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

[Martin]

This is somehting that needs to be implemented on the engine level. Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13 has ballistic features including bullet drop and overpenetration, you might try playing that instead. Overpenetration would be cool feature, the other ballistic effects are pointless in XCOM as only limited set of weapons should actually use them.

[Greep]

Try fire for armored stuff. The artillery gun should go down with two incendiary grenades. The armored ratmen with one. Even molotovs have a good chance to kill these armored ratmen in one hit.

It's just the combination of the worthless reward and the difficulty of the mission, and said mission requiring being researched.  A landed small is much easier, and I get about 1 million in other loot (ship stuff, ransoms, etc) along with a craft weapon usually, while this mission gives just a craft weapon and tries to wreck you.  Also doesn't help that I already got airballs, so the cannon was just kinda nice.  There's just no reason to research the mission other than the novelty of trying a new mission.

[thevideogameraptorboggle]

I haven't encountered one myself, but yeah, reward balancing is important. Maybe increase the rewards to a Gauss Cannon or something?

[MemoryTAS]

I found that it was best to throw a poison gas grenade at the field gun. It one shots it and doesn't damage the crate it sits on top of which I assume are 25mm shells. Also in early game the ratmen themselves can be the real reward: they provide Kevlar armor parts which is nice if you're aiming for guerilla or something.

[VodkaBear]

I agree with Greep. Not only I researched the mission too late( already had quad cannons produced by myself) but also reward is total crap. Difficulty isn't the problem for me, reward is.

By the way, have anyone found use for mag/electro bullets? I cannot remember exact order for their research, but what I remember that I had much more better weapons\ammo for other guns, while chems really were usefull above mentioned were not. I mean I understand that they can be used against specific targets but at the moment I had them it was easier to just bring heavier toys instead of micro with ammo types.

[legionof1]

mag ammo is kinda meh by the time you usually get it, i will agree. But electro ammo is pretty handy for taking captives. Ranged direct fire stun is quite handy considering how ineffective other options like the harpoon guns are until you get even later in the tech tree then electro.

That said there is immense variation in tech progress, some games you might just not have the opportunity to unlock guass as early as possible, in which case Mag ammo is more attractive/useful. 

[Corento]

It's just the combination of the worthless reward and the difficulty of the mission, and said mission requiring being researched.  A landed small is much easier, and I get about 1 million in other loot (ship stuff, ransoms, etc) along with a craft weapon usually, while this mission gives just a craft weapon and tries to wreck you.  Also doesn't help that I already got airballs, so the cannon was just kinda nice.  There's just no reason to research the mission other than the novelty of trying a new mission.

Hi all, my first post here, but I just got this mission last week so I have my point of view on it:

- because I looking for my first gun for Aircar, it was very important to get the gun and ammo for it, thus very important mission. I did research early. I do not agree that is wortless. If you are far away with your progress than this mission should be ease for you and of course not so important, but that´s up to you, it is not the mission concept fault. It was clearly said what will wait for you there. Piratez has so many ways to play, so you can choose what is more important for you gameplay. I for example still do not research anything about voodoo. Maybe it is a mistake, will see later. Relevant for me was to have as soon as possible some gun for the craft so I decide to take this path in research earlier.

For me the rewards are also new enemies to research, new weapons from them and of course experience for my gals.

Myabe I was lucky - the big gun was just few tiles from one building, so one gal run for box and bring it back behind that building. Then I destroy the big gun just with one gunpowder grenade or how it´s name. It wasn´t ease mission, on ironman will be not possible to acomplish for me, but I do not play  Ironman, so I just save/load and try different approaches (because I play it for first time). Next time I now what I should count with...

Dioxine (and all other moders and contributors) thank you very much for this great game. I have spent months now in it (I´m playing also Xfiles) and looking forward every new update. These two games (not saying mods, because they are much more now) have both completely different approach and both are huge and detailed. It´s funny and surprising to find out how many things function in both games differently.

Now I had first mission with nomads (very supprising, because mission description says it will be giant spider hunt mission so on place I have to reequip all gals), that was hard. There were around 20+ nomads with better weapons and armor, so all I could do was to shoot them from doors of my craft one by one every turn. Because I was completely surrounded by them and they are not shy to use flame grenades. Big fun I must say .

[Greep]

Well regarding getting a cannon for your aircar, the main thing is that there's other easier ways, which is why I was expecting either an easy mission and more cannon ammo, or a hard mission and something cool.  The 4 early game ways I know of are:

1) Down a wasp/megapol with a codex weapon or seagulls
2) Contact crazy hanna
3) Get a workshop and craft something
4) tail a runabout until it lands and hope for a cannon

None individually are very common, but together you'll likely get one of these around the time of the mission or within a month or so (missing civilian crafts for a month is really no biggie).  I guess it's okay if it's a mission designed for new players, but if it's for new players, why make it so difficult? 

Edit: Anyways, I'm beating a dead horse here xD  Don't mean to be argumentative, just wanted to make sure I was making my points clear, it's not really the difficulty/reward alone that made me feel the mission is a bit off.

[MemoryTAS]

By the way, have anyone found use for mag/electro bullets? I cannot remember exact order for their research, but what I remember that I had much more better weapons\ammo for other guns, while chems really were usefull above mentioned were not. I mean I understand that they can be used against specific targets but at the moment I had them it was easier to just bring heavier toys instead of micro with ammo types.

As mentioned above the electro-pulse munitions are helpful for stun but I find them also very good against zombies as all zombies have a critical weakness to electricity, and a good number of Zombies are very dangerous and hard to take down.

[Devon_v]

As mentioned above the electro-pulse munitions are helpful for stun but I find them also very good against zombies as all zombies have a critical weakness to electricity, and a good number of Zombies are very dangerous and hard to take down.

Zombies are phenomenally resistant to firearms in general, but like most creatures other than roaches are somewhat powerless without their heads. Swords are very effective, Highlander style.

That's actually true of most of the game. A Fuso sword on a gal who's spent some time "handling" people can hit so hard even damage resistance can't save the target.

[MemoryTAS]

I find melee against zombies a somewhat risky affair since if the zombie doesn't die, you're in for a world of hurt. And then the troopers and sentinels can just be incredibly difficult to approach to begin with since they tend to be well armed. The mage's villa mission in particular is really hard to rely on solely on melee and electropulse ammunition can make it a bit easier to approach.

[Greep]

Zombies are phenomenally resistant to firearms in general, but like most creatures other than roaches are somewhat powerless without their heads. Swords are very effective, Highlander style.

That's actually true of most of the game. A Fuso sword on a gal who's spent some time "handling" people can hit so hard even damage resistance can't save the target.

I feel like Dioxine is secretly a ninja fan.  Ninja's gear is just so much better than piratey gear xD

[Devon_v]

I find melee against zombies a somewhat risky affair since if the zombie doesn't die, you're in for a world of hurt. And then the troopers and sentinels can just be incredibly difficult to approach to begin with since they tend to be well armed. The mage's villa mission in particular is really hard to rely on solely on melee and electropulse ammunition can make it a bit easier to approach.

I tend to have an entire melee squad. Nothing lives against 12 swordswomen, especially when their minimum damage rolls get into the 70s.

I feel like Dioxine is secretly a ninja fan.  Ninja's gear is just so much better than piratey gear xD

Nah, it's just the pirate gear goes into some really brutal guns, but their swords are all early one-handers. The Fuso's massive damage as a two-hander and it's scaling on melee rather than strength makes it a devastating weapon, but only in skilled hands, and only if you really commit to it due to it's massive inventory size.

[Rince Wind]

You can always carry a pistol or a deathblossom and put that away when someone needs a hit on the head. Or drop it. I use techblades, shock'a'fists and other stuff now though, so the fusos have been mostly retired.

[Alex_D]

In my current campaign, I'm employing castaway gals and peasants exclusively. My Gals use Death Blossoms and Vibro-axes at this stage. Very little, except for the most heavily armored, can survive to this. And a HMG Car with PS ammo (or 60mm tank) to provide support. The later usually manned by a peasant.