DescentBB

Yeah level 22 is brutal... I can't beat it without hit and run.

I have a special strategy for the spiral shaft: I rush up to the top, then as I go down I shoot a smart missile onto each ledge to eliminate all the drillers there.

Alter-Fox wrote:Yeah level 22 is brutal... I can't beat it without hit and run.

I have a special strategy for the spiral shaft: I rush up to the top, then as I go down I shoot a smart missile onto each ledge to eliminate all the drillers there.

What you can sometimes do is just dash straight down - on the way down they can't turn around in time (usually) and on the way up you won't take much damage. Since they're turned around, you won't take damage descending the spiral.

In level 22 you can use cloaks to get the drop on the drillers placed in the rooms with the matcens, and you can also avoid triggering them if you can find out which cube is the trigger. Additionally, you can intentionally trigger the matcens 3 times, grab a cloak, make damned sure you keep moving, and use fusion taps to obliterate the whole lot of them in the 30 seconds you're cloaked. If you try to charge the fusion at all (not needed since drillers are made of paper), they'll be able to track you as if you were visible and you'll be dead.

For the spiral, if you're willing to be patient, you can use your lasers and shoot around the corner into each cage to kill them one by one. Unload a mega missile at the top to take one of the hulks out, and bring the other one down to near death so you should be able to finish it either corner shooting with lasers or a homer.

Avder wrote:For the spiral, if you're willing to be patient, you can use your lasers and shoot around the corner into each cage to kill them one by one.

I do something similar. I just sneak a single concussion missile around the corner, since it doesn't take much to bring them down. I find it slightly faster and less tedious than lasers.

Avder wrote:In level 22 you can use cloaks to get the drop on the drillers placed in the rooms with the matcens, and you can also avoid triggering them if you can find out which cube is the trigger. Additionally, you can intentionally trigger the matcens 3 times, grab a cloak, make damned sure you keep moving, and use fusion taps to obliterate the whole lot of them in the 30 seconds you're cloaked. If you try to charge the fusion at all (not needed since drillers are made of paper), they'll be able to track you as if you were visible and you'll be dead.

For the spiral, if you're willing to be patient, you can use your lasers and shoot around the corner into each cage to kill them one by one. Unload a mega missile at the top to take one of the hulks out, and bring the other one down to near death so you should be able to finish it either corner shooting with lasers or a homer.

I always do like that but some drillers run and look for me and then they put many bullets into my favorite ship immediately.

Last night, I was very pissed off and launched a Mega missile at a driller to chop it into thousand pieces. Ugh, I've wasted my Mega missile.

One Homing missile, one destroy driller. I often launch the missile for a driller before it shoots me.

As dangerous and scary as the drillers are, I have to give it up for the platform bot. Everywhere these guys show up is either right at the entrance to a new room, forcing you to rush in or get hit, or in some kind of cramped little area. It's a pain to dodge the incoming barrage of missiles while trying to kill this guy, and you really can't afford to take hits from these guys. The drillers die faster, just one hit from a missile, and while they have good aim and tear through shields, the platform bots will just plain end you.

Vulcan Driller does it for me. I've been playing on Hotshot lately (lol noob) and Secret Levels 2 & 3 plus Level 22 (especially) are the tougher ones. I'll forget about them in that central chamber, after killing the cloaked ones, on Level 22 and they'll come hunt me down while I'm attacking the Spider bots in the next corridor.

destinytrigger wrote:As dangerous and scary as the drillers are, I have to give it up for the platform bot. Everywhere these guys show up is either right at the entrance to a new room, forcing you to rush in or get hit, or in some kind of cramped little area. It's a pain to dodge the incoming barrage of missiles while trying to kill this guy, and you really can't afford to take hits from these guys. The drillers die faster, just one hit from a missile, and while they have good aim and tear through shields, the platform bots will just plain end you.

You've got a point. These guys can withstand an uncharged Fusion shot and can kill you in one volley on Insane. They're not too bad in open spaces, but the irony is that you always meet them in corners or tight areas. In general, Descent 2 is a walk in the park compared to Descent 1, and these bots are one of the reasons.

Honestly? At Rookie difficulty I found D2 harder than D1 on the same (probably because of all the bosses). Right now I'm trying to get through D2 at hotshot, and it's brutal (I'm on level 20).

D2 only seems to match D1 in difficulty in the last four levels of the game in my experience. More 21-23, actually - 24 made a lot of stuff easier for you.

Sirius wrote:D2 only seems to match D1 in difficulty in the last four levels of the game in my experience. More 21-23, actually - 24 made a lot of stuff easier for you.

Yeah. These levels match D1 for the very reasons I stated: there are very numerous homing missile shooting robots (albeit a bit weaker than Super Hulks) and robots who can shoot concs in rapid volleys. The absence of vulcan robots is compensated for by the appearance of Smart Missile wielding Boarsheads.

The first 3 alien levels of D2 were kinda hard because they were chock full of GODD@MNED BATS and DEMONIC SPIDERS! (look it up on tvtropes)

(really? thats in the swear filter? ffs)

Yeah, the start of level 22 is brutal. Five boarsheds at once unless you get lucky.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a boarshed matcen except in level 20 of Vertigo.

Alter-Fox wrote:Yeah, the start of level 22 is brutal. Five boarsheds at once unless you get lucky.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a boarshed matcen except in level 20 of Vertigo.

Well, these guys are just too dangerous. In a tight corridor you're practically doomed when going up against them. No wonder they don't get spawned in matcens.