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So, in no real order.
It's not the "power of luck", it's the "fun of luck". I like a little random in my games as well as a lot of narrative in my people. So I will always have one person with a high luck just for those reasons. Every so often they will get some extra AP in combat and/or extra CON when leveling up.
I understand that it's not for everyone.
Copyed this from elsewhere.
INT 10 = 5 SP per level; 200 SP by level 40. You can roughly max out 4 and a half skills.
INT 8 or 9 = 4 SP per level; 160 SP by level 40. You can roughly max out 3 and a half skills.
IINT 4, 5, 6, or 7 = 3 SP per level; 120 SP by level 40. You can max out 2 and a half skills.
NT 1, 2, or 3 = 2 SP per level; 80 SP by level 40. You can max out almost 2 skills.
(Please note this this wasn't made with the +1 from skill books in mind it seems.)
This is one of the main things recruits are used for (the other being extra damage in combat), picking up the slack of the other skills you can't cram on the main four. And with their help, now don't have to.
You don't need to put points into Chra to do this ether as that only effects how far the aim bonus can reach (and you've already made it clear you don't mind being without the, at most, extra +20% to hit), not how likely they are to do their own thing.
One guy gives up one skill for leadership and you get (at least) six more to play with.
Energy guns, I'm a fan. There not what they used to be in the vanilla WL2 but they still have their use against robots (back then it was armor = damage, so faces were melted and often). No aim penaltys, ok(ish) damage against most things, very high damage against robots. The main reason to take one is so you can get the Gamma Ray Blaster and scrap/melt any robots you come across in very short order.
Every gun in this game works fine if used right so depending on personal playstile some people will always like some over others.
I know of one person that seems to have finished the game with nothing but pistol using gunslingers, so none are useless. But yes, ARs are basicaly at the top.
While it can help with their use you don't need the Demolitions skill to use explosives, it's mainly used for dissarming them.
And at least for not I'm going to stop there, this is long enough already.
I suppose I should just get this out of the way straight out of the gate: I'm probably gonna sh** all over your builds. As a disclaimer (if you haven't read any of my other comments and aren't familiar with my take on builds) I actually LIKE build variety and I appreciate the craft of making characters with different allocations of stats- but that doesn't mean I ignore the fact that there is a character design meta. So like it or not, stale/boring or otherwise, there is "what works" and "what is frowned upon". With that out of the way, let's move forward with my thoughts!
#1: Formatting:
When posting numerous builds back-to-back, it really helps to distill any individual build by including the relevant derived stats- usually AP and CI -so a reader doesn't have to sift through the numbers and tally up the points to understand the point of the build. Makes understanding the build much easier, leaving you more room to explain the build in more detail. You could include any other derived stats that you consider relevant to that particular build, for example a build you design as a tank, you could include "10hp/lvl" to point out that this guy will be getting 25% more hp on level-up than the other guy. Just a suggestion.
#2 10-INT Builds:
10-INT teams sound like a great idea on paper... until you try them out yourself. The math (and personal experience) simply demonstrates that you're wasting potential on teams with more than just one 10-INT character. It's always useful to design teams based around hitting level 32, but don't expect to not hit level 40, as that's probably going to happen without even trying (unless you avoid quests like the plague). This means you WILL accumulate SP over the course of the game, and you'll find out that a tea of 4-INT combatants with one or two 10-INT skill monkeys will be more than enough to suit your needs for the entirety of the game.
Because of how useful they are, don't neglect to incorporate trinkets into your designs, because they're effectively anywhere from 8 to 20 to even 42 SP savers! That's a LOT of utility in a tiny little item. So the reality is that you don't need 792 SP (18 * 44) to get 18 useful utiltiy skills to level 10, but rather you only need 432 SP to get 18 skills between level 5-9 by mid-way through the game. And every character starts out with 12 SP, can earn 16 SP through skill statues strewn throughout the game, and earn whatever else through their SP/lvl bonus. This means every 4-INT character contributes 113 SP to the overall team SP pool by level 32 in AZ. By level 40 this is 145 SP per 4-INT character. This means with 7 characters all 4-INT, you'll have over 700 SP to pool between them by level 40, as well as each of them mastering a single combat skill.
Long story short, math says don't overdo it with too many 10-INT characters. Maybe have one or two of them (maximum) to help out your team carry the heavy burden of mundane tasks in the early levels. But by the late-game, you'll be awash with SP with nothing to spend it on.
#3 Combat Initiative:
Supposedly, combat order works by subtracting CI from 30, and whatever that number is, and however many times that number "repeats" in 30, is how often that character will take their turn in combat. Because 30 is divisible by 5 6 times, since the higest possible CI to attain is 25, this means a CI 25 character would go 6 times in a single combat sequence when a CI 15 character will only go twice in that same sequence. So the recommendation of "CI divisible by 3" is a simplification, but then again that's all assuming that this understanding of CI calculations is even accurate, about which I'm skeptical.
Piggybacking off of the previous explanation, 11 CI is by no means "half decent". The lowest CI can possibly get is 6, so CIs around 10 are just plain BAD. Speaking from experience of playing with a team with between 7-11 CI, and another team with 13-14 CI, and another team with 16+ CI, it pretty much goes like this:
6-10 CI = TERRIBLE
11-13 CI = Bad
14-16 CI = Average
17-19 CI = Good
20+ CI = EXCELLENT
You'll find most enemies have over the course of the game, on average, will have about as many moves as your team will, if your team has CIs between 14-16, and if you have below 13 CI, you'll find that your team gets outmaneuvered by your enemies quite frequently.
I've also heard other arguments about new teams with varying CI and noticing that the higher the CI, the higher the damage output and kills of that character... though this only applies if they have the same weapon type and same weapon skill level, because weapon types (even specific weapons within a weapon category) affect damage output significantly. But their point of "more CI = more opportunity to deal damage" is quite sound.
#4 A Comment on Speed Penalties:
A quick note, you can COMPLETELY circumvent CS penalties from Heavy Weapons by simply... swapping your weapon to something else. Just swap weapons to a non-HW, move as you need, swap back to HW, voila, no CS lost at all!
In general, however, compensating for CS penalties never really overcomes those penalties (except in the one example above in which you can remove it completely). If you argue that a "hidden benefit" to Brittle Bones is that it not only halves your CS but also halves your CS penalties, this does not overcome the HALF COMBAT SPEED you have to work with. This is pretty major in the later parts of the game, where multiple turns will be spent just closing the gap between you and your enemies. More CI will help, more AP could help a little, but ultimately you just need more running speed to be able to cover enough distance as quickly as possible. ANYTHING that costs you a CS pentalty will be therefore working against you, considerably.
This is why Luchadore Belts are not more valuable, considering they could (in theory) allow you to transition into heavier weapons in the late game without needing to invest too much into STR, but the reality is that these trinkets also lower your evasion, combat speed, and combst initiative, all of which you really want, and none of the benefits in particular really help you by comparison. You don't get much boost to your HP, but you DO miss out on all the cumulative hp/lvl over time benefits. You may be able to weild a slightly heavier weapon, but use it less often in combat.
#5 Thoughts on Brittle Bones:
Seeing a LOT of Brittle Bones in all these builds... Brittle Bones is one of those quirks that sounds good on paper, but in practice it's not as useful as it is deleterious. That halved CS reeeeeeeally hurts, and in theory it really only benefits snipers because of their high-AP weapons and their relatively minimal need to move around. But they do need to move, since higher ground vantage points are so rare in the game, and enemies LOVE to take cover, so your snipers need to be able to book it to reposition themselves quite often. This is why, rather ironically, one of the best things for snipers is in fact a Bladed Weapon perk: Adrenaline Rush.
Since your snipers are usually safely tucked away behind their own cover and significant distance to protect themselves from being targeted by enemies, you can actually attack your own snipers (outside of combat, obviously) until they're below 25% hp, and from that point on they'll benefit from +2 AP in combat! Combined with Twitchy quirk and Inverted Four Leaf Clover trinket you'll have a sniper with abundant AP to spent, as well as be FAST AS HELL and therefore able to cover some ridiculous ground so that enemies can never get into positioning to escape you!
Just take more pause in deciding to use Brittle Bones, because it's not as useful as it might appear to be. You'll gain just as much benefit from a Disparnumeraphobia build without ANY of the same drawbacks. You'll be incredibly fast, have an abundance of AP, and you'll only need to plan out your calls to HQ so that you skip every odd level.
cont'd...
#6 A Brief Comment on AP "Sweet Spots":
Couldn't help but notice that your builds (or at least your rationalization for those builds) stress a heavy emphasis on AP "sweet spots". The idea of AP sweet spots is alright on its own, but as the above explained effects of CI, AP, and CS demonstrate, there's only so much to be gained from increasing your AP past a certain point. In theory if a weapon costs 7 AP then 14 AP means you "waste" no AP, and likewise with any other weapon AP costs multiples, but in practice the reality is you almost NEVER "waste" your AP. A large part of your turns will be spent determining whether to reposition your characters or not, and if you forego entire turns before moving because you don't want to "waste a shot", you're losing positional advantage.
Generally speaking, aiming for 8-10 AP works well for most (if not all) character builds, because you have enough to fire any kind of weapon, and enough left over to move. You might find yourself enjoying a period of getting 3 AR shots off per turn and 2 Deadeye SR shots off per turn with a couple 12 AP characters, but the reality of what you lost to achieve these AP numbers will sink in and you'll realize that you didn't place enough emphasis on CI or CS.
It's very easy to strive for a balance of 9 AP, 14 CI, and 2.5+ CS, and still have plenty of room left to experiment and differentiate any given build.
#7 Attributes (Stats):
I'm noticing a trend in your builds, placing 10/20/etc points in STR or COR. Generally speaking, there are 2 stats in which you NEVER want to wait till every 10 levels to increase: STR and INT. This is because these stats primarily convey the bulk of their benefits over time, in the form of hp/lvl and SP/lvl, and you mitigate these gains by waiting till later levels to increase them. This isn't so bad for stats like COR or SPD, however, so you can increase your AP over the course of the game, and you don't really lose out on anything by postponing doing so. But this isn't ideal, either.
I'd recommend allocating your bonus stat points go into SPD or AWR... usually always AWR. Because you gain 1 CI for every point of AWR but only for every 2 points of SPD, you will increase your CI s bit over the course of the game, and since enemies will have better and better stats as the game progresses, you will match them (and exceed them) if you invest in increasing your CI rather than your AP. If you only increase your AP as you level, you'll notice heavy diminishing returns as enemis continue outmanuevering you more and more, and your upgraded AP fails to match up to their cumulative upgrades. But since CI is such a brokenly-good derived stat, increasing that as you progress seems to have the best payoff.
On that note...
#8 Efficient Stat Spending:
Part of the meta is "efficiently" spending points, such as gaining more from the same number of points being spent, as well as "wasting" fewer points. An example of "wasted" points is every sum total of STR, SPD, and INT (SSI) that isn't divisible by 4, since that means you're not getting any AP out of that number. Your CLASSIC 8, for instance, has 2 extra points in SSI, but really low AWR, so you could lower SPD by 2 and put that into AWR, gaining 1 CI and 1 Evasion, losing 0.2 CS, and keeping the same AP, all with the same amount of points!
By contrast, your CLASSIC 3 (the quoted one) has an efficient distribution of SSI, with 16 points total, evenly divisible by 4, so nothing is "wasted". This is usually another element of the meta, 16 points sunk into SSI. This means you could go 4 4 8, 2 10 4, 4 8 4, etc, all while benefiting from missing out on nothing (no odd stats) and maximizing AP per overall stat investment (sum total divisible by 4). In theory this also applies to 12 or even 20 spent between SSI, but the reality is that you get diminishing returns about 16, as well as below 16. As explained above in the example about re-allocating your points in the CLASSIC 8 build, some stats are simply "better" spent elsewhere.
#9 A Comment on Ascetic:
First off, there is no "p" in the word "ascetic", dunno how that misspelling kept cropping up again and again.
But more importantly... Ascetic is not that bad of a trade off as it might seem. It's primarily a TREMENDOUS boon to INT 1 combat types. Because (as explained above about overall SP demands) you only need so many SP to spend to master weapons, and there are no trinkets that improve combat skills (excluding the quite-valuable CI and CtH trinkets for combat) so you don't necessarily need trinket access on such a character. The extra point and 5 SP enables them to be much-more capable in the early game, and the overall stat distribution (away from INT) guarantees that they'll be that much deadlier of a combatant in the long run.
Other than that (or the odd exploit) there's not much use for picking Ascetic, because of the previously-mentioned saving of upwards of 10 SP per trinket, which obviously outweighs the 5 SP gained. But in those niche builds, it's quite good!
#10 Final Comment on "The Power of Luck":
Luck is a highly-underrated stat. However the primary criticism for Luck and why most advocate for 1-LCK builds... is not wrong at all. That's that LCK builds are good, but unreliable. True to the nature of "luck", it's all a matter of random chance whether you'll benefit from moderate-to-high LCK. BUT, there is one area where LCK truly shines: beefiness. It sounds counterintuitive, but the fact of the matter is, you get more hp from LCK than from STR. Case in point, by the end of my last game, Ralphy had almost 500 hp while the rest of the team was hardly pushing beyond 300... largely because of his 5-LCK!
The only real drawback to relying on LCK for your hp is the "need" to save/reload if you didn't like your level-up hp, but more importantly is the mediocre importance of HP. You just don't get that much out of more and more hp. It's more useful to have higher AC if you want to become a powerful tank, and more valuable to be deadlier rather than more longevital.
.....
The sad reality is that most of those builds are non-viable... at least on paper. The fact of the matter is that if you're a good enough player you can make whatever build you want work for you. But the way the game is (im)balanced, CI is still king, and builds with average-or-below CI are still undesireable to most. But, as I expressed in my disclaimer, I still like my variety, AND I've already endeavored to create a team (undesireable on paper) just to prove a point. So don't let me discourage you from using these build cheat sheets as you will!
As expained in Point #2, you really don't wanna overdo it with multiple 10-INT characters. But, if you want a team that avoids recruits entirely, then you should be able to make do with a couple skill monkey types. But you do want your best combatants to be GOOD combatants, and other than lots of skills and a small contribution to AP, high-INT builds don't aid your rangers that much in combat.
I'll post more of my own builds later, but for now I'll post this...
BEEFY Tank - 2:5:4(+1+3-5):7:8:1:1 (ASCETIC) - 8 AP, 14 CI, 2.6 CS, 13-14 hp/lvl
This is a fairly fast tank (slowed down by heaviest of armor, though just to 2.0 by the end-game, and can benefit from speed perks, such as Charge! and Shoulder the Load) that benefits mostly from absolutely absurd hp gain. As I mentioned earlier, I went with this build just to prove a point, and I deliberately endeavored to aim for a 5-LCK build that would more than simply "get by" throughout the game, and do quite well. I had a different stat distribution before, but after a quick re-allocation of points, came out with an even better state arrangement with this build. It's obviously a combat-centric build, so it doesn't do anything fancy. But it can cover decent ground, and just shrugs off bullets like an annoying case of dandruff.
You could reallocate those 4 extra points from LCK into COR, and be an even (more reliably) deadlier tank with 10 AP and few hp.
I apologize for all the mistakes. First thing, I was aware of INT not giving retroactive skill points, but I never connected it with STR not giving health. That is just a stupid mistake on my part.
The formatting suggestion is good to know, I'll be sure to use it if I ever come up with builds in the future. I find it a lot easier if everyone keeps the same sort of build format, and yours is a lot cleaner and easier to read than mine. Question: besides attributes and AP/CI/CS, do you think point form or pros/cons section for each build would be better, or does a quick paragraph work just as well?
The high-INT tip is good to know, I'll be sure to keep it in mind. Maybe all the builds I posted are very specifically for skillmonkeys then, rather than a full squad.
No matter what formula CI follows, it is still quite important if what you say is true (chances are, it is). I just hope someone gets it downpat, because I know some CI levels are going to be less effective than others, because it is based off of turns, and there are no "half turns".
Given CI's combat effectiveness compared to AP, I wonder if CLASSIC 13 would be one of the more useful (or less useless) builds shown here, though the speed is suffering. I find your take on sniper rifles interesting, I never really considered them a build that is "on the move", so I guess that kind of kills the whole build (if snipers need to move, ARs DEFINITELY need to move too). Unless I drop Brittle Bones and stick with the 7 AP, which seems very low to me but I suppose in your terms isn't that far below average.
I was considering making some Disparnumeraphobia (Disparnumerophobia?) builds, but I tried to find out whether you can level up characters individually and I got absolutely no information on it, so I assumed not. While one could still time their call-ins, I consider it a hassle and also if more than one of my rangers had the quirk it would get messy, to the point that I would rarely be able to level up. In retrospect I find it ironic that I spent all this time min/maxing certain stats but I'm too lazy to deal with the hassle of levelling up less often.
Ascetic being misspelled is probably because every time I read the word I thought in my head "antiseptic". My bad haha!
Thank you for the incredible feedback yet again, I'll keep that in mind if/when I change old/make new builds. Learning about the beefiness of luck really is good to know because now I have a reason to consider using it beyond very specific roleplaying purposes.
One last thing. As an experiment, I was thinking of doing an entire squad all using the same weapon, sort of as a challenge or just for fun. Any recommendations?
Really how you format is up to you, and just about everyone does their own version of things.
Some people do this:
C:6 L:1 A:4 S:2 S:6 I:8 C:1
Some prefer this:
CLASSIC is 6-1-4-2-6-8-1
Some would rather this:
C 6
L 1
A 4
S 2
S 6
I 8
C 1
The list goes on. There are many other ways other people write out their personal builds. Personally I think things like the 3rd above example may be the "most legible" but also take up the most (verticle) space. I think the second makes the most sense, personally. But like I said, it's up to you how you wanna format your stuff.
The drawback of that build really is the hit the CS takes from Brittle Bones. 1.1 CS is really, really little to work with. I might suggest a small tweak to it to make it happen.
Your starting CLASSIC 13 is 1, 1, 9 (+1), 2, 4 (+2), 10, 1
I'd suggest something like 1(+1), 1, 5(+2), 2, 8, 10, 1
You lose 2 CI, but you gain 1 AP, 2 Evasion, and 0.5 CS (or just 0.2 with Brittle Bones), and you'll gain another AP by adding +1 COR and you'll "regain" those 2 CI back to 16 by adding those +2 AWR. I'm suggesting moving some points into SPD away from AWR because it helps you gain some much-needed CS, but it also didn't make much sense to me to take 16 points between SSI and add 2 to bring it to 18, which yes gives you +1 CI and some Evasion/CS, but just takes you half way to +1 AP. If you simply distribute 1 point to COR, you gain that AP, then spend the other 2 on AWR and get some more CI.
There are also other builds that can take adantage of the Twitchy quirk, so you might try this:
Speedy Psycho: CLASSIC is 8-1-6(+3)-2-6-4-1 (TWITCHY) 10 AP, 14 CI, 2.8 CS
The unusually high COR helps offset the downside of Twitchy by giving you +8% CtH to counteract the -10% CtH, you reach the normal max CS of 2.8 with just 6 SPD.
Or...
Speedy Psycho v2: CLASSIC is 6-1-4(+3)-2-10-4-1 (TWITCHY) 10 AP, 14 CI, 3.4 CS
By diverting 2 points from COR and 2 from AWR and bringing SPD up to 10, you don't lose any AP or CI, and attain a whopping 3.4 CS. The drawback is that you lose a little CtH so Twitchy hurts you a little more, but not by much. As is usually the case with Twitchy builds, they hurt you most early in the game, but benefit you the most for the rest of the game, while Brittle Bones has the opposite effect of helping you for much of the game but really hurting you the most at the end of the game.
These 2 "Speedy Psycho" suggestions are obviously more combat-centered builds, so they won't be for your skill monkey types.
There are a few late-game battles in particular that just absolutely necessitate mobility, and snipers who can't move very far will paradoxically be unable to reach their targets. Even when you're facing robots (who don't use cover), there will be either arenas WAY larger than even the best sniper rifles in the game, or obstacles obstructing a clear shot, so being able to move around to get a better shot is crucial for these instances.
Even early on, when you're picking off raiders hiding behind barrels, being able to flank them from the side to find a better angle of attack and negate their cover bonus evasion is very useful. Alternatively you can rely on your short-ranged combatants to do the heavy lifting when it comes to flanking. So perhaps you won't need super mobile snipers.
But a meta build of 4-1-6(+3)-2-10-4-1 with Twitchy and making use of Inverted Clovers? Snipers won't suffer the same CtH penalties as AR gunners using burst fire, so they benefit from the upside of Twitchy while mitigating the downside of it.
Yep. Disparnumeraphobia. Dispar - Numera - Phobia = Unlike - Numbers - Fear.
Fear of odd numbers. Thus benefitting from its effects when your levels are even.
No, you cannot level up individual characters if several have enough exp to level. Anyone ready to rank up when you call HQ will rank up when you call HQ. But thanks to the potency of Disparnumeraphobia, you WANT your entire team to have the quirk, that way you're all leveling at the same time. The downisde is that you need to earn exp as evenly between your core rangers as possible (avoid putting Weaponsmithing- except for Tinkerer -on your core rangers, cause that character will zoom ahead in levels), the early game will hurt a bit more with the skills having to wait longer to level up, and lastly your recruits who DON'T have the quirk will also be waiting (but they won't get the benefit that comes with the drawback). But the gap in combat efficiency will get even wider with a well-crafted Disparnumeraphobia team.
Every weapon has its function and its strength. If you wanted to make things interesting and avoid using ARs and SRs, Handguns are pretty damn powerful. Base 60% crit +LCK crit bonus +5% crit from Silencers. You could have a pack of Gunslingers with 70% crit with 5-LCK, and the only real downside to them is their short range.
SMGs are like a smaller, less devastating, but also much longer ranged and more accurate versions of MGs (because they can be modded). They're quite powerful, and use relatively cheap ammo. There is only 1 of the best SMG in the game, though, so 3 of your guys will be making do with a somewhat inferior gun by the end of the game.
Shotguns are the underdog weapon that has a rough start that truly begins to shine once you get burst fire variants. In my last game, Scotchmo went from being dead-last in damage and kill count to SURPASSING 6 of my rangers in damage output and kills just because the Choice trinket, careful stat upgrades, and the Jackhammer were SO GOOD! He was only behind my 12 AP core sniper who had a LONG headstart, so that was a HUGE leap in deadliness on a character with VERY poor stats, so imagine the possibilities on core rangers with good stats! However, that's a lot of the game to go through using subpar weapons to benefit from some of the best in the game, eventually. They really require careful positioning, too, to be utilized to their max.
Melee weapons save ammo, so that's really their primary upside. But there are a lot of downsides to cope with. You lose out on CS to close the distance (and CI) if you divert points toward STR so you get more crit damage for your melee weapons. Several perks will help compensate for these drawbacks, as well, but at the end of the day you're spending all your effort just trying to compensate for a weapon with so many drawbacks.
Obviously the true kings are ARs and SRs, but if you want more variety and want to try something else? My personal recommendation would be HGs, SMGs, or SGs, so take your pick. =)
If all my rangers levelled at the same pace, I could see using Disparnumeraphobia to great effect, but as it is, there are so many different skills and things in-game that will give specific rangers XP (weaponsmithing, safecracking, lockpicking, surgeon, etc) that I would either have to skimp on using those skills at certain times, or if I use them to their full effect I'll have one ranger a full level ahead of the rest, which means either I sacrifice that single ranger's effectiveness by levelling the three others on even, or the three suffer until the fourth gets back on track. Not to mention that a different ranger might start catching up/slowing down while waiting for the fourth to get back with the gang level-wise. Then again, this is on paper. I'll have to try it some time for actual results (like everything in video games, it can't just be good or bad in theory *sigh*).
Thing is, if I wanted to do an entire party centered around high crit close range, wouldn't bladed or brawling be better? Haven't used handguns a lot either, I'm not saying an all-handgun run isn't possible or won't be happening (after all, the point of an all *insert weapon here* run is for fun and not to min/max, right?), I'm just trying to think of in general in Wasteland 2 DC, bladed can do the same damage with the same crit for less AP, only difference is you need to be beside them. Doesn't sound that bad to me!
I feel like an all heavy-weapon run would be interesting, but there is only one combat shooting book and there is only one "The 3", same with SMGs, so if I went with either of those two, I would sort of plan my entire squad around the highest-tier non-unique weapon, except for one person.
All shotgun, eh? Hit 'em from every angle! Cover would not be lasting long, thats for certain. Just gotta keep the rest of the team outta the blast cone.
Thank you for the suggestions, they actually all sound like a fun run, so I guess I'll have to make time for 'em!
It's quite easy to control the rate your characters level in your party. It's even easier if you know who you will or will not have join your party. In my last game I deliberately aimed to place some "room" between characters leveling, so I could leave each individually, purely so I could save/reload so they'd get the maximum hp upon leveling. Pointless, I know, but the takeaway is that I successfully engineered who would be leveling when. Something as simple as seeing a door, and having the option to pick the lock or break it down, I spent a while putting my Brute Force character to work on doors instead of my Lockpick character, and before long he was regularly half a level ahead of his nearest partner, because I focused on who used what skills. You can apply this even further in planning out who has what skills. Suffice it to say, there are many methods at your disposal that ensuring your characters level at the same time is quite easy. A bit tedious, but not difficult.
Oh no, VERY different. Every weapon has its own distinct crit tables, and some weapons have unique crit rates. Though as a general rule, it goes like this: Brawling has least damage and penetration but ALWAYS crits, Bladed has better damage and great crits, but lower penetration, Blunt has the best damage and penetration, but crits the least. So few weapons gain more from Combat Shooting (ironic, considering the name) than Blunt specialists, except for that Heavy Gunner, SPECIFICALLY because of The Three (because the number for the Minigun are laughably bad) and hardly anything else. Naturally high-crit means Combat Shooting is not much of an upgrade, but naturally low crit (usually compensated for with high crit DAMAGE) means Combat Shooting is a pretty big upgrade! So if you had a team that was all melee, perhaps 1 used Brawling, 2 used Bladed (one for Proton Axe, one for This is a Knife), and 1 used Blunt, give the Combat Shooting to the Blunt guy for sure.
But more importantly is that "not all crits are created equal". For the aforementioned reasons about different weapons having different crit values, one weapon might have 1.7 crit multiplier, another might have 2.0 crit multiplier. This is precisely why The Three is so special with a 15.0 crit multiplier, not because Heavy Guns are so good, but because THAT specific Heavy Gun is so good with Combat Shooting! So even if by some freaking luck your entire team was always getting critical hits, different damage values on the weapons, different AP costs, and different penetration values means they'll be doing very different levels of damage.
Also don't neglect the perks that you have access to with specialization in particular skills. You don't get the same perks from Bladed that you get from Blunt or Brawling.
Not all "unique" weapons are as valuable as each other. The Eviscerator (unique SMG) is the best SMG, but it's not the same as The Dragoon or The Three or the Gamma Ray Blaster. Energy Weapons are almost entirely redeemed solely because of the Gamma Ray Blaster, and The Dragoon is leaps and bounds better than the next-best weapon in its category, and The Three is a gimmicky weapon that's not that great without Combat Shooting but RIDICULOUS with Combat Shooting.
Really the only weapon skills that are marked by inconvenience if a team tries to use the same skills because "there's only 1" of their special weapons is EW, HW, and Bladed. The best shotguns are common. The best handguns are common. The best Brawling and SMGs are only marginally superior to the best common variants. The best sniper is very, very rare, so you'd probably use the common variant. The best ARs are common (the end-game unique one is... okay). The best Blunt weapon is common. So really just The Three, the Gamma Ray Blaster, and This is a Knife are the only weapons that limit how many characters can have "that weapon".