Wasteland 2: Starting team Does and Don'ts

[Avilan the Grey]

Basically... I don't want it spoiled to the Nth degree, but I am looking primarely for party compositions that are to be thoroughly avoided?

Also, what's the size of custom portraits? The ones in the game are sadly limited.

[Farix]

Basically... I don't want it spoiled to the Nth degree, but I am looking primarely for party compositions that are to be thoroughly avoided?

Also, what's the size of custom portraits? The ones in the game are sadly limited.

Main thing is diversity, make sure you're not doubling up on specific weapon types or general skills. So while a 4-man squad of assault rifles might hit like a truck you're gonna run outta ammo really quick that way. Even with each character using a different ammo type resources can get a bit thin in the early parts of the game. Same thing with skills, give each character a general focus (medic, tech/lockpick/safecracker, teamleader, talker etc.), allocate stats accordingly, and you should be fine. You can pick up additional party members (up to 7 total) as you go who can help fill in the gaps.

May want to hold off starting just yet though, games getting (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/07/wasteland-2-update/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rockpapershotgun%2Fsteam+%28R ock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%3A+Steam+RSS%29) a visual upgrade, a new perk system, and totally not VATS sometime this summer.

Custom portraits are all 256 x 256

[factotum]

Can't really add much to Farix' comment--basically, your biggest issue will be limited ammo supplies in the early game, so make sure your guys aren't all drawing from the same ammo pool. Also, don't be afraid to have a melee guy to further reduce ammo requirements, but bear in mind that they'll tend to get less useful toward the end of the game. (They won't ever be entirely useless, but melee weapons don't scale anything like as well as firearms and lasers do).

[Avilan the Grey]

Well...
Let's see... Idea so far:
Leader, Just a standard soldier, assault rifle.
Sniper / doctor

[slugboy_73]

My play style was pretty in your face, not really much stealth. Here is what I found:

The different talking skills (Smart, Hard, etc.) they are okay. I had one party face and I tried to spread them out and keep them the same level, but was never really able to keep up with the way the game boosted them. I would have them around skill level 2-3 and find someone where I needed 5. So maybe concentrate on 1 maybe 2 of those and hope the NPC you talk to needs that skill. I also found that sometimes the benefit wasn't all that so I started a new game without any of the skills. Haven't gotten very far with it yet though.

The disable alarm skill never did anything for me. I didn't really play a stealthy game so by the time I was trying to snip the alarm the guards were already dead. I am sure if you were trying to sneak around it may come in more handy. The other thief skills are a definite yes though. :smallbiggrin:

That's all I can remember off hand. Hope you enjoy the game!

[Chen]

My play style was pretty in your face, not really much stealth. Here is what I found:

The different talking skills (Smart, Hard, etc.) they are okay. I had one party face and I tried to spread them out and keep them the same level, but was never really able to keep up with the way the game boosted them. I would have them around skill level 2-3 and find someone where I needed 5. So maybe concentrate on 1 maybe 2 of those and hope the NPC you talk to needs that skill. I also found that sometimes the benefit wasn't all that so I started a new game without any of the skills. Haven't gotten very far with it yet though.

This is the biggest problem with a party face in this game. You can't possibly have enough skills to keep them up to date so they're bad at everything if you try. Split all the talking skills to each char and deal with it that way as a tertiary skill. Maybe keep one up high as a secondary if you want to.

[Avilan the Grey]

...Okay.

Here's my team:


Schmitt, Leader and Hard Ass. Assault Rifles and Bladed Weapons.
"Feathers", Sniper, Healer, Surgeon, Smart Ass. Sniper Rifles.
Yahtzee, Safe Cracker, Lock Picker, SMG
Sarah, Blower-Upper (whateverthatwascalled), Shotguns.


...And ms Deth, of course.

Works out well so far. Clearing out Pod People at the moment.

[Farix]

...Okay.

Here's my team:


Schmitt, Leader and Hard Ass. Assault Rifles and Bladed Weapons.
"Feathers", Sniper, Healer, Surgeon, Smart Ass. Sniper Rifles.
Yahtzee, Safe Cracker, Lock Picker, SMG
Sarah, Blower-Upper (whateverthatwascalled), Shotguns.


...And ms Deth, of course.

Works out well so far. Clearing out Pod People at the moment.


Should be set with that grouping, glad you picked up Angela. Didn't wanna mention grabbing her early as a spoilery reason but she definitely helps in making it through the early levels. Ran about the same setup as what you've got, just swap the skills on the sniper and smg/pistols and I never ran into any insurmountable issues.

[factotum]

Not sure it's worth having your leader concentrate on both rifles and bladed weapons--you risk ending up with someone who isn't very good with either option. My leader started out bladed and ended up switching to pistols, and he was one of the weakest members of my party in a fight--I should have picked one and stuck to it.

[Avilan the Grey]

Not sure it's worth having your leader concentrate on both rifles and bladed weapons--you risk ending up with someone who isn't very good with either option. My leader started out bladed and ended up switching to pistols, and he was one of the weakest members of my party in a fight--I should have picked one and stuck to it.

Bladed only to save ammo. Not a focus. The Angel of Death also has assault rifles and ammo is scarce in the beginning.

[Starbuck_II]

Don't forget energy, you get those weapons not too far off.

[Ailurus]

...Okay.

Here's my team:


Schmitt, Leader and Hard Ass. Assault Rifles and Bladed Weapons.
"Feathers", Sniper, Healer, Surgeon, Smart Ass. Sniper Rifles.
Yahtzee, Safe Cracker, Lock Picker, SMG
Sarah, Blower-Upper (whateverthatwascalled), Shotguns.


...And ms Deth, of course.

Works out well so far. Clearing out Pod People at the moment.

Pretty much all the skills in WL2 have at least some use, so you will miss out on stuff regardless. With what you picked the biggest suggestion I'd make is putting both doctory skills on one character is probably not the best bet, seeing how if they get hit then your team is screwed. But, you can pick up a backup doctor NPC fairly early which can help with that.

The one glaring hole I see, though, is no computer skills. At least the way I played it, you're going to want computer skills.

Oh, and one general tip for the combat - you can have your characters crouch. Doing so greatly boosts their accuracy, which is extremely important early since no one but Angela can hit the broad side of a barn and you don't have much ammo to spare. All my rangers probably have terrible knees now, but at least they're alive to complain about it to me.

[factotum]

Don't forget energy, you get those weapons not too far off.

That's a good point. Energy weapons have the (maybe a bit odd) characteristic that they do *more* damage against heavily armoured targets, which means they're not so useful in the early game. Once you get nearer the end and start facing a lot of mobs in armour, they're a godsend. Unless said mobs start using them against *you*, which is just annoying, of course. :smallamused: