Messages

391

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

« on: July 25, 2019, 06:30:58 am »

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yeah I considered ambush, but I'm not sure how much time does the stars algin that an enemy is in light and I'm in dark (like the description is pretty vague, how much light/dark?).

Also, I'd like to run grenades but Im not sure if I have the slots considering the special bolts I have to use? And I'm not sure about spec., blindsiding seems to be a consistent damage bonus to me regardless of what I use.

Just remember, if you set a man on fire, he's always in bright light.    Seriously, though, incendiary grenades and flares.

If you have Quick Pockets and a Utility Belt, you'll have five slots.  If you keep a taser handy that's still enough for two special bolt types and two grenade types.  If you're willing to swap out what's on your belt to suit the encounter (which you should almost always see ahead of time because you're so sneaky) then that should probably be enough.  The ability to lay down enormous fields of fire and death can be quite helpful, especially against some of the more irritating enemies - Crawlers are easy to corral if you can afford to throw a bunch of incendiaries; robots are much easier when you can EMP fairly often; any battle at a chokepoint gets easier if you put down a gas grenade before things get hectic.  Still, as powerful as it is, Grenadier is only a "good to have" tier feat, not a "must-have" feat.  If you don't see it fitting in your build, no worries.

392

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

« on: July 25, 2019, 06:02:46 am »

Crossbow's plenty versatile.  You'll rarely go wrong with a small investment in Melee for Dirty Kick (and maybe Expose Weakness, but only if you've got the skill points and feat slot just laying around looking for a home).  With that much stealth, you might also want to consider Ambush.

I think your chemistry might be a tiny bit high for that level.  If you bring it down to 50, then with your housing bonus you'll still be able to make MKIV grenades and mines.  And you won't get much (if any - I think you won't get any but I wouldn't bet the farm on that) Corrosive Acid by level 20.  And with that much Dex, if you're willing to carry around the Jackknife for when you need it (it's super light) you can pull 10 points out of lockpicking, too.  Then you'd just need 5 more points to get Dirty Kick, if you wanted it; I'd say take it from Stealth but YMMV.

Alternately, if you don't feel like a melee ability is all that desirable for you, you've got the stats for Grenadier, which is a freakishly potent ability.  All you'd need is 30 total points in Throwing for it.

393

Builds / Re: Another newcomer.

« on: July 24, 2019, 10:23:33 pm »

Well, I think you're definitely going to want Ambush, Critical Power, and Blindsiding.

With no dodge or evasion, you're going to be getting hit a lot. Really an awful lot.  So you probably should get Paranoia so you don't take as many crits.  You may also want both Grenadier and Quick Tinkering to help keep enemies at bay.

Both Nimble and Sprint should be helpful.

I know you said you wanted to go sniper/pistol, but with low Dex, pistol can't really perform at its peak.  If you can find it in your character concept to go sniper/AR, then you'd want Opportunist, Suppressive Fire, Concentrated Fire, and Commando.  If not, then maybe Kneecap Shot and perhaps Point Shot, so you've got some decent special attacks with the pistol.

394

General / Re: Lukas Question (Mild Expedition spoiler)

« on: July 24, 2019, 08:13:37 pm »

It's gonna take you a minute, it will.  Even if you had a blueprint fall at your feet first thing, you wouldn't be able to afford a frame and barrel.  Honestly, you should assume that your shotgun build will rely on pistol/SMG/AR for the first few levels.  Pretty quickly, you'll get a quest to take you to a place called Junkyard, and I do believe that if Lukas hasn't stocked a blueprint for you by then, you can find one there.

My honest recommendation for any Guns build is to - as quickly as you feel comfortable, so maybe level 3-6 - get into the Underpassages and head East one screen.  Pick the easy lock that doesn't have rathounds behind it, and there's a guy just holding an AR, waiting to give it to you.

You're gonna have to shoot him in the face first, but then he'll just give it to you for free.

395

Builds / Re: Start a new run for the extension : Psy build help

« on: July 24, 2019, 07:57:38 pm »

I really like the look of the build you recommended to ramenos. I'm going to give it a shot, do you have any advice in terms of skill progression for a playthrough on Normal w/Oddity?

What skills should I focus on in 1-10, 10-20, 20-30?

ramenos really wanted to be sneaky and use grenades, so I set aside a bunch of points for that.  If I were recommending a pure and "perfect" psi build it wouldn't have any throwing and probably not much stealth at all, if any.  It would also have Snooping in place of Nimble.  But if you also like the idea of being sneaky and then making a lot of noise abruptly with grenades, cool - you'll do fine.

In a nutshell: crafting last
Level 1, max: 4 psi schools, hacking, lockpicking, persuasion, mercantile.  hack/pick is for loot that you'll get when going on the first quest. Persuade/mercantile is for the *surprising* amount of stuff you can get in SGS right off the bat.
Levels 2-10: get Thought Control to 35 real points then you can stop for a bit if you want. Keep maxing other psi schools (if you intend to cap TM at 60, obviously stop at 60) and lockpicking.  Hack to 40 real points at least. Persuade to 25 real points; no Mercantile; Mechanics and Tailoring to 50 effective so you can start making improved repair kits.  10-12 real points in Chemistry (molotovs + mutated dog leather armor). You can start picking up Stealth and/or Throwing as you free up points.
11-16: Bio to 60-70 effective so you can make focus stim, aegis, and start carrying around ampules so you don't have to lug heavy intestines, crawler stingers, and such around with you. Pull Hacking up to ~50 real points.  Thought Control to 75 (at level 13, exactly)and stop; max other psi schools and lockpicking (unless obviously you meant to cap TM earlier).  Start investing in Electronics so you can make improved repair kits and a good psi headband (keep your eye on Bio requirements).
17-25: Begin to pull up crafting as you need it. Intimidation to 25-50 real points (depending on how much gear micro you're willing to do). Pull up Mercantile to unlock trader inventories. Finish lockpicking; keep working other psi schools.
26+: Finish Hacking, Persuasion, crafting, and whatever else you've got left.  Keep maxing metathermics and psychokinesis.

There's a little wiggle room of course.  You luck out and get a really good psi muffler, maybe you rush elec/bio to make a psi headband sooner, that sort of thing.

396

General / Re: Lukas Question (Mild Expedition spoiler)

« on: July 24, 2019, 07:21:13 pm »

Did anyone succeed to persuade Lukas to give you a shotgun?

All the time.  With 10 Will you can do it at level 1; the check is 20.

If you don't have a high Will, then you can go do the Retake the Outposts quest, level up, and *then* talk to Lucas about getting your gun back, if you really want the shotgun.  But beware - it's not a very good shotgun =)

397

Builds / Re: Start a new run for the extension : Psy build help

« on: July 24, 2019, 05:53:16 pm »

An updated build would look like this then: better @TheAverageGortsby?

No, really, no, it's not.  I have to tell you, honestly, it feels like you aren't taking the advice people are giving you so much as using this thread as a sounding board for your own ideas, and you're bouncing all over the place.  And that's fine; don't think I'm suggesting that isn't fine.  But you're just ignoring so many basic concepts that I honestly don't even know how to help.

Look.  A week ago in this thread I suggested a build.  I'm going to suggest it again, but then I'm done.  Here's the build:
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMDAwYDEAoAHgAAAAB4UF8AAEZQHjxGS8KgwqA8MgBBUCQrPxQqLmQ9IcKIwoffvw

That's it.  That's the build.  That's the best build. That's the best possible psi build for what you've said you want.  You wanted sneaky?  It's sneaky.  You wanted to craft things?  It can craft almost everything.  You wanted grenades?  You've got just enough throwing.  You can persuade, you can buy the best stuff from merchants, you can hack all the computers, pick all the locks.  You can hit every threshold in the game with a bare minimum of buffs.  You can do all the things.  Assign the stat and skill points that are left over - you've got enough to put 50 in Intimidation (which will let you intimidate as well as persuade) and still have a few left over to shore up any weak points you think you see.  Assign the feats that you want.  But know that any changes you make to that build will only make it worse.*

You're overthinking this.  Put together a character and play.  You'll do just fine =)

*If you really wanted Grenadier & Quick Tinkering, or if you really wanted Interloper, you could pull INT down to 8, and get the stat (DEX or AGI) that you needed to pick up those feats.  However, you'd then need to assign some extra points to the seven skills you have which scale from INT.  Still, if you think you're going to need it - which you won't - you can do it.

398

Builds / Re: Start a new run for the extension : Psy build help

« on: July 24, 2019, 01:30:17 pm »

So I re-arranged a bit the build I thought about:
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMFCAUDDwcAHgAAAABuaWMAAAAARkZaS25uMmQ9ACthJD8UKmQuIyFnZt-_

Most important for me is:

• To be a very strong "mage" and have the possibility to one shot some enemies
• Being able to open/hack 95% closets/chests of the game
• Being able to persuade almost everyone and intimidate some dude I will meet if necessary
• Have the most important basic skills for craft (special grenades, psi boosters, health and armor

What do you think? Is this a viable build?

Viable as in capable of winning the game? Sure.  But it still needs work.

Your two main psi skills are 25 points below cap, and you're going to notice that.  Fortunately, your Persuasion and Intimitation are too high; take them down to 55 and 50 real points, respectively, and top off those two psi schools.

I don't understand your stat loadout at all.  Taking two pints from Agi, putting on ein Dex and one in Con, would give you a much better set of available feats, and better survivability, and better everything honestly.  Just do that.  Do that and take Fast Metabolism and Grenadier.  The small hit to stealth you take won't be anything you notice, especially since you'll be able to craft some stealth gear.

Honestly, though, I'd take all 110 points out of Stealth.  I'd put them in Electronics and some in Mechanics (which you're going to need for your tac vest crafting) and when it comes time that you need to be sneaky, I'd just rely on a cloaking field generator.  At high item quality levels, you can get +80 to stealth from the generator, and another +50 or so from gear no problem.  That'll do for ya.  If you really want stealth, then you can probably just take 25 points out.  Because you are going to need some Electronics and some Mechanics just to craft your tac vests.  For example, look at this.  This is a high-quality (but not at all max-quality) tac vest with its crafting requirements.  This is the sort of vest you'd want for a psi character, though maybe with different cloth depending on your tastes:

399

Builds / Re: Another newcomer.

« on: July 24, 2019, 12:45:52 pm »

OK.  A little bit of min/maxing will go a long way with what you've got.  Not cutting edge stuff, not crazy micromanagement stuff.

Take 27 points out of Persuasion and 30 points out of Mercantile.  That's going to be enough for everything, and it's going to give you 57 more points.

Take 45 points out of Tailoring unless you want to use Leather Armor, in which case only take 30 points out.  Take 25 points each out of Mechanics and Electronics.

Take 65 points out of Hacking and 80 points out of Lockpicking.

Now look at all those points you've saved.  You're still going to be able to hit every threshold check in the game, but now you can let your character do so much more.  I could tell you what to do, but honestly, it would just be better if you did what you thought would be cool.  Make the character again with these new skill levels and post it, and we'll give you feedback on it.

400

Builds / Re: Temporal manipulation + what?

« on: July 24, 2019, 09:36:03 am »

TM mixes well with any weapon.  The whole point of the school is that you can get a lot of use from it with almost no investment in stats or skills.  You can roll 3 Will and still get a whole lot of use out of TM.

Thus, really, the question is, which weapon sounds like the most fun for you?  Flurry/Onslaught sword builds are pretty fun - they require some attention, they require some decent battlefield placement.  Spears are nice, too, since reach weapons are so new.  You really can't go badly wrong with either of them.  So, build out whichever kind of character you like, but try to free up somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-100 skill points, and put those into TM.  You'll get great use out of it.  If I may be so bold, I'd say also consider at least slipping 25 points into Psychokinesis so you can get Force Field.  It really is a game changer.

401

Bugs / Re: 1.1.0.10 Blocking Blood Siphon Hook Doesn't Prevent Siphoning?

« on: July 24, 2019, 02:56:32 am »

That seems consistent.  You may have reduced the damage to 0, but the ability still hit, meaning it should have a chance to trigger its follow-on effects.

402

Builds / Re: Start a new run for the extension : Psy build help

« on: July 23, 2019, 02:38:08 pm »

But in terms of technology, do I need Chemistry and Biology?

Well, no. You don't need either of them.  But I'd like to make a case for why you should have a little bit of both.

If you can just get your effective Chemistry up to 40 briefly, that'll let you make stacks of thermite grenades.  Thermite is nice because it's a lot more damage than your basic molotov, and also lighter.  When you're loading up for that long trip into DC, it's nice to save as much weight as you can.  Also, if your can buff your effective Chemistry up to 40, that means you probably run around with 25 or more, meaning you can make gas grenades.  There are a few places where having gas grenades can be the difference between OMG THIS IS BULLCRAP THIS FIGHT IS IMPOSSIBLE and just winning with no trouble.  I recommended a Chemistry score that easily gets you to 60 with just an Under Pie buff, so you could make Napalm C grenades, but you can pull more then a dozen points out and still be able to buff up to 40.

Biology will let you cook custom drugs and stims that are very difficult to obtain.  The magic number you want is usually either 100, 115, or 130 - that's the threshold for Super Health Hypos, Regenerative Mixture, and Super Soldier Drug, respectively.  At the very least, I'd encourage you to keep your Bio up at least to 70 effective so you can make your own Hypercrebrix (+2 INT) and Trance (increase psi crit damage by 100%).  You could pull back 25 points and still be able to buff up to 70 effective.  Even if you really don't want to make your own drugs, though, you're still going to need some Biology so you can make use of the Psi Beetle/Psi Crab carapaces when you're making your own armor.

403

Builds / Re: Dominating Expedition Psi Build > Advice needed

« on: July 23, 2019, 01:28:31 am »

Is there any point in taking the health cost for psi abilities feat with a tranq build though?

Assuming you're on Hard+ and wearing a Regen Vest, Hemopsychosis is probably as valuable for Tranquility as Psychosis.  If you've got a good vest and Fast Metabolism, you can heal up from 70% to 100% - the trick during combat is finding a way to get your health right to 70%, and that's where Hemopsychosis comes into play.  As long as you can LOS or hide behind a forcefield, you can pick a low-cost ability, drop your health right to 69-70%, and then regen vest up. It allows you to recover your Tranq bonus mid-combat when your hypos are on cooldown.

EDIT: About your build: looks fine.  Mantra is surprisingly useless, though.  You'd think +5 psi regen would be awesome, but by the time you get to level 30 you'll usually be sitting on 60-70% psi cost reduction.  It'll actually be a chore to use up all your psi to the point you even want to pop a psi booster.

404

Builds / Re: Dominating Expedition Psi Build > Advice needed

« on: July 22, 2019, 12:09:47 pm »

If it is additive (food + drug), it means that int can be raised by +5 for the purpose of crafting.
Have I missed something here?

Yes, several times in a row despite our best efforts to explain.
Strength, Intelligence, Agility, and all the rest are stats.
Tailoring, Persuasion, Dodge, and all the rest are skills.

You can get +2 to the Intelligence stat.
You can get +3 to all skills.
You cannot get +5 to Intelligence.

405

Builds / Re: Dominating Expedition Psi Build > Advice needed

« on: July 21, 2019, 11:59:57 pm »

I placed Pyromaniac as advised even though I was not convinced by  its efficiency as it was triggering too rarely  to rely on it.

Social skills are copy paste from Omni build (Still not sure how to raise it efficiently), are they correct values? It is rather low investment in number of points.

What do you think about this version? Do you see rooms for improvements?

I was also thinking that few points in trap might be useful for some fights> it means 56 points to reach 75 with belt and knife. what do you think? or simple bear trap are far enough as with 3 STR no big carrying possible.

You shouldn't feel the need to take Pyromaniac if you don't want to.  It's very good, but psi is very, very powerful and can do just fine without such extreme optimization.  The values Omni has are the correct values for a patient min/maxer. With all the right gear, they'll be capable of getting buffed to the necessary thresholds.  For someone who doesn't like such extreme measures and would rather just walk around ready at all times, then they are not high enough.

Room for improvements in your new build? Yeah, several.  But you've clearly shown that you aren't interested in the level of ridiculous min/maxing that can be achieved by really squeezing a build tight.  What you've got will get you through the game just fine.  If you really aren't bothered by all the loot you're going to leave behind by not being able to pick and hack locks, then you'll be fine.  Me, I'd have an absolute fit - I gotta get them lewts!

Plain bear trap is fine. With the synergy from your Mechanics, you'll even be able to place MKI frags, and with the jackknife, MKI HE as well. Since you'll have so many abilities available by the time you reach mid-levels, the low-level explosives will be enough.  And the one fight that's basically designed to show off the maximum potential of traps works just fine with plain bear traps if that's all you've got.

are there any other sources of psi cost reduction?

Like hilf says, there may be some.  But I'd hate to spoil the fun of discovering the stuff in the game.  Know that there's cool stuff; that should be enough to whet your appetite. Then go chow down on this excellent expansion =)