Java Corrupted Saviors [Release 66] [CSDev]

[Nightclaw]

One thing I immediately found out on Day 1 of Loop 18: If a chosen happens to show up with pre-breaks to enable Negotiation you don't get the free angst bomb from Propaganda. Which is understandable but still made me chuckle.

 

[SuperSkippy]

Loop 20, everyone:



Definitely was wrong about the idea of max Luxuries. City 2 will be tough, but might be winnable.

 

[Nightclaw]

Well, my Loop 19 choice is interesting:



City 2 could be doable, with a Rampancy for EE generation, but that's quite the lack of damage even with a low city value.

 

[SuperSkippy]

It seems we're racing today, so:

Let's have the first city I've seen where damage mitigation means your damage goes DOWN for a x2 multiplier.

Loop 21:

 

[Nightclaw]

I'm not exactly happy with my Loop 19 "win", as I was getting sleepy and skipped a bunch of days to end it quicker (and one chosen got to run away) so I'll probably go back and fix that later but for now my Loop 20 choices:


City 1 seems quite doable with my underestimation of Undead chosen's danger. City 2 is quite similar to your Kobe, which illustrates the difficulty ramp a bit.

 

[Nightclaw]

Loop 21:



The luxuries of City 2 seemed scary and I rarely get above 2 EE each for passive income, but with its item allowing scaling of PLEA without extra mitigation and the overall low mitigation of the city itself, it has proven quite manageable with the usual combo of early Propaganda angst-bombs and Resonance keeping things up.

I'm currently on Day 10 and mostly killing time whilst I wait for T4 breaks and further rivalries to trigger for the EE to buy Antipathy.

 

[SuperSkippy]

Loop 22:



I'm going to give City 2 another go while being more careful with my EE. Last attempt stalled out before I could afford Level 3 Breaks, but I think it still may be possible if I sync up the Animalistics and do breaks in an exact sequence to maximize EE.

Edit: Nope, not enough days. City 1 it is.

 

[Nightclaw]

Loop 22:



City 1 seems doable enough. One thing I was pondering with these 20 day runs: Should the Undead EE siphon ramp up faster? With so few days, it never gets to scale enough to be noticeable/annoying.

Also, can you ever get 3 of the same elite in campaign mode? 3 Undead wouldn't be so bad, but 3 Animalistic would be a nightmare unless you could sync up at least 2 on the right day early.

 

[SuperSkippy]

Here's loop 23, lol:


That Barrier Jammer looks nice, and its city might be doable, but it's up against 40EE in the early game.

Also Loop 22 is the first time I've let a Chosen escape so far. She was Impregnated so based on the vignette she won't be showing up again.

 

[Nightclaw]

I remember passing up the Astrolabe early on in my run, since it didn't seem too useful to me. I buy those upgrades when things have been stabilized and I have a lot of EE from breaks/distortions. Dominance is handy to get Network a little quicker, but the others I've found are 'win-more' upgrades. Maybe I'd think differently if I was using Commanders.

I also passed up the 3 EE tier version, although I'm beginning to regret that decision as it would really help out the early game with cheaper evac/ext increases when EE is tight. Can't remember what the alt item was though, so it may have been unavoidable.

I presume it's intended, but returning chosen seem like a much bigger hindrance in these quick loops. Yes, they're pre-broken which means easier damage but you lose out on a lot of early EE from breaks/rivalries (if you broke cores). I haven't tested with a returning Tempted/Rampaging chosen, so I'm curious if you lose access to the initial 100 EE hit for starting the distortion path.

 

[FantastiX]

Hello. I'm a total noob in this game. So, I have a simple question. What's the purpose of Observe action? Does it influence the Chosens in some way? All I see for now (I'm at 10th day, 1st loop) is that they get some trauma and circumstance damage, but it doesn't seem to be preserved for the next battle. Or maybe I'm wrong and it is? Anyways, would appreciate some clarification.
Or maybe there is some guide I could read? More detailed than text files in the game directory.

 

[zargal]

Hello. I'm a total noob in this game. So, I have a simple question. What's the purpose of Observe action? Does it influence the Chosens in some way? All I see for now (I'm at 10th day, 1st loop) is that they get some trauma and circumstance damage, but it doesn't seem to be preserved for the next battle. Or maybe I'm wrong and it is? Anyways, would appreciate some clarification.
Or maybe there is some guide I could read? More detailed than text files in the game directory.

It's just flavour with no mechanical effects. The only gameplay effect those interactions have is if you go for a negotiation distortion. Good luck with learning the game!

 

[SuperSkippy]

I remember passing up the Astrolabe early on in my run, since it didn't seem too useful to me. I buy those upgrades when things have been stabilized and I have a lot of EE from breaks/distortions. Dominance is handy to get Network a little quicker, but the others I've found are 'win-more' upgrades. Maybe I'd think differently if I was using Commanders.

I also passed up the 3 EE tier version, although I'm beginning to regret that decision as it would really help out the early game with cheaper evac/ext increases when EE is tight. Can't remember what the alt item was though, so it may have been unavoidable.

I presume it's intended, but returning chosen seem like a much bigger hindrance in these quick loops. Yes, they're pre-broken which means easier damage but you lose out on a lot of early EE from breaks/rivalries (if you broke cores). I haven't tested with a returning Tempted/Rampaging chosen, so I'm curious if you lose access to the initial 100 EE hit for starting the distortion path.

For me, the EE from breaks is the only real source of energy in my runs at this level. I need to get Nursery Hives and Human Collaborators to get an 8-10 turn Orgy that breaks at least one Core T3 or my loop stalls out. Then I need to break associated T4s to get Networked Consciousness, Soul Resonance, and Passion Release, and EE for one of my larger Commanders, as soon as possible to get a >15 turn Orgy and break as many more T3s as I can or I'll never be able to afford the basic attack+ I need (usually Threaten+). Last run was the first time I couldn't afford Antipathy, so that's why one of them got away, and I'd have lost right there without Crown's Pantsu (advanced species don't get extra Resolve).

I understand your runs work differently since you've got something that helps you get Rampancy and control it, so you can get a steady stream of EE.

 

[Nightclaw]

I understand your runs work differently since you've got something that helps you get Rampancy and control it, so you can get a steady stream of EE.

That is definitely true, as it's hard enough to even get above +2 with luxuries.

In other news, I may have hit my limit:

City 2 couldn't have a couple of Undead. No no, it has to have more mitigation.

Edit: It's early days, but I'm more optimistic about City 1 . Neither Superior has a core of either INN or CON, and 1 had a pre-break of CON so I was able to set them both up for Negotiation Day 2 and now everyone has +30 base damage due to angst bombs.

 

[SuperSkippy]

Loop 24---not sure I can beat either damage mitigation here. Godzilla couldn't break a window in this Tokyo:


I'll give Yokohama a shot, but I'm not terribly optimistic. The last time I went up against a damage mitigation close to that (55% in Loop 22), I could just barely limp through after an Orgy broke only a single T3 core. I don't have many tools that are much stronger than loop 22, I've got only one new Forsaken of note and she's a bit weaker than I'd like. We'll see.

Edit: Nope, not doable from my position. Can't even break all T2 Cores with what I have.

Kalloi, here's the udpated Saves.sav.

 

[FantastiX]

It's just flavour with no mechanical effects. The only gameplay effect those interactions have is if you go for a negotiation distortion. Good luck with learning the game!

I see. Thanks

 

[Nightclaw]

Loop 24:

City 1 looks doable, although the layout of vulnerabilities is worse than last loop (where the 57% mitigation wasn't too bad). I think the Superior's Confidence is close to 100, which means almost no circumstance damage. I may have to change Orgy Cat into pure INJ, to get an orgy going, but then I won't have an decent way to do HATE damage so will have an issue setting up a Rampancy.

 

[Nightclaw]

Loop 25:

The 3 items for Crystal ball are Silver Collar (+30 min circ damage), Fairy Dust (Half tempt requirements and doesn't clear HATE/INJU) and something I can't remember and am too lazy to load the save to check. Pre-breaks of CON on one Animalistic and DIG on the other. An early Negotiation setup to angst bomb and then the Temptation to get the 100 EE should be doable on Day 4 since that's when the relevant phase is active.

Of course, that's thinking best case scenario. It's also possible I'd stall out trying to do stuff to the Animalistics. In that case, City 1 could be doable with those vulns since the chosen themselves would have much less mitigation.

I only realised a few cities ago how to keep raising Expertise when it "caps out", but Orgy Cat got to a respectable damage level even with minimal Punisher scaling and I didn't have to go pure INJU which was helpful.

Anyhow, attached is my latest save Kalloi. I may play about and see how Loop 25 turns out but I'm more likely to just wait a few days for the next version to start again.

 

[Tarthi]

Oh my god with the addition of Retry the game suddenly feels playable thank you dev man

 

[Kalloi]

Loop 17, where all the choices are bad...

View attachment 2473185

I was a fair bit luckier with my loop 15 than SuperSkippy- the mitigation was only in the 30's, though I had to pass up a much better item to go there. L16 wasn't dreadful either, 20 day time limit but I could've been done by d14 if I'd been less pedantic about setting up and breaking all the vuln's. I imagine L17 would be possible but I need a break and I think I'd have to leave chosen behind which would ruin my record. This demon lord is satisfied with his work for now.


I'd apologise for the terrible puns/naming, but I'm not actually sorry.

Excellent work Zargal! Sorry for replying sooner, I've been hyper focused on finishing the portrait pack before the end of March, but I did take a look at your save by the time I reacted to your post and just want to say first and foremost that using the suntorn dawn pack is no problem! However you have been disqualified on grounds on the sheer number of puns in your game have been legally classified as a hate crime against comedy. Take solace with the Evil you've put into the world and know the authorities will come for you soon

Jokes aside entry is valid and thank you so much for participating in the competition!

Items

View attachment 2473199

The 10k items were vital to my strategy and I think I picked up the Exp one L5 so I did well there. Other than the Pants though it was a rather meh haul.

Similiar to superskippy's first run, it was a bit disappointing that you couldn't come across the distortion item for the one distortion you were specializing in the most. I wonder how much the Green Fairy Dust item would have helped in your playthrough.

Forsaken

• Basically I used a bunch of tempted in various damage configurations which could then switch to tempt as needed. These I upgraded to animalistics as I went and had a variety of costs as well, with my 4EE, Inj/Exp being my mainstay.
• I also had an undistorted undead who did all injury and cost 1EE, she could usually break inj straight away and get me through the early rounds cheaply. With the 2 10k circ items, that left only pleasure as my weak point and with such a temptation heavy team, I could get that easily enough on day 4. Still, would have liked to have found a day 1 solution.
• I experimented with an undead rampancy, I just never quite realized her potential I think- I always seemed to have a better choice. Still, I liked having her as an option and tantrums aren't nearly the disaster I thought.
• My rampant animalistic experiment never quite got off the ground, the theory of an orgy specialist was good but again I don't think I used her properly and could never justify the cost vs a 4circ commander.
• Because I never got the psychomter (L17 notwithstanding), I ended up going with undead punishers, focusing on damage and motivation increases which I was fairly happy with. I could have min-maxed this better but oh well.
• In that vein, I was very lazy with training once they had the distributions I wanted, but seeing Superskippy's goons, I see I cheated myself out of about 10% damage. Oh well again.

My last loop I used a good chunk of my roster so I'm happy with how it turned out.

Some thoughts upon looking at your save it's once again fascinating to see the differences in playstyles not only from super skippy, nightclaw, and your playstyles, but seeing the differences in my own as well. Temptation might be the second to last distortion I use in my playthroughs with the last being rampancy (although that placement is due to rampancy's traits leading to more unruly forsaken then I'd like than simply preference) So your strategy outline and save having so many temptation forsaken in play is really awesome to witness! Even the usage of undistorted forsaken in your roster caught my eye (Miss Queef sticks out particularly as that undead forsaken you used for day 1 sodomizing)

My personal opinion is I believe expertise training beyond getting the appropriate fighting style does feel worth it, even if at times I just use it as excuse to continue training a certain forsaken or give my trainer something during breaks. A neat trick I've found for getting some more expertise out of a forsaken is once a trainer distributes all of the expertise to the designated damages, I do a training session with that forsaken and raise the neglected damage types, this typically adds expertise even with the mid-tier training actions instead of redistributing expertise. Once that forsaken has gotten an influx of expertise damage I set them back on their previous training plan so the trainer can distribute the new expertise damage to her proper fighting type, works exceptionally well with aversion forsaken as a result of their naturally low deviancy, with one of my forsaken I've gotten close to 900k expertise with a few of her damage types.

General Strategy

Quickly break the cores using items and specialist forsaken to rake in a bunch of EE. from breaks and rivalries.
Target battle elongation researches and rush network consciousness.
Go for a 10 turn orgy to get the T3's started.
Use either general type forsaken to get a whole lot of moves used or target a specific one with a specialist.
Decide whether a "complete" commander was needed to get a 15 turn orgy going. This was the laggiest part of my runs and so I avoided if possible.
Grab one 100EE + move (taunt+ ended up my favourite) and antipathy (I nearly always rivaled them up).
Use punishers, trying to limit the number of times they'd be needed.
Final battle (remember to save!)

I've always skewed towards friendships if possible but seeing how direct and effective this strategy is, I'm interested in trying a campaign run where I intially focus on building out my roster first and then afterwards go for a scorched earth style just to see how far I can go, two of my most noticable things I have against my own playthroughs is 1. I get too invested in the corruption storyline aspect of a chosen team so I tend to draw things out or go out of my way for specific corruption methods like ensuring a demon commander body is the first one to eve sodomize a chosen, etc. 2. I don't want any of my chosen to kill each other or have a T4 escape ending so the moment I see that as an inevitability I become disinterested in my campaign save. I don't really think these aspects need fixing but I do genuinely want to see if I fully let loose one of these days, maybe before boss chosen are introduced. apologies for the minor tangent lol

Stray Thoughts

• I think SuperSkippy and I have different strategies and they were both viable, so that's the mark of good design. Nice work CSdev! The items are also a big factor in how you'll play, but as seen, even a mediocre acquisition can be worked with.
• On that note, I'm none the wiser as to what influence actually indicates. Is it how much influence you gain from that city or is it the cost of the item? Could there be a running total on the item page?
• I found Undead much easier to deal with than animalistics, probably more on par with superiors. The EE drain isn't bad unless you let the loop drag on and while their T3 abilities are nasty, they can be dealt with. I'm really looking forward to the "exhausted" change to stop a broken undead just spamming enervation though!
• On the flipside, animalistic forsaken seem to have more utility after you fill the low cost slots of the roster.
• Is it possible to have the Forsaken page as a spreadsheet style thing? It would be great to have cost, damage type, training plan all on the one page. Having "unassign all" and and a button to implement everyone's planned training would also be great.
• Level 5 sacrifice fired on 42 when it says the threshold is 60.
• PSA: You don't need to buy the punisher research (eg. hypnosis) to get the associated T4 training after winning the final battle. They unlock automatically in the "offseason". Saved myself so much time from this.

• I think a grid style page to view all your forsaken's deployment costs, training, and damage would be really helpful as well, especially for rosters with a large amount of forsaken available. I would love for an unassign all button as well. Additionally, for training plans that increase disgrace, I think next to the report of the associated forsaken, showing the EE cost next to it would be fantastic in finetuning deployment costs, would be great for hostility and obedience too but I want it for disgrace more than anything else
• For some reason re-reading your post now made me realize I should probably replicate this sacrifice bug on my end for confirmation and report it to CSDev, don't know why I didn't think of this until now, maybe the puns broke my brain earlier before lmao, anyways ty for reporting it, I'll let CSDev know with a message
• Seeing this PSA along with the question about the release ability superior chosen and beyond have reminds me that most of things I believe to be common knowledge about the game is actually really obscure since the average player hasn't been playing every release and reading the changelog like the psycho that I am, I wonder if I should compile these minor things into a document for people to see so they won't have to find these things out through stumbling across this in a forum or after scouring through changelogs

Either way it was fun seeing your invasion trail demon lord, I hope you feel proud of your work! And if you decide to make another full campaign run I hope it goes even better than this one!