Can't figure out what to do next / Am I underleveled?

[Felipe]

Ok I'm playing a Psionic build on DOMINATING mode and idk what to do next, I'm getting slaughtered everywhere I go I feel like. I'll post some screenshots of the quests I have to choose from right now:









What order should I attempt these in? Currently I am level 13, and I'm halfway to 14. Am I underleveled? Is there a quest I might have missed?

[mattu]

Is this your first time through? If so, you can expect a lot of punishment from DOMINATING. It's really not a difficulty for new players.

Still, you're pretty far along, so perhaps you can carry on. Hard to say for sure. L 14 is where you're likely to get a kick-ass feat for your build (e.g. Locus of Control for psi users) and that's likely to make a difference in tough fights.

Once you get out of Junkyard there's a ton of XP to be picked up (I'm assuming Oddity here). You can hit at least L 14, probably L 15 without completing any major quest lines. You've done quite a few quests already, so my guess is you just haven't explored that much, or maybe you didn't fully loot the stations you've been to. Have you explored at all in Lower and Upper Underrail outside of the stations? There are certainly fights there that will end with you being devoured, but there's also quite a bit of XP to be picked up.

If you do Jack's Lenox Pierce and Ohad Xander quests, those are pretty safe and will hand you some XP--not a whole lot, I don't think, but if you're close to leveling, you could look at these. (oh, i see you did Ohad already, nevermind)  The next step of Camp Hathor is one of the easier ones of the others you've got shown.

But my main advice if you want to level would be to explore some more.

[TheAverageGortsby]

Though there are a lot of right ways to build a powerful psi character, there are a few wrong ones, too. Could you show us the build you're using?  You can mock it up on http://underrail.info.tm/build/ and share the link to it (see the "link" button? It'll change your URL to reflect your build)

If you've got a decent build, then all you need to do is hit up the medical vendors at each city and get some of those nice psi mentors that teach you the more advanced abilities.  Once you've got decent psi skills and a good assortment of psi abilities, you should be able to cruise right on through DOMINATING.

[Trashos]

I second the opinion that you shouldn't be playing on Dominating if this is your first or an early playthrough. Finish the game on easier difficulties, then you can start considering Dominating.

[Felipe]

Though there are a lot of right ways to build a powerful psi character, there are a few wrong ones, too. Could you show us the build you're using?  You can mock it up on http://underrail.info.tm/build/ and share the link to it (see the "link" button? It'll change your URL to reflect your build)

If you've got a decent build, then all you need to do is hit up the medical vendors at each city and get some of those nice psi mentors that teach you the more advanced abilities.  Once you've got decent psi skills and a good assortment of psi abilities, you should be able to cruise right on through DOMINATING.

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?DQMDCgMDDQgAAAAAS0tLAEsAABkUABQZSzxLAAAAKyQ_OT0qD0dm

I'm copying this build: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AwGloJgVhBmOQEZT3ogbCAHGX4mwyKEgCcALLgOxV5Klk6SamIFEnEz6jJIwQcsVJnIQQ5eOUxRa6NunjoYVNsnHJYQA

I made a mistake by leveling mechanics to 25 instead of leaving it at 19 like in this build by destroyer, but I don't think it will be a big deal. I can just take take some of those points from dodge/evasion and it should be fine.

The next step of Camp Hathor is one of the easier ones of the others you've got shown.

But my main advice if you want to level would be to explore some more.

Am I strong enough for that one? I've heard that quest is supposed to be one of the most difficult ones in the game. In my current state I can't fight enemies like Burrower Warriors or the giant Psi Beetles, they kill me almost instantly.

Also yes, I am playing on Oddity.

I second the opinion that you shouldn't be playing on Dominating if this is your first or an early playthrough. Finish the game on easier difficulties, then you can start considering Dominating.

I had already experienced everything up to like four quests before where I am currently on this playthrough. My very first playthrough of this game, which was also on DOMINATING, I had made it as far as saving Buzzer and then I gave up on that build cause it felt really tedious/boring and all around ineffective. This is my second attempt at completing the game on DOMINATING and I've made it too far to want to start over on another difficulty. I feel like if I've made it this far, it's still possible for me to beat the game.

[Trashos]

I had already experienced everything up to like four quests before where I am currently on this playthrough. My very first playthrough of this game, which was also on DOMINATING, I had made it as far as saving Buzzer and then I gave up on that build cause it felt really tedious/boring and all around ineffective. This is my second attempt at completing the game on DOMINATING and I've made it too far to want to start over on another difficulty. I feel like if I've made it this far, it's still possible for me to beat the game.

Dominating difficulty is only there so that the hardcore veterans of the game have another challenge to face. At this stage, you 'll get much more enjoyment from the game if you play it on Hard (and as a matter of fact, I usually recommend Normal until someone has finished it at least once). There are also veterans who still play it on Normal, it's no shame. It is not an easy game.

You are still in early mid-game, and there are several spots where the game difficulty spikes up before the end. The end itself is long and exceptionally challenging. I do highly recommend that you take one step back and try stuff on Hard. But hey, up to you.

[ciox]

To get through dominating you'll need the best tools the game has to offer.

For psi, it's all about Locus of Control and Metathermics combos that include Thermodynamic Destabilization on enemies with lots of HP.

[Tamior]

To get through dominating you'll need the best tools the game has to offer.

For psi, it's all about Locus of Control and Metathermics combos that include Thermodynamic Destabilization on enemies with lots of HP.

Don't forget the most overpowered ability ever: force field with force user.

[TheAverageGortsby]

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?DQMDCgMDDQgAAAAAS0tLAEsAABkUABQZSzxLAAAAKyQ_OT0qD0dm

I'm copying this build: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AwGloJgVhBmOQEZT3ogbCAHGX4mwyKEgCcALLgOxV5Klk6SamIFEnEz6jJIwQcsVJnIQQ5eOUxRa6NunjoYVNsnHJYQA

Wow, I really do not like that build for DOMINATING.  Blitz is a lovely ability but psi doesn't need it *at all* and AGI is a terrible place to put 7 stat points, even if you do want to play with stealth.  That's a quirk build, not a strong one.  I can see why you're having trouble.

Let's assume you don't want to reroll.  You've got the skill points you need to do well (though you don't ever need to put more than 75 points into Thought Control if you're going for 16 Will) so what you really need are the good psi abilities, and to make good use of the combos. Don't waste a feat slot on Hypothermia, it's garbage. Take Force User instead.  You should have taken it at level 4, but now you're going to have to wait to level 16 because your level 14 feat will be Locus of Control.

Go to the medical vendors in all the cities you can find and buy up their Psionic Mentors. At the very least, bare minimum, go to Rail Crossing, Core City, and Foundry.  YOu're going to need those abilities.

Against living enemies, you'll get tremendous mileage out of LoC + Enrage. Don't get too caught up on LoC + Mental Breakdown.  It's far more useful to have a big group of enemies busy killing each other while you pick them off, than have them standing around waiting to come back into action at the first touch.

Against groups, you're going to love the combo of ThermoD, TK Proxy, TK Punch. With Force User, your TK Punch will be a real hammer of reckoning; and against a target with ThermoD, that target will become a living bomb.  Big badda boom.

At all times, you're going to want your four-turn Force Field.  Sometimes you'll want to hide behind it during combat.  Sometimes you'll want to pull a group and fill a choke point.  If you're smart, you'll pull loudly, Premeditate an Electrokinesis for the stun, Force Field to let the group bunch up, then LoC+Enrage, Adrenaline, Sprint, get out of the middle of the group, ThermoD, Proxy, Punch.  That right there will solve like 75% of all combat encounters.  If anything survived, they won't come back into combat until you're 6 turns into your Force Field cooldown; run, stun, slow, or LOS for two more and you get four more turns to set up for the coup de grace.

If you *do* want to reoll, let me know.  I'll give you a much better build for DOMINATING psi.

EDIT: Actually, may as well just add in the build in case you care.

Start with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQMDAwYDCggAAAAAAAAADw8AAA8AAAAADw8PDwAPUDY    You can see you have four stat points left to play with.  Me, I'd put two in INT, two in PER.  But you do what you like.
End with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwYDEAgAAAAAAAAAW1cAAFVaFj9VS8KHwocuAEhQNis_FCouZD0h    If you did go with 10 INT instead of 8, you can pull a few points out of Merc, Mech, Elec, and Tailor and still hit those thresholds.  You've got stats, skills, and quite a few feats left free in this build.  Spend 'em as you think you'd like, but don't go into Dodge or Evasion.  Psi doesn't need them, and needs those points for other things.

[newageofpower]

Sasuga gortsby sama

Against living enemies, you'll get tremendous mileage out of LoC + Enrage. Don't get too caught up on LoC + Mental Breakdown.  It's far more useful to have a big group of enemies busy killing each other while you pick them off, than have them standing around waiting to come back into action at the first touch.

I liked LoC + Bilocation on lower difficulties. Just hiding behind a Force Field and hearing my opponents get slaughtered by their shadows... Glorious.

Not sure it works well on Dominating; the increased stats and HP pool might render it ineffective, while Enraged enemies puts those stats to work *for* you.

Start with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQMDAwYDCggAAAAAAAAADw8AAA8AAAAADw8PDwAPUDY    You can see you have four stat points left to play with.  Me, I'd put two in INT, two in PER.  But you do what you like.
End with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwYDEAgAAAAAAAAAW1cAAFVaFj9VS8KHwocuAEhQNis_FCouZD0h    If you did go with 10 INT instead of 8, you can pull a few points out of Merc, Mech, Elec, and Tailor and still hit those thresholds.  You've got stats, skills, and quite a few feats left free in this build.  Spend 'em as you think you'd like, but don't go into Dodge or Evasion.  Psi doesn't need them, and needs those points for other things.

One thing I'd consider in this build would be 6 Dex + Grenadier (Another abusively strong feat) + some points in Throwing. Sure, large groups of robotic enemies are rare enough that you *can* get away with clever positioning and well timed forcefields, but the margin of Anti-robot CC is much lower than against living enemies.

Plus, it lets you cheese through early game much more safely.

[TheAverageGortsby]

I liked LoC + Bilocation on lower difficulties. Just hiding behind a Force Field and hearing my opponents get slaughtered by their shadows... Glorious.

Not sure it works well on Dominating; the increased stats and HP pool might render it ineffective, while Enraged enemies puts those stats to work *for* you.

One thing I'd consider in this build would be 6 Dex + Grenadier

Absolutely. Bilocation is a wonderful ability. It's even valid on DOMINATING iff you've kept your TC skill capped and aren't fighting enemy psions.  I didn't mention it only because I had mentioned that 75 base points is enough. That is enough to beat resolve checks reliably, but it's not quite enough to make Bilocation a fire-and-forget like it is on Hard.  If you've cheesed initiative by manually starting combat so you go first after the Force Field drops; if you've got heavy cleanup abilities on tap; if you enjoy watching a mortal game of "I'm not touching you"? Then LoC+Bilocation is always valid.

And, yeah, Grenadier is crazy, especially for its low requirements. Again, you've picked the right thing for maximizing combat power. The only two reasons I didn't bake it in are that pure psi well played doesn't absolutely need it; and in order to get good use out of Grenadier you need to use a lot of grenades, grenades are expensive, and the economy on DOMINATING is rather tight if you don't also pick up the big moneymaking feats Salesman or Disassemble.  But, wow.  Grenadier on the Foundry Beast fight? It pays for itself right there.

I fully agree with your notes there.

[Trashos]

Start with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQMDAwYDCggAAAAAAAAADw8AAA8AAAAADw8PDwAPUDY    You can see you have four stat points left to play with.  Me, I'd put two in INT, two in PER.  But you do what you like.
End with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwYDEAgAAAAAAAAAW1cAAFVaFj9VS8KHwocuAEhQNis_FCouZD0h    If you did go with 10 INT instead of 8, you can pull a few points out of Merc, Mech, Elec, and Tailor and still hit those thresholds.  You've got stats, skills, and quite a few feats left free in this build.  Spend 'em as you think you'd like, but don't go into Dodge or Evasion.  Psi doesn't need them, and needs those points for other things.

Good build and advice there in general, although I prefer Psychosis to Tranquility myself. Two things I don't agree with (or understand):

1) Snooping and the recommendation to put two ability points into PE. I 'd put those 2 points in CON, and Snooping feels like a waste of a feat spot to me, unless there is a very good argument for it that I am missing.

2) Why is CHEM at 35? About 10-12 is enough for biohazard vests and about 20 lets you make decent infused mutated dog tabi boots, should you wish. Also do you really need Mercantile so high for a psi build (the cheapest build in the game)? I 'd probably lower CHEM & MERC and try to invest in Stealth instead (or increase Thought Control, not sure what works effectively and what doesn't at 75).

Other than that, pretty good build.

[paulkirikawa]

Start with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQMDAwYDCggAAAAAAAAADw8AAA8AAAAADw8PDwAPUDY    You can see you have four stat points left to play with.  Me, I'd put two in INT, two in PER.  But you do what you like.
End with this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwYDEAgAAAAAAAAAW1cAAFVaFj9VS8KHwocuAEhQNis_FCouZD0h    If you did go with 10 INT instead of 8, you can pull a few points out of Merc, Mech, Elec, and Tailor and still hit those thresholds.  You've got stats, skills, and quite a few feats left free in this build.  Spend 'em as you think you'd like, but don't go into Dodge or Evasion.  Psi doesn't need them, and needs those points for other things.

I think trap detecting would be a serious pain for this build. Nuke those mines with pyrokinesis might be viable, but bumping into beartraps (with various poison) could easily ruin the game experience. Any idea to solve this? Don't know if motion tracking goggles influence PC's trap detect score or not.

[TheAverageGortsby]

I think trap detecting would be a serious pain for this build. Nuke those mines with pyrokinesis might be viable, but bumping into beartraps (with various poison) could easily ruin the game experience. Any idea to solve this? Don't know if motion tracking goggles influence PC's trap detect score or not.

With 5 Perception, it's not so bad. As long as you're running around at full health (which, for Tranquility builds, you probably are) you can survive one mine with 6 CON.  If you're worried about it, put 2 more points into CON.  At 8 CON, you'll only very rarely find ways to die.

Good build and advice there in general, although I prefer Psychosis to Tranquility myself. Two things I don't agree with (or understand):

1) Snooping and the recommendation to put two ability points into PE. I 'd put those 2 points in CON, and Snooping feels like a waste of a feat spot to me, unless there is a very good argument for it that I am missing.

2) Why is CHEM at 35? About 10-12 is enough for biohazard vests and about 20 lets you make decent infused mutated dog tabi boots, should you wish. Also do you really need Mercantile so high for a psi build (the cheapest build in the game)? I 'd probably lower CHEM & MERC and try to invest in Stealth instead (or increase Thought Control, not sure what works effectively and what doesn't at 75).

Other than that, pretty good build.

Tranquility is objectively superior to Psychosis on DOMINATING.  ON all other difficulties, Psychosis is objectively superior to Tranquility.  None of that, however, should influence your personal preference. They're both fun, and they're different enough that everyone should try both.

With +PER goggles and a dose of Super Soldier, you can get to 11 Per with 5 base + Snooping.  That lets you find every secret in the game.  If that's not important to you, no problem; throw those points somewhere else.  Me, I like secrets.  And since OP was asking for Oddity mode, I feel like it's important to get every last oddity point possible, and that requires finding the secrets.

That chem score with housing bonus goes to 40.  40 is what you need to craft flashbangs and thermite grenades.  The thermite is lighter than the other two types of incendiary, so when you're loading up to go into DC, it's nice to shave off 1.5 weight per stack.

With 16 Will, all TC abilities work effectively at 75 base.  With your Psi Beetle shell tac vest and your Uni-Psi headband, your effective skill is just over 200.

EDIT: Oh, the Mercantile score.  That's the threshold required to unlock the second tier of extra gear at the highest-threshold merchant in the game.  It's also, secondarily, enough to make Salesman good enough to seriously consider.

[Trashos]

Motion Tracking Goggles do affect Trap detection greatly. You can check this yourself by going to the Defense Screen (press "c", then the Defense tab) and you can see your trap detection ability on the lower right corner.

Also have the Trapper Belt on once you find it (or buy it) and hold the Jackknife while exploring (hopefully you did keep the Jackknife when you found it in GMS), since these two gear pieces increase your trap skill and therefore trap detection. I usually also invest 1 point per level to Traps for quicker detection, but it is not strictly needed.