136
General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)
« on: May 14, 2020, 03:26:10 pm »
Why overinvest so much in Hacking, Lockpicking, and Persuasion? Just for ease of play so you don't have to gear swap to hit the thresholds?
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
137
Builds / Re: Shotgun LOC Grenadier dominating
« on: May 12, 2020, 07:49:19 pm »
Not that you need to min/max to this extent, but why 7 Int? 6 Int gets you everything you need and frees up one more stat point.
138
General / Re: Combo feat, is it useful?
« on: May 11, 2020, 08:13:04 pm »
Well, if you start with a shot against an incapped enemy, that's a capped hit chance, then you've got two more tosses of the RNG dice before you get a chance for a stun, making all your subsequent attacks very likely to hit.
It's fantastic for taking down high-health organics, like bosses on DOMINATING. You get all buffed up and can get 12+ attacks a round, you can land devastating 12th hits with pneumatic + combo going off. If you've got a target-rich environment (and maybe Fleet Footed edit: I meant Fancy Footwork. Words are hard.), you can use your weak shots on the squishy trash and your heavy shots on armored foes, making high enemy DT pretty useless. It shines in fights against Burrowers, for example, since you've got weak nothing enemies to soak up your normal hits, and then the Burrower Warriors to take your heavy shots (and put stuns on the normal Burrowers if they're nearby, too, so you can deal with them next turn).
So, yeah, you don't need it against leather armor clad Lurkers or such, but if you can plan out your turn and have high mobility, it allows you to really take advantage of the cadence of battle to clear out groups quickly. Almost no reason not to take it if you've got the Dexterity.
It's fantastic for taking down high-health organics, like bosses on DOMINATING. You get all buffed up and can get 12+ attacks a round, you can land devastating 12th hits with pneumatic + combo going off. If you've got a target-rich environment (and maybe Fleet Footed edit: I meant Fancy Footwork. Words are hard.), you can use your weak shots on the squishy trash and your heavy shots on armored foes, making high enemy DT pretty useless. It shines in fights against Burrowers, for example, since you've got weak nothing enemies to soak up your normal hits, and then the Burrower Warriors to take your heavy shots (and put stuns on the normal Burrowers if they're nearby, too, so you can deal with them next turn).
So, yeah, you don't need it against leather armor clad Lurkers or such, but if you can plan out your turn and have high mobility, it allows you to really take advantage of the cadence of battle to clear out groups quickly. Almost no reason not to take it if you've got the Dexterity.
139
General / Re: Locus of Control Range?
« on: May 11, 2020, 08:01:57 pm »
It doesn't increase the range. That's one big reason (the other being the rather high psi cost of most TC abilities) to use Premeditate with LoC - it gives you an extra 3 tiles of range for your AoE.
140
Suggestions / Re: Improving the doctor feat.
« on: May 08, 2020, 10:52:32 pm »doctor should fill the role of being a doctor better.Well, you can bandage any wound. That can be pretty helpful in the fights where you have NPC support. For example, Broderick on Silent Isle can be pretty helpful if you go at a fairly low level. However, he can also get chewed up pretty hard, and if you can't reverse-pickpocket some hypos onto him, he may just die off. But if you can bandage him back into regen range? Well, he'll stay alive and get you off the island. Similarly, you can bandage up the NPCs who help you in Expedition, or if you took the CoreTech route, the NPCs in the warehouse, between waves.
If I'm remembering correctly, Doctor used to have a unique outcome that it would allow in a (minor, to be fair) NPC interaction. Knowing that you could only get that outcome with that one feat made it feel somewhat special. However, for the last couple years it seems you can get that outcome even without the feat.
141
Suggestions / Re: Improving the doctor feat.
« on: May 08, 2020, 09:39:39 pm »
The thing is, Doctor has basically no requirements - just 15 skill points. No build is going to be unable to shake 15 skill points loose. Fast Metabolism at least has an actual stat requirement that carries an opportunity cost. Doctor should be weaker than Fast Metabolism.
And you want Doctor to clear Hyperallergenic? It's a little too much. If Death Stalkers are giving you trouble, a little preparation will go a long way.
And you want Doctor to clear Hyperallergenic? It's a little too much. If Death Stalkers are giving you trouble, a little preparation will go a long way.
142
General / Re: Goliath Beetles Not Dropping Shells
« on: May 04, 2020, 06:03:08 am »
You aren't reloading a save and clearing the same area multiple times, are you? Loot is generated randomly, but it's generated on monster creation, not on monster kill. SO if you save a game, clear an area, load the game, and clear it again, you should get the exact same drops. You'd probably need to clear the area, then go do other things, and come back when the Goliaths respawn.
If you aren't doing that, then you just have terrible luck right now with the RNG. Goliaths can drop carapace.
If you aren't doing that, then you just have terrible luck right now with the RNG. Goliaths can drop carapace.
143
General / Re: These Directions Suck
« on: May 03, 2020, 08:13:13 pm »
Those are pretty much the three trickiest places to find, honestly. You've hit all of them, now, so the rest of the game should be easy navigating for you.
The first time I played through, I didn't even know you could find the Bakers. The second time, I thought you could only find one.
But you've got a really good map, now, that Styg et al put serious work into, so you can fumble through and find your way without using guides. But, anyway - with those three taken care of, your frustration should pretty much be over. Everything else is rather easy to find, honestly, until you get to Deep Caverns. That is a whole 'nother ball game, there.
The first time I played through, I didn't even know you could find the Bakers. The second time, I thought you could only find one.
But you've got a really good map, now, that Styg et al put serious work into, so you can fumble through and find your way without using guides. But, anyway - with those three taken care of, your frustration should pretty much be over. Everything else is rather easy to find, honestly, until you get to Deep Caverns. That is a whole 'nother ball game, there.
144
Builds / Re: Opinion on this Sniper Thought Control build?
« on: May 03, 2020, 08:09:24 pm »Thank you for the input. Which skill checks would I need to buff?Most of them. It's a fairly min/maxed build.
You'd need to buff up with Hypercerebrix to make the highest Mercantile check. You'd need to wear some +persuasion gear to make the highest persuasion checks, and you'd need both the Lemurian Engineer Suit plus Hypercerebrix to get Hacking to 130. You'd need the suit plus Dex food and the jackknife plus tools to open the highest difficulty locks in the game.
For crafting, you'd need the housing bonus, plus Hypercerebrix, *plus* the +3 skills food to hit your Chem and Bio thresholds (and it looks like my link was wrong; you'd need to take one point out of Chem and put it into Bio. Sorry.). Your other three crafting skills should be good enough with just the housing bonus and Hypercerebrix.
145
Builds / Re: Opinion on this Sniper Thought Control build?
« on: May 03, 2020, 06:00:46 am »I have actually never used Thought Control so I don't know how well this would work. Also not sure if I should cap it at 75 or keep boosting it. This is not for dominating.I'd push it a little higher, if I were you. Even on Hard, if your effective skill is under 200, you'll occasionally see some resists. With a full psi build, you can stop at 75 because your psi beetle armor and uni-psi headband will get you well over 200 effective, but I can't see that build wearing a psi beetle tac vest.
You are significantly over-invested in Stealth, and a little over-invested in Lockpicking. If you wanted, you could free up some points from there and add a dozen or so to TC to get you comfortably over 200. If you plan on relying on TC to get you out of a pinch, you don't want to risk resists any more than you absolutely have to. Then you could put all the points you have left into Chemistry and try to get to a buffed 69 effective so you can make some grenades and nice specialty ammo for your sniper rifle. W2C is good enough, but there are some situations where the specialty ammo is even better. Always nice to have a few rounds with you, just in case.
Something more like this would be a little tighter a build, though it would require you to buff up to hit your highest skill checks: http://underrail.info/build/?HgUDBwMMCgbCoAAAAAAAwoxTWAAAZ2cqJ2d4LTJGOQBNATkoHTUnM35LwoUxGSQrIcKHwrXCpOKcmgXip74K378
edit: build link modified for new Character Builder URL
146
Builds / Re: Would this smg sword build be viable for dominating?
« on: May 02, 2020, 02:16:18 am »
If you swapped Per and Con, you could take Fast Metabolism instead of Doctor. Generally, Fast Metabolism is better than Doctor. It would, however, mean you'd lose Ambush, but Ambush can be tough to use well with short-range weapons like SMGs. It still works, but your margins for error get very slim. Losing Ambush would free up a feat slot, though, which would allow you take Premeditation. Premeditation is just so powerful I can't imagine not using it as a psi character, even support-only.
You can also take 13 points out of Hacking (or 11 out of Hacking and up to 16 out of Electronics) and still buff up to 130 for that one thing. I'm not sure what 44 points in TC is for, since it doesn't give you any good TC abilities. If you took those back too, you'd have 57 (or up to 71) points free which would be enough to pump your Tailoring enough that you could make yourself good armor. I also don't think you need more than 150 effective Mechanics - though if you know you need more, ignore this sentence - so you could perhaps free up as many as 22 more points, which would then allow you get over 150 effective Tailoring, making almost any armor you want.
So maybe I'd recommend something more like this: http://underrail.info/build/?HgUQBgYDAwdQJwDCoAAAZ0wmABlfaVZUXwBGRkYAAFTCozErUMKMKjAGwodLN0nCjRIWwrMnwoXio7oB4rGWBOK1rgrfvw
I'd probably take the spec points out of Psychotemporal Acceleration and put them into Flurry, but I haven't done the numbers so that might not end up being the right choice. If you're pretty sure they're better where they are, trust your instincts.
edit: build link modified for new Character Builder URL
You can also take 13 points out of Hacking (or 11 out of Hacking and up to 16 out of Electronics) and still buff up to 130 for that one thing. I'm not sure what 44 points in TC is for, since it doesn't give you any good TC abilities. If you took those back too, you'd have 57 (or up to 71) points free which would be enough to pump your Tailoring enough that you could make yourself good armor. I also don't think you need more than 150 effective Mechanics - though if you know you need more, ignore this sentence - so you could perhaps free up as many as 22 more points, which would then allow you get over 150 effective Tailoring, making almost any armor you want.
So maybe I'd recommend something more like this: http://underrail.info/build/?HgUQBgYDAwdQJwDCoAAAZ0wmABlfaVZUXwBGRkYAAFTCozErUMKMKjAGwodLN0nCjRIWwrMnwoXio7oB4rGWBOK1rgrfvw
I'd probably take the spec points out of Psychotemporal Acceleration and put them into Flurry, but I haven't done the numbers so that might not end up being the right choice. If you're pretty sure they're better where they are, trust your instincts.
edit: build link modified for new Character Builder URL
147
Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds
« on: May 02, 2020, 01:57:42 am »What is the rational for dumping DEX and AGI completely in favor of CON? Its nice not being completely made of glass but as a Psi user you are still pretty fragile only now you shoot second, third or fourth, which has often meant insta-death for me. Nothing makes you want to rage-quit more than zoning in and instantly being gibbed by some Ironheads.It's very hard (though not impossible, with one or maybe two exceptions) to avoid getting hit in UnderRail, so you're going to take some damage. That's doubly true early on, when you're learning the game. You'll step on mines, you'll fail to position yourself correctly, you'll put a frag grenade at your own feet. It'll happen. So it's nice to have enough health, especially for a first play-through, to survive those little mistakes.
If you aren't going first in combat (with two, or maybe three exceptions) then that's because you are letting the combat come to you, rather than starting it on your own terms. You should almost always be starting combat manually so that you go first. When you start combat manually, your initiative doesn't matter, just like starting combat from stealth. So you don't need Dex or Agi, because you don't need initiative, and your Dex and Agi fed skills are low-investment anyway.
You've said you want to play a character with stealth. Why wouldn't you stealth up before zoning into a new area? Caution is what keeps you alive reliably.
148
Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds
« on: May 01, 2020, 02:16:26 am »No i don't have the expansion. I think I meant I'd give the expansion a go if I could complete the base game, but that's looking less and less likely to happen anytime soon...The Expedition expansion is both add-on and add-in. There's stuff available from the first few minutes of the game, so there is absolutely no reason to feel that you need to finish the base game before getting the expansion. Obviously, if you want to, then you should do what you want.
I' want to have lockpick 50 by the time I get to the GMS Compound with all the sentry bots, as otherwise its a massive pain in the ass.
GMS is super easy to get through as psi. Just make sure you're level 6 so you have Premeditation and you'll find you have all sorts of crazy shenanigans at your disposal. If for some reason you want to be extra double safe, then before you go to GMS, go into the Underpassages (that's the area accessible by heading out the SGS gate and going down the stairs in that first map with the rathounds patrolling around) and look around for a bit. You'll find someone wearing a tac vest. Even if the RNG gives you a really crappy tac vest, any tac vest makes the GMS robots easy-peasy. 30 effective Lockpick skill is plenty for GMS. What you really want is 50 effective Hacking for the tasty psi-mushroom hoards.
149
Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds
« on: April 30, 2020, 05:07:25 pm »
Do you not have the expansion? Your original post about building a psi character mentioned that you wanted to give the expansion a go, but every time you link to a build you're thinking about using, you link to a build that isn't using Expedition.
If you do have Expedition, then you should probably reconsider your build progression since there'll be another psi school for you to consider, several new feats, and an increased level cap.
For what it's worth, with 10+6 Will, 10 Int, 6 Con, and 5 Per, you will still have enough skill points to get all your crafting, lockpicking, hacking, persuasion, mercantile, and intimidation thresholds while maxing at least two of the schools of psi. You don't need Dex or Agi for your build. Very minimal investments ultimately are wasted, because if you can succeed with 15 points in a skill, you can succeed with 0 points in a skill. It's the same reason you never want a stat to be 4; if you can succeed with a stat of 4, you can succeed with a stat of 3 and reclaim that stat point to put somewhere else.
Regardless, ultimately, if you want to build to your own liking, then you should do that and play. Don't get so mired in the theorycrafting that you never get around to playing the game
If you do have Expedition, then you should probably reconsider your build progression since there'll be another psi school for you to consider, several new feats, and an increased level cap.
For what it's worth, with 10+6 Will, 10 Int, 6 Con, and 5 Per, you will still have enough skill points to get all your crafting, lockpicking, hacking, persuasion, mercantile, and intimidation thresholds while maxing at least two of the schools of psi. You don't need Dex or Agi for your build. Very minimal investments ultimately are wasted, because if you can succeed with 15 points in a skill, you can succeed with 0 points in a skill. It's the same reason you never want a stat to be 4; if you can succeed with a stat of 4, you can succeed with a stat of 3 and reclaim that stat point to put somewhere else.
Regardless, ultimately, if you want to build to your own liking, then you should do that and play. Don't get so mired in the theorycrafting that you never get around to playing the game
150
General / Re: Leveling Crafting
« on: April 30, 2020, 02:12:48 am »
Generally, level crafting last. There's no need to craft anything before you go to Depot A; once you get there, the only thing you'd really want is a suit of mutated dog leather or siphoner leather, plus perhaps some footwear. That only requires tailoring and a touch of chemistry. Once you get past Depot A and the world opens up, that's a good time to start making room for crafting. About that time, you should have nearly maxed out your world manipulation skills, like Persuasion/Mercantile/Lockpicking/Hacking, so you'll start to have room in your build to put points into crafting.
As far as how many points to invest, I still think destroyor's guide on steam is the best resource for that. If you're willing to see a few spoilers, the guide has all the answers you will want: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=843557165
Nobody can craft for you**, but you can buy everything you actually *need* to get through the game from merchants, so crafting is not necessary. It is, however, very useful and will make the game significantly easier for you. Since I know you're trying to fit some stealth in, you're really going to want Electronics so you can craft your own cloaking device.
I'll point out once again that you're asking questions that have been addressed in my psi guide. A few days from now, you'll want to start a post asking where to put your specialization points, and that's covered in the questions later on in the thread, too.
https://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=4149.0
edit: ** technically, there is one NPC who can craft for you, but he only crafts one thing, and it's for a specialized purpose only.
As far as how many points to invest, I still think destroyor's guide on steam is the best resource for that. If you're willing to see a few spoilers, the guide has all the answers you will want: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=843557165
Nobody can craft for you**, but you can buy everything you actually *need* to get through the game from merchants, so crafting is not necessary. It is, however, very useful and will make the game significantly easier for you. Since I know you're trying to fit some stealth in, you're really going to want Electronics so you can craft your own cloaking device.
I'll point out once again that you're asking questions that have been addressed in my psi guide. A few days from now, you'll want to start a post asking where to put your specialization points, and that's covered in the questions later on in the thread, too.
https://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=4149.0
edit: ** technically, there is one NPC who can craft for you, but he only crafts one thing, and it's for a specialized purpose only.