Total Purge of Kaldun Hive

[contributor]

So, it's pretty fun to discover something completely new even after beating the game a few times. I just beat the Factory Hive and on my last turn there will not be a single Xeno left to trouble the Rychart forces who come in to take over. For my new team I've sworn off of speed play and am seeing what happens when you grind slowly through a level with -MP gear. It's the biggest change I've ever made and is almost like playing a completely different game.

Needless to say, that on speed runs I almost never explore an entire level and normally run past spawning towers. If they don't die as we hit them running by, then too bad for us. That obviously wasn't an option with the factory though. Knowing that I was going to have to find a way to deal with heat and keep everyone cool and fighting I made it a point to take out as many spawners as possible. Well it was cool to discover that there are no towerless spawn points in Kaldun. So it's possible to completely stop xeno spawning. With the last TP neutralized (but unclaimed) there is no way for new xeno to spawn. It's pretty cool to completely dominate a map. We also mapped the whole thing got all of the bonus XP sites which is something I'd never seen before. It just took us 76 turns to do it all.

I was a little skeptical about the no speed thing (except scouts and a Twitch Kit for my cappy), but this team is finally coming into it's own and I'm looking forward to trying my new Low n' Slow strategy on further missions.

[Kanly]

That sounds like fun. Nice find. I think I'll give it a go after I finish my current run.

[redartrats]

Wow. The Kaldun factory was the level that made me give up the game the first time through, because I just couldn't figure out how to beat it back then. By the time I took two TPs my squad was overheating and ineffective (didn't know how to plan ahead and keep cool back then), and casualties result, and I don't like casualties. The second time through I took the east TP first, then pressed west with my entire squad, and succeeded in finishing the level, but lost the eastern TP by then.

Now your post encouraged me to take it slow and kill everything. Muahaha!! This third time round I'm gonna have my sweet, sweet revenge!!! I'm gonna burn out every last xeno in that basement until I can walk around the entire map unchallenged. Mine, mine, all mine!!!

[fallen]

contributor - that makes me really excited to hear! Glad that it is feeling so different than your normal strategy.

Dare I ask about XP rewards from secondaries and kill rates? Or do you feel like the group is suffering in that regard for not playing fast?

[contributor]

fallen, long story short. I feel it most in terms of RP. With speed I can regularly get 20-25℅ bonus. Even with lots of killing, going slow, I probably average 5℅. Most of the bonus finds are +xp, so you can keep up there a little better. I'll really know how far behind on xp I am when I complete the Dead Falcon mission. My cap normally hits level 19 there. This time I'm just focusing on soldiers and enough RP into Pally to bring out a healer, but it is noticeably tighter than my usual runs. It would be cool to see more bonus xp and rp drops in the game for slower players to make the styles more equal.

Edit: One thought about adding more xp and rp drops... If they were added next to or behind spawn points that would make it harder to nab them on a quick speed run, since it would be incredibly risky to zip a lone knight in there for the pick-up. You would need to do it in a slower more controlled fashion.

[redartrats]

Just finished Kaldun: Factory Core North by completely cleaning it out. contributor is right, there are no non-tower xeno spawn points, so once all TPs have been neutralized and all towers destroyed, there are no more xeno left to trouble me. Final stats:

9 veterans, 71 turns (goal 26 for 0% bonus), 163 kills (2.3/turn for 4% bonus), 5 secondary objectives (+25 XP), 88 XP + 28 bonus = 115 XP; 132 RP + 5 bonus = 137 RP.

[fallen]

Oct 7, 2016 9:55:12 GMT -5 redartrats said:

Just finished Kaldun: Factory Core North by completely cleaning it out. contributor is right, there are no non-tower xeno spawn points, so once all TPs have been neutralized and all towers destroyed, there are no more xeno left to trouble me.

There are a few levels like this in the game, not too many, but the ones where spawning towers are everywhere.

[capthawk]

Rychart FDF private *grumbles* : " Join the military, they said. See the Quadrant."
* Private pushes piles of Xeno guts with amazingly large squeegee.

[fallen]

Oct 8, 2016 11:17:34 GMT -5 capthawk said:

Rychart FDF private *grumbles* : " Join the military, they said. See the Quadrant."
* Private pushes piles of Xeno guts with amazingly large squeegee.

Lol

Did you talk to the soldier at the Rychart Military Base?

Cracks me up every time.

Homage to one of the greatest game experiences ever in my childhood.

[capthawk]

"Is this what was promised us?..."

I'm wracking my brain trying to think of the game the egg refers to..

[fallen]

Oct 8, 2016 11:51:37 GMT -5 capthawk said:

"Is this what was promised us?..."

I'm wracking my brain trying to think of the game the egg refers to..

Huh, I went back and looked at it, and ... it looks like our editing pass ground out the reference.

I will re-instate

[Cory Trese]

That is one of the risks of having professional editing I suppose -- they don't always get the inside jokes

[Brutus Aurelius]

Oct 8, 2016 13:09:59 GMT -5 fallen said:

Oct 8, 2016 11:51:37 GMT -5 capthawk said:

"Is this what was promised us?..."

I'm wracking my brain trying to think of the game the egg refers to..

Huh, I went back and looked at it, and ... it looks like our editing pass ground out the reference.

I will re-instate

What was the original line?

[fallen]

Join the army, they said.
See the Quadrant, they said.
I'd rather be in the navy.

[contributor]

I discovered that the Starport Vault can also be completely cleansed of spawners. "It's just you and me worm-boy..."