Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N10 24-Nov-2024 Aurora's Dawn

[legionof1]

snip
Something I noted on the Brain level, is my gals started with almost no TUs on the first turn. I read that's a bug, or is it a mod feature?

Multi stage missions inherit the state of your units when you transition. So if you press the button to transfer at the end of a turn with TU/energy expended, those carry over.

And the zubrin does randomly remove some of the gals you send, x% chance to survive per gal, its the price of using a shoddy low tech way to end the game. The zubrin exists expressly as a greater challenge in trade for a shorter game. Use at your own risk.

[Alex_D]

Multi stage missions inherit the state of your units when you transition. So if you press the button to transfer at the end of a turn with TU/energy expended, those carry over.

So it's a feature. Therefore the way to avoid this is to wait one more turn before hitting the end of level button.

And the zubrin does randomly remove some of the gals you send, x% chance to survive per gal, its the price of using a shoddy low tech way to end the game. The zubrin exists expressly as a greater challenge in trade for a shorter game. Use at your own risk.

I tried with 5 gals, 8, gals, gal. It seems the game removes the gals in reversing order of loading. Thus, the Player needs to put the most important gals first. They stand a better chance of survival.

[netron]

Where do BFGs come from?  Because I've never ever seen one outside of Quick Battle.

I've gotten them in the Atrium of Anguish mission if I remember correctly, spawned by an imperial probe.

[Dioxine]

So it's a feature. Therefore the way to avoid this is to wait one more turn before hitting the end of level button.

This is a bug; the devs inadvertedly introduced it during version merge. Move along, it will be fixed.

[Alex_D]

Indeed a bug. I saw one of Meridian's videos and there was this two level mission. His units spawned the second level almost without TUs, and he commented that

I tried again the Brain Level, and after neutralizing everyone on the surface, my gals started with almost no TUs. Below a bit of a battle report:

Spoiler:

So after a bit of more research, I unlocked the Heavy Plasma Gun and the flechette stuff. I loaded everything on the Zubrin, all the nukes I had, BFGs, etc. Note that the battle is not 0-G therefore regular Earth surface inventory stuff works (e.g., Rum for healing).

After a couple of re-loads (my excuse: I was testing the RNG of the Zubrin), I got lucky and got all my 8 gals safe on Mars. The surface battle was fine, a bit protracted but not difficult to neutralize the Mercs and their Gauss Tanks.

With lots of wounded but none critical all my gals arrived to the Brain Level. Here's where the real "fun" started. I quickly realized that the plan is to spread out so to a MC gal cannot kill another gal. I lost nearly all of my team to friendly incidents. The advantage of being MCs is as soon as it happens these Sectopods will stop targeting my units. Yet, I still manage to kill several SGs and a few Sectopods, the later using none other than a Vibro-Ax. The best tactic is to camp inside a one-width door and wait for the Sectopod to end the turn on the other side. Then chop until victory. If possible toss a EMP grenade or use a Launcher EMP bomb before tossing.

I reloaded, as they managed to MC or kill all of my gals. I felt the play was still a test as there was no chance to survive it. However, this is where the SGs made a mistake. They MCs a gal and brought her to the corridor that is below the brain hall. While they focused their energy on my other remaining gal, they lost their grip on this one. I quickly seize the opportunity and start assaulting one of the lifts. I was down to my last gal. The SGCs bunched together blocking the lift, then I rushed to the other one. I had a choice, attempt to kill them or hit the brain. Let's say the choice was easy. See the screenshot.

It was a nice 3 month campaign IRL. I'll play again.

@ Dioxine. Is the next update a big or small one?

[legionof1]

Yeah the final level is very much like that, the only objective is to break the brain by whatever means you have. Congrats on the zubrin win.

[Dioxine]

Well winning through savescum is not really worth congratulating, lol. But the game was already beaten with Zubrin.

[Martin]

How about Mansion staff gets better guns after about year and few months into the game, just like Megapol does, potentially even replacing some weaker units with more elite guards. The moment I send it elite squad packing plasma pistols and plasma daggers it feels less like a challenge and more like a chore, but one I still do because of the substantial reward. Would that be doable?

[Dioxine]

I don't think it'd make much sense. Besides, for many people it is the first chance to actually be able to win this mission - once they get top class equipment.

[Alex_D]

Well winning through savescum is not really worth congratulating, lol. But the game was already beaten with Zubrin.

More like the game beat me when I tried with the Zubrin.
If it wasn't for the overwhelming MCs I'd probably have done it without re-loading.

Spoiler:

I still consider the Conqueror assault to be my official "timeline". It will be another few in-game months to complete all the stuff needed to build the ship in a timely manner, including the Annihilator suits. Money is not an issue anymore with my game. I'm attaching my save of just prior sending the Zubrin to Mars, for reference and mod tweaking if applicable.
I suppose I could have made more progress if I had "purchased" a Provost earlier in the campaign as opposite of waiting for the proper mission. I ended up purchasing her anyways. I'll wait for the next update before advancing the campaign a bit further. There is still some research to be done somewhere ;-)

Something I noticed is in the countless battles of this campaign, I don't remember I ever had a Blaster bomb fired my way. Is there something wrong with the mod or the aliens, or I was very lucky?

I remember in the original X-Com I usually panicked and direct all available firepower towards the blaster launchers. Nowadays, I do prioritize the attack on the EMP minilaunchers, Rocket, and RPG launchers, in that order.

[Abyss]

Something I noticed is in the countless battles of this campaign, I don't remember I ever had a Blaster bomb fired my way.

Me too, btw.
AI can't put the waypoints I guess?  

[Meridian]

Me too, btw.
AI can't put the waypoints I guess?

It can.

[Abyss]

It can.

To my pardon, I played X-Piratez J7 with OXCE 5.0 which in turn had, as Dioxine mentioned, some errors in the AI scripts (or) else.
Probably OXCE 5.1 will show my gals the power of blaster (hope won't, it's Ironman mode)
Although, it is hardly believable that AI may use several waypoints to make a out-of-the-corner shot, presuming some enemies are there (out of the line of the sight, spotted a turn ago). But that would be nice.

At the moment, I think that I was playing the whole 0.99J7 game with semi-paperdolls instead of the dedicated "AI". Still immersive.

[Chromeo]

Hello all, no spoilers please, I just lost a territory to 'zero tolerance policy' and an enemy hideout appeared, I haven't unlocked enemy mission tracking yet so I didn't realise they were taking over, can I win it back by destroying the enemy hideout or have I lost it forever? As a perfectionist it would annoy me too much if that were the case. I know it's sort of silly but nonetheless, I'd have to reload many hours back presumably to avoid it.

[Abyss]

Hello all, no spoilers please, I just lost a territory to 'zero tolerance policy' and an enemy hideout appeared, I haven't unlocked enemy mission tracking yet so I didn't realise they were taking over, can I win it back by destroying the enemy hideout or have I lost it forever? As a perfectionist it would annoy me too much if that were the case. I know it's sort of silly but nonetheless, I'd have to reload many hours back presumably to avoid it.

Haven't seen this possibility implemented into X-Piratez. But OXCE has this option enabled for the modders.