Starting out with pure psi on dominating?

[FDru]

It seems impossible. Cryokenesis makes it possible to take out any weak, single enemies but if anything ranged gets a turn, or in any encounter with more than 2 weak enemies it's probably game over. Nevermind the utter lack of credits early game to support the psi drug dependency.

Maybe I just forgot how to play this (it's been awhile but I did do multiple playthroughs in the past with various builds, usually stealth sniper-ish types using traps) or is it really just super difficult?

[Tamiore]

Talking from experience:

- absolutely possible (easy even) as long as by "pure psi" you mean the build (stats, skills, feats), rather than a self-imposed restriction that prohibits you from using anything that isn't psi (like a knive, a tazer, a grenade, etc).

- you don't need anything more than a knife to stab rathounds, so buy a decent knife at level 1 at the Junkyard and don't waste psi energy on them. Example: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2015467431

- you can very easily get to level 5 (and relatively easily to level 6) before you need to fight anything beyond "single weak enemies"

- you can use a tazer with no skill

- you can poison the knive if you took biology for psi-related reasons

- stealth (subterfuge in general) allows you to bypass anything you don't want to fight right away

- that's before we even bring grenades into equation

- and that's waaay before we bring "kings of cheese" aka traps, caltrops and door flicking

[FDru]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

- you can very easily get to level 5 (and relatively easily to level 6) before you need to fight anything beyond "single weak enemies"

Playing on oddity?

I seem to recall getting a few early levels being not too hard the last time I played but now I can't remember how to do it. The enemies around the starter area all contain packs of rathounds with Alphas that make it problematic to get around. I'm always afraid to use flares because I recall getting trapped a few times due to the enemies hugging a zone border and never leaving...

But yeah, no self-imposed restrictions. Just trying to get the absolute most out of psi skills but happy to use anything that's available.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by FDru:

Originally posted by Tamiore:

- you can very easily get to level 5 (and relatively easily to level 6) before you need to fight anything beyond "single weak enemies"

Playing on oddity?

I seem to recall getting a few early levels being not too hard the last time I played but now I can't remember how to do it. The enemies around the starter area all contain packs of rathounds with Alphas that make it problematic to get around. I'm always afraid to use flares because I recall getting trapped a few times due to the enemies hugging a zone border and never leaving...

But yeah, no self-imposed restrictions. Just trying to get the absolute most out of psi skills but happy to use anything that's available.

Yes, on oddity.

First, if you want to use traps (and/or door flicking against animals) — you basically can't lose. So I'm not going to discuss these options further.


As for leveling up to level 6 before Newton warehouse: extensive dumpster diving (checking shelves and lockers in stealth) in and around Jankyard + a little bit of exploration around SGS gets you there. Alphas are irrelevant — you can avoid most of them and kill the remaining few. Just make yourself basic stealth armor and buy a stealth balaclava. And don't be afraid to explore — plenty of directions you can go in without running into anything hostile you can't just walk pass in stealth.


What enemies and where are even giving you trouble at this point?

[FDru]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

What enemies and where are even giving you trouble at this point?

Really at the start, like just outside the SGS compound at lvl 1 or 2. Every direction (it seems) is at least one pack of rathounds with 2 alphas (except south but past the mole crickets / psi bugs there's more rats), and the alphas see stealth from a mile away so it's difficult to get around them.

I tried taking the boat to junkyard but did not find enough stuff to pay for the trip back. Even picking up a few oddities there is not doing much... at most I have gotten halfway through level 2 with seemingly no way to progress further.

I suppose stealth is key to starting out but stealth is the base 15 and I didn't find any stealth enhancing gear yet (I found one aluminized balaclava which reduces stealth by 21 though). How could I possibly afford to make armor this early... doesn't that require blueprints (which are expensive)?

Also what is door flicking?

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by FDru:

Originally posted by Tamiore:

What enemies and where are even giving you trouble at this point?

Really at the start, like just outside the SGS compound at lvl 1 or 2. Every direction (it seems) is at least one pack of rathounds with 2 alphas (except south but past the mole crickets / psi bugs there's more rats), and the alphas see stealth from a mile away so it's difficult to get around them.

I tried taking the boat to junkyard but did not find enough stuff to pay for the trip back. Even picking up a few oddities there is not doing much... at most I have gotten halfway through level 2 with seemingly no way to progress further.

I suppose stealth is key to starting out but stealth is the base 15 and I didn't find any stealth enhancing gear yet (I found one aluminized balaclava which reduces stealth by 21 though). How could I possibly afford to make armor this early... doesn't that require blueprints (which are expensive)?

So, have you completed the first quest to "reclaim outposts"?
You don't have to fight anything other than normal rathounds there and you get enough XP to get to level 3 from that area alone.

Also what is door flicking?

Opening a door, attacking something behind it, and closing it again before enemies can move into the door frame (to prevent it from being closed). Against enemies that can't open doors (critters and most robots), it is foolproof.

[FDru]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

So, have you completed the first quest to "reclaim outposts"?
You don't have to fight anything other than normal rathounds there and you get enough XP to get to level 3 from that area alone.

I tried that, and could kill most of the little rats around there but the problem I was having was running out of psi and then feeling kind of helpless. I'll have to try it again with a knife and see how that goes.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by FDru:

Originally posted by Tamiore:

So, have you completed the first quest to "reclaim outposts"?
You don't have to fight anything other than normal rathounds there and you get enough XP to get to level 3 from that area alone.

I tried that, and could kill most of the little rats around there but the problem I was having was running out of psi and then feeling kind of helpless. I'll have to try it again with a knife and see how that goes.

Yea, this quest is entirely doable with 0 psi expenditures. Well, outside of "the guy" if you want to kill him. You can still stealth pass him if you want full quest reward and don't feel like spending psi.

What's your starting feats and con score?

[FDru]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

What's your starting feats and con score?

I've tried several builds but they were all 3 con / and those 2 feats that give initiative (trigger happy and paranoia?)

This is based on various guides and reddit discussions and such, which all seem to agree that con isn't important (but I never dug deeper to see if those are the best feats to start with, they are just always at the top of the suggestions).

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by FDru:

Originally posted by Tamiore:

What's your starting feats and con score?

I've tried several builds but they were all 3 con / and those 2 feats that give initiative (trigger happy and paranoia?)

This is based on various guides and reddit discussions and such, which all seem to agree that con isn't important (but I never dug deeper to see if those are the best feats to start with, they are just always at the top of the suggestions).

Initiative is borderline useless if you don't mind using stealth to act first. Initiative is actually useless beyond deciding who goes first.

As for con: fast metabolism and/or hemopsychosis are two major reasons why con is very helpful for any psi build, even if you otherwise can pull the "just don't get hit" strategy. And that's on top of more build-specific con feats for psy builds, like survival instincts. And also the fact that simply having more HP means that you can get hit and simply shrug it off.

While we are at it: what's your full stat distribution?

[♂Warrior of Gachi♂]

Pure PSI early is rough, especially vs robots. Unless you are actually doing pure PSI, just use traps and molotovs liberally to get the drill parts and it should be easy from there.
Stealth + Lockpick + Hacking will get you through Depot A without much fighting.

I wouldn't waste PSI on solitary rats either. Shank them with a knife and if there's a fenced door - shoot with any pistol.

Initiative is good to have, but not so early. It's a luxury pick to reduce reloads in cases where you get caught out of stealth.

[FDru]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

While we are at it: what's your full stat distribution?

My most successful character was STR 3, DEX 8, AGI 3, CON 3, PER 3, WIL 10, INT 10.

I'll have to look into those CON feats.

Originally posted by ♂PUDGUS♂:

Pure PSI early is rough, especially vs robots. Unless you are actually doing pure PSI, just use traps and molotovs liberally to get the drill parts and it should be easy from there.
Stealth + Lockpick + Hacking will get you through Depot A without much fighting.

I wouldn't waste PSI on solitary rats either. Shank them with a knife and if there's a fenced door - shoot with any pistol.

I found one bear trap (on a vendor, didn't buy it cause it was expensive) and that's about it. I was afraid to spend money cause I thought I was gonna need every credit for psi drugs.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by FDru:

Originally posted by Tamiore:

While we are at it: what's your full stat distribution?

My most successful character was STR 3, DEX 8, AGI 3, CON 3, PER 3, WIL 10, INT 10.

Why dex 8 on psy build?

[♂Warrior of Gachi♂]

Originally posted by FDru:

I found one bear trap (on a vendor, didn't buy it cause it was expensive) and that's about it. I was afraid to spend money cause I thought I was gonna need every credit for psi drugs.

Bear traps cost pennies (1 bear trap on Dominating is 10 SGS credits and you get 200 at the start of the game), I think you might be confusing the prices. Also, I think Jonas always sells 15 of them. Molotovs are a little more expensive but still very cheap.

[Radiosity]

Just an FYI for OP on the subject of door cheese: opening a door outside of combat reduces your AP for a few seconds, so if you open a door and immediately enter combat, you won't have the full 50 points, meaning you can't close the door again (it costs 25AP to open/close).

So be sure to wait a couple of seconds after opening a door before you enter combat mode, otherwise you'll likely be reloading.

[FDru]

Originally posted by Tamiore:

Originally posted by FDru:

My most successful character was STR 3, DEX 8, AGI 3, CON 3, PER 3, WIL 10, INT 10.

Why dex 8 on psy build?

Fatal throw and crits and stuff? I don't know, I was just going on the advice of others and stuck with it, not really knowing if it was the best idea.

Probably going to go with CON 7 in the future instead. Are there any STR/AGI/PER perks that benefit a psi build?