The Outer Worlds

Full credit to the streamer. One of the better speed run guide out there with full commentary and highlights key points which are otherwise difficult to follow on other speedrun guides. He takes it slow so that you can follow. I think the steamer deserves more attention so posting it here. Hope it helps



PS: you can force the game to auto save by fast travelling to your ship. It saves right where you left off before fast travelling. Just Reload the auto save and continue. Can’t fast travel to ship from interiors or near hostiles.

Not as difficult as it initially seems. The first hour is a pain as you are incredibly squishy, I died twice before reaching edge water after never dying on hard, but past that it is not terribly difficult. Assuming this is at least your second play through, was my third, it should be a quick 5-7 hour play through.

First forget about any skills besides dialogue and sciences, and sneak skills up until 20, as the are realistically worthless in the long run. Doing this will let you seemingly skip the back half of the game as you can get the IDs for the shroud and talk your way through areas. Furthermore, don't use followers, as they can and will die, and asap take advantage of the perks that activate by being alone.

Okay, so first off;
You need to eat (meat or carbs) drink (water, soda or caffeine) and sleep regularly. You gain skill and stat debuffs that get worse until you die.
Companions dont fall in combat. They die.
You can only save on your ship. Autosaves happen outside Transition locations (entering/exiting Edgewater, for instance)
Certain perks end up being deadly.
Fast travel only works to your ship.

Seems scary, but its doable.
(AUTHORS NOTE - updated. I Helped Phin, the board, and finished the game at lvl 26 to see the min combat requirements.)

Rough enemy levels
Edgewater - lvl 1-7
Roseway - 10-12ish
Monarch - 14-18
Byzantium - 16-19
Hope - 20-21
Tartarus 25-26

My character during creation had temperment + 3 (7.5hp regen a sec)
-1 charm (didnt use companions, - to rep isnt noticable)
35% headshot dam with perception (dex for reload is a good choice too)

First off STEAL EVERYTHING YOU CAN. You will get ammo, guns, armor, food. Duh right? Well you can sell items, or more importantly break down cheap gear, as trust me you will be repairing a LOT. I left Edgewater with 12,454 bits. You read that right. Klepto to the top.
Break down most armor and any weapon under 70 bits, as you get more parts than the bits buy.

I used rifles and machine guns. I used Phins Phorce on Tartarus, otherwise I just used normal guns outside of mechs. When applying mods, the triggers switch what mods you apply where, so my electric gun was an assault rifle, the range of a shock cannon will kill you.

I went heavy armor. The stat boosts of light and medium dont help with damage, just take it off real quick if you need your 5-10 hack/lockpick skills back. Trust me you get plenty of skill points to play how you want. Respec on your ship if you need to (left most ladder as you enter your ship and take a left, near the workbench)
*Even with (endgame) 77 + 5 with mod body, 79 hat, + 5 perk, + 10% perk, I could only take a few shots before I had to hide/run. The idea of LESS armor on Tartarus scares me.

You want 20 sneak for gun crits, enough engineering to repair without a bench, enough science to tinker, and decent speech skills. Melee is useless, I ran solo so never had companion skills, and I dumped into medicine for heals. Add to science later level as the endgame boss is a mech who swarms drones, science = more electrical damage.

I had, for perks, 50% health, all the headshot damage I could get, more and faster recharging TTD, armor plus the perk 3 armor, 25% solo damage, 15% health for kills, more backpack. Really the rest werent as necessary, fillers like half consumable weight and faster run.
*+10 dialogue skills did help at times, consider it 3 lvl worth of skills.
*-25 durability loss is great early on, I ended the game with 847 wep and 589 armor parts though, take that how you will.

TINKER ULTRA WEAPONS AND ANY SCIENCE YOU WANT.
Ultra is the last stage of weapons and through testing, a mark 2 WONT hit the damage of an ultra, plus, tinkering costs x2 with each stage, so, leveling an ultra hunting rifle (lvl 17) to be usable on Tartarus would have cost me over 30k bits. YEAH.

HIT AND RUN. Enemies take three days to respawn, so take your time if you have to. You *cannot* get swarmed. RUN. Exit a building, retake an elevator, anything. Spray n' pray, I ended the game with 3k of every ammo. TRUST ME, you get PLENTY.
*Revisiting enemy spawns, in theory, would let you farm for parts, ammo, bits and food. Worth noting if you feel like you need a boost, enemies DONT level with you.

Perks For Flaws Are Suicide. Extra Damage Isnt Worth It. The ONLY flaws I took were phobias to raptorbastards and mandtitskum. The raptorwahoozits were relatively easy to kill and I never fought mandyqueens. I ran. I got out of their agro. Even to the comm tower on monarch I just RAN.

Storywise, I helped Phin, keeping board kills to a minimum. When Sophia offered to let me swap sides (after stealing the chems), I planted her signal. This let me wipe board notoriety, so even when jumping the Hope for Phin (you get the option to choose) no board members attacked me. Simply wait to give Phin the chems until Sophia tells you to go to Hope.

I killed the Roseway town after helping it for early cash/items. The entire location is optional, NOBODY cares. You DONT deal with Cleo past that.
I put Adelaide in charge of Edgewater so Sophia gave me more exp to kill them. Also nets a rare cheevo.
I helped the MSI on Monarch so I could get massive exp killing Grant and his Iron followers by NOT brokering peace (NOTE THAT PEACE MAKES TARTARUS EASIER).
Any easy or safe side quest, I did. I went back to old locations to do quests that I wasnt tough enough for earlier.

With 100 intimidate, the Tartarus comm guard gave me his key, letting me bypass most of the fighting there. For the mech boss, I'd circle the room, let the drones come to me, TTD and machine gun with electricity. Ran, rinse and repeat, The drones spawn every 25% or so of the bosses lost health.

Outside of these tips, I cant write much atm. All of our play styles differ and I went slow and sniper most of my game.
I will answer any and all questions, however.

Happy hunting (>*_*)>

First off, eating sleeping and drinking. Never let the meters drop below half. Once they're at half, 6 food, 4 drinks and 8 hours sleep will bring them back to 100%. Second off, fight as few world mobs as possible, run past everything you don't have to fight as they have a max distance of aggro before they return to their areas. Third, abuse loading screen doors for autosaves and always make a manual save before leaving the Unreliable. Fourth, loot and steal everything that isn't nailed down and buy whatever you're low on to top up. You'll need all the consumables and ammo you can carry. Those are the only differences in minute to minute gameplay on Supernova versus other difficulties.

Supernova up to the Hope...

Once you've reached the Hope, Hammer time...

As for the major quest progression...

VERY IMPORTANT:

This achievement cannot be unlocked by using the secret (dumb character stat) ending. It must be done on Tartarus.

You can literally just run your way through the game, avoiding almost all confrontation. I would travel alone, since companions have permadeath. Get the perks early on that give you faster sprint and walk speed.

Throughout the game, focus nearly all of your skill points on Tech, Dialogue, and Stealth. Reject all Flaws.

Before exiting the ship on Tartarus, use the re-spec machine on the ship. Give yourself 80 Science, and 100 or as close to 100 as possible in all Dialogue skills. If you need to use Consumables, Companions, and/or Armor (with mods) to reach 100 in the Dialogue Skills, do so. The Armor Master perk is especially useful here, but not necessary.

Get the Biometric ID Cartridge from the Corporate Guard during the transmission conversation when you travel to Tartarus.

Now, literally just walk through Tartarus. Shooting anyone will trigger you as hostile, and isn't necessary. Use speech checks when you have to to maintain your disguise.

Once you reach the end, there are three skill checks that require 80-100 of each dialogue skill. Pass these, and you can skip a very difficult fight, and waltz all the way to the end credits.

Happy hunting.

This achievement is unlocked when you start and complete the game on Supernova difficulty. The game does not allow you to lower the difficulty for an interval and resume supernova play. Thus, to earn this achievement, you must commit to it before you start a new game.

It is the most challenging game mode. You can only make hard, manual saves on your ship although the game creates auto-saves periodically. Enemies are more powerful and robust than the player-character. If you don’t eat, drink, and sleep; your performance suffers and, taken to the extreme, you die. Unlike other modes, companions do not resurrect when killed but are permanently lost.

Nevertheless, this is not a souls-type game where you have to die often in order to acquire the wherewithal to persevere. The most intimidating aspect of the supernova mode is its grandiose-sounding name. With the right build, once you’ve acquired some decent weapons in the first hour of play, you should be high enough on the learning curve to proceed through the game without undue hindrance.

Because you commit to this achievement at the start of the game, your decisions are very important. Assuming you want to complete all (or most) of the achievements in the game, there are three main strategies to consider. Each main strategy, as is to be expected, is subject to individual variations:

• One playthrough with substantial mop-up on story mode: This is the most efficient approach but the least immersive. You start and finish the game on supernova doing the bare minimum of main story quests to get you to the end and pop this achievement along with an achievement for finishing the game while playing on hard. You take a very abbreviated approach—avoiding combat to the maximum extent and relying on skill checks to advance the story. The game creates a special save file at the point of no return—one that can’t be overwritten. After finishing the game, load up this save file. Change the difficulty from supernova to story. Mop up all remaining achievements. It ensures all gameplay is relevant during a single playthrough while falling back to story mode for the predominance of play once supernova pops.
• Two playthroughs. This is the second most efficient approach but, while more immersive than the preceding, does NOT provide the optimal immersive experience. There are two variants to this approach.

1. A comprehensive first play-through on story mode where most of the achievements are unlocked. Using some save manipulation for mutually exclusive achievements, it is possible to unlock all achievements but two—this achievement for playing on supernova and the achievement for playing on hard difficulty. Afterwards, start a new game on supernova. Finish the game using an abbreviated speedrun approach to pop the final two achievements including this one.
2. Two playthroughs without save manipulation. The first playthrough is the more thorough one on story mode to unlock most of the achievements. During this playthrough, unlock the Monarch Abides and Ludwig was Right achievements—these achievements require combat and have mutually exclusive counterparts that are resolved without combat. A second, supernova playthrough will unlock Peace in our Time and Mightier than the Sword. The latter achievement requires decisions early in the game as prerequisites—sided with Spacer’s Choice with power to Edgewater, persuade deserters to return, & place Reed in charge. Finish the game unlocking this supernova achievement and the one for finishing the game on hard.

• One comprehensive playthrough on supernova to unlock ALL achievements. This is the least efficient from an achievement hunting standpoint but the most rewarding in terms of immersive experience. It requires some save manipulation to get the mutually exclusive achievements discussed above. In order to minimize risk and expedite game play, I recommend the following:

1. Character build: Below average strength & temperament, good dexterity & charm, very high intelligence & perception while putting the first two points in ranged weapons and stealth. This creates a super stealthy sniper who sneaks by enemies when possible and kills from very far range when combat is required. The intent is to expose the character to near zero damage removing the risk of playing on supernova.
2. Weapons: Except for specific weapon related achievements, only two types of weapons are employed. A sniper-type rifle and an assault-type rifle. As the game progresses, more capable variants of these two weapon types become available. The first sniper-type rifle is obtained within the first half hour of play by looting Bertie Cotton’s body during the Fistful of Digits side quest given by Constable Reyes in Edgewater. Assault rifles are found as common loot—again, within the first half hour of play. The sniper-type rifle is initially outfitted with a Mag-2-Power mod for plasma damage and then later with a Mag-2-Melt for corrosive damage. The assault rifle will always be outfitted with the Mag-2-Zap mod for shock damage. The primary weapon is the long-range weapon. The assault rifle is a fail-safe in case enemies approach. The shock damage has a paralytic effect that causes approaching enemies to spaz out.
3. Armor & Helmets: Since damage is avoided, the main purpose of armor and helmets is to provide skill bonuses. As soon as tier 3 perks become available, get the armor master perk to double armor and helmet bonuses.
4. Skill Progression: After getting the ranged weapons, stealth, and dialog skill trees to 40; pump science to 100. Science substantially magnifies the environmental damage we are using—plasma, corrosive, & shock. Additionally, a science skill of 100 reduces tinkering (weapon upgrade) costs by 90% ensuring your weaponry is always the maximum-allowed 5 levels higher than the player-character’s.
5. Companions: Avoid taking them whenever possible. Get the tier 1 perk, lone wolf, soonest to give you a skills boost when traveling without companions. When companions are required, set their proclivities to far, ranged, and passive. Always direct them to position themselves in a safe spot. Since inspiration is below 20, we do not have access to special abilities. To unlock Got your Back for killing 50 enemies with special abilities, save enough skill points to bring inspiration to 20. Then, on a throw-away save file, unlock the achievement. Afterwards, load up your save file of record and apply the saved skill points where they will do the most good. This guide explains how to get the Got your Back achievement on a throw-away file: Solution for Got Your Back In The Outer Worlds
6. Flaws: Get the Flawed Hero achievement on a throw-away file and, otherwise, refuse all flaws. The last thing you need on a supernova playthrough is the inconvenience of flaws. This guide explains how to get the flaw-related achievement on a throwaway file: Solution for Flawed Hero In The Outer Worlds

Using the above approach, you will have acclimated yourself to supernova play in the first hour and mastered it by the second hour. You might sustain some damage as you’re working your way up the learning curve. However, once you’ve internalized the process, you should quickly find yourself in zero damage incurred mode. You’ll find the major drawback of playing on supernova is not risk but the inconvenience of sleeping, eating, and drinking. You must also baby your companions to avoid getting them permanently killed but note that they can be very useful outside of combat—providing bonuses in order to pass skill checks.

When you get to the game’s final confrontation, you have three options.

1. Use dialog skills to avoid fighting the boss-type enemy
2. Hack the terminal to get the automechanicals to fight one another for an easy mop-up afterwards
3. Fight the boss-type enemy toe to toe—it’s only challenging when confronted at a low level and you will be at level 30—& up to level 36 if you’re playing the DLCs—at this point.

Following the final encounter, whether you resort to diplomacy or combat, you will meet with Phineas. After a short dialog, the achievement unlocks. The following video shows the final sequence after the game’s point of no return. It is a non-combat approach and, thus, is applicable to all 3 strategies outlined above:
Note that the player-character in the above video is at level 51 having done every task & quest (main, side, & faction) available in the Spacer's Choice Edition of the game and explored every nook & cranny. He does not need to resort to diplomacy over combat and is more than capable of taking the final boss level enemy to the woodshed. In this original version of the game, the max level is capped at 36 with both DLCs and at 30 without the DLCs. Nevertheless, a level 30 character is more than sufficient to take down the final boss level enemy without breaking a sweat.