Fogpiercer - All Aboard

Storyline (High-Level)

• The game is set in a post-apocalyptic fog where civilization has effectively been wiped out.
• Players control a magical trade train tasked with fighting enemy forces by:
  • creating pileups
  • triggering chain reactions
  • managing train car defenses
• Progression is driven by pursuing and defeating arch-nemeses (rival leaders). The hosts repeatedly emphasize the “nemesis” concept, noting that defeating them unlocks further content and characters.
• By the end of the stream segment, they’ve defeated multiple arch-nemesis challenges, including:
  • Krono (boss encountered earlier)
  • Hadrium
  • Hrien
  • Lord Zo (final boss in this run section)
• They also unlock new content and upgrades, such as:
  • Bullet Train and Steam Train elements
  • additional cards/modules for future runs

Gameplay Highlights & What They Focused On

Roguelike Structure & Meta Progression

• They draft card-based upgrades and persistent upgrades that shape each run.
• They discuss disabling certain upgrade “types” that don’t match their preferred playstyle to increase the chance of other options later.
• They repeatedly use station stops to:
  • heal/repair
  • buy cars
  • refresh available options

Core Combat Loop

Fights revolve around several interlocking priorities:

• Positioning the train
  • The front matters, and the locomotive health is critical.
• Pulling/pushing enemies into each other
  • Tools like harpoons, artillery, and movement cards help force enemies to collide.
• Triggering pileups
  • Enemies ram allies, often clearing entire flanks quickly.

A key emphasis is that the harpoon wagon is weak early but becomes extremely strong in crowded fights because it can pull enemies into each other, turning engagements into chain reactions.

Recurring Tactical Themes

• Crowd control via forced bad positioning
  • Examples include ramming chain reactions, cliff hazards, and narrow maps.
• Damage-window selection
  • They prefer focusing units that will otherwise move, ram, or shoot.
• Beware “veterans”
  • These enemies often deal 2 damage, making losses to the locomotive/front car especially dangerous.
• Using shields carefully
  • Early on, they debate whether shields are “necessary.”
  • Later, they encounter threats like snipers that ignore shields, plus bosses with shield-removal behaviors.
  • Overall takeaway: shields are useful but not universal—some damage bypasses them, so positioning and counter-tools still matter.

Key Mechanics They Highlight During Play

• Convoy missions
  • They keep selecting convoy routes because they yield purple rewards / extra modules.
• Hand size and reload/AP economy
  • They strongly prefer increasing hand size early.
  • They value Reload for the large AP spikes and improved cycling.
• Fog thickness / difficulty progression
  • “Fog gets thicker” signals increasing threat and tougher conditions.
• Random costs / shuffled cards
  • “Random AP cost” effects can be powerful on average, but they also create risk spikes.
• Movement costs & “pushing through”
  • The idea that moving faster / piling up faster leads to more scrap (especially by taking no damage).

Strategies & Key Tips Mentioned

Harpoon Wagon Strategy

• Early game: don’t expect much value because enemies aren’t tightly packed.
• Mid/late game: it becomes excellent in narrow corridors and crowded fights because it can:
  • pull enemies together
  • cause damage-by-collision
  • remove threats before they act

Artillery Usage

• Use artillery to:
  • damage clustered groups
  • force ram chains
  • sometimes reposition enemies even if direct damage is limited

Shield Approach

• Shields can protect the locomotive and key cars, but:
  • some enemies (e.g., snipers) ignore shields
  • some attacks remove or bypass them
• Bulletproof vest shields are debated as possibly minimal, but later shield-related cards are validated as important for specific fights.

Map-Dependent Tactics

• Narrow grids
  • Enemies line up, making ramming/harpoon chains more consistent.
• Cliffs/canyons
  • Force enemies off the map or into hazardous positions where collisions become lethal.

Boss-Fight Approach

They often prioritize:

• neutralizing units that can disable or snipe
• preventing shield bypass threats
• using crowd manipulation so the boss wastes turns or takes collision damage from its own allies

They also frequently save certain driver meter / special abilities for high-impact turns.

Named Gamers / Sources Featured

Gamers / Stream Participants

• John
• Cl(a)e (referred to as CLA / Cla)
• Ted / Lady Cla’s pets (noted as characters on stream, rather than gamers)

Commenters / Viewers Shouted Out

• Anna
• Jake (including “Jake oneoff” and additional “Jake … members” shoutout)
• Voytech
• Kaye (referenced as an in-game character)
• Monica (in-game character reference)
• Sanki Gaming
• Mega Crow
• Wheelman
• Dexter
• Physical
• Mochen
• Pesticide
• Copper Hamster
• Bitter Magic
• Why Not Aie
• El Kudos
• Tupac Cababra
• Tennis? / “Physical/Jack/…” (only those clearly readable above)
• All unnamed “members/supers and chat” (general)

External Sources

• No external news sources are featured beyond viewer comments and general references to other games (e.g., Fallout, Star Wars, Baldur’s Gate) used as discussion points.