With a new expansion underway a lot of new players are coming to Underrail, and old players are returning.
This would be a great time to do some tweaks for the early game.
For instance it's really easy to make a horrible first character.
A little text box with some contextual advice would go a long way.
Some examples:
Player has no base stats at 10 points:
"Consider having at least 10 points in your main stat."
"You gain an extra ability point on every 4th level up. These can be used to bring stats above 10 points, if you wish."
Player has 3 base stats at 4-5 point range:
"Your stats are somewhat spread out. Ignore this if you need the points for an important Feat."
Player has high Perception, low/middling Dexterity and/or Strength:
"Light weapons such as Pistols and SMGs depend on a high Dexterity stat, heavy weapons such as Rifles do not."
"Heavier weapons such as rifles are unaffected by Dexterity, but need around 5-7 strength, depending on the weapon."
Yes, this one ^ is mentioned in the tooltips but let's be honest, people are lazy and it's a long tooltip.
Player puts points in a PSI skill, low-ish Intelligence and/or Will:
"PSI-point regeneration is heavily influenced by your Will and Intelligence."
I feel like this would lead to fewer people getting pwned by rathounds and then complaining about difficulty on steam forums.
Yeah you can't help everyone (some people just refuse to read anything...), but it would ease-in many new players.
Other stuff:
The starting Pistol is horrible, whereas the Crossbow and Dagger are pretty alright.
Make the pistol a little better.
Raise it's quality, perhaps even give it a laser attachment (+10 Precision).
Right now you are just best off selling it and buying an SMG ASAP.
One more thing:
When you first enter the caverns, have the SGS gatekeeper hand you some (3-5) flares and say something like "Hey, new guy/girl use these if the rathounds surround you."
Jonas does mention that rathounds are afraid of fire, but I didn't really realize how useful flares are until my second or third character.
I feel like these changes would help new players get into the game without dumbing down the difficulty or feeding them a dictionary.
