Hello, dear reader, I hope you’re having a good day. I’ve played Chroma Squad via iPad on the Lunar Nebula LLC Gaming YouTube channel. Off-screen, I’ve played up to Season 2. This article will feature the lessons I’ve learned from playing the game. I’m not being paid to write this blog, and it contains information based on my opinion. I think Chroma Squad’s age rating is appropriate (9+ on the App Store for Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence).
Disclaimer: I’m not being paid by Behold Studios or anyone else to write these tips. The only money I could make would be through advertising on this site or on YouTube at this point in time.
by Brian Petrilli AKA Jalinon
Disclaimer: I’m not being paid by Behold Studios or anyone else to write these tips. The only money I could make would be through advertising on this site or on YouTube at this point in time.
- You can select teammates to move from the left side of the screen- The icons on the left, which indicate health for each member, can also be touched to select a different squad member to make their move outside of the automatic order. This changes everything and enables far greater strategic flexibility than following the normal turn order.
- Teamwork isn’t depleted by Acrobatics-The Acrobatics skill allows you to launch your squad further than a normal move. The Black, or Assault, class member will launch your teammates greater distances than anyone else due to its passive skill. The important thing to note is after flinging your friend, Teamwork is still active and can provide a double attack! This allows you to ‘throw’ your power around. You can thus flank an enemy and double attack when it was previously impossible. If your actor can already move to a space without using acrobatics, acrobatics will not activate. This is important to keep in mind when trying to meet the Director’s Instructions for acrobatics.
- Characters can do two actions and sometimes more- Each character has two action points. This means you can move twice, move once and use Teamwork, attack, or move and attack. You can’t attack twice without skills. Free actions are different and won’t use any action points. Lead’s Eagle Lasso is free, won’t use action points, and will allow your unit to still move and attack.
- Position your units wisely if you’re trying to use Acrobatics-Your actor must be able to reach, or land on, the unit you want to fling them. Yes, placing your unit one space away from a character’s movement will waste two units. It feels bad. Thankfully, you can swap which character you have selected and see where they can move to.
- Buying all your weapons isn’t necessary in the first season-Don’t get me wrong. Having weapons on hand provides your team with more firepower. It’ll make dispatching weak nutcrackers easier. However, you start with two weapons already, and your health is what is most important. The way weapon damage works is a little misleading in the stats. Your toy sword weapon will not deal 40 damage. It will add 40 damage onto your base attack value when you use it. Weapons will also give your base attack a bonus. If you are going to buy a weapon, buy one for your assault so they can one shot most weak minions. Note, weapons and skills aren’t usable until you Chromatize (transform).
- Don’t worry, characters just get knocked out-Actors will remain knocked out in whichever part they lost all their health. They can revive in the next part of an episode. When an actor falls, you lose 500 audience (in Season 2 at least) and will need to heal them in the next part of the episode unless you want a repeat debacle. You can’t revive a fallen ally until season 3.
- When selecting your actors, I recommend getting more health and movement-This is just a recommendation. I believe you can finish the game regardless of team composition (especially on easy). This is an opinion based on the tactics and equipment available to the teams I’ve played. You can shore up an actor’s weaknesses, and most of their penalties are balanced with their bonuses. I wouldn’t recommend doing the hardest difficulty without casting each actor based on each role’s purpose. Movement and health are strategically the most useful stats in the game. Attack is secondary because of teamwork attacks.
- Finishing moves do not automatically kill a boss- finishing moves deal about 191 damage at the beginning of the game. Most bosses will have 400 or more health in season one. It’s very important to wear them down before using your finishing move if you are trying to accomplish the Director’s Instructions. You really want to meet the Director’s Instructions in order to get more audience and more money at the end of the episode. I recommend having the final boss below 200 health before activating a finishing move. If you’re ever worried about meeting your audience limit and have time, you can simply keep moving your Scout to gain audience until you reach the limit.
- Answer the messages!!-The messages seem like simple side stories with no mechanical consequences until Season 2! By sending my Techie to repair a computer, I gained a level 4 rifle called The Seeker. I’m interested in seeing how a reply to Dr. Soap’s threatening email will turn out later in the game.
- Chroma Squad will not auto-save unless you record an episode- Chroma Squad will not automatically save any progress from answering messages or buying items in the shop until you record an episode or click the menu in the top left corner of the studio screen and then click save. You may be able to use this to your advantage when recycling parts for the crafting window. You can minimize the game or put your tablet to sleep and return to combat.
- Sometimes the studio upgrades are hard to navigate- Upgrading your studio can sometimes be a bit of a challenge due to some bugs. It doesn’t break the game. You simply have to navigate back and forth between the upgrade screens to reset the stuck option. Then you can click on the upgrade you wish to learn about or activate. You may need to repeat this process several times, or exit the upgrade screen and reopen it. Upgrading the studio will allow further upgrades on purchased, yet it does make the screen even less responsive on iPad.
by Brian Petrilli AKA Jalinon