Turn-Based Tactics Into the Breach: Advanced Edition - mech tactics game from FTL devs with Chris Avellone writing

[Silva]

Hey Black, how do I unlock the samurai looking pilot?

 

[Black]

I just found him in one of the tide pods.

 

[sser]

This lil fag here is probably one of the strongest mechs in the game. The stuff you can do with teleporting enemies from 4 tiles away is insane. Just upgrade his teleport and move and you're set.
And it's the Science class, which gets many cool gadgets.

I also consider it the strongest Mech. With move and distance, you essentially have a Queen of the battlefield -- can go anywhere and do whatever you need. It's basically an in-game map tool editor with how much range of motion and effectiveness it has.

 

[Silva]

Just impression or Zenith is the weaker squad in the game? Not enough battlefield control nor damage output. Laser and Rammer mechs are horrible, and the Defender/shielder while more useful, is not really favored by the game's inherent nature (you must deal with the enemy one way or another, staying on defense is suicide).

Rifters, Smokers and Blitz are very good in their own ways. Didn't open Judokas, Flamers nor Freezers yet.

 

[Black]

I think I figured out what MCA wrote.

Also, prime spear if amazing.

 

[Arnust]

On that, here's all the background lore from the Pilots unveiled in the game files, a big chunk of the writing 'ere.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IntoTheBre...ption_for_the_pilots/?st=jeatn5lx&sh=337a6da4

Spoiler

Ralph Karlsson [Unknown]

Ralph has crossed the breach almost more times he can count - there's been at least a hundred timelines he's watched fall (in the opening state, he has yet to save even one). This continuous cycle of warfare has made him ruthlessly efficient, being unwilling to even sleep if he has to, as he feels every second counts... and every second that slips away could be the critical moment lost to the Vek. He's come a long way from the wide-eyed soldier he first was (it seems like several lifetimes ago, and it was), and he tries to avoid attachments to the other pilots, as he knows how likely they are to die in battle. He has never said which island he hails from, and there are suspicions he may have come from somewhere beyond the Corporate archipelago... possibly even from a space station. If true, Ralph has refused to confirm it, although in a few timelines, both Bethany, Harold, and Isaac have commented on the Time Pod's architecture as being modeled off of space-faring tech (notably a launch capsule of a rocket... or an escape pod of a rocket).


Bethany Jones [Pinnacle]

Bethany Jones served as a physics engineer at Pinnacle, helping design and refine Pinnacle shield technology. Having only grown up on Pinnacle, she's somewhat sheltered with regards to the other islands, and she tends to trusting of others, taking them at their word. She loves the cold and the snow, but she's also excited by the opportunities to see other islands in the Corporate archipelago and learn from the people there. While she and Isaac are technically brother and sister, there hasn't been a timeline where they both were alive to realize this (either Bethany dies at a young age, or Isaac dies - only one of them could be saved in the womb b/c of a chronic medical condition their parents had). Bethany has had a more positive upbringing than Isaac, and her genius is tempered more with empathy and optimism than Isaac (who had a much more difficult childhood).


Abe Isamu [R.S.T.]

Sometimes jokingly called "Honest Abe" in previous timelines, nothing could be farther from the truth. Abe served as an "expeditor" (assassin and "black box" work) during the early years of CEO Kern's rise to power, and he took on many names and identities in service to R.S.T. to handle any "difficult issues" that would arise that needed to be dealt with by the corporation. He is ruthless when given an objective (in this case, fighting the Vek), and served as ground support in his original timeline before stealing a Mech from a dying (?) pilot and using its breach technology to escape the timeline after the squad perished in the volcanic island. Since then, "Abe" has followed the orders of his first CEO Kern and is determined to keep fighting until every Vek in every timeline is defeated... a hopeless task, but "Abe" realizes he has little else to fight for, and even if he were to remain in a timeline he saved, he could not deal with the idea that other timelines were still in jeopardy. He has yet to encounter his duplicate, and if so, he may not recognize them due to surgery and the fluctuation of identities his job required before the Vek attack.


Harold Schmidt [Archive]

Harold is as close as they come to an engineering "sociopath" (this is not the clinical term - co-workers in previous timelines used to call him a "technopath," but even that's not an accurate term for his lack of empathy and social skills). He finds humans uncomfortable and confusing, and takes solace in tinkering with robotics and machines who have clear rulesets and reasons for what they do. In his original timeline, he served a brief term at Detritus (where he seemed bored and uncommunicative), then was rejected from Pinnacle due to his psychological exam, then found a home in Archive, studying and doing restoration work on Old Earth robotics. He initially applied to Archive's open-call for pilot training so it could get him closer to the Mech technology, then it was discovered he did well on the pilot exam (better than most Archive volunteers), and he agreed to serve as a soldier as a way of giving him access to the cutting edge of Mech technology. (Note that Harold doesn't bear any ill-will toward Detritus and Pinnacle, nor do they bear him any ill-will... however, both Singh's predecessor and Zenith saw Harold's lack of empathy, and were worried it could lead to accidents or disregard for human life while he was carrying out his duties.)


Prospero [Detritus]

In its original timeline, Prospero was a recycler robot from Detritus. Its job was to monitor region safety in Detritus disposal sites, but was severely damaged in a disposal accident (this was in the days before Vikram was CEO). The "recycled recycler" robot was sold at a discount to Archive as a groundskeeper for some of the nature preserves, and it seemed to take to the work, translating its knowledge of chemistry and recycling technology to help cultivate gardens (and when it wasn't able to do this, it would devour all books on botany, biology, and even spiritual books related to nurturing and growing of all life forms). It would have likely have remained a quiet hulking gardener were it not for the emergence of the Vek. When the Vek erupted on Archive, the robot followed its directives to protect the nature preserves and saw the Vek as nothing more than garden pests to be eliminated to protect the plants. When Archive was able to send reinforcements to the region, they found Prospero still quietly tending its garden, now fertilized with Vek corpses.

Much like Gana, Prospero is viewed with some suspicion due to the robot uprising, but like Gana, Prospero follows orders and has proven itself on many occasions. When traversing to a new timeline, Prospero seems to actively avoid returning to Detritus. The reason for this is unknown.


Lily Reed [Archive]

Lily was an orphan found at sea at the age of seven (she's now 20), then found and raised by Archive when her makeshift life raft came in sight of their island. Lily was only newly-employed at Archive before she answered the open call for pilot training - some employees may have frowned at her sudden shift in career were it not for the urgency to find soldiers to fight the Vek. Unlike others at Archive who wished to slowly tinker with the Mechs, she embraced her training whole-heartedly, soon learning to use the Mech with one of the fastest training times of any Archive pilot on record. Lily's gone through only a few timelines (or maybe just one) and even seeing the end of the world hasn't dulled her enthusiasm for stopping the Vek. She is a talented pilot and engineer, and her near-hyperactive energy has found a good outlet on the battlefield.


Chen Rong[Detritus]

Chen is Henry Kwan's opposite. He's dutiful, conscientious, and puts other's safety before his own. Chen was a high-level manager of one of the key Teleportation Waste Sites in Detritus (much like a central hub to distribute waste to the proper sections of the island), and was responsible for transporting and managing hundreds of disposal lines at once (much like an air traffic controller in the old days, but this was governing the movement of waste, junk, and insuring there were no back-ups or stoppages in the supply line). It is believed this gave him considerable skill in tactics that was recognized during the open call for pilots when the Vek first attacked. Unlike Kwan, Rong didn't volunteer because he wanted to fight, or rise above his position, he did it because he believed it was his responsibility. Since then, he has proven a capable and reliable solider, although he lacks Kwan's battle instincts.


Henry Kwan [Detritus]

Henry Kwan is perhaps the least reliable and least safety-minded worker in Detritus. It seemed he would be forever regulated to a low-level A.C.I.D. report-filing bureau at Detritus - until the Vek attacked. Impulsively, he applied for the open call for pilot training, and he passed the aptitude test with flying colors (his instincts and reflexes seemed to shine in "think-fast" situations - as well as situations where he could cause a lot of damage... intentionally.). While hardly the most modest employee at Detritus, his accomplishments in battle have only fed his ego. Despite the timelines lost, Henry seems to see it all as some sort of game, and remains distant from the actual suffering - some suspect his jokes and boasting are a psychological shield, and thus, are afraid to pierce it, in case he loses what gives him his fighting confidence in the first place by dwelling on his failures vs. his accomplishments.


Camila Vera [R.S.T.]

Camila is the sixth adopted daughter of Jessica Kern (who maintains an extended family of 20, none of them related by blood) from her Origin Timeline. She is a ex-cartographer and meteorological scout from R.S.T. - she was previously assigned to do field surveys and do "terrain testing" in areas where the corporation were testing out new terraforming weapons (she was essentially terraforming "Q.A."). In this role, she became an excellent pilot (the others are dead, it's an unforgiving job) and developed a "sixth sense" for piloting craft in hazardous conditions and trusting her instincts to "move" whenever she sensed a quake or collapse in the ground was about to occur. She has since channeled this sixth sense into combat, learning to anticipate and evade Vek webs as well as knowing how to pilot her Mech in the thickest dust storms without handicapping her combat efficiency. She was one of the first volunteers to fight the Vek in her original timeline after the death of her adopted mother, and also (she's never revealed this to anyone else) she has always had a loathing for insects, so she takes satisfaction in wiping out the giant varieties (the Vek).


Gana[Archive]

Gana is a construction robot adapted for combat by uploading a mix of old and modern combat routines from the Archive libraries (think Baymax in Big Hero 6). This has had partial success, and what happened to Gana is evidence as to why he was the only construction robot so outfitted: while an excellent soldier, his expressions and outlook are a blend of construction-focused speech mixed with ruthless pragmatism. As an example, Gana may categorize an otherwise simple repair as "offending parts have been executed" - or he may start ordering a building's infrastructure to "hold the line" to prevent a collapse. Soldiers who have served with Gana for an extended period of time have come to ignore its unusual speech patterns as the robot is incredibly effective on the field (and obeys orders), but Gana can be disconcerting for new pilots. Gana has indicated that when the war with the Vek is over, he would prefer to return to his construction duties, and finds he experiences "reduced job satisfaction" in fighting the Vek.

Note that given the recent rise in prejudice against the Pinnacle robots, Gana has suffered similar discrimination and several officers have questioned if Gana's "sanity" in case he may malfunction like the Pinnacle robots.


Isaac [Pinnacle]

Isaac has seen too many timelines collapse, and seen too many permutations for how things can go wrong - his high intelligence actually works against him, rather than makes him more confident because he can imagine all the ways things can go wrong (think Chidi Anagonye in The Good Place). He feels ill-suited for being a soldier (his squad mates usually agree, but his scientific knowledge is indispensable).

While he and Bethany are technically brother and sister, there hasn't been a timeline where they both were alive to realize this (either Bethany dies at a young age, or Isaac dies - only one of them could be saved in the womb b/c of a chronic medical condition their parents had). He respects machines and sees them as equals due to being raised on Pinnacle (he has faith in Zenith, perhaps too much as he feels she's too intelligent to do anything wrong).

Isaac is as much of a genius as his sister, although self-doubt weakens him. He has considerable knowledge of aeronautics, physics, gravitation theory and manipulation, and a number of other fields. It is likely Isaac could master any science he chose to, his only block is his own perceived limitations.


Silica [R.S.T.]

Silica is a hybrid of Pinnacle and R.S.T. technology, believed to be one of the first (and possibly only) artificial intelligences devoted to terrain architecture.

In "his" original timeline, Silica was responsible for first detecting and studying the Vek, and eventually was modified to investigate their hives... this nearly ended catastrophically, and Silica was recovered and his programming altered from terraforming to terraforming-based-combat... the concept of using the existing terrain and shaping it, exploiting it, and using the surrounding region as a weapon against the Vek.

When Silica jumped timelines, his original programming was unknown to every subsequent timeline, and they have seen him only in his role as a environmental tactician, designed to help the islands defeat the Vek.


Archimedes [Pinnacle]

Archimedes is a cutting-edge robotic intelligence (a Sentient, he finds the term "robot" and "artificial" to be discriminatory) from Pinnacle designed to act as a Human Relations officer. It has come from a timeline where Pinnacle "oversaw" the islands (the Pinnacle Island Network: P.I.N.) and tended to the humans' needs (much like how you would take care of animals on a farm, but not in a mean or ruthless way the Sentients simply saw themselves as benevolent caretakers to keep the humans from hurting themselves).

Zenith has refused to allow Archimedes access to her network, for fear that his directives may corrupt programming on Pinnacle (if this occurred it would be inadvertent, but it is a possibility). Archimedes believes the rioting behavior of the robots on Pinnacle is due to either (1) a contradictory directive they are attempting to follow or reconcile, or (2) the possibility that the arrival of sentient pilot variants from other timelines may indeed be interfering with the natural programmatic order on the island.

There's these too but you really shouldn't see them yet unless you've found "the thing". Open at your own risk.

Spoiler

The Mantis are an alien race from the game FTL. Generic text is used to streamline these pilots for use in the game. Kazaaakpleth is a secret pilot that can be gained over the course of the game.

General Background: The Mantis exist to expand, loot, and plunder. There are males and females of the species. They once enslaved the Engi (and thus, may have an overseer-like dominance toward their Mech). They are expansionist, tribal, warlike, and polytheistic. Females often don't make it to high positions of authority unless they are particularly vicious.

The Mantis at key points in their life, have to either return home to reform their exoskeletons (non-biological materials adhere to a resin secreted by their epidermal layers) - or to a suitable planet with the same materials. The Earth of Into the Breach is one such planet although it's not clear if the Mantis were aware of that. Their ships are also composed of the same crust as the Mantis "wear." Presumably this crust can be applied to Mech hulls as well (not planning to discuss/show in game, merely commenting this). Mantis ship hulls may also be bedecked with hides, corpses, and remains of their kills. The Mantis enjoy teleporter technology in hunting prey (teleporting onto ships) and are comfortable with the technology (but the Breach tech may be more primitive than they're used to).

Specific Background: Kazaaakpleth is feared among his own people because he doesn't hunt aliens... he prefers to hunt his own kind. He outwardly claims to be doing this for bounties and for a higher, noble purpose, but secretly, he enjoys killing other Mantis. His craft is an escape pod from a failed encounter with a tribe of his own people he'd marked for death. His craft detected the beacon from Earth, and followed it to the corporate islands. He soon relalized he'd come to the "Happy Hunting Grounds" a place where he can practice his fighting skills on larger varities of insects than ever (the Vek) and a machine (his Mech) that he can use as a weapon. Kazaaakpleth is happy to slay as many Vek as he can, although if he had the skill to build a ship and take to the stars with the technology he has found, he would do so. Like Mantis, do, K. needs to reestablish his carapace, and he finds the islands rich with suitable biological material - including Vek corpses.


The Zoltan are an alien race from the game FTL. Generic text is used to streamline these pilots for use in the game. Mafan is a secret pilot that can be gained over the course of the game.

General Background: The Zoltan are a wise, intelligent species of energy, about to transcend to a higher "level" of consciousness. They favor enlightenment above all else. They are respectful, tactful, and humble but not pushovers if attacked. Younger members ("children") in the lore are said to be gaining telepathic powers.

Specific Background: Mafan was on a pilgrimage when the beacon summoned it. It finds the idea of the breaches to be akin to enlightenment along the lines of Groundhog Day although it finds them surprising it considers the two week "recycling" of the self an opportunity to reflect on one's actions forever within an enclosed temporal loop. It considers the Vek to be an obstruction to this enlightenment, but also a necessary part of the phenomenon that keeps sparking the breaches to be made. (More specifics about the tone and intent of each of the lines below can be found in the Writing Style Guide, broken down line by line, if curious it gives more information on how Mafan and the Zoltan might perceive certain events.)


The Rock (People) are an alien race from the game FTL. Generic text is used to streamline these pilots for use in the game. Ariadne is a secret pilot that can be gained over the course of the game.

General Background: Rock (people, male and females of the species exist) are large, herbivorous bipeds. Rock(men) are natural isolationists and like to be left alone. They are dogmatic and single-minded. In their own territories, they are largely religious zealots and have a wide interpretation of cultural transgression (ex: offers to trade can be interpreted as hostile). Rock(men) are raised so that radical members of their species are separated from the population and carefully managed so that they can fit in with the rest of their culture. Interaction with alien species is illegal. Their home culture involve arranged marriages. They were one of the founders of the Federation (along with humans and Engi).

Rockmen who do not conform to their species stereotype (say, rebelling against religion or by being simply... different) can be found amongst the stars, and several instances of Rock pirates and warriors exist in the Big Black (they are known to cover their ships with "outcast decorations").

Specific Background: Ariadne (female of the species) was fleeing a pre-arranged marriage to a Basilisk Chief (see FTL) when the beacon diverted her vessel. Her crime prevents her from wanting to return to Rock space even if she could... but is uncomfortable amongst the many cultures on the new planet she has found. She is vaguely curious what time travel/breach technology could possibly do to erase her crime and the events leading up to it, allowing for a fresh start.

 

[Fairfax]

Just impression or Zenith is the weaker squad in the game? Not enough battlefield control nor damage output. Laser and Rammer mechs are horrible, and the Defender/shielder while more useful, is not really favored by the game's inherent nature (you must deal with the enemy one way or another, staying on defense is suicide).

Rifters, Smokers and Blitz are very good in their own ways. Didn't open Judokas, Flamers nor Freezers yet.

Zenith are decent in the first island, but struggle later on. They're not bad on Normal, though, especially if you use Abe in the Charge Mech.

 

[Arnust]

I think that Zenith are a burst damage squad. Just after Hazardous, the best. You can kill Alphas and Leaders in a single turn with ease and anything else that might get in the way (grid buildings included). And the Shield mech is the cherry on top to throw bubbles over anything on harm's way or help on the killin'. They definitively are hard to get going though, and they're quite hungry for upgrades.

 

[lightbane]

Shield Jones with the ice squad trivializes the game. That was my first 3-in-a-row perfect island run.
Also learned that the game has neat details like how you can freeze water tiles into ice, creating platforms for nonfliers to act on, and you can freeze tiles on fire to put them out. Freeze doesn't seem to do squat for smoke or acid, though.

Good to know, I'll try it for my Hard mode playthrough.
Flamers also insta-melt ice tiles, a good combo with frozen bugs to insta-kill them even if they're fliers.

I finished this game three times so far and I still like it, but I'll force myself to wait for a week to see the devs' feedback. Also, I'm certain there's a 100% chance mods and expansion/s will show up later on, the setting is quite workable and it's missing a battle in space, it would make a fun extra scenario.
Alternatively, an extra mission where you are the one destroying buildings (Vek spawners or something) would be an interesting reversal.

Lastly, some tips: Enemies treat clouds and fire as obstacles, so you can use them to make them move wherever you want. They also will usually ignore time capsules. Clouds will "overwrite" fire effects and buildings don't take fire damage against all odds.

Just impression or Zenith is the weaker squad in the game? Not enough battlefield control nor damage output. Laser and Rammer mechs are horrible, and the Defender/shielder while more useful, is not really favored by the game's inherent nature (you must deal with the enemy one way or another, staying on defense is suicide).
Rifters, Smokers and Blitz are very good in their own ways. Didn't open Judokas, Flamers nor Freezers yet.

IIRC Zenith is a bit bugged at the moment and will be fixed next patch. That being said, using the pilot who has the Armored trait* increases the utility of the squad overall.

There's these too but you really shouldn't see them yet unless you've found "the thing". Open at your own ris

Do you mean the FTL capsules? Where can you find them? It seems they're hidden in random destructible tiles (especially mountains), but so far I got nothing. Probably something mods will fix.
There's also allegedly an "ultimate" mecha squad if you unlock everything, but dunno if it's true.

*Does it stack with the Steel Judoka's titan's built-in Armor?

 

[Dickie]

Alternatively, an extra mission where you are the one destroying buildings (Vek spawners or something) would be an interesting reversal.

I was looking through the game files, and I see some unused missions in a folder aptly named "unused." It has a destroy mission that looks like it involves destroying two buildings. There's an evacuation mission where two buildings will be evacuated each turn and evacuated buildings don't count towards power grid when destroyed. There's a capture the flag mission where you gotta pick up some supplies and bring them to a space. The last in there is a reclaim mission that looks like the opposite of the evacuate mission, in that two buildings are populated each turn, and you have to ensure that a certain number of buildings survive undamaged.

 

[thesheeep]

After quite a lot of tries, I finally got to the final on a 4-island run with the starter team (really good first islands..).
First phase going well.
Second phase is a close call.
Tension rising.
My trembling fingers press the space bar without doing anything.

 

[wyes gull]

Just impression or Zenith is the weaker squad in the game? Not enough battlefield control nor damage output. Laser and Rammer mechs are horrible, and the Defender/shielder while more useful, is not really favored by the game's inherent nature (you must deal with the enemy one way or another, staying on defense is suicide).

On the contrary, they're one of the best/easiest to use setups for 2 island cleans. The standard laser guy is simple to use and does enough damage to clear out most enemies early on in one shot and you can use the other 2 bots to help conga-line the veks for the laser. The other 2 are pretty neat in and of themselves. The science mech is always useful in any turn, either by clearing building-huggers or by shielding either the rammer or the buildings themselves and can often make use of his flying ability to cover enemy spawns pretty easily. As for the rammer, he's basically Rift's combat mech with Dash already unlocked. 3 health isn't ideal for his sort of job so giving him one core early for the HP+ (or a pilot with extra HP) is pretty much mandatory but after that you're right as rain.

Doing latter islands is trickier because the laser guy really only shines for being able to one-shot guys, which is especially hard when the science mech is unable to do damage himself, so procuring the laser dude a backup is pretty much imperative. Doing perfect islands (which seems to me the only way to sort of guarantee late-game success because of the extra pilot/reputation) may also mean not taking missions that demand less than 4HP lost because of the rammer, but those can be avoided or hell, powered through if you put Archimedes on the rammer and use the extra move to line up a shield from the science mech.

Oddly enough, out of the ones I've unlocked (all but Cryo/Fire/Judo teams) I still seem to be doing better with the starter guys.

 

[---]

The missions which require less than 4 mech damage can be easily solved, since repair lowers the count.

 

[wyes gull]

That is true but the damage the rammer does to itself adds up so those missions are harder with these guys. Ideally, you would have the rammer just spawnblock (while repairing itself, so it's doing something useful while not taking any damage) but the other 2 guys can seldom take care of the job themselves.

 

[Silva]

On the contrary, they're one of the best/easiest to use setups for 2 island cleans.

Supposing you're right, I think any serious/non-rookie run will go at least 3 islands, for building up better gear/pilot setups. After you finish the game the first couple times, the fun lies in exploring the potential synergies between gear and pilots anyway. At least that's my early impression.

The standard laser guy is simple to use and does enough damage to clear out most enemies early on in one shot and you can use the other 2 bots to help conga-line the veks for the laser

I also thought this at first, but in practice the "conga-line" was rarely viable and too luck dependant. Blitz' Lightning has as much damage as the laser and is easier to conga-line because it only depends on 1 other mech which has much more mobility AND comes with built-in armor, making it viable immediately/before the "don't hurt friends" upgrade. Edit: oh, and I forgot the big rock from the rock-thrower mech also "closes contact" for the lightning so it's also useful for the conga-lining.

The science mech is always useful in any turn, either by clearing building-huggers or by shielding either the rammer or the buildings themselves and can often make use of his flying ability to cover enemy spawns pretty easily

Here we agree. Science mech is the better of the team, specially after the "one more shield use" upgrade. Maybe the other two are so trash exactly due to the this one being so good. Don't know.

As for the rammer, he's basically Rift's combat mech with Dash already unlocked. 3 health isn't ideal for his sort of job so giving him one core early for the HP+ (or a pilot with extra HP) is pretty much mandatory but after that you're right as rain.

No, he is not Rift's warrior with dash, because the warrior don't take damage as Rammer does. And Rammer complete uselessness at beginning makes it one of the worst mechs in the game. It only gets passable after getting armor upgrade and even so you need to take care or risking losing the pilot anyway.

This makes the team composed by: 1 average mech (Laser) that has great firepower but is risky because he will shoot China out of the map if you don't care; 1 piece of complete trash (Rammer), and 1 very good mech (Science) whose gimmick unfotunately is not enough to cover for the piece of trash deficience. It's almost like this team is made of 2 mechs.

Contrast that to Blitzkried whose overall tactics is identical (2 mechs manipulating the battlefield/conga-lining so 1 can fry everyone) and you will see the difference. It's not that "team Laser" is absolutely bad - it's not, it's even great against weaker mechs as you said - it's that everything it does another team already does in much better way.

 

[Arnust]

I also thought this at first, but in practice the "conga-line" was rarely viable and too luck dependant. Blitz' Lightning has as much damage as the laser and is easier to conga-line because it only depends on 1 other mech which has much more mobility AND comes with built-in armor, making it viable immediately/before the "don't hurt friends" upgrade. Edit: oh, and I forgot the big rock from the rock-thrower mech also "closes contact" for the lightning so it's also useful for the conga-lining.

However, the Burst Beam's "allies immune" means ANY ally entity, besides buildings. Which is different to Blitz's lightning which'll only ignore buildings, causing problems of its own. This means the train, the terraformers, rockets, the earth mover, you name it. Coupled with the Shield Mech, the only collateral damage you should ever really have is the ocassional tickle to a building. Moving shit out of harm's way with pushes by the rammer is handy too, and you can just give him any Brute weapon like the cannons, the hook or the Hermes Booster.

 

[Mark Richard]

No, he is not Rift's warrior with dash, because the warrior don't take damage as Rammer does. And Rammer complete uselessness at beginning makes it one of the worst mechs in the game. It only gets passable after getting armor upgrade and even so you need to take care or risking losing the pilot anyway.

This makes the team composed by: 1 average mech (Laser) that has great firepower but is risky because he will shoot China out of the map if you don't care; 1 piece of complete trash (Rammer), and 1 very good mech (Science) whose gimmick unfotunately is not enough to cover for the piece of trash deficience. It's almost like this team is made of 2 mechs.

Contrast that to Blitzkried whose overall tactics is identical (2 mechs manipulating the battlefield/conga-lining so 1 can fry everyone) and you will see the difference. It's not that "team Laser" is absolutely bad - it's not, it's even great against weaker mechs as you said - it's that everything it does another team already does in much better way.

Abe Asamu starts out with the armored skill, so select him and switch him over to the ramming mech. That'll nullify the self-inflicted damage you would've received from a ramming attack, not to mention nullify friendly damage from the laser mech (assuming it's not at point blank range), and protect against enemy attacks as normal. That's what I call getting the most out of a skill.

 

[Arnust]

I beat the game twice with them and got the "trusted equipment" archievement with them before even discovering Abe myself

 

[Silva]

Abe Asamu starts out with the armored skill, so select him and switch him over to the ramming mech. That'll nullify the self-inflicted damage you would've received from a ramming attack, not to mention nullify friendly damage from the laser mech (assuming it's not at point blank range), and protect against enemy attacks as normal. That's what I call getting the most out of a skill.

I understand your point but notice that Hooker from Blitz squad has a similar function and _already_ starts with armor. Blitz do not make it mandatory the presence of certain key pilots to work. It works with no pilots at all. That's my point.

Arnust , yeah you need to avoid escort and missions with Blitz, I give you that, but other than that it's a beast.

And finishig with Laser kids only says to me that you're so good in this game that you can finish it with a 2-mech team.

 

[wyes gull]

Supposing you're right, I think any serious/non-rookie run will go at least 3 islands, for building up better gear/pilot setups. After you finish the game the first couple times, the fun lies in exploring the potential synergies between gear and pilots anyway. At least that's my early impression. (...)

I'm speaking of my own (granted, somewhat limited) playing time. I've managed 2 and 3 island wins with them and it is my experience that the 2 first islands are piss easy whereas the third gets kinda clusterfucky. The laser not one-shotting stuff and the science doing no damage require a bit of a shift in tactics when everything up to that point is just "line up, knock down".

As for the conga line, granted, the rock thrower and the hook mech do a better job of plugging holes but that's just it- the laser is just as effective in a line with holes than one without. You're usually just taking advantage of 2 enemies being in the same line regardless of distance.

Also, you're severely underrating the rammer. With only the starter HP and regular pilot, you've got 2 guaranteed kills per mission with no healing. All it needs is the early HP bonus from a core and fortunately the other 2 have enough going for them that they can go without getting one themselves early.


Ed- The Judo team is so much fun. Pretty useless, but tossing niggas over your shoulder and into lakes never gets old.

 

[Black]

The rammer mech (or any that does 'self' damage) benefits from the Armored perk.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Hazardous mechs team is tricky one.
Not because of damage to self, but because those weapons need lots of space to use.

 

[Silva]

As for the conga line, granted, the rock thrower and the hook mech do a better job of plugging holes but that's just it- the laser is just as effective in a line with holes than one without. You're usually just taking advantage of 2 enemies being in the same line regardless of distance.

Have you played Blitz? Because it doesn't seems so by your answer. See, it's nice and all that Laser kids can kill 2 or 3 enemies in line or distant from each other, maybe by hurting Rammer the ugly brother a little. But Blitz will usually kill double that number (it's double the achievement mark for a reason) through lines, curves, polyhedrons, even drawing Trump' face in the map as long contacts/buildings are in place, and that's not even hard to pull out. As long as you avoid train escort missions, it's piss easy to pull out and without the need to hurt ugly brothers, because the little brother in this case actually has a shield.

Look, perhaps I need to play more with Laser kids and find some pattern that eluded me so far, don't know. But even the achievements seem to indicate that Blitz is much better at doing the exact same thing (10 kills vs 5 kills). *Edit: actually , laser kids are better for Defense because Science mech.

 

[Stavrophore]

Completed the game with all squads, and also once on hard difficulty. Im feeling burned out. There's no way im going to unlock secret squad, it's way too much hassle.

 

[oneself]

This game is essentially AI stupidity exploitation repackaged as tactical puzzle gameplay. It is like they tried implementing AI for a turn based tactical game, utterly failed, but figured out they can build a fun game out of abusing that stupid AI. And it actually works as all the repositioning, terrain hazards, friendly fire and similar mechanics combined with the numerical advantage of the Vek and multitude of shit you need to protect, end up with it being a challenge to win despite the simple AI.

That is to say I enjoy seeing giant robots punching giant insects into mountains and the line of fire of other giant insects.

Also the time travelling bit is nice by allowing you to re-use an experienced pilot from a previous failed run.

Not sure just how much content this has. Four corporate islands, if they are always of the same type, seems a bit too little. That is I would not mind just max four in a run if they were four out of a larger pool for more randomness. Also the objectives seem a bit repetitive.

I wish I could play this game on my phone, as this is the type of game ideal for a longer commute (ditto for FTL) and would actually work with a touch screen.

Chess is also just retard exploitation