What build is best for first playtrough?

[J-12]

I'm not talking difficulty-wise, i'm talking about covering most content this game has. Should i play my first time sticking to guns or melee? I heard last is more powerfull, but i'm not sure it would be that fun to hit everything with fists/knifes for entire game when i can go for guns and keep switching between stuff like shotguns/sniper-rifles/smg's and other stuff for just fun.

[Jean-Luc]

Sniper + SMGs or shotguns + grenades should give you a lot to do and also be both powerful and fun.

Keep in mind that simply raising a skill for a wepon group doesn't automatically make you super awesome with all weapons in that group, feats are what brings out the "magic" and that's how you narrow down your choices.

Still you could easily get the feats to cover both snipers and shotguns or smgs and have more left over for other stuff.

You need stealth and 10 perception for the sniper with Aimed Shot, Snipe and maybe the new Killing Spree feat. Commando and Spec Ops for the SMG. Full Auto isn't worth wasting 2 more points in strength for imo, it's more of a decicated assault rifle feat. 5 str is all you need for the sniper rifle.

Grenade feats are nice but not neccessary imo. Shotguns are just being added so all their feats are new.

In any case there's lots of tweaks you can make so take a look for yourself: https://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Feats

This can also help you plan: http://underrail.info.tm/build/

Melee doesn't need to be monotonous though. You can combine it with throwing, traps, psi abilities, this game is huge in terms of character building.

[Tamiore]

I'd argue that pure psion is one of the easiest builds. You don't need ammo, you don't need to know about weapon crafting, answers to pretty much any type of challenge are available via psionics.

[Serendipitous]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

I'd argue that pure psion is one of the easiest builds. You don't need ammo, you don't need to know about weapon crafting, answers to pretty much any type of challenge are available via psionics.

I disagree. There is plenty of meta you need to know about psi and you need a certain level of system mastery to actually pull a lot of stuff that makes psi good.

Something like an unarmed fighter with leather gloves or ranged high Con tin can would be easier to manage for new players.

[harperfan7]

high will, high persuasion psi character with locking/hacking (especially hacking)/stealth can get you far in that respect

[dergefata]

Since OP is asking about seeing the most of what the game has to offer, I have to say a psi character is going to be your best bet. The high Will means you're going to be able to use Persuasion and Intimidation with modest investment, and both of those are really important from a story perspective. The high Int means you're going to be able to afford to go deep into crafting, which is a big part of the game, and also unlock all optional merchant inventories and dialogs. Unlike other builds, you only need two stats to maximize psi, and they're both story-boosting stats - as nice as SMG/energy pistol can be, they *need* high Dex and that means you can't go high in Will and thus need to dump a lot more points into Persuade/Intimidate. Plus, as psi, you can afford to dump dodge/evasion completely, freeing up more skill points.

Nah, while I'm not saying other builds aren't good, psi is head and shoulders above others for seeing all the content the game has to offer because it builds directly into the soft skills. And as any good old-school Fallout player knows, the soft skills are what really show you the game.

[Ichthyic]

yup psi is very clearly a very thoroughly flushed out character type in this game. lots of content specific to it. you can survive with nearly any build, but I'm not even playing psi and can see all the content I am missing because of it.

frankly, I'd recommend throwing plus psi.

why?

because throwing covers pretty much all the bases, which allows you to learn how to maximize your psi build while you cover your ass with caltrops, flashbangs, nets, throwing knives, and grenades.

throwing gets you serious poison effects on enemies, major crowd control, immobilization effects, long term fear and burning effects... etc. doesn't take too many points to get it to where you aren't blowing yourself up with inaccuracy. 50 max seems to do for most people.

allows you to still play the crafting game if you want, though most of the poisoned throwing items can actually be bought at shops if you don't. crawler caltrops are my go to item I always carry on my belt. they are permanent (even if you leave the map and come back days later, they still will be killing things that spawned since you last visited!), will affect any enemy that steps on them, and will poison any not immune, with 2 turn stun after 2 turns of poison... it's like having your own unkillable army of tiny crawlers. I cannot count the number of times I have used these to set up ambushes, or save my ass from something rushing at me from offscreen.

so yeah, psi for flavour, throwing for backup.

[Fenix-Venix]

The best is what you like to do - shooting, brawling, sneaking, etc.
Choose to your taste only.

[Karina]

My first ever build for underrail was psionic. Its the most cool and unique feature about this game. Fallout 1-2 but with magic? Yes, please. Psionics also have a benifit of persuasion because its scales from Willpower. Most builds are skill starved and have will as dump stat, psionics are one of the few builds that can have high persuasion without gimping your combat ability. Note that persuasion is NOT neceserary, but it makes you feel good for solving some situations without violence.

[J-12]

So yesterday i tried and played a bit with unarmed build, got to the part when i have to find drill parts and then stoped, checked forums etc, found out that my build really sucks (mainly because i kept maxing dodge and evasion, which appears to be doing absolute nothing) and i can't keep playing with it so i decided to try the old-school fallout 1-2 sniper build.

Please no offesne to all guys who recomended psi, but i just don't really feel like it, i want to see what guns can do. Ill do my second playtrough with this.

So, anyone has good sniper-builds?

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by Evil Eye:

Please no offesne to all guys who recomended psi, but i just don't really feel like it, i want to see what guns can do.

But, but, but.. but you can have mind bullets instead. Think about it. MIND BULLETS

[Serendipitous]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

Originally posted by Evil Eye:

Please no offesne to all guys who recomended psi, but i just don't really feel like it, i want to see what guns can do.

But, but, but.. but you can have mind bullets instead. Think about it. MIND BULLETS

I bet you can kill a yak with one of those

[Serendipitous]

Originally posted by Evil Eye:

So yesterday i tried and played a bit with unarmed build, got to the part when i have to find drill parts and then stoped, checked forums etc, found out that my build really sucks (mainly because i kept maxing dodge and evasion, which appears to be doing absolute nothing) and i can't keep playing with it so i decided to try the old-school fallout 1-2 sniper build.

Please no offesne to all guys who recomended psi, but i just don't really feel like it, i want to see what guns can do. Ill do my second playtrough with this.

So, anyone has good sniper-builds?

are you playing on dominating? Because most of the stuff about evasion\dodge not being useful is said in the context of dominating difficulty (30% combat skill increase for enemies). On Hard and lower it is pretty good.

Unarmed (fist weapons) is generally pretty powerful and simple build.

[J-12]

Played on normal, had those two maxed, but it was pretty obvious it just doesn't work at all. I'd sau 8 out of 10 times i was getting shot or hit or whatever.
Replaying first jobs at station for sniper build i seen on youtube is a total pain, i seriously considering just dropping this game at this point. Not to brag about it, but that is just a misleading bs, i read that it isn't exactly "oy you got more chances to dodge stuff as you invest in this skill, it's so usefull" as it written in description, but rather some insane mathematical calculations based on enemy type, level, their proficiency and then in the end it gives numbers so pathetic that it absolutely pointless to invest there. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
So here i am, litteraly wasting my time on second run. Btw, fisting everyone first time was much faster than whatever i'm doing with aimed shot and other stuff right now, without any need to manage ammo and weapons.

Originally posted by carashi:

Originally posted by Evil Eye:

So yesterday i tried and played a bit with unarmed build, got to the part when i have to find drill parts and then stoped, checked forums etc, found out that my build really sucks (mainly because i kept maxing dodge and evasion, which appears to be doing absolute nothing) and i can't keep playing with it so i decided to try the old-school fallout 1-2 sniper build.

Please no offesne to all guys who recomended psi, but i just don't really feel like it, i want to see what guns can do. Ill do my second playtrough with this.

So, anyone has good sniper-builds?

are you playing on dominating? Because most of the stuff about evasion\dodge not being useful is said in the context of dominating difficulty (30% combat skill increase for enemies). On Hard and lower it is pretty good.

Unarmed (fist weapons) is generally pretty powerful and simple build.

[Jean-Luc]

Dodge and Evasion do work but you either base your strategy around them and go all in (more or less) or you don't take them at all. It's pointless to get just a little bit.

You need to take the Nimble feat and make sure you're only wearing light armor. Armor penalties reduce your evasion/dodge and stealth by their given percentage.

[Serendipitous]

Originally posted by Jean-Luc:

Dodge and Evasion do work but you either base your strategy around them and go all in (more or less) or you don't take them at all. It's pointless to get just a little bit.

You need to take the Nimble feat and make sure you're only wearing light armor. Armor penalties reduce your evasion/dodge and stealth by their given percentage.

Getting hit 6 times out of 10 is not as good as getting hit 2 times out of 10, but it is better than getting hit 10 times out of 10. It's like with resistances - 95% is great, but 50% is better than 0