Sword of the Stars: The Pit - A sci-fi Roguelike

[Ellye]

http://sots-thepit.com/

I recently purchased Swords of the Stars: The Pit kinda blindly - I was familiar with the Sword of the Stars series, since I'm a fan of X4 games in general, but had never heard anything before about this roguelike game set in the same universe. Nonetheless, it seemed like a fine little roguelike set in an interesting universe, and was quite cheap, so why not give it a try?

And it would perhaps be an understatement to say that I am happy with the gem that the game proved out to be! Quite a fantastic and well produced rogue-like. I'm thinking about starting some let's play of it, likely with lots of deaths.

Anyone else got this game? I highly recommend it for those that didn't and happen to like roguelike games.

[Weezer]

I hadn't heard about it until this thread, but it looks interesting. It also has a demo, so I'll be trying that once I get home. I love when devs bother to make demos.

[Pahvimato]

I'm with Weezer here. Never heard of this one before this, but looks cool. I'm going to give it a try and report back.

[Smight]

wtf video.

[Sprinter]

I have this game since yesterday . I only played tutorial and started game on easy since i dont know much about it yet. Its suprisingly easy so far. but there are four dificulty settings (easy, normal, hard, nightmare) and i guess im still only in early part of game as i havent met many hard oponents yet. (no clue how far i am tbh)

Some notes

Be carefull with your resources ammo is plenty but weapons and armor get damaged by use. You can repair them but if repair fails you will loose them forever. Finding replacment can be hard.
You can kraft items blindly without recipe but you loose your ingredients if its not a valid recipe.

[Cogwheel]

Engineer today engineer forever.


Also robots and stranglers and diseases and poison mines get basically all my hate for now.

[Domochevsky]

Eff those robots, is what i'd say. Jeez. (Also eff Poison.) >_>

[Cogwheel]

I do like how pleased the Engineer is about everything, though.

Moldy cheese from a rot pile? 'EXCELLENT.'

[Ellye]

The deepest I've gone so far was 14 (on Normal, I didn't try other difficulties yet) as a Scout.

But my current Marine run is looking good, though his lack of initial skills in... well, in pretty much anything that isn't killing, can become problematic.

[Cogwheel]

The deepest I've gone so far was 14 (on Normal, I didn't try other difficulties yet) as a Scout.

But my current Marine run is looking good, though his lack of initial skills in... well, in pretty much anything that isn't killing, can become problematic.

This game taught me that marines cannot open containers.

PS Stasis Pantry is my new favourite phrase.

[Domochevsky]

And then i found a 4D-copier. Did you know that it only copies one bullet, not the entire stack?
(And that you can only wear one AI computer on your arm. No idea what goes on the other arm.)

Edit: Adaptoid.

[Cogwheel]

Large Proteans.

No kind and loving god.

[Domochevsky]

11 floors down now, no ammo for the pistol, shotgun or flamer. I got a vibro sword and 478 rifle ammo. Why must you tease me so, game?

So much crap in my inventory that i don't know what to do with... and i don't have the decyphering ability to make sense of the terminals, which presumably contain recipes. >_>

Image of the mess.

Edit: And then i die one room over another effin Adaptoid. Friggin mimics!

[Sprinter]

And then i found a 4D-copier. Did you know that it only copies one bullet, not the entire stack?
(And that you can only wear one AI computer on your arm. No idea what goes on the other arm.)

Edit: Adaptoid.

I have Ai decoder on one hand and bracelet (adds 2x melee damage + 2 finesse) on other hand. Also found a nano belt which add more inventory space.

Found recipe by blindly combining ingredients in oven roasted meat + green sack ingredient from bats = pungent meat

also try combining spare parts + computer AI at computer lab.

Unfortunately i cant decipher those messages too.

[Ellye]

Edit: And then i die one room over another effin Adaptoid. Friggin mimics!

A tip: you can attack objects by manually aiming at them. Most objects can take a pistol shot without risking getting destroyed.
Do shot at highly out of place objects, like Medical Chambers in a Kitchen. If they're an Adapotoid, it will be revealed.

Also, if you press Space on a object and nothing happens, do not press Space again. Back off and shoot at it. It's an Adptoid.

[Domochevsky]

...
Also, if you press Space on a object and nothing happens, do not press Space again. Back off and shoot at it. It's an Adptoid.

Weirdly enough that's exactly what happened there. I walked into a place with 3 pantries, could use two of them, but the third one refused to act when i spacebar'd it. I was going "Well, that is weird... maybe from another angle?", took a step to the left and SUDDENLY MIMIC! D:

Edit: Another thing i just learned: If Disease progresses to lvl 5 it first blinds and then kills you. No saving throws.

Edit 2: Finally a somewhat useful message:

[Kane]

Weirdly enough that's exactly what happened there. I walked into a place with 3 pantries, could use two of them, but the third one refused to act when i spacebar'd it. I was going "Well, that is weird... maybe from another angle?", took a step to the left and SUDDENLY MIMIC! D:

Edit: Another thing i just learned: If Disease progresses to lvl 5 it first blinds and then kills you. No saving throws.

Edit 2: Finally a somewhat useful message:

Recipe for a neat weapon you got there. Not that I'd know, since I wentandlookeduparecipelist.

Marine is easiest. 17th on normal, 28th on easy. Adaptoids are unpleasant, toxoids are proof that I have offended some god or another.

As a tip, two not-terribly-uncommon(or common for that matter,) items can identify mods/mutagens for you;

Spoiler

Show

cyber brain; logic circuits

I assume everyone's aware that the engineer's motion-tracker can tip you off to adaptoids?

[Cikomyr]

You know you are really at the bottom of desperation when you last hope is an ancient race of Space Dolphins

[Chen]

I really enjoy this game. I've only found partial recipe lists online though which is kind of annoying. I'm usually holding so much junk its not funny. And I'm really not sure what half the stuff does. I did manage to make a crazy X-ray type helmet that completely removed the shadows/LOS thing (basically I could see everything around me regardless of walls and such). On Easy I don't see the point in playing anything but a Marine. It only takes a level or two before you have enough skills to open most items and you start with the amazing auto pistol AND an assault rifle.

[Cikomyr]

I don't really like this game so far. It really seems all random; which is normal for a Roguelike, but a bit too random. Little way to stock up on food; no clues regarding any recipe, and I lose the components. I cannot go through trial and error on lab stations as the stations use up.


Unless I ever get some basic guide, I won't touch this game again.

[Sprinter]

Well from what i heard recipes are always same so if you have them in codex once they stay forever. Think this is why they are so hard to decipher.

Still on my first game on easy right now around floor 16. Till now i found decoded only one recipe and found two other by randomly combining ingredients.

Now i have decoder AI and my decipher skill is geting better also noticed that not all messages seems to be recipes...

[Chen]

no clues regarding any recipe, and I lose the components. I cannot go through trial and error on lab stations as the stations use up.

Its worth using up the devices anyway since they raise your electronics skill (you can just use them and hit escape if you don't want to burn ingredients). And decoding the terminals gets you the exact recipes. Its just extremely slow if you have a low decoding skill.

[Ellye]

I don't really like this game so far. It really seems all random; which is normal for a Roguelike, but a bit too random. Little way to stock up on food; no clues regarding any recipe, and I lose the components. I cannot go through trial and error on lab stations as the stations use up.

Unless I ever get some basic guide, I won't touch this game again.

You get clues regarding recipes by decrypting messages on computer terminals.

[Vitruviansquid]

Yeah, I'm with cikomyr in thinking this game is a bit too random to be a really great roguelike. In a well-designed roguelike, you should have a pretty good idea of what got you killed in retrospect and how to prevent it again in the future. Got killed by an invisible monster in Dungeon Crawl? You learn to get some way to see invisibles earlier next time around. Have your progress blocked a tough monster out-of-depth the first time around? Evade it and take one of the 3 stairs down, then come back when you're stronger. In The Pit, there's only 1 way up and 1 way down for each floor. If you go down a floor and there's a fight you can't win waiting for you in the first room... you're just boned, through no fault of your own. And you know you can't exactly prepare for that the next time around, or put off the fight because this game drives you so much harder than other roguelikes with hunger because you generally can't eat your kills.

On the bright side, this game really plays up the survival elements because everything you use can be broken or run out, so it's a fun exercise in resource management. You'll often want to ask yourself whether or not a fight is worth spending one of your grenades, or whether you should go through a mystery trap because it's the only entrance into a room that might be full of loot. Health in particular is always a source of drama for me because there are so many gambles the game wants you to make with it. Is it okay to wait until you level up and replenish all your health for free or will you be killed beforehand? Do you want to rest for health and effectively spend food for health? Should you use a rare weapon/ammo to kill a tough enemy or just take the hits?

Since this is starting to turn into a review, let me wrap it up like one...

The Pit's hampered as a roguelike by how harshly it can randomly punish you. You'll find yourself dying through no fault of your own more often in this game than in other roguelikes. But is the game fun? Yeah, it's really fun despite its problems because it makes up for them with its own innovations that *makes the game fresh*. Considering how few roguelikes there are and how homogeneous the genre generally is, I'd say The Pit is very much worth checking out regardless of its flaws.

[pffh]

Are all the races playable or just humans?

[Vitruviansquid]

You can only be a human, but there are three classes: Marine, Engineer, and Scout.

[pffh]

You can only be a human, but there are three classes: Marine, Engineer, and Scout.

Bah I want to play as a Black Swimmer or a Morrigi.

[Domochevsky]

And then there are times when all you got left is a vibro sword, walk out of a room and have a large protean right next to you, grabbing you before you can do jack and another one rounding the corner. 8 attacks per turn and protean (all corrosive) is a dickmove.

[Cikomyr]

Bah I want to play as a Black Swimmer or a Morrigi.

... You really wanna play as a Space Dolphin?

[pffh]

... You really wanna play as a Space Dolphin?

Psychic space dolphins with guns and yes, yes I do.