Messages

61

Builds / Re: Someone have a crit psi build after nerf?

« on: December 05, 2020, 09:20:35 pm »

You could treat it as such but there are situations where using Electrokinesis is problematic:

Your TK punch + implosion are on cooldown. 1 enemy remain, use of Electrokinesis is just ... wasteful. Here the best choice is the spammable Cryokinesis or Neural overload.

You can more or less "focus fire" cryokinetic orb because you know it will spread out evenly as a circle and closer to landing point = usually more damage. You can't do that with Electrokinesis.

When using cryo orb against a crowd you often don't know who will or will not get hit but the damage is usually still more or less evenly spreadout among them, or just use Pyrokinesis/Thermodynamic Destabilization for true AOE (everyone take the same damage before evasion damage reduction), so you should use cryo orb and followup with a grenade to finish everyone off. More targets = more chance for cryo orb to do its magic. If you use a grenade first and than cryo orb it might results in enemies standing.
Facing the exact situation Electrokinesis will jump randomly - if you use Electrokinesis first the damage might get very unevenly spread so grenade won't finish off the crowd. If you use grenade first it could result in enemies having a gap that is too wide for Electrokinesis to jump. Electrokinesis could also jump to a "dead zone" where it killed a target, jump to the next and now the gap is too wide for it to jump back and continue.

Still Electrokinesis is a very good psi ability but its use requires a certain amount of luck and finesse to it.


Oh and lastly outside of Locus of Control TC does not have AOE attack, but when it does ... enjoy it my friends.

62

Builds / Re: Someone have a crit psi build after nerf?

« on: December 05, 2020, 04:20:33 am »

Hmm re-reading what I wrote made me realized I undersold Psychokinesis school, so I'm just going to add this comment:

The three psi schools (TM is excluded as 70 base is good enough for a crit psi) have the pros and cons:

Thought Control
Pros: silent, Neural Overload is deadly mid~late game and bypass resistance
Cons: does not work on non-organic, at all

Psychokinesis    
Pros: works on everything, arguably the strongest school against a single target. Telekinetic Proxy + Implosion/Telekinetic Punch is just deadly. Force field. Electrokinesis = force lightning. Only school that is effective against robots.
Cons: lacks spammable and AOE psi abilities.

Metathermics
Pros: Fire proc fear. Long range and AOE psi abilites.
Cons: very ineffective against robots, loud (see noise: https://stygiansoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Noise)

63

Builds / Re: Someone have a crit psi build after nerf?

« on: December 05, 2020, 03:36:01 am »

Get Sturdy psionic overcoat (tac vest made using sturdy vest, psi beetle carapace, black cloth) asap. The key part is the psi beetle carapace which grants -10% psi cost. You can and should rush-craft any tac vest using psi beetle carapace as early as possible.

Weapons: try to get Sørmirbæren Spirit Staff asap. Sørmirbæren Spirit Staff > Høddurform for this build even when using Neural Overload. Damage over time is moot with your 1hitko Neural Overload.

For boots wear ninja tabi majority of the time for stealth and MP bonus. Switch to other resistance specific tabi when situation calls for it: infused mutant dog tabi for acid resistance, infused heart breaker serpent tabi for bio resist and so on ...

Psi headband: This is the most important crafting aspect of the build.
For legacy branch you want Universal Psionic Modulator, Proximal Neuroscopic Filter and Stable Neural Amplifier

For post psi nerf game you want school specific psi headband - initially you will only be using two psi school: Meta + TM, so you should be wearing psi headband crafted using: Metathermic Modulator, Proximal Neuroscopic Filter, Stable Neural Amplifier. You should have a secondary Meta psi headband crafted using: Metathermic Modulator, Magnifying Neuroscopic Filter: Cryokinetic Orb, Psionic Mufflers for locus hive bombing.

You need 75 base thought control to get Locus of control at level 16 but you won't be using TC at all until you have a Scanning Thought Control amplifier psi headband crafted using Thought Control Modulator, Magnifying Neuroscopic Filter: Neural Overload, Stable Neural Amplifier. You should just leave Thought Control at 75 base until mid game around level 16 ~ 20 ish or so and starting maxing Thought Control every level. Because Neural Overload is silent you can switch to a TC load out to quietly assassinate/thin out npc crowd. Make sure to activate a cloaking device, wear Scanning Thought Control amplifier psi headband, ninja tabi + infused cave hopper leather armor with black cloth as stealth is on the low side.

My psi abilities loadouts are as follow:
Meta + TM frontal assault mode
Stasis, Psycho-temporal Contraction, Limited Temporal Increment, Cryokinesis, Cryokinetic Orb
Pyrokinesis OR Thermodynamic Destabilization, usually pyrokinesis as thermoD can only be triggered using grenades.

TC + TM silent assassination mode
Stasis, Psycho-temporal Contraction, Limited Temporal Increment, Neural Overload, Mental Breakdown, *any TC abilities, usually Pseudo-spatial Projection

Towards the end game once I have everything setup I just used the following loadout and didn't bother to change it:
Stasis, Psycho-temporal Contraction, Limited Temporal Increment, Cryokinesis, Cryokinetic Orb, Neural Overload


Lastly make sure to visit food vendors often and buy up all available Pickled Mindshroom and Psi Beetle Brain Soup.

64

Builds / Re: Assault Rifle / Thought Control hybrid

« on: December 05, 2020, 02:32:58 am »

Personally I would still keep INT 7 so you can get philosophy III using Hypercerebrix. In the grand scheme of things this STAT point could go to INT/WIL/PER and wouldn't make that much of a difference anyway.

65

Builds / Re: Someone have a crit psi build after nerf?

« on: December 03, 2020, 03:55:31 am »

Used the following build and finished a dominating game post psi-nerf patch:

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMIAwkDDAgAwqAAAAAAQgAALUFaalBDZsKgAMKgRiMASitiXywWKmUuwr0-IWZRBTB6csK34qOJCuKrpQXfvw

couple comments:
1) skill points in pickpocketing, traps and persuasion are absolutely optional, they can be allocated else where.

2) Temporal Manipulation cannot crit, period. 70 base TM is a must for Stasis. You *CAN* increase TM to decrease the debuff chance for PTC to a minimum of 30% but it's wasteful. As a crit psi build you should finish majority of the fight before PTC buff ran out so you shouldn't care about PTC debuff chance.

3) Due to the new innervation mechanic, you already taken 1 psi school TM for PTC and Stasis. You are strongly advised to pick a maximum of two (2) additional psi school, which two is up to you. I opt for TC and Meta. Keep in mind only the following psi abilities can crit:
Thought: Neural Overload, Psi-Cognitive Interruption
Psychokinesis: Telekinetic Punch, Electrokinesis
Meta: Cryokinesis, Pyrokinesis, Cryokinetic Orb
Time: NONE

Neural Overload started out weak but can be disgustingly powerful mid ~ late game with the right setup even on dominating. Psychokinesis lacks spammable crowd control as Electrokinesis is both Action Point intensive and unpredictable. Cryokinetic Orb is a perfectly fit for a crit psi but Meta is very weak against robot. My build use quick tinkering + EMP MKIII mines + EMP MKIII grenade against robots. A crit cryokinetic orb will still do some damage against even Naga Protector on dominating; it's just not very effective.

If you are playing legacy branch you should get all four school for maximum utility.

66

Builds / Re: Assault Rifle / Thought Control hybrid

« on: December 03, 2020, 03:36:01 am »

Koveras got the progression down nicely. I already said this on my Steam guide but I'll repeat it here: I'll try to squeeze an update re: build this weekend.

67

Builds / Re: Question about the usefulness of the "ripper" feat

« on: December 03, 2020, 03:32:04 am »

Flurry
Grants you an ability to launch 3 consecutive attacks with a sword. Each attack reduces the action point cost of further Flurry activations by 4 action points (this stacks 5 times) until the end of next turn.

If any of the attacks misses or deals no damage, the flurry will stop(!) and be put on cooldown for 3 turns and the cost reduction will be removed.

Requirements: Dexterity 6, Melee 30

Flurry is the bread and butter for a sword build, and because of that you want your hit chance (translation: effective melee skill) to be as high as possible, thus 18 DEX or 18 STR. I would consider Survival Instinct to be a bad fit for a sword user:

This is the absolute minimum STAT allocation for a sword user
5 STR to wield swords
6 DEX for Flurry
6 AGI for mobility, you are a melee build after all
5 WIL for Ripper (more on this later)
6 INT for Red Dragon

Personally I would opt for 18 DEX (get veteran feat increase DEX) instead of 18 STR because DEX feats > STR feats, max throwing, get fatal throw AP refund + grenadier + three pointer plus enjoy increased melee crit chance, this would means:
5 STR 18 DEX 5 WIL 6 INT = 2 STAT points remaining, which in your case goes to AGI for uncanny dodge.

Some numbers at level 30, max melee for comparsion:
18 DEX = 350 effective melee, weapon damage = 345% <- got this number from mouse over melee in Underrail.info builder
13 DEX = 282 effective melee, weapon damage = 297%
11 DEX = 255 effective melee, weapon damage = 279%
I don't think an increase crit chance of 30% is worth losing roughly 19.4 ~ 27.1% accuracy (especially with Flurry on the line) and 13.9 ~ 19.1% weapon damage.

Now on to Ripper - for me it's a must have because Fatal throw throwing knives always crit and Ripper will vastly increase its damage. @19 DEX (eel sandwich), wielding red dragon, used focus stim = 31% melee crit chance. Considering the number of sword hits per turn using Flurry I think it's justify to get Ripper for the vastly increased critical damage. On the other hand for some 18 STR (sword: Damage increased by 7% for every point in strength above 6 =  84% damage increase or 91% when using rathound BBQ) sword build Ripper might not be worth it, in that case just keep WIL at 3 freeing up 2 STAT points.

Now if you are playing easy/normal, 11 DEX with max melee is absolutely viable. However with Flurry on the line why take more sword misses just for an increase crit chance of 30%?

68

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

« on: November 29, 2020, 09:00:14 pm »

Worked fine for me as it re-directed - you might want to clear your cache.

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMHBwMQAwcAWsKgAADCoMKgQUEAS01kMjAAAAAANy4AQjknJjAiAsKAOExLaivChzEoJMK1wqTCncKtwp7Cn2wabeKhpAXip74K378

69

Builds / Re: Assault Rifle / Thought Control hybrid

« on: November 25, 2020, 01:37:35 am »

Yes that was an oversight, fixed:
https://underrail.info/build/?HgcDAwMNCgfCoF8AAAAAwp9UACAAZG4xV1rCoAAARgAAVCtPJCY7KhVKLEkhZQVmAsK1wrvCp8Kdwp7CruKfogLip6oD4qe0Ct-_

Yeah you can totally take all skill points from pickpocketing + some points from stealth to reach lockpicking threshold. It's just with 3 DEX you are not really getting the best bang for your buck.

70

Builds / Re: Assault Rifle / Thought Control hybrid

« on: November 22, 2020, 10:52:33 pm »

Slowly reviewing and researching build for my guide. I think this is an excellent build! I'm going to recommend this to as a first build for new players over the old tin can AR but with the following changes:

Removed Power management as its benefit is minimal and replaced it with Iron Will. Resolve is already high but once you have it at level 30 you can pretty much tank Neural Overload and Bilocation from NPC. Another alternative to Iron Will would be Ambush for help dealing w/ high evasion enemies; although it's not going to help you against Magnar since there's no dark spot available. Gun Nut/Psycho-temporal acceleration/Blindsiding/Fight response are also viable choices for this last feat slot.

Keeping Hacking because INT is high, increase effective value to threshold.
Removed Lockpicking due to 3 DEX <- this is a personal preference to save skill point, optional change
Increase effective pickpocketing to 32 with eel sandwich for All-In, optional change
Increase e.chemistry to 69 for MKIV grenades
Increase e.bio for supersoldier drugs
Increase Temporal to 70 for haste + stasis <- imho the most important change as Stasis is a good panic button
Decrease e.merchantile to 105 to unlock all vendor special merchandise tiers.

https://underrail.info/build/?HgcDAwMNCgfCoF8AAAAAwp9UACAAZG4xV1rCoAAARgAAVCtPJCY7KhVKwrxJISxlBWbCtcK7wqfCncKewq7in6IC4qeqA-KntArfvw

I think a sturdy black cloth psi beetle tact vest is perfectly fine as the goal of the build isn't to tank. Early game even on dominating can be done with liberal use of bear traps, caltrops, and grenades. I added a link to this post to my Steam In-depth FAQ. Good work Koveras!

71

Builds / Re: Ultimate hammer guide

« on: November 22, 2020, 07:52:13 pm »

Reviewed everything - the initial post and HW docx - good job and I agree with everything. However I just want to add one thing: Damage immunity using Stoicism + Aegis + Morphine.

If you put 5 points in Stoicism spec - you'll get 36% damage reduction @ 4% health;
Aegis: Reduces all damage taken by 15% for 8 turns (no cooldown)
Morphine Shot: Reduces damage taken from all sources by 50% for 3 turns. After the effect expires the character takes damage equal to 50% of their missing health. (10 turns cooldown)

So at 4% health you are immune to all damage (36% + 15% + 50% = 101%) for 3 turns or for 4 turns if you use Stasis. You'll also survive Morphine's aftereffect at 28% health (Aftereffect = {[(100% - 28%)/2] * (1 - 0.27 <- Stoicisum damage reduction)} = 26.28% health damage from Morphine). How you get from 4% health back up to 28% will depends on the build, game difficulty and gear setup. This option is available to all your builds IF you put 5 spec points into Stoicism.

In addition, it's possible to take advantage of this and build a high mobility, zero defense, pure offensive build (i.e.: stacking critical chance + critical bonus such as using infused rathound leather armor/Rathound Regalia + Death Grin + cheap shot + critical power, etc, etc) gambling on finishing every fight within 4 turns. This is entirely possible even on dominating. I have also added this post + your link to my Steam In-depth FAQ. Again, good work Hammer Wizard!

72

Development Log / Re: Dev Log #68: The Psi Question

« on: November 14, 2020, 02:06:42 am »

So Styg when will you address the niche PSI abilities problems? You know the abilities you hardly used before and now became completely useless because the opportunity cost due to slots became far too high?

Copied from a post by Destroyor:

However with the max 8 slots limit, a lot of psi abilities will never get use now.

- Psi-cognitive Interruption, great for npc, almost useless for player. It was maybe useful for taken one psi enemy out before the change (X: doubt) but now the opportunity cost of having it taking up one valuable slot is way too great.

- Neurovisual Disruption: probably maybe useful for psi hybrid that want to snipe next turn, but even that is doubtful as you can just use 5 more AP to enter stealth mode and save up a valuable slot.

- Force Emission: not that great before the change but now absolutely garbage under new system.

- Disruptive Field: super useful before against ranged with its long range and low cost, now again the opportunity cost of having this take up a slot is too great, will never get use.

- Cryo-Shield: opportunity cost, never get use, you get the idea.

- Psycho-temporal Dilation: situationally useful before change, now oc, never get use. I'm a broken record

- Entropic Recurrence: hard to use before, now absolutely garbage under new system, oc, never get use. You know the drill.

- Temporary Rewind: same as above.

- Precognition: I occasionally turn this on before the change hope RNG goddess will smile upon me. Now? Please, oc, never get use, blah blah.

This is at least 9 psi abilities out of 32 available that will never get use due to opportunity cost at a staggering rate of 28.125%. Styg you said you want to expand the psi system, but what's the point of adding new spell if it'll either:
1) never get use because slots are valuable and it's simply not good enough to make the loadout, or
2) It's very good and a must have to be included squeezing another spell out of loadout making the old spell effectively window dressing

I think this bears repeating. Either these abilities get an update/upgrade or the opportunity cost to use them needs to be lessened.

Sorry to say Styg reject the premise already:
https://stygiansoftware.com/forums/index.php?topic=5931.msg31218#msg31218

I try to keep the busywork at a level where it doesn't become tedious (though, that is subjective, I guess).

I did not, nor do I plan to address every complaint, that would be futile. You are many and I'm just one. But, since I'm here already: I reject the premise that it does make "tons" of psi abilities useless. It makes SOME psi abilities that were already undesirable even less desirable. But that can be further addressed with improving upon those abilities, but it is also fine for some abilities to be very niche.

There will be no updates to Legacy branch. I will not maintain two code bases. It's not a perfect solution, I know, but it's some kind of compromise at least.

Better bet now would be to wait for infusion, promptly give feedback/wishlist for a psi system in infusion that *you* would want to play and hope for the best.

73

General / Re: AI Scrambler

« on: October 30, 2020, 11:45:33 pm »

No you can't. I played multiple pickpocketing char and had never seen AI Scrambler in NPC inventory.

74

General / Re: Fan art

« on: October 18, 2020, 01:50:27 am »

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/underrail-the-incline-awakens.105387/page-515#post-6715755



Made me laugh, so true.

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General / Re: Diagonal movement calculations

« on: September 26, 2020, 05:04:40 pm »

It take 15 MP to move diagonally so 1.5 tiles. You can see this by going into turn based combat and try to move.