Too difficult, need hints

[Mademoiselle Karma]

Hey, I'm struggling on easiest combat difficulty and easiest Cyberspace Setting. I sadly also ran out of healing items along the way. Do you guys have any hint for me to improve my survivability? Like I finished the Research Level now, which means the station opens up a bit. I'm not sure which level I should head to next.

I read the first enviro suit is in the storage area, so I headed to the storage area, but there I get absolutely slaughtered by the enemies there. Maybe that was the wrong order of things.

I also tried the original System Shock to see if it was equally difficult. But if I put that on lowest difficulty it is a lot easier than the remake. I'm not one who enjoys challenging combat, hence I picked the lowest difficulty setting for it, but I feel the enemies are still too hard.

Any hints for my survival are appreciated and if it's just telling me the order in which to go through the different levels :)

[tritscwa]

If you're having that much trouble, take it slower. You can go back to the medical level and use the healing bed as many times as you want till pretty late game, and if you're getting that beat up, use the opportunity to do such. Also, you have many save slots, so save scum my friend! If you're having that much trouble there is no reason not to.

Most enemies I find you can use a poke and shoot strat with, basically peek out, take a shot, hide, listen for them to take their shot, repeat.

[Winterson]

Also use weapons which use your own energy (not actual ammunition).
I had to restart the game becuse I run into same problems as you did.

[ParasiteX]

Go slow, lean around corners (you can bind those buttons in settings). And learn to quickly pop in and out of cover to take shots on enemies. All enemies have a short cooldown between their shots. Which is a useful window for when you can pop out of cover and shoot them without taking damage. Watch out for security-2 bots though.. Those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like to move and shoot.
Also find the Sparq laser as soon as possible. Then make note of energy stations. And you have basically infinite ammo.
And to make things even easier, try and locate the cyborg conversion room on each level. With that active you will simply respawn at the converter every time you die.

[wrongadress]

Sorry but it is very bad level desing if I have to savescum to progress and there is not enough bullets or healing items after medical. I get that it has to be faithfull to original but after 30 years of game developement whe supposed to know how to make playthrough more consistent. If I kill respawned enemy but he leave nothing and I am in constant lack of bullets, energy, healing items it supposed to be highest difficulity level not 2! I have some hours in but thinking about restaring with lowest difficulity setting but I will waste my time.

[Apocryphox]

Originally posted by wrongadress:

Sorry but it is very bad level desing if I have to savescum to progress and there is not enough bullets or healing items after medical. I get that it has to be faithfull to original but after 30 years of game developement whe supposed to know how to make playthrough more consistent. If I kill respawned enemy but he leave nothing and I am in constant lack of bullets, energy, healing items it supposed to be highest difficulity level not 2! I have some hours in but thinking about restaring with lowest difficulity setting but I will waste my time.

Tbh there is enough ammo and heal items, even on the highest difficulty settings, as long as you don't waste them and use energy related weapons mostly and heal pods also... There is a reason why this game is in the "survival horror" genre. If you don't have to keep your eyes on your items and as long as you don't search containers and stuff for items, it's not a survival game...

[Kalameet]

On the first 2+ floors just go melee on the chumps and spare the bullets for ranged enemies. Use laser weaponry more often (SparQ on low-medium) and backtrack to recharge when low.

The game simply doesn't want you to fight enemies head-on, and tank damage. Use covers and fight "cowardly"

[wrongadress]

Originally posted by Kalameet:

On the first 2+ floors just go melee on the chumps and spare the bullets for ranged enemies. Use laser weaponry more often (SparQ on low-medium) and backtrack to recharge when low.

The game simply doesn't want you to fight enemies head-on, and tank damage. Use covers and fight "cowardly"

I am doing that whenever I can but still. I had same problem on demo, I switched to level 1 difficulity there and game was way too easy, that is why decided to choose level 2 but if there is so huge lap between them I think balance is more of the problem not playstyle.

[Kalameet]

Originally posted by wrongadress:

Originally posted by Kalameet:

On the first 2+ floors just go melee on the chumps and spare the bullets for ranged enemies. Use laser weaponry more often (SparQ on low-medium) and backtrack to recharge when low.

The game simply doesn't want you to fight enemies head-on, and tank damage. Use covers and fight "cowardly"

I am doing that whenever I can but still. I had same problem on demo, I switched to level 1 difficulity there and game was way too easy, that is why decided to choose level 2 but if there is so huge lap between them I think balance is more of the problem not playstyle.

weird. If playing very conservatively still gets you killed (and is a solid tactic imho), i believe you're doing something wrong.

Beside the general FPS tactics and/or use the correct ammunition (ie: +x dmg to robots / emp grenades /armor piercing stuff, used against robots), there's not too much new to track.

Can you provide a scenario where you end up struggling?

[Piderman]

Originally posted by wrongadress:

but if there is so huge lap between them I think balance is more of the problem not playstyle.

Nope. You´re simply not supposed to take the more dangerous enemies head on. Take pot shots from the cover of corners, hide behind crates etc.

edit: however, looking at cortex reavers and Cyber-Diego its actually a valid option sometimes. Take a berzerk patch, switch on boots and shield if you have, then go ham on them with melee and watch how they die in seconds.

[wrongadress]

Thanks I will try to do my best, maybe more berserk is way to go, this is great game besides that and I want to beat it anyway.

[Kalameet]

Originally posted by Piderman:

edit: however, looking at cortex reavers and Cyber-Diego its actually a valid option sometimes. Take a berzerk patch, switch on boots and shield if you have, then go ham on them with melee and watch how they die in seconds.

I got used to start these fights with a few EMP grenades, for free damage and stun :)

[Apocryphox]

Best thing to use in boss fights is reflex patch imo plus rail gun.

[nixos]

Originally posted by wrongadress:

there is not enough bullets or healing items

did you try my mod ? (if you respawn, you do it at 100% life)

https://www.nexusmods.com/systemshock2023/mods/28

remove file:
1001) AmmoPack_HalfAmmo.pak

for more ammo...

remove file:
0904) LootTable_Rebalance_abcefxyz.pak

to get a lot of loot, including ammo.

---

to get all features, a new game from scratch needs to be started:

modular gameplay changes:

0101) 20%Run20%JumpBoost_StartNewGame
0102) 84StartingInventorySlots_StartNewGame
0103) InventoryExpander12Slots
0104) CombatDifficulty_Rebalance_acdefghz
a) Player Respawn 100% //75%,50%,25%
c) Player Loot Bonus 0%,0%,0% //0%,0%,20%
d) Monster Damage 100%,125%,150% //75%,100%,125%
e) Monster Alertness and Forget Time 100 and 10, 150 and 15, 200 and 20 //60 and 6, 100 and 10, 140 and 15
f) Monster Hesitation and Accuracy 100 and 100, 75 and 125, 50 and 150 //150 and 50, 100 and 100, 50 and 150
g) Player Max Fall 100% //50%,75%,100%
h) Security Camera Detect and Alert Range 1200 and 800, 1400 and 1000, 1600 and 1200 // 1000 and 0, 1200 and 800, 1600 and 1200
z) Monster Health 100% //70%,100%,120%
0105) HardMission24HoursTimeLimit

0201) CyberSpaceWeapon10Damage
0202) KF18_Skorpion20Damage
0203) Mark_III_Magnesium24+12Damage
0204) Cybergun50Damage
0205) Magnum_2100_75Damage
0206) SK27_Shotgun_Dragon'sBreathRounds100+50Damage
0207) Frag_Grenade_200Damage450AoE
0208) Gas_Grenade_240Damage300AoE
0209) EMP_Grenade_300Damage300AoE
0210) Proximity_Mine_300Damage450AoE
0211) MK84_Railgun_350+50Damage
0212) LGXX_PlasmaRifle_500DamageSecondary_DamageDividedByEightEnergyCostPrimary

0301) LGXX_PlasmaRifle_SlowProjectileSecondary

0401) TB05_SPARQBeam_DamageDividedBySixEnergyCost
0402) RW45_PulseRifle_DamageDividedBySevenEnergyCost_OverchargeByEight
0403) LightLowEnergyDrain12s
0404) SensaroundLowEnergyDrain12s
0405) EnviroLowEnergyDrain12s99%Protection
0406) TargetIdentifier5EnergyCost

0501) TargetIdentifierFastHack
0502) Magnum_2100_FastTargetAcquireNoEnergyDrain

0601) DetoxPatch30s
0602) BerserkPatch60s
0603) VisionPatch90s
0604) StaminPatch48MaxHp40Hp80s
0605) MediPatch80Heal

0701) Scraps300MaxStack
0702) Junk10MaxStack1ScrapMin
0703) Batteries_20MaxStack80Energy
0704) Patch20MaxStack
0705) FirstAidKit_20MaxStack
0706) LogicProbe_20MaxStack
0707) Explosive_20MaxStack
0708) LGXX_PlasmaRifle_20MaxStack
0709) MK84_Railgun_20MaxStack
0710) SK27_Shotgun_120MaxStack
0711) Magnum_2100_160MaxStack
0712) JW76_Mag_200MaxStack
0713) Mark_III_480MaxStack
0714) KE41_KF18_600MaxStack

0801) Junk_CrewCap_1x1GridSize

0901) LootTable_CyborgDrone_Unique_InventoryExpanderInsteadOfKeyCard
0902) LootTable_HumanCorpse_FoodInsteadOfTB05
0903) LootTable_Rebalance100%DropChanceSingleItem_abcdefxyz
a) medical items can only drop once per monster
b) increase in quantity of ammo dropped for the Mark III Assault Rifle
c) instead of standard bullet, another type of ammo drops
d) if loot may drop from a monster, then there is 100% chance to get at least 1 item
e) human corpse drops reflex aid patch, instead of sparq beam weapon
f) the quantity of ammo dropped for each ammo type is now fixed, and it doesn't increase for tougher monsters
x) mutant corpse drops staminup patch, instead of berserk patch
y) human corpse chance to drop berserk and reflex aid patches are halved, junk food chances are raised
z) more penetrator bullets than magnesium bullets drop now, since more monsters are mechanical instead of organic
0904) LootTable_Rebalance_abcefxyz

1001) AmmoPack_HalfAmmo

1101) Puzzles_ReducedSpotLightAttenuationRadius

1201) No Intro

[wrongadress]

Thanks nixos I will use that as last resort!

[Stargoat]

Engaging:
- As others have pointed out, take it slow
- Backtrack to cover if available
- When fighting from cover against ranged foes, lean out to bait an attack, lean into cover until the volley ends, then lean back out to counter-attack
- When fighting melee enemies you may need to backtrack, but be aware of obstacles behind you
- Most enemies have a small window where they telegraph their attack. Pay attention to how they're moving

Weapons:
- Identify your target and pick your weapons/ammo appropriately
- Save armour piercing ammo for stronger cyborgs and all robots
- Against organics and weaker cyborgs, standard ammo is fine
- If there are recharge stations nearby, prioritise energy weapons
- Energy weapons are less effective against organics

Cybernetics:
- The Target Identifier implant not only shows enemy health/shields, but also indicates weakpoints (note the key to acquire target, may need to remap)
- Target Identifier will also indicate when an enemy is about to use a particular weapon!
- V2+ Sensearound not only indicates items in the area, but enemies as well (highlighted in red)
- Judicious use of the Energy Shield can greatly increase survivability when outnumbered or outgunned, but doesn't protect against most (all?) bio attacks
- You can dodge slower projectiles with Rocketboots/Motion Booster System (eg loaderbot barrels, missiles), but be aware that the more intelligent enemies can lead their shots
- Be sure to balance Cybernetics use with Energy weapons, since they draw from the same pool. Make sure any Cybernetics that aren't in use are switched off
- Map cybernetics to easily accessible keys to aid in quickly enabling and disabling (I use F1->F8)

Staying Healthy
- Try to stay above 2/3 health, but don't use medipatches to reach 100% health if a significant portion of the patch's effect will be lost
- If you want to top your health up, food items can save on patches
- Similarly, try to preserve your medkits - they're somewhat rare. Use them for emergeny healing (when you're in cover), or if you have more than one stack and few medipatches
- Staminup gives you modest overhealth
- Use surgery machines if they're in the area, but you don't need to obsessively backtrack to them unless your resources are particularly dire
- While Detox is active you cannot heal via medipatches (but medkits still work)

Resource Management
- Keep an eye on energy usage, and don't be afraid to use batteries if there is no convenient recharge station close by
- But don't over-use batteries - keep at least 2-3 handy at all times, if possible, in case of emergencies
- Scavenge for supplies. There are secret doors scattered around the station, which can often be identified via use of sensearound
- Be sure to check enemy corpses for supplies as well. Mutants, for instance, will often have medipatches, robots and cyborgs will drop ammo
- While the best use for tri-op credits is weapon upgrades, don't be afraid to buy ammo or patches if running low - even if that means taking a bit of time out to scrap some items.
- Your resources are there to be used
- Choose a safeish location for long-term item storage. Do not store items in elevators.

Cyberspace
- Many Cyberspace sections are not mandatory
- If you come up against a particularly difficult Cyberspace section, ask yourself if it's necessary to progress, read logs etc.
- Use recall/escape after sniping a core if the exit is not in proximity
- You can only carry one recall/escape at one time, so there's no point in hoarding it
- You can often evade Cyberspace fights by flying straight past enemy programs
- If you do need to fight, focus on precision shooting. Most enemy attacks can be evaded by simple lateral movement