How to die less in neo Babylon with a jet pack?

[Torres, The Devourer]

I’ve been in multiple situations where in neo Babylon my very good runs just end due to spontaneously combusting into a fiery ending. How can I minimize these situations?

[Tvrobot10]

It just takes practice and getting used to the area. If you really want to be safe, move around slowly and look for any and all spark traps. If you have enough bombs, don't hesitate to just bomb your way to the exit or bomb the spark traps. Even if you don't have that many bombs, you'll probably get a lot of resources from the sun challenge anyways (especially if you have clone gun). The only spark traps you probably shouldn't bomb are the ones around the ushabti room. If you bomb those you could risk breaking the ghost pot which is in the ushabti room. Also keep in mind that you have i-frames when coming out of backlayer doors. Don't hesitate to abuse those i-frames or to repeatedly go in and out of backlayer doors until you are comfortable exiting. Also just be sure to keep an eye on UFO's and olmites near spark traps in case they are flung into you. If you want to minimize the risk entirely, consider not taking a jetpack. Either use something else like Vlad's cape or you can drop the jetpack off at Waddler's and pick it up later.

[Leviathan]

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

I’ve been in multiple situations where in neo Babylon my very good runs just end due to spontaneously combusting into a fiery ending. How can I minimize these situations?

I'd say, recognize the dangers. If you see enemies be careful because there may be spark traps around them which activate when you get close. If you are not using a jetpack then you must be particularly careful of getting ufos launched onto your face. If you're using jetpack even the pet may kill you so make sure the pet won't get hit by a spark trap when you get close. Other explosions may throw lava in your way but it doesn't happen THAT often, just another danger to be wary about.

[Trev-9000]

Okay, so I actually have a solution to this that I do every time now.

First of all I would say having plenty of health from Kapala is the best way to survive an explosion. It sucks that you'll lose the jetpack (especially if you are planning on heading to co as it will make your life extremely difficult), but at least you'll make it away with your life!

But heres the main tip: Don't take your jetpack to this area. Leave it with Waddler and reclaim it in Sunken City. You only really have to get through 4 levels, and once you've made it, ropes won't be as important as you'll get the jetpack back so you can use as many as you need to in these more hazardous levels.

I've mentioned before how my preferred route is Jungle - Temple, and this is because you are likely to get a back item in the black market and guaranteed a jetpack in Duat. You can leave your back item (if you have one) with Waddler in Olmec's Layer, go through Temple, get the Jetpack, clear ice cavern and then go back, drop off your jetpack and take your previously stored back item before heading to Neo Babylon.

If it is a cape, then you don't really need to worry about explosions, if its a hoverpack or powerpack then you will still have the same issue, but if you survive you will have a backup jetpack waiting for you in a safer area. This means even if you have 2 jetpacks you will still be able to take a backup if it blows up and you survive.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by tvrobot10:

It just takes practice and getting used to the area. If you really want to be safe, move around slowly and look for any and all spark traps. If you have enough bombs, don't hesitate to just bomb your way to the exit or bomb the spark traps. Even if you don't have that many bombs, you'll probably get a lot of resources from the sun challenge anyways (especially if you have clone gun). The only spark traps you probably shouldn't bomb are the ones around the ushabti room. If you bomb those you could risk breaking the ghost pot which is in the ushabti room. Also keep in mind that you have i-frames when coming out of backlayer doors. Don't hesitate to abuse those i-frames or to repeatedly go in and out of backlayer doors until you are comfortable exiting. Also just be sure to keep an eye on UFO's and olmites near spark traps in case they are flung into you. If you want to minimize the risk entirely, consider not taking a jetpack. Either use something else like Vlad's cape or you can drop the jetpack off at Waddler's and pick it up later.

I can occasionally be a bit stingy with my resources, and It’s nice to be reassured that there is always the sun challenge and clone gun to help me with my resource problems. Thanks for the tips!

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by Leviathan:

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

I’ve been in multiple situations where in neo Babylon my very good runs just end due to spontaneously combusting into a fiery ending. How can I minimize these situations?

I'd say, recognize the dangers. If you see enemies be careful because there may be spark traps around them which activate when you get close. If you are not using a jetpack then you must be particularly careful of getting ufos launched onto your face. If you're using jetpack even the pet may kill you. Other explosions may throw lava in your way but it doesn't happen THAT often, just another danger to be wary about.

My short attention span and the fact that I am a UFO magnet haunts me. In all seriousness, I should stop getting near spark traps with overconfidence. I need to slow down, and recognize the possible threats and dangers that lurk near them. Thanks for the help!

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by Trev-9000:

Okay, so I actually have a solution to this that I do every time now.

First of all I would say having plenty of health from Kapala is the best way to survive an explosion. It sucks that you'll lose the jetpack (especially if you are planning on heading to co as it will make your life extremely difficult), but at least you'll make it away with your life!

But heres the main tip: Don't take your jetpack to this area. Leave it with Waddler and reclaim it in Sunken City. You only really have to get through 4 levels, and once you've made it, ropes won't be as important as you'll get the jetpack back so you can use as many as you need to in these more hazardous levels.

I've mentioned before how my preferred route is Jungle - Temple, and this is because you are likely to get a back item in the black market and guaranteed a jetpack in Duat. You can leave your back item (if you have one) with Waddler in Olmec's Layer, go through Temple, get the Jetpack, clear ice cavern and then go back, drop off your jetpack and take your previously stored back item before heading to Neo Babylon.

If it is a cape, then you don't really need to worry about explosions, if its a hoverpack or powerpack then you will still have the same issue, but if you survive you will have a backup jetpack waiting for you in a safer area. This means even if you have 2 jetpacks you will still be able to take a backup if it blows up and you survive.

Actually, those are good ideas. Even though I prefer tide pool, I should just leave my jet pack at waddlers. It’s a simple solution that for whatever reason I didn’t think of. I did once get myself a back up jet pack and then exploded in neo Babylon. That way I was able to get it in the sunken city!
... If I didn’t get crushed due to my overconfidence and a short attention span.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Also, what about a neo Babylon level in the cosmic ocean?

[Tvrobot10]

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

Also, what about a neo Babylon level in the cosmic ocean?

Pretty much all of the previous tips apply. I'd recommend staying away from the top of the level. I'd also recommend staying away from the top of the level in volcana, temple, and maybe jungle too. I think if you have the resources to spare you should probably use them here too. Try to conserve resources as best you can on easier levels so that you can use them here. If you used clone gun on sun challenge bag you should have enough resources anyways. Keep in mind you can also practice normal neo babylon with the ice caves shortcut (make sure you're familiar with the ice caves drop to skip the yeti cave).

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by tvrobot10:

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

Also, what about a neo Babylon level in the cosmic ocean?

Pretty much all of the previous tips apply. I'd recommend staying away from the top of the level. I'd also recommend staying away from the top of the level in volcana, temple, and maybe jungle too. I think if you have the resources to spare you should probably use them here too. Try to conserve resources as best you can on easier levels so that you can use them here. If you used clone gun on sun challenge bag you should have enough resources anyways. Keep in mind you can also practice normal neo babylon with the ice caves shortcut (make sure you're familiar with the ice caves drop to skip the yeti cave).

Why thank you! I didn’t think that I could easily practice the yeti skip with the shortcut! I feel that Volcana and neo Babylon CO levels are very nerve racking when you have a jet pack. I have made the mistake of going on the top of the level on multiple occasions without realizing that it was a bad idea. At least there are no cat mummies in neo Babylon. Now that I think about it, jockeys (from left 4 dead 2) and cat mummies have a couple of things in common; they are small and annoying! But I digress. Thank you so much for the help, I already feel more confident in my endeavors!

[glider521al (Aura of Worlds dev)]

If you do bring your jetpack (and enough rope) through Neo Babylon though, you can skip the entire Qilin chain, which is very useful for speedrunning.

If you're going to the Cosmic Ocean, it's also an option to trade your jetpack out for a cape at the Sun Challenge.

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

Actually, those are good ideas. Even though I prefer tide pool, I should just leave my jet pack at waddlers. It’s a simple solution that for whatever reason I didn’t think of. I did once get myself a back up jet pack and then exploded in neo Babylon. That way I was able to get it in the sunken city!
... If I didn’t get crushed due to my overconfidence and a short attention span.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by glider521al:

If you do bring your jetpack (and enough rope) through Neo Babylon though, you can skip the entire Qilin chain, which is very useful for speedrunning.

If you're going to the Cosmic Ocean, it's also an option to trade your jetpack out for a cape at the Sun Challenge.

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

Actually, those are good ideas. Even though I prefer tide pool, I should just leave my jet pack at waddlers. It’s a simple solution that for whatever reason I didn’t think of. I did once get myself a back up jet pack and then exploded in neo Babylon. That way I was able to get it in the sunken city!
... If I didn’t get crushed due to my overconfidence and a short attention span.

I much prefer to do the ankh skip in the tide pool, with one or two hired hands in some pit somewhere holding the clone gun and Excalibur. This way I can get quilin. However, the jetpack skip is very easy and useful, and it’s how I did my first (and so far my only) successful eggplant run. The amount of times I’ve died with a jetpack in neo Babylon is unfortunate. If rather get a back up jetpack or just leave it with waddler. Regardless of preferences, thank you for the input!

[Leviathan]

Originally posted by Trev-9000:

But heres the main tip: Don't take your jetpack to this area.

That's actualy nice.

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

My short attention span and the fact that I am a UFO magnet haunts me. In all seriousness, I should stop getting near spark traps with overconfidence. I need to slow down, and recognize the possible threats and dangers that lurk near them. Thanks for the help!

I think there kinda is an explanation for being an UFO magnet. Perhaps it is that UFOs tend to go towards you, which perhaps makes it so they hit spark traps with a more harmful angle when you activate them.

Not sure if there is something about it or just an illusion of UFOs being thrown in your face more often than not.

Also, it's a difficult balance. You want to be careful, but there are situations in neo babylon in which you simply stop at a seemingly safe place which isn't really so. In the end you want to be able to assess the situation while moving... or just bomb the way out.

About that, you can save some bombs if you bring a teleporter and know how to use it (And be careful not to teleport into a zoo or a spark trap hell). The less time you spend in neo babylon, the less chances you get to explode. It's also nice since the teleporter can allow you to get to SC even if everything goes south.

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

I much prefer to do the ankh skip in the tide pool, with one or two hired hands in some pit somewhere holding the clone gun and Excalibur. This way I can get quilin. However, the jetpack skip is very easy and useful, and it’s how I did my first (and so far my only) successful eggplant run. The amount of times I’ve died with a jetpack in neo Babylon is unfortunate. If rather get a back up jetpack or just leave it with waddler. Regardless of preferences, thank you for the input!

I mean, kinda. I usually go to tide pool, but lately I've been doing the Vlad skip (I still fail kinda often at it) so when it doesn't seem to be worthy, I end up skipping abzu and going for it.

The only actual kind of run in which I consider going to temple is if I go to Volcana and get to Olmec with almost nothing else. That rarely happens so I rarely go to temple. But it gives me the alien compass, and a sure altar in city of gold, and I leave the cape in Waddler's because I might need it.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by Leviathan:

Originally posted by Trev-9000:

But heres the main tip: Don't take your jetpack to this area.

That's actualy nice.

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

My short attention span and the fact that I am a UFO magnet haunts me. In all seriousness, I should stop getting near spark traps with overconfidence. I need to slow down, and recognize the possible threats and dangers that lurk near them. Thanks for the help!

I think there kinda is an explanation for being an UFO magnet. Perhaps it is that UFOs tend to go towards you, which perhaps makes it so they hit spark traps with a more harmful angle when you activate them.

Not sure if there is something about it or just an illusion of UFOs being thrown in your face more often than not.

Also, it's a difficult balance. You want to be careful, but there are situations in neo babylon in which you simply stop at a seemingly safe place which isn't really so. In the end you want to be able to assess the situation while moving... or just bomb the way out.

About that, you can save some bombs if you bring a teleporter and know how to use it (And be careful not to teleport into a zoo or a spark trap hell). The less time you spend in neo babylon, the less chances you get to explode. It's also nice since the teleporter can allow you to get to SC even if everything goes south.

Originally posted by Coach, The Devourer Of Gods:

I much prefer to do the ankh skip in the tide pool, with one or two hired hands in some pit somewhere holding the clone gun and Excalibur. This way I can get quilin. However, the jetpack skip is very easy and useful, and it’s how I did my first (and so far my only) successful eggplant run. The amount of times I’ve died with a jetpack in neo Babylon is unfortunate. If rather get a back up jetpack or just leave it with waddler. Regardless of preferences, thank you for the input!

I mean, kinda. I usually go to tide pool, but lately I've been doing the Vlad skip (I still fail kinda often at it) so when it doesn't seem to be worthy, I end up skipping abzu and going for it.

The only actual kind of run in which I consider going to temple is if I go to Volcana and get to Olmec with almost nothing else. That rarely happens so I rarely go to temple. But it gives me the alien compass, and a sure altar in city of gold, and I leave the cape in Waddler's because I might need it.

About the ufo magnet thing, I was just joking. I’m almost certain it’s rotten luck. Areas like the temple and neo Babylon are the areas where I’d rather just bomb down than deal with the pain. As I have said before, I can get overconfident in Neo Babylon, so I will need too strike a balance between getting the hell out of there and being cautious. Thanks for the good advice

[Herr Quezt]

Lots of good advice already but I'll drop some quick ones.

Use your resources, with jetpack Neo Bab is basically the most dangerous area so blowing terrain up to bypass or make traversing it safer is key to decreasing chances of explosion.

Don't needlessly whip/kill UFOs. Most of the time they pose little to no threat and whipping them can cause all kinds of nasty chain reactions. Moving any olmite corpses out of the way of spark traps is also good.

Try to avoid scenarios where you can't move well, such as elevators, so you don't get forced into a spark trap.

Always tap your jetpack when you descend so you can see what's below clearly. Navigating upwards is preferred in CO.

If you want to use some speed tech you can kill Madame in Tide Pool for a smaller 6-3 (unless you need the altar).

[REALdestruction3]

If you good with the tiamat jetpack skip, you don't have to do the chain and bring the clone gun to the ice cave, meaning you can clone the reward bag. Which means you can afford to use resources to unblock neobab and make it much safer