Okay, so a few weeks back, I got the idea in my head to see if I could win this game using only sidearms. (And also grenades; I'm not *that* crazy... or am I?) :P I only picked up other weapons to extract ammo from them, then immediately dropped them. I didn't use any weapon I couldn't hold in the "sidearm" weapon slot. It took a few tries, but I finally got it. Yay! :D
On this attempt, unlike other attempts, I went straight to Master skill level for sidearms first, before deviating to get any other traits. (Well, as straight as is possible to go, considering how expensive it is, even with the Scout's reduced cost for sidearm skill) Any benefit from the weapons skills is hardly noticeable until Master level, and even then, I still miss a lot when enemies are at range, and have to wait 'til they get closer to reliably hit them.
Ammo was really scarce at the beginning, as I was totally reliant on my starting M4A3 pistol, and having to throw away all 5.56 ammo I found, since there aren't any sidearms that use it, and I had to avoid most of the aliens I encountered, but once I found the colt, and shortly after, the sawed-off shotgun, my ammo worries disappeared for the rest of the game.
The colt and krak grenades were the only armour-piercing weapons I had, so I had to save their ammo for Elites and Praetorians, and couldn't spare any for breaking down doors, so I ended up having to dawdle a lot until I could get Expert Technical skill, so I could hack open the military doors in the Main Tower, since there were a few of them between me and the elevator on one of the upper levels. I also got advanced Fitness, so I could hold more grenades, since I (correctly) anticipated that I would need as many as I could carry for the final fight against the Queen.
Along the way, I made some interesting discoveries I was not previously aware of... or perhaps they're new additions to this version and I just didn't play it that much? Anyway, it appears that you can only get the "exploration bonus" once per level. I guess, in previous games, I headed straight to the end so quickly, I didn't notice. I had thought you just get that bonus periodically, regardless of what level you're on. This meant that in order to get all the skills I had, I had to grind a *lot,* and kill a lot of aliens, doing a lot of wandering around the various towers... not the Military Tower, though, since I didn't feel up to facing the sentry bots, and I can't use the ammo they drop anyway... which explains why I ended up with so many security keys. :P Also, level 7 of each of the various towers doesn't connect with any other tower. (Has that been a thing all along? I don't remember it)
Another thing that really helped during the final showdown is that sentry turret kits are apparently really powerful! :o I had two of them set up, (meaning I had to set one up, then run back and get the other one, since you can only carry one at a time) :P and they took out Praetorians with a surprising amount of ease. (With the assistance of my colt, of course) :) It helped the endgame out considerably. The Queen fell to an incendiary grenade and two krak grenades, and a bunch of colt shots.
-- AliensRL 0.8.4 BETA 1 (r983) Post Mortem --------------------------
Name : Tormuse
Class : Scout
Rank : Veteran
Result : killed the queen and escaped
Score : 18470
Total experience : 14940
Experience left : 1160
Game length : 516195 turns
Security keycards : 25
Military keys : 0
Armor : Plasteel armor [3]
Sidearm : M4A5 compact pistol (7/7)
Primary : .44 colt (6/6)
Heavy : sawed-off shotgun (ready)
Medpacks: 4
-- Graveyard ---------------------------------------------------------
#..#
#..#
#..#
#..#
#..#
##################################//#####################
#................................/../....................
#................................/../...............%....
#..###############################//#####################
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#..#....|þ.þ#..........|.......°|............#.....|.....
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-- Skills ------------------------------------------------------------
Sidearms : master
Light weapons : untrained
Heavy weapons : untrained
Technical : expert
Medicine : advanced
Fitness : advanced
Perception : basic
-- Ammunition --------------------------------------------------------
9mm ammo : 189/400
5.56 ammo : 400/400
.44 ammo : 115/150
M309 ammo : 500/500
M250 ammo : 500/500
60mm gren. : 40/40
12g. shells : 185/200
napalm cartrid: 20/20
frag grenade : 4/5
inc grenade : 3/5
krak grenade : 1/5
-- Other items -------------------------------------------------------
4 * medpack
4 * armor pack
25 * security key
9 * multi-tool
5 * painkiller pack
5 * stimpack
2 * military stimpack
1 * military medpack
-- Kills (1300) ------------------------------------------------------
180 juveniles
198 warriors
35 elites
14 praetorians
183 scavengers
94 hunters
39 stalkers
372 drones
177 workers
7 overseers
1 queen
-- Messages ----------------------------------------------------------
here.
The praetorian slashes you!
You criticaly hit the praetorian! The
praetorian impales you!
You lightly hit the praetorian!
You hit the praetorian! The
praetorian slashes you! The
praetorian impales you!
You barely hit the praetorian! The
praetorian dies.
You use a medpack. You feel much
better!
You reload your weapon.
You activate the elevator. Entering
Civilian Tower, level 1...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PS This was my highest ever scoring game! Yay again! :D
Author
Topic: [0.8.4 BETA 1|Sc|YAVP] Sidearm purity (Read 13528 times)