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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 24, 2024, 11:33:00 am »

One thing to note is that I did the start of that game on N9.6.5 patch rather than N9.7.7, which did add quite a bit of useless filler tech to the start (I updated and suddenly couldn't buy Chemicals in Year 1 Month 11, and I was like WTF) and mysteriously made it so that Bounty Hunts were not unlockable until captain rank 2 (you could get them straight away, and personally I dislike this change as they're good score makers early), and it made all radars longer ranged and into hyperwave decoders by default (just as I had built proper Hyperwave Decoders lol).

But at the same time, 9.7.7 felt like it also really eased up on the combat pressure I was feeling until I started seeing MERC terror missions.

I'd actually argue that 9.7.7 slowed general progress to the point that the Captain's Log's are now pretty hard objectives to get in the expected good timescales, and yes, there are quite a few bottlenecks. Guild Stapler for me was actually found only in the UAC underbase mission (where it's guaranteed); for me, getting Maid Outfits was very difficult (I had 1 whole brothel mission, where they're expected to be found, in like 8 months).

I'm also a prolific save scummer (lol)~ I do not accept a turn where I had too many injuries and/or 90% misses and start it again. In one case I had to reload a Humanist Manor turn 9 about 15 times, because this bloody one idiot would keep walking out of his tiny room and detonating his Panzerfaust at his feet, killing 5-6 catgirls each time (and himself)~ not a tactical problem as he could never see more than 1, it's just how they were unfortunately positioned. In the end, I just had to yolo my own RPG at his closet to kill him before he did it. Stuff like that.

Unfortunately, the game really does become unwinnable if you delay too much early on with injuries and skip too many battles recovering (as I mention in the FAQ). Or you accept a loss more than 1 unit later on, since you can't afford to drop your veterans like flies, the score impact is too high.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 23, 2024, 10:41:37 am »

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.

I myself had got everyone in Tactical armour at that point, had 3 bases with a 4th being considered, an infiltration team, an underwater team, and then two primary squads. I had my Flagship around month 8-9, and a Hunter Killer/Corsair by month 10 end (a Tiger and a Buckaroo were still in the sub-bases). As I was dumbass captain, luxury spa was also in place in my main base. Primary fireteam was 7 gnomes and a 5 gals (I had Germany start so I had lots of Gnomes). Secondary team was 10 Catgirls, 5 gals. I cycled in some elite peasants/damsels that had joined via events when wounded. Underwater team was 2 gals and 5 peasants.

Firefox was transport in base 2 (previously primary transport as I was on catgirls route), and as I was grey codex, Jellyfish in Base 3 was the Underwater team's ride, and I was getting my first witches trained up in Minx outfit. I was predominantly at mid-tier weapons, the big laser transition started a little later.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 21, 2024, 11:23:11 am »

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.

There MIGHT be a transitional point where, if you only have say the Battle Rifle as the best AR, and you DON'T Have Plasteel/Aqua rounds for it yet, that it might be best to temporarily not use AR's, but nearly all AR's have at least 15% armour pen, so that's quite rare. I found myself still using the occasional Light Cannon in mid Year 2, though mostly I was transitioned over to Heavy Lasers, Golden Rifles, and Custom Lasguns at that point.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 20, 2024, 11:27:08 am »

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 pressure of course if you haven't, just don't want to go mad looking through the weapon list endlessly.

No you're right, I haven't ever got around to it.

I mostly agree with @Psyentific's opinions on this one though, that's a nice write-up they've done. Some extra thoughts of my own:

My personal opinion is that the RPG is your lord and saviour; easy SS-Tier. I've managed MERC Terror missions and their hovertanks, when I REALLY shouldn't be able to, all due to the combo of Heavy Laser barrage from my Catgirls to clear the shields then a Gal nailing it with the RPG. In any case, my Gals, and others with space available, will carry an RPG in their Backpack for me.

As mentioned, the standard X-COM Rocket Launcher is generally less desirable due to big ass ammo and general bulk (B-Tier). I'm also a bit less of a lover of the standard grenade launcher but it's a still fine enough A-Tier because no-one dislikes arcing fire and small ammo.

Honestly part of the reason I've not done a list for this, though, is that I've not actually tried many of the niche ones, I probably should (my XPZ run is on a break at the moment). But frankly, the above and of course, standard hand grenades (especially stick grenades for their simplified use) usually manage to solve most problems that need explosives to solve.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 17, 2024, 11:02:32 am »

If you have too much time, you could make an armor spreadsheet like the weapon spreadsheet 

I 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.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 16, 2024, 11:44:53 am »

A quick suggestion, maybe it can be a good idea:

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)

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.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 15, 2024, 06:09:44 pm »

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.

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.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 15, 2024, 01:30:57 pm »

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.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 14, 2024, 05:45:27 pm »

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.

One thing about researching gnomes in general is that whilst they're renewable and offer incredibly valuable tech... it can be really expensive in RP for the early game. Due to that 25 base cost, could be 37 if unlucky which is like 7 or 8 days gone even with 5 brainers which you might have at that point (as rejecting Codex means you're not even waiting for it to expand and implode for 2 months). So juggling when to research them is an interesting challenge I'd say. Guess I could mention this in the advanced tips section though.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: November 13, 2024, 09:23:20 pm »

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.

Basically, the sheet is ordered in the order I found things, so if you find something wildly earlier than the position I have it in the order, you can automatically consider it better.

Also, everyone has 1-2 early scripted base attacks, so it might be that rather than you being unlucky. If you got any Dr. X notes as drops from that time, it's the scripted one. So hang in there. However, another reason I say interception as soon as possible is important is that a good interception setup can stop further base attacks if your can stop aliens and factions finding the base again.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: October 19, 2024, 04:28:32 pm »

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. 

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: October 10, 2024, 05:38:51 pm »

I'm not going to continue any debates about the worth of a tier-list. It's an already too long and rather unproductive discussion. If you hate it, please just ignore it. It will always be subjective.

I'll consider adding the rank-ups and other tech milestones (captain's log etc.) though.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: October 10, 2024, 09:52:30 am »

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.
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.

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.

Yes, I already explained that for images. I can't use most of the actual green ones since they have the habit of being naked or topless and we want as SFW as possible.

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.

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.

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.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: October 07, 2024, 07:37:44 pm »

This is kind of why I put that big pink disclaimer up top for this version. Take ratings with a big pinch of salt.

However, it's a valid point, so I knocked Ol Shot to C and put an extra note on Domestic. When I saw my first Domestic, I already had 2 Coaches, which are wildly superior, except for the utility niche of rubber shells.

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XPiratez / Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet

« on: October 03, 2024, 11:40:51 am »

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.

Edit: Maybe an extra column with the Tier?

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.

I have used filled in box conditional formatting symbols before to help one other chap (i.e little box with four segments) but for some reason, those always get removed on Google Sheets which is notoriously bad for conditional formatting compared to Excel (I make these on Excel and then upload them to the drive).

Glad you're enjoying it, that's the main thing! The tier's are all kind of subjective in any case and you can usually come to the conclusions yourself with the descriptions.