Fax machine strategy: Difference between revisions

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{{NeedsContent|Is Frat Boy Spy still useful at all?}}
<center>[[file:Faxmachine.gif|A Fax Machine]]
[[image:Faxmachine.gif|A Fax Machine|center]]
[[file:rainman.gif|link=Rainy Fax Dreams on your Wedding Day]]
[[file:abacus.gif|link=Doing the Maths]]


The [[A Fax Machine|fax machine]], located in the [[VIP Lounge|Clan VIP Lounge]], allows players to summon photocopies of monsters, potentially including any monster copied by users connected to their clan's fax network. This page lists some of the most effective fax targets ("faxes") in the game for pathless ascensions. [[Special challenge path]] runs may benefit from different strategies, or may block access to the fax machine altogether; see the appropriate path strategy page for details. See [[copying strategy]] for targets that would need to be faxed multiple times.
[[file:briefcase.gif|link=Chateau Mantegna]]
[[file:timespinner.gif|link=Travel to a Recent Fight]]
[[file:gbottle_open.gif|link=Rubbed it the Right Way]]
[[file:whitecard.gif|link=pocket wish]]
[[file:cultistshorts.gif|link=What has it got in its pocketses?]]
</center>
The [[A Fax Machine|fax machine]], located in the [[VIP Lounge|Clan VIP Lounge]], allows players to fight one photocopy of a monster per day, potentially including any monster copied by users connected to their clan's fax network. This page lists some of the most effective fax targets ("faxes") in the game for pathless ascensions. [[Special challenge path]] runs may benefit from different strategies, or may block access to the fax machine altogether; see the appropriate path strategy page for details. See [[copying strategy]] for targets that would need to be faxed multiple times.


The player-sponsored '''faustbot''' and '''Easyfax''' accounts retain copies of most of the interesting fax targets, and can deliver them on demand to your clan's fax machine. Faustbot or Easyfax must be whitelisted into your clan for this to work.
The player-sponsored '''CheeseFax''' and '''Easyfax''' accounts retain copies of most of the interesting fax targets, and can deliver them on demand to your clan's fax machine by sending them a private message with the desired monster's name (<code>/msg CheeseFax <monster></code>). CheeseFax or Easyfax must be whitelisted into your clan for this to work.
__NOTOC__
__NOTOC__
==Fax-like mechanics==
==Fax-like Mechanics==
Over time, other fax-like sources of on-demand monster summoning have entered the game. Keep in mind that in [[standard restrictions|Standard-restricted]] runs, the fax machine is not available; as of 2019 the genie bottle is the only fax-like mechanic in Standard.
Over time, other fax-like sources of on-demand monster summoning have entered the game. Keep in mind that in [[standard restrictions|Standard-restricted]] runs, the Fax Machine and most of these mechanics are unavailable. As of 2020, Calculate the Universe and the Cargo Cultist Shorts are the only fax-like mechanics available in Standard.


*The painting in '''[[Chateau Mantegna]]''' allows you to summon the last monster you've painted with an [[Alpine watercolor set]]. Because the painting persists through ascension, much of the fax strategy below applies.
'''Skills:'''
*Using a [[Time-Spinner]] to '''[[Travel to a Recent Fight]]''' operates like a fax, but with the limitation that it only summons monsters you've naturally encountered during the current ascension. As such, its function is more similar to [[copying]].
*[[Calculate the Universe]]: A possible outcome for [[Doing the Maths]] is combat against a [[War Frat 151st Infantryman]]. Daily uses limited to the number of {{plural|Manual of Numberology}} read, up to 4.
*Using a [[genie bottle]] to '''[[Rubbed it the Right Way|wish for a fight]]''' allows you to summon almost any copyable monster at will.
*[[Rain Man]] ([[Heavy Rains]] path only): [[Rainy Fax Dreams on your Wedding Day]] allows combat against any copyable monster you have encountered in any Heavy Rains run, in addition to any copyable monsters with at least 1 factoid unlocked, if you have a [[Monster Manuel]] installed. Costs 50 rain drops, not usable when falling-down drunk.
*In the [[Heavy Rains]] challenge path, the skill [[Rain Man]] allows you to '''[[Rainy Fax Dreams on your Wedding Day|make a copy]]''' of any copyable monster you have encountered in any Heavy Rains run, in addition to any copyable monsters you have at least casually researched (at least 1 factoid) if you have a [[Monster Manuel]] installed.
'''Items/Other:'''
*[[Chateau Mantegna]]: The painting leads to combat with the last monster you've painted with an [[Alpine watercolor set]], persisting through Ascension. Usable once per day.
*[[Time-Spinner]]: The [[Travel to a Recent Fight]] option allows combat against any copyable monster in the [[Adventure Queue|combat queues]] in all locations. Costs 3 minutes (out of 10 minutes per day).
*[[genie bottle]] or [[pocket wish]]: [[Rubbed it the Right Way|Wishing for a fight]] allows combat with almost any copyable monster, with some exceptions. Wished fights limited to 3 per day.
*[[Cargo Cultist Shorts]]: [[What has it got in its pocketses?|Reaching into a pocket]] may lead to combat against certain monsters, many of which are ascension-relevant. The resulting combat is a [[free fights|free fight]], but is considered uncopyable for its duration, disabling copying and other mechanics that only work on copyable monsters. Limited to one pocket per day, and each pocket can be reached into once per ascension.


==Turn Efficiency==
==Turn Efficiency==
These faxes directly reduce the number of turns required to complete quests, and the benefit gained from faxing them can't be gained in any other way. Monsters are listed in roughly the order you'd fax them.
These faxes directly reduce the number of turns required to complete quests.


{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
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! Monster !! Availability !! Purpose !! Needs<br/>Copying? !! Other<br/>Requirements? !! Notes
! Monster !! Availability !! Purpose !! Needs<br/>Copying? !! Other<br/>Requirements? !! Notes
|-
|-
|'''[[sleepy mariachi]]'''
|'''[[mountain man]]'''
|/w faustbot sleepy_mariachi
|No restrictions<br>Available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (565)
|Item drops, Moxie stats
|[[Mt. McLargeHuge Quest|Level 8]] Quest
|No
|Yellow ray
|Saves several powerleveling turns for Moxie classes; makes [[Fancypants Scarecrow|the]] [[Mad Hatrack|best]] [[Baby Gravy Fairy|Fairies]] in the game
|-
|'''[[ghost]]'''
|/w faustbot ghost
|[[digital key]]
|Yes
|Yes
|150% items
| +150%/+900% Items, or Yellow ray
|Saves ~15+ turns in the 8-Bit Realm when copied if you can't access [[Fear Man's Level]]
|Drops up to 2 of each ore (40% and 10%), alternative to [[Itznotyerzitz Mine|mining]] or [[Clover Adventures|clovering ores]]
|-
|-
|'''[[ninja snowman assassin]]'''
|'''[[ninja snowman assassin]]'''
|/w faustbot ninja_assassin
|Cannot be wished for
|[[Mt._McLargeHuge_Quest|Level 8]] quest
|Level 8 quest
|Yes
|Yes
|Survival
|Survival
|Saves ~12 turns (or 3 pulls) when copied twice
|Saves ~12 turns (or 3 pulls) when copied twice
|-
|-
|'''[[Orcish Frat Boy Spy]]'''
|'''[[smut orc pervert]]'''
|/w faustbot frat_spy
|Only available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (666)<br>Cannot be copied
|[[Orc Chasm Quest|Level 9]] Quest
|N/A
|None
|Drops a [[smut orc keepsake box]], worth 5 bridge segments
|-
|'''[[War Frat 151st Infantryman]]'''
|Calculate the Universe
|[[Mysterious Island Quest|Level 12]] quest
|[[Mysterious Island Quest|Level 12]] quest
|No
|No
|234% items
| +900% Items/Yellow ray
| Saves a yellow ray
| Drops the [[Frat Warrior Fatigues]] (10% for each item)
|-
|-
|'''[[lobsterfrogman]]'''
|'''[[lobsterfrogman]]'''
|/w faustbot lobsterfrogman
|No restrictions<br>Available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (220)
|[[Recover_the_Lighthouse_Keeper's_Gunpowder|Sonofa Beach quest]]
|[[Recover the Lighthouse Keeper's Gunpowder|Sonofa Beach quest]]
|No
|No
|None
|None
|Saves ~4 turns (and lots of RNG swing) over finding each one manually <br>(per copy, up to a total of ~20 turns for 5 copies)  
|Saves ~4 turns (and lots of RNG swing) over finding each one manually <br>(per copy, up to a total of ~20 turns for 5 copies)
|-
|'''[[Green Ops Soldier]]'''
|No restrictions<br>Available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (589)
|Level 12 Quest, free runaways
|Yes
| +1900% Items/Yellow ray
|Progresses the War when fighting on the Frat side, drops a [[green smoke bomb]] (5%, 90% chance of a free runaway)
|-
|'''[[ghost]]'''
|No restrictions
|[[digital key]]
|Yes
| +150% Items
|Drops up to 5 [[white pixel]]
|}
|}


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{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
|-
|-
! Monster !! FaxBot Message !! Purpose !! Needs<br/>Copying? !! Other<br/>Requirements? !! Notes
! Monster !! Purpose !! Needs<br/>Copying? !! Other<br/>Requirements? !! Notes
|-
|'''1000 ML butt'''
|/w faustbot bigbutt
|Substats
|No
|Survival
|For players who want lots of substats on turn 1
|-
|-
|'''[[Bailey's Beetle]]'''
|'''[[Bailey's Beetle]]'''
|/w faustbot baileys
|Level 12 Quest, quality of life
|(see Notes)
|No
|No
|Yellow ray
|Yellow ray
Line 79: Line 96:
|-
|-
|'''[[sleepy mariachi]]'''
|'''[[sleepy mariachi]]'''
|/w faustbot sleepy_mariachi
|Item drops
|Item drops
|No
|No
|Yellow ray
|[[Mad Hatrack]] or [[Fancypants Scarecrow]], and +900% Items or Yellow Ray
|For non-Moxie classes, a spangle-fam is still fantastic for item drops and Potato blocking
|Spangly equipment for converting either familiar into a strong Fairy/Potato combo.
|-
|-
|'''[[Blooper]]'''
|'''[[Blooper]]'''
|/w faustbot blooper
|[[digital key]]
|[[digital key]]
|No
|No
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|To kick off Olfaction; hugely inferior to [[Fear Man's Level]] or the [[ghost]] fax, but does not require any extra IotMs
|To kick off Olfaction; hugely inferior to [[Fear Man's Level]] or the [[ghost]] fax, but does not require any extra IotMs
|-
|-
|'''Semi-Rare Monsters'''
|'''Semi-Rare Monsters''':
|/w faustbot kge<br/>/w faustbot miner<br/>/w faustbot baabaaburan
*[[Knob Goblin Elite Guard]]
|[[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform]]<br/>[[Mining Gear]]<br/>[[stone wool]]
*[[7-Foot Dwarf Foreman]]
*[[Baa'baa'bu'ran]]
|
*[[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform]]
*[[Mining Gear]]
*[[stone wool]]
|Varies
|Varies
|None<br/>234% items<br/>Up to 400% items
|
*None
*234% items
*Up to 400% items
|In case you weren't able to structure your SRs around them, or if your path blocks [[fortune cookie]]s
|In case you weren't able to structure your SRs around them, or if your path blocks [[fortune cookie]]s
|-
|'''[[mountain man]]'''
|/w faustbot mountain_man
|Drops ore
|Yes
|150% items for one of each ore, YR for two of each
|Alternative to [[Itznotyerzitz Mine|mining]] or [[Clover Adventures|clovering ores]]
|-
|-
|'''[[modern zmobie]]'''
|'''[[modern zmobie]]'''
|/w faustbot modern_zmobie
|[[The Defiled Alcove]]
|[[The Defiled Alcove]]
|Yes
|Yes
|None
|None
|Saves several turns in the Alcove over encountering them directly
|Saves several turns in the Alcove over encountering them directly, cannot be wished for
|-
|-
|'''[[remains of a jilted mistress]]'''
|'''[[remains of a jilted mistress]]'''
|/w faustbot jilted
|[[antique hand mirror]]
|[[antique hand mirror]]
|No
|No
Line 121: Line 135:
|-
|-
|'''[[Bad ASCII Art]],'''<br/>'''[[rampaging adding machine]]'''
|'''[[Bad ASCII Art]],'''<br/>'''[[rampaging adding machine]]'''
|/w faustbot ascii<br>/w faustbot adding_machine
|[[A Quest, LOL]]
|[[A Quest, LOL]]
|Varies
|Varies
Line 128: Line 141:
|-
|-
|'''[[Play against the Witchess Pieces|Witchess monsters]]'''
|'''[[Play against the Witchess Pieces|Witchess monsters]]'''
|/w cheesefax witchess bishop
/w cheesefax witchess knight
|Substats, item drops
|Substats, item drops
|Possibly
|Possibly
Line 135: Line 146:
|Free fights that give epic-quality consumables [[Sacramento wine]] or [[Jumping horseradish]] with +item or +meat bonuses
|Free fights that give epic-quality consumables [[Sacramento wine]] or [[Jumping horseradish]] with +item or +meat bonuses
|}
|}
==Notes==
*You can only use one [[photocopied monster]] per day.
*You can use photocopied monsters while falling-down drunk.


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 20:20, 11 September 2020

A Fax Machine

The fax machine, located in the Clan VIP Lounge, allows players to fight one photocopy of a monster per day, potentially including any monster copied by users connected to their clan's fax network. This page lists some of the most effective fax targets ("faxes") in the game for pathless ascensions. Special challenge path runs may benefit from different strategies, or may block access to the fax machine altogether; see the appropriate path strategy page for details. See copying strategy for targets that would need to be faxed multiple times.

The player-sponsored CheeseFax and Easyfax accounts retain copies of most of the interesting fax targets, and can deliver them on demand to your clan's fax machine by sending them a private message with the desired monster's name (/msg CheeseFax <monster>). CheeseFax or Easyfax must be whitelisted into your clan for this to work.

Fax-like Mechanics

Over time, other fax-like sources of on-demand monster summoning have entered the game. Keep in mind that in Standard-restricted runs, the Fax Machine and most of these mechanics are unavailable. As of 2020, Calculate the Universe and the Cargo Cultist Shorts are the only fax-like mechanics available in Standard.

Skills:

Items/Other:

Turn Efficiency

These faxes directly reduce the number of turns required to complete quests.

Monster Availability Purpose Needs
Copying?		 Other
Requirements?		 Notes
mountain man No restrictions
Available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (565) 		Level 8 Quest Yes +150%/+900% Items, or Yellow ray Drops up to 2 of each ore (40% and 10%), alternative to mining or clovering ores
ninja snowman assassin Cannot be wished for Level 8 quest Yes Survival Saves ~12 turns (or 3 pulls) when copied twice
smut orc pervert Only available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (666)
Cannot be copied 		Level 9 Quest N/A None Drops a smut orc keepsake box, worth 5 bridge segments
War Frat 151st Infantryman Calculate the Universe Level 12 quest No +900% Items/Yellow ray Drops the Frat Warrior Fatigues (10% for each item)
lobsterfrogman No restrictions
Available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (220) 		Sonofa Beach quest No None Saves ~4 turns (and lots of RNG swing) over finding each one manually
(per copy, up to a total of ~20 turns for 5 copies)
Green Ops Soldier No restrictions
Available from Cargo Cultist Shorts (589) 		Level 12 Quest, free runaways Yes +1900% Items/Yellow ray Progresses the War when fighting on the Frat side, drops a green smoke bomb (5%, 90% chance of a free runaway)
ghost No restrictions digital key Yes +150% Items Drops up to 5 white pixel

Niche / Quality of Life

These faxes can be helpful, even if they're not strictly optimal.

Monster Purpose Needs
Copying?		 Other
Requirements?		 Notes
Bailey's Beetle Level 12 Quest, quality of life No Yellow ray A multi-purpose quality of life fax; provides some substats, the full War Hippy Fatigues, and a powerful shield
sleepy mariachi Item drops No Mad Hatrack or Fancypants Scarecrow, and +900% Items or Yellow Ray Spangly equipment for converting either familiar into a strong Fairy/Potato combo.
Blooper digital key No Olfaction
67% items 		To kick off Olfaction; hugely inferior to Fear Man's Level or the ghost fax, but does not require any extra IotMs
Semi-Rare Monsters: Varies
  • None
  • 234% items
  • Up to 400% items
 In case you weren't able to structure your SRs around them, or if your path blocks fortune cookies
modern zmobie The Defiled Alcove Yes None Saves several turns in the Alcove over encountering them directly, cannot be wished for
remains of a jilted mistress antique hand mirror No 150% items Saves several turns hunting for One Nightstand (Wooden) for Myst classes, if powerleveling in the Haunted Bathroom is desired.
Bad ASCII Art,
rampaging adding machine 		A Quest, LOL Varies None For players who want the Meat from this quest or want to copy the ASCII art for 31337 scrolls
Witchess monsters Substats, item drops Possibly Survival Free fights that give epic-quality consumables Sacramento wine or Jumping horseradish with +item or +meat bonuses

History

See Also

Ascension Strategy
Rankings: HC Skills - HC Familiars - HC IotMs
General: Class selection - Familiar usage - Lucky adventures
Paths: BHY - Fist - AoB - BI - ZS - AoJ - BIG! - KOLHS - CA2 - AoSP - SS - HR - Picky - Ed - Random - AoWoL - Source - NA - GN - LtA - L.A.R. - PF - G-Lover - DD
Additional Paths: DG - 2CRS - KoE - PotP - LKS - GG - Y,Robot - QT - WF - GY - JM - FotD
IotMs: Tomes - Faxing - Copying - YR - Garden - Correspondent - Workshed - Tea party - Florist
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