Universal 868-HACK by Michael Brough

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Gabrien, Aug 30, 2013.

  1. Royce

    Royce Well-Known Member

    Mar 22, 2011
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    #61 Royce, Sep 5, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
    Personally I play opportunistically. I make sure I pick up a few good progs early, then I look for progs that I can pick up while still siphoning at least 8 resources. You never know what might help you out later (I had a couple of games where
    .ROW and .COL
    were lifesavers, and I normally wouldn't pick them up if I was trying to stick to my favorite progs).

    Thanks. I never would have figured that out :)

    Could you elaborate? I am having trouble making good use of it (seems to screw me over as often as it helps me out). I always pick up debug so the glitches are rarely an issue. Maybe I could save some resources using it instead?

    I am with you on most of these (except I always get .RESET, and I think once I start focusing more on scoring
    .SCORE
    will be a must), but I notice you didn't mention
    .HACK
    . I am still experimenting with it, but it seems quite powerful since you can basically
    lay out a reusable minefield to draw enemies into
    .

    Great post. Thanks.
     
  2. cplr

    cplr Well-Known Member

    Feb 15, 2011
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    not sure if this was mentioned already but apparently you also gain +1 HP if you siphon a program you already have O.O
     
  3. Royce

    Royce Well-Known Member

    Mar 22, 2011
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    Has anyone figured out the mechanics of
    teleporting cryptogs (one of the effects after consecutive completions? Is there any pattern or rule in how they teleport? Or can they just be anywhere at any time? I'm guessing the former because the latter essentially forces one to use .SHOW.

    I tried that once and didn't notice anything but I probably had full health :p
     
  4. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    Feb 19, 2009
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    Nce! I noted the +1 health after siphoning once but couldn't figure out why...foolishly assumed it was a weird side effect of that SPECIFIC program. :rolleyes:
     
  5. Bool Zero

    Bool Zero Well-Known Member

    Dec 14, 2010
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    I keep hearing the murmurs about this game in other threads... I may have to grab this tonight if nothing else pops up of interest tonight! Thanks for all the impressions from the regulars!
     
  6. andrewdoull

    andrewdoull Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
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    #66 andrewdoull, Sep 5, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
    Could I suggest we adopt a convention of using spoiler tags to hide 'sneaky' program interactions? I realise this makes your post a bit like playing Black Bars, but the programs are probably the most fun part of figuring stuff out. The more mechanical interactions are less spoily, and you've done a great job of analyzing them.
    I suspect it is possible to do a 1 program ascension with .DELAY, it's that good.

    Quick example of what I mean by spoiler tags.
    As you've noted using ANTI-V,
    damage is applied on a per grid basis. So you can .PULL an enemy onto another enemy, then attack them both in one hit.
    This also applies to your grid. If you have .RESET you can abuse this by letting enemies attack you while you have other enemies overlapping you. Note you need to make sure that the enemies on you don't have an unoccupied grid they can move to, especially VIRUSes who can move, then attack you.
     
  7. Royce

    Royce Well-Known Member

    Mar 22, 2011
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    Yeah good idea. I edited my post.
     
  8. andrewdoull

    andrewdoull Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
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    If you use .POLY before the glitch gets to you it'll have to go around the long way. .POLY is cheap, especially
    with .UNDO which makes it cheaper to use twice in a row unless you're siphoning or entering a level
    if you're looking for daemons or viruses with D_BOM or ANTI-V.
    Don't forget damage is maintained across .POLY so if you damage a daemon twice and then poly it, it'll die.
    You can also use .POLY to manipulate distances from your enemies by .POLY from (or if you're lucky to) viruses as another way of doing .WAIT if you don't have .WAIT.
     
  9. andrewdoull

    andrewdoull Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
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    Kewl. .SCOR is a starting program btw. If it wasn't you could lock all your programs again and unlock .SCOR as a way of guaranteeing it to try to high score chase, since you always get the program you unlocked at the start of the next game.
     
  10. ElectricGrandpa

    ElectricGrandpa Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2009
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    #70 ElectricGrandpa, Sep 5, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
    Another big use of .POLY is that
    if you only have one of .ANTI-V or .D_BOM, then you can use .POLY to turn the enemies into the correct type, and then take them out.

    I've been finding .UNDO really useful lately.
    I just completed a "GLOBAL ENCRYPTION" run (where ever file is hidden) by siphoning and then undoing the siphon if I didn't like the prog. This is also useful even for non-encrypted progs because the "alert enemies" will spawn in different configurations every time. It's definitely worth a $ to get an easier layout of enemies.

    I'm pretty sure someone has already mentioned this, but
    .PUSH .PUSH .PUSH .DEBUG is super strong, especially if you do it from near the center of the grid.

    The main reason I'm not a big fan of
    .HACK and .CLEAR is because they're pretty expensive for how many enemies they usually take out, and they end up destroying some of the surrounding walls, leaving you exposed.
    The way I see it, positioning/shelter is the most important thing in this game. Actually now that I think of it, it'd be neat to have a prog that let you place walls... though that might cause issues with the player getting stuck.

    Oh also, I don't find .HACK that useful because
    usually, by the time I'm using siphons, I've already cleared all the enemies out of the level. And I'd hate for .HACK to influence where I siphon (which is arguably the most important decision in the game).
     
  11. Buttons

    Buttons Member

    Aug 22, 2010
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    #71 Buttons, Sep 5, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
    Oh wow, this thread got deep. I love it.
    I think it's something like,
    if they're already in your line of sight (row/column, even if you have .SHOW active), or if their normal move would put them there, then they move normally. Otherwise, they teleport to a random position not in your line of sight.
    .

    It's definitely one of the harder
    powerups, in my experience. By contrast, rear-mounted laser is basically a cakewalk. I wonder if some powerups are flagged as second tier and only show up on later runs?
     
  12. andrewdoull

    andrewdoull Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
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    Is this the boss fight in Blackbar?
     
  13. jonbro

    jonbro Well-Known Member

    Nov 20, 2010
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    right hand at luckyframe
    I am loving all the strategy discussion going on in this thread.
     
  14. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    Feb 19, 2009
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    Weird wishlist items:

    1) Ability to play my own music (podcasts actually) in game:
    I figure if MB could separate the action/event sounds from the general atmospheric sounds, the music would replace all the atmospheric level sounds with the action/event sounds still sounding through with the custom music.

    2) Randomized unlocks IF second time around:
    I'm imagining great thought went into the order the extra programs are unlocked in this game BUT, if a person were to unlock all of them and chose the option to "relock", why not have them unlock in a random order in 2nd+ unlockings?

    Thanks!
     
  15. Michael Brough

    Michael Brough Active Member

    May 5, 2012
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    This does work if you start the game, then go out and start the music, then go back in. I've figured out what the problem was now though so it'll work properly in the update.
     
  16. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    #76 LordGek, Sep 5, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2013
    Unless somehow different due to it being a podcast being played via the Apple Podcast app, this does not work. Every time I bring back up the game it stops the currently playing podcast no matter which of the two apps I start first.
     
  17. Michael Brough

    Michael Brough Active Member

    May 5, 2012
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    Ok sorry, might be a difference between ipad/iphone too, I'm not sure. Anyway it should be fixed when I get this update out (hopefully next week if I get it submitted today), let me know if it's still a problem then.
     
  18. cplr

    cplr Well-Known Member

    Feb 15, 2011
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    try starting it from the multitasking bar while 868 is open
     
  19. LordGek

    LordGek Well-Known Member
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    Okay, I finally found a way, I guess.

    1) Start podcast, home out.
    2) Start game.
    3) Pull up the multitasking bar and swipe right to bring up player controls.
    4) Hit play.
    5) Return to game.

    Now I can have my podcast playing as I play the game but get NONE of the game's sounds. :(
     
  20. andrewdoull

    andrewdoull Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
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    #80 andrewdoull, Sep 6, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2013
    I'm on a streak!!!!!!

    164 in 3, about to start my 4th run. Managed to get 3 of my top 4 high scores this streak (including 1st equal). Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!

    [Edit: Ended up with 221 in 5 - only scored 4 on the 5th run. I'm pretty happy with that.]
     

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