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1

General Discussion / [SPOILER] Background Story of Cogmind

« on: September 19, 2018, 12:02:51 PM »

During my free time, I started a personal project to put together all the lore entries I can find and produce a single article explaining the background story in Cogmind. No, I won't be talking about the robot named Cogmind, but rather, I'll talk about the events leading to the construction of 0b10 complex and the existence of robots and Derelicts. All details should be verifiable and in chronological order. If you see any mistake or want to add additional details that are noteworthy, feel free to let me know.

And of course, because we're dealing with a lot of lores, prepare to be spoiled! It's more fun to reread the lore entries and try to figure out the story yourself, so if you haven't done so already, you should at least try to do that.

Spoiler: Click if you don't care (click to show/hide)

Late 21st century to 2198: The Start of Interstellar Space Travel
 
Starting the late 21st century, humans drained most of Earth’s resources and destabilized the environment, prompting them to search for additional resources from outer space. As a result, many of the solar system’s planets and moons were colonized during the period of four decades from 2070 to 2110. In 2080, an organization called International Space Command (ISC) was formed to oversee the effort of space exploration and colonization.
 
While the solar system was being colonized, ISC started a new project in hope of expanding space exploration beyond the solar system. In 2080, ISC planned to construct four Titan class ships for such space exploration: ISCS Leo, ISCS Centaurus, ISCS Eridanus, and ISCS Cetus, forming the Interstellar Exploration Fleet. Each ship was designed to travel to four different solar systems.
 
In 2140, the Interstellar Exploration Fleet was completed and scheduled to depart the Solar System.
 
After many decades later, ISCS Leo and ISCS Eridanus presumably arrived to their destinations, but ISCS Centaurus disappeared for unknown reason during its travel. While ISCS Cetus was still on its way to Tau Ceti System, an alien race suddenly arrived in the Solar System in 2198.


2198 to 2243: The Attack of the Sigix
 
A hostile alien race called Sigix first contacted humans in 2198 and began a powerful assault on the unprepared human civilization. Realizing the nature of this deadly race, ISC sent out a burst of warning messages to all outbound ships to travel beyond their intended destination to avoid pursuit and preserve the human species. The lack of contact afterward suggested the human civilization was wiped out during the Solar War.
 
After receiving the warning messages in 2210, ISCS Cetus briefly landed in Tau Ceti IV a year later to deploy Project Seraph in response to the alien threat. After deployment, the ship left to an unknown destination in hope of rebuilding the human civilization elsewhere. One of the science personnel named Talas Zhirov was left in charge of this project, so he had to be left out in this planet.
 
An artificial intelligence dubbed “Main.C”, originally used for the ship’s manufacturing facilities, also had to be left out in this planet to start the project. One of its goals was to build a fake civilization in order to lure the Sigix. Afterward, the AI would attempt to eliminate the Sigix or at least learn their weaknesses. Any information gained through this experiment was to be broadcasted in many different directions to alert any surviving humans.
 
In 2218, Main.C started to populate the planet with robots that have minds of their own. These are formed by its side project called Lifeworm which could reform any consumed matter into artificial life. As a result, the first “Derelict” was born.
 
In 2238, after completing all surface construction, Main.C began to expand its development underground. Although Zhirov was keenly interested in it, he tried to not interfere with Main.C for fear of subjecting himself to danger and slowing down the project. Thus, Zhirov had been observing the development afar in order to remain hidden.
 
After completing the faux human city, Main.C began to transmit messages to the Solar System in 2243. Sometime later, a small Sigix scout class ship called the Leopard suddenly appeared without warning and landed on Tau Ceti IV. Soon afterward, Main.C’s robots emerged from underneath and confronted the alien troops by surprise. Main.C only barely won due to its overwhelming number of robots. After the battle, Main.C began to study intensely on the aliens and their Leopard ship, and attempted to replicate this alien design into its own robots and components in order to better deal with future Sigix assault.
 
In order to support this new endeavor, Main.C started to expand its underground complex deeper into the caves, forming Complex 0b10. This complex is divided into three primary levels: Materials, Factory, and Research. The Material levels are for mining and processing resources; the Factory levels are for fabricating parts and robots; and the Research levels are for studying the Sigix technology and creating prototypes.
 

2243: Rise of the Derelicts
 
During the 0b10 development, failed robot experiments and glitches prompt Main.C to abandon these underperforming robots. As the Derelict population grows, they develop their own communities in caves and mines surrounding the complex. So far, the two largest Derelict groups are Zionites and Warlord followers.
 
As the 0b10 complex expands toward their home in the cave systems, the Derelicts have grown increasingly hostile toward Main.C, even willing to cause a rebellion. Additionally, their ideology that all robots should be freed from Main.C’s influence adds fuel to the fire.
 
One of the more aggressive Derelicts named Warlord persistently fights against Main.C. After amassing his followers, Warlord aims to destroy their creator and take over the complex. To do this, Warlord plans to construct a giant war machine called God Mode. In the meantime, many diversionary attacks are carried out to draw Main.C forces away from the base before launching a full-scale attack after God Mode’s completion.

At one point, Zionites initiated a large war against Main.C’s army, but the failed result of this Derelict Uprising dissuades them from fighting again. Consequently, most Zionites lost hope and decide to live passively at a remote location called Zion. However, a certain robot named Imprinter still wishes that one day, a savior will arrive to lead them to battle again.

2

Ideas / Re: Robot Hack ideas

« on: August 30, 2018, 10:39:55 PM »

A hack which makes a bot into some kind of decoy which confuses the routing mechanisms for exterm and assault squads.

That's actually pretty interesting! I can imagine it being a somewhat expensive hack, but it is less powerful than recall(extermination), thus less likely to be abused, because you still might encounter those incoming squads and they would switch to patrol mode if they don't encounter you.

3

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Re: [Beta 6] Cogmind receives no heat transfer from TH weapons.

« on: August 25, 2018, 12:05:21 AM »

IIRC, Cogmind receives only 6/9/12 heat from low/medium/high heat transfer per shot. The number is so low, you don't really feel it.

4

Ideas / Re: Builders stabilize explosive machines.

« on: August 17, 2018, 12:09:47 PM »

Also technically lore-wise this job would belong to Mechanics

Actually, according to the Engineer analysis record, shouldn't the engineers be the one who build and maintain the machines? The mechanics are only concerned about repairing robots and parts.

U-05 Engineer
---------------
U-class builders lay floors, assemble new machines, and reinforce and analyze the structural integrity of walls. They travel alone, but all those within a certain vicinity will work together to complete a task.

M-28 Smith
------------
M-series mechanics are valued in dangerous areas for their ability to rebuild components, repair simple core integrity, and restore missing functionality by attaching temporary backup components. M-28 Smiths are sometimes dispatched to support an assault force, or are otherwise assigned to a designated repair station.

5

Ideas / Re: Robot Hack ideas

« on: August 16, 2018, 06:58:37 AM »

block_jamming for Watcher
This is inspired by Amphouse's suggestion on Discord. If you're super annoyed by that Watcher's sensor jamming ability, now you get to stop it! Not only that, the infected Watcher would also stop all other Watchers within 20 tiles from jamming your sensor as well.

recall_reinforcements for Engineer
Thought it's strange how Hauler has this but not Engineer.

damage_payload for ARC
I think ARC is considered NC. If so, here's an idea: When the ARC releases its payload, its power source is overloaded, dealing thermal damage to all those robots.

find_machine for Worker
Find the nearest machine which includes non-interactive one.

locate_traps for Minesweeper
You probably won't be running into too many of these things, but there should at least be some hacks for each bot.

drop_traps for Minesweeper
Drop all trap items as well as trap extractor.

map_route for Drone
Drones that are dispatched from hunters can be useful too!

unreport_threat for Drone
Drones can now tell the hunters, "Hey, there's no more enemy here". Additionally, drone's distress signal is blocked for a short period of time.

However, if you use this hack on the Drones found in Recycling, you get to purge your alert level, then block their scanner for a short period of time.

6

Ideas / Robot Hack ideas

« on: August 16, 2018, 06:38:45 AM »

The latest and the greatest robot hacking blog made my mouth watered, so naturally, I thought to myself, "What other cool hacks can we think of?" Now is the time to share some of your ideas and hopefully the dev can implement them in the near future!

7

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILER] Unexplained Lore

« on: August 09, 2018, 07:34:02 PM »

Well, that's what happened when you still don't have those lores, but I still think it's plausible that the cave was created by the Lifeworm. If that's true, then Main.C must be really dumb for making that project!

8

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILER] Unexplained Lore

« on: August 09, 2018, 06:09:19 PM »

I'm glad that at least Lifeworm isn't a myth. So all these Derelicts are really the product of Zhirov, which is interesting. I need to grab those Archive lores one day.

Did you know: Lifeworm project was implemented at 2218. According to the trailer, the current year is 2243, so the oldest Derelict is around 25-year-old.

Speaking of Lifeworm, here's a Big Cave Seal Theory I have.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Recently, people on Discord are discussing about why there's a cave seal in Command. Well, what if.....Main.C didn't make the cave, but it was the result of Zhirov's Lifeworm that got released which burrowed itself underneath the surface? Main.C has no record about this cave or how it came about because it doesn't know the existence of Lifeworm! (The Zionite says that the Wizard cannot find any information of Lifeworm in Main.C's record) And what happened after the Lifeworm project got started? Derelicts started to emerge from the cave, and because they have free-will, they refuse to work with Main.C. As a result, this supreme ruler decided to seal it up to prevent any further disturbance as it continues to do its work.

And guess what happens when Cogmind open up the seal? Derelicts emerged, as expected.

9

General Discussion / [SPOILER] Unexplained Lore

« on: August 09, 2018, 12:11:22 PM »

Here's a list of lore entries that are a bit of a mystery to me, based on my current understanding. I haven't collected all the lore entries, so it's possible that some of them have already been explained. If that's the case, please let us know (with spoiler tag)!

Obviously, this thread contains full of spoilers.

Spoiler: Z Dialogue (click to show/hide)

75
----
I don't think anyone from the past few generations has ever actually seen the deep caves. There sure are plenty of stories, though. / I heard that long ago there were the Machinaliths. Then they were crushed by Stompy the Giant, who later fell to a horde of especially vicious wild Derelicts. After a while they mostly tore each other apart, and were finished off by the Metal Eaters. / Some devious Wizard then got the Metal Eaters to eat themselves, and used the wealth of scrap out there to conduct experiments, and we all know how experiments by mad scientist types end up... / That was many generations ago. Who knows what's down there now; I sure don't want to find out. / As is, we're kinda stuck here between the ever-expanding 0b10 and deep caves that we don't dare explore, much less move into.

Although all of these appear to be a myth, is there any hint of truth in it? If so, what does each of the characters represent? What exactly is going on here?

91
----
I'm one of the earliest Derelicts. / Yep, descended from MAIN.C's Lifeworm project in 2218 and not ashamed of it like some of the others. / Not many of us can say we've survived for so long, after all! / The Lifeworm was a giant tunneling robot that slowly burrowed its way through Tau Ceti IV's crust, using the materials to create increasingly unique autonomous robots that were left in its wake to fare on their own. / I wonder where it is now... / Oddly every wizard I've asked has said they've never even seen any mention of the Lifeworm in MAIN.C's own records.

Does Lifeworm really exist? Is it still alive? Is it implying that the Derelicts have life (self-conciousness) because of being exposed to the materials found in Tau Ceti IV's crust?

93
----
We call them scrappers, bands of hostile Derelicts that embed supermagnets in cave walls and suddenly activate them to rip apart passersby, or just suspend them in the air and toy with them before turning them to scrap. / If you start detecting strong magnetic anomalies, turn around immediately.

Who are these scrappers? Is the supermagnet real? Where can you find it?

10

Strategies / Re: Armchair Robotics - Weekly Topical Strategy Discussions

« on: August 07, 2018, 12:22:34 PM »

Originally posted on Reddit.

I'm most familiar with flight prop, so I'll talk about it here.

Flight is no doubt the best propulsion for stealth play, but it is difficult to get started during the early game. At Materials, flight units are very fragile while your sensor array is at low quality, so it's fairly easy to get shot down by regular Grunts or Swarmers. However, Factory levels start to become more favorable for stealth build due to large spacious map, higher quality sensors and flight prop, and having more slots for variety of items such as hackware, light-weight armor, etc.

With high speed, you have so many advantages:

1) Outrun enemies without needing to fight, with high chance of dodging shots.

2) Skip over robots while fleeing to provide cover from attack and impede enemy's movement.

3) Make the programmer clock ticks slowly since you can get to places very quickly. This is especially useful at higher floor when the map is ridiculously large.

As for the number of propulsion to get, lower number enables you to put the most slots on powerful processors such as hackware, but you'll be more vulnerable to damage. Higher number lets you carry more non-processor items such as heavy armor, multiple storage units, and extra legs and treads as propulsion armor. Usually it's safer to have more propulsion.

11

Strategies / Armchair Robotics - Weekly Topical Strategy Discussions

« on: August 03, 2018, 12:02:50 PM »

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:

• Official Forum (this thread)
• r/Cogmind
• Steam
• Discord

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
• Cogmind Community Guide (Heavy spoiler warning! Also please note this guide is a work in progress!)

Table of Contents

Here on the forums, 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!)

Quick links to each new topic posted in this thread by the discussion hosts:

• Propulsion Type (first one below!) (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Optimizing Movement (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• RNG and Risk Management (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Storage (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Weapons (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Alert (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Infowar (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Planning Your Run (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• Z (branch) (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• DM (branch) (r/Cogmind, Steam)
• E (branch) (r/Cogmind, Steam)

And the first topic is...

Armchair Robotics Week #1: Propulsion Type
This week we’ll be talking about Propulsion type. Here are a few starting points for discussion:

• What are the pros and cons of different propulsion types?
• How does your choice of propulsion affect your playstyle?
• How many propulsion slots should you evolve?
• What is your favorite type of propulsion and why?

Enjoy!

(See the same topic also on r/Cogmind and Steam.)

12

Ideas / Re: Challenge Modes

« on: July 05, 2018, 09:37:17 PM »

I like that idea! We've always been hunted left and right by the complex, so it's a nice change of pace that we get to be the hunter.

13

Strategies / Re: SPOILER : The last mile

« on: July 05, 2018, 10:06:02 AM »

Wow, what a final mile...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The best advice would be to avoid that branch in the first place. But now that you're there with some launchers, I think gathering as much matter as possible before entering that stasis minefield would be greatly beneficial. You can use the launchers to clear out the stasis traps so that you won't have to worry about stepping into them. Of course, in order to get some matter, you need as much help from RNG as possible: find some unarmed bots and keep ramming it until it dies. You'll get small amount of matter from ramming, and you'll get some more matter as a loot. The problem is, you don't want to be caught by a patroller.

Edit: Actually, I didn't see you got a weapon in your hand, oops! So instead of ramming and hurting yourself, I suggest you fire away.

14

Announcements / Re: SITREP Saturday #27: {a thingamajigger!}

« on: June 23, 2018, 05:51:16 AM »

It'll certainly still be relatively underutilized by beginners, but that's fine since I imagine this will probably (?) be considered a more advanced strategy.

Aww.... I was somewhat hoping it would be beginner-friendly, but considering the fact that you'll have to go through the Garrison, I think it's not going to happen.

15

Announcements / Re: SITREP Saturday #27: {a thingamajigger!}

« on: June 22, 2018, 09:02:45 PM »

This is good news!

One thing I really like is that this new system is at a spoiler-free branch, easily accessible at almost any floor, and doesn't require going through a long distance to reach to the destination. There has been a lot of complaints about the early game that doesn't offer enough interesting things, so having cool features like this in the beginning is a really big positive. Of course, they'll have to first know what RIF is and have a datajack in hand, and this is probably something not a lot of people would figure out on their own without someone to explain it.

Looking forward to hearing more about this in the next SITREP!

16

Ideas / Re: Ideas for the new Parse hack

« on: June 21, 2018, 07:35:02 AM »

I'm having trouble determining whether this would be useful or not, assuming it knows you're doing this.

You can do something like:
1) Grab Data Core, and then reboot it. (or vice-versa if that works)
2) Stand within operator's path to the terminal to impede its movement, and then grab its data core

The advantage is so that you don't have to fight and kill it which pose the risk of missing and destroying something else (like the terminal) and lets you do something with the operator afterward, like assimilate it. Would probably a bit of a niche, but it's an idea.

17

Ideas / Re: Informal Item Identification Tags

« on: June 21, 2018, 07:16:00 AM »

:OOOOOOOOOOO

*Big Thumbs Up*

18

Ideas / Re: Ideas for the new Parse hack

« on: June 19, 2018, 07:01:47 AM »

More ideas for parsing......

1) Chance to gain minor intel like a location of a random machine.

2) Increase salvage for parts (probably up to a certain limit).

I'm keeping it because the new Parse will at least have value with functionality even better than your #1. Not just unknown parts--I plan to have it even identify prototypes and give you those IDs as well.

Oooooh, that is certainly even better!

Oh interesting, I hadn't thought of robot-specific Parse results yet... That said, the info you're talking about here will already be available via other hacks

Ideas for robot-specific hack:

1) Recycler: Gives you intel of a single random damaged part on the map, and information of all items it's carrying.

2) Hauler: Gives you intel of a single random stockpile item on the map, and information of all items it's hauling.

3) Operator: Gain data core of that robot without the need to destroy it.

4) Mechanic: Increase chance of operating the next repair station successfully, in a similar manner as gaining operator's data core. Also drops a backup part on the floor.

5) Serf: Gain a single-tile information of a non-interactive machine.

6) Engineer: Gain a small information of random terrain (wall, door, earth, etc).

7) Carrier: Gain information of what troops it's holding, and the location of Garrison it came from.

Watcher: Gain information of the location of any nearby combat robots.

19

Ideas / Re: Ideas for the new Parse hack

« on: June 15, 2018, 09:52:49 PM »

One of the biggest reasons no one really uses parse is the lack of gameplay value from it. Since parsing is about gathering information from a robot, here are some possible ideas:

1) You can obtain data of robot's parts.
When you get system corruption, you lose data of some items. The only way to get the data back is to equip the unknown items. Or you can parse a robot to get data of all its parts. For balance purpose, prototype items could be left out so that spoiler items could continue to be kept secretive.

2) Other misc. information of the robots like current/max energy, energy generation rate, current/max matter, heat level, and heat dissipation rate.

3) Parsing tells you which terminal an operator is guarding, or which repair station a mechanic is stationed at. Probably not a great feature, but if you really need to find a repair station, this might be useful.

4) Have a rare chance of obtaining secret code from a robot to do awesome stuff.

5) Have a chance of gaining schematic of that robot.

6) Combine Link effect to Parse, since Link hack isn't that useful anyway.

20

Ideas / Ideas for the new Parse hack

« on: June 15, 2018, 09:30:57 PM »

As stated in the SITREP #26 post, the Parse hack will be making a comeback for the new robot hack system, but Kyzrati made the following statement:

So my question to you is whether or not there's anything in particular you might want out of this new PARSE data?

Do you have any cool idea?

21

Announcements / Re: SITREP Saturday #26: Out with the Old

« on: June 15, 2018, 09:24:02 PM »

Cool SITREP! I like that nice RIF animation.

(Also note that as a mockup, the contents themselves will not fully make sense and aren't quite realistic, so don't try to read too much into it )

Sorry, can't help it.

22

Ideas / Re: Informal Item Identification Tags

« on: June 15, 2018, 02:28:31 PM »

Contains minor spoiler based on AA:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This topic was discussed a bit last year in the forum, where Kyzrati is thinking of generating random number tag on each of the AA at the start of each run (e.g. AA02, AA11, etc.). The other option is to number the tag based on the order of AA seen (e.g. First AA seen would be AA01, second one seen would be AA02, etc.), though that would require a bit more work to implement.

Even though it doesn't let the user to type in their own tag (which I assume would require a lot of work), the problem seems to exist only for AA. Having a tag numbered like that might be sufficient, but that would require making external note of what each number means. And it would probably look a little weird too, maybe?

23

Ideas / Re: Steam Achievement Ideas

« on: May 16, 2018, 08:17:04 AM »

Ravager: Reach high-security level in Materials. Inspired by 8FPS on Discord.

24

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Re: [beta 6] No Explosion For You

« on: May 14, 2018, 08:50:57 PM »

I've had this happened too today. My own missile got shot down by enemy protector.

25

Ideas / Re: Steam Achievement Ideas

« on: May 04, 2018, 08:42:48 PM »

Achievement Master: Earn 20 achievements in one run. (If that's impossible, then you'll have to reset your whole achievement progress)