well...that's enough of bots for me.

[michaelthered]

I now understand why people aren't over in bot space. That game design seems.......slapped together? Not entirely well thought through? I mean we're told energy weapons are the way to go...but you don't really unlock any decent energy weapons till later in the normal warbond or you have to have a premium warbond. So the game being this new, "most" players are still working through the entry level bond......which is clearly for bugs. Plus the bots feel like a rig. I tried one mission on easy and i got the mission parameters only dying once.....but then i could not extract. Every time i'd approach the extract zone i'd have to immediately get my kite out and start drawing them out...i'd kill them...as soon as i'd get near the extract, here come more. They'd be reinforcing while i was fighting the previous wave. I think by the 3rd time i approached the extract zone, i did get to call in the pelican...tried dropping a sentry to help cover me but they took that out within a second or two....i just realized this wasn't going to happen. The extract zone was just getting over run. So i just x'd out. That was dumb and a waste of my time.

bots are clearly for advanced players and/or groups. And that's fine. But if you don't have your dudes online, dropping into a bot map with rando's is just a recipe for improperly aggro'ing every bot farm on the map. Bugs are hard enough but doable........and they go "squish"....so there's that.

[Majorita]

You can do okay with the Diligence early but yeah bots are hard.

My current favorite weapon to plink bots with is the Scorcher and that is like 1200 medals deep into the Mobilize warbond. Wow!

It's a primary but it can kill walkers through the front, it's extremely inconsistent killing mid-size bots though, devastators, berserkers etc, and it has low ammo. The upside is since it's just a primary you DO get half your ammo back by touching one yellow ammo box, so there's that.

Combine that with the Quasar that two-shots hulks anywhere you hit them and... maybe 3 shots tanks? And you can be pretty effective in clearing robots.

It's possible you just got a bad draw, not all mission extracts are created equal and some are VERY easy to escape from even in complete stealth thanks to the enemy AI, and some are flat out almost impossible to do because the AI will destroy every bit of cover nearby and leave you with nothing but a flat surface and them infinitely respawning nearby.

That goes for bugs too, but. Yeah.

Compare that though to bugs via the Arc Thrower. Try that on bugs and it vaporizes whole groups, everything, including chargers and it can kill bile titans too, maybe not incredibly quickly but it can kill em.

[Twisty]

Any weapon works against any enemy type, be it bugs or bots.
I prefer to use the basic warbond shotguns as they pack a good punch and can 1tap bigger robots, asides from heavies and tanks, if you land a perfect headshot.

As for being overrun, that is unfortunate. After 40ish hours of fighting bots I don't think my extraction zone has been overrun before. Tough luck, my guy.

I do agree with bots being more group focused. But you also have to play a bit more patiently, getting kills from range and picking off bigger targets and rocket boys first.

[Zero]

i.. just finished missions with the default rifle, machine pistol, and autocannon and stun grenade.. only have issues with berserkers.

[AoD_lexandro]

Impact grenades works a treat on anything that isnt a tank. Combine with diligence & sentry turret plus a few stratagems and you cruise through bot missins.

[Xersin]

For the early difficulties, a grenade launcher/supply pack combo works pretty well for killing everything. You can be super aggressive with the explosive weapon, since you're carrying an entire supply drop on your back at all times. Just slap in your preferred heavy explosive in the other slots for dealing with the fabricators, like the Eagles, or the Orbitals. I also take a scoped rifle and the SMG for base weapons. Gives me some nice distance for pinging bots far away, and a good short ranged option.

It's held up for me, even solo, up to 4. Past that, though, I can't tell you. Don't really make it a habit to solo past 4, and I build around what my group doesn't have.

The thing about bots compared to bugs is really a play style change. Bots are more of a cover shooter, while bugs are a horde shooter. So your gear and strats need to reflect that. And if you've only unlocked stuff with a bug focus, you might struggle for a bit on the bots.

[shadain597]

For bots, you're better off in a group than solo. That's because, at a minimum, you force them to either divide their fire or focus on part of the team while ignoring the rest--if the team doesn't immediately split into 4 solo matches. And play on a lower difficulty than you would bugs.

I spent most of my really low level missions on bugs because that was the major order at the time, but the autocannon doesn't require a super high level and shreds bots. It even one-shots the walkers right through the front. It's my go-to support weapon right now on the bot front. I actually haven't tested the grenade launcher vs bots; it seems like it would be situationally useful, but bots often spread out enough that it could be hard to efficiently use it, and the autocannon has a higher effective range. Laser cannon works okay too. Default MG-43 should be pretty decent against most bots, especially at lower levels. A variety of weapons with medium pen can frontally take the walkers down by targeting where the legs meet the body.

For primaries, the basic Diligence is better on the bot front than the bug front. Shotguns are decent if you get crowded a lot. But for either to be effective you have to hit the right areas on the bots. That holds true for a lot of weapons, unfortunately. The Scythe gets a bad rap, but it's actually not bad against bots, especially on the lower levels.

[Belyth]

Even the regular Warbond has all you need to fight bots.
The Slugger on page 8 and Scorcher on page 10 are fantastic against bots.
You can also do just fine with the breaker against the Clankers.

[Majorita]

Originally posted by Belyth:

Even the regular Warbond has all you need to fight bots.
The Slugger on page 8 and Scorcher on page 10 are fantastic against bots.
You can also do just fine with the breaker against the Clankers.

No, no no nono no no NO. You can't literally be serious when you point to like 800 and 1200 medals deep on the Warbond and say "just go do that, you'll be fine."

For bugs you don't need to point to the Warbonds and say "get this this and this and you'll be okay."

[protocol67]

Best tictok HD2 tip I've seen is the Pelican extract turned gunship.
In brief detail...

Finish the main objectives to unlock the extract point.
Call in the extract and either defend from or hide at the very edge of the extract zone.
When the timer runs out to zero and the ship announces its approach ..step out of the extract zone.
The pelican will come down and hover and eventually gun down everything within range.

Its reach is quite far.
You can run around doing cleanup ops or whatever, just don't get near the extract zone till your ready to go, or the pelican lands and the magic is over.

[Muh macht die Kuh]

Sounds like a skill issue.

[asura]

I fight bots mostly with Defender, Punisher, and EATs.
So... I dunno about all that.

[Belyth]

Originally posted by Majorita:

Originally posted by Belyth:

Even the regular Warbond has all you need to fight bots.
The Slugger on page 8 and Scorcher on page 10 are fantastic against bots.
You can also do just fine with the breaker against the Clankers.

No, no no nono no no NO. You can't literally be serious when you point to like 800 and 1200 medals deep on the Warbond and say "just go do that, you'll be fine."

For bugs you don't need to point to the Warbonds and say "get this this and this and you'll be okay."

Well you see, the correct tools will help you.

You can two shot the Striders by shooting at the legs with the Scorcher.
With a headshot you can actually oneshot devastators with the Slugger.
And the Scorcher also stuns most of these bastards except the Berserkers.

I prefer using the railgun against the tincans, as a shot to the glowing part of their body almost guarantees a kill.

Hulk = 1 shot to the "Eye" with the railgun
Tanks = 2 impact nades to the turret (can take more with the Annihilator Tank as the splash damage might not reach the weak spot on the back of the turret)
Devastators = 1 shot to the head with the railgun

Most people swear on the autocannon against the bots, which you unlock at level 10 as a stratagem. But you gotta be more in cover if you go autocannon instead of railgun + shield backpack.

[Majorita]

No, I agree with you that those ARE good weapons, but I suspect if some guy played bots one time and then is like "I'm out clearly this is too much" he's probably pretty low level and hasn't played the game for long.

I guess you may as well suggest em, but like, even the Railgun is level 20.

[Belyth]

Yeah bots are not actually meant to be played early on.
Level 10 is the earliest I would actually go there, because this is when you get some of the tool you need to deal with those liberty hating cogs.

Also: don't forget that people mostly go to the bots when it's Major Order time, and don't forget that Joel makes the Major Orders more difficult.

I had diff 7 dives during this Major Order, that felt more brutal than diff 9 dives I did before the MO was issued.

Edit: feel free to add me and join me on a few Automaton missions when you feel like it.

[Majorita]

Wait is that true, are faction (or maybe just the major order planets?) actually harder DURING A MAJOR ORDER??? No way right?

Is that maybe why the game has felt so variable in its difficulty? Is that why everyone is always talking about how 'easy' the game is and 'skill issue this' and 'git gud that'?

Is that WHY???????