Were there any skills that were useless??

[BraveDogBFG]

I seem to remember that there were some skills in Wasteland that had ZERO use in the game, and a handfull of skills that were only used in one spot in the entire game.

Am I remembering correctly? I think silent move was only used in one spot. Same with metallurgy. What about cryptology?

[Drool]

There were several of limited use, or could have something else used in their place.

Knife Throwing was generally useless as I don't think anyone used throwing knives. It could also be used on the stage in the bar.
Acrobat could be used on the stage and to less damage from traps, but wasn't really necessary.
Silent Movement had several places were it could be used, but they were all in Quartz: the sleeping guard, moving around the courthouse, and the weird space next to Ugly's hideout.
Confidence was only useful on the stage. Might have had a use in the Mind Maze.
Sleight-of-hand was only useful on the stage as far as I know.
Forgery was only useful in the Mind Maze. Might have helped find the safe in Ugly's.
Alarm Disarm was useless. I think it could be used in Cochise, but it had little to no effect.
Bureaucracy was useless. Might have had a use in the Mind Maze, but I don't think so.
Cryptology had a couple uses, but they were minor: Finding Faran Brygo's secret room and reading some writing on the wall in Cochise.
Metallurgy could only be used to find the silver vein in the mine. Effectively useless.

Of course, Clone Tech, Cyborg Tech, Toaster Repair, and Helicopter Pilot all only had one use, but they weren't starting skills. Ausir swears that Combat Shooting had a use, but I read the quote differently and consider it useless. Especially since it was only in one version, couldn't be bought outside of character creation, and could never be raised through use.

[BraveDogBFG]

Acrobat didn't help dodge in combat? What the hell did I spend all that time climbing dunes for??!?! NOoooooooooo!

[krellen]

Bureaucracy was useless. Might have had a use in the Mind Maze, but I don't think so.

I think you could use Bureaucracy to avoid having to fight Laurie if you broke into her room.

[Artif3x]

Argh, I wish somebody would put the Combat Shooting skill to rest. I still don't know what that skill's for.

[Drool]

Acrobat might have helped, but was hard to see, and I never saw it go up in combat.

That's probably Bureaucracy's use, krellen. Of course, you could also use Confidence and Charisma instead.

Supposedly, Combat Shooting helped increase damage (or number of hits) on every foe beyond the first when using burst fire or full auto. But I'm not convinced it actually did that.

[Wild_Bill_711]

'Questionable' "important" skills :
Silent Move - needed to 'over-power the sleeping guard' to/and 'rescue Dan Citrine'... maybe useful in Court House, first floor, NW area, around the locked room... ONLY place I EVER got a 'skill boost' (to a level 2) was in the "Pet Project" / lower level of Project Darwin... that was walking around rock where 'Spawn Masters & Coyote' appear for 'loot'... may have gotten 'skill boost' twice in all the times I played !!!
Acrobat - 'Drifting Sand Dunes' in Needles for a level 3 skill' 'Moving Assembly Line' in Base Cochise ('helps you get off') for a level 4 skills; 'Explosions' in doorways in Citadel's Grand Hallway & Outer Sanctum (helps you 'duck' to avoid damage/injury) may boost to level 5 skill.
Alarm Disarm - only place used was Vegas Jail, to open 'locked room' to access 'loot', WITHOUT alerting more guards... discovered that by 'accident'... 'pick-lock' door succeeded, but triggered the Alarm Disarm skill boost !
Confidence / Bureaucracy - may get skill boost in EITHER at Court House, 3rd Floor... IF Guards at door 'open door' for you and 'disappear' (boost to a level 2 skill).
Bomb Disarm - hope you achieve level 3 skill by 'disarming' the booby-traps in Stagecoach Inn, Outlaws Hideout (Felicia's rescue, and 'booby-trapped loot' in Needle's Ammo Dump... 'practice' gives you better chance with booby-traps at Citadel - perception reveals booby-trap on guardian you kill, 'loot' in Armory Vault is 'booby-trapped' when you take last Laser Weapon or Power Pack.
Demolitions - In Mine Shaft, can 'clear the path' where 'ceiling collapses on you'; can use the Howitzer in Needles WITHOUT it 'misfiring' / 'exploding in-your-face'; using Grenades (weapon) probably best way to continue boosting skill.

[Drool]

Oddly enough, AT Weapons also worked for the howitzer in Needles. In a recent playthrough, my AT skill went up when I used it.

[BJAltman]

Argh, I wish somebody would put the Combat Shooting skill to rest. I still don't know what that skill's for.

At least your version had Combat Shooting I've heard about it, but its not in the Apple IIe version, or at least not in the version I've got.

[Drool]

It was PC only.

[wren]

I remember raising my combat shooting skill from 1 to like 5 or six.

[twilobyte]

I remember raising my combat shooting skill from 1 to like 5 or six.

Screenshots or it didn't happen

I've played through countless times and have never seen Combat Shooting level up. Unless there is a specific weapon required that I never used, but I used them all..

[CaptainPatch]

Ausir swears that Combat Shooting had a use, but I read the quote differently and consider it useless.

It affects your ability to Unjam a weapon. (I've had NPC party members unable to unjam their weapons. But if I transferred the jammed guns to a PC that _did_ have combat shooting, they could unjam it, no problem.) I also suspect that it gave a +1 to the To Hit during combat.

[Therumancer]

I played Wasteland fairly extensively on the Commodore 64, and while my memories are not perfect I can say that I remember every skill having a use, though some skills were only relevent in very specific places, and there was usually a way to work around them. I could be wrong but I vaguely remember the "Alarm Disarm" skill being useful in the police station in Needles. Some skills like "Helicopter" were more plot points than skills.

I do not think Metallurgy was useless, as with patience you could generate unlimited money from that silver vein in the mine (a few dollars at a time). I remember experimenting to see if the amount increased with the level of skill, but I don't think it did, it merely made "identifying" the vein easier.

Crytography let you translate some of the graphitti if I remember, and was used to get some of the passwords in Needles. If you had a strategy guide it was less useful though.

It's been a very long time, but as I said, everything was useful somewhere.

[ad1066]

While certainly not a useless skill, to this day I am still mystified as to the requirements to learn the Helicopter Pilot skill. Does anyone know what the criteria were? I always just kept cycling characters through the simulator until one of them unlocked the skill.

-- Ben

[krellen]

While certainly not a useless skill, to this day I am still mystified as to the requirements to learn the Helicopter Pilot skill. Does anyone know what the criteria were? I always just kept cycling characters through the simulator until one of them unlocked the skill.

-- Ben

IQ 24 and the 3 free skill points required to train it, IIRC.

[CaptainPatch]

While certainly not a useless skill, to this day I am still mystified as to the requirements to learn the Helicopter Pilot skill. Does anyone know what the criteria were? I always just kept cycling characters through the simulator until one of them unlocked the skill.

There is a point where you have the option to fly a helicopter from Guardian Citadel to Base Cochise -- but ONLY if you have someone with Helicopter Pilot Skill.

[BrokenToaster]

While certainly not a useless skill, to this day I am still mystified as to the requirements to learn the Helicopter Pilot skill. Does anyone know what the criteria were? I always just kept cycling characters through the simulator until one of them unlocked the skill.

-- Ben

IQ 24 and the 3 free skill points required to train it, IIRC.

Was there also a DEX or AGI component? I could swear playing through a couple of times and being surprised at getting rejected by the simulator. I'm not super confident about that, but vaguely remember it.

[Drool]

It affects your ability to Unjam a weapon. (I've had NPC party members unable to unjam their weapons. But if I transferred the jammed guns to a PC that _did_ have combat shooting, they could unjam it, no problem.) I also suspect that it gave a +1 to the To Hit during combat.

Stuff and nonsense. Unjamming's a matter of the weapon skill.

Was there also a DEX or AGI component? I could swear playing through a couple of times and being surprised at getting rejected by the simulator. I'm not super confident about that, but vaguely remember it.

There was something, yes. I've had a character with 20+ in Dex, Agl, and Luck get bounced out. I think it's matter of making a hidden roll to be accepted. I just have the person I want to be a pilot go into the simulator over and over until they're accepted. And you don't actually need the 3 skill points to get in. Nothing more frustrating than spending half an hour brute-forcing your way in only to find that you've got 2 skill points and just wasted your time.

[CaptainPatch]

It affects your ability to Unjam a weapon. (I've had NPC party members unable to unjam their weapons. But if I transferred the jammed guns to a PC that _did_ have combat shooting, they could unjam it, no problem.) I also suspect that it gave a +1 to the To Hit during combat.

Stuff and nonsense. Unjamming's a matter of the weapon skill.

And you know this _how_? In the several instances I mentioned, the NPC had a 2 in that weapon Skill, but couldn't Unjam. The PC the weapon was transferred to had only a 1 in that specific weapon Skill, but also had Combat Shooting. Ergo, my supposition that it was the Combat Shooting that empowered the PC to Unjam.