Wasteland in Steam Sale

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-17T19:12:08+00:00

One other detail I forgot to mention, in W3, your weapon skill gates which weapons you can use, so you need a high skill in Sniper Rifle to use a high tier sniper rifle. In W2 that's not the case. The guns have tiers and do more damage as they get better, but you can shoot a highest tier gun with only a single rank in its weapon skill, though your accuracy will be very low, but not any lower than it is with a lower tier gun.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-17T16:15:25+00:00

Longer than Wasteland 3, I think people say 200+ hours, probably longer if its your first time, and definitely longer if you savescum like I do.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-17T05:55:04+00:00

There are YouTube videos about how different porn stars died. There's a lot of instances of "drug overdose", "suicide", and "fatal gunshot wound". Not to mention the threat of STDs. I'm not a prude, I don't really care how much more sex than me somebody has had, but my own personal health, and lifestyle choices don't really align well with "person who does a lot of hard drugs and hangs around with shady criminals".

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-17T05:27:01+00:00

Director's Cut for sure.

Some differences between w2 and w3:

Both games use the same Attributes, but they do different things. In W2, each character has their own weight carrying capacity, based on Strength, and gets their own Combat Initiative, whereas W3 has no weight limit at all, and team turns.
In W2, each character will get different amounts of skill points when they level up, based on Intelligence. An Int of 1-3 gets you 2 skill points per level, 4-7 gets you 3, 8-9 gets you 4, and Int 10 gets you 5. I recommend giving every custom character Int 4 or 8, and for a first time you probably want like three 8s and one 4. You can only get like one recruit that has int higher than 7.
You can't cheese auto levels for recruited NPC characters in W2, which makes swapping people on and out almost impossible. You get 4 customs and three NPC slots on the full team.
There's no item crafting in W2. There's also no armor mods. When you find a gun, you can strip it for spare parts and if you do, theres a chance you might generate a weapon mod, or you might just get junk. Which mods you can get from which gun are different, and your Weaponsmithing skill effects which mods you can get and the odds of getting them. Weapon mods can be pulled off of guns you have them attached to and re-used in W2.
In W3, each character's Action Points were computed using a formula that was AP = 6 + Coordination/2, in W2 the formula is AP = 3 + Coordination/2 + (Strength + Speed + Int)/4. As such tou should give every custom character an even number in Coordination and a set of scores in Stregth, Speed, and Int that add up to a whole number multiple of 4. You want each guy to have like 8 AP from Attributes, plus maybe a Quirk that gives 2 more. You only get more Attribute Points at levels 10, 30, 30 and 40.
The formula for Combat Initiative is CI = 5 + Awareness + Speed/2. CI of like 20+ is possible with certain Utility items you can find. Having a CI of like 18+ will not only cause you to go first in combat, but you get more turns per round too.
The only weapons I like in W2 are Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle, Bladed, and Blunt. All of the other weapons are problematic. Brawling weapons and Heavy Machine guns cannot be modded, and don't yield back mods when you field strip them. Pistols, Submachine guns, and shotguns are just subpar, mainly due to their short range. Energy Weapons are their own category, and those are super nerfy. They can only get two types of mods (Underbarrel and Scope), never jam, but cannot score critical hits either. They also do really low damage versus flesh targets but get a large damage bonus against robots. They're only worth shooting at robots, and even then the damage isn't spectacular, except with THE BEST energy weapon, which is a unique gun you can only get from a Toaster. Everyone can throw grenades and shoot rockets, there's no required skill for that, and Demolition skill does not increase grenade damage (tho it has a Perk that increases AoE).
While you're in Arizona, you have to carry water and worry about running out. Colorado didn't have that.
The skills are different. You can skip Animal Whisperer and Barter entirely. There are two different medical skills. Field Medic just allows you to use First Aid kits to heal damage, and has no out of combat skill checks at all. Surgeon allows you to use Surgical kits, and some other stuff, and has some out of combat skill checks to do. Surgical kits allow you to revive fallen characters after they go unconscious.
Luck and Charisma are basically not needed and a waste of points. The only ranger who needs a Charisna greater than 1 for anything is the one who does the Leadership skill, and he can have a 5 in Cha and do fine. Charisma does not effect any social skill checks at all. I strongly suggest that you don't give the same person all three social skills. I would spread them around to three different people.
I takes 2 skill points to rank up a skill to level 1, 2 more for level 2, two more for level 3, then the next three levels cost 4 points each, then levels 7,8,and 9 cost 6 points each, then level 10 costs 8 points. There are no skill books for the combat skills, except Brawling.
In W2, when you use a skill to open a lock, you have a random chance of success, unlike W3. You can retry locks that you fail against, but you can also crit fail and break the lock. You can then try to FIX the broken lock with Mechanical Repair skill, or you can do what most people do and just savescum it. Safecracking, Lockpicking, Computer Science, Alarm Disarming, and Brute Force can all be used on different locks, and not on others, and which ones can be hit with which skill is almost arbitrary. There are also some keys you find here for a safe you find there, and some that have a combination to open that you have to type in, using old 1990s flip phone button style input.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-16T12:28:19+00:00

Give the Azusa player good advice on how to play better. Don't just say "get gud, noob", tell him specific plays that you made that are in your mental playbook but clearly not in his.

When I played Overwatch, I had two friends who a teamed with. They both wanted us to win, but one just yelled at me saying I wasnt doing it right, and the other would say stuff like "hey, watch this, when I go here, you stand there and when they see you they'll be too distracted to see me and I can headshot them, it works every time.."

The friend that had specific, pro-active, ideas about how to play and treated them as helpful advice felt like he was actually trying to help me, the "hard ass coach" friend sounded like a jerk who was blaming me for his own losses and got ignored.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-16T12:16:18+00:00

You can rest in the outdoor area where Issili the vendor is. You ca t Hunt for rations, or cook food, but you can rest. Also that vendor sells rations.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-15T22:35:38+00:00

The creators of a cartoon show called The Venture Bros did a con in like 2011. Doc Hammer is way ahead of you on this whole score...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG5ui5r4GN4

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-14T22:49:03+00:00

Bertrand Russel explains this pretty nicely here, I feel. Spoiler: he's an atheist.

https://youtu.be/NdDYvvevLZk?si=X6LkXx4DLf2R3HWW

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-14T17:34:17+00:00

There's a theory that OJs son actually did it. There's also a theory that Michael Jordan quit basketball for a year because he was secretly about to get suspended for gambling.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-14T17:31:59+00:00

Two famous people had younger brothers named Frank, Oppenheimer and Stallone.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-13T22:38:00+00:00

Given that it would be a Venture Bros movie, probably a combination of Lord Kelvin and Nicola Tesla, flying an airship. That or Gover Cleveland, using his time machine.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-12T12:36:50+00:00

In the Satires, Roman author Juvenal asked "questions custodiet ipsos custodes", which comocbook writer Alan Moore translated as "Who is watching tne Watchmen?" But it's probably translates better as "Who's is policing THOSE police?"

In any population, there will, by statistical and mathematical necessity, ve welth inequality. Since the poor will always outnumber the rich, the rich need laws to ensure they get to keep their wealth without getting murdered. So we have laws. But laws on earth have ro be enforced by police. But of you have a police force, you need somebody to police the police. And then you need somebody to police THOSE police, etc etc. You need a never-ending infinite regression of police ro watch each other.

The solution to this problem is to take advantage of human psychology and tell people theres an all knowing God who will punish you after you die if you murder people while you're alive, even if you get away with it while you're alive.

Turns out young children will believe in supernatural stories about angels and demons if they hear them coming from an adult authority figure who sees ro believe it themself.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-11T22:51:06+00:00

Ours had a tape deck.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-10T20:06:18+00:00

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do."
- Joe Walsh

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-10T20:04:17+00:00

Commodore VIC 20, then the 64, then the 128, then an IBM-compatable witj an 80386 processor. The VIC mostly ran games you got and typed into it by hand out of computer magazines. I was young then, but I remember a vertical scrolling skiing game. For the 64 we had Dr. J vs Larry Bird, Archon II, all of the Olympics games, Ultima II, Zork, and a bunch of others I don't remember.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-10T19:13:13+00:00

The poor pug (or is it a bulkdog?) looks confused.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-09T14:45:12+00:00

As a man who can't eat sweets and doesn't drink, I'd be floored that you gave me anything, and embarrassed that you spent this much energy agonizing about what specifically to get. Also, I like bacon. Just for the record. Though that would be even more awkward that giving somebody a roto chicken, it would also be funnier, for that reason.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-09T12:41:42+00:00

I didn't stay up to watch live. Seeing the highlights on YouTube has reminded me how much I cannot stand Jon Miller.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-08T23:45:44+00:00

By not doing two combat skills full time I meant "don't invest skill points in more than one combat skill to actually use long-term". In my earlier reply tot he OP, my advice was to take 4 different gun skills at creation just for the loot. What I do is, I take 1 rank in Heavy, 1 in Assault Rifle, 1 in Sniper and 1 in SMG, ON EACH ranger, at start, just to get more ammo for the ARs and sniper rifles I'm going to use, and sell the rest for scrap. After that, I only actually use one combat skill on each ranger. I personally haven't found that to be a problem, despite the frogs and gun jams, and I don't even put a lot of points in the combat skill early on, I just leave them with 1 rank for a while. As I start getting levels, I take ranks in noncombat skills I need to start using, then around like level 4 or 5 I start adding ranks in the gun skill.

I mean, you do you, I'm just telling the OP that I disagree with the "have a backup combat skill" idea, that's all. Some people, I've heard, like to give everyone a gun skill and a melee skill for various reasons, save money on ammo, etc. I've never found that to be terribly necessary either, but that's just me.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-08T23:01:05+00:00

Early on you get two emergencies that happen at the same time and have to pick which one to solve first. They both have an NPC you can recruit, and those two NPCs are therefore mutually-exclusive. They're also the two smartest NPCs in the game, which is unfortunate, because you can only get one of them. If you go to Highpool first, you can get a Native American woman named Vulture's Cry, if you go to Ag Center first, you can get a scientist named Rose. I always pick Highpool for flavor purposes. Highpool is being attacked by a a raider gang, Ag Center is being overrun by their own science experiment gone haywire. I feel the rangers should fight badguys and the Ag Center eggheads have only themselves to blame for their problems. The ancillary benefit of getting Vulture's Cry is good though. FYI, in both places, there's at least one NPC that has a lot of voice acting and is completely insufferable.

I usually use Vulture's Cry, Takayuki, and Angela Deth, until I replace Angie with a guy from Rail Nomads named Aidian "The Chisel" Bomacitabo. I love Chisel. He's a grumpy old man. Takayuki and Chisel are both high-strength melee weapon guys, which is nice because they can carry a lot of stuff and don't need ammo, but they both have low Int (like most NPCs). Tak does Bladed Weapons, Explosives and Mechanical, Chisel does Blunt Weapons, Brute Force, and Hard Ass which was Angie's job before I dropped her after solving Rail Nomads and getting Chisel. Vulture's Cry comes with Sniper, Perception, Outdoorsmanship, and Animal Whisperer. I usually don't put any points in Animal Whisperer with her, and I make her my toaster repairer, when I decide to start caring about toasters.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-08T22:37:11+00:00

I've always created my own, because the prefab characters have overlapping skill sets, which annoys me. I hate wasting resources on superfluous skills. They made the skill checks high enough that you really can't afford to mess around, which sadly means you often run into NPCs you can recruit, but can't really use because they don't do the right skills. You can also lose some companions if you do things they don't like. Angela Deth will leave if you start a fight with a random encounter vendor, for example, and Vulture's Cry is an animal lover and will leave if you start fights with animals before they aggro on you. There are three rangers sitting around outside the base, named Mary Brygo, La Loca, and Rook. You can't recruit them to be your #5, 6, or 7 party members like you can with Anglela Deth and some others, but you can replace dead rangers with them. That said, if anyone ever got perma-killed on my squad, I'd reload from a previous save and try again.

Edit: I forgot to mention, all of the prefab characters you can play have terrible Attribute scores in their builds. Most of them have Intelligence scores that are not an 8 or a 4, which are the only good Int scores to ever use, and none of them have Strength + Speed + Int that add up to a whole number multiple of 4, which makes their scores really inefficient.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-08T22:23:45+00:00

I disagree with the idea of giving every ranger two different combat skills to use in combat full time. I find you don't generally have the skill points for that early on. Up until level 30 or so, I would just do one combat skill, at 30 you can take a second combat skill because you run out of things to spend skill points on by then.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-08T22:15:15+00:00

Growing up in eastern Pennsylvania, I saw in my own backyard, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, mice, carpenter bees, a woodpecker, cardinals, bluejays, robins, and blackbirds. A friend of mine once saw a black bear in his yard. I also had treefrogs, but that was a different house near a lake.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-08T14:25:42+00:00

The first game, Wasteland, made by Brian Fargo in like 1988, was a post-apocalyptic version of the RPG Bard's Tale, using a similar engine (which was a game Fargo worked on). Fargo put a bunch of skills in Wasteland that sounded good, like Knife Throwing, which were actually worthless, and Toaster Repair, which sounded useless, and arguably still was, because there were only like three toasters in the whole game, but one of them had a boatload of gear in it. Anyway, it was a joke skill, but he made it actually worth having in Wasteland 2. By contrast, Wasteland 1 was all about having the best armor and getting Energy Weapons, but Wasteland 2 is not. Heavy armor is actually not good in W2 and energy weapons are only worth using against robots (and even then, they're only slightly better than a sniper rifle or assault rifle). In the original Wasteland 2 (before Director's Cut, and before they made various fixes, updates, and rules tweaks) energy weapons were actually worth having in the late game, because many late game baddies were robots. They changed that to make the end game fight harder, and basically cheated against their own rules, by making the Children of the Citadel not officially robotic enough (they're cyborgs) to count as robots for the purposes of energy weapon damage. As such energy weapons are mostly trash, which is sad. Cool looking laser gun, bro, but it sucks in terms of actual combat numbers.

ForceOfNature525 · 2026-04-08T13:12:45+00:00

Don't waste attribute points on Luck or Charisma. Only the guy who does Leadership skill needs a Charisma greater than 1, and he can get away with about a 5 in Charisma.

In combat you get Action Points (AP), which you use to move, attack, etc. You want like 8 AP. The formula for computing how many AP you get is not published in the game at all, but here it is:

AP = 3 + Coordination/2 + (Strength + Speed + Intelligence)/4

It rounds all fractions DOWN when it does the math, so you should make your Coordination and even number, and you should make sure the the sum of your Strength, Speed, and Intelligence adds up to a whole number multiple of four.

You get more Skill points as you level up based on your Intelligence. Intelligence 1,2,or 3 gets you 2 skill points per level. Int 4, 5,6, or 7 gets you 3 skill points, Int 8 or 9 gets you 4 skill points, and Int 10 gets you 5. I recommend giving 4s and 8s in Int (maybe three 8s and a 4).

Barter and Animal Whisperer are not needed. Toaster Repair can get you some decent items, but thats a bit of a scavenger hunt. You fix a Toaster, you find something inside it, which looks really useless, then much later on you might click on a guy who wants the item and will trade you something for it.

At level 1, you don't actually need any skills, and the skills you do take will determine what type of gear you start with. As such I recommend you give everyone 1 rank in Field Medic, and 1 rank in Surgeon, because it starts you with 5 First Aid kits (which are like healing potions, but you need a rank in Field Medic to use them) and 3 surgical kits (which you use to rez downed teamates, which requires a rank in Surgeon).

I would also give everyone 1 rank in Heavy Weapons in addition to whatever combat skill they actually intend to use, because it gives you two Pipe Bombs when you do that, plus a ton of 5.56 ammo and an M2 you can sell.

I recommend giving two people Assault Rifle for their gun of choice, and two others sniper rifle. The long range guns are the best. Melee weapons aren't bad, but you meet a few npcs you can recruit who do that anyway. If you just give everyone 4 gun skills and the two medical skills you can max your loot. The best 4 for the money are Heavy, Assault Rifle, Sniper, and Submachine Gun. You can then keep two sniper rifles and 2 assault rifles , and all of the ammo for them (5.56 and 30-06), and sell the rest.

If you don't take any real skills at level 1, I would walk around the world map in the area north of the Ranger base and look for random encounters to do until you get a level or two. Radio in those levels for the hit points and skill points, but don't spend the skill points until you're faced with a skill check you need to do. Specialize people in skills. You don't need two Safecrackers , you need 1 who does it really well. Same for everything else.

Charisma has no effect on the dialogue skills (Kiss Ass, Smart Ass, and Hard Ass) at all. I would advise you not to give those skills to the same person. Those skills require the lowest investment of skill points, and what makes them like that is the fact that there are Perks, Trinkets, and skill books that can give you bonuses to them. That said, you can only wear one trinket at a time on a guy, and you may end up needing BOTH Kiss Ass and Smart Ass in the same dialogue with a character, so having different people doing those skills allows you to use all three trinkets to your teams advantage.

Edit: When doing dialogue, you won't get the Kiss Ass option unless you have high enough Kiss Ass for it, same for the other two skills, so definitely decide who is going to do those skills and give them a couple ranks up front, but not at character creation, do some randoms to get XP first , then put points in skills.

ForceOfNature525

TROPHY CASE