Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N8 28-Apr-2024 Labyrinthus Noctis

[Dioxine]

Now I just need to find a good name for the third and final upgrade of this armor But there is no rush, it's not planned soon.

[Devon_v]

Oooh i did not know that. Does that mean that pilots will basically be crap on the battlefield (since they're trained to be pilots, not soldiers) so you're encouraged to use them for utility out of combat (such as a medic, manning a mortar or using a probe)?

They are soldiers. You assign one of the gals on the ship to pilot it. If the ship engages in combat, she still deploys as normal. If it's a dedicated fighter it works the same, only you probably don't want to do a solo deployment, so you just head back to base at which point you could swap her onto your troop transport if you need her.

You want your good hands flying because their stats translate into combat improvements. Firing accuracy increases the accuracy of the craft weapons, very helpful if you're firing expensive stuff, while reactions gives you increased chances to dodge,  which is always good. Bravery allows you to bring the target into weapons range faster and can make all the difference in catching ships with a higher top speed than you.

[Dioxine]

Preliminary testing shows that having a pilot with good Firing in early game allows to conserve a lot of ammo; early game craft weapons have crappy accuracy and even +10% bonus means a lot (since it's a flat bonus).

[Arthanor]

Great accuracy and bravery on DPS crafts is good, to get in (minimize damage on the way in, or damage to the tanking craft while you get in, especially since the tank is sent in first) and get the kill is good. It's great at the beginning and also later with missiles to minimize the loss of otherwise costly an annoying to manufacture ammo. The only thing left is figuring out a way to not waste missiles by firing before the previous salvo has hit, to avoid firing at an already doomed craft and wasting a whole salvo. (I often start with all missiles and turn off some launchers when I expect the enemy will go down shortly).

On tanks, reactions trumps all to reduce repair time (and thus down time due to the repair/rearm/refuel order). DPS comes from other crafts any ways.

I hadn't thought of engaging in the air, then coming back and swapping crews before going for the ground battle, but that's a good idea. Put the gals with the greatest reactions in the tank, greatest accuracy in the DPS crafts, go for the fight, come home, put everybody back in the thunderhorse and clean up the wreckage. Much more efficient  than my current dedicated pilot idea. If dodging/hitting had a chance to give reaction/acc XP, maybe dedicated pilots would make sense, but as it is, might as well use the best gals and the crash site isn't going anywhere anyways!

[ohartenstein23]

Dedicated pilots are still not a bad idea, especially when you get to the point of being able to screen your gals for VooDoo - the really poor ones who you trained early can be sent to an airbase, which they can also defend with their good firing accuracy.  By the time you have multiple DPS craft and the Thunderhorse, your roster will probably be deep enough that you don't really need to switch.

[Arthanor]

You can make it work without switching, for sure, but some particular situations really push the capabilities of tank crafts (because of the set repair duration, I wish I could dedicate runts to repairing.. maybe I would be better off selling the one and making a new one!). That's the main reason I was thinking of switching: put my best reaction gals in the tank craft to reduce incoming damage, to reduce repair time so the tank can refitted before going again.

Currently, I am fighting 3 crackdowns worth of ships in the same month so I can down them before they discover my bases. I've had to scramble my still damaged tank with no ammo a few times. Now I've got a dedicated airbase of 6 hangars (2 tanks, 4 DPS) coming up. All I've got to do now is sting the big factions for the top brass and fancy tech (especially power armor parts), until reticulans show up again.

[Foxhound634]

They are soldiers. You assign one of the gals on the ship to pilot it. If the ship engages in combat, she still deploys as normal. If it's a dedicated fighter it works the same, only you probably don't want to do a solo deployment, so you just head back to base at which point you could swap her onto your troop transport if you need her.

You want your good hands flying because their stats translate into combat improvements. Firing accuracy increases the accuracy of the craft weapons, very helpful if you're firing expensive stuff, while reactions gives you increased chances to dodge,  which is always good. Bravery allows you to bring the target into weapons range faster and can make all the difference in catching ships with a higher top speed than you.

Damn, i did not know that and it sounds like a pretty damn cool concept. One thing i keep hearing about though is 'tank' crafts and 'DPS' crafts. Once again, it's been a while since i've played the mod but AFAIK only 1 of your crafts can be involved in air combat at a time, right? I mean i know you can have one craft following the enemy craft while another one of your crafts is on its way to intercept, but to my knowledge, when the combat screen appears, it only represents a battle with the enemy craft and 1 of yours. As such, a 2 vs 1 aerial battle is not possible, so can anyone enlighten me if i'm wrong?

[Arthanor]

This is a common "newbie" misconception (no offense meant, it just means you haven't been in the community long enough to find out, and I think there might be a bootypedia text about it too).

When you get an interception window  popping up, you can minimize it by clicking the icon in its upper left corner. This allows the geoscape time to keep ticking, meaning that other crafts that you sent to intercept that same target can make it there too. Once a 2nd craft gets there, minimize the window and give time for a 3rd, then a 4th to make it.

Minimizing creates little squares on the top left, which you can click to maximize the interception windows again. Click the 4 windows successively, pick the craft that has the most hp (and ideally best dodge) and send it in. This is your tank. The target will fire at it and ignore all other crafts until it is destroyed. Quickly send the other 3 crafts to attack, and the will be safe from retribution. This allows you to send 1 tougher craft to take the damage and 3 weaker ones packing a punch to deal the damage. It's pretty much like any RPG, except without a healer. It'd be nice to have tanks with slots allowing you to put shields/dodge engines on them and really specialize, but the tanks I have had access to only had light and heavy weapons.

[Devon_v]

It's something that you rarely, if ever, had to do in vanilla, kinda more of a bonus feature. Firaxis never bothered including it in the reboot.

You can also use the minimized mode to shadow a craft, wait until they get over land, or just wait for them to land.

[Dioxine]

It'd be nice to have tanks with slots allowing you to put shields/dodge engines on them and really specialize, but the tanks I have had access to only had light and heavy weapons.

Yeah, the current shields are only meant to make baseline fighters adaptable to any role, rather than reinforcing tank role (tanks usually have shields built-in). Although the pilot dodge bonus (once over +10%) significantly boosts capabilities of lumbering tank fighters like Krakens.

Also yes, there is a Pedia article on multiple interceptions. There is one about most gameplay quirks, if you invest time into gambling with Data Discs

[yotc]

Early game I've been sending the Shark jetbike in with a high reactions pilot to play dodgy while my hunter killer throws .50's at ships. 
I've been having reasonable luck with it.  That 4500 max speed is no joke early game either, lets it just sit on UFO's that should land so I can get airspeeder or bonny slowboating after it.

[Surrealistik]

Multiple intercepting is key to having a solid early-mid air presence.

Hunter Killers do surprising amounts of work with one loaded up with thruster modules to dodge (even better if it has shields) while the others throw down with plasma spit and seagull poop; even things like Destroyers will go down like a 2 bit whore.

[Foxhound634]

This is a common "newbie" misconception (no offense meant, it just means you haven't been in the community long enough to find out, and I think there might be a bootypedia text about it too).

When you get an interception window  popping up, you can minimize it by clicking the icon in its upper left corner. This allows the geoscape time to keep ticking, meaning that other crafts that you sent to intercept that same target can make it there too. Once a 2nd craft gets there, minimize the window and give time for a 3rd, then a 4th to make it.

Minimizing creates little squares on the top left, which you can click to maximize the interception windows again. Click the 4 windows successively, pick the craft that has the most hp (and ideally best dodge) and send it in. This is your tank. The target will fire at it and ignore all other crafts until it is destroyed. Quickly send the other 3 crafts to attack, and the will be safe from retribution. This allows you to send 1 tougher craft to take the damage and 3 weaker ones packing a punch to deal the damage. It's pretty much like any RPG, except without a healer. It'd be nice to have tanks with slots allowing you to put shields/dodge engines on them and really specialize, but the tanks I have had access to only had light and heavy weapons.

Ok so i already knew about minimizing the window to allow for several crafts to be 'at the battle', but what you're saying suggests that all 4 crafts can be in combat simultaneously, and fire at the same time. If that is possible, oh damn have i been missing out. If that's not the case and crafts have to 'take their turn' to fire, then unless you're up against a craft with a slow firing rate, it's gonna be pretty difficult to switch between crafts fast enough to avoid your weaker crafts taking fire, right?

Maybe someone has a video that illustrates it?

[Drasnighta]

Basically, you bring all 4 windows up, and then click them to attack...

The UFO will only attack the one it is *closest* to...  The *first* one it gets into range of. 

Until it kills it or you duck back out of range.

Then it moves on to the next.


Very Useful if you have one Craft that can take a bit of Punishment (Kraken, Crab) and a bunch of lighter interceptors that have the Goods in Offense, but can't take harsh words without buckling under them....  Because you set up the big craft to shoot first, and the others get free reign.

[Arthanor]

@Foxhound634:
Look up Meridian's playthrough, there should be examples of that somewhere. Maybe someone who follows more than I do (had to give up, stupid broadband limit ) can point to a specific episode.

The UFO will only attack the one it is *closest* to...  The *first* one it gets into range of. 

That's a bit confusing. The UFO will attack the first craft to get in range and stick to that one. You can send another craft in closer after that and it will still be fine. This is especially useful for the Kraken (3 heavy slots, with decent range) being supported by hunter-killers and the like closing in for the kill with 2 cannons (short range) and hyperwave targetters (increasing accuracy substantially). This setup can save you a lot of ammo and you don't really need missiles (which are way more expensive) if your cannons can reach in and fire with great accuracies (especially now with good pilots).