Hello everyone,
I have recently received this game, and I have been working through the tactical puzzles in order to get familiar with the mechanics. For the life of me I cannot solve the second puzzle from "winning the game". The puzzle deals with mining rates.

I can capture three of the four outposts, but my opponent still manages to win. I have tried creating a second mine, and my opponent still wins. No matter what I do, I can't seem to solve this puzzle.

I would like to solve the puzzle myself, but would GREATLY appreciate any hints to push me in the right direction. If I still can't solve it, then a full answer will be more than welcome.

Thanks in advance!!

Sounds like you were on the right track, and very close. Maybe you didnt capture the opponent's outposts fast enough?

Thanks for the tip! I am finally able to capture enough outposts for it to say that I will win. However I still don't think I am capturing them fast enough. The closest I have gotten, after fast forwarding 48 hours, is the game saying I will win in 1.3 hours. However, I can't fast forward that extra 1.3 hours. I guess the level doesn't count that as a win, and I need to find some way to win faster?

That would seem to be the case. What options do you have to speed things up right from the beginning?

I apologize for the late response.

At the start I can promote my navigator to an admiral. That would give every sub the speed boost. However I can't figure out a way to have enough drillers to take the outposts needed.

I can hire a lieutenant at the start of the puzzle, and that would get a single sub speed and strength to over take an outpost of my choice. Then 4 hours later I can promote my navigator to an admiral to boost speed further. This allows my to have the correct mining rate, but I am still lacking for speed overall.

I can't see how any of the other agents I can recruit (thief, infiltrator, pirate, inspector, and diplomat) can help with this puzzle. So I have been avoiding them completely.

generalchewy wrote:Thanks for the tip! I am finally able to capture enough outposts for it to say that I will win. However I still don't think I am capturing them fast enough. The closest I have gotten, after fast forwarding 48 hours, is the game saying I will win in 1.3 hours. However, I can't fast forward that extra 1.3 hours. I guess the level doesn't count that as a win, and I need to find some way to win faster?

After seeing your post I thought I'd have another shot at trying to solve it. I managed to replicate exactly the issue you are having except I must have streamlined it a little bit because I managed to get this in my time machine:


(time machine spoilers removed)

So as you can see I had exactly the same issue that you did where it is telling me I have won the game but the victory condition is not being triggered.

I had previously completed the puzzle so this got me wondering whether or not I had solved it in the same fashion last time. I had an explore and managed to find a different way to finish the puzzle that triggered the victory.

I am assuming that the first method I tried was not the intended way to complete the puzzle. I'll send off a bug report now. I wont give any more details just yet in case my assumptions are incorrect. But my advice is to try a different approach than the one you are currently using.

I am glad to see that someone else is seeing where I am coming from!

I literally have no idea how to solve this one! :/

I have solved both the "orders matter" advanced puzzle and the Kobiashi puzzle. So I have solved harder puzzles. If this puzzle does not have a bug, then it should be moved to advance, because I can't break it.

If anyone is willing to give me the solution I would appreciate it. At this point I would rather know the answer so I can apply it to a real situation game play.

This solve was no problem for me. I can't describe it without giving it away. I win the game in 46.5 hours, with no future orders necessary. Everything can be done right from the get go.

The vaguest explanation for the solution - Promote and attack.

I have finally figured this puzzle out!!! But I also found that this puzzle is buggy. At least it was for me.

When I went to attack certain outposts, the game would say that I would loose the battle. Thus making me try and think of a different plan. Plans that would prove to be unsuccessful.

However, on a different restart the battle would change to say that it would be a win. Once everything worked properly, the puzzle was rather easy to solve. I plan to file a bug report.

Super frustrating overall!! Thank you all for the help!!

Spoilers below...trying to be vague and still get the point across...

I don't think there's a bug...you need the promotion for the other two attacks to succeed, otherwise they fail because the factories produce enough defense to stop you. The 3rd attack needs the specialist included for the same reason.

As long as you promote, I've never had it tell me an attack would fail.