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[Dullahan]

Hi, this is my first post here and I wanted to give my feelings on the game as a new player going in blind.
As of now I have reached -4 in my most successful run (I died to my own drones taking a shortcut across my, poorly chosen, hiding place and dragging a blob of angry machines).

I'm not new to roguelike (mostly Brogue, Dwarf fortress adventure and Tome4), sadly English isn't my first language, forgive me for making a list in place of an elaborate paragraph.

-I like how the machines do their things, patrolling around, drilling, building... It give the game some sense of "you are not the center of everything".
-It look really nice, ASCII and tiles are easy on the eyes, fonts can be adjusted and the various effects and sounds make the weapons feel like weapons (I can't get enough of the various gatlings sounds).
-The probably spoiler stuff I found in the caves was pretty cool and again make the world feel alive.
-Hacks are interesting even if I have some trouble with manual input due to not using a qwerty keyboard, using up and down mitigate that but the problem persist with other keys.
-I didn't mess with fabricators but I assume it would be very beneficial for a hacking oriented build.
-I can actually sneak around, I really like that, then I mess up and die but it's my own fault.
-The lore is interesting, remind me a bit of AI war due the similarity in the "you are too small to be worth noticing, keep it that way until you are ready for a decisive action" theme. I also like how the various factions have their own plans.
-I like reading the lore, really, enough that I do suicidal runs just to poke around terminals. I would love an ingame screen where I could read all the stuff I unlocked across my runs.

[Kyzrati]

Hello and thanks for the feedback, Dullahan. A list is great--easier to both write and read for something like this

Making it to -4 is pretty good for having just started out. That's the floor where things have a chance to start getting extremely messy

-Hacks are interesting even if I have some trouble with manual input due to not using a qwerty keyboard, using up and down mitigate that but the problem persist with other keys.

Yeah, sorry about that. Non-qwerty support is something I want to explore some more. It's not so easy to implement in Cogmind, there is more than one way to handle it, and no solution looks perfect, so it still hasn't been addressed :/

-I like reading the lore, really, enough that I do suicidal runs just to poke around terminals. I would love an ingame screen where I could read all the stuff I unlocked across my runs.

This was also recently suggested by another player and I definitely want to do it, so expect that to happen at some point. It's fairly high on the list right now.

various effects and sounds make the weapons feel like weapons (I can't get enough of the various gatlings sounds).

I just added a special new gatling-type weapon that's coming with the next release, so maybe you'll get to hear that in action--it's pretty wicked

-I didn't mess with fabricators but I assume it would be very beneficial for a hacking oriented build.

Fabricators will be much changed/improved for the next release, so it's good you haven't fiddled with them yet. Too fiddly!

[zxc]

As someone who has also played AI War, I'm a big fan of the player not being the centre of everything!

Weird minor suggestion for Kyzrati: the ambient sounds are really good. I know you plan on adding more, but what about increasing the range that you can hear machine hums from? Also, what about a base level of ambient noise which is from robots shuffling around doing stuff on the floor? Just a few thoughts!

[Kyzrati]

I've heard a number of AI War references since last year . Haven't played it myself, but I think it's almost always a good thing when games move away from that player-centric mentality which runs through most games of pretty much any genre. Sure the Cogmind is special, but there's a lot more important things going on than you, and if you just lay low no one really cares.

Yep, all machines will produce sound (okay, those with a name, not the little random bits and pieces of unnamed machinery you see). I opted against sounds for specific mundane robot actions, since it could easily be a bit too noisy when moving quickly (= time passing quickly). But yeah I want to add background ambient sounds as well, though I will probably need someone else to do it, and can't efficiently work on that until the world is mostly complete. We'll get to that part later!

[mindreader]

I'm also a new player, and although I'm about to ponder strategy, I'd prefer not to know what optimally should be doing.  If you spoil things for me, I will quickly lose interest in the game.  I always do.  So please don't spoil me.

I love the concept. I love the lack of grinding.  I love the weapons and items.  I'm definitely looking forward to the fabricator update, because I've never even used it.  I suspect that I haven't gotten anywhere near as much play time as the OP did.  I've played maybe 15 games or so.  Although this looks like a lot of criticism, I'm only mentioning things that seem off to me, I actually quite like the game and I think I'll keep playing it for a long time because I'm pretty bored with dcss.

Some items found early seem abnormally strong, like win the game strong.  Like I found advanced sensors and I was flying through the game in hover mode I could choose every engagement and dig through walls and nothing could stop me.  I probably would've gone really far if I hadn't accidentally removed my advanced sensor chip, whatever it is called.  On that note I really wish there was a confirmation dialogue when you try to remove a cpu that will immediately break because that ended that game really quick.

My attempts at hacking are almost entirely fruitless.  Outside of the occasional repaired part or located traps, anyhow.  Even when I have hackware my ability to hack anything seems woefully lacking.  The manual spoils that you should try to get operators to assist, but I've never managed it even once, with even the smallest robots having a 10% or less chance of taking them over.  I also suspect that my failures draw attention, but I have no way to know.  Reading the forums I have been spoiled that there are trojans that help, but this reeks of secret elbereth style knowledge, which I refuse to look up, because it will spoil my enjoyment.

I've been as high as -6, but it when I lose on any floor I never know why.  A lot of times I'll move around the level and it is like no one is looking for me, no matter how many robots I kill.  Other times I'll literally have 20 robots barrelling at me and popping out of the floor and I have no idea what I could've done to cause it or how to stop it.  It would be nice to be told that I am alerting the system when I screw something up because I have no idea what actions I am doing that are stirring the bee hive or by how much.  At least let me know occasionally that an action was bad, so that I can learn.

It might also be great if when you reset the game, it told you the current status of the game, the security level, what squads (extermination? search? whatever) were out to get you before you start the next game.  I'm not sure what else might give me some insight into my situation.

A lot of times I end up naked running through the level with 500 core left, but I don't know how to recover from this state, so it is always a slow death.  Is there really any point to having the core move really fast, prolonging the game?  Hoping I run upon weapon, engine, and propulsion that I can use has not worked out for me, although one time I found a katana and managed to dice up about thirty robots before I was inevitably stopped.

[Kyzrati]

Welcome!

Some items found early seem abnormally strong, like win the game strong.  Like I found advanced sensors and I was flying through the game in hover mode I could choose every engagement and dig through walls and nothing could stop me.

Not all items are created equal, for sure, but aside from some fluff items and not-so-useful things meant for other robots (since you can take almost anything from anyone), a majority of items are just situational and will depend on your strategy.

Sensors are essential for speed runs, and can even be useful for survival with a combat build if you can spare the slots and aren't attempting to take on the whole world like some players around here.

With the right build you'll be able to reach the end with little to no fighting, though you'll still encounter challenging situations. Just ask zxc and biomatter.

On that note I really wish there was a confirmation dialogue when you try to remove a cpu that will immediately break because that ended that game really quick.

It's coming, rather high on the list, actually . Those mechanics were quite complicated to implement within the existing inventory system (it didn't start out that way), so by the time it was all working I didn't have the motivation to spend another huge chunk of time getting a confirmation inserted into the middle of all of it. That effect has worn off now and it's time to add that before yet more players rip their own processors off

Reading the forums I have been spoiled that there are trojans that help, but this reeks of secret elbereth style knowledge, which I refuse to look up, because it will spoil my enjoyment.

Yep, if you want to get good at hacking Trojans are quite important, and many of them can be learned via in-game lore (NPCs and sometimes various terminal records). All of them can be learned in world as of the next release

The manual does mention it, but getting Operators to help you with hacking is not necessary or done all that often.

I've been as high as -6, but it when I lose on any floor I never know why.  A lot of times I'll move around the level and it is like no one is looking for me, no matter how many robots I kill.  Other times I'll literally have 20 robots barrelling at me and popping out of the floor and I have no idea what I could've done to cause it or how to stop it.  It would be nice to be told that I am alerting the system when I screw something up because I have no idea what actions I am doing that are stirring the bee hive or by how much.  At least let me know occasionally that an action was bad, so that I can learn.

There is only one situation in the game where attackers are dispatched and it isn't explicitly announced via your message log, and that's because they aren't sent directly at you, only your general location, but I'm going to add a message for that one, too. Even without any dispatches you may just be running into multiple patrols or fighting at the wrong place and time simply based on who's nearby.

You can get greater details and learn what's going on around the floor via hacking, if you need them.

It might also be great if when you reset the game, it told you the current status of the game, the security level, what squads (extermination? search? whatever) were out to get you before you start the next game.  I'm not sure what else might give me some insight into my situation.

You can get some helpful related information from the post-game score sheet regarding alert level.

A lot of times I end up naked running through the level with 500 core left, but I don't know how to recover from this state, so it is always a slow death.  Is there really any point to having the core move really fast, prolonging the game?

Absolutely! I'm having trouble replying though because I'm afraid to spoil anything . I'll just say that you can turn around losing situations at almost any point of the game, and having a fast core is really helpful in that. Cogmind is a game with a lot of potential for epic comebacks.

[Dullahan]

I find the sensor really useful too, my most successful runs always feature sensors & interpreters simply because they limit bad tactical choices due to my own inexperience. I know if getting into a room to chokepoint a fight is safe, I can double back in a corridor if I see hostiles, etc.

That being said I was in the same boat at first, I didn't really understand why I died, how to stop those ***** from stealing my loot or where did all those angry robots came from.
After around 30 runs I found answers and die to bad choices much more often (like fighting programmers in a room full of explosives).

If I can only give one advice it would to be stick with it, things start making sense the more you play.

[biomatter]

I'm sure you guys already have, but I also strongly recommend reading the manual. It's a spoiler-free gold mine of intel because it mostly deals with game mechanics rather than the world.

[Kyzrati]

I do believe strongly in keeping spoilers at bay. Worth mentioning here: mindreader pointed out the Operator benefits are listed in the manual, along with one other potential ally. I consider that pure mechanics more than anything worth "discovering," so felt it was important to point out how those features worked. There are a lot of numbers involved, and they're also a part of the hacking system, which I think the manual needs to explain in full.

[mindreader]

I guess I should've held off on posting because my very next game, which I just finished I managed to get to -2 with a combat focused build.  The alert level was never above 2.  And I would've gotten further if the last stairwell had gone somewhere (assuming there will not something worse on the other side).

I was mostly using energy weapons but as the game progressed I had to just take what I got.  I started with legs, then found some grav arrays that were great.  Unfortunately a scanalyzer ate one of them, and that kind of screwed me up and things kind of gradually went down hill.  I ended up finding some thrusters just as things were dire and was just running around looking for a stairwell with a terrain scanner while tons of stuff was chasing me, but I couldn't find anything in time.  I can't imagine actually trying to fight my way through that.

Anyways, I had a lot of fun!  Can't wait for the update.

[Draco18s]

I've heard a number of AI War references since last year . Haven't played it myself

You should try it. There's a demo that lets you play for 2 hours (which, coincidentally, is a great duration for a Defender game).
If you do purchase it (which you can get it and every expansion for $17) I highly recommend the Zenith and Light of the Spire expansions.  I wasn't really a fan of Neinzul generally, Ancient Shadow's core mechanic, or the two alternate win conditions from Destroyer of Worlds and Vengeance of the Machine.

They're not bad expansions, just that I tend to not-use most of what comes in them.  Ancient Shadows did add the "Cluster" map type, which is by far one of my favorites.  Plus the $5 expansions tended to add new music, which is always worth it; Pablo is amazing.

but I think it's almost always a good thing when games move away from that player-centric mentality which runs through most games of pretty much any genre.

The game is very much "doing this will piss off the AI by Y amount" and you have to decide how pissed off you're comfortable letting the AI get.  Mind, some people are really comfortable pissing the AI off.