Alright I’ve seen too many inexperienced cultists lately, let’s break it down to what you should do:
Preparation Work
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Before heading out to do the mainstay cult activities of conversion and basebuilding, these things can also help give the cult a running start:
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Wear something as a mask and/or eyewear - eventually your eyes will go red (once cult population reaches 20% of the total pop) which will instantly out you as a cultist if you don’t hide them. I prefer gas masks because they can be found anywhere, they hide your Zealot’s Blindfold if you wear one (you probably should) and I usually wear them.
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Change your job or get extended access (optional) - being able to easily access more locations means being able to easily capture more victims.
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Obtain metal and plasteel especially if you can - it’s used to make construct shells and runed metal respectively, which are both very important to being successful.
Equip Your Spells
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Normally you can only hold 1 spell at a time, but if you create an Empower rune then by standing next to it you’ll be able to hold up to 4 spells at a time. You need to hold 4 spells in order to capture victims effectively.
My suggested loadout for beginners kidnapping potential converts is:
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Stun - stand in melee range, then activate it (which will make one hand start glowing) and immediately tap it on your target to stun them for ~6 seconds. This gives you enough time to use Shadow Shackles. WARNING: This does not work on people with ear protection! Most commonly this is Security, the Captain (both due to their bowman’s headset) and people wearing hardsuits.
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Shadow Shackles - this works like any pair of hancuffs except that it also mutes the victim for some more seconds (6?). This gives enough time to remove their radio headset and any obscuring facial equipment like a gas mask preventing you from doing so.
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Electromagnetic Pulse - if Security come after you with energy guns or disablers, or a borg is, EMP their ass. Also be used to disable a victims headset if for whatever reason you can’t get their headset off in reasonable time, or for helping you to lock down borgs long enough to convert them into constructs with Twisted Construction.
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Teleport - mainly used to teleport to cult bases to help convert people or as a last-ditch escape tactic.
If you’re more experienced feel free to switch it up - I prefer a second Stun over Shadow Shackles because I’m quick with cuffing + removing headsets before they’re able to talk again, or I can either use EMP/crit them/Stun again if they’ve got a mask on that delays removing the headset.
But where do you place an Empower Rune? There’s a few ways you can do this:
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Create an Empower Rune in a small and infrequently visited area e.g. between two airlocks. Stand ontop of it with the airlocks closed and add your four spells, then use your ritual dagger on the Empower Rune again to delete it. Job done and very little evidence of cult activity.
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Create a small conversion base - these rooms are smaller than 4x4 in size, which is about enough space for the runes and maybe a structure or two. Ideally you have more than one of these so that if a base gets outed then you have somewhere to fall back. These types of bases are used for when you’re picking off targets in a particular area or department to convert, so you can easily just walk them back to here and convert them all in one go. Otherwise you’d have to create a Teleport rune, hold both you and your victim on top of it, then activate the rune to teleport to a base to convert.
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Create a large main base - these rooms are usually bigger than 4x4, so you’ll be able to have lots of structures and space for your constructs and other cultists to move around in. This is the place where you arm up with useful items and is especially important if you’re nearing the halo stage (when you’ve converted 40% of the crew)
Generally I’ll find somewhere secluded so I can start to use the Communion ability to talk with other cultists (because if crew members hear you using Communion you’ll out the cult!) and discuss where we might put the main base, and I’ll usually setup a small conversion base if someone else has a better location or access to setup a main base.
This also means that before you prep your main four “conversion” spell loadout, you may also want to use spells for:
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Twisted Construction + Conceal Presence if you’re making a concealed Runed Door
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Twisted Construction if you’ve got metal or plasteel to turn into construct shells and runed metal respectively
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Summon Equipment, but only to get the bola (DON’T WEAR THIS OBVIOUS CULT CLOTHING UNTIL YOU’RE GOING LOUD, which is ideally when you’re forced to e.g. you’ve now all got the red halos because 40% of people are now cult)
Base Building
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Small Base Building
Small bases can be quickly setup by one person and are ideal for the starting cult members or as a backup location to teleport to. They contain only the bare essential structures and their size is optimised for keeping the room hidden from other crewmembers rather than preparing for high-volume conversion.
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Essentials (it’s hardly a base without these):
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Either a concealed Runed Door or a Hidden Door entrance - this is so only cultists know how to access the base.
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To create a concealed Runed Door you need to use Twisted Construction on harm intent on an airlock. This is loud and obvious, so don’t do it when anyone is nearby and do it whilst standing in the middle of the open airlock, so you can see people coming and stop if necessary. You then immediately use Conceal Presence to make the airlock look normal, but in fact it’ll be a door that only cultists can enter. Non-cultists will get the “insufficient access” deny noise and light.
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To create a Hidden Door entrance simply weld a wall, then unwrench the girder, then place the metal that dropped back on the girder. Now you have a wall that can be clicked and will slide open.
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Offer Rune - you need this to sacrifice/convert crew members
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Empower rune - you’ll have used at least one spell when capturing a crew member, you need this rune so you can replace that used spell
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Teleport rune - so other cultists can come incase you need another to help you convert (you need two cultists near an Offer Rune in order to convert a live person, or use the Spirit Realm Rune)
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Spirit Realm rune (place it next to Offer Rune) - you’ll not always have a cultist nearby who can reach you in a timely manner to reach the two required cultists needed to Offer live victims, so step onto this and activate it to Summon a Ghost and it will then allow you to use the Offer Rune successfully. It does eat up your health fast though, so as soon as you’re done offering use your ritual dagger on the Spirit Realm Rune to delete it and end the summoning.
Recommended (if you have the space and it’s apppropriate):
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Pylon structure (placed next to Spirit Realm Rune) - all your spells require blood and you might get into brief fights, so this is very helpful for healing up. It also allows you to use the second ability of the Spirit Realm Rune - ascend as a dark spirit. It’ll allow you to become a ghost, so you can then easily Orbit to find your sacrifice target and scout out the situation on the station.
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Barrier rune (behind the entrance on the first tile in your base area) - if someone manages to come across your base, activating this creates a defensive barrier against movement and projectiles, which will save you from someone shotgunning you all to death, gives you time to gather yourselves to teleport out of there or to quickly deactivate and take them down.
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Altar structure - all the items are useful, though you’ll probably only want to make Construct Shells at your main base and just use it to make the other items for any new cultists.
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Archives structure - mainly used for creating the Zealot’s Blindfold so you become more effective in maintenance or other low-light areas.
Let your fellow cultists know as soon as you’ve made even a small base because they might have been busy with other errands and need somewhere with an Empower Rune to use, or just so they know where they can drag victims to or where they can retreat to.
Other tips in setting up and using a small base:
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KEEP THE DOOR CLOSED AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. So many times people leave it open, and not only can passersby see the runes but also it leads to the area outside being converted to runed floor. Be aware you can remove runed floor using a RCD however.
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Structures emit light - Forge most of all, next Pylon, then Archives and Altar so the brightest structures should be generally saved for your main base, or placed further back from the entrance where passersby wouldn’t notice the light source that shouldn’t be there over walls.
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Use the Blood Rites spell to suck up nearby blood - being a blood cultist is very messy, but fortunately you have the perfect cleaning spell. Just put Blood Rites in your hand and click on blood on the floor to absorb it all. Also the blood you absorb can be used for three different spells within Blood Rites.
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Location is extremely important and I’ve seen some interesting places work that you might not have thought e.g. the CE’s office with the shutters down and cameras diabled. But generally speaking you’ll likely choose somewhere in maint.
Large Base Building
These are the bases which could hold 10 members with ease, and ideally can scale up to more people. These types of bases are not required, especially if you’re aiming to work as stealthily as possible. However if you’re in the situation where you know you can build a large base without too much suspicion, or the cult is large enough you need more structures for item production then here’s how to make one.
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All of the prior structures and runes, plus:
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Forge structure - this is where you make the heavy duty cult items for when you go loud. Ideally you won’t have to wear this obvious stuff out until the actual Nar’sie ritual, but you may have to if Security or the crew is putting up heavy resistance.
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Revive rune - put a cultist body on top of it to resurrect them. It depends on charges which are gained through using the Offer rune, but you also have a free one from the start.
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Summon Cultist rune - teleport a cultist to the rune. Useful if they’re stuck in a jam and need to get the hell out.
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Boil Blood rune - 3 invokers stand around it and it deals heavy damage to non-cultists who see it. Haven’t had much opportunity to use this myself due to people lacking experience on other cult stuff but I hope to use it more in the future.
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Lots of structures - this is your main area for healing and arming up, so ideally you have multiple of all the structures so there’s enough equipment for every existing and new cult member.
Other tips for a main base:
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Isolated places like the mining station or aux base on lavaland are popular because it’s plenty of space and access to it can be difficult, though because they’re so popular it can easily out the cult.
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You can’t build a base in the middle of space because “the veil is too strong here”. Though using the CE’s blueprints on the room might enable it for use, haven’t tried though. Bluespace emergency pods in space do work, but they’re only big enough for a small base.
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Make two Shuttle Curses from the Archives structure - you can only use two per round, and they’ll delay shuttle call by a few minutes each. On Blue alert, shuttles take 10 minutes to arrive and can’t be recalled when there’s less than 5 minutes left, so ideally you spend the first 5 minutes to try and recall and if that fails only then use a shuttle curse.
Growth Strategy
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So you’ve got your four spells, there’s a small conversion base and someone is working on a main base. What next?
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DON’T HANG AROUND - unless you’re waiting for essential equipment, don’t mill around the base. Go out and get converts, and go after the sacrifice target.
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Easy Capture 101: stand next to crew member, Stun, Shadow Shackles, take off their headset, drag to Offer rune. Done.
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Use the Spirit Realm rune to spy on the crew and orbit to locate the cult sacrifice target. Use Blood Mark on them so everyone gets a HUD pinpointer with their location, then Communion to tell everyone in your big voice where the target is, is he in a busy place, are there sec nearby, etc. Get them ASAP. Also remember you need their body intact in order to sacrifice it - if you behead them they’ll need to be cloned.
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Get a Wraith construct ASAP to kill the AI because they can easily report on your activities as well as call the shuttle. You can make a Construct Shell to make one by using Twisted Construction on 50 metal, or simply get one from an Altar. You can get a filled Soulstone Shard with which to power the Shell by placing a dead crew member on an Offer rune.
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For your main base an Artificer construct is very handy for pooping out additional Construct Shells and Soulstone Shards. Use Soulstone Shards on people who are in crit and you won’t even have to drag them to an Offer rune, though you do lose out on gaining extra charges for the Revive rune. You need Artificers in order to make a murderbone strategy viable (crit or kill them > soulstone shard their body > put in construct shell) but I much prefer converting rather than making them a construct because constructs are so much more limited and it takes time/resources to make constructs.
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Convert dead or alive cyborgs - Twisted Construction on harm intent will turn them into Constructs.
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Pay attention to when you see the alert that now all cultists eyes are red, or that your cult is “ascendant” (about to gain red halos). Wear eye covering before the former happens, and when the latter happens you can go all out on wearing cult equipment and spell usage.
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If someone gets captured then you can have two cultists use a Summon Cultist rune to teleport them to you. Be aware it doesn’t work if they’re buckled to something, and I’m fairly sure it doesn’t work if they’re cuffed either. Alternatively, use the Veil Walker from the Veil Shifter set you can create from Archives, which can teleport you and anybody you drag a medium distance forward, with some randomness.
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Choosing a Cult Master - 99% of the time it’s best to just wait until you’re sacrificed the target and gathered enough members to summon Nar’sie, because they might die or get captured before that time and waste the valuable mass summon spell. However if you have a confident, competent cult member who can make good calls using the loud voice in communion or you want to try a “going loud” strategy by using the cult master’s spells then you should vote in a master early.
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Using the cult leader mass summon spell - you can either use this before the ritual starts to get everyone or do it once the Nar’sie rune is already inscribed on the ground. I’ve seen the best success with the latter so you can immediately click the rune to activate it after, and simply making teleport/summon runes to get people to come to the summon area before the ritual starts.
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Summoning Nar’sie - ideally fortify the area with Runed Doors, Barrier runes and Juggernaut constructs before you begin. Only one person is needed to start the first part of the ritual, but activating the rune requires nine cultists. You can make up this number using spirits from Soulstone Shards and constructs also, just make sure you click Rest so you can all fit on without nudging eachother off of the rune.
Going Loud
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Note: I’ve put this at the end because is NOT the ideal strategy in my opinion and people fuck up the most by doing this too early. I prefer stealth cult until you’re forced to, because just like nuclear operatives declaring war, once the crew is aware of you you’ll be facing much heavier resistance. Even if the crew is already aware there is a cult, by not being seen wearing cult items or doing cult things makes it easier to isolate and capture new members.
That being said oftentimes you might get outed early, or security might be competent, or progress was slow amassing members, etc which all could force you to do this stuff before the Nar’sie ritual or before reaching the red halo stage when you’ve converted 40% of the station population.
Here’s what you should do when going loud:
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Eliminate Heads and steal their IDs - the crew is going to want to call shuttle to get the hell out of there once they start seeing blood everywhere and people in robes kidnapping crew members in the hallways, so you’re going to want to prevent that. Good thing you already had a Wraith kill the AI earlier too.
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Summon Equipment spell and get Forge structure items - the Eldritch Longsword fits into the suit storage slot of any cult armour, so keep that there. Get either the Shielded or Flagellant’s Robe (more defence vs speedy but you take 145% damage), whichever is your playstyle preference. Then a Mirror Shield to block attacks and create illusions, or use as a thrown stun weapon that returns to you like a boomerang if you do a successful hit.
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Flask of Unholy Water from the Altar - mainly drunk to heal and reduce stun time, it also can be thrown to poison non-cultists.
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Eldritch Whetstone from the Altar - same as the Chef’s whetstone, it adds +4 damage to your Eldritch Longsword.
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Blood Rites spell - replace Shadow Shackles with Blood Rites because now you’re dragging people only a short distance to the nearest Offer rune out in the hallway and the Stun should be sufficient time to do so, but if not then you can always crit them to make sure. Instead use Blood Rites because you’ll be leaving bloody hallways with this strategy which fuels the spell, and because you won’t have time to stand around Pylons in order to heal. It can be used both on yourself or other cultists to heal.
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Crit if you have to but don’t kill non-mindshielded crew - you’re not going to have time or resources to put many shards into construct shells, so you need as much of your victims as possible to survive the capture process. If you go too far and kill them, they’ll be sharded and you likely won’t be able to put them into a shell. Make Offer and Empower runes in the hallways, drag new captures to them. For mindshielded crew they can only be sharded, so just kill them then Offer rune them, because if they’re alive you need to have three acolytes to Offer them but if they’re dead you only need one.
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Make the terrain yours - use Twisted Construction on Harm intent to make runed doors and make rows of Barrier runes to limit their movement. Have Artificers build walls to herd and bottleneck movement.
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EMP is your AA - if you need to break into anywhere, just use the EMP spell then crowbar the door open.
And that’s it from the guide! I hope you guys found it useful, please add your comments below with anything you’d like to add or if you found this helpful. Hope to see all you cultists in the game soon!
Changelog:
- 16/10/19 - Added section on “Going Loud”. Added notes on varying the four spell default loadout.
- 19/10/19 - Added notes about Veil Walker.
- 24/12/21 - Improve formatting and minor edits to account for the cult changes that have happened since.