My struggle with skill points...

[Bronze Dragon]

...isn't that I want more, it's that I can't figure out what to do with the ones I have. Only a handful of skills matter to me...stealth, carrying capacity, grav jump distance, etc.

- Only the first three levels of lockpicking matter; for the last one, I'm just not failing enough to make wasting a digipick to eliminate non-essential keys worth a skill point.
- Oxygen levels just haven't been an issue for me, so I don't want to waste a skill point on that.
- Same with ship combat, or armed combat - I'm just not having issues with not killing enough enemies or whatever to make anything those skills have to offer worth a skill point. Plus nothing outright tells you what qualifies as an energy weapon vs. a ballistic weapon vs. a heavy weapon, etc. You have to infer that, and I HATE having to infer shi t like that. It should tell you. Your character would know such things.
- Ship's thrusters? I mean, c'mon, Bethesda, really? I'm supposed to get stoked because I can shunt my ship just a fraction of an inch left/right, up/down? Really? Sheesh!

Don't even get me started on the science skills...BO-RING!

In point of fact, I think I could get through the entire game not having spent a single skill point and not miss it at all. I get that skill levels are supposed to make things easier. But the point is they only do so marginally at best, if that. The last ten skill points I spent, I didn't notice any difference in game play whatsoever. I wouldn't have known anything changed at all if the game didn't claim it does.

And maybe it's not just this game. They give you the illusion of progress when it really does little if anything to enhance the game experience whatsoever. By the end, at max level, you're really no better at doing things than you were at the start of the game. All the NPCs praise you but it feels unearned, because you're still just stumbling around. Skill points should make you feel cooler, more capable, more bad as s. Not...meh.

Rant over.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by Bronze Dragon:

What do you mean by going after powers? I don't see anything like that in the skills lists.

Does the game offer NG+ without mods?

Sadly, I find most games become empty of anything - NPCs, monsters, interesting features, etc. - once you complete the stories.

The "Powers" come from finding the Starborn Temples and accuring them there. There are a total of 24 temples. And each temple offers a specific Power. These are like magic abilities which alter the world around you. For example, Phased Time, will slow down the time for a short period of time for everyone around you, but your char. This is a huge advantage when fighting several enemies at once or a fast moving deadly critter.

You don't need a mod to do a NG+ run. But you do need to do certain steps in the Main quest to be able to go thru the Unity.

It's like a fresh restart of the game, with your char keeping all of their Skills, Traits , Magazine buffs and Research progress. But you lose your current modified ship, weapons and gear. You do get a Starborn space suit and a Ship and the Frontier in it's base shape. Also you will get about 20,000 credits and some new weapons when you visit the Lodge for the first time in a NG+ run.

You can also upgrade each Power to a new level each time you visit a temple for the first time in a NG+ run. They can go up to level 10.

[Ommamar]

I actually made a character that focuses on only one skill tree. The logic behind it I wanted to see as quickly as possible which skills I wanted on the build I will go through NG+ with.

Research Method is good if you don't want to do much with planet surveying 4 points in it allows you to get into the weapon and space suit modding. Plus use much less material to get the research done. The description is odd as it only reduces the required materials plus gets a better chance you will randomly get more material outside what you selected. It isn't really a time thing other then you don't have to take the time to collect the resources.

The next focus was piloting, since the constellation path gives you a ship during the quest line and it makes sense to get the higher tiered one you want piloting at level 4 so you can actually use it.

Then I focused on combat skills in this case shotguns and rifles but it is all dependent on how you want to play. Since this would be a sniper I used the cutter to power up stealth. Then I went with persuasion which seems the most used of the social skills. Then Wellness for the damage reduction, carrying capacity and oxygen usage.

Those who suggested you raise the difficulty level make a good point. If you are just walking through the game then difficulty will make skills more valuable. The powers they mention have to do with the constellation quest so you will likely want to look into that as they make a huge difference on how the game plays.

I agree with those who say they would of liked to see more of a usage type of system that Elder Scrolls uses. As opposed to the point system introduced in the Fallout games. The do this thing a certain number of time system is a place comparison, especially combined with you can't actually improve the skill until you get a skill point.

[Bronze Dragon]

Originally posted by wtiger27:

Originally posted by Bronze Dragon:

What do you mean by going after powers? I don't see anything like that in the skills lists.

Does the game offer NG+ without mods?

Sadly, I find most games become empty of anything - NPCs, monsters, interesting features, etc. - once you complete the stories.

The "Powers" come from finding the Starborn Temples and accuring them there. There are a total of 24 temples. And each temple offers a specific Power. These are like magic abilities which alter the world around you. For example, Phased Time, will slow down the time for a short period of time for everyone around you, but your char. This is a huge advantage when fighting several enemies at once or a fast moving deadly critter.

You don't need a mod to do a NG+ run. But you do need to do certain steps in the Main quest to be able to go thru the Unity.

It's like a fresh restart of the game, with your char keeping all of their Skills, Traits , Magazine buffs and Research progress. But you lose your current modified ship, weapons and gear. You do get a Starborn space suit and a Ship and the Frontier in it's base shape. Also you will get about 20,000 credits and some new weapons when you visit the Lodge for the first time in a NG+ run.

You can also upgrade each Power to a new level each time you visit a temple for the first time in a NG+ run. They can go up to level 10.

See, this kind of thing makes me not want to play anymore. If the only way you can do this special thing is that you have to do certain, specific things in a certain, specifc order or you don't get to do it, then when I get there and find out I didn't do it right, so I don't get to do this special thing, I'm just going to come away from the game pis sed, not wanting to go back and try again.

[pike]

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199113063164/recommended/

[CurrySpirals]

After doing some of the basics - persuasion, lockpicking, inventory upgrades - I invested heavily in Ship perks.

[tkwoods]

Originally posted by Bronze Dragon:

Originally posted by wtiger27:

The "Powers" come from finding the Starborn Temples and accuring them there. There are a total of 24 temples. And each temple offers a specific Power. These are like magic abilities which alter the world around you. For example, Phased Time, will slow down the time for a short period of time for everyone around you, but your char. This is a huge advantage when fighting several enemies at once or a fast moving deadly critter.

You don't need a mod to do a NG+ run. But you do need to do certain steps in the Main quest to be able to go thru the Unity.

It's like a fresh restart of the game, with your char keeping all of their Skills, Traits , Magazine buffs and Research progress. But you lose your current modified ship, weapons and gear. You do get a Starborn space suit and a Ship and the Frontier in it's base shape. Also you will get about 20,000 credits and some new weapons when you visit the Lodge for the first time in a NG+ run.

You can also upgrade each Power to a new level each time you visit a temple for the first time in a NG+ run. They can go up to level 10.

See, this kind of thing makes me not want to play anymore. If the only way you can do this special thing is that you have to do certain, specific things in a certain, specifc order or you don't get to do it, then when I get there and find out I didn't do it right, so I don't get to do this special thing, I'm just going to come away from the game pis sed, not wanting to go back and try again.

The only things you need to do the NG+ is find the artifacts and in the first run build your character to survive the end game. The second run can be done speed run fashion unless you want to acquire more skill levels doing other stuff early game.

There is no certain order that you have to do it. Other than find the artifacts and kill the StarBorn.

[restarter]

Originally posted by wtiger27:

Originally posted by Bronze Dragon:

What do you mean by going after powers? I don't see anything like that in the skills lists.

Does the game offer NG+ without mods?

Sadly, I find most games become empty of anything - NPCs, monsters, interesting features, etc. - once you complete the stories.

Also you will get about 20,000 credits and some new weapons when you visit the Lodge for the first time in a NG+ run.

wait what? How did I miss the 20K and weapons from teh lodge? I am on my first NG and I didn't get anything. I mean i'm well beyond needing that at this point but for my next NG+2 I wouldn't mind picking those up

[restarter]

Originally posted by Bronze Dragon:

Originally posted by wtiger27:

The "Powers" come from finding the Starborn Temples and accuring them there. There are a total of 24 temples. And each temple offers a specific Power. These are like magic abilities which alter the world around you. For example, Phased Time, will slow down the time for a short period of time for everyone around you, but your char. This is a huge advantage when fighting several enemies at once or a fast moving deadly critter.

You don't need a mod to do a NG+ run. But you do need to do certain steps in the Main quest to be able to go thru the Unity.

It's like a fresh restart of the game, with your char keeping all of their Skills, Traits , Magazine buffs and Research progress. But you lose your current modified ship, weapons and gear. You do get a Starborn space suit and a Ship and the Frontier in it's base shape. Also you will get about 20,000 credits and some new weapons when you visit the Lodge for the first time in a NG+ run.

You can also upgrade each Power to a new level each time you visit a temple for the first time in a NG+ run. They can go up to level 10.

See, this kind of thing makes me not want to play anymore. If the only way you can do this special thing is that you have to do certain, specific things in a certain, specifc order or you don't get to do it, then when I get there and find out I didn't do it right, so I don't get to do this special thing, I'm just going to come away from the game pis sed, not wanting to go back and try again.

you don't have to do anything in any special order other than follow the story. You WILL get a NG play through available once you complete it. I would also create a separate save BEFORE you go thrgouh the Unity

[alanc9]

Originally posted by Bronze Dragon:

Originally posted by Johny_Drifter:

I am level 140 and still dont have Lockpicking level 4. I have quite a few skills that I have only leveled up to 3. I play exclusively on Very Hard difficulty and enjoy the combat side of the game but that also requires me to dip into the crafting side a bit so that I can improve the weapons I buy or find. You will figure out what you need and don't need based on your style of play. If you only enjoy the combat portion of the game then there are a few skills in Science you will want to pursue such as Medicine 4. Then you will want get Weapon Engineering maxed out and go for Special Projects 1 (Dont even bother with Special Projects 2-4 unless you are interested in building outposts). I found Spacesuit Engineering useful in early game but now that I am NG+10 with Venator armor, I don't even mess with other armors so it's kind of pointless. If you like space combat then you will definitely want Aneutronic Fusion maxed out to tier 4 because it gives your ships reactor additional power.

I recently started to delve into outpost building and kind of wish I didn't. I wanted to see what that side of the game provided so I built up my Outpost Management (Science), Scanning, and Special Projects all to level 4. That was indeed a waste of skill points because I find the outpost building portion of the game rather boring and time consuming. I could have used those skill points better somewhere else because at level 140, it takes a little while to get enough XP to level up.

When you start going after Powers and you progress through the NG+ side of the game, you will definitely want Fitness level 4 and Gymnastics Level 2. You will be running long distances to temples and Fitness makes this much easier. Once inside the temples, you will experience zero G and you will need to move thru zero G to grab orbs in order to unlock the gates. Gymnastics level 2 lets you move in zero G much faster and will make temples much less frustrating.

I admit there are many skills that seem pointless. For example, Research Methods seems like a waste. I have all research completed on Outposts, Spacesuits and weapons and I haven't devoted any skill points into Research Methods. Once you complete all of the possible research, then those points that you invest into Research Methods dont do anything at all.

What do you mean by going after powers? I don't see anything like that in the skills lists.

Does the game offer NG+ without mods?

Sadly, I find most games become empty of anything - NPCs, monsters, interesting features, etc. - once you complete the stories.

Ummm... you're expecting interesting NPCs without stories?

[Nite69]

Honestly combat tree and tech tree are the only ones I been putting most of my points into, the others are useless, and this is with playing on very hard as well

[jonnin]

hmm... stuff that works for me:
weapon modding (science)
suit and backpack modding (science)
special projects is needed for above
piloting class c (for moar cargo space mostly)
installing all ship mods (not many need it, but the best ones do)
jetpack (1 tick is plenty, more isn't bad)
targeting (1 tick, to capture ships by killing engines)
fusion (+5 reactor power) marginal but power is power on fat ship builds


on hard difficulty:
defenses like physical damage resist
firepower, both ship and person, to kill spongey mobs better

a few others are marginal, but help... scavenging works, and diplomacy works, etc but aren't required.

weight lifting is marginal to me, as you can overcome all but the fast travel issue too easily. WL lets you fast travel with more crap, but that usually just saves you 500ish M dash to the ship after sacking a place. Its not bad, but its fine without.

stealth is meh too, but that is personal opinion only. I get it for melee players, which also feels off because can't mod melee weapons, but with guns, the AI can't find you from long range even if you only have 1 tick. It works, but it feels cheesy, but that may be the sniper elite vet in me talking, as I am bored of the shoot a few, wait for them to give up, repeat playstyle.

[Mollymawk]

I find the combat skills rather than having no effect are in many cases over powered.
Play on "very hard" - because it really isn't

Next play though I will avoid boosting combat skills so much, maybe just a couple of points in shields on the ship.

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Mollymawk:

I find the combat skills rather than having no effect are in many cases over powered.
Play on "very hard" - because it really isn't

Next play though I will avoid boosting combat skills so much, maybe just a couple of points in shields on the ship.

weapon damage on the ground conserves ammo, more than anything else. Easy, hard, doesn't matter if you don't get shot too much or have such good armor etc that its not such a big deal when you get hit. But conserving rare ammo, esp for pistol users, is pure gold -- that stuff comes in small batches and is rather pricey too.

weapon damage in space just makes better use of your reactors. If you beef it up, you can get by with 6 guns instead of 10, and taking 4 guns off lets you dump more power to bigger shields or engines etc. Or you can blast stuff to bits instantly, if you prefer, but its not necessary or challenging after a while.

So in both cases, its about conservation of resources (ammo, and reactor power) far more than anything else.

[Empukris]

This game is very linear, you should play the main quest and the main faction quest. If you do it like sandbox, this game become unbearable. So get lockpicking, persuasion and stealth. Get ship perks to build cooler looking ship. Power is like farming those dragon shout in Skyrim unlock when you reach certain parts of main quest. As other said above there are 24 i think.

Other perks is just to make your live easier but it is completely pointless as far as i know. More carry weight is handy but you dont need it, you will have tons of money anyway. Extra damage is good but are you playing in hardest difficulty? Then you dont need it, get a better weapon that will deal more damage than whatever the perk will give you. Outpost you can completely ignore. Probably playable if you install mods but i never tried it. I agree with you the perk is compmetely boring and they can do better.

[Nite69]

Originally posted by Mollymawk:

I find the combat skills rather than having no effect are in many cases over powered.
Play on "very hard" - because it really isn't

Next play though I will avoid boosting combat skills so much, maybe just a couple of points in shields on the ship.

You will be going through ammo alot faster if not overpowered though, if the game had a way to craft ammo so I didn't have to keep going to shops I would use less combat skills