In a future strife with pain and anguish, the last remnants of mankind fight hard for survival.
The human race has now been split into two classes. You just so happen to be a part of the class that’s lower on the totem pole. The only way you’re capable of continuing to live is by combing through derelict alien ships. As you and your fellow mercenaries live the scavenger life, you’ll run into some not-so-friendly individuals. All of this dangerous adventuring is done within the new PC strategy RPG from Snowhound Games, Deep Sky Derelicts. Thanks to Dmytro Zhovtobryukh, CEO of Snowhound Games and Executive Producer of the game, we have a ready-made tips guide for your harrowing spaceship scavenging.
Here are the top 10 tips, tricks, and cheats you need to know for Deep Sky Derelicts.
1. Build a Versatile Squad
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• DSD is a party-based role-playing game based around “dungeon” exploration and tactical combat. Therefore, your squad composition at the beginning of the game will greatly affect your performance in both game aspects. At launch, the game offers six playable classes with their own specialties and twists, so try to understand what every character class is good at before venturing forth.
• First-time players should have at least one combat-oriented merc on their squad as a party made of a medic, a technician, and a leader would be too flimsy and lacking attack power in fights. Likewise, don’t stick to fighters only – the cunning abilities of support classes will save you a lot of time and money — and possibly keep you alive — during derelict missions. As a rule of thumb, go for a versatile lineup when choosing your squad, but don’t be afraid to experiment.
2. Keep an Eye on Energy Reserves
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• Energy management is a key game element. Energy is spent on movement and scanning as you make your way through derelicts, as well as in combat on card drawing. Your energy supply tends to deplete very quickly—and running out of energy completely in the middle of a derelict crawl may be fatal, as it will shut down your troops’ life support systems, turning off shields and scanning and giving them health damage over time.
• If you don’t want to constantly run back to the derelict’s landing bay to replenish your energy while risking untimely combat encounters, consider alternative ways of recharging your batteries. The most direct way to do it is to simply have enough energy cells stocked in your inventory. Make sure to grab an extra couple cells when you visit the station’s pawn shop.
3. The Scanner is Your Guiding Light
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• When you arrive at a derelict, everything except a few rooms adjacent to the landing bay is covered in darkness and there is usually no hint whatsoever in which direction to continue your search for the data you are supposed to retrieve. If you tread blindly, beware of the consequences – you may stumble upon something an enemy patrol or a trap and get caught unawares, or you may miss something cool, precious or important in one of the unexplored rooms you leave behind.
• This is where scanning comes in handy. Reach the edge of the unexplored area and hit “Scan” to reveal the contents of the nearby rooms in certain radius. And then proceed ahead knowingly. Sure, scanning costs energy, but it fully pays off on a long run, especially if you’re a meticulous explorer. So don’t be a miser — scan often.
4. Protect Your Health
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• Once you get into a fight, you’ll notice that each of your characters has shields in addition to their health. Shields are intended to protect health as lost health points can only be restored at the station’s medical facility after a mission for a hefty amount of credits.
Shields are, conversely, expendable—they get automatically restored between fights as long as your energy supply is not empty. All characters by default have cards that allow shield restoration in combat — don’t neglect these in favor of attacking cards. Keeping your shields up may keep your troops alive!
5. Make Use of Room Conditions
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• Derelicts often have areas with specific environmental conditions affecting certain aspects of the exploration and combat phases of your game. For instance, you can’t scan surroundings while in an area affected by magnetic interference, while getting into a fight in a radiated room may cost you dearly, as shield and health restoration abilities won’t work there.
• Thus, paying attention to the observed room conditions is important, as it may help you avoid unnecessary or fatal mistakes, or even gain temporary yet potentially decisive advantage for your side. Scan often and make yourself aware of conditions to minimize pitfalls and leverage advantages.
6. Balance Cards vs. Stats
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• When you first loot equippable gear, you’ll probably notice that it comes not only with stats like base damage output, chance of critical damage, etc., but also with cards that end up in your character’s deck once you equip the item. This often creates a tradeoff as a “numerically” superior weapon may get you inferior cards or cards that you don’t like as much. In this case, carefully choose what you prefer – higher damage numbers or cards that better complement your favorite tactics.
7. Have a Plan A, B, C, D…
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• Combat in DSD involves more than classic turn-based tabletop-like combat. It also has collectible card games elements like those found in Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. We intentionally chose to mix more traditional turn-based combat with cards to introduce an exciting degree of randomness into fights.
• Even though in DSD you have an overall control of each character’s tactical arsenal, you cannot know — thanks to the card mechanic — which four cards will be your starting hand at the beginning of the battle. This encourages you to adapt and come up with more dynamic combat strategies. To succeed, you’ll want to figure out a bunch of winning moves and tactics that depend not only on different enemies but also on different initial conditions.
8. Learn Your Tactics Arsenal
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• DSD’s class and equipment system offer a great variety of cards and tactical options beyond attacks. There are also numerous buffs and debuffs affecting various tactical parameters of either enemies or allies, shield restoration cards, deck manipulation cards that allow you to alter your current hand during fights, cards altering normal action and turn order, etc.
• Many attack cards also come with side status effects which may prove more efficient for your battle strategy than the direct damage they deal. Learn your characters’ tactical arsenal, preferably outside of combat, to see if there are any special cards you should rely on as anchors in your individual tactics or if there are advanced combos directly available or devisable with a bit of customization or luck. Coming up with new interesting combos and tactics is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game.
9. Cherry-Pick Abilities
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• In DSD, each character class comes with an ability tree with stat upgrades or new tactical options unlocked at every level. You get only two ability points to spend per level, so use them wisely – you won’t be able to max out every single ability on the tree (in fact, you have two ability trees: one for your primary character class and the other one for your secondary specialization which gets unlocked at level four), as the game is capped at level 10.
• This might feel limiting, but eventually results in a higher replay value, as you may customize your characters in several different ways on subsequent playthroughs. So think twice before investing ability points: consistent and versatile character builds may greatly change the odds in your favor, both on the battlefield and outside of it.
10. There’s No Shame in Retreat
Snowhound Games, 1C Company
• If during a combat you feel that things are going awry and you are risking your characters’ health, let alone lives, consider retreating. There’s no shame in fleeing from the battle – it will potentially save you a lot of time and money, as you may get to the station, resupply, heal wounds and upgrade gear, then return to the same combat encounter and win it with ease, especially if you play DSD on Hardcore.
• Remember though that after activating the retreat option your troops must stand their ground for one more full round while being unable to act. Therefore, use retreat early enough to make sure your team can survive it.
See Also
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10 Deep Sky Derelicts Tips & Tricks You Need to Know