Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Blaine]

My low-low ultrashield, some LOS cheesing (one particular grid square behind the doohickey will keep the turret and respawning jackass to the east from seeing/participating in the fight), and plenty of hypos and psi boosters won me through. It was pretty miserable, and then of course when I emerged, there were three fucking turrets there.

Bomb Serbia, etc.

 

[Tigranes]

Fools, it is Styg's social critique on how nobody finishes games anymore

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

That could very well be.

 

[Blackmill]

Just some thoughts on IRIS:

Spoiler

If you speak to IRIS in the Arke Power Station, and pass the Persuasion check, she shuts down. Interestingly, the way she reacts doesn't remotely suggest that you passed the check, as she insists you must die to protect Father. Nonetheless, she turns off, and you see one last emotion -- "horror". At first I took this to mean her Father had pulled the plug. I don't think this anymore, since the idea has obvious flaws, but it was my initial impression.

After rebooting a backup version of IRIS, it becomes apparent that she wasn't insane by creation, but had evolved into such a state. Moreover, her Father seemingly suspected an attack on the Arke Power Station, and had prepared IRIS for it. Presumably her Father was planning to and eventually did reroute all power to Arke, since that's how it's found, and that caused the initial attack. One could assume this action was taken because her Father predicted Biocorp's collapse into several warring factions. Regardless, controlling Arke would have been paramount, and the attack on it inevitable.

All this made me suspect that her shutting down, and horrified reaction, were in response to realizing that her creator is dead. After all, it seemed her Father was intent on routing all power to Arke, and it would stay that way until he died. If you can convince her that you aren't going to kill her Father, then he is already dead, or you don't know who he is, which implies the former.

Anyways, this little bit is probably my favorite part of the game. I'll even say it was rather skillful, from a writing perspective that is, which is pretty rare in video games. It's non-standard, it makes you think, and it's interesting.

 

[Blaine]

Even many, many hours after last seeing a Siphoner, my hand instantly went to the Enter key as soon as I heard the splash. That's some Pavlovian shit.

Spoiler

Their last stand, their greatest ambush of the game, was downright pitiful. All three leaped out; I immediately pressed Enter, backtracked a bit, then used Premeditation and cast Pyrokinesis. All three caught fire and panicked. I then used Electrokinesis twice, killing two. The last one ran away on his turn with a sliver of health, then died from the flames.

 

[Goral]

Could we perhaps start listing the specific reasons why we think Deep Caverns is bad, rather than just doing a drive-by shitting?

You're hilarious.

You've had the audacity to respond to my post about DC without actually playing DC yourself and now you're asking for "specific reasons", lol. This goes to Tigranes and others too. Finish the game first, then defend it. It's also funny to me that many people here rate the game based on playing modified version of it (i.e. using cheat engine to speed things up). That's like rating Fallout New Vegas with mods.

 

[Tigranes]

Could we perhaps start listing the specific reasons why we think Deep Caverns is bad, rather than just doing a drive-by shitting?

You're hilarious.

You've had the audacity to respond to my post about DC without actually playing DC yourself and now you're asking for "specific reasons", lol. This goes to Tigranes and others too. Finish the game first, then defend it. It's also funny to me that many people here rate the game based on playing modified version of it (i.e. using cheat engine to speed things up). That's like rating Fallout New Vegas with mods.

The fuck, man? I've never been to DC, I asked people how shit it is, and I haven't said a thing about it otherwise. I'm not really keen on it because I feel the game gets weaker after level 14ish.

Mostly I've been busy playing the game and naked mud wrestling Blaine about backtracking

 

[Blaine]

You're hilarious.

You've had the audacity to respond to my post about DC without actually playing DC yourself and now you're asking for "specific reasons", lol.

Your big rant was about far more than just DC. I ignored or skipped over whatever you'd written about DC at the time, since I didn't want spoilers, and I wasn't responding to any of that. I completely and totally avoided making any judgments whatsoever of DC until I reached that part of the game myself. You won't find a single word indicating otherwise until after my bug-out kit post.

As for your assertion that a walkthrough is required for Underrail, that simply isn't true, with the sole possible exception of

Spoiler

inhaling spores to get the mycokardium.

I've restored power, breezed past the worms that people seem to hate with a passion to obtain the drive shaft, have all the gate parts including the hydraulic fluid, and am working on the mutagen solution. I didn't use a map or a walkthrough for any of that.

It's been obvious to me since I got down there that Tchort is some sort of product of the genetics and psionics experiments Old Biocorp had been conducting, and when I saw the gate I knew that the mutagens will be used to dissolve the tentacles (or so I believe; I still have only guesses).

I'm asking for "specific reasons" because just crashing one's fists into the keyboard about how much something sucks accomplishes nothing. I actually want to see people's issues and feedback. You at least have provided feedback, regardless of whether I like or agree with it, so that's fine and dandy.

 

[toro]

Story comment about DC

Spoiler

So apparently Dude was in DC at some point. I found people mention Dude and also dude talks about getting high on mushrooms and ending up somewhere else when you talk to him which is what seems to happen in DC as well

Spoiler

I just did the Dude quest and I don't see the connection. The thing is: Dude alludes many things but ... I wouldn't take him seriously on all of them.

Edit: I'm a retard: twice I've missed the references from the Caerus Residential block. I did not realized that the Dude is the same a Dyson ... however there is a small possibility that the guys were using "Dude" for Dyson as a common nickname.

 

[circ]

Unlikely

Spoiler

You wouldn't capitalize the nickname repeatedly in the middle of sentences unless it were for a reason. Plus the earlier stories of longevity experiments and Dude's knowledge of things and preference for drink.

 

[Junmarko]

For an ideal play-through, what's the general rule surrounding the safest number of Skills to focus on?

 

[Yoshiyyahu]

Which SMG barrel should I focus on for a max-dex build? It seems 5mm will let me hit a lower breakpoint than 7.62, and the shock bullets seem like one of the better varieties (too bad I can't find the fucking thing.)

 

[Beastro]

For an ideal play-through, what's the general rule surrounding the safest number of Skills to focus on?

Focus mainly on 8 of em, can spread some into other areas a bit if need be.

 

[Gord]

Gord doesn't Tanner have anything useful to say at that point? I think he should. Well, more things to the evergrowing list of tweaks.

I don't remember reading anything from Tanner about that.
Now it might be that I accidentally clicked the respective line away, or forgot about it because I didn't pay enough attention at that point because it was late (I also had a few days of pause in between me playing UR due to reallife obligations).
Unfortunately Tanner doesn't seem to have anything else to say about it if I return later.

I'm relatively sure however that I didn't read anything about joining a faction in CC, having to find a guy named Cornell or those Acid Hunters. And judging from what I have now learned in the net and this thread, CC is anyway not the place to go for people that let Buzzer die, because the next MQ parts will not trigger there (at least they didn't for me - I've now been invited by Simmons after I became a Gladiator, but he didn't offer me additional quests). Rather I apparently need to go to Foundry, which again I didn't receive any clue about, iirc.

I'd check again what Tanner does tell me after I report that I freed RC, but I did overwrite the savegame since (of course...).

 

[circ]

Which SMG barrel should I focus on for a max-dex build? It seems 5mm will let me hit a lower breakpoint than 7.62, and the shock bullets seem like one of the better varieties (too bad I can't find the fucking thing.)

From what I've read most people rec the 7.62 Jag. Personally I ran around with the 9mm unique SMG you get from Depot A for the longest time. But grew bored of the character because the playstyle consists of passive feats and spamming burst, with occasional mine action.

 

[Blaine]

For an ideal play-through, what's the general rule surrounding the safest number of Skills to focus on?

Eight to start, but if they are crafting skills then I'd recommend topping out no higher than 120 (adjusted) for Mechanics, Electronics, and/or Tailoring; at those levels, there are two distinct types of buffs that should allow you to work with virtually all of the best components you can obtain outside of Deep Caverns, barring a few outliers. For Chemistry and Biology, I'd really recommend checking the Wiki. If you aren't aiming for the highest-end drugs and poisons, for example, you need no more than 60-70 Biology.

Later on, once any of your crafting skills begin to top out, you'll be able to cannibalize the points you'd once been spending on them for use elsewhere.

Also, depending on what you like to craft, your needed skills may top out much lower than 120. For example, heavy armor dorks need some Tailoring, but only enough to make use of the carrier vests they're incorporating into the armor. This requires less Tailoring than making high-end leather and tactical vests and/or adding high-quality cloth coverings.

Always, always max out primary offensive skills on level-up, no matter what (and for Stealth, max it until you reach at least 120-150). Evasion and Dodge are a bit of a murky case, but in general they should be very high in order to be effective.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Do you get invited by someone if you become a gladiator? I mean, should it happen no matter what? Didn't happen to me, I just went to "look for work" and ended up joining Coretech.

After that either Simmons or that guy who sells you shit in Coretech were mentioning something about me being Invinctus, which I actually wasn't since I didn't beat Carnifex yet.

And about the house, does anything besides the crafting rooms matters or is that just for LARPing?

 

[circ]

Gord doesn't Tanner have anything useful to say at that point? I think he should. Well, more things to the evergrowing list of tweaks.

I don't remember reading anything from Tanner about that.
Now it might be that I accidentally clicked the respective line away, or forgot about it because I didn't pay enough attention at that point because it was late (I also had a few days of pause in between me playing UR due to reallife obligations).
Unfortunately Tanner doesn't seem to have anything else to say about it if I return later.

I'm relatively sure however that I didn't read anything about joining a faction in CC, having to find a guy named Cornell or those Acid Hunters. And judging from what I have now learned in the net and this thread, CC is anyway not the place to go for people that let Buzzer die, because the next MQ parts will not trigger there (at least they didn't for me - I've now been invited by Simmons after I became a Gladiator, but he didn't offer me additional quests). Rather I apparently need to go to Foundry, which again I didn't receive any clue about, iirc.

I'd check again what Tanner does tell me after I report that I freed RC, but I did overwrite the savegame (of course...) since.

The Cornell/Acid Hunter lead comes from Tanner after talking to Buzz, exhausting options and returning to Tanner. Of course if Buzz dies I'm not sure how that's supposed to go.

 

[Cyberarmy]

You can get info about acid hunters from the tatooed guy in Hardcore bar. You need to figure out that he is a metro driver though.

 

[Blaine]

And about the house, does anything besides the crafting rooms matters or is that just for LARPing?

Nope, that's the only tangible benefit other than neatly organized, compartmentalized, plentiful storage.

The rest is all for show.

 

[circ]

Do you get invited by someone if you become a gladiator? I mean, should it happen no matter what? Didn't happen to me, I just went to "look for work" and ended up joining Coretech.

After that either Simmons or that guy who sells you shit in Coretech were mentioning something about me being Invinctus, which I actually wasn't since I didn't beat Carnifex yet.

And about the house, does anything besides the crafting rooms matters or is that just for LARPing?

You get invited if you've joined a faction. If not you gotta join one to continue the main questline.

House gives you 15% crafting bonus if you have the bench for it. The rest of the rooms are LARP only, although you do get a bunch of containers. It looks like shit though.

I'll try to remember the bench prices. 1k for tailor. 1.2k for chemistry/biology. 1.5k for mech I think and 1.3k for electronics. I might have the last two confused. Then there's a 50 credit charge at the house guy.

You do get 500 credits off the benches if you have merchandise at whatever level it wants.

 

[Gord]

Do you get invited by someone if you become a gladiator? I mean, should it happen no matter what? Didn't happen to me, I just went to "look for work" and ended up joining Coretech.

After that either Simmons or that guy who sells you shit in Coretech were mentioning something about me being Invinctus, which I actually wasn't since I didn't beat Carnifex yet.

After a couple of battles in the Arena you meet Garry, who tells you about how you should consider working for some of the factions in CC, although I guess they might let you work for them without the early Arena fights. As far as I can tell you won't meet the faction leaders until you become a Gladiator, though.
E.g. Simmons then tells you how great it would be if the Invictus worked for them - should you become the Invictus eventually.

 

[Blaine]

I was a bit disappointed by the stronghold, too. I was hoping for something more like a small base or hidden bunker, rather than just a large house in a residential district.

The crafting stations also ensure that you're tied to the house to some extent or another; otherwise, you'd be free to take over anyplace you wished, such as the mansion that's much closer to the elevator.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Alright, so it's gonna be an empty house with a computer room in the basement.
True Codexer house.

E.g. Simmons then tells you how great it would be if the Invictus worked for them - should you become the Invictus eventually.

Thing is I'm working for them (finished their quests actually) and I'm not Invictus.

 

[bati]

Which SMG barrel should I focus on for a max-dex build? It seems 5mm will let me hit a lower breakpoint than 7.62, and the shock bullets seem like one of the better varieties (too bad I can't find the fucking thing.)

Once you got enough dex (12 I think) for 5 bursts with a 5mm Rapid Jaguar start using that (also, smart module), it's more than enough to kill everything up to DC. Once you can fire 4 bursts per turn with 7.62 rapid jag you can switch or just keep both and alternate to save ammo.