Pangaea666: Was going through all the characters when trying to decide what skills to pour points into from the sniper and Rose, and noticed that the sniper has 1 less *attribute* points than the rest (Angela has 31 to the normal 29, for some reason). Figured maybe I messed it up somehow when swapping a few skill points around early in the game, but then opened up a fairly recent save, and there she had a free attribute point. So I wonder if the game has bugged out somehow. She is level 12, and isn't wearing anything that takes attribute points away. Have anybody else experienced something similar?

That oddity aside, I ended up giving the bonus attribute point to different areas for each character.
Brainiac: +1 Awareness
Bruiser: +1 Strength (it retroactively added the HP per level HP as well, which was nice)
Eagle-eyes: Missing the bonus point for some strange reason
Natalia: +1 Speed
Angela: Not there yet, need level 20 as she started higher than the rest
Rose: +1 Coordination
Scotchmo: +1 Intelligence

Ralphy was a bit useless, so took on Scotchmo, and then later Chisel offered to join. Tough choice between him and Scotchmo, but I went with the drunkard in the end. Hopefully somebody more capable wants to join later down the line, as shotguns don't fit the way I play due to their lack of range. He's amusing though. So far I've done AG Centre, Nomad Rails, plus assorted mini-areas, and have just finished Prison Valley, ready to move into the main area, presumably.

So glad I purchased the Pullpup sniper rifle - she's a menace now - and the M16 for Bruiser was a good choice too. Unlike many other similar games, you're not drowned in great weapons through loot, at least so far, so it has been better to buy good weapons when available, and melt down the rest.

Also glad I put Leadership on the main character. The sidekicks are much more stable now, and will only run into the middle of combat on the odd occasion. Why she would run up like that without even firing a shot.... AIs are always a bit wonky I guess *shrug*

drealmer7: You get free attribute points sometimes from shrines, quests, etc.

Pangaea666: Only thing I can think of that may have gone awry, is that I added some skill points at some point, and then cancelled it again, with the game asking me whether to save or not (I hadn't clicked the Commit button). Perhaps this was done with the sniper, and when cancelling it, the free attribute point was not restored. Guess I can just add it in that program you linked to, though.

Pangaea666: How much does really Luck affect situations? I assume you get more 'free' AP in combat and CON on level-up, but is there more to it? Can you for instance open up safes or whatnot with low odds with fewer than expected Failures?

Pangaea666: Charisma tends to be a dumping stat in most RPGs, but I really see the benefit in it here, due to the extra XP. There is already a pretty big difference in my characters by now, and that's without the 10 CHA bloke doing anything else like safes or traps. It quickly adds up, and he has around 30% more XP than the other created Rangers. One character keeps up okay, because she has traps, locks and safes duty. Still, she has about 12000 to his 13300 XP. The other two have ~10500.

Probably not the best idea to max it out, as I did with him, as you lose too much capability elsewhere, but some points into Charisma can certainly add up through quicker levelling.

Pangaea666: Fair point on Toaster for Ralphy, and I still don't have a Toaster guy (only level 2 for Bruiser, and that was a mistake in truth). But we already only have three capable fighters out of 7, and adding him wouldn't change that - probably worsen it in the short to medium future. Are there many toasters in the game btw? I've only come across something like three so far.

Pangaea666: How much does really Luck affect situations? I assume you get more 'free' AP in combat and CON on level-up, but is there more to it? Can you for instance open up safes or whatnot with low odds with fewer than expected Failures?

Pangaea666: Fair point on Toaster for Ralphy, and I still don't have a Toaster guy (only level 2 for Bruiser, and that was a mistake in truth). But we already only have three capable fighters out of 7, and adding him wouldn't change that - probably worsen it in the short to medium future. Are there many toasters in the game btw? I've only come across something like three so far.

Pangaea666: Leadership is strong, I agree, and perhaps that is why they appear to have scaled it down. The in-game description says +2% accuracy per level, but the actual effect appears to be 1% - at least by hovering over that special icon during combat.

Pangaea666: Combined my party is very low on charisma, as I dumped it on the other 3 created Rangers, and Rose, Angela and Scotchmo don't exactly tilt it positively either :D Guess that/those NPCs will be for possibly later saves.

Pangaea666: Btw, is there a trick to multi-quoting here, or are you editing the replies so thoroughly manually? That is what I am doing (albeit not now), but it is a bit of a PITA.

Pangaea666: The weapon system perhaps leaves something to be desired, but overall the skill system looks allright too. The one skill that looks close to useless is Barter. A 10% swing on sales and purchases after spending 44 skill points isn't worth it, not when there are so many other good ones, and money doesn't appear to be an issue.

Belsirk: For me is not exactly trash, after the half of the game, you will need a lot of Ammo, by the way, this is finite (VERY Big amount, but finite). And the bests armor need to be bought and are very, very expansive. You could, in theory, be killing in the plain fields for getting the money, but after the half of the game, will be very risky.

Other thing, the grenades and launchers are finite, and the most common places for getting them are the stores, and again, are expansive. So, 5% or 10% helps a lot, at least for me. I bought all the grenades and launchers from the stores and they helped me a lot in the lasts battles and each time 3 or more bad guys were in the range of them, and I spent all my money.

drealmer7: just hit reply to the one you want to respond to...respond...then hit reply to the next one you want to respond to and it will add it to the already created window

A note on luck: I am pretty convinced it helps with crit. successes. More often than what I consider normal I'm doing a hard or medium attempt at something and crit. success.

Pangaea666: Tried to get into the prison btw, but it wouldn't let me, or I didn't find a way past certain 'things'. Noticed the log said we perhaps needed more skill and experience, so maybe it's the game's way of saying "There is NO WAY you'll survive in there right now, get grinding, son"?

Pangaea666: Unfortunately that doesn't work for me. I just tried again, and this is why I stopped trying before. I quote and write something, then hit the Reply button to another post to write a reply to that, but the forum software removes everything I've written and all that is left is the new quote tags with the other post. The first post is gone. Stupid.

Coelocanth: I wonder if the difficulty setting has any impact on the ammo availability. What difficulty setting were you playing? I've been playing on Ranger setting and never found ammo an issue, except at the very beginning, and that was only due to limited funds. After doing the Radio Tower, money isn't an issue. And ammo never is, and this was with 5 of my 7 Rangers all using the same ammo type.

drealmer7: Grinding is certainly not needed. You are able to gain more than enough XP doing quests and encounters to be able to do the things needed as the game progresses. I've never even done random enemy encounters, either, I always skip them.

Coelocanth: Just keep following along with the story. You'll get a chance to come back to the prison and finish that area later. Don't want to spoil things, so just keep going with the game. You won't miss going back to the prison when the time comes.

Coelocanth: Not sure if I'm understanding what you're saying, but it appears you're trying to post a reply, then immediately quote another post to reply to. That's not what we meant. Post your first reply (so write it out and hit the 'Reply' button so it posts the reply in the thread). Then reply to the next post. The forum software will automatically add your second reply to your previous one as long it's not longer than 10 minutes or someone hasn't posted before you try posting the subsequent reply.