Okay, who's *actually* used the doomsday device?

[mindloss]

Preferably without cheats, but I'll take what I can get. Is the effect literally just to do the standard nuke op to every planet?

I know it's in there more as entertainment and not so much as a tool, but I'm curious how one could use it to their advantage. I'm hard pressed to think of a scenario in which leaving me with no FFs/supply/anything but starships and possibly some MkV fabbed ships could possibly convert to a win, seeing as AI homeworlds are largely unaffected by nukes. Has anyone managed it?

[x4000]

Yes, it's a nuke on every planet.  Some folks have done this to play as a sort of alternate game mode where you have to scrape by with what remains after this happens.  I don't think anyone's won.

[wyvern83]

Nope, all the freed nuke proof guardians and mkV ships swipe you out pretty easily, though I hadn't really done much else at the time as I just wanted to try it out to see what happened.

Edit: By which I mean I've never won having done it.

[keith.lamothe]

There's an achievement for winning when all planets are nuked, and steam says 0.2% of the steam playerbase has achieved that one (which to me just means that presumably greater than 0.1% have done so), but I'm guessing that most of them got to the almost-winning point and then set off the doomsday and then won, or some similarly cheesy thing.

[mindloss]

I'll have to give it a go. Speaking of Steam stats, I can't possible be remembering this right... hang on, let me go double check...

Wow, yep, I was. 4.7% have supposedly attained their "first victory on any level." That is low. I could see that for, say, 7/7... hell, I could even see it as a legit stat assuming it's taken from the number of people who own the game (or better yet, includes those with the demo) -- BUT right above it is the "reclaim 1000+ enemy ships in a single game" achievement with 5.4%. I mean, really? Was it much easier to reclaim ships until recently or something?

[x4000]

Steam stats can be somewhat misleading.  However, we've had forum regulars that played 8+ months and racked up thousands of posts here before posting their first victory.  Some folks just won't accept anything less than 7/7 and don't give up until they win.  Each to their own, I say.

[mindloss]

That sounds about right. I'm pretty sure I've played about 8 months in the past two weeks, and just landed my 7/7.

[x4000]

Hahahah.

[c4sc4]

There's an achievement for winning when all planets are nuked, and steam says 0.2% of the steam playerbase has achieved that one (which to me just means that presumably greater than 0.1% have done so), but I'm guessing that most of them got to the almost-winning point and then set off the doomsday and then won, or some similarly cheesy thing.

Oh, I've got that one, although I did it on a 1/1 game. 10 ship waves with 10 minutes warnings are fun.

[mindloss]

Reminds me of the one-planet game I did where I kept AIP <= 6 til the end. Waves were nonexistent.

That should totally be an achievement, by the way.

[zebramatt]

I'm pretty sure I've played about 8 months in the past two weeks

Don't do that to my brain!

[Ozymandiaz]

That sounds about right. I'm pretty sure I've played about 8 months in the past two weeks, and just landed my 7/7.

Hehe, same here, took me while to get my first victory, now I play consitently minimum 8/8 in all games

[Lancefighter]

Steam stats can be somewhat misleading.  However, we've had forum regulars that played 8+ months and racked up thousands of posts here before posting their first victory.  Some folks just won't accept anything less than 7/7 and don't give up until they win.  Each to their own, I say.

Fairly sure I was pretty close up there for my first one.. When you said 7/7 was where the fun started, why play any lower?

[zoutzakje]

steam stats can be misleading yes, but I do believe the 4.7% to be accurate... I've heard many players saying on steam and such that they play the game quite frequently, just never finished a campaign. Reasons are the difficulty or getting bored in the end. I believe I had the reclaim 1000 enemy ships in a single game achiev before I cleared my first game as well. And the first game I ever cleared was a 1/1 lol.

[KDR_11k]

I guess most people give up pretty quickly but then again I've seen games where the global achievement stats list an achievement that basically amounts to starting the game once as something around 70%. Conversely I believe there's a way to cheat-unlock Steam achievements.

As for what remains after the doomsday device, I believe those Neinzul constructor ships are nuke-proof and require no supply.