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

[Ragshak]

Thanks ivandogovich.

Yes, ohartenstein23 I was thinking about in game description. For example Blood Hounds and Scorpions have detailed info screen but for Shambler it is just wall of text like for aliens in vanilla UFO.

I have issues with melee enemies. How to counter dog/scorpion/blood hound bite? It really annoys me that my ubers can survive shotgun burst aimed at their face but dog from Ratman Rodeo mission can kill them in one turn.
Because of that all hunt missions (except for Shamblers which are ok when using fire and whips against them) are great pain in the butt without Hover Armor.
Did try to stack Reactions a little bit but whithout much success. Armors (even those with mid game with 40 front defence) do not help much.

Any tips?

(Superhuman difficulty, default XPiratez settings)

[Meridian]

- Explosives
- Hover
- ignore the missions for now
- decrease difficulty
- etc.

[Solarius Scorch]

Yeah, Superhuman difficulty isn't really that much fun. It's all right if the game feels too easy otherwise, but there's no need to use it otherwise. Not like it can't be played, but it's not any better than, say, Blackbeard. Besides, it always uses max enemies, so you always know how many are left!

If you want to change difficulty, find this line in the save:

Code: [Select]

difficulty: 4

Change the number to something lower, like 2... Save, done.

[legionof1]

Hunts are indeed proportionally much more difficult on high difficulties due to the shear number of base units. Crafts with doors can be abused because melee foes suffer even more from lost LOS then normal. Another tactic with craft with ramps is to have a row of knelling gals with standing gals behind allowing ranked fire at foes. The menace class crafts can even manage a third and forth row of shooters by using the stairs and kneeling on the edge of the upper deck.

Straying to far from the craft in hunts is usually a poor choice as it increases the odds a gall gets overwhelmed. 

[tylor]

One small thing (though, not specifically Piratez) that would be great - have direction arrows that show on Alt have different colors for us, enemies and civilians. It's often really hard to sort out who is who in a mess of smoke and bodies. Additionally - mark squares with items in when Alt is pressed.

[Ragshak]

Can you help me undestand camulfage mechanics?

Camo Paint armor: 12/4 Camuflage.

Does that mean:
1) Durning Day my Gal will be spotted from 12 tiltes or less / Durning Nigth my Gal will be spotted from 4 titles or less?
2) Gal is 12 titles harder to find durning Day and 4 durning Nigth. By harder I mean Enemy Vision Range - Camuflage, So if enemy has 30 Vision Range durning Day he will see me from 18 titles or less?

I'm asking because I am confused by recent events. In the early stages of the game Camo Paint was enougth to deal with low level guards (those with no special abillieties). Now I see that the same enemy type has no problem targeting my Gals. Or do they improve over time?

Does ligth affects camuflaage in any way?

[ohartenstein23]

Your point 1) is what happens with armors marked as INVIS in the Bootypedia, camo is 2) - a reduction in sight range for the enemy on that gal.  And yes, light effects camouflage - 'Day' vision occurs in tiles where the light level is greater than 9, so near any light sources, your gals are seen at the enemies' day vision range minus 'day' camo.  So in the example of an enemy that has 30 day vision and 9 night vision, if you're in a lit-up tile, your painted gal will be seen from 30-12=18 tiles away, while in the dark they will be seen from 9-4=5 tiles away.

To properly use camo at night, this means you need to be at least 9 tiles away from a flare (or similar light source) or have the LOS to it blocked by a wall in order to be 'in the dark'.  This means it's best to do night missions in camo without any light sources, and watch out for enemies with incendiary or those that drop light-emitting items (like personal computers), and to be careful on maps that have their own light sources.

[Dreamsicle]

Cross Posting here:

I've created a new reference table for the online bootypedia that shows which vessels can go to which environment:

https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Vessels_(Piratez)#Vessel_Environment_Matrix



(There are a couple other environments in the ruleset (Acid Rain and Nasdac) that don't have vessel restriction so these are not listed.)

Hmm, surprised the Conqueror can't do space missions even though it can go to Cydonia.

I also finally started a game after deciding to stop waiting for new versions to show up. I like it a lot so far! Only specific feedback I can give is that Ratmen villages feel like death traps. I'm lucky I only had 2 deaths but everyone on that op was wounded for over 20 days. I'm not going to suggest changing anything, I'll just try to change tactics and loadouts.

BTW, is there an equivalent of August 1999 where if your not at a certain tech base, you're screwed? I realize the pace isn't as strenous as vanilla OXC, but hearing about Automatic Crackdowns at Year 2 does worry me.

[ohartenstein23]

Automatic crackdowns happen starting after year 2, so beginning year 3.  You don't need to be at any specific tech level, but it is an encouragement to get your research going into endgame stuff.  There are also important researches that make getting positive score easier and for keeping your income above or near maintenance, but again, not really necessary if you're making up for it on other fronts.  There's not really a definitive point of "you're screwed."  Also, if you're good at base defense (and the gals have the advantage against most factions at close range because melee), a crackdown is a delivery of nice weapons and VIPs straight to your doorstep.

Yeah, Ratman villages are rough until you get some better firearms, especially shotguns.

[just_dont]

Can someone tell me about current entry point to the aerial combat?
I mean, of course I got it up to getting Aircar, this part is very straightforward. But how do I get early craft weapons?

On an unrelated note, "Contacts: Builders' Hall" is available awfully early for its own description text - description says about facilities, but in the beginning, you won't get any (I guess they're all locked by other prerequisites), so the only thing you'll get from this tech is workers' hiring.

[karadoc]

The way I get start on air combat is to follow any ship I see, hoping that it will land. One landed ship in the early game will generally be enough to get you a 25mm cannon, which you can then use to shoot down every civilian target you see. (I wouldn't advise going after any faction-aligned targets until you are stronger). You can also get a good light weapon from under-sea adventures. And if all else fails, you can research and build air-balls.

[Eddie]

25 mm cannon can also be bought once you research contacts: krazy hanna

and watch out for enemies with incendiary or those that drop light-emitting items

I just had a revelation. I find night and camo a way too powerful combination as the AI cannot handle it. I cannot teach the AI how to use flares, but I can put them in their inventory. Hmmm... I can still pick up the flare after they drop them to kill the light. If their body would emit the light, this would create a real problem.

[legionof1]

Beacon corpses.....no thanks, high difficulty would be bright as day.

[Solarius Scorch]

Not a bad idea for some special enemy though.

How about combining it with the alienDeployments setting that enforces darkness, regardless of daytime?

[legionof1]

I'll agree with that scorch. But all the time no.