General advice for a stealthy assassin build

[Hinz]

// possible spoilers //



Hey guys, I'm currently following Nerd Commando's Assassin build. I've faced many hardships on my way to Core City. While certain areas during my journey were easier because of stealth capabilities, there were times where I felt I had hit a rock wall. I am level 9 right now with the Oddity XP system. I like how the build plays in game, but feel as if this was meant for more experienced players that know what's coming in the story. I am a complete beginner. In regards to repairing the tunneler surrounded by gangsters who are all armed, I feel as if I have hit yet another rock wall. This may be due to my lack of knowledge with ingame mechanics, but feel as if other builds would have an easier time dealing with such a scenario. If you have any advice for this type of playstyle that may be more suitable for a beginner please let me know in the comment section. Thank you.

[Kiruha]

Best playstyle for a beginner is full psi character

[Hinz]

Best playstyle for a beginner is full psi character

If at all possible, I'd like to make this assassin build work. I'm looking for strategies or tips to utilize it to the fullest.

[Bruno]

As you have probably discovered, stealthy melee assassin is great for taking out lone or few targets silently, but struggles with groups, long range foes and heavily armored foes.

Traps are your best friend. Use them to eliminate patrolling enemies, and to set up the battlefield in stealth before you engage.

Against groups, you can set up a minefield or some beartraps (ideally both, bear traps first, then mines after, so they blow up those already stuck when another step on them). Then use noise, like a simple lvl1 grenade, to attract the group, while you hide out of sight. Kaboom, they blow up without knowing you are even there. Feels great. Then you mop up the rest with your knife.

Crawlers/Death Stalkers/Lurker Hunters are a major pain with a 3 CON assassin. You have good stealth but poor detection, so it is very possible to be ambushed by these stealthy bastards, and you dont have much in way of defense. My best advice is to use a low-low conservative shield up when exploring dark, silent places, and pray. Alot.

[Ravager]

Against my better judgement, I too decided to play NerdCommando's Assassin build as my first build in the game. I was still thinking of Underrail too much of an RPG, when it's mostly a dungeon crawler. And I wanted a thief or rogue-like character. Which would be great, if Underrail wasn't full of enemy groups, some of them mandatory.

If I recall correctly, I completed the broken tunneler mission using mines. Same old trick. Just set up the right mine or defense-in-depth with mines, and then fire a pistol at a nearby gang member and <RUN>. They step on mines, fall over themselves stepping into bear traps, and can be stabbed or grenaded.

My "Assassin" ended up using tons of Molotovs, and shiploads of caltrops. You should have seen Depot A. It looks like a paint factory explosion with all the poison caltrops. I ran into trouble in the early game, so used OP items like caltrops, Molotovs, mines, bear traps, etc...

Your build was designed for mines as a 'backup.' But really, they are a primary weapon against enemy groups. If employed properly, they can wipe out entire screens of enemies without you ever being seen.

On the plus side, there are certain missions involving theft or infiltration that the Assassin can complete without anyone knowing you were there. At one point, later in the game, that will save you the trouble of taking on dozens of high-level enemies in one place.

[Ravager]

Some tips:

-As advised above, use mines to deal with crowds. Specifically, use bear traps to trap a line of enemies, with explosive mines placed beyond them. So when one enemy 'frees' himself from the bear trap, he steps on the mine, which detonates the line / cluster of mines, which kills the line of trapped enemies.

-Bear traps are pretty powerful. They will stop big rats, Siphoners, armoured humans, stuff like that. So don't be afraid to use them liberally. When you get the recipe, all you need is some low-grade steel.

-Put the Cave Ear Poison bear traps in front of other traps. That way, the enemies who step on them will have trouble detecting the subsequent traps. Place the poison traps strategically to give negative status effects to enemies in different ways.

-Acid Traps are pretty silent and very effective, so use those on your stealth assassination missions. Try not to waste them on ordinary luring and destruction of groups.

-Mines are so powerful in groups that you don't need to use the expensive Level III or IV mines in the early to mid-game very much, because enemies hit by the explosions from 2-3 Level II mines should go down. In early game, use the expensive mines to target tougher or armoured enemies.

-Mines are expensive and a pain to drag around. First, get the pack rathound feat as soon as possible. You'll need it in the later game anyway. Next, think in terms of economy and future profits. For example, you can stock up mines to eliminate the Ironheads screen-by-screen, knowing that you'll be able to sell their gear to recoup your costs.

-When you're dealing with whole screens full of enemies that you are trying to eliminate, be a 'ghost' like your build implies. Eliminate isolated enemies silently, without being detected. Then, use mines to eliminate all clustered enemies all at once. Throw a grenade somewhere to get their attention, and when they all come running out, they should all be stepping on mines. They will even mill around because of all the explosions, so any survivors should be stepping on bear traps and such.

-The electrical components on knives make them louder, so it's dangerous to use them for assassinations. Use normal, non-electrical knives to silently remove people when you're on those kind of missions.

-Scout ahead to get oddities in areas that are beyond your level. Your build means that you often don't have to engage enemies until you want to.

-If you are having difficulty with Gorsky's missions in Core City, have you done the missions in Foundry yet? I leave Gorsky's missions until I am ready for the group combat later.

-Going around the tunnels and passages to mug muggers is a great way to dispose of your obsolescent level I and II mines. The fools almost always step on them. Try to silently kill their dogs with bear traps before taking on the main course.

-Start getting used to the toxic gas if you have sufficient chemical skill. It's relatively silent, and could be useful for your build later on.

[Fenix]

I don't think you need traps and mines for knife build honestly. You just need to owerpower enemies, and have good mobility as your primary defence.
I used this build on Domination http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgcQCAMDAwYAAADCoMKgwqDCoF8yAABzeABkcwAAAAAAAAAxKBggBhNBB0sDDyZDJMKzQuKcrgXip74K378 and was fine. Of course it's fist weapon build, but still they are somehow similiar.
Take Ripper, I heard it's good.

[Hinz]

Thank you all for investing your time into these replies, they have been incredibly helpful to a new player like me. This build has been difficult to execute, but is very satisfying. I was very unaware I could even go to Foundry at the time, I will check it out. Crawlers and machines will continue to be my bane, as such, I shall pray as suggested. I hope this thread will also answer some questions for others that may have had similar concerns.

[Ravager]

You sound like you're going through a very similar playthrough as I did.

Level 9 sounds underleveled for Gorsky's Core City missions, however. So it is good to do easier things in the meantime.

Foundry is very rewarding. Just the oddities alone are worth a level-up or two. Search the garbage cans, etc.. all over Foundry. Search the slums thoroughly.

And the Balor mission that Foundry gives you is very rewarding for an Assassin type character, really one of the reasons your build exists.

Some people think you don't need traps and mines for a knife build, but the truth is that you picked NerdCommando's Assassin build. It's a stealthy glass-cannon, and you can't just run around stabbing everyone in the open. And it's not an unarmed psi monk build, which is very different. So stealth and traps become much more important.

Once you master the art of mines, you will stop fearing pre-positioned enemies. Anywhere you can walk in and see where the enemies are, they are doomed. Dead men walking (or standing). Mines are the most powerful weapon in the game against regular mooks.

For that stupid tunneler repair mission, I remember with my identical Assassin character, I ended up using traps, mines, and also a Molotov or two. I mined the narrow corridor / area leading roughly to the SouthEast of the Crawler where there are some hobos or whatever holed up. I lured the gang with a gunshot, ran as they followed behind and stepped on some mines, the stragglers stepped on the next line of bear traps, I used a Molotov, and what finally reached me I was able to handle. Prepare for a big fight, that's all. The mines have their own logic, which you need to learn.

Crawlers and stealth enemies are still a major problem. Learn to recognize the signs of crawlers and muggers. Save when you reach big cave areas, especially as soon as you see a Red Dream mushroom. Use Molotovs liberally to detect crawlers if you  intend to fight them. And hide behind other animals if there are more than one creature type on the map. I let rathounds expose the first crawler I ran into on the current playthrough, and then just firebombed it / gunned it down.

[Ravager]

Also, in terms of more general advice:

-Have different knives on hand for different purposes. Use a tungsten dagger (or whatever has the best armour-penetration / overcoming of damage resistance) on robots and armoured enemies. Electric knives are also useful for robots. Otherwise, aim for more of a 'bleed-build' I guess, with serrated weapons bleeding living enemies.

Styg has updated the knife differences since I played it. There wasn't as much differentiation or usefulness to the different knife and material types in earlier builds, but there are now. So study up on knife crafting and subtypes. I remember carrying around a tungsten steel dagger for the aforementioned armoured enemies, and some kind of nasty serrated electrical knife for attacking organic creatures.

-Tasers are very powerful, and especially necessary for your build. You should probably have some electronics crafting ability for your knives anyway, so even a rudimentary level will be all that is necessary to craft a taser. You can use a low-grade zapper part from Junkyard, even, and a decent power core, at least 60 capacity.

The taser will help you immensely with crowd control. You can tase one enemy to keep them stunned for a bit while you focus on killing another enemy or two. Later, you can get an electroshock pistol, which might even bounce the bolt to other enemies, stunning them too.

I can't emphasize enough that stun is a powerful condition in this game, and the electroshock weapons are vital for your build.

You can loot some of the parts, I think, from the electronics dealer's lockers in Junkyard if you sneak in. And she probably sells the electroshock generator for cheap.

-I hope you are using cloaking devices.

-EMP mines trivialize most combat with robots.

-When you are doing the Beast mission in Foundry, you will have to take on some very high resistance creatures. Forget about knives (although a Tungsten electro-dagger or something like that might be useful). Use energy weapons on these creatures. At close range you can hit them, they are slow so just kite them along. Or you can use HE mines if that isn't working out.

-Also, stockpile traps and caltrops and throwables for that mission. You'll come to see why later.

-You won't be buying bullets, and won't be needing most guns. You can recycle guns and other useless weapons into repair kits. You'll have so many, hopefully, that you can use the repair kits on the loot you're selling. A 1324 q hammer will sell for more than a 724 q hammer, so you want to make the most of it. If you loot smartly, you'll take the high-value low-weight items back to sell, and scrap the low-value and bulkier crap to make repair kits.

-Drugs are very important for your character, so I hope you are keeping up some bio. You don't really need to put heavy points into bio until later in the game, though. You want enough for Jumping Bean and Focus Stim and maybe adrenaline stuff around mid-game. So stock up on those intestines and bug juice. Don't waste your animal hearts on crafting hypos, you'll have plenty of those and you should avoid being hurt anyway. Jumping Bean was absolutely critical for my build.

[Ravager]

-Carry different armours with you. Not too many, just 2 usually. You always need a sneaking armour, with maximum stealth. But you can have a combat armour as well, for when you are going to be taking hits. If you know what you're going to be fighting, you can carry something specifically designed for that fight. (e.g. mutants, firebombers, PSI casters, electricity).

-You have to do a lot of walking and backtracking in the Foundry mission, and it can get tedious. Use the new time speed-up feature, which are the + and - buttons. As long as there are no enemies in the area, it makes some of the missions involving walking all over Foundry much more pleasant.

The Core City merchant run, when you go from merchant to merchant and then wherever you store your stuff, is greatly facilitated by this speed-up feature.

-You can leave stashes of gear / loot all over the place. I generally end up placing one stash in each town. The common passerbys don't seem to give it any notice. Keep the stash relatively close to the merchants. I even have a stash next to the gun dealer in SGS, because I have a backlog of stuff I'm selling him.

Just keep your stashes out of range of the overloaded guy in Core City. I don't trust him.

-Use charons sparingly. Once you clear out the underpassages and rail tunnels (which the assassin excels at), you can basically get free transit back and forth from SGS > Rail Crossing > Foundry > Core City. There are random encounters sometimes, so stay hidden. The + - speed-up feature makes this a lot easier than it used to be.

If you must fast-travel, try doing it via the boat at the SGS dock. You can use SGS money, which is otherwise much less useful outside SGS. I always sell trivialities to people in SGS to get the money which I use for the ferry.

You're gonna wanna save up your charons. You'll see.

-SGS gives you free healing, and so does Rail Crossing if you help the doctor. So if you are engaging in fights near those places, backtrack back to those locations instead of using consumables. Rail Crossing is at the end of some transit paths, so you can heal there after fighting people in the passages.

-You want to accumulate components for your drugs. You can regularly get free lake poppies by sneaking in the agronomy area of SGS.

[Ravager]

A few more tips, mostly about economy:

-Fishing rods are a bit expensive in early game, but they are worth buying early on. Strategically place them at new towns you visit, like Camp Hathor. Be on the lookout for where the fish are biting by moving them around.

Securing a stockpile of fish (you can store them beside the rods for pickup later) will make it much easier to rapidly produce drugs in the future.

When you're doing your rounds, selling stuff at the merchants or revisiting towns for whatever reason, you can come and catch up on your fishing. It's not like you can surge it all at once later on.

-Never buy blueprints for things that you don't immediately need. You will be able to find blueprints for most things over the course of the game. Especially a stealthy, lockpicking character such as yourself. Just have patience. On the other hand, in the late game, I guess you could trade for blueprints at merchants when there's nothing else to buy, because at least they're weightless so you can sell them elsewhere.

-Once you get to around 70 lockpicking or so, you can start retreiving mines that you disarm, instead of just disposing of them. Use the trapper's belt whenever you're doing mine stuff of any sort. And if you have the jackknife, it gives another 5 or so bonus to mines. So use all that stuff together.

There are some nice people who leave you a big stockpile of mines for getting started. A certain menace of Camp Hathor was nice enough to leave me about 65 mines on the way to his lair. I avoided most of them, and came back later when I had 75 lockpicking + utilities, and was able to retrieve them all. Including some sweet Chemical Blob Trap Mk III that were useful in Foundry quests. And Dude sent me to retrieve something in a storehouse full of mines, which also became useful to me.

So do Hathor-area demining, Dude first quest demining, then use those mines for later quests. Free mines to garner you loot later!

[cypherusuh]

Regarding game speed, it's better to just download Speedhack, someone made a very nice small app for that, you just need to run it once, and it's usable as long as the app is on, without "studying" Cheat Engine for that.

Also, you need Trap skill to disarm traps, not lockpick. To take and reuse enemies trap, you need X+20, where X is enemies' trap disarm requirement, which affected by the trap type (MK I is easier to disarm than MK V) and NPC trapper's Trap skill, it's why the "hard cap" of Trap skill is kinda hard to calculate, due to flexibility of trap difficulty.
Disarm difficulty is also affected the enemies. The higher your trap skill, less likely enemies will found and disarm / evade it

Regarding economy, you probably don't need to min-max it to the extend of saving few hypo and walk all the way to nearest free medics. Melee and psi build Dont really need to buy too much supply, compared to gun builds. If you want to save money, stock up on the explosive powders + mine /grenade case, and craft them yourself rather than buying mines from store. Also, 105 effective mercantile to unlocks special merchandise is great if you have spare skills (and don't forget other buff like Hypercerebrix and Under Pie, if you want to minmax it)