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Cogmind => Competitions => Topic started by: zxc on January 03, 2017, 09:32:48 PM

Title: Weekly Seed #71 [Alpha 12] [Seed: War Drums]
Post by: zxc on January 03, 2017, 09:32:48 PM
This week's seed: War Drums

The bots are marching off to war.

The Weekly Seed is open to anyone, and we encourage you to share your experiences, stories, and tactics over the course of your run.

The rules are as follows:

Good luck and have fun!

No screenshots because I have a game in progress already and I don't like messing around with save files. :)

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

Press F1 to go to the MENU, select OPTIONS, select Seed, and enter this week's seed:

(https://i.imgur.com/vx1UQW3.png)


Select GAME, select ABORT:

(https://i.imgur.com/cCLoJgu.png)


If you have followed the steps [Manual seed applied: War Drums] should display in the log window.

Congratulations on entering the seed, now get in there!
Title: Re: Weekly Seed #71 [Alpha 12] [Seed: War Drums]
Post by: DDarkray on January 13, 2017, 07:23:38 AM
First win ever!!!!!!  :D :D :D

Score sheet:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

At first, I was planning to go for a combat build, but the first floor's terminals contain Prototype ID Bank which identified Imp. Flight Unit. I kept losing horribly with flight build in the past, so I didn't expect to win if I go for it again, but I gave it a shot anyway.

Second floor turns out to be really rough for me. I haven't found any imp. Flight unit on -10, so I kept my regular ones. It was really easy to be caught by multiple enemies due to widespread watchers and sentries. Soon, 4 sentries were chasing after me while the pests kept harassing wherever I go. Unfortunately, my only weapon for them is a mini grenade launcher, so even though pests are weak against them, their dropped loots were easily destroyed upon splash damage. And if I tried to pick up the remaining ones, sentries were already at my face, so I had to run.

Third floor -8 began the golden age. I found a stack of imp. flight units (finally!) along with propulsion shielding and imp. ECM suite. I also started to stack a bit of hacking suite, so maybe I can snowball later.

I didn't have much trouble here. It was rough at -9, but now, things got surprisingly easier and easier afterward. I later found adv. sensor array, followed by long range sensor and exp. signal interpreter. Finding higher-rating flight units became a bit piece of cake and as well as hacking suite. Hacking became so easy after I scanned and fabricated a bunch of adv. hacking suite. Even manual hacking Access(Main) was easily successful upon first try (something I never achieved before).

However, despite finding great items, it was a lot of challenge to get through all those patrollers, and sentries and behemoths at key locations, so it requires a lot of patience to find an opening. Traps also became annoying, but they didn't cause catastrophic effect. (Carrying stasis canceller actually saved my butt one time)

Upon reaching Access level, I had an opportunity to go for the Command branch, but I was scared to death to go there. Branch levels are already pretty difficult for me with flight build, so I decided to go for the win.

I won't spoil how I got to the surface (Kyzrati might kill me for that!), but I will say that it was a scary experience. But once I got to the top, I was so happy. I hope I can win again, maybe with a combat build, or through Command, but it will certainly be tougher after the alert bug is removed.

(Regarding hacking suite, stacking them is definitely the winning strategy for me. It is so easy to find one, scan, equip, fab, fab, fab, and it got easier each time. I did get adv. datajack and adv. remote datajack along the way, but it definitely feels like cheating if I do go for that route, so I simply dropped them.)
Title: Re: Weekly Seed #71 [Alpha 12] [Seed: War Drums]
Post by: Widmo on January 13, 2017, 05:53:02 PM
Congratulations!

I went the combat route because I let the Assembled and demolisher squad duke it out in the mines. In the debris I found three combat jets and two mini-grenade launchers there. Hurrah for having rating 5 parts at -10! Then I played way too aggressively and met my demise at Storage/-9.

Quote from: DDarkray on January 13, 2017, 07:23:38 AM
Soon, 4 sentries were chasing after me while the pests kept harassing wherever I go. Unfortunately, my only weapon for them is a mini grenade launcher, so even though pests are weak against them, their dropped loots were easily destroyed upon splash damage. And if I tried to pick up the remaining ones, sentries were already at my face, so I had to run.
Consider carrying a tractor beam for such occasions.

Quote from: DDarkray on January 13, 2017, 07:23:38 AM
Hacking became so easy after I scanned and fabricated a bunch of adv. hacking suite. Even manual hacking Access(Main) was easily successful upon first try (something I never achieved before).
Feels good, eh? My best snowball to date had 100% chances for such hacks at security 3 terminal.

Quote from: DDarkray on January 13, 2017, 07:23:38 AM
I won't spoil how I got to the surface (Kyzrati might kill me for that!), but I will say that it was a scary experience. But once I got to the top, I was so happy. I hope I can win again, maybe with a combat build, or through Command, but it will certainly be tougher after the alert bug is removed.
Congrats again. For especially spoily details there is spoler tag naturally. Still, it is wise not to go overboard with spilling everything.
Title: Re: Weekly Seed #71 [Alpha 12] [Seed: War Drums]
Post by: Kyzrati on January 13, 2017, 07:12:30 PM
Congratulations, DDarkray! Remember you should usually post your score here, too, but I've attached it for you (since it's accessible from the leaderboards anyway).

Quote from: DDarkray on January 13, 2017, 07:23:38 AM
(Carrying stasis canceller actually saved my butt one time)
Nice to hear those actually coming in handy once in a while :)

Overall alert is going to get a little tougher for combat next release, yeah. Not ridiculously so, though, and there will be other benefits coming as well!

And as Widmo says, you can talk about spoilers wherever you want if you just tag them (and for really major spoilers people sometimes double tag them ;) ).

Quote from: Widmo on January 13, 2017, 05:53:02 PM
Hurrah for having rating 5 parts at -10! Then I played way too aggressively and met my demise at Storage/-9.
Hahaha... in standard roguelike fashion :P.


I really wanted to stream this seed but got way too busy with Alpha 13 and a bunch of other things getting in the way :( (family visiting, preparing for a trip soon, my son's classes canceled for yet another week...).
Title: Re: Weekly Seed #71 [Alpha 12] [Seed: War Drums]
Post by: DDarkray on January 13, 2017, 09:01:51 PM
Thanks guys! I would have attached my score sheet, but I was on my phone. I've just edited my post now, so now it should appear.

Quote from: Widmo on January 13, 2017, 05:53:02 PM
Still, it is wise not to go overboard with spilling everything.

Yeah, that's what I was feeling, so I decided not to. But thanks for letting me know about the spoiler tag!