Skills in V0.6.10

[kpetro]

And don't forget that prior to the 6.10 release, the big secret to increasing experience points was

patient tedious grinding for hours and hours

And now the new secret to increasing experience is

patient tedious grinding for hours and hours

[tailings]

I'm a little dubious about the value of Quick Learner, at least until someone posts some maths.

I recall, years ago, someone effectively showed the Fast Learner skill in Fallout 2 was not worth it. Simply put, the point of leveling is to build the character, ie, add to stats and skills. Every level earns additional stat and skill points. Putting a skill point in Quick Learner is a point not spent on some other skill, so Quick Learner is >only< useful if it can be shown that it will allow a player to earn the same number of additional skills, in a faster time period, than a player who hasn't taken Quick Learner.

It can safely be said that Quick Learner does not help the character in game. Nothing about Quick Learner makes the character a better fighter or find treasure faster, etc. Quick Learner is only useful if it allows a character to achieve other skills faster than a character without Quick Learner.

For example, a level 40 character will earn 10 skill points. If one of those skill points is used for Quick Learner, that leaves 9 points to use for other skills. A player with Quick Learner would have to achieve a level of 44 to get that extra skill point to equal the 10 skill points of the player without Quick Learner. The $24,000 question then is whether Quick Learner can get you to level 44 faster than a player without Quick Learner can get to level 40.

As stated above, this was proven to not be possible in Fallout 2. Skills in Fallout 2 where given every 3 levels, and the 5% gain was shown to not be enough to make up for the choice of burning a skill point on Fast Learner. HOWEVER, Andor's Trail allows for more than 5% gain with multiple levels of Quick Learner. There may be a break point where Quick Learner is advantageous, however it would take many levels for that advantage to kick in and make up for the loss of points not spent on other skills.

It should also be mentioned that Quick Learner will have the most use the earlier it is taken.

Anyone want to crunch the maths on this one?

[Sarumar]

And don't forget that prior to the 6.10 release, the big secret to increasing experience points was

patient tedious grinding for hours and hours

And now the new secret to increasing experience is

patient tedious grinding for hours and hours

+1

[tailings]

Oh, and here's what I've spent so far. I was at level 44 when the skills were introduced, and have since gotten to level 49, for a total of 12 skill points.

Bark Skin (1) - Defense is becoming more necessary in the newer portions of the game.
More Crit (1) - Damage up front is still key. Hit them before they hit you.
Better Crit (1) - Ditto
Combat Speed (2) - easily the best skill of the lot
Corpse Eater (1) - looked attractive, but I'm beginning to doubt it's usefulness
Increased Fortitude (1) - very nice, and may alleviate any need to spend further stat points on HP
Regeneration (1) - Much better than Corpse Eater
Magic Finder (1) - I already had a RoLS and ElyR. Haven't found any others yet.
Strong Mind (1) - I think this, and the two below are going to become more and more necessary
Enduring Body (1) - as the game progresses.
Pure Blood (1) -

Some thoughts on the remaining skills:

Weapon accuracy - Equal to 2.4 levels of stat points, so perhaps not worth it, but a pre-req for cleave.
Hard Hit - Equal to 1 level of stat points, but a pre-req for cleave.
Merchant - Useless. Money is only an issue early in the game.
Dodge - Equal to 3 levels of stat points.
Treasure Hunter - Useless, for the same reason as Merchant.
Quick Learner - Jury still out for me, see my lengthy post above.
Cleave - Looks attractive, but only if combat with multiple baddies becomes a common occurrence.
Evasion - Virtually useless.
Failure Mastery - Utterly useless. Save often and reload.

[Sarumar]

The Skills offered that really seem to offer the player the least advantage are: Weapon Accuracy, Hard Hit, Treasure Hunter, Cleave, Corpse Eater, Evasion, and Failure Mastery.

IMO you underestimated Evasion and maby some other too

[tailings]

The Skills offered that really seem to offer the player the least advantage are: Weapon Accuracy, Hard Hit, Treasure Hunter, Cleave, Corpse Eater, Evasion, and Failure Mastery.

IMO you underestimated Evasion and maby some other too

Why would you ever want to flee? Potions are cheap, so it's easy to stay healthy in combat. And reloading is quick and easy, so if you save often, the occasional death is a minor annoyance.

[Sarumar]

The Skills offered that really seem to offer the player the least advantage are: Weapon Accuracy, Hard Hit, Treasure Hunter, Cleave, Corpse Eater, Evasion, and Failure Mastery.

IMO you underestimated Evasion and maby some other too

Why would you ever want to flee? Potions are cheap, so it's easy to stay healthy in combat. And reloading is quick and easy, so if you save often, the occasional death is a minor annoyance.

Nowadays I never flee and never choose savegame option. Yes i just died someday ago and lose somewhere 150000 exp. I just like to play this game and my main build n old school way

I still love Evasion skill and think it is awesome

[tailings]

Nowadays I never flee and never choose savegame option. Yes i just died someday ago and lose somewhere 150000 exp. I just like to play this game and my main build n old school way

I still love Evasion skill and think it is awesome

Well, if you're going hardcore, then Evasion and Failure Mastery will be of use. I'm sure more players will play challenge games to keep the game entertaining.

[qasur]

I put one point into Cleave and I attempt to get into multiple-combat situations in order to clear out stuff easier and faster. With two points, it could be even better.

Personally, I'm hoping for an added EXP for engaging multiple enemies at once. I think that should definitely be done as there is no real advantage for doing so. If that happens, I imagine Cleave will be really good.

Also, Corpse Eater is also good. Almost same reason as Cleave. The more kills the faster just keeps potion-use down.

[tailings]

I put one point into Cleave and I attempt to get into multiple-combat situations in order to clear out stuff easier and faster. With two points, it could be even better.

Personally, I'm hoping for an added EXP for engaging multiple enemies at once. I think that should definitely be done as there is no real advantage for doing so. If that happens, I imagine Cleave will be really good.

Also, Corpse Eater is also good. Almost same reason as Cleave. The more kills the faster just keeps potion-use down.

Corpse Eater is certainly useful. But I think Regeneration is better. In other words, Regeneration (2) is probably a better way to go than Regeneration (1) + Corpse Eater (1).

I do think Cleave has great potential, but that depends how the game progresses. Right now, there are only a few places where you must engage more than one enemy at a time. I too also try to engage multiple enemies to speed up the killing, but often this is more trouble than worth. For the moment I don't think Cleave is useful enough to justify 3 skill points to get it.