Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N7 16-Dec-2023 Flying Tiger, Hidden Tentacle

[Arthanor]

Although surrounding feels nice and should yield better results from a realistic approach (the enemy has to fend off attacks from all sides), you will get better results if gals take turns attacking him in the back since his armor is lower there. It's a bit gamey, but it gets the job done better.

Also, I wouldn't try to capture security guys (and definitely not power armored guys) until later in the game when you have strong gals. You can concentrate on the unarmored enemies and they will give you plenty of interrogation material while being a lot easier to bag. The armored ones are hard enough to kill at the beginning, let alone stun..

And I think the grenade was a pretty good AI move! He know's he's doomed, takes as many as possible with him! Try to avoid clumping your gals!

[Foxhound634]

So right now i'm on a medium ufo mission, where i have 2 snipers holed up on the roof of my ship...because all the other 14 gals are dead. I'm up against these blue-suit rail-gun soldiers i think, and they were tougher and more numerous than i thought. I think there is only 1 or 2 enemies left, but right now it is a cat and mouse game. The surrounding field fires are dying out, and it is getting dark again, real dark, so i've turned off the personal lights, though i don't quite understand all the intricacies of night vision in x-piratez, so can anyone explain it to me? Does it actually work? And do the blue guys have night vision, because that is crucial information to me right now, as i have to decide between taking off with catastrophic mission failure and save the ship, or stay and risk it.

[Dioxine]

All security guys (Personal Armor) have a NV of 16... not sure if you're talking about them, though - there are several types of blue enemies The Vision range won't stop them from approaching and attacking once they're in range, if they have spotted you before, but you still have the advantage of spotting them earlier than they do (if your NV is better), which includes 100% safe Reaction Fire.

[Foxhound634]

All security guys (Personal Armor) have a NV of 16... not sure if you're talking about them, though - there are several types of blue enemies The Vision range won't stop them from approaching and attacking once they're in range, if they have spotted you before, but you still have the advantage of spotting them earlier than they do (if your NV is better), which includes 100% safe Reaction Fire.

Do the enemy automatically know where all my gals are if the personal lights are on? Does firing at an enemy or taking other actions reveal yourself? Can you elaborate on the whole 'being spotted before' thing, like can they actually see my gals or do they just know where they are, and for how long does this last?

I find it quite difficult to determine the effectiveness of night vision because of the above, but also because there is no indicator of the effect of night vision, so you never really know if you're hidden or not. Since you have to turn personal lights off for it to work, i also find that it becomes very difficult to navigate. Wouldn't it be a good idea to implement some sort of green overlay for gals with night vision?

[Arthanor]

I tried to play the night game and failed miserably. It sounds like a good idea, but when you can't even tell what the terrain looks like, it is really difficult. If I have a night mission, I usually try to use flares sparingly but turn personal lights off, so it is kind of a hybrid. I still bring light, but it's not centered on the gals, so they are not as easy to spot.

Guys in personal armor have good night vision (16) compared to your gals (12), so you will be loosing the pitch black game, especially since the AI knows the terrain whereas, as you said, the player can't see anything.

If you have personal lights on, you are visible form the normal sight range (20) since you are not hiding in the dark. So I guess you still "win" 4 tiles by turning those off. If you can set some light ~20 tiles away for the enemies to step on so you see them (in light, gals have a vision range of 20), while making sure it is pitch black on the Bonny's roof (you will only be seen at 16 tiles), you will spot them first and be able to react/take potshots.

Enemies "remember" you for a number of turns after having seen you, which means that they know exactly the position of a gal for a certain number of turns after spotting her (spotting by the AI is the same as for a gal to stop with the little number appearing on the bottom right, it means they actually saw you). Although they know your position, enemies will not shoot without spotting you again, but they will know the best way (shortest distance) to come spot you. I am not sure if they can throw explosives without spotting you again.

Shooting an enemy or throwing something at them does not reveal you, and I don't think they even "think" to make the connection between where the shot came from and where they need to check. They need to visually see you.

[ivandogovich]

Heh.  Just a funny comment here.  Every time I look at the new swabby rank (btw I think the custom ranks are a great improvement) I can't help but think of this:


#WhaleFarts

[Foxhound634]

A chryssalid walks not into a bar, but just outside range of my breaching team. "You're cute, you're coming home with us. Here, look at my buzzing magic stick". A couple of loving tickles later and little chryssie got tired and went to sleep. "Aw, he looks soo cute when napping. I'll lull him around for the rest of the mission so we won't wake him up again."

So yeah, can enemies wake up if you carry them around?

[DracoGriffin]

A chryssalid walks not into a bar, but just outside range of my breaching team. "You're cute, you're coming home with us. Here, look at my buzzing magic stick". A couple of loving tickles later and little chryssie got tired and went to sleep. "Aw, he looks soo cute when napping. I'll lull him around for the rest of the mission so we won't wake him up again."

So yeah, can enemies wake up if you carry them around?

Yes.

[Roxis231]

So yeah, can enemies wake up if you carry them around?

Yes, I've had it happen in the Original game - DOS version, and enemies can wake up in Open X-Com (had that happen a couple of times) so it can happen.

[ivandogovich]

Hmm... you might want to tie him up.  Did you bring rope?
(Are they susceptible to smoke)??

Edit:  Looks like they might be smoke immune. Ack!

[Foxhound634]

I was wondering why gauss cannons use rounds and not magazines. I think i got the cannon parts and magazines from looting a ship, but if the magazines just provide ammo anyway, why the need for the extraction?

[doctor medic]

I was wondering why gauss cannons use rounds and not magazines. I think i got the cannon parts and magazines from looting a ship, but if the magazines just provide ammo anyway, why the need for the extraction?

Because its more compact and probably takes less space from the vaults

[Dioxine]

Heh.  Just a funny comment here.  Every time I look at the new swabby rank (btw I think the custom ranks are a great improvement) I can't help but think of this:

The idea I wanted to convey is that Swabbie's life is as enduring as a bubble, or to make an association with drowning, but I guess it works too, depending on your sense of humour and your attitude towards the Swabbies

Live Chryssalids... yuck! Remember that unconscious units in OXCE still take damage, but sadly you can't use melee weapons on them, so you can detonate a small stash of Stun Grenades atop a Chryssalid to ensure it stays down (Knockouts won't work), or use Zapper or Stun Bomb if advanced enough. Also, Stunned guys stand up with 0 TUs, so you can always taze it again when it stands up, but you need 2 people of escort to be sure.

Gauss Cannon Mags & similar were introduced to a) save space in Deployments b) avoid problems with researches & manufactures c) because I thought disassembling them is cool (and gets you some Plastasteel).

The Night Game kinda works (it's not OP, at least), but it is a pain, but Yankes plans (planned?) to add more cool light effects to the sprites, so you'll be able to at least see the spotted enemies and your own troops, as they will be able to be fully-lit even in total darkness.

New version (News of the World) almost ready (need to release before weekend so Meridian can upgrade & check before the recording), playing around with odds and ends now. Like upgraded Blunderbuss. Because I heard you like Blunderbuss, so I put a sexy plastic chassis, laser pointer, and big-ass ammo drum on your Blunderbuss, so you there will be less blunder and more bus. (like usual with sexy blacks, a mix of vanilla, X-Ops and my own pixelart).

[Meridian]

New version (News of the World) almost ready (need to release before weekend so Meridian can upgrade & check before the recording).

No need to hurry... this LP will take a year or two

[Boltgun]

New version (News of the World) almost ready (need to release before weekend so Meridian can upgrade & check before the recording), playing around with odds and ends now. Like upgraded Blunderbuss. Because I heard you like Blunderbuss, so I put a sexy plastic chassis, laser pointer, and big-ass ammo drum on your Blunderbuss, so you there will be less blunder and more bus. (like usual with sexy blacks, a mix of vanilla, X-Ops and my own pixelart).

*squee*

I love the blunderbuss. As it was about to become obsolete, it was upgraded with acid ammo and stays a top weapon to fight both the trade guild and the academy. One more upgrade will make it an endgame weapon for sure.