Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Tigranes]

You are totally fine on Normal or even Hard on your own, and I don't think following some prefab build is very fun. You can always check your build with us and we can point out serious dealbreakers.

The only big rules of thumb you really need is: identify one key attack type your guy is really good at, then invest into it hard. Be great at sniping or be great at punching or be great at magic, don't try to be good at 3 things. After sorting out your modus operandi you'll have stuff spare to dip.

There can be some threshold metaknowledge, e.g. 5 STR for sniper rifles, or the fact that molotov cocktails require basic chemistry, that can be useful to know, and again we can tell you or you can look it up.

Very few things are absolutely necessary, though stealth certainly can be a great quality of life thing.

 

[Sweeper]

The most important thing when it comes to builds in Underrail is to not listen to them. They will come, whispering honeyed words in your ear. They will make you doubt your own mind. They will lie. Do not listen to them. Do not invest in dodge/evasion.

 

[hell bovine]

1) Is it possible to tackle Underrail blind and figure out a build on your own? I mean, you obviously need to plan ahead for stats, feats and shit. Mainly I'd like to avoid a build someone else figured out for me, if I need to frontload some homework and plan heavily, so be it. I'd hate falling into some newb trap and having to restart mid game tho...

2) Suggest me a good starter config, stats, what feats I should focus on and be sure to understand... Things like that. No eccessive detail needed. Generally speaking I like fun! characters more than OP one, even if it leads to some frustration. For my first playthrough I'd like to be able to see as much as possible of the world, without having to rely on some specific or unique piece of equipment I'd have to find first to make it work. Heavy reliance on consumable is kosher, I like stressing for resources. I'm not exactly a fan of crafting equimpent but neither I'm against it, if you think it's important to have a fun and satisfying playthrough. Crafting consumables is, once again, something I actually enjoy. I'd prefer to focus on ranged over melee but I have no explicit preferences.

1) If you want to experiment, then I'd recommend either normal or hard difficulty. If you play on oddity, you can actually skip a lot of combat with stealth, because levelling won't be as dependent on killing enemies.
2) Depends on how much you are interested in discovering the most lore, because Styg has a clear bias in favor of psi, specifically thought control. So you get to learn a bit more about the world if you play a high will, high intelligence psi with thought control. Psi is ranged and you can get by without crafting anything, but biology is useful for drug making.

Simple character recipe: get 10 will at character creation, then 8 or 10 intelligence, rest is whatever you want. Pick 3 psi schools to focus on, with thought control being one of them. The other skills I'd consider not exactly mandatory, but which will allow for much easier exploration of the world are stealth, hacking and lockpicking, and persuasion. Hacking especially for getting information from computers.

In terms of feats: you won't be able to pick any psi feats on character creation, so you can pick whatever. But since you are interested in exploration: 5 perception with the snooping feat will let you discover a lot of the perception-hidden secrets without relying on equipment. The one big decision comes at level 2: tranquility or psychosis. Both work, but imo tranquility is more flexible and forgiving, so if you want to experiment with your character, then this is what I'd recommend. The two other feats you don't want to miss out on with a psi are: premeditation and locus of control. That's it.

As long as you keep raising your psi schools & will on level ups, and learn how to use stealth effectively, it is difficult to screw up a psi character to the point it would be incapable of beating the game.

 

[lukaszek]

invest in movement points to run away and never get hit. Never getting hit is the only way of playing this in deterministic way

 

[Sykar]

DEX side benefits: slightly improved fishing, occasionally climb a gate that you can just walk around anyway
STR side benefits: carry more stuff, occasionally force a gate that you can just walk around anyway
PER side benefits: see explosive mines, gigantic venomous arachnids, and lurking murderers before they kill you; spot secret entrances and hidden stashes

Agi also lets you take some shortcuts. Int has some flavor dialogue options.

 

[Matalarata]

Thx for your suggestion everyone! I'll play around a bit with the build calculator but this is definitely what I wanted to hear. One last question, do I need to invest in any weapon as a Psi user? For example, Cryogenic Induction, if you inflict over 50% of mechanical or cold based damage to a frozen target you shatter it, will I be able to reliably proc it with just Psi powers? Or is it something that requires some tactical synergy (and a big stick) to become useful?

Thermodinamicity sounds like a fun feat and is the kind of feat I usually like to play with but, how viable it is to consistently mix both cold and heat based powers in the same combat?

I'm prefectly fine with playing a character heavily investing in Psi, if that's the route that opens up more of the game in a single playthrough. Currently leaning more toward Thought Control and Metathermics, although I will invest in all 3 as suggested. What is a decent enough investment early on (say, up to level 5) for the skills mentioned by hell bovine (Hacking, Lockpicking, Persuasion) and how heavily I should invest in stealth for it to be useful throughout all the game?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, I normally sperg much less before starting a game but I'd really like to get it right the first time.

is the only way of playing this in deterministic way

I decided to play, that's all it's needed as far as determination goes. Additionally, I rolled a d6 just to give some RNG to your answer. You get a "4", no need to thank me!

 

[Zeem]

So I finally played the new mutant questline.

Spoiler

I think I've got all 4 possible endings - doing Kharon's bidding, killing Kharon and leaving with muties, killing Kharon and bringing Stasis his thing, killing Kharon and breaking Stasis' thing. The one thing I don't understand is exactly happens in the latter two endings. I understand the implication of Vitek committing suicide and facility shutting down, but what is the thing he asks PC to bring him?

 

[hell bovine]

Thx for your suggestion everyone! I'll play around a bit with the build calculator but this is definitely what I wanted to hear. One last question, do I need to invest in any weapon as a Psi user? For example, Cryogenic Induction, if you inflict over 50% of mechanical or cold based damage to a frozen target you shatter it, will I be able to reliably proc it with just Psi powers? Or is it something that requires some tactical synergy (and a big stick) to become useful?

Thermodinamicity sounds like a fun feat and is the kind of feat I usually like to play with but, how viable it is to consistently mix both cold and heat based powers in the same combat?

Throwing can make things easier because of grenades, but you don't need any weapons with psi. Frankly, if you max psi for the offense, it would be a waste of actions points to use a weapon imo. Keep in mind that different psi abilities deal different types of damage, e.g. cryokinesis deals cold & mechanical, so you can set up shatter with it:
https://www.stygiansoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cryokinesis
Thermodynamicity is very viable with tranquility, and in general metathermics is quite flexible. You might go for freeze & shatter in one battle, and spam metathermics abilities with thermodynamicity in another.

In terms of skill investments I honestly don't remember hacking and lockpicking. UR is an open game, if you find something locked & a computer too difficult to hack, you can come back later in most cases. Also, early on you won't get that many crafting ingredients, so you can keep biology to the minimum required for the recipes & ingredients you'll have. Stealth: invest heavily early on, but later you can boost it with items, so about 80-100 points total should be enough. Persuasion, keep it low. You'll be raising will, so it will raise on its own. I think about 50ish? should give you high value, but again I don't remember all the checks from the game.

 

[lukaszek]

So I finally played the new mutant questline.

didnt play it but perhaps you can describe what it was

 

[Fedora Master]

MAKE IT STOP AAAAAHH

 

[Ghulgothas]

MAKE IT STOP AAAAAHH
View attachment 18925

Get some help from the ruins of old bruv, they're one of the three effective groups in the Black Sea. Shudder to imagine doin' any of the later native assaults with nothing but Aegies Jobbers.

 

[Stavrophore]

MAKE IT STOP AAAAAHH
View attachment 18925

Join pirates. Then you will hate your life, when one of the missions will force you to move 25+ sea tiles with your jet ski.

 

[Ol' Willy]

The only right answer is to cull Natives completely

 

[Matalarata]

So, I've thinkered a bit, and this is what I aim for up untill level 5. I've read the majority of the relevant feat (I think) but it would be pointless to plan further ahead just using meta-knoweledge, I must start playing, after all!

https://underrail.info/build/?BQMGAwUFCggAIwAAAAAjIyMAAAAAAAAAIwAjIwAAKz89Lg

A couple additional questions. Can you "store" feats and spend them later? The planner wants me to pick 2 feats at the first level up but I don't see anything exceedingly useful to take, suggestions? I also left a feat slot open, for those that want to give me some practical advice on useful early game feats.

I've kept Perception at 5 and decided to invest in a bit of Dexterity for grenades, they should add some versatility if I encounter something I cannot down using just Psi. For a limited investment it seems the best bang for my bucks. I've put the remaining point in Constitution 'coz HP are gud, but I'm open to suggestion if you think otherwise.

I still have a skill I can max, dunno if I should also invest in Psychokinesis, my understanding is that Psi slot are limited anyway, right? Some crafting maybe? Here a quick breakdown would be useful, what crafting skills are useful when splashed and what I should go all in is teh hard...

Should I immediately go for 10 Intelligence or is 8 enough for the time being and investing elsewhere is better?


Edit: I'm probably retraded but the planner refuses to save my skill allocation. I maxed Throw, Stealth/Hacking/Lockpicking, TC and MT as PSI and Persuasion, I have 35 points left.

 

[Sweeper]

You can't store feats I'm sorry to say, same foes for skill points and specialization points. So you can only pick Thermodynamicity and Pyromaniac at levels 4 and 6 respectively.
As for the first two feats I'd drop Con to 3, Per to 4 and increase Agi to 6 for Sprint. The second feat is a bit more tricky as there isn't anything all that great for pure PSI. I'd go with Nimble prolly, but Paranoia isn't bad either since it's your first playthrough. Also if you're only getting Dex for grenades, you can dump it, since you can still get adequate throwing, albeit with a penalty if you have 3 Dex.
Crafting is very useful, but pure PSI is probably the build that doesn't lose as much if you don't invest into crafting. That being said I'd go for at least 160 effective electronics (for shields), 100 effective biology (consumables) and you'll be able to craft PSI headbands with both skills. You could also invest into tailoring and mechanics if you want to craft a PSI Beetle Tactical Vest and/or stealth gear.

Should I immediately go for 10 Intelligence or is 8 enough for the time being and investing elsewhere is better?

This I don't know, haven't tried pure PSI since the nerf.

 

[Ghulgothas]

If you aren't already playing on Normal, you should. It's okay, everyone did it their first time.

A couple additional questions. Can you "store" feats and spend them later? The planner wants me to pick 2 feats at the first level up but I don't see anything exceedingly useful to take, suggestions? I also left a feat slot open, for those that want to give me some practical advice on useful early game feats.

Nope, they've gotta be spent strictly upon demand. The double-take of starting feats is all about fundamentals, not flair. What kinda weapons/build are you thinking of?

I've kept Perception at 5 and decided to invest in a bit of Dexterity for grenades, they should add some versatility if I encounter something I cannot down using just Psi. For a limited investment it seems the best bang for my bucks. I've put the remaining point in Constitution 'coz HP are gud, but I'm open to suggestion if you think otherwise.

I'd recommend re-investing some point to bring up your Agility. High INT will net you better energy shield which will offset failed initiative checks, but it's a balance. That and it's great for Energy or Chem Pistol builds. DEX of five is perfectly fine for non-melee characters.

Should I immediately go for 10 Intelligence or is 8 enough for the time being and investing elsewhere is better?

Hit it, it's what gets you more Psi Slots, not will. Psi-nerds with techy pistols is the way-to-go.

 

[Blaine]

Join pirates. Then you will hate your life, when one of the missions will force you to move 25+ sea tiles with your jet ski.

I must have missed that mission, because I appear to be finished with the pirate quest line. Then again, I snuck into the Rig and blew the sonar with TNT without being detected (and against the Captain's orders), so perhaps that's the one you're referring to.

I'm a bit disappointed that there aren't repeatable sea raid missions, and that there in fact seem to be a grand total of two of them (three counting the Rig), but I'm not surprised.

The pirate merchant is indeed excellent, for selling stuff off (2.3k charons!), certain bulk goods, and repair kits. Crafting components and consumables are of middling quality at best, but boy does he have a lot of stuff.

 

[Sweeper]

As I said Matalarata

For truth's sake though, dodge/evasion is fine on normal. You might wanna consider it if you have the skill points to spare.

 

[Matalarata]

What kinda weapons/build are you thinking of?

Well... Mainly Psi + thrown explosives. I figured I could just use whatever else I happen to find and is useful with my stat/skill distribution. I've lowered my Dexterity to 5, Constitution to 3 and raised Agility to 6. Sprint looks like the only useful starting feat, once I select Tranquillity.

The second feat is a bit more tricky as there isn't anything all that great for pure PSI. I'd go with Nimble prolly, but Paranoia isn't bad either since it's your first playthrough.

I will probably burn it on Snooping, as hell bovine suggested, my goal is to explore and find as much secret as I can on my first go. That's also why I left my Perception at 5. I suppose I will pump my first two point into Intelligence!

 

[Tygrende]

DEX side benefits: slightly improved fishing, occasionally climb a gate that you can just walk around anyway
STR side benefits: carry more stuff, occasionally force a gate that you can just walk around anyway
PER side benefits: see explosive mines, gigantic venomous arachnids, and lurking murderers before they kill you; spot secret entrances and hidden stashes

The nice thing about DEX is that it also boosts a fair number of very useful skills - throwing, lockpick, pickpocket, traps - and a lot of builds put at least some point in most if not all of those. It can add up to quite a lot of points saved. STR and PER on the other hand give basically no skill point savings whatsoever.

 

[Ol' Willy]

It's okay, everyone did it their first time.

Nope. Haven't played Normal even once

 

[Tygrende]

For truth's sake though, dodge/evasion is fine on normal. You might wanna consider it if you have the skill points to spare.

Dodge/evasion is just fine on DOM as well. It just requires pretty good understanding of game mechanics to pull off. It's not something I would recommend to do on 1st runs. It's not something I would do on ironman and other challenge runs, in fact I'd say it's a bit of a challenge run in tself. But stacked high enough makes a lot of fights a lot easier than they would be without dodge/evasion.

And that's not even the highest you can go.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Well... Mainly Psi + thrown explosives. I figured I could just use whatever else I happen to find and is useful with my stat/skill distribution. I've lowered my Dexterity to 5, Constitution to 3 and raised Agility to 6. Sprint looks like the only useful starting feat, once I select Tranquillity.

Effective, you'll be able to craft just about all the high-end grenades you'll need. In that case, a single point in Dex later on'll get you access to the necessary feat for grenadiers. Thought Control and Metathermics are prime damage dealers for dedicated Cave Wizards. But I'd still recommend a direct physical weapon to complement it. Energy Pistols work well and Chem Pistols take time to get good but are a lot of fun when they get going.

 

[Tigranes]

What kinda weapons/build are you thinking of?

Well... Mainly Psi + thrown explosives. I figured I could just use whatever else I happen to find and is useful with my stat/skill distribution. I've lowered my Dexterity to 5, Constitution to 3 and raised Agility to 6. Sprint looks like the only useful starting feat, once I select Tranquillity.

The second feat is a bit more tricky as there isn't anything all that great for pure PSI. I'd go with Nimble prolly, but Paranoia isn't bad either since it's your first playthrough.

I will probably burn it on Snooping, as hell bovine suggested, my goal is to explore and find as much secret as I can on my first go. That's also why I left my Perception at 5. I suppose I will pump my first two point into Intelligence!

Keep in mind you can't select something like Tranq in Level 1, because you need to start the game and get Psi Empathy from an NPC. And don't worry if you can't find the greatest two feats for Level 1 - that's fairly common. Sprint is fine, Pack Rathound & Sure Step are actually good QOL feats in Underrail that will measurably make your life more smooth, even if they might not minmax you to greater power.

 

[Matalarata]

Keep in mind you can't select something like Tranq in Level 1, because you need to start the game and get Psi Empathy from an NPC.

Yes, I remembered that when I finally started the game. I got Sprint and Snooping, for the above mentioned reasons but many thanks for the suggestion anyway!