Toontown Rewritten - 2 Star Field Office Solo
1Unlike 1 Star solo, extremely happy with this one. I was nervous going in for three reasons: 1) I wasn't able to switch to organic throw (old UNM playtest trick for converting organic gags did not seem to work during this playtest but maybe did something wrong), 2) I was running low on certain rewards (primarily 3* remotes and 80 TU unites, and can never be too low on Bessies), and 3) I didn't bother resetting for Squirt at beginning, which I was beginning to wonder if I'd regret later on. The minigames went fine; not perfect but got it done. Getting a gag track back is helpful as Boiler will only steal gag tracks that you currently have (i.e., less likely to take Throw, which is the only gag track that really matters). Definitely made some misplays, but overall happy I even did it (shoutouts to the level 19 glad hander and level 16 name dropper that survived longer than they should have lol).
General improvised strategies: Tried to be mindful at all times of unite cooldown (believe it is 3 turns for any unite used), and so have to be considerate of when you are in a good position to restock throw and when you are in a position where you need to hold off. (I learned this the hard way at around 36:00 where I risked it at an inopportune time — big blunder.) In general, your goal in the defense round is to either 1) kill at least 1 cog in the set in 1 turn (i.e., Bessie or rarely Franz), or 2) set up a kill for 3-4 cogs to die in multiple turns (e.g., Damage Remote into Cogs Miss into Bessie and such). If you are put in a position where 1 cog is remaining after end of defense round, you can use a 3* Heal (or even 3* Defense/lure SOS is acceptable) turn 1 of Fired Up which will heal you through it and buy you a turn at start of next defense with only 1 cog (which gives you a lot of freedom for how to start defense round). There is no catch-all advice because each set has to be approached differently and have to improvise some. 2* is not so strict that you can't afford to make any mistakes/misplays (see the set that I let get to level 14 and above), but it is strict enough that you have to be pretty mindful of your decisions.
Some interesting timestamps:
1:02:08 - Interesting backend quirk it appears, where heal remote contribution is calculated internally first so Madam Chuckle only healed +14 laff (I think).
1:06:05 - I am damaged by slow burn for 14 laff during defense phase (74 to 60), but end up on player phase at a net increase of 14 laff relative to before slow burn status contribution (74 to 88). Odd healing logic error? I think it happened somewhere else too but too lazy to search for it.
1:29:30 - End enemy turn near here at 45 laff (from start point of 61 laff at beginning of enemy turn), and somehow miraculously start player turn at 75 laff? No idea. Interestingly, another off-by 14 from start laff at enemy turn, so maybe related to slow burn somehow, but very confusing (remember being taken aback even during the run). It also occurs the next set of turns as well. A similar thing happens at 34:53, where I end enemy turn at 90, but start following player turn at 98 somehow (and even persists the next turn as well in the same manner).
Are these bugs largely consequential? Not really, no, but they did influence some of my decision-making, for better for worse, and all seemed to be beneficial (to my dismay, as it feels a little cheapened somehow, even though I don’t think it was dramatic). Unfortunately not in my control (and, just to be clear, no I didn’t cheat). Notably, it appears to be a longstanding bug as also happens in Clark’s 3* solo, near the release of FOs (happened to check after the fact; see 33:38 marker on their video): • TTR - 3 Star Field Office Solo (No Lo... .
As for 3* solo, won't be happening this test session at minimum (actually running too low on rewards to risk doing it on either of my main toons). It's probably significantly harder (even the minigames are hard to solo, and the final round likely becomes even more brutal/punishing for mistakes). Never say never (think have broken many promises up to this point -- first said unlikely to solo anything past VP, then said I wouldn't do 2*/3* after doing 1*, and here I am now making another promise that may or may not be broken lol).