Author Topic: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & NPC Guide (N11 UPDATE!)  (Read 45129 times)

Offline Laie

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #165 on: February 16, 2025, 04:05:49 pm »
From where I am in this my first(*) playthrough, resources were/are not a problem. Chemicals, plastasteel and the likes have each become available on the market before I needed much of them. You can guess what power sources are going to be good for and that you won't need to keep very many of them.

Bounty stuff caught me by surprise. It says that Jack will pay well for Narlock Scepters, and 32k was good money at the time. However, that experience taught me about the "bounty" tab in the fencing menu and I never again sold anything from that list. So I guess that's good game design? Teachable moment, early enough so that not much harm had been done at that point?

Next are the not-quite resources like cigarettes and energy drinks. I kept a good handful of each; not out of clairvoyance, but because the game had educated me to expect a sudden demand for not just a few items, but dozens at a time.

Old boots! I cleaned out the lot of them. Felt a little bad about it, but they took up so much space.... however when the time came, there also were a few events (not quite random, I suppose) to give me more boots. So it was all good.

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.

I'm not sure what (if any) of that needs to be included in the guide. Not selling things that might come in handy later is just common sense; Bounty items in particular are just a special case.
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(*)strictly speaking this is my second playthrough. First time around I had my Hideout in Cleopatra's realm, and the negative 2000 score from a successful base defense sent me into a death spiral.


Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #166 on: February 16, 2025, 06:23:07 pm »
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.

Actually, you can make rope... See attached.

Maybe you hid it by mistake?

Offline Delian

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #167 on: February 16, 2025, 07:23:15 pm »
Why would you want to use rope tho? There are better stun weapons.

Offline Ultimoos

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #168 on: February 16, 2025, 09:56:28 pm »
Bravery training.

Offline Laie

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #169 on: February 16, 2025, 10:03:51 pm »
Maybe you hid it by mistake?

yes indeed, this is so.

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.

Oh, I wasn't aware that using the rope trains bravery! I've had some of my gals dancing nekkid in the moonshine while others completed the mission very very casually.

Offline Psyentific

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #170 on: February 17, 2025, 03:45:58 pm »
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.

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #171 on: February 17, 2025, 04:18:20 pm »
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! :)

Offline hth

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #172 on: February 17, 2025, 05:22:15 pm »
And put her in a nurse outfit! :)
Great! In that case this exploit would be partially justified.

Offline Laie

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #173 on: February 17, 2025, 07:06:43 pm »
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.

Even works if you patch up enemies, which I somehow prefer to treating wounds on my team. It's a matter of opportunity, though, as you need treatable enemies AND a hand to spare AND both in proximity to each other. It has happened but you can't really plan for it.

Offline eharper256

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #174 on: February 18, 2025, 11:39:22 pm »
I have to say I've never deliberately tried to min-max any stats like this.

Then again, I guess I do play at Difficulty 2 usually, maybe it's needed for higher ones.

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #175 on: February 20, 2025, 02:01:16 am »
I do it a lot, but mostly because I like saving lives (even enemies); any Bravery training is just a bonus.

Offline Laie

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #176 on: February 22, 2025, 12:02:34 am »
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.

Offline Dispector

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #177 on: February 22, 2025, 02:11:50 pm »

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.

Assault SMG's ammo ignores some of the target's armor, for what it's worth.

Offline eharper256

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #178 on: February 23, 2025, 12:37:36 pm »
Fair, but I don't compare it to the RCF carbine though? Are you talking about the UAC Carbine? I partly rated that well because when I got it, it had the ability to immediately buy it from the store which was very valuable. Whilst at the time I think I only had access to a single Blacksmarsh. TBH, I don't think I used RCF carbines much at all in my last game, I transitioned straight from Auto-Rifles/Battle Rifles to Advanced Rifles on most of my Assault Rifle girls, and then not too long after to Advanced Lasguns.

Statistically, auto-fire in X-COM is nearly always a better deal, and with SMG's you're always supposed to be dashing to a closer range for the most part, it's just the Blacksmarsh is sort of a hybrid AR with a higher range than usual. It's a solid gun though, I had a few of my 8-strong Gnome Brigade main it for some time until I could manage to squeeze Linux Origami on them to exploit the massive bravery bonus.

Offline Laie

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Re: XPiratez Information Compilation, Starter Guide & Weapon Spreadsheet
« Reply #179 on: February 25, 2025, 12:07:10 am »
Fair, but I don't compare it to the RCF carbine though?
[...]
Statistically, auto-fire in X-COM is nearly always a better deal,
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.

I get the impression that my typical firing distance is much farther than yours; which probably means that I'm more eager to close in all the way for melee.