Suggestions on how to improve the mod

[Baldri]

And yes, I like those ambiguous moments in Xpiratez, too, Like where you ask yourself... "Wait a minute, what am I doing? Robbing, killing and enslaving unarmed civilians on a holiday trip.... "

Omg, I had the same impression just today when a bunch of altar boys got slaug... run into my bullets by accident. You aren't a glorified heroe at all! Quiet like it to think about this way.

The end of the story: I decided to enslave the last altar boy that survived two bullets of my 37mm gun SOMEHOW. So it was a happy end at all! He will appreciate life just so much more now! All due to my doings! Aren't I am a good person? 

Btw: Can we expect a bootypedia entry for the squires soon? It is quiet funny when you think about it how the sexy gals are trying to convince the teenagers. "Ohhhhhh such a nice boy could you please please please work for us instead of the church?" the Gal asks. The Altar Boy responds: "No mam, I am an honored mem...". Then the gal opens the first button of her top. "Uhhh its getting so hot in here. My skin is really getting sooo wet. I am sweating all over my body." Just half a minute later you see the altar boy cleaning the floors of the still like a madman. He even catched all the spiders!

[Dioxine]

Feel free to make the entry I definitely have some plans for Squires in the future (from 'knavery' which would be akin to 'pimpcraft' ie. an economic activity, to maybe a psionic-palanquir or a morale-boosting choir). But it has been slated for much later as I'm working on early game now.

[Baldri]

Awesome, I just fall in love (somehow) when reading "Squire" and thought about my very own fanboys!

So I gave it a shot:

Squire:

Convincing the altar boys to work for us was quiet easy compared to more mature male captives or the most females.
All the Runts had to do was to stretch their body in front of them when entering the interogation room. Then, when they are bowing over the table while looking deep into their eyes and asking kindly for their help, they almost immediately start to clean. Surprisingly easy. We do not know why fully though!

I told you earlier about our "special" attributes! But what exactly are they? One thing for sure: While cleaning our base almost fanatically (we think due to their life in a church) there is one problem with them: They tend to clean the same place all over again. We do not know why, but clearly it is the place where they have the best view to our more recreational areas. Like showers or bathrooms and so on.

However: This can not be coincidally but we do nut understand the mechanism behind this just yet. Further psychological research (you know Cap'n, brainy stuff) could bring up some oportunities.
Unfortunately, while beeing highly submissive, they are far less efficient then mature slaves due to their sticking to specific locations. (Why?)

[Dioxine]

Far too long to fit, but thanks Still need a pedia picture, I'll probably use some net gfx instead of trying to make one myself

[Zharkov]

The Squires are our most inefficient slaves, despite the fact that they get tons of private tutoring by the gals and dress to look most piratey. Maybe some more research in the Squires' upbringing by the Church as Altar Boys is needed to get some more use out of them.

[Dioxine]

Yes but definitely not as slaves... only a monster would force kids to work even nearly as hard as adult people

[a0kribu]

It would be cool to have a way to either search the Ufopaedia/workshop lists or to sort them alphabetically.

In the mid/endgame most of the time you visit either place you know exactly what you are looking for but the lists are sorted pretty arbitrarily and, in the case of the Workshop, it might be hard to know which category the item you are looking for belongs to. And even if you do some of those filtered lists are pretty long.

[Zharkov]

Yes but definitely not as slaves... only a monster would force kids to work even nearly as hard as adult people

Yeah, I just thought that the brainerz would call them slaves, because they are quite confused about what is happening here. They did not forsee that the gals would show such a nurture behavior and start transforming the children to become more like them. They might have expected a more exploitative behavior...

[AncientSion]

Some things that i have gathered so far. Of course my opinion and im free to post them

- Hunting Rifles probably deserve a nerf. Im using them *almost* exclusivly (late first year) because they are do great damage and are damn accurate. Also, i just developed Scoped Rifles, which are even better ?
- If possible, add more ship layouts. My smugglers and raiders always use the same vessel. Perhaps add 2 Layouts for a "small" raider vessel, list them as "Variant A" and "Variant B" in the pedia if necesarry ? Same goes for a bunch of other ships, like Humanists and Trader Freighters, they appear a lot and its always (obviously) the same layout ? Some variance would greatly benefit the mod i guess ?
- I think the mid-level Hostages should perhaps get a different tech-unlock-pool. I sometimes, on purpose, dont interrogiate them because there is a high chance to unlock a "common" tech as opposed to an uncommon one, so i hold all these valueable slaves until i depleted the tech-pool with "low" hostages. I dont think thats the intention ?
- Rebalance cost of Seagul Missiles.
- Parrots seem to be a bit too good when it comes to scouting.
- I think it would be nifty to add anoher merc similar in tech to the Parrot, but instead its a Black Cat. With the parrot being able to offer good scouting on daylight, he cat would be its pendant in darkness. I.e. a non-flying, night-vision scout. NV ~ 18 ?
- I spend more than 200 ! time units hitting a Smuggler Cat Girl with Fistycuffs but my 4 guys were unable to down here. I know they are supposed to be hard to hit, but surely 25 tries with fair strength and accuracy Gals should be able to knock one Cat Girl out...?!
- I think it would be good if the aquisiton on any type of Gal armour would immediatly unlock that Armour for the purpose of Bootypedia. Its very cumbesome to equip armours in general and its even more annoying to equip them just to see the frickin stats. I recently got an Assassins and Defender Suit and it took me way too long to get a grip on how exactly they perform. Wouldnt it be possible to unlock them for the Pedia without unlocking them for manufacturing unless the proper tech reqs are meet ?

[Arthanor]

That's some interesting opinions

- Hunting rifles: Seriously, after a whole year? They are definitely my "go to" starting rifle/early sniper rifle, but after one year you shouldn't have many gals for which that's the best weapon. I am merely in July and I replaced mine with other weapons that have more punch/auto-fire for midfield gals, and much, much better sniper weapons already. It is definitely a great weapon for new, valuable gals at the beginning of the game though, for the others: shotgun with one slug AP shells do really well (even better accuracy, but you need to be at close range, which is ok for not very valuable gals, and scouts are close to enemies any ways).

- The more ship layouts the better, that's true. Especially given how many raids we perform in one playthrough. The only problem is that it takes time to make and doesn't add much to the game, so it's better if Dioxine invest in totally new things that really vary the gameplay (like the new mansions). Hopefully someone who can do maps and is interested? Unfortunately, most of the map stuff doesn't work on Linux, so that can't be me..

- Mid level hostages: As in guild reps and stuff? Most of the truly valuable tech they grant is as a result of the interrogation itself instead of being pulled from the list of bonus stuff. It is good practice to interrogate the low levels first though, since that gives you good background info to setup your interrogation of the VIP. I think that's ok.

- Seagulls are expensive, but you can make them eventually, so it's not so bad then. They are rather ridiculously expensive though, I agree.

- Parrots: Fully agree! On the first ~2-3 turns, parrots will scout everything and you don't care if they get shot, unlike a dedicated scout gal (with the training/investment required to get good TUs). But with their stamina, they eventually become much less worth it. I'd rather the parrot got a TU nerf (so not as good at the beginning) but a stam buff (so better in the later turns). Or maybe that's intended and the dog has better stam/stam regen? I'd have to check.. I haven't looked at dogs since parrots showed up and I used to really value them, which says something...

- Cat: Cool idea! I think someone also mentioned a pet cat before, as a psychic familiar? The gals need some cat, yeah

- Cat girls have great melee dodge, so if you don't have great melee accuracy (you say fair, which doesn't sound like enough!), you don't stand a chance. Plus there's bugs depending on their angles, I think. Engage catgirls from range, especially with stun grenades, as the stun AoE quickly takes them down.

- Unfortunately, the brainerz would need to destroy a suit to research it, and I sure don't want that I would love a new item "X Armor Specs sheet", which would be placed in the same loot pile as the armors (the military supply ships are bringing the user's manual with the armor!) and which, once researched, give you the ufopaedia article for that armor? That would cut a lot of the "equip and check", and allow a bit of extra info like resists, stam recovery and dodge to be gathered.

[legionof1]

snip
- Cat girls have great melee dodge, so if you don't have great melee accuracy (you say fair, which doesn't sound like enough!), you don't stand a chance. Plus there's bugs depending on their angles, I think. Engage catgirls from range, especially with stun grenades, as the stun AoE quickly takes them down.
snip

Anything that uses the stealth/invis hack fails to behave like other units in anyway. Even the same unit facing a different direction can have a wildly different set of interactions. Would that they behaved in a given pattern always but they do not and dont think they can. The mechanic functions by exploiting a loophole in how the game handles surfaces/hitbox areas. I don't expect such a bodge to behave itself ever.

[AncientSion]

That's some interesting opinions

hey, thanks for the Input.

Hunting Rifles: I did overexagerate a bit. It is October first year and i just upgraded my 8 HRs to Scoped Rifles. I i usually have 10 to 14 Gals on the Bonnie and my split is basicly 3 Combat Shotguns, 1 Flamer, 2 Machine Guns and the rest Hunting Rifles. In Addition, EVERY Swabbie gets a HR, because they are so damn good.
You can basicly line up all your Gals in a nice Shooting line, use a Parrot to Scout and then fire 4 to 8 accurate, high-powered bullets across half the map (assuming no Terror site).
I definitly think they are a bit too good, the combination of high powered PS Ammo (better than normal assault rifles) and accuracy are kinds ard to top. In this playthrough, i didnt even consider any weapon other than Hunting Rifles and Machine Guns...certainly nothing from the Black Market as well as no AR or BR.

Ship Layouts: I dont know how "hard" or time-consuming it is to build up a new ship layout. However, if i may be so bold: I dont think new Features, especially the Mansions, are well, better spent time than adding new ship layouts. Diversity is key and i think a few more ship layouts, all things considered, would add more Entertainment to the mod than Mansion Missions. Think about it: How much time do you spend raiding the same ships over and over again, and how much time do you spend in mansion missions ? Of course, this may just be my subjective experience but in my opinion the Ratio is like 15 to 1 in favour of ship raidings.

Hostages: I consider hostages with a value of like 70+k as "mid"-Level. Guild Reps sell for like 150, so they arent really "mid" to me anymore. When you use the word "Interrogation", you mean the first, Initial Research of said hostage-class, correct ?

Parrots: Im not sure which Approach would be best. I think it is a bit retarded to pack one or two Parrots into your Bonnie and use them to literally Scout the entire map 95 % of the time on TURN 1 !!. So in my eyes, TUs should be decreased to something reasonable like 80. That would disable the ability to increase height Levels AND fly around the map to either fly around on the ground, or increase height a bit instead of both.

Cats: Nice that we agree. Black Cats would suit a pirate, hopefully we will see it someday

Cat Girl: Since i was just Fistycuffs and they only require Melee Acc, i can say they had average Melee Acc. Most were slightly above 50. Tbh, i didnt try using Gals with 80+ because those were wielding Poison Daggers and Rapiers and i wanted to get her alive (that was before she used her Fuso Sword on me after i missed an entire turn).

Armours: Nice idea, i also like we are basicly on the same boat. Perhaps there  could be semi-rare Armour-unlock items -> like the Solar Courier or Spartan Weapon Magazines ?

That's some interesting opinions

- Hunting rifles: Seriously, after a whole year? They are definitely my "go to" starting rifle/early sniper rifle, but after one year you shouldn't have many gals for which that's the best weapon. I am merely in July and I replaced mine with other weapons that have more punch/auto-fire for midfield gals, and much, much better sniper weapons already. It is definitely a great weapon for new, valuable gals at the beginning of the game though, for the others: shotgun with one slug AP shells do really well (even better accuracy, but you need to be at close range, which is ok for not very valuable gals, and scouts are close to enemies any ways).

- The more ship layouts the better, that's true. Especially given how many raids we perform in one playthrough. The only problem is that it takes time to make and doesn't add much to the game, so it's better if Dioxine invest in totally new things that really vary the gameplay (like the new mansions). Hopefully someone who can do maps and is interested? Unfortunately, most of the map stuff doesn't work on Linux, so that can't be me..

- Mid level hostages: As in guild reps and stuff? Most of the truly valuable tech they grant is as a result of the interrogation itself instead of being pulled from the list of bonus stuff. It is good practice to interrogate the low levels first though, since that gives you good background info to setup your interrogation of the VIP. I think that's ok.

- Seagulls are expensive, but you can make them eventually, so it's not so bad then. They are rather ridiculously expensive though, I agree.

- Parrots: Fully agree! On the first ~2-3 turns, parrots will scout everything and you don't care if they get shot, unlike a dedicated scout gal (with the training/investment required to get good TUs). But with their stamina, they eventually become much less worth it. I'd rather the parrot got a TU nerf (so not as good at the beginning) but a stam buff (so better in the later turns). Or maybe that's intended and the dog has better stam/stam regen? I'd have to check.. I haven't looked at dogs since parrots showed up and I used to really value them, which says something...

- Cat: Cool idea! I think someone also mentioned a pet cat before, as a psychic familiar? The gals need some cat, yeah

- Cat girls have great melee dodge, so if you don't have great melee accuracy (you say fair, which doesn't sound like enough!), you don't stand a chance. Plus there's bugs depending on their angles, I think. Engage catgirls from range, especially with stun grenades, as the stun AoE quickly takes them down.

- Unfortunately, the brainerz would need to destroy a suit to research it, and I sure don't want that I would love a new item "X Armor Specs sheet", which would be placed in the same loot pile as the armors (the military supply ships are bringing the user's manual with the armor!) and which, once researched, give you the ufopaedia article for that armor? That would cut a lot of the "equip and check", and allow a bit of extra info like resists, stam recovery and dodge to be gathered.

[Solarius Scorch]

I personally think parrots should be more of a late early game thing than something available from the start, at least training new ones. Something more advanced than Mutant Alliance contact, but not overly so. That would solve many problems, including sniping (though it's less pronounced in the new long range vision system).

Oh, and about Fisticuffs: don't use them on gals with such low Melee, use Handles instead - you'll get better stun damage too.

[Arthanor]

Yes, the parrot as it is currently is a bit too good. It could do with some kind of a TU reduction, like to 100? 120 is too much, 80 is too little given that it is easy for gals to get the same number. The current stats, maybe with a bit more stamina, should be kept for an advanced scouting drone (based on academy drone, small ship engine and some other flying tech), and it would require some stuff to be built, rather than being "free" like the current parrot.

And for sure, fistycuffs are not for gals with low melee skill. At 65% of melee, on a gal with 50 melee skill, that's ~32% to hit. Especially bad against catgirls. With their melee dodge (48% on the front, 36% on the sides, 24% on the back), they are guaranteed to dodge your hits except in the back, where you have an 8% chance to land. (dodge is additive, so 32% to hit minus 24% to dodge is 8% to hit). That's an average of 1 hit per ~13 tries, which is 104 TUs. So that was a doomed attempt.. especially doomed on a catgirl with a katana!

Otherwise, RE:

Hunting rifles: You should soon discover outfits that boost Firing if you haven't yet. Combined with sniper rifles or better, they vastly outclass hunting/scoped rifles for the "one aimed shot a turn" strategy.

Ship layouts: It's not that hard, and it's quite enjoyable if you're into model building/drawing. But it's not all that new. I guess I prefer the low occurrence, very different missions as a refresher, rather than getting the high occurrence missions to vary more. I have been lucky enough that the ships I encounter are various classes, so it hasn't been boring yet.

Hostages: Yes, I mean the first research project completed with that unit (and then later the broken one) are what the most valuable. The "random bonus ones" can be good, but they are not as significant.

Armors: A "body armor magazine" could work, but the simplest to me seems to just put a spec sheet on the same tile as the armors you loot. Then you can quickly research the specs when you loot something new, which gives you the UFOPaedia article but nothing else about the armor.

[Mattdo]

Here's a small thing I'd like to see:
The tech tree is very confusing to newcomers. For example, Linux SMG is a precursor tech to Bigger Guns. Until you've researched Linux SMG, you can't discover new weapons for your ships, and you can't build most defensive installations. But I wasn't interested in SMGs - I never use them, since they're usually weak against armored enemies, and there were always a dozen other techs that looked more promising, like captured engineers, who I thought might teach me these important secrets - so I played for years of game time without bothering to research that path, and only eventually found what I was doing wrong via the online Tech Tree.

So I think the Linux SMG tech should be renamed 'Basic Gun Design' or similar - it could still give you the same stuff otherwise. There are probably other techs like that.