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Code Name S.T.E.A.M. |OT| They made Lincoln Force! Or: "Welcome to Earth!"

So I just unlocked Califia. Is there any reason to use John Henry again? She seems like John with better range.
I prefer Califia, too, but one advantage that John has is that his grenades can be arc-ed over obstacles, which I do admit that I sometimes find myself missing whenever I'm using Califia...
 

Velcro Fly

Member
If only you had read my OP you'd have see a screenshot of the player being inside the tank.

It also had this useful little blurb right above it:

I stood around it waiting for the prompt to press up on the control stick to enter but it never came so I just wrecked it :(

I should have known that it wasn't attacking me so I could destroy stuff with it.
 

Regiruler

Member
Myltiplayer is so dead. Makes me sad.

Fox is really, really good though. Opponent's
dorothy
didn't do squat.

Tom was secondary mvp given that he's the best user of the scout pack.
 

Riposte

Member
Myltiplayer is so dead. Makes me sad.

I've been getting a few matches. Wait times can be awhile though.



Ragequitters are annoying. I hope they count as wins for me. I'm guessing not. There's a surrender option, use it and be honorable.

EDIT: I finally lost a tournament match, damn lol. He was down to one dude, but collected more coins in the end.

EDIT: Three rage quits back to back. I wouldn't even mind if this wasn't "tournament" mode. Maybe that's why it is happening in the first place.
 

Gartooth

Member
Been playing the game all weekend, and at this point I'm ready to say that this game fucking rocks. I think everything just finally clicked with me in the last few maps. That or the earlier maps in the game had poorer level design based on available characters/equipment. (fucking tank...)

Some of the maps like the library or the multi-floor mansion had me on the edge of my seat moving my team around and experimenting with the different tactics. At first the biggest hurdles to the game were long enemy turns along with no overhead map, and even though they still do annoy me at times I think I finally understand why the designers implemented them in that specific way. Playing on the library, I had my characters constantly getting flanked by aliens jumping down from above. Eventually I decided to just leave Henry looking up at the tops of bookshelves, and sure enough he catches some aliens off guard to my glee.

A lot of the party members have also been a lot of fun. I think my favorites so far are Tom and Scarecrow. Just got to the Fox but haven't played her mission yet. Carter might also be fun but I need to toy around with him more. Queequeg's penguins have been useful in some maps in order to flush out enemies, but I wish the player had slight control over them since so many times a damn penguin would get caught on a small blip of geometry and blow up at the wrong moment.

Also wanted to acknowledge the artstyle and setting. I wasn't sold on the look of the game back at E3, and I still wasn't quite sure when I played the demo, but I now think the game has a ton of great personality between the old American setting, literature characters, and comic art style. I love the idea of using Lovecraft aliens but some of the designs are hit or miss for me. Due to the combination of artistic and design choices, I think it is safe to say that this will be a very love-it or hate-it game and at best a cult classic. I'd love to see Intelligent Systems get another go at this in the future... but I don't have much hope.

Edit: Also hope Nintendo gets that Amiibo adapter out soon as I really want to try out my Ike amiibo when I get the chance.
 

RagnarokX

Member
I've been getting a few matches. Wait times can be awhile though.



Ragequitters are annoying. I hope they count as wins for me. I'm guessing not. There's a surrender option, use it and be honorable.

EDIT: I finally lost a tournament match, damn lol. He was down to one dude, but collected more coins in the end.

EDIT: Three rage quits back to back. I wouldn't even mind if this wasn't "tournament" mode. Maybe that's why it is happening in the first place.

I've had people quit right before I kill their last unit and I get cheated out of the coins. It just asks if I want to block that user. I just got the last subweapon, so I don't care anymore. There was quite a lot of ragequitting when I unlocked the sentry, lol. Today I had a match where my opponent just kept walking towards the sentry over and over, lol.
 

TheMoon

Member
Been playing the game all weekend, and at this point I'm ready to say that this game fucking rocks. I think everything just finally clicked with me in the last few maps. That or the earlier maps in the game had poorer level design based on available characters/equipment. (fucking tank...)

Some of the maps like the library or the multi-floor mansion had me on the edge of my seat moving my team around and experimenting with the different tactics. At first the biggest hurdles to the game were long enemy turns along with no overhead map, and even though they still do annoy me at times I think I finally understand why the designers implemented them in that specific way. Playing on the library, I had my characters constantly getting flanked by aliens jumping down from above. Eventually I decided to just leave Henry looking up at the tops of bookshelves, and sure enough he catches some aliens off guard to my glee.

A lot of the party members have also been a lot of fun. I think my favorites so far are Tom and Scarecrow. Just got to the Fox but haven't played her mission yet. Carter might also be fun but I need to toy around with him more. Queequeg's penguins have been useful in some maps in order to flush out enemies, but I wish the player had slight control over them since so many times a damn penguin would get caught on a small blip of geometry and blow up at the wrong moment.

Also wanted to acknowledge the artstyle and setting. I wasn't sold on the look of the game back at E3, and I still wasn't quite sure when I played the demo, but I now think the game has a ton of great personality between the old American setting, literature characters, and comic art style. I love the idea of using Lovecraft aliens but some of the designs are hit or miss for me. Due to the combination of artistic and design choices, I think it is safe to say that this will be a very love-it or hate-it game and at best a cult classic. I'd love to see Intelligent Systems get another go at this in the future... but I don't have much hope.

Edit: Also hope Nintendo gets that Amiibo adapter out soon as I really want to try out my Ike amiibo when I get the chance.

Very pleased to hear. At the same time, you're not making the 1.5 month EU wait any easier ;D
 

Zing

Banned
I've had people quit right before I kill their last unit and I get cheated out of the coins. It just asks if I want to block that user. I just got the last subweapon, so I don't care anymore. There was quite a lot of ragequitting when I unlocked the sentry, lol. Today I had a match where my opponent just kept walking towards the sentry over and over, lol.
I noticed the same thing. These aren't low ranked people, either. I was doing tournament matches last night and encountered three people in the top rankings according to the tournament screen. They would quit out, right after the map was selected. I think they are geared toward one specific map and just quit if it's any other map. I blocked them all. I did get one match but lost. I just don't have the gear or characters for certain maps I think.

I don't see why the sentry is so strong. Opponent plopped one down and I killed it during my next turn with Lion and the Shuriken gun. All his characters were too far away for me to shoot anyway.
 

Regiruler

Member
Califia sucks ass. Seriously, it's like an explosive version of a your turn only fox rifle.

I thought it was going to do less damage, but not that much less.
 

JCX

Member
This game has a really quick difficulty spike. I'm in chapter 7, spent yesterday trying to finish 6 while still getting all the gears. It sucks because you don't really know who to take into battle without seeing the map, which you can't do until you start the map (unless i'm missing something"
 
I really need to stop putting Tiger Lily on my team as a crutch. lol
I gave Tom the medi carbine awhile ago and never looked back! There are just too many useful characters for me to stick with Tiger Lily.

Just got to Chapter 10, I am adoring this game. I love the strategy that comes with comboing attacks together as your arsenal becomes more varied. To be honest I've been avoiding this thread for that reason, I don't want to hear about too many broken strategies!
 

Mattiator

Member
Hello all.
I absolutely love this game :).
I am about to start mission 12 and basically have not made a solid team yet. I basically use fox and then 3 others that are random half the time. Does anyone have any recommendations for a solid team with which packs and sub weapons to use. I have also read that each character gives a different bonus, is this true?
Thanks for any response :).
 

Zing

Banned
This game has a really quick difficulty spike. I'm in chapter 7, spent yesterday trying to finish 6 while still getting all the gears. It sucks because you don't really know who to take into battle without seeing the map, which you can't do until you start the map (unless i'm missing something"
It was mentioned earlier that the last unlocked boiler requires every gear and significantly more than the penultimate boiler, so you may as well just get through the maps once without retrying over and over until you are trying to get that final boiler. It will be easier to go get the missing gears once you have all the characters and weapons.
 

Taser9090

Neo Member
Hello all.
I absolutely love this game :).
I am about to start mission 12 and basically have not made a solid team yet. I basically use fox and then 3 others that are random half the time. Does anyone have any recommendations for a solid team with which packs and sub weapons to use. I have also read that each character gives a different bonus, is this true?
Thanks for any response :).

Woot, another fan (real sad the game is going down already).

I can only think of three bonuses right now, and only few characters can have them. Lion has Courageous which boosts overall defense, Carter has Arcane Lore which improves damage on critical hits, and I think Queequeg has the bonus of improving attack. These bonuses affect all of your team.

Maybe you already knew that, but those are the only bonuses I know of.
 

Mattiator

Member
Woot, another fan (real sad the game is going down already).

I can only think of three bonuses right now, and only few characters can have them. Lion has Courageous which boosts overall defense, Carter has Arcane Lore which improves damage on critical hits, and I think Queequeg has the bonus of improving attack. These bonuses affect all of your team.

Maybe you already knew that, but those are the only bonuses I know of.

Awesome thanks for the response :) I didnt know that and I have been using queequeg and lion with fox for the most anyways.
 

JCX

Member
It was mentioned earlier that the last unlocked boiler requires every gear and significantly more than the penultimate boiler, so you may as well just get through the maps once without retrying over and over until you are trying to get that final boiler. It will be easier to go get the missing gears once you have all the characters and weapons.

Ah ok thanks for the tip. I assumed that gears obtained during a replay only counted if you missed it the first time, but it sounds like that's not the case.

I'm excited to try an all-FE run once Lucina and Robin are out.
 

Riposte

Member
You want the last boiler though. It's pretty much the best outside some situational choices and maybe except for light-weight characters who have Scout (and maybe Ninja, if the crit bonus is high enough).

If you hit "default" as your team selection, you should have what you need to beat a mission. I also find changing teams to be an easy affair with restart map.
 

Zing

Banned
Ah ok thanks for the tip. I assumed that gears obtained during a replay only counted if you missed it the first time, but it sounds like that's not the case.
No, that is the case. It's just that replaying the missions later will be easier with a wider variety of characters and boilers instead of struggling to get them all.

I've acquired almost all of the gears my first time through, but I skipped a few, even if I could see them, if I suspected it would caused me too much grief. For my first time, I'd rather get the full team and turn bonus.
 

Gartooth

Member
Just got the final party member and started the subsequent mission. Honestly, I have no idea how to use that character's ability but I'm currently playing that chapter with them in my party. (probably not a good idea due to the enemy type in that map)

I WAS IN CHAPTER 10 FOR THREE BLOODY HOURS

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY ONE WAY PATHS IN THIS STAGE

Seriously. lol

It didn't take me that long but it still probably went on for over an hour. The map isn't that difficult once you work your way out of the starting pit. The Fox is also a must have for that mission.
 

Riposte

Member
There's actually like three ways to the
second queen
. First part in pretty linear though.

If you want an easy way through, could look up some of my earlier posts about it.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Take Fox, Tom, and Randolph. You also have the new character whose ability is obvious in its use.

Tom can easily climb around the rafters and stun the bosses, in fact he can easily reach both of them and possibly kill them in like two turns with the Punch Gun, and using the Crossbow might help. He can get the Gears too.

Fox can snipe the bird enemies to protect Tom, and also take care of the explosive dudes near the beginning. Also possibly use her against the second Boss.

Randolph, although I never tried it, can apparently throw the meat lure in the middle at the beginning, and keep the exploding dudes basically moving there. That way everyone else is free to move around. Plus he boosts the crit hit damage for Tom and Fox.

I also recommend probably just cheating with the Restore All to take down the boss in one turn if they're giving you trouble.

Chapter 10 is definitely the hardest though, imo.
 

Riposte

Member
I made the top ten in that tournament. I wonder if I'm the only person ranked 9th. The person in 2nd place I beat a few times (might have disconnected on me? Don't remember), may have beat me once though. Maybe if I played more I would have gotten higher? It says 2083 medals... is that just the total number of medals I gathered?
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
So for those who beat the game, was it me or was there some surprising depth to the plot?

Most of it was more implied, but some of the signs early on talked about disrest between the rich and the poor due to steam apparently being distributed as a luxury rather than freely available...

You gotta wonder how history will develop from here? Will World War I still occur now that the Earth has united against a common threat? Most of the world, from below the equator, is probably completely inhabitable and billions of people likely died. Based on what we see on the visual screens, the world as a whole is probably completely wrecked. Will a Cold War situation occur if other countries discover that America has basically been researching into Dark Magic, which more or less is basically as dangerous as Nuclear Power in terms of being a double-edged sword.

Where did the aliens come from? Did America tampering with dark magic cause them? Were they some unforeseen by-product of steam since they are apparently made of water somewhat due to how they freeze when defeated?

What will happen if people find out about Oz? I also think the mention of "electricity" being unique to Oz could play a role in the sequel, as a secondary power source to incorporate into the plot. Although it seems like steam is capable of doing everything electricity can, such as wireless intercoms and television screens.

Overall, I liked Lincoln's character arc. I felt at the beginning of the game, he was quite aloof, and sort of a jerk when he focused too much on the Queen over the common folk. He seemed to represent the usual "America needs to save the day!", but I felt he evolved over the game. I think at the end it was a nice recognition of him to probably fake his death, when he realized that people needed to learn to think for themselves, and not always rely on him (and America by extension) to solve everything. I took IS as both criticizing America's need to get involved, while also praising how it has brought about positive change by interfering as well.

The game wasn't super deep, but I thought it had some interest world building to it.
 

Regiruler

Member
There's actually like three ways to the
second queen
. First part in pretty linear though.

If you want an easy way through, could look up some of my earlier posts about it.
On my first attempt, I took the secret path and went for the "second" queen first. Doesn't help that I used queequeg. Randolph got knocked off before I got to the second queen, and he had to go all the way around.

Replaced QQ with Califia in my second attempt. Things went much smoother, although tin man is the GOAT character.
 

RagnarokX

Member
On my first attempt, I took the secret path and went for the "second" queen first. Doesn't help that I used queequeg. Randolph got knocked off before I got to the second queen, and he had to go all the way around.

Replaced QQ with Califia in my second attempt. Things went much smoother, although tin man is the GOAT character.

Fun fact: If you press the default button on the unit selection screen the game will recommend a good party for that particular map. I usually use whatever party it gives me, unless it recommends Tiger Lily, I replace her with The Fox.
 

Regiruler

Member
Fun fact: If you press the default button on the unit selection screen the game will recommend a good party for that particular map. I usually use whatever party it gives me, unless it recommends Tiger Lily, I replace her with The Fox.
I saw that right after I finished it with my second attempt, and it was the exact same party I had used. Do the defaults for a map change when you beat it?

Also, don't hate on lily. Self-healing is amazing.
 

Gartooth

Member
Fuck level 12-2. I can't make it past the beginning where I need to stun then kill the Predator clones, while getting insta-killed by the cannons in one shot if I'm not perfectly in cover. I gave up on trying John, Califia, or Queequeg on this level because I can't risk them blowing up cover.

I'm getting in Tiger Lily to spam team heal. :p

Edit: Managed to clear that stage relying mostly on my Randolph/Fox combo. Was actually really easy once you clear the range of the mortars.
 

RagnarokX

Member
I saw that right after I finished it with my second attempt, and it was the exact same party I had used. Do the defaults for a map change when you beat it?

Also, don't hate on lily. Self-healing is amazing.

Self-healing is pretty useless. You should have a character who can tank hits or avoids close combat on your team equipped with the medicarbine/rifle instead. Use the medi-pack boiler on healing tanks if you aren't confident. Also save point health restores aren't expensive.
 

Regiruler

Member
Self-healing is pretty useless. You should have a character who can tank hits or avoids close combat on your team equipped with the medicarbine/rifle instead. Use the medi-pack boiler on healing tanks if you aren't confident. Also save point health restores aren't expensive.
I don't use save point restores.

Not to mention challenge runs disable saves completely.
I do use the medi pack medi carbine combo on occasion, but it's obviously not as good as the full thing.
 

Riposte

Member
I don't use save point restores.

14222091780529lu3l.png


Health pick-ups usually work for most maps, if you play very careful. I did use healing towards the end of the game though.
 

Regiruler

Member
Clarification: I used it once in chapter 10 to revive randolph, because I wasn't going through that nonsense with 3 characters.
 

backlot

Member
Does Randolph's lure do anything in multiplayer? I like the idea of using him for the crit buff but he seems like he'd just be dead weight.
 

Regiruler

Member
Does Randolph's lure do anything in multiplayer? I like the idea of using him for the crit buff but he seems like he'd just be dead weight.

You know those explosive crates you see sometimes? Apparently he generates one of those.

Worst case scenario I suppose it's a ghetto bomb lobber, aka a 3-steam 80 damage explosive.
 

L95

Member
Huh, how much alternate dialogue is there for bringing units that weren't available in that map? I brought Randolph into the rescue the queen mission, and he said something. (I was expecting Henry over the radio)
m6uxZcL.jpg

Not that surprising, I guess(and it's only one line), but the voice acting had me assume characters that weren't recruited before the mission would have no lines.
 

Riposte

Member
Huh, how much alternate dialogue is there for bringing units that weren't available in that map? I brought Randolph into the rescue the queen mission, and he said something. (I was expecting Henry over the radio)
m6uxZcL.jpg

Not that surprising, I guess(and it's only one line), but the voice acting had me assume characters that weren't recruited before the mission would have no lines.

The final missions dialogue is totally based on this, including the dramatic
face-off
.
This is why Randolph should be #1 on that team, kind of makes the most sense.
 
The final missions dialogue is totally based on this, including the dramatic
face-off
.
This is why Randolph should be #1 on that team, kind of makes the most sense.
The funny thing is that this is preserved even in the "comic book" cutscenes when re-watching them from the library. It gets permanently recorded in the game's history! Although on the other hand, it forgets which boiler you were wearing the first time around when re-watching them this way. I think I finally noticed this around the point when Califia shows up; her "boiler-less" costume is a lot skimpier than all that extra armor that gets thrown on her when wearing a boiler...
 

L95

Member
The final missions dialogue is totally based on this, including the dramatic
face-off
.
This is why Randolph should be #1 on that team, kind of makes the most sense.

I haven't finished the game yet, so I'm definitely noting this.
 

Taser9090

Neo Member
I noticed sometimes the outfits of the agents are different. Is it because of the rank?

I replaced Tiger Lily with
Tin Man
so that
he's
a diverse cleric. Also, the 12th character that someone was talking about is amazing close range. I typically interchange that agent with Tom. There's this one chapter (one of the last ones) where
she can destroy this impenetrable barrier with only 9 steam.

Edit: I found something interesting on the official site. If you try to highlight the intel section of any agent, it shows
Lorem ipsum dolor sit a adipiscing elit, fromsm odtempor incididunt ut labore etdolore magna aliqua.
You guys think there's a special meaning, or just pseudo-Latin gibberish?
 

L95

Member
I noticed sometimes the outfits of the agents are different. Is it because of the rank?

Fairly sure the outfits change when you're playing the alternate modes on previously completed levels. (like the blind mode where you can't see your steam and hp)
 

Riposte

Member
I've been running a rampage through deathmatch tonight. I assume most players are fresh, so I won't feel too good about myself. Not many rage-quits, so much respect to those players. Three things of note though:

1. One game I suicide my Tom right at the start with one of those fake boxes (maybe more common in that Miner map?). I was devastated, but still manage to pull a decisive win when I one-shotted his Tom with my Fox into the first match.

2. The palace with nothing but hallways (Royal Intrigue?) seems to be quite a popular stage. You wouldn't think so, since it's so oddly tight and narrow compared to the other stages, even the library one.

3. Fought my first
Stovepie
. Kind of scary. He was healing him/it during his round and the thing just came off as invincible. Luckily he didn't get close to anything but a Sentry (which he could one shot IIRC). He tanked a bunch of overwatch shots. Only took it out when I was able to flank it with Queequeg.

Anyway, multiplayer is really good fun. It's the killer feature in an already interesting and solid game. If you guys ever want to face off, we can set up a GAF tournament or something for a few rounds (as far as I can tell, it's just a matchmaking from a limited pool).
 

Taser9090

Neo Member
Has anyone given it much thought that Califia's the queen of California island and the Fox brought back stolen money to Californians?

California is real ambiguous in this game, and I'm kinda mind-boggled.
 

Regiruler

Member
Has anyone given it much thought that Califia's the queen of California island and the Fox brought back stolen money to Californians?

California is real ambiguous in this game, and I'm kinda mind-boggled.
Don't think too much into it.
I've been running a rampage through deathmatch tonight. I assume most players are fresh, so I won't feel too good about myself. Not many rage-quits, so much respect to those players. Three things of note though:

1. One game I suicide my Tom right at the start with one of those fake boxes (maybe more common in that Miner map?). I was devastated, but still manage to pull a decisive win when I one-shotted his Tom with my Fox into the first match.

2. The palace with nothing but hallways (Royal Intrigue?) seems to be quite a popular stage. You wouldn't think so, since it's so oddly tight and narrow compared to the other stages, even the library one.

3. Fought my first
Stovepie
. Kind of scary. He was healing him/it during his round and the thing just came off as invincible. Luckily he didn't get close to anything but a Sentry (which he could one shot IIRC). He tanked a bunch of overwatch shots. Only took it out when I was able to flank it with Queequeg.

Anyway, multiplayer is really good fun. It's the killer feature in an already interesting and solid game. If you guys ever want to face off, we can set up a GAF tournament or something for a few rounds (as far as I can tell, it's just a matchmaking from a limited pool).
The explosive crates are in set locations. Learn where they are, and avoid them.
 
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