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Alpha 7 release notes and changelog.
(
Plus the little 7b hotfix.)
Sorry for the confusion; back to the actual thread...
Ok. Revised opinion on alpha 7b:
Alien artifact : I went in with sensors and found the alien artifact, thanks for the hint. I was looking for things hiding in the walls, similar to the derelict army in wastes. Free slot evolution is always welcome. I assume, in the end, you get only one slot evolution instead of two when you ascend into access/-1. Ok. Back to alien artifacts. Are they all core expanders? Will we find any in the main complex?
Derelict logs: These are super useful. I found quite a few in my recent run. They revealed all the machine locations, a branch exit, security status and trap locations. It seems like derelict logs are consumable random hacks. I think it is a nice way to teach players the value of certain hacks that they will almost never attempt. For instance, inventory(components) is not worth burning a hacking attempt around late mid-game. But, if you can get it for free from a derelict log...
Derelict terminals: They seem to open doors. That's all I got. I did find a new item behind one of those doors. Tactical Co-ordination Suite.
Caves outposts: I had been relatively unlucky here. I saw a outpost with a reinforced blue wall thingy. But, I was running a speed build and the game crashed (alpha 7) and I died in my next attempt trying to get in there. I haven't been able to find that outpost again. I am guessing there is just loot/friends behind those walls? I found other outposts with a terminal with a bunch of grunts and swarmers guarding them. The terminal records were interesting. I suppose this is how we learn about recycling codes and such? I don't think those outposts are worth taking on if they don't give us any other advantage.
Caves difficulty : Caves
does feel a bit like mines. So, not exactly easy mode all the time. The achilles heel for a combat cogmind seems to be propulsion. I don't usually carry a lot of backup propulsion. So, if you run out of those and if your salvage is going to self-destruct...that could be a problem. On other hand, the reason I got so much trouble was I just wouldn't leave until I had explored the entire place. I was always able to find the exit with ease. I am going to wait until alpha 8 before I form an opinion on this. It's really hard to judge as it is. I still love the self-destructing loot idea
.
Caves is also more tactically challenging. I am starting to feel that explosives are a must if you are going down there.
Other stuff:
Hunters are back to being scary. I think I am going to start running purely thermal/em builds from now on. Fighting against hunters with kinetics is just hopeless and I have lost a lot of good runs to them.
There is a weird bug(?) in the score sheet. It adds a extra zero after the last entry in Turns passed section. Right above prototype ids.
Extension: Is there a critical mass of allies to which the AI just responds by going nuts? My first alpha 7 run ended when I freed all the allies in the extension branch and the AI just sent demolishers and marksmen after me. My alert level wasn't that high and that kind of response was surprising. There is just no good way to protect your allies against demolishers and I just lost all of them. Poor 07.