Hello !
I just wanted to add a few thoughts on the game, as I've finished my first game and am starting working on achievements.
I've bought most of arcen games over the years, but this one I put on hold as it looked very much spreadsheet like. But, actually, it's way better than it looks like from the trailer.
My first game was the default one, with meg + 4 "standard" exos in normal difficulty. I'm rather used to video games but it was a cakewalk once the first 10 days were passed. Still, it was fun switching equipement on exos, making the focus on one or another one and razing an entire map with a single exo. I laughed as I tricked AI into shooting each other, but I admit I did not really play with virus and mines as shooting outright was waaaay easier.
Once won, I tried another game, on "expert" with the shopper & 4 snipers for the achievement. That was kind of a bad idea as the power gap between both diff level is very huge, but... well... That'd teach me the game better. I guess. In normal barely anything passed the 2000 hp line and here every other robot does After a dozen days I had to stop, it was nearly impossible to finish anything. The RNG hated me as I did not get a single weapon part with something else than area effect bonuses (which snipes can't use), and I managed to find myself out of ammo multiple times. Also, lack of area attack is crippling.
My current game is the same concept with Genjy. As epic snipes have AOE attack the game is much more doable, even if some bots I can't really pass without save scumming a bit. Doombots in particular I can't beat unless there is less than 5 of them in a mission.
Now about my remarks...
- The balance between bots is really, really strange. Some start with 100 hp and other get 2000. The growth is also strange. There does not seem to be a obvious link between the "quantity" of hp units get and the day or growth. That lead me to mutiple times where my ammos were depleted while I did not even was in danger (multiple radarbot + emp is the worst... VERY easy to protect against, but waaaaaay to ammo-consuming).
Would it be possible to see the growth of AI units in game ? Currently clicking on "robot army" gives you a list, which is not anything helpful. Also, I'd love if it was possible to set-up an information "subcreen" of robots, for example by right clicking on them, which would give you a "detailed" information screen like your robots have. It would help players when they do not know what weapons the bot have do. Also some robots have 2 weapons but only one shows.
- Shooting is strange. Sometimes the snipers gets 2 shots while no robot moves, sometime it does not. Sometimes the AI seems to shoot before I do. It takes some time being used to. "Robot" turns seem to happen very fast and it's very difficult to see what's happening sometimes. No idea how ot improve this, maybe I'm not used to the game yet.
- The interface... does its work. Yet, I'd propose the following:
I currently have 4 snipes and the information "subscreen" only tells me about the trap level, and ammo. Could it give me virus, hack, stealth, turrets, mines too ? With 4 similar exos I just can remember which has what and the information subscreen does not give the remaining mines / turrets / stealth points either. Also, is it possible to set a comment ? Again, when playing with 4 of the same I have "Ultra long (whatever)" 4 times... As there are achievements for playing with the same types...
- Range... I just cannot see where I shoot and where I'm about to be shot. Whether it's my units or the robots. When I click "control" I expected to see the range of all robots. Then, if I were on an "attackable" case by robot(s) I'd have said robot(s) highlighted, and if I highlighted a robot, I expected to see it's range (that works fine =)). Would that be doable ?
- About mines and turrets, is there a button for placing them behind you ? It's really annoying for mines in particular to systematically have to turn to place them.
- About customisation I'm not sure about commenting yet. Placing the parts is kind of confusing right now, as there are a lot of part, a lot of positions to be filled and the interactions between slots is complex. I'd like a "shit shop" selling white parts with purposely "low" stats (like mk-2 compared to current look). It would help a lot not being screwed by RNG. About the MK of parts, it seems you get mk around (50 - remaining days) / 2. Is that right ?
- About the general customization interface... would it be possible to set-up filters with icons on the side of the part box instead of the current list ?
- Also, could you add a "+% to shield, propulsion, weapon" on the stat box ? What I mean is that I would want to know how much bonuses I have to for example propulsion before adding more mines.
- About the general map, is there a point to the warnings about the lion's den, robot command center and assassination ? Overall the comments look like it's a bad idea to attack them. Given that the above calculation for mk of parts seems accurate... I don't see the downside in doing those missions. About the robot command center, it looks like the robot levels and manufactoring gets up as much as it does from a single day, and that the mk of parts from missions just jumps by +2 once it's finished. I don't see how that could hurt you. About both others, early game, they're weaker, but late game you're supposed to be able to beat them anyway if you prepare for the late battle. So why the warning ? Also does the assassination mission reduce non-boss quantities ? Also, the number of boss from assassination mission is random, from 0 to all of them... There should at least be one of them there. Also, for the command center, you get "orange" part that you can either use or sell for a buttload of money, which improves you even more.
Ooopsss... wall of text.
Anyway, the game is very fun for now. I'll add other remarks when I played a bit more I guess =).
