Author Topic: Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N7 16-Dec-2023 Flying Tiger, Hidden Tentacle  (Read 3577858 times)

Offline Dioxine

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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/x-piratez-vn7-flying-tiger-hidden-tentacle-16-dec-2023

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.N7 Flying Tiger, Hidden Tentacle 16-Dec-2023
- OXCE update to 7.9.20
- Fix: 'range>5' crashes on geoscape in mid-late game (thanks to Zzrr for diagnosis of the error)
- Fix: Condemnations for special missions now include all (?) the relevant missions
- Merged Triarius submod by Torchwood (it adds Triarius (PEA/SS) and Disruptor (BUG) armors). Author's thx to Brain, Kenshi, WarstalkeR & Zastaver
- Early Game Change: lots of weak enemy ground craft to fight with
- New Missions: Old Earth Metro (4 variants), Mongorn Migration, The Sniper, Archeological Adventure, Sunken Treasure, Demon Bait (1 new variant, research to get them more often), Executive Retreat
- New Enemies: Mongorn, Tentacle Hive, Kobold Huntress, Eurosyndicate Agent, Hell Maggot, Bolshoy Guard
- New Enemy Vessels/Missions: Highwaymen Hoverpod, Sandcrawler, Bandit Wartruck, Bandit Car, Black Talon
- New Crafts: Gunwagon, Angry Bird, Tiger
- New Craft Weapons: Piratin' Cannon (HAND), Minigun (GR), RPG (HAND), GL (HAND), Rotogun (GR), RL (HAND), Harpoons (GR), Hefaistos (AA)
- New Craft Systems: Augmented Engines, Compressed Chem Fuel Tank, Craft Extra Armor
- New Armors: Ironcat (gfx by Brain), Tecnovator variants (Cyberscarabs, Recon Drones), Gnome Standard War Jacket (gfx partially by Brain), Gnome Shielded War Jacket, Gnome TAC7-S Armor, Blood Hound Metal Armor, Camo Paint /Gnome, Rebelstar /SS (gfx by Brain), Cat Witch (gfx mostly by Brain), Gnome Mining Suit
- New Weapons: Sports Rifle, Firestars, Quicksilver Dagger, Hell Shotgun, Hell Knuckles
- New Ammo: Arcane Minnie Bullets, Heavy Birdshot, Black Adder AP Clip, LC-Rend Ammo
- New Equipment: Dust Mask, X-Med Mask
- New Trainings: Art of Trouncing, Judical Education, Abyssal Aspect, Educating Simple Minds, Person Of Culture, Blitzgal, Pet Tentacle Monster, Destructor
- New Recruits: Theban Assault Catgirl, Former Commando, Disciple of Twilight
- New Condemnations: Oldtimer, Professional, Idiot
- New Feature: Crazy Hassan Special Offers
- New maps: 1 for Junk Villages, 1 for Comms Tower, 4 for Caves
- New maps: 'Hell Cruise' map replaced with a cargo liner map (conversion by Solarius Scorch)
- New maps: Alternative maps for Orbital Lab, Refuelling Station and Cold Storage (maps and gfx by Brain)
- New gfx: 24 new Gnome avatars (for a total of 48; +100%! Hairdos 95% by Brain); + some hats added
- New gfx: customized interception screens for Ratmen and Necropirate foot gangs
- New gfx: Ogres have their own flag & rank pictures
- New gfx: customized smartphone touch buttons by Riccardo Gasperi
- New music: Cannon Angel
- Gal salaries raised to $40k (Young Ubers, Warriors, Veterans) and $20k (Freaks). Bugeyes' to $25k.
- Monthly limits added to recruitment: Young Ubers 8, Warriors 4, Veterans 1, Freaks 3
- Buffed Factions versions now appear later
- Zombies no longer immune to Bio
- Establishing new Hideouts now requires researching it
- Bunker facility redone. Now it is no longer impassable to large units, but instead has a defensive 14mm light turret installed (battlescape only). It is no longer blocking the Extractor function. No longer Captain Soreass exclusive, now can be built by anyone with the aspect Pig-headed. Cost increased by the requirement of Necroplane Parts.
- Hotels and Hellerium Plants buffed
- Zeppelin reimagined
- Buffs to VPWR/VSKL min/max/cap for SS, Peasants, Damsels
- Special recruits who will not really benefit from basic trainings have them marked as already undergone
- Buffed SPOT for Gnomes
- Lokk'Naars get basic 65% vs. Bio instead of 100. Buffed SPOT and NV for nude/unarmored like with other races.
- Bugeye Thinman and Thong outfits have inbuilt melee attack now (but slightly less powerful MC)
- Modified Meridian's Special Autogun (now it's a Mind Orb weapon)
- Buffed X-plasma weapons
- Sivalingas useable earlier, via a string of new events
- Puma Siters and Claw events more likely on Cat Path
- Restored the Warriors track
- More lore
- Lots of other stuff
- Ruleset cleanup, related bugfixes (thx to Warstalker for list of errors)
- Minor fixes, rebalances, updates & improvements

v.N6.0.7
- Nightops armor debuffed, moved pre-Workshop
- Minor fixes

v.N6.0.6
- Warning: delete old rulesets when updating
- Fix: Studying the Sword (last?)
- New Weapons: Coach Gun, Jezzail
- New Ammo: Blizzard Jumpmines
- New Civilian: Squatter
- All armors can now be produced from scratch (Streamlined Armor Production mod by Ivan Dogovich no longer needed)
- Dogs have more Stamina
- Condemnations rework:
-- Archer replaced with Amazon, moved thrown weapons and spears there together with bows. Bonus changed slightly.
-- Hammerer renamed to Industrious, now simply counts kills per career
-- New ones: Techbarbarian, Bulwark
-- Increased no. of kills needed to get low ranks of Traditional, Radical & Medieval
-- Patched holes, added missing weapons etc
- More lore
- Minor fixes & improvements, rebalancing
- Triarius submod (by Torchwood) updates: Brain's paperdoll and spritesheet replacements for Triarius armor, Disruptor armor added (repaletted to proper colors by me)

v.N6.0.5
- Fix: Studying the Sword (again)
- New Mission: Drifter Camp
- New Transformations: Beauty Formula (Witch Quest reward), Tiger Tours
- Gfx updates: By Brain: Small Medipack, Space Medipacks, Nano-Surgery Device, Juggernaut suit
- Gfx updates: by Garr Incorporated: Eridian Warchief
- Gfx updates: Smoke Grenade
- New Graphs background
- Buffs to Juggernaut (mainly NV)
- Some lore, minor fixes etc
- Added Triarius Armor submod by Torchwood

v.N6.0.4
- Fix: Studying The Sword and Weapon Lore crashes
- Desert movement more difficult (for walking units)
- Zombies more vulnerable to Concussive damage
- Added extra reward for Nocturne in Red
- Gfx udaptes (paperdolls an pedia), by Mikkoi: Fartbag, Guild Air Sailor, Church Matron
- Minor adjustments/rebalances

v.N6.0.3
- Fix: 'I accidentally deleted the whole thing' critical mission spawning bugs (Pogroms, Ninjas and more) (thanks to Magic Skeleton, Torchwood and Solarius Scorch for the help with fixing it)
- Fix: tech progression when you select Cats 4 Life path
- Fix: Guild secret base crash
- New Events
- Improved gfx: Siren, Reticulan Peon, Reticulan Elder (by Mikkoi)
- Language updates

v.N6.0.2
- Cat path actually works now

v.N6.0.1
- Palette fixes
- Added some missing strings
- Improved Nekomimi Laser sprite (by Brain)

v.N6 03-Oct-2023 Zany Cats
- OXCE update to 7.9.10
- Fix: Cydonia mission button launch not appearing
- Fix: Battle Cab added to lists of allowed crafts in various envinros
- Fix: Cat Oni Armor: special attack can be made without VSKL requirement, also added the missing gauntlet
- Fix: Added missing gauntlet attack to Neko Peacemaker Gear (and Termicator bc. they use same built-in wpn.)
- Fix: Region data leaks from the original game files causing Geoscape crashes (hopefully they stop now)
- New Missions: Demon Bait (4 variants), UAC Shelter
- New Enemy: UAC Security Drone
- New Craft: Firefox (by Solarius Scorch)
- New Craft Weapon: Nekomimi Prowler Cannon
- New Craft System: Hellerium Supercell
- New Armor: Flycat (For Catgirls, based on original design of 'Catnapper' armor by Miz Mayhem)
- New Weapons: Nekomimi Marksman Laser (by Solarius Scorch), Cursed Rifle, Mega Ax (Blood Orb, Gold Codex), Hellfist (Blood Orb, Red & Gray Codex)
- New Path: Cats 4 Life.
- New gfx: improved Blood Hound (by Mikkoi)
- New features: Slave Soldiers and Peasants have distinct names and flags based on the place of recruitment (based on expansion by OAK group, implementation made in cooperation with Solarius Scorch).
- Lessened February score hits caused by bandit activity
- Witch Quest frequency increased
- Small rework of Drakkar map. Also Drakkar got its own sprite (by AlexD)
- Statistical bullet saving added to most of the light craft cannons
- Some rebalancing to Beam Laser (buff) and Plasma Beam (bit less range, bit more acc)
- Beast den +5 animals cap (now 30)
- Repentias and Weirdgals enhanced
- Swiftsuit: scouting goggles added
- Car/AGL weapon buffs
- Most ballistic and some other pistols have their long range ACC penalties increased
- Smart Pistol even faster, but has lower Snap range; gfx updated
- 'Mutant Porn' changed to 'Zany Zines' to better fit what kind of resource it's supposed to be
- New music theme for Red Mage events
- GMTACTIC4 replaced
- New city: Marrakesh
- More events
- Tech tree polishing, minor weapon/armor tweaks, other adjustments
- More hidden movement backgrounds
- Minor fixes (maps etc)

v.N5.2.1
- OXCE update to 7.9.8 03-Jul-2023
- New Feature: Monster Pitfighting
- New Facility: Luxury Mess
- New Weapon: Advanced RPG (gfx by Brain)
- New Training: Alpha Protocols
- Technomancer's Crypt map update
- New events and lore added for Gudrun arcs (primarly the Lady)
- Other new events (including some rage inducing ones)
- Buffs to Omnisensor and Integrity Field STCs
- Electric Glove added as melee weapon for Theban Aqua Suit (replacing fists)
- CAMO added to many Catgirl outfits, improved on some.
- Vampy Outfit repurposed: no a novelty outfit for Weirdgals, now it's a Red Codex option to embody Shades.
- Buffed terrain damage of Force Blade and Medical Slicer
- Added dissassembly and ammo production options for Elite Plasma Gun
- Updated Rocket Launcher gfx (by Brain)
- More backgrounds
- Deployment fixes (Star Gods/Frigate, Mohawks assault on Hideout, Crackdowns by weak factions)
- Map fixes (Tunnels of Apocalypse, Large Vaults, others), other minor fixes (special thanks to Osobist)
- Other minor stuff

v.N5.2.0
- Newest OXCE Windows build included (as of 02 Jul 2023)
- Fix: Into the Void mission progress bug
- Fix: HK-117 database spawn
- Fix: Peasant battlesprite hair/skin color mismatches
- Fix: Zombie Embodiment should work properly now
- Fix: Big Pistol Rounds /Slay can actually be used now
- Less govt attacks, more bandit attacks
- Rework of Arch-Witches plot for story consistency (esp. when playing as Saint of Chaos)
- Shades allowed to pilot craft now
- Added extra Star Gods activity after reaching rank 10/11
- All 1x1 flying armors: flying down costs 0 TU now (does not include underwater and 0-g environments)
- Cat guerilla armor +Piercing res
- Dullahan update (added gauntlet, added ThV 50%)
- Doubled Biotank HP bonus
- New Gothic and Crusader shields hand sprites (by Osobist)
- Mini Shotgun update (new gfx by Brain)
- Couple weapon sounds added
- Weapon spawn fix for tribal hunters in catacombs (thx to Meridian)
- Spiderdemon spritesheet fix (by Osobist)
- Added random backgrounds for hidden movement screen
- Other background screen updates
- Language updates/fixes
- Maps/Terrains/Tilesets/Unit Spawns fixes and other small fixes

v.N5.1.2
- Cydonia: Chancellor's mind control less OP; chairmen, scientists and engineers no longer have low VPWR.
- New map for Industrial Slum
- Power Plant now also gives Extractor function.
- Smokey armor buffed but requires more research
- Added some more information to Pedia
- Fixes to necroplane tileset
- Other minor fixes, readjustments

v.N5.1.1
- New Enemy: Buster Zombie
- New Craft System: Chem Fuel Tank
- New Weapon: Homefort Rifle
- New Ammo: Big Pistol Rounds/Slayer
- New Item: Treasure Bag
- New Training: Proud Warrior
- New Feature: Museum
- Shiny Niner accuracy buffs
- Loot added to Jungle Pyramid maps
- More fixes (visible and less so), small improvements

v.N5.0.3
- Fix: Airtruck no longer banned from where it should be able to go
- New Missions: Zombie Outbreak, Bewitched Village
- New Civilian: Knight Errant
- Named dogs Stamina buff: +15 starting / +25 cap
- Weapon buffs: Rosarius (both), Monstermano
- Minor fixes
- Slight tweaks/improvements

v.N5.0.2
- Fix: codex multiple treasures / messed events issue
- Fix: unfucked Island Resort terrain
- Fix: Airtruck deployment map
- Fix: Xenforcer' Zortrium armor VDEF
- Fix: Adjusted Poisoner HP recovery formulas
- New: Ability to revive Sleeping Beauties without them having the Condemnation (higher tech required).
- Added some backdrops for pedia articles and created some missing ammo research articles
- Surgery Room gets 2 Animal Cages
- Minor grammar/text fixes (thx to Flyte for combing)

v.N5.0.1
- New Condemnation: Against All Odds
- Crawling movement added to Tanks, Wolverin Suits, XECs, Xenforcers, Loaders, Testudos, Eridians, Lamias, Oozes, Silacoids, Sectopods
- Forest and Farm tilesets modified to be easier on Crawling type of movement
- Offline Xpedia (by Baturinsky) updated to 2.1
- Fixes: Padlock to Fear Gate, medikit/minimap interface glitches
- Minor adjustments, language updates

v.N5 07-Jun-2023 Shadow Descent
- OXCE upgrade to 7.9.6, 21-May-2023
- New Arc Progress: Red Mage (major update; crossovers with Dr. X arc (minor) and Mystery Patron arc (minimal))
- New Non-Arc Progress: Guild and Academy warships carry better crews after 2-3 years of game; influences their related missions.
- New Missions: Gate of Fear, Plunge Into Deadzone, Deadzone Delve, Sewers of Death, Fountain of Youth, Bad Company, Endless Necropolis, Mysterious Tower II (harder version for later game)
- New Enemy Missions: Dreadknight Adventuring, Red Lilly Game, Govt Enmity
- New Enemy Shipping: Dread Fighter (gfx by Brain)
- New Enemies: Wraith Elite Guard, Wraith Tormentress, Dreadknight (gfx improved by Brain), Awakened Dead, Dead Resident, Dead Cop, Gun Runner, Golden Boy, Marsec Exoguard, Academy Pioneer
- New Facilities: Luxury Condo (sprite by Brain), Living Capsules (Pure Captain + Faith only), Black Tower, Rubble, Body Farm (Green Codex)
- New Craft: Airtruck
- New Craft Weapons: Twin Machinegun (GR), Gecko SAM (GR)
- New Craft Equipment: BTX Dodger
- New Armors: Tactical /Dog (merged mod by JDCollie), Tactical /Peasant (merged mod by JDCollie), Slimegal /Shade, Masterblaster (Ogre & Gnome versions, paperdoll by Brain), Biotank (Green Codex, Peasants & Gnomes only, battlesprite by RSSWizard), Medispider Suit (normal & SEA, gfx by Brain), Glittergnome (normal & SHA), Glittergirl (normal & SHA), Avenger (SHA version added), Martyr (proper SHA version made), Red Shield (Dogs & Hounds), Slime Graft (Blood Hounds, normal & SEA), Xenforcer Zortrium Shell (normal & SEA, gfx by Brain)
- New Weapons: Grav Cannon (Gold only), Memorial weapons (x3), Realm of Fear weapons (x2), Thunderstriker (Orb, Gray only), Blood Vine Whip (gfx by Brain), Gnome Autogun (no Codex only), Bane Blade (Orb, Red Only), Cupid Gun (Orb, Green or Gold only), Shadowforge Plasmagun (gfx by Brain), MP N-Lascannon (gfx by Brain)
- New Ammo: Atomic Cannonball, Autogun /ETAP
- New Trainings/Augmentations: Fusion Arts, Perfect Beauty (Green Codex), Syn Acceptance, Boot Camp (Soreass Captain), Sun Martial Rituals (Male Path)
- New Condemnations: Serial Widow, Unmaker, Medieval
- New Events
- New Feature: All small buildings, when destroyed, turn into Rubble now instead (keeping Hideout's connectivity). 4 tiles of Rubble added to starting base.
- New Feature: Ninja Love
- New Feature: Body Swapping (Green Codex only); contains several new possibilities
- New maps (by Solar and Brain)
- New gfx: +8 Ogre paperdolls (gfx by Brain); minimap & medikit interfaces (by Osobist); Deep One Berserker corpses/inventory (by AlexD), some Pedia backgrounds (adv. ammo types schematics, by Brain), Giant Cockroach paperdoll (by Mikkoi), Plasma Sub (by RSSWizard), Auto Rifle (by RSSWizard & Brain), Bullpup Rifle (based on RSSWizard, help by Brain), UAC Carbine (by Brain), projectile sprite updates (gfx by RSSWizard), Laser & Gauss defense sprites (by me), other minor stuff (by Brain & RSSWizard)
- Rework (Story): The hull/drill/codex sequence reworked to be more cinematic, also some intro changes
- Rebalance: Difficulty rules fine tuning. More -score needed to lose, enemy craft ROF bonus changed from flat to % (ponderous ships more murderous on high diff, quick firing ones less murderous), more granular/flattened ratio of enemies facing player craft.
- Rebalance: Reduced Ninja scoring from Fortresses and Firebases. Increased from HQ.
- Rebalance: global living quarters & training rooms capacity buff
- Dr. X duel mission less trivial now (updated from before-Condemnations version), incl. update of Ring-Dang-Doo.
- Magical Girls now auto-surrender after 3 turns
- Large barracks can be built over now
- Damaged barracks have less capacity penalty
- Cloning Centre no longer requires Surgery to be built
- Great Library buff (scroll needed to research, not to build; harder research, provides VooDoo training & Summoning service)
- Deliverator restored to its previous stats, but +1 LSX added.
- Faust map reworked
- Avalanches can now be used earlier after being found and researched (manufacturing still requires higher tech)
- Added extra shield damage to Plasma Beams, Plasma Spitters, Avalanches and Obliterator Cannons
- Peasants/Damsels: increased FRS caps by +10
- Bugeyes: now all get SENSE (default 3, less on some armors)
- Catgirls: Increased Energy Regen by 20% on all armors (again); increased min STA by 10 and STA cap by 15 (to 135); decreased FRS cap by 30 (to 60).
- Syns: Less resistant to Fire, more resistant to Chem.
- The research 'Soldier: Bugeye' unlocks VooDoo now
- Gals' lifeforce focusing reworked (no penalties, diff. bonuses, can use on all Gal types)
- Removed unnamed Dogs and Blood Hounds (sell or name your dogs before upgrading)
- Aggressor Armor can now be manufactured (Red Codex only, ofc)
- Admiral Armor: shields added
- Braine & Explorer outfits now yield Personal Databases
- Fairy outfit now viable for Shadowrealms
- Cat tactical armor takes much less material, slightly better Piercing/Concussive resistances
- Lessened TU penalties on most powered armors
- Tank accuracy formula changed to a bit less gnome-centric
- Gnomediscs are now equipped with Purple Shields
- Vehicles armors, their chassis and medikits no loger require monthly maintenance, but take extra storage space instead.
- Buffs to several old Orb wpns (Hellgun, Phantom Whip, Biofresh Gun; Masochist Outfit needs only 1 Orb now)
- Canteens restore a bit Energy now, as well
- Succubus and Arouser condemnations rebalance
- Slave changes: Super Maids -> Uber Maids, available to all, but a bit weaker. Gladiatrices generate less space, more income.
- Added Sniper/Spotter info to enemy examinations
- Minor gfx replacements/improvements (thanks to Brain, RSSWizard, Mikkoi and others)
- Minor fixes/polishing/improving (A LOT)
« Last Edit: December 16, 2023, 03:27:02 pm by Dioxine »

Offline pilot00

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2015, 10:11:15 pm »
Looking forward to it bro :D

Offline Roxis231

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2015, 10:47:35 pm »
Extended just replaces the EXE, right.  No other modifications to Open-Xcom are needed?

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2015, 11:24:32 pm »
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.

Offline Arthanor

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2015, 01:41:29 am »
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!

Offline Phoenix7786

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2015, 03:17:03 am »
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!

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2015, 08:22:27 am »
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 :)

Offline robin

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2015, 10:13:53 am »
good, good!

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

 ;D

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2015, 01:18:38 pm »
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):


Offline ivandogovich

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2015, 02:45:33 pm »
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.

Offline pilot00

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2015, 02:59:15 pm »
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.

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2015, 03:30:32 pm »
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.

Offline ivandogovich

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2015, 04:00:18 pm »
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.

Offline Arthanor

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2015, 04:02:17 pm »
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.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2015, 04:09:39 pm by Arthanor »

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] Piratez Extended
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2015, 04:42:07 pm »
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.