Suggestions on how to improve the mod

[Rince Wind]

The UAC carbine is used by others as well though. I also think the rifle doesn't look like one that is Rio be used with the very basic SMG mags.

[Dioxine]

UAC carbine was properly shitty in DOOM, so the HSMG ammo is fine, however, this sprite Gunner-chan sent, while nice and canonic, is simply too big IMO - it looks like a powerful weapon, completely filling its 1x3 slot. (and I don't feel like redrawing atm :3 )... I'll think about it...

[Gunner-chan]

Well if it's too large, how about this one I made an attempt to edit? Slimmer and has a recolored spraygun magazine.



I'm no artist but hey wont learn if you don't try right?

[DracoGriffin]

I think my edit got overlooked but here goes:

Why was the early game changed to be immensely more brutal? I don't remember ever struggling so much before and basically getting wiped out by Ratmen or Raiders. Not to mention not having anything to do (other than research) the first month... I skipped a Pogrom because no way I'd be able to do with just 6...

[Solarius Scorch]

I think my edit got overlooked but here goes:

Why was the early game changed to be immensely more brutal? I don't remember ever struggling so much before and basically getting wiped out by Ratmen or Raiders. Not to mention not having anything to do (other than research) the first month... I skipped a Pogrom because no way I'd be able to do with just 6...

I don't think the game got more difficult, but you need to get adjusted to it, which takes a while. Less gals means of course simpler combat (though not easier), but the Geoscape is more forgiving. The early missions also are easier than facing a bunch of guys in personal armour.
I think the problem with the early missions, and especially Ratmen, is that it's easy to underestimate them. And it'll hurt a lot.

[legionof1]

Ratmen are actually quite the nasty foe with the new start. Before they where much less of a threat because you outclassed there weapons almost right from the get go. Now they are actually better then early gals in terms of potential dmg. They are still pretty frail compared to the gals but getting the hits to kill them has become more difficult.

[Gunner-chan]

It's mostly how quick they are that makes them annoying, running a fresh girl in front of a rat is a good way to get shot at. They lose a lot of their bite after you can bring shotguns to the villages though. The newest pirate has a better than average chance of dropping a rat even with a domestic shotgun.

[Solarius Scorch]

Yeah, they have good reactions and their weapons aren't as primitive as you'd thought. But the greatest danger are dogs.
But remember how it was in the early days of Piratez? Your average starting enemy was wearing personal armour and shooting at you with heavy cannon/laser rifle. Sure, you had 18 gals, but it was still way harder in my opinion.

[Blank]

I think it's the map personally, facing ratmen on a completely flat field would be a completely different affair. Probably involving Napoleonic  musket squares.

[Meridian]

Just did another quick start... wow, what changed? Early game is significantly nerfed... barely made it through the first month (couldn't catch ANYTHING - all civvie vehicles - all the spawned missions were way outside the range of the Airbus - and then a mutant pogrom with six gals? Yikes...). Second month I catch up to a landed Raider ship... didn't even kill one and then promptly got exploded. I'm actually pretty turned off from this... basically watched the sun rise/set the first month (huge negative score and lost protection money) and then TPK on first mission.

Wow.

Are you gonna stream your adventures? I'm missing it...

[ivandogovich]

My random two cents since I have not read anything:

I got my ass kicked by the Ratmen Rodeo; first mission out of the base.

I didn't take it too seriously (I'm hyper aggressive) but wow, gals felt really delicate and only six, ouch. Oh well, more meat for the meatgrinder!

edit: Just did another quick start... wow, what changed? Early game is significantly nerfed... barely made it through the first month (couldn't catch ANYTHING - all civvie vehicles - all the spawned missions were way outside the range of the Airbus - and then a mutant pogrom with six gals? Yikes...). Second month I catch up to a landed Raider ship... didn't even kill one and then promptly got exploded. I'm actually pretty turned off from this... basically watched the sun rise/set the first month (huge negative score and lost protection money) and then TPK on first mission.

Wow.

Hey Draco!  I don't think its intended for the game to be super hard in the beginning, with .99.   I was able to clear the early missions without much trouble, (no more than 20-30% losses per mission)... ie. Ratman Rodeos... etc.   

And yeah, the Airbus' short legs makes it really suck.  I missed about a missions a month the first 3-4 months due to its limited range.  It made me wonder if a Central Asia start might not be the best as your limited range would have a greater chance of covering more land mass that way.

Hunting Bows are great for these early battles imo.  Hide behind the Airbus and lob arrows over the top.

I don't think its possible at all to avoid a big negative score in the first month (and maybe a couple after that).

My big break came in the enemy's Base building wave that came in month two. I tackled a gunship with heavy losses but a nice haul of captured gauss.  Then I threw two crews at enemy Frigates capturing two of them. (The nice thing about the Frigate, was the Trader crews didn't have any Power Armor troops).  With the sales of these three craft I boosted to about 10 million, and I expanded out the base enough to handle my full complement of 15 brainers.  I think with these gals cranking through techs I'm safe from those big negative point hits.

Also, I think Mutant Pogroms are delayed until after you research Mutant Alliance, so it might be worth putting those off early.

[DracoGriffin]

Are you gonna stream your adventures? I'm missing it...

I was definitely preparing for it (especially now that I can have a higher quality stream instead of playing in ultra mini mode) but honestly, I'm not sure how to approach the early game like this (at least before I could expect 2-4 losses in a huge squad, but 4-6 losses in a squad of 6 is... not great).

Hey Draco!  I don't think its intended for the game to be super hard in the beginning, with .99.   I was able to clear the early missions without much trouble, (no more than 20-30% losses per mission)... ie. Ratman Rodeos... etc.   

Also, I think Mutant Pogroms are delayed until after you research Mutant Alliance, so it might be worth putting those off early.

Haven't had the same luck, my loss rate is 80-100% . And I had a Mutant Pogrom in the first month, and I barely touched the research tree (definitely didn't do Mutant Alliance). Perhaps the score is only considered when you do that research but the missions still happen?

[Gunner-chan]

The score is supposedly not affected, and it looks like it shouldn't be. But in actual practice for me sometimes the score takes a massive hit out of nowhere.

[Dioxine]

Idk, I've made about 3 test plays on the latest version (up to about eight-ninth month) and never had a negative score (although it's normal to be just on the verge). Adding about 1-2 extra early missions should completely solve that problem.

[Gunner-chan]

Inactivity maybe then? Maybe I just got in a bad habit of waiting for missions to pop instead of following ships a few months in. I just thought it was weird since in my own game I got a first month score of -300, then a second month of -1200, then it was 200 the month after. Very weird