Feedback on the "Mutant Culling" Mission

[minimen]

Hello,

I recently played the mission called Mutant Culling, and I have some feedback to share. The map is massive, with a large number of enemies and civilians scattered throughout. It took me about an hour to eliminate most of the enemies, but now I’m stuck searching for the last remaining one. This part of the mission feels tedious and not enjoyable at all.

To make matters worse, the knocked-out enemies, particularly the Eridians, keep waking up. This is incredibly frustrating and adds unnecessary annoyance to an already tedious task. Is there a setting or option to disable enemies waking up? It would be even better if they simply surrendered instead, as constantly searching for the last enemy on such a large map is not fun.

Honestly, after this experience, I don’t think I’ll play this mission again, even if it means facing a 2000 infamy penalty.

Thanks for considering my feedback.

[greattuna]

It is a very difficult and long mission, yes, and the one I usually tend to not risk doing. Eridians using nasty damage types is bad enough, but chryssalids make it so much worse, and the acid rain is cherry on the top that all but makes sure I'll suffer some losses.

That said, I appreciate how much brutal the mission is because it's... well, it's culling. Not going to be walk in the park, and of course someone like eridians have no reason to surrender to you.

Is there a setting or option to disable enemies waking up?

You can stand over their unconscious bodies and shoot down at them with something strong until they die.

[Laie]

Oh, I've got one of these coming up! I've seen the first scouts for that mission.

the acid rain is cherry on the top that all but makes sure I'll suffer some losses.

How so?
I had some dealings with ghouls lately, the mission description informed me about noxious fumes(?) and acid rain. I issued smoke gear and yellow overcoats and that apparently was sufficient protection.
Will Mutant Culling have a more aggressive atmosphere? What even are the effects of acid rain?

now I’m stuck searching for the last remaining [alien]

Many mission enter a "bug hunt mode" after a while, where all aliens' locations become visible on the minimap. Not sure if this one is an exception.

Aliens that have been stunned previously don't strictly have to be dealt with again; at least they don't prevent the mission from finishing. Once you put down the last fresh fighter, all who have previously been unconscious will instantly surrender. That doesn't stop them from picking up weapons and continuing the fight in the mean time, though.

I'm not aware of a toggle to turn off that behavior. Keeping downed enemies down is part of the Piratez experience: manacles exist for a reason (though personally, I only ever tried to use them once. Way too much effort.)

As greattuna said, you can attack prone enemies with ranged weapons. Don't even have to stand right on top. Things get tricky if there are other objects nearby: if the enemy is lying next to (e.g.) a wall, you likely end up attacking the wall instead. In the worst case you have to pick up the body and put it in a place where there can be no misunderstandings.

A few additional beatings with a whip make sure that the enemy stays down for many turns. If whips even work on the enemy in question, that is. But nevermind the details, you get the idea.

[minimen]

I appreciate the tips, guys!

I agree that manacles are more trouble than they’re worth. Requiring two free hands, being single-use, and having some enemies strong enough to break free or lacking hands to restrain makes them feel overly cumbersome. I think the item could be improved by simplifying its use—only one hand needed, reusable, and no chance of enemies breaking free.

I’m aware of the rule that previously knocked-out enemies don’t prevent mission completion, even if they wake up. However, I’m concerned this might not apply to zombies or enemies that never surrender, like Eridians. If a single Eridian wakes up and refuses to surrender, could that block mission completion?

As for the environment, smoke gear works well against toxic conditions, but it might not be sufficient against the aggressive threats posed by Eridians and Chryssalids.

[Laie]

I just shot down a big ship of the Eridians (too bad I can't prevent the culling that way). I've been using mostly Lasguns/Adv during the battle, and indeed: the Eridian's ability to get up again is uncanny.

*checks stats*
Oh, they recover 10HP per turn. So one has to either overstun them, or kill them dead.

[minimen]

I recently came across an item called the Rod of Bliss. Could this be the long-awaited, multi-use, one-handed alternative to manacles?

[Laie]

The Rod of Bliss is a) a melee weapon that does daze damage (and not a very good one at that) and b) a medikit that reduces the subject's freshness. Being a medikit is how it bypasses the enemy shields. But draining energy seems to be a pretty roundabout way of keeping an enemy down.

For most human-type enemies, stun recovery seems to depend on current health and freshness. So hurting their freshness ought to keep them down for longer. They will also recover less energy / TU / morale, so are less capable of causing trouble if they get up again. But for all that, I still think if you want someone out of the battle, it's much better to overstun them instead.
(someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

[minimen]

...

But an enemy can die from overstun, right?

[Laie]

Technically, "overstun" is when they have more stun point than hitpoints, I believe. But the way I'm using the word in this thread here, I only mean "a few more whacks after they're already down". That, in and of itself, is not deadly.

If you see the ghost icon instead of a "Zzzz", they are losing hitpoints from being too deep under. If you only used whips and stun rods on them, they probably have a lot of HP left and can remain in that state for a long time. Not all stun weapons  are that gentle, though.