Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - M1 29-Aug-2021 Violent Laser Battle (...)

[Dioxine]

Hail.
Here's latest download link and recent changelongs.
If you're upgrading mid-campaign, make sure to check the 'upgrading saves' thread.

MOD HERE: https://www.moddb.com/mods/x-piratez/downloads/dioxine-xpiratez-m1

Read the install instructions carefully. No joke. Srsly. Then the Bootypedia, to avoid premature death.
Suffering awaits. And boobs.

Video Tutorial: Install X-Piratez by Ivan Dogovich
https://youtu.be/L1WUpX9n7gY?t=54m11s

v.M1 29-Aug-2021 Violent Laser Battle Against Demonic Ninjas From Another Dimension!
- Good news: this update has so much content it can easily count as double.
- Bad news: due to significantly changed early and mid game campaign dynamics, starting a new game is reccomended.
- Good news again: this won't be happening again anytime soon.
- New Missions/Enemy Missions: At least 12 Ninja-related, including 3 types of Ninja bases; +Void missions (x2); + Primal Hunts (x5)
- New Enemy Craft: Ninja Jetfighter (model by Bulletdesigner), Ninja Transport, Ninja Mobile Fortress, Ninja APC, Ninja Crawler, Ninja Interceptor, Ninja Landcruiser & more
- New Enemy Units: Assassin (thx to Tylor for the fetish suit), Skyforge Engineer, Skyforge Labourer (x2), Ninja Medic, Succubus (credit for various parts & pieces goes to Bulletdesigner, Robin, Bloax & Mannhandle), Mega Bullfrog (rip by Alinare, design by Solarius), Manhack (on the basis of Osobist's submod)
- New Civilian faction: Govt; includes new unit, Govt Armored Car.
- New Craft: Faust, Anachronox, Dutchman, Hunt Party
- New Armors: Moongoose (Gnm) (3 versions) (Gfx by Brain); Nightsprite (for Shadowrealms); Cybermage (Bug) gets sea and 0-g versions
- New Weapons: Ninja Weapons (x6), Shadowrealms Weapons (x5), Ol' Tankbuster, ABC Gun, Pointy Sticks, Chitin Sword
- New Items: Frog Concotion
- New Feature: Several Establishments no longer get destroyed in a single hit, turn into damaged versions instead
- New Trainings: Magicienne (Damsels & Gnomes), Cenobite (Repentias & Damsels), Huntress (Peasants & Lokk'Naars)
- New Maps (minor): Island Resort (x1)(thx to Solar for RMP), Jungle (x1)
- A new way to get to Cydonia
- Somewhat workable no-Codex-challenge (or a way to continue playing for those who lost Drill/Hull)
- Difficulty coefficients changed (removed armor&aim buff on JS, more stats and sell prices impact to compensate)
- All Lasers do some armor pre-damage now
- Little Bird updated (now it's a mini quest, craft buffed, added 14mm Chaingun)
- Casino updates (lvl 1-5 coupons require no tech to claim, some prizes moved from 6 to 5)
- Study Room changed to Analytics Room, double effectivity, max 1. per hideout. Libraries limited to 3/hideout.
- Redesigned the default Hideout layout
- Updates to Portal mission rules
- Slight expansions of Doctor X, Red-Eyes and Red Mage stories
- Gfx: Vapor Trails (thx to Greenscarf and Bulletdesigner whose mods were reverse-engineered to find out how)
- Gfx updates & additions by Brain (including paperdolls and weapon sprites for heavy turrets, new battlesprites for Mechs)
- Expanded LOFTEMPS by Finnik and Solar
- Offline xpedia updated/fixed for Korean version (by Kato)
- Tweaks, improvements & additions
- Terrain fixes and other fixes

v.L10 18-Jul-2021 Old Earth Blues
- New Mission: UAC Vaults
- New Enemy: Toxic Slime
- New Armors: TAC7 (GNM) (Armor gfx by Perekrylo), TAC7-G (Same)
- New Weapons: Cursed Spraygun, Steam Hammer, Wreckin' Ball, Inferno Pistol, Quickfire Plasma Pistol, Predator Autopistol (gfx by Brain), Ol' Magnum, Liquidator (gfx by Brain)
- New Ammo: Blaster EMP Bomb
- New Terrain: Western Town, 7 variants (co-made with Solar, thx for gfx to Bulletdesigner, Luke83)
- New Maps for Academy Outpost x2 (1 by Wolverin), Industrial Slum x3, Temple of Sirius x1, Plains x1 (by Solar)
- New Misc production: Phantom Bolts (alternate), Personal Data Procurement
- Improvements to terrain: Industrial Slum (thx to Brain)
- Improvements/Fixes to terrain: Rice Farm
- Enemy Hideouts overhaul (support by Solar); REQUIRES NEW GAME TO FULLY WORK
- Sell prices lowered at high difficulties, increased at low
- EMPs work better against armor now
- Changed rules on procuring higher Bounty Hunts badges. Now you need BH prizes and Glamour, not BH tokens
- New Pedia category 'Piratin' Tips' to gather all advice entries for easy perusal
- Loader armor: +STR for weaker races
- Fixed stun recovery on enemies
- Fixed Korean font and translation by Injuras
- Gambling: no cost in Jack Tokens for prizes, instead each spin costs 1 Token
- Fixed Anti-E511 vulnerability on Centurions and some peasant armors
- Craft Harpoons +5% accuracy, much cheaper to make
- Slayer rounds buffed
- Tamed Werewolves now bleed as they damned should
- Fruit expansion
- More lore
- More fixes

v.L9 30-Apr-2021 Personal Attention
- New Mission: Bandit Camp
- New Facility: Vulcan Battery
- New Armors: (n)>9000 (GNM), Swimwear (GNM)(SEA)
- New Weapons: Alpha Rifle, Zeerust Carbine, Bandit SMG, Tech Knife
- New Ammo: FAE Rocket, Anti-Tank Rocket
- New Trainings: Sargeant (SS), Cleric (PEA), Personal Attention
- Fixed excess stun recovery on enemies
- Gnome outfits updates/fixes
- Slight buffs to GI/Pointman/Demolisher armors
- Adjustments to bullet hit animation speeds
- Updated sound effects for aerial weapons
- Birthday Cake/Immortal condemnations penalize TUs much less, switched to -REA, Energy Regen (Immortal)
- AP clips: same ammo count as normal clips
- FAE damage formula consistency (as well as FAE tech)
- Added/improved missing rank images for SS, Gnomes, Lokk'Naars
- Added distinct rank images for Freaks and Weirdgals
- Supply Ships no longer carry baby nukes, self-destruct again
- A shitton of fine tuning
- Major updates to Korean and German translations, Korean near-100% (thanks to translators!)
- Typo fixes (thx to Marza)
- Fixes, adjustments, improvements

v.L8 26-Mar-2021 One Way Ticket To Argentina
- OXCE Upgrade to 7.0 13-Mar-2021
- New Enemies: Marsec Mobile Infantry, Black Knight
- New Enemy Craft: Marsec Gunship
- New Enemy Mission: Highway Convoy
- New Mission: Dr. X's Residence
- New Facility: Astrosensorium (Gray Only)
- New Craft Weapon: Craft Harpoon Launcher
- New Armor: Immolator (SS, Red Only, gfx design by Brain)
- New Weapons: Wyvern Plasma Gun, Magic Hammer, Rage Bomb, Marsec Weapons (x5), Blacksun Weapons (x2), Secret (x1)
- New hit effect for weaker plasma weapons (by RRSWizard)
- New couple of male deathsounds (including voicetalent of the one, the only, Eric da Midget)
- Dr. X's arc forwarded 1 stage ahead
- Revised condemnations (less +BRA, more other stuff, especially Freshness)
- High tech now bit more expensive to research
- Vampirism no longer codex-locked
- Gray Codex gets extra starting item (Tome of Witchery)
- Updated lategame Marsec Patrols
- buff to small Humanist tanks
- Alenium Chamber is HWD now
- Study rooms now up to 3/base. Datacentres -1 Brainer but no longer require Library.
- Conqueror is now a multi-stage project (so one can start earlier)
- Conversion Launcher now shoots Phantom Missiles instead of Seagulls
- Buffed Shotgun pellets' damage to terrain
- RPG buffed
- Updated Master's Cane (watch out for wizards)
- Moar Gfx improvements by Bloax
- Some extra loot
- Extra events and other bonus content
- Bugfixes, cleanup (special thanks to Kobus); fixes to gfx glitches, other minor fixes

v.L7 04-Mar-2021 Lucky Seven
- OXCE upgrade to 6.9.1 09-Jan-2021
- Fix: Jugulator crash, Maid Outfit crash
- Fix: Slaves Gone Wild issue with Autoequip on
- New Armors (7!): Centurion (PEA & SS), Medisuit (PEA), Synthmetal (LOK), Carbon (GAL), Catsuit (SYN), Tecnovator (GNM)
- New Weapons: UAC Pistol, Baby Boomer
- New Ammo: Handcannon Shot
- New Items: Maximum Overdrive, Universal Refresher
- Additional 8 Avatars for Gnomes (hairdos by Perekrylo)
- Gfx improvements (thx to Bloax)
- Expanded font table (by OAK Group)
- Casino Coupons cost half previous value on sale now
- Added action names for consummables
- Added melee attack for Astrocaster
- Revised workings of Pirate Flag and similar items
- Map fixes, weapon fixes, other minor fixes (thx to Meridian, Marza, Neelix :3 )

v.L6 06-Dec-2020 Bag Of Tricks
- OXCE upgrade to 6.8.3 30-Nov-2020
- Fix: Organ Grinder now spawns craft properly
- Fix: Manacles now actually work
- Fix: Looted Cyberdiscs can be taken to missions allowing flying tanks
- New Missions: Small Bandit Camp, Scum & Villainy
- New Armors: Skullstrider (Gnome & Lokk; gfx and idea by Erylia Starheart), Aggressor (Gals; Red Codex special instead of Chainmail; paperdoll by Perekrylo)
- New Weapons: More Mines (Fire, Stun, Acid, EMP, WP, Poison Gas, Crys-Gas, Knockout Gas, PS-Frag), Firecrackers, Combat Carbine
- New Ammo: Crys-Gas Cannonball, Mortar Shell/CRY, Bombard Shell/CRY, OGRE Phoenix Shells, Bossar/HVAP
- New Item: Hologal Pad
- New music: Celestial Fantasia
- New sounds: Gachi
- New gfx: +16 Gal avatars; +10 Syn avatars
- Global mission zone updates
- Hunter/Killer behaviour removed from the largest enemy ships
- Civilians pick up weapons aggressively now
- The Proffesional and Secret Base missions less hacky thanks to using updated OXCE code
- Craft Gauss cannon buff
- Admiral suit less punishing to high ranks
- Slight rebuild of the Aurora arc
- Merged & expanded the Great Advice mod (by OAK Group & Dukoni Ber)
- Rescue Pod Repair Bills
- Armors gfx fixes & updates (including full layering of Syn armors; thx to Bloax)
- Laser weapons now can set on fire, Chem rounds more likely to cause smoke
- HMG small and medium clips take more inventory space
- WP munitions now cause some armor dmg
- Crys-Gas ammo can now be manufactured
- Stun Grenades tweaked (explode on impact, other adjustments)
- Bootypedia improvements
- Categories improvements
- Increased enemy Melee buff on higher difficulties, slightly decreased Firing
- Lots of other weapon tweaks
- Experimental: Slaves Gone Wild (new units: basic slave, maid, specialist, taskmaster, worker, gladiatrix, yeoman)
- Map fixes, Condemnation fixes, other fixes

v.L5A2 01-Nov-2020 New Energy v2
- Fix: Taberna Del Diablo mission gen crash
- Nuke Map crash fixes, voxelmap fixes, passability fixes
- Thicc Wall fixes
- Other fixes
- Melee damage to terrain reduced to sane levels, fine-tuned for every weapon

v.L5 30-Oct-2020 New Energy
- OXCE upgrade to 6.7.2 24-Oct-2020
- Fix: rare Party Dress crash
- New Enemy: Assault Ninja
- New Enemy Mission: Ninja Patrol
- New Enemy Craft: Ninja Jetbike
- New Mission: Taberna Del Diablo
- New Facilities: Disruptor Shroud, Alenium Chamber
- New Craft: V-8 (Cadillac El Dorado by Alex_D), Little Bird (by Alex_D and Perekrylo)
- New Craft Equipment: Shadowshield
- New Soldier Type: Damsel (recruited from DILDO, has her own special armor)
- New Armors: Scale Mail (Shield), Cybermage (Bugeye; thanks to XOps and Solarius)
- New Weapon: Quicksilver Cutlass
- New Ammo: Combat Bow PS Arrows
- New Equipment: Armored Corset, Magnificient Pirate Hat, Cigar 'El Commandante'
- New Terrains: Nuke Zone (by Luke83), Nuke City (by Luke83)
- New Maps for CoS temples (by Wolverin)
- New Events
- New Music (~EnV~Tranceish; A New Energy)
- New special mechanics for Handcuffs (modified Kozinsky's script)
- Retouched Charts GUI (by OAK Group)
- Added flash messages for personal shields hit and breached (copied from Nord's Chronicles mod)
- All trainings now give some sort of Soldier Bonus to keep track of them.
- Due to the above: Repentias cannot undergo Gladiatorial Training anymore.
- Chocolate added to loot here and there; More goods from crushing rocks
- Potions of Freshness (added to super-long missions)
- Extra loot for Space Freighter
- Increased radar range for Outpost and some defensive systems
- Airbuses can now be bought from Car Thieves
- Airvan got a weapon
- Fighters go faster (some of them)
- Annihilator Armor has shields now
- Govt Fines added
- Removed Best Exploit Ever
- Melee terrain damage and other new OXCE stuff
- Tech tree adjustments, Tweaks, Map Fixes, Other fixes

v.L4 15-Sep-2020  Mad Melee Massacre
- OXCE Upgrade to 6.6.1+ 12-Sep-2020
- Fixes to psiSkill overflow (again)
- Fixes to enemy morale regen (again)
- Fixes to Mutant Blessings (again)
- Fixed EMP weapons (erroneously ignoring Shock Immunity)
- Fixed Chort ranks
- Fixed X-Vampiress recovery
- Fixes to Recon Expeditions
- New Missions: Haunted Forest, Isolated Valley
- New Facility: Bee Hive
- New Armor: Ghostbuster (PEA)
- Experimental: extended melee reactions enabled
- Experimental: off-centre shooting by Karadoc (enabled by default)
- Basescape Gfx update (WIP)
- Dogs can bark now which reduces enemy TU, Morale
- Battle Tank can now be used as craft in missions (battlemap, turret unit & weapon added)
- Battle Tank manufacturing time x2, M1A1 version removed
- Basic Mecha Armor weapon changed to Aircraft HMG (fixes no-rotation and no-reload issue)
- Zombie damage type changed to Daze
- Chryssalids and other zombifying units now need to actually cause damage to zombify
- More Pedia stuff
- Tweaks, Improovements, Adjustments, Map Fixes, Other minor fixes

v.L3 23-Aug-2020 The Byzantine Crown
- OXCE Upgrade to 6.6 22-Aug-2020
- Fixed Aqua Plastic recovery from USO
- Fixed V.Skill overflow for Weirdgals and Gnomes
- Fixed unduly disappearing handheld shields
- Map Fixes
- New Missions: Party!, Attack On Winter Palace
- New Enemies: Pillbox, +6 enemy types for the Assault On Winter Palace mission
- New Weapons: Durandal Cannon, Concealable RR
- New Items: Polymakh's Cap (by OAK Group), Dog Collar (by Solarius Scorch)
- New Transformations: Lifeforce Focusing (x3)
- New Inv Images: Marsec Sentry Drone (based on Brain's picture), Marsec Hunter Drone (Voidavatar's)
- New gfx for X-Vampiress bite (by Xom126) and tank track animation (co-made with Xom126)
- New Events
- Animated Armored Cars (Xom126, Perekrylo)
- Gfx improvements by Bloax
- Chorts expanded
- Vehicles and Testudo armor now pay extra TU for turning
- Gals get morale bonus when defending Hideout
- Enemy Morale Recovery slower, but also even slower decay
- Mutant Blessings Fixed/Expanded
- Removed effects of Best Kind of Friend Condemnation, changed effects of Gal of Steel
- Shields on melee armors now have lower skill bonus to Evasion, get some flat bonus instead
- Riot Shield now protects vs Stabbing
- Red Shields easier to get
- Superhero armor harder to get
- Skulls now drain more Morale, Drug Dispenser buffed, Tome of Lightning electric again
- Minor fixes, tweaks, additions

v.L2 21-May-2020 Blood And Skulls
- OXCE upgrade to 6.5.1 21-May-2020
- New Item Pedia interface (by Bloax)
- New Events
- New Terrain: Snow Forest (by Solarius Scorch)
- New Facility: Flak Tower
- New Armors: Cyberpunk (LOK), The Hero, Patient, Lingerie (x3), Dresses (x3)
- New Ammo: Shiny Niner Magnum Rounds (also upgraded Slay and EP munitions)
- New Augmentation: Nightshade (PEA)
- Hit FX added
- More Gfx Goodness from Bloax
- Captain Kidd easier
- Armors with HP regen, regen it fully after combat (at Freshness cost)
- Adjustments to aircombat. Pilots get slightly less +dodge, slightly more +acc. Friendly escort range increased.
- All enemies have properly set Freshness stat now
- Overhauled enemy stat recovery system (less cheaty now, Fresh damage viable to debilitate them)
- All weapons updated for possible Freshness damage
- Making missions in certain craft now adds extra Glamour and/or Databases; Expedition - Journey Notes.
- Base defense turrets now AI-controlled, stats buffed
- Raynerd mission rolled back to how it was early on
- Vessel behaviour fixes: Labship, HK-117
- Repentia & Holy Warrior buffs
- Trainings and Transformations now honor bonus stats for minimum requirements
- Improvements of battery-craft tilesets (mostly lighting effects)
- Content-adding, polishing, disturbing
- Terrain/map fixes

v.L1A1 9-Apr-2020 Aurora Nights 2
- OXCE upgrade to 6.4.2.1
- Fixed bank robbery mission
- Fixed Blue Turret crash
- Fixed some map crashes
- New Vessel Component: STC Zortrium Plating
- New Armor: Plate Mail (Lokk'Naar)
- New Weapons: Fish Grenade (Deep Ones), Huge Bone
- New Ammo: Longbow Tarnian Arrows
- New Item: Golden Mask
- New smashing spriteworks by Bloax!
- New Academy and Brothel buildings by Wolverin
- Starting Hideout changes: added Land Deed and extra Security Corridor
- Rebalanced White Worm and Shadowbat stats
- Glitter armor rechristened to Sear, shield changed to Red
- Most Electric Stun Weapons do some HP dmg now.
- Un-Surrealistiked damage formulas on Stone Hatchet and Bone Club.
- Buffs to some sniper weapons
- Buffs to Staff of Explosion and Phantom Whip
- Extra recruitment option: Veterans for Glamour
- You need to pay for ship damages in Battlescape now
- Capitatory Tax
- Cydonia tweaks
- AI behaviour tweaks
- Regenerating units/armors have 0 recovery time, instead they get a proportional Freshness hit.
- Lots of new Lore, including the new VIP section
- Smoothing out rough edges
- Removing unused terrain/map/route files
- Small fixes

v.L1 1-Apr-2020 Aurora Nights
- Exec update to OXCE 6.4.2+ 18-Mar-2020
- Fix: most medkits can heal standing enemies again
- New Enemy Vessel: HK-117
- New Enemy: Blue Turret
- New Armor: Zortrium Suit
- New Ammunition: C.Bow Stun Arrows
- Hobbesocalypse
- New Gfx and Ambients by Perekrylo
- New maps made: OVER ONE HUNDRED. Thx for help to Solarius Scorch, Wolverin
- New Terrains made: Chemtown, Industrial Slum
- New Terrains/Maps/Scangs from Community Terrain Pack (Bulletdesigner, Luke83, Efrenespartano)
- Terrain Upgrades: ROCKY ROAD TAKE GRUG HOME, TO THE CAVE GRUG BELONGS
- Globe rework
- Inventory rearranged: wearables now have their special slots
- Expanded shipping radar markers
- Mecha Suits now have Grabbers
- Randomized Personal Computer disassembly (based on Grub's work)
- Minor fixes, and adjustments of "fixes", and other delights

v.K2 2-Nov-2019 Ice Ice Cool
- OXCE upgrade to 6.1.1. 2-Nov-2019
- Fix: more tile fixes (thx to Meridian)
- Fix: bugged Space Station tile fixes from K1
- Fix: morale regen on Space Pod/Gal
- Fix: enemy radar circles were not being always drawn
- Fix: Trapmaster condemnation
- Fix: heat/cold resistances on items
- New Mission: Beach Sweep
- New Weapons: Heavy Rifle, Advanced Minigun, ATGM Launcher, Servo Mortar, Hand Mortar, Bootleg Plasma (x4), Singing Spear
- New Ammo: Bombard/WP, Minigun/ETAP, HMG/MAG (x3), Combat Bow Explosive Arrows
- New Music
- White Dragon has BH Tokens and offers prizes now
- Enemy fighters have lower weapon ranges
- Most enemy hunter-killers tries to flee when damaged instead of fighting to the death now
- Menace class ships got STC slots, weapons slightly reshuffled
- Shadowbat's armaments changed to 2xLT, 2xSTC
- Missiles buffed
- Admiral outfit buffed
- Throwing cost changed from 30 TU flat to 40% TU
- Grenade unpriming cost reduced, priming costs revised (baseline is now 30% TUs)
- Instant Explosives cost changed from flat to % (baseline assumed 70-75 Max TU), added unique strings
- Reduced extreme morale damage on most incendiaries (flamers excluded)
- Added unique rank images for Syns; fixed Lokk'Narr & Gnome ranks
- Adjusted ship attack bonuses for Mercs and Zombies
- Improved map light sources
- Additions, Fixes, Rebalances

[pilot00]

Looking forward to it bro

[Roxis231]

Extended just replaces the EXE, right.  No other modifications to Open-Xcom are needed?

[Dioxine]

It doesn't even replace the OXCom exe, you just dump it alongside. If you don't start the game using the custom .exe, it will just work as normal. No modifications at all.

[Arthanor]

Oh! I have been looking forward to that! Count on me to give it a try as soon as you push something. Hopefully I will finish my current game too though..

I'm guessing you consider the latest Piratez release to be as "feature complete" as possible in OpenXCom?

Just the idea of multiple craft slots for customization and power ups fits really well with pirates! This is exciting!

[Phoenix7786]

And so, I'm starting to work on it, and this will be the developement thread. Any further expansion of vanilla Piratez is cancelled, effective today.

Understood. I'll be looking forward to it!

[Dioxine]

Oh! I have been looking forward to that! Count on me to give it a try as soon as you push something. Hopefully I will finish my current game too though..

I'm guessing you consider the latest Piratez release to be as "feature complete" as possible in OpenXCom?

Just the idea of multiple craft slots for customization and power ups fits really well with pirates! This is exciting!

Well, complete enough to be fully playable & enjoyable. It has everything it has to have, but I'm not saying there won't be new factions/weapons etc. in the future

[robin]

good, good!

unravel all those features,
so when it's my turn I'll just have to copy-paste from your ruleset

 

[Dioxine]

So I've started to build new melee weapon balance and boy it is a complex problem now

Here's a table with what I have so far, thoughts on that are welcome (keep in mind that damage is only a single factor: accuracy and TU cost varies, plus every attack will cost Stamina, equal to weapon's weight):

[ivandogovich]

I think the stamina cost is too high, as it will make the current Hammer unplayable.  I guess an "extended" hammer could be lighter.  Or you could boost the stamina range of the Pirates. 

Creating stamina costs is not bad, it will just make the already very difficult early game, almost impossible?  At least much more bloody. I think the player would suffer many more casualties this way.

[pilot00]

I think the stamina cost is too high, as it will make the current Hammer unplayable.  I guess an "extended" hammer could be lighter.  Or you could boost the stamina range of the Pirates. 

Creating stamina costs is not bad, it will just make the already very difficult early game, almost impossible?  At least much more bloody. I think the player would suffer many more casualties this way.

Y m2. It already gets bad with certain soldiers having useless stats when you hire em and they will be unable to effectively use melee weapons. This complecates things even further, when used in conjunction with the constant draw of stamina from moving you will be running in situations where, run or fight will not be an option since you wont be able to do anything of the two.

Personally I find it to a be an unnessary complication, but thats me. Especially since the gals are starting with terrible accuracy almost always.

[Dioxine]

Maybe the full weight cost is too much for melee weapons; 2/3rds might be better. I will also put a Stamina cost on throwing, about 2x the weight of an item (capped at about 16 or so).

Anyway, this will curb the over-reliance on melee and thrown weapons in damage dealing; Ivan's LP shows clearly that you practically don't need to use guns, which is definitely a bad sign.

[ivandogovich]

It may be true that in the early game you can play without guns, in fact its probably the only way to survive.   Early guns are just too horrible to bother with.  You will almost always face enemies that will just laugh at them.   

My point is that if you nerf melee and grenades, you may make the early game so difficult that there may be no way to get past it.

[Arthanor]

Yup, I agree too. The reason for not using guns is that they can't penetrate armor. Melee and explosives are the obvious (and only) answer to that.

A pirate would be crazy to engage a trader security guard in a firefight until quite late in the game (I've got heavy armor now but still nothing to shoot him with reliably). You don't have a gun that can hurt him and you don't have armor that can resist his gun. It's a losing proposition and the answer is black powder bombs and melee rush.

Then you get the unarmoured ones (GOs, hostesses and especially engineers), which are often worth thousands as hostages (which you also only catch in melee) but nothing dead. I've used the harpoon gun relatively successfully for that but it's the only gun I use much.

I have smgs and scoped/sniper rifles for support gals but they can't take out armor so I only use them for reaction shots or if I end up badly positioned. They are basically there for training as it is pointless to have 18 melee gals,  the slower ones get left behind anyways. They might as well have a gun amd carry medikits. Even then, with a tac vest or better I'll often face tank a pistol/shotgun/rifle and punch the GOs in the face next turn for the ransom. Melee is also much better in small spaces.

In pogroms I actually use explosives (rpgs too, if that counts as a gun) more because I value saving civilians more than taking hostages. But you still meet power armor dudes that need melee and a few valuable targets that make good hostages or interrogation fodder. Explosives are too expensive to use in shipping crashes though so I use black powder bombs a lot.

The only time I'll happily use guns is on raiders. They are unarmoured so the guns work and they are worth nothing to ransom. They are actually a bit refreshing because of that.

We use guns irl because they hurt people at a distance well enough to take them out and it is obviously safer because you can duck back instead of rushing forward. In Piratez conventional guns can't really hurt the dangerous types so you are more in a middle ages situation. I believe that when lasers (and other advanced guns) become available, it will change the game.

In fact, I think of your mod as a kind of late middle ages situation where melee dominates because of armor, then you invent guns that bypass it and it becomes more balanced. Which works really well to represent a primitive gang starting up as pirates then coming into modern warfare as they make progress. It is something that adds to your storytelling and that I think is great in Piratez.

It takes a while to get to guns that actually do something (or have enough cash that rpg and grenade launchers can be used regularly) but that's ok. It gives the game a different feel and makes the guns welcome when they show up and it works with the narrative.

[Dioxine]

Fair points, guys. I will certainly not impose these ideas upon people without serious prior testing. Maybe it's just my playstyle: I know that personal-armored guys can be brought down with continuous barage of Str 30+ firearms, and using a grenade is basically an easy way out. I usually keep 60% ranged, 40% melee+ranged squad; true I don't want to force this playstyle upon people, but guns seem to be under-appreciated. Like I said, I will test this new melee formula out and see how really it does hamper the melee combat; I think the debuff will be rather slight. Plus there will be new advantages and ways to handle the enemy.