Incline Age of Decadence - Tips, Tricks and Spoilers

[Black Angel]

I tested now, I couldn't find dagger on his body in any variant.

Ah I misremember it! Sorry bro. Yeah, you won't get the dagger any sooner if you leave the trader to die, so if you want to get it faster then you have to intimidate them to leave the guy alone, and then come back later to face them + one extra stronger enemy.

 

[Fenix]

You mean that I can have it later or what?

 

[Black Angel]

You mean that I can have it later or what?

If you want to get the dagger sooner, rather than later, you have to intimidate those guys to leave the trader alone, so he will give you the dagger. But I think there's no use mentioning if those fuckers would return with one more, stronger enemy, because they WILL always return back there if you only intimidate them to leave at first encounter.

 

[Fenix]

sooner, rather than later

I don't understnand. That mean that I can get it later?

 

[Latelistener]

Somebody give this man a dagger.

 

[Trash Player]

I now, but I just wonder - how people completed the game with 1 in every attack skill? Like really - how? How someone can solve this fight with 1 of attacking skill? Shover them with grenades?

Kiting with poison.

 

[PlanHex]

It also lets you purchase a breathing apparatus in Teron to skip constitution checks for wandering the abyss

You only need dex+con >= 12 to get the breather from the well though, and it's not usable before Maadoran anyway as far as I know, so Loremaster is more of a good starter for non-combat people (i.e. 4/4/4/8/10/10 or similar) that want to go to the abyss, but like Jason said it's not very relevant if you have good dex.

 

[Fenix]

Hey guys, what if you set Crit 4 before Agatai train you?
Do you get combat points for that? Or not, like with Colton?


Edit: In that case you get 15 combat skill points.

 

[PlanHex]

Hey guys, what if you set Crit 4 before Agatai train you?
Do you get combat points for that? Or not, like with Colton?

You should get extra CS-rating, which may be far better than getting + in the skill because you get the same increase in CS-rating but without raising the cost of adding to the CS skill level itself later.
Though I may be wrong, haven't played in a while. If you get +15 per skill point like in Dungeon Rats, you might be better off with the +skill rather than +10 CS-rating depending on how high you want your CS to go, especially since the rating isn't checked in dialogue, only the skill level.
If you're gonna go all in on CS, you should probably always take the +rating over the +skill when training by bumping up the skill level beforehand.

 

[Absinthe]

You only need dex+con >= 12 to get the breather from the well though, and it's not usable before Maadoran anyway as far as I know, so Loremaster is more of a good starter for non-combat people (i.e. 4/4/4/8/10/10 or similar) that want to go to the abyss, but like Jason said it's not very relevant if you have good dex.

You also need lockpicking skill if you want to get the breather.

 

[Fenix]

As I said, I got +15 CSP instead, don't know if CS rating increased.

 

[Geckabor]

Any tips on going for a character skilled in impersonation? Is it a "main" skill, or only secondary to others? What other skills, starting backgrounds and factions are well suited for it? Is charisma the most important stat here or can I go for a high intelligence?

 

[Anomander Rake]

Impersonation is not fleshed out as it should be. [Persuasion] is the king of dialogs skills.

 

[Jason Liang]

Top end armor is a huge tactical advantage.

Doesn't work for me and my build.
I have a negative values for dodge rating, and they ofter attack arms, so I can't even shoot effectively.
Also that iron imperial armor isn't a obstacle for them - armor dented quickly, so character surviv londger without armor but with 10 AP.
Or I dunno.

Also I won a fight - just for giggles - with mob that chased preacher, using imperial iron armor and Arbiter - quickly deal with man with club, three arrows is enough, then just Whirlwind, with reloading crossbow for 3 AP.

Also, I start to think, that 8 Dex were a mistake for my Assasin, need 9.
What do you think - is it worth to start over, because I only at the start of Maadoran?

By top end armor (for Maadoran, not end game) I don't mean Iron Imperial Armor, I mean either a custom-crafted Steel Lorica or Blue Steel Lorica (the one that you buy in Maadoran). Both have an acceptable defense penalty and leave you with 10 AP. You need to kill Hammer/ Club guys first to preserve your armor; that's tactics. There are other good armor that becomes available in Maadoran, so do some shopping. From Act II on out there are many difficult (but awesome) fights so you'll want to invest into your combat skills if it gets too difficult. There's no embarassment in that, especially if you're still new to the game.

You don't need to start over for 9 DEX since (hopefully this isn't much of a spoiler) you can already fix your 8 DEX to 9 DEX if it's a problem. There are two opportunities to raise your stats in the game, and both are available in Maadoran, one at the beginning and the other either at the end of the Assassin quest chain or at the start of the Thief quest chain. 9 DEX makes a significant difference since many fights you'll start first with 9 DEX but you wont with 8 DEX. Just remember that you need to save the 2nd stat raise for CON since otherwise there isn't much point in starting with 6 CON.

Maadoran is the heart of the entire game and the funnest part (at least for me) so I wouldn't start over.

 

[Absinthe]

Impersonation is not fleshed out as it should be. [Persuasion] is the king of dialogs skills.

Streetwise is. It's used both as a persuasion skill and as a skill to recognize when you are being taken advantage of. There are also a few checks where Streetwise is used to con someone when it really should be an Impersonate skill, like when you are pretending to be an alchemist and prescribing a fake medicine in Ganezzar.

 

[Latelistener]

Any tips on going for a character skilled in impersonation?
Is it a "main" skill, or only secondary to others?
What other skills, starting backgrounds and factions are well suited for it?
Is charisma the most important stat here or can I go for a high intelligence?

It's good on paper, but unfortunately mostly useless in the game.
Streetwise and Persuasion are you friends.
Loremaster is a good background for a non-combat character.
Intelligence is much more important, since it gives you more SP.

 

[Jason Liang]

Impersonate is used mostly for Assassin Guild path and I recommend it for that.

Let's not overestimate the value of Intelligence. Each point of Intelligence only gives by endgame a small fixed number of extra skill points spread throughout the entire game, whereas 7 CHA optimally unlocks roughly an equivalent number of freebies mostly near the start of the game, where you get more opportunities to use them. Ultimately it's a min-max calculus where you have to figure out which checks you're going to need and which you're going to forgo. There are some extremely useful high CHA+Persuasion/ CHA+Streetwise checks, depending on the path you take, and needed for several special titles, whereas for INT there is only a single INT+Lore >= 18 check that's very nice to get, and Lore is a skill that pays for itself up to 8 already anyway. The INT checks higher than 18 are for tiny, TINY bits of Lore with zero practical return in terms of skill points or special titles - really only for a Lore completionist run, which you'd also need at least 7 CHA for anyway. In other words, after 7 INT, kicking CHA to 7 is a noticeably better deal than taking INT to 10.

 

[Fenix]

Maadoran is the heart of the entire game and the funnest part (at least for me) so I wouldn't start over.

It's true, but once Teron is explored, it takes an hour to complete it. For example I did all fights there, and just reloaded if peacful solution was better.
So I started over.

 

[Black Angel]

I don't understnand. That mean that I can get it later?

*sigh* just refer to Sergio's post. I'm not a native English speaker, so I probably explained it wrong to you.

 

[Jason Liang]

Maadoran is the heart of the entire game and the funnest part (at least for me) so I wouldn't start over.

It's true, but once Teron is explored, it takes an hour to complete it. For example I did all fights there, and just reloaded if peacful solution was better.
So I started over.

Yeah I can tell already, OCD. I have it too.

 

[PlanHex]

You only need dex+con >= 12 to get the breather from the well though, and it's not usable before Maadoran anyway as far as I know, so Loremaster is more of a good starter for non-combat people (i.e. 4/4/4/8/10/10 or similar) that want to go to the abyss, but like Jason said it's not very relevant if you have good dex.

You also need lockpicking skill if you want to get the breather.

Oh, forgot about that. Not very high as I recall though. Can get through with 4 or something, right?

As I said, I got +15 CSP instead, don't know if CS rating increased.

Ah, didn't see your edit. It was probably changed then.
Pretty sure some of the CS training gave you + to CS rating instead of extra skill points last time I played an assassin (which was a pretty long time ago...)

 

[Fenix]

So, explain to me which arrow is a shit and which is not.
I'm trying to complete Kemeti mission in my OCD way - to kill all 10 enemies.
But I did 5 at max.
Before I thought that piercing arrows is good shit, not I start to suspect is is just a shit.
As I understand, piercing arrows need just for regular attack, right?
Because normal arrows with torso attack should deal more damage.

Also your tips for 10 bodycount in that mssiion. I even bought neurostim, but suspect that only napalm rain/orbital bombing can save the day.

 

[Jason Liang]

Piercing Arrows deal very little damage, and I find them the least useful. They're useful for headshots against blockers, since unless they get perfectly blocked, they will always deal ok damage and consistently poison. Anyway, they are very useful against fools that use shields, and occasionally against heavily armored tanks (although regular arrows deal nearly the same damage there). Basically, Shields (and Blocking) was designed to counter Ranged Attacks, but Piercing Arrows counter Shields. So Blocking is fucked. Ta da!

Regular Arrows are the most useful overall. Against blockers that don't use helms or use light helms, I use these for pretty much everything from Arterial Strikes and Head Shots to Fast Attacks against Dodgers.

Barbed Arrows are for head shotting fools that don't wear helms, and arterial strikes. I usually have a pair of hand xbows loaded with barbed for arterial strikes.

Bows aren't suited for "brawl" fights like Kemeti and the Pass. You are better off with 2H Axe or Sword dodger to try that, and a combat build, not a hybrid build. A feat like that is for an IG playthrough. I don't think it's possible to kill everything by yourself in that fight with bow/ xbow, but if you collect enough wood to craft perhaps 50 hand xbows you might be able to do it, or using the nail gun. With an Axe or 2H Sword, you can use Whirlwind to kill your own team first, and then kill the opposing team at your leisure. It isn't really as difficult as it appears.

 

[Fenix]

Regular Arrows are the most useful overall. Against blockers that don't use helms or use light helms, I use these for pretty much everything from Arterial Strikes and Head Shots to Fast Attacks against Dodgers.

Why not Barbed?
Because when Atterial Strike crit it ignore armor, that mean that Barbed is best choice if you using shoot with high crit modifier.
I used Snipe with Barbed Arrows in that battle, e.g. because the problem there that if someone left with 20-25 HP he won't survive next turn, and I can
t deal enough damage to finish him, later in battle this aggravated because simultaneously few targets with low HP appear in one turn.
Also I feel lack of damage, because often shot from hand crossbow left tatget with 1-2 HP, but that's I think can be solved with steel arrows?

Also, what's the equipment Kemnebi has?


EDIT: So, you can only chose if Leon or bum fight, not both?
Also, I like combat so much, please convince me to get +3 csp from bum instead of killing Leon&Co.
I like that fight so much - sucked a few times there, before used bottleneck, without it only could kill 3 out of 4.

 

[Jason Liang]

Please, please try to supress your OCD and finnish the game once first and then go back with a fine tooth comb. This is painful, even for me. The game has far better fights to dwell on than the Leon fight and the Kemnebi fight, please!

Killing everything isn't really that impressive. Figuring out how to beat each fight with a 1/x or x/1 character (pure hybrid build) is much more impressive and you end up appreciating the game a lot more, since then you appreciate why some enemies don't wear helmets (i.e. you can then actually use tactics).

You shouldn't use Barbed main since it deals nothing against any sort of armor i.e. if you don't crit.

I usually use Leon to get into the fight with the bums and then use that fight to sneak into the Temple District past the gang that's there, then come back later to kill that gang. Now that's a good fight.