Messages

331

Builds / Re: Optimizing a pure sniper build

« on: August 18, 2019, 12:36:11 am »

I wouldn't worry about Clothier.  The benefit you get from it is really tiny.  You'd be better off with Power Management - because as you'll see, bullet pistols are really not very good at all, and a crafted plasma pistol will significantly outperform a crafted .44 Hammerer.  All Clothier will get you is a tiny bit more stealth but with 10 Agi, you're going to be so sneaky nothing but robots and Death Stalkers will ever see you anyway unless you want them to.  Gun Nut will still give you its benefit on your sniper rifle.

Pick up a little chemistry along with your mechanics and start making grenades.  Flashbangs and incendiaries will do marvellous things for your ability to manage crowds.  And maybe consider - since you've got 5 Str already - freeing up one more points for it and rolling with an AR as your backup weapon, if you want to stick with bullets.

332

Builds / Re: Help required (existing build or a new one)

« on: August 18, 2019, 12:22:08 am »

* With full PSI should I go Thought Control for primar damage, or Metathermics? Which will be bettter for early game?

Moreover, which do you recommend more sniper build or PSI?

If you don't mind, I'll just link to the build guide I made for an optimal psi character.  https://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=4149.0  But to answer your question, Thought Control isn't a viable primary damage dealer.  If you go psi, you should go heavy in both Metathermics and Psychokinesis.

If you want to have the most options available to you so that your gameplay doesn't boil down to the same two or three actions every combat every time, then go psi.  Sniper is great fun if you like the sneaky playstyle, though; you're constantly trying to lay out good lines of sight, safe LOS breaks for you to use so you can funnel enemies into traps and kill zones.  But if you want raw power or maximal variety, you go psi.

333

Builds / Re: Help required (existing build or a new one)

« on: August 17, 2019, 03:50:55 pm »

Well, you haven't specialized very much in your stats, so as a consequence you don't have any really impressive skills.  Using a sledge with 8 Strength isn't great, and using knives with 11 Dex isn't great, either.  Still, if you really want to, you can get through Normal with this build.  You should probably get a whole lot of bear traps and grenades, though, because your main combat options aren't very strong, so you'd benefit greatly from picking up the Grenadier feat and using a lot of thrown explosives.

Just in general, if you would normally dump a stat to 4, you may as well dump it to 3 - you won't succeed at anything with 4 in a skill that you wouldn't succeed with 3, and that frees up a stat point for you to specialize your build more.  Also, if you're going to pick up psi abilities, you should try to find 25 points to put into Psychokinesis so you can get Force Field - it's a really helpful ability, and can save your life a lot.  You might also want to drop some more points into Mechanics so you can make good weapons for yourself; good crafted weapons will be better than almost anything you can find - even Quake.  Finally, if you build your character for the first 15ish levels for one thing then switch to another, you can pretty much count on having a hard time.

If you're willing to restart, it'll make your whole UnderRail experience better if you make a more focused character.  If you're finding the game less fun because of the difficulty, I've got to tell you, 19 levels in it's hard to pull things around.  It can be done, but a restart would be better.  That's just not a very good character build that you've ended up with.

334

Builds / Re: What build should I try next?

« on: August 13, 2019, 11:59:27 pm »

Well, I'm definitely looking forward to playing a crossbow character, I'm just worried it will be frustrating learning to play as one.

Well, carry a lot of flashbangs. Most of your damage is single-target, so you safely let several enemies at once ride out their incap timers.  Open with a frag and a flashbang, then if somebody is nearly dead hit adrenaline and wrap up the turn with a crossbow shot and some relocation. Next turn, three shots and more relocation. When the adrenaline wears off you can hopefully LOS any remaining enemies so they have to get up close and personal where you've laid down some acid traps or bear traps, then when they're all gathered up at a corner, your frags will have come off of cooldown.  Crossbow combat is at least as much about what you do that isn't immediately damage-dealing as what you do that is.

335

Builds / Re: Question on beginner "Tin Can" or Juggernaut Assault Rifle build

« on: August 13, 2019, 11:55:48 pm »

When does it become safe? I'm wearing 42/21 tungsten armor and I'm still getting ventilated.

Wear metal helmet and boots until you can make better armor. 42/21 is pretty weak for tungsten, honestly.  You should be able to easily get your total physical DR up to 80% at which point you can start to really tank safely.

336

Builds / Re: What build should I try next?

« on: August 12, 2019, 08:29:32 pm »

Something about stealth that I don't  understand, is it possible to go back into hiding once the enemy knows you are attacking  them? Seems like after combat starts, stealth is worthless as enemies can still see you.

Flashbangs are your friend, here.  Incapacitating enemies so they can't see you will allow you go to back into stealth.  Enemies will still know you're in the area, and will be actively looking for you, so you need to get away so that as soon as they come out of incap they don't spot you instantly, but yes, you can re-stealth in combat as long as you make sure that enemies can't see you.  Stuns and incaps will accomplish that for you.

337

General / Re: [Possible spoilers] Recommended level for starting Expedition + other advice

« on: August 11, 2019, 09:10:31 pm »

15 is pretty much the recommended level to start the Expedition content, but there's some wiggle room. It sounds like you're new to UnderRail, so going at 15 is going to be a little tough.

Crabs are not easy.  They're not the harderst things you'll find in the Black Sea, but that area you're in is sort of a harsh introduction.  If you don't have a lot of W2C bullets on you, you may want to go back to either the expedition base camp, or even Core City, and stock up.  W2C will be a big help against those crabs.

Also, yeah, a good crafted weapon will be leaps and bounds better than whatever you can find or buy.  If you've gotten to a point where everything seems really difficult, you might ought to double back, do a little careful exploring in easier areas, and visit merchants to try to find some good high-quality components to make good gear from.

338

Builds / Re: Need advice: Spellsword Build

« on: August 09, 2019, 05:22:28 pm »

after playing on Dominating I think 240/250 effective Thought Control is safer. But just my two cents here.

Just mentioning that a Riot Gear with Psi beetle Carapace does trigger Juggernaut, as well, so there's a bit more versatility there.

I think you're probably right. 200 effective does occasionally (thankfully rarely) fail resolve checks on DOMINATING.

I had no idea about the beetle riot armor. I thought it was under 50%. Thanks for the correction; that's going to be important for the OP build to give them more mobility.

339

Builds / Re: Question on beginner "Tin Can" or Juggernaut Assault Rifle build

« on: August 09, 2019, 02:08:20 am »

Suppressive Fire is still an awesome way to set up enemies to take advantage of Opportunist.  It's not the only way to get that Opportunist benefit, but as AR you're going to be bursting a lot anyway - so why not make it even easier for you to get more bonus damage?  The SF debuff also is pretty nice - it lets you worry a bit less about ranged enemies so you can focus on anyone getting too close, and the AP debuff may mean enemies get fewer attacks than they otherwise would.

Get both Opportunist and Suppressive Fire if you can fit them in your build.  They go well together, and are highly reliable.

340

Builds / Re: Need advice: Spellsword Build

« on: August 09, 2019, 12:36:48 am »

2. I also find myself regularly running out of steam mid-fight (0 Psi points), but I guess this is just part of being a low-level Psi user.
Some follow-up questions:

1. Is Meditation useful (+25 max Psi points, requires Tranquility)?

2. What does "alpha strike" mean? When I first encountered this term, I thought it was a feat of some kind. However, I assume this means being able to finish off all / majority of the enemies in one turn?

3. @TheAverageGortsby: By "ThermoD", do you mean Thermodynamicity? If so, at which level would you recommend getting this feat based on the build you linked?

4. I am a bit wary of the Lunatic Mall mission during the Tchort faction questline. I had a bit of trouble going through this quest on my previous characters but managed to scrape by (mainly through stealth). What are your opinions on a non-stealth Psi character going through this quest?

You run out of psi because you don't use psi efficiently.  It's really not anything to do with your level, but rather your use of abilities.  For example, Cryokinesis at low levels should be your default spammable attack because it provides good damage, splits it between two types so mostly most enemies (obvious exception: robots) will take at least about half damage, and has a fairly low cost.  You do also need to expect that you're going to be drinking psi boosters like a dehydrated man in a Capri Sun factory; there's a reason I call 'em juice pouches

1)It is useful, but it is not necessary. Efficient use of psi abilities, and stacking of psi cost reduction (psi beetle carapace armor early on, muffled psi headband, Advanced Psi Empathy perhaps or at least the psi spear, psi beetle brain soup - you can easily get your psi costs down very low by stacking psi cost reduction) will be far more valuable. Until then, just make sure you pick up every mindshroom you see, and drink those juice pouches as you need 'em

2)An alpha strike is your opening attack turn, assuming you pop all your necessary cooldowns and do as much as you possible can, going "all out".  Typically for psi, you probably Premeditate an ability then follow it up with one or two others.  For example, a classic Psychosis alpha strike might be Premeditation+Psionic Mania+Cryokinetic Orb, then followed by a Pyrokinesis - the Orb will be a guaranteed crit, do tremendous damage, and perhaps inflict a bleeding debuff on enemies; then the pyrokinesis will do additional heavy damage - and with Pyromaniac, might also set any surviving enemies on fire.  On Hard, you rarely have to worry about enemies surviving an iceball+fireball combo, though.

3)Thermodynamic Destabilization. It turns a target into a walking bomb - when they die, they explode for potentially enormous damage. ThermoD is one of the most grotesquely abuseable psi abilities; it ranks up there with LoC+Enrage or a TK Proxy + Implode+TK Punch.

4) Psi runs roughshod over the Mall. Without spoiling the plan of attack for you, I'll say that you *may* die a few times getting through it if you somehow haven't learned the best use of psi, but with a psi character, you absolutely have what you need to walk in, mushroom stamp every last Lunatic in the place, yoink the loot, and bounce out singing "The Roof Is On Fire"

341

Builds / Re: Need advice: Spellsword Build

« on: August 08, 2019, 07:02:39 pm »

It sounds like what you really want is a psi build that also happens to have some melee ability.  You should probably know that, for example, Cryo Shield and Exothermic Aura can't coexist; whichever one you cast second will automatically cancel the first one, because heat and cold abilities don't play well together.

Expedition brings two really good psi weapons into the game, but they're both spears, so you might want to consider being slightly less tanky, and slightly higher strength, so you can go spear&shield.

Since you're going to be closing to melee range regularly, you don't want Tranquility - you want Psychosis so you can hit hard and fast while closing in.  And since you want your psi abilities to be your main source of damage, you *need* Locus of Control.  However, unlike Hulk above, I'd never suggest someone max out Thought Control; that's a huge waste of points for nearly no effective gain. 

I'm assuming you'll be wearing a Muffled Uni-Psi Headband, and carrying the psi spear in one hand and a melee spear in the other, to switch between, since you'll have two main modes of damage output.  If you really don't mind moving like a turtle, you could swap out Impale for Juggernaut and wear Riot Gear with a Psi Crab carapace(instead of, presumably, Psi Beetle), which would give you just enormous defensive boosts.

SInce you'll have psi as your principle damage source, you're going to be able to get by with skipping a lot of things that normal melee-focused builds can't do without; some Dodge, some Evasion, maybe Uncanny Dodge and Escape Artist.  You can do without any of those things because psi is going to give you alternate paths to those sorts of defenses.

So here's my suggestion for you: https://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgsDAwcDDAcAHgDCoAAAAFVaAABBWigyUEvCoMKgSzcAQVAoKywUKmUuwpQhwodpEsKvwqvCsmJ6378

This build will let you run around with ~20% dodge/evasion from your sustained TM ability; it'll let you alpha strike with huge Psionic Mania hits (and if you're using Pyrokinesis or ThermoD, which you should probably be, Pyromania will give you huge bonus damage DoTs and fears on living targets) and then quickly stack defenses with Thought Control mirror images, LoC+Enrage group attacks, you can debuff ranged enemies to near uselessness.  The bonus telekinetic damage will make your TK punches really very painful (especially if you've gone ahead and made your psi headband with the TK Punch module) so you'll have a brutal single-target damage option.  And, because you're going spears rather than swords, you're going to be able to equip the best psi weapon in the game.

You may want not to worry about using spears in the early part of the game; start your character with 10 Will, put your level 4 and level 8 stat points into Will, and play your first 16 levels as pure psi, but with a melee weapon of some sort equipped.  If you do want to use spears early on, you probably should go with metal armor over riot gear, or else take Iron Grip rather earlier - but since melee is only a support damage source, I built the character to be pure psi early on then branch into melee  around level 20 or so.  If you're playing Classic XP, that'll be no trouble, but if you're playing Oddity it may mean that you'd need to explore a lot and pick up all the easy levels in UnderRail before going on the expedition to Black Sea.

 I think, for a mostly-psi build that also wants to be a tanky melee type, this should be DOMINATING viable.

EDIT: I should add that this build does assume you'll be cooking your own Hypercerebrix so you can make MKIV grenades, hit all the necessary Mercantile thresholds as well as - if you wish - the 130 Hacking check in DC, and still craft top-tier Riot Gear and Energy Shields.

342

Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds

« on: August 06, 2019, 07:01:11 pm »

Thoughts on shield emitters? What's ideal for a psy char? [...] I'm leaning towards an amped low-low (or med-med perhaps?) because the scariest opponents are generally xbow users.

I don't use shields on my psi characters.  I find shields to be too powerful as they are; coupled with psi, it trivializes the entire game.  However, if you want to use shields, I'd say go with efficient high/high or high/medium.  You're not going have anybody come in close enough that melee will be a concern; the only thrown weapon that's going to damage you will be grenades and that's high speed damage; and your alpha strikes are going to disintegrate lightly-armored crossbow sorts so again, all you need to worry about is enemy tin cans with ARs, enemy snipers, and maybe the occasional stealthed enemy when you get too cocky and start making mistakes 

343

Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds

« on: August 05, 2019, 08:44:46 pm »

Since we've touched on SI, I guess it's appropriate for me to ask if you think Specialization in SI is worthwhile? Or is it a no brainer to pump the points into Psychosis itself? Locus of Control cooldown as well as Premed both look juicy too. There are so many routes to go with Spec points I feel somewhat overwhelmed as to what is optimal.

I think Premeditation cooldown reduction is the best 2 points you can spend as psi. I tried LoC cooldown reduction but didn't much like it since I rarely had fights go long enough to use it twice even with the reduction.  SI Psychosis specializes in SURPRISE YOU'RE DEAD and that doesn't really lend itself to needing cooldown reduction; you just wait for your psi to regen and by the time you're topped off, most of your cooldown are good to go, too.

I'm not impressed by psychosis specialization either, but I haven't ever (that I can recall) played a psi character without Biology so I always have a great stash of drugs for when I want buffs.  The bonus crit isn't what gets you to 100%, and you'll have plenty of psi cost reduction from gear so that extra 5% won't make a noticeable difference.

SI spec might be good.  The additional health buffer gives you room to make some mistakes - though I've read from some of the veteran players here that they were able to run most of the game at 1HP and just never get hit, I don't recommend that sort of zero-margin playstyle unless you just know you want to do it.  Again, the bonus crit will be something you sort of need to decide for yourself, but it doesn't impress me.

You've got Psionic Mania for a guaranteed crit when you need it; you've got Trance and Focus Stim for when you need more than one big heavy hit at a time.  And even as Psychosis, you're still going to be using quite a few abilities that either cannot crit, or don't really need to. I would say put your first two points in Premeditation cooldown reduction and see if your playstyle doesn't show you where you need to take it.  You'll be level 17 by the time you have to think about where else points should go, and I'd bet you'll have figured out a bunch of things regarding how you play the game.

344

Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds

« on: August 05, 2019, 06:40:02 pm »

Regarding Regenerative Vest, doesn't that defeat the purpose of running SI? Figured Sturdy would be a better choice so I had a higher health pool overall to work with at that magic 30% threshold.

Absolutely, I didn't see you mention SI in your previous post (though I did see you mention Psychosis so perhaps I should have assumed).  Clearly if you're running SI then you don't want a Regenerative Vest.

345

Suggestions / Re: Crafting

« on: August 05, 2019, 05:06:49 pm »

Not a fix, but in the meanwhile, you can click on the slot in the crafting window and it will automatically take the first available item that can fit in it.  If that's not what you wanted to use, you can click it again and it will take the next, then the next, and so on.