rifts map on endless endurance is actually broken

[Soul]

Has anyone tried this yet? I'm pretty sure it's actually impossible. I've tried it a lot over yesterday and today and no matter what I do I never make it to the second storm.

- You need to find people to have any chance but it's really just pot luck on if you find any or not.

- There are far too many empty scout locations. Given that you're relying on these to boost you if you get a bad resource spawn on this map, when you keep hitting empty locations you start to feel like it's a waste of time.

- After the 1st storm within a few days you get put back into storm temperatures (-70) without even being in a storm. You're still recovering from the first storm so this finishes you off.

- The random hazards, while trying to promote surprise elements are far too harsh. So far I've encountered the following
- Generator uses 100% more coal
- steam core buildings and automatons are 90% less effective
- hothouses are 90% less efficient.
Given the stage at the game at which you experience these and that they last about 5 days, if it's one that affects you then it's a game over. Really it just boils down to pot luck here - if you get one that doesn't affect you then you play on, if you do get one that affects you then you might as well quit there and then.

I know endurance is meant to be hard but I feel like the fact this map works differently and forces you to build certain ways so you can build bridges to get resources hasn't been calibrated with the endurance meta, thereby making it pretty much broken.

Anyone been able to fare any better?

[Aturchomicz]

This guy did it with ease
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA9dJ6SeiYM

[amordron]

I did it last night with ease.

Finding people is not really luck. People are always within two scout locations (on the third location max you go to two to see them to clarify) of the city and always a fixed amount spawns every storm till you hit the soft cap. As such knowing how to scout you can uncover all possible people locations every time. Other than the first storm where I norm miss two possible locations of the about 24 possible. This makes finding people not luck at all.

Hazards just add more rng not more diff as if you get a easy one the first time your stable by the 2nd to deal with any.

Use the wiki to know what scout locations give you what before you go to not waste time. This lets you target locations that give something while looking for people in further locations to turn back if no people before doing branches with no resources. Also this is rng the map has no more or less empty scout locations than any other map.

You mention getting set back to -70 right away after the storm that has nothing to do with the map. Temps on endurance are random so you can get lucky and stay higher longer or drop sooner

You can rig hazards by saving before and loading if you get a bad one to remove all hazard rng. I don’t consider this a “cheat” as there is already a ton of rng in endless this only motigates it vs having to fully restart and if you pull steam cores minus 90 as a first one when using hothouses for your only food. Not enough leeway at that point to redo.

You likly will have some deaths at some point which is fine endless dose not have a limited pop only a soft cap. As such so long as you are not at the soft cap you will find more people so long as you are not bleeding them left and right.

[Soul]

well done to you if you found it easy.

I just tried another run. As soon as I came out of the storm the hazard I got was one I hadn't had before - hunters produce 90% less food. Great, at this point in the map this is the only proper source of food so that screwed me. Add to this within days of coming out of the storm I was, yet again, back to -70 temperatures (was at -60 first). Every single play though I've had I hit these temps again within days of the storm ending so I must be incredibly unlucky if this is random.

I still had trouble finding people. Yes you can use the wiki but it's still luck. All the wiki does is let you know what the locations will give, you can still end up with a choice of locations that gives nothing either way. I eventually found one group of survivors with 2 sets of scouts out and 6 locations scouted - this was as my colony was just ending too.

Either way, no food coming in, no medical due to temperature, many of my pop already in healthcare....didn't end well.

Really easy, lol.

[amordron]

Originally posted by Soul:

well done to you if you found it easy.

I just tried another run. As soon as I came out of the storm the hazard I got was one I hadn't had before - hunters produce 90% less food. Great, at this point in the map this is the only proper source of food so that screwed me. Add to this within days of coming out of the storm I was, yet again, back to -70 temperatures (was at -60 first). Every single play though I've had I hit these temps again within days of the storm ending so I must be incredibly unlucky if this is random.

I still had trouble finding people. Yes you can use the wiki but it's still luck. All the wiki does is let you know what the locations will give, you can still end up with a choice of locations that gives nothing either way. I eventually found one group of survivors with 2 sets of scouts out and 6 locations scouted - this was as my colony was just ending too.

Either way, no food coming in, no medical due to temperature, many of my pop already in healthcare....didn't end well.

Really easy, lol.

Hunter produce 90% less food to me is literally the best hazard you can get. Hothouse rush (you get well before first storm) is prob the best move you can make in endless as gives you something to put your kids into right away while producing way more food than hunter huts for a lower tech cost. Endless and really any high diff is all about getting ahead on tech so using options that take more tech time like hunter huts hurt you. I only used 1 hunter hut till hothouses are up and used scouts to bring one load of food in till there up and running. If scouts dont find a food source 2 hunter huts.

Temps are random within given ranges. Yes you will get down to minus 70 its just a matter of how soon you might see a larger increase first or a smaller drop befoew going back down. -70 is not that bad to deal with after the first storm thou as by than you should have all bunk houses + level 2 heating, this will get you to chilly in houses easy than overdrive at night to keep sick down.

While at the same time after first storm you should have overcrowning + house of healing. (I had both before the storm started and snow pit the moment storm started for the +20% med after storm.) Faith is the only real option in endless if using child labor the value of freeing your eng and making you not need to spend any tech into the med tree is to large. As said high diffs are all about what gets you the most tech ahead and faith dose that so mcuh better than order. This means the little sick you get due to only beig chilly is meh. While at that point thumpers are online so you can get level 3 heating shortly after to get up to livable.

The main issue with this map is the high cost of bridges so you get 1 to the iron depot early but than don't get another for a long time so you are stuck needing to use sawmills not a wall drill for awhile. Esp annoying if using hunter huts as than no free workers for the sawmills as kids cant do both jobs and you do not want to use eng. Hense why hunter huts are rather garbage. While since no wall drill hothouses become the best way (only way) to use cores so no reason to not. As auto are useless till your way ahead on tech I norm don't bother about them till i'm seeing -120 storms and at that point you have already won as its the worst storm.

I would only use hunters in the case of the core -90% one. Really so long as that hazard doesn't come up first any other hazard is quite doable with the hunter hut one best the best possible for me.

[snuggleform]

My first (and only time) on the rifts, I made it past the second storm with a total of 4 bodies in my corpse pit (2 of those were scripted, one was engineer from 24 shift, one was the old man from the healing house). I got bored at that point, although I may try again using order since faith's healing houses are just so OP.

I think a lot of the OPs frustration comes from a fundamental mistake - not understanding how scouting works.

There are always 3 refugee groups before the first storm, and they are always located either distance 2 or 3 away from the main base. If you use that knowledge and rush scouting speed, you can ALWAYS get all 3 refugee groups before the first storm hits. So what you do is send a scouting team 2 deep, and if from that location 2 deep you see a name that corresponds to refeugees than you keep going (there are only like 5 or 6 different names for the first storms refugees), but if you don't see a refeugee camp when you're at 2 deep, you immediately choose another path. I always get all 3 refugee groups in this way.