Need some help figuring out the progression

[Skipeemcgee]

I think Xcom should unlock low tier fighter jets a lot earlier, like after promo 2. ik the mig-31 is the first jet you generally get unless you get the cf-105 arrow encounter(so unfortunate that I couldnt get this to happen in my game) but id actually suggest the mig-21 as they cost around 200k and would just use machine guns. thats realistic. a cooler choice would be the f4 or f104 but those woouldnt be so cheap

[Juku121]

Using a machine gun on a fighter jet, even an old one, is somewhat questionable. But making use of the AK of military airplanes is something I can wholeheartedly support. There are even people who privately own MiG-21s today (unarmed, of course), and fire sales by places like Nigeria.

[krautbernd]

Using a machine gun on a fighter jet, even an old one, is somewhat questionable.

To be fair, .50 is a machine gun caliber and most early (US) jet fighters still used this cartdridge. And strapping handheld infantry weapons to aircraft (especially the AH-6) is a bit of a stretch to begin with. Sure, pintle/door gun mounts exist, but I doubt you can simply strap existing handheld weapons to airborne weapon pylons.

[Juku121]

Well, these early birds are positively ancient by even MiG-21 standards. The MiG-21 came with an autocannon as standard, even if the capacity to mount a pod with a 12.7mm machine guns was there (and pretty much never actually used).

The consistency problem is that cannons are so much better that you'd have to pretty much go out of your way to arm even a 60s jet with machine guns. I mean, maybe the red tape allows you machine guns and old fighter jets, but no autocannons. That'd be the only scenario where machine guns on MiG-21s would be 'realistic'.

[Skipeemcgee]

I meant the mig-21's integrated twin barreled 23 millimeter cannon. they can obviously also carry missiles on its two little old hardpoints. I think thats appropriately weak for your first jet, can only carry two missiles total as in only two shots and then you have to go in close and use the cannon, not nearly as fast as the foxhound.

[Xylon666Darkstar]

The missiles fall under Promo III however. And making them Promo II I feel like would be way to OP balance wise for the tier and time to acquire those vs the cultist air enemies you encounter. More work and a move backwards imo than necessary for balance sake.

However, you can get cannons in Promo II with a bit of tech legwork.

[nickboom]

Oh man, I decided to start tackling some Orison missions and man, that was were a lot of the tech was hidden away xD Those crates have some important stuff in them. Found the heavy cannons and auto cannons!

Oh, I also took out the Black Lotus HQ with little issue, lost a few guys (one poor bastard turned the corner directly into an Avatar while having no TU). Working on the others now and pursuing some other techs, gearing up multiple bases with Osperys (have to train some rookies ugh). Also, the psi weapons don't really seem worth it at promo II stage, at least not against the cults, the armor mitigation for the range and TUs isn't good when they're so lightly armored (a mini gun is just better at such a range) but I imagine for armored cars and the like it'd be good but I'm not there yet.

Got some more questions though! What's a good way of capturing animals? I've tried the electric clubs but high melee units seem to always dodge your hits no matter what. I'm thinking the cannon blunt rounds might work? Also for the Ospery, what configuration do you use for the crew to everyone out and alive? I've tried stacking some scouts up ahead which works except when we land and there's a whole bunch of enemies around. I need to defend myself and the poor dogs/AI units get chewed up. I've also tried placing some rookies up there but they're not strong enough/good enough to clear the units I need to deal with (Their dynamite throwing is pathetic).

I'm thinking maybe placing some higher level guys with shields in front armed for short range might solve my problem? Finally, since it matters more, how does funding work? Is it directly score tied, as in the better you do the more money you get or is it more of a 'don't fuck up' type deal were your funding will gradually go up in pre-setish increments so long as you don't displease the nations.

Thanks again! I appreciate all the advice. I'm having a lot of fun with the game (when my heart isn't stopping because someone threw a grenade).

[Xylon666Darkstar]

I'm thinking maybe placing some higher level guys with shields in front armed for short range might solve my problem? Finally, since it matters more, how does funding work? Is it directly score tied, as in the better you do the more money you get or is it more of a 'don't fuck up' type deal were your funding will gradually go up in pre-setish increments so long as you don't displease the nations.

Funding is tied to consistent, positive scored months (more the better, even) and your Promotion level (countries fund more when XCOM fully enabled at Promo III). The percentage of funding increasing in a country becomes greater, based on their overall funding. This means countries like USA, Russia, Japan, China, etc able to catapult more chunks with consecutive months of positive score compared to say... Africa nations. Particularly if it's XCOM activity in their region.

[Juku121]

Honestly, the whole thing where you're allowed aircraft autocannons and even infantry versions if you get lucky, but not RPGs nor C4; the Arrow and Skyraiders but MiGs and Skyrangers are verboten; hell, infantry miniguns but not anti-material rifles... Seems like a bit of a mess to me and I think a fourth promotion would go a long way towards tidying things up.


As to capturing, cannons don't have blunts, grenade launchers do. And these are pretty good unless you absolutely need to not kill the target. Tasers against anything that dodges (ninjas  ). There's a whole thread with suggestions.

Getting off the craft unharmed usually requires smoke if the landing situation is unfavourable. Shields for the front agents is a good idea. A tank or at least tank-like something at the front is even better. AI units can be resurrected with little trouble, so they're good for that. But Solarius is a sadist and if some cultist chucks a grenade or a pack of dynamite at you on turn 1, there's not much you can do against that. Use sacrificial rookies or dogs, maybe.

As to funding, check out the Ufopaedia. From experience, it seems that the increases are totally random from +5% to +20%, so once your score is good enough to cover everyone's grievances, you're good to go. I use score-based income myself to make it more interesting.

I don't think promotion levels have anything to do with funding. If they're happy, they throw a random increase at you, which should even out over the large number of countries on the list and the time it takes to play the mod.

[krautbernd]

Funding is tied to consistent, positive scored months (more the better, even) and your Promotion level (countries fund more when XCOM fully enabled at Promo III).

How is "Promotion level" tied to funding? There is nothing in the ruleset related to that from what I can tell. MILESTONE_3 and MILESTONE_3_SUMMARY just yield 100 and 0 points respectively.

[Xylon666Darkstar]

I may be misremembering. Could've sworn being mentioned around these forums saying promotion had an impact on funding in some way.

[Solarius Scorch]

I may be misremembering. Could've sworn being mentioned around these forums saying promotion had an impact on funding in some way.

Nope; I don't think there's a way to do that, even if I wanted to.

[nickboom]

Howdy, another quick question. How do you terminate the church of dagon? I get the high temple mission and even completed it but no statue went into my inventory.

[nickboom]

Anddd never mind. I just found it, der.

That's all the basic cults contained! Do love the mortar, so thanks for that suggestion