Running the guantlet impossible

[Taetoe]

So luckily I created a save before running the gauntlet, otherwise my entire game would be screwed. So the 2nd time restarting from the beginning, I obtained 4 of the 5 keys and before I can even reach the 5th room, one of the other contestants beats me. (I've even got thermo tabi boots and sprinting) This runthrough I went through very fast aside from being stuck with the "amazement" room (which is one of the least fun things ever, no clue who thought that was a good idea), even then with knowing how to get through it wasn't even that long. Very frustrating and stupid

[Fierhorn79]

I did beat it but I had to do a tons of saves and reloading. It was the most stressful game experience I have ever had. But the payout was very nice.

[OptoNick]

Seems like I've met same situation, can only reach 4th room in final run before electroshock wave comes.

Guess I will just drop playthrough, don't want to waste my time for re-running Gauntlet - it wasn't even fun, TBH, just hordes of critters to pass through, like in the caves.

[living_one]

I passsed the Gauntlet, but the 4th room will give me nightmares for years to come.

7 times was that damn bas**rd first to the switch...But finally I managed to open the door and enter combat mode (opening the door in combat and hitting the switch were impossible to do for me) just as he was about to kill me. Then I just watched as he and the third, slower contestant were electrocuted.

However I liked that it was difficult to pass AND you actually could die. A lot. I don't remember any game where passing such a challenge was a challenge in itself.

[Ruinous]

You don't have to get every key to beat it or kill every critter on particular stages. It is really challenging though, and some gauntlet configurations are going to be much harder to manage than others. I find the one with the electruction grid to be the most 'challenging' though, getting the timing right for getting through that one is a nightmare.

Just a pity you don't get to keep all that loot once you finish, though I guess the 2k reward and 5 oddity points isn't to be sniffed at.

[Altos]

The Sprint feat really really helps. I was able to sprint through a decent portion of the race and when I got to the lever I had 15 seconds to spare. :)

[bati]

I got a little unlucky on my crossbow/traps character and got the burrower level which can be really annoying for stealth high single target damage character. Other levels were a breeze (I had rats, spider coils and electro grid - trap expert ftw).

[Kulmis]

i'm stuck at Challenge 4: Electric Funeral, remove this !!! horrible desgin if u don't have enough movement speed it's impossible

[bati]

Gauntlet is optional for a reason. You can always restart it (load an old save) and hope for different rooms.

[jwnorton]

I got so frustrated on Brains\Brawn, I just went back to the JustInCase save before Gauntlet and am giving it a pass - been playing it for 3+ days and its just psychotic - Doing the same thing over\over, expecting a different result.


Now, does this inhibit the rest of Core City quests?

[TRJoker]

There are only 4 keys .... so if you have 4, you just have to pass all 4 rooms in the last challenge opening every bypass with the keys, should be piece of cake ...
Was for me ...
The rooms before and getting as much keys as posssible ... in no time if possible ... was challenging ... but I did it meanwhile the second time (with second build) and the trick is to find a good balance between being fast and getting at least 2 of the 4 keys.
Otherwise you will be not fast enough before the last room ... or you will be not fast enough in last room.
Getting the puzzle level helps a lot, if you found out how to solve it fast (which is not really difficult) cause solving the puzzle grants you a key.
The only room I really did hate was the one with the electric floor ... never passed it.

[bureau44]

does the game really care how fast are you on the first levels before finish?
I did them now for the first time not extremely fast, but when I arrived to the final floor, we were all three at the same threshold
but I lacked a key from the last room with robots, and my poor 13 lev. psyke was inevitably wasted
I have a feeling, that the game actually fakes your opponents' progress, and you always start the last level at the same point
what matters is the number of keys you salvaged beforehand
am I right?

[max.savenkov]

I feel like it gauges how fast you finish a level, and the next level is selected to be easier if you are fast, or harder if you're slow. But it may be an overthinking on my part.

Amazement - I found that one to be very easy, because I quickly discovered that you only have to follow RGB sequence every time.

[bureau44]

finally done, luckily I had a save in the puzzle room just before the finish, and found the last key

Can someone explain me the puzzle's meaning? I did it purely by chance, guessed the boxes one after another, but the final mix makes no sense to me... is it some recipe?

[TRJoker]

There are lights there ... 4 lights, 4 boxes.
There is a locker with additional items and colours beside.
You have to put diffrent colour items into the boxes.
For every colour you did right, you get a yellow light.
For every colour you put in the right box additionally you get a green light.
So put the right colours in the right boxes ... thats it.

There is a simple way to solve it.
Split the colours and take them (there are always four items of same colour) one after another in and out the boxes until you know the colourcombo ( Colours might be used multiple times by the game, so it can be you need 3 times red)
After knowing the colours (4 lights at least on yellow) its easy to rearrange them to get all in the right position and get 4 green lights.
Then the second door opens (with no robots behind), reveals a shelve with one key and the elevator to the next level.

And to answer the question before, I did understand it like this:

The game cares how fast you are. In two ways
First, the faster you are, the more easy the next room gets.
And second, also your opponents have this decision to take, beeing faster and less keys, or beeing slower and more keys.
The slower you are the more likely it is that they already are in last room when you arrive there.
And that they kill you by pushing the switch before you reach it.
It can happen that you die very fast after entering the last room ... with no chance even to open all doors there if you have all 4 keys. Too slow ....

[bureau44]

well, after I figured out that is the color which matters, not the quantity, the solution become even more simple:
1) change the color in the first box, pull the lever, exchange liquids until green light (max 5 or 6 tries)
2) repeat step 1. three times subsequently
3) profit

I just thought there is some logic behind it, like with RGB maze
first letters, recipe of a certain buff... whatever
but it appears to be random

unitentionally I got other 3 keys in the same run and the end was easy.

but I shall say that Gauntlet is rather inconsequent quest for a RPG.
You can achieve the goal only by multiple dying and thus learning the rules and locations.
Perfectly ok for an arcade game, but it rather breaks apart the roleplaying