After beating DC for the first time, I started to read various outlets to see what different places thought of Underrail. Aside from the usual "killed by sentry bots with infinite chainstun 0/10", "catching hoppers is literally impossible for my character", and various DC complaints, I noticed a very
odd pattern of questions surrounding a particular build. Now, a lot of people will go around saying "x build is just total garbage" etc. That is quite common and expected. "Psi is terrible because you run out of mana in one turn", "knives are terrible because Agility vs. Strength and I can't do arithmetic" etc. But on the whole, people were
puzzled about the concept of the scientist.
Why would one make a scientist? And the typical response would be "well, they can make all their gear to be high-quality". And of course the inevitable counter "any character can invest in one or two crafting skills and make their gear too". And let me tell you, it just made no sense to me. Now, I'm in a position where I've played the game so many times that sometimes I feel I take certain things for granted that maybe just aren't all that clear without lots of experience.
So to set the record straight, and to encourage people to use this wonderful build - here is a sample armor I've constructed before so much as stepping foot in Depot A.
Please overlook the garbage flak component - it was the best I could find in the area. Experienced players will note that you can easily kill a Dreadnaught group when equipped with such an armor - and I haven't even entered Depot A.
Scientists benefit early game from having extremely good crafting skills compared to other builds. Scientists can make a full array of high-quality equipment
very early on, including MK III grenades which utterly devastate early-game combats. Other builds will settle for a good weapon or maybe armor. Maybe grenades. Or a good set of goggles or headband. Another important consideration, especially very early in the game, is merchant stock. Some builds will be hoping to luck out and get e.g. Super String or Smart modules, but they could easily be disappointed. The scientist can take whatever is available and make high-quality equipment. Even if one piece of the puzzle is missing, the scientist will have a nearly full array of deadly gear available.
Later in the game, the scientist is a fully-kitted death machine with multiple weapon and armor setups to optimize performance for every fight. Most characters are happy here to have a good weapon + armor or a good shield + headpiece etc. The scientist is strolling around with an
armory of top-quality gear and combat drugs, limited only by the maximum quality available. I particularly like the pistol-focused scientists because
plasma weapons are just fucking cool.
Here's a temporary shield I made for kicks immediately after completing Junkyard (having only visited Junkyard + SGS and absolutely nowhere else).
A lot of characters would be happy to have that shield for their endgame equipment. To this particular character, it is a construction born purely out of convenience, a hand-me-down that will appear as tattered rags in juxtaposition with the deathkit to come.
If anyone's wondering how to make a scientist, it's really quite simple. You need 7 Intelligence (more is good, but 7 is fine) and devotion to leveling the important crafting skills: Mechanics, Electronics, Chemistry, Tailoring. Might as well throw Hacking in there too. Biology is useful later on but not as much earlier in the game. That's it, use whatever else you like.
Chemistry + Throwing go together. If you're not going for Throwing, leave Chemistry out. Leave some room for those wonderful crafting feats in your build. The only limitation on this build in the later stages of the game is available quality - those feats can hike the quality.
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On a side note, all the complaints about how hard DC is without a walkthrough are making me
.
