Supernova difficulty and Companions

[Devilangel58]

I never made an account (will in a moment to report a potential bug) BUT:

 

As for companions dying too quickly on Supernova - yeah, mine get slaughtered in 4-6 hits. Upgraded armor all the way almost all the time and stuff them inside heavy armor all the time. Not like they benefit from any other armor anyways.

Leadership/Determination is a must on using companions though. I'm 50 inspiration and 30 (or 40, just leveled) in determination. So mine have a higher health than probably most.

 

Here is a very valuable lesson I learned, positioning and knowing when the right time to fight is. This is NOT like the hand-holding Bethesda Studio Games produces where you get Fawks to utterly annihilate everything while you go make a cup of tea. I've learned there are certain moments where I should pick a fight and other moments where it is best to turn your head and walk away.

For when you HAVE to fight though:

 

Positioning, Take an advantageous point - this means DISTANCE. From what I can tell, there is virtually no cover system, but telling your companions to hold a spot (far) and behind /some/ cover is valuable.

Know your enemy - If you are fighting automechanicals for instance, don't use Felix/Ellie combination. Ellie's ability is great, but doesn't work on bots. Felix heads in for suicide with his ability. However, Vicar Max (Love him) ability creates a good moments grace as it knocks back enemies as a stun mechanic. Using Parvati's ability is even more useful on bots since it forces a long stun on them. In fact, long enough to focus fire and eliminate the robot. I also learned that Vicar's intimidate is especially useful against creatures, while Parvati/Felix persuade helps combat humans. Ellie would then logically work on robots. In hindsight, I think doing Ellie/Vicar on those robots would have worked much better, but my Parvati/Vicar mix did beautifully.

Time the abilities - Starting off the fight with the ability spam sounds like it would work as it means you can use the ability again sooner. This may not be the  case especially you consider which enemy you use it on. I have a high dialog skills, in one battle against 2 bots (bots are so strong when you actually meet them, or are lower level) I forced one of the robots to fight on my side. I focused fire on the enemy one instead to take him out then focused on the 'friendly' bot.  When this comes 1 vs. 1 and it happens, It's essentially a free kill.

Abuse the autosave feature - This is every single time you load in a new zone, going through those doors. Abuse it. Even if you die on the other side, you have a save. It will always load the time prior to going through those doors. It's a good way to save your progress when you can't go to your ship and back. Take it one step at a time, you want to see what will happen, take 30 seconds to run back through a door to get that precious save. Afterwards, feel free to experiment combat options and dialog choices. It beats going through a fight for the 10th time because you did ONE thing you didn't think would happen.

 

Lastly, know when to fight the enemy. There were certain points where I knew I could beat the enemies, but the positioning to get it and the time to do it was not worth the results, or potential results as I never bothered going through with them. One fight was completely not needed while another one was actually resolved through the dialog choices I made throughout the quest and didn't need to fight an overwhelming amount of outlaws. You don't have to fight them all. I'm also playing a vastly inferior and under-powered character. No combat skills whatsoever, well only a few levels in it as the highest skills I have are the melee abilities at 35 each.

Yet, going through every combat scenario is feasible. The game is challenging, yes. Then again, I just went and slaughtered the entirety of the Groundbreaker with little resistance. Even the corporate guards died within 2-3 hits of my pulsing hammer. Those creatures, forgot their name but they are being experimented on, most powerful creature dies within seconds when I blast it with a heavy machine gun. I can melt through enemies as fast as they can melt through me.

Supernova difficulty means using tactics and determining what is the best course of action. If you think you it's too difficult, lower it down to hard and play through the game that way since when your companions die, they just revive anyways. Get a better feel for the game first before trying Supernova since it looks like the difficulty spike is too high to follow through. I've already gotten my research with my companions dying (when I was not messing around) about 2 times through my carelessness. Don't fight on open ground and poison is not a joke.

 

Though, one major improvement for combat would be a better cover system for SURE. AI doesn't use it because it only knows to run forward and attack. This includes companions. This is a huge fault on Supernova as it means they walk directly in the line of fire over open ground to get melted. I guess that's why we have a move command for them? Even then, they stand there and get killed if flanked. The combat system itself could use quite a bit of work, yes. At least it is manageable. Thinking back to Fallout 4 would probably do better and how it works with cover. Implementing something similar to that (I would think) improve the game's combat more as it could mean companions, and in general AI, won't run over open ground to get melted away.

[Rinnegan User]

Yep..., they die waay to fast on supernova.., and I dont want to put points in leadership, since I intend to solo most of it..., if I'm forced tp wast points on leadership, so the companions can survive at all.... than the game is broken for me on supernova

 

(using leadership and companions is not my playstyle..,only take companion occasionally for story / companion-quests)

 

in Fallout New Vegas, I played very hard, and occasionally took companions.., and aside of obviously over leveled enemies or poisen attacks, they wouldnt die so fast.., reloading cause of companion deaths was annoying but actually rare in Fallout NV

 

Obsidian really, really, really needs to fix the companions in The Outer Worlds (on supernovs).., they die waaay too fast (and many will dislike needing to waste points on leadership just so they survive at all, if its not they're playstyle).

 

.., either make them waaaay thougher to take down.., or let them fall easily (unless you perked leadership), BUT than dont let them perma-die, istead like in Fallout 4, let them stand up again once the action is over..

or some other solution.., but it really needs to be fixed

 

and atm dont even know how to send them away, if some area seems to dangerous for them

Edited November 10, 2019 by Rinnegan User

[berserk0187]

Same here. Companions dying way too fast on Supernova difficulty. I have had to replay from the last save multiple times due to dying companions even after I upgrade all their gear. It is getting quite annoying for me. At first it was fun, gotta setup tactically.  Now it's just a waste of time since I can't fast travel or save when I want too.

[PFC Calico]

Good evening all,

I just want to add my 2 pence into this topic. I feel that, considering i die in 2 hits as i have heavily spec'ed into damage at range, my companions dying is fine as it is but i would like to have another couple of inventory slots for consumables where they will use adreno and any buff item i want them to use during combat to try and keep themselves alive.

This would then prolong their life expectancy and mean i no longer have to micro-manage them to keep them alive in combat or put them on passive. Additionally they could do with improvements to their AI whereby they actively seek out cover during combat and either move to cover further away from the enemy when set to range or move to cover closer when in melee. 

If changing the UI to accept consumables and modifying the AI code to better their self preservation is not workable then maybe just increase their innate toughness on supernova difficulty so we are not spending so much time with out companions being nothing more than trophy "wives/husbands/partners in crime/grime and other"

[thearmourofGod]

im playing on nova with no hud 

ive tinckered with companion and non-companion builds and have found both very viable 

no baby sitting ever and minimal reloading once i understood the mechanics and proper tactics

it was usually my fault for not using inhaler early/often enough or tinckering weapons/armor appropriately or fighting enemies significantly stronger nor using companions specials tactically for quick escape/teleportation

love that death is permanent

*havent finished game however

*fast traveling to ship IS TOW save upon quit

[Robert Shmigelsky]

It would be nice to have the food, drink and sleep mechanics available on other modes other than Supernova.