A caveat to point #1 : don't overdo it. If you block too many vek spawns, you will have one easy turn with little to no veks on the board ... but that won't stop extra vek spawn to pop up and the next turn you'll be overrun. You should alway aim to have about 3 (maybe 2) veks on the board for the next turn, then adapt your blocks accordingly. Of course, once you reach the second-to-last turn, feel free to block to your heart's content, since spawns disappear on the last turn. Other big tips to help peeople who are struggling with the game : 1) mentally plan your FULL (can't emphasize this enough) turn before taking any irreversible action 2) you can, and should move your mechs to help you with the above point, as long as you don't take any irreversible action (attacks/repairs ....) since you get unlimited move-backs. 3) That last one is a big chess mantra : once you think you have your turn figured out, don't rush to its execution, and look for a better, more optimized turn (extra vek damages, better placement for next turn, better distribution of XP for your pilots and who gets the kills, etc ....) and only once you can't find a better plan you fall back to the previous one. Trust me, if you're watching this video, chance are there's ALWAYS a better plan.
I always think to myself, "there is a solution" so I spend a lot time working on seemingly impossible situations. I work out a lot interesting solutions which help my future planning.
here's another tip that's a bit advanced: you gotta pay attention to the Vek types during the mission start and plan your positioning for the next round. Many times when you get yourself in a no-win situation, it more than likely that you made a positioning mistake earlier in the match. For instance, if there are stickbugs or scorpions present, you might want to place mechs outside of their move range OR have a plan to free your mech that is webbed. If a Firefly or Centipede is present, you want to play attention to not put your mechs in from of buildings. I find that since I became more mindful of this, I have upped my win rate noticeably. Hope this helps.
This is a great video. Hardest thing for me was accepting that grid damage can be ok. (especially in the last battle, just use it all up!) Yes it lowers your score but next time youll see a better solution and save those buildings.
In my opinion, the tank and science tank are the best weapons to have in game. They effectively increase your mech count during a battle. And they are insanely flexible as the tanks can fire right away after they're deployed.
I just downloaded the game today on a sale from Steam and I'm completely hooked. Watched a few other vids for tips but yours is the best explanation so far. And it makes it even better with the live battle examples, keep it up and Merry Christmas dude 😁🎄
Dude, I like your voice, I can feel your enthusiasm. Also, you talk about what's actually on the screen, unlike some other people's guides, seperately talking and showing unrelated gameplay. Cheers.
This is an easy one: Check enemy ranges before you deploy. Adjust your spawn drops to accommodate, and get your mechs where they need to be right away. Knowing what the vek are going to do lets you prepare and put yourself in advantageous positions before the battle even begins.
I finally got this game when it went on sale. It is brilliant. My only tip is to get the grappling hook equipped ASAP. It is so useful. Another is make sure to power up the "no building damage" feature on the artillery gun (forget what it is called). It opens up many more options for moving enemies and allies, and can save grid damage.
Though there are some niche cases where that upgrade can be actually detrimental. In the missions where you need to break buildings out of ice it prevents the artillery from actually being able to break that ice directly. So, remember to turn it off for those.
@@Mik3l24 This is the first game I've played to completion since the first Mordor game, and maybe the only game where I have completed all achievements and every level.
I think I just realized how bad I've been for how long I've been playing. (Launch) never got 4th island on hard. Looking forward to getting back at it again.
Thing is, in the examples you're not using the starting mechs. What I think makes ITB so very very very daunting and complex is the sheer number of upgrades you can buy, the number of different mech squads you can unlock, and the fact that you can combine any of them together in any combination. I have no idea what to combine, no idea whether some combo will be totally useless or not, etc. And it seems like that's pretty important, like if you have a good set of mechs the game will be way easier than if you have a bad one. But you just need to know what's good. Good luck with that unless you're a veteran of the game.
Hi ! First of all thanks a lot for all these guides, you explained very well and despite my non-fluent english I understood everything. You are doing an amazing job :D If you don't mind I have two questions, I don't see any guide talking about it and I don't know why. ^^ How do you decide (or in which case it's better ) to do a 2,3 or 4 islands run ? And second question, how do you decide the island you wanna go first (or second, or whatever), is it depending on type of enemys, choosing the "hardest" island first ? Again thanks a lot and keep doing those great videos. :)
Thank you! For 2 3 or 4 islands, that is up to you. The difficulty of the final island scales with you. If you've gotten perfect islands you SHOULD scale faster than the final island does in difficulty. As for which first, I didn't cover that. I could make a whole video as that depends on squad, what enemies are showing, etc. Only hard and fast rule is don't take Pinnacle (ice island) first or last! It's too hard to start and scales too fast.
What is known about Vek spawning patterns? I’ve noticed that if you block vek spawning, there seems to be a cap on the number of vek that will be spawned on the map total (maybe around six on hard? Been a while since I’ve played). Is there a known spawn rate for each map (i.e. 3 new vek per turn, up to a cap? Does it depend on number of blocked spawns, or total number of vek on the map, or combined total of blocked spawns and vek on grid?) Also, it seems like they can spawn anywhere in ranks 1,2,3? Are they biased towards any single area? (i.e., are they more likely to spawn in the last two ranks? Are they biased towards the center files, rather than the A/H files? Do they only spawn in like a 3x4 or 3x5 area? And is there a known frequency of elite vek spawning (is it probabilistic, or is there a set number/cap on elite vek spawning per mission) I couldn’t find much information on spawn patterns on google, and I wondered if anyone in the speedrunning community had investigated the mechanics
Oh and targeting - is it known whether Vek have any preference in whether they target buildings or mechs? It’s known that if they can target something, they will always do so over not acting, but if there are multiple moves available to them is anything known about how they choose to move? as an example, if there’s three possible targets a firefly could hit, two buildings and one mech, is there a 33% chance for each target? or do they preferentially choose buildings? Does it matter if there are multiple spaces from which it could attack each target (i.e. I could imagine a system in which all moves which end in a target are mapped, and then one move is selected randomly, so if a vek could move one space left and target a building, or one space left and one space up and target a building, that would count as two way to target that building, increasing the odds that the vek targets that building?)
The number of vek that spawn each round is set, but does vary by difficulty. I knew it better when I did speedrunning as you very much rely on this number in your strategy, but I can't find my notes offhand. But regardless if you block spawn or not, a certain number of new vek will try to spawn each round. There are a few ITB experts in RogueHQ (my discord) who I am certain know the answer. You're welcome to hop in and ask if you'd like: discord.roguehq.xyz
Certain vek do have preferences. Vek who can web will always try to web a mech in place if they can. Otherwise I have not been able to determine any preference for attacking grid, mech, or goal units. Then again, I haven't dug into the code on that, but I haven't noticed any.
This video really helped a little bit *Start new campaign* *webbed 2 of my units at the very beginning* *more spawn after freeing myself* *get webbed again* *SET THAT CLOCK BACK CAUSE DADDY IS GOING BACK IN TIME* This game is really good, but the clause of getting achievments to unlock more unit teams is a bad design as it can force you to ruin a good setup just in order to get a view coins. Instead, it shouldve been based on a casualty scale that accumulates coins based on the amount of casualties saved during time streams
I would actually have to disagree, I think getting achievements to unlock new ways to play is a great system and since ITB is relatively short, if you screw a team up it's not so much of a big deal. And you can always abandon timeline if you want to save your favourite pilot
One thing I've noticed while playing is that it seems like the game sets itself up to where it always possible to find a solution where the grid takes 0 damage. Since it is akin to chess the computer can be taught to do this setting up and the player has to figure it out. It could also be programmed to always out maneuver you and win if it wanted to.
That 1st tip. Don't forget. You can have a mech heal itself. So if you have all vek blocked you can heal the damage from blocking.
A caveat to point #1 : don't overdo it. If you block too many vek spawns, you will have one easy turn with little to no veks on the board ... but that won't stop extra vek spawn to pop up and the next turn you'll be overrun. You should alway aim to have about 3 (maybe 2) veks on the board for the next turn, then adapt your blocks accordingly. Of course, once you reach the second-to-last turn, feel free to block to your heart's content, since spawns disappear on the last turn.
Other big tips to help peeople who are struggling with the game :
1) mentally plan your FULL (can't emphasize this enough) turn before taking any irreversible action
2) you can, and should move your mechs to help you with the above point, as long as you don't take any irreversible action (attacks/repairs ....) since you get unlimited move-backs.
3) That last one is a big chess mantra : once you think you have your turn figured out, don't rush to its execution, and look for a better, more optimized turn (extra vek damages, better placement for next turn, better distribution of XP for your pilots and who gets the kills, etc ....) and only once you can't find a better plan you fall back to the previous one. Trust me, if you're watching this video, chance are there's ALWAYS a better plan.
Love the "Aha" moment that comes with completing an "Impossible to win" round.
I always think to myself, "there is a solution" so I spend a lot time working on seemingly impossible situations. I work out a lot interesting solutions which help my future planning.
@@Illianor123 I find it fascinating how often seemingly impossible turns can be solved, sometimes with absolutely crazy solutions.
here's another tip that's a bit advanced: you gotta pay attention to the Vek types during the mission start and plan your positioning for the next round. Many times when you get yourself in a no-win situation, it more than likely that you made a positioning mistake earlier in the match. For instance, if there are stickbugs or scorpions present, you might want to place mechs outside of their move range OR have a plan to free your mech that is webbed. If a Firefly or Centipede is present, you want to play attention to not put your mechs in from of buildings. I find that since I became more mindful of this, I have upped my win rate noticeably. Hope this helps.
To anyone checking out this video: I watched the entire playlist and its helped my game dramatically. Definitely recommend checking them all out.
Glad they helped you! Thanks for the kind words
This is a great video. Hardest thing for me was accepting that grid damage can be ok. (especially in the last battle, just use it all up!) Yes it lowers your score but next time youll see a better solution and save those buildings.
In my opinion, the tank and science tank are the best weapons to have in game. They effectively increase your mech count during a battle. And they are insanely flexible as the tanks can fire right away after they're deployed.
The whole series is great. Love your dense yet concise explanations and ability to frame the context very well.
Your channel is criminally underrated, your content definitively looks professional!
This is actually so helpful for my let’s play. Thanks heaps.
I just downloaded the game today on a sale from Steam and I'm completely hooked. Watched a few other vids for tips but yours is the best explanation so far. And it makes it even better with the live battle examples, keep it up and Merry Christmas dude 😁🎄
Merry Christmas! Enjoy!
Great vid, thanks!
@Anonymous ikr?
dont know if anyone gives a damn but last night I hacked my girl friends Instagram account using Instaplekt. Just google for it if you wanna try it
Just got into the breach, thought i was losing my mind getting wiped all the time. After your vid doing a looooot better. Thanks!
Dude, I like your voice, I can feel your enthusiasm. Also, you talk about what's actually on the screen, unlike some other people's guides, seperately talking and showing unrelated gameplay. Cheers.
This is an easy one: Check enemy ranges before you deploy. Adjust your spawn drops to accommodate, and get your mechs where they need to be right away. Knowing what the vek are going to do lets you prepare and put yourself in advantageous positions before the battle even begins.
I finally got this game when it went on sale. It is brilliant. My only tip is to get the grappling hook equipped ASAP. It is so useful. Another is make sure to power up the "no building damage" feature on the artillery gun (forget what it is called). It opens up many more options for moving enemies and allies, and can save grid damage.
Though there are some niche cases where that upgrade can be actually detrimental. In the missions where you need to break buildings out of ice it prevents the artillery from actually being able to break that ice directly. So, remember to turn it off for those.
@@Mik3l24 Good point!
@@Mik3l24 This is the first game I've played to completion since the first Mordor game, and maybe the only game where I have completed all achievements and every level.
Great points, Skip! Been struggling with this, but just like FTL, the fun's in the challenge. ;-)
I think I just realized how bad I've been for how long I've been playing. (Launch) never got 4th island on hard. Looking forward to getting back at it again.
This brought me from two islands to reaching the hive - thanks a lot man, loving this series!
this helped me a lot, i hope your channel gets big and i wish you the best of luck, cheers!
Thing is, in the examples you're not using the starting mechs. What I think makes ITB so very very very daunting and complex is the sheer number of upgrades you can buy, the number of different mech squads you can unlock, and the fact that you can combine any of them together in any combination. I have no idea what to combine, no idea whether some combo will be totally useless or not, etc. And it seems like that's pretty important, like if you have a good set of mechs the game will be way easier than if you have a bad one. But you just need to know what's good. Good luck with that unless you're a veteran of the game.
You got another sub from me bro. Nice vid. Just got into this game
Hi ! First of all thanks a lot for all these guides, you explained very well and despite my non-fluent english I understood everything. You are doing an amazing job :D If you don't mind I have two questions, I don't see any guide talking about it and I don't know why. ^^ How do you decide (or in which case it's better ) to do a 2,3 or 4 islands run ? And second question, how do you decide the island you wanna go first (or second, or whatever), is it depending on type of enemys, choosing the "hardest" island first ? Again thanks a lot and keep doing those great videos. :)
Thank you! For 2 3 or 4 islands, that is up to you. The difficulty of the final island scales with you. If you've gotten perfect islands you SHOULD scale faster than the final island does in difficulty.
As for which first, I didn't cover that. I could make a whole video as that depends on squad, what enemies are showing, etc. Only hard and fast rule is don't take Pinnacle (ice island) first or last! It's too hard to start and scales too fast.
@@SkipMcLazy Oh yes please, do this video ! ^^ Thanks for your answers, i'll keep experimenting. :)
This video does not look like a video produced by someone with your amount of subs. Great vid super helpful
Thank you for that! I'm glad you found it helpful!
Thanks for the tips!
Great video, great tips! Thought "perfect island" included no grid damage. Things will be easier now :P
the fedora reveal at the end sent me out lol
I'm a simple vek. I see into the breach... I click
What is known about Vek spawning patterns? I’ve noticed that if you block vek spawning, there seems to be a cap on the number of vek that will be spawned on the map total (maybe around six on hard? Been a while since I’ve played). Is there a known spawn rate for each map (i.e. 3 new vek per turn, up to a cap? Does it depend on number of blocked spawns, or total number of vek on the map, or combined total of blocked spawns and vek on grid?)
Also, it seems like they can spawn anywhere in ranks 1,2,3? Are they biased towards any single area? (i.e., are they more likely to spawn in the last two ranks? Are they biased towards the center files, rather than the A/H files? Do they only spawn in like a 3x4 or 3x5 area? And is there a known frequency of elite vek spawning (is it probabilistic, or is there a set number/cap on elite vek spawning per mission)
I couldn’t find much information on spawn patterns on google, and I wondered if anyone in the speedrunning community had investigated the mechanics
Oh and targeting - is it known whether Vek have any preference in whether they target buildings or mechs? It’s known that if they can target something, they will always do so over not acting, but if there are multiple moves available to them is anything known about how they choose to move? as an example, if there’s three possible targets a firefly could hit, two buildings and one mech, is there a 33% chance for each target? or do they preferentially choose buildings? Does it matter if there are multiple spaces from which it could attack each target (i.e. I could imagine a system in which all moves which end in a target are mapped, and then one move is selected randomly, so if a vek could move one space left and target a building, or one space left and one space up and target a building, that would count as two way to target that building, increasing the odds that the vek targets that building?)
The number of vek that spawn each round is set, but does vary by difficulty. I knew it better when I did speedrunning as you very much rely on this number in your strategy, but I can't find my notes offhand. But regardless if you block spawn or not, a certain number of new vek will try to spawn each round.
There are a few ITB experts in RogueHQ (my discord) who I am certain know the answer. You're welcome to hop in and ask if you'd like: discord.roguehq.xyz
Certain vek do have preferences. Vek who can web will always try to web a mech in place if they can. Otherwise I have not been able to determine any preference for attacking grid, mech, or goal units. Then again, I haven't dug into the code on that, but I haven't noticed any.
Fan of the ITB content you have. Have you played Battle Brothers or Darkest Dungeon?
Battle Brothers, no. Played a LOT of Darkest Dungeon though!
@@SkipMcLazy haha nice. I'd recommend BB if you like these types of games.
This video really helped a little bit
*Start new campaign*
*webbed 2 of my units at the very beginning*
*more spawn after freeing myself*
*get webbed again*
*SET THAT CLOCK BACK CAUSE DADDY IS GOING BACK IN TIME*
This game is really good, but the clause of getting achievments to unlock more unit teams is a bad design as it can force you to ruin a good setup just in order to get a view coins. Instead, it shouldve been based on a casualty scale that accumulates coins based on the amount of casualties saved during time streams
I would actually have to disagree, I think getting achievements to unlock new ways to play is a great system and since ITB is relatively short, if you screw a team up it's not so much of a big deal. And you can always abandon timeline if you want to save your favourite pilot
Great vid!
Thanks!
Too bad, i still suck. i havnet beating a single game with the single squad .grrr!!
I'm so bad at this game, even on normal. Hope these tips will help my sorry ass 😅
One thing I've noticed while playing is that it seems like the game sets itself up to where it always possible to find a solution where the grid takes 0 damage. Since it is akin to chess the computer can be taught to do this setting up and the player has to figure it out. It could also be programmed to always out maneuver you and win if it wanted to.
just THINK
i have no clue why im watching this. i can already beat the game consistently. good video nonetheless