Messages

361

Builds / Re: Finalization AR/light armor/nades/TM build for dominating need advices . . .

« on: August 01, 2019, 09:18:54 pm »

Well, Opportunist + Suppressive Fire work very well together but you'd need obviously to dump two feats for that.  Personally, I'd drop Aimed Shot and Three Pointer.  Aimed Shot is useful early game but later on you're mostly spraying; Three Pointer is just really hard to justify.

You're going to be able to get 2 bursts a turn with the Chimaera of either caliber, so really it's up to you.  I generally like incendiary bullets more than acid bullets, personally, but acid is a great choice when fighting things that aren't afraid of fire.

362

Builds / Re: Another newcomer.

« on: August 01, 2019, 09:10:29 pm »

Should i increase Perception over Agility ? I had read that for pistols 8 Perception was good enough were they wrong ?

Over Agility? Absolutely.  Over Dex? Maybe.

Perception is what scales your Guns skill.  More Guns skill, more damage when you shoot things, and a greater chance to hit.  If you're playing Normal and you're fairly new to the game, or playing Hard and you really know what you're doing, 8 is probably enough.  But for a new player, or a DOMINATING run, I would not be happy with 8 Perception as a gunner.

363

Builds / Re: Sneaky Crossbow + traps good enough alone or need other weapons?

« on: August 01, 2019, 08:34:30 pm »

Can you elaborate on why ambush is good now? Last time I played Underrail some times ago, it was generally regarded as a pretty bad feat. And now I see people saying it's good in expedition, why though?

Also, what is it you get from 55 temporal manipulation, some good spell or something?

For a stealthy ranged character, Ambush can get you into guaranteed-crit territory.  Guaranteed crits are always nice, right?  And it's easy to make sure someone is in a lighted square if you set them on fire first.  If you're used to sneaking around and getting good positioning anyway, pushing your crit chance high enough to be reliable is quite valuable.

55 TM gets you psi haste.  With the feat, that's 3 turns of +20AP and +30MP as well.  It's quite the buff.

364

Builds / Re: A real Jack of All Trades, Master of None. Going Dominating.

« on: August 01, 2019, 08:20:16 pm »

1. Is going lower Thought Control an option - it is more of a general cc skill here than anything else? Does lower Thought Control reduce the chance of landing skills like Rage and Fear? I can't quite remember - it's been a while.

2. Reducing Psychokinesis/Throwing is an option.

3. How much Chemistry/Mechanics you need for MKIII? Gosh, I really have forgotten quite a bit.

4. How much Mechanics/Electronics/Tailoring do you think will be needed in the end?

5. Having more Mercantile is always welcomed. Using Under Pie to unlock the higher stores is a very good trick. How much Mercantile would you need for that in the end, and how early, in your opinion should the build invest in it?

6. What do you mean by TM? I assume it's Time Manipulation

1) Not really.  You play on DOMINATING, right? You're going to need to break enemy resolve, and I usually recommend an effective TC of 200 or so for that.  If you were playing 16 Will and multi-school psi, you could get there with 75 points in TC, but I think you need all of them to make sure you clear resolve.  If you plan to use it regularly, don't give the enemies any more chance to resist your TC abilities than you have to.
2)Yeah. Three Pointer isn't reliable even with a dedicated throwing build, so I don't like it much.  Personal bias aside, it can be tough to recommend it - it's only good with high Throwing, but it's not good enough to be the only reason you go deep into Throwing.  If all you want is to reliably place grenades, you can do that with 50-60 effective skill.
3)When in doubt, go to the wiki:  https://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blueprint:_Hand_Grenade
4&5) See above  (edit: if you want to go in 20 points really early for the SGS benefits, that makes sense - but if not, then don't bother going into Mercantile until you've cleared the Depot, unless you really want TiChrome before you go in, in which case you need a few dozen points to unlock Blaine's inventory so you get an RNG chance for him to have a bar in stock)
6) Yep, you're right.  Temporal Manipulation.  Getting that early will be a huge help for you.  The basic ability will get you safely through the Retake The Outposts quest; the LTI and psi slow will just be very useful in general, and once you've cleared the Depot you'll get some really, really nice abilities.  So try to pick up some TM early if you can - no point in getting any more crafting than you need, until you need it.

365

Builds / Re: A real Jack of All Trades, Master of None. Going Dominating.

« on: August 01, 2019, 02:39:17 pm »

It's a quick enough trek to level 12 that you might find things working a little better if you didn't really invest in crafting until around 12-16.  Getting some TM early on will cover up a lot of the weaknesses in that spread out build.  Also, with such a clearly crafting-heavy build, I might pull ten points each from Mechanics and Tailoring (if you plan to use Hypercerebrix while crafting top-tier gear at home) and 20 from Psychokinesis (because you're not going to have enough skill there to make it a significant damage-dealer anyway) and put them into Mercantile so you can hit all the thresholds for unlocking merchant inventory except Efreitor Hannah's second one (two points from out of throwing would get you there as well, with both Hypercerebrix and Under Pie).

Looks like a solid JoAT build either way, though.

366

Builds / Re: Another newcomer.

« on: August 01, 2019, 11:44:47 am »

Well, you've got the Dex and traps for Quick Tinkering so that might be worth picking up.  If you can find 30 skill points to spare, Grenadier would also help you out a bit.  If you're planning on using chem pistols then, yes, you should get Cooked Shot (whether you get Mad Chemist or not), and almost all pistol builds should have Execute.

Your Perception seems a little low.  Why do you have 6 Will with no psi?  You'd have been much better served dumping Will and putting those three points into Per and Dex.  Indeed, even you plan to pick up psi later in the game as a support set, you'd still be better off with just 3 Will since with 6 you're not going to have high enough skill values to meaningfully use any abilities except those that don't much scale.

367

Builds / Re: Specializations for SMG Character

« on: July 31, 2019, 10:49:02 pm »

Thanks for the advice. Do you think that the bonuses to suppressive fire (such as enemy AP reduction and accuracy reduction) are worth it? Certainly, the 3 extra AP per kill (from Commando?) is worth it to me.

From what you know about my build (Commando, Spec Ops, Suppression, Expertise, Doctor, Sprint), is there anything from those that you would recommend over the grenade and ballistics-based feats?

I haven't played a SMG build in a while (might have been before DOMINATING was introduced, not sure right now) so I'm not sure I'm right about what I think regarding specializations for that build.  Sure, 3/3 Commando seems a no-brainer; at the very least, that means that when it procs you can reload both weapons "for free" if you need, or get one more burst in.  Suppressive Fire AP reduction looks good, especially since the hit cone is fairly large and you're going to have to maneuver anyway due to the short optimal range of SMGs; Expertise is always nice for builds that hit often, and there might not be a build that hits more often than burst SMG. 

If you do Commando, Expertise, and Suppressive Fire, then you only have 2 points left; I guess Spec Ops makes a lot of sense then, unless you use Quick Tinkering a lot.

368

Builds / Re: Specializations for SMG Character

« on: July 31, 2019, 06:29:06 pm »

Ballistics really isn't very good for any build. At max specialization it only provides 6 more physical DT.  Granted, if you're running around with kevlar overcoat, that can translate to like 21-22 physical DT vs bullets, but still, that's 3 spec points for taking less damage when you get hit; wouldn't it be better to try to set yourself up to just get hit less, instead?  The problem I have with Ballistics is that it looks really useful in mid-game but by the time you get to Deep Caverns or Black Sea, you're not getting hit with a lot of things that are going to be decided by your physical DT.

Grenadier doesn't have specialization points, apparently, so you must be talking about Spec Ops.  That only reduces the cooldown of flashbangs and grenades on that cooldown timer, so while not worthless, it would depend on how often you use the special-tactics grenades to decide if getting 1 extra turn of cooldown reduction is worth two points to you.

Especially on higher difficulty levels, grenades are less useful for their direct damage than they are for their secondary effects.  Since Three Pointer is so chance-based (very difficult to get your grenade crit much over a 1-in-three chance) it's hard to recommend even just for the feat slot, much less for spec points.

369

General / Re: Equipment for SMG build in Expedition?

« on: July 31, 2019, 06:16:15 pm »

So, your heavy SMG is there mostly for Commando procs, so you'd probably want a 8.6 Steel Cat with muzzle brake and a forward grip, assuming you're usually seeing high hit chances.  You probably don't need to worry about AP cost since you probably only use it two or three times a fight when you get those Commando procs.

The light SMG should be for getting kills fairly quickly, so I'd think you'd want a 7.62 Jaguar or Impala (for the better crit chance - and if you walk around with either 16 or 18 Dex, the AP cost is the same) with rapid reloader and compensator (or I suppose extended magazine if you don't have a bullet strap belt, maybe), so you can easily enough dump three bursts a round to get those kills for the Commando proc.

5mm doesn't really have a lot to recommend it, by the time you make it out to Black Sea.  I'd switch the light SMG to 7.62, and maybe keep a muzzle braked 5mm in the backpack just in case you've got a bunch of shock rounds and intend to kill some robots without eating all your W2C.

370

Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds

« on: July 31, 2019, 02:21:03 pm »

Not sure a few points in PER matters, at least on DOMINATING. My 15 PER dominating build (will hit 17 level 26) with almost 400 detection tried exploring the caves across the river from Hathor... And promptly got ganked. I had to put on q150 motion detection goggles to even see the crawlers, and it wasn't reliable.

If you aren't stealthed, then you only have a second or so to see them before they get close enough to activate combat - no amount of Perception will really do in that terrible case.  But since we're talking about psi builds here, I figured I could assume some psi shenanigans.  5 Per (or 3 + Paranoia) is plenty enough to reliably see a Death Stalker on DOMINATING in two turns, which is as long as your force field will last even if you haven't picked up Force User.  So hopefully you looked around, saw skeletons, red dreams, bone piles, or other hints of Crawler activity, then made some noise, manually entered turn-based bode, and barriered up.  Your noise pulled the DS which kept you in turn-based combat mode, and by the time your force field dropped, you could see their outlines and deny them their main advantage - the first strike.

No amount of stats will overcome ineffective play, but you can do a lot with just a little as long as you're playing cautiously.

371

General / Re: How to start quest involving Yngwar and the Ferryman's story?

« on: July 30, 2019, 03:52:01 pm »

On a similar note, does anyone know how much Intimidation skill you need to get Yngwar to talk to you?

Should be 100 effective.  You can get like 80 of that with gear.  https://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Intimidation

372

Builds / Re: An Average Explanation of Outstanding Psi Builds

« on: July 30, 2019, 09:39:40 am »

Also, could one squeeze in a stealth build alongside psi and what do you think it would cost? Some crafting? Less con?

If you keep your crafting fairly high, you can get by with 3 Agi and 60 points invested in Stealth, as long as you're willing to swap out gear.  A stealth set is really light, anyway - about 7, assuming you're wearing a cave hopper stealth overcoat (or rathound regalia), black cloth balaclava and ninja tabis.  Add in a cloaking device and you're going to be able to sneak past nearly everyone.  Later on, if you wear infused hopper leather, it gets even better.  An agility steak plus, maybe, Jumping Bean to move you along a little faster and you can stealth through Emporion Mall on DOMINATING.

Where do you get 60 points? If you're willing to squeeze your crafting skills tightly and give up most of your chemistry, you can pull it all out of crafting without sacrificing a single thing.  All you need to do is always go back home and buff up with Hypercerebrix before you craft really top-tier stuff.

373

Builds / Re: finally starting! unusual build? (bow, stealth, thermics, persuasion+intimidat)

« on: July 28, 2019, 12:43:06 pm »

Just because you can't articulate very well doesn't mean there aren't words.

Perhaps someone with better knowledge of the game could actually tell me why it is so awful?

Sure.  How about you go re-read the 3-page-long post you started January of last year with a build similar to this.  We gave you tons of feedback on it, and apparently your takeaway was "if I try really hard, I can somehow make this build even worse."

https://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=3364.0

I'd be far more patient and detailed if you hadn't chewed through a fair bit of time last year telling us why our advice wasn't what you wanted.  I mean, you even replied to decent feedback with such dismissive words as:

uhh, because it's how I want to try and play the game / what interests me to do / try - I don't want to do sniper rifles, or melee, or pyschokinesis, pyschokinesis is probably the skill tree that interests me the least in the whole game (less than mercantile!)

your suggestion doesn't interest me in the slightest, and if you'd read the thread, you'd know that I'm considering dropping metathermics for this build, if anything, but haven't felt the need to do it with the tweaks

Honestly, you're not giving us much reason to spend time on you once more.

374

Builds / Re: my shotgun build needs help

« on: July 28, 2019, 10:57:48 am »

Well, I'm not a big fan of having scores at 4.  If you really only want your psi to be support, then may as well take back that point from Will.  You're not going to accomplish anything with 4 Will that you wouldn't accomplish with 3.  You should also consider how many crafting feats you intend to take - Gun Nut isn't good enough to be worth putting extra points in Int, so it's possible you can pull a couple points from there depending on what you plan you do with your build, long-term.  Any points you freed up should probably go into Perception and then Constitution.  I also don't recommend putting any points into crafting at the very very early levels.  You're not making anything, so put those points where they matter.

Retaking the outposts is a *lot* easier once you take advantage of the fact that rathounds can't open gates.  You shouldn't need to ever put yourself at risk even once in the first two maps.  Here, you'll get an awful lot of use out of Temporal Distortion if you're patient, even at 0 skill.  Just keep stacking it on rathounds.  If you don't have enough psi to use it 4 times, pass turns.  Just go stand by the gate and slowly kill them.  In the next screen over, to the west, the best thing to do is to run over the gate but not open the door, then pass turns until the rathounds get around the long way to you.  Then open the gate, walk through, and close it.  Run over to the outpost, get inside and close the door behind you, then go walk over to the little outdoor annex are that's screened in.  Again, this will take a while, but if you're a little patient you just layer TDs on the rathounds until eventually they all die.  If you're doing Quinton's quest (any why wouldn't you, if you're psi?) you can always add in some crossbow shots to do damage while you let your psi regen.

The only hard part should be the screen due north of that, where there are four rathounds waiting for you.  But, if you've brought flares then you can fear them away while you shoot them.  In this map, you should probably not use your psi becuase it'll be so weak; here, you use that ammo.  Try not to blow up the barrel - you're gonna want to have that available if you need to fight M'lan Ratula.

Bandits and beetles can be handled nicely with grenades if your shotgun/pistol won't do for you (every guns build should use pistols and SMGs early on.  There's ammo there that won't be much use later on, and ammo is hard to come by very early on, especially with no pickpocketing).  Quest rewards should give you enough credits to buy some grenades and molotovs.

Try to set aside 25 points for psychokinesis by level 3.  Force Field will save your life again and again and again and again.  Get it ASAP and use it all the time.

If you need more specific help, I'll try to be more useful, but for general earliest-game stuff, that should do you.

375

Bugs / Re: Ranged enemies can still target the player while the player cannot target them

« on: July 28, 2019, 10:03:22 am »

this thing where they are in cover compared to the player, but the player is not in cover compared to the enemies.

Aside from when you're actually on a jetski, there is no cover mechanic in UR.  That's a line of sight mechanic, and it makes sense that A can have LoS to B while B does not have LoS to A.  I do wish we could move in 1MP increments like enemies seem to be able to do, but the LoS thing seems reasonable, if occasionally irritating.  It seems that it is possible to get LoS on an enemy that doesn't have LoS to you, so the system may well be "fair".