Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[R-26 Lightspeed]

Introduction
I recently (when first posting this) managed to get a win while playing with Volatile mode active. (The first win ever!(according to the complete run database)(because almost no one played it much))
However, i did it on flight, which mean it was pretty much almost a regular flight run. (if you exclude the larger amount of patrols, and the lack of easy matter source such as green robots.)
I would like to one day successfully win without using flight, or more precisely, not a pure stealth build. However, i'm not sure how to do so (given how damaging the explosions can be). My best non-flight run ended in -3/Proximity Caves back in Beta 10, after spending the previous two depths dodging patrols with almost nothing to equip (my "best state" was from -6!)

In Beta 11, the mode got even more difficult in some aspects (Mostly EM-related). For example, EM explosions can now cause even Cogmind's power sources to explode, as well as corrupt items (which means the few explosions that don't outright destroy your salvage give you corruption instead. Yay.)

So here is all i've been able to figure out about how the mode works across my six runs (i know, it's not much) :


The basics
-Launchers (including special ones like Throwing Claymores or Firepult) turn into a pile of 10 matter when you move unto them.
-There are now more patrols. If you're familiar with the usual number of patrols, this is very easy to notice.
-All robots except major NPCs explode upon destruction. The explosion is random, although not completely (see next section) and only after the bot is destroyed, which means the salvage will take damage from the explosion, in much the same way a hauler destroyed by a chain reaction in its power source will drop the loot before the power source explosion damages the nearby tiles. (Note : Broken bots are also capable of exploding.)


Explosion randomness
There are some rules governing which explosion occurs, but i'm not quite sure which.
My leading hypothesis is that every depth, more explosions are added to the pool. For example, I never once saw Z-power explosions at or below -7, but several times at -6 and after. (Reminder that Z-power is 500 damage in a 32-tile diameter circle. Talk about leveling 0b10 at the drop of a bolt.)

However, this is just a hypothesis. To give others the data i have and the ability to make their own hypothesises, here's a list of all explosions i have recognized (not many) and remembered or seen in the Volatile causes of death found in scoresheets(some mine, some from the run database), as well as other factors involved in the explosion :


Depth & Location |             Explosion             |  Bot destroyed  |  Bot destructor  |        Weapon used        |   Version   | Difficulty |
-10/Mines        |    "exploding Nuclear Reactor"    |  ?              |  D-53 Grenadier  |   Mini Grenade Launcher   |  Beta 10.2  | Rogue      |
-8/Mines         |   "exploding Compression Vault"   |  ?              |  Cogmind         |             ?             |  Beta 10.2  | Rogue      |
-6/Factory       |        "exploding Z-Power"        |  Programmer     |  Cogmind         |             ?             |  Beta 11.1  | Rogue      |
-6/Wastes        |      "exploding Network Hub"      |  ?              |  ?               |             ?             |  Beta 11.1  | Rogue      |
-6/Lower Caves   |        "exploding Z-Power"        |  ?              |  ?               |             ?             |  Beta 11.1  | Rogue      |
-6/Lower Caves²  | "Backup Power III chain reaction" |  L-41 Fighter   |  Cogmind         |             ?             |  Beta 11.1  | Rogue      |
-5/Upper Caves   |        "exploding Z-Power"        |  ?              |  ?               |             ?             |  Beta 10.2  | Rogue      |
-4/Upper Caves²  |        "exploding Z-Power"        |  Advanced Drone |  H-77 Assassin   |     Coil Gun probably     |  Beta 11.1  | Rogue      |
-2/Research      |      "exploding Network Hub"      |  ?              |  ?               |             ?             |  Beta 10.2  | Explorer   |

² means it was the second time this zone was visited at that depth.



Strategies
First, the things to avoid :
-First and foremost : Purple allies, because unless they are really strong and therefore probably NPCs that can't explode, once they get destroyed they'll explode and probably damage you as well as other allies, or they could attack a watcher that's too close, and so on, which is just not worth it.
-Melee weapons, because i don't see how one could use melee weapons to destroy enemies. Even with good explosive, thermal and/or electromagnetic resistance, the damage adds up really fast.
-Standing in the open/fighting your enemies when they are close by, because you would obviously take lots of damage from the explosions.
-Melee opponents, especially Cutters and Saboteurs, because they're usually hardy and have a very decent chance of getting close enough to you that you'll take big damage from the explosion. Saboteurs explode when they succeed, which is just sadistic since that damages/destroys the items they severed.
-Corruption. Beta 11 made it more difficult to get rid of, as well as lowered the % required for sudden random shots from 5% to 1%, making it more annoying and also able to more easily cause you to shoot and destroy nearby neutral bots which then explode in your face and maybe also ruin your cover or even destroy more neutrals.


Good things one can do :
-Get FarCom. You'll probably not want to go to research branches anyways, given how easily everything those could turn to chaos.
-Drones can be ordered to explore/roam, so that when they encounter hostiles, you can wait for the drone to position itself so enemies will have to get close to destroy it, and unequip the drone bay, so that enemies will explode themselves by destroying the drone. (just stay far away from the explosion point (when in -6 or above), you don't want to take hundreds of damage from the bigger explosions.)
-Tell your blue allies to roam (either in small groups (1 roams, others guard) or alone) : that way they might take out a squad or two, as well as cause explosions when they get destroyed. This way, you'll be rid of a few enemies as well as your allies which probably won't explode onto you.
-You could also leave your allies behind (either by changing levels or ordering them to stay in a room or corridor) which is less likely to cause chaos/destroy interesting items/machines.
-Use traps to destroy hostiles when they aren't close.
-Get stuff like Field Recycling Units or matter storage units. Because of the explosions, you'll get very little matter, so you'll need more reliability/an alternative source.
-Getting RIF : It'll be especially easier with FarCom, and looks very useful for this mode for lots of different reasons (turning hostiles into allies when they are patrolling with the rest of their squad to maybe destroy the entire squad, destabilizing power sources, shutting down garrison and thus avoiding assault squads, and so on.)
-Install lots of the new Fabricator trojan. (This should be self-explanatory.)
-Get good thermal/explosive resistance : Most explosions either deal thermal or explosive damage (possibly most are thermal than explosive).
-When armor is destroyed, it doesn't cause overflow damage, so maybe wearing several Light Armor Platings could essentially sponge damage from the worst explosions, while not being too heavy/hot?


I'll probably write more later on.

[Kyzrati]

Nice summary!

And yeah very few people did play that event! Mainly because it was not announced, and only automatically active for one day, so few people even know about it, much less played it

(Does anyone know how to make all characters take the same space?)

The "tt" tag is one way.

[R-26 Lightspeed]

Nice summary!

(Does anyone know how to make all characters take the same space?)

The "tt" tag is one way.

Thank you and thank you! The spreadsheet-like text looks much nicer now. Not perfect (curse you columns with both odd and even number of letters in their contents!), but nicer.