[SPOILERS] ATOM RPG - hints/tips

Promised this, so have to.
Except stuff I learned in my own game, I've also read numerous threads and guides (not spoilerish walkthroughs!) so won't link them all.
This post is about best game start. Perks you get within the game, where to go for good stuff and other tips will go into another post.

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A few things you should know first.

- Melee or unarmed is utterly useless in this game. Don't go for it. I did and eventually reached the point of pretty much tanking/healing MC during the fight all the bloody time and dealing no damage to anyone.

- AI is retarded. Not only hostiles, but your crew is not careful and friendly fire is imminent. Your crewmembers don't know how to use healing items properly plus they toss grenades randomly, means throwable AoE stuff and stims keep in your inventory/belt. Anyway, to avoid sidekicks die in most stupid ways possible, tank with MC as much as you can.

- Difficulty is the same whichever you pick. The only difference is rewards. Lesser the difficulty, better the rewards. Hostiles remain challenging the same way. I wish the game had more c&c instead of different difficulty nonsense. Anyway, don't be JDR, play on normal.

- The game uses classic design crime to lock quests and NPCs based on time cycle. Some stuff happens only at night, some only during day. It gets even worse, a certain (not very useful, but fun) perk is locked on a weekday and lottery draw happens only at sundays for example. Means if you think you've finished everything possible somewhere, you most probably didn't because why not irritate the player.

- Consumables of different type can boost something twice and not more than that at the same time. Which means, for example, while you get +1 luck from beer, drinking 10 of those will boost luck max +2. But if you drink two beers and two vodka your luck will get +4!

- Because most of NPCs in the game are males and females can use two types of perfumes (+1 personality), playing female MC with sex appeal is more "profitable" than male MC as you can put 2 attribute poins elsewhere.

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The best initial male build (slightly changed from here):
Strength - 6
Endurance - 5
Dexterity - 10
Intellect - 10
Attention - 6
Personality - 6
Luck - 1
Trait #1 - Glutton
Trait #2 - Unlucky Optimist

Why is this so?
STR - The earliest good gun you can grab in the game is AK 47* or SKS and both require STR of 6 to wield. The best late weapon requires 8. The best headgear adds +1 STR and training in your base adds another +1 STR.
END - I said you'll have to tank, means you need as higher dodge and as much HP you can. 5 for starters is good enough early, later when you get permament attribute raise (three possibilities) just boost END some more.
DEX - Apart from skillchecks you want as much AP (action points) as possible. Thus 10.
INT - Also skillchecks and as many skill points to distribute on level ups. 10, no brainer.
ATT - Better shooting, additional dialogue and initiative during combat, 6 will suffice almost everywhere and you can always temporarily boost it if needed.
PER - Any less than 6 will lock you out of too many dialogues. Some skillchecks that need it higher are easy, smoke a joint or two for 7 or 8, and if needed more use two male perfumes (whenever you see a male perfume available in the store, buy it).
LUK - Almost no effect in the game on anything except in this game irrelevant crits - with items and drinks combined catching a golden fish midgame is still possible and for all I know winning a lottery doesn't give you anything worth bothering.
Glutton - Because you'll have so much food in the game it'll become annoying (and the whole survival design is annoying in this game) plus it adds freebie attribute points.
Unlucky Optimist - Two attribute skills at cost of luck we don't use, in this game it's a good trade.

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*
How to get AK 47 as early as possible won't write myself as there is a great steam guide. The guide does show you what and where during the fight, but lacks an important info. Notice this:

I levelled him up in tutorial and unlocked the Armor of God ability before the fight.

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First, you won't be using his builds but hopefully mine. In such case Armor of God is a bad first investment (while a musthave in game, you won't pick it immediately), for this fight you'll pick Burst Boy which adds +10 to Burst Fire weapons.

Second, how on earth he got level up in the tutorial as quest rewards can't bring you there? Crafting. Each successful tinkering adds XP.
Max XP in the tutorial from quests and crafting is cca 700 and you need 500 for level up to be able to pick Burst Boy ability and improve automatic rifles skill.
Except default crafting recipes you'll notice in your MC's inventory second tab, there are two you might need which are logical - ciggy nad joint. If you have tobacco or weed, what do you need to combine it with? Paper. Waste or toilet paper, doesn't matter. Once you succesfully make a ciggy out of tobacco and paper, the recipe will be added so you don't have to drag/drop the stuff again in crafting window.
If you want all 700 XP savescum till you get all tinkering successful, but you'll reach 500 XP even with failed crafting.

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What skills to invest into immediately?
Speechcraft is needed everywhere and of course whatever you "expect as a good first weapon type" - both should be your prime choices.
If you'll go for AK 47, your first weapon is obviously automatic so you'll first boost automatic guns till max (199).
If you won't go for AK 47, very soon in the game you'll get SKS which is a rifle with optical sight so improve rifles (I'll write about that later in a separate post).
Pistols? Forgeddit and leave it for sidekicks.

In any case, before spreading points elsewhere, your primary goal will be reaching (don't rush a single skill, put a bit into each on every level up except the last one, tech, improve it when speech, barter and lockpick are done with):
- Speechcraft 115
- Barter 50
- Automatic or rifles (not both!) 199
- Lock Picking 30
- Technology 80
Why is this so? Because you need them all, but not higher than the number above (199 is max possible). How come and what to invest in when you're done with all of it… Later post, right? Later.

Yikes, I'm really looking forward to playing this game, loved the concept right from the beginning back when I pledged, but reading that the melee/unarmed options are weak is truly disappointing. This might be a factor in when I give this game a try-out.

The "later" post on what next (past tutorial and the first combat encounter that's actually possible to win).

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Apart from the first settlement named Otradnoye where hostile fauna is attacking you 1 by 1, everywhere else you'll be swarmed by several trashmobs at the same time. Which means you need a sidekick ASAP. So you'll do it and not just one but two!
About sidekicks leveling keep in mind that they get XP only from combat. Questing, dialogue and crafting XP will not be added to their pool.

So in the first village do everything you can that doesn't include combat (don't kill mice, insects and "the bandit") which will bring you to at least level 3. Done? Good, now go to the world map and walk south to a town called Krasnoznamenny (KRZ in later text). Just as you enter the area, on the right side of the "road" is a bar and your first sidekick that will join you automatically named Fidel.

Got him? Good. Give him a good knife and grind some random encounters and do some Otradnoye and KRZ quests to gather cca $1000 (rubles). Wherever possible buy .30 ammo and craft Percussion Revolver+ from loot, even if you have AK 47. You'll need to smoke 2 ciggys to complete it and probably a savescum or two (just saying). How to craft it:
A toolbox is an item that allows you crafting the best stuff and earliest possible to buy is from a guy you save from Abandoned Factory (barter). Yea, I told you do do some quests so you definetly have that location on the map! The toolbox price is cca $1000.

Assuming you made the pistol, give it to Fidel (don't forget to give him all .30 ammo) then bribe the guard who will then let you in the second part of KRZ. In the second part, talk to the bookstore seller and get a quest to dispose of some bookhating cultists. It's an easy random encounter and these guys drop some armor you need. So exit KRZ and walk north - they'll appear.
Equip Fidel and MC with the armor, return to KRZ second part and talk to a man in the hospital bed who'll add a new location on your map and send you to clear Red Fighter. Kill all big spiders there and approach the northeastern house - you'll get the second sidekick Hexogen who has SKS rifle in his inventory.

Red Fighter will become your base and eventually there is a third NPC to join your party there, but that won't happen till midgame so… Just to say to recruit him you need perception 6 on MC, remember I set it to 6 in the build.

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So you've decided for MC what weaponry to invest points into. What about sidekicks?
I say improve rifles on one and automatic on another. As Fidel already has better potential for rifles it's a good idea to give him SKS and improve rifles and automatic to improve on Hexagon (till you find something good, give him PercR+ pistol you've crafted).
The third sidekick later… Developers are trolling, he's specced as melee. Useless. Gives what? The crafted pistol will not be useless even when your initial crew is equipped with appropriate stuff.
No, don't improve pistols skill on anyone!

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In the first post I said Burst Boy perk from the ability tree if you'll chase AK 47, but what next? And what on sidekicks?
There is a musthave tree for everyone and it's the one that starts with Armor of God and ends with Praetorian. Slowly improve that on everyone, but if you need also a perk to impreve selfhealing over time (resting), take also Survivor.
When done with these, feel free to go anything but keep in mind that Eagle Eye should go on a sidekick skilled with rifles.

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Useful perks you get in the game:

Streetwise - Read the book in Otradnoye inside the mayor's office (opposite of the general store). Don't steal the book, just open the bookshelf where it's inside and then "use".

Entomologist - (quest) Bring a bottle of prewar vodka to a fisherman in Otradnoye by the pond. If you didn't find vodka anywhere yet, buy one from the bar. Hint: do this BEFORE attacking mutated trashmobs around Otradnoye!

Ghostly protection - (quest) Restore a historical shield and give it to a guy sitting at the ship bar in KRZ, then exit the bar and pass under the shield. You'll find 4 parts of that shield at several different locations and you need a superglue to craft it so no need to rush it:

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I've mentioned Toolbox as a mustbuy early item above. Except it's use for crafting, when equipped it ups Technology by 20. Other useful early items you'll loot and boost skills are:
Crowbar +10 lockpicking
Magnifying Glass +3 tinkering

That'd be it I think about game starters. Of course there are some other hints to share that don't (can't) happen earlygame (for example when, how and where to get a car), those will go in the third post.

I finished Atom RPG twice (one combat-focused and one almost full diplo) and completed every single quest, and I disagree a great deal about what Joxer is saying build-wise.

First of all, the game allows two separate uses of any stat-enhancing effect from any same source. This means that, for example, if you use a drug that gives you +2 END, you can use it twice for +4 END. You can also use another drug/food item that gives +1 twice, for a total of +6 END. Due to the availability of the stat boosting effects, it makes certain stats harder to compensate than others.

Also, this game is even more dependent on stat checks than Fallout1/2, so that's saying something. This means that you should indeed focus on maxing your stats, but you can safely use END as a dump stat. There's a super common drug that lasts 12 hours (enough for several maps since you don't rest often in this game), so you can just use two of it before any part that you suspect will be hard. You can also use Condensed Milk for an extra +2 if you really want to be safe.

My ideal starting build would be :

STR 4
END 3 (base 1, but glutton boosts it to 3)
INT 10
DEX 10
ATT 7
PER 8
LCK 1

Explanation :

STR is mostly useful for carry weight. Some guns have STR reqs that will lower your accuracy slightly if you don't meet the requirement, but unlike in Fallout, you can still use the gun. The penalty is low enough with good skill that you'll still get 99% hit rate. That said, you get +3 stat points during the game and you should dump them all into STR, for a total of +4 with the headgear. 8 STR is plenty, and you can always use stimulants that last 2h if you really, really don't want the penalty for hard fights in the meantime.

END
Endurance is purely for hit points. The RAD/Poison resists will be handled by drugs and gear as needed. Keeping permanent +4 for hard fights is trivial using drugs. You can also get +2 from condensed milk, but cans of milks are heavy to carry around so drugs are a lot more convenient.

DEX
Action points are extremely important. You want 10.

INT
Skill points are extremely important. You want 10.

ATT
With just 6 here, you WILL miss out on several quests and XP, and the worst part about it is that this is the only stat check that silently fails. Meaning you'll never know that you missed something important. 7 is the minimum you want there. Having it at 7 will gain you over 50 free skill points at various points into the game.

PER
This is where I disagree the most with joxer. There are PER checks everywhere in the game. Without exaggeration, I'm certain there are over 100. For convenience, I strongly suggest 8 here, with an easy +2 available from smoking two joints for a perfect 10. I've always used CHA as a dump stat in Fallout, but in this game it's a terrible idea. The great majority of the good checks start at 7, so 6 isn't going to cut it unless you want to save-scum every other dialog, or you don't mind the best outcome.

LCK 1
This one hurts a lot more than in Fallout. Crits are extremely important in this game, as they deal 3x to 8x damage. Even a 20% crit rate means over 100% increased dps. You'll really feel the unfairness when NPCs keep hitting you for 80 dmg and you only do 20 dmg a pop with your 2% crit chance. For this reason, I tend to favor Anabolics Fan over Unlucky Optimist, even if you lose a stat point. That extra -5% crit is applied after weapon effects, so it kinda hurts.

Traits :

Glutton is a no-brainer. 2 END points at the cost of increased hunger. Hunger is never a problem in the game.

Anabolics Fan is my favorite second. You lose a stat point compared to Unlucky Optimist, but you gain +20Kg carry weight and that extra 5% crit chance. Many late game weapons add %crit with their shots, and a crit is the difference between a 30 dmg shot and a 200 dmg one.

Unlucky Optimist is still a viable choice, so if you really want that extra point in STR or END you can use it here.

Now, for stats, as Joxer mentionned, speech is important. Pick lock at 70 will open every door/container in the game. The weapon skills aren't important until you're level 10 or so, so don't fret and use pistols with your base skill in the meantime. What you need is pickpocket. Pickpocket starts to be moderately successful at 80, and you can steal anything at 150 (though you might have to save scum if you really want something). This means you never have to pick up anything to sell. Just steal drugs/ammo/cash/armor/guns from merchants every time you're in town and you're set for life. Don't bother with Barter at all.

As for which weapon skill to choose, they're all very good. In fact, the best gun in the game DPS-wise is probably a hand-made percussion revolver. Make two of them, load them with .30 AP ammo, get the skills for no jam/+20 damage/1 AP less and enjoy your 10 attacks per round. I've had a fight where I did 800 dmg in a single opening round with that setup (Go for the eyes Boo, go for the eyes!). When both guns are empty, you can go into your inventory and reload both for 4 AP, just like in Fallout.

Other than that, spending a few points into rifles for long range fights is a good idea. When you get the 6mm rifle, you can head shot from across the map and it's pretty fun. Auto weapons are ok, but you'll want close range for the best damage output and pistols will generally win there if you have AP reduction.

All in all, the diplo route tends to be more enjoyable than the kill-everything route, but that's just me. This game was so good, I rank it just slightly behind Fallout 2. Go play it if you enjoyed F1/F2.

spblue said:

First of all, the game allows two separate uses of any stat-enhancing effect from any same source. This means that, for example, if you use a drug that gives you +2 END, you can use it twice for +4 END. You can also use another drug/food item that gives +1 twice, for a total of +6 END. Due to the availability of the stat boosting effects, it makes certain stats harder to compensate than others.

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I wrote that.
It's not possible to boost ATT this way, no boosters whatsoever, everything else is "game".

spblue said:

ATT
With just 6 here, you WILL miss out on several quests and XP, and the worst part about it is that this is the only stat check that silently fails. Meaning you'll never know that you missed something important. 7 is the minimum you want there. Having it at 7 will gain you over 50 free skill points at various points into the game.

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Keeping it at 6 will lock you out of a few dialogue checks - but these checks when passed only give you ignorable amount of XP.
I'm not aware of any quest that'd require higher ATT than 6. What 50 skillpoints? The only two I know of require ATT 6 (+5 survival from corn grandpa where you also need a bit of speechcraft and +15 automatic weapons from armsdealer in KRZ).

spblue said:

PER
This is where I disagree the most with joxer. There are PER checks everywhere in the game. Without exaggeration, I'm certain there are over 100. For convenience, I strongly suggest 8 here, with an easy +2 available from smoking two joints for a perfect 10. I've always used CHA as a dump stat in Fallout, but in this game it's a terrible idea. The great majority of the good checks start at 7, so 6 isn't going to cut it unless you want to save-scum every other dialog, or you don't mind the best outcome.

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Actually most of PER checks are 6 or less. Rare ones are higher and you'll have a mass of joints to use twice for +2=8, with so many joints you won't be savescumming to detect if one joint is enough just smoke two each time. For those higher than that (I think there are only two in the game) just apply an additional perfume.

spblue said:

crit is the difference between a 30 dmg shot and a 200 dmg one.

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Not in my game. If the difference was unbelievably high like that, I wouldn't ever go unlucky.
Even then I wouldn't pick Anabolics Fan, but Lucky One - while it adds 1 more attribute point, the problem with Lucky is it lowers (almost) all skills.

What you need is pickpocket. Pickpocket starts to be moderately successful at 80, and you can steal anything at 150 (though you might have to save scum if you really want something). This means you never have to pick up anything to sell. Just steal drugs/ammo/cash/armor/guns from merchants every time you're in town and you're set for life.

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There are two problems with it. You'll have enough of $ for everything to make it really useful in the game. Unless ofc random generator drops a superrare and superexpensive armor/helmet/weapon in a store - it's easier to steal than to pay for it, but a chance for it to happen is less than 1%. Sure you can always savescum, but what's the point?
You actually need it only once (key for a serum at Dead Island) and not superhigh (cca 90) but you can solve that quest another way - all you need is to bring 30 diesel the the island, then kill everyone at the harbor (tons of diesel you get from mountain pass bunker).
The only reason to go for stealing is convenience. It's less time consuming to steal stuff than to micromanage car trunk and inventory to sell loot 1 by 1. But that's the game's design problem where a trader doesn't see items in your car trunk.

spblue said:

the best gun in the game DPS-wise is probably a hand-made percussion revolver. Make two of them, load them with .30 AP ammo, get the skills for no jam/+20 damage/1 AP less and enjoy your 10 attacks per round. I've had a fight where I did 800 dmg in a single opening round with that setup (Go for the eyes Boo, go for the eyes!). When both guns are empty, you can go into your inventory and reload both for 4 AP, just like in Fallout.

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Absolutely agree that this pistol is OP and has an additional benefit - all sidekicks except the dog can use it without skilling them into pistols. The problem? You want to go pistols AP-1 ability tree in that case and then Praetorian tree is practically unreachable unless you'll grind to level cap.

Anyway, I've suggested the initial build I find as the most beneficial and two traits based from what I saw from crits (instead of 20 dmg crit does 30, not 78456347865873). Never said someone has to do it exactly the same way. I'm pretty sure some people just like me will try the unarmed/melee build too just to realize the game isn't really designed to make nonguns viable.

In my opinion, for a FIRST PLAY, no way required for a good replay:

• The best part of the game is level 1 to around 12 when all mechanisms work well, economy isn't yet broken or it just started, everything is better balanced. So pick the AK47 at start is a bad advice for a first play, it will break somehow the best part of the game where everything works better.
• DEX 10, much safer.
• INT 8, safer.
• LUCK can be ignored, it isn't as influential than in Fallout 1&2, LUCK 1 is a classic building start in Atom RPG, safer to put points elsewhere.
• Focus on Speechcraft very fast, 60, 90 and later 115
• Target Picklock 30 or 40 rather soon (40 is a for a bit more comfort, not required)
• Survival 40 rather soon IF you want pick the dog for fun, quote that around character level 10/12 it will become a burden in combats (then let it guard the base or order it to stay close).
• Choose either Rifles skill, either Automatic skill as your main weapon, you can start focus increasing them past level 6.
• Pick Easy for a first play, it will give you a few more abilities, particularly during first levels.
• Glutton Trait is fully manageable, no worry of lacking of food, rest works fine anyway, just expect be a bit more harassed by hunger and easting. Fine even for a first play. Knowing the game, I wouldn't pick it, but for a first play it's hard to plan your build and pick other traits, so at end it's a safer pick for trait/distinction for a first play.

That's it, nothing else but some traps to highlight:

• ATTention influences a lot all long range weapons aiming, this includes throwing.
• STR is a source of comfort, income, makes first levels softer, allows solve many dialog challenges if high enough (probably 8).
• PERsonality influences plenty tiny quests, plenty dialog branches, but even PER 3 is fully playable. It's a source of XP but it's limited. PER 6 is a good target if you tend be curious on story details and want most dialog. Lower is fine if you don't care or even want less dialog (there's a ton anyway). I played PER 3 and it was fine, but it was a replay.
• ENDurance influences HP, chance to resist to knockdown, and chance to avoid addiction.
• Leader seems tempting but the bonus is once and the penalty is for each companion, ignore it for a first play.
• Child Prodigy is a tempting trait (distinction) but it is double edge. Level up requirements are 50% higher, that's a lot. If you enjoy the game and don't bother play longer a play, then it should be fine by giving one more attribute point that best other traits, and no other penalty. It will also make companions a bit stronger because they haven't the XP penalty. But if you want rush your first play, or don't feel so comfortable with combats in the game, then it can lead you to significant grinding. So it's safer to ignore it for a first play.
• Sex Appeal only for woman character, and even then take care that compensate a very low PERsonality with perfumes and drug will require a serious pre knowledge of the game and a significant micro management. I wouldn't advise it for a first play.
• Unlucky Optimist increases critical damages but it's not saying how much, in fact not much, ignore it for a first play.
• Cursed Sniper, you don't need the aiming bonus, you won't like the aiming malus during first levels, you end with a pure lost on your initiative, you won't like it, ignore it for a first play.
• Ignore Traits (Distinctions) that don't provide at least one more attribute point than attributes points removed. So for a first play ignore Cannibal, Sex Appeal, Ascetic, Savage Hunter, Hobby Engineer, Shooting Gallery Fan.
• Lone Wolf is only if you are totally sure to play without companions.

joxer said:

…from what I saw from crits (instead of 20 dmg crit does 30, not 78456347865873). Never said someone has to do it exactly the same way…

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I have yet to see an explanation on how crit works. It's no way just 20 damages becoming 30 damages. With a melee play, the start knife did sometime 70+ damages, the chainsaw did often 200+ damages, at least once 300+ damages. In my opinion there's a critical critical mechanism.

joxer said:

…
- Speechcraft 115
- Barter 50
- Automatic or rifles (not both!) 199
- Lock Picking 30
- Technology 80
…

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Spechcraft 60, 90, very fast. Then 100, and then 115 but you can also remind use the pendant +9 speechcraft, and even the hat +15 speechcraft but perhaps a bit too later to find some. There are also hat found sooner that provide +10 speechcraft.

Barter can be fully ignored, economy is not a problem.

Thechnology can be ignored, it won't add any special item, it will just make a few rare situation a bit more tricky or not solved at first play.

Lock Picking 30 is the minimum, 40 is definitely some more comfort.

joxer said:

Strength - 6
Endurance - 5
Dexterity - 10
Intellect - 10
Attention - 6
Personality - 6
Luck - 1
Trait #1 - Glutton
Trait #2 - Unlucky Optimist

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Very solid advice, but I would advise skip Unlucky Optimist. Don't believe its description. My play with it is awfully bad for critical and critical damages.

Instead to stick to the same attributes amounts, I would suggest Technophobe and then don't bother on Technology, or Diplomat and then at creation ensure put 10 points on the combat skill you want start with, I would say Martial or Melee.