Oddball newbie idea: Three interleaved games, as gadget, melee, rifle

[Gilmoy]

I'm a newbie in my 1st playthrough = Normal, just entering 7.Creepy Little Things.
Thauma Rig, going for 4 gadgets.

But -- I'm curious to see the other two playstyles. And the harder difficulty levels. And I ponder, with vast trepidation, trying my new-found skillz with (gasp) my Steam Controller ... and (shudder) without pause, in realtime.

So I just dreamed up a wacky idea. Vaporum's save mechanism allows multiple disjoint playthroughs side-by-side, right? I just start a new game, save to its own filename(s), reload from a different branch, switch back and forth, etc.

So:
[_] Begin playthrough #2, on Normal + 1. Choose the Combat Rig, specialize in a melee skill (maybe rifle). My goal is Rifle 5 for +150% damage with the Cannon

[_] Begin playthrough #3, on Normal + 2. Choose the defensive Rig, specialize in the other melee skill(s?). I envision Blunt 5 for +150% damage with a two-handed hammer.

[_] Every time I finish a new level on Normal, I immediately replay it on +1 and +2, using the other playstyles.

Then I don't have to wait to the end of 1 full game before I get to goof off with the other styles. Yaay! I can be slow and methodical in my Normal game, and try to speedrun in the other two. Also, I'll know not to jump at the jump scares. *shakes a fist at devs*

This should be fun!

(Wait -- there's a fourth play style? Whatever shall I do?)

[Gilmoy]

T + 45 minutes: Woot, it's working!

Normal + 1 = Hard. Took the Combat Rig, killed the first two helicopter stabby drones without pause, received only 1 hit from each.

Gee, my Steam controller is touchy finicky for pivoting left/right. It's a touchpad with a hair-trigger sensitivity, not a click, and I keep overshooting and pivoting 180. This is great fun in the middle of combat But I'm getting there.

I'm a bit leery about Repair Kit = +pad left-click, Energy Cell = +pad right-click. On keyboard, the 2nd thing I learned to do was to remap Repair Kit from 'R' to 'K', just because my finger seeks R too often.

[_] Can't re-map controller buttons?

Onward! My biggest controller-newbie flaw is that I keep forgetting to pivot to face a drone, and so I end up wasting 1-2 full drone-move cycles, instead of landing free hits.

This is actually my first time learning Steam Controller, too :) Had it for 2+ years and haven't played a controller-type game that really needed it.

~~~~~~~~

[_] Normal + 2 = Brutal. I'll take either the Heavy Rig or the Assault Rig, and do ... rifle? Or do they make more sense for a melee fighter?

[Gilmoy]

[x] Hard, Combat Rig, 1.Into the Monster :)
[_] Choose 1st circuit. What specialty? I guess this will be the rifle guy.

I learn (to my chagrin) that I am not Chopin with a controller. I can't react fast enough to kill spiders in realtime. So ... I pause :( and then it's the same as before. I went as low as 64/289 Integrity, but waited for the free heal at L2.

~~~~

[_] Brutal, 3rd rig. Heavy or Assault? Either one could be the melee guy, letting enemies get close.

Anyways, they all play the same way on level 1.

[Gilmoy]

[x] Brutal, Heavy Rig, 1.Out of the Monster
Somewhat faster, too: 36 minutes vs. 44 minutes for Hard L1.

I killed one spider without pause Still can't handle two monsters at a time.

Lungers (both the helicopters and the big fleas) on pause admit lunge-dancing. Their recoil animation is part of their cooldown, and you can step left-right-swing left-right-swing and sometimes get 3 consecutive hits before they choose to move forward instead of repeat another lunge-attack.

[JaseMourne]

Wow, what an idea to play several different builds & difficulties at once! How are you faring on Brutal so far?

[Gilmoy]

Well, it's not so much the difficulty level now. I've learned that I'm not good with the controller yet (when sleepy, with polar vortexed fingers :) So I can't even reliably duel 1 monster at a time in a 3x3 open area. Almost, but I usually get hit a few times.

Monsters are ... quicker on higher levels? I assume they also have more HP and other stats.

[JaseMourne]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

Well, it's not so much the difficulty level now. I've learned that I'm not good with the controller yet (when sleepy, with polar vortexed fingers :) So I can't even reliably duel 1 monster at a time in a 3x3 open area. Almost, but I usually get hit a few times.

Monsters are ... quicker on higher levels? I assume they also have more HP and other stats.

Yes, in a way. All their attacks have shorter cooldowns, they have shorter pauses between movement, have more HP and damage.

[.smx.]

How is playing with the Steam controller? We heard it has its flaws. Have you tried a standard Xbox or PS4 controller? I was able to play it with each of them even more comfortably than with the mouse & keyboard.

[Gilmoy]

I have not ever used an Xbox or PS4 controller, so I can't compare them.
(Obviously, just from comparing the layouts to the Vaporum Controller graphic, the two touchpad buttons are top/down reversed with the joystick/quad button groups.)

I've seen snippets of videos of gamers using the Steam controller for 4Xs, city builders, and other layout-heavy games. They mention that the biggest difference is that the right thumb touchpad is, indeed, a touchpad that responds to very light pressure, in addition to being a (stiff) button that clicks. I think the touchpad also uses proportional mapping, so that stroke motions at the perimeter are greater than those near the center. I'm still learning this. I have often spun myself around 360 degrees without thinking about it, just because my right thumb dragged across the right touchpad.

The Steam controller also has two underside wing buttons (that you click by squeezing inward with your fingertips as you hold it from below), which appear to be unique to it. The left underside button seems to be mapped to LT-A, which Vaporum assigns to fire gadget #1. Hence, in realtime duels against a fast lunger, I have at least five times (in 1 day) fired off a Basic Shock without meaning to, just because my fingers clench while I'm dodging with my entire body. I could probably edit my Steam controller configs to remap those buttons.

One chord does causes a bit of physical discomfort. Advance Time is mapped to LT, +pad south click. This requires a left index finger squeeze (for the top front left button) + a left thumb click. The combination of those two muscle activations is fatiguing when repeated often. Either one alone is not bad, but squeezing the index finger tightens the wrist, and then the thumb motion involves some strain. I've learned to simply walk backward or sideways into walls to skip a time increment, which requires just a light (unloaded) thumb tap on the joystick.

Other than that, I guess it's like any controller. It does feel more natural than WASD/QE + mouse.

[_] Feature request: map controller tilt left/right to turn left/right

[.smx.]

Thanks for the feedback! :) Enjoy the game!

[Gilmoy]

The only thing better than 3 interleaved games ... is 4!

I'm goofing off with a 4th game: Normal, Assault Rig, with as little stop-time as possible. I'm getting better at realtime dueling. Assault Rig rewards me for getting hit

Assault Rig:
+10% Resistance
+5% Fumium Intake (so you actually attain L2 in 1.Into the Monster before you bugzap the two trapped Spiderlings by the exit door)
+25% Repair Power (hasn't helped me yet -- but it should stack with later circuit upgrades)
+0.75% Total Damage per % of Missing Integrity

I hilariously managed to stress-test that last bonus. I forgot that opening the door to the Ground Floor Armory on 1.Into the Monster not only awakens a Roachling and a Spiderling inside the room, but also spawns a 2nd Spiderling behind you (to the south). So I blithely backed up into a doorway (at 05,22), got sandwiched, and had to slug my way out through the south Spiderling, while getting partially eaten from behind. Then one bad joystick double-tap let the 1st Spiderling trap me by the chest (at 05,11), and I survive it with ... 1 Integrity I had the maximum +75% Total Damage bonus for the Shock Spider duel. Winning that (in stop-time, alas) leveled me up.

Assault Rig dovetails with a couple of Circuit upgrades (and vice versa). So this game is a test to see how that synergy works out in practice.

Complex Capacitor:
[x] 1. +30 Integrity & Energy
[_] 3. +90, Regenerator: after 10s without taking or dealing damage, repair to 25% Integrity. This means I can plan to hover around 25% for a consistent ~50% Total Damage bonus, and even after a bad fight, I'll heal back up to it. So I won't usually be hovering around the one-shot death threshold.
[_] 5. +150, Integrity Depositor: +300 Integrity, +5% of max Integrity as Bonus Damage, 2.5% of max Integrity as self-damage. I guess you can get Integrity over 1k (maybe over 2k?), in which case 5% is +50 bonus damage. That should combine well with a quick 1H weapon. The self-damage is a tad scary: it means you have at most 40 attacks per fight before you reach that one-shot death zone. If I'm really at 25% from Regenerator, then just 10 attacks will drag me down there. Ugh! Well, we assume that Assault Rig is adding its massive bonus damage, so maybe 10 attacks for ~6 hits is enough to win any 1 fight.

This is why we test!

So I want to pump my Integrity as much as I can. That naturally suggests:
Armorer:
[x] 1. +30% Integrity
[_] 3. +90% Integrity, Reinforcer: -15% Direct Damage Taken. Good thing they'll hurt me less, since I'll (eventually) be hurting myself.
[_] 5. +150% Integrity, Fumium Armature +60% Integrity, +30% Resistance (= +210% Integrity).

I dunno what 3rd Circuit to take. I lean toward pumping a melee weapon, probably Blunt, for massive bonus damage. +(50-75) damage from Integrity Depositor might not scale up as well as +150% damage from rank V in any weapon circuit, so I might need both.

Anyways, I breezed/slogged through 2.Waterworks, so I've caught up to my other 2 playthroughs in 3.Haunted. Yes, things tend to just blow up when you hit them with Triplicator (2H warhammer) with +75% Total Damage and get that 3rd successful hit bonus.

Also, I wrote a Guide :) All I wanted was an offline reference for Circuit effects, but there wasn't already one listed. So I did that.

[JaseMourne]

Hey, Gilmoy!

Also, I wrote a Guide :) All I wanted was an offline reference for Circuit effects, but there wasn't already one listed. So I did that.

Please share this with us! I'd love to take a look! :)


Preparing a patch, we did a lot of playtesting once again, and I found an interesting, heavy-tanking build. Maybe you'll find it intriguing. It has a slow build-up, but hits like a effin truck when you get there. You take the Heavy Rig and these circuits:
- Blocking (Reflector (75% shield block return damage)). Heavy shields block a ton of direct damage and also add lots of HP.
- Complex Capacitor (Integrity Depositor (5% of max HP as bonus damage)). When you get this, you'll annihilate smaller enemies in 2 hits.
- Armorer (Fumium Armature (+60% HP, +30% Resistance)). I'm a little torn here. Maybe Emergency Braces would be better, because with the Heavy Rig, there is no benefit in lingering around 25% HP, but the big increase in static HP means a lot harder weapon attacks, so... I guess both are good.
- Servo Support to get the Emergency Shield module so that you can facetank anything even in situations where you would have to run.

This build plays quite slow, up until you get both the Integrity Depositor and Reflector modules. Heavy shields protect you from direct damage, the Depositor makes you a walking wrecking ball, the Armorer gives you lots of room to take unmitigated damage, and the Emergency Shield saves you when you go too deep into the fray. Zero points invested in offensive circuits, yet you eradicate anything in a few hits. :)

[Gilmoy]

Today I learned that:
- if you kill a Drone over water and it drops a loot bag onto water, you lose that loot forever

I conjecture that the same would happen if you kill a Drone over a pit.