Tips on getting through Junkyard Depot A?

[the yappiest cat]

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or if I'm just dumb but literally the very first room of Depot A got me real stuck. There's 5 dudes here and 3 dogs and I've really been struggling to get past them. I tried using grenades and blowing up the explosive barrel nearby and then finishing them off but it's not enough. The bandits with the knifes and crossbow don't really pose much threat cuz I just tank most of it but the gunner, sledgehammer user and ESPECIALLY the dogs with their tackle are the big threats. And I can't sneak past since I'm doing a tank build. Any tips?

[Paket1337]

Even though I am no pro in this too, but if you do tank build, it means you must tank a lot of damage. You also should give a lot of damage. Also, there is no much details here, what is the difficulty, what are your weapons? Maybe you didnt savescum enough? Anyway, as I remember there are multiple entrances, try to look for them. Also get stimulants and drugs from merchants.

[the yappiest cat]

The difficulty is Normal, Classic EXP and a tank build with high con and per using an 8.6mm AR and a 9mm Gun. I do good damage to the enemies and can also tank their hits really well but the dogs' tackles really limit me and make me miss my shots.

[Qiox]

Bear Traps. Takes zero skill to use them. Locks the dogs down in place so they become completely harmless.

In other words, use everything the game makes available to you. Everything has a strength and everything has a weakness.

Dogs swarm you and take you out. But they don't have any ranged attacks. So, keep them away from you.

[Paket1337]

Dogs and mutants dont have high armour iirc so throwing grenades and molotovs where you stand is not a bad idea, just find good protection from fire/mechanical threats.
Again if I remember correctly missing shots is because tackles reduce strength, and ars have pretty high strength requirements, so just in case have melee weapon or a pistol.

[fruit flavored ENERGY DRINK]

literally any build can clear depot A with enough bear traps, molotovs, and save scumming. having stealth also makes it way easier

[Radiosity]

Originally posted by fruit flavored ENERGY DRINK:

literally any build can clear depot A with enough bear traps, molotovs, and save scumming

Sure, but that build isn't going to get far in the late game. If Depot A is a struggle, your build is sub-optimal, possibly to the point of soft-locking your progress. If OP is already struggling against the regular muties in the first areas, there's no chance in hell they'll survive the tunnels, or the acid mutants later.

@OP: People can help more if you post your stats/build, plus equips you're using. Depot A's difficulty spike is essentially the game challenging your build, and if you can't make it through there, the rest of the game will be a nightmare.

[Boyar]

Originally posted by fruit flavored ENERGY DRINK:

bear traps, molotovs, and save scumming. having stealth also makes it way easier

I just passed Depot A during my first ever playthorugh and it wasn't that terrible. Didn't use a single trap, relied heavily on stealth and moving through ventilation shafts. My build is mostly psi focused, got leveled up inside Depot A and put some extra points into hacking and lockpicking so I can loot some intresting stuff inside. Used tons of health hypos, psi boosters and adrenaline shots. Normal, oddity exp.

[Zeem]

Stealth absolutely trivialized Depot A due to how interconnected the area is. Lot's of ways to flank or completely avoid enemies.

[Radiosity]

Originally posted by Zeem:

Stealth absolutely trivialized Depot A due to how interconnected the area is. Lot's of ways to flank or completely avoid enemies.

Dropping out of a vent, stealing the keycard from the locker right under the enemy's nose, then jumping back into the vent is the greatest flex.

[Toxic Spammer]

Originally posted by Radiosity:

Originally posted by fruit flavored ENERGY DRINK:

literally any build can clear depot A with enough bear traps, molotovs, and save scumming

Sure, but that build isn't going to get far in the late game. If Depot A is a struggle, your build is sub-optimal, possibly to the point of soft-locking your progress. If OP is already struggling against the regular muties in the first areas, there's no chance in hell they'll survive the tunnels, or the acid mutants later.

@OP: People can help more if you post your stats/build, plus equips you're using. Depot A's difficulty spike is essentially the game challenging your build, and if you can't make it through there, the rest of the game will be a nightmare.

some builds take a lot of time to gain momentum, for example energy weapons, op can clear depot a easily with molotovs and bear traps like other posters said although I never have used traps in my playthroughs

molotov is really the key to early game, and a solid option throughout the whole game honestly, on normal difficulty I honestly fail to see how it is possible to distribute your skill points in a way in which you can't beat depot a, especially with guns, and any throwing skill

[Bloodman]

Depot A is intentionally tough because it's something of a build check, where if you can get through it you can get through the rest of the game, don't get demotivated at its difficulty. Underrail also wants you to make use of consumables and grenades, craft molotovs or purchase them and spam, use bear traps, use caltrops

[Zeem]

Originally posted by Ding Pao Chinese Spy:

Originally posted by Radiosity:

Sure, but that build isn't going to get far in the late game. If Depot A is a struggle, your build is sub-optimal, possibly to the point of soft-locking your progress. If OP is already struggling against the regular muties in the first areas, there's no chance in hell they'll survive the tunnels, or the acid mutants later.

@OP: People can help more if you post your stats/build, plus equips you're using. Depot A's difficulty spike is essentially the game challenging your build, and if you can't make it through there, the rest of the game will be a nightmare.

some builds take a lot of time to gain momentum, for example energy weapons, op can clear depot a easily with molotovs and bear traps like other posters said although I never have used traps in my playthroughs

molotov is really the key to early game, and a solid option throughout the whole game honestly, on normal difficulty I honestly fail to see how it is possible to distribute your skill points in a way in which you can't beat depot a, especially with guns, and any throwing skill

Energy weapons take off the moment you get your hands on a laser pistol, and before that you can make do with firearms just fine. Not a late bloomer by any stretch.

[Toxic Spammer]

Originally posted by Zeem:

Originally posted by Ding Pao Chinese Spy:

some builds take a lot of time to gain momentum, for example energy weapons, op can clear depot a easily with molotovs and bear traps like other posters said although I never have used traps in my playthroughs

molotov is really the key to early game, and a solid option throughout the whole game honestly, on normal difficulty I honestly fail to see how it is possible to distribute your skill points in a way in which you can't beat depot a, especially with guns, and any throwing skill

Energy weapons take off the moment you get your hands on a laser pistol, and before that you can make do with firearms just fine. Not a late bloomer by any stretch.

the mp6 will be better than your laser pistol, because the batteries and the components are expensive, also, you'll get more shots with the mp6 for cheaper cost

energy weapons truly take off when you get all the critical hit damage boosting perks, point shot, high technicalities, power management, which I've gathered is somewhere around level 16 at least for my character, you will be leveling so fast that by going into crafting heavily before that, 1 you don't have the money for the components, 2 the components will level with you so there is no point in making one when it will be outclassed when you clear the next room, 3 other skills like throwing and guns will be more useful than electronics at depot a

this is my analysis based on my 2nd playthrough on normal first energy weapon playthrough, but I suppose it could be different on higher difficulties based on things I'm not aware of

[Zeem]

Originally posted by Ding Pao Chinese Spy:

Originally posted by Zeem:

Energy weapons take off the moment you get your hands on a laser pistol, and before that you can make do with firearms just fine. Not a late bloomer by any stretch.

the mp6 will be better than your laser pistol, because the batteries and the components are expensive, also, you'll get more shots with the mp6 for cheaper cost

energy weapons truly take off when you get all the critical hit damage boosting perks, point shot, high technicalities, power management, which I've gathered is somewhere around level 16 at least for my character, you will be leveling so fast that by going into crafting heavily before that, 1 you don't have the money for the components, 2 the components will level with you so there is no point in making one when it will be outclassed when you clear the next room, 3 other skills like throwing and guns will be more useful than electronics at depot a

this is my analysis based on my 2nd playthrough on normal first energy weapon playthrough, but I suppose it could be different on higher difficulties based on things I'm not aware of

Money is not a problem on epistols, you get a lot of merc from INT scaling anyway. You get 2k coins from Tanner and like 1k from the first two Abram quests, not to mention the veritable pile of loot from the gang showdown. The only time I was low on cash in Junkyard was when I was playing a Psychosis pure psi tin can due to all the crack pipes I was going through.
MP6 outperforms a Junkyard-level random loot epistol only if you don't take pistol and epistol feats before coming for the drill part. HT scaling alone ensures that per-shot damage is much higher.

[Toxic Spammer]

Originally posted by Zeem:

Originally posted by Ding Pao Chinese Spy:

the mp6 will be better than your laser pistol, because the batteries and the components are expensive, also, you'll get more shots with the mp6 for cheaper cost

energy weapons truly take off when you get all the critical hit damage boosting perks, point shot, high technicalities, power management, which I've gathered is somewhere around level 16 at least for my character, you will be leveling so fast that by going into crafting heavily before that, 1 you don't have the money for the components, 2 the components will level with you so there is no point in making one when it will be outclassed when you clear the next room, 3 other skills like throwing and guns will be more useful than electronics at depot a

this is my analysis based on my 2nd playthrough on normal first energy weapon playthrough, but I suppose it could be different on higher difficulties based on things I'm not aware of

Money is not a problem on epistols, you get a lot of merc from INT scaling anyway. You get 2k coins from Tanner and like 1k from the first two Abram quests, not to mention the veritable pile of loot from the gang showdown. The only time I was low on cash in Junkyard was when I was playing a Psychosis pure psi tin can due to all the crack pipes I was going through.
MP6 outperforms a Junkyard-level random loot epistol only if you don't take pistol and epistol feats before coming for the drill part. HT scaling alone ensures that per-shot damage is much higher.

Press x to doubt, the quality of early game components are bad, you can't get all of the good energy pistol perks until later, it's far more cost effective to roll with the mp6 and craft 20 molotovs

High technicalities really isn't what makes an epistol build perform it's critical power and amplified

I'm curious what level of min maxing can make a 50 quality epistol outperform the mp6 at level 8 and also, is it really worth it

I think my int at depot a was 9, and dex maybe 7, I honestly don't like pure min max characters because I don't think they're ideal, and I leave myself room to maneuver, for me mp6 was just better, even a standard 5mm pistol at that point because there was no shortage of ammo