Anyone know the best place to find Ganglionic Teleprojectors?

[My name can't be thirtytwo chara]

For all my robot based builds! It just seems to be total luck if I find one. Some runs I won't find one going right up until Pax Klanq, others I'll find them in the chests of Joppa. Looking in the ObjectBlueprints.xml, they apparently have a "Tier" of 4, which is about that of steel armour I believe.

[CHOO CHOO]

Check underground level 20 and below. I usually can't go three screens without finding one, down there.

[My name can't be thirtytwo chara]

Hmmmm, that's... bittersweet news. It's great that there /is/ a way to semi reliably get them. But now I need to build good runs to get them. This should be good news for my true-kin allies build, but my build where I'm going into things with the /express/ purpose of dominating and transferring my consciousness to a robot's is going to need to come up with a good build to play until I get there...

[DuckBoy]

Isn't the dominate from ganglionics based on level anyway? I know I can't rebuke saw handers into full submission until around level 25. I suspect trying to ganglionize them before then might leave you down a few limbs.

Or have you chosen a different robotic chassis? (And if so, which one? I can't see any reason to dominate anything but saw handers for their wonderful dual 2d8 vibro axes)

[My name can't be thirtytwo chara]

Nah, diplomacy droids are where it's at fam. Sawhanders, yes, are probably more /powerful/, but they start out at level 15. That's 14 levels worth of MP, SP, AP that they aren't getting.

Just to be sure I just ran some test, and yes, they have those two no-strength-cap 2d8 damage weapons, and objectively better stats in all stats (by putting /every/ point into INT as a diplomacy droid you can /just/ match a sawhander by level 15, and all the other stats are even further away, with 11 difference for Toughness).

But that's not the reason I'm doing this. The reason that I'm doing anything on this front is because I'm pretty sure that robots can get both mutations and cybernetics. I know they can get mutations, and I think I saw a patch note saying they could get cybernetics. I just want to play that build because I think it sounds cool as hell. So I really need those 14 MP, but even so, if I can get it to work I'll be really weak.

There's fluctuations, but a DD that I just checked had the following stats (in the normal listed order): 19,11,19,8,19,5. I could maybe get a little bit better stats by going to that guy in the southwest corner , but even so it's a run that's mostly intended for weirdness.

[DuckBoy]

There are lots of monster weapons with no strength cap. The plated chromelings have a base AV of 8 and their bite has no strength cap with a 1d3. Carbon/Fullerite fist implants also have no strength cap. But it's not about the strength cap for saw handers. It's that their 2d8 axes ignore AV entirely, just like vibroblades. That's how my Axey Chop Chop the saw hander got the Chrome Pyramid Face on his face.

I can confirm they can get mutations, but as you point out, for anything bigger than a level 1 Widget, all of their mutation points (And all the health they should have at 30 toughness!) mysteriously disappeared into nothingness. Unfortunately, I can also state that at least as of two days ago, they cannot install cybernetics.

Still, the saw handers come with DarkVision 12, which is basically just permanent night vision goggles and a base AV of 6.

IMO, the base AV is the main reason to pick up a robot chassis. If you don't care about being super exploity, you can drop a dram of acid on Wardens Esther, and the stilts high priest to skyrocket a sawhander up above 20 AV. I was able to get a sawhander up to an AV of 25, but still managed to lose him to a rocket turret.

It may not matter for the low level robots, but the stat distribution seems to get overridden by final fixed monster statistics. A saw hander with a ridiculous toughness of 30 will get them +10 hp for every level, but they'll still start with the base 50. Similarly, having a high int will get them lots of points each level, but they'll still start with 0 even if they have no skills.

You might also consider a cloneling chassis for their 4 arms, or if you're okay with rolling the dice, I bet you could get the grafters in the bottom left to drop random implants on almost anything[\spoiler].

[My name can't be thirtytwo chara]

We're limiting ourselves too much if we really want to get the most OP builds. The real answer is, of course, animated walls. Fulcrete has 100 base HP and 40 AV, and the walls in the Six Day Stilt has only 20 AV but 6000 HP. Tarnished Chrome has 50 AV and 300 HP, and the top tier security door has... 50 AV, and a whopping 5000 HP. As for resistances, doors have none, but many walls have 50 electrical and 50 cold, and Tarnished Chrome in particular has 100 of /all/ elemental resistances.

That.
Is.
♥♥♥♥♥♥.

They all start at level 1, and though they all have only 16 of all stats, they are virtually unkillable. They have all equip slots other than gloves, face, and (for some strange reason) thrown weapons (they all have /great/ names too). Doors, however, get a face slot (the knocker). (as an aside, the other class of animatable objects, the table, seems pretty useless. You never need to animate it to get it out of the way, they're always pretty weak, and they have very few equipment slots. They can however, equip /two/ pairs of boots, both of which give armour!).

Are sawhanders really vibro'd? It doesn't /seem/ like it from the description when dominating them, but I suppose it never would... That does change things a little bit, but doesn't actually change my true goal.

The whole not being able to get cybernetics thing, however, does. That, sucks. :(. I swear I saw a patch note saying it, but it's not actually a thing, and seemingly never has been. Time to go write up a Feature Request post.

[DuckBoy]

So I've been working out how I could quickly get a domination esper up to Spray a Brain and Neuro Animators.

Between the Ego and Intelligence required to get high level tinkering for the aforementioned animation, I didn't see a good way to have any stat points left for useful things, like not dying. But I think I've found a way out:

The schematics drafters in Six Day Stilt are level 1, and all start with Tinkering 1, Tinkering 2, and Tinkering 3 learned. That means that you can do a standard esper build, leave your Intelligence at 10, and if you find a data disc you want, just walk back to your favorite schematics drafter, dominate him, walk him to the library to level him up once to learn the base skill, and then have him craft all of your high end gear.

You're still going to need a single 7 bit if you go the neuro animator route, but that should be easy with villages and redrock. Getting the 6 is probably doable just from legendary barathrum+mechanimists. So assuming you can actually find a data disk early on, you should be able to rock your rock wall body pretty quickly.

I'm not sure how to complete the body swap into the wall yet though. Potentially you could pull it off with clairvoyance on your main character prior to picking mutations on the wall...

[My name can't be thirtytwo chara]

The only way I know to body swap permanently is to kill the host while in the second body. This leaves a few options. Weakening the host on something controlled (perhaps a flame, or maybe a weak enemy like a glowpad), will help, then you can try hitting with normal attacks/ a strong ranged weapon as the wall, or alternatively using high level grenades.

A strong ranged weapon seems like the best, most reliable route, and could probably kill a weak-ish esper with all armour taken off in 1 or two rounds quite easily.

That's smart about the schematics drafters though. IME however, nano-neuro animators aren't /that/ rare, with it being /fairly/ common to find one deep in grit gate...

[DuckBoy]

That might have worked in the past, but whenever the host takes damage, the domination immediately ends. And if the host dies in a single shot, it pops up the precognition Do you want to return to the start of your vision dialog. Regardless of what you pick, your main character "swims before your eyes" and teleports next to you. I'm not sure if I should report that as a bug or not...

Hilariously, if you drop a handynuke bomb before dominating that kills both your real body and your dominated creature, it will tell you the domination ended, then it will tell you that you were killed by your dominated creature.

I'm going to try some nonsense with gangliometers and see if I can get it to swap more permanently.

***Edit: Ahh, it's actually super easy. You need access to domination or a ganglionic teleprojector for your dominated minion. The ganglionic is probably much easier to come by.

Looks like dominated is a status effect, just like any other. Only weird part about it is that it ends early when the dominator is hit. And whenever it ends, you gain direct control of the dominator.

The Permanent Body Swap:
1. Jump into your desired chassis
2. Equip and attune a ganglionic teleprojector
3. Hop into a level 1 robot: diplomacy droid or widget will work
4. Punch your initial main character once to end the first domination
5. Punch your desired chassis once to end the second domination

[Rittless]

Fun bug, but a bug nonetheless!

[DuckBoy]

Ooh, I've got an even easier one now.

Permanent Body Swap #2:

1. Walk to corner
2. Jump into desired chassis
3. Walk off screen, then swap places with main character avatar, moving it onto a new zone.
4. Walk into new zones until zone containing avatar unloads. Should take 2-3 zones going south.

The moment step 4 occurs, your domination status effect will disappear and you're free to roam the world in your new body.

Do note, if anyone attacks your old body, your domination will still end. So make sure you keep your old body safe.