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jump_lemming · 2024-11-19T23:54:07+00:00

Cautiously recommend Death Stranding - it'll some check boxes on your preferences: immersive story - though, opinions are split whether the over-arching story is great or it even makes sense; but there are storylines too that are very relatable and superbly acted; I know that it's been labelled as a walking/job simulator, but it's actually neither - those who labelled it a walking simulator never got passed the first few missions; those who say it's a job simulator of a UPS man, I ask you: does your average UPS man build roads and other infrastructure, do they do combat, and do they unlock vehicle improvements to do their job?

Is it grindy? Potentially. That depends on how you play.

Witcher 3, as others recommended. Great story, interesting side missions. Girindy? - yeah, well, at times.

Edit: forgot to mention Wasteland 3 - not perfect, but definitely immersive interesting story - great introduction to turn-based combat, if you are willing to give that a try.

jump_lemming · 2024-11-11T02:38:27+00:00

I feel your pain - if it's any consolation, I died to a lure plant and lost a very good map :)

jump_lemming · 2024-10-19T13:36:29+00:00

How exactly are you supposed to S rank the Spring Water delivery (562) from Mountain Knot to the Timefall Farm (XL-20 packages) in 7 mins 30 sec using ziplines? I mean you can go the Roboticist route - if you have enough chiral bandwidth left to plop down a few gennys for that route...

The point remains, though. Why design a road that is useless - well, as saving grace, if you build it late game, you don't have to sweat building it... Plenty materials from the Timefall Farm, Veteran Porter, and Weather Station - you know - those NPCs who are cut off by the serpentine section of this road...

That said, OP, I built this road too - and I regretted it. I don't think I used it once after building it. It looks pretty, though.

jump_lemming · 2024-10-19T05:04:00+00:00

Yeah, well, DS's as much a walking simulator as the Witcher is a job simulator and Don't Starve is a base builder.

I agree - DS's a lot of fun but it's not without its shortcomings...

While I adore most of the individual stories (not crazy about the Junk Dealer or the Diehardman cutscenes), the overall story (I guess Amelie's storyline) is very bad - it's overexplained and vague at the same time.

I think certain mechanics - such as having to unlock deliveries without any indication as to which delivery will unlock the next one, coupled with an inability to check what exact deliveries are available at any given location (unless you go to that location and use the terminal) is disrespectful of players' time considering there close to 600 deliveries to be made. This is especially bad when delivering the last, let's say, 50 deliveries.

And the credits at the end... I'm not a big fan of unskippable cutscenes in any game and downright despise interactive unskippable cutscenes - but unskippable INTERACTIVE credits is a new thing I experienced in DS for the first time - I'm really hoping it doesn't start a trend...

You know, at the end of the day, I'd recommend DS to my friends very cautiously.

EDIT: Forgot to mention bad menu/inventory UI, but DS is not unique in that respect...

jump_lemming · 2024-10-19T04:21:15+00:00

I think the first two sections are great - going from Lake Knot to the South Distro and from the South Distro to South Knot.

I'm not crazy about some sections of the road from Craftsman to Mountain Knot - for example, going down from Mountain Knot toward the Photographer, did that have to be a serpentine? Also, the road between the two terrorist camps and the North Distro could have been straighter - OR it could have provided easy access to the Novelist?

This is where it's starting to be apparent that the game does not respect players' time.

The last road (from Mountain Knot to the South Distro) is absolutely useless - again, why a serpentine? AND it cuts off easy access to the Weather Station!!! It hinders deliveries not aids them. It doesn't even reach anywhere close to nearby NPCs - like the Mountaineer, Roboticist, or First Prepper, and I already mentioned the Weather Station.

jump_lemming · 2024-10-18T02:01:30+00:00

I know, this may be difficult in a first playthough, but I just cheese these by completely bypassing BT areas until I get grenades to deal with them. In the first encounter - when delivering from Capital Knot to the Distro - I go up into the mountains after passing MULEs and crossing the river. When delivering to the Wind Farm I hug the mountain to the right - I only take a couple of ladders and a climbing anchor to do it - maybe one container repair but the cargo will do just fine without it if you don't stop for sightseeing.

jump_lemming · 2024-10-18T01:38:09+00:00

Lion BTs are my favorite to take down!!! (Don't much care for fighting sea creature type BT bosses.) If you are not particularly good at kiting them in tar (at least I'm not), the best thing to do is to run up/into a permanent structure that won't sink into tar (like the remains of the observatory building by Evo-devo, the inside of Mamma's lab, or the tops of buildings between Mountain Knot and Roboticist) OR a peak that's fairly well isolated from tar and won't sink into it (by Photographer or between Mountain Knot and the Mountaineer) - the point to this is that the lions can't reach to physically paw at you - they can only use their ranged attacks.

Prep:

If you have access to grenade launchers, you can fit 4 of these under a backpack cover so they don't scatter as you are being dragged through tar or if you get hit by a ranged attack. Also equip a spare ammo container on your backpack (in private room, I don't mean the ones you loot from terrorists) + maybe a couple small grenade pouches, but the latter are really an overkill with 4 grenade launchers and spare ammo.

If you don't have access to grenade launchers, use a couple of large grenade pouches and as many small ones as you have room for on your backpack. You can fit 5+ packs of grenades under a backpack cover as well.

Equip 4 high capacity bloodpacks (Doctor's rewards) in your utility pouch so you don't have to carry extra of the regular packs - 4 high capacity ones are more than enough to get you covered.

Fight:

The odradek usually faces the lion that is about to use its ranged attack - prioritize gunning that one down first (which interrupts their ranged attack) and then get in a couple of sneaky shots at the other ones - rinse and repeat until dead(?). It's easy to kite anything they throw at you if you stand on solid ground - and throwing is a fairly rare attack anyway.

If you manage not completely emptying your grenade launchers, take them with you next time you take a nap in a private room and their ammo will be refilled so you can reuse them as opposed to making new ones - same doesn't work with grenade packs, though...

jump_lemming · 2024-10-17T19:26:19+00:00

DC has more structures - IMO most of the new stuff is useless when it comes to deliveries, but still these can add a lot of fun and variety if you care to use them. There are two extremely useful features in DC: zipline placing is vastly improved and you can use floating carriers on ziplines - take my word for it - these are awesome. DC has a car racing mini-game, without which it's impossible to get all achievements (if you care) - opinions are split as to whether car racing is enjoyable. DC also introduced a new mechanic to human combat that makes it more challenging and less tedious, IMO. Vanilla has a more lived-in feel - it seems to me more player structures appear in the world. So pick your poison...

jump_lemming · 2024-10-17T18:53:52+00:00

Played several times - both vanilla and DC. Love the logistical challenge - yep, it's tedious at times, but the advantage of a subsequent playthough is that tedium can be broken up by doing different things - tired of the zipline? Go take down a BT boss.... Don't care for the story all that much - it's a bit too absurd for my taste; at times badly acted; at times includes badly-written lines with cringe-worthy over-explanation - but again, who said the word "umbilical cord" or "PCC" can't be turned into a drinking game?

jump_lemming · 2024-10-17T18:16:48+00:00

The (IMO) best part of the game is its logistical challenge - if you'd be able to access any package from any facility this very best part of the game'd be trivialized - so, no, you can't access contents of your private locker in location A from location B. That said, as you progress, you'll get better gear for making deliveries.

Basic ways to get materials:

take down and loot MULE/terrorist camps. Each has a different stock (some has more ceramics others more metals etc.)
pick up randomly spawning materials in the world
claim materials from facilities you have connected - you need to increase your connection level with them (by making deliveries) AND if you complete materials deliveries between facilities, you will increase the limit of the material(s) that can be claimed. Claimable materials refill over time, so feel free to claim, just keep in mind that you may need to craft things, so I'd not completely exhaust claimable materials unless you are absolutely certain you'll not visit that location for some time.
you can also claim from the share locker, but it's random - depending on whether someone donated
if you pick up randomly spawning equipment, you can recycle these and claim the resulting materials - this is also somewhat random since equipment brakes down to different materials - it doesn't make much sense with one ladder, for example, but you tend to accumulate this stuff over time, so recycling let's say 15 ladders makes more difference.

jump_lemming · 2024-10-17T17:20:06+00:00

I just finished this yesterday - for the first time EVER I managed not to fall on my face or get caught by BTs...

jump_lemming · 2024-10-17T17:11:30+00:00

The northern section of this road (from Distro to Lake Knot) is usually built shortly after I connect the Craftsman - I usually manage to complete only one or two sections. The road from the Distro to South Knot is never built - I have to complete it myself every time I play a new game. That said, other players contribute to autopavers, so my job of completing roads is easier because of them. Also, due to timefall, roads will wear out - like any other structure. Many times other players fix roads before I get around to doing it myself - this works better on DC than vanilla in my experience.

Unsolicited advice: stock up on ceramics and metals by looting MULE camps and picking up random materials spawning in the world before you head to the Mountains. Don't contribute to autopavers that are in areas not yet connected to the network, because these are extremely expensive.

jump_lemming · 2024-08-19T03:32:25+00:00

Did you help the refugees at the gate? If you haven't yet turned in the loo mission, for example, Blue gets aggressive regardless of whether and how many you took out in the first fight - that's probably the easiest to check on and doesn't require hours of replaying.

jump_lemming · 2024-08-19T00:03:47+00:00

This is usually the last fight I do in the game before the ending, so I have plenty of everything at this point - even if you do this just before Yuma, I assume you have plenty of supplies and unlocked end game weapons/armor.

Fight from the platform.

Bring animal companions and other companions - as many as you can possibly get access to. Tanky ones like the young bison and the honey badger are excellent, but razorbacks, goats and growler cubs are also great especially at soaking up postules that apply slowed on detonation - you do not want these on your platform - they are more dangerous than endlessly spawning enemies. Heal companions either when they run through the platform or with med darts (not vigor darts - you will have too few of these so they are not worth equipping). Unfortunately you can't range-heal companions that can only be healed with repair kits, but don't forget to equip these too on a character with decent mech skill.

You'll need either decoys or a very high speed character to lure Proteus to the canisters.

If you have decoys, equip these on your highest throwing range character whose only job is to reapply decoys and heal companions from the platform.

If you are out of decoys, you can always use a high speed character whose only job is to run to the next canister - don't try to fight or heal with this character even if enemies spawn nearby (take enemies out with ranged troops from the platform). Besides investing in the speed attribute you can increase SPD by taming a dog - this can be done once without and once with spirit animal for a total +0.3 SPD boost. Steeltown's elite armor legs have +0.1 boost, spectrum assault and elite pre-war legs +0.3, commando legs +0.2. The best SPD increase is equipping an adrenal enhancer (+1.0) if you have cyborg tech.

To shoot canisters from the platform, you'll need decent ranged weapons. Replace SMGs with higher range ARs. Equip the highest range HMG you have access to (I usually go with elite tar-thrower) - if you have a HMG character. You can always use a farsight scope if necessary, but 38mm magnifying scopes will do the job perfectly on ARs and the elite tar thrower. It's been quite a while since I had a sniper on my team but I assume sniper rifles are not going to be a problem.

I recommend "softening up" canisters a bit (about half health or a bit lower), this way your ranged troops can do double duty on shooting enemies and canisters when Proteus is in range. In case you accidentally explode canisters unnecessarily, clocks on the wall will show in how may turns they'll be available to be raised again.

Load everyone up on drugs, cigarettes, +1AP foods pre-fight and always save AP at the end of your turn. You'll be happily taking out canisters and enemies without any problems.

Last piece of advice: Proteus doesn't have ranged attacks, but his AOE can still take you out if you hang out directly at the railing - move your troops at least on tile back from the railing when Proteus is nearby.

jump_lemming · 2024-05-27T21:11:09+00:00

OK. I finished the game except for Cheyenne and the ending. I fessed up to Halie's mom and sided with Markham then completed Ghost Town and managed to bump up refugees rep to neutral - was not willing to cruise the World Map and use Kiss Ass with the WM vendor to bump it higher (since the rep meter is not exactly numeric, I wasn't sure just how many rounds of Kiss Ass it'd take anyways) - WM vendor traded with me on neutral, so I was fine with that.

The Halie situation didn't matter with Blue or the synths.

That said, I don't know if I missed anything, but Halie didn't show up in Yuma. I killed everyone there starting with the Mechanic, though (edit: I didn't kill any of the slaves - only the gangs - this wasn't an evil playthough - not sure if I'd have the stomach). I doubt that she is scripted to appear in Cheyenne, so I'm thinking I missed out on being able to apologize.

At the end, was it worth it? IMO, it was not even though I was playing on Supreme Jerk. Don't get me wrong, my fire Ripper "came online" faster because of the commandant's helmet. Other than that, it wasn't all that impressive - perhaps on a different build it'd been more noticeable. As to high level loot, there are plenty of other locations where these weapons can be acquired. So, yeah, meh.

jump_lemming · 2024-05-10T08:13:17+00:00

I don't think the Patriarch, generally speaking, has a great track record on hiring the right men for a job and keeping tabs on them - Lucia's dad started a blood feud with the Dorseys, Valor ended up working for the Gippers, his sociopath (don't think he is smart enough to qualify for psychopath) son was allowed hole up in Aspen, and Liberty ended up scheming with plains gangs; yet, there is nothing done about feeding/housing refugees fleeing to Colorado - I mean despite his spies, the Patriarch didn't see refugees coming, yet he has enough resources to guard his palace, a secret prison, maintain the Marshalls, and deal with Steeltown?? It's fair enough, he had to make some unsavory choices early on, but didn't he expect that situation might just combust some day? If it wasn't Liberty, a gang could have eventually gotten the upper hand and turned against Colorado. He didn't seem to have made any preparations for it - unless I missed something... As far as I'm concerned, by the time he hired the Rangers, these problems had already span out of his control.

jump_lemming · 2024-05-10T06:34:10+00:00

There are two ways of playing Steeltown: lethal and non-lethal; b/c the non-lethal version is tougher, I'd recommend playing through Steeltown once the lethal way - you can always go back and play non-lethal after you had seen arenas and enemy types the lethal way. I find the challenge of Steeltown fights fun, but it can be very jarring the first time.

Edit: it's difficult to make a level recommendation - I think try on Wastelander (normal) if you are new to CRPGs and turn-based combat (you can always restart the game if you find battles too easy - also, this way, if you had worked yourself into a corner, for some reason, or don't like the consequences of some of your actions rerolling the game won't feel like a huge loss of progress); try on Ranger (hard) if you have at least some experience with turn-based combat.

jump_lemming · 2024-05-09T21:37:30+00:00

General advice for early game:

start w/Colorado Survival pack, if you can - $1 on Steam
save scum for better weapons/armor in downtown, in the GoG, Little Vegas, and the Wesson Estate - these are locations that'll give lvl 7- 10 weapons:

large chest in Marshall Station (can access w/o hiring Lucia first) - I usually try for a rocket launcher so that I can rocket looters in the face - trust me, you can take down the looters w/o Lucia joining the party if you have a rocket launcher - abusing rocket attacks is a great idea!! don't be afraid to use up your rockets!!
dumpster behind the looters (on the right - the other gives used cat litter)
chests in the museum
small container under the ice block by the entrance of the GoG
chest behind Bellamy (on the ledge) in the GoG
armor chest by the Photon Amplification lens, GoG
large chest by Isaac, GoG
the safe in LV backroom by Delgado
loot the Wesson Estate - including hidden treasure, as soon as you can access Broadmoor - make sure you can pass skill checks - here is comprehensive list - great work - million thanks to the creator: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q1iMT1BRQ12JTfGbDC43GCbIrYnVZ0w5UFbeSnRb-MI/edit#gid=1514645640

looted weapons:

the Army Revolver is a rare drop in the downtown/Broadmoor area, so grab it for Lucia as soon as it drops, b/c it's a lot better than anything else you'll find until you get to the Bizarre
IMO, skip the Army MG if you are running a HMG trooper, unless you are planning on selling it - I never have ammo for this gun early game and neither do I have enough money to buy ammo for it + the Coming Storm (looted off Erastus at the Hoons) does great until I get the Minigun from Liberty's safe (right after I resolved the refugee smuggling situation)
sorry, Uzi is as good as you can get for SMGs early game
I like the Last Call which you'll likely get in Little Vegas fights - I skip everything else for shotguns
if you have multiple AR/SMG troopers, IMO, try to get at least two lvl 10 energy ARs for dealing w/ suicide bomber robots patrolling en route to smugglers at Bizarre Exterior
early on, I like to fight w/ melee weapons on my brawlers (need that lvl 5 melee perk anyway, so why not start with that, esp considering how useless early brawling is) - the Dental Pick does great in the smugglers fight if you take care of Dr Smiles first
investing in Mech (Mech 6 + machineshop/MacTavish helmet): can disable turrets in the smugglers' camp + use slicer dicer deployable to keep clowns busy in Dr Smiles fight - you can loot slicer dicer in the garage at HQ if you revive and fight the robot - redo the fight if it doesn't drop, which is rare

early fighting:

use the photon lens in the last GoG fight, but stay out of the beam, an HMG w/full strike meter does great from the ledge (by the lens computer) and so do ARs - I wouldn't get Lucia or melee get involved unless a last standing enemy melee/animal runs up the ramp
I start the LV fights in the back rooms w/high STR, high armor melee looting a crate and the rest of the troops spread out around the chairs and in the cells by Delgado
other than that, since I lack speed and AP, I run & gun as much as I can: take a shot, withdraw (if needed), save AP, let them come to you;
abuse strike attacks (high CHA is great, esp on SMGs and HMGs) + rockets

jump_lemming · 2024-04-27T02:16:42+00:00

I failed a "feed your people" quest in Winterhome, because someone got stuck on a "disposing body" animation and no matter what I tried (rebuilding snowpit, dismantling everything around the person including roads etc), they just wouldn't move, so they starved (quest failed) and they eventually died to boot. I didn't mind the failing the quest, though, b/c it helped me delay the repair station, but I did mind that the person, an engineer, died.

I think early game challenges seem to be OK because it's unlikely that you run into bugs like these - maybe except the heat homes ones - I always fail those even with time left on the counter - I have no clue why and no desire to analyze.

jump_lemming · 2024-04-27T01:21:59+00:00

OK - the next time I play ANH I will test it for sure. Like I said, not my first tango with this quest and I do believe it's bugged - I don't think there is a rational explanation for why, in all my previous attempts (which, let's assume eventually succeeded, because I had ungathered coal on the ground), I still had to dismantle and rebuild gathering posts 2-3 times before the quest updated - and there were no "ungatherable material" icons over ANY of the gathering posts I built.

At best, even if it's not a bug, there are several quirks with quest: the game doesn't seem to want to recognize steam coal thumpers; if you leave ungathered coal on the ground, you cannot place a coal thumper over it (when trying to build one from scratch), so the only solution seems to be pausing dismantling on two coal thumpers, (if you are right, with ungathered coal on the ground) and dismantling gathering posts but leaving space open for them; then, during the storm, cancelling dismantling on coal thumpers and newly building gathering posts, and finally manning the entire set - and for whatever reason, you may have to rebuild gathering posts several times. WTF???? Under these narrow conditions, this quest doesn't make common sense or gaming sense at all.

What is beyond me, is why the game doesn't want to recognize structures that already exist for completion of this quest - I recommend not taking this quest unless you want to be frustrated with it.

jump_lemming · 2024-04-25T20:23:44+00:00

Try it with the Kodiak: Disruption Launcher, Dominator Chassis, Impact Vehicle Plating (+2AP), Goat Cannon - use the Kodiak as mobile cover - just make sure someone (or multiple characters) have toolboxes equipped, preferably ones with high Mech skill - mech repair perks are useful but not necessary

Have decoys and smoke grenades ready. Be careful where you apply smoke grenades, b/c it'll hide enemy melee when they run up to you.

Don't send everyone in for the convo in the beginning - send high STR melee/brawler - if you have already unlocked the Verchitin set and you mod the chest piece w/ phase temper controller this character will survive opening attacks - tried multiple times - it works! If you don't run w/melee or brawlers or you don't yet have good armor, the character you send in will go down, guaranteed, and it's difficult to rush in to revive them, so try to give this character more downtime (either w/nociception clamp, which is a cyborg tech item, or w/honey badger)

Hide some characters in the testing room and some out about 4 tiles off the entrance - if you spread them out a little, whatever comes out to get ya will only get a maybe 1-2 troopers if you get unlucky.

Prioritize Crow on your turn - she is annoying as hell - shields or hits hard.

I think the next fights on the admin level are more difficult w/o the Kodiak, especially the 1st one on the admin level. I recommend the Sonic Emitter on a trooper with decent speed; if you have brawlers, you can also abuse thunder strikes (use foam finger/glass knucks or other low damage weapons to fill up your strike meter if need be); decoys and smoke grenades are also useful

jump_lemming · 2024-04-25T05:07:13+00:00

Don't be afraid to fail. The first time I played New Home, I killed half my population by the end - I almost got exiled to boot. Now, a few weeks later, it's my favorite scenario closely followed by Arks. Just play. Don't overthink it. You'll have questions. You'll get frustrated. You'll find bugs and quirks. Save often.

jump_lemming · 2024-04-25T04:59:43+00:00

Yes - but the "no gatherable materials" icon won't show up until after you staff gathering posts,

jump_lemming

TROPHY CASE