Some tips for starters :)

[caroozo]

I finished the game on normal yesterday and have some tips for the new players.

I) BUILDS/CLASSES/EXO RIGS:

1. TANK. I choose tank build, where You have the chance to nullify or reflect ANY damage at quite high rate. Sometimes the ricochet kills enemies or - as it was in original Vaporum - it does more damage (in close combat) that You can (especially if there are more enemies in the same room). It worked very well.

2) WARRIOR. I wouldn't go for warrior build, considering how much HP the later enemies and final boss have. Consider if You want to DPS (especially with dual-wielding) but don't want to sacrifice defense. I didn't play this build in original Vaporum (where I used Tech build), so I can't say for sure if it will work.

3) BERSEKER. This build (especially with unique weapons, giving benefits for having less HP for higher damage) is something to consider - especially bonus to XP is quite interesting. Only for experienced players, who knows how to fight and where are powerful weapons.

4) TECH. Tech build is not bad - especially when You consider energy weapons, which doesn't require ammo, but use the energy instead. The variety of gadgets are also interesting, but in my opinion enemies have so much HP at the later stages, that gadgets wouldn't do enough damage. I was playing tank build and found some unique armor, which gave me +2 to energy recharge - just enough to use HP absorb and Haste and additional skills.

II) WEAPONS AND SHIELDS

1) MACES - 1H and 2H. They are good for mechanical enemies due to bonus to damage. I found some unique ones which were very good - but it requires to find many secrets. Overall very good weapons, playing with mace through entire game was a breeze.

2) SWORDS - 1H and 2H. They are good for biological enemies. I can't say much about them - there are "siblings" in stats between maces, but the main difference are their unique skills. It's a matter of style. I think it's good for dual-wielding builds to use mace AND sword with unique skills to maximize effect.

3) 1H GUNS. They can be handy in the first phase of the game, where ammo is scarce and close combat is difficult. But for later stages... I'm not so sure. First of all, You have 2 sets of weapons - using one-handed pistol and shield (or two pistols with damage penalty) is often not so good as using 2-H guns. Later, unique pistols have interesting stats, but considering the benefits of 2-H guns I wouldn't use them (and investing in skills) in the long run.

4) 2H Guns - the bread and butter of this game (with the "DROP TRICK"). First of all You have "shotguns" (2-3 tiles of range, but it attacks several enemies at once) and rifles (4 tiles of range). They obviously use up 2 hands and You can't change weapon set and immidietaly attack with meele weapon as the gun is recharging. But for many enemies (especially those hitting by AoE attacks) it's quite powerful. 3rd skill point - and also unique skill - for 2H weapons is using 1 ammo instead of initial 2, so it's a massive ammo saver. The highest skills may not be super useful, but it's raw power and plenty of ammo which made this weapon a must-have for attacking from distance. Highly recommended!

5) ENERGY WEAPONS. They are... very handy. If You have to shot down some trigger or do initial damage to far-away enemy (and finishing him off with meele) it's free weapon - it uses up just the energy, which regenerate over time. But it's costly in later stages - for the last weapon, it uses up something like 120 energy for 122 damage, where good end-game 2H rifle can easily do 200+ damage and 300-400 in critical for just one ammo... So I think it's more a tool than a serious weapon. In early stages it rocks, but at the end of the day there are better solutions. Maybe tech build, if having insane energy regeneration, can benefit from it, but as I didn't find any really good, unique energy weapon, it's hard to tell if it will work very well.

6) SHIELDS. They were medicore at best in the first Vaporum (without investing skills in the skill tree). Buy I must say some "basic" unique shields in the later game were very useful - 30% to freeze attacking enemy with the DoT is very nice addition. But there are many "big" shields with a big boost to integrity and with some unique skills. I didn't use them, so can't say if they are any good. but the more defence - the better I think, especially in tech and berserker builds.

III) ENEMIES

1) BOTS/SPIDERS - they are mechanical enemies, so maces are the best. Small ones are very fast, but weak. Larger ones have AoE attacks, which - when performed - require some time to regenerate. It's the best to let the enemy use it up (and avoid the attack) then make 2-3 hits. It works very well for them.

2) FLYING BOTS - there are meele and gun bots. Both of them should be proceeded individually - run in circles and do the melee damage and You can often finish the fight without any damage.

3) BIG BAD BOYS - there are two types - melee and flamers. First ones can be difficult in early stages - have AoE attack and hit quite hard. Fight them in open spaces, outmaneuver them. TIP: wait for it's walking animation - it's time when You can make 2 steps and hit them or bypass them without triggering AoE damage. The later must recharge, so it's often a good thing to provoke them to do it, then attacking from behind. Flamers are another story - they are easier if You know what are You doing. They are even slower (but have more HP and hit harder). The best strategy is to stand behind a corner and "trigger" their 3-pile attack, then hit them once or two and move back fast (they have another, straight-line attack). You can defeat them without any damage melee only.

4) BEETLES - some of them are elemental. The best strategy is to NOT let them shoot projectile towards You, as it makes the floor harmful with the element of the attack. The best strategy is to lure one after another and to fight them behind a corner or pillar. There are also big beetles - they regenerate from time to time - keep them on open space, so if they start to do it, attack them from behind (any other side will reflect damage on You). Quite easy in open spaces.

5) ACID DRINKERS - it's not the proper name, but they indeed spit the acid on floor and make an acid-trays behind them. Quite slow, but You are as good as dead if You let them to do their acid damage and stand still in one place. The key is to keep them at bay and attack from distance.

6) GOLEMS - there are 2 types, one of them is mini-boos, so I won't spoil it to You (it's something You meet in first Vaporum, IYKWIM ;)). It has 2 attacks - similiar to those of Flamer. Find the pillar and dance with them :).

7) SOLDIERS - very easy, take them one at a time. They kick You, then shoot (ouch!). It takes ages for them to turn and go one tile. In the group hovere, they can kill You easily if You don't know what to do.

8) THAUMATURGE - You have to have high DPS to kill them - they constantly suck the life out of You. The best strategy is to pin them down to wall and do as much damage as You can - they should die very fast. Oh - and it's possible for them to summon some enemies, so watch out.

9) NOSFERATU - I called them that way, because they resemble vampires a lil' bit. Some of them are invisible. They are generally very fast and attack without hestitation. Sometimes they gone wild, heal up, change colour to red and attack even harder. You can kill them without any damage in open space but have to be very fast. Kill them as fast as possible and fight one at a time.

10) TURRETS - very easy, just hit them faster and avoid their shots.

IV) SKILLS

I won't discuss ALL of the skills, because I finished the game killing all the enemies on normal and my level was like 16 w/o exp bonus from skills. So You can max out 3 skill trees + find several items giving 1 skill point (I found 2 of them, but I also discovered 18/33 secrets, so there can be more of them (I think that with bonus XP from skills and from berserker build AND from items, it's possible to hit maybe level 19-20 and have 4 skill trees maxed out and maybe 5th one to 3rd skill at the end of the game). What's more important, it's the ability to max out every skill tree at level 10. So if You fight the urge to spend the skill point as fast as You reach level 9 (and with getting the item giving one skill point), You can max out 2 skills early in the game (You hit lvl 10 after 1/3 of the game w/o exp bonus, if You kill everything). I invested in 1H maces (the last skill of my choice was 15% chance to stun enemy - very handy, as the second option to attack several enemies aren't so frequent if You try to attack one enemy at time ;)) and armor (I choose integrity bonus and overall resistance, because of the "DROP TRICK" and ability to absorb health), then in 2H guns and the game was a breeze - I should go into 2H weapons, 'cause it's very powerful when maxed out (+150% damage, 1 ammo per shot, and enemy recoil or area attack). Last 2 points were invested in shield in my case, but there are a lot of interesting options.

V) TIPS AND TRICKS:

1) GO FOR SECRETS! There are many powerful items, resources or bonuses, which are very important. One of them is the skill to absorb HP - essential in saving up health kits. If You see some fishy walls - hit them. If You see some chest or locked doors and nothing else to make them work - You can be sure than the hidden switch or some clue is not far away... The best items are hidden very well. I tried to find most of them, but lost the patience :).

2) HIT AND RUN. Essential skill in the grid-based dungeon crawlers. Hit, strafe, wait for attack (avoid) and hit again. Don't take the risk, unless the enemy is making massive damage or is sucking the life out of You. You can defeat most enemies without any harm in melee combat with some practice.

3) USE MAP AND MAKE NOTES! I missed several secrets because I didn't note their position (or forgot to go back). You can also guess there to go and what to do, or find out some possible secrets... ;)

4) USE STOP TIME ABILITY! It's very hard to solve some fast-paced puzzles or fight several enemies in real time. When You stop the time, it flows only when You do something. It's very important in difficult fights with many enemies - You can change the gadget, use health pack and decide if it's time to dodge, to attack or to heal... Don't use it all the time, though!

5) QUICKSAVE IS A GOD IN THIS GAME! Really, this ability saved my a$$ more times than I can think of. It saves and load instantly, without penalties, which can lead to some exploits... Let me start :)

5.1) "DROP TRICK" - it's a HUGE tip, so You have been warned - it makes the not-so-easy game very easy. I think it can save You a ton of frustration in higher difficulties (I plan to do it anyway), so it's good to know.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- nearly EVERY enemy has a chance to drop item(s)
- it's all about RNG (random numbers generator), so all the drops are random (and exploitable ;))
- nearly every enemy has a chance to drop Repair Pack :]
- shooting enemies (soldiers, shooting bots, turrets) have a chance to drop AMMO (3-9 bullets, to be exact)
- "big" enemies drops Energy Kits

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
a) Fight enemy 1vs1, so no other mob interfere.
b) Do quicksave a lot. When You kill enemy (but not due to DoT, which is hard to predict), load last saved game.
c) Try to kill enemy several times in the row. They should have just enough HP to be one-shotted. If positive, then the exploit can be started.
d) Just quick load the second before You can kill them (not in the moment when the enemy has a change to attack You). Now kill the enemy and look for the loot. It sometimes takes 20-30 tries (not counting the misses) but eventually the enemy will drop the bag. Inside can be: Repair Kit (nearly every enemy), bullets (soldiers, shooting drones, turrets) or energy kits (golems, thaumaturges, nosferatus - if I remember correctly).

The trick is to exploit every soldier in the early game - they can drop Repair Kit AND ammo at the same time! Take Your time and try to drop both items. For the rest of mobs - try to get Reapir Kits. Pairing it with good 2H-weapon and 3-tier skill in 2H weapon skill makes rifles OP weapons early in the game, AND You will swarm in Repair Kits - it makes the game very easy. I finished it off with 50+ kits and 500+ ammo (using 2H ocasionally, but still), and didn't exploited it in mid and late game.

5.2) "BATTLE TRICK".
If everything between each save and load cycle is randomized, so is the damage and hit-or-miss chance! It would be ridiculous to quick save/load EVERY fight, but for several ocassions (shooting energy weapon AND missing from afar or getting hit critically) can be sometimes avoided; more experienced players can land "stun" status, save, then try to get several critical hits (and save after each hit) - I was using a mace with that skill, and the weapon did 350-400 damage - sometimes it was possible (with "haste" gadget) that I landed critical stun (350 damage) AND 2-3 critical hits WITHOUT using the trick - it was almost 1,5k damage, so You can think about using it in very hard situation :). You can even change the pattern of attacks or moves of the enemy group one can be easily surrounded in big rooms with many enemies - quick save/load and You can predict where to go).

I'm doing this comment due to lack of ANY walkthrough in the web and the difficulty of the game. Sure - it's not the hardest game on the market, but it can be challenging to the people, who don't know what to do - use their health kits early, or mess up with skills. You can even throw the keys away in non-reachable place, save the game and voila - Your game is impossible to complete! Devs have to correct it ASAP.

As for puzzle and secrets, it's the whole point of the game - You have to find them out by yourself! They are (sometimes) quite hard to find out, but nothing really impossible. I think it's a matters of days that someone would post the maps and mini-walkthrough. If not - I'll do it myself :).

[Michel Baie]

Err...

Ok, so I'm going to temperate some stuff from the perspective of someone who actually went tech build and finished the game in hard mode.

Main thing : Tech build as it is now SUCKS.
The energy regen is too low, the damage is weak in later stage of the game, and while energy guns are cool they're so power-hungry (so, less energy for gadgets) and inefficient overall that you more often than not end up out of juice with the opposition still standing strong, and have to rely on melee or guns with basic damage as you didn't invested point in their tech tree.

"Drop trick" : Kinda useless IMO.
If you're REALLY hurting for ammo or repair kits, why not, but there's plenty of ammo in this game - and even only one point invested in hangun gun tree make sure you get more than normal.
As for repair kits... if you're going to abuse saving and reloading, you might as well use that to simply take no damage at all in the first place. Every damage (bar a little amount during a early cinematic) is actually avoidable.
It requires some learning and save scumming, but it's true (and certainly never 30 reloads in a row).

[fR0z3n.s0u1]

Quite questionable set of advices, IMO. From the perspective of harder difficulties.

My distinct impressions are as follows: Combat and Assault rigs rule the world. Dual-wield too. Handguns are the king and queen. Tech is vastly underpowered.

Drop 'trick' requires too much time and effort to be of any use, frankly. It's better to avoid damage in the first place, even by savescumming.
And repair kits are plentiful, on assault rig I saved up 54 kits before the last boss while playing on hard. Took 25k total damage too. Drain tech rules.

[caroozo]

Guys, those tricks are for beginners, who don't have the experience in that kind of games, or some casual players who have hard time even on normal. I finished most of the dungeon crawlers and classics like EotB and first Vaporum of course, but for many players having 2-3 repair kits or bullets more or less is a matter of being stuck in the game or playing it from beginning (especially when fighting harder mobs early in the game).

I thought it will be valuable to post some thoughts about the game. I think there are many flaws that - when patched - would make this game more playable (and replayable). As for now - it's good, but some mechanics and bugs are frustrating. And yes - guns are very powerful, gadgets sucks. They should add some damage boost when You are of higher level (just like skills in unique weapons).

[CitizenX3639]

The best advice is early in game try not to use any kits. Theres a reason you can save anywhere. Im a hoarder and usually will do fights multiple times. I currently have 18 kits and im near the end playing on hard.

[CitizenX3639]

Originally posted by fR0z3n.s0u1:

Quite questionable set of advices, IMO. From the perspective of harder difficulties.

My distinct impressions are as follows: Combat and Assault rigs rule the world. Dual-wield too. Handguns are the king and queen. Tech is vastly underpowered.

Drop 'trick' requires too much time and effort to be of any use, frankly. It's better to avoid damage in the first place, even by savescumming.
And repair kits are plentiful, on assault rig I saved up 54 kits before the last boss while playing on hard. Took 25k total damage too. Drain tech rules.

if there is one thing the game wants you to use its a gun. I was melee all the way until i got to the gas area and switched out my mace.

[fR0z3n.s0u1]

Originally posted by CitizenX3639:

if there is one thing the game wants you to use its a gun. I was melee all the way until i got to the gas area and switched out my mace.

I think I managed to persevere a tad longer before completely switching to guns, but I've started leaning into guns around that time too.

[Michel Baie]

I barely used guns at all since i counted on energy ones.
I saw with my second run they're useful, but it's definitively possible to ignore them.

[n1x0r]

Played on GOG. Unsure about higher difficulties, I just played on the 'normal' one. My build was Assault rig + Complex capacitor /w integrity depositor + armorer /w emergency bracers. The set of these 2 trees (assault rig or not) makes the game a puzzle simulator. You're immortal, kill in 2-3 hits, and never need to use a medkit.

Then from there whatever you want. But if you want to make the last boss a 3 second fight: dagger-weapon type for their speed i.e. the ripper, servo booster, advanced shields i.e. doomguard defender (base integrity/resistance), and blade weapons 5. Scaling on resistances, damage reductions, attack speed, and integrity.

My tips for this puzzle simulator are therefore:
1) Note down where you found something that made you not be able to progress in the area. I.e. a door, a fire leak, gas. Note down if you could see what was behind it and coords/map location. Almost everywhere in the game is needed for progression except social experiment floor.

2) Use the time step option during puzzles if they are logically impossible. They are logically impossible because they are cleared using speed only attainable through the time stop.

3) Keep the beginner energy gun, it is cheap for shooting buttons.

4) Bullets can be used as tile weights.

[fR0z3n.s0u1]

Originally posted by n1x0r:

4) Bullets can be used as tile weights.

I think this is one of the most important lessons the game doesn't teach by itself