should be shot. good god, at least give us a quick.save in between waves.

It was a nice little challenge indeed.
And by challenge I mean torture.
And by torture I mean fucking apeshit madness that tosses out instadeaths like it's nothing!
 
But I beat it, eventually. I feel your pain.

i just beat it like 20 minutes ago. the thing that bugs me most about insanity aren't the shields or the armor or whatever--it's the fact that at that difficulty level, it really points out the flaws in your allies' a.i.
 
i can't believe how many rounds miranda and the professor spend firing into a wall because they're crouched but refuse to "stick" to the cover. or worse, getting out of cover to stand in the middle of the battlefield. it's even more infuriating when all the computer has to do is send one regular mob over and your whole squad gets torn to pieces.

Yes I was not a fan of ally's AI.  It seemed the game would decide to go into a Rambo mode where for some reason your allies would think they are Rambo and run out into the middle of a swarm of enemies with nothing but their junky pistol (Miranda you know I'm looking at you stop hiding!) and then continue on to being absolutely annihilated.

I didn't have much trouble on Horizon, it was the flying platforms on the collector ship that almost cost me a controller. AI just kept getting oneshot by the Scion no matter where they stood.

ugh, i'm not looking forward to that part. what's the best way to defeat the scions?

Cloaked > Widow Sniper > Shreddar Ammo > Headshot.  
 
Can kill them in 3-4 shots, main problem is not dying to the harbinger while doing so. I quickly killed the 3 normal collectors, then switched to the Scion while my AI kept the harbinger busy. After the 1st platform it's not so tough as the next Scion can't hit you.

yeah it's tough, the worst part of horizon on insanity is the preatorian. It's the first part of that game that is actually Insane. 
 
But there are more to look forward to! lol. 
 

" yeah it's tough, the worst part of horizon on insanity is the preatorian. It's the first part of that game that is actually Insane. 
 
But there are more to look forward to! lol. 
 

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

You wait until you're on the collector ship...

"

Glad I'm not playing it on Insanity, that part on Horizon is the only place I've died more than once.

I don't know your skill level. For myself, no, i've not had any negative impacts, quite the opposite, i love a challenge. 
 
But without tooting my own horn i'm pretty good at shooters. It depends on your skill level. 
 
I think your next difficult moment will be  at the end of the level when you recruit Tali.
 
I'd say if you can beat that part without dying more then 3 or 4 times, you'll probably be good to go.

" should be shot. good god, at least give us a quick.save in between waves. "

The thought of Insanity scares me. I've yet to try it.

I'm a wimp. I won't play on Insanity. I have a low tolerance for frustration in games.

No, this person should be locked away in a basement and left to die.
 
The person who designed Grunt's mission on Insanity should be shot in the head.
 
The person who designed the mission where you save the crates on insanity should be hanged.

" No, this person should be locked away in a basement and left to die.  The person who designed Grunt's mission on Insanity should be shot in the head.  The person who designed the mission where you save the crates on insanity should be hanged. "

I might try an insanity run soon. With my short fuse when it comes to video games, though, I don't know if that's a good idea. To get the Geth assault rifle, I managed to get through Tali's recruitment mission on hardcore without dying at all, and that's one of the harder missions in the game.

I only died once at the final part of Horizon on Insanity... then I said, "Oh, I guess I need to just be more mobile and pay attention." 
 
I think Grunt's Recruitment Mission or Garrus' were tougher than the final part of Horizon.  You really have to haul ass and kill shit quick on these kinda parts.  Charging enemies like Krogan/Husks are a bitch on Insanity. 
 
Maybe it just comes-down to the class vs. situation.  I started playing a Soldier on Insanity and then started-over and switched to an Infiltrator.  I feel like Infiltrator is the way to go. 

I don't see why people have so much trouble with insanity. I played a 20 hour game as an infiltrator and beat it just fine. Just be wise in picking people that can tear down shields and armor quickly(overload+warp).

" i just beat it like 20 minutes ago. the thing that bugs me most about insanity aren't the shields or the armor or whatever--it's the fact that at that difficulty level, it really points out the flaws in your allies' a.i.  i can't believe how many rounds miranda and the professor spend firing into a wall because they're crouched but refuse to "stick" to the cover. or worse, getting out of cover to stand in the middle of the battlefield. it's even more infuriating when all the computer has to do is send one regular mob over and your whole squad gets torn to pieces. "

The best tip I can give for Horizon on Insanity is to stay mobile, as Luke said above. 
 
You can take cover during the Collector waves, but when the Scions and Husks come to play you need to move. Kite the Husks around and stay away from the Scions until all the melee enemies are dead. Then deal with the big guys. The only attack the Scions have is Shockwave. You don't even need to be in cover when fighting them. Just do some damage, and then move.
 
The Praetorian battle here is a cakewalk on Insanity, though. Just remember to get cover, do some damage, and then move to new cover.
 
You guys can check out the guide I published for other general tips to Insanity, if you'd like. 
 
(I felt really weird about self promoting here, but there might be some stuff in there that could actually help someone. Heh. Please don't flame, I meant no offense.)

" should be shot. good god, at least give us a quick.save in between waves. "

1. if you send them to cover, sometimes they'll "unstick" from cover and just crouch there doing nothing, and will remain sitting there shooting at a wall until you to explicitly command them again
   
2. if you command them to use a power with the directional pad, sometimes, even though the enemy is targeted, you'll set a way-point that they'll follow to their deaths instead
3. when they're behind cover, they'll pop out to take shots even when they're shield is down and their health is low
   
4. they'll break from their current cover and make a run for completely nonsensical cover that's completely exposed
5. when you command them to go somewhere, sometimes there will be severe pathing problems, causing them to run the most ridiculously dangerous route possible to cover

I just finished Horizon on Insanity.
 
I lost my cool after dying about 6 times on the first pre-hack wave with the husks. I was keeping mobile and kiting fine, but the AI would keep running too close to the scions and dying, leaving me to get reamed by the husks.
 
I ended up killing the Scions when I first came through the door without triggering them or the husks. Takes a little while (and you have to be precise with warp/concussion/incinerate), but got the job done. The best thing is, once the Scions are down the husks never come.
 
The rest was a breeze. Just hunkered down in the northern L bend covers, alternating depending on where the wave was coming from, and chipped away at everyone. In the last wave before the Praetorian you have to venture out and take out the last few collectors & harbinger, but it's not too difficult. As many have said, the Praetorian is a piece of piss - just kite around a truck and chip away at him.
 
I'm in no way skilled at games (I usually play things on the next level up from Easy/Casual, and avoid vs. Multiplayer because I always end up someone's bitch), and I'd never attempt Insanity in ME2 unless I thought the achievement was possible. I think I'm getting better.

  @dudeitsdon said:

" @Teran: Yeah, I've been getting better at giving orders, but there's a lot of inherent problems that come up from trying to control your team: 

1. if you send them to cover, sometimes they'll "unstick" from cover and just crouch there doing nothing, and will remain sitting there shooting at a wall until you to explicitly command them again
   
2. if you command them to use a power with the directional pad, sometimes, even though the enemy is targeted, you'll set a way-point that they'll follow to their deaths instead
3. when they're behind cover, they'll pop out to take shots even when they're shield is down and their health is low
   
4. they'll break from their current cover and make a run for completely nonsensical cover that's completely exposed
5. when you command them to go somewhere, sometimes there will be severe pathing problems, causing them to run the most ridiculously dangerous route possible to cover

 Am I the only one experiencing this?! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!  Basically, the more you have to take individual control over your squad, the more chances you have of their AI completely going on the fritz. Something that I think could be made more bearable with more frequent save opportunities. To be fair, though, the game is getting much more bearable as I find more and more upgrades. I've still yet to hit the Collector ship, however. "

@notorganic

" I just finished Horizon on Insanity.  I lost my cool after dying about 6 times on the first pre-hack wave with the husks. I was keeping mobile and kiting fine, but the AI would keep running too close to the scions and dying, leaving me to get reamed by the husks.  I ended up killing the Scions when I first came through the door without triggering them or the husks. Takes a little while (and you have to be precise with warp/concussion/incinerate), but got the job done. The best thing is, once the Scions are down the husks never come.  The rest was a breeze. Just hunkered down in the northern L bend covers, alternating depending on where the wave was coming from, and chipped away at everyone. In the last wave before the Praetorian you have to venture out and take out the last few collectors & harbinger, but it's not too difficult. As many have said, the Praetorian is a piece of piss - just kite around a truck and chip away at him.  I'm in no way skilled at games (I usually play things on the next level up from Easy/Casual, and avoid vs. Multiplayer because I always end up someone's bitch), and I'd never attempt Insanity in ME2 unless I thought the achievement was possible. I think I'm getting better. "