User blog:RefillSunset/Nightmare Analysis

Hey guys, i got back into my account temporarily. It's only for a couple of minutes but i managed to post up this analysis i was working on. Other than today, I'll continue commenting and such in the form of this wikia contributor

http://saszombieassault.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/183.178.157.212

Anyway, hope you guys find this analysis useful.

Everyone has nightmares about Nightmares, so I reckon I’d better make a NM analysis as well, not only to give out my opinions, but also sooth some people’s despair.

Easy < Medium < Hard < Nightmare < Demonic <<<<<<<<<<<< Lucifer’s Reign

1)       Onslaught
Difficulty: Medium-hard.

Analysis: Defending is actually easy. The real challenge presents itself in the form of the first boss. At that time, zombies spawn from both the front and the back, with no spawn limit, while a gigantic hulking boss smashes everyone down. It is very easy to get surrounded, so this map greatly relies on your reflexes.

Advice: When opening the eggs in the cockpit at the start of the game, don’t get too cocky. There are spitters that can spit through the door and kill you in a second. After first boss spawns, unless your team is very proficient and can divide itself into two, two people clearing the back while two people killing the boss as well as clearing the front (which is actually possible), you can either deploy a bunch of turrets to defend while focusing on the boss, or ignore the boss entirely and keep on defending, only dodging the boss when it heads for you. The former is somewhat easier as it’s not as hectic as the latter, which is far more risky as the map is very small.

2)       Vaccine
Difficulty: Easy

Analysis: It’s true you do have a countdown timer, but it’s somewhere around 12:00 minutes, which is surprisingly sufficient. Proceed as you normally would, only playing more carefully, and you should clear the terminal with little problem. As long as no idiot heads for the southern train on the platform, all should go well. Even the first boss is very easy as you can back through the subway to access to a super-large boss zone. If you manage to board the train at around 7 minutes, you should have enough time for the second boss.

Advice: Never head for loot in southern train. Watch out for the eggs on the last coach where the health pack normally is. After train ride, clear the purge nest just outside the subway. Don’t dawdle as it will spawn zombies within 5-10 seconds, and the large amount of zombies already in the area will make the fight very difficult. At the lab, be careful of the eggs in the health pack area. Even if you open all three labs at the same time, a Sublight or flamer should have no problem clearing the area thanks to the thin corridors. For boss, play as you normally would. There is little difference between normal and nightmare battle in this part. If you are a fast or super tanky character, you can even go treasure hunting. Even if all else fails, run straight to the plane to conserve the loot you get from your first boss.

3)       Survivors
Difficulty: Medium

Analysis: The entire game is nearly the same as normal survivors. As long as you don’t give a f**k about the survivors themselves, the battle is actually quite easy. There is not much need to clear both ends before engaging the upper middle area, where the boss spawns. The map itself is so large that there are plenty of places to dodge around. The real challenge is the boss zone, which is by far the smallest boss zone in all SAS 4 maps. 9 out of 10 battles lose here due to the confined boss area.

Advice: Play safe and all should go fine. Just watch out for nasty surprises in houses, which may contain zombies or, worse, eggs. At boss zone, clear purge nest at where the health pack normally is. Try to stay together so that a) 4 people can pay attention to the boss and zombies spawning out of the walls altogether, and b) zombies do not target 4 people separately and create 4 hordes that gives neither player any place to run to.

4)       Pods
Difficulty: Nightmare

Analysis: Since in NM, each egg releases a cluster of Nightmare zombies, in Pods, the home of all the eggs in SAS4, you get a whole battalion of Nightmare zombies. This is the main problem, the main source of difficulty, in pods. The swarm is simply so great that sometimes even a Sublight has trouble stopping the horde. The location of the fifth purge nest, at where the health pack normally is, is also very difficult, because it triggers the fourth purge nest when you run towards it. If the last aisle is the one that is clear, the battle could be very difficult, more so if the nest spawns shadow minions or zombies with acid blood. At the boss zone, the large number of pods, the fact that each minion egg spawns a Nightmare boss, and an infinite supply of zombies on the sides of the map makes it one of the hardest boss zones ever, if not the hardest.

Advice: Proceed with caution but aggression. Dragging on the battle will result in inevitable failure, no matter at what stage of the battle, thanks to the large amount of places where zombies can spawn from. Destroy purge nests as quick as possible, and do not destroy any unnecessary eggs. One thing that deserves a specific warning is the Worm-egg room. Nightmare worms should never be underestimated, especially when they move at lightning speed and deal a tremendous amount of damage, and when those eggs spawn around 20 worms that are hard to hit. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE WORMS. At boss zone, pop all normal pods and then minion eggs as soon as possible. This way, although there will be a crowd to deal with at first, and bosses appear gradually, it is definitely easier than focusing on one boss, which, as you can never take down in time, will result in all minion eggs and boss eggs exploding, releasing a gigantic Nightmare horde that even the most experienced players have trouble dealing with. Since the boss area is so large, one can maneuver with somewhat ease compared to Survivors even when dealing with 5 bosses. If you have cleared the horde, engage one boss together. Focus fire helps a lot in this part. Don’t go engaging separate bosses, as that will waste time and, should the bosses be wickers, release a huge amount of death flames around the same time that will fatally injure your team.

5)       VIP
Difficulty: Easy

Analysis: No difference from normal VIP. To help, the VIP now has super tanking health, possibly more than 4 lvl 100 heavies combined. I’ve seen the VIP take a savage devastator smash and did not lose a single bar of health.

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Advice: Just don’t attract more zombies than you can manage. The VIP tank greatly reduces stress when playing, but don’t abuse your newfound comfort. It’s still a Nightmare match. Play smart and play carefully. The balcony is a much more dangerous area now, and Zomdroids spawn regularly from the holes inside the house, but the latter, mostly consisting of normal servants, can be easily disposed of. I personally recommend bringing all four players to the helipad to engage the boss. Since the VIP is so difficult to kill, it may be more worthwhile to have one more player to add firepower instead of wasting a player on protecting someone that doesn’t necessarily need protecting. What’s more, the VIP can serve as a tank against most zombies, should your team lack a heavy.

6)       Power Out
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Difficulty: Medium

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Analysis: The amount of zombies spawning in this map is considerably smaller than other Nightmare matches, if you don’t count the final infinite spawn, while the lack of Savage Zomdroid Soldiers lowers the difficulty. However, the fact that the is an infinite Nightmare spawn when engaging the final boss, people are easily cornered in the first switch by the first boss, and that despite the large size of the map, the boss zone is extremely easy to get cornered makes this map harder than one would expect.

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Advice: Never rush to the switch, but ALWAYS rush FROM the first switch to the middle area to avoid being cornered by the first boss. Stay together at all times, and good weapons like the Hornet should make short work of your enemies in the narrow corridors. Watch out for eggs as well, which are in somewhat surprising locations. Except for the three eggs in the bottom corridor, there is also a batch at most of the switches. The middle area also houses a respectable amount of eggs. Be sure not to dive into the middle area at first too quickly, or you have a large chance to getting cornered and murdered.

7)       Last Stand
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Difficulty: Easy

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Analysis: Possibly the easiest among all Nightmare matches. Defending is super easy as they all spawn from the same narrow area. I’ve had a game of a level 65 (me), with 2 level 40s and a level 98. The level 98 left at wave 1 just because “Let’s see how you guys screw up”. In the end, we were beaten back to the U-turn area but no more, and won the game. Screw you, level 98.

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Advice: Be sure to clear the area. There are a couple of eggs and a purge nests in the back. Other than this, there is absolutely nothing worth noting in this map. Play safe, play careful, and be prepared to win.

8)       Ice Station
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Difficulty: Lucifer’s Reign

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Analysis: Imagine engaging an infinite supply of Nightmare zombies from all directions. Imagine all doors breaking down simultaneously and your HVM support retreat immediately seconds after. Imagine four people trying to help the others when they are reloading while also defending their own side from the zombie swarm. Imagine desperately trying to find a corner to turtle but nowhere in the map doesn’t get you surrounded. If you can imagine all that, then you know how Ice station is. AND THAT’S JUST THE STATION PART, SCREW YOU! The truck ride is even more hectic than normal truck ride despite the increased health, as shadow minions will still pass through the truck and deal massive damage to you. The boss zone borders the difficulty of Pods as zombies spawn from all the sides, and the area is just the shape of a big doughnut with not much space to run around.

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Advice: Tank. Super tanks. A very tanky medic has the best chance among all, but even that chance is slim. Have no hesitation in deploy turrets en masse if you want to have a larger chance to win. If you happen to reach the boss zone, don’t get surprised by the eggs just outside the truck. When your entire team is still inside the truck and slightly confused after the avalanche, and you break those eggs, you will most likely die, and take your team along with you. One thing you can pray for is actually to lag, because a) lagging people have infinite tank-ability on other people’s screens, and b) the frame rate can help you dodge zombies more effectively.

9)       Meltdown
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Difficulty: Demonic

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd">Analysis: Meltdown is already somewhat difficult in normal mode, as narrow corridors leave little space to maneuver, rooms are very small compared to other maps, and doors separate you from your team. But in Nightmare, it is truly demonic. The lack of spawn limit, upgraded zombies and the timer makes this map supremely hard to beat. If that isn’t enough, after the first switch, first Nightmare boss spawns and stop you from getting to the second switch. And finally, when dealing with the boss, there is no spawn limit, the space to run around is considerably smaller, and there is no zombie-spawn-free area in the facility, unlike Power Out, where all tunnels have no zombie spawn.

<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:18.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0gd"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">Advice: Always move as a team, and stick closely together. This gives you the best chance to survival, because 4 people moving together can deal with zombies spawning from everywhere much easily. Any idiot running off to open other rooms will end in killing your team. It is recommended that during loading time, choose a leader (of-sorts) and have your whole team follow him around the map. This can avoid everyone thinking others will follow him, and break off in different directions. Before you enter the facility, watch out for eggs just inside the door. Proceed together according to the instructions in the Meltdown page, and be sure not to be separated by the doors. After opening the first switch, engage the boss with the limited area you have. Although that sounds dangerous, it should be sufficient for experienced players, and infinitely easier than trying to get to the second switch with zombies spawning everywhere and bosses breathing down your neck. Like Vaccine, the time given should suffice. For final boss fight, do not run off on your own. Focus fire on the boss, and only spare a few shots to clear the way. Other zombies than continue chasing you should be dealt with when shooting at the boss. As long as your team sticks together, this map should be somewhat manageable.