Godmode Cheat

[Theron]

Surpass? No. The synergies are too good.

However, I've been playing around with a mixed Mercenary build. On the one hand, it seems to work pretty well, on the other, I maxed out my stats via the Save Editor...

Spoiler: The build in question

Armor Piercing (Bloodthirsty does not give enough Energy back to be worth it, and does not increase with Second Attack)
Rapid Fire (3 shots/round is really good, and Power Strike doesn't stack with Second Attack)
I don't really have a preference. Does anyone want to chime in which is better? Riposte vs Take Cover
Again, don't really have a preference. Ranged would take Carpet Grenades for groups, but we're taking Cleave, and have Rapid Fire for single targets
Low Tech Solutions if you intend to mash Attack, Heavy Weapons if you want that extra edge vs single targets. 20% isn't as big as it sounds, as it only applies to base weapon damage
Cleave (+A Stun weapon makes Rat's Raiders much easier)
Second Attack (Second Shot would give you a 4th attack with Rapid Fire, but 3 is enough)
Rending Attacks (Rapid Fire now Staggers. I'm wondering if Rapid Fire to stagger, then melee for Riposte might be good)
Lunge (Bigger Guns is useless)

Equipment:
Saurmorian Hammer/Custom Shock Gear
Saurmorian Railgun/Aegis Light Machinegun (Tri-Beam Rifle might also be a good pick. Yes, it's an Energy Weapon, but it has the Bonus Hit Rate flag, but not Cannot Crit, and isn't a Power Armor weapon. Mercs have a 10% Crit Bonus.)
Ramshackle Power Armor
Pirate Prototype Shield
Shoulder Grunch Leash (Inflicts Sunder)/Mark II Aim Assist Eyepiece/Salamander Defense System

Melee attacks have a small chance to Stagger (and Stun from the weapon), and you get a free attack on all enemies in a group. Stagger chance is based on your Physique vs target's with a random factor.
Ranged attacks can Stagger (Rapid Fire + Rending Attacks).
You have a 1/3 chance to inflict Sunder each round + bonus damage (Shoulder Grunch).

There's also the FZR Fire Suppression System (sold by Shekka at level 7 or above), which has a 50% chance to inflict Deep Freeze. Deep Freeze reduces Evasion by 50 and makes all incoming attacks with the Crushing flag do double damage. And it lasts four rounds. The FZR does not benefit from Second Shot, making it less attractive as a primary weapon, but extremely powerful when used on a Melee primary with a Crushing weapon. Testing suggests that it cannot inflict Deep Freeze when used with Rapid Fire.

 

[Mad Dog]

When you say maxed stats do you mean within the parameters of the game limit? If so then I already maxed my characters stats, also could you elaborate on how effective this build is in comparison to the pure builds?

 

[Theron]

Yes, I mean 50 across the board, except for Willpower, which was 60 (Iron Will increases your maximum to 6*Level instead of 5*).

I actually don't have a proper Mercenary character, just a test character, so I can't really say how much better or worse than the pure builds it is. I can just say it works. The game is easy enough that just maxing your stats gets you a long way.

Also, you posted while I was editing, so you may have missed my addition of the FZR Fire Suppression System.

I just went back to fight the Excavator Robot and came up with these numbers:

Spoiler: FZR Fire Suppression System

FZR (S: -26)
Tam-Wolf 2.0 (S: -33)

Critical hit! (S: -141, H: -158)
Critical hit! (H: -356)
Tam-Wolf 2.0 (H: -30)

Critical hit! (H: -506)
Excavator Robot is destroyed

Spoiler: Without FZR

(S: -99)
(S: -47)
(S: -34)

Critical Hit! (S: -20, H: -95)
(H: -57)
(H: -28)

(H: -56)
(H: -50)
(H: -30)

(H: -35) Used Deflector Regen

(H: -50)
(H: -57)
(H: -35)

(H: -53)
(H: -51)
(H: -31)

(H: -54)
(H: -54)
(H: -34)

(H: -55)
(H: -51)
(H: -34)

(H: -50)
(H: -56)
(H: -33)

(H: -1)
Excavator Robot destroyed

Tech Specialist with 25 Physique using the Custom Shock Gear (and Attack Drone, Drone Control and Tam-Wolf 2.0)
* Melee Damage, Kinetic: 24.25
* Melee Damage, Electric: 18.25

 

[Evil]

Is there a mix and match build for any of the classes that surpasses the pure melee or ranged builds?

Frankly speaking, no. Trying to split a build and you end up becoming a very weak jack-of-all-trades. You can do a couple of things decently, but you're going to be deficient in more areas than you would be going for a pure Ranged or Melee build. The talents for each tree are meant to synergize with each other, going with a mix and match approach is just a hodge podge mix.

 

[Theron]

Frankly speaking, no. Trying to split a build and you end up becoming a very weak jack-of-all-trades. You can do a couple of things decently, but you're going to be deficient in more areas than you would be going for a pure Ranged or Melee build. The talents for each tree are meant to synergize with each other, going with a mix and match approach is just a hodge podge mix.

Maybe, but some paths have better synergies than others:

Mercenaries have the most synergies.
Power Strike does not benefit from anything but Rending Attacks and Low Tech Solutions (I don't know about Stagger from Lunge), meaning any round you use your special attack, you effectively don't have Bloodthirsty, Cleave or Second Attack. It does ignore Flying by default. Cleave does nothing if you aren't facing a group, which is most fights, but is really handy when it applies.
Rapid Fire stacks with Armor Piercing, Second Attack, Concentrate Fire as well as Rending Attacks and Heavy Weapons.

Tech Specialists
Charge Weapon buffs your normal attacks, so it stacks with Second Attack, making it twice as effective. 15 Energy, lasts the entire fight. You get a free attack on activation. It's also a really nice buff. Probably legitimately overpowered.
Overcharge makes only one attack, even with Second Shot. 20 Energy each round you want to use it. The built-in Stun is nice, though.

Smugglers
Really, it comes down to choosing whether your melee or ranged attacks get the damage bonus. I think Melee has the edge, because of the Custom Shock Gear. Bonus Hit Rate + Stun Chance would be way too powerful to put on a ranged weapon (unless it was way behind the curve), because Rapid Fire + Second Shot exists. 4 attacks with no Accuracy penalty and a 1/5 chance to Stun on each hit.

There's also something to be said for using both weapons, rather than just using one as a stat stick.

 

[Mad Dog]

Maybe, but some paths have better synergies than others:

Mercenaries have the most synergies.
Power Strike does not benefit from anything but Rending Attacks and Low Tech Solutions (I don't know about Stagger from Lunge), meaning any round you use your special attack, you effectively don't have Bloodthirsty, Cleave or Second Attack. It does ignore Flying by default. Cleave does nothing if you aren't facing a group, which is most fights, but is really handy when it applies.
Rapid Fire stacks with Armor Piercing, Second Attack, Concentrate Fire as well as Rending Attacks and Heavy Weapons.

Tech Specialists
Charge Weapon buffs your normal attacks, so it stacks with Second Attack, making the buff twice as effective.
Overcharge makes only one attack, even with Second Shot. The built-in Stun is nice, though.

Smugglers
Really, it comes down to choosing whether your melee or ranged attacks get the damage bonus. I think Melee has the edge, because of the Custom Shock Gear. Bonus Hit Rate + Stun Chance would be way too powerful to put on a ranged weapon (unless it was way behind the curve), because Rapid Fire + Second Shot exists. 4 attacks with no Accuracy penalty and a 1/5 chance to Stun on each hit.

There's also something to be said for using both weapons, rather than just using one as a stat stick.

Which pure mercenary build do you think is more effective, a melee build or a range build?

 

[Theron]

Probably Ranged. It's got a lot of stacking bonuses that let it shred through single targets. Then you pick up Carpet Grenades for groups. Also, it has the Hirudo Devourer. If you can consistently hit with that, you should be effectively immortal. Accuracy bonuses are important, since the Hirudo doesn't have Bonus Hit Rate, but Ramshackle Power Armor gives +10 and Mark II Aim Assist Eyepiece gives +15 and ignores a few points of target Evasion.

 

[Evil]

At the moment, the Ranged Mercenary is pretty much a juggernaut, Saurmorian Railgun or Stormbull Shotgun will punch a hole through most enemies. And while the Aegis Light Machinegun doesn't have the impact of the others, it fires twice, meaning that it works well with the Rapid Fire perk (4 shots for every use of the Rapid Fire).

As Theron said, the Ramshackle Armour is good (Do not that if you steal her armour, Roz will be gone from the game permanently), with the Frostbane plate and Pump-King armours good second choices.

 

[Theron]

They all shoot 4 times with Rapid Fire and Second Shot. Even weapons that don't normally benefit from Second Shot (like the Slut Rays or FZR) get 4 shots.

 

[Mad Dog]

What about ship builds? Do you know a good ship build for the Sidewinder?

 

[Theron]

If you want to beat Dr. Teyaal:
1 or 2 Hardened Systems. 1 stands a good chance of negating one or both of her Shield Disruptor + Shield Vampire combo. 2 practically? guarantees both will fail.

I find Missile Turrets have a good combination of damage and Energy efficiency. 2 should be enough. You might be able to get away with 1, instead. Granted, I haven't experimented much with other weapons. +10 Accuracy each, +12.5 from each Hardened Systems + the Sidewinder's default Accuracy means you should hit the Star Viper's Spearhead about half the time when it's Cloaked. You need crew for Turrets, but you get Olympia for free.

Optional: Shield Vampire. 2500 Shields transferred to yours is really nice. Either open with it (Vs Star Viper), or wait until the target has ~2500 Shields left. It's a Systems check, but with 2x Hardened Systems, you should be able to use it consistently.

All other slots can be filled with Advanced Crew Quarters.

 

[Somebody Else]

At the moment, the Ranged Mercenary is pretty much a juggernaut, Saurmorian Railgun or Stormbull Shotgun will punch a hole through most enemies. And while the Aegis Light Machinegun doesn't have the impact of the others, it fires twice, meaning that it works well with the Rapid Fire perk (4 shots for every use of the Rapid Fire).

As Theron said, the Ramshackle Armour is good (Do not that if you steal her armour, Roz will be gone from the game permanently), with the Frostbane plate and Pump-King armours good second choices.

Quick note: for a ranged mercenary that has second shot and is using rapid fire, IIRC a weapon would need to do about 67% more damage to break even with one with the bonus hit rate flag. (Bonus attacks only have around 50% chance to hit, which is unaffected by the accuracy stat) Which means that honestly, the stormbull shotgun isn't a great pick for a mercenary.

 

[Narmlet]

I like how a a single question tread turned into a very complex "best loadout & class" tread.