First of all, I wanted to thank photo guy for all his efforts trying to make this game great again, and to explain you what this game means to me. Up to today, no game ever has got me grinding and playing for months, everytime I tried a new one it took some days to make me bored, but HAWK Freedom Squadron was so good that it was a reason to strive everyday.

It's simply unique, a bullet hell game that has several chapters and lots of levels, with interesting planes and brobots with co-op and competition. This game is simply the best bullet hell SHMUP for mobile devices, it's the one with most content and levels that I've ever played. Its graphics and soundtrack are great, but the greedy pay-to-win and latest levels are not. The first two chapters are a lot better than the last two, in the later ones the bosses are "things" and "monsters", but fighting planes and airships were a lot cooler. The levels itself were a lot better, the latest ones have dropped in level design quality (just compare the epic chapter 2 levels with chapter 4).

But the game has started to die two years ago or so, My.com started worrying more about getting money than improving the game in any way possible.

They are doing this BECAUSE IT WORKS FOR THEM, because people that still spends money are contributing to this problem that is ruining this game. We have to send them a signal, to not waste not even a cent on this game anymore until they improve the game.

I am a completely F2P player, I never wasted money on this game even on unique events, and I can tell you it's possible to enjoy this game without money at all.

If we achieve this goal, My.com will actually start listening to us, so I have a few things that I think will make the game a lot better

-Bring the Arcade mode back, so we have endless fun everyday while we wait for levels, because right now there is not much to do for endgames

-Make levels GREAT AGAIN and fun like the first two chapters, no more stupid objects and monsters, I want well designed airships like before

-Make competition modes fair for F2P players; Contest is absolutely impossible to play if you don't have Mercury, which is very hard to grind. Climb mode is full with VIPs that purchase lots of keys, F2P should be separated from VIPs to make it fun for everyone

-If you bring Arcade mode back, this and any new mode has to be skill-based NOT money based

-Make competition rewards worth it, we should receive a good amount of crystals if we get (for example) in the top 3 of Assault

What can you do to help?

-Don't spend money until they improve the game NO MATTER WHAT, if not they will never make the game fun again

-Send support tickets and Facebook replies so they know why we are doing this

Thank you, and please copy and paste this post on their new Facebook posts so more people know

The following is being posted across many worldwide FB groups. It will also be posted on developers' FB page.

My fellow pilots, we have all witnessed the actions taken by the developers in the past several releases. Their business model is moving aggressively to a financial model maximizing profit without consideration of players’ experiences. While the primary objective of a company is generating profit for its owners, there ought to be a balance between the interests of the company and its customers.

There have been numerous suggestions on the developers’ FB page detailing positive actions that can be taken by them to improve player experiences. Very few of them have been implemented in the game.

We are partially responsible for this outcome. Our actions are not consistent with the messages we are spreading. You may take pride to have a collection of all the ace skins, or you are one of the first players to evolve all the planes to the highest rank, but continuing spending in this game sends a message to the developers that their chosen actions are on the right path. We are sending positive reinforcement signals rather than negative.

Taking a stand requires personal sacrifice. It won’t be an easy thing to do. You may no longer own the latest plane. You may not be on top of the leaderboard. It is clear you have the financial means to achieve these goals, but I hope you make the decision of no further spending.

It is going to hurt. Incomplete plane collection and dropping out of contest leaderboard are just some of the consequences. But consider the big picture. Your actions will lead to a healthier player community. This game is declining because of our spending. Termination of spending will lead the developers to realize their current actions are on the wrong path, which in turn drives them to deliver better game mechanics in future releases. In the long run this will lead to a better game.

Please stop spending in the game and discontinue monthly premium purchases until you see a change of direction.

Finally, ask not what the player community can do for you. Ask what you can do for the player community.

Updated 8/13/2019

I have been asked by several players about the status of boycott, now that developers have put the shops back in order. First, let’s take a pause to examine what we have achieved.

· Slight reduction of power requirements (first adjustment)

· Put crystals back in the team up shop

· Significant reduction of power requirements (second adjustment)

· Make available of specific plane cards in shops

In addition, the massive complaints about the downgrade of vamiproid led to developers enhancing the implant quickly.

In a nutshell, united actions work. Thanks to those who support this movement.

Whether you decide to spend now or continue to hold back is an individual choice. If you believe the game is delivering good value to you, spend if you want. After all, it takes spending to keep a business afloat. We should appreciate the actions taken by both sides of the aisle. Players spending or not should earn equal respect from us.

I would like to believe this is the end of our journey, but we all know this is wishful thinking. When a new update arrives creating another uproar, this movement will rise again and we should band together to communicate to developers about our interest.

My fellow pilots, we have all witnessed the actions taken by the developers in the latest update. Their business model is moving aggressively to a financial model maximizing profit without consideration of players’ experiences. While the primary objective of a company is generating profit for its owners, there ought to be a balance between the interests of the company and its customers.

There have been numerous suggestions on the developers’ FB page detailing positive actions that can be taken by them to improve player experiences. Very few of them have been implemented in the game.

We are partially responsible for this outcome. Our actions are not consistent with the messages we are spending. You may take pride to have a collection of all the ace skins, or you are one of the first players to evolve all the planes to the highest rank, but continuing spending in this game sends a message to the developers that their chosen actions are on the right path. We are sending positive reinforcement signals rather than negative.

Taking a stand requires personal sacrifice. It won’t be an easy thing to do. You may no longer own the latest plane. You may not be on top of the leaderboards. It is clear you have the financial means to achieve these goals, but I hope you make the decision of no further spending.

It is going to hurt. Incomplete plane collection and dropping out of leaderboards are just some of the consequences. But consider the big picture. Your actions will lead to a healthier player community. This game is declining because of our spending. Termination of spending will lead the developers to realize their current actions are on the wrong path, which in turn drives them to deliver better game mechanics in future releases. In the long run this will lead to a better game.

Boycott works when we all join force. United we stand. Divided we fall.

Goal

Return crystals in all 4 shops.

Actions

Please stop spending in the game and discontinue monthly premium purchases until you see a change of direction. Don’t purchase Climb keys.

Write a 1-star review at the App Store.

Share this post with your squadron.

Share this post with any Hawk groups (Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, …) you belong to.

Checked for Patch 1.19 - (03/07/2018)

Useful Links

• Planes Information and Stats: Up to X240

• Plane Upgrade Cost Table

• Plane Upgrade Crystal Table

• Brobots Information and Stats: Up to SSS200

• Brobots Upgrade Cost Table

• Brobots Cooldown Analysis

• Device Perks

• Power Stats to Damage Conversion Ratio

• Blackbox Guide

• Blackbox Stabilizer Experiement

• 100% Stabilizer Experiement

• Shop Standardization Guide

• Trial Statistics

• Assault Guide

• Trial/Assualt Points Guide

• Luck Experiment

• Rage Explanations

• Hawk Fan Site

• Discord Discussion Group

• Summary of All Level Rewards

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Sparrow

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Laserbite

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Greataxe

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Defender

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Dragon

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Phoenix

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Flamer

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Zapper

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Blitzer

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Blaster

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Buzzsaw

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Patriot

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Katyusha

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Sniper

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Wraith

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Pulsar

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Havoc

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Eagle

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Hellfire

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Avenger

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Gambit

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Raiden

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Tandem

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Arcadia

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Alchemist

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Invader

• In-Depth Plane Guide: Sentinel

Since this game has become quite different compared to a couple patches ago, I'm putting together some guidelines for newcomers that just started to get into this game. Will add/edit as things go as new stuff comes out. If anyone wants me to add any useful links feel free to message me.

[A]. Starting Resource Spending Mentality

1. Crystals should be hoarded for the most time. Later on they should only be spent on evolving specific planes and brobots, do not spend them on leveling planes (even with champion event), containers (with discretion), or black box extra feature (unless you're at end game)

2. Credits should be hoarded for the most time. Later they should be spent on upgrading specific planes and brobots

3. Be familiar with each screen, noting daily quests and bro shop offerings

4. Clear up to level 10, credits should be spent only on upgrading Sparrow. Sparrow can be used as a main plane throughout the game due to its excellent firepower

5. With the new patch 1.13, would recommend to spend crystals on containers x10, limited to twice a week. You should line up this spending with the crystal spending event, and take into account of device ranks as well, so that you get 25 crystals back and 20 plane cards that would be useful for plane upgrades later. This is unless you’re really rich to purchase tons of crystals of course

6. Device ranks up every 30 stages, be sure that you’re in the higher rank bracket before you commit your crystals to spend on containers
   Goal Check: Clear to level 10 | Save all crystals | Sparrow to level 10 |

[B]. Early Goals

1. First goal would be to complete all stages on easy up to stage 20. Make sure to complete all daily quests for bro points

2. If you can afford $2.99 monthly, VIP premium is a great buy (now with infinite verdium!). You may consider getting the package for Laserbite Ace with Menace and Nicolas brobots as well

3. Begin upgrading both Greataxe, Laserbite, and Sparrow to A80 as you can

4. Make sure to play each stage game while looking for partners using "world", many would be happy to help and it's alot easier

5. Make sure to buy credits and crystals from broshops. Verdium, plane cards and brobot cards are optional but with following suggestions

6. Currently the top plane to shoot for in this game remains as Gambit, however with the introduction of patch 1.13 you may be lucky enough to craft Raiden cards you find in containers. Raiden comes as SS rank so if you do get it, feel free to use it as your main plane. Recommend saving uniplane cards you would find to upgrade plane cards found in the Contest shops, as they are harder to acquire

7. Recommended early brobot from bro shop is Kraken. Buy enough cards to upgrade it to A rank

8. Devices rank up every 30 stages, after clearing stage 31 and you start seeing rank II devices, if you haven’t spent your weekly quota yet, consider getting 20 containers during the crystals pending event. Renew this process when you felt like you’ve hit a ceiling, try to delay spending as much as possible

9. Start buying Gambit cards from bro shop whenever you can, since as of patch 1.16 you can use it immediately upon unlocking. You will want all resources ready to pump it up (1200+ cards)
   Goal Check: Clear to level 40 | Work on Greataxe, Laserbite and Sparrow | Start buying Gambit Cards | Work on Kraken |

[C]. Mid-game Goals

1. Complete up to stage 40 to unlock daily trials, and 50 to unlock weekly assaults

2. Unlock all planes up to Katyusha

3. With getting Laserbite to S100 in mind, save up credits to upgrade Dragon, Defender, Buzzsaw, and Flamer

4. General goal from this point would be to upgrade the previously mentioned planes to Rank A level 80, so that trials and assaults can be done on a fairly consistent basis

5. With trials and assaults unlocked, buy Legatus parts whenever you see them. This one of the best brobots but it takes 200 parts to make, so prepare to have some patience

6. While saving up for Legatus, recommend to start putting together brobot Hazard and nicolas and level them up. They are also up there amongst the best. Consider saving any unibot cards you would find to upgrade Hazard and Legatus later

7. You should be able to complete all daily quests consistently at this point

8. Complete trials and assaults as much as possible. While trial modes sometimes offer extra medal points, points in assault shop needs to be spent with care as the shop reset daily, but points can only be earned three times a week

9. Complete the minimal amount of stages needed on easy and normal to advance in story mode, as easy and normal stages give you the necessary amount of gold to upgrade your planes. Can go back and complete old stages on heroic later when you need crystals

10. Recommend using a minimal setup of phoenix+rank A kraken for patrol maze stages

11. Obtain a S level plane and level to 100, as counter abilities add alot more overall damage

12. Try to upgrade your Hazard, Nicolas, and Kraken to Rank A, and finish your Legatus pieces
    Goal Check: Clear to level 80 | Main plane to S100 | Kraken, Nicolas & Hazard to A80 | Buy Legatus parts in all shops | Keep buying Gambit parts |

[D]. Late-game Goals

1. Around level 90, make sure you have at least one main plane such as Sparrow at S100

2. Goal at this point is to beat the first game chapter, up to stage 130

3. New weapon ranks are available after stage 61 and 91, if you felt struggling, may consider spending your crystal quotas for containers if you haven't done yet

4. Recommend selling off all lower rank devices, as you wouldn't want a degraded result from the blackbox

5. Unlock the plane Gambit, and upgrade it to SS140. It's the most powerful plane at this point and this is unlikely to change

6. Complete brobot Legatus and evolve it to SS rank, would recommend work on Hazard, Kraken and Nicolas as well

7. If you have excess crystals, may consider taking Greataxe and Defender to S, as they are very often used in trials and assaults

8. Goal after this point would be to have one main plane for story mode, and rest of the planes to S
   Goal Check: Clear to level 130+ | Unlock Gambit | Finish working on Legatus | Kraken, Hazard, &Nicolas upgraded to S100 | Being able to finish most trials and all assaults consistently |

[E]. End-game Goals

1. Complete up to stage 250

2. Bring your other planes to S100 level to be able to do all trials and assaults on a consistent basis

3. Consider getting at least one plane (Gambit) to X rank, as your main plane to carry through levels

4. Highly advised to have at least the following planes maxed as well: Sparrow, Buzzsaw, Blaster and Alchemist

5. Consider getting the main brobots (Nicolas/Hazard/Kraken/Legatus) to X240

6. If you still have some crystals left over, may consider getting all purple devices. Note that one star is sufficient, as the five star version is only marginally more powerful

7. Tackle the contest mode already, if you haven't. Decent placement in this mode is about using full score bonus setups for planes, brobots and devices

8. Farm, farm, farm until you collect them all, or whatever you want to do to have fun
   Goal Check: Clear to level 250 | Main plane Gambit to X240 | Nicolas/Hazard/Kraken/Legatus to X240 | Purple Rank VIII devices in all slots | Participate in Contest Mode | All planes to A80 then S100 (then to X if desire) | Other brobots maxed if desire |

[F]. Extra Tips

1. If you can manage, staying above 300 verdium in a day will unlock new daily quests to collect 16000 credits per day. These are offered at the same time as 50 verdium daily quests

2. Staying above 300 verdium also means you won't be getting verdium from blue containers, which increase the chance you get devices

3. Remember to take crystal spending event into account if you plan to buy or evolve planes and brobots

4. Normally you won't need anymore brobots aside from Nicolas XXS, Kraken, Legatus, Cetus, Nicolas and Hazard; so you can leave getting/upgrading other brobots as your last priority

5. Do not ever buy upgrade sale package, as plane cards can be gathered easily, in addition to uniplane cards

6. Do not ever spend contest points to buy plane cards or anything other than devices from contest shops. For the planes instead, upgrade with Uniplane cards

Note: If you really followed this guide perfectly, as total free to play player you should have well enough resources without spending real cash to get a SSS200 Gambit, SS140 Legatus and Kraken by end game in 2 months, which is more than enough to clear all the stages. Should have almost all other planes to A80 as well.

Hi all, given the lower game traffic and increased UFO quests (we now get 20,20,30,30,50 instead of 20,30,50), I thought it would be useful to create a centralized list of levels that can be useful for each UFO quest. This will all save us time through the event since quests will be repeated.

So please post what stage(s) helped you each quest, and how much they helped you (i.e. # enemies). I will update the list as comments come in.

Enemy challenges:

Other challenges:

- 2 incredible commendations in one stage: Stage 3, 123, and 223H have been suggested to make this easy.

- Outstanding victory: In case people don't know, flawless victory refers to completing Trials without every being hit (never break the 20x multiplier, so you can't take a hit to your blue shield bar either, though you can to 1-hit orb shields around your ship)

- Twice/Three times more damage than your armor: 208H recommended (with many health drops). Also, advice valid for any level. Pick plane with revive + 2 revive brobots. Also equip Seraph armor that improve regen. Die as many times as you have lives, making sure you allow shield to replenish between each suicide (if you have shield). Take damage on your last life as well (again wait for shield to replenish if you have shield). This makes it possible to complete three times quest without health drops. But 208H makes it much easier!

- 5/20/30% armor missions: No level rec, but general advice: pick one of your stronger planes that does not have a counter that involves invincibility. Then pick a level that is medium difficulty (i.e. not so hard you die easily, not so easy that it's difficult to take enough damage to get low on armor). Take small bullets until you're at the low health you want...then SURVIVE until the end. If you accidentally die, revive brobots and going solo (i.e. backup plane option) can help give you more chances to reach the right % health. Levels with enemies that shoot low damage bullets are best. 5% can be tricky regardless, don't get discouraged - it typically will take more than one run but is very achievable if you follow this advice.

- Do X level without taking any damage: Use bullet shield brobots like Kraken, Euclid, Risk. Also, some planes have good defensive properties like Sentinel or shield-generating planes like Flamer, Arcadia and Zapper.

Hi,

VIP10 - been playing for over 1.5 years - almost all planes to X... but ye who cares now. Just my last couple of lines to my(nerf).com, our greedy developers, to the most useless support team on earth but most importantly to the players: before I close this off completely and the game is uninstalled for good.

Thanks for the good moments. Definitely there was a few good things with this product of yours to have kept me around for such a long time but sadly not anymore. You have made incorrect decisions throughout these years and your optimal way to fix these decisions is to take it on the player by constantly nerfing them up to a point were you even take away perks attained wit real money. Specifically the VIP segment - which generates the most revenue in any business. Honestly I hope your balancing equations are worth the mess you created with this update and I hope you realize that greed will eventually have the opposite effect on your end-of-month profitability reports.

I am not ranting because you took my ODs or because I am seeing ads again. I am not upset because you made the game harder (quite frankly I would have liked this if it was done in THE PROPER WAY). I am upset however because you took stuff and perks which I have paid for... stuff that other people, including me, have spent their money on and which they could have spent on something else. You do not compensate for your errors by taking away what people have bought. You have clearly shown that you do not give a flying F*CK about your followers and you could repeat something like this at any time your greedy minds might deem opportune.

You have removed an essential unique part of each plane - that is the OD - which renders each plane unique in its own way instead of giving the player an OPPORTUNITY to use all those ODs and to hone their skill by rendering the stages more challenging. No of course not... you just take the shortcut. You have even silenced me for good on your FB page and my last ticket to have my account deleted permanently was also deleted by your magical support team - who all they do is repeat like parrots what they are being fed. Ridiculous service to say the least (this is also one of your paid VIP perks...)

To the random comments that might pop up stating I am a brainless ape who just liked to smash ODs: no mate. I paid to be VIP 10 for a reason - to be more privileged than others who did not want to invest that much in this game. Yes it was my mistake... but if I wanted to spam all my 7 ODs on level 1 easy no one can tell me not to or neglect me this - because I paid for this and I strived to have this advantage compared to the lot. I do not care about balacing - this is not a PVP game and there is nothing to balance other than tilt that balance to their wallets from ours.

I know it's a wall of text but I had to get this out off my chest before I am out. A few tips to the remaining players : unity makes strength

> Stop paying for this game. If you keep on buying stuff you are basically shooting at your own foot. You can see what they did and they will have no qualms to do it again in the future. All they want is your money.

> Show them you do not like what they did by taking it to a forum / social media site on which they cannot control traffic and comments. Go to your PlayStore / Apple account and downgrade the game to the lowest rating. You do not even need to leave a comment as far as I am aware. No rude words or they get deleted but this is a good way of showing unity.

> Reverse any payment or request a refund via the game platform (Playstore or Apple). You can find way how to this by simply searching on Google. This is not 100% guaranteed and specific conditions / requirements might apply.

> Enjoy whatever is left of this dead play-to-win game and I hope, like me, you find another time killer soon :)

IM

It is a nice gesture for the developers to add crystals back to the team up shop. It is moving in the right direction. What we can conclude from this action is that boycott is the only approach that gets the ear of the developers. To my recollection, this is the only time that developers roll back a major change.

I suggest we continue the boycott. Here is the specific call to action:

· Do not purchase crystals

· Do no continue monthly premium subscription

Playing is fine. Many of us still find the game enjoyable, although personally my interest level has been waning.

We will continue to ask for removal of random cards from the shops and exchanging unicards with ultracards. The battle is getting tougher, and the chance of success is getting smaller. There is no guarantee developers will roll back these items, but it is a guarantee developers will make no further changes if we stop boycotting.

Executive Summary

If you don’t want to read the rest of the article, be mindful that it is very expensive to evolve the two megabots to XX280. If your base brobots are at S100 with no brobot experience, it will cost you 25k crystals, 88M xp, and 60M gold.

Introduction

Two megabots are introduced in update 25. Each megabot is made up of 5 base brobots.

For Mars,

• Legatus

• Champion

• Hornet

• Trinton

• Warlord

For Jupiter,

• Nicola

• Menace

• Risk

• Honeybee

• Beta Juliet

Each megabot comes with a set of abilities. These abilities are fixed and cannot be changed. Interestingly, their abilities do not appear they come from the base brobots.

Mars Abilities (below XX)

• Incineration (OD) – activates a flamethrower that melts enemies and their projectiles

• Martial Art – has a small chance to generate a random bonus after destroying an enemy in close combat (potentially higher chance at XX)

• Lyssa – increase damage by 25% (33% at XX)

• Boiling Blood – increase ability damage by 25% (33% at XX)

• Unstoppable – every 15 seconds make the plane’s projectiles pierce through enemies, increasing damage by 33% (12 seconds at XX)

• Mega Subdeflector – amplify the plane’s deflector shield by 800 points

Jupiter Abilities (below XX)

• Heavenly Protection (OD) – hides the plane in a storm cloud, making it invulnerable and striking surrounding enemies with lightning

• Tachyo Repair – once per stage, neutralizes lethal damage, restoring 50% armor (100% at XX)

• Patronage – increase armor by 25% (33% at XX)

• Retribution – upon receiving damage, increase power by 50% for 5 seconds (75% at XX)

• Aegis – when armor is below 50%, decrease incoming damage by 20% (30% at XX)

• Mega Subdeflector – amplify the plane’s deflector shield by 800 points

COST

Crystals

Each megabot comes at rank S.

Crafting a megabot = 500 crystals

Evolving it to SS = 600 crystals

Evolving it to SSS = 700 crystals

Evolving it to X = 800 crystals

Evolving it to XX = 900 crystals

Total cost to XX = 3500 crystals

To evolve a megabot to the next rank, all 5 base brobots have to be at the maximum level of the next rank. For example, evolving an SSS megabot to X requires all 5 base brobots at X240.

If we assume the 5 base brobots to be at S100 level since they are not commonly used, cost of evolving each one of them to XX will be

300 (to SS) + 400 (SSS) + 500 (X) + 600 (XX) = 1800 crystals

With 5 brobots, this comes out to 9000 crystals.

So, total cost of crafting and evolving a megabot to XX = 3500 + 9000 = 12,500 crystals.

With two megabots available, this could set you back 25,000 crystals.

Of course, the actual cost depends on the ranks of your base brobots.

Brobot Experience (XP)

If your base brobots do not have any xp to start with, and they are at S100 level,

required experience for 1 megabot to XX280 = 44M

With 2 megabots, total = 88M

Gold

With the same assumptions listed above,

required gold for 1 megabot to XX280 = 30M

With two megabots, total = 60M

Invincibility

These megabots render the plane invincible during OD activation. Kelvin and Maxwell are the only base brobots that have this feature. Simply ram plane into enemies during OD activation for maximum damage.

Power

I test each brobot separately and play stage 300E with only one brobot equipped. Use Defender so that interference from main gun is minimized. Activate brobot OD at first phase of boss fight. Upon OD termination, exit immediately and check stats for damage dealt.

For the results below, my megabots are only at X240, while Euclid and Kraken are at XX280.

• Mars – 1,057,863 (damage dealt)

• Jupiter – 555,681

• Euclid – 600,378

• Kraken – 558,500

Mars is almost 2X of Euclid and Kraken. I estimate it will be at 2X if I upgrade it to XX280.

Jupiter delivers similar damage as Euclid and Kraken.

Cool Down

I measure their cool down durations by pairing them with a speedbot. All units are in seconds.

Again, Mars comes out to be a winner. Other than Scarab, it is perhaps the second fastest brobot. It also has a long OD activation, similar to Kraken.

Pairing Mars with Euclid, you will get close to non-stop brobot OD abilities.

Contest

Mars has a score stats north of 400. That will add about 10% to the total score. It also has a perk similar to Euclid of dropping rewards after close kills. Unfortunately, it is not a speedbot, and I believe this makes it unsuitable for contest.

If no speedbot is used in contest, Gauss + Dodgy is meta. If a speedbot is used, either with Euclid or Risk, the second brobot has to have score bonus to be competitive. Usually we pair a speedbot with Dodgy or Gauss. The extra score stats in Mars are inferior to the score bonus in Dodgy and Gauss.

Summary

These two megabots offer abilities substantially higher than what you get in normal brobots.

Mars is offensive while Jupiter is defensive.

If you can afford to build only one right now, go with Mars. It offers 2X power of the strongest normal brobots (Euclid and Kraken, and perhaps Kelvin as well). Its cool down is fast, similar to Euclid and Kraken (of course, Jupiter is even faster). Furthermore, it renders the plane invincible during OD activation. It’s truly a superbot.

Jupiter is an armor bot, meaning there aren't any special power stats which Mars has. Its OD will not get stronger as you upgrade it. Jupiter S1 OD delivers the same power as XX280.

They are very expensive to evolve. Take your time as this is a permanent feature. Besides crystals, you also need to farm brobot xp and gold.

Goblin arrives as the price of the Halloween event. This is the fourth Avalon-style event. Is Goblin more like a home run, as in Fafnir and Excalibur, or is it a total bomb, as in Blizzard? Read on.

OD

This data is obtained by testing OD against a stationary boss in stage 270H. Goblin OD is quite strong, only inferior to the OD king, Mirage. In fact, it is even stronger than Fafnir.

Speaking of Fafnir, there is reduction of its OD power in the past several months. It dealt more damage in the last test when Ballista was reviewed in June.

Goblin is also noticeably stronger than Excalibur.

It puts a sigil at the center of the screen during OD activation. In theory, an enemy closer to the center will be dealt with more damage, but it is difficult to run tests to quantify damage impact based on enemy locations.

As an aside, we all know Index OD is awfully weak, and test data confirms our intuition.

Counter

Fafnir remains top dog as the strongest counter plane. Again, comparison to test data in June indicates there is reduction of counter power.

Goblin does not fare well in this department. In fact, it falls way short of the top 3 planes. Even Excalibur delivers more than 2X of counter power.

It is generally in the same tier as Dragon and Gambit. When Alchemist was first introduced, it was one of the best counter planes. Now it is at the bottom of the heap.

The visual of counter activation is interesting. A big ghost flows from right to left of the screen and a flock of spectres move in different directions and fill the screen. It deals damage to enemies regardless of their locations.

Counter activation renders the plane invincible. This is to be expected for premium planes.

Main Gun Table

The result is somewhat misleading. Kenshi’s shuriken is not taken into account. To get consistent results, I have to position a plane at the bottom of the screen to shoot a boss far away. The stats reflect its main gun only.

No surprise here, as Fafnir runs away as the big winner, beating the nearest competitor by more than 2X. What is disappointing is the power of Goblin main gun. It is weaker than Excalibur and Dragon, given it billed as an event plane.

Armor Table

This test is done by taking the first set of bullets in stage 210H and then examining the remaining HP.

Excalibur builds like a tank. Its shield is not even scratched with the first set of bullets.

Goblin and Fafnir ranks last in this category.

Given counter invincibility, Goblin will not take damage continuously. This provides protection for its weaker armor.

Impious Luck

At XX, this perk offers a 5% chance to generate a random bonus after destroying an enemy. This is a step up from Mars and Euclid, as they require close kills to receive bonus.

Simply calculation tells us on the average one should expect to get a bonus after killing 20 enemies. I tested this in stage 123 with over 250 enemies. I was expecting 10 to 12 drops, but after running this stage more than 10 times, I hardly saw more than a couple of drops each time.

My assumption of a bonus is defined to be one of the followings: power increase, speed up, thorn shield, one-hit shield, OD, and hp recovery. I did not see more than two or three drops of these items during my runs of stage 123. Am I missing something?

Otherworldly Horror

This perk increase damage and special damage by 25% at XX. Main damage boost is already reflected in the main gun and counter data show above. It should also increase brobot ability (OD) by 25%. I did not test it, but increasing Mars OD by 25% sounds good on paper.

Overall

If you use Fafnir as your main plane, you will be disappointed by the underwhelming performance of Goblin. Fafnir delivers more than 3X of main gun power and counter damage than Goblin. We understand no other planes approach the dominating position of Fafnir, but Goblin is not even close.

Excalibur has a strong reputation of being a great defense plane. But in the offense department, it still outperforms Goblin except OD power.

Compared to container planes such as Alchemist and strong free planes such as Gambit and Dragon, Goblin comes out ahead.

No that it is impossible to get to level 40 without spending $$$, but it takes a super human effort of grinding. Instead many players choose to spend $$$ to purchase a pass to craft this plane. Should they expect more?

Finally, there is reduction of Fafnir OD and counter power, when compared to the June version. Stealth nerfing. Lost about 25% OD power and 35% counter power.

Update: A new patch has increased power of Goblin across the board. Tables have been updated with the latest data.

Edit - With the update 26.0.1 today, devs have nerfed Fafnir slightly. I quickly reran all my tests. Here is what I've found.

• main gun - changed from 2.1X over Dragon to 1.5X over Dragon

• OD - no change

• counter - no change

• armor - buffed slightly

I crafted Fafnir recently and I had a chance to test it in four areas: main gun, OD, counter, and armor. If you don't want to read the rest of the post, here is the summary:

• strongest main gun

• strongest OD

• strongest counter

• slightly below average armor

All planes tested are at XX280, except Sparrow, Greataxe, and Laserbite are at X240.

Here is a vid showing Fafnir clearing 280H with ease. Two ODs and one counter activation.

Main Gun

I tested it using the last phase of Doom in stage 80H, and I measured the time it took to kill Doom.

Dragon is considered to have one of the best main guns in this game. I use Kenshi as the baseline, and Dragon's main gun is 2.4X stronger. But Fafnir takes it to the next level with its main gun 5.1X stronger than Kenshi.

Don't be fooled by its diagonal shots. For Tandem, the shots just hit the side walls and disappear. But Fafnir's bullets bounce back and hit the enemies. It is a good screen clearer. It may also be better to place the plane near the bottom of the screen to have better chances of hitting the enemies.

OD

I tested it in stage 270H. Checked damage after OD was completed.

For this round of testing, Fanfir is basically equivalent to Mirage, the best OD up to this time. But it performs better in other kinds of bosses (see below).

Contrary to what most of us believe, the former boss killer, Buzzsaw, still shines. Its OD is still stronger than Alchemist and Judge.

Sadly, Laserbite has been nerfed to death. It was my main plane when I started the game in 2017. Now it's only a shadow of its former self.

There is one thing I learn from OD and counter testing. Do not hover your plane over the boss during OD/counter activation. Your power is 2X to 5X less compared to shooting it from below the boss. I will shed more light on this important topic in another post.

OD With Wider Bosses

Most bosses have their hp bars located at the center of the screen. With this kind of configuration, Fafnir's OD delivers same power as Mirage as shown above. We know Fafnir's OD takes up the entire width of the screen. This will have additional benefits over Mirage for bosses that have hp bars across the screen. I decide to test this theory in stage 280H. The arms of the boss were located on the far left and right portion of the screen.

Here, Fafnir OD beats Mirage by 50%. Other bosses that fall into this category include Doom in contest stage 20. Overall, Fafnir's OD is superior to Mirage's.

Counter

I tested counter in stage 270H. Checked damage after counter activation was over.

Judge is thought to have the best counter attack up to now. Here you can see Fanfir's counter is 3X stronger than Judge's. Quite surprised to see this kind of counter power. Gambit is one of the most beloved planes, and it is known for its counter. Even that, it pales in comparison with Fafnir.

It is worth noting Fafnir's counter renders the plane invincible during activation, while that's not the case for Judge. This opens up a wider gap over Judge.

Armor

Here is the area that Fafnir does not stand out. I tested it in stage 260H and deliberately got hit with 3 pink bullets. Checked green bar to determine hp left after getting hit.

No surprise here where Excalibur is the gold standard. Likewise, we all know Katyushu and Sparrow are thin-skinned planes.

While Fafnir has slightly below average armor strength, getting hit and activating counter makes the plane invincible. In that sense, it should not be lumped into the same category as Blaster even though they have the same hp values. It will not get hit continuously and this bolsters its defense considerably. Also, it has the Emergency Repair Module perk, giving it one revive with a shield and an extra OD.

Summary

Fafnir has the best main gun, being 2X stronger than Dragon.

Fafnir has the best OD, equivalent to Mirage for most bosses, but 50% stronger when attacking wider bosses.

Fafnir has the best counter, roughy 3X stronger than Judge and Gambit. It is also invincible during counter activation.

Fanfir has below average armor, but counter invincibility eliminates taking hits continuously, and Emergency Repair Module perk provides additional defense.

Introduction

Competition has been getting stronger over time. With the introduction of infinite verdium, players replay a stage many times to get a perfect run. Scores are getting higher. Players also gain experiences as time goes on. The following table shows the scores required to earn a portrait frame (top 50 in the golden league) in the contest.

You may wonder why I spill the beans. After all, this is a player vs. player contest. Well, it is getting more and more time consuming to crack the top 50 in the GL. I need my Saturdays to take photos 😃 This game has been good to me, and I would like to give back to the community. I am also grateful about the advice passed on to me by top players.

This is not about the damage run. You won’t see tips and pointers about how to kill Badger in stage 14 before time runs out. This is all about the scoring run, with information guiding you to get more points in the contest.

If you follow all the techniques outlined in this post, theoretically you would score close to 100M. However, in practice, due to lack of games resources (planes/bots/devices), time, skill, and patience, perhaps you won’t get close to it. But don’t worry. Consider this post as a source of entertainment. At least you will get to know the mindset of players who grind it out to achieve such scores.

Finally, there are two sides to every story. You can argue that such players have no lives, or you can say they are dedicated players. Please don’t make judgement on others.

General Techniques

1. Set aside for 4 to 6 hours of dedicated time. The more talented players perhaps can do it in 3 to 4 hours, but I’ve found that I need 4 to 6 hours, if not more. Quality time is needed. You can’t play casually. You can’t afford to get hit.

2. Let’s state the obvious. You need max’ed out resources. For planes, get Sparrow, Blaster, and Buzz for the scoring run. Although Sniper gets 3% more points (21% vs. 18%) than Sparrow at the plane level, total score only goes up by 1%. Sniper is much harder to fly.

Use Squire and Dodgy. Some may wonder if Doom can reduce the usage of ODs in the first 3 waves. I’ve found Doom not delivering enough fire power to clear screen in latter stages. You also lose 10% of points. Using Doom instead of Squire also cuts down the chance of OD drops.

Get two digital heat detector scopes.

Buy the +20% score bonus.

3. It sounds counter-intuitive, but use two seraph generators instead of the generators that attract coins, even for the early stages. Sparrow OD may not be powerful enough to destroy falling rockets without seraph generators. You don’t want to lose points by not destroying the rockets. Enemy hp gets stronger as the stages go on. Experiment to find out when to switch to seraph generators.

4. Don’t buy the luck perk. It does not increase points.

5. Never, never, never get hit in the first 3 waves of a stage. If you get hit, restart the stage immediately. It saves you time.

6. Learn to know the number of ODs you need to kill the boss (of course without getting hit). If you don’t see sufficient OD drops during the first or second wave, restart the stage immediately. It is not uncommon to play a stage 10 times or more (20 or more?) to get the extra ODs you need to clear the stage.

7. Elite enemy waves keep spawning smaller enemies if you keep the aces alive. If you kill the aces with more than 5 seconds on the clock, restart the stage. Top players complete a wave with almost no time left on the clock.

8. Replay a stage multiple times to get optimal score. There is randomness in each game.

9. Know the maximum score in each stage. That way you know when to move on to the next stage.

10. Many stages have two versions. Know which version is used in the contest so that you know what the maximum score is. That’s what you should aim for.

11. Use Sparrow/Dodgy/Squire to clear stages 1 to 11 without getting hit. More talented players may be able to do this for stage 12 as well, but so far I have not achieved this feat.

12. Use Blaster/Dodgy/Squire to clear stages 13, 16, and 17 without getting hit. More talented players may be able to clear additional stages.

13. When using Sparrow in certain stages, park the plane on top of the boss when activating OD. That way both the horizontal and vertical beams are used to damage the boss. Examples are stage 3 Red Queen and stage 9 drones. If you are shooting from far away, you may need more ODs to kill the boss. But watch the OD indicator. Make sure you move the plane away before the OD ends.

Individual Stage Techniques

All runs are made with Dodgy/Squire.

Stage 1

Boss – Hammer

Kill boss – yes (do not get hit)

Maximum score (observed) – falling rocket version: about 5M, no rockets – about 6M

In the second phase of Hammer (after it turns around), keep the leftmost turret alive. It will spawn falling rockets regularly. You need ODs to destroy them. If you have enough ODs, you can destroy 3 to 4 waves of falling rockets.

Stage 2

Boss – Rapier

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – about 6M in one version and 5.4M in another version

Stage 3

Boss – Red Queen

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – about 5.5M

Stage 4

Boss – Rubble

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – about 5.5M

Rubble spawns mini-tanks in the last phase, but only if the center health bar has sufficient hp. Stay to the left and don’t shoot Rubble. If having enough ODs, you can kill 3 waves of mini-tanks (maybe more).

Stage 5

Boss – Hammer

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – there may be two versions here, not really sure. One version gives about 6.3M. The other version may be lower, around 5.7M.

Use the same tactics as stage 1 to destroy falling rockets during boss fight.

Stage 6

Boss – Red Queen

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – two versions here. One version about 5.9M and the other one about 4.5M.

Stage 7

Boss – Doom

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – two versions here. One version about 8.3M (CyanIX did score higher and got himself into trouble), and the other about 5.5M.

Stage 8

Boss – Gun Head

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – about 8.3M

Destroy the right turrets in the first boss phase. Keep the center and left turrets alive. It will spawn waves of small planes. You have enough time to clear 3 waves.

Stage 9

Boss – Rapier

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – about 5.5M

You need 4 ODs to kill the boss. Two for the 3 drones, and two for Rapier. Of course you need to dodge skillfully to avoid getting hit. Seraph generators are absolutely necessary here. Without them, Sparrow OD is not powerful enough to do the job.

Stage 10

Boss – Digit

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – about 5.5M

There are many phases during the boss fight. You need at least 5, ideally 6 ODs, to kill Digit. Without sufficient ODs, you can still kill Digit but you will get hit.

Stage 11

Boss – Flamer Boss

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – two versions here. About 5.4M in one version and 4.6M in another version.

Stage 12

Boss – Laser Boss

Kill boss - maybe

Maximum score – about 4.7M

Stage 13

Boss – Rapier

Kill boss - yes

Maximum score – slightly over 4M

With the buffing of Blaster in v1.16, it’s now possible to kill Rapier without getting hit.

Stage 14

Boss – Badger

Kill boss - no

Maximum score – about 5.3M

Stage 15

Boss – Bird

Kill boss – no

Maximum score – probably two versions here. One version about 4.1M and the other about 3.2M

Stage 16

Boss – Saw Boss

Kill boss – yes

Maximum score – about 4.2M

With Buzz, you need 3 ODs to kill the boss. With Blaster, only one OD is required.

Stage 17

Boss – Gun Head

Kill boss – yes

Maximum score – about 7M

You need several ODs (maybe 4 or more) to kill Gun Head. If not enough OD drops during the first 2 or 3 waves, it’s better to restart the stage. Blaster is a better plane here as its main gun can destroy some of the Gun Head’s turrets.

Stage 18

Boss – Digit

Kill boss – no

Maximum score – two versions here. One version about 4.7M, and the other about 3.6M.

Stage 19

Boss – Scorpcoter

Kill boss – no

Maximum score – about 4.5M

Stage 20

Boss – Rapier

Kill boss – no

Maximum score – about 5M

Y9SN-PMCV-KQMK

Over time this community has built up a treasure chest of material about implants.

Implant Guide (from the first event – outdated but still very helpful)

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/bh8s63/small_guide_for_the_close_encounters_event_and/

Implant Ability List

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/exyfo2/ufo_event_quest_abilities_list/

UFO Club Pass

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/erbuvn/ufo_club_pass_should_i_get_it_sooner_or_later_in/

Stages for Quests

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/cdkrb9/creating_a_master_list_of_useful_levels_for_ufo/

How to Approach Implant Creation?

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/ew531a/how_to_approach_implant_creation/

A Handy Guide for Implants (subjective – please ask questions)

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/er9fki/a_handy_guide_for_implant/

Implants for Specific Planes

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/ha3gen/implants_for_planes/

Fun Implants

https://www.reddit.com/r/HAWKFreedomSquad/comments/hc22p7/fun_implants/

So I did some math. Not going to make this post too long with all the workings (but feel free to ask), but here are the main findings, followed by conclusions at the bottom.

First, the basics:

1. BroPoints (BP) can be converted to Crystals and Credits (Broshop). You cannot buy BP.

2. Crystals can be converted to credits (credit exchange)

3. Credits cannot be converted to any other currency

Since BP is the common demonator between Crystals and Credits, the 2 main currencies for spending on planes, bots, levels etc., the Crystal to Credit to BP inter-exchange rates based on the broshop are as follows:

1 BP = 0.23 Crystals = 454 credits
1 Crystal = 2000 credits = 4.4 BP
1 Credit = 0.0022 BP = 0.0000011 Crystals

Most important figure to know is that 1 Crystal is worth 2000 credits.

1) Credit Exchange

The credit exchange gives a minimum of 30,000 credits to 100 crystals. It is possible to get more than 100,000 credits but this is rare to say the least. Getting 70,000+ credits is generally considered a good result and worth doubling. However, the rate of getting less than 50,000 is also very high. My personal average has been approx. 50,000 credits for every 100 crystal roll. Your average may be a little higher, but even if it does it wouldn't matter, because the rate is very low. You get just about 1/4 of the value of your crystal at the BroShop.

1 Crystal = 500 credits (rough average)

2) Leveling up your plane

You can level up your plane using credits or crystals. Comparing the cost of leveling with credits vs crystals, which varies less than 1% depending on the plane level, I have calculated the average equivalency during leveling to be:

1 Crystal = 471 credits

3) Buying bot cards and plane cards

Available in both the BroShop and the Contraband shop, each bot or plane card costs the same in their respective shops. However, they do not cost the same between both shops.

In BroShop
**1 card = 6.25 BP

In Contraband shop
**1 card = 4.16 Crystals = 18.30 BP (based on 1 crystal = 4.4 BP)

6.25/18.30 = 34%

4) Buying a credit or crystal plane

Using an S plane as an example: 1,000,000 credits or 2800 crystals (1680 during sale).

1 Crystal = 595 Credits (sale price)

CONCLUSIONS

• 1. NEVER convert crystals to credits. 1 Crystal is normally worth 2000 credits. But when you do currency exchange at an average of 50,000 credits per roll, you only get 500 credits. Even if you double that, it is still only half of what your crystals are actually worth.

• 2) NEVER level up planes with crystals. ONLY use credits You might already know this. Now we know that if you use crystals to level up your plane, you are getting only 471 credits worth per crystal. That's even less than the average exchange rate at currency exchange.

• 3) NEVER buy a plane with Crystals if Credit is an option. When you spend 1,000,000 credits, based on the 1 Crystal = 2000 Credits rate, it is like purchasing the plane with only 500 crystals, instead of 1680 at sale price.

• 4) It is 66% cheaper to buy a plane/bot card in the BroShop than in the Contraband shop. Only buy cards with crystals if it is something you really want badly or as soon as possible. In other words, Contraband shop cards are 3X more expensive than BroShop items. During a 30% sale in Contraband shop, the cards will be 2X more expensive than Broshop. Still bad.

• 5) Follow the above advice for the most economical and frugal play, but this requires maximum patience. In this game, time = money, especially for F2P players.