Don't finish the tutorial to win?

[Moper]

So I decided to do a challenge run (rules below). And I remembered that the patch notes said we don't start increasing infection until we go to B01. So I decided to try and stay in the tutorial cave for as long as I can. Turns out - you can stay there forever and grind to infinity!

https://steamcommunity.com/id/Moperius/screenshot/2456223653766249671/

In the screenshot in the link you will see that it's currently day 30.
Day 30 is when the initial resources in the camp are used up.
You still have many turns left, but if you're going to the cave over and over you can collect everything you need to sustain the camp forever and make infinite money while doing it.
In the inventory is all the resources I've gathered from recycling the junk around the camp.
I have plenty of money from blue shards and twigs.
I don't even have access to the O panel, but I can recycle resources, so it's not a problem to stay alive forever.

What does this mean?
The story is a bit misleading - you don't need to go into the mines to survive, in fact - if you never go into the mines - the camp will stay safe forever, it's just that the game will be a bit boring

You can also abuse this fact to get as strong as you want without starting the infection at all. It's a slow grind though, you get good stats, but low XP when you do this. You can't see it from the screenshot but my perk tree levels are:
One-handed - 3
Physical - 6
Nanobot - 8! All skills unlocked
Survival - 16! That's almost maxed out

Now I will go into the dungeon and probably get to B03 on the first dive, I won't need to stop for methane or shrooms, because I have as much as I need, AND I will have...
37000 credits... From recycling the methane, cellulose and organics that you see in my inventory.

I'm curious how this will impact the coming difficulty settings :D

Challenge run info:
- No crafting weapons and armor, only what you find (except for quests)
- No damaging Nano skills (and no domination)
- Can still craft Usables, like throwing knives and grenades
- Can still buy anything from the stores

The goal of the challenge run is to see how viable the usables are and give some feedback to the devs on it

[Moper]

Update on this. Even though the patchnotes said that the infection game starts after entering B01, not after boss1 - I defeated boss 1 after day 30 but did not go down into the mines. The result - I got access to the camp menu and by day 38 - the infection rate was going up. I also got the first invasion on day 38, so it seems that if you want to grind up some power before going down - don't fight boss1

[Majber]

Originally posted by MoperGotDotaAgain:

Update on this. Even though the patchnotes said that the infection game starts after entering B01, not after boss1 - I defeated boss 1 after day 30 but did not go down into the mines. The result - I got access to the camp menu and by day 38 - the infection rate was going up. I also got the first invasion on day 38, so it seems that if you want to grind up some power before going down - don't fight boss1

Where is this boss1?

[Moper]

Originally posted by Majber:

Originally posted by MoperGotDotaAgain:

Update on this. Even though the patchnotes said that the infection game starts after entering B01, not after boss1 - I defeated boss 1 after day 30 but did not go down into the mines. The result - I got access to the camp menu and by day 38 - the infection rate was going up. I also got the first invasion on day 38, so it seems that if you want to grind up some power before going down - don't fight boss1

Where is this boss1?

Big guy at the end of the tutorial section. You fight him with 2 of the miners

[TheLostOne(JamilNielsen)]

the infection level DOES indeed go up, im at day 97 and infection level is at 27% (without entering) there's a tiny amount, and the longer time passes, the exponentially faster infection level rises.
(cheated run) for test/fun.
fun fact: i raised dexterity "level" by dodging in the huygen cave for quite a while, i have reached level 87 or so(no clue what the limit is, each level seems mostly linear), and the higher you get, the easier the grind gets.
high physical stats gets hillarious, ones in a while monsters will actually flee simply by changing from main weapons to secondary weapons(ranged weapon to avoid AOO)

[Majber]

Originally posted by TheLostOne(JamilNielsen):

the infection level DOES indeed go up, im at day 97 and infection level is at 27% (without entering) there's a tiny amount, and the longer time passes, the exponentially faster infection level rises.
(cheated run) for test/fun.

But you agree that boss1 is the trigger?

[TheLostOne(JamilNielsen)]

Originally posted by Majber:

But you agree that boss1 is the trigger?

honestly not sure, from going on to day 97 i'd say the initial effect is so small that its likely not noticable at all.
the entire thing appears to be an exponential curve that starts at "almost" completely 0, im not sure if the boss changed that or i just never noticed it.

[Moper]

Originally posted by TheLostOne(JamilNielsen):

the infection level DOES indeed go up, im at day 97 and infection level is at 27% (without entering) there's a tiny amount, and the longer time passes, the exponentially faster infection level rises.
(cheated run) for test/fun.
fun fact: i raised dexterity "level" by dodging in the huygen cave for quite a while, i have reached level 87 or so(no clue what the limit is, each level seems mostly linear), and the higher you get, the easier the grind gets.
high physical stats gets hillarious, ones in a while monsters will actually flee simply by changing from main weapons to secondary weapons(ranged weapon to avoid AOO)

I'm still playing around in the cave Day 52. Had 2 invasions with a big number of basic mutants. Do they evolve? Maybe it's the evolution that starts when you step downstrairs?

[TheLostOne(JamilNielsen)]

just checked reactor wave for the first time in a long while, there is indeed ranged variants showing up, so they can get stronger without you ever going underground...it just takes forever.
PS: i just started going downstairs, and they are definitely stronger, first level was at 27% infection, the rest are at 42% and higher so far.

[k4u]

Dumb question maybe... but that infection level, does it affect the waves only at the reactor only... I am quite honestly nowhere and some shafts are at 70% infection... what happens if all are at 100 % for example O_o

[Moper]

Originally posted by k4u:

Dumb question maybe... but that infection level, does it affect the waves only at the reactor only... I am quite honestly nowhere and some shafts are at 70% infection... what happens if all are at 100 % for example O_o

Infection seems to be tied with the number of enemies on a level. Someone said that higher infection also means stronger enemies, but I'm not sure that's true. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with invasions, which are usually really easy no matter what.
Never hit 100%, so not sure. It's pretty nice to clear out older levels with high %infection as you get good xp from the many enemies there

[Wolfnut88]

infection in the mines is separate from the raid levels. You can have mines reach high % early on and the raids will still be minor enemies. Tougher enemies in addition to more enemies will eventually show up at the raids. Higher infection in the mines leads to more enemies and greater variety, this variety increases as you delve deeper as well. The formula is similar to the first "Subterrain" game.

[Majber]

Originally posted by Wolfnut88:

infection in the mines is separate from the raid levels. You can have mines reach high % early on and the raids will still be minor enemies. Tougher enemies in addition to more enemies will eventually show up at the raids. Higher infection in the mines leads to more enemies and greater variety, this variety increases as you delve deeper as well. The formula is similar to the first "Subterrain" game.

So how raid levels enemies are increased?

[Moper]

Originally posted by Majber:

Originally posted by Wolfnut88:

infection in the mines is separate from the raid levels. You can have mines reach high % early on and the raids will still be minor enemies. Tougher enemies in addition to more enemies will eventually show up at the raids. Higher infection in the mines leads to more enemies and greater variety, this variety increases as you delve deeper as well. The formula is similar to the first "Subterrain" game.

So how raid levels enemies are increased?

I think there's an "evolution level" variable in the game. As time passes (after fighting boss1) - the evo level goes up. This increases the level of enemies you face. I think generator raids get random amounts of enemies that aren't tied to anything else except evo level. I've seen big and small waves with no discernible logic behind their numbers.

[littleburnzy02]

save point