Some fights are still straight up unfair with Easy Mode enabled

CboyC95

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Jul 14, 2021
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I played as a Mercenary, and one time I fought against the Gabilani couple and their mech and their attacks shred through my shields, and they easily regenerate the mech's shield every few rounds. I barely won that encounter by the skin of my teeth. Like, how is that fair?
 

Theron

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Nov 8, 2018
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That one is kind of ridiculous, yes. The mech can be stunned with EMP Grenades (buy from Anno). Thankfully, it's limited to a relatively small area. Lumi is much more annoying (wider area and does Lust damage even if you win in one round).

Just be glad the Bothrioc Quaddommes on Myrellion were disabled until you start the relevant quest.
 

one_two

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Jan 20, 2022
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I played as a Mercenary, and one time I fought against the Gabilani couple and their mech and their attacks shred through my shields, and they easily regenerate the mech's shield every few rounds. I barely won that encounter by the skin of my teeth. Like, how is that fair?
Pretty sure the mech is supposed to be a hard fight, on account of its size and being controlled by two asshole goblins (and because you get a "revenge" sex scene unlocked on condition you actually lose to it first) Keep on mind you can make it quite a bit easier for yourself by using tease attacks on the goblin pair (which causes the mech to run on autopilot with limited set of moves for a few rounds, while its pilots are busy with each other)
 
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TheShepard256

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Keep on mind you can make it quite a bit easier for yourself by using tease attacks on the goblin pair (which causes the mech to run on autopilot with limited set of moves for a few rounds, while its pilots are busy with each other)
I personally find that, even with extremely high tease damage, they recover too quickly for that to give you a net advantage. IIRC, it takes at least three tease attacks to get the pilots out of the fight, meaning you face one attack per turn instead of two for... only three turns. If it lasted for the rest of the battle, it'd be worth it, but it doesn't, so going all in on the mech is more effective IMO.
 

Angelica1996

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Sep 18, 2015
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Earth
what is your level?
to my knowledge different planets have different leveled zones and enemies.
so it wouldn't do much difference playing on easy mode if your character is say level 1-2 and the zone is level 4-5
i haven't really checked their levels, i mostly cheese my game with save edits. Sorry.
 
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Hetzer

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Feb 24, 2022
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I mean the LG-TB is kinda ok. Stuff like say the Pirate Juggernaut is very it gets difficult
 

Theron

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I mean the LG-TB is kinda ok. Stuff like say the Pirate Juggernaut is very it gets difficult
There are two Juggernaut fights. The one in Kara's 2nd Quest isn't too bad. The one in Riya's quest has 2 Security Drones for support and seems to generate most of the complaints I've seen.

Edit: Ranged Crits aren't working right now. If CboyC95 is playing a Ranged Mercenary, that's potentially a significant nerf.
 
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Nonesuch

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It's a Nonesuch enemy; it's not supposed to be fair, either because he doesn't know much (if anything) about game balance or he does, but doesn't want the PC to win.
Rude.

I pitched it as a mini-boss sort of encounter for a fairly out-of-the-way area, and the coders accepted that. You're not meant to easily kerbstomp them, as you can with virtually every other encounter on Tarkus.
 
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CboyC95

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I've made it to Zheng Shi, and now I'm having a hard time with the Slyveren Slavebreakers, Bored Jumpers, Roz, and especially the Rat Thieves.
 
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Theron

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Rat Thieves are definitely one of the harder encounters. They specifically take less damage from Carpet Grenades, by the way. Since Roz doesn't drop anything, I usually permanently disable her by stealing her Power Armor, even if I don't plan on using it. I've found that Bored Jumpers are completely disabled by using Airtight Armor. I usually don't enable the Slavebreakers until I'm ready to leave, or want the Heavy Slut Ray, so I don't have too much experience with them.

What are your Perks, Equipment and Stats? Ranged attacks still can't crit, so that may be a problem.
 
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one_two

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Jan 20, 2022
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If i remember the advice right, for the Rats focus on the "odd one out" (boy if there's two girls, girl if there's two boys) Worked pretty good in my experience, remainders are easy to mop up with the tease attacks.

Jumpers go down in literally 2-3 lust attacks, though having the urtanium piercing might've helped.
 

Seeker

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Jun 7, 2018
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If i remember the advice right, for the Rats focus on the "odd one out" (boy if there's two girls, girl if there's two boys) Worked pretty good in my experience, remainders are easy to mop up with the tease attacks.

Jumpers go down in literally 2-3 lust attacks, though having the urtanium piercing might've helped.
That said, I wish that there was a "Glue Trap" cheat code to remove the rodents from the game, a side mission to wipe their home world or just plain old Mouse Repellent.

The constant stunlocks got really old. Annoying fights aren't fun.
 
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CboyC95

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Rat Thieves are definitely one of the harder encounters. They specifically take less damage from Carpet Grenades, by the way. Since Roz doesn't drop anything, I usually permanently disable her by stealing her Power Armor, even if I don't plan on using it. I've found that Bored Jumpers are completely disabled by using Airtight Armor. I usually don't enable the Slavebreakers until I'm ready to leave, or want the Heavy Slut Ray, so I don't have too much experience with them.

What are your Perks, Equipment and Stats? Ranged attacks still can't crit, so that may be a problem.
I'm currently a level 10 Smuggler

Abilities:
Shoot First
Aimed Shot
Disarming Shot
Grenade
Leap Up
Burst of Energy
Second Shot
Alpha Strike
Mag Blinders

Stats:
Physique - 27
Reflexes - 27
Aim - 30
Intelligence - 29
Willpower - 27

Weapons:
Rough Leash
Tri-Beam Rifle

Equipment:
Hardlight Bodysuit
Prototype Pirate Shield
Shield Aug Bracers
 

Resawar

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Sep 21, 2018
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Stats:
Physique - 27
Reflexes - 27
Aim - 30
Intelligence - 29
Willpower - 27
You should increase your Stats first, look at the Stat gain by source page on the wiki for how and where to increase them. I should also recommend the Augment-Weave Armor from the Cyber Spec Ops if you want to use the gym.

Now you want to hit that 50% evasion benchmark cap if you want maximum dodge chance and if the gear you pick gets you over it you can mix and match your accessories, weapons, and armors for less optimal gear. I would suggest for you to look at items on the wiki to get a rough idea of what items you want to hit that benchmark.
 

Theron

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First, you should be concentrating your stats more. 13/level is enough to max out 2 stats and keep 1 fairly high. You generally want to keep your main Attack Stat maxed (Aim, in your case). For a Smuggler, I'd also recommend Reflexes* and Intelligence**
*As a Smuggler, you can escape Grapples with Reflexes instead of Physique. It also makes Mag Binders more likely to succeed.
**Aimed Shot includes Intelligence/2 as bonus damage.

I also recommend training at the Ten Ton Gym on New Texas and with Ramis to raise your stats. Intelligence is the easiest or hardest, depending on whether you're willing to fuck Syri at least once. If you're being optimal, you should train first, then use your level up points to top off.
Keeping a suit of Augment-Weave around for the Double Soreness Recovery is highly recommended, even if you don't plan on wearing it otherwise.
Physique/Aim make attacks more accurate (not shown in the Codex) in addition to doing more damage.

Personally, I took Stealth Field Generator, Quick Draw and Smuggled Stimulant.
Stealth Field Generator is the only way to break the passive Evasion cap. Though I am curious: How has Disarming Shot been working out? Granted, it will probably work better with higher Aim.
Quick Draw allows swapping between Heavy Slut Ray and Shock Bow depending on the enemy in one round, though currently it's bugged so swapping weapons in combat isn't possible.
Smuggled Stimulant is my preferred choice because it restores more Energy (75 total instead of 60) and there isn't have anything that spends more than 25 anyway.
The Critical Hit/Alpha Strike/Aimed Shot bug has been fixed, but you probably noticed that.

Smugglers are set up to rely on Evasion as their primary defense. The passive Evasion cap from Equipment is 50, but Reflexes is factored in, too (this is not shown in the Codex). Your equipment gives you 16% passive Evasion.
Stun Chance is very useful for Smugglers because it gives up to 3 Sneak Attacks/Aimed Shots with no setup round.

My Ranged Smuggler currently uses
Trick Bracer (5 Evasion)
Sunsetter/Shock Bow/Heavy Slut Ray/Royal Shard Bow (depending on enemy)

Zaika-Style Gown (15 Evasion)
Bio-Enhancement Shield (4 Evasion)
Shield Aug Bracers

This loadout gives 46%* passive Evasion, 270 Shields.
*50% after a normal attack (Cloak and Dagger)

Other good equipment (Base Evasion):
Rouser (10 Evasion)
Light Jetpack (10 Evasion)
Leopard Print Jumpsuit (24 Evasion)
Tiger Print Jumpsuit (15 Evasion, 10 Defense)
Hardlight Bodysuit (14 Evasion, 65 Shields)
Shock Bow (4 Evasion, low base damage but Stun Chance and most of your damage comes from Aimed Shot)

Keep in mind, all Equipment Evasion is potentially 150% higher than listed.
 
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Bobonga

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Aug 13, 2021
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The constant stunlocks got really old. Annoying fights aren't fun.
I had the same problem, till Theron pointed out, that the thieves have two diffrent stuns. One targets physique, the other willpower. I fought them again as a merc and smuggler, each with 50 in both stats. In about 20 fights I got stunned once. Not even stunlocked.
 
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Adda

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Jun 23, 2022
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The LGBT fight is only slightly hard - depending on what level you are when you encounter it - at least as a smuggler. My bigger problem is that I feel stupid just standing there fantasizing about it but I want the bump in exhibition stat from the loss. I admit that the LGBT can be damn hard if you meet it at 3rd level when you first arrive on Tarkus. The gobblin that wants a protein sample is much, much harder for my character (like nearly impossible) as it regularly attacks with lust which is my character's weakness.

The Void juggernaught can give me a problem unless I'm set up to edge (tease) him to death in which case he's laughably easy. I'm playing a female so that might make a difference.

The physical battle I truly struggle with is the electric jellyfish thing. I've not squashed it yet.

As a 6th level smuggler I rarely lose battles unless I've not been paying attention to my lust. My character is extremely vulnerable to lust damage and a foe that is well armored but attacks with lust will often win IF it attacks with lust more than once. Two lust attacks before I can take a foe down will often leave me sitting in a quivering puddle of girl-juices. Thing is, most strong foes will only hit me with one lust attack before I can take it down. Weak foes never get the chance. My lust handcap is self-inflicted from over-use of motherhusk and under use of chill-pills. The Omega Fever I've contracted doesn't help.
 

TheShepard256

Well-Known Member
it regularly attacks with lust which is my character's weakness.
...
My lust handcap is self-inflicted from over-use of motherhusk and under use of chill-pills. The Omega Fever I've contracted doesn't help.
Libido doesn't actually make you weak to lust-based attacks; low Willpower and the Easy perk do. Higher Willpower means both higher chances of resisting lust-based attacks in general (which either reduces damage or prevents it entirely) and higher Lust Defence (which reduces damage taken even further); you should definitely invest in it more. Additionally, Omega Fever shouldn't be much of a problem if you have anal sex frequently.
The physical battle I truly struggle with is the electric jellyfish thing. I've not squashed it yet.

As a 6th level smuggler
There's your problem; the janeria are level 8 encounters, and IIRC the boss is level 10. And if you're using electric damage, don't; they heal from that. Use burning or freezing damage instead if possible.
 

Seeker

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Jun 7, 2018
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I had the same problem, till Theron pointed out, that the thieves have two diffrent stuns. One targets physique, the other willpower. I fought them again as a merc and smuggler, each with 50 in both stats. In about 20 fights I got stunned once. Not even stunlocked.
Yeah, I'm now grinding for higher attributes. :gedsweat:

I just resent a fight I have to specifically gear up for & then study a Meta for. :iiam:

The juice isn't worth the squeeze. If the rat gang dropped items/tokens or key cards that unlocked Psionic casting or a Unique star ship/world to exploit I'd be less salty.

A way to lower the encounter chance to Zero would greatly appreciated.
 

Theron

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I just resent a fight I have to specifically gear up for & then study a Meta for.
I keep a NaN Deconstructor on my Tech Specialist just for the Corona Lord Flamer, because she can hit through Shields.
The juice isn't worth the squeeze. If the rat gang dropped items/tokens or key cards that unlocked Psionic casting or a Unique star ship/world to exploit I'd be less salty.
That's kind of a problem in general, I think. A lot of the more difficult encounters don't drop anything near worth the trouble. Rat's Raiders at least have a unique item.
A way to lower the encounter chance to Zero would greatly appreciated.
But they have so much content! A whole relationship system and everything!
Sarcasm aside, it is possible to bribe them, though most players are going to react badly to the idea of losing Credits or Gems (myself included).
 

one_two

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Jan 20, 2022
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Sarcasm aside, it is possible to bribe them, though most players are going to react badly to the idea of losing Credits or Gems (myself included).
That's why you bribe them with milk, duh.

(also because that scene is srsly cute)
 
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