Materials lagging way behind crafting

[Hal900x]

My character could be called gimped, in that I invested in all the crafting skills plus many others. However, even with that, the materials for knives and leather armor are so far behind my skills it is pointless to crafting anything. I am still using a knife I picked up 10 levels ago, and even when I scour the entire game south of Core City, I find nothing that even comes close. I am level 20, my mechanics and electronics are only in the 80's, with bonuses from benches low 100's, and even after liberating the Foundry Mine the metals are weak. Same with Tailoring, still wearing the Ancient Rathound armor I crafted after killing the King. That was so many levels ago, I don't even remember. I have just about finished the content south of Core City, moved on to the University, but I have a very, very challenging fight in front of me before I can get in and possibly have access to new merchants? The Lunatics kick my ass roundly, so I'm facing a catch-22 here. Is this just a lot of bad RNG luck with merchants or what? At my level, had I not spread myself so thin on skill points, I'm guessing I could be around 150 base score in certain crafts, which would make it even more ridiculous that the mats are so low.

[reinhark]

All your question can be answered with SUUPERSTEEEL(echo).

Find it out today in the foundry! Go there now!

Well, that is the best metal.(up to Q.160)

Best electronics, armor Vests and gun parts are found in the shop of the very secret organization. VERY!(up to Q135..ish? Unsure.)

Very best metal PARTS(like tichrome spikes and steel blades) are found in the foundry shop near the enterence, what's her name?(up to Q.130)

The very best leathers can be found in the camp heather, with exception of ancient rat hound leather.(quality of each leather may very depending on which one it is)
But to really make use of them, you have to infuse them...

Institute to tchort shop also have quality items, but I THINK their items are little bit worse. Let's go with up to Q.125.

Of course, some part of the upper underrail MAY give you higher quality item than shop can provide. I checked.
And there is DC, where the most quality parts (I think, up to Q.160) can be obtained.

[Hal900x]

All your question can be answered with SUUPERSTEEEL(echo).

Find it out today in the foundry! Go there now!

Well, that is the best metal.(up to Q.160)

Best electronics, armor Vests and gun parts are found in the shop of the very secret organization. VERY!(up to Q135..ish? Unsure.)

Very best metal PARTS(like tichrome spikes and steel blades) are found in the foundry shop near the enterence, what's her name?(up to Q.130)

The very best leathers can be found in the camp heather, with exception of ancient rat hound leather.(quality of each leather may very depending on which one it is)
But to really make use of them, you have to infuse them...

Institute to tchort shop also have quality items, but I THINK their items are little bit worse. Let's go with up to Q.125.

Of course, some part of the upper underrail MAY give you higher quality item than shop can provide. I checked.
And there is DC, where the most quality parts (I think, up to Q.160) can be obtained.

Foundry doesn't have any Super Steel. I don't know what triggers the progression of goods at merchants, but apparently it's not by level. Right now they have, at max, Q100-ish TiChrome. By "infuse" I am assuming you mean add optional components to the recipe. But if there is a specific "infuse" mechanic I haven't found it. Secret org? Well, I have access to Oculus and the hidden shop in Rail Crossing. Neither is particularly good atm. Camp Hathor is a good tip, had not tried them for a long time.

Overall it sounds like I am not triggering the progression of materials somehow. It sounds like maybe they go up by how far you've explored, and I am one of those people who clears as much content as possible before moving on. Maybe I just need to push into the later areas more aggressively.

[LightningMonk]

Super Steel is obtained from the guy who operates the Gloria smelter in Foundry. Talk to him for all the details of what can do with Super Steel. You can craft Infused leathers using Super Steel fibers which you get from the metal merchant at Foundry's entrance after giving her your sheets. It cost 3000 charons to generate one plate (up to a maximum of 3 plates for 9000). The quality of sheets can still vary widely so RNG can still be your enemy (I hate this).

You should be getting the best quality components at this point because I think completing the oligarch missions trigger better components to show up in stores. Unfortunately RNG for components is just a toss up.

[reinhark]

All your question can be answered with SUUPERSTEEEL(echo).

Find it out today in the foundry! Go there now!

Well, that is the best metal.(up to Q.160)

Best electronics, armor Vests and gun parts are found in the shop of the very secret organization. VERY!(up to Q135..ish? Unsure.)

Very best metal PARTS(like tichrome spikes and steel blades) are found in the foundry shop near the enterence, what's her name?(up to Q.130)

The very best leathers can be found in the camp heather, with exception of ancient rat hound leather.(quality of each leather may very depending on which one it is)
But to really make use of them, you have to infuse them...

Institute to tchort shop also have quality items, but I THINK their items are little bit worse. Let's go with up to Q.125.

Of course, some part of the upper underrail MAY give you higher quality item than shop can provide. I checked.
And there is DC, where the most quality parts (I think, up to Q.160) can be obtained.

Foundry doesn't have any Super Steel. I don't know what triggers the progression of goods at merchants, but apparently it's not by level. Right now they have, at max, Q100-ish TiChrome. By "infuse" I am assuming you mean add optional components to the recipe. But if there is a specific "infuse" mechanic I haven't found it. Secret org? Well, I have access to Oculus and the hidden shop in Rail Crossing. Neither is particularly good atm. Camp Hathor is a good tip, had not tried them for a long time.

Overall it sounds like I am not triggering the progression of materials somehow. It sounds like maybe they go up by how far you've explored, and I am one of those people who clears as much content as possible before moving on. Maybe I just need to push into the later areas more aggressively.

You have to talk to people.

Like a guy who has super hot furnace.

Like, hottest furnace in the foundry.

So hot it could kill something...*wink wink* *nudge nudge*

As for lightningmonk's comment... Oligarchy shops lack quality a bit. I would say Q.120 to Q.125ish.

P.S: to learn about infusing, talk to the foundry metalpart shop woman afterword you have discovered supersteel.

[Hal900x]

I actually figured out the Super Steel bit without reading the spoilers here, after my OP. However, the skins at Camp Hathor are garbage. I mean like level 5-10 character stuff. Are there going to be higher level versions of critters in the Northern part of the game?

[reinhark]

I actually figured out the Super Steel bit without reading the spoilers here, after my OP. However, the skins at Camp Hathor are garbage. I mean like level 5-10 character stuff. Are there going to be higher level versions of critters in the Northern part of the game?

Camp hathor skins are the BEST THERE IS.(I never said anything about them being any good. I said that they sell best leather there is.) I think I already told you that.

Also, Infuse. Read back my posts and find out.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

It not only boosts the quality of the leather, it instills new properties. Otherwise, Hathor's leather is the best you can get.

[Hal900x]

It not only boosts the quality of the leather, it instills new properties. Otherwise, Hathor's leather is the best you can get.

Ugh. The average quality there, in my past 3 trips, is ~30. I kill for skins that top out at around 50. Very weak. I guess I was spoiled by that 78 quality ancient rathound skin in the early game

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Again, infused leather. I made some infused siphoned boots, quality shot from around 50 to closer to 100 after I infused it.

[hilf]

As for lightningmonk's comment... Oligarchy shops lack quality a bit. I would say Q.120 to Q.125ish.

LightningMonk was talking about global merchant restock. First one happens after you complete quest in Depot A, second one after completing oligarch questline. Not every shop is affected by this.

Leather drop from monsters is random and savescammable. Quality gets rolled when entering the zone and stays until given monster is killed. I was able to roll q60+ from warthog and siphoners. I wasn't able to get such quality from Quinton. Camp Hathor shop for some reason didn't want to refresh for me ):

[reinhark]

As for lightningmonk's comment... Oligarchy shops lack quality a bit. I would say Q.120 to Q.125ish.

LightningMonk was talking about global merchant restock. First one happens after you complete quest in Depot A, second one after completing oligarch questline. Not every shop is affected by this.

Leather drop from monsters is random and savescammable. Quality gets rolled when entering the zone and stays until given monster is killed. I was able to roll q60+ from warthog and siphoners. I wasn't able to get such quality from Quinton. Camp Hathor shop for some reason didn't want to refresh for me ):

Surprising. I didn't know about merchant restock. At least I learned something new.

As for Camp Hathor(and all other shop's material qualities), It is nearly up to date information from the hundreds of refreshes from every shop. I used save scumming merchant stock refresh to find out - at least back then when it still worked.

[Hal900x]

Reinhark, you sing the praises of Super Steel, and I agree infusing is awesome, but as far as crafting knives it seems pretty mediocre. It's only benefit, as far as I can see, is an additional 15% energy shield penetration. That's what I like to call a situational benefit. It adds no chance to crit, no additional crit damage, etc. The other 3 metals seem superior to me: tungsten for crit damage, steel for crit change, and TiChrome for lowered action cost. Since the lowered action cost won't get me any additional attacks with my current AP, I'm thinking Steel or TiChrome. I'm mostly a crit knife build. Sadly, whatever happened in that last patch has made my miss rate skyrocket, but it's how I built my character.

[reinhark]

Reinhark, you sing the praises of Super Steel, and I agree infusing is awesome, but as far as crafting knives it seems pretty mediocre. It's only benefit, as far as I can see, is an additional 15% energy shield penetration. That's what I like to call a situational benefit. It adds no chance to crit, no additional crit damage, etc. The other 3 metals seem superior to me: tungsten for crit damage, steel for crit change, and TiChrome for lowered action cost. Since the lowered action cost won't get me any additional attacks with my current AP, I'm thinking Steel or TiChrome. I'm mostly a crit knife build. Sadly, whatever happened in that last patch has made my miss rate skyrocket, but it's how I built my character.

Meh, its your character. I could care less if you want to use lower quality metals.

[Hal900x]

No aspersions toward Rein. If I came off that way it was unintentional...text vs speech can be tricky that way. But, am I wrong in saying that Super Steel has a slightly lower crit chance than regular steel? Or a lower crit damage modifier? I'll check again, but I'm pretty sure that's the case.

Edit: Did some confirmation testing. Super Steel is 1% lower crit chance than Steel, but has a 15% better shield penetration. I haven't come across a ton of enemies that use shields, so I guess the question is about whether they will become much more frequent, and how much more penetration is 15%. Ultimately it's up to me I suppose.

More edits: I should also point out that after 6 tries, I have not been able to get better quality Super over normal Steel. But if I did, ofc that would make it superior. I'm assuming quality being equal with my testing.