The Energon Pub

by **Wingspan** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:26 pm

devast8or wrote:
emeraldbeacon wrote:
devast8or wrote:Make sure your setups don't stink.

So what constitutes a stinky setup?

Right now, most of my bots are focusing on Courage, and either: Speed and Avoid, Firepower and Strafe, or Strength and Ram. There are a few minor exceptions, but that's what I've got for the most part.

If ur setups aren't:
speed+avoid for missions
or
strength+ram for arena

u might want to reconsider

if ur putting points in skill, fpwr, int, end, or rank right now...u might have a poor setup

hope that clears it up

Speed+Avoid is becoming less dominant; good Level 1s can include Ram+Avoid which generally owns Speed+Avoid. 2-3 Strength will incur stuns frequently on those stuck in the Avoid Snarfing camp.

If you run Ram, having 1-2 Courage is a must, but keeping heavy Speed is still good; the increased hit/miss will help as your Strength increases weapon damage.

Endurance will be useful if the repair strategy is accepted - and it's generally useful walking into late level 1 against strafe and all other damage.

For winning / top XP, straight Ram or Ram+Avoid works at around 80k XP in missions. If you're going to mix Arena / Missions, run Ram+Avoid with higher speed (e.g. 2 Str, 5 Spd, 1 Crg, 2 Avd, 3 Ram for the mid level 1) so the arena will net more wins than losses and you'll get the Avoid bonuses.

Strafe seems to risky right now given that so many are running Strength on their Avoiders; the damage output seems to not match up. However, building a Speed+Avoid that will add Strafe is a good plan.

Lastly, consider repair. (I'm a great self promoter ain't I?) If the use of Repair and Endurance is coordinated (meaning: everyone who reads this does it) then the Bots could take a positive swing in victories. Running Spd+Avd+End has been know to rake in XP already - adding Repair is just mean.

Really lastly, Avoid will no longer be a saving grace by the time V1 ends. Be warned that tactic damage is going to trump Avoid quickly and in our multi-level environment there won't be a safe place to hide.

So, my 2 cents are spent. Enjoy.

by **energonexpress** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 5:28 pm

Beating 'cons with over twice you xp is fun! :twisted:

http://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwar/view_arena.php?arena_id=180299

by **devast8or** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:22 am

emeraldbeacon wrote:
devast8or wrote:Make sure your setups don't stink.

So what constitutes a stinky setup?

Right now, most of my bots are focusing on Courage, and either: Speed and Avoid, Firepower and Strafe, or Strength and Ram. There are a few minor exceptions, but that's what I've got for the most part.

If ur setups aren't:
speed+avoid for missions
or
strength+ram for arena

u might want to reconsider

if ur putting points in skill, fpwr, int, end, or rank right now...u might have a poor setup

hope that clears it up

by **Wingspan** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:35 pm

emeraldbeacon wrote:
devast8or wrote:Make sure your setups don't stink.

So what constitutes a stinky setup?

Right now, most of my bots are focusing on Courage, and either: Speed and Avoid, Firepower and Strafe, or Strength and Ram. There are a few minor exceptions, but that's what I've got for the most part.

What are your average XP takes? What's your win percentage?

by **emeraldbeacon** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:19 pm

devast8or wrote:Make sure your setups don't stink.

So what constitutes a stinky setup?

Right now, most of my bots are focusing on Courage, and either: Speed and Avoid, Firepower and Strafe, or Strength and Ram. There are a few minor exceptions, but that's what I've got for the most part.

by **devast8or** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:02 pm

emeraldbeacon wrote:For a low-level player (most of my bots are just breaking the 10k experience level), what should I be doing to best help the faction? Should I be holding back at level zero and cleaning up in the arena? Advancing to a (very low) level one, to make use of the extra upgrade or two I have available? Split the difference, and use my Zeros to keep my funding strong, while my Ones start soaking up my money in the CR chambers?

On a side note, it seems that a lot of Null Rays got dumped into the armory. Might wanna buy 'em up! I got half a dozen or so for myself...

Upgrade to the next level asap! The xp earnings are well worth the sacrifice in the short-term. If you stay at lvl 0, you'll only be fooling urself into thinking you're doing well. Even if you take some beatings as a lvl 1 (& you will), you'll still climb the ranks more quickly. Make sure your setups don't stink.

by **Delta Supreme** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:45 am

quetzalcoatl wrote:
emeraldbeacon wrote:For a low-level player (most of my bots are just breaking the 10k experience level), what should I be doing to best help the faction? Should I be holding back at level zero and cleaning up in the arena? Advancing to a (very low) level one, to make use of the extra upgrade or two I have available? Split the difference, and use my Zeros to keep my funding strong, while my Ones start soaking up my money in the CR chambers?

On a side note, it seems that a lot of Null Rays got dumped into the armory. Might wanna buy 'em up! I got half a dozen or so for myself...

I bought 15 total in the last few days. My bots average 10k. I basically dumped points into courage 3x and have been kicking arse in the arena. SUre missions would pay more, but when it's lvl 2 decepticons vs lvl 0's, i don't feel like sacrificing bots for 3xp gains in 2 hours.

it's as logical as the wookie defense.

It also depends on your config...

Check my post in the "now that's what I'm talking about" thread. I had one of my Level Zeroes do 41% and 14+% damage (due to a kill) to the 2 'con L2s in that mission and survive. Granted, the RNG smiled upon me, and I had some (rare???) L2 bot support, but the fact still stands (and is appropriately posted)

This from a guy with 2-3 speed upgrades packing a slingshot.

Arena fighting still favores courage/str/ram builds, while missions favor spd/avoid builds.

I'm also noticing that with 2-3 speed and maybe one tactic point, I don't get a lot of 3xp runs, they actually average in the 80+ xp range (for a loss) and over 100xp (due to mission bonus) if they win...

by **quetzalcoatl** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 8:30 am

emeraldbeacon wrote:For a low-level player (most of my bots are just breaking the 10k experience level), what should I be doing to best help the faction? Should I be holding back at level zero and cleaning up in the arena? Advancing to a (very low) level one, to make use of the extra upgrade or two I have available? Split the difference, and use my Zeros to keep my funding strong, while my Ones start soaking up my money in the CR chambers?

On a side note, it seems that a lot of Null Rays got dumped into the armory. Might wanna buy 'em up! I got half a dozen or so for myself...

I bought 15 total in the last few days. My bots average 10k. I basically dumped points into courage 3x and have been kicking arse in the arena. SUre missions would pay more, but when it's lvl 2 decepticons vs lvl 0's, i don't feel like sacrificing bots for 3xp gains in 2 hours.

it's as logical as the wookie defense.

by **emeraldbeacon** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:39 am

For a low-level player (most of my bots are just breaking the 10k experience level), what should I be doing to best help the faction? Should I be holding back at level zero and cleaning up in the arena? Advancing to a (very low) level one, to make use of the extra upgrade or two I have available? Split the difference, and use my Zeros to keep my funding strong, while my Ones start soaking up my money in the CR chambers?

On a side note, it seems that a lot of Null Rays got dumped into the armory. Might wanna buy 'em up! I got half a dozen or so for myself...

by **devast8or** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:54 pm

you may already know this, but missions pay out much better.

how much are you averaging from the arena?

by **energonexpress** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:14 pm

My current arena winners (90% of the time, easy) are 4 spd, 2 end, 1 fp (dual sonic blaster...theme for team), and 4 avoid. I love avoiding the strafes and when they do hit it's embarassingly low. I'm not sure how a motorcycle and porsche beat fighter planes and spaceships so well, but they do! :grin:

by **devast8or** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:37 pm

Conjurous wrote:Decided to change 2 of my bots from spd / avoid to rammers and they doing well. STR5 SPD2 CRG2 RAM4, no weapon seems to do decently and is evil in the arena.

well, some of us don't have that kinda xp at the moment... :roll:

by **Delta Supreme** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:24 am

I'm wondering if anyone figured out the strength level needed to be more effective with punch/kick attacks instead of packing a weapon like the X-Ray rifle???

by **Conjurous** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:32 pm

Decided to change 2 of my bots from spd / avoid to rammers and they doing well. STR5 SPD2 CRG2 RAM4, no weapon seems to do decently and is evil in the arena.

by **Evolution Prime** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:58 pm

Endurance reduces the tactic attack while armor reduces weapon/punch/kick attacks. If thats not it, it is the other way around.

by **neliz** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:17 pm

Electron wrote:well if rank brings better armour, wht does the armour do for you.

when endurance means u can take more hits?

i'm not sure if armor negates a certain type of damage, but the one rank allows you to load better armor which uses your strength stats.
Endurance requires single points so rank is basically a cheaper option (till L3) to help damage control simple because it is cheaper on a ramming bot. Unless you want to load a sword.

by **Electron** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:01 pm

well if rank brings better armour, wht does the armour do for you.

when endurance means u can take more hits?

by **neliz** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:52 pm

Electron wrote:thanks for this, but does strength help firepower damage?

negatory, STR boasts damage by punches and kicks but has nothing to do with FRP weapons.

by **energonexpress** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:46 pm

Wowsers.

http://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwar/view_arena.php?arena_id=114269

by **Electron** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:11 pm

Hoistimus wrote:STR: hit harder with skl based weapons or with no weapon. Allows 1 unit of armor per unit of str.

INT: feeder for repair, also unlocks skills on some alts.

SPD: gives better chance to hit and be missed. Not a direct feeder for avoid, as avoid will kick in based on how high your avoid skill is at, better speed means better chance to be missed when avoid is not used.

END: absorbs ram and strafe damage

RNK: allows better armors

CRG: allows to attack first and more often

FRP: feeder for strafe, and allows for better weapons

SKL: allows for better weapons, unlocks tactics

thanks for this, but does strength help firepower damage?

by **devast8or** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:03 am

neliz wrote:what's the feeder stat for my tactic "cowardly run away?"

avoid

by **neliz** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:36 am

what's the feeder stat for my tactic "cowardly run away?"

by **Hoistimus** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:10 pm

devast8or wrote:
Blurrz wrote:If you wish to continue with the speed/avoid combination, then courage is your best bet.

take this route

And after speed, avoid and courage.. um.. I guess starting on the feeder stats for your second tactic, so str for ram and fp for strafe.

by **devast8or** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:11 am

Blurrz wrote:If you wish to continue with the speed/avoid combination, then courage is your best bet.

take this route
:mrgreen:

by **Blurrz** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:35 pm

Either set-up is fine. Although 3 Speed the preferable one.

For Jets, I'd either branch off into courage or strength. With strength you can then head off to rank, thus giving you ceramic armor. If you wish to continue with the speed/avoid combination, then courage is your best bet.