Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Ivan]

planning on starting this tonight. this all patched up and ready 2 go?

or should I start Age of Decadence in the meantime

 

[damager]

Game is ready to boot.

 

[toro]

Most infuriating quest award goes to: Missing Merchants

The thing is,

Spoiler

you can't actually find Lora before DC. The best you can do until then is find the keycard of the Bakers on the corpse in the caves, find out about the involvement of the Acid Hunters and confront Cornell about it.
At this point you can as well go back to SGS and turn the quest in, telling Vera what you learned.
Lora will only be found much later, while the amnesiac women in Hanging Rat bar is apparently connected to some other quest (which I didn't do myself either, however).

Spoiler

So basically the player should wait until the end of the game in order to report to Vera?

planning on starting this tonight. this all patched up and ready 2 go?

or should I start Age of Decadence in the meantime

Depends. Do you want to play the good stuff first or last? :D

 

[epeli]

planning on starting this tonight. this all patched up and ready 2 go?

or should I start Age of Decadence in the meantime

Underrail 1.0 is pretty solid by now with all the hotfixes, but the patching is not over. The first bigger post-release patch is coming Soon™.

It's not a bad idea to start AoD at any time. IMO it's best enjoyed in short bursts, one playthrough takes only one evening.

 

[Gord]

Spoiler

So basically the player should wait until the end of the game in order to report to Vera?

Not really, no.

Spoiler

Once you found Lora in the DC, you can still update Vera after your return. There will be a dialogue option, iirc. And at least if you managed to cooperate with the Faceless, Lora will be brought back. Maybe that happens also if you didn't, but I can't tell from just my single playthrough.
I think she'll likely die if you kill the Faceless, though.

 

[Nines]

Is there any way to get some kind of directions and explanations for DC?

Spoiler

Apparently, I already have a mission to open the gates to Tchort I haven't even seen yet. I already been in Mushroom Forest and Worm Labyrinth and I don't really know what for (found some components I don't know what for). Then I got into Arke power plant, again, I don't know what for, but Wiki says that it can give power to two different places, again I don't know what I need that for.

Talked to Faceless Commander, which is a useless piece of metal, who doesn't know what I should do either, doesn't know anything about Tchort, doesn't know how to fix gates, and can't give any directions. He just want the cube which I should get for him.

Apparently, if I go and talk with Tchortists then Faceless become hostile (at least I read they will if you visit them first).

Spoiler

The thing is, you can't actually find Lora before DC. The best you can do until then is find the keycard of the Bakers on the corpse in the caves, find out about the involvement of the Acid Hunters and confront Cornell about it.
At this point you can as well go back to SGS and turn the quest in, telling Vera what you learned.
Lora will only be found much later, while the amnesiac women in Hanging Rat bar is apparently connected to some other quest (which I didn't do myself either, however).

Spoiler

It's for sort of a side quest for Free Drones.

 

[ST'Ranger]

DC Spoilers

Have you tried actually going north to confront Tchort? That will probably answer most of your questions.

There is a guide/helper in DC that you can find who will be useful in getting more specific answers.

 

[Gord]

Is there any way to get some kind of directions and explanations for DC?

Spoiler

Yeah, as ST said, go to the door (which Six should have told you about already, I think) and you will at least find out about some things you need.
From there on, it's all about exploration until you find all needed parts (some parts can be found more than once).
Arke power station will become more clear, too, once you have done some exploration - e.g. after having been in Caerus residential it's obvious that you need to provide some electricity to it.
Some parts are optional/only need to be done depending on how you spec'ed your char (e.g. with high mechanics you can do a certain repair yourself).
The issue, imo, is that you don't get any real reason to visit some areas, 'cept that you know about which parts you need and have to find them (and maybe some vague hints).

Regarding Tchortists/Faceless: both are optional. If you want to stay on good terms with both, visit the Faceless first and only speak with the Tchortists afterwards (since the Faceless mindread you when you meet their commander for the first time). Anyway the two commanders can be safely ignored.

 

[Excidium II]

Most infuriating quest award goes to: Missing Merchants

The thing is,

Spoiler

you can't actually find Lora before DC. The best you can do until then is find the keycard of the Bakers on the corpse in the caves, find out about the involvement of the Acid Hunters and confront Cornell about it.
At this point you can as well go back to SGS and turn the quest in, telling Vera what you learned.
Lora will only be found much later, while the amnesiac women in Hanging Rat bar is apparently connected to some other quest (which I didn't do myself either, however).

Spoiler

Yeah I discovered that about Lora after giving up on her and checking wiki

Would be nice if there was a small hint that she might not be in the caves, like a mystary note on that backpack next to her husband's body or something

Also,

Foundry quest

Did I miss the option to ask Ezra for help killing the Beast (thus getting the psi bait) when I first brought the specimen to him or does that dialogue option only pop when you return after informing mayor/preparing the furnace?

Because if it's the latter, what even hints that you need to go back to him?

 

[Gord]

Also,

Foundry quest

Did I miss the option to ask Ezra for help killing the Beast (thus getting the psi bait) when I first brought the specimen to him or does that dialogue option only pop when you return after informing mayor/preparing the furnace?

Because if it's the latter, what even hints that you need to go back to him?

Good question, I had the same issue. Either it's easily missed or there isn't a direct hint about it.

 

[Old One]

I've got a question and some comments about the CAU...

Spoiler

This Gas The Drones mission needs more options - unless I missed some, which is my question.

I chose to follow a very reasonable course of action, and it didn't work. I was never going to gas the Drones, but I simply played along until the CAU buffoons led me to the entrance of the Drones' lair and popped open the gate. It was a tribute to their ignorance and arrogance that they decided to go out alone with the Invictus, because I promptly wiped the floor with them.

Then I entered the Drones' lair and took them out the old fashioned way.

When I got back to Fort Apogee, all the Protectorate soldiers were hostile. This is unacceptable. The CAU were killed in a heroic battle with the Drones, and no one can prove otherwise. And why would they want to prove that the CAU died at the hands of a lone southerner instead of in battle?

Not only is this a reasonable (or reasonably violent) way to finish the quest, it's arguably the most pro-Protectorate way to do it. The CAU psychopaths are gone. The Drones are gone. Victory.

Anyway, I was disappointed and hoped there was some other way to bring the quest to a positive conclusion. Otherwise I'm just going to reload to an earlier save and never finish it.

 

[Nines]

Thanks for the info guys, although

Spoiler

the guide is located directly opposite to the faceless camp.

Foundry quest

Did I miss the option to ask Ezra for help killing the Beast (thus getting the psi bait) when I first brought the specimen to him or does that dialogue option only pop when you return after informing mayor/preparing the furnace?
Because if it's the latter, what even hints that you need to go back to him?

Spoiler

No, you didn't miss anything, yes, he'll tell you about the bait only after you done some preparations, and no, nothing hints on him.

 

[ST'Ranger]

I've got a question and some comments about the CAU...

Spoiler

This Gas The Drones mission needs more options - unless I missed some, which is my question.

I chose to follow a very reasonable course of action, and it didn't work. I was never going to gas the Drones, but I simply played along until the CAU buffoons led me to the entrance of the Drones' lair and popped open the gate. It was a tribute to their ignorance and arrogance that they decided to go out alone with the Invictus, because I promptly wiped the floor with them.

Then I entered the Drones' lair and took them out the old fashioned way.

When I got back to Fort Apogee, all the Protectorate soldiers were hostile. This is unacceptable. The CAU were killed in a heroic battle with the Drones, and no one can prove otherwise. And why would they want to prove that the CAU died at the hands of a lone southerner instead of in battle?

Not only is this a reasonable (or reasonably violent) way to finish the quest, it's arguably the most pro-Protectorate way to do it. The CAU psychopaths are gone. The Drones are gone. Victory.

Anyway, I was disappointed and hoped there was some other way to bring the quest to a positive conclusion. Otherwise I'm just going to reload to an earlier save and never finish it.

Spoiler

You know, I saw this same kind of thing again and again with AoD. A certain kind of literalism seems to be in abundance on the Codex. If Styg doesn't program a message to come up flashing "OH MY GOSH YOU TRAITOR I'VE JUST RADIO'D THE BASE AND NOW THEY KNOW EVERYTHING" there's just no room for it to have happened. Seriously, though, there is a certain variety of abstraction throughout the game - not everything is literally parsed out in front of the player.

I can understand if you wanted more options to complete the quests - that could hardly ever be presented as a bad thing. But is it really reasonable to not allow for the possibility that these CAU guys are in constant communication with an external party? Even if we say that's unlikely, what's the likelihood that they have no contact with external parties whatsoever? They go off to some mission without any Plan B for extraction? That just seems monumentally unlikely to me.

And your reading of the relationship between the Protectorate in the South and the CAU is a bit fanciful. The FBI and the CIA despise each other but if one were attacked, the other would come right up to their aid and flood their full resources into a resolution. I can hardly imagine you walking into Fort Apogee with the heads of the CAU and being greeted with anything but lead.

 

[Excidium II]

Foundry quest

Did I miss the option to ask Ezra for help killing the Beast (thus getting the psi bait) when I first brought the specimen to him or does that dialogue option only pop when you return after informing mayor/preparing the furnace?
Because if it's the latter, what even hints that you need to go back to him?

Spoiler

No, you didn't miss anything, yes, he'll tell you about the bait only after you done some preparations, and no, nothing hints on him.

I see, they oughta improve on that somehow.

Spoiler

There's Dan too but that's ok I guess, as enlisting him is like a reward for paying attention.

 

[Nines]

There is a whole lot of things that should be improved. I would say that the game needs some kind of enhanced edition, but everything feels like "something happened in South Underrail", rather than a finished work. I want it to be expanded, but with how things turned out to be, I would rather see Underrail 2.

 

[ArchAngel]

So are any more fixes for DC coming?

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

Quality of life improvements confirmed by Styg on steam

Trimis de pe al meu Galaxy Nexus folosind Tapatalk

 

[Jack Dandy]

Hmmm, wonder what kind..

Still think Some ultra-basic "picture-of-maps" would be useful. Just to have a general idea about the world layout.
epeli Styg , can you just once say WHY no map? Even basic one, for specific areas?

Didn't even bother me that much, even in DC, but I'm still curious about the reason.

 

[Gord]

I think a metro-stations type map, which gives just some general info on the make-up of Underrail would help newbies a lot and fit well into the game.
Not realised as an auto-map, or some ultra-detailed one containing every accessible screen, just in form of a picture opened from you inventory showing where the different stations are roughly located relative to each other.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Speaking of map, first time I got in Upper Underrail I started by using the Metro, I thought I'd leave exploration for later. Then I realized I was taking the metro from Core City to University. Two screens away.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

Hmmm, wonder what kind..

Still think Some ultra-basic "picture-of-maps" would be useful. Just to have a general idea about the world layout.
epeli Styg , can you just once say WHY no map? Even basic one, for specific areas?

Didn't even bother me that much, even in DC, but I'm still curious about the reason.

Styg also confirmed no map are în the works

Trimis de pe al meu Galaxy Nexus folosind Tapatalk

 

[marux]

I think a metro-stations type map, which gives just some general info on the make-up of Underrail would help newbies a lot and fit well into the game.
Not realised as an auto-map, or some ultra-detailed one containing every accessible screen, just in form of a picture opened from you inventory showing where the different stations are roughly located relative to each other.

- No map (why?)

Because fuck you, that's why.

Well... a map system was in the "maybe" basket for years. Even shortly before the beta/release there were plans for a geneforge-style node map, but in the end it didn't work out. It's a long story.

What about having just crude hand-drawn maps in game? Something like these:

Spoiler

Spoiler

It'd strengthen the immersion and help have at least some kind of understanding of the layout of Underrail. Many games that have a more complex map have also had these types of complementary hand-drawn maps precisely to strengthen the immersion (Morrowind comes to mind).

Feeling the immersion? ye, me neither.
now draw your own fucking map.

I still don't feel like this would help a lot. You get verbal directions to almost every place and imo that's usually enough.
Also running on foot instead of using fast-metro-station-travel™ you get a much better understanding of where stuff is located. Took me quite some time because. In the beginning i kind of didn't feel like walking everywhere and just went from city to city by metro - then explored the surroundings and used metro again. Once you walk to a place you kind of remember where it is (if you have any sense of direction)

 

[Grotesque]

Underrail, the game that makes a man of any pussy gamer by taking them out of their mushy comfort zone and exposing any concealed popamoles at heart here on the Codex.


edit: UnderRail!

 

[Gregz]

I was really loving this game, but now I'm in the deep caverns and I even have problems finding the motivation to finish. Might just restart and try out another build (currently metal armor/assault rifles) instead.

About the objective down there:

Spoiler

I'm not even sure why I need to kill Tchort. I did all the Institute quests and sure, it doesn't sound like something with the interests of humankind at heart, but it also doesn't necessarily seem any more nefarious now than when I first heard the lecture by Minister Percival or whoever in core city. I'm still not sure what that object everyone want to get their hands on is, other than a source of electrical current, and now that I'm down here there's no emphasis on finding it anymore.

Regarding the objective:

Spoiler

The game recognizes that you have little reason to kill Tchort. It's acknowledged in your dialogue with Six (Rham Umbra or whatever) where you have the option to basically say, "Why the fuck should I kill Tchort when you haven't even told me what Tchort is?" I think there's an expectation that the player explore and find out on his own the truth behind Tchort. I'd encourage you to keep on playing. I was about to call it quits but then I reached the Arke station, and it's been great, and I mean really great.

If you explore the tchort insitute, then you can learn something that actually makes them look like evil cultist. Whether that gives you some motivation is another question. Personally, I think this could have been handled better.

Spoiler

Regardless whether the player is more of a villain or a hero himself, kill-or-be-killed is pretty good motivation for anyone. It comes down to "survival of the fittest", which is ironic, considering that tchort's entire shtick is about evolving. It's just that Six' speech doesn't present it that way, instead of going the pseudomystical "I have seen it" route.

But my problem with deep caverns is that the majority of the encounters down there

Spoiler

the exception being the faceless camp

gets boring quickly. The enemies are not that challenging, because while it takes time to bring a shroom or a worm down, they don't do enough damage to be dangerous. And in the case of respawning critters

Spoiler

like those burrowers outside of power plant

there is only so many times you can encounter exactly the same group before it gets annoying.
This is especially noticeable if you fight your way through the tchort institute, because the battles there are both challenging and fun (even though the enemy could definitely benefit from better group AI).

Has this been patched yet?

I lost about 12 hours of game time due to this bug, luckily I still had a save before aggroing the Tchorts. I was doing a quest deep inside the west-end, simple exploratoin, and they started shooting at me a few areas before the elevator. I had no idea, or warning, that I'd be stuck there the rest of the game. It's a good game but there are some serious design flaws. Almost all of them having to do with quest breaking triggers and inadequate contingencies.

 

[Old One]

I've got a question and some comments about the CAU...

Spoiler

This Gas The Drones mission needs more options - unless I missed some, which is my question.

I chose to follow a very reasonable course of action, and it didn't work. I was never going to gas the Drones, but I simply played along until the CAU buffoons led me to the entrance of the Drones' lair and popped open the gate. It was a tribute to their ignorance and arrogance that they decided to go out alone with the Invictus, because I promptly wiped the floor with them.

Then I entered the Drones' lair and took them out the old fashioned way.

When I got back to Fort Apogee, all the Protectorate soldiers were hostile. This is unacceptable. The CAU were killed in a heroic battle with the Drones, and no one can prove otherwise. And why would they want to prove that the CAU died at the hands of a lone southerner instead of in battle?

Not only is this a reasonable (or reasonably violent) way to finish the quest, it's arguably the most pro-Protectorate way to do it. The CAU psychopaths are gone. The Drones are gone. Victory.

Anyway, I was disappointed and hoped there was some other way to bring the quest to a positive conclusion. Otherwise I'm just going to reload to an earlier save and never finish it.

Spoiler

You know, I saw this same kind of thing again and again with AoD. A certain kind of literalism seems to be in abundance on the Codex. If Styg doesn't program a message to come up flashing "OH MY GOSH YOU TRAITOR I'VE JUST RADIO'D THE BASE AND NOW THEY KNOW EVERYTHING" there's just no room for it to have happened. Seriously, though, there is a certain variety of abstraction throughout the game - not everything is literally parsed out in front of the player.

I can understand if you wanted more options to complete the quests - that could hardly ever be presented as a bad thing. But is it really reasonable to not allow for the possibility that these CAU guys are in constant communication with an external party? Even if we say that's unlikely, what's the likelihood that they have no contact with external parties whatsoever? They go off to some mission without any Plan B for extraction? That just seems monumentally unlikely to me.

And your reading of the relationship between the Protectorate in the South and the CAU is a bit fanciful. The FBI and the CIA despise each other but if one were attacked, the other would come right up to their aid and flood their full resources into a resolution. I can hardly imagine you walking into Fort Apogee with the heads of the CAU and being greeted with anything but lead.

Spoiler

You're completely wrong on this point. First of all, the nature of the mission demands more options for resolution. As it is there seem to be two courses of action: a) commit atrocity and b) walk away entirely, abandoning your previous commitment to the Protectorate (and allowing a bunch of psychopaths to call the shots). Those are both plausible choices, but they're simply not enough under the circumstances. Of course there is an endless list of things that could and should be added to the game, but this particular mission really demands some expansion. It's pivotal.

Second, the GAU being in constant contact with Fort Apogee (or someone from the Protectorate) from the under tunnels in Lower Underrail contradicts facts presented elsewhere. The Tchortists have an experimental long-range audio communication device which is considered to be revolutionary, and its range is far too limited to work at that distance. Now, maybe the Protectorate has something better, but the Tchortists seem to me to be at least as technologically advanced as the Protectorate, if not more advanced. They don't have the same level of manufacturing capability, but they have the tech. Also the GAU aren't carrying anything better with them or I would have found it. Besides, the GAU are arrogant enough to consider themselves invulnerable, especially when dealing with a lone southerner.

Finally, I'm not returning to Fort Apogee with their heads. I'm returning to Fort Apogee to inform command that the GAU were all killed fighting the Drones. The GAU's corpses will be found next to a heaping pile of dead enemies of the Protectorate. And who at Fort Apogee is going to miss them? A few people, but the majority (the doctor, the mechanics, the cook, the renegades, the Colonel, the United Stations rep) seem to hate them and won't be shedding any tears. It shouldn't take much to Persuade the Colonel to drop the matter, at least. It makes sense for everyone. A lot of sense. The Drones are wiped out, so what is there to complain about? Mission accomplished.

The bottom line is, the options for resolving this situation are frustratingly constricting, so much so that I plan to completely ignore it in the future unless something is done to expand it. This is the only quest I've encountered so far that makes me feel that way.