Author Topic: Psi Build - Thoughts?  (Read 3171 times)

Shardnax

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Psi Build - Thoughts?
« on: June 22, 2020, 02:31:39 am »
https://underrail.info/build/?HgMDAwgDEAoAAAAAAAA8SsKFAABfXw8yX3jCoMKgdigAQSsnNlA_FD0uZCEqwojCh2fCncKuZnLCt8KK4qK1AuKlsgXirJcB4rGgBd-_

I'm level 22 at the moment. My crafting at the moment is 75, 75, 15, 40, 75 (mechanics to tailoring). Ideally I'd like to be able to craft a max quality (or close) cloaking device, psi headband, regen. vest, shield, and tabi. Is there any reason to put more points into mechanics and biology? Trance looks good depending on the situation but I don't think I'll want to take the time to farm ingredients.

General thoughts on the build are also appreciated, thanks.

TheAverageGortsby

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Re: Psi Build - Thoughts?
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2020, 02:43:26 am »
You're actually slightly overinvested here and there.  You could take 20 points out of Mechanics and 10 from Tailoring and still craft everything you want to.  The only reason you'd need to go higher than that would be for metal armor or leather armor, and it doesn't sound like you're too worried about those.

If you assume Jackknife, Huxkey, and Lemurian Engineer Suit, you can pull 30 points out of Lockpicking and still open every lock in the game with Dex food buff.

I always argue that any investment in Thought Control past 75 is a waste unless you're building for Neural Overload, which you clearly aren't.  You could pull some points back from TC if you wanted.  You won't see hardly any resolve checks at 75 skill, because your effective will be over 200 with 75 points in.

What to do with those leftover skill points?  I dunno.  Personally I'd probably stick a few into Chemistry, because I like being able to make MK IV grenades.  Other than that, I'd probably mac out Temporal Manipulation.  I like Entropic Recurrence and Temporal Distortion enough to use them regularly, and they do indeed benefit from additional skill.

I wasn't impressed with Mantra.  If you have nothing else you want, sure, get it, by all means.  But by the time you can get it, 5 regen really isn't impressive for a full psi character like you've built.  Your concern will really be stacking psi cost reduction rather than working with regen.  If you need more psi points, you just pop a booster.

Shardnax

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Re: Psi Build - Thoughts?
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2020, 08:46:53 pm »
You're actually slightly overinvested here and there.  You could take 20 points out of Mechanics and 10 from Tailoring and still craft everything you want to.  The only reason you'd need to go higher than that would be for metal armor or leather armor, and it doesn't sound like you're too worried about those.

If you assume Jackknife, Huxkey, and Lemurian Engineer Suit, you can pull 30 points out of Lockpicking and still open every lock in the game with Dex food buff.

I always argue that any investment in Thought Control past 75 is a waste unless you're building for Neural Overload, which you clearly aren't.  You could pull some points back from TC if you wanted.  You won't see hardly any resolve checks at 75 skill, because your effective will be over 200 with 75 points in.

What to do with those leftover skill points?  I dunno.  Personally I'd probably stick a few into Chemistry, because I like being able to make MK IV grenades.  Other than that, I'd probably mac out Temporal Manipulation.  I like Entropic Recurrence and Temporal Distortion enough to use them regularly, and they do indeed benefit from additional skill.

I wasn't impressed with Mantra.  If you have nothing else you want, sure, get it, by all means.  But by the time you can get it, 5 regen really isn't impressive for a full psi character like you've built.  Your concern will really be stacking psi cost reduction rather than working with regen.  If you need more psi points, you just pop a booster.
Thanks for the input. Is it possible to miss the Lemurian suit or is it fixed loot at the NoT? I'm doing Expedition content now, and I've done mutant island and the locked building so far. Grenades don't seem worthwhile unless I put some points into throwing.

On psi costs, I have mufflers and psi beetle carapaces but none are high quality. I know about the brain soup but I don't have any. Are there any other psi cost reductions? Is LTI the only way to speed up the cooldown for boosters?

Does damage scaling for psi abilities continue past 350 skill? I'll probably go for Empowered Metathermics over Mantra if that's the case.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2020, 08:50:32 pm by Shardnax »

Crows

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Re: Psi Build - Thoughts?
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2020, 11:16:14 pm »
1) Yes, Lemurian suit is fixed loot.

2) Grenades are actually very useful even without throwing. If you miss, the grenade will only deviate by up to three tiles. Now, this could mean you hit something you don't want to... But generally, if there's a bunch of people at least a few tiles away, you're probably still good to go.


3) I think those might be the main ways to reduce cost, although you could take Advanced PSI Empathy if you're willing to sacrifice more health. A high quality PSI beetle carapace is nice but it won't increase the reduction in costs. A muffler can go up to 25% though, I think.

4) LTI is it for reducing cooldowns, but you can lower *its* cooldown with the Future Orientation feat. (It's really nice)

5) Damage scales past 350 for some abilities, yes. A lot scale linearly, I think only entropic reoccurrence falls off with more points. I think most metathermics scale (except for Exothermic aura, maybe?).

Hope that helps!

Shardnax

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Re: Psi Build - Thoughts?
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2020, 03:03:51 pm »
1) Yes, Lemurian suit is fixed loot.

2) Grenades are actually very useful even without throwing. If you miss, the grenade will only deviate by up to three tiles. Now, this could mean you hit something you don't want to... But generally, if there's a bunch of people at least a few tiles away, you're probably still good to go.


3) I think those might be the main ways to reduce cost, although you could take Advanced PSI Empathy if you're willing to sacrifice more health. A high quality PSI beetle carapace is nice but it won't increase the reduction in costs. A muffler can go up to 25% though, I think.

4) LTI is it for reducing cooldowns, but you can lower *its* cooldown with the Future Orientation feat. (It's really nice)

5) Damage scales past 350 for some abilities, yes. A lot scale linearly, I think only entropic reoccurrence falls off with more points. I think most metathermics scale (except for Exothermic aura, maybe?).

Hope that helps!
Thanks.