Wasteland Wasteland 2 - Character Builds

[Turan Khan]

Woa, really great post#151, McElio. Thanks a bunch! That clarified a lot of things for me, actually.

For a 7-man party, a 10int/10Cha skill mule REALLY makes sense and I agree. Believe me I want to do that. However for a 4-man party, having 1 non-combat character is too detrimental, imho. Thus, in this case, I follow ehrgeix's Charisma character build: EW leader (2 1 6 4 8 4 3 - 8 AP, 15 CI) // EW[2], Perception, Leadership, Weaponsmithing.

Also, I spread out the oft-used skills more or so evenly among my 4-man commando, each getting two high-throughput skills. Why? Because all my team has just 4int, thus only able to max out 4 skills, and thus I wanted to spread the highest xp-giving skills more or so evenly among the four. My leader has Perception+Weaponsmithing that gives good xp. My sniper-2 has Demolitions-2, Alarm, and Lockpicking that arguably gives the most xp, relatively to my other four, because I'm fearing with just one shot per round, she won't get much xp. My AR-2 medic has Field Medic-2, Surgeon, and Safecracking. And my Brawler-2 has Computer Science-2, Mechanical Repair, and Toaster Repair. I went with just ONE weapon skill, but pumped two points into it. I mean they can STILL use other weapons like SMGs for my EW and it'll be painful in the beginning but once an EW battery ammo is high enough and a better EW weapon is found, it should be smooth sailing. I just find the three points into SMG largely a waste on EW ranger.

For a 4man team, I think that going 2 Brawlers is too much, so I agree with McElio on this one instead of ehrgeix. On the flipside, for a 7-man party with CNPCs, then yeah ehrgeix suggestion of going with 2 Brawlers and 3 Ranged and then just adding 1 more CNPC Brawler makes perfect sense. For a 4 man team, 1 Brawler is just enough with the rest 3 ranged. My ranged are 1 EW, 1 Sniper, 1 AR for Ranger difficulty. For SJ, 1 EW and 2 ARs or just all three ARs lawls.

Yeah, a Melee playthrough should be possible... but for that Blunt and Bladed MUST need a buff, imho. Also, I think the way to make EVERY weapon alluring is to add more powerful effects to each like debuffs and such. So it's as much a question of style as useability, but not min-maxing like it currently is. Also, can't wait for mod tools to implement katanas, flails, spears, bows, crossbows, dartguns and many other weapons that aren't in Wasteland 2 yet. I feel like the weapon selection is rather limited.

You know McElio, you've convinced me on your Brawler build, I'm going to roll with yours [4-1-2-10-10-4-1] instead of ehrgeix Brawler [2-1-4-6-10-4-1]. Ehrgeix, does your Brawler able to put out the same nearly 800 damage/400dmg SJ with Strength at 6?

I kind of like the idea of both Speed and Strength at 10 and Brawling at 10, making a really powerful tank character, damage-sponge for my 4-man party. At just 6 strength, I don't think it'll be as felt as at 10.

 

[ehrgeix]

Re: melee stats, CI: https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=9820

 

[Turan Khan]

Gah, I'm dumb. That [4-1-2-10-10-4-1] is at lvl40 with 4 more pumped into Strength, so initial strength is 6.

Still, actually I just seesawed back to ehrgeix's Brawler build... the only difference between his and McElio's is that McElio stressed APs with Coordination at 4 and Awareness at 2, while ehrgeix stressed Awareness at 4 and Coordination at 2.

I now find myself agreeing with ehrgeix. While for a melee character, I'd like more AP than CI, honestly.. but Coordination's bonus to ranged is COMPLETELY worthless to a Brawler. However, Awareness's evade chance is actually somewhat useful to a Brawler. Thus, imho, Awareness for a melee character is more useful than Coordination.

 

[ehrgeix]

+%hit vs +%evasion is basically totally irrelevant, the important thing is CI vs AP (and str vs CI).

(You get more damage from CI).

e: Evasion is not completely worthless I guess, and it's noticeable in cover with Anna's or Inverted 4 Leaf, but uh, it's a very small consideration compared to CI/AP balance and damage per segment compared to lower CI heroes.

 

[McElio]

Thanks for the link on psot 155 ehrgeix gonna analyse it a bit :D i Especially didnt know that Str also increased base weapon dmg by 2% that is interesting to note will also analyse the CI stat effect.

Edit : I start with 10 STR to get + CON per lvl from start if it is applied retroactivly when u increase it on lvl up then starting with any variation (depending on your prefered build) to get more speed CI from the getgo is probably optimal

 

[McElio]

After reading the link ehrgeix kindly provided here is my thoughts about CI :

Based on the link 6 CI = 10 turns and 20 CI = 33 turns doing a simple division that is 10/6 = 1,65 and 33/20 = 1,65 so so 1 CI gives 1,65 turns over a span of turns where a Char with 12 CI would get 20 (12*1,65 =19,8).

By my personal expirience most (about 80%) of the encounters in the game a 12 CI char gets about 4-5 turns per encounter/fight. so if we divide 20(turns in a segment) with 4 or 5 (expected turns per fight) we get 5 or 4 respectivly witch gives us the expected amount of segment we spend on an avarage encounter. So 1,65 (turns pers CI per segment)/4 or 5 (effective amount of segment per avarage encounter) = 0,41 and 0,33

So each point of CI offeers (0,41+0,33)/2 = 0,37 turns in an average encounter (again by avarage i define most encounter in my personal playthroughs).

Now lets take the 2 Brawler types i described above :
CLASSIC : 4,1,2,10,10,4,1 (including 4 points from lvl so at lvl 40) has 12 Combat Initiative and 11ActionPoints (12 with "Anarchy Patch" trinket)(named B1from now on)
CLASSIC 2,1,4,10,10,4,1 (again at 40 lvl) for 14CI 10AP and free trinket slot (Named B2 from now on).

B1 dmg per turn = 798 Expexted turns = 12*0,37 = 4,44 Total dmg = 798*4,44 = 3543,12
B2 dmg per turn with Spiked Bracers = 649,8 Expexted turns = 14*0,37= 5,18 Total dmg = 649,8 * 5,18 = 3365,9
B2 dmg per turn with Pair of engagement rings(has 10AP so -1 = 9 is 3 attcks also) = 598,5 Expexted turns = 17*0,37= 6,29 Total dmg = 598,5 * 6,29 = 3764,5

Above math indicate that ehrgeix Brawler suggestion is better then mine since dmg difference is marginal (his is better with engagement rings) but the biggest boon is having 1 spare AP (withought engagement rings) and trinket slot open for players choice(would go for Air Jordans Imho).

Funny thing is i wanted to make an Assault rifle team and after going into math here i will prolly end with a Brawler,Energy Weapons combat specialist,leader skill mule and 1 AR member for my starting 4. Thanks for the input guys


Edit: Comment about the decimal on expected turns. Since i dont know how the game hanles decimal on CI expected turns i suggest taking the above table as a reference and not as a given. Generally it seems CI offers the best DMG per Stat point ratio for any build.

 

[McElio]

Well as stated above i like Theorycrafting and doing calculations. Here is my final (hopefully) 4 starting rangers for Supreme Jerk. I will still reqruit Scothmo, Ralphy and Rose and make them use Assault Rifles.



Skill Mule Leader : CLASSIC: 2,1,3,2,4,10,10(At 40 lvl) CI:10 AP:8 Using G41 AR

Avg.Dmg Per Bullet(No Crit) : (57+75)/2=66
Crit Chance : 40(weapon skil) + 1(Luck) - 3 ("Three-headed snake amulet" trinket)=38%
Crit Multiplier = 1.6
Part of Dmg expected to be crit : 66*38/100 = 25.08
Crit Dmg : 25.08 * 1,6 = 40.16
Part of Dmg expected to be non crit : 66 - 25.08 = 40.92
Avg.Dmg Per Bullet(With Crit) : (Non Crit Dmg + Crit Dmg) 40.16 * 40.92 = 81.08

Avg. Dmg Per Turn (One Burst) : 81.08 * 3 = 243.24

Expected Turns(See my previous post #159) : 10CI * 0.37 = 3.7

Expected Dmg Per Encounter : 243.24 * 3.7 = 899,98



Energy Weapons Combat Specialist : CLASSIC : 4,1,10,2,10,4,1(At lvl 40) CI:20(+3 "Pair of engagement rings" trinket) AP:9(-1 trinket) Using Gamma ray Blaster

Avg.Dmg Per Beam(No Threshold) : (40+65)/2=52,5
Crit Chance : 0
Armor Threshold Multiplier(Above 2 armor) : 2,2
Avg.Dmg Per Beam(With Threshold) : 52,5 * 2,2 = 115,5

Avg. Dmg Per Turn (One Burst) : 115,5 * 3 = 346,5

Expected Turns(See my previous post #159) : 23CI * 0,37 = 8,51

Expected Dmg Per Encounter : 346,5 * 8,51 = 2948.715


Assaul Rifle Combat Specialist : CLASSIC : 6,1,8,2,10,4,1(At lvl 40) CI:18 AP:10


Avg.Dmg Per Bullet(No Crit) : (57+75)/2=66
Crit Chance : 40(weapon skil) + 1(Luck) +3 ("Bow" trinket)=44%
Crit Multiplier = 1.6
Part of Dmg expected to be crit : 66*44/100 = 29.04
Crit Dmg : 25.08 * 1,6 = 46.46
Part of Dmg expected to be non crit : 66 - 29.04 = 36.96
Avg.Dmg Per Bullet(With Crit) : (Non Crit Dmg + Crit Dmg) 36.96 * 46.46 = 83.6

Avg. Dmg Per Turn (One Burst + one single shot per 2 turns) : 83.6 * 3.5 = 292.6

Expected Turns(See my previous post #159) : 18CI * 0,37 = 6.66

Expected Dmg Per Encounter : 292.6 * 6.66 = 1948.71

Note Above AR char can also use "Pair of engagement rings" trinket giving him 9AP the perfect ammount for BurstHeadshots and 21CI. Below i will calculate the Dmg Per encounter for this variation but keep in mind that this dosent account for the VASTLY reduced hit chance(-40%)

Avg.Dmg Per Bullet(Headshot) : 66*2=132
Crit Chance : 0

Avg. Dmg Per Turn (One Burst) 132*3=396

Expected Turns(See my previous post #159) : 21 * 0.37 = 7,77

Expected Dmg Per Encounter : 396 * 7,77 = 3076.92

Great Dmg but as stated above dosent account for lower hit chance.

Brawler : CLASSIC : 2,1,4,10,10,4,1 (again at 40 lvl) CI:14 AP:10 (will probably be using "Air Jordans" trinket)

Math on my previous post(#159).

Expected Dmg Per Encounter : 3100.23

NOTE: I read somewere (ithink in in inXile forums) that "pair of engagement rings" dosent give full +3CI if your CI is already high. NO idea if that is true and no idea what "high CI" is. Hope someone can confirm and clarify or disprove it.

Thanks for reading and for any comments/input u might have.

 

[huldu]

It's so depressing to even read this thread. So you have a few terrible attributes, which are next to worthless. Then you have a game bloated with a bunch of skills for what reason? I just don't understand. It truly feels like they added many of these skills just for the sake of adding something. That's just bad in my book. Simplicity is often a better and leads to a smoother gameplay. Not sure what the point of all these "end-game" builds are, what exactly are you doing once you beat the game? I knew the second when I entered the game with a "premade" group that it was a complete gimp-feast about to happen and guess what, it was true. Made a new party after that and got bored fairly fast with the game. What exactly is the point with all the "containers" in the game? Just random junk and AMMO. That's about it. More diversity in the loot, a reason to actually care about the containers and not just "oh more ammo" would have made a huge difference. You have like a million skills just to open a container, why not just slim it down? Just because you have the illusion of options doesn't make it a reality.

I really wanted to like the game but it feels too mediocre to me. It has a foundation to build upon tho, but since this is the... second part? I guess that hope sailed long ago. Maybe the game just wasn't done yet, that might be the main problem.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

If you are not playing on Supreme Jerk, then what's the point of complicated builds? Each ranger gets a 10 INT, leader gets CHA and INT at 10. There is still room to have 6 Speed and 4 Str or whatever.
Having multiple turns from CI does not matter, as you can kill anyone with an assault rifle/energy weapon burst.

 

[Shadenuat]

Not playing on SJ is the way to create complicated and fun builds. On JS for comfortable play you'll end up with a bunch of clones.

 

[Rabidredneck]

Been a long time since i posted here, but this thread gave me a lot of ideas of changing my design criteria. I've only been playing this about a week so far and have gotten up to the area with the crazy "blow themselves up" monks. so maybe restarting wouldn't be too bad. Now that I have a better idea of NPC recruits to go for, I can forego some skill choices I initially made and use those skill points for something else.

And thank you for the link to the character builder, that thing is so damn useful.

 

[lancmis]

Hello Everyone.

I Am thinking of doing a second run on "Supreme Jerk" difficulty and here is my team composition :

My Wasteland 2 Squad

(Above party is at lvl 9 to show sklill point distribution/expected progression)

Resoning behind my choises is simple :

1) 9 AP for Assault Rifles headshot bursts or crouch/stand/movement and normal burst.

2) Assault rifles on (almost) all squad members sinci imho AR on burst is the best DpAP (Damage per AP) weapon in every part of the game (Arizona/California).

3) Assault rifles range with correct mods (Long barrel/High Powered scope in Arizona)(Flashlight Suppressor/Tactical scope in California) has incredible range and hit chance.

4) The ranger named "A" will eventually get energy weapon skill. She will get 4 speed at lvl 20 gaining 8 AP thus being able to use Gamma Ray Blaster burst.(U will be arounbd lvl 20 when u get it).

5) Since Angela Death leaves the party at some point i dont plan on reqruting her.

6) Scotchmo Ralphy and Rose are ALL reqruitable right from the start (Simply take a small detour right from the start loop around the radiation going west from Ranger Citadel then north then East to reach Rail Nomads Camp reqruit Ralphy and Scotchmo then return).

7) Forget Rose's handgun and Ralphy's brawling and train them in Assault rifles also.

8) Since i am expecting to rach 40+ lvl (but not 50)(based on my first playthrough)
Get Ralphy + 1 Int at 10 + 1 Coord at 20 +1 Speed at 30 and +1 AW at 40.
Rose +1 Coord at 10 +2 Speed at 20, 30 and +1 AW at 40.
Scothmo gets +1 Int at 10 and +3 on Speed at 20, 30, 40
A gets +4 in Speed at 10,20,30,40
B,C,D +4 in AW at 10,20,30,40

9) You can eventually train scotchmo in Assault Rifles or any other weapon of your choise since lockpicking and Safecraking soft cap is 7 (+1 from skillbooks)(+2 from Cat Burglur Mask)just swap trinkets before skilll use if needed.

10) Forgoing all "Ass" skills since they are very expencive to maintain (44 * 3 = 132 SP) and they offer minor gameplay rewards.

11) Since 3 of my main rangers have 2 skills they are easyly modifyable to fit personal playstyle. U could distribute the 3 "Ass" skills between them, or have each one learn a melee weapon skill, or concider the barter skill(see 13), or mayby give them some surgeon/medic skills(my personal choise).

12) My main concern is the low strength of my party meaning i will probably have to make many trips to Ranger Citadel(on the flipside: more outdorrman XP)(for Loot Selling and generally low strength will make loot managing anoying.

13) My secondary concern is Ammo/money issues. Since 5 members in my party use Assault Rifles (any mayby 6 end game) ammo managment might be an issue but in my personal expirience scrap is abundant in Arizona due to "weapon makings" RC quartermaster quest. And since u can leave and reenter RC so the quartermaster restocks Ammo i dont think it will be a major problem. Also u could give one of my 2 skill rangers the Barter skill to help with economy

14) Low Con can be an issue but since my party has great range (and new patch 2 fixes enemies infinite move bug) good evasion and really high initiative (20 by endgame) i dont think it will be a problem. Also if u give them field medic skills as i suggest (see 11) Con will not be a problem. Finally since u have 2.0 combat speed and incredible range u will be using power armor giving u a nice survivability boost.

14)Also SPOLER:

Spoiler

Since there is a reason to not want Rose in party , Vulture Cry is a decent 8 int early substitution (again forget sniper and go AR IMHO) just abjust ranger skills accordingly

Here is a sample of my expected squad at 30 lvl for late game reference :

My Wasteland 2 Squad

Please keep in mind skills here are with no skillbooks(that is why most non weapon skills are at 9 max) and no bonus skill points from shrines so expected skill distribution will be a bit better.

Thanks for reading my post and i hope u found it helpfull/informative. I would love to hear your opinion and suggestions on my build since i am going to start this playthrough soon.

Edit 1 : some typos

Hey , can you refresh your current Wasteland 2 Squad ??

 

[maverick]

After reading this thread, and suffering with 2 worthless beginning squads, I'd like to contribute with my current squad build, which is turning fine so far.
I tried to build a well rounded party for a rather completionist playthrough, and balance APs for the 'sweet spot' of each weapon, as outlined on Pope Amole II 's great Steam post on page 3 of this thread.

Leader:
CLASSIC: 4 1 7 2 2 4 8 (10th lvl point on Charisma, reaching 10 later with a trinket)
AP: 7
CI: 13
Weapon: Assault Rifles
Main skills: Leadership, Perception, Smart Ass
(if you rush for Pizepi Joren NPC, you can drop Perception and Smart Ass for Hard Ass and Brute Force, as Pizepi comes with high ranks on them)

Techie/Sniper:
CLASSIC: 4 1 5 2 4 10 2 (10th lvl point on Awareness)
AP: 9
CI: 12
Weapon: Sniper Rifle
Main skills: Safecracking, Lockpicking, Demolitions, Mechanical Repair
1 point on Surgeon

Sniper:
CLASSIC: 4 1 5 4 8 4 2 (10th lvl point on Awareness) (could also try with -2 on Strength to pump another stat)
AP: 9
CI: 14
Weapon: Sniper Rifle
Mains skills: Kiss Ass, Weaponsmithing
1 point on Field Medic
1 point on Surgeon

Assault:
CLASSIC: 4 1 5 4 8 4 2 (10th lvl point on Awareness) (could also try with -2 on Strength to pump another stat)
AP: 9
CI: 14
Weapon: Assault Rifle
Main skills: Field Medic, Outdoorsman
1 point on Surgeon

And the following NPCs, which I believe complements the squad:

Rose - CLASSIC 5 2 4 2 2 10 3 (10th lvl point on Coordination)
AP: 8
CI: 10
Weapon: Handguns at the beginning, then Energy Weapons.
Main skills: Surgeon, Computer Science
1 point on Field Medic

Ralphy - CLASSIC 3 5 4 4 5 3 4 (10th lvl point on Intelligence, gotta pump that brawling fast)
AP: 7
CI: 11
Weapon: Brawling
Main skills: Toaster Repair, Animal Whisperer

Pizepi Joren - CLASSIC 6 3 4 5 5 5 1 (10th lvl point on Intelligence)
AP: 9
CI: 11
Weapon: Energy Weapons
Main skills: Smart Ass, Perception

Rose is a great NPC with her 10 Intelligence and high Surgeon/Computer Science.
Pizepi is a good mule, and comes with rather decent stats for her high Energy Weapon skill.
Ralphy is another good mule, and with time, I believe he will become a decent brawler.
I left Angela out, since I heard that you can't have her forever.

I would very much welcome your opinions for this party! I have a feeling it's a great party for beginners (like myself).

 

[Pope Amole II]

I would very much welcome your opinions for this party! I have a feeling it's a great party for beginners (like myself).

2 sniper rifles are an overkill, mate - switching one of them (or both, mb) for the shotgun would do much better. The math on the snipers has already been done and they fall behind the assault/shotgun/energo in terms of damage. And maybe you can think about switching another one for the brawling - after all, if you want a complete experience, you also want to know how the melee characters feel, no? And I mean decent melee characters, not Ralphy - without 10 speed melee characters are rather meh.

And you can definitely drop those extra strength points for more awareness or redirect 2 points from coordination into speed - same amount of AP that way but +1 ini.

 

[maverick]

2 sniper rifles are an overkill, mate - switching one of them (or both, mb) for the shotgun would do much better. The math on the snipers has already been done and they fall behind the assault/shotgun/energo in terms of damage. And maybe you can think about switching another one for the brawling - after all, if you want a complete experience, you also want to know how the melee characters feel, no? And I mean decent melee characters, not Ralphy - without 10 speed melee characters are rather meh.

And you can definitely drop those extra strength points for more awareness or redirect 2 points from coordination into speed - same amount of AP that way but +1 ini.

Ah, I didn't have a good experience with the shotgun... Always felt the range too short and the damage not that amazing. I'll give it another try, maybe it was my shitty squad that wasn't working well.
And yeah, I'm still at odds with Ralphy . But then, he has got 5 points on Toaster Repair and I really don't want to waste any ranger skill point on that.

 

[Nas92]

It appears to me that Luck is extremely important. I've heard that with a high Luck you can get the best loot (grenades and FAMAS early on) and also I'm thinking it has a huge influence on chances, I'd say almost too much. My sniper with an extremely high skill had his rifle jam on him every second shot. It devloved into sometimes my sniper spending half of the fight jamming and unjamming his rifle. Using a sturdy mag mod on the rifle seemed to have solved this problem.
So yeah, my point is don't use Luck as a dump stat.

 

[Jasede]

 

[Minttunator]

Finally got around to this game! I've only played a few hours, so my builds are mostly based on what I've read on the Intertubes. I'm looking to make a party that has a decent selection of skills and weapons (i.e. not just ARs on everybody ).

This is the current plan:
Lostara Yil - 4 1 6 2 10 4 1 = 9 AP / 16 CI
Assault, Smart Ass, Leader (6p)
I'm only taking Leadership for the rogue chance reduction (need 6 points to get Scotchmo to 0) which apparently isn't tied to the Charisma range, hence the low Charisma (the Leadership accuracy bonus seems really underwhelming).

Felisin Paran - 9 1 1 2 10 4 1 = 11 AP / 11 CI
Energy, Medic, Surgeon
Will take 1 more Coordination point at level 10, everybody else will just take more Awareness for more CI.

Kalam Mekhar - 2 1 4 6 10 4 1 = 9 AP / 14 CI
Blunt, Computers, some Alarms later

Korbal Broach - 2 1 4 6 10 4 1 = 9 AP / 14 CI
Brawling, Hard Ass, some Brute Force later

NPCs:
Ralphy - Assault, Toasters, Weaponsmith, maybe some Mech Rep later
Scotch - Shotgun, Locks, Safes
Vulture - Sniper, Perception, Demolition, maybe some more Outdoors

I'm also planning to take at least a point of Surgeon on a couple of dudes in case my dedicated healer bites it. I'm not planning to invest in Kiss Ass (two talky skills ought to be enough) or stuff like Barter or Animals (which seem fairly useless).

If anybody who's finished the game could give this a quick look, it'd be great! Am I missing key skills, will this party suck?

 

[Minttunator]

If anybody who's finished the game could give this a quick look, it'd be great! Am I missing key skills, will this party suck?

To answer my own question, since no-one seems to be playing this any more - I'm about halfway through Arizona and it's been going swimmingly. I even managed to fit the Kiss Ass skill in - gave it to Felisin, since the medic skills seem to be fine at around 4 or so and Energy Weapons also don't need to be maxed right away.

The only problem with the party I lined out is that their collective Charisma is too low to recruit Scotchmo immediately, i.e. I had to wait until after I had saved Highpool and recruited Vulture's Cry. No big deal.

 

[Norfleet]

It appears to me that Luck is extremely important. I've heard that with a high Luck you can get the best loot (grenades and FAMAS early on)

All these things are loot you can buy from the vendors standing right outside the start.

I'm thinking it has a huge influence on chances, I'd say almost too much. My sniper with an extremely high skill had his rifle jam on him every second shot.

Doesn't. You can see this if you decompile the code. Has ZERO impact on jamming, for better or worse. Jamming is straight as-written, i.E., as you described it, almost every other shot. Keep in mind the percentage is REALLY high.

 

[ghostdog]

So I'm trying to figure out my squad's skills. Should I have only one or two weapon skills for each character ? Can I count on other companions to bring extra skills, so I can ignore them ? Which are the best companions in that regard ?

I've been reading mixed things about certain skills. Are "animal whisperer", "brute force", "outdoorsman" and "alarm disarming" any good ?
Are hard-ass , kiss-ass and smart-ass mutually exclusive ? Should I get only one, and if so what are the differences ?

Pope Amole II

 

[Pope Amole II]

So I'm trying to figure out my squad's skills. Should I have only one or two weapon skills for each character ? Can I count on other companions to bring extra skills, so I can ignore them ? Which are the best companions in that regard ?

I've been reading mixed things about certain skills. Are "animal whisperer", "brute force", "outdoorsman" and "alarm disarming" any good ?
Are hard-ass , kiss-ass and smart-ass mutually exclusive ? Should I get only one, and if so what are the differences ?

Pope Amole II

The number of weapon skills depends on their intelligence, obviously. Generally, though, the ones that need secondary weapon skills are those with viable but somewhat specific primaries, i.e. shotguns or energo. Assault rifles are more generalistic in that regards (and, if you're curious, along with brawling these 4 comprise best 4 weapon skills in the game).

As for companions - the best ones as skill monkeys are Rose & Vulture's Cry (depending on which route you take, mutually exclusive) as they both have high int. Rest are kinda dumb and while they still can develop secondary skills, they won't be as good at that. Rose is very good with computer science & surgeon (Ag center route), Vulture is outdoorsman-animal whisperer-perception (highpool).

Animal whisperer is pretty meh. Brute force is kinda ok, but many decent henchmen have it (Chisel, for example, and Chisel is pretty good). Alarm disarming is also so-so, not a highest priority. Though, if you have spare skillpoints (which, chances are, you will) it can be developed.

Ass skills are not exclusive - different situations use different skills. Sometimes they overlap, but not always. They're kinda disappointing, though.

 

[Minttunator]

Should I have only one or two weapon skills for each character ?
One is enough for most of the game - you might want energy weps as secondary weapons for some characters at the endgame where you face more robots, but it's optional if your primary weapon choice is good (AR or brawling seem to be the best weapons right now).

Can I count on other companions to bring extra skills, so I can ignore them ? Which are the best companions in that regard ?
Yes you can and if you want to rely on companions for skills, you should look 'em up online (to see who has what). The best companions are probably ones you get relatively early (so you can start relying on their skills immediately).

I've been reading mixed things about certain skills. Are "animal whisperer", "brute force", "outdoorsman" and "alarm disarming" any good ?
You can easily do without any of these. I'd say Outdoorsman is the most useful of the ones you mentioned, as it allows you to skip random encounters. Animal Whisperer allows you to finish a few meaningless sidequests. BF and AD are pretty much useless.

Are hard-ass , kiss-ass and smart-ass mutually exclusive ? Should I get only one, and if so what are the differences ?
They are often used in different spots, so it's a good idea to have at least 2 of them. I.e. there are some dialogues where you can use any of them, but there are also places where you specifically need, say, Kiss Ass, to achieve your goal.

My thoughts in blue. I haven't finished the game yet (I'm near the end, though) and I'm not the good Pope, so one should probably take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

[Dead Guy]

My team for Ranger difficulty (right? "hard" anyway) was:

INT/CHA maxed out utility belt guy, opens all the locks, farms most of the non-combat xp. Leadership, obviously. AR, poor AP but enough for a burst, I think almost 12 CI.

AR workhorse, 2 shots per turn high CI guy, 2 other skills, one of them ass. I can't remember if this was my medic or if it was the leader...

10 INT extra ulitlity belt guy, reasonable CI, I think 1.5 AR shots per turn with most ARs (ie save 2 AP or burst). Demolition, Weaponsmith and Ass.

Brawling / Heavy Weapons hybrid, Heavy just so he has something to do if closing in is not ideal (Hello Scorpitron), or you might as well let the enemy come to you. Also has hard ass and Surgeon (because high CON and movement). Heavy will be the skill that is allowed to fall behind the progression since it's not really necessary.

Companions (choice in part due to late game, and because Ag is ass-boring)

Vulture's Cry, kept her sniping, raised perception and gave her toaster repair, ran with her base outdoorsman or increased it when I deemed it OK not to increase the others. Animal Whisperer ahahaha. I think I might've gotten goats along with her base skill level, also a possum that glitched out giving her permanent +1 speed and an extra AP in the process, wooo.

Chisel. Blunt is not as good as brawl, but it's OK. Raised Brute Force and something else, can't remember, probably secondary medic. Relied on Angela for Brute until recruiting him.

Scotchmo. Trained him in Energo so that he could use it OK when it became relevant, and then all the way for the gamma raype everythings face, then raised something other than his starting skills, maybe secondary Surgeon.

The Field Medic and Surgeon skills are among the most interesting choices in terms of who to put them on. You don't want to lose damage output on one of your combat oriented guys to heal, but you might also prefer the medic/surgeon to be able to run to his patient and not the other way around, and to act often. Doubling up is possible and convenient though, imo, ie have a guy with Surgeon 3 or something that can wake people up but not much else.

One of my hardest fights was the mid-level Highpool one, ie half-way up the dam. ARs did not penetrate Wrecker armor, made for a frustrating battle where I kept doing 3 damage or some shit.

I set some guys' attributes up so i sacrificed some early game CI for something else, it hurts a bit, but CI increases every 10 levels and you don't lose anything to bonuses that don't apply retroactively, apart from the decreased combat efficiency early on. Maybe it was Speed or Strength on the Brawler, an extra AP for the second utility belt guy or something along those lines. It's a bit of a puzzle and slightly confusing at times when the game seems to lie to you about at what point you'll gain an extra AP sometimes, maybe I missed something there though.

This build could probably benefit from another energo guy late game, but ARs seem to do just fine. Chisel's Plasma Hammer and 100% brawl crits melts things too.

 

[Mystary!]

After about a week of numerous restarts I finally settled on a team. 2 skill monkeys and 2 combat dudes. I focused on getting skills to to open all containers because I'm curious, but most of the loot is shit - due to bad luck? - so that was probably unnecessary.
I also like to keep things simple the first time around so no additional recruits, mainly because I don't know who they are so I can't plan around them, I leave them for a subsequent play through.

Infiltrator

CLASSIC: 2 1 4 4 6 10 1
AP: 9
CI: 12
Weapon(s): 2 points in SMG from the start, leaning towards Energy now.
Skills: Perception, Demolitions, Lockpicking, Alarm Disarming.

Doctor

CLASSIC: 2 1 6 2 6 10 1
AP: 8
CI: 14
Weapon(s): Sniper Rifles, Handguns as back up.
Skills: Surgeon, Field Medic, Computer Science, Mechanical Repair.

Tank

CLASSIC: 2 1 4 10 6 4 1
AP: 9
CI: 12
Weapon(s): Shotguns.
Skills: Hard Ass, Brute Force, Safe Cracking.

Assault

CLASSIC: 4 1 6* 6 6 4 1
AP: 9
CI: 15*
Weapon(s): Assault Rifles.
Skills: No main focus except for Weapon Smithing, just leveling stuff when need, got random points in Outdoorsman, Animal whisper, Toaster Repair. Had to OH SHIT!-level Surgeon when my doctor died and noone else could spare the skill points.

* +1 Thanks to Aberforth!