Wasteland 2

[WDeranged]

Got my boxed copy here in the UK.  It has that new game smell that I remember from big boxes with thick manuals, really nice, the cloth map is more of a handkerchief map though  

[Lexx]

Have to say it is kinda lol that people who spend a lot money on the special edition still don't get their boxed copies. It's like you are being punished for spending more money on it.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Lexx

[Enoch]

Question about narrative urgency (or lack thereof) early in California:

 

As I finished exploring the Rodia map, I got a radio message from base about an issue well off to the West (Santa Monica, I think?).  The radio message sounded as if this was time sensitive.  Is it? 

[prodigydancer]

Question about narrative urgency (or lack thereof) early in California:

 

As I finished exploring the Rodia map, I got a radio message from base about an issue well off to the West (Santa Monica, I think?).  The radio message sounded as if this was time sensitive.  Is it? 

I don't think that LA stuff is time limited but I may be wrong. I tried to investigate distress calls ASAP because it made sense from the role-playing point of view (the Rangers are sort of police after all so it is their duty).

 

---

 

 

Encountered Scorpitron - not very impressive at level 35. They should have made him an (optional) AZ boss. And give him more HP and some ranged AoE. And let him move during the fight. Then it could be a truly epic battle on a large open map with lots of destructible cover. In LA, sadly, it's a pushover.

 

Edited November 1, 2014 by prodigydancer

[Gromnir]

had a potentially Extreme troublesome bug in titan canyon last night.  we gave up our weapons to be entering the dbm bunker/outpost, but we were never given an opportunity to retrieve said weapons. is lucky that we is a compulsive saver and we had a recent save-point.  experimented and figured out a relative painless workaround to our weapon wormhole. we could have one ranger divest himself o' weapons and then enter the dbm base alone.  can't lose what you don't have, yes? failure to have an option to retrieve weapons is no problem if you didn't have any weapons removed. our other rangers were needing to be a goodly distance away from the base or they would have their weapons automatically sucked into some fathomless digital hell. trial and error.  titan is a bit quirky with more than a couple minor bugs... nothing major other than the weapons retrieval.

 

on the positive side, while the combat encounters is still meh, the main titan conflict were offering a tough(er) choice(s) than previous the previous quests.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Lexx]

You should get all weapons back with talking to that woman. Sometimes she is a little slow and still inside of the base when you are already outside. So it's good to wait a little bit inside / watch her walking outside. Then when outside again, talk to her and get all your stuff back.

[Gromnir]

yes, we were instructed to speak with her to get our weapons returned, but her only dialogue option, no many how many times or how long we waited to initiate conversation, only had an option for taking our weapons from us. 

 

this is not our first rodeo. we can recognize a bug.  is a rather serious bug too, but as we said, we had a recent save so the harm were marginalized.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps quick search reveals we ain't alone in suffering this bug.

 

https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=10007

 

however, we will note that the workaround offered in the thread we link were unnecessary for us. we simple disarmed one ranger, and sent the rest o' our group a goodly distance from the dbm entrance. somewhat surprising, we were still able to make use o' our remote party members conversation skills while speaking with the dbm leader.

Edited November 1, 2014 by Gromnir

[Marceror]

That's a bad one. That one hasn't happened to me before in my play throughs, happily.

[Enoch]

I had the same issue that Gromnir did, and used the same basic workaround. 

 

Also, it just happened again.  In California, when I had the option to give up a "hostage" (hey, something Ralphie is good for!), his weapons were stripped, never to return.  At this point, it'd be a pain in the butt to go back and re-do everything I had to do to get him back, and I was planning to upgrade his weaponry at some point soon, anyway.  Unforunately, his secondary weapon was The Lariat, a unique item you can get from Mercaptain.  I might go look for a save editor to get that back. 

Edited November 2, 2014 by Enoch

[ShadySands]

Here is an editor that I've used

 

and here is a weapons/armor list

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Question about narrative urgency (or lack thereof) early in California:

 

As I finished exploring the Rodia map, I got a radio message from base about an issue well off to the West (Santa Monica, I think?).  The radio message sounded as if this was time sensitive.  Is it? 

 

I had the same happen to me. I went straight to Santa Monica to deal with the issue. Man that was a hard fight. I was only level 25/26. I don't think it's required to go there immediately. I probably should have finished Rodia and get up a level or two before tackling it.

 

 

 

Pizepi was literally one shotting them with burst. 300+ damage. Everyone else in my team with their Assault Rifles on Burst weren't doing that much damage.

 

Saved Corina's son. Saved nearly all the bystanders with only one casualty. Some of my party members went down and had to use the Surgeon skill to get them back up.

 

 

 

[Enoch]

Yeah, I had trouble there, too, and the Gamma Ray Blaster was pretty much the reason that I had any chance at all.  Those nuns have high armor (7 or so?), a good amount of CON, and some high-tier weapons.  I had to use my secondary medic to resuscitate Rose. 

 

 

Edit:  And I decided to stop at Angel Oracle on the way back.  That led to one other distress message, and certain events ensuring that I bring that quest arc to some level of completion before leaving.  Still haven't gotten back to Rodia.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Enoch

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

 

I was waiting for my new cat-litter rad suits, and then got a call about Whittier, and one synth attacking a farm.

We were level 26-28.

Holy ****!!!

I play at the seasoned difficulty, and I have had a rather easy time so far in California, but this time it took three tries not to lose at least one in my team permanently.

 

 

 

[prodigydancer]

We were level 26-28.

A bit too low for this encounter. I did it on Ranger @35 and it was easy.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Yeah, I had trouble there, too, and the Gamma Ray Blaster was pretty much the reason that I had any chance at all.  Those nuns have high armor (7 or so?), a good amount of CON, and some high-tier weapons.  I had to use my secondary medic to resuscitate Rose. 

 

Edit:  And I decided to stop at Angel Oracle on the way back.  That led to one other distress message, and certain events ensuring that I bring that quest arc to some level of completion before leaving.  Still haven't gotten back to Rodia.

 

I decided to do a reload and go back to a previous save and finish most of Rodia before tackling Santa Monica. Mainly because:

 

 

 

I thought you had to do two distress call outs to get Brother Thomas with Santa Monica being the second call out. However this is not the case..

 

After re-instating the Mayor and getting rid of the jerks. As soon as you hook up the repeater to the tower in Rodia. Brother Thomas immediately turns up at Santa Fe near your two merchants at the gate. And he was my last companion that I wanted.

 

 

 

So now I have my full party as well as my pets. I'm going to leave Santa Monica for later and do a couple of areas before tackling that fight. Also, have to go back and click on those shrines I left. Have to say Brother Thomas is like a Second Rose. He's level 27 and I'm only around 25/26. But he has INT [8], Surgeon [8], Field Medic [8], SMG [9], Blunt Weapons [6] and with his machine gun, has a kick ass Mace. I'm going to spend every point in Energy Weapons because that seems to be the way to go.

 

Energy Weapons are great in LA. My mostly assault rifle team can't seem to do the type of damage that Pizepi does.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[prodigydancer]

Energy Weapons are great in LA. My mostly assault rifle team can't seem to do the type of damage that Pizepi does.

G41 burst headshot does more damage (on average) than GRB burst. And its optimal range (with tactical scope) is longer than GRB max range. GRB is good because you get it early when nothing else can compete with it. But it's also unique and all other EW don't even come close to it.

 

Conclusion: you want one character with EW skill to utilize GRB but beyond that EW suck.

Edited November 2, 2014 by prodigydancer

[Hiro Protagonist II]

 

Energy Weapons are great in LA. My mostly assault rifle team can't seem to do the type of damage that Pizepi does.

G41 burst headshot does more damage (on average) than GRB burst. And its optimal range (with tactical scope) is longer than GRB max range. GRB is good because you get it early when nothing else can compete with it. But it's also unique and all other EW don't even come close to it.

 

Conclusion: you want one character with EW skill to utilize GRB but beyond that EW suck.

 

 

What's G41? And when do you get it? I've only recently upgraded from M16's to AK-97s.

 

Did you put most of your points in Assault Rifles and let all your other skills suffer to a degree? Because I've put most of my points in non-combat skills and my characters only have about 5 or 6 points in Assault Rifle. Even on burst they seem to miss wildly. They usually get two, maybe three hits in. And with allocating points in other skills, I've opened up every dialogue option, opened every toaster, every lock, safe, etc. I'd be interested to see your characters stats when you entered L.A.

 

Also, I find it hard to believe Energy Weapons suck when other energy weapons that Pizepi uses does more damage without burst compared to Assault Rifles on burst. If you have to solely rely on headshots with its 200% damage to out damage Energy Weapons, then that tells me Energy Weapons don't suck.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[Enoch]

What's G41? I've only recently upgraded from M16's to AK-97s.

 

Did you put most of your points in Assault Rifles and let all your other skills suffer to a degree? Because I've put most of my points in non-combat skills and my characters only have about 5 or 6 points in Assault Rifle. Even on burst they seem to miss wildly. They usually get two, maybe three hits in. And with allocating points in other skills, I've opened up every dialogue option, opened every toaster, every lock, safe, etc. I'd be interested to see your characters stats when you entered L.A.

 

Also, I find it hard to believe Energy Weapons suck when other energy weapons that Pizepi uses does more damage without burst compared to Assault Rifles on burst. If you have to solely rely on headshots with its 200% damage to out damage Energy Weapons, then that tells me Energy Weapons don't suck.

 

 

For my part, 3 of my 4 Rangers had at least 8 in a weapon skill by the time they were level 25-ish.  I probably missed a few checks in things like Brute Force and Alarm Disarm, but nothing that I really remember regretting. 

 

 

Meeting Ertan makes me wish that Satanism had been one of the religion options at character creation.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Enoch

[Hiro Protagonist II]

For my part, 3 of my 4 Rangers had at least 8 in a weapon skill by the time they were level 25-ish.  I probably missed a few checks in things like Brute Force and Alarm Disarm, but nothing that I really remember regretting. 

 

Meeting Ertan makes me wish that Satanism had been one of the religion options at character creation.

 

Actually, I just realised Rose is the only one who has the highest skill in Assault Rifles with 10 now due to the insane amount of skill points she gets. Rose also has 10 in Surgeon, Computer Science and Outdoorsman. All my other characters are around 5 or 6 with Assault Rifles because they've either maxed out or nearly maxed out their other skills. Which also helps to cut down on any reloading as they usually pass first time with their skill checks.

[prodigydancer]

What's G41?

 

...

 

Did you put most of your points in Assault Rifles and let all your other skills suffer to a degree?

G41 is the best AR (tier 6-2). Average damage for all weapons: https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com//viewtopic.php?f=40&t=9765

 

I made two chars with Int 10 and two with Int 4. That's more than enough to max all skills by level 30 especially if you go AG route and get Rose.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

G41 is the best AR (tier 6-2). Average damage for all weapons: https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com//viewtopic.php?f=40&t=9765

 

I made two chars with Int 10 and two with Int 4. That's more than enough to max all skills by level 30 especially if you go AG route and get Rose.

 

That's nice but doesn't answer my questions. That link also says, "We also definitely want a melee character with high strength". So now you're suggesting at least one of my characters should be a melee character with high strength?

 

And the other questions? When do you get this rifle? Did you open up ALL the dialogue options in the entire game from the very start? Even opening dialogue options before you leave Range Citadel, because there is a dialogue option and a free gun you can get at the very start. Did you open every toaster? Did you do the peaceful resolution at Rail Nomads? What about not siding or killing any of the monks or DBM in the Canyon of Titan and start of Temple of Titan but still resolving that quest line with both camps fighting it out with each other? Did you get additional quests and items due to those additional dialogue options?

[Enoch]

It's probably overkill to focus on maxing certain skills, particularly doing so earlier in the game than you start seeing top-level skill checks.  For example, Demolitions is a priority skill that I had 8 ranks in before heading to LA.  But, shortly after landing, I found a trinket that gives +3 (!) to Demolitions.  So I'm never putting another point there.  (Similar with Rose's Surgeon-- I bought a +2 Surgeon trinket from the Monks at Titan.  No need to raise that above 8 unless I find a medical item that requires it and is also very useful in combat situations.) 

 

Definitely Max Perception.  Go all the way with Toasters (the skillbook is available early to buy that expensive 10th rank, and I've yet to see a trinket that affects it).  I can't abide the possibility of missing a ___ Ass check, and I saw my first 10-level check at Angel Oracle.  (My Ass has 9s in Hard and Kiss and alternates +1 trinkets for each; Pizepi has 10 in Smart.)  I've got Locks and Safes at 9 on my guys, waiting to see if I find a book or trinket to take me the rest of the way.  Field Medic probably doesn't need to go above 7.  "+Outdoorsman" trinkets are common, and the downside of failing a check is ... more XP!  I can't remember the last Mechanical Repair check I saw.  Alarm Disarm seems to be more relevant in LA than it was in Arizona-- it's probably the skill that I've most missed not having at tip-top level.  (I did have to kill a handful of Monks to get to see Titan.)  I can't abide having crowds of beasts blocking my maneuvering in combat, so I skip Animal Whisperer.  Barter is pointless.  (Maybe if it was +5% per rank, but +1%?  Pffft.) 

[Enoch]

I do agree that the usefulness of a melee character is situational.  And, given the sacrifices that you need to make to have a good one, it might not be worth it. 

 

I mean, it's nice that I have an 8-STR character to haul all my crap, and he has been occasionally useful as a damage sink and debuff applier (by getting right up next to enemies using ranged weapons), but I'd probably be getting more mileage out of a second combat-focused (i.e., 4-INT and 1 CHA) gunner-- there are entire combats where my brawler does precisely bupkis. 

 

(Note: His STR is high primarily because of the weirdness in the Brawling mechanics-- a blunt of bladed melee'er probably doesn't need more than middling STR.)

Edited November 3, 2014 by Enoch

[prodigydancer]

And the other questions? When do you get this rifle? Did you open up ALL the dialogue options in the entire game from the very start? Even opening dialogue options before you leave Range Citadel, because there is a dialogue option and a free gun you can get at the very start. Did you open every toaster? Did you do the peaceful resolution at Rail Nomads? What about not siding or killing any of the monks or DBM in the Canyon of Titan and start of Temple of Titan but still resolving that quest line with both camps fighting it out with each other? Did you get additional quests and items due to those additional dialogue options?

1. Endgame stuff. I just entered Hollywood (and now waiting for patch 3 to hopefully fix bugs there) and I don't have G41 yet.

2,3. Yes. I developed "social" skills ahead of everything else because a tough skill check you can always save for later but conversation options disappear if you can't use them immediately.

4. Almost. Toasters were easy because I had Ralphy.

5. I got peaceful solution in RNC but I think the quest chain was bugged - some parts never triggered. E.g. there should be a kidnapping at some point but it never happened.

6. I pretended to side with DBM (after wiping all their ambushes but didn't kill any monks. I sneaked through the Temple and didn't kill anyone there either. Also I agreed to get the nuke for monks but instead I disarmed it.

7. I don't think you get any extra quests but you can get some weapons. Nothing really great though.

 

---

 

Melee isn't necessary. Theoretically, brawling is the best source of damage after maybe level 30. But at level 30 you have great gear and, most importantly, so many HP that slightly higher damage output doesn't matter.

Edited November 3, 2014 by prodigydancer

[Enoch]

 

5. I got peaceful solution in RNC but I think the quest chain was bugged - some parts never triggered. E.g. there should be a kidnapping at some point but it never happened.

 

I think that

the kidnapping only happens if (a) you disarm the bike bomb, keeping Jessie alive, and (b) you prevent Ralphy from talking with her, either by recruiting him and not bringing him by that part of the map or by recruiting him and quickly dismissing him.  Otherwise, she either dies, or goes back to the Acheson camp after her conversation with Ralphy (before the Topekans can capture her).

 

Edited November 3, 2014 by Enoch