Messages

61

General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 14, 2020, 08:29:56 pm »

There's a 30% chance to get a spent case in your inventory each time you shoot. You could go as far as buying ammo from traders, then shooting it all at the SGS range to get more cases.

Totally missed that. I guess it would've been more apparent with higher bullet consumtion. Thanks.

A biohazard vest won't do a damn thing against crawlers, since their bio damage is poison, which bypasses resistances.  A regen vest is much better against them (aside from being 1hko'd) because its healing isn't affected by hyperallergenic.

Also new info. Sad, crawlers were my main reason to ever use them.

I'm happy about this thread, so far got a more out of it than I thought. The addition of Strafe is perhaps the most valuable info for me. I remember easily disregarding it after I first saw it. Now the more I think about it, the more I like it. It just sounds so convenient to completely eliminate the penalty from the build allowing me to confidently move around, kite and make better use of the enviroment.

62

General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 14, 2020, 07:49:10 pm »

It is quite good for increasing damage with non-crit hits. It may even be worth making before you get your hands on AP ammo blueprint. But once you can actually make AP ammo, you're much better off using your spent cases on that, being able to use AP without worrying about conserving it is much better. You will probably have it much sooner with mercantile, too.

It's a pity that from what I've seen on my previous play, I found bullet casings to be very-very rare. Especially for .44's. Makes sense to always purchase AP rounds from shops as much as possible.

Oddity is the better system regardless of how many enemies there are. But hey, the more enemies, the sooner you will max out their oddities, so you will level up a bit faster on oddity as well.

Guess that's a good way to look at things.

63

General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 14, 2020, 07:33:52 pm »

Yeah, not much surprise here. It's just sounds so nice to try once:) Move and shoot penalty free Spearheads firing 3 times does make it an overall more user friendly weapon that would prove to be significantly reliable in a wider range of scenarios. Gun Nut would rarely benefit any weapon since even if it hits the higher territory, it would still be unlikely to reach it's full potential, the increase would be mostly between 0-15%. Again, IF it happen to score that part.

It's kind of demoralizing to hear about the enemy number increase though considering I plan on playing Oddity this time. Not much to do about it I guess.

Also, taking the high damage output of sniper rifles into account, the 7.62mm Micro-Shrapnel rounds actually seem to be more devastating. Also made up of materials that are perhaps one of the easiest to access. The bleed should be immense after an Aimed Shot. Probably great on AR's too (then again, 8.6mm Incendiary bursts could be pretty much flamethrowers).

64

General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 14, 2020, 06:44:14 pm »

Geezus, that does seems nice, especially with low CON.
Thank you for the insights, getting these infos from different viewpoints, made me consider new options.

Aesthetically, I do like Tactical Vests the most, and the anti-bullet specialization is something I plan to hold on to. I know this will bring me hard times against crawlers and melee enemies in general (which is a thing in the DLC), but I stick by them. Settling on a Sturdy version for it's simpleness. I realized, that I might get more use of this kind of armor than a Regenerative one as if it still don't kick in on me being 71% or above HP, then with my low HP pool, the next hit might bring be below 50% easily. But the kind of Riot Gear you mentioned made out of a Biohazard carrier vest combined with the my Ballistics feat would be a nice piece specifically against crawlers. In theory. Not like there would be the luxury of carrying around an armor against a certain type of enemy, but most cases they find me first so "tanking" them is something that might happen despite if I'm prepared for it or not.

On a different topic - following on the idea of what are the roles of main and sidearms with a sniper, I thought on how I can alter my build so it will reflect this more taking it into extremities. Just for the sake of theory crafting. And that led me to the following:
What if I completely abandon the idea of dealing relevant damage with the pistol and purely focus on using it for reasons of utility. That would mean me dropping Steadfast Aim and Rapid Shot (which is purely an offensive skill), while taking Trigger Happy for a whopping 40 initiative. With those two feats now gone, it makes less sense in using Hammerers, so might even go with a Silent Neo Luger LS instead. Solely for precisely slowing enemies and to boost our Initiative.
As for our rifle, the approach is now the exact opposite. Maybe 3 shots from a move and shoot penalty free Spearhead still ends up remaining superior overall and muh more easy to handle, but this is just food for thought here. We can ditch the Spearhead for a Rapid Smart Corsair 12.7mm with AA scope and boost the whole thing with Gun Nut (which benefits Corsairs the most). With it's much higher move and shoot penalty, Strafe would no longer make a difference and can be switched for further damage overkill with Blindsiding. Specializing in Psy-Temp-Acc. would make us fire this monster twice in a turn for it's cost of 36 AP per shot. Contaminated rounds seem so good, although I never used them yet. It would look like something like this.



...actually, since there's no more Spearhead thus no Strafe, we could have 3 AGI for 18 PER for maximizing Aimed Shot damage even more.

65

General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 14, 2020, 03:31:37 pm »

Allright, Strafe sounds better the more I think about it. I know there were situations where I direly felt the need for it, I'll see if I'll end up missing Blindsiding as much or not. It's also mobility related so at least as fitting as the one I replace it with. Gonna go for Strafe this time.

I'm also interested in seeing how much difference Mercantile makes. I remember suffering from low quality wares, but since I had 6 INT in my previous attempt, I was not able to squeeze it in. Decided on it instead of Persuasion, upon realizing that it is governed by INT instead of WIL and being able to save Buzzer with another peaceful method.

66

General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 14, 2020, 02:45:18 pm »

I use Hammerer mostly with Rapid Fire and Kneecap Shot to make the most out of those abilities and mainly against close encounters. It also benefits the most from Steadfast Aim out of all kinds of pistols (11%), a feat I might as well take if my STR already have to be 5. Aimed Shot is preferable with the rifle yes, as it also contributes in decreasing it's cooldown. Hammerer was very useful against those Lunatic and Ironhead camps in the upper areas where I first focused on enemies with crossbows and grenades.
Yep, your's a nice build. Made me really think about including Strafe in mine. There are differences, for example I like having 8 in DEX no more no less here, and to specialize in Psycho-Temporal Acc. for the additional third shot with the Spearhead.

67

General / Re: Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 14, 2020, 01:56:59 pm »

It's nice. I know Hammerers can sometimes have pretty random numbers in damage, and I admit, I rolled with a Rapid 9mm Neo Luger LS a lot before level 20 and loved how reliable it was. Constant damage and precision. Tried a 9mm Falchion too for the +5% critical chance but not that long to be able to safely decide which was better because I finally found a nice frame to .44 Hammerer, the damage jumped through the roof so much, I got hooked on it. The thing is, this weapon basically have the same minimal damage of other 9mm pistols of the same quality, but the upper damage has such a substantial jump with the 44's almost to the level of sniper rifles. And that makes a difference more times than not. It's a waste to use it against random critters, it's not made to fire regular shots like a Falchion. But performs best when doing special attacks. My Rapid Neo Luger LS was great to precisely hit kneecaps when all that mattered is to land the shot and slow the enemy from the further the better. With the .44's bigger damage, the huge bleed made the difference.



Anycase, here's my build:



Just look at those nice, round, even numbers with the skills. It's now tailored for playthroughs on higher difficulty with Mercantile added aside Pickpocket, so beside stealing various stuff and oddities, we're granted with more financial stability and access to higher materials. Hacking, Lockpicking and Traps can be raised up to 125-130 with further equipment and food. Can independently craft consumables up to Bullheads and mk IV Frag Grenades, for end-game equipment he does rely on Hypercerebrix or/and a bench for a maximum of 135/155 points in the skills related. Blindsiding, while it comes in to play 99% of the fights and to compensate having the relatively low 13 PER, seeing the above build made me think whether it would be better to switch it for Strafe as it completely negates the penalty of the Spearhead and that would be excellent in cornerfights wielding that rifle.
Wearing Smart Goggles by default, but carry one that's motion tracking with night vision. Being a glass-build with 3 CON, I maxed Evasion for +50% blast damage resistance and wearing a Sturdy Tactical Vest for bullet protection with fully specialised in Ballistics. I am now comfortable in using black cloth in both armor and Tabi boots for more stealth and keeping the penalty low.

Having these values in such high priority and invested so many skill points into them, I went with 8 Agility. The MP and Initiative bonus is nice, but mainly I wanted the build to have it's skills reflected in it's stats as much as possible with the exclusion of still dipping into psi despite having the lowest will. However one can totally just drop AGI to 3, raise PER to 18, drop Blindsiding to take Trigger Happy for the now 35 Initiative and be as deadly as possible. For me it would be troubling to see a sniper sneaking around constantly, but having the lowest agility for the sake of min-maxing, but I completely understand if others might go for that especially on dominating.



EDIT:
Tygrende, I now see your post and it made a part of mine obsolete. It was nice to read it and see how somebody came to the same conclusion, and you pointing out why weapons having higher strength requirement being no good is definetly a valid argument that did not came to my mind yet. This build worked well in Normal, but I abandoned it at level 24 to try Dominating for the first time with it. So any insight is highly appreciated.

68

General / Sniper sidearm (why pistols are underrated)

« on: May 13, 2020, 01:22:50 pm »

Ok, I began typing this on another topic about something else, and since I don't plan to derail it, while also not prefer to loose these thoughts, I present it on a separate thread here. Don't know how popular snipers are at the moment, but I know firearms are not and just wanted to share my experience with them.



Enemies with high DT is just one of the reasons why I prefer firearm pistols to be paired as sidearms with sniper rifles instead of SMG's or shotguns. When you need to deliver big hits against high DT you need huge caliber single shots - what are the weapons that share this aspect? Sniper rifle and a Hammerer. For anything that manages to reach close proximity, a Kneecap Shot or Rapid Fire from a nice .44 is simply a better choice. With damage possibly doubled due to the vicious combination of a 150q Smart module and goggles (latter basically equals to 6 shots with .44 rounds compared to the unconditioned 5 bullets from a caliber of 8.6 or likely below) and a +11% more chance to crit that is additionally 30% more deadly due to Steadfast Aim and Sharpshooter. And a crit with a Kneecap Shot is extra sweet due to the now astronomical bleed. These two special attacks gain benefit from high calibers and unlike bursts, they do not fire in a cone but each bullet is aimed at the same enemy - making them more reliable when firing on single targets (like an unattended melee that's about to get close).
Also snipers doesn't get much from high dexterity, so raising DEX for the sake of SMG's means spreading stat points too widely is not smart. 44's don't benefit nearly as much from that stat either, so with a Rapid Reloader and Gunslinger, it doesn't worth to increase DEX above 8. That'll be enough to perform a Kneecap Shot for 20 AP or a Rapid Fire for 30. Enjoy your free additional stat points - you're welcome.

That being said, compared to SMG's, even shotguns can prove to be a better choice, but I'm in favor of pistols, them being a lot more... aesthetically side arm-like. An example of this is them providing +7 Initiative. Now that's utility. They can also Rapid Fire AoE with the pistol-only Explosive rounds (always a crowd pleaser), having the two mentioned special attacks not just Kneecap Shot, with the fact that Sharpshooter applies on both of our guns. They just get along well.
And that's why a lot of people missunderstand pistols. Unlike AR's, they are not quite enough for everything the game throws at you, but perhaps they are not meant to be employed like that. Then again, the same applies for the sniper rifle too. It's a specific weapon for a particular situation. Every now and then, you just need something to go along with it. But pair these two together, see how well they complete each other and you'll have a match made in heaven.

69

General / Re: How useful is Riot Gear?

« on: May 12, 2020, 10:29:24 pm »

Ballistics doesn't worth it in Riot-; or Metal Armor but it is very good in Tactical Vests, especially with specialisation. It amplifies the bonus of Kevlar cloth too (which is best paired with Super Steel sheet). But even without that, a penalty free +18 DT in Tac-Vests surely helps to mitigate the damage, especially against burst weapons and possibly shotgun pellets, as instead of a single high damage shot, they fire many projectiles with low individual damage.

70

Builds / Re: Commando Build

« on: May 12, 2020, 10:49:29 am »

Would anti-rifle coats be good armor despite the 60% armor penalty?

The nanocomposite vest seems really lame.

No. I suggest you forget anti-rifle, it's too heavy, your MP and stealth will be decreased and you can achieve good protection without wearing heavy gear. Nanocomposite is not that bad if it's high quality, for example if you manage to mitigate the damage from an incoming critical hit by 50%, then it's practically a normal it in most cases. Psi Beetle Carapace seems like a good deal, but if that psi bonus doesn't benefint you all that much, than you're better without it.

Mobility is crutial in my build, so I usually leave armor plate slot empty. What I do is compensate it with taking the Ballistic feat and specialize in it for the full 3 points.

71

Builds / Re: Beginner build

« on: May 12, 2020, 10:34:36 am »

Great game, but it's hard to get into it because of the challenging start. It's tough also because it requires a good understanding of how it works. So when you struggle, just trust in the fact that it'll be awesome once you get the hang of it. What's cool is that you can basically portray almost any character you want. You can even tailor it to our own preferences, or aim to make as close reseblance as possible to certain characters from movies or books. Try to make Solid Snake from Metal Gear or Nikaido from Dorohedoro, it's up to you.

Anway, I suggest that once you made up your mind, start with checking the feats, picking what you think you need, then set the stats and skills according to their requirements. It's important to make everything align with each other, so don't spread out too much.
As an example: a certain melee feat requires 5 will, a stat you might not find a reason to raise from 3 otherwise. But since now you don't receive penalty for your social skills and play melee, raising your intimidation and taking Brutality with a certain headgear that boosts up that feat becomes something worth to consider when wielding a knife. Or if you're a psi-monk already relying on will and can raise intimidation easily. So what's important in my opinion is to make a character that is as wholesome with ablilities connected to each other as close as possible and should be in good relation to the stats and skills. Someone with high dexterity should become proficent in lockpicking and traps with little investment and possibly wield a knife if choosing the melee approach. If it's knives then agility should also be above average for stealth attacks and dodge (even just for uncanny dodge on higher difficulties). See what I mean? One thing should lead you to another, each aspect of the build should be in harmony in order to make the most out of your character. This should also be reflected in your gear too like the armor components you wear. If your build has parts that stand out, they won't do you as much good on their own.
Check guides for skill tresholds, some you're not supposed to max (especially with items boosting them up), but some you should fully commit yourself into if you plan on employing them. Maxing the skill, taking the gear that boosts them further and feats that are more effective with higher numbers.

Lastly I have to say, that while there are tried and tested methods that you cannot fail with, a lot of different approach work fine. With correct fine-tuning, the usually shunned pistols can also prove to be great and even provide more usefulness overall than other weapons if they are part of a build that benefits the most of what they bring to it (firearm pistols actually grown to be my favourite weapons in this game). So make sure to do rersearch, spend time with the character editor, because these will make you start the game confidently as you'll be armed with knowledge and a plan of our own.

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General / Re: Custom Portraits

« on: May 10, 2020, 11:01:04 pm »

I just realized I happen to have the magnificence on my shelf that is the Beast Trilogy (actually 4 books) by Enki Bilal and realized that his art style fits exceptionally well in this game. So a portrait of Mr. Hatzfeld over here. Borrowed the motion-tracking version of the goggles from the full face masked guy I posted above, so it will fit the in-game model of my character even better (sniper wearing tac-vest with black overcoat). Little photoshop practice involved, just couldn't help myself.
Now he's up there in the upper left corner, judgementally watching the play below.

Enki Bilal has some excellent art, great materials all around for female portraits as well.
Btw, anyone knows why the attachments only visible if I'm logged in?



EDIT: Updated versions, with some minor adjustments like cranial roundness and posture. Also added a little glow of the goggles on the nose and collar.
Got rid of the annoying white dots too which were only apparent in game for some reason.

73

Suggestions / Re: Biology Skill Check to Examine Faceless Corpses

« on: May 10, 2020, 03:17:25 pm »

Makes sense. I mean you can see this in several towns with labs, the local doctor dissecting some corpse on the table to get more information on the location of important organs and such.
It can be a skill like lockpicking that you have to apply on the corpse. And of course it should be a feat with certain requirements of INT and Biology (named Dissection or whatever). So after you performed dissection (it should look like laying a trap and should took at least as much time), you could be awarded with a +something% critical damage against that certain kind of enemy.

Another form of implementation could be by inspecting the organs of various non-mechanical enemies that you could rarely find as a drop within the corpse System Shock 2 style. This perhaps would even be easier to implement with a blueprint similar to exact humour - each organ requiring the same level of Biology skill.

The bonus could be an increase in critical damage against that sort of enemy, so not even a possible lower, flat damage based on the concept of the Anatomically Aware Scope. If you now know where to aim, you deal more damage. It can be from rathouds through burrowers, stalkers to giant spiders etc. So for someone who invested much in this particular skill and because of that not being as proficent in other offensive or defensive abilities, can be more effective this way.

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General / Re: Custom Portraits

« on: May 10, 2020, 10:17:55 am »

Nice.
I corrected the one I attached in my previous post (smaller pic still had the black bg), also tossed in another clear faced, more sophisticated guy, so worthful to check the previous page again. I don't know why they are only visible when I'm logged in, but here's a few more with this post - now for characters with goggles.
These two were part of some pack from earlier. And although they seemed to be one of the better ones, they were facing to the left - so towards the edge of the screen instead of towards the game, so here's the correction.

75

General / Re: The Endgame Sucks Too

« on: May 07, 2020, 10:34:16 pm »

I agree with DC being "tedious" but not with it being hard. The only really aggravating area for me was the Labyrinth - happened to be really easy for my build, but still annoying. I guess I made the correct choices throughout the game, since Faceless were friendly with me. I guess I'm lucky for thinking for a minute and managing to befriend the Tchortists and getting access to their shop. I guess I made the right choice to play on Oddity XP and didn't have trouble finding all mutagen samples because I explored everything. I guess I just had a good build, since I killed Tchort in 2 turns. But that's what I like about the game - it doesn't hold your hand, it's difficult, but gives you all the tools to deal with all the obstacles. I think Underrail is just tedious in general and DC needs preparation just as any harder area in the game

I like this post. Never got to DC yet because of my mind changing and rerolling my character so we'll yet to see how it goes, but the above is a good description of the games I like. The ones that actually trusts the player to have some god-given wits and treats him accordingly, not assumes it to be a dummy. And propose a challenge with that in mind. When the game is not only made of just a single part, the entertainment it offers through visuals, sound, story and gameplay, but a combination with the second part - the one that the player have to put in, realizing that his abilities are actually required to reach the conclusion. Games where the person of the player actually matters are much more satisfying.