A new game about space dwarf miners Deep Rock Galactic has been gaining popularity recently. The game is still in development and is in Early Access on Steam. The game is quite fun and interesting, especially if you play with a group of 3-4 people.
I played this game and decided to write a little guide on Deep Rock Galactic. It will include: terminals on the space station, a description of all the characters’ abilities, skills, improvements.
Disclamer!
Everything described below is current as of the date of this guide. Game version: 0.18.19384. The guide will be supplemented and amended as the game evolves. If you notice any inaccuracies, you can tell me about them in the comments.
Characters and their abilities. There are four types of characters in the game: scout, gunner, engineer and driller. Each of them has their own set of weapons and special tools. Let’s look at each of them separately.
Scout. Armed with an automatic rifle and a double-barreled shotgun. Machine gun has not much ammunition, so you should not play alone with such a character – just will not have time to order ammunition. The sawn-off shotgun in close combat is very good, but it reloads after a couple of shots.
The scout has a special tool – a pistol with a grappling hook. With it you can get anywhere, even under the ceiling. This is very useful when searching for eggs in difficult caves. The scout also has a flare gun in his arsenal. Its projectiles are stuck into the ground and shine for a very long time. It only makes sense to use them in big rooms for a long gathering of resources and fighting with the swarm of insects.
Rifleman. The shooter’s main weapon is the Lead Storm minigun. It holds 1400 rounds (2000 and 2400 after the upgrade) and allows you to literally pour lead all around. Great for defending against swarms of insects. If you run out of ammo, the heavy Bulldog revolver also helps to hold out until the supply capsule arrives. The shooter’s special equipment includes a tether and a bomber bag. The tether allows you to pull a rope to overcome an obstacle or to get to the resources. Once installed it can be used by the whole team.
Engineer. The engineer has a Vepr-auto shotgun and a 40mm grenade launcher in his arsenal. The shotgun is very good in close combat, does a lot of damage with every shot and kills most medium opponents with two shots. But it is worth remembering that it only has six shots between reloads. The grenade launcher is also indispensable in combat, especially against large armored enemies. Also, it can knock down resources from walls and ceilings, such as red sugar, not effective, but you can.
Additional equipment is a platform cannon and a machine gun platform. The cannon creates a platform out of the ground, on which you can reach inaccessible places. Machine-gun platform (2 pieces) is set on the ground and serves as protection for the entire team during a swarm attack. Holds 75 (100 after the upgrade) ammo, which must be replenished. When moving long distances you should take them with you in time (hold R), otherwise you won’t have time to set them up before the attack.
Driller. The driller is equipped with a flamethrower and a pistol to defend against insects. The CRSPR flamethrower deals fire damage, causing enemies to literally burn alive. Keep in mind that it has a limited range. Subat’s gun is powerful enough and suitable even for long range, but because of the small magazine it is not suitable for the big swarms of insects.
Oddly enough, the distinctive feature of the driller is the presence of two drills, with which you can make moves in absolutely any place. The drills are especially effective at the end of a sortie, when it is necessary to quickly get to the escape pod. The driller simply walks through walls and leads the entire team. The driller also has bombshells. They are best used against insects, especially large ones. For resource extraction they are ineffective.
In addition to all of the above, each character has a pickaxe for mining minerals, a flare torch, several grenades, and armor. You can kill small insects with the pickaxe, and after upgrading you can kill single medium insects. But if there are a lot of them, it is better to shoot them with a gun and keep them away. Flares – the most necessary thing in the sorties, so their upgrade should be the first. This will allow you to carry 4 of them, and they will burn longer. All characters’ armor is the same, you can increase the shields by 20 percent with two upgrades. Each has one unique improvement. The scout can reduce damage from falling, the gunner can reduce damage from explosions, the driller can reduce damage from fire, and the engineer can increase his resistance to poison.
Skills. The space station has several terminals for different purposes. In the character cabin there is a character selection terminal and a panel with tasks and skills. There are many tasks and all of them are performed in sorties to the mines. For completing each task, you get skill points, which you can spend on the same panel under Skills. There are a total of 16 skills in the game, each with up to six levels of improvement. With each level a skill becomes more valuable. All skills are divided into groups. To choose from the next group, you need to buy a few skills from the current one. The number is indicated by arrows between the groups.
After buying the skills you need to install them in the special cells on the Improve equipment terminal in the center of the hall. The number of cells is limited to one at first, but with the skills you can increase their number to four. When you buy the skills of the next level they are automatically replaced in the equipment.
The appropriate terminal is used to improve the equipment. In addition to credits, improvements require additional resources. They can be obtained in the caves in parallel execution of the task. In addition they can be bought for credits in the terminal on the left.
In general, so far this is all you need to know about the characters skills and improvements. In the second part I will talk about the choice of missions, how to play Deep Rock Galactic with friends, what to do directly during the mission.