[FEATURE REQUEST] Make loot pickup automatic [FEATURE REQUEST] Make loot pickup automatic: I just lost a really good 24k creds-worth Flamer. On the "Mission Complete" reward screen, you manually need to move loot from the lower left corner infobox to a soldier's inventory. Here, I forgot to do this once, and lost a great weapon. Can you make loot pickup automatic?
Typical buff sequence Here goes, a buff sequence typical for me playing, recorded on Story Stage 18. Unbuffed attack stats for my damage dealers. Damage, Attack Skill, etc. is all for ranged: Cyborg: Dam 31-75, Skill 110, Range 14, Crit 31, AP 162 Nova: Dam 34-60, Skill 180, Range 9, Crit 47, AP 148 Missile: Dam 31-63, Skill 145, Range 10, Crit 48, AP 140 Buff sequence Turn 1: 1) Missile is in a good position already, so no need to move. Casts Firing Stabilizers. 2) Doc wastes 60AP moving up to Missile, casts Optical Augment on him and is empty. 3) Commander 1 ("Sarge") needs to fuel Doc once, to get her out of the way. 4) Cyborg moves up 2 to Missile, drops Tachyon Field. Then uses Cybernetic Reflexes and Laser Sight, with one refuel needed. 5) Nova uses Guard, High Impact Rounds, Boost Shields; she's empty now too. 6) Commander 2 ("Commander") is standing right next to Nova, fuels her up. 7) Sarge fuels Doc. Doc casts Combat Stims on Missile, so he can take counter-attacks better. 8) Commander 2 uses her remaining AP to fuel Missile. He can shoot twice more and takes out two enemies. Stats after Turn 1: Cyborg: Dam 35-79, Skill 200, Range 14, Crit 100, Evasion 74, Crit Resist 51. Nova: Dam 46-72, Skill 195, Range 9, Crit 82. 100 Evasion and Crit Resist, so I can leave her in the open. Missile: Dam 49-81, Skill 200, Range 13, Crit 100, Evasion 84, Crit Resist 95. Turn 2: 1) "Commander" throws two Grenades into a group of 4 enemies. Noting this cause it costs 80 AP, leaving her with less to fuel others - 65 AP left, but 3 dead enemies. 2) Nova casts Guard and shoots enemies. Commander refuels her with remaining AP so she can shoot some more. 3) Cyborg casts Overcharge Systems and shoots. 4) Doc has nothing better to do, drops a Regeneration Point. 5) Sarge refuels Missile and Cyborg. NOTE: I made one mistake in the sequence. I usually try to drop the Doc's Force Field on the hex where the Missile will be, but forgot it here as I didn't move him. Stats after Turn 2: Cyborg: Dam 65-109, Skill 200, Range 14, Crit 100, Evasion 100, Crit Resist 51. Nova: Dam 46-72, Skill 195, Range 9, Crit 82. Missile: Dam 49-81, Skill 200, Range 13, Crit 100, Evasion 84, Crit Resist 95. Note that the Cyborg has the only major change, with a significant damage boost. Turn 3 *might* see a Tactical Analysis cast from a Commander, if needed. Otherwise, it's just triggerhappy murderfest from here on out Also notable that enemies have so much Crit Resist now that e.g. the Nova's Critchance drops by 70 to 12% from 82%. --> I think Critchance shouldn't cap at 100, to make up for the huge Crit Resists you encounter in later missions.
Easier thing for me would be to have a warning pop up if you have an item either in the reward box or stuck on the "cursor when you click the continue button. Making it go directly to the backpack is a bit trickier code wise for various reasons.
Those are some very interesting tactics. I haven't tried the ultra defensive bunker method of play personally. I wonder if I should give some enemies some high level grenades to mess up that plan. Can you believe that I actually thought people wouldn't use buffs much during my playtest / design stages.
Huh? Pretty bog-standard stuff to me. Nothing like the crazy combos we came up with in DR1/2 I actually didn't see this as a defensive tactic at all. I'm throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the enemy, and as fast as I can, damagewise. That I end up with good defensive stats as well is more of a bonus side-effect of the various buffs. Too bad Evasion seems to cap at 100 too, else I'd throw those defensive fields into the mix too. Which is one reason why playing more defensive does not work well in Hydra, I think. It's way too easy with an attack-focused playstyle to get good defense as a side-effect. In DR, it felt much more like you HAVE to make choices: go super-aggressive at the cost of defense, like I did with my all-girls-group in DR1, and one of the parties I tried in DR2. Or focus more on defense, at the cost of damage-dealing capability. Also, as I wrote earlier, I hit gold with the 2 Commander combo and the rest of the team right on first try. Without 2 Commanders refueling constantly, I would not be able to pull this off. IDEA: Maybe limit to one Commander per squad? That even makes sense ingame: in real-life armies, how many squads do you have that run around with more than one Squad Sergeant, for example? High-level grenades, enemies stunning you back, basically anything to make the game more challenging on higher difficulties. Compared to the Demon's Rise games, especially DR2, Hydra feels A LOT easier to me. No crazy stuff like a whole Dwarven Army charging down at you or a Dragon blowing up half your party going on here. And I don't think I got so much better with your games since DR2 that it's only my improved playing. E.g. in Hydra you face a lot less enemies than in the later stages of DR2, they hit you less frequently and less often for less damage, don't throw any brutal skills at you, and only attack in numbers small enough to easily handle. Another thing that could help are melee enemies who rush/teleport into my group and slice them up close-range. But, I don't think it's worth the effort to try and make Hydra more challenging: I expect it'll need so much of an overhaul, that you can just make another game. For Scifi inspiration, I recommend to take a look at Space Hulk, that one was really difficult - for me at least. Again, huh? Brainblurb? Every even halfway decent tactics games player will jump on buffs like a dog in heat. I yet have to see a game where either direct damage or debuffing enemies outperforms party-buffing. By the way, if you wanna chat more directly, I should be around in the evenings or on the weekends, and at a time that works for you too.
I'm actually not sure that Hydra is easier, I think it's just easier in the first half or so. I think you'll find the enemy will start hitting you pretty hard from 18 to 25, but I could be wrong. Adding a couple of higher damage abilities to enemies is a pretty trivial change, actually. I do think I might have gone a bit soft on enemy abilities. They definitely aren't as nasty as the ones I gave the enemies in Demons Rise 2.
Yeah, I actually get hit now Story Mission 18. On 17 (forgot it Story or Special mission) I even had to retreat my Nova once to heal her up. Well, maybe - just maybe - I asked a bit much with expecting her to take one front single-handedly Will see how things go from Story Mission 19 onwards and keep reporting back about it.
re: taking more damage Ouch ... I see what you mean. Just completed Story Mission 19. That Centurion and the Elites hit damn hard, and with Crits almost everytime. Centurion almost one-shotted my Missile, three times in a row. I ran out of First Aid actually. Need to drop more of those Regen fields
The Centurion is just an absolute bad ass. Elites are also very nasty and tend to be nasty in one of two flavours. The Elites with Sniper rifles are mean at long range while the Elite Chargers are brutal in close. The Chargers carry these energy carbines that are short range but do a lot of damage. They also have grenades that scale with their level (which I think is around 6) and they have both a lot of hit points and counter attacks. This means that once one of them gets close to you, even if you kill him, he should get do damage with his counter attacks before finally getting killed. Anyway, I'm sure you'll figure out a good way to kill them.
Might have one already, it's called cannon fodder To be more precise: A hit or two from a regular attack I can eat. But like you write, they have a huge number of counter-attacks. And these really hurt, especially en masse. Solution: Have someone else eat the counters, like a summoned Bot ... or use more Stuns hhmm... might have to replace Missile Guy with another Stun-capable unit.
Buff is shorthand for "any ability that improves your hero's stats, abilities, etc." , from the MMO corner of the world I think - I don't know where the term originated or when. In all honesty, I even forgot what we called it before the term came up. Powerups, I think?, from the stuff in earlier games. Before video games? I really forgot, not even a vague memory that there ever was another term before "powerup". Have to look at my old RPG books to check that. Like the Vanguard's (I always call him "Missile") ability "Firing Stabilisers" that improves his attack range, damage, and critical hit chance (I think? Not sure about the last one). The act of using/casting such an ability on someone is called "buffing". And if the ability only affects the hero using it, it's "self-buff(ing)". Finally, a hero who has such an ability affecting him is "(self-)buffed" Ok, school's out, time for the playground (aka Hydra)
So Special Mission 19 is where things start to get interesting... The enemy soldiers used grenade launchers on me several times, were *a lot* harder to hit, and coordinated slightly better. My Nova even died when I sent her in to hold a front alone again. 2 missions back that still worked fine. Need some more mid-range firepower now, replacing the Missile with a Flamer (or something else as second choice) to see how that goes. Another Cyborg - for more area stun - is really high on my list.
Warp rift makes me miss the void walker's demonic portal. Its text is misleading - while it says allied units can be summoned to the battlefield, it can only summon one before it expires and there's no choice of type to summon. Please ideally add more types and/or lower cooldown, or, less ideally, change ability description.
Just finished the final story mission this morning and did the last side mission yesterday. Overall an excellent experience, and it enjoyed it thoroughly playing through on hard mode. The team I used: Commander: Cryo shot is crazy good mid-game to stun things that you can't handle yet, and the refueling ability is great to use as Nullzone notes in his posts to keep your biggest damage dealers doing what they do best. Vanguard: Slow start due to his big AP requirements, but late game his vortex missile is amazing to kill huge monsters in one shot, the basic rockets AOE is also quite powerful when the enemy is in cover. The force shield also enables some great defensive tactics, but you have to watch out for grenades late game when you are bunched. Psy-op: This guy was my superstar through the first 3/4 of the game. His inspiration ability was the go-to buff to start each battle, and psychic lash is a crazy good stun. Medic: Healing is essential late game as you WILL get hit, and her implant is an amazing full-battle buff. Rifles are also my favorite weapon due to their common range bonuses. Shotgun girl (don't remember class name): I switched out a spectre for her mid game as melee was not doing it for me. Her range is a big problem, but I use her mainly to set up a defensive forcefield, deploy turrets and take shots at enemies who manage to get close. So so. Cyborg: I was using the turret character most of the game, similar to how I used the vanguard, but the poor guy kept dying on me. Switched to cyborg for the last few missions, and as Nullzone points out, his buffs are insane. With a +6 range rifle, he is fantastic.
In terms of strategy, the missions generally fall into two buckets and I repeated this method for most of the game. Come and get me! - Defensive missions or simple kill all enemies without a time limit were generally solved by bunching everyone together under a forcefield and healing bubble, and then piling on the buffs and killing anything that came in sight. The biggest problem is later game when 13 range enemies get common. If you don't get weapons or ammo that have +range, you're screwed. The elite snipers will tear you apart. That said, once I had 3 people that can shoot at 13+ range, you can take things out without too many counterattacks and it gets easy again. Cleanse and purge! - The timed missions or the ones where you have to go deep to kill targets like breeding pods were in my opinion the most challenging and interesting. You can set up temporary kill-zones like in the strategy above, but you have to keep moving forward after a turn or two, forcing you to make use of actual cover and careful application of stuns. Investing in a lot of +AP gear was the biggest enabler for these missions. You can run up, fire off a big stun or AOE and then get back to cover. One general AI comment is that the enemy does not seem to be making the best use of its AP in many cases. It is not uncommon for them to wander around the map and end turns out of cover when there were still opportunities to take shots at my team. Perhaps the to hit was lower than the threshold in the logic, but there seemed to be too much milling around and not enough punishing firepower.
re subgenius' "Cleanse and Purge": I didn't find those particularly challenging so far, but then I didn't complete all Story Missions yet. Set up a killzone like you write, then shoot everything till no enemies are left; only then move forward to the next position, ideally the whole squad at once. Agree about the AI: Things got better at Special Mission 19. But non-long-range enemies still way too often move to the max of their movement range and directly into my killzone; instead of going a bit slower and taking cover, setting up their own killzone, etc. An alternative approach to powerful enemies with lots of counterattacks is to have someone eat those: Either any of the cannonfodder you get during some missions, summoned bots/turrets, or the Cyborg - as he isn't affected by Morale loss, he can just take it to the face and not suffer consequences. Another promising-looking skill is the Commander's Tactical Analysis that reduces enemy Morale and Counters. But, huge downside, you need to get quite close and personal to make good use of it - which can be quite dangerous if you don't have a good defensive position to use it from and need to expose the Commander.
Whoa, nice I just bought a Polished Promethium Flamer from the Shop: 7.7k Creds, level 37, +4% Ranged Hit & Crit Chance, AAAANNNNDDDD... +7 Attack Range. It brings Flamey up to a whopping 16 Range. Two better than my Cyborg with 14, and the Nova has to go "shortrange" with only 10 For your damagedealers, +Range is the most important stat in Hydra, I dare say. Just completed the last Special Mission, 20. Piece of cake compared to Special 19. Story Mission 21 coming up next, I expect Flamey to handle most of it on his own.
I only use it in emergencies, misses too often for me to feel reliable enough. I prefer the Cyborg's AoE Stun instead. Spot on with the AP requirement. 30AP for one attack is a lot, especially early on. But it is balanced by having one of the highest attack ranges early game. Didn't try the Vortex Missile yet (not enough AP), but description sounds really good. Didn't try him yet, so can't comment what he plays like. Psychic Storm (what you call Lash) sounds great. Inspiration is Psychic Insights, I think? +2 Attack Range for all friendlies within 5? Yes, please Agree on the healing and implant. You actually shoot with her? Interesting. For me, if she has nothing to do, she just twiddles her thumbs and goes all mental Rarely, she throws a grenade or shoots an almost-dead enemy; but I can still count those occasions on one hand. Class name is Nova Like I wrote in my earlier post, by now I'm certain that +Range is the most important stat for attackers. Mine has Range 10: Not enough to comfortably snipe everyone from long range, but good enough that she doesn't have to wade into shortrange. The forcefield is a nice bonus. Her turret I found extremely underwhelming: Early/midgame using the AP for shooting was so much better for me. Late game the turrets can die to a single counterfire hit. Usually I just have her cast all her self-buffs and then go to town on enemies in range. @Wavelight: Do skill-deployed turrets/bots scale with soldier level? I don't think so, from what I've seen so far. To make turret dropping a valid strategy, they need to scale IMO. +6 Range from a single item? Nice. And yeah, he's my longrange sniper as well. Let's see if Flamey can outperform him, with 2 more range at 16. Looking at the Turret Bot's skills, he looks like a long-range attacker to me, very much like the Vanguard. Explosive Rounds sound outright nasty with +75 Critchance and +25 Damage (highest direct damage buff, I believe).
