Couple questions

[Spattercat]

Do I need to play through the campaign to unlock all abilities?

Can I level up in any mode?

Thanks! Enjoying it, albeit briefly, so far )

Multiplayer (playing in a game with another player) gives you experience points.
All of the skills are unlocked when you choose map option: Individual Abilities
and then select "Custom" instead of "Episode 1" or "Episode 2" abilities.

[Spattercat]

Thanks!

[Spattercat]

Anyone have any tips for beating the last stage of the first campaign? I'm feeling somewhat frustrated.

[yakfox]

I don't know if this will help you, but my main piece of advice is: don't be too timid! Try going at it quite boldly, using your attacking abilities a lot. You only care about reaching the mythic portal, so you don't need a well-defended territory if you can get through to the portal fairly quickly.

[blackice64]

Originally Posted by Spattercat

Anyone have any tips for beating the last stage of the first campaign? I'm feeling somewhat frustrated.

Try to attack as soon as possible; the longer you wait, the more enemies arrive. Try to make a path through the enemy territory of 2 or 3 empty Vertexes wide, so you don't take as much damage. Use Star Attack and Guided Bomb as often as possible to clear an area. Focus on a single path, and attack quickly!

As for dying, try to Teleport when you're about to die, but if you do get destroyed, spawn as close to your path as possible and attack again.

I think my fastest time is around 1m45.

Originally Posted by Spattercat

Anyone have any tips for beating the last stage of the first campaign? I'm feeling somewhat frustrated.

Don't bother defending. Just use your white and then your yellow to connect the pieces. The shaded-in areas will produce slightly faster and then you can charge the enemy territory. The AI robots will try to capture your territory but that doesn't matter as long as you can bust-through! I made it to within eight vertices of the finish three times before winning it.