Armchair Robotics - Weekly Topical Strategy Discussions

[Kyzrati]

What is Armchair Robotics?

Armchair Robotics is a weekly discussion around a selected topic. Ask questions, answer them, and post your thoughts, so that we can all learn from each other and improve our understanding of the game!

Discussions take place in the following locations:

• r/Cogmind
  
• Steam (this thread)
  
• Official Forum[www.gridsagegames.com]
  
• Discord[discord.gg]

For those of you who are looking to get even more involved, you're welcome to come write something about this week’s subject in the google doc below. The community is looking to gradually build up a compendium of helpful tips for newer players to read. Your work might even be added to the ever-expanding Cogmind Community Guide!

• Armchair Robotics Doc[docs.google.com]
  
• Cogmind Community Guide[docs.google.com] (Heavy spoiler warning! Also please note this guide is a work in progress!)

Table of Contents

Here on Steam, all the Armchair topics are combined into a single thread. Add responses/comments to this thread as you like, or use one of the other discussion locations. (r/Cogmind Armchair threads tend to be the most active, but feel free to post anywhere, they all get visitors!)

1. Propulsion Type (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
2. Optimizing Movement (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
3. RNG and Risk Management (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
4. Storage (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
5. Weapons (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
6. Alert (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
7. Infowar (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
8. Planning Your Run (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
9. Z (branch) (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
   
10. DM (branch) (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])
    
11. E (branch) (r/Cogmind, forums[www.gridsagegames.com])

[Kyzrati]

This new single-thread format was created to avoid clutter, although the earliest older Armchair topics each had their own thread, as linked above. Seeing as the latest topic has been posted to r/Cogmind already I'll copy it here, though in the future our Armchair hosts will continue with new topics...

Armchair Robotics Week #6: Alert

This week we’ll be talking about Alert. Here are a few starting points for discussion:

• How impactful is alert to your playstyle?
  
• How do you manage the alert level?
  
• Has your approach to dealing with alert changed over the course of playing more Cogmind?
  
• In what ways do you use alert to your advantage?
  

[GJ]

Armchair Robotics Week #7: Infowar

Planning Your Run is being moved to next week in favor of a surprise discussion on Infowar. Up for discussion are items such as sensor arrays, signal interpreters, terrain scanners and their associated processors, transmission jammers, triangulators, visual processors, decoder chips, derelict logs, as well as machine and robot hacking aimed at acquiring intel (e.g. the map_route robot hack, or machine hacks for exit, machine, and squad locations).

Which of these approaches do you prefer when playing a stealth build, are some of them clearly more or less valuable to you? Do you have a different preference for these items when playing combat? Any tips for getting good value out of certain infowar items? If you're curious about the viability of specific items, be sure to ask about that as well.

[GJ]

Armchair Robotics Week #8: Planning Your Run

• What’s your favourite build/strategy throughout your run?
  
• What are the crucial components in it?
  
• Which branches are important for it and why?
  
• How do you choose which branches to go to?
  
• How well does your favourite build/strategy handle things going wrong?
  
• How often do you change your plans?

[GJ]

Warning:

from this point onward, discussion prompts may contain what can be considered spoilers. Whenever we run a "spoilery" topic, the title will be abbreviated if it's something like a branch name, and there will be a spoiler disclaimer. However, due to the format of this thread you are reading right now, it may be easy to accidentally read spoilers. If you are particularly worried about this, please make use of r/cogmind to determine whether you want to read and participate in the current Armchair Robotics. Comments in this specific thread are still welcome, if you cannot or do not want to write your comment on Reddit.

[GJ]

Armchair Robotics #9: Z (branch)

Zion is a branch map that shows up in either -7 or -6 Lower Caves. In -9 Mines, you can encounter a random event which gives you a shortcut directly to -7 Zion (you will evolve multiple times once you reach -6 Factory, because of the depths you skipped). Various desirable items and events can spawn here, and there are some choices that can be made here such as whether or not you imprint, whether or not you enter Deep Caves.

In what ways do you make use of Zion? How valuable do you consider the Z map itself and some of its options to be? Do you often vary what choices you make here, and whether you go for the Z map at all? If you have questions relating to Zion, feel free to ask them in this thread.

[GJ]

Armchair Robotics #10: DM (branch)

Continuing our current series on "choice" branches, DM is a branch map that shows up in either -7 or -6 Lower Caves. Data Miner offers some potentially useful schematics and intel, and if you don't aggro him, will provide assistance in the subsequent Proximity Caves in the form of an allied Enhanced Grunt. DM will also at times redirect investigations and assaults. Getting violent here can net you some good prototype hackware if you manage to kill DM, and as long as you don't damage the machine, you have a choice to interface with the Data Conduit by moving to the tile where DM was standing.

How valuable do you consider DM to be? What do you usually do here? Feel free to post any comments or questions you have about DM.

[GJ]

Armchair Robotics #11: E (branch)

Extension is a branch that shows up at -6, -5 or -4 in Factory. Extension has an exit to Cetus, which has an exit to Archives, which has an exit to Hub_04(d). All of them are on the same depth, and contain at least one exit to the next depth's Factory, if you wish to tap out from this "extended" branch.

Particularly notable features here are A7 (in E) and the datacore they drop upon death, a destructible transfer station in E and Hub, the Cetus Manufacturing Module and the Cetus Mainframe, an encounter with Revision 17 at the northeast stairs in Cetus, a chance meeting with Zhirov in Archives, and the destructible network hubs in Hub.

All of these yellow branches are up for discussion, feel free to ask questions about or comment on any of them. This is a fairly long and nuanced set of branches, so comments along the lines of what you actually do here, whether you usually tap out early due to survival/risk reasons... are particularly encouraged.