Mechdogs from Hell and how to deal with them.

[sybirulenska]

Mechdogs.
Albino Mechdogs!
Doberman's on notum methamphetamine crack!

The very mention of the name sends shivers of horror down the spines of terrified Agents all over Rubi-Ka. Entire levels of experience are wiped out by a single chomp of canine fangs when absorbsion in the wonders of Rubi-ka or the excitement of the hunt and kill causes Agents to zone out and forget to buy insurance. And whole hours of time can be spent running across the strange landscapes of Varmint Woods or Stret East Bank, only to be wasted when the advent of multiple Mechdogs makes you flee your latest mission in abject terror, and delete it.

So, what to actually do about mechdogs?

Well, the first thing is, don't panic. The last thing you need is to sit there paralyzed with fear and indecision while some souped-up super-killer mutt rips your flesh from your bones.

Second thing, minimize your contact with them by using the mission modifier sliders. Slide Order/Chaos over to "Order", and Good/Bad to "Good" (is it Good/Bad, or something else? I forget!) and you won't have to deal with nearly as many of those mangey mutts. Don't forget not to take on missions that are beyond your capabilities either; that freeze ray or uber-fast rifle is real tempting, but you run the risk of - well...mechdogMegaDeath.

Third, creep. Always creep Be as stealthy as you can be. Use the Ruse baby, Do that Feline Grace and max those concealment implants to get as quiet as you can, because if they don't see you, you don't have to confront the drolling beasts. Concealment, agility, intelligence, all these skills should be at that Max, 'cause mechdogs have augmented senses, and that means they can hear you and find you and tear you limb from limb when you urinate on yourself in mortal fear.

Fourth, max out that Aimed Shot, Nano Init, and First Aid. Aimed Shot is kind of obvious: you want to do as much damage to the dog as you possibly can, before it gets close enough to rip out your throat. Nano Init because you want your root nanos - postpopne encounters, etc. etc. - to work and hold your canine friend before it gets close enough to dine on you, and First Aid because hey, when you get right down to it, as long as your health bar is longer that its, you got no problem, and keeping it that way with a good and fast first-aid kit is essential.

Here's what I do. I sneak up for the Aimed Shot. I use my roots. I back away, out of range of those teeth. Then I blast it with anything else that takes points from it, and keep firing and throwing root nano's at it until it keels over. I use Total Concentration and other Nanos to increase critical hits as well. Whenever my healthbar becomes smaller than the dog's, I use that first aid kit, and while my first aid's recovering, I use whatever medical nanos I have to keep ahead of the game.

Finally, always know where the exit is. Not so that you can run away - although if you got a pair of albino mechdogs snapping at your heels there's no shame in flight - but they can't follow you out, while you, on the other hand, can get back in, so long as you haven't completed the mission! This means that you can sit, fix the damage they caused you, and then jump back in for the next round. If you do this fast enough the dog doesn't have the time to heal, and you will eventually kill it.

I hope this helps. If it doesn't, then maybe you should just, you know, like FLEE.

I am

Sybi

[Ukblizzard]

Always a pleasure to dispatch one of these to Mechdog Heaven only to be rewarded with some ammo. Great post, Sybi!