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Kyzrati plays stealth-hacker flight (Beta 8.1 thief run!)

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Kyzrati:
I'm finally doing it.

I've always been a fan of shooting robots, blowing things up, generally making a mess, and then trying to get away with it all, but it was about time for something a little different, so on a dare/challenge from MTF, the new theme for the run starting with today's stream is Exiles thievery. (video uploaded here)

We're looting the EX-Vault and then going to bravely (well, as bravely as flight can) explore all the cave depths, and try to avoid getting stolen from. So yeah, we're the first thief, but then have to be on the lookout for other thieves who are better than us. Naturally the best way to approach this goal is with ultimate speed, so flight it is!

I stupidly left -10/Materials without first confirming Exiles weren't at that depth, but on exploring -9/Materials anyway discovered some carnage that certainly wasn't my own work, suggested 8R-AWN had been through the area already and that I must be on the right floor :)

Whew, all the prototype flight units we found wouldn't go to waste! Also got a lucky find in the form of the Exp. Sensor Array in the Mines.

Made it to the vault:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
We got the LES and Skeleton box, which will only be minimally helpful if at all on this particular run (but they will occupy inventory slots anywhere due to the stated challenge xD), and also the Longsword +1! Now that's a beautiful and reliably weapon which will synergize nicely with the this build.

Back in Materials we collected flight gear in our Extremely Excessive Storage, and all those depths were easily crushed while walking (and later on treads).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
On finally making it into -7/Factory, it was transition time. We shed all those other parts and stripped down to a size 8 inventory with just the parts you see here:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Here's the build just before entering the first set of caves:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I didn't do any screenshotting for the next couple hours, but it involved mostly sneaking through the caves at rapid speed, then back in the Factory doing a good bit more sneaking around while getting schematics and/or fabricating additional parts for the build.

Zion was at -7, though just got us the A8 code, and we visited DM after that (via shortcut, haha!), and I attempted to assassinate DM with the Longsword +1 but didn't quite succeed, so no uberhackware for us (or later redirection help, though this isn't all that useful for a flight build anyway, plus we also have the Skeleton Box if we come across any doors we want to open and don't happen to have hacking power).

Before the -6 caves I switched from 3x Hacking Suites to instead focus on infowar, so we have 4 infowar slots and excellent detection of both bots and terrain. The idea is to navigate the caves quickly anyway, and hackware isn't useful in the caves, so might as well--we can swap in some more hackware once back in Complex 0b10.

Here's where we left off, having just entered -5/Factory and evolved another two utility slots to fill with hackware:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Part 2 coming next week!

Kyzrati:
We did it! The second stream took us through all the remaining caves, and despite a number of tough situations to puzzle through, the build is very much intact and going strong, and most importantly, there was no loss to Master Thieves! So I achieved MTF's "bounty" and as a result he's bought some extra Cogmind keys to hand out (although how has yet to be determined).

We tried to order pizza, but that didn't go over so well.

Spoiler: Minor Trojan SPOILERS in Terminal (click to show/hide)
There was a fair bit of hacking, though not as much as one might normally do with a flight hacker since I'm a "low-level hacker" rocking four sensor slots to avoid thieves and streamline cave navigation.

There were several attempts to reach and use a Fabricator--most were thwarted by tough situations, but we got plenty of gear through other means (the Electron Diverters came from Warlord's stash).

Here several Programmers are closing in from all sides, but we escaped them all:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A typical "let's get through this cave as fast as we can" scenario:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Coming from the East we'd slipped by the Swarmer patrol, but there wasn't a safely diggable way to avoid being seen by the outpost Sentry, so it woke everyone up and I made a run for the derelict group as a distraction while heading for the exit which it turns out happened to be directly under a pair of Programmers just sitting there guarding it.

And here's my build just after dropping into Research and filling the new slots:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Sadly we just lost our Imp. Cloaking Device just before ducking past some bots out of the last Proximity Caves--it had already come in handy on a few occasions,
but anyway there are other parts in waiting, like we can now use the Adv. Transmission Jammer instead to more safely dispose of Watchers.

I also lost the basic Hacking Suite due to being traced at a Fabricator. I've tracked down just a couple Operators since, but they haven't dropped their hackware yet (well, one of them had its hackware cleaved in two by the Longsword xD).

The route so far:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Since the bounty is achieved, I've set a new goal of continuing on the flight path and finishing this only after doing at least a couple things I've never done before, specifically the SGEMP quest and fully exploring one of the most secret late-game spoiler areas (I've only been there once, and only saw half of it).

Until Part 3 next week!

Kyzrati:
Epic, and it ain't over yet! We only made it through a few more floors this time, taking it slow while chatting it up and also making some tough decisions here and there. Third stream video is up.

THIS POST (and the remainder of the thread) WILL NOT AVOID LATE-GAME SPOILER TALK, SO BEWARE IF YOU HAVEN'T EXPLORED RESEARCH BRANCHES BEFORE

The build has grown significantly stronger, with a better launcher, almost impenetrable defenses, even better thrusters, and more decent hacking capabilities. We had to ditch terrain scanning abilities after losing half of that pair to an unlucky shot, but that was okay because it made transitioning to a SHELL defense even easier.

-3/Research was spent mostly just avoiding patrols while searching for the Testing exit, which was eventually uncovered by the Terrain Scanner at just the right time:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img=1000]https://i.imgur.com/YxhOKiX.png[/img]
Terrain scanning has come in quite handy throughout the run, sad to see it go later. At least it wasn't the sensors, though. That would've been far more disastrous. The lack of terrain scanning did make navigation in Testing a bit more of a chore, though.

Found some SHELL Armor, nonetheless, and proceeded to explore the entire floor in relative safety.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img=1000]https://i.imgur.com/Lusg5x6.png[/img]
While exploring for more prototypes we got this Recycler trapped inside the containment shell xD
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img=1000]https://i.imgur.com/PTqBFyB.png[/img]
And here's where the real fun started:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img=1000]https://i.imgur.com/G8DxPVJ.png[/img]
There's the SGEMP room, and the goal is to take it but there's an awful heavy defense in there, so the idea was to use the recently fabricated Mni. Smartbomb Launcher to take out some of the defenders, or at least lure them out and eventually take them out with a repeated hit and run tactic across the map (made possible because we can easily attack around corners/obstacles and then retreat faster than they can catch up).

This attack did alert the Researcher down there, which was my biggest fear, but it eventually fell during the retreat-attacks. The Strikers, however, did not fall--those buggers are pretty resilient, and I took them on a circuit half way around the map, coming back in from a different direction to nab the SGEMP while all the defenders were out still trying to catch up.

The whole process ended up making a big mess with all these smartbombs flying around, followed by stray shots taking out explosive machines.

After getting the SGEMP I was a bit cornered down there by all the pursuers, and decided to use the teleporter taken from Zhirov's lab. It was a great escape, although while making a beeline for the exit a pair of Hunters spotted me, only to be corrupted and destroyed when some machines exploded around them, which was quite hilarious. (The Tau Chargers were destabilized by earlier fighting in the area.)

Making the escape from the southwest (SGEMP) to northeast (exit direction), in the open area which exploded:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img=1000]https://i.imgur.com/QEa4t6x.png[/img]
Because we visited the base during the last stream, -2/Research would be a breeze with help from Warlord. Found him quickly, and also managed to hack the Quarantine exit locations (the next goal, since it's on the way to Section 7).

Chat was cheering as our Great Leader made his entry:


What's better, having visited DM I had the God Mode hack, and realized on finding Warlord that the Borebot's path would open up a direct shot to the Quarantine exit (right through the reinforced walls), making this the perfect opportunity to do the hack.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img=1000]https://i.imgur.com/Bjz9F1d.png[/img]
Fortunately I'd passed an Imp. Remote Datajack up north on the way down, so went back to grab that, pulled off the hack from relative safety right next to the exit, then waited for God Mode to mosey on over and we are entering Quarantine together :)

No this is probably not something you would normally want to really do with this build, but sometimes we do things because we can, rather than because we should :P. Also I got the achievement since I hadn't pulled that hack off before.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img=1000]https://i.imgur.com/YXD34BZ.png[/img]
So this'll be fun, and hey we even know that Fortress is on this floor, so maybe getting them to duel could be a neat intermediary goal ;)

We shall see next week!

Edit: Zyalin drew a piece in honor of the community's favorite cheer above :D

Kyzrati:
It happened :D (video here)

We managed to get GM and Fortress in a one-on-one duel to the death!

God Mode's got more firepower and core integrity, but Fortress' defenses are top-notch (not to mention the two top-tier cannons), and GM could only chip away about 25% of it. BUT, in a grand twist of events, it ended in a draw because GM exploded brilliantly in a massive EMP burst and corrupted Fortess to death xD

Here's the route to get him there--a straight cut through the map to the Section 7 corridor.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)[img with=1000]https://i.imgur.com/t0kABbj.png[/img](Only met a single Programmer and Grunt on the way, which GM dispatched handily.)

Here they are beating on each other as we ref for a bit. Towards the end I also fired a couple of smart bombs to help, but both those and a bunch of GM's nukes couldn't actually land because they were being shot out of the air :P #FortressThings
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As you can see there some squads started to show up as well--an assault had already been called in before the fight started (alert was rising quickly due to all the destruction of mowing across the map with such a large bot, even if we hadn't actually fought much), but we took that one out before the main fight started.

And as I ran there it is, the glorious "Fortress system critically compromised." :)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Both of them down, and a lot of the other pursuers were taken as well. A draw!

(To advertise the stream, Naughtyusername put this together before the epic duel (tiles).)

After that it was time for Section 7, although the alert was already a little high and more assaults came, as well as more extermination squads, but the build was getting pretty solid by gearing up across this most helpful of locations.

It was a pretty tough layout, with only one major east-west corridor connecting two halves of the non L2 part of the map, so navigating without causing too much trouble was tough. Really there was quite a lot of fighting for a "flight" build, which is now more of a "very fast combat build" :P

After the SB, found a random CRM while attach-ID'ing artifacts:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)This was at least good for finding what other stuff was across the floor, though. And there was quite a lot of good stuff...

Making yet more trouble when cornered, by pulling out the smartbomb to deal with a squad...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
But the biggest problem came when repeatedly trying to get this Core Membrane not far from the entrance area, since we didn't have a ranged weapon that could punch through the barrier without alerting the Researcher!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Eventually got a Railgun off a Sentry, which was just barely enough get through (needed a roll of 30 on 21-30 damage xD). It was just so hard to get there without attracting a ton of attention, so basically everything just started getting killed. But still worth all the trouble, since the idea is to eventually use the LES along with the membrane, which should be a super-potent combination.

After that we looted all the accessible artifacts in the L2 area, although there were just way too many Researchers so I didn't bother with the ST. Still got several teleporters, LRC Storage (!), a redistributor, and altogether a huge boost to energy and dissipation.

No significant encounters there, though, just avoiding everything as best possible (or tanking a few hits where necessary).

Then we dropped into Access and didn't have too much trouble hacking the next destination... It was on the far side of the map, but that wasn't a big deal:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)(Having used the CRM, I had dumped the SGEMP since we wouldn't be able to get help from Zhirov anyway.)

And that's where we left off. Still need to hopefully find some better replacement parts, especially more combat-oriented utilities to replace all the hacking (and still have a terrain scan processor I slapped on for the hell of it despite having no scanner :P), then go for an LES build and use that to own Command.

We'll have to see in Part 5 next week...

Joshua:

--- Quote from: Kyzrati on May 28, 2019, 12:13:26 AM ---We'll have to see in Part 5 next week...

--- End quote ---

Data Run next game?  ;D

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