Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Trashos]

Yeah, I don't know what to tell you there. I know that some veterans play without hacking (or lockpicking or both), but I would never do it myself. With hacking Nexus is pretty smooth (as long as one starts at the bottom and gradually moves upwards).

In general though, I found a lot of dlc dungeons irritating at the beginning, but as I grew more comfortable with the content I have started to like them quite a bit. I fucking love the dlc now.

 

[ItsChon]

Do try to sell spears to us who are not seeing it. (I haven't played them)

It's a ton of fun being able to throw the Spears, which adds a level of detail to the combat, making it both melee and ranged to an extent. I enjoy figuring out the optimal place to throw my Spear so that it'll be somewhere within reach, and once I pick it up I'll be in a place where I can unleash more damage. The extended range is a very cool mechanic as well, and it really adds a new level of strategy to combat with other melee npcs. The blocking mechanic is a ton of fun, and a lot of the Expedition enemies are trivialized. Crabs, Strongmen, Handmaiden, Spiders? Sorry, couldn't tell the difference since they're all bouncing off my shield harmlessly. Plus, the build I made had a fair bit of agility, so combining that with Spear and Shield's natural tankiness makes a very robust build. Adding Psionics into the mix only mixes things up even more and allows for some cool combinations. It also just felt nice to run around with a spear and shield.

 

[Tigranes]

Yeah, I don't know what to tell you there. I know that some veterans play without hacking (or lockpicking or both), but I would never do it myself. With hacking Nexus is pretty smooth (as long as one starts at the bottom and gradually moves upwards).

In general though, I found a lot of dlc dungeons irritating at the beginning, but as I grew more comfortable with the content I have started to like them quite a bit. I fucking love the dlc now.

Sadly, I'm up to at least my 6th or 7th DLC run, and I still think encounters aren't very well designed overall. I'm OK with paying a tangible price for lack of Hacking, though, it's good C&C.

At least AGI 10 meant I could finally skip the Nexus approachway.

 

[Trashos]

I kinda see your point, in the sense that I consider the dlc to be a bit more strategic than tactical. That is, I find that it rewards preparation (both in build and in gear), and figuring the tricks of each dungeon out. I feel that it has rewarded me greatly for the effort I have put in it.

I was more inclined to agree fully with you in my early playthroughs of the Expedition. By now I have figured out for myself how to approach it so that I can enjoy it.
(In the same sense that I had to figure out that I enjoy the base game better playing stealth builds with a lot of attacks. If I were somehow forced to play a tank with sledgehammer or classic mode instead of oddity, I don't think I would enjoy the game as much. To each their own, of course.)

 

[CHEMS]

When it comes to Melee builds, which one's have you guys had the most fun with? I know I want my last character post-final update* to be one since it's the only combat style I've not yet beaten the game on Hard with. But I'm caught between either a nimble Unarmed/PK fighter, a Sword-Wielding Samurai clad in heavy metal armor, or a Witchdoctor with a spear and versed in Thought-Control.

Pneumatic Gloves with PK/TM is pretty sweet.

 

[Trashos]

lvl22, I am rocking 2 pneumatic gloves with 5AP cost each (which is going to be 4AP at lvl26), and I am an unstoppable force of destruction. I am about to go to the Black Sea. This far I have only had 1 death in combat (against the Burrowers in the Arena, LOL - the Warrior Burrower got me coming from a distance). But I have also had a couple of reloads due to sneaking gone bad.

The internal debate I am having about my build is whether I should have gone STR5 INT7 instead of STR7 INT5, and taken Power Management instead of Break Bones. I think that both routes are reasonable. I am generally happy that by now I don't feel I have to take Versatility with my melee builds anymore.

 

[Fenix]

When it comes to Melee builds, which one's have you guys had the most fun with?

It's depend on what you feel is fun.
You could be OHKO monster with hammer, wrapped in animal hide.
Or walking mounting clad in though armor.
Or dextrous hunter, hardy and wiry with a spear.
Or massively built boxer.
Or agile unarmed fighter called Bruce.
Or ruthless brutal murderer with sharp long knife...

 

[Ramnozack]

When it comes to Melee builds, which one's have you guys had the most fun with? I know I want my last character post-final update* to be one since it's the only combat style I've not yet beaten the game on Hard with. But I'm caught between either a nimble Unarmed/PK fighter, a Sword-Wielding Samurai clad in heavy metal armor, or a Witchdoctor with a spear and versed in Thought-Control.

I'll shill for my sword/psi build again. In terms of melee builds, I've tried psi puncher, heavy armor sledgehammer dude, and a knife guy, but my sword/psi build was my favorite of the bunch.

It uses PK and TC with enough temporal to use haste and stasis. In terms of melee its a crit focused sword build, so pretty strong in terms of damage, and it synergizes well with PK in particular to maximize you flurry hit chance. It has a tool for every situation and you never really feel as though you are lacking something when going into a fight and its pretty powerful.

Can be a bit rough in the early game if you don't know what you are doing, but if you can survive that its a pretty smooth playthrough.

Heres the build: https://underrail.info/build/?HgUKA...KMBmdLIcKHElxOwrfCjWTinY0D4p-EAeKnvgrirJcB378

 

[Trashos]

Ramnozack, that's more of a psi build with some melee in it, though.

 

[Ramnozack]

Ramnozack, that's more of a psi build with some melee in it, though.

Eh, it's quite invested into melee, so I don't know about that. I'd say its more balanced between the two, and it feels like that when playing. Swords don't need a lot of stat investment, not for dex crit builds anyway, to do good damage, which is why the dex is relatively low, if that's what you mean.

 

[Trashos]

What I mean is that WILL is your main stat, and frankly once you have Thought Control AND Psychokinesis you don't need much else. Now, I am not saying that people should not be playing your build or that it is bad. I just don't think that it counts as a (primarily, at least) melee build.

 

[Hex]

Can anyone remind me how much lockpicking and hacking I need to top out all the checks? Before all bonuses from items like jackknife are applied, etc. Normally I don't look these things up, but I need to save up on crafting points to LARP as a trap specialist.

I'm going full stealth.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Can anyone remind me how much lockpicking and hacking I need to top out all the checks? Before all bonuses from items like jackknife are applied, etc. Normally I don't look these things up, but I need to save up on crafting points to LARP as a trap specialist.

I'm going full stealth.

I think recent updates have added some higher-level checks, but around 130 for each will get you access to almost everything in-game. Jackknife, Huxkey and other boosters can take you from there.

 

[Trashos]

I go 100 effective for lockpicking and 130 effective for hacking*, but there are a definitely a couple of 135 checks for hacking, and 120+ for lockpicking (probably more for lockpicking, don't remember exactly).

*as a matter of fact, I go ~100 effective for hacking, and let All In and Hypercerebrix take me to 130 the couple of times I want it.

---------------
In other news, I was wearing my infused pig leather boots to carry stuff around. I happened to click on a Junkyard thug, and he commented "Where did you get them boots?". Nice touch!

 

[Tigranes]

How much lategame stuff is there really for the 130 threshold?

I usually stop after Joint Security HQ and never do DC, and up until then, I'd say 110 effective actually gets everything you want (given +10 hacking Lemurian suit, +7 Jackknife, and other options like Oculus lockpick, even without any food).

 

[Trashos]

How much lategame stuff is there really for the 130 threshold?

There are important 130 hacking checks in Arke in DC. One time that I tried to do it without high hacking, my life was a living hell (well, even more so than usual I mean -Arke is never pleasant). Maybe there are smarter workarounds than what I tried, but I don't know any.

 

[Sykar]

Hacking master race.
I am never leaving home without it!

 

[Hex]

Anyone else getting a lot of errors between zone transitions? I used to never have any issues while playing earlier versions.

 

[Trashos]

errors between zone transitions

Not a lot, but in the latest 2 versions I do have more than before. I always had this issue, it was just very rare. Now it is still very rare, but less so.

(Rolling back to an earlier save fixes it, btw. Although you may have to roll back to a save where you were in a different location.)

 

[Trashos]

I did the Basalt Caves differently this time. I used to wear the CAU armor there, but now I wore an infused leper serpent armor. It didn't trivialize the danger, but I think it made things more comfortable against the creepers, even if I lost my lightning punches AP bonus. I also wore the groin guard belt to reduce crits. On the downside (other than the increased AP cost of my attacks), I wasn't 100% resistant to bio, and my 1500 crafted energy shield barely made it through the battle due to the weaver attacks. But I think this is the way to go, even if I still need to work on it further.

I am getting close to going to DC, so time for a ...

QUESTION: I see on various vids players destroying the mutagen tanks before fighting Tchort. However, every time I have tried to do this on Dominating, some tchortling randomly spawns next to the mutagen tank, and that's the end of it. If I engage with the tchortling then the tentacles come over, so I have to abandon destroying the tanks and go immediately for Tchort. Am I missing something here? How is destroying the tanks possible with the random spawning BS?

 

[lukaszek]

QUESTION: I see on various vids players destroying the mutagen tanks before fighting Tchort. However, every time I have tried to do this on Dominating, some tchortling randomly spawns next to the mutagen tank, and that's the end of it. If I engage with the tchortling then the tentacles come over, so I have to abandon destroying the tanks and go immediately for Tchort. Am I missing something here? How is destroying the tanks possible with the random spawning BS?

sneakery playstyle always involves some save&loading due to unpredictable movement. That being said I dont recall loading while destroying tanks. It always was about having high sneak & movement speed, along with waiting for opening. Usually sound of dynamite in one tank creates an opening and you can quickly move to another tank.
Are you trying to get to safe zone in between explosions or something?

 

[Ol' Willy]

Anyone else getting a lot of errors between zone transitions? I used to never have any issues while playing earlier versions.

Reinstall the game. Some errors may be caused while applying new update

 

[Trashos]

I dont recall loading while destroying tanks. It always was about having high sneak & movement speed, along with waiting for opening. Usually sound of dynamite in one tank creates an opening and you can quickly move to another tank.
Are you trying to get to safe zone in between explosions or something?

I try to move fast from one tank to the next, while staying aside for a while to avoid the coming tchortlings. By the time I have done the tanks on one side, the random spawning has usually started on the opposite side.

What a fucking stupid mechanic.

 

[Trashos]

I had the glove prepared for heavy punch + combo + pneumatic strike on the 3rd hit. And on the 3rd hit the final boss fell. It also happened to crit on that very hit (at 57% probability), and it did 3000 damage on top of the 1500 that he resisted (I had already exposed his weakness on the 1st hit).
I guess I will postpone studying seriously the final fight for another build.

So where do I go from here? After years and years of playing the game, and after dozens and dozens of stealthy assassin playthroughs, I think I am ready. I will do my first... (drumroll) tank build! I think I will go with a hybrid of a spear build with Sheepherder's Constitution build. I am ready for some tanking, baby!

 

[Ol' Willy]

Here's a little story.

Once, I updated the game; it was the infamous PSI patch if I remember correctly. After a time I started to get crashes at particular locations - mostly waterways around Core City. They were persistent so I was forced to detour these locations to get to the city.

So I look into logs. They state quite clearly that game crashed because recourse X failed to load. I go to resource folder and replace those files with the ones that do load - I choose sormibaren corpse for some reason. So I make a copy, rename it as the failed file and replace.

Voila! Locations did load and the failed resource was replaced with sormibaren corpse in a set location.

Now, what the practical value of this observation?

Modding and map making. The game is not that closed to it. Even without any tools you can shuffle around some objects and replace them. If someone competent enough looks into the game...