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

[Vakrug]

Are there any plans for expanding the "Cultural Wealth" usage? Right now the only "Cultural Wealth" usage are "Land Deeds", but "Land Deeds" becomes available far later then you contact Museum and are able to mass produce "Cultural Wealth". And you can't really stash it for later use. 0.1 size is pretty noticable.
I think resource with such promising name should have many interesting implications.

[ontherun]

and would like to add, since the game has an atrocious difficulty, maybe some little changes would welcome to mitigate the player's suffering, especially for casual gamers like me: for instance having experienced  in a run of mine, here some weapons clips might be more lighter, and some might have some rounds more eg the standard laser clips should have 14 shots instead of 7. iìIt's very frustrating running out of ammo in mission were reinforcement might come like "bandit town".

Sidenote: there was also a mission in siberia about an abandoned base that i do not see since varius relases ago  might be done something about it?

[Vakrug]

since the game has an atrocious difficulty

Never understood what people mean by saying "XPiratez is difficult". After ninjas were nerfed this mod became very easy. At least after you get bikes. Most missions even do not get more difficult with time. XPiratez is difficult to actually finish, but this is different story.

Sidenote: there was also a mission in siberia about an abandoned base that i do not see since varius relases ago  might be done something about it?

You need "Guild Rep". Several times until you get "GUILD REP'S SECRETS".

I've engaged some vessels in combat but in dogfight screen are displayed as "jammed", there Is some craft device that allows to see these?

As far as I know, no. This is just a picture.

I need also some hypno panels, where i can get those?

Most of them are found on "Heavy Freighters".

[Iazo]

Xpiratez is difficult to play like a modern CRPG, without an insane anount of metaknowledge.

If you go into it and expect casualties to be rare, or that there will be no disastrously punishing happenings, yeh, it is hard. If you go into it and attempt to YOLO it, it also gets hard because it is so long, so lucky streaks will run out.

Playing it in a slow but deliberate manner, treating units as expendable, and going on even after serious setbacks is easy.

That said, OXCE itself is a very complex engine that also adds complexity to the mod's complexity.

There's really no argument to be made that the game is easy. It is not easy to learn (especially if one never played 1993 xcom), it is not easy to swallow psychological defeats like losing a favourite gal, or a base holding all your treasure to crackdowns, and it is not easy to unlearn modern games streamlining.

[LexThorn]

Xpiratez is difficult to play like a modern CRPG, without an insane anount of metaknowledge.

If you go into it and expect casualties to be rare, or that there will be no disastrously punishing happenings, yeh, it is hard. If you go into it and attempt to YOLO it, it also gets hard because it is so long, so lucky streaks will run out.

Playing it in a slow but deliberate manner, treating units as expendable, and going on even after serious setbacks is easy.

That said, OXCE itself is a very complex engine that also adds complexity to the mod's complexity.

There's really no argument to be made that the game is easy. It is not easy to learn (especially if one never played 1993 xcom), it is not easy to swallow psychological defeats like losing a favourite gal, or a base holding all your treasure to crackdowns, and it is not easy to unlearn modern games streamlining.

In one word - there will be no easy park walk. Тhere will be no mercy.  And that`s awesome expirience.
We saying NO to crying vanilla soya eaters!
Only true hardcore!
Only sweat, tears and hard rock!
For our glory, for our fun, in our name!

[Iazo]

I would not put it quite like that.

I LOVE knowledge, and I love Xpz, and gatekeeping difficulty in this way is unproductive, that is why I love helping people and discussing game mechanics to learn more about it.

Case in point: dogfights. I could not wrap my head around dogfights or whether or not I stood a chance in the airgame, and the knowledge about it in the community had gaps. I had to actually read the game's fucking source code to understand wtf was going on. (Did you know enemy craft size affects only gun accuracy but not pilot or hull accuracy? Bet you didn't. Did you know that, as opposed to your 50-100% dmg roll, the enemy does 0-100% dmg roll? Bet you didn't.)

Reading a game's source code is not something that should be expected, lest you be a vanilla soyboy, wtf.

I don't like self-congratz kinds of pats on one's backs gatekeeping modern game sensibilities. Have some perspective.

[Vakrug]

Feels like we are playing different games. Without comparisons arguments are dubious. May be XPiratez is hard, but to me it is the easiest mod I have tried yet. (Again, easy to play, not easy to finish!) Which mods do you think are easier?
My main argument why I think XPiratez is easy is that at some point you just stop loosing units (at least ubers) because in most missions there are simply no enemies that can penetrate your armor. And this state of the game is quite long.
The most horrible things in this mod are probably base bombardments, but is that enough to call the mod hard?

Xpiratez is difficult to play like a modern CRPG, without an insane anount of metaknowledge.

Xpiratez is deep, indeed, but I don't think that it is absolutely required to know all of that stuff. You can go pretty far with basic shotguns available from almost start of the game.

If you go into it and attempt to YOLO it, it also gets hard because it is so long, so lucky streaks will run out.

Again, question above: which mods allows yoloing? Or may be the original game?

In one word - there will be no easy park walk. Тhere will be no mercy.
We saying NO to crying vanilla soya eaters!
Only true hardcore!
Only sweat, tears and hard rock!

Looks like a review on "The World of Terrifying Silence" I tried to play recently. And not on XPiratez where many (if not most) missions are doable with 1 uber with decent armor and bare fists.

Did you know enemy craft size affects only gun accuracy but not pilot or hull accuracy?

Ooops! Just realized I am not taking into account the size of UFO at all in my calculations... Actually 053 tells about that.

Did you know that, as opposed to your 50-100% dmg roll, the enemy does 0-100% dmg roll?

Pretty common knowledge: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Craft_Combat_Mechanics#UFO_Damage_Mechanics

What is truly the mystery is how Cautious attack mode affect evasion. Nothing can be found about that.

[Iazo]

Please list the number of midgame missions you do with an uber with bare fists who wears armor that is immune to everything.

This is ridiculous.

You are not only incorrect, you are confidently lying, just to prove a point. So. List them.

What is truly the mystery is how Cautious attack mode affect evasion. Nothing can be found about that.

It does not. Evasive maneouvers that you only get vs HK type ships doubles your effective dodge.

[Vakrug]

Please list the number of midgame missions you do with an uber with bare fists who wears armor that is immune to everything.

Pretty much every mission that is available from day one (Scientific Experiments, Temple Raid, ...).
All Bounty Hunt Lvl D missions.
Some Bounty Hunt Lvl C missions (Humanist Arsenal, Reservoir Dog).
Some other early day missions (most notably Warehouse Wars).
An armor I am talking about is mostly "HEAVY SUIT".

You are not only incorrect, you are confidently lying, just to prove a point. So. List them.

Let's just agree that we are playing different games.

It does not. Evasive maneouvers that you only get vs HK type ships doubles your effective dodge.

Are you saying that 1 of 2 available buttons is for evasive maneuvers? I'll check that next time...

[Iazo]

Most of the ones you listed are early-game missions. You are taking a heavy suit (armor of early Y2) and are farming Jan Y1 missions, therefore XPZ is easy. Ok.

[Dead Nettle]

Pretty much every mission that is available from day one (Scientific Experiments, Temple Raid, ...).
All Bounty Hunt Lvl D missions.
Some Bounty Hunt Lvl C missions (Humanist Arsenal, Reservoir Dog).
Some other early day missions (most notably Warehouse Wars).
An armor I am talking about is mostly "HEAVY SUIT".

You're saying that midgame tech makes early game missions too easy. You know you can send your less trained and less equipped to do those missions right? It's kinda how you build your roster.

[dftruf]

I think that x-piratez could attract over 1000000x more players (new and old as replayable game) if it could be played in more open world style of playing, without rigid (scripted) time pressure. Then any spoilers (small or big) are not required to know.
Time pressure should be put on tactical aspect, not on strategical aspect - this is golden rule for any good game: quick to learn long to master (without using spoilers from author's secret gardens).

[ontherun]

Thanks guys for your "enthusiasm" but I think the main enemy of xpiratez is frustration

In fact, balancing difficulty and challenge is one of the most difficult things to do when it comes to video games, there are people at software houses who are paid good money and sometimes with results that are unfortunately not always satisfactory.

What I think can be done is to accommodate the player with very small adjustments, for instance, as I wrote in the previous post here, maybe having a little more ammunition in your pocket I don't think is too compromising

I think that x-piratez could attract over 1000000x more players (new and old as replayable game) if it could be played in more open world style of playing, without rigid (scripted) time pressure. Then any spoilers (small or big) are not required to know.
Time pressure should be put on tactical aspect, not on strategical aspect - this is golden rule for any good game: quick to learn long to master (without using spoilers from author's secret gardens).

Absolutely, agreed!!

In one word - there will be no easy park walk. Тhere will be no mercy.  And that`s awesome expirience.
We saying NO to crying vanilla soya eaters!
Only true hardcore!
Only sweat, tears and hard rock!
For our glory, for our fun, in our name!

 

[dftruf]

Agreed.
But x-piratez is a donationware project. And massively more players, which are not frustrated by chasing spoilers (buried somewhere in the deep internet) , means more money for the author. 

...
In fact, balancing difficulty and challenge is one of the most difficult things to do when it comes to video games, there are people at software houses who are paid good money and sometimes with results that are unfortunately not always satisfactory.
...

[Interdictor]

I think that x-piratez could attract over 1000000x more players (new and old as replayable game) if it could be played in more open world style of playing, without rigid (scripted) time pressure. Then any spoilers (small or big) are not required to know.
Time pressure should be put on tactical aspect, not on strategical aspect - this is golden rule for any good game: quick to learn long to master (without using spoilers from author's secret gardens).

I see around a lot of games which trying to ease my game experience and spare from frustration. When such attempts finally reach its destination another game becomes another casual pressure-free munch.

XPiratez will never attract 1000000x more players this is niche product by nature. The best way of further development for XPiratez is being XPirates and follow XPirates' developer vision. If you want to attract 1000000 new players you need to invest $1000000 into promo campaign and release game in Eastern Asia region, China I mean.

At the moment I don't see why the story of native insurgent group on backwater planet should be freed from the time pressure. The response to protagonists' activity determined by factors far beyond player's control which makes course of events mostly predefined until the major bifurcation point which is victory game end.