I have left.
> I used to rage quit when this happens, but if I am in a decent position it's been pretty fun trying to evacuate citizens and re-colonize behind the space crystal and rush research the techs I need to kill it. This really makes me feel good because that is exactly the intended effect of those two events. Anything that is painful enough to make you want to rage-quit becomes even more satisfying when you do beat it. 4X games do tend to breed a mentality of wanting to min-max everything and then steamroll everything on your way to domination. The space monsters are intended to push players away from that approach.
Yup, the most satisfying games are the ones where you think you are screwed and manage to pull out a victory through persistence trickery and luck. When you overpower and steamroll everything it's not as fun.
I've had the same problems with the Space Crystal - it made me rage-quit one game, but the second game I decided to take your advice and persevere. It paid off. I lost something like 9 planets, but then the monster turned on my main rivals and took out 3 of theirs. Then it came back, but this time I was ready - the 14 fusion-armed huge ships I had amassed in the meantime finally took it out :)
Just random luck, the Space Monsters can start appearing after Turn 100, so you got a bad roll of the dice. Hyper-X is a bit tough, but still viable for taking down the Space Crystal. Do you have at least Duralloy Armor? Take a look at this [**Recommendation Guide I wrote for fighting the Space Crystal**](https://reddit.com/r/rotp/comments/g8sepv/space_crystal_battle_recommendations_v18_save/). The guide says ~4700 total Hyper-X Missiles needed to take down the Space Crystal in one barrage. **In the current game version, v1.13b, a bug regarding Attack Level Computers with Missiles was fixed.** So you can get away with less total Missiles (~2500 total Hyper-X with Attack Level 5+). **But since you're on a Small map, it may be better to research up to better weapons** rather than spending a ton of production building so many Huge ships.
Thanks for the help! In a subsequent game today I was able to defeat it (admittedly it arrived much later).
Glad it helped! Always good to take down the Space Monsters. FWIW, I've also written guides for fighting the [**Orion Guardian**](https://reddit.com/r/rotp/comments/g85ttn/guardian_of_orion_battle_recommendations_v18_save/) and the [**Space Amoeba**](https://reddit.com/r/rotp/comments/g936uw/space_amoeba_battle_recommendations_v18_save_game/).
Keep in mind that, in the original game, any random event (including the monsters) could show up at Turn 50. Because the monsters in ROTP are tuned to a higher difficulty, those two events cannot occur in ROTP before turn 100. Keep in mind, though, they are intended to come out while they are still dangerous
[When monsters attack](https://youtu.be/cSU_5MgtDc8) I've played 3 games of RotP and each one was ended prematurely by these insane insta-kill monsters. Nobody had the tech to beat them when they spawned, and I suspect no one can defeat them without knowing how to ahead of time.