The Daily Fail: Novice Solo-ers Support Thread (Now with less fail!)

I'm timid and panicky, so I have the opposite problem! I also haven't studied the wave budget very carefully. I looked at it today and said "Wait, how many waves have phantoms? Why did  I choose Reapers again?!" My strategy is run, run, run until they or I am dead. It's not fancy, and it doesn't work that well, but at least it's easy to remember.

I also respecced today to take damage on Warp 4 instead of detonate. Did not really notice a difference, but I only got 75 extra damage per warp ball. I considered taking headshots in passives, but as I rarely get 20 per match I didn't.

Where are you, Qui Gon? It's been 5 hours!

You are closer than you can imagine. Keep on trying you'll get it.
As for your strategy, moving is always the best option in this game. If you stay too long in one place you'll probably die, unless you're one of those players who kills spawns faster than they appear -I've played with some of those...

A small caveat - moving too fast will only make stuff spread out across the map and you will be under constant fire. I think of it more as holding choke points - there are certain places on each map that let you stay in relative safety and channel enemies towards you mostly from one direction. I stay there until a dangerous unit or a concentration of units (sync-kill and or high damage) pushes me out or I notice I am about to be flanked and under cross fire. Then I move back along the edge of the map to the next choke point (ideally in a clock-wise manner to keep RHA) and hold there until it becomes too dangerous again and so on...

Totally agree, please note that my expression was "stay too long". The idea of moving clockwise between choke points is probably the best strategy you can adopt, if the map allows it. 

I went there to try and rescue but did not find u

Thank you! I am not the most efficient killer (96 minutes, ahem), so it's running laps for me.

One interesting thing I've found out is that if a turret doesn't have anything to shoot after being set up it self destructs after a while. So I can now time my W8 W7 running by waiting to hear the turrets blowing up ahead of me before repositioning. This last attempt I didn't see a turret for the entirety of W8 W7!  (Edit: Oops, got mah waves confused.) Winner!

Good advice, thanks! Yeah, I have to remember to slow down and hold out longer on W8 so the Atlas has time to come around, otherwise I get pinched between the engine (Banshee) catching up with the caboose (Atlas). I pretty much set up in the corners, hold a bit and then dash to the next corner. The ladder corners are good for whittling down banshee armor in preparation for finishing them off at the end of the wave.

Don't worry about going slow, just concentrate and do it: I thought I got the record for the longest platinum solo:163:29, but there's someone in the PHoF who did it in 167:09...

Wow, that's a long time to concentrate! I salute you!

Wait... does this mean that if I succeed, I can submit it to the PHOF? It's not just for speedrunners?

My dream was to get some advice from Cato potato if I succeed (and he's around) and finally wear that FemShep BoTB that I haven't felt worthy of, but submitting to the PHOF isn't something I'd even considered. *shining eyes*

The PHoF accepts all runs regardless of time. Only mission successful is required. 

I must be affected by this thread because I've been running gold solos again seriously for the first time in years (to give you an idea of how long it has been, I did all the maps on gold prior to the addition of bombers and goons). I've done a few since, but mostly to make myself feel better after the quirks of players dropping out of games erroneously gave me credit toward solo mastery -- following up an unearned solo with an earned one.

The plat solo is one challenge I never bothered with either -- I'm well aware that my established playstyle is too reckless and aggressive to be effective in a plat solo, and I didn't have the patience or interest for an attempt.

Seeing this support thread has inspired me, though, so I've begun training for an attempt soon. I'm running GI/Talon on White vs. Cerb in gold over and over to get comfortable soloing that map in terms of spawn and choke points. Today I started with my worst attempt yet (bled out after getting paid on wave 3) and followed it up with my quickest solo extraction in a while (27:31, and I think there are a few players here that could be well into their second plat solo in that time), so I know it can turn around quickly.

Good luck to everyone else giving this a try, and congratulations to those that have done it already!

Yes, it does seem ostentatious to proclaim oneself "the best of the best." I'd prefer it said Veteran or something, because I don't really feel 1337 and don't want people thinking I can curry them or anything. But I do really like the banner. It inspired me to start doing challenge points and trying new kits just to get it.