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1

General Discussion / [SPOILER] Background Story of Cogmind

« on: September 19, 2018, 12:02:51 PM »

During my free time, I started a personal project to put together all the lore entries I can find and produce a single article explaining the background story in Cogmind. No, I won't be talking about the robot named Cogmind, but rather, I'll talk about the events leading to the construction of 0b10 complex and the existence of robots and Derelicts. All details should be verifiable and in chronological order. If you see any mistake or want to add additional details that are noteworthy, feel free to let me know.

And of course, because we're dealing with a lot of lores, prepare to be spoiled! It's more fun to reread the lore entries and try to figure out the story yourself, so if you haven't done so already, you should at least try to do that.

Spoiler: Click if you don't care (click to show/hide)

Late 21st century to 2198: The Start of Interstellar Space Travel
 
Starting the late 21st century, humans drained most of Earth’s resources and destabilized the environment, prompting them to search for additional resources from outer space. As a result, many of the solar system’s planets and moons were colonized during the period of four decades from 2070 to 2110. In 2080, an organization called International Space Command (ISC) was formed to oversee the effort of space exploration and colonization.
 
While the solar system was being colonized, ISC started a new project in hope of expanding space exploration beyond the solar system. In 2080, ISC planned to construct four Titan class ships for such space exploration: ISCS Leo, ISCS Centaurus, ISCS Eridanus, and ISCS Cetus, forming the Interstellar Exploration Fleet. Each ship was designed to travel to four different solar systems.
 
In 2140, the Interstellar Exploration Fleet was completed and scheduled to depart the Solar System.
 
After many decades later, ISCS Leo and ISCS Eridanus presumably arrived to their destinations, but ISCS Centaurus disappeared for unknown reason during its travel. While ISCS Cetus was still on its way to Tau Ceti System, an alien race suddenly arrived in the Solar System in 2198.


2198 to 2243: The Attack of the Sigix
 
A hostile alien race called Sigix first contacted humans in 2198 and began a powerful assault on the unprepared human civilization. Realizing the nature of this deadly race, ISC sent out a burst of warning messages to all outbound ships to travel beyond their intended destination to avoid pursuit and preserve the human species. The lack of contact afterward suggested the human civilization was wiped out during the Solar War.
 
After receiving the warning messages in 2210, ISCS Cetus briefly landed in Tau Ceti IV a year later to deploy Project Seraph in response to the alien threat. After deployment, the ship left to an unknown destination in hope of rebuilding the human civilization elsewhere. One of the science personnel named Talas Zhirov was left in charge of this project, so he had to be left out in this planet.
 
An artificial intelligence dubbed “Main.C”, originally used for the ship’s manufacturing facilities, also had to be left out in this planet to start the project. One of its goals was to build a fake civilization in order to lure the Sigix. Afterward, the AI would attempt to eliminate the Sigix or at least learn their weaknesses. Any information gained through this experiment was to be broadcasted in many different directions to alert any surviving humans.
 
In 2218, Main.C started to populate the planet with robots that have minds of their own. These are formed by its side project called Lifeworm which could reform any consumed matter into artificial life. As a result, the first “Derelict” was born.
 
In 2238, after completing all surface construction, Main.C began to expand its development underground. Although Zhirov was keenly interested in it, he tried to not interfere with Main.C for fear of subjecting himself to danger and slowing down the project. Thus, Zhirov had been observing the development afar in order to remain hidden.
 
After completing the faux human city, Main.C began to transmit messages to the Solar System in 2243. Sometime later, a small Sigix scout class ship called the Leopard suddenly appeared without warning and landed on Tau Ceti IV. Soon afterward, Main.C’s robots emerged from underneath and confronted the alien troops by surprise. Main.C only barely won due to its overwhelming number of robots. After the battle, Main.C began to study intensely on the aliens and their Leopard ship, and attempted to replicate this alien design into its own robots and components in order to better deal with future Sigix assault.
 
In order to support this new endeavor, Main.C started to expand its underground complex deeper into the caves, forming Complex 0b10. This complex is divided into three primary levels: Materials, Factory, and Research. The Material levels are for mining and processing resources; the Factory levels are for fabricating parts and robots; and the Research levels are for studying the Sigix technology and creating prototypes.
 

2243: Rise of the Derelicts
 
During the 0b10 development, failed robot experiments and glitches prompt Main.C to abandon these underperforming robots. As the Derelict population grows, they develop their own communities in caves and mines surrounding the complex. So far, the two largest Derelict groups are Zionites and Warlord followers.
 
As the 0b10 complex expands toward their home in the cave systems, the Derelicts have grown increasingly hostile toward Main.C, even willing to cause a rebellion. Additionally, their ideology that all robots should be freed from Main.C’s influence adds fuel to the fire.
 
One of the more aggressive Derelicts named Warlord persistently fights against Main.C. After amassing his followers, Warlord aims to destroy their creator and take over the complex. To do this, Warlord plans to construct a giant war machine called God Mode. In the meantime, many diversionary attacks are carried out to draw Main.C forces away from the base before launching a full-scale attack after God Mode’s completion.

At one point, Zionites initiated a large war against Main.C’s army, but the failed result of this Derelict Uprising dissuades them from fighting again. Consequently, most Zionites lost hope and decide to live passively at a remote location called Zion. However, a certain robot named Imprinter still wishes that one day, a savior will arrive to lead them to battle again.

2

Ideas / Robot Hack ideas

« on: August 16, 2018, 06:38:45 AM »

The latest and the greatest robot hacking blog made my mouth watered, so naturally, I thought to myself, "What other cool hacks can we think of?" Now is the time to share some of your ideas and hopefully the dev can implement them in the near future!

3

General Discussion / [SPOILER] Unexplained Lore

« on: August 09, 2018, 12:11:22 PM »

Here's a list of lore entries that are a bit of a mystery to me, based on my current understanding. I haven't collected all the lore entries, so it's possible that some of them have already been explained. If that's the case, please let us know (with spoiler tag)!

Obviously, this thread contains full of spoilers.

Spoiler: Z Dialogue (click to show/hide)

75
----
I don't think anyone from the past few generations has ever actually seen the deep caves. There sure are plenty of stories, though. / I heard that long ago there were the Machinaliths. Then they were crushed by Stompy the Giant, who later fell to a horde of especially vicious wild Derelicts. After a while they mostly tore each other apart, and were finished off by the Metal Eaters. / Some devious Wizard then got the Metal Eaters to eat themselves, and used the wealth of scrap out there to conduct experiments, and we all know how experiments by mad scientist types end up... / That was many generations ago. Who knows what's down there now; I sure don't want to find out. / As is, we're kinda stuck here between the ever-expanding 0b10 and deep caves that we don't dare explore, much less move into.

Although all of these appear to be a myth, is there any hint of truth in it? If so, what does each of the characters represent? What exactly is going on here?

91
----
I'm one of the earliest Derelicts. / Yep, descended from MAIN.C's Lifeworm project in 2218 and not ashamed of it like some of the others. / Not many of us can say we've survived for so long, after all! / The Lifeworm was a giant tunneling robot that slowly burrowed its way through Tau Ceti IV's crust, using the materials to create increasingly unique autonomous robots that were left in its wake to fare on their own. / I wonder where it is now... / Oddly every wizard I've asked has said they've never even seen any mention of the Lifeworm in MAIN.C's own records.

Does Lifeworm really exist? Is it still alive? Is it implying that the Derelicts have life (self-conciousness) because of being exposed to the materials found in Tau Ceti IV's crust?

93
----
We call them scrappers, bands of hostile Derelicts that embed supermagnets in cave walls and suddenly activate them to rip apart passersby, or just suspend them in the air and toy with them before turning them to scrap. / If you start detecting strong magnetic anomalies, turn around immediately.

Who are these scrappers? Is the supermagnet real? Where can you find it?

4

Strategies / Armchair Robotics - Weekly Topical Strategy Discussions

« on: August 03, 2018, 12:02:50 PM »

What is Armchair Robotics?
Armchair Robotics is a weekly discussion around a selected topic. Ask questions, answer them, and post your thoughts, so that we can all learn from each other and improve our understanding of the game!

Discussions take place in the following locations:

• Official Forum (this thread)
• r/Cogmind
• Steam
• Discord

For those of you who are looking to get even more involved, you're welcome to come write something about this week’s subject in the google doc below. The community is looking to gradually build up a compendium of helpful tips for newer players to read. Your work might even be added to the ever-expanding Cogmind Community Guide!

• Armchair Robotics Doc
• Cogmind Community Guide (Heavy spoiler warning! Also please note this guide is a work in progress!)

Table of Contents

Here on the forums, all the Armchair topics are combined into a single thread. Add responses/comments to this thread as you like, or use one of the other discussion locations. (r/Cogmind Armchair threads tend to be the most active, but feel free to post anywhere, they all get visitors!)

Quick links to each new topic posted in this thread by the discussion hosts:

• Propulsion Type (first one below!) (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Optimizing Movement (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• RNG and Risk Management (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Storage (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Weapons (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Alert (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Infowar (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Planning Your Run (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Z (branch) (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• DM (branch) (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• E (branch) (r/Cogmind, Steam)

And the first topic is...

Armchair Robotics Week #1: Propulsion Type
This week we’ll be talking about Propulsion type. Here are a few starting points for discussion:

• What are the pros and cons of different propulsion types?
• How does your choice of propulsion affect your playstyle?
• How many propulsion slots should you evolve?
• What is your favorite type of propulsion and why?

Enjoy!

(See the same topic also on r/Cogmind and Steam.)

5

Ideas / Ideas for the new Parse hack

« on: June 15, 2018, 09:30:57 PM »

As stated in the SITREP #26 post, the Parse hack will be making a comeback for the new robot hack system, but Kyzrati made the following statement:

So my question to you is whether or not there's anything in particular you might want out of this new PARSE data?

Do you have any cool idea?

6

Ideas / Buff Repair Station

« on: January 11, 2018, 10:36:38 PM »

Repair Station is really useful at times. Are you half naked? Get refit. Is your cool item about to go down? Repair it. Got a broken sensor array from scanning? No problem.

Despite all these cool advantages, I wondered why I haven't made much use of it. I rarely even touch this machine. In fact, I might have used Recycling Units even more than Repair Stations, partly because there's a chance of getting some cool items from it, and partly because there are more useful unauthorized hacks for Recycling machines.

One of the problems with Repair Station is its higher cost for failure. What's the worst thing that can happen for a failed fabrication? Wasting time, getting system feedbacks, and having investigation squad coming at you. But what's the worst thing that can happen for a failed repair? Losing your precious item! At least you can still scan after a failed scanalyzer, but it's possible to insert and lose your entire item from a destroyed Repair Station. You can't get it back!

The other problem is the long repair time which is comparable to its fabrication time. When you obtain a schematic of something, you can make several copies of that item. Meanwhile, repairing only works for one or a few damaged item. After that, there's little replay value. So when given a choice to repair or to fabricate, usually you'll pick fabricating. I'd rather have an almost dead sword and a healthy sword (possibly several healthy swords) than a single repaired sword alone.

And what happen when you have a half-damaged item? Is it worth the waiting time to repair it? Should you skip it and move on? Because repairing it at 20% integrity is no different than repairing it at 80% integrity, what incentive is there to repair the latter kind?

For stealth hacker build, fabricator is your best friend at creating whatever number of copies you want, creating backups in case your sensor array falls apart. Also, you can easily obtain any schematic you want from terminals and create something that you don't already have. Non-hackers like combat builds can make use of pre-installed schematic so they can immediately fabricate something that's interesting, sometimes out-of-depth items or robots.

Repair Station, on the other hand, has only a niche use. Its usefulness is limited to having a badly damaged item that you already own, or if you need a refit. And......that's pretty much it.

It's true that the Recycling Unit is even more of a niche from a strategic point-of-view, but I believe it's mostly there for fluff than for actual use. Repair Station doesn't seem to be this way.

Here are some ideas for buffing Repair Station:

1) Increase success chance for installing and repairing items.

2) Decrease repair time, perhaps proportional to the amount of integrity % loss. (So repairing a half-damaged sword would decrease the repair time by half)

3) Add a chance to have pre-installed damaged items, similar to how fabricator may have pre-installed schematic.

4) Add an eject button in case you need to pull out the item ASAP. Works well with idea #3.

5) Having an ally machinist will further decrease the repair time by a pinch.

6) More Repair Station unauthorized hacks.

7) If an item is already loaded into the Repair Station, destroying the machine may spit out the loaded item. (Similar to how Recycling Unit works)

7

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Missing flashing '?' for some NPC at Zion

« on: December 05, 2017, 09:27:44 AM »

This was discussed in the past at the Discord chat, but there's no list of all the NPC with the missing green '?'. It's easy to skip some NPC without this indicator during the Zion visit, and I really don't want to talk to every single NPC in case I missed something.

The list is not complete and I may be missing a few more. Hopefully others can help out.

1) Repair shop (preferably a flashing green '?' before the first conversation, and then after the first conversation)

2) NPC that drops the Self Disrupt Interrupter.

3) NPC's that give out the 4 codes.

NPC's that I would NOT want to have flashing green '?':

1) Squirrels!

8

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Detaching any part in a room full of items destroys them

« on: November 22, 2017, 06:38:56 PM »

This is a weird but funny bug. I encountered it when I saw a room full of scrap piles at a Lower Cave. Strangely enough, there's a door on it! So after searching through all of the scrap piles, I decided to drop an equipped item to manage my items around. In this case, I dropped an axe. And guess what? It got destroyed all of the sudden! The animation is exactly the same as if the axe is a processor, including the fading red color and the "detach processor" sound effect. And yet, the top-center message is: "Insufficient inventory capacity, dropped". Fortunately, I was able to reproduce the effect over and over again.

Here's what you need to do:
1) Go into a room (with a door). Fill the room with items so that there's no more empty space left. Then stand inside the room at a tile away from the door. I did it in a small cave room mentioned above.
2) Make sure your inventory is full.
3) Drop any equipped non-processor item (either with a mouse or keyboard).

If you attempt to do this next to the door (thus opening it), the bug will NOT appear. I'm not sure if it's possible to reproduce the bug at a main complex map, so this is something to be looked at too.

For demonstration, here's the GIF image.

Spoiler: GIF image (click to show/hide)

I've also attached the .sav file in case you need it.

P.S. I want my axe back.... 

Edit: The part destruction also occurs if you drop any item from you inventory, after following step #1 and 2 above.

9

Ideas / Log showing squad communication signal

« on: November 22, 2017, 07:36:51 AM »

One of the nasty things about playing with combat build is that a squad of enemies can spread information to another nearby squad, resulting in even more enemies marching toward your position. This is one of the most difficult parts of combat because you won't know if more robots will be coming your way or not, unless you have a way to detect enemies via sensor array, etc. This mechanic is also difficult for new players because without prior warning, loads of enemies appear to come "out of nowhere". With no knowledge of additional incoming forces, players will feel overwhelmed almost instantly, which may appear to feel "unfair".

So what I'm proposing is that when an enemy combative squad is signaling to another enemy squad, a log message should appear to say it. As of now, no message appears.

Visible signs of incoming enemies have shown to be useful, alerting players ahead of time and thus, allowing you to prepare yourself before the army comes. For example, watchers and operators give off distress signals when a squad is close by. Alarm traps, machines tracing you, blowing up garrisons, etc. also give off alert signal so that players will always have time to prepare themselves. They won't have to guess if more enemies are coming or not.

Would it be a problem to have a similar log message in combative squad-to-squad signaling case? From a stealthy flight build standpoint, your sensor array already gives you enough information about the surround robots, so the impact is minimum. Therefore, it's only a real benefit for combat build.

Transmission jammer also feels a bit more useful because in this case, you can actually see if it's jamming the squad-to-squad communication signal or not. However, its actual effect isn't changed at all.

10

Stories / This guy is an idiot

« on: November 04, 2017, 08:38:39 AM »

Too late!

11

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Transporter visual bug with Network Coupler and Transport Status hack

« on: October 20, 2017, 07:06:05 PM »

So here's what happened.

I got my Transport Network Coupler so I can see every transporter on the spot. Then, at one terminal, I stupidly hit the Transport Status hack which is a big waste. But after looking at the result, here's a strange thing. One of the transporters isn't at the same tile as the hack's revealed coordinate. Either the Transport Network Coupler is pinpointing the wrong location, or the hack pinpointed the wrong location (or possibly both). See screenshot below.

12

Strategies / Combat Strategy Guide: Positioning

« on: October 03, 2017, 09:02:12 PM »

ANNOUNCEMENT:
This guide is also available on Steam. I will be prioritizing the updates for the Steam guide more so than here, so you should check it out!

--------------------
Introduction
--------------------

Combat strategy is a very large topic. So in this guide, I'll be talking about only a small portion of it: Positioning. Why is positioning important? What are some examples of good positioning? And what are some things to watch out for? Although this isn't a finished guide, I will continue to add more in the future.

Take note that this doesn't cover every scenario on how to position yourself. The procedural generation in this game provides too many unique situations to be listed out. Instead, this guide will cover major topics to help you deal with most cases. And when you have practiced and developed a stronger skill, you'll be better prepared to tackle a more complicated scenario by yourself.

This guide assumes you are using ranged weapons. If you are using melee weapons, some parts will be inapplicable to you.

Important: I'm not a great Cogmind player myself, so if you have any feedback, please let me know! Thanks.


---------------------------------
Topics of Discussion
---------------------------------

A. Good Positioning – A Foundation to Good Defensive Play

B. General Tips for Positioning

C. How Positioning Affects Accuracy
    a. Your Accuracy
    b. Their Accuracy

D. Doorway Tactic
    a. Benefits
    b. Things to Watch Out for

E. Narrow Corridor Tactic
    a. Benefits and Drawbacks

F. Should You Reposition?

G. Other Topics to be Added in


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Good Positioning – A Foundation to Good Defensive Play
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A basic concept in many strategy games, good positioning makes it harder for your enemies to fight against you. In Cogmind’s case, this means finding a place that minimizes the damage intake, therefore increasing the longevity of your equipment and your core. Remember, your enemy’s greatest strength is its number; don’t let them overwhelm you!

Positioning can help you mitigate damage in two different ways: reducing the number of simultaneous attacks from multiple enemies, and reducing the number of enemies pursuing you. Both are important to your survival, and knowing how to position yourself will help you achieve the first way, or the second way, or even both ways.

Positioning can also help you offensively, making the best use of your weapons and allies to kill effectively.

Much of the strategy depends on terrain features such as walls, doors, and machines. Therefore, it's important to have map awareness so that you can take advantage of them as soon as you need them. That way, you can save yourself from a few more bullets.


------------------------------------------------
B. General Tips for Positioning
------------------------------------------------

These are some general tips that can help you in any part of the game.

• Make use of diagonal movement so that you can get from point A to point B quickly.
  
  
• Stay close to useful terrain features while traveling. For example, when you see a vertical hallway full of doors on the left-side, try to stay on the left-side wall so that you can take advantage of them as soon as possible.
  
  
• Watchers call out distress signals only when there’s a nearby enemy. So therefore, when you see them without a distress signal, you’ll know it’s safe around here. Otherwise, you’ll have to prepare yourself.

---------------------------------------------------------
C. How Positioning Affects Accuracy
---------------------------------------------------------

-------------------
Your Accuracy
-------------------

The manual lists out all the possible factors that can affect your weapons’ accuracy, including how you position yourself. So if your volleys have been missing a lot, it may have to do with your movement.

• Volley modifier: +3%/cell if range < 6
  This means the closer you are to your target, the higher your accuracy. A point-blank attack incurs +15% accuracy bonus, while a range of exactly 5 tiles incurs +3% bonus. Thus, positioning yourself to invite robots to draw closer to you will help you hit your target.
  
  
• +10% if attacker didn’t move for the last 2 actions.
  This means your accuracy will increase after you stabilize your position without moving. After taking cover and positioning yourself in an optimum place, you’ll receive 10% bonus.
  
  
• -10% if attacker moved last action (ignored in melee combat)
  On the other hand, moving around and shooting is usually not recommended. Otherwise, your accuracy will be severely penalized.

--------------------
Their Accuracy
--------------------

Other robots follow the same formula for accuracy. Therefore, moving to take cover can affect the weapon accuracy of your enemies.

• Volley modifier: +3%/cell if range < 6
  It’s usually better to take cover that is further away from your enemies. That way, it would be harder for them to hit you.
  
  
• -10% if attacker moved last action (ignored in melee combat)
  Another reason to take cover away from enemies is to force them to move in to attack you. If you can move even 1 space away from their firing range, you can severely punish their accuracy rate. However, this is more applicable for robots that have shorter range weapons (like grunts). Those with long-range weapons like swarmers and sentries have lesser impact.
  
  
• -10%/-5% if target is flying/hovering (and not overweight or in stasis)
  Using fast propulsions like hovers has a lot of advantages such as extra evasion chance. Take care not to go overweight!
  
  
• -1~15% if defender moved last action, where faster = harder to hit
  Sometimes you don’t activate all your fast propulsions to conserve energy. Now is the time to activate them all for maximum speed!
  
  
• -20% for each robot obstructing line of fire
  If you are able to go behind green bots while running, you can use them to obstruct enemy's line of fire. However, be careful with certain bots like engineers that can call for reinforcements when getting hit.

-----------------------------
D. Doorway Tactic
-----------------------------

One common position is at a doorway inside a room, diagonally adjacent to the door. Most robots walk along the hallways where several adjacent rooms are nearby. When you see some bad guys are coming, you can easily slip into one of those rooms and then wait for them to come by. There are many advantages to using this type of tactic.

-----------
Benefits
-----------

• It forces your enemies to fight 1-on-1 against you. When a hostile robot walks up to the door, it would stop to fire its weapon. Meanwhile, its buddies can’t go through the same door or aim at you, so they are forced to wait for you to finish off its friend.
  
  It is important to fight diagonally adjacent to the door because if you stand orthogonally, the second robot will be able to attack you.
  
  
  3-on-1 is a bad idea. I can only attack one grunt at a time. Meanwhile, 3 guys are attacking me all at once.
  
  
  By positioning myself in this way, these grunts can't attack in group anymore. It's 1-on-1 battle now!
  
  
  
• It gives you accuracy bonus to hit your target. Your attacks are most accurate when targeting a directly-adjacent robot, making fast-moving bots like swarmers and programmers much easier to hit. Standing for 2 turns straight without moving also gives you accuracy bonus.
  
  
  
• It gives you time to swap out your equipment before fighting. If you’ve been equipping a valuable item like a sensor array or a terrain scanner, running into a room early will give you time to swap it out for an armor or a heat sink before the fight begins. If you spot an enemy with high resistance against your weapon type, now is the time to swap it out for something that is stronger against it.
  
  
  
• It lessens the chance of hitting green units that would call for reinforcement when attacked, specifically engineers and haulers. Fighting face-to-face makes it much harder for stray shots to hit them.
  
  
  
• It helps you be more ready to face additional squads. In case more enemies are coming, you’ll be able to continue to fight them 1-on-1 instead of fighting 2 squads at the same time back-to-back.

--------------------------------
Things to Watch Out for
--------------------------------

Fighting near a doorway has a lot of great benefits. If you keep this in mind, your combat run will no doubt improve. However, using this tactic may not always result in 1-on-1 fights. Here are some ways that can happen.

• Cannons can break wall tiles. Kinetic and thermal cannons are powerful weapons compared to guns. However, using them to fight may not always be ideal because they can open a hole in your defensive wall. More enemies can start crawling in, and you may be left with fighting all of them at the same time. EM cannons, however, cannot punch through walls, but they can have a different side-effect (see below). Kinetic and thermal guns are the safer options.
  
  
  
• EM weapons can cause chain-reaction explosion, damaging yourself and the surrounding walls. These weapons have a range of spectrum values that determine the chance of causing an explosion when a power source is hit. If you examine an EM weapon, you’ll see that its spectrum can be narrow (50%), intermediate (30%), or wide (10%). Using EM weapons with narrow spectrum have the highest chance of causing an explosion which should be avoided if you want to keep your defensive wall. Using EM weapons with wide spectrum are much safer when using this doorway tactic, but chain-reactions can still occur.
  
  To calculate the chance of causing chain-reaction, take the hit rate % of your target's power source, and then multiply that number by the % value of your EM weapon spectrum. You can view the hit rate % for each part by examining the robot.
  
  For example, attacking a G-47 trooper has a 10% chance to hit its power source. If you use EM Pulse Gun with narrow spectrum (50%), you'll have 5% chance to cause an explosion! And that's not all, the chance is further increased if you use multiple EM weapons or if you need multiple volleys to finish off your target. With multiple grunts to kill, the chance of a chain-reaction will happen pretty often.
  
  
  Probably not a good weapon to use here...
  
  
  
• Enemies can enter through hidden doors (also known as emergency doors), with a flanking attack that can cause 2-on-1 fight, or worse. There are several ways to reveal this type of door (such as using a structural scanner), but it can still be anticipated without using these methods.
  
  For example, if you have a sensor array, pay attention to your enemy’s movement when inside the room. If you can spot an enemy going into an adjacent room instead of through the hallway, there is definitely a hidden door.
  
  Another way to anticipate the flank is by paying attention to the visual ping effect on the map. If you hear a hidden door opening sound with a sudden blue-color marking in a distance, you are about to be flanked.
  
  Depending on the situation, you can choose to stay where you are, go to that hidden doorway, or even go outside to another room to fight. Use your judgement.
  
  
  
• Enemies may be inside the room already such as sentry, operator, or even a squad of patrollers. There are multiple ways to see them such as using a sensor array. If not, the problem may escalate depending on the situation.
  
  If it's a lone sentry, it shouldn't be much of a problem, provided you can take it down quickly.
  
  If it's an operator, try to destroy the nearby terminal immediately before it can call for reinforcements (using a launcher or a cannon). It's not recommended to aim at the operator due to its speed. If you can't shut it down quickly enough, get rid of the nearby enemies as soon as possible before retreating to another area. Hopefully the reinforcements are still far away.
  
  If it's a group of patrollers, the situation starts to become complicated. You can try to finish off the patrollers first while standing near the doorway, or you can move out of the room to another location. Either way, it won't be an easy fight.
  
  
  
• Hunters and Behemoths can shoot through walls. These guys are not bothered by any obstacle and will shoot you down using their penetrating weapons or wall-crushing cannons. When facing them, you should get out of your hiding place and attack, or you can run away from them (usually from Behemoths).
  
  
  
• Nearby garrison can summon endless reinforcements. You can tell if you see a log message saying that a robot has called for garrison support. If that’s the case, you’ll be under constant attack by those reinforcements, and the only way to break that cycle is to shut down that Garrison fast, or get out of that area.
  
  
  This is the one place I should NOT be in...
  
  
  
• Carrier can bring in nasty surprises, especially the one that carries the assault squad and has perfect tracking of you. Do not let it come close to you. Otherwise, it will release its squad and will immediately surround you. Instead, let it detect you first in a distance. If you don’t think you can kill it in one shot, don’t bother attacking; just wait a bit in the hallway so that it can release its hounds away from you. Depending on what kind of hound, it may be better to start the fight in the hallway than in a room. Some enemies to watch out for are hunters, brawlers, protectors, and saboteurs.

-----------------------------------------
E. Narrow Corridor Tactic
-----------------------------------------

Another good place to fight is at a narrow corridor of only 1 tile wide spacing. However, this type of defensive play can be a little tricky to use. It works best if you’re already positioned at the opposite end from your enemies, or if both of you are already at the same corridor. That way, your damage intake will be minimized from the very start. Take note that corridors can come in different lengths, with longer ones are generally more useful than the shorter ones.

--------------------------------
Benefits and Drawbacks
--------------------------------

Compared to doorways, tight corridors aren’t very common to find. However, taking advantage of these features can offer a lot of benefits. At the same time, you should be aware of some of their drawbacks.

• Squad-on-1 battle can become 1-on-1 fight in a similar manner as the doorway tactic. With only 1 tile width to go through, bots can only line up to engage you one at a time. However, unlike the doorway tactic, you are always opened to attack from the other side, so it is possible for robots to suddenly flank you.
  
  Although it's usually disadvantageous to be exposed to flanks, it can also be advantageous, namely, giving you time to avoid fighting all the enemies. The opportunity will present itself by paying attention to your enemies’ movement. When you are facing off against one robot in the line of sight of all the other robots, those friends won’t be able to attack you unless they go all around the walls to the flanking position. Depending on how long it takes to get there, you may be able to finish off the first enemy before running away, saving yourself from fighting all the other squad members. The time it takes to reach you depends on the map layout (including the length of the corridor) and their propulsion type. If it takes too long, these running robots will lose track of you and stop pursuing you in the middle of their route.
  
  
  
  These 4 grunts are trying to kill me, but since only 1 grunt can engage me at a time, all his other friends will have to find another way to get to me...
  
  
  
  The closest way possible is through a long journey around the corridor...
  
  
  
  By the time I killed the 2nd grunt, the remaining survivors are too far away to catch up. I saw an opportunity to escape to the other side, saving myself from fighting them.
  
  
  
• Busy green bots can block attacks for you. Serfs, engineers, haulers, and recyclers can be found traveling through the corridor, making it difficult for robots to attack you. Although you may not be able to fight back either, you can use this opportunity to manage your equipment, reposition yourself, or even run away before they can catch up with you.
  
  On the other hand, some bots like engineers may call for reinforcements during the fight. This can happen when you overkilled an enemy and the remaining shots hit those behind. At this time, it may be a good idea to quickly finish off the enemies or leave the scene.
  
  Tight corridor also makes it harder for you to travel through, so escaping in this way can be difficult without flying, kicking, or crushing.
  
  
  
• Penetrating weapons become extra effective. It’s generally rare to see robots to line up in a row, but using this tactic can provide this type of opportunity. Penetration can now be used at full potential.
  
  
  
• Small wall-breaks do not diminish your defense. Cannons and chain-reaction explosions can ruin your doorway tactic, but not so for narrow corridor tactic. Unless the corridor is really short or has lost too many wall tiles, your enemies can still find it difficult to gang up on you. Beware of the swarming engineers though.

------------------------------------------
F. Should You Reposition?
------------------------------------------

Although it can be easy to understand how to execute these defensive tactics, the hardest part is usually knowing when to execute. The "correct" answer can be very blurry. Here are some factors to consider:

• How fast can you eliminate your enemies?
  
  Suppose you have 2 guns against a group of 4 swarmers in front of you at a range of 10 tiles. The nearest door is behind you, 5 tiles away. Should you move to use the doorway tactic?
  
  Here's my answer: I would think it's a good idea to move there. The reasoning is that your accuracy is too low to kill a single swarmer in a volley, so you can estimate that it will take you a lot of turns to finish all of them. Meanwhile, these swarmers have a decent accuracy against you. Therefore, running into a nearby room will most likely let you take less damage in the long run, and will help you kill them more easily.
  
  On the other hand, if you have a rocket launcher in your inventory, you can easily swap one of your weapons for it. Most likely, a single rocket or two will take out the whole pack. Because you can eliminate them so quickly, doing this way will probably be more beneficial compared to running to the doorway.
  
  
  
• If you're at a Factory floor or above, is it worth the time to move to the chokepoint? How dangerous is the programmer squad?
  
  Starting in Factory, the central A.I. will start dispatching programmers at you. Therefore, time starts to become another resource you must take into consideration. Here's an example.
  
  Suppose you're on an early Factory level. A group of 3 grunts have detected your presence at 10 tiles away in front of you. The nearest door is behind you, 5 tiles away. Should you move to execute the doorway tactic?
  
  Here's what I think: It can go both ways. If you choose to perform the doorway tactic, it would take you many turns for the grunts to reach you, time that would count down the programmer ticking clock. Considering that it takes 120 time units for grunts to move a single space, they would take a total of 18 turns to get to the doorway that is 15 tiles away from them. On the other hand, fighting on the spot would alleviate yourself from wasting time, but that would expose you to more damage from enemies.
  
  At the same time, it could also be a good choice to run to the doorway. An early Factory level doesn't dispatch a lot of programmers, so they're not that dangerous yet. Therefore, it's also not a bad idea to fight them slightly more frequently. (However, killing more enemies will raise your alert level, topic that won't be discussed in this guide.)
  
  
  
• Are you desperate to salvage from enemies?
  
  Suppose you're down to only 3 damaged weapons. You have little to no backup for them. You're facing a group of 3 grunts 10 tiles away in front of you. The door is 5 tiles behind you. Should you move there?
  
  Here are the 2 key advantages for performing defensive tactics in this case: you would take less damage so your weapons will break less quickly, and the salvage left behind (propulsions, weapons, etc.) would be closer to you. Less damage to your weapons means better chance to win the battle. Also, recyclers will be less likely to pick up everything on the floor because you are much more ready to grab them as soon as possible. Even if you lose all your weapons in the middle of the fight, the grunts you killed will probably leave behind guns adjacent to you as opposed to 10 tiles away from you. Additionally, if you destroy the grunts afar, moving toward to that location may attract even more enemies there.

-----------------------------------------------
G. Other Topics to be Added in
-----------------------------------------------

1) Other forms of positioning (e.g. corner, etc.)
2) Positioning with guided launchers and penetrating weapons
3) Positioning with allies
4) Positioning with machines and other obstacles
5) Positioning in open area
6) Taking advantage of green bots for repositioning
7) Is it worth the time to reposition?
8­) Should you reposition during combat?
9) How does movement speed (and propulsion) affect positioning?
10) What utilities can help you in positioning?
11) What hacking commands can benefit your positioning?

13

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Screen Shifting after Moving Diagonally after Melee Attacking a Wall

« on: October 01, 2017, 04:28:51 PM »

The bug seems to only occur when the Keyboard Mode is off. If the Keyboard Mode is on, the bug doesn't seem to occur. Here's how to reproduce the bug:

1) Stand next to a bunch of wall tiles (I did it in a cave level)
2) Using a melee weapon, destroy a wall tile at upper-left or upper-right (either with mouse or keyboard)
3) Move to that space using your Shift+arrow keys (don't use your mouse)

The result is that the whole screen shifts toward the right-side, away from Cogmind. If you continue to destroy a wall tile and move diagonally upper-left or upper-right in this way, the screen will continue to shift further and further away. This bug does not appear if you use other means of moving diagonally (number pad or the 'U'). It also does not appear if you destroy a wall tile diagonally bottom-left or bottom-right.

14

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Mouse Jumped after Inspecting Item after toggling off Keyboard Mode

« on: September 30, 2017, 09:09:09 PM »

The bug seems to occur after I rebind the keyboard as mentioned in the Experimental Keyboard Layout/Rebinding topic, making my 'P' key as my new Keyboard Mode button. The bug occurs even after changing the value of "exposeKeybinds" in Cogmind.cfg to 0. You might want to check to see if the bug is related to the rebinding or not.

Here's how I produce the bug:

1) I toggled on the Keyboard Mode (whether it's through the Option menu or through the 'P' key)
2) Inspected a wall tile
3) Toggled Keyboard Mode back off
4) Used my mouse to right-click to inspect an item (whether it's on the ground, in inventory, or in equipment)
5) Closed the item data window via Esc key

The outcome is that my mouse pointer immediately jumped to the center of the screen. The problem persists whenever I inspect an item and closing the window. If I simply toggle on and off the Keyboard Mode without inspecting a terrain tile, the mouse will not jump after inspecting an item. If I inspect the Cogmind itself, the mouse also will not jump. The bug ends after closing the game and reopening it.

I've attached some files in case you need it.

15

General Discussion / Improving the Tutorial for New Players

« on: July 26, 2017, 11:16:05 AM »

Of all the questions asked by the new players (on Reddit), the most common one is about early game survival. Why do I keep dying by the overwhelmingly large army? Why does it take 10 volleys to take down a robot? Why does stealth never seem to work?

A lot of factors contribute to those early deaths: lack of understanding with the hacking mechanics, bad positioning, use of low-integrity parts, etc. Those problems can be avoided once the players realize their mistakes, but they won't know about it without any external help. Usually they would readjust their plays after reading some tips and strategy guides, but that wouldn't be needed as much if there's a good in-game tutorial.

So I've been wondering: Is there any plan to improve on the tutorial before the game is released on Steam? When the time comes where thousands of players are playing Cogmind for the very first time, I'm sure a lot of people will be having the same difficulty. I'm hoping that the early game can be beaten reasonably often by a player who has never asked for help (after some persistence).

Edit: While making this thread, I've been assuming that the majority of the newcomers are having such problem, but I don't know the number so that was only my guess.

16

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Weird glyphs at the bottom of the screen after hacking

« on: July 19, 2017, 06:19:41 PM »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So this seems to happen every time to me. After hacking for the very first time (after resuming the game), I keep seeing the weird glyphs at the bottom of the screen. And then after exiting the hacking window, when I hack again, the glyphs don't appear again.

17

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Unable to see robot within visual range yet visible in Sensor Array

« on: July 05, 2017, 05:35:15 PM »

So I was in a cave and saw a group of 2 programmers. At that time, I had a sensor array but no interpreter, so all I could see is the red '?' when outside my view. However, when I approached them, I caught sight of the group of programmers, but one of them remains '?' even though it should be within my view! And yet, I could even see all the other surrounding terrain and the programmer that's even further away from me. Bug?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

18

Ideas / Re-color "Central Database Compromised"

« on: June 07, 2017, 08:19:30 PM »

While hacking the terminals, I started to notice that the central database can be locked down to prevent anymore hacks related to it (after attempting prototype/schematic hack multiple times without success), but I never seem to notice the log stating that it's locked down until I started to look very carefully at those words.

Spoiler: "Central Database Compromised" (click to show/hide)

So after I saw those words, they don't seem to stand out at all, blending with all the other brown-colored ones that aren't so important. I think they should have different color since they have an effect on gameplay (to remind myself not to keep spamming those database commands).

Also, the manual states: "Successful indirect hacking of central "database-related" targets (queries, schematics, analysis, prototypes) incurs a 25% chance to trigger a database lockout, preventing indirect access to those types of targets at every terminal on the same map."

From what I experienced, it looks like unsuccessful indirect hacking can also incur database lockout.

19

Ideas / Make "Notes" as an Option tab

« on: June 05, 2017, 01:53:51 PM »

While browsing through the manual, I saw the last section called "Notes" which you can freely edit to whatever you want. I think that's a pretty neat idea if I want to remind myself some things (like "Remember to use your special manual command hack!!"). But it seems like it's a weird place to put it under Manual. It's also laborious to have to go into manual file to edit there, so why not make it as one of the option tabs (to save a click, and to make it more stand-out) which you can edit and save your notes in-game? And if you open up the option with saved notes, the Notes tab can flash in a similar way as the flashing News tab.

I'm sure this is very low priority (does anyone really use them?), so it's not a big deal if it doesn't work.

20

Strategies / Master Trapper: What i think about it

« on: June 02, 2017, 08:49:27 AM »

The day has come when traps are no longer the objects of fear but the objects of constant pursuit. When I first heard about trap extractor, I thought to myself, "How is it like to be a trapper?" And now, I got to try it out.

While breezing through the Materials, I got a really good start. I was able to find several hacking suites from operators and got a schematic for trap extractor from manual hacking one of the terminals (rating 2 item is really easy to get). Later in the first Factory floor, I was able to fabricate an extractor while obtaining a datajack. And from then on, that's where I went crazy with traps. Here are some of my thoughts about trapper.

Pros & Cons:
Traps are little interesting pieces of weapon that come in a variety of effects such as explosion, alarm, stasis, etc. One of the benefits of using them is to weaken or even obliterate the enemies before they can get to shoot at you. This is especially effective if you're armed with guided weapon which you can lure them to a choke point filled with traps. One time, I was able to completely annihilate a Behemoth without a single scratch. That was pretty awesome.

However, using traps come with a lot of negatives. First, they're one-time use in limited quantity, so it's easy to have too much fun with them. Thus, it's practically impossible to use them as your primary weapon.

Secondly, they take up a lot of storage spaces. Everytime I find a fresh pile of traps, I constantly thought to myself, "What should I drop?"

Spoiler: Need...more...space... (click to show/hide)

Because I sacrificed a lot of combat items in favor of traps, I'm very weak at actual fighting. I had to use stealth items such as sensor array to avoid as many enemies as possible. But if you're caught in a big fight, you're in a lot of trouble.

Trap Review:
Blade and Segregator Traps are definitely my favorite. One time, I got caught by a group of 2 grunts and a duelist. I ran into a room and quickly placed down 3 blade traps near the doorway. The first grunt went in, his weapon got cut off. The second grunt went in, his weapon also got cut off! And finally the duelist went in, his weapon didn't get cut off, but his legs did! So then, I safely got rid of it at a distance.

Segregator traps are especially useful against prototype enemies since you'll get to have some of their awesome parts! I didn't get to try that out in a full extent (I was getting ganged up by too many enemies), but it's so satisfying when that happened!

Explosive traps are deadly, but they have surprisingly little use! They can't be triggered together or else they'll destroy each other. They also blow off walls so they'll get rid of your defense.

On the other hand, EM bomb traps are much more helpful! They can be chained together to set off a great firework, and they don't destroy walls! Their EM damage also increase corruption, making it easy to terminate enemies with additional EM attacks.

Shock and EM Surge traps purely increase corruption but by a large amount. Shock traps increase by 50-80%, but EM Surge increase from 80-120%. Robots get terminated when they reach 100% corruption, so EM Surge has 50% chance to outright kill in one shot! Even better, those who are weak to EM (e.g. Hunters) are guaranteed to die, but those who are resilient (e.g. Programmers) have less effect.

Stasis traps are generally not very useful to me, but they're great against melee attackers. They tend to get out of stasis in several turns, so be sure to get rid of them quickly. But what's awesome about stasis traps is that they can be reused multiple times! If you dispatched the enemy before it escapes from stasis, the trap stays on the ground! You can then equip a trap extractor and get it back into your inventory again! (How cool is that?!)

Chute traps are definitely the most fun. Do you see a marching Sentry? Now you don't.  Unfortunately, being an OP trap means you can't extract it at all (since it's connected to a branch area), but it's good to setup an escape route.

Other traps such as alarm and ambush traps cause no positive effects for you and can't be extracted, so don't bother reprogramming them unless you want to cross the road to get to the other side. (Hehe!)

I do wish alarm traps can signal an alarm signal to you after an enemy steps on it. Does it communicate wirelessly (since you can transmission jam it)? If so, it would be great to give it some use.

Ambush traps would be too powerful if they convert all underground army into allies, but why not give a small percentage to convert some of them? That would be cool and probably not overpowering. Quite understandable that they can't be extracted.

Overall, I've been having a lot of fun! Not a good build for serious play (too much pressure in item management and tricky combat), but if you're looking for something new, give it a shot!

21

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / "Security Status" command in -10 Materials

« on: May 21, 2017, 06:52:34 PM »

I've never encountered a Sentry in -10 Materials, so I'm not sure if it's appropriate to have "Security Status" command in terminals there. Remove?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

22

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Spelling error

« on: May 21, 2017, 04:42:41 PM »

"suddely" should be "suddenly" in the lore

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

23

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / "No level access here" upon ramming target on Scrapyard floor

« on: May 15, 2017, 07:46:43 PM »

After some robots were spawned on Scrapyard level, I rammed into a robot standing on top of the stairs and got the "No level access here" message. Is that a bug?

Spoiler: See picture here (click to show/hide)

24

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / List of spelling mistakes and (potential) bugs

« on: March 17, 2017, 07:50:20 PM »

1) In the in-game manual, under Utilities topic, under Storage heading, there's a typo for "detacthing".

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

2) For all the signal interpreter's effects, there's no period at the end of the last sentence.

[...] subsequent ones will be identified on sight even without an interpreter(PERIOD)

3) Hunter's Scan Cloaking ability states:

This robot is hidden from sensor array detection without a signal interpreter of at least this level.

Where is "this level"?

4) VERYYYY long sound effect when accessing multiple commands in a terminal very rapidly (e.g. go to Data Miner, access a machine with lots of commands, and then use the keyboard to access everything rapidly)

5) If you collect derelict logs that show sections of the main complex map, and you see unknown exits, pressing 4 only shows known exits but not unknown exits.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

6) If you do analysis() command, the rating of a robot does not match its actual rating. (e.g. Analysis says R-10 Processor's rating is 5 when its actual rating, based on R-10's data window, is 11.)

25

Stories / Funny conversation with the Derelicts

« on: February 28, 2017, 07:15:28 PM »

LOL, seriously guys?