Install Shadowrun Returns if you want to play the original Dead Man's Switch or Dragonfall DLC campaigns. If you only want to play the new Director's Cut of Dragonfall, just install it.
Regarding the cyber or physad throwing weapon character:
Do not forget that in addition to hurting cooldowns, every point of essence you lose also reduces the number of your maximum possible spell slots by one (i.e. three essence means no more than three spells and so on). In other Words: essence+maxspellslots=6
Thus a hybrid street sam / physad will have less available chi powers (as they go in spell slots) at any given time, in addition to having to spend karma on several trees at the same time
Also throwing weapons are an advantageous way to spec yourself into as only two branches are needed to grow (strength and throwing weapons), no need for close combat or ranged weapons (that i know of). I say milking that advantage is worth it - you dont need to spread yourself thin on several branches, just pump these two and use leftover karma for charisma and the like to get the most conversation (i.e. content) options
I therefore say go pure cyber. You can use the arm slots to boost your strength (bioware arms from Ezkibel's mission, or alpha cyberarms), and the body slot synthacardium Mk2 has a direct throwing weapon bonus in it.
Going cyber also meshes well with decking, which imo is indispensible of you want to get everything out of a playthrough
There are no new throwing weapons in the director's cut that i know of - you will start with the throwing knives, and eventually graduate to the shuriken for a bit more damage and range, and added possible AP damage on crits.
Pinning throw is great, use it to lock targets in the open with no cover so you and your crew can keep critting them (not possible if they are in cover).
Also your grenades will rock with a specialized throwing weapons char, use lots of flashbangs - stunned enemies apparently lose cover in addition to turning harmless, and get unbalanced as well from the better grenades, making them even more easy to hit for your team.
I was reading that the damage never catches up? I'm throwing (heh) a few points in melee just as a backup.
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chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
edited October 2014
So, finally got around to playing this, and it's fun. Think I'm... halfway in? Just got a job about AzTech
Trying to balance being the good guy and being a professional. Think I'm doing okay. Iced the runner from the botched job, since Eiger wanted it that way, and the dude killed non-coms. Got the deal with the bandits to mutual advantage, saved Dietrich's nephew, and donating max to the shelter at every opportunity. Even dropped a little out of pocket to make sure the ghouls wouldn't have to be involved in anything shady. Yeah, I could have tried blackmail, but the Doctor might get touchy then, and shitty a person as he is, my city benefits from having a top shelf street doc.
Bit disappointed that I can't just shoot the Lodge representative after that run, though. Didn't even get the hell out of town when asked.
Gotta say, they have a shitty sales pitch. The first mission they send you on they reveal they were planning the deaths of two of their veteran runners and they give someone who is REALLY not cut out for this life blood on her hands. And they lied to you the whole way, then try to cover with "The Greater Good". Fuck, how stupid do they think I am? I SAW what they do to their people. I gave more of a damn than they did, and I didn't even like them!
As for my people? Going well, except for Blitz getting me right into the middle of a clusterfuck to pay off his loans. Glory's opening up about her history with the Devil, Eiger respects my authority and even appologized for the initial outburst, and Dietrich's just a good guy to hang out with assuming you don't mind fights to the death against impossible odds. Good crew.
The thing about the Lodge missions is, yeah, the trial run is pretty fucked up but after that, 2 of the 3 things they want you to do are pretty much "eh ok, this is easy money and it doesn't risk blowing the run so why not?" Letting Stahl live doesn't really affect anything, if you kill him someone will just replace him so it's not like you've made any real difference there and one request is literally to say one sentence to a dude and then carry on with your normal run. There's really only one seriously morally objectionable thing coming up and in that case even if you don't side with the Lodge you still have to make that choice regardless.
I'd say killing Stahl is a pretty good idea. The Lodge rep claims that they have sway over him but that doesn't explain the whole gas attack plan. You'd think that kind of shit would be exactly the sort of thing they would force him away from. Besides, filling racists full of holes is a very cathartic pastime.
Is the only solution for the Blitz mission bug so far is to save constantly? I'm doing it at the moment and lost progress thanks to not being able to move in the Matrix.
I'd say killing Stahl is a pretty good idea. The Lodge rep claims that they have sway over him but that doesn't explain the whole gas attack plan. You'd think that kind of shit would be exactly the sort of thing they would force him away from. Besides, filling racists full of holes is a very cathartic pastime.
I see your point. My point though is, in the original Dragonfall DLC the trial run didn't exist. You just had this guy show up in the coffee shop and be all like "hey so I work for this group and we will pay you to occasionally do things for us." There's really no incentive to turn that offer down and then during 3 specific runs he gives you an optional objective. Do it and you get paid. Don't do it and...nothing happens. It's entirely your choice every time.
Now contrast this to the Director's Cut. Now he sends you on a trial run and everything is just horrible. If you've not played Dragonfall before you're likely to think "holy drek these guys are monsters, there's no way I'm agreeing to work with them!" and then you cut yourself off from those optional objectives which are all exactly the same as before. There's still no downside to refusing to do them. No repercussions for your decisions either way. It just seems like a strange design choice to me to make it so obvious "hey these guys are pure evil!" right off the bat and not change anything else along the way.
Take the Stahl decision as an example. If you don't kill him there should be repercussions for that. Maybe he tracks you down and sends in some goons to attack you. Or attacks the goblinoid charity. Or just makes an example out of the old ex-military troll. Something that says "hey maybe the nuyen I got paid to let him live wasn't really worth all the trouble it created for us."
I'd say killing Stahl is a pretty good idea. The Lodge rep claims that they have sway over him but that doesn't explain the whole gas attack plan. You'd think that kind of shit would be exactly the sort of thing they would force him away from. Besides, filling racists full of holes is a very cathartic pastime.
I see your point. My point though is, in the original Dragonfall DLC the trial run didn't exist. You just had this guy show up in the coffee shop and be all like "hey so I work for this group and we will pay you to occasionally do things for us." There's really no incentive to turn that offer down and then during 3 specific runs he gives you an optional objective. Do it and you get paid. Don't do it and...nothing happens. It's entirely your choice every time.
Now contrast this to the Director's Cut. Now he sends you on a trial run and everything is just horrible. If you've not played Dragonfall before you're likely to think "holy drek these guys are monsters, there's no way I'm agreeing to work with them!" and then you cut yourself off from those optional objectives which are all exactly the same as before. There's still no downside to refusing to do them. No repercussions for your decisions either way. It just seems like a strange design choice to me to make it so obvious "hey these guys are pure evil!" right off the bat and not change anything else along the way.
Take the Stahl decision as an example. If you don't kill him there should be repercussions for that. Maybe he tracks you down and sends in some goons to attack you. Or attacks the goblinoid charity. Or just makes an example out of the old ex-military troll. Something that says "hey maybe the nuyen I got paid to let him live wasn't really worth all the trouble it created for us."
Maybe he keeps breathing.
Now, me?
That's objectionable enough. Finished that mission before the Lodge meet and greet, but hearing that they wanted him alive just makes me more glad I made him dead.
chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
So, finished.
Think I did okay.
Killed the AI and the dragon. AI was evil, dragon was bugfuck nuts, and it's not like you get many chances to take one of those guys down. She killed a lot of people. She paid for it. Shame the seventh world will suffer for the loss, but the world turns, the wyrm turns, and it's not like I'll live to see it anyway.
Talked the Dragonslayer down, but his chief goon just killed him to keep the plan going. Felt slick talking him down. Didn't even need the skill checks.
Glory beat the devil, Blitz learned to not bother his girlfriend when she was working, Dietrich saved his nephew and managed to talk his boss into a 'whoever's ass seems to need kicking at the moment' plan, and Eiger...
Well, we had a talk about not torturing the prisoner. It's not that the guy was any good, but she's supposed to be a professional, which means not letting assholes get under your skin. Also, told her she made a fine call killing the new meat in her old squad. Shitrag got everyone else dead, and then tried to justify murdering a man in cold blood with 'it was for the team!'? Insult to the uniform and a waste of good oxygen. Still, generally good terms with her. Didn't ask her to stop with 'fearless leader' either. Little giving each other shit is an important part of a healthy team dynamic.
Finished off by telling Lowfyr to piss up a rope. Called him just another taker, and mentioned that his brilliant master plans probably didn't include me wasting Firewing.
I like to think his attack on Berlin was partially due to petty anger at Richard Conway, freelance asshole. (Yeah, named my decker after the protagonist of Gunpoint. It fit.)
Didn't work, because he's prophecized to live for a good long time after. Suck it, jerkweed!
As for his plans, figure he got some word that something involving a dragon and a mortal meddling with his betters. He twitched a claw, set things in motion in the general direction of Adrian Vauclair, and figured that was enough. If it's nothing, it's nothing, and nobody knows he was chasing a wild goose. If it's small scale, then the runners would handle it. If it was bigger, they'd probably make noise and let him slide something more suited for the problem into play. And if the runners got killed, no problem. That's what pawns are for.
If he actually knew the full magnitude of things, and how close it was to the finish line, he got unforgivably sloppy, and shamefully lucky.
Is it even possible to figure out why Firewing did what she did without being a spellcaster? Since I had the option of reading her aura at the end it really helped understand why you might want to spare her.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Is it even possible to figure out why Firewing did what she did without being a spellcaster? Since I had the option of reading her aura at the end it really helped understand why you might want to spare her.
Yes, but I don't remember how. I think it's an attribute check.
OK, so I'm going with a straightforward Street Sam this time. I'm not throwing a bunch of money at drones or the best decking gear and I don't have much of a use for Essence, so it's cybernetics time!
What I want to know is, is the stuff you get for the Ezkibel job as good at is gets or do superior replacements get unlocked near the end? Or does just some different stuff unlock eventually?
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
OK, so I'm going with a straightforward Street Sam this time. I'm not throwing a bunch of money at drones or the best decking gear and I don't have much of a use for Essence, so it's cybernetics time!
What I want to know is, is the stuff you get for the Ezkibel job as good at is gets or do superior replacements get unlocked near the end? Or does just some different stuff unlock eventually?
You will get your own Adrenal Pump if you do all the Schockwellenreiter quests (eg, after both the MKVI and Aztechnology runs). It's a Body slot item. Other than that, I think Ezkibel's bioware is as good as it gets, so go nuts.
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chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
Is it even possible to figure out why Firewing did what she did without being a spellcaster? Since I had the option of reading her aura at the end it really helped understand why you might want to spare her.
Yes, but I don't remember how. I think it's an attribute check.
I don't know how I got it exactly, but just talking and some easy int checks got most of the story.
And, don't get me wrong, I didn't feel good about doing what I did. A lot came into play, and I can see taking the other turn as a better call.
I mean, the earlier choices, conscience picked a side pretty easy.
Anyone heard of a mod to allow for more team members? Kinda would like to take everyone, instead of dumping someone based on what type of character I make.
Is it bad that I always just take the people I like and make zero consideration as to how they will perform in combat? Oh, and I hire a Decker sometimes because I hate Blitz.
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chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
Is it bad that I always just take the people I like and make zero consideration as to how they will perform in combat? Oh, and I hire a Decker sometimes because I hate Blitz.
Yes and no.
No, taking who you like is good.
Yes, because Blitz winds up alright if you mentor him, and he's the only one who can do a lot of things, as far as I could tell. (My guy was a helluva decker, and he didn't get a lot of options Blitz opened up. At least, it didn't say I could do it myself)
What does the difficulty level affect? I thought the original campaign was pretty easy on Hard, so I started Dragonfall on Very Hard with a punchy elf adept, but found the first mission on Dragonfall to be an absolute motherfucker. My hit chance on punches was never higher than 55%, so I never managed to hit anything because RNGs are fucking bastards.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
HBS has a listing on their jobs page; they're hiring a lead artist for "our next Shadowrun campaign."
Could always go down to Denver. The battle between interests leading up to the Treaty of Denver is always messy and fun and probably profitable with the city being divided into the six different political sectors. Basically turns into a Wild Westesque setting.
Could also show some more of the NAN part of the setting.
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Hong Kong would be interesting, but you are guaranteed to be doing something in Kawloon City. its a subsector of Hong Kong the same way Tacoma is a subsector of the Seattle Metro, but Kawloon is fucking *scary*. Demons, spirits, and things that go bump in the night all over the place (not quite Cthulu, but bugs could be here and there... dont think there were shedim in Hong Kong). Only reason it hasn't spilled over to the rest of Hong Kong is because the 7(?) Demon Kings are happy with what they have at the moment.
Denver would be cool. My timeline is a little fuzzy, but you have UCAS, CAS, NAN, and Aztlan owning 4 or 5 pieces of it. Very much a coyote town with smuggling across government lines. Now that Big D is dead, we might get the story of how Ghostwalker took over and the booting of Aztlan from Denver. (somebody else comes in, but I don't remember if its Denver rep'ing itself, or another Amer-Ind group.
My money is on Amazonia and the bush wars between it and Aztlan based on me talking with some Hair-Brained guys at PAX2014, but maybe we can be lucky and get a slight shift into the Carribean League. Do some Miami Vice boat chases (southern Florida is part of the CL) :P
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Do not forget that in addition to hurting cooldowns, every point of essence you lose also reduces the number of your maximum possible spell slots by one (i.e. three essence means no more than three spells and so on). In other Words: essence+maxspellslots=6
Thus a hybrid street sam / physad will have less available chi powers (as they go in spell slots) at any given time, in addition to having to spend karma on several trees at the same time
Also throwing weapons are an advantageous way to spec yourself into as only two branches are needed to grow (strength and throwing weapons), no need for close combat or ranged weapons (that i know of). I say milking that advantage is worth it - you dont need to spread yourself thin on several branches, just pump these two and use leftover karma for charisma and the like to get the most conversation (i.e. content) options
I therefore say go pure cyber. You can use the arm slots to boost your strength (bioware arms from Ezkibel's mission, or alpha cyberarms), and the body slot synthacardium Mk2 has a direct throwing weapon bonus in it.
Going cyber also meshes well with decking, which imo is indispensible of you want to get everything out of a playthrough
There are no new throwing weapons in the director's cut that i know of - you will start with the throwing knives, and eventually graduate to the shuriken for a bit more damage and range, and added possible AP damage on crits.
Pinning throw is great, use it to lock targets in the open with no cover so you and your crew can keep critting them (not possible if they are in cover).
Also your grenades will rock with a specialized throwing weapons char, use lots of flashbangs - stunned enemies apparently lose cover in addition to turning harmless, and get unbalanced as well from the better grenades, making them even more easy to hit for your team.
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Bit disappointed that I can't just shoot the Lodge representative after that run, though. Didn't even get the hell out of town when asked.
Gotta say, they have a shitty sales pitch. The first mission they send you on they reveal they were planning the deaths of two of their veteran runners and they give someone who is REALLY not cut out for this life blood on her hands. And they lied to you the whole way, then try to cover with "The Greater Good". Fuck, how stupid do they think I am? I SAW what they do to their people. I gave more of a damn than they did, and I didn't even like them!
As for my people? Going well, except for Blitz getting me right into the middle of a clusterfuck to pay off his loans. Glory's opening up about her history with the Devil, Eiger respects my authority and even appologized for the initial outburst, and Dietrich's just a good guy to hang out with assuming you don't mind fights to the death against impossible odds. Good crew.
Why I fear the ocean.
But yeah, it sounds like you're roughly halfway.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
I see your point. My point though is, in the original Dragonfall DLC the trial run didn't exist. You just had this guy show up in the coffee shop and be all like "hey so I work for this group and we will pay you to occasionally do things for us." There's really no incentive to turn that offer down and then during 3 specific runs he gives you an optional objective. Do it and you get paid. Don't do it and...nothing happens. It's entirely your choice every time.
Now contrast this to the Director's Cut. Now he sends you on a trial run and everything is just horrible. If you've not played Dragonfall before you're likely to think "holy drek these guys are monsters, there's no way I'm agreeing to work with them!" and then you cut yourself off from those optional objectives which are all exactly the same as before. There's still no downside to refusing to do them. No repercussions for your decisions either way. It just seems like a strange design choice to me to make it so obvious "hey these guys are pure evil!" right off the bat and not change anything else along the way.
Take the Stahl decision as an example. If you don't kill him there should be repercussions for that. Maybe he tracks you down and sends in some goons to attack you. Or attacks the goblinoid charity. Or just makes an example out of the old ex-military troll. Something that says "hey maybe the nuyen I got paid to let him live wasn't really worth all the trouble it created for us."
since it doesn't require spell slots, and the spirit fetishes are carried in the inventory
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Yeah. You could totally have a cybered up charismatic summoner. They just wouldn't be a conjurer.
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Maybe he keeps breathing.
Now, me?
That's objectionable enough. Finished that mission before the Lodge meet and greet, but hearing that they wanted him alive just makes me more glad I made him dead.
I didn't even think that was possible.
Why I fear the ocean.
Think I did okay.
Talked the Dragonslayer down, but his chief goon just killed him to keep the plan going. Felt slick talking him down. Didn't even need the skill checks.
Glory beat the devil, Blitz learned to not bother his girlfriend when she was working, Dietrich saved his nephew and managed to talk his boss into a 'whoever's ass seems to need kicking at the moment' plan, and Eiger...
Well, we had a talk about not torturing the prisoner. It's not that the guy was any good, but she's supposed to be a professional, which means not letting assholes get under your skin. Also, told her she made a fine call killing the new meat in her old squad. Shitrag got everyone else dead, and then tried to justify murdering a man in cold blood with 'it was for the team!'? Insult to the uniform and a waste of good oxygen. Still, generally good terms with her. Didn't ask her to stop with 'fearless leader' either. Little giving each other shit is an important part of a healthy team dynamic.
Finished off by telling Lowfyr to piss up a rope. Called him just another taker, and mentioned that his brilliant master plans probably didn't include me wasting Firewing.
I like to think his attack on Berlin was partially due to petty anger at Richard Conway, freelance asshole. (Yeah, named my decker after the protagonist of Gunpoint. It fit.)
Didn't work, because he's prophecized to live for a good long time after. Suck it, jerkweed!
As for his plans, figure he got some word that something involving a dragon and a mortal meddling with his betters. He twitched a claw, set things in motion in the general direction of Adrian Vauclair, and figured that was enough. If it's nothing, it's nothing, and nobody knows he was chasing a wild goose. If it's small scale, then the runners would handle it. If it was bigger, they'd probably make noise and let him slide something more suited for the problem into play. And if the runners got killed, no problem. That's what pawns are for.
If he actually knew the full magnitude of things, and how close it was to the finish line, he got unforgivably sloppy, and shamefully lucky.
Why I fear the ocean.
Ending Spoilers:
Yes, but I don't remember how. I think it's an attribute check.
What I want to know is, is the stuff you get for the Ezkibel job as good at is gets or do superior replacements get unlocked near the end? Or does just some different stuff unlock eventually?
You will get your own Adrenal Pump if you do all the Schockwellenreiter quests (eg, after both the MKVI and Aztechnology runs). It's a Body slot item. Other than that, I think Ezkibel's bioware is as good as it gets, so go nuts.
I don't know how I got it exactly, but just talking and some easy int checks got most of the story.
And, don't get me wrong, I didn't feel good about doing what I did. A lot came into play, and I can see taking the other turn as a better call.
I mean, the earlier choices, conscience picked a side pretty easy.
That one gets messy.
Why I fear the ocean.
Yes and no.
No, taking who you like is good.
Yes, because Blitz winds up alright if you mentor him, and he's the only one who can do a lot of things, as far as I could tell. (My guy was a helluva decker, and he didn't get a lot of options Blitz opened up. At least, it didn't say I could do it myself)
Why I fear the ocean.
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It's happening.
I hope one of those magic shitholes like Mexico (or whatever Aztechnology has rebranded it as - Aztlan?) or some elf kingdom or whatever.
Or post-bug Chicago? Or even during pre-bug Chicago going into during-bug Chicago.
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Seattle already had bugs. It wasn't so exciting that I want to deal with that again before anything else in the setting.
Or maybe I only feel that way because the only ones capable of dealing with the bugs were me and two completely worthless NPCs.
Could also show some more of the NAN part of the setting.
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Both are pretty good places for a story though Tokyo is very much a Corp city.
Denver would be cool though since it gets into things you don't normally see in games.
Denver would be cool. My timeline is a little fuzzy, but you have UCAS, CAS, NAN, and Aztlan owning 4 or 5 pieces of it. Very much a coyote town with smuggling across government lines. Now that Big D is dead, we might get the story of how Ghostwalker took over and the booting of Aztlan from Denver. (somebody else comes in, but I don't remember if its Denver rep'ing itself, or another Amer-Ind group.
My money is on Amazonia and the bush wars between it and Aztlan based on me talking with some Hair-Brained guys at PAX2014, but maybe we can be lucky and get a slight shift into the Carribean League. Do some Miami Vice boat chases (southern Florida is part of the CL) :P
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The difference between BERLIN and HONG KONG was less than 1%!!!
So. . . IT'S A RUN-OFF!!!
---
So yeah, they had to run a second vote just to determine whether Berlin or Hong Kong was the winner so they know the demand is there.