Author Topic: Negative score despite having a Killer month.  (Read 505 times)

Offline Cynus_X

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Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« on: November 09, 2024, 08:37:43 pm »
How did I end up with a score of -200 Infamy when I had some really good missions this months. I went to look into the savefiles and the log says I got 2300 ish points from missions last month. I did not have that many big negative random events. I did my research.

Did I sell something wrong?
Did I research something that gave me a huge negative boost?

Shouldnt such a big negative score be mentioned somewhere?
« Last Edit: November 09, 2024, 08:49:56 pm by Cynus_X »

Offline Meridian

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2024, 08:41:10 pm »
How are we supposed to know without your save file?

Offline Cynus_X

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2024, 08:48:22 pm »
hehe... maybe I made a rookie mistake only expert XPiratez players know about  ::) .

I attached the savefile

Offline Cynus_X

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2024, 09:10:32 pm »
btw, this savefile is from just before the end of the month

Offline Meridian

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2024, 09:22:02 pm »
your activity: 2370
their activity: 4850 (mainly Europe, but other regions also quite a lot)
your research: 1880 + 400

total = 2370 + 1880 + 400 - 4850 = -200

Offline Cynus_X

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2024, 09:27:36 pm »
OK... thanks for explaining that to me... thats rough... Since I just unlocked the angry bird but cant buy any weapons yet to arm it to the teeth to shoot everything down  :( .

I figured that as long as I do all the missions that I can do it will turn out positive like the first months where I couldnt shoot anything down but, o well...

Offline Meridian

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2024, 09:30:52 pm »
I don't know how it works exactly, haven't played XPZ for quite a while now.
Maybe someone else can comment.

Offline Tamren

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #7 on: November 10, 2024, 12:47:29 pm »
OK... thanks for explaining that to me... thats rough... Since I just unlocked the angry bird but cant buy any weapons yet to arm it to the teeth to shoot everything down  :( .

I figured that as long as I do all the missions that I can do it will turn out positive like the first months where I couldnt shoot anything down but, o well...

The early game is quite confusing, I've been through that myself many times so I can give you some tips, some of these are minor spoilers:

1. All enemy vehicle activity counts against your score, even if it happens in a region where you have no radar or interceptor coverage and can't do anything about it. This is just something you have to live with and won't be a solvable problem until many months later when you can afford to build and staff more bases.

2.  In the early game your biggest concern is acquiring and arming interceptors so that you can do more than watch stuff fly past your base. Try researching and rebuilding the Little Bird that comes with your base, it's an old tech helicopter like the angry bird but it comes with a built in weapon and some ammo. If you're not sure what to do next go back and read the bootypedia entries to see what your crew has to say.

3. Try to intercept highwayman hoverpods and bandit cars as much as possible. They can drop basic craft weapons like light machineguns you can mount on your craft to shoot down more bandit vehicles, get more weapons/ammo and form a self sustaining cycle. The little bird is ideal for "kickstarting" this process because it comes with a built in chaingun.

4. To improve your early game interceptor capability put aside the shiny stuff and prisoner interrogations and focus your research on things like smithing, tools and necroplane parts. "Necroplane" parts are catch all term for low tech salvaged aircraft parts from WW2 and cold war designs, researching these will allow you to recycle them to salvage weapons and ammunition you can use to arm your craft, and later on you can build new aircraft out of these parts.

5. If things seem like you are behind the curve and won't be able to beat your score deficit, don't be afraid to just start a new campaign using the lessons you learned in the previous one.


Offline magitsu

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Re: Negative score despite having a Killer month.
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2024, 09:22:00 pm »
Prioritize hiring brainers. To do this sell corridor and maybe even armored vault (build extra burrow if needed to keep facilities connected), then prioritize captures to get more money. Sell all but 1 nurse and almost all equipment that isn't instantly necessary. Like all but 1 hellerium, small engines, plastasteel... Likely turn that 1 gal which you are soon going to get into a brainer instead of extra soldier...
Because brainers pay themselves in infamy points aka money. It's so important that you usually want to aim almost directly towards the next buildings allowing more brainers. Personal labs +4, Sickbay +1 (requires 10 Medical Supplies to build)...

Get to Little bird fast, yes. But there should be plenty of landings in the first 6 months too, I'm sure experienced player could survive without shooting down any. Spike missiles are also quite expensive, so sticking with 14/20 mms would be more economical. Sometimes you might want to send the airbus to beyond your radar range to scout if you see ufo tracks leading towards some place. You might find an extra landed harvester or similar (but you might also find plenty of too difficult landings).

Pump out x-grog and when you get apples research chateau de mort and keep making and selling all of it. 100 runts get 1 million profit per month if you have enough apples to do so continually.

If you can predict not needing to build some 2x2 squares in the next 3 months, plantation is profitable there.

The game does indeed include several traps which you only find out later and chafe (how far behind in research to get to something, then get surprised how much of certain items is required to build it besides money).
« Last Edit: November 15, 2024, 10:00:10 pm by magitsu »