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 Spoiler .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 Spoiler .SCORE will be a must), but I notice you didn't mention Spoiler .HACK . I am still experimenting with it, but it seems quite powerful since you can basically Spoiler lay out a reusable minefield to draw enemies into . Great post. Thanks.
not sure if this was mentioned already but apparently you also gain +1 HP if you siphon a program you already have O.O
Has anyone figured out the mechanics of Spoiler 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
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.
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!
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, Spoiler damage is applied on a per grid basis. So you can .PULL an enemy onto another enemy, then attack them both in one hit. Spoiler 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.
If you use .POLY before the glitch gets to you it'll have to go around the long way. .POLY is cheap, especially Spoiler 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. Spoiler 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.
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.
Another big use of .POLY is that Spoiler 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. Spoiler 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 Spoiler .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 Spoiler .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 Spoiler 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).
Oh wow, this thread got deep. I love it. I think it's something like, Spoiler 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 Spoiler 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?
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.]
