Transistor doesn’t exactly go out of its way to explain some things, or does so in ways that are not super-obvious. Here are some tips you may have missed.

Function Loadout Hints

Passive function slots tend to be overlooked, but there are some pretty nifty abilities there, so don’t forget about them when you’re setting up your loadout.

There are several ways that you can increase the amount of damage inflicted by a function:

• Position yourself behind the enemy before you attack to backstab them. Backstabbing increases the amount of damage inflicted by 50%. Crash(), Breach(), Bounce(), Ping(), and Cull() all work with backstabbing.
• Attacking while Mask()ed amplifies the damage inflicted. However, this also removes Mask()’s effect, so only your first attack will benefit.
• Starting your attack with Crash() will make them vulnerable to combos. Using function abilities in combos inflict more damage than they would individually.
• Applying Void() to the target greatly decreases their attack, but it also amplifies subsequent attacks by 150%, and can be stacked three times. Backstabbing with Crash(), stacking three Void()s, then finishing with Cull() can do astounding amounts of damage.
• When building your loadout, consider using these functions as upgrades to make your active attack functions to do more damage or affect more targets: Cull(), Void(), Mask(), Load(), Spark(), Bounce(), Purge(), and Flood().

The Practice Test in the Sandbox is a great place to try out different function loadouts without having to worry about the consequences if it doesn’t work out. The other tests are also useful for helping you learn how to make the most of your functions.

Getting the Most Out of Turn()

When your plan bar is full, you can’t perform any more actions during Turn(), but as long as there is even a sliver of planning potential left, you can perform another function, no matter how expensive. A great way to make the most of your planning potential is to use up almost all of it, then make your last function something really expensive, like Cull().

When Help() is installed as an active function, use it to summon a Fetch outside of Turn(). This will allow you to command the Fetch during Turn(), which you can use to do more attacks or collect cells.

Installing Ping() and Breach() as passive functions will let you do a lot more during Turn(). You can also install Jaunt() as a passive function to make the Turn() cooldown shorter.

Don’t forget that you can use Jaunt() outside of Turn(), even when Turn() is on cooldown. You can also bind Jaunt() to another active function to make that function usable during Turn() cooldown.

The ability to use Kill() when binding Help() as a passive function sounds awesome, but isn’t so great in practice. First off, SuperUser mode only activates 25% of the time that you enter Turn(). Second of all, as a SuperUser, your normal functions are all disabled. Finally, Kill() consumes your entire planning bar, meaning that you can’t do anything else (like run away) afterward.