Pets Only Run
Mild spoilers ahead!
I've started a self-imposed challenge of finishing the game using only pets as weapons. And it is hard. The rules are:
- You can't use weapons or traps to KILL enemies (scaring off >!Leyak!< with >!x-rays!< and breaking containers with melee weapons is okay).
- You can stomp the carbuncle.
- The skink is still a pet, so you can weaponize it.
- Killing enemies with environmental damage is okay (lasers, gravity, other enemies).
- EDIT. Yeeting pests with Vacuum is considered as weaponizing pets!
The first few sectors were quite smooth. Mutated pests at levels 3–5 can deal and tank a lot of damage, and you can throw them directly at enemies. They can even deal with Security Robots with only a few revivals. Then I got to Labs, and it was hell.
To build Keypad Hacker lvl 3, you need to destroy the Containment Robot, and this MF is pretty much indestructible without proper weapons. I've tried using enemies against it (a single bot alone cleared the whole sector), sending an army of pests and peccaries at it (they died off quickly), and spending about 3 real-life hours reviving my tamed lvl 5 alpha peccary that was dealing close to no damage.
I'm not sure if the damage was just that low, if the peccary's attacks were missing the bot's hitboxes, or if the pet attacks were being canceled by the bot's attacks, but it simply wasn't working.
Finally, I destroyed it with lasers in the Labs. I used my alpha to keep the bot in place, and it still took a few minutes to bring this fucker down.
The fight was so long and exhausting that I decided to plan out my next steps a bit more and think about the obstacles in the upcoming sectors. Of course, robots are going to be a pain in the ass for pretty much the entire game, but the ones in >!Hydroplant and Reactor can be detonated by throwing a fat pest at their backs.!<
Still, I can't wait until I get the skink and the >!Exor spirit!<.