Suggestions on how to improve the mod

[Surrealistik]

This was painstakingly added on a weapon-per-weapon basis, and already works like this. There is almost no cutting weapon that can disintegrate the target, and only the most powerful lasers have that capacity.

Gauss weapons disintegrate targets with alarming frequency; were you basically going for the 'Eraser' railgun effect?

[Dioxine]

With gauss projectiles carrying that much energy, it's normal that the target should be blown into pieces.

[Surrealistik]

How much do they have to overkill by to disintegrate, or is it simply a set probability on kill?

[Dioxine]

Depends on how heavily armored they are, generally. Disintegration happens at -50% to -100% HP, depending on specimen.

[niculinux]

In 0.99B in the bootypedia rightvat the start of the game still are weapons (RPG and shotguns) which are accessible in the early game, but trough some research (once the topic contract: merchants is completed) So these should supposed to appear thete right after the research is complete, not before?

And why dynamite is not avaiable from the start? it's a pretty old explosive abd by the 2601 its knowkedge is supposed to be of "public domain"? On the other hand the cooking by the book research topic should lead to some other things, maybe food-related.

[Drasnighta]

I always felt that "Cooking by the Book" was a reference to the Anarchists Cookbook, which would teach you how to make improvised explosives from on-hand chemicals and tools...

Actual, stable Dynamite is open source - but its difficult to actually legally acquire, after all...  Its something that would always be under regulation, as long as regulation exists...  So sure, maybe be able to purchase it...

But actually making it isn't easy.

I know.

[khade]

I just found out that the airbus is currently a unique, here's a suggestion: make the first airbus have slightly different stats, someone tweaked it, tuned it, whatever, compared to what you get through the car thieves, this way you can have information on your starting vehicle and you eventually can buy more as needed.  Maybe allow the workshop to tune the new ones to the standard of your original, with the right research, so you don't need to fear selling it.

I also think that it would make sense to have the game progression largely based on your actions, specific research would move the story along and change how others respond, arm themselves, or just act in general.  The basic idea is that the pirate crew are not heroes, they're not really reacting to a scheme of some villain, they are among the ones that the world is reacting to, very little at first, but eventually even the Star Gods may come to fear them... or just destroy them outright for being a nuisance.  They are not an elite anti-terrorist/alien/heathen(cross out what does not apply) group, though they sometimes act in that capacity, how the world perceives them is up to them, or even if the world notices them at all.

Also, I seem to remember plans for different storylines based on what groups you align yourself with, be it the mutant alliance, the church, raiders, bandits, cultists of the dark gods, or even, heaven forbid, the traders.  So having the set progression based entirely on time seems like it would cause problems.

Another option would be a middle ground with some things on a timer and others based on gated research.

Did this make any actual sense? I can't currently tell

[Dioxine]

It does makes sense, but requires enormous work, so... maybe someday

[Surrealistik]

Honestly what I would love to see more than anything is Eckskawm Apocalypse style diplomacy between the Govts, factions and the Galz, albeit done right.

Govts might fight amongst themselves, and send kill teams/Ordinators to fuck each other up.

Maybe the Raiders and EuroSyndicate have been at odds with the other, and harming the former makes the latter especially happy.

Mercenaries are mad cause you keep wrecking their shit while they're trying to purge mutants for the Humanists... but tens of millions of tribute payments later and you're good buddies and they go fuck up the Humanists instead... at least until the Guild pays them more to take you out after having countless ships victimized with their Crackdowns yielding no results.

[Dioxine]

Honestly what I would love to see more than anything is Eckskawm Apocalypse style diplomacy between the Govts, factions and the Galz, albeit done right.

It's not a game about diplomacy... And if it was, the complexity would be higher than in Europe Universalis, since it'd have to account for mutiple value systems, various techs, traditions and aliens. Maybe it's a work cut out for someone out there, but I'll pass. I tend to be scared of going down the roads of exponentially increasing complexity that can take a lifetime to travel.

[Surrealistik]

Apocalypse wasn't a game about diplomacy either, but even with its simplistic 'enemy of my enemy is my friend'/bribery implementation, it added a nice touch to the game.

[Dioxine]

Don't make me laugh... sure it was tantalizing, and a cool touch, but once you played the game a bit, you quickly realized that the solution to all diplomacy was 'throw some money at it'. Also, perhaps even more importantly, there was little to be gained from having good relations with factions, and little to lose from having bad relations. I feel like the diplomacy model in Apoc was maybe 10% done. However, with OpenApoc, we might yet see it perfected someday...

[Surrealistik]

If there was little to lose from having bad relations, it was due to the fact that base defenses were so hilariously easy and trivial with good base design and the turrets facilities. Good relations with Megapol was substantive, but I agree, beyond that there wasn't much, but there easily could have been with something as easy to implement as more roaming armed vehicles (or vehicles deploying during alien invasions) and friendly security helping you during extermination missions.

[DoktorV]

I haven't gotten very far in any of my campaign attempts, partially because I'm not very good and partially because I just don't have a lot of time lately. As such, this may be redundant or otherwise out of place, but it occurred to me that bolas might be an interesting low tech throwing weapon. If the lack of less-lethal throwing weapons is not a deliberate decision, it might have an interesting tactical role perhaps.

[legionof1]

If we get bolas there must be a grenade-bola upgrade.
Two grenades worth of power utterly horrible accuracy.