Glory Mission - Minimal Spoilers

[Ancient Toaster]

Before you choose to help Glory with her personal mission, you talk with her and have basically two choices: Save People or Kill a Guy. I felt like "Killing the guy" seemed the best option, but now I'm not so sure.

Did this hard lock my decisions going into the mission, or can I change my mind and do the other method while we're on the Run?

[Clockwork]

Once you choose an option, you have no choice but go through it until the end of the run. You had only one opportunity to think again, and it was during your conversation with Glory.

If you want to change your mind, you'll have to rewind to the Kreuzbasar.

One thing I liked was the way Glory reacted depending on your choice :
- If you decided to kill Harrow, she'll hesitate for a short moment. But she'll suddenly gets angry and motivated out of nowhere (maybe she got under the Adversary again, from rebelling against her former master).
- If you decided to save the children, she'll smile and you can feel she looks almost alive.

[frdnwsm]

Both choices are reasonable, logically speaking; from an RP standpoint, you can easily make a good case for either one. In practical terms, the end results are not that different.

It's been a while since I did the run, but if I recall, one choice does have Glory ending up with an upgrade to her razors, which is nice. I can't remember which one, though.

[Ancient Toaster]

I ended up getting a Healing Spell, so I'm happy with how it turned out.

BTW, Glory is the best character in the game

[Clockwork]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

Both choices are reasonable, logically speaking; from n RP standpoint, you can easily make a good case for either one. In practical terms, the end results are not that different.

It's been a while since I did the run, but if I recall, one choice does have Glory ending up with an upgrade to her razors, which is nice. I can't remember which one, though.

If she (unwillingly) goes back to the Adversary, she gets some fire claws or something like that.

If she saves the children, she'll get a healing "spell" (not an actual spell), to save even more people.

[frdnwsm]

>>BTW, Glory is the best character in the game<<

She's also the only companion in the game who can use the Vindicator.

[Ancient Toaster]

I don't even know or care what the Vindicator is. I use her melee attacks.

[frdnwsm]

Oh sure, close combat is Glory's specialty; not going to try and deny that. But she can also used ranged. Since you can't control the new skills that she learns ... she will get an increase in her ranged combat ability whether you want it or not ... you may as well have the equipment to take advantage of it. The Roomsweeper is a pistol that fires shotgun rounds, so she can use her pistol skills when firing it, and the Vindicator is the same as the minigun that Audran totes around.

It never hurts to have different options available. Now, if DF had a monster unarmed weapon like Blood Calls in SR:Hong Kong, I'd give her that, but it doesn't exist in DF.

[Ancient Toaster]

I went all in on her Melee skills.

One thing that disappoints me a bit is how inaccurate she is, even in Melee range. Dietrich is almost a requirement to take on missions for his Aim boost spell so she can actually hit.

Actually this goes for almost all of my squad, none of these clowns can hit anything. My PC is a Rifle Street Samurai and almost always has a 80% chance to hit even at long range.

[Clockwork]

Originally posted by AncientToaster:

Actually this goes for almost all of my squad, none of these clowns can hit anything. My PC is a Rifle Street Samurai and almost always has a 80% chance to hit even at long range.

I play on Very Hard and tend to never buff my other characters. They tend to hit 2/5 of the time. But my PC is so accurate later on with Dietrich's buff that he can shoot with a Sniper Rifle on point blank and an AR on extremely long range.

[frdnwsm]

You can't compare player character builds with NPC characters. Once you have played a game for a bit, you know how to use your Karma more effectively, and build a skill set that outmatches theirs.

[Ancient Toaster]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

You can't compare player character builds with NPC characters. Once you have played a game for a bit, you know how to use your Karma more effectively, and build a skill set that outmatches theirs.

Is there any reliable way to help Glory not be...well...mediocre in Melee? I felt she was really good early on but now she's got 55-65% chance to hit on most enemies in Melee range without the assistance of Dietrich

[frdnwsm]

Well, in her personal mission, you can make sure to take the path that upgrades her hand razors. As I mentioned, in DF there are no better close combat weapons for her to use. You can temporarily increase her close combat accuracy with combat drugs that give extra strength, but that's not a tactic you can use very often, due to suply limitations.

If you have someone who can knock a target out of cover before she attacks it, that also helps. A hit from melee does this, but so does a throwing weapon, like a knife or shuriken. Give Dietrich a shuriken instead of his throwing knife (range of 15 as opposed to the knife's 10 range) with Aim in effect on him, and if he hits, it will knock the target out of cover. Of course, as you mentioned, he can just toss Aim on Glory for a smiliar effect.

People sometimes undervalue Dietrich, because his direct combat skills are weak, but his buffs on other team members can be huge. If he tosses haste and aim on Glory, and she shoots up with adrenalin, at end game she gets 5 AP to play with. She can then run up to a foe (1 AP), deliver a compound attack plus two more attacks (for 3 AP total), then run back and get under cover. If someone shoots her up with cram or kamikaze, she gets even more AP. Again, you can't do this too often.

Lastly, this is why I also give Glory the Vindicator and the Roomsweeper. She's going to get ranged combat skill no matter what you want, and there are no better close combat weapons for her to use, so you may as well give her the gear to get the most out of her ranged skill. In the Lab Below mission (the final one of the game), there are critters down there that are huge. They occupy 4 squares, and therefore present large targets, which means they are easier to hit. With 5 AP, Glory can run up (1 AP), fire the Vindicator (2 AP), switch to the Roomsweeper and blast it in the face with buckshot (1 AP) and use the last AP to run back under cover.

Now, if I am using a close combat build myself, I will forget the ranged nonsense and just go with things that increase hit % and damage, with one exception. I give every character of mine 4 charisma and 4 conjuring. Haste II is just too good to not have in your arsenal. Unfortunately, we can only control how our companions train to a very limited extent; this is to preserve the illusion that they are independent entities who think and act for themselves.

Alas, it also means that your character, assuming that you know what you are doing, is far better at performing their particular specialty. I guess that's why we lead the team on missions.

[frdnwsm]

Just for an example, here is a shot from the end run, The Lab Below. The big ugly things are scorpodynes. Notice that with a target that big, Glory's hit chance with the Vindicator is 93%. As a comparison, with the Roomsweeper it's a full 99%, her razorclaws have a 97%. All three are pretty decent. This is without an Aim spell in effect, btw.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=925627417

The difference is that she can use the minigun from the doorway, instead of running up to the target to use her razors, where she can be hit by the other two nasties lurking in the room. My plan here is to have everyone take one shot and whack the nearest critter, then use our last AP to fall back. When the other two bugs follow us, we take them out as they come through the door.

Also, the Vindicator does some obnoxiously huge damage. Think "Terminator 2".

[Ancient Toaster]

I started pumping Strength late game with my Street Sam and she's ready to claim the Vindicator for herself.

[frdnwsm]

Originally posted by AncientToaster:

I started pumping Strength late game with my Street Sam and she's ready to claim the Vindicator for herself.

Well, that can work also ... provided you have decent ranged weapon skill. There are a few things you need to know. It only fires burst mode, and it takes 2 AP to fire. Glory is a good candidate for using this weapon, since she has her adrenal pump. If Dietrich hastes her in addition, she gets 5 AP, meaning she can fire 2 bursts, and still have 1 AP left to either duck under cover, or take a shot with the Roomsweeper. Which, btw, is found in a weapon cache during the APEX Rising run.

I don't know what sort of AP enhancers your own character has, but you will probably want to have 4 at least. That means your own innate 3 (the Vindicator isn't even available in the shop until after the town gets attacked, so 3 AP will be your baseline ... it costs 5,000 NuYen, so save up) plus a Haste from Dietrich.

I'll post a shot of Glory's end game stats, so that you can compare yours with them.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=925801371

Also notice that she has skill of 6 with thrown weapons. With her strength of 8, that makes her a pretty good grenade hurler as well.