Topics

1

General / Phreak's quest can fail for seemingly no reason

« on: February 21, 2023, 11:44:55 am »

I met him and accepted his quest to get the cables he's after from the Acid Hunters. Then joined JKK, met Endstrom who assigned me to find the Acid Hunters too. This immediately rendered Phreak's quest to fail. WHY? He just want his cables that happen to be left where the Acid Hunters are, a group he couldn't care less. I thought about doing 2 quests at once, but apparently that's not possible... I don't get it.
Since Phreak's quest sounds like the road less travelled, I'll be reverting to a previous save and won't be joining a faction until I finished with Phreak. I just hope that I will be able to join JKK after I finished with Phreak despite the fact that JKK's reason to contact the Acid Hunters is quite specific. Then I will be meeting with the Acid Hunters again? This makes even less sense than allowing both quests to be done simultaneously. Especially since Phreak just wants his stupid cables.

2

Builds / Temporal Sniper build

« on: February 04, 2023, 10:05:36 pm »

Picking up this game again and I just want the good people here to take a look at what I have in mind and share their opinions, maybe submit any corrections to things I overlooked.



https://underrail.info/build/?HgUHBwMLBQjCoFAAAAAAwqBDQ1BDaXArIWkAAABdOAA0KBcBHh01M35LK8KHKiR_AhYwwrXip74K4q-8BOKvvQHfvw

As you can see, the build is pretty spread out, not too much min-maxing here, a bit of a jack-of-all trades character. Guns and Stealth is maxed out obviously, can craft and throw all incendiary, gas and special grenades (+ plasma) and craft endgame equipment. Able to hack or pick most locks and harvest enemy traps as well.
Included Pickpocket to access more stuff like money, ammunition, meds, quest items and of course oddities.
Regarding Temporal skill, since 70 base points is a given I realized it's worth to invest a bit more for an effective 100 as that seems to be the treshold from which gives a hefty boost to Dilation, Rewind and most importantly Recurrence. I forsee that the latter ability will be amazing to cast on bosses after a chunky Snipe at 165%.
I also have 8 INT and 5 PSI to reinforce this - give enough slots, regeneration and skill points for crafting, psionic and social skills. In addition, the character will now be able to use the Hypno Goggles for an additional +30 skill points and have the full hidden stock from Constantine with the Large Waist Pack.
But due to the 3 CON, I plan on using Infused Pig Leather Overcoat and Boots instead of a Regenerative Tac-Vest and Ninja Tabis (finiding good quality Pig Leather could be a problem however). Better resistances yet lower DT, more HP but no regeneration and less move speed. Wielding a Smart Rapid Spearhead with the Anatomically-Aware Scope and an also 7.62mm Smart Rapid Falchion.

My main question regarding this is that will I be okay on Dominating with 13 PER - I mean I guess I could just go with 3 PSI, but the difference in Guns between 13 and 15 will still only be merely 27 points.
Still in order to mitigate this, I'm a bit intriqued by the Synesthetic Refocus boosting PER with 2 or even 3 points when focused. That sounds amazing on it's own, even without the -30% psi cost reduction and +70 detection bonus which are also lovely and appreciated. Sounds amazing as long as we're in a nicely lid-up area where we don't need night vision.

What do you guys think?

3

Builds / Sniper with PSI or PURE?

« on: January 22, 2022, 11:12:46 am »

I had it all planned out before the PSI update:
https://underrail.info/build/?HgUHBwMLBQjCoEAAAAAAwqBJRFBEWmVQM1oAAABGPwA-KBcBHh1_NX5LK8KHwogqMALCtcKFM9-_
But with the serious nerf of Psycho-temporal Contraciton (which my builds was based around) I'm now not sure what to do.

See, if I just start in Legacy-mode I'll have a GUARANTEED ability to shoot my Spearhead 3 times each turn (likely resulting in 3 separate kills) without any use of consumables - purely due to the feats, spells and equipment - with spending the 4th turn to shoot the last bullet in the mag, reload, cast Premediation + Increment, do something out of a Trap/Grenade/Kneecap Shot and enable Stealth behind cover to repeat this 4 turn cycle again for a total of 29 guaranteed sniper shots through 11 turns. And no encounter should last that long.
Besides this, the character is pretty much a jack of all trades guy, have excellent Crafting and Subterfuge skills (with meds and equipment will pass the 130 Hacking skill check in DC) and craft everything from his own gear, consumables up to Bullheads to the highest quality Mk III Plasma, Mk V HE and Fragmentation explosives on the go while having enough Social skills to access all wares from all vendors (with the proper equipment inlcuding Hypno Goggles).

Yet if I plan on playing the most updated version of the game and enjoy all the content it has, the above scenario won't work anymore. Still should I keep things as is, or maybe with the nerfing of the Spearhead and Temporal spells... I should just go pure sniper. Decrease WILL in favor of CON, save my 70 skill points to balance my Social skills and still save 59 points for something else. And of course have significantly more HP (525 instead of 324) and THREE more feat slot. Yet I will have slower cooldowns, and SIGNIFICANTLY less shots within 11 turns.

So how are snipers since the psi update? Are they still around, can anyone compare when was better, what is the preferred weapon now and is it even still viable go this route let alone playing pure sniper without magic?

4

Bugs / Spearhead's hidden move and shoot penalty

« on: June 15, 2020, 10:11:53 pm »

So I have a Rapid Spearhead Commando and by hoovering the mouse over the weapon, it says "move & shoot penalty: 15%". However it is clearly 25% in effect for some reason.
Aim at a stationary target from a specific spot while being focused and you'll have X%. In order to measure our accuracy with the same distance, but while losing focus, we have to step away a bit, then back again to the same place. So we move away, then hit enter to initiate combat. Start our round by returning back to the same spot we checked our aim earlier, but by moving of course we'll loose our focused state. And somehow our accuracy is X-25% instead of X-15%.

5

General / XP for quests in Oddity

« on: June 15, 2020, 04:01:25 pm »

Ok, so I helped the Eels against the Scrappers. In order to accomplish that, I had to do the following SEPARATE quests, FOUR in total:

 - Find out where Blaine is hiding and get the info out of him
 - Plant the explosives in Depot-A tunnels
 - Convince SGS (or Protectorate) to lend a hand in the battle
 - Actually wipe out an entire map of the Scrappers base

all that for a SINGLE XP at the end.
One xp was the reward for all those above. I am level 9 and need about 20 to reach the next level. So that whole questline got me 1/20th ahead. The same as killing my first rathound for it's ear. Basically you can get 4 times that much from killing a few dogs and get their collars, there' a few at the Scrapper's base too.
This made me convinced that the Oddity's side needs some serious rework in relation to how much XP it provies after quests, especially knowing that a lot of stand alone quests doesn't even give any XP at all. At least provide 1 point for each segment for the above, but a single one for all that chain of quests kinda worries me, as one needs about 718 oddity xp to reach level 30.

I honestly thought that quests will be my main way to level in this mode, to get involved and do as much as I can, even dumpster diving for propaganda leaflets or half eaten food will come as secondary to that. It turns out that quests are so far behind, that even on Oddity you'll be much more ahead for killing critters like a mere hopper and such than accomplishing feats like playing a key role in a gang war or any other main questline that moves the whole story ahead.
The problem with this, is that players become demotivated to do quests, when in oddity that should be even more encouraged than in classic mode. One can think twice if he really wants to embark on some engrossing questline, when he can get the same xp for finding some junk on a shelf for zero effort.

I love this game and I still think that Oddity is better than not, but sometimes it can completely take away the feeling of accomplishment. You feel like you basically did all that for nothing and it barely made any difference other than wasting a lot of time, ammo and other resources and that's not how it should be in a game belonging to the RPG genre.

6

Bugs / Interloper feat without the MP bonus

« on: June 15, 2020, 06:40:09 am »

Exploring an area in stealth while having Interloper, you are free to initiate combat with Snipe for example. If you hit ENTER first, so switch to combat mode in advance before doing any attack, you get your 15 MP no problem.
But if you just hit Snipe without stopping time, the game of course only switches to combat mode as soon as you perform the shot. But this way you won't give you your 15 MP regardless if you're having Interloper or not.

7

Bugs / SGS Introduction quest

« on: June 01, 2020, 06:22:32 pm »

I just realized after all this time, that according to the wiki, I should receive XP from even speaking to Tanner for the first time, also for seeing Pasquale and do some shooting practice (10 hits) and return back to him. He doesn't have the dialogue that acknowledges my visit to the shooting range.
I tried this on Oddity and didn't get anything from either of those things. Is this okay and I'm not supposed to have any XP on Oddity, or there's something wrong here?

8

Suggestions / Please finish developing the JKK questline (***SPOILERS***)

« on: May 22, 2020, 11:14:08 am »

SPOILERS BELOW, read at your own discretion















Each quest starts out strong but ends in the most half-@assed way possible. Literally none of the 3 missions with Vivian get any explanation. Her introduction and being a more developed personality with the first mission being really interesting won me over. A reliable veteran agent suddenly goes completely nuts? There could have been so many reasons and not giving one is such a wasted oppurtunity. There could've been some drug addiction, or him forced to go undercover while trying to root out an inner spy, so you're sent after him by Vivian to neutralize him, before he gets his evidence published to JKK? Instead what've we got? We find this agent and he's just hostile from the start, we kill him and nothing is explained. There's nothing in his room, a diary in his desk or on his body where his writing gets more derailed due to his mind being slowly consumed thanks to the deprivation of a certain drug that made him that effective to earn his status among JKK. So now that he lost his supplier or whatever, knowing what is to come, he choose exile and slowly gone mad.
Or an even better route that connects more to the plot: details of him being choosed to discreetly perform an inside investigation, as Edstrom was led to think that there might be a possible double agent among the company. Eventually he got busted in front of the double agent too early, overstepped his authority by doing something that's against the morals of the company getting him formally fired within the company, or with his cover blown, making him and his employer conclude that returning to HQ or even going out in public with now Coretech being after him was a bad idea (while being secretly still in contact with Edstrom). During his investigation, an oppurtunity arised, but with a steep price of loosing his cover, crippling the whole operation... But he took the risk and managed to uncover something that might provide enough evidence against the agent's agenda. After tracking him down, he could inform you about his suspicion on her and you could choose to eliminate him without coversation or hear him out and eventually let him go. Later upon Vivian's disappearance, On the way out, we could meeet Ola (assigned to keep an eye on you being such a sudden freshman in these times and getting along surprisingly well with Vivian) who would suggest to keep this confidential until they gather further details and waiting for the perfect time to make their move.
Later, Ola could've included the reports of this missing agent in his explanation to the player after the 3rd mission, so at least we could have something. Instead of nothing. Would that be too much to ask? Literally it's nothing more, than just adding a few dialogue lines... but the difference it would make would be huge. Then Ola just adds on to the player's frustration when he has the ordacity of getting all upset for being asked to provide at least some explanation. And that's what made me frustrated, it's not just that things turned to the worse, you just have to accept that you're not even get filled in on the details. We've never know why the agent turned batshit, who's the guy he was fighting with at the bar (a possible counter agent from Coretech set to tail then neutralize him and steal any evidence he gathered) and for what reason and what made him change so suddenly from a focused veteran agent to a crazed up maniac attacking everyone on sight.
Why start a questline, building up interest, when you're not going to develop it further than it's beginning? Because that's what the first quest have. Just a start and nothing more. It ends without a warning or explanation and in it's current state, it meets the requirement of being just barely functionable, so the player can move on to the next one. Such a waste.

No explanation on the second either. Who are the kidnappers, who were the hostages, nothing. At least I was not as interested in those questions, if that makes it better or worse, that's another question. Also, why any of this is JKK related? I thought we're gonna have a betting heist, or some arena beast breakout... I mean their main profile is Arena matches and it's broadcasting. Why it's them doing the rescue? When there's a hostage situation, the law enforcement's special team gets in. That would've be Praetorians. If JKK got contacted by a general in command of the rescue operation to ask for disabling the security security of the complex so hat they could move in, that would've made sense. They found out that with it, there's a formidable opposition and in order to avoid unnecessary casualties, they had to resort employing outside assistance - from JKK who know a thing or two about broadcasting and also surveillance, also happen to be in for the easy money. You could even totally drop the hostage rescue idea and say that they don't say much, but for what is known, a warehouse got stormed by an unknown mercenary organisation... So you could totally link some quests together and say that the building is the warehouse where the third quest happens for the Praetorian Security. Minds would've been blown for people in their second playthrough. And again, zero programming required, all it would take is just changing the dialogue and the quest would suddenly make sense.

Third one is just to make the players mad. A sick joke. Suddenly you are presented with a character that's actually surprisingly developed compared to what you've ssen recently, actually had a backstory, fun dialogue, everything. It made you feel that yes, devs can do good writing with enough effort. Only to have that shattered in the most sadistic way possible - cutting off the flow with an event happening outside the players view. I know it might be a little self centered to complain about this, but seriously, how could you do such a grand build up, making us partake in interesting and fun interactions which leads the player to a mission that the two attend together (which is basically what everyone wanted at that point), engaging in conversations about each other and sealing it with a promise. Literally everything is done so that the ending can be as frustrating as possible. Really a huge middle finger from the devs.



Now let's forget that we're here as gamers first and foremost, and inspect Vivian from a different perspective. I'm not working on HR, but I know as much that people like Vivian are fun to have around in workplaces. This type of personality can be annoying when it feels forced or falsely acted, usually when it's used in occasions when it seems out of context or when as a tool in order to achieve something.
But if it's genuine, effortless and without any intentions while not being overused, even if the person is downright ugly, these kind of people can be major reasons for other coworkers to return back to their work every day, especially in such places like police, ambulance or retail. Even if things get busy and stressful, they can make the day easy and workers can leave with energy from the fun they had. Especially when it get's tough, the harmless positivity they radiate can forge work relationships, exactly because after a certain point, these connections can only get stronger in giving and receiving reliability and humour in times of hardship.
Vivian was that person, and it's a shame they erased her out of the game the way they did. If the devs want to destroy her so much okay, then she should've just betray the player in the third mission, making it seem like she actually lured you into a trap, plotting on you falling down to be eaten by mutants and revealing her true identity through well written lines on the radio aterwards when you ask for her help. Saying that she found out how your meeting with Bogdan really turned out who might eventually got tracked down by Coretech slightly before you finding him. Already late to save him, before death he tells you the password of his safe that he kept from the enemy with the real evidence. So she knew he had to find a way to eliminate you so she made this trap. She's indeed the spy, this whole setup would fit well with that. Of course, against her efforts you fix the elevator, climb back up only to be facing her crossbow - leading to her demise while with her dying breath she admits that she was not all happy that things lead to this... Some players would still be heartbroken, but that would've been a proper goodbye to an NPC, that at least had run it's short, but full course.



This questline had so much potential and if you think about it, making it one of the most memorable one in the game wouldn't take much effort at all, mostly just writing some additional dialogue lines. Too bad they just made it one, if not the worst and most undeveloped quest in the game leaving the player hollow and cheated.
Sorry if my criticism seems kinda harsh, but I tried to back it up with valid reasons and providing possible solutions to the best of my ability.

9

General / Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 13, 2020, 01:22:50 pm »

Ok, I began typing this on another topic about something else, and since I don't plan to derail it, while also not prefer to loose these thoughts, I present it on a separate thread here. Don't know how popular snipers are at the moment, but I know firearms are not and just wanted to share my experience with them.



Enemies with high DT is just one of the reasons why I prefer firearm pistols to be paired as sidearms with sniper rifles instead of SMG's or shotguns. When you need to deliver big hits against high DT you need huge caliber single shots - what are the weapons that share this aspect? Sniper rifle and a Hammerer. For anything that manages to reach close proximity, a Kneecap Shot or Rapid Fire from a nice .44 is simply a better choice. With damage possibly doubled due to the vicious combination of a 150q Smart module and goggles (latter basically equals to 6 shots with .44 rounds compared to the unconditioned 5 bullets from a caliber of 8.6 or likely below) and a +11% more chance to crit that is additionally 30% more deadly due to Steadfast Aim and Sharpshooter. And a crit with a Kneecap Shot is extra sweet due to the now astronomical bleed. These two special attacks gain benefit from high calibers and unlike bursts, they do not fire in a cone but each bullet is aimed at the same enemy - making them more reliable when firing on single targets (like an unattended melee that's about to get close).
Also snipers doesn't get much from high dexterity, so raising DEX for the sake of SMG's means spreading stat points too widely is not smart. 44's don't benefit nearly as much from that stat either, so with a Rapid Reloader and Gunslinger, it doesn't worth to increase DEX above 8. That'll be enough to perform a Kneecap Shot for 20 AP or a Rapid Fire for 30. Enjoy your free additional stat points - you're welcome.

That being said, compared to SMG's, even shotguns can prove to be a better choice, but I'm in favor of pistols, them being a lot more... aesthetically side arm-like. An example of this is them providing +7 Initiative. Now that's utility. They can also Rapid Fire AoE with the pistol-only Explosive rounds (always a crowd pleaser), having the two mentioned special attacks not just Kneecap Shot, with the fact that Sharpshooter applies on both of our guns. They just get along well.
And that's why a lot of people missunderstand pistols. Unlike AR's, they are not quite enough for everything the game throws at you, but perhaps they are not meant to be employed like that. Then again, the same applies for the sniper rifle too. It's a specific weapon for a particular situation. Every now and then, you just need something to go along with it. But pair these two together, see how well they complete each other and you'll have a match made in heaven.

10

Builds / Sniper with a firearm pistol

« on: December 12, 2019, 03:01:11 pm »

Hi there. Did some research and just about to start my first plathrough. Still uncertain in a few points and I thought it's best to ask them here.
The build I decided to go with starts off as a Pistoleer. I am aware that these weapons are not considered as powerful, but I just find them the most appealing firearms and the feats associated with them seems much more interesting to me than those of other weaponry. Craftable bullets with diferent effects are also something I look forward to and excited about.
I wanted to make a rogueish gunslinger character at first that uses firearm pistols only, have high dex, later with th implementation of Steadfast Aim, I decided to shift a little toward the sniper archetype. Lowering my dexterity in favor of perception seemed more reasonable, trading AP cost from pistols for more damage and better aim with both guns.
Eventually I ended up with this:
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgUICAMQAwPCoDwAAADCoMKgTSo8KsKGdUg-woYAAAAAAAAAMSgXJjoeARECM0t-NRZAwqTCteKkjgXip74K378



Now I am aware that my build might have a few questionable choices from the viewpoint of seasoned players, so allow me to explain in advance:

 - I know firearm pistols are considered inferior compared to SMG's or AR's or whatever, but aside from me liking them the most, there are some feats that benefits both handguns and sniper rifles, like Sharpshooter for example. Their feats allow them to have a better chance to crit and just seems much more fitting as a reliable sidearm than any bigger guns that does not really resembles this role.
 - I do NOT plan on using ANY psi, despite probably benefitting from them.
 - Yes, 3 Intelligence seems low especially while having 8 Agi. Although I still have enough crafting skills to make decent gear, greanades, meds and poisons for my traps. 105 Electricity for EMP warfare and assembling a decent smart module, 70 Chemistry for Mk IV grenades and mines. And I look forward to have high MP and 40 initiative while holding a pistol by default (again +1 for handguns as sidearms), some fights probably start off within close proximity and I would like to shoot first.
 - I took Trap Expert instead of Quick Tinkering because tossing traps while in combat seems very unrealistic and there's a good deal of bonuses with the former feat. It's nice to deploy less detectable traps and the convenience to quickly arm them out of combat, especially in cases where I plan to set more than one after another while being in stealth mode.
 - I also planned to have subterfuge skills to a certain extent. As you can see, I'm nowhere a master on any of them, just to get by and crack most locks, steal a few items and with the help of some equipment, raise my Traps to an effective 115 to retrieve all traps upon disarming them.



Now despite all the above, I want to mention that ALL feedback is welcome, so don't hold back on any ideas, you might have something to point out that I did not though of, so feel free to convince me about any alterations that you think I should do.

Although I look forward to have answer to the following questions:
 - Should I take Blindsiding instead of being able to perform Kneecap Shot with a pistol? Is that skill a must in order to cripple incoming melee attackers? How about Point Shot and Rapid Fire? Both seems very sweet and I planned to have them before I included the use of sniper rifles in my build.
 - Should lowering my Pickpocket skill to 60 worth to get Biology from 65 (for having anti-psi poison) to 80 and be able to craft Bullhead pills?
 - Do I need Mercantile or I can be okay without it considering that I prefer to get the most out of my 120 points in mechanics and tailoring?
 - Also, what kind of armor do you recommend? Leather armor, overcoat or vests, maybe something else? For headgear I'll plan to use certain googles of course.


Thank you very much for all the insight you might provide.