Author Topic: Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N7 16-Dec-2023 Flying Tiger, Hidden Tentacle  (Read 3609445 times)

Offline Nygmus

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2715 on: June 23, 2016, 08:41:25 pm »
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Shotguns that have snap fire mode are just not very dangerous in ai hands. Boom gun is an exception since its seems to have a much tighter grouping.

They seem pretty nasty in close quarters, like in bases, though the effect is magnified with the boom gun. I lost half my squad to some dude (a Provost I think) with a boom gun, and I probably only managed to bring him down because someone emptied a full machinegun autoshot into him from the tile beneath him before getting wiped out.

Offline vitto

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2716 on: June 24, 2016, 04:04:04 am »
Very helpful analysis, well except the 'how could I keep my gals alive in Ironman mode'. You cannot, hopefully. Also you're very lucky you've made 6 years in w/o a critical crash. Ironman is unadvised.
The current balance is not Ironman-friendly. IMHO. No need to create overpowered armors/weapons because this leads to "unadvised" solutions. I really love Ironman mode in the original and openxcom/vanilla, because it gives better feelings and even can teach you be calm :) Also, only Ironman mode may provide unforgettable situations, like "run, run guys I will stop them!" [charging high explosive around dozens of chryssalids] and in the last moment you realize that others will not have a time to be on ship and... almost everyone dies by an explosion =)))

Your option, "Ironman is unadvised", is not what casuals/veterans expect to hear. May be you should try to change a balance so that Ironman mode will advised? ;) Well, not now, may be latter, after 1.0 or ... well, I don't know.

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Cooker is the counter against super-armors. It's almost a non-issue if you're using fast troops.
Actually it depends on a map. A crew of Battleship holds at least 4 guys with cookers.... Ah, you are not expected that someone may fire from a top using darkened hole? You should be!

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Seductress isn't fully tested yet, it's possibly quite OP. The disadvantages are serious - as in, no armor whatsoever. Maybe not serious enough, I agree.
Novice outfit even worse, but as part of role-playing its worthless. Wands should be more powerful!

--

So, what about MSDF (mutant forces/pogrom-stopper) and Star Gods. Will I see them in this playthrough? Any chances?

Thanks for a reply.

Offline Drasnighta

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2717 on: June 24, 2016, 04:13:21 am »

Your option, "Ironman is unadvised", is not what casuals/veterans expect to hear. May be you should try to change a balance so that Ironman mode will advised? ;)

Save Reloading is an Option.

Ironman is an Option.

This is designed to be hard enough without Ironman Mode... 

The "Default Balance" should not require Ironman.  The Default Balance should be to make Ironman a harder challenge

As a former Veteran Player of every version of the original, and now a Casual Gamer...  That is what I expect.

I think Dioxine has done the right thing by advising that Ironman is not advised...  Because it would be more unfair to go into it without having a Warning...

Offline DracoGriffin

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2718 on: June 24, 2016, 05:10:01 am »
I believe Dioxine meant "Ironman is unadvised" because of bugs/CTDs, not due to difficulty.

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2719 on: June 24, 2016, 07:02:40 am »
Yeah, if it wasn't obvious from my previous comment, Ironman is highly unadvised due to the risk of unrecoverable crashes/AI getting stuck (and any such cases being nigh-impossible to bug-track). In extreme cases, it might even lead to losing all progress, which can well be 50+ hours of gameplay.
As far as balance goes, I never reload myself, so the balance assumes you don't reload. I don't like Ironman's straightjacket (eg. you need to do a boogaloo to save some interesting situation 'for science'), it's much more comfortable to self-enforce it. But it's everyone's choice. If you feel you need to reload, dial down the diff level.

As for the Boom Gun, it works the same as other shotguns, with a bit better range than most, though. It's a solid weapon mostly because of brute force, 1 pellet is often enough to score a kill on an unarmored/lightly armored target.

As for Battleships, you naturally can expect to be trolled. It's supposed to be the hardest crash recovery in game. However, from mid game onwards, crew losses are pretty much irrelevant.

As for the Star Gods, you will run into them... eventually. When the dice roll favorably. The best strategy is to provoke a Crackdown. Three times less likely to get a chance at it once MSDF is in place.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2016, 07:10:18 am by Dioxine »

Offline Nygmus

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2720 on: June 24, 2016, 07:11:57 pm »
>However, from mid game onwards, crew losses are pretty much irrelevant.

Out of curiosity, what makes crew losses irrelevant in the midgame? Is it high funding making replenishing the ranks easier, or does the eventual scaling of gear simply make it so that a less experienced hand can be replaced relatively easily or still make a difference?

Not far enough into the game yet, I think, to know what you mean by this yet.

Offline ivandogovich

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2721 on: June 24, 2016, 07:38:18 pm »
Out of curiosity, what makes crew losses irrelevant in the midgame?

Dojos and other facilities allow you to train raw recruits to Veteran status.  These can easily be brought into the main crew and pull their weight.  More experience will get them to elite status, but its not too hard to set up a training base that can keep say 40 gals training and make a great pool of replacements.

Offline ohartenstein23

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2722 on: June 24, 2016, 08:41:26 pm »
It's especially easy if you keep a light dropship at the training base to do the easy missions - give them fair armor, handles, and pistols, and they build reactions quickly too on top of the secondary stat gains.  There's the added bonus of being able to rob/enslave/ransom all the captures you get from handling everything.

Offline vitto

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2723 on: June 25, 2016, 06:27:01 am »
I am finished the game, date: 6 Nov 2607. I found last Star God by an accident in a place where I did not expect to find it. I already said my thoughts about this game. Something I have missed:
  • Vessels: there are no mid-game vessels at all. The Dragon vessel is best of the best: 2 x Railguns + 2 x Plasma Beams and this setup may put down about 5-7 Cruisers/Battleships/Gunships/you name it in non-stop mode. Nice replacement for well-known Avenger but I think Dragon is even better. There should be a vessel with 500-700 HP, because now you have only one choice: either 250-300 or 1200 HP...
  • Missing item description for Astrocaster. Nice music :)
  • Missing information screen for "Heavy Metal" (to build Astrocaster, right?)
  • A typo  in the description of Destruction Outfit. Currently description text says that it regenerate only Stun damage, but its actually regenerates and Health too. So, it is like a light version of Bio Armor, but with special effects :)

Well, first of all, thank you for the nice game. It is real new game with own lore and setup. Not a just a mod or something like that. I like this game.

A few words about enemies:
  • Demons: they should be stronger and fearsome. Instead, I felt that I am fighting against zombies/hybrids (from FMP) and maps are almost same... Well, hounds should use panic attacks and have a lot of TUs, because mostly they are stay stuck or can't even come closer to gals or run away from me. Demon Soldiers should be stronger/have better armor. Well, I said this again and repeat now. In comparison with Cyclops (I dislike them honestly) all "scary" units are, actually, pussy cats, tomcats, I don't know. But dumbest and weakest Cyclop wears an ultimate and best of the best armor in the game (sic!).
  • I have found that Catgirls are most dangerous and most interesting enemies (especially those who use invisibility ability). First, they use all types of weapons: if they can they shoot at you, if they can they use melee (in some cases they can kill gals in Bio Armor even, respect, because it was my tactical mistake and not a balance issue). Secondly, they have enough TUs to make an ambush or run away and so on. And last thing, they are f***** scary in night time missions.
  • Lobstermen are too weak, IMHO. You take away from them all weapons, they have same amount TUs like in original/TFTD and they are not a threat, really. Their armor is also weak. But I am glad that you keep them, they are so cute :)

A few words about the ending:
  • Can't say that building last ship was interesting. In comparison, building Destruction Outfit was remarkable and harder. Yep, 150 souls... Scary-scary outfit, so scary that it even works in the Mansions (quite funny, can't say that this is a bug or the outfit is overpowered, because its cost such pleasure, may be increase a dosage from 3 to 4 souls per essence? :)
  • Cydonia. Well, I hope you will find a time to change this.

Thanks again! And have a nice day!
« Last Edit: June 25, 2016, 06:33:54 am by vitto »

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2724 on: June 25, 2016, 06:38:20 am »
  • Demons: they should be stronger and fearsome. Instead, I felt that I am fighting against zombies/hybrids (from FMP) and maps are almost same...

They were never supposed to be scary - in a tactical game, anything less powerful than Cyberdemon won't be scary. Maps (atrium/mansion/keep) are the same since Solarius 'borrowed' them from me ;) Star Gods/Mercs and their cohorts is what was supposed to be scary.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2016, 06:40:06 am by Dioxine »

Offline legionof1

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2725 on: June 25, 2016, 09:54:26 am »
oddly i actually find the deamons pretty high up the totem pole of threat. Between imps (the only common fire using enemy that is not a retard) and the potential for BFGs and chaingun/miniguns there is always a potential to get wrecked from minor missteps. The big deamons are some the hardiest foes in the game.

For me it goes something like this

Mercs
Stargods(on how much damage you can take finding the buggers. Oh and every stargod map has to be done in under 20 turns or hello mind-rape gang-bang.)
Deamons
Academy
Traders
Church
everything else

Offline ohartenstein23

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2726 on: June 25, 2016, 03:59:52 pm »
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Vessels: there are no mid-game vessels at all. The Dragon vessel is best of the best: 2 x Railguns + 2 x Plasma Beams and this setup may put down about 5-7 Cruisers/Battleships/Gunships/you name it in non-stop mode. Nice replacement for well-known Avenger but I think Dragon is even better. There should be a vessel with 500-700 HP, because now you have only one choice: either 250-300 or 1200 HP...

Perhaps you missed the research for the Crab, sitting at 525 HP plus some built-in shielding?  There is also the Kraken at 900 HP, and is only one heavy weapon down from the Dragon, at the cost of speed.  I've been finding plenty of mid-game interceptors, you just have to use multiple per military vessel until you have the Dragon.

Offline vitto

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2727 on: June 25, 2016, 05:39:51 pm »
Perhaps you missed the research for the Crab, sitting at 525 HP plus some built-in shielding?
The Crab is a dropship with 1xLT, 1xHV.
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There is also the Kraken at 900 HP, and is only one heavy weapon down from the Dragon, at the cost of speed.
Yes, it is. Looks like I just missed it. The question is closed.

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2728 on: June 25, 2016, 06:29:31 pm »
The Crab is a 'dropship' as much as Dragon is. With good HP, some Dodge and - most importantly - high repair rate, it makes for a faster alternative to the heavily-armed Kraken.
Also there is no typo in the Destruction magic outfit. It does indeed regenerate health, if your VooDoo is top-level. If it's crappy, it drains your health.

Offline ivandogovich

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Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99 - 7 Jun - First Impressions
« Reply #2729 on: June 25, 2016, 07:51:41 pm »
I like the Crab as a early meat shield.  Get a multiple craft attack set up, and have the Crab initiate it.  The enemy will target the first vessel that engages, so the other lighter craft are safe.  Launch the others quickly after the Crab, and let the Crab's dodge and HP soak enemy damage until you need to disengage. Usually by this time, the dedicated fire of three other craft should be having a significant impact.  This probably won't work for battleships but it should easilly handle Terror Ships and their Ilk.  Probably even Fighters and Bombers.  Those statements made, I'll state for the record that I am definitely not an expert on Air Combat as I avoid it as much as possible. ;)