Cybots vulcore strategy guide

By Jan Eriksson - AKA Slidingtoke

First Patrol:

Training:

1.      Buy a valadin and outfit with ion v2 reactor and one argon laser

2.      Put it in a squad and go to training, only killing lone fleas untill you get level 1

3.      Exit training and put 5 upgrades in weapon tech

4.      replace the argon laser with 2x baron laser and buy 2 baron shields

5.      Sell argon laser and buy phase modulator and motion tracker.

Vulcore:

Goal:
Val lvl 6
47 mercredes
485k cash

"Do not attack" list:
Angels
Renegade bases
Scaven forts/watchtowers

1.      Dont attack anything, just look for an outpost. In firewells you can activate them and maybe you can find coords to outpost.

2.      When you find outpost do tag droid mission 4 times so you get 12 mercredes. Still dont attack anything. When you have 12 mercredes hire a praetor.

3.      Now do crystal mission. Dont attack anything except the squads you meet while extracting crystals

4.      When you have 10 mercredes hire a Centurion. Do crystal mission again. When you have 12 mercredes get an orbie

IMPORTANT! You have 2 choices here. Easy:

5.      Now you have to get 47 mercredes in spare for the next patrol. Do crystal missions, but kill tag droids on the way, and if you find lava fields go there and take the azras, you should be able to do this.

6.      When you have 47 mercredes take the matriarch mission, find a scaven settlement and do a mission for them and get reward mercs. Find another settlement and this time select coords and lava fields.

7.      Hit tag droids and find azras untill you have 485k cash. Remember you can sell stun lasers for 900 cash each. also enter plateaus after you done azras.

Moderate (recommended):

5.      Do matriarch mission. While in here, get scaven mercs, dont attack anything unless you have 3x exp multiplier (except forts and towers), get -25 allignment and withdraw from watchtowers or easy battles until you do it in 1 kc (5-6 times). You should stay here until you get at least one burial mound with crowns, else there are more to get later

6.      When you have -25 allignment, exit, find fallen, get greed and get 490k cash. If you encounter angels, withdraw in one turn.

7.      Deliver crowns. If youre lucky youll have close to 47 mercredes, do cave crystals for the rest. Remember to train withdraw with the surveyer, else he can get killed by angels! Alternatively get some mercreds before going scaven, your call

Patrol 2:

Workshop:

1.      Upgrade to hydraulic WS (65k cash)

2.      Buy 3 reapers

Reaper outfit:
Ion v2 reactor
2x Em syphon
2x Baron shield

3.      Click each reaper and click upgrades. Scroll down and set Targeting priority to "Most reactor energy and withdraw when to "never withdraw" This way your reapers will drain the one with highest energy lvls untill all are drained, even if you autofight.

4.      On your valadin upgrade weapon to 63 (at lvl 6 that should all your upgrades so if you wasted some on something else youre screwed)

Val outfit:
2xMr100 rocket packs
Keep the rest from patrol 1

Make a team and enter vulcore.

Vulcore:

Goal:
55 mercredes
1.4 mill cash total
Reapers lvl 7
Bul tech
Storm shield

"Do not attack" list:
Angels
Magma teams (if they come)

Matriarchs with «Deflector Coil» Shield ring

1.      Dont attack anything, and find an outpost. Hire Zodiac, Orbie and copius.

2.      Do matriarch mission, dont attack anything untill you find scaven settlement and get mercs.

3.      Now attack scaven forts and watchtowers, burial mounds, and in scaven settlements get exp chips so you get exp fast. I recommend not attacking normal patrols unless you have 3x exp or more (since you need so many crowns). Be careful with matriarchs with Deflector Coil shield rings, you cannot drain these without a crit, so withdraw

! Important: If you find scaven farms and workers, then demand tribute and then kill them, this will give -7 allignment.

Note: You must withdraw from 4-5 teams before you do matriarchs to be absolutely sure you dont loose bots to matriarchs...  When fighting normal squads, simply kill anything dangerous (knights, assault squads, champions), then withdraw all, save the zodiac. This will let you have shields for the battle, and you wont accidentally loose the boss or something. When all have withdrawn, withdraw the zodiac too.

4.      You can defeat all matriarchs now that they have 200 hp. Just take care to withdraw if you didnt manage to drain the shield by first turn.

5.      When your reapers are lvl 6, with 20k exp untill they are lvl 7, and when you have 28 crowns (enough for 275 mercredes at least) then deliver crowns. Stop doing settlements and normal squads if you lack crowns but reapers have level 7. Buy storm shield in outpost then enter scaven again to get new mercs, train withdraw and leave for normal patrol (optional, find a settlement and get plateau coords). When you get a fallen encounter get greed.

! Important: If youre found by angels withdraw in one turn :)

6.      Never take a console when you have greed as you can get cash bonus which will ruin it. Hit tag droids and azras untill you have about 1.4 mill cash. Enter plateau whenever you dont have greed (or had greed for 500 kc) and hunting bulwark squads. You have to defeat 10 of these so you get bul tech. Hopefully you get 2 achilles and one reaper to kill. If you get anything worse set 1 reaper on the enemy reaper (check reactor, if its less than 1k youre ok) and 2 reapers on achilles (2 reapers drain him first turn) and second turn all attack the bad bul (reapers fire 4 times each, should be able to drain him...) If you start getting low shields and good bulwark isnt drained/killed, withdraw. Its important not to auto bulwark squads, they could be bad. Always see if you manage to drain them.

7.      When in plateau, do mining bases and renegade bases... the consoles here can contain bul segments (renegade bases in normal patrol can too, so do them when you dont have greed).

Note: Try to do as much plateaus as you can when you dont have greed. It can take a while to get these. I would recommend skipping lava fields when you get coords and go to plateau directly. If greed runs out when you have 750k cash + dont get a new one, simply do azras before plateaus in lava and youll get it around bul tech time.

When you have bul tech and 1.4 mill cash leave patrol.

Patrol 3:

Workshop:
Upgrade WS twice to tetronic (the 500k one) and buy 1 bulwark and one overseer

1.      Put your new bots in a separate squad. Buy Ion flux plus reactor and use shield disrupter, 2 baron lasers and one 20mm autocannon, 1 t-sub and 2 baron reflective shields on bul, ion reactor and baron shield on seer.

2.      When bots are lvl 1, exit. On bul, get 26 wep tech, on overseer, get 5 reactor and 17 module.

Bulwark outfit:

1x ion flux plus
1x Shield disrupter
2x lr100 rocket pack
1x Avenger
2x baron reflective shields
1x security countermand
1x anomaly detector

Overseer outfit:

1x ion v2

1x t-sub

1x storm shield

1x comm wave scanner

On reapers upgrade weapon to 94 (keep reactor at 6).

Reaper outfit:
1x ion v2 reactor
1x pulse beam
1x Syphon dirupter
2x baron shield
1x phase mod

Important that pulse beam is first, since it uses the least energy.

Valadin outfit:

Same as previous, mr100 are best until you can use hr100 (lvl 10). Baron batteries are good, but use too much energy. If you like you can upgrade to 10 reactor and 10 module and change phase modulator with targeting subrutine

Put all bots in one squad and time to go on patrol!

Vulcore:

Goal:
Magma tech (semi optional, dont break a leg getting it :P)
Reapers lvl 9 (10 optimal)
4.5 mill cash AT LEAST!
55 mercredes spare
-100 allignment for next patrol
Not dying :)

"Do not attack" list:
magma fortress... these are dangerous :P

1.       Find an outpost, without attacking anything, and hire 2x zodiacs and 1x copius.

2.      Do matriarch mission again and get scaven mercs without attacking.

3.      Now you can defeat anything that moves in scaven.

Important! You need -100 allignment at least, so make sure you get alot of farms with workers to kill! Killing angels will give -4 allignment, so if you dont have -100 when youre done in scaven, check at end of patrol.

4.      Get exp multis and wreak havoc until youre reapers are 40k ish exp from lvl 9 or 10. It is possible to do next patrol with lvl 9 reapers, its just a bit pain when looking for fallen. Your call. Deliver crowns.

5.      Get back to scaven for the mercs and leave for normal vulcore. When you find fallen, get greed and start killing tag droids and do azras. Remember you MUST have -100 allignment spare after this patrol so dont go crazy on fallen coords, it costs 10 allignment each time you take one thing here!.

6.      Also in lava fields kill phoenix squads for the magma segments, you will get magma tech this patrol. I would suggest doing phoenix squads until you find azras, then leave (with or without greed). Dont break a leg :)

7.      When you have magma and 4.5-5 mill cash at least leave patrol.

Patrol 4

Workshop:

1.      Upgrade workshop to nanomatic

2.      Put away your valadin, we wont be using him anymore.

3.      Buy 3 overseers and put them in your squad.

Bulwark: Upgrade to 98 weapon tech and 20 reactor

Bulwark outfit:

1x sub nuke reactor
4x magma cannons
2x baron reflective
1x anomaly detector
1x security countermand

Reapers: upgrade to 122 weapon tech and 20 reactor (if theyre lvl 10, else keep 6 reactor and ion v2)

Reaper outfit:

1x sub nuke reactor / ion v2
2x Syphon immobilizer
1x baron shield
1x phase mod

Overseer outfit:
Overseer 1 (Leveled one): Upgrade to 34% uplink, 22 mod tech

1x ion v2 reactor
2x magnetic actuator

1x titan deflector
1x baron shield

1x argon laser

Overseer 2, 3
1x ion reactor
3x magnetic actuator
1x baron shield

1x argon laser

overseer 4
1x ion reactor
1x magnetic actuator
1x storm shield
1x comm wave scanner

1x argon laser

with 9 magnetic actuator with varying uplink, you get 31% speed for your team (and 20% fire rate), that gives your reapers 72 speed (check in personal squad viewer), you must have over 70 speed for this patrol on reapers

Off to vulcore!

Patrol 5:

Goal:
Cysentinel
Crusader tech
Some cash left after fallen curse

1.      Find an outpost without attacking anything. Hire 2x zodiacs and 1x adverse.

2.      Walk around normal vulcore without attacking anything untill you get a fallen encounter. This time choose fallen union

! Important: Fallen union will have a curse that drains your exp and cash, its growing when you patrol.

3.      When you have fallen and outpost mercs its time to do the MCs! Find an azras (fallen encounter can get you there directly :P)

4.      When youre in azras take Challenge Master Controllers instead of the normal cash stuff

5.      MASTER CONTROLLERS!:

All you need to know is the order to attack them with your reapers:

1st round
(Set one reaper to drain each target. Always check if they have max negative reactor energy)

Drain list:

Reaper
marauder
leviathan
set baal on orbie (he has 2 syphon elites)

2nd round:
Ranger (put 2 reapers on ranger, you DONT want him to shoot)
valadin
keep baal on orbie, unless hes maxed negative reactor energy

3rd round
both the sentinels
check if any bot youve drain is close to 0 energy, so you drain them
3rd reaper can target whoever you want :)

4th round

They should be halfway dead now without shields...

5th round

Won?

Well gratz on defeating those guys now choose a cysentinel for your prize, its important for the next parts of the strat.

6.      Kill some magma lords before youre kicked out of lava.

7.      Find an outpost and select sulphur anomaly this time.

Note: Save cash by buying first buying things you need for the next patrol. Most notably is 4 shields for cysent (33k each, one federate transmission gives you aprox one shield), and pulse streamer for reaper. Use the rest on argon lasers once you got cruz tech and bought one (if you have less than 200k before cruz you can just buy argon lasers then.

8.      Attack everything except annihilators (you can defeat them but they can kill a bot... Should be ok with your shield deflect really).

9.      When you find workshops start attacking and when youve defeated them choose the tech and get crusader segments, you need 10. when you get crusader tech buy a crusader bot right away, they cost 300k ;)

10.  When you have crusader tech and reapers lvl 12, overseers lvl 10 return to outpost and get azras coords and kill azras before you leave.

Patrol 6:

Note! when you upgrade reactor get 56 highest for now, its enough for the magmatic reactor (costs loads i know). Money will be a bit hurting this patrol, but if you were good you have bought some items already, so the final azras and some argon laser selling will be sufficient. If not, sell some items, (you hardly need 6 immobilizers for instance!)

Workshop:

Now you have a choice. Either you can do 2 reapers for next patrol (leave an overseer behind) or do it with one reaper (harder but lets you level all bots) I would highly recommend doing 1 reaper, but you can loose stuff from time to time.

You should have bought 1 crusader. replace one reaper with crusader, replace one reaper with cysentinel.

Team:
1x reapers lvl 12++
1x bulwark lvl 10++
4x seer lvl 10
1x cysent lvl 0
1x crusader lvl 0

Reaper: Upgrade weapon to 157 and have 241 kg payload

Reaper outfit:
1x sub nuke reactor
1x Syphon immob
1x Pulse streamer
1x phase mod
1x baron shield

Bulwark: Upgrade weapon to 234 and reactor to 30

Bulwark outfit:
1x reactor (you can use sub nuke one him if youre low on cash, just get it from the reaper)
3x morning star
1x shatter cannon
2x t-subs
2x baron reflective

Cysentinel outfit:

1x sub nuke reactor
4x photonic shields
1x motion tracker

Crusader outfit:
1x ion flux plus reactor
1x baron laser
1x sec countermand
1x anomaly detector
1x baron shield

Overseers: on 2 overseers upgrade module uplink to 40%, and on all seers upgrade module to 17 and reactor to 5

Overseer outfit:

2 seers
1x ion v2
3x magnetic accurators

third seer

1x ion v2 reactor
1x storm shield
1x comm wave scanner
1x magnetic accurator

fourth seer (This is the optional seer, you can use a reaper instead for safer team), get 34% uplink

1x ion v2 reactor

1x phase mod

1x t-sub

1x titan deflector

The 2 overseers with 3x magnetic accurators gives 24% fire rate to the team, and the last one gives 2% more, so you have 26% fire rate total (check this in personal squad viewer)

Vulcore:

1.      Find an outpost and hire 3x copius (giving you 100% fire rate total)

2.      Go to sulphur, you can kill all squads except annihilators (they will... annihilate you :)).

Note: Things that are dangerous! Try to drain them before they can shoot.

You have 1320 shields (with 2% deflect), so there are a few things that can kill:

1.      Ex 21-22-23-24. These have shield neuts, so they must be drained. It is possible to drain with pulse streamer radius, albeit a bit risky.

2.      Manticore with 1 shaman. He will fire twice and kill a bot. Drain him.

3.      Renegade base lords. Normal base lord is harmless, but anything else must be drained.

4.      Horrors. These guys are dangerous (thermal dawn weapon), but without seers they fire third turn. With 1 shaman (or something with fire rate) they fire second, and with 2 shamans they fire first turn.

5.      Any squad with 2 shamans. Drain the attack bot always!

As a final note, if you loose bots and have to exit, make sure that you outfit crusader with new weapons! At lvl 5 he can use baron battery, at lvl 6 he can use magma cannon. These will allow you to kill things much much faster :)

3.      If you dont have horribly low mercredcount, buy an exp multi to refresh your current, if you had it for more than 40 kc (only 4x exp or higher). If you are lucky, you will get regular exp multis, which will last quite a bit.

4.      Do this until you have 750 mercredes (enough for 3 dax pods for the tals..) If you get this before levels, simply buy exp multis with spare creds.

5.      Cysentinel and crusader at least lvl 10, lvl 12 is optimal for alpha..

6.      When you have this youre ready for tals, or you can stay and keep on doing sulph if you like but its a waste really, more exp in tals later on :)

A note, if you manage to get 800 mercredes, buy an azras coords before you leave, for that extra ounce of cash!

Alternative Patrol 6:

Use fallen. This way you can use 2 crusaders and still kill things. Your cash will probably hurt a bit if you do this, but you can always do a cash run after youre done with second sulph run. Setup your team as you like, but its adviceable to keep less than 1.5 mill bm to avoid nasty sulph squads. Just take in to account that you need to farm a bit more allignment before this patrol.

I would actually advice using somewhat the same team that i use in my strat, lots of speed. Hire 2 zodiacs and 1 adverse (you will have 20% fire rate for fallen to get 200% anyway, zod and adverse give you some survivability). Then simply go to sulphur and kill all you see. Annihilators are still a bit dangerous, depending on your BM. If youre unlucky you will get shamans and annihilators, and those can turn your good luck sour rather fast. Unless you have 100 speed reapers, dont do annis. Dont forget to buy things while doing the run.

Pre Talsia:

If you have very low cash, you can do a small cash run now. I usually dont, as i generally have enough for delta (almost the same items, save some weapons really), but for alpha you will most likely have some cash issues, unless you have a mining base. In general just use the sulphur team with 3 copius and 2 reapers. Just hit 2-3 azras and you will have more than enough. Alternatively do this after you have plasma tech, crusader with plasma turbo cannon melts bots in vulcore.