Post your experiences with the new Dominating difficulty!

[harperfan7]

Couldn't help myself, sorry.

Styg made the best and smartest game I've ever played, whereas you go to forums to cry with fake complaints for attention.

(1 attention token received)

[Ploluap]

- I'm not sure what to think about lame "tactics" like spamming ridiculous numbers of bear traps. They're not fun. They're a crutch, some players will resort to that kind of stuff when they can't manage otherwise. But the thing is, such lame tactics certainly aren't necessary, not even on DOMINATING. Maybe Styg should do everything in his power to prevent taking things like that to extreme (and unfun) levels, but I don't like the idea of limiting player freedom with unnecessary nerfs. If there's something that's wrong, it's whatever is guiding players to such dumb tricks.

I  like the possibility to use those "lame" tactics and i don't really see the need for balance patch here.

For example in dominating i usually use the bear traps field tactic + molotovs or grenades in Depot A (against mutants) and against the beast. (i do use bear traps on most hard fights, but not by making a preemptive"field" of them).

And i actually like it because it feels like blowing up the whole place to hell is the only solution for me to survive those places full of stupid critters.

I'm pretty sure almost all players including myself reserve that strategy for some rare encounters like those 2, simply because beartraps are too cumbersome and boring to place, so you can't use that strategy every fight or it'll be a real chore (and if some players want to do it ok, why not...).

TLDR : Bear traps fiels is boring if you do it every fight, but i consider it a valid, fun and roleplay strategy to employ occasionnaly in areas full of critters.

[ciox]

Dominating gameplay stuff
- I don't think less info on the resistances of enemies is better at all, they should be smarter not more obscure
- Better AI around chokepoints for humanoids is a great idea
- Bear trap situation could be improved by human enemies having better trap detection skills and refusing to walk into traps unless they are being fired upon and can't move into cover (could go into Hard too)

I knew Dominating would probably crush stealth/gimmick players (stronger more numerous mobs that both bump into you more easily and kill you faster after) so I played a high CON gunner with 0 subterfuge skills except Traps, and funneled everything into actually combat-useful things like Intimidation for Yell and Throwing so I could routinely throw flashbangs on the exact hex to sleep the enemy but not myself etc, this made the run pretty fun after the difficult beginning.
What I felt was if you get staying power from CON and CON feats then you're set, otherwise not so much as "tricks" don't work as well on this difficulty.

[Fenix]

I think this sort of thing is inherently hard to avoid in a game like this

I think it's the matter of motivation or goal of player. If it's "finish the gaem" then yes.
If it's "interesting and variable tactical situations" then no - I know I can easilly kill half of the game with just molotovs but that's bullshit. So I used traps and caltrops only for Beast fight an masse and ocassionally dropped crawler poson caltrops in few places only, and carry only a single bear trap with me.
I even regret now that I took that feat that allow deploying traps in combat for crossbowman - it would be much more fun without that.

Half of the fun is finding out all that stuff yourself.

Absolutely agree, and that dosn't require math or something like that like in other games.

Just seeing NPC levels in-game would be nice.

Don't do that, more numbers for the sake of numbers. It's not fun.
If you know someone lvl it doesn't give you anything except more feeling that world is artificial.

[Dieusama]

Couldn't help myself, sorry.

Styg made the best and smartest game I've ever played, whereas you go to forums to cry with fake complaints for attention.

(1 attention token received)

fake complaints for attention.

Yes, that's an hypothesis.

I have another one you might want to consider : I love this game too, I consider it to be one of the greatest CRPG I have ever play, on part with masterpieces like VTM : Bloodlines, Fallout 2, Arcanum, Shadowrun Returns : Dragonfall, and I take advantage of the official forum to raise valid complains in hope to make it even better ?

epeli : I agree with pretty much everything you said except methink the spam/HP Bloat was most of the time out of control (those mega psi beetle on silent island . . . :puke:)

For those of you give a damn : my DOMINATING! South Gater : http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDCgMDEAgALQAAAAAsUHIAAD9fJS9fwofCh8KHNwAAJDkrPxQqZEdmIQUpV2dIbA

[TheAverageGortsby]

One possible problem I foresee with many defensive AI behaviors taking precedence over attacking enemies is that some fights could become too drawn out, with neither side getting much done.

Without some sort of interrupt, heavily defensive tactics would seem to pretty much give the player an unbeatable advantage when LOS can be abused, and would enormously benefit characters with heavy-hitting cooldown skills, wouldn't it?

On the other hand, if you could teach Lunatics to take Force User, and huddle behind four-turn Force Fields, alternating with two other kineticists in their group for a permanent ranged blockade.... whoof.  I take it back, they're enough hassle as it is. 

[ciox]

Epeli, by less info I meant your comment about NPC armors and vests, I think there should be more correlation between what they seem to be wearing and their resists, not less.

About NPCs becoming too defensive to their detriment, I think that can be fixed with making sure the AI will attack if they are out of defensive options (take cover, retreat) and are getting whittled down.
NPCs being able to use forcefield also sounds like a very interesting idea, the cooldown would probably keep it from being too annoying anyway.

[ciox]

Epeli, by less info I meant your comment about NPC armors and vests, I think there should be more correlation between what they seem to be wearing and their resists, not less.

Ah, of course. Stupid me. Personally I would prefer more variation and unpredictability, but that's just from playing too much for my own good.

My guess is Styg wants to keep it so that players can identify what NPCs are wearing as well as our characters could.
So the basic armor type is immediately obvious. If there's a coat, you know what it is. (And there's only 2 different coat sprites, so all NPCs use one of 2 coats...) But you can't tell what someone has inside their plate carrier vest. (Except from how much it burdens them, but that's hard when the only indicator is their movement points.) Or how a suit is padded. Different leathers/metals are too similar to identify without a closer examination.

Oh I see, so you meant there should be more variation that is not restrained by the available sprites. I can see your point now sure.
Gameplay-wise I generally enjoyed knowing who the fire immune guys were (gasmasked grenadiers) as it made me know in advance not to bother trying to set them on fire with bolts or grenades.

It's true that you can't see the plate vests and so on, it seems that mostly Styg relied on 'types' to help the player know what he's facing, like the pistol-armed gasmasked guy who typically uses grenades and has an anti-thermic overcoat... or the sniper overcoat guy who typically uses an anti-rifle overcoat with high threshold, I generally like this 'types' design and haven't gotten tired of it yet, but I'm only about 5 runs into the game.

[Fenix]

So, noob question - does the Faceless in elevator fight are endless?
In case you killed Eidein or in every situation.

[Dieusama]

I DID IT !

I manage to save both Braindead Saban and Brainless Dan (bonus : also the witless plasma sentry) with no mines, no bear traps, no grenades !

Only my psi abilities, 10 psi-boosters, and my awsome, genius level intelligence :fap:

[HulkOSaurus]

So...

I've finished the game for the first time ever... on DOMINATING.

I reached Deep Caverns on my first char, but was so enthusiastic about rolling a new one on the highest difficulty that I didn't finish it the first time.

I think this generally is a fair game, albeit one that needs encyclopedic knowledge and discipline to be played effectively on it's highest dif. It's fairly open ended, you can choose encounters more or less appropiate to what you can handle, and for the most part you can escape from zones if things go awry. There could even be Ironman mode for the real vets. Me--I'm yet to beat the game on Oddity. Maybe never.

Regardless, I can say that DC beat my ass as in the end because I needed to check things online. I figured how to move around Hollow Earth without getting swarmed--mind you, the first time I walked in I was like, 'Let's see what they are made of.' When both my weapons began breaking down I knew they'd just spawn forever :<. But I had to look up what to do on obtaining the Biocide. In my defence--it's not exactly intuitive that the option appears visible only after powering everything else down. Couldn't even begin to comprehend how to do the mutagen thingy, so I left to explore more and happened, purely by chance, on the last boss. He/it was worth 3 bursts of AR bullets after happily consuming the only portion of supersoldier drug/regen mixture I ever needed to consume in the whole game... sad.

Replayed the last battle a few more times, found out a few more tentacle shenanigans... and that's about it. Can't say the ending was very inspiring. But the game is good, almost entirely because of it's purist design on builds and gameplay.

[TheAverageGortsby]

Couldn't even begin to comprehend how to do the mutagen thingy, so I left to explore more and happened, purely by chance, on the last boss.

Yeah, the mutagen thingie is a steep hill to climb.  Thankfully for we mere mortals, epeli included a mutagen calculator in his web site that you probably already know from the character calculator.  But if you don't go to the /build subdirectory, you can find a couple handy tools at http://underrail.info.tm/

[Ravager]

Molotovs are nearly a necessity now. Especially for rathounds, but in a lot of other scenarios too.

I haven't used a single molotov so far, I'm inside Depot A right now. Basic frag grenades are still enough to insta-kill normal rathounds regardless of how numerous they are and take a good chunk of alpha's HP.

Playing a sniper/pistol build, no quick tinkering, no trap abuse (I do use them occasionally, but no more than I would on Hard), no cheat engine, etc. The only thing I kind of "abuse" are doors. For example, I saved Newton by letting a single psi beetle wander inside a room, close the door, kill him, repeat until all are dead. In most cases it's easy enough to sneak past groups I'm not able to tackle yet, at least so far.

Oddity drops seem perfectly fine. I would say they are even better considering how many enemies there are, I never maxed beetle brains so early.

I know it's been a while, but can you post this build? I'm interested in playing a sniper/pistol in Dominating.

[MirddinEmris]

Molotovs are nearly a necessity now. Especially for rathounds, but in a lot of other scenarios too.

I haven't used a single molotov so far, I'm inside Depot A right now. Basic frag grenades are still enough to insta-kill normal rathounds regardless of how numerous they are and take a good chunk of alpha's HP.

Playing a sniper/pistol build, no quick tinkering, no trap abuse (I do use them occasionally, but no more than I would on Hard), no cheat engine, etc. The only thing I kind of "abuse" are doors. For example, I saved Newton by letting a single psi beetle wander inside a room, close the door, kill him, repeat until all are dead. In most cases it's easy enough to sneak past groups I'm not able to tackle yet, at least so far.

Oddity drops seem perfectly fine. I would say they are even better considering how many enemies there are, I never maxed beetle brains so early.

I know it's been a while, but can you post this build? I'm interested in playing a sniper/pistol in Dominating.

Basically a regular sniper build with Gunslinger feat (and probably Paranoia). Wield pistol in your active weapon slot to gain initiative boost.

[Tygrende]

I know it's been a while, but can you post this build? I'm interested in playing a sniper/pistol in Dominating.

Gear:
Seeker night vision goggles (smart A-A spearhead with all the crit damage feats is enough to reliably 1-shot almost everything, at that point crit chance becomes more valueable than another smart bonus)
Efficient double low freq shield
Infused pig leather armor with high density foam and black cloth
Utility belt
Infused pig leather tabis

Rapid smart Anatomically-Aware spearhead
Rapid neo luger with a laser sight

Taser and all kinds of grenades

It's kind of an iroman-y build (only reloading on death, goal is to die as few times as possible)  I came up with after the infused siphoner tabis nerf, wasn't really meant for dominating in particular but worked really well regardless. I think I died once or twice, can't remember exactly. The overall idea is to have high initiative in case the stealth approach fails or is impossible, high mech DT/DR against melee, shield against guns that also helps against low speed projectiles, high HP for anything else. Also high mobility with a way to break free from immobilization.

Always walk around with the pistol in the hand for bonus initiative, switch to the rifle when needed. Pistol is mostly used to apply Kneecap Shot, reliably hit enemies with high evasion (that's why it's a Neo-Luger and laser sight, also makes it more likely for the Kneecap Shot to hit), delete squishy enemies with low DT/DR up close with Rapid Fire and HP rounds, killing or finishing off other enemies with W2C, etc. Biology is to make focus stims for that sweet 15% crit chance, chemistry is for making W2C rounds.