Land of Devastation Grind Guide by DDRCrono
Table of Contents:
1) About
2) General Gameplay Guidelines
3) Shopping Recommendations
4) Stat Points
4a) Overview of Sources of Stat Points
4b) How to Distribute Stat Points for this Build
5) Combat Strategy
6) Tables
6a) Leveling Order
6b) Key Purchase Order
7) Grind Guide
7a) Zone 1
7b) Zone 2
7c) Drugs: Everything in Moderation
7d) Zone 3
7e) Zone 4
7f) Zone 5
7g) Shrine of Hercules
7h) Zone 6
7i) Endgame content
8) Thanks and Supplemental Information
9) About Me and Contact Information
1) About
This is meant to be an experience, money, build and equipment guide, not a full
do-everything-for-you walkthrough; this guide also assumes a basic familiarity
with the game and controls, which are reasonably easy to figure out, and there
are instructions for them elsewhere online. I a believe that people should play
through games mostly for themselves, however, this game is pretty harsh,
and, other than some basic "Here's a list of the game's quests, enemies and
items" there's very little information currently available on the mechanics of
the game and how to build up a good character.
Compared to a modern RPG, this game is fairly harsh on a couple of fronts:
Stat point assignment is permanent (without suggestions or much explanation)
and there are a couple of ways to permanently lose (or prevent yourself from
gaining) stat points throughout the game. Furthermore, itemization is not
entirely straightforward and, because a fair bit of money and experience
grinding is necessary, a trial and error method can be very frustrating and
time-consuming, especially if you end up messing your character up and wanting
to start over. My aim here, then, is to make a guide that puts you on the right
path of a good build while still maintaining the basic exploration and quest
challenges of the game.
I have structured this guide to be a way through the game "as it was intended
to be played", so I have not included a couple of exploits that essentially
break the game. These were likely oversights never updated out, rather than
intended parts of gameplay. (Unlike regular released games, BBS games were
commonly "works in progress" that were always being updated and tinkered with,
that said, other than a couple of loose ends, this game feels complete).
This is also a very "vanilla" guide without a lot of extra fancy tricks that
you can employ. For instance, every day every SSSS store on the map gets a
different 40% off a random item special; these specials can allow you to get
some strong items you might not be able to afford yet, or items that are not
normally purchasable at all. Though this is something you can do, and I
recommend checking the SSSS stores regularly, I haven't included this point
as part of the guide because my aim is to make more of a "consistent" guide
that you can follow regardless of what happens to be on sale on particular day.
Note: Other than the most minor hints as to the general progression of the
game, this guide is essentially spoiler-free as far as quests and the storyline
of the world goes. I'm one of those people who really doesn't like spoilers,
so I've done my best to focus on the mechanics of gameplay, and generally don't
talk about quests at all unless they pertain directly to your build.
2) General Gameplay Guidelines
- Make sure you always have rations, medkits, and the necessary ammo for your
weapons. Keep an eye on armor durability as well. Double-check and have extras
when possible.
- Always sell items to the SSSS rather than regular stores because you get
more. (65% of base value).
- Always deposit leftover money at the end of the day into the game account.
The game part of it doesn't work (must have been a future feature) so you just
get better daily interest. When you've saved up for a major item purchase and
are nearing the end of your playing day, consider delaying the purchase so that
you can put the money in your account overnight and gain a nice bit of interest
toward the next major purchase.
- Don't carry (in your inventory, equipped is ok) items you are not ok losing,
as some monsters will do so randomly and are too strong to fight when you first
enter their zone. The safest place for items you don't want to lose ~while
you're playing~ is on the ground in Sacre base, or later, in your fortress.
- ALWAYS immediately equip items upon purchase. You don't want to run into a
fight thinking you're stronger than you are, or, worse yet, get your newly
purchased item stolen. (Not that that's happened to me, of course).
- Once you start cloning yourself, remember that it's like a save point for
your character, so you need to re-clone after you level, drink from a stat
fountain, etc. (Note: If you drink from a stat fountain, die, and resurrect
from a clone made before you drank from the stat fountain, you still won't be
able to get stat fountain bonus again!! Definitely learned this the hard way).
- There are several SSSS centres on the map and they have rotating daily item
specials, always a good idea to check the ones you can safely get to every day.
- IF YOU DIE in the early game before you can afford/should bother to clone, DO
NOT RESURRECT, you will PERMANENTLY LOSE STATS, even if you clone in the
future. Just make a new character and go pick up your stuff. Money/equipment
matters way more than experience in the early levels, and cloning yourself
(the safety against losing stats) costs quite a bit of money and would need to
be frequently updated in the early levels. I put it off until about level 6.
- MAKE SURE to keep enough money in a bank account to re-clone yourself
immediately when you resurrect if you've died. It also doesn't hurt to keep
some bare minimum armor/shield laying on the ground at the exit of the base in
case you need to run back to your corpse somewhere further away. (The same
applies for having a backup raft as well). There's nothing worse than having
an updated clone, resurrecting, trying to run to your corpse, and then dying
again and not having a clone anymore. Don't learn the hard way.
- IMPORTANT NOTE ON STAT FOUNTAINS: There are three fountains that give you
stats in the game, if you drink from one, die, then resurrect from a clone not
only will the clone not have your stat bonuses, they will no longer be able to
get them from the fountain, ever! You absolutely must clone immediately after
drinking from a stat fountain, do not put it off until you level, just in case,
even if you have EMWarp. (Mistakes happen...statues knock laptops out of your
inventory...not that this ever happened to me).
3) Shopping Recommendations
- The build I recommend will be based around you prioritizing your shopping
purchases in the following order: Long range weapon, short range weapon,
shield, armor. The one exception to this is that you will want to start the
game with a short-ranged weapon purchase, which I will detail in the main
guide.
- When compared to short range weapons that consume ammo (most of them worth
buying past the start of the game), long range weapons do far more damage per
unit of ammo used and, given the cost of ammo, particularly in the early game,
are much more cost-effective. A good long range weapon paired with high
dexterity will start most fights slanted heavily in your favour. As the game
progresses, long-range weapons get features (3-burst mode, grenade launcher &
stunner) that will often win you a fight without giving your opponent a chance
to even take a shot. (This is because the game will always allow you to shoot
your long range weapon before the opponent, meaning you will often start a
fight with a stunned opponent who has taken more than half their life in damage
and didn't even get a chance to fire their long-range weapon).
- Short range weapons are still important as you will usually need them to
finish off what your long range weapon starts. Shields and armor are important,
but, compared to the ammunition most short and long range weapons consume, the
cost of constantly replacing broken armor is very, very high. This means that
getting a "good for your level" armor can actually turn out to be more of an
expense than it's worth; this, however, becomes less of a factor in the
mid-to-late game. (Shields, particularily early-game, are a more reasonable
investment than armor because their high durability with low block % means they
tend to last for a very long time before breaking, but still give you that
extra edge in combat. By the time an early-game shield is ready to break,
you're practically ready to upgrade it anyway).
- Please see table at 6b) for recommended shopping order.
4) Stat Points
4a) Overview of Sources of Stat Points
- The main way to get stats is by leveling, where you pick how to assign 5 stat
points per level; NEVER bother with the money option.
- Further to leveling, there are three other ways to raise stats: through stat
fountains, a laptop ROM and drugs.
- There are 3 stat enhancing fountains in the game, two are in Sacre Base; one
gives +5 dex and the other +5 agl. One fountain much later, in the Shrine of
Hercules gives +25 strength; this also works out well for my build as it
neglects strength until late-game. In total stat fountains give 35 stat points,
equivalent to 7 levels.
- You can also find a Tetris laptop ROM which will add 4 poits to your dex,
a nice bonus considering you'll just find this randomly, and relatively easily.
- Drugs, in the mid-to-later game, are an extremely effective way of raising
your stats. In my sample run-through of the game, I gained 44 stat points,
equal to nearly 9 levels in stats. A word of warning: If the proper procedure
for raising stats through drugs is not followed, you risk permanently screwing
up your character; raising your stat points the safe and correct way, however,
will be quite costly, thus why it is a mid-to-later game endeavour. Make sure
to read my section on drug use carefully.
- In addition to stat points received by levelling, you will see a guaranteed
39 stat points from fountains and the ROM, and, with a little luck, in the
neighbourhood of 44 from drugs, for a total, in my case, of 83 stat points,
over 16 levels worth; pretty significant when you consider that you're in the
endgame around level 45-50.
4b) How to Distribute Stat Points for this Build
- Dexterity is by far the most important stat for this build, which I believe
is the most effective build. Dexterity increases your average short and long
range damage by making you hit more often, whereas strength, by comparison,
only increases average short range damage by increasing the damage when on hit;
it is, furthermore, less consistent. By the mid-game, you will have a
long-range weapon with 3-burst mode, and a grenade launcher, but the price of
that is that its attacks will be less accurate, so having a high dexterity is
vital to making the best of it. While it is easy to upgrade the damage of your
weapons simply by upgrading them, there is no way to upgrade their accuracy
until you're able to afford very expensive upgrades, which you will still need
even with this dexterity-based build.
- Agility is the second-best stat, but the saying "a little goes a long way"
applies, as you will experience diminishing returns in each zone for how much
dexterity you have. That is to say, at first points give you a much better
chance to dodge enemies close to your level, then less and less as you increase
the stat, so there's a limit to how much agility you really need to bother with
per zone. (It's a relative calculation compared to your opponent's dexterity).
- Hit Points are the third-best stat. By the mid to late game, armor + shield
+ agility will mean you are hit very seldom, say, 10-15% of the time, but for
when you are, you will want to have enough hit points to survive a couple of
hits from most enemies.
- Strength is the least important stat until very late in the game, especially
since you receive 25 free strength from a fountain, but only 5 free dexterity
and agility. Once you start being able to consistently hit enemies in the
highest zone with most of your gun's burst mode, and levels get easier (oddly
enough) to grind, it's worth putting some focus in strength to increase your
short-range damage.
- Please see specific level-by-level table at 6a).
5) Combat Strategy
- In the earlier levels, using medkits if you start the battle having taken an
unlucky long range hit from an enemy with relatively low close range damage
can be smart, but because even using them doesn't work every time, and they
never get better per dose than they are to start the game, they are only a
viable option in niche early-game situations.
- When your long-range weapon outclasses your close range weapon, and you want
to try fighting an opponent that may be risky, consider a target that has a
poor long range weapon but good close-range weapon/stats. You can start the
fight by shooting your long range weapon, and then only fight if you hit and
they miss (or you hugely outclass their damage) and otherwise, just run away.
There is still some risk to this strategy as you might not always get away;
you have to consider what risk level you're willing to take.
- The general combat strategy with this build, as I've already explained, can
essentially be summed up as "Melt their faces horribly with your long range
weapon, poke them a couple of times to finish them up and call it a day." With,
as previously stated, the addendum "And if the long range weapon misses, run
for it." It's a pretty simple, but generally quite effective strategy duo to
the "Player always shoots first" rule.
6) Tables
6a) Leveling Order
Level 2: +5 dex
Level 3: +5 dex
Level 4: +3 dex, +2 agl
Level 5: +3 dex, +2 agl
Level 6: +3 dex, +2 agl (First clone)
Level 7: +2 dex, +2 hp, +1 agl
Level 8: +3 dex, +2 hp (Fountains/Tetris about here +9 dex, +5 agl)
Level 9: +3 dex, +1 hp, +1 agl
Level 10: +5 hp (Drug bonuses around here, +31 dex, +13 agl)*
Level 11: +5 hp
Level 12: +5 hp
Level 13: +5 hp
Level 14: +5 hp
Level 15: +2 dex, +1 agl, +2 hp
Level 16: +5 dex
Level 17: +5 dex
Level 18: +5 dex
Level 19: +5 dex
Level 20: +5 dex
Level 21: +5 dex
Level 22: +5 hp
Level 23: +5 hp
Level 24: +5 agl
Level 25: +5 agl
Level 26: +2 agl, +3 hp
Level 27: +5 hp
Level 28: +5 hp
Level 29: +2 hp, +3 agl
Level 30: +5 dex
Level 31: +5 dex
Level 32: +5 agl
Level 33: +2 dex, +3 agl
Level 34: +2 dex, +3 agl
Level 35: +5 hp (Shrine of Hercules +25 Strength)
Level 36: +5 dex
Level 37: +5 dex
Level 38: +5 dex
Level 39: +5 dex
Level 40: +5 dex
Level 41: +5 hp
Level 42: +5 hp
Level 43: +5 hp
Level 44: +5 dex
Level 45: +5 agl
Level 46: +5 agl
Level 47: +5 hp
Level 48: +5 hp
Level 49: +5 dex
Level 50: +5 dex
Level 51+: Focus on strength, maybe a touch more in other stats.
*Note: Please see the detailed grind guide for my results with the
drug grind; this level-by-level order has been, to some degree, influenced by
my luck there. Unless you get literally no stats from drugs (exceptionally
unlikely), you will want to raise HP for quite a few levels after you use them,
as it's the only stat you can't get from drug use, and thus you will want to
raise it for several levels to bring things back into a proper ratio after the
drug grind.
6b) Key Purchase Order (Note: Prices go up by 10% at level 10 and 25%
at level 20, I will list what I pay on an average run, but obviously you want
to try to time major purchases around those landmark levels correctly when
possible).
1) $2500 - Buy razorlance
2) $5800 - Clip pistol + ammo
3) $43,000 - Comp blaster + ammo
4) $10,000 - Plasma Shield
5) $40,000 - Electrolance
6) ~$10,000 - First clone (Level 6) Continue cloning every level
7) $250,000 - Combat Phaser ($250,000) -> ACME (Coordinates: 5, 4)
8) $100,000 - Plasma Armor (Buy Recharger/1000 for $250k to recharge it)
9) $1,020,000 - Devastator + Grenades @ ACME/Sacre Base
10) $750,000 - Fire Sabre + Vortex Cell @ EEEE (Coordinates: 26, 39)
11) $450,000 - Fortress with teleporter ($450,000 minimum, consider SFG)
12) $2,500,000 - Try to buy this before you hit level 10 to save $250,000.
-> EEEE (Coordinates: 26, 39)
13) ~$2,000,000 - The drug grind (Drugs + clones)
14) $5,000,000 - 30% Accurize Devastator @ ACME
15) $5,000,000 - 30% Intensify Devastator @ ACME
16) $3,000,000 - 30% Intensify Fire Sabre @ ACME
17) $3,000,000 - 30% Accurize Fire Sabre @ ACME (Somewhat optional purchase)
18) $13,500,000 - 30% Targetting Array upgrade to Phase Armor @ ACME
19) $46,870,000 - Fully upgraded Nuke-o-Matic @ EEEE*
20) $13,500,000 - 30% Servo-Augmentation Unit on Phase Armor @ ACME
21) $13,500,000 - 30% Exoskeletal Augmentation on Phase Armor @ ACME
22) $17,500,000 - 30% Intensify A-Mk II @ ACME
23) $17,500,000 - 30% Accurize A-Mk II @ ACME
24) $54,000,000 - Fully upgraded Dreamblaster: No Uni-ammo, must use Dreamstuff
25) See section 7i) for endgame content suggestions for ridiculous overkill
*Once you have enough for Uni-Ammo, 3-round, grenade launcher and Accurize on
a Nuke-o-Matic, it should be overall more of a combat asset than your
Devastator, even without stunner and shockwave. (And obviously without
intensify since it already does more damage). I say Uni-Ammo is necessary
because the regular ammo takes up so much inventory space per usable piece it
interferes with proper grinding not to have it.
7) Grind Guide
Note: If at any point you find you haven't managed to buy whichever item
by the level I mention, it's fine as there's a bit of a luck factor involved in
grinding, drops, etc. The most important thing is to make sure you have the
items recommended before moving on, even if it takes an extra level or two.
(And, except in the early game (zone 1 and 2), if you get the needed items
earlier than the level I mention, you'll probably be just fine).
7a) Zone 1
Build-vital items (drops) from zone 1: Tetris ROM (Distraught Sysop drop, +4
dex when run from laptop), Fountain Key (rare Scavenger drop, +5dex/+5agl from
fountains behind doors in Sacre Base, near entrance).
Other key zone 1 drops: Red keycard, Green keycard.
- Note for any purchases, or for how to level your stats, see above tables 6a)
and 6b)
- Leave base, run from anything on your way to the nearby SSSS. Sell
flashbombs, sacre map and user manual, go back to base and buy Razorlance,
don't forget to equip it. Fight enemies close to base, run from Valley Girl,
Scavenger, Hulk, Barbarian, Distraught Sysop, Death Warrior, Insane Soldier,
Bandit and Trader. Choose "F" to depart as friends with Bandit/Trader, run
from others. Equip whatever armor you find from battle, remember to replace
it when it degrades. (leather > animal hide > cloth > Apron).
- You can also get a slingshot from Bart as your first long range weapon, it
doesn't use ammo. Healing is cheaper if you buy it from the nearby fortress
just up the road from Sacre base, as opposed to from Sacre Base itself. If
you're having trouble with bandits stealing your medkits too frequently, I
suggest piling up your inventory before you sell items as much as possible to
increase the chance he'll grab something else. If you run out of rations and
don't want to buy more, you can run back and forth to the town fountain to
stop your hunger.
When you're at least level 3 with a clip pistol, a razorlance and armor,
you can start fighting Death Warrriors. Some risk is involved, I suggest
healing if you miss long range and he hits.
When you're at least level 5 with a comp blaster, a razorlance, leather
armor and plasma shield, I could start fighting Barbarian, Insane Soldier,
Valley Girl, Hulk. Even though her stats aren't great, Valley Girl's stun gun
can make you drop an item (including your equipped weapon or armor) and stun
you, which is why I don't recommend fighting her until now. If you decide to
fight Valley Girl earlier, or before you have a shield, note that the Pom Pom
can be used as one, and has a great block %, but terrible durability.
When you're at least level 6 with a comp blaster, an electrolance, kevlar
armor and plasma shield, you can fight everything in zone 1 except for the
bandit and trader. Use some caution for the stronger opponents. Around this
time I start running from lower-level monster fights to save time/ammunition,
and I stop picking up items worth less than $1000, to cut down on time spent
selling.
- I recommend that you start cloning yourself around this time, and once per
level-up, and, of course, if you die clone again immediately upon resurrection
at the clone centre. Keep some extra money in your account so you can do this
if need be, also, keep a spare piece of armor/shield and medkit laying around
in front of Sacre while you play, so collecting your corpse's items will be
easier if you need to.
7b) Zone 2
Build-vital items (drops) from zone 2: EMwarp (copy to laptop), warper.
You'll be ready to start zone 2 once you have an Electrolance, Combat
Phaser, PlasmaVest & Plasma Shield, usually around level 8. There is a part
of the river down from Sacre Base (coordinates 8, 29 - 8, 37) where you can
only run into Giant Vultures (not worth fighting) and Watchers which only
use a clip pistol + electrolance, but drop iron plating, LRScan ROM and
Scanner, all worth $20k+. With your tri-burst Combat Phaser, they should
usually be a pretty easy fight. (Note: Tri burst has 100%, 80% and then 60%
accuracy, so overkilling your dex is important to make sure the 2nd and 3rd
shots are more likely to do damage).
- If you didn't read earlier, it is highly recommended that you keep a spare
raft, kevlar, medkit and enough money in the bank to re-create your clone in
case you die as you will want to be able to run safely to your death spot.
- Note that now that you have your first energy-type armor, you can use a
Recharger/1000 if it gets low, rather than replacing it. (It works out to a
better price since you can get 5 full recharges of this armor). Once you're
really rich, the Ultra-Charger from the Holostore/Terra Labs is an even
better deal, you can also use rechargers once you upgrade to Phase armor,
though that store only sells 2 Ultra-Chargers per day. All armor from here on
will be rechargeable.
- Note that you will be grinding here for some time because it's a relatively
low-risk / high-reward spot that is beneficial for quite some time. You'll want
to keep going until you get a Devastator + grenades, Fire Sabre and Phase
Armor. When you go to shop for the Fire Sabre/Phase armor, run from all
encounters on the way there and back, healing as necessary; these encounters
can be risky. You'll also want the Vortex pack for use with your Fire Sabre:
note that you can add any time of energy ammunition into it to recharge it,
just use the Vortex pack as an item and it will ask you what you want to charge
it with.
- At some point in this grindfest you will likely hit level 9 at which point
you won't be able to stay in Sacre Base for free anymore. I recommend buying a
Fortress (hit f) in Zone 2, south of Sacre Base with a teleporter in it, though
if you're playing with others I'd recommend a Stealth Generating Field (SFG)
and some better than basic defenses. This gives you somewhere to log off and
leave extra stuff. Once you start grinding zone 2 more, I also recommend buying
a Smart Scavenger (r1) and it will clean up any extra stuff one space up, down,
left and right of the fortress for money/ammo/medkits. You basically pace back
and forth around your fortress for ideal grinding.
At level 9 with a Fire Sabre, Devastator, Phase Armor and Plasma shield
you're ready to take on the rest of zone 2, and will actually be quite close to
being able to start zone 3. (With the exception of any elementals, run from
those). An interesting note about the Devastator: It comes with a grenade
launcher, allowing you a guaranteed hit (as long as you have grenades) on every
long-range attack, followed by a triple burst. Normally, the grenade launcher
attachment gives a 30% accuracy penalty, but, it seems that because the
Devastator comes with it built-in, it does not apply in this case, though it
will later. (It will in the future, though). The tri-burst mode still has
accuracy of 100%, 80% and 60%.
- Before you start grinding through too many enemies, the first priority is to
find and install the EMWarp ROM and a couple of warper/5s to keep on hand.
(You can check what an enemy is holding at the start of any fight). Together,
these will teleport you back to Sacre Base as you're about to die in battle, so
you will now be able to play a little more risky. Keep in mind, however, that
you may have a warper stolen if the thief in your zone (Cat Burgler for zone 2)
is still alive, so it's advisable to have 2 on you if you want to try to fight
him. (Also, once you can spare the money, picking up a second Vortex Cell is a
good idea for the same reason). This is a good guideline to keep in mind for
the rest of the game, or at least until you've killed the thief in every zone.
Once you have the EMWarp program installed + a warper, you should be able
to ~very safely~ grind everything in zone 2, except those pesky Elementals, but
at least if you accidentally fight them you get teleported out. I recommend
that you stay close to your fortress then teleport back to alpha transport
and sell your goods at the nearby SSSS as it's more time-efficient. (This may
not be possible if someone has taken over Alpha transport and raised the
teleport price significantly/disabled it, but you can always build a second
fortress with a teleporter right beside an SSSS instead). Once you have about
$2,000,000, proceed to the next step. (You can actually do the next step in
pieces if you want, but I just do it all in one go, but try to do it just
before level 10 so that you can save some money, since all store prices
increase by 10% when you hit level 10).
7c) Drugs: Everything in Moderation
The great drug grind: It's VITAL that you follow the instructions here
EXACTLY or you will risk permanently messing up your character's stats. At
ACME, you can buy Dexterity and Agility Enhancers from the Pharmaceutical
Division.
The way these work is that, upon first use, you have a 5% chance to lose random
stats and a 95% chance to gain the stat the drug is suppose to enhance, second
use it's 10% / 90% and so on. The strategy here is to clone before you start,
use an enhancer, then clone again if it was successful, if it was not
successful, swap places with the clone and replace the now bad clone with a
new, good one and try another application. Note that the 5%, 10%, 15%, etc.
chance of failure progresses even when you swap places with a clone and
re-clone after an unsuccessful application.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT DO MORE THAN 1 IN A ROW. ALWAYS CLONE AFTER EACH
INDIVIDUAL SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION OF THE ENHANCER, ALWAYS SWAP AND RE-CLONE
IF YOU ARE NOT. The reason for this is, let's say you are just start and want
to save $ on cloning, you try 3 times, and on the third, you have bad luck
and suffer a stat regression, so you restart from your clone and start again.
Even though you are restarting from a clone, it will not reset your enhancer
success rate, so it will treat your first application of the enhancer on your
clone as though it's your 4th already, giving you only an 80% success rate and
reducing the overall stat gain you can have. Needless to say, while expensive,
it's vital to reclone after every success and swap with the clone after every
failure.
- On a test run, when I started this process, my level 10 clone cost around
$63,480 which may be slightly different for you and will grow as you enhance
your stats, enhancers cost $100,000 (I bought them just before I hit level 10,
at level 10 they will cost you $110,000). You can attempt to use drugs with a
chance of success up to 19 times, though your 19th attempt would have only a
5% chance of raising your stat for a pretty significant cost. (Clone + drug)
- At first, you get large gains in stats, but those will decrease as you go on,
so I don't feel it's totally worth going all the way to the 19th application.
I would say that at least 10 is the minimum number of applications you do,
though. The cost range in my run through for the range of 10-19 enhancers and
11-20 clones (you clone before you start) means your total cost wold be
somewhere between $1,698,280 and $3,169,600. (It would be slightly higher than
that because your clone cost will increase as you increase stats). Personally,
I like to go for somewhere around 14 applications, it just doesn't feel worth
the time and money much beyond that.
- The process is a little tedious, but I have to emphasize that if you screw
up, you cause your character permanent damage. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE
DOING. Don't accidentally forget to clone yourself or forget to swap and
re-clone. If you want to be paranoid, double-check your stats and the clone's
stats before you have another application. I run with a 2-1 dexterity to
agility ratio, my level 10-14 level-ups are all hp since you can't get it from
drugs.
Just for the sake of it, I did a full sample run all the way up to 19, which
is theoretically only a 5% chance of success:
Use 1: +8 dex, make new clone
Use 2: +6 dex, make new clone
Use 3: +5 agl, make new clone
Use 4: +5 dex, make new clone
Use 5: +3 dex, make new clone
Use 6: +4 agl, make new clone
Use 7: +3 dex, make new clone
Use 8: +3 dex / regression -1 str, -5 dex, -6 agl, swap and remake clone
Use 9: +2 agl, make new clone
Use 10: +2 dex, make new clone
Use 11: +2 dex, make new clone
Use 12: +2 agl, make new clone
Use 13: +2 dex / regression -3 str, -12 dex, -2 agl, swap and remake clone
Use 14: +2 dex / regression -5 str, -18 dex, -10 agl, swap and remake clone
Use 15: +2 agl / regression -3 str, -3 dex, -12 agl, swap and remake clone
Use 16: +2 dex, make new clone
Use 17: +2 dex / regression -1 str, -4 dex, -1 agl, swap and remake clone
Use 18: +2 agl / regression -4 str, -4 dex, -2 agl, swap and remake clone
Use 19: +2 dex / regression -2 str, -14 dex, -3 agl, swap and remake clone
I had exceptionally good luck at the start, and exceptionally poor luck in
the end, but from this you get the general idea of what you can expect to gain.
My clones were costing above $100k by the end, though I had stopped to do some
grinding and raised a level in the middle there.
All in all, I gained 31 dex and 13 agl for a total of 44 stat points, nearly 9
levels worth. Needless to say, well worth the time and money, though I would
personally stick to around 12-14 applications as a rule as the 1.5 million I
spent on the last 7 levels could have instead been put toward the next major
purchase. (Even if I'd had a little more success, I couldn't have reasonably
expected more than +4 more stat points, given the pattern we see of diminishing
returns). To put my gain into context, according to cstats, I had a 98% chance
to hit the average zone 2 monster before this and ended with a 152% chance and
a 98% chance to hit a zone 3 monster; a nice start to zone 3!
7d) Zone 3
Build vital item: Silo Key
At level 11, after the drug grind, I was able to start fighting monsters
in zone 3. Armours here are by far the most worthwhile items to pick up and
resell, and they're plentiful. I set up a fortress with an R1 smart scavenger
and walk back and forth around it, only picking up armor for resell runs, the
base will take care of the scraps. Trader has silo key, which you will need
eventually.
- In case you're wondering why there's so much focus on HP at this point in my
recommended build, it's because you just got a big dex/agl stat boost from
drugs, which you couldn't choose to do for your hp. You need to be able to take
a few hits to be able to farm consistently in zone 3 without blowing too many
warpers. With the 30% accuracy bonus on the devastator, which should be your
first priority, you should hit almost everything in zone 3 with your full
burst, unless you had particularly bad luck with the drug grind, in which case
you may need to put some levels into dex.
- As you're nearing the end of the zone you're on, you want to be putting
points into dex, ensuring that you can consistently hit the enemies in the next
zone with the full burst of your long-range weapon. One thing to note is that,
as you'll be upgrading to the Nuke-o-matic relatively soon, you will be facing
a 30% accuracy penalty for the grenade launcher you'll add to it. They
neglected to apply this penalty to the Devastator, perhaps because it's already
built-in. Remember to keep an eye on your vortex cell ammo, armor/shield
durability (recharge armor as necessary - ultracharger, if you can get one from
the Holostore right by Sacre is pricey as a single purchase but more
cost-effective long-term); don't forget to make sure you always have grenades.
The upgrades you'll be working on will make your grinding more effective as
you'll need to repair armor less and use less ammo from your ammo-hungry fire
sabre. (Devastator uses way less than the Fire Sabre per shot) Shorter battles
tend to also mean more durability left on their armor, which means better
selling price as well, so the grind gets easier as you go along.
7e) Zone 4
At level 19, with Phase armor, fully upgraded devastator, fully upgraded
fire sabre, phase armor and cabal shield (you can find this on area 3's trader,
if you just have plasma shield still, it's fine), I proceeded to zone 4.
(Current stats were 21str/110dex/48agl which will vary a bit from the drug
grind, depending on your luck). I generally stick to picking up the armor
mostly here, though the widow blaster sells for almost as much, and the plasma
blaster is decent as well. Don't fight the rad tornado.
- I realized at level 22 that I overkilled the dex I immediately needed because
I was checking hit probability through cstats as a guide of when to level, but
I realized that it only includes the bonus dex you get from armor mods (as it
applies to both short and long range weapons) but not the individual bonuses
from weapons (as it only applies to that weapon, so it can vary), so when I was
showing 100% chance to hit, it was already 130% for both weapons since they
both had 30% accurize upgrades. No big deal, as this dex will be needed once
upgraded to the nuke-o-matic.
7f) Zone 5
At level 28 with the same equipment as level 19, (though I'd added a
targetting array to my Phase Armor), I moved in to zone 5. My stats were 80hp,
21 str, 120 dex & 60 agility. Do the typical routine of building a fortress
where you want to grind with a teleporter, Smart Scavenger, SFG, etc. You'll
see a lot of similar items, but better experience and you do see Pulse Rifles,
Neutron Sabres and Pulse Bazookas being dropped, which are worth selling.
You'll also be able to upgrade to a cabal shield pretty quickly if you don't
already have one, as one of the enemies in this area drops them.
- By level 29, I switched to the Nuke-o-Matic with the Uni-ammo, accurize,
three-round burst and grenade launcher upgrades and found it was performing
as well or better than the fully upgraded devastator. (Depending on personal
taste, you may just want to wait until you also have stunner, at which point
it's definitely better for sure).
- Note: Even if you can't beat Trader Harry yet, the damage you do to his armor
is cumulative, so you can eventually beat him by wearing his armor down over
time. This is a good way to get an A-MKII a little earlier, however, it's very
expensive to upgrade it enough that it's better than your upgraded Fire Sabre,
so I wouldn't suggest concerning yourself with an upgraded A-MKII before the
$$$ you'll get from the Shrine of Hercules.
- Note: There is a boss in this area (if not yet beaten) that may completely
wreck your day if you're not prepared. Just a friendly reminder: Always keep
your clone updated, and listen closely to what people tell you.
7g) Shrine of Hercules
Build-vital item: Key of Hercules
At level 35, I have a fully upgraded Nuke-o-Matic and am ready for the
Shrine of Hercules. This is something you can try to do earlier if you want,
but there is some element of risk here for one particular reason, which I'll
get to in a moment. To get to the shrine, you need to use pylon teleporting
the first time: I just get a pylon teleporter for one of my bases for
convenience, but you can walk to pylons and use keycards (annoying) if you
really want.
- Before you go, make sure to clone yourself, as the enemy that you meet here
will have shockwave installed on their LR weapon, making it possible for them
to knock your laptop away, unequipping it and making EMWarp not work. (Because
of this, make sure to also carry two separate inventory slot warpers, since
they can knock the warpers away too). Given that you strike first and have
stunner on your gun and thus will often stop his long range attack, and given
that it picks randomly from all of your items, equipped and in inventory, it's
a very small chance, but if you choose to grind here, it's something you have
to be aware of and watch out for. RUN if you happen to drop your laptop at the
start of a fight.
- If you do happen to drop your laptop, as I did while doing this run, make
sure after you pick it up to re-equip it. Nothing worse than dying for a
reason like that. I actually almost did that on this run through where I ran
from a fight where the statue knocked the laptop out of my hand, picked it up,
drank from the fountain, realized I didn't have enough money to clone, went
back to zone 5 "to be safe" and fought a couple of fights. Then when checking
my inventory to sell stuff, I realized I had my laptop sitting there,
unequipped. (So, if I had died, I would have permanently lost the 25 strength
since my clone hadn't been updated and even if you restart from a clone you
can't drink from the fountain again). So that's why you need to use a lot of
caution on this part, it can be surprisingly dangerous just because you will
have gotten used to being generally quite safe at this point in the game.
- This is a great place for money, the items sell for $650k, and the
experience is good as well). Also, be advised that the enemy here has armor
burner on his weapon, and will thus eat through your armor like nothing else.
I advise bringing durability back up to full every fight. On the bright side,
not only are the items you find here worth a lot, but you can also get the
best shield in the game here. (Stone shield)
- Before you go, make sure you have the Kill Key (you can get it at 11,62 if
you didn't find it already), The Silo Key (random drop from zone 3) and the
fountain key (random drop from zone 1). You will also need the Hercules key,
which is randomly found on Stone Golems, the enemies here.
- To teleport here, use the pylon teleport code 'red, blue, red', I just do so
from a base teleporter. The way this map works is that there are certain
squares that have a 100% chance of encountering an enemy, though you can
decrease this with stealth generators, etc. Because this is technically
considered an "outside" area, you can actually build fortresses here, so what
I do is build one on top of the first square where enemies appear. This means,
in a worst-case scenario, if I accidentally die while grinding, I can teleport
directly to where I died without triggering a fight. (It just also makes going
to and from the location simpler).
- Aside from grinding location, there is first a different priority that you
have here: Get a drink from the fountain at the end of the hall. I suggest
just getting this out of the way first, especially since it gives you a really
nice stat boost and makes grinding easier anyway. Assuming you have the
necessary keys other than the Hercules key, you need to grind them until you
find one. (You can hit "v" to view what your opponent has, including inventory,
so you can just run from ones that don't have it). Once you have it, just go
all the way left to get to the fountain. Paranoia reminder: If you, for any
stupid reason, die after drinking from the strength fountain without updating
your clone, even when you resurrect from your clone, your clone won't be able
to drink from it again, and, given that it's 25 strength, 5 levels worth of
stats, it's a reasonably big deal, so make sure to update your clone
immediately after drinking from the fountain. (I even just use a warper to
teleport back instantly to be safe).
- As for grinding in this area, even with a 128% chance to hit zone 5
monsters, I was missing the stone golem on the 2nd shot of my 3-burst mode at
times. What you'll notice is the stone golem's physical stats are very high
(Very high str/hp and good agl/dex) but at the same time his only armor is a
stone shield, with only a 25% deflection chance. If a full burst from your
nuke-o-matic hits, it's an easy fight, but you can be unlucky at times, always
watch to make sure he doesn't knock away your laptop at the start of the fight
too. This is sort of like a zone 5.5.
- Note: You will have probably killed Trader Harry by now, and, if you were
lucky, his A-Mk. II didn't disintegrate as it hit the ground. Without upgrades
it performs around the same as the fire sabre and doesn't use, but is much
better once upgraded, and doesn't use ammo, which is a nice feature. Upgrades,
however, are pretty expensive, at $17.5M each, I generally finish upgrading my
armor first either way. I'm running this guide under the assumption that you
don't have it yet at this point, but don't worry, there are plenty to be found
in zone 6, which is where we'll be heading next. (If you do have it, you can
easily grind off the stone statues in order to be able to quickly afford doing
the two upgrades it needs. Realistically, your dex will be so high for your
much less accurate 3rd long range shot, accurize probably won't make a
difference against any but the most dextrous opponent).
7h) Zone 6
At level 42, I head over to zone 6 with fully upgraded phase armor,
nuke-o-matic, fire sabre (optionally Mk-II if you found one already) and stone
shield. Stats are 46str/159dex/74agl, 97hp. Note: A-MKII that you want to pick
up and upgrade ASAP does not use any ammo at all.
- You will need a special item to get to this zone.
- Zone 6 Items most worth selling: SLM-9000 PulseRay (6.5M, the best),
DreamBlaster (keep one to upgrade), DreamSabre, A-MKII (assuming you have one),
TachyonBlaster. In an odd twist of what you've gotten used to, the armor here
is by far not the most valuable stuff. (Phase armor with high durability is
pretty good, granted, but it's often going to come out of the fight with a lot
missing). As the armor value compared to the weapon value here isn't very high,
I recommend installing the 800% armor burner on your A-MKII as the third
upgrade. Yes, this will pretty much mean you won't ever get any armor, but it
also means that your fights will be a lot shorter and less likely to teleport
you back home, since you'll be cutting through armor within just a few hits.
(53-64 damage becomes 424-512 durability destroyed per hit which leaves your
adversary with no armor very, very quickly). I find this makes the grind a
LOT faster. If you are interested in getting the improved armor from the final
boss for the endgame, I would recommend still doing this for the level
grinding, but getting only the two main upgrades on a second, seperate A-MKII
for that fight.
7i) Endgame content
- Once you're using A-MKII + Dreamblaster, you don't need to carry a vorte
cell anymore, however, you will need to carry dreamstuff, since you can't do a
uni-ammo conversion on the Dreamblaster.
- From here you're pretty much at the endgame build, though you can still do a
few things:
- Upgrade your LR weapon to the FortSlayer deluxe (100-140 base damage) from
ACME's Fortress Invasion items and go for full upgrades on that for a total
price of $169.5 million. Also, keep in mind each FortShell/1 costs $1.875
million, so you'll pack one hell of a punch, but, at 3 shots per combat with
ammo that comes only in stacks of 1, (no uni-ammo upgrade available) this is
no practical grinding tool, not that you'd have much reason to grind at this
point anyway, nor would you need something better than DreamBlaster anyway.
(Note: TerrorBlast is actually worse than DreamBlaster as its base damage is
10 lower. Yes, it doesn't use ammo, but I don't see the trade-off as worth it).
- Upgrade your SR weapon to Cabal Sceptre. (This can be found on the final
boss, or can be bought for $25 million when it goes on on sale randomly at
one of the SSSS stores in the wasteland if it disintegrated on drop, or
someone else beat the final boss. You can buy a ROM called Samlist from the
Death Warrior HQ that lists the daily specials at each store to save you a
lot of running around). Its damage is 25-50 rather than the 25-30 of the
A-MKII, though it will cost 250 million to add both accurize and intensify,
Armor Burner * 8 will cost another 131.25 million, and, if you've really
want to hit someone hard and are willing to destroy your weapon, you can
always pick up DeathPulse for 125 million, though that's a bit silly.
- Upgrade your armor to Quantum Field. (This can also be found on the
final boss, or bought for 7.5 million when it randomly goes on sale at
an SSSS store). Fully upgrades will cost $115.5 million.
- I haven't figured out whether there is a level cap, and what it is if there
is one, but, in theory, if you play the game far enough beyond the end of
equipment upgrades, eventually short-ranged weapons will outdamage even
triple-burst grenade-launching long-ranged weapons as they will continue to
increase in damage from strength, while long-ranged weapon damage will never
increase. (Though this would take quite some time especially if you're looking
at the FortSlayer Deluxe). As for dexteriy and agility, how you should upgrade
them would depend on if there are any other players you want to fight (since
how high your dex needs to be depends on how high their agility is) or, if
you're just doing it for the fun of it, then upgrading agility to be near
unhittable (it does have diminishing returns), strength (to smash everything in
one hit) or hp (to be super tanky) are all valid options. You could always try
to get your stats so high you can start fighting high level monsters
bare-handed, though even for a ridiculously high level player, fighting without
equipment would be quite rough.
8) Thanks and Supplemental Information
Thanks to Underminer for hosting a sweet BBS and bringing back my 90s nostalgia
for BBS Door games, you can connect to him at undermine.ddns.net via SyncTERM,
etc. or through your web browser at Theundermine.ddns.net/ecwebv3.
Secondly, thanks to the guys who maintain and have contributed to the LOD Wiki
at
http://lod.wikia.com/ - It's a really good base of information on the game
to start from for more information about the game's various enemies, items and
everything quest-related that I haven't already covered in detail. (There are,
of course, story spoilers there).
Last, but not least, thanks to my mom and dad because they're pretty cool. Oh,
and my brother and girlfriend too, they're pretty awesome. :)
9) About Me and Contact Information
As you probably gathered from my name, I'm a big fan of Dance Dance Revolution;
when I was younger I played competitively and organized a number of tournaments
as well. (And yes, In The Groove is alright too).
More recently, I co-founded and chaired modest-sized anime convention for a
number of years, which has been a great learning experience.
Aside from indulging in BBS Door game nostalgia, I currently enjoy playing
League of Legends (plat) and have been playing a bit of Hearthstone as well.
Outside of my hobbies, I have a BA in Philosophy and am interested in politics,
psychology and love debate.
If you liked the guide, want to provide feedback on it, or have any suggestions
for things you'd like to see added or changed, or if, heaven forbid, I made
grammar errors, please send your feedback to
[email protected] with the
title "LOD Guide Feedback".
