Space Mercenary Defense Force Achievement Guide & Road Map

Space Mercenary Defense Force
Space Mercenary Defense Force Achievement Guide

Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10 [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 16 [1000]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000

: 4-5 hours [Estimated Time to 100%]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: ~5 successful runs theoretically, but plan on a bit more
- Missable achievements: None [rogue gameplay]
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty option
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None

DLC: Title Update
- Difficulty: 2/10
- Time to 1000: 20 minutes [embedded into the base game completion]
- Unobtainable: No

Introduction:
Welcome to Space Mercenary Defense Force, eastasiasoft's forray into the Vampire Survivors-like auto battler genre. This game pits you as a fighter ship in space above earth, tasked with defending against 20 minutes of non-stop alien enemies. This is a straight auto-battler, so you'll have to collect drops from enemies to level up, pick new weapons or upgrade existing ones as you level, and try to get strong enough to survive all 20 minutes and the multiple boss fights along the way. Between runs, you can purchase upgrades that apply to all ships, and you can also purchase new ships with differing stats. Lastly, you can apply modifiers that make the game more challenging to increase your score multiplier. It's got a ton of similarities to other auto battlers with roguelite elements, but is a generally quicker completion. Let's get started.

Abbreviated Walkthrough:
This is a roguelite, so feel free to just jump right in and ignore this roadmap entirely, but for those interested, I will go through the process I feel is most efficient to unlock achievements.

The two longest achievements are Astris Annihilator (60G) and Hoarder (60G) for getting 10,000 kills with the starting ship and amassing 20,000 credits, respectively. I recommend getting both out of the way right at the beginning. Do run after run with the starting ship, the Astris, and don't spend any money. Get used to enemies and their patterns, and get a feel for what weapons you llike and don't like. Here is my preferences:

Top tier modules

Micro missile array (amazing; go for it every time)
Sentry turret (of any sort - laser, gunner, or sprinkler)
Any explosive (mortars, rockets, mines)

Worst modules

Anything defensive
Anything melee
Ray gun
Ice cream launcher
Harpoon

You can't "reroll" level up selections in this game, but what you can do is, if you have no new modules to choose from that are good, pick a utility upgrade instead (such as faster speed, more health, etc.) so you don't fill up module slots with useless stuff. Also be conscious of which slot your place each module. For example, you're typically going to be moving around the arena in circles or ovals. The direct shooting modules (such as rockets or missile array, for example), should be place on the top and bottom module slots on your ship, since you'll spend most time shooting enemies above and below you. Save the front and back slots for passive drops, such as mines or turrets.

Even without spending money on upgrades or ships, you'll notice yourself getting way better each run, with more kills and destroying enemies and bosses faster. I personally unlocked both Astris Annihilator (60G) and Hoarder (60G) after my fourth full run, but once you unlock Hoarder (60G) you can then start buying upgrades for your ship, and once you unlock Astris Annihilator (60G) as well, you can feel free to buy a new ship. I went with the Mantis because it started with more health and had a massive fire rate. To offset the lower damage stat, I bought the damage upgrades for my ship.

Once you have both of those achievement, the 20,000 credits can easily be used to upgrade your ship and unlock Maxxed Out (60G) and Full Arsenal (60G) with money to spare. Fully upgrade damage in the first tier on the left, and then spend credits on one upgrade per tier across all other tiers to unlock Full Arsenal (60G). Spend your remaining money on a new ship since you need to for That New Ship Smell (60G) anyway.

With your upgrades purchased and a new ship, it's time to do successive runs with modifiers to unlock achievements. You should definitely have beaten the game by now, but if not, it will be a piece of cake with all the upgrades and a new ship. Beat the game for the first time to unlock Aries (60G), then enable that modifier and beat the game again to unlock Taurus (60G), and then beat the game a third time with both Aries and Taurus enabled to unlock Gemini (60G) and, unavoidably, Overachiever (60G). All of the "Destroyer" achievements in the title update will also unlock during this run if they haven't already.

While doing those modifier runs, keep an eye out for encounters on your minimap (see Encounters Encountered (60G)) and for gambing drops (coin tosses, slot machines, and wheel spins) to get any RNG achievements you're still missing. When you're done with everything else, waste your money on a new skin for your ship to wrap up this completion.

Title Update DLC

This title update adds five tiered achievements for destroying up to 1200 enemies in a single run. I personally did this on my very first run of the game, but it is essentially unavoidable while going for Gemini (60G) and Overachiever (60G), and therefore this update's completion will be built into naturally progression of the base game.

Conclusion:
This was actually a pretty fun and solid auto battler from eastasiasoft. There is a huge variety of weapon modules to put on your ship, lots of ships to choose from, and a decent amount of upgrades to buy. It's a shame there's only one "level," but having bosses thrown in plus other random events definitely made each run enjoyable. There's a bit of grinding to do, but like all roguelite auto battlers, the gameplay holds it together and keeps it fun. Congrats on the completion!

[XBA would like to thank Necrophage33 for this Roadmap]
[XBA would like to thank Necrophage33 for the DLC Roadmap]

Maxxed Out

60
Purchase and equip a fully upgraded Astral Upgrade.
From the main menu, go to the Hangar and you'll see upgrades in various tiers from left to right. For this achievement, you need to fully upgrade any one of those many upgrades to choose from. Considering Full Arsenal (60G) requires you to purchase one in each tier, and considering the final tier is only a single level, buying one from that final tier will unlock this achievement. That's pretty expensive though, so you're likely to fully upgrade all three levels of damage on the lowest tier first.
Full Arsenal

60
Purchase and equip an Astral Upgrade from each tier.
From the main menu, go to the Hangar and you'll see upgrades in various tiers from left to right. Contrary to what you may assume, you actually don't need to buy upgrades in the first tier to be able to access upgrades in the next tier, and so on. You can actually buy any upgrade from any tier whenever you want, assuming you have enough money. As the description says, you need to buy a single upgrade (no need to max it out) in each of the multiple tiers. This will cost somewhere around 15,000 credits, which you'll earn as you work through other achievements.
Big Winnings

60
Win a jackpot payout from a slot machine.
As the description says, you need to win a jackpot on the 777 slot machines during a run. I believe they won't spawn unless you either pick that option when leveling up, or you buy the upgrade in the Hangar that has one spawn every 777 kills. However, as I played, I noticed them spawning quite often in later runs, so it is possible that you just need to kill enough enemies to get these to "drop."

As far as winning a jackpot, it can be any matching of three objects. I'm not aware of any way to increase your odds of winning, despite the fact that you can actually press to stop each wheel. In my time with this game, I won a jackpot payout twice, so keep at it and choose the slot machine option whenever it's available, at least until you get this achievement out of the way.
Prize Earnings

60
Win a prize from a slot machine, coin toss, and wheel spin in a single run.
This achievement description is actually incorrect. You don't need to win all three in a single run; it's cumulative. At least, for me, I won the coin toss last, and as soon as I won it near the beginning of my second or third run, this achievement unlocked for me.

You'll start by only seeing coin tosses, slot machines, and wheel spins from the option you sometimes get when leveling up, where you can choose for these to drop. Winning them is completely random, but obviously you have a 50/50 chance of winning the coin toss, the wheel spin you have a high likelihood to win considering you have to just not land on the X, and the slot machine hits quite often too. It's therefore completely possible do win all three in a single run, but it wasn't required for me. As you do more runs, you'll notice these three drops appearing way more often, greatly increasing the chance of winning. Just pay attention to your minimap and grab these whenever they appear.
Good Bad Luck

60
Win nothing in a wheel spin.
As the description says, you need to land on the X during a wheel spin. This will assuredly happen eventually, but it will likely take a bunch of tries just because you're way more likely to win than lose with a wheel spin. Keep an eye on your minimap during later runs and you'll see wheel spins drop relatively often, especially if you buy and upgrade the upgrade that has them drop every certain number of enemy kills.
Double Not Nothing

60
Win a double or nothing coin toss.
Coin toss is, in my experience, the least common of the three gambling options that can drop. You first need to win a 50/50 coin toss, then you need to choose the right option to play double or nothing, and then win that. This is, of course, complete RNG, but I had easily 5-10 opportunities for this during my time with this game, and I went for double or nothing twice and won it both times. Of course, it entirely comes down to luck, so your mileage may vary, but keep trying with the coin toss until you win it.
Aries

60
Achieve a victory (In classic mode) and unlock the Aries Celestial Modifier.
Refer to Gemini (60G) for more information.
Taurus

60
Unlock the Taurus Celestial Modifier.
Refer to Gemini (60G) for more information.
Gemini

60
Unlock the Gemini Celestial Modifier.
These three achievements require you to beat the game for the first time, and then two more times with the associated modifiers active. What will happen is that, after beating the game for the first time, you'll unlock the Aries modifier. Enabling the Aries modifier gives all enemies 25% more health, and your weapons fire 15% faster to help offset. You also get a +15% score bonus, but that doesn't really help. You then need to play and beat the game with the Aries modifier active, and doing so unlocks the Taurus modifier. This modifier gives bosses 25% more health but you get more health too, and again the +15% score bonus. For your third run, you need to beat the game with both the Aries and Taurus modifiers active to unlock the Gemini modifier and this achievement.

While that may sound intimidating at first, this is a roguelite, so it'll be far easier after upgrading your ship, and even buying a new ship. Refer to the roadmap to how I approached this game to make it a quick and relatively easy completion. To sum it up, I bought the Mantis ship because of its massive fire rate and extra health, and then I bought the ship upgrades for module damage to offset its worse damage. I had maxed an upgrade in each tier by this point, and I was rolling through all enemies and bosses with no issues. My weapons of choice were always: micro missile array (always tried for this one no matter what), any type of turret (laser, shooting, or sprinkler), any type of explosion (fireworks, mortar, rocket, etc.), and if I couldn't find anything else, the mouse clicker or mines. Ignore leveling your own shots and focus entirely on module upgrades to max them out ASAP. Also ignore synergies for modules. I found them to be largely useless. The only time I'd pick something not a module upgrade was if I didn't get a module to choose that was one I wanted. Then I'd "reroll" by picking a utility upgrade. Going all in on offensive weapons, as well as upgrading your ship, will make it very easy to beat the game with these modifiers active.
Encounters Encountered

60
Complete 2 encounters in a single run.
Contrary to what you may assume from playing a couple runs, encounters are NOT the red alerts that pop up on screen with things such as lightning storms, meteors, etc. Even though is says "encounter complete" when done with them, these aren't related to this achievement (and it seems like you'll only see one per run no matter what).

What you actually need to do fo this achievement is pay attention to your minimap during a run. You'll periodically see a question mark pop up in a random location. It'll stick around for easily a minute or more, giving you plenty of time to get to it as long as you're paying attention and notice it. Once you get there, you'll be given a random side objective to complete for the encounter. For example, one I had was to stay inside a circle to charge something up before time runs out (which was a little challenging considering there were tons of enemies by that point), and another was really easy, where I had to "rescue" four ships by flying to them, touching them, then flying to Earth in the center of the area, and all ships were marked on the minimap. I've seen a couple others, so I'm not sure how many there are, but you only need two in one run. It's really just about paying attention to your minimap and then doing the events. You should definitely get three or four encounters that pop up during a run, so if you initiate one and it seems tough or risky, just abandon it and wait for the next one. As soon as you do two in a single run (you'll get to choose an upgrade when you successfully finish one), you'll unlock this achievement.
High Achiever

60
Finish a victory run with a score of 500,000 or more.
Refer to Overachiever (60G) for more information.
Overachiever

60
Finish a victory run with a score of 1,000,000 or more.
As the description says, you need to beat a run with a score over one million points. This will likely seem high to start with. On my very first run of this game, I beat it but my score was only just over 500,000 points. I assume this is because I was spending most of my time running from enemies and wasn't strong enough to kill more. Time also counts down while fighting bosses, so the longer you take to kill a boss, the less time you'll have to rack up score from killing enemies.

However, this achievement will assuredly come naturally while working on Gemini (60G). Not only will you have +30% score from having Aries and Taurus modifiers active, but you'll have a bunch of ship upgrades and know how to make a good offensive build. I was easily clearing 1.3 million points without even trying during my last few runs.
Astris Annihilator

60
Unlock the Astris' ship perk.
This is the main grindy achievement in the game. It requires you to get 10,000 kills with the starting ship, Astris. My later runs were getting 2500-3000 kills per run, but your first runs you can expect more like 1500 or so. I recommend just sticking with the Astris until you unlock this achievement, even though it'll be a bit slow going. Refer to the roadmap for progression to tie achievements together, but this is cumulative, so just stick with the Aspis until you get a cumulative total of 10,000 kills.

This can be tracked by going to the Hangar where you'd normally buy new ships. Going to the question mark icon in the lower left corner, where you'd apply a ship perk, and there you can see your progress for all ships' perks, the first being for the Astris.
Hoarder

60
Have 20,000 credits at once.
As the description says, you need to amass 20,000 credits between runs. This is annoying considering you'll want to spend credits on upgrades and new ships, since this is a roguelite after all. Refer to the roadmap, but I recommend getting this out of the way right away, before spending any credits. When you're done, you'll be able to spend that 20,000 on a ton of upgrades, and the rest of the completion will be a cakewalk.
That New Ship Smell

60
Purchase and equip a new ship.
In the Hangar, you can purchase a bunch of different ships. They are relatively cheap too, only costing a couple thousand credits. For this achievement, purchase any one ship. I personally chose the Mantis and then used it for the modifier runs, but choose whichever's stats you prefer.
Custom Crafts

100
Purchase and equip a ship skin.
For this achievement, in the Hangar, in the lower left corner, you can change the ship's color buy spending credits on a new skin. These are extremely overpriced, with the cheapest being 2500 credits, which is the price of a new ship. Wait until the end of your completion to waste money on a cosmetic for this achievement.

There are 5 achievements with a total of 1000 points

Destroyer I

200
Destroy 200 enemies in a single run.
Refer to Destroyer V (200G) for more information.
Destroyer II

200
Destroy 400 enemies in a single run.
Refer to Destroyer V (200G) for more information.
Destroyer III

200
Destroy 600 enemies in a single run.
Refer to Destroyer V (200G) for more information.
Destroyer IV

200
Destroy 900 enemies in a single run.
Refer to Destroyer V (200G) for more information.
Destroyer V

200
Destroy 1200 enemies in a single run.
As the descriptions says, these achievements need to be done in a single run. It's quite possible you'll do all five in your first run (I did, but just barely), but you will unavoidably destroy 1200 enemies in one run when getting Gemini (60G) and Overachiever (60G). I was close to 3000 enemies in those runs. Refer to the roadmap and Gemini (60G) for tips, but basically go all in on offensive modules, stick to ones that explode and shoot (melee ones are horrible and defense won't help you defeat enemies). Once you've upgraded your ship some, you'll be tearing through enemies no problem.