The agents of this thread are pretty fucking too: Let's Play Lobotomy Corporation

TeeQueue · Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:54 pm

Hello everyone. I'm TeeQueue, and this is a crosspost of my first Let's Play. Let's get to it.

Lobotomy Corporation is an indie strategy horror game produced by South Korean developers Project Moon, and was released to Steam on April 9, 2018. The player is the administrator of an underground power company that harvests energy from strange beings known as "abnormalities" (think SCPs and you've got it), and is tasked with overseeing this process. It's an interesting and unique game with a lot of really cool worldbuilding. Unfortunately its English translation was...

Fast forward two years, and Project Moon's working diligently on their second game. They went with a new translation group for the sequel, and as a side project they decided to also retranslate the entire first game. They recently opened up their retranslation patch for testing, and that is the version of the game that we'll be playing through. As this is a work-in-progress patch things might change a bit before the final release, but I'll try and keep everything as up-to-date as possible.

The game does have other issues-primarily a memory leak that can cause some computers to be unable to play certain days or events-but all in all it's a very good game, and I'm excited to see it with a better translation job.

A lot of Lobotomy Corporation's appeal comes from having to deal with completely unknown threats that may instantly ruin your facility's day, so if you're interested in giving it a try yourself I strongly recommend playing through at least some of the game blind before reading this thread.

Spoiler Policy
No spoilers, even in spoiler tags. This game has a few twists and turns that are best experienced blind, and I'd like to keep the abnormalities a secret until we get them.

Do not discuss Library of Ruina. It's a direct sequel, and full of spoilers because of it. That said,

Blanket Content Warning
As this is a horror game, there is a fair amount of unsettling content. The gameplay itself is cartoony enough to not be a problem, but there IS a fair amount of gore, suicide, body horror, drug abuse, and other such things that might unsettle some viewers.

So what's the plan?
I'll try to upload one post/day until we're caught up with the SA thread, and then updates will be uploaded simultaneously.

I'm going to be splitting things between story updates and gameplay updates. This game gets very

, and this is the best way to show everything it has to offer without risking hitting the post limit once we get to a few of the lengthier days.

I'll be playing through the game in a single loop to get all of the story content, then after we've beaten the game I'll go back and hit anything else we've missed. Also: for the sake of the LP I will be using mods.

Mods?
Yep! I'll tell you about them as they come up, but for now the only one we're going to be using is a mod that allows me to customize my agents' appearance for free. That way, you guys can submit employees to send to their horrible deaths at the hands of the abnormalities!

Dying horribly? Sounds great! Where do I sign up?
Right over here, friend. If you want to submit multiple employees, that's a-ok too. I'll do my best to make sure that anyone who wants an agent can have one. You should also check here to get an idea as to what you can do with the character creator, if you're blind to the series.

And because this is a crosspost...
I'll be posting to SA as well as here. Because I'll be using the same posts, a couple of things might be a little broken while the site figures out its smilies/bbcode and whatnot. I may go back and make things prettier once all is said and done, but for now there may be some unexpected jank due to differences in how things are coded. Sorry!

What if I want to give you money?
I've set up a ko-fi link here. Don't feel like you have to-I'm fine, but tips are always appreciated.

One more thing...

Text quoted directly from the game will always be italicized. This stuff is 100% from the game directly.

TeeQueue · Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:54 pm

Fanart/Memes

SPOILERS BELOW

mizure has dubbed this creation 'Malkuwuth'

mizure captures the essence of Mizu's character.

I get bored and put Shy Look Today's gift on Angela, this is the result.

mizure captures Yesod's true essence.

Zetsubou-san creates some sort of cool gang tag!

mizure pastes Mizu's head onto another relevant meme image

mizure also made this gif for all your 'That's Lobcorp'-related needs.

Omniphile takes a quick photo of Mizu with #nofilter

xelada makes Punishing Bird into a M:tG card, and it's incredibly true-to-life

Boksi gives Angela an evil goatee

Tenebrais gives Malkuth and Yesod the same evil facial hair treatment as Angela

lets hang out uses an employee creator tool to show off Mizu during a big, important day.

Omniphile gives us another #nofilter look into the first doomed timeline

Tenebrais gives Just Mizu a whole new meaning.

mizure made this after 'Mizu' was edited into the game as a title suffix.

Foxfire_ shows off the story and management rules for our facility's resident abnormality agent.

Meanwhile, in an abandoned timeline:

Well aren't you just a familiar cutie!

BisbyWorl knows exactly what happens when Sephiroth dies in a power plant.

jimmydalad grants us Talgma. Siglow? Something.

Tanegashima alters the MIB movie poster to feature a couple of our best employees

Tanegashima returns with edits of dubious quality.

Omniphile gives us Team Anime, practicing their poses for great Justice.

Chinely shows off Team Anime's employee ID cards.

Omniphile returns with a nice coloration of a previous picture.

Zetsubou-san made this to capture the essence of Mizu.

Elfface summarizes Lobotomy Corporation if Malkuth had the gun instead of X.

Quackles wrote:

Quackles brings us this glorious cactus edit.

Tenebrais has always had a bad relationship with birds, it seems.

azren comes up with a foolproof way to tell the difference between Tiphereth and Tiphereth.

VinnyDonuts gives us this totally normal picture of Malkuth.

Omniphile requests that we not ask where Punishing Bird got a tiny Bishop wig from.

Quackles deals 1000 White damage with this edit.

HeyItsKasey brings us Bishop, here to save our ass at the last moment.

CHiRAL suppresses Malkuth in an alternative fashion.

Iamgoofball believes we have their stapler.

Hurrock thinks they've found a way to help the Manager and Malkuth get along better.

mizure shows her clear bias.

the Orb of Zot created this as pennance.

the Orb of Zot brings us another crossover of some kind

HeyItsKasey makes Yesod look as menacing as he deserves

Dog Kisser brings us RICEZACH!

Verant brings a top-quality edit

Kith gives a tribute to Netzach speaking truth

Talisriel gives us a rendition of an Angela Meltdown

Evil Kit has made several small skits, which I'll be putting below in the order of appearance.
Evil Kit steals from the communal fridge
Evil Kit in Abnormality storage
-Infinity Gaia chimed in on this one with an addon of their own
Evil Kit gets caught
Evil Kit chats with Tylana
Evil Kit and Tylana on an elevator

DrKirre provides us with a sprite of everyone's favorite Birb

the Orb of Zot tries to determine if X=A

Evil Kit gives us some of the upper layer Abnormalities during their downtime.

sorcrane grants us Anime Squad practicing in the Shelter

Evil Kit brings us the worst show on television.

DrKirre summons forth another bird-based pixel art.

Evil Kit brings us another game night, with the Safety Abnormalities (and bird) playing... Hungry Hungry Hippos?

sorcrane animates their previous work with REAL SMOOTH MOVES :moonrio:

DemiPZC made this of a very important agent demanding a very important thing.

sorcrane gives us Paul bowing to the most powerful force on earth: One Sin.

Xenav shows one way the corporation could be made slightly more terrible.

sorcrane presents Credentia chilling with Parasite Tree.

Also from sorcrane, Tenebrais is sick and tired of dealing with Firebird escapes.

Evil Kit began a trend of making motivational posters starring the abnormalities.

Xenav continues this trend in style.

Evil Kit moves on to give Knight of Despair a slogan.

Dead Reckoning gives us a sweet thought from a heart surrounded by legs.

Dead Reckoning made a good poster that has done nothing wrong in its life.[/fixed]

I make an attempt at a poster as well.

BisbyWorl took it and made it even memeier.

Rogue AI Goddess contributes to the poster train with an important statement on Clerk's Rights.

Evil Kit returns with well-wishes from The Dreaming Current.

Evil Kit also revises a previous poster to better reflect current events.

sorcrane immortalizes Bishop's bullet-dodging skills.

sorcrane made this, it's boxbot tetris!

Evil Kit creates a poster of a cutie-ootie wootie face.

sorcrane celebrates Mizu's new promotion by drawing a picture of her with an old friend.

Evil Kit brings us Angela stealing our goth bucket.

DimiPZC playing a terrible game in her off-hours.

sorcrane gives us a short comic about ears.

Octatonic goes all Evangelion on us.

Elfface creates a new E.G.O weapon for Mizu to deal with one of our problem Abnormalities.

Xenav merges the coffee-lover timelines.

sorcrane made a longer post involving a captain-only chat and some cool pictures of birds.

Evil Kit tells us all we need to know about Hokma.

Arcvasti adds a little something to the background.

the Orb of Zot shows the end result of a horrible goose in the facility.

Sorcrane and Evil Kit teamed up to create this beautiful piece of Christmas cheer.

KazigluBey sets Mountain's movements to music.

LPFinale gives us a shot of Tenebrais's fan club on day 40.

mizure shows us what La Luna is all about.

azren sees a special connection between Mr.Black and Mizu.

Shaezerus made this fanart of Paul live on set... though not for much longer, it seems.

Obnoxipus's friend made this Grilled Chesed.

Arcvasti takes a shot at Hokma's boss card.

Acerbatus removes the censor from CENSORED and discovers true terror.

Evil Kit realizes the truth.

BisbyWorl brings us this masterpiece: Onesy in a onesie

mizure brought a delightful treat to her turn hanging out with the Manager

MinutePirateBug gives us a closeup of Binah's murderface

Rofaner makes it even more menacing

Evil Kit somehow makes everything even uwurse

Octatonic made this image, and a musical mashup of LobCorp and Drakengard

Crepuscule Adepte put the old plaque into A's office

HeyItsKasey brings us this art of Talow

Shaezerus gives us what is arguably Angela's backstory

Kith creates the perfect cogito advertisement

Lunar Suite summarizes endgame in a single image

Rogue AI Goddess gives us the gift of Bald Angela

Hokma bald, by Hwurmp

quiznossubs92 brings us Bald Malkuth

Lunar Suite contributes this very nicely done ad for Cogito

BisbyWorl shows us Lobotomy Corporation in three steps

bbcisdabomb brings us some cursed stuff, based on Carmen being an onion

MinutePirateBug shows us Adam's greatest secret: most of his hair is a wig

BisbyWorl makes a guess at what day 50 will be

gaphodil brings us this amazing comic.

cryptologicalMystic brings us this tribute to a fallen Agent.

Akumu gives us this Angela meme

Omniphile gives us one last pose for the road

Mizu immortalizes one of Medea's iceburns

Whit27 gives us another take on it

I did a science on We Can Change Anything and a Red-immune suit

MiiNiPaa makes one of my shitposts less sus with a new task list

MinutePirateBug gives us this, a rendition of my couchfort takeover of the downstairs after the wife showed weakness by getting my backup laptop to me at work at 3 am

Tatters makes an artist's interpretation of a funeral for Pauls

Lunar Suite wrote: T-6-29
Almost-Completed Let's Play

WAW

T-6-29 is an immaterial Abnormality that attaches itself to any video game played in the vicinity of its containment unit, turning it into T-6-29-1. T-6-29 replaces Attachment work with a special Work Type, "Let's Play", which causes the Agent to record gameplay of T-6-29-1 and construct a narrative. Whether the Agent intends to or not, T-6-29 becomes a part of that narrative.

T-6-29 causes BLACK damage, through dehydration of the host as well as attacks on their psyche. Even games noted for their non-threatening atmosphere or polished mechanics can erode an agent's sanity when they are overlaid by T-6-29.

Managerial Tips 1
The more data on T-6-29-1 accumulated on the Agent's hard drive, the lower their success rate when working with Almost-Completed Let's Play, and the higher its damage.

Managerial Tips 2
The more data on T-6-29-1 accumulated on the Agent's hard drive, the more PE Boxes Almost-Completed Let's Play produced.

Managerial Tips 3
When the work result was Good, the Qliphoth Counter lowered with a probability proportional to the amount of data accumulated on T-6-29-1.

Managerial Tips 4
When the Qliphoth Counter lowered, a proportion of the Agent's data was destroyed. The Agent took SP damage relative to how much data they had accumulated.

Managerial Tips 5
When the Qliphoth Counter lowered to 0, all data was destroyed instantly. High-Fortitude Agents die instantly; high-Prudence Agents are instantly panicked.

Managerial Tips 6
When a new agent began work with T-6-29, all previously-accumulated data was destroyed by compelling the Agent. They call this a "New Game".

Lunar Suite gave us this Abnormality, which is pure

red plastic cup makes this joke which I promise will make sense after the entire LP is over

I asked mizure to make this, and since it was never used it lives here now

Winterdragon2004 drew this tribute to their favorite agent and those we've lost

TeeQueue · Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:55 pm

Addendum: Agent Customization System

I should definitely explain character creation limits a little better if I'm going to ask people coming in blind to make things, thus this post.

This is the agent customization menu that I have access to. While I can customize the hair, eyes, and mouth, that's all I can do right now. You can still mention accessories and outfit colors that you'd like and I'll try steering in that direction later, but those aren't available right away-most accessories are granted randomly by working with abnormalities, and we only currently have access to the most basic of suits.

If you want a full idea of what options are available, this picrew has a rather comprehensive lineup of everything, and I'm absolutely fine with working off of a link to one of these. Options 3-7 are all the hair/eye/mouth styles, and while there are some equipment/accessory spoilers in the other tabs, there's nothing that'll ruin any of the twists the game has.

Most importantly:

Guile hair is absolutely an option.

TeeQueue · Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:59 pm

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 1: Story

On first booting the game, you're greeted by the Project Moon logo.

Then, a content warning. They don't want anyone jumping in without being prepared.

Music: story 1

The title screen is dark until you click your mouse.

The yellow runs from the bottom left up to the top right coloring everything as the title comes in. It's a simple, yet neat-looking effect. Those of you familiar with the old interface will notice the options look different now-the translator forgot to capitalize them in this build. Anyways, let's get started on day 1. We'll skip the tutorial for now, since it's faster to just explain things once the gameplay starts.

Music: never frozen bottom flows

This is the day 1 loading screen. We'll be meeting that woman on the left in a moment, but first…

We have to choose an abnormality. We'll normally have to pick one out of three at the end of each day, but today we're locked into this one, O-03-03.

Highlighting a cell gives you a little bit of text that can serve as a hint for what kind of thing you might be dealing with. In the future, I'll just be writing them down to save room. Since we don't have much of a choice we pick this one, and we're off!

Music: op theme

I give you a warm welcome to Lobotomy Corporation. I am Angela, your advisor and secretary. My role as an AI is to assist you in adjusting to your new workplace, so please have no worry in speaking with me or asking any questions.

Some lines can be one of a few randomly chosen options, and this is actually one of them! All the other versions here are variations on 'Gosh my name sure is cool, huh?' so I'll skip it for now, but if I run into any interesting ones later on I'll mention them.

I was born from one of the ‘Wings of the World.’ It signifies that I am one of the best to exist in this age. Ah, I know what you must be thinking. Your eyes show that you think I look too human to be an AI, am I wrong? However, there is a great difference between us. I am bound here. I cannot go wherever I please like you do. I may be able to operate the systems of this corporation to open a door or prepare a cup of coffee for you, but I cannot take a step outside of this building to bask in the sunlight or feel the gentle breeze.

The color of my hair is that of the morning sky after a light shower. The tone and shape of my voice is taken from the wisest person in the world. Lastly, my face is picturesque of the person who had the most beautiful smile. ...

My appearance was designed with attractiveness to the largest number of people possible in mind.

Is… the AI flirting with us?

Moving on, Artificial Intelligence is much more efficient in comparison to humans in terms of multitasking. I am the best in a majority of work fields. I am able to handle the work of several dozen people at once. I’m certain many people have lost their jobs because of me. It’s such a shame.

Here's where we get our first choice! I'll be showing each option off whenever possible.

>Could you inform me about the company?

Let me put it this way. Your world is constantly growing, and the demand for energy is exponentially increasing as technologies advance. All conventional energy sources combined could not sustain the world further. In search of a solution, we happened to stumble upon mysterious beings whom we dubbed Abnormalities. Then, we figured out that energy could be harvested from these ‘Abnormalities’ via a “special method.” “To isolate them in a controlled environment, and then to harvest energy from them.” Our corporation became one of the Wings of the World for this discovery that benefits humanity in two ways.

It is very important that you know and understand these beings well to be successful in your position. For now, the Encyclopedia’s pages lay blank, but it will be filled out little by little. Don’t concern yourself too much with it. It is the task of your subordinates to pen it.

---

Could you tell me about yourself?

I heard that it took an enormous amount of time and effort to create me. All kinds of new algorithms and features were developed, inscribing a new chapter in the history of Artificial Intelligence. And I serve the company.

Then, we figured out that energy could be harvested from those “Abnormalities” via a “special method.” While AIs as a concept have become so commonplace that they are seen and used everywhere in this day and age. I am quite different in comparison to the rest of the pack. That is, I can closely imitate human emotions. This is not a simple task, as emotion is a highly sophisticated originally biological system that is substantially more unpredictable and complex than any other. Along with other functions at my disposal, I will be your perfect partner.

---
Routes Merge Here

Lobotomy Corporation is always looking for ways to improve its harvesting processes. Our systems are continually updated to support this. Speaking of which, there was a new update to the system right before you arrived. That means the working conditions have been improved upon, compared to those of your predecessors. Think of it as a small welcoming gift. Best of luck for us.

Oh, pardon my manners, Manager. I was talking to one of the other AIs that work here, I should introduce her to you. Our facility is a huge one, and even I would have trouble managing it on my own; so someone determined that there should be an AI to assume head control of each department. If I were to be considered the cerebrum, they would be the cerebellum. Naturally, of course, I should be your most trustworthy and capable companion among all the AIs.

You can tell that Angela's trustworthy because she tells you she's trustworthy!

Well then, shall we greet her now?

In summary: Our name is X. We mine abnormalities for energy, because

. Angela is very, very full of herself, and is probably going to try and kill us because she is an AI and this is a video game. Now, let's go meet that other AI!

Music: Town - Alone in a Crowd

They actually do have a rushing footsteps sound effect here. I don't have a good way of capturing the ambient noises, but PM put a lot of work into these scenes.

I arrived just on time, right? The time iiiiiis…only about one minute late. Well, I guess it still counts as “on time!” Congratulations on joining Lobotomy Corporation, manager!

I do not want to disturb this touching moment, Malkuth, but every second counts in Lobotomy Corp. Please make your introduction as brief as possible and go prepare for the meeting.

But hey, at least the other Sephirot are looking forward to meeting you! Well, maybe... not all of them…

You've probably noticed that thing behind Malkuth at this point, so I don't see any reason to try and hide that all the Sephirot are named for the tree of life spheres. I don't know much about the symbolism, so if anyone wants to go into that in the thread it's a-ok by me.

Since we’re the Control Team, we have a great deal of responsibility! I’ll try my best to help you by improving the basic functions of this facility, manager! I’m sure you’re a bit nervous right now. It takes a bit of time to get used to things around here. I know from experience! But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to help you! I am, umm, not exactly the best at everything. I used to be a problem Sephirah, you know.

But still, you can do it! Just like I managed to, I’m sure you will succeed, manager! I’ll give you an easy task since it’s your first day here! I wish you the best of luck!

Someone's banging at the door?

I have to get out of here, please. I know you’re capable of it, you’re the manager! You’re not the same as the rest of us! You can do anything!

Why do you want to quit? Don’t you like working here in the Control Team? Every day here is a delight for me!

It’s so horrible, I can’t take it anymore! I’ll go insane! Nothing here is normal!

Do you really think you can’t handle it?

Please… I don’t want to be here… Let me out of here, please…

Another choice. We can leave things to Malkuth, or we can intervene ourselves.

I'll let her handle it.

Please don’t be alarmed! These kinds of things happen quite often. Oh, right, it must be the first time you’ve seen something like this. Usually Miss Angela or I handle this kind of stuff. It's just a tiny hiccup. Nothing for you to worry about!

No, please, manager! Please…!

*more banging on the door, cut off by a pair of metallic cutting sounds and one last thud*

Hey, we've gotten our first mission! We'll cover what these do once we get into the game proper. Also, Malkuth seems to have killed an employee.

---

Let's see what happens if we step in instead.

I should intervene.

This is the silent stare of an employee who thinks their boss is an idiot.

Then please keep this in mind, manager. Once they say they “can’t handle it,'' they are no longer part of my Control Team. The Control Team is on the top of all the Sephirot, just like the central nervous system of a human being. If we go down, it’s only a matter of time until everyone else goes down too! At first, it was hard for me to get used to as well. But I worked really, really hard!

This is where we'd get the mission if we went with this route. Since we already have it, the scene just ends.

---

Routes Merge Here
In summary: Malkuth is the head of the Control team, and has a weird taste in wall hangings. She used to be inept and got to where she is by working hard. She is also absolutely willing to :commissar: an employee if they say they can't take it, and will probably try to kill us because she's an AI and this is a video game.

After the story we enter the Unlocking Phase, where we select a department we want to expand. For right now our only option is Control, so let's click on it.

As Malkuth says, we're going to be expanding one department every day. This also determines where the abnormality you pick is going to be placed, but this almost never matters. Anyways, we'll confirm our selection.

Another loading screen. I'll be cutting these one out in the future, but each of them is worth showing off once since several of the terms they use come up in the story as well.

Music: neutral 3

The last thing that happens before we can start the game proper is a Memory Repository imprint. The Memory Repository feature allows us to reset time back to whatever our last repository day is, and you make a new imprint on every day ending in 1 or 6. There are a few other quirks, but we'll cover those when they come up. I'll be cutting these out from now on, too.

And so, we're finally into gameplay! This is the deployment phase screen. It's used to hire new agents, place agents within departments, equip agents, and power up agents. Right now, we only have one agent, and the one that showed up when I tried to hire another was…

They don't exactly inspire confidence.

That's where you come in, thread. You can be as specific or general as you like in your description. There are RGB sliders for hair color, but be aware that most of the hairstyles make them pitch somewhat darker than normal. I look forward to seeing what you guys can come up with.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Gameplay! Mechanics tutorials! A human skull!

Talow · Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:07 pm

Glad to see this LP over here. Good luck to all of the agents for the trials ahead.

Gloomy Rube · Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:24 pm

This is one of my favorite LPs and I really hope my agent shows up later. Keep up the good work!

scalding coffee · Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:09 am

I completely missed the point of making an agent and went hog wild on decking him out in whatever dumb thing looks cool.

TeeQueue · Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:09 am

scalding coffee wrote: ↑
Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:09 am
I completely missed the point of making an agent and went hog wild on decking him out in whatever dumb thing looks cool.

And there's nothing wrong with that. (It does make my job a little harder but I can generally make things out when people get rolled.)

Black Robe · Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:33 am

Most of us seem unlikely to get into the game since TQ's going around being all 'competent' and 'actually good at the game they're LPing' and nonsense like that. I was expecting a thread of endlessly repeating the first few days ending in constant bloodbaths, since that appears to be standard gameplay most of the time.

Are you able to rename the clerks? I've no objection to being a random background grunt who gets splattered across a wall at some point and ends up a footnote in the paperwork.

TeeQueue · Sun Jun 28, 2020 10:26 am

Unfortunately I cannot. The clerks are clerks and are going to do clerk things.

I can also say this: The maximum number of agents active in a facility is 55, and I've got like... ~87 submissions or so in total right now. There are several things I intend to show off that will cost me agents, so I'll hopefully be able to find a use for them. Plus, it helps to have backups for certain abnormalities for after I max everyone out. Still, at this point I can't really make too many promises: the thread as a whole honestly got a lot more attention than I thought it would.

Carpator Diei · Sun Jun 28, 2020 10:45 am

I only heard about how interesting this game is supposed to be when the thread on SA had already been running for a while; looking forward to catching up on it this way.

TeeQueue · Sun Jun 28, 2020 11:02 am

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 1: Gameplay
Music: neutral 1

Welcome back to the deployment screen. I recommend clicking the song link here, because the opening 30 seconds of neutral have been drilled into the head of anyone who has played this game.

When you start the game, you're given one free employee, who is totally random. We got Paul. Let's take a look at him.

At the top, you can see an agent's level (I), title (Plucky Newbie) and their name (Paul). Beneath that, the agent's equipment is listed, with some basic information about the damage/defenses it gives. Every employee is automatically equipped with a riot stick and standard uniform, both of which are not very good. Below that, it shows the agent's four stats, which are based on four different virtues and have colors which refer to the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Fortitude is the red stat, and determines maximum hit points, or HP.
Prudence is the white stat, and determines maximum sanity points, or SP.
Temperance is the black stat, and adds to work success and work speed with abnormalities.
Justice is the pale(teal) stat, and increases movement speed and attack speed with weapons.

Paul is terrible at all of them, but least terrible at Justice.

We toss him into the Control team, and hit Begin Management to start the day.

This is the management phase. Most of the game is spent on this screen. The facility is tiny for now, only two rooms and a hallway leading to an abnormality, but almost every day it'll get a little bit bigger.

In the upper-right, our active missions are shown. Right now, we only have that mission from Malkuth to work with an abnormality 3 times. In the upper left is a gauge which shows us how much energy we've collected towards our goal for the day, and just below that is the Qliphoth Gauge, which won't matter yet. In the lower left, there's play/pause controls, and just above that is a tracker which will tell you everything of note that's happened that day. Our agent, Paul, is sitting in the main room, and it looks like he has something to say!

What a kissass.

Let's put him to work.

This is our first abnormality, O-03-03, a floating human skull on a cross.

By clicking on it, the work menu comes up, and asks what kind of work you want to do.
Instinct is the red work type, and consists of feeding or cleaning abnormalities. It trains an agent's fortitude.
Insight is the white work type, and consists of tidying the abnormality's room, or putting on relaxing music. It trains an agent's prudence.
Attachment is the black work type, and consists of communicating with an abnormality, generally via talking. It trains an agent's temperance.
Finally, Repression is the pale work type, and consists of controlling their emotions via suppression work (read: :toughguy: ). It trains an agent's Justice.

We'll start with Repression work.

After selecting a work, you see a list of all your agents in the same department, with an estimate of both their success rate and work time for the chosen work type. Since we have no information on ol' skull cross, both fields say 'immeasurable.' We select Paul, and he's off.

Upon stepping in, we see our first fear check! Whenever an agent sees something scary like an abnormality or a fellow employee dying, the agent's level is compared to the fear level of whatever they see. If it's equal or better, you're fine. Otherwise, you take a certain percentage of your max SP immediately, regardless of protections. We got Calm, so Paul is fine and gets right to work making energy boxes.

Also, there is a new red segment in the Qliphoth Gauge. Every time an agent starts working with an abnormality, this bar goes up, but since we will need 4 works to fill the gauge and only need 3 to deal with Malkuth's mission that won't be an issue today.

He screws up immediately. The circled red-and-black box in the gauge on the left is a negative PE box, and it means you failed that work check. Whenever this happens, the abnormality deals a certain amount of damage to your agent. There are four types of damage an abnormality can deal:
Red damage is physical damage, like getting slashed or stabbed. It lowers HP.
White damage is mental damage, like having a skull on a cross insult you. It lowers SP.
Black damage is compound damage, and is described as being stabbed with thorns. It lowers both HP and SP.
Pale damage is soul damage, and deals percentage damage based on the character's max HP. Taking 100 pale will kill any agent, regardless of HP.
We don't know how much damage it dealt, but the white clouds on the corners of the room mean that it dealt SP damage.

Each abnormality also has a number of phrases which pop up as it is worked. These ones that show up are random from a list and are mostly there for flavor, but if you guys are interested I could try pulling them out of the xml script.

Anyways, we leave him to it, and Paul manages to get a total of 7 energy out of that work, which is good enough for a neutral result. Our energy gauge has gone up to 7/15, so we're a little less than half done with the day. That wasn't so bad!

The number beneath the giant

face is a cooldown timer, showing how many seconds it will take before the abnormality is ready to be worked again.

So, we wait for the timer to go down and send him back again. Looking at the red & blue bars next to his picture, we can see that Paul is at 11/15 SP remaining. That should be more than enough for another work. This is the gameplay loop of Lobotomy Corporation at its most basic: work, wait, work again.

Dammit, Paul.

Okay. Maybe we can salvage this. Angela did just tell us that we're over halfway there, and we can see we only need five energy. One of the important things to do in Lobotomy Corporation is figuring out which work types your abnormalities like. Since Repression didn't go so well the second time, let's try something else.

Maybe instinct would work? Please note that Paul has 0 SP left-this is one of those games where it's possible to have a fraction of a health left and still be fine by technicality.

We'll need to do perfectly, but we can still…

When an agent runs out of SP, they panic. This makes them uncontrollable. Whenever an agent does panic, their Sephirot will chime in to let you know about it, and since we only have one agent and no way to get him back under control, Angela also pops up to scold us for not paying attention, and we're told to return to the day 1 memory repository and try again. As for Paul...

He decides to pull out a crowbar and start freeing abnormalities. Unfortunately for him, since the only abnormality in the facility is O-03-03 and it's an immobile skull, all he can do is stand there and stare menacingly at the door for all of eternity.

Paul: Such a failure that he can't even screw things up right.

Clicking on the button up top brings us back here, where we will never let Paul do anything ever again. Let's get some real agents.

Much better. Let's get started for real this time.

...and that's why they had to install regenerators in all the rooms. It's true, I swear it!

What about that Paul guy? What happened to him?

I hear after he finally pulled himself together, he went to ask that new manager for leave. I'm sure it went well.

Agents have a lot of things they can say based on their personalities and levels. As newbies, these two are just happy to be here.

Anyways, old skelly won't work himself. We have Mizu give Insight work a try.

Orders from the top, everyone!

Oh, boy! I finally get to… dust?

No time for questions! Get to it!

Mizu immediately screws up.

This is probably going to be a theme with this game.

Meanwhile, Talow nervously awaits his own turn.

Mizu walks away with 6 energy and heads back to the main room, while Talow walks in to try his hand at insight work.

Huuuf… I need a break.

Main rooms are incredibly important, because they're where your agents restore their HP/SP. The big green bar next to the + shows you how long it will be before your next heal.

Okee-doke! All rested.

One tic of healing brought Mizu from 10 sp to 16 sp, just about full. The basic plan is to have these two alternate working O-03-03 until we have enough energy to finish the day-

Or Talow could just immediately put us over with a perfect work.

Taking damage seemed like a pain in the ass.

Angela chimes in not only to tell us that we're half done…

But that we're all done! We could click that complete button up top whenever we want to finish the day, but we need to do one more work for Malkuth's mission, so we're sticking it out. Now, it's time to gain some information about our new friend, O-03-03.

By clicking on the abnormality's name, we can bring up the abnormality details screen. Here, we can spend the energy boxes we've gotten from it in order to unlock various bits of information about the abnormality. Basic Information gives you the abnormality's picture, threat level, damage type/amount, name, and several other minor pieces of information. Managerial Guidelines gives you notes on how to handle the abnormality, and mentions any quirks that it has. Work Preferences tells you how well the abnormality responds to each work type, and finally Escape Information tells you about the abnormality's defenses when it escapes.

In general, new players should prioritize Managerial Guidelines and then Work Preferences so that they can quickly get used to their abnormalities.

I am not a new player. Say hello to One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds, everyone!

Each category that you fully unlock will add to your observation level, and you get bonuses to work success and speed with each level you get. Since the guidelines/preferences almost always cost more than the general/escape information to fully unlock, if you already know how an abnormality works it's best to focus on whatever's cheapest to get those bonuses. Right now, we're getting a +5% work success rate, and a bonus +5 to our work speed to go with it. Works with One Sin will now be faster and more consistent. Raising your observation level also unlocks the ability to buy gear, but that costs more boxes so we can't do that yet.

Anyways, since Temperance looks like a winner let's have Mizu try and redeem herself with one last work attempt.

Talk to the skull… talk to the skull… Okay! I can do that! Hello, Mr. Skull!

:skeltal:

Oooh boy. Here goes nothing..!

She does one point better, but not well enough to afford any new observations.

Isn't that just attachment work?

Yeah, but I mean… when I talked to it, it seemed to react?

That's definitely just attachment work.

I wanna do it again. Talow, I'm skipping in line!

Huh? If you wanna…

No time for that, you two! I just spoke with the manager. We're on the verge of a meltdown, so we're packing in for the day!

Aww… Another day, Onesy.

When we click the work complete button, we get this results screen. Under Missions Cleared, you can see that we've cleared the mission Malkuth gave us!

The timeline on the right tracks how long you spent, as well as any deaths/panics that you saw throughout the day. On the left it tracks your agents' stat increases and promotions. This early on the numbers barely move, but worth noting is that despite his better performance, Talow gained less prudence than Mizu did (2 vs 4). We'll cover why that is in a mechanics update later on.

Beneath that is our ranking, which has our overall rank, survival rate, and our LOB reward for the day-the money we use to buy and upgrade more agents. In general, you want to get an S or an A rank in order to get as many LOB as possible to use on future days. We're going to need a lot of ~~fodder~~ employees.

Music: never frozen bottom flows

This is the final type of loading screen. It progresses through each step on the screen in order, and then takes you to…

The abnormality selection screen. We have a choice of three, and here's their hint text:

F-02-44: However, the curse continues eternally, never broken.
O-02-56: People have been committing sins since long ago. "Why do they commit sins, knowing it's wrong?"
T-06-27: This is a recording of the day we must never forget.

This is an absolutely cruel choice, and I need a moment to explain why. One of my goals in this thread is to get through the plot as efficiently as possible, and to do that there are a couple of abnormalities I'm keeping an eye out for. -56 is one of them, because it's an abnormality who can help with several missions down the road. The problem is that it's not a very good training abnormality for early game, and -27 is one of the best possible day 2 picks on a first run when nobody has any stats in anything.

The game has just dangled two things I really want in front of me on the first day, and said "what's it going to be?" I am being bullied.

After a solid five minutes of thinking about it...

I decide that short-term growth is better right now than long-term planning. Here's hoping we don't pay dearly for that one.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We talk to Angela and Malkuth again! I'm sure nobody will die this time.

TeeQueue · Sun Jun 28, 2020 11:05 am

(In order to keep it from taking a literal month to catch the thread up, I will be putting the mechanics updates directly after the relevant posts)

Mechanics Talk 1: Risk Levels and Damage

Welcome to Mechanics Talk, where I will be talking about a lot of the underpinnings that explain why things happen the way they happen. The first things I'll be covering are the risk levels of abnormalities, and how damage is calculated.

There are five different risk levels for abnormalities and E.G.O gear, and they will roughly tell us how powerful things are. They are, in order: ZAYIN, TETH, HE, WAW, and ALEPH. These letters are out of place alphabetically, but lunnrais has a bit of insight as to the order.

lunnrais wrote:I can help out with a little explaining of the jewish mysticism as well, as things come up (Jen X is doing a pretty good job so far). I would like to note that they are using an older style of transliteration that is fallen out of style these days. It's a style that approximates the Ashkenazi style of pronunciation, which notably has a different pronunciation for the tav with or without a dagesh (a dot inside the letter, which is usually not actually written most of the time, with the expectation that you just "know" that the dot is supposed to be there in a particular word or not), while modern and sephartic hebrew does not make a distinction whether a dagesh is present or not. Amongst ashkenazi, the tav can be pronounced "t" or "s", depending on the dagesh, but when transliterating, they want to distinguish a tav from a samech or shin/sin, so instead of writing it as an "s", they write it as a "th" instead. It's why English has the word "Sabbath", when actual ashkenazi say "Shabbos", and modern Israelis say "Shabbat".

This strange older form of transliteration also gives us the letter "waw" instead of "vav", when I'm vaguely sure that no system of pronunciation actually treats it like a "w" (it's either a "u", "o", or a "v"). There are other oddities that pop up from time to time as well.

The letters being out of sequence, alphabetically and numerically, probably has something to do with the mysticism behind the letters themselves. Here's my best guess. Note that because this is mysticism, there are of course way too many possible meanings for each letter, so I could be entirely off base here, or dead on, who knows.

Zayin means "weapon", in particular either a sword or a crown and scepter, so that seems reasonable to be the baseline for anomalies.
Tet means "hidden good", or more specifically, the 9 months of pregnancy. So tet class anomalies are hiding something more, making them more dangerous.
Hei is an entire world/universe, such as heaven, or the material universe, or the entirety of an individual's internal experience. This would be the realization of tet's hidden factor.
Vav literally means "and", and is symbolically used as a bridge to to something even greater, such as making a connection between heaven and earth.
Aleph is that something greater.

As we can see from this screenshot, One Sin is a ZAYIN (1), the lowest abnormality tier. It deals 1-2 white damage(2). Notably, it deals a random number from 1 to 2, so an agent could take something like 1.4 damage. While the game only shows whole numbers next to agents' HP and SP, it actually tracks them to 4 decimal places. This is why an agent will sometimes survive with 0 HP or SP.

We can also see One Sin's E.G.O suit on the screen, Penitence (3). It has a tier of ZAYIN and RWBP defenses of 0.9/0.8/0.9/2.0, respectively. Any damage modifier in Lobotomy Corporation is done by multiplication, so if an agent works One Sin and wears its E.G.O suit, the damage they would take on each failure would be between (1-2)*0.8= 0.8-1.6 white damage.

Outside of damage resistance, the most common modifier to damage is based on risk levels. An ALEPH attacking a TETH will deal much more damage than a TETH would, because their base strength is that much higher.

This chart shows what the multiplier is for every attack level vs every defense level. There's a slight defender's advantage to how the numbers work, so we want to keep our suits at least one tier below whatever it is we're dealing with in order to keep the damage our agents take down.

That's it for damage calculations and risk levels. It's basic information, but knowing it means that we can better eyeball how much damage our agents are likely to take from working abnormalities, and that comes in very handy later on.

TeeQueue · Sun Jun 28, 2020 11:08 am

Carpator Diei wrote: ↑
Sun Jun 28, 2020 10:45 am
I only heard about how interesting this game is supposed to be when the thread on SA had already been running for a while; looking forward to catching up on it this way.

Well, welcome to the party! I hope you enjoy yourself.

Jadecore · Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:58 pm

I also ended up falling way behind on the SA thread, so good chance to start over.

TeeQueue · Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:50 am

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 2: Story

Music: story 1

Since she's our "most trustworthy and capable companion among all the AIs," we're going to be speaking with Angela at the start of every day. Today is no different.

That is the motto of our founder, the one whom we refer to as A.

>Face the Fear

Of course, with the exclusion of myself, as I do not exactly belong to humanity. How should I put it? We are pioneering an entirely new world in a brand new field of study. The discoveries we have made thus far are merely the tip of the iceberg.

We confronted them for the first time. And we faced fear itself. They were fundamentally an incarnation of fear.

:derp: :hb: ...Yeah, that tracks.

---

>Build the Future

One may simply lie atop the sand of the future… Or they may shape it with purpose. Lobotomy Corporation is an innovative company. The harvesting technologies we have discovered are such a…

It’s simply remarkable. These technologies could be the salvation of mankind. With these, we will mould the future, creating brand new paths.

---

Routes Merge Here
In summary: Lobotomy Corporation is simply remarkable, says the AI who was made by Lobotomy Corporation for the advancement of Lobotomy Corporation's corporate agenda. Also, abnormalities are apparently incarnations of fear. This means we're probably not going to see any cuddly teddy bears anytime soon.

This isn't all, though. Any time you finish a mission for a Sephirot, their story progresses and they give you a new mission. Yesterday, we cleared Malkuth's first mission so right after this we get to see-

Music: Town - Alone in a Crowd

Angela again?

Usually, I am in charge of the security of your office. However, it seems that I failed to pay close enough attention to the Sephirah meeting room. I heard that a Control Team employee has “resigned” from the corporation.

"Good job?"

You do know what it means to “resign” here in the company, don’t you?

Great. Now they both think their boss is an idiot.

I’ll take that as a no. I do sometimes miscalculate what information I should deliver to you and what I shouldn’t. Some aspects of our company that I considered natural and obvious may come as quite a shock to you.

It’s like a well-structured play. Every actor has a role and they must be faithful to their part without any error, synergizing with each other. Now, imagine that one of the actors decides to leave the stage because they didn’t like their role. The actor should have played their predetermined part at the predetermined timing before making their exit stage left. But to leave the stage without fulfilling their part means that the life of the role and its actor are finished. That is what we mean when we say someone “resigns”.

Oh, there's Malkuth! I mentioned earlier that it'd be fine if someone went into the Kabbalah stuff more in-depth, and Jen X was kind enough to oblige, so I'll be quoting them occasionally from here on in.

Jen X wrote:As far as the Sephirot symbolism goes, all that matters for the moment is that the higher sefirot are the aspects of god considered closer to the divine source, while the lower ones are the more...human accessible, is I guess the best way to put it? Malkuth (or Malkhut, if you want a better transliteration), for example, is "kingship".

I knew you could do it! You’ll never guess how much I rooted for you back there. As for me, the day went alright; we covered a joint emergency-protocol drill for my team! Not a single dropout or injury! Everyone did a good job! Not to say that it was perfect, though.

Malkuth is so earnest that it's easy to forget the first thing that she does is have someone iced for trying to quit their job.

Those entities that wander the facility, unable to be contained. And sometimes, they manifest themselves in the corridors. The drills do no good when you encounter them, since we don’t have enough data on them. So we always have to stay alert! No matter how meticulous our plan is, we can’t control the unknown.

Pausing here to say that I couldn't find the next song anywhere in the music files I had access to. If anyone can find it, please let me know and I'll get the name information updated.

Music: UNKNOWN from M2

It’s not like fear or anything… Some other sensation. Strange, isn’t it? I feel nauseous, like something within me is palpitating out of control, and it feels… like I’m no longer myself… How could I describe it? Like something’s wriggling inside of me…

In summary: If an employee tries to resign the higher-ups just murder them, confirming what happened at the end of day 1. There are also other things that just show up in hallways sometimes and cause problems. They seem to do something unpleasant to Malkuth's mental state.

We can think about that later, though, because we've got a brand new mission to do!

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Time Kompression! Obscure mechanics! Malevolent vibes!

TeeQueue · Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:52 am

I just want to note for anyone finding the LP for the first time that we're still in the part before I learned how to best capture footage from this game. In a few more posts gameplay screenshots should get much more clear, but for now we're kind of in tinytext land.

Gloomy Rube · Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:23 pm

Tinytext is just another abnormality, it doesn't breach and it's not a very good trainer, you probably shouldn't have picked it, sheeeeesh.

Talow · Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:48 pm

Don't worry, the tiny text abnormality gives Zayin armor with 3x resistances. That's good, right?

TeeQueue · Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:47 pm

Gloomy Rube wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:23 pm
Tinytext is just another abnormality, it doesn't breach and it's not a very good trainer, you probably shouldn't have picked it, sheeeeesh.

I needed to 100% the codex. Sorry.

Talow wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:48 pm
Don't worry, the tiny text abnormality gives Zayin armor with 3x resistances. That's good, right?

Yeah, it’s one of the highest tier armors in the entire game, by a long shot. :V

TeeQueue · Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:24 am

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 2: Gameplay

As usual, we start by expanding the department we're working in. This raises our maximum agent number from 3 to 4, and places the abnormality inside this department.

Music: neutral 2

From there, we hit the deployment phase again. Whenever we clear a mission, we're first given a selection of one of three researches that Sephirot's department can use to make your life easier. These researches are permanently unlocked once picked, including if we restart from day 1. Malkuth gives us the following options:

Assembly Summons: Adds a button next to each department to instantly call everyone in that department back to the main room. This becomes more useful the bigger our facility gets, and the more agents that there are inside it.

Joint Command: Lets us change pages to other department groups when selecting an agent to work an abnormality, so that we can select an agent from another department to work that abnormality. We can already do this by selecting an agent and then right-clicking on an abnormality, so this research's main benefit is being able to quickly page through every agent in the facility to check their status all at once.

TT2 Protocol: Allows us to change the speed of the game to 1.5x or even 2x the game's original speed. Since most of our day is spent doing the same thing over and over again, this saves time when we don't need to focus. It can also be turned back to 1x speed when we need to make sure to pay attention to what's going on.

This is not a hard choice.

Using 2 of the 3 LOB we got last time, we hire two new agents.

As for the last point, we select Talow and click on the Strengthen Employees button I circled above.

That brings up this interface, where we can spend LOB to raise the level of an agent's stats. Advancing a level in a stat costs as many LOB as the level it currently is, so to go from level 1 to 2 costs 1 LOB, but to go from level 3 to 4 would be 3 LOB. Justice costs 3x as much as any other stat to increase, so moving from Justice 3 to 4 would cost a whopping 9 LOB. The game does not want us to raise Justice easily.

We use our last point to boost Talow from Temperance 1 to 2, instantly doubling his total Temperance.

With nothing else to manage yet, it's time to start the day.

With the expansion we now have a bigger facility to deal with, and a whole new containment cell for the abnormality we picked last time. Speaking of...

Meet T-06-27, a fuzzy effect on the containment cell with no physical form. Outside of a static effect on the cell itself, there's nothing in there. Moving our screen over it occasionally gives us the sound of gunfire and people screaming.

I should make sure to check on where all the cameras are located.

Why's that?

So that I can know-well, that's not important.

Does anyone care if we pinch some of the abnormality's food?

The abnormality might, so make sure to do it before you get in the cell.

Orders from the top, everyone! Newbies, Talow's going to show you how to work with One Sin. Mizu, you're working with the new abnormality.

Sweet! Will I get to talk with this one, too?

...Not exactly.

Remember how I said the game doesn't want us to have an easy time gaining Justice? This static room's best work type is Repression, which trains Justice. It also has a unique bonus which multiplies an agent's base success rate by 1.2 if the agent working it has a Fortitude level of 1. This makes it the best abnormality in the early game for raising an agent's Justice stat.

How am I supposed to use repression on something I can't even see?

Here we have our first real instance of fear damage! Nervous is an immediate loss of 10% of the agent's max SP, which isn't ideal since this abnormality deals white damage. Still, the SP she got yesterday will allow Mizu to survive with a very comfortable cushion.

Ookay. Swinging a club around: more failures than successes. Think: How do you beat a room full of bad vibes?

Even with our overall low stats and below-average luck, we manage to get an okay result.

I'm also going to be performing a trick: I'll be tracking Mizu's justice stat gains through the day. Stat gains don't actually apply until you end the day, but if we were to somehow stop right now, she'd be at 19.

How was it?

Not the worst! Once I turned my walkie-talkie to the right frequency and started hitting it. it seemed to work much better! Also, I need a new walkie-talkie. How about Talow's class?

I missed the actual shot of the work ending, but you can always see the results of your last work. Talow got 9/10 successes on his first insight work, and our first Good result for the day.

It went fine. Seems easy enough that you'd have to be an idiot to screw it up.

We send Mizu back to work on the static again, and give D.A.D. a try with One Sin. In the upper left, you can see that this will push us over the line on our Qliphoth Gauge. What happens when you do that?

Jeez that alarm's loud! What happened?!

We've suffered our first Qliphoth Meltdown!

Jen X wrote:Ah, Qliphoth!

These are pretty different things in actual Kabbalah and weird occultist kabbalah; in the actual thing, they're directly related to the concept of tzimtzum, which is roughly speaking God withdrawing His divine power and presence from an area such that things can exist there that aren't just God. In particular — and this is the place where that concept is used — the Universe. The Qliphoth (I have no idea why it's th at the end, it definitely is just a tav) are shells left behind in the process that...sorta limit the holiness we get, both keeping God's purity pure and us from being consumed in a flash of divinity, or something. They're also equated with things like idolatry, because, like, things that restrict holiness ain't good, they just have beneficial byproducts.

In the occultist version, they're basically the Sefirot but evil. They're responsible for a whole host of bad stuff, or so wikipedia tells me (because I know stuff about jewish kabbalah but I know jack and shit about, say, Aleister Crowley's insane nonsense).

This is actually surprisingly on-point for what meltdowns actually do in-universe. During off-hours, abnormalities are kept inert through something known as Qliphoth Deterrence, and the loading screen before the preparation phase actually mentions weakening that deterrence so that the abnormalities can be interacted with. The problem is, working with abnormalities causes errors in the deterrence which can do a few things. These are the meltdowns.

You can tell what a meltdown will do by the entry next to the gauge. This one means that 1 of the containment cells, chosen randomly, will have a Qliphoth Meltdown.

Like so. Abnormalities having a meltdown will be given a timer over their cell, and will be highlighted. They need to be worked before the timer hits 0, or else you lose some of the energy collected towards your goal. In order to prevent you from being screwed over if you were working one just before a meltdown, the meltdown timer only starts ticking once the abnormality is off cooldown and ready to be worked again.

I go ahead and max out One Sin now, fully unlocking its E.G.O weapon and its story. E.G.O gear can be purchased a specific number of times per abnormality, and for One Sin its weapon and armor can both be bought five times, meaning you could outfit five employees with it alone. As for its story, I will be linking the stories of abnormalities we have finished at the end of the gameplay posts they're finished in.

In other news, Mizu got a second good. 22 Justice so far.

We spend a little bit of it unlocking the basic information. Say hello to 1.76 MHz! Unlocking the basic information of an abnormality also unlocks the information on the containment cell.

This is important because the circled portion of the cell is what's called a 'Qliphoth Counter.' Qliphoth Counters can go up or down (generally down) as an abnormality is worked with. When they hit 0, bad things happen. Qliphoth Counters (or QCs from now on) immediately hit 0 if a Meltdown timer hits 0. My plan today is to let a meltdown land on 1.76 MHz in order to show off what happens when it melts down.

Mizu goes for a third work and D.A.D. gets our third good, while Angela congratulates us for a job well done. We're not done yet, though. In the early game it's a good idea to get a little bit of extra training done, both to build employee stats and to rack up as much gear as possible.

Bishop gets to deal with the meltdown. Meltdown works don't advance the Qliphoth Gauge, so we'll never have to worry about accidentally pushing into a new Meltdown by fixing the ones we already have.

So we're just trading for the rest of the day?

Seems like it.

Mizu lands us our fourth Good for the day, completing the mission. Also, 25 Justice.

I feel like I'm starting to get the idea behind repression!

What's that?

"Do as I say or I’ll club you again!"

We unlock the managerial tips for 1.76 MHz next. To summarize: Good works make the QC go up, bad or normal works make the QC go down with varying odds, bad things happen when the QC hits 0, and there's a line in there about how 'Higher fortitude workers have a worse success rate.'

This is true, but also misleading. I mentioned earlier that Fortitude 1 agents get a 1.2x multiplier to their work success rates, but the way this abnormality is coded makes it so that the multiplier for every other level of fortitude is 1x. Fort 2 and Fort 5 succeed with the same regularity. There are a lot of little things like this that the game will tell you about, but not tell you all about. I'll be explaining every one of them that I'm aware of.

I AM JUSTICE ITSELF!!

That's 28 justice. With any luck the next work will make it meltdown, and…

That's okay. It's a 50-50 shot each time, so this isn't that unlikely. We'll keep going.

You get used to it. When you've been around as long as I have, this much is nothing.

Really? When did you start?

Yesterday!

…

I decide to send Talow to work on 1.76 MHz as well, and predictably he does a good job. His higher temperance means on average he'll succeed slightly more often than Mizu, so this is to be expected.

30 justice. In the future, if I'm just sort of going back and forth farming an abnormality I'll probably just handwave it unless something interesting happens.

Another meltdown, another miss.

That 'One Sin' thing rattled at me, and the next thing I knew I had this thorny thing on my head…

Cool!

Ah! D.A.D. has gained our first E.G.O Gift! Once you've gotten an abnormality to a high enough observation level, it has a chance to give any agent working it a gift which gives them some kind of buff to their stats. D.A.D.'s new crown gives +2 SP, and also +10% to the success rate of any work done with One Sin.

This work puts her at 33 Justice.

I also go ahead and unlock the rest of 1.76 MHz's information, and get access to its E.G.O Suit. The one weak point of this abnormality is its abysmal gear, only giving you one copy of its suit, which also has a weakness to red damage. In the early game, the major threats your agents will be facing deal red damage, making this terrible for the point in the game where you most need 1.76's training prowess. Still, we'll probably find a use for it at some point.

I send D.A.D. to work with 1.76 next, and the meltdown hits One Sin for the fourth time in a row.

Since today is apparently cursed, let's just show off another feature:

Just have to keep calm, and…

Alright, pack it in everyone! Time to call it a day.

Wait, what about-?

If it looks like an agent is in trouble, we can end the day in the middle of their work in order to save them. This is a good way to test the waters and bail out when an agent is in over their head, but it only works once a day so it's very situational. Also, the status roundup shows Mizu's justice as going from 15>31, but her title is granting her 2 extra that aren't listed on this screen, so the stat should match when I show everyone to cap off the day's training.

Music: never frozen bottom flows

Oh, hi again -44!

F-02-44: However, the curse continues eternally, never broken.
T-01-54: "What's really pitiful is people like you dying to the likes of me."
F-01-02: I am coming to you. You, who will be reduced to ash like me.

This early into the game, good stat training is more important than almost anything else, and that's what this pick boils down to. Of the three, -44 is another justice/insight trainer, which we already have covered by 1.76 MHz. Its gear is better, but it doesn't have the flexibility or ease of use of 1.76-and it's redundant anyways, so it's out. -02 is an abnormality which has amazingly strong gear for the early game, and its spread could work for a fortitude trainer, but the high damage it deals and its management rules make it risky to use for anything but insight. That leaves -54, who has a combination of relatively decent gear, ideal stats for a fortitude trainer, and can help us with a couple of later missions.

Surprising no one, I go for the safe bet.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We talk about our hopes and dreams with our totally trustworthy AI buddies.

Current Stats

I'm considering keeping track of this in the second post, since it's a good way to know at a glance how everyone is doing and where they are.

Also: I got it right on.

New Guidelines

One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds
1.76 MHz

New Gear

Those who are willing to spill blood for the greater good will be readily given approval for its use.
Though this weapon is not as strong as other E.G.O weapons in our possession, it provides psychological comfort to the wielder.
However, it is useless to those who do not know justice.

The crown of thorns will sometimes protect the wielder's soul.
The thorns may momentarily hurt as they anchor your soul to reality.
This suit will be no better than rags to those who have no sense of guilt.

Requirements: Prudence II

New Stories

One Sin pt1
One Sin pt2
1.76 MHz

TeeQueue · Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:25 am

Mechanics Talk 2: Agent Growth

The first thing to know about employee growth is how stat ranks and promotions are figured. Each stat has a total of five levels, from I-V, and as agents gain total stat levels they are increased from rank I to V as well. The chart below shows the stat breakpoints for each level up, as well as the total number of stat levels necessary to be promoted to each agent rank.

As a quick example, Talow is currently below 30 in everything but attachment, making him a 1/1/2/1 agent. This totals 5, so he's 1 stat level away from hitting rank 2. If his Justice were to hit 30, he would get promoted at the end of that day and from then on be a rank 2 agent.

There is a sixth stat level, EX, which is for stats of 100 or higher. It does not count towards an agent's promotions and is more of a 'you can stop now' sign.

Now let's talk about how to gain those stats and level up employees quickly. Everything about EXP gain is originally sourced from this document, which goes more fully into the code of how EXP gains are calculated. I have simplified the information for an easier reference that requires less math.

Being able to estimate how much EXP agents have gained is useful for dealing with a couple of missions in the game, and knowing how EXP is calculated will make finding good training abnormalities much easier to do. We'll start with the formula for calculating growth for Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance. (Instinct/Prudence/Attachment work, respectively)

Code: Select all

Training Modifier * Level Modifier * Damage Modifier * PE Boxes gained = Total EXP

The Training Modifier starts at 1, and a research later on will raise this to 1.5. Certain other things can raise this as well, but they're either rare or tiny.

The Level Modifier is a constant number that's based on an agent's stat level and the risk level of the abnormality being worked. The chart below shows all of the possible values for the level modifier, and nothing can affect this number.

Notably, if an agent has gotten enough experience to be put into a higher stat level at the end of the day they start using the higher stat level to calculate further growth immediately, even if the day has not yet been ended. There's no benefit to trying to rush an agent from I to V in a single day.

The Damage Modifier is the main number that we can affect. It's calculated by comparing the agent's max HP (for Instinct work), SP (for Insight work), or both combined (for Attachment work) to the level after the work ends, and then a modifier is assigned based on the % remaining, according to the chart below.

Damage already on the agent does not count for this calculation, so there's no benefit to working with an injured agent. Fear damage does count for Insight/Attachment calculations, as it's considered damage done by the abnormality. Finally, any healing done while in the cell will lower the damage modifier calculation, so it doesn't matter how low an agent's HP/SP was if they're fully healed before leaving-the modifier will immediately revert to the lowest possible in this case. Outside of very specific setups, I generally try to work with abnormalities that will leave my agents at ~50% in whatever stat is being trained, since that's 2.5x more efficient than taking no damage at all. This is why Mizu's Prudence went up by more despite Talow having more successes: Modifiers are really powerful!

Finally, the PE Boxes gained is the number of work successes you have. More boxes = more EXP.

Justice is more streamlined, as it doesn't care about damage taken at all:

Code: Select all

Justice Modifier * Training Modifier * PE Boxes Gained = Total EXP

The Justice Modifier is a constant which works out to be exactly half of the level modifier for the same stat/risk combination. I've put a table for it below for easy reference.

Since we cannot easily change any of the modifiers for Justice growth, the only thing that matters is the # of successes on your Repression work. The way I did that trick with Mizu was by noting how many boxes she'd gained and multiplying the number times 0.3 to get her EXP. Stats are rounded up, so if an agent ends the day at 28.5 they'll be treated as having 29.

The main takeaways from all of this math are the following:

Use R damage abnormalities to train Fortitude
Use W damage abnormalities to train Prudence
B damage abnormalities can be used to train any stat they respond to
Risk level and success rate are the only things that matter to train Justice

That's it for the basics of agent growth. Have a great day!

TeeQueue · Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:29 pm

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 3: Story

Music: story 3

One thing I haven't mentioned yet, every day our conversation with Angela is starting by the screen fading in like a monitor powering on.

It actually even goes too bright at one point, before snapping back to normal.

Like so. I've said this before, but this game really has a lot of little touches like this. It's part of its charm.

In age old fables, it is common for a mysterious entity to appear and tell the protagonist to utter three wishes. However, I do happen to know what your predecessors wished for. There were many aspirations. Common among them was the seeking of some kind of “growth.” To lead the company to prosperity, to achieve spiritual maturity, you name it. Each had wanted to flower in a different way.

>I wish for the company to prosper.

Please don't let this be one of those faux-inspirational business-speak speeches. I never liked those.

Currently, you work for Lobotomy Corporation. In our company, you will see things that cannot be seen, and you will feel things that cannot be felt. You shall do impossible things. May your wish be granted.

I'll be somewhere up there, I hope.

---

>I wish to mature my spirit.

While Angela is quick to respond to matters of business, nebulous concepts like 'spirit' seem to take her a moment. As expected of an AI, I guess.

Come to think of it, there was another manager who gave me such an answer. As you know, “spiritual” is a rather obsolete term in today’s world. So I asked them for the definition of spirit. Then that manager told me…

Even an AI cannot store every bit of data. Unnecessary information should be deleted for smooth operation.

---

Routes Merge Here

Hm, I suppose what happened to the others is not important, after all. I do promise to cheer you on for the journey to your final goal, though.

In Summary: We talk to Angela about our wishes, and find out either that we're going to be doing the impossible or that Angela deletes information that she ~~doesn't understand~~ finds irrelevant. Either way, she refuses to tell us what happened to the managers before X.

Music: Town- Alone in a Crowd

I myself have a lot of work to do. If you look at my notebook, my to-do list is always so full.

I know I’m slower than the others. I always have to check my list or I’ll miss something important. That’s why I have this notebook with me all the time. Can’t leave any mistakes, you know? I’ve been carrying it for so long that it’s almost worn out. It’s been with me ever since I began working here as the Sephirah of the Control Team.

But I’ve got everything under control. I feel like this is the kind of life I’ve been yearning for ever since a long, long time ago. Maybe even before I was capable of thinking.

Music: never frozen bottom flows

Wait, weren't the AI made for their respective departments..?

Music: Town- Alone in a Crowd

Sure thing boss! I’ve got it right here on my list. I’ll have it turned in by the end of the day! Well, I should get going now, it’s a pleasure talking to you, manager!

It’s especially bad for Malkuth. You’ve noticed, haven’t you? I can’t complain, though. It only makes it easier for me to control her.

In summary: Malkuth continues to hammer on how she always forgot things before she started using her notebook, which she got when she started with the Control Team, which is what she was created to do, so... Malkuth seems to have memories from before she started doing the thing she was specifically designed to do? Considering this makes her bluescreen. Angela says that this is because she's just buggy, which is making it increasingly obvious that she's our most valuable companion 'by default,' rather than because she's that great.

Anyways, we have another new mission. Let's get on that next time.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Murderers! Meltdowns! Absolutely nothing goes wrong!

TeeQueue · Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:21 pm

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . . ERROR. Video data corrupted. Loading related staff meeting . . .

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 3: "Gameplay"

Malkuth.

Yes! I'm here!

...So she says, Manager.

What… the hell… happened today?

Yes, Manager! There was a camera malfunction!

A malfunction? A malfunction leaves every camera in all X-394 down for eight meltdown periods?

Well… um… you see…! The malfunction wasn't a normal malfunction!

The maintenance team found signs of tampering within the electrical systems itself. There was no indication of trouble prior during the previous night's expansion, so it would have had to happen sometime after.

According to my notes, we were definitely still working when I briefed you on the second research, and you chose to fund the beepers for our agents.

Well, obviously. We don't even have a second department right now. What good would joint command have done me?

We should not allow quibbles over the relevance of available research to sidetrack the current investigation, Manager. Please, continue your questioning.

...Right. I wound up locked out of the cameras the entire day, so is it possible the new abnormality-

That can't be!

Malkuth!

Oh! I'm sorry… I jumped the gun a little bit. But, it can't be the abnormality.

As you can see, he's kept immobile within his containment cell at all times, and we had no breaches whatsoever yesterday! It was a perfect day!

Outside of the current predicament.

Yes, well… luckily my notes include a very specific policy on what to do in the manager's absence from the chain of command. I was able to keep things running smoothly and unlock all of the information about the new abnormality, as directed!

Forsaken Murderer… At least it wasn't anything hard.

It seems even Malkuth can handle a 1 Qliphoth Counter abnormality who deals red-type damage, prefers Instinct works, and will only breach on a truly abysmal result.

My department worked really hard to make today a success! At least hard enough that I should be more than an 'even Malkuth…'

With no records, that's really impossible to prove. Why, even an AI as great as me knows to keep track of their information to refer back to at any time.

I have records! They're just… records in my own memory!

Then show me. You have a notebook, don't you?

...Yes! I won't let you down, Manager!

Music: neutral 2… ish?

_{Manager, this is clearly a let down already. We should-}

_{Shh! This is amazing.}

So I said, "Something's gone wrong! We're not receiving any orders..."

In that case, shouldn't we all do what we think will make the most energy? That's what the manuals that Malkuth so painstakingly had us learn say.

_{And she's doing voices!}

Dibs on the new guy! If that's okay with our boss, of course.

Since I have the new E.G.O suit from 1.76MHz, I guess I'll work with that today. My supervisor mentioned I'd be particularly well-protected against it.

_{So you received the equipment orders I sent... That means things could only have happened in a very short time frame.}

Mizu and I will trade out working with the new one, then, just to follow the proper new-abnormality handling protocol made by the amazing and great Malkuth.

So that's what they did! They just worked like that all day.

And there was nothing of note which happened? Eight meltdown periods is quite a lengthy period of time.

Well… um… Oh! There were several things.

Mizu seemed to have a great deal of trouble with the new abnormality, but she toughed it out and grew immensely!

Talow had much fewer problems. Between the two of them we were able to learn everything there was to know about the abnormality!

Bishop finished getting the energy to extract the last few weapons from One Sin, then took the rest of the day off except for to address meltdowns, because there wasn't much else for him to do.

Fair enough… and what about D.A.D.?

We gave them a broom and had them alternate between cleaning the room and beating the abnormality with it. There weren't any complications, of course! My Control team only accepts results!

That leaves the matter of the request you gave the manager. Were the proper amount of works done, over eight periods?

Yes, Angela! We managed to take care of doing the required number of meltdown works. Not a single one passed us by today, just like always!

Don't get too confident, Malkuth. I seem to remember the time that you requested we suspend the day because of an agent who broke down right at the start…

So logs of management conversations aren't worth saving, but leverage on your fellow AI is?

…

The algorithms which dictate what data is and is not saved in my logs are incredibly complex. It would take years to properly explain the intricacies involved. My creators were truly capable of astounding feats.

…Uh-huh. Sure. Let's just say the mission's been completed, alright?

Yes, Manager! I'll get started on the research right away!

No rush. Like I said, Joint Command's useless. So, the final report?

Oh! Yes, I have it right… here!

...uh… huh. Thank you, Malkuth. That will be all.

There is still the remaining matter of the next abnormality.

Oh, right… I should get on that. What do we have..?

The cameras are still down in that area, but… here!

Music: never flow frozen bottoms

!

...Manager?

!!!

Literally nothing else matters. I don't even remember what the other two options were. When you see -81 this early, you take -81.

_{Is the manager alright?}

_{Humans are known to do this from time to time. I believe it is called 'choice paralysis.'}

I… ahem. Yes. I suppose we'll go with the center option.

Splendid! Then I'll go get right back to it!

Actually, we are going to be having an emergency Sephirah meeting to discuss countermeasures and how to prevent this from occurring in the future.

Meanwhile…

Say, what do you think Malkuth's up to right now?

Getting read the riot act, probably.

GuYS, tHis stUFF is AmAzInG!!!

Is she drinking..?

*sigh* It's fine. Just ignore her. You seen Bishop?

Said he had something he wanted to check out as soon as the bell went off.

Hell of a day, huh. First the cameras, now an unplanned meeting. This hasn't ever happened before.

...yeah. Hell of a second day of work.

Yeah. Guess with just three days, I wouldn't have much more to go off of.

Well… we're gonna have to watch each other's backs to get anywhere. Bishop's kind of a flake, and Mizu's…

Heeheeheeeeheehee~~

What I'm saying is, let's both get out of here filthy rich. And alive.

Yeah. Sounds good.

New Guidelines

Forsaken Murderer

New Gear

who couldn't even have a funeral would be nice.

New Story

Forsaken Murderer pt1
Forsaken Murderer pt2

_{I promise not to lose the footage again, guys.}

TeeQueue · Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:23 pm

Mechanics Talk 3: Movement Speed and Other Lies

Today, we're going to deep dive into the stats themselves and how they work. At this point you're probably familiar enough with a basic agent statblock, like this:

Fortitude and Prudence are simple, they translate directly to max HP and max SP.

The other four stats, Work success, Work speed, Attack speed, and Movement speed, are stats that the game uses to figure out how quickly and well your agent does various tasks around the facility.

I haven't shown it yet, but we can hover the mouse over any of the lower four stats. When you do, it gives you a little box like these:

I haven't shown these off because they are not any use at all. For Attack speed and Move speed, it shows each point as being worth 0.2% faster atk/move speed, while the Work success/speed it gains 1% for every 5 points in the stat. This is a dirty lie in almost all cases, so we're going to show off how things are calculated under the hood.

We'll start with Movement speed, one of the most important stats in the game since in Lobotomy Corporation being able to run like hell is an invaluable talent. Movement speed is calculated as:

Code: Select all

4 + (movement speed) / 25

I multiply all results by 10 when giving speed numbers both because I prefer round numbers and because the wiki I pulled the speed information off of did the same, so if you want to know what something's speed is in the code itself, just put a decimal before the last number from here on. Anyways, as you can see an agent starts with 40 speed, and gains another 10 every time they get 25 movement speed. As a result, the game will tell you at 25 justice that you've gained +5% move speed, but the reality is that you've gained 25% movement speed, going from 40 to 50. See what I mean by it lying? An agent at 100 justice is actually moving twice as fast as an agent at 0 justice would, but the game only tells you that you've gained 20%!

Attack speed works in a similar way. Every weapon attack in the game has a set animation which takes a specific amount of time. That animation is then run at a specific speed, with the equation being:

Code: Select all

0.8 + (Attack speed)/ 143

To simplify, a 0 attack speed agent attacks by playing the attack animation at 80% of its normal speed. By 29 justice they've progressed to 100% of the normal speed, a gain of 25%-much more than the 5.8% the game tells you about.

But wait, there's more! Because the weapon animations are set things, the Very Slow/Slow/Medium/Fast/Very Fast that you've seen next to the weapons are not ever actually referenced anywhere in the code-they're just there to give the manager a general idea how quick a weapon probably is.

But wait! There's more! On top of that, many of the high end weapons have unique animations which do not call this code-meaning that they don't use attack speed at all. For a lot of really powerful weapons, this stat may as well not exist. I'll try to call these out as we get them.

Next, we'll cover Work speed. An agent's speed of working an abnormality is based on this formula:

Code: Select all

(abnormality base work speed) * (1 + ((observation bonus) + (work speed)) / 100)

One Sin has a work speed of 0.3 and an observation bonus of 10, so plugging that in there an agent with 30 temperance would wind up having a total work speed of 0.3*1.4, for a total of 0.42. If we raise that to 50, we instead get 0.48. This is a 12.5% increase from 20 points of boost, again much higher than the 4% difference the game would tell you it gave.

On a related note, the total work time equals (total # of boxes)/(work speed), gotten from the above equation. This has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but now I don't have to mention it later.

Finally, there's Work success. Every 5 points of work success adds exactly 1% to the odds of an agent getting a success on each box. Changes of less than 5 do nothing, they only matter in those 5 point increments. Work success is completely accurate. Work success is calculated by first adding all bonuses, then checking that they don't go over 95%, then applying any penalties that may be present, before rolling for success. This means two things: that penalties are a major pain because they permanently lower the best possible chance of success, and that we always have at least a 5% chance of failing.

So in review, most of the stat popups actively misinform the manager about how much their stat is actually contributing.

This all comes back to one big question: 'But in that case, why did they add those extra boxes at all?'

The answer is: 'Hell if I know. Welcome to Lobotomy Corporation, this game is a mess and I love it.'

JamieTheD · Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:02 pm

Dunno why, but I get the feeling Malkuth's report is... Not strictly accurate. There's just something about those logs...

...Ah, it's probably nothing. We would know if any agents had suddenly and horrifically been murdered, right?

...Right?

Talow · Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:07 pm

I'm sure they all lived. And yeah, that report definitely has several lies in it.

TeeQueue · Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:01 pm

JamieTheD wrote: ↑
Thu Jul 02, 2020 4:02 pm
Dunno why, but I get the feeling Malkuth's report is... Not strictly accurate. There's just something about those logs...

...Ah, it's probably nothing. We would know if any agents had suddenly and horrifically been murdered, right?

...Right?

Clearly, Malkuth is 100% trustworthy! We'd know for sure if anything bad happened.

yamiaainferno · Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:30 pm

Forsaken Prisoner makes me kind of sad.

TeeQueue · Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:24 pm

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 4: Story

Music: story 2

If not, this recent news will likely change your mind. After your arrival, the rate of energy output has increased by 13%. If you still don’t feel the significance of this figure, then let me add that it’s a record breaking percentage.

>I can take pride in that.

This means you are performing your role well. This shows that there should only be good news to come. A machine such as myself doesn’t flatter easily.

I remember your face the very first time you came here. You were so withdrawn… Face all gray and grim. And you were all nervous about my presence. Don’t worry, it’s okay for you to be happy now.

Ahh heck, she knows we're expecting her to try to kill us.

---

>I'm not sure…

Is it not normal to be happy in a situation like this? For your information, I had practically run here. All just to deliver this great news to you. That’s a figure of speech of course, but I did not expect you to react like this.

---

Routes Merge Here

Do you see that bottle of champagne on the table? Allow me to pour you a glass. Shall we toast? Ah, today’s occasion is not something as monumental as someone’s birthday, or the company’s day of founding.

I'm sorry, what.

It is just as it sounds. An employee has died in the line of duty.

When did this happen?! Everyone's still alive!

During maintenance, a wrench was dropped onto this clerk, designated Delta3. She did not survive the impact.

_{Man… she was the one who brought the good coffee.}

This entire conversation shows up regardless of if someone has actually died or not. Don't worry, we haven't actually lost anyone important yet.

They had known the risks from the beginning. The company grows, fertilized by their sacrifices. It’s as simple as that. I am sure they would have felt proud of themselves as they took their final breath. Accepting their deaths with equanimity would be the greatest respect you can pay to them. That is why I popped this bottle of champagne I’ve kept for so long.

>I'll drink the champagne.

To properly drink a glass of champagne, one should gently hold the lower stem of the glass, and then take it in lightly, savoring the bubbles. Perfect, just like that.

---

>I don't want to drink right now.

That’s fine, there will be many more occasions on which to toast. However, manager, please refrain from drinking alone when I’m not around. A toast is only worthy when there’s a companion around to clink glasses together.

---

Routes Merge Here

In summary: Apparently we are very good at our job, because efficiency is up! However, someone died yesterday and the corporate culture is such that we just drink to their memory without enacting any safety protocols. Angela's memory apparently has room for proper drinking etiquette, but not for the definition of spirit.

_{Goodbye, Delta3. You were always my favorite clerk.} :sadwave:

Moving on to Malkuth's next scene, and I suspect that the game didn't expect us to clear her mission quite this soon.

Music: Danger

This is Yesod! He's the head of the Information team. We'll be meeting him properly around day 6.

Trust me, I am the head of the Information Team. Even if your team were to suppress the Ordeals on their own, there’s too great a risk of extreme mental damage to your employees.

And this is Hod! She's the head of the Training team. We'll be meeting her on day 11.

See what I mean about this scene probably being intended to come later? I don't think they expected me to just grind out 8 meltdown works on day 3.

I am the Sephirah of the Control Team. I may make outrageous mistakes in all other aspects, but this role I know better than anyone else. I know how to handle employees on the verge of insanity. I even wrote down a code of conduct for it.

Please tell me if you happen to need it. I can always share a copy with you.

I— I’m fine, but that code of yours…

Weakness means elimination, the death of your place in my department. To work for the Control Team, the department that leads the corporation, signifies that you should be more capable than everyone else. Manager, please say something to them. You’ve been watching what’s happened to those weak-willed employees from the comfort of your office, haven’t you?

*hits the mute button* _{Yeah, I've been here three days, I'm not touching this one.}

We should meet up again sometime, all of us Upper Sephirot!

The mental corruption levels of the Control Team’s employees exceeded the maximum threshold. And just what did the other Sephirot do in the meantime? Sit and watch? The Control Team has failed to handle the Ordeals. Supplement the staff immediately and suppress the Ordeals. I will ask for support from the other departments.

Angela… we don't have any other departments, and the agents are just fine.

Then this will have to wait until we can. I believe four more departments' worth should suffice. As to the agents… I included Malkuth herself in the employee mental corruption level calculations. Does this clarify?

...Ah. Carry on.

In summary:

H'okay, a lot to unpack here. Malkuth is really big on just disposing of agents who don't meet standards, so much so that it unsettles her fellow Sephirot. She's also acting like a patronizing jerk. There's stuff about Ordeals here, too, which ties into our new mission! I lost the original screenshot along with the day 3 gameplay footage, but I pulled all the text from the files directly, so here it is:

When Dusk Falls wrote: As the Qliphoth Deterrence weakens, the Abnormalities will begin to grow agitated; certain things we call Ordeals which we cannot contain will go into a rampage, just as they are right now. Could you calm down the employees by suppressing one of the Ordeals that show up at dusk? I’ll help you with it as soon as I can.
Complete a Dusk Ordeal

Now, Ordeals are that thing Malkuth was talking about earlier, the strange beings that come into existence in the hallways every now and again. They show up as you go through the day, and their power levels vary based on the time of day associated with the Ordeal. In order, they are Dawn>Noon>Dusk>Midnight.

Dusk ordeals do not appear until at least day 21, so it'll be a while before we can get back to this mission. That means we're free to do whatever we want for the next couple of days!

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Mirrors! New titles! I finally explain what 'PE' box stands for!

R.I.P, Delta3
Day 1-Day 3
Clerk, background character, coffee-maker
"She totally appeared on screen one time."

TeeQueue · Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:50 pm

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 4: Gameplay

I'm going to lead off with a side note, as I've forgotten to mention it for 4 days and there's not really a nice point to slot it in. Those boxes we've been farming abnormalities for are actually called PE and NE boxes. The P is for 'positive,' and that's the usable boxes. The N is for 'negative,' and they're a useless byproduct created when work goes bad and damages our agents. The E stands for Enkephalin, the substance created when abnormalities react with our agents. That substance is what Lobotomy Corporation is using to create energy!

Anyhoo, after yesterday we expanded Control and got the Joint Command research. Both of these screenshots were lost forever with the rest of the footage, and doing more MS paint is…

Music: neutral 3

Never let it be said that I don't go the extra mile for you guys.

Anyways, the first thing we do is bring everyone up to level 2 in everything but Justice, at the cost of 1 LOB each. This burns all but 2 of our cash, but on the upside we got our first rank 3 agent now!

Our current facility. We're only going to get bigger from here.

Orders from the top, everyone!

We're all on… mirror duty?

The new abnormality?! Dibs!

...and there she goes. At least she's consistent.

One Sin subsists on secrets... Maybe her form of food is stupid risks?

Abnormal co-workers aside, we can still use her to make sure we don't die. C'mon, let's go watch.

Our new abnormality is a bit different. Every fourth abnormality introduced to your facility is a tool abnormality, which work under slightly different sets of rules. For starters, they don't produce boxes like normal abnormalities. Because of this, unlocking their information works a bit differently.

For this abnormality, we have to have someone rub their face against it and pray it doesn't make them explode. After the first time we get a little bit of information, and so on until we unlock everything at 10 uses. The other type of tool abnormalities are based on time used, and those ones are either tools that your agents carry around, or that they can pass time inside of.

We go ahead and assign Mizu to poke at the mirror. Take a good look at her stats here.

Huh. I don't feel any different. Though...

No matter what I do, it stays with me. This blood. The blood of the enemies I've beaten, the foes I've crushed…

Uh… Mizu?

Hail to thee, Talow. But prithee, don't come too close. As you know, my arm is cursed with dark powers that I am frequently powerless to hold back. One wrong step and… Ah! Oh no! I'm going to go get a soda before..!

...what the hell was that?

I think the mirror turned her into some kind of delusional weirdo.

And we're all going in next… Great.

And here's Mizu after her trip. This abnormality, named the Mirror of Adjustment, shuffles all of an agent's stats around as well as changes their title to a new one. The first use per agent per day is free, and uses after that knock 20 points off of the stat total of the agent. Today, Mizu's fortitude has dropped back down to level 1. That means we'll be able to power it up either during the day via training, or by spending 1 lob during preparation. That gives her a lot of extra points with minimal effort, which the mirror can then randomly reassign again the next day.

To summarize: Mirror of Adjustment is a tool which allows you to have relatively consistent training no matter what you have. I'm kicking myself for taking 1.76 MHz over -56 back on day 1 now, but there was no way of knowing beforehand that this would show up here. Still, from here on having mirror to level out our training allows us to prioritize abnormalities who give good E.G.O gear or help with completing missions over anything else.

This abnormality has proven to be an incredibly useful find. How incredibly fortuitous for us.

...Fortuitous. Yes.

We throw the others in as well.

There's not even anything reflected here...

I guess I feel a bit less tired now, at least.

_{My notepad doesn't match my memory... Something must've happened.}

Really don't see why I was so worried. That wasn't so bad at all.

D.A.D. here hit the only other really good result from mirror, winding up with Temperance back at 1, and notably a very high justice stat. When using Mirror, the more points that land in Justice the better, since it costs 3x as many points to buy, and also trains more slowly than other stats.

Malkuth, go ahead and have the agents train in order to capitalize on their new strengths.

Really, manager? Thank you for trusting my judgment on this! I promise I won't disappoint you!

Yeah, yeah… I just need to read something while you're busy with that.

Days 4 and 5 of any given 5-day cycle are usually best spent on mopping up any gear we haven't already grabbed from the abnormalities we got at the beginning of the week, so today the primary goal is to finish getting the weapon and suit from Forsaken Murderer maxed out, while doing some training on the side. Mizu goes to work on propping up her justice before I notice that her prudence is literally one point away from hitting level 3, at which point I shove her on insight work. D.A.D. works his Fortitude with the Forsaken Murderer, Talow builds his justice back up on 1.76, and Bishop…

That Murderer might have been, once, but all that's left now is an empty husk, void of anything but the rage and hatred that others put on to him. One Sin has no malice at all… it simply wants to consume the secrets of others. What sort of place is this, if they're willing to imprison ambivalent or even benevolent entities, all for their own gain? Is the Enkephalin they're producing really worth all that?

How should I know, sir? I'm just here to move Delta3's stuff to the incinerator.

...Ah. I'll go with you.

One round of work later, we're halfway done.

Sacrifices, vain, yeah…

X, what could you possibly be perusing during work hours?

I'm paging through the Control team's code of conduct. It's… strict?

Malkuth does pride herself on her team's performance. You should put that down, before you happen to see something which would appear insensible to you.

...yeah, bit late for that.

While we were speaking, the energy quota was just met. Perhaps you'd like to rest and prepare for tomorrow's work?

Just have Malkuth keep going. We'll quit once I'm through reading this.

Are you certain that's wise?

Heard it loud and clear, Manager! Take all the time you need to review my policy! I'm prepared to have it enacted in whatever other departments you see fit!

A few meltdowns later, something interesting happens!

We get hit by a meltdown on the mirror itself. Since we can't actually touch it again without someone losing 20 stat points, we have no choice but to let it tick down to 0. When it does…

We lose energy equal to the level of the overload that spawned it*5, or 15 energy in this case. It doesn't take much time to get back, D.A.D. there just about does the job by themselves.

After a largely uneventful rest of the day, we end things without any major issues.

The promotions are for D.A.D. and Bishop, leaving Talow as the only rank 2 agent left on the team right now.

That just leaves abnormality selectio-

There isn't any abnormality selection today, manager.

What? Why not?

There's only enough room for four abnormality containment cells in any given department. Where would we even place a fifth?

I… guess you have a point. Alright then, let's call it a day. Good job everyone.

Yes. My most heartfelt congratulations to all involved.

Alright time to pack it in, people!

Meanwhile…

Isn't that a useful talent in this company?

Perhaps. However, the dark history which has given me this unfortunate curse is so cursed, and so dark, that it haunts me every day. The screams and gunfire of 1.76 MHz are nothing compared to the dark darkness that tortures the very darkness of my soul.

Mizu. Uh… Mizu? You may wanna turn around.

The dark tortures of this darkness pulse and throb throughout my body. Ah! The pain! In my left arm! I can't… control it… any longer!

Oh my! Mizu, it looks like your mental corruption level has gone over the acceptable limit!

Um. No ma'am. I'm fine, ma'am.

Oh? But you just said your mind was tortured and your arm was hurting.

That was… uh… An example for the other employees of things to look out for! Ma'am!

...Alright. Carry on.

Oh god I thought I was gonna' "resign."

Honestly, same.

Hey, you two get over here and help us put this gear away!

Coming!

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Angela teaches us how to garden!

TeeQueue · Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:51 pm

Abnormality Roundup 1

Every time one of our departments gets up to four abnormalities, I'll be going through and doing a bonus update like this where I give my thoughts on each of them, alongside detailed base work chances and 1-2 images that have been shrunk to 180x180 or less. The base work chance charts are being grabbed as needed from a document I compiled nearly a year ago, so the formatting is a bit different from the other charts I've been using. More than anything, think of this as a sort of a strategic ramble where I talk about what each abnormality brings to the facility.

One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds

One Sin is easy to work with for new agents by design, with 50% or higher success rates in all of its work types for newbies, and no ability to kill agents permanently. Honestly, every time I look at it I notice something else that makes clear that it was meant to be something new players were meant to have to help them. It gives 5 slots for weapons that deal White damage (important for dealing with panicking agents, and a weakness of many early game threats). Its suit is well-balanced and capable of getting agents through a work with almost any TETH abnormality. Even its gift is well-placed, making sure that you always have something available to overwrite any gift you get in the hat slot-the one slot that it is vitally important to be able to overwrite. It's useless past the early game, but for getting a good footing on days 1-5 it's hard to think of any better abnormalities.

1.76 MHz

The main reason to take 1.76 MHz is its 1.2x base success chance buff on fortitude 1 characters and its base work rates make it the best early-game justice trainer. In a pinch, it can serve as a good way to train the Prudence of agents with a rank 1 or 2 in the stat, but it's not the best use of the abnormality. One of the hardest things to do in the early game is raising Justice, as One Sin gives very little EXP and there are very few other high-Repression success abnormalities before HE level, and zero other ones that don't have instant kill/panic rules to keep in mind. This is important because most of the best justice trainers from HE and up require a base justice of 3+ to properly work, which can make Justice a feast-or-famine stat. 1.76 MHz is perfect for getting an agent's justice up to the levels necessary to trade off to a higher class abnormality, and it's a calm abnormality to work with.

Its gear is its one downside, but it's a large downside. In Lobotomy Corporation, your gear is the #1 factor in determining what you can accomplish as far as working with abnormalities goes, and only getting a single TETH level suit with poor resistances for earlygame enemies is the worst in the entire risk level in terms of equipment. Taking 1.76 MHz is effectively stating that you're willing to trade good earlygame gear for guaranteed justice growth, and that's not a trade to make lightly.

Forsaken Murderer

Forsaken Murderer is such a textbook early game abnormality that it makes a good baseline for what's normal in a TETH. Its Red damage/Instinct preference make it ideal for early game fortitude training, and while its QC is lower than normal it only lowers on a bad work result, meaning it's very rare to see it break out if handled properly. It has a decent amount of gear for a TETH, and its 0.7 red resist is very strong in the early game. Good basic instinct trainers like this are fairly common among TETHs, so the most important part of this abnormality in a first run is that it can breach when upset. There are missions later in the game that require a certain number of different abnormalities who can break out in order to complete them, and picking up 3-4 low-powered ones in the first couple branches is a good idea. It also has a nearly-unique gift slot, but its competition is a very useful abnormality whose gift is strong enough that it completely eclipses our poor murderfriend.

Mirror of Adjustment

What can I say that I didn't say in the thread already? Lobotomy Corporation has 3 main considerations when it comes to abnormality selection: Gear, training potential, and how much of a pain it is to deal with. The thing which makes Mirror so powerful is that it allows us to ignore one of these 3 considerations for most of the game. Between it boosting our training sessions by shuffling stats around to allow us to train more at the faster-growing lower levels, and its rules allowing us to never actually see its downside, Mirror is amazing. It's as simple as that.

Ah, here's a new tidbit: Mirror of Adjustment is so powerful for training agents that in speedruns, not getting it on day 4 is an instant reset. It adds that much efficiency.

TeeQueue · Sun Jul 05, 2020 2:37 pm

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 5: Story

Music: story 3

“Each successful experiment makes you a better person.” The greatness of this company was founded on multitudes of trials and hardships. So you too, shall become great. Each day in the company is another small experiment towards shaping your life for the better.

Well, of course it was fine. Let’s spare the pleasantries, no?

>An absolutely horrid one.

Ah, excuse me. Your answer surprised me. I have no knowledge of what it is like to live a horrible life. I am afraid I cannot sincerely console you. However, perk up just a little, many things will change if you stay here.

It seems a lot like Angela '...'s when she isn't entirely sure how to process what she's just been told.

---

>Nothing spectacular, just ok.

Although, one can always improve the quality of their life.

---

>It could be better.

While I am unable to console you with empty words such as “that’s not true.” Many things will change while you are here. That much is clear.

---

Routes Merge Here

The seed of a tree will not grow just anywhere. It requires fertile soil, the right temperature, and fresh water. However, most seeds fall on barren soil.

I cannot provide you with water or sunlight… However, I will do my best to tend to the soil.

In summary: Angela draws a metaphor about how sometimes no matter how people try the circumstances simply will make any sort of success incredibly painful simply because of where their seed fell, and humblebrags about how awesome her life has been. She apparently has room to remember extended gardening metaphors, but not conversations with previous managers. Upside, she promised that she'd make sure we at least have the chance to get somewhere? :shepface:

Sephirot cutscenes only play whenever you clear a mission, so this is actually where the game moves ahead to the build screen. However…

Sometime later…

You wanted to see me, Manager?

Yes, It's about your code of conduct…

Right! I put my all into its creation, and it ensures that the department runs perfectly no matter the outcome! I'm so glad to hear that you've decided we should roll it out to other departments!

...That's not why I called you here.

Huh? It's not?

Look… I get that you and Angela have a certain way of dealing with employees who've been pushed too far. Still, it's easier to keep the employees we have than it is to train entirely new ones. Can we, like, lay off on the retirement plan?

But, Manager! It's been highly effective! I know, because the Control team is my entire life!

I-I'm… I'm sure it has been, but… this is just extra pressure on the employees. Think about it like you were one of them.

If I was one of them, I'd just work really hard and not quit until I had it right! That's how I got to be the Sephirot of Control in the first place!

Okay, but… think about while you were working really hard… before you made it? Don't you think additional pressure like knowing you might die if you messed up would sort of…

Manager, do you even know what you're trying to say? I'm not sure you do?

Malkuth… *sigh* There's already a lot of plates spinning between the abnormalities, and while I haven't seen any of these 'ordeals-'

Still waiting on you to suppress that dusk, by the way.

I know, Malkuth. I know. They're going to start showing up eventually too, and it's just… I don't want our employees to have a meltdown at a bad time, on top of everything else. Okay? That just makes more work for the others.

...Does Angela know you're considering this plan?

Didn't mention it. I get the feeling she's a little less attached to the idea of keeping agents alive than me.

Well… alright. If you really think it'll help, Manager, I'll do as you ask. I don't mind trying what I can to keep employees away from meltdowns.

Thank you. Needless deaths are expensive, and I only have so many LOB.

My policies are in place to avoid needless deaths, Manager. We'll see if yours can do the same. Is there anything else?

No, that will be all. Have a good night, Malkuth.

Of course, Manager!

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Meltdowns! Arbitrary self-imposed challenges! FUN.

Jadecore · Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:01 pm

Oh boy, arbitrary self-imposed challenges!

Nanimani · Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:33 pm

Wow, I wonder what TeeQueue could do to make this game more of a challenge? :v

Talow · Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:49 pm

I've figured out how. By having everything explode.... wait shit the game does that normally uhh...

TeeQueue · Mon Jul 06, 2020 6:52 am

Honestly... trying to beat the game in one loop is challenging enough already, but I was worried about days ending in 5 being boring due to a lack of abnormalities, though, so I decided to do something stupid to spice things up.

I am not a wise man. :V

TeeQueue · Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:28 pm

Synchronizing Memory Repository . . .

Day 5: Gameplay

Expanding Control. I think from now on I'll just append these to the end of story updates, as it's right after those and it really isn't gameplay, but this one can go here for posterity.

Music: neutral 3

We give Talow and Mizu the E.G.O equipment from Forsaken Murderer, and make sure that D.A.D. and Bishop have One Sin's weapon.

Orders from the top, everyone! I've been asked to try keeping you guys away from the Qliphoth Meltdowns today, so we'll be avoiding them until closing time.

What.

What.

Remember, I expect nothing less than perfection from the all-important Control squad. Get to it!

X…

This isn't even remotely my fault.

Did you ask her to change her way of doing things, after knowing full well her mental corruption was approaching unsafe levels?

...okay, maybe it's remotely my fault.

I will take care of things when the abnormalities are under full deterrence again. Until then, simply try and finish the day.

Right.

DAY 5 CHALLENGE: NO MELTDOWNS

Every 5th day I plan on doing some kind of challenge day since there's otherwise not much else to do. Today's is simple: We cannot work any abnormalities that have a meltdown on them. This means that every time our Qliphoth gauge goes up, we're going to be losing energy-and if either 1.76 MHz or Forsaken Murderer gets tagged by one, we can't do anything to prevent them from instantly dropping their QC to 0.

Let's roll.

The day starts by shuffling everyone in the mirror again. Working with tool abnormalities doesn't advance the gauge, so this is effectively free. Unfortunately, Mizu and Talow are both dropped back to Fortitude 1, on a day where HP would actually be nice to have.

Talow has it particularly bad, but with both of them having good R armor, we should probably be fine.

After thinking for a moment, I settle on a simple enough strategy: We need 80 energy to pass the day, and every work matters. Our TETHs give 12 or 14 chances to get energy each work, and One Sin only gives a maximum of 10. The best option to get through this is to ignore One Sin entirely today, and focus on 1.76/Forsaken.

Mizu's fortitude seems to be close to level 2. It's not worth wasting the LOB, so we'll put her to work with the Murderer to take advantage of it.

Please bear in mind that we are effectively working without a safety net today, Manager.

I know. Talow's fortitude is also 1, so he should work with 1.76 MHz… That feels about right. Make it so.

Yes, Manager.

What brought that on?

Nothing in particular. It's just a trick I've heard about how E.G.O gear works. If you just trust its instincts it'll help steer you, even if you don't know how to use the weapon.

Alright, I'll keep it in mind.

We make it to 24/80 energy in our first two works, which isn't bad. The downside is that we're already halfway to our first meltdown.

Sending them back to work, the meltdown triggers and lands on Forsaken Murderer. The good news is that the timer won't start counting until Mizu is done with her work, and that these two works put us at 47/80.

The bad news…

Music: First Trumpet

Forsaken Murderer is on the loose. When its QC hits 0, its head changes into a hammer and it crawls around the facility, hoping to beat anyone it sees to death. This also causes our very first warning to happen! I'll actually just let the manual explain this for me:

Each level comes complete with its own song. We'll probably hear all of them at some point. This is just that kind of game.

You said it was kept immobile at all times!

Yes, my policies ensure it never has a chance to leave its cell. If you change one tiny thing, though, the entire department could fall apart. That's why my Control team will not tolerate any failures.

Malkuth…

Don't worry, Manager. I still appreciate the chance to test out this new way of working with abnormalities! I won't disappoint you! Team, engage!

Clicking on a breaching abnormality brings up this screen, where you can quickly see the abnormality's attack type and resistances, the HP/SP levels of the members in its department, and by clicking on one you can have them go to suppress it.

We send everyone, of course.

Forsaken Murderer attacks by slamming its steel head into the ground, hitting anyone in its path.

D.A.D. is the first agent on the scene. Unfortunately, they're also the worst agent to show up, as their weapon deals 0.8x damage due to being lower level, and they take 1.2x more damage because of their suit.

Okay. Just have to go with the flow, was it..?

About time someone else got here!

Are you okay?!

Been better. Guy hits like a train.

They hold off the enemy until Bishop arrives, but 3 hits was enough to cut off a third of their health. In the early game, the suppression menu is a good way to keep an eye on the health of all your agents at once. With no healthbar for the enemy, all we can do is keep an eye on our life and run away when the agents get too hurt.

I'm dying here, gotta back out!

Go, go! We'll handle it from here!

Mizu and Talow finally show up from the other end, and start clubbing the Murderer with their much stronger weapons. The fight doesn't last much longer after they get involved, and when its HP hits 0 the abnormality vanishes and returns to its cell, leaving only a big red splotch on the floor where it was.

Woah… that's some real zen stuff. Where'd you pick that up?

I heard it in an old position. Seems like it was good advice.

That must be why I'm good at fighting! I'm always going with the flow. :downs:

That's one way of putting it, I guess.

Music: neutral 2

Time to take stock. I snuck in one 1.76 work while the Murderer's meltdown was going, so after the -5 energy we're at 52/80. I queue up another two works on Forsaken/1.76…

So close. If not for the first -5, we'd already have the option to end the day. As it is, we're about to hit another meltdown, which will be on...

Our favorite radio signal. This actually works out, since I wanted to show off what it did anyways, and it's hard to lower its QC to 0 any other way.

That aside, Manager, there would be no shame if you were to simply end the day now.

...No. My employee has decided to screw with me. I'm not backing off until it's clear which of us is the boss.

It's very clear that you're the boss, Manager! I'm just doing exactly what you've told me to.

Then there's no problem if things keep going until I'm satisfied, right?

None at all, sir!

When the QC hits 0, 1.76 MHZ doesn't actually break out. Instead, it fills the nearest hallway with some static that deals W damage every few seconds to everyone in it.

Does anyone else hear that?

Ahh… hell. D.A.D., can you take care of the next couple works with ol' radiohead? My suit's weak to white.

Sure.

Every so often, it spreads to another hallway. It will never appear in main rooms, but if you don't address it…

It'll eventually cover everything else. The key to getting rid of it the static is getting its QC back up to maximum. Making QCs go up is rare among abnormalities, and whenever it's possible, the abnormality's management tips mention how to do that.

Like so. Anyways, with their armor being the strongest against W damage D.A.D. is basically built for this. Their first work is a good and brings the QC back up to 1. Their second work is a perfect, and we hit 3. After the next work...

Oh good, that buzzing stopped. It was getting annoying.

The static all clears immediately upon getting the QC back to 4. Amusingly, while the Forsaken Murderer didn't manage to kill anyone during his rampage it appears that 1.76 MHz managed to send everyone in the facility aside the agents into a panic, making them all kill themselves.

Radio waves, man. They'll mess you up.

With our radio back under control 1 work before we'd hit our next meltdown, I do some mental math. The next meltdown will remove 15 energy per failure, and with 2 of them, we'll be getting hit for -30. We should be able to make that up, so I queue up another work for Mizu on Forsaken Murderer.

This isn't a terrible result, since we only have to deal with Forsaken Murderer one more time. I have to make sure not to do any work while the meltdown timers are draining, or else I'll just lose the energy-we can't go over the max, no matter what.

Music: First Trumpet

It broke out again. Should we do a pincer maneuver like last time?

It didn't seem all that strong. What about if we just all jumped it at once and beat it up?

While there are a lot of tactics available when suppressing abnormalities, the most satisfying is probably the deathball. It's exactly what it sounds like: We grab all our agents and send them at the abnormality all at once.

Pictured: everyone beating up on Forsaken Murderer in the exact hallway where most of the dead clerks wound up. Somehow D.A.D. managed to sneak behind the thing.

During the entire fight I'm carefully watching Mizu and Talow's hit points. I'd rather not have them die. With them taking 2-3 damage a hit, I decide to have Talow back off after the next attack from Murderer.

It never comes, though, as the abnormality is suppressed about 2 seconds after this shot was taken.

Music: neutral 3

_{They keep anything going on in their facilities on a tight leash, so their PR front was good, as far as the Wings go. That's why it was so confusing when someone asked me to look into them. But now, I think I get it. This place…}

What're you jabbering on about?

Nothing important. Just figuring out what kind of company this is.

The kind that gives paid time only 60 days after hire. Nothin' else matters.

I send Mizu in for one more work and push us over into the next meltdown, which hits Forsaken Murderer and the Mirror. This lets me sneak in one more work from Talow on 1.76 MHz.

These two meltdowns would lower our energy output by a total of 40. We could probably barely make that up, but it would take four works, and we have three left. The next set would then lower us by an additional 50. At that point, we'd be playing catch up forever. Am I wrong?

That's the situation, Manager.

...hm.

In eleven seconds, the decision will no longer be in your hands.

Malkuth, what would you do here?

Isn't it obvious, manager? If I needed 40 energy in three works, I'd just work the Murderer 3 more times! If it's perfect every time, that's 42 energy!

And if it isn't, everyone under you dies.

The weak have no place on this team.

Four seconds, Manager.

...

Manager?!

Rrgh… dammit!

Pack it in, everyone! The manager's all done with his experiment! Time to clean up.

No. Those four are getting the rest of the day off. You're cleaning up the bodies by yourself.

...Yes, Manager! You can entrust me with this task, as well!

…*sigh*

Manager, I know you may think you mean well, but it is a poor idea to poke at things you do not comprehend. Please refrain from making any such changes in the future.

I'll think about it.

I'll admit I didn't think that I'd have to end the day up quite as early as I did, but the one extra work Talow did during the last meltdown wound up meaning I wouldn't be able to hit the goal without scrambling and relying on some favorable meltdown placements. I figured it was better to finish while I was ahead.

That said, we get to pick a new abnormality now!

Music: never frozen bottom flows

O-04-100: The more blood it has, the more beautiful it is.
O-01-92: It's a good day! Are you still shy today?
F-02-44: However, the curse continues eternally, never broken.

That's three times in a row.

I do not want you, -44, I do not want to see your lore. I do not like your instant kills, I do not like the memory drills. I do not want your E.G.O gear, I do not want you coming here, I do not want you, -44, please do not show up anymore.

Setting that aside, -100 is a really finicky abnormality that's bad for training, bad for gear, and is a giant pain in the butt to handle. Its E.G.O set is very pretty, but that's all it has going for it. Our last contestant, -92, is also a very meh abnormality and like the other two it cannot breach and also has a somewhat annoying gimmick. However, it can be used as a sort-of-okay trainer in any stat and its weapon fills a couple of niches that I've been nervous about going without.

It's mostly by default, but -92 takes this round.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We get HR management tips from a probably-homicidal AI.

TeeQueue · Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:29 pm

Mechanics Talk 4: Clerks

Clerks. They're background characters who wander around randomly within their departments. They have 10-16 HP and SP, and a gun which has a 40% chance to deal 1 damage each time they fire. Their gun and suit both count as ZAYIN class. Right now they panic when they see any breaching abnormality, but eventually they will be able to ~~serve as distractions~~ fight alongside our employees.

In theory, clerks provide an important service. Each department has an office worker effect, which gives a small buff to all agents in the facility based on how many clerks are still alive.

The circled indicator tells us what level of effect we currently have, and the exact effect varies by department.

The Control team increases the movement speed of your agents. None of these bonuses are particularly important, but there's no reason not to have them if you can. Clerks are refreshed at the start of each day for free, so it's usually not a big deal to lose them.

Usually.

Certain abnormalities count the number of deaths in the facility, and clerk deaths count towards these numbers. The community has collectively nicknamed them the 'Clerk's Rights Squad,' as they exist to punish managers who let their clerks die.

We will absolutely be taking at least one of these abnormalities in the future.

Control Team Bonus Content

Team description

Team armband

Malkuth sprite

Story background

TeeQueue · Tue Jul 07, 2020 10:17 am

/gently coughs the thread to a second page.