Spiral Knights - about the Arcade

about the Arcade

8 replies [Last post]

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 11:10

Spieger

I have read wiki and forum guides on the clockworks arcade, and I really don't get it. What often seems to be missing in explanations about SK is the most basic, general level. So instead of asking "what is the arcade about?", I'm going to write out what I think I know, and hopefully someone can correct me. All of the in-game text I've found skips too much material, and I'm baffled by it. So here we go.

1. The arcade 'dungeons' are themed, spontaneously generated adventures for the knights. There are four gates to use. There are also four buttons to use in each gate. So that is 16 starting choices total?

2. There is a totem of icons that apparently indicates the theme of each of the four gates, but the camera angle prevents close examination of the totems. Don't know what I'd be learning from them anyway. Do they matter?

3. There are rows of icons that sometimes move left and right, indicating some kind of change in the dungeons future levels? The icons and their names are ambiguous, I learn nothing from them. This apparently creates a path with choices as you venture through various dungeon levels, but it's unclear how they branch and how you choose a branch and what the branches mean and when you will arrive at them.

4. There are depths and there are levels. I can't find a definition of either term. They sound like the same thing but I guess they are not the same thing.

5. If there are so many levels to explore and they change randomly all the time, how can anyone ever get to the lower parts of any of them? Is this somehow comparable to the Item World dungeons from the Disgaea games? In those games, a very big random dungeon was locked in place until the player either finished or abandoned it, possibly across multiple play sessions.

6. The wiki says mineral usage to influence the dungeons was halted, but the guy in the arcade says to influence the arcade by using the minerals, so these seem contradictory.

7. So I guess the answer is to start entering a bunch of arcade gates and see what happens and eventually figure out what the diagrams mean through trial and error? I can't gauge how to tell if my knight is even ready for any of those gates or why I would want to explore them, rather than do rank and prestige missions.

That was a lot. If anyone would like to help me with one or more of these items, it's appreciated. :)

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 11:39

Bopp

response

1. There are four gates. There are not "four buttons" per gate. Maybe you are talking about the different levels that cycle through each depth? For example, let's say you're on depth 2, looking at the elevator that will take you to depth 3. That elevator shows you an icon for the level that you would enter on depth 3, if you took the elevator right now. But don't take the elevator right now. Instead, just sit and watch the elevator. After a few minutes, you will see the icon change, because a new level has cycled in. To see a complete list of the levels that may cycle in, open the Gate Map (which is in one of the menus in the bottom left corner of your screen). Or open the Missions window, choose the Arcade tab, and inspect the Gate Map there.

2. In the Arcade, each gate has a totem of six icons. Those icons tell you the themes for the six strata. Some themes are monster-based (e.g. gremlin), while other themes are status-based (e.g. freeze). They tell you vaguely what kind of levels you'll be seeing if you descend into that gate. See Gate#Stratum_Themes to learn how. If you want to know more precisely, then inspect the Gate Map.

3. Yes, these are the levels that are cycling through each depth. Once you know the game well, you can decode them based on their icon, color, and name. See Gate#Level_Icons.

4. Each depth has one or more possible levels that you might hit when you go to that depth. For example, let's say we're looking at depth 11, which is in Stratum 3 of the Clockworks. And let's say that this stratum has a shock theme. Then the levels that are cycling through depth 11 might include (A) a Clockwork Tunnels: Power Complex and (B) Thunder Fist Arena. You can choose which of these you want, if you are willing to wait a bit at the end of depth 10.

5. Getting to the lower depths is not hard, because you do just one level on each depth. Let's say each level takes you 10 minutes. Then Stratum 1 takes you 30 minutes, Stratum 2 takes you 30 minutes, Stratum 3 takes you 40 minutes, etc. In fact, advanced players are allowed to skip the shallow strata altogether. So I start my run at Stratum 5 (depth 19). Getting from depth 19 to depth 28 takes me an hour or two, depending on which levels I hit and how much I wait. The next day I do it again.

6. Minerals no longer influence gate construction. If Wegner says that they do, then Wegner needs fixing.

7. My advice is to progress through the rank missions as much as you can. Occasionally you might get stuck at a Hall of Heroes. When that happens, or when you just don't feel like playing missions, play the Arcade for a while. Play the deepest depth that you can handle.

In effect, each mission is like its own mini-gate. It's part of the Clockworks, but not reachable from the Arcade. When you're running a mission, your depth is displayed in the upper right corner of your screen. So use that as a guide, for which depths you could be playing in the Arcade.

Let me know if I can clarify this stuff more.

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 12:08

Bopp

actually

Actually, now I realize your major "misconception".

The big dungeon that fills the interior of the planet is called the Clockworks. There are two big categories of ways to enter the Clockworks: Arcade and missions. It's a little confusing, because the Missions window has a shortcut to the Arcade, but try to keep them straight.

There are 12 different entry points into the Clockworks through the Arcade: four gates, each with three tiers. (Novice knights might not be allowed to enter the deeper tiers. And these 12 ways don't count joining a friend who is already somewhere in the Clockworks.)

There are also 50-some fighting missions, and each fighting mission is essentially another entry point into the Clockworks. Think of a mission as a mini-gate.

Some kinds of Clockworks content appear only in the Arcade part of the Clockworks, such as danger rooms. Some kinds of Clockworks content appear only in missions, such as Arkus in The Silent Legion. But much of the content is shared between the two, such as the Royal Jelly Palace.

Your "misconception" is that some of your questions (1, 2, 6) are about the Arcade specifically, while others (3, 4) are about the Clockworks in general.

To some extent, you can learn about general Clockworks stuff by doing your rank missions. For example, practice knowing your depth (upper right corner) and reading the gate map (in menu in lower left corner). But a lot of mission depths have only one level, so you won't learn much about cycling.

Then go into the Arcade and apply the same skills. Because the Arcade is more systematic than the missions, you will find the skills more useful, and you will start to make connections. For example, you will notice that the depth just before the Royal Jelly Palace is always slime-themed, making that entire Stratum 4 slime-themed. And if you visit the gate in the actual Arcade, you will see that the fourth icon on its totem pole is the slime icon.

I hope that this helps (and is not condescending).

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 12:21

Spieger

i'm a bit dense

Thanks, Bopp, I think that helps some. This sentence is a mystery to me: "a lot of mission depths have only one level, so you won't learn much about cycling."

can you define "depth", "level", and "stratum"? I don't understand how they relate to each other, they all sound like the same thing to me. Clearly they are not, but I don't get the difference. I don't understand cycling either, but maybe that can wait. Thanks in advance.

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 13:06

Corporal-Shade

I'm a Wizard

I will define Depth and Stratum.

Depth is your closeness to the Core. The higher the depth, the tougher monsters are but the loot is better. Slightly. By the way loot is obviously influenced by difficulty. Wak.

Stratum is like the star level of the Clockworks, similar to your equipment. Stratum usually determines what rarities you are able to find, such as Orbs of Alchemy and Fire Crystals. Stratum are usually divided by about four or so floors; gimme a sec as I list them all from Stratum One (0★) to Six (5★).

Tier One
1-3
5-7 ★
Tier Two
9-12 ★★
14-17 ★★★
Tier Three
19-22 ★★★★
24-28 ★★★★★

Any depths not mentions are considered safe and usually have a shop of sorts.

if explanation iz bad den check wiki )':

Oh and this cycling thing, at the end of an Arcade floor you can go to the options and check the Gate Map, which shows the upcoming floors. If you see a Compound and an Arena, but your elevator has the evil compound, you can wait a few minutes and the elevator will switch to compound.

If that was the wrong thing, then the other cycling(probably) is that every gate appears for 4 days(I think) and then get replaced with a new gate.

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 14:17

Bopp

depth, level, stratum

Blazecat-Percival did a good job, but since you seem to benefit from multiple viewpoints, here is another explanation. I will focus on the Arcade, which is the "regular" Clockworks. Missions were added to the game later. Each mission is like a little customized piece of the Clockworks. So, about the Arcade:

Depth is your distance below ground. Depth 0 is near the surface of the world, and depth 29 is near the core of the world. Whenever you ride an elevator down, you are going down one depth. Depths are organized into strata, as follows.
* Depth 0 is a lobby of sorts.
* Depths 1-3 form Stratum 1.
* Depth 4 is a Clockwork Terminal (a shop).
* Depths 5-7 form Stratum 2.
* Depth 8 is Moorcroft Manor (a town).
* Depths 9-12 form Stratum 3.
* Depth 13 is a Clockwork Terminal (a shop).
* Depths 14-17 form Stratum 4.
* Depth 18 is Emberlight (another town).
* Depths 19-22 form Stratum 5.
* Depth 23 is a Clockwork Terminal (a shop).
* Depths 24-28 form Stratum 6.
* Depth 29 is a Core Terminal (not much there).

Within each gate, there is a giant gear at each depth. So a gate is basically a stack of 30 gears, labeled 0 to 29. When you take an elevator down, you are moving from one gear to the gear below it. These gears are why the Clockworks is called "Clockworks". It's like a giant clock.

A level is a specific kind of game board, with a specific mix of monsters and statuses. For example:
* There are five levels within the Concrete Jungle family of levels. Each of these levels has undead, slimes, and poison. Each of these levels has a distinct layout, that is always the same.
* Another family of levels is Deconstruction Zone. There are five versions, corresponding to the statuses shock, freeze, fire, poison, and none. All of them have gremlins and constructs. Unlike Concrete Jungle levels, Deconstruction Zone levels are randomly generated from pre-designed "pieces" or "rooms".

Every 48 hours, one of the Arcade gates disappears and a new gate is created. When the gate is created, a theme is chosen for each of its six strata, and levels are chosen within those strata, according to the themes. For example, if Stratum 4 is given a poison theme, then its four depths might get filled with a mixture of Concrete Jungle levels, poison Deconstruction Zones, and other poison-themed levels.

Now here's the part that seems to be confusing you. As many as six levels can get assigned to a single depth. These levels are mounted around the edge of that depth's gear. When you take an elevator from one depth to the next, you land at a particular place on that gear, and hence in a particular level. Which level you hit depends on how your current gear has rotated relative to the other gear. The gears rotate a bit every few minutes. So your landing place changes every few minutes. The gate map shows you what your landing place would be, if you went down the elevator right now.

Any better?

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 15:43

Spieger

Ahhh. Okay. I think.

That's better, thanks. I am still fuzzy on understanding which depth or level I will be landing on, but I can piece that together. The model really is like a clockwork, if I understand correctly. There are four paths at a time to the core (the gates), but the contents of each stratum (and within that, each depth), are rotating constantly. If I understand missions correctly, they represent a sort of slice or segment of the clockwork. They are, I suppose, sort of frozen in time (having the same levels each time they are entered), but they could, in theory, be found in the clockwork by chance. No worries if I am wrong in part of that, I will wander around and shoot things until it all makes sense. :)

Tue, 06/21/2016 - 20:47

Bopp

good

That's a decent summary, yes. Enjoy the game.

Wed, 06/22/2016 - 03:02

Neometal

gate map

You can always check the next depth you will be arriving on by looking at the gate map. Either look for the gate you are on from the missions tab, or click on the bottom left gear icon, and there you'll also find the gate map.

There is one exception, sometimes when you arrive to the elevator at the end of the map, you may see a question mark. ?-depths will always have a graveyard, a treasure vault, and at least one random map (which always has the theme of the stratum). The map you'll arrive on is totally random, there is no way to know in advance which map you'll get to, but you can check the gate map for the possible maps for that next depth.

Of course if you are joining randomly into an arcade run, there is no way to know on what depth and level you'll arrive on. You can sorta check it with friends, just look at what they are doing at the social tab (f6 by default), then look at the gate they are on, and there search for the depth they are at, and you'll see a small white figure in the corner where your friends are. However, if there are multiple players from your list on the same depth at the same gate, but on different maps, you'll have to ask them in order to know where they are at.

Search

about the Arcade