Part 13: Day 6 - Gameplay

Day 6: Gameplay

Music: neutral 4


So, are we going to have any other problems, Malkuth?

I don't think so, Manager! Are there any other new tests today?

There are not. How are the new hires?



They've been through some additional Fortitude, Temperance, and Prudence training, as requested!

The basic strategy when using new Agents with Mirror is to put them at 2/2/2/1, mirror them, and then bring any of the first 3 that's below 2 back up to 2 with either training or bonus LOB. I've also moved the number of Agents in each department down to 3: the standard number for early game facilities. By keeping it to 3 we have someone in each department to work each Abnormality, and we don't overtax our gear or our LOB.



Anyways, let's roll.



It's time. Remember to follow the protocols.



Our newest addition is a strange figure who hides behind a clothesline made of of faces.



A peek at its details shows that it requires 12 PE boxes to unlock its data, which means it's a TETH. When messing with a new Abnormality, it's important to try and eyeball its overall threat level however we can before sending someone at it… or just send them at it and retry if they die horribly. Predictably for our facility, I throw Mizu at the new Abnormality.

Ooh ooh, dibs on the new monster!



-92 is our first instance of Black damage. It deals damage to both HP and SP simultaneously, so it's usually a good idea to send in an Agent with higher HP than SP. We can bring an Agent back from panicking, but they can't recover from being dead. I am not following my own advice, because I am an idiot feel confident that Mizu will be fine regardless.



It seems like they're not a fan of Repression work, guys.

So how was it?

So-so. No matter what I did they only half-cared.



Since my main goal for the day is to grab all of the equipment from our new Abnormality, I send Mizu to do a lot of works with it. Her first two attempts both got bads, maybe this time will be different?



...huh.

You seem confused.

I'm totally confused. I kept repressing it just like before, but this time it couldn't seem to enjoy it enough?



Say hello to Today's Shy Look. This Abnormality is all about positioning. It treats every work equally, and gives a blanket success bonus or penalty based on its position. From far left to far right, it grants 30%, 10%, 0%, -30%, and -50%. In addition, it heals HP and SP with every success on the far left, and heals SP on the second from left. Its damage doubles on the far right.



This means that when I send an Agent to work it, I have to be ready to cancel when it does things like shift to its angry face with my Agent about 3 steps in front of the door. Did I mention that I rarely turn the game off of 2x speed for any reason?

Not pictured: the literally dozens of other close calls I had today.

There's one other threat associated with working with TSL as well:



After every work, our Agents have a 5% chance of having this stapled to their face. It's possible to hide E.G.O gifts if an agent is level 4 or higher… but we won't be doing that for the purposes of this LP. Whatever horrendous mishmash of bits our Agents get is what they get.



Hey… what's that alarm sound?

That's a meltdown siren. We need to check the nearby cells for meltdowns.

Why check, when we can simply work them all and have it covered either way?

That works too. Let's do it.



For most of the day, the Control Team is busy having Bishop work with Forsaken Murderer, Mr. Black with 1.76, and Tylana work with One Sin to train Prudence. Also, take a closer look up in the top left corner.



While a red number means we get meltdowns, at certain points we get these instead. These warnings mean the next meltdown level will spawn an Ordeal, those loose Abnormalities we've heard so much of. This color means we'll be seeing an Amber Dawn.



Uh… what the hell, Mizu?

I'm just thinking. We got all new Clerks after last time, and new Agents 'cause we expanded… Some of them are probably gonna' die. We could cry, or we could make a betting pool.

That's...

I got 2 LOB on Alpha10 making it.

You're on!

This feels so wrong.

Meanwhile…


If you let her, she just goes on forever, doesn't she?

Yes.

Thought so.

This is honestly my favorite halfway-done quote. I keep pushing until we hit the edge, and then send Talow to do the work so that Mizu is on hand to deal with the Ordeal.



I'm going to try talking to it. Let me know if anything happens.

Roger.



Say hello to The Perfect Food, everyone! Every Ordeal comes with its own intro and outro, which show up whenever they arrive or are defeated. Behind it are the worms themselves. Let's grab some data.



The Perfect Food is the only Ordeal in the entire game with a variable speed, constantly changing to anywhere between 28 and 32 in order to simulate a wormy slither. It approaches anyone in its room and jumps at them, dealing very low damage.

I send Mizu in to deal with them.



Heave-hup..! Aaaand…!



Hey! You're not allowed to dodge!

This is the main problem with them: Their jump takes them through an Agent, meaning that melee agents with slow attack speeds wind up, swing, and the worm is already behind them so they miss.

Our entire facility is full of melee agents with slow attack speeds. Today's Shy Look's gear was supposed to address this, but I can't equip any of it until tomorrow.

...This is bad, right?

Not as bad as it looks. Talow will be done working soon.



We can move on to the next day whenever you like.

Tempting as that would be, I don't want to run away at the first sign of a problem.

Talow joins the fray after a perfect work (seriously, how does he keep doing that), but they're both having problems landing hits so I eventually send them back to the main room to heal. I absolutely don't want to use D.A.D. due to their 1.2x Red modifier. Amber Dawns attack pretty quickly, and with five of them attacking D.A.D.'s 31 HP would be gone in only a couple of moments.



Ugh.. these things. We're not equipped to handle these things!

We'll be fine! Anyways, I want my 2 LOB. I totally saw one of those guys eat Alpha10.



With plan a out the window, I decide to move on to plan b and hope the Control Team can attack a little faster. One Sin's weapon swing isn't as slow as one of the hammers.



Don't worry! I'll have my agents perfectly deal with the problem!

They're not smiling… I should hit 'em 'til they smile!

_{It's just like in training, it's just like in training, just swing..!}



It's not hitting anything!!

After about 5 seconds or so they haven't managed to land a single hit, and the three already on my group have hit Tylana for 7 HP.

Fall back! I'll think of something else.

Roger!

The upside of Amber Dawn is that they can't attack your main rooms, meaning that if we take our time we can never lose… so long as we can hit them. I think about it again, and decide to try something stupid.



Hey Talow, you're faster than me, right?

Probably, why?

What if we both went after them together, and our hammers got super out of sync, and then no matter where they dodge, WHAMMO?

...It's worth a shot. D.A.D., hold down the fort?

Not like I can go out with those things around.



I dunno, I thought the backstreets were fun. Always something to do, plenty of food if you knew where to look...

...Just keep swinging.



While it takes around 3-4 swings for each hit, the two of them are tanky enough to deal with the first group. Amber Dawn's 2x Red weakness means that each hit from a hammer deals 24-36 damage, so with only 35 HP it isn't long before the two Agents are surrounded by worm corpses.



Mizu's taken a beating, though, so we go back to heal before attacking the other group.



...Didn't you guys change teams?

They were in the hallway back to our regenerator, and we needed a quick fix.

That would explain the holes in Mizu.

I can still fight!!

You really shouldn't go out until you're healed!!



They pop back into the corridor next to Control's main room not long after, and I send the two after them.

Hey, these things are called The Perfect Food, right? ...What do you think they taste like?

...10 LOB says it's jelly.

You're on!



Mmm… Yep! Grape jelly. Dang.



Defeating the Dawn Ordeal instantly gives 10% of our daily energy quota, so there's not any reason to beat them up if we can end the day unless we want to get more farming done. At this point, I take a deep breath and get back to work.



The next meltdown hits 1.76 and Forsaken. The radio's being worked already, so I throw Bishop at Forsaken in and try to work TSL real quick.

Manager…

Hold on, I need to pay attention to this.

Manager, you need to-

Seriously, I have to pay attention to this.

But, X…

What is it?



1.76 MHz is about to suffer a meltdown.

Oh for the love of-



I got so focused on not messing up TSL that I forgot 1.76 needed to be worked. This is how Lobotomy Corporation gets you, get too focused on spinning one plate and another crashes down.

I attempt to send Bishop at the problem, with his 1 Fortitude and decent other stats.



...dammit. I try D.A.D. next, since he has a higher Justice level, but no Fortitude bonus.







In the end, Bishop manages to hit two perfect works in a row to turn the static back off, and he picks up a shiny new radio for his efforts. With all the works I've been spamming for 6 days, I'm sort of surprised that this is only the second E.G.O gift we've seen, but… RNG can be cruel. With the problem back under control, I keep farming until I have the energy to get all of Today's Shy Look's gear.



It takes a while.



You're really caught up on smiling… why is that?

Because there's no problem you can't make better by laughing! Watch, I'll show you!



What'd I just walk in on?

I wish I knew.

Alright, pack it in, everyone. We're all done for the day!



With TSL finally maxed out, I decide to end the day and move on.



Another one done by the numbers.

No promotions, but everyone got a bit of good solid growth. Only having TETHs gives an upper limit on how far I can efficiently grind this early in the game, even with the mirror in the facility.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


F-04-83: Everything will be peaceful while you are under the faeries' care.
F-05-52: Somewhere in the distance, you can hear seagulls.
O-01-67: She was so sad that she had to leave her dear friends behind, so she came up with a brilliant idea!

We just got absurdly lucky here: -67 is a HE Abnormality. On day 7 only the third option has a chance to be a HE, and only 20% of the time. On top of this, the game's offering us a HE who can only be described as a good girl who has done nothing wrong in her life. She's an amazing Attachment trainer, her gear is excellent, and she's very easy to work with. She can't breach, so we'll need to keep an eye out for breaching abnormalities for later, but outside of that she's just excellent.

As for the others, -83 is mostly benign, but it's a ZAYIN and we ideally want to be ramping up and not down. It does have 5 slots for both suits and weapons, so it's good for gearing a lot of weaker agents to deal with TETHs. Lastly, -52 can kill an agent instantly if they're unlucky, and while it has only 2 weapons it also has 5 suits for defensive use. It's a ZAYIN too, though.



The decision is easy. We're getting a HE.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We meet Yesod, and find out a bit about him!

New Guidelines

Today's Shy Look

New Gear




Requirements: Fortitude II

New Story

Today's Shy Look