KickStarter ATOM RPG - Wasteland Soviet style! - now with Dead City update

[Quillon]

I don't know about the first, but I really wonder why an improvised explosive made from black powder and a can (so, little shrapnel) that you have to activate by lighting a fuse takes longer to use and is less effective than an actual grenade with actual high explosives and a proper fragmentation case.

And I really don't know why people drive fiats instead of ferraris, so little performance

 

[Van-d-all]

Hah if we're on "what's the point" questions - what's the point of weapons having same AP costs on both regular and aimed shots like Scoped SKS or Vintorez?

 

[krilcebre]

What's the point of a slash attack on knives? It does the same damage but costs as much as aimed does. Also, why do self made grenades cost 6-7 AP for some silly damage, while you can buy a much better grenade that costs 4 AP and does double damage, while also having 60% stun chance?

I don't know about the first, but I really wonder why an improvised explosive made from black powder and a can (so, little shrapnel) that you have to activate by lighting a fuse takes longer to use and is less effective than an actual grenade with actual high explosives and a proper fragmentation case, and which can be used by pulling a fucking ring and throwing.

Who said improvised grenades should be more effective? Also stop with the real life bullshit, because i can give you hundreds of examples where it doesn't apply to this game, that probably don't bother you at all.

 

[Eyestabber]

So this guy did some testing on how damage works and...

Spoiler

It just fucking doesn't, lol.

 

[Eyestabber]

So...I just made Katya the village head and like...

"Can I tap that now? I gave you village and all"
"Nah, sry! I only fuck with Comrade Chadschenko. You lack personality aka good genetics"

Well then...

Otradnoye is now ground zero for the INCEL REVOLUTION.

Damn man, all the bitch had to do was let my min-maxed combat char have some pussy. But NOOOO, Stacies have no sense of justice, Western or otherwise. So yeah, eat lead bitch!

My char and his buddies Fidel, Hexogen and Dog are now the proud founders and only citizens of Incelistan. Evil Stacies thought they could keep incels down in post-apoc society, WELL, THEY WERE WRONG.

(in hindsight I should've named this char "Eliot", but whatever)

 

[Commissar Draco]

So...I just made Katya the village head and like...

"Can I tap that now? I gave you village and all"
"Nah, sry! I only fuck with Comrade Chadschenko. You lack personality aka good genetics"

Well then...

Otradnoye is now ground zero for the INCEL REVOLUTION.

Damn man, all the bitch had to do was let my min-maxed combat char have some pussy. But NOOOO, Stacies have no sense of justice, Western or otherwise. So yeah, eat lead bitch!

My char and my buddies Fidel, Hexogen and Dog are now the proud founders and only citizens of Incelistan. Evil Stacies thought they could keep incels down in post-apoc society, WELL, THEY WERE WRONG.

(in hindsight I should've named this char "Eliot", but whatever)

But Comrade there are five Slav blad'ey you can demonstrate the strength, length and caliber of your Awtamat Kalashnikova to in game. I was actually pleased that Comrade Katya was not one of them and told Commissar to come later. She seems to be wifu material: pretty, smart, hardworking and with sense of humor.

Spoiler

Maybe you need to tell her Comrade Kovalevev died though?

 

[Wolfe]

The PC gaming website I sometimes write reviews for is giving away an ATOM RPG digital copy on Steam as part of its 5 years anniversary celebration: https://www.thegameslashers.com/2019/01/the-game-slashers-5th-anniversary-giveaway.html/

Check it out and perhaps have a look through the articles too, you might find it's a pretty prestigious place.

 

[RK47]

I tested the melee critical effect from limb attacks.
And it seems aiming at the arm does nothing much. No matter how much I tried, the Vintorez guy would not drop his rifle even when critically struck.
However, aiming for the head will knock him down. Followed by striking at the eye to blind the grounded victim. Not to mention Head/Eye criticals do more damage.

Also, minor bug at Dan's Factory tiles not showing up in combat.

 

[SniperHF]

Thanks Atomboy for releasing the hotfix as a patch instead of making us re download the whole thing on GOG

 

[Jaedar]

I wish the game would supply info on what caravan you are encountering before map load. Considering some of them have amazing lategame gear and huge cash stockpiles, and some have complete garbage, it's a bit of a crapshoot.

 

[RK47]

There's always a picture accompanying the encounters :
Trucker : best items. It's very tempting to kill the one with M16 and Desert Eagle in early game.

Cow wagon : Not as good

Scavengers : These guys never really have much for sale

Lone traveller : buy all his knives then kill him

 

[Urthor]

If you kill truckers does that reduce your chances of finding a trucker later on?

Eternal question

 

[RK47]

Nah but if you kill more than one there's a chance bounty hunters will go after you.
I tried running INT 3 build and took 2 shots of weed to increase personality.
Turns out you cannot converse with anyone while having INT lower than 3

 

[Luckmann]

What's the point of a slash attack on knives? It does the same damage but costs as much as aimed does. Also, why do self made grenades cost 6-7 AP for some silly damage, while you can buy a much better grenade that costs 4 AP and does double damage, while also having 60% stun chance?

I don't know about the first, but I really wonder why an improvised explosive made from black powder and a can (so, little shrapnel) that you have to activate by lighting a fuse takes longer to use and is less effective than an actual grenade with actual high explosives and a proper fragmentation case, and which can be used by pulling a fucking ring and throwing.

Who said improvised grenades should be more effective? Also stop with the real life bullshit, because i can give you hundreds of examples where it doesn't apply to this game, that probably don't bother you at all.

 

[Luckmann]

Nah but if you kill more than one there's a chance bounty hunters will go after you.
I tried running INT 3 build and took 2 shots of weed to increase personality.
Turns out you cannot converse with anyone while having INT lower than 3

 

[Luckmann]

If you kill truckers does that reduce your chances of finding a trucker later on?

Eternal question

 

[SniperHF]

So far the game itself is quite good. It's obviously very fallouty. Much more so than the last game of this type I played in Underrail. I like this much more and I enjoyed Underrail . It's got the right mix of skill tree usage and non-combat options to go along with the combat. It's a little tougher than Fallout and has in some aspects a bit of that Age of Decadence kick you in the balls to it. But not so much as to restrict your gameplay options as narrowly which is AoDs nearly fatal flaw.
The references (the ones I get anyway) don't bother me. Also the little nutcracker room with the subtle playing of the nutcracker song underneath the normal music was hilarious.


I'm still not terribly far into the game, but in the meantime here is a random list of bitches about minor shit:

Really need an option for camera scroll speed.
I would prefer to bind the camera rotate key to middle mouse rather than right mouse. Middle mouse is much more standard among RPGs for this and I'm constantly pressing the wrong one. At least make it rebindable.
The 10 key number pad should work for dialogs.
Previously searched containers could stand to show up differently on the ALT highlight.
You should be able to unbind quick load completely. Accidentally hitting quick load is bad. For now I bound it something I'm unlikely to mash on accident.
Clicking and holding down on objects/characters for the context menu is not obvious. And when it does come up it should toggleable instead of hold down.
The pipe rifle's ammo is not clearly defined, it just says "round". Google has told me this is actually the crafted round, it should just say crafted round.
The world map travel speed is cancer.

And a more esoteric problem: AMDs frame rate target control (basically a frame rate cap) doesn't work with your game.



Depending on how your dialog editor works, I can see why it might be this way. But from both a language perspective and a convenience feature I find these little dialog rejoinders annoying.
Here's an example:

The dialog went like this: I initiated, asked if he has heard any rumors, he says the rumor, then this option comes up to either ask something else or say goodbye. Why not just give you the "something else" options on the menu instead of making you press 1 before doing so. I realize this seems like a very minor thing at a glance but if you talk to a couple thousand NPCs by the time the game is done you'll have pressed this extra keystroke maybe 5-10 thousand times.

Having some experience with dialog editors I can see why there might be technical (or logistical) reasons why you can't change this now, but in the future you should really think about it for the next game.

And more as a writing issue I just think all these are unnecessary and people don't talk this way.

 

[RK47]

I gave the melee approach a try with INT 3 on Normal Difficulty
Gotta say even with STR 11 DEX 10 and LUK 11 the whole thing still felt mediocre to me.

Spoiler

I also forgo my favorite setup of Monster Lore & Witcher Setup just to take the Melee abilities.

And so far they're very underwhelming with +10 weapon skill followed by no loss of dodge from using AP and then +10% stun chance. I had to take the +20% Knockdown Resistance or else the wolves would probably kill me with a lucky hit.

 

[RK47]

This BBQ battle took 2 tries. I'm only wearing a Leather Armor so DT & DR might be a bit too low for this encounter.

Spoiler

The first time the guy crit me too hard with his Makarov and M-712 burst finished off my 70 HP in one turn.
The second time I just ran right next to the two pistol guy and start stabbing one of them. The molotov guy burns them both when he tosses. Had to burn a super stimulant but that's how the encounter ended on turn 3 anyway with the cocktail guy dying last.

 

[Junmarko]

What's the point of a slash attack on knives? It does the same damage but costs as much as aimed does.

Yeah they should add the perk for knives to cut tendons, when you target limbs - disarming enemies etc. Would help against shotgunners.

Seems like a dev blindspot atm.

My favorite part of Mad Max is the pronounced realism in that all the Australians are violent criminals trying to survive in an outback that hates them.

(my favorite part is reality )

Spoiler

 

[Mark Richard]

Must've put at least 25 hours into ATOM by now and have only just reached the major trade hub of Krasnoznamenny. There's a lot to do here, including quests so minor that they're not even logged (as Lenin is my witness, I'm going to find the owner of this discarded bra). As usual the smooth-talking Doc Holiday template has served me well, with personality and speechcraft opening up several quest opportunities that would otherwise remain closed. Though to be fair, strength also tends to solve a lot of issues in dialogue.

So glad when I started going through the top RPGs of 2018, this was on the top of the pile. Thus far ATOM has been so very good to me.

 

[RK47]

Melee is a slog overall. The progression is pretty straightforward.

Spoiler

Ability progression is a straight shot from Knockdown Resistance followed with Melee Progression all the way to First Blood (Auto Critical vs Full HP) & Street Fighter (50% Melee Damage Bonus)
Yes, I abandoned any attempts to get Think like the Enemy because it doesn't help against hard-hitting monsters like Death Tunnels Morlocks and riflemen. The best defense is ironically Speechcraft to avoid early game human encounters. They're just too much of a drain to your healing resources. The animals are free EXP and give meat to restore HP post encounter. You simply can't lose as long as you remember to take Knockdown Resistance. Arachnids may be a problem with their high HP but everything else should not be an issue.

The above build still wouldn't work well if you don't have the weapon to inflict high critical damage. The melee build is abysmal until you gain access to the Taiga Machete. It's a good thing there's a guaranteed place to get it. Dead City is accessible from the start if you have the money. Just be sure to bring RADX. Going to Dead City gets you two things: Taiga Machete (12-35, 4/5 AP) and Hockey Mask (+5 Melee Max Damage)

Those two things coupled with First Blood will kill full HP enemies in 1-2 hits. I took on the bunker group with the standard closing door to break LOS tactic and it works great. Just be sure to use Painkiller to have more HP. This run of mine is pretty cursed, still stuck with Steel plate (DR21, DT3) at level 14. No Kevlar available in store so defense is always going to be buffing Endurance to 11 and trade hits.

Prior to having the Machete, I spammed melee attacks to knock down with critical, then finish them off with Nagant with 99% hit chance. The Nagant actually does more damage than Qualitative Knife, because it has innate armor penetration compared to the knife. Lenin's Wrath (Quest Reward only) is only accessible at level 10 - and it's terrible with AP 6 Regular and AP 7 for Aimed. Only use it if you cannot gain access to Taiga Machete as an opener.

The damage difference is too low to put Lenin's Wrath above Taiga Machete

Alternative weapons? A pistol on the off-hand seems ok at the start prior to Machete. Eventually, I bumped Pistol/SMG to 85 so I can use the Stetchkin Pistol that has 6AP 4-round burst. This attack combines well when you score a knockdown with the Machete opener. An enemy that has been knocked down has negative dodge and will usually take all the burst round. It's like a guaranteed critical hit. Even the final boss fell to the standard knockdown followed by two burst of Stetchkin AP ammo x8

Alternatively the cheesy Vintorez AP4 is still King of efficient AP Automatic. Small clip and expensive ammo, but it's generally reliable and everyone knows it's really easy to get +25 Automatic Skill in game if you have the right attributes.

Ended game at Lv 15. My last pick for Ability was the 50% chance to bypass armor for melee attack.

Notable encounters:
Death Tunnels: Bullshit hard prior to Machete. A walkover once you do.
Dead City Bunker: Doable - Door trick works. Painkillers work wonder. First Blood then Burst AP.
Death Gang: Just a matter of systematically First Blooding the soft ones first. Only the leaders have high HP.
Bloodroots (Mt. Pass Bunker): This part forces me to rely more on the Stetchkin pistol. It's generally more reliable to do Burst pistol fire than swinging the Machete. Pull them first with single pistol fire from maximum range then burst at point blank.
Container Yard thugs: I was fully buffed, then they all died from mass strokes due to high cholesterol diet. (LUCK 11) Same deal with the Mycellium Bunker.

Strange bug discovered

Spoiler

I cannot complete quest from Dan to investigate the gangs behind Shishak's betrayal

1. I agreed to do debt collection for Krasno gang
2. Did the collection.
3. Let the deadline lapsed and talk to the quest giver.
4. He said he sent someone else to handle it.

This is when I'm stuck and decided to just kill everyone in the Krasno hideout.
Read the note to head to container yard. World map updated.
Killed them all with Luck check. Quest log updated.
Returned to Dan, cannot report success.

So I have 2 entries I cannot close:
Krasno - I have finally found out who hired Shishak. Now I need to talk to their leader, who may be found in his room on the ship.
Cannot complete because the leader is dead.

Factory - It is done. Syoma Voronok's people are gone. I should report to Dan.
Cannot report to Dan at all.

 

[Invictus]

Just bought my copy on GOG and an extra one to promote the incline on a Fallout 3 fan who doesn’t know better... will probably play this all day long

 

[Cadmus]

Atomboy
dude post here or somewhere the changes in your patches, please
I keep getting updates on Steam and no idea what they do.

 

[toro]

Atomboy
dude post here or somewhere the changes in your patches, please
I keep getting updates on Steam and no idea what they do.

Probably they don't know either.