Anything that can protect objectives - shields or ice stuff both helps a lot protecting them or your mechs. I also like running Mafan, or to a lesser extent Abe, on the team members of whatever is using the whip.
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Into the Breach |OT| FTL: Fighting Tactical Leviathans
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Anything that can protect objectives - shields or ice stuff both helps a lot protecting them or your mechs. I also like running Mafan, or to a lesser extent Abe, on the team members of whatever is using the whip.
I mean, that's their downside by design. Try and avoid missions like train and desert terraformers, get an alternate weapon for lightning mech so he can do something other than whip in those situations, prioritize health upgrades on your team so they can take hits from it, etc..
Considering there's only 10 squads, I don't think "one of the strongest" is far-fetched for them.
9. And well, I think they're in the bottom 4, so in the weaker half. :p
My bad, you're right it's 9. I'd probably put them at 4th best personally, with Hazardous Mechs, Rusting Hulks, and Frozen Mechs being top 3.
That would be my top 3 as well, but I'd put Rift Walkers and Flame Behemoths ahead of Blitzkrieg as well. The other 3 squads are a step below Blitzkrieg in my head (I guess you could say I think that Blitzkrieg is "mid tier", while the other 3 are "low tier" haha), but I still think Blitzkrieg is only marginally better than Zenith Guard.
The fact you have to avoid/risk not getting high reward missions completed or drop the perfect island just makes them lose so much potential in my eyes.
I'd have to play with them on Hard again just to be sure, but honestly I never ran into too much trouble with destroying side objectives by doing what I mentioned previously - avoiding those kinds of missions as best I can, and getting an alternate weapon for lightning mech. There's also the other 2 mechs - Hook Mech taking on the science mech role is really nice since you can get him Brute weapons w/ no penalty, and Boulder Mech is just a really flexible unit: They can push in potentially any direction if you position right, do solid base damage with the rock, and/or block emerging holes or shots or chargers with the rock. Both provide great displacement right off the bat.
Thing is, I think that the investment required for Blitzkrieg to work really well is just so much higher than that of the other squads, particularly having to buy one or two new weapons for Lightning and Hook, while on the other hand, you'll have a hard time getting the reputation since it's extremely tough to get perfects without skipping on the highest reward missions if they involve bad objectives for your set. That said, they are really strong in some situations, and easily are one of the strongest squads to beat the final mission with cause you can just exterminate the enemy forces if they cluster around the pylons.
However, you need to get there first, and especially on Hard or if you play with longer runs where you get more Alphas swarming you, losing the extra reputation from high rewards/perfect islands hurts them a lot. Flame Behemoths and Rift Walkers are just so much more reliable. Rift Walkers are fairly solid without any additional weapon investment, and Flame Behemoths also are reasonably workable without it, though of course getting a direct damage power for Meteor is a big boon. Swap and Flame are both extremely strong on their own.
I wouldn't call it a required investment, it just helps mitigate their weakness. Skillful playing for instance can also help, or certain pilots, or just luck. I agree Rift Walkers are probably more consistent but they don't ever reach the highs of Blitzkrieg in terms of just destroying missions almost effortlessly, which I think is an important qualifier for "strongest". Personally I think Flame Behemoths have a really weak early game and the mechs (outside of Teleport of course) take a lot more effort to do good with consistently. The squad has some of if not the best displacement abilities overall, but man I really don't like leaving enemies on the field over multiple turns and not having a lot of damage. Doing that sucks on Hard.
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Flame Behemoths being considered better than Blitzkrieg sounds surreal to me, but admittedly I have only played a single hard mode game (which resulted in a first try victory #notsohumblebrag).
I personally think squads like Blitzkrieg and Rustling Hulks are overrated. I don't dispute their raw power, but when I think of "strongest", I think of the having the most flexibility to beat a wide variety of missions without sacrificing objectives or grid--best odds of getting a perfect run. And Blitzkrieg's lack of ability to deal with multiple 5 health Vek seriously hurts them in my book. Having 100%ed on Hard, here's my ranking:
1. Rift Walkers (Both displacement and damage are very reliable)
2. Flame Behemoths (Best displacement in the game; Teleport is fantastic)
3. Frozen Titans (Cryo Launcher is just too good with shields, but can have a very hard time with damage objectives)
4. Rustling Hulks (Only weakness is lack of ability to get an enemy away from a wall)
5. Blitzkrieg (Very strong vs groups of weak Vek but hamstrung against multiple purple enemies)
5. Steel Judoka (Vice Fist can be notoriously awkward to use)
7. Hazardous Mechs (Pure power over finesse; awkward displacement creates a lot of must-fail situations)
8. Zenith Guard (Brute force with the worst support mech; really wants both Mafan/Bethany and Henry/Prospero to be really effective)
Note that this ranking assumes being able to have your choice of fully-upgraded pilot, but not being able to rely on finding specific weapons or pilots during the run.
1. Rift Walkers (Both displacement and damage are very reliable)
2. Flame Behemoths (Best displacement in the game; Teleport is fantastic)
3. Frozen Titans (Cryo Launcher is just too good with shields, but can have a very hard time with damage objectives)
4. Rustling Hulks (Only weakness is lack of ability to get an enemy away from a wall)
5. Blitzkrieg (Very strong vs groups of weak Vek but hamstrung against multiple purple enemies)
5. Steel Judoka (Vice Fist can be notoriously awkward to use)
7. Hazardous Mechs (Pure power over finesse; awkward displacement creates a lot of must-fail situations)
8. Zenith Guard (Brute force with the worst support mech; really wants both Mafan/Bethany and Henry/Prospero to be really effective)
Note that this ranking assumes being able to have your choice of fully-upgraded pilot, but not being able to rely on finding specific weapons or pilots during the run.
I find it really cool that everyone's rankings are so wildly different. Goes to show how close these squads actually are in terms of power, even playing so differently.
Thanks- just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something, haha.
(Pretty big bump but...) this game came out on Mac today! I had been waiting for this to try it but I have way too much to play at the moment so it might be a while still til I pick it up. Still very good news!
Great news, it's always a pain to Boot Camp in Windows while I wait for Mac ports. Too bad I've long since 100%'ed it, the game really could have done well with dailies or something to promote longevity.
They're not bound to even think about an AE until they release the game on iPad at least. Frankly it would be awesome if they ported it to more systems this time.
Oh man if i could play this on my phone I would be soooo happy.
OP
OP
Bought it on GOG after the Mac version released - this is an incredible game, a perfect mix of strategy and puzzle solving distilled to bare essentials. Funny thing is one evening my wife looked at me and said:
"Why do you have such a concerned face? Also, are you playing something? I don't see you clicking a lot."
So far did 2 islands perfectly on Normal using the base squad.
"Why do you have such a concerned face? Also, are you playing something? I don't see you clicking a lot."
So far did 2 islands perfectly on Normal using the base squad.
I put over 80 hours into it and it's currently my game of the year.
57 hours on the Steam version, plus a couple on Switch so far. Like FTL, it's kind of an evergreen game.
The first one is always easier, alphas and such start appearing with more frequency on later islands. This includes the final mission: it's easier after two islands than it is after three, and hardest after four.
The order you tackle the islands is a strategic choice since there's different enemy types and bosses (you can check which ones by hovering the island, I believe both are pre-rolled for each island for the run), and of course different mission types and terrains. Some squads have slight advantages on some islands: e.g. Rusting Hulks benefit from the second island's sand.
Does it start with a black screen that seems to have crashed? It's a known issue, and you have two options:
- Wait it out (it'll actually end up booting after about a minute or two).
- Restart your Switch (hold the power button down and select "restart").
There's a secret pilot that makes that mech even more broken.
I'm really loving this game, but my biggest gripe is the first turn... I feel like I can have a really bad mission if I get unlucky and out of position in the first turn before I know where the enemies are moving..I appreciate the restart turn option, but I feel like I need a restart the whole battle option sometimes.
Anyone have any tips for first turn placement? It's the only part of the game that really feels unfair and "how was I supposed to know that?" part of the game.
Anyone have any tips for first turn placement? It's the only part of the game that really feels unfair and "how was I supposed to know that?" part of the game.
You can check where each enemy can move. Position your units so that you minimize the number of potential targets, especially buildings.
Also, artillery units shine when positioned in a long continuous row or column, where they can control all of the map by moving alongside it. Very often, this will be far back, away from the enemies; remember they have infinite range.
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I just want to drop in and say Into the Breach on Switch has now become my new crack! The gameplay is so addicting trying to figure out how to defend the buildings from Vek attacks as well as trying to figure out how to complete your side objectives too. I only beat one timeline where I was the Rustling Hulks and felt really happy about beating the game already, but I accidentally put the difficulty on easy when I thought I was tapping the L button for info. Ever since then I've been playing on normal and I'm trying to at leas clear 3 islands to unlock the 4th one, but the Vek keep destroying me on the second mission of the 3rd island. Still, the way you can level up your mechs as well as deciding which pilots to use thanks to their skills makes the game that much more engaging to play. ITB has certainly shot up in my GOTY rankings.
Same !
I finally beat all islands with Rift Walkers. This is getting pretty interesting to try other squads and acquire new skills and ways of thinking.
Question : if I beat 4 islands for the first time before the final one with a squad, does the games considers you have done 2 and 3 before and gives you the 2nd and 3rd medal ? Thanks
Nope, 2 and 3 are separate victory conditions with their separate indicators in the squad selection screen. The only thing that "supersedes" is that a gold medal for completion on Hard will supersede silver and bronze medals from easier modes.
The reason for this in the game is that 4 island is not easier than 2 or 3 island.
It's a rogue-like mechanic where you trade off building up your character while the enemies scale up along the way.
Yeah, I considered saying as much, but I guessed it was kind of obvious. :)
Personally I think 3-islands is the easiest victory. 2 feels like your squad isn't developed enough, and 4 feels like giving the enemy time to "catch up" while you don't improve all that much. That said I tend to default to 4 islands simply because I'm having too much fun! :D