Shiphand Buddy: Rage Logic

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Blaugust 2015, Day 13

Welcome back to Shiphand Buddy! This installment will have us running over robots with the family car and facing off against an evil AI.

What: Help some lovable freebots stop the spread of the Rage Logic virus!

When: Available at level 26

Where: Whitevale

Gold Timers: Normal: None   ; Vet: 25:00

Gracie’s Run Time: Normal: 7:46   ; Vet: 9:58

Shiphand Buddy Says: This mission is broken up into 2 main parts. First you’ll need to choose a vehicle for the outdoor portion. Your options are Rail Gun, Electro-Magnetic-Pulse, and Rocket Launcher Speeders. I always go with the EMP Speeder because it looks fun, but it is mostly down to personal preference, since they only differ in one of their 4 main attacks. You can try each of them to see their different abilities before you begin, the timer doesn’t start until you head outside. Once you’re ready, drive straight out the airlock to begin your adventures in robot slaughter.

Shiphand Buddy: Rage Logic

Take your choice of these lovely, deadly vehicles!

Once outside you have 4 goals. First, remember ABROR: Always Be Running Over Robots! You’ll need to hit 100 of them with your shield (action button 1 on all vehicles) along the way, so make sure to keep it up as much as possible and get lots of practice playing bumper car. I try to avoid using my other weapons until I’m close to being finished with this part. As you’re cruising around, you’ll notice three big yellow engines you can click on. This will lob bombs at them, progressing the next objective. All around this outdoor area, but especially around the crater in the middle, there are scanner bots that need to be destroyed. They are patrolling and floating up in the air, so you’ll need to use a ranged attack to hit them. When in doubt, check your map. The scanners will show up as targets so you can find them easily as they wander.

Shiphand Buddy: Rage Logic

Follow this path to kill the overseers. Or don’t, I’m your buddy not your boss.

The final objective for this section is to kill all 3 Overseer bots. These spawn in fixed locations after you’ve killed a large amount of the regular bots, and they must be killed “simultaneously.” The intent is that you would have multiple people spread out to take them down at the same time, but if you’re a loner space cowboy I’m gonna help you take them down solo. Attacking them with your regular vehicle weapons is too slow, but we have a secret. You didn’t forget about ABROR did you? Put up those shields and run over those overseers! You can take them out in about 3-4 hits this way. As a bonus, if you are moving when you put the shields up you will get a short burst of speed to help you get to the next bot faster. I start at the one closest to the entrance, and finish at the one near the cave. Since they always spawn in the same locations it is easy to memorize the path between them and run them over in a hurry. Don’t fret if you fail, they will respawn and you can keep trying.

Now that you’re done with those objectives, it is time to head inside the bot hideout and stop Axiom’s transmission of the Rage Logic virus. Kill hostile bots along the way, but avoid the neutral ones if you can. You’ll want to attempt to reprogram 3 of these for your objectives. If you’re lucky, they’ll turn friendly and help you fight for a short while. Otherwise they will turn hostile and you’ll need to put them down. Make your way to the lower floor and get ready to wreck the place.

Shiphand Buddy: Rage Logic

This stuff looks important, better break it.

In the central room, be wary of patrols. There are multiple aggressive bots that wander in and out from the other areas for you to deal with. You will need to destroy 6 pieces of equipment, 2 in each of the main rooms on this level. I usually go right and then left, since the left room is also where you’ll have to destroy the Broadcast Transmitter. Oh did you think that was some sort of equipment to smash? Nope, it’s a giant bot that wants to smash you! Stay light on your feet or quick with your interrupts and he should be no trouble. Be aware of the neutral bots around this room and avoid tagging them during the fight.

Shiphand Buddy: Rage Logic

Axiom. Wreck this jerk.

Once all the equipment is toast you can head to the last small room to open the way to the final boss. There’s a Simon game with a pattern of 6 colors here, either beat it or use an addon to do your work for you if you’re lazy like me. After stepping through the portal and killing just a few packs of normal mobs you’ll be face to chassis with Axiom. He’ll put up a large shield at the start which you’ll need to destroy, after that it should be smooth sailing. Just remember your interrupts and use the health packs on the floor if you need them and you’ll reduce him to scrap and save the freebots!

Differences between normal and vet: Normal mode doesn’t ask you to run over bots (but you should do it anyway, it’s so satisfying!), and there’s no Broadcast Transmitter to kill.

Other Thoughts: This one frustrated me until I finally learned how to solo the 3 overseers. It is pretty middle-of-the-road in terms of time, but it has a lot of charm. Who doesn’t love freebots?

Tune in next time for Space Madness!


Tam’s Liebster Questions

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I posted yesterday a bit about the backlog of posts that I have had that I wanted to make.  Yesterday I was also called out by Tam about not responding to his Leibster post, but in truth I just had not gotten down to it.  Since tomorrow will be another Blaugust Games of the Week post, I had planned on getting his Liebster post either out today or Saturday, but since he is getting antsy I guess I am going to make sure it happens today.  For those who don’t know the Liebster is this well intentioned “award” that is essentially the blogosphere’s version of a chain letter.  Normally it is supposed to float around with a cover page full of rules outlining how you are supposed to proceed, and explains things like that you are supposed to choose a candidate that has never been Liebstered.  This seems to go around once a year, and based on some of the questions I have seen… I am guessing this is a continuation of last years “strain” because at least one of the questions I have seen floating around is one I came up with.  All of this said I am absolutely not down on the concept of the Liebster.  I think it is a pretty awesome way to introduce people to new folks, but at this point this will be the third time I have been Liebetered.  I am going to ignore the “rules” of the award and not name any successors because by the strictest of rules I should not be getting this again.

Onwards to the Liebster Questions

1 — What is the best spell to cast?

Anything that buffs my melee ability or causes me to take less damage.  In truth however… I have to say Resurrection would be the best spell to cast most of the time.  Considering how much death I have had to deal with in my life, I have a feeling that is the one I would end up using the most.

2 — What food item(s) from a game do you want to eat above any other?

Nothing from any Fallout game ever…  In truth I am not sure if I have ever salivated over any in game food, but I will say I have always wanted to eat a Tel’Abim Banana since they are supposedly sentient beings from another land.  Wondering if they taste significantly different than a normal Banana.

3 — You’ve got an infinite supply of one consumable, and can never carry any others.  Which consumable do you choose?

That one is simple… Health Potion.  Seriously there is no reason for any other consumable if you have an infinite supply of health.

4 — You have to choose a race and class that you’ve never played seriously before.  What do you pick?

Honestly this one is hard because I have played most roles seriously in the past.  The one class that I always thought I would like but could never really get into was the World of Warcraft Warlock.  At face value it seems like a very “Bel” class summoning demons and shit, but the whole damage over time aspect has always baffled me.  After starting to get used to the Arcanist a bit, I am going to say that Warlock is something I have been interested in giving a more serious try.  I have one somewhere in my 60s in WoW but I largely got there because the leveling curve in that game is laughable and I just made my demon beat things up for me.  I would like to try playing it as a proper dot dropping madman.

5 — What game did you think you would hate but actually loved?

Tam’s Liebster Questions

This one was a little tough, but I finally came up with an answer I am happy with:  The Saints Row franchise.  You are thinking… but Bel it is a crazy game where you get to beat everything up with dildo bats… that absolutely sounds like a game you would be interested in.  Sure but you have to understand something key here… I really do not like Grand Theft Auto games.  Well I take that back, I found one and two good mindless fun, but I could not stand GTA 3… and then each of the games afterwards that I played I also found frustrating.  In all fairness I have never really given GTA 4 a fair shot, which I need to do at some point.  I am getting off track here, but essentially I always thought of Saints Row as a GTA Clone, and I guess in truth that is precisely how the series started out.  What it has morphed into is this insane “no rules” sandbox, and THAT aspect I absolutely love.  Saints Row 3 and 4 are both amazing, and I really need to devote more time to playing them.

6 — What game did you think you would love but actually hated?

Tam’s Liebster Questions

Citizens of Earth…  which coincidentally ended up being our first AggroChat game club game.  Everything about that game sounded awesome… until we actually started trying to play it.  Hate is a strong word, but really…  I never want to play that game again.  It was just the worst of smarmy repetitiveness and laughing at itself jokes I have experienced in awhile.  Additionally the combat really was not fun at all.  I was so amped going into that game, and those hopes were dashed within the first hour.

7 — Pick a zone from any game to live in.  Why?

Tam’s Liebster Questions

Moonshade Highlands from Rift without a doubt.  Gorgeous storms, awesome Dwarves, and big mountain highlands full of little pools and rivers.  The crazy woods filled with murderous Fae I could deal without, but the rest of that zone…  absolutely perfect for me.  Again other than the whole nightmare demons thing I would absolutely love to live in Hammerknell.

8 — You can excise one class from every future game.  Which?  Why?

Tam’s Liebster Questions

Probably anything with a stealth mechanic.  It is probably going to surprise people that I did not say “Mage”, but in truth I find stealth mechanics to be among the most frustrating experience I have ever had in any game.  The truth is I like the “rogue” archetype, I just don’t want them to be stealthy.  I am all about the swashbuckler type character slashing away at things furiously with two swords.  Probably the best stealth mechanic as far as I am concerned is that of the Nightblade in Rift because they just used it as a limited time opener, not something to stay in for long periods of time.

9 — What’s your favorite story?

Hmmm this question is so ambiguous.  My favorite set up for a game has to be Hellgate London.  In fact yesterday was lamenting how awesome the opening cinematic for that game and the subsequent story was.   The problem is the game was not really worthy of it, and I would love to see it rebooted into a movie or a television show with its own new game.  I have to say though of all of the game stories I have played, the one I most want to see made into a television series is Mass Effect.  Imagine that story told over the course of five or six seasons of a high budget television show?  Would be amazing.

10 — What hobby does no one (yet) know you have?

The problem with having a blog for as long as I have had…  everyone pretty much knows everything about me at this point.  In fact I did Factoid February a few years back where I spilled the beans on a lot of these details.  I really don’t have any hobbies that would shock someone.  The hobby that I need to get back into doing more of however is Photography.  It has been a few years since we were regularly going out on photo shoots each weekend, and that needs to change.

11 — What is your favorite secret shame?

Again I can’t really think of something that I have not already talked at length about here on the blog.  I am a sucker for John Hughes films, so that would probably be about the closest thing to a “guilty pleasure” that I have…  that and I love 80s pop music.  It just reminds me of my childhood, when everything seemed possible.  As a kid I thought John Hughes films were about the underdog getting their way in the end, but as an Adult they have a much darker theme, namely you can have whatever you want so long as you change everything about yourself in the process.  Think back to the Breakfast club…  you have Ally Sheedy playing this girl that just wants to be loved by hear parents…  and everything is set right in the world by a make over turning her into Molly Ringwald 2.0.  Even with the darker interpretation… I still can’t help but love those movies.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I am breaking the chain here and not naming a victim.  I still think the Liebster is a good idea and something pretty cool, but at this point I am getting tired of doing them myself.  However Tam put a lot of thought and effort into his questions, so I felt obligated to answer them.  In fact I think his questions would make a pretty great Blaugust prompt if anyone else wants to answer them.  For now I am signing off because I spent way more time writing this out than I expected to, and am now late for work!

 

My Own 11 Questions

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I asked these questions of some other folks on Monday, and have kind of been mulling over them ever since. I thought I’d try my hand at answering them for myself.

  1. What is the best spell to cast?
    • Teleportation. Oh, the places I’d go! I’ve always especially liked the kind where the cast gets longer the further you want to go, so short distances are pretty much instantaneous. I’d never wait at a crosswalk again.
  2. What food item(s) from a game do you want to eat above any others?
    • Rare Candy. Not (just) because I’d be denying it to some poor pokémon, but because I love rare candy. It’s gotta be tasty if it’s so rare, right?
  3. You’ve got an infinite supply of one consumable, and can never carry any others. Which consumable do you choose?
    • EXP gain potions, or those potions that give me skill points. I could learn SO MANY THINGS. Failing that, Potions of Glibness.
  4. You have to choose a race and class that you’ve never played seriously before. What do you pick?
    • I actually wrote this one down because I didn’t know what my own answer would be. It’s tough, because there are archetypes I never play (Berserker, Beastmaster, Archer-types) that I don’t actually enjoy. I think I’d pick Necromancer, since I’ve always thought they were neat but never played one seriously. I wish Enchanters were still a thing, I loved that class. As for race… I mostly play Humans and the occasional Elf, so maybe a Dwarf or possibly some kind of robot. I also never play large races, but I also don’t enjoy them. I could get behind playing a Dwarf.
  5. What game did you think you would hate but actually loved?
    • World of Warcraft. I was absolutely a naysayer and was on the (now long-forgotten) tide of people who were convinced the game was going to be a total flop with its cartoon graphics and “who even makes an MMO from an RTS, what nonsense is that, do they even know what they’re doing”. Turns out yes, they did.
  6. What game did you think you would love but actually hated?
    • The Witcher (series). On paper, it’s everything I want in a game– interesting combat mechanics, deep story, fleshed out characters. In practice, though, it’s just not that fun for me. It’s dark and gritty but I don’t care, and I find myself unable to ignore the thematic parts of the game that make me uncomfortable (read: the misogyny really bothers me).
  7. Pick a zone from any game to live in. Why?
    • Coruscant, from SWTOR. Easy. I want to live in an awesome future city with everything from fancy flying cars to Jedi. Add into that that I love flight and I love vertical cities and, well, there you go. Also I’m way less likely to get shanked or sold into slavery, unlike Nar Shaddaa.
  8. You can excise one class from every future game. Which? Why?
    • Another one I put in here because I couldn’t think of an answer. Part of me wants to say Rogue, so that player fantasy can be replaced with something more interesting, but I think I’m instead going to go with Warrior. There are so many other interesting ways to do the Guy What Hits Things and the warrior just feels so vanilla and boring. Magic classes have moved away from the generic wizard, why not the warrior?
  9. What’s your favorite story?
    • Romeo and Juliet, in all its incarnations.
  10. What hobby does no one (yet) know you have?
    • Most of my hobbies are pretty well known at this point, especially by the majority of people reading this blog. One thing that I do a lot of that people probably don’t realize is picking up new skills. I love learning new skills, and dabble a whole lot in everything from welding to blacksmithing to languages to electrical engineering to programming to cooking to juggling to poetry. If it’s possible for “learning new skills” to be a hobby, that’s probably mine.
  11. What is your favorite secret shame? >:D
    • I cry during movies/tv shows constantly. Get me invested in it, then hit me with the feels, especially happy feels, and there go the waterworks. People rarely notice (I think), but it happens a lot.

There we go! I’m honestly interested in other people’s answers to these, if anyone wants to steal it and tell me. Answer via Twitter, maybe: @Tamrielo!

#Blaugust Day 13: Thalen and the Tanuki

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My wife insists that Japan loves me more than her. It's because of the tanuki.

A little over two years, my wife and I visited Japan for about two weeks. She had lived there for a year when she was in college and had wanted to go back ever since. I love to travel and see new places in general, and Japan has been high on my list for years and years. So it was a no-brainer. One of my wife's best friends had moved back home to Japan not too long before, so we even had someone to stay with.

While planning the trip, my wife was putting together a list of things we wanted to see and do. She asked for my input and my first (mostly joking) response was that I wanted to see a tanuki. My awareness of Japan as a country pretty much began with the Nintendo Entertainment System and the little cultural elements that would show up here and there in many of the games. Super Mario Brothers 3 made the tanuki a symbol of Japan in my mind at an early age.
It's like a raccoon, but not
I didn't actually expect to see a tanuki while we were in Japan; they're wild animals and we were going to be mostly in and around Tokyo. When my wife told our friend I wanted to see one, she remarked that she had never seen one and she grew up in Japan. On our second day however, we went to Meiji Jingu, a shrine dedicated to the Meiji Emperor. It's 170 acres of forest in the heart of Tokyo, and it is absolutely gorgeous. We were walking the trails and came up a rise when a man who was raking the paths got our attention and pointed. And there it was.

#Blaugust Day 13: Thalen and the Tanuki
The tanuki
He was eating some peanuts that the man had given him, and happily let us take plenty of pictures while he feasted. He must have only just come out onto the path, because nobody else was there yet besides us and the man who had pointed him out to us. A small crowd gathered over the next few minutes though, and I was pleased to see that the Japanese folks were just as excited as the foreigners.

Seeing the tanuki was sort of an omen for the trip; it was if anything an even better vacation than I had anticipated and we're planning to try and go back next year. I don't expect to see a tanuki again, but hopefully this one is still doing well, hanging in Meiji Jingu, and enjoying his peanuts.