How the hell do I play Zion?

[BionicCinamun]

Everytime I go and get imprinted, I die horribly.
I can't possibly see how making a robot army is sustainable, at all. They don't carry you well enough compared to the amount of trouble them bring, and I'll end up getting destroyed by the alert spiral for my hubris.

The Intel thing is inconsistent too. I've beaten the game exactly once, and it was basically Exile's Farcom + flying-hacking that did it all; losing access to the hacking, Exiles (well you can steal it I think, but I've tried that once and didn't work too well), and can't do RIF as far as I know.

So how am I supposed to use this? It just doesn't seem worth the trouble, but I will freely admit I suck at this game.

[Stryker]

I agree that imprinting is not always a benefit and I only do it occasionally. When I get imprinted I find that I really need to be careful about calling in help. I call in allies mostly to cover my escape when things get bad, otherwise I’m solo. When I try to build an army I get the alert spiral and game over. However, the resupply bot occasionally has some great stuff and the prototype schematics can really help.

Also, imprinting has some impact on late game events. Don’t give up on experimenting.

[Kyzrati]

Heh, I've had the same problem myself, often getting destroyed as a result of that alliance :P

The kind of reinforcements you can get that way aren't usually great for both building and sustaining an army, but are better used in other ways like Stryker mentions. However, the general consensus is that if you go into the extended game having Zion as an ally is the easiest way to take down MAIN.C in that fight.

Specifically for the build-an-army approach, the new RIF abilities coming with Beta 9[www.gridsagegames.com] will make that a fun possibility.

The Zion intel is indeed pretty random, as are the reinforcements--altogether they can be quite effective if you get lucky or what they can provide matches up with your needs at the time, but otherwise you should probably try to still play them mostly as a solo bot. Some players even simply use Zionites as a delivery service for special parts--let them die and take their good stuff ;) (actually, some people even murder them, despite the short-term consequences for doing so)

[Stryker]

To my point above, just got a great hover resupply. 2 rating 8 prototypes and 2 rating 8 antigrav arrays. Full health on all my propulsion and ready to enter Q.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1856694735

[Benjamin]

Winning with Zion at least once is worth it for the effects on Command, which are amusing.

I feel like the zion tradeoffs might confuse newer players because Cogmind under-represents (imo) its stealth/information warfare mechanics. It is a combat-oriented game, but if you play it like it's ADOM or crawl or nethack or whatever, then Main.C will just kill you. But because cogmind always ultimately falls in combat, it can seem as if the issue is combat competence rather than stealth competence (really: alert management competence).

Anyway, imprinting is tough because it means you cant hack to find the stairs / other stuff, and you also can't hack to lower the alert level. More time spent on each level searching means more alert... which is now harder to reduce because you can't hack purge. And any summoned robots will make the alert problem even worse because of the additional chaos they cause.

Those factors can rapidly combine to failing the stealth part of the game, and main.c sending you to the scrapyard.

Despite those issues, the resupply can be extremely powerful, as can robots summoned in a pinch. You can also grind out a ton of prototype schematics if you stay focused on them.

The key to mitigating the downsides are: having a strong scanner/sensor combo, being fast, and being even more careful about anything that might raise the alert level.

That way, you can still find the stairs and anything else in a reasonable amount of time and won't drown in assault/lockdown hell.

[BionicCinamun]

See I don't find the schematics useful when I can't reliably find a fab, nevermind use it to actually make something.
Guess just another thing I suck at.

I'm tempted to use Zion when I'm doing some kind of leg or tread based heavy combat, but you're suggesting otherwise?

[Kyzrati]

Personally I wouldn't find the schematics useful since I don't do a lot of fabricating outside a handful of parts I'll hack for anyway, but some do. There are many facets to Zion so not everyone will end up capitalizing on every aspect. I wouldn't worry too much about that one part if you're not into building stuff.

But all types of builds can benefit from aligning with Zion, that's for sure, from fast and light to punchy and heavy. (This is especially true if you go into the extended game, since they can make that area much easier.) I think the most important key in Benjamin's advice is

Originally posted by Benjamin:

The key to mitigating the downsides are: having a strong scanner/sensor combo, being fast, and being even more careful about anything that might raise the alert level.

Especially terrain scanners are great since you'll be able to find exits much more quickly without hacking.

[Stryker]

I agree with comments about needing infowar gear. I like the schematics but it doesn't always work out. Here was my fab list from zion intel (mostly) schematics on a couple runs ago:

 Fabricated
------------
   Lgt. Regenerative Plating | x1 | -6/Factory  
 Exp. Terrain Scan Processor | x1 | -5/Factory  
           Exp. Sensor Array | x1 | -5/Factory  
                Plasma Sword | x1 | -5/Factory  
           Exp. Sensor Array | x1 | -2/Research 
     Exp. Signal Interpreter | x1 | -2/Research