Feel like I'm missing something...

[shanytopper]

I'm trying this game, and I don't really understand what is going on.

1- How do you know where to go? Those maps are pretty large, and I could be wrong, but seem to also be somewhat randomly generated. How do you not get lost? I tried looking for a map button but didn't find something like that, so I guess maybe there is a method or technique for knowing where to go?

2- Is there any way to control of at least affect the items you find? Usually in roguelikes you pick an option out of 2-3, but here it seems totally random. How is one making anything that remotely resembles a build this way?

What am I missing here?

[CanvasK]

The maps aren't 100% random. There are 5 standard stages, each stage has various environments to pick from (e.g. Stage 1 can be Distant Roost, Titanic Plains, etc.), and some of those environments have variations (e.g. Titanic Plains could be a continuous area with 2 layers or 2 land masses connected by some bridges). Later stages tend to have less variation, either with fewer environments to pick or the environments have minor variations in them. The loot and the teleporter locations are randomized, though there are places where they are more common.

To advance you need the teleporter. It is typically on the opposite end of the stage from where you spawn--that is, if you appear in the north west corner the teleporter is likely in the south east (the game doesn't use cardinal directions, but you eventually get a feel for where the "corners" of maps are). The teleporter will have orange/red particles hovering around it, with some flowing towards it. You should be able to see these from anywhere on the map, assuming there isn't a wall blocking line of sight.

"Builds" don't matter too much in this game. Sure Commando will wipe the floor if he has high attack speed and many on-hit items, but you could also do fine with on-kill items. But if you want control over items, then there is the Command Artifact which lets you choose any item that you have unlocked, allowing you to create any kind of build you want. Just so I don't spoil the adventure, you can look up "Artifacts" on the wiki to learn how to get the Artifact (or just directly use the info there, up to you).

If that Artifact seems too powerful or is too many options, you can check out the mod ImprovedCommandEssence by Cercain. It limits the number of options you have so you can have control over your build without always being tempted to go for max bleed. Installing mods is very easy with R2Modman.

Also, both Artifacts and mods do not prevent you from getting unlocks/achievements. The only thing mods prevent you from doing is the Prismatic Trials since there is the leaderboard.

[shanytopper]

I don't understand how you know what is "north west" or "south east" with no map or compass....

[lordclipsus]

Originally posted by shanytopper:

I'm trying this game, and I don't really understand what is going on.

1- How do you know where to go? Those maps are pretty large, and I could be wrong, but seem to also be somewhat randomly generated. How do you not get lost? I tried looking for a map button but didn't find something like that, so I guess maybe there is a method or technique for knowing where to go?

2- Is there any way to control of at least affect the items you find? Usually in roguelikes you pick an option out of 2-3, but here it seems totally random. How is one making anything that remotely resembles a build this way?

What am I missing here?

Maps are not procedurally generated, but some have variants (from the top of my head Titanic Plains, Scorched Acres, Distant Roost) and many have small elements that can be or not be present (the gates on Distant Roost and Abyssal Depths may be closed one run and open the next, for example). As Canvas said each stage will chose a random corresponding map (so there are 4 possible maps for stage 1, and those maps can never be chosen for stage 2, and so on) except for stage 5 and (if not looping) 6. The teleporter and other stage interactibles spawn in random-ish spots throughout the maps (not true randomness, there are rules, but for all practical purposes it is random), there is no map to guide you, but the environments are fairly small so once you learn them finding the teleporter is pretty easy.

The vast majority of item drops are random, but there are multiple ways to nudge your build in the direction you want. Firstly, chests drop a random item. You cannot control what will drop from a chest. Period. Multishop terminals, another intaractible, will let you choose between three items when buying. Those are far less common than chests, but you can expect a few per stage most of the time. Less commonly you can find void cradles and void potentials, cradles drop a random coid item, and potentials let you choose between three, like terminals do.
But your bread and butter are the scrappers and 3d printers. Printers allow you to trade a random item for a specidic item of the same rarity (so a sticky bomb printer will take a random white item from your inventory and give you a sticky bomb in return), and can be used as many times as you want, provided you have items to exchange. You can use printers to stack items to ridiculous effects (100% crit, guaranteed bleeding, 300% sprint speed? you name it), the only drawback being that you cannot choose what item to sacrifice... Enter the scrapper, an interactible shapped like a trash can, that allows you to choose any stack of items you want and turn them into scrap. Now scrap does nothing, it has no effect on your build, but when using a printer scrap is always prioritized. By using both you can effectively turn unwanted items into scrap, and then turn said scarp into items you actually want, without risking losing any of your good items.
As an addendum, there is another similar exchange mechanic, this one taking multiple items of a given rarity to get a single item of a higher rarity in return. Those are cauldrons (we often call them soup), which you can find in the bazaar between time (a shop accessed between stages) and in the final level, and work similarly to printers; that is they take random items, but prioritize scrap whenever possible.

EDIT: I forgot one thing. There is one equipment, the recycler, that allows you to "reroll" any dropped item once per item (so you can open a chest, reroll the drop once, but not twice for the same drop) on a cooldown. It effectively gives you a second chance to get an item you want every time you open a chest... provided you are willing to wait for its cooldown of course.

[Stephano]

you won’t until you play enough and get familiar with the map layouts, basically keep running around to find the chests and while doing that look for the glowing particles where the teleported will be

the items are completely random but there are multi shops with three options, there’s scrappers to get rid of certain items and 3d printers where you can use scrap or if no scrap a random item from your inventory to get that item. so there’s plenty of ways to get a good and custom build, but the challenge is to do this with the random items you get and adapt to that.

hope that helps

[Khaelum]

Originally posted by shanytopper:

I don't understand how you know what is "north west" or "south east" with no map or compass....

The poster who replied is simply giving you an understanding of where you start a map vs where the teleporter will generally be located. If you start in one corner, it's typically found in the opposite corner (i.e. on the other side of the map). He used NE and SW or NW and SE as examples of what would be opposite, even though the game doesn't specify those directions.

Make sense?

[Seishisha]

Other than the shape of the stage, which as mentioned above can change somewhat, you can't really learn the levels fully, all the interactive items, chests, money capsules, spawn point, shrines and teleporter are randomly placed. Getting to high ground and looking from above can be quite handy for learning the general map layout, but it's really useful for spotting the teleporter particles too, regardless you'll have to do a lot of running about until you get familiar.

There are multiple ways to gain some control over the items you have, the recycler equipment lets you change an item once randomly before you pick it up, there are multi shops with a choice of two or three items, there are item printers that eat an item of the same quality and produce something specific. And lastly there is the artefact of command, which gives you 100% control over which item you pick up based on what you have unlocked. Unlocking artefacts is a whole other topic really, but command is always a popular one for obvious reasons.

Bear in mind, the game doesn't have any "bad" items, they are all useful but the power scale of them means that some will definitely have a stronger impact. This holds true for the most part anyway, but the lunar pod items tend to have the biggest risk factor, they are somewhat double edged and can often make or break a run, so some might consider them to be "bad".

[CanvasK]

Originally posted by shanytopper:

I don't understand how you know what is "north west" or "south east" with no map or compass....

As Khaelum said, the cardinal directions aren't literal. For something more applicable, take default Distant Roost for example (small, has a narrow bridge on an upper layer, one side is open to water while another is a sheer cliff). In one "corner" you have a gated cave and a crashed ship above. Opposite that you have walkway around a cliff that sometimes has a bridge to the distant island. Spawn by the crashed ship? Point towards the distant island; unlikely to be on that layer or the cave below you. Additionally, the gated cave and the distant island are the only things that change in this environment (aside from loot/teleporter locations), so not much RNG to think about. Rallypoint Delta is even less random, with the only notable change being if you can access a certain cliff with a launchpad (and the cliff rarely has loot when accessible, so I don't even bother remembering it).

[Referenced]

LMAO