User:Cherman0/Talent Balance

This userpage serves as a collection of my thoughts on if each talent is interesting (ie does it meaningfully change your gameplay or provide a benefit that you actually want) and is balanced (ie is it useless or too good). The classes as a whole as well as each talent block (ie t1, t2, each tree) and each mutually exclusive choice are also evaluated. Generally speaking the assumption is that you want to take only two talents in each tier in order to reach the tree selection faster, and thus there is the consideration that you may take a talent in t1 or t2 at the opportunity cost of taking another, even though the game does not actually prevent you from doing so.

Captain

T1

Take Inspirational Leader and Travelling Tradesman. *Maybe* substitute inpirational leader for bounty hunter, the extra money might let you make up for it with skill books.

Bounty Hunter

Talent	Tree	Description
Bounty Hunter ID: bountyhunter	Captain General Tier 1	Gain 15% bonus XP and 15% bonus money when completing a Monster or Nest mission.

One of the few "X mission gives more money and exp" talents that isnt entirely horrible. Monster, Nest, and Hunting Grounds missions are common and high-paying enough that you'll probably get some actual use out of this if you pick it. There are still better options for your two T1 talents, though.

Inspirational Leader

Talent	Tree	Description
Inspirational Leader ID: inspirationalleader	Captain General Tier 1	Applies to all crew: +25% Skill Gain Speed

Its good. Not terribly interesting but everyone likes skill points.

Logistics Expert

Talent	Tree	Description
Logistics Expert ID: logisticsexpert	Captain General Tier 1	Gain 20% bonus XP and 20% bonus money when completing a Cargo or Personnel Transport mission.

Basically if bounty hunter sucked. Cargo and Passenger missions dont tend to pay as much and dont really lead you to other benefits like caves and monster loot.

Prodigy

Talent	Tree	Description
Prodigy ID: prodigy	Captain General Tier 1	+50% Skill Gain Speed

A worse version of Egghead for a job that both has better talent options and only really uses one skill. Its bad unless you got it from an endocrine booster.

Travelling Tradesman

Talent	Tree	Description
Travelling Tradesman ID: travelingtradesman	Captain General Tier 1	Applies to all crew: Special sales offer 3 additional items. +20% Item Sell Value Does not stack with multiple of the same talent.

Pretty good. Saves a lot of money on medical supplies especially, and every once in a while you luck out and can get a ton of materials or ammo for cheap. The bonus sell value changes nothing about it.

Veteran

Talent	Tree	Description
Veteran ID: veteran	Captain General Tier 1	Gain a one-time bonus of 20 Helm and 5 to all other skills. +10% Repair Speed

Its bad. The helm skill is the only reason youd take it but +20 helm doesnt justify it over other T1s.

T2

Take Gunsmith and either Camaraderie or Sailor with No Name depending on how confident in your crew's ability to not die.

Camaraderie

Talent	Tree	Description
Camaraderie ID: camaraderie	Captain General Tier 2	While no crew member has died during a mission, gain 10% bonus XP and 5% Physical Damage Resistance.

Good with competent players and smaller servers. Otherwise pointless since people will join and die on the respawn shuttle or intentionally kill themselves.

Down With the Ship

Talent	Tree	Description
Down with the Ship ID: downwiththeship	Captain General Tier 2	If you are on your submarine and it becomes at least 50% flooded, you gain an additional 50% swimming speed and repair hulls 50% faster for 60 seconds.

Not great. Unless you have bots manning the guns and repairs the captain really ought to stay at the helm in order to provide updates to the crew. Very good for non-captains to get from an endocrine booster though.

Emergency Maneuvers

Talent	Tree	Description
Emergency Maneuvers ID: emergencymaneuvers	Captain General Tier 2	Whenever your submarine takes damage from a monster, gain maximum Helm skill for 5 seconds.

Usually not worth it. Its usually not hard for a captain to reach 70+ helm skill especially with their hat.

Gunsmith

Talent	Tree	Description
Gunsmith ID: gunsmith	Captain General Tier 2	Unlock recipe: Revolver, Revolver Round.

Pretty good. Revolvers are now quite material efficient to craft ammo for. Though theyre also quite cheap to just buy.

Sailor With No Name

Talent	Tree	Description
Sailor with No Name ID: sailorwithnoname	Captain General Tier 2	Gain a bonus of 20 to Medical. Unlock recipe: Cigar.

Its ok. The +medical is the main draw, cigars are not that helpful.

Steady Tune

Talent	Tree	Description
Steady Tune ID: steadytune	Captain General Tier 2	After playing a Harmonica for 10 seconds or longer, you and nearby allies gain +100% Psychosis resistance for 60 seconds.

Bad. Psychosis doesnt do anything, dont waste a talent on being able to counteract it.

Gunslinger

Pretty terrible. None of the talents effect your crew at large (aside from deputy but thats mid) or your own ability to pilot the sub. The handcannon is mid compared to other options available at level 8.

Quickdraw

Talent	Tree	Description
Quickdraw ID: quickdraw	Captain Gunslinger Spec. 1	If it has been longer than 8 seconds since you've attacked with a pistol, your next attack with a pistol is 25% more powerful. Reduce the penalty for dual-wielding ranged weapons by 50%

Not great. Revolvers are low damage, high RoF weapons. They dont get much benefit from this and hand-cannons are too niche to justify taking it.

Gunslinger T4 Decision

Deputy

Talent	Tree	Description
Deputy ID: deputy	Captain Gunslinger Spec. 2	Assistants nearby get 20 Helm and 20 Weapons skill and gain these skills twice as fast.

Ok for a bot I guess. Realistically only one person can use helm at a time so only the weapons part actually matters, and even then its only relevant if assistants are manning the guns and the sub is designed so that the periscopes are within 6 meters of nav.

Lone Wolf

Talent	Tree	Description
Lone Wolf ID: lonewolf	Captain Gunslinger Spec. 2	If there's no crew members nearby, gain the following: +20% Physical Damage Resistance +20% Stun Resistance +20% Melee Damage Dealt

The radius is an enormous 20 meters, good luck ever getting this to activate, especially in the sub (which is probably where youll be as captain). Decent for solo diving if you got it from an endocrine booster or graduation.

Drunken Sailor

Talent	Tree	Description
Drunken Sailor ID: drunkensailor	Captain Gunslinger Spec. 3	Gain 75% stun resistance while drunk and immunity to the negative effects of drunkenness. Unlock recipe: Rum.

The stun resistance is powerful but you have to expect to need it beforehand. Rum is an extremely efficient husk cure too for some reason.

Big Guns

Talent	Tree	Description
Big Guns ID: bigguns	Captain Gunslinger Spec. 4	Deal 30% more damage with Revolvers and Handcannons to monsters. Reduce the penalty for dual-wielding ranged weapons by 50% Unlock recipe: Handcannon, Handcannon Round.

The buff to revolvers and hand cannons is decent, though by the time you get this talent youll have better weapons available. Handcannons especially are not worth the price of ammo.

Skipper

Very solid, though entirely outclassed by Politician. Get this tree second.

Leading By Example

Talent	Tree	Description
Leading By Example ID: leadingbyexample	Captain Skipper Spec. 1	As long as you're alive, all crew members receive High Morale granting the following: +20% Repair Speed +20% Hull Repair Speed +5% Movement Speed

Pretty good. Helps especially when the sub is crashed and in need of repairs to regain mobility.

Helmsman

Talent	Tree	Description
Helmsman ID: helmsman	Captain Skipper Spec. 2	Boosts your Helm skill by 30. Increases Engines and Pumps effectiveness by 20%. Does not stack with multiple of the same talent.

Basically if Veteran wasnt bad. One of the rare captain talents to actually improve their main job function. Nice to have but not insane.

Skipper T5 Decision

Inspiring Presence

Talent	Tree	Description
Inspiring Presence ID: inspiringpresence	Captain Skipper Spec. 3	Crew members in the same room that gain a skill point, instead get 3. Crewmembers walk 5% faster.

Good to have on a bot that hangs out in the gunnery or fabrication room or something. The game gives you plenty of bots that have it by default so Trickle Down will be better for player captains.

Trickle Down

Talent	Tree	Description
Trickle Down ID: trickledown	Captain Skipper Spec. 3	If you gain a skill, so does every other crewmember everywhere. Crewmembers swim 10% faster.

Pretty good, especially for captains that like to help out with other duties when they can. Pretty good at boosting other people's skills if youre low at that skill and can thus level it up relatively easily. The swim speed boost is also nice.

Family

Talent	Tree	Description
Family ID: family	Captain Skipper Spec. 4	On unlock: Every crewmember gains one level. During missions, if no crewmember has died, upgrades High Morale to Excellent Morale, doubling the bonuses. The deaths of assistants do not count.

Doubles the buffs of Leading By Example, which were already pretty good. Though the "nobody important dies" stipulation makes it non viable for large or public servers. The free level for everyone is more helpful the later into the campaign you get it since the levels will take more exp to get through.

Politician

Easily the best talent tree in the game, its unbelievable how economy-breaking it is. Youll end up buying supercapacitor upgrades because you have nothing else to spend your scrooge mcduck swimming pool of gold coins on.

Commendations

Talent	Tree	Description
Commendations ID: commendations	Captain Politician Spec. 1	Whenever you finish at least one mission, gain a Commendation. When you apply a Commendation on another character, give them 275 experience.

Its good. Mostly helpful for people who are less than 275 exp from levelling up to not have to wait another mission.

Politician T4 Decision

Always pick affiliation

Affiliation

Talent	Tree	Description
Affiliation ID: affiliation	Captain Politician Spec. 2	Reputation with factions increases 50% faster. Earn 20% more marks when completing a mission for your Affiliated faction. Does not stack with multiple of the same talent. Affiliated faction: The faction you have the highest reputation with.

Extremely overpowered. The reputation gain will easily make you revered by everyone without playing any differently, which gives extreme discounts. Getting more money makes it even more OP.

Your Reputation...

Talent	Tree	Description
Your Reputation... ID: yourreputation	Captain Politician Spec. 2	When entering a new outpost you have positive faction reputation with, gain 500 mk. Doubled for cities.

Utterly terrible, even without comparing it to Affiliation. You get a few spare nickels at each station you visit. Big whoop.

Politician T5 Decision

Always pick campaigning.

Campaigning

Talent	Tree	Description
Campaigning ID: campaigning	Captain Politician Spec. 3	Affiliated faction shipyards offer 20% discount for upgrades and buying submarines. You may select an additional mission.

Also extremely overpowered. Functionally nearly 50% increased money and exp for the rest of the campaign, the economy will never be a concern again. The upgrade and submarine discounts further destroy the economy.

Networking

Talent	Tree	Description
Networking ID: networking	Captain Politician Spec. 3	Affiliated faction shops offer 20% lower prices. Doubled for faction-unique items.

Ok if you consider it as a standalone, absolutely horrible in comparison to Campaigning.

Figurehead

Talent	Tree	Description
Figurehead ID: figurehead	Captain Politician Spec. 4	Replaces Commendations with Medals that give 550 XP. If the character is then below level 5, give them XP to reach level 5. All services on affiliated outposts give 20% discount.

Very good, especially for getting new joiners up to speed on a campaign-in-progress.

Security Officer

T1

Take Physical Conditioning and Swole unless you really want to be some weird sec-medic hybrid.

Buff

Talent	Tree	Description
Buff ID: buff	Security Officer General Tier 1	Gain an additional 50% Buff Duration. Gain an additional 25% Opiate addiction resistance.

Stacks quite nicely with tonic liquid if you have a medic that wants to use buffs frequently, but otherwise there are better options.

First Aid Training

Talent	Tree	Description
First Aid Training ID: firstaidtraining	Security Officer General Tier 1	Gain a bonus of 15 to Medical. Medical items are 35% more potent when applied to you.

Stacks quite nicely with medical item potency increases from medic talents, though it will also made the side effects (ie overdose, organ damage, etc.) more severe. There are better options here.

Physical Conditioning

Talent	Tree	Description
Physical Conditioning ID: physicalconditioning	Security Officer General Tier 1	Gain an additional 10% Movement Speed. Gain an additional 30% Oxygen low resistance.

The movement speed is quite handy, and the oxygen low resistance helps you not die as fast in critical condition. Pretty good.

Protect and Serve

Talent	Tree	Description
Protect and Serve ID: protectandserve	Security Officer General Tier 1	Gain 30% bonus XP and 100% more reputation when completing a Escort mission.

Bog standard "X mission gives more money and exp" talent, which is to say that its horrible.

Swole

Talent	Tree	Description
Swole ID: swole	Security Officer General Tier 1	Gain an additional 10% Maximum Health. Gain an additional 25% Melee Power.

The vitality makes healing more efficient and damage less severe. A very good talent. The melee boost allegedly also applies to a swung syringe's medical effects, for what its worth.

War Stories

Talent	Tree	Description
War Stories ID: warstories	Security Officer General Tier 1	At the end of each round, if you killed any enemies, create a Art of Submarine Warfare in your inventory. Reading it gives Weapons skill to the reader; the skill gain is determined by the amount of enemies killed during the round.

Absolutely terrible. Dont take it.

T2

There's a lot of good options here but Munitions Expertise and Weaponsmith are almost always the best options. Maybe consider getting them on a bot in order to take the others.

Bootcamp

Talent	Tree	Description
Bootcamp ID: bootcamp	Security Officer General Tier 2	Gain an additional 50% experience, until you have obtained 5 talent points. When you have 5 or more talent points, gain +15 Bonus Weapons Skill instead.

Rather good if your crew is competant enough to never die. Otherwise, a waste of a talent.

By the Book

Talent	Tree	Description
By the Book ID: bythebook	Security Officer General Tier 2	Whenever you finish at least one mission, your crew gains an additional 1250 marks and 200 experience for each captured, live enemy human on board your ship, up to a maximum of 2500 marks and 400 experience.

Rather interesting and fairly good when you can get it to activate, though you only really have a chance during abandoned outposts or beacon stations that happen to have bandits.

Don't Push It

Talent	Tree	Description
Don't Push It ID: dontpushit	Security Officer General Tier 2	Unlock recipe: Bandolier, Explosive Slug.

Explosive slugs and bandoliers are very good, though weapons and ammo are probably more important.

Munitions Expertise

Talent	Tree	Description
Munitions Expertise ID: munitionsexpertise	Security Officer General Tier 2	Unlock recipe: SMG Magazine, Shotgun Shell.

Essential. Lets you get yourself and your crew equipped with something better than harpoon guns, which will be necessary for armored or numerous targets.

Weaponsmith

Talent	Tree	Description
Weaponsmith ID: weaponsmith	Security Officer General Tier 2	Weapons you fabricate are of 1 higher quality. Unlock recipe: Riot Shotgun, SMG.

Essential. Even if youve already bought or looted a decent number of shotguns and smgs, the quality bonus will help with the more powerful talent exclusive weapons down the line.

Frogman

Gives you access to lots of nice items and a few handy buffs. Gunner is probably more powerful in combat but Frogman may be more useful to your whole team.

Boarding Party

Talent	Tree	Description
Boarding Party ID: boardingparty	Security Officer Frogman Spec. 1	Unlock recipe: Boarding Axe, Slipsuit, Harpoon Coil-Rifle.

Very good. Each unlocked item is quite powerful and affordable enough that you can make them for any crew who wants them. Slipsuits alone significantly speed up dive missions.

Frogman T4 Decision

Basically a difference of whether you like the harpoon coil-rifle or not. If you dont intend on using it that much, pick scavenger.

Scavenger

Talent	Tree	Description
Scavenger ID: scavenger	Security Officer Frogman Spec. 2	Whenever you open a container outside your submarine for the first time, you have a 25% chance of finding additional items.

Nice for getting a bit of extra loot. Works on outposts too. Take it if you dont intend on using harpoons that much.

Slayer

Talent	Tree	Description
Slayer ID: slayer	Security Officer Frogman Spec. 2	Gain an additional 25% attack power with harpoons. If you are in the open sea, gain an additional 50% attack power to Harpoons instead.

Makes the harpoon coil-rifle very powerful, especially on dive missions.

Frogman T5 Decision

Easy Turtle alongside Stonewall and Crusty Seaman can make you quite tanky. If you don't intend on getting those talents soon, pick Daring Dolphin.

Daring Dolphin

Talent	Tree	Description
Daring Dolphin ID: daringdolphin	Security Officer Frogman Spec. 3	Gain an additional 25% Swimming Speed.

Good for clearing dive missions quickly, especially in tandem with a slipsuit.

Easy Turtle

Talent	Tree	Description
Easy Turtle ID: easyturtle	Security Officer Frogman Spec. 3	Take 20% less damage from attacks while you are in water.

A nice bit of damage resistance for dive missions. Note that it does nothing against bleeding which can and will still kill you quite quickly.

Spec-Ops

Talent	Tree	Description
Spec-Ops ID: specops	Security Officer Frogman Spec. 4	Unlock recipe: Thermal Goggles. Inflict double (non-turret) damage against full health enemies.

Makes the harpoon coil-rifle rather absurdly powerful, though its usefulness is diminished somewhat if fighting with teammates with itchy trigger fingers. The thermal goggles are also nice for dive missions or letting the engineer gank things through walls with the arc emitter.

Enforcer

Probably the weakest security tree, though still not bad. The talents here can make you quite survivable.

Pacification Kit

Talent	Tree	Description
Pacification Kit ID: pacificationkit	Security Officer Enforcer Spec. 1	Unlock recipe: Autoshotgun, Fulgurium Stun Gun Dart, Riot Shield.

The autoshotgun is quite good (especially with explosive slugs). The riot shield and fulgurium stun darts are not very useful or practical.

Enforcer T4 Decision

Take Stonewall.

Beat Cop

Talent	Tree	Description
Beat Cop ID: beatcop	Security Officer Enforcer Spec. 2	Inflict 25% more stun. Doubled against monsters inside the submarine.

Decent, though youre generally better off killing enemies than stunning them.

Stonewall

Talent	Tree	Description
Stonewall ID: stonewall	Security Officer Enforcer Spec. 2	Whenever you are attacked, gain an additional 25% physical damage resistance and 25% stun resistance for 4 seconds.

Very powerful at letting you survive a melee fight with multiple enemies. Bleeding is still an issue but that can be solved next level.

Enforcer T5 Decision

Take Crusty Seaman.

Crusty Seaman

Talent	Tree	Description
Crusty Seaman ID: crustyseaman	Security Officer Enforcer Spec. 3	Recover from bleeding much more quickly.

Aside from the extremely gross name, this talent pretty much removes bleeding as a threat. Very good.

Inordinate Exsanguination

Talent	Tree	Description
Inordinate Exsanguination ID: inordinateexsanguination	Security Officer Enforcer Spec. 3	Inflict 100% more Bleeding damage.

Bleed damage is rather negligable against anything larger than a mudraptor. Take Crusty Seaman instead.

Implacable

Talent	Tree	Description
Implacable ID: implacable	Security Officer Enforcer Spec. 4	Whenever you fall below 0 health, you will remain fully conscious and your attacks are 25% more powerful for 15 seconds. This effect can only occur once per life each round.

Essentially lets you use the entire vitality bar. Quite powerful especially if you are actively healing during the fight.

Gunner

Every talent here (except Gun Runner, lmao) increases your damage in some way, meaning you become extremely lethal. The HMG alone justifies this tree with its frankly absurd power.

Rifleman

Talent	Tree	Description
Rifleman ID: rifleman	Security Officer Gunner Spec. 1	Inflict 10% more damage with Rifles. Unlock recipe: Assault Rifle, Assault Rifle Magazine, Rifle, Rifle Round.

The assault rifle is pretty good, the normal rifle is ok.

Gunner T4 Decision

Both are good choices, though the other talents in this tree mean you aren't really hurting for the small arms buff of Commando.

Commando

Talent	Tree	Description
Commando ID: commando	Security Officer Gunner Spec. 2	When firing a ranged weapon while crouched, you gain 70% reduction to spread and inflict 10% more damage.

The bonuses are nice, but as tandem fire is one of the few talents to boost turret effectiveness it is usually preferable.

Tandem Fire

Talent	Tree	Description
Tandem Fire ID: tandemfire	Security Officer Gunner Spec. 2	As long as you are manning a turret alongside another allied crewmember, both of your attacks are 20% more powerful. Only the closest allied crewmember gains this effect.

A quite substantial buff to turrets, though it needs someone else to also be operating a periscope somewhere.

Gunner T5 Decision

Take Extra Powder if your prefrontal cortex has not been removed by a flying steel rod.

Extra Powder

Talent	Tree	Description
Extra Powder ID: extrapowder	Security Officer Gunner Spec. 3	Explosions have 20% larger radius and deal 10% more damage. Explosives you fabricate are of 1 higher quality.

Makes exploding coilgun ammo even more unreasonably overpowered, and gives higher quality explosives to boot. Very good.

Gun Runner

Talent	Tree	Description
Gun Runner ID: gunrunner	Security Officer Gunner Spec. 3	You move 25% faster while carrying turret ammunition. Walk 20% faster while aiming.

This talent is idiotic. Don't take it.

Warlord

Talent	Tree	Description
Warlord ID: warlord	Security Officer Gunner Spec. 4	Inflict 10% more damage with ranged weapons for every nearby enemy. Up to 50%. Unlock recipe: HMG, HMG Magazine.

The HMG is extremely overpowered even by itself. The damage buff per nearby enemy is also quite good, though the range is only 5 meters so it is mostly useful for when enemies have already started attacking you.