The Yolk-Star could use some nerfs

Early Access
1

DISCLAIMER: No, I didn’t just lose to a Yolk-Star boss and come here to unleash my rage (in fact I haven’t faced a Yolk-Star yet today), these are my educated thoughts on it that I gathered throughout my missions. I like the Yolk-Star’s concept as a boss-fight, I just think it has some balancing issues and want to suggest some possible solutions.

THE PROBLEMS:

I have been playing CIU for a little while (I’ve played on the Seasoned skill level for the most part) and I still find the Yolk-Star to be the toughest boss (harder than even Chicken Exponentiality!) The main cause of its difficulty is that there is so little space to work with. In other boss-fights you can execute big maneuvers quickly in order to be able to get out of tough situations, while still having to be aware of incoming bullets wherever you go. But in the Yolk-Star fight, you have no room for big swoops, the moment chickens start spawning behind you you’re in big trouble, even in lower difficulty levels. And the fact that there are weapons and atoms coming down to bait you into your doom makes it all the more frustrating.

Additionally, you never know when the chickens behind you are going to spawn, unless you’re constantly keeping a good look at the percentage bar. And having to do that all while trying to dodge big-hitbox lasers and enemies from the previous wave adds an additional tedious layer of difficulty to the boss-fight.

Another little detail that can be very frustrating is that in the second phase of the fight, it can occasionally be near impossible to get the atoms that fall from beating the first phase, since the boss moves towards them too quickly. Not something relevant to the difficulty but really frustrating nonetheless.

THE SOLUTIONS:

First and foremost, regarding the lasers, my suggestion would be reducing the amount of them and/or their hitbox size. This isn’t a very groundbreaking idea, but it could help in giving the player some space to roam, especially in lower mission difficulties / skill levels. Additionally, some indicators showing where they’re gonna hit could go a long way in making the fight less frustrating.

As for the enemies coming from behind, a DANGER ZONE indicator appearing shortly before they spawn is necessary in my eyes.

One last suggestion that would help in balancing both aspects would be to expand the entire field of the boss-fight by zooming out the camera a little bit. That way the player is immediately granted a bit more space to maneuver around the lasers and incoming enemies (even if the amount of lasers stays the same). I don’t know how hard that would be to implement in practice though, that’s for the devs to decide.

These are my thoughts and suggestions for the Yolk-Star fight. I believe I’m not the only one struggling with this boss, feel free to back me up on my suggestions or critique them!

6 Likes
2

How are you fightning the boss?
The boss is intended to be fought closed to it rather than from the bottom of the screen; it’s a counter-intuitive thing and I think a danger zone may help new players figure it out.

Yolk Star is a boss that is meant to be a slow paced positioning battle rather than a fast paced one like most of the others in the game.

Old video on youtube that can help you

https://youtu.be/VEKCPlAVxk4

Protip: Lasers hitboxes are smaller the closer you are to the source.

Mee too

Already suggested. The loading animation for lasers got added for this reason. If I recall correctly, dotted lines weren’t added because they would appear for too little time and be both worth to be implemented.
I personally think that those may help newcomers figure how the boss works.

It’s intended to be the hardest one.

Difficulty in this forum is a really controversial topic.
I’m one of the people who thinks that the hardest difficulty in Universe is too hard but others want to play a bullet hell with chickens.
I would like to see a rework to Yolk Star that balance terminators (the problem of the fight) and makes phase 2 not a joke.
Star’s lasers are fine

4 Likes
3

That’s just an understatement from what I’ve seen…

7 Likes
4

camp git gud skrub vs camp fair difficulty

who would win

5

I’ve never seen a single person who would think that Exponentiality is easier than Yolk-Star™. Yolk has a move pattern: it chooses random point in some range, charges, attacks and then repeats this cycle. The chickens it summons are always going to your position so you can predict where they are going to be few seconds after. Basically all you need to know to fight it is already there. The only difficult point is Toxic terminator chickens which may cause some troubles if you fight them rarely and don’t feel the radius of toxic cloud. Oh and do not stay far from lasers, they are thicker the further they go. I thought that was obvious.

3 Likes
6

Exponentiality is hard? Harder than yolk star? Really?

4 Likes
7

Yes. Its behaviour is absurdly random, everything flies literally wherever it wants while attacking from different angles.

2 Likes
8

I never found it even nearly as hard as the yolk star.

2 Likes
9

I did beat Exponentiality at 140%, but I still struggle at Yolk-Star at 90%, partly because of the severely limited maneuvering room. It’s not a matter of which is harder, it’s two different types of difficulty, and as such, which boss you do depends on what kind of dodging you’re better at.

Some people find trouble dodging lasers and projectiles in a limited space, whilst others can’t keep track of the ship when zoomed out, it’s not fair to compare the two saying; “this is harder”

12 Likes
10

I made a new progression suggestion for The Yolk Star in before, which can make it easier). (Edited the topic for better understanding)

Positron Stream is good, but I recommend to use Plasma Rifle (Assassins, you know). Don’t destroy all chick gatling guns at once, because projectiles of armored chickens may block your way. Destroy one of CGG, then armored chickens. Takes time, but worth it.

11

I understand this, but I feel like regardless of how you approach this boss, you’ll still find yourself in a situation where there are enemies behind you, lasers right beside you and no where to go. And this is the main point of the nerfs I’m suggesting: making this scenario less likely to happen.

I doubt that. With other big, awesome, flashy boss fights being in the game, such as Chicken Exponentiality and the Egg Cannon fights, I can’t see the devs wanting to make the Yolk-Star be the toughest boss.

But you cannot predict where the lasers are going to hit, so it’s not entirely predictable. Plus the fact that each laser has its own cycle, so it’s pretty much impossible to keep track of all of them at once, or even just the ones that are near your position, especially considering there’s also enemies coming from behind.

It just feels like you’re getting hit from every direction with no escape route sometimes.

3 Likes
12

About this: Yolk-Star wasn’t meant to be the hardest boss rather than that it just happens to be. The Egg Cannon was a joke, and the Henterprise could have been harder, but Yolk Star is hard largely because of its space limitations and BS terminators, not actually difficult patterns that you dodge and get better at. It’s RNG. I’d also refrain from saying something “is meant to be hardest/strongest” because there’s actually not that much thought put behind the game’s design. Overall I agree with the reworks, they’d make the boss less RNG, but there’s some that like it for some reason.

2 Likes
13

You can, actually, especially in CIU as there’s a charge animation. It stops and plays charge sound (+animation) before shooting.

1 Like
14

You can predict the “when”, not the “where”

4 Likes
15

I disagree. Because I say that Chicken Exponentiality and The Yolk Star™ are the toughest bosses. Because for both bosses you don’t know where the lasers will appear. Although with Chicken Exponentiality, you can get worried while alternating between CW and CCW and then die. And as for The Yolk Star™, the difficult thing here is the Terminator chickens. So I thing a nerf for Terminator chickens is necessery. But only for the low difficulties to make it fair.

16

You will need some foresight. Don’t just stand there and think you’ll always have a way out. Move to somewhere more open, and try to link all the terminators together so that you’ll only have to focus on one direction.

In the case of the lasers, I believe this was already said, but stay close to the cannons. The laser hitbox gets wider the further it travels.

1 Like
17

It’s bullshit and RNG. I’ve been restricted by the lasers many times when attempting to lead the terminators. Also, some chicken varieties need a lot more maneuvering space to deal with them (cowards, toxics, etc.) and if it’s seven lasers, you just have to pray the lasers part enough to give you that much space, which rarely happens.

Just because it’s doable doesn’t mean it’s fair ffs

4 Likes
18

im just giving a tip gdi

yes it’s bs but to be fair you use a keyboard where movement is kinda ass
still bs nonetheless though

1 Like
19

k :+1:

2 Likes
20

Thank you for the tips, but I didn’t start this thread to receive tips for the boss fight. I realize there are people who are really good at this game and that every boss is made to be beaten. And so I understand there are ways to combat the Yolk-Star, some more effective than others.

But the purpose of this thread is to examine if the difficulty level of the Yolk-Star is too high compared to the other bosses, if that makes it frustrating to deal with for players and, if that’s the case, to find ways to balance the boss fight.

2 Likes