PSA: Player Tips for all sorts of things (warning, spoilers)

[Fez]

I'll preface this by saying I'm onto NG++.

Firstly, We'll start with some basics

Combat tips:
Jump and Duck in combat are done by holding Block and pressing forward or backward. YMMV, I never use them.

If you press block just before being hit, IF the attack can be blocked, your next attack will do a LOT of damage. You'll know if the next attack is a riposte if the enemy staggers from your block.

Proficiency of weapons increases their damage. So if you have a favourite weapon type, stick with it, just using it increases the dmg output.


Boss Weapons:
When you kill the bosses, they drop a weapon. If you kill them using a certain criteria, they'll drop a v2.0 version of the weapon, with a higher base damage, and usually a different visual.

Criteria:
1. PAX - kill without letting PAX shoot itself with it's missiles.
2. Firebug - destroy all of Firebugs legs.
3. Big Sister 1/3 - Kill Big Sister without killing the welding arms (not the two huge pincer ones, you need to kill them to progress the bossfight. Ignore the little ones when the platforms come together after destroying the 2 huge ones, and just go straight for the wires at the base of the boss)
4. Black Cerberus - Chop off his right arm.
5. Rogue Process - Chop off the left arm. (requires further testing)

Sidequest NPCs:
Irina - depending on how you progress with her, you'll meet her in Executive Forum. You can kill her for the Peacekeeper weapon and the achievement.
Jo - a woman in the air duct systems you'll meet from time to time. I've given her tech scraps each time (3 times). She will use the Equaliser on Hobbs when security goes berserk, you'll find the weapon outside the ops centre he's in. (btw, on multiple play throughs, the weapon is always there, but sometimes Hobbs is alive next to it, and sometimes dead.)
Alec - If you agree to find Maddy, and them find her. She'll end up back at the Ops Centre. Talk to Alec to then agree to find a new leg for her. Travel back to Production B and you'll find the part on a ARC robot nearby. He gives you a MkV endurance implant.
In Nucleus, you'll meet Alec again, in the ops centre. Maddy has gone missing again. She is located on a platform UNDERNEATH the ops centre, attached to the ops centre. Moving the ops to level 2 allows you to get underneath to interact with her hiding behind some crates. Moving ops to level 3 allows you to get to where she's hiding. You'll find a girls necklace, take it back to Alec for the achievement.
Davey - the Modaxonil implant he wants is located in the Greenhouse area. If you don't get it for him, he will be found on the bridge outside Central Processing B scratching himself like a junkie when security goes berserk.
Sally - You don't need to talk to her ever, if you don't want, but it makes more sense if you do, when you finally meet her. There is an achievement for meeting her in person, but its not the boardroom scene. Still searching, I assume it's Executive Forum somewhere.

Other things:
There are multiple endings.

Black Cerberus gear is occasional found on NON-RESPAWNING mobs. Besides the Boss, Black Cerberus, it's the only way to get the schematics. Think carefully about what you're missing, and chop those parts off. (Tested, the mobs are random spawns that do not return on a Quicksave/Quickload event. You get what you're given. Any attempt at a quicksave/quickload results in a mob with standard armour instead of Black Cerberus Armour).

Bloodied Proteus is another rare armour set. The mob behind the double doors just before you take the elevator up to Bennet drops the full set pieces, as well as Codename: Parsival v2.0. The criteria for bloodied proteus is the same as Black Cerberus, you'll find it on random mobs on playthrough NG+ and beyond. It is virtuallythe same stats wise as Proteus, just looks different, it has slightly less elemental protection, and more slash protection.

Once you get the security rig, back track ALL THE WAY back to the starting zone. There's a security door in the dark tunnels with a worthwhile implant to get behind a locked security door. There's security doors scattered in every single level.

Quick save and Quickload are a thing. F5 and F8 respectively. Useful for bossfights, when you're attempting v2.0 criteria.

Weapons:
Highest base damage per class:
Single - MG Centurion (Mimetic Edge is a close 2nd doing elemental damage instead)
Staff - Codename: Carmina
Heavy Duty - MG Judge v2.0 (strongest base damage in game)
Single Rigged - Fractal Reaver (2nd strongest base damage in game)
Twin Rigged - Claws of the Gestalt

Boss weapon unique special attacks:
MG Judge v2.0 - R2, R2, R2 (or vertical, vertical, vertical)
Firebug Throttle v2.0 - R1, R2, R2
PAX Imperator - R2, R2, R2 (there are other variants of this combo which end in the seismic slam also)

Ending the lockdown in the server room in Executive forum will open up the MG equipment cases scattered around the levels. ie: the 2nd one in the Ops Centre you got the security rig. The one next to the security rig contains MG Centurion.
To get Codename: Carmina in the Exhibition Centre, you need the security rig. Go to the small unmapped location where you find 2 Proteus weapon mobs in total darkness, there's a security door down there. Eventually you'll find a fuse to pop which opens the exhibition case.

Ironmaus Comics:
#1 Rocket Assembly, behind the 1st smelter bot.
#2 Central Production B, on top of a sea container in the room with the Vending Machine Cult
#3 Biolabs, on a desk in laboratory on the way to meet Dr. Chavez
#4 Exhibition Centre, Lab 11, after you meet Gene Barret
#5 Executive Forum, in Guttenbergs office on the wall.

Shiny Coins:
Find 5 (by killing 5 smelter bots), goto Vending Machine Cult area, there's a Vending machine you can interact with, if you have 5 coins it'll work. Enjoy!

Armour Set Bonuses: (fyi this list is also in order of least defense to most defense)
Lynx - increased attack speed at +70% health
Chrysalis - health on kill
Liquidator - additional elemental resistance
Rhino - increased impact when using implants that boost weapon damage
Proteus - health regen and increased healing
Bloodied Proteus - health regen and increased healing
MG Cerberus - increased defense at +70% energy
MG Black Cerberus - increased damage at +70% energy
Ironmaus - increased stability from shield drone
Scarab - increased vital boost implant effects
MG Gorgon - increased stamina regen
Elite Hazard - changes coolant vent drone to toxic vent

[Bashfluff]

What weapon do you use? Also, how do you kill those damn robots?

[Weaponized Autism]

Originally posted by Bashfluff:

What weapon do you use? Also, how do you kill those damn robots?

You're gonna have to specify which robot you're talking about.

Y'know, sci-fi game and all that.

[Fez]

Playthrough one I tried everything until I got MG Judge v2.0, then completed it solely with that. NG+ I smashed out with only the Mimetic Edge.

And what "damn robots"? There's quite a few different types.

[EGGZxOVERxExZ]

Thanks for the tips, Mate.

[Devil Dog]

Originally posted by Fez:

Proficiency of weapons increases their damage. So if you have a favourite weapon type, stick with it, just using it increases the dmg output

Something I learned not until I got to lvl 2, if you want to quickly level up a weapon, go back to level 1 and clean out all enemies (rinse & repeat as necessary) by only selecting their non-armored body parts. I found this was far quicker upgrading weapon proficiency than farming armored parts.

[Bashfluff]

Originally posted by Fez:

Playthrough one I tried everything until I got MG Judge v2.0, then completed it solely with that. NG+ I smashed out with only the Mimetic Edge.

And what "damn robots"? There's quite a few different types.

Mmm. The ones that charge at you from halfway across the map and murder you in like one hit. Like...the ones patrolling around after you emerge from the lower section at the start the third level.

[Fez]

What do they look like, again, that's not very specific. The quadrupedal ones? The Tanklike ones? The twin riggers?

[Undeadhazeus]

For Rogue Process I cut off the left arm but I still got the sword, was there anything else I was supposed to do?

[Bashfluff]

Originally posted by Fez:

What do they look like, again, that's not very specific. The quadrupedal ones? The Tanklike ones? The twin riggers?

The one that spawns at the entrance of the second area after you're been to the third area. It hits you with the middle part of itself, which rotates.

[Zarron]

Can you still get the weapon from Irina if you don't give her the staff in the second level? I wanted to give her the security staff after I had found another, but once you leave the second level, she goes to the circulation tower

[Ophidian]

Originally posted by Fez:

What do they look like, again, that's not very specific. The quadrupedal ones? The Tanklike ones? The twin riggers?

I believe he is referring to the scorpion/spider enemies, the ones that leap across everything. You have a chance to fight 5 un-respawning ones in OPs, and they become standard enemies in the bio labs. They have 2 front legs and a "tail".

[NovaBear]

Are there more then just the 2 Black Cerberus dudes per playthrough? i only found the boss and the one that gaurds the door to the rocket place.

[saice]

Oh nice to know they did the weapon veraints like they did in LoTF. I'm sad I missed PAXs one now. But not to sad as Ive fallen in love with the heavy weapons in the game.

[WatcherJake]

There's a second part in Alec & Maddy's quest, after you help him fix her/it in R&D. You'll find Alec in the ops for the launch facility, saying he lost maddy again. I managed to find a necklace or something that belonged to maddy and give it back to alec, but that probably wasn't the end of the quest since i didn't get the trophy. No idea what happens next.

On a side note, do you know how to get the T-shaped area on the left side of the map that appears on the loading screen?

[NovaBear]

Do you get two weeapons if you chop off the left arm of Rogue Process?