Wasteland Options

[SubRosa]

I finally got around to buying Wasteland 2 from Gog.com. It was a long download, so I didn't have much time to play tonight. My first impressions are good though. It reminds me a lot of Fallout Tactics and Fallout 1, both in the style of play (turn-based, squad-level, tactical combat), and the sarcastic sense of humor. That is no real surprise though, as the original Wasteland is what inspired the Fallout games.

The game is set in the Arizona desert, in the aftermath of WW3. A group of Army Engineers was out in the desert doing engineering stuff when the war started. They took refuge in a prison, which gave them a fortified base. Fast forward to the present, where the descendants of the engineers are the Desert Rangers, bringing justice to the wasteland.

There was a hilarious dig at the Brotherhood of Steel at the very beginning, when an NPC mentions that the early Rangers (the faction you are part of), tended to stay in their base, and practically worshiped old technology, even if they didn't know what it did.

Creating a team took a while, as you not only pick stats, but the appearance, names, etc.. of up to four characters for your group. Here is my team. Venus is the leader, with social skills and an assault rifle. Mars is the muscle, packing an M2 Browning. Hecate is the sniper, and is also the team medic. Mercury is the thief, with lockpicking and safecracking skills and a shotgun. Finally an NPC named Angela Deth joined up at the start of the game.

The big globe in the background is the world map transition marker. Like the early Fallout games, and pretty much every Bioware game, the game is split into a world map where you move from one area to another. When you reach an area of interest you transition to a tactical map, where you actually get to do stuff.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 13 2015, 05:36 AM

[SubRosa]

Wasteland 2 is definitely well worth the money. Keep an eye for it on Gog.com. They have regular sales.

I am back in the Arizona Wasteland with Persephone and her all girl crew of Serana, and grown-up Lucia and Sofie. This time I am going with Serana as a sniper, and the other three with assault rifles. Though I might change Lucia over to energy weapons. Really though, the Assault Rifle is what rules this game.

Because of the problem of too many skills and not enough points to spread around them, this time I when I created Team Deadwalker I used the save game editor to give them each 50 skill points to spread around, and 1 extra attribute point. Basically I gave them 5 skills at 5 points each, on average. It seems to be working out well so far. They can open all the locks they come by, and survive the fights.

One tip/trick I learned is not to bother putting too many points in Safecracking. Instead just carry around a lot of dynamite or pipebombs. They do the least damage of all explosives, but they always open every safe, and it does not destroy the contents. Just aim for the door of the safe. You will see it outlined in green when you have it targeted. OTOH, dynamite does destroy the loot inside chests, so don't blow them up. Instead invest your points in Lockpicking.



Persephone is now leading a team of Arizona Rangers

She has teamed up with her BFF Serana

Lucia sets her sights on a Wrecker

Sofie has some good [censored] (ammonia nitrate to be more exact)

Lucia is handy with grenades

The ships of the desert