how i learned to stop worrying and love the automatron

[Moraelin]

Ahem. Sorry for the Dr Strangelove reference. More seriously, I've noticed that some people don't fully realize how unbalanced automatrons are -- as in, why a robot Curie could kill a squad of human Curies without breaking a sweat -- so I figured I'd talk a bit about it.

 

And I know I've been going on myself mostly about my lovely turbo-squids, but there are actually far deadlier combinations. Especially if you look under the hood with FO4Edit.

 

Now the key to all this is realizing that:

 

A) breakable robot parts aren't the end of the world. If your robot's arm or head explodes, you just wait a bit for it to heal. (Or you can just use a mod to stop them breaking if you want.)

 

B) Beth's effects really don't scale, unlike what you may be used to from your weapons and armour.

 

Voltaic for example doesn't seem to add a PERCENTAGE of damage to the weapon, but it adds both a flat +2 energy damage to energy attacks, and an extra +1 energy attack to the weapon. (Not sure, though, but I think more pieces don't add more than 1 extra attack. Since it's via a hidden perk.) I suppose in case your weapon didn't do any energy damage to boost in the first place.

 

Similarly, something like the Reaper Helm has a chance to proc per shot, regardless of whether you have two turbo-gatlings or one sniper laser.

 

In both cases, basically, the higher rate of fire, the better. There isn't any balancing factor between single shot and full auto, like for human weapons. The more hits per second, the more the effect gets applied, and the more other effects like the helms will proc.

 

C) Did I mention that the Reaper or Carnage helms have a chance per hit to proc and outright instantly kill an enemy? It doesn't matter how high their HP is, doesn't matter what their defenses are, if a Reaper procs, you're dead. Down in the ground, with dirt on your head.

 

D) Did I mention that Voltaic actually adds attacks?

 

You can probably see where I'm going with it. And you can even up the ante even more than just lasers, since for example a cryolator arm is essentially a quick-firing cone-AOE.

 

So yeah... Curie may be cute, and Deacon may be the regional smart-assery champion, but when you want a couple of deathclaws dead fast, an Automatron is your best bet.

[Vormina]

I use Automatrons for provisioners, robobrain and robo treads(these are the fastest even though the handy thruster says it is), Voltaic and dual gatling lasers on sentry arms, I have 4 coming out of Red Rocket and once I got a message that RR was under attack, when I arrived all 4 were there and wiped out a 8 man gunner squad with 2 legendaries before I could get a shot off.

 

The robo treads are so fast I have to sprint to assign them when they come off the workbench, lol. Watching the brahmin trying to keep up is hilarious.

 

Yes, they TCB and don't fool around. ;)

[Moraelin]

Well, think of it that way: give them Reaper or Carnage helms and the configuration to exploit the proc rate, and 1 (ONE) of them can wipe out that 8 man gunner squad. Usually. Unless its head explodes half-way through.

[genolune]

Automatrons as provisioners plus the transportation droids to replace brahmin could be a thing. Thanks for the idea Vormina. How do you know that combo is the fastest? Have you watched the two of them and compared speed?

[CyrusAmell]

My biggest problem with the robots is that they seem to negatively affect the happiness of your settlements. It's this whole thing, I can't quite explain it off the top of my head.

 

I have yet to find a mod that eliminates this oddity, or else I would use robots to supplement my settlement defenses gladly.

[Vormina]

Automatrons as provisioners plus the transportation droids to replace brahmin could be a thing. Thanks for the idea Vormina. How do you know that combo is the fastest? Have you watched the two of them and compared speed?

 

Yes, I've tried every leg option, the robo treads are twice as fast as the handy thrusters which are just a little faster than assautron legs. The Protectron legs might as well not exist for me, lol. And the sentry have issues with tight spaces. I was looking at those transportation droids too, I'm really tired of brahmin blocking doorways and hanging out on roofs, haha.

 

@Cyrus That's strange, they don't have any affect on my settlements happiness, good or bad. But I will tell you one misconception about them, they auto assign to beds even though they don't use them, always make sure to have enough as they might be taking someone elses.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Vormina

[genolune]

Thanks. Have you tried to compare to the Securitron mod by chance?

[Vormina]

Haven't seen that one.

 

edit: Just watched the video, that looks interesting, but the no animated wheel would drive my OCD crazy.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Vormina

[Moraelin]

Securitrons are missing a bunch of armour options, though. At least if you want them to still look like Securitrons.

[genolune]

Well, I was thinking of what robot has the fastest "feet", Moraelin. You can always give it a different torso though.

 

Speaking of which, do the torsos or heads, etc., have any bearing on how fast the automatron moves at all? Like will a sentry torso slow them down or an assaultron torso speed them up?