Advanced Combat Tactics.

This section is intended for sharing advanced combat tactics, to increase your survivability on Medusa-1C. Use this page as a continuation and refinement of the Tips and Tricks section. Feel free to add your own.

Adding to your survivability.

During the first section of levels, primarily 1,2, 3 & 4 - there are many small, seemingly insubstantial things a player can do to make the levels not only easier but conserve valuable ammunition and supplies. 

• Fear nothing: Teleglich capitalizes on player's caution, and tension. Often, sitting still and listening with apprehension is what leaves the player open to most critical and unforseen ambushes. having a healthy 'gung-ho' attitude can get you killed just as quickly, because running into spawntriggers, and getting cornered in a dead end can be unmanageable. The trick comes in finding a level of calm, after a score of playthroughs, successful or not, a person will develop a level of skill that borders on academic knowledge of the enemies and levels presented.
• as It has been mentioned previously, always - ALWAYS eat your cannedmeat when you find it (unless your health is capped at 150, or you feel the need for a meattrap). Convert all cans to plates for ease of storage (unless you need a can for crafting)
• it has also been mentioned that your scientist is right handed, so placing the aimng line on an opponent's left side, you have a much higher probability of hitting. this can also be said for the combat knife and the mouse reticle - when an enemy is approaching from the front put the reticle on the creatures left, and try to stab with the very tip of the knife, this results in the approaching enemy to be easily killed with a few strokes of your blade, and reducing the chances of being hit.
• Note enemies health and damage: it's easy to determine the type and health of the variable enemies you will be encountering, not the ammount of knife wounds or bullet wounds, or combinations kill each type. normal small enemies (Zombie, Mutant, Swarmbot) take 2 stabs, or 2 9mm bullets, which do about the same damage each do 2hp in damage per hit which cannot be mitigated by armor, except the swarmbot, which does considerably more. larger enemies (Large mutants, giant zombies) take 4 stabs, sometimes 5, and considerably more ammunition than their smaller counterparts, and do 10hp unmitigated damage each in melee.
• Random starting gear: although there are many possibilities for players using random starting gear, the biggest benefit comes from the ability to trade your 9mm for a pair of powerlegs and a chocolate bar. the powerlegs make the first 3-4 levels a breeze, and by level 2 you will have not only mastered the knife, but when you do find a 9mm in a crate, there is a good chance that you will have more than 100 spare rounds. It is highly advised for players who don't have access to the pre order features to buy them (1.99 Guns&Tunes DLC) 
• Conserve explosives: RDX250 & 500, although sometimes pletiful should be conserved for when in a pinch, to save space in inventory, always combine your RDX250s into 500s, and never use them to open a secret passage unless it is the only option, which is not needed, even in the first level - although you can shoot them with conventional bullets, simply find the agl1 - 2 shots from the agl1 is by far the most efficient way to open secret passages.
• Conserve inventory space: combine everything you can, unless it's for items you do not need. Always make all the nailammo you can even if you don't have a nailgun - once you find a spare 9mm (which could be a while if you're using the powerlegs strategy)  make any version of the nailgun and you should have hundreds of shots for it (which is useful, beacuse the better versions of the nailgun eat ammo fast)
• Organize your inventory: Keep you scrolling inventory clutter free, keep WHITE items (weapons) on the top for easy access, preferably from least to greatest in terms of strength and frequency of use, then your RED items (offensive) close at hand. followed by BLUE items (recovery). finally GREEN (components) and GOLD items (passive) - also be flexible with order, if you find yourself with too many red items, it's fine to store some of them at the bottom for ease of access to your blue items.
• Check all the nooks: Once you find a teleporter in a level, its advised to go back and collect all of the supplies you can, there is a good probability that there will be hidden pockets of enemies, but the supplies gained from leaving no stone unturned far outweighs the risks in the earlier levels.
• Ammo types: Try and keep a reasonable amount of ammo for each weapon you can, try and avoid keeping weapons that use the same ammo, for example discard extra 9mm pistols, or upgrade them to a nailgun, but don't keep them if you have a weapon that uses 9mm (9mm,auto pistol,SMG). Always use the right ammo/weapon for the situation, and openly carry whatever weapon has the most ammo, unless it's a specialty weapon (anything using HV Bullets/Battery). Use 9mm (preferably SMG) on swarms but only if you cannot stab them - conserve ammo by using short bursts mixed with stabs, swarms are always small enemies, so any combination of one bullet and a stab will dispatch them. Mg Bullets/MG3200 do about 20% less damage than 9mm (3 shots vs 2 to kill a small enemy) so it's not advised to use unless using the minigun, or you have a surplus of MG bullets and not much else. Shotgun/Shot shells, due to the relative rarity or abundance of shells, the shotgun is useful but somewhat hindering weapon. It's best to use the shotgun in conjunction with other weapons, only on the larger enemies in groups (Giant zombies, Large mutants, War Walkers{armored}). The same thing that can be said for the shotgun can be said for the Heavy rifle, Hvy revolver Hv rifle and HV MG. Consider anything that uses Battery, HV Bullets, rifle rounds as a rare/useful weapon, do not squander these on small enemies.
• The map is your friend: when in a new room, or close, if you have line of sight, however far, it will reveal enemies (if you can see things that small) and the location of storage lockers (that is if you can see them, some searching may be needed) 
• Stab everything: EVERYTHING!  In a pinch the knife is your best pal, add a microchip and a Taser, and you'll be hard pressed to find a reason to want to shoot your gun (just kidding life still sucks for scientists on Medusa-1C but the shockblade makes things a little better) Larger enemies go down in no time if you're competent enough to dodge their attacks at close range (which can be hard.) and small enemies basically pop in one hit. if you're not fortunate enough to have a shockblade or the components to make one, the knife can still help you conserve ammo even in the latest levels.
• Keep your eyes open for places where you can fit but enemies can't. Running into one can mean that you don't need to fire a single shot on earlier levels. Level 1 and level 2b have such safe spots in the starting rooms, others can be found scattered around the levels. Even if you can't find one, look for narrow spots where you can push a long box to create a safe stabbing spot.

Specific Strategy

• Powerlegs: Use random starting gear to obtain the powerlegs at the start of the game, instead of a weapon (simply restart until you get them). The benefit of the power legs far outweighs a rinky dink 9mm in terms of surviving. the first level may seem daunting for a moment without a weapon, but fear not, the enemies are dispatched easily with the knife, and being able to tackle the first 2 levels without firing a shot builds a hefty base of supplies for later levels. by level 3 a competent player will have everything they would have started with and more, plus the added benefit of having an item that they would not have been able to make until level 3 the earliest.
• The Detector/EM detector: IS A MUST. some say it is not needed, but the benefits of seeing waiting enemies (EM) and being able to avoid enemy spawns unless they're in places that are worth going (Detector) - the EM version is the upgraded version of the detector, and functions the same with the added ability to see hostiles outside of direct line of sight. This feature can help save valuable ammo and supplies, because there are many cleverly placed enemy spawn pipes located in areas with nothing in them - designed specifically to waste the players supplies.
• Level 3: occasionally (actually rather frequently) there is an optional boss fight with 3 war walkers, arguably this fight is harder than the level 5 boss fight, because of a lack of appropriate weapons, but a skilled player (probably using the powerleg technique) can easily take them down with the use of a couple of one shot items (Pzfaust ap, RDX, Nailbomb) and a couple clips of whatever gun you like (preferably heavy rifle). once defeated, the player gains access to a room with many useful supplies and crafting items, and a teleport to lvl 5. the trick in this part is to ignore the teleporter, grab all the loot, and head back for the normal level teleporter to lvl 4. the great loot you grab will make lvl 4 a breeze, and you don't miss out on an entire level of supply gathering by skipping directly to level 5.
• Shockblade: craft it as soon as possible.
• Other Useful Strategies: There are many things you can do/craft to increase your survival. Many of these things involve the pistol believe it or not. If possible, always use the knife on regular mutants on early levels, your pistol ammo will be useful later. By hoarding pistol ammo and not using most of it, a player can easily accumulate 90+ rounds by the time guards show up. The pistol is a fantastic weapon for guards since the ammo is common, and because guards are hard to hit enemies with low health. I found that using shotgun or heavy rifle ammo on guards is normally a complete waste, unless there's a crowd of them. I try to avoid using any ammo on the first level, but this might be too hard for some players. Never throw out your pistol, and don't use either large tube on anything other than the cannon. This weapon is like a renewable pzfaust with easy to craft ammo, and its a life saver in later levels. ALWAYS throw out nailboxes. They take up precious inventory room, and their only 2 uses (nailbomb and nailammo) are completely unnecessary. The nailgun is a waste because it hardly does any damage, the range is dreadful, and its a complete waste of the pistol. Unless impossible, it is always smart to lure a large amount of zombies into teleglitch anomaly. Stabbing them is a huge risk to take damage, and shooting them will waste far too much ammo. Use your magnet on the magshield. The railgun may do tons of damage, bu the defensive advantages of the magshield make the later levels and final boss much easier. If possible, don't use any machinegun ammo in earlier levels. Just empty out every mg3000 you find, and save all the ammo for the minigun when you can craft it. As stated above, its a very good idea to use random starting gear to get powerlegs instead of a pistol, the speed is an immediate advantage and crafting one later requires a motor, which is rare and should be used on the minigun. If you find a weapon in a crate that's basically worthless, pick it up anyway. Even just one clip from a weak weapon will help somehow, whether its on zombies or guards. Do this and anything else possible to conserve ammo, you will need a lot of it to beat the game. Follow these strategies and you will surely beat the game one day.