Val Start (updated)

I've edited the (outdated) most recent post so that the val start is easier to find and view. The guide has also been revamped a little ... but I realise this is still a massive wall of text, so there is a TL;DR at the end for the more adventurous types. Ctrl+F if you need specifics.

This strat is for Valadin (henceforth known as V) users. Which should be everyone, because rangers have now become obsolete when not basing. It is a more or less a 'vanilla' strategy that should get you to Talsia at around 15k kc used. Feel free to simply use this for some information, or to change things up at certain points; this strat is fundamental and fairly flexible in nature.

Setting Up

To begin with, go to the Buy New Bot link in the Workshop (WS) page. (Here you can also sell gear/bots, manage squads, and check their outfitted gear). Click on V, and give it a name. Buy 1 Argon Laser weapon, and 1 Ion V2 reactor, and then click on Manage Squads in the WS. (If you buy a weapon/reactor/shield/module and your bot has an empty slot for it, then it will automatically equip itself. However, at other times you will need to equip them manually by clicking on them.)

Next, create a new squad, and then assign your new bot to it. Scroll down and next to “Withdraw When:” select “Never Withdraw (fight to the death).” This is something players often forget to set, and can lead to bots leaving battle as soon as they have low armour just when it's vital for them to stay.

Click on Take squad into battle>Patrol Outlands>CCU Training Deck. If you are a new player then I suggest you enter training; however if you know how to play then enter the Combat Sim, and fight general enemies until your V reaches AI 1. Withdraw if the enemy squad has a sentinel (snail-like bot that shares its shields) in it.

Once it reaches AI 1, exit patrol, then click on your bot. Go to Upgrade/Repair, and add 5 upgrades to its Weapon Tech Level. Next, go to Fitout, and click Remove All. Click on Sell Gear from the WS, and sell the Argon Laser. This is so you have enough money to buy: 2 Baron Laser weapons, 1 Motion Tracker module (mod), 1 Phase Modulator, 2 Baron shields, then re-equip the Ion V2 reactor last.

First Patrol (getting 3 reapers and AI 6)

You are now ready to take on Vulcore! Send it back into patrol, this time to the Vulcore Plains. Now because it takes 50 KCharge (kc) each time you enter Vulcore or Talsia, it's important that you try not to leave patrol too much. This includes doing your best not to die (dying also means the bots that die lose some exp). Once in Vulcore, just keep wandering around avoiding everything you can (remember you can withdraw), unless it's a destroyed outpost (attack Scaven in that case), until you find a mercenary outpost.

Acquiring Mercenaries and alignment

Outposts are rather like a base for you to recharge/repair, hire additional units, and go on missions. For now, just go on a Banking mission. Do these until you reach 12 mercreds. While you do that don't attack anything or explore anywhere except the aforementioned Scaven at destroyed outposts, as well as destroying a squad if you get a distress call. This gives you 5 negative (NEG) alignment (align), which comes in handy soon.

Once you reach 12 mercreds, hire a Praetor (assault type), which greatly boosts your firepower. From now on start doing crystal missions, and search only caves that the Surveyor indicates contain crystals. Do these until you have another 10 mercreds, then hire a Centurion (assault) reaper, which drains the energy of enemy bots (all bots and shielding units rely on energy to fire weapons and keep modules/shields active; however Scaven, and later Federate, units don't need energy, except for shielders, because they're humanoid. If your Praetor or V get armour damage, then repair them ASAP at an outpost. Shields can be recharged, but once a bot loses all its armour it dies and is sent back to the WS - mercs just disappear.

Keep doing Crystal missions until you have another 12 mercreds, which you should use to hire an Orbie (support), which holds what many call 'utility' mods. These give you non-combat benefits, help you avoid dangers, and just general goodness :P Very important as they can save you a lot of time, especially the Anomaly Detector.

You can now do the Matriarch (Mat) hunting mission, which is the only way to get to the Scaven Territories. Don't worry - although these can be very hard and annoying you don't actually have to fight the Mats to stay in Scavenland. First thing to look for once there is a Scaven settlement. In the meantime, only investigate farms and demand tribute then attack workers if possible (for NEG align); don't fight any squads. In fact, try not to fight anything in scaven for your first patrol unless it's warriors defending a burial mound, or you have Exp x3 or higher active.

Another thing to avoid first time round are Scaven Forts, as they are the places where you find Matriarchs, and Towers, as they have Fort Walls which take a lot of time to break through. Not worth it until you have better bots with better weapons. At a Scaven Settlement, contact them and then help them. Click Yes, and keep going until you face off against their enemies. If it's the mission where the Scaven want you to attack a Mercenary Outpost, then be warned; you will lose 4 mercreds (2 for each battle you win against them) as well as gain 2 NEG align. This is a mixed blessing, as negative alignment is a good thing, but of course losing mercreds sucks. Take it or leave it, it's a good mission in my opinion.

Choose Mercs as your reward the first time, but as you can only get one set of mercs at a time, in future just get Exp, or continue patrol if you have Exp x10 already (the maximum). Experience and Cash Multipliers (multis) last for a limited time, although there are two special versions of Cash x10 that last quite a while (around 600 kc used); Greed and Enrichment. These are the fallen/angel reqards for getting negative or positive alignment. Believe me, getting negative is much quicker and better. That said, it's up to you :)

Now keep wandering around Scaven territories attacking burial mounds, checking out farms for terrified workers, and helping Scaven at settlements, until you generate -25 align. Destroying a Burial Mound usually gives you -5 align and 2-4 crowns (don't return them now or you will have to lose your Scaven mercs; however they are worth 10 mercreds each when returned to an Outpost), although if you find a Miniature Model, then you get nothing. If you get the option to Demand Tribute at a farm, do it and then Attack Workers to receive -2, and then -5 align. The -25 align is so that you can get Greed later on.

Leave Scavenland once you get at least -25 align (you can check by clicking Info during patrol), and wander around Vulcore Plains with the same set of rules as before, hoping for a Fallen Encounter. Fallen encounters are random, but they only appear in the Vulcore Plains, not Lava Fields or Scaven or anywhere else.

• As a side note, Battle Merit (BM) is determined by base values for bot types, plus equipped gear, shared mods and shields (calculated, or at least shown, differently on enemy squads). The higher your BM, the stronger enemies you will face, thus also increasing the amount of exp and cash you earn from battles. In addition, it is the primary factor in deciding your Azra payouts, along with serving as a trigger for many events or 'situation availabilities' within the game.

Fallen

Once you do meet them, their 'prices' are as follows: -25 align or higher and you get the options of Greed (you lose 20 mercreds, you lose 10 NEG align, and gain a special Cash x10 that is immune against storms for 600 or so kc used) and Azra coordinates (you lose 10 NEG align, and you are transported to the Azra's tournament in the Lava fields).

Azra's is a wonderful location where you can tear through the enemies and get cash prizes each round depending on your squad BM. It's pretty easy with mercs; even without them, you can usually get near to or finish the final round. However, you can only find it once per Lava Fields discovery. In general, buying Azra's coords through Fallen aren't worth it as Greed can net you a lot more cash, although it does take a bit longer.

At -50 alignment, you have the added option of getting Imps (3 orbiters with baron batteries and 3 or 4 Tc7 mods, which means they are fast and deal good damage with high chance of getting critical hits). That being said, they SUCK (for most situations). Not worth the 30 NEG align you lose for getting them at all. My reason for this is that in Vulcore, most enemies can be rendered inert through reapers and their energy drain, but are otherwise quite dangerous.

While Imps can deal decent damage, they can't really kill the harder ones like base or magma lords safely without draining them anyway. So try them out if you wish (or have excess NEG align), but the best part about getting NEG align is really Dark Union. You have this option at -100 align, and they are definitely worth it (don't get them without a plan or objective in mind though, or you'll waste the 70 NEG align they cost!

Although they have a curse attached, which starts off low (depends on your exp earned and your squad BM) and gets slightly higher each time you Continue (the curse takes off a bit of exp [but not bot exp] and cash), their firepower and module uplink is awesome. They also provide good shielding; I believe you get 1180. The total uplinked stats (what your bots receive from their Overseers [seers]) is 180% enhanced firerate (FR), 16% enhanced critical chance (crit), 80% energy saving (the maximum), and 50% enhanced accuracy (acc). This means that your weapons will fire 2.8 times the base amount, have additional 1/6 chance of critting, will only spend 1/5 of the energy they normally would, and 100% accuracy (only 3 weapons have lower than 50% base accuracy, and they are all high-end ones).

Awesome right? They also provide 2 Bulwarks [buls] (4 weapon slots, 2 mod slots, 2 shield slots, 650 armour, 5% enhanced accuracy and damage) with 4 heavy-damaging weapons each, and a Leviathan [levi] (EIGHT weapon slots, 2 mod and 2 shield slots, 3000 armour, slow though at only 15 speed) with less advanced weapons, but who cares when there's eight of them? :)

Greeeeeed

Anyways to get back on track ... while in Vulcore looking for Fallen to get Greed, you might get a screen where apparently some sort of ritual is going on. This is the Scaven Sun Ritual, where if you break up the party and kill everything then you receive 4 Mat crowns and a Sun Rune (see Rune Guide for more details). Now this is easy at low BMs like your first patrol, but gets very hard if you don't find them now and leave them till later. Like everything else though, it's optional (and randomly encountered) so play as you see fit. This is after all a -guide-.

Once you do find Fallen and get Greed, then focus on attacking Tag Droids, as they give good amounts of cash which is now multiplied by 10! In fact, try not to attack anything else, especially not Renegade Bases, as you still don't have the weapons to overcome deflection yet (see Misc. Tips section to see how deflection works).

If you see Angels, which are your enemy, then ask for forgiveness and tribute Magma segments to them so they won't 'rebirth' you back to WS (however, this option means your align is reset). Only do this if you already have Greed, but if you don't and are still looking for Fallen, then fight them, and then Withdraw All. You may lose a merc or two, but hopefully it won't be too serious. You can go back to an outpost, get rid of what's left of your Scaven mercs, and get them again at a settlement if you do lose any.

Don't explore Canyons/Plateau/Firewells while you have Greed, as they aren't worth the chance of finding a Tag Droid. Especially don't check out Consoles or Plateaus, because Consoles have a chance of giving you normal Cash Multis which causes you to lose all good effects of greed (long lasting anti-storm goodness), and with Plateaus it's automatic. Lava (to hopefully find Azra's) is optional; 1 run of Azra's is equal to around 2 Tag droids worth of cash while on Greed.

Keep it up till you have 500k cash/credits (if your Greed ends before this, then hang around and try to find Lava Fields, and fight Azra's then leave Lava and find them again, since you can only fight the tourney once per Lava, until you get 500k). The precise amount needed is actually a bit less, but better safe then sorry! You can also sell the stun lasers you've no doubt amassed to get closer to 500k - they're pretty much novelty 'weapons' that aren't all that fun :(

First Upgrading Session

If you have any crowns, go to an outpost and remove Scaven to hand them in, then leave patrol. Upgrade your workshop to Hydraulic, then buy 3 Reaper (reaps) bots. Outfit each of them with 2 EM Syphon weapons, 2 Baron shields, 1 Ion V2 reactor, and if you have the spare cash for them, then 1 Phase Mod each.

Your V should be at least AI 6 by now, so upgrade its Weap Tech to 63 (don't just keep clicking +5 forever, because later on that can give you trouble. Do it one by one if you aren't familiar with the levels, and only ever upgrade to what you need >for the immediate patrol<. Spending ups on random areas like Energy Distribution for a Reaper or Armour for a Valadin isn't so smart :P Just leave the upgrades there to be used later if you can't get to a specific level you need something to be.

Second Patrol (reapers to AI 5, to drain base commanders)

Now, add the reaps to your squad, and go back to Vulc. You can now take on Angels; just drain the Arch Angel until its reactor is at -2000, then withdraw your bots 1 at a time until they're all out (reaps last). You can also defeat the first level of Renegade Bases now, although not the Commanders. However it's best to leave them alone until you have mercs with you. Again, try not to attack anything until you reach a merc outpost.

Now, if you had mercreds left over from last patrol, then hire an Orbie, a Zodiac (defence), which is a Sentinel giving 540 shielding, and a Copius (assault), which is an Overseer (module-sharer) giving 14% enhanced accuracy, and 25% enhanced firerate. If you don't, then go do crystal missions with the one or two you can afford until you have enough to hire the rest (47 mercreds altogether).

Matriarchs

After that, go to Scaven and get Scaven mercs, just like before. You can now take on towers and forts in addition to the previous targets, and that means being able to earn mercreds from killing matriarchs. However be warned: Matriarchs come in 3 types – Matriarch, Dynast Matriarch, and Malevolent (Malev) Matriarch. The first has 200 armour, Dynast 700 and Malevs have 1600. They also have increasing amounts of amour deflection, from 2% to 10%. Now with only 1 Val and 3 Reaps, your BM will be pretty low (around 200k or lower), which means you will most likely get Matriarchs. It is still very possible to get the other two, and you need to withdraw from Malevs - Dynasts are fine as long as you can drain the shielder in the first turn

To kill them, first target the shielding unit(s) with the Reapers, or you can just click All Attack on the shielder. You should drain the shielder on the first turn, and be able to All Attack the Mat on the second turn and kill it, but if you don't drain the shielder first turn then stay on it until you do (get the reactor under 0). Then kill the Queen. Voila, a crown worth 10 mercreds.

Ok, now get at least 6 crowns (8+ is better), and then go to Vulc. From now, your main goal is to find as many Azra's as possible, which means don't go to plateau, and try not to fight too many things other than tag droids and bases (to hopefully find a cy-hangar for bot retrieval, or a console).

Second Upgrading Session

Once you have around 230k cash, and your reaps are at least at AI 5, then deposit any crowns at the first outpost you see, and leave patrol. Upgrade Weap Tech to 54 on your reaps, and reactor level to 10. Buy 2 Syphon Elites and an Ion Flux reactor for each, do not use any spare upgrade points. Your V won't need any outfitting this time unless it just got to AI 10, in which case upgrade Weap Tech to 142, and buy 2 HR100s (you'll need over 100k more cash for this).

Third Patrol (reaps to AI 8 to drain Magma lords, and more bots)

Now you can kill base commanders! Find an outpost, same deal as before, try not to attack anything that wont be useful like activating firewells which can give you coords to outpost. Hire a Copius, a Zod, and an Orbie. Go to Scaven, get the mercs, but this time don't attack forts, there's a much higher chance of getting Malevs :/

Now once you get your mercs, as long as you have -35 align or more, go to vulcore and get Greed. Kill as many Base Commanders as possible now as well as Angels, but remember not to access any consoles with Greed active - just leave if you get that option. Also, once your greed runs out, get it again, and same deal until it runs out. Now, you should have at least 1.4 mil cash and AI 8 reaps; if you don't, then stick around concentrating on going to Lava Fields and Plateau to get your cash up and preferably get Bulwark tech. Once you have the cash and AI, deposit any crowns you have and leave patrol.

NB: This, the previous, or the next patrol is a nice time to get Storm Shield if you haven't already - it costs 200 mercreds, and is a life-saving, essential mod for Vulcore, especially after this. Needs 15 mod tech to equip, so put it on a seer. You buy it from the Outpost in the 'For Sale' section - only need the one.

Third Upgrading Session

Upgrade to Powered and Tectronic workshop, then buy a Sentinel and an Overseer, or 2 Seers if you are going to get CySent, or don't mind missing a sent for now. Buy a Comwave Scanner, Security Countermand, and Anomaly Detector (the 'utility' mods). Put all those on 1 seer. If you're using 2 Seers, which I recommend, send the other one into training with an Argon Laser, Ion reactor and Baron shield. Get it to AI 1, then leave. Upgrade its mod uplink to 27%, and buy 3 Targeting Subroutines (Tsubs). If you're using a Sent and Seer, then put an Ion V2 on the sent, and send it on its own to the personal squad viewer.

Load up the Virtual Battle Simulator, send it to test radius damage on shield and energy targets. Auto the fight, and you lose 75 kc but it's now AI 2 (since updates, need to do this twice, so best to couple with the other seer). Much faster than sending it to training for Sents/Seers only. Anyways, put 9 upgrades into shield tech, and buy it 3 Baron II shields. Also, put the Motion Tracker on it; better mods can be put on val/reaps, eg Phase Mods on Reaps and Tsubs on Val.

As for your Reaps, upgrade their weapon tech to 78, and reactor to 15. Buy all 3 of them 2 Syphon Disruptors, and 1 Ion Flux Plus reactor. Put Phase Mods on them, or a Motion Tracker on the first one if you don't have a Sent. Leave the val as is, or if it's AI 10 then upgrade as aforementioned.

Fourth Patrol (getting align, mercreds, Nanomatic WS, pre-MC)

Now, go get to an outpost and hire a Copius and 2 Zodiacs. Head to Scaven, get mercs, and if u have a Scaven assault squad among them, you can kill Malevs safely! Once you have about 12 crowns, and at least -110 align, then go to Vulc and get Greed. As usual, go for Tag Droids, Angels, and Bases only. When using Greed, if it lasts around 700 kc then you can go to Plateau then before it runs out, and start getting Bulwark tech if not gotten already.

Once Greed finishes, aim for Lava Fields for the Azra's and to get Magma tech, as well as attacking Phoenix Fortresses and Magma Lords if you have the seer with 3 Tsubs. Mag Lords give 20 mercreds each, as well as 3 Magma segments. Awesome, but make sure you have 100% accuracy on your 3 Reaps, or else you might not fully drain it, and lose a bot or two.

Once you have at least 255 Mercreds worth of crowns and mercreds, -100 align minimum, have Bulwark tech if you plan on using Buls, have Magma tech or are close it, Reaps at AI 10 or higher, and at least 3.6 mil cash or so (4 mil preferably, get Greed again if you think it's necessary), then go to an Outpost, deposit any crowns, buy a Storm Shield if you still need one, and leave patrol.

Ahh MC's dont you love them. I assume you are going negative alignment here. Hopefully you have -100 align or more, if you don't, umm...stay in the patrol from before and farm scaven territories, hunt for align. Personally I get -170 align or close to it because I go on 2 Fallen (Dark Union) sulphur runs later.

Once done, upgrade workshop to Magnetic and then Nanomatic workshop.

Fourth Upgrading Session

Reapers first, since they're most important. I like to use 2 Immobilisers (immobs) on 1 reap and Immob/Pulse Streamer on 2 others. You can use 2 immobs each on all three, or 1 with a Streamer if you want, they all work.

Reap 1 - upgrade weap tech to 122, reactor to 20, and add 2 upgrades onto weight (payload). Buy 2 immobs, then Sub-Nuclear reactor and Phase Mod for it.

Reaps 2 and 3 - upgrade weap tech to 158, reactor stays at 15, and add 2 to weight. Buy a Syphon Immobiliser and a Pulse Streamer on each, make sure the Immob is equipped before the Streamer. Phase mod on each.

Now if you don't have a Sent already, buy one now. If you got it last patrol, then upgrade shield tech to 60, reactor to 10, and save the rest. Motion tracker on it still (for the rest of the game, really).

For Bul if you're using it, equip any baron lasers/auto cannons you may have in inventory, and send it to training. Leave when it hits AI 1. Upgrade weap tech to 22, and mod tech to 15. Put a Storm Shield and Comwave Scanner on it, then a Shield Disruptor and 3 Avengers. Best reactor you can afford or just a spare since any will do, and 2 Baron Reflective shields.

Personally I get another Seer instead of keeping the Val, because Vals suck (and you won't use it for Talsia). Nonetheless, if you want to keep it, put your upgrades into weapons. If you have 142 or higher, then equip 2 HR100 Rocket Packs. If you don't, that's OK, just leave the Weap Tech as is - doesn't really matter :P Get to 10 Mod Tech and put a Security Countermand and Anomaly Detector on it.

Seers - upgrade their mod tech to 40, buy 3 Mechanical Obviators each, and put the rest of the upgrades into mod uplink. If you got 1 Seer and 1 Sent last patrol, then buy another Seer or two and put Sec Counter, Anomaly Detector and Target Sub on one, and 3 Tsubs on the other. If you got 2 Seers last time, then just buy 1 more.

Now, take the squad into the Personal Squad Viewer, and take a look at the stats of any Reaper. The speed of it should be higher than 70.4 (28%). Over 70 means it will outspeed the CyRanger in the MCs, quite important. Now check the firerate. If it isn't over 20%, then keep that in mind.

Fifth Patrol (hammer [MC] time, Crusader tech, sulphur run)

With the squad set up, head into Vulc and find an outpost. Hire 2 Zods and an Adverse (defence) IF your firerate was 20% or more earlier, but hire a Copius instead of 1 Zodiac if it was less than 20%. Now, leave the outpost without doing anything, and wait for a Fallen Encounter to get Dark Union.

Don't attack anything. Don't explore anything that could lead to combat. If you meet Angels, just drain them carefully by manually selecting the targets (Angels first, then Arch Angels) by clicking on your Reap and selecting from the drop-down list, and then either withdrawing everything slowly, or spending a bit of kc but killing them all slowly.

Once you do get Fallen, do your best to find Lava Fields and Azra's tourney. Buy the coords from Fallen if you find them again first. Once you find it, attack the Master Controllers.

Master Controllers

Turn 1 - set the Reap with 2 Immobs on Tammygotchi, the Fallen Leviathan Baal (he has minor drain) on Opto, 1 Reap on Crimsons, and another on Hextra. If you are a 2-Reap user, then put 1 Reap on Tammy, and 1 on Crimsons.

Click continue. If any of Tammygotchi/Crimsons/Hextra aren't drained, put 1 of the Immob/Streamer Reaps on the undrained bot, the 2 Immob Reap on Opto, and 1 on stonehead 2. If the 3 bots you targeted the 1st turn were all drained past -1500, then set the last Reap to drain Fridge. Click continue.

From now it should be a cinch, set your Reaps to drain anything that moves (isn't drained), starting with j4f. Priority goes as follows: Tammygotchi, Opto, Crimsons, stonehead 2, Hextra, Royi, Fridge, j4f, Berkley, and Sacdaddy 1357 in descending order. Be careful until you win :)

Select your Cy-Reward: CySent (a pretty safe choice), CySeer (offers higher risk and higher reward), or CyMara (more for basing players), and leave Lava Fields.

Sulphur Pits

Look for an outpost, and go to take the Sulphur Pits mission when you get there. Basically, get Crusader tech now, which you do by Examining Tech at Renegade Workshops. Once you do and have gotten some exp along with a nice stash of mercreds, I advise you to go to outpost and buy Azra coords, go to tourney and rake up the cash, then leave patrol.

If you plan to patrol in Sulphur (or anywhere else) with Fallen for some time, it's a good idea to buy up bots or equipment whenever you get some major cash during the patrol. This allows you to 'save' 40% of the money you receive (gear/bots sell at 40% of base price) that would otherwise be lost to the Fallen curse. Obviously start by buying bots or gear that you will use in later patrols, but otherwise anything will do.

Please note that when you fight Enforcers, go straight back to outpost after killing the first squad, and then re-enter sulphur. They get a lot harder each time you fight them, but since they only appear after around 90 mercreds, the difficulty resets after you re-enter. Also, if your reaps aren't 90 speed or higher (64% enhanced speed), then try not to attack Annihilators (annis) - sooner or later you get screwed by crits (defines Cybots really :p).

From there on you can take another Fallen run if you have the align, or go straight to Talsia. See my Upgrades post for more information, or the other posts.

A typical Tals entry squad is 1 reap, 4 seers, 1 sent (including 1 cysent/cyseer), 2 crus (some take 1 crus, and 1 crus/bul/marauder). If you are taking a second sulph run with Fallen, which I think is best (at least until your crus and cyseer/cysent are AI 10), then that is the squad you should take - just don't attack annis at all with only 1 reap and try to keep your bm under 1.5 mil.

TL; DR

Start with a Valadin.

Get cash to buy Hydraulic and 3 Reapers plus outfits (500k).

Level them up to be able to take on base commanders/magma lords to farm mercreds (AI 5/8 for Syphon Elites/Disruptors).  [Optional]

Earn mercreds and align for Storm Shield, mercenaries and Greed, Dark Union.

Earn Cash (mostly with greed, some with Azra's tourneys) for all the workshops and the bots plus gear to fill your squad with.

End up with a squad of 8 ideally/commonly seen as: 3 AI 10 reapers, 3 seers, 1 sent/another seer, 1 bulwark/val/crusader/marauder.

Have Storm Shield, -100 to -170 alignment, 55 mercreds or more, plus utility mods.

Fight MCs after getting mercs and then Dark Union, then get crusader tech, exp and some mercreds for next sulph run/dax pods in sulphur.

Do another sulph run with prospective Tals squad to prep them for battle.

FAQ and Useful Facts

Q. It says Premium account required to join a clan, or to upgrade my workshop past hydraulic! (Even though I entered a code wtf?)

A. That's a bug that all new accounts (since a couple months ago I think) are affected by, simply pm or send a message to an admin (Griswald / Agent Smith / Ehlana) and they will fix it for you when they get it.

Q. Okay I'm at max trp and have AMFDs, what do I do now?

A. For missions, only do mining and blockade (abort/change the rest), because they give the best mrp/kc value. On the way to those missions, only attack enemies that definitely give you mrp (bunkers, patrols [not infantry], firebases) and dessies/BCs. For targeting, set your crus on highest mod uplink, and levi on highest shield projector, and equip syphons on all your seers, with rayden on cyseer (highest shield proj for all of them). That way you can auto everything.

Q. I can't join a clan for some reason, it just says Details updated, or nothing happens =/

A. If it says Details updated, that's because you pressed the enter button instead of clicking the join button. Pressing enter in account tools just updates login info, not clan. If nothing happens, then it's because not all your squads are in your workshop (you can't join or leave a clan while you have any bots in patrol). The only other reasons why you may not be able to join a clan is you have entered incorrect clan name / password, or if it's full (15 members), but there will be a message that says so if that is the case.

Q. How does deflection work?

A. Deflection is the nullification of damage to a certain percentage, and can come in three forms - shield, armour, and drain. They all work the same way, and there is no theoretical set limit to the amount of deflection you have.

To show how it works, I'll use an example: if you have a total of 1k shielding including projected shields, and have 10% shield deflection, you will completely deflect 100 shield damage the first time you are hit by the enemy. It is re-calculated each time a shot is fired, and not each turn.

Q. I'm trying to say something in cycom, but the system tells me it's inappropriate even when it's not!

A. The filter is a little pedantic - if you use 2 words such as "finish it" then it will see the 'sh it' bit and stop that message getting through. Other words such as 'd*k' and 'f*k' also won't make it through even if they are tagged onto the beginnings/ends of other words.

Q. How do Sulphur exp bonuses work?

A. If you have less than 20 mil exp, then you will receive a bonus of 1250 exp for each bot in your squad each time you defeat an enemy squad in patrol. If you have more than 20 mil exp, this drops to 500 bonus altogether. These bonuses are not affected by exp multis. Also, when battling renegade workshops you receive 2k exp bonus, which is affected by exp multis.

Q. Which Cy-Chassis do I get?

A. Cyseer, Cysent, or Cymara? The first two are for people who want to rank, and Cymara is for basing purposes. It's a tossup between the first two, and comes down to personal preference. Cyseer is a little harder to use than Cysent, because of the mods involved. Although Cysent allows you to quickly have a high amount of shielding, which would make your squad safer, Cyseer allows you to have a much higher firerate early on. This means you can drain or kill your enemies faster, which in turn makes your squad safe too.

Q. Can I do MCs with only 2 reaps?

A. Yes - and they can be the same AI as normal 3 reap setup. The only difference is that you have 1 less reap with immob/pulse, and if possible, put immobs on your val/bul. If not, then dw you should still be fine. Targeting goes like this - 2 immob reap on tammy first round, immob/pulse reap on crims, baal on tammy, then 2nd round 2 immob reap on opto, immob/pulse on stonehead 2 (if he's drained already then move on to hextra), 3rd round just keep the ones above drained, then target Fridge, j4f, Royi, and win.

Q. Why aren't I getting any cash/exp from my clan?

A. Only once you reach 10k kc used then you can receive/contribute exp/cash from/to your clan. Also, for base attacking, you will need to contribute 10k exp before you can attack.

Q. I can't find bulwark/magma squads!

A. You meet bulwarks at 100k bm on the plateau, but beware - they have drain deflection, so you might want to use reaps with syphons better than EMs. Magma squads are at 250k bm, and because many of them have 5k reactor, having reapers with syph elite or better is recommended (as well as outpost and scaven mercs ofc).

Q. How does Guerrilla align work?

A. You get guerrilla align by either helping them in a battle, releasing them from compounds, or doing missions for them. Those give 5, 3, and depending on the mission, 2 or 5 align (medical and 10 fed squads). You can't get missions before 10 align, and after that, 25 align you become friends, and you may get 1 exp chip per mission in a ruins from them, 50 align for x2, 100 for x3, and 200 align for x4. At 300 align (299 really coz of a bug), you could receive a Pneumatron reactor from them.
PLEASE NOTE: There is no point whatsoever getting negative guerrilla align unless it is a side effect of getting evil align for use back in vulc.

Q. How do I get riot guns/oblits from annis?

A. You need over 10 mil bm to start having a small chance of oblits, and 15 mil for almost certain.

Q. What are the Talsian Battle Awards?

A. Order of Merit - Received at 800 trp, you get 500 accolades reward.
Crimsons Cross - Received at 1600 trp, you get Radial Laser technology as reward.
Order of the Regiment - Received at 3200 trp, you get 1 Leviathan as reward.
Star of Talsia - Received after 50 warship victories, you get 1 Pneumatron as reward.
CyCorps Commendation - Received at 75 missions at 75% success rate, you get access to Y-Link module (you buy it, but don't it sucks).
Union of Service - Received at 100 missions regardless of success rate, you get 1 Rayden Device.
Order of the CyLegion - Received at 150 missions at 90% success rate, you get access to Y-Link MkII module (you buy it, but don't it sucks).
Master of Talsia - Received at 200 missions at 80% success rate, you get access to Advanced Master Fire Director modules (you buy them, because they rock).

Q. I have a levi, now what do I get rid of?

A. Kick out either your bul (or crus if you have 2) or reaper. Both work, but I find that without the availability of spread drain on your own reap, it's tough going. If you do lose the reaper, then hire 1-3 bas per mission, just see how you go. If you lose the bul/crus, then try not to fight anything at all, because with your 1 spt oblit crus killing will be slow. Leave when your levi is about AI 10 or more, that's when it starts to get useful.

Useful fact: Fallen Dark Union, Fallen Imps, Angels, and Lucky 7 Eclipse all count as mercs, and because you can't get more than 3 mercs at 1 time from an outpost, it is advisable to get your outpost mercs before any of the above.

Useful fact: Energy saving is capped at 80%, and uplink rate for (cy)seers is capped at 100%. Accuracy is capped at 100% plus whatever manually enhanced accuracy on the bot. The effect of critical hits is capped at 100%, although the display is not.

Useful fact: 1 spt oblit/rav/rayden is 186% enhanced fr, 2 spt is 472%, and 3 spt is 758%.

Useful facts: For a crus to be fully developed (rav, pyro, 2 amfds, and enough weight) it needs to be AI 30.

For reap (rayden/mag, pyro, tsub/anom detector, and weight) it needs to be AI 28.

For a sent (3 anamorphs, pneu (but enough tech for mag), motion, enough weight, 29% shield proj) it needs to be AI 21. From then on it's all shield proj.

For Cysent (4 anas, pneu (but enough tech for mag), motion, enough weight, 50% shield proj) it needs to be AI 18.

For a seer (3 amfds, 100% uplink, pyro, enough weight) it needs to be AI 42.

For Cyseer (4 amfds, 100% uplink, pyro, enough weight) it needs to be AI 30 (with rayden, AI 47).

For levi (8 storm weapons/oblits, pyro, 2 amfds, enough weight) it needs to be AI 44.

Please add suggestions here, whether you know the answer or not, as long as it's something people should know but might not.

Top Non-Contrib

>Archiving previous 26/5/08 post here<

Each set I will give the top ranking non-contrib player a reward (you know what it is, 4-letter word that begins with 'c' but I can't say it coz it may not be allowed =/), with the conditions; they are not playing any contrib accts that set; the account was not created within the last set (unless you are also known as another non-con); and they aren't horribly horribly annoying. Also, I will take into acct your TRP status as well, so anyone who just sulphs all set won't be considered :p

Just send a screenshot (or link to one) that shows your trp, exp, and acct name on or around the last day of the set to , but only if you are somewhat close to the top couple of non-cons...I don't want spam from every player under rank 50 :P. If it's close, then more than 1 player wins, so happy clicking!


darkshadow21 wins for the set ending 26rd May (passed on to ThisIsSkips)

jc1 wins for the set ending 17th June

aNy oNE wins for the set ending 8th July

Basing tips

I'll start with the type of bots that are best for attacking defending bases, and what to upgrade on them.

1. Bulwark: very common bot in 150k bases. Attacking upgrades - weap tech to 214, reactor to 30, mod to 40, shield to 15, enhanced accuracy to 35 (if you spend the time/effort, spend as much upgrades as you can on speed). A bul is usually used for attacking a base where the defending bot holds a shield damage weap and a fireblade, usually a bul/cymara. Vary the amount of shields to use on your bul according to the shield damage weap on the defending bot. Take into account enhanced damage from bots. eg. if the defending bot has a shield displacer weapon and its a bul, then it will do 105% of 750 shield damage per shot. It will also do 105% of 15 shield damage x2 from the fireblade, which is 780 shield damage altogether per turn. Because buls have 20% extra shield proj, this means that if you use a baron impulse and a baron reflective shield you get a total of 120% x 700 shield = 840 shielding. 840 shielding 780 shield damage, so you know you'll survive 1 turn if you dont get critted. Now the defender also has a fireblade, so 105% of 350 armour damage means it'll do 367 armour damage to your bot x2. A normal bul only has 650 armour though, so what do we do? Not increase armour, that takes up too much bm (1250 every 25 hp). Instead, use armour deflection mods, i.e. mag accs or mech obvs. In this example, we have enough bm to use: baron impulse and reflective shields, heavy shield displacer and shard cannon (if the defender doesn't have any shields, use shield displacer and shatter cannon), mech obv and mag acc, bionuke reactor. A mech obv and a mag acc give 24% armour def and 45 speed, the firerate is negligible. This means you will deflect 24% of 650 hp until you get damaged, and then 24% of w/e hp is left after each shot from the enemy thereafter.

A fireblade fires 2 shots, so instead of doing 367 per shot, it will do (367 - 156 = 211) damage the first shot, and (367 - (24% x (650-211) = 262) armour damage the 2nd. 211 + 262 = 473 armour damage to your bot total, so you are assured another turn you can survive. Because a shard cannon/shatter cannon fires on the 3rd turn, you need to survive 2 turns AND be faster than the defender to hit it. The 2 turns you need are provided by the shielding and armour def ^^, and as the mods also give you 45% speed, it is enough to outspeed most enemy bots in a 150k base. So, when you attack, simply all attack the defender and continue until you win :).

Defending upgrades - 147 weap tech, 50 reactor, 40 mod, preferably 35% enhanced accuracy, basic shield, extra upgrades to be put onto crit or speed as you see fit. Typical bul defences are: a) shield displacer, fireblade, quantum syncron, 2 mag accs, and 2 baron reflective shields. The 2 mag accs means it will outspeed a normal reaper and a cymara with mech obv (common attacking bots for this setup). b) heavy shield displacer and fireblade, 2 tsubs, quantum syncron. This is for low AI defences, where you don't need any accuracy upgrades. The point is that it will kill most attacking bots in 1 shot, but is slow and has no shields, opening up vulnerabilties. c) heavy shield disruptor, fireblade, 2 mech obvs, baron reflective, and quantum syncron. This bot usually has speed upgraded to 42, so it will outspeed rangers because it has 2 mech obvs (brings it to 71.4 speed), it also means it will evade much more often, has more armour deflection so it can survive more attacks, but it does less comparatively less shield damage, pick on that.

2. Crusader: Slow, but powerful. Remedy that by upgrading its natural speed :). Rarely used for attacking in 150k bases, so I'll go straight to defending...Defending upgrades: 87 weapon tech, 15 mod tech, 50 reactor tech, 5 enhanced acc, speed upgrades VERY recommended. Very basic, either use a baron battery or a phoenix laser, quantum syncron, 2 mag accs/mag acc and tsub. The idea is that you will kill 1 bot per turn, and you most likely will. However, there are simply too many ways to kill this setup if its slow, so unless your crus is fast ( I would say at least 40) then forget it.

3. Reaper: Ooo I love it, crappy for defending unless your just looking to annoy, but very useful in attacking. Attacking upgrades - 25% enhanced accuracy, 122 weap tech, 15 shield tech, 10 mod tech, 30 reactor tech, extra upgrades on crit can be very useful. For most defending bots that are slower than a reap and are using any reactor other than pneumatron, and does less than 1k shield damage, this setup will work just fine: bionuke reactor, shatter cannon, syphon immobiliser, tsub, 2 baron II shields. The idea is to have enough shielding to last 2 turns, and finish draining the enemy reactor on the 3rd. It works because reaper is fast, and therefore outspeeds most defending bots; also there is a good chance it will evade w/e shield damage weapon there is, giving it an extra turn to drain the enemy.

4. Ranger: Fast and critty and enhanced damage, why does it suck then? It cant defend, has low hp, only 1 mod slot and weap slot :( (low armour bots are easily taken out). Attacking upgrades - 1 ranger 214 weap tech and another 84 weap tech, get as many pairs as possible, 5 reactor tech, 10 mod tech, any spare upgrades, put into crit! yeah! 1st ranger, put on shield neut, tsub, ion v2, and increase accuracy by 10. 2nd ranger, put on tsub, baron batt, and ion v2. This squad setup is for killing shields, basically attack a shield and the rangers will damage it each time if your squad is faster than the defender (mostly is). It usually takes 3 hits to completely destroy a shield, however if the ranger with baron batt crits, then it takes it out in 1 shot, thats why crit is nice =).

5. Cymara: Only for serious basers who don't care about getting rank, but its very good all around. Attacking upgrades - 142 weap tech, 30 reactor tech, 40 mod tech, 35 enhanced accuracy, armour upgrade to 1325 optional but recommended. Now for most squads with shield weap and fireblade and low crit, cymara is pretty good for it. Use a shield displacer and shatter cannon if the defender has no shields, or a heavy shield displacer and shard cannon for squads that have higher shields, or if you want to take out the shield defences first; a mech obv and bionuke reactor goes along with the territory.

6. Different bots mixed: Reaper and orbiter is a good example: against defenders that can only kill 1 of your bots per turn, eg. shield weap + fireblade on bul/cymara, baron batt/plaser on crus, AND have no shields of their own, then put a pulse beam, tsub, and a baron shield on a reap, and a shard cannon, 3 mag accs, tsub, and a baron shield on orbie. Basically, you drain the shields first turn with reap, and if it dies it doesn't matter because with 3 mag accs that give 30% enhanced firerate, a shard cannon will fire @ 0.52 spt (pretty much every 2 turns), so you can hit the crus/bul, usually only damaging it though because of armour deflection in a base. That just means you kill it 2nd time round :).

Ok here are some things you have to take into account when basing: DEFLECTION IS PARAMOUNT IN EVERYTHING. A calculator is recommended to work out any percentages you can't figure out in your head straight off :P. Walls in 150k bases give 25% drain and shield deflection, 75% armour deflection, and 10% speed. Buls have 5% enhanced damage, maras 10%, cymara 15%, rangers 20%. These may seem small but they can make a big difference in many situations. DEFLECTION. If you don't know how it works, ask in cycom or check the val start. For a base, put in 40 cns, build a wall and 2 deflection shields (600 shielding each). Do that AND put in your defence squads within 9 minutes 59 seconds of it being built. Be creative, don't just do everything I say to the letter; they work but there's plenty of different circumstances.

Think of other ways to break a base using the stats of defenders, because there are so many, in fact as of yet there's no unbreakable base, despite what some nitwits say *coughindictcough*

Have fun

What runes are for

Aim: To acquire the Scaven shield SxD8.

Equipment: Orbiter, Anomaly detector, Security Countermand, Scaven mercenaries, ability to defeat Matriarchs.

Method: First 4 steps may be taken in any order you wish.

1-Fiery/Fire rune: May be found in Magma labs when opened with a Security Countermand, as well as at the bottom of firewells.

2-Solar/Sun rune: Found after defeating the Sun Ritual on the Vulcore Plains. Must have Scaven mercenaries with you; when a warrior tells you there is a ritual going on check it out and fight your way to the Matriarch(s) to win the Solar rune and 4 Crowns. Best done at a low bm to ensure you only have 1 Matriarch as an adversary.

3-Icy/Ice rune: Found in Scaven Settlements after defeating the Ice Queen. Anomaly Detector is needed to show you which Settlement is ruled by an Ice Queen (shows up as blue writing), and once you defeat it you win the Icy rune and 1 Crown. The Ice Queen will have 200 armour, and you can only fight it once.

4-Lunar/Moon Rune: May be found in Sink Holes on the Vulcore Plateau. An Orbiter and an Anomaly Detector is needed for this step. The Lunar rune only appears in Sink Holes that have been discovered by an Anomaly Detector, and that has been booby-trapped to be defused by an Orbiter.

5-Equip at least 1 of each rune onto 1 or more of your squad bots, and go to Scaven Territory. When you arrive at a Scaven Ziggurat, open it to acquire the shield SxD8. It will arrive in your inventory.

Conclusion: Wow so THAT's what a Fiery rune is for............

Just a reminder

All copyrights reserved © 2008 R.C

Upgrading guide

All these upgrades are in chronological order. Use as a guide only.

Crusader: upgrade mod tech to 15 first (use Comwave and Anom), then weapons all the way to 298. (use HRX) then reactor to 30. At AI 20, get weapons to 379, reactor to 56. If your seers cannot give you 186% extra firerate by the time you get Obliterator, then upgrade mods to 66, and use 1 or 2 Weapon Amplifiers as needed. If you dont need wamps, then upgrade mods to 30, and use 2 Tc7. From now on, upgrade mods to 102, so you can use 2 Master Fire Directors, and then weaps to 676 to use Ravager. After that, payload to 920, then reactor to 60 for Tribolt Hydron, then payload to 960, then reactor till 102 for Mag Pyro. Once you get AMFDs, then 110 mod.

Reaper: weaps to 32, then reactor to 10. Weaps to 78, reactor to 15, {weaps to 122, reactor to 20, payload to 241} OR {weaps to 158, payload to 241}, weaps to 226, mod to 10, reactor to 20, payload to 321 if you want to use Immob+Magnatron+Tsub, and to 385 for 2 Magnatron, Tsub, SubNuke. After that, reactor to 56 for Magmatic, payload to 425. After that, payload to 465, weap to 308, use Rayden+Magnatron. Or, if you can afford the upgrades to do this before Rayden, then upgrade payload to 545, reactor to 60, use Tribolt Hydron, then reactor to 102, payload to 625. if you're still using Reap after that, then start upping mods to w/e you want, and payload to fit.

Sentinel: upgrade shields to 60, then reactor to 10. Shields to 81, reactor to 15. Shields to 152. (I'm assuming armour def strat during pre-plasma period and you are saving the ups) then shields to 250, reactor to 30, payload to 696. Reactor to 46 for Hydron MkII , payload to 720, then payload to 766, for Pneu, Motion, 3 Anamorphs. After that, projection all the way

Bulwark: mods to 15, weaps to 21. after that, weaps to 182. after that, weaps to 319, reactor to 56, use shield neut, hrx, phalanx, railgun, magmatic reactor, 2 mag accs (delta). once you have 15 more upgrades after this, upgrade to 720 payload, and switch the phalanx for another hrx(alpha). chuck it away once you get levi!

Leviathan: mods to 15, then weaps all the way to 122. Use 4 Punishers/Thors, 2 Shatter Cannons, 1 Immob, 1 Mines weapon for blockades. Then reactor to 30, weaps to 182. Use 6 Thermal Dawns if you have them, otherwise just upgrade the Thors to Good Samaritans. Reactor to 56, weaps to 298. Use 2 Shield Neuts, 2 HRX, 1 Railgun, 2 Immobs, 1 Mines. Upgrade weaps to 379, and swap a Shield Neut for Oblit. Once you get Storm tech, and upgrade payload enough to fit the new weaps, use 2 Storm Bringers, 2 Oblits, 2 Hail Bringers, and 2 Immobs. Use HRX instead of Oblits/Hail Bringers until you can fit the payload. After that, reactor to 60, then mods to 66. Then to 102 for both mods and reactor. Unless you have 2 Pneu, then keep reactor at 56. If you like, upgrade reactor to 102 and payload to firt, but not necessary.

Seers are very hard to plan for, because everyone has a different amount of seers, or different AI's. Basically, aim for a certain amount of fr/shield def that will allow you to do something, i.e. 200% fr for 3 spt, and then try to not go over too much.

Another important thing to know is not to spend upgrades 5 at a time. If you want to up your reactor to 5, then add 4, not 5 - that way you save upgrades and you can use them ONLY when you will actually be making use of them.

Armour deflection guide in Talsia

Ok here's why you should use armour rather than shield deflection on delta and maybe early alpha:
Pros of armour def
- lower bm, so easier enemies
-gives a lot of speed as well, so your bots can evade more and even your crus can outspeed things that normally a bul would be slower than
-there are a lot more enemies that can break through shield def than those that can break through high armour deflection
-its cheaper
-less energy use on seers, which means you save on reactor upgrades (VERY important)

Now you're convinced, this is what you should have for armour def.

4 (cy)seer/s, 1 reap, 1 crus, another crus/bul, (cy)sent

Minimum requirements: seers should be no lower than AI 12. reap at least AI 13, crus and cy at least AI 10, doesn't matter for sent in delta but its best to get it as high as possible in sulph b4 leaving

Adequate: AI 15 seers, cy + crus @ AI 10, reap @ AI 15, sent @ AI 14/15

Recommended: cyseer + crus @ AI 14, at least 2 seers @ AI 17, at least another @ AI 16, bul @ AI 15, reap @ AI 16

What the uplinked stats of your squad should be to survive: 60% is minimum armour deflection, 80% is adequate, 100% recommended, 34% energy saving is recommended. For accuracy, get the exact or just above exact amount off accuracy needed for all your weapons to be 100% accurate. Firerate, well if you do minimum 60% or adequate 80% armour def, then you should have 50% firerate +. Thats enough for under 2mil bm. For those who get recommended 100% armour def and cyseer, then 100% fr is also attainable.

Mods to use on the seers (minimum and adequate versions): Really simple this part - use 2 tc7 and a flux on 1 seer, (if you're doing minimum then put them on cyseer, or if you dont use one, then use 3 tc7 spread on 3 seers). For the rest of the mods, just use mech obvs :) After that go to Personal Squad Viewer and check your bots stats. If you find the seers are selfdraining quite heavily (over 25 per turn) or you dont have enough accuracy, then swap some mech obvs.

Before doing this, upgrade all the seers' mod tech to 40, and spend the rest on uplink but only if you can reach one of these numbers: 50%, 60%, 67%, 70%, 75%, 80%. Not something in between, don't waste upgrades when not needed.Do NOT upgrade reactor at this point. It won't stop you from getting drained by things that you dont kill or drain straight off, but unless you spend a lot of upgrades getting to 30 or higher reactor level...you'll still be drained. Plus, your seers getting drained doesn't matter so much as long as you have a reap. By the time they drain you they should be neutralised really. Anyways. If you use cyseer, then just upgrade uplink to anything up to 80%, and save the rest for when you get plasma.

Mods for players doing recommended 100%: for the 2 AI 17 seers, upgrade mods to 40%, uplink to 70% (3 mech obvs each). For the AI 16/17 seer with 2 tc7 and flux, upgrade to 67/68% uplink and 30/40 mod doesnt matter. For AI 13+ cyseer, upgrade mod tech to 67, uplink to 84%, or as high as you can. Put on 1 weapons amplifier and 3 mech obvs. This gives you over 100% armour deflection, over 100% firerate, 33/34% energy saving, will bring you crus to over 70 speed (it'll outspeed EVERYTHING in delta, which means no more dying to lieuts and shocks in freighter mission/ruins. It'll also outspeed crash troopers in alpha) and give you 40% accuracy, which is exactly what you should need.

For AI 16+ reap, upgrade weaps to 226, mod to 10, reactor to 20, payload to 325. Use 1 immob 1 magnatron, subnuke and tsub.

For bul, upgrade weaps to 319, reactor to 56, mod to 15, payload to 640. Use shield neut, hrx, phalanx, railgun, 2 mag accs (with 103% fr or higher from seers and these 2 mag accs, it means your railgun will fire on the last 2 turns out of every 3, very useful for tanks), and mag reactor.

For crus, up weaps to 298, mods to 15, reactor to 56 (30 if you cant manage 56), use hrx, comwave, anomaly, and bionuke/mag reactor.

For sent, just use a motion and an ion reactor. Don't need to use upgrades until you get plasma, in which case see the Mini-guide for bot upgrades on this board.

Btw for the minimum and adequate versions of bot upgrades, just use downgraded versions of recommended, i.e. use immob + pulse on reap, heavy shield displacer 2 hr100 shatter on bul, etc etc.

If you need specific advice on anything just ask :) And don't hesitate to msg/pm nice players for help :P

Units to watch out for (kill/drain asap):

Siege blaster, battering squad, ram squad-they can take out a bot of yours in 1 hit (only the low hp ones tho, such as reap/seer) by themselves, these will fire on 2nd turn. However, if there is a lieutenant/corporal/sergeant in their squad then they will fire 1st turn. Usually, they will also have a heavy shield projector sometimes...this means you might not be able to kill them 1st turn (if you are doing recommended version, then a bul will kill a siege blaster 1st turn if theres only 1 shielder). So drain them with your reap...this is what radius drain is for.

Grenadiers/Sappers: these have weapons called satchel charges. These weapons deal a lot of armour damage, but luckily, only fire every 0.2 turns I think. With a lieutenant, they will fire every 0.35 turns, so not too dangerous but still watch and make sure you target these in time.
Lieutenant: Now these dont deal much damage of their own...but they give considerable firerate, deflection and crit to other enemies, so if theres nothing more important than heavy infantry, target the lieut.

Sabretooth/Jaguar/Panther: The turret equivalent of siege blasters etc. same principle applies with the mod-uplinkers (lieuts/corps/sarges) and (command tower), they will fire 2nd turn normally but 1st turn with a command tower. These however are harder to drain and kill. Your best bet is to put the reap with immob and mag on the sabretooth, and crus with hrx on any other like it. (If you just click continue, your bots will most likely attack disruptor rocket launchers which only do shield damage).

Light tanks: These can deal 300 armour per hit. With recommended, you wont get touched. But for anything lower, you'll take some damage if they aren't drained or killed, so watch out.
(Main) battle tanks: these can deal 500 armour damage on 2nd turn, which is quite a lot.They are also harder to kill and their armour weap doesn't require energy, so draining is of no use. Kill it with hrx asap.

C6II Enertron: these drain your bots, and if you aren't careful, you might end up with both bul and crus drained, leaving you very vulnerable. Kill them with bul/crus asap unless there are battle tanks.
Cruiser tanks: these can do 800 armour or so on 2nd turn...but they are easy to drain )only 1000 reactor). Not much of a problem.
Assault tanks: these deal same as cruiser on 2nd turn, but their reactor is much higher (10k) so you are better off killing these.

Additional tips: Don't hire mercs you dont need them (the ones you can get for cash are good though)
-don't put any shields on any of your bots, less bm
-keep in mind you have radius drain and damage with reap and crus and bul...2 hits from an hrx on crus will kill most tanks so always target the unit that will provide most kills of the most danger
-invest in some repair kits (go to services, accolade exchanger, equipment) they are only 1 acc each, and can be very very useful at times.

Tals tips including TRAF guide

It's rather hard doing a Tals guide, coz theres just so many things...things to remember: try not to attack anything unless it gives a reward other than normal cash/exp from a battle; the most important thing in tals is how you setup your seers. It's very hard to have a certain setup at a particular time because u leave/enter patrol so many times, and you're pretty much certain to die every now and then, so everyone's seers will have various different levels. Its best to work out what stats you will get by upgrading so and so tech/uplink on your seers and putting on so and so mods on paper or a text document, and then using the best one. If u need any help with it just ask :)

TRP (talsian rank points) and accolades are the next most important...until u get to around 15k trp, then mrp (mission reward points) are the most important :P The most you will get out of higher TRP is 7500 exp per MRP, at 18k TRP.

The faster u get the more trp in the beginning, the more exp you will get overall. In case you didn't already know, your trp is the main factor in determining the amount of exp and cash you get from mrp, up to 18k. BM is also a factor, up to 14 mil. In the end, the exp you earn from cashing in mrp will far exceed anything you earn from normal battles, even with x10 exp chips.

Only hire mercs when you need them, and generally that's ONLY in Alpha sector. If you die too much without using mercs, think about getting better AI for your bots or re-outfitting mods, or lowering BM.

Other stuff: you can enter Alpha sector @ 750 trp; Plasma and Storm techs both cost 2250 accs each, Oblits are 1k. I find it best to buy Plasma first, then 1 Oblit, then get Storm; levi is @ 3200 trp, you get Rayden when u do 100 missions regardless of success rate, you get Pneumatron when you kill 50 warships or have 299 guerrila align, you get the option to buy advanced master fire director mods when u do 200 missions with a minimum of 80% success.

Don't change a mission when it's a cruiser mission unless you're past 18k trp, it's pretty much the best for trp. Don't do free patrol its not very good, unless u need some quick accs/mrp. Same for chassis, except you get no choice :(

Important part of Tals are TRAFS. Ok this is how trafs go, 1st level is 2 uplink commands, a bunch of rhinos and 2 FGSI turrets. Uplink commands project 9k shield each, and very high shield and armour deflection. The rhinos do 5k damage, and 15k with crits (not too common so dw about it) and the FGSI turrets do shield damage and DRAIN. Basically, they crit quite a bit, and can drain your bots quite easily. What u do is drain both uplink commands first, then kill them. Then you kill the rhinos, because the fgsi turrets are unhittable-they stop operating when u kill the uplink commands.

Stage 2: bigger drain turrets that you can hit, reinforced wall, 2 uplinks (3 with much higher bm, say over 14 mil), rhinos again. The drain turrets crit quite a bit, everything else is easy. HOWEVER, the reinforced wall gives a lot of drain deflection, so u cant drain the SR180 turrets or the uplink commands until you kill the wall, not just drain it. So, all attack the wall first, until it's dead, then drain the uplink commands and then kill the SR180 turrets, drain then kill the rest. Note: it's really hard to kill the reinforced wall if u dont have a high-critting or multi-hitting oblit on crus. You need that to break enemy deflection and hurt them.

Stage 3: same as last time, except you get tanks against you. Don't worry about them, they're not too much extra trouble so just do the same as last round.

Last round: Don't stop or recover unless your reap/sent is drained here...coz if u do you'll have to fight another lot of the same as last round. TG time... OK the True Guard and manium firespray units do 6k damage with crits, and they crit a lot. Storm Bringer tanks deal 10500 with crits, but they dont crit as much. Still, they're most dangerous if you can deflect 6k no prob aftter the drain turrets. There's also SR180 turrets here, so watch getting drained. Cortex tanks are TG version of seers, they give deflection and firerate and lots of it.

First thing, put your reap on the true guard shielding 1, and another drain bot on tg shielding 2 (levi with 2 immobs or more, or a basilisk). You get 3 TG shieldings sometimes with high bm (14 mil or so +), so if you want to do traf then, hire another basilisk, or have Rayden on reap so you can target in between 2 TG shields. Ok, once you've set bots to drain each shield, continue and they should be drained. If they aren't, set reap(s) onto the one(s) that isn't/aren't. after they're drained, set your crus onto a target where it will kill the most storm bringer tanks in 1 shot. After that, just keep the tg shielders drained and kill the SR180 turrets and true guard units asap. Manium firesprays you can leave for 2nd last, the shields themselves last.

You can hire remus (9 shield def and 11 drain def) or eclipse (1600 shielding) or basilisk (1800 drain x 2) to help you with trafs.

My recommendation is you be able to deflect 10k shield damage or more (including mercs), have oblit on crus with more than 20% crit, and have 75% drain deflection or more on your sent, and preferably have pneu on it too.

Happy traf hunting :)

Val Start

I realise this is a massive wall of text, so there is a TL;DR at the end for the more adventurous types. Ctrl+F if you need specifics.

This strat is for Valadin (henceforth known as V) users. Which should be everyone, because rangers have now become obsolete when not basing. It is a more or less a 'vanilla' strategy that should get you to Talsia at around 15k kc used. Feel free to simply use this for some information, or to change things up at certain points; this strat is fundamental and fairly flexible in nature.

Setting Up

To begin with, go to the Buy New Bot link in the Workshop (WS) page. (Here you can also sell gear/bots, manage squads, and check their outfitted gear). Click on V, and give it a name. Buy 1 Argon Laser weapon, and 1 Ion V2 reactor, and then click on Manage Squads in the WS. (If you buy a weapon/reactor/shield/module and your bot has an empty slot for it, then it will automatically equip itself. However, at other times you will need to equip them manually by clicking on them.)

Next, create a new squad, and then assign your new bot to it. Scroll down and next to “Withdraw When:” select “Never Withdraw (fight to the death).” This is something players often forget to set, and can lead to bots leaving battle as soon as they have low armour just when it's vital for them to stay.

Click on Take squad into battle>Patrol Outlands>CCU Training Deck. If you are a new player then I suggest you enter training; however if you know how to play then enter the Combat Sim, and fight general enemies until your V reaches AI 1. Withdraw if the enemy squad has a sentinel (snail-like bot that shares its shields) in it.

Once it reaches AI 1, exit patrol, then click on your bot. Go to Upgrade/Repair, and add 5 upgrades to its Weapon Tech Level. Next, go to Fitout, and click Remove All. Click on Sell Gear from the WS, and sell the Argon Laser. This is so you have enough money to buy: 2 Baron Laser weapons, 1 Motion Tracker module (mod), 1 Phase Modulator, 2 Baron shields, then re-equip the Ion V2 reactor last.

First Patrol (getting 3 reapers and AI 6)

You are now ready to take on Vulcore! Send it back into patrol, this time to the Vulcore Plains. Now because it takes 50 KCharge (kc) each time you enter Vulcore or Talsia, it's important that you try not to leave patrol too much. This includes doing your best not to die (dying also means the bots that die lose some exp). Once in Vulcore, just keep wandering around avoiding everything you can (remember you can withdraw), unless it's a destroyed outpost (attack Scaven in that case), until you find a mercenary outpost.

Acquiring Mercenaries and alignment

Outposts are rather like a base for you to recharge/repair, hire additional units, and go on missions. For now, just go on a Banking mission. Do these until you reach 12 mercreds. While you do that don't attack anything or explore anywhere except the aforementioned Scaven at destroyed outposts, as well as destroying a squad if you get a distress call. This gives you 5 negative (NEG) alignment (align), which comes in handy soon.

Once you reach 12 mercreds, hire a Praetor (assault type), which greatly boosts your firepower. From now on start doing crystal missions, and search only caves that the Surveyor indicates contain crystals. Do these until you have another 10 mercreds, then hire a Centurion (assault) reaper, which drains the energy of enemy bots (all bots and shielding units rely on energy to fire weapons and keep modules/shields active; however Scaven, and later Federate, units don't need energy, except for shielders, because they're humanoid. If your Praetor or V get armour damage, then repair them ASAP at an outpost. Shields can be recharged, but once a bot loses all its armour it dies and is sent back to the WS - mercs just disappear.

Keep doing Crystal missions until you have another 12 mercreds, which you should use to hire an Orbie (support), which holds what many call 'utility' mods. These give you non-combat benefits, help you avoid dangers, and just general goodness :P Very important as they can save you a lot of time, especially the Anomaly Detector.

You can now do the Matriarch (Mat) hunting mission, which is the only way to get to the Scaven Territories. Don't worry - although these can be very hard and annoying you don't actually have to fight the Mats to stay in Scavenland. First thing to look for once there is a Scaven settlement. In the meantime, only investigate farms and demand tribute then attack workers if possible (for NEG align); don't fight any squads. In fact, try not to fight anything in scaven for your first patrol unless it's warriors defending a burial mound, or you have Exp x3 or higher active.

Another thing to avoid first time round are Scaven Forts, as they are the places where you find Matriarchs, and Towers, as they have Fort Walls which take a lot of time to break through. Not worth it until you have better bots with better weapons. At a Scaven Settlement, contact them and then help them. Click Yes, and keep going until you face off against their enemies. If it's the mission where the Scaven want you to attack a Mercenary Outpost, then be warned; you will lose 4 mercreds (2 for each battle you win against them) as well as gain 2 NEG align. This is a mixed blessing, as negative alignment is a good thing, but of course losing mercreds sucks. Take it or leave it, it's a good mission in my opinion.

Choose Mercs as your reward the first time, but as you can only get one set of mercs at a time, in future just get Exp, or continue patrol if you have Exp x10 already (the maximum). Experience and Cash Multipliers (multis) last for a limited time, although there are two special versions of Cash x10 that last quite a while (around 600 kc used); Greed and Enrichment. These are the fallen/angel reqards for getting negative or positive alignment. Believe me, getting negative is much quicker and better. That said, it's up to you :)

Now keep wandering around Scaven territories attacking burial mounds, checking out farms for terrified workers, and helping Scaven at settlements, until you generate -25 align. Destroying a Burial Mound usually gives you -5 align and 2-4 crowns (don't return them now or you will have to lose your Scaven mercs; however they are worth 10 mercreds each when returned to an Outpost), although if you find a Miniature Model, then you get nothing. If you get the option to Demand Tribute at a farm, do it and then Attack Workers to receive -2, and then -5 align. The -25 align is so that you can get Greed later on.

Leave Scavenland once you get at least -25 align (you can check by clicking Info during patrol), and wander around Vulcore Plains with the same set of rules as before, hoping for a Fallen Encounter. Fallen encounters are random, but they only appear in the Vulcore Plains, not Lava Fields or Scaven or anywhere else.

• As a side note, Battle Merit (BM) is determined by base values for bot types, plus equipped gear, shared mods and shields (calculated, or at least shown, differently on enemy squads). The higher your BM, the stronger enemies you will face, thus also increasing the amount of exp and cash you earn from battles. In addition, it is the primary factor in deciding your Azra payouts, along with serving as a trigger for many events or 'situation availabilities' within the game.

Fallen

Once you do meet them, their 'prices' are as follows: -25 align or higher and you get the options of Greed (you lose 20 mercreds, you lose 10 NEG align, and gain a special Cash x10 that is immune against storms for 600 or so kc used) and Azra coordinates (you lose 10 NEG align, and you are transported to the Azra's tournament in the Lava fields).

Azra's is a wonderful location where you can tear through the enemies and get cash prizes each round depending on your squad BM. It's pretty easy with mercs; even without them, you can usually get near to or finish the final round. However, you can only find it once per Lava Fields discovery. In general, buying Azra's coords through Fallen aren't worth it as Greed can net you a lot more cash, although it does take a bit longer.

At -50 alignment, you have the added option of getting Imps (3 orbiters with baron batteries and 3 or 4 Tc7 mods, which means they are fast and deal good damage with high chance of getting critical hits). That being said, they SUCK (for most situations). Not worth the 30 NEG align you lose for getting them at all. My reason for this is that in Vulcore, most enemies can be rendered inert through reapers and their energy drain, but are otherwise quite dangerous.

While Imps can deal decent damage, they can't really kill the harder ones like base or magma lords safely without draining them anyway. So try them out if you wish (or have excess NEG align), but the best part about getting NEG align is really Dark Union. You have this option at -100 align, and they are definitely worth it (don't get them without a plan or objective in mind though, or you'll waste the 70 NEG align they cost!

Although they have a curse attached, which starts off low (depends on your exp earned and your squad BM) and gets slightly higher each time you Continue (the curse takes off a bit of exp [but not bot exp] and cash), their firepower and module uplink is awesome. They also provide good shielding; I believe you get 1180. The total uplinked stats (what your bots receive from their Overseers [seers]) is 180% enhanced firerate (FR), 16% enhanced critical chance (crit), 80% energy saving (the maximum), and 50% enhanced accuracy (acc). This means that your weapons will fire 2.8 times the base amount, have additional 1/6 chance of critting, will only spend 1/5 of the energy they normally would, and 100% accuracy (only 3 weapons have lower than 50% base accuracy, and they are all high-end ones).

Awesome right? They also provide 2 Bulwarks [buls] (4 weapon slots, 2 mod slots, 2 shield slots, 650 armour, 5% enhanced accuracy and damage) with 4 heavy-damaging weapons each, and a Leviathan [levi] (EIGHT weapon slots, 2 mod and 2 shield slots, 3000 armour, slow though at only 15 speed) with less advanced weapons, but who cares when there's eight of them? :)

Greeeeeed

Anyways to get back on track ... while in Vulcore looking for Fallen to get Greed, you might get a screen where apparently some sort of ritual is going on. This is the Scaven Sun Ritual, where if you break up the party and kill everything then you receive 4 Mat crowns and a Sun Rune (see Rune Guide for more details). Now this is easy at low BMs like your first patrol, but gets very hard if you don't find them now and leave them till later. Like everything else though, it's optional (and randomly encountered) so play as you see fit. This is after all a -guide-.

Once you do find Fallen and get Greed, then focus on attacking Tag Droids, as they give good amounts of cash which is now multiplied by 10! In fact, try not to attack anything else, especially not Renegade Bases, as you still don't have the weapons to overcome deflection yet (see Misc. Tips section to see how deflection works).

If you see Angels, which are your enemy, then ask for forgiveness and tribute Magma segments to them so they won't 'rebirth' you back to WS (however, this option means your align is reset). Only do this if you already have Greed, but if you don't and are still looking for Fallen, then fight them, and then Withdraw All. You may lose a merc or two, but hopefully it won't be too serious. You can go back to an outpost, get rid of what's left of your Scaven mercs, and get them again at a settlement if you do lose any.

Don't explore Canyons/Plateau/Firewells while you have Greed, as they aren't worth the chance of finding a Tag Droid. Especially don't check out Consoles or Plateaus, because Consoles have a chance of giving you normal Cash Multis which causes you to lose all good effects of greed (long lasting anti-storm goodness), and with Plateaus it's automatic. Lava (to hopefully find Azra's) is optional; 1 run of Azra's is equal to around 2 Tag droids worth of cash while on Greed.

Keep it up till you have 500k cash/credits (if your Greed ends before this, then hang around and try to find Lava Fields, and fight Azra's then leave Lava and find them again, since you can only fight the tourney once per Lava, until you get 500k). The precise amount needed is actually a bit less, but better safe then sorry! You can also sell the stun lasers you've no doubt amassed to get closer to 500k - they're pretty much novelty 'weapons' that aren't all that fun :(

First Upgrading Session

If you have any crowns, go to an outpost and remove Scaven to hand them in, then leave patrol. Upgrade your workshop to Hydraulic, then buy 3 Reaper (reaps) bots. Outfit each of them with 2 EM Syphon weapons, 2 Baron shields, 1 Ion V2 reactor, and if you have the spare cash for them, then 1 Phase Mod each.

Your V should be at least AI 6 by now, so upgrade its Weap Tech to 63 (don't just keep clicking +5 forever, because later on that can give you trouble. Do it one by one if you aren't familiar with the levels, and only ever upgrade to what you need >for the immediate patrol<. Spending ups on random areas like Energy Distribution for a Reaper or Armour for a Valadin isn't so smart :P Just leave the upgrades there to be used later if you can't get to a specific level you need something to be.

Second Patrol (reapers to AI 5, to drain base commanders)

Now, add the reaps to your squad, and go back to Vulc. You can now take on Angels; just drain the Arch Angel until its reactor is at -2000, then withdraw your bots 1 at a time until they're all out (reaps last). You can also defeat the first level of Renegade Bases now, although not the Commanders. However it's best to leave them alone until you have mercs with you. Again, try not to attack anything until you reach a merc outpost.

Now, if you had mercreds left over from last patrol, then hire an Orbie, a Zodiac (defence), which is a Sentinel giving 540 shielding, and a Copius (assault), which is an Overseer (module-sharer) giving 14% enhanced accuracy, and 25% enhanced firerate. If you don't, then go do crystal missions with the one or two you can afford until you have enough to hire the rest (47 mercreds altogether).

Matriarchs

After that, go to Scaven and get Scaven mercs, just like before. You can now take on towers and forts in addition to the previous targets, and that means being able to earn mercreds from killing matriarchs. However be warned: Matriarchs come in 3 types – Matriarch, Dynast Matriarch, and Malevolent (Malev) Matriarch. The first has 200 armour, Dynast 700 and Malevs have 1600. They also have increasing amounts of amour deflection, from 2% to 10%. Now with only 1 Val and 3 Reaps, your BM will be pretty low (around 200k or lower), which means you will most likely get Matriarchs. It is still very possible to get the other two, and you need to withdraw from Malevs - Dynasts are fine as long as you can drain the shielder in the first turn

To kill them, first target the shielding unit(s) with the Reapers, or you can just click All Attack on the shielder. You should drain the shielder on the first turn, and be able to All Attack the Mat on the second turn and kill it, but if you don't drain the shielder first turn then stay on it until you do (get the reactor under 0). Then kill the Queen. Voila, a crown worth 10 mercreds.

Ok, now get at least 6 crowns (8+ is better), and then go to Vulc. From now, your main goal is to find as many Azra's as possible, which means don't go to plateau, and try not to fight too many things other than tag droids and bases (to hopefully find a cy-hangar for bot retrieval, or a console).

Second Upgrading Session

Once you have around 230k cash, and your reaps are at least at AI 5, then deposit any crowns at the first outpost you see, and leave patrol. Upgrade Weap Tech to 54 on your reaps, and reactor level to 10. Buy 2 Syphon Elites and an Ion Flux reactor for each, do not use any spare upgrade points. Your V won't need any outfitting this time unless it just got to AI 10, in which case upgrade Weap Tech to 142, and buy 2 HR100s (you'll need over 100k more cash for this).

Third Patrol (reaps to AI 8 to drain Magma lords, and more bots)

Now you can kill base commanders! Find an outpost, same deal as before, try not to attack anything that wont be useful like activating firewells which can give you coords to outpost. Hire a Copius, a Zod, and an Orbie. Go to Scaven, get the mercs, but this time don't attack forts, there's a much higher chance of getting Malevs :/

Now once you get your mercs, as long as you have -35 align or more, go to vulcore and get Greed. Kill as many Base Commanders as possible now as well as Angels, but remember not to access any consoles with Greed active - just leave if you get that option. Also, once your greed runs out, get it again, and same deal until it runs out. Now, you should have at least 1.4 mil cash and AI 8 reaps; if you don't, then stick around concentrating on going to Lava Fields and Plateau to get your cash up and preferably get Bulwark tech. Once you have the cash and AI, deposit any crowns you have and leave patrol.

NB: This, the previous, or the next patrol is a nice time to get Storm Shield if you haven't already - it costs 200 mercreds, and is a life-saving, essential mod for Vulcore, especially after this. Needs 15 mod tech to equip, so put it on a seer. You buy it from the Outpost in the 'For Sale' section - only need the one.

Third Upgrading Session

Upgrade to Powered and Tectronic workshop, then buy a Sentinel and an Overseer, or 2 Seers if you are going to get CySent, or don't mind missing a sent for now. Buy a Comwave Scanner, Security Countermand, and Anomaly Detector (the 'utility' mods). Put all those on 1 seer. If you're using 2 Seers, which I recommend, send the other one into training with an Argon Laser, Ion reactor and Baron shield. Get it to AI 1, then leave. Upgrade its mod uplink to 27%, and buy 3 Targeting Subroutines (Tsubs). If you're using a Sent and Seer, then put an Ion V2 on the sent, and send it on its own to the personal squad viewer.

Load up the Virtual Battle Simulator, send it to test radius damage on shield and energy targets. Auto the fight, and you lose 75 kc but it's now AI 2 (since updates, need to do this twice, so best to couple with the other seer). Much faster than sending it to training for Sents/Seers only. Anyways, put 9 upgrades into shield tech, and buy it 3 Baron II shields. Also, put the Motion Tracker on it; better mods can be put on val/reaps, eg Phase Mods on Reaps and Tsubs on Val.

As for your Reaps, upgrade their weapon tech to 78, and reactor to 15. Buy all 3 of them 2 Syphon Disruptors, and 1 Ion Flux Plus reactor. Put Phase Mods on them, or a Motion Tracker on the first one if you don't have a Sent. Leave the val as is, or if it's AI 10 then upgrade as aforementioned.

Fourth Patrol (getting align, mercreds, Nanomatic WS, pre-MC)

Now, go get to an outpost and hire a Copius and 2 Zodiacs. Head to Scaven, get mercs, and if u have a Scaven assault squad among them, you can kill Malevs safely! Once you have about 12 crowns, and at least -110 align, then go to Vulc and get Greed. As usual, go for Tag Droids, Angels, and Bases only. When using Greed, if it lasts around 700 kc then you can go to Plateau then before it runs out, and start getting Bulwark tech if not gotten already.

Once Greed finishes, aim for Lava Fields for the Azra's and to get Magma tech, as well as attacking Phoenix Fortresses and Magma Lords if you have the seer with 3 Tsubs. Mag Lords give 20 mercreds each, as well as 3 Magma segments. Awesome, but make sure you have 100% accuracy on your 3 Reaps, or else you might not fully drain it, and lose a bot or two.

Once you have at least 255 Mercreds worth of crowns and mercreds, -100 align minimum, have Bulwark tech if you plan on using Buls, have Magma tech or are close it, Reaps at AI 10 or higher, and at least 3.6 mil cash or so (4 mil preferably, get Greed again if you think it's necessary), then go to an Outpost, deposit any crowns, buy a Storm Shield if you still need one, and leave patrol.

Ahh MC's dont you love them. I assume you are going negative alignment here. Hopefully you have -100 align or more, if you don't, umm...stay in the patrol from before and farm scaven territories, hunt for align. Personally I get -170 align or close to it because I go on 2 Fallen (Dark Union) sulphur runs later.

Once done, upgrade workshop to Magnetic and then Nanomatic workshop.

Fourth Upgrading Session

Reapers first, since they're most important. I like to use 2 Immobilisers (immobs) on 1 reap and Immob/Pulse Streamer on 2 others. You can use 2 immobs each on all three, or 1 with a Streamer if you want, they all work.

Reap 1 - upgrade weap tech to 122, reactor to 20, and add 2 upgrades onto weight (payload). Buy 2 immobs, then Sub-Nuclear reactor and Phase Mod for it.

Reaps 2 and 3 - upgrade weap tech to 158, reactor stays at 15, and add 2 to weight. Buy a Syphon Immobiliser and a Pulse Streamer on each, make sure the Immob is equipped before the Streamer. Phase mod on each.

Now if you don't have a Sent already, buy one now. If you got it last patrol, then upgrade shield tech to 60, reactor to 10, and save the rest. Motion tracker on it still (for the rest of the game, really).

For Bul if you're using it, equip any baron lasers/auto cannons you may have in inventory, and send it to training. Leave when it hits AI 1. Upgrade weap tech to 22, and mod tech to 15. Put a Storm Shield and Comwave Scanner on it, then a Shield Disruptor and 3 Avengers. Best reactor you can afford or just a spare since any will do, and 2 Baron Reflective shields.

Personally I get another Seer instead of keeping the Val, because Vals suck (and you won't use it for Talsia). Nonetheless, if you want to keep it, put your upgrades into weapons. If you have 142 or higher, then equip 2 HR100 Rocket Packs. If you don't, that's OK, just leave the Weap Tech as is - doesn't really matter :P Get to 10 Mod Tech and put a Security Countermand and Anomaly Detector on it.

Seers - upgrade their mod tech to 40, buy 3 Mechanical Obviators each, and put the rest of the upgrades into mod uplink. If you got 1 Seer and 1 Sent last patrol, then buy another Seer or two and put Sec Counter, Anomaly Detector and Target Sub on one, and 3 Tsubs on the other. If you got 2 Seers last time, then just buy 1 more.

Now, take the squad into the Personal Squad Viewer, and take a look at the stats of any Reaper. The speed of it should be higher than 70.4 (28%). Over 70 means it will outspeed the CyRanger in the MCs, quite important. Now check the firerate. If it isn't over 20%, then keep that in mind.

Fifth Patrol (hammer [MC] time, Crusader tech, sulphur run)

With the squad set up, head into Vulc and find an outpost. Hire 2 Zods and an Adverse (defence) IF your firerate was 20% or more earlier, but hire a Copius instead of 1 Zodiac if it was less than 20%. Now, leave the outpost without doing anything, and wait for a Fallen Encounter to get Dark Union.

Don't attack anything. Don't explore anything that could lead to combat. If you meet Angels, just drain them carefully by manually selecting the targets (Angels first, then Arch Angels) by clicking on your Reap and selecting from the drop-down list, and then either withdrawing everything slowly, or spending a bit of kc but killing them all slowly.

Once you do get Fallen, do your best to find Lava Fields and Azra's tourney. Buy the coords from Fallen if you find them again first. Once you find it, attack the Master Controllers.

Master Controllers

Turn 1 - set the Reap with 2 Immobs on Tammygotchi, the Fallen Leviathan Baal (he has minor drain) on Opto, 1 Reap on Crimsons, and another on Hextra. If you are a 2-Reap user, then put 1 Reap on Tammy, and 1 on Crimsons.

Click continue. If any of Tammygotchi/Crimsons/Hextra aren't drained, put 1 of the Immob/Streamer Reaps on the undrained bot, the 2 Immob Reap on Opto, and 1 on stonehead 2. If the 3 bots you targeted the 1st turn were all drained past -1500, then set the last Reap to drain Fridge. Click continue.

From now it should be a cinch, set your Reaps to drain anything that moves (isn't drained), starting with j4f. Priority goes as follows: Tammygotchi, Opto, Crimsons, stonehead 2, Hextra, Royi, Fridge, j4f, Berkley, and Sacdaddy 1357 in descending order. Be careful until you win :)

Select your Cy-Reward: CySent (a pretty safe choice), CySeer (offers higher risk and higher reward), or CyMara (more for basing players), and leave Lava Fields.

Sulphur Pits

Look for an outpost, and go to take the Sulphur Pits mission when you get there. Basically, get Crusader tech now, which you do by Examining Tech at Renegade Workshops. Once you do and have gotten some exp along with a nice stash of mercreds, I advise you to go to outpost and buy Azra coords, go to tourney and rake up the cash, then leave patrol.

If you plan to patrol in Sulphur (or anywhere else) with Fallen for some time, it's a good idea to buy up bots or equipment whenever you get some major cash during the patrol. This allows you to 'save' 40% of the money you receive (gear/bots sell at 40% of base price) that would otherwise be lost to the Fallen curse. Obviously start by buying bots or gear that you will use in later patrols, but otherwise anything will do.

Please note that when you fight Enforcers, go straight back to outpost after killing the first squad, and then re-enter sulphur. They get a lot harder each time you fight them, but since they only appear after around 90 mercreds, the difficulty resets after you re-enter. Also, if your reaps aren't 90 speed or higher (64% enhanced speed), then try not to attack Annihilators (annis) - sooner or later you get screwed by crits (defines Cybots really :p).

From there on you can take another Fallen run if you have the align, or go straight to Talsia. See my Upgrades post for more information, or the other posts.

A typical Tals entry squad is 1 reap, 4 seers, 1 sent (including 1 cysent/cyseer), 2 crus (some take 1 crus, and 1 crus/bul/marauder). If you are taking a second sulph run with Fallen, which I think is best (at least until your crus and cyseer/cysent are AI 10), then that is the squad you should take - just don't attack annis at all with only 1 reap and try to keep your bm under 1.5 mil.

TL; DR

Start with a Valadin.

Get cash to buy Hydraulic and 3 Reapers plus outfits (500k).

Level them up to be able to take on base commanders/magma lords to farm mercreds (AI 5/8 for Syphon Elites/Disruptors).  [Optional]

Earn mercreds and align for Storm Shield, mercenaries and Greed, Dark Union.

Earn Cash (mostly with greed, some with Azra's tourneys) for all the workshops and the bots plus gear to fill your squad with.

End up with a squad of 8 ideally/commonly seen as: 3 AI 10 reapers, 3 seers, 1 sent/another seer, 1 bulwark/val/crusader/marauder.

Have Storm Shield, -100 to -170 alignment, 55 mercreds or more, plus utility mods.

Fight MCs after getting mercs and then Dark Union, then get crusader tech, exp and some mercreds for next sulph run/dax pods in sulphur.

Do another sulph run with prospective Tals squad to prep them for battle.