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Virgin Run

Ivan

Arcane
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Jun 22, 2013
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Hey guys, looking at my first run. I'm making a thiefy melee based assassin, but I'm finding that I need Int to properly boost my Hacking stat, is that right? Or should I be fine boosting Hacking with say, a level 3 Int attribute score?
 

Snufkin

Augur
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
461
Well you do need 5 int for cheap shots and expose weakness. 6-7 is also useful since it allows you to pick crafting feats and craft equipment faster.

One thing however, i would not go meele on your first run. Meele builds are weakest in this game. But if you insist, here is knife assassin build:

http://underrail.info.tm/?build=AwG...nZInbBnFBBRADhAhVm44BZ+AThBQA7CCSgkKUa1ExBEIA

Strategy will be:
Activate energy shield, sneak up and use cut throat to stun/kill first enemy, then activate sprint, use adreinaline shot and blitz and hack everything to pieces. If something goes wrong run away and keep droping traps using quick tinkering and try to hide behind corner.
 
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ghostdog

Arcane
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Messages
11,079
I'd propose an intelligence of 7. Apart from feat requirements, INT has great synergies, especially with crafting, which you'll need.

Meele builds are weakest in this game
That's not true. Melee/stealth builds can be very powerful.

use cut throat
Don't even pick Cut throat. It's very circumstantial and at the point you get it, underwhelming. Pick a good utility feat instead, like pack rathound, it will help immensely, especially since you'll probably have low STR.




To get some ideas:

My serrated knife/pneumatic fist build, with which I breezed through the game: This is mainly a bleeding/stun build with good critical chances. Very mobile, with a huge pool of movement and action points. Secondary use of grenades. You sneak up to a group of enemies, stun a couple of them (the most powerful ones - PSI users for the most part since you're weak against PSI) and in your second turn, you proceed to eliminate all of them. If you want some more crowd control, throw a grenade (Incendiary grenades and Flashbangs help greatly). Serrated knife along with your bleeding feats will add a lot of bleeding to the opponents and pneumatic fist can do wonders later on, since at every fourth hit you get a huge critical and stun the opponent (And after some time your AP will be very high and you'll get to do a lot of successive hits)

Nimble gives you -15% armor penalty and added dodge/evasion, so our gear will be at most of 15% armor penalty for maximum action points and dodge/evasion. Expose Weakness will help a lot against mechanical/heavily armed opponents, be sure to pick it asap, because especially robots (and even psi beetles) will be tough opponents in the beginning.

Max melee, almost max dodge/evasion/stealth, then divide the rest of the points in grenades hack/lockpick and technology skills. All level-up attribute points go to DEX. Oh be sure to utilize a taser, it's the one of the most sure ways to stun an opponent, especially in the beginning. (IIRC you can find one early on). Your crafting skills will help you craft some great gear and especially some very good energy shields which you'll need.

Level: 25
BASE ABILITIES
--------------------------------
Strength: 3
Dexterity: (Level 1: 10)16
Agility: 10
Constitution: 4
Perception: 3
Will: 3
Intelligence: 7

SKILLS
--------------------------------
OFFENSIVE
Guns: 0
Throwing: 62(125)
Crossbows: 0
Melee: 135(272)

DEFENSIVE
Dodge: 120(181)
Evasion: 120(181)

SUBTERFUGE
Stealth: 121(182)
Hacking: 75(103) (+2INT from junkyard surprise) (+15 from HUXKEY) = 130
Lockpicking: 46(101) (+2DEX from junkyard surprise) (+7 from jackknife) (+15 from HUXKEY) = 131
Pickpocketing: 0
Traps: 0 (13)

TECHNOLOGY
Mechanics: 92(115) (+2INT from junkyard surprise) (+15% from house) = 150
Electronics: 92(115) (+2INT from junkyard surprise) (+15% from house) = 150
Chemistry: 84(109) (+2INT from junkyard surprise) (+15% from house) = 141 - You can cut back on this one.
Biology: 41 (63) (+2INT from junkyard surprise) (+15% from house) = 80
Tailoring: 92(115) (+2INT from junkyard surprise) (+15% from house) = 150

PSI
Thought Control: 0
Metathermics: 0
Psychokinesis: 0

SOCIAL
Persuasion: 0
Intimidation: 0
Mercantile: 0

FEATS
--------------------------------
Expertise
Nimble
Pack Rathound
Recklessness
Expose Weakness
Cheap Shots
Vile Weaponry
Crippling Strike
Fancy Footwork
Taste for Blood
Opportunist
Uncanny Dodge
Skinner
Critical Power
 
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Self-Ejected

Ulminati

Kamelåså!
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Resist temptation to reroll a million different builds. Every character will have something they're awful at.

Ghostdogs build is pretty close to what I'd recommend for sneaksy melee. (Though personally I'd rather just psimonk or giant hammr+metal armor for melee builds).
 

Snufkin

Augur
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
461
Yes, sledgehammer build with 400% crit mod will hit for up to 1.7k dmg, hard to argue with that. And yes, fist / unarmed build is stronger then knives. Btw, reason i recommended cut-throat is because he asked for assassin build after all.

But anyways, there are three builds in Underrail:

1 . Berserker - This one relies on blitz/adrenaline in first round and highest evasion/dodge as possible, strategy is to kill everything in 2 turns and goes for max dps possible.
2 . Tanker - 10 con build who relies on getting as high resistances possible and defensive feats.
3 . Crafter - 7 build who picks crafting feats to make stronger eq then usual, and also gets ahead of lower int builds since at lvl 10-12 you already can craft really strong eq.
 
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Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
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California
So what I don't want to do is follow a strict build esp considering this would be my first proper run, but I do have some questions.

Wouldn't investing in hacking/lockpicking/pickpocketing compensate for my absolute ineptitude in crafting? My thinking is, I should be able to find the best loot if I am a Thief, right?

Also, I'm seeing that you need to really boost stealth and pickpocketing for them to be effective at all right? I had pickpcoket at like 25-30 (lv2 or 3) and I couldn't pickpocket a single person at all.
 
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ghostdog

Arcane
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11,079
Wouldn't investing in hacking/lockpicking/pickpocketing compensate for my absolute crafting?
It can compensate only partially. Crafting is very rewarding in Underrail and most of the best gear can be obtained only through crafting. There is some very good unique gear to be found in the game, but a lot of it doesn't even need hacking/lockpicking/pickpocketing to be found. Unlike most games, crafting is very fun in UR. You could do without crafting, but it makes the game easier so it's a good choice for a first run, because you can make gear that really suits your build.

About pickpocket IIRC you need to have at least 40 to rob normal npcs. For special npcs you'll probably need to at least double that. In general you'll want most chosen skills to be 100-130 by the end. Whatever you do remember that making a jack of all trades is a bad idea. Pick the skills you like, do a check with he underrail build planner to have a rough idea about how you'll develop them and start the game.
 

Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
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Yeah, I guess my trepidation stems from crafting being so bad in most games. Think I'll save crafting entirely for my 2nd character. I want to fully explore the game (maps, open every container/door, have a gander at every major npc
s pockets, etc) for my first run.
 

Snufkin

Augur
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Mar 11, 2012
Messages
461
Keep in mind that crafter equipment will end up 2 times better then shoped one.
 

ghostdog

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There's very good unique gear to be found for a melee-assassin character. Keep your eyes open for rathound king, a certain kukri, a power fist and a ripper's glove.
 

Ivan

Arcane
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Jun 22, 2013
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California
Fuck, so now I'm considering redoing my character since I'm getting murdered in Depot A nonstop. This is my shitty loadout thus far:
8A5AB124FFCCCA64A80D45797C532E213B1AA77F

52CFFAAE191ECF718FA489C5C168203A41544930
10 Dex 9 Agi 7Per 5 Int 3 Con

I'm finding that lockpicking only really leads to scarce ammo pickups and not actual items like I was hoping for.


Rerolling with crafting in mind. Will report progress.
 
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ghostdog

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Have in mind that depot A is a big spike up in difficulty. Afterwards the progression is pretty normal up until you reach the endgame areas. Frankly the only problem I see in your build is the 7 in perception. I guess you did it to find secret areas, but it's wasted stat points since you have a melee character.
 

MediantSamuel

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Yeah, Oddity really shines on a sneaky character who doesn't have to kill everything. Although I usually end up slaughtering areas as a sneaky character for loot, or because enemies drop some nice oddities from time to time. I can't imagine Classic is any more interesting, to be honest.

I've almost finished a playthrough with maxed Lockpicking and I can't actually imagine putting so many points into it next playthrough. There are a few skips you can unlock to avoid enemies but for the most part, the most important areas do have keys to unlock them. Even on Hard difficulty, loot is such a non-issue by the time you get to Core City. My current character has something like 300 special crossbow bolts and I've only ever used about a dozen of them.

Hacking I feel is definitely worth it - you can turn off security systems, hack turrets to help you, avoid at least one combat encounter. I'm fairly sure the boxes still contain crap, but the extra functions that Hacking has over Lockpicking make it more worthwhile imo.
 

ghostdog

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It's better to play oddity period. Whichever character you play, if you explore enough, you'll get to max level by the end of the game with oddities. Even with zero lock/hack/pick skill. The game is balanced around oddities and if you'll play with XP you'll probably reach max level by 2/3 of the game and... experience butthurt.
 

Ivan

Arcane
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Jun 22, 2013
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Rerolled. THis is my dude:
8A8A1AD088BB8BA8E0CBBADFF6446333CDC4096D

C6BC5CC29101AAD7D321546711E05AFE7FCB6401
my loadout
915E380338B4DDCF883C64BBC840F6C707A8DB98

C78F4A1AB684C74F6F0842C5827FA406FC2FD6F1
I bailed on Depot A since every way I turned I was ambushed by mutant Junkies and dogs. I thoght, hm maybe I'm supposed to explore elsewhere first, get better loot. Walked into a burrower nest and 30 grenades later I found a locked room w/ a girl and a toolbox in it. Finally, the epic loot I was searching for.
A914E240BCD31EB20929A858E84C0B037F3636DD



So, am I doing something wrong? Should I be exploring someplace in particular to get better loot? Depot A is an ambush nightmare, and I barely made it through the burrowers thanks to my grenade feat. Maybe this isn't for me IDK. I want the game to click w/ me but I'm finding the item progression to be a slog (e.g. investing in crafting but not being able to find items required to build anything better than what's available in shops). Where should I go next? Is melee generally the hardest build through the game? Are guns an easier avenue. Just pretty frustrated, esp after that fucking lootbox @ the end of that dungeon. I mean, I'm making liberal use of nades, using the kick ability and expose weakness whenever I can and I still get slaughtered.
 

ghostdog

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Have you gone to camp Hathor yet? If not, you can head there to do some questing before depot A.

Also there are many ways around depot A, you don't have to kill all mutants, just sneak by them when the odds are too hard. Your goal is to find the drill parts, you can come back later to clear the area. As I said depot A is one of the hardest areas of the game because the difficulty suddenly rises a lot. Some people find the sudden difficulty fun, other people frustrating, but afterwards things will go more smooth.

The burrowers are also very hard opponents when you meet them at that cave below the jukyard at early game. I don't recall that lootbox but the area is mostly about that optional side quest and a first encounter about how nasty these beasts are.
 

epeli

Arcane
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
719
Well, generally melee is fairly easy. Guns can be easier or harder to play depending on the spec, with assault rifles probably being the simplest to play with. Your character looks okay as far as I can tell without knowing all your feats. But one thing I'd immediately change is armor. Unfortunately you don't have the skills to craft perfect armor for each occasion, but try to get tabi boots and a stealthy coat. That should be enough to let you do the ambushing or skip fights entirely. Mutated dog or siphoner leather armor would be perfect for Depot A, but those rarely (if ever) turn up in shops or as random loot.

Have you gone to camp Hathor yet? If not, you can head there to do some questing before depot A.
But he won't be able to get there before finding the drill circuit board in Depot A.
 

Ivan

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I'll keep trudging through. One more question. Should I be able to find the components I need to craft in the world, or are some exclusively found through merchants? Instead of dividing my points too much I'm thinking of sticking with mechanics and tailoring, as Bio seems to be for drugs and Chem for bombs (?)
 

epeli

Arcane
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
719
No, don't rely on getting everything you need from loot. Animals and fungi are endless supply of chemicals and leathers, but other than that there's only so much loot to be had. Eventually you'll get everything you need through merchants. All shops restock every 90 minutes.

And correct, biology is mostly for drugs and chemistry for explosives/chemical weapons. Electronics is also very useful for energy shields, electroshock weapons and some other gadgets.
 

Ivan

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1E436C405D36F5C35C6ECF63DC75AFBC01BBFF6C


first unique weapon
278F01293D5FF230D7C0012074CB06BCD2EE039E

made myself some armor I'm quite happy with.
030E5DFFF8ADBC22F932ABC280B206FD61308695
the tide is changing, boys!
 
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Snufkin

Augur
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
461
Game will start to be easier once you craft your desired energy shield, siphoner leather armor/boots. Later one infused rathound leather armor will boost your crits. Right now keep on using Kukri.
 

Ivan

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7,474
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annoyance: tnt. is the Armory dude the only guy who sells it? I keep returning to him and sometimes he doesnt have it, making exploration kind of a pain. I guess I'll folow the main story. The good news is now I feel empowered at least.

I think Railroad Crossing might be good to avoid as there are a lot of Psi thugs there, in packs.
 

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