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1

Stories / Second promising run for the Tournament (Over now...)

« on: September 20, 2015, 02:51:52 AM »

First up, this is a repost from reddit.  There's already a little bit there and I'm taking a break from the game overnight for some much needed rest due to having work in the morning (no updates for the next 18 hour or so).  I'll be keeping both threads updated as I go.  Enjoy



I had a bit of fun doing a running update on my previous run, so I thought I would give it another go.  This Cogmind is significantly curioser than the last and has been delving into the Terminals to find out more about its situation and where it is:

I'm on Level -8 and feeling confident.  Noticed some Tunnelers building a room and my Structural Scanner picked up a secret door in the wall on my return.  Legs are holding out for now.  I wonder what a Derelict Wizard is?




EDIT

Starting Level -6.  Not much to report on the Terminals front, just looked into information on the Caves and Complex 01B0 (I think?).  Level -7 was short as I found the exit very quickly, only two or three Programmers to add to the tally.  I also discovered one of my favourite early-game weapons inside a Hauler that couldn't move quickly enough .  Let's see how the Factory hostiles continue to treat my ascension.




EDIT

Level -6 continues as expected and the robots still in residence might be a bit annoyed now.  It also seems like Earth is a bit stuffed, or was... (what year is this again?).  I was was just minding my own business when

    A hatch slides open and sucks a vortex of air into the floor

I don't know where I am, but that's starting feel like my new normal.  Here's what I have on-hand.  Onwards!




EDIT

Story and item spoilers behind the next two links.  You have been warned!

Back on Level -6 and my confidence is waning.  I made a new friend, lost all my stuff, and all I have to show for it is this non-functional Centrium Greatsword.  I fear the end may be near...




EDIT

Why, hello there Level -5.  When I dragged myself back to Level -6 things looked like this.  Now?  It's looking a little more like this.  I immediately found a cache of Heavy EM Shotguns and a Drone Bay.  The Drones were able to fly everywhere without being attacked so I tucked myself into a corner and had the drones scout the exit plus a few much needed items.  Once everything I needed was located I proceeded to collect it all and headed to the exit.  Chalk up another couple of Hunters, a squad of Grunts, an Explosive Trap, and a Heavy Plasma Cannon (damn those faulty prototypes!  Hopefully I can find somewhere to fix it on this level).




EDIT

Level -5, I love you!  I wasn't intending on going a full Treads combat-run, but you delivered.  After taking out a Sentry and discovering a couple of Heavy Treads how could I resist?  I was a bit sad when I lost my Reactive Heavy Armor, but it wasn't really helping with all the Programmers.  I briefly had a friend in the form of a Sentry who died defending me quite successfully (I'll miss you).  Got a bit banged up before making my way to Level -4.  With a bit of luck I'll be able gear-up and take on some Behemoths   Here's my current inventory.

P.S. I'll have to take a break from this game until tomorrow.  If some time frees up tonight I'll update again sooner.




EDIT

Well... Game over

I was able to get pretty geared up on Level -4, but not with the utilities or weapons I was really looking for.  This screen doesn't show it, but I had to go full kinetic weapons after a few scrapes which went counter to my heavy energy/cooling build in the Utility department.  Then, some Hunters and Programmers found me, then more, and more...  Next I started going crazy with System Corruption, a Terminal laughed at me, and my feelings got hurt...  Queue Swarmers!  This was the last screen of my inventory before I "unexpectedly" died.  Alas, no escape for the brave Cogmind this run.

Final screen for those who are interested.





Fun run!  Will play again

2

Competitions / Weekly Seed #6 [Alpha 2c] [Seed: ThePlayerOfGames]

« on: August 18, 2015, 05:19:16 AM »

This week's seed: ThePlayerOfGames


The Weekly Seed is open to anyone.  High scores are not the only feature of the runs and the main reason for putting this together is to share our experiences, stories, and tactics over the course of your run.  Some super secret achievements will be selected with some RNG at the end of each week from my steadily growing list.  Please leave suggestions for the naming of next seed or other achievements to include to my list once you have finished your run!

Rules are as follows:

• The Weekly Seed begins from the date this thread is posted and lasts exactly seven days.
• Make sure you are running the correct version of Cogmind (see thread subject).
• Enter the seed and abort your current game to initiate the seed (more details are below).
• Verify you are not running the tutorial and that the screenshot below of the Scrapyard and Level -10 matches your seed
• Play through the game once.  This is a friendly competition, we are all honest people.
• When finished post your scoresheet here (it should be the newest file in /scores) and any other screenshots/stories/strategies you wish to share with the community.
• Due to the spoilerific nature of this thread do not read the comments if you are intending to participate and haven't played your run!
• Any scoresheets submitted after seven days will not be included.
• Good luck!

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

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




Select GAME, select ABORT:




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

Congratulations on entering the seed, now get in there!

3

Competitions / Weekly Seed #5 [Alpha 2c] [Seed: FeersumEndjinn]

« on: August 11, 2015, 03:49:24 AM »

This week's seed: FeersumEndjinn


The Weekly Seed is open to anyone.  High scores are not the only feature of the runs and the main reason for putting this together is to share our experiences, stories, and tactics over the course of your run.  Some super secret achievements will be selected with some RNG at the end of each week from my steadily growing list.  Please leave suggestions for the naming of next seed or other achievements to include to my list once you have finished your run!

Rules are as follows:

• The Weekly Seed begins from the date this thread is posted and lasts exactly seven days.
• Make sure you are running the correct version of Cogmind (see thread subject).
• Enter the seed and abort your current game to initiate the seed (more details are below).
• Verify you are not running the tutorial and that the screenshot below of the Scrapyard and Level -10 matches your seed
• Play through the game once.  This is a friendly competition, we are all honest people.
• When finished post your scoresheet here (it should be the newest file in /scores) and any other screenshots/stories/strategies you wish to share with the community.
• Due to the spoilerific nature of this thread do not read the comments if you are intending to participate and haven't played your run!
• Any scoresheets submitted after seven days will not be included.
• Good luck!

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

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




Select GAME, select ABORT:




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

Congratulations on entering the seed, now get in there!



--------------------------------------------------------------


Last week's seed [AScannerDarkly]

• Kyzrati: 18539
• feeblethemighty: 6323
• Happylisk: 5031
• kumo: 2266
• Kasaris: 1426
• monsieurmac: 613

Super secret achievement winners:

"Look, Mum! No hands!"
Most improved from last week
kumo

"Brave Sir Robin ran away!"
Most tactical retreats
Kyzrati

4

Competitions / Weekly Seed #4 [Alpha 2c] [Seed: AScannerDarkly]

« on: August 04, 2015, 03:53:35 AM »

This week's seed: AScannerDarkly


The Weekly Seed is open to anyone.  High scores are not the only feature of the runs and the main reason for putting this together is to share our experiences, stories, and tactics over the course of your run.  Some super secret achievements will be selected with some RNG at the end of each week from my steadily growing list.  Please leave suggestions for the naming of next seed or other achievements to include to my list once you have finished your run!

Rules are as follows:

• The Weekly Seed begins from the date this thread is posted and lasts exactly seven days.
• Make sure you are running the correct version of Cogmind (see thread subject).
• Enter the seed and abort your current game to initiate the seed (more details are below).
• Verify you are not running the tutorial and that the screenshot below of the Scrapyard and Level -10 matches your seed
• Play through the game once.  This is a friendly competition, we are all honest people.
• When finished post your scoresheet here (it should be the newest file in /scores) and any other screenshots/stories/strategies you wish to share with the community.
• Due to the spoilerific nature of this thread do not read the comments if you are intending to participate and haven't played your run!
• Any scoresheets submitted after seven days will not be included.
• Good luck!

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

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




Select GAME, select ABORT:




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

Congratulations on entering the seed, now get in there!





------------------------------------------------



Previous week's results [ConsiderPhlebas]:

• Kyzrati: 11043
• sve9: 8388
• Arnot: 6197
• boomblip: 4079
• Shobalk: 3507
• ironpotato: 3434
• feeblethemighty: 2714
• Toskin: 1791
• shinygerbil: 1314
• jimmijamjams: 655
• Happylisk: 631
• kumo: 93

Super secret achievement winners:

"It's a Chopper, baby"
Favourite propulsion type: Wheels
kumo
Happylisk
Toskin
feeblethemighty
boomblip

"It's off to work we go"
Died in the Mines
kumo
Happylisk
shinygerbil
Toskin

5

Competitions / Weekly Seed #3 [Alpha 2c] [Seed: ConsiderPhlebas]

« on: July 27, 2015, 07:58:04 PM »

I'll be working when I normally start this thread, so here it is now!

This week's seed: ConsiderPhlebas

Note: There is a new build.  Make sure you are running Alpha 2c!

The Weekly Seed is open to anyone.  High scores are not the only feature of the runs and the main reason for putting this together is to share our experiences, stories, and tactics over the course of your run.  Some super secret achievements will be selected with some RNG at the end of each week from my steadily growing list.  Please leave suggestions for the naming of next seed or other achievements to include to my list once you have finished your run!

Rules are as follows:

• The Weekly Seed begins from the date this thread is posted and lasts exactly seven days.
• Make sure you are running the correct version of Cogmind (see thread subject).
• Enter the seed and abort your current game to initiate the seed (more details are below).
• Verify you are not running the tutorial and that the screenshot below of the Scrapyard and Level -10 matches your seed (note: [Manual seed applied: AlwaysRun] should display in the log window).
• Play through the game once.  This is a friendly competition, we are all honest people.
• When finished post your scoresheet here (it should be the newest file in /scores) and any other screenshots/stories/strategies you wish to share with the community.
• Due to the spoilerific nature of this thread do not read the comments if you are intending to participate and haven't played your run!
• Any scoresheets submitted after seven days will not be included.
• Good luck!

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

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




Select GAME, select ABORT:




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

Congratulations on entering the seed, play nice, robots have feelings too!


---+--------------------------------------------------+---


Previous week's seed [AlwaysRun]:

• jimmijamjams: 11001
• Kyzrati: 9474
• zxc: 9141
• Happylisk: 5927
• sve9: 5103
• shinygerbil: 4983
• SquigglyJ: 1688
• Shobalk: 1131
• AlanWithTea: 1016
• Kasaris: 127

Previous week's super secret achievement winners:

"It's a unix system..."
Most Machines Hacked
zxc

"We're streaking across the quad!"
Highest percentage of time spent naked
Kasaris

6

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Corruption benefits still apply for non-functional Adv. Sgnl Intrprtr [Alpha2b]

« on: July 25, 2015, 04:15:49 AM »

It could be that I wasn't noticing, but I felt that even though I had a System Corruption of 7% I wasn't getting the false positives on my radar.  I had overheated earlier and caused my Adv. Signal Interpreter to go non-functional.  I still had an Imp. Signal Interpreter to get the readings which I was pretty sure didn't negate the effects of false positives (I could be wrong) so I could still get the data from that.

If I'm wrong about the Imp. Signal Interpreter's abilities then this is not a bug, but I wasn't sure.

Here's a screenshot of my setup at the time in case I missed something:

7

Stories / Another run to level -1

« on: July 25, 2015, 01:38:57 AM »

THIS IS THE RUN FOR THIS WEEK!  DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE INTENDING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WEEKLY SEED #2

This is posted on Weekly Seed #2, but I thought I would post the story here for people who might miss it.

As always, there are some spoilers in regards to enemy types, but I've kept most of the weapon stats out of the post.


Here's the run-down:

Level -10:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This level was tough!  I don't know how everyone else dealt with it, but right from the start I bumped into several squads of Swarmers.  I found a few exits along the way that I suspected were the Mines (due to location/layout) and my core was down to only 21 from the early (almost catastrophic) encounters.  I managed to gear up after taking out some more Swarmers and flew around until I found a likely exit to Level -9.

Level -9:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I forgot to take any screenshots of this level... After a few engages I was forced to equip Treads for movement and offset the slower movement by equipping armour.  After a few engages I upgraded to Legs and made it easily to the exit.

Level -8:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After a shaky start on Level -10 I was starting to feel more powerful.  I had been hacking a few terminals and picked up the schematics for for a Sentry.  I didn't know exactly how much matter I needed to build it and I was just holding onto Medium Matter Storage Unit in case I came across a Fabricator.  In this level I had found a Large Storage Unit and was slowly collecting the right gear to change to a speed/stealth build when the opportunity came up.

This was my build towards the end of Level -8.  Right before I saw a nice cache of Armour and Missile Launchers.

Level -7:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I had been building up my hacking ability and in this level I learned something I never knew about the map layouts and exits.  I found a Terminal very early on and it had the option to hack the location of the Maintenance robots (I was purposely not using Manual Command this run to explore some of the other options).  This is a very powerful hack in that it indirectly gives you the size of a level and your relative location within it. 

I worked out I was in the lower left corner of the map so I deduced that I needed to head to top right if was to find an exit to the level.  After several engages with Grunts and Programmers I was forced further into lower left corner of the map and there was the exit!  My assumption that I needed to go top right was wrong and it turned out to be a fairly easy level.  Below is a shot of me on the exit showing my knowledge the Maintenance robots and a shot of my current items:

Level -6:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

At this stage I was starting to become even more dangerous.  I was using mainly melee and taking out Programmers to slowly convert my Propulsion to Hovers.  There's not much to say about this level and I only have the one shot of this very nice Cold Plasma Cannon that I found.

Level -5:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I started the level like this:




By the end this is all I had:




I made several glaring errors, but mostly I was caught out by several squads of Hunters and Grunts.  When ever I tried to run I would hit a room with a Sentry in it, forcing me to back out.  I relied too much on my melee weapons earlier not realising I had lost my Melee Analysis Suite, by the time I noticed what was going on I had lost all my propulsion and had to drop everything to make a get away.  One thing I remembered to do (which is something I often forget) was to make sure I had a power source and propulsion in my Inventory so when I did come across something useful I wouldn't be struggling to use it.

Level -4:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This was going to be a tough level.  I found a Terminal early on and found out I was at the bottom left/middle of the map judging from the location of the Maintenance robots.  After some searching I found some very timely caches of gear and then was completely surrounded by Grunts, Programmers, and Hunters.  I didn't stick around long this time and ran back the way I came and there was the exit.  Below is a shot which shows my movement from where I started, to the Terminal, to the exit. 




Once again the closest exit was essentially behind me relative to the rest of the level and I was able to gear-up again.  I even had to switch to Treads as the number of Legs I had were not enough to give me the optimal speed.  At this stage I had also destroyed some Watchers and was able to have a partial stealth kit.  The only thing I needed to round it out was some speed.

Level -3:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Moving slowly but with the ability to see through walls worked really well, but very early on Programmers were called to my position right next to a Behemoth.  I thought I would try my luck and due to some heat mismanagement and being heavily out-gunned I had to run, but not before I grabbed several Improved Anti-Grav Systems from the dead Programmers.  I left the Behemoth in my wake.




The speed was good, but my Advanced Signal Interpreter and Neutrino Core were non-functional after the encounter.  I had a back-up Improved Signal Interpreter, but at this stage I was already at 7% Corruption and was expecting to get lots of false reads on the radar.  This didn't seem to be the case and I have a funny feeling that even though the Advanced Signal Interpreter was non-functional it was still providing the buff that stopped the radar glitches.

This was my kit about halfway through the level:




This was my kit after getting cornered by Swarmers, Grunts, and Hunters in a one-space corridor that I couldn't escape.  I walked right into it hunting down a couple of Watchers that were jamming my radar.




I ran through the level, out-ran another Behemoth, and just made it to the exit.

Level -2:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

My starting kit was looking dire.  I had a Disruptor Cannon I couldn't use and my trusty, non-funtional Advanced Signal Interpreter.  I didn't even get a chance to put anything useful in my inventory before everything went haywire.  Something I think I need to learn is when to realise that an encounter can't be fought out and to stash important gear when that happens.

Everywhere I went I kept bumping into Behemoths:










I briefly acquired a Nuclear Pulse Array (propulsion) which helped me to make it to the next level, but it too was taken from me by a stray Behemoth rocket.  By the end of the level I had the makings of potential comeback with a Light Quantum Reactor and an Advanced ECM Suite, but little else.

Level -1:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

My current kit, once again, was not great.  Everything I found was either a weapon I couldn't use or some utility I couldn't carry due to the weight.  Until I found an Improved Plasma Cutter.  I wish I took a screenshot of it because, despite the short range it saved the day.  That weapon enabled me to take out some service robots without using any precious matter and allowed me to gear up with some higher tier gear. 




I then spotted another Behemoth, but was out of sight before it spotted me:




Close by I found a serious weapon and utility cache I could access and finally was up to the task of fighting back.




I went straight back to the Behemoth I found earlier, obliterated it, and the became the Behemoth!






Never had I felt so powerful in this game.  I was taking out Hunters like they were nothing, bullets were just bouncing off my armour.  Until, I discovered a fatal flaw, I ran out of matter...  I had not been economical with my volleys, I even had an opportunity to convert to some more energy-based weapons where I killed the Behemoth, but I didn't...  Slowly I was pelted to death by what felt like a thousand paper cuts as well over a dozen Hunters sent volley after volley every time I moved.  Service bots would be caught in the friendly fire and I would crawl to a meager portion of matter in the hopes it would give me enough for another shot.  But it wasn't enough...







I learned a lot about the value of Matter and I have a pretty good idea how to get through to the end next time.  With this current build (Alpha 2b) it seemed more possible than ever to win with a combat-heavy build, but my mistake was the weapons I choose with the resources I had available.  There was no one build I stuck with for any length of time and there were several stages where I went from a flying Beserker bashing in robots, to sneaking around like a fat ninja at low/high speeds avoiding conflict, to hacking for key information about the map layout, to finally becoming a complete tank with powerful yet limited weapons. 

Funnest game I've had yet

EDIT:  I miss-posted the run I was participating in    Sorry to anyone who read this before having a chance to have a shot at the weekly seed...

8

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Game does not start if there is no audio device found [Alpha 2b]

« on: July 21, 2015, 05:42:26 AM »

Well, this is a weird one...

My current audio setup is a set of cheap headphones which I plug into the audio jack.  I often have to use the headphones for other things and if I'm working I don't always plug anything into my computer for audio.

I had a quick break, fired up Cogmind to pass some time and didn't bother to plug in headphones (I'm running a Windows 7 desktop and if there is no audio device the speaker symbol in the task bar will have a cross through it).  The program will crash before getting to the start menu and generate a crash file with the last few lines:


I=0000289 |   \---DONE
I=0000527 |   Setting video mode
I=0000639 |   Initializing audio
F=0000662 |   XAudio() | Mix_OpenAudio() failed to initializeDirectSoundCreate: No audio device found

I tried disabling the audio manually through my settings (usually this is achieved by just pulling out the headphones) with the headphones plugged in and got the same crash:

F=0000648 |   XAudio() | Mix_OpenAudio() failed to initializeDirectSoundCreate: No audio device found

It's hardly game-breaking, but something that may cause hearing impaired people who have no use for audio devices or weirdos (like me) who listen to a radio when gaming some minor issues.  If this is the demographic you're shooting for it might be more serious than I thought!

Edit: Spelling

9

Competitions / Weekly Seed #2 [Alpha 2b] [Seed: AlwaysRun]

« on: July 20, 2015, 11:46:01 PM »

At the time of this post there's only an hour left for last week's seed, but here goes!

This week's seed: AlwaysRun

Note: There is a new build.  Make sure you are running Alpha 2b!

The Weekly Seed is open to anyone.  High scores are not the only feature of the runs and the main reason for putting this together is to share our experiences, stories, and tactics over the course of your run.  Some super secret achievements will be selected with some RNG at the end of each week from my steadily growing list.  Please leave suggestions for the naming of next seed or other achievements to include to my list once you have finished your run!

Rules are as follows:

• The Weekly Seed begins from the date this thread is posted and lasts exactly seven days.
• Make sure you are running the correct version of Cogmind (see thread subject).
• Enter the seed and abort your current game to initiate the seed (more details are below).
• Verify you are not running the tutorial and that the screenshot below of the Scrapyard and Level -10 matches your seed (note: [Manual seed applied: AlwaysRun] should display in the log window).
• Play through the game once.  This is a friendly competition, we are all honest people.
• When finished post your scoresheet here (it should be the newest file in /scores) and any other screenshots/stories/strategies you wish to share with the community.
• Due to the spoilerific nature of this thread do not read the comments if you are intending to participate and haven't played your run!
• Any scoresheets submitted after seven days will not be included.
• Good luck!

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

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




Select GAME, select ABORT:




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

Congratulations on entering the seed, queue explosions!


---+--------------------------------------------------+---


Previous week's seed [WeeklySeedRuns]:

• Kyzrati: 10708
• jimmijamjams: 5797
• SquigglyJ: 5696
• biomatter: 2256
• Phuket: 211
• AlanWithTea: 193

Previous week's super secret achievement winners:

"Who needs weapons?"
Most targets rammed
SquigglyJ

"Under the radar"
Lowest average Influence
Phuket

10

Competitions / Weekly Seed #1 [Alpha 1b] [Seed: WeeklySeedRuns]

« on: July 14, 2015, 01:26:47 AM »

G'day and welcome to the first ever Cogmind Weekly Seed!

This week's seed: WeeklySeedRuns

The Weekly Seed is open to anyone.  High scores are not the only feature of the runs and the main reason for putting this together is to share our experiences, stories, and tactics of how we approach the seed.  Some super secret achievements will be selected with some RNG at the end of each week from my steadily growing list.  Please leave suggestions for the naming of next seed or other achievements to include to my list once you have finished your run!

Rules are as follows:

• The Weekly Seed begins from the date this thread is posted and lasts exactly seven days.
• Make sure you are running the correct version of Cogmind (see thread subject).
• Enter the seed and abort your current game to initiate the seed (more details are below).
• Verify that the screenshot below of the Scrapyard and Level -10 matches your seed (note: [Manual seed applied: WeeklySeedRuns] should display in the log window).
• Play through the game once.  This is a friendly competition, we are all honest people.
• When finished post your scoresheet here (it should be the newest file in /scores) and any other screenshots/stories/strategies you wish to share with the community.
• Due to the spoilerific nature of this thread do not read the comments if you are intending to participate and haven't played your run!
• Any scoresheets submitted after seven days will not be included.
• Good luck!

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

Press F1 to go to the MENU, select OPTIONS, select Seed, and enter this weeks seed:




Select GAME, select ABORT:




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

Congratulations on entering the seed, now go kill some robots!

11

Competitions / Weekly Seed Runs!!! [Alpha 1b]

« on: July 13, 2015, 03:38:14 AM »

G'day everyone!

I've been musing about setting this up for a while here and on reddit.  I've always found seed runs a fun way to put a community element into single player games and now that the functionality for seeds is working I think it's time to get something going for Cogmind.

My thoughts on this are as follows:

• Seeds are listed weekly (I may change this depending upon the interest)
• Seeds are based on suggestions by the community (if there are a lot I'll mix them up with some RNG to select them)
• You should only play the seed once
• I'll post the instructions on how to input seeds and post an image of the starting layout of items and the first level after the Scrapyard
• To avoid confusion each seed run will be listed in a new thread
• When posting results attach a copy of your scoresheet (instructions on how to do this will be provided)
• The will be 'Winners' in a variety of different categories (e.g. Highest Score, Most Parts Attached, Slowest Average Speed, Most Melee Kills) and people are free to find the category where they 'win' (e.g. Lowest Score, Highest Time Spent Naked, etc)
• The main thing is to create some conversation around playing the same seed and discuss how people like to play the game

So, drop a reply if you're interested, post some suggestions if you like, and if people are keen I'll set this up.  I'll also post a link to this on the subreddit to pick up people who might miss this post.

jjj

12

Stories / My first run for Alpha 1b (made it to Level -1 for the first time!) [SPOILERS]

« on: June 11, 2015, 07:11:56 PM »

WARNING SPOILERS!!!

Before you scroll down understand that I have embedded screenshots of weapons/items/screens that are only found in the higher levels.  If you want to find out this stuff for yourself I would advise not to look at this post.







Things went very well for the first few floors.  I concentrated mainly on a more combat focused build early, but an opportunity came up to convert to a speedier build on level -5.  Here was my kit at the start of that level:





Both Levels -4 and -5 were tough and I'd searched almost the entirety of the levels before finding a suitable set of stairs.  Some of the items that stood out as game changers for me were the Experimental Optical Array and the Heavy Disruptor Cannon.  The increased vision proved invaluable in avoiding bad situations and if I was ever in a narrow hallway I would shoot service drones until one shut down; sending it ahead to see if there was a squad waiting around the corner.





Level -3 didn't prove much of a problem I was easily able to avoid the enemies I wanted to avoid and take down the enemies that were in the way.  The Heavy Disruptor Cannon worked well to take down most enemies and the Heavy Proton Missile Launcher cleaned up groups of Swarmers fairly quickly.





Level -2 I basically got smashed.  There were groups of about eight Swarmers that I could take out fairly easily until two Programmers showed up and took out all my key Utilities (mainly my Experimental Heat Sinks and a Coolant Network) that were enabling me to run a fully Energy Weapon based build.





The following sequence of shots are me basically running nude on Level -2, switching on and off an Electron Diverter when I had the energy to do so.  The sheer amount of dead-ends I kept encountering caused me to have to run back and forth in front and past the enemy on several occasions until I finally found the exit.  I think I spent the most time on -2 than any other level.









The Electron Diverter didn't make it to the end and I was left with a selection of completely useless items in my inventory.  I think if I had spent time to be more selective as to what I had in my inventory I would have had a better chance in Level -1.  Here's a shot of my faithful Electron Diverter:





There's a cool screen when you evolve to Level -1 which I hadn't seen before.  I'll leave it in a link in case you don't want to spoil yourself.  Anomaly detected?  Surely not!



Once in Level -1 things go bad very quickly.  There were enemies absolutely everywhere and I pretty much had nowhere to go.  Everywhere I went was a dead end and the one way I should have gone was filled with enemies.  I did find a flight unit before I was descended upon, but I couldn't deal with the upkeep of energy.  The following sequence of shots is me being hunted down until I died.


I started in the bottom left of this shot, checked the room down there and came out to a group of Grunts.





Managed to run to the North and found this helpful corridor.





The exit to that corridor is up in the top left.  Things are looking really bad now...





Checked the room on the right where the Swarmers came from and found another dead end.  Backtracked across the room and another Programmer was waiting in my only exit.





I was on about 10 Core Integrity at this stage and thought I would take a screenshot for posterity.





All in all, not that great a score.  I was expecting a bit more considering the time that I'd spent wading through some of the earlier levels, but I guess I was taking more time to avoid than usual.  This was also an unusual run in that I didn't end up taking out any reactors (at least I'm pretty sure).  Destroying reactors, while making your Alert Level very high, may net a few extra points in the long run.





Thanks for taking the time to read

13

Stories / Mechanical Detection/Location Drone Squad Online And Ready To Serve

« on: May 30, 2015, 08:30:54 AM »

I'm sure some people have played enough to find a stockpile of Drone Bays.  I've done it a few times, but this is the first time I was able to take them straight to the next level and send them on their merry way

My squad about to depart Storage.





Straight into Factory.  I managed to get all of them within the the radius (I think it's 5 spaces).





Fly my Pretties!





They had all perished by the time I made it too the exit





Took a very long time to find it, but because of them I was able to avoid most of the Sentries, only encounter two sets of Hunters, and find the best positions from which to defend.

This was my load-out by the end of the level:

14

Strategies / Can't quite work out what makes enemies shut down

« on: May 27, 2015, 06:25:39 AM »

I'm still trying to work out just how/why it happens and think it has something to do with a certain type of damage.

I picked up this Sentry a little while ago when it shut down after being caught in an explosion:








During my current game a Swarmer shut down when caught in a reactor explosion.  Except the explosion was purple in colour.

And just now, I shut down this Hunter by only shooting at it:







Pretty sure this was the weapon that did it, but I'm not sure:







Has anyone else encountered this?

15

Stories / Built an army

« on: May 26, 2015, 07:12:09 AM »

I've finally gotten the fabricators to work for me and built myself an army!



You'll need the schematic for Pest 3b and a total of 120 matter held in Matter Storage Units (it's ok if the matter is held over multiple units).  That will build four Pests who are ready to serve in 100 turns!

16

Strategies / Slow and steady: tips and tricks to successful runs [Videos]

« on: May 26, 2015, 01:26:55 AM »

I'm noticing from posts here and on reddit that people are struggling to make it through the early-game.  I've decided to start recording my runs and methodically explain my thinking in the hopes that it might make getting into the game a little easier.

Just a few points:

• I'm by no means an expert (the game has only been out a week!), but I've spent a lot of time with the 7DRL and I usually get to about level -5 in the Alpha
• Don't expect a fast game.  I will take my time to explain my thinking
• I'm still new to the game too!  If you have some pointers feel free to state them here and I'll try to cover them in the videos
• If you have any queries feel free to post below or PM me

Run 1

• Cogmind [Alpha 1] | Run 1 | Ep 1 | The Cogmind Has Arrived!
• Cogmind [Alpha 1] | Run 1 | Ep 2 | Kill All Haulers!
• Cogmind [Alpha 1] | Run 1 | Ep 3 | Shoot Recyclers On Sight!

Run 2

• Cogmind [Alpha 1] | Run 2 | Ep 10 |

Run 4

• Cogmind [Alpha 4b] | Run 4 | Ep 2 | Fabrication
• Cogmind [Alpha 4b] | Run 4 | Ep 3 | Lrg. Matter Storage Unit
• Cogmind [Alpha 4b] | Run 4 | Ep 4 | Swing Of Things

17

Stories / A few interesting items on my most recent run

« on: May 24, 2015, 02:33:46 AM »

This little guy was with me to the end.  At one point I had a speed of 13!


biomatter found this one before me, but it's amazing so I'm posting it anyway


My personal favourite.  This sword was great and I found it in a Hauler


However, things must come to an end...

18

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Escorted excavation squad spawned on top of me and blocked the map [Alpha 1]

« on: May 21, 2015, 03:58:38 AM »

This occurred in a mine level and I took a screenshot.

I spawned in the room to the North and searched the cave to the South.  As I was coming back through the passageway I was heavily damaged and trapped in with the as-66623.