View source for User:Vayra/Character Building - skillsets and starting packages

=Build Focus=
First off, you need to decide if you want to be a weak nerdy branes faggot or a tuff buff and sexy combat character. From there, you need to decide if you want to craft or pick locks as a focus if you chose the former, or what weapon you want to use if you chose the latter.

I'll attempt to supply an objective comparison of the different paths below.
==Brains==
Really your main choice here will be between picking locks and robbing people (a noble profession) or making things for people to rob you of. Let me list some of the upsides of each build focus.

===Crafting===
* You can obtain a huge amount of experience rather quickly.
* You can make powerful items for yourself and your friends.
* You will likely have decent Science skill, allowing you to bust ghosts.
* You are not required by your character focus to routinely get in trouble with the Law.

===Lockpicking===
* You can get revenge on those who wrong you in the most permanent means possible in HellMOO -- Taking their text items.
* You can obtain powerful items for yourself and your friends.
* Robbing is a lot more fun and less boring than crafting.
* Lockpicking is REALLY HARD right now due to an abundance of supercops.

==Combat==
For a combat character, your main decision to be made is that of your weapon type. Do you want to be Spears? Fists? Clubs? Pistols? Something else? I'll help you out by listing a few of the traits of each weapon type.

===[[Flails]]===
Flails KIND OF suck but have a distinct possibility of getting better in the near future. I would not recommend picking flails even so, because there are like two in the game at the moment.

===[[Fish]]===
You use this when fishing for fish and also in combat when fighting with a fishing pole. They are not flails. This is still not viable.

===[[Throw]]===
Throw is terrible because shuriken and special soda cans are the only obtainable throwing 'weapons'. Other objects are throwable, such as grappling hooks and molotov cocktails (which are technically bombs, but you need throw to use them without killing yourself), but only shuriken will earn you any XP. They also do shitty damage. You don't need the same kind of total you would need for a real weapon to throw said utility objects, so it's stupid and dumb to build a character for throwing.

===[[Bombs]]===
Bombs is gay because it's not really a weapon type and you can just use a grenade launcher to bypass the need for the skill in most cases. Not to mention you don't gain XP for blowing things up.  Useful for killing high-level monsters and players with as little risk as possible, but <s>OH HEY DID I MENTION YOU COULD JUST USE A GRENADE LAUNCHER</s> '''THEY GOT NERFED''' and now rely on the bombs skill.

===[[Wrestle]]===
Wrestle is at the moment entirely useless, only checked for the hooligan's headbutt ability and stripping an opponent of their clothes while you have them grabbed. Headbutt is good I guess, so maybe tag this if you don't know what else to tag and you plan on getting hooligan. You still need a real weapon skill though.

===[[Whips]]===
Low end whips are easy to get a hold of, higher end whips do elemental damage.  The speed cap is easy to get close to and some of the best whips do elec damage.  An excellent weapon for brainy branes since most whips don't require brawn to do damage. The only issue with whips is that they do absolutely terrible damage compared to any other actual weapon skill. Still, not horrible.

===[[Blades]]===
Blades are an extremely common weapon in hellmoo, especially in the early game. However, because blades tend to be quite slow and do slash/stab damage, which is easily soaked, they are gay. Also, while there is a very powerful end-game blade available, it requires power sources and is extremely difficult to craft. Another problem is that most decent low- and mid-range blades are only obtainable once per player which will likely cause trouble unless you're the kind of person who can rob jerks. In addition, the stats are fairly hard to balance at first -- especially if you want to remain intelligent -- and the 'best' blade is two-handed. Even so, still not horrible.

===[[Clubs]]===
Clubs are amazing. Clubs only require two stats to be awesome, unlike every other weapon class except whips. And clubs do way more damage than whips. Tag clubs if you want to be as powerful as possible as fast as possible and with as little effort as possible.

===[[Spears]]===
Spears are powerful. Spears are very, very hurty and have high parry class. There are useful one-handed fast spears (assegai/luftspeer/abossegai), and useful two-handed slower spears (chainsaw lance/zap brannigan/garden weasel). Both are very impressive. Spears suffers a little from a lack of low-end weapons, however. You will likely need a corporation to support you in the beginning if you choose spears.  Also for note you'll spend forever in the toxic dump trying to get more spears to replace any you lose. Spears are very, very good and I recommend tagging spears if you want to be super tough and don't mind putting in a lot of effort.

===[[Rifles]]===
Rifles, they're all two-handed. And lots of them are slow.

On the other hand, most armor does not protect against bullets well, and guns can't be parried. It is also important to note that rifles have a combat-interrupt unique to their weapon class, as your shots will randomly cause targets to duck and weave... if you have high skill. I recommend tagging rifles if you want to be a unique and special snowflake. They're not horrible.

===[[Pistols]]===
Pistols is gay. Okay, it's actually really good. 12mm pistols are free (though the ammo is expensive) and super easy to speedcap, super shorties are REALLY GOOD although harder to speedcap, and they're all impossible to parry. Pistols don't have the suppressing fire mechanic that rifles do, but what the fuck ever. Tag pistols if you want to use guns and be cool and shit.

===[[Fists]]===
Fists own. The upsides of fists are that they require less poopsocking than other weapon types except clubs (since you start with higher raw) and they are fairly easy to get a high speed with. The downsides are that they have low parry class. With the changes to teslas/edisons, fists can now do beat or elec for endgame damage, as well as slash if you are an abom. You will probably never get a parry class 2 weapon that is viable in combat with fists. Tag fists if you want to punch stuff or plan on becoming an abomination.

=Starting Packages=
These will be some simple guidelines for how to start a playable character of any common build. Of course, there's no problems with switching out a stat point here or a skill point there, to fit your preference.

Note: '''ONLY TAG THINGS THAT ARE YOU GOING TO GET UP ABOVE 6 RAW!''' (Or a huge pain to grind and you're sure you will need it). Tagging things like climb while convenient, is pretty much useless due to the fact that you can grind almost any skill up to 6 raw completely free.

==Brains==
You'll notice both brains builds also have a combat skill. This is because you will want at least passable skill as many crafting components are in dangerous areas, and it's roughly of equal viability for gaining XP as a lockpicker.

===Craft===
Reflexes 14 Brains 14, 10 in brawn or senses, depending on your choice in weapons<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Craft
* Science
* Whips (not a requirement, but probably the easiest for a new player. Your 10-stat should be senses for these)
* Scavenge

===Lockpicking===
Reflexes 14 Brains 14<br>
'''2 Free Points:''' Spend them in Brawn if you choose Clubs or Senses if you choose Whips. Alternatively you can be the ever uncommon shiver sword/pistol picker, and spend them on Cool.<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Hack
* Locksmith
* Whips OR Clubs OR Blades OR Pistols
* open skill

==Combat==

===Flails (don't take these you tard)===
Brawn 14 Reflexes 14 Endurance 10<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Flails
* open skill
* open skill
* open skill

===Throw===
{{cmd|throw tv to e}}<br>
{{cmd|wist}}

===Whips===
Reflexes 14 Senses 12<br>
'''4 Free Points:''' Spend them in Brains for repairing, medicing, and utility skills, or fill out Senses and put the rest in Brawn or Endurance if you want to focus on pure combat.<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Whips
* open skill
* open skill
* open skill

If you do put points in brains tag something like locksmith/hack, science, or any other skill you want that is difficult to grind.

===Blades===
Cool 14 Reflexes 14<br>
'''2 Free Points:''' Spend them in Brawn for more damage with a few weapons or Brains for easier repairing, piloting, and medicing. You probably shouldn't bother putting points in brains if you plan on becoming a vampire.<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Blades
* open skill
* open skill
* open skill

===Clubs===
Brawn 14 Reflexes 14<br>
'''2 Free Points:''' Spend them in Endurance for skills and drug use, or Brains for an easier time repairing your own stuff, etc. You probably shouldn't bother putting points in brains if you plan on becoming a vampire.<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Clubs
* open skill
* open skill
* open skill

===Spears===
Brawn 12 Reflexes 14 Endurance 12<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Spears
* open skill
* open skill
* open skill
 
===Rifles===
Brawn 12 Reflexes 14 Cool 11<br>
'''1 Free Points:''' Put it in Cool if you want to become a Vampire or Brawn if you don't.<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Rifles
* Quickdraw
* open skill
* open skill

===Pistols===
Brawn 10 Reflexes 14 Cool 9<br>
'''5 Free Points:''' Put it in Cool if you want to become a Vampire or Brawn if you don't.<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Pistols
* Quickdraw
* open skill
* open skill

===Fists===
Brawn 14 Reflexes 14 Endurance 10<br>
'''Skills:'''
* Fists
* open skill
* open skill
* open skill

==Suggestions for open skill slots==
* Quickdraw - Important for guns users as it determines your success when aiming at people. (and your chance to cause them to fail when aiming at you) - however, you could do fine without tagging it.
* Craft - Make your own bullets and mod your own weapons and other nice things.
* Scavenge - Extremely useful for finding secret exits and getting crafting parts and cutting things off of bodies.
* Science - if you are going to be a crafter, you need to this make some things.
* Hack - you need this if you want to pick advanced locks or hack cameras.
* Track - Great if you enjoy killing people.
* Repair - Fix your OWN weapon instead of having to carry backups and cry for the smarter members of your corp to do your weapon laundry. Easy to grind if you're into that sort of thing.
* Medic - It's either this or spend a lot of money on nanites, most of the time. And some builds can't even use nanites. Less required if you don't mind spending a lot of money or having really high brains. Or take iron liver.
* Wrestle - ONLY TAG THIS IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE EXTREMELY HIGH BRAWN (clubs, fists, spears) AND ARE GOING TO GET THE HOOLIGAN MUTATION