Automatron encounters horribly overpowered..?

[Jhonny G]

So ever since I "triggered" the Automatron DLC, these random encounters of Rust Devils and Mechanist squads have been roaming the Commenwealth. Pretty much owning and destroying everything they encounter including Gunners, The Forged and Super Mutants.. Even poor Mr. Cabot's guards was destoyed when I wasn't much more than lvl. 20!

Considering this is a low level DLC they seem way overpowered.. Even now almost every encounter still includes legendary and skull (high level) mobs, so I'm wondering what to do about it since they only seem to get tougher. Will things return to normal if I do the DLC or will they just continue to wreck everything in their path..?

[Doombringer]

They randomly replace some spawns, finishing the DLC doesn't really change it.
Although finishing the DLC does let you spam Rogue Robot (let the last guy live) for infinite settlers and it unlocks all robot parts. (you can build infinite robots too...)

Once you level up enough Rust Devils aren't really that bad.
Much less annoying than super mutants ;)

[sdack]

I'm loving it. They get worse at higher levels. Like at 70+ do they seem to have silvery armor plates and new forms appear, like the Sentry Bot Butcher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3EVe_sS2dE

[SeriousCCIE]

I first encountered them at like level 96, and they are not so overpowered as it was that I was unprepared for the encounters. You need to choose weaponry better suited for robotic metal armor plating.

And yeah some of those combos are pretty cool.

Note that the DLC isn't low leveled -- it's just that you can start to play it after you reach a specific level, so that you can even hope to survive reaching the locations it sends you to.

[Shahadem]

I find the Automatrons to be a bit on the weaker side actually. There are a few exceptions though such as the robots that have Rail Guns or the ones with decent melee weapons.

[Danzarlo - The Dan Of Many Names]

It just depends on what your armour is spec'd towards aswell ive found the automatrons to be heavy in balstic damage but not really low in energy damage but just they have terrible aim with energy weapons.

[troy_cummings]

I love the Automatron DLC. Not because of robots, which is pretty cool, but because of the new enemies.

Rust Devils are stronger than most, and their robots can prove a tough fight. Robotics Expert (lvl 8 intelligence, rank 3) makes these encounters very fun :p

[Shahadem]

Originally posted by troy_cummings:

I love the Automatron DLC. Not because of robots, which is pretty cool, but because of the new enemies.

Rust Devils are stronger than most, and their robots can prove a tough fight. Robotics Expert (lvl 8 intelligence, rank 3) makes these encounters very fun :p

And they have cool armor.

[Jhonny G]

Don't get me wrong, I think they're very cool and a nice addition to the enemy roster. It's just that they seem to own everything else in the Commenwealth.

Like I meet a group up around the Slog composed of 3 Dust Devils, 2 Ripper Sentry Bots and some Mr. Handy abormination already at level 26.. They started by wiping out a group of 4 Gunners and then proceeded to eliminate every sentry around Saugus Ironworks afterwards. With only one casulty. Haven't seen any group do something like that before.

[sdack]

Originally posted by Dogmatius:

Don't get me wrong, I think they're very cool and a nice addition to the enemy roster. It's just that they seem to own everything else in the Commenwealth.

Like I meet a group up around the Slog composed of 3 Dust Devils, 2 Ripper Sentry Bots and some Mr. Handy abormination already at level 26.. They started by wiping out a group of 4 Gunners and then proceeded to eliminate every sentry around Saugus Ironworks afterwards. With only one casulty. Haven't seen any group do something like that before.

Perhaps drop your expectation. Don't go looking for some kind of balance or equilibrium. Instead, accept that some groups are stronger and others are weaker.

You must have noticed by now that scavengers and the occasional Minuteman patrols are the weakest, then you have the Raiders being somewhat stronger and the Gunners being stronger than them. Then you have Super Mutants, who often end up blowing themselves up, but also wiping out everyone else, too. I'd say they're even stronger than Gunners, but the suicides are miss'n'hit. On par with Gunners are the Synth, although those don't appear that often and so it's a bit difficult to compare them to the rest. The Forged seem thougher than the Gunners. Hard for me to tell really. It depends on luck and everyone will have made slightly different observations.

So then you have the new faction with the DLC, who appear to be stronger. It's not a bad thing when you think about it. You wouldn't want to add a weak faction to the game with a DLC, but most players would like to get a harder one usually.

The picture changes when you have to defend settlements. While the robots can be quite destructive and will come plentiful and with some tough sentry bots, too, can Raiders show up in Power Armor. The last attack by Raiders I've had was it 5 of them in PA and 2 more (without) but triple barrel missile launchers. The Super Mutants also can come with missile launchers. I still have to see a new Gunner attack (it has been a while). That's also where Feral Ghouls get stronger. You'll get mobs of like 9 with a couple of legendaries mixed in, who will try to rush you.

I wouldn't let one event make up my mind. I've reloaded several fights in the past just to get better with certain situations only to learn that it will often change in the outcome simply because the groups are random in their composition. If you then have seen one group of robots wipe out 4 Gunners and The Forged then you've seen a pretty strong compositions. They are not always like that though.

[Doombringer]

Synths are harder to sneak up on, but their weapons are weak compared to high level gunners.
Super Mutants are tougher at high level than other encounters (ton of HP, the ones with advanced assault rifles hurt a bit).
If you have good gear then nothing in the game is actually hard though.

Originally posted by Dogmatius:

Don't get me wrong, I think they're very cool and a nice addition to the enemy roster. It's just that they seem to own everything else in the Commenwealth.

Like I meet a group up around the Slog composed of 3 Dust Devils, 2 Ripper Sentry Bots and some Mr. Handy abormination already at level 26.. They started by wiping out a group of 4 Gunners and then proceeded to eliminate every sentry around Saugus Ironworks afterwards. With only one casulty. Haven't seen any group do something like that before.

BoS with gatling lasers can do that as well ;)
If they spawn with laser rifles, well, then they are a bit sad.

[Dinger]

you plus compan .. 2

rust devil GROUP .. 7 to 9

they got the numbers .. for suure

[Kalsu]

They are stronger then most npc so you will need to be well equiped both in perks and gear.

At higher level you will surely wipe the floor with them so just avoid them if you can't make a dent on them.

At low level you should use a meat shield and some explosives to take care of them. Don't go melee unless you got the build for it...even then , you should be carefull.

Doing the dlc won't make them go away. They're here to stay :P

[Darkaiser]

Armor piercing weapons will wreck most robots. Remember to leave radiation weapons at home...they're useless.

I'm dealing with Nukaworld bots right now and I was never so happy to have my 4-barrel missile launcher lol

[mfree]

I started and finished Automatron just before Bethesda patched out the long-distance remote hacking "bug"... it was rather easy with that feature enabled, though it did break the final scene.

[DouglasGrave]

What I noticed with a recent low-level playthrough (starting Automatron almost as soon as possible), was that the robots were often vulnerable to limb damage. Taking out weapon-bearing limbs results in them either self-destructing (if they have no weapons) or being far less dangerous, and the slow-moving protectron legs and smooth-flying Mr Handy thrusters make their limbs easier to target than most other enemies.

That said, I found the last fight in Automatron's questline particularly tough, since you're sealed in without any good place to hide or take cover, and face a large number of robots in short order. It made things pretty hectic since I was only around level 20 at the time.