Total noob here, I read the guide readme included in the game files but I admit I felt a bit overwhelmed. What are some decent starter strategies? It says Pain or Disgust in early battles, but then there's this stuff about vulnerabilities, do I have to break the core one first or can I just break whichever? And I break vulnerabilities by using what they're actually weak to, right? And what about distortions, is that something to consider on a first go? So confused lol, but I can see the appeal, I just don't know if I really understand anything.
I can give you a few more pointers.
1. Early game from 1-12 days just focus on making sure every chosen generates at least 1 energy. Use it to get all 2 energy upgrades.
2. Whenever a new chosen arrives you have to deal enough damage to trigger 1 energy action. Most of the times just using an action which deals most damage in all turns is enough, don't have to worry much about openings yet. Just make sure that not a day goes by where chosens are not generating energy
3. On day 12 you must have enough energy to make a 5 energy commander(no special upgrade). You can then try following the steps in my previous message.
Other than that, read the guide and tips text file. Well I guess I can give you a run down of mechanics too:
Traumas(Used for surrounds):
Fear: Gives opening if one other chosen is surrounded
Disg: Gives little opening anytime,depending on the defense level(you will only get 1 opening most of the times)
Pain: Gives openings anytime but in order to use it again,you have to raise pain level by 1.(eg: if you get an opening at level 1,to use it again you need level 2 pain)
Shame: Gives additional openings if you can already surround the target. Can't help by itself.
Circumstances ( Damage multipliers+Breaks):
Hate: Gives x2 to all trauma and Circ damage.x4 to Fear dmg. Helpful overall + helps even out Circumstance penalty(explained further)
Pleasure: Gives x4 to all traumas, x8 to disgust. Useful to increase surround turns
Inju: x3 Circumstance damage,x2 pain multiplier. Increases circumstance damage which helps in leveling other circumstances for vulnerability breaks.
Expo: x2 damage to OTHER chosen circumstances, x2 self shame dmg. Helpful in breaking other chosen.
The multipliers increase with levels.
Penalties:
Trauma penalty:
Applied to the respective circumstance if you have uneven trauma levels. If one of the trauma level is higher than others the corresponding circumstance will get a penalty. Eg: if you have Level 1 in Fear, Disg and shame but level 2 in pain then Injury will get a 1/2 penalty. If you have level 3 pain but level 1 rest then the penalty will increase to 1/4 and so on. Keep the traumas even for most circumstance damage.
Circumstance penalty:
This is applied every time you level a circumstance. There is no way to remove it. Eg: If you get level 1 hate then you will get a 1/2 penalty on all circumstances, if you reach circumstance level 2 it will increase to 1/4 and so on.
This is why it is advised to not get Pleasure or Expo first. Since they don't increase circumstance damage.