Sparkmaster 5000 Universal Controller not working

[Charity Diary]

My Sparkmaster 5000 Universal Controller doesn't do anything to the automaton.

In combat, I immediately teleport the party member possessing it to the Sparkmaster so that she's close enough, and I use the SLEEPY - SLEEPY - HAPPY command. Sparkmaster says something like, "WHAT!? I am useless!" And then when it's his turn in combat, he kills everyone in my party with a single lightning cast. He does this even when I have the character whose turn is just before the Sparkmaster's use the Universal Controller.

I can't figure out what to do here. The commands all trigger dialogue from the Sparkmaster, but they don't do what's described in the Manual. The Self Destruct command just makes him vent static or something...

Even actual status effects don't really do anything. I have successfully "Stunned" the Sparkmaster, but as soon as that character's turn is over, he becomes unstunned again...

[SyX]

Do the self destruct command... it doesn't destroys him anymore, but disables his lightning charge.
However, u need to do the command again everytime the mages turn the robot on again with lightning.

[MechNub]

Yep. You have to input those commands every round otherwise he'll attack again. I gave my rogue the remote since she also has the most AP and is only useful with throwing grenades and backstabbing anyway. It takes 8AP to disable him and his lightning.

[NOT A WEENIE]

I'm having the same issue OP, the commands don't seem to do anything at all.

[Inglu]

I noticed the same thing with the party time (turn skip) and weapon deactivation commands. You get the comment from the AI, but the robot will still attack you normally. The only useful command was self destruct mode (angry, angry, sleepy), as that discharges the beam cannon of doom.

[veevoir]

Had the same problem, disable weapons combination doesnt work, even if my turn is directly before the sparkmaster.

So don't waste your time with using the controller, stunlock the thing and mop it up.

[Flyfinator]

have amy1 figured it out -the 3 levers across the battlefiled attached to some pipes? does they do anything?

[VillaNZ]

The Sparkmaster 5000 has two seperate attacks:
1) Normal attack, which can be deactivated with S/S/H (note I found this only deactivated once).
2) Lightning charge, which is available every time the Sparkmaster is attacked with lightning. You need to use the discharge command (A/A/S) every round in which the Sparkmaster has been hit by lightning.

The rest should be pretty straight forward once you understand the above.

[TonQ]

Hello !
I have tried to understand how the controller, and from what I gathered, here's how I see it : As VillanZ said just above, basically, the robot has not 2, but 3 attacks => a one-shot bolt (which you need to disable absolutely either with a stun / knockdown or with the Angry / Angry / Sleepy combination), a normal melee/range attack which does a lot of damage, but doesn't one shot (and the NPCs can tank for you) and a missile barrage which triggers the turn after the robot launched it.
Now, the catch is that the "manual" doesn't actually convey the whole thing : in order for the robot to not do anything, you must use the controller twice in a turn. For example, use it to negate the lightning bolt with one of your character (A/A/S). Then send it to another character, and once it's its turn, use it to make the Sparkmaster not being able to attack (S/S/H), then send the controller back to the first character in order to prepare for the next turn? Be careful as to keep at least one AP after the use of the controller, or you won't be able to send the item from one guy to the other. The Sparkmaster will still be able to do attack of opportunity, and missile barrage, and I'm not sure the SSH combination works every turn, but it'll make the fight much more manageable.
Hope this helped.

[Dragon]

The controller seemed highly bugged & broken to me when I used it. I assume it's just another of the bugged things in this game that never got fixed in a patch.

[Raze_Larian]

I tested this a couple of times, and had no problem as long as the character was close enough to be in range. I requested saves where the remote wasn't working a few times, when the game was still being actively updated, but did not get much response.

At least some of the complaints were due to not realizing that air damage recharges the robot after disabling the main attack, so it looked like it was never disabled. There is also equipment (at least an amulet, that I recall) that can reflect a percentage of damage done as air damage. That was the case for the 2 or 3 times I got saves where the remote was reportedly not working.

[dmwyvern]

Hi Raze!

I can confirm that this does seem to be bugged.

In my current play through I defeated the Undead Mages that power up the Sparkmaster's Ultrabolt attack but when I try and disable his default melee attack using the controller, nothing seems to happen. He is still able to melee my party down.

I would be happy to provide my save to you or anyone else over at Larian that might want to check into this for D:OS 1 EE players.

[sundog005]

Drop a Smoke bomb in robot's face, he can't see to attack and skips his turn and you can just whittle him down. Forget the controller you don't need it. The smoke also helps keep the 3 farmers alive.