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51
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussion/Feedback (spoiler-free)
« on: May 27, 2016, 10:33:56 PM »
I saw K's stream last night and read about Adraius's epic run and felt the urge to play Cogmind. The result = new personal record (A victory in 2210 turns/52 mins).
This Cogmind was an absolute ninja. Out of the 79 parts that I attached, I only lost 20 and I don't think I even got spotted in access
(edit: Hmm.I must have been spotted coz the score-sheet says I exited with 99% of my core. Funny thing is that I don't remember getting shot at by anything.).
A suggestion : Cogmind runs can feel very impersonal as the build is always in flux. Allowing us to assign a name to our LRC-V3s separate from our player tags might be nice.
Some gameplay notes:
i) Light armor/Evasive/Shield type utilities are amazing. They weigh next to nothing and I would rather lose them than my hacking suite.
ii) Mini drone bays!! A single slot utility with a mass of 4 and can store up to 4 drones. I love this utility. Too bad K is nerfing it in the next release. @Kyzrati : I hope you rethink the decision to keep the drone bays attached in order for it to function. I think just reducing the drone count is sufficient. So much of their utility is derived from a well-timed drone launch. They don't carry you to victory.
I got my mini-drone bay in mid factory. I had 3 drone launches.
a) I wasted one of the drones in factory.
b) The second drone launch was in -2/Research. This little guy/gal was a champ. He distracted a behemoth and 2 grunt patrols that spotted me while I escaped abandoning it. Their utility as defense/distraction cannot be understated. Every enemy who sees a drone will stop and shoot at it. This little guy buys you two full turns just by getting spotted. It also has flight units and is tiny. So, hostiles have a really hard time hitting it. My speed was around 25. If that drone survives being fired at twice, it would have bought me 16 free movement actions.
c) The third was in access. In low security settings, these drones are map hacks. I spent no time in access because the drone revealed so many dead ends and empty rooms.
d) I kept the 4th one as a souvenir.
iii) Hacking is the most reliable way for a speed build to clear late game. Speed builds benefit a lot by establishing landmarks in the map and hacking is the best way to do it. It is not just enough to know the exit locations. You need a way to navigate the level safely. Index() hacks reveals machine locations and machines are usually inside rooms. This is how I figure out which walls to blow through. Coz hey there is a machine on the other side. The maintenance status hack shows the locations of the maintenance robots and lets you avoid thoroughfares and identify useful bottlenecks. Zone layout and sector layout are both easy and invaluable hacks. Trojan(disrupt) is a good damage mitigation tool. Combine this information with a decent sensor array and you can be a ninja. I had +60 to hacking in this run and hacked the exit location and the seal in no time.
iv) @Kyzrati : The new access shell behavior is a welcome change. It felt nice knowing that I don't have to worry about finding weapons that can bust through the shell.
Spoiler: Score/17013
(click to show/hide)
(click to show/hide)
This Cogmind was an absolute ninja. Out of the 79 parts that I attached, I only lost 20 and I don't think I even got spotted in access
(edit: Hmm.I must have been spotted coz the score-sheet says I exited with 99% of my core. Funny thing is that I don't remember getting shot at by anything.). A suggestion : Cogmind runs can feel very impersonal as the build is always in flux. Allowing us to assign a name to our LRC-V3s separate from our player tags might be nice.
Some gameplay notes:
i) Light armor/Evasive/Shield type utilities are amazing. They weigh next to nothing and I would rather lose them than my hacking suite.
ii) Mini drone bays!! A single slot utility with a mass of 4 and can store up to 4 drones. I love this utility. Too bad K is nerfing it in the next release. @Kyzrati : I hope you rethink the decision to keep the drone bays attached in order for it to function. I think just reducing the drone count is sufficient. So much of their utility is derived from a well-timed drone launch. They don't carry you to victory.
I got my mini-drone bay in mid factory. I had 3 drone launches.
a) I wasted one of the drones in factory.
b) The second drone launch was in -2/Research. This little guy/gal was a champ. He distracted a behemoth and 2 grunt patrols that spotted me while I escaped abandoning it. Their utility as defense/distraction cannot be understated. Every enemy who sees a drone will stop and shoot at it. This little guy buys you two full turns just by getting spotted. It also has flight units and is tiny. So, hostiles have a really hard time hitting it. My speed was around 25. If that drone survives being fired at twice, it would have bought me 16 free movement actions.
c) The third was in access. In low security settings, these drones are map hacks. I spent no time in access because the drone revealed so many dead ends and empty rooms.
d) I kept the 4th one as a souvenir.
iii) Hacking is the most reliable way for a speed build to clear late game. Speed builds benefit a lot by establishing landmarks in the map and hacking is the best way to do it. It is not just enough to know the exit locations. You need a way to navigate the level safely. Index() hacks reveals machine locations and machines are usually inside rooms. This is how I figure out which walls to blow through. Coz hey there is a machine on the other side. The maintenance status hack shows the locations of the maintenance robots and lets you avoid thoroughfares and identify useful bottlenecks. Zone layout and sector layout are both easy and invaluable hacks. Trojan(disrupt) is a good damage mitigation tool. Combine this information with a decent sensor array and you can be a ninja. I had +60 to hacking in this run and hacked the exit location and the seal in no time.
iv) @Kyzrati : The new access shell behavior is a welcome change. It felt nice knowing that I don't have to worry about finding weapons that can bust through the shell.
52
Stories / Re: I did a run for the first time in ~8 months
« on: May 24, 2016, 06:42:36 PM »
Haha. Fly along the eastern corridor. There is an exit right below the first behemoth in the extension junction. It is behind a sealed door with a terminal nearby. The hack that opens the door is fairly easy to pull off. You will still take some fire from the behemoths and sentries. But, not as much as you would if you try to just fly past the lot to the other exit in east. Good luck.
53
Competitions / Re: Weekly Seed #40 [Alpha 8] [Seed: Hauler Hunter]
« on: May 24, 2016, 12:47:34 AM »
Re Behemoths : Make them resistant to kinetics and and watch us cry . Honestly, I like them the way they are. They probably feel weak as they usually occur in isolation. Isolated behemoths won't be much of a challenge even if you buff them. They do work well with other robots and provide good cannon support. Especially hunters. The command guards will shred any ill-prepared cogmind to bits. So will the extension junction squad. I really do think they work well when they are fighting with teams of robots. If you want to buff them, how about equipping them with a combat drone bay? Or is that a derelict item? Or you can litter the area around behemoths with ambush traps. I also don't think it is fair to compare anything to hunters. They are the alpha and the omega when it comes to end cogmind runs.
. Honestly, I like them the way they are. They probably feel weak as they usually occur in isolation. Isolated behemoths won't be much of a challenge even if you buff them. They do work well with other robots and provide good cannon support. Especially hunters. The command guards will shred any ill-prepared cogmind to bits. So will the extension junction squad. I really do think they work well when they are fighting with teams of robots. If you want to buff them, how about equipping them with a combat drone bay? Or is that a derelict item? Or you can litter the area around behemoths with ambush traps. I also don't think it is fair to compare anything to hunters. They are the alpha and the omega when it comes to end cogmind runs.
54
Competitions / Re: Weekly Seed #41 [Alpha 8] [Seed: Pinned Down]
« on: May 22, 2016, 11:12:57 AM »
Nice win. Gratz K.
Ooh. The alien artifact. Is it the fancy one that we find in Zhirov? I was thinking that I should pick it up instead of equipping it immediately. Does it just serve as an escape tool outside Zhirov's?
Ooh. The alien artifact. Is it the fancy one that we find in Zhirov? I was thinking that I should pick it up instead of equipping it immediately. Does it just serve as an escape tool outside Zhirov's?
55
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 13, 2016, 09:48:00 AM »You can kill the data miner in a single shot. I katana-sliced him to death. He drops his hackware, system-mapper. It gives you +30 to hack!!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
edit : Updated with new info from my recent run.
56
Ideas / Re: Fabrication Overhaul Discussion
« on: May 10, 2016, 10:25:31 PM »Quote
Yeah, I agree that once players can somewhat more easily pick and choose a few parts they really want (come Alpha 9) we'll start seeing some changes in strategy, especially for the less combat-oriented builds.
With regard to this, I've been thinking about changes to drones in particular. What if you were forced to keep the bay attached in order to maintain a remote connection? I'd like to take the restrictions even further than that, but doing so would be illogical... Opinions?
The change that you propose could be an interesting test of how powerful they are. I don't think any more nerfs is necessary. Leaving the drone bays equipped when you are strapped for mass support early in the game is difficult. Late in the game, mass support is not a problem. But, I feel that speed runs do need a little something that deep into the game. Mini-whine (feel free to ignore) : Access has a lot of shiny weapons that speed builds cannot use. It is a pretty big floor and you are just running around praying for a terminal which are surprisingly rare. Then, there is the problem of getting those sealed doors to open. Looking through my scores folder, of the last 10 serious runs, I made it to access in about 6 of them and died. It's usually one thing or another : lots of hackware but no terminal, found an energy cycler but not enough hacking gear, Found the exit but no way to open the doors. Now that I look back on my previous speed wins, I can appreciate the amount of luck involved in me getting out. (edit : To be clear, I don't think that access needs to be any easier. I just think speed builds need more toys to play with)
General thoughts on drone bays : I think drone bays are very powerful, but not abusable. The drones are a finite resource and you need to be very careful with their use. That takes a certain amount of skill. I rarely manage to recover the drone that I deploy as I usually use it as a forward scout to figure out enemy patrol routes. The only abusable one I think is maybe the mini drone bay because of the ample number of drones it provides. Nerfing it by reducing the drone count would make it strictly weaker than the mapping drone bay. So, maybe mapping drone bay = 2 drones and mini drone bay = 3 drones?
I also think their use a distraction tool makes them very versatile and covers a niche that no other utilities address.
Edit : Also dude, broken clavicles are serious business. Take care..
57
Ideas / Re: Fabrication Overhaul Discussion
« on: May 10, 2016, 09:50:58 PM »
I can think of some creative uses for it in speed builds. Can't wait to fabricate those distraction..um I mean..drone bays in alpha 9. I recently discovered this cute tactic with mini drone bays when you are being pursued by swarmers. Turn a corner, release a single drone and let him run back around the corner using the goto command. The swarmers would waste a turn or two shooting at it giving you plenty of time to escape. But, seriously there is a whole list of items which would make speed runs not necessarily easier..but more interesting.
Question : Do you have any plans to add more interesting sensors to the game? I remember there being talk about a sensor which tells you how many enemies are pursuing you. It would be cool to have some new kind of sensor models apart from terrain scanners, optical arrays and sensor arrays to play with. Might make speed builds feel less samey..
edit: Typos and sentences in general
Question : Do you have any plans to add more interesting sensors to the game? I remember there being talk about a sensor which tells you how many enemies are pursuing you. It would be cool to have some new kind of sensor models apart from terrain scanners, optical arrays and sensor arrays to play with. Might make speed builds feel less samey..
edit: Typos and sentences in general
58
Ideas / Re: Fabrication Overhaul Discussion
« on: May 10, 2016, 04:05:21 PM »
@K: Just saw the new fab changes on twitter. The on-map timer looks cool. The only thing about Fabrication that I still don't like is the time reqs. I think you can eliminate if it the global matter store is tight/limited enough that we have to pick and choose between the high-tier prototypes, which is all I intend to do, that we have to build. That alone would limit fab farming.
It's not a deal breaker by any means though. I still look forward to using/abusing the fab system in alpha 9. Maybe we can convince you to get rid of the time reqs in alpha 10
.
It's not a deal breaker by any means though. I still look forward to using/abusing the fab system in alpha 9. Maybe we can convince you to get rid of the time reqs in alpha 10
.
59
Ideas / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 01, 2016, 10:48:34 PM »
(Edit: Post moved from Alpha 8 Discussions thread, talking about drone effectiveness.)
The drone bays mechanics are fine and so are their rarity. I think the only reason they could considered a problem is because of the proposed changes to the fabrication system. I think it might be better to nerf the fabrication system than change the drone bays or any other items. I mean, I can see fabricating hacking suites being just as powerful. One thing that you can do is actually offload the fabrication difficulty to acquiring schematics than the actual fabrication process.
Another idea: how about having a global limit on fabrication? Make it progressively harder as we fabricate more stuff and higher rating stuff and let the difficult persist across levels. Let us fabricate point singularity launchers by -7. But after we do that, we can't fabricate anything for several levels. Make it similar to alert level. Fabricating a point singularity launcher should be the fabrication equivalent of blowing up 3 garrisons. We have to hack our fabrication alert level down if we want to fabricate more stuff. Make the fabrication alert level decay down slower than our regular alert level.
The drone bays mechanics are fine and so are their rarity. I think the only reason they could considered a problem is because of the proposed changes to the fabrication system. I think it might be better to nerf the fabrication system than change the drone bays or any other items. I mean, I can see fabricating hacking suites being just as powerful. One thing that you can do is actually offload the fabrication difficulty to acquiring schematics than the actual fabrication process.
Another idea: how about having a global limit on fabrication? Make it progressively harder as we fabricate more stuff and higher rating stuff and let the difficult persist across levels. Let us fabricate point singularity launchers by -7. But after we do that, we can't fabricate anything for several levels. Make it similar to alert level. Fabricating a point singularity launcher should be the fabrication equivalent of blowing up 3 garrisons. We have to hack our fabrication alert level down if we want to fabricate more stuff. Make the fabrication alert level decay down slower than our regular alert level.
60
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 01, 2016, 10:53:40 AM »On an unrelated note, I am now the proud owner of a self-destruct interrupter. Since I have no intention of self-destructing and can't figure out what's it for, maybe I should just drop them.
It is a really useful item. Drop it on the floor before you get into combat in caves. It stops the enemy parts from disintegrating.
@K : It's official. The new drone bays are really powerful, especially at low security levels. I found the Mapping Drone Bay. It was a single slot item with a mass of 3!! That's amazing. It helped me get through both research levels painlessly. All I would do is release a single drone and it would reveal room contents, secret doors, enemy patrols and with a little luck, the exit. I didn't even use them to map the area
. They are also amazing distraction. I found a couple of regular drone bays in research. I didn't want to carry them around. So, I just equipped them and unleashed around 8 drones. Half the research floor was chasing them around like bunch of idiots while I waltzed my way to the exit . I would have cleared access if I hadn't been an moron and tried on prototype items which promptly disabled my field prop array and my sensor array handicapping me severely. As it happened, I died. Horribly.
61
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 29, 2016, 10:33:16 PM »
Oh wow, that's nice shobalk. You almost had it. If you are hacky build, you hack the temrinal. If not, there is this blue machine called energy cyclers stewn all across access. You can find it behind a double door (looks like ++ ). Blow it up and it opens all the doors. Or you can just shoot through the behemoths. YOu need a lot of fire power to blow through those reinforced walls though.
62
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 28, 2016, 11:16:18 PM »
Ooh. Thanks for the clarification on MAIN.C's broadcast. I must have read those records in the wrong order. It would be nice to have access to the records that you have already read somewhere in the gallery alongside items. Or maybe have a early game branch called library which you need to visit to read all the previously queried records .
That being said, I love the dark-soulesque approach to lore where you need to be half-good at the game to get the all the story bits. Getting to Zhirov is not easy. It is a very good example of immersion via difficulty. And the story fascinating enough justify it. It is gonna really exciting when the late game branches are open.
Am I correct in assuming that the caves branches are relatively static? (i.e Zion in -7, Data miner in -6, Warlord in -5, and Zhirov in -4)
. That being said, I love the dark-soulesque approach to lore where you need to be half-good at the game to get the all the story bits. Getting to Zhirov is not easy. It is a very good example of immersion via difficulty. And the story fascinating enough justify it. It is gonna really exciting when the late game branches are open.
Am I correct in assuming that the caves branches are relatively static? (i.e Zion in -7, Data miner in -6, Warlord in -5, and Zhirov in -4)
63
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 28, 2016, 11:37:52 AM »64
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 27, 2016, 10:17:47 PM »
Re Doors : I had always thought that was a feature and not a bug. I imagined the Cogmind blowing up the prison doors and going "Come with if you want to live" in an Austrian accent. (edit : I regularly used this to free prisoners in extension.)
Re Molecular Disruptor : It scales so well late into the game. It might even be useful for speed builds if you can find the space. It is really broken and OP. I like it. Speaking of broken and OP items, the mini-drone bay is really good. I found it once in access and thought it was a really late game item. Turns out you can get it in factory. It made caves a lot more easier to navigate. Let's see how things turn out once the fabrication changes are in. It might make things a bit too easy.
Re Molecular Disruptor : It scales so well late into the game. It might even be useful for speed builds if you can find the space. It is really broken and OP. I like it
. Speaking of broken and OP items, the mini-drone bay is really good. I found it once in access and thought it was a really late game item. Turns out you can get it in factory. It made caves a lot more easier to navigate. Let's see how things turn out once the fabrication changes are in. It might make things a bit too easy.65
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 27, 2016, 07:45:13 PM »
Just had a really good run.
Alpha 8 thoughts:
i) I liked the molecular deconstructor. Is this the only weapon in the game which does damage over time? Really fun to play with. A really good anti-hunter tool, I think.
ii) Zion is cool. I love the "vendor" who fixes you up. Also, lol at storm laser. Also, learnt a new trojan. I already knew about most of the "tips". But, I can see this being very useful for new players. If they can make it there, that is :p.
iii) Met O8 in a previous run. Didn't get the chance to use the code that he gave me.
iv) Met Zhirov in upper caves. I think I understand the lore lot better now. The alien artifacts were cool. I assume you can't further the plot with Zhirov before section 7 is open.
v) I also like the change to Samaritans. They are now a reliable source of treads and neutrino cores.
vi) I found the signal disruptor (edit: not signal disruptor, it's self-destruct interrupter :p) in Zion. That is very useful. Especially if you find a lone behemoth and you want to do some shopping...
I was very close to winning this run. I started off with a combat build and dived into every branch to see if I can find something new. I think I dove into caves in every single factory floor. The upper proxmity caves wrecked me. But, I found decent flight equipment in research and switched to stealth. Found the exit in -3 after running around for a while. Got lucky in -2 and the exit was right there. Access was tragic. I found a energy cycler early on and blew it up. Then spent rest of the time running around looking for the exit. Ran into a bunch of swarmers and that was it.
I am probably done with Alpha 8 for a while. Will try and get a speed win before Alpha 9 though.
edit : The score sheet says that I had 135pc of my health when I exited -3. Bug?
Alpha 8 thoughts:
i) I liked the molecular deconstructor. Is this the only weapon in the game which does damage over time? Really fun to play with. A really good anti-hunter tool, I think.
ii) Zion is cool. I love the "vendor" who fixes you up. Also, lol at storm laser. Also, learnt a new trojan. I already knew about most of the "tips". But, I can see this being very useful for new players. If they can make it there, that is :p.
iii) Met O8 in a previous run. Didn't get the chance to use the code that he gave me.
iv) Met Zhirov in upper caves. I think I understand the lore lot better now. The alien artifacts were cool. I assume you can't further the plot with Zhirov before section 7 is open.
v) I also like the change to Samaritans. They are now a reliable source of treads and neutrino cores.
vi) I found the signal disruptor (edit: not signal disruptor, it's self-destruct interrupter :p) in Zion. That is very useful. Especially if you find a lone behemoth and you want to do some shopping...
I was very close to winning this run. I started off with a combat build and dived into every branch to see if I can find something new. I think I dove into caves in every single factory floor. The upper proxmity caves wrecked me. But, I found decent flight equipment in research and switched to stealth. Found the exit in -3 after running around for a while. Got lucky in -2 and the exit was right there. Access was tragic. I found a energy cycler early on and blew it up. Then spent rest of the time running around looking for the exit. Ran into a bunch of swarmers and that was it.
I am probably done with Alpha 8 for a while. Will try and get a speed win before Alpha 9 though.
Spoiler: scoresheet/17234 (click to show/hide)
edit : The score sheet says that I had 135pc of my health when I exited -3. Bug?
66
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 27, 2016, 09:21:01 AM »
I haven't had the opportunity to play past the single run that I did before. I wish I looked at the changelog before trying to blow through that door in Zion. The natives weren't very happy with my behaviour and got myselves kicked out. Died in the prox caves. Shame. It was shaping up to be a good run too. Also, I think Zion could benefit from a little bit of background music. It is one of the very few areas where you are just chilling out. I am thinking something along the lines of the music that plays in in deus-ex. I haven't found out any of the cool stuff yet. Will report back later.
I also think I know how you turned research into a warzone. Let's see whether I am right.
p.s: Also, do the changes to the blast doors imply that I can't crit through the prison door in Extension and the mainframe doors in Cetus?
Edit : Feature request: Would it be possible to include a pull up window which contains only dialogue with pwds (or even just the pwds with a brief description)?. I can see things getting annoying if I have to scroll through the log to find passwords.
I also think I know how you turned research into a warzone
. Let's see whether I am right.p.s: Also, do the changes to the blast doors imply that I can't crit through the prison door in Extension and the mainframe doors in Cetus?
Edit : Feature request: Would it be possible to include a pull up window which contains only dialogue with pwds (or even just the pwds with a brief description)?. I can see things getting annoying if I have to scroll through the log to find passwords.
67
Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / CTD in Zion.
« on: April 26, 2016, 09:44:53 PM »
Crash report incoming. Game crashes when you run into one of the NPC in Zion (the NPC looks like a z). Attached crash log and screenshot. Happy bugfixing.
68
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 7/7b Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 14, 2016, 07:37:23 PM »Quote
Congrats for your win, Sherlockkat!Thank you
. I have got the hang of speed runs, I think. Gonna switch it up to combat builds and try to win those now. Speed is so much fun and faster to play though. It took me 55 mins to escape. I can barely make it to research in that time if I am playing combat. And about 15 mins to die after that.Yup. It sucked.Spent some time looking for a weapon to blow through the shell and found a micro-nuke. By the way, the micro-nuke launcher does zero damage to the reinforced walls guarded by those behemoths. I would have won a previous run if I that would have worked.That's right, those are blast doors. If you have a Structural Scanner you can get the full analysis on them and see that they are incredibly reinforced against EX damage. The easiest way to get through is either with a powerful TH cannon, or simply crit your way through it with any regular guns/cannons. Most melee weapons can also bring it down.
.Quote
Do you need a nova cannon? I have punched my way through research walls with hvy plasma cannons, hvy neutron cannons and neutron cannons, all of which you can find in factory.It's sometimes hard to find the nova cannon you need to punch through the walls in Research, though, so having launchers handy is still useful.That's the kind of thing a friendlier fabrication system will be able to fix. It might make things too easy for experts who always know exactly what they want, but we'll see...
69
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 7/7b Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 14, 2016, 03:42:50 PM »
My first alpha 7 win:
The run was super smooth until -2 wrecked me. I had already hacked the exit in -2, but got caught in a series of stasis traps with hunters and grunts for company. It was clear that I was going to lose most of my equipment, so I did the sensible thing and stuffed my good prototype flight equipment into the inventory for later use in access. I then spent rest of my time in -2 hunting for a good power supply mostly naked except for a few processors which survived everything. I ne'er managed to lose those hunters and the swarmers that joined the party later. But, you have a such deep health pool by the time you hit -2 that you can just explore while taking damage as long as you know where the exit is. Finally, found a quantum reactor and beelined to the exit with about 40% of my core left!!
-1 wasn't bad. RNG was merciful. I didn't find any good equipment. But I found an energy cycler and the exit soon after. Spent some time looking for a weapon to blow through the shell and found a micro-nuke. By the way, the micro-nuke launcher does zero damage to the reinforced walls guarded by those behemoths. I would have won a previous run if I that would have worked.
I think I have hit upon a decent stealth setup which lets me clear research more or less consistently:
i) Decent propulsion: Speed of 25~35. Flight is the best. Jumping over civilian bots is very useful for losing enemies in tight corridors. You outrun all the walking/hovering robots anyway. The only trouble comes from swarmers. I avoid them like the plague.
ii) Decent hackware: anywhere between +40 to +60 to hacks seems good. System shields are nice but not critical. My favorite hacks are Access(Main), Garrison seals, Index(Terminals), Inventory(Components), Manifests and Trojan(Track). Hacking is my primary means for getting ahead of the food clock. Garrison seals delays programmer dispatch and access(main) obviously cuts down pointless exploration and getting into trouble. I rarely see programmer dispatches. I think I saw two in this game and I was gone before they found me.
iii) Semi-decent sensor setup : Optical arrays lets me see far and sensor arrays let me see around corners. That's more or less all I need to avoid immediate trouble.
iv) A mid-game thermal cannon: lets me burrow through walls with no matter cost. This has saved my ass more than once. You can get a sense of the local level layout by watching civilian traffic and figure out which walls to blow through. I have avoided some major thoroughfares in research via this method. Lot less messier than launchers.
v) A decent launcher: More of a security blanket, useful to deal with swarmers. I avoid using it as much as possible.
vi) An optional melee weapon in case you need matter.
The general plan is hack the exit, beeline to it and pick up stuff on the way. Works like a charm. More or less.
The run was super smooth until -2 wrecked me. I had already hacked the exit in -2, but got caught in a series of stasis traps with hunters and grunts for company. It was clear that I was going to lose most of my equipment, so I did the sensible thing and stuffed my good prototype flight equipment into the inventory for later use in access. I then spent rest of my time in -2 hunting for a good power supply mostly naked except for a few processors which survived everything. I ne'er managed to lose those hunters and the swarmers that joined the party later. But, you have a such deep health pool by the time you hit -2 that you can just explore while taking damage as long as you know where the exit is. Finally, found a quantum reactor and beelined to the exit with about 40% of my core left!!
-1 wasn't bad. RNG was merciful. I didn't find any good equipment. But I found an energy cycler and the exit soon after. Spent some time looking for a weapon to blow through the shell and found a micro-nuke. By the way, the micro-nuke launcher does zero damage to the reinforced walls guarded by those behemoths. I would have won a previous run if I that would have worked.
Spoiler: Score/15141 (click to show/hide)
160I think I have hit upon a decent stealth setup which lets me clear research more or less consistently:
i) Decent propulsion: Speed of 25~35. Flight is the best. Jumping over civilian bots is very useful for losing enemies in tight corridors. You outrun all the walking/hovering robots anyway. The only trouble comes from swarmers. I avoid them like the plague.
ii) Decent hackware: anywhere between +40 to +60 to hacks seems good. System shields are nice but not critical. My favorite hacks are Access(Main), Garrison seals, Index(Terminals), Inventory(Components), Manifests and Trojan(Track). Hacking is my primary means for getting ahead of the food clock. Garrison seals delays programmer dispatch and access(main) obviously cuts down pointless exploration and getting into trouble. I rarely see programmer dispatches. I think I saw two in this game and I was gone before they found me.
iii) Semi-decent sensor setup : Optical arrays lets me see far and sensor arrays let me see around corners. That's more or less all I need to avoid immediate trouble.
iv) A mid-game thermal cannon: lets me burrow through walls with no matter cost. This has saved my ass more than once. You can get a sense of the local level layout by watching civilian traffic and figure out which walls to blow through. I have avoided some major thoroughfares in research via this method. Lot less messier than launchers.
v) A decent launcher: More of a security blanket, useful to deal with swarmers. I avoid using it as much as possible.
vi) An optional melee weapon in case you need matter.
The general plan is hack the exit, beeline to it and pick up stuff on the way. Works like a charm. More or less.
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Ideas / Re: Fabrication Overhaul Discussion
« on: April 11, 2016, 10:21:11 AM »
Here are some thoughts. I apologize if they are rather muddled and repeating some of your suggestions, but fabrication is hard to think about.
This is my view of fabrication too. It is a support tool that allows different builds to plug holes in its inventory/setup. Speed builds can manufacture heat sinks, propulsion, sensors etc. Combat builds can manufacture armor, forcefields and combat utilities. If the fabrication system needs to fulfill this role, the primary gating mechanism for fabrication should not be hacking, but time. Hacking requires a Cogmind to be good at it, while waiting around is something all Cogminds can do. Here are some suggestions derived from this perspective:
1) Combine those 2 hacks into 1 and make it easy to pull off.
2) I don't think matter stores are very relevant. They won't deter a determined Cogmind from fabrication, especially if the system is more streamlined. Everyone would do it. They are flavorful, but getting rid of them won't break immersion. I can just as easily believe that fabricators have an inbuilt matter reserve. And you know what, you can limit fabrication by making those reserves finite.
3) It would be unfair to hackers if they can't leverage their abilities. So as we discussed in the alpha 7 thread, how about a trojan which reduces build time?
4) It would be nice if higher-level fabricators have near-instant build time. During my recent playthroughs as a hacker (I had +70 from my hackware and -20 to getting traced), I noticed that there is not a lot of things you can do with that much hacking prowess. There is access(main) and you can seal level 3 garrisons. I would like to be able to do more and being privy to instant build time from a fabricator would make hacking that much more useful.
The whole thing might difficult to balance. If the time requirement is too steep, the combat builds won't be able to use it effectively. If it is too lenient, it is going to get abused. Actually, I cannot think of a way in which combat builds can use the fabricators effectively. They already have high churn rates and are up against the clock. Whatever they are fabricating is unlikely to turn the tide of the game and the time requirement doesn't help. Compare that to a speed build. A single adv sensor array or a decent launcher can see you to the end of the game. If we are going down the time requirement route, it seems like there needs to be an alternate non-hacking way to speed up fabrication in order for it to be useful to combat builds.
Re Waiting: Isn't alt-w the command for detaching the part bound to w?
edits: grammar and typos
Quote
Cogmind is obviously a game about adapting to the situation. Even after you find some useful individual parts, or gather exactly what you need for a highly effective build, sooner or later it's likely that circumstances will turn against you and you'll lose something important (if not more than that). Moreover, you may also have an idea for a build but simply haven't come across one of the better parts it needs.
This is my view of fabrication too. It is a support tool that allows different builds to plug holes in its inventory/setup. Speed builds can manufacture heat sinks, propulsion, sensors etc. Combat builds can manufacture armor, forcefields and combat utilities. If the fabrication system needs to fulfill this role, the primary gating mechanism for fabrication should not be hacking, but time. Hacking requires a Cogmind to be good at it, while waiting around is something all Cogminds can do. Here are some suggestions derived from this perspective:
1) Combine those 2 hacks into 1 and make it easy to pull off.
2) I don't think matter stores are very relevant. They won't deter a determined Cogmind from fabrication, especially if the system is more streamlined. Everyone would do it. They are flavorful, but getting rid of them won't break immersion. I can just as easily believe that fabricators have an inbuilt matter reserve. And you know what, you can limit fabrication by making those reserves finite.
3) It would be unfair to hackers if they can't leverage their abilities. So as we discussed in the alpha 7 thread, how about a trojan which reduces build time?
4) It would be nice if higher-level fabricators have near-instant build time. During my recent playthroughs as a hacker (I had +70 from my hackware and -20 to getting traced), I noticed that there is not a lot of things you can do with that much hacking prowess. There is access(main) and you can seal level 3 garrisons. I would like to be able to do more and being privy to instant build time from a fabricator would make hacking that much more useful.
The whole thing might difficult to balance. If the time requirement is too steep, the combat builds won't be able to use it effectively. If it is too lenient, it is going to get abused. Actually, I cannot think of a way in which combat builds can use the fabricators effectively. They already have high churn rates and are up against the clock. Whatever they are fabricating is unlikely to turn the tide of the game and the time requirement doesn't help. Compare that to a speed build. A single adv sensor array or a decent launcher can see you to the end of the game. If we are going down the time requirement route, it seems like there needs to be an alternate non-hacking way to speed up fabrication in order for it to be useful to combat builds.
Re Waiting: Isn't alt-w the command for detaching the part bound to w?
edits: grammar and typos
71
Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Crash on stepping on trap in caves
« on: April 10, 2016, 09:00:23 PM »
Woot!! Another crash in the caves. Stepped on a bomb trap (near a non-functional grunt) in the lower caves and the game crashed. Attaching the crash log.
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General Discussion / Re: Alpha 7/7b Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 09, 2016, 07:27:46 PM »Quote
That sounds interesting, I hadn't thought of adding Trojans that enhance a machine's regular functionality like that. By this you mean even Repair Stations that aren't a high enough rating?
Yep. That's exactly what I mean. The low level repair units are pretty cool and useful early in the game. I don't use the high level machines all that much. I have had hacks fail on them (esp garrisons) when I have had +70pc from hacking gear. Toss in the fact that you are on the clock on higher floors and don't want to get traced, the high level machines are a lot less desirable to play around with. So, being able to buff up the lower level machines with trojans might be interesting.
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General Discussion / Re: Alpha 7/7b Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 09, 2016, 07:10:22 PM »
How about a trojan which lets repair units repair parts for which we have schematics for? That gives us more incentive to use scanalyzers.
edit: Though, this could be a feature of repair units in general now that I think about it.
edit: Though, this could be a feature of repair units in general now that I think about it.
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General Discussion / Re: Alpha 7/7b Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 07, 2016, 06:40:11 PM »
Re spoilers : Ya. I read the records in Cetus. I don't know why I thought the Cogmind had anything to do with the revision series. Faulty memory .
.
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General Discussion / Re: Alpha 7/7b Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: April 06, 2016, 11:22:58 PM »Quote
I think we'll start with 5%, but I'm sure you'll take that, too
Fine
. I knew you were going to say no to +10. Worth a try though. Lore Q:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)