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

[RK47]

RK47 Did you mix up auto weapons in your melee build, or how do you deal with chance to hit penalty if you haven't (I noticed you are using an auto weapon on those pics you sent).

65 pts on Auto is sufficient to wield the AK74. I had good accuracy on normal shots. Point blank bursts are generally reliable too. It's not bad. It's practical, I cleared roaring forest with it solo. The trick here is to take Witcher trait to double your damage vs muties. Those things just go pop in 2 shots. The death beast did not survive two turns.

Well, I plan on running away from combat like a little bitch. Wait, it is totally possible to avoid combat in Atom, right?

There's Survival to avoid both human and animal encounters. There's Speechcraft to talk your way out. Or just run like hell when in combat.

If you have a high AP, HP pool and sequence rating, escaping from combat is way more likelier. Just don't make a Norman McNormie and complain why can't you do these 'hard to accomplish' feats more regularly. I was running solo and kept my sequence and hp pool high. One hand holding main gun the other holds a superstim for emergency heal for 2AP. That's it, really.

Seeing your build though, you're gonna be really annoyed in game from crap carry capacity and low HP pool. Maybe tone it down for first time run. Good luck.

 

[razvedchiki]

Wait I just read about 2ap crafted pistol with insane base damage, available as early as Otradnoe ? wtf ?
Is this possible if you're playing ethically and don't look at recipes on the internet and don't know the combination needed ?

Most of my early game my diplofag character used regular knife, then I switched to basic crafted pistol (the rifle from the old guy wasnt that great) then nagan and once I did the slavetrader ambush quest (Lyudmila is a fucking beast with that sniper rifle, she took on most of that squad) I got bunch of armor and makarovs to sell and then lucked out and bought a scorpion from a random caravan/stalker for 2k, this was a huge chunk of my rubles.

BTW the funniest way out of the bunker without getting jumped is

Spoiler

eating a toadstool. those thugs look at your hallucinating ass and run away like you're carrying black plague. thanks Katya

too lazy to quote RK47, but about Fidel and melee being made idea, I think melee in general the more you progress starts to fall apart. Especially with companions. I guess, my point is that melee companions in this game = sponges as you encounter more and more ranged dudes with guns that inflict a ton of damage, making the companions offensive melee perks kinda useless. I kinda wanted to explore the dog's melee line as well as Fidel's, but offensively those seem more and more underpowered the more I play.

the recipe to make the 2ap pistol is not in game,you can only experiment with various materiels until you craft it which is a waste of time.scorpion is really shit with its low dmg,either buy a stechin if you want a pistol or a phh-43 for a submachine gun.

 

[bddevil]

Wait I just read about 2ap crafted pistol with insane base damage, available as early as Otradnoe ? wtf ?
Is this possible if you're playing ethically and don't look at recipes on the internet and don't know the combination needed ?

Most of my early game my diplofag character used regular knife, then I switched to basic crafted pistol (the rifle from the old guy wasnt that great) then nagan and once I did the slavetrader ambush quest (Lyudmila is a fucking beast with that sniper rifle, she took on most of that squad) I got bunch of armor and makarovs to sell and then lucked out and bought a scorpion from a random caravan/stalker for 2k, this was a huge chunk of my rubles.

BTW the funniest way out of the bunker without getting jumped is

Spoiler

eating a toadstool. those thugs look at your hallucinating ass and run away like you're carrying black plague. thanks Katya

too lazy to quote RK47, but about Fidel and melee being made idea, I think melee in general the more you progress starts to fall apart. Especially with companions. I guess, my point is that melee companions in this game = sponges as you encounter more and more ranged dudes with guns that inflict a ton of damage, making the companions offensive melee perks kinda useless. I kinda wanted to explore the dog's melee line as well as Fidel's, but offensively those seem more and more underpowered the more I play.

the recipe to make the 2ap pistol is not in game,you can only experiment with various materiels until you craft it which is a waste of time.scorpion is really shit with its low dmg,either buy a stechin if you want a pistol or a phh-43 for a submachine gun.

well, I never saw those guns being sold- scorpion was the best gun available (and still is) from some random encounter, as Ive mentioned I dicked around most places aside from Krasno and I'm only exploring Krasno now. I reckon I'm only entering mid-game now. I barely have money now though, lol.

 

[RK47]

Well, he's trying to follow the natural weapon progression without crafting a DT7 Body Armor and AK74 with 45 cigarettes. So I agree with him on doing the reunion quest and scoring yourself some decent loot. It's the most reliable way to earn yourself free gear. All you have to do is deal with a cave full of wolves or pass a speechcraft check. It does put yourself in danger zone when you are heading towards the finale location.

I hardly relied on crafting for early game weapons, but I do feel the crossbow is a decent pick for early game. It doesn't jam and does decent damage with low AP cost. And the ammo is easily crafted.

Also, if you run into 3 dudes who survived an accident, just barter the grenade from one of them and blow them all up with it to score yourself a nice Hunting Rifle worth 1200 rubles.

 

[razvedchiki]

Whats the best perk tree for melee?do shields worth the penalties for melee dudes?

 

[RK47]

Whats the best perk tree for melee?do shields worth the penalties for melee dudes?

Shields are never worth it due to the DEX penalty. Unless you eat sweet cake for the DEX loss cancellation. People who claim they can afford the points to cancel the shield debuff is bullshitting you.

For your own sanity please reject any pretense of 100% close combat being possible, the logic of this build is to shoot at maximum range, maximizing your ranged strike damage with scoped rifles and then finishing the enemy off with low AP stabs. Alternatively, abandon the stupid idea of meleeing altogether after you finish Bunker 317 and just have scoped rifle on one hand while the other is a low AP pistol.

But RK - what about melee perks? They're very shit.
1. Way of Warrior: is generic +10 bonus. Everyone has to pay this fee just to progress.
2. Master of Dodging: When you wear DT7 body armor, your dodge will drop so severely that this perk is just utilized to cancel it. You see a difference when late game enemies have good shooting skills.

Now we have a crossroad - just kidding two perk paths are a dead end. And a joke to be honest.
Quick Regeneration is +2 HP when you lost 50% HP - that's nothing.
Master of Unlocking is worthless.

So the only option is to take Sambo for 10% stun chance on close combat. OK. That's not bad. But tell me again how many swings do you get before bullets start to hit and tear at your HP. Let's not fool ourselves. If you want to knockdown people, just make grenades.

OK, so you still want to be a badass Kung-fu guy. Then you must take Street Fighter for +50% base damage boost to melee. Then realize every other cool kids who play atom got Automatic weapons 2-3 levels earlier and shoot 4 bullets with 5 AP from a distance at 99% Accuracy. Don't be sad, mate. It's just the truth.

The melee perk is so deep into the offense but it hardly gives you any defense to survive running into melee range. Most ranged attackers don't care about defensive perks cause they kill fast / far enough to not worry about oncoming fire.

So what if the melee has Armor penetration, +20 sequence bonus, +10% Crit, +10% Stun? You don't get to do any of that until turn 2. And most enemy snipers love to do peekaboo attack behind trees. Shoot once, move back into cover. Over and over again. They have no reason to move towards you. So what melee needs are free movement points to compensate.

Conclusion
In current game state - melee needs to go:
1. Armor of God: knock down resist
2. Oaken Skin: DR
3. Think like the enemy: DT boost when hit by 4 or more damage

Achieve this at level 4 then she can start working on offense.

 

[bddevil]

Quick question, I read about perfume/cologne for the +1 PER boost, yet I don't see anyone selling it anywhere. I fail some PER checks even at 7 (that girl in casino especially, I really want those sweet pistol points that she appears to offer and its a high PER check) after smoking a joint. Where can I haz some Acqua Di Gio, friends ? Or is it a level-dependent thing, ie its not sold until a certain level ?

Also the clown guard in the Torgovoya Palata in Krasno wants 3500 rubles (with discount) for me to just to talk to that dude in the bunker ? Is it worth it to trade my life savings in empty bottle vouchers to try to go there now if I'm kinda short on $ ? Many quests/rewards there ? I'm aware I can probably cig him to death, but I don't want cheese it with comrade lung cancer.

 

[RK47]

Quick question, I read about perfume/cologne for the +1 PER boost, yet I don't see anyone selling it anywhere. I fail some PER checks even at 7 (that girl in casino especially, I really want those sweet pistol points that she appears to offer and its a high PER check) after smoking a joint. Where can I haz some Acqua Di Gio, friends ? Or is it a level-dependent thing, ie its not sold until a certain level ?

You can stack the same buff twice in this game so smoke the joint twice.
For cologne, check Krasno hospital receptionist.
Alternatively, if you clear Roaring Forest thoroughly - or have Luck 10 when fishing you may get a permanent stat boost to help with that.

Also the clown guard in the Torgovoya Palata in Krasno wants 3500 rubles (with discount) for me to just to talk to that dude in the bunker ? Is it worth it to trade my life savings in empty bottle vouchers to try to go there now if I'm kinda short on $ ? Many quests/rewards there ? I'm aware I can probably cig him to death, but I don't want cheese it with comrade lung cancer.

You can always wait till someone sends you there. There are two options.
But yes, there's a lot of loot in that place. Over 80 kg of supplies that you can either consume or sell on top of assorted loot. You will recoup at least 1/2 of the payment easily if you're very thorough in looting.

Spoiler

If you complete Otradnoye's Election, Dan's politician friend will invite you to visit him in Krasno's bunker.
If you are working with the Mushroom Cult, she will eventually send you there to slice some ham.

 

[bddevil]

Danke, danke ! I figured I already had two quests that want me talk to Sablin, but guard won't let me in. Maybe I will do the cult questline first. A huge brainfart on my part on joints stacking.

BTW, love the weed debuff of 'betrayal' if you drink and puff trees
edit: looks like betrayal is if you use anything else, got double betrayal after I smoked two joints lol

edit #2: no perfume/cologne in hospital/pharamacy. I though I checked everywhere, and I wasn't wrong. I romanced that receptionist girl right away, so maybe that's the reason no cologne for me.

 

[krilcebre]

Run away from melee as far as possible. I tried it with shields, and those didn't do shit. I tried it using stealth, and it was nice as in you can kill one person, but then you have like 5 more people on you, all using auto weapons and snipers. They'll mow you down like nothing.

 

[Van-d-all]

Wait I just read about 2ap crafted pistol with insane base damage, available as early as Otradnoe ? wtf ?
Is this possible if you're playing ethically and don't look at recipes on the internet and don't know the combination needed ?

The AP values for weapons are all over the place. The biggest offender is easily Percussion Revolver+ with beastly damage and 2 AP shots. TT-33 with shittier damage, same ammo, takes 5 AP while even majority of assault rifles takes 4 AP. And then there is Mark-19 (9mm Deaset Eagle) with 6 AP per shot.

I stopped using the kickstarter knife (2 AP as well) and Percussion Revolver+ to instill a modicum of fairness.

As for recipes, traders and scavengers sometimes have documents called Survival Note or something like that, which contain various recipes.

 

[RK47]

OK so far, strong melee opener is decent. Bunker 317 cleared. Used Strength to intimidate the losers to not take my stuff also works.
I can also confirm having a high Sequence does let one escape from stronger random encounters easily. I did not put points on Survival or Speech and was wielding a rusty AK47 with just 14 rounds in it.
I was evading slaver patrols while soloing at level 5 and doomsday cultists. Gear is Leather Armor (DT2/DR16) and have around 40ish HP to take hits.
Just make sure you're carrying a super stim on one hand for a 2AP heal and you're safe from most deadly encounters.
Once you escape, camp and eat something to refill health and resume journey.
Cleared wolf cave and now going to talk to the sniper to collect some nice loot.

 

[Van-d-all]

Used Strength to intimidate the losers to not take my stuff also works.

Why would you miss out on killing them? That large backpack alone is well worth it.

 

[RK47]

Used Strength to intimidate the losers to not take my stuff also works.

Why would you miss out on killing them? That large backpack alone is well worth it.

Ah, young grasshopper... You tell them to leave you alone first. Then gift them a free live TNT from inside the bunker.

 

[Van-d-all]

Used Strength to intimidate the losers to not take my stuff also works.

Why would you miss out on killing them? That large backpack alone is well worth it.

Ah, young grasshopper... You tell them to leave you alone first. Then gift them a free live TNT from inside the bunker.

Ah ok, I thought for a second there you let them live.

 

[track02]

A bit lost on where to go now, I'd been helping Dan at the factory and got up to the quest after the election where you need to deal with another bandit boss.
Asking around I find out that he's at a container yard so I go there and convince him to leave.

I returned to Dan who attacked me after I wouldn't tell him who told me about the container yard (I think), so now he's dead and I have his gun and ring but the quest is still in my journal to talk to him.

I've just been wandering around since and found a car and done a few side quests but the combats getting tougher, any encounter with 3+ enemies is usually a bit dicey as I can't deal much damage with my pistols anymore.

Any hints on where I'm actually meant to be going? I tried the Bunker but everything inside looks to be locked

Did you get a necklace in the bunker? Once you got it, then you should talk to Fidel and he'll give you two options on how to proceed.

Sorry for the late response, haven't played in a while

I'll take another look in the Bunker but I already managed to get Fidel killed within minutes of him joining my party.
Have I dun goofed?

 

[murloc_gypsy]

Just finished the game and was kinda disappointed in the lack of details in the ending slides.

Spoiler

I was also confused by why Peregon devolves into civil war even after I establish peace between the three leaders. Was I supposed to off 2 of them and just leave 1?

Though I dug the mushroom cult. Very gonzo 70s/80s D&D. And the conflict between facing extinction on humanity's terms and saving ourselves by sacrificing our humanity to the mushroom hivemind.

 

[pm_675]

Wait I just read about 2ap crafted pistol with insane base damage, available as early as Otradnoe ? wtf ?
Is this possible if you're playing ethically and don't look at recipes on the internet and don't know the combination needed ?

The AP values for weapons are all over the place. The biggest offender is easily Percussion Revolver+ with beastly damage and 2 AP shots. TT-33 with shittier damage, same ammo, takes 5 AP while even majority of assault rifles takes 4 AP. And then there is Mark-19 (9mm Deaset Eagle) with 6 AP per shot.

I stopped using the kickstarter knife (2 AP as well) and Percussion Revolver+ to instill a modicum of fairness.

As for recipes, traders and scavengers sometimes have documents called Survival Note or something like that, which contain various recipes.

The Percussion Revolver+ jamms like crazy. Every other shoot or two at most.

 

[Van-d-all]

Wait I just read about 2ap crafted pistol with insane base damage, available as early as Otradnoe ? wtf ?
Is this possible if you're playing ethically and don't look at recipes on the internet and don't know the combination needed ?

The AP values for weapons are all over the place. The biggest offender is easily Percussion Revolver+ with beastly damage and 2 AP shots. TT-33 with shittier damage, same ammo, takes 5 AP while even majority of assault rifles takes 4 AP. And then there is Mark-19 (9mm Deaset Eagle) with 6 AP per shot.

I stopped using the kickstarter knife (2 AP as well) and Percussion Revolver+ to instill a modicum of fairness.

As for recipes, traders and scavengers sometimes have documents called Survival Note or something like that, which contain various recipes.

The Percussion Revolver+ jamms like crazy. Every other shoot or two at most.

10%

 

[pm_675]

The Percussion Revolver+ jamms like crazy. Every other shoot or two at most.

10%

I'm aware that it says that in the description. In practice I had far more jams than 10% would imply. I think that homemade also adds more jamming probability

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Just finished the game and was kinda disappointed in the lack of details in the ending slides.

The strength of the game is in the side quests, especially the ones that are in chains, like the thief quests in the factory. The main quest... most people forget what is after a few hours of gameplay.

I'm aware that it says that in the description. In practice I had far more jams than 10% would imply. I think that homemade also adds more jamming probability

It's negativity bias. We are easily impressed by fuck ups. 10% is a lot actually. Weapons that never jam feel incredible in comparison.

Since we are talking about it, does luck affect jam chances and critical hit chances? Anyone tried a character with 10 in luck?

 

[RK47]

Well, shouldn't have robbed caravans...

Spoiler

Too bad dual super stimpack is OP

IMO they should just lock me out of Krasno / Peregon and give me one last chance to redeem myself. At least that would've made me care more than just running like hell constantly.

e.g:
If I don't take out a bandit lord after 7 days, they'll simply hunt me down with a bigger squad or something.

 

[Commissar Draco]

There is perk to make it not jam and another one reducing ap cost for pistols...you craft two of those and clean the place eastern style. Second best weapon for begging at least good old Tzarist army Nagant revolver.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Maybe a silly question: Is Dragunov the best sniper rifle?

 

[murloc_gypsy]

The strength of the game is in the side quests, especially the ones that are in chains, like the thief quests in the factory. The main quest... most people forget what is after a few hours of gameplay.

Spoiler

Loved the Factory questline. That one provided the only really satisfying slide for me: I chose to have Katya as the leader with backing from Dan. It showed a slide of pretty green Otradonye, saying the village becomes prosperous. Glory to the common working man!