So um.... newbie builds?

[FenrirsBlade]

alright so yeah... Finally decided to give the game a try.

But... to be honest I feel a little overwhelmed in figuring out how to actually build my character so he does decent enough.
I tried looking up some threads about builds, but.... there was so much stuff about them I didn't understand. Basically the one thing I DID understand, is that apparently smuggler is a bad choice for...whatever reason, which is funny since the small background on smuggler sounds perfect for me, lol.

But other than that I feel lost on what is actually considered decent. I started out with reflexes for starting affinity, balanced upbringing and mercenary. So is this decent? Or is there something I should do differently? Does it even really matter? Or am I just way overthinking things? Lol.... I believe that is quite possible... But there seems to be A LOT of stuff to consider in this game...

 

[Theron]

Smuggler is perfectly serviceable, though a major bug will be fixed next patch (Take Advantage doesn't work). Ranged Mercenaries are considered kind of broken (in the good way), Melee Tech Specialists are also very good, but got nerfed from the last time I played. They totally deserved it, though. Personally, I played through with a Melee Drone Tech Specialist, Ranged Smuggler and Melee Mercenary in Flash and they all did fine, though there have been some changes to the JavaScript version since then. Drone Tech and Melee Merc were chosen specifically because conventional wisdom said they sucked, and I wanted to see how badly.

You want to choose either Melee or Ranged. It won't matter too much at first, but as you pick up perks, the damage output from the one you didn't choose will lag increasingly behind.

You get 13 points to distribute between your stats when you level up. This is enough to keep 2 stats maxed and one stat fairly high. However, you can train Physique, Aim and Reflexes at the Ten Ton Gym on New Texas, Willpower with Ramis. Intelligence is either the hardest stat to raise or the easiest, depending on if you're willing to fuck Syri. Stats level more slowly the closer they are to your current maximum, but level up points are always 1 to 1. You don't want to put your Affinity in a stat you intend to raise with level up points.

Don't worry too much about matching Energy Weapons/Non Energy Weapons with your class perk, it only applies to the base weapon damage and you get 1/2 Physique or Aim as bonus damage.

I'll be happy to give more specific advice if you confirm what class you want to play.

 

[FenrirsBlade]

Smuggler is perfectly serviceable, though a major bug will be fixed next patch (Take Advantage doesn't work). Ranged Mercenaries are considered kind of broken (in the good way), Melee Tech Specialists are also very good, but got nerfed from the last time I played. They totally deserved it, though. Personally, I played through with a Melee Drone Tech Specialist, Ranged Smuggler and Melee Mercenary in Flash and they all did fine, though there have been some changes to the JavaScript version since then. Drone Tech and Melee Merc were chosen specifically because conventional wisdom said they sucked, and I wanted to see how badly.

You want to choose either Melee or Ranged. It won't matter too much at first, but as you pick up perks, the damage output from the one you didn't choose will lag increasingly behind.

You get 13 points to distribute between your stats when you level up. This is enough to keep 2 stats maxed and one stat fairly high. However, you can train Physique, Aim and Reflexes at the Ten Ton Gym on New Texas, Willpower with Ramis. Intelligence is either the hardest stat to raise or the easiest, depending on if you're willing to fuck Syri. Stats level more slowly the closer they are to your current maximum, but level up points are always 1 to 1. You don't want to put your Affinity in a stat you intend to raise with level up points.

Don't worry too much about matching Energy Weapons/Non Energy Weapons with your class perk, it only applies to the base weapon damage and you get 1/2 Physique or Aim as bonus damage.

I'll be happy to give more specific advice if you confirm what class you want to play.

Hm... Thank you I see!
Decided to go smuggler after all now. And I will probably go ranged, maxing out aim and reflex and put rest of points into intelligence. That sounds like a plan!

 

[bibbitybobbityboop]

alright so yeah... Finally decided to give the game a try.

But... to be honest I feel a little overwhelmed in figuring out how to actually build my character so he does decent enough.
I tried looking up some threads about builds, but.... there was so much stuff about them I didn't understand. Basically the one thing I DID understand, is that apparently snuggler is a bad choice for...whatever reason, which is funny since the small background on snuggler sounds perfect for me, lol.

But other than that I feel lost on what is actually considered decent. I started out with reflexes for starting affinity, balanced upbringing and mercenary. So is this decent? Or is there something I should do differently? Does it even really matter? Or am I just way overthinking things? Lol.... I believe that is quite possible... But there seems to be A LOT of stuff to consider in this game...

Stat affinity doesn't matter too much. Pick something other than your chosen level-up stats (see further down; I like Physique affinity as a Ranged-focused snuggler). Upbringing doesn't matter much. The starting money is irrelevant. The starting stats are of limited relevance, especially if you plan to use NPCs to train everything to max anyway.

It's strongest to commit to either melee or ranged weapons with your level-up perks, rather than trying to be good at both, which is probably not doable. Also focus your perks on physical combat; while you get a lust grenade option, Tease is already overpowered, and physical damage affects things that don't care how lewd you are.

I don't really recommend a melee snuggler if you're already struggling.

If you don't know what you're doing, start with the Ice Cold sexual trait and maybe swing by Tavros to pick up a Sexiness (Lust offence) outfit from Inessa. This will make you very good at teasing enemies into submission (for someone just starting out) when you can't beat them down another way, including everything you'll run into on Mhen'ga and most of the denizens of other locations. If you need a bit more cash for some reason and are nervous about combat, go to the brothel near Inessa's shop and sign up to sell your body for a better price - assuming you've got bubbles and a goober, or you've got a peanuss and flat chest and are willing to get femboy'd. Otherwise just sell your body without signing anything, but it's slower.

There's usually a strong weapon to find on each planet, especially ranged weapons. On Mhen'ga, make sure to pick up the ZK Rifle (from Carl's robot quest) and the Electrified Shock Blade from trying to fight your Rival (and defeating Dane). On Tarkus, you'll want the Nova rifle or pistol from Anno's quest. On Myrellion you'll have several good options... etc.

Remember to take your level-ups. If you don't care about maxing all your stats via NPCs and just want to play, dump your points during level-up into Aim first, then Intelligence, and some Willpower and Reflexes for spare points. Physique is somewhat niche for a ranged snuggler, though if I understand right, it helps with Low Blow (if you chose that perk). If you do plan to max all stats via NPCs you want to read Theron's post again.

Flash Grenade/Pocket Sand is your very best friend, and its friendship is magic. It's low on energy use and highly disabling (enabling your Sneak Attack/Aimed Shot!) for enemies who care. You might want to pick up one of the Stun options as you level, though, since not everything can be Blinded and you still want something to start triggering Aimed Shots.

Evasion gear and a decent shield will make up most of your survivability. Blind or stunned enemies make up almost all of the rest. Don't bother with Evasion over 50% (sourced from Evasion gear and from Reflexes); 50% is the maximum for 'passive' (not from abilities) Evasion. You can find stats like this in your Codex > Stats > Combat.

If you know the right transformatives, Tease is ridiculously overpowered, and to pile onto that, most Sexiness gear also boosts Evasion, sometimes by a lot. The highest Sexiness on underthings is 3 per piece. The highest Sexiness on clothing/armour is 6. The Heavy Slut Ray stuns your target on a critical hit. Teasing is more powerful than Slut Rays. The best Tease treatment on New Texas is probably Faux-Cow (femboy) and you can transform yourself afterwards without losing the perks. Red Myr Venom is not as effective as other teases but it's fun and I do not have an oral fixation stop asking. You can temporarily buff your Sexiness by eating a mango from Mhen'ga.





I hope something in here helps. I've never had trouble making a snuggler work for me, and I hope the same becomes the case for you.

I also might be wrong on the most optimal stat priorities, but these are the ones I play with (alternately, Reflexes > Intelligence) and they work. (I often use NPCs to max everything, though.) I've also had one snuggler beat current content without much Intelligence and with a few of my less-preferred perks, which is probably not ideal but demonstrates the lack of necessity for optimising. Also, if you decide to use NPCs to max your stats, you'll have an easier time of course.

And if you're just here for the flavoured lube flavour and lewd, you could always turn on Easy Mode.

 

[Theron]

If you need a bit more cash for some reason and are nervous about combat, go to the brothel near Inessa's shop and sign up to sell your body for a better price - assuming you've got bubbles and a goober, or you've got a peanuss and flat chest and are willing to get femboy'd. Otherwise just sell your body without signing anything, but it's slower.

Combat on FIRST-14 is pretty easy once you've gotten an Arc Sledgehammer from the Scavengers. After that, you can farm Draco Guard (600 Credits) from the Gryvain Techies if you don't want to prostitute yourself.

On Tarkus, you'll want the Nova rifle or pistol from Anno's quest. On Myrellion you'll have several good options... etc.

The most important thing from Tarkus is the Hammer Shield from Sex Bots. Once you have that, you're effectively immortal (vs most enemies LG-BT and Lumi need not apply. Also, Tease.). Then you can farm Sex Bots with the Electrified Shock Blade, even with 3 Physique for more Shield Belts that can be sold to Anno. Until you have it, use EMP Grenades vs the Sex Bots. Right now, EMP Grenades don't Stun half the enemies they should, but they do work on Sex Bots.

Remember to take your level-ups. If you don't care about maxing all your stats via NPCs and just want to play, dump your points during level-up into Aim first, then Intelligence, and some Willpower and Reflexes for spare points. Physique is somewhat niche for a ranged snuggler, though if I understand right, it helps with Low Blow (if you chose that perk). If you do plan to max all stats via NPCs you want to read Theron's post again.

Physique also helps with Can Opener. Otherwise, it can be dumped, though there are occasional attacks that impose a test vs your Physique, so you might want to increase it anyway. I usually train Reflexes with Ramis, because you get Willpower at the same time.

Flash Grenade/Pocket Sand is your very best friend, and its friendship is magic. It's low on energy use and highly disabling (enabling your Sneak Attack/Aimed Shot!) for enemies who care. You might want to pick up one of the Stun options as you level, though, since not everything can be Blinded and you still want something to start triggering Aimed Shots.

Flash Grenade is based off of Aim, so it's most useful for Ranged Smugglers, though it effectively counts as though you have 10 more Aim than you actually do.
For Smugglers, I highly recommend a Stun weapon, which basically means the Shock Bow (or Heavy Slut Ray) for Ranged and probably the Custom Shock Gear for Melee, though Lighting Rod is a good weapon before then. Actually, I recommend Stun Weapons for everybody. 2 rounds of not taking damage is immensely useful. Getting Aimed Shot/Sneak Attack from it (or Rapid Recharge Shields) is just a bonus. It's also Physique/Aim vs target's Physique, so you can get it about every other round if you keep your attack stat high.

Evasion gear and a decent shield will make up most of your survivability. Blind or stunned enemies make up almost all of the rest. Don't bother with Evasion over 50% (sourced from Evasion gear and from Reflexes); 50% is the maximum for 'passive' (not from abilities) Evasion. You can find stats like this in your Codex > Stats > Combat.

The Codex Combat Stat screen only shows Evasion from Equipment (+Agility). Reflex bonus is added invisibly in combat.

The Heavy Slut Ray stuns your target on a critical hit. Teasing is more powerful than Slut Rays.

It's an Aim vs Physique test. Nothing to do with Critical hits. In fact, Tease weapons cannot Crit. No, I don't know why they have a Crit bonus.
If you're a Mercenary, you can fire then 4 times/round, which I'm fairly certain is better than raw Tease. Rapid Fire is the only way to benefit from the Heavy Slut Ray's Bonus Hit Rate. They can also be Overcharged for 1.5x-2x damage and they are not subject to the normal Tease damage cap.

The best Tease treatment on New Texas is probably Faux-Cow (femboy) and you can transform yourself afterwards without losing the perks.

I don't know that everyone wants to go Faux-Cow, powerful though it is.

Red Myr Venom is not as effective as other teases but it's fun.

Probably because it does Drug damage.

 

[bibbitybobbityboop]

As a minor note, sometimes I've been really unlucky with shield drops (mainly, no Hammer shield prior to Myrellion). Shekka will sell you a Scrap Shield if you're feeling in need of more protection, though I've done well in the upper tunnels of Myrellion, until finding a Nova shield, with just the Decent JoyCo model.