Helion posted:

Archive: So we need you to protect this very important train.

Blitzkrieg: (long, hard stare)

Chard posted:

I found a relic in a mountain but I didn't have any moves left to grab it

Nephzinho posted:

I've had this happen enough times that next time I have the opportunity I will tank the entire run just to start picking them up.

Toadsmash posted:

I don't even see the difference with that "high threat" tag most of the time. Best I can guess, all it really means is probably a slightly higher chance of alpha vek replacing normal spawns. Game has tremendous difficulty variance from one mission to the next, but that's based primarily on map layouts and vek choice of targets. I've been trying to pay attention to those missions to figure out what the difference really is and it just doesn't feel meaningful.

Alkydere posted:

Hope you don't find it on the very last turn then.

You need at least one turn for the FTL pod to spawn.

Harry Potter on Ice posted:

I found it on my last movement turn by pushing a guy into a rock, grabbed it with another guy, got a message about a beacon being sent or something, and on the cleanup action phase a pod fell and I didn't have to grab it but got the pilot

Fangz posted:

It is insanely inefficient to use two mechs to do one 2 HP attack. The charge mech really makes best sense if you have someone like Harold so you have it do something useful while repairing, or if you have a way of avoiding the damage for free.

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

for hazard, you can burn your last 1-2 hp with self damage and not die if you kill something

FreeKillB posted:

I think 4th island is easier most of the time if you've been staying ahead of the curve.

I feel that there is definitely a variance in how stressful a given turn is. A number of missions are just pure cleanup with 2 or fewer vek on the field for the last couple turns. Also, sometimes you have entirely easy missions like when Vek run straight into landmines or when you fire the ridiculous Detritus acid launcher. Granted, these kind of breaks are less likely when you're beelining for the 'High Threat' missions.

Just finished a Zenith squad game, would have been a 3xPerfect Island run except I had a brain fart and forgot that I was on a 'fewer than 4 mech damage' mission. Zenith feels a bit like the inversion of the Steel Judoka: they have relatively less flexibility in terms of repositioning enemies, but they have a lot of raw damage. I think this means that they have a pretty strong early game but they fall off unless you get some replacement weapons for extra tactical flexibility. A rundown:

-Laser mech: Notable as one of the few mechs that doesn't have any ability to re-position enemies in its starting kit. The laser is really good at killing early enemies, and if you upgrade it ASAP it will have great killing power in island 2. You can get extra damage if the enemies line themselves up for you, or you can use the other two mechs to set up a linear death zone. The effectiveness starts to fall off later when the basic Vek are mostly replaced by alphas, since even the upgraded 4 damage won't one-shot a lot of potential threats. The other big issue is that the 'Allies Immune' upgrade only affects units, not buildings, so positioning becomes tricky, unless you are spending actions to shield those buildings.

-Charge mech: I haven't tried using this guy with any pilot other than Abe (if you're doing a custom squad with the charge mech and the hook mech they can swap weapons so the armored mech gets the charge). My experience was that he did reliable damage from the get-go, but when I upgraded his attack fully (ie, including the +1 to both self and target) I needed a +HP boost in order to not run out of juice (I also installed an base Taurus cannon to have at least one non self-harming option in battle). Doing 4 damage with a charge was ultimately worth it, but if I didn't have Abe then 4 damage for 2 self-damage would be really painful to use. I think the design of the squad intends for you to shield this guy before he charges, but that has very poor action economy unless things are set up juuuust right.

-Defense mech: This guy starts off with a lot of utility but like many science mechs you're going to have turns where he's not really providing that much value. The pull is one of the most limited powers in the game (comparable to the gravity mech's pull cannon, which doesn't need direct LOS but can't pull adjacent targets), and while the shield is good at mitigating damage, it cannot remove Vek from the field. I guess if you upgrade the range of the shield you have a better likelihood of being able to shield both the charge mech (especially if no Abe) and a relevantly threatened building in one shot, which is ... ok. Compare this to the upgraded pulse mech, which can push enemies at the same time it's shielding itself and/or others. I splurged on the fire artillery weapon for the final battle, which was noticeably better at moving enemies around than the starting pull beam.

Note that a squad that starts with a strong earlygame but falls of later (like the Zenith Guard) is probably superior to a late blooming squad (like the Steel Judoka imo), since if you do well enough you'll have enough reputation to switch your loadout as needed by the third island or so.

NmareBfly posted:

Does the train take damage if it gets set on fire? Asking for my friend the flamethrower mech. I was sort of surprised when I found out buildings don't.

First pod I picked up this game gave my artillery mech a fire bomb.

Fangz posted:

It is insanely inefficient to use two mechs to do one 2 HP attack. The charge mech really makes best sense if you have someone like Harold so you have it do something useful while repairing, or if you have a way of avoiding the damage for free.

Alkydere posted:

Yeah, I...don't take train missions as Blitzkreig anymore.

Xaris posted:

No it doesn't

BattleMaster posted:

In my very first run I completed all four islands and made it all the way through to the final enemy turn of the second stage of the final battle. I don't know if there's a third stage but if I had taken exactly one less grid damage or gained exactly one more along the way I would have made it

Chard posted:

Putting Bethany into the cryo launcher is filthy

double nine posted:

On the final battle, when the tooltip says "this will destroy the unit on the tile", they mean it. I was experimenting to see if ice gives you a free pass like it does with other damage and NOPE.

double nine posted:

note to self, the rockets are vulnerable to cloud stuns. I "lost" a satellite despite it never taking damage. It also never launched from the pad which should have clued me in.

Exodee posted:

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

deployable shield tank is pro as gently caress. i buy it whenever i see it.

KyloWinter posted:

wats the best squad

ImpAtom posted:

Of the pre-built ones? The Smoke squad is probably the most instantly strong and only gets stronger.

KyloWinter posted:

ya they feel strong as hell, the pulse dude seem like the weaklink whats a replacement or also who is a good pilot for the smoke boys

KyloWinter posted:

ya they feel strong as hell, the pulse dude seem like the weaklink whats a replacement or also who is a good pilot for the smoke boys

ate poo poo on live tv posted:

Yea PSA: swap out the cryo weapon for the last mission unless you have a way to not self-freeze. The random environmental hazards are too significant to risk immobility.

Xaris posted:

Did someone mention you dont need to fully kill the mountains to expose the FTL pods because theres a shining light you can see at half broken? I know that it works that way for the ice tiles is it'll have a blinking yellow light underneath at half-broken but wasnt sure if Im wasting my time only half-killing mountains

FreeKillB posted:

You need to fully kill the mountain to get the beacon, but you only need to hit a mountain once to see if it has a beacon, as long as you're looking for the right yellow glow. You can check this Steam guide if you're not sure what to look for.