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Nuclear Throne: Oh! I accidentally ate my gun.

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I don't min/max it but I play to try and get better. Mostly I just try things and intuitively figure out what works, sometimes I'll hit a wall and look some stuff up. The spoiler dump Ninety-Three posted earlier, for instance, is definitely information I feel comfortable having.

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Robot is especially great once you get a golden gun for him, as he eats em for four times the bonus of a regular gun (5 times with throne butt), so its nice to have a little nest egg for when you need it in the mid game. On that note, steroids is especially not good with golden guns, unless they fire bullets, as he only swaps out one of his revolvers, not both, and if its a grenade launcher then he'll start with zero revolver ammo.

 

Explosives i use pretty regularly if i come across anythign that isnt the basic grenade launcher, and theyre less risky for me as ive taken to picking up boiling veins to go aggressive on lil hunter without having to worry about his dang jetpack flames. My absolute weapons of choice, however, are things that shoot tons of bullets - if i have an accuracy upgrade - such as the triple machinegun or minigun, seeker weapons, and lightning weapons. Cannot be arsed with precision aiming.

 

Getting the recycle gland and all the other ammo sustain abilities with steroids and just unloading on everything with two miniguns is extremely satisfying.

 

 

I'm curious how people play this. I play it a lot like I play Diablo- as a fun way to be mindless. I have a feeling people are much more focused than me here.

 

I initially wasnt too hot on the game back in early access and woul only play it occasionally, but since release (and gamepad support! yay!) i started playing it a bit heavier, and then after beating the game once and then unlocking all the characters (with help from the wiki) ive resolved to try to go for all the B skins as well, as insane a venture as that might be (only got em for YV and robot so far). Recently its basically the only game i play. I just go full zen flow state on it whilst listening to podcasts. It and helldivers are scratching a maddening twinstick shooter itch i never knew i had.

 

Also in regards to spoilers about this game, i won't say anything without a tag other than just go look at the goddamn wiki, there is way too much obscure shit to figure out on your own, also it makes the revolver sound and shakes the screen whenever you click anywhere on the page.

 

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I love explosives against my better judgment. I try to only use them when I'm super focussed on the game and getting good results, not when I'm playing casually and messing up a bunch. I find they work well with something that can keep enemies away if they come in close (like those bastard crystal spiders), like a shotgun or a meaty melee weapon.

 

My guilty pleasure is Long Arms + good melee. Whenever I find a shovel, or get an early Long Arms, I try to go for this build. At this point I've tried it so many times that I have statistically significant data, it is a strategy that hurts my chances, but I keep doing it because it feels so good. I honestly think a big part of what makes it so satisfying is that THUNK sound effect melee has.

 

steroids is especially not good with golden guns, unless they fire bullets, as he only swaps out one of his revolvers, not both, and if its a grenade launcher then he'll start with zero revolver ammo.

 

I don't find that to be a problem at all. So Steroids starts with a golden laser pistol, 20 Energy, zero bullets and a revolver. How is that more of a problem than, say, YV starting with a golden laser pistol, 20 Energy and zero bullets?

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I wonder if a defensive build using melee weapons and some kind of power weapon would work. Something with power and range like an energy weapon, then use the melee to flick bullets and rushers away. Honestly I haven't really bothered with melee in forever, outside of carrying a screwdriver for the mansion.

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I discovered something amazing about Steroids and I think he's now my new favorite character. I grabbed a screwdriver early and decided to carry it for the golden weapon. For giggles, I held down the screwdriver button while shooting and I realized something special: Forget the damage, spamming a fast-charging melee weapon is like a bulletproof shield. My golden weapon was the wrench, and it's not quite as spammable as the screwdriver, but it has much more range and, holy shit, this is the way to play Steroids you guys. Go get a golden wrench, it's unreal how good it is!

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yeah double wrench or double screwdriver is pretty fantastic on steroids

Permanent wall of bullet deflection

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What crowns do you all use? Obviously crown of guns for Robot, but on other characters I've never found a crown I like. I usually end up taking crown of Curses, all the other ones seem like more downside than benefit.

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crown of narrow future or whatever if i have a good build going and im feelin risky

crown of risk if i happen to be at full health and have good healing options

but yeah bare head fair head most of the time

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Twice now I've been killed by snowbots while running gamma guts + scary face. I don't know what's going on, but there's some one-in-fifty bug that makes them hit you before they die. So don't trust that combo.

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Some more bits of hidden info that I realize I didn't post in my original "tons of hidden mechanics" post:

If you beat the Throne with a crown, you permanently unlock that crown as a starting crown for that character.

 

Once you loop you get access to more advanced crowns in the vaults.

 

If you enter a Crown Vault with a crown, you find the Proto Chest, which lets you swap your current weapon for whatever's in the chest. The weapon you put in the chest is saved across playthroughs and characters, so you can give it to a later character.

 

The Proto chest is a good way to distribute golden weapons. If you store Robot's golden crossbow in it, Robot loses the crossbow on that playthrough, but it's sitll set as Robot's golden weapon for next time. Then take Y.V. to the chest and pick up the crossbow to set it as his golden weapon: duplication!

 

Random thoughts: I love love love basic crossbows. I've carried a golden crossbow to the Throne more than once, hell I once played Steroids with Strong Back Muscles and two basic crossbows. The slugger (especially the gatling slugger) also takes that role of accurate one-shot kills on most enemies.

 

After the hectic Lil' Hunter fight on 5-3 and the panicked "Find the necromancer before you run out of ammo" on 6-1, I find 7- to be downright chill. The enemies are big, slow-moving and even when it gets bullet hellish, the shots move so slowly. The Throne as well, an impossible-to-miss bullet sponge that makes you play a relatively stately bullet hell.

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I have only made it to level 7 (6?) once ever. The one with the green goo monsters all over the place. I don't play this game very carefully. Like Spelunky, I bomb around until I die, lament that I could have done better, then hit random and start again.

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I haven't even made it to the throne yet...It's actually surprisingly hard to play on vita.

 

I can't imagine playing this on a handheld, my beloved crossbow would be hell to aim without a mouse. Seriously, try PC!

 

 

I have only made it to level 7 (6?) once ever. The one with the green goo monsters all over the place. I don't play this game very carefully. Like Spelunky, I bomb around until I die, lament that I could have done better, then hit random and start again.

 

I play pretty methodically, but good god, random? You're a maniac! I only ever play as Y.V., Steroids or Robot, they seem so much stronger than the other chumps. I also try to control the randomness a bit: golden crossbows for all, and I'll only pick up maybe a quarter of the weapons I find, the ones I really like. Maybe I should try a "Pick up and use every gun" run with Robot.

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I played on PS4 yesterday and my god, I was like...a god. I made a mistake and died, but it was significantly easier. I absolutely love playing it on Vita though. It's a perfect fit. I upped the auto aim to max, and that makes it play a bit more like using a DS4, but it's still harder. 

 

I use random too. It gives some pretty hilarious results, and if I didn't use random, I'd just use Crystal all the time. I can't get the hang of Robot because I can never remember if robot eats the primary or secondary gun. I always eat the wrong one, leaving me with no ammo.

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the gun youre holding silly (primary)

welp, in my attempt to unlock the second skin for fish (by looping with all characters) ive narrowed down to melting and rogue. The hardest dang characters in the game for sure. Melting is too damn squishy and the extra idpd from rogue always get me

 

Seeing as I've now played each character semi extensively, heres my quick take on all of them:

Fish - i never bother with the roll or getting the throne butt, but you really do get tons of ammo, esp with more drops. Also, when you loop you get the guitar, which is a fun melee weapon (basically a super wrench)

Crystal - deflecting shots is super handy, but I'm not good enough to use the throne butt effectively, i just get screwed by the shortened duration

Eyes - seeing in the dark is handy, but the real draw is throne butt TK in the final area. Clears out those green goop balls. Kinda hard to balance the shot push with the enemy pull in other situations (tk is great on big dog, until he shoots missiles and you pull them into you without noticing and kill yourself)

Melting - hard as balls, maybe easier than rogue if youre lucky with upgrades though. I can never really use the corpse explosions effectively, they sort of just act as a panic button, or you can save up a bunch in an area, in which case they seem to sort of unbunch themselves to cover a wider AoE. They are a godsend in the area with the necromancers for obvious reasons.

Plant - the snare is alright for slowing, but has some cool utility that isnt instantly apparent. It provides a wide area of light in the dark levels, and can block fire completely. And of course is super good for finishing bosses/big enemies once you get throne butt.

YV - brrrap

Steroids - i like robot the best, but end up playing steroids almost more often just because its easy to not have to switch weapons and spam the fire button.

Robot - start with a golden gun and never run out of anything

Chicken -  i actually think the throne butt makes the throw worse, as without piercing you can easily retrieve your weapon after killing something. I suppose its for quickly grapping junk off the ground for a throw but that takes too much effort for me. Also I never have been as furious over drop rates as I have for health in the last few seconds of a chicken run.

Rebel -  great with sharp teeth as someone who wasnt me pointed out. One of the characters along with fish and horror who has a passive so good you dont even really need to use her ability.

Horror - laser isnt really worth the rads unless youre using it along with healing once you get throne butt, and are maybe out of ammo as well. stronk passive and looks adorable EDIT: I'm a big dummy. Any rads used to damage an enemy will be dropped again by that enemy once it dies.

Rogue - less rads, I always get overwhelmed by idpd spawning in at the worst times, and the portal strike is hard to aim with a controller :'(

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I play pretty methodically, but good god, random? You're a maniac! I only ever play as Y.V., Steroids or Robot, they seem so much stronger than the other chumps. I also try to control the randomness a bit: golden crossbows for all, and I'll only pick up maybe a quarter of the weapons I find, the ones I really like. Maybe I should try a "Pick up and use every gun" run with Robot.

 

I bought the game over a year ago, when they were doing serious balance testing and two of the final characters on the roster weren't even in the game. The random option was there, so it felt like the best way to test stuff was to just dive in and find out. Crowns weren't even a thing at that point, which means they basically don't exist to me. Just conceptually they're not in the forefront of my mind.

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did they do a sneaky patch? i just got killed by a charging attack by the big green rat which I have not seen AT ALL in my god knows how many runs before now

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did they do a sneaky patch? i just got killed by a charging attack by the big green rat which I have not seen AT ALL in my god knows how many runs before now

 

I had that happen a couple days ago, and not again since. It must be very rare, so I'm not sure it's new.

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Ahhhhhhh, I can't beat the Throne again. I've gotten to it 5 or 6 times in the past couple of days and every single time I forget about my positioning and just wander back into his centre beam.   :(
 
Been playing a lot of Crystal since I got more used to her ability, but I'm having no luck getting to the mansion to get her a golden weapon. Hitting a bit of a brick wall.
 
I feel like this game would really benefit from daily/weekly goals rather than levels. The layout of the levels is far less important than, say, Spelunky, but the tools at your disposal are basically everything. I think if they expanded on the weekly thing and had you trying to accomplish specific goals it would make casual play really interesting. I guess I just need something to shoot for (heh) when I'm not playing for serious and trying to unlock characters or loop or whatever. Daily doesn't really matter to me without anyone to compare with, and the leaderboards still don't work anyway...
 
Edit: Two mansions with Crystal. Two golden wrenches. :fart:

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Ahhhhhhh, I can't beat the Throne again. I've gotten to it 5 or 6 times in the past couple of days and every single time I forget about my positioning and just wander back into his centre beam.

 

I think I did that four times before I developed the reflex not to. At this point I've figured out how to safely walk across the carpet to trigger the centre beam, just because it gives a reprieve from the bullet hell. Maybe I'm a slow learner, but it took me thirty or forty hours to get to the point where I was any good at looping, gradually building up skill at each level. I think a lot of the nuanced learning is about observing AI patterns and getting a sense for how each enemy will act, and if you just go through trying to kill everything and preserve your fragile butt, it takes forever to piece together enough observations to gain understanding.

 

 

Edit: Two mansions with Crystal. Two golden wrenches. :fart:

 

Stick that Golden wrench in the Proto Chest and give it to Steroids, not only is melee Steroids amazing, but he's incredibly safe to play. If you want to spend some time observing enemy patterns, that's the way to do it.

 

 

I feel like this game would really benefit from daily/weekly goals rather than levels. The layout of the levels is far less important than, say, Spelunky, but the tools at your disposal are basically everything.

 

Figuring that out was a pretty key part of my strategy, now I'm taking Crown of Guns on every character. It can make the ammo situation slightly awkward now and then,  but it means you get three or four times as much weapon selection, which isn't just powerful, it's critical to looping. Unless you're a bullet hell master who can fight the Throne indefinitely (being Crystal or melee Steroids is a huge help there), you need a weapon that combines high DPS and reasonable ammo efficiency. With Crown of Guns I get enough chances to find one that looping no longer feels dependent on getting the right drops or mutations (strong back + recycle gland).

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Random observations: I've seen the green rat charge a few times now, and every time it's only after the rat has spawned a lot of sub-rats. Maybe that's got something to do with why I don't normally see it.

 

Boiling Veins counts towards unlocking Heavy Heart.

 

Equip a wrench and try to survive indefinitely against the Throne. It's very doable (I did it with only Long Arms, though +medkits, +healing and Stress would make it easier) and it's a great way to learn the thing's patterns in what is otherwise a hectic "oh god, dump all my ammo, just kill it now!" fight.

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I've really discovered just how hard the throne gets the longer the fight goes whilst trying to loop with melting. I honestly think i might swap a golden wrench over to him. On the note of melee and long arms, one HUGE advantage that melee has that I never really appreciated is the ability to hit through walls. Especially with long arms, it becomes an extremely effective tactic in the tighter levels to simply maneuver around the level, keeping terrain in between you and the enemy, and just safely taking out everything before it even comes within line of sight. 

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I think I did that four times before I developed the reflex not to. At this point I've figured out how to safely walk across the carpet to trigger the centre beam, just because it gives a reprieve from the bullet hell. Maybe I'm a slow learner, but it took me thirty or forty hours to get to the point where I was any good at looping, gradually building up skill at each level. I think a lot of the nuanced learning is about observing AI patterns and getting a sense for how each enemy will act, and if you just go through trying to kill everything and preserve your fragile butt, it takes forever to piece together enough observations to gain understanding.

 

I have 117 hours played and I've looped maybe twice in that whole time. :sad:

 

Mind you, I bought it early and played sporadically, so a lot of what I learned each time was either lost or no longer relevant.

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