Topics

31

Suggestions / New quest: Assault on Foundry

« on: May 17, 2021, 12:45:47 am »

The game always tells how much the Ironheads are a threat to Foundry's existence, but you never actually see them attacking Foundry or any of it's soldiers, I think it would be kind of cool if under certain circumstances or elapsed time you can defend Foundry from a huge Ironhead assault, with timed waves like in the Praetorian warehouse quest, you can accept it for a lot of experiencie and coins, or you can ignore it and Foundry has a chance to be completely wiped out and instead be populated by raiders.

Imagine it, you're calmly traveling around Underrail in train, you get off the train station on Foundry, and the moment you enter the zone, combat starts, but you're not fighting, instead you can hear gunshots and explosions nearby, it's a small squad of Ironheads fighting the Foundry guard, you can either help the guards or let the battle play out. Then you can talk to the chief and have a chance to accept the quest to defend Foundry for huge rewards, if you accept you will have to stand at Foundry's entrance with a dozen of Foundry guard, then after a brief moment, dozens and dozens of Ironheads waves attack Foundry, having to hold the line.
The waves would be timed, so you could get a solid minute of between ever increasing waves, so you can recharge items, heal, stabilize yourself, etc.
If you run into Foundry if you're getting overrun, you now have to defend Foundry on the last line of defense, on top of the few guardsmen remaining, half of Foundry residents would defend it with any weapons they have, however they would be weak combatants, if you leave Foundry during the quest, everyone gets wiped out, and all traders die, including Leonie. Chief Banner could also be there, defending.
If you successfully defend Foundry, you could get a lot of coins, exp, cheaper traders and more importantly, fame and bragging rights.
Would also be a good chance to demostrate the cowardice of Foundry's Mayor. Also if you successfully defend Foundry, the Ironheads base would be half populated, reeling from a massive failed assault.

This quest could trigger if you take way too much time without killing Balor or if you reach a certain treshold in the game story, for example reaching Institute of Tchort without killing Balor, or certain amount of in game hours. Tho I suggest this quest to be Dominating only.
This quest would be a relatively late game quest, so the player is well set for the whole combat.
To some extend this quest could also be applied to Rail Crossing, tho in a much minor scale.

32

Suggestions / Rework for Balor

« on: May 17, 2021, 12:18:06 am »

Balor is too much of a weakling for a boss, everyone can easily dispatch him, no matter the build:

He doesnt have high levels of mech/heat resistances, unlike Industrial Bots, that can tank a lot of damage easily.
Can be stunned, easily dispatched in 1 or 2 turns
Can be incapacitated, mental breakdown makes sense but Balor be trivialized by flashbang
He has awful detection, despite the fact he has a mechanical eye
Has no real tanking abilities, it just happens he has a lot of HP on top of a mediocre metal gear set
Can be entangled, come on the guy must have like 20 STR why he can be entangled
He's way too easy to dispatch, compared to Braenkaster, he's a real tought bastard to bring down, and he's a proper hammer boss

My suggestions are:
>Give Balor tanking feats, such Stoicism, Conditioning, Fully spec'd Last Stand, also high Resolve and Fortitude
>Inmune to Stuns (like Magnar) and Flashbang Incapacitations
>Give him Sprint and Adrenaline
>Give him stupidly high detection or straight out True Sight, if you consider his mechanical eye a camera of sorts
>Give him a stronger metal armor or a metal armor unique that actually makes him tanky
>Make him inmune to entanglement/inmobilization
This way, Balor will become an actual threat and not a human punching bg

33

Suggestions / Randomize traps (Dominating only)

« on: May 16, 2021, 10:26:20 pm »

What it says on the title, most of veterans can at this point walk across Rathound King's massive minefield blindfolded and still manage to trigger basically no trap at all.
By randomizing the traps location, the type of traps and the amount of traps would make more intresting to venture into mine fields, or stay on guard by random mines that were not there before.

34

Suggestions / Buff Cave Hopper Graveyard leather drops

« on: April 18, 2021, 10:59:53 am »

With the introduction of Booth, the mutie tattoer in Core City Sewers, he can sell you good and rare quality leathers.
I have noticed, with the magic of merchant refresh spam, that the range of quality of cave hopper he sells max out at 70
At the same time, I ventured into the Cave Hopper Graveyard and the leather drops there did not go above 70, or 65.
So, you can just visit Booth frecuently to get high quality hopper leather much easier and faster than taking a stroll throught the caves to the Graveyard.
This feels like a massive oversight. It is a shame because right now there's no reason to visit the Graveyard whatsoever.

35

Suggestions / Sharpening your edge weapon

« on: April 16, 2021, 09:53:35 pm »

Similar to Protectorade's Omnilube, there could be an item in game in which allows you to sharpen your edged weapon, such knives, spears and swords for extra damage for a couple of attacks.

36

Suggestions / Shock Shurikens are underwhelming

« on: April 04, 2021, 02:21:57 am »

Playing on Dominating on my current knife thrower; I get to use the Shock Shurikens against robots, while at first they were kind of okay, as the game continues, they start to fall off in damage and overall performance, since they do not scale with Throwing at later stages of the game they are rendered almost useless, and the stun feature is unreliable.
I'd say make Shurikens scale off throwing, but maybe reduce the amount of Shurikes you craft from 10 to 5. Otherwise people will just completely ignore it past the mid game, in which at that point grenade spam, acid vials and, hell, even Expose Weakness will do a better job at taking out robots.

37

Suggestions / Megathread: Quake and Mind Cracker problem.

« on: March 24, 2021, 04:03:40 pm »

There was an issue I have with the two hammer uniques, Quake and Mind Cracker, in Dominating.

First, Quake, the way I see it, it's basically a nice mid game sledgehammer unique that often dazes targets and more importantly, doesnt need repairs. The best time to get Quake is right after completing Depot A. It's a simple concept, but also an effective one; simple things are good. The issue is that in Dominating is wielded by Gubbins, a decently strong sledgehammer boss, behind his massive threatening gang:

1) If you really want to get Quake in Dominating, you either need to level up to be able take on Gubbins and his gang, in which by that point Quake gets outperformed by +100 quality regular sledgehammers, defeating the purpose of the whole endeavour in the first place.

2) The other way is using extremely grindy methods to get it, I mean things like poison caltrops, bear traps, gas grenades, incendiary grenades, flashbangs, throwing nets, etc. But, once again, if you have to dedicate that much effort items, money, time and effort on it, it's start to feel 'not worth it', I could craft myself some 'good enough' mid gamer hammer and carry on with my life, saving myself the frustration and time spending that is grind to get Quake. Metagaming is not always fun, and not always worth it. This would be one of these cases.

In my opinion, there are different ways to solve the issue:

>Buff Quake, so it still is worth it to smash throught Gubbin's in the late game
While it sounds appealing at first, there's already nice sledgehammer uniques in the late game, hell even regular crafted slegdehammers can sometimes be outright better than some uniques, so I dont think it would be a good idea, Quake should be just a 'transition' sledgehammer you use from mid game to late game just to get by. Buffing Quake would 'saturate' the sledgehammer options in the late game, if that makes sense. It's stats are fine as they are.

>Nerf Gubbins gang
No. Nerfing enemies goes against the Dominating 'Telos', you play Dom to fight a lot of tought enemies. Nerfing Gubbin's gang would make it both boring and lame.

>Way to 'sneak in'
I know what you're thinking, some folks will say 'Just stealth in lmao', first, Gubbin's base is actually relatively small and it's tightly crowded by his gang, not mentioning there's even a stealth sniper on the watch in his base, sneaking in, while not impossible, it's very fucking hard as it is.
Second, most of sledgehammer builds are tin cans, which have 0 stealth skills for very obvious reasons. Sure, I'm aware there are leather wearing stealth using sledgehammer builds out there, I know this because I encouraged the archetype myself in my guides, but keep in mind leather wearing sledgehammer builds are the 'exception to the rule', since a huge majority of hammerer builds are still tin cans, appealing to a very small minority of 'sub category' of builds is idiotic, if not outright outrageous.

So, the question would be how a tin can can get Quake? Vents and base layout. Even the most 'undexterous' and drunk of hammerers still appreciate a good ol' vent to crawl into, and maybe with the help of doors and hallways there could be a way to 'assasinate' Gubbins and his companions in a few turns before his gang arrives at the scene to help.
I know, a massive drunken metal man clumsily and noisely 'sneaking' into a metal vent in an enemy base with nobody noticing. As humorous as the concept is, this happens pretty often.

And the problem with Mind Cracker, two problems actually.

First, location, it's inside the Institute of Tchort utility section. The moment you get spotted, the Tchortists will turn hostile and attack you. Tchortist troops are very powerful, both psions and regular soldiers, if you leave the Institute while aggroed the Tchortists, you cannot go back, basically locking yourself out of the end game. Unless you're okay with fighting your way out to DC, there's absolutely no reason to fight the Tchortists.
At the same time, you could stealth, but same problem as before, stealth hammerer builds are but a small minority of sledgehammer builds, and tin cans cannot go throught without getting spotted, something that you want to avoid at all costs. Sure, you can use TNT and sound shenanigans, but after that tedium, I wouldn't say it's worth it to go throught such hassle to get that sledgehammer unique.
I even myself dont have much experiencie using it due how hard it is to obtain already, and largely ignore it in my hammer runs.

Second, it's stats. A psi hammer that 'mana burns' psions and that has a chance to apply psi interrumption. This is very useful indeed, but it also reduces Resolve. Resolve is the only thing that will save you from getting your brain turn to mush, something hammer builds suffer the most, due the lack of mobility. Considering most of sledgehammer builds tend to be 'tanks', they must survive getting hit first, then return the favour with the same coin, this item actively hurts your tanking capabilities against psions, the cons of this vastly outweights it's pros, making it very unappealing, and actually counterproductive.
As of it right now, I'd only use Mind Cracker against Coil Spiders and Psi Crabs, and not against Beetles and human Psions, given how common TC abilities are. That's a very narrow usage of this hammer, and it doesnt justify the trouble of getting it in the very first place.

My recommendations:
Move Mind Cracker in an area that you can access more early, but you have to do some serious fighting to get it, for example, Lunatic Mall. The fact this hammer is behind Institute's gates it automatically places it very late in the base game, in which at that point you dont have much else to use Mind Cracker on. Power Fist in Hecate research lab is a good example of this. Surrounded by strong enemies but you can still power throught relatively early if you're really determined to do so.

Second, remove the Resolve debuff, and add something that hinders the wielders psi casting abilities.
Mind Cracker is anti-psi hammer, it should be for both the hammerer and the hammered, something like reduced psi regen (like Mushroom Brew does), and/or reduced psionic skills.
Psiless hammerers already struggle a lot against psions, this little help they would get will be most welcome, and psi hammerers are already strong enough they will not need this hammer unique, regardless of penalty or not.

Unrelated note:
Give Balor's Hammer the ability to destroy rocks/crumbling walls, bretty pls.
10 STR requirement to wield would be reasonable too.

38

Suggestions / Mental Subvertion applied on successfull Doppelganger attacks.

« on: March 18, 2021, 12:28:10 am »

What it says on the title.

39

Suggestions / STR Inmobilization/Entanglement immunity

« on: March 03, 2021, 08:36:44 am »

Lately I have been contemplating the big boys of Underrail, Industrial bots, Dreadnaughts and Naga Protectors being inmune to any sort of inmobilization, which makes sense due their size, weight and strenght. It makes sense.
I also saw how Fatso becomes inmune to entanglement the angrier he gets, due Adrenaline Rush pumping his STR to 20. Which also makes sense.

My idea is, what if the player character can become inmune to inmobilization so long s/he has 20 STR, be under the effects of drugs, gear or food. You lose inmobilization inmunity the moment your STR drops to 19 and below. This prospect is not entirely now, since having high STR will cut throwing net entanglement from 2 to 1, which makes sense.
And not to mention, there's nothing more anti-climatic than charging at Big T like a furious Bison under all drugs know by mankind, just to get completely shut down by acid entanglement.

40

Suggestions / Overall game design suggestion.

« on: March 03, 2021, 08:26:26 am »

By the Discord user Ukupnik, not me.

I played the game for quite a long time and would like to play it more.But more i play the more i notice some balance hindrance or gamedesign blunders.And to keep it more enjoyable to me and maybe some few more determined gamers, i made few proposals.Here some obervations:
*Not all stats born equal.Dexterity have million of correponsive stats ingame, while constitution dont even have anything.
*Some feats seems lacking and utterly underpowered.We speaking about many of crafting feats and a lots other qol feats.
*Uncoventional things happen rarely and the most of the game we kill thugs with guns and sledges.Would like to introduce new intresting encounters
With my major points have been presented, lets look at each problem closer from my pov.
1.Stats
Stats play important role in the game since there no other way to increase your base stats beside leveling.Lets look at each one.

Strenght-big boy stat, with the recent intimidation change seems very solid.Dont have much to say about it.

Dexterity-currently the most powerful base one in the game.Main stat for many builds, even for once that shouldnt work(versatility).

Agility-one of defensive stats, home of sprint which makes every build just better no matter of your ap.Game adds more and more of its check, starts feeling somewhat good.Lacking a
thing or two to start feel relevant.

Constitution-oh man, that thing sucks, its literally here just to make you fatter and that all about it.You will say "But Assblaster, its also helps resist stuns!!!".Did you know that there
like two resistable stuns in the game?Like seriously here the list:
Dirty kick-unresistable
Electrokinesis-unresistable
Crawler poison-unresistable?
Sledgehammer-resistable
T.punch-resistable(by will)
Cheap shots-unresistable
flashbangs-resistable (by will)
Here was most common ones you meet during playthrough.Also did i mentioned that this stat has zero correspondive skills?Well if i didnt, now you know.How do we fix those things?Well, devs
already have few ideas, like reducing effects of poison on character but i will say its not enough.First, fix stuns ingame:lets divide all phyical affliction to fortitude and mental ones by
will (wouldnt mind to see new ones such as enrage or fear).Like agility, lacks few things to become viable.

Perception-very simple and common one.Looks inferior to dex(but everything is inferior to it).Would like to see reverse versatility build with per pumps.Also should increase visible parts
of location, since its incredibly stupid that npc further than character with 20 per.

Will-For psi and tanking it (the most annoying part of it) doesnt have much to say about it.Meditate on it on your own.

Intelligence-feels bad to be stupid, but not good enough to be genius.Propose buff to all corresponding feats.
2.Feats
Will cover every feat i think is bad.If i didnt speak about it, it means its ok or i didnt bother to changing numbers around(share your ideas)."*" mean that feat retain its original effect.From the start:

Ninja looter, burglar, interloper,trap expert-mixed into one feats, no one bothers with them while there are on separate, so i decided there are better together to encourage stealty playthrough
without much invest.

Quick pockets*-Once per turn, first changing of weapon or utility will have zero ap cost.

Snooping*-original effect+5 tiles of extra vision to help people see everything.

Armor sloping*-To addition what it does, blades and spikes incure 0 ap on your crafted gear.Blades on armor have separate chance to inflict bleeding, spikes dealing damage to melee attackers(its not part of feat, just how its should be)

All percentage crafting feats-recieve scaling (original base+character base int past the requirement*10% of base value) numbers may vary but i want int characters have they own path of crafting
gamer gear.

Doctor*-reduces ap cost of consumables by 50% stacks additively with doctors belt.

Disassemble*-Disassembling all that stuff let you reverse engineer everything and improve designs by stuffing more stuff in your stuff.Unlocks additional attachment slots to all craftable
stuff.So how it will work?Metal armors will gain ad-
ditional plate or you can craft super pneumatic scoped crossbow.Seems op for some kinds of gear but dont worry i got you covered.
Using of this extra slot will take extra skill, for some gear it will be little, and for some gear it will be huge.Crossbows, headbands, epistols to be precise.
To clarify things i want extra slot in boots for spring and blade combo.Melee weapon will gain choice between extra core or generator.Shield emitters will recieve extra lot for those converters,
amplifiers, you know, that stuff, cant be two of the same tho.

Escape artist-dex requirement replaced with agi one.Is it logical only to me?

Ballistics-your vests gain extra 1 dt for every 30 skillpoints in tailoring.Spec will reduce amount of skillpoints required.

Hypertoxicity*-gains scaling with your biology.1 skill point above requirement will give 1% of extra damage.

Last stand-that more of rework than buff, but i think its buff too.For duration of Last Stand your hp cant go below 1, but you will suffer fatigue and exhaustion for taking any excessive da-
mage.Kinda nutty, yeah?

Salesman,Major supplier-merged in one feat.That was counterintuitive to bring more stuff to sell, but merchant dont have enough money to buy it.Also raise sell price cap on dominating, it
felt bugged.

Evasive maneuvers-will not consume mp, instead once activated turn your distance walked into evasion with same ratio

I didnt cover many feats, but i want to hear your thoughts on other feats, since im bit tired of typing in this wall.

41

Bugs / Random bug report

« on: March 01, 2021, 09:14:56 am »

I'm here to report zome random and unassorted bugs/glitches/oversights I have encountered so far

First: On my MT Chem gunner run, 2 Razors spawned on the Protectorade ship pirate raid. I must note that the last update dropped mid game.

42

Bugs / Minor bug: Bug item at harlan inventory

« on: February 26, 2021, 08:37:15 pm »

It disappears when I try to buy it, so nothing really happens, it's just there.

43

Bugs / Lunatic Mall crash

« on: May 01, 2020, 11:30:19 am »

I was doing my Monk run, was forced to walk away from the Lunatic Mall fight for a moment, but when I reenter the fight, the game shortly crashes afterwards.
Reloaded, crashes.
Reboot game, crashes.
Come back days later, keeps crashing.

I will attach the file to a Google Drive link, will also post the crashlog:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hAzQSfRDPffTl8eG8Ycf_SKUqDIJmBnk

Game Version: 1.1.1.6
Error: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at dx0.a(cjr A_0)
   at dx0.a(Object A_0, EventArgs A_1)
   at dw2.c()
   at dw2.ak5()
   at aba.b(Int32 A_0)
   at ap3.a(Double& A_0)
   at d6g.dl(d8u A_0)
   at ck.dl(d8u A_0)
   at ar5.a(d8u A_0)
   at a0u.Update(GameTime gameTime)
   at dtf.Update(GameTime gameTime)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Tick()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.HostIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameHost.OnIdle()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.RunOneFrame()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.ApplicationIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponent.FDoIdle(Int32 grfidlef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(IntPtr dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(Form mainForm)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.Run()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.RunGame(Boolean useBlockingRun)
   at bqx.a(String[] A_0)

My computer is not exacly powerful so it probably is a performance related issue.

44

Builds / Ultimate hammer guide

« on: January 06, 2020, 08:12:08 am »

Hello, I have come to share my rather encyclopedic guide I have been cooking for some time, depicting my knowledge and experiencie on my 3 hammer runs I have done recently, targeted to both rookies and veterans.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zQSM74I8lvzYsGQzfn19-UXWsWiMTAYnnewBNuN_K38/edit?usp=sharing

Discussion and opinions are greatly encouraged, any observsation or contribution is highly appreciated.

45

Suggestions / Sledgehammer and Psychokinesis hybrid build, feats suggestions and others.

« on: August 29, 2019, 03:34:43 am »

Metal armor, sledgehammer and pure psychokinesis build; also know as: hammer wizard

This is a somewhat rare build I figured out on my own with trial and error, lots of it, yet not many people play it, and I wish for more players to know it.
Now, psychokinesis is nowadays know as an 'utility psi school' (Force Field), and for Psi monks (Force Emission), but people seem to forget how well Psychokinesis scales on a sledge tin can build, specially with Corporeal Projection, due the boosting of STR, telekinetic abilities can become highly damaging, proxy punch combo turning into an one hit combo at range, while doing massive amounts of hurt  up close  with hammers. Lack of mobility is compensated by high CON, high resistances, psychokinesis range attacks, sprint and Force Field cover. It's a very 'turtly' build which I assume people that favour nimble builds won't find specially appealing, which I understand.

To the point, I wish to bring a spotlight to hammer wizard builds by suggesting new feats:

'Telekinetic boost'
Adds bonus mechanical damage to your sledgehammer attacks depending on your effective psychokinesis skills. Basically a hammer version of Force Emission.
At 0 psychokinesis effective skills add 15-30 damage per hammer attack
At 50 psychokinesis effective skills add 40-75 damage per hammer attack
At 100 psychokinesis efffective skills add 85-110 damage per hammer attack, etc
These are all example values and it's open for balancing

It's a toggled ability, like Force Emission.
Every boosted hammer attack would cost 10 Psi, making it a very hard hitting ability but it would burn through psi really fast, which is a good trade off.
When Telekinetic boost is on, the hammer head could glow bright purple, maybe leave a purple trail as it's being swung (aesthetic purpouse, because 'Rule of Cool')

'Telekinetic Slam'
Adds your effective psychokinesis skill as damage to your Super Slam attack. Added telekinetic slam damage can crit.
AP: 30
Psi cost: 50
Same cooldown as Super Slam, and both Super Slam and Telekinetic Slam could have shared cooldowns, if one is used, both enter in cooldown. Same cooldown duration as Super Slam.

Next, I propose a slight change for 'Telekinetic Undulation', which I personally find it underwhelming. Increasing the area of damage of moving Proxy by 1 tile in all directions will make it a mob mowing machine, excellent crowd control, much needed for this build.

Psychostatical electricity has it's uses, but it's fairly niche, it could probably add 2 more electrokinesis bounces, and give electrokinetic imprint a splash damage of 3x3 area for half damage done when triggered, enemies hit by the electric wave won't get stunned, just damaged, like some sort of EMP.

'Bashing' feat could increase sledgehammers stun chance by 15%

Force Field deserves it's own very thread which I wont touch that right now, so I will skip it.

Since it's on topic, I'd like to propose a new sledgehammer unique weapon: 'Thunderstorm'
Unique hammer with electric properties, permanent 'electroshock' damage.
50-100 mechanical damage, 100-150 electrical splash damage.
14 Strenght required.
35 kgs, no durability counter.
No energy needed, electric damage is a natural property of the weapon
Description could give a slight nudge to Norse mythology

Last but not least, our big bad Balor boss, he needs some love, even on DOMINATING he's kind of a pushover if played well.
I propose giving him Sprint ability, Thick Skull and many Adrenalines he could use during combat, to make him an actual very scary late game boss, as he deserves, because he needs to be equally badass as his hammer.

Open for discussion, I want to hear people's opinions about all of this.