Messages

166

Builds / Re: The Psi-Juggernaut

« on: March 31, 2020, 04:47:46 am »

Would you kindly elaborate why is Conditioning 'always' garbage? Is it from how it works (iirc, reducing damage AFTER DT/DR)?

That's right.  There are basically three broad layers of damage reduction.  There's energy shields, armor, and finally player DR.  Since UnderRail isn't a PvP game we don't have to worry about huge Snipe/Ambush/Execute/TK Punch crits coming in on the player.  NPCs simply don't deal the kind of damage a highly optimized PC can do.

So, you get shot at and hit for 300 damage.  That's probably enough to be a problem, under most circumstances, for most builds.

Your energy shield is a decent one, nothing amazing.  It blocks 100 points of High speed damage, say.  200 gets through to armor.
Your armor - especially for the build linked here, a tanky sort - has pretty good DR and DT.  Maybe it's a good set of metal armor (boots, armor, helmet) with 80% total mechanical DR.  That's not amazing; we can get 95% pretty easily but let's assume you're just wearing good stuff, not end-game stuff.  160 damage is blocked by armor, and 40 points gets through to the player.
Now Conditioning takes 15%, maybe 20% (like in OP's build, it would be 20%) of that.  Conditioning just blocked 8 damage of that 300 damage shot.  That's never going to make or break a fight.  It's rarely going to make a difference of any sort.

The use case where Conditioning might make an actual difference is when you're taking a damage type that Conditioning does block, and you also happen to have no shielding or armor mitigation.  Then maybe it blocks a lot of damage.  But if you're taking a lot of damage that you don't have mitigation for, you're dead anyway.  Either you need to armor up, or you need to find a way to facetank less.

If the combat log showed what damage reduction is being applied, nobody would roll with Conditioning more than once.  It's just not any good in any way that makes a difference.

167

Builds / Re: The Psi-Juggernaut

« on: March 31, 2020, 12:02:37 am »

Also, if you had any ideas for what to cut in place for an empowerment however, I would love to see which feat and why.

You can always drop Conditioning for something else.  No matter your build, no matter your CON, no matter your play style, Conditioning is always garbage and the mental gymnastics required to argue in its favor are Olympic-worthy. It isn't, technically, worthless because it does actually reduce damage, but it does it in the least meaningful way possible.  As far as survivability feats go, that's your weakest pick and if you wanted to try an Empowered feat, that's where I'd suggest you go to free up a feat.  But since you're not building for DOMINATING, you certainly don't need the Empowered feat, so you could keep Conditioning if you preferred it.

168

Builds / Re: The Psi-Juggernaut

« on: March 30, 2020, 08:29:45 pm »

Seems a curious choice to have a survivability-focused psi build with TC and 10 Will, and then not pick up Locus of Control.  Even on Normal difficulty you'll occasionally get stunned, most likely.

Mantra really isn't worth it.  With Hemopsychosis in your build, you might be better off taking an Empowered feat, so you could spike damage on bosses/hard targets when you need to, and then still cast from your health pool on the following turn.

169

Builds / Re: Looking for a powerfist/pistol build for a warhammer 40k inquisitor like build

« on: March 30, 2020, 08:27:28 am »

High Dex melee build, dump Perception, Versatility for Guns skill.  Pneumatic ancient rathound gloves for the power fist, so you'll need Tailoring and Mechanics, at a bare minimum.  44 Hammerer for your big bore pistol.  You'll be looking at getting to 12 attacks per round, so you can end the combat turn with a pneumatic + combo strike for heavy damage.  That'll be easier with psi haste, but if you don't want to be a heretic to the corpse god then you might want to consider 10 Agi for Blitz.  Either way, you're going to want 14 Dex plus tabis so you can easily get you attack AP down to 7.

170

General / Re: Ambush vs. Snipe

« on: March 28, 2020, 09:53:45 pm »

Ah, fire. Is there any problem you can't solve?

That's what I've been asking for years.

171

Bugs / Re: Energy Machete puts Flurry on cooldown/removes Onslaught if mech damage resisted

« on: March 26, 2020, 05:33:17 am »

Knowing Styg, it's probably intentional

fixed a bug where some players were able to have fun

172

General / Re: Ambush vs. Snipe

« on: March 26, 2020, 05:27:56 am »

Your reddit guy wasn't very imaginative.  As long as you take the time to find the shadowy areas, you can always make someone be standing somewhere bright if you set them on fire.  Fire's nice and bright.

The nice thing about Ambush is that once you build up to a high critical damage multiplier, it's a great way to get basically guaranteed crits.  It's also a passive, no-cooldown ability with no limitations like Snipe has where it can only be used while you're in stealth.  So you can get several Ambush shots in a row.

If you just want to see big numbers once when you smash your buttons, like some DPS class in an MMO, then Snipe is an easy pick because you push the button and you get a big number.  But it's never a crit, and when you're sitting on 200%, 250%, even 300% crit damage, well, Ambush starts to catch up or even surpass Snipe.  Again, and again.

You don't have to pick one or the other.  Get them both.  They're both awesome for a stealth playstyle.

173

Builds / Re: Slayer Build-Strongest possible build I could think of for crushing DOMINATING

« on: March 25, 2020, 06:23:44 am »

I think you'd be a lot better off with something like this: http://underrail.info/build/?HgcDAw0ECgbCoDgAAAAAAEtaAABaby5QX8KMLcKgNwAATSsIVSxfYh8uFSplZiFzwrLChEnCh-KitQLiqaIG4quGBeKsgwLfvw

The only changes there are pulling back the points you overinvested.  If you didn't want to hack and pick, you'd have those 165 points to put wherever else you wanted them.  But with that stat distribution, you'll still hit all your necessary thresholds and won't be so overinvested.  Also, a good crafted stealth set will get you through everywhere you need to be even without any actual Stealth skill.

Also, Conditioning is always a trap.  If you're willing to play with an energy shield, then you don't need Conditioning ever.  Styg should really fix that feat so people stop falling for it and taking it.

It sounds like you might prefer to use Psi Crab carapace rather than Psi Beetle.  You'll get a lot more damage reduction - a lot more - and will easily get your encumbrance threshold even if you don't use SSS.

edit: build link modified for new Character Builder URL

174

Suggestions / Re: Message for Developers

« on: March 20, 2020, 08:53:20 pm »

forcing players to spend 100 of IRL hours trying to sell their crap, hunt for supplies, running from one dumpster to another, which are used as a bastardized storing space and gamble for super steel.

There's no need to be that OCD about loot in UnderRail.  None of the money sinks are necessary - Super Steel is quality capped at 160 so even if you do get the best, it's only barely better than a 170+ quality other thing, which is easily attainable.  Your house?  No need to do anything with it, it's purely cosmetic.  Jet skis?  You get free jet skis that are absolutely good enough, and you have options at your disposal to acquire others at the mere cost of overwhelming violence.

The economy is only punishing enough so that those who want to get the best of everything have to work for it.  If you want to get through the game, the quest rewards and world loot drops will be everything you could possibly need, and then more.  UnderRail isn't a Bethesda game, it's not a multiplayer shooter.  There are no fancy hats to grind for; no need to farm dragons to make glowy armor.  Everything you need to comfortably get through the game is there.  If you're mired in the economy, that's a trap of your own making.  Get out.

175

Builds / Re: DOMINATING Laser Pistol Critical Build: 7 shots/rd., 5+ dead, not a scientist ;)

« on: March 18, 2020, 01:01:28 am »

where do I get fillers for toxic gas granades?

Sometimes general goods vendors like Harold (I think that's his name) on the Engineering level of SGS will have them.  You can also sometimes loot them from toxic barrels in the world.  For example, if you go into the Underpassages near SGS, there's an area with some toxic gas spewing out of some barrels. One (or maybe more?) of those barrels has what you need.

176

General / Re: Psi beetle or psi crab carapace armour?

« on: March 17, 2020, 09:11:05 pm »

Yes that's true - I tried going after that Goliath (loaded the same save over 20 times) and couldn't get a carapace higher than 58. RNG is not on my side! 

That could be the problem.  Styg has made changes to UnderRail over the last couple years that reduce the amount of randomness.  One of those changes, I believe, was that the drop quality of items is set on monster creation.  That means reloading the same save again and again will get you the same quality drops, again and again.  You would probably be better off to kill those Goliaths, then go do some other things, and come back when different Goliaths have spawned.

177

Builds / Re: Which jetksi to pick

« on: March 16, 2020, 05:22:36 pm »

it boils down to slogging the merchandise to all the traders in order to get their 400 charons then? [...] Well, if now is not the time to stay inside for some extended merchant run, when is

It's not really all that bad if you set it up in advance.  For example, in Core City, why not put al your junk in those barrels by the elevator on the Oligarch level? Quick access.  Every time you come back to CC, grab a few things out of your Barrel Of Fun and go sell it.  You can easily pull 1.5k out of merchants in CC per run.  In Foundry, you can use the barrel at the bar, or just dump the stuff in a pile outside.  Foundry is easily worth 800 charons.  IoT is worth 1k anyway - Hannah alone has something like 700, right? I forget off the top of my head.  Even Junkyard can get you nearly 1k, and that big old dumpster is an awfully inviting place to store your trash.

Anyway, yeah, it takes a good long while.  But if you just get in the habit of checking inventories when you happen to be in town, it comes fairly organically.  I rarely do more than about half a dozen dedicated merchant runs on a character.  Instead, I do small loops, dumping off loot as I explore and clear the world, and just checking merchants when I happen to be in the neighborhood.

As you say, no time like the present for wasting hours on optimizations! 

178

Builds / Re: Which jetksi to pick

« on: March 16, 2020, 01:43:09 pm »

On dominating, no matter the build, I always have at best a couple thousand coins.

If you have decent crafting and can get Disassemble, you'll find that especially on DOMINATING that feat makes a world of difference in how much money you have available.  You don't need to pick it up particularly early; I usually wait until I've cleared Rail Crossing, Foundry, and the easy parts of Core City (ie before completing the Oligarch quests).  Until then, just don't sell anything at all that could be disassembled.  Nothing.  When you do finally pick up Disassemble, spend an hour or so of real time turning your stash of gear into parts, then reassemble that giant pile of components into the highest-possible-value stuff you can, and then just reassemble whatever's left as you please.  Now when you go visit those electronics and weapons and armor merchants, you'll have immensely valuable things to sell, and it'll be very easy to pull all their charons off of them.

It's still not infinite money like you have on easier settings, but Disassemble will allow you to afford whatever jetski you want, and still have enough left over to trick out your house and buy a few sheets of super steel.

EDIT: If that's not an option, then at the very least try to find room in your build for enough skill points to get your effective Mechanics to 50, and maybe Tailoring as well.  Tear apart your basic stuff into scrap, make advanced repair kits, and repair your expensive stuff before you sell it.  Metal armor, firearms, energy weapons, and light/medium overcoats can sell very well if at full repair.

179

Builds / Re: DOMINATING Laser Pistol Critical Build: 7 shots/rd., 5+ dead, not a scientist ;)

« on: March 16, 2020, 01:35:50 pm »

Plasma are very very long to get down. It is QOL definitely, it will save a lot of resources.

OPs build has Temporal Manipulation, so all you really need to do is dance in and out of LOS and lay down 4-stacks (should be 7-stacks but without Tranquility and Premeditation, 4 is the best you can do without buffing AP) of Temporal Distortion.  It takes a while but it's resource-free.  There are no turrets in early-game that can't be easily LOSed.

180

General / Re: Psi beetle or psi crab carapace armour?

« on: March 16, 2020, 01:31:42 pm »

Quality is totally random, right?

It's random within a set range.  Regular psi beetles cannot have as high a quality carapace as the Goliaths, so you don't need to worry too much about the regular beetles. If you go north from the Rail Crossing train station, you'll encounter a couple siphoners, then two maps in a row with Goliath beetles.  They respawn, there, so it's a good place to farm high quality carapace if the RNG isn't kind to you.  If you don't get a good drop in either of those two screens, one more screen north you'll find four more siphoners, then go east a screen and there's one more group of Azuridae.