Obscurum Pandemic Tips and Tricks

This page present a list of known Obscurum Pandemic Tips and Tricks, as well as some wellknown FNV ones.
== Reduce Difficulty ==
Despite the usual tone in Obscurum forum back at Nexus being of sneering at newbies and casuals... yes, despite all that jeer, and the default design being of highest difficulty, the fact is OP is a different game stuck inside FNV framework. As such the usual FNV experience and skill doesnt always apply. Thus the high difficulty coupling with the step-by-step explore on the OP changes make for a discouraging first run.
So let's just push the difficulty slider down to lowest level. Let the difficulty return when players learn much of the new changes. If you dont confess, who would know?
== Mods, a possible dangerous tool ==
Take a care with your mods. Obscurum Pandemic is a very taxing module to run already, so any thing extra could have unforeseen consequence on your rig.
Asset or Art replacers is hardly affecting things, because OP itself change most of vanilla assets. And extra weapons or armors might not be as good as OP's additions, stat-wise.
Location mods are barely working, because they are designed based on vanilla situation. Apply to OP's numerous battlezones around Mojave, they might well be on the moon. Examples? If mods set up extra locations in Goodsprings for example, it's now a dangerous zone that require middle game's level and abilities to get in.
But worse would be mods that add extra spawns using vanilla templates (IWS or More Spawn), or just Larger Pack style. The extra bodies would drive up difficulty enormously. The battlezone south of Primm, east of Canyon Wreckage, could serve as an early showcase. Spawn mods require users highly familiar with OP to even think about testing it.
Companion mods might work, though. You are going to need the extra bodies~
== Skill Point Distribution and Combo==
Tagged skills are advanced three times faster than non-tag. So skill points should generally be focused towards one of your most used combat-based skills, like Guns or Melee Weapons. However, a plurality of skill points should be placed in more specialized areas, namely Lockpick or Sneak. Lockpick allows access to many helpful supplies and should be aiming at 50 for short term. Like, if you start in Hopeville, 50 before you leave there just so you can loot all available. Sneak need to be said because Obscurum is a game utilize much stealth tactics, much more than usual in FNV. Though it's not a must, as some player find sneaking speed too slow. Read on sneak's own section below.
Repair can keep your equipment in good condition with 50 as acceptable medium term. Any further than that really should be used with Engineer class. That class can use Repair skill to craft robotic helper and or harvest more scraps for building your base, which can prove very helpful. Science is not a bad direction, especially for Engineer class as it use a few science checks in perk. A Energy-Science-Repair Engineer is a powerful build.
Survival skill gives access to good perks but in short term provide more healing benefit from eating and drinking. Medicine can help in healing, and especially for cure crippling injuries from close combat. But these two skills are associated much with Doctor class, one famous for full of quality-of-life but not much for efficiency or powergaming tools.
== Combat ==
Combat has, as with most everything else in Obscurum, been made much more difficult. You are more fragile, but so are your enemies. No matter how armored you are, a stray bullet on your head will drop you. As such, even a high level Upsurper must take care with hostile, especially any wielding long rifle, in your visual range.
A good approach to combat in Pandemic is stealth. Being stealthy allows you to pick off your opponents individually as opposed to taking them all at once. It also allows you to save ammunition. Stick to the shadows and strike from cover.
The sways of guns can be controlled by high skill investment, high strength (oh yes), and Carbogen (steady) drug. Sways only come into play when you are aiming in real time, so might as well sneak and take your time to aim. Anyway, the way OP going, 80 in your preferred combat skills should be achieved ASAP.
The scarcity of Ammo makes slicing and brawling more common in the Obscurum world. Having at least one decent melee weapon is recommended most of the time (even if you aren't going for a Melee build), just to have something fall back on and save bullets when possible. Mind you, O-P philosophy is "Do you want to save injuries or you want to save bullets?"
== Barter AND Speech in shopping ==
An Obscurum Pandemic change is the use of Speech in shopping action. While merchants have their sale technique increased much higher than FNV, they get affected by speech as well as barter skill. A Speech 0 shopper get a much different price compared to a Speech 100 smooth talker.
Speaking of skill boost, there's a lot of apparel and aid items that can boost barter and speech. Keep an eye out for those magical equipments. You can always use a collection of such thing only when you do a serious shopping session, and leave them back at your storage later.
== Customize your own base(s) ==
Despite Obscurum already prepare safe bases for you, they dont always fit your personal taste. You are encouraged to choose one or several area bases to suit your course of wandering. Dont hesitate to install a player house mod to fit your need.
For example, the default NovacPlayersRoom is affected by Obscurum lighting and flickering in a detrimental way to your eyes (YMMV). As such, a player house mod that provide different lighting and or interior to this cell will provide an excellent base of operation.
== CONTRA hit squad for benefit ==
Whenever you are in an indoor cell, and night more than day, there's a chance a team of Contra hitmen will appear to hunt you down. Yet, this could be an opportunity to have a beneficial fight, considering CONTRA members are not that tough for their level of loots.
So by all means, prepare for a fight before sleep at night. Wander around some indoor cells to wait for the hitmen to appear. And right after that would be a good time to have a sleep to refresh yourself.
CONTRA hits are matter of habit and preparation more than difficulty. Obscurum provide a huge arsenal that usually you have an approriate tool in your inventory for that exact counter-ambush.
== Lockpick: Tag or not ==
Depend on where you start, a tagged Lockpick (and invested to 75) can be very useful in cleaning up all the containers in beginning area's surrounding. A most profitable investment for Amnesiac in Hopeville, and second is Junkie in Atomic Wrangler Casino.
Though starting elsewhere may not have such an immediate abundance of locked containers, thus a starting tag on Lockpick and big invest like that is not warranted. Example is Survivalist in Nipton Road Reststop. The cell is small, and outside you have three group of hostiles are waiting hungrily.
== Sneak, or the art of keeping your head down ==
Unless you get to the point of being able to wear most high-classed armors and helmets, aka Power Armor Training plus suits... yeah, until that point, you need to learn to keep your head down. Stand up and run only when you are reasonably sure no hostiles in attack range. Otherwise sneaking around keeping yourself close to the ground and behind obstacles.
Why, you asked? Dont let Hopeville fool you, that's a walk in the park compare to Mojave's battle zones. Keep your head high and you will invite a headshot from who know where. Sneak, and at least you can stay out of most lower level targets who wont spray your area out of general principle. Sneak and your lower profile will maybe keep a few rocks between you and such sharp eyed shooters.
But sneaking is too slow, you protested? Too bad, so sad. That's the way of battles with guns firing with abandon. You only run if you are sure you get enough covers not to be headshot.
Everytime you stand up and run is a time you mostly bet there's no shooter can headshot you. Sneak, or Die, is such a simple choice.
== Heavy Armors, your park stroller suits ==
Due to the highly dangerous nature of walking around in public, Heavy Armor with their high DT (and DR if possible) become your park suit. Even if you are slow down and get a -2AGI debuff, but at least you dont have to worry over much about getting oneshot like a rat.
Metal Armored Reinforced, and better yet, the NCR Salvaged Armor, require no Power Armor Training, is the top choice for pre-PAT levels. Mind you, it's no walk in park (nothing in Obscurum Pandemic is). Even if you dont get oneshot, the way you slowly run around would invite any triggerhappy shooters on your visual range to take potshot at you once they dont have higher priority target.
== Explosives? Mind Blown! ==
There are some class that set up mines in their own patrol zone. Obscurum Pandemic also set up a bunch of mines around. And then Digger can throw mine spears which is a long-range, bouncing explosive. You are going to get booms.
And much more realistic than vanilla, mines now require approriate skill level of Explosives before you can approach, let alone disarm. Take Satchel charges in Crow's Nest, or the High Road toward Ashton Missile Silo, for example. The lot of them will explode before you even get in disarm range, simply because you only have skill level 10. The vanilla's vaunted approach of dashing in and press the blinking button will get you killed.
So? if you are too cheap to invest in Explosives, and dont have any desire for looted mines, then best shooting them to explode from safe distance with shotgun's buckshot. Otherwise 30 point investment is a viable requirement before you can mess safely with the numerous, various mines of Pandemic.
== Keep an eye out for Flare Gun ==
Flare Gun can scare away abominations, the which include all Legions. Very useful when go through lands that has them.
Flare Gun can be fixed only by itself, or after Jury Rigging, with some rarely seen energy pistols. So keep an eye out for such thing. Though worse come to worst you can always use Toolbox to fix them.