Some help with Depot A?

[Commissar]

First time playing here. I started a game a couple of days ago with normal difficulty and oddity experience, and I've been having a blast with my psy build. But I'm a bit stuck in Depot A. Went in at level 7, levelled up while in there, and everything went relatively smoothly. That is, until I went into the first area with a mutant in it (plus dogs). And BOY, these guys are TOUGH.

Not only are they far tankier than any enemy I have fought before, but they can also knock out half my health in just one ranged attack. And this is WITH the acid resistant armour I found (gas mask and some bio suit, gives me ~25 threshold and ~50% resist against acid). I first tried attacking from the first area in Depot A, from the south, but I was overwhelmed by the two mutants and few dogs.

After molotovs, grenades, chain lightnings, fireballs, flamethrowers, brain punches, etc all failed to work after about 10 attempts I found by going underground I could get to another entrance to this mutant area. But still - no dice. Only one mutant there, but along with it's dogs it can still kill me in just 2-3 turns.

Could anyone share some tips? Is my build just bad? Been investing fully into lockpicking, hacking, and my psy skills since character creation, along with enough crafting skills to make a very potent bulletproof vest. I get the impression I could just sneeki breeki my way to victory, but I haven't invested a lot in stealth and they detect me instantly. Should I have picked up the feat that lets you walk on acid? I could leave and level up to 10, but that'll take a while, so some oddity spawn locations would be helpful (I've been thoroughly combing everywhere I visit for oddities - no barrel unturned!).

Thanks in advance!

[Eternal Bruhmeister]

Utilize traps to the best ways possible, bear trap choke points and use nets on enemies (perferably at checkpoints as well) molotovs are extreamly powerfull this early in the game (throw them at groups, or at chokepoints to deter them from using it), as they are the easiest way to apply the Fear debuff to get enemies to retreat for a couple of turns and split up the battle, throwing caltrops out of enemy view won't aggro them (even if you directly throw it onto them) If you have high enough psi power get the force field wall to help block groups, or buy you more time to reposition and mabye re-ingage combat

Enemies in this area don't open doors I believe, so if you can kill enemies then retreat into a building and close the door then end combat you might be able to pick em off 1 at a time, good luck

[King Fossil]

Biotechnician's suit and gas mask don't have any acid resistance. They have bio resistance, but not acid resistance, so you've basically been naked the whole time. If you want acid resist then you need armour made of mutant dog or siphoner leather. Getting dog leather sounds like it's too hard right now, but if you go to the Junkyard main gate and then head west you can find some siphoners. They shouldn't be that hard to kill. I mean, probably.

[Shazbot!]

If in doubt use molotovs, craft/find/steal/buy mutated dog leather armor. Blaine sells it sometimes.

[Morgian]

As Fossil says: you have the wrong resistance and are wide open. The feat for acid puddles is nice, if you can spare one from your main build. But siphoner leather is a good option.

Junkyard is kinda like a milestone and a step up in difficulty. If you can make it there, you are good to go on. If you cannot, maybe start anew with a better build.

On a sidenote: don't throw the bio armor away. Bio damage is far more dangerous than acid and can be found in many places, from gas clouds and serpent venom to locust swarms.

[Fenix-Venix]

If you want to learn how to do combat proper;y - try to not use molotovs, traps and grenades at all. You will never learn if instead of your build weapon of choice you will be using these crutches, which are OP as possible for that reason.
At best use only flashbangs and EMP - as rare as possible.

Also yes - bio-suit have bio-resist only. You can but rarely leather armor from mutated dod leather at Junkyard from hunter guy. Of hunt down some siphoners.
Also, you can get what you need without fight at all, with just stealth and right timings.
But that's for those who was there at least once.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/398609044
Actually I don't recommend to watch it before you did Depot A yourself.

[Commissar]

Originally posted by The Booty Farm:

If you have high enough psi power get the force field wall to help block groups

Haven't found any psy trainers aside from the ones in SGS, and I can't learn this from them. Are there any other psy trainers I can reach at this stage that I have missed?

Originally posted by The Booty Farm:

Enemies in this area don't open doors I believe, so if you can kill enemies then retreat into a building and close the door then end combat you might be able to pick em off 1 at a time, good luck

The areas/maps I'm trouble with is the one directly north of the entrance to Depot A, and one directly west of that. I've only found one entrance to both, and neither have doors I can abuse. The entrance leading up from the underground in the northwest map has a flap door, but I've noticed regular dogs can open those. Are mutants just so stupid they can't even open a flap? Or have I missed an objectively superior entrance with a proper door?

[Commissar]

Originally posted by King Fossil:

Biotechnician's suit and gas mask don't have any acid resistance. They have bio resistance, but not acid resistance, so you've basically been naked the whole time.

I am a complete and utter moron, thanks for pointing this out. I thought the acid the mutants shot counted as bio damage.

Originally posted by King Fossil:

If you want acid resist then you need armour made of mutant dog or siphoner leather. Getting dog leather sounds like it's too hard right now, but if you go to the Junkyard main gate and then head west you can find some siphoners. They shouldn't be that hard to kill. I mean, probably.

If I somehow end up with the luxury of choice and there's dog armour for sale, which is better, siphoner or dog armour?

[Paragon]

Dog armor has more acid resist, but siphoner also has fire resist. If you're not evade based a heavier armor would do you better than these though.

Traps and chokepoints help a LOT here. They will buy you time and hopefully distance from the acid. Bear traps are 100% effective against all these enemies, and very good at keeping the dogs away. Keep in mind they can still attack while in the trap if you are too close.

If you have 5 trapping through whatever means (like the jackknife) the frag mine rips these guys to shreds. They have no resistances aside from acid and bio, and the mines will blow all their gooey toxic bits off.

Acid resist isn't too easy to find, so you probably won't find anything with more than 10-20%. If you need more of something try finding some food to eat. Some effects are very powerful (like -15% cost of psi abilities from beetle soup)

You mentioned you used firebombs, but they are very potent against groups and will make them panic. Your bulletproof vest does little versus the mutants or dogs, so that other armor would help a lot.

[Morgian]

If you are going light armor, you probably want siphoner armor for the evasion/dodge bonus.

[immodium]

Originally posted by The Booty Farm:

Enemies in this area don't open doors I believe, so if you can kill enemies then retreat into a building and close the door then end combat you might be able to pick em off 1 at a time, good luck

I think all humanoids open doors. It's dogs, burrowers etc that can't.


Most mobs react to sound so use exploding barrels to direct mobs into traps you have set up.

[hehe]

I'd say the trick in this game is to think what you can do that enemies can't or aren't able to think around, that's the biggest advantage you have. Setting up traps, luring/kiting enemies around, using doors to you advantage, using corners to force range attackers to move closer... etcetera.

Psi is one of the most powerful builds but you need to grab stuff that lets you one-shot enemies and lots of critical power stuff. A build failing isn't something bad, just remake your character and rethink what you can do. Also stealth is alright but not as overpowered as some people think, it would def help psionics builds tho'.

[Commissar]

Okay, after a couple of attempts I finally managed to get the drill parts. The tips about bear trap chokepoints and siphoner armour were particularly useful, they gave me 2 turns of free damage which really made all the difference, and meant I didn't get shredded in melee. Thanks all!