Topic: Weekly Seed #17 [Alpha 4b] [Seed: Brute Force] (Read 8346 times)

zxc · « **on:** November 24, 2015, 06:40:25 AM »

Smash your robot heads against the wall

This week's seed: Brute Force

The Weekly Seed is open to anyone. High scores are not the only feature of the runs and the main reason for putting this together is to share our experiences, stories, and tactics over the course of your run.

Rules are as follows:

The Weekly Seed begins from the date this thread is posted and lasts about seven days.
Make sure you are running the correct version of Cogmind (see thread subject).
Enter the seed and abort your current game to initiate the seed (more details are below).
Verify you are not running the tutorial and that the screenshot below of the Scrapyard and Level -10 matches your seed
Play through the game once. This is a friendly competition and we are all honest people.
When finished post your scoresheet here (it should be the newest file in /scores) and any other screenshots/stories/strategies you wish to share with the community.
Due to the spoilerific nature of this thread do not read the comments if you are intending to participate and haven't played your run!
Any scoresheets submitted after seven days will not be included.
Good luck!

HOW TO ENTER A SEED

Press F1 to go to the MENU, select OPTIONS, select Seed, and enter this week's seed:

Select GAME, select ABORT:

If you have followed the steps [Manual seed applied: Brute Force] should display in the log window.

Congratulations on entering the seed, now get in there!

Kyzrati · « **Reply #1 on:** November 24, 2015, 06:55:38 AM »

This one I'm going to stream at a completely different time than before--9:30 AM EST on 11/26. I'll be picking up the pace from before, though, no more five-hour marathons! Instead the focus will be on just having fun, and definitely exploring a garrison. We'll call it the Brute Force Stream

. I may not start the stream right at the beginning; maybe I'll skip ahead a bit to something interesting...

Happylisk · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2015, 07:23:46 AM »

I'm going to own this weekly seed so hard (or die horribly in the mines, six of one half dozen of the other).

Kyzrati · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2015, 07:25:09 AM »

I pretty much owned last week's, so I deserve a break to cause mayhem while you try to reclaim the leaderboard

zxc · « **Reply #4 on:** November 24, 2015, 09:39:00 AM »

Quote from: Happylisk on November 24, 2015, 07:23:46 AM

I'm going to own this weekly seed so hard (or die horribly in the mines, six of one half dozen of the other).

You go do that

I've resumed my DCSS streak (blame the tournament) which takes a fair bit of focus and also have exams.

Eloden · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2015, 03:18:25 PM »

Really harsh start with 3 swarms of 3+ swarmers attacking immediately out of -10. After regaining some items starting working on a combat build. Accidentally went to storage even though I had a scanner that told me what exit it was. Was material starved most of -5 to -4.
Finally made it to level -3 where I got caught in an early fight near a garrison making me loose most of my part reserves. After the next extermination squad came by even my Tiamat launcher couldn't save me anymore and I slowly got chased down by the pesty swarmers that gave me such a hard time already at the very start of the run.

Kyzrati · « **Reply #6 on:** November 26, 2015, 09:05:04 AM »

Well, as intended I streamed my seed run today, and as expected I died fairly early because I insisted on taking on a garrison regardless of my condition rather than taking it seriously.

Still, even with only 3 evolutions I got a pretty respectable score! That's because the garrison I did attack I completely obliterated

BUT I spent a lot of time in there, it didn't take me up a depth, and by the time I got out they were pretty pissed at me, so the battles raged on and I was too worn down to fight through yet another big old Factory floor. Was fun to pwn that garrison, though I didn't get lucky with interesting rewards

. It was one of the slightly more average garrisons.

Spoiler: Score Sheet (click to show/hide)

(To save time, I actually only streamed beginning from the Factory--Materials I blasted through on my own before that. I found it pretty easy, and came upon a huge stash of Imp. Light Cannons which were responsible for most of the ownage going on.)

Kyzrati · « **Reply #7 on:** November 26, 2015, 09:11:23 AM »

Quote from: Eloden on November 24, 2015, 03:18:25 PM

Really harsh start with 3 swarms of 3+ swarmers attacking immediately out of -10. After regaining some items starting working on a combat build. Accidentally went to storage even though I had a scanner that told me what exit it was. Was material starved most of -5 to -4.
Finally made it to level -3 where I got caught in an early fight near a garrison making me loose most of my part reserves. After the next extermination squad came by even my Tiamat launcher couldn't save me anymore and I slowly got chased down by the pesty swarmers that gave me such a hard time already at the very start of the run.

I encountered quite a few dense squad clusters this seed, including some of those Swarmers. Things got pretty crazy, but I never really felt overpowered, even without explosives. The 4b targeting fix has made taking on Swarmers without AoE weapons a lot more feasible

That's a pretty decent run, though--looks like you managed to escape a lot of fights considering how far you got.

Now to see what Happylisk manages...

Can he take it to victory?!

Eloden · « **Reply #8 on:** November 26, 2015, 02:43:26 PM »

Quote from: Kyzrati on November 26, 2015, 09:11:23 AM

I encountered quite a few dense squad clusters this seed, including some of those Swarmers. Things got pretty crazy, but I never really felt overpowered, even without explosives. The 4b targeting fix has made taking on Swarmers without AoE weapons a lot more feasible

That's a pretty decent run, though--looks like you managed to escape a lot of fights considering how far you got.

Now to see what Happylisk manages...

Can he take it to victory?!

Just watched the VOD of the stream. Yeah garrisons seem to be pretty brutal. I entered one as a test one a different run and almost cleared it but didn't pay attention to my core and got killed. Looks like the layout does vary quite a bit. Mine had 2 of the big reactors and barely any stashes. Didn't seem worth it. But now that you said there might be interesting things there I will have to explore more.

Regarding my run. Because I was so matter starved on 2-3 floors I was evading conflicts with a long range scanner. So I was doing a stealth treads run for those floors

Kyzrati · « **Reply #9 on:** November 26, 2015, 07:02:59 PM »

Quote from: Eloden on November 26, 2015, 02:43:26 PM

Looks like the layout does vary quite a bit. Mine had 2 of the big reactors and barely any stashes. Didn't seem worth it. But now that you said there might be interesting things there I will have to explore more.

Definitely there is a good chance of discovering some pretty worthwhile stuff! That said, it's not guaranteed that you will, so depending on your condition, you have to consider that you may only benefit from the guaranteed advantages (in this order): 1) much improved robot hacking, 2) chance to advance to another map, 3) reduced squad sizes even if you return to the same floor.

Even the garrison I entered on my run was pretty light on extras. Overall they are quite difficult, but then whether or not to take one on is entirely up to you and on your terms

Last night I was thinking I really should've jumped down the chute I passed after returning to the Factory--my chances of long-term survival would've probably been much better.

Quote from: Eloden on November 26, 2015, 02:43:26 PM

Regarding my run. Because I was so matter starved on 2-3 floors I was evading conflicts with a long range scanner. So I was doing a stealth treads run for those floors

"Stealth treads run"? Hahaha....

SquigglyJ · « **Reply #10 on:** November 27, 2015, 03:46:30 PM »

Description:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Score log:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Happylisk · « **Reply #11 on:** November 27, 2015, 08:14:33 PM »

Quote from: Kyzrati on November 26, 2015, 09:11:23 AM

Now to see what Happylisk manages...

Can he take it to victory?!

Womp.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm not quite sure why this run went to hell. Factory 7-5 was painless. In fact, I got off of -6 in no time. All of sudden on -4 I began getting assault after assault squad, even though I had been alert purging as I went. Even worse, 3 of the assault squad dispatches were simultaneous with programmer dispatches. In conjunction with no good launcher, I fell apart.

I have a theory about why the security level got surprisingly high. I found regenerative armor in storage, which I took care of and lasted almost until the end. I think the regenerative properties of the armor, which reduced item attrition, in turn reduced the security benefits that accrue from item attrition. I could be wrong and maybe I didn't purge enough. If my theory is right, it's a nice balancing downside to a great item. All in all a fun run.

Kyzrati · « **Reply #12 on:** November 27, 2015, 08:42:49 PM »

Hm, not even to Research this time

According to your sheet, only 3 assault squads were even dispatched, so you may have just encountered some standard patrols moving about in ARCs, too. That security level doesn't look too bad.

Overall this seed felt low on explosive capability--the only launchers I managed were stolen off unpowered Demolishers in the garrison--but I didn't make it as far as you either so maybe there was something else out there...

That's a pretty interesting theory about the armor. I can see that playing a role. Imagine if you had more of it; I need to get me some of that

Enno · « **Reply #13 on:** November 28, 2015, 08:06:11 AM »

my highlight in this run, in -7 i decided to go naked and run although i didn't know where the access is.
and i found one. in -5 i decided to go naked and run to the access i knew becauce a Access(Main) hack.
unfortunately i never arrived there...

Spoiler: scoresheet (click to show/hide)

Kyzrati · « **Reply #14 on:** November 28, 2015, 08:13:29 AM »

So what you're saying is you're this week's streaker?

Lucky last-ditch exit finds are always exciting, though yeah not too reliable

. It'll be slightly easier to make that kind of escape once we start opening more branches, though they won't take you upwards...

Just finishing up development on a new special branch this evening.

Enno · « **Reply #15 on:** November 28, 2015, 08:27:50 AM »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kyzrati · « **Reply #16 on:** November 28, 2015, 08:33:22 AM »

Hahahaha... smart.

Happylisk · « **Reply #17 on:** November 28, 2015, 09:01:59 AM »

Speaking of the w.i.p. branch, any estimate on when we'll see Alpha 5?

Kyzrati · « **Reply #18 on:** November 28, 2015, 09:51:00 AM »

I'm planning on doing the next progress update around Monday. Though I may not be able to answer that particular question with much accuracy due to some life variables slowing me down--bit of a sickness going through the family (it's hit everyone but me, now), and we're also looking for a new home :/

Regardless, I usually don't decide on when a release will be ready until about a week or two beforehand, so all I can say now is it will not be within the next two weeks

...but I hope it won't be too much longer than that! By the end of next week I'll have a better idea since that will be when I'm working on the biggest branch for Alpha 5. No Caves yet, though--they'll start appearing in Alpha 6, I believe.

Happylisk · « **Reply #19 on:** November 28, 2015, 07:36:37 PM »

Sorry there's a bug going around! Hope you dodge it.

zill · « **Reply #20 on:** November 29, 2015, 04:29:51 PM »

I achieved a score of 50, defeated by all the pests that greeted my entrance to -10.

Decker · « **Reply #21 on:** November 29, 2015, 09:34:14 PM »

I made it to -2. I almost died to the pests at the beginning. Luckily, I managed to extract the exit from a terminal.

I got in some trouble in Factory, trapped in a long narrow corridor (fortunately). My biggest enemy then was not the combat bots, but the army of scavengers that I had to scare off to collect the parts I needed. Eventually I cleared a few ARCs and found Exp/Imp gravmag units, which gave me a respectable speed of 45, plus some good launchers.

I only found one Hcp. Storage Unit and couldn't build any, so I had to rely on Large/Medium Storage Units throughout the game.

Research on -2 was hell. Bememoths guarded every pathway. The worst part was this long, large corridor that extended east-west seemingly forever. I blasted through walls to avoid some enemies, but I was seen and got trailed by about 20-30 enemies, including swarmers, coming from two directions. I made a stand and cleared the lot, but it costed me dearly. I recovered a bit but the map just wasn't cooperating. I had to make another stand, which I lost. I ran naked with an ECM suite, 2 Xenon thrusters, and a compact power source. I fled east, right into a behemoth at the edge of the map. A large corridor north abrutly ended in 3 rooms with no exit. I backtracked south, and also ran into a dead end. When it rains, it pours.

A terrain scanner might have been useful here, if only to find which side I could blast through.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kyzrati · « **Reply #22 on:** November 29, 2015, 09:50:49 PM »

I'm not sure if it's an irrational fear or not, but I tend to turn around and go any other way when I see a Behemoth on guard. I've found that this can mean wasting too much time looking for alternate routes that may not even exist, and getting into even more trouble than I would've by just taking it on

Respectable run, though, and I agree that Terrain Scanners can be especially useful in Research.

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Author Topic: Weekly Seed #17 [Alpha 4b] [Seed: Brute Force] (Read 8346 times)