My advice would be to make sure all the skills your specializing in are at least 9-10 (9 the lowest) by the time you enter California, because all the skill checks in LA are very high/difficult. It's too late if you get to LA and only then get around to putting in a few points, by then it's too late. Even having a skill at 6-7 by the time you get to LA is too late in some cases. Good idea, I kept putting off getting Outdoorsman on another character even though I knew Angie would eventually leave my party, and it really screwed me over once I got to California because the random encounters need almost maxed out Outdoorsman to get a 100% to avoid fighting, so I had to keep fighting constantly (which quickly exhausted all my med packs). How do you mean? I'm playing on Ranger and difficulty is quite intense, even for someone who knows how the mechanics work. I can only imagine SJ would be crazy.

Just try to get to a shop as quickly as possible to buy new guns and armour, because the stuff you bring from Arizona is obsolete as soon as you get there. Also make sure you only leave Arizona (in the chopper) once you have a lot of scrap, because everything in CA/LA is super expensive. Yeah it obviously does, but the thing is the devs were obviously clever about this and there's never any fights I've got into where enemies are purely using Energy Weapons, the closest I've got was a CotC random encounter where 3 were using Pulse rifles and the rest melee weapons, so even then it wasn't worth taking it off because I still wanted protection against the melee guy's attacks. The writing is just as good or better I guess (I've never not liked the writing in the game so far), honestly I've only done a few quests as I have just been focusing on finding better gear and surviving so far. I think I'll be ready to go into Rodia (the first big town) today.

Ah, this really sounds great. Power armor and pulse rifles ♥

The problem is my party member that is emulating her is kinda weak, kinda built him wrong in character creation. While Angie has 10AP, he has only 8AP so that M16 only fires once not twice like what Angie can do, also his initiative is shit as compared to Angie.

I just spent near 2 hours trying to win the Rail Thieves fight in Rail Nomad's Camp. That 2nd camp fight on SJ was a low wall obstacle back in beta, now it's even worse. I had to reload a few times to win that fight in beta on SJ, just yesterday I spent near 2 hours and only "won" with the help of the Provost who died in that fight. Once the enemy riflemen take cover, you know you're in trouble since they can 1-2 hit kill you even behind cover while you can't hit them when they're in cover. Luckily the rest of the camps are manageable.
Since Damonta gave me trouble in beta on SJ, I'm imagining it's gonna be hell in this final build. Hope I can clear Arizona at least on SJ, might have to down the difficulty to Ranger if LA is much harder but will only do so if it gets frustratingly difficult.

Cool I guess, will wait for your feedback.

******* Well mid-game, Arizona spoilers *********


Just reached Canyon of Titan on SJ where Angie leaves. Dug up a Meson Cannon and an M16 in a dirt mound in Darwin Village and was pretty damned surprised, I already have the M16 for all my AR characters though. Meson Cannon is pretty awesome. The farm fight in the Prison was pretty easy because of the tower I used to fight them, where they couldn't really hit me but I could hit them 100%. Didn't use that in the beta. The Meson Cannon tore up the big foremen. The hardest fight thus far has been the Rail Thieves in Nomad Camp...

Before Angie left, I 2nd-specced Rose into ARs. Considering she has 7 for Surgeon, 7 for Pistols, 4 for Medic, 5 for Computer Science, 3 in Lockpicking and I dumped another 4-5 for Assault Rifles. That 10 intel really rocks ass. Having 3 AR characters including Angie with fully upgraded M16s makes for a more manageable SJ experience thus far. Except Angie left and so I'm left with 2 semi-competent AR characters. I have, though, a 9 intel medic Ranger which I created myself and she has 8 Medic, 6 Pistols, 4 Surgeon herself and many other skills which I shouldn't have put points in. She also has a whopping 12 unspent skill points which I'm gonna spend on either ARs or Energy Weapons, 12 meaning it will up the skill to at least 4-5. My main character is a dedicated sniper, she has 8 points in Sniping. The 2nd character is a 3 intel dude trying to emulate Angie, but only with a decent 6 points in AR skill and he can only fire once, that damn lousy 9 stock APs. Then comes my Medic with the 12 unspent points. Then another character I made with a decent 5 points in Energy Weapons with other critical skills like Outdoorsman and Demolitions. The next is the mutant girl from Darwin Village, I took her since she has 7 in Energy Weapons and could really use her skills in Damonta and I guess LA, she also has 5 intel which is decent. Since Angie left I took Scotchmo, his shotgun skills are good but I rather have another AR or Energy. In summary, I have 1 sniper, 2 AR characters, and 2 Energy Weapons, my medic can go 2nd spec either AR or Energy giving 3 of either specs. Problem is I'm not sure which to take. There's another decent NPC you can get by siding with the DBM who has skillpoints in AR but I don't want to side with the DBM. If I do get him, it means 1 Sniper, 3 ARs and 3 Energy Weapons, which means I suppose a much more manageable experience with SJ, hopefully. I don't really care much for shotguns, hope something changes my mind.

Decisions, Decisions.

I just finished the game, here's some thoughts over on the wl2 forums:
https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com//viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9234

Too tired to write anything more in-depth now.

Congrats! :)

K, now replay on Supreme Jerk


New patch notes:
http://wastelandrpg.tumblr.com/post/98474203546/wasteland-2-patch-1-56458-release-notes

Luckily ARs are not nerfed :)

Any estimate on how long it took you ?

Probably about 100 hours

I'm playing for a week, though after work and everything. I'm still finishing Arizona, Damonta next, probably only at 40% of the game and I've played through all that content in the beta. SJ has something to do with the increased hours though. Many reloads and some powerleveling.

Havent touched it since early beta. Surprised Crosmando finished it already but i guess he really played the heck out of it :).

Any indication when physical rewards copies will be sent or have they been dispatched yet?

It was fun stealthing around in the temple for the uranium. Now I got a Gamma Ray Blaster. /Dr Evil Laugh.

There's Gamma Ray Blaster in the game? Damn :D

Extremely powerful, even on the hardest difficulty. The blaster kicks serious arse. Very much welcome on my hardest difficulty playthrough. Made a fight that I had trouble with in beta so easier. Doesn't stop enemies from 1 shotting my party members straight to perm death though.

Wow, people are already finishing the game, and I am thinking about restarting after just finishing the radio tower and ag center. I wish I had the dedication. On a side note, I did see you can still kill the dudes after you Hard Ass them, I didn't see they moved the crosshairs until I hit the Ag Center. So, I had to replay the Radio Tower and try it.