Advice for Black Sea Melee?

[Heitomos]

Currently going through as an Unarmed build on Hard, and it's been a blast in the main campaign, but the Black Sea is making me regret coming here. I've tried to like it, but it feels so melee-phobic with the huge jetski penalties that almost force you to join the pirates just for the feats, and the sea serpents you can't hit from land. I was exploring in the swamp and it's drained my fun completely.

Does anyone have any suggestions that aren't 'build ranged next time'? Or should I just skip the Black Sea?

[harperfan7]

Have you found the shard?
Do you have throwing?
Can you craft your own armor?
Do you mind taking versatility?
Do you have a good jet with good suspension?  What about lemurian marine armor and the jetdrag drink?
Do you have stealth?  or psi?

[Heitomos]

Shard no.
I have some grenades, but no skill.
I can and have made some.
I'd rather not, no real interest in guns.
I've got the torpedo with best suspension. 70% chance to hit without being forced in Piracy.
No for Stealth and Psi.

My current build -

Level 28 - Unarmed
Str 18, Dex 9, Agi 7, Int 5, 3 for the rest
Maxed out Melee, Dodge, Evasion. Great Low Frequency shield. The unarmed feats and such. My main issue is I can't fight back against Sea Serpents even if they are right up against the shore. If my only solution is going heavy into ranged/throwing/psi whatever, then it seems like I should just skip the DLC content. I wanna beat the game but the DLC seems way overtuned towards ranged.

[harperfan7]

I've never heard the word "overtuned" before this past year, yet I've seen it probably 20 times since then.

Anyway, if you get the marine armor and jetdrag, you should do well enough on the torpedo.  Get a doctors pouch if you havent already so you can use drugs quickly.  With irongut, aegis, morphine, jumping bean, focus stim, you can tank the snakes pretty easily, and you can also heal quickly (antidotes, coagulants, hypos); makes a big difference.  I don't know what armor you main, but if you make infused sea wyrm (with dense foam) and infused sea wyrm tabis you'll be immune to acid and very resistant to melee attacks; your jet won't be but at least you can tank more hits.  Focus on sea wyrms first in any jet fight.  Your choice between the marine armor and the infused sea wyrm armor.  Irongut + the tchortist bioscrubber means you are completely immune to all bio damage.  Try all that out.  Oh, and make sure you're using turbo on the jet.

Vs jets, plasma grenades work very well (strong HEs if you can't make plasma).  You'll want to stow away all electrical equipment that you dont use in fights in your jet, because jetters like to throw EMPs (and so should you); then again, with no throwing you'll probably waste these expensive nades and/or hurt yourself.  I suggest getting naval jousting and using a spear; you'll do a lot of damage.  Maybe against snakes too, actually, especially if you have Hunter.  Energy edged would be good against jets but I'd probably go electric anyway. 

Save the marsh for when you get the shard.  When you do the marsh, use the bioscrubber, infused sea wyrm armor, infused sea wyrm tabis, and bring lots of irongut.  If you don't have the scrubber, you can eat canned mushrooms and use aegis instead.  Or you could use stealth boosting stuff and try to sneak through it. 

Taking versatility and making a good AR and w2c ammo and crit NVGs would make a world of difference and its only one feat, but you don't have to do it. 

edit:  also you can punch serpents if they are against the shore and you're standing in shallow water

[Heitomos]

I've never heard the word "overtuned" before this past year, yet I've seen it probably 20 times since then.

Anyway, if you get the marine armor and jetdrag, you should do well enough on the torpedo.  Get a doctors pouch if you havent already so you can use drugs quickly.  With irongut, aegis, morphine, jumping bean, focus stim, you can tank the snakes pretty easily, and you can also heal quickly (antidotes, coagulants, hypos); makes a big difference.  I don't know what armor you main, but if you make infused sea wyrm (with dense foam) and infused sea wyrm tabis you'll be immune to acid and very resistant to melee attacks; your jet won't be but at least you can tank more hits.  Focus on sea wyrms first in any jet fight.  Your choice between the marine armor and the infused sea wyrm armor.  Irongut + the tchortist bioscrubber means you are completely immune to all bio damage.  Try all that out.  Oh, and make sure you're using turbo on the jet.

Vs jets, plasma grenades work very well (strong HEs if you can't make plasma).  You'll want to stow away all electrical equipment that you dont use in fights in your jet, because jetters like to throw EMPs (and so should you); then again, with no throwing you'll probably waste these expensive nades and/or hurt yourself.  I suggest getting naval jousting and using a spear; you'll do a lot of damage.  Maybe against snakes too, actually, especially if you have Hunter.  Energy edged would be good against jets but I'd probably go electric anyway. 

Save the marsh for when you get the shard.  When you do the marsh, use the bioscrubber, infused sea wyrm armor, infused sea wyrm tabis, and bring lots of irongut.  If you don't have the scrubber, you can eat canned mushrooms and use aegis instead.  Or you could use stealth boosting stuff and try to sneak through it. 

Taking versatility and making a good AR and w2c ammo and crit NVGs would make a world of difference and its only one feat, but you don't have to do it. 

edit:  also you can punch serpents if they are against the shore and you're standing in shallow water

The word got into my vocabulary and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I tried the shore punching but maybe the water wasn't shallow enough. I can so far handle everything on water fine. My armor is is a Sturdy Riot Overcoat or a low encumbrance bullet stopper so I can be at 0%, or under 20% depending. I had not gotten all the other stuff yet. My biggest gripe was not being allowed to attack sea critters. It got incredibly annoying waiting for 30 seconds as I get pelted with poison as I was trying flee across the marshes, mostly to try and get to the Telsa armor without angering the Pirates.

I might give it another go. Forgo the melee jetski feats so I can proceed through the story I want and just save scum if I have too. Still, doesn't stop it from sucking and feeling pretty bad. Playing melee in the DLC is so far not fun, which is a shame for paid content. Gunna have to decide if it's worth the headaches or move on.

Thanks for the advice, it does help a bit.

[harperfan7]

There are two other ways to get to lemco without angering the pirates, one of which requires stealth.  You want to know?

[Heitomos]

There are two other ways to get to lemco without angering the pirates, one of which requires stealth.  You want to know?

It's alright! Your advice helped enough. The only reason I wasn't angering the pirates was in vain hope of getting the feats. But I killed a solo aegis trooper in a neutral zone from stealth and the whole aegis team magically knew it was me. I don't want to be forced into Piracy just to not suck at jetski melee, so I'm gunna punch all the pirates or bail on the Black Sea and go back to the main game where I'm actually having fun.