Ren'Py Abandoned Lab Rats 2 [v0.51.1] [Vren]

[gregers]

This is the best explanation of the heart icons I've read, but I'm still confused on what the different colors mean. Also, I wish the game gave us more info on the "core" stat. It's not reported separately when you look at a woman's details, for example.

I've never had more than 3 or 4 workers; it hasn't seemed necessary to turn a profit. Is hiring more workers one of the paths to victory?

Also: what's the "victory condition" in this game? How does one win, or how does it end?

There's no "victory" in the game (yet) that I've seen, but then the current memory error means the late game is hard to play anyway. It's a management game with the satisfaction of building and maintaing a well-oiled (or lubricant of your choice) machine rather than meeting any specific win condition. But I'd expect some ultimate goals to be added at some point.

You can run a profitable company with just a few employees, but extra hands definitely help, esp. speeding up research. If you want to make money to afford some of the spicier company policies, beefing up production and procurement is certainly also useful.

 

[srksrk 68]

This is the best explanation of the heart icons I've read, but I'm still confused on what the different colors mean. Also, I wish the game gave us more info on the "core" stat. It's not reported separately when you look at a woman's details, for example.

I've never had more than 3 or 4 workers; it hasn't seemed necessary to turn a profit. Is hiring more workers one of the paths to victory?

Also: what's the "victory condition" in this game? How does one win, or how does it end?

Yes, you need to hire workers to make money. Just read the post above your's

 

[vitamin433]

Suggestibility of 30 means that in each time slot while they have that suggestibility level there is a 30% chance that they will gain a point of core sluttiness if the temp sluttiness is higher. But the serum for sluttiness raises core sluttiness temporarily, and so cannot help other than the fact that without it they may allow nothing but flirting, and with it you can do some kissing, and raise their temp sluttiness above the core sluttiness - so that 30% chance has some fuel to work with.

The sluttiness serum only helps you in any way by making them more likely to agree to actions that will further raise their temp sluttiness. It will be up to you to then make those actions happen to get any benefit from the serum.

There are only 2 mechanics to raise core sluttiness and both are completely dependant on getting the target's temp sluttiness higher than their core sluttiness. The first is suggestibility via serums, and the other is through giving her orgasms during sex scenes.

I guess we can also use Nora's serum to drop core sluttiness and make some easy temp S via flirt/ kissing to orgasm.
Didn't test yet, just a suggestion.
upd still a suggestion, but if we can add some more suggestibility to Nora's serum, we will be able to make it more than 60%.

 

[srksrk 68]

OK thanks for all the help, but since I now can no longer save the game because of that out-of-memory bug, I am screwed again.

I will give this game a try again when Vren manages to fix it...

 

[srksrk 68]

Is there an official way to report bugs to Vren? I don't see him much around on his patreon page or in the forums. Would be a pity if this game dies off like this. LR 1 was very nice, and LR 2 has a lot of potential.

Edit: never mind, found that link and will try it:

You must be registered to see the links

Seems to be for LR 1, though...

 

[chainedpanda]

Is there an official way to report bugs to Vren? I don't see him much around on his patreon page or in the forums. Would be a pity if this game dies off like this. LR 1 was very nice, and LR 2 has a lot of potential.

Edit: never mind, found that link and will try it:

You must be registered to see the links

Seems to be for LR 1, though...

I dont think he uses this forum at all. Your best bet is to use his patreon. I havent used it in forever, but doesnt it have a community tab or some shit like that? I didnt see it when i check his page earlier, but i wasnt logged in. so dunno.

Instead of waiting for him, you may be better off using the unoficial bug fix. I havent seen the bug your having.

 

[RogueKnightUK]

I havent seen the bug your having.

Get to 20 staff and you will.

At least, you will if you interact with anyone in a special scene (stripping/sex/event).

The issue is with how the game passes variables around, as it prefers to work on copies and duplicates to preserve the original values until all the things affecting them are done with. The problem seems to come when the game is already hard-pressed in storing every item of clothing in the specific colours, patterns, sizes, and placements for each character, their stats, the serums and all the variables of the serum that affects them each, where they live and what items and paths are to and from that dwelling, and a whole lot more - hundreds of lines ...

... and then it duplicates it all into a 'bag', a temporary copy to work with, but seems to accidentally slip through one connection too many, and if that tips things over the edge, it starts grabbing copies of copies of copies, recursively, until it crashes.

The thing I love about this game is that it truly pushes Ren'Py to limits that no other game I have seen comes close to. However, when at the limits, it is very, very easy to stray one millimeter too far, exceeding those limits, and crashing the whole thing like a house of cards.

The issue here is that Vren is still actively working on the game, regularly expanding and changing things. This isn't like VNs where the dev simply adds a new chapter file with each update, so any patches made to the previous chapters are fine and you only have to patch the new file. There are scores of separate functional scripts around the main script, and any of them can (and do) change on a regular basis. The patches tend to have to be re-written from scratch with every single update. That's an awful lot of work to do, knowing all along that it will all have to be redone with the next update.

What that last all means is that the unofficial bugfix isn't available for this version yet, and may not ever be, and prior bugfixes are of no use.

 

[Edwarf]

OK thanks for all the help, but since I now can no longer save the game because of that out-of-memory bug, I am screwed again.

I will give this game a try again when Vren manages to fix it...

Yes, in muy case, happened right after choosing the three test subjects and getting access to the final research tier (mind control, permanent bimbofication, etc); no matter what, it wont let you save anymore.

 

[vitamin433]

Get to 20 staff and you will.

Day 237, hired 23 generated and 2 unique characters (Steph + Alex).
No bugs encountered.
Can't go to fullscreen, btw...

 

[srksrk 68]

No bugs encountered.

You will, trust me.

 

[chainedpanda]

Get to 20 staff and you will.

At least, you will if you interact with anyone in a special scene (stripping/sex/event).

The issue is with how the game passes variables around, as it prefers to work on copies and duplicates to preserve the original values until all the things affecting them are done with. The problem seems to come when the game is already hard-pressed in storing every item of clothing in the specific colours, patterns, sizes, and placements for each character, their stats, the serums and all the variables of the serum that affects them each, where they live and what items and paths are to and from that dwelling, and a whole lot more - hundreds of lines ...

... and then it duplicates it all into a 'bag', a temporary copy to work with, but seems to accidentally slip through one connection too many, and if that tips things over the edge, it starts grabbing copies of copies of copies, recursively, until it crashes.

The thing I love about this game is that it truly pushes Ren'Py to limits that no other game I have seen comes close to. However, when at the limits, it is very, very easy to stray one millimeter too far, exceeding those limits, and crashing the whole thing like a house of cards.

The issue here is that Vren is still actively working on the game, regularly expanding and changing things. This isn't like VNs where the dev simply adds a new chapter file with each update, so any patches made to the previous chapters are fine and you only have to patch the new file. There are scores of separate functional scripts around the main script, and any of them can (and do) change on a regular basis. The patches tend to have to be re-written from scratch with every single update. That's an awful lot of work to do, knowing all along that it will all have to be redone with the next update.

What that last all means is that the unofficial bugfix isn't available for this version yet, and may not ever be, and prior bugfixes are of no use.

I see. I have around 8-11 staff I think. Havent bothered to get more. I do encounter some serious lag when any event happens (hence less staff), thus knew it pushed renpy. Just havent seen the save issue.

 

[Chronos92]

So to anyone else crash when someone is undressing or its a mod problem? also there is a tactic to raise the core slutiness because sometimes is impossible to raise it

 

[boblicticious]

So to anyone else crash when someone is undressing or its a mod problem? also there is a tactic to raise the core slutiness because sometimes is impossible to raise it

yeah there's an issue with recursion levels going higher than renpy will allow, I suspect it's a problem where it's recursively searching for an unanchored piece of clothing to remove before a piece of underwear and perhaps it's not properly finding a parent item that piece is tied to so it keeps feeding back the same piece of clothing leading to an infinite loop (or what would be if it weren't for the recursion limit).

In any case, the best way I've found to raise core sluttiness is to give a serum with good suggestibility and a long duration (low volatility reagents) to anyone who has more than half a heart of temp sluttinesss (red hearts). Public sex is a good way to increase a lot of poeple's temporary sluttiness at once. Also my go to method is based on cum preference. If you get someone who like's/loves creampies/being covered in cum/cum facials/risking getting pregnant/drinking cum... then you make sure to seduce them and give them the finish they are looking for. With someone who loves being covered in cum and cum facials, if you cum on their face they get I think 20 temp sluttiness (a whole heart's worth I think) at the end of the sex act. Then if you give them a 30 or more suggestibility serum with a 8 turn duration it's likely that at least half that heart will become core sluttiness by the same time the next day.

So sometimes it's best to just be choosy about who you hire based on whether they like/love certain finale's to sex because you can hit them every day with that and you'll have them full slutty cored in a week or two.

 

[srksrk 68]

yeah there's an issue with recursion levels going higher than renpy will allow, I suspect it's a problem where it's recursively searching for an unanchored piece of clothing to remove before a piece of underwear and perhaps it's not properly finding a parent item that piece is tied to so it keeps feeding back the same piece of clothing leading to an infinite loop (or what would be if it weren't for the recursion limit).

In any case, the best way I've found to raise core sluttiness is to give a serum with good suggestibility and a long duration (low volatility reagents) to anyone who has more than half a heart of temp sluttinesss (red hearts). Public sex is a good way to increase a lot of poeple's temporary sluttiness at once. Also my go to method is based on cum preference. If you get someone who like's/loves creampies/being covered in cum/cum facials/risking getting pregnant/drinking cum... then you make sure to seduce them and give them the finish they are looking for. With someone who loves being covered in cum and cum facials, if you cum on their face they get I think 20 temp sluttiness (a whole heart's worth I think) at the end of the sex act. Then if you give them a 30 or more suggestibility serum with a 8 turn duration it's likely that at least half that heart will become core sluttiness by the same time the next day.

So sometimes it's best to just be choosy about who you hire based on whether they like/love certain finale's to sex because you can hit them every day with that and you'll have them full slutty cored in a week or two.

That's all good advice, but unfortunately just when the game becomes interesting, it keeps crashing to a point that you no longer be able to save. All for nothing...

 

[boblicticious]

That's all good advice, but unfortunately just when the game becomes interesting, it keeps crashing to a point that you no longer be able to save. All for nothing...

Yeah my first playthrough started getting really bogged down, I started a new one and this one is actually a lot more stable now. I don't think the bogging down is inevitable on every playthrough, seems like it might be tied to certain actions (I just couldn't tell you what they are).

 

[Chronos92]

So the high capacity desing always give a side effect dont matter the mastery level? or i just have bad luck?

 

[vitamin433]

So the high capacity desing always give a side effect dont matter the mastery level? or i just have bad luck?

Noooooo, it just need some research... it will be 0% for sure after 202,5 mastery level... Man, how I hate this trait...

 

[RogueKnightUK]

So the high capacity desing always give a side effect dont matter the mastery level? or i just have bad luck?

The description text you get with that trait already tells you that the base chance for a side effect, at 0% mastery level, is 100%. 100% means it will always give a side effect.

But you don't use it at 0% mastery level with 100% chance of side effect - you keep researching it to get higher mastery and correspondingly less chance of side effect. In addition to just research, you could make a small batch of serum that includes the trait (along with its random side effect) to give to test subjects individually, and then talk to them while it is in effect, since the actions of 'Small Talk', 'Compliment', or 'Flirt' each add a 0.2% mastery of any and all serum traits currently affecting the person you are interacting with.

So, if (for example) you created a serum that had a basic 1 slot trait design, and gave it the high capacity trait (reducing its duration to 2 turns but giving it 2 free trait slots), a trait to extend its duration by 2 turns (taking it to 4 turn duration), and a trait of whatever type you like to mitigate whatever would be the worst side effect given your test subject's stats, you would have a prototype test serum you could produce in small quantities just to research its effects and side effects.

Make a small batch of that, and ask someone you can visit in turn 0, first thing in the morning, to test it for you. Then find them in each subsequent turn and small talk with them for each of the turns it lasts, and each turn adds 0.2% to your mastery, in addition to whatever your R&D team can gain by continuing to research the trait. You'll find this more quickly allows you to grow your mastery level of traits that are expensive to research.

Honestly, with the tier 1 traits, it is usually faster to simply keep researching the trait for mastery levels, and not waste time on creating test batches, having test subjects, etc. You'd probably gain more from spending the turn on the Research action than 0.2%. But with the higher tier traits, where each 1% of mastery will cost you around 1500 or more research points, doing it by talking to test subjects may well be faster than your researching it any other way - 0.2% of 1500 is the equivalent of 300 research points after all, and even 0.2% of a 800 research point trait is 160 research points per turn.

 

[vitamin433]

The description text you get with that trait already tells you that the base chance for a side effect, at 0% mastery level, is 100%. 100% means it will always give a side effect.

But you don't use it at 0% mastery level with 100% chance of side effect - you keep researching it to get higher mastery and correspondingly less chance of side effect. In addition to just research, you could make a small batch of serum that includes the trait (along with its random side effect) to give to test subjects individually, and then talk to them while it is in effect, since the actions of 'Small Talk', 'Compliment', or 'Flirt' each add a 0.2% mastery of any and all serum traits currently affecting the person you are interacting with.

So, if (for example) you created a serum that had a basic 1 slot trait design, and gave it the high capacity trait (reducing its duration to 2 turns but giving it 2 free trait slots), a trait to extend its duration by 2 turns (taking it to 4 turn duration), and a trait of whatever type you like to mitigate whatever would be the worst side effect given your test subject's stats, you would have a prototype test serum you could produce in small quantities just to research its effects and side effects.

Make a small batch of that, and ask someone you can visit in turn 0, first thing in the morning, to test it for you. Then find them in each subsequent turn and small talk with them for each of the turns it lasts, and each turn adds 0.2% to your mastery, in addition to whatever your R&D team can gain by continuing to research the trait. You'll find this more quickly allows you to grow your mastery level of traits that are expensive to research.

Honestly, with the tier 1 traits, it is usually faster to simply keep researching the trait for mastery levels, and not waste time on creating test batches, having test subjects, etc. You'd probably gain more from spending the turn on the Research action than 0.2%. But with the higher tier traits, where each 1% of mastery will cost you around 1500 or more research points, doing it by talking to test subjects may well be faster than your researching it any other way - 0.2% of 1500 is the equivalent of 300 research points after all, and even 0.2% of a 800 research point trait is 160 research points per turn.

Dude, I can't even imagine how mich time it will takr to go to ~200 level of mastery through talk/flitt/ect.
I didn't just imagined 200 level of mastery, I actually reached it with 7 scientists ( + Steph + Me ).
It took ~1,5 mounth in game.
One level of mastery is 150 RP. 20% from 150 is 30. My MC generates 63,8RP per time. It's just absurdly ineffective.

 

[Jaycee]

What I find really annoying (apart from the game crashing when saving) is that once you've dated a number of girls, you can only visit a restricted number at night since there is no scroll possibility for accessing the new 'conquests'. Also, obedience gains from having sex is temporary whereas losses appear to be permanent. I can raise obedience and suggestibilty with serum combinations, but this is (as expected) not a core change. The idea of the game is to corrupt as many girls/women as possible. However, it becomes increasingly frustrating when all the hard work (making small talk, complimenting, flirting, seducing and dating seem to bring little or no change in major parameters such as obedience and/or happiness. Also, the more people I meet or employ, the slower the game becomes and the save files become excessively large.
Also, you can remove Stephanie as Head Researcher, but you cannot appoint anybody in her place. Similarly, you cannot appoint other department heads, which could be used by the developer to improve or maybe cause possible friction within the company.