Grid Sage Forums

Grid Sage Forums

  • March 29, 2024, 05:20:00 AM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

LINKS: Website | Steam | Wiki

Author Topic: A Surprise Victory! (first win)  (Read 1934 times)

b_sen

  • Derelict
  • **
  • Shared a Confirmed Stealth Win
  • Posts: 66
    • View Profile
A Surprise Victory! (first win)
« on: February 18, 2018, 11:30:05 PM »

(As with any win post, there will be some level of actual spoilers behind the spoiler tags, not just images only hidden to keep post size down.  In my case, these spoilers will also include inference from lore of areas I didn't visit on this run.  Please use your judgement for what you want to see.)

Before I can really tell the story of how I won, I should explain the context of why I wasn't trying to for most of the run.

Just over a couple of weeks ago, Kyzrati revealed on the Discord server that a real-life terminal command works on Cogmind's terminals as an easter egg.  Cue a flurry of players collaboratively attempting to find it, including me.  This meant I was optimizing for finding terminals as fast as possible in real-time, not winning or even surviving, so I made a new user profile to house the expected many ignominious deaths in doing so.  A quick override to LRC-V3's usual goals and a skip through the tutorial later, I was off to find that command!

-10:

Fairly standard starting off with legs combat, except that I lingered to find more terminals and would generally push for more command attempts until terminals locked up.  After all, a death was merely an inconvenient delay in finding more terminals.  But I didn't die, did learn that sometimes failed commands raise alert even without being fully traced, and went to the Mines to cool off.  A derelict log in the Mines also gave me all interactive machine locations for -9, so this paid off nicely.

-9:

A very similar approach, adding a third leg and utility slot.  Until I found an out-of-depth cache of flight units and sensor arrays!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This meant I was going to full stealth immediately, regardless of stealth being hard in the tight confines of Materials, especially since I'd already picked up a signal interpreter.  Not fighting meant spending more of my real time exploring.  I also took the fourth thruster and a second sensor array as backups.  The turn timer is also of note: over a third of the turns in this run were spent before finding this cache.

With the stealth build, I also stopped locking out terminals and began spending occasional terminal hacks on 0b10 commands that would speed up my rate of terminal-finding.  Plus I was no longer interested in branches, as they so rarely contain 0b10 terminals and I no longer needed the extra alert cooldown.

-8:

Stealth in Materials is indeed tricky, even with sensors and a signal interpreter.  I lost my first flight unit here.

-7:

The first exit I found was to the Lower Caves, so I continued onwards in search of a Factory exit... and got sucked into a chute trap.  The exit was in
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
so despite flying I lost another thruster along with some armor in there.

After leaving the Wastes, I turned on Tactical HUD for my sanity's sake, and promptly found another undesirable Lower Caves exit.  Then my trip through the new section of Factory lost me yet another thruster along with my first sensor array, and I still hadn't found more flight propulsion except for a VTOL Module.  I took a stop to repair my one remaining thruster, while sticking on whatever other propulsion I could find for coverage.  My only additional flight finds were a single Xenon Bombardment Thruster and a Weight Redistribution System.

-6:

I continued taking more propulsion than usual, since propulsion armor is very fast to reason about.  The floor was very uneventful, though I picked up a fresh backup set of sensors and a Nuclear Pulse Thruster for later.  Shortly thereafter I lost the VTOL Module.

-5:

Shortly after entering the floor I was sucked into a chute trap again, and feared the end...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

My new army of 20 allies made a great distraction while I sought out terminals, to the point that I took no core damage at all over both iterations of the floor.

-4:

Most of my allies came with me here, where I was greeted by a full stockpile of 8 Field Propulsion Arrays!  Finding 16 slots worth of one's preferred propulsion is quite a feeling indeed.  While I didn't see a need to put on all of it, and indeed preferred to keep a fair amount of propulsion armor for safety and real-time decision-making speed, I did put on two (replacing all my earlier flight units) and take two spares with me.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here my allies got increasingly spotted, and even killed a Hauler while attacking its guards.  Despite the explosives, by the time I got there to identify the drops there was still a Cld. Field Propulsion Drive left behind, which I took as an overloadable backup flight unit.  While I enjoyed watching my two Mechanics keep my ally army functional, I thought such an army would begin impeding my hunt for terminals in Research and left them behind to fight as they pleased.

-3:

The first terminal I found here finally got me the Easter egg:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So I lifted the goal override... and realized that I'd gotten to Research with a fully functional build for the first time.  The mix of propulsion armor had never really left my build, but this time I had all my slots full and could fly without an energy deficit, which neither of my previous forays to this depth had accomplished.

Comparison shot of my first entry to Research:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And my second:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yeah, not so great.  Both of those perished to core stripping on -2.  But this one seemed to have a shot at seeing Access - heck, I hadn't even had any Programmers dispatched after me in the Factory - so I decided to put the save under my "normal" user profile and try for the win.  Which meant I started playing very slowly to think about my moves even when not running the game; getting this far took me less than a day in between doing various pieces of work and checking the Discord for updates on what commands didn't work, but finishing the floor took me over a week while I thought through options and asked for advice over on Discord (thanks for putting up with me, everyone).

Here I sliced up an Operator for hackware (which I hadn't really worried about earlier, since it's useless when a machine doesn't recognize the command you're giving it) repaired my trusty Chainsword, and then had Programmers dispatched nearly on top of me from all the time spent digging around with barely any map sense to avoid enemies.  While I failed to seal the Garrison they came from, I did manage to kite them neatly (unfortunately taking some fire from a Grunt squad) and fly along to a Research exit guarded by a Sentry.  Here my propulsion armor treads were very useful, since I could drop onto them and slam the Sentry off the exit.

-2:

I emerged into a quiet corner with two new utility slots, filled them up, and took a look around.  I found two Security Level 1 terminals, a rarity that high up, and used them to reduce alert until there were no threats on record.  I also found a repair station in a room, and while going to peek into another room found an exit!

I thought that an exit so close to my spawn location would lead to some Research branch and accordingly to a horrible death...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

... but no, it went straight to Access, in a fit of incredible generosity from the Complex.  While I was excited to see Access for the first time, I wanted to make good use of the time I had unnoticed and with no imminent Programmer dispatch.  I tried and failed to repair the single flight array that was damaged in -3, but did find some propulsion armor upgrades and lured a Recycler (to kill for matter) with the beat-up old propulsion armor I dropped.  I also found a Lrn. Terrain Scanner, which I took with me in hopes of finding a matching processor to help me map out the maze that was sure to be Access.

-1:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Scoresheet:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Scoresheet review:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Lessons learned:
  • Research and Access are so maze-like that some way of revealing terrain without having to see it is very useful, either by hackware or by terrain scanners + processors.  It seems helpful to push for having at least one of those by the end of Factory, in much the same way that it's helpful to work towards the flight transition in Materials.
  • Spoiler (click to show/hide)
  • Spoiler (click to show/hide)
  • Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Thoughts:
  • I probably could have played more tightly overall: exactly when to use overloading, run shields, run transmission jammers, remembering to switch back to flight immediately after adding more propulsion armor or slamming robots, and the like.  In this case I played just barely well enough to win while being helped along by some luck.
  • Getting my first win and animated ending doesn't actually feel like an ending in terms of my relationship with the game.  I feel like I've just learned the basics and can now begin exploring the full depth and potential skill demands available.  There's so much more to discover!
  • Spoiler (click to show/hide)
  • Lore babbling:
    Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Okay, enough with the week of reflection and writing.  Now to go back to the run I put on hold while terminal-hunting... :D
Logged

b_sen

  • Derelict
  • **
  • Shared a Confirmed Stealth Win
  • Posts: 66
    • View Profile
Re: A Surprise Victory! (first win)
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2018, 11:30:34 PM »

Log:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Log review:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 02:05:58 PM by b_sen »
Logged

Kyzrati

  • Administrator
  • True Cogmind
  • *****
  • Posts: 4266
    • View Profile
    • Cogmind
Re: A Surprise Victory! (first win)
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2018, 12:03:38 AM »

An epic first win, b_sen! (for flight... ;))

Closer examination revealed that it had been shot up repeatedly by pursuing Hunters, and was now in a "breached" state. I still don't know what that state means, but it didn't seem good for getting that barrier open.
That just means the door has holes in it, the one's you'd chopped out :P (normally it would mean there's already a full path through the doorway, but that particular door is extra thick...)

And about your other comment regarding the exit area, don't worry there's always a way out.

Was a fun read, thanks for sharing!
Logged
Josh Ge, Developer - Dev Blog | @GridSageGames | Patreon

Laida

  • Derelict
  • **
  • Weekly Seed Participant Shared a Confirmed Stealth Win
  • Posts: 51
    • View Profile
Re: A Surprise Victory! (first win)
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2018, 08:35:30 AM »

Thanks for amazing and detailed story with so many screenshots!  :)
Most useful for me was to see how important propultion armor is. Next time will try to make more propultion slots...
P.S. I also wondering, is Access every time has launchers powerful enough to destroy the barriers (or, maybe, even the main door) of exit?
Logged

Kyzrati

  • Administrator
  • True Cogmind
  • *****
  • Posts: 4266
    • View Profile
    • Cogmind
Re: A Surprise Victory! (first win)
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2018, 05:44:04 PM »

P.S. I also wondering, is Access every time has launchers powerful enough to destroy the barriers (or, maybe, even the main door) of exit?
That's what I was referring to in my reply there--there's always a way to reach the exit.
Logged
Josh Ge, Developer - Dev Blog | @GridSageGames | Patreon

DDarkray

  • Cyborg
  • ***
  • Shared a Confirmed Combat Win Shared a Confirmed Stealth Win Wiki Contributor Bug Hunter Weekly Seed Participant
  • Posts: 206
    • View Profile
Re: A Surprise Victory! (first win)
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2018, 09:06:29 PM »

I also wondering, is Access every time has launchers powerful enough to destroy the barriers (or, maybe, even the main door) of exit?

There are other weapons that can help you break through those barriers easily, not just launchers.  :)
Logged

b_sen

  • Derelict
  • **
  • Shared a Confirmed Stealth Win
  • Posts: 66
    • View Profile
Re: A Surprise Victory! (first win)
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2018, 02:59:33 PM »

An epic first win, b_sen! (for flight... ;))

...

Was a fun read, thanks for sharing!

Thanks!  :)  I'm glad my little "essay" was fun to read.  (And I'm sure that combat generates many epic battle tales. ;))

Closer examination revealed that it had been shot up repeatedly by pursuing Hunters, and was now in a "breached" state. I still don't know what that state means, but it didn't seem good for getting that barrier open.
That just means the door has holes in it, the one's you'd chopped out :P (normally it would mean there's already a full path through the doorway, but that particular door is extra thick...)

Aha!  Funnily enough, the door I finally broke through was the one most protected from having holes shot through it by all the layers...  (I can imagine why that particular door would be extra thick.)

And about your other comment regarding the exit area, don't worry there's always a way out.

I imagined there would be, but the confirmation is nice to have, thanks. :)

Thanks for amazing and detailed story with so many screenshots!  :)
Most useful for me was to see how important propultion armor is. Next time will try to make more propultion slots...

You're welcome!

I think propulsion armor is very useful when rebuilding or trying to get through an area for the first few times (and I see you put it to good use in your first win :) ), but it's certainly not something you always want in every build.  Heck, I was using it so much in large part because it's fast to reason about and hard to get wrong - only integrity and coverage matter - but don't stick to it if you think the slot would be better spent on something active!
Logged