To clear Normal Stage 20 in Planet Defense: Space TD game, build long-range splash artillery on the outer orbital ring and mount high-tracking beam lasers on the inner ring to manage enemies arriving from all directions. Surviving the final dreadnought requires prioritizing early resource generation over hull repairs, then saving orbital strikes to strip the boss's shields immediately upon arrival.
Orbital Ring Placement
Normal Stage 20 spawns enemies across the entire orbital perimeter, preventing single-lane stacking. Divide turret functions strictly by orbital depth:
- Outer ring: Mount long-range missile launchers, heavy plasma cannons, and stasis emitters. Outward placement maximizes missile flight time and ensures area-of-effect shells hit incoming swarms before ships enter firing range. Overlap firing arcs along paired approach corridors to strip shields early.
- Inner ring: Install rapid-fire kinetic guns and armor-penetrating beam lasers close to the planet core. These turrets feature fast rotation speeds and continuous uptime, allowing them to clean up fast scouts that slip past perimeter artillery.
Wave Progression and Economy
Enemy health scales rapidly in Stage 20. Stalling or over-investing in defensive health leads to mid-game failure. Use starting credits to cover all active approach lanes by Wave 3, then funnel surplus scrap into energy collectors before upgrading heavy weapons.
| Stage Wave Phase | Build Priority | Economic Goal | Primary Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waves 1–5 | Light kinetic turrets on active lanes | Deploy credit and energy modules | Fast scouts and light interceptors |
| Waves 6–12 | Outer missile batteries and stasis emitters | Upgrade core weapon damage and range | Armored gunboats and mixed swarms |
| Waves 13–19 | Inner beam lasers and shield enhancers | Maximize turret DPS and armor penetration | Heavy siege cruisers and shielded hulls |
| Wave 20 | Active abilities and emergency repairs | Reroute power to primary core defense | Elite dreadnought flagship and escorts |
Avoid spending credits on planetary shield recharges during the first ten waves. Absorbing minor chip damage to planetary plating is safe if those retained credits allow you to deploy mid-stage artillery on schedule.
Handling Armored Cruisers and Swarms
Mid-stage waves mix agile raiders with heavily armored cruisers. Kinetic turrets lack the penetration needed to damage cruisers, while heavy artillery fires too slowly to track fast targets.
- Deploy stasis fields at outer choke points. Slowing the lead cruisers clumps them together with trailing escorts.
- Hit clusters with perimeter splash damage. Missile batteries can wipe out escort swarms through collateral damage while the formation is slowed.
- Set beam lasers to high-health targeting. Configure inner beam turrets to target high-threat, high-health ships first. If left on default settings, beam weapons waste firing uptime chasing low-health stragglers while armored capital ships reach bombardment range.
Defeating the Wave 20 Dreadnought
Wave 20 ends with an elite dreadnought accompanied by continuous fighter swarms. The flagship uses long-range bombardment weapons that can drain core integrity from outside standard turret range.
- Hold orbital strikes for the boss. Do not burn active commander skills on the escort vanguard. Trigger your orbital strike the moment the dreadnought crosses the outer perimeter to strip its heavy shielding instantly.
- Focus inner lasers on the unshielded hull. Once shields drop, keep beam weapons locked onto the flagship.
- Rely on point-defense pulses for fighters. If escort fighters slip through your perimeter, trigger planetary point-defense pulses instead of pulling heavy beam turrets off the boss. Burning down the flagship quickly is the only way to stop its core bombardment cycles.
Priority Tech and Stat Upgrades
Prioritize forward damage and weapon agility over base planetary health:
- Armor Penetration: Necessary to break late-wave cruiser hulls that resist standard kinetic fire.
- Range Extension: Expands outer battery coverage so artillery engages fleets before they enter attack range.
- Turret Rotation Speed: Enables inner-ring weapons to switch rapidly between multi-vector targets.
- Energy Yield Efficiency: Reduces upgrade downtime, giving you the credit margin required to field advanced turrets before late-stage armor spikes.
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This helped me understand strategy much better.
The explanation is clear, especially for beginners.
Can you add more details about strategy in a future update?
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