CK Questions

[Zer0Winds]

Hopefully this one won't be derailed.

I was playing Hunder earlier, and every time I'm in a battle, my Hund dies. Doesn't last long... any tips on how to ensure longer survivability?

Anyone else play as Grim, and call your dog "Reaper"?

I need help with hacking.

What's more useful, melee or ranged weapons?

Any advantages/disadvantages to using nonlethal weapons compared to lethal?

I'll get more questions later most likely.

[ntsheep]

Stick to gangland. Hunds need protection until you can raise the funds for armor and implants. Try to build their strength and movement first. Use them to draw fire while you move away to where you can escape.

I name my hunder Havoc. Keep the name of the first hund. Name the others Chomps and Dynomutt.

[Zer0Winds]

Does the Yakuza count as "Gangland"?

[ntsheep]

Working for the Yaks use to be pretty good. The one supply shop just North of Los V would send you to Los V, KH, or Fennian areas with simple jobs. It can be worth it working for them early, but they tend to hound you a lot and may kill you just as quickly.

[Zer0Winds]

#1 cause of death are from Yakuza, that's why I wanted to work with them, see if they'll leave me alone.

[ntsheep]

You'll have to build your rep with the Yakuza to get them to leave you alone. That's kind of what makes it hard. They are testing you. It's best just to run from them. That can be quite hard in the beginning of the game. One of the best things to do is to work for the Los V's and go through the ladder and get the rewards from them. It's some pretty good stuff. Use Vinny as a mobile connector and get Kass Bad Eye's chip to talk to her each time you've increased your rep by about 25 points.

[grävling]

Jul 30, 2016 20:43:19 GMT -5 Zer0Winds said:

Hopefully this one won't be derailed.

I was playing Hunder earlier, and every time I'm in a battle, my Hund dies. Doesn't last long... any tips on how to ensure longer survivability?

I always let Atilla return to a kennel until I have purchased a synthskin armour for him. I don't hire any more dogs unless I already
have purchased armour for them. Otherwise, they just die, as you have noticed. (Hard armour is nicer, of course.)

Anyone else play as Grim, and call your dog "Reaper"?

yes.

I need help with hacking.

It's not what I know a lot about, alas.

What's more useful, melee or ranged weapons
Any advantages/disadvantages to using nonlethal weapons compared to lethal??

The taser glove from Harken Pawn Brokers in Copley Square is the very best weapon in the game. The other melee weapons aren't that much good, though cyberclaws are nice. But since you cannot control whether they give physical or mental damage, they aren't as reliable when you really care what sort of damage you want.

The reason that the taser glove is the best is that the taser glove gives mental and not physical damage, and with a speed of 4 they give _lots of it_, or _a sufficient amount even if your brawling is only 3_. All the enemies in the game, aside from Predator Drones and Horizon Drones have the property that their physical hit points >= mental hit points. Thus all the enemies are either just was easy to kill or easier to kill with the Yakashima Taser glove than with a physical dealing weapon. This goes for the dogs as well -- they will be more effective with the electrocuting teeth.

But you will need a strategy for those nasty robots as soon as you want to work in non-ganger lands. And the shock glove is not going to work. Usually train yourself in shooting so you can use a rifle to kill them. But you can also hire dogs or runners and kit them out with physical-damagers and say that the big nasty robots are their problem. (The little floating tin cans have hardly any mental protection, so you can get them with a taser glove just fine.) Or you can invest in cyberclaws and slice them up that way.

The non-lethal Ares mark 4 blasta gun from Fairlight outfitters in West End is an ok non-lethal weapon. It's a pistol, so if you are a gunslinger, buy a matched set.

The other non-lethal weapons are pretty much rubbish. You could buy one for giving the final blow to a target you need to capture, but I would just get a taser glove for that even if you only use it for that.

The smaller advantage of non-lethal weaponry is that if you stun your enemies the neighbourhood takes it a lot better, which translates into ... you get less heat added in that zone. This is very important for new knights --- when heat gets high, you need to nap even though that trashes the rep you are trying to build with various factions. When you are sufficiently nasty you won't care about heat so much, but new knights want to avoid combat, as it can kill them.

[grävling]

The Yakuza count as gangland. If you are getting killed there then you don't have enough Action points. Beginning Cyberknights should stay out of Yakuza territory for the most part. Making a delivery to the Yakuza Gamling Den or to the Escort Agency is unlikely to get you killed. Deeper in -- Thrift Shop, Harkan's Pawn Broker -- can get you killed. The Dilapidated Gym and the hotel beside it will very, very, likely get you killed unless your unstimmed up AP is 7 or more, and 9 is really preferred.

You need decent rep with the Yakuza before they will let you work for them on the Yakuza ladder. Just working for then in general will raise your rep with them. But they have very short memories like all the gangers. So unless you have a 3 or 4 job computer, it is hard to keep your rep up with them enough to make a difference.

[Zer0Winds]

I've been playing awhile now, I've got a successful Hunder.

How do I unlock those miscellaneous apartments around the NBZ? Do I buy them, find them, steal them, earn them...?

[grävling]

There are 4 real estate agencies in the NBZ. You can buy some of the misc properties there. The one in Southie should be safe for you to visit. Others are rewards for a certain level of reputation from a Ladder Connection of a faction that has a ladder (only Los V, Fennian, Blue Ox and BraveStar have ladders currently). A property you own is a hotel you do not have to pay to use. You can spend cash to kit them out with other features, too. They also have the nice property that resting there gives you more stamina than even the most expensive hotel -- assuming you get the luxury pad enhancement. So I always get that. The other features, well, site dependent. Having an inhouse doctor some place that is far away from existing medical services is nice, but if there already is one close, I save the money. Getting a kennel only makes sense if you have dogs, and if you are in the habit of swapping them in and out of your team all the time. Which I do a lot -- when I run escort missions, I need the slots for customers, but the rest of the time I want the teeth.
You don't have to remember which safehouse holds your dogs. You can check them in one place and due to the miracle of 'limitation of the code engine' they show up in _every_ safehouse.

I think that the price you paid for your safehouse should be reflected in how good the rest you get there, but I don't think that is in the game as of now.

[Zer0Winds]

After doing a bunch of high paying contracts, I got an Evo Rigging for me and my Hund. Was that good, or did I screw up horribly, and am most likely going to die a slow, painful death?

[Zer0Winds]

Got another question.

Runners, where are the different runners? Also, should I get more Hunds?

[ntsheep]

You can get runners that match all the basic classes in the game. No hunders or drone masters when those come out. If you get more than one hund, try to set them up for different attacks. Have one that is a stunner to take down targets that you need alive. Have another that rips through anything. Trying to balance your team is tricky but can be fun.

[grävling]

Evorigging is good, but it is better the more hunds you have on your team. It boosts perception, so makes perception-based jobs easier. It doesn't help with running packages or killing enemies. There is nothing wrong with getting it, though it eats a certain amount of XP with its DV. The only question is would you have been better off spending the money on something else (first)? A bigger computer, or hard armour, or 2 more dogs or cyberware for your dogs or .... This is a matter of personal style in addition to other concerns -- but you _need_ hard armour --- so there is no right answer here, just whatever suits you.

About runners: The reason to get one is to not have to be good at everything. Thus you can decide to, for instance, "not put any points in the hacking skill, because should I ever decide to hack something I will just have my hacker-trained runner do it". A hacker runner can concentrate on getting very good at hacking and leave the job of killing things to you and the hunds.

There are 2 sorts of cybersword runners in the game. The ganger sort can only use clubs. Since clubs aren't very good weapons, they aren't all that useful to get. But MarsCorp and BraveStar VIP rooms give you access to glove using runners. You can rescue them in the game, too. They are the Black women runners. Since the Yakashima taser glove is a great weapon, this sort of runner is extremely useful to have, especially if you are playing Female 2, who cannot use melee weapons at all.

The flip side of this is that an Agent X runner can use assault rifles to handle drones for you, and the Sniper runner can do the same with rifles. A gunslinger runner with a raptor in each hand is fairly deadly as well.

Note that hacker and face runners are rotten at fighting, no matter how hard you train them. On the other hand you can take a Sniper or a Martial Artist or an Agent X and train their hacking and persuastion skills so that they are every bit as good as a hacker runner. So I only hire runners who are good at killing even if their chief job is to be trained in Face or Hacker skills.

Dogs are cheaper, and very, very effective unless you want to shoot something. But it takes at least 2 attacking dogs to get rid of a Predator Drone before the thing can damage you. One sniper or Agent X can just drop the thing from far away long before the thing gets close to you all.

Lots of dogs makes the job 'guarding a mark in your safehouse' a whole lot easier than trying to do it without dogs. Surveillance jobs go better as well. But if you are still early in the game, you may be more interested in being able to have a large team of paying escort clients.

[Zer0Winds]

Where can I get a better computer?

I'll look for a sniper runner... any tips on where?