Cogmind > Stories

I did a run for the first time in ~8 months

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Kyzrati:
Good story! Thanks for writing that up. I almost always run combat builds and "don't have room for" sensors and the like, but the couple times I end up with them I feel a heck of a lot safer. Yeah they take up potential armor slots, but then they're kinda like the equivalent of armor because you probably won't be getting into as many confrontations.

I'm worried that being able to fab whatever you want might imbalance the game, but we'll worry about that once Alpha 9 is out there. Maybe not.

Hacking and hackware were overhauled, so the latter is more rare because there are no longer six types, only two! (Thus there are fewer related items for placement.) Read the new descriptions on the hackware and you'll find the indirect hacking bonus was folded into standard hacking suites--all offensive effects are enhanced by a single type, and all defensive effects by the other.

Trojans and brute force don't have a -X%, no, and some are fairly likely to succeed, but it's generally still advised to have some hacking boost before using the better ones. Botnets can help there.

There haven't been any pursuit AI changes, no.


--- Quote from: Adraius on May 21, 2016, 12:59:07 AM ---Right now I always seek an expanded inventory, but I dunno, guaranteed storage units in a game as procedural as Cogmind strikes me as strange. =P I look forward to seeing how the fabrication changes impact storage unit availability.

--- End quote ---
Well I don't have an confirmed changes on that yet, it was only your comment that had me thinking now that we'll have better Fabricators (and the Huge storage was removed, and those that you do get last longer), getting rid of guaranteeing storage could fit the game better in its current state. That feature was added back when it made more sense, and storage often became an issue, but those issues are probably either resolved or less significant now, and I'd be in favor of reintroducing the need to acquire storage through one of the other means.

Shobalk:

--- Quote from: Kyzrati on May 21, 2016, 02:47:54 AM ---I'd be in favor of reintroducing the need to acquire storage through one of the other means.

--- End quote ---

I wouldn't ;)

Kyzrati:
Ha, you and most everyone else ::)

I've just added it to the list for consideration at a later date after the fabrication situation becomes clearer, so don't start hoarding them just yet!

Adraius:
A question of mine for discussion:

In my last run, I didn't really feel like my Adv. Terrain Scanner and Adv. Terrain Scan Processor were the parts I needed on the build.  It was almost my first time using those parts, and unfortunately, my bot started falling about soon after I got them operational, so I don't consider the test conclusive by any means, but I'd be disinclined to try them again.  But I just took a look through the Strategies section of the forum and found this thread from back in January/February in which several people promote the idea of using terrain scanners on combat builds to find the exit.

How to people feel about that with the current changes?  Looking at the releases, it looks like that was just after the propulsion rework/buff, not before.  How exactly is the terrain scanner helpful - are you walking around as normal and hoping it specifically spots the stairs?  Or does it involve being stationary-ish in one area, letting it map, then moving on to the next?  Would you recommend it only for treaded combat bots or for <130 movement speed bots as well?

An additional thought for my post-mortem: I should have probably been killing an isolated Sentry or two for armor.  I didn't like getting into combat if at all avoidable once I initially ran out, and I didn't like the chance that I'd kill the armor before the Sentry and I'd come away with nothing, but I needed to bite the bullet and give it a try.

Decker:

The following is my analysis. Kyzrati probably disagrees with much of it :)

I like the write-up of your experience. Indeed, item shortages are common. Armor, force fields, hackware, scanners+processors are rare. In some games you just won't find any items in a category. Theoretically, you can kill watchers/operators for sensors/hackware, but in practice it often doesn't work so well.

You can kill sentries for their armor, but it's not really worthwile. Their armor is crappy in the first place and you already battered it by destroying the sentry. If you do find some good armor, sure you can equip one or two pieces, but otherwise it's totally viable to rely on your propulsion, power and weapon slots for makeshift armor. By the late game your coverage is already good and armor won't protect your processors from fighters, which is the main risk factor. Some propulsion units have better integrity than most armor.

Essentially you just make do with what you found and hope for the best. For Research/Access, the best is still to hack the exit if you can pull it off (derelict logs can help, too). It's completely random. You might be lucky to find a low-level terminal and/or level access available but don't count on it.

Failing that, terrain scanners are your best bet. Since they map slowly, you can afford going on treads and wait until the full area has been revealed (I recommend waiting as you don't want to backtrack due to partial mapping). Since you map a large area, you should be able to find an exit in a reasonable amount of time. If you identify every processor prototype you come across, about 1 game in 2 you'll find the experimental terrain scanner, which maps really fast.

If neither hacking or terrain scanners are possible, then you can use sensors to avoid some trouble and spot the sentries that might be sitting on an exit.

If you're running blind, then you still kill everything in sight (even at alert level 5) so long as you have high storage, a large stack of good launchers and spare matter. Otherwise, you're officially in trouble. You might be lucky with a garrison or drone bays. Being fast helps at that point. Fight, flee, scout ahead!

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