Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Grunker]

A ways into the expansion now, I cannot BEGIN to believe what utter cancer meleeing locusts must be

F for you guys

Carry grenades, and/or destroy hives superfast in one turn to prevent spawn.

I always fantasised about superhigh stealth and then planting TNT next to the hives, but (1) you need a lot of stealth, (2) a TNT, it turns out, doesn't one-hit the hives...

Might be an update thing, but I tried destroying several hives in one turn, and they always release a couple fuckers on death. Ain't much of a problem for my build, but if I were melee...

EDIT: While it is cool that you can manipulate certain areas so that a ton of enemies fight each other in a clusterfuck, those fights can take forever, even on highest speed zZZZzzzzZ

 

[Trashos]

(2) a TNT, it turns out, doesn't one-hit the hives...

What? Yes, it does! Unless hives were buffed recently.

 

[Blaine]

Grunker No, the hives always deploy 2-3 survivors; and yes, that's exactly why locust mechanics were an inappropriate implementation in a game that allows building around knives, swords, hammers, spears, and fist weapons.

It's literally the worst-case scenario for annoyance in a turn-based game: a multitude of replenishing (unless/until the nest is destroyed) trash enemies that can move long distances and that each attack numerous times during their individual turns. You can set the animation speed to 10x, and some steps were taken to ameliorate the problem, but it's still pretty bad.

When Underrail was fresh off the presses, the big thing was complaining about Deep Caverns. I didn't think they were that bad, even some of the more obnoxious portions; if anything, I found them refreshing and enjoyable. Locusts, on the other hand, immediately pissed in my Cheerios... I understand that there was a certain concept on the drawing board and that Styg felt the need to implement said concept, but very clearly some concepts just don't fit certain formats.

The worst part is that they aren't even particularly threatening or difficult, except perhaps to a first-time player. They're just obnoxious. I get that part of their concept is probably to actually be annoying, but this annoyance is just a little too meta.

Yet some Codexers will still defend locusts to death, as though sheer annoyance for no genuinely good reason is somehow defensible.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

Well, FUCK! Are we sure it means what we think it means?
So, the method I was talking about for reaching 100% DR was:
Morphine 50% + Aegis 15% + fully specced Stoicism(@Health =1) = 101% DR
(4/5 specced Stoicism worked in practice as well)

This protection lasted for as long as Morphine lasted, naturally, which is not long. I will be very disappointed if this doesn't work anymore. It is not like people were exploiting this, I was probably the only one who tried it. And it is not as filthy strong as it sounds, because it requires a huge investment and it lasts little. But it still could be fun for weirdos to play with.

Yeah, it's gone. Some other people were trying it and Styg noticed, so he got rid of it. It does sort of make sense, since becoming invincible is pretty strong.
I think if you stacked some other buffs it was possible to get there without morphine so it lasted longer. Conditioning+lifting belt+mushroom brew+ancient rat chest/boots all give you some reduction.

 

[Tigranes]

(2) a TNT, it turns out, doesn't one-hit the hives...

What? Yes, it does! Unless hives were buffed recently.

Maybe I fucked it up, or maybe the TNT needs to be real close? I seem to remember it not quite doing the job.

 

[lukaszek]

yeah tnt works on hives, on dom and very high sneak you will be able to plant it but hive will likely deploy 1 batch before charge goes of and you are unlikely to get away without being discovered.

btw hide can spawn an odity, supposedly, never saw it myself

 

[ItsChon]

It's a Glowy Larva oddity. I've got multiple copies from one turning hives with my sledgehammer build.

 

[Grunker]

It's a Glowy Larva oddity. I've got multiple copies from one turning hives with my sledgehammer build.

lol, literally got it now.

 

[Grunker]

How the fuck do I get out of Viridescent Quarry? I've made my way through it, but the path I used to get there can't be used to go back, and I don't have the agility for the long jumps. I've opened the door to the other side, but my jetski is parked all the way around.

EDIT: Nevermind, managed to nab a ski from the pirates.

 

[Trashos]

They made the oddity rarer at some point. Now you may have to go hive hunting for the Oddity. Because that's what was missing from your lives, guys.

I am extremely disappointed with the DR cap. 100% DR would never be more than niche builds. I played one, and did not feel like playing one again right away. If there are other methods of reaching 100% DR for LONGER, then Styg should have dealt with the duration, not get rid of concept altogether. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.

Anyway, in my current playthrough I am still not in the expansion, and I am trying to remember what my solution to the locusts was. Because I had a solution I was very happy with it. I think it was

Spoiler

Either full Bio armor OR heavy mechanical armor with drugs for bio-defense. One of the two, not sure right now. TNT for indoor hives. Devastator + a huge bunch of grenades for outside hives and attack from the sea.

I always found the creepers in the caves much more dangerous than locusts. Maybe I have to figure out the right armor for creepers too, but I haven't figured it out yet.

 

[Grunker]

I can understand not wanting 100% DR in the game but it is a little bizarre to nerf that and allow stasis, lol

 

[Spark Mandriller]

How the fuck do I get out of Viridescent Quarry? I've made my way through it, but the path I used to get there can't be used to go back, and I don't have the agility for the long jumps. I've opened the door to the other side, but my jetski is parked all the way around.

There's a perception check to find a hole with a way that leads back to the start in K5 (it also has a tablet with nothing worthwhile on it, super). It's next to the green wart in the centre of the area, past the group of seashells. If you don't have the perception for that you can grab the jackhammer in L4 and use it to break the wall in K5, except that's loud so you'll have to fight everything in the area. If you don't want to do that either you can walk to I3 and steal the jetski there. There's a pirate who seems like he'll spot you but if you wait a bit he'll patrol away and you can get past. You can drive home from there. You'll have to take a pretty circuitous path to avoid fighting pirates if you don't have permission to be there, though.

 

[ItsChon]

You literally only have to kill one locust hive I think to get into Horticultural center. After that, barring the actual hives inside the center, you never need to fight locusts again.

 

[Grunker]

Yeah ended up stealing a ski

A little disappointed by the loot at Viridescent Quarry considering what a pain in the ass it is to get there.

 

[Parabalus]

what my solution to the locusts was

Just avoid them, there's only garbage behind the locusts anyway and unneeded for the MQ.

Of course, you know none of that the first time .

 

[Trashos]

They 've got oddities!

 

[jackofshadows]

I enjoyed the shit out of exploring Fetid Marsch and partially because it felt dangerous even for a bit overleveled powerful char the first time. Locusts are awesome precisely because only a few at best are mandatory, the rest are just there, maintaining the menacing enviroment as well as lurking sea monsters here and there. Literally dangerous enviroment (the high termal ground/geysers) also nicely adds up to that, not to mention the snake people and other stuff of course.

 

[Blaine]

You literally only have to kill one locust hive I think to get into Horticultural center. After that, barring the actual hives inside the center, you never need to fight locusts again.

Unless you want the Oddity, that is.

That's a prime example of why I stopped playing Oddity. I adamantly maintain my position that Oddity detracts more than it adds by encouraging enemy-farming, metagaming, "strategic place-visiting," sequence-breaking, and skill-maxing, all for the purpose of nabbing the most Oddities as quickly as possible.

In other words, Oddity went so far up its own ass in its attempt to be more inclined than banal old XP that it missed the mark and ended up accomplishing the opposite.

With Classic, I don't have to think about XP at all. I play the game normally, and my character levels up. To me that's far more natural than Oddity.

 

[Parabalus]

You literally only have to kill one locust hive I think to get into Horticultural center. After that, barring the actual hives inside the center, you never need to fight locusts again.

Unless you want the Oddity, that is.

That's a prime example of why I stopped playing Oddity. I adamantly maintain my position that Oddity detracts more than it adds by encouraging enemy-farming, metagaming, "strategic place-visiting," sequence-breaking, and skill-maxing, all for the purpose of nabbing the most Oddities as quickly as possible.

In other words, Oddity went so far up its own ass in its attempt to be more inclined than banal old XP that it missed the mark and ended up accomplishing the opposite.

With Classic, I don't have to think about XP at all. I play the game normally, and my character levels up. To me that's far more natural than Oddity.

Oddity is great for one run, because the system is novel and different.

After that, skip.

Kinda like locusts tbh.

 

[Grunker]

Being a dane makes parts of Expedition unintentionally hilarious. For example, "Krigsfar" is quite literally "War dad" (“Krig” = war, “far = “dad” and the ‘s’ is used to bind the words into one, where English would just use a space) and Leif's last name, "Bøtten", means "The bucket" or "The tub". Other words were twisted by Styg or have no meaning whatsoever (unless I'm missing some Norwegian), but these and more are spelled identically to current Danish

 

[Blaine]

Grunker We'll see if you change your mind about Oddity after your Nth playthrough.

Oddity apologists routinely downvote my criticisms of Oddity, then proceed to discuss (or have a history of discussing) metagaming the Oddity system in all the ways I just described.

If you like metagaming Oddity, that's fine. Just don't delude yourselves that that, like, totally isn't what you're doing.

 

[jackofshadows]

If your build is wonky/not strong in general, then sure you'll metagame, at least to a degree. Same as you'll metagame with classic like go to Foundry and unlock every damn closed door there for example. But if you play a powerful build - why would you do that? Just play the fucking game with Oddity "normally", as you said yourself, Blaine. You don't really HAVE TO farm hoppers or whatever else.

 

[Sykar]

Oddity > classic, big time. As to metagaming, who is not metagaming? Sorry to burst your bubble but classic xp is far more likely to lead people into metagaming via murder hoboing everyhing in sight to squeeze out every last drop of xp from the game whereas with oddity one simply does not give a damn after you got the at most handful of oddities and a lot of critter oddities you can gather from the arena anyway. As to me, the only metagaming I do with oddity after Depot A is to visit Core City, Rail Crossing and Foundry and grab those free oddities and accept all the quests I want to do. Then again, classic XP usually ends up being 2-3 levels ahead of oddity after Depot A so it is only fair that there is a way to catch up.
Also there is enough oddity that you can miss a few and still reach max level before the end.

Being a dane makes parts of Expedition unintentionally hilarious. For example, "Krigsfar" is quite literally "War dad" and Leif's last name, "Bøtten", means "The bucket" or "The tub". Other words were twisted by Styg or have no meaning whatsoever (unless I'm missing some Norwegian), but these and more are spelled identically to current Danish

Krigsfar means the same in Swedish, war father.

 

[Trashos]

With Classic, I don't have to think about XP at all. I play the game normally, and my character levels up. To me that's far more natural than Oddity.

On Classic you don't have to think about leveling, because the system is fundamentally broken (not just in UR), and you are constantly overleveled. Which is one of the reasons why Oddity exists (plus, Oddity is the way the game is meant to be played).

Metagaming is an intrinsic part of video games. It is not a side effect, it is part of the essence. Anyway, if the developer wants you to fight locusts, he will make you fight locusts. And like I have said before, locusts are not too much of a big deal if you go prepared with a good plan.

 

[Trashos]

Generally, I find stalkers, spiders, burrowers, and creepers-in-cave-environment much harder (and more annoying) to deal with than locusts. I think I would say that crabs are more annoying too, so locusts are not even top 5.