A while back, i managed to get the first ever win on the Volatile special mode. However, i used flight, which made things significantly easier, almost as easy as my pacifist run, even with the extra patrols.
Now, i want to get a more combat-oriented and less stealth-focused win.
(If you aren't aware of what Volatile is, it's a special mode from april 1st of 2020 where there are more patrols, all AOE-capable weapons turn into 10 matter when you move over them, and robots explode upon destruction, with the explosion being selected from a pool of explosions that seems to change based on depth.)
Here are the stories of my attempts (not including the ones from before my flight win) at such a win :
Note : While every depth is contained within spoiler tags for convenience, additional spoiler tags will be used for the content of all branches at or above -7.
Attempt #1
-10/Materials
After cleaning out the level of hostiles and the one investigation squad i triggered, (20 hostiles in total! That's double my previous run! How many additional patrols are there?!)
and doing some repairs with a repair station (before destroying the last swarmer squad),
i went into the mines with an operator friend.
-10/Mines
I hear some explosions and find a friendly YI-UF0 wandering around. After ordering my operator to stay in a corner, i followed YI-UF0 around and found some shock traps.
After i got traced on the one terminal trying to get an analysis, YI-UF0 turned hostile while fighting some grunts and took a shot at me (i didn't know they turned hostile, i thought they were either friendly or hostile and that was it). There was only one grunt left, but i didn't like my chances fighting YI-UF0, so i purged all my parts and began fleeing.
"I'll just pick up one of the shock traps i dropped because it seems nice to have..."
Then YI-UF0 proceed to shoot the grunt point-blank, and they both died with nothing left behind. Well, time to re-equip everything!
Later, i get close to an outpost (but not close enough to open the doors), forgetting that some derelicts tend to pop out. Fortunately none of the sentries' explosions hit me.
I collect the surviving loot and go to the next floor.
By the way, during the beginning of the run, my build's propulsion was in a fluctuating state between legs and threads, with one wheel as backup.
I usually had at least one armor with me, unless i couldn't find any, and well as a heat sink and some weapons, usually thermal/kinetic.
-9/Materials
I ordered my operator ally to wander, and they were quickly destroyed north of me, probably alongside their killer.
After i fought a few enemies here and there, two assault squads were dispatched.
I tried to place some of the shock traps i had in the path of the assault squads, but completely misjudged where they would come from.
As i backed up into a room with the hope that one of the grunts that had been deployed would trigger the second shock trap i placed,
i was greeted by a sentry. After dealing with the sentry, i backed into the wrong corner of the room.
Artist's representation of the room from memory :
###########
## ########
#1 2#
# #
# #
# #
# #
# + -->3
# #
######################
1 - Corner of the room i should've backed into
2 - Corner of the room i backed into
3 - General direction from which the assault squad arrived
Needless to say, this did not go well.
On turn 03756, both of the protectors, as well as all six combat hostiles from the assault, were destroyed.
According to a scoresheet dump, on that turn my core integrity went from >50% (>200) to 10.75% (43).
I also lost six parts in that battle/explosion.
While trying to find an exit after that debacle, i picked up whatever i could find to fill my inventory (such as three Utility Shieldings).
The first exit i found was to the Mines, which i took.
A swarmer squad wasn't too far from the exit, and i was shot at a few times, but no shot reached my core.
-9/Mines
Shortly after entering, i see a grunt squad, which i manage to destroy, but not before taking 16 damage to my core, leaving me with only 27 integrity remaining.
Not long after, a "helpful" derelict gave me a rocket launcher 10 matter.
A while after that, i found an exit to -8/Materials, but i wanted to find the Exiles, since FarCom was too valuable to not try to get.
Five steps after i go past the exit, and BOOM! An infestation arrived not too far away.
In this mode, Assembled are like instant explosive noodles, except they're not noodles.
One of them probably shot some neutral bot, causing a chain reaction of bot explosions that destroyed them all as soon as they arrived.
If you remember the first line of this paragraph, you'll have realized that the demolisher squad was right next to me.
Thanks to a nearby wall, though, it was out of sight.
However, their target was the infestation, which had occurred past where i was, so the ARC deployed soon after anyways.
Thanks to the exact layout of the level, i was able to move out of sight again, and quickly purged all parts.
There were four paths i could take :
North, to my certain death to demolishers;
West, a one-tile corridor;
South, another one-tile corridor;
And east, where the infestation had arrived.
I looked at the western path first. It was clear it didn't lead to the Exiles, so i tried south next, and that one did lead to my goal!
-9/Exiles
Got FarCom, and the prototype stash contained :
A Modified TNC, A Longsword +1, and a Firepult pile of 10 matter.
I took a few things with me, including all rigged power sources.
Before i left, i equipped what as much as i could to attempt to survive a theoretical fight against enemies close to my starting point in the next level.
-8/Mines
Fortunately, there were no enemies in sight or FarCom range.
Using my rigged power sources, i blew up a few enemies, and left after getting a few parts.
-8/Materials
After exploring for a bit and defeating an assault squad, i entered a garrison.
-8/Garrison
Started right next to the RIF installer and got RIF.
At this point i didn't have a datajack, much less a remote one, so i went directly to an exit, blowing up much of the center area.
-8/Materials #2
Started in a bottleneck leading to a sentry next to a garrison.
After using a nearby Repair Station, i ended up triggering the garrison.
After a few fights, i managed to enter it.
-8/Garrison #2
Started right next to the RIF installer again!
I expanded my RIF knowledge with Threat Obfuscation.
-"Is that the good one or the bad one?"
-"Threat Obfuscation (1): All influence increases reduced by 25%."
-"It's the good one!"
With this ability mitigating some of the influence gained from destroying additional patrols and explosions' colleteral damage, i exited the level after blowing up much of the center area again.
-7/Factory
While i haven't completed this run yet, i still have more to write, but will do so later. I'll also try to start taking screenshots to post, even if knowing myself, i'll sometimes forget to take some.
