I keep seeing this mentioned, but I can't find any topic on it or anything on the wiki for the ins and outs of it
So, what tips and tricks are there out there that are used to use this to your advantage?
Thanks
Aggro tips and tricks
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 18:16
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 06:44
#2
As a note, evilnut means
As a note, evilnut means Retrodes, not mecha knights. Mecha knights are melee only in T2 and have a short range set of 4 shots on their charge attack at T3.
S'all good advice still.
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 09:10
#3
Can't we just call them
Can't we just call them constructs?
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 13:25
#4
For the record, enemies when
For the record, enemies when they first spawn will tend to target the closest targets. After that they will chase down and attack people who have damaged them. Retrodes behave the same way. If the only person who has hit them is far away, they do their laser thing. If he's up close, they claw at them, even if others are miles away.
Gunpuppies are the only enemy that doesn't seem to have the same mechanic. They attack the closest enemy that they're aware of. If they aren't facing you when they spawn, they will ignore you until you do something that makes them aware of you, like attacking them or moving in front of it. Assuming that a given gunpuppy is aware of all players though, it will always attack the one physically closest to it, even if that player is behind cover, and even if that player hasn't actually attacked it in anyway, even if another player is shooting at it at the time.
Generally whoever has caused the most damage to an enemy will be the player the enemy tries to chase. I say generally, because I've noticed that even the low-damage status bombs tend to take and keep enemy attention, regardless of how hard other players hit them afterward. Trojans may also chase down players who have attacked them from the front, despite causing no damage because of their shield.
As for ways to take advantage of it, I can think of two right off:
If a Trojan is focused on you, you can make it turn its vulnerable back to your teammates so they can kill it. Don't just run circles around it like I see so many people do.
You can use your proximity to a Gunpuppy to make it fire in a direction other than back at the rest of your party, allowing your gunners to shoot it with impunity, rather than having to restrict their shooting while they dodge and/or shield. If there's cover nearby, you can use that to preserve your shield, so long as you're always closer to the puppy than the gunners are.
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 13:29
#5
Can't we just call them
Can't we just call them constructs?
Wouldn't really help. Constructs are one of the more varied enemy families, with 5 different types with very different behaviors. Unlike the Slime family, for example, who all attack in pretty much the same way. As different constructs require different approaches, it's important to distinguish between them.
If you are alone, there's no shame in running back a long way to separate the enemies so you can pick them off one by one. Note that enemies can and will chase you over a long distance, but with a bit of wandering around so they won't catch up immediately.
If you are in a team, monsters like to attack closest targets. So you can for example walk close to a gun puppy with your shield up, to allow your teammates to attack it from behind. Same with lumber/Trojan.
Start in T2 mecha knights will shoot at far away targets. Their rays travel on the ground and cannot pass through short walls, but they will aim over short walls anyway. You can abuse that and lure them to shoot at you, taking some heat of your teammates while you shoot the mecha knights with impunity.
In arenas, enemies are spawned in waves. When you step on the group button, two waves were spawned immediately. When one wave got wiped out, a new wave will be spawned to replace it. The trick is to identify which monsters are part of the same wave... choose an easy-to-handle monster and keep it alive, so you can deal with other monsters without a new wave appearing. Sometimes you can't tell, as both waves spawned will be the same monster; and more often your teammates don't co-operate with you this way.
Lichens are also a problem in arena... when they combine, they no longer count as part of the wave. So you could end up a full arena with two waves plus lichen colonies.