Jupiter Hell > Post Mortem

[1.5a|H|Royal|Te|YAAM] Platinum for one hard level and a 35 level cakewalk

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Brickman:
I took a long break from playing the game for a while, and when I came back a lot of content was added that I think makes it harder (but also more fun). And I was rusty, so my next several runs were just regular. But I'm back to attempting badges, and I started with this one.

Royal Trial 100% is a pretty goofy challenge, because the second floor is super hard but from there it just gets progressively easier. Your power level keeps snowballing as you constantly have to choose between throwing away items which could each carry you in a normal game, and claim multiple branch-exclusive rewards. On the plus side, it is a fun way to get to see every level in the game; there were several I hadn't seen at all and many more I hadn't seen since they were reworked.

My strategy, after a failed attempt at military base and a failed attempt at the rift using starter equipment, was to go for broke in the military base. The soldiers outclass you at range but are nothing special in melee, so I used my smokescreen to close and used the guaranteed combat knife to kill the first couple soldiers. It still took a bit of luck, but that earned me access to the first few exotics, which were enough to kill the rest. The most notable piece of loot was that "failing battery" pistol, which easily took out MDF Central and thus all robots, and from there the rest of the run was a joke.

Other notable loot: Military Base also gave me a Super Shotgun with Second Chamber (quickly modded with Swap Harness) that I kept using all the way until late Io, when I traded it for a molten demonbane jackhammer. And the Lockdown squad in Docking Bay dropped that "Red clearance" helmet, just in time to finish looting the level, which I proceeded to hold onto all the way to Io, ditching it after clearing both red keycard levels. Everything else was interchangable. Oh, and the Ancient Sword, see below.

Everything was a cakewalk until I got to Io, when I found a sword and suddenly realized I had no plan for the Shattered Abyss. Technician can't give himself even a mild boost against the Swordmaster without huge investment (3-5 traits and ideally two weapon slots, or I guess you could mod your sword to high heaven). When I crunched the numbres on doing that level with a katana (I forgot chainsaw was an option) and no helpful traits it looked near-impossible. So I was resigned to just skip it, gamble on that not counting to the challenge, and replay with a scout or marine to do it right...

And then the Ancient dropped his sword, which does base 105 damage to demons, and that math suddenly looked a lot better. And when I got there I discovered that I could have done it with any trashy katana or chainsaw off the ground, because the boss isn't immune to burning stacks and my melee inflicted it. And I specifically remember a chainsaw dropped on the first level or Beyond. Ah well, live and learn.

After that the final boss was a hilarious anticlimax. By now Apocalypse could kill all his summons in 1-2 turns, or just aim at him to end the phase before he finished summoning, and I entered the level with 4 plasma grenades and a plethora of healing items. So it was really my choice how I wanted to humiliate him, and I sampled a little from all my options.

David, level 15 Technician,
defeated The Summoner against all odds.

He survived for 18625 turns.
The run time was 7h 48m 58s.
World seed was 14391.
He scored 8147 points.
He liked it HARD!
He took the royal way!

CALLISTO L1 -> Military Barracks
Military Barracks - Cleared!
Military Barracks -> MDF Central
MDF Central - Cleared!
MDF Central -> Callisto Docking Bay
Callisto Docking Bay - Cleared!
Callisto Docking Bay -> Valhalla Command
Valhalla Command - Cleared!
Valhalla Command -> The Rift
The Rift - Cleared!
The Rift -> Callisto Anomaly
Callisto Anomaly - Cleared!
Callisto Anomaly -> Valhalla Spaceport
EUROPA L1 -> The Pit
The Pit - Cleared!
The Pit -> Tyre Outpost
Tyre Outpost - Cleared!
Tyre Outpost -> Containment Area
Containment Area - Cleared!
Containment Area - found Bloodletter
Containment Area -> Refueling Base
Refueling Base - Cleared!
Refueling Base -> Frozen Temple
Frozen Temple - Cleared!
Frozen Temple -> Asterius Breach
Asterius Breach - Cleared!
Asterius Breach -> Europa Central Dig
IO L1 -> Infernal Lock
Infernal Lock - Cleared!
Infernal Lock -> Dark Cathedral
Dark Cathedral - Cleared!
Dark Cathedral - found Apocalypse
Dark Cathedral -> CRI Armory
CRI Armory - Cleared!
CRI Armory -> Black Site Vaults
Black Site Vaults - Cleared!
Black Site Vaults -> Noxious Hollow
Noxious Hollow - Cleared!
Noxious Hollow -> Io Warehouse
Io Warehouse - Cleared!
Io Warehouse -> Gateway
The Shattered Abyss - Cleared!
The Shattered Abyss - found Soulstealer
Limbo - Cleared!
Limbo -> Precipice of Defeat

Awards
  Medal of Prejudice (+200)
   * Won with 100% kills
  CRI Star (bronze cluster) (+50)
   * 25+ kills without taking damage
  Conqueror Ribbon (+200)
   * Completed all encountered special levels
  Royal Bronze Badge
   * Complete 8 special levels in Royal Trial
  Royal Silver Badge
   * Complete the Royal Trial
  Royal Gold Badge
   * Fully complete (all levels) the Royal Trial
  Royal Platinum Badge
   * Fully complete the Royal Trial on Hard+

He killed 468 out of 468 enemies.

 7  former grunts           3  CalSec sentries
 3  corrupted grunts        5  security sentries
 1  former CRI grunt        6  military sentries
 4  former grenadiers       6  CalSec bots
 3  former soldiers         1  security bot
 15 hellish soldiers        10 military bots
 1  former CRI soldier      1  guardian bot
 13 CRI soldiers            31 reavers
 2  former sergeants        27 cryoreavers
 3  hellish sergeants       36 toxic reavers
 1  former CRI sergeant     55 archreavers
 2  CRI sergeants           8  kerberi
 8  former guards           3  cyberi
 1  former commando         13 cryoberi
 6  hellish commandoes      5  toxiberi
 2  CRI commandoes          9  ravagers
 1  hellish heavy           5  armored ravagers
 1  fanatic                 3  siege ravagers
 2  security drones         2  plasma ravagers
 5  combat drones           6  CRI marines
 43 fiends                  14 CRI bots
 19 fire fiends             1  MDF sentry
 40 ice fiends              3  AsterTech sentries
 8  toxic fiends

Traits
  Whizkid L3
  Powerjack L1
  Cover Master L1
  Son of a Gun L1
  Hoarder L3
  Toxicologist L1
  Grenadier L1
  FIREANGEL L3

Trait order
  Cov->Hor->Whk->Gre->MFA->Hor->Pow->Tox->
  MFA->Whk->Whk->SoG->Hor->MFA

Equipment
  Slot #1 : Apocalypse
   * Spin-up

  Slot #2 : ancient sword
   * Ancient

  Slot #3 : CRI 12ga jackhammer PB
   * Demonbane
   * Molten 3
   * Swap Harness
   * CRI
   * Jackhammer

  Slot #4 : CRI 7.62 pierce rifle AV
   * Vampiric 3
   * Critical 25
   * CRI
   * Triggerhappy
   * Anti-armor

  Body : CRI combat armor PBA
   * Durable
   * Acid shield
   * Metabolic boost

  Head : AV3 combat helmet PBA
   * Plated
   * Durable
   * Auto-repair
   * Heatvision 3
   * Nightvision

  Utility : AV3 auto AMP
   * Auto speed-loader
   * Auto booster

  Relic : fiend's heart
   * Fiendish resilience


Permanents
  CRI backpack
  Crystal skin
  CRI backpack

Inventory
  energy cell (x100)
  energy cell (x100)
  energy cell (x17)
  12ga shell (x50)
  12ga shell (x50)
  7.62 ammo (x100)
  7.62 ammo (x24)
  plasma grenade (x3)
  gas grenade (x3)
  CRI phase kit (x2)
  large combat pack
  military stimpack
  military stimpack
  stimpack (x2)
  large medkit
  large medkit
  large medkit
  large medkit

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