Hunters 2 - (by Rodeo Games) - Universal App

[Pitta]

According to Rodeo Games Facebook page, next week they are announcing their new project, slated for 2013.
Sadly it's not Hunters 3, but apparently a big license from a big name (still turn based strategic game I guess).
I hope it's still something scifi with the same look and vibe as Hunters 2 (which I really like, maybe except the aliens).
Maybe it's really Alien ))
Or Warhammer 40K.
Many in Facebook are clamping for Xcom...dunno...I'm really fond of the actual look.
I think that even something fantasy would be great (sword and shield, magic...).
Anyway...while I really was wishing for Hunters 3 (the leap between H1 and 2 was night and day for me and I wondered about a story heavy high budget Hunters 3) I wish them a great success and I'm looking forward what they have in store.

[GeekyDad]

Cool. I look forward to seeing what it's going to be. Perhaps a sugar daddy is exactly what these guys need.

[temozarela]

Hi I just bought Hunter 2 after playing Hunters 1 and I had a few questions I was hoping someone could help me out on. I read the entire thread but am a bit confused and am hoping for some insite before I start dropping talent points in bad places so I have to respec for 50,000 credits or leveling characters with terrible classes and talent trees.

What are some recommended classes for specific weapon? What are the best places to put those 9 talent points in each of those classes?

In general what talent trees are good and what are "good" talents and "poor" talents

From what I read it seems like the combat and support trees are bad and the best class is Zealot because of the exploit and Stalkers.
If anyone could give me some tips it would be greatly appreciated.


Classes:
Devastator: Combat/Vengeance
Stalker: Scouting/Survival
Charger: Scouting/Combat
Arbiter: Support/Vengeance
Zealot: Survival/Vengeance
Terminator: Combat/Survival
Scout: Scouting/Support
Sentinel: Combat/Support
Ranger: Scouting/Vengeance
Terminator: Combat/Survival
Guardian: Support/Survival

[temozarela]

Here are some builds I have read about:

Devastator with Shotgun - Crippling Shot, Massacre, and Second Chance then the rest in Crit and Damage.

Scout with Sniper Rifle - Full Scouting Tree, Support Tree up to Stand Firm.

Zealot - Exploit Build

Stalker with ? - Full Scout Tree, Survival Tree to Juggernaut

Charger with Minigun?

Also what is wrong with the Hunters 2 wiki site off the Rodeo site? Has it been down for a while? or has it ever been up and running?

[Pitta]

Finally regained possession of my iPad, installed Hunters 2 and transferred the saves with iFunBox (which btw works much better than iExplorer, both do not require jailbreak and are free).

WOW.
It's GORGEOUS, noticing a whole level of details I didn't noticed before on iPhone 4S.
The cores are actually spinning!!!

Fantastic game...I really wish it had iCloud tough.
Some contracts are really awesome, including the additional objectives.

Great game, really, one of my favorite of this year so far.

[JohnRayJr]

These are my endgame, level X builds for a team of six, each built around a different weapon type:

Minigun: Charger. Full Scouting tree, Massacre, Miniguns, Full Critical. Light Armor (any), Deathbringer Storm (Rare). I have the "Old Painless" Epic, but the rare is better. I may eventually manufacture a max-damage / high-accuracy minigun.

Rocket Launcher: Charger. Full Scouting Tree, Massacre, Rockets, Full critical. Light Armor (any). Jericho Launcher.

Sniper Rifle: Scout. Full Scouting and Support Trees. Sniper Rifle. Light armor (any), Ranger's Sniper. (I don't consider this weapon at all necessary or particularly useful for 98% of the game, since there's little point in a sniper build that isn't at least a level IX scout). I recommend using Assault rifles early game and Rocket Launchers from VI to IX if you're aiming for this.

Shotgun Devastator. Full combat tree, full critical, two damage. Enhanced Reflex Suit, Deathrip Goremanger. Notes: cold blood is optional, but I've found it useful enough not to respec. Due to second chance, a min-accuracy manufactured shotgun would be better than Deathrip, but costs 150k more. Buy one or the other, but not both. Also, Terminator is probably the better class due to Hunker Down, but you don't start with one and it's a slight difference.

Assault Rifle: Scout. Full scouting tree, 3/4 Support tree. Light armor (any), Ranger's Carbine. The last two talent points can be chosen from stims, meds, damage, crit.

Hammers: Stalker. Full scouting tree, first three Survival, and then probably two points in resistance (only unit I have not maxed). This has been my most situational unit. I use heavy armor (Riveted Combat Suit), but I wonder if light armor would be worth it with the Enhanced Reflex suit and a total of 80% resistance.

As for overall classes: Scouts and Chargers are the best, not counting the exploit.

As for overall talents: All of them are good except for Vengeance, which is pretty much a waste on any difficulty (again, not counting the exploit).

As for overall weapons: Shotguns are probably the most useful weapon in the game, but by a very slight margin. Assault rifles are consistent and have great range (great for guard), but relatively poor for damage output in the second half of the game. Rocket Launchers are fantastic once you hit level VI. Sniper Rifles are mostly irrelevant. Miniguns with high damage are good (accuracy / critical stats for the weapon itself are irrelevant, so there are a lot of junk options to wade through). I've found Plasma Rifles to be grossly inferior to the others. Flamethrowers are for those who obsess over accuracy - only good if you have the legendary or a good epic like Scorcher.

[JohnRayJr]

Here are my thoughts on talents and individual skills:

Scouting is the best talent-tree, hands down. The only top-tier build that doens't use it is a Shotgunner, and that's because Second Chance and boosted critical are both too good to spare the 4 talent points on Scouting. As for individual skills: improved metabolism is likely the best skill in the game (+1AP), particularly because it allows for extra positioning for heavy weapons, as well as extra shots while on guard. Fleet-foot is also one of the best skills in the game, though it only gives you unexpected opportunities for the most part, rather than more calculating tactics. Recon allows you to come out of the gate, weapons blazing. For many missions, you can take advantage of all 8 action points and break the back of the initial resistance. Lastly I think Sprint is underrated in this thread. It can be very useful both for getting into a good position a turn faster and for pulling out of a bad situation (though good play minimizes the need for this).

Combat is underrated in this thread. Second Chance is one of the best skills in the game, if only for what it does for Shotguns (arguably turning them into the best weapon in Hunters 2). Massacre is better than it first appears. The obvious uses are Miniguns and Rocket Launchers on groups of 4-7 targets (yes, I have seen seven targets in range for Massacre on randomized missions, and four or five is not terribly uncommon. Three is a given). You save few AP with a shotgun, but it's also likely that you kill everything you hit. However, the real benefit of Massacre is at the strategic level, not the tactical level, and is poorly captured if "AP saved" is your only metric. Massacre allows you break the back of an entire scenario - essentially gut-punching the entire opposing force. It's not the action points that matter as much as the speed with which you kill large numbers of foes, putting the enemy at a material disadvantage. I think it would be reasonable for Massacre to be two-use intstead of one, but it's quite good as it is. The weak skills in the combat tree are cold blood and especially cripple shot. Cold blood provides unexpected opportunities like fleet-foot, but fewer of them. Cripple shot is mostly worthless because the game isn't built around slowly wearing down enemies. If you see them, you kill them. If you don't kill them, they better be at long range. When is cripple shot going to make a difference? Almost never - the main exception is the final boss and his guardians, but that level is a breeze in the first place.

Survival is good but only great if you're using the exploit. Hunker down can be useful if you get yourself into trouble, but if you're playing well you rarely need it. It can be used as a defensive corrollary to Massacre (wade in with guns blazing, hunker down, then finish off enemies next turn). Last Stand is very weak outside of the exploit - when is it ever going to make a real difference in the outcome? Juggernaught is mostly worthless unless you're going for a build with 80-100% resistance, but doing so means you won't have Improved Metabolism, which is a significant opportunity cost. Regenerative Armor is almost entirely worthless - Hunters 2 is not a game of attrition. Mostly, you kill or be killed.

Support is particularly good for an Assault Rifle build, and most teams will want one of those. The weapon's range and consistency make it ideal for guard, and support greatly enhances guard. Stand firm is by far the best skill in this tree (note: snipers benefit the most, but snipers themselves are not terribly relevant because they require 8 talent points just to get started). Sentry is OK, but I'd like to know what the actual boost to accuracy is. Steadfast is very weak, and will only make a difference in less than 1/5 missions, and a small one at that. Free fire is also very weak - it doesn't trigger very often and when it does, it's not likely to make any difference. Stand Firm and Sentry make this a worthwhile build for the Assault Rifle, and the whole tree is useful for Snipers.

Vengeance is basically synonymous with the sadism/LastStand exploit. As I've said above, Hunters 2 is not a game of attrition, so a skill-tree based on taking damage but not dying is extremely questionable, even on normal difficulty. The only use I've found for this tree is against the final boss. If another squad-mate is wielding Rocket Launchers, you can manipulate Retribution and Revenge (splash damage) to deal 12-15k damage to the boss on your next hit. But what's the point? There's no rush and it's fun to kill all or most of the Amndyne soldiers that teleport in while you wear down the Guardian. Hardly worth leveling a character for.

My Top 5 Talents:

1. Improved Metabolism
2. Second Chance
3. Fleet Foot
4. Massacre
5. Stand Firm

Recon and Hunker Down are also notewothy. Sprint is decent. Everything else I could do without.

It should be noted that ranking the talents across classes is not a terribly valid enterprise to begin with. For instance, I would not want a team without an Assault Rifle build, and I would not want an Assault Rifle build without Stand Firm, so it doens't really matter that I think Massacre and Second Chance are "better" overall.

[gunxsword]

Half your team using weapons that cost at least 2AP to fire!? I wouldn't even dare to think of such a team lineup . I don't like having team members lagging behind the pack.

Minigun feels like a very big rifle for me, with the disadvantage of costing 1 skill point to equip. The trade of mobility and range doesn't quite justify its power imo. Your build seems to compliment the mobility issues but I wouldn't want to risk situations where I'm left in an open field out of AP.

The rocket launcher doesn't get any love from me. It's got great range but 3 AP to fire severely limits the mobility of my team. Plus, I like ambushing enemies in doorways/corners with shotguns etc and the RL's splash damage does more collateral than good.

I prefer snipers over the RL. Insane single target damage and best range of all weapons. Great for long distance firefights and can still do pot shots in fields with good cover. Pair this with second chance and it works like high-powered shotguns for long range.

Shotguns are awesome in this game. Nuff said. Everyone team needs a high powered shotgun with second chance.

Assault rifles are the attrition weapons I use. Pot shot, duck, ambush. Works (almost) everytime. A bit weaker than the minigun but the extra mobility more than makes up for it.

I used to hammers like OHKO shotguns, but I stopped after realizing that shotguns are better than hammers in almost every situation I can think of, including point-blank encounters in doorways/corners. Hammers are just too risky even for glass cannon scouts with full scout and combat trees.
-----------------------
My usual team is drawn from a pool of hunters:
1x shotgun Stalker w/ full scout tree and from 3 Survival, the rest can go anywhere. A high accuracy shotgun and 60% armor resistance makes him fill godlike, until the enemy crits . He's function mirrors the 'devastator' attack in Prototype - run into a pack of enemies (and spend the remaining AP), become a sitting duck (hunker or not), mop up . He's my 'safe' alternative for my other 2 Devastator builds.

1x plasma gun Terminator. Full Combat tree and 2 into Survival. The rest can go into anything (haven't decided yet). He's the ideal merge of the assault rifle and the sniper. Great mobility, and has the option of unleashing the highest burst damage in the game (I vaguely remember a 21k overcharge crit) at the cost of range.

1x flamethrower Scout. Full scouting tree and 3 Support, the rest into crit. This dood is a beast. Higher damage than assault rifles, great mobility to compensate for the loss of range, and support skills makes him the ideal candidate for 'bite and hold' tactic. High crit flamer is very underrated imo.

2x shotgun Devastator, same build as yours except 1 point in Retribution. Their purpose is usually room breaching (after Stalker or a scout have scouted the room), defense (surprisingly useful) or shock and awe (esp after taking damage. The last tactic is reserved for long distance room breaches, where AP would be low after the travel and a single high-powered attack is needed to take out hostiles.

2x minigun + shotgun (but both snipers to be) Arbiters. 3 Guard skills and full Vengeance tree. To be replaced by the sniper once I level him up. The only reason I'm using a minigun is because he has not got the points for a functional sniper build and the orange Azrael's Wrath is sexy (but still manages to disappoint).

3x assault rifle Zealots named after Hellsing/Dracula characters. Original concept design was to have full Survival to make them durable and Vengeance to deal MASSIVE damage to attackers. Remember my devastator attack earlier? That was originally drafted for the Last Stand + Revenge + Retribution + Counter Attack combo. Run these guns into mobs and have them act as virtual suicide bombs. Until I realized the near invincible Last Stand + Sadistic exploit.
This was my response to rooms/open areas littered with enemies and stranded of AP. Let them hit me and these little Zealots would clear the area for the team. Now they just take the back seat and take pot shots. Sigh...

[JohnRayJr]

Of course, it varies by mission, but the "core" of the team are the non-sniper ranged fighters. The Sniper and Hammer Guy only come along if there's room. Also, I didn't even have a Sniper until three of my squad had reached level X. One of my Scouts was using the Jericho Launcher from Level VI onward, and after receiving the Legendary Sniper rifle for completing the campaign a fourth time, I respeced him.

In my whole time playing this game, I can only think of one or two situations where a visible target was out of range for a Rocket Launcher. With splash damage and a 45% critical chance (Jericho +30), I was frequently doing 5200 to the primary target. The rocket scout routinely earned the most experience, even edging out the Devastator. However, early in the game, he fell behind (I was experimenting with plasma rifles with disappointing results), so my Devastator and Minigun-Charger reached level X first.

Miniguns aren't quite as good as I'd hoped, but they're strong nonetheless. Deathbringer Storm routinely outperforms the Ranger's Carbine assault rifle for sheer damage, though the Charger does have decreased mobility. Results depend on whether you get "sustained" bursts. A single burst is disappointing, but a double is quite good (kills most non-heavy targets) and I've seen my Minigunner take out a Heavily Armored target (the ones with 6000+ HP) in one burst on numerous occasions. There's really no situation that my Minigun/AR/Rocket/Shotgun team can't handle.

You do have to be strategic about where you use a Rocket Launcher. It's not good in small enclosed spaces, but the Shotgun isn't good in big open spaces either so you use the two to complement each other.

[temozarela]

Thanks for all the tips guys! It was very helpful.

What do you guys think of a Charger sniper? Combat to Second Change then Full Scouting for an offensive minded sniper, who jumps out, shoots or Massacre, second chance if he misses, and jumps back into hiding.

Also what extra percent damage does a critical hit do? Is it 100% extra or more or less?