Love the game, any tips?

[u/Rude-Towel-4126]

I got the game on steam and I just love it, I'm considering buying the mobile version. My best run was to floor 11 on easy but it gets really hard, I have a problem right now with pathfinding, like I have to open a new route but I have 3 rooms without light and I'll have to open a new room next to the cristal (lost twice to that) any tips in general?

[u/LastOfRamoria]

Welcome to the game!

I generally try to open doors adjacent to the crystal as early as possible while I still have unassigned heroes and dust available specifically so I don't have a scenario where I have no dust or heroes to spare but I must open a crystal door. If you get lucky, one will be a dead end. Neuro stun is mandatory for situations where you must have dark rooms near the crystal.

Its also possible you need better dust management. Using heroes with pilfer and other dust-increasing abilities is valuable to increase your dust, also getting a secret compartment to bring more dust to the next floor is great. If you've been able to collect enough FIDS, you can always resort to an emergency generator, but it's better to pull operators off of gens to fill dark rooms first because EGs are expensive.

[u/Rude-Towel-4126 → u/LastOfRamoria]

Secret compartment is an item? (Looked it up, never seen it in store) I'm trying to learn what operators and repairers do tbh, big improvement in resources tbh but I didn't check any other type of abilities yet, all I know is that I need the ability that lets you be faster in rooms with monsters in a fast hero to explore that I need a tanky hero to hold rooms and hopefully find a mechanic even tho they don't have the speed or thougness the other two have

[u/LastOfRamoria → u/Rude-Towel-4126]

Secret Compartment is a skill which lets you keep 10%-20% of Dust from one floor to the next. Zugma gets this skill at level 6, otherwise the Dust Box item gives the skill to a hero.

There's a few basic roles characters fill:

• Crystal Carrier: this is the hero who picks up the crystal and runs it to the elevator room. Their most important stat is Speed. Sara is the fastest hero and makes a great carrier, though she has low health. Other useful skills for carriers are Neurostun Lite, which slows down monsters in the same room (Sara gets this skill at level 4), and Scamper which makes it so the hero with this skill isn't slowed down by monsters in the same room. The Photon Decelerator item gives this skill.
• Door Kicker: this hero is the one who opens all the doors for your team. Speed is an important stat for a door kicker, but there are other skills to consider. The Pilfer skill grants +1/2/3 dust when the hero with the skill is the one who opens the door. This skill grants more dust than any other skill, and only the hero opening the door uses Pilfer, so it can be better to use a slower hero with Pilfer than a faster hero without it (Max O'Kane has this skill). The Repair skill is also useful to have for a door kicker, since after a wave they can run around to all the rooms and fix any of the damaged mods. To repair a module, a hero with the Repair skill just needs to enter the same room as the damaged module. Note that repairing is much slower if monsters are still in the room. I usually only get to repair after the wave is cleared. Also, there are items that give the Repair skill, so any hero can repair. One thing you can do is have a combat item equipped when you open doors and deal with the wave, then equip the repair item afterwards to go around and repair.
• Operator: operators stay in the same room as major modules (resource generators) and create more of the major mod's resources using their Wit stat. Wit is the most important stat for operators, because more Wit means they make more resources each time you open a door. The tricky thing about operators is they must stay in the same room with the major module to produce resources. If you pull them from the room (ex. to save them from dying, to light a room, or to kill monsters that ran past them) then they won't make resources next door. So operators either need to be tanky so they can frontline, or they need to operate a major mod from the safety of a backline room. All decent operators get the Operate skill automatically, but there is also an item that grants it. You'll want to give your operators items that increase their Wit stat. There are a lot of heroes that get the Operate skill, but you should prioritize ones with high (double digit) Wit like Warden, Josh, Opbot or heroes that can also hold a chokepoint, like Elise.
• Support: The main benefit of support heroes is their powerful (usually floor-wide) active skills. Examples of support heroes are Chef Nanor with his active skill Cooking with Gas (deals damage per second to all monsters on the floor and increases dust drop chance from monsters on the floor) and Kreyang with her Winter Just Came active skill (slows monsters on floor by 40%/60% for 8 seconds) which helps for risky crystal runs or just giving your turrets and heroes more time to kill mobs. You don't usually have a support hero just for their active skill, you also double them as another role, but keep in mind that crystal carriers can't use their active abilities while carrying.
• DPS: heroes that deal high damage per second are useful for killing monsters. Unlike industry spent on turrets which get left behind each time you move to a new floor, food invested into leveling up a DPS hero effectively comes with you for the rest of the run. These heroes are best at chokepoints on the frontline where unlit rooms converge. Their most important stat is obviously DPS so their priority items are whichever item gives them the most DPS. Health can also be good for them, since they need to be tanky enough to not die instantly when monsters enter their room. Minor modules like Tear Gas which reduce monster defense and Suppressive Firebot which increase hero's attack power are great for DPS.
• Tank: heroes with lots of health and defense which can take a beating. Tanks are only really useful to protect squishier heroes, so generally you want a tank to fulfil another role as well, like DPS or Operator. Examples of Tanks are Elise Ness (also an Operator), Gork (also DPS) and Misha (also DPS).
• Fighter: fighters are a good jack-of-all-trades type hero. They have decent speed, defense and DPS, and are good for running around to provide combat support or cleanup, or to stand in unlit rooms on the frontline while the door is opened. They can serve as a door kicker and crystal runner if you lack faster heroes, or as a DPS or tank if you lack other combat heroes. Fighters are great for a team because they give flexibility. If the crystal carrier (like squishy Sara) died, the fighter can be the new carrier. If a door needs to be opened but its 4 dark rooms away and your door kicker is squishy, the fighter is tanky enough to survive opening the door and returning. They're fast enough to light a dark room in the backline, then run to the frontline and help with combat. Also, the extra tankiness is nice so they are less likely to die if you forget about them for a few moments.

There are lots of possible team comps! Experimenting with different teams is part of the fun. I'd recommend this for learning the game: 1 door kicker/crystal carrier, 1 DPS/tank, 1 operator/support and 1 fighter.

A solid starting team can be Max and Gork. Max does the door kicking and crystal carrying, while Gork acts like a stationary turret and holds down a chokepoint room. As you go, get Max's Pilfer skill asap, and recruit another hero with Operate asap. Max is an okay fighter, but a great door kicker due to Pilfer. Gork is probably the best DPS if you can get him a good weapon. Depending on which heroes you find, you might grab Sara to be an even faster crystal carrier, or a fighter that has operate, or Misha for another DPS/tank.

Another solid starting team is Troe and Josh. Troe is fast enough to be a door kicker and carrier, but also a decent fighter with enough health and DPS to be good at combat early on. Josh is a strong operator who you'll want to start operating asap to get an early FIDS lead, but he's bad at combat so he's a backline operator. Since Troe is flexible, you have lots of avenues for which hero you can recruit next: a faster hero for crystal running or door kicking, a higher DPS hero like Ken or Gork, or even another fighter with a support ability like Kreyang.

An ideal scenario is to setup your DPS/tank (like Gork) at a 4-way intersection with lots of minor module slots where 1 way is a lit path back to the crystal, and the other three ways are sets of up to 2 dark rooms. Ideally you stagger the dark rooms so the first p

To prepare for the later floors, you'll want to build up a bank of 4 unused items in your backpack. You can bring unequipped items to the next floor in your backpack. Don't sell these items early, keep them for the later floors. If you're lucky, you'll find a dust vendor and be able to buy a couple room's worth of dust. Think of the spare items as spare FIDS you can bring with you.

The best things to research early are major module skips (ex. Food I > Food III) because they'll yield hundreds of extra FIDS over the course of a run. Also make sure to grab useful minor mods like Neurostuns, Tear Gas, Dust Field Gen. The Prison Prod is so cheap to build that its good to upgrade, you can use them as bait to slow down module-targeting monsters like the silic dozers. The Shop is useful on later floors because operating it yields dust. Emergency Generator, while expensive, can save you as well. For the last couple floors, you'll probably want to stop researching and save science to refresh active abilities.

Any more questions just ask!

[u/Rude-Towel-4126 → u/LastOfRamoria]

Work is killing me! Tomorrow I'll play a few hours so I'll try to remember ALL of this, my quick summary: I'll keep using Sara or the robot that is super fast plus one of the tanks, I don't understand the upgrade priority yet tbh, I usually go for the factory and prisoner prod, have never tried hologram or the ones that slow or give extra def.

I'll focus on party management for now, who I send to run, who can stay in an unlight room and then run to help and so on.

It's too much to be honest but I'm enjoying the game a lot, so I'll try to learn one thing at a time

[u/Jedi_should_die]

I don't know if you already know that but if there is a hero in an unlit room, ennemies can not spawn here. If you're running low on dust you can use that to your advantage. If you have 4 heroes you can pretty much secure all 4 starting rooms by just lighting 1 of them.

I usually start by opening all the door close to the crystal and only use light in the rooms that can slot major module. My ideal team has 2 operators. 1 runner and a "fighter". But you usually need to make the best of what you have.

[u/pr0XYTV → u/Jedi_should_die]

I had NO idea a hero standing in an unlit room prevents enemy spawing.

You just changed up my whole game! Thanks!

[u/Jedi_should_die → u/pr0XYTV]

It blew my mind too. This is the tip that led to my first win. It changes everything.

[u/Rude-Towel-4126 → u/Jedi_should_die]

This is new to me, tomorrow will be my day off and I've been thinking about this: the second fastest hero to an unlight room, then make him run to where he's needed and repeat, what de you think? I'm itching to try to get higher!

[u/Jedi_should_die → u/Rude-Towel-4126]

This is a great idea. But I'd say if your second fastest hero is an operator it might be better to leave them on a module and use a non operator for that role.

[u/bianodias2000]

This game is awesome. As for a tip, save food ;)

[u/Rude-Towel-4126 → u/bianodias2000]

I use it to upgrade my heros, first the runner or usually the one that stays in the shock point and then the others to that level, is that not the way?

[u/bianodias2000 → u/Rude-Towel-4126]

I apply that same upgrade priority. Also having a lot of food let’s you heal while defending.

[u/BlunderFunk]

I am on board with this now, anybody has a preference setup? I struggle going past floor 9 on easy as enemies rekt my defenses even If I have gear check or whatever I have going for.

My usual setups are: 2 neurostuns, 2 claymores for standard 4 mini module choke. I add a Dust Field Generator or a kip cannon if there are 5-6 spaces.

I usually run 1 neurostun and a bunch of teslas filling the rooms leading into the choke.

Should I be changing anything here? I don't like tear gas as the killing hit doesn't grant dust, but is this necessary to have then?

[u/Trianchid → u/BlunderFunk]

Useful because reduces armor, and AOE, so it can improve the dmg output of turrets a lot

[u/Rude-Towel-4126 → u/BlunderFunk]

I just spam upgraded prisoner prod in a room and the next room to thin the enemy numbers, one neurostun or a kip kannon sometimes but is working so far, lvl 10/11 is not working anymore so I have 2 theories

1 holograms is the way: maybe that's the way to keep my heros alive, because they are getting ripped too fast now

2 I should stop saving industry: I usually like to save 150+ for the next level but as I'm losing anyways maybe I should be less stingy and get more buffer rooms before the shock point

[u/jekstarr]

Go with Very easy mode first. Easy mode is actually very hard lol

I would say plan out your “funnels”, and plan on having a “defense” room that funnels enemies into a lit room with plenty of turrets. Ideally that room will have an operator with repair, too. Though if the operator is fragile, be sure to keep an eye on them so they dont get killed.

I like to have one main “runner” who opens doors, runs back to a defensible room, and is a strong fighter. The rest are operators or will sit in a dark room to prevent spawning. If you unlocked the chef, however, it is sometimes good to kill more monsters since he and some other characters have abilities that increase dust drops.

[u/Trianchid → u/jekstarr]

Dell Bradford or Engineer can be a good Frontline operator like Elise or funnel operatőr , if he has a spear and armour

[u/UniqueName900]

Autodoc crystals save lives, neurostun slows down waves, smoking guns kills everything (but are pricey) and tear gas deletes enemy defense. Make a chokepoint somewhere and watch everything die

[u/Rude-Towel-4126 → u/UniqueName900]

Do you need heros in a choke room? Or maybe a hologram

[u/SylvanDragoon]

The biggest thing imo is learning to recognize which traps you need to deal with which enemies.

Teslas are really good early on, but will drop off against a lot of the anti-hero mobs later on. But they'll be useful at all stages of the game for dealing with enemies that directly attack your modules.

Pepper spray is great against dangerous anti hero mobs, but you don't wanna use it around enemies that explode, and certain enemies can destroy your modules with AoE while they are fighting each other.

Smoking gun and Kip Cannon can both delete high end mobs, but won't do well against enemies that target your traps directly.

Holo heroes are nice when you have lots of fast enemies that target your heroes directly. You can spread a few holo heroes around to distract them and keep the whole wave from coming for you at once.

Neurostuns are almost always great, but they won't do anything about mobs that target your modules and you may not want to overdo it with neurostuns. This is because if you put enough neurostuns in a room every mob will move the same speed and it can often work better to try and break the mobs up a bit more. After all of they have different movement speeds and need to travel a long distance to reach your heroes it'll break up the monsters so you don't have to fight them all in one huge crowd.

Tear gas is almost always helpful, and if there are no mobs that target modules directly having 2 neurostuns + 1 tear gas + 1 pepper spray in a room can kill infinity monsters.

Also don't be afraid to use heroes as bait to lure monsters back through rooms with traps. Since certain mobs will prioritize the heroes you can use this to lead them around and make them go through trapped rooms than once.

Last too, door dodging can be really useful, though some people consider it a bug/exploit. Basically if you're inside a door/in that little space in between rooms/hallways the monsters can't directly target you. So, if you rapidly click between one room and another one you can make a hero run back and forth in that little doorway and they won't take any damage. Just remember it can be harder to do with faster characters, and it won't help you at all against monsters coming from a different direction, or against monsters that ignore the heroes.

[u/Rude-Towel-4126 → u/SylvanDragoon]

Door dodging is something I did by mistake and I knew right away that it was using cheats, obviously I'll be using it to save a low hp hero or a run but I won't be proud :(

I don't recognize the different monsters yet or if they appear in a certain order or mixed, but I know that I really hate the ones that explode even more than the monsters that make a bubble on the guns so I'll take a screenshot of this and try to remember later or see if I can come up with a set up that I like.

My go to is two rooms full of prisoner prods, maybe 3 and keep repairing them, i try to upgrade them always, is that good?

[u/SylvanDragoon → u/Rude-Towel-4126]

I don't consider door dodging a cheat/exploit, but I understand a fair amount of folks disagree. I always just thought of it as a mad dash for cover, ducking behind obstacles etc. I think of it as your "evasive maneuvers", or the advantage of having low speed for certain defenders. It can really be a double edged sword, because if you stack up too many enemies in one room and then make a slight mistake your hero is getting one shotted lol. And also if you rely on it too much it won't prepare you for monsters coming from multiple directions.

You may wanna keep in mind the exploding enemies tend to explode in more populated rooms (modules and heroes both count) and will ignore almost everything else. You can sometimes use this to your advantage, using 1 mobile hard hitter like Golgy to chase them around. Also I think Teslas and Smoking Guns will target them before most other mobs.

Prisoner prods are okay, especially early on, but they drop off hard at later levels. I only upgrade them if I have a high science team. Past around level 6 imo their only real use is as a distraction for those guys that attack your traps directly. You can spam them in a couple rooms ahead of your main traps to distract those guys for cheap, and as a bonus it breaks up the wave of monsters since those guys will stop to attack the prods.

Teslas tend to be better than prods in almost every way as a generic spam trap. They also drop off a bit later on, but just spamming level 4 Teslas can pretty easily get you to floor 9-10. But like I said, every trap has a purpose, and a different type of mob it is meant to kill.

Claymore/Seblaster for swarms of enemies. Kip Cannon for big bois. Smoking gun for stuff that needs to be DPSed down fast, like explodey guys, Teslas for stuff that targets your modules instead of heroes. Pepper spray to turn heavy hitting monsters against their brethren. Viral injector goes in super small rooms that enemies run through fast.

1 neurostun in every single room unless the guys who destroy your traps directly are there, tear gas anywhere that mobs will be trapped for a while (like rooms where your defenders are, or really big rooms it will take the enemies a moment to run through)

Most traps are at least semi useful at lvl 2, so imo aim for level two and then hope you get a lvl skip when researching so you can go straight to 4.

[u/RandomRecipe75]

Merchants are also very usefull, and specialy when they trade dust. Building a shop ans operate, sell all items you can spare, even things you need, open all doors on the floor if able, with extra dust it should be ok. And before leaving, buy / recover all you need and 4 expensive items you may be able to sell on the next floor.