Wasteland 2!!!!!!!!!?

[Malcolm]

I was in cruise control until the last encounter in the abandoned railway station by the prison. Hello, slicer-dicers, three of the fucks. I figure that's about one beyond my comfort zone, even though I've got enough sabots to blow them to hell. I may do that after I clear RSM.

[Malcolm]

So fuck the turrets at RSM HQ. Onto Damonta or somewhere that'll let me repair the robot to bypass the turret. Found Vax. First perma-support dude, big ammo saver, but not front line material.

[Malcolm]

Got through the Canyon of Titan after some extremely annoying maneuvering. Fucking warring factions and their maddening KoS/escort policies. Haven't decided what I'll do with the nuke(s) when the time comes. This is the sort of thing where I need nuanced options so I can go Fistful of Dollars on their asses. Seriously, the settings and plots in the gameplay script are just retarded, and the Canyon of Titan exemplifies it.

Finally arrived at Damonta. Afterwards, I'll double back and deal with the RSM at the prison and then the goddamned trio of Slicer Dicers in the abandoned railway. Think I got enough energy weapons and shoulder launched projectiles. Sabots will rain from the sky, baby. All this because the fucking two dozen troopers on duty at Ranger HQ couldn't be dispatched to the location I wasn't busy saving.

[Leisher]

Yeah, I was not satisfied with my choice in the canyon, but all the options suck.

[Malcolm]

Cleaned up most of the Canyon, ransacked the underground base to get the depleted uranium, and then had to go back north because I missed about two toasters and a book. I have every option open to resolve the Canyon. So far, all the major WL2 plot points seem to have been forced in the most artificially constructed and stupidest way possible. It's like watching 100 tornadoes unnecessarily take out 100 Kevin Costners while 100 of his dumb-ass superhuman sons sit idly by with jaws dragging on the ground and sand in their vaginas.

In other news, I want to beat the shit out of the designer who said, "You know what'd be really cool? If you had absolutely ZERO control over your support followers in combat. Oh, oh, and we'll make it so they don't understand the concept of friendly fire." I've had to send Vax, the glass cannon, with a chaperone to the other side of the map on a couple occasions to keep either him or me alive. That fucker's fast, too. I think he can march across an entire region in about three rounds. I like the laser SMG/plasma caster thing he has plus infinity ammo, but his fragility and perpetual rogue behaviour are getting to be a pain.

Going to clear out the one last raider post in the canyon (because I'm tired of having the monk escort around me all the fucking time). The uranium got me a kick-ass energy weapon from the ranger workshop, so I think I'll pay the Slicer Dicers a visit before Damonta. I suppose I should go grab any literature I missed as well so I can get the archiver achievement. I got lots of cash now. Weapons and armour are top notch compared to what I can find, although the defense feels like it's lagging behind the offense.

[Malcolm]

Did some spreadsheet number crunching. My current party spent 8 attribute points on INT for a total of 4 skillpoints per level, which is what you'd need without NPC intervention to handle any conceivable situation. With the proper NPC recruits plugging in some key talents, it's possible to reduce your rangers' INT scores to 4 (3 skillpoints per level) and have every skill covered sufficiently. Except barter, fuck barter. That's another 4 attribute points to distribute which should translate to some nice AP, speed, and combat initiative bonuses for the Supreme Jerk replay. Also going to use melee weapons that time around. The damage per swing is huge.

[Malcolm]

Slicer Dicers went down relatively easy, only used two sabots. Vax took one out damn near on his own, dude shreds robots and synths. Making sure I gather up all the literature and skill books before progressing to Damonta. Lots of tiny loose ends to tie up in this game.

[Malcolm]

Damonta cleared, except for the cows I tipped that won't get back up. On to silo 7. Picked up Jaime the discobot. Sort of useful if he survives. Definitely no supprt followers on Supreme Jerk, even though Vax is insanely broken versus robots. Too much of a hassle.

[Malcolm]

Everything in Arizona is cleared, though I assume I'll be making a return. Going to track down the last of the caches and get all my gear and skills in order before going to the hole that is LA. Old WL1 non-rangers making an appearance:

1) Rose in WL2 = rosebud in WL1.
2) Commander Robert Danforth in WL2 = Bobby in WL1.

Laughed my ass off each time.

[Malcolm]

Right before you fly to Cali, General Vargas says, "There's room for your party of seven plus three other recruits of your choosing." That means I leave two of the crappier NPCs behind. However, the two robot support followers and three fully grown adult cows I had for pets all come along. I'm thinking they had room for two more people if they leave the cows off.

[Malcolm]

Santa Fe HQ has been secured. Guess I'm slumming it with my med kit stash until I find a doc ... or a merchant that sells more med kits. I like how the Santa Fe background clearly has towers with ladders that look climbable but aren't. Because that's the fucking strategy I'd use to take out an invading army of quadrupeds that can't scale a ladder. Just wtf?

[Malcolm]

Back to a bit of WL2 before I start a massive comp sci review. LA is tougher. Iced the Children of the Cathedral that swiped the old woman's cows in the town south of Santa Fe. I went north and found the vendor's camp under siege by honey badgers. After some scouting convinced me I needed rockets to waste them, I double back to Santa Fe HQ only to find the entrance camped by four goddamned workerbots and a meson cannon that target my power armour dude. Cocksuckers. Blasted them, called it a night. Got some explosives for those bitch honey badgers, along with upgraded weapons and armour all around.