Picked up this game on Steam about two weeks ago and have thrown all of my off hours to date at it. For having so wonderfully wasted my time, I will return the favor by listing below all of the builds I "completed'" the game with, as it currently exists. (1.9.1) In addition to my thoughts about them, in hopes this information is found useful. I will then amplify that information with stuff off the top of my head take it or leave it, you wont hurt my feelings either way. (You could also let me mod for it :F)
-Game Impression Overall: It filled a fallout shaped hole that I have been looking to fill for quite some time. The difficulty of the mobs combined with the scarcity of things to kill them with force you to not only think about "will this kill him," but also "will I have enough to survive the next encounter." This is a fantastic foundation for what looks to be a quality and evolving product with a potential for a future cult following.
-Builds played to Completion: (Not all the builds I tried or conceptualized)
Think Tank (First Finished and Favorite)
- Primary Defense: Metal Armor
- Primary Offence: Psi -or- Unarmed/Hammer
Marksman Rogue (Second Finished and simply not my style (Note:1))
Primary Defense: Mitigation via Dodge and Evasion
Primary Offence: Crossbow -or- SMG
Commando (First Character last Finished(Note:2))
Primary Defense: Mid Weight Armors and Mitigation
Primary Offence: Sniper -or- Assault Rifle
Start -> End (LV 12) Primary Stats Start -> End (LV 11) Primary Stats Start -> End (LV 12) Primary Stats
- Str----9->10 (+1@4) -Str----3 ->3 -Str----7->7
- Dex---3->3 -Dex---5 ->5 -Dex---3->3
- Agi----3->3 -Agi----10 ->10 -Agi----5->5
- Con---6->7 (+1@8) -Con---4 ->4 -Con---5->6 (+1@8)
- Per----3->3 -Per----10->12(+1@4,8) -Per----10->12 (+1@4,12)
- Wil----10->10 -Wil----3->3 -Wil----3->3
- Int----6->7 (+1@12) -Int----5->5 -Int----7->7
Secondary Skills Secondary Skills Secondary Skills
- Melee -Guns -Guns
- Mechanics -Crossbows -Dodge
- Electronics -Dodge -Evasion
- Biology -Evasion -Stealth
- Tailoring -Stealth -Hacking
- Thought Control -Hacking -Mechanic
- Psychokinesis -Lockpicking -Tailoring
- Mercantile -Mercantile -Mercantile
Feats-Level Obtained Feats-Level Obtained Feats-Level Obtained
Conditioning-1 Nimble-1 Conditioning-1
Opportunist-1 Aimed Shot-1 Aimed Shot-1
Psi Empathy-1 Psi Empathy-1 Psi Empathy-1
Doctor- 2 Recklessness-2 Nimble-2
Psychosis- 4 Kneecap Shot-4 Recklessness-4
Locus of Control- 6 Marksman-6 Full Auto-6
Premeditation- 8 Evasive Maneuvers-8 Sniper-8
Power Management- 10 Sharpshooter-10 Evasive Manuvers- 10
Crippling Strike- 12 ------------------------ Sharpshooter- 12
-Playing as: (Strategy employed and impression of the game while using this skill set)
-Thinktank- (By another name Battle Mage.)
-Leveling- Weak at the start, very powerful after level 10 with properly crafted gear.
-Gear- Go Heavy or die trying. Tungstensteel Chest and boots with a Psi amplification Helmet of your choosing.
-Access Difficulty for Ammunition- Low, you only need 4 things Bandages, Health injectors, Mana Injectors, and Maintenance Kits.
-Access Difficulty for Gear- Moderate/low, you have the luxury crafting exactly what you want, but have to spend a fair bit of time going from vendor to vendor to find what you are looking for.
-Average Cost per Kill- Moderate, Mana is fairly cheap and gets cheaper in terms of DMG/MP the more you invest in it. Batteries and Repair kits for the hammer are expensive but easy to obtain.
-Strategy- You cannot stealth, and have no movement AP so you must rely on smart placement before an encounter and the use of the enter button to grant you the first attack. Use corners to bunch enemies up so you can smash them with Electrokinesis while they stay in range of your Melee. CC as a whole, especially stuns are a key feature of this build.
-Strengths- Has as much cheap utility (AoE, CC, Gear Crafting, capable of ripping off vent covers) as one can pack on a character. Fairly predictable per turn HP loss. Healthy damage potential.
-Weaknesses- Must engage all fights, often with unfavorable circumstances due to not being invested in stealth. Cannot see mines or hidden objects. Cannot Hack or Lockpick. Will always take the hit, you have a higher DT but you will never not take the hit.
-Marksman Rogue-
-Leveling- Easy at the start, begins falling off after GMS.
-Gear- *Light* vest and boots, or just vest if you find a 15% encumbrance chest piece that is better then both combined. Crossbow, SMG with forward grip.
-Access Difficulty for Ammunition- High, especially for special bolts.
-Access Difficulty for Gear- High, this character is dependent entirely on drops or vendors. While this is made slightly easier by picking locks and hacking. Crafting is the better option.
-Average Cost per Kill- High... bolts are cheap, special bolts are not. The SMG Gets an inferior performance out of ammunition compared to other platforms.
-Strategy- Use stealth to set yourself up in the environment ideally, and aim to kill the highest damage potential first turn. CC Using Shock and Fire bolts. Use kneecap shot to kite while waiting for CD's.
-Strengths- Nothing in the Environment will stop you from proceeding. You are the master of Stealth.
-Weaknesses- Combat strategy depends on rare bolts. A stiff breeze aimed in your general direction will kill you. Absolutely NO room for slop or flexibility in combat strategy. Recklessness feels like it increases the chance to be crit more then 3%.
-Commando-
-Leveling- Easy at the start, difficulty 5-7 until you have a sniper AND Assault Rifle then it grants you a fair bit of slop.
-Gear- Reinforced Flak Vest, Metal boots, Goggles Bonus Perception. Sniper with AR
-Access Difficulty for Ammunition- Moderate, dependent on merchants. Pick up EMP Grenades and Flash Bangs when you can to keep a stock between 2 and 15
-Access Difficulty for Gear- Low, you can craft every thing you need with the exception of Goggles and the advantage of crafting those yourself is limited.
-Average Cost per Kill- Moderate, the monster alpha of the Sniper and the Burst damage of the AR make for fast cheap kills.
-Strategy- Use stealth to set yourself up in the environment ideally just outside of CQC, and aim to kill the highest damage potential in order every turn. Open with the sniper finish with the AR. Use grenades at close range against Machines, open with a flash bang if out numbered 3 to 1 or greater first round. Rinse and repeat.
-Strengths- Can Stealth and Hack. Consistent High single Target Damage. Can dodge and evade as well as mitigate fairly well with medium armor.
-Weaknesses- Not much in the way of utility. Cannot open ventilation. Recklessness feels like it increases the chance to be crit more then 3%.
-Underwhelming to Overpowered
(Scored from 1 to 10, 4-6 is balanced)
-Armor/ Mitigation
- Light Armors (Note: 3) There is currently nothing I found 'Endgame' to fill this roll, either the nimble skill needs to be increased to reduce 18-20% so you can include some of the lighter mid-encumbrance Armor such as flack in this category. Or ideally a more expensive suit can be implemented adhering to the you cant hurt what you cant hit mentality. Should this suit exist, it would not be a bad thing to also incentive it with a small bonus to AP passively, and more when powered. (Note:6) (2/10)
- Mid-Encumbrance (Note:4) Armors are pretty good they could do for a higher non mechanic resistance, but the DT is right about where you would expect it to be and you can still partially rely on dodge and evasion. (6/10)
- Heavy Armors (Note:5) A slightly higher DT would not hurt given that should you wear it, you have no choice but to be a 'buffer tank' and there is only one method of combat healing(injections), which has a fairly long CD. The potential this armor has for Pugilism or Melee in general at the high end is fantastic. (5/10)
-Dodge/Evasion rather underwhelming even at high levels of investment. Given that should you invest in them in the first place, you are taking away potential from both offence and utility in order to be able to even at best partially rely on them. Most of the issues from this goes back to what I suggested to earlier with regards to light armor. (4/10)
-Offensive Weapon
-Unarmed- Free!!! In this Game that means something. Especially when combined with metal armors and/or Force Emission. (5/5)
-Pistol- Easy to use, Only takes one hand making it a good ranged offhand for Riot Gear. (5/5) (I never look at a pistol as anything more then an offhand)
-SMG- Also easy to use like the pistol with a Burst option for people not strong enough to use an AR... and that is really what this weapon boils down to. (4/10)
-Crossbow- The Utility of thrown weapons or Psi abilities with out the need for Dexterity or Will. This weapon would be great if they made special bolts a little more common from vendors (4/10)
-Sniper- Hits like a bus but suffers from an absolute lack of utility. I usually shot it twice at the start of an encounter to deal with the hardest hitting least armored target and then used other means to dispatch my enemies. (4/10)
-Energy/Chemical Pistols- A neat alternative, but i didn't use these much because as the game currently exists they are weaker then their chemical expansion based counterparts, but I imagine with the later addition of shields that this will change. To a case by case basis. (3/10)
-Assault Rifle- Burst Beast mode if you can carry It and have the 'Full Auto' Feat... Enough said. (6/10)
-Hammer- Ignores the majority of Damage Thresh hold and with a little battery juice can provide more then a fair bit of AOE. (6/10)
-Knife- Needs high Dexterity investment to be useful, Unfortunately 'Cut-Throat' feat only effects humans. (4/10)
-Combat Glove- More useful then the Combat Knife in terms of raw damage potential and with the Pneumatic Hammer added during creation, It can be used as a form of CC. Also unlike the knife has a bonus of not being absolutely dependent on Dexterity. Unfortunately can not be used with Force Emission like unarmed. (5/5)
-Thrown- Where to begin... They do a little more then their Psi Counterpart in terms of damage or CC but at a FAR greater expense and access difficulty in terms of replenishing your stocks. The only advantage is that they are not limited by CD or GCD so you can spam them.(3/10)
-Traps- I will start by admitting a bias in regards to non-flexible weapons platforms requiring premeditation to be effective. I see their potential for usefulness, but rarely if ever do I actually do any thing with them. Unless its an encounter I have had to replay multiple times. Making me, and most any one that uses this weapon type into what I suspect as some form of failure based fortune teller. In my opinion the best thing about the trap skill is making a few extra credits knowing how to disable the ones on the field left by enemies. That said, my main issue with the weapon sub class is the added fault of having all the same issues as Thrown weapons amplified by the difficulty of accurately kiting your enemies into them with out killing yourself. (2/10)
-Psi
-General- I will start with the two most OP things about Psi skills. Psi skills do not miss, or decay. That in addition to the damage and utility of Psi abilites scale only with skill and no other factor, so you don't have to worry about things such as weapon quality, ammunition availability or the amplifying effects of enhancements used during construction, that one piece of equipment may have over another. You are also not limited in the ability to switch between or mix and and match ideal properties from any of the schools except by CD and feat amplification. I would move to add a 'mental stability' bar (Note:7) as well as a 'limited' (6-10) combat ready psi AND skills bar where every thing out side of that incurs an AP penalty. A separate also limited bar for consumables, as well as a change to way the weapons in combat are made available to the player. Utility ammunition to fit the situation more appropriately, with comparable flexibility, more on this in later segments. (8/10) No joke, the psi schools as a whole are OP
-Thought Control- (8/10) Grants access to the single most powerful feat in the game Locus of Control (LoC)
-Neural Overload- Single Target, cheap, fair damage ignores resistance being skilled in this makes the advantage of Force Emission a moot point. (6/10) (7 with LoC)
-Frighten- Long Cheap Crowd Control that does no damage. Causes them to run potentially pulling more adds, damage does not break the effect (6/10) (8 with LoC)
-Mental Breakdown- Long cheap CC that does no damage, reduces resolve and increases damage of next psi ability. Shorter duration then Frighten but Enemies do not move (7/10) (8 with LoC)
-Bilocation- Extremely Expensive, hard hitting DoT (5/10) (8 with LoC)(10 with LoC stacked with Premeditation)
-Psychokinesis-
- Telekinetic Punch- Expensive, Hard Hitting single target with a stun. (5/10)
- Force Field- Its Rare to find a use for this that is not better served by using one of the other available CC's... (5/10)
- Electrokinesis- Best spamable AoE in the game with a stun to primary target (7/10)
- Force Emission- ok at best assuming you are invested in Melee, AND wearing Metal Armor... has a 5% chance to miss that no other psi abilities do . Less Damage per MP then Neural overload or Cryokinesis. Could be made much better if it was usable with the damage added by Combat Gloves. (4/10)
-Metathermics-
- Cryokinesis- Strongest Single target attack in the game, similar to a sniper rifle but much cheaper to use. (7/10)
- Pyrokinesis- Worst AoE in the game. I need to test if the throwing skill modifies accuracy (Note:8 ) it was not reliable. (3/10)
- Cryostasis- Fantastic CC and when combined with Cryogenic Induction can allow for a consistant one turn kill of most mobs. (6/10)
- Pyrokinetic Stream- Highest damage potential of all AoE's but falls short of comparison to Electrokinesis due to the absence of consistent CC. The Pyromaniac Feat helps make up for that but not entirely. (5/10) (6 with Pyromaniac)
(Note: 1) My "style" is to be as subtle as a hammer, and made of the same material.
(Note: 2) The commando was my first attempt at a character, while it was doing fine once I got to junkyard and laid eyes upon TungstenSteel Armor I Immediately (After looking up and reading about encumbrance) re-rolled to play through as the 'Think Tank.' I later finished the 'Commando' off just to see how it compared to the underwhelming 'Marksman Rouge'.
(Note: 3) Body armor with an encumbrance of 10 to 12, and a boot with an encumbrance of 3 or less
(Note: 4) Body armor with an encumbrance of 13 to 45, and a boot with an encumbrance of 4-5
(Note: 5) Body armor with an encumbrance of 46 or greater, and a boot/ helmet with an encumbrance of 6 or greater
(Note:6) I have never been able to craft Leather armor out of the Mutant Dog hides, while I'm sure it would be better in terms of resistance to its nature, it still fails to balance the difference in potential going from light to mid.
(Note:7) Think of it as Brain durability... some kind of slide bar with negative effects with the more sanity you loose to make it comparable or worse then with the cost of weapon decay... Reduced Psi damage, will save reduction, int reduction, fine motor control (dex)
(Note:8 ) All toons that had Pyrokinesis available had no notable reason for throwing skills.
