[Sanctum] Sanctum 2 Out!

The Dude With Herpes

CURRENTLY UPDATING OP

Sanctum 2 info

INFO FOR SANCTUM BEHIND SPOILER

Sanctum is more of a "pure" tower defense game than, say, Dungeon Defenders, in that there are lanes you can set up to manage enemy paths and kills, and less of a mass of enemies just heading straight for the "goal" like DD, and somewhat like OMD.

It has the speed of OMD with the added benefit of (up to) 4 player co-op, and with the recent updates you can choose weapon and tower loadouts to customize your experience. Unlike DD there is no persistence in your character, so game to game is new and unique, there's no "loot" or anything like that, there's just towers and guns.

*NOTE* Because the game has actually changed pretty dramatically with the update to new towers, weapons and loadouts, some of the following will be outdated, but the core gameplay is still the same.

What does Sanctum look like? Here's a couple shitty screenshots. Maybe if I think about it next time I play I'll take some of my own. Or you can take some and PM me and I can put them in the thread!

Yeah, while the game isn't going to win any graphical awards, those images don't really do it justice. It's an Unreal engine game so it runs well even on ancient machines and looks nice and pretty, with everything maxed out anyway.

If you want to see the game in action, here's a giantbomb quicklook and a totalbiscuit WTF:
GIANTBOMB QUICKLOOK


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Ds1E88pb0

Keep in mind the above note on the game updates above; that applies to both of those videos.

SEND ME A PM IF YOU WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE PLAYER LISTS

PLAYERS WHO OWN SANCTUM 2

PLAYERS WHO OWN SANCTUM
Galedrid (The Dude With Herpes)
Viking (Viking)
Broncbuster (Broncbuster)
M_W (M_W)
Vinelander (Podunk)
The Fonz (SkutSkut)
TheBlindJoker (RobotSpammer)
LittleBoots (LittleBoots)
Rakayn (Rakai)
The Gerbil (TheGerbil)

And if you like a little old school Tower Defense without the fancy graphics, FPS aspects or multiplayer, Coffee Stain has put out a 'mini' version of a TD game in the Sanctum universe. I say 'mini' but it's actually a full featured TD game with unlocks, levels, perks, and abilities. It's also hard as balls.

The Dude With Herpes

If there's suitable interest in the game, and the thread thrives, I'll update the OP sometime with weapon/tower lists, maybe enemies and tips for them. If you are bored and want to make those lists and PM them to me, I'll throw then up there.

Viking

May as well add me to the players list, steam id in sig.

Anyone tried the two new maps yet?

The Dude With Herpes

I tried one of the two new ones, it was pretty cool. Maybe I'm mixing it up with another one, but it had portals popping you all around with only little areas to put up towers so it upped the difficulty a lot, particularly when there were runners.

But those big new guns, perferators or whatever, the ones that shoot really freaking far work great on the map because they will shoot to the various platforms.

I tried the last new map, i think with a quick jaunt in the new Stamina mode. Initially it seems like "yay 25k resources" but enemies out the gate start at like max strength, and 25k doesn't go as far as you'd think. I wonder if in co-op each player gets that amount.

TheGerbil

Violators are the long range towers. They are decent, but build them more towards the middle of any map instead of the front due to their extreme range. Also they shoot so slow.

The Dude With Herpes

TheGerbil wrote:

Violators are the long range towers. They are decent, but build them more towards the middle of any map instead of the front due to their extreme range. Also they shoot so slow.

Yeah both of the new towers shoot pretty damn slow. The penetrator though, put at the end of a length where enemies will be going and it's pretty damn awesome.

But yeah, what you said, Violators need to go central and any of those random one block's you see on many of the stages, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Those things can shoot damn near the whole stage.

I learned yesterday that you still definitely need the old towers too. The new ones, just like the old ones, have roles, but aren't overpowered or do-alls.

Which IMO is pretty cool, they sound really powerful, and they are, but they don't replace other tower functions. They won't, for instance, do a damn thing to the swarms of spores. Also, the Violators, while upgradable to crazy damage, shoot slow so they have issues taking out masses of air units. Granted, they don't really miss, say, dodgers, but when there's a lot they overwhelm the towers pretty quickly, so you still need the other anti-air stuff.

Same with the new weapons actually. The shotgun is pretty good, but I'm struggling to find the rocket launcher useful. It does a lot of damage but its only one shot per upgrade level, and it doesn't seem to do significantly more damage than the alt shot of the scattergun, and the scatter gun's base attack is still far more useful for multiple enemy types. So yeah, maybe I'm missing something on the rocket launcher, maybe the lockon is that good, and I just didn't see it.

SkutSkut

The shotgun seems so assbackwards to me, it does more damage than the sniper rifle but sucks at clearing mobs.

Broncbuster

Add me to the list of players. Love this game.

Also, don't overlook Holo's. They are a window in the world of critical damage. They even work on towers.
As seen here! http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/560921086895605024/FCDDCD49F07110402452A8A6E13C8238EFCC59FD/

The Dude With Herpes

Yeah, hey, can you explain how the holos work exactly?

Because I don't get it, at all.

EDIT: Because, honestly it seems like just puttin another tower on said block would be a better idea. But like I said, I don't understand them, and I've never tried them because I can't make sense of why you'd ue it.

curly haired boy

i own the base game but not the DLC content. good to see sanctum getting some love, though.

TheGerbil

The Dude With Herpes wrote:

Yeah, hey, can you explain how the holos work exactly?

Because I don't get it, at all.

EDIT: Because, honestly it seems like just puttin another tower on said block would be a better idea. But like I said, I don't understand them, and I've never tried them because I can't make sense of why you'd ue it.

Okay what they do, is allow ANYTHING (player or tower) shooting through it to increase in damage based on the level of the holo tower. You used to be able to place multiple holo towers in a row and have the effect stack, which still works to an extent but they gave it dimishing returns for good reason. Shooting through three with a sniper rifle and doing hundreds of thousands of points in damage in a shot was a little OP. But they are really good and work for towers too. Great way to increase your killing power. (And they stack with those new floor panels which also increase the damage enemies take while standing on them).

Broncbuster

Exactly what TheGerbil said. See the screenshot I posted, I put the first lane to shoot down to inflict alot of damage as they're coming in.

If you put 2 down it will stack somewhat but it has diminishing returns, and yea, it used to be super overpowered, no diminish.

They are stupid powerful still, and I wouldn't play without. They are also super awesome if you can place one (see screenie) that allows you to shoot the air also. I put some in places so I can shoot oncoming mobs and ones that I can shoot the backs of mans, for those special mobs.

The other nice thing about the screenie I posted, is you can hop on the otherside of the holo's and use them for the back forty too. I almost advise stacking 2 together so you can shoot through 2, but 1 is good.

Broncbuster

That was a very non-coherent post but i think my point gets across.

If anyone would like to get some coop on later tonight. hit me up.

The Dude With Herpes

So basically it is more for you to use but just happens to also work with towers?

Yeah, I guess I totally misunderstood what it was supposed to be. I couldn't picture how you could set up a system where towers use it where that block wasn't better used as another tower. But if you use it to shoot through for the amp, then I can see yah, setting up a couple "stations" throughout the map you can teleport to quickly to get some bonus damage off of.

Cool beans. I'll have to check it out then.

Broncbuster

The Dude With Herpes wrote:

So basically it is more for you to use but just happens to also work with towers?

Yeah, I guess I totally misunderstood what it was supposed to be. I couldn't picture how you could set up a system where towers use it where that block wasn't better used as another tower. But if you use it to shoot through for the amp, then I can see yah, setting up a couple "stations" throughout the map you can teleport to quickly to get some bonus damage off of.

Cool beans. I'll have to check it out then.

yea, I don't usually set them up for towers specificly. like 1 block in front of it, never tested how much better it works. but I'll have it shoot through some on maps like facility for some of that front row for example. Usually end up with a penetrator next to them in hopes that it will hit angles through some holos.

The Dude With Herpes

Oh and the damage plates are crazy powerful, even only upgraded to level 3.

I'm a fan. They recharge kind of slow, but they're nice to have, and they do the damage to many enemies whether or not their weak point isn't near their feet. The exception I noticed was just the ones that can only be hit from behind, hoverers? They didn't take any damage from the damage plates. It worked really well for handling the brutes and such. And stray chargers (I should really learn the actual names of these enemies).

LittleBoots

Someone play this game with me

The Dude With Herpes

I will be up for some Sanctum later after my wife goes to sleep, but it'll probably be an hour at least.

LittleBoots

The Dude With Herpes wrote:

I will be up for some Sanctum later after my wife goes to sleep, but it'll probably be an hour at least.

Drug wife, play sanctum.

Broncbuster

I'm in the same boat as Teh Herps.

Rakai

I haven't played this much, and haven't played any co-op. I'm up for some action if anyone needs another.

LittleBoots

Played some last night with Rakai and Hey You. Fun times, very cool game. Kinda eager to try out some of the other game modes tonight.

The Dude With Herpes

Doing some stuff with the wife tonight, but late-ish I'd be up for some co-op if folks are playing. Just add my Steam ID to your list and if you see me on and in WoW or something, just send me a message. It's likely I'm just doing dailies or something, so feel free to bug me.

RobotSpammer

If anyone is up for some Sanctum multiplayer, add me to your list. I'm loving this game on SP and can only imagine that the fun will be doubled in multiplayer.

Viking

From steam thread.

The Dude With Herpes wrote:

Ya'll need to take this discussion into the Sanctum thread.

So you can explain to me what wave mazes are.

How I believe it to be....
Snake = Usually S shaped mazes with longer unbroken straights. (Great for Bobbles/Hoverer's as you can hit the weakspots easier)
Wave = Straights are much shorter with blocks placed to force mobs to change direction often. (Great for Chargers as they don't get to full speed)

Crappy ASCII examples.
X = Block
X= Open space

Snake
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wave
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Dude With Herpes

Ah, ok. I didn't know they had different names. I guess I already did both, I just do whichever fits in the area given, sometimes you can snake it sometimes you have to make due with just slowing the enemy down. The wave one relies on you more and the snake one relies on towers more. The addition of the amp fields and damage fields makes the wave option more viable in even larger areas.

In really big areas I'll split it into two sections forcing the enemies to go through two smaller snaking paths, since long snaking paths aren't typically very ideal for some enemies. But I guess the end result of that looks more like wave paths so...ok.

I'm up for some Sanctum tonight after the wife goes to bed, or maybe earlier.

Viking

Now neither of those design's account for holo towers, I have not found a good design that uses those efficiently yet.

I would be up for some games. but I'm in Aus so I get bad lag when playing with northern Hemisphere people which isn't a problem for the build phase, but destroys my ability to hit stuff with the guns.

SkutSkut

A good holo tower setup would be something like a straight like of holoblocks with the entrance being a max amp or slow field.

RobotSpammer

Brough this over here, hope that was cool Viking.

Viking wrote:

RobotSpammer wrote:

I've played at least three hours of random multiplayer today and if it wasn't for a paper I
Long snaking mazes can have advantages over wave mazes in certain situations.
Bobbleheads and Hoverer's are much easier to hit the weakspots on when they are on straights, while lots of corners can make them harder to hit the weakspots on (especially if you have a HOLO set up specifically for sniping).
Of course Chargers can take advantage of the straights so you really want a mix of the two styles of mazing.

I think many players go with the snake initially due to how easy it is to fit into the game-space while wave mazes are a little harder.

My group tend to designate 1 person to maze to prevent such issues, Much easier to have a solo mazer than to co-ordinate 4 players with different ideas about the "best" layout. The only real exception is when playing Facility, then it is each player gets a section that they are responsible for (with pre-defined entry/exit points to aid the next person in the chain)
That said we have settled into a prefered layout for most of the maps.

I agree on all points here except that waving, if done correctly, gives the enemy a longer path to the goal than snaking. This results in them taking more damage and usually more quickly if the towers are placed in good locations. I actually couldn't complete the bridge level in SP with snaking even with my towers at good levels. With waving though, the enemies rarely got passed the first half of the level until the last five waves. But this also depends on the area you are using, as well. Some maps might be better for snaking, haven't got past the Arc in SP.

For MP, you seem to have a set team, so that helps in the maze building department. Jumping in on random games usually doesn't yield such good results as yours as the text to speech makes it difficult. From what I seen its a great community but it's hard to explain maze designs other than snaking without visuals. But in MP, you have enough resources and guns that the maze isn't that big of a factor, like in SP.

The Dude With Herpes wrote:

Ah, ok. I didn't know they had different names. I guess I already did both, I just do whichever fits in the area given, sometimes you can snake it sometimes you have to make due with just slowing the enemy down. The wave one relies on you more and the snake one relies on towers more. The addition of the amp fields and damage fields makes the wave option more viable in even larger areas.

In really big areas I'll split it into two sections forcing the enemies to go through two smaller snaking paths, since long snaking paths aren't typically very ideal for some enemies. But I guess the end result of that looks more like wave paths so...ok.

I'm up for some Sanctum tonight after the wife goes to bed, or maybe earlier.

http://sanctum.wikia.com/wiki/Bridge_Maze_Designs
Page has all the maze designs for the Bridge. You can see wave in there as well as other interesting ones that look amazing but not practical .

Viking

RobotSpammer wrote:

Page has all the maze designs for the Bridge. You can see wave in there as well as other interesting ones that look amazing but not practical

Pretty good examples there, but they seem to only rate on the number of 90 degree turns which is fine if you only care about time Mobs spend in the maze and only use towers for DPS.
I still think that you need some longer straights to deal with those enemy types that towers can not deal with reliably.

SkutSkut

This worked a lot better than I thought it would solo, I bet with 2 or 3 people you could do the uh, mode with no money between rounds, for like, ever with it.

Dangerbird

Wow, that's a really excellent design. I never even thought of doing it that way.

It really maximizes the amount of times a creep will walk past a tower's range of attack. I believe that's how you get the best value out of your tower's upgrades.

I usually go for the completely obvious top to bottom snake on this map. Its not the best strategy, but it seems to work okay.

Podunk

I bought this a few weeks ago when it was in a tower defense pack for $10, but didn't get around to playing it till this past weekend. I flew through the first four maps using mostly holo towers and powered up weapons, but now the fifth map kicked my butt with chargers and those guys that are only weak on the back. Might have to redo my map. Great game though.

Broncbuster

SkutSkut wrote:

This worked a lot better than I thought it would solo, I bet with 2 or 3 people you could do the uh, mode with no money between rounds, for like, ever with it.

I would suggest that you change the Televator to a holo, that is the perfect lane to spank mobs as they come in. Perhaps one so you can shoot them in the back as they walk away from you too. That is essentially how i set mine also, but with the holo's.

Alfred J. Kwak

isn't Sanctum currently part of the humble bundle?

The Dude With Herpes

It is(was?) part of that Indy Royale Bundle. It might have been part of one of the humble bundles at some point, I'm not sure as I've had it for awhile.

Alfred J. Kwak

ah yes, I might have mixed those two up

SkutSkut

yeah I haven't tried holos yet but I'm tempted to. Also probably a bit too much AA in that set up but I'd rather not get flooded.

RobotSpammer

SkutSkut wrote:

yeah I haven't tried holos yet but I'm tempted to. Also probably a bit too much AA in that set up but I'd rather not get flooded.

There is no such thing as too much firepower, unless the game states that the maximum level of fire power has been reach, BUT other than that.
Speaking of holos, does their damage boost also apply to towers shooting through them?
I ask because I have this wonderful idea of creating a long hallway similar to yours with a penetrator at the end and a holo in front. If things work like I believe they do, I shall name it the "hallway of joy."

The Dude With Herpes

Yes, holos apply to tower too.

Broncbuster

As Herps said, yes.

The other thing I've done that tend to work out, I don't know how viable they are on Insane but replacing that center row in the Screenshot above with holo's would be nice.

Or:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/broncbuster/screenshot/558661528651723948/?
Replacing that front row, or just the entrance area, with holo's is nice. more effective hits from the 2nd row of guns. Keep in mind that maze design isn't great on that map screenshot, we're not utilizing the walk-back area and repathing them forward.