Right. Let's earn some beebs. We'll need a tabutask for that. After buying it I notice that a new item is available in the shop. It's a passenger!
God knows how they stuffed this fellow into a portable container. The ones I've seen were too fat to fit in any mechos but a truck. :D
He's too expensive, though, and I don't have enough cargo space for him anyway. Next time, maybe.
Opening the tabutask reveals our next quest.
Stinkhorns have bred around Podish in large quantities.
They are impairing communications with Incubator.
Shoot at least 70 stinkers to improve communications.
Reward: 1300 Luck: 2 Cycles: 0
Not the cleanest job, but an easy one. Who am I to say 'no' to extra Luck?
The persistent landscape option means the stinkers at the escave entrance will need to regrow on their own, rather than respawn each time. I need to find another cluster.
They are pretty volatile. A chain reaction of explosions will blow away any mechos standing nearby with extreme force. I find this out the hard way, accidentally shooting one when its neighbours started to regenerate.
There are whirlpools on the map. They are not always there... depends on the cycle, probably. Be careful not to fall into one of those - KiD doesn't work there, so you'll have to get out on your own. Whatever you do - don't panic. Pick a directiuon and stick to it - your engine
should prove more powerful in the end.
A big advantage of the destructible terrain is that you can make your own entrances. After a few of my visits, this vault has more holes than it has walls. And it still gets restocked!
I have a run-in with a vehicle that would be quite dangerous if it weren't so derpy. The Iron Wraith requires a lot of skill to drive - it's so fast that AI has trouble keeping its wheels on the ground.
A few golden beebs (some of the locals call them 'Royal') and a lot of shooting later, my task is complete.
Time to hit the hideouts before I get back!
Some of the hideouts won't open if you don't have enough Luck. But with a few tabutasks under my belt, this almost doesn't happen anymore.
Also, the more Luck you have, the more and better quality items you will find inside. This time the haul is quite different from what we found when we did our first sweep. I even throw away some of the cheaper loot to make space for more expensive stuff.
As an aside, the race is still ongoing. This seems to be the last participant. Unlike the player, AI vangers can sign up for the race during the Eleerection itself.
Don't get close to stinkers in presence of other vehicles. My shields are gone in an instant.
I want to get to the Incubator to try out some of their tabutasks. While checking the stashes along the way, I have picked up something curious.
Also, make note - our mortal enemy is still lurking around! One day, wheeler, one day...
I arrive to a more secluded section of the map and check my cargo bay. Indeed, I now have a special weapon in a single-cell slot.
I will test it later. For now it is more useful to me as loot to sell for money.
This cycle is especially generous with Royal beebs. I think I squashed about 5 of them. A nice little cash bonus.
The end of the cycle comes swiftly, and I go down the escave to sell all the loot I acquired.
Which makes me somewhat rich. Last time I ventured out of here, I only had about a thousand beebs on me.
I came here for the tabutasks, though, and that's what I am going to buy.
The counselor of Incubator is concerned
about eLeeches being lost on the way to Podish...
You have to come in third in the next Eleection
and try to keep an eye on the first two racers...
We hope to trace where the cult items disappear to.
Reward: 12000 Luck: 5 Cycles: 3
Oops. Looks like we will have to make a decision during the next Eleerection, whether we want to win right then and there, or forfeit the race for a chance of a
massive reward. 12000 beebs don't just fall from the sky.
Beebs have dug a lot of holes around Incubator.
This causes drafts in the escave, which is dangerous for eLeech health.
You must exterminate as many beebs as possible, and not less than fifteen.
Reward: 1800 Luck: 2 Cycles: 0
Seems easy enough. We did something like this for Podish already.
Buzzing insects annoy Feenger, keeping him from writing a poem
in honor of the Eleepods.
To help him finish the job in time,
repel 13 swarms.
Reward: 1400 Luck: 2 Cycles: 0
Oh. My. God. This is going to hurt.
Hunting beebs is relatively effortless. If you ignore all the trucks coming in and out of the Incubator.
Some of them take offense at me standing there and collecting living money. Greedy bastards! They use some sort of new weapon that visibly travels underground and damages your armor directly. It also causes the camera to shake violently on impact, screwing with the interface. You can see it as a slight bump on the ground near the enemy vehicle on the screenshot below.
Thankfully, it is slow, and does not travel far, so you can outrun it.
I keep an eye out for raffas, though. Need to uphold my reputation and all that.
There are plenty of beebs near the incubator, so the mission is completed quickly.
Now for the
FUN part.
I am not serious, of course. There is nothing fun in tracking down 13 swarms and pissing them off. It is tedious, it is hard, it is dangerous, and the worst of all, I can never find enough of them in time.
Your most accessible way of triggering them is to jump right in their midst, and you need to be pretty good at controlling your vehicle to even get a chance in hell of completing the mission. You have to jump while on the move to leave them behind - move too slowly, and they will eat you alive. You also want to watch where you land - you don't want to end in the way of a passing truck, or in a stinker field. And if you 'luck out' and get a swarm in the middle of a rough terrain... you are probably better off leaving it be and finding a new one to mess with.
In the end, I had to cheat a little and go to Podish and back to 'reset' the swarms when I couldn't find more. Their location is randomized each time.
By the way, here's me jumping too low and nearly getting shredded for it.
One time, I got so tired of waiting for my shields to recharge, that I tried to position myself on a stinker to have my weapons look upwards, and shoot the swarm from below. It was a success... but then I accidentally shot the stinker, too, and nearly killed myself.
However, after a while I get them all.
Here's a short excerpt from my journeys.
A meeting with the
derpmobile Iron Wraith while I shoot the stinkers.
A little accident in the Incubator when another vanger left through the same exit as I did. Especially infuriating when it happens during the race and you are shoved back in the escave against your will. It's funny when raffas do it, though, because they instantly explode on impact.
And a lot of swarm hunting and related hazards.
But my efforts weren't for naught!
Because now we can afford ourselves a new mechos!!!
In Russian, it is called 'Instantaneous', and has the highest possible velocity rating!
Or we could wait a little and buy ourselves this one: