Messages

1

Builds / Re: A discussion on a few melee builds

« on: October 23, 2019, 02:31:20 pm »

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.

I see, that's make sense, I'll adjust accordingly for my next run, thanks.

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Builds / Re: A discussion on a few melee builds

« on: October 22, 2019, 08:43:22 pm »

Good topic! I have a few questions about spear and melee in general:

1) Yes
2) Not sure, probably DEX
3) You are mostly safe with 30% hp through the game, it really depends on armor&shield and what you are fighting.
4) You don't need it but it is the best feat in the game. Place 45 points in Psychokinesis for stuns. Future orientation is a waste, all it does is give you 10 more AP total if the fight lasts 5-7 turns.

3) I meant actual HP, was thinking if 3 con "melee" is feasible or not...in DOMINATING 
4) I could only see it if I'm going mostly or pure psi but if I'm mainly going to cast Psycho-temporal Contraction(no AP req.) and Limited Temporal Increment (5 AP..) then Premeditation wouldn't be that good..but then again I was planning to get stuns from Psychokinesis so I'll take it, I'm thinking in situations where I don't have any AP or "mana" this feat will come in handy. About Future orientation, can elaborate more? this feat+5 SP (only -1 cooldown) looks very good to me? cuz with Limited Temporal Increment (universal -1 cooldown) this feat will indirectly reduce cooldown of everything else not just for TM.

3

Builds / Re: A discussion on a few melee builds

« on: October 21, 2019, 09:42:25 pm »

Good topic! I have a few questions about spear and melee in general:
1- Can you melee tin-can at 95% AP, relying solely on sprint+Psycho-temporal Contraction?
I was disappointed to find out only Super steel can reliably be crafted with armor slopping, 99% of the time I just let enemies waste their AP coming to me anyway.

2- Which is better for Spear DEX or STR?
I've been theorycrafting hard for a couple days now and I'm leaning towards DEX.

3- Whats the lowest comfortable Health threshold with Metal armor you can play with in DOMINATING?
I found out you really don't need that much health when your armor and shield absorb all/most the damage (except those m@#@&f@#% psi).

4- Do you really need Premeditation if you only gonna use TM and maybe force field? is psi regeneration really tight even with booster?
I'm thinking of getting  Future Orientation too, but I don't know how the psi economy will look like once I have all the abilities in action.

4

Suggestions / Re: Feat: Fend is Flawed

« on: October 14, 2019, 07:59:45 pm »

The reason it has a cost is because the potential of achieving 100% block chance which is reasonable, but here is the issue.. if you can't have it "all the time" then you really don't have 100% block chance...very misleading , the fact that it's buff (you need the initiative, this is true even for the normal spear guard) and has an AP cost (while others blocks don't for the "same chance"), makes it much worse.

I think the devs wanted it to work along side Riot Shield, but even then, just stick with normal spear guard and save yourself a feat.

5

Suggestions / Feat: Fend is Flawed

« on: October 12, 2019, 12:09:11 am »

Currently using Fend(Spear Guard) is actually disadvantageous compared to Attack(Spear Guard), simply because you can't maintain 100% uptime of Fend(Spear Guard) and you can't override it with Attack(Spear Guard).

"Math" using my character stats (assuming 100% Block chance, 1 melee hit):
Attack(Spear Guard):
16 Blocked Amount * 95% uptime (Based on melee hit chance) = 15.2 Blocked damage per turn.
Fend(Spear Guard):
40 Blocked Amount + 50% uptime (maintained every other turn ==> (100% Block chance+0% Block chance)/2*100% activation rate)) = 40 * 50% * 1= 20 Blocked damage on average.

As you can see Fend(Spear Guard) only offer 25% more Blocked damage compared to Attack(Spear Guard) on average, which is a negligible increase, and at what cost?
- Fend does no damage, lowering your damage output.
- Cost 1 feat.
- Huge blocked amount is wasted against small hitting enemies.
- Even against big hitter, the turn when Fend is used may be wasted (enemy missed, attacks didn't crit, used non/small-damaging attacks..etc).
- Every other turn will leave you completely vulnerable to melee attacks, big and small.
- Attack(Spear Guard): faster kills = less damage.
- Cost 20 AP (or 10 AP+5 Specialization Points) while Attack(Spear Guard) is technically free.
- All other forms of blocking are free too (if I'm not mistaken), most of them can reach the same effective blocking chance as Fend, e.g. Riot Shield:
   Riot Shield 35% + Shield Arm 15% * 100% uptime(0AP cost) = 50% effective block chance.
   Fend(Spear Guard) 50% + Spear Guardian 30% + 2 SP (Spear Guardian) 20% * 50% uptime(20AP cost) = 50% effective block chance.

IMO, it's a complete waste to acquire and incredibly risky to use (locks you out of Attack(Spear Guard)), I advise Spear Builders to avoid this feat (unless there is huge benefit from it I somehow missed...).


3 Solutions (maintaining Fend(Spear Guard)) :
- Allow Attack(Spear Guard) to override Fend(Spear Guard):
Smart override or not, "smart" checks type/duration and override accordingly otherwise it doesn't care and it will be dependent on the player to use it probably (Fending last), this solution will alternate the 2 spear guard buffs, but the benefit is still small (why bother? might as well stick with Attack(Spear Guard)).

- Reduce Fend cooldown by 1 turn:
Constantly Fending every turn is a huge decrease on damage output, may requires 5 SP alone to reduce it's cost so you can weave it in each turn.

- Extend Fend duration by +1 turn:
Best solution, allows full uptime of Fend(Spear Guard) every other turn or more, it has to be like this IMO, since we already have a "free" source of Spear Guarding that is better in many ways AND can be maintained indefinitely.