Intimidation: Worth it?

[SporkofDeath]

Those with attention to detail will notice that I don't actually own the game. I'm poor, and also slightly skeptical. I have watched people playing it extensively though and one thing I've noticed is that there are several of quests where your objective is to "Kill all the raiders." The 10th level Charisma perk in this strange new skilless system I'm still struggling to accept is Intimidation, which sounds really cool to someone who liked MGS5 despite it doing tons of things I hate because it it gave you tons of non-lethal options. You're supposedly able to intimidate enemies into surrenderring, and at higher levels even give them orders. But... how does that work with those kill everything quests? If it weren't a Bethesda game I'd assume that getting the enemies to surrender would count as "killing" them unless you were specifically sent on an assassination mission, but this is Bethesda, so I don't really trust them to be bothered to take something like that into account. If that happens to be the case and you still have to kill surrenderred enemies is there really much point to spending all those points to get charisma to max level and then max out this perk? Is it just somethign some dev thought would be cool because they couldn't think of something more useful to add for max charisma? Well, I'm hoping my negativity is unfounded, but it is one factor in whether I eventually decide to get the game or not.

[DrSNAFU]

I just got it and I've tried it out. At short range if you hit E to interact with hostiles while aiming at them, there's a good chance they'll 'surrender', IE put their hands up. It's temporary. After about 30 or so seconds or you try to interact with a console they'll turn hostile again. As a 'good' character I'm not sure what to do with this 'temporary fight halt' button now. I mean... it doesn't hurt my karma to shoot these guys in the head while their hands are up, but it makes me feel like a jerk. So a lot of the time I just have to wait until they go hostile again. I'll see if level 2 is more useful.

[SporkofDeath]

Originally posted by DrSNAFU:

I just got it and I've tried it out. At short range if you hit E to interact with hostiles while aiming at them, there's a good chance they'll 'surrender', IE put their hands up. It's temporary. After about 30 or so seconds or you try to interact with a console they'll turn hostile again. As a 'good' character I'm not sure what to do with this 'temporary fight halt' button now. I mean... it doesn't hurt my karma to shoot these guys in the head while their hands are up, but it makes me feel like a jerk. So a lot of the time I just have to wait until they go hostile again. I'll see if level 2 is more useful.

Thanks for the info!

[Pondèrin♡]

Thats not entirely true. I play with the perk pretty extensively pretty much got it at level 3 and now I'm at lvl 43. From what I've experimented so far there's like 15-20% chance that it'll work and the enemy will remain pacified until you holster your weapon or stray too far, the distance is vast so don't worry. It's extremely useful on higher difficulty, I play on survival, not so much on the lower difficulty since you can just kill everything easily. At level 2 you can incite them to attack their team mates which is a very good crowd control option. There's no limit to the amount of enemy you can pacify either.

[SporkofDeath]

Originally posted by Derpmaiden:

Thats not entirely true. I play with the perk pretty extensively pretty much got it at level 3 and now I'm at lvl 43. From what I've experimented so far there's like 15-20% chance that it'll work and the enemy will remain pacified until you holster your weapon or stray too far, the distance is vast so don't worry. It's extremely useful on higher difficulty, I play on survival, not so much on the lower difficulty since you can just kill everything easily. At level 2 you can incite them to attack their team mates which is a very good crowd control option. There's no limit to the amount of enemy you can pacify either.

So does pacifying enemies count for missions where you're supposed to clear an area out or do you have to kill them after they've surrenderred to you?

[JTL2]

If your idea is to create a "no kill" character type, sadly that's not going to happen even with Intimidation.

I jacked it to Rank 3, went into a raider den and it only worked 10% of the time. If you fail an Intimidate, you cannot do it again.

I thought, I'll try it on a "named" enemy (as the Raider bosses typically have names). So, I ran to the end of the base, Quicksaved, then attempted to Intimidate. Failed. Repeatedly. I reloaded several times, and failed to Intimidate each time.

Oh, and I wasn't wearing armor, I wore a dress with +3 CHA and hat with +1 CHA. So even with 14 Charisma, the Raider boss seemed immune.

[SporkofDeath]

Originally posted by JTL2:

If your idea is to create a "no kill" character type, sadly that's not going to happen even with Intimidation.

I jacked it to Rank 3, went into a raider den and it only worked 10% of the time. If you fail an Intimidate, you cannot do it again.

I thought, I'll try it on a "named" enemy (as the Raider bosses typically have names). So, I ran to the end of the base, Quicksaved, then attempted to Intimidate. Failed. Repeatedly. I reloaded several times, and failed to Intimidate each time.

Oh, and I wasn't wearing armor, I wore a dress with +3 CHA and hat with +1 CHA. So even with 14 Charisma, the Raider boss seemed immune.

Doesn't have to be a no kill character. Just wondering if it's possible to create a low kill character. Most specifically I'm wondering about missions like the one I saw on a stream where you have to clear out a factory full of raiders. If you successfully indimidate some of them do you still have to kill those guys anyway to finish the mission?

[Jalopy]

In my experience, I have found several facts related to all 3 ranks:

Rank 1: Enemies simply put hands up and don't attack for a short time. Not to useful, but pretty cool to observer certain enemies closer

Rank 2: Enemies that have been pacified can be "incited", meaning you zoom in with a weapon on them again, press interact button again and cause them to attack every bad guy nearby (this can include other incited enemies). This is my favorite rank, as there is no limit to how many can be pacified and incited, watching groups fight each other is very entertaining and the effect seems to be permanent (I have holstered my weapon, sat down and even waited for several hours around an incited enemy and he was still fine).

Rank 3: Enemies can be given commands. Works similarly to inciting, but when done the person can be treated like a companion. They will shoot, pick up or interact with whatever you point at when commanding them and you can even swap inventory items (I personally enjoy taking every thing they have, including clothes, and then killing them if they go hostile again). However, in my experience at least, this perk has two major downsides to rank 2: you cannot control more than one person at once and you cannot holster you weapon around them. When you command a new person, the previous one becomes hostile, and when I holster my weapon, the current one becomes hostile (although I am unsure if this is intentional or not, this is mentioned on the wiki as a bug).

In my effort retain some form of neutrality in these descriptions, I would argue that ranking up is a matter of preference. If you would rather boss around a single guy until he tries to shoot you in the back rather that allow several guys to peacefully wander their surroundings for a good while, go ahead and do it. I personally, however, wish I was back at rank 2.

(P.S. I know that this you don't have the game, but this post was also for other people researching this perk)

[CrUsHeR]

Kills made by incited NPCs don't give exp, and it feels overall immersion-breaking because you basically transform your gun into a magic wand to mind control people.

[H.E.]

Originally posted by CrUsHeR:

Kills made by incited NPCs don't give exp, and it feels overall immersion-breaking because you basically transform your gun into a magic wand to mind control people.

Might as well toggle combat ai off.

[SporkofDeath]

Man, I just want to play a game where I can roleplay Vash the Stampede? I mean, is that so much to ask? :(

Well no, that's not actually what I'm asking for or expecting... Which isn't to say it wouldn't be pretty awesome.

[Harmonica]

It's a fun perk that may or may not fit with your character if you're a talkie type. I like pacifying humans and creatures. I don't use the incite perk, but I'm looking forward to the tier 3 one.

I'd say the chance is better than 1/10 though, but it probably depends on the level of the enemy and maybe other things (some enemies like mirelurks and ghouls are easier to pacify than not, they're just pretty chill).

The only downsides are that you have to use a weapon to do it, and that holstering your weapon aggros them again. I hope that's just an oversight, for creatures at least, and will be fixed.

[-Kraken-]

Does killing them after intimidating them, at Rank 3, make nice companions dislike you?
Bc one time I killed a ghoul, after controlling it, then Curie left my party bc it said she hated it. Don't know if it was something different that incited her distaste, but killing the ghoul seemed like the primary source.

[Catharist]

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Intimidation

Pacifying an enemy with this perk will not satisfy any objective that requires clearing enemies out of an area, meaning you will have to dispose of them before the objective is counted as complete.

Also, it only works on enemies that are below your level. That may be the problem JTL2 was facing when trying to intimidate a boss NPC. Or perhaps named characters are just immune because because because.

[ToxicKookie]

Originally posted by SporkofDeath:

Those with attention to detail will notice that I don't actually own the game. I'm poor, and also slightly skeptical. I have watched people playing it extensively though and one thing I've noticed is that there are several of quests where your objective is to "Kill all the raiders." The 10th level Charisma perk in this strange new skilless system I'm still struggling to accept is Intimidation, which sounds really cool to someone who liked MGS5 despite it doing tons of things I hate because it it gave you tons of non-lethal options. You're supposedly able to intimidate enemies into surrenderring, and at higher levels even give them orders. But... how does that work with those kill everything quests? If it weren't a Bethesda game I'd assume that getting the enemies to surrender would count as "killing" them unless you were specifically sent on an assassination mission, but this is Bethesda, so I don't really trust them to be bothered to take something like that into account. If that happens to be the case and you still have to kill surrenderred enemies is there really much point to spending all those points to get charisma to max level and then max out this perk? Is it just somethign some dev thought would be cool because they couldn't think of something more useful to add for max charisma? Well, I'm hoping my negativity is unfounded, but it is one factor in whether I eventually decide to get the game or not.

You should get a building contract. That's a fine wall you've made...

[BLÀde]

easier just to shoot them