How do I survive the higher levels?

[amills1]

I think I'm on about the level 6 derelict now but I've started having trouble surviving some of the random encounters. The enemy generally seems to focus fire on one of my characters and takes them out. I've got most of my equipment being level appropriate, is there some tactic I should be relying on?

[squirrelloid]

No expert, but the following has worked for me so far (working on derelict level 8):

1. Get bonus scan range, scan so you know where enemies are, sneak when near enemies. (Ambush gives you a damage bonus and you go first).

2. Deal lots of damage. Using a tool which is x/weaponry helps boost damage, and the store frequently sells weapons higher level than you are. Get some % damage bonus as well.

Also Look for weapons/mods with good cards and good stats. In particular, automatic ranged weapons with controlled burst cards are pretty amazing.

3. Debuff the enemy. Stuns / miss chance / etc... In particular, being able to strip their evasion is going to become important.

4. Look to your own defense. Evasion and armor are quite worthwhile.

5. Have a way to purge negative effects on your characters.

[Protectron]

Actually, by derelict 4 you should be level 5-6 and you should reach level 10 (max) by derelict 8. So if you're at level 6 on derelict 6, you're behind in experience. Kill all enemies and wipe out the settlements, and complete all quests/bounties.

As squirreloid said above, by derelict 6 the enemies will start dealing lots of damage and have high AR and DR. Some enemies will have high evasion as well. They will often put dangerous debuffs on you.

The tactical point of the game is to deal with those four things: evasion, AR, DR and debuffs.

One good way of dealing with the latter (and the damage) is to go first and do the same thing to them. Make sure to raise initiative of your entire crew. By endgame, it should be 20 or more.

Put as many debuffs as you can on all your weapons. Anti-armor effects are particularly useful since negative armor is a damage boost. As mentioned above, get as many damage boosts on your weapons as possible and choose abilities that boost damage if you can.

Focus-fire on debuffing/enemy buffing enemies first.

Check out my "unofficial strategy guide" thread here in the forums for more tips and build strategies.

[mk11]

Not sure I agree that anti-armour is particularly important. I found that armour was never that bad unless it came with damage resistance so anti-damage resistance seemed more worthwhile.

Have a look at opponents as well because some have very high evasion against one or other of ranged and melee attack.

Late game you should be able to apply a lot of damage from burning etc. so you just need to hit them first.

Late game you get a lot of enemies with high stun resistance so stun ceases to be a reliable debuff to use. Don't seem to get much fear and confusion resistance. Although these are less effective they do reduce the risk of the AI focusing on one character.

The purging advanced implant is really good against debuffs. The aim assist implant is good against evasion but the initiative cost is probably not good in most parties.

[amills1]

Thanks.

Protectron, when you say wipe out all the settlements do you mean fully explore all the derelicts?

I'm not sure that I've seen a way to put armour on my characters.

I don't think I've run into implants either? I have noticed the research lab has a second tab that seems to be blank though.

[Vushe]

Implants are from the expansions (DLC).

Armour is rare but can be found on shield mods or scavenger tools.

Damage Resistance (DR) is more useful and easier to find on shield mods.

Damage mitigation through status effects is the most effective (some combinations are plain broken).

[amills1]

Thanks.

[squirrelloid]

Oh, your cash reserves are going to go unbounded soon, if they haven't already. Don't be afraid to scum crafting for good stuff. (I tend to craft new pieces until i have either good cards or good abilities, then reroll the other)

[Mr.Brink]

Might want to try crafting items to potentially get some cheese.

[Jacq]

You can go back to older ships to collect more experience and loot. Worth doing if you're struggling at the current level. Make sure you're allocating experience points into appropriate areas and that the weapons/mods you are using help you out. (Some of them have better cards and stats than others. I was still using lower level weapons on some of my guys when the higher level ones didn't have the cards I wanted.)

Ideally have at least one team member who can provide healing where possible, and debuff the enemy also. The more times you can stun them in particular, the less they'll hit you. Having cards that will remove negative statuses is also really handy. Some of the statuses are really bad (like repeated stuns, and the higher amount HP drains) so you want to get rid of them ASAP.

If they're hitting one of your people in particular, try to bulk up one of your team members who has decent health with shields and buffs, then get them to play a card that aggros the enemy on that character for a few turns instead.

Also run scans, and if anything looks like being too much of a pain to deal with, use stealth. You have a reasonable chance of being able to sneak around them rather than continuing to engage when weakened and getting smashed into the ground.

Carry and energiser and emergency teleport so if you get really stuck (fenced in by enemies when low on health or energy) you can get out to the station and heal/energies up before trying again.

The advanced implants also really help once you can get them.

[Ninja Pea]

I just finished the game and never dropped below my shields during the last fight. I felt like there is a REALLY game-breaking ability that makes most combat trivial.

Fear.

Having the ability to fear the entire enemy group (No chance of miss, always fear) really changes the difficulty. You can fear robots, humans, slimes, rock creatures, bosses, anything! Add other debuffs on-top of fear and you've got a winning strategy where the enemies have no choice but to just take it all in.

My leader/psyker had the following abilities

Mental Assault - Fear and damage
Mental Drain - Draw cards when you use a mental card
Rakhar Growl - Fear and damage all enemies
Mind Scrambler - Fear and ability lock all enemies
Impending Doom - Fear on hit, always crit on one enemy.
Energetic - Allies get a chance to energize 1 on mental card use

So, you can imagine how the first round would go. Fear the group, draw a bunch of cards, rinse and repeat. I RARELY ever attacked with her sword or gun so I tried to pick things that added the lowest number of attack cards (To get a better chance at those sweet sweet mental cards). Considering she usually had the highest initiative she went first.

Did I get my butt kicked? Sure, there were times where she took a few shots and went down, but overall once the machine starting rolling the enemies became trivial.

I had a Bruiser/Demo who never took explosives, just raw damage and a scrapper/Functionnaire who made sure my team was drawing lots of cards and adding more debuffs.

[☠GR3GO☠]

Have 60% evasion or more! You can't die if they can't hit you!

[doug]

I didn't realise the game had stealth, crafting, or settlements. Is that even covered in the tutorial?

[Protectron]

Originally posted by doug:

I didn't realise the game had stealth, crafting, or settlements. Is that even covered in the tutorial?

I haven't even seen the tutorial since the first time I played the game, but the tutorial may be outdated. Since release, the game has been updated with two more exploration modes (I don't recommend relying on Stealth to go first in battles - just use Normal); a crafting mode and neuroimplants (as well as a respec service).

The settlements have always been in the game iirc. They are the places you come to on Derelicts where you get the option to do missions for them, or attack. They have locked areas around them that can only be accessed by destroying the settlement.

I recommend, when starting a new game, to do any quest they give you but otherwise leave them alone until you are level 4 and have specialized your characters and the characters' decks are a bit "honed". Then go back and attack the settlements for some XP and a good deal of loot you can sell or use for crafting. You can of course attack them straight away, but if you have to heal your crew afterwards, you're losing money.