Hi, just got the Humble Bundle (As I'm sure many did), and this game looked the most fun. However, it also looks like it has the steepest learning curve (as well as unfortunately the worst tutorial, but it's beta, so that's ok!), so if anyone could help get me started by answering a few questions that'd be great.

Ok, so we need to mine the gold for money. I get that. How does the Gold Digging AI work? I keep trying to set an AI bot above some gold, then select Gold Digging AI, but he just keeps firing upwards into space. I've tried positioning him so that he cant, and then leaving him facing down, but every time I return to him he's just staring up into space firing blindly...

So we use these nifty rockets to drop people in. I like this, and the concept behind it. My problem seems to be, in the tutorial level even, these rockets have a tendency to crash on their own? Out of four rockets I set to land, only two successfully made it away, and this is WITHOUT being under fire.

One other problem I'm having, as I'm walking, my guy either seems to get stuck on nothing, or seems to sink into the ground... And I can't really seem to get him out. I got one of those Brown Guy Level II's, and he just got stuck...

I keep seeming to get crushed on the tutorial level (Embarrasing, eh?) because of these problems. I walk my guy to the right, he sinks into the ground, and I can't seem to get him out, and all I can do is shoot the ground in front of me. He dies, I called down a rocket with a few people and ammo, it came down, dropped people off, turned sideways, crashed into them all, and it was game over....

Also, what's the deal with Sentry AI? I set a few around the base, and all they seem do to is stand there and get shot...

Sorry, I'm not trying to bash this game at all. I'm incredibly interested in learning to play, but I just can't seem to get a decent level going. Any help?

Most of these issues can be traced to CC's incredibly blockheaded AI. And believe it or not, this is actually one of the smartest incarnations of it. However, let me go a bit more in depth.

1) The gold digging AI is, quite simply, broken. Don't quote me on this, but i think i heard talk about being able to set waypoints for an actor through gold, and thus have it dig there, but i'm not sure. Most of the time you'll either have to dig self, or fiddle with the game files in order to start with a ludicrous amount of gold.

2) That's because of rockets being unbalanced (literally), as well as the AI's complete disregard for the fact that rockets run on huge flamethrowers that makes peoples heads explode. In other words, it doesn't care if your guys are in the way of anything, and it has a rubbish sense of self-preservation.

3) Your guys are probably carrying too much. Also, walking is very sub-optimal, most people just jetpack around. I'd recommend doing the same.

4) It's best to manually control your rockets, or just use dropships. Rockets are utter retards in the hands of the AI, and more often than not will either crush or burn the actors it was supposed to deliver. Dropships generally don't crush your dudes, but have the unfortunate tendency to burn their heads off. The safest option? Drop crates. These do cost you an extra 20 oz every time, it does weigh up the loss caused by burnination, crushing and the occasional anti-air.

5) The sentry AI mainly just tells your guys to stay there and be brickfaces. They may react upon getting direct line of sight with enemies, or when getting shot upon, or when some emitter (jetpack, engine...) fires near them. Mostly they're dumb as rocks, though.

Hope it helps. :U (also dammit ninja'd by Nonsequitorian)

Okay, this is going to suck for you.

Golddig AI is broken.

Rockets are notorious for killing their passengers. Don't trust the AI to do anything.

B24 seems to have balanced the actors to be much heavier, which means they have a harder time walking and jetpacking.
There will probably be a mod which rebalances stuff like that soon, so hang in there for now.

In the meantime, make sure to equip your actors as lightly as possible to give them a fighting chance.

And the learning curve is steeeeeeeep. If you've got any more questions, just say, and we'll answer them as best as we can.

Edit:
Ninja'd by Nonsequitorian AND Shook.

I want to say just 1 thing, that happened to me (I guess to everyone) too, if you want something done do it yourself.

Oh, and about digging gold, set Go To AI mode, select the destination and the guy will go there, even if he has to dig (sometimes stupidly), but it works for getting some gold

I think I misspelled something...

There was a mod a little while back that made gold dig work by sending the actor a lot of waypoints to follow. Try searching for it.

As was already said you can place way points for your actor to follow when digging and they will follow them..for the most part. It's best when said waypoints are placed relatively near each other, so that the AI doesn't get confused with sudden bumps or alterations in the terrain.

I'll just add, don't use brown coats, they tend to be too heavy to do anything other than flop on the ground

I vaguely remember capn bubs stating that browncoats were supposed to be transformed into tanks, but they never really got around to it. They should be worth the price and weight in the future though.

gold dig and sentry ai have been usefull for me

first set them to ai mode.
then give them ai waypoints.

they should dig to the waypoint. (if underground, and in gold ai mode)
or patrol back and forth from the waypoints.

of course alot of times they are still very stupid

I like using brown coats for base defense, where soaking up damage is much more important than mobility.

I find them a bit weak for that purpose.

Personally I find the Browncoat Heavy to be much more maneuverable with a heavy weapon(s) load than the Coalition or Ronin actors.

Do you find that another vanilla actor is more durable (or otherwise better suited) for the purposed of bunker defense?

Listen to this guy, he speaks the truth.
Considering Browncoats are the 'Extermination' faction, specially made for heavy weaponry, and high survivability.
[Due in part to the ♥♥♥♥ rocket packs on their backs, keep in mind ♥♥♥♥ rocket packs are superior to jet pack, and the fact that heavy army is cumbersome, especially armored biohazard suits.]

I find the new browncoat heavy can't clear the straight jump on the tutorial level with a huge load of weaponry, or just one heavy one, such as the revolver cannon.

[Also, my favorite weapon, so this really impacts my decision on which actors to use.]

For the purposes of *bunker* defense, dreadnoughts are awesome. Browncoats are more for the offensive, I find—able to take that stray sniper round or grenade to the balls and keep on moving.

Eh, overall, Browncoats beat Dreadnoughts based on principal.
[I love the MDC Autocannon. I Point, and All The Bodies, Roll Away, All of Them, Dead]