If you're struggling to protect Impact 0078 after just taking it over, or if you're trying to clear out the north pole area and are desperately trying to smash the last few sectors up there, this guide is for you.

Sector 24 is commonly described as the hardest sector in the game with good reason, and since update 7, this is even more true. With four well-defended Nucleus cores to take out, this sector is enough work as it is, before you even consider that on only wave 11, you will get hit with the first Eclipse guardians (tier 5 air unit with boosted stats) from each core, wiping out all but the toughest defenses.

Chances are that you've thrown yourself at this sector several times, and every time you're just not able to gain a foothold, before even having a chance to threaten the cores. Maybe you're resigned to the fear that Sector 24 is unbeatable and Serpulo can never be fully conquered. Well, fear not. It's tough, very tough, but by no means impossible.

WARNING! Version 8 will severely weaken your ability to use Launch Pads to send large volumes of necessary resources through a supply sector! If you want my advice, get this done NOW before the update! This is tough enough as it is, if this nerf is brought in without making this sector easier then it will become almost impossible!

The first step to defeating this beastly sector is to understand its make-up and its weaknesses that you must exploit to stand any chance of survival.

First, the attackers. Enemy units in this sector are air only, no ground or naval. Building up to wave 11, you will mainly be facing Flares (tier 1) and Horizons (tier 2). Much later (wave 20+), you'll start to face Zeniths (tier 3) and even Antumbras (tier 4) if you last long enough.

The most important thing to remember in the early stages is that Horizons strongly prioritise any crafting blocks like the Silicon Smelter and the Graphite Press. They'll aim to cut off your on-site production, but this also means that they can be lured. By placing a high-value crafting block (I use a Phase Weaver) directly behind your defensive wall, you can lure all of them straight into the heart of your defenses, wiping them all out before they have a chance to go after any vulnerable production you have running.

As for the Zeniths and Antumbras, think of them as bulkier and slower versions of Flares that will mainly go after your power generators. And Eclipses definitely like going after generators, especially any Thorium Reactors you have placed. Again, they can easily be baited, so use this to group them all up on the middle of your defensive wall.

Some sporadic waves may also contain a couple of Megas, including one on the very first wave. They are set to only attack your base, rather than repair the enemy's structures. These are highly mobile air units, but are more annoying than actually threatening. Any decent endgame defence will make light work of them.

Second, the cores. As is normal for Eradication-level sectors, you'll see one common Nucleus template used by two of the four cores here, using one Foreshadow on the left, one Meltdown and a Fuse at the back, and two Spectres at the front-right.

However, notice the two cores on the left side. They are very close together, and importantly, only one Foreshadow protects them both. The Foreshadow on the third core can't reach them, so they are the most vulnerable. These two cores are your first targets when you begin building an army. And of course, each broken core reduces the size of future waves, so smash them both in one go and you'll halve the size of all future waves, and take two Eclipse guardians out of the picture for future guardian waves, massively lighening the load on your defenses!

As for resources, they are fairly plentiful in this sector, except for water. You'll be required to exploit the water near your core as well as you can, in order to provide enough cryofluid for defenses and unit production.

The entire mission depends on whether you can hold off the Eclipses. Dealing with one is tough enough, but four in one wave means you have to use everything at your disposal. Your final defensive wall should look like this:

Walls/Protection:

- Outer Line: Force Projectors cooled with water (Cryofluid is not necessary and will add additional complexity)
- Middle Line: Surge Walls to protect inner walls against projectiles
- Inner Line: Plastanium Walls to shield your towers against the Eclipse's high-damaging lasers. Bury a few Segments behind your final wall to shoot down incoming projectiles.

Towers:

- Front Line: Cyclones (Surge Alloy Ammo) and Tsunamis (Water Ammo) combine to provide very high levels of damage at close range. Supplement this with watercooled Meltdowns in case anything gets too close. These towers will comfortably eat up the dense packs of Flares and Horizons, cut down the later waves of Zeniths, and deal with Antumbras or Eclipses that manage to get close enough.
- Middle Line: Foreshadows. Many, many Foreshadows. As a general rule, if you're not sure if you have enough, build more. My final wall used 8 of them, all cooled with water and covered by Overdrive Domes (including the conveyors). You can use Cryofluid if you like, but ensure you have a large enough buffer. I recommend saving it for your unit production.
- Back Line: Overdrive Domes and Lures (Phase Weaver and Thorium Reactor, neither of them have to be active or powered), one of each lure right behind the centre of your wall). Consider placing vaults at this layer to keep a buffer of Surge Alloy ammo so your Cyclones and Foreshadows don't run out during an intense wave.

I've provided the schematic of the wall I used taken directly from my campaign. Feel free to take it and edit it as you see fit.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3509289911

Once you're set, slowly and steadily build an army to assault the cores. Due to recent updates, older strategies no longer work:

- Quads are fast, but not as strong as they used to be, and bombing with them will cause you to lose pretty much your entire army to take out just one core.
- Filling Zeniths with Blast Compound no longer has any effect as units can be shot down before hitting the ground and causing base damage.

So it's necessary to go back to basics, and keep it simple. My unit of choice? Arkyids. They're fast enough to hold off Foreshadow attacks, they can march straight into the core, and when a full army of Arkyids enter a base and start using their sapping lasers, they become almost unstoppable. Upgrading to Toxopids isn't necessary as in the time it takes to build a solid army of them, you can get the whole job done with several armies of Arkyids.

However, just like you shouldn't underestimate how much defensive power is needed, don't underestimate required offensive power either. Don't be tempted to launch an attack with only a partial army. The more you attack with, the easier they'll crush the core, and the greater the proportion that will survive and can be pulled back to heal, ready for the next core. The only exception to this rule is if an Eclipse wave is about to spawn, in which case if you have enough to take out a core you should use them (assuming they can reach the core in time).

Time to prepare for success. I recommend following as many of these tips as possible to give yourself the best chance of success, starting at the top with the most important tips.


The maximum number of resources you can send to a sector is 6500 (not including resources needed to build objects as part of the base schematic). This is nowhere near enough to get a solid enough defense set up. You will need to take the time to set up a sector designed to supply any location that you are in the process of conquering. I used Sector 125 in my playthrough as there's a good amount of space and plenty of Thorium to provide power (you'll be setting up a lot of overdrived Mass Drivers and Launch Pads).

As you start pushing around the equator of the planet, establish outposts wherever possible that will launch all 16 resources straight to your supply sector. Aim for at least 1,000/min of everything to allow a constant flow of resources to support your survival.

Then, when you launch to Sector 24 (or any other future enemy base), jump to your supply sector, connect it up and wait about a minute for enough resources to flow over. You can track the speed of resource flow in the world map.

Don't forget to defend your core before you swap sectors! If you don't, it's highly likely to be destroyed in that time and you'll have to start again!


Without any support units, you'll be rushing to build up a defensive wall in time for the Eclipses. Get a Poly factory set up in your core schematic overdriven with a Dome. As well as helping you build, they'll also easily handle any repairs and rebuilds you require. Monos and Megas are also worth considering, but are not required.


Speaking of Overdrive Domes, they act as a 2.5x damage multiplier for your towers, they'll cause your generators to provide much more power, and they allow you to construct your units much faster, saving you several waves of time building an army. Plus without them, you'll be using up a lot of space and resources building a huge Foreshadow array to hit the Eclipses hard enough. Overdrive Domes are not required but they make things a lot easier, so you should be using them wherever possible.


Got any friends who also play? A helping hand to divide up factory/defense tasks makes the job easier. This has no effect on the enemy difficulty. Just bear in mind, you can't see each other's building plans, so communication and screen-sharing is key!


Until your wall is as solid as it needs to be (probably around when the second Eclipse wave arrives), you should not be building any attacking units. However, be mindful of where you're going to build the factory as the Exponential Reconstructor takes up a lot of space.


Pressing Space will pause the game if you need a moment to stop and assess the situation, or just to catch your breath. It also allows you to prepare buildings and towers for construction, and you can also freely move the camera around without having to fly your pod to where you want to see.

Once you've landed, get a simple defence set up around the core if you haven't included it in your launch schematic. 4 Swarmers with Blast Compound ammo is my setup of choice.

Jump to your supply sector and connect it up. Check that the sector is sending at least 1,000 of each key resource per minute, remain in the sector to build it up if necessary. Once it's up to speed, jump back to sector 24.

Remember that the supplying will come in large but periodic bursts. You may run out, especially when approaching wave 11, but don't panic. The resources will keep coming if you've prepared it enough.

Now, bring out your schematic for your main defence and get building! Your Polys will keep being churned out at your base and will allow you to build it faster as you go through the waves. I placed my wall just ahead of the core, covering the leftmost area of the wide valley running down the middle of the map, being sure to leave enough space behind for buffers and cryofluid production.

Be sure to connect up water and cryofluid buffers, as well as Surge Alloy vaults behind your defensive wall to ensure the system won't run dry.

As you approach the first guardian wave (wave 11), you should have:

• Established your defensive wall
  
• Connected ammo and cooling lines
  
• Set up adequate power generation and storage
  
• Amplified the entire wall with Overdrive Domes

Once the enemies in wave 10 have been cleared out, pause the game. Double-check and triple-check your system. Do you have enough power storage? Are you producing enough power that you won't encounter too heavy of a drain with all your Foreshadows and Meltdowns firing? Are all of your turrets receiving ammunition and coolant?

Make any changes now, it will be your last chance. Once you're ready, un-pause and let the guardians come. With enough Foreshadows, you should end up cutting at least 2 of them down before they are able to start firing their lasers, and even then your plastanium walls will hold off most of their fire while your turrets bring them down.

Watch your wall carefully as they approach, and especially as they fall. Check for any damage. Send half of your Polys to repair, and the other half to rebuild.

Congratulations! You have fought off the toughest test the game has to offer. No time to breathe yet, though. Another Eclipse wave is only a dozen or so waves away. If you've made it this far, though, you are likely set to survive until at least wave 40. You now have the time you need to fight back.

Now with the wall set up and a wave of Eclipses torn to bits, it's now time to focus on stopping them at their sources.

You have the space underneath your core to build your factory and your Arkyid army. Use the bottom half of your core to unload the resources you need. If you have already set up cryofluid production, you already have everything you need. If not, you have the room to set it up. Ensure that your lure is still set in your defensive wall to keep any enemies away from your cryofluid production.

You must resist the urge to send a partial army. Your priority is to smash both of the leftmost cores at the same time. This can only be done with a full group of 24. If you send less, there's a chance they won't get through them both, and you'll have to spend valuable time rebuilding.

Once your have your first army, send them up the left channel, sticking to the left wall as you approach the cores. When they're close to the Foreshadow's range, send them straight into the heart of the double core. Target the left core, then once it's down quickly shift to the second. They should be able to crush both of them together.

Be sure to keep your distance so you don't get targeted and shot down!

By this point, the second Eclipse wave will likely be about to bear down on you. However, if you manage to destroy those cores before it spawns, then suddenly everything becomes much easier with only half the enemies coming at you.

The battle is now in your hands. Finish them off.

Bring back any surviving units and repair them while building up another army. Once they're ready, send them to crush one of the two remaining cores. You likely won't be able to destroy them both in one go because of the distance between them. 16-20 should be enough to guarantee the destruction of another core.

At this stage, the enemy will not be able to put a dent in your defenses, but that's no excuse to hang around. You will soon encounter large waves of Antumbras, and once they start arriving, there's nothing stopping the remaining core from sending multiple guardian Eclipses at once. Don't give them the chance.

Repeat your attack for the final core, while always keeping a keen eye on power, resources and the overall state of your wall. And bask in your victory.

The final part is by far the most important. You will find 3 other Eradication-level bases and one Extreme-level base adjacent to this sector. Leave your wall as it is, and focus all of your efforts on taking down these bases as quickly as you can, using this sector as your launch point. Connect vaults and containers to increase space where necessary.

While any adjacent bases remain, this sector may come under attack at any time, and the intensity of the main battle will come straight back at you.

Still, with the enemy pushed out of sector 24, you have beaten the toughest challenge on Serpulo. The rest of the planet is yours to conquer.

Good luck!

• Use every endgame tool at your disposal. You need them. Foreshadows. Meltdowns. Cyclones. Cryofluid. Overdrive Domes. Force Projectors. Everything.
  
• Launch with a core schematic containing a Poly factory, RTGs, Swarmers and a Dome.
  
• Focus on defenses first. Going straight for the cores is pointless.
  
• Zenith bombing no longer works, and with Quads you lose too many of them per bombing run.
  
• Build an army of Arkyids for taking out the cores. Target the left two cores first with a full group of 24 Arkyids.
  
• Take your time. Pausing the game with Spacebar exists for a reason.