Dungeon of the Endless
- Out of the starting heroes, Max is a very solid jack of all trades to learn the game with. He can operate and repair, has respectable speed and damage, and starts with a passive that gives science each turn. Most importantly, he has an ability that increases dust gain amount (not chance, however) from opening doors, making him a quality scout.
- Getting economy up and running is pretty important. I like to build at least one of each type of the Food, Industry, and Science major modules for each floor and I'll keep building them until they start costing more than 50 industry a pop. Try to build them as early as you can on each floor to maximize your gains.
- Try to open as many doors as you can on each floor to gain more resources and build up a stockpile reserve for the later, harder floors.
- When researching modules, you will sometimes get a chance to skip 1 level of research when leveling them up. Modules have 4 levels and each subsequent upgrade will cost more science. So the optimal way to save science is to unlock a module at level 1, upgrade it to level 2, then upgrade from it level 2 to level 4. In other words, try to skip the upgrades that go from 1 to 3, 2 to 3, and 3 to 4 as that'll end up costing you more in science. This isn't a hard and fast rule, however, because research options are randomized and sometimes you'll want a certain module at higher levels regardless of the cost.
- Heroes with operate are very useful. Place them in a major module and they'll increase its yield based on their wit. Some operators increase resource yields so dramatically that it's worth having them parked on generator duty for the entire game.
- Unlit rooms with heroes occupying them won't have enemies spawn in them. If a hero is proceeding from a dark room and opens a door, you can have them quickly move back into the dark room they just left as soon as the door opens so that it counts as occupied. When carrying the crystal, you can also leave 3 rooms unpowered (preferable the ones near the elevator exit) and let your heroes stand in them to prevent enemies from spawning in them as you make your run.
- Oftentimes you won't have enough dust to power on all of the rooms. Plan ahead for this by designating chokepoints as you explore. It can be beneficial to set up a tanky hero in an easily defensible room with several unlit rooms surrounding it so that you can farm dust from enemies.
- Be sure to sell all your excess items before you leave a floor. You can only keep 4 items in your inventory at a time, the rest will be lost as you leave.
- Because dust is the only resource that doesn't carry over with you, you should buy out the stock of any dust merchants before leaving the floor. That way you can use them to pay for goods or gain resources from merchants you meet on the next floor.
- Be on the look out for the Ahhrrrmani Suit or Hipster Scarf for your tank heroes as it grants an ability that will force enemies into attacking them, even the annoying ones that will normally rush past them to hit your crystal or structures. If you're lucky enough to equip two heroes with these items and are good at micro, you can confuse enemies and kite them back and forth between them.
- Aftershave is a great item for your more fragile heroes because it causes enemies to ignore them. Use it on your glass cannons or scouts and have them pepper away at approaching waves of enemies.
- Dustfield generators and Autodoc shards are great modules to help sustain your tanks heroes in chokepoint rooms.
- Neurostunners and tear gas are very potent combination that softens up enemies before they reach your hero chokepoints.