I just noticed I misremembered how the medals worked. Medals don’t give you a star! I mean, the 2-3-4 medals here: https://i.imgur.com/E42cdvl.png
So I was wrong in part of my long post. Whatever, I won’t bother editing it now.
Only challenges give you one, however there are a pair of dozen stars of Global challenges, in addition of the Squad specific ones: https://i.imgur.com/dLXPryM.png
(edit man, reading them, there are some bullshit ones that you never will get playing normally, you will have to ‘waste’ a run to get them)
So you have to do more than 100 runs to unlock most of the content of the game. Well, that was I was talking about!
I did, because I like the game and I enjoy runs whether I win or lose. Again, I play on Hard.
There’s also Easy.
Also, oops, I’m going to have to delete my last post because I accidentally posted this reply there and erased the last post and there’s no way to undo that. Discourse sucks.
I’m away from the PC, but this works really well on the tablet. Been wasting quite some time with it. It kicks my ass, even on easy. Wow.
Lot of fun though, and I feel like I’m improving.
Any tips for a n00b from y’all seasoned bug stompers?
It’s probably worth considering what your actual priorities each turn should be. In order, these are:
Ensure your mechs don’t get destroyed.
Ensure no objectives get destroyed.
Ensure no buildings get damaged.
Block any emergence holes. Preferably with other vek (knockback etc).
Kill vek - do as much damage as you can only when all the above are satisfied.
Destroyed vs damaged is a deliberate word choice above. Allow your mechs to get damaged (not destroyed) instead of buildings, generally mech damage doesn’t matter. Repairing isn’t a waste if it keeps a mech on top of an emergence hole one more turn.
Generally objective damage doesn’t matter, though they usually only have the 1 hp. Be very aware of knockback effects and chaining damage with it; if you end up damaging buildings it may not be worth taking that shot.
Always evaluate where your mechs are gonna be standing at the end of your turn and what will affect them. Can you shoot a vek from a different angle that leads to either it/your mech standing on an emergence hole or preventing building damage? Do it.
Get a feel for the intended synergies in the squad you’re using, comboing their abilities is usually essential to doing well. Keep an eye out for equipment that can go in your secondary slot(s) that address tactical deficiencies rather than overfocussing on damage.
Thinking about the strategy layer, aim to never fail a mission star if possible. A perfect island will reward you an extra bonus that’s generally worth 2 mission stars or more.
The strength of your team is largely tied to how many power cores you have. Of course sometimes a new weapon / ability will really help but often (especially early) you’re better off spending whatever you can afford on power cores to improve existing abilities.
Ensuring mechs don’t get destroyed is usually a high priority, indeed, but there are cases where it’s less important than, for instance, avoiding grid damage or 100%ing the objectives.
For instance, if it’s the last turn of a mission, and sacrificing a mech will let you 100% the objectives, and you have a pilot in reserve – especially if they’re good for one reason or another – let that mech die.
Also there’s a new pilot with “Invulnerable” which means she never dies. That makes it even a better move to sacrifice her sometimes. (Her mech can be incapacitated for the duration of a mission, though.)
I don’t know if these mechanics are still accurate, but standing on a vek hole is sometimes counter-productive and can cause a larger wave two turns later. It can be safer to manage two turns of 3 veks than one turn of 2 followed by one turn of 4.
But to be honest I have a hard time keeping track of the vek spawning logic. In a game that’s good about exposing all of its mechanics this is the one part that’s invisible to me.
Grid damage should generally be your lowest concern (unless it’s tied to a mission objective). Repairing grid damage is easy and cheap (1 star repairs one damage at the end of the island).
undo can take back more than one move! Provided you havent taken an action yet, you can undo all movement that turn. So you can move your units a bit, mouse over them to see the outcomes, and if it doesnt work out, undo your move(s).
I would say that on Easy, you should be aiming for no dead mechs ever, and no grid damage on most missions. It’s definitely attainable, especially with the Rift Walkers. If you can’t see a way to avoid grid damage or dead mechs on a given turn, keep looking.
(If you’re really stuck, take non-fatal grid damage if you have to.)
The only fault i think i can find with the game is that I wish you could park a hero and save it. I’ve got a great one that I like now, but It’s very incompatible for an achievement I want - so i just want to use another hero for one run, then go back to him after. It seems perfectly sensible…
Is Coral new? I got her in my intro run with Rift Walkers (started playing on iOS). Bought my old pals the Rusting Hulks and am off on a new run. I wonder how Henry “I don’t need any help killing those Vek” Kwan is enjoying the pulse mech I shaped him in.
I’d forgotten how much I loved playing the Rusting Hulks. The use of smoke leads to some real creative solutions at times (like purposely firing at an empty space with the artillery mech to make smoke behind). There’s also a huge sense of progression with them that’s a core part of their uniqueness (especially with + smoke damage and extra range on the jet attack), which I don’t always feel with the others. I haven’t played all the original ones, let alone the new ones, so I’m curious what favorites other people have.
Playing the Rust Walkers and lucking into a pilot that is unaffected by smoke and also the smoke bomb secondary. I was able to smoke up to seven squares a turn at the end. What a blast.
