KickStarter ATOM RPG - Wasteland Soviet style! - now with Dead City update

[Egosphere]

In Poland we have a saying: cure yourself with the same thing thatvgot you ill.

Hence, drink more.

Yup, IQ is off the scale there! Downwards...

Said the Greek Turk

 

[markec]

Ive been trying out some builds and I must say that Im really enjoying the game so far.

The combat gave me flashbacks of Dead State (not in a good way) but the writing and use of skill checks are so far really well done.

This game managed to grab my attention far more then Wasteland 2 ever did.

 

[SkiNNyBane]

I think I am going with this build.

Spoiler

Reasoning:
I am choosing Luck as dump stat and going for sniper build.

Diplomat - is basically 2 free stats because you will at most be using one or two combat skills so -10 to all combat doesn't matter much. +20 Speech is useful. Sequence loss if offset by high attention.
Unlucky Optimist - since I am dumping Luck and not going for crit, any further loss in luck makes no difference and you essentially just get free stats.

7 Str because you get +1 Str helmet and max needed Str for sniper rifles is 8.
6 Dex because you only get 1 Ap per two stats. So it is best to either go 4 or 6.

I don't know how spoilery this is, but SVD grants +15% crit chance, plus there's a perk that gives 1.5x crit chance with scoped rifles and another one with +100% crit damage with precision shots against humans.

To be honest, personality doesn't seem to gate too much content (I think I've seen 3 or 4 people who refuse to talk to you with 1 per). Attention above 6 is useless as well (after a few levels, the hit chance is going to be 99% anyway). There may be some high att checks, though.

As for 8 str, I'm not sure you even need the antitank rifle if you can crit unarmored humans for 200+ damage with SVD.

RIP my minmax. Since you are way further down the game can you suggest good minmax for sniper? Thanks

 

[filpan]

One more question:
So we dont not get to chose additional perks throughout the game, only 2 perks when creating the character? I thought we would get additional perks at every 5 levels.

What you pick at the start are traits. Perks are available on the second tab in the char sheet.
I'll leave it to you to figure the rest out.

Yeah, my bad. So you only pick traits at the start, thats it?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

One more question:
So we dont not get to chose additional perks throughout the game, only 2 perks when creating the character? I thought we would get additional perks at every 5 levels.

What you pick at the start are traits. Perks are available on the second tab in the char sheet.
I'll leave it to you to figure the rest out.

Yeah, my bad. So you only pick traits at the start, thats it?

Just like Fallout, men.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

One more question:
So we dont not get to chose additional perks throughout the game, only 2 perks when creating the character? I thought we would get additional perks at every 5 levels.

What you pick at the start are traits. Perks are available on the second tab in the char sheet.
I'll leave it to you to figure the rest out.

Yeah, my bad. So you only pick traits at the start, thats it?

Same as in Fallouts.

e.
ninja'd by barbarian.

 

[bataille]

Spoiler

Um, what? I have convinced the Shishak's gang to leave Dan and the factory alone (having successfully defended it and kept Dan alive), and now the bandits try to kill me on sight? Is this intended? (no)
That's kinda anticlimactic.

Well, at least I got to kill that disgusting cook.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Spoiler tags

 

[Sheepherder]

The combat is especially nothing to write home about - a very bare bone, boring and basic system with no diversity of actions,

While the combat is basic and clearly greatly inspired by Fallout, I wouldn't call it boring and have had fun with it so far. This is because it's actually heavily reliant on the actual RPG systems behind it and being well-equiped is essential. When the fun exploration and character progression is reflected in combat performance - and that combat ends up challenging in the process - this is enough for it to be enjoyable for me. It could definitely use some spicing up, but it's far from boring for me because it's combat securely grounded in it's RPG systems and character progression.

Maybe it's because I'm a combatfag, but I found the combat to be very dull. Performing better in combat due to better gear, higher skills and more perks is nothing new. It's basic RPG character progression. Whic is something else that is lacking in this game. Perks are p. shit, tbh. They're very safe and boring: +skills, more damage, more defense, less requirements and etc. It's all very linear and stale. Having a to-hit% depend on stat+weapon skill does not make it a good combat system, when the only two actions you can take during combat is "attack enemy" for ranged and "run up to enemy to attack" for melee, as there is no cover, cc or abilities in ATOM.
Every fight is the same and there are no interesting combat encounters.

 

[fantadomat]

Sooo does the skill points in weapons only affect the "to hit chance" or do they affect damage and crits? Also i noticed that there is no difference between normal attacks and aimed/slashes. Even stabbing someone in the eye does the same damage as the normal attack.

 

[Sloul]

Yep, only influence accuracy.

 

[Lhynn]

Anyone running around with melee? im having a hard time finding anything better than the quality knife.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Sooo does the skill points in weapons only affect the "to hit chance" or do they affect damage and crits? Also i noticed that there is no difference between normal attacks and aimed/slashes. Even stabbing someone in the eye does the same damage as the normal attack.

I believe aimed attacks to the head/eye increase critical hit chance

 

[Roguey]

You know this spoiler tag nonsense wouldn't be an issue if we had two threads (one for spoilers, one for non-spoilery discussion).

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Anyone running around with melee? im having a hard time finding anything better than the quality knife.

Just barehanded here.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

You know this spoiler tag nonsense wouldn't be an issue if we had two threads (one for spoilers, one for non-spoilery discussion).

Quiet, lest Infinitron awakes.

 

[Niklasgunner]

Atomboy Small bug I encountered: If you encounter a caravan truck and drive to a settlement where you parked you car, and then leave that settlement with your car, you will appear on the world map where you encountered the caravan, not the settlement.

 

[Infinitron]

You know this spoiler tag nonsense wouldn't be an issue if we had two threads (one for spoilers, one for non-spoilery discussion).

No way, I tried doing something similar years ago with Shadowrun Returns and it doesn't work. Fuckers on this forum couldn't follow instructions if their life depended on it, they just keep on posting wherever they want. It's hard enough just to split a thread.

Anyway, if you see a particularly egregious spoiler, you can report the post.

 

[Sheepherder]

Sooo does the skill points in weapons only affect the "to hit chance" or do they affect damage and crits? Also i noticed that there is no difference between normal attacks and aimed/slashes. Even stabbing someone in the eye does the same damage as the normal attack.

I believe aimed attacks to the head/eye increase critical hit chance

All aimed shots add +crit chance. It's "to hit chance"/10. So at 99 thc you'd get +9.9% to crit chance.

 

[Commissar Draco]

You know this spoiler tag nonsense wouldn't be an issue if we had two threads (one for spoilers, one for non-spoilery discussion).

Quiet, lest Infinitron awakes.

I am running diplo-pistoliero build Comrade 4(5) 4 8 5 8 10 4 with Lucky and Diplomat perks.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Someone mentioned Dead State and it is very reminiscent to that game at times. Which is a good thing, Dead State was an excellent CRPG/sim hybrid. But I did get some vibes from that game while playing, as well as the feeling I'm playing a 2018 Fallout 1.

 

[fantadomat]

Anyone running around with melee? im having a hard time finding anything better than the quality knife.

I am running around with melee and pistol. I too can't find a better melee weapon that the quality knife. There are others but they eat too much AP for them to be useful.

Sooo does the skill points in weapons only affect the "to hit chance" or do they affect damage and crits? Also i noticed that there is no difference between normal attacks and aimed/slashes. Even stabbing someone in the eye does the same damage as the normal attack.

I believe aimed attacks to the head/eye increase critical hit chance

Most likely,but it is pretty insignificant increase. Stabbing somebody in the eye should be insta crit but very hard to do. It is really stupid to do 4 damage by doing it,the same as normal stab.

You know this spoiler tag nonsense wouldn't be an issue if we had two threads (one for spoilers, one for non-spoilery discussion).

Most people here don't drop real spoilers,i personally try to be vague so only the people that know it could understand it. I dislike useing spoiler tags for every small thing,only for real spoilers. Also RPGs are pretty hard to spoil seeing how it is not a linear thing.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Performing better in combat due to better gear, higher skills and more perks is nothing new. It's basic RPG character progression.

True enough. Though it's remarkable how many RPGs these days manage to fail completely at it and where it really doesn't matter at all how you build your character. This has not been the case with ATOM so far, which I appreciate.

Anyway, it sounds like you've played a fair amount more of the game than I (sadly have only had enough time to put in about 7 hours so far), so you might have a better idea. But while the game does lack things like cover and varied combat abilities, I always found in these types of combat systems that the variation tends to come more from the varied tools at your disposal and how you choose and are able to use them. In such cases, an encounter that is a fairly simple setup where I'm outnumbered by several human enemies that are well-equiped becomes increasingly interesting in my eyes as I start to run out of options and start risking AP searching through my inventory for that forgotten grenade or machete that will save my life.

 

[bataille]

As far as I know, there are only three melee weapons stronger than quality knives.

Spoiler

The first time I saw a Soviet knife was around character level 8 or 9 at the weapon dealer in KRS for 1.8k. The second strongest (Taiga machete) is nowhere to be seen yet. The strongest (Druzhba chainsaw) is possibly tied to a particular quest involving a stolen Lenin's statue, but I haven't completed it yet to verify.

Sadly, melee builds don't seem to be viable past hunting small critters. Not without some perks for free movement (of which there are none). You really need to kill at least one enemy a turn or you're pretty much dead. Better start getting ready to tote a gat, heh.

 

[Lhynn]

Sadly, melee build don't seem to be viable past hunting small critters. Not without some perks for free movement (of which there are none). You really need to kill at least one enemy a turn or you're pretty much dead. Better start getting ready to tote a gat, heh.

Yeah i agree. i think ill start pumping points there, im getting 24 skillpoints per level anyway, in 3 or 4 levels i should be good with a big gun.