Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Parabalus]

So I managed to get back to it this week, and unfortunately have hit a bit of fatigue with the game.

The crafting system has gazumped me a bit. I've invested a fair few points into it, bought a fair few blueprints, and yet I still haven't crafted anything useful. I'm also getting a tad dragged down by the backtracking for side-quests, but most annoying is the fact that the end of all quests - so far - have seen little in the way of any real change/reward/story depth (e.g. I've just told the Eels head about Blaine's way to attack the Scrappers, and essentially got "cheers, now get us some help").

Still enjoying it, expect things to change slightly when I progress the main quest more, but have definitely reached a point where it's starting to feel the work-reward balance is tipping out of favour slightly.

Where are you currently?

The stuff you make with crafting simply has no equal in found loot. IIRC you posted you are playing PSI, you won't find headbands with 2 enhancements out in the wild, much less one with a particular modulator. Same applies to psi beetle shell armor. They make you vastly more powerful and independent of random drops.

 

[Janise]

Underrail is Fallout 4 in turn based and with a gazzillion loading screens...
I havent played F4 but I hear its schtick is crafting too.

 

[Tygrende]

The crafting system has gazumped me a bit. I've invested a fair few points into it, bought a fair few blueprints, and yet I still haven't crafted anything useful.

Crafting can range from optional to almost mandatory depending on your build, but any build will benefit from crafting a lot. It gets a lot more powerful later in the game but it's still very strong early on.

You said you are playing pure psi. Tactical vest with a psi beetle carapace is by far the best armor for psi builds and only available with crafting, you should be able to make one pretty early.

Crafted headbands are much more powerful than any headband you can buy/find.

There are 2 craft-only drugs that remove psionic inhibition and increase critical damage bonus of psi abilities by 100%. The former can be especially in the last area of the game depending on your choices.

I'm also getting a tad dragged down by the backtracking for side-quests, but most annoying is the fact that the end of all quests - so far - have seen little in the way of any real change/reward/story depth (e.g. I've just told the Eels head about Blaine's way to attack the Scrappers, and essentially got "cheers, now get us some help").

Some locations do change a bit depending on your choices, but it's nothing special.

The story is there and is actually pretty good, it's just that you need to pay attention and piece small bits of info together to get a bigger picture. It's not apparent early on but you will start noticing things as you go. Not every RPG needs to be full of pretentious exposition dumps like PoE. Your choices will have consequences, both in-game and during the ending slides.

 

[Black Angel]

The crafting system has gazumped me a bit. I've invested a fair few points into it, bought a fair few blueprints, and yet I still haven't crafted anything useful. I'm also getting a tad dragged down by the backtracking for side-quests, but most annoying is the fact that the end of all quests - so far - have seen little in the way of any real change/reward/story depth (e.g. I've just told the Eels head about Blaine's way to attack the Scrappers, and essentially got "cheers, now get us some help").

The thing about crafting in this game is that it's generally not worth it to immediately putting points into the skills early in the game. Unless you want to get that perk that allows you to deal with the injured scavenger in a sidequest peacefully near Junkyard, I personally never invest any points into crafting until after Junkyard, since the next station you're going to visit does start to have good quality components. Early on until Junkyard it's best to invest SPs into combat skills and also social skills if you're doing that type of character.

 

[Haplo]

I was skeptical about crafting myself. But in the end, I decided to put some points in Mechanics and Electronics. Playing a PSI/Sniper hybrid, I've found it immensely helpful to craft my own sniper rifles with 24 AP per shot, 150% base crit damage and +28% special attack damage (will be more when I make next one with higher quality Smart Module). It has literally doubled my rifle damage output - even compared to my 25 AP Dragunov.
Of course, good quality components and Spearhead Frames only become available in Core City - but that's available right after Junkyard. Maybe I was lucky buying some Rapid Reloaders at SGS early. Apart from the Sniper, I've also crafted useful side arms: 10 AP per shot, 7 Burst SMG and Assault Rifle. Damage is not shabby either. So after I Burst shoot one of those, I've still got 20 AP left for PSI/double Hypo/maaaaybe throwing.

 

[Falksi]

So I managed to get back to it this week, and unfortunately have hit a bit of fatigue with the game.

The crafting system has gazumped me a bit. I've invested a fair few points into it, bought a fair few blueprints, and yet I still haven't crafted anything useful. I'm also getting a tad dragged down by the backtracking for side-quests, but most annoying is the fact that the end of all quests - so far - have seen little in the way of any real change/reward/story depth (e.g. I've just told the Eels head about Blaine's way to attack the Scrappers, and essentially got "cheers, now get us some help").

Still enjoying it, expect things to change slightly when I progress the main quest more, but have definitely reached a point where it's starting to feel the work-reward balance is tipping out of favour slightly.

Where are you currently?

The stuff you make with crafting simply has no equal in found loot. IIRC you posted you are playing PSI, you won't find headbands with 2 enhancements out in the wild, much less one with a particular modulator. Same applies to psi beetle shell armor. They make you vastly more powerful and independent of random drops.

I've just finished all the side-quests up to the point of handing the armadillo rotor over.

I'll keep at it crafting wise, I guess I'm someone who doesn't play to be the most powerful though either. So long as I can get through the game with what I pick up I make do.

The thing about crafting in this game is that it's generally not worth it to immediately putting points into the skills early in the game. Unless you want to get that perk that allows you to deal with the injured scavenger in a sidequest peacefully near Junkyard, I personally never invest any points into crafting until after Junkyard, since the next station you're going to visit does start to have good quality components. Early on until Junkyard it's best to invest SPs into combat skills and also social skills if you're doing that type of character.

Nice tip, thanks. At least I know there's better components on the way.

I was skeptical about crafting myself. But in the end, I decided to put some points in Mechanics and Electronics. Playing a PSI/Sniper hybrid, I've found it immensely helpful to craft my own sniper rifles with 24 AP per shot, 150% base crit damage and +28% special attack damage (will be more when I make next one with higher quality Smart Module). It has literally doubled my rifle damage output - even compared to my 25 AP Dragunov.
Of course, good quality components and Spearhead Frames only become available in Core City - but that's available right after Junkyard. Maybe I was lucky buying some Rapid Reloaders at SGS early. Apart from the Sniper, I've also crafted useful side arms: 10 AP per shot, 7 Burst SMG and Assault Rifle. Damage is not shabby either. So after I Burst shoot one of those, I've still got 20 AP left for PSI/double Hypo/maaaaybe throwing.

So far, even though the combat has been challenging, I've never felt overpowered. So that's probably one of the reasons I've been ok relying on loot.

 

[Tygrende]

The thing about crafting in this game is that it's generally not worth it to immediately putting points into the skills early in the game.

That's simply not true.

I agree that crafting gets a lot stronger later in the game and that the quality of components early on is easily matched or sometimes even outmatched by the stuff you can find/buy, buy saying it's not worth it to craft early is exaggerating. Crafting is not just about the quality of components, it's mostly about getting access to items you couldn't obtain otherwise or getting them faster and independently of loot.

Tasers can be crafted before you even go to the outposts and they are extremaly useful for any build.
Assault/sniper rifle builds can get their main weapon much earlier thanks to crafting, as early as hooper round up with a bit of luck.
Melee builds can craft shock weapons just as early.
Psi builds can craft psi beetle tactical vests right after the hooper round up.
Crafting a solid tactical vest and/or kevlar balaclava/tabis trivializes GMS, pretty useful in Depot A as well.
By the time you are about to go to Depot A, you can craft weapons with specific mods that you couldn't find/buy.
Night vision goggles cannot be found before finishing the drill parts quest, but can crafted as soon as you find an image intensifier tube, can be bought in Junkyard. I don't think I have to explain how immensely helpful night vision is to any ranged build.
Any build will benefit from crafting a siphoner/mutated dog leather armor for Depot A.
Blaine is a whole other story, he sells all types of components/mods/frames that you wouldn't be able to get before finding the drill parts, if you're lucky it's perfectly possible to go into Depot A with a Rapid Spearhead for example.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I agree, crafting in Underrail is powerful in each stages of the game. I normally hate crafting but Underrail had me stop worrying and love it.
Same thing for AoD, hell crafting is borderline OP in AoD.

 

[Sykar]

The crafting system has gazumped me a bit. I've invested a fair few points into it, bought a fair few blueprints, and yet I still haven't crafted anything useful. I'm also getting a tad dragged down by the backtracking for side-quests, but most annoying is the fact that the end of all quests - so far - have seen little in the way of any real change/reward/story depth (e.g. I've just told the Eels head about Blaine's way to attack the Scrappers, and essentially got "cheers, now get us some help").

The thing about crafting in this game is that it's generally not worth it to immediately putting points into the skills early in the game. Unless you want to get that perk that allows you to deal with the injured scavenger in a sidequest peacefully near Junkyard, I personally never invest any points into crafting until after Junkyard, since the next station you're going to visit does start to have good quality components. Early on until Junkyard it's best to invest SPs into combat skills and also social skills if you're doing that type of character.

It us useful to have for snipers since you won't get your first decent sniper for a long time, while with crafting you can get a nice sniper rifle before you get to GMC turning everything into a cakewalk. Without crafting you will probably have to wait until Junkyard to get your hands on a sniper rifle and it is noticably slower and difficult with pistols and smgs.

 

[Black Angel]

Tygrende Sykar I was generally speaking from a newcomer's perspective, and also since I've only finished the game twice and played a PSI-Stealth and a little bit of a crafter on the second character. I'm a VERY patient guy and kinda not fine with only low quality components, and I've noticed a jump in quality for components going from Junkyard to Rail Crossing.

Having said that, my current third playthrough (which I've put on hold as I wait for the expansion) is an Assault Rifle Juggernaut and a full-fledged crafter and I did craft as early as Junkyard.

 

[Janise]

Was there a point to the Anti Fire Suit? Like some lava location?

 

[Sykar]

Tygrende Sykar I was generally speaking from a newcomer's perspective, and also since I've only finished the game twice and played a PSI-Stealth and a little bit of a crafter on the second character. I'm a VERY patient guy and kinda not fine with only low quality components, and I've noticed a jump in quality for components going from Junkyard to Rail Crossing.

Having said that, my current third playthrough (which I've put on hold as I wait for the expansion) is an Assault Rifle Juggernaut and a full-fledged crafter and I did craft as early as Junkyard.

Low quality components which enable you to craft almost exactly what you want will often be quite benefitial, even early game.

 

[Sykar]

Was there a point to the Anti Fire Suit? Like some lava location?

Not really, no. Maybe in that one fight in the arena but that's about it. Outside of fire damage resistance it is just plain unusuable. I wish there were an area or facility where high temperatures would require such a suit.

 

[Janise]

Is Styg an electrical engineer? I am asking because I was very surprised what the cube is...
Because I had the exact same idea for an energy source in a scifi setting... Is it a common idea?

When I was dreaming up a scifi setting, my first thought was what the energy source is (this should be the first though of every good author who tries to harden his scifi really)
And in my setting humans find abandoned or crashed alien ship (clicheeeeeeee!) in Mexico and actual seemingly indestructible metallic cubes instead of polyhedron.
And people figure out that if you excite them in a certain way with EM fields, that they become ideal direct current sources, ie they deliver as much current as you want, seemingly limitless, out of nowhere. You set the voltage with the exciter and your only limitation is your conductor. Unlimited power! Cue international wars because the amount of cubes is limited and everyone wants one.
Then in the far future they find out that the cubes actually have a limit and when they overload, they flip and turn the spacetime around them into a void without any matter or physical laws or spacetime... The Void.
Humans find out because they run into gigantic continuous amounts of the Void and figure out that its a former warzone. The precursors who created/used them lost because they were bombed with the cubes into oblivion.

Styg, where did the idea of the Cube as a current source come from?

 

[Styg]

Is Styg an electrical engineer?

Technically, I am, but only on paper.

Styg, where did the idea of the Cube as a current source come from?

I don't remember, but as you said, it's not really a novel concept in sci-fi, so I probably picked it up consciously or unconsciously somewhere along the way.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

I am also an electrical engineer. Free expansion for me? )

 

[Gnidrologist]

je suis electrical engineer

 

[Gnidrologist]

Styg
Don't know if this has already been addressed or is this the place, but one little thing that would improve the gameplay a little bit would be if any electronic device that drains batteries would automatically refill whenever it goes to 0% so that you don't have to manually finger around the UI to charge all the haxxors, cloaking devices, night goggles etc. whenever they go empty. Same with empty guns and other chargeable weapons. In the none combat mode, obviously and with optional tick in the option menu to disable/enable this.
Or maybe i've been dumb an this feature is already in?

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Hey, we have knives, big hammers, shock mauls, machetes, and spears in game now. Will we get axes? Just a question. Can't remember.

 

[ciox]

Generally every weapon that is added to the game has a very specific niche or mechanic associated with it, so most likely not, unless you have a killer idea for how axes would be set apart from all the other melee weapons. (IMO they would be very similar to the new machetes, a heavier knife)

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Ahh, I have no idea. I would say axes would be better for armor penetration, and just a much wider damage possibility. Knives are 6-10, hatchets are 2-10 type of thing. If machete fits that bill than so be it.

 

[ciox]

Ahh, I have no idea. I would say axes would be better for armor penetration, and just a much wider damage possibility. Knives are 6-10, hatchets are 2-10 type of thing. If machete fits that bill than so be it.

Armor penetration is not a bad idea I guess, but something like that seems to already be on the spears http://www.underrail.com/index.php?...id=166:new-weapons&catid=43:dev-log&Itemid=61

 

[Gnidrologist]

Is there any benefit/branching, when letting Cornell and his gang live? Put it under spoilers obv.

 

[Styg]

Hey, we have knives, big hammers, shock mauls, machetes, and spears in game now. Will we get axes? Just a question. Can't remember.

No. We're pretty much set on which weapons we'll be adding now (and potentially in the future) and there will be no new melee weapon types.

 

[Zenith]

So, has anyone made an actually useful map yet? Planning a replay and want to just print shit out and avoid hassle. Ideally it would be separated into areas, like "SGS pre-TNT", "West/East/North of SGS", "Caves" and not be overstuffed with descriptions.
3D map on the wiki or the one by ghostdog are cool looking and all, but completely unusable.