[TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.9.j - 9 May - Holiday Edition

[Dioxine]

Got it happen for a 3rd time (Lessons learned - zero), this time I killed a Zealot with MCd Chrysalid, and my Annihilator suit Pirate Queen got zombiefied.
So it`s not just a zombie-like units, nobody is safe.
God damn those Chrysalids, being deadly ALL the time.

Looks like the new OXCom melee algorithm needs a lot of polishing

noticed another minor thingie about new base - damaged floor tiles behave like gates to nothingness: try autofiring on a floor tile (I tried Bozar and Fatty). After a first hit damaging the floor rest of the burst does not have hit animation and is processed very fast, like autoshot shot on the edge of the map.

Yeah, I'll leave it as it is - it allows to fire through damaged tiles from upper levels. At least you can't fall into these floors

I`m unable to enslave Church Beastmasters (there is no option in manufactoring list).
I remember requesting a single Clergy Booty as a bonus for enslavement (they had none - 0/0/0), so something probably got broken at that time.

Ahh, it took me some thinking but I think I know what happened - have you captured an ARMORED Beastmaster?

edit3: there is also no slavery options for church acolytes, reverends and cardinals, although fanatical zealots can be enslaved.

Yeah this option won't be available for ALL enemies. Mysteries, mysteries

1. I just defeated a terror mission from the Academicians and upon researching the loot I found a STR_HELMET as one of the research items. I suppose that is a left-over from the upgrade to version 0.9

Yeah it's just an artifact. It won't come up in a new campaign (a research cost = 0 prerequisite for some stuff).

2. When I tried to transfer a prisoner to a base without cells I got "No alien containment for transfer". This kind of breaks character with the mod 

Good catch! I would have never tried doing this so I've missed it

3. It appears the rank icons for the lower ranks have dissapeared, if viewed from the equipment screen or battlescape.

Yeah I've noticed. But here is a wrong adress to report this bug, I couldn't have broken it even if I wanted

I like the close combat hit animations and sounds for close combat weapons.

Thanks! Animations were stolen from XOps

You may also want to enhance the stunrod hit_sound and hit_animation.

I'll probably use the anim, it looks good. My game however just flatly refuses to play ANY sound when the stun rod hits.

[Ridаn]

I like the close combat hit animations and sounds for close combat weapons.

You may also want to enhance the stunrod hit_sound and hit_animation.

Attached are files from Ryskeliini's taser mod, which seem also appropriate for the stunrod.

Yeah, I too thought that those would be fitting, when requesting a stun rod hit indicator.
Those could be used for Stun Rod, Power Mace and Electro-Whip, I think.

[Dioxine]

Problem is, melee "hit" anims are played regardless if you hit or not.

[Ridаn]

Ahh, it took me some thinking but I think I know what happened - have you captured an ARMORED Beastmaster?

Didnt notice your post earlier.

Probably I did, I had a Psionic capture option turned on.
I had him researched, but didnt get a slavery manufacturing unlock. Will try to get a naked one and see if i get an option to research him again.

And disregard whatever I said about Electro-Whip, I like than snap SFX a lot

[Dioxine]

Armored beastmaster was not supposed to be capturable (as I feared the game will crash horribly, since the "zombie-like" status of the unit). Since it doesn't, it's good news - but there are no slavery options, the research of both just wraps around to a single subject. I will repair it so it'll be a viable (and profitable) option to capture one with her armor intact.
Oh yeah and I've never intended to replace the whip sound, just animation

EDIT: Yeah there is no point of replacing Hit animation on the Stun Rod, since the animation is played ON ATTACK, not ON HIT. I wanted to indicate the hit by that Ryskeliini's electric sound, but my game is not playing it. Can someone confirm that in and out of Piratez, so a bug report can possibly be filed (not by me ofc, I have the reputation of democracy-hater )? It is disturbing that Hit Sounds do not work for Stun Rod while they work for all (non-vanilla) melee weapons.

Alternatively - I could make Stun Rod a ranged weapon, with all proper hit and attack sounds and anims (just like the Hammer is), but then, bye-bye melee training, and bye-bye to AI possibly using it, so I am reluctant. The Hammer was made that way because it is the only way to destroy terrain; there is no such imperative with the Stun Rod.

Btw for long I have treated the hammer like a mere curiosity, but now I'm rather inclined to think that it's one of must-haves, on any party level. Demolishing walls is a major tactical advantage.

[clownagent]

EDIT: Yeah there is no point of replacing Hit animation on the Stun Rod, since the animation is played ON ATTACK, not ON HIT. I wanted to indicate the hit by that Ryskeliini's electric sound, but my game is not playing it. Can someone confirm that in and out of Piratez, so a bug report can possibly be filed (not by me ofc, I have the reputation of democracy-hater )? It is disturbing that Hit Sounds do not work for Stun Rod while they work for all (non-vanilla) melee weapons.

Cannot confirm. The stunrod sound plays just fine for me.

Btw for long I have treated the hammer like a mere curiosity, but now I'm rather inclined to think that it's one of must-haves, on any party level. Demolishing walls is a major tactical advantage.

Yes, I too always use the hammer, especially for terror missions it is a must have.

[Ridаn]

Looks like that Alien base is missing some objects. I didnt blow up anything (yet), but there are strange holes in that mapblock.
Tiles circled red reveal dirt when you step on them (and stay as undiscovered otherwise) and  nonexistant green ones create one scary deathtrap corridor of horrors a level below (it looks like that mapblock is a barracks facility and there is a crapload of guys spawning there).

Not sure about a Stun Rod, but a Power Mace does have a hit SFX, swing does the same sound as throwing items SFX and hit does electrical "bzzzt" sound.

[Alex_D]

Yeah I've noticed. But here is a wrong adress to report this bug, I couldn't have broken it even if I wanted

I think it started with the new version (maybe during the hideout re-colouring?). I keep copies of each of the old games (zip files of the entire OXC folder). I just checked Piratez 0.893 with 2015_03_26_1845 nightly (and no other mods), and the ranks were there. On a clean install, same nightly, but with Piratez version 0.9 shows the missing ranks during battlescape.  I have included a couple of screen captures of the same game save.

So it's a mistery, why only the higher ranks are present but not the lower ones.

[ivandogovich]

   Hmm... testing out latest build: 2015_03_26_1845 nightly with 0.9.

Missing tons of UFOs... they just fly away from the bonaventura.

End of month, get a mutant Pogrom.  Try engaging in combat.

At about 3 rounds into the fight, I finally take out the Triscene looking critter with a grenade, and on the between turns, after his long death cry and shots in the darkness (another civ/mutant was killed?).. I got a straight crash to desktop.  The terrain was TftD port Terrain.

Is there something I need to do to fix this?

Cheers, Ivan

[Ridаn]

  Hmm... testing out latest build: 2015_03_26_1845 nightly with 0.9.

Missing tons of UFOs... they just fly away from the bonaventura.

End of month, get a mutant Pogrom.  Try engaging in combat.

At about 3 rounds into the fight, I finally take out the Triscene looking critter with a grenade, and on the between turns, after his long death cry and shots in the darkness (another civ/mutant was killed?).. I got a straight crash to desktop.  The terrain was TftD port Terrain.

Is there something I need to do to fix this?

Cheers, Ivan

Starting is always tough.

Try running Pogrom in debug mode, and see what exactly happens right before crash, may be it is a civilian missing a corpse or terrain object lacking a destroyed shape or something else like that.

edit: and check up on last entries in a .log file from your saves folder, sometimes answer might be there

[Dioxine]

1. Ranks. I'll look into it. It might have to do with the new smoke animation....

2. New alien base: this is a question to the compiler, the base is copied from FMP. If it's really buggy I can simply disable it.

3. Ivan: Sadly, this happens lately. Clean crash to desktop, no idea why. I am pretty sure all units are accounted for and nothing is missing anything (why should it, it never did, and these creatures are present in the mod for more than a year, were killed by a hundred now without trouble), but there can always be some issue with the terrain. I got these crashes usually halfways the enemy turn, and they've only started very recently. They do happen every sixth Pogrom or so, and all you have to do is replay your round differently, kill one more enemy/don't kill an enemy or sth, and whatever triggered them, will be gone, and the game lets you play. Aww fuck that, I'm really sorry you got that s***t right away, any reassurances that the mod almost never does things like these would sound hollow now

This might also have to do with the OXC engine bug I've noticed - using Toxigun and killing your target before the burst is finished = interrupt with no TU or ammo loss. Or with the terrain. Or whatever. Certainly not with units, since if I had crashes with units, it happened either on mission start or end. But all these bugs were repaired months ago.

[ivandogovich]

Cool.  Thanks for the assurances...

I have been trying to make more headway through the first Pogrom.  I restarted on auto save to the first turn and set autosave to save every turn.  I have crashed to desktop 4 more times.  Seemingly for different reasons .. all during the enemy's turns though, I think.

I would be tempted to avoid Port terrain entirely.

I find myself gang attacking enemies in armor, and striking them 10-15 times with little effect.  I lose two - three pirates for every enemy I take down.  Getting close to squad wipe time here in this mission I think.  I'm not sure at all, what tactics work here, or how I should be going about this.  Definitely a rough start.

Can the "Bows" do any damage to any enemies?  so far my baddies have been tricenes, reapers, power armored dudes, personal armored dudes, and some weird flying guys in jumpsuits. 

Cheers, Ivan

[Dioxine]

Better to restart the whole mission altogether. Likely you won't get any trouble the next time.

Pogroms are meant to be very hard, especially to inexperienced crews.
A little technical help: due to a recent melee engine bug, enemies are immune to melee at certain angles (alwyas try attacking their back or sides. Or front but this is rarely a good idea Never diagonally).
Tips & spoilers: to kill an armored enemy, you need to deliver enough damage to punch through armor. I can spoil a lot, but you know what a Personal Armor can take, plan accordingly, read equipment descriptions, think - there is a HUGE variety of equipment available A little tip: they're killable with 1-4 strikes of a knife from the back & notice their laser guns can be picked up and used right away
I'm really sorry for these bugs (even if I'm innocent), but with the difficulty - yes, the mod is designed to kill you, and the enemies are designed to fight for their lives Easy missions do happen. Sometimes. But not Pogroms. And there is no shame in grabbing some weapons & corpses for study & retreating.

Oh, Bows. Damage = 25. That's not a lot, not against the kinds of enemies you normally meet in Pogroms. They flying guys in gas masks can be killed with a bow, but with difficulty. Reapers too, if you have a lot of bows. The rest of the described lot, no, not really.

[ivandogovich]

Thanks for the pointers.  Very much appreciated.   I think I'll try grabbing another nightly.

Edit: there is nothing newer.  hmm.  I guess I restart the game and skip all ports as too buggy to play with the current nightly build.

Cheers, Ivan

[Ridаn]

I feel like melee attacks from behind just straight up do not work with this nighty. I have to destroy walls to make sure my boarders can Stun Rod/stab people from left or right flank.
It is probably a worst time to start a Lets Play (you cant even stab people with in the back with Rapier, ffs) and in addition to that Ivan gets CTDs right at the start.
God damned Murphy`s Law.