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Wasteland Wasteland 2 - Character Builds

nine

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Ok. Thanks for reply.
Found some topic just now. Started with 10 CHA on squad leader, curious if it's even worth it.
 
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Bradylama

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It is if you max Leadership. High Leadership bonuses are the only way to make Heavy Weapons capable of bursting headshots.
 

Jasede

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I think you guys forget that Combat Initiative is the best stat for survival and combat effectiveness. Putting it to 3 as Mr. Davis has done is frankly insane. It must reach 10 by the time you are level 40 for maximum DPS. 1 point in Awareness = 7% damage increase and a boat-load of a higher chance to survive since you get to go 3 times for when guys go once. (I exaggerate, but the impact really is that drastic.)

Yes, Anthony, you get 1 attribute point every 10 levels and will probably finish the game at level 39-41.

Also 12 AP is way too much except for very specific characters. You only want as many AP as you exactly need to burst + headshot with assault rifles, the best weapons. That's typically 9.
 

Shadenuat

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7 AP is enough to use assault rifles provided you also have high CI.
Personally I don't really do headshots, I only burst. Why would you want to? Conserve ammo? I don't think so.
I headshot with sniper rifles, so that's why sniper should have 9 AP.

10 CI is way too low, you'll be like NPCs like Scotschmo, while whole party already moved away from enemy into positions, you wait 1.5 rounds in front of the enemy lol.
Maybe Jasede meant Speed/Awareness?

A word about Charisma. Since Vault Dweller said there are extra bits for high CHA characters, and because you can see ***-Ass skill checks with any char, I think 10 CHA leader, maybe female (I've yet to uncover male-specific dialogue), with Perception is a good idea for 1st slot, while character with all 3 ***-Ass skills - for 2nd slot. So you talk with everyone with 10 CHA+Perception, if there's a check you switch to ***-Ass skills character and pass them.
 

Bradylama

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Headshots are an automatic 2x damage. Critical multipliers vary between 1.2x and 2.0x except for some unique weapons with gigantic multipliers. 3-burst headshot with the G41 is devastating.
 

Shadenuat

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Hm, interesting. But probably only doable when you get laser sights and all that.

So for ultimate skill monkey support with Rifles I guess one should go for something like 2-1-4-2-8-10-1, rest Awareness.
Huh. Same build I use for Snipers, really.

Can't do same with Charisma though, unless CI will be just terrible. For CHA-guy it's better to stick with low AP weapons I think (I use 7 AP rifle build with high CI + CI trinkets).
 
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Bradylama

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You can get off a lot of headshots once you max your weapons skill and have Leadership bonuses.

The Character build I'm using for my current squad makes a great run through on Normal if you're a completionist. It's also viable on Hard, but the low Combat Initiative will hurt you.

C-2
L-1
A-4
S-6
S-4
I-10
C-1


Right now I'm using an all-heavy weapons squad, which makes the strength a vital component. The massive intelligence will also give you a huge amount of flexibility in the early game. Pump their brawling skills early and they're like a pack of Mike Tysons who don't waste ammo.

This character gets 9 AP and 11 CI. Pump two points into Strength for extra carry weight, melee damage, and an Action Point. Otherwise pump awareness.

Heavy Weapons do need Leadership bonuses to be capable of headshots, though.

C-1
L-1
A-3
S-4
S-4
I-10
C-5


Leadership Radius comes in at 8m. This character only gets 7 action points and 10 Combat Intitiative. Assault Rifles already get high accuracy and critical boosts from the skill, so that should always be the Leader's choice. Pump Leadership on this guy ASAP and nothing else. It's possible to get it up to 10 with SP and the Stuffed Dog by level 8. The 5 charisma is also enough to get Scotchmo and ignore Ralphy, if you have Angela and one of the other early game NPCs in your party.

7 AP is enough to burst with late game rifles, but you want to put a point in Coordination and 2 in Strength so you can actually do headshot bursts.

Again, this is generalized build for Normal and Hard difficulties. This is not a pure combat party, but it's capable of doing and taking on anything
 
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Shadenuat

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For people who want 10 Charisma in their party for whatever, I think this build is OK. It will do damage even on Supreme Jerk, choose between Energy Weapons or Rifles:
C - 6
L - 1
A - 3
S - 2
S - 5
I - 1
C - 10

8 AP, 10 CI.

If you choose Energy Weapons, then 1 point into Speed, else into Awareness - we want more CI.
If you want Rifles, put 2 points into Coordination for 9 AP for burst headshot.

I feel that Energy Weapons fit better though. You want Gamma Ray and 8 AP will allow to use it's x3 burst every turn with a not so shabby CI.
Gamma Ray will do ~150 damage on everything, more on late game enemies (damage is for highest difficulty). You don't need EW skill high to hit too.
G41 will do ~200 with a burst headshot, but CI will not be as high.
To grow in levels quicker and get at least something from that Charisma bonus, Computer Science is a skill with fat XP rewards. Heck, it's actually so fat I think any character with it grows quicker than others.
I really feel that Gamma Ray is the easiest to use. Since you don't care for crits, can use any trinket you want, like Three Snake Amulet, that gives +2 Ld, -3% crit, can get it in Arizona quickly. And you can keep EW skill low, while getting Leadership to 3+Amulet and one other skill.

To pump this into more competent, but glasscannon territory can use Choice trinket (+5 CI, -15% evade).

Here's level 37 char from my SJ playthrough with Choice ring & G41 rifle. He is 2-4 levels higher than others. I gave Gamma Ray to Rose. I just leveled up everything equally since it's not enough to have 5 Leadership to run with, say, Chisel; I chose Weaponsmithing since I wanted to try something else with Computers:
81909428.jpg

Here's character with Computer Science. I wanted something melee, and something special. So I made a Techno-Shaman, Bestia 2.0:

81909520.jpg

On SJ Dragon Claw does ~75 damage per hit. So full damage from this one is same as rifle burst, provided she uses all her AP.
The 10 INT allows to instantly grab 10 Brawling which is a must (or rather, 9 Brawling + Book from toaster in beginning). Brawler will only start doing good damage when you come by Rebar Knuckles. That's somewhere around Canyon of Titan. You will do ~40 dmg per hit.
Upon arriving to LA damage drops again, even with Boom Fist. Not to mention it's 4 AP per hit.
But upon finding Dragon Claws damage jumps again by ~50%.
The speed is not best but it is enough to run + land a hit and then some. Brawler's job is to sit in Ambush near shooter that is close to enemy (or just Wait), then when enemy rushes in (they always do, idiots), you hit 'em.
You can also hit robot and then hack him (that's what idea is about anyway).
From animals, you want a goat. It gives +1 Awareness.

And Strength? You don't need any. It doesn't improve damage in melee that much.
I probably even took a bit too much. But having even less HP per level seemed too eXtreme. Also should have placed 2 points into Speed, 1 Awareness, not 3 Awareness maybe.

Finally here's SJ completionist "blank state". PopeAmole called it "Scavenger". I call it "10 int + kill everything". Cause you can use this one to max any skills and it will kill anything too.
On highest difficulty pick Rifles.
On Ranger or lower Sniper Rifles also are good. But on SJ Anti-Materiel rifle headshot does about twice less damage than assault rifle headshot burst:

81909624.jpg
 
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Jasede

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I don't understand your builds. How are you considering less than 6 AW (instead of exactly 6) viable? CI is everything. It's the pinnacle of all damage in Wasteland 2. At least it feels that way to me.

Like, I don't get Shadenaut's build AT ALL. 6 Coordination? That's such a waste. Put it to 2 and put the 3 points you free up into AW, then the last point into whatever. The CI is way more important than the hit chance.

Then again I don't know about anything other than assault rifles since I never saw the need.
 

Shadenuat

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Put it to 2 and put the 3 points you free up into AW, then the last point into whatever. The CI is way more important than the hit chance.
That would leave us with 6 action points, which is not enough for any type of character.
 

Jasede

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Get your action points from Speed, a much better stat than coordination.

But you know, actually, 4 Coordination is good; it's what I have.

But you know what? Whatever, man! All these builds work so go with whatever you enjoy. It's fun to theorycraft. From what I read, CI is the best bang for your buck so I kept that high. At level 20 my guys have 18 CL and they typically act almost twice for each enemy turn.
 
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Greatness

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If you really really want 10 CHA, you might as well just go 2,1,3,1,10,1,10

That's 7 AP (the sweetspot for ARs) and 13 Initiative. By endgame with all stats into Awareness and a trinket/goat you can have 17+ initiative.

It has low intellect and I know some people praise the synergy between CHA xp bonus and lots of skills, but really you should have all the skills you need between 7 characters. Those extra 3-4 levels you get are utterly useless since even with them all you can do in combat (this game is probably 70% combat) is throw a grenade once or twice every 30 rounds.

Still, even with CHA affecting some minor dialogue/quest rewards, it's barely noticeable. I'm doing my second run with high CHA so that I can run with 1 ranger/6 companions, but really I wouldn't recommend it. This isn't torment or mask of the betrayer, NPC's are simplistic and don't really add much content at all, just a rare line or two of dialogue that surely isn't worth them all having abysmal combat stats.
 

Shadenuat

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Get your action points from Speed, a much better stat than coordination.
Possible for 8 AP build but not 9 AP. And in the end CI will be around the same (actually, it might turn out lower). Try yourself see what happens.

From what I read, CI is the best bang for your buck so I kept that high.
It depends on situation and weapon you use. If you can destroy multiple enemies approaching in one turn (which is fairly easy even on SJ with 7 characters party armed with rifles/gamma ray/jackhammers/missiles), you don't need more turns.

That's 7 AP (the sweetspot for ARs) and 13 Initiative
I tried it but for Supreme Jerk endgame regular burst is not enough for that sweet alpha strike you want. It was OK for me whole game but then 400 hp robots started to show up. Even endgame rifle does pitiful damage (~100) with standard burst. That's why I think 8 AP and Gamma Ray give most for least investment.

Still, even with CHA affecting some minor dialogue/quest rewards, it's barely noticeable.
The idea is to get 10 CHA with most combat potential. It doesn't matter why you want one. Maybe you want those scraps of dialogue. Maybe you want that extra mutant NPC with buttugly portrait. It's just a completionist thing.
 
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Jasede

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https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=10065

Check this out, character builders.



Anyway, for me CI is indeed the very best attribute.



Now all that aside--

My party is fucked up. Reading the topic I linked I could have made them about 40% more lethal had I known all those numbers. And I am still never in danger, and only have 1 Surgeon and 1 Medic. Also I don't use any NPCs, just the 4 rangers. This game is easy as hell on Supreme Jerk, after the initial spike in Highpool/Ag Center. And I run from every random encounter.

It could do with an optional super hard difficulty.
 

Shadenuat

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No thanks, dealing 2 times less damage and enemies doing 2 times more is enough. Final maps with even higher damage penalty would be insufferable unless you run full-rifle op combat party. And it's not like AI would change into something smarter or combat mechanics would benefit from 300% more damage enemies. It will drag on forever.

Personally I find Ranger difficulty optimal. TBH it's nice the first time you play it and more damage does not really change your tactics, although OP builds like 1 INT Brawler with maxed CI do feel like monsters (on SJ they just get shot very quickly).

My party is fucked up. Reading the topic I linked I could have made them about 40% more lethal had I known all those numbers.
If you play through whole game you won't need to. You will see how characters behave and know what needs to be changed.
To be effective in combat you want enough AP to use headshot/whatever and ~15 CI. To win SJ you want 2-3 riflemen and maybe an energy user in party. Shotgunner/Brawler are optional. That's all there is to it. Although beating final fights would be less of a chore if you have 4 clones of Stallone with G41's.

On lower difficulties even Submachine guns are actually ok provided you have 10 AP (5 bullet headshot burst will do 200 dmg, don't forget that long barrel).

after the initial spike in Highpool/Ag Center
Uh, these are not difficult locations or spike places. Things like Abandoned Railway, Damonta, Prison if you're low level, beginning of LA are more like "spikes" :M

Bah, theorycraft fags, can't even finish game properly and already not pleased with their chars and other ppl builds :kingcomrade:
 
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Bradylama

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My inner Balancefag is coming out with all these CI worshippers. 2 moves a turn is OP min/max faggotry :obviously:
 

Jasede

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That's okay, I went with only 15 CI at level 1 to keep it fair.

If I had gone for a 20 CI build I don't think I'd ever got shot in the entire game (on SJ, mind you).
 

Greatness

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The way they increase difficulty with "Supreme Jerk" is just awful. I know it's out of their scope to actually change encounter design or improve enemy AI based on difficulty, but I really can't be bothered with higher difficulty levels when it's just implemented as "Player does half damage! Enemies do double damage!".

It never actually makes the game more difficult, just more boring. It throws game balance out the window and just makes every battle into one against HP Bloat. Makes your hardened rangers hit weaker than peasants while your max STR tanks die in a single turn.

It's sad that this is one area that pretty much no developer actually tries in. Just take a look at the Sword Coast Stratagem mods, imagine if other games actually tried as hard on encounter design+AI as a single fucking modder did. IMO stuff like that adds far more replayability than the typical "see our reactivity! two different story paths!" shit.
 
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Jasede

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The problem us that the combat is just flawed and rotten at its very core. That's why you hear us SJ cracks ask for an even harder difficulty - which is a pipe dream. The only way to make this game harder is increase the damage taken and reduce the damage inflicted. And if they made us take x4 damage and made us do 25% damage we'd still be beating the game due to its flawed core mechanics.

Anyway just vanilla BG 2 had amazing encounter design, especially for an Rtwp game.
 

Jasede

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So apparently a 20 CI character gets 66% more turns than a 12 CL character. Holy Christ. Can't believe how good a team I could have made in theory.
 

Roguey

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The 10% to hit bonus from maxed out leadership is absolutely worth it
It's really just 1% per point? :?

That's still part of my group plan, but it doesn't seem like much on paper.
 

Jasede

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Might not but at least on SJ I wish I had 10% more to hit on everyone to maximize headshot burst damage per AP.

Also remember that basically, 10% bonus to everyone at 10 is like a 40% bonus with 4 team members, or 70% with 7.
 

Shevek

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I went with a balanced team of 7 to make sure I had plenty of skills and saw plenty of the NPC text barks. I didn't go with maxing CI and all that but so far it has worked out pretty well (just regular ole seasoned difficulty).

4 Rangers:

1. Leader
C L A S S I C
2 1 7 2 2 8 6
Skills: Leadership, Perception, Demolitions, ARs (disarming traps is common and skill use xp gets boosted by CHA)
Combat Stats: 7 AP, 13 CI (can't burst headshot but still decent for a leader-build)
Level up attributes in Awareness for more CI

2. Face
C L A S S I C
2 1 4 2 S 8 1
Skills: Ass Trio, ARS (this is the talking guy to open up convo options, no need to switch between characters in dialog - ease of use)
Combat Stats: 9AP, 14 CI (can burst headshot later)
Level up attributes in Awareness for more CI

3. Muscle
C L A S S I C
2 1 4 S 9 1 1
Skills: Brawling, Weaponsmithing (I wish I could fit brute force in there for RP reasons... oh well)
Combat Stats: 9 AP, 13CI
Level up attributes are 1 in Speed and the rest in Awareness

4. Mixed Shocktrooper
C L A S S I C
2 1 4 6 S 4 1
Skills: Energy Weapons, Bladed Weapons, Outdoorsman (I probably didn't need to go with a guy that can use two weapons but it seemed like a fun idea)
Combat Stats: 9 AP, 14 CI
Level up attributes are 2 in Coordination (to get to 10 AP so I can burst headshot with GRB) and 1 in Awareness

NPCs:
As soon as I create the game, I run north and get Ralphy and Scotchmo. Then I ditch Angela and grab Rose. This ensures my endgame npcs get all the skill shrines and xp I find.

Ralphy: SMGs, Toaster Repair and Mechanical Repair, first 3 attribute points: +1 int/co/sp
Rose: Comp Sci, Surgeon, Medic, Handguns and Sniper, first 3 attribute points: 2 in speed, 1 in co
Scotchmo: Locksmith and Safe cracking, first 3 attribute points: int, speed
 

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