Topics

31

General / Spikes and Blades (and Armour)

« on: May 13, 2013, 10:04:39 am »

Ok, so I actually got far enough to test them extensively.
A few observations:

On boots, both seem to be notably weaker than on armor, yet adding additional plating to boots seems to have no such penalty.
For a heavy Melee character, using armored boots and spiked armor seems like the better choice.
In addition, the boot blades/spikes only work on unarmed attacks, whereas the armour upgrades work just fine with a knife. Makes some sense, but if there's a kick animation, I get even less why the upgrade is weaker on boots.
Also, metal boots grant no acid resistance, while the armour does. Now walking through a pool of acid barely harms me, but it's not thanks to the boots.

As for how spikes work; the extra damage being applied in an extra package, and only for standard attacks, kinda hurts it's viability, as it won't actually help with damage penetration at all.
I'd like to at least put the spikes on a Sledge in that case. I'm past the armandillo with a pure melee char using kohlmeiers knife and his fists, but I find myself regularly going back to a sledge, even though that means only one attack if I have to move even a half square;
A heavy Punch won't do jack since the spikes aren't affected by this at all;
If they even apply, the crippling strike won't even apply the extra damage, nor will the dirty kick, and it sure must hurt more if there's serrated blades on the boots.

32

Bugs / Pathing bug

« on: May 12, 2013, 04:51:04 pm »

So, I beat the mutants in Depot A coming from the Scrappers, and went down through the trap door. I got out on the very left exit in the suburban complex there, with two lockers and a crate in the room.
Through the window to the right, (that's north?) is a mutant with a pistol.
Now, when he saw me, he initiated combat, I went back to the ladder to wait for him.
He moved around the corner, I'm not sure if he made it; At least I could see him, so I was probably just as visible.
Now as he wasn't perfectly in his square, I couldn't close the distance. I was plain unable to move into melee, so I had to reload and move somewhere else to not get stuck.
Also had the problem with the Acid blob immobilizing me; I wasn't able to use ranged PSI powers because the game insists I first properly move into a hex; Even though I'm in melee range of the target. And in one case, I could even attack, just not anything else offensive.

33

General / The value of perception

« on: May 09, 2013, 04:18:19 pm »

So, same question as I had with Dexterity a while back.
How much is perception worth for a heavy melee character?
By itself, probably not much, but I plan to utilize Snooping to get some hidden passaged, which I hope will ease me through the areas containing non-organic security.
As far as I found out so far, the best way to survive the mines in the junkyard is bandages and quicksaves, so it's really only hidden passages in the early- and mid-game (Afterwards, I hope to smash through) and.... I suppose that's it?
Will 5 do, or can I reduce it by one to get more Constitution or will?
The first two points are probably going into strength so I can wear heavy equipment.
Edit: Actually, there may be stealthed enemies. I'll go with 5 Perception, and in turn, only 5 will and 9 constitution, as well.

34

General / Armor Upgrades?

« on: April 09, 2013, 08:55:44 pm »

So, currently, I'm doing a melee character aimed at using heavy armor, and eventually purely unarmed.
I'm currently a bit reluctant to ditch my vest that after all provides me with a stunning 33 bullet threshold for just 60% encumbrance, but the extra protection against melee, heat, and energy offered by metal armor is probably worth it.

Now, the question is, what are your experiences with the upgrades?
It seems to me, if Encumbrance is expected to hit 95% anyways, that Thungsten is always better, though suffers a tiny bit in the energy department, and extra plating is more of psychological comfort than any actual use.
But what about offensive?
Spikes or Blades?
Spikes will offer more damage if just beating it, but blades can inflict bleeding wounds that would allow me to run or switch targets and still see the deed done.
Should I combine them, or go purely for one? Also, what about mechanical targets? I suppose having a vest ready for those occasions is always the better choice, but without those spikes I probably won't be able to fight turrets at all. Short of hacking them.

35

Bugs / No Elwood

« on: April 09, 2013, 05:54:25 pm »

Current Playthrough, I couldn't finish the Raiders at GMS, and didn't know that I could just ignore them.
Went to Junkyard to buy components for a vest, killed elwood, raided his place, etc.
Now I come back, and I get a quest to get the card from Elwood.
Well, turns out he's dead, and the card vanished when I used it on his door.
Or I don't have it for some other reason.
That kinda blocks a quest line.

36

Bugs / Failed Save/load in GMS compound

« on: April 05, 2013, 11:29:00 pm »

So, I'm in the GMS compound, level 2.
I've beat the shit out of the entire security, though I had a load error before I finished that.
Now, when I save, it says it failed to save, though it apparently still does, and when I try to use the hatch, it fails to load the zone;
With the created autosave failing to load and in consequence deleting itself.
Seemingly, random saves now tell me they failed to create, but they certainly exist afterwards. Well, not sure if they can be loaded.
The problem dissolved after I went up, then down again.
I can try to reproduce it tomorrow, though I don't know how I produced it in the first place. Luckily I save like a madman when I attack 3 Sentry bots only armed with a Hammer. 
Edit: Continued. Everything since I got down there is gone, the 'Hatch' autosave is the only non-corrupted file I have of that area.

Add:
Today, tried again from past the Hatch.
Worked so far.
As I couldn't possibly get past the Raider Leader with just melee, I went to the Junkyard to grab parts for a good Tac Vest.
Saw a regen Vest that I had to have, did the quest with breaking into a house, all fair game. Then when I bought the vest, the saving failed again; The save shows below the previous Autosave now and has the same picture as well. Don't know what happened there.

37

General / The Value of Base stats

« on: April 02, 2013, 09:01:52 pm »

So, this is mostly a question, or a series thereof:

What values do base stats exactly have?
If I want to make a character that is as tough as possible, a slow lumbering Juggernaut (Actually named him that), with enough Intelligence to Craft Metal Armors and the like, do I need Dexterity at all?
Are there any penalties for having a stat close to 0?

Will Armor Encumbrance affect absolute speed, or relative? As in, if I expect to get 80% encumbrance, would reducing Agility to 3 result in 0 MP, or just 20% of 24 = 4.8?

38

Suggestions / PSI Crafting

« on: April 02, 2013, 02:25:50 pm »

My recent sort of failed Playthrough, which I've put on hold for now, left me itching to modify PSI Powers.
Just like Items can be crafted to one's need, I feel it'd be nice to specialize into and modify a discipline of mind.

Now, forgive me if this existed somewhere already, I thoroughly searched for it.

For example, as a basic, every Combat-PSI ability (Which, so far, is all of them) could have the choice to go for focus (+range, accuracy(if applicable), and the respective skill) at the cost of a damage penalty, or go for power, going the opposite route.

For example, Force emission could end up specialized in projecting punches 5-6 Meters far, or it could be a Set of "Psionic Gloves", increasing range by just a half meter (so you don't always have to spend 3 MP after initiating combat), but with a % damage increase, and perhaps a small AOE that would make it utterly impracticable if bystanders/allies are near.

Alternatively, that could be done with a perk, just like time/power is a decision with psychosis/tranquility.

Edit: PSI-Foci would also be an option.

39

General / AAR / Some observations

« on: March 30, 2013, 07:58:48 pm »

So, I decided to write up what I did in the game and why I did it.
I'm not through yet, I just wanted to post it up because I'm rather annoyed at the state of things atm and had to take a break.
I never got past the GSM complex, so past that, it's very much a first playthrough.
Some conclusions down below.

Contains spoilers. Maybe.

Starting a melee character, imaginatively named "Grunt".
High Constituation, a bit of strength and agility;
I'll have to get 2 points of strength for Sledgehammers at some point.
Conditioning grants me some decent resistance.
Spent points into psionics because it's free power.

Did the firing range quest.
Gun is basically done just when I am.
I briefly consider selling it for some money, but I don't really have anything to spend it on.


I decided to reroll to draw a point of Intelligence for a point of Strength.
If I make a dumb melee character, I should really make a dumb melee character.
It'd cost me a few skillpoints a level, tops.

... Actually turns out it costs me all tailoring and mechanics, but I'll catch up, I won't level all the psionics in the future.
Probably mainly Psychokinesis, but I never got far enough up to be sure.
I really wish for a Gamma Option, when the lights are out, I really don't see anything.

The 'help screen' with the annoyingly blinking questionmark doesn't tell me how to close it again. ESC obviously works.
.... Turns out I actually forgot a point in agility this time and dumped it into constitution instead. Well, it certainly makes me sort of tougher.

Target practice isn't done with 10 shots. It seems to require ten hits, or something. I reload because I can basically throw away the pistol now. On the plus side, it started with 170 durability.
Maybe I can savescam for more?
..Yup. Three reloads later, I get 170 again. I'll get the target close to get those ten hits faster.

Got my first lesson from Ezra.
Health Regenerates? Neat.

Into the caves.
Managed to kill the first rathounds with a mix of psionics, crossbow and fists.
I'd really like me some brass knuckles now.
Or later maybe a Power Fist. Or Psionic Gloves.^^
Could kill the rest easily with mad skills shooting my Crossbow through the fence.
I really want shroomhead, but I picked Snooping for now, I need those secret passages or a lockpick skill worth the name.
Dumped 11 points into mechanics, might end up being useful.

Managed to grab a Combat Knife. The Perk is already worth it.
Off to the station to heal. I could swear the old man has Dialogue lines he didn't before.
The Tissue samples got me 800 xp, not bad. Not bad at all.
As I don't plan to learn much in the way of metathermics, I immediately used the freebie.

Killed a few more rathounds to the left of the first cave, totally forgot to get the compensator or whatever.
Well, off to heal again, so why not.
Flux Controller was it's name.

Went north from the generator cave and took quite a beating there.
Can someone tell me how a knife degrades when I miss?
Is the air really that corrosive?
Time to step by the doctor again.
On the way I can turn on the lights in 2 more rooms.
Damn, that trader has a Scoped Crossbow with 275 Durability.
Not that I can use crossbows, but it's nice to see. Now if only I could get a Knife of that quality.
Traded him my Pistol for Credits, my armor won't last forever if I'm facetanking my enemies.
Went to the armory, and traded my current suit, damaged crossbow (got a fresh one),
remaining bullets and 60 credits for a suit of rathound leather armor with 21%/4 mechanical, and some cold.
Should provide enough protection to facepunch the rathounds.
Decided to just attack the guy in the Outpost. I mean, who is he, sitting on all that juicy loot and probably not letting me pull that switch.
It's around 150 Credits?
First try, I opened with an Ice needle, and got tagged with a poisonous bolt.
Reloaded, opened with a telekinetic punch, stun, crit for 42 damage.
Managed to kill him second round without him shooting any of those valuable bolts.
Lost 6 durability on my new armor, 304 to go. Fists kinda work.
Levelup.
Got Mechanics up to 15, then tailoring to 6. Melee and Dodge are obviously full.
I'll probably stop leveling other psionics than kinetics to save more points for that, though I suppose a point of Intelligence is really missing now.^^
149 hp now. 100+9+20/level? Nice.
Once I got the outposts up, I suppose I can afford an actual melee weapon again, a dagger or serrated knife might be neat.
Had plenty of good feats to choose from, but picked up shroomhead.
Keeping around 70 Psi ready might come in handy way more than an occasional stun kick.
The mushroom in the outpost will immediately be put to good use.
Moved down the elevator and through the tunnel.
The next outposts shelves contain blueprints for leather armor and crossbows, not a bad find.
While I'm annoyed I can't open anything, it's a tradeoff I made for the character I chose to play.
I gave Jonas his Watch for free.
Silly choice given he has nothing I need, nor do I have money to buy it, but it might pay of in the future.
Might be a bit out of character, but I really didn't need what he offered, either.
As expected, repairing an item can increase it's worth by far more than the repair kit costs.
Sold off my Zephyr and repaired the looted Hurricane, even a melee character needs a Crossbow from time to time.
(8+14)/2*4 = 44
(17+27)/2*2 = 44
Looks like bar excessive strength, a Combat Knife and a Sledgehammer have the same Damage.
With 9 Strength, it's 44 * 1.08 for the knife, and 44 * 1.1 for the Hammer.
Looks like I don't need to hurry to get one of those.
Ok, at least not one that bad.
...
If I get the Deflection Perk, and switch to unarmed after every turn before continuing, do I get permanent dodge Bonus?
Didn't manage to convince Modre to give me two Hypos. I found it hillarious the one time I got there so far.
Bought a fishing rod, couldn't do anything with it. Reloaded.
First Mindbug killed. Got the drop on me, took quite some damage. Lucky I so much health.
I love fighting the Psibeetles. Despite dishing out massive damage, they never hurt my armor. Granted, they might bypass it, as well, but hey, it's value that lasts.^^
And Level 4.
I picked Opportunist and raised my Tailoring to 16.
Was a really tough choice wether to take 8 strength or 5 Intelligence, I decided on the strength based on the fact I have only 3 skills for Int skilled, that would only gain 1 point each from the change.
Strength only granted my 3 pts melee, as well, but it might in the future allow the use of sledgehammers and metal armors.
Went north in the mushroom cave and into a Rathound Alpha. Stealth was pointless, and they'd have surely killed me.
Autosaves make sense, and a lot of it.
After reloading, I tried out caltrops. Ended up standing in their middle, darn that was a shitty idea.
After trying two more times, I beat them, but the caltrops killed me more then them. I'll try again, despite wasting a few perfectly good crits.
This would be far less of an issue if I got full health in the station again.
...
Around ten times later, I've come to value the one time I won. Given the health I had before the fight, that was a near perfect outcome.
...
Finally, I beat them.
Threw the caltrops in the way, seperating them, could take one out, then hit and run till they were dead.
Damn, that was challenging.
Back to base.
Took a break at a mushroom.
When I got back 20 minutes later, there seemed to be a sort of traffic Jam at the hopper Holes.
A new day.

On my way to the next mission with those annoying robots (Never got any further yet).
I choose to learn Forcefield, because why the heck not. A mechanical repair kit sits well in my bag just in case that knife corrodes again.

Below the Underrail, found a guy with a Sledgehammer. Remembered him as pretty lethal from my first char (demo) that got here.
Chilled him from stealth, one crossbow bolt and three knife jabs later he's down.
I suppose he isn't that dangerous with 169 hp, managed to hit me once.
After saving, I decided to spend the mechanical repair kit on the Hammer, and replace the Knife. Damage is just ok.

Killed another guy in the tunnel, gave him the hammer. He dropped a Frag, first for this char.
Might come in handy.
After sneaking around a bit more, i found two more Stalkers. Attacked them before I saw it was two, and sadly first the one with the knife,
not the one with the Pistol. On the bright side, I critted the first one for 71 damage the second turn, considerably easing the fight.
The second one had the decency to use my health hypo in the fight, though on the plus side it saved me from two bullets, potentially improving the quality of the loot he'd drop afterwards.
I'm drained, I need to find a Mushroom.
Found a door in the tunnels, just where it should be.
An EMP Grenade, Burrower Poison, and Poisoned Caltrops. Good stuff.
On the way back to the station, I attacked the rathounds that'd be in my way anyways.
Stupid idea, with half health and no PSI left, but sometimes, stupid ideas work beautifully. Critted the first, then two hits (1 round) for every other.
Decided to kill the rest of them there as well.
Kinda hard to be exactly in the right space when innitiating combat, a point of movement is one attack less.

I think this game needs housing.
I'd decorate my room with my very own mushroom.
Seriously, topping off in the caves is no fun when you're on the other end of the station. But what has to be done has to be done.
I park Grunt in the shroom cave and go eat.
Took some time, took a nap... seems like stuff respawns?
When I came back, the Rathounds were back, too.
Sigh. Back to grab a repair kit.
Killed a few more Rathounds.
The Sledgehammer loses 9 Durability in 2 hits? wtf?
I can't afford that, I'll go back to a knife for now.
I mean, I'll have to buy repair kits every second engagement if that goes on.
On the other hand, my armor has survived me being beaten to shit around 3 times now, and is barely scratched.
Maybe I can Wrap a Metal Armor, should I aquire one, around an Iron Pole and use that to smack my enemies?
Doesn't need to be directed, the pure weight is fine.
South the station, another group of rathounds with an alpha. I tried a few times, but I can't beat them.
Maybe with a Sledge, but I plain can't afford that.
The security bots are outright annoying.
I can't sneak past them, I can't destroy them in a fight, and i can't hack either.
Had a reload a few times because of unsatisfactory situations.
I suppose going for Kinetics was a retarded choice, I should have spent those points in proper skills and just
level metathermics enough to chill enemies for opportunist.
And having to have a crowbar equipped to open the ventilation shafts is ********.
I don't have to have a multitool in hand to open it, either.

Just when I thought I was stuck, I managed to sneak up the body in the second level and grab everything, then rush off again.
Looks like the key might be matching that trap door.
I sure hope it does.
...
I am amazed to find out that a successful persuasion check actually gets me in a fight with more enemies than just attacking them outright.
Who would have thought that putting points into social skills literally gets you killed?
Oh well, reload.
Well, duh, that Crossbow girl hits like a Truck.
Actually had to use a health hypo this time, and even then it was close because she also crits every second turn.
Now I'll have to sneak back past those annoying sentries to heal up at the station, and I probably need some repair kits as well.
Just imagine I had spent all the useless 20 points into thought control
(more control over your body? I thought that'd help me in melee at some points) into hacking,
I might actually have useful equipment now and could activate that turret.
Crap.
So I got back up, camera locks me, sentry bot is nearby.
...
I'm stuck.
I can't beat the bandits with that low health and damaged weapons, I can't fight the sentries without going through roughly
everything in my inventory, and by moving up, I have no autosave anymore. ....Shit.

So, what did I draw from this:
- High life and melee is definitely easier than what I tried so far, earlier on. Life is free, after all.
It seems to hit a few walls through the game.
- Crap, Durability is annoying. Why does my knife degrade on a miss? Armor, on the other hand, can apparently stop bullets and not take a scratch. Meanwhile I do.
- Going back to refill resources is just a bit annoying.
- The level with the bots requires either top notch equipment, including lots of electricity, or mad skills at stealth, hacking, lockpicking (pick 2).
I know life isn't fair, but hey, game; Maybe that should somehow be communicated before? As a melee specialist that was stupid enough to skill some psionics and social skills over science, I kinda feel I might as well go in naked and blind.

Overall, I still love this game, though.
Edit: Changed from code to Quote.