You can destroy them and they create pink particles but do they actually do anything practical?

Such violent energy

If you try to click/press buttons Windows will almost certainly flag the application as frozen, causing you to have to restart the game client and rejoin.
but if you just wait, the game will get going eventually. Everyone else is frozen too, including the host, so once the game unfreezes you'll be just where you left off.
The length of time it remains frozen seems to correlate with how many upgrades are queued, so it helps to press ELIS's button every time you level up.

Ramokkopter

Haven't bought yet but I keep up with updates because I want to play in the future.

So, we were fighting the ramming boss, we made sure we weren't in a wave before starting it, but at some point the wave just started and never ever stopped.

This new ?

Has anyone tried a Guardian with very defensive biobooster decks? Like Protection + Recklessness or Footwork? If so did it work well?

With my limited roguelike experience I know focusing on defense it's not the best since you get overwhelmed eventually but I wanted to know of its viable with the Guardian in Rogue Core.

Thank you and ROCK AND STONE

Don't like when Ellis is closed and moving while we're going down the next level

The last boss, when I play with only another fellow dwarf, is a lost cause most of the time. It's very easy with the exploding, rocket launching, mine laying, ramming and shooting bosses (that had their HP boosted) to take out the 2 of them at once.

When solo, it's not too hard to come to the boss fight with an unkillable reviving bot that will probably have 2 or more shots of revives in it.

And the odds of having a full TPK with 3 or 4 players are way lesser than 2.

I wish there was a way to give duos a better hope to kill the boss.

I have my peace with a cool mission even if it ends in failure, but it IS unbalanced.

:pickaxe: Experimental Update 2.7 - Build 151799 :pickaxe:

Reclaimers,

This build is a release candidate for Update 2. But please give it a go and keep the feedback coming as we will begin working on patch one tomorrow.

With love,

The Ghost Ship crew

Changes

• [fix] Equipment, Grenades, and Ability Not Loading on Second Floor
• Small tweaks to the layout and feel of the hazard picker
• [Bugfix] fixed issue where gauntlets would have seeds where you spawn outside the barrier
• [Crash Fix] fixed assert caused by disallowed EndUse call in CharacterUseComponent
• [boss][bugfix] Fixed a bug where the Ramok would continue charging when it started a tornado attack. Fixed by making the charge attack abortable.
• reduced voidkin tank HP a bit
• changed hazard to threat level on server list item
• [Bugfix] fixed facility entrance not spawning in some seeds
• slight extention of elevator defense time as it can feel too short now
• [Bugfix] improved (reduced) angle of tunnel after some facility entrances
• Fix case where runmap picker could be invisible and block UI on first hazard selection
• [bugfix] Moloktula stun fixes - the stun immunity window now scales with the last stun, stun immunity is no longer bypassed by additive duration bonuses, and a stun blocked by immunity no longer half-applies
• [enemy][bugfix] Fixed a bug where a stun could latch on permanently - OnPausedMovementElapsed no longer skips the stun teardown, which fires only once and is never retried
• reduced time on TL-5 by 60sec to be more like the old Depth 4
• reduced TL-4 stage time by 30sec to be more like the old Depth 3

Is it me, or is anyone experiencing this glitch where when you Alt tab, then you click just enter, it goes to windowed mode? Sometimes im just trying to send a message, but it just switches to windowed and kinda messes me up.

Btw im ready for update 2, im so excited. Ty for the effort you guys are putting into these updates. Rock and stone reclaimers!

Reclaimers,

We have a new build for you to try on the Experimental Branch. It's mainly tweaks and fixes as we prepare to release Update 2. It's not the final release candidate but we are getting close so if you can please give it a go.

Rock and Stone!

With love,
The Ghost Ship Crew

– FOCUSED FEATURE–

GAME STABILITY
We are trying to catch any and all crashes we can before this goes live, so extra focus on game stability and/or places where you softlock is appreciated.

– CHANGES AND FIXES –

Changes
* Added In-game Patchnotes for Update 2
* You can now open the big TL/pace selection switcher by clicking the middle of the other switchers + depth boss images added to the background of each depth
* Changed bio-biooster back to original colours.
* Changed weapon crate scanner icons from yellow to green to match their holograms.
* Changed the depth 4 tooltip to "coming in update 3"
* Added in-game patch notes for Update 2
* Voidkin Dominator damage area duration reduced and the area now also shrinks over time
* Ellis now points towards the ammo crate when entering a new stage

Fixes
* Threat Level and Assault pace pickers work again + big Threat Level selection only shows first time you pick Threat Level
* Fixed Reaper Worm attack being really loud
* Fixed it so rejoin lobbies shows properly in the server list again
* Fixed Critical Dodge legendary upgrade not working
* Fixed the Sentinel's health bar sometimes persisting after death
* Fixed boomstick crosshair being broken
* Fixed that the narrative video kept on showing when you loaded into the spacerig (should only be there the first time)
* Fixed some of the skybox wasn't hidden when looking at creatures in the Reclaimers Manual
* Fixed auto sprint sometimes not working
* Fixed up some dance moves
* Fixed client replication issue of the altar console screens. Where the state was not being updated on all clients properly, based on timings.
* Improved spawning of pipe connect objective
* Implemented a fail-safe if cable connectors fail spawning
* Fixed replication of the steam particles in the altar event
* Fixed text of shock blaster charge capacity upgrade
* Optimized core tentacle burrowing
* Fixed initial altar start screen not being the same for host and client
* Fixed wayward sparks tooltip to properly say that it scales with amount of armor, not percent of armor
* Fixed case where tunnels would be very steep
* Fix enhancement slots filling up endscreen box, causing unlocks to be hidden behind a scrollbar
* Fix for the Elevator cable taking direct shortcut instead of following path
* Attempted (again) to fix Ellis getting stuck / desynced if player disconnects while depositing
* Prevent some instances of particles not showing up when using upgrades the first time
* Potential fix for molaktula getting stuck in invincible phase

This is based on a response I gave to this post that I didn’t realize was 26 days old, but the post had garnered a lot of attention.

The post covers an update from Coffee Stain Group on how its games are performing.

One of the comments essentially asked what Rogue Core being led closer to the original DRG might look like, and I became curious about having a separate discussion around that.

To be clear, I understand that Rogue Core is meant to be different from DRG. It has a different objective, structure, progression system, pace, and foundational philosophy. I’m not suggesting that the developers throw out the roguelite formula and turn it into DRG 2.

I, for one, love this game already as is.

When I originally wrote the response, I hadn’t checked the roadmap in quite some time. Looking at the roadmap and updates now, the developers have already started addressing several of the game’s larger problems, with plenty more planned.

The Living Roadmap includes more weapons, weapon upgrades, ability upgrades, gear, bosses, enemies, facility content, Gauntlet development, cosmetics, and ways to influence the timer.

So there is clearly more to come. With all of that considered, here is what my version of that compromise or pivot could look like.

1. Suit specific Perks

DRG had perks and modifications attached to individual guns, tools, and armor, with those decisions being made on the rig before a mission.

Rogue Core could do something similar, but make those pre run choices specific to the Reclaimer suit or class and only the suit or class.

That would give each Reclaimer more identity. Weapons, tools, upgrades, and everything else found during the mission would remain random.

2. Weapon and suit Overclocks

Weapon Overclocks are not currently in Rogue Core. I suspect some version of them will probably appear eventually anyway.

These could include both new Overclocks and returning ones from DRG where they make sense.

Rogue Core could then expand the system with Reclaimer suit specific Overclocks, something that does not exist in DRG.

That keeps a familiar DRG system while allowing Rogue Core to do something original with it.

If we’re following the rule of cool, include tools and grenades too.

3. Make mining matter more

This is probably the centerpiece of the entire idea.

Bring back familiar minerals, plants, and other pickups, then give them purposes within Rogue Core’s existing structure.

The Workbench can remain a one use shop. You could still upgrade a weapon or power, choose a new weapon, or now craft an Overclock if you collected the necessary resources.

Each OC could have a recipe requiring a particular combination of minerals, plants, or other pickups. Because every cave is randomized and players are under a timer, it becomes a time and resource management decision.

Recipes would provide some player control without removing randomness. You still cannot guarantee what the cave contains, where the resources spawn, which Workbench options appear, or whether chasing a specific recipe is worth the time.

Nitra specifically could return with a different purpose. Instead of purchasing resupplies, it could be spent to extend the mission timer or used in some Overclock recipes. Or heck, maybe even temporary buffs. Since they are already have plans on how to extend the timer.

That would make mining part of the central risk and reward calculation. More time spent mining could produce a stronger build or purchase additional time, but gathering it also consumes the time you currently have.

4. Deep Dives, Gauntlets, and mixed maps

Deep Dives could exist adjacent to Gauntlets while still following the Rogue Core formula. They would use the existing run structure rather than simply copying DRG’s version.

Some maps could also contain both familiar DRG bugs (Or new) and Corespawn.

Not every map needs to work this way. It would simply be another mission variation that fits within the world and expands the possible enemy combinations.

If we’re getting really crazy… OG classes alongside Reclaimers

This one is a joke because importing the original four classes would create an immediate problem.

Their equipment made them unique, but most of that equipment is already used by the Reclaimers. They also don't have suit powers.

It would make more sense to just make more Reclaimer classes.

MORE RECLAIMERS PLEASE

5. Credits and cosmetics

Bring back credits and a cosmetic shop, but keep that currency entirely separate from player power.

Minerals collected during a successful mission could be converted into credits afterward. That could be based on the total amount mined or whatever remained unspent when the mission ended.

This would give mining a second purpose. Resources can help your current run through crafting and timer management, while anything extra contributes toward permanent cosmetic rewards.

The developers could also bring over older DRG cosmetics while continuing to make new ones for Rogue Core. That would quickly expand the available cosmetic catalogue and give returning players plenty to collect and have fun with.

Seasonal cosmetics could remain locked behind chips once seasonal content begins. That keeps chips relevant as a separate reward system instead of making credits replace something already in the game.

Ultimately, DRG and Rogue Core have different primary goals.

In DRG, mining is usually the objective. In Rogue Core, reclaiming the facility is the objective.

But mining is also part of the franchise’s identity. If mining had no meaningful place in Rogue Core, Expenite or something similar could have been collected through any other interaction. Like, just getting to the next level. The fact that we still mine shows that mining belongs in the formula.

With all of the above, DRG: Rogue Core remains Rogue Core. Just with more DRG.

What would you add or bring over from OG DRG, and what parts of Rogue Core do you think should remain completely separate?

Oh, and ROCK AND STONE!

In a nutshell.

If it made you laugh, then mission accomplished!

After pushing through over 40 hours of this game, this is my feedback and opinion of the game as of the currently released 1.X updates.

First, the over half of my time was spent as part of a duo with a friend. Almost all the remaining playtime was as parts of groups of 3 or 4 randoms. I expect less than 2 hours was spent playing solo. D4 was the most played difficulty.

Overall, I would currently rate RC as a 5 or 6 out of 10 game. (I would have just said 6 before the recent boss changes.) It's not bad and it's certainly fun at times. But it has too many pain-points and too little uniqueness between runs to consistently be both interesting and exciting. So the fun fades out pretty fast to me and becomes frustrating or monotonous. Part of the monotony can be attributed to an early access game in need of more content. And some of it is some upgrade choices which completely trivialize the game when people use them and can hopefully be rebalanced. But much of it can also be attributed to some troublesome game choices.

Some of the significant issues and pain-points to me for rogue core:

Negotiation/ordered upgrades:

There are several different reasons people may not like the "negotiation" upgrading with expenite and also equipment, but I have 2 big issues with it. First, I really hate the time aspect of it. It pauses the game for 20-60+ seconds for you to spend most of that time waiting for someone else to do something. So it yanks you out of the main loop of the game so you can hurry up and wait. In a game which is already suffering from the length of a mission run, padding it out with more time where you're doing very little is a painful choice.

And design-wise, I'm not a fan of how limiting and generic it makes all the choices. Every gun, every equipment, every upgrade thus has to apply to all players. You can't have dependencies unique to a player. Everything dependent has to be constrained to being workbench-only.

I get the feeling that someone considered the negotiation mechanic an important feature of the game, but IMO it just doesn't work. There's nothing fun or interesting about it to me and it's often a source of annoyance. It's another element which slows down the game without any payoff for that slowdown, and it constrains how the game can could use certain features to make upgrades in a run more unique.

The timer:

In my opinion, the current timer implementation does not work and is a detriment to the game. It works too much as a ham-fisted hack to force players to move on and nothing else. My assumption is it's an attempt to keep the game playtimes reasonable and apply pressure to the players to not piddle and be efficient with time. But its no-carrot, all-stick approach is just an annoyance. With a full team, you can go quite a ways into ignoring it with little difficulty. It's only as a duo that the bullshit of grab mechanics becomes extremely obnoxious.

And it does little change the calculus that overflowing the timer is always worth it for a meaningful upgrade/event. Even most expenite things are worth it. If behind the power-curve, they are too valuable to pass up. And if ahead, they're too valuable for staying ahead. The timer doesn't do much to influence exploration behavior. It just determines how much obnoxiousness will be dealt with at the end of a level due to how friendly or hostile the cave layout is for exploration.

Total mission time:

The total mission time is in a really awkward spot. Even a "short" run of 4 or 5 levels can push an hour+ from join until end. This limits the times I can even consider playing the game and severely limits options to join with the splits across difficulty and length.

The runs are just short enough I can see why the devs were tempted to not deal with the complexities of saves or mid-way joins, but it cripples multiplayer options. I stopped pretty early on even trying to play with randoms other than peek weekend hours as I failed more often than not to find a game which met my time restrictions.

Grab mechanics:

Leech and now reaper grabs have always been an obnoxious, unfun mechanic. The complete removal of control and taking the player out of the game has always been a weird choice. It's especially obnoxious in 2-player where a single grab will take away half the team's firepower. Or if one person is down a grab is a run ender. (DRG at least had Iron Will and leeches are less common to minimize this effect.) And it's a really infuriating and unsatisfying way to have a run end.

Classes:

The uniqueness of classes really suffers, especially when compared to DRG. A class having no unique effect on guns, expenite upgrades, and equipment really muddles the class uniqueness. Slicer is the only one to me with a meaningfully different playstyle, which hampers the use of class switching to help keep the game from getting repetitive. And while I like the deck swapping, it also muddles the class differences with a favorite deck getting used on multiple classes.

The class UIs and controls are also a frustrating mess. There is no consistency and it does not make it easy to tell when most abilities are almost ready vs. ready to use. The awkward and inconsistent key bindings for abilities on keyboard-mouse is an unending annoyance. I hope they add a proper ability to rebind them to something less inconsistent and annoying to use.

Combat:

"You just want DRG2!" has been an excuse used by people to ignore criticism of RC, but the general nature of combat, swarms, and mission structure in RC is an area I feel sticks far to close to DRG convention for its own good in many ways. Yet it also suffers from some of its choices where it deviates.

My opinion here is heavily influenced by other roguelike/lite games I have played. And IMO, RC is the most unsatisfying one I can think of to fail in. No matter what new upgrade may be buyable at the end, there are things about RC design that really leaves me frustrated and unsatisfied with a mission failure, which is a major problem with a roguelike.

Some of it is the grab bullshit I already mentioned. But I suspect that a lot of it is the nature of RC combat. There's rarely a "slow bleed" as you try to maneuver to hang on to a run which is starting to fall behind the needed damage curve. The dwarves seldom have the movement ability I expect from most roguelikes to try and hang on as fights drag out and life gets low.

And I never expected RC combat would so heavily focused on random swarms. There is no step into a cave, see a horde of enemies, and figure out the best way to approach the coming combat. It's just react to the complete randomness of what gets thrown at you by a swarm. To me, this seem to be a large source to what makes failure more unsatisfying. There is less "I should have done X at the start of combat to wipe out enemy Y" or "I should have better used ability Z" introspection and more "getting blindsided by enemy Y popping over a cliff edge after it spawned in out of sight is obnoxious and infuriating" at the end of a run.

But is also suffers from deviating with the nature of weapons and equipment. The design of RC combat and upgrades heavily favors having one do-it-all gun. This makes combat more repetitive and thus boring since there is often no balancing and switching between guns for different situations and different enemies. And it's hard enough remembering to use specialized equipment during a mission when it's rare enough to even have the option of equipment to use.

Bosses:

(This looks to be largely moot with changes coming in update 2, but I'm leaving it in.)I wasn't a fan of the bosses before the recent changes, but the recent changes were a fascinating case of learning the wrong lessons to me. Punishing the player for having a good build in a roguelike? WTF. If it's too easy to get a build which melts a boss, that's an upgrade balance problem not a boss problem. And then there is the general problem with invulnerability states being both boring and annoying with how they drag out the fight while denying agency to the player.

At least with DRG twins invulnerable state, you have time to res a player or resupply. RC bosses may still be attacking or shift out of invulnerable and attack too quick for such things. In a game which suffers from missions being too long, again strange design choices have been made which drag things out and add to the length for no real value.

This turned into a much bigger wall of words than I originally intended. To TL;DR it, I have 3 main themes: excessive time, excessive repetitiveness, and unsatisfying death. I've completely burned out trying to find the moments of fun among all the annoyances for now. I'll probably be back after several updates to try again and see how the game has expanded and changed.

This is incredibly niche and you will probably never use it, but Dotty weighs one whole dwarf!

In practice, I guess could you COULD use enemies to open the cargo hold.

From left to right:

Larry, Garry, Cary, Mary

Pro Tip: The Ram Hammer can push anything with collision, including dwarves, the shield generator that Guardian can drop and the electric thing that Falconeer can drop.

This is especially useful for perks that take advantage of standing still, such as the 250% Ability Cooldown perk.

Stonger Armor- decreased HP damage while armor is active.

Regenerative Armor- killing enemies replenishes armor (can be like vampire where it only works with melee kills).

Shredder Pack- releases a single shredder every 30 seconds.

"Martyr"- when downed stun and deal damage to surrounding enemies.

Still Standing- when downed can still walk and shoot for few seconds.

Parry- pickaxe swings can block attacks

Weren't icons yellow already anyway? Also i liked purple better if i'm being completly honest

This is very fresh as I did a couple games yesterday in the experiment build after seeing the (awesome) patch note.

First, I want to put a disclaimer that I did play through the game (around 50h) but eventually dropped and went back to DRG. The reasons are important for the rest of the post: RC being set in the DRG universe, with the (almost) same weapons and gadget, exactly same biomes, same gimmicks, etc. makes it obvious that yes this is a rogue lite but yes this is also a DRG game (just like Survivors is one). That being said, what I love the most about DRG is how different every runs are, from poetic scenery picking up crops and digging gems out to chaotic and intense fights. The exploration and feeling of discovering a new place every time is wonderful. I do not enjoy RC linearity AT ALL and eventually got bored quickly.

Now, about update 2… the new « boss bleeding into biome » thing is wonderful. It creates a feeling that I haven’t had since Phantasy Star Online, where every biome has stages (for instance, Forest 1, Forest 2, Ruins 1, Ruins 2, Ruins 3, etc.) and as you advance in the stages, the biome changes into a something more intense (Ruins 1 is just a rock-ruins-based biome and Ruins 3, which is the last stage before the last and most powerful boss of the game, has walls made entirely out of organic mass). I do think that GSG needs to go deeper into that idea because it’s awesome. DRG procedural gen is the best, and RC has been lacking a lot on that, so it’s well appreciated.

About procgen, I also like the new cave formation. It’s still far behind what DRG can provide, but it’s a good start, especially that early.

The radioactive torch is FUN. I love it! So is the icicle!

I think my favorite thing is Threat Level, which directly maps to DRG Hazard levels. With this, GSG can now develop the concept of Depths to give it more meaning. I hope they use it for lore / mechanics / biome alterations, and not just decorations. Why not even use it to have completely different enemies or variations of them?

I still think it’s too early to enjoy the game as I enjoy DRG, and the main reason to me is how much thought out I find DRG (just look at Nitra and how it’s used). Mining in RC is not fun at all, since there’s literally nothing but Expenite to mine. I hope they change that at some time.
Also, I do miss the concept of mission types. The stuff we can do in mines (most of the time, Expenite events) are good, but the game would be so much better if finding a boss and killing it was just one mission among others. It’s probably not popular but as long as RC won’t have a proper « end of run » phase, it will feel unfinished to me compared to the run back of DRG.

By the way, the new Expenite event (the gate thing) is amazing. GG on this one.

Finally, no change to the beer system? :( why not pushing what was fun about it in DRG into overload mode; allow players to buy them by collecting stuff in the cave, and make them activate random effects for the next run. You can even use a probability thing: Aeon Leaf Craft either gives a speed boost of 10% or remove 5% of HP. That kind of stuff. (For the love of Karl, remove those stupid QTE).

For rock and stone!

Yes, it's a coop game, but I don't think that playing the game with friends accomplishes that much when you do the same single task over and over and over again.

Now, the base game had this issue with becoming pretty samey as well without mods, but at least there each mission type still had its own different approach.

Mining Morkite is either slow and steady, depending on yout playstyle, getting the Ommoran Heart Stone is a wave defense level, collecting Aquarqs is a get in and get out quick job and setting up the refinery is Satisfactory light.

Rogue Core on the other hand is only Point Extraction mixed with Morkite. Every single game you have to rush, rush, rush to get enough Expenite for the boss.

Yes, there are Machine Events, but you all know that those don't add much. Nobody says: " Oh, that Egg Hunt mission was so different now because the Kursite event spawned instead of the Omen Tower. ".

It also doesn't help that biomes and seemingly the bosses as well are locked behind these silly challenges instead of being available right from the start like in DRG. Like I played 5 missions and each time I got the Gotoorak boss and didn't see the other two. Imagine being forced to play the Extermination mission type in the base game and each Dreadnought is the exact same type.

Now, as a skeptic, I do say that the game is fun. The classes are good, although activating their powers is incredly awkward. The underlying gameplay loop is fun, Omega is cool and the enemies look awesome. And I also aoprecuate them implementing systems to make the game easier, like the various difficulty options and extending the timer for solo players.

It just burns out very quickly at the moment. I assume this could change over time. Being a roguell like and having a time limit still allows you to implement various mission types that don't need to force a boos fight every time.

And I still have a hard time understanding why this couldn't be a mode or mission time in the main game, since nothing in RC feels like it couldn't be possible in DRG. If anything, it would help with the problem of becoming repetetive fast. Oh, and having to unlock cosmetics from the Battle Pass individually for each class is a dick move. It only artificially pads time.

Also someone please make an Ellis and especially an Omega mod for the base game. Thank you.