Atom RPG

[strumpusplunket]

You might well be right about the female sex appeal trait. I'm not sure if that trait is taken into account for dialogue checks, but it wouldn't make sense for it not to be. Also, more intelligence might be more useful than more personality.

Hmm, I might look this up. If it doesn't work in conversation I will definitely take another distinction. Hopefully it does. As you say, it would be a pretty poor trait if it didn't. But then there some other distinctions that do look straight-up poor choices, so who knows.

Personality can be boosted in Atom by perfume. I think also by cannabis, but I'm not sure about that. But stat boosts from consumables are very temporary and have to be applied in advance. No use if you're in a conversation and need to pass a stat check. Ending the conversation might well be trigger a failure by itself. Which makes sense - how would you respond if you were considering telling something personal and/or secret to someone and they did that? Walking off during a conversation is rude.

Ah, I had heard there was perfume. But not clothing I take it? Didn't know about cannabis either.

And I get what you're saying here. I think I missed a check in my last play session and couldn't get it to come back to try again.

"Hold that thought, I'm just gonna go smoke this spliff and then get back to you..."

I died that way once or twice, sleeping off an alcohol bender. Alcohol boosts your luck and I had very low luck, so I went on benders every now and then when I wanted to be less unlucky.

Ah, alochol. The cause of, and solution to, all life's problems

 

[Kelt]

Is Trudograd stand-alone or is it recommended to finish Atom first?

 

[Angilion]

Is Trudograd stand-alone or is it recommended to finish Atom first?

Yes and yes

Trudograd is standalone in the sense that you don't need Atom RPG to play Trudograd. You can generate a new character for Trudograd and during the character creation process you can make responses in a conversation that will determine the results of events in Atom RPG that form part of the story arc that affect Trudograd in some minor ways. Unless you've played Atom RPG you're answering mostly at random - it's mainly intended for people who played Atom RPG but no longer have their save file. A new Trudograd character will start at L15 and you can choose traits, stats, skills, skill tree entries on that basis. Essentially, you're immediately gaining 15 levels. So you'll be at the sort of level that the devs expected most characters to finish Atom RPG at. The storyline of Trudograd is standalone. You don't need to know what happened (or didn't happen) in Atom RPG. Imported characters have the same traits, stats and skills they had before, but their choices in the skill trees will be reset and their points for them returned. My guess is that the reworking of the skill tree made a simple carryover impossible. You can choose two more traits as well, if you want.

On the other hand, Trudograd is very much a sequel to Atom RPG. Same main character, some of the same NPCs (including a companion, if they survived Atom RPG). Quite a few references to the story of Atom RPG. The same general gameworld. A different location in the Russia of that gameworld, but still the Russia of that gameworld. The two games are very much connected.

So IMO Trudograd is standalone but I would recommend finishing Atom RPG first. Or, if you've played some of it and don't want to finish it, watching some videos on the character creation in Trudograd and what the conversation options mean.


The main things that make Trudograd different to Atom are:

i) You start at a high level. That makes the early game quite different. You'll already have your build in place, though probably not complete.
ii) The setting is almost entirely urban. There are only a few non-urban surface locations and only if you unlock them through conversation. There are a few underground locations, though you could easily miss all of them.
iii) Guns are rare for the early part of Trudograd. Very rare. The only guns you'll be able to buy until you pick one of the two factions and gain their trust are some low end pistols from a single merchant in one area of the city and even that's not obvious. Selling guns is illegal, so they're working as a completely different kind of merchant. The guns are an under the counter thing you'll have to speak with them about.

Despite being strongly a sequel, they're quite different games to play.

 

[Kelt]

@Angilion

Thanks for the detailed response!

I'll finish Atom then, started it ages ago but didn't get very far into it, I'll just start a new game, I think.

 

[strumpusplunket]

So I started again last night. I didn't end up doing much different actually, other than give the old guy the corn instead of eating it this time.

I did marginally feel I know more of what was going on, though. I now have a rifle with no ammo and a shiv I made from junk. But I am always on the verge of starvation. I have barely 80 roubles (quite how or why people are using roubles as currency this long after the nuclear apocalypse I can't fathom, but that's another matter...) and one tin of meat. I want to rest to make it daytime again, but I don't have enough food. I did take the glutton distinction because it basicallly looked like two free stat points, but it feels like it's biting quite hard early on.

I do, though, have nearly 60kg of random junk I acquired (soap, wires, bottles, bricks, etc.). It's not worth much but could keep me fed for a day or two, probably. But I don't know what to sell. I know scrap I want to keep, but is any of this stuff vendor trash? Should I try to craft junk into items and sell those? It doesn't seem like they sell for much, but I've not done the maths on this. Are there any tricks to getting your economy going early on?

 

[Angilion]

So I started again last night. I didn't end up doing much different actually, other than give the old guy the corn instead of eating it this time.

I did marginally feel I know more of what was going on, though. I now have a rifle with no ammo and a shiv I made from junk. But I am always on the verge of starvation. I have barely 80 roubles (quite how or why people are using roubles as currency this long after the nuclear apocalypse I can't fathom, but that's another matter...) and one tin of meat. I want to rest to make it daytime again, but I don't have enough food. I did take the glutton distinction because it basicallly looked like two free stat points, but it feels like it's biting quite hard early on.

I do, though, have nearly 60kg of random junk I acquired (soap, wires, bottles, bricks, etc.). It's not worth much but could keep me fed for a day or two, probably. But I don't know what to sell. I know scrap I want to keep, but is any of this stuff vendor trash? Should I try to craft junk into items and sell those? It doesn't seem like they sell for much, but I've not done the maths on this. Are there any tricks to getting your economy going early on?

The ingame description of roubles mentions soft drink bottlecaps in a very clear nod to Fallout:

Wasteland dwellers still use pre-war rubles. Soda bottle caps were briefly considered as currency, but the idea never caught on.

I think it makes a reasonable amount of sense. It probably wouldn't be possible to forge pre-war roubles in the post-apocalypse world of Atom. There would probably be a fairly plentiful supply. They would be practical to carry. They would be recognisable. There might also be a psychological component, a link to the past. The only flaw that stands out to me is that there's nothing backing the currency. No resources and no authority. Nothing at all. I don't think that's a complete deal-breaker though. At heart, currency is just a token people agree to use to represent resources. It's possible to have it without backing. In the world of Fallout, for example, the currency of bottlecaps started out locally backed by both resources (water) and an authority (a merchant's guild) but after the use of caps for currency spread that outgrew both those forms of backing. In a post-apocalypse world, I think it's plausible to have a functioning currency backed by nothing other than custom and general agreement. It's an interesting topic and I've probably thought about it more than game designers did

I can't help you much on this one. I managed OK for basic necessities of survival in the early game from going everywhere, looking at everything and talking to everyone, but I recall it being tight early on and I hadn't taken the glutton trait.

I did very little crafting in Atom RPG. I had a large stock of materials because I was expecting to do a lot of crafting, but it didn't turn out that way. The only thing I crafted in any significant quantity was preserved meat and fish and that just needs salt and meat or fish. I crafted a couple of early weapons and a couple of bits of early armour, maybe. I also crafted the thing that's useful for one of the ways of acquiring an extra stat point. I could have sold almost all the junk I found. I didn't, but I could have done.

I'm not sure about crafting for profit. I'm sure you could if you had a high enough crafting skill to reliably make the better crafted items, but that would require a fair bit of levelling and using that for training the crafting skill (tinkering?) and probably some crafting skills in the skill tree too. By the time you got that far, money and food wouldn't be problems and in any case you're probably better off using the points for other skills and skill tree entries. Maybe crafting some basic items would get you a few extra rubles. Maybe it would lose you a few rubles because crafting sometimes fails and wastes the materials.

The price of things can vary a lot from one merchant to another, so who you sell stuff to matters a lot. Your personality and your barter skill affect prices, too.

Are you butchering animals you kill? The meat from them is very useful for keeping yourself fed early on. To do so, you need a tool in your inventory that can be used for butchery (it'll be mentioned in the item description). Many bladed items will do the job. A standard knife definitely will. I don't know about a shiv. Raw meat will give you some food poisoning, but you can cook it when you camp and you can preserve it indefinitely by crafting with raw meat and salt. (EDIT: you don't need the butchery tool equipped, just in your inventory. The butchering will be done automatically if you do).

Fishing is another source of food. You can only fish in very specific places. I think there's a fishing spot outside the village on the Otradyne world map and an NPC there who can teach you a useful skill related to fishing if you do them a favour. I'm not sure though. I'm sure that NPC exists, but I'm not sure of my recollection of where they are.

There's a very useful item in Otradyne. Not useful immediately, but very useful during the game.

Spoiler

In the bookshelf in the general's house there's a book on Russian criminal slang. Reading it will give you a special trait that allows you to pass yourself off as a criminal. That gives you more options in some conversations and access to an otherwise inaccessible location later on and the chance to respec later on by buying an experimental pre-war drug on the black market. One dose only. If your main character build is as you want it to be, it's useful to give it to Alexander. He's one of the companions you can recruit and he's specced for melee, which is suboptimal. With the respec drug you can change his skills and skill tree entries, but not his stats. His stats make him a good fit for heavy automatic weapons). I'm almost sure that book is in the general's house in Otradyne and I've just checked a walkthrough that says it is.

You can also go grave-robbing in various places, including Otradyne. You need a shovel, which you can steal in Otradyne. The old guy who you help out with the corn has one in his farming patch. Rather poor form to steal it from him, but nobody will complain if you do. Or you could acquire from somewhere else. Trading, crafting, finding one somewhere. Grave-robbing will get you some more resources. Bit shady, though.

 

[strumpusplunket]

The ingame description of roubles mentions soft drink bottlecaps in a very clear nod to Fallout:

I think it makes a reasonable amount of sense. It probably wouldn't be possible to forge pre-war roubles in the post-apocalypse world of Atom. There would probably be a fairly plentiful supply. They would be practical to carry. They would be recognisable. There might also be a psychological component, a link to the past. The only flaw that stands out to me is that there's nothing backing the currency. No resources and no authority. Nothing at all. I don't think that's a complete deal-breaker though.

Yeah, there is the issue of the currency no longer being backed, and then there is also the wild instability in the supply of them. There are no more being issued and haven't been for 20 years. Yet paper currency has a lifespan in open ciruclation of, what, two or three years before the notes wear out to the point of being unusable? And we have 20 years of a world using them with no new notes being issued? The depletion of the supply of notes in circulation would be an insurmountable problem on its own. I should just let this go In no way is it hampering my enjoyment of the game, but I can't stop thinking about it for some reason.

I can't help you much on this one. I managed OK for basic necessities of survival in the early game from going everywhere, looking at everything and talking to everyone, but I recall it being tight early on and I hadn't taken the glutton trait.

Things started getting a little bit easier last night. I found some rat meat and then got some cash from a couple of quests that let me stock up on canned meat so the immediate threat of starvation has at least abated.

I have given up on crafting for now at least as I just seem to fail too often. I will try salting meat, though, as you mention. That sounds more convenient than having to make a campsite.

I did swipe the old guy's shovel and dig up all the graves with not a twinge of remorse. What can I say, my MC is a pragmatist

Now I am paralysed by indecision over levelling. I have given my MC speech and rifles only so far, and I now have a companion so I was thinking he should use automatic weapons so we're not competing for the same ammo, but I am feeling my way in the dark here. Does he become a good automatic weapon user? Do I need to take perks on him to support that route?

This game is brilliant so far. I can't remember anything evoking the feeling of Fallout 2 so much. It certainly does it more than Encased and even more than Wasteland 2 I think. I really liked both those games, but in this one there is such a strong vibe of being some random schmuck in a hostile and compromised world trying all the means at your disposal to get by (which rarely means combat so far).

 

[Angilion]

Yeah, there is the issue of the currency no longer being backed, and then there is also the wild instability in the supply of them. There are no more being issued and haven't been for 20 years. Yet paper currency has a lifespan in open ciruclation of, what, two or three years before the notes wear out to the point of being unusable? And we have 20 years of a world using them with no new notes being issued? The depletion of the supply of notes in circulation would be an insurmountable problem on its own. I should just let this go In no way is it hampering my enjoyment of the game, but I can't stop thinking about it for some reason.

The lack of new issue is the same as it is in Fallout. It could be a benefit in that it ties in with the difficulty of forgery. There would be some new supply of currency as a result of scavenging. The degradation of paper money that you refer to would be a deal-breaker by 20 years, though. I wholly agree with you there. In that respect, Fallout's use of a far more durable item for currency makes a lot more sense. A possible retcon might be that in the world of Atom the USSR had already switched to plastic notes by the mid 1980s. Maybe.

I have given up on crafting for now at least as I just seem to fail too often. I will try salting meat, though, as you mention. That sounds more convenient than having to make a campsite.

It is, although salt is in fairly short supply. It's very easy to make, so you probably won't fail often even with low crafting skills. You can equip a magnifying glass and/or smoke tobacco to temporarily increase your crafting skill, but I think that wouldn't be necessary for salting. I recall failing sometimes early on and even some critical failures (which result in a loss of materials, usually the salt), but not often.

Now I am paralysed by indecision over levelling. I have given my MC speech and rifles only so far, and I now have a companion so I was thinking he should use automatic weapons so we're not competing for the same ammo, but I am feeling my way in the dark here. Does he become a good automatic weapon user? Do I need to take perks on him to support that route?

He can become an excellent automatic weapons user. You can take perks to support that route, but you don't need to. I concentrated on defense perks for all characters. Probably took some automatic weapons perks too, but defence first and foremost. The pathfinding part of the companion pseudo-AI is a bit ropey but I found that they fought well when their relevant weapon skill had been levelled enough. For example, they would use aimed single shots at enemies further away and bursts at closer enemies. They'd use their action points efficiently as well, e.g. if they had 8 AP and the weapon they were carrying used 3AP for a single shot, 4AP for an aimed shot and 5AP for a burst they'd generally fire 2 aimed shots at an enemy further away and a burst and a single shot at an enemy closer to them.

I didn't find machineguns particularly useful. The accuracy is lower and they get through a lot of ammunition. Maybe they'd work well in the hands of a character with a high enough skill to be accurate enough with them. But I found that full auto guns with selectable fire modes and which the game categorised as automatic weapons worked best for my companions. Single shot or burst of a few bullets. There are various rifles of that type (categorised in the game as automatic weapons rather than as rifles) and at least one gun described as an SMG but categorised ingame as an automatic weapon and functioning more like a rifle than an SMG. HK-33, IIRC. It has the range and accuracy you'd expect from a high quality rifle rather than an SMG. Maybe that's how it is in real life. I don't know.

You're right about competing for ammo, too. Even if you go as far as I did in terms of going everywhere, talking to everyone and doing everything it'll be a long time before you could sustain multiple characters using the same ammunition for weapons with burst mode. If ever. You could probably do it for some ammunition but not for the rarer types of ammunition. Not even with the ammunition maker at your base (well worth recruiting him - he can make all the more common ammunition right away and if you bring him a gun that uses ammunition he doesn't know how to make he can learn how to make it). You'll also find that some ammunition is rather less effective towards the endgame, when you're going up against well armoured enemies. 9mm and .30 come to mind. I recall those being of limited use later on. The armour piercing versions of them do better, but not as well as more appropriate ammunition. But that's later on - those are probably the ammunution you'll be using most of for a lot of the game. IIRC if you look at ammunition in your inventory it shows how well it works against armour.

This game is brilliant so far. I can't remember anything evoking the feeling of Fallout 2 so much. It certainly does it more than Encased and even more than Wasteland 2 I think. I really liked both those games, but in this one there is such a strong vibe of being some random schmuck in a hostile and compromised world trying all the means at your disposal to get by (which rarely means combat so far).

I would say in all seriousness that Atom RPG is the best game I've played in the last few years. The UI leaves a lot to be desired, but the game itself is superb. It led me to try some more games with the same type of UI, games I'd not considered before because the UI put me off. Wasteland 2 and Wasteland 3 for starters. More recently, Dead State Reanimated (which is also brilliant).

 

[strumpusplunket]

The lack of new issue is the same as it is in Fallout. It could be a benefit in that it ties in with the difficulty of forgery. There would be some new supply of currency as a result of scavenging. The degradation of paper money that you refer to would be a deal-breaker by 20 years, though. I wholly agree with you there. In that respect, Fallout's use of a far more durable item for currency makes a lot more sense. A possible retcon might be that in the world of Atom the USSR had already switched to plastic notes by the mid 1980s. Maybe.

Yes, I like it. That is now going to be my headcannon retcon. Why not, it's an alternative future after all

He can become an excellent automatic weapons user. You can take perks to support that route, but you don't need to. I concentrated on defense perks for all characters. Probably took some automatic weapons perks too, but defence first and foremost. The pathfinding part of the companion pseudo-AI is a bit ropey but I found that they fought well when their relevant weapon skill had been levelled enough. For example, they would use aimed single shots at enemies further away and bursts at closer enemies. They'd use their action points efficiently as well, e.g. if they had 8 AP and the weapon they were carrying used 3AP for a single shot, 4AP for an aimed shot and 5AP for a burst they'd generally fire 2 aimed shots at an enemy further away and a burst and a single shot at an enemy closer to them.

Great. Cheers. I don't know how many companions you can get and if it's okay to have them all use automatic weapons, but that sounds a good plan for now.

I would say in all seriousness that Atom RPG is the best game I've played in the last few years. The UI leaves a lot to be desired, but the game itself is superb. It led me to try some more games with the same type of UI, games I'd not considered before because the UI put me off. Wasteland 2 and Wasteland 3 for starters. More recently, Dead State Reanimated (which is also brilliant).

I'm around four hours into this playthrough, and I still haven't fired a gun. I only have seven or eight bullets for the one gun I have any ammo for and that seems too scarce to start blasting away with. Guns have started showing up in caravans now and whilst I can't afford them yet, I wonder if this means I really should be able to use them? I did find one grenade, but since I was low on cash and it was worth over 300R, I sold it.

Also, I'd left my character with yellow radiation status thinking that wouldn't matter too much. After all, it's not red. Then all of a sudden, days later, I started losing stats due to radiation sickness! I had to reload an earlier save and drink loads of vodka to purge radiation. I don't know if that there would have been a way to cure radiation sickness or not, or whether that would have been it if I'd carried on, but eek!

This tense feeling of precarious survival, scarce resources and being lost and alone in a dangerous wasteland is really quite unique in modern games.

Already thinking I will take this character straight into Trudograd after I finish (if that is an option).

 

[Angilion]

[..] Great. Cheers. I don't know how many companions you can get and if it's okay to have them all use automatic weapons, but that sounds a good plan for now.

Details about companions, as I remember them. This might not be entirely correct - it's from my memory from over a year ago.

Spoiler

In Atom RPG you can recruit up to 3 companions. Hexogen, Alexander, Fidel. There is, IIRC, a 4th potential companion. A very dodgy character. A raider, I think. Recruiting them will cause at least one of the other companions to leave if they're already with you. There are also a few NPCs who are sort of partial companions who live in the player base and do some things there. An ammunition maker, a dairy farmer, a cook. One of them is recruited in the field and escorted back to base. You're rescuing them and offering them a home, essentially. So they spend some time travelling with you, but IIRC they don't fight. You can give them stuff to carry. I took them straight to my base as that seemed the right thing for my character to do in a roleplaying sense. I'd rescued them and offered them a relatively safe home. It didn't seem right to take them on dangerous missions.

The companions have some skills when recruited, since they've been living before meeting you.

Alexander is a brawling rank and file soldier. Big, strong, tough, reliable, rough and ready, more accustomed to taking orders than giving them. They're already somewhat trained for melee, but they can handle weapons to an extent and they can retrain on the job. Later on, if you make certain decisions, you can give them the single dose of respec drug that exists in the game. Their size and strength make them a good fit for heavier guns. I initially had Alexander with a full on machinegun, but I wasn't impressed with machineguns in Atom and gave him a heavier full auto rifle instead. Maybe machineguns would be good in Atom later, with a character trained highly enough to be more accurate with one and when you have enough bullets to make using a machinegun more viable.

Fidel is a political field agent covert action type of person. I ran with it and had Fidel as my lockpicker and tech specialist.

Hexogen is a writer with a very high opinion of his own towering importance to the most important field of human endeavour - literature. He talks a lot and in a very verbose manner. He's also somehow convinced he's your father. Metaphorically, probably, but with Hexogen metaphor and reality are a bit mixed.

They're quite interesting characters. Maybe especially Alexander. There's more depth to him than the simple brawler he first seems to be. His story arc takes a surprising turn partway through the game, involving the nature of what it means to be human.

Is it OK to have them all with automatic weapons, but it won't work out well earlier in the game because you won't have enough bullets. Even if you do spread out the ammunition types (which is a good idea). I trained my companions in automatic weapons, but for a fair bit of the game they were mostly using their sidearms - semiautomatic pistols. We had enough 9mm and .30 for single shot pistol use. Their automatic weapons were mostly slung and used only sparingly when the situation was too much for their sidearms.

On the other hand, I overdid the preperation and ended the game with an arsenal of guns and over 10,000 rounds of unused ammunition. Ammunition is so hard to come by earlier in the game that I'd got into the habit of carefully hoarding it.

I'm around four hours into this playthrough, and I still haven't fired a gun. I only have seven or eight bullets for the one gun I have any ammo for and that seems too scarce to start blasting away with. Guns have started showing up in caravans now and whilst I can't afford them yet, I wonder if this means I really should be able to use them? I did find one grenade, but since I was low on cash and it was worth over 300R, I sold it.

That's what I did with grenades - sell them. Until I had more money than I had any use for. After that, I added them to my arsenal in my base. I don't recall ever using a grenade in the game.

I don't remember how long I was playing before I made much use of guns, but I do remember that there was some time early in the game when I hardly used guns at all. Some hairy times fighting with knives against guns. I made some use of crossbows. Not because it was my first choice but because it was a ranged weapon I could make ammunition for. Likewise for the crude firearms you can make or find. You can make ammunition for them too. Not very good ammunition for not very good guns, but more range than the shiv or club that were my other options at the time.

The situation you're in isn't wrong or unexpected for the early game in Atom RPG. I don't recall how long I was in the same situation for. It might well have been 4 hours of play, as it is for you. Here's some comments I made about the early game, from back when I was playing it:

I did a favour for a character in the first village, refused payment partly because I was thinking that reputation affects dialogue options and partly because I'm roleplaying someone decent and the NPC clearly didn't have much of anything (did I mention that this game is an actual RPG) and they gave me an old rifle as thanks. Sweet! I wanted a rifle. Punching rats to death is not my ideal course of action. But...they gave me a rifle. Just the rifle. They didn't have any bullets of the right type. Neither did I. Neither did any of the traders in the village. I knew the general idea of how to make bullets, but lacked the materials to do so and lacked the skill to do a decent job of it. And that's how it should be, in the context of that gameworld. So was I annoyed at having a useless rifle? No. In character, I was pleased at having the potential for a useful weapon. Out of character, I was pleased at having a very well made game.

My prevailing impression after a few more hours of play can be summed up in two words - "hard" and "morally compromised". I'm playing on normal level and it is hard, very hard. Scav is far sparser than in Fallout, which fits because you're far from the first scavenger in the area. You will be short of money. You will be short of food. You will be short of ammunition. [..] I have 4 bullets for a badly worn out crappy rifle and 2 bullets for an improvised pipe pistol. [..]

This one gives some indication of how long the scarcity of ammunition lasted for me:

[..] I bought a pristine Skorpion SMG from the outrageously expensive weapon shop in Kraznoznamenny (~5600 roubles!) and it's a vast improvement over the quality zip gun I'd made for myself but it chews through my stock of bullets. That same vendor sells lots of bullets...at an outrageously expensive price. Even 9mm bullets are about 6 roubles each! [..]

I'd been playing for quite a while before I even reached Kraznoznamenny, let alone had 5600 roubles spare for buying a gun.

Also, I'd left my character with yellow radiation status thinking that wouldn't matter too much. After all, it's not red. Then all of a sudden, days later, I started losing stats due to radiation sickness! I had to reload an earlier save and drink loads of vodka to purge radiation. I don't know if that there would have been a way to cure radiation sickness or not, or whether that would have been it if I'd carried on, but eek!

I don't think the radiation status goes red. The standard radiation warning symbol is yellow in the real world. I think it's the same in Atom RPG. I don't know what happens ingame with radiation sickness over time. I took great care to purge any exposure I received as soon as I could. Same with toxins.

This tense feeling of precarious survival, scarce resources and being lost and alone in a dangerous wasteland is really quite unique in modern games.

Already thinking I will take this character straight into Trudograd after I finish (if that is an option).

It is an option. I kept my Atom RPG savegame for over a year while Trudograd was being developed and took it into Trudrograd as soon as Trudograd reached the release version. Completely seamless. The only thing you need to redo is your skill tree. There are some changes in the skill tree between Atom RPG and Trudograd. Presumably that made a simple continuation impossible. Instead, Trudograd returns the skill tree points you'd used in Atom RPG and you can redo your skill tree as you please.

"This tense feeling of precarious survival, scarce resources and being lost and alone in a dangerous wasteland" doesn't really carry over to Trudograd. In Atom RPG you start as a raw recruit fresh out of basic training and dropped into a mission that warrants a whole team of experienced agents. You're the long shot lack of choice, not the right choice. You're assigned the mission on your own because there isn't anyone else. In Trudograd, you're already an experienced and highly skilled agent. Also, Trudograd is an urban game. There's very little in the way of wasteland in the game. It's a somewhat different type of game to Atom.

 

[strumpusplunket]

I am now using guns since I started looting bandits and selling their weapons and armour. Still don't have many for my MC's rifle, though. Finding seven bullets in a stash was my best find for a long time!

So it's going quite well, but I think there is a bug for me with

Spoiler

the book burners quest.

I have the pile of books and have been attacked by the obscuratinists/book burners several times (and killed them several times over), but the quest won't advance. I have got quite rich off their loot, but I can't finish the quest. Am I missing something? Is this a specific group of book burners I am looking for? I've fought them in lots of different places on the map, but they just keep appearing.

 

[Angilion]

I am now using guns since I started looting bandits and selling their weapons and armour. Still don't have many for my MC's rifle, though. Finding seven bullets in a stash was my best find for a long time!

So it's going quite well, but I think there is a bug for me with

Spoiler

the book burners quest.

I have the pile of books and have been attacked by the obscuratinists/book burners several times (and killed them several times over), but the quest won't advance. I have got quite rich off their loot, but I can't finish the quest. Am I missing something? Is this a specific group of book burners I am looking for? I've fought them in lots of different places on the map, but they just keep appearing.

I didn't remember that quest at all. I looked it up and the only possible non-bug explanation I can find is that you have to return to the quest giver in order to complete the quest.

 

[strumpusplunket]

I did try that, but nothing is working with this one. I've done some searching, and it seems that the steps I've already taken should have resolved it, but it looks like this one is broken in my game. Oh well, it's only one quest, so nevermind.

Slowly, slowly building up some ammo stores and Roubles, but the wastes are still a very diecy place.

 

[strumpusplunket]

I think I've now exhausted everything to do before either going to the bunker or travelling to another map. I'm only level 14 though. It must have taken lots of grinding to get to level 27 by that stage?

I'm still using the rifle one of the companions came with, two AKSUs and a pistol for my last companion (who sucks at everything except melee), so I am not sure I am well geared-up. Even after all these hours and with 45k Roubles in my pocket I can't find better guns with enough ammo to replace these, though. I have around 80 rounds for a better single-shot rifle and also for the Vintorez I took from some guy who appeared from nowhere and attacked me for getting too close to his stash or something, but that isn't going to last very long. I'd be willing to pay the extortionate prices in KRZ for bullets, but even that rip-off merchant only has a handful every few days. Is that load-out about expected for my level, or am I seroiusly behind the curve on armaments?

 

[Angilion]

I think I've now exhausted everything to do before either going to the bunker or travelling to another map. I'm only level 14 though. It must have taken lots of grinding to get to level 27 by that stage?

It didn't seem like grinding to me. Except maybe one fight in the dead city, the one with dozens of enemies. Maybe as many as 100 enemies. That took ages. Mostly waiting for each of the enemies to move, one at a time. That was somewhat tedious. I did spend quite some time roaming around killing slaver gangs and other raider types because that was in character. I was delaying a bit because I didn't want the game to end.

I'm still using the rifle one of the companions came with, two AKSUs and a pistol for my last companion (who sucks at everything except melee), so I am not sure I am well geared-up. Even after all these hours and with 45k Roubles in my pocket I can't find better guns with enough ammo to replace these, though. I have around 80 rounds for a better single-shot rifle and also for the Vintorez I took from some guy who appeared from nowhere and attacked me for getting too close to his stash or something, but that isn't going to last very long. I'd be willing to pay the extortionate prices in KRZ for bullets, but even that rip-off merchant only has a handful every few days. Is that load-out about expected for my level, or am I seroiusly behind the curve on armaments?

I had a modified Dragunov sniper rifle for my main character. I'm not sure about my other characters. Time to find my Atom installation and have a look at the last save point, which was just before the final battle...

Anastasia, my main character, is L27 with the modified Dragunov sniper rifle as their main weapon and the Vitinsky Experimental Rifle as their backup weapon (which they never used). 261 normal rounds left, 135 armour piercing. 354 custom made (player base ammo maker) rounds for the VER. Combat armour, Face Of Death helmet, Kikimora camo suit. 199 in both rifles+shotguns and automatic weapons.

Fidel is L24 with an AKMS with 631 armour piercing rounds as their main weapon and some grenades as their backup weapon (which they never used). An AS <VAL> rifle is in their inventory, which uses the same ammunition as the AKMS. I preferred the AKMS. Combat armour, a hedgehog helmet and a protective face mask. 199 in both pistols+SMGs and automatic weapons.

Hexogen is L24 with an AVS-36 with 510 rounds as their main weapon and a customised VSSM as theit backup weapon with 685 rounds and 645 armour piercing rounds. 6B2 body armour, ALTYN special forces helmet, protective face mask. 199 in both rifles+shotguns and automatic weapons.

Alexander is L25 with an HK-33 with 2722 rounds and 941 armour piercing rounds as their main weapon. The game moulded me into a bit of an obsessive hoarder regarding ammunution . RPK-74 machine gun as their backup weapon, which uses the same ammunition. Hence carrying so much of it, although it was still far more than necessary. They had an M-16 rifle and a PK machine gun in their inventory. 6B2 body armour, hedgehog helmet and protective face scarf. 199 in automatic weapons, but no other heavily trained weapon type. 122 in martial arts, but that was a holdover from their training before meeting Anastasia. I spent the single dose of respec drug on Anastasia, so Alexander was locked in to hand to hand combat to some extent.

A large armoury at my player base, all kinds of weapons and ammunition. Enough guns to equip a sizable militia and enough bullets to fight a small war. A sizable cache of guns and ammunition in a container in Otradyne, left there as roleplay. I liked Otradyne, so I wanted to make a contribution to its defence if necessary. I figured that SMGs and oodles of bullets would be the best bet for the villagers, who probably weren't very skilled with guns. Plus some AK-47 variants, of course, for the same reason.

That said, I'm pretty sure my party was way ahead of the curve on equipment, skills, levels, everything. The final fight wasn't much of a fight by that point. I don't know how you'll fair with your party. Maybe it's enough.

 

[strumpusplunket]

It didn't seem like grinding to me. Except maybe one fight in the dead city, the one with dozens of enemies. Maybe as many as 100 enemies. That took ages. Mostly waiting for each of the enemies to move, one at a time. That was somewhat tedious. I did spend quite some time roaming around killing slaver gangs and other raider types because that was in character. I was delaying a bit because I didn't want the game to end.

Ah, so you were lvl 27 after visiting Dead City? I must have misread, sorry. That might not be sooo far off what I might get to, especially with fights that large to come.

I'm pretty sure my party was way ahead of the curve on equipment, skills, levels, everything. The final fight wasn't much of a fight by that point. I don't know how you'll fair with your party. Maybe it's enough.

Well, hopefully I'll catch up to some degree after the Mountain Pass and Dead City! The bunker was a ridiculous pushover, and the only battles I've struggled with recently are the ones where you get ambushed and surrounded by slavers who grenade and insta-gib your party in the first round before you can even move. Other than that it's been plain sailing for a good few hours now.

 

[TheFjordFox]

Not to be a Negative Nancy, but isn't this game just Fallout except it's worse? That was at least the feeling I got when playing it. I only played it for an hour or so tho before I meh'd out. How is this better than Fallout? I would like to like this game, but so far I just can't, unfortunately.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Not to be a Negative Nancy, but isn't this game just Fallout except it's worse? That was at least the feeling I got when playing it. I only played it for an hour or so tho before I meh'd out. How is this better than Fallout? I would like to like this game, but so far I just can't, unfortunately.

I agree with you. But each to their own.

If people really enjoy a game that's good for them, but some of the comments here somewhat exaggerated the game, I doubt intentionally either though, I hasten to add.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Well, considering Fallout and Fallout 2 are some of the most highly regarded cRPGs ever, "Fallout but worse" might not be such a negative (and equally, "how is this better than Fallout" might be a very high bar!).

This is one of a crop of recent games that aim to recreate the spirit of Wasteland and Fallout (also Wasteland 2 and 3, Underrail, Encased) and I think there's a good case that it might be best of them. It's not as polished or elegant as the others (or as many modern games), but it does stay true to many of the design principles that made Fallout so admired and which have fallen by the wayside a bit (a very tough and indifferent world, no hand-holding of the player or linear railroading of where they go, different build options genuinely affecting how you play, alternative routes to success other than combat, extensive side quests intersecting with the main story, lots of dialogue with most NPCs having some story to tell, combat and survival management being very challenging especially at the start, etc.).

I think it's pretty rough around the edges and the UI feels dated and clunky, combat can be quite frustrating and drawn-out, it's quite tricky to keep track of quests and keep sight of what you're supposed to be doing, companion AI is downright horrendous, pathfinding breaks quite regularly, Dex as a stat is too important for most playstyles, and other quirks too. It might cater to a fairly niche audience who really crave this type of game, but for those who do I think it's more satisfying than many other games of recent years.

 

[TheFjordFox]

Hmm, your description of it here makes me want to go back and give it a second look. Maybe I just need to push past the start of it all, and then I will enjoy it more. It does sound very good they way you talk about it here. I did not experience most of what you are talking about - I think I gave up on it in the first starting area after looking around at it a bit. I think I will indeed give it a second chance! I'll let you know if I meh out of it again, and if so, why xD