Default characters better than creating them?

[Seanobi.old]

I have played Wasteland many years ago, even though I never got far in it. Recently seeing this on Steam, I HAD to get it. Anyway, the default characters start out with some weapons, ammo, and a few other things. Their stats aren't too bad either I guess. But when creating your own unique roster of characters, you start out with nothing. This makes the game much harder in my opinion, as I didn't find any guns, or any other type of weapons except my fists. So automatically I decided to put skill points into brawling during the character creation. Needless to say, I was still getting my butt kicked.

Is it me, or is it a much harder start when creating your own roster? And for default characters, concerning their skill sets, are those any good to be able to play through the game with? I'm also wondering if the original character roster will be set in the story and/or lore of Wasteland 2. That would be awesome if so.

Please apply your thoughts and opinions. Oh, and stay out of those hot radioactive areas.

[Cutlass Jack]

(edit: meh, stupid me. Wrote my original response thinking it was Wasteland 2. Lets try again.)

Yes default characters start with gear. However, you can strip them naked, then remove them from the group and put their gear on your own created characters.

And you'll be happy to know that default group is in Wasteland 2. I'll avoid spoilers but you'll meet a few of them very early and hear rumors about the others.

[Revolucas]

The default characters actually suck. Create your own team using the Per Jorner's guide: http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/wasteland.html

Just read the Character Creation and Preparation sections to avoid spoilers.

Some of the default characters from Wasteland 1 do make an appearance in Wasteland 2. Vargas, for example, is General of the Desert Rangers.

Brawling is pretty OP in Wasteland 1. Makes the game a ton easier.

[Seanobi.old]

Thanks for the input, guys :)

[magelord01]

You can just give every character you creat in "Wastland 1" 2 points in Brawling, and you're good to go! You see, over time, skills (including Brawling) will go up as you use them! So before you know it, your characters' Brawling skills will be Level 4 or more! What Brawling does are two things: 1. It increases the number of melee attacks a character can do per round (specifically: for every 2 points in Brawling, the character's number of attacks goes up by 1); and 2. It improves your character's accuracy with most melee weapons, with two exceptions: the knife (which needs the Knife Fight skill) and unarmed combat (which needs the Pugilism skill).

[anon8431]

Originally posted by magelord01:

You see, over time, skills (including Brawling) will go up as you use them!

This doesn't seem to happen in WL2, which is (for me) a huge turn off of it. Changes the fundamental game dynamics in a huge non-positive way (for me). :(

[Patrick]

Check out this guide for help to create characters and what skills to avoid.
http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/wasteland.html

[magelord01]

You may want to consider playing this game with the Original Four (Snake Vargas, Thrasher, Angela Deth, and Hell Razor) simply because according to "Wasteland 2", it was those four Rangers who actually performed the mission in the original "Wasteland". Besides, those characters ARE well-rounded; and can potentially see you through to the end of the game! "Snake" Vargas, for example, is known as General Vargas in "Wasteland 2"!

[anon8431]

Sadly, I find WL2 very boring, and not really in the spirit of WL1. I still like WL1 a lot though. ;)

[Psst!]

the original four pre-canned characters were kinda 'meh'. with a little patience and some luck you could generate much stronger set of players and the difference would really show in play.

the only distinction in attributes that mattered was strength for a bruiser and a 'leader' character with high dexterity (for long-range accuracy). everyone needed a minimum in brains and MAXCON. the only "balance" that entered play was how you allocated non-combat skills. ('cause everyone needed assault rifles and energy weapons.)

[Winter Wolf]

Really frustrated with the UI in WL 1 so far though I have played many games from that era (including the bards tale series which on the surface seems to use the same UI, but doesn't suck quite so much.) Started out trying to create my own party. No, the party is full. Tried to delete characters. No go. Just static sound instead of anything rational from my speakers. None of the hotkeys I could remember worked (though to be fair we are talking 25 years ago.)

Finally managed to get the game into windowed mode (by accident after having a bit of a hissy fit with the keyboard) and then somehow the keys worked. Not happy with this, that I spent 3k or so gems on a game that doesn't seem to be playable. (Yes, not a lot compared to some games but still, that was a few bucks for me.)

Would be nice if the built in Dos Box gave some idea of the UI before you enter the game itself. And would also be nice if the game didn't autostart in full screen mode. I guess I will do some googling to see what manuals are out there for this.

Even finding and reading the manual did not help with the abysmal UI. Will be deleting this horrible waste of space/time/money. Sad because I was looking forward to it being that I love this kind of game (in theory) and two big T&T names were involved with its design (Mike Stackpole and Kevin St Andre.)

[anon8431]

@Winter Wolf - That's weird about the sound. Did you manage to figure out why it's static instead of "proper" DOS era sound effects? It worked on my Mac, though I haven't tried it out on the Win 8.1 PC I'm on atm. (might try later)

Which OS are you using, in case that makes a difference with the DOS box?

[76561198114148817]

Almost always kept the original characters (Razor, Deth. Thrasher, & Vargas) and completed the game with them. Using Clones of 3 of them for the assault on Cochise. THREE of them already have Brawling skill (2 are level 2's); you've got 2 Medics (a level 1 & a level 2); they have the essential (even if seldom 'used' for a skill level boost) skills such as Silent Move, Alarm Disarm, Metallurgy, Confidence, & Bureaucracy). Think I've only found 1 location where each of those skills MIGHT get boosted from a level 1 to a level 2 - Project Darwin, the lower level 'animals' area; the Vegas Jail; the Abandoned Mineshaft; and the Quartz Courthouse respectively.
FIRST - you're going to need some 'promotions' to 'qualify' to earn/achieve higher skill levels !!! EACH promotion allows you to reach the next higher skill level as the particular skill is 'used'. Also note that a Crowbar is a TOOL, not a Weapon... get Axes to boost your Brawling skills !!! Melee combat doubles the 'value' of adversaries 'killed'.

IF you're going to "grind-it-out", may I suggest -
Start in Highpool - 'find' a Leather Jacket (for your level 2 Medic) 'under a bed' in a building in the far south end. Also note that the 'pump there' isn't working... using Perception on it reveals that it needs a new Engine !
Go to Ag Center, to the NW, - Picklock gates to small areas containing 'loot' / Fruit... take the Fruit back to Highpool and sell it there, you'll get more cash for it there ($225) !
Go to Quartz. to the NW, same side of river - to the Store in SW area... SELL both 45 cal Pistols and all 45 cal Ammo clips... buy 4 Axes, 1 for each character. You should have $500+ left !
Go to Desert Nomads. basically N of Highpool, BUY an Engine in the train's Trading Car.
Return to Highpool... USE Perception on the pump again... then, USE the Engine to 'repair' the pump. Your 'reward' will include 4 Leather Jackets... 'equip' each character with a leather jacket (some basic armor against animals at Ag Center)
Return to Ag Center, 'offer to help' at the reception / sales booth.
"Grind away" at the animals in the 2 large fields and the tunnel underneath. After promotions, the area between fields, where you're 'showered' with fruit, CAN boost Perception skills to level 2's... until you've killed Harry the Bunny Master. After Harry, the farmer will show you to his Root Cellar... minimal loot.
Brawling / Axes double adversary values AND conserve ammo until we get submachine guns.

IF INSTEAD, you're seeking 'fast promotions' for better Rangers, may I suggest -
Start in Quartz, the Alleyway beside the Outlaws Hideout...
You'll probably 'stumble', alerting the outlaws in the alley and snipers on the roof...
Concentrate on the outlaws first ! After 'killing' them, do any necessary Healing and resting on those spaces where the snipers are not shooting at you. USE a Rope, in the corner, to reach the roof... kill the snipers and outlaw there. Minimal loot... a few Ammo Clips.
NOW - set-up a Macro (Control & a F / Function key) for 10 'walks' up & down the Skylight !
Run AND repeat the Macro.
Radio for Promotions (use 'points' to Raise IQ's first... then, improve any weaker attributes your characters may have).
Run the Macro again... it will 'stall-out' as characters reach Perception 2 & 3 skill levels (move them 'manually').
Repeat the Macro (as much as you desire !).
I usually 'stopped' with all IQ's at '20's' and still 'working-on' raising other characters to around 17 Strength and 'building' other attributes toward 20's. You may want to 'go-for' IQ's of 24 (for Energy Weapons skill... possibly 26's or 28's).

Myself... I prefer Axes for Brawling... Knives for Knife Fighting... and 'Fists' for Pugilism, IF you're interested in 'developing' those skills. Melee combat doubles the 'values' of adversaries killed AND doesn't 'trigger' unnecessary 'encounters' that 'range weapons' would !

Might like to try the Las Vegas 'Servants' Temple (enter from center-east)... probably just encounter 1 Rad Angel outside... inside, SHOULD find 3 Rad Suits AFTER Picklock on a storage room just east of center. After entry... "SAVE" BEFORE checking the loot... IF you only find 1 or 2 --- 'EXIT' game WITHOUT Saving and look / try again... think 3 is the maximum you can find there (the Robes are pretty-much worthless) !

Always hated BUYING anything from a Store... with so much 'free-loot' always lying around... somewhere. ;)

[anon8431]

The lack of this "skills get better with use" dynamic is what turned me off WL2 completely. WL2 was just like "every other rpg" out there (skills only go up with levels), and (imho) missing the original WL flavour. Oh well.

[76561198114148817]

I became a "fan" of Wasteland in the early 90's when Interplay's 10 Year Anthology of Games was included in a 'package of games' ordered with a new computer. Did some reading / research about Fall-Out & Fountain of Dreams, but these did not seem to interest me.

When Wasteland 2 was first released on Steam. had some trouble getting it 'running', so just watched some videos of it. Once running, did some 'exploring' BUT really haven't spent much time 'in-the-game'. Guess I'm just not all that 'excited' by the newer (2000's) game 'technology'. 'mechanics' & 'graphics' !!! Was too 'satisfied' with the 80's game.

Difficult trying to 'remember' back to my first Wasteland games almost 20 years ago; had the 'bad experience' of a Ranger getting bitten by a scorpion in Quartz (a poisoning that continued over time)... and dying before reaching the Doctor's Office in Highpool. That necessitated creating a new character. Played around (explored) for a while before starting a fresh, new game.

"Grinding-it-out" through Highpool, Ag Center, and Quartz was a slow enough process... earning several promotions, upgrading armor from Leather to Bullet-proof, and gaining a SMG... playing with the default characters, 'skill boosts' would have been few and far between; probably Perception & Picklock to level 3's, maybe Bomb Disarm & Safecrack to level 2's... less likely were any fighting/weapon skill boosts since the characters (and some 'recruits') already had a few level 2 skills and most of the 'adversaries' were only 'rated' for level 1's... may have been about 12 'rated' as level 2's.
Think you're expecting 'skill development' to come too quickly/easily and not allowing your characters enough time for "resting" when their 'conditions' are weakened !

Maybe the best 'lesson' learned (at Ag Center & Quartz) was that melee combat was more effective than range weapons, that may 'jam' and 'miss' more often at short distances (with low skill levels). 'Conserving' ammo clips for use with SMG's that got many more 'shots per clip' in single-shot mode. 'Full-auto' was 'reserved' for "panic situations" lol !

[anon8431]

Meh. I generally play with a 1 character party with Brawling as the main skill. Takes ages. ;)