Close Encounters is the fifth stage in Axis of Evil.
Battleground
The stage begins with 400% buffed Doges, and 200% buffed Trolly Bloggers. At 99% base health, a 2000% Cli-One appears as the boss; it is backed up by Henry and an 800% buffed Nimoy Bore.
Due to the extremely short stage length, Henry will probably hit the players castle; due to his low damage, this is not an issue. The biggest threats are Nimoy Bore, who pushes quite hard and is very tanky, and Cli-One, whose high strength magnification results in it easily damaging most units.
Strategy
Strategy 1 (No ubers, 1 star)
Lineup: Cameraman Cat (44+), Manic Eraser Cat (20+), Catellite (32+), Jiangshi Cat (33+), Chill Cat (35+), Cyberpunk Cat (30+, Level 7+ Slow talent), Can Can Cat (30+, optional Money talent), Castaway Cat (19+), Macho Legs Cat (41+), Awakened Bahamut Cat (30)
Cat Cannon: Normal Cat Cannon (for occasionally resetting Cli-one's attack and killing off peons)
Battle Items: None
At the beginning, spawn only Manic Eraser and stall the peons. Don't let them damage the base at all, since you gotta preserve as much base HP as you can for Henry's attacks. While you're doing that, upgrade Worker Cat whenever you can. When you have max cash, start spamming Catellites, Can Cans, Manic Erasers, Chill Cats, Cameramen and Macho Legs. Along with that, occasionally spawn Cyberpunks and Castaways or Seafarers if you have them. Both forms work well, but if your RNG with Castaways is bad, use Seafarers. If you have low cash, just spawn Catelittes and maybe Cameramen.
When Nimoy Bore gets his second knockback, you'll probably run low on cash, so spam Catelittes and some Manic Erasers and save up for A. Bahamut and spawn him right after Cli-one does its attack. This should kill Nimoy Bore, and if it doesn't try spamming a bit more Catelittes and Cameramen and maybe some Can Cans. After you killed Nimoy Bore, this becomes a stalling game. All you gotta do is spam Cameramen and Catelittes to kill off Henry and stall Cli-one, and eventually kill it too. If you did everything right, you should win the match! If you lost, just try again or maybe upgrade some of your units. Also maybe try timing A. Bahamut better, or getting Talents on some cats.
Strategy 2 (2 and 3 Star)
Lineup: Li'l Eraser Cat (48+2), Manic Eraser Cat (40), Catellite (29+2), Thaumaturge Cat (30), Corrupted Psychocat (27+5), Can Can Cat (38+2), Zamboney Cat (30), Seafarer Cat (29+1), Schoolbus Nyandam (30), Awakened Bahamut Cat (40)
Cat Cannon: Thunderbolt, Slow Beam or Breakerblast (to knockback Henry).
Stall the beginning Trolly Bloggers with Zamboney until you get to max money and wallet, then send out Schoolbus Nyandam first as he is slow, send out everything else, EXCLUDING Awakened Bahamut when Schoolbus Nyandam is approaching the base. Nimoy Bore is not to much of a problem on his own as he should get be taking heavy damage from your units and be constantly crowd controlled, not making him to much of a problem. when Nimoy Bore gets knockbacked once, stop spawning your units so he can move forward again without all your units moving into Cli-One's range, making killing Nimoy Bore much harder.
Once Nimoy Bore is lured again, send out Awakened Bahamut to finish him off while also remembering to spam your other units. once Nimoy Bore is dead, lure Henry away from Cli-One a bit, before continuing with your spam. Whenever Henry gets knockbacked, lure him back again out of Cli-One's range, send out Awakened Bahamut whenever he is off recharge time during this part (excluding when your units move into Cli-One's range if they do), as he can do massive damage to Henry.
Once Henry is dead, all you have to do is manage your money correctly to kill Cli-One and then you have won the stage! My final base health when completing the level with this strategy was 40,180 but I still recommend at least 140,000 as that's what I had.
Trivia
- With no anti-alien treasures,the Cli-One in this level has the fourth highest HP in the game, having a mind-boggling 16,800,000 HP, only beaten by Homulily who has 18 million HP with her weaken, the Super Cosmic Cyclone in Wrath of the Wormhole who has 63,999,936 HP with no anti-Starred Alien Treasures and lastly Johnnyleon with no anti-Unstarred Alien treasures who has 21,000,000 million health.
- That means, that in 3-star difficulty, it would have 33,600,000 HP, which would make it a insanely powerful threat.
- This stage's name is a reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, an American Science Fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg with the premise of aliens.