[COMPLETED] Let's play X-PirateZ (182 episodes)

[Arthanor]

Yeah, combat stress isn't much of an issue. There was some panicking, but really not all that much.

The only time it was an issue for me was in a pogrom with lots of buildings (commercial terrain, I think?) that are hard to access, one enemy I had stunned woke up behind my lines, I had no idea where and had to sweep the whole map again. Half the crew couldn't do it, but the other half managed to finish the mission.

As long as there are enemies to kill (2-3/turn), it's easy to compensate for the stress and 1-2 casualties. It's when the kills run out but the combat doesn't end that it gets tricky (I guess that's when you pull out the pirate flag).

[Dioxine]

If all your gals are 40+ Bravery, even long missions like this aren't a problem anymore.

[ivandogovich]

If all your gals are 40+ Bravery, even long missions like this aren't a problem anymore.

Does that mean you should sack anyone less than 40? (I've always hated that method).  Or is it reasonable to expect even your 10 bravery starters to improve up to 40 with decent experience?

[Dioxine]

With combat stress, your low-Bravery gals will often take Morale checks and often improve (just look at the let's play - I think 2 out of 6 survivors raised their Bravery). Also, you can 'patch' bravery with proper outfits (some give as much as +30, and/or give extra Morale regen). Also, you don't need *everyone* to keep their cool all time. If a single gal out of a squad of 4 panics, it's not a big deal. Also, there is always the Handle and the Battle Flag

[ivandogovich]

The streak accross the sky moved faster almost than the eye could see.  A distress call immediately cried out from Ground Zero.

One intrepid band of eleven Mutant Space Babe Pirates responded to the call. 

A ghastly collection of fifty fiendish foes confronted them.  Not one remained when the fighting was done.

Stunned and bleeding, the five survivors shook hands with the lone surviving citizen and boarded their craft in a daze. 

Their epic struggle ensured them a place in the Chronicles of Pirate Lore.

They would forever be known as The Fabulous Five.

[Solarius Scorch]

*with a voice of an old veteran on Victory Day* Thank you, young man. Thank you.

[Meridian]

@Ivan: that's awesome!

@Dioxine: I'm just watching episode #09 (will be published tomorrow)... and it really looks like our girls have NV of 9 only, not 12 as it says in the bootypedia... can you confirm/disprove? For example at 31:00 Dana EagleEye will not see a guy until really close.... not much of an eagle eye Anyone else, or is it just me?

[Dioxine]

A screenshot below, taken at night conditions, shows a gal who was walking towards that Guild Security and has just spotted him. You can clearly see the distance is over 9 tiles. She didn't see him when she was a tile further away from him.
Oh, yeah, and Night mission? I expect a lot of dead, especially amongst poor naked melee fighters

[Arthanor]

I count 11 tiles forward, 4 tiles sideways. By Pythagoras' theorem, that's a distance of ~11.7 tiles, which is about the range 12 we are expecting. But that's not in pitch black. Are all those tiles considered to be in the dark?

Does darkness work like smoke? (ie a dark tile counts as 20/12 bright tile for a NV: 12 unit?) Is there varying degrees of darkness?

[Meridian]

Found it It was because of the smoke... stupid me.

Oh, yeah, and Night mission? I expect a lot of dead, especially amongst poor naked melee fighters

Spoiler:

Yeah, I gave a chance to Hunting rifle, X-Bow and Musket again... but after hitting the same enemy four or five times without any effect, I switched to melee and explosives again. No worries though, I'll keep trying... maybe some day.

[Dioxine]

Don't call me a liar, Arthanor. It is maximum darkness. I just used the Desert map which allows the player to see the terrain even in total darkness, so you can see anything on the screenshot. Just check it for yourself. I can make a full photo-evidence of several situations, but honestly, that'd feel insulting.
The darkness is either total or not-darkness. Smoke is not related to NV at all. It is, however, related to 'normal' or 'day' vision; if you increase day vision (not supported yet), you'll be able to see further through the smoke.

@Meridian: You play the way you like it, that's what the modder wanted! And yeah, armored guys don't yield easily to starter firearms, I think we established that fact quite well - they're there to scare the player into using risky and/or expensive tactics Not everyone is armored, though

[Arthanor]

Don't call me a liar, Arthanor.

Uh what? I'd not do that... I was saying it seems to work: I counted the tiles (11 and 4) and if you use Pythagoras' Theorem, it adds up to 11.7, which means you need nv 12 to see that guy.

The rest was actually just me asking how night vision works. Because I don't know... I was about to ask a whole bunch of questions, but then I think I can summarize it into one: Is the following true?

Regardless of the brightness of tiles between you and your target:
- If your target is in a dark tile, you will see it in X tiles, where X is your night vision value (ie 12 tiles for unarmored gals in piratez, 9 for soldiers in vanilla).
- If your target is in a bright tile, you will see it in Y tiles, where Y is your day vision value (20 for everything?)

That's why I was asking if it was like smoke (which has a rather complex mechanic depending on tiles between you and your target). But it seems it isn't (and is a much easier mechanic).

[Dioxine]

Regardless of the brightness of tiles between you and your target:
- If your target is in a dark tile, you will see it in X tiles, where X is your night vision value (ie 12 tiles for unarmored gals in piratez, 9 for soldiers in vanilla).
- If your target is in a bright tile, you will see it in Y tiles, where Y is your day vision value (20 for everything?)

Sorry for over-reacting, but I thought you implied the target wasn't in total darkness. It was.
So it works like that (from my experiments):
- The light level can go from 0 (total dark) to 15 (full brigth).
- Light level 0-5 is considered 'darkness'. Light level 6-15 is considered 'bright' (so light sources of Power 5 won't give you away).
- In 'dark' maps, Light diminishes by 1 'luminosity' each tile from a light source.
- Flashlights add a Power 15 Light Source on top of all your soldiers.
- Anyone standing on a 'bright' tile will be visible from 20 tiles away
- Anyone standing in 'darkness' will be only visible up to the looker's NV range.

So yes, you are generally correct on your assumptions.

[Arthanor]

No worries Although they are the best we have, forums are far from a perfect mean of communication. It's all too easy to read accusations/insults, but it's all too rare to read apologies, kudos!

Thanks for the explanation and confirming that only the illumination of the target matters. That makes sense. I've had situations where you can walk a gal up the field, and suddenly another gal spots an enemy because he got illuminated and stands within 20, even though she didn't see it before because he was standing beyond night vision range.

[Meridian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IizJ0GzmqTg