Termi-Nation Absolute Zero unlock

Games SotM: The Video Game
81

Yeah, there's definitely something we're missing, but I think we can safely rule out the following:

  • No specific villain or environment. The Twitter post from page 1 has Voss at WMB, several other unlocks have been Ambuscade in Insula Primalis.
  • No specific team size. We've had several unlocks with three-, four-, and five-hero teams.
  • No specific teammates, unless it's an "either X or Y must be on the team" situation. The only overlap between PseudonymTweetr's team here (AZ, Omni-U, CC, PWAA, and Grandpa) and akamai's team here (Dark Visionary, RC Wraith, TLT, and AZ) is AZ himself.
  • AZ does not need to be in a specific spot in the lineup, as shown by the screenshots in the previous point.
  • DLC content is not otherwise required, per willgallant's post in the Steam thread here. (Granted, he does have Grandpa and TLT via the Unlock Variant button, but we've also had posts using standard Legacy and/or standard or Super-Sci Tachyon.)
  • Thermal Shockwave and Cryo Chamber do not need to be in play, per willgallant's log here.
  • Coolant Blast does not need to be in play, per serge's log here.
  • Focused Apertures is not required, per NyxFSSD's post in the Steam thread here.
  • No AZ One-Shots are required, per my unlock.
  • The order of AZ damaging targets and healing himself doesn't matter. Nathaniel241 healed before dealing damage, I did the opposite order.
  • A "setup" loss to Chokepoint is not required, per hynju, Yoshi348, and myself. In my case I haven't played a single game against Chokepoint since she was added to the video game.
82

I unlocked over the weekend, Ambuscade at IP, and here's my hypothesis:

Outside of Absolute Zero's turn he must take 10 or more fire damage, from any source, deal 10 or more cold damage to any one target, and heal 10 or more health.

If someone chould confirm the following:

1. Does the target dealt the damage have to be a non-hero target?  Does it have to be a villain target, perhaps?  (I pegged Ambuscade in mine.  did anyone freeze an environment target to get the unlock?  Or a hero target?)

2. has anyone done exactly 10 of one item and gotten the unlock?

 

83

 

I healed exactly 10 health and did not get the unlock.

 

I was at a state in my game where AZ had been dealt 15 damge, AZ had inflicted 22 damage, and AZ had healed 10 hp, and I did not get the unlock.

It wasn't until AZ took 5 more damage and healed himself another 10 hp that I got the unlock.

84

Awesome, another datapoint.

Now, do we know if there's a specific type of target that has to be hit by the damage?

85

Facing Ambuscade in insula primalis. On the villain turn AZ took 17 fire damage, dealt 14 cold damage, and healed 16 damage, and I did not unlock. Thermal shockwave, nullpoint, isothermic, and coolant blast in play.

86

In my unlock Ambuscade did 10 cold damage to AZ; healed by module, then did 8 fire (pistol) and the unlock didn't happen, so I blasted AZ with the redirect and twisted it to fire and blasted a reactive plating destroying it (unlock occured here), and then used Ambuscade's 2nd pistol to finish him off and win the game. 

87

Has anyone so far unlocked without having both of his Modules in play?

I'm wondering if the healing is a hard requirement, or if it's just a red herring since Null Point Calibration Unit is out. 

88

So, take 11+ Fire, take 11+ Cold, deal 11+ Cold?

That's posible.

89

I think receiving 3+ buffs is still a possibility, but 11/11/11 may be good too.

90

My unlock happened specifically after the healing action was done - hit for 6 fire, retaliate with 11 cold, hit with fire again (8, for a total of 14 this turn), hit self with cold for healing 13 HP, unlock. Whether the hitting himself for cold needs to be for healing might be something to check.

91

What if it's not Fire/Damage/Heal but it's just all about the cold?!   Maybe the condition is just:

On a single non-hero turn, AZ must:

  • Hit himself for over 10 Cold 
  • Hit an villain (or non-hero)  for over 10 Cold
  • Both modules must be in play 

I also have this hilarious mental image of horrified teammates going "Nooooo you forgot your null-point cal..." as Absolute Zero blasts himself in the face with a giant ice blast, so maybe it would be hilarious if the modules were not important as mentioned above.

 

 

92

So we need 2 things checked: Does he need the NPCU in play?

Does the target of the cold damage dealt need to be a villain target?

93

 

The unlock may involve that, but there is definitely another condition; I fulfilled all of the 10 HP conditions, with no unlock.  Here are the details:

 

Team:  DV, TLT, RC Wraith, AZ.  Ambuscade, in Insula Primalis.  AZ had both modules, Apertures, Cryo Chamber, Coolant Blast, and Sub-Zero Atmosphere (converts "end of villain turn" to "start of villain turn").  DV had Twist the Ether on Ambuscade.   Obsidian Field out as well.  Here's what happened during Ambuscade's turn:

Start of Turn:

(1) Ambuscade does 3 projectile to highest HP hero (AZ).  DV converts that to fire, increases by one, Field and Cryo Chamber cancel out, AZ takes 4 fire damage.  Transducer reacts, AZ directs cold damage to self, heals 7 HP (increased by Apertures/Field/Cryo Chamber)

(Total so far:  Fire Damage Taken (FDT): 4 pts.  Cold Damage Dealt (CDD): 0 pts.  Healed: (HL): 7 pts.)

(2) Via Explosive Launcher, Ambuscade directs 3 fire damage to Wraith.  Smoke Bombs reduces, redirects damage to AZ.  DV keeps fire damage, increases by one, Field and Cryo Chamber cancel out, AZ takes 3 fire damage.  Transducer reacts, AZ directs cold damage to Ambuscade, Apertures and Field increase to 5, Ambuscade takes 5 cold damage.)

(Subtotals:  FDT: 7 pts.  CDD: 5 pts  HL: 7 pts)

(3) Via Explosive Launcher, Ambuscade directs 3 fire damage to TLT.  Synaptic Interruption redirects to AZ.  DV keeps fire damage, increases by one, Field and Cryo Chamber cancel out, AZ takes 4 fire damage.  Transducer reacts, AZ directs cold damage to Ambuscade, Apertures and Field increase to 6, Ambuscade takes 6 cold damage.)

(Subtotals:  FDT: 11 pts. CDD: 11 pts.  HL: 7 pts.)

(4) Via Explosive Launcher, Ambuscade directs 3 fire damage to AZ.  DV keeps fire damage, increases by one, Field and Cryo Chamber cancel out, AZ takes 4 fire damage.  Transducer reacts, AZ directs cold damage to self, Apertures/Field/Cryo Chamber, heals 7 HP.  

(Subtotals:  FDT: 15 pts.  CDD: 11 pts  HL:  14 pts.)  

Ambuscade's turn ended…and no unlock.   So, AZ took >10 HP fire damage, dealt >10 HP cold damage to a single target, and healed >10 HP, all in a single turn, and no unlock.  

94

True, there seems to be something like a minimum damage in a single shot needed since there is an non-unlock on reddit involving lots of small packets of damage and healing.  Maybe there's a "AZ must deal more than 10 cold damage in a single attack" clause as well.

Also,  my unlock triggered immediately after Absolute Zero did the final healing burst,  and didn't wait till end of turn.  

95

There's definitely more than > 10 damage/healing involved.  I just tried it again.  Team:  TLT, PW AA, DV, Wraith, AZ.  Ambuscade in Insula Primalis.  AZ had in play both modules, Apertures, Cryo Chamber, Thermal Shockwave.  Twist the Ethers on Ambuscade and AZ.  Two Obsidian Fields in play.   Ambuscade had out the Explosive Launcher (3 AOE Fire damage at end of turn).

 

On Ambuscade's turn, he played Rigged to Explode, so no damage there.  

(1) Ambuscade's end of turn.  4 Energy damage directed at highest HP hero (AZ).  Turned to Fire by Twist the Ether.  With all buffs, AZ takes 6 fire damage.  Transducer reacts, AZ deals 10 cold damage to Ambuscade.  

(Subtotals:  Fire Damage Taken (FDT): 6 HP.  Cold Damage Dealt (CDD): 10 HP.  Healed (HL):  0 HP).

(2) Explosive Launcher.  Aimed at DV, Smoke Bombs redirects to AZ, AZ takes 4 fire damage total.  Transducer reacts, AZ does 8 more cold damage to Ambuscade.

(Subtotals:  FDT: 10 HP  CDD: 18 HP.  HL:  0 HP)

(3) Explosive Launcher.  Aimed at TLT, Synaptic Interrupt redirects to AZ, AZ takes 5 fire damage.  Transducer reacts, AZ directs cold damage at himself, heals 10 HP.

(Subtotals:  FDT: 15 HP  CDD: 18 HP  HL: 10 HP)

(4) Explosive Launcher.  Aimed at AZ.  AZ takes 5 fire damage.  Transducer reacts, AZ directs cold damage at himself, heals 10 more HP.

(TOTAL:  FDT: 20HP  CDD: 18HP  HL: 20 HP)

No unlock upon reaching the damage totals, no unlock at end of Ambuscade's turn, and no unlock after beating Ambuscade (which happened on AZ's next turn).

 

 

 

96

Successful unlock.   More or less the same things I tried before (Team:  PW AA, TLT, DV, Wraith, AZ.  Ambuscade in Insula Primalis.)  This time AZ had in play: Both modules, Apertures, Cryo Chamber, Coolant Blast, Thermal Shockwave, Subzero Atmosphere, Cold Snap (only ongoings not in play were Glacial Structure and Impale).  Twist the Ether on Ambuscade.  Three Obsidian Fields in play.

 

On Ambuscade's turn, he first did his end-of-turn damage (thanks to Subzero Atmosphere).  The 4 projectile damage was converted into 7 fire damage (thanks to TtE and the buffs), and AZ turned around and did 11 cold damage to Ambuscade.  Then Ambuscade played Snatch and Grab (H-2/H-1 damage to highest HP hero).  He did a buffed 6 fire damage to AZ (so 13 total fire damage to AZ in the turn), which AZ used to heal himself 11 HP, at which point I got the unlock immediately.

 

Total damage:  Fire damage to AZ: 13 HP (6 + 7).  Cold damage inflicted: 11 HP (all at once).  HP healed: 11 HP (all at once).

 

The big differences I could see between this and my unsuccessful unlock attempt were: 

--more buffs in play (three Obsidian Fields and a Twist the Ether in addition to AZ's own cards)

--AZ had both Coolant Blast AND Thermal Shockwave in play (on my first unlock attempt I didn't have Shockwave; on my second attempt, I didn't have Coolant Blast)

--AZ did more than 10 cold damage in a single shot

--AZ healed more than 10 HP in a single shot 

--Interestingly enough, AZ *didn't* take more than 10 fire damage in a single shot -- it was 6 and 7.   Perhaps the *taking* of fire damage doesn't matter; it's just the doing damage/healing that matters?  I.e., maybe something like this?

 

"Outside of his turn (or "on a non-hero turn"?), Absolute Zero must deal more than 10 cold damage in a single blow, and heal himself more than 10 HP in a single action (single shot?  single swipe?)"

and possibly:

"...Both Thermal Shockwave and Coolant Blast must be in play."

 

97

I had Thermal Shockwave in play during my unlock, but not Coolant Blast.

In my game, cards AZ played and powers used prior to unlock:

  • Onboard Module to draw and play an Isothermic Transducer, Thermodynamics to bounce fire back to villain as cold
  • Null Point Calibration Unit, Thermodynamics to bounce fire back to villain as cold
  • skip/skip to draw extra cards
  • Focused Apertures, Thermodynamics to heal
  • Thermal Shockwave, Thermal Shockwave to hit a non-character villain card and himself, reflect fire damage back to self again to heal
  • Unlock occurs during next villain turn as described previously.
 
98

I had Coolant Blast in play in my unlock, but not Thermal Shockwave.

99

My new guess would be:

Absolute Zero must take more than 10 fire damage, heal more than 10 damage and deal more than 10 cold damage in a single turn that is not his.

@MigrantP any chance I can get an insufficient or not necessary?

100

At least with respect to the cold damage and healing, just the amounts are not enough.  See my above posts – there was no unlock when AZ took 20 fire damage, dealt 18 cold damage and healed 20 points in a single turn, but did it in increments during the villain turn by aggregating different attacks (ex: 5 HP + 5 HP + 5 HP + 5 HP).

 

The unlock only came when AZ healed >10 HP and dealt more than in a single "swipe" ("action"? "shot"? "blow"? "attack"?).  So it appears that it's not just the amount of the damage, but doing it all at once, that is important.