Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[MasterSmithFandango]

Hellfire! The crowd is chanting Hellfire!

Well atleast it's better than Lead Fury.

edit: also, Blaine, master of the worst strawmen I've ever seen.

I had cranium smasher and paralyzer so far.

 

[Blaine]

edit: also, Blaine, master of the worst strawmen I've ever seen.

You know what they say: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

"Disagree with my opinion? FANBOY!" Yeah, well, two can play at that game, you insufferable faggots.

 

[hell bovine]

hell bovine I concede the point. I should only have to walk through a room once, twice at most, and it should be a small room so that it doesn't take too long. Also, I should be sprinting, not walking.

Perhaps a series of small linear corridors with treasure nooks and only one path through the game would have been more appropriate. Styg could really take a page from JRPGs here. After all, we play games for fun and we just want to kick back and relax after work.

Well, I think this can still be fixed - to a certain extent.

First of all, this game needs a way to speed up walking; people using speedhack should be a universal indicator. If you don't want everyone running "Benny Hill style", just a sprint toggle, which makes your character move at triple speed, but at the cost of lowering detection and giving them a short "winded" malus to offensive and defensive skills is enough. You would still be careful going around enemy areas, but you could sprint carefree on your way back.

Second (because I don't think you can simply remove spaces through updates; it would most likely break saves) - just add something to those empty areas. Secret nooks, random groups that will jump you for money, traveling merchants that will barter with you on the road, etc. It makes no sense that the player is the only one wandering around those tunnels. All of that can be added step-wise, with each update.

Deep caverns needs an overhaul of the "enemy type" badly, though.

cc-ed Styg again

 

[Blaine]

Well, at least you provided feedback and ideas rather than just complaining. I really don't think that every cavern screen needs to have a smorgasbord of entertaining gimmicks, though, and truly empty rooms are quite rare. Most "concentrated activity areas" (some abandoned base, a bunker, a research facility, etc.) are packed with semi-unique visuals, stuff to loot, numerous ways to interact with the environment, the odd puzzle, etc. The sheer bulk of content currently in the game is absolutely staggering.

A minority of people using speedhacks isn't a "universal" indicator of anything. I will allow however that a lot of people are bitching about the walking speed, so perhaps some sort of purple cat or large eagle that appears in a puff of smoke to serve as one's steed might be appropriate.

 

[epeli]

Min skill requirement becomes a joke pretty fast, it's an obstacle for few first levels.

I'm not sure about this, but I think min skill always plays a role. Regardless of your skill, a gun with 40 min skill will be harder to shoot accurately than one without skill requirement.

1) How are all the people in the game world fed? As I creep around UnderRail I keep wondering why there aren't more farms. If not farms, then what? Maybe they have some advanced form of food production, or they eat Soylent Green or something. I mention it simply because it kept occurring to me every time I entered a new settlement.

Huh, I thought this was pretty well represented. One of the first quests even introduces you to SGS's meat supply (hoppers) and you get to see their advanced hydroponics farm. You see small mushroom farms in the cave communities. NPCs talk about how most of South Underrail's meat comes from Camp Hathor's hunters. People gather (and farm) mushrooms, fish and hunt animals. The in-game foods you see reflect this; burrower burgers, mushroom brew, rathound BBQ, etc. Stuff like spices are very exotic and expensive, at least in the south.

It's a very primitive society when it comes to food production, almost completely on a hunter-gatherer level. There are no massive mushrooms farmfields in the vein of Exile/Avernum, but the population is also much smaller.

slightly spoilerish background information

You can learn about a turning point in the world's history, a moment when Underrail's population got too large to sustain itself. No doubt food shortage was the main cause.

My turn to ask a question:

Does anyone know whether Psionic Mania works with non-damaging CCs like mental breakdown or the "automatic critical hit" thingie only applies to damage dealing psi power? In other words: can I use Psionic Mania to have a 100% GUARANTEED stun?

Blaine? epeli?

Critical hits only increase damage as far as I know. It might also modify the chance for CC to land, but it won't guarantee it.

With Faceless in DC I've had a different kind of bug

What's that?

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Just beat it.

Spoiler

I really liked the mutagen puzzle actually. It looks daunting when you first start it, but if you take five minutes to write it all down, it's pretty easy and fun. The Tchort fight - a little underwhelming. One turn to kill the first tentacle, one to kill the next two, and one to kill the mouth and the eye with my fist build.

Ending slides were decent. Obviously setting up for a sequel, should be kind of interesting. There's a ton to say about it, but I'll let it sink in a bit before I start sperging out.

 

[Niektory]

You know what they say: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

"Disagree with my opinion? FANBOY!" Yeah, well, two can play at that game, you insufferable faggots.

"God damn it, some people here sure act like retards. But I just know the PERFECT way to deal with them. I'll act like a retard too! THAT will show them!"

Well... um... Your choice, I guess. But then don't expect anyone to take you any more seriously than them.

 

[Zetor]

Just beat it.

Spoiler

I really liked the mutagen puzzle actually. It looks daunting when you first start it, but if you take five minutes to write it all down, it's pretty easy and fun. The Tchort fight - a little underwhelming. One turn to kill the first tentacle, one to kill the next two, and one to kill the mouth and the eye with my fist build.

Ending slides were decent. Obviously setting up for a sequel, should be kind of interesting. There's a ton to say about it, but I'll let it sink in a bit before I start sperging out.

Spoiler

I agree that the endgame puzzle is very good (it's a proper puzzle, not just the typical RPG copout of "lol solve this tower of hanoi problem / 30-second minigame"), it's just that a crucial component to solve it was missing until it was patched in ~last week.

Tchort fight seems to be very, very build-dependent. I've seen a screenshot of a guy literally one-rounding Tchort (snipe - aimed shot - dead) with a sniper rifle, and it wasn't even with min-maxed equipment. OTOH it's a grueling uphill fight for a crossbow user when my critical hits with a maxed crossbow at 220 effective skill damage the big bad for... 39 damage (and my attrition options are weak)

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Also - I think the impressions of DC will be directly impacted by how good your build is. Although a *tad* more direction would have been nice, I like the overall feel of it. But if you are a character that has trouble with high mech resist enemies, I could see it being a huge pain.

 

[hell bovine]

Huh, I thought this was pretty well represented. One of the first quests even introduces you to SGS's meat supply (hoppers) and you get to see their advanced hydroponics farm. You see small mushroom farms in the cave communities. NPCs talk about how most of South Underrail's meat comes from Camp Hathor's hunters. People gather (and farm) mushrooms, fish and hunt animals. The in-game foods you see reflect this; burrower burgers, mushroom brew, rathound BBQ, etc. Stuff like spices are very exotic and expensive, at least in the south.

It's a very primitive society when it comes to food production, almost completely on a hunter-gatherer level. There are no massive mushrooms farmfields in the vein of Exile/Avernum, but the population is also much smaller.

slightly spoilerish background information

You can learn about a turning point in the world's history, a moment when Underrail's population got too large to sustain itself. No doubt food shortage was the main cause.

It's maaagic.

The thing about ecosystems, you still need an external energy supply. That's why we have organisms capable of photosynthesis at the bottom of food chains; to capture solar energy.

 

[Blaine]

"God damn it, some people here sure act like retards. But I just know the PERFECT way to deal with them. I'll act like a retard too! THAT will show them!"

The reasonable exchange of ideas only occurs during downtime between spewing vitriol at people who don't like your opinion. The Codex has changed since 2005—back when discussions were conducted in a polite and agreeable manner*.

*

 

[Jack Dandy]

Implement insta-travel in "safe" areas (By double-clicking on the "red" exit areas)
Decrease screen-transition load times
Please

 

[epeli]

It's maaagic.

The thing about ecosystems, you still need an external energy supply. That's why we have organisms capable of photosynthesis at the bottom of food chains; to capture solar energy.

It's scifimaaagic, not plain maaagic!

External energy needs could be explained (or more like handwaved away) with geothermal energy. I'm more worried about how they get oxygen down there and what the air pressure would be like...

 

[ST'Ranger]

Spoiler

I agree that the endgame puzzle is very good (it's a proper puzzle, not just the typical RPG copout of "lol solve this tower of hanoi problem / 30-second minigame"), it's just that a crucial component to solve it was missing until it was patched in ~last week.

Tchort fight seems to be very, very build-dependent. I've seen a screenshot of a guy literally one-rounding Tchort (snipe - aimed shot - dead) with a sniper rifle, and it wasn't even with min-maxed equipment. OTOH it's a grueling uphill fight for a crossbow user when my critical hits with a maxed crossbow at 220 effective skill damage the big bad for... 39 damage (and my attrition options are weak)

Endgame Spoilers

Hypertox + 20kg of Poison Bolts did the job, though.

 

[Anthedon]

Just beat it.

Spoiler

I really liked the mutagen puzzle actually. It looks daunting when you first start it, but if you take five minutes to write it all down, it's pretty easy and fun. The Tchort fight - a little underwhelming. One turn to kill the first tentacle, one to kill the next two, and one to kill the mouth and the eye with my fist build.

Ending slides were decent. Obviously setting up for a sequel, should be kind of interesting. There's a ton to say about it, but I'll let it sink in a bit before I start sperging out.

Spoiler

I agree that the endgame puzzle is very good (it's a proper puzzle, not just the typical RPG copout of "lol solve this tower of hanoi problem / 30-second minigame"), it's just that a crucial component to solve it was missing until it was patched in ~last week.

Tchort fight seems to be very, very build-dependent. I've seen a screenshot of a guy literally one-rounding Tchort (snipe - aimed shot - dead) with a sniper rifle, and it wasn't even with min-maxed equipment. OTOH it's a grueling uphill fight for a crossbow user when my critical hits with a maxed crossbow at 220 effective skill damage the big bad for... 39 damage (and my attrition options are weak)

Spoiler

What does the mutagen puzzle actually do? It was still bugged when I finished my playthrough.

 

[Zetor]

Spoiler

I agree that the endgame puzzle is very good (it's a proper puzzle, not just the typical RPG copout of "lol solve this tower of hanoi problem / 30-second minigame"), it's just that a crucial component to solve it was missing until it was patched in ~last week.

Tchort fight seems to be very, very build-dependent. I've seen a screenshot of a guy literally one-rounding Tchort (snipe - aimed shot - dead) with a sniper rifle, and it wasn't even with min-maxed equipment. OTOH it's a grueling uphill fight for a crossbow user when my critical hits with a maxed crossbow at 220 effective skill damage the big bad for... 39 damage (and my attrition options are weak)

Endgame Spoilers

Hypertox + 20kg of Poison Bolts did the job, though.

Spoiler

Yea, my character needs to git gud.

Unfortunately there's no way I can get hypertoxicity -- all out of oddities in DC with like 10 xp until level 24. It's going to be a shitload of incendiary / shock bolt mk2's, and the few gas grenades that I can put together (they do affect him, right?) Also need to spend an hour or two fishing for medicine materials.

ATM I'm having more fun replaying the game with a no-craft / no-lockpick / no-hack pure psion, though...

Spoiler

What does the mutagen puzzle actually do? It was still bugged when I finished my playthrough.

Spoiler

afaik it perma-kills half of the tentacles. Having to only deal with only 3 actually makes winning a possibility for crossbow builds...

 

[Blackmill]

Also - I think the impressions of DC will be directly impacted by how good your build is. Although a *tad* more direction would have been nice, I like the overall feel of it. But if you are a character that has trouble with high mech resist enemies, I could see it being a huge pain.

On my current build I can reliably kill a Dreadnought in one turn. I just hit the Deep Caverns, checked out the Mushroom Forest, and that same tactic did maybe 75% of a mushroom monster's health (which was about 500 compared to 1,000). It's definitely a massive difficulty spike for build relying on mechanical damage.

 

[Nines]

Hellfire! The crowd is chanting Hellfire!

This thread is getting dangerous.

Spoiler

 

[Xzylvador]

Anyone care to share how to solve the Wit Nosek quest for Oculus?
Found him but can't get him to talk.

 

[Parabalus]

This game would be un(re)playable for me without cheat engine. Using 2x speed as the norm, going to 5x-10x when you need to walk around safe areas. It could really use an AoD-style map for Core City and Institute. Also 50x for super steel whore Bernard and merchant respawns.

Once you try it you can't go back to snail pace.

Anyone care to share how to solve the Wit Nosek quest for Oculus?
Found him but can't get him to talk.

Spoiler

Go to Pancea Labs in Upper Underrail-->clear it(need a document code of a PC)-->go to Coretech Research(the one in drop zone) 2nd level(plasma sentries)-->use document code to get assistant name from central computer-->talk to Wit

 

[hell bovine]

This game would be un(re)playable for me without cheat engine. Using 2x speed as the norm, going to 5x-10x when you need to walk around safe areas. It could really use an AoD-style map for Core City and Institute. Also 50x for super steel whore Bernard and merchant respawns.

Once you try it you can't go back to snail pace.

So true, I have the game running at 2x too. It still doesn't fix the boredom of deep caverns encounters, though.

 

[Lurker King]

Some bugs:

I’m been attacked by SGS members after killing Mordre in the caves. The area is an uncontrolled zone in the middle of nowhere. This is ruining my playthrough.

Killed everyone in prison at the Foundry. Left. Come back to take more stuff from the dead bodies. Some guards ask me to leave. As soon as I leave, everyone is attacking me.

 

[Sykar]

I got no problem with the speed or no fast travel. Glad that shit is not in the game.

 

[Sykar]

Yes, beta was available only to bootlickers like me, the leader of an elite group consisting exclusively of anyone with a spare $10. If you mean the DC testing, well, true bootlickers didn't actually play it, instead saving it to enjoy in our first 1.0 playthrough.

I've criticized many things about Underrail, but the walking speed, font, and stations that don't have quest-givers and merchants crowded into one small MMO hub aren't among them.

Actual criticisms include (but are not limited to):

Crafting is far too powerful, especially with the addition of Super Steel. All looted and shop-bought gear is shitty rags compared to what can ultimately be crafted. Crafted infused leather and Super Steel heavy armor are twice or thrice as good as what can be looted or purchased. Looted and shop-bought energy shields even late in the game seem to top out around 300 capacity with mediocre resistances, while with crafting you can create 1200 or 1600 capacity (depending on the Power Management feat) shields with fantastic resistances.

We're not talking 50% or better, or even 100% better: Crafted gear is several times better than anything else available. Styg knows this, and apparently it's what he wants. I strongly disagree with this design decision.

Perplexingly, Riot Gear is total crap. Even at very high quality, the shield doesn't block melee attacks nearly often enough (or prevent enough damage when it does) to justify the armor type being otherwise weaker than Tac Vests in every way.

Pistols were nerfed across the board because Styg thought energy weapons were too strong, and now they suck, as has been amply demonstrated in this thread (an SMG that deals more damage per bullet than a .44 pistol, for less AP, with a larger magazine, and both of the same quality and caliber, for example). Meanwhile, ARs and SMGs still shred the entire building and leave only wooden splinters and pulped organic material in the aftermath.

Crossbows didn't receive the promised "love" and are still wanting. Notably, an entire skill is dedicated only to crossbows, while with the Guns skill you can use all sorts of guns effectively even if you make very specialized feat choices.

The grammatical errors and typos range from slight to a complete mess, and this has barely changed since a year and a half ago. I plan to personally help Styg clean it up at some point when I settle on a viable method of efficiently parsing all the dialogue, descriptive text, etc.

There are many little things that need to be improved, especially things that have actually worsened since Early Access, such as Charons being prioritized when trading with SGS merchants, unreachable containers and switches, patrolling guards getting stuck on scenery, etc. Also, why the fuck can't I type in a quantity when dividing stacks?

I sincerly hope I will not need that gear for endgame with my main character who has no crafting.

 

[Nines]

I’m been attacked by SGS members after killing Mordre in the caves. The area is an uncontrolled zone in the middle of nowhere. This is ruining my playthrough.

There are a lot of hoppers in that cave, so I assume they reported about this to SGS. Mordre is a southgater, after all.