God bless grenade launchers

[RCIX]

First weapon i found that doesn't cause me to crumple like stiff paper/lose half my components when a death squad comes after me.

Also, what's supposed to be the tactic when i don't find one of these babies? Seems like stuff eventually comes for me and it won't ever stop chasing and fighting with conventional weapons is very dodgy :/

[jimmijamjams]

Also, what's supposed to be the tactic when i don't find one of these babies? Seems like stuff eventually comes for me and it won't ever stop chasing and fighting with conventional weapons is very dodgy :/

That's a tough one.  In my experience I usually only make it to Level -6 or -5 without something explosive on hand.  There are a few alternative strategies to use if you don't find one handy:

• Use any and all cover you can at all times and use choke points (i.e. doorways, single space corridors, inbetween machinery) to limit how many hostiles can shoot you.  Hostiles also won't shoot if they don't have a direct line of fire, so try to keep service robots between you while you get to a better position.
• Speed.  Speed is your friend.  Legs and treads are good for taking a few hits and protecting your Core, but if you don't have the firepower to back it up you need to run.  Upgrade to hovers or flying units when you can and you'll find you'll outrun most hostiles.  That said, you'll rarely find these items in large caches before Level -8 (you can still get them off swarmers, watchers and later on programmers).  Another last ditch option is to drop equipped gear including propulsion items until you're going at a fair speed (only do this if there are no options left and hope you find something useful around the next few corners)
• Try equipping an ECM Suite just for fun and let me know it goes

Good luck!

[RCIX]

Well, on the very run I found 2 grenade launchers, I also lost them because I ran out of matter and got pummeled, and actually got farther running away with flight units >.> That was fun in an "oh god why, someone save me and give me energy/matter" kind of way

[Reiver]

Speaking of, are there any non-annoying places to get flight units? Shooting Swarmers is downright painful, while blowing up Swarmers en masse with explosives damages the loot

[zxc]

From what I've seen, switching to flight units is very possible when you find a cache of them or destroy a hauler with a bunch of them. You can also collect them in your inventory until you have enough to switch your build over.

[jimmijamjams]

Well, on the very run I found 2 grenade launchers, I also lost them because I ran out of matter and got pummeled, and actually got farther running away with flight units >.> That was fun in an "oh god why, someone save me and give me energy/matter" kind of way

Haha! I'm not surprised you ran out of matter   Using two grenade launchers, while totally awesome, will destroy most items and matter if you over use them (plus the launchers use a lot of matter anyway!).  Maybe three grenade launchers at once will help

Speaking of, are there any non-annoying places to get flight units? Shooting Swarmers is downright painful, while blowing up Swarmers en masse with explosives damages the loot

zxc has good advice. Haulers are a high-priority target for me and will often hold gear that is rated above what you would normally find on that level.

Another way to take out swarmers if you want their gear is to use choke points and limit their line of fire.