Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Need advice on Colony Management? Help with the Shrine Wars Campaign? Ask here.
User avatar
crow
Hatchling
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:25 am

Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by crow »

I had to say that it is really really exciting to know this board from wikipedia link. :D
At this post I would like to talk about some of my discovers and some of my confuse (in my poor English, sorry.)

Deadlock was so attractive to me cause it was an "honest" game.
It was made in the years that most of the people was still learning "how to make a game" instead of "how to make money."
Using a lot of time making "Help and Information" page inside the game instead of trying to make weapons glowing and more
more gambling kind systems.

All of the numbers displayed was just what it works inside the game:
Defense = HP, Defense - Attack = remaining HP, remaining HP / Defense * 100 = Health;
Even the sound effects express exactly what it is going on in the combat! (That is why I called it "honest" game.)

When Tank like Units such as Fusion Cannon had been hit, it will have a sound like "dāngǐwū"
When Defense Installation such as Laser Defense had been hit, it will have a sound like "māowū"

If you try to count the firing and hitting sound effect counts in great amount (I mean maybe 15 times? 20 times?) like me,
you would find out "Damn! Veteran unit fire 20 times and hit 13 times, 13/20 = 0.65; 65 it is just exactly what displayed
at Accuracy section! What an honest game!"

By counting the sound effects, I think:
Laser Defense: HP 20~25, Atk 4
Flake: HP 50
Torpedo Fort: HP 50, Atk 15
I think Defense Installations was just like the description in game "about equal in power to a OOO,"
same attack power but have a little bit more HP.

By the way, accuracy would be:
Green (exp: 0~99) => 50
Veteran (exp: 100~399) => 65
Elite (exp: 400+) => 80
And this should be the only improvement for experienced units in Deadlock II.
I have memories of increasing moving speed and firing rate at Deadlock I, but now I do not have a copy on hand to confirm it.


****

We have learned Attack, Defense, Accuracy above, now let us move on to some opposite attributing(?) units.

Interceptor > Bomber(?)

This answer would be NO; I have tried to transfer unit(s) to others for making them combat one by one,
turbo wing fighter as an interceptor roll had little chance to win starflare bomber as hmm.. a Bomber.
(I had confirmed remaining health and sound effect counting, no attack multipliers applied, they do not work like how Homeworld does.)

Although turbo wing fighter could not really take down starflare bomber as what we thought of "Interceptors and Bombers,"
I have notice something at ChCh't campaign scenario 2, which Cyth love to build a lot of turbo wing fighter:
Basing on above one by one experiment I thought my starflare bombers would neutralize the defense installations without difficult
and maybe could take down most of the fighters, but the result was zero bomber survive, zero fighter casualty!
So, hmm.. here is one of my hypothesis:
"Though attack multipliers was not applied for fighters to bombers, bombers will have priority at ground unit(s)
making it looks like fighters can take down bombers efficiently.
"

I think this priority mechanism hypothesis maybe works on SAM Troopers too; But for "Submarine and Destroyers" I am
not really sure, only known is that they do not have attack multipliers inside. Maybe there is no attack multipliers mechanism
inside Deadlock.

All units and defense installations that could "fire" could attack both air and surface targets, such as flake launcher would
attack fusion cannon if there is no aircraft buzzing around. The only exception is torpedo fort, it will only attack sea units.
Maybe there is priority mechanism or accuracy correction for flake, but it is hard for me to prove it.


****

Unit's moving speed was critical when we need to retreat or to approach defense installations.
When affordable, I prefer AAV rather than Fusion Cannon, prefer Battle Trooper or Assault Trooper rather than Disruptor Cannon.
What I would like to share at this really really short section was that I have notice they will try to "move on the road"
and when this happened, they will move faster
. The faster the units was, the more significant difference could be observed.
(ChCh't + Power Cell)

Since we could not assign them to build roads at where we want, I think this discover would be hard to implement attack or defense strategy.


****

Finally, combat orders, missions, and ability.

For combat orders, most of the time we would only use Attack Units Only, Avoid Mines, and Combat Support.
Basically, Attack Units Only and Combat Support was the same, both of them will not attack buildings except defense installations;
Only difference is that Combat Support will make them hold on the bottom line for about 5 seconds. Combat Support order was
handy for foes that build their defense installations with a distance from where your units enter the map, you can reduce hostile
milita without taking fire from those fixed damage dealer.
For all other combat orders like "Attack OOO" and Avoid Mines, they will engage everything they met, creating ruins on the path
where they visit
(which most of the times we would like to avoid.) Avoid Mines was used when advancing on mined neutral
territories such as ChCh't campaign scenario 2; After success avoiding the mines and take over the territory, the mines will be
disarmed automatically.

Most of the abilities could be found in missions section, here I will only point out what was not described inside help.

Juggernaut, this will make your soldier attack buildings only, yes, Buildings Only.

Steal Technology, athought the success discription looks like "$unit_name has stolen the engineering blueprints
for $tech_name technology! The unit got past the security systems in a $foe_race_name research facility
in $territory_name." It does not requires your scout to work on a territory that has research facilities,
you just need to put your scout inside a territory that have different color flags
, this makes them less risk
to be caught by patrol units. Notice that we could steal pacted alliance without breaking the pact.

Hunt, looks like it will make your submarine to Spy when no enemies shown in same territory and behave as No Mission when engaged enemies.
I am not sure will this mission apply other advantages when ambushing, but looks like there is not.

Underwater Search, weakened Patrol mission. This mission seemed to be a replacement of Patrol
for contending against Silent Running, but will need to start a fight after success detection.
Most of the time, I will not use this mission; Destroyers do not have absolute advantage to Submarines.
(Also, since I will not use this mission at most of the time, I have no idea will detection fail or not.)

Mind Blast, weird ability. I expect it would be something like Yuri that "Blast" units in one shot;
Instead, it just applied a visual effect of blue circle, a little bit like the ones of missile hit on target and..
nothing happened at all?! Units which was aimed by Mind Blast and success at retreating will act as
nothing special happened, they can still repair as usual.


Sabotage, what Maug scouts was born for. This ability was very useful when facing over-teched
defense installations in campaign scenario. Since the building was created by game script,
your foe does not have technology to rebuild it in a short time; When no Energy Defense and
Anti-Matter Defense was remaining on the planet, time to call your Fusion Cannons to work!

Steal Resources, this will transport resources to the nearest yellow color flaged territory including wastelands.
Although most of the times we do not have money to transport all of the loots from wastelands
back to our base, reducing your foes' resources will help a lot, sometimes.
(Yes, I am talking about ChCh't campaign scenario 5)

Poison Land, I am not really familiar with this ability, but it looks like will only destroy half of the food
for one turn when success; Instead of what we could have thought of "poison" that harmed continually.

Mines, even more deadly than Anti-Matter Defense, each triggered will deal 50 points of damage.
Only Holocaust Cannon and Shockwave Carrier (well, have not happened yet, but from Shockwave Carrier's
Defense statistics it should be able to survive) can tank one mine burst.
Mines does not have the concept of consume, the more you send, the more they kill;
And, if you failed to take over that territory, mines will still remain.
There are only three methods to remove mines from the planet:
disarmed by scout, using force to take over that territory, and, clicking on the mine icon
to blow away the mines by its owner
.


****

Above was all I know about combat, currently.

If you know what is going on when Mind Blast unleashed;
If you know what kind of silver bullet is flak using when they hunt my bombers down;
Please do tell me more about this honest game. <(_ _)>
User avatar
TimeDilation
Advisor
Advisor
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:24 am
Favourite Race: Uva Mosk
Location: ITALY (BELGIUM)

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by TimeDilation »

very nice post!

just 2 things: yes in DL2 the only improvement by experience is accuracy.

in your test with planes, you used CHCHT planes: they have a bonus with planes, maybe you didnt know. This makes your test fail :P sorry
User avatar
Ubergeneral Grunt
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 189
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:20 am
Favourite Race: Tarth
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by Ubergeneral Grunt »

This information is bound to be useful for OpenDeadlock, thanks muchly and welcome to the forums crow!
Tarth cooks make best strudel, barbecue, bean dip, fish, cat food, smelt, piston rings, tofu and cam shafts...
User avatar
crow
Hatchling
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:25 am

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by crow »

Oops! I have not notice ChCh't planes each have 1 more attack point to others 0口0!!

Also, I had confirmed after transfer it will apply race advantages/disadvantages by its new owner:
(This transfer was done by unit-control-bug.)

Image
Image
Which Maug Assault Trooper should be 12/29 instead of ChCh't Assault Trooper's 12/33.
(or Tarth 14/43 or others 12/36)

So the race advantage problem do count inside hmm..

It is just so weird for that time my bombers were all taken down and none of them could hit Cyth's fighter
more than 1 shot; Maybe I should find out the save files and do more trying on it. =^=/
User avatar
TimeDilation
Advisor
Advisor
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:24 am
Favourite Race: Uva Mosk
Location: ITALY (BELGIUM)

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by TimeDilation »

about silent running vs underwater tracking...never ever had the occasion to see a submarine forced to fight.
i have to say submarines are quite inefficient in their intelligence work but spying (they die easily while disarming mines...).
also hunt is a nice mission to give. but they are expensive to build and maintain, tho.

have to mention mind control from relu, which is reeeaally good, and explains why relu tanks get -1 life.
User avatar
TimeDilation
Advisor
Advisor
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:24 am
Favourite Race: Uva Mosk
Location: ITALY (BELGIUM)

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by TimeDilation »

...oh and what is that "unit control bug" u mentioned?
i noticed that when you bulk-select your unit on an enemy territory, you get also their missions in the list, dunno if it is related.
User avatar
crow
Hatchling
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:25 am

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by crow »

TimeDilation wrote:about silent running vs underwater tracking...never ever had the occasion to see a submarine forced to fight.
i have to say submarines are quite inefficient in their intelligence work but spying (they die easily while disarming mines...).
also hunt is a nice mission to give. but they are expensive to build and maintain, tho.

have to mention mind control from relu, which is reeeaally good, and explains why relu tanks get -1 life.
So maybe I am wrong about underwater tracking, hmm..
I only tried underwater tracking at ChCh't campaign scenario 5 (yes, ChCh't again)
I tried it twice, and ambushed submarine twice, and.. sank twice =.=||
So the last time my game log was something like this:
- Flak_Ship 1, Destroyer 1; Yo_Jo_Co_Sea; Disband;
After that I have not met Tarth submarine anymore, and they were all removed automatically by patrol system event.
That is why I think it works like: detect success -> fight -> sink by submarine..

Re'Lu's mind control dose actually what the name described, and it is a fearful ability in deadlock I.
I do not have much experience at using Re'Lu, but in my memories it was hard to use when launching assault
since command corps have little hit points. (They do better when defensing, hiding inside militia and casting magic.)
Have not tried on deadlock II yet, maybe using with Combat Support order?
TimeDilation wrote:...oh and what is that "unit control bug" u mentioned?
i noticed that when you bulk-select your unit on an enemy territory, you get also their missions in the list, dunno if it is related.
Select one of your unit, drag it into some place that had other unit(s) not under your control. (alliance also works)
Right click your unit on map to bulk-select also open control panel.
Order them to do anything you want under the bulk-select, such as retreat at 0 or transfer to your control.
Click on any unit that does not belong to you in the unit list at bottom and drag them to another territory.

Done, you have "mind controlled" the unit(s).
Most of the time will work, I am not sure what will make them overwrite your "mind control."

This bug could make your territory "untouchable" by computers and ruined the fun :<
(But it is fun when it as a "cheating.")
User avatar
TimeDilation
Advisor
Advisor
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:24 am
Favourite Race: Uva Mosk
Location: ITALY (BELGIUM)

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by TimeDilation »

wow, i know that bug then! didnt think it was so powerful tho!
i think it even works in multiplayer games (at least on the original version), do you?

by the way, you seem quite expert of the game which makes me eager to have one or two with you, why dont you join our experimental hamachi network? (we just need to test deadlock 2 with 3 players...)
User avatar
crow
Hatchling
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:25 am

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by crow »

TimeDilation wrote:wow, i know that bug then! didnt think it was so powerful tho!
i think it even works in multiplayer games (at least on the original version), do you?

by the way, you seem quite expert of the game which makes me eager to have one or two with you, why dont you join our experimental hamachi network? (we just need to test deadlock 2 with 3 players...)
Nope, I have never tried multiplayer games yet, I have no idea what will happen \o.0/
But I guess whether it will work or not should depend on "playing order," maybe same as landing order?
Later ones are supposed to overwrite early ones command.

Currently I run Deadlock II (v1.20?) on VirtualBox, m$ window$ XP, I am not sure will this work for hamachi?
If it does, I can help on testing, but my available time is irregular(?)
I mean, hmm.. sometimes I will be available at 22:00~24:00, sometimes will be 13:00~15:00, and sometimes..
I can not give a definite time that I will be available now. And.. be prepared for my slow, poor English :<

=== Edit ===

Oh, I found useful posts about multiplayer at General Discussion.
(It looks like what I have will work anyway.)
User avatar
TimeDilation
Advisor
Advisor
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:24 am
Favourite Race: Uva Mosk
Location: ITALY (BELGIUM)

Re: Deadlock II: Orders, Missions and all about Combat

Post by TimeDilation »

hello, well you know in multiplayer there is no play order!
despite it is a turn based game, it is always your turn, because everyone play the turn at the same time. so there is no play order: the turn ends either when time runs out or everyone presses end turn.
so... i think i found my soldiers with changed orders at least two or three times... also sometimes i have a feeling that some unit "disappear" from the game in multiplayer...

anyways, i am wondering why you play on a virtual machine. it adds more complication to the whole thing.
if you have windows 10, just follow the instructions some dude made to workaround the issues.
if you have windows 8 throw it out the window.
if you have windows 7 just copy the content of the INSTALL folder on you PC, then boot deadlock from Daemon Tools virtual image of the CD. you can even copy the patched files (already extracted! because if the folder is copied without install, the install will abort) and manually patch it. This is what I did and it works awesome, with sound and everything.

i never experienced the kind of problems you have with your virtual machine, but keep in mind everything is virtualized so...who knows where the problem is: physical drivers? allocated memory? failure of virtual devices?

anyway join the network cmon, we can decide when make a chill game (chill= turns of 15-20 minutes) to make such experiments:
name: DLnet
pw: deadlock
Post Reply