Messages

466

General / Re: Need advice on how to complete "Track down Rassophore Nevil" quest [DOMINATING]

« on: May 05, 2019, 04:05:52 pm »

You should be fine to do the fight, if you're properly prepared.  Do you have a save from before you enter the room?  If not, things might be tougher.

If you do, then you should go do a merchant round if needed and craft yourself half a stack of MkIII EMP grenades.  Since you appear not to have grenadier, you won't have time to use more than four or five.  Bring at least a dozen psi boosters, because if the fight goes long you'll need them.  You'll probably want some Focus Stim and Trance as well if you can find any to buy - your Bio skill isn't high enough to make your own.  Since you've got good Psychokinesis and the Psychostatic Electricity feat, you'll just want to use the EMPs for the 2-turn stun and then spam Electrokinesis. Force Field will help you make them group up so you can get a bunch of them with a single grenade (especially helpful when the Industrial Bots show up), and of course the EMP will drain the shields from the sentry bots, making them child's play.  If you've got Electrostatic Imprint, make sure you use it on cooldown.  Even if the robots are stun-immune when they cross it, it'll do huge damage to them.  Don't be afraid to fit in the occasional Thermodynamics trick like ThermoD or Cryostasis (if it works on the robots; I don't remember it being much use but I never use Cryogenic Induction either so perhaps it might serve in a pinch), but know that you're going to be very heavily reliant on Electrokinesis for that fight.  If the Industrial Bots get close, remember that you can make yourself immune to fire damage for a couple turns.  That might be important if you aren't wearing fire resist gear.

Basically, you need to turn the room into a thunderstorm.  Robots aren't good at dealing with that.  If you absolutely cannot find a way to make it work, then come back at level 24/25 and try again with another feat, a few more HP and maybe slightly better gear at your disposal.  It's a tough fight on DOMINATING, and your build isn't great for this encounter

467

General / Re: What is the materiel of the "Mysterious disk" ?

« on: May 03, 2019, 03:25:39 pm »

UnderPaper is probably made from mushrooms. Apparently, you can make paper out of mushroom pulp the same way paper is normally made from wood/cellulose pulp. Chitin works just as good as cellulose.

Huh. Another new thing to learn.  I guess the knowledge of that wasn't as widespread, 20-odd years ago.  Neat.

Guess I better cross out that line

468

General / Re: What is the materiel of the "Mysterious disk" ?

« on: May 02, 2019, 04:51:17 pm »

Paper in UnderRail is bothersome.  You can make paper from all sorts of plant life, but never from mushrooms.  But then, I'm not a big fan of nitpicking about how things are in the real world, when I'm playing a game.  Maybe it's actually thin-scraped hide.edit: epeli, a few posts below, shows links to how to make paper from mushrooms!

First time I saw the green disk, I thought it was heavily oxidized copper, covered in verdigris.  But then I looked at the icon and decided I had no idea what it is 

469

Suggestions / Re: Thick Skull fix

« on: May 01, 2019, 11:07:50 am »

I think it pretty much would be too powerful.  I do have to ask - what sort of fights are you having where you're getting stunned more than two turns in a row?  Psi beetle groups or Coil Spiders, perhaps?  Seems like it should be quite rare.

The cost of the feat is pretty high, true, but the benefit is huge, too.  Getting to take that turn, so you can pop a morphine or a hypo or adrenaline or whatever, is just enormously better than standing around for a turn with no dodge or evasion.  Plus, stunning attacks generally aren't as damaging as pure-damage attacks so if enemies are wasting a bunch of stuns on you, they're not doing the harder-hitting attacks which might actually kill you.

I find Thick Skull to be a really good deal for tanky builds; but if it *also* allowed the user to ignore Daze from enemy attacks (while still converting stuns to dazes which did themselves stick) it probably wouldn't be too OP.  I certainly find it a less onerous cost than farming Demon Squids for their gel.

470

General / Re: Real Time Underrail

« on: April 16, 2019, 11:29:29 pm »

According to the really long-time players here, UnderRail was originally real-time in combat.  I hadn't found the game back then, but you could ask epeli or one of the other bent and wizened ancients who shuffle through the musty halls and rooms of this forum.  They'll remember, if they haven't forgotten yet

471

General / Re: Few Questions

« on: April 16, 2019, 04:12:49 pm »

Well, you said you're playing on Hard.  Hard isn't very hard once you know the game and understand the mechanics - that's why Styg added DOMINATING difficulty.  It also cuts the sell price for items by half from Hard, which is itself half of Normal/Easy.  So you'll likely find the economy a little tighter on DOMINATING.  A few more enemies; more health so you'll need to use more bullets per enemy; less money to buy things.

Give DOMINATING a try.  You may just be good enough at this type of game that you need the greater challenge.

472

General / Re: Nearly 150 hours in & I win! (questions & spoilers!)

« on: April 14, 2019, 09:41:41 pm »

1. Really?  Even in trying to keep my armor penalty at 15% or less (so I wouldn't lose my stealth-related bonuses)?  Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, I was able to finish the game just fine.

Loaded up a save and just used what I had laying around. These are *not* the best you could make, but they're good.  You could, with some patience in gathering materials, do better.

473

General / Re: Expedition release date.

« on: April 13, 2019, 04:46:04 pm »

Assuming I can use my character & inventory from the main game? And if so, do I need the main game downloaded or just my save game files?

It's seamless, so you don't import your character from the base game to Expedition. Expedition is just part of UnderRail, and you play the new content more or less when you want (though almost all of the new content - like almost all of the base game - requires you get out of SGS first).  And yeah, as Styg mentioned in a DevLog somewhere, you can use your existing character as long as you haven't actually triggered the endgame sequence yet, so you could even do the content after returning from DC.

474

General / Re: Expedition release date.

« on: April 11, 2019, 09:09:50 pm »

I see the Base Content (2.76 GiB) is half the size of the DLC  (4.96 GiB)... Or is there a size 2 in 1?
https://steamdb.info/app/250520/depots/
I have the impression that the requirements for the game will increase.

Well, we know from the DevLogs that the Expedition content will include new maps, new NPCs and enemies, new weapons and transportation options (and the accompanying character animations).  Art takes up a lot of space.  I wouldn't worry just yet about system requirements (aside from, obviously, some additional hard drive space for the content).  I'm sure if there needs to be a change we'll hear about it.

475

General / Re: Can't figure out what to do next / Am I underleveled?

« on: April 10, 2019, 05:48:48 pm »

I don't understand this. Why does Tranquility overtake Psychosis on Dominating all of a sudden? Care to elaborate?

The HP bloat and additional enemies.

On Hard and below, Psychosis can alpha strike and kill everything.  The "I win" button for Psychosis is Premeditation+Psionic Mania Cryo Orb; survey any survivors and pick a central one; ThermoD; TK Proxy; Psi Booster if necessary; TK Punch. If necessary, Adrenaline and then Electrokinesis to stun surviving robotic enemies like Dreadnoughts.

On DOMINATING, you can not reliably kill everything in an alpha strike, so you need to be able to do more things. Tranquility lets you do more things in a turn.  Combined with Thermodynamicity, Tranquility can often activate six or seven abilities in a turn. When facing really large groups with additional really strong enemies, you need shenanigans damage.  The flatter, more predictable outcomes and extra actions per turn of Tranquility let you handle things much more elegantly.

Of course it's true that if you're just going to abuse initiative and the AIs tendency to group up around a Force Field, you can just ThermoD+proxy+punch and probably glide through the game with just that.  But if you want to play a less cheesy, exploity version of psi, then you're going to put your self at great risk.  Tranquility manages risk better than Psychosis.

476

General / Re: Can't figure out what to do next / Am I underleveled?

« on: April 10, 2019, 05:06:05 pm »

I think trap detecting would be a serious pain for this build. Nuke those mines with pyrokinesis might be viable, but bumping into beartraps (with various poison) could easily ruin the game experience. Any idea to solve this? Don't know if motion tracking goggles influence PC's trap detect score or not.

With 5 Perception, it's not so bad. As long as you're running around at full health (which, for Tranquility builds, you probably are) you can survive one mine with 6 CON.  If you're worried about it, put 2 more points into CON.  At 8 CON, you'll only very rarely find ways to die.

Good build and advice there in general, although I prefer Psychosis to Tranquility myself. Two things I don't agree with (or understand):

1) Snooping and the recommendation to put two ability points into PE. I 'd put those 2 points in CON, and Snooping feels like a waste of a feat spot to me, unless there is a very good argument for it that I am missing.

2) Why is CHEM at 35? About 10-12 is enough for biohazard vests and about 20 lets you make decent infused mutated dog tabi boots, should you wish. Also do you really need Mercantile so high for a psi build (the cheapest build in the game)? I 'd probably lower CHEM & MERC and try to invest in Stealth instead (or increase Thought Control, not sure what works effectively and what doesn't at 75).

Other than that, pretty good build.

Tranquility is objectively superior to Psychosis on DOMINATING.  ON all other difficulties, Psychosis is objectively superior to Tranquility.  None of that, however, should influence your personal preference. They're both fun, and they're different enough that everyone should try both.

With +PER goggles and a dose of Super Soldier, you can get to 11 Per with 5 base + Snooping.  That lets you find every secret in the game.  If that's not important to you, no problem; throw those points somewhere else.  Me, I like secrets.  And since OP was asking for Oddity mode, I feel like it's important to get every last oddity point possible, and that requires finding the secrets.

That chem score with housing bonus goes to 40.  40 is what you need to craft flashbangs and thermite grenades.  The thermite is lighter than the other two types of incendiary, so when you're loading up to go into DC, it's nice to shave off 1.5 weight per stack.

With 16 Will, all TC abilities work effectively at 75 base.  With your Psi Beetle shell tac vest and your Uni-Psi headband, your effective skill is just over 200.

EDIT: Oh, the Mercantile score.  That's the threshold required to unlock the second tier of extra gear at the highest-threshold merchant in the game.  It's also, secondarily, enough to make Salesman good enough to seriously consider.

477

Bugs / Re: [1.0.4.17] Game crash when going down the hole in West Wing

« on: April 10, 2019, 05:01:20 pm »

The die-to-desktop is a new bug for sure.

Wait 'til you see the new code for Ironman mode. On death it instantiates a shell window and runs rm -rf

478

General / Re: Can't figure out what to do next / Am I underleveled?

« on: April 10, 2019, 03:44:16 am »

I liked LoC + Bilocation on lower difficulties. Just hiding behind a Force Field and hearing my opponents get slaughtered by their shadows... Glorious.

Not sure it works well on Dominating; the increased stats and HP pool might render it ineffective, while Enraged enemies puts those stats to work *for* you.

One thing I'd consider in this build would be 6 Dex + Grenadier

Absolutely. Bilocation is a wonderful ability. It's even valid on DOMINATING iff you've kept your TC skill capped and aren't fighting enemy psions.  I didn't mention it only because I had mentioned that 75 base points is enough. That is enough to beat resolve checks reliably, but it's not quite enough to make Bilocation a fire-and-forget like it is on Hard.  If you've cheesed initiative by manually starting combat so you go first after the Force Field drops; if you've got heavy cleanup abilities on tap; if you enjoy watching a mortal game of "I'm not touching you"? Then LoC+Bilocation is always valid.

And, yeah, Grenadier is crazy, especially for its low requirements. Again, you've picked the right thing for maximizing combat power. The only two reasons I didn't bake it in are that pure psi well played doesn't absolutely need it; and in order to get good use out of Grenadier you need to use a lot of grenades, grenades are expensive, and the economy on DOMINATING is rather tight if you don't also pick up the big moneymaking feats Salesman or Disassemble.  But, wow.  Grenadier on the Foundry Beast fight? It pays for itself right there.

I fully agree with your notes there.

479

General / Re: Can't figure out what to do next / Am I underleveled?

« on: April 09, 2019, 09:20:21 pm »

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?DQMDCgMDDQgAAAAAS0tLAEsAABkUABQZSzxLAAAAKyQ_OT0qD0dm

I'm copying this build: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AwGloJgVhBmOQEZT3ogbCAHGX4mwyKEgCcALLgOxV5Klk6SamIFEnEz6jJIwQcsVJnIQQ5eOUxRa6NunjoYVNsnHJYQA

Wow, I really do not like that build for DOMINATING.  Blitz is a lovely ability but psi doesn't need it *at all* and AGI is a terrible place to put 7 stat points, even if you do want to play with stealth.  That's a quirk build, not a strong one.  I can see why you're having trouble.

Let's assume you don't want to reroll.  You've got the skill points you need to do well (though you don't ever need to put more than 75 points into Thought Control if you're going for 16 Will) so what you really need are the good psi abilities, and to make good use of the combos. Don't waste a feat slot on Hypothermia, it's garbage. Take Force User instead.  You should have taken it at level 4, but now you're going to have to wait to level 16 because your level 14 feat will be Locus of Control.

Go to the medical vendors in all the cities you can find and buy up their Psionic Mentors. At the very least, bare minimum, go to Rail Crossing, Core City, and Foundry.  YOu're going to need those abilities.

Against living enemies, you'll get tremendous mileage out of LoC + Enrage. Don't get too caught up on LoC + Mental Breakdown.  It's far more useful to have a big group of enemies busy killing each other while you pick them off, than have them standing around waiting to come back into action at the first touch.

Against groups, you're going to love the combo of ThermoD, TK Proxy, TK Punch. With Force User, your TK Punch will be a real hammer of reckoning; and against a target with ThermoD, that target will become a living bomb.  Big badda boom.

At all times, you're going to want your four-turn Force Field.  Sometimes you'll want to hide behind it during combat.  Sometimes you'll want to pull a group and fill a choke point.  If you're smart, you'll pull loudly, Premeditate an Electrokinesis for the stun, Force Field to let the group bunch up, then LoC+Enrage, Adrenaline, Sprint, get out of the middle of the group, ThermoD, Proxy, Punch.  That right there will solve like 75% of all combat encounters.  If anything survived, they won't come back into combat until you're 6 turns into your Force Field cooldown; run, stun, slow, or LOS for two more and you get four more turns to set up for the coup de grace.

If you *do* want to reoll, let me know.  I'll give you a much better build for DOMINATING psi.

EDIT: Actually, may as well just add in the build in case you care.

Start with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQMDAwYDCggAAAAAAAAADw8AAA8AAAAADw8PDwAPUDY    You can see you have four stat points left to play with.  Me, I'd put two in INT, two in PER.  But you do what you like.
End with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwYDEAgAAAAAAAAAW1cAAFVaFj9VS8KHwocuAEhQNis_FCouZD0h    If you did go with 10 INT instead of 8, you can pull a few points out of Merc, Mech, Elec, and Tailor and still hit those thresholds.  You've got stats, skills, and quite a few feats left free in this build.  Spend 'em as you think you'd like, but don't go into Dodge or Evasion.  Psi doesn't need them, and needs those points for other things.

480

General / Re: Can't figure out what to do next / Am I underleveled?

« on: April 09, 2019, 12:43:31 am »

Though there are a lot of right ways to build a powerful psi character, there are a few wrong ones, too. Could you show us the build you're using?  You can mock it up on http://underrail.info.tm/build/ and share the link to it (see the "link" button? It'll change your URL to reflect your build)

If you've got a decent build, then all you need to do is hit up the medical vendors at each city and get some of those nice psi mentors that teach you the more advanced abilities.  Once you've got decent psi skills and a good assortment of psi abilities, you should be able to cruise right on through DOMINATING.