Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[ciox]

Follow-up question: What happens if you turn all three corporations hostile before joining one? Can you still continue the main quest?

Last question: Has anyone tried getting the drill parts before Tanner asks for them? Are they present in-game at the start of the game?

Actual last question: What happens if you turn SGS hostile before delivering the drill parts? Do you softlock the game and limit the gameworld to the starter area?

Far as I know softlocks will happen if you anger SGS too early, all the Core factions too early, or the Tchortists too early.
Once they've served their purpose you can kill them though.

Also you might be able to do something with gas grenades if you f.e want a Tchortist Rassophore armor early or something, since that can be a kill without hostility, but that's getting patched out.

 

[Anthedon]

Does starting the game take a long time for everyone else? It can take up to a minute before I see the title screen.

Does it help if you launch it manually, without Steam?

Unfortunately not.

Google search results suggest reinstalling the XNA framework and disabling fullscreen adaptations for Underrail.exe. I'll try those tips next.

Well, those fixes didn't work either.

 

[PlanHex]

Well, those fixes didn't work either.

Did you make an exception in Windows Defender or other anti virus software you have?
Worked for me.

 

[Ent]

Do the new bugs drop oddities?

 

[Bah]

Does starting the game take a long time for everyone else? It can take up to a minute before I see the title screen.

Does it help if you launch it manually, without Steam?

Unfortunately not.

Google search results suggest reinstalling the XNA framework and disabling fullscreen adaptations for Underrail.exe. I'll try those tips next.

Well, those fixes didn't work either.

It usually takes 2-4 minutes to start up for me as well, but it does always start. It's just one of those things I've grown to accept in order to avoid windows.

 

[Anthedon]

Well, those fixes didn't work either.

Did you make an exception in Windows Defender or other anti virus software you have?
Worked for me.

I tried adding just the .exe, which did nothing. Adding the whole folder seems to have done the trick (Windows Defender on Windows 10).

 

[Cyberarmy]

I tried adding just the .exe, which did nothing. Adding the whole folder seems to have done the trick (Windows Defender on Windows 10).

Tried the same and my 7 year old toaster lap top and it worked too. No more 10 min waiting to play Underrail

 

[Fenix]

- Everything kills you if you do not use masses of traps

Wrong. I played as crossbowman and almost didn't use them - at most used them for burrowers in GMS and Hathor.
You can play as crossbowman without traps.
In my opinion it's more interesting because of points you made.

Last question: Has anyone tried getting the drill parts before Tanner asks for them? Are they present in-game at the start of the game?

Yes and yes.

 

[Alexios]

Created a new stealth/shotgun character.
Selected Dominating.
Am at Depot A.
I want to kill myself.

 

[thesheeep]

- Everything kills you if you do not use masses of traps

Wrong. I played as crossbowman and almost didn't use them - at most used them for burrowers in GMS and Hathor.
You can play as crossbowman without traps.

That's just BS.
There are so many areas in the game where the enemies outnumber you so much that there simply is now way to kill them all in a battle that isn't stacked in your favor with traps.
Crossbows + grenades just don't have the damage output (and you don't have the AP to fire often enough, even with drugs) to kill everything before it reaches you.
Also mind you that this game doesn't have pulling - you alert one enemy, you alert them all.
It often takes one turn just to kill a single enemy - thus killing a whole bunch of them before they kill you isn't even possible in theory without something else (traps, psi...) helping out. And when you do my build (stealth, crossbows, traps, grenades, crafting) you have no leftover points for defenses, either.
Very late in the game, with loads of feats, maybe, but definitely not early on.

The only nice thing with stealth + crossbows is that if you manage to kill a lonely enemy within a single turn, nobody will be alarmed (if it was out of sight). That's cool.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

It often takes one turn just to kill a single enemy

If your snipe/aimed shot can't one shot most enemies you're doing something wrong. Also you have shock bolts for an auto stun on hit and fire bolts for 50% ignite. Keeping enemies locked down as crossbows isn't hard.

 

[thesheeep]

It often takes one turn just to kill a single enemy

If your snipe/aimed shot can't one shot most enemies you're doing something wrong. Also you have shock bolts for an auto stun on hit and fire bolts for 50% ignite. Keeping enemies locked down as crossbows isn't hard.

Aimed shot one-hitting an enemy is bollocks for almost all enemies. Well, maybe a rathound.
Again, bear in mind we're not talking about late game here when you have crafted perfect weapons with mad crit bonus, but the first half or so of the game where you have to make do with what you find and cannot possibly have all the must-have feats yet.
Snipe, true, but that's one enemy down - often you fight 5+.
Ignite is 50% chance - that means 50% chance to not work. Basing strategies on 50% chance to work is an invitation to savescum.
There's also that attack which halves movement points (forgot the name).
Shock bolts are the true saviours of crossbow builds, but they - just like any CC effect - only work once and then enemies are immune to it for two rounds.
And everything has a cooldown (the lazy cop-out of game design), so you can use it on one enemy and that's it for the next few rounds. It's not like it is possible to just dish out a bunch of stuns each round. More like one stun every two rounds.
Plus you only have three to four slots for the longest time to even have arrows and grenades in.

What all of this leads to are situations that are not impossible, but in which a single missed attack/failed effect means death often enough. Except if you even the odds a bit with traps.
Savescum until you win = everything takes forever.

And that's only combat, which you generally try to avoid using stealth builds, which have all the other disadvantages I wrote about before.

And don't even get me started on the nonsense that is throwing grenades - the inaccuracy even with points invested is borderline satire. I'm not exactly an athlete, but I'd bet I could hit a several m² large mark on the ground a few meters away...

 

[Spark Mandriller]

Aimed shot one-hitting an enemy is bollocks for almost all enemies. Well, maybe a rathound.
Again, bear in mind we're not talking about late game here when you have crafted perfect weapons with mad crit bonus, but the first half or so of the game where you have to make do with what you find and cannot possibly have all the must-have feats yet.
Snipe, true, but that's one enemy down - often you fight 5+.
Ignite is 50% chance - that means 50% chance to not work. Basing strategies on 50% chance to work is an invitation to savescum.
There's also that attack which halves movement points (forgot the name).
Shock bolts are the true saviours of crossbow builds, but they - just like any CC effect - only work once and then enemies are immune to it for two rounds.
And everything has a cooldown (the lazy cop-out of game design), so you can use it on one enemy and that's it for the next few rounds. It's not like it is possible to just dish out a bunch of stuns each round. More like one stun every two rounds.
Plus you only have three to four slots for the longest time to even have arrows and grenades in.

Super string+green scope are pretty common though, so you should be able to find them pretty early. Use them on a zephyr and you have nice base damage and +175% critical damage too. 210% if you also have the bowyer feat, and it only needs level 4 so it's not like it's late either. With that you should definitely be one shotting most enemies. Heavy armour ones will laugh at you but you have special bolts for them. Special bolts which have no cooldown so you can stun as many enemies as you have ap, and then next turn use fire to try and ignite them (50% isn't great but it's not like it's bad either considering how strong the effect is).
I played a crossbow character one time and didn't find it that hard. It sucks against heavy armour bad guys but they don't show up until after your build has gotten going so you should have ways to deal with them. That was before Expedition so I don't know how well things would have gone there though. Though Expedition introduced bolt quiver so that'd be a big boost.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I'd bet I could hit a several m² large mark on the ground a few meters away..

During life or death combat? Not unless you're a highly trained/conditioned professional.

 

[thesheeep]

Special bolts which have no cooldown so you can stun as many enemies as you have ap

With a 100% chance to hit, maybe.
Which is something that never happens. I put as many points as possible and had 10+ perception by the time I was at Foundry. Hit chances ranged from 50-80% depending on circumstances (of course 95% for stunned ones).
You just miss, it happens. And when it does early in a combat against 4+ opponents, that's likely enough to get you rekt.

I mean, just do the math here, how many bolts can you fire per round? 3-4 in the first round, with drugs and the ability that gives you a freebie. One less the rounds after that. You have five enemies (at least). Even if you hit all the time (which won't happen), one will advance normally and the others be immune to stun the next two rounds after being stunned. Then what, set them all on fire? Again, would have to hit every time and even then, it's just a 50% chance. Tranq bolts, sure, but they do have a cooldown. And enemies heal themselves, too.
You'll have to get exceptionally lucky the first 2-3 rounds or you just won't win.
Except if you manage to even the odds with traps and/or grenades.

Bolt quivers are pretty useless tbh. 3 AP reduction isn't worth much (29->26AP and you have 50AP, normally) and other belts give you more slots.

Again, I'm not saying it is not possible - I did it myself, after all, it's just annoying as hell to play.
But compared to other builds, it's much harder and riskier.

I'd bet I could hit a several m² large mark on the ground a few meters away..

During life or death combat? Not unless you're a highly trained/conditioned professional.

Bullshit.
If you have the time to arm and throw a grenade, you have the time to aim at least somewhat. Seriously, we are talking about less than 10m here (which would put you in harm's way realistically, but explosives in Underrail have kind of a small radius), and you have to hit a spot roughly 3x3m, not anything far away or hard to hit in any way. I wouldn't know how to properly arm a grenade in the first place, but I could sure as hell throw it to come down roughly where I want it to within that distance, not twice the distance away or landing right in front of my feet like what happens in Underrail.
Also, grenades in Underrail explode on impact, they don't roll around to explode after some time. The latter would indeed make more sense, you can't fully predict how something will roll even with lots of time, but that's not what happens.

The Underrail situation is more akin to throwing a rock or small&heavy ball at a sports event - aiming-wise, anyway.
Besides, a character in Underrail is a highly trained professional - but even with a comfortable score in throwing, your grenades still end up all over the place.

 

[ciox]

That's dissapointing if crossbows are still lagging after Quiver. (were there any other buffs?)
The new Needler crossbow looks strong but also comes a bit late, you need to be around the institute to get it, that means getting through the mall first.

I need to try a pure crossbows build myself and see how it holds up, I guess, but it's more likely I'll go full String Lord again.
What you want is to add Psychokinesis (most important for the emergency unmissable and unresistable stun from Electro, and Forcefield to hide away when your alpha strike fails comically hard) and enough melee so you can use a Jackknife for Expose Weakness and being able to finish off enemies for just 6-7 AP.
With that you have survivability when your special bolts miss, and more interesting combos and solutions than just spamming Shock bolts against 99% of your enemies.

Bullshit.
If you have the time to arm and throw a grenade, you have the time to aim at least somewhat. Seriously, we are talking about less than 10m here (which would put you in harm's way realistically, but explosives in Underrail have kind of a small radius), and you have to hit a spot roughly 3x3m, not anything far away or hard to hit in any way. I wouldn't know how to properly arm a grenade in the first place, but I could sure as hell throw it to come down roughly where I want it to within that distance, not twice the distance away or landing right in front of my feet like what happens in Underrail.
Also, grenades in Underrail explode on impact, they don't roll around to explode after some time. The latter would indeed make more sense, you can't fully predict how something will roll even with lots of time, but that's not what happens.

The Underrail situation is more akin to throwing a rock or small&heavy ball at a sports event - aiming-wise, anyway.
Besides, a character in Underrail is a highly trained professional - but even with a comfortable score in throwing, your grenades still end up all over the place.

You've fallen for the old mistake of taking what the game shows you at face value, truth is, nothing you see is "real" and it's more like a simulation of the real battlefield. All the ranges are adjusted for gameplay and don't match what you see in the environment, all the guns have very short ranges (sniper rifles barely shoot further than a man of your character's size could throw a rock) and the explosives launch shrapnel in a radius that you'd match by spinning around a broom stick, none of it is "real".

The "real" battles would take place in a much bigger environment with enemies that are more spread out and at distances where you can barely see who's even shooting at you at all, that's obviously not fun, so instead you get this, the approximated synchronization of gameplay values that make sense with an environment that's fun to navigate and that keeps the enemies close enough that you can clearly see who you're fighting.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

several m² large mark

I need to learn how to read.

with a comfortable score in throwing, your grenades still end up all over the place

Hyperbole, if you level throwing this really isn't a problem.

 

[ciox]

https://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Elemental_Bolts this is probably the specialization you'll want to max the most
https://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Marksman this one too if it actually lets you go up to 100% precision, but I doubt that

 

[thesheeep]

with a comfortable score in throwing, your grenades still end up all over the place

Hyperbole, if you level throwing this really isn't a problem.

I did level throwing (it was my only other combat skill besides crossbow, it was at about 2/3 of crossbow value, maybe at 50 or so) and it was a problem, so....
It was really rare to see a value higher than 40% to hit a spot that was far enough away to not hit yourself. And if you don't hit, it just seems to go anywhere from nearby to way off, not sure what the math is behind this randomness.
I think it would be more fun to play to have a guaranteed hit area (which gets smaller, the better your throwing skill is). Though that would be hard to pull off in a grid-based system with such large grid cells.

Sure, I guess when you max it it's not a problem anymore, but that would happen pretty late if it isn't your primary skill.

https://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Elemental_Bolts this is probably the specialization you'll want to max the most

No doubt, but it will take at least until level 10-12 to get it, and you also get other "vital" choices around that level.
Again, I'm not saying you couldn't make a good crossbow character, that would be absurd.
Even the build I did (crossbows+traps+stealth+grenades) worked by the middle of the game, very well even, my point was just that it is excruciatingly slow to play.
In a game whose biggest criticism is how slow it plays to begin with.

What you want is to add Psychokinesis (most important for the emergency unmissable and unresistable stun from Electro, and Forcefield to hide away when your alpha strike fails comically hard) and enough melee so you can use a Jackknife for Expose Weakness and being able to finish off enemies for just 6-7 AP.

See above.
That (psi+crossbow) was actually the build I finished the game with before Expedition came out. Psi rocks in pretty much any combination, really.
And Forcefield is just OP as it lets you wait for your other skills to cool down in almost perfect safety.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

Bolt quivers are pretty useless tbh. 3 AP reduction isn't worth much (29->26AP and you have 50AP, normally) and other belts give you more slots.

Pneumatic cyclon costs 17 ap per shot, so bolt quiver changes it from 2 shots per round to 3. That's pretty good. Also you should always take marksman to avoid the special bolt ap penalty.
And I don't know, I didn't find it too bad. It wasn't the strongest character I've made but it worked out. I was using ambush a lot for those massive crits so I one shot most enemies. It was weaker than a sniper rifle would be, but the free attack from special tactics was cool, and being able to add stun/possible ignite on my attacks with pretty much no drawback was nice. It was alright.

 

[Anthedon]

I made my way into the Lemurian Health Center in the DLC. The 8 Handmaiden/Strongman fight murders me pretty good. Should I come back later or is there something I'm missing (level 19 Psi character)?

 

[ciox]

I definitely want to try a full crossbows character now, and see how far you can go.

I made my way into the Lemurian Health Center in the DLC. The 8 Handmaiden/Strongman fight murders me pretty good. Should I come back later or is there something I'm missing (level 19 Psi character)?

I think you just need to make sure you have a good kite/escape route, it's what's expected of you.

 

[toro]

I made my way into the Lemurian Health Center in the DLC. The 8 Handmaiden/Strongman fight murders me pretty good. Should I come back later or is there something I'm missing (level 19 Psi character)?

If you cannot rolfstomp them at lvl 19 PSI character then I'm afraid the diagnostic is clear: you should try euthanasia.

Spoiler

There is definitely something missing. You probably fucked up several level before.

Spoiler

Use EM grenades.

 

[Fenix]

Created a new stealth/shotgun character.
Selected Dominating.
Am at Depot A.
I want to kill myself.

Dude, I like died 4 times there with shiotgun - twice from mines...

That's just BS.

Cough.

There are so many areas in the game where the enemies outnumber you so much that there simply is now way to kill them all in a battle that isn't stacked in your favor with traps.

Which areas?
My char was standing near Unstutue lvl 20 or somehtin, deletes it because spent feas on traps, and did;t wabt them anymore.

Bolt quivers are pretty useless tbh. 3 AP reduction isn't worth much (29->26AP and you have 50AP, normally) and other belts give you more slots.

What THE FUCK am I reading here.
It was adressed thanks to Spark Mandriller as I see.

 

[Alexios]

Dude, I like died 4 times there with shiotgun - twice from mines...

I think I've only won one fight - the security bot inside the room with the terminal in the second area. Other than that I've had to either sneak past everything or fight through cheesy tactics like throwing a molotov at some mutant dogs from nearby a door, closing the door, rinse & repeat - and even that stopped working once I ran out of molotovs.