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Recently a guide was created by some on the Discord about the scrap engine.
https://noemica.github.io/cog-minder/wiki.html#Scrap%20Engine

Thanks! It isn't as informative as i hoped, but still very useful.

What information were you hoping for?

Yeah, the way the Scrap Engine is just laying on the ground clearly implies that it isn't its final place in the game world.
I am never taking that gamble again, though. My first experience with it was bad enough. I didn't imagine i would skip a total of four depths to end up in -5.
I was also (and still am) unfamiliar with the Scam Engine (as you might have guesses by the surname i'm giving it), so attempting to make it work alongside with desperately trying to find any infowar went pretty horribly. I ended up getting my first Sensor Array in -3, at which point i discarded the Scam Engine to transition to flight and now the run is going much better.

Recently a guide was created by some on the Discord about the scrap engine.
https://noemica.github.io/cog-minder/wiki.html#Scrap%20Engine

Nice job! Now get out there and try again, or mix it up a little :]

Part of your issue wasn't just that patrols found you: It's that you entered a (non-armory) research branch while aligned with Farcom. All hell breaks loose when you do so, in the form of Maximum Security (6 assaults straight to your location every 100 turns or so). It's survivable, but you need to be fast as hell or able to grin and bear it.

I see you also visited Zhirov. If you think drones are fun, wait until you print his Assault Drone bays, or the Combat Drones from another branch... They're quite powerful, especially in swarms of 4+ (there's only 2 drones per bay, but you can deploy from multiple as long as you have only one attached). You just have to keep an eye on them in order to recall them to repair if they take too much core damage, or keep them away from programmers / brawlers (100% EM vulnerability == 0 to fully corrupted in no time flat).

Oh yeah, one extra thing I should note: Your prog-killer cannon will also usually be a suitable digging cannon. From -6 and up, thermal cannons capable of breaking walls get pretty common. The reason thermal is usually best as a digging cannon is because kinetic weapons have a matter cost, and also sometimes have a swingy enough damage range to make them only sometimes dig.

Also, a note about the hackware: having little offensive hackware doesn't make you "vulnerable to attack", but it does make your attacking less powerful. While the defensive side of hackware lets you get more attempts in at any given machine, all the defense in the world means diddly squat if you don't have the offense (increased chance of success) to back those attempts up. It also helps to know that there's something of a cap on defensive hackware (chance of detection on a machine bottoms out at 10% instead of being driven even lower) while offensive hackware can just keep stacking. Which is good, because if you want some specific high-level schematics, or lots of purge/recall, you're going to be fighting a heavy malus.

EM weapons are no more potent than anything else with regards to frying utilities, at least on your own body. "Frying" parts only comes into play when salvage is considered. Hopefully your own salvage calculations never need to be done >

Anyway, my advice about exterm squads: Hacking of about 2-3 offense per 1 defense is a good ratio, as far as the stats on the hackware right on your body. Is nicely supplemented with friendly operators via Trojan(Assimilate) for their hacking bonus + trap scanning. Should let you nicely recall(extermination), but keep in mind when you see some low-level terminals or ones with direct recall hacks on them, and consider leaving them available for future use. Exp. utility shielding is a good part to slot in on large hack stacks, or flight builds in general: lets you centralize your repairs in one place, and protect your good stuff.

Your flight units shouldn't be quite so flimsy that they go quickly, at least assuming you're using the good stuff (prototypes, arrays, sometimes surge thrusters). As flight, you don't want to fight at all unless you have the advantage, however. Gauss rifles are not powerful kinetic weapons. If you've got to engage with enemies on flight, my recommendation is usually long range launching & retreating, such that the enemy can never hit you. In the case of hunkering down to fight a prog squad that couldn't be recalled, you want to use some kind of big thermal / kinetic cannon, such that one core hit is enough to kill. Keep in mind they're 25% vulnerable to these damage types (i.e. effective damage = 1.25*weapon damage).

Flight hacking builds can make great use out of repair stations. They're a lovely way to keep your build fresh :]

Glad to hear! Research can be a bit of a spike in difficulty, for sure. Especially because you can't go cool off your alert in the caves anymore. Though, depending on some stuff you do earlier in the run, it can get a little easier with friends ;]

Hey there.

As for utilities you should prioritize: plenty of hackware, a piece of light armor, a medium storage unit, exp. utility shielding, and a structural scanner will serve you well. If you have enough spare support, medium armor could do. You don't need four power sources as backup on flight, as most builds will only really be able to handle 10 slots of inventory at this stage of the run, and other parts will fail before you run through that many engines.

A reliable way to get hacking suites is to kill operators with something with neutral or positive salvage, but be sure not to corrupt them, because hackware fries easily. The equation is in the manual if you want more details, but corrupting them to death will result in 90% of hackware frying. A typical rule of thumb for hackstacks is to have about 2-3 times as much hacking offense as you do hacking defense.

If you can find cooled or "Cld." flight units of any kind, those are great (except for Cld. Cesium-Ion thrusters, they have paper-thin integrity). They're capable of overloading, basically letting you get the heck outta dodge when you need to, for a small durability cost, and generate less heat. Cld. VTOL Modules can be hacked for at a level 2 terminal on -7, making them a great first cooled flight unit.

The main things I would say you want right now are hacking suites and a medium storage unit, the former of which you'll find from any operators, and the latter of which you'll find on any recycler from -6 and up.

The easiest way to get a flight build off the ground is to find your thrusters and hackware in Materials and transition at the entrance of Factory. Structural scanner can be great for finding hidden doors and quick digs between rooms. Once you learn to dig around the complex effectively, it's like a whole new world opens up. Digging a bit (1 tile melee, 3 tiles if dug at range) is a great way to move around undetected.

About your question regarding a second power slot: It depends on a number of factors. The main thing to think about is that unless you have a need for the extra power, then an additional engine is dead weight requiring extra flight units. Flight can often make great use of fusion compressors for boosts of energy when needed, and is fine running around at ~-0.6 energy per move.

It's actually the only Force() hack I know so far, I think, heh. Thanks for the reply and the help!

I'm currently in the middle of a run, in Materials. I used

Spoiler

Force(Sabotage)

[close]

and realized I didn't get the achievement for using a Force() command, although it seemed to work (

Spoiler

It's supposed to sabotage the terminal itself, right? That's what it seemed to do.

[close]

). I also used Traps(Reprogram) and realized I didn't get the achievement for that, either. I don't currently have these achievements, and my most recent achievement, which I got the other day, is "Back For More." I just figured I'd bring this to your attention, since it seems like a bug to me. If I'm wrong, sorry for the bug post about nothing, heh.

I've attached my run.log, since it's from a run of the game I've currently got going (the

Spoiler

Force(Sabotage)

[close]

was from yesterday, though, and while it's the same run, it's not the same instance of me launching the game).

Which random mechanic is the most annoying? (item spawns, hostile encounters, miss chance, which parts get hit, branch depths, hacking, etc.)

Traps can be pretty annoying for me. Just going about my business in factory, stealth-flight-ing around, totally not currently running from ~10 different enemies at once because I'm kinda bad even with a good sensor array, but then I get hit by an ambush or chute trap. These ones are the worst for me. Chute traps are not quite so bad if you're flying or hovering, but on anything else? You're as good as dead, at least at my skill level. Ambush traps are unavoidable squads, which is pretty bad imo. Other squads are unavoidable because I'm bad at the game, but ambush trap squads are unavoidable just because RNG.

How much does your success rely on RNG?

Currently, I would say a large amount. Finding enough hackware, flight units, sensors, etc. to keep myself going is tough. I've only made it out of factory once in semi-recent times, with a flight stealth hacking build.

How do you plan around randomness?

Hacking for schematics for things I need, although that doesn't really negate randomness (finding a fabbie in these giant factory levels, whether or not I succeed at hacking it, whether or not I'm traced before I can print, whether or not I got pressed between two squads earlier and so they saw me and came after me so I can't stick around to get the printed item, etc.). I tend to be poor at succeeding in these plans, however.

How well do your builds handle things going wrong?

Not well. When I inevitably encounter squads in such a way they notice me, they tend to deal a lot of damage to me over time, especially if I encounter another squad on my way to flee, and am faced with an unavoidable encounter with bullets.