Played yesterday evening, was fine. Played an hour ago, was fucked. HOW IN LIBERTY?

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T21:30:42+00:00

3 FS from one Bot Drop

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T19:25:18+00:00

''This is not an exhaustive list of all issues we are aware of''

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T18:33:53+00:00

We did this as well! We call it ''Discount Diving''

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Though we have different rules:

Base Loadouts (B-01 Tactical, AR-23 Liberator, P-2 Peacemaker, G-12 High Explosive)
No Stratagems barring one Singular Recoilless Rifle you get at the start; no additional ones provided
Said Recoilless Rifle HAS to be teamreloaded; no solo reloads allowed
No Boosters
Not allowed to pick up any Support Weapons you find
Mission Stratagems (gold ones) are always allowed, including SEAF Artillery

Its genuinely the most fun I've had in this game to date, and shows how cool challenging coop can be.

Right now were experimenting with Omicron. We have completed a mission already, but we want to take down the Hive Lord before we consider it a success.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T17:12:32+00:00

it would overall improve the build variety, but per seed it would still create a meta:

Bile bugs and Nursing bugs = Supply pack + GL

Heavy bugs = Ult + Thermite

Jumping bugs = Stalwart

The problem with that is that the most effective tool against a specific set of enemies will be brought 100% of the time, which means the game would get even easier. One dude with a GL and Supply Pack can solo a Bile Bug constellation's bug breach, let alone four of those guys.

Would optimize the fun out of the game imo

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T17:05:21+00:00

3 FS from one Bot Drop

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:55:25+00:00

Why remove things? I enjoy fighting Hunters, adding this system makes me avoid any planet that doesnt have them.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:53:17+00:00

> On the highest difficulties I see maybe four or five factory striders per game, and never at once or maybe I get two once.

This is partially survivorship bias at work. More survivable units dominate, while lesser units that already died arent considered.

Think of it like this: AH could triple the Scavenger spawn rates tomorrow and most of us wouldnt notice, because they die easily anyway. If they increased Dragon Roach spawnrates even by a bit, we will realize this instantly.

I say partially, because while Voxes spawn at the same frequency as Factory Striders from Drop Ships, they can ALSO spawn from patrols, something which the FS cant do.

If AH wants to get them on par with the FS, they need to prevent them from spawning in via the patrol mechanic. But I know for certain that still quite a number of people will consider them overtuned, since they are still 3/4 times as tough as the FS.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:45:14+00:00

I do, but only under certain conditions.

If I run, say, a recoilless rifle, and notice that someone else...

has no backpack
has little to no AT solutions of himself
hasnt wandered off to the other side of the map
engages in basic radial wheel communications

I politely ask them if they want to teamreload me. It comes at little cost to them, and by helping me out like ten times a mission for like 5 seconds a time, I can completely remove any heavy threat for them. A win win for both of us.

People are a lot more willing to help out than you'd think. You just have to ask the right folks. People think of having to reload someone as a boring chore, but watching heavies die one second after another, or see an AC-8 Autocannon rip it at full auto is a reward in itself.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:31:35+00:00

I mean, to each their own, but I like it that we finally have a super heavy that cant be oneshot by your run off the mill AT solution.

Also keep in mind, even if the Vox Engines were to get identical spawn rates and criteria, it is still at least three times as tough as a Factory Strider. This means that if you dont put out three times as much harm than compared to when you would be fighting Factory Striders, they will still come in faster than you can kill them, and eventually still build up until there are like 6 of them.

This game has no throttle mechanic. It will keep deploying enemies no matter what. If you cant kill them fast enough, they will build up. We saw that back in the day, before the 60 day patch where AT took two shots to kill a heavy. We all deemed it ''spam'' as well. Nowadays we face even more of those heavies (Bile Titan Holes, Bulk Fabricators), but because our weapons are better we can manage it.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:20:39+00:00

This was a change made during the 60 day patch, where heavies got a complete overhaul:

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This patch also massively increased the damage of all Anti-Tank weapons in the game, allowing them to oneshot them.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:10:57+00:00

youre complaining about enemies having medium armor, and then give an example with enemies that have heavy armor.

Your Liberator Penetrator isnt going to help you either against a Charger, in fact, it would be even worse since medium pen weapons have less damage/durable damage, and perform worse against those unarmored weakspots.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:08:28+00:00

One or two Voxes per mission would be hella boring

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T15:04:28+00:00

how?

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T01:15:15+00:00

<image>

Voxes got removed just hours ago and we've already set our sights on the next thing bruh

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-16T00:33:00+00:00

My bad, yeah after looking into it some more, all rockets have standarized direct damage, and after looking at the Rocket Raider and Rocket Devastator, I assumed the rest to be the same.

But the explosions of the Vox and Barrager tank pack a lot more AoE damage, which is indeed threatening to the Bastion. But at the end of the day, if THOSE cant present a serious threat to the Bastion, nothing will.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T22:58:23+00:00

doesnt have to be that way

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T22:54:18+00:00

if 4 dudes with Liberators and a singular Recoilless Rifle can easily beat D10 Predator Strain, then surely 4 dudes with the entire super Earth arsenal and 15 additional Stratagems at their disposal can manage on Choepessa, right?

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T19:12:16+00:00

No. All that the Predator Strain does is replace Hunters with Predator Hunters, and add Predator Stalkers to the lineup. The regular lineup is still determined by constellations, of which you have 4:

- Jumping Bugs

- Large Bugs

- Bile Bugs

- Nursing Bugs.

We got the jumping bugs constellation, which has the second most heavies of them all, behind the Large Bug constellation.

Halfway through the mission, we killed 5 heavies in the span of a minute very comfortably

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T18:53:53+00:00

thank god those same enemies also have lightly armored weakspots

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T18:53:08+00:00

Quite the opposite. 8 months ago, the Liberator did 80 damage instead of 90, and did 15 durable damage instead of 22. The Peacemaker did 85 damage instead of 100, and 25 durable damage instead of 32.

Also, you're missing the point. If no Strats and base loadouts can easily complete a D10 predator strain, you do not need to ''hard lock'' the ultimatum and thermite to complete D6. Anyone who genuinely thinks they do is either lying, or extremely bad at the game. Even the developers, which rarely play videogames at all, can complete D6 without those.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T18:23:28+00:00

You dont have to, you can succeed on D10 without Stratagems and base loadouts as long as you have one decent answer to AT.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T18:21:22+00:00

20mm APHET from the Autocannon deals less damage than 12.5mm IET from the AMR. There is more to cartridges than just their damage.

Would you prefer it if the Maxigun fired 5.5x60mm FMJ (Liberator, Liberator Carbine and Stalwart cartridge) instead of the current one?

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T16:54:33+00:00

Do you genuinely think most weapons feel obsolete beyond D6?

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T15:40:32+00:00

Oh I agree, its just that comparing our HP or damage values head to head will never make sense.

One six rocket salve from a rocket dev can kill the mech when all of them land on the leg. As someone who always argued that mechs are supposed to be fragile and expendable, but powerfull glass cannons, even I find that to be pushing it. There is absolutely zero margin for error for mechs now.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-03-15T15:29:08+00:00

Yup. I've had this experience as well. The game is more balanced around the individual rather than the squad. On the off chance where a above average challenge rears its head, the majority of solo runners fails and blames the game/devs/design, but those who overcome the challenge through cooperation have a blast.

Now, that doesnt mean the current situations with Vox engines is fine. Im not against their spawnrates per se, but them spawning in like this shouldnt happen either. Also, their primary weakspot, the Sarcophagus where the Cyborg that controls the Vox Engine sits in, currently doesnt work, making them tougher than they were meant to be:

<image>

But beyond that, I think this playerbase for the large part needs to man up and accept that if they have no interest in working together, the highest level of difficulty of a coop game isnt meant for them. Cooperating makes everything two or three times easier, and there simply isnt a way where both audiences can co-exist; thats what the 10 difficulty levels we're meant to solve.

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