The Outer Worlds

[Art Blade]

Dweller, welcome. And your post was fun to read.

mandru, welcome To answer your question: I think that essentially it will hit with the same force but what you're trying to hit will have grown thicker armour and be more and more resilient, so your gun will be less and less useful.

As far as I can tell, the base values stay. I think that if anything in your own stats changes, like adding skill points to handguns and such, it will look differently on the gun stats sheet. They will get better for some time but eventually you'll have grown out of kids toy guns and want more power. That's why there are several tiers to go along with your progress which shows as suffixes like "Mk3" and such that hadn't been available before reaching a certain level.

What worked for me is: when tinkering, stay under 2,000 bits. I typically tinkered up to five gun/armour levels and then it got too expensive. And when you think that your gun/armour is not up to snuff then it's time to go for the currently available stuff. However, some stuff may last you very long.. it's all up to you how you handle your stuff. I think if either you start dying a lot or your targets keep surviving and killing you, then it's time for better gear.

[Art Blade]

come to think of that stupid level cap at 33:

It forced me to respec once more (4,000 bits..) because when I did that the last time, I added one perk that gives XP for kills by my companions. I expected to add more perks later so why not use that XP one since I had all what I needed already. At some point I noticed "410,000 points to level 34" which is a lot and before getting to level 33 it was already a lot. Obviously that perk became useless on reaching level 33. So no more new perks. And not wanting to waste one perk, I respec'ed. Took me quite a while to think it through and then finalise it.

While I was at it, I sold all my lower level stuff: unique gear and guns as well as science weapons except that funny one that sends enemies floating. Now I'm only using the latest tech

[mandru]

Thanks Art. 

[Art Blade]

you're welcome, mandru.

I just realised that a level cap is actually positive in one or two aspects. Once you hit it, the tinkering is limited, too. You cannot level up anything beyond 5 levels of your own, like 38 is the end of it. And that means that you can keep whatever you levelled to 38 for the rest of the game, it won't ever become too weak. I hope that this level cap also means that your enemies won't be way over your own level, either—they should be affected by your level cap, too.

And that brings me to the DLC.

When you're up for the end game, last mission, with that pop-up warning to finish all unfinished businesses before proceeding, then you might have run out of money and are perhaps lacking cool gear and all that. That was more or less happening in my case. No more missions for more XP and money. But the DLC helps me out just there, apart from the XP. I get tons of stuff to loot, loads of enemies to kill and loot, and good money for missions. I'm currently travelling back and forth between battles and vendors and workbench

[fragger]

I think I need to stop trying to figure out stat balances and just play the damn game
...
There's just too many greasy slippery sliding around ever confounding numbers. 

mandru raises a valid point. Hey, fellas, I don't wish to be a whiner or anything, but how about some screenies showing some of what the game actually looks like - you know, environments, ships, companions, weapons... seven pages in this topic so far and not one screen pic other than stat displays, and no stories about what actually goes on in the game. I don't even know what your companions look like, what your ship looks like, what the weapons look like in-game... Come on, guys! Let's see some ACTION!

Just joking. Well, sort of. I mean, yeah, I know this is all of interest to those of you who are playing, but for those of us who are mere observers, the topic is becoming rather heavy going. It's all levelling up and stats and vending so far, which isn't terribly interesting for the rest of us. Presumably there's more to be done in the game than just levelling up and managing stats. You haven't shown us what anything in the game actually looks like yet, nor related any gameplay stories. I wanna see, I wanna see...

[Art Blade]

Sorry, fragger.. I didn't expect anyone to take an interest in this game except mandru and Dweller.. and I thought you were so deeply involved in your 9-month playthrough in FO4 that you wouldn't care much about TOW. You said more or less that if you were to get this game you'd use this topic for valuable info. And I think that's what this topic has been about so far, help and info.

I have been holding back with pics and stories because I've been so far ahead of those two newbies that I simply didn't want to brag with how cool this and that was and spoil everything for them, especially when revealing story plot twists and stuff. Or my decisions how to branch and when might also cause confusion or influence their decision-making this way or the other. I do want to see what they're up to and their stuff and exchange funny stories but I think I want to wait until they've picked up speed. As to pics and what the game looks like.. actually I haven't taken too many pics. I've been very focussed on playing tons of missions and getting the mechanics down. Also, as to how it looks and all that.. the looks of my companions keep changing frequently and showing every change I make to their outfits would probably require a topic of its own The game itself takes place in so many different locations and all of them look very different so it's more or less the same as with companions: either take/post thousands of pics to show all the different stuff and probably start a topic of its own or.. what's happening here. Nothing.

However. Here a pic or two.

the Unreliable (our ship)
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the companions, inside the Unreliable
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companion vicar
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it's dead now..
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where's Sophia? (bug)
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Gorgon exploration
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[fragger]

Thanks mate, looks cool I like the ship ("The Unreliable", lol). The game certainly looks very colourful compared to FO4. A bit reminiscent of NMS, looks-wise.

Hey, I didn't expect you to reveal the whole story or give stuff away. I just wanted to see what things looked like, and hear some impressions about the gameplay regarding combat, game mechanics, environments, and so on. I know I could look online for that stuff, but I like to get it from you chaps.

I wasn't trying to be confrontational

[Art Blade]

haha, no worries 

Yep, this topic has been different compared to what we used to do here. Anyway, the game is cool, combat is fun. There's no VATS but you can slow down time for a short period and during that your vision is a bit blurred with a pinkish haze and you can do a lot more damage like that. But no cherry-picking, you need to aim all by yourself, classic FPS style. With current weapons and all my stats I prefer to snipe from afar and kill everyone. When enemies are close, I send the team to do it for me, maybe take some potshots if they leave something alive long enough

It's just a great game, so many choices and consequences.. and I think the best part is playing with companions as a team.

[fragger]

Nice I don't use VATS much anyway in FO4, mostly just for scanning for critters and bad guys. Does come in handy for nailing those big flies that bob around everywhere though, they're a bugger to hit

This game does sound like a lot of fun. I'm almost through my game of FO4, so I may be here soon. Cheers!

[Art Blade]

cool.

[PZ]

I haven't played anything lately 

[Art Blade]

PZ, I am truly sorry about that. I hope that somehow you'll find a way to play again.

[Art Blade]

mandru, here a weapon Mk2 vs Mk3 with otherwise identical stats. Both weapons have been tinkered to under 2,000 bits which is when I stop. Just so you can see where your journey might take you.

Mk2 vs Mk3
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[Dweller_Benthos]

Interesting that the one that does higher damage sells for less money?

But to answer Fragger's post, I've been holding back any stories to keep the spoilers down. I suppose the spoiler tag will help. I also haven't taken any screenshots mostly because I just didn't think of it. It's also not a game I'd make a video of because it's a lot of story based action, and for the most part I have a couple quests going at one time and separating all those into their own video would be a bit of w0#k.

But a small snippet that is probably not too much of a spoiler. On the starter planet, Terra 2, there's a location where some high level enemies are, a bunch of creatures called Primals. Art's screenshot labeled "It's dead now" is one of them. The nest location has several of them including the tough behemoth types. I stumbled across it early on in the game when I think I still just had a pistol. Let's just say that encounter did not go my way. A little later I went back feeling cocky with some new weapons I had found and still had a bad time of it. Good thing I had a save game to fall back on. I won that encounter, but not before using almost all of my ammo and having Pavarti die on me. So I went back a save and left it for a while. After going to the next part of the game, getting better weapons and armor and another companion, we went back and cleaned the place out. Much loot and a special unique weapon later, we strolled back out and looked for more trouble.

Which brings me to my slight annoyance with the game. Once you've looted a place and killed everything, nothing respawns. There's no need that I can see at this point to ever go back there. A side mission might bring you to a previous place, but it looks like there is nothing else there for you. A few places some enemies respawn and you could kill them again and again for the small amount of loot they drop but at a certain point I expect that not to be worth the time. I guess I'm just used to online games so much now where everything respawns that it seemed weird to me to go back to a place and find everything dead and all the loot boxes empty.

[Art Blade]

the price tag: see the diamond symbol for "pristine" items? It typically more than doubles the value. The Mk2 is pristine, the other isn't. That's why a pristine Mk2 is worth just as much as a regular Mk3 version of the same gun.