What choices you never make?

[vic]

A game mechanics are interesting, I heard, when it's difficult to make a decision.
So what are your no-brainer decisions, which might point out a weaknesses in game balance?
For example,
* I never take Stabilized or Balanced trait from Agility mods. I admit, I don't play chainguns too much, where Balanced makes sense, but even there - there's a SMG to which you can switch in 0.5s.
* I almost never take Ripper. My preference is one-shotting enemies, and if they are wounded, then they had a chance to attack me. But I'm unsure, if the first bullet in a volley hits, does Ripper trigger on the rest?
* I don't take Tech Monitor - not because it's too bad, but because there are better options (and usually I will find a new armor soon).
* I never take Exit scanner and Loot Scanner, they make no sense if you go for 100% completion.
* BTW I don't leave enemies behind. Not getting that XP and not collecting all the resources means a harder game later on.
* I never take Speed-loader. It's not F-, but almost all the other options are better.
* For sure, I never take Longshot on a short-ranged weapons.
* I prefer Calibrated to almost any other trait on almost any weapon (except when I have enough range, e.g. with a sniper rifle or some pistols)
* I never choose a Focused on launchers.
* I never choose not to shut down CalSec, if I'm on that branch.

Am I wrong about any of these?
What are your no-braniner-no-s?

[.//slayer]

You make good points, but I think many of these are goal-dependent rather than straight up bad or underperforming.

For instance, Speedloader is pretty great for the Angel of Carnage challenge.

Exit scanner/Loot scanner might be good for someone who is aiming to speedrun with the least amount of turns taken.

I personally love Focused on launchers, because it helps me avoid the situations where I could be damaged by my own explosion (once again, very relevant in Angel of Carnage), and also allows to deal with tougher enemies a little better.

I never shut down CalSec because I'm too attached to my multitools and save them all for health upgrades.

On the other hand, I can't imagine a run without taking at least a level in Son of a Gun, because crits are such a staple in dealing with Medusas and other tough enemies.

[Stafford's Bees]

I rarely go into mimir habitat, because I don't think the rewards are great. Just about every other branch I'll go into, some of the time. 80% of the time I go for a red keycard branch on Io.

I've used stabilized a low-single-digit number of times, but i have used it. I've used just about every other mod, though the info revealing ones only make sense on nightmare.

I never cancel lockdowns because I'd rather shoot the robots for the chance to see an AMP.

I don't think I've ever used a .44 long revolver.

I almost never entirely skip putting a value point into toxicologist, cover master or dash.

[bulbatrs]

I've never taken juggler, feels terrible. I would rather just use a mod to speed up weapon swaps rather than spend 3 points, even 1 point ain't worth it.
I've never taken sysop. I can't ever think of a build that would want to take it over whizkid.
I've never taken hoarder 2 and 3. only ever picked 1st one due to requirements.
Never picked infiltrator and hacker on scout, field medic on marine. In my first run ever I picked bloodhound and it was the biggest waste ever so never even considered it again.
only ever picked tough as nails and furious due to requirements. furious always felt very good tho.

[wheneverends]

I like to occasionally intentionally take options that I usually avoid. Sometimes if you spend some time trying to make something work you learn things that improve your overall game. Fated runs are good for this too.

But specifically, I just want to say don't ignore Stabilized. Both Calibrated and Stabilized increase chance to hit at all ranges, but the impact is different. If you look at the range where your weapon has 50% chance/damage, then Calibrated has a greater impact on ranges less than that, and Stabilized has greater impact on ranges greater than that. So it comes down to what engagement ranges need an accuracy buff.

But more importantly, Stabilized on a shotgun with Molten or Barbed can save a run. Shotguns can hit enemies out of sight range, and the Bleed and Burning effects are not reduced by range the way damage is, afaik. It's honestly OP, and is one of the easiest ways to deal with Medusas.

Kornel, nerf Stabilized mod plz. I'm kidding, but maybe consider reducing status effects with shotgun range.

[vic]

Thank you. I expected to learn from this thread, and I did!
@.//slayer, on AoCa, I used three launchers two of which have with Swap Harness. But Speedloader is even better.

[Samseng Yik]

I don't play much rotary weapon, not much choice, ammo eater, mitigated by armor and can only be strong conditionally.
I never like marine, because I feel marine perk are worse than another 2. I also prefer active/passive skill that prevent me take more damage. I do win with Marine on few different masteries.
I never like SMG in early game, because they are ammo eater, waste time shooting with that bad accuracy.

[.//slayer]

@.//slayer, on AoCa, I used three launchers two of which have with Swap Harness. But Speedloader is even better.

Great alternative! I didn't consider it myself since I was too focused on shooting my shiny modded-out "main" launcher.

[vic]

Messaggio originale di Samseng Yik:

I never like SMG in early game, because they are ammo eater, waste time shooting with that bad accuracy.

SMGs have a place in my toolbox - I swap to them when opening doors and I expect a number of sentries on the level. Shotguns don't quite cut it. Revolvers are fine too.

More no-brainers:
* I never pay multitools to reveal map/tracking data. Might make sense for a stair-dive, not much outside of it. Very rarely - to disable/hack robots.
* I always take "Increase health" at medstations. Sometimes, in dire need, I use one multitool to heal. I never-never use the charges to extract medkits.
* I only take Military Stimpacks if I have space in my inventory, or before the last couple of levels. Otherwise, permanent damage is not an attractive option.

[Útost Alronbem]

Hmmmm, nice topic.

Creed of Cup in Jupiter Hell:

Picking any weapon swap perks/traits/etc for weapon swap speed's sake is taboo.
Even with Swashbuckler+Assassinate, it is NOT worth the effort: you either are efficient with your current gun or are not efficient at all.

Picking up melee weapons is taboo.
Unless going nuts with Launchers/Shotguns + Swashbuckler + Assassinate, where these really shine (but see above).

Playing as Marine outside of Scavenger enabled challenges (i. e. Angel of Carnage) is taboo.
Useless ammo cluttering inventory increases Enthropy - and you'll be ammo starved anyway.

Wasting multitools on anything except HP Up and level-wide events is taboo.
Unless you got 160HP (max) already, then feel free to.

(recent addition) Picking up Kerberos's Jaw is taboo.
No, just... no... not anymore... learned it the hard way...

Modding anything without Whizkid 3 is taboo.
Unless RNG blessed you with loads of modkits, of course.

Sticking anything except Durable + Self-Repair into medi-fiber armor is taboo.
Perpetual regen at low life is your friend, lover and guardian angel.

Picking min range up and max range up is taboo.
Unless it's an addition to something more useful, of course, since max range is useless without visibility range boosts - and if something made it to close combat with you, you did something terribly, terribly wrong.

Picking up regen kits is taboo.
Remember: this inventory slot could be occupied by phasing kit, or big medkit, or any other item which goes well with 'take it slow' tactics the game encourages.

Leaving behind access cards is taboo.
Unless you have 1 full stack in inventory already: events which demands these are rare - but when these do proc, you'll regret not having few spares...

Closing thoughts:

Messaggio originale di James Stetham:

If in doubt, pick crits. You can never go wrong with crits.

[sylph]

I agree with almost all of these, except I *do* take focused on launchers quite often!

(I mean I agree with most of the original post points, not DrinkFromTheCup's crazy wall of wrongness! No offense Drink, just having a bit of fun - I just disagree with almost every one of those; YMMV etc! Or was that post a joke that just wooshed over me?)

[Vathek1]

Messaggio originale di DrinkFromTheCup:

Modding anything without Whizkid 3 is taboo.
Unless RNG blessed you with loads of modkits, of course.

I'd add, "unless you are a Technician," because you can just recover the modkits to use on something better when it drops. :D

[Útost Alronbem]

Messaggio originale di sylph:

(I mean I agree with most of the original post points, not DrinkFromTheCup's crazy wall of wrongness! No offense Drink, just having a bit of fun - I just disagree with almost every one of those; YMMV etc! Or was that post a joke that just wooshed over me?)

None taken!
To be honest, I've just started to understand how fascinating melee combat is. Tutorial sequence was right: it's not for novices (like me )
Same goes for other concepts - the real depth of the game unveiled itself, at last...

[vic]

I reconsidered my opinion about Stabilized. Stabilized turns a 4/6 weapon into 4/7, which means (I didn't verify this speculation) this distance:accuracy distribution:
4:100% 5:75% 6:50% 7:25% 8:0%
instead of
4:100% 5:66% 6:33% 7:0%
and the 5-7 distances are the most important.

Especially good for pistol builds, that have a massive accuracy bonus from Headshot, which lands the first shot at distance 7.

[sylph]

Messaggio originale di vic:

I reconsidered my opinion about Stabilized. Stabilized turns a 4/6 weapon into 4/7, which means

I was with your original statement! It definitely makes a difference (thanks for doing the maths), but I find that It's still almost always *way* weaker than modifying the optimum range (calibrated) or even the minimum range where applicable (balanced).
Most of the time, if I want range, I got for auto-calibration where possible. There are niche cases where getting max range is better, but for me it's usually centred on shotguns and damage over time effects.

In the situations you mentioned, I find that hunkering for 50% resilience and +50% aim is usually great, saving those precious mod packs for things like swift armour and aim assist helmets.

[sylph]

Messaggio originale di DrinkFromTheCup:

None taken!
To be honest, I've just started to understand how fascinating melee combat is. Tutorial sequence was right: it's not for novices (like me :stachesmile: )
Same goes for other concepts - the real depth of the game unveiled itself, at last...

I'm glad you didn't think I was ragging on your or anything! I've just seen a few of those opinions shared with a bunch of players I was introducing to the game (most of all, missing the world of multitool shopping strategy because of +maxHP).
Some of them are pretty legit, granted! The ones that weren't, though... Well, would you mind me addressing a bunch of them? I'd really like to show the 'other side' of the coin with some of those statements, but really *don't* want it to seem like I'm challenging you personally - I totally accept that we all have different experiences!