New player here, looking for some help

[Sol Frizzy]

Hi, i'm totally new to this game, and wanted some help from more veteran players.

I want to try a stealth build, using mainly traps and chemistry in combat, but with some persuasion for npcs. Where should I invest my points in character creation?

Also if you have some general suggestion, they're welcome  .

[Junty]

I think your stat distribution would depend on what your main weapon type will be.

-Guns tend to want perception, and strength for larger weapons like ARs or snipers (requirements can be found on wiki)

-Melee wants strength (for larger weapons ^^) or dex  (damage scales of whichever is highest)

-If you want to use pistols (e.g. chemical pistol which might be nice for you) dex is important to lower the AP (action point cost) and to increase crit chance

-Seeing as you want to use chemistry and traps, I think it would be a good idea to invest heavily in Dex (~8 points to start) for 2 reasons.
1. Dex increases your trap skill (you will get a higher effective skill, meaning more bang for your buck when investing in traps).
2. Dex increases Your throwing skill, and high chemistry will let you make more powerful grenades. High dex also gives you access to nice feats to help with grenades.

-IF you go for chem pistol, you will need to invest in 7 INT for mad chemist and cooked shot feats as well.

-You can use Psionics without investing in WILL however it won't be as strong and will serve more as support.

-If going with the pistol you need to invest heavily in perception as this increases gun skill and will unluck many essential feats for you.

Having said all this, in a ramble, I would not suggest a build like this for new players as it will require a low CON (health) stat which can make the game harder if you don't know the fights well.
That being said, the last thing I want to do is tell you how to play the game and I encourage you to explore, make mistakes and learn.

An essential source of information is a massive FAQ by destroyor which goes over every aspect of the game in detail (spoilers are marked). :https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=843557165

A lot of what I have said might be wrong or sub-optimal because I have just written this from the memory of these builds so If anyone sees anything wrong please correct me. Also if you OP want me to clarify anything or go into more detail let me know. I apologize for the rambly nature of this response.

P.S. Use the character builder https://underrail.info/build/

I realise I didn't mentioned stealth or traps, just max stealth and put as many points in traps as required (wiki can show you requirements for each trap)

[Sol Frizzy]

Thank you for the advices and the link to the guide, i'm gonna read it.

[Junty]

No probelm. The guide is effectively the Bible for Underrail. It has guidance for everything you need.

[Turbodevil]

You will be using chemical pistols and lots of grenades to keep breaking Geneva Convention. There is also nice thematic CAU armor to be obtained later in game, so google it if you don't mind spoilers. Also, Advanced Catalysing Belt is a must.

I wouldn't recommend going crit if you are new player. But that's my bias.

Str: 3
Dex: start with 10 and go all the way up during levels up to 16. This way, with Advanced Catalyzing Belt you will have nice 12 AP cost per shot, allowing to shoot 4 times per turn
Agi: 7 for Hit and Run feat. You will need it to close distance (or run away) as Chemical Pistols have low range
Con: 3
Per: Put all remaining points there (which means 7 perception)
Int: 7 for Mad Chemist feat (you want to craft your own chemical pistol)
Will: 3

For skills:
Guns (max)
Throwing (max)
Stealth (80-max)
Evasion (max, so your own grenades won't hurt you)
Mercantile (105 effective)
Temporal Manipulation (70 is recommended for any build, if you don't want to cast spells, 0)
Chemistry (keep maxing until you have 100+ effective and can craft gun you need)
Electronics (100+)
Mechanics (some)

For feats, I recommend improving Grenades by Grenadier and Three-Pointer, picking up nice special attack feats (like Point Shot, Aimed shot, possibly Kneecap Shot but most importantly, Cooked Shot). Hit and Run is essential, so is Mad Chemist. Other than that, up to you, I would pick Pack Rathound, Interloper, Sprint and Blindsiding but it depends on how you wish to play.

[Junty]

Whilst I was reading your build idea I thought, hmmmm maxing dex seems weird...then I saw Chem pistols have base 25 AP....I never knew it was so high, wtf. Does the low perception not hurt the build too much. Are energy weapon builds just much better?

Also, seeing as you seem to know your chem builds, do you know if the experimental chem pistol you get from a certain institute is actually any good or whether crafted ones are always better.

To be honest, the build is really good by  the looks of things but I wouldn't recommend this to a new player

[Turbodevil]

This is theorycrafting from my side, I played a lot of Dex builds but neither chemical nor energy yet. Still, chemical pistols have a belt that reduce AP cost by 4 after Dex reduction, so it should be obvious to stack dex high. As for certain unique pistol, it looks good and there are builds focused on that. It only has 15 base AP cost and you can reduce it to 5 with high Dex. I would probably load one normal chemical pistol, the unique on weapon swap, then used unique until I can't do it anymore due to self-rooting. After that - Escape Artist feat and back to using normal pistol.

As for Energy weapons: they suck until they crit. Numbers are clear on that. Energy weapon builds typically start with Survival Instinct and I would not recommend SI build to a newcomer.

[Junty]

Yeah, I agree, energy weapons are very slow to start. But, once you got crit...you can easily be hitting for 1000 each shot. You can even one-shot a certain someone with a master-crafted plasma pistol. You become a death machine in the late game.

I've never played a chemical build either but it seems like it would be a similar experience, I just think the small number of shots per turn would limit the build.