Spiral Knights - Pros and Cons of Going Solo

Pros and Cons of Going Solo

22 replies [Last post]

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:13

Mayaura

First, let's make sure we all understand the game:
1) All heat, crowns, and crystals collected are not divided up, but rather credited equally to the entire party. (No need to rush or fight for the biggest piece!)
2) Materials are distributed round-robin as they are picked up. (This seems to be mostly true, but I'm not entirely sure.)

Pros of going solo:
1) You get all the materials. (And I swear, it seems like the game drops better materials as a reward as well!)
2) Takes longer to complete a level, so you get more playing time for your money.
3) Game adjusts to easier play, so not quite as hard as it seems.
4) Don't have to wait around for people going off on their own or screwing around.
5) You get all the health pills, tanks, and other goodies that make play easier.

Cons of going solo:
1) Takes longer, which might bother those who see play as a work/grind to earn money.
2) Harder, so you might die (lose heat) or it could cost more if u revive.
3) Lacks the social interaction of playing/chatting with others as you go.
4) No one to revive you if you die.

What would add to or subtract from this list?
Thanks!
~Mawashimono

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:25

Malicus

Pros of going solo: 6) The

Pros of going solo:
6) The only person the enemies could be going after is you, so it's easier to predict what they'll do.
7) It's easier to not wake up every gun puppy in the arena if you're alone.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:21

Randomzz

just a thought

it doesn't really add to anything, but I will mention: arenas

as far as i can tell, most depths scale difficulty (as in number of monsters, etc.) based on number of players. Example being graveyards and the number of phantoms.

arenas make no distinction between 1 person going solo and 4 players going as a team. Which is why i got screwed in the last wave of the third round in the flame lash arena today. I can't take 10+ mechaknights plus 2 healers plus the leftover lumbers on my own haha. i'm not the best player, i'm sure some people can, but... with double swords, I can't.

so beware

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:37

BiggestLoser

Legacy Username

Zelda

pros
6)what Malicus said
7)always have spot for good old friends of ur choice and mood =D!

cons
5)"can i join? can i join? basil? 23?"
6)gets boring overtime
7)no skilled players to watch or copy, no newbies or nice players, who might pay energy gates/lifts :l
8)big waste of left over vials and health pills, since u can only carry 4x3 per player

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:39

Raspberry

Pro Solo

Pro:

* Arenas are safer and hence easier to solo as you don't have team members waking-up gun puppies, red rovers and rocket puppies.

* You can take short breaks to grab snacks, Mountain Dew, or toss dinner into the oven.

* You actually end-up making more phat loots because you take the time to bash every bush, pail, mailbox and stone block (could be a rock jelly spy).

* You focus more on playing rather than typing back a witty retort to someone in the group.

Con:

* Less heat because you don't have silly party members to raise.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:43

Gigafreak

Legacy Username

Nah, enemy health does indeed

Nah, enemy health does indeed scale with player count in Arenas. Tested this myself.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:52

Fly18

Legacy Username

Con: Monsters gang up on and

Con: Monsters gang up on and surround you. Trojans can trap you ina corner and mercilessly beat you while shielding all your hits.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 18:59

Gigafreak

Legacy Username

"Con: Monsters gang up on and

"Con: Monsters gang up on and surround you."

Pull out a Stun Vial when this happens. Next hit you take, it falls out of your hands and breaks open on the floor, splashing onto all the enemies surrounding you. Stun Vials are unique in that they also have a strong knockback on affected targets, so this means you now have some breathing room and a chance to escape.
Stun Vials make great emergency escape buttons.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 19:18

Rusvul

Solo runs are fun to me

Solo runs are fun to me because I think it takes a bit more skill to succeed, especially at the higher tiers, and it's ridiculously satisfying when I have a herd of slimes chasing me around in a danger room while I firebomb them into oblivion. (Alas, that does make it harder for people to give me pats on the back for my awesome bombing skills. =P ) I prefer to play with my buddies when I can, but if I've got the time and they aren't around, solo works just fine.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 19:18

Loki

Legacy Username

There's no con to soloing

There's no con to soloing except that if you die you either revive with energy or you leave the dungeon.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 19:42

#10

Ightex

Soloing: -Slower

Soloing:
-Slower progress
-Pretty easy once you master monster attack patterns, and adjust tactics accordingly, as well as knowing how to kite, dodge, block, using the right weapons, etc.
-Have to take priority to NOT DIE

Partying:
-Faster runs through dungeons
-Increased difficulty with number of players.
-If random/not well coordinated, can result in group destruction

Otherwise, the amount of heat, crowns, etc save materials and minerals are about the same.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 20:05

#11

Richy

I have one problem with the

I have one problem with the first post. A con I do not believe is it being harder. I think it is actually far easier, especially T3 solo. I just did a run today 1-29 solo and did it without dying(was my attempt to get the accomplishment). I believe that if I had taken people with me it would have been much harder. On that run I did three arena's solo, I found that if your having troubles with Trojans or just anything that chases you a freeze bomb is great help. Otherwise I used a sword to kill just about everything.

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 20:08

#12

Engiealt

Pros: -You don't have to

Pros:
-You don't have to figure out your strategy with everyone else
-No "can i has crowns!!!onE!11?!" "RIVIVE ME!!!1111!!!2334" "whEres kerning ciity!!!1?!/1"

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 20:10

#13

Quasirandom

One pro of going solo is that

One pro of going solo is that you learn how to use bombs. Well, either that or you die because you didn't learn how to use bombs. But that's almost the same thing, right? No?

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 21:04

#14

Volebamus

For a pro: You can

For a pro:

You can One-Combo-KO many things that couldn't be OCKO'd with a team, considering the right swords. Enemies can't counter if they're dead!

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 21:54

#15

Shinko

Legacy Username

Lets Distribute by Weapon Type :D

Pros for Pure Swordsmen:

* No other swordsmen wacking your kills away from you
* No stupid gunners making all the monsters dodge away from you
* Easy to get enemies to follow you and wack a large group
* Swords do a ton of damage which doesn't get capped by having less party members so monsters will die in 2-3 hits usually

Cons for Pure Sworsmen:

* Gun puppies, groups of trees, and robots are a bit hard to take down without taking damage.
* Must grab pots to hit far away switches
* Depending on the swords you carry, wacking minerals may take some extra time (using a cutter series to break minerals vs a sealed sword series)
* Sword kiting is the hardest to pull off of all the weapon choices

Pros for Pure Gunslingers

* Never take damage from a party member wacking or shielding an enemy into you
* Can stand around a corner and try to snipe some enemies before rushing in (swordsmen and bombers need to go in to get in range)
* Kiting is easy when everything's following you
* You can easily solo most danger rooms and arenas without taking a hit with the right guns

Cons for Pure Gunslingers

* Wolvers, Devilites, and Mechaknights (they either dodge or shield you which sucks). Greavers also defeat the purpose of your guns by flying close to you to attack.
* Low damage means soloing takes a long time
* Most guns have a damage type which means you could be left stranded if you don't bring the right guns with you
* Cutting grass is a pain

Pros for Pure Bombers

* Kiting is easy when everything's following you
* No teammates to shoot/wack enemies and make them go out of your bomb's range or hit you
* You can easily solo most danger rooms and arenas without taking a hit with the right bombs
* DPS reliant damage + ability to hit mobs = decent solo speeds

Cons for Pure Bombers

* Breaking minerals is not fun. Nor is breaking boxes that are in your way
* Not having teammates to distract monsters or pull them into a group means you have to rely fully on your kiting skills
* Must grab pots to hit far away switches
* If you don't have the right bombs (e.g. fiery atomizer line and spine cone line in an arena with oilers) you could be shooting yourself in the foot

Tue, 06/21/2011 - 23:34

#16

Twiddle

More Pros and cons of going solo

First off, everything everyone said is true. That said:

More pros of going solo:

- You don't need to health revive people.
- You can't accidentally health revive people.
- No team indecision. (should we go into that danger room or not?)
- You can explore the entire dungeon or skip lots of rooms if you want.
- No talking, keeps your mind focused on the game.
- Your skill determines the outcome of the trip. (No dealing with newbies attacking the snarbolax directly.)
- Easier graveyard levels.
- You can afk for a few minutes if you are in a safe spot.

More cons of going solo:

- Less minerals.
- Difficult to split mobs. (with 4 people you can split the healer off from the group and kill them. Solo is harder.)
- Difficult to distract enemies like lumbers and trojans.
- You can't health revive people. (no heat bonus.)
- No one will open energy doors for you.
- No one will pay your elevator fee for you.
- You can't skip the non-profitable floors in a tier. (But, you can get around this by joining a party then "going solo" and locking your party.)
- You can leave such a mess behind sometimes! d=

Wed, 06/22/2011 - 00:01

#17

Mayaura

Stun Vials and Greavers

These are great posts. Thanks Gigafreak for that stun vials tip. And Shinko, I have found that nothing kills greavers better than slowly backing away in a hallway (if there's one available) while firing my argent peacemaker gun. (Of course, if there's no hallway to run into, it doesn't work.) And yes, Iceni, there's no one to take heat from when u revive them, but u feel no pangs of guilt about not reviving someone and just continuing on. (They're gonna teleport automatically anyway, right?)

Wed, 06/22/2011 - 02:22

#18

BiggestLoser

Legacy Username

Zelda

sunshards destroy minerals and boxes pretty easily..<.<'

Wed, 06/22/2011 - 02:29

#19

Fazan

Legacy Username

My pros and cons go like

My pros and cons go like this:

Pros: No idiot team-mates who walk on spikes, aggro all enemies, shoot exploding blocks as you walk by, go AFK all the time, refuse to revive you and die all the time, costing you half your health.

Cons: No good team-mates who can help you out in a scrap, pull enemies off you when you get swarmed, revive you, share their resources and help with killing things.

As with any multiplayer game, teaming is fun when your team-mates aren't idiots.

Wed, 06/22/2011 - 04:08

#20

Repair

Quote Fazan: "Teaming is fun

Quote Fazan: "Teaming is fun when your team-mates aren't idiots"

Very, very true.

Wed, 06/22/2011 - 07:15

#21

Leafy101

Legacy Username

Here's a con that applies to me...

If you have extreme lag there's no one to help you.

Wed, 06/22/2011 - 08:04

#22

archury

Legacy Username

The best way to kill greavers

The best way to kill greavers is by attacking them and shield bumping if necessary. Everything is much easier solo, unless you have a team that works well together.

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Pros and Cons of Going Solo