As much fun as I am having, seeing the requirements for the platinum makes me want to play it less. I really hate it when developers put hundreds of hours of grind into their game just so they can keep you playing long enough that you might bite on their mtx bullshit. Lowers my opinion of them significantly.
I haven't even looked at achievements. That's not even on my radar. I was upset at how slowly that blank matrix cores get handed out. IMO it takes far too long to get the blank cores given how many overclocks exist. I think that you should be able to purchase the things from the resource market. However all of your player data is just saved client side, so I just edited my save file to give myself a hundred blank cores and I haven't had a complaint since. I still have a lot of overclocks to unlock just since I haven't been finding enough machine events to unlock them all, but at least I can avoid that rotten feeling of "oh look, a machine event but I have no blank cores..."
I am a big trophy hunter, it's an important part of the game for me. I will usually avoid games like this, even if I think I might have fun playing it. Like Diablo 2 remaster? Never going to play it even though I enjoyed my time with it on PC. Crypt of the Necrodancer? Not a chance in hell.
I had someone drop me 2 or 3 times in a match but then they immediately ran over and rezzed me so I just shrugged and kept mining. Only negative encounter I have had in about 30 hours.
While not surprising since there's always gonna be griefers in online games, I actually haven't come across any myself while playing DRG which is surprising
I've seen a few drillers who love killing the other members of the team with C4 at the escape pod and escaping alone.
Tossing all your grenades out at the last dwarf is just tradition (among my friends at least)
+4
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Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
edited February 2022
I only play with friends, I've never liked playing any game with randos online, and that means that probably 75% of my time in DRG is solo. Bosco is fantastic. Easily the best NPC teammate of any game ever.
Bosco can dig out anything. He's slow, but better him flying up to some of the hard to get gems or alien eggs than me trying to work my way up there with whatever class I'm playing at the time. Also, he's an effective fighter. And you get to customize him, haha.
The only things Bosco can't help you with are some of the secondary tasks, like the flowers or nuts or whatever, but he's great at the fleas!
Nah, this game has had one of the best online communities I've experienced. I'm constantly playing with pugs more than I'm playing with friends just based upon how much I've been playing the game.
It's just weird that I've ran into two griefers. They're not common. And I'm shocked they exist in a PvE Coop game. And one of the two has a lot of posts about them specifically on the subreddit/etc. They've... been around and griefed a whole lot of people. A single bad apple existing in a game where there's no report or ban feature and making a name for themselves. And knowing/abusing the points in missions where they can no longer be kicked to purposely kill everyone then fail them.
99%+ of the randoms I've met in this game have been nice. I also can't imagine doing Hazard 4/5 stuff without teamwork and multiple role coverage.
Yeah any randoms I've been grouped with have been great. It helps that you can do a lot in this game (at least at medium difficulty) without voice chat.
For me, I wish they'd figure out some more end game stuff. While the new guns are fun and the season pass is interesting, unless you really like the cosmetic choices, there isn't much incentive for it when you have basically infinite gold and resources at the end. Right now I have all the cosmetics I'd want and every overclock out there (other than the new guns now).
What this game needs is something that relies on scarcity. My idea was mission boosts. Limited use buffs or items you can use in mission. Similar to beer but with a decent gold/mineral cost. Maybe a 2 shot grenade launcher that has the impact twice the size of a C4 charge. Or a heavy laser that can pierce 6 deep but only runs 3 seconds per shot with a CD and has 5 charges. An not just weapons, maybe you can equip stims to heal a teammate for 50% HP or something but only have 3. Or a super shield (twice as big and long). Or Maybe you can buy a boost for bosco. Or maybe a personal teleporter that pulls all teammates together
The idea is they need something that only lasts for the mission to make gold/minerals worth something at the end game. Maybe they'd have to add another difficulty level as well with this. You could also add something along the lines of having to be a certain level to access these. That would also provide incentive for playing/leveling. Limited slots to 1 or 2, so you have to make the call on whether to bring the big gun or the party buff (kind of like perks) would help when deciding a team loadout.
I need to eventually try playing with randoms. I've only played with my friends and bosco. When playing with my friends, it has been ridiculously tiring like herding cats. I feel like I'm the only one in the group who visualize the cavern. Everyone else keeps immediately getting lost and running in circles. I didn't want to deal with that with randoms.
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
+2
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Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
I need to eventually try playing with randoms. I've only played with my friends and bosco. When playing with my friends, it has been ridiculously tiring like herding cats. I feel like I'm the only one in the group who visualize the cavern. Everyone else keeps immediately getting lost and running in circles. I didn't want to deal with that with randoms.
I have fun playing with my friends, but a couple of them definitely need a bit of coddling.
Like, we hit the button to call the drop pod, I quickly bring up the map and see where it's incoming so I can get rolling. I get to the drop pod, turn around and see my friend is still where we hit the button, wandering in circles. And I still have to tell him, "FOLLOW MOLLY'S TRAIL"
Like, it's a bunch of green flashing lights. With arrows. We've been playing for 18 months.
Yeah, they can fall into the "Whelp, I guess I'll just die" mentality if molly ever climbs up a sheer cliff face or through some supply pod hole where we can't directly follow. They lean on the "Driller drills a hole straight to the drop pod" crutch too hard to the point where they struggle to navigate when forced to.
That and a problem with "thinking with portals" and using the mobility tools to solve problems. Things like stacking platforms on platforms to create bridges to solve vertical gaps, chaining ziplines together, soft landing platforms to quick solve vertical descents, or using the drill to create shortcuts into adjacent tunnels. Forgetting to use waypoints to help navigate to fossils up on the ceiling when drilling through rock. That sort of thing. I do play the game a lot more than them though, so I guess I just have more experience thinking about using the tools. I just love when the game presents me with a situation where I can traverse something with a dash sprint into engineer rocket jump overclock into a second rocket jump grenade to arrest my momentum to non-lethal speeds before I hit the ground. I live for moments like that, which is why I have a hard time putting down the rocket jump overclock even if I think that other loadouts are far and away superior in the killing department.
On this note, I've got a few other new player tips that I think that I might have forgotten:
When calling in a supply pod, if possible try to make certain that the pod won't intersect a cavern that's above you. This prevents Molly from climbing up that supply pod hole along a route that you can't follow. While you shouldn't NEED Molly's breadcrumbs to make it back to the drop pod, there also isn't a reason to deliberately make things harder.
When playing engineer, use a pair of platforms to seal supply pod holes. This also blocks Molly, and it also prevents bugs from using that hole against you.
If there is some obnoxious looking vertical segment that you think that you'll be forced to traverse in the race back to the drop pod, consider backtracking and climbing it before calling in the drop pod.
General_Armchair on
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
+2
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Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
When playing engineer, use a pair of platforms to seal supply pod holes. This also blocks Molly, and it also prevents bugs from using that hole against you.
Level 136 or so, I never thought of doing this before. Great advice.
What I always try to do is see where the pod is coming in and stay ahead of Molly the whole way. Bugs rarely slow me down enough. Sometimes Molly will get to use a shortcut I didn't see (Because it was a tiny hole in the side of a cave) or was too much of a pain to use (Your aforementioned vertical caverns), but, like, 95% of the time, it's a piece of cake to be at the drop pod well before Molly gets there.
It really depends on the biomes and cavern RNG. Normally things aren't too bad. Dense Biozone is probably the one that I dread the most. That zone tends to have lots of big vertical expanses with many inverted inclines. I always try to backtrack towards the higher points of the map before calling the drop pod there if I can. I think the lava zone can generate some pretty gnarly vertical segments too, but at least all of the lava and flames tends to make visibility a bit easier.
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
+2
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ThegreatcowLord of All BaconsWashington State - It's Wet up here innit? Registered Userregular
Lava Caverns will always be the bane of my existence due to the seismic activity revealing lava cracks and the constant fire geysers everywhere that fry you if you get too close. By far the most frustrating biome to deal with, particularly if you're a driller. I think the only one that's worse is the radioactive zone with all the plutonium crystals scattered everywhere that fry ya if you get too close, but Lava is definitely pain in the rump number 1
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
Lava can be annoying, sure, but the radioactive crystals are easy to take down.
For my money, I'm with General Armchair - the verticality of the Dense Biozone is massively annoying.
I had one sequence of unfortunate events where I was running solo with Bosco. Came across a massive vertical shaft just as my friend was joining. I was trying to get a good look for a zipline when a stabber vine knocked me down the shaft and I died. Bosco despawned right then as my friend's pod dropped him off: Right on the edge of the shaft where the stabber vine immediately took him out the same way before he could even turn around.
Lava Caverns will always be the bane of my existence due to the seismic activity revealing lava cracks and the constant fire geysers everywhere that fry you if you get too close. By far the most frustrating biome to deal with, particularly if you're a driller. I think the only one that's worse is the radioactive zone with all the plutonium crystals scattered everywhere that fry ya if you get too close, but Lava is definitely pain in the rump number 1
The lava zone can certainly be a huge pain, but it's a huge pain for different reasons. The lava/flame geysers are a pain, but the earthquakes that slow you down is a killer. The environmental hazards are extreme, but the actual layout and structure of the lava zone caves are often pretty manageable IMO. Although I do think that it gives me bridges and tunnels over large caverns fairly often relative to other biomes.
But the dense biozone is such a pain since its vertical segments aren't fully vertical. In most zones it's vertical segments might feature a steep cliff face. However in dense biozone you get these anti-hive looking things that are like a bunch of kind of rounded disk shaped cavities stacked on top of each other. It generates tons of inverted inclines and overhangs that can be a pain to traverse. It also generates tons of surface area along the edges of this vertical expanse where things like mission objectives might spawn, so you might be fighting along these precarious perches.
The lava zone did generate one of the worst missions that I've ever played though. This is from a deep dive circa Dec 31, 2019. A VERY vertical low oxygen point extraction mission that was basically one big pit. The mining rig was positioned over top a selection of flame jets and lava geysers that would immerse the platform in flame.
A microwave gun is an interesting choice. At a glance though I question it since generally driller needs his secondary to give himself some ranged capability that his primaries don't have. I'm curious to see the full details of the weapon. There are some overclocks that give his primaries some more ranged capabilities, I wonder if those will mesh well with the new secondary?
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
+1
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Is there crossplay between gamepass PC and Steam? Would folks be up with playing with a newbie? I know you can play single player but these games are all about the multi for me.
The JudgeThe Terwilliger CurvesRegistered Userregular
Had one of those great moments last night where it's last life, back pressed against the locked gate of the pod (S is firmly pressed down) as the MULE is slowly being tractor-beam'd, only secondary ammo left and it's on fumes, shield gone, health plummeting . . . and then you fall ass backward into safety just as acid lands where you were standing.
Almost got my first promotion - Driller, because solo is all I've ever played so far - just another mission to go.
Last pint: Turmoil CDA / Barley Brown's - Untappd: TheJudge_PDX
+9
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The JudgeThe Terwilliger CurvesRegistered Userregular
ThegreatcowLord of All BaconsWashington State - It's Wet up here innit? Registered Userregular
Yeah ran about 10 runs last night unlocking the shard defractor and the coilgun but didn't get a chance to actually try them out sadly. Some things I've noted now that season 2 launched:
- Steve's are freaking weak now. Granted it was kinda nuts how they could effectively tank Praetorians for way longer than I thought possible, but they are squishy as heck now. I don't know if there are promotion perks that allow you to buff them somehow, but as they are now, they go down quick.
- Rival Incursion flags on missions are nasty the sheer number of robot enemies that spawn when this flag is up more or less jacks up the difficulty level by another tier. Definitely need to bring your A-game if this flag is on a for a particular mission
- Fought the new nemesis boss a couple of times (Think flying robotic Bulk Detonator with grabby claws). I'm still trying to figure out its mechanics with its claws. There's some kind of targeting mechanic that decides who it grabs, but once you get grabbed, you're more or less donion rings. None of us could figure out how to get the machine to release a grabbed target before it insta kills you in about 3-4 seconds after being grabbed, maybe there's something we're missing. Quite tanky buggers and have the horrifying effect of upon death they're basically bulk detonators with a much wider potential range as they literally orbital bombard the entire area with unstable land mines. Definitely one hectic ass enemy to fight.
- lots of new voice lines and comments by the dwarves we noticed throughout the runs. Definitely can tell the devs had fun recording those.
- Probably due to the launch, but we were getting some severe rubber banding last night. Again, might be launch week blues and all, but just be mindful of it.
- When you bring Loretta's head back to base and spawn back in, check the workbench where you pick your equipment for a nice reminder of your good deed
Also they broke UI Scaling with their tweaks. They wanted to make things more readable but scaling now only works with what seems half the UI. Hopefully a bug?
Also the new huge double-spaced chat that takes up half the damn screen is terrible and I want the old chat back.
Started to play this during the weekend with some friends. It’s very fun. Still working on the Conquer Hoxia or something missions. Mostly we play on hazard 2 as 3 killed us nabs quite a few times. Is there a good place to perhaps read up on some tactics and things? Ofc since we are new we don’t exactly have good perks and stuff.
That early on, I'd just have fun. There are some creative things with the engineer and platforms, but at more advanced levels it more just standard FPS stuff, conserve ammo (ie fire in short bursts), coordinate attacks on harder mobs, and always be moving. Once you'd unlocked most of the weapon upgrades, you'll probably just move up to hazard 3 naturally.
Hazard 3/4 was mainly where we'd play as a group once everything was leveled up.
One early tactic is to realize that reloads are 50% of everything. If all you used was primary, and it ran dry, then all you get back is half your primary ammo. If, however, you have used half your primary, secondary, grenades, mobility, and special, then you get all that back. It incentivizes switching up your tool use.
"Advanced" tactics boil down to understanding the limitations of enemy pathfinding and using your ability to create and destroy terrain to exploit those limitations.
That early on, I'd just have fun. There are some creative things with the engineer and platforms, but at more advanced levels it more just standard FPS stuff, conserve ammo (ie fire in short bursts), coordinate attacks on harder mobs, and always be moving. Once you'd unlocked most of the weapon upgrades, you'll probably just move up to hazard 3 naturally.
Hazard 3/4 was mainly where we'd play as a group once everything was leveled up.
"always be moving" is extremely important. Until proven otherwise, just assume that a bug is about to bite you in the ass. The sprint burst perk is extremely potent. Get your hands on it ASAP.
Rock and stone! Thanks for some helpful tips everyone. Just did my first escort mission so I’m almost done with the first assignment on the mission board. It’s taking some time since not all of us are online at the same time and we always do the mission from the one of us who is the farthest “behind”.
I'll need to patch the game and try out the new weapons sometime soon.
One other tip is to buy all of the upgrades for your suit rather than just the ones that you actually intend to equip and use. IIRC unlocking all of the upgrades for the suit provides a few extra buffs. Minor things like a smidgen of extra HP or shields, but every little bit helps.
And as always don't forget there is nothing funnier than all three of you hopping on the extraction while watching your downed fourth friend crawl feebly towards it.
Posts
PSN:Furlion
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
PSN:Furlion
I'm at 107 hours played.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I had someone drop me 2 or 3 times in a match but then they immediately ran over and rezzed me so I just shrugged and kept mining. Only negative encounter I have had in about 30 hours.
PSN:Furlion
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Tossing all your grenades out at the last dwarf is just tradition (among my friends at least)
Bosco can dig out anything. He's slow, but better him flying up to some of the hard to get gems or alien eggs than me trying to work my way up there with whatever class I'm playing at the time. Also, he's an effective fighter. And you get to customize him, haha.
The only things Bosco can't help you with are some of the secondary tasks, like the flowers or nuts or whatever, but he's great at the fleas!
It's just weird that I've ran into two griefers. They're not common. And I'm shocked they exist in a PvE Coop game. And one of the two has a lot of posts about them specifically on the subreddit/etc. They've... been around and griefed a whole lot of people. A single bad apple existing in a game where there's no report or ban feature and making a name for themselves. And knowing/abusing the points in missions where they can no longer be kicked to purposely kill everyone then fail them.
99%+ of the randoms I've met in this game have been nice. I also can't imagine doing Hazard 4/5 stuff without teamwork and multiple role coverage.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
For me, I wish they'd figure out some more end game stuff. While the new guns are fun and the season pass is interesting, unless you really like the cosmetic choices, there isn't much incentive for it when you have basically infinite gold and resources at the end. Right now I have all the cosmetics I'd want and every overclock out there (other than the new guns now).
What this game needs is something that relies on scarcity. My idea was mission boosts. Limited use buffs or items you can use in mission. Similar to beer but with a decent gold/mineral cost. Maybe a 2 shot grenade launcher that has the impact twice the size of a C4 charge. Or a heavy laser that can pierce 6 deep but only runs 3 seconds per shot with a CD and has 5 charges. An not just weapons, maybe you can equip stims to heal a teammate for 50% HP or something but only have 3. Or a super shield (twice as big and long). Or Maybe you can buy a boost for bosco. Or maybe a personal teleporter that pulls all teammates together
The idea is they need something that only lasts for the mission to make gold/minerals worth something at the end game. Maybe they'd have to add another difficulty level as well with this. You could also add something along the lines of having to be a certain level to access these. That would also provide incentive for playing/leveling. Limited slots to 1 or 2, so you have to make the call on whether to bring the big gun or the party buff (kind of like perks) would help when deciding a team loadout.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I have fun playing with my friends, but a couple of them definitely need a bit of coddling.
Like, we hit the button to call the drop pod, I quickly bring up the map and see where it's incoming so I can get rolling. I get to the drop pod, turn around and see my friend is still where we hit the button, wandering in circles. And I still have to tell him, "FOLLOW MOLLY'S TRAIL"
Like, it's a bunch of green flashing lights. With arrows. We've been playing for 18 months.
That and a problem with "thinking with portals" and using the mobility tools to solve problems. Things like stacking platforms on platforms to create bridges to solve vertical gaps, chaining ziplines together, soft landing platforms to quick solve vertical descents, or using the drill to create shortcuts into adjacent tunnels. Forgetting to use waypoints to help navigate to fossils up on the ceiling when drilling through rock. That sort of thing. I do play the game a lot more than them though, so I guess I just have more experience thinking about using the tools. I just love when the game presents me with a situation where I can traverse something with a dash sprint into engineer rocket jump overclock into a second rocket jump grenade to arrest my momentum to non-lethal speeds before I hit the ground. I live for moments like that, which is why I have a hard time putting down the rocket jump overclock even if I think that other loadouts are far and away superior in the killing department.
On this note, I've got a few other new player tips that I think that I might have forgotten:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Level 136 or so, I never thought of doing this before. Great advice.
What I always try to do is see where the pod is coming in and stay ahead of Molly the whole way. Bugs rarely slow me down enough. Sometimes Molly will get to use a shortcut I didn't see (Because it was a tiny hole in the side of a cave) or was too much of a pain to use (Your aforementioned vertical caverns), but, like, 95% of the time, it's a piece of cake to be at the drop pod well before Molly gets there.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
For my money, I'm with General Armchair - the verticality of the Dense Biozone is massively annoying.
I had one sequence of unfortunate events where I was running solo with Bosco. Came across a massive vertical shaft just as my friend was joining. I was trying to get a good look for a zipline when a stabber vine knocked me down the shaft and I died. Bosco despawned right then as my friend's pod dropped him off: Right on the edge of the shaft where the stabber vine immediately took him out the same way before he could even turn around.
The lava zone can certainly be a huge pain, but it's a huge pain for different reasons. The lava/flame geysers are a pain, but the earthquakes that slow you down is a killer. The environmental hazards are extreme, but the actual layout and structure of the lava zone caves are often pretty manageable IMO. Although I do think that it gives me bridges and tunnels over large caverns fairly often relative to other biomes.
But the dense biozone is such a pain since its vertical segments aren't fully vertical. In most zones it's vertical segments might feature a steep cliff face. However in dense biozone you get these anti-hive looking things that are like a bunch of kind of rounded disk shaped cavities stacked on top of each other. It generates tons of inverted inclines and overhangs that can be a pain to traverse. It also generates tons of surface area along the edges of this vertical expanse where things like mission objectives might spawn, so you might be fighting along these precarious perches.
The lava zone did generate one of the worst missions that I've ever played though. This is from a deep dive circa Dec 31, 2019. A VERY vertical low oxygen point extraction mission that was basically one big pit. The mining rig was positioned over top a selection of flame jets and lava geysers that would immerse the platform in flame.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Almost got my first promotion - Driller, because solo is all I've ever played so far - just another mission to go.
They just straight up nerfed both that gun and that overlock. They nerfed my entire Scout build.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
- Steve's are freaking weak now. Granted it was kinda nuts how they could effectively tank Praetorians for way longer than I thought possible, but they are squishy as heck now. I don't know if there are promotion perks that allow you to buff them somehow, but as they are now, they go down quick.
- Rival Incursion flags on missions are nasty the sheer number of robot enemies that spawn when this flag is up more or less jacks up the difficulty level by another tier. Definitely need to bring your A-game if this flag is on a for a particular mission
- Fought the new nemesis boss a couple of times (Think flying robotic Bulk Detonator with grabby claws). I'm still trying to figure out its mechanics with its claws. There's some kind of targeting mechanic that decides who it grabs, but once you get grabbed, you're more or less donion rings. None of us could figure out how to get the machine to release a grabbed target before it insta kills you in about 3-4 seconds after being grabbed, maybe there's something we're missing. Quite tanky buggers and have the horrifying effect of upon death they're basically bulk detonators with a much wider potential range as they literally orbital bombard the entire area with unstable land mines. Definitely one hectic ass enemy to fight.
- lots of new voice lines and comments by the dwarves we noticed throughout the runs. Definitely can tell the devs had fun recording those.
- Probably due to the launch, but we were getting some severe rubber banding last night. Again, might be launch week blues and all, but just be mindful of it.
- When you bring Loretta's head back to base and spawn back in, check the workbench where you pick your equipment for a nice reminder of your good deed
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
Also the new huge double-spaced chat that takes up half the damn screen is terrible and I want the old chat back.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Hazard 3/4 was mainly where we'd play as a group once everything was leveled up.
"Advanced" tactics boil down to understanding the limitations of enemy pathfinding and using your ability to create and destroy terrain to exploit those limitations.
"always be moving" is extremely important. Until proven otherwise, just assume that a bug is about to bite you in the ass. The sprint burst perk is extremely potent. Get your hands on it ASAP.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
One other tip is to buy all of the upgrades for your suit rather than just the ones that you actually intend to equip and use. IIRC unlocking all of the upgrades for the suit provides a few extra buffs. Minor things like a smidgen of extra HP or shields, but every little bit helps.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012