Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Black Angel]

If you're playing a stealthy crossbowman, and you're determined to kill everything, AND your crossbow is your only way of dealing damage, you're Doing It Wrong™.

That's his point, because if you were playing gun or psi, and those were your only way of dealing damage, you wouldn't be Doing It Wrong™, since they are tuned much higher. No character sheet or feat list helps you with this before you encounter it in game.

The only build getting close to that is Assault Rifle with Heavy Armor and even that will have its bad times like against Thought Control, Bilocation says "hi".

Or Melee, particularly DEX unarmed. Don't need anything else really.

Are you sure you don't need 'nades? At least EMP ones. Otherwise, you can get buttraped by those bots and turrets.

 

[Fenix]

EMP is really needed, at last for two places. Don't think taser will suffice.

 

[ciox]

Crossbows kinda need some mixing, most fun I had in a crossbow build was when I used a Jackknife to apply Exposed Weakness for just 8 AP to deal with robots, Dirty Kick to stun (need quick slots for special bolts, not taser), and just enough Psychokinesis for Forcefields which lets you do all sorts of fun stuff to plug holes in a weaker build or after a mistake.

There's some insane combos you can do, like against a Deep Worm you can use Forcefield to barricade yourself against the wall and force him to act after you, then do a Jackknife Expose Weakness to make sure your Dirty Kick gets through and doesn't get absorbed, then a Dirty Kick for a stun and +25% opportunism damage, then an Aimed Shot from your crossbow for a guaranteed kill. All without wasting Adrenaline or anything else.

However even with all these tricks you still have massive trouble against the final boss if you didn't do the mutagen puzzle, you don't have enough burst damage once your abilities go on cooldown.
Only a steady flow of elemental bolt crits will give you enough burst damage to kill the boss in time, since you basically need to emulate a high-powered SMG as well as you can. It's not too bad but it could be a problem if you aren't equipped for it. (Cyclon with crit chance scope and crit goggles)

Btw random factoid but bear traps work on most robots, even though you wouldn't expect it, even on industrial robots, so Deadly Snares might have some use after all.

 

[chucktooth manbare]

Crossbows kinda need some mixing, most fun I had in a crossbow build was when I used a Jackknife to apply Exposed Weakness for just 8 AP to deal with robots, Dirty Kick to stun (need quick slots for special bolts, not taser), and just enough Psychokinesis for Forcefields which lets you do all sorts of fun stuff to plug holes in a weaker build or after a mistake.

There's some insane combos you can do, like against a Deep Worm you can use Forcefield to barricade yourself against the wall and force him to act after you, then do a Jackknife Expose Weakness to make sure your Dirty Kick gets through and doesn't get absorbed, then a Dirty Kick for a stun and +25% opportunism damage, then an Aimed Shot from your crossbow for a guaranteed kill. All without wasting Adrenaline or anything else.

However even with all these tricks you still have massive trouble against the final boss if you didn't do the mutagen puzzle, you don't have enough burst damage once your abilities go on cooldown.
Only a steady flow of elemental bolt crits will give you enough burst damage to kill the boss in time, since you basically need to emulate a high-powered SMG as well as you can. It's not too bad but it could be a problem if you aren't equipped for it. (Cyclon with crit chance scope and crit goggles)

Btw random factoid but bear traps work on most robots, even though you wouldn't expect it, even on industrial robots, so Deadly Snares might have some use after all.

Deadly snares is indeed great for robots, shock III bolts (+elemental bolts) will kill industrial bots quicker than anything that way.
Deep worms weren't much trouble either, though I almost always had to let them have a turn before I killed them (they drain x2 low amplified shield quickly, but it blocks all damage).
I didn't have much trouble with tchort on hard, but I haven't fought him on dominating yet. I don't think I'll have much trouble though; bomb the tanks, hide in shack, med up via doctors belt, sneak up, special tactics/snipe/corrosive bolts/adrenaline/zephyr aimed shot.
I had a pure crossbow build and the game was never too hard, as long as I was careful. Getting caught with your pants down = death, however.

 

[chucktooth manbare]

I will grant you that the Faceless oddities suck now that they get mad at you if you farm them. The drop rate on infusion tanks is way too low, and trying to get 5 mask shards if you want to complete the set is pretty hard too. But they're the only ones that are hard, everything else is fine.

I got all of them while friendly with the faceless.

Spoiler

in the very SE part of DC, there is a map with both gaunts and several ancient rathounds, just get them to fight each other in real time

 

[Twiglard]

The fucking hypoallergenic? That's one of my major problems with them.

But it's the most fun aspect of it. Vault Dweller would either approve or say it's too easy. I also notice bandages still work. Close doors, wait for turn-based combat to end, then bandage. Restealth and kill the rest of these fuckers. Preferrably with fire.

I also noticed the overpowered stealth mechanics in general, whether fighting mutant doggies or plain humans with assault rifles. I finished Gorsky's warehouse quest on DOMINATING in 2-3 turns, except euthanizing the workers. It's only the dreadnought that took a turn on its own. With stealth nothing can dish out any damage 'cause they're dead in the water before they even even react properly.

n some circumstances your companions can get focus-fired by enemies real fast, because the AI was so predictable (as in, they will ALWAYS attack the last attacker who attack them or their allies)

Oh my Fallout 2. If an enemy can't reach its target due to tile obstructions, they run in front of their face rather than just the appropriate amount. Random absurd crits all over the board. Bursting from no distance being different. Charging Sulik with a P90. Seeing the same enemy death animation over again. Even starting to notice compression artifacts on animation frames after so many times.

Still, I had less urge to reload in Fallout and AoD-DR

In AoD I've had plenty of situations where a tactical change made an enormous advantage. Say, two enemies dealing equivalent amounts of damage but only particular ones being easy to kill. But I've also had a lot of encounters that simply required reloading until they were done (Militiades ambush with certain builds, sometimes behind the Teron tavern thieving dudes).

I feel like there's a better way to do this than putting half a dozen of these things that are almost impossible to kill alone all together on the same screen.

You should be happy if the Death Stalkers are all on a single screen.

 

[Twiglard]

But here's the thing. He had NOTHING of value

At this game point Deacon's likely to have better ninja tabi than you have. Even if not, he has caps.

PROTIP: buy 12mm ammo from gun traders, and all their caps. Some traders buy an infinite amount of ammo but no decently-priced items at all. So stock up on that ammo and clear ALL traders. Same for advanced electronic repair kits and maybe batteries.

They never have higher grade nades for me, forget rifles and armor. I've found 3-4 purple rifles in the wild, but they are kinda useless since they are for like 5mm or similar ammo I barely use

Even a mediocre crafted 7.62 automatic rifle has better stats than bought 8.6 rifle using the same receiver type. Add a muzzle brake, Full Auto, and Commando. A bought sniper rifle won't even have a smart module so fuck buying weapons.

Not my experience - with oddity you have to farm low% monster drops to get every XP point (hi pigs), while on classic you have no need for that since there is so much more XP.

It mostly matters to go into distinct areas. You shouldn't have to wait for a respawn even once, just go through the areas once and it saturates the oddity count by a large margin. There are plenty of pigs in Lower Underrail in areas that you have a reason to reach.

With the XP mode you can get to the level cap nowhere near close the endgame.

Mind explaining what, specifically, you're referring to? Without stims/bonus AP from perks you'll always have two shots per round, no matter your crossbow, stat, and skill configuration.

I think he meant light weapons.

I generally think that more capacity is better than better effectiveness but crappy capacity.

Have a cake and eat it too. Two 128+ quality low frequency emitters, the efficiency thing, and 1700-1800 capacity. It might not be enough on its own though, without Evasive Maneuvers. Still, having the best shield possible is a goal in itself, not beating the game. Even if you don't need that shield for anything.

Now Styg nerfed all burst-based weapons. Almost half the damage gone. I'm gonna have to replace the Smart Module for the assault rifle with something that was way inferior before. And make new goggles. It's like League of Legends patch notes. No discussion or warning either.

 

[Fenix]

wait for turn-based combat to end, then bandage

Nope, that's a mistake I did. Turn-based mode and combat doesn't tied together, you can be im turn-based mode but not in combat, so you can use bandages in turn-based, while you arn't in combat.
Minor thing, but if there is fight that doesn't include you, you can bandage someone while they fighting (in one of the Abram quests).

 

[ciox]

You can even use bandages after a flashbang and probably any other incapacitation too, provided all enemies targeting you got incapacitated.

Also the burst nerf is not quite as bad as you think, since every single feat, including all the burst feats, will be empowered by specialization.

 

[chucktooth manbare]

Well, now burst builds can focus on crit chance goggles and muzzle brakes/rapid reloaders.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

What was the nerf done to burst builds?

 

[Twiglard]

Also the burst nerf is not quite as bad as you think, since every single feat, including all the burst feats, will be empowered by specialization.

That's five years from now, when the expansion gets released.

Well, now burst builds can focus on crit chance goggles and muzzle brakes/rapid reloaders.

The crit damage increase mod for bursts is better than a rapid reloader. It's one of the few situations where Critical Power is actually useful. I found few non-crafted useful weapons that do high crit damage. It's only the Amplified Plasma Pistol that murders (with critical power or even without) as a sidearm.

At least a Smart Module sniper rifle is still useful.

What was the nerf done to burst builds?

The Smart Module doesn't proc, neither do smart goggles.

 

[chucktooth manbare]

On AR's, maybe (I disagree). SMG's don't get that option.

 

[Tygrende]

That's five years from now, when the expansion gets released.

The steam page confirms it's going to be released in 2019. At least it did, before I jinxed it by writing this.

 

[ciox]

Meanwhile the 'Muzzled 9mm Chimera with High-Resolution Scope' AR build I ran last year is completely unaffected.

Maybe we can shill Styg to buff Rapid Fire somehow, like reduce the cooldown to 1 turn and allow specialization to increase its shot count for AR/SMG, then you'd have something like the old smart burst... otherwise people are probably never gonna use smart modules on an SMG/AR.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I would love an expansion of components for Chemical weapons. For example, an extra slot that can have a mod of some kind. I've got a few ideas. Also, an additional ammo type or two for each of the weapons might make it interesting. Or chemical spray weapons (short range, lots of enemies hit at once)

• Expanded Tank - Increases the number of shots
• High Pressure Pump - Increases the effective range

 

[ciox]

I would love an expansion of components for Chemical weapons. For example, an extra slot that can have a mod of some kind. I've got a few ideas. Also, an additional ammo type or two for each of the weapons might make it interesting. Or chemical spray weapons (short range, lots of enemies hit at once)

• Expanded Tank - Increases the number of shots
• High Pressure Pump - Increases the effective range

Sprayer barrel used to exist http://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sprayer
For better or worse it has effectively been replaced by Cooked Shot, and it seems to be by design. It would have been cool though.
Enhancement ideas sound nice, a more exotic one would be 'enhances on-hit effects, but also increases AP cost' for when you are really interested in the proc effect and not the damage.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Very excited about the expansion. D1P! So, what happens - civilizations have reverted to stone age societies and the game turns form sci-fi to fantasy?

 

[Twiglard]

On AR's, maybe (I disagree). SMG's don't get that option.

Sorry, what option? SMGs are like assault rifles, except things can be bursted several times a turn with no drugs, only at comparatively short distance.

Actually I'm pretty amazed at the distances an AR can burst things dead. SMG couldn't do a thing.

Very excited about the expansion. D1P! So, what happens - civilizations have reverted to stone age societies and the game turns form sci-fi to fantasy?

I've been waiting with bated breath too long to be excited anymore.

What matters is who made these high-tech devices, and how it ties them to Biocorp, or Biocorp's timeline. We rightfully assume it's Biocorp that made Underrail itself in the early days that aren't covered in game's lore so far. Having all those weird fantasy turrets and humanoid robots in some boonies part of Underrail shakes things up a bit.

Obligatory: why not genocide the natives? They don't suffer. They don't even speak English.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I've been waiting with bated breath too long to be excited anymore.

I've intentionally kept myself away from news, and I only started my second playthrough now with version 1.0.3.20. Currently lvl 14. My first playthrough was with an alpha 0.1.14.0 or something like that.

 

[Black Angel]

That's five years from now, when the expansion gets released.

The steam page confirms it's going to be released in 2019. At least it did, before I jinxed it by writing this.

Why must you hurt me this way

 

[Jinn]

I've intentionally kept myself away from news, and I only started my second playthrough now with version 1.0.20. Currently lvl 14.

Just a heads up in case you didn't know, recommended levels for going into Expedition seem to be 14-15, so if you were looking to play the expansion in this playthrough you might want halt it in the next couple hours.

 

[ortucis]

So I'm like level 22 now and nearing the lvl 25 cap, though I doubt it I am nearing end-game content since I am in classic mode and have leveled up cause of that (I find the other mode to be dumb, collecting movie tickets shouldn't level you up). Anyway, few things:

- That serial killer surprise. I really liked it. Died 4 times, first time cause I tried attacking directly, next few times figuring out when you jump down. Then it became easy cause I figured out the path she takes, rushing into vents and electrocuting her cause for some reason game forces her to stay at one spot instead of search for you all over the basement.

- For lulz, put 25 points in mechanics to try to mod my guns. Couldn't figure out how to disassemble anything, bought few blueprints (have many lying on floors around the world as well) to try creating an assault rifle with high quality components I was carrying, couldn't. It requires high skill level for Mechanics AND electronics to assemble different parts. Well that was all pointless. Unless you dedicate yourself from level 1 to crafting, it's useless at end levels completely.

- Finally found use for my money. My new home:

I feel like this game is trolling me with all this and decorating/fixing your home is pointless, just there to waste player money. But that money has been sitting in my inventory and growing only since shops don't sell good quality equipment majority of the time. So fine, I'll waste it on this.

 

[Fenix]

Just a heads up in case you didn't know, recommended levels for going into Expedition seem to be 14-15, so if you were looking to play the expansion in this playthrough you might want halt it in the next couple hours.

If you are on Domination, you may want to go there at lvl 25.

 

[Sykar]

Just a heads up in case you didn't know, recommended levels for going into Expedition seem to be 14-15, so if you were looking to play the expansion in this playthrough you might want halt it in the next couple hours.

If you are on DominationAutistic, you may want to go there at lvl 25.

/fixed