I had a lot of fun reading your guide myself, especially the Captains' descriptions, it's really rewarding when the love I put into making the mod gets returned and spread around :) It's also probably the best researched guide I've seen, I didn't see a single false claim.
I really like your rundown of the aspects and personality types.Thankyou, glad you like it! ;D
SNIP Stuff on eventsJolly good, at least I got some of that right lol. :D
I don't think anyone uses Big Bird:o I used it for MONTHS (like March Year 1 to Oct Year 1, and sold the Airbus. From Germany area, could reach all but Australia, and about 1/2 of South America, so it could nearly everywhere. Then went Catgirls path, and around June it it moved to my second base in Japan for the beta team whilst Firefox became my main transport. Bought a second Airbus briefly in second base to do the X-Lab mission, though that wasn't a huge priority since I already had books from Mutant Alliance Favours since they were always spamming me with missions.
I mean, GUNWAGON is the earliest interceptor you get and with a Nitro it takes care of most early-game bandits. Only got 9 hands? Try putting them on Hyena Mounts then. Or fill the craft with dogs. CONVOY is slow, but nothing beats a whole platoon of units lol. You know, some armors bring glamour on a mission? Even 2 Glamour each? Put 24 of those on a Convoy, and that's 48 extra Glamour per mission hehe. Or WINTER QUEENs with their 5k credit chips, or BRAINERs with Personal Database. Greed pays~Sure, I can see that strat working, though I'm all for elite small teams just to save on the admin overhead myself. I obviously took a weird tech route compared to what some do. Didn't have Hyenas until after my Flagship (and already had an Armoured Car at that point). Briefly had one girl ride one with UAC Chaingun for lolz.
Great work!Haven't actually done the X-Stuff yet myself, but sure, I might add it when I do. Glad you like it! :D
Can I, please, request a "What to do with with Dr. X" analysis? I know, this is tough request, I tried to figure that out on my own with mediocre results.
I don't think anyone uses Big BirdThe main usage of Big Bird is "Mansion Invasion" mission. Other large crafts allowed there are mush farther away in tech tree.
Glad you like it! :DAnd this is another tough request: analysis of allowed vehicles in special missions. I mean not just a long list, but some important and unintuitive use cases like with Big Bird.
The main usage of Big Bird is "Mansion Invasion" mission. Other large crafts allowed there are mush farther away in tech tree.And this is another tough request: analysis of allowed vehicles in special missions. I mean not just a long list, but some important and unintuitive use cases like with Big Bird.Yeah that could be good.
Dear eharper256, thi is really great! Might i advice to chance the thread title in "xpiratez quick reference starting guide" or some thing? Please keep it up and updated, moreover, i'd be very happy if you please join the discussion in often in " Extended Piratez general FAQ/Strategy Guide (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=4102.0)"!. Heavy loads of thanks!Glad you like it. :)
Glad you like it. :)Sort of, i see more an hybrid between playtrough and a guide, kinda intercative, but i happen to like it :)
Feel free to pin this document or add a link to the FAQ if you credit me, though that seems more like an extended Let's Play thread with extra tips at the moment?
It's not purely starting stuff (and I'll probably add more as time goes on) so I think it would be a bit misleading to change the title to that for now.
Incidentally, if people are interested, I've also been doing a weapon comparison spreadsheet in Excel that I can upload for people who have it. Since this has been more popular than I first expected. It's obviously incomplete at the moment since I only add a weapon when I have access to it (right now, 120 rows of guns with all their stats).
Here's the Weapon Comparison Excel Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eFMsh58jxKg9YgsLlsvEX9mg4qCC34Ck/
Compares the Snap/Aimed/Auto/Damage including the Accuracy and Range and stats involved. Also includes lots of my thoughts about each one specifically and uses my usual colour coding (Purple S/ Blue A / Green B / Yellow C / Red D).
As mentioned above, not fully complete (I'm at late-laser tier right now, and I've been adding stuff as I've got it/used it). Will update it in time.
Bioplasma projector needs to recharge 1,5 months, which could be bad of you don't know it.Pro tip: Go to vehicles management screen and disable "Bioplasma projector" by clicking on it. This will stop it from recharging (but saves already stored charges) and allows vehicle to refuel. Wait until vehicle is refueled. Go back to management screen and enable "Bioplasma projector" again. Now it can continue to recharge while vehicle is fully operational. So there is no major downside for 1.5 month recharge time.
>> Theban: Yeah I got that the governments didn't like you but wiki seems to imply it's a 1-off Ordinator attack. Hmm.Only the first attack is one and 100%. In the following months it will roll 3-times up to ~25% depending on the difficulty. If i read correctly you will lose 2 of these rolls if you go male path and reject the power.
>> Huh... I still only have 5 bases, and only 3 are significant (2 intercept bases). I've always made way enough cash from Infamy, loads of Courtesans/Exotic Dancers, Power Stations in each base, and constant Chateau Le Mort production in one base to cover all costs to point of not even needing to sell loot and wanting to buy gold (about 10 Mil a month net profit right now, and I've just finally started on Casino too with those spare chips). Japan base has 1 farm just so it can have bees for base defence and poison production lol.Yes, but how many apples und courtesans you have depends on luck so i don't like it. More money is always better, especially in early game. Of course i will fill up the workspaces in the main base first before expanding.
Pro tip: Go to vehicles management screen and disable "Bioplasma projector" by clicking on it. This will stop it from recharging (but saves already stored charges) and allows vehicle to refuel. Wait until vehicle is refueled. Go back to management screen and enable "Bioplasma projector" again. Now it can continue to recharge while vehicle is fully operational. So there is no major downside for 1.5 month recharge time.I didn't know that. Thanks a lot!
Updated the Excel spreadsheet with a section on Throwing weapons, and Voodoo, as well as adding a couple of extra guns in general.
Underwater and Primitives section added to as well.
Good to know! Would be possibile in next update to have the bounty prizes tier, please? And also some kind of guide on bulldings that can be upgraded and/or built over?Wish I knew the latter myself. :D
Do you mean adding a full list of bounties in general and tiers of them?
Stuff <snip>Yep fair, as I did already point out, ratings are always subjective. I was considering just removing them, but I know some people find this sort of thing useful. I'm also always happy to re-evaluate stuff.
The rewritten recruitment paths are much better. Thank you for writing this.You're welcome.
@Rokksta: thanks for the info!Thanks for the sticky nomination. :D
@forum moderators: please make the thread a sticky one?
Sidenote: this guide do not applies to the old version prior to the N6 which introduced the cat path, see here (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=4133.msg164120#msg164120).
Javelins... okay I'm not sure why they were C-Tier lol, will shift that, they are at least B-Tier. Problem is, Combat Bow overwhelms it, needs less strength, and has far better range, still gaussian, still 30 TU. Javelins almost immediate availability is nice mind, though it's only +5 prerequisites more for C-Bow. Aqua Javelin came to me when I already had Survival Bow. Also, making a giant chart like this, and the damage curve being some tiny numbers of the wiki mean I will miss that on occasion.
Damage outcome is gaussian.
Play the way you want as long as you have a good time. My current campaign is at difficulty 1 and I reload a lot in the battlescape because I keep forgetting to double check TU costs or energy.Yes precisely; if you love to go Ironman, go Ironman. If you love to reload every time a shot misses, do that. As long you're all having fun at the end of the day, that's all that matters. :)
If you love to go Ironman, go Ironman. If you love to reload every time a shot misses, do that.The difference here is that "Ironman" player have rights to speak about game's difficulty and overall balance, while the latter don't.
The difference here is that "Ironman" player have rights to speak about game's difficulty and overall balance, while the latter don't.Thats like saying Jack Sparrow Players don't have the right to speak, because the game is balanced on Davy Jones
Thats like saying Jack Sparrow Players don't have the right to speak, because the game is balanced on Davy Jones
I'm just here to present a guide, and help people, regardless of how they choose to play.And that is why you should focus on objective stuff, not at "which gun is better". Main difficulty in XPiratez is not even "which path to take", but "what paths are actually available?" Good example is "Cats for life" path. If you are a new player and not follow update notes, you may never know that such path even exists, because it becomes available later at the game and gets invalidated as soon as you pick other alternative available much earlier. (Cough, cough... Gudrun paths... Cough, cough...)
Pyramid, not gaussian ;) (you'd need 3 rolls for gaussian distribution)Pyramid distributions are still gaussian distributions; they're symmetrical with a mean and variance. To sate my professor's soul, one and even zero dice rolls are gaussian distributions as well, despite the former looking flat and the latter being unplottable.
(can anyone confirm if these work the same as ye olde psi-amp? They have no damage stats on the generated wiki so I'm guessing so, and testing is inconclusive right now).I can just say that no matter which formula I use to calculate the success chance of a psi-attack, the obtained number never equals with the number I get when I press Alt.
I can just say that no matter which formula I use to calculate the success chance of a psi-attack, the obtained number never equals with the number I get when I press Alt.Yeah, ALT also reports a presumably entirely off number for Rod of Hellfire and basically most voodoo stuff from what I can see. Choking Wand is absolutely way better than it reports, Firebolts is way worse (well actually incendiary type damage in general always feels way weaker than the raw numbers imply).
(well actually incendiary type damage in general always feels way weaker than the raw numbers imply).
That's because most use the default fire damage, and the power of the weapon is actually a factor of its aoe. There are exceptions like Willie Pete grenades (white phosphorus) which do initial damage based on their power like most weapons.Riiiight... no wonder then. Tip #80 only says stuff about targets on fire (which I always assumed was like a status effect added as a hit on top of the power, not the whole damage!).
A mistake. You want high choke but low spread.Not according to the programming notes literally in the documentation:
#shotgunSpread: Defined on an ammunition type as a number between 0 and 100 with a default value of 100. With shotgunBehavior: true, this is approximatley the percent of pellets after the first #that will hit the same tile/target as the first at the maximum accurate range.Higher spread means more pellets hit same target, choke is merely a % modifier to that initial value.
#shotgunChoke: Defined on a weapon type as a number between 0 and 100 (or higher) with a default value of 100. Used only for shotgunBehavior: true, acts as a percent modifier to the 'accuracy' of #the pellets from shotgunSpread - 100 means only the shotgunSpread value defines the spread pattern, 0 gives maximum possible spread regardless of the shotgunSpread value.
Not according to the programming notes literally in the documentation:Higher spread means more pellets hit same target, choke is merely a % modifier to that initial value.I'll preface by saying that I don't fully understand how shotgun spread actually works, or whether higher or lower spread results in more pellets hitting the target.
Admittedly, it does sound counterintuitive, but the numbers also match. The Domestic has a 70 (x0.7) choke, the Police has 110 (x1.1), for example. This is then based on the shells having 15-45 base spread in most cases. (with the shells in that previous example we end up with 25 * 0.7 = 18% chance for each pellet to hit on the Domestic, or 25 * 1.1 = 27.5% on the Police).
A low spread, say 15, plus high choke, say 130, in the documents, just means that the atrocious base spread of the shell is mildly mitigated from 15% to 19.5%.
secondaryImpact = proj->calculateTrajectory(std::max(0.0, (1.0 - spread / 100.0) * choke / 100.0));
Which means that higher final decimal is bad
Otherwise, you'll just have to trust the 'a guy told me' source. Or not.Yep, I'm defo inclined to believe you, and your option is certainly intuitive. It's just that's it's super weird to find all these notes everywhere implying it's the opposite. :o
Ok, I asked the developers because this is really getting in the weeds. So far it seems that the documentation might be wrong because it does not seem to describe what the code does.
Documentation updated: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=4834.0Thankyou very much! :D
recycling (pirating?) graphics from other games because they fit is perfectly in keeping with the x-piratez spiritThe modding spirit in general; can confirm, am modder. :D Though I do love AoW4 as well and it has lots of pretty book pictures (https://minionsart.github.io/aow4db/HTML/NatureTomes.html?type=tome_of_roots) that are fairly easily available.
It looks nice. Good work :)Thankyou. :)
But the Catgirl Tourists and the Cultural Exchange are not Cat-path exclusive. They are the cheap ways for the other paths to get some catgirls. I would not advice to use it on the cat-path. Cultural Exchange is best used on the Gal-path.Yes, you're right. It's just you get the Nekomimi tech prequisite wildly earlier on the route (and not need to gamble on interrogations or discs). Maybe I'll reword that a bit, but it's fairly minor.
Might be useful for the guide, but... using the Zeerust Carbine Grenade Launcher can train Throwing on a gal. Maybe it's common knowledge, but I just realized itInteresting factoid I guess. I assume the Alpha Rifle does the same then. I wouldn't really count on it as a dedicated throwing trainer tool though, reloading an underslung grenade is a reasonably high TU cost. Javelins or Shuriken (or spears) almost certainly take that cake.
Weapon Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eFMsh58jxKg9YgsLlsvEX9mg4qCC34Ck/) updated with the shotgun changes and a few extra guns.
Don't want to be an ass, but... I can't tell the weapon tiers. Colorblind as fuck, sorry! Excellent work, tho. I do enjoy reading the guide. Everyday I learn something new, or recheck something.That's fair enough. My one old gaming buddy sees both red and green as blackish so always said to me for most circumstances it's fine as long as red and green are not "adjacent" tiers, but I guess that is only the one type of colour-blindness.
Edit: Maybe an extra column with the Tier?
There should be a mention regarding countries spanning more than one region. Ex. Turan is half in Central Asia (ew), half in South-East Asia. Ghostgates has a small eastern portion in South-East Asia (useful for tax evasion hehe), and Thebes has a tiny coastal sliver in Europe.It's a lot of extra explaining and paragraphs for a relatively minor stuff. One of those fun things about making guides is know what minor stuff you can happily snip out; and here, I have zero lines to use before it gets knocked on to a third page for the starting locations, so some compromises were made.
Regarding Siberia, there's a 25% event for a one-time Ice Lady in the first four months (once you get one, the script stops), in addition to the recurring 7% one.
And the -$500k event in Turan only occurs in February. From then onward, it's just the -$100k one (though it does have a high trigger chance).
Oh, and you're using a Grey codex image for Lazy-ass, which is Green-aligned.
Well, the guide is getting more and more fleshed out. I can see, that you have written down quite a bit of my advices, which is nice. Thank you for that.Yep, Tier lists are very love it/hate it for everyone and that is always the case. Some people do like having them, though, so I always keep them even if they are subjective. I'm always happy to adjust tiers with reasonable arguments though.
With that said I don't like the tier lists, because it will be very different depending on playstyle and difficulty. But it is ok to keep it. It is your guide with your advices.
On another note I am missing the Shark Jetbike on your guide. You can get it very fast (if you have the money) and it will be one of your fastest vessels.
Keep up with your good work.
As someone who has started many playthroughs (and has yet to finish any), many thanks for these! I hadn't known about the different starter bonuses for different nations, so this will help with the nations I've never chosen before.You're welcome, glad it's useful. :)
As someone who's been playing for a while (about a year) but is still learning stuff both your pdf and weapon excel sheet are very useful for me to get second opinions and stuff that I'm unsure if they're good or not. They're both also great for knowing the advice is current, a lot of other resources for the game are quite old and potentially out of date.Glad you've found it useful!
I was (un)lucky enough to get a base attack in late february and managed to get an assault pistol that I was surprised to be able to buy immediately after researching it. How would you rate them if thier only competition is ramshackle rifles, six shooters and the other early game junk?Oh for sure, in the case you get it at that point, it's a solid weapon. Assault Pistol does have one thing that's solid, and that's super-rapid fire with very low TU cost. And early on, that's invaluable.
As someone who's been playing for a while (about a year) but is still learning stuff both your pdf and weapon excel sheet are very useful for me to get second opinions and stuff that I'm unsure if they're good or not. They're both also great for knowing the advice is current, a lot of other resources for the game are quite old and potentially out of date.Assault Pistol is a pretty solid shooter, I'd rate it on the same tier as the Shiny Niner. It's a solid A-tier or B-tier pistol that's mostly held back by issues common to all pistols (ie low damage leading to poor performance vs armored goons). Definitely a cut above the usual six shooter/rusty niner/domestic shotgun schlock you'd see in the early months, but in turn obsoleted by something nice like Super Sawed-Off or Holo-Spikey SMG. The Assault Pistol upgrades via manufacture into the Smartpistol and Mini-Cougar SMG, so it even gets a second wind later on that most of the other handguns don't enjoy.
I was (un)lucky enough to get a base attack in late february and managed to get an assault pistol that I was surprised to be able to buy immediately after researching it. How would you rate them if thier only competition is ramshackle rifles, six shooters and the other early game junk?
Also in regards to the guide, I think it would be worth including two things on the reject the power path: gnomes can be farmed for all their research topics, and the second priest visit needs knowledge of shadowtech, Sivalinga resurrection (so purple lady is a hard require) and voodoo.I do mention the gnomes can be used for research or recruitment. I did think about adding in the pre-requisites of Priestess; but I'm out of space for that section. Guess the CD guns aren't too important and could be cut, but something like that would have to go to any more info in that space.
The thing with shields is knowing which type of damage to apply, specially those that bypass then.(https://i.imgur.com/YkwuGAy.png)
Is that counting damage absorbed (25% resist lets 75% damage through) or is counting damage taken (100% means it takes 100% of that damage type.)
Otherwise thanks that will be very useful!
It's dangerous to go alone. Take this.This is a great idea actually, I'll make a version of this and add it to the guide.
Okay, I've added an update to the main PDF, with the previously suggested progression requirements for Captain Ranks and Captain's Logs, and also a page with my redone version of Psyentific's brilliant shield chart idea.It wasn't my idea; I don't know who the original creator was. It was pinned in the discord back when that was still extant.
I've flipped the colours so blue = bypass, green = good, yellow = less good, red = awful since I figure most often you're going to be referencing the chart to see what's good at killing it at a glance, but otherwise all credit to him for the idea.
A quick suggestion, maybe it can be a good idea:I literally just added in the shields chart (lol).
A short cheatsheet on SHIELDS resistances, and some non obvious concepts like Camo, Sense, Pain Res, and XL targets (as some trappings state to be)
If you have too much time, you could make an armor spreadsheet like the weapon spreadsheet ;DI absolutely don't lol. I work full-time, see irl friends at least once a week, and maintain multiple guides and I should be doing work on various mods and stuff lol.
Am I blind or have you not done comparasions for some of the heavy weapons like like cannons, LACC or the various missile launchers?No you're right, I haven't ever got around to it.
No pressure of course if you haven't, just don't want to go mad looking through the weapon list endlessly.
I literally just added in the shields chart (lol).
But sure, I also did an extra quick update on the same page adding in common terms seen on Armour; as you say it's fairly useful reference to have as well.
I included some of the standard values for that stat as well as the terminology. Though I'm not 100% sure on the normal Day spot distance~ 30 tiles sounds right but I could be wrong.
Thanks to both of you, very helpful. I really should start adding more explosive weapons to my normal loadouts.
Thanks! Honestly, it's a nice thing to have for a quick reference!No problemo. The more useful the better. :) I will eventually get around to an explosives section and actually completing the melee tab.
edit: Would you use a kustom handcannon over the LACC or Light cannon? I assume its an immediate yes over assault rifles or AMGs?Kustom Handkannon is THE go to weapon for my Gnome elites (along with Linux), I do mention that on the sheet, as they're adding 15% of their 180-200 Bravery to each shot so doing like 72 a shot and with their nearly endless stamina they can constantly run to get into range. Is it an instant replace for AR's? Not really, it's shorter ranged and wants to badly use the double-fire up close where possible, it's a WH40K bolt-pistol, basically.
Not sure if this is really in the scope of this thread, but what are the important techs/capabilities I should have by the start of year 2? With how the tech tree is I'm never sure what I really need to be pursuing and whats side stuff.Since that's also related to Captain type, and what YOU want to do, and what you started with, I can't really give you a precise "THIS". However, Captain's Log #2 should IDEALLY be done, or approaching completion at month 12. I included that in the progression section, so you can look each of the items there up in the Xpedia or the in-game tech tree viewer. I managed it with 2 days to spare at the end of November (barely getting the "good" bonus, phew!) mostly because Smugglers Contact took a while, had stuff like Plotting and Onsen for quite a while.
Updated the Word document partially for N10, adding in the most important new stuff, the Sectoid route, and the DOLLS subroute on their own page.
Not 100% sure I've got everything in there so please feel free to point out anything you think I've missed.
The XPedia was also updated to N10 version if you don't want to compile it yourself.
Excuse me, but in the guide is told that aggressor armor is unique to red codex, but actually i remember it was not anymore since prior to N6 version, please someone.might confirm?Current requirements to research it are:
Current requirements to research it are:
Red Codex
Aggressor Armor (i.e. one of the ones you get for opening Red)
Metal Armor
Smoke-Ops Gear
Thermal Exchange Mesh
Party Dress
Soldier: Uber Gal
Don't quote me on this since it was before my time, but I think Red Codex used to give Metal Armour or Chainmail or something, and Aggressor might have been seperate then. But N6 was a LOOONG time ago lol. :D
How do you think the infantry laser weighs up vs the hydra? You lose auto on the IL but do what looks to me significantly more damage and I think its more accurate.
I got hydras just before I unlocked military supplies, I think I got lucky with bounty missions then.Absolutely, that's 2075 Zaxx Tokens for the whole setup, assuming you took the direct path and ignored Black Adder and Scoped Magnum and other stuff.
What does mean that [S-Tier/A-Tier/B-Tier/C-Tier/D-Tier] related to starting locations?It's a standard tier-list. [Purple > Blue > Green> Yellow > Red]
In my opinion, better colour denotes a better starting location, and then I explain the reasoning for that below.
I'd like to propose adding air combat chance to hit formula. This is usually very hard to find and people have often asked for this.
Chance to hit in % = (Weapon accuracy * (100 + 300 / (5 - UFO size)) +100) / 200 - 0.5 - UFO dodge + craft hit bonus + pilots to hit bonus
Where UFO sizes are:
Very small = -1 Small = 1 Medium = 2 Large = 3 Very large = 4
SNIPRe: Prospector- Probably because I never got around to getting one yet. My save is on hiatus at the moment.
I had a lot of fun reading your guide myself, especially the Captains' descriptions, it's really rewarding when the love I put into making the mod gets returned and spread around :) It's also probably the best researched guide I've seen, I didn't see a single false claim.
Weapon tiers do suffer a bit from savescumming bias (this bias puts higher value on damage output, lower value on reliability, for obvious reasons; eg. without savescumming, Tommy or AMG are only mid-tier because they tend to leave you with very little TU to correct your error if you miss both bursts, which does happen a little too often for comfort). It's not a judgement, just a note. It's definitely not worth losing progress due to danger you could not predict; and this savescumming bias is much lower than the usual, you do try to be fair. And I did get a new perspective on some issues, like how scoped rifle or harpoon carbine are disappointing.
I'll just say that if you sprint THAT close, not even the best dakka weapon can compare to a good melee weapon :) But this is apparently the part of the mod you have little experience with yet, seeing you don't mention axes or hammers, and think that Barbarian Sword is a great weapon (it's decent, of course, but it's more a trickster's tool than a serious melee option) :)Ah yeah, the Melee section is still incomplete AND vastly out of date. I do appreciate it's great.
I guess with Tommy and AMG I tend to also view those with the lens of "you should be dashing as close as possible to abuse bursts and auto, whilst also being as safe as you can, but prioritizing alpha strikes", so therefore they also tend to fail less often.
I always used to play original X-COM very aggressively compared to some people (I can't stand moving 3 steps and spamming overwatch every turn), and really appreciate New-X-COM's assaults for the same reason. Best defence is a good offence and all that, but it's probably not a strat that works on Superhuman Ironman too well lol.
Never underestimate the humble hammer. Number one tank killer for year one, and if you can find a suit of flying armor somewhere its incredibly funny to cheese zombies or hunting missionsSimilarly in this vein, a crowbar (ie Mr Handy) and pistol (or 1hand SMG) is a surprisingly robust loadout for a scout-type unit. Any obstruction that costs more than 3 tiles to walk around is instead more efficiently crowbar'd out of the way. This is particularly prominent on urban, suburban, and farmland-type terrains with their fences, hedgerows, building walls and so on. This helps the player build a habit of going through the obstructions and making your own doors instead of using the map chokepoints.
Are you absolutely sure that the hybrid path offers no special craft? I remember there's a pirate version of the Sekar, with a Pedia entry and all, but perhaps it's bugged or something?
Are you absolutely sure that the hybrid path offers no special craft? I remember there's a pirate version of the Sekar, with a Pedia entry and all, but perhaps it's bugged or something?
Similarly in this vein, a crowbar (ie Mr Handy) and pistol (or 1hand SMG) is a surprisingly robust loadout for a scout-type unit. Any obstruction that costs more than 3 tiles to walk around is instead more efficiently crowbar'd out of the way. This is particularly prominent on urban, suburban, and farmland-type terrains with their fences, hedgerows, building walls and so on. This helps the player build a habit of going through the obstructions and making your own doors instead of using the map chokepoints.
Today, I equipped a Gal with a Flying Harness and a Hammer in a Escape Tower mission. Full TU, I breached the ship's door with the Hammer and got 2/3 reaction shots untouched just standing atop the door so everyone who pass under me got bonked, and the ship's roof covered me. Hammer is amazing
StuffYep, the requirements mostly confused me, so this is why I went with "From what I can tell, doesn’t give a ship" in the guide.
The guide seems to imply you get loads of research topics for settling in certain places (like north africa, or outside a country). But as far as I can tell, you get one random research from the list, not all.Ah yes, I can see how you might get to that conclusion, my bad. I'll think about changing the wording for those.
Today, I equipped a Gal with a Flying Harness and a Hammer in a Escape Tower mission. Full TU, I breached the ship's door with the Hammer and got 2/3 reaction shots untouched just standing atop the door so everyone who pass under me got bonked, and the ship's roof covered me. Hammer is amazing
Hybrid has two unique crafts: SEK-SKOUT and SEKAR. While researching Reticulan Elder is required for both, the Reticulan Elder topic currently does *not* unlock the crafts.
The problem here is that, Reticulan Elder is pretty hard to get. Yes, Life is Hybrid allows you to produce Reticulan Files early on, however, hitting Reticulan Elder with the Files will still require 12x Reticulan Files on average. This means the player needs 120x Personal Database before he can buy SEK-SKOUT.
120! I doubt the player will be able to get 120x Personal Database in the early game.
Which means, even though SEK-SKOUT is meant to be an early game Hybrid Path craft, you can't actually get it early. This seems like an oversight. Did Dioxine forget to add the "unlocks"?
for now - i do not understand how to get traditional and radical perks for my fusion training
there is also second question: you will never get blossom book if you dont start in Fuso? As far as i understand this book is necessary for some kind of training (iron gals?)
It's 100 kills with each category of weapons for a gal to be eligible for Fusion Arts Training, I believe.
Contacts: Fuso · Fan · Fuso Knives · Fuso Sword · Lokk'Naar and Narlock beliefs · Martial Arts Training · Ninja Gal · Ninja Scroll · Ninja Sickle · Ninja Stars · Ninja Warrior · Party (Dep.) · Peasant Militia · Prize: Mutant Martial Arts · Sudoku Blade · Tools & Blades · VIP: JillHave a Dojo/Spa/Dungeon/Revolution HQ in that base, and NOT have Military Drill already (Ruler Captain), and obviously only for Gals.
Thanks for the compilation, I havent played in a while and completely forgot the country perks and the captain personalities.You're welcome, glad it was useful. :)
You're welcome, glad it was useful. :)
Honestly? If I got asked about it, this guide should be added to the mod download. Like a strategy readme. Keep up the good work, budThankyou buddy, those kind of comments are always a nice start to a morning. ;D
Thankyou buddy, those kind of comments are always a nice start to a morning. ;D
I got Dioxine's offical stamp of approval, so it's close enough. :P
prosit!I just noticed you edited this. What resources were you wanting a guide to specifically? There are ALOT in the game, so it would need a very specific focus.
Maybe for next xpiratz update. might be added a page/half page on how to get non-black market resources?
I just noticed you edited this. What resources were you wanting a guide to specifically? There are ALOT in the game, so it would need a very specific focus.
The only thing that really bit me was rope. You cannot make or purchase a simple piece of rope, would you believe it? Rare loot, too, and no event to help me out, either.
Maybe you hid it by mistake?
Why would you want to use rope tho? There are better stun weapons.The context was resources. If the runts need rope, you can't slip them a substitute.
Using a first aid kit also trains bravery, so work in pairs, trios, or fours and let the most cowardly one be the team medic.
And put her in a nurse outfit! :)Great! In that case this exploit would be partially justified.
Using a first aid kit also trains bravery, so work in pairs, trios, or fours and let the most cowardly one be the team medic.
The Assault SMG is even faster and more accurate, but the Blackmarch delivers 20% more buck with each bang, and that's really quite noticeable. Like Assault Pistol vs Manstopper.
Fair, but I don't compare it to the RCF carbine though?Nah, it's me who compares it to the RCF. I think your description is quite reluctant for an A-rating and was throwing some sentences your way, that you may perhaps include the next time you update that document.
[...]
Statistically, auto-fire in X-COM is nearly always a better deal,
Several of the Piratin' Tips make it quite clear that bravery is important for voodoo defense. Also plenty of weapons with bravery bonuses. I think it's quite natural that one looks for ways to improve it. Always having bandages (&c) so you can treat the wounded is easy, but for me it hasn't translated into much of a stat increase. Deliberately drawing out missions that could be finished in four turns, just for the morale checks, feels silly. Yet here we are. Had I known about rope earlier, I would certainly have given it a try.
Back to topic: while you give the Blackmarch SMG a solid A rating, your description is not exactly an endorsement. For me, it's one of my favorite weapons (or at least used to be). More powerful cartridge than the RCF carbine though no AP bonus, much faster, but ultimately limited range. I've used it as a plinking gun, snapshots rather than autofire, as I feel that this yields more hits per TU; also, there's a decent chance that one hit will be enough. Four snapshots (or two aimed) with a comfortable 20% TU to spare.
The only clear benefit of the carbine in that comparison is it's truly unlimited range. Well, and that even a rookie soldier can get off an highly accurate shot.
The Assault SMG is even faster and more accurate, but the Blackmarch delivers 20% more buck with each bang, and that's really quite noticeable. Like Assault Pistol vs Manstopper.
Don't underestimate the worth of sheer power. Ninja Gals are at the breakeven point where either weapon does about the same damage per round. Any more armor and the RCF is, let's say, not quite as inadequate.
- It ignores 25%! of the armor
Don't think I'd usually keep a sidearm on anyone unless I just had loads of weight spare (or it was a rare Rocketeer gal), but I guess there's indeed some use in that function."I guess there is" -- yeah, me too. I guess there is, there has to be. It's not hard to imagine the circumstances, after all. Heck, I've personally experienced these circumstances, and not only once. Yet still: in the loadout screen, I always pick something else.
...(or it was a rare Rocketeer gal)...
If you want to stop something self-destructing (i.e. Cyberdiscs), you’ll have to kill it with melee or use EMP usually.
Love the guide, I think I found one small inconsistency though:Yeah I think it's just Vibroblades that have a problem. Most of my Cyberdiscs were caught with the Plasteel blades so I guess it is a very slight possible thing that is wrong. Personally, I'd always save before charging a Cyberdisc in Melee in any case, the reaction fire can easily cause deaths. :D
Unless this was changed recently, I believe it has to be specifically cutting damage in melee? I recall that if you destroy cyberdisc with vibro sword it will explode, since it will be stabbing damage.
Erm *raises hand*One of those odd things, really. My brain calls them the Vibroblade (sword) and the Vibroknife (knife), lol.
The Vibro Blade is fine, it does cutting damage and I have successfully used it on cyberdiscs many times.
The Vibro Sword, otoh, is a stabbing weapon and thus will trigger explosions.
Airtruck should be your research priority number 1 in the early game anyway, and Dutchman is absolute crap in comparison. It has open windows everywhere, and you start right next to them. The whole map will reaction fire on you before you get to lifts anyway. Airtruck also lets you camp inside on the second floor plugging the lifts, making melee enemies in mixed lists trivial (raider/necro bloodhounds, narlok chupacabras, etc). Dutchman doesn't, because then you will get shot through the windows.
No codex also means no shadowtech cars, which severely gimps early to mid airgame, forcing you to research elerium-powered crafts, and that takes ages.
Codex rewards are also not even remotely "minimal", lay down that Cali crack you started with. Agressor armor + rayguns or 3 free super-lunatics are crazy good.
Thanks for the guide, i've got 2 questions what is the best location for a green codex run? and is the fungus event locked to a region only or can appear at every part of the planet?Fungus growth isn't region locked.
Fungus growth isn't region locked.wow :o Thanks for the tips
Green's main advantages apply to Uber Gals (only, at least for most of the game) so there's some merit in getting and training more (so Nordfederation/Sweden), and more starting troops is always a massive benefit to help you cycle gals on missions. You do have plenty of time to get more though, so this isn't essential. Eventually at late game your goal is Designer Beauties (which applies to all female types) but Zombie-Gals are kind of the long stepping stone to that, typically in combo with Revenant Armour and eventually Pestulator/Biosuits.
There's nothing especially helpful for Green Codex early besides manpower though, so ultimately you can go with what you feel is useful.
Most importantly, you'll want to force as many zombie missions as you can, and capture a Strix and Singer Zombie to get Zombie Sustenance and Zombie Beauty ASAP. Or if you can find a live Canny Gal that can work too. Your research needs for Zombification are:
Medicine · Zombie Juice · VooDoo · Our Abilities · Post-Apocalyptic Cuisine · Green Codex · (Zombie Sustenance or a Live Canny Girl)
One thing of note is that Zombiegals are tanky as fuck but aren't as good with shooting. They make for great melee units, though, so you can in theory run some support troops with them for the sniping and shooty duties (Catgirls, Gnomes etc.).
If you want to be a Chaos Saint with Green, that means Jackass. It's not a horrible fit since you're a "Power over all other things" type, and why not combine Dungeons with Cloning Facilities for full biotic evil genius. :D
Finally, Bonaventura as your flagship is basically a dedicated troop transport, great for getting your horde of zombiegals around. Though interceptor wise its lacking; if it can catch a target (it's pretty slow), it's alright at absorbing fire over your more powerful but more fragile interceptors like Corsairs. You want to heavily consider a Scarab at some point to carry your Bioplasma gun ASAP.
wow :o Thanks for the tips
Hey. Is Captain Log #1 accurate? I've got all the techs required but not Captain Log #1. I'm in May/JuneThat seems to be an oversight in the compilation file, !!Bounty Hunting!! is also a required research. The full list of requirements is below:
Event Script
Event weights
0 :
100 Captain's Log #1
Execution odds 100
Facility triggers ✔️? Mess Hall
First month 0
Last month 3
I would like to suggest reordering starting regions to be grouped in ranks rather than all mixed up.
Well, I'm not giving you a novella or an essay here. I don't need to cite my sources or give a prologue to the work. People usually don't care for that stuff in strategy guides. :P
But if there's demand for an introduction, I'll consider it.
whoa i did not mean such things, but maybe a cover and a brief intro only in one page might be a good compromise ;) also an index, eventi with dynamic links clicking on which will take the reader to the paragraph 8)
Information about Spotter/Sniper might be also usefull.
However, I'm heavily into Alpha Strikes even if it puts units at risk. Surging gals into the open, murdering everything you can see, and making sure you end in cover if possible, with a couple of flanking gals that can counter fire.Finally somebody else who understands the Way of Death (https://xpedia.netlify.app/##STR_WAY_OF_DEATH); The enemy cannot kill you if he is dead. Turn 0 starts with an RPG downrange and chase it with a shot of Grenade Launcher. Every move is either a scout to clear terrain & reveal an enemy, or a strike to remove an enemy. Play every mission fast and aggressive and you can have every mission done quick.
Hit hard and fast enough, and the counter is usually tepid enough to just walk away with a couple of mild wounds, or even just deflections off your shields/armour.
Honestly, I've never really had any problems worth noting with the spotter system myself. However, I'm heavily into Alpha Strikes even if it puts units at risk. Surging gals into the open, murdering everything you can see, and making sure you end in cover if possible, with a couple of flanking gals that can counter fire.
Hit hard and fast enough, and the counter is usually tepid enough to just walk away with a couple of mild wounds, or even just deflections off your shields/armour. Even better if you're rolling a Tank (or in my case, a Gnomedisc) forwards.
I looked at your Airfield topic and I'm seeing ALL of your units clumped together in a big wad, which is a big nope. That's asking for a grenading.
Fan out with fireteams of 2-3 in different directions to cover the map faster. One girl forwards a few spaces, CTRL-Clicking to dash (in the dark, with Camo, if possible). Then a girl going a different direction. Gather as much intel as possible, then backup the girls in danger spots. Put all you can into making sure you end the turn with everything you spotted killed. Using a Sniper, they can also be way back near the transport and only need move if Line of Sight is inhibited.
Make it so that, if a grenade lands, it can only hit at most 2 girls. The AI does not like wasting explosives on single targets.
Don't use flares or incendiaries for light unless its something like a Fort mission or some other protect location/VIP type thingy.
But isn't this a starter guide so people would know? I thought that the spotter worked differently.
Finally somebody else who understands the Way of Death (https://xpedia.netlify.app/##STR_WAY_OF_DEATH); The enemy cannot kill you if he is dead. Turn 0 starts with an RPG downrange and chase it with a shot of Grenade Launcher. Every move is either a scout to clear terrain & reveal an enemy, or a strike to remove an enemy. Play every mission fast and aggressive and you can have every mission done quick.
Consider - If you're bringing a bike squad of 13 gals then that means you can kill up to 13 units on turn 0 deployment, before they've had a turn to act; most early/midgame missions will throw less than 13 units at you.
Consider - If you embrace the idea of "acceptable losses" then it's more a question of who you prefer to get wounded and how you can bait the AI into shooting that unit instead.
I can add a note to Advanced Tips for sure. It doesn't hurt to add more knowledge to the pool, so yeah, I'll consider sticking it in. But I wanted to make you aware it's probably not the Spotter system that you should have undying hatred for or anything. There's LOTS of steps you can take to mitigate it.
That's why I'm here trying to learn stuff. Shame that on YT there aren't many people showcasing their skill
It's a hard one to get on youtube, I can tell you that. Pixel boobies, songs that are potentially similar to copyright claims (I recognise at least a couple of songs in XPiratez), images from all sorts of sources that go uncited. That among other stuff could mean instant demonitisation, so popular youtubers wouldn't even consider this. Morever, it's definately not a casual mod you can pick up super easily.
I found about it after hearing mods existed for old X-COM, and a very obscure video series about a very old version of XPZ. I cringed about how old alot of the information about it is, hence me trying to get this guide always up to date, among several guides I maintain.
I don't know if it's inside the scope of a starter guide but it'd be nice to get some general info on the different types of soldier you can get and their different use cases compared to your average gal. Things like where does an ogre fit in to your squad, or how do lokk'naar compare with gnomes as the only tank pilots everybody gets. Are there soldier types I should definitely focus on keeping alive and growing, or can I just mince my blood hounds? Who should be piloting my fighters?
I post archives of my gameplay on youtube (unlisted), some songs would even make the entire video banned from viewing because of the copyright lol. However, I seem to be able to stream xpiratez on twitch just fine
It's a hard one to get on youtube, I can tell you that. Pixel boobies, songs that are potentially similar to copyright claims (I recognise at least a couple of songs in XPiratez), images from all sorts of sources that go uncited. That among other stuff could mean instant demonitisation, so popular youtubers wouldn't even consider this. Morever, it's definately not a casual mod you can pick up super easily.
It's pretty odd, because for my old XPZ (from 3-4 years ago) only got flagged for music when I actually added additional tracks (mainly from Borderlands 2 - Fink's Slaughterhouse & Lynchwood) otherwise YT has no problems with them being on. Still would love to see someone playing on N10/11 on JS.
Just a tiny remark about ogres: past their initial few missions, they are NOT slow. Maybe they're not great sprinters, but a combination of good Stamina and some mobility-oriented armours (like the Barrager) makes them quite competitive long-distance runners. For example, my ogres are usually the first to get to the top of the Tower of Apocalypse, because most gals and syns are exhausted by that point.
Which is why I mention "However, if you focus on feeding them kills, they have a very high ceiling and a pretty great payoff for your suffering." and "Barrager Armour is amazing though. Like seriously amazing." It's a starter guide, so I have to say this is how they are initially, kind of important. :o
I personally dislike them due to how terrible they are starting out; but I won't deny they have excellent endgame potential.
There is an Ukrainian streamer that does JS hardcore plays regularly. It usually takes him a couple dozen hours of constant wipes before it gets to a proper campaign.
I don't know how far you are personally in the game, but aside for the Aurora ending there is another ending revolving some dude named Zander, do you know anything about it?Oh bother, I included the Aurora info bit by mistake in the last upload. I'm not 100% sure it's still accurate, since that was compiled from initial release of N10 and there's now some extra routes. So take that with a pinch of salt for now.
Swimsuits give bonus XP & Glamour with good stats.
Goes one step further than the Gym Suit, offering better bonuses but also costing more equipment space (7). Allows Martial Arts. Evasion: REA*40% + MEL*10%. Energy Recovery 140%. Extra XP (10).
You need a great body to be bold enough to take this outfit to the battlefield, but its skimpy nature might prove distracting to the enemies. Allows Martial Arts. NV: 13. SPOT: 1/1. Evasion: REA*45% + MEL*10%. VooDoo Defense + BRAVERY*0.1. Energy Recovery 140%. Inv: 5. Extra XP (10). Glamorous.
Keep in mind that there are several enemies with the ability to be Spotters.
Once they have seen you, your location will be relayed to enemies with the
Sniper tag as well as others close by unless you can instantly kill them.
So that's partially full info as I recon from the answer (and my experience) in the "Ninja Airfield thread". The spotter doesn't actually need to see you in order to spot you. As was said in the topic in Ninja Airfield, if you hit the spotter, no matter if you are on the other side of the galaxy, they will see you if they live. I thought exactly like the statement above, and if my NV was better than theirs and killed them with reaction fire I would be safe - hence sticking together (overwhelming fire).
Oh bother, I included the Aurora info bit by mistake in the last upload. I'm not 100% sure it's still accurate, since that was compiled from initial release of N10 and there's now some extra routes. So take that with a pinch of salt for now.
The Zander route is deeply intwined with Gudrun the Knight / Working with Dr.X route and involves a lot of jaunts to the Shadowlands as well.
Of course there's also another more standard route as well, taking over the Solar Governor spot.
I hope that you will include details on Zander and the alternative Governor spot in the guide sometime in the future as well
Maybe, but I find that paths like Aurora is very much "Easy Mode" because it disables missiles, which are rather harsh for new players who doesn't have any preparations for (and something I feel you should note in your guide) and a MUCH MUCH easier final mission which is also new players friendlyI mean missiles are disabled anyways on Difficulty 2, which is what I've recommended to newbies. I'm also on it myself for my main game, because I'm well past the age when I can be assed with the self-imposed masochism of playing hard mode on games. :D
i noticed the are an handful of russian/ukraine xpiratez streamer, out of curiosity, maybe it is the 3лобный Ы (https://www.youtube.com/@Evilbl/featured) channel?Exactly. I tried to watch him a couple of times, but it's impossible to follow 8 hour long videos every day.
I mean missiles are disabled anyways on Difficulty 2, which is what I've recommended to newbies. I'm also on it myself for my main game, because I'm well past the age when I can be assed with the self-imposed masochism of playing hard mode on games. :D
I'm happy for people to talk about the nuances of routes here, though. I've played the game plenty but I'm really only seeing late-game myself for the first time lately. Part of the reason I wanted to make a guide is to help people through the maze of the early game.
There are no missiles in 2? First time I have ever heard of it, I thought 2 is the entire package
So what does Illya do then? Just sit there and pout while you rip that disruptor off the space station? lol
I think the routes themselves are worth talking about because they confer technology and benefits, even if it isn't a starter thing, like the soul dolls you mentioned in the guide. I suppose if someone else knows more about zander and other things they can chime in at some point.
Anyway I appreciate your work on the guide, it gives me something to read in bed which is always nice lol, I am like the kind of guy who loves reading strategy guides just for fun (and the old colorful manuals way back when)
Ah, speaking of which, I understand that the newest update introduced a few buildings, I don't remember the specifics but I recall some of them are codex specific, like red has some kind of workshop with training slots and gold has a building that lets you take out gambling prizes from any tier, if you ever get around to it that might be some good talking points about the codexs
Ah I see, I must have missed them because I wasn't familiar with the names (only heard about them) and that the secondary function wasn't mentioned
I think at the least the being able to get any prize from gambling to be a HUGE thing worth mentioning, if you are especially lucky you will be able to punch way higher than your weight class, I got a commando rifle once from gambling and it certainly did that for me
WOW! :o Very much appreciated. I was waiting for something like that for a long time. Now I know what I missed during previous runs.
I hope you will continue to update this document when new versions of XPiratez will come out.
Again, big thanks! :D
Early in the game (June) you get the notification about the Ninja Jetbikes, while the ingame description says they are dodgy, I think an infromation about how to deal with them would be nice. Like what would be the fastest weapon to get so your interceptor can handle them? I'm guessing Buckaroo with 2x14mm will not do?
Also might want to add information to Faust - that if you rush it, you're standard 14mm will not be usable (as per their description).
This is misinformation. Rare captures usually only have a handful of rare researches and usually no more than one unique (engineers could be said to be an exception except they're not exactly rare). If you *don't* savescum research early and devote some of research effort to interrogate common prisoners (commonly referred to as 'thinning out the lists), you won't have this issue of having to redo difficult and rare missions. Ie. you propose a solution to a problem you have created yourself. And this is not even issue of IRL time, as you are bound to capture many enemies anyway; it's an issue of cheating early to be stronger faster in game-time terms... I mean it's not my place to say 'savescumming bad' just don't use such misleading justifications.
Next... you write "After 2 mandatory defenses...". I have no idea where you got that from. They're neither 2 or mandatory.
Next... it's actually very unlikely to get the Smooth Captive early. To get 'The Academy' topic just interrogate a Nurse (and it's guaranteed)...
Next, Humanist Leader... apparenly by this point you get savescumming to such routine that you didn't notice simple fact: Yes, he can give you Origins of Dr. X as a random, but if you interrogated him and got a different result, the topic is unlocked for your research anyway...
They're not? I assumed that since you need [Hideout Search Orders] and [Fugitive Search Orders] for progress, those two missions would have a guaranteed spawn chance. Huh. Well, I'll get that statement removed then. Seemed to be the case back in N9.5.6 or so, but do you find them a different way now?[/size]
Fugitive Search Orders you can get from three Academy Airbus missions in the first month.
Hideout Search Orders you can get from shooting down Armored Ambulances (or do they land too?).
Thanks for the information. I've updated the TXT document with the corrections from yourself and the big boss.
The attachment is still found BY JUMPING TO THIS POST (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=12206.msg171244#msg171244) (there was 35 D/L's before and you'll see it's now 0 again).
{KNIGHTHOOD} => {CHAMPION}??? I am pretty sure there are no such requirements. https://xpedia.netlify.app/##STR_GDX_135_EVENT If you beat Zander you will get the extra Martian Mission eventually.
>> If at this point, you rejected Codex and are on Male Path, with the Knights of Cydonia joined, you have a extra Martian Mission which gives a secret route to kill the Alien Brain.
Thanks again! But for sake of semplicity, better attach to the very topic's first post, maybe for the next update....?
Edit: in the guide, might be worth mentioning the usage of food (uber whetat chocolate and so on) some of the are quite important, eg chocolate for appeasing mad gnome
??? I am pretty sure there are no such requirements. https://xpedia.netlify.app/##STR_GDX_135_EVENT If you beat Zander you will get the extra Martian Mission eventually.