Topics

1

Bugs / Electrokinetic Imprint targeting routine

« on: January 13, 2016, 01:49:13 am »

When Electrokinetic Imprint is invoked on an invalid target, such as a tile that is occupied, the character does the casting animation; the Psi points get deducted; the Action Points get deducted; red error text tells you what you did wrong; and no Electrokinetic Imprint is produced.

It would be better if the targeting cursor toggled for tiles that are invalid. This is already the case when trying to invoke Bilocation (requires a human target) on a robot, or invoking Force Field (requires unoccupied location) on an occupied tile.

Even better would be if the balloon help for Electrokinetic Imprint used the same wording as Force Field:

on the designated unoccupied location

rather than its current wording:

at the target location

2

Bugs / Pickpocketing destructibles

« on: January 12, 2016, 07:31:36 am »

Several destructible objects can be pickpocketed:

• they have the red hand cursor
• they show the pickpocketing progress bar
• they show the loot window (some objects show it only momentarily).

They include:

• security cameras
• rocks
• a Wall in GMS compound
• a Flimsy Shack

3

Suggestions / flag Dog Crate as a Utility

« on: January 12, 2016, 05:50:58 am »

Probably the earliest encounter a new player has with Utility slot items is Bret's Hopper Roundup. Taking a bunch of Throwing Nets and Dog Crates out into the field, the player finds they can activate them by right-clicking them. The Throwing Net can be equipped in a Utility slot. Mysteriously, the Dog Crate can't. Instead, the player needs to keep the Inventory window open while chasing Hoppers. This can occupy a significant proportion of the Underrail window at minimum resolution.

If the Dog Crate were flagged as a Utility item, it could go in a slot beside the Throwing Net leading to a much more streamlined experience.

4

Suggestions / More transparent mechanics

« on: January 09, 2016, 11:39:41 am »

Detection
At the moment my character has Perception 8 with a +1 goggles. I keep coming across goggles in shops with +40% detection. I don't know which one is better for detecting mines, Lurkers, hidden passageways, etc. Does it simply come down to looking at the Combat Stats page and comparing "Detection" while swapping gear? Or are there other things changing at the same time?

Shields
Energy shields have a lot of attributes. Capacity is self-explanatory, but Conversion is a bit mysterious, Dissipation makes sense, and the Shielding block baffled me until I found this explanation page. Is there any way of educating the player about this unobtrusively?

Armor penalty
This seems to reduce my Movement points. Does it affect anything else? How does the player know what it applies to?

Skills training qualifications
When asking the SGS trainers to teach a technique, it seems that it's the base number of skillpoints invested in the skill from levelups that matters; wearing a +8 headband and having oodles of synergy won't impress the tutors. Not such a big deal, but it did have me scratching my head why they were refusing to train me when my character sheet said my effective ability was sufficient.

Surprisingly, I can equip various firearms which have Strength and Skill requirements both of which I fail to meet. This might be a bug; it might be fixed in a patch; it might be more mechanics I haven't understood yet.

Items
From its description, it seems the Dog Crate can capture a number of small critters. I have frequently tried to use it to capture a Dog on multiple maps, first by netting it or incapacitating it, and the capture keeps failing. I'm hoping to have my very own Dogmeat, even if I have to carry him in a can. Am I missing something here? Or are Dog Crates programmed to be incapable of capturing eponymous Dogs? If so, please could the crate be renamed to Hopper Crate?

5

Suggestions / Tolerant patchers

« on: January 07, 2016, 02:01:12 pm »

I am using GOG's version of Underrail (partly because I find "achievements" such as Steam has very discouraging; they put me off playing).

The installer file is named "setup_underrail_2.0.0.2.exe"

C:\Games\GOG\UnderRail\underrail.exe / File / Properties / Details / File Version says "0.1.0.0"

Within the game, the splash screen shows in the bottom left corner "Version: 1.0.0.0"


GOG has only one patcher I can download.

GOG displays it as "PATCH 1.0.0.7"

The downloaded patcher is named "patch_underrail_2.2.1.5.exe"

Running it displays an error:

Update 2.2.1.5 for UnderRail

This patch does not support your version of the game
please download a new installer

I don't have enough download quota to (re)download the full installer for version patches.


My suggestions would be:

• standardise the version numbers so that one version of the product deployment presents one consistent version number on the splash screen, Properties, installer, Start Menu, and everywhere else
• provide patchers that can accept any existing commercial version of an installation and update it to the patch's version

6

Suggestions / Screenshot feature

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:53:25 pm »

At the moment, using Alt-Printscreen in Windowed mode works (albeit with the Windows border). Printscreen in fullscreen mode just produces a black rectangle in the clipboard.

It would be really nice if hitting Printscreen (or a customisable key) within the game automatically saved a PNG to "C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Games\Underrail\screens" as a feature built into Underrail itself.

Maybe the Steam client does this (externally) for Steam customers. I'm using the GOG installation (partly because I find "achievements" such as Steam has very discouraging; they put me off playing). The GOG installation doesn't seem to have this ability.

7

Suggestions / Edge scrolling toggle (done!)

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:32:52 pm »

Please provide a toggle in the GUI that disables edge-scrolling.

I play Underrail in Windowed mode (because that is the only way I can take screenshots).

In Windowed mode, I cannot just slam the cursor against the edge of the display and have the viewport moved because the edge of the display is well beyond the Underrail window bounds: ie edge scrolling is not useful in Windowed mode. There are already keys and right-drag options to scroll the viewport anyway.

Whenever I move my cursor to the taskbar to select another program, this triggers a momentary scroll as my cursor flies over the Underrail window border. This is annoying if I was setting up for a screenshot of a particular area.

A GUI toggle that dis/enables edge scrolling would be fantastic.

Edit: changed thread topic only.

8

Suggestions / Interacting with computers breaks stealth (was: Touch Typing feat)

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:22:06 pm »

At the moment, when a stealth / hacker character access a computer terminal, they pop out of stealth. Maybe this is because they are a one-finger-typist who needs to see their hands to type. Maybe it's because although there are Psi Mentors that can do neural imprinting, there's no neural interfacing to regular computer terminals. Maybe it's because all computer terminals require the user to hold still for a retinal scan before getting even basic access. Maybe it's just that computer use is mechanically implemented as dialogue and dialogue deactivates stealth.

Be that as it may, it would be cool to introduce a feat that allows the player to interact with a computer terminal while maintaining stealth.

Edit: changed threat topic only.