Day 7 in Endless mode, fully geared up, still challenging!


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did anyone of you get the Prototype Chip that let's you take console power and hack firewalls for 1 PWR per level? helps a ton.

 

 

I nabbed one as well as a Portable Server III in Security Dispatch Missions.  

Haven't used either too much but it does come in handy.

 

Honestly, I think I am getting really lucky throughout my Endless Run (day 6).  I could really use some advice as to what Incognita Programs I should acquire (or any other words of wisdom).  I've been through 5+ Server Farm missions as well as repeatedly check random Nanofabs but still find myself with only Fusion, Rapier, and Parasite 2.0.  

 

I guess I am afraid to make a decision on my last two slots (especially as my hacking needs seem to change as the days wear on).  I started thinking that Wrench 2 and Wrench 3 would be the programs I'd finish out my program list with.  However, I have yet to find either and am worried that with the upping difficulty maybe something else would be useful.  Just not sure what...

 

At this point I am barely getting through levels, as each missions starts with Daemons and requires a key to be found to leave the level.  Luckily, I have Xu and he has been breaking open just enough safes to find the exit key.  

 

Unfortunately, this can't go on this way.  

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I guess I am afraid to make a decision on my last two slots (especially as my hacking needs seem to change as the days wear on).  I started thinking that Wrench 2 and Wrench 3 would be the programs I'd finish out my program list with.  However, I have yet to find either and am worried that with the upping difficulty maybe something else would be useful.  Just not sure what...

 

Just pick something, and if you change your mind later, sell it for something else. Pick up a Ping program to help your agents move about, or another PWR generating program to tide you over until you find something better.

 

I think I'm on Day 8 Endless+ right now, and I've bought/sold several programs, sometimes on the very next mission. I've sold all the PWR-generating programs and am just using consoles and portable servers for PWR right now. Much better return on investment when you can get 8/10 PWR per turn with portable servers versus 1/2 PWR per turn using a program.

 

With Parasite v2.0, I'd imagine you'd be better off with a Hammer, Wrench v4.0/v5.0, or Daggers, instead of Wrench v2.0. If there's a firewall at level 2, just use Parasite and wait a turn, or spend extra PWR to hack it a couple of times with an instant-hacking program like Rapier. But if the firewall is at level 5 and you need it down quickly, then a hard hitting program is better off.

 

And as for instant-hacking programs, my favorites are LockPick v2.0 and Data Blast.

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@StayPuftMMM: why go so long without buying at least some programs to fill the last slots. you can always sell them for half price. I can give you some pointers. whats giving you the most trouble?

if you have a hard time with deamons try getting hunter or taurus.

having problems evading guards? ping, wisp or wings can help. I only just discovered wings. 1 PWR, 1 turn CD, gives 2 AP to all agents. so clutch.

trouble getting through all those firewalls? get more hacking programs. I'd get at least one additional one. probably one of the daggers or hammer. wrench 3 or 4 can work with rapier (or any -1 program).

tho I'm no fan of rapier in general. if something goes wrong early you have double the trouble. blowfish 2.0 and modulate 2.0 instantly put you to a 3 PWR cost. and it's your only instant hacking skill. sankaku runs must be a nightmare.

lockpick v2.0 is good but doesn't combo well with the wrenches imho. not sure about datablast in late game. it's awesome in early sakaku runs since you take out the noise traps as well. but when the number deamons goes up I can see I become problematic. maybe AbeClancy can elaborate on this one.

I don't think buying the power programs is worth it that far into the game. portable servers generate so much more and agents with 5 hacking can keep you afloat in case you have no save space to deploy them. I find AbeClancys idea to sell your starting power generator intriguing. might be a bit risky though especially on expert+ where you only start with 5 PWR. and seed is really strong. with the right programms your looking at effectively 4 PWR per turn. also, can you even buy on of the starting generator programs? I don't think I've seen them being sold.



 

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My programs setup on my current Endless run (Day 8+) has been Seed, Lockpick 2.0, Dagger 2.0, Parasite 2.0 and Taurus for a while. The last one has been an issue lately, especially in the face of Fractal 2.0 super-daemons, and I've been meaning to replace it with Hunter or at least Ping, to better control guard flow. However, I recently hit a server farm and found neither. It's generally dangerous to go looking for a single thing in a mission: too much risk for something too uncertain.

 

At this point, I think I'll focus on getting a vault card, looting a vault and accruing enough credits to max out my agents. Major difference after only two missions, if all goes well.

 

I have my sights set on the Day 11 mark, surviving 10 whole days for the achievement.

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@StayPuftMMM: why go so long without buying at least some programs to fill the last slots. you can always sell them for half price. I can give you some pointers. whats giving you the most trouble?

 

Just pick something, and if you change your mind later, sell it for something else. Pick up a Ping program to help your agents move about, or another PWR generating program to tide you over until you find something better.

 

I waited to buy other programs because I didn't want to buy one only to sell it in the near future (guess I was counting my pennies too much). Realistically, if I had just bought some things earlier, I probably would have been able to get more money each round though.

 

Thanks for the advice, I have managed to survive to Day 10 so far.  I did pick up Dagger 2.0 and Ping shortly after my last message.  While neither of them are my "dream" programs, they have each come in handy many times.  

 

This late in the game, I would love to sell off Rapier, Fusion and maybe Dagger 2.0 for a combination of either Hammer, Hunter, Oracle, Wrench 2.0 or Wrench 3.0.  However, haven't run into the programs yet (seem to never have any Server missions) and still need to find a couple more portable servers (currently have 2). 

 

Along with those, I am trying to find my ideal 4th agent.  I had Banks (never upgraded her) for a few missions but left her behind on purpose before going into a new Detention Center mission.  Unfortunately, she was the agent in the cell so I left her again and have remained a three person team.  Hopefully, that was just my bad luck in her appearing again and there will be others that I have the option of picking up, correct?

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In my current setup I am trying to design Xu to be the main safe opener.  

This late in the game a majority of firewalls have Daemons (and I currently do not have a way to destroy/move them).  

 

My idea around this is to knock down their firewalls to a point where his augment can bust them open without triggering them.  However, this isn't the best solution because it can slow down the exploration/looting time.  

How does everyone else deal with high firewalls and daemons everywhere this late in the game?  

Does an EMP blast open safes (if their firewall is low enough) without triggering daemons?

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... However, haven't run into the programs yet (seem to never have any Server missions) ...

 

Along with those, I am trying to find my ideal 4th agent.  I had Banks (never upgraded her) for a few missions but left her behind on purpose before going into a new Detention Center mission.  Unfortunately, she was the agent in the cell so I left her again and have remained a three person team.  Hopefully, that was just my bad luck in her appearing again and there will be others that I have the option of picking up, correct?

 

have you tried doing terminal runs to spwan server farms?

 

with the lasted patch you should be able to get someone else. before you would always get the same agent again. read the update/edit to the latest patch notes.

 

...

How does everyone else deal with high firewalls and daemons everywhere this late in the game?  

Does an EMP blast open safes (if their firewall is low enough) without triggering daemons?

 

As far as I understand Xu's augment is just a melee EMP and EMP instantly disables a device/drone unless is has it has magnetic shielding. read the tooltip of the device. the magnetic shielding should be listed if present. if it is the EMP only reduces the firewall by 2. yes EMP disable doesn't trigger the daemon since it will be back after rebooting.

 

EMP can be used on any device that needs to be looted but doesn't help you against devices which need to be used. so FTM scanning amps, vault displays, security dispatch lockers and funnily executive terminals are perfectly fine targets.

 

the high firewalls need a good program suite and enough power generation. you're already trying to get more servers so keep looking. certain agents can help with PWR generation as well, especially central. also buster chips and the the prototype chip I mentioned earlier. max hacking on consoles generte a lot of PWR as well

 

between one prototype chip, buster chips III and 2 EMP packs III I mainly need to hack cameras and drones. most of the rest can be done by my agents directly.

 

as for daemons I run with hunter but only use it on the most annoyig ones (e.g. validate, blowfish ...). you can often time just trigger the daemon and deal with the concequences.

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have you tried doing terminal runs to spwan server farms?

 

Oh, yes, I have done so many Terminal Runs it is ridiculous.  Unfortunately, I finally have some Server and Detention Center missions but are all Plastech (my least favorite due to some guards being able to take over cameras).  I did it anyway and ended up with Banks again.  Decided to just make her part of the team and fully upgraded most of her stats.  

 

Now I guess, I can bite the bullet again and do a Plastech Server mission.  

 

As far as I understand Xu's augment is just a melee EMP and EMP instantly disables a device/drone unless is has it has magnetic shielding. read the tooltip of the device. the magnetic shielding should be listed if present. if it is the EMP only reduces the firewall by 2. yes EMP disable doesn't trigger the daemon since it will be back after rebooting.

 

EMP can be used on any device that needs to be looted but doesn't help you against devices which need to be used. so FTM scanning amps, vault displays, security dispatch lockers and funnily executive terminals are perfectly fine targets.

 

 

Yes, I have been using Xu's augment because it is a concentrated EMP (won't alert guards like a EMP Pack can).  Still looks like my best way of cracking safes undetected at the moment.  He is also outfitted with a Buster III and Prototype Chip.  

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I run around with 4 EMP III and Xu, together with 4 buster chip 3, my program suite is horrible, I use it mainly for cameras:
Power Drip I (started endless right after beginner campaign), Parasite 2, lockpick 2, ping, emergency reserve.

 

I have internationale, decker, xu and sham, but now I'm like Day 14 and game got easy: I have 1 cloak 3 rig for each one, 1 shock trap III for each one and internationale has 2. Yeah, I can run 4 turns cloaked, it's a lot. And I have a combo between augments/neural disrupter where everyone can knock armor 3 guards (sham has guns though).

 

In general, I'm satisfact with the entire team except for incognita which really lacks behind. The problem is: I want to keep ping (so powerful and cheap!!!), I don't have slots for portable servers, so I'm a bit stuck on this.

 

All agents are maxed though, so I can spend money wherever I want, but I'm extremely scared of finding myself in a situation where I can't hack cameras because I'm in the middle of changing programs for incognita

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I run around with 4 EMP III and Xu, together with 4 buster chip 3, my program suite is horrible, I use it mainly for cameras:

Power Drip I (started endless right after beginner campaign), Parasite 2, lockpick 2, ping, emergency reserve.

 

I have internationale, decker, xu and sham, but now I'm like Day 14 and game got easy: I have 1 cloak 3 rig for each one, 1 shock trap III for each one and internationale has 2. Yeah, I can run 4 turns cloaked, it's a lot. And I have a combo between augments/neural disrupter where everyone can knock armor 3 guards (sham has guns though).

 

In general, I'm satisfact with the entire team except for incognita which really lacks behind. The problem is: I want to keep ping (so powerful and cheap!!!), I don't have slots for portable servers, so I'm a bit stuck on this.

 

All agents are maxed though, so I can spend money wherever I want, but I'm extremely scared of finding myself in a situation where I can't hack cameras because I'm in the middle of changing programs for incognita

 

Ping is nice.  I used to think it was worthless but now that I'm in a late run endless mode as well I find it come in handy often.

 

For programs, I currently have Fusion, Hammer, Lockpick 2.0, Rapier, and Ping while Internationale has 3 Portable Server III.

 

I might recommend that when you get a chance to start picking up as many Portable Server III as you can find.  I make a "base" room (preferably the elevator) and set up with them and several Shock Traps.  I don't like to be low on power so a guaranteed 6 every turn (+Fusion's 3) makes things easier.  

 

Power Drip may not be good program for later in the game.  Power Drip give only 1 power a turn and takes up 20% of your program spots.  That's not a good trade off in my opinion.  I've always liked Fusion but Seed seems to be becoming more viable the longer I play.  

 

Emergency Reserve also seems to reward bad behavior (allowing your power to get too low).  I can see why you have it with your current program setup (and am sure it is very useful) but as you get away from that and rely on creating your own power would probably discard it.  

 

Lastly, Parasite 2.0 and Lockpick 2.0 are very similar since they both take out 2 firewalls.  I used Parasite 2.0 a lot but since it scales up if you use it more then once a round I found that I was paying a lot more in power then if I had just been using Lockpick 2.0.  Plus, Lockpick works immediately so I no longer have to wait a turn for unlocks.  I recently sold my Parasite for Lockpick and find I prefer it.

 

By changing those things, you would have 3 spots for new programs that may better suit the situations you find more important.  For example, maybe you can buy Oracle (takes over a random camera for 4 power despite the firewall number).

 

It looks like whatever you are doing it has been working for you.  You don't get 10+ days without doing something right.  However, as you mentioned, you are worried about running out of power which is why I suggested what I have.  Keep me updated on what you decide to do and let me know how things worked out for you.  Hope everything goes well for you and don't get caught out there!

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ping is great in in story mode and in the early days. the late game in endless it kind of falls off as do many of the programs. your agents with high skills and gear can deal with guards well enough. what they can't deal with is cameras. so you need a strong programm suite which allows you to break through high level firewalls fast and fairly energy efficient.

 

with 4-10 PWR gain from portable servers and 6-10 PWR from consoles, every energy generator except seed becomes pretty much a waste of a programm slot imho.

 

both parasites can be very PWR efficient but in late game you don't usually want to wait until they break through 5+ levels of firewall. you can't aford to wait three turns until you can enter a room.

 

 

I finished day 10 now. the last few runs were against Sankaku but the only drones I encountered were camera drones. only the defferent Omni guards were present. I found that disappointing. maybe I just got unlucky with the spawns but I really think there should still be some drones around. Null drones would actually complement the Omni barrier guards very well. and the Obake drones would also still be decent at that point in the game.

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well I don't know for sure but I've never seen any of the stater power generators for sale later in the game. so for now my guess is you're out of luck on that one.

 

I'd just get another hacking or utility program.

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