Post your experiences with the new Dominating difficulty!

[Bruno]

So how exactly are you supposed to get the key card for the inner gate of Depot A which is behind the two now plasma turrets? You cannot out range them. They have huge amounts of HP. They can one shot you. There is no console which can disable them.

Did you screw stealthers over on purpose?

Is there no terminal in the first observation room to hack to lvl3 on DOMINATING? (60 base skill)

[TheAverageGortsby]

So how exactly are you supposed to get the key card for the inner gate of Depot A which is behind the two now plasma turrets? You cannot out range them. They have huge amounts of HP. They can one shot you. There is no console which can disable them.

Did you screw stealthers over on purpose?

Plasma turrets have 10 initiative.  You can't have lower than 11**, and if you're stealthy, you probably have at least 18-20.  So you can just enter combat, win initiative, and run out of LOS. Then walk in, take a shot, and walk out.  Repeat a bunch of times.

If you do have 11 initiative and don't want to mess around with RNG, then enter combat from out of LOS of the turrets, walk into LOS, shoot them, and walk away.

If all of that is still unacceptable, remember that there's a way into the back of that map which does not require you to engage with those turrets.  And as Bruno pointed out above, there is in fact a terminal (guarded by a measly sentry bot) which you can hack to shut down the plasma turrets.

** Ugh, on second thought, I suppose with the right debuffs you could get down to...-2?  5+6 base, -2 for a Dex or Agi JS debuff, -10 for re-entering zone/crawling through a vent, plus isn't there something else that gives a -1?  Bleh.  I should know better than to make sweeping statements like "you can't"

[Sykar]

Actually I completely forgot that you can power down the turrets with 60 hacking at the console on the map which you access from the Eel's wormhole. I had 58 only because I thought 55 was enough but I was wrong.

Doing that allows you to snatch the card, you just have to take care of the sentry bots.

The next big hurdle are the borrowers in the Camp Hathor mine but I think I will skip it for a while. It is packed to the brim with borrowers and some of the new burrower warriors.

[MirddinEmris]

The next big hurdle are the borrowers in the Camp Hathor mine ... It is packed to the brim with borrowers

Got change? Just some change, man, all i ask.

[MirddinEmris]

To post my experience with new difficulty i'll need a doll to show where it touched me.

Overall i say i really like the challenge, but i feel really conflicted about the fact that i can see new enemies and encounters only along with difficulty that is pretty grindy. Sadly, big increase in enemy health and accuracy/damage invalidates a lot of builds i find fun to play. It's great for a challenge run, but perhaps not something i would play every time.

[Styg]

but i feel really conflicted about the fact that i can see new enemies and encounters only along with difficulty that is pretty grindy.

They are present in all difficulties.

[MirddinEmris]

Really? But it's said in the description of DOMINATING difficulty that encounters were spiced up with additional enemies or made harder through other means. I don't mean just the new types of enemies, i mean all those new harder encounters where old tactics won't work, but without health+skill increase. I'm gonna run the DOMINATING at least twice (regular run to see what is new on this difficulty and an ironman run), but after that i don't think i'm gonna run it just for fun or to test a new build i came up with.

[Tygrende]

I said I was fine with the new monsters but I urge you, Styg, to remove PSI-cognitive Interruption from the new psi beetle. It basically one shots any PSI user unless the build goes max Con, or maybe you can survive it at very high levels.

You think other builds have it any better? Goliathuses also cast Pseudo-spatial Projection and Disruptive Field. In other words you need to hit them up to 7 times before you start doing any damage while also suffering from a huge ranged precision penalty, up to 85%. If they didn't cast PSI-cognitive Interruption, psi builds would be able to deal with them easily compared to other builds since psi doesn't care about precision. Not to mention you can eventually cure psi inhibition with psi reinvigorators.

Psi builds get so much special treatment already, I'm glad we have a new enemy that is especially dangerous for them.

[MirddinEmris]

Psi builds get so much special treatment already, I'm glad we have a new enemy that is especially dangerous for them.

Couldn't agree more with that.

[mattu]

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.

I should have known better than to overstate my case. But I am finding them quite handy on the new difficulty. Relied heavily on them last night in an encounter rather more dangerous than rathounds. Aluminized tabi boots may become part of my permanent kit.

While I'm making corrections, I'd like to retract my remarks about Depot A not being a lot harder. I just happened to pick the path of least resistance (hacking) getting through the first time. Have revisited and thought a little more about some of the stuff I evaded. Yeah, it's quite a bit harder, but the hacking path is less so. _{that's ok it doesn't need fixed}

I doubt that an almost-pure stealth build is practical on DOMINATING. More enemies and higher detection rates probably necessarily means more required fights. This seems fine with me, I don't know that it would be DOMINATING any more if you could still sneak by almost everything. Stealth is still really really good.

Ah, I see someone already remarked on the EMP grenade to deal with the plasma turrets.

[Sykar]

Ok this is not even fun anymore nor is it really hard when you are at the last step of the Foundry "The Beast" quest line. The waves are seemingly endless, the companions are terribly equiped (two grenades, no armor piercing bullets?)

This rests entirely upon how many bear traps can you squeeze into this fight. Sorry Styg but this has nothing to do with difficulty, it is flat out stupid and requires little to no tactics  just spam bear traps before the fight leaving just one tiny corridor. What is worse there is no alternative. Spam bear traps or get overrun.

Please limit the waves to like 3-4 having 6+ with double the amount of enemies and 50% more HP is just silly.

[Delta07]

but i feel really conflicted about the fact that i can see new enemies and encounters only along with difficulty that is pretty grindy.

They are present in all difficulties.

So is it merely a difference in how many enemies there are in the game? Like, will I see the Death Stalker enemies on Normal, or just DOMINATING difficulty?

[Sykar]

I was actually wrong about the Plasma turrets in Depot A. They can be shut down which enables you to get that last key card.

[Sykar]

So is it merely a difference in how many enemies there are in the game? Like, will I see the Death Stalker enemies on Normal, or just DOMINATING difficulty?

You will see the new creatures in all difficulties. On harder difficulties they appear earlier and are more numerous. The amount and type of enemies in combat encounters is probably the biggest difference between difficulties now, but on harder difficulties some old enemies also gain new traits.

Imho they should not come up too early. The new creatures can solo many characters. I would rather see them as pack leaders which give special benefits to the pack.

[jubisloviu]

When i saw 3 goliathus on silent isle i knew the fun was about to start.
So far i saved the foundry from the beast, gotta say this new difficulty made me take new approaches to solve problems, i was having a huge problem with the waves of endless bladelings spawning in the last part of that beast questline, but i never considered to use gas grenades before and that did the trick.
On Dominating bio damage gets way more useful than before because enemies actually have enough health to justify using it.