This guide will be a full playthrough of a sample game.

Due to the randomized nature of the game this playthrough will not neccessarily match yours, however I'll try to anticipate possible situations.

When you start a new game you'll have the option to configure your team. You can have four walking weapons known as Exos. These four Exos can be picked from six available classes: Assault, Brawler, Ninja, Science, Siege, and Sniper. You can have any combination of Exos you want, even taking all four of the same type. You also get to select a pilot, change your difficulty or enable the Ironman option. The default team is one each of Assault, Siege, Sniper and Science on the Normal Difficulty with Meg as your pilot.

Choosing an Exo

Each Exo has unique starting statistics, a full entry appears later in the guide.

Assault: +30% to Shield related stats, +8 Sensor Range +10 Stealth
-Weapons: Laser Rifle, Light Machine Gun, Grenade Launcher
243 Shield, 100 Power

Siege: +10 Sensor Range, +5 Stealth
-Weapons: Light Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher
143 Shield, 120 Power

Sniper: +10 Sensor Range, +12 Stealth
-Weapons: Gamma-Ray Laser, Laser Rifle
143 Shield, 100 Power

Science: +12 Sensor Range, +50% Computer Related Stats, +6 Hacking, +15 Stealth
-Weapons: Pistol, Laser Rifle
110 Shield, 120 Power

Brawler: +8 Sensor Range, +12 Stealth
-Weapons: Dissolver, Shotgun, Pistol
220 Shield, 80 Power

Ninja: +50% Propulsion Related Stats, +10 Sensor Range, +12 Stealth, Immune to Splash Damage
Weapons: Welding Laser, Light Machine Gun
187 Shield, 100 Power

Introductory Lingo
Shield: This is your Exo's life, it explodes when reduced to 0

Power: This is your Exo's reactor energy and represents how much you can equip. Think of it as Equip Weight.

+X Sensor Range: This is how far your Exo can see on the map, this also affects various "WiFi" related abilities such as hacking terminals or alerting guards.

+X Stealth: Stealth is virtual immortality when dealing with AI Bots. The more stealth you have the more turns you can remain undetected. Firing while cloaked breaks cloak and temporarily disables the ability to recloak. The Ninja Exo can fire while cloaked safely.

The Assault, Science and Ninja have unique abilities in that they boost certain stats. These stats are gained even if they are not in their related slot as certain items do provide atypical bonuses such as hacking on a shield item (affected by computer, not shield). They are as follows:

Shield Related: The Assault gains 30% more bonus Shield, Regen and Damage Reduction

Computer Related: The Science gains 50% more Hacking Points, Sensor Range, Virus Points, Mines and Sentries

Propulsion Related: The Ninja gains 50% more Stealth Actions, Trap Skill and Overload


Choosing a Pilot

There are 6 pilots to choose from, each with their own backgrounds and abilities.

Axis: Axis can see missions an extra tile away and can also skip over a single depth worth of missions. This lets Axis cover much of the City Map very quickly.

Emma: Emma gets more and better items from the shop and gets increased sale value on items.

Meg: Meg's items act as though they are a higher rank than normal. This gives her a faster level of growth.

Tuck: During a mission Tuck is able to see the location of items and objectives without having to scan them first.

Genji: Genji automatically starts with the upgraded Epic variants of all Exos. More on that later.

Rey:: When one of Rey's Exos is destroyed they come back to life with full health and ammo. This can be done twice per mission, every mission.

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For the sake of the walkthrough I'm using the default settings. Normal Difficutly, Non-Ironman, Pilot Meg with one each of Assault, Siege, Sniper and Science.

The overarching goal of the game is to run out the clock (50 days) ending with a higher item quality than the enemy and/or attacking special enemy missions so that you can survive the final mission.

What You First See

What you first see should be a small grid of icons, a green one at the center surrounded by yellow ones surrounded by red ones. These are mission icons. The Green one at the center is your home base and defending it is the goal of the game. Around it, the yellow icons, are missions you are able to accept at this time. Beyond that, the red icons, are missions you cannot accept because they are too far away, but you now know what lies beyond.

In my sample game:


You can see the headquarters in the center surrounded by two "Blockade" missions, a "Parts Fab" mission and a "Hostage Rescue" mission. Beyond that you can see a "Lion's Den" to the north and a "Fuel Depot" to the east, both connected to the Parts Fab mission. This is where we are going first.


Mission Selection
There are a variety of missions to choose from, and at the start of the game not much of the map is revealed so it's hard to know exactly where to go. However, there's also virtually no penalty for losing these early missions so feel free to explore.

The most important piece of information about missions is that your mission type affects the nature of the loot you get. However, loot is affected by how many days has passed - so choosing to pick up guns now/shields later or shields now/guns later is the entire field strategy.

Blockade: A small scale missions with few rewards, among the easiest mission types. Perfect Filler

Parts Fab: You normally get one piece of loot for every surviving Exo at the end of a mission, this mission awards two pieces - rewards players who value survivability or item variety.

Hostage Rescue: Every hostage Cryo Pod you prevent from being destroyed grants you a piece of loot.

A full listing of mission types will be available in the appendix.

We're going to start with the Parts Fab mission to the east. But first, lets explain the rest of the City Map screen.

City Map

On the left is a representation of your team. The top icon is your Headquarters as well as its health. Below that is your pilot, then your four exos, then the shop and finally the menu.

On the right is a representation of the enemy team. This is the final force that will launch at your HQ when the time runs out. You have 50 game days to prepare. Highlighting them reveals their level and type. The enemy has 4 common bots, 1 uncommon bot and 2 boss bots every time. In the example there are 47 HideBots at the top and 2 TethysBots at the bottom. Full listing available later.

Since we are encountering TethysBot and ScorpionBot as bosses, we need "heavy hitting" power as opposed to higher sustained DPS. Since the enemy force contains HideBots we need similar protection. Base the items you go for on your army goals.

At the bottom of the screen is your mission statistics. That is, the days remaining, the building speed of the enemy, and your current cash.

You start the game with a few token items, so feel free to try equipping them. Once you are ready, lets begin our first mission.

Once you click a valid mission icon (yellow) you'll be warped to the mission screen. This is where all the action takes place.

Controls

Default controls are a basic WADS setup. W, A, D, S to move Up, Left, Right and Down respectively. Right click to shoot a target (or shift+right click to shoot at the ground). Context related controls are displayed in game. But for the most part the controls are WADS to move, right click to shoot and left click to select Exos and abilities.

The in game help system is very thourough, so I'll refrain from further patronization.

When you first warp in to a mission your starting exo is always the one at the top, or the upper-left quadrant when building your team at the start. However, switching on the first turn is a free action if you are going for certain achievements related to ship type.

The menu on the left is similar to the menu on the City Map. There's a listing of your Exos, your pilot as well as two new abilities: Wait and Whistle. Wait simply skips a turn (default key 'space') and Whistle alerts all enemies in sensor range. This can be valuable if you need a distant enemy to move.

I don't know what mission type you selected, but they mostly involve shooting enemies and/or reaching the exit warp. Let's move around a bit.

If you see a distant yellow icon, that's an enemy Bot. You can mouseover it to find out its stats. If the icon is yellow that means it is currently idle, if it is red it is currently chasing you. You can safely move into line of sight of idle bots, but moving into "check" of an active bot will get you shot. Notable stats are their damage and ranges. Staying out of range is generally a good idea, but when that's not avoidable you can use walls and cover to get into a better firing angle. An enraged enemy will not fire on you the same turn they move into you, however if another bot breaks cover for them you might get shot.

If you are within range of an enemy bot, a little red laser between them and you will appear. This is your warning.

For easy access, holding shift will show you your firing range and holding control will show a highlighted enemy's attack range.

If you ever lose track of what your objective is, you can highlight the mission button in the bottom left of your unit panel.

Combat

Combat is mathematically simple. If you mouseover one of your weapons you'll see its attack power. Also, if you mouseover one of the enemies you'll see its shields.

Enemy bots do not get any damage reduction typically, so destroying them is a simple matter of mathematics. An enemy with 220 shields taking a hit from a 180 power Laser Rifle will live with precisely 40 shields.

When any combat or event occurs during a mission it is recording to the mission log which can be viewed in the upper right corner.

Lowering an enemy's shields to zero will destroy it. Based on the enemy type this can also have various effects.

Indirect Fire

Sometimes an enemy is too powerful, the game teaches you this right away in the form of BlunderBots. These guys have a very powerful rocket launcher, however they occasionaly miss and have low ammo. Notable is that they have slightly more Shield than your basic weapons can handle in a singe turn.

To take care of this, we need indirect fire. If you still have the default Assault selected you can switch to your Grenade Launcher weapon. If you hold the shift key to can view where you can "attack ground" and the related Area of Effect explosion that will follow. Using this you can attack around corners. Another AoE weapon you start withis the Siege Rocket Launcher which has more power and a larger explosion, but less ammo.

If you do not have the ability to indirect fire, you might be able to try something else...

Stealth Actions

Below your units to the left of your weapons is the Stealth command. Stealth/Cloaking is very powerful, you become immune to a variety of effects and many of the bots will not move at all. The caveat is that firing your weapon will break cloak (Except for the Ninja). Every movement you make or related action will cost one Stealth Action. When you are at 0 Stealth Actions you are permitted a final move before the Stealth becomes disabled, so you don't need to worry about moving from 1 to 0 remaining stealth actions in a bad way.

There's a variety of things that stealth can be useful for:
-If you open a door and there are multiple enemies waiting in ambush you can safely escape.

-If there is a dangerous single target you can cloak and then switch Exos. Note: Your new Exo will not be under the effect of Stealth at this time, but also will not come under fire because of the previous Stealth.

-Hacking and Virus commands do not break stealth, but placing mines and sentry will. Hacking does not cost a stealth action.

-Overload does not break stealth... Not only that - Overload does not consume a stealth action.

Let's continue the mission. Destroying bots along the way, opening doors. The first missions are relatively easy and a good way to learn the game on your own. Once you win, you'll be awarded a small degree of loot for later equipment.

Lets assume you won your first mission with finesse and was awarded 4 pieces of loot. The game returns to the City Map.

Tip: There is no immediate penalty for an Exo being destroyed on a mission outside of simply not being able to use that Exo for the rest of that mission. The loot you gain at the end of a mission depends on the number of surviving Exos in most cases.

After you complete a mission (Win or Lose) your days remaining is decreased by 1, the robot manufacturing rate is increased by some value derived from your difficulty setting, a variety of enemy bots gain levels, and a variety of Final Mission bots are constructed.

Days Remaining: When this count reaches zero, the final mission begins. You must defeat the entire enemy force listed on the right before the HQ is destroyed.

Robot Manufacturing: This is the level in which the enemy builds new robots.

Level Up: Bots have levels which affect their Shield, Damage and Range. Every mission a certain number of levels are randomly dolled out. This can result in multiple robots gaining a variety of minor upgrades, or if unlucky, a particularly difficult bot gaining a level every day. You can check the levels of all robots on the status panel on the right. On Normal 14 levelups are awarded every single day.

Construction: The enemy final wave listed on the right increases throughout the game. The enemy army can be attacked directly on certain missions, but for the most part you have to prepare for this list of enemies.

In addition, if your mission ended in victory you will have gained a quantity of loot. By default, this is one piece of loot for every surviving Exo.

So lets equip some of that loot

Customization: Loot and You

Every Exo has a variety of equipment slots you can put items in. For example, the Assault can have 3 items in each weapon, 3 in the Shield, 2 in the Reactor, 2 in Propulsion and 1 in the Computer. On the other hand, the Sniper has one more in the Propulsion and Computer, while one less in the Shield.

One item can be equipped to any given slot.

In addition to your slot limitations, an Exo cannot exceed its Power requirements. Many pieces consume power, others produce power. Consider this your equipment weight. You can have as much or as little power as you want, it does nothing else as long as its equal to or above zero.

Loot variety is very, well, varied. There's a great number of effects that can be used. In addition, many item types can be equipped into different slots with different effects. Also, some items provide System Wide bonuses in addition to Weapon Specific bonuses. For example, a weapon slot could provide bonus shield - this bonus shield is still in effect even when that weapon is not equipped. However, some weapon upgrades are weapon specific - a range booster on a Laser Rifle will not increase range on a Light Machine Gun.

Clicking any slot in the customization screen will open a subpanel that shows available loot pieces you have picked up so far. If nothing shows up, you don't have anything available. If you suspect you do have something available, you can check your general "Inventory" tab to see all items regardless of their slot type.

There are also unique items such as Coolant Tanks which provide a different bonus based on what slot they are put in. You can see this by highlighting the items in the "Inventory" tab. Otherwise, it will only show the relevent bonus for the selected slot.

Because you can't predict the nature of the loot you'll get in the game (with exceptions), it's helpful to specialize your Exos so that no piece goes to waste.

For example:
The Assault gets a bonus to shield stats, as well as gets many weapon slots. Using weapons with system wide attack booster helps a great deal.

The Science gets a computer bonus and many computer slots, equipping lots of hacking and virus actions can be useful.

The Siege and Sniper have very few weapon slots for system wide attack up, but both have a very powerful specialty weapon. Using weapon specific attack up can give greater results.

Things to remember when gearing offensively

Remember what enemy types you typically encounter. Being able to "one-shot" a BlunderBot can be critical, but you can also outrange it to go for multiple hits. TigerBots have a lot of HP, but are slowed by everything so having lots of ammo is important.

Between damage, range and ammo you'll have to find the balance that works for you. All statistics related to weapons are percentile except for range which is additive. This means that the more base damage/ammo an item has, the more it is affected by items related to it. +10% damage on a pistol is nothing, but on a rocket launcher is a fair bonus. Similarily, +10% ammo on a rocket launcher is literally nothing as it would not result in gaining a new point of ammo, but +10% ammo on a Light Machine Gun would provide a few extra hits. Range is additive, so use your best judgement as to if you want to extend a long range weapon further, or bring a short range weapon up to a certain level.

Things to remember when gearing defensively

Regen recovers the stated value of shield over a period of five turns (20% of your regen value per turn). If you have more regen than the amount of damage you typically take, you can maintain a full shield by simply ducking out of combat for a few turns. Even in a sustained fire fight you will recover some shield. The amount of regen points remaining shows as a white extension of your current shield during a mission.

Damage reduction is a direct subtraction of incoming damage. If you have 25 damage reduction and take a hit that would deal 75 damage, you will only take 50 damage. Damage reduction cannot lower damage below 10% of its intent, unlimited damage reduction would still only reduce a 1000 damage hit to 100.

Raising your shield can extend your life if you plan on taking extra hits. It is also important to make sure you'll survive against certain hits. It should be noted that certain attacks such as enemy rockets are intended to be stronger than you can handle, but it is still possible to equip high enough to survive them.

Things to remember when gearing support

A lot of things are tied to your sensor range such as the whistle command, map discovery, the range of hacking terminals and the aggression of HunterBots. Having an extreme sensor range can allow you to affect an entire map with a single terminal. Likewise, limiting your sensor range can allow you to more easily whistle specific targets.

Hacking allows you to access terminals and doors to treasure. They are often worth it and it's useful to have a unit to clean up locked doors once the mission is relatively secure. Hacking costs increase over the course of the game.

Many enemy units are particularly vulnerable to Virus. While you won't get their special effects, powerful units can really turn the tide. At the very least, controlling an enemt unit counts as its destruction if nothing else works.

Having a fair supply of stealth action can aid in surviving bad situations. In general, the more open the map the more stealth you need - the more cramped the map the less you need.


Once you've equipped your new items as you see fit, it's time to choose a new mission. Pick whatever strikes your fancy, in the early game you just need loot, loot, loot and more loot.

Many missions have a variety of hazards on the terrain itself.

Floor Objects - Traps

Even walking can be a hazard. Luckily, there are no invisible events (although tripwires can be hard to see). A note: If your Trap skill is equal to or higher than the trap level of the hazard, you can safely walk all over it without harm. You can review your trap skill if available by mouseover of your Exos during a mission (it's one of the few stats available on basic mouseover)

Most bots have no trap skill at all and will walk into these traps for you.

Mines: A pile of mines, you can mouseover them to see their damage and trap level. Note: only walking on to them causing them to detonate. You can safely walk over them with a high Trap Exo and then switch to a different Exo without them exploding at that time. Mines disappear when detonated. Also, mines can be shot by attack-ground commands.

Electric Floors: Certain bots will create these and they exist on certain mission types. If your trap level is too low, you'll take a certian amount of damage by stepping on them. Unlike mines, electric floors cannot be easily destroyed.

Explosive Rune: If one of these is directly fired upon by an explosive weapon, they will chain detonate with equal force all explosive runes within 5 squares. The damage of a rune explosion is equal to the damage of the weapon that detonates them.

Tripwire: If you step on one and your trap skill is too low, you'll automatically perform a whistle action.

Switchplate: If you step on one, everything that isn't an exo is frozen in place. You have 20 turns to set up traps or destroy key targets. Enemies can be alerted during this time and will chase you after the time is elapsed, but will be unable to fire while under lockdown.

Solid Objects

Loot Containers: Small loot containers can show up occasionally, more often in Office Buildings. Simply stand adjacent to one and you'll automatically claim its contents. Loot containers have a lot of HP when full, so if one is blocking a passage you'll often have to claim it just to move through. The empty containers can be easily destroyed.

Cover: Small objects and debris that block line of sight. Enemy bots can walk right through them while you can't. They often have little health.

Doors: Doors must be touched to open and block line of sight until done so. Be wary of ambushes on the other side, you might alert multiple bots. There are different kinds of doors including glass (can be seen through), false walls (must be shot), automated doors (open a tile early) and electronically locked (must be hacked).

Fuel Tank: These typically have 300 Shield. When one is destroyed it explodes. It counts as a unit, so you can use the Control key to see its explosive range.

Computer Terminal: These require hacking to use and the hacking cost can be seen via mouseover. Intel terminals will reveal a section of the nearby map for you, while Special terminals have unknown effects until you identify them. Once you've identified a terminal all future terminals of that type will be identified. However, since a number of special terminals carry BAD effects - you might put yourself at a disadvantage if you use one in combat.

Closets: Electronically Locked Doors guard closets. Inside is always an item terminal. This can be either a Large Loot container which provides a new item or a special effect such as restoring shields, ammo, stealth actions and similar effects.

The nature of the objects you encounter depends on your mission type. Many objects appear on every level, but some show up more often than others.

Once you finish the mission, for better or worse, we return to the city map.

Missions can be divided into a variety of types. These terms are not official, just my personal take. Missions are randomly generated, but I noticed certain types tend to favour certain shapes.

Fact Finding Missions

Sometimes you just need to clear sections of the map so you can see more map.

Blockade: Basic loot, basic mission. These are the easiest missions and are always a safe bet if you just need to pass time. Destroy all enemy bots and then touch the exit to win pieces of minor loot.

Firefight: A more open version of Blockade. It's still destroy all enemies and then touch the exit.

Fuel Depot: The most advanced fact finding mission. Winning one of these clears all adjacent missions allowing you to explore much more of the map. Note: A mission destroyed by a Fuel Depot is gone forever, so do not destroy valuable missions. Destroy the fuel depot in the mission to win.

Loot Hunting

These missions tend to award more loot than normal.

Hostage Rescue: Destroy all enemies before the last hostage is killed to win. You gain a generic piece of common loot for every hostage that survives. Unlike other missions, you don't get a bonus for your own Exos so fight to the last man. If you need bulk loot, these are your guys. The hostages are immune to AoE splash damage - so feel free to use high explosives.

Parts Fab: Basic mission. Just get to the exit to win. For every Exo that survives you uniquely get two pieces of uncommon loot.

Office Building: A simple maze level with no special features. Small loot crates are 4x more likely to appear. Destroy the reactor at the end of the level and touch the exit to win. You receive one piece of random uncommon loot for every surviving Exo.

Hacker: These missions have 3x the number of locked doors, and therefor possible loot. Bring lots of hacking with you. Destroy the reactor and touch the exit to win. You get a random piece of uncommon loot for every suriving Exo.

These missions let you hunt out a specific type of loot.

Science Station: A large open level. Just get to the exit to win. For every Exo that survives you get a rare computer.

Shieldworks: A cramped level with lots of small rooms. Just get to the exit to win. For every Exo that survives you get a rare shield.

Reactor Fab: Has a similar room'n'corridor approach as the Shieldworks, however the corridors are two units wide and there are fewer doors. Just get to the exit to win. For every Exo that survives you get a rare reactor.

Armory: These missions tend to have lots of connected rooms and fewer corridors. Just get to the exit to win. For every Exo that survives you get a rare weapon.

Propulsion Lab: Basic maze with a mix of wide and narrow corridors. Just get to the exit to win. For every Exo that survives you get a rare propulsion item.

Specialty Missions

These missions are unique and have special requirements.

Outrun: There is a dangerous MurderBot on the level. Sporting a MILLION Shield and a powerful short range weapon you have no choice but to run. Destroy the computer and reach the exit to win.

Overdrive: A stealth mission. Both you and the enemy do 10x damage, so firing priority is essential. Destroy the reactor and reach the exit to win.

Destruction: A unique mission, every piece of "cover" acts like a bomb. Destroy all the barricades and reach the exit to win the mission, using cover both defensively and offensively. Cover explodes with a range of 2 and does extreme damage.

Salvage: Winning this mission is as easy as touching the exit. These missions tend to be very long though. Winning one of these recovers your HQ somewhat. Note, these missions do nothing if your HQ is still at full health.

Bahamut Drive Secret Mission: Hidden throughout the City Map are special Epic upgrades to your Exos. If you successfully complete one of these missions your Exos will be permanently upgraded with new weapons and more item slots in most areas. Failing one of these is not as bad as you'd think, as the mission is not removed from the City Map like it would be for other mission types. As a bonus, winning this mission awards very rare loot for every surviving Exo.

Raid Missions

And finally, some missions directly affect the opposing robot army.

Factory: Destroy all 7 factories and reach the exit to win. Every factory you destroy lowers the level of a random Final Mission robot by one. In addition, if you destroy all 7 factories no bot will gain levels that day.

Lion's Den: Go on the offensive. This is similar to a Firefight mission, wide open, but you'll only encounter robot army robots. Every one you destroy you will not encounter in the final mission. These robots stay destroyed even if you fail the mission.

Assassination: Similar to Lion's Den, only with more electric floor traps. This time you'll fight the BossBots. Again, every one you destroy stays destroyed even if you fail.

Robot Command Center: One of the main goals of the game. Win this mission by destroying the Command Center and then reaching the exit. Winning one of the reduces the days remaing by 5 instead of 1. In addition, you recieve one piece of legendary loot for every surviving Exo. Because of the way loot scales with progress, try to discover all of these quickly and then complete them later.

Win a few missions, acquire loot.

Now that you've won a few missions... or lost a few missions and at least destroyed some enemies, you should now have some cash to spend in the shop. The shop can be accessed either from the customization screen or the icon on the bottom left of the user panel in the City Map.

Let's Go Shopping

The shop is pretty simple. You can buy pieces that are available if you have the cash. You can also sell items to make cash.

Items change every time you complete a mission. But, if there is an item you really want that you just can't afford you can shift+click it to put it on layaway. This will keep that item around for the next mission.

You can also filter the shop by various item qualities such as sensor range or attack bonus. Doing this will also sort the items with the highest value ones first. Note: If an item quality is not available on any item (such as Trap, for example) you will be completely unable to sort by that quality.

Items in Detail

There's a few too many items to go into, given the randomized nature of the game, but there are some basic rules.

Items have a base type which affects its main abilities. For example, a Minelayer always has +Mines on it.

Items also have a rank and rarity. The rank is printed in Roman numerals. The higher the better. The rarirty is displayed as its item colour. The value of rarity is white at the bottom, followed by green, blue, purple and finally orange as the highest rarity. A high rank and rarity item will have a lot more power to it than a low rank or low rarity item of the same type. The default pilot "Meg" acts as though items have higher rank than normal.

While it was touched on earlier, here is a complete list of all the stats items can change:

Shield: Your health
Power: Your equip weight. Some items increase Power, most decrease Power.
Damage Reduction: Protection from damage
Regen: How much damage your shield can recover from over time
Stealth Actions: The number of turns you can remain cloaked
Trap Skill: How well you can walk over floor hazards as well as the power of your own mines and sentries
Overload: The damage of your overload skill if available
Sensor Range: The number of tiles away you can see as well as the power of your network abilities such as terminals and whistle.
Hacking Points: The number of points you have for opening locked doors and using terminals
Virus Points: The number of points you have for converting enemy units.
Sentries: The number of sentries you are allowed to place
Mines: The number of mines you are allowed to place

There are also some abstract properties an item can have:

Increased Attack Power: Increases the damage of a weapon by a certain percentage
Increased Attack Power All Weapons: Increases the damage of all weapons, not just the one it's slotted to.
Increased Area of Effect: Increases the splash radius of AoE weapons.
Increased Ammo: Percentile boost to your ammo stock
Increased Range : Increased Range
-X Power Needed by Parts in Same System: This reduces the power consumed by parts in the same item. Note, this bonus also counts itself, but confers no bonus for parts that produce power
+%Power Production: While some items outright produce power, this property increases that value by a percentage
+%Shield-Related Stats: A percentile increase to Shields, Regen and Damage Reduction
+%Propulsion-Related Stats: A percentile increase to Overload, Trap Skill and Stealth Actions
+%Computer-Related Stats: A percentile increase to Sensor Range, Hacking Points, Virus Points, Trap Skill, Sentries and Mines

===

There's not much left to do, continue to win missions. Don't need to worry too much about individual losses, just do what you can.

With a wider variety of items available you should be able to perform special actions now.

Here's a short list of things you can do during a mission:

Place Sentry: If you have sentries you can place one. They are placed directly in front of your Exo. If you want to place a sentry elsewhere you can use the arrow keys to turn without moving. The sentry is a small turret that shoots enemies for you. The sentry gains power with your Trap skill. Note: Fuel Tanks count as enemies... sentries will shoot them.

Sentry Strategy: In open areas they can engage multiple targets, but small corridors are also valid as they receive less fire. Sentries do impede your progress so if you ever get stuck behind your own sentry you must attack-ground to remove it.

Place Mine: If you have mines you can place one. They are placed directly in front of you just like how sentries are. The power of a Mine is affected by your Trap skill, also your Trap skill affects whether or not you can freely walk over your own mines (Trap skill needs to be equal or better)

Mine strategy: With almost any Trap skill you can safely walk over your own mines (make sure to actually check via mouseover). Mines are best placed in corridors, but really can go anywhere enemies will move to. Bots with predictable movement such as EagleBots can be prempted with mines.

Overload: Essentially a self-destruct command, but you can brace for it. You deal damage equal to your Overload rating to nearby enemies. The damage your Exo receives is 1/4 what is dealt to other enemies. Also, if your Exo is ever destroyed by other means (such as getting shot) your Overload skill will automatically engage for a final hurrah - taking out most nearby enemies.

Overload strategy: Damage reduction does affect the damage you deal to yourself with Overload. If you have 400 Overload rating you will deal 100 damage to yourself, with 25 damage reduction your self damage is lowered to 75. Having Regen gear can then recover that damage. Overload does not currently cost a stealth action nor does it break stealth so with a high amount of stealth actions, regen, and damage reduction you can almost rely on Overload as your main weapon.

Virus: If you have enough Virus points you can convert an enemy to your side. The points needed is listed in the status panel when you mouseover an enemy. A converted enemy will draw fire as well as attack, however they are prone to breaking due to the difference in power between Bots and Exos.

Virus strategy: It's almost impossible to lure an enemy directly into a Virus attack as you cannot Virus diagonally. However, there are situations where this can happen such as enemies on the other side of doors, or alerted enemies that move through nearby cover. Virus does not break stealth although it does cost a stealth action, so you can cloak to approach an enemy for conversion.

Knowing how enemies behave is imperitive when choosing a viral target. CannonBots, for example, can only move or fire while you are nearby them, but they are otherwise unaffected by Virus penalties and are great allies because of it. Virus cost goes up as a bots level goes up.

Hacking: I mentioned special terminals earlier, but there are other things to note about them. Offensive special terminals rely on the sensor range of the hacker to determine what targets to affect. If a powerful terminal such as "disable enemy attack" is available you'd want to use your largest possible sensor range to affect as many targets as possible.

Hacking strategy: Most terminals provide only a minor, personal or harmful effect so identifying them early is somewhat useful. Powerful terminals such as disabling movement or attack can be saved for critical times during a mission. One of the most powerful terminals causes all cover in sensor range to explose - on open levels such as Science Stations this can theoretically destroy every enemy on the map in one action.

Whistle: Whistle alerts all enemies in sensor range.

Whistle strategy: Since it is affected by sensor range you can switch Exos around to whistle to the desired range. An alerted enemy will chase after you as applicable. This can be valuable in luring enemies into traps, or separating a large room of enemies into smaller groups.

You should have about half of the map cleared by now, just keep playing missions and gaining loot.

City Planning

Once you have 10~20 missions under your belt it's time to start planning your grand strategy. The longer you wait to hit valuable points like Command Centers, the more valuable loot you get from them. On the other hand, the sooner you hit difficult missions the lower level the enemies will be.

Here's a general order of operations to keep in mind:

1. Clear the easy missions around the HQ in every direction to reveal as much map as you can.

2. Clear missions that give you a wide variety of loot quickly based on your current skill set. Do hostage rescue, overdrive and parts fab missions

3. If you need specialty gear, start cleaning out the special loot missions such as Shieldworks and Armories. Look for Bahamut Drive missions whenever possible.

4. Take out any factories you see around the mid point of the game. If you take them out "too" early you might waste one of their level downs, however if you take them out too late their levelup prevention abilities will be wasted.

5. Calculate how many days you can afford to pick up extra gear, and then hit all the Command Centers at once so that you land on 2~5 days remaining.

6. Use your last remaining remaining days to clear out any remaining Lion's Dens and Assassination missions to reduce the power of the enemy force. These missions can be done at any time, but it's important not to do them too early (the number of bots will be reduced) or to do too many in a row (as the enemy army will already be ruined). That being said, it's generally a good idea if your final two or three missions are these.

7. If there are days remaining, check your gear again for any holes in your Exo's abilities. Check the shop one last time. If your HQ is missing any health from failing a mission, hit a few salvage missions.

The Final Mission

The endgame. No days remaining. Just you Vs. the enemy force.

The whole enemy force, all of them. One mission, all the enemies on the army list at the same time.

Luckily, the final mission is very large and there are many corridors and rooms to work with. In addition, there are teleporters to help you get around. Unique to the final mission are Energy Reactors - if one of these is destroyed one of the enemy bots will immediately gain a level.

Your goal is to destroy the enemy force. If you have hacking skill, most of the closets on this level are ammo crates so feel free to use special weapons as needed. You could be facing several hundred bots depending on what happened during your game.

Just do your best.

Special rules for the final mission: If all your Exos are destroyed the game does not immediately end. You get another chance! Your HQ's health is reduced just like failing any mission, however the enemy count stays at its reduced value. You therefor get many attempts to clean up the enemy army.

Well, unless you only had 1 HP left in the first place.

Secondly, if on your previous missions you somehow 100% destroyed the enemy army due to careful planning and success on Lion's Den or Assassination missions... you automatically win at this time. No more enemy army. You don't even get to do the final mission.

Welcome to the Appendix. This is where most most of the valuable information is.

All weapons have 3 equipment slots

Exos

Assault:
General purpose weapon, bonus to shield related stats

Weapons: Laser Rifle, Light Machine Gun, Grenade Launcher

Shield: 243
Power: 100

8 Sensor Range, 10 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 3
Reactor: 2
Propulsion: 2
Computer: 1

Epic Version:
Gains Volatizer and Plasma Rifle weapons

Shield: 486
Power: 120

10 Sensor Range, 10 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 3
Reactor: 3
Propulsion: 3
Computer: 2

Assault Strategy: The Assault gets a very large variety of weapons to fit every possible situation and gains an automatic bonus to shield related skills including damage reduction and regen. Once you get the Epic Assault this Exo has the most weapons at 5 and therefor the most weapon slots at 15, this means the Assault can build a lot of power with overlapping attack boosters, or can use support items in undesirable weapons. The mix of middle range and AoE weapons means you can build an assault for virtually any mission type. Its one weakness is the base version only has a single computer slot.

Brawler:
Special weapons specialist, can attack in unique ways

Weapons: Dissolver, Shotgun, Pistol

Shield: 220
Power: 80

8 Sensor Range, 12 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 3
Reactor: 2
Propulsion: 1
Computer: 1

Epic Version:
Gains Volatizer and Kinetic Burst Weapon

Shield: 440
Power: 100

10 Sensor Range, 10 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 3
Reactor: 2
Propulsion: 2
Computer: 2

Brawler Strategy: The Brawler has the most unique weapons in the game. The Dissolver's X shaped attack pattern can poke through walls to hit approaching bots, the shotgun's high power can take out small group when attacking from a diagonal. The Epic version is even more powerful as it overcomes the glaring weakness of only having one slot in two systems. The Pistol is a terrible weapon, but that also means it's basically 3 free slots to boost other systems. With the Epic Brawler you can attack in pretty much any pattern you want - building the Volatizer allows you to attack rings while the dissolver attacks X's. The Kinetic Burst provides either a powerful short range kick, or a dump weapon to add three more system-wide upgrades.

Ninja:
Stealth and Propulsion expert

Weapons: Welding Laser, Light Machine Gun

Shield: 187
Power: 100

10 Sensor Range, 12 Stealth Actions (+50%)

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 2
Reactor: 2
Propulsion: 3
Computer: 2

Epic Version:
Gains Kinetic Burst Weapon

Shield: 374
Power: 120

12 Sensor Range, 12 Stealth Actions (+50%)

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 3
Reactor: 3
Propulsion: 3
Computer: 3

Ninja Strategy: A massive 50% boost to propulsion related stats, which includes stealth actions as well as overload rating. The Ninja can be built a number of different ways. Higher Trap skill means it can set up strong mines and sentries. Building up the weapons is good too as the Ninja does not break stealth. The Ninja is immune to all indirect attacks - including its own Welding Laser. The Epic Version does not gain anything particularly valuable, as the Kinetic Burst weapon overlaps in use with the Welding Laser. Still, it's very powerful. Combined with a good Science Exo to scan the terrain, one of these Ninjas with a lot of stealth action can skip over entire missions.

Science:
Computer and support specialist, bonus to all computer effects

Weapons: Pistol, Laser Rifle

Shield: 110
Power: 120

12 Sensor Range (+50%), 6 Hacking Points (+50%), 15 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 1
Reactor: 3
Propulsion: 3
Computer: 4

Epic Version:
Gains Chain Gun Weapon

Shield: 220
Power: 150

15 Sensor Range (+50%), 6 Hacking Points (+50%), 15 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 2
Reactor: 4
Propulsion: 3
Computer: 5

Science Strategy: 50% bonus Computer stats is very good. This includes sensor range, hacking and virus skills. The initial weapons are not so great, but at least you can trust that a Science Laser Rifle is the same as an Assault Laser Rifle, just upgrade the best you can. With their greatly boosted sensor range these guys rule hacking terminals. They can also alert more bots with their whistle command because of that higher sensor range. The epic version gains the very powerful Chain Gun, which has the special ability to double fire.

Siege:
Area of Effect support weapon

Weapons: Light Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher

Shield: 143
Power: 120

10 Sensor Range, 5 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 2
Reactor: 3
Propulsion: 1
Computer: 2

Epic Version:
Gains Plasma Cannon and Shadow Torpedo Launcher

Shield: 286
Power: 150

12 Sensor Range, 5 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 3
Reactor: 4
Propulsion: 2
Computer: 3

Seige Strategy: The Siege suffers from having very little ammo, but has a lot of power. The rocket launcher can clear rooms very quickly. Something of a one trick pony at the start though as it has less shields. Once upgraded though it gains access to the map clearing power of the Plasma Cannon as well as the infalible Shadow Torpedo - a weapon capable of destroying any target. Use rockets wisely to take out groups for your other Exos. Power!

Sniper:
Long range expert

Weapons: Gamma-Ray Laser, Laser Rifle

Shield: 143
Power: 100

10 Sensor Range, 12 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 2
Reactor: 2
Propulsion: 3
Computer: 2

Epic Version:
Gains Railgun and Plasma Rifle Weapons

Shield: 286
Power: 120

12 Sensor Range, 12 Stealth Actions

Equipment Slots:
Shield: 3
Reactor: 3
Propulsion: 3
Computer: 3

Sniper Strategy: The Gamma-Ray laser has the ability to double fire, making it an excellent long range weapon as long as you have ammo for it. Combined with the good general use laser rifle you can do a lot of damage. The Epic version gains some AoE capability from the Plasma Rifle and a huge amount of tech damage from that Railgun. The sniper is particularly fragile though, so make sure to keep at range.

There are six pilots available to choose from the start of the game.

Axis:
Special ability to see an extra tile on the City Map allowing for better planning. Also has the ability to skip over a mission to the one behind it, allowing a player to scan the entire city very quickly.

Emma:
Special ability to gain more credits for selling items as well as to find more and better items in the store. This is something of an understatement, her store is often fully packed with the highest rarity items right away.

Meg:
Special ability to treat items like they are a higher rank than normal, for example a Mark 4 part will be as strong as a Mark 6 on another pilot. Becauase of this she grows very quickly

Tuck:
Special ability to see all the unique objects during a mission. Makes crawling through corridors a breeze, since you can see the exit, see all the terminals, see what closets have loot, and see where destructable goals such as factories are.

Genji:
Special ability to start with all the Bahamut Drives. Begin the game with Epic Exos.

Rey:
Special ability to die well... understatement, when a unit is destroyed it comes back to life with full shield and ammo. Can do this twice every mission. Can be used defensively to extend the life of a unit or offensively to keep special weapons ammo full.

Weapons are standardized across all Exos, here are their statistics:

Laser Rifle
Attack: 180
Range: 8
Ammo: 35
Type: Energy

Light Machine Gun
Attack: 120
Range: 6
Ammo: 55
Type: Projectile

Grenade Launcher
Attack: 300
Range: 6
Area of Effect: 1 (Radial)
Ammo: 12
Type: AoE, Projectile

Plasma Rifle
Attack: 1000
Range: 8
Area of Effect: 3 (Radial)
Ammo: 3
Type: AoE, Energy

Volatizer
Attack: 300
Range: 5
Area of Effect: 2 (Ring)
Ammo: 17
Type: AoE, Energy

Rocket Launcher
Attack: 1000
Range: 9
Area of Effect: 2 (Radial)
Ammo: 7
Type: AoE, Projectile

Plasma Cannon
Attack: 2000
Range: 13
Area of Effect: 6 (Radial)
Ammo: 1
Type: AoE, Energy

Shadow Torpedo Launcher
Attack: 800
Range: 50
Ammo: 5
Type: Projectile
Special: This weapon can fire without line of sight, if you can scan it - you can kill it

Gamma-Ray Laser
Attack: 400
Range: 12
Ammo: 18
Type: Energy
Special: This is a fast firing weapon. If you have even numbered ammo remaining firing will not cost a turn.

Railgun
Attack: 1000
Range: 50
Ammo: 5
Type: Projectile

Pistol
Attack: 40
Range: 5
Ammo: 32
Type: Projectile

Chain Gun
Attack: 250
Range: 7
Ammo: 70
Type: Projectile
Special: This is a fast firing weapon. If you have even numbered ammo remaining firing will not cost a turn.


Dissolver
Attack: 600
Range: 4
Area of Effect: 4 (Diagonal)
Ammo: 4
Type: AoE

Shotgun
Attack: 250
Range: 4
Area of Effect: 1 (Conical)
Ammo: 24
Type: AoE, Projectile

Kinetic Burst Weapon
Attack: 1000
Range: 2
Ammo: 15
Type: None

Welding Laser
Attack: 300
Range: 3
Area of Effect: 1 (Line)
Ammo: 20
Type: AoE, Energy

Incomplete... for now:

There are 47 main BotTypes in the game, plus the deadly MurderBot and Fuel Tank.

Bots scale both for difficulty and their own levels. Having a giant spreadsheet of all the differences would be nice, but that's excessive.

So instead, here's a few rules about how Bots work.

As level increases the enemy shield, attack, and virus cost increase. Range increases every X levels depending on difficulty. As a safety, a bot does not gain shield or attack on their first levelup, so a level 1 bot is virtually identical to a level 2 bot.

I tried to do a case study and followed the growth patterns of AmmoBot and BlunderBot across their levelups on both Casual and Normal - but I wasn't able to find the exact math behind growth. So instead, I'm going to use anecdotal statistics for each bot when applicable.

Low: Can be easily shrugged off unless your stats are not very good, however low range units usually have higher power.

Medium: On par with your weapons, for range this is between 6 and 8 and for damage in the 40~80 range at the start of the game. Not an serious threat, but actually capable of doing damage. For damage, typically can be reduced safely with regen/damage reduction.

High: Unlike Medium, High is risky on its own. Damage cannot be easily dismissed with regen/damage reduction and a weak Exo can be destroyed outright.

Extreme: The most dangerous. Only the most prepared Exos can survive an Extreme Damage hit. This is things in the 1000+ damage range, and it only gets higher after that. You are not expected to survive such a hit. On the other hand, Extreme Ammo simply means they will unlikely run out, but this typically is only on units with Pistols.

Normal Bots

AmmoBot
Weapon: Volatizer
Shield: Low
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Very High
Virus Cost: High

An AmmoBot refils the ammo of nearby enemies whenever it takes action. It has low range, but middling power, so don't let it get too close. Dangerous when around high power, low ammo bots.

AvalancheBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Low~Medium
Damage:Low
Range: Low
Ammo: Very High
Virus Cost: Low

A relatively weak bot that created Electric Floors as it moves, if your trap skill it low you can suffer from the added attrition.

BatBot
Weapon: Kinetic Burst Weapon
Shield: A little low
Damage: Pretty High
Range: Very Low
Ammo: Very Low
Virus Cost: Low

A BatBot has random movement, no self control. However their Kinetic Burst Weapon boasts amazing power if it gets into range. Their shields are slightly low, but certain weapons will not single shot them.

BlasterBot
Weapon: Gamma-Ray Laser, Light Machine Gun
Shield: Low
Damage: Low
Range: High
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

Gets a single sniper shot and then stops. Whenever it moves though it explodes the tile behind it. Has a backup weapon, so it can keep firing when it has no ammo.

BlasterMaster
Weapon: Plasma Rifle, Laser Rifle
Shield: Low
Damage: Moderate-High
Range: Low
Ammo: Low Plasma, High Laser Rifle
Virus Cost: Low

So intimidating it causes nearby bots to occasionally miss their attacks, just don't let it get near you.

BlunderBot
Weapon: Rocket Launcher
Shield: Moderate-High
Damage: Extreme
Range: Moderate
Ammo: Very Low
Virus Cost: Low

One of the first deadly bots you encounter. Their Rockets are very deadly even on low difficulties and they have the medium range to use them. You do have one save though, they occasionally miss - however, as their weapon is a Rocket Launcher that's not saying much. One of their more important stats is their higher shields - often enough to prevent a OHKO even in the early game.

BombBot
Weapon: Self-Destruct Device, Pistol (Doesn't Shoot)
Shield: Low
Damage: Extreme
Range: Special
Ammo: Zero
Virus Cost: Low

Explodes when killed. It has extreme damage and will kill most anything around it. Notes: It cannot fire on its own, so it will "hug" your player. Also, it will not self destruct if it is killed by mines or Overload.


CannonBot
Weapon: Plasma Rifle
Shield: Middling
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low-Medium
Ammo: Low-Medium
Virus Cost: Low

A powerful bot with a twist, it's a little co-dependant. Cannot move or fire without an ally nearby.

CommandBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Medium
Damage: Low
Range: Medium
Ammo: Extreme
Virus Cost: High

Weak on its own, but dangerous in groups. Every time a CommandBot acts it raises the shields of a nearby bot. Adding +250 Shield to a BlunderBot, for example, can ruin a good plan.

DoomBot
Weapon: Laser Rifle
Shield: Very High
Damage: Middle Low ~ Extreme
Range: Medium
Ammo: Medium
Virus Cost: High

While they don't initially have a lot of kick, it's still a moderate amount. The kicker is each time this bot fires it gains an attack boost. Take it out quickly and carefully. Don't let it fire on your sentries. Its medium range can get abover your shorter weapons such as Light Machine Gun.

DumBot
Weapon: Light Machine Gun
Shield: Low
Damage: Low
Range: Low-Medium
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

A very weak bot that occasionally misses attacks. Rarely a threat. Their low damage won't affect much even if they do miss, but it is notable that they can "miss" and hit a fuel tank.

EagleBot
Weapon: Volatizer
Shield: Middling
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low~Medium

This bot gets locked into a movement pattern whenever it touches a wall. Cannot change directions on its own.

EMPBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Low-medium
Damage: None
Range: None
Ammo: None
Virus Cost: Low

Similar to the BombBot, only it explodes with an EMP. Deals no damage, but can disable weapons on Exos as well as weapons and movement on Bots. The effect stacks if multiple EMPBots are destroyed in succession. Unlike BombBots the EMP still goes off if killed by Overload.

GaffeBot
Weapon: Rocket Launcher
Shield: Middling
Damage: Extreme
Range: Meidum
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

A mix between BlunderBot and BatBot. A powerful rocket launching station that can occasionally miss, however it has random movement so it doesn't always close the gap between you.

HideBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Low-Medium
Damage: Low-Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

An otherwise unremarkable bot, if not for the fact it is cloaked most of the time. Can ambush you at inconvenient times. They are most dangerous when you are playing with high animation speed, as you might walk right passed them - taking multiple hits.

HunterBot
Weapon: Gamma-Ray Laser
Shield: Middling
Damage: Low~Moderate
Range: High
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low~Medium

A unique sniper bot that is alerted by sensor waves. Automatically goes on alert as soon as it is scanned.

Invigorated DumBot
Weapon: Light Machine Gun
Shield: Low
Damage: Low
Range: Medium Low
Ammo: Medium Low
Virus Cost: Very Low

One of the weakest possible bots. More damage than the regular DumBot

LeaderBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Medium
Damage: Low
Range: Low
Ammo: Very High
Virus Cost: High

Weak on its own, similar to the CommandBot, however it raises the attack of nearby bots whenever it takes action... by 50%

MastermindBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Low
Damage: Low
Range: Low
Ammo: Extreme
Virus Cost: Low

Kill it! Grants double actions to nearby enemy bots.

NinjaBot
Weapon: Shotgun
Shield: Moderate
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

Unremarkable on its own, however your sensor range is limited when one is nearby - you can only scan as far as the closest NinjaBot.

PantherBot
Weapon: Rocket Launcher
Shield: Medium~High
Damage: Extreme
Range: None
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

A deadly unit. While it's rare that it will ever actually fire its rocket launcher, this bot is unique in that it drops mines behind it as it moves. If your trap rating is low this thing can be among the most dangerous if permitted to move around much.

RaptorBot
Weapon: Volatizer
Shield: Middle~High
Damage: Middle~High
Range: Low
Ammo: Low~Medium
Virus Cost: Low~Medium

When it takes damage it absorbs some life from nearby bots to keep its shield up. This makes it pretty sturdy. Be warned when using Virus on it, it will try to absorb your Exo shields.

SilenceBot
Weapon: Volatizer
Shield: Low
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Medium

Don't let its low shields fool you, they redirect incoming fire to other nearby bots. Moreover, they reduce that redirected damage by 25%. Dangerous in groups since you can't predict how damage will be distributed, but worthless when alone. Cannot redirect fire on to other SilenceBots. Being able to redirect fire means they can approach with impunity, so take care to stay out of range. This also means you can attack out of range units via redirection. Be careful around Fuel Tanks, as they count as enemies.

StealthBot
Weapon: Shotgun
Shield: Low
Damage: Low~Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Low~Medium
Virus Cost: Low

Gains two stealth actions whenever you fire near it. This unit can fire when cloaked. Tips: You can still destroy it if you know where it is by using an attack-ground action.

TeslaBot
Weapon: Gamma-Ray Laser
Shield: Medium
Damage: Low~Moderate
Range: Very High
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

A basic sniper unit, weak outside of its very long range.

ThiefBot
Weapon: Chain Gun
Shield: Low
Damage: Low
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

A very weak bot that will steal some of your ammo when it shoots.

ThunderBot
Weapon: Gamma-Ray Laser
Shield: Medium
Damage: Low~Technically
Range: Medium~High
Ammo: High
Virus Cost: Low

While it doesn't do much damage on its own, it has an abrasive hatred of cover objects. Every time it takes action it gets a passive attack on any cover object causing it to explode. Because of this, ThunderBots can be helpful to you as they will take care of rooms for you - just don't stand next to cover... it's a free action for them.

TigerBot
Weapon: Laser Rifle
Shield: Very High
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low-Medium
Ammo: High
Virus Cost: Low

TigerBots are tanks. They have a ton of Shield and their moderate damage cannot be easily shrugged. One save is that they are stunned for 2 turns whenever they take damage. This stun is cumulative and rapid hits can keep them locked down for a long time. Note: If they are stunned because you shot them, your shot counts as a turn so they have only 1 stun turn remaining by default, however this is not the case if they are stunned by traps or other bots.

TreadBot
Weapon: Kinetic Burst Weapon
Shield: Medium~High
Damage: Very High
Range: Very Low
Ammo: Medium Low
Virus Cost: Low

Once alerted it will alert other TreadBots on the map. They have enough shields to survive a few hits and their power is very high. Try to take them out all at once.

WyvernBot
Weapon: Plasma Rifle
Shield: High
Damage: High
Range: Medium
Ammo: Medium
Virus Cost: Medium

A powerful bot that targets cover. Has overall high stats and is among the most dangerous of the regular bots.

Special Bots

Absentminded LeaderBot
Weapon: Shotgun
Shield: High
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: High

Moves about randomly, giving attack boosts to its allies.

BodyBot
Weapon: Dissolver
Shield: Extreme
Damage: Moderate
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

Extremely large amount of shields. However, it will automatically perish if an adjacent Bot is destroyed.

DeathBot

DiamondBot
Weapon: Chain Gun
Shield: Low
Damage: Low
Range: Low-Medium
Ammo: Medium
Virus Cost: Low

Every time it shoots an Exo you gain credits equal to half its kill cost. If the DiamondBot would award 8 credits, you'll receive 4 credits every shot.

GalaxyBot
Weapon: Light Machine Gun
Shield: High
Damage: High
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

If it shoots one of your Exos your aggro range with increase, but this is rarely an issue as the GalaxyBot has more than enough attack power to destroy an Exo outright.

MantaBot
Weapon: Railgun
Shield: ???
Damage: High
Range: Very Low
Ammo: Very Low
Virus Cost: Low~Medium

One of the most elusive bots in the game, has a single deadly melee attack. Prevents nearby bots from being able to move, although they can still fire.

RadarBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Low
Damage:Low
Range: Low
Ammo: Extreme
Virus Cost: Low

Causes nearby attack to miss, you'll need either luck or AoE weapons to take these guys out.

RazorBot
Weapon: Kinetic Burst
Shield: Low~Medium
Damage: High
Range: Low-Medium
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low

This special bot hates everyone. It will still attack you, but it will also freely attack enemies.

RecoilBot
Weapon: Light Machine Gun
Shield: Middling
Damage: Low
Range: Low
Ammo: Low
Virus Cost: Low~Medium

As long as you have enough shield or damage resistance to safely ignore its damage this Bot can be a valuable tool. When it dies all Bots within two tiles of it will go berserk, firing on each other if possible.

SentryBot
Weapon: Light Machine Gun
Shield: Moderate
Damage: Low
Range: Low-Medium
Ammo: Low-Medium
Virus Cost: Low

Weak on its own, but unique in its ability to alert other bots... all of them. (In range at least). A particular threat when entering an unknown room, such as when opening a door, as they can permit the other bots to fire before you can react.

ShieldBot
Weapon: Pistol
Shield: Extreme
Damage: None
Range: None
Ammo: None
Virus Cost: Low~Medium

This bot cannot fire, but draws all surrounding damage to it. Can protect entire squadrons due to its enourmous shield.

SkyBot
Weapon: Light Machine Gun
Shield: High
Damage: Moderate~High
Range: Medium
Ammo: Medium
Virus Cost: Medium~High

DUM DUM DUM

Bosses

ClawBot

DragonBot
Weapon: Grenade Launcher
Shield: Extreme
Damage: Low~Moderate
Range: Moderate
Ammo: Moderate
Virus Cost: Medium~High

Gains a free action when a nearby bot has a misfire. A dangerous combination with BlasterMasters and DumBots, which make for many misses. Its base damage is relatively low though, but high enough to cause damage as your whittle down its shields. Having some Damage Reduction and Regen will effectively counter it.

ScorpionBot
Weapon: Gamma-Ray Laser
Shield: Very High
Damage: Middle~High
Range: Middle~High
Ammo: High
Virus Cost: Middle~High

ScorpionBot will never fire directly at you, instead it counters any firing within its attack range. If you have ample Damage Reduction you can use any ScorpionBot as an ally. You can safely dispatch it when you are done with Mines, Traps and Overload. You can use Sentries, but they will be fired upon. Their movement pattern is to get right up to you and stay there. If you convert one with Virus it will still counter your attacks, but it will move towards enemies.

TethysBot
Weapon: Laser Rifle
Shield: High
Damage: Moderate
Range: Medium
Ammo: High
Virus Cost: High

One of the most dangerous bots, it has a large about of regeneration and can recover from damage it receives. Taking it out in one shot is the only real strategy, although it will eventually stop healing.


ViperBot
Weapon: Welding Laser
Shield: Extreme
Damage: High
Range: Middle~Low
Ammo: Medium
Virus Cost: High

A dangerous melee boss. It gets faster as its shields are lowered. Whittle it down with light weapons and then finish it with your big weapons. Does get its first move bonus until below half shield.

Special: MurderBot
Weapon: Kinetic Burst
Shield: One Million
Attack: 8000
Range: 1
Ammo: 999
Virus Cost: 4995

Run, Run, Run! You Cowards! RAAAWWWRRRR

Strategy: Only appears on Outrun missions. It can't move every turn, and can be buffed/disabled with terminals... disabling its movement is very calming.

A variety of things change when you change the difficulty. There are achievements for every difficulty except Misery, which awards the Expert achievements. Completing an achievement on a higer difficulty unlocks all the lower difficulty ones automatically.

Format: Listed will be a statistic followed by 6 numbers. These are the values for Casual, Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert and Misery respectively.

Loot: You gain one piece of loot per surviving exo on Normal or higher, otherwise you get all four pieces.

Traps: On Hard or higher there are more unique enemy types. In addition, on Expert or higher more dangerous traps can show up.

Enemy Levels per day (randomly spread across the 47 bot types): 9, 11, 14, 17, 21, 24

Enemy Range increases every X levels: 12, 9, 6, 5, 4, 4

Starting Manufacturing: 10, 20, 30, 30, 40, 50

Manufacturing Increase Per Day: 1, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12

Enemy Shield and Attack Per Level Scaling: 1x, 1.2x, 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 4x
Note: Although these can be set separately for bots, bosses, shield and attack - they are all the same value right now.

Enemy Alert Range: 7, 7, 10, 12, 14, 18

Exo Shield Multiplier: 7x, 3.5x, 1.1x, 1x, 0.75x, 0.75x

Enemy Non-Boss shield multiplier: 1x, 1x, 1.3x, 2x, 3x, 3.3x

Hand Designed Bot Mix for X days: 10, 10, 5, 3, 0, 0

No Special-Seeding Bots for X days: 20, 20, 12, 8, 0, 0

Cost of Items in Store multiplier: 1x, 1x, 1x, 1.2x, 1.6x, 2.8x

Final Score multiplier upon victory: 3x, 10x, 15x, 30x, 50x, 70x


Ironman Mode
Normally you can save and load any time you want, allowing for flawless victories at all times due ot the ability to save even during missions.

In Ironman mode you can only perform a Save and Quit action, this means you have to play the game without the safety net of being able to load an earlier save.

Here is a short list of the special effects Special Terminals can do. For the most part their effect is either personal, affecting only the Exo that uses the terminal, or WiFi, affecting everything in Sensor Range of the Exo that uses the terminal. They're sorted by opinion, so don't mind if I talk down your favourite terminals.

Unidentified: Notable by its use of the word "poison-taster". You have never used this type of terminal before

Old Computer Terminal: When a terminal is used it turns into this.


Good Effects

Repair Disabled Exo Weapons: Repairs all disabled weapons on the Exo that uses it.

Disables Movement of All Bots in Sensor Range: Lock down a potentially large group of enemies. They can still shoot if you move in range, but this can cripple TreadBots and the deadly MurderBot.

Refills Exo Ammo: That Exo gets all its ammo back

Enhances Exo Attack Range: All the weapons on the hacking Exo gain 5 range for this mission.

Disables Attack of All Bots in Sensor Range: Bots can no longer attack, but they can still move and alert. Large groups of bots can still impede your movement.

Refills All Hacking Points on Current Exo: Returns your Exo's Hacking Points to full

Restores Exo Shields: Recover any lost shields on that Exo.



Bad Effects

Kills Exo: A ragequit if there ever was one. Outright destroys the hacking Exo.

Disable Random Exo Weapon: Can be harmful if you hacked on your main attackers, useless if it disables a pistol. This works like permanent EMP, unless you can repair it somehow.

All Bots In Sensor Range Gain Extra Action Per Turn: One of the most hazardous terminals, gives an extra action to the bots.

Explodes: Immediately explodes. Does a lot of damage in a wide radius, so can be used as an emergency weapon. Typically, it's just to smack you for trying anything new.

Drains All Stealth From Exo: You lose all remaining Stealth Points on that Exo.

Drains All Hacking Points From Exo: You lose all remaining Hacking Points on that Exo.

Removes All Ammo From Random Exo Weapon: Not as crippling as having a weapon disabled, but still reduces your ability to fight.

Enhances Attack Range of All Bots: Adds 5 range to all the enemies, not just those in sensor range.

Enhances Enemy Attack: Adds a 50% damage boost to all enemies, not just those in sensor range.



Unusual Effects

All Cover Objects in Sensor Range Explode: A dangerous weapon, one of the more useful ones once you know about it. Cover objects explode with a radius of 2 and do thousands of damage.

All Bots in Range Gain Range-2+Invisibilty: Unknown - Didn't test well

Drives All Bots in Sensor Range Berserk: Changes all bots in range so that they attack each other, but also alerts them.

Destroys All Traps in Sensor Range: Removes a variety of floor hazards. Does not affect Fuel Tanks.

All achievements have five ranks, one for each difficulty except for Misery. Because of this, I'll only list each achievement once. Doing an achievement on a higher difficulty does unlock it on lower difficulties.

Bot Specific

Simple Battery: Win a mission using only a single Assault. You can use your first turn to switch Exos if needed.

Besieged: Win a mission using only a single Siege. You can use your first turn to switch Exos if needed.

Headshot: Win a mission using only a single Sniper. You can use your first turn to switch Exos if needed.

For Science!: Win a mission using only a single Science. You can use your first turn to switch Exos if needed.

So This Guy Walks Into A Bar...: Win a mission using only a single Brawler. You can use your first turn to switch Exos if needed.

Ninja'd: Win a mission using only a single Ninja. You can use your first turn to switch Exos if needed.

So. Much. Ammo.: Win the game using a party of four Assault.

Have Fun Storming The Castle: Win the game using a party of four Siege.

!!!Science!!!: Win the game using a party of four Science.

Corporate Assassination Services: Win the game using a party of four Ninja.

Thanks For Standing Still, Robot: Win the game using a party of four Sniper.

Sometimes The Answer Is To Keep Punching Them In The Face: Win the game using a party of four Brawler.

Mission Specials

A Rogue With No Points in Subtlety: Win a mission without using stealth, very easy to do

Creative Destruction: Win a mission using only special attacks such as mines, sentries and overload.

No Frozen Population Units Left Behind: Win a Hostage Rescue mission without losing any pods.

Time To Get This Party Started: Destroy 20 or more bots in a single action.
Was That Really Neccessary?: Destroy 50 or more bots in a single action.
Boom, Problem Solves!: Destroy 100 or more bots in a single action.

Pistols at Dawn: Win an assassination mission while killing all the bosses with a pistol.

Commanders

Axial Tilt: Win the game as Axis.

So I Rewired it: Win the game as Meg.

Peekabo, I See You: Win the game as Tuck.

They Never Knew What Hit Them: Win the game as Genji.

Shopping is Not an Optional Activity. Shopping is A SUPERPOWER!: Win the game as Emma.

It's Just a Flesh Wound!: Win the game as Rey.

Victory Specials

Flawless Victory: Win the game without the HQ ever taking damage.

Why, Exactly, Would I Walk Into That Notorious Dragon's Lair?: Win the game without any Epic Exos.

Robot Army? I'll Be Right Back, I Got This.: Win the game without ever losing an Exo.

A Promising Beginning: Win the game on Casual
Take That Metal Man: Win the game on Easy
Ok, Can We Not Nuke The City Now?: Win the game on Normal
A Hard (Fifty) Days Work: Win the game on Hard
Impressive: Win the game on Expert

Casual Integrity: Win Ironman on Casual
Not As Easy As It Loots: Win Ironman on Easy
Made of Iron: Win Ironman on Normal
Um. Wow: Win Ironman on Hard
All Hail The Conquerer!: Win Ironman on Expert

This is a collection of special notes that don't really fit in any other section.

-You can destroy your own sentries or other friendly units by holding the Shift key when firing.

-You can recenter the camera at any time with the H key

-If you feel the game runs too slowly, you can increase the animation rate in the menu

-You can enable the ability to view the enemy main army even during missions in the Extras menu, you can also enable line of sight lines as well as floating combat text.

-You can set a key to skip enemy movement animations, useful if playing at lower speeds and zoomed out quite far. Holding down the key while moving also works.

-Buildings are vulnerable to AoE weapons as they take damage for every piece of splash they receive.

-If you are using Stealth to combat a single unit, you can disable Stealth before firing if you need to conserve a turn.

-If an Exo is destroyed and has Overload rating, it will explode with a larger radius and increased damage.

-Some weapons like the Welding Laser have an alternate fire. Hold Control to perform an alt fire. It can get slightly awkward to Control+Shift to attack ground this way, but you can.

-You can save/load at any time, even during a mission... low on ammo and not sure which door to take? Save Scum!

-If you Viral Control a bot that provides a buff, you can switch between Exos to get that buff on everyone. You CAN get +1 Extra Action Per Turn, but it currently does nothing.

October 14~16: Typos and Terminals... encounterd the elusive MantaBot once, but didn't register it.

October 13: Added bot information for most bots

To Do: Locate all the bots


October 12: First release

To Do: Base stats for every bot type as well as strategy for them.