Messages

16

Suggestions / Re: New Update

« on: July 22, 2020, 01:32:59 pm »

I will list a couple of things I have thought of. I think you could have psionic schools give anti-synergies instead so that leveling all of them makes them not crit well, forcing you to choose more unevenly. You could apply this to gear to and for example, make it where thought control boosting gear limits your other skills. I think limiting the number of spells you have is still good, but it should be a higher number. You could have 6 empowered spells at 1.5 effectiveness, and the rest at like half their current effectiveness, allowing you to get some combat utility out of them, but not very much, or something, that is one idea which is similar system to the new one. I think the psi reserve change is pretty good because it gives another resource to manage which I think psi needed for balance reasons. I also think doing a will check to see if you miss your psionic attack like other weapons can miss would make a large difference. I think limiting the player to 12 spells or something like that if they invested in both will and int would be good considering the number of spells in the game. You could reduce the critical damage and max damage of certain abilities.
Just a couple of ideas. I think it is not a good way to solve it. Love playing mage in dcss and nethack and stuff and having like 40 spells while having no health or no stealth ability or something is like the whole point in my opinion.

After actually getting to play the update myself, I have to agree it was pretty heavy-handed. As Styg said, it is an ever evolving game. The psi generalist playstyle was too strong and it did need a good nerf, but this update also hit hybrid builds bad too. Those are good ideas, hopefully Styg will take the feedback here on the forums into account in future patches.

17

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #67: Version 1.1.2.0 - Waterways and Psi Update

« on: July 21, 2020, 07:49:31 pm »

Congrats killing PSI characters. Even if it's experimental branch, for even considering these nerfs as credible, be sure i'll pirate all your future games.

RIP UnderRail.

I sincerly hope you'll suffer a painful, slow, agonizing death which will bring you alot of psychological and physical pain Styg. I fucking sincerly hope so.

Its a video game, you'll live.

18

Suggestions / Re: New Update

« on: July 21, 2020, 02:20:49 pm »

Why doe it this way this is boring. I know a lot of crpgs with a lot of spells, they do fine. This is just bad. You can cast like a lot of spells in some crpgs like pathfinder or arcanum. There's way to balance magic/psionics, I can think of plenty. This just removes fun.

You're comparing apples to oranges there.
While we're at it, you mind listing some of the way the psi-rebalance could have been done better?

19

General / Re: New Stygian Software Developer

« on: July 21, 2020, 01:48:08 pm »

Always good to see new devs, give it a few days and I'm sure you'll have plenty of feedback as people explore the new content.

When creating a new area / scenario, are there certain things you always try to do / not do?

20

Suggestions / Re: Alternatives to Lockpicking/Hacking

« on: July 21, 2020, 01:42:54 pm »

One of the CAU psycos breaks lock in Underpassages with chemical puff. Why not made player summon puffs too? Regular acid for locks under 60, rusting acid (not so ready available) for 60+.

Because that still trivializes the lockpick skill. Even if I'm a melee character all I need to do is pickup a chemical pistol (doesn't take long to get one) a now I can open most locks up to mid-game areas.

21

Suggestions / Re: New Update

« on: July 21, 2020, 01:39:04 pm »

That was the problem with pure psi, and to psi in general. You simply have too many options, you have an "out" for every scenario. Pure psi has been known to be disgustingly overpowered for a long time, this update is just bringing it back down to about where it should be.

22

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #67: Version 1.1.2.0 - Waterways and Psi Update

« on: July 21, 2020, 01:33:25 pm »

Improved the start up time for the game

Dang, I was using that time to go grab a snack.

Seems like a great update, can't wait to see the new content.

23

General / Re: Faceless Medallion (Spoilers)

« on: July 17, 2020, 01:16:14 pm »

I've always thought that it was simply a token of gratitude, perhaps one you can present at a later time.

24

Other Games / Re: What games are you playing?

« on: July 13, 2020, 01:51:08 pm »

I played through Divinity Original Sin 2 about a year ago but never touched the first one. Decided to give it a go and I haven't even left the starting area and I've already encountered a broken quest. Cool.

25

Suggestions / Re: Implants Underrail 2

« on: July 13, 2020, 01:49:17 pm »

If we are indeed going to be in Hexagon for Underrail 2, I think it's safe to assume some kind of implants/cybernetics will be available. We could also assume since we'll be in north underrail we will also be able to get to Dis as some point, so we'll have access to all sorts of things.

I think there should more of a gradient type system to implants/cybernetics. For instance, you might spend 30k on a high-end implant that is installed by someone who knows what they are doing. Minimal risk of a botched job, and top-tier performance.

If you're a little pressed for cash but still want an implant, there are still options. You might go to "a guy" someone knows who'll do it for cheap. One-thousand, he says. In this scenario you're dealing with an amateur and sub-standard equipment. It's possible everything goes well and you get a small boon, but it is a dice roll on whether or not you get injured, or even killed in the process.

Of course within the two extremes there are also plenty of options. Reputable dealers and installers who offer quality upgrades. They typically run in the 5 - 15k range.

You'd also have to carefully decide on what implants/cybernetics you get. If you spring for the higer quality parts and installers, you can get away with becoming half-machine. If you skimp out, your body may only be able to take being hacked apart once or twice, depending on constitution.

26

Suggestions / Re: Damage cap on final boss

« on: July 12, 2020, 02:48:35 am »

...and then you Aimed Shot him next turn and he dies.

To me, it seems like the tanks and puzzle are there to make the fight easier if you just can't out right kill him.

27

Suggestions / Re: Alternatives to Lockpicking/Hacking

« on: July 09, 2020, 09:22:01 pm »

I have also thought about this, and it's an easy rabbit hole to fall into. I'm all for more variety, but you have to cut it off somewhere. You also have to be careful to not trivialize existing skills in the process.

Without going down an endless rabbit hole, there are two new methods I would be in favor of. One, as you mention, could be a strength check. This could scale with the required lockpick / hack to open.

Another one might be sacrificing a grenade to try and blow the container open as sort of a last ditch effort. Though something like this is prone to abuse by save-scumming.

Someone, and I apologize for not remembering, in the discord suggested the query of what if there were explosives in the container? I argued, why not, part of the benefit of having something like lockpicking or hacking can be that you don't have that kind of a risk. A major benefit of taking them as skills is that they're not only stealthy, but far, far safer than their alternative options. An explosive entry could detonate something and blow up in your face, an electric one could fry you alive like a downed power cable, chemical could destroy the container and leave it as a giant sputtering puddle of acid.

There's a lot of ways you could theoretically balance the alternatives to make them not so clear-cut appealing. They exist in my hypothetical mind more as ways to diversify builds and allow more interesting interactions with the world than they do to remove the power or validity of lockpicking/hacking.

It is an interesting way to allow for build that do not take lockpicking / hacking to still have a go at it. But again, you have to be very careful as to not step on the value of those skills in doing so, which may be impossible. If you allow the player to still open containers without having the appropriate skill, you inherently diminish the value of that skill.

Lets say for example that a crate needs 100 lockpick to open, but I don't have a single point in lockpick. I decide to use a carefully placed grenade to blast it open. Unbeknownst to me, the crate contained a cache of MK III Plasma Grenades and I get turned to ash. Let's also say for argument's sake that for any given lockpick / hacking requirement, the difficulty of "forcing" open a container increases.

So, for the 100 lockpick crate I just mentioned that difficulty might be somewhere around 30% chance to open, with the other 70% being that the contents of the crate are destroyed. For the more difficult hacks and lockpicks (130) the fail percentage could be as high as 95%, or maybe more.

However

All of this is meaningless due to the nature of the game. What is stopping me from reloading over and over again until I don't fail? By doing this, it is possible I open every container in the game without having a single point in lockpick or hacking, rendering them worthless.

You can say "Well then just don't abuse it" or "People won't do that". While I personally would not abuse it, the fact of the matter is that it opens the avenue to cheesing all containers and making two skills useless.

The only way to stop this would be if Underrail pre-rolled all your chances the second you started a run. Even so, you still get to open containers you otherwise would not have been able to, diminishing the value of lockpick / hacking significantly.

With all of that in mind, I would not be in favor of a system like this unless Underrail got a complete overhaul in how it handles lockpicking / hacking and save-scumming.

28

Site Feedback & Suggestions / Guides Section?

« on: July 08, 2020, 06:02:45 pm »

How about a dedicated Guides section to the forum? There are many knowledgeable people here that would perhaps like to write one. As it is, things of this nature would probably be posted in General as the catch-all.

That's all there is to my suggestion, just have a central place here on the forums where text guides can be placed.

29

Bugs / Re: Crawler bug

« on: July 08, 2020, 05:30:20 pm »

Let me also expand detail ways to detect them since I alluded to it and you seem to need the help;

It may be worth also detailing the stealth system a bit to start.
It actually works the same way both for the player and NPCs. It's not a raw check of your detection vs their stealth, there are factors that play into it and it comes in a gradient.

In the same way that NPCs will have the eye above them that goes from green to red, you essentially do the same thing to them. Even though you may not have the detection to see them from far away, you can often "perceive" them. Think of "perceiving" something as being that orange eye. You are pretty sure something is there, but you aren't 100%. When you "perceive" something, it will actually show up as a dark outline of whatever it is, so if you're careful you can "spot" death stalkers / crawlers without actually outright revealing them.

This is actually really useful because in this state (provided they also don't detect you) the NPC won't start combat, giving you the drop on them.

Another factor is facing. If I am facing forward and looking toward the rear-end of a stealthed Death Stalker, I'll detect it much more easily. The opposite is also true. If I am facing away from the Death Stalker and it is looking right at me, I will most likely be taken by complete surprise, even with high PER.

Lastly, time. The longer you sit still and observe an area the better you may be able to detect things around you. If you suspect a stealthed enemy, slowly approach and wait a while. Remember how stealth works the same for you and NPCs? Waiting a bit allows that eye to fill up and possibly go to the next level.

So now on to how to detect Death Stalkers.

Should the above method fail you, there are still many options.

If you suspect a Crawler / Death Stalker at a certain spot (or you know its there but cant see it) simply toss a flair or your explosive of choice over there. Any throwable (minus throwing knives) works for this. I have found that Molotovs, Nail Grenades, and Stingball grenades work really well for this purpose.

You can also bait them into a trap. See, Death Stalkers and Crawlers are just stupid bugs and will happily walk over damn near any trap, even caltrops. Set your trap of choice (preferably at a chokepoint) make some noise, then wait for the stupid little bugger to walk into it.

If you're a real Alpha-Chad, you can even Yell them out of stealth. Way cool.

If you get stung and it goes through, don't panic. If its a crawler, simply take an antidote and go after it.
If its a Death Stalker you'll need to act quickly. The animation that plays after they sting you isn't really indicative of what happens. It seems to imply that the creature is gone, but what they really do is restealth right in front of you. With that in mind you can try and locate the Death Stalker before you are stunned.

You can make your best effort via employing the methods above, or even attempt to bump into it as I am prone to doing. If you don't like your chances of finding it, run as far away as you can (if you have really high MP maybe dial it back a bit) and get into a chokepoint. Most of the time the DS will not reach you until after you recover from the stun, often times being right in front of you or really close. Simply walk forward and BAM, Death Stalker!

That's kind of a meme-tier way to do it and it doesn't really work on groups of them so your results may vary.

I hope this is helpful to you and any other new players that may be having trouble with the creepy crawlies.

30

Bugs / Re: Dude/The Juice softlock?

« on: July 08, 2020, 01:58:19 pm »

Maybe dude should get a dialogue telling the player they need to go through the rift now, or just some way to let them know that they are only getting that one bottle of juice until they come back from the rift.