Rifleman Archive

Hi! I've just started playing, so I haven't done any indoor missions yet or caves. How viable is it to be a pure rifleman in things like the geo cave? Is it possible to survive without a tank or a melee class?

I've read a bit and it seems Riflemen/TKA and Riflemen/Swordsman are popular combos (I'm mainly interested in PvE), is it worth the points to get things like Melee Damage Mitigation or will a good rifleman never be hit even in close quarters?

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Garnax wrote:

Hi! I've just started playing, so I haven't done any indoor missions yet or caves. How viable is it to be a pure rifleman in things like the geo cave? Is it possible to survive without a tank or a melee class?

Out in the open being a rifleman should be no problem I gather, but I'm not so sure about themeparks and the like; mainly because I haven't been in one I suppose.

I've read a bit and it seems Riflemen/TKA and Riflemen/Swordsman are popular combos (I'm mainly interested in PvE), is it worth the points to get things like Melee Damage Mitigation or will a good rifleman never be hit even in close quarters?

I've been thinking about going for Ranger to supply my AS half with hides, but it seems to be an awful lot of points. How much more hide and bone are we talking compared to Scout 4040?

Is the meditation line in TKA good enough that I won't have to use stimpacks if I go that route? Or do people get that for the power boost?

The answers are probably out there, but I've been reading for two hours or so now on these boards. There's just *so* much text and since the search returns things from June 2003 probably half of what I've read is outdated information.

Thanks in advance!

/ A budding Rifleman

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1) It's possible to do well indoors, but talking in the pure solo scenario (i.e. absolutely no other players around to distract the mobs) the bad guys will get in your face quickly. It also depends on the indoor place too. The Caves tend to have longer fields of fire than the building-type scenarios - therefore you do better in the cave than in the buildings. Carry a good spraystick if you go this route.

2) The Themeparks are almost all outdoor encounters - don't worry about those. Nym's is the only one I can think of where you are inside a lot.

3) A good rifleman will be hit frequently in close quarters. I went Rifleman/TKA because I found that I was at a disadvantage indoors, so I wanted a melee skill set. Swords is a nice complement because of the ability to target mind, meaning you can start with headshots and finish with a wallop to the noggin. Melee mitigation and melee defence are very handy to have for up close and personal encounters.

4) Rangers do harvest more than Scouts, but not a great deal more (not like 4x more or anything). IMO (was a ranger/ rifleman for a while) there is no need to get Ranger unless you want the tracking ability. Master Scout will serve you well enough, especially if you get some Veghash to bump your harvest numbers a little.

5) The Meditation line is a godsend because of the ability to auto-heal wounds, disease and poison. Powerboost is nice and force of will comes in handy every so often. You'd still probably want Novice medic to use Stim B's - but I know some that have gotten used to doing without it.

All in all it depends on what your situation is. If you solo all the time, it's probably a good idea to match rifle with a melee skill, and get the TKA meditation line. If you can find a good group more often then you can afford to spend your points elsewhere (like Ranger) relying on your group members to heal you and protect you at close range.

Good luck with it - remember that the climb is pretty rough, but the rewards at master are well worth the time.

Thanks for the swift reply!

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BabyRancor wrote:

3) A good rifleman will be hit frequently in close quarters. I went Rifleman/TKA because I found that I was at a disadvantage indoors, so I wanted a melee skill set. Swords is a nice complement because of the ability to target mind, meaning you can start with headshots and finish with a wallop to the noggin. Melee mitigation and melee defence are very handy to have for up close and personal encounters.

5) The Meditation line is a godsend because of the ability to auto-heal wounds, disease and poison. Powerboost is nice and force of will comes in handy every so often. You'd still probably want Novice medic to use Stim B's - but I know some that have gotten used to doing without it.

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TKAs have Headhit, so there ya go

Yes - sorry I didn't mean to imply that TKA can't do mind damage, they have attacks which hit each pool specifically. Swordsman is much more efficient at it though.

TK headhit is not very damaging and takes a fairly decient chunk of HAM for the damage it does. It functions more as a finishing move. Swordsman are much more damaging with their headhit 2 or 3, plus they get Blast damage (which is the only major damage type missing from rifleman, given that TK gives you Kinetic) and Medium armour piercing weapons.

I've gone with MRM, MTKA, one line in swordsman (to use the power hammer when needed) and novice medic. The remaining skill points I've dropped in novice scout and exploration 1. I like the Terrain Negotiation every once in a while, and novice scout lets me harvest a little too.

The good part about this particular template is that Ranged and Melee defence values are really high, so in PvE at least I'm missed far more often than I'm hit, no matter what the opponent is using.

The DXR-6b can also have really great range mods. Try getting one of those.

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BabyRancor wrote:

TK headhit is not very damaging and takes a fairly decient chunk of HAM for the damage it does. It functions more as a finishing move.

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Okay, but I thinkI read somewhere that the TKA attack doesn't use much mind? Ie since I'm almost killing myself mind-wise as a rifleman I've heard that people who switch to sword just incap themselves?

With TKA, you should never need camps for healing yourself-just take some terrain negotiation from Scout if you really want it (though vehicles/mounts can take care of that too).

I find that in PvE, status effects rarely happen. Many big fellas (krayts, kimos and the like) can do KD, disease, poison, etc...but your Meditate will help a lot there

Instead of Pistoleer 0/0/4/0, you may want to consider Fencer 4/0/0/0 for more defenses.

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XaverriJade7 wrote:
With TKA, you should never need camps for healing yourself-just take some terrain negotiation from Scout if you really want it (though vehicles/mounts can take care of that too).

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Great! Yeah, I think I will need to run and crawl uphill sometimes, and I like harvesting hides for my Armorsmith, so a bit of scout it is.

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XaverriJade7 wrote:
I find that in PvE, status effects rarely happen. Many big fellas (krayts, kimos and the like) can do KD, disease, poison, etc...but your Meditate will help a lot there

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Isn't that after the fact though? I mean, I'd still get the bad effects of the status changes while still fighting, and then cure them afterwards?

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XaverriJade7 wrote:
Instead of Pistoleer 0/0/4/0, you may want to consider Fencer 4/0/0/0 for more defenses.

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That'd put me 65 points of Ranged Defense and 48 points of Melee Defense over the cap though, so it seems a bit wasteful. How hard is it to get +20 melee defence? Bio-clothes? Skill tapes?

Yes, If you get affected by status, you'll have to kill the thing first- Then you can do the TKA thing. To help ya though, you'll have Powerboost and FoW to keep ya from dying

As for being over the cap on defenses: That is a temporary 'fix' implemented to remedy the 'Dodge problem'. In theory, after the 'combat revamp', you will not cap on anything defense-wise.

I'm a doctor, so usually I fend pretty well if I buff my mind with food/dancer and simply heal myself when I get mobbed. I don't know how this works for other people, but I usually stay alive.