Wasteland Wasteland 2 Thread - Director's Cut

[Doktor Best]

Give me a fucking break man. Im getting one- or twoshot left and right wherever i turn in LA.

This Synth ambush is particulary ridiculous. I enter the area, a cutscene starts, big synth executes village idiot and proceeds to shoot at one of my teammates and INSTAGIBS him with ONE shot. He doesnt make em faint so i can pick them up again with one of my 3 doctors. No. they drop on the floor plain dead, most of the time without several bodyparts.

Same shit with Santa Monica. I can deal with hard fights, but instagibbing me is just plain cheap as i cant prevent it from happening other than shooting their arms/heads and praying the debuff was significant enough for them to miss me.

What am i doing wrong? Im about lvl 30 by now and i wear the best armor and ofcourse the best weapons i can buy. Im sporting 2 AR, 1 sniper, 1 SMG, one smg and one energy weapons toon.

Who the fuck said again the difficulty is too low? And what difficulty did he play on? Bet it was normal or ranger or some shit.

 

[Gord]

Give me a fucking break man. Im getting one- or twoshot left and right wherever i turn in LA.

Some fights are better delayed until later. E.g. I didn't do Santa Monica until after I had dealt with Rodia and some of the Angel Oracle quests.
What helps against being hit too much is usually taking cover and shooting their arms to reduce aim. Try to put your chars into favorable positions before the fight starts.
Regarding armor, the way it works in W2 you usually either need noticeably more than enemy armor penetration or you won't notice it much (P/A*100=% of damage going through, unless P>A in which case you will simply take 100% damage).
Since the DC however, apparently you won't take any damage at all if armor is larger than penetration by 6 or so points.
So if you took a few perks or the right quirk to increase armor and equip a heavy armor on your dude, you can reach armor levels of 10+ - in Santa Monica I put one guy with 12 armor right in the middle of the map (on the truck) and they would keep attacking him without doing any damage, except with the occasional grenade.

Against Synths, esp. in the ambush there, it's easiest to take over the Synth with computer science. Taking out the evolved isn't so hard then. To survive the initial cutscene, put your guys into cover before the fight starts (single character mode) and advance carefully with one char. If you don't have computer science available, again try shooting his arms and/or head.

 

[Doktor Best]

Hm, i tried computer science on them but the it didnt work. Are you sure it works on synths and not only ordinary robots? Individual positioning is already my standard procedure, but the one who triggers the cutscene is also the one who gets shot 100%, and also dies in 19 of 20 cases.

Maybe ill go back and buy some heavy armor for my melee character just to put him infront and let him take that one shot and survive....

Its not that i dont enjoy combat. It reminds me of Xcom, which is a good thing, but it seems to me that these instadeaths are not fitting into the genre and the general gameplay. In Xcom these deaths are simply something to be expected and part of the theme of the game as its all about sending your own guys as cannonfodder against a stronger fear inducing force, but you also have infinite supply of cheap new recruits. Here, if you take a hit there are some other party members who dont even fit into the group most of the time because they have different skills. Its simply instant reload each time someone drops dead.

Its like they copied the combat system without analyzing the game behind it and then they failed to make the right adoptions to fit it into their game.

 

[Gord]

It should work on full Synths (like the big dude initiating the ambush), but not on Evolved. At least I used it several times successfully on Synths.

Don't remember exactly what I did, but I probably put the aforementioned 12-armor dude in front. Unless the Synth used an energy weapon, in that case I probably used some guy with light armor.
What difficulty are you playing on? I'm playing on Ranger, so if you are on SJ, the damage will obviously by higher.

 

[Doktor Best]

Yeah im playing on SJ. I came this far on the highest difficulty so i will also end it on this one, so reducing difficulty is no option to me. Rather i ragequit the game each 2 or 3 hours and come here to talk about my butthurt and ask for tips. Thanks for the help by the way, maybe heavy armor is indeed the answer. Gonna lose on AP though cause i got the tinkerer perk for everyone in my team...

 

[Jimmious]

The most important factor to win battles in LA is Combat Initiative. Boost it as much as you possibly can. If you can hit first and more than the opponents you avoid dying before you can position/gimp the opponents.

 

[ArchAngel]

Give me a fucking break man. Im getting one- or twoshot left and right wherever i turn in LA.

This Synth ambush is particulary ridiculous. I enter the area, a cutscene starts, big synth executes village idiot and proceeds to shoot at one of my teammates and INSTAGIBS him with ONE shot. He doesnt make em faint so i can pick them up again with one of my 3 doctors. No. they drop on the floor plain dead, most of the time without several bodyparts.

Same shit with Santa Monica. I can deal with hard fights, but instagibbing me is just plain cheap as i cant prevent it from happening other than shooting their arms/heads and praying the debuff was significant enough for them to miss me.

What am i doing wrong? Im about lvl 30 by now and i wear the best armor and ofcourse the best weapons i can buy. Im sporting 2 AR, 1 sniper, 1 SMG, one smg and one energy weapons toon.

Who the fuck said again the difficulty is too low? And what difficulty did he play on? Bet it was normal or ranger or some shit.

You know it is called Jerk difficulty for a reason.
You can either lower the difficulty
Or stop being

 

[MrBuzzKill]

Yeah, I played on the middle setting and the only fight that seemed hard for me was the last one, and even then, just because I tried the same tactic I've been using the whole game. Ok, the ambush one was fairly reload-worthy as well. Which brings me to the fact that I...

Finished the game! I tried to play it before DC, lasted until early California and gave up. Decided to try again with DC and liked it overall, it had a lot of meh bits (skipped Rail Nomads enitrely this time because it's so boring) but quite a few awesome bits as well.
The biggest joy for me was to find

Spoiler

that Combat Shooting skillbook and that insanely overpowered minigun near the endgame. I really liked the concept of combining these two for maximum cheese. This is the kind of fun shit that I really like when they include in CRPGs. Reminded me of head- and eye-shots in Fallout, or that OP attack speed spell in 'Staglands.

Lots of characters/dialogue were fun, clever and funny, unlike for example D:OS which had some of the most skippable dialogue ever.
For anyone who played and disliked the game before Director's Cut came out (like me), I suggest giving it a go again with DC. It plays and looks much better overall.
This game is a pretty good RPG.

 

[Gord]

The final fight is really some bullshit difficulty territory even on Ranger.
Not enough that you potentially lose team members in the initial cutscene, those fucking sharpshooters routinely 1-shot most of my chars across the entire room while sitting comfortably on top of a platform which I can hardly reach...
With the right timing I can take them out with 2 RPGs, but then usually some other asshole gets a lucky crit and kills my doctor or something like that. Argh.

Edit: Finally made it. Funnily the "key" was to choose

Spoiler

to be assimilated instead of eliminated.

The outcome is the same - combat starts, but that way the enemy had far less initiative and I could go first.

 

[Gord]

After watching the ending credits roll, I wondered - what happened to those car-crabs they showed in some KS update? They also show some concept art during the credits.
I didn't encounter them during either my vanilla or DC playthrough and with the exception of one or two of the shrines I've seen pretty much all the locations, afaik.

 

[DosBuster]

They were cut.

 

[Taskityo]

Some fights are better delayed until later. E.g. I didn't do Santa Monica until after I had dealt with Rodia and some of the Angel Oracle quests.
What helps against being hit too much is usually taking cover and shooting their arms to reduce aim. Try to put your chars into favorable positions before the fight starts.

That's what I did as well. Actually saved the Synth Ambush for later, although by accident as I had no idea it was actually an ambush. Similar situation with Santa Monica. By that time I had most of the decent gear. All I did for both scenarios was keep my tankiest, high health people at the front (usually melee) and the ranged spread out behind cover. Especially crucial for the Synth Ambush part since if you don't move forward at all, you can spread your dudes out to the side by the fences and rocks.

 

[Red Rogue]

Does anyone here deal with it when one of their characters dies?
I've been save scumming every time it happens to me.

 

[Gord]

Yeah, I'm a filthy savescummer, too.

 

[Daedalos]

So it seems people are finally starting to realize how hard this game is on SJ, when you stop using cheese builds and +4 companions, but only your 4 rangers.

Brutal, right?

I actually, too, had to turn down the difficulty for some fights. I got absolutely destroyed. And this was on a min/maxer build.

 

[Lhynn]

Do you also play it with your elbows and forehead only? bet that would make it even harder. Hardest game ive played was a doom pacifist run, hardest game evar.

 

[Jimmious]

Doom pacifist run

 

[Lemming42]

A Doom pacifist run is actually fairly easy up until the end of E1M8, because there's no real way to kill the two Barons of Hell. All you can do is take the pinky demons up on the elevator with you and hope they do some infighting or lure the Barons into the explosive barrels and try to get them to blow themselves up.

That's just episode 1 though, episode 2 onwards are basically impossible.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

So it seems people are finally starting to realize how hard this game is on SJ, when you stop using cheese builds and +4 companions, but only your 4 rangers.

Brutal, right?

I actually, too, had to turn down the difficulty for some fights. I got absolutely destroyed. And this was on a min/maxer build.

I've been hearing about "cheese builds" for many games, I never seem to be able to discover them. Apart from that minigun I didn't find any "cheesy" (i.e. obviously overpowered) traits/weapons/perks etc. Can you point me to some? Thanks.

 

[Parabalus]

So, I found the 'Choice' trinket on a corpse right in front of the RPGCodex terminal, is that handplaced or did RNG have a taste for irony?

The last battle would have been quite tough on SJ if you didn't have so much ally NPC bullet fodder with you. Luckily, them getting slaughtered doesn't affect the endings.

Spoiler

I lost both Rose and Lexicanium to Cochise, which was nice twist. I tried dismissing them, but they still turned, nice touch.

Hardest battle overall I'd say is the synth ambush, mostly because you don't have all maxed out weapons and start off surrounded by ungrouped enemies.

Anyone else find energy weapons useless?
Best I found was the Gamma and Death ray, and those pretty much did the same damage as AR and sniper rifles to conductive armor, and nothing to everyone else.

 

[Jimmious]

So, I found the 'Choice' trinket on a corpse right in front of the RPGCodex terminal, is that handplaced or did RNG have a taste for irony?

The last battle would have been quite tough on SJ if you didn't have so much ally NPC bullet fodder with you. Luckily, them getting slaughtered doesn't affect the endings.

Spoiler

I lost both Rose and Lexicanium to Cochise, which was nice twist. I tried dismissing them, but they still turned, nice touch.

Hardest battle overall I'd say is the synth ambush, mostly because you don't have all maxed out weapons and start off surrounded by ungrouped enemies.

Anyone else find energy weapons useless?
Best I found was the Gamma and Death ray, and those pretty much did the same damage as AR and sniper rifles to conductive armor, and nothing to everyone else.

-Hand placed
-True and you might go unprepared with a lot of "conductive" armor
-Yes EWs were much worse in DC

 

[Red Rogue]

I know I'm late to the bandwagon here, but I played DC for the first time today after leaving regular edition for awhile and holy shit it is so much better.
Typically whenever a product gets a "Directors cut" or some other form of special edition, it's nothing extra to write home about but this is the exception.

 

[Doktor Best]

"Beat" the game before, as in i beat the endfight and got the bad ending.

It became a bit of a drag at the end because of too much fillercontent. The endfight itself was a rngfest that i constantly lost (synth sharpshooter oneshotting my crew once again). Survived the last fight with 3 men, one bled out after the fight because both my doctors also died.

The problem was that

Spoiler

vargas

also died in each and everyone of my fights, and i suppose to get the good ending i have to keep him alive somehow? Is that even possible in supreme jerk difficulty?

 

[Gord]

The problem was that

Spoiler

vargas

also died in each and everyone of my fights, and i suppose to get the good ending i have to keep him alive somehow? Is that even possible in supreme jerk difficulty?

If you have

Spoiler

Kekabah with you and he's alive, he'll sacrifice himself as well.
Alternatively, I've heard that the mad monk NPC will do it, too, if you have that one around.

So, depending on your previous actions, you might have other options there and only one needs to survive.

For the final fight, try choosing the "Assimilate" option. It will lead to fighting as well, but in my case the enemies acted later than with the "Eliminate" option.
That helped a lot with getting rid of those pesky sharp shooters before they killed all the NPCs and half my crew. But maybe I just got lucky that one time.
I also bought rocket launchers from the merchant in the ranger encampment (where you land with the heli). Two hits with those should kill the sharp shooters (at least on Ranger, not sure about SJ - might need 3).

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

So, playing for the first time and I think I fucked up a build for one of my characters.

1) How generous is this game with experience and skill points?
2) How forgiving is it towards jack-of-all-trades type of characters or does every character have to be combat-ready ?