Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Jasede]

Uh, there's a ladder that leads right to it in the pirate base. In like a guard tower. No trash fights needed.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Uh, there's a ladder that leads right to it in the pirate base. In like a guard tower. No trash fights needed.

Cheers, mate! Guard tower in Port Craig, found it, and Nagas are gone. In my case, Electroshock pistol does wonders.

 

[Sheepherder]

Sheepherder i wonder, did you consider using energy crit pistols with versatility? Got any build/ideas on that? Id expect as there might be some synergy between knives/crit laz0r and actually utilize both?

It'd work. E. pistols need three stats (dex/per/int), and eliminating PER to put points into DEX or INT would be useful. Problem is, chem pistols have AoE disables which remove evasion, thus negating the lagging accuracy of versatility. E. pistols only have shock pistol, so it'd have a harder midgame.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Ol' Willy]

and eliminating PER to put points into DEX or INT would be useful.

Dumping PER? I have 14 PER for my build and I have already raged enough from missing five out of six shots with 75% hit chance. With less PER it would be how much, 60% or 50%?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Ol' Willy]

you utilize immobilize effects to deny evasion and as such, drop the need for perception altogether

Flashbang could be resisted and has obnoxiously long cooldown. Not to say that if you fail to kill the stunned guy he will awake. Traps are tiresome to utilize all the time. Some enemies are immune to Taser. Electroshock pistol stuns are unreliable. Nets are already dependent on the target evasion skill. And best of all, you can miss even at stunned targets.

My energy build is highly dependent on crowd control, immobilizing and opportunistic attacks, but given choice between INT, DEX and PER I raised PER.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Ol' Willy]

his build utilized acid blob pistols

But you plan to use Energy ones, right?

not at point blank

According to the Murphy's law, you miss the point blank when you need it the most. Especially when you use Execute.

Also, I wouldn't want to use Electroshock pistol point blank.

 

[Jasede]

Had to reinstall Windows 10 today.
Hope the game has cloud saves because if it doesn't...

 

[Sheepherder]

and eliminating PER to put points into DEX or INT would be useful.

Dumping PER? I have 14 PER for my build and I have already raged enough from missing five out of six shots with 75% hit chance. With less PER it would be how much, 60% or 50%?

PER by itself doesn't actually do anything for accuracy. It does raise the Guns skill, thus makes ranged attacks more accurate. Versatility feat allows builds to scale Guns from Melee, so in case of light weapons, it's possible to max dex, have low AP cost attacks and decent effective Guns. Versatility accuracy lags behind for a long time, but picks up pace once you put spec points into it. Expect to see a lot of 40% thc enemies.

Had to reinstall Windows 10 today.
Hope the game has cloud saves because if it doesn't...

F

 

[Jasede]

Hard F...

Well... next run I am not using Throwing Knives, I tell you what. My 1080 fried and the computer only works as long as I don't use it. Which would be easier if I had an internal card, but I don't.
Great stuff.

Thank you guys though, it was fun to give the game a proper try. I think it's certainly good fun and I look forward to properly finishing it from scratch some other time. Should be way, way faster in Classic mode with a real weapon.

 

[hell bovine]

How does this "innervation" work? My current cave wizard has free brain slots, I buy cryostasis for him, it slots automatically and can be used. I buy pyrokinetic stream and it doesn't, despite free slots. Has to be "innervated" manually.

Also, so far playing a psi has been annoying. Two mana bars and arranging your spellbook feels like a wizard management sim. The only change I like is the new force field, since at least the enemies can do something about it now.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Bought myself a freighter jet and got a lil' bit carried away...

Our jet ski numbers are ... impressive.

 

[Jasede]

Well, since my savegame is gone, and I don't want to go through the Throwing Knives pain again, what's a general 'strong' Dominating build?
Nothing specific, just an idea like "Chemical Pistols" or "Hammer Wizard" is enough.
Anything where I am not relying on visiting all the merchants every hour to get more grenade materials would be fine.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Finished my second run. Couple of point on the game and my build.

Firstly, Expedition. After culling savages, I went to legit and unhindered exploration of the area with mutie refuge being the first. And, frankly, muties are the best faction in the Black Sea. They just chill out at their island, not bothering anyone - so of course I wanted to help them. Having no persuasion I lied to the doctor about Chief okaying the supplies delivery, only to be confronted by this faggot Briggs later, who cut my pay in half - for the entire campaign! OK, I'm perfectly fine with this. Guess who's not getting the ACORN now!

This I kinda like. Wages at Expedition are laughably small, probably enough to cover your expenses, no more. But at the same time, Expedition provides you with two best moneymaking opportunities, not to be seen anywhere in the game. Good stuff. Also, with stealth Hives could be completely bypassed - I haven't killed a single locust in my time there.

Then, the base game. I decided against joining the Institute and just steamrolled through the place. Much faster. This fact was acknowledged in dialogue only once - by the Faceless commander. At any rate, here I come to the elevator down. Lone Tchortist runs up from previously cleared area to warn no one about Faceless attack. Faceless, then, proceed to fill the entire room, with no Tchortists to hinder them, that is. They are hostile, so I had no choice but to engage them. This shit is hard, and I was at my fifth or sixth attempt, having good streak with about twenty dead Faceless when it dawned upon me - they will spawn infinitely. So yes, the only option is to remove Faceless from the elevator area and dash to the lift controls.

Deep Caverns are still cancer. Energy plant is almost enjoyable with stealth; labyrinth is as tedious as it was with tank (to stealth it you need 450 effective points in patience skill, so fuck this shit, I killed all the worms instead); Mushroom Forest is awful (whose idea was to make shrooms immune to crits?); doppelganger lab is pure random; Hollow Earth isn't relevant for you can just run through it; Tchort died in two turns.

About Energy build.

This stuff wrecks. Early game is meh, but then you can rush to upper Underrail to buy some good stuff from scavenger trader, level up, unlock Coretech, and by the level 20 its already too easy most of the time. Good shield is obligatory, maxing crit chance at any price as well (mine was 57-60% without drugs or food). Crowd control is necessary, but I used almost no traps and few plasma/frag grenades after reaching level 16 or 18. There is no point in using polarizer or efficiency upgrades, leaving you with cramming smart module and amplifier in every gun. I recommend having all the three guns with you - Laser, Plasma and Electroshock.

Laser was my workhorse. Base damage is shit, but crits can reach some impressive numbers, having 500-600 dmg per crit is very good, especially with people having low DT/DR to energy damage. Minimal AP cost, best accuracy and range.

Plasma is for heavy hitting. Ridiculous AP cost, but if it crits - it's fucking crits, with damage reaching 5000-6000. Due to AP cost usable only as a special tool for disposing of extremely sturdy motherfuckers.

And, Electroshock pistol; this little thing is awesome. Shitty range and accuracy, damage in between - but the jumping bolt ability is extremely useful. Bolt will always jump on crit, making for very effective alpha strikes and group attacks: late game it was very easy to kill four guys with one shot. Thing to notice, Energy guns are not very loud, so it's possible to kill enemies in groups separately from each other. The best exhibit is the first floor of Lunatic mall: I cleared it without a single shot made at me, disposing of Lunatics with Electroshock crits without alerting the whole area. Those bastards died right where they stood, right around the fucking burning barrels and inside the rooms. Electroshock pistols sometimes can stun, but it's very unreliable.

Anyway, I think one more run won't hurt, innit? I was thinking about pure pistols build, but I recon it will be similar to Energy Pistols build, only less effective. I'm thinking, maybe go full wizard, to taste the OP and finally unlock some lore? I'm kinda tired at looking at all these pillars without being able to do shit with them.

 

[sebas]

Post your build mate, sounds tasty.

 

[Parabalus]

Well, since my savegame is gone, and I don't want to go through the Throwing Knives pain again, what's a general 'strong' Dominating build?
Nothing specific, just an idea like "Chemical Pistols" or "Hammer Wizard" is enough.
Anything where I am not relying on visiting all the merchants every hour to get more grenade materials would be fine.

Guns, mainly shotguns, with others for specific enemies.

 

[ciox]

Finished my second run. Couple of point on the game and my build.

Nice rundown, I actually didn't know energy guns (all or just some?) are silent. Makes me think guns should list the noise factor, especially for new players.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Chemistry and Dodge are dumps for leftover skillpoints.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[jackofshadows]

Well, since my savegame is gone, and I don't want to go through the Throwing Knives pain again, what's a general 'strong' Dominating build?

I'd safely recommend my sniper build or some variation of it. Then again, it was Stavrophore who supplied me with the first draft. A bit rough at first but after you craft your first rifle - oh boy... pure joy, honestly. Or it's just me who enjoying this playstyle a little too much.

 

[sebas]

Problem with sniper builds is just how annoying it is to always reload on your first missed shot

I'd really want to try a sturdier build just to avoid this, and actually get the game completed. Have done traps, smg and sniper builds so fac. Cave wizard does not appeal to me.

So I guess a shotgun CON based build, would that work without too much tedium? Dunno enough to compare shotty AGI vs CON builds.

 

[Sheepherder]

Well, since my savegame is gone, and I don't want to go through the Throwing Knives pain again, what's a general 'strong' Dominating build?
Nothing specific, just an idea like "Chemical Pistols" or "Hammer Wizard" is enough.
Anything where I am not relying on visiting all the merchants every hour to get more grenade materials would be fine.

Psychosis psi is still the No. 1 build.
Crit ARs are the most powerful ranged weapons. Up to 4 bursts per turn, 100% crit chance, an "Increase damage taken" multiplier, absurd damage. Combat ends on the alpha strike turn. Crit burst shotties are a close second.
Crit swords are the most powerful melee weapons. Struggle with high DR/DT robots, but not as much as other melee. Max DEX knives overtake them at the veeeery endgame because missed flurries can fuck up the damage output of swords, but they're better for the most part of the game.

 

[ciox]

Well, since my savegame is gone, and I don't want to go through the Throwing Knives pain again, what's a general 'strong' Dominating build?
Nothing specific, just an idea like "Chemical Pistols" or "Hammer Wizard" is enough.
Anything where I am not relying on visiting all the merchants every hour to get more grenade materials would be fine.

Psychosis psi is still the No. 1 build.
Crit ARs are the most powerful ranged weapons. Up to 4 bursts per turn, 100% crit chance, an "Increase damage taken" multiplier, absurd damage. Combat ends on the alpha strike turn. Crit burst shotties are a close second.
Crit swords are the most powerful melee weapons. Struggle with high DR/DT robots, but not as much as other melee. Max DEX knives overtake them at the veeeery endgame because missed flurries can fuck up the damage output of swords, but they're better for the most part of the game.

How'd you get 100% crit chance on an AR build? Even on a pistol build it's a huge pain, and you have Steadfast Aim there.