Messages

1

General / Re: Stealing from Ray's Shop

« on: November 05, 2019, 09:28:38 am »

I managed to steal a freighter and another jet-ski from the dock without turning Core city or Ray hostile before he opened his shop, but now (many hours later) when I enter the zone and go anywhere near his shop combat log states that camera spotted me and everyone turns hostile, even if I go stand in a corner where no camera can spot me. It is not instant, i have time to go and talk to Ray but don't have time to shop. I think its a bug so beware if you wanna try stealing something from him.

2

Builds / Re: Strength and Evasion are underwhelming

« on: November 05, 2019, 08:32:30 am »

,

Also, Premeditation + Forcefield / Stasis / Imprint is too powerful, you basically have 3-4 turns before enemies can do anything, almost negating the need for any defense, especially unreliable one, even on dominating.

Bit off-topic and kinda unfair to put psi on calculation since we all know how balanced Psi rn

Don't think it is off-topic, I was trying to just point out how for less skill and stat points you can have a reliable defense, they are not exclusive to specific builds.

3

Builds / Re: Strength and Evasion are underwhelming

« on: November 05, 2019, 08:03:27 am »

I agree with OP. I think all rng-based defenses are terrible. Explosion protection, just put some points in traps and enemies won't throw grenades at you if you LOS them. And even on normal you can't really just sit in the middle of an enemy group with absolute faith that Evasion is going to save you. It's an extremely unreliable clutch when you make a mistake, for 160 skill points. Dodge at least has nice feats and a way to guarantee 100% success. Also, Premeditation + Forcefield / Stasis / Imprint is too powerful, you basically have 3-4 turns before enemies can do anything, almost negating the need for any defense, especially unreliable one, even on dominating.

Strenght bonus is additive with weapon skill bonus for all weapons except pure unarmed. 16STR bonus for sledgehammer is not 80%, it's ~20%. And while I think that STR is a better option for sledgehammer it has more to do with stat distribution and weapon and feat requirements, if I could dump strenght I would.

4

Builds / Re: Any suggestions for a 10 CON stealth knife/utility build?

« on: November 03, 2019, 05:39:58 pm »

10 CON for feats or just tank? SI or no? You should probably go with combat gloves and knives and you will have no major problems, the last boss could be a little tricky, a couple of fights in expansion. You should probably go pirates and ignore savages completely.

5

Builds / Re: Are snipers just terrible?

« on: November 03, 2019, 11:51:33 am »

I was planing for Psychosis+Cryokinetic Orb as a backup or to compliment Thermodynamic Destabilization when enemies are spread out, the damage would not be too far behind pure PSI build, and it's just cool thing to do from time to time.

But Tranquility would be better and make early/mid game easier instead of much harder. It just went under the radar for me, I have big and not really justified preference for Psychosis PSI. I'm gonna go that route, thanks.

6

Builds / Re: Are snipers just terrible?

« on: November 02, 2019, 10:40:15 pm »

https://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgUHAwMMCgbCoEgAAAAAwqBTRwAZUlIoRghLLcKgRgAATSsxASwWKjUwfsKHAiFLM2XCpMK1wrjCnOKnvgrisZYE378

This is the current plan. Quick tinkering, Grenadier, Premeditation and LoC for utility/control, all relevant sniper feats, 100% crit with Ambush. I also went with Psionic Mania and Empowered Metathermatics for great nuking potential.

Problems are really tight skill points, I have to take Psychosis at level 2 and that really sucks, have no idea how reliable just 140 Thought control is and do I need to drop hacking or something else to bring it up a little. Played 135 TC tin-can before expansion but I got bored with it before DC but if memory serves it was 100% successful up to that point.

I could just abandon Psychosis/Empowered Methatermatics but I really like the idea.

A little scared of the mid-game, all builds i played on dominating could kill/cc significantly more enemies per round at that point, and after using Temporal Contraction I cant Premeditation-Forcefield myself up to a wall when I make a mistake or have bad rng thanks to LVL 2 Psychosis, at least not until Philosophy II.

7

Builds / Re: crossbow/shotgun build advice

« on: November 01, 2019, 01:24:28 am »

Have no experience with shotguns so take this with a grain of salt.

You can drop agility to 3 if you go 55 in Temporal Manipulation. Raise DEX to 7 for Grenadier and Quick Thinkering. Last two points probably into STR for Full-auto (not sure how good auto shotguns are).

You are just going to use special bolts with the crossbow and I don't think elemental damage scales with weapon skill, so you should be fine with Versatility and maxed guns skill if you don't attack from far away so accuracy becomes an issue. You still need 75 crossbow skill for feats.

You don't really need tailoring, you can buy great tabi boots and use Rathound/Phantom Dancer armor. Only go tailoring if you want a 100% crit chance with CON 9 and SI. You can safely skip biology with this build.

Trowing is always useful, place as much as you can up to, if I remember correctly, 123 effective skill for 90% accuracy 10 titles away.

Quick thinking, Grenadier, Premeditation, Increase Perception, Psycho-Temporal acceleration, and Versatility
For crossbow - Deadly snares, Marksman, Elemental Bolts and Critical power are core feats, Bowyer another great damage increase if you have free feats. Special Tactics is also really nice, you can stun 2 enemies with it and Premeditation+Electrokinesis for free. You can skip Aimed Shot.

No experience with shotguns so can't help you there. You probably need high volume, big spread shotgun to take care of spiders and similar enemies that can't be trapped or to finish up groups softened with grenades.

You also have some melee options like Expose weakness

8

Builds / Re: Are snipers just terrible?

« on: November 01, 2019, 12:07:02 am »

What and where

This thing: https://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Vanishing_Powder_Grenade

That is awesome.

Back to topic, Temporal specialization is a redeeming factor but I still think that snipers really need a significant buff. Gonna start PSI Sniper on dominating, it will be a fun and capable build but compared to the current state of light weapons and crossbows they are just miles behind. Not sure should I just drop AGI to 3, with forcefield and stasis I can remain pretty stationary and never have to shoot after moving. AA scope or Smart Module for Aimed Shot (Critical power?). What about Cryogenic Induction? Pacifier seems like a good headgear choice for this, not sure.

9

Builds / Re: Are snipers just terrible?

« on: October 31, 2019, 09:50:47 pm »

You can shoot a Rapid 7.62 Spearhead three times if you have Psycho-temporal Acceleration fully specialized (so Psycho-temporal Contraction gives you 22 action points)

Totally missed this, huge difference, thanks

The latest 1.1.1.0 update actually added an item that can instantly restealth you, even when you're visible to enemies, so escaping is easier than ever before.

What and where

10

Builds / Re: Are snipers just terrible?

« on: October 31, 2019, 12:12:00 pm »

I don't think you can fire 3 times without Psycho-temporal Contraction and Adrenaline shot which gives you 4 turns of fatigue after it ends so it's not something you can use all the time.

You can one-shot everything with a proper elemental bolt with a crossbow on dominating, with laser pistols it easy to stack crit to 100% with insane multiplier and good damage from intelligence, and even if they don't kill in one shot they will in two. 9mm Chimera with AA scope and Muzzle can mow down half the map if you get lucky.

They are definitely not in the same tier as other weapons, and I would even argue that some weapons are in the same tier as PSI since Expedition.

They really didn't receive any meaningful buff with expansion, Psycho-temporal Contraction does not give them more shots, they didn't receive OP belt like Bolt Quiver, specialization points don't really give them a meaningful damage boost they already one-shot everything, they don't really benefit from Versatility specialization and higher stats like light weapons, etc. They even have a strength requirement.

Sniper/Shotgun does sound nice, I am going to try that. Maybe PSI/Sniper for some shenanigans with Thermodynamic Destabilization. I know it can work, I just think it was left really far behind and need a serious buff.

11

Builds / Are snipers just terrible?

« on: October 31, 2019, 12:22:56 am »

Huge damage per shot is nice, but when you can fire only 2 shots even with Psycho-temporal Contraction that just translates into 2 dead enemies per round and a lot of waste overflow damage.
Elemental crossbow, SMG, SI pistols, etc all do one-shot (or one burst) one-kill but attack 6+ times per round. And even against really tough enemies sniper is bad, who cares if sniper bullet does 20x more damage when SMG can fire 60 of them per round. Ammo efficiency is nice, and SMG is an economic burden to play on dominating for most of the game, but that still does not make sniper good or even decent.

And I can't even see them as a good second or backup weapon, maybe for assault rifle but you really want two of them, one low AP to proc commando and one high caliber monster.

Any redeeming qualities I am missing?

12

Builds / Re: Crossbow Dominating Build (without Aimed shot and snipe)

« on: October 30, 2019, 11:03:22 pm »

Thanks for the reply but it did come late already finished a dominating run inspired by your build but I went SI route for 100% crit all the time with Sharpshooter and Blindsiding for maximum damage alpha strike. Thank you for opening my eyes to the majestic power of elemental bolts, this was something is wanted to do since dominating came out just wasn't sure how will it perform.

13

Builds / Re: Need opinion/criticism on my psi-monk build

« on: October 30, 2019, 10:13:33 am »

Going no stealth + classic would force me to engage every encounter I see, the only reprieve to encounters would be people I can do persuasion on. What made my smg/stealth playthrough easier was probably how I managed to sneak my way past encounters (that double statue guardian in one of those expedition sites for instance).

I suppose it also made the game longer considering I didn't take the feat that lets you move a little quicker in stealth, overall I probably just want to experience the thrill of being on your toes during combat like depot a did for me. I'm sorta looking for variety this time.

I am not even sure you can finish the game with that build on hard, but I can guarantee you it cant finish dominating. Even on normal you would have issues, just think of some harder fights you did with SMG and how much harder they would be if you could not position yourself properly, and there are more enemies on hard and their AI is better.

So those 2 statue guardians are now 3 statue guardians that can one-shot you half a screen away, and you probably can't kill more than one per round.

14

Builds / Re: Need opinion/criticism on my psi-monk build

« on: October 29, 2019, 11:57:18 am »

I don't have much experience with melee or hard difficulty, but I did play a lot of SMG on dominating.

Don't skip stealth. Even with the high initiative, you will not go first always, also even when you do what good will it be when a sniper sees you whole screen away. It is an invaluable positioning tool for close-range fighters.  You are paper-thin and while your damage will be good it won't reach SMG levels, fights will last longer. You don't want to take shots at the start, your energy shield cant pull that much weight. There are many fights in the game where you are up against multiple PSI users and if you don't take them out quickly they will put up their defensive spells and are more than capable of one-shotting you.

Also with stealth, you could drop agility to 6, or even to 3 but can't really recommend it because I have no experience with damage output with this build on hard difficulty. With Tabis and Phantom Dancer (+ Temporal, Sprint) you have enough movement points. Don't forget that instead of running for cover you can wall yourself off with Forcefield or cast Stasis on yourself. Force User is actually bad for this, 2 turns duration on Forcefield is just enough for enemies to nicely group together and for you to still have your buffs. You can stealth with agility 3 even on dominating.

Dodge is nice for feats, Uncanny dodge is great as well as Escape artist. As for Evasion, I think it is just bad. You have your energy shield to protect you against small caliber and automatic weapons when necessary, so it just comes down to a hail marry roll of the dice if that sniper is going to miss you, and you should not be putting yourself in that situation, or count on that in your strategy. Protection from explosives is nice but you could just put some of that points into Traps skill to detect them.

15

Builds / Re: A discussion on a few melee builds

« on: October 23, 2019, 05:37:05 am »

3) I think you have a little more HP with 3 CON at 100% than 9 CON at 30%
4) You just don't have enough PSI to make it work, and no PSI gear (reduction costs, etc). You really don't have 35 PSI points to spend every other round, since you will probably burn everything at the start of the fight, also better things to do with 10 AP. Limited Temporal Increment is really useful in certain situations but you will not use it on every CD even without Future Orientation.