Hard Mode - Pistol / Sniper build help

[nossr50]

Trying to do a pistol / sniper build, having some trouble in the early game against the beetles among other things, anyone have tips for making a pistol build work? I plan to make use of sniper rifles with this build later in the game, maybe that's not worth it though 

https://imgur.com/a/ZqYfR

[harperfan7]

Use doors, bear traps, and caltrops + molotovs (if you have throwing) against groups of psi beetles.  Against lone ones, use your sniper rifle with aimed shot if you have one yet, otherwise just burst with a cheap smg once they open up.  Your pistols are going to suck for a while, so don't rely on them at first.  Dunno about your psi powers, I haven't used any myself yet.

[nossr50]

Thanks, I regret spending like 600 creds on this .44 pistol with a huge damage range

[TheAverageGortsby]

People who know more about the game than I do say pistols are weak.  You'd be better off going with SMGs, even if you didn't plan to take many feats to support them.  And, yeah, the Hammerer has a very wide damage range which can come back to bite you.  SO if it's not too late, you may want to consider using SMGs as your sidearm when you become a sneaky sniper.  A good, custom crafted SMG can do a lot of damage with a single burst, and if you've not got Gunslinger plus very high Dex, it won't be much slower than firing a single shot from a pistol.

As for the Psi Beetles, you mean when you're rescuing Newton?  Yeah, use grenades like molotovs and be sure to abuse the fact that bugs can't open doors.  Psi Beetles also have poor detection so if you've got stealth, you should be able to sneak around and get perfect positioning to get the drop on the bugs.

[MirddinEmris]

Yes, pistols are quite weak. On sniper builds though, they are mostly used not for direct damage, because they require quite an investment to be effective and if you are a sniper, shooting 2 times in a round from your spearhead or dragunov is way better than using your pistol in 95% of the cases. They are used for their utility of +7 initiative. Combine them with Paranoia (+5 init) and decent Agi and Dex (like around 6-7 each) and you've got yourself a build that will almost always get a first turn even if you are caught unaware.

If you want sidearm that you would actually use in a fight, SMG is a way to go, you need only two feats - Spec Ops and Commando for it to be effective, point blank burst or two from 8.6 caliber smg with smart module and smart goggles will decimate most of the enemies that would manage to get close to you. SMG also has stealth potential, due to being craftable with silencer. Since you are not dedicated SMG build, you will be able to kill 1, maybe 2 enemies in one round with silenced SMG, but still it's a pretty good deal.

You can also use both, since it will require you to take only 4 feats (Gunslinger, Paranoia, Spec Ops, Commando) and sniper build are least feat starved builds in the game, because you yourself only need 4 feats to be a very effective sniper (Critical power, Aimed Shot, Snipe, Sharpshooter). When you fight in the Arena, storm Black Crawlers base or any other situation where you can't start combat on your terms, equip a pistol, otherwise use SMG.

It's the build that i finished game on Hard with and got halfway in Dominating (not because i couldn't, just didn't want to continue, since it was pretty clear that the build is more than capable of doing so). And it's probably one of the easiest build to play

P.S. Psi Empathy is a total waste on your build. You got your health reduced for almost nothing.

[nossr50]

Oh I didn't realize Psi Empathy penalized health, whoops!