Impossible situations are bs

[Tefatika]

As title says. Sometimes this game just decides you have to lose. This is so dumb.

EDIT: To avoid further toxicity, I invite anybody to read some of my recent comments. I was frustrated at the game, but most of that frustration has gone once I learnt some of the more advanced strategies. I'm enjoying it now and, even if sometimes this game still decides to ruin my run, it happens way less often.

[John]

Impossible on the first turn, or after you've messed up? Or do you mean when you can't complete star objectives, like when I had to kill 7 Vek but the ground between me and the Vek disappeared, so I couldn't even get to them.

(Although my current setup of defence mech + other mech with grappling hook would probably do ok with it)

[Tefatika]

Impossible from the first turn and/or when an enemy fresh spawn runs away to destroy some far building. If you only have three mechs and start with four enemies on the map, you can barely keep those four under control, and it's impossible to also position something unto every enemy spawn.

I even had a situation when a freshly spawned enemy just ran on my mech, stuck it on a tile which was going to fall due to earthquake next turn, and then every other enemy circled it to make it impossible for me to move it away and free my mech. I simply had to restart to avoid losing the pilot for successive runs, it was the first mission on the second island so my mechs weren't upgraded a lot.

[Tefatika]

Oh and about those "secondary objectives" - they created what it's called a positive feedback loop where completing objectives rewards more upgrades - which then makes it easier to complete even more secondary objectives. Failing secondary objectives is basically like losing the game, you'll get so far behind and you won't be able to catch up. Coupled with the aforementioned unwinnable conditions...

[wwarnick]

Losing a pilot or a secondary objective is a setback, but it isn't even close to being "like losing the game". You don't have to win every battle with flying colors in order to beat the game. You make do with what you have. I've lost my pilots and missed many secondary objectives and still beat the game. You're not going to win them all. I know that logically it seems that if you fall behind, you can't catch up, but it doesn't seem to stop people from beating the game.

[Wobuzhudao]

Sometimes life gives you impossible situations. It's all in how you respond to them.

[aub]

Honestly, I'm not surprised. This game is clearly another ripoff of A Bug's Life.

[BlackXIV]

I do agree that the random difficulty spikes are frustrating. In FTL you could get unlucky with the RNG from time to time or you could get to an unwinnable fight after a while if you fell behind but you were never put in such tactically impossible one-turn gamekillers.

I just ended a playthrough that was going good a the beginning of the second island because three scorpions spawned and locked all my three mechs into place, one inside an air support tile. Were it even possible to one-shot them all at that point in the game, I would have still taken the hit from the airstrike. All in one turn, NOT THE FIRST, all without warning.

[Mulberry]

A lot of these no win/first turn blues could be avoided with proper starting placement; keeping in mind the range of web-capable veks, position of buildings, potential environmental hazards, your mechs' ability to reach etc.

[wckowalski]

The most likely missions to not be possible without major sacrifices are "defend the robot factories" and "defend the train". That and first turn of the second phase final mission.

[Superbeef]

The game very rarely gives you impossible situations. In fact I'd go so far as to say, after the first 20-30 hours, I never felt where I had an impossible situation. All my deaths were caused by less than optimal decisions early in the round. But on normal and hard, sometimes you have less than optimal solutions and the challenge is picking which of them is the best. You can't save every building. But you can, almost certainly, save every objective. Objectives are the main currency. You'll get more power and EXP just by doing missions.

I don't know whether the AI actually handicaps itself (like when on the last turn and you're hanging on by a thread and all enemies attack you rather than a building) but after beating the game 100% and agonizing over tough choices, there is almost always a best path.

I remember one game with steel judoka, first round, and I was convinced they had one of my mechs dead on round #1 mission #1. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! My friend told me. After studying the placement and abilities a bit, I discovered a way out by attacking my own unit to push it out of the way. I ended up with a flawless victory.


This game is genius, but it takes time to recognize it.

[Ryuu]

If game gives you lemons - make lemonade
if game gives you cannons - make canonade

Sometimes you just don't plan hard enough.

[climbingeastofwinter]

And sometimes you just can't win. Luckily, when you lose, you can just begin a new game. ;)

[Ryuu]

Compared with FTL this is really much easier and even easier because you can transfer pilots for next runs, which you can't do in FTL(though maxed crewmember in FTL wouldn't make such a big difference really, it's just some extra evasion from the start).

[Tefatika]

Doesn't matter how hard you want to defend your beloved game, these situations FEEL cheap. You FEEL like the game wants to just bully you and that *feeling* is bad in games. It doesn't feel challenging, it feels cheap.

Also about the pilot thing, you're trying to explain a single situation. Stating that one single occurrence is not "like losing a game" doesn't mean ALL aren't. Anyways losing a pilot on turn two, I'm sorry, it is "losing the game", you're limiting yourself to two mechs for the remainder of the battle while losing a pilot for the rest of the game (and that pilot was the one I brought back from the previous mission).

I really enjoy this game while it works, but when it screws you up turn one or two it's annoying. Oh and don't talk to me about "proper positioning" like I'm stupid enough to position my mechs away from buildings and objectives.

[Ryuu]

Reminds me of this FTL thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/212680/discussions/0/1698294337781121176/
Or dozens of similar ones. Though there are no "exploits" like frequent pausing and power juggling in Into the Breach, so everybody is on more equal terms.