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1

General / "Tchort" ...Random Opinion/Analysis...

« on: September 30, 2016, 04:33:24 am »

Ok so I this contains no spoilers as I have not yet got inside the institute, only attended the lecture in core city...

But it seems to me that the writer/designer was trying to make a point about academic science and secular educational institutes. Specifically, that if you open your perceptions a little, it really does appear that science = its own religion; and one that worships humanity, biological life and the knowledge that these reveal.

I am a Scientist and have come to this conclusion many times myself (that my own field can be quite cultish, in its own strange way).
I particularly liked the analogy, of having street missionaries and free lectures, but then having to "line up" to get inside and become admitted. That's Science/Academia all right 

Anyway.... just my thoughts.   

2

General / Observation: vile weapons is a actually *really* good

« on: August 02, 2016, 05:31:00 am »

Hello everyone...

Let me first start by stating that this game, Underrail, is probably the best game I have played in the last 5 years. All the best aspects and themes of Fallout 2 updated for contemporary UI standards without loosing that retro isometric feel. Very happy!!

I'm playing a crossbow/traps/stealth character and currently hovering around level 10, doing quests in camp Hathor. On a random save game at level up I tried experimenting with various different feats, just for fun, and found myself extremely surprised: Vile Weaponry was by far the best, beating Ambush, Sharpshooter and even Hypertoxicity for sheer combat value. I had originally started playing on this experimental save to work out which of those three I would pick.

My rationale:

Where most debuffs in this game work in an additive way, vile weaponry actually has a distinctly non-linear aspect to it, in the sense that the gradually improving damage bonus pays two dividends. Since the % damage increase comes from "all sources" and since bleeding wounds are calculated based on actual damage done from first strike, this feat actually stacks on top of itself, initially giving a bonus to the causative bleeding wound and then a second time to the actually bleeding.

By my calculations, assuming one was to consistently use serrated bolts at a target... Work out very nicely: Let's assume a 15 damage constant for a serrated bolt...

(Without feat)

Damage = 15 + (3 x 5) = 30

And so on for as many arrows as you shoot...

Now, with the feat...


Arrow 1: Damage = 15 + (3 x 5 x 1.1) = 31.5 ..... assuming no further shots

Arrow 2: Damage = 16.5 + (3 x 5.5 x 1.2) = 36.3

Arrow 3: Damage = 18 + (3 x 6 x 1.3) = 41.4

Arrow 4: Damage = 19.5 + (3 x 6.5 x 1.3) 44.85

...

So even in that sense there is almost a 50% damage increase after the third arrow, once you factor in how bleeding wounds start to syngergise with themselves.

When taking into account an initial bleeding wound presumably caused by a carefully placed beer trap, and the "special tactics" feat which would allow you to lay down 3 serrated arrows within a single turn, you can actually jump right up to this +50% damage increase within the first round of combat, doing enormous damage because now there are 4 cumulative bleeding wounds and one stack of ongoing mechanical damage, all getting +30% too.

It looks small but it stacks up quite significantly, and again, much to my surprise: getting through the burrower section was made easiest not by choosing sharpshooter or ambush or even snipe, but by picking this feat. I had to sit down with a calculator and work this all out simply because I did not believe it myself, and wanted to get to the bottom of why this average looking feat was making life so simple in a practical play through.

And of course, there is also the fact that healing will also be reduced by 75% after the kind of ambush I described, getting to 3 stacks of infected wounds with 4 bleeding wounds within the first round. Which in many ways is just icing on the cake!!

Thoughts and feelings?