So, these showdown devices...

[zoutzakje]

What do I do with them and what will they do for me?
heard they can lead to an alternate victory, but what kind of nasty and crazy stuff will happen before I reach that victory?

[Aklyon]

You need to hold all four planets to trigger their event. Defend them well.

[keith.lamothe]

but what kind of nasty and crazy stuff will happen before I reach that victory?

Very nasty, and very crazy stuff

I can tell you, but are you sure you wouldn't rather perish horribly several times first?

[Cyborg]

The showdown event is a lot of fun. My favorite new feature and way to die. If you have never done this before and you are just trying to win, think of it as a way to break a stalemate. You need to have the right defensive set up to make this work, and you will be punished by a multiplier for every super weapon you have turned on.

It's not a winning condition that is going to work in every game. Very situational.

[Tridus]

The AI Will throw everything but the kitchen sink at you. Then they will throw the sink.

Then they will manufacture a new sink, fill it with smaller sinks, put those on a truck, create a giant rail gun, and shoot that truck at you.

It's definitely a way to test your defensive prowess.

[Cyborg]

The AI Will throw everything but the kitchen sink at you. Then they will throw the sink.

Then they will manufacture a new sink, fill it with smaller sinks, put those on a truck, create a giant rail gun, and shoot that truck at you.

It's definitely a way to test your defensive prowess.

It's what defender mode could have been…

[keith.lamothe]

The AI Will throw everything but the kitchen sink at you. Then they will throw the sink.

Then they will manufacture a new sink, fill it with smaller sinks, put those on a truck, create a giant rail gun, and shoot that truck at you.

It's definitely a way to test your defensive prowess.

Don't forget the factory used to build all those sinks.  That gets thrown too.  And the factory used to build the factory, etc.

It's what defender mode could have been…

I had not thought of it that way, but that's quite true.  It's like defender mode but within the game rather than an alternate mode of the game.  I still want to redo defender mode, but to a large extent I'm not sure how given the fundamental problem of "this isn't a mix-in, it's something totally different, and it doesn't fit naturally with most of the mix-ins".

[zoutzakje]

hmm, sounds painfully interesting, Unfortunately one of the showdown devices in my current game is at a dead end on the map where I have no further business. So I suppose I'll find out exactly what happens in my next game. And no Keith, I rather wouldn't perish horribly several times first Not even for !!Science!! That used to be fun when I just started the game, but now that I got really good at it the 'death by unknown' simply isn't that appealing to me anymore Though I had fun with the dyson+hyrbid plot when it was just introduced.

[Tridus]

There's a thread somewhere from back when Vengeance of the Machine was in testing about the showdown devices that has details on what they do, if you want to know the real answer.

[keith.lamothe]

Yep, here's the thread in question: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,13266.0.html

Toranth did a pretty comprehensive job of describing it from the player's perspective.  I offered a few factual corrections, iirc, and some changes followed from that feedback, so getting a sense of "how is it now?" may involve reading most of that thread.