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I wish that we could get some sort of brief background story to our character. Best solution might be just giving us story and LARP fags a small window during character creation to write our own ideas down as to what the character did prior to his or her arrival at SGS similar to how Wasteland 2 did it (and yes I wrote a brief lame story for each of my 4 characters ) and the combat and exploration fags can ignore it.
Underrail's writing is straight to the point and I like it very much (compared to wasteland 2 for example). I especially like the dry irony that pops up every now and then but never gives a cheap feeling.
I do agree though that the first parts could have a bit more lore on them. When you reach the Tchortist part the writing and lore is actually very nice. The very beginning (SGS compound) is the weakest place lorewise. The characters there need a bit of a twist and some kind of looming danger.
Styg has an astonishing drive to materialize his vision.
He could have released his game as a full version a long time ago, while in mid-beta, and it would have been more content-worthy and complete than 99% of the games released as "full versions" today. Yet, he still continues to work on it and bring it to perfection.
Underrail's writing is straight to the point and I like it very much (compared to wasteland 2 for example). I especially like the dry irony that pops up every now and then but never gives a cheap feeling.
I do agree though that the first parts could have a bit more lore on them. When you reach the Tchortist part the writing and lore is actually very nice. The very beginning (SGS compound) is the weakest place lorewise. The characters there need a bit of a twist and some kind of looming danger.
I think that is a weakness. Controlling a single unit is always limiting as far as options go. It's like having 3 minor pieces in chess facing a queen. The value of the pieces is identical and the queen has more options, but it loses the interaction that multiple pieces afford. As a great man once said:"Quantity has a quality all its own."
That character currently has no defenses except the surprise round granted from stealth. Engagements later in the game, with Crossbowmen and Snipers especially, will be extremely deadly. I'm assuming with 10 Agility that your plan is to bump at least Evasion up very high. However, I would recommend going about it differently. It's better to hike Evasion + Stealth early and taper off the points spending later than to skillpoint rush midgame. Neither Electronics nor Tailoring are terribly useful before level ~10, whereas Evasion and Dodge are extremely effective at low levels.
As to your stated goal, "content" means something a little different to everyone depending on their approach to the game. If the goal was to make a character that could access everything, then really only Lockpicking and Hacking are necessary to fulfill that obligation. If you're trying to get maximal availability of different solutions to situations, then Stealth and (to a lesser degree) Intimidation + Persuasion are the goal. But of course there are natural restraints on the number of skillpoints.
When making a Psi character with Stealth, there is always going to be a tradeoff. Either your crafting skills must lag a few levels behind or you must sacrifice the social skills or Hacking or Lockpicking. You won't be able to have it all as investing into Agility pretty much "requires" that you buy into Stealth and Evasion. Any of these options can work well, though they will work more effectively if you optimize your point expenditure. For instance, there's little reason to max out Hacking all the way when Intelligence is keeping it high. Keeping it on par with Lockpicking should prove sufficient and provide important leftover skillpoints.
If Stealth isn't particularly important to you, but a Psi character is, I'd consider the Psi + CON build. Taking Constitution in place of Agility "frees up" 2 skills worth of skill points, and the over-strong medium armor (it is not at all unusual to loot flak armor with 20+ DT) compensates for your inability to evade attacks. For instance, you could have 3*Psi skills + Intimidation + Persuasion. This makes 5 skills all buffed by your highest attribute (and thus ripe for skillpoint bleeding) and at least 3 other skills available. When the midgame skill fountain happens, you could easily transition into a Stealth-based character if you so desired.
If Stealth is important, and you want to stick with Psi, then some optimization will help you. Drop Tailoring altogether until later in the game as its benefits are minimal to this particular character (compared to just buying what you want from the shops). Spend these points into Evasion. Scale back Hacking until it's on par with Lockpicking - and consider leveling Lockpicking only 4 per level instead of 5. Start Electronics low (~5-8) and level it by only 4 per level. Once you come to the point in the game where crafting is desirable, start pumping Electronics instead of Stealth + Evasion (because those should be safely over-leveled at that point). With leftover points at early levels, bump another skill up - perhaps Intimidation, Metathermics, or Dodge. Whenever you level and increase your Willpower, spend fewer points into social skills (they will grow at the same rate with less expenditure once Willpower is raised). These small adjustments should result in the character feeling much less skill-starved throughout the level progression.
It seems like some elaboration is in order. By all the content I mean just that. gaining access to every area, being able to optimally solve every quest etc. This character isn't it simply because it has no perception or pickpocketing.
Here are skill explanations:
Stealth is an obvious one. To access certain areas and steal items without aggroing entire factions you need it.
Hacking and lockpicking are self-explanatory.
As far as crafting skills I'd like to have all just to pass every skill check but that would require more knowledge which I don't have. I know mechanics chemistry and biology are checked at certain points. I take tailoring for infused cave hopper armor with stealth enhancements and stealth tabis. Electronics is there for 1500+ Capacity shields.
Metathermics is dumped for now because it provides comparatively little.
Persuasion opens up some things only accessible with persuasion.
The reason I take psi at all is because I need Will.
I need Will to interact with the pillars.
I know the spread seems all over the place, but it is simply because it requires a lot of points and you simply don't have them in the beginning.
I think that the idea of stealth Agi psi has some merit when compared to Con psi. Since you always attack first you can more reliably take advantage of tranquility without knowing enemies are ahead. Once you get Locust of control and premeditation you will be able to AOE enrage and disable at least two guys on your first turn, couple that with how ridiculously huge you can make shields and the fact that you have stealth, a ton of movement points, and force field and the possibility of rarely receiving health damage becomes quite plausible.
Also I feel, that build focused e.g. pistols only is better than pistol+something in general.
However it's a sort of personal preferences, I like extreme edge builds.
If you need psi tools, at least you don't need to invest that much.
I had great success with a Sniper/PSI hybrid so far sacrificing crafting so far which I am never a fan of in any game. I prefer to run around in stealth and scavenge.
Played it to 15 so far with only a few problems, this is the rough plan until 25. I'll probably play some variations of this build since I really enjoy it a lot.
) and the combat and exploration fags can ignore it.
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