best combat captain build?

[davea]

I'm sure this has been discussed peripherally in other threads. But, for a combat captain, on diffculty hard (permadeath), first rank of combat, what about:
Attributes A: strength 25, quickness 25, fortitude 25, charisma 21, wisdom 20, resilience 22
Skills B: 5 blades, 10 evasion
Start zealot, add assassin 1 for poison blade, all following levels in swordsman
I'm sure starting assassin is a little better but somehow I don't have that unlock yet.

[happybjorn]

There are entire threads on the topic and many threads that have derailed to focus on the topic. Try searching.

[Trese Brothers]

@dave when posting such a build, I'd include their Initiative stat and HP Max. We could all calc it, but it helps to read it quickly. I imagine min max would say drop Charisma for Wisdom.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Always 30 wisdom, quickness, fortitude. Throw remainder into strength. You don't need charisma or resilience at all in a combat build.

If you don't have those 3 I can't consider it all for any combat build ever on any difficulty.

5 blades and 10 evasion is good against humans against xeno I go opposite. Parry is King against xeno.

Adding 1 level of assassin is pretty useless unless it's starting captain. But even on a build like that you want to take advantage of stealth to do non stop crit hits.

If you aren't going stealth/crit build I replace assassin with say bodyguard. Maybe something else. Assassin about stealth/crit but you do have to micro manage it.

Or you go bodyguard or even xeno Hunter start in spot 2. And you can focus on armor buffs. Before moving to spot 1.

[peddroelm]

For me combat captain just screams combat medic ( [10] doctor skill and high initiative and high HP ) yes please .. Could mess around with evasion / blade skill , bodyguard levels to enable blade in off hand

[ptirodaktill]

I tried a bunch of combat captians. Two favorite builds so far :
1)Slot 3 shotgun DD Xeno hunter 30 wisdom, fortitude, quickness, rest in strenght. 10 rifle 5 evasion. Xeno hunter 8/ BH 5 rest in soldier.
32 initiative at game start, never miss a shot, once Plasma Burner is unlocked, oneshot two enemies at the start of the combat.
2)Slot 1 buffer/tank/healer.
10 doctor/10evasion/3 tactics .Start as military officier, max fortitude and quickness, rest in strenght. Switch to combat medic at lvl2, push it to Lifeline, then push MO to 8 and put the rest intro bodyguard. Use knife and pistol for some additional blocking.

I tried a bunch of melee DD, but after De-Ravish blade nerf i doubt it worth the effort.

[nephilimnexus]

I've only done combat captain two ways: My spy main, who added in pistoleer (for the stats) and military officer (for the talents). He stays in position #2. He's not the best fighter build, but with L7 gear and stealth armor he gets the job done just fine. Rapid fire every round works well enough and can quickly grind down most foes who don't have heavy armor.

My other toon is a bounty hunter, who also took xeno hunter and exo scout. He stays in the back at slot #4 and just does plasma burner after opening up with steady mobility, which pretty much vaporizes anything in the first two rows with one shot once you've got a L7 heavy machine gun.

Main thing is both have max (30) quickness. Forget strength or morale or even hitpoints. Initiative is everything in ground combat.

[wendigo211]

Definitely 30 quickness and wisdom for max initiative. After that fortitude.

Personally I prefer priority A for skills and B for attributes (10 points of blades and evasion, and a few points in either tactics or stealth). I've done a few different crew combat captains, but my fave is Commander as a starting class (+2 initiative and a good ship combat trait), max Swordsman and the rest in Bodyguard. That said Assassin 1 to start, 5 Pistoleer (Dueler's Stance) and max Swordsman is a bit better. I've run both on impossible and they do fine against whatever the game throws at them (hence my preference for Commander since it helps with Ship combat as well).

[ptirodaktill]

Fortitude, ofc, not resilence :roll:

[nephilimnexus]

I've found that Pistoleer/Swordsman/Bodyguard officer for your #1 slot eventually turns into an unstoppable death-machine. I really, really like Bodyguard, too, even thought I use literally none of its talents. I just like having a class that levels up pistols, blades and dodge together instead of separately. Stacked with the other two and you will never miss or get hit.

[Quantummagic]

Thx...I already saw that talent.

Oh wow...sounds a bit difficult, to do story on impossible, since I have not seen much of it. Will see how it goes.
Maybe go back to brutal, where I could do kinda everything a bit.
I feel there is a big jump from brutal to impossible.

[nephilimnexus]

Yeah, I don't touch the "impossible" setting on any game. I don't see the point and I suspect the only people who do have serious ego issues. But they are entertaining, at least, because you can always count on them to come to the forums later and whine that lost and that the game is too hard when they try playing on the "impossible" setting. And not just this game - any game. You'll see one of these folks create a new thread at least once a week rehashing the same story over & over: "I set the game on impossible ironman and my toon died - no fair, game too hard, wah!"

Now I graduated from high school back in the 90s, but I'd like to think that they still teach things like "cause & effect" ... or maybe they stopped? I dunno. I blame Twitch and all the hackers who fool people into thinking that they're winning on these settings without mods/memory edits/etc.

[Quantummagic]

Doing really good on impossible though, but the point for playing games on the highest difficulty for me is, that a game that is not challenging, is simply boring for me.
Brutal was a bit boring, and I would have not continued playing, if there wasn't a higher difficulty.
Impossible seems really fitting, and I enjoy restarting if I f...ed up...lol
I especially picked this game, because people said it's challenging.
90÷ of games are to easy, even on impossible.
It's really hard to find challenging games, if you have suggestions, go ahead...lol

[nephilimnexus]

Case in point, folks.