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Underrail: The Incline Awakens

Blaine

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The freighter is the true MVP when clearing out the Abandoned Waterways Mega Loot Drop Super-Dungeon, although I see it still drops its tow occasionally for no apparent reason. That's probably something to do with what I believe are orthographically projected jet ski models interacting oddly at certain angles respective to each other.

I'm having a ball working my way through the rest of this dungeon (I only completed a few areas before leaving it for a long while), and it only belatedly dawned me that this is a jet ski dungeon. There are jump ramps, fire corridors, lookouts standing at gate controls, enemies on skis, the ability to use vacant or captured skis as mobile bridges from one shore to the next mid-run (when your own ski is parked safely elsewhere), minor puzzles to make a path, and of course there are unique ski parts to find.

This is the first jet ski dungeon in cRPG history. We're witnessing history!

I have a mental image of a community of mutants who've been living in their remote, obscure, and well guarded refuge for years—perhaps decades or even centuries—regretfully dispatching the very few curious loners or unfortunate lost who very occasionally find their way in....

Then one day, out of nowhere, a gaudily-painted jet ski sporting a huge missile rack comes torpedoing in off a ramp, piloted by a screaming man wearing a huge rat pelt who chucks a grenade from each hand at the peak of the ski's ballistic arc, then is spraying two SMGs in all directions before he even lands. Later, a lone survivor hidden in an outhouse hears a great deal of crashing, banging, grunting, and cursing as this insane person piles every last piece of junk, trash, electronic plug, shell casing, bloodied vest, discarded weapon, canned meat, and bodily organ into his jet ski.
 
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Blaine

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So jet ski keys and hotwiring kits are for show? I think I knew that before, but had forgotten. When I've had to lockpick a ski, it was with a lockpick, so basically that was picking the trunk/hood (boot/bonnet for limeys).

In my experience, you can click any ski within reach and you'll hop right on (and possibly aggro the entire zone/faction).

Vestigial content, in my Underrail? Ah, well.
 

Twiglard

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Anyway, what about the hotwiring kit?

So that people with no lockpick skill can enter jet skis? Just like the crowbar thing. We already have one person here admitting not using Lockpick, Hacking or even Stealth.
 

Blaine

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Anyway, what about the hotwiring kit?

So that people with no lockpick skill can enter jet skis? Just like the crowbar thing. We already have one person here admitting not using Lockpick, Hacking or even Stealth.

People with no lockpicking skill can already enter jet skis, no hotwiring kit required. Some jets do have locked trunks/hoods, but those require skill and lockpicks to open, just like any other lock.

It's all very confusing, isn't it?

498d8b834a.png


As I said, nothing's ever prevented me from driving a jet ski (besides absent motor or battery). It's click and go. In fact, you can accidentally aggro an entire zone/faction that way.

I hucked the keys to the jets I purchased from Ray into a desk in my house, as well as the ones I've pickpocketed or looted—because they serve next to no purpose. I even tried locking my jets the way you can lock doors that you have a key to. You can't.

The keys to Protectorate, Aegis, and some scrap jets with matching keys appear to serve absolutely no purpose other than window dressing, since you don't need them to drive the jets and those jets can't be sold to Ray. The only ones you can sell to Ray are cases of buyer's remorse, with one exception.

I SUPPOSE that, if a jet ski's trunk/hood is locked, you can use the key to open it just like with other pickpocketed keys. I almost forgot about that while trying to think through this pretzel of nonsense.

To sum up, everything related to jet ski keys and hotwiring kits is a hot mess.
 

CHEMS

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People with no lockpicking skill can already enter jet skis, no hotwiring kit required. Some jets do have locked trunks/hoods, but those require skill and lockpicks to open, just like any other lock.

Most moored ones require keys to enter. Namely Aegis' and the ones at Ray's.
 

Blaine

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Most moored ones require keys to enter. Namely Aegis' and the ones at Ray's.

I've just loaded an old save to test that, and you're right. The thing is, there are so many omniscient cameras and turrets placed around moored jet skis that I just never bothered—even if you're able to pickpocket the key and leap aboard, or hotwire the ignition out of sight of white-eye chaperones (although I seriously doubt you'd have time to hotwire any moored Aegis Patroller, even with 400+ effective Stealth and Burglar; guess you'd have to slaughter the screen, then do the hotwiring), you'll then need to deal with "fuck you faction hostile everyone shooting at you."

It's been extremely clear since the release of this expansion that Styg is determined to ensure it isn't worth it to steal skis except from factions you're already at war with, so I gave up before I even began. He doesn't outright prevent it, but you can only ever have Pyrrhic victories that way.

Twiglard said that hotwiring kits exist so that people without lockpicking skill can hotwire jet skis, but when I touched a moored ski, floating text informed me that I required lockpicking skill 100 to hotwire it (which I have, but I was only testing by touch).

So basically, a bunch of keys and hotwiring kits exist that have only extremely limited and somewhat convoluted uses because, well, Styg doesn't really want you to steal skis unless you're willing to trade a faction for them. Which is silly, since Patrollers and Cruisers are mediocre at best, you can't sell them, and only retards can't scrape up 10k for a decent jet.

Maybe the Protectorate waterway outpost jets are an exception, I dunno. I never tried to just take them since that would mean instant hostilities.
 

CHEMS

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I've just loaded an old save to test that, and you're right. The thing is, there are so many omniscient cameras and turrets placed around moored jet skis that I just never bothered—even if you're able to pickpocket the key and leap aboard, or hotwire the ignition out of sight of white-eye chaperones (although I seriously doubt you'd have time to hotwire any moored Aegis Patroller, even with 400+ effective Stealth and Burglar; guess you'd have to slaughter the screen, then do the hotwiring), you'll then need to deal with "fuck you faction hostile everyone shooting at you."

I made a tutorial on how to get the aegis patroller on the beggining of the expedition without hostilities
 

Whisper

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Oh yeah, and for everyone who doesn't want to go the chore that is cutting a bloody swathe through Core City for all the new written content; here's a Greatest Hits Collection of the Mutie questline.

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Post more, plz.

How much content total, how many extra quests?

Does it lead to secret ending or new lore?
 

Ghulgothas

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Post more, plz.

How much content total, how many extra quests?

Does it lead to secret ending or new lore?
Only one, connecting a new subzone in Core City Sewers and a Mysterious Laboratory.

Oh, absolutely.

Wait, I just saw a reference to Kirill. Is that Kirill as in Vovin? That Kirill?
The Hidden Lab you go to for the latter half of the questline is referred to as Kirilll's Lab in the save files. Kharon matches the description pretty well.
 

Ghulgothas

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Oh yeah, and for everyone who doesn't want to go the chore that is cutting a bloody swathe through Core City for all the new written content; here's a Greatest Hits Collection of the Mutie questline.

20210406120024-1.jpg
20210406120222-1.jpg
20210406121708-1.jpg
20210406121805-1.jpg
20210406122424-1.jpg
20210406122431-1.jpg
20210406122622-1.jpg
20210406131159-1.jpg
20210406131206-1.jpg
20210406131213-1.jpg
20210406131424-1.jpg
20210406131527-1.jpg

Kharon also has some choice reactions when he relieves you of your possessions at the very end. The Green Disc reaction is in the pictures above, but I've yet to see if he has anything to say for the Acorn. Or anything else.

You can't get into a conversation with anyone, but Booth and the Mutie pair in the Praetorian part of the sewers will spare you some words of pity. I've also heard that Wyatt Pear also has something unique to say, or just won't attack you like everyone else.
 
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Blaine

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I made a tutorial on how to get the aegis patroller on the beggining of the expedition without hostilities

Yeah, I remember reading that. Brilliant.

Keep in mind, though, that it's only possible because the zone-control attitudes of Aegis personnel toward traps, caltrops, and explosives are relaxed in order to facilitate their use during native defense sequences. That's why the camp turns hostile if you deploy TNT before the first defense sequence, but not afterward.

In other words, it's an exploit, something Styg didn't intend—which is fine, that's not a condemnation, but an exploit is an exploit.
 

Major_Blackhart

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Post more, plz.

How much content total, how many extra quests?

Does it lead to secret ending or new lore?
Only one, connecting a new subzone in Core City Sewers and a Mysterious Laboratory.

Oh, absolutely.

Wait, I just saw a reference to Kirill. Is that Kirill as in Vovin? That Kirill?
The Hidden Lab you go to for the latter half of the questline is referred to as Kirilll's Lab in the save files. Kharon matches the description pretty well.

So who's the guy in stasis then? Any hints or ideas?
 

Major_Blackhart

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Dude, I love this game. And yes I also thought Lucius at one point.

Fuck, I almost wish you could see a meet between Vovin and Wight. Still, even more, I would have liked for Vovin to be revealed in the upcoming sequel to Underrail as a man behind the man or someone hiding in plain sight like Ezra.

Looking back, with all that we know, it almost seems obvious the biggest reason Ezra stuck around SGS was because Hadrian Tanner was such an unknown to him, and everyone else, like a mystery begging to be unraveled. Looking back, the discussions that involve Tanner, Ezra, and other SGS councilmembers, it seems almost obvious that Ezra doesn't interact with everyone because he's trying his damnedest to probe Hadrian's mind and find out more. The guy is still a scientist in some ways.

With that in mind, if Kharon is Kirill, then it makes sense as well that he's continuing whatever experiments he can on whatever interests him.

Edit: is Kharon a villain to you, ally, or just a neutral party?
 

Ghulgothas

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Edit: is Kharon a villain to you, ally, or just a neutral party?
He "helps" you, but only after he forces you to get rid of some renegade muties that've taken over his lab. It's presented in a way that makes him out to be subtly mind-controlling you, and influencing you once you meet with him again. You can talk to more to the head mutie and he alludes to some human experimentation, backed up by the muties outside of the place being called "Test Subjects", and the Psi-Mutie and Hunchback Mutie you can find in the places cells (She's the one talking to herself in my photoset.)

You can actually agree to help the home-invaders, but regardless it ends up the same way; with them zapped to ash and Kharon there to congratulate you. You're given an option to attack him after that, but I think it's another 6 situation. You're a big dumb mutant and he's powerful Psychic, foregone conclusion.

It's also implied he's keeping what mutants come to him looking for passage to the Mutie Refuge as indentured servants, both the ones in the sewers and the home-invaders talk like he's deliberately kept them waiting for years.

He is polite about it though, you and him share a steak dinner once you're done clearing the rabble from his home.
 
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jackofshadows

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When the game works, it does so beautifully. You really feel like some post-apocalyptic scavenger who needs to be clever to get by. Being a sneaky asshole is rewarding.
THIS is what I mean with "when it works".
You mean like... clever enough to throw a grenade?

And by sneaky asshole I was always imagined more like someone with traps and silent weapons like melee/xbows/silensed guns along with stealth. Some psionic stuff is also silent or am I forgetting something?
 

Whisper

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Post more, plz.

How much content total, how many extra quests?

Does it lead to secret ending or new lore?
Only one, connecting a new subzone in Core City Sewers and a Mysterious Laboratory.

Oh, absolutely.

Wait, I just saw a reference to Kirill. Is that Kirill as in Vovin? That Kirill?
The Hidden Lab you go to for the latter half of the questline is referred to as Kirilll's Lab in the save files. Kharon matches the description pretty well.


Who is person in stasis? And what interaction you have with him?
 

CHEMS

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I started a discussion on Stygian forum about how we can make locations in open-world games as enticing as possible to veteran players (ie, players who know where everything is). It is not getting interest, but I think it is an important discussion. So come over if you have something to say.

https://stygiansoftware.com/forums/index.php?topic=6505.0

Know what would be great in underrail? CARAVANS!

I was the scourge of caravans in fallout 2. In underrail you can attack ships, but they carry no loot besides what the guards are carrying. Also, repeatable caravan jobs would be nice.
 

Blaine

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Just the fact that there are random encounters on the waterways now is an immense improvement. Everything south of the Black Sea was completely static before, whereas now you can occasionally encounter freelooter attacks or just merchant boats to barter with.

They are few and far between, but their presence—the possibility of them, as opposed to nothing at all—is enough. You never know what you might find out there.
 

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