Topics

1

General / Any chance for the current stable to remain as a playable branch after patch?

« on: August 17, 2020, 06:04:52 pm »

Given somewhat mixed reaction to the psion re-balance patch (I personally love it, but opinions differ and all) and given that most distribution platform have options for multiply branches (that's how we have stable and experimental on steam):

Is there a chance current stable will remain available as a playable branch after the next patch is deployed?

2

General / Crafting of new "Psi inhalant" consumable discussion.

« on: July 23, 2020, 10:53:41 am »

I've played a few hours in the newest experimental now, and I still haven't seen the Psi inhalant blueprint for sale.
So who exactly sells blueprint for new Psi inhalant?

3

Suggestions / Make Neurovisual Disruption actually useful.

« on: December 04, 2019, 09:33:54 am »

Neurovisual Disruption is completely redundant right now: anything it can do, mental breakdown can do better.

A simple fix here would be to make Neurovisual Disruption a non-hostile action (unlike mental breakdown).

4

General / Thoughts on 5/5 spec'ed disassemble.

« on: December 01, 2019, 09:28:50 am »

I did some tests recently, and fully specialized (takes 5 specialization points) disassemble seems to work exactly as advertised: you can disassemble items without any quality loss.

Assuming you spec it as your first feat (so get it done as early as level 20), this has some really interesting implications:
1) all repairs for items you can disassemble are now essentially free (this includes repairs just to get max value when selling items)
2) you can adjust your equipment on the fly in the field: turn shield with low dissipation into shield with high capacity, change it's frequency, etc. Swap out mods on a weapon. Adjust psi-headband for different schools and abilities. Etc.
3) you can use high quality components to craft decent gear right away even if you don't have good components for all slots. As better components become available, you just swap them in.
4) even before you've fully spec'ed it, disassemble is really good for getting high value from selling loot (you can repair for free, assemble higher value items, change item types when vendor requires it and sell components when vendor refuses to buy crafted item).

Thoughts?

5

Bugs / Gauntlet might be a bit broken when using stasis.

« on: August 27, 2019, 07:36:07 pm »

As in, completely:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/473184081

You can get to the final section last, Stasis the electro wave and walk out a winner.

6

Bugs / Using electrokinetic imprint on a different trap triggers the trap on YOU.

« on: August 04, 2019, 10:52:11 am »

To clarify: the problem is NOT that the trap is getting triggered by placing electrokinetic imprint under it, the problem is that the effect of the trap is applied to the players character even when you are standing well outside the traps normal area of effect.

So far I've seen this happen with acid blob trap (you get acid entangled even when triggering from the other end of the corridor) and with spiders webs.

7

General / PSA: 4-turns forcefield + stasis + LTI with 2 turns cooldown = untouchable.

« on: August 04, 2019, 04:10:23 am »

Just saying.
I mean, I know psions are OP, but this is literally infinite invulnerability combo.
Put FF (force field, lasts 4 turns with force user) and LTI (Limited Temporal Increment) 3 times while it's active (on the turn you put it down, two turns later and on the turn it expires).
Then staisis yourself. When you come out of stasis, FF is off cooldown.
Repeat indefinitely.

8

General / Limited Temporal Increment is overpowered as hell. Just saying.

« on: July 29, 2019, 08:51:02 am »

Enjoyed that telekinetic proxy running over all of you? Here, let me make it do that again.
Psi booster with 2 turns cooldown? Yes, please.
Consumables have cooldowns much longer than their effect? No longer the case.
Force field that is active 6-7 turns out of each 8? Sign me up!
Locus of Cotrol -> Enrage spam every 7-ish turns? Don't mind if I do.
Etc, etc.

9

General / So when exactly will Expediton be released?

« on: July 21, 2019, 08:49:23 pm »

Midnight tonight?
Noon tomorrow?
Midnight tomorrow?

10

General / High initiative build (Expedition) feels really broken. Am I missing something?

« on: July 18, 2019, 12:45:54 am »

So, let's see:
At level 2 you can have:
Paranoia (+ 5 initiative)
Trigger happy (+ 7 initiative)
Gunslinger (+ 7 initiative)

With some dexterity and agility, that's easy 40+ initiative.
What exactly at this point prevents you from just taking a 10AP-or-less attack, leaving the zone, coming back, taking another 10AP-or-less attack, leaving again, etc, etc?

Seems completely foolproof and unbeatable to me. The -10 initiative penalty is still not enough to make you lose any initiative rolls. Slap another +5 from root soda if the need be. And you can get initiative even higher with specialization points.

11

Suggestions / Blocking doorways with immobilized enemies should really be looked at.

« on: March 24, 2019, 11:19:47 am »

At least on DOMINATING.

The problem: by using a combination of root/stun/incapacitate/freeze on an enemy in the doorway, player can effectively prevent ANY number of enemies from being able to attack in ANY way because they can't get pass the immobilized target in the doorway. However, since there are no readied actions or overwatch mechanic, the player is still perfectly able to attack the enemies (by going into line of sight at the start of the turn and hiding behind cover at the end of the turn). This effectively makes player invulnerable.

Why this is really bad: with proper rotation of immobilization effects (most easily achieved by psion or trapper, but practically any build can pull it off to some degree), there is no limit to how long you can keep the doorway choked, or how many enemies you can control this way. Having a single target permanently immobilized is already somewhat of an issue, but the REAL problem is that it effectively makes it so that immobilizing ONE enemy is the same as immobilizing ALL of them. This makes combat hilariously easy and risk-free even of dominating.

Potential solutions:
1) Give all mobs an ability to push immobilized targets, give mobs capable of advanced item manipulation (those that can open doors) an ability to switch places with immobilized targets. Something like 20 AP action to push/switch places with a target of smaller size (human pushing a dog, etc), 50 AP with a with a target of the same size (human pushing human) and impossible with target that is much larger/heavier (human vs industrial bot). Maybe only enable this on higher difficulties (looking at you, dominating).
2) Improve mobs AI to the point where they don't fall for that (seems extremely unlikely to be actually possible to code, but theoretically it would work).
3) Remove choke-points from most maps or make enemies capable of taking down walls (another unlikely solution because this would require a great amount go map re-design).

P.S. While we are at it, force field also needs to be looked at for similar reasons, see: https://steamcommunity.com/app/250520/discussions/0/1744480967004247900/

12

General / Why exactly 95% accuracy cap is a thing?

« on: March 05, 2019, 01:20:36 am »

From a game-balance perspective, why exactly do "normal" weapons need a 95% accuracy cap? How this benefits game-play?

Don't get me wrong, I know automatic hits/misses on 1 and 20 on d20 are a time-honored tradition in d&d (and d20 systems in general), but in single player games (with reloads) these caps have been cycled out for a very good reason: they neither make much sense (why should a sniper who is taking a shot from stealth with all the time in the world to line the shot miss 5% of the time?!) nor add much to the game-play (because, in practice, that's just an instant save reload if that shot was of critical importance). It's even more bizarre knowing that psions suffer from no such cap, so it's rather clear that game-mechanics at large are not somehow "broken" by attacks having 100% to-hit chance.

Even in XCOM franchise (games widely known for having very harsh and unforgiving %-chance-based gameplay) caps are not imposed on accuracy: if you CAN get your hit-chance to 100%, you don't miss, ever.

TL;DR: it seems like 95% accuracy cap on normal weapons (especially on the opening shot from stealth) is either doing nothing (because players just instantly reload) or, assuming a player is trying to limit the number of reloads, it disproportionately benefits psions and punishes everyone else.

13

Bugs / Wearing Rathound Regalia turning Hathor _permanently_ hostile feels like a bug.

« on: January 11, 2019, 01:50:10 am »

I understand the intent here (guard mistaking you for the rathound king and attacking), but the fact that they REMAIN PERMANENTLY hostile even if you quietly disengage (without harming anyone) and come back later via a boat (without the regalia) just feels like an oversight.

14

Let's Plays / Checking out Expedition as permadeath pure psion. [ DOMINATING ]

« on: December 25, 2018, 07:18:04 pm »

Welp, Expedition has finally arrived, so it's high time fore another permadeath run.
Going in blind (Well, blind to the DLC content, anyway).
https://www.twitch.tv/ouroboroses

15

Suggestions / "Doctor" vs "Fast Metabolism". Buff Doctor slightly maybe?

« on: December 03, 2018, 12:11:13 am »

There are two feats that do almost exactly the same thing: "Doctor" and "Fast Metabolism".
Both add +25% to healing effects. Since effects stack, there is no inherent problem with the fact several feats like that exist.
However, as of right now, "Fast Metabolism" is just plain better most of the time: it effects more things (i.e. healing from healing vest is also effected) and, on top of that, it also boosts you psi points recovery from psi booster.
Doctor, on the other hand, only allows you to use bandages under 40% health: useful, but hardly actually game-changing, because it still only works out of combat. And out of combat you might as well wait for hypo cool-down.

So I was thinking: let's, maybe, buff "Doctor" a bit? Say, make it also double the range where natural regeneration kicks in (out of combat): from 85%+ of HP to 70%+ of HP. That way "Fast Metabolism" will still be better for in-combat healing, but doctor will have a more clearly defined niche (resource-efficient out-of-combat healing).