@[ffc] seemed to have a pretty unorthodox, but effective, strategy when undertaking this battle, constantly upgrading his Strike Commander with range upgrades for his dual Particle Beams, followed by auto-repair upgrades. Personally, I'd much rather prefer to invest in building up a more conventional force of units, along with some striders later on, which I did while my partner was off on his rampage (though due to lagginess, I had to give control of my forces to my partner to mop up the remaining enemies).