Mansion Mission Reports (Please Contribute)

[bluberd]

On my second mansion mission I had only CRAB transport (yes, I know), so only 6 elite gals went in (I have my dream team where most shoot at 120 and melee at 100-120). I chose the ones with highest bravery.

4 maid costumes
1 nurse
1 dress

weapons:
3 self-loading laspistols (best thing for mansions imo)
2 gauss pistols +6 clips(for the tough enemies)
plenty of hellerium grenates
2 dart pistols, zapper, electro-whip,
2 rippers, 4 pipes (useful when your gal panic and loses all weapons and needs something to kill with anyways).

I started in one big room. Just went outside this room and stood in the corridors, securing 3 different directions, making sure there is no way they can approach without being shot at.
It was church. I just waited, enemies were just jumping in front of me. Shooting galley, barely made it with gauss ammo.
At one moment one corridor got compromised, since one priest panicked both gals securing this corridor. Took one other gal and went to the nearest intersection, where she found priest - satisfactory kill with a ripper.
After 25 turns they stopped coming, I waited till 30 turns passed and went to the towers, opened the walls with grenades and killed two church maidens in those two towers. Mission ended, which was a relief, since my previous mission was a horror of 80 turns wandering through 6 levels of gigantic building.
2 gals got hit, mainly because of panic (bravery of 50, the ones with a higher one do not panic).
It turned out to be surprisingly easy and I guess waiting for 20 turns for everyone to come to me will be my favored tactic.

[Arthanor]

Isn't the Bonny able to go on those missions too? I'm surprised you guys are trying it with such small crews.

[superschokokeks]

That's because you think you shouldn't take a large crew to a robbery. I mean did you ever heard of a stealth-robbery of 22 people. Maybe 11 to 13. And bootypedia let you think you shouldn't do it do, although It never says or imply that.

If you think of a stealth mission, you think of few people.

And It's easier to take care of less people, hide and such thing. at least you could think that
What isn't true either, because more gals -> more loot can be taken and easier to kill enemies

A thing, which should be figured out by the player.

[Arthanor]

Well, this is more of a covert assault and less of a stealth robbery.. You disguise yourselves to get in, then slaughter everyone to get their loot (or slaughter everyone who's standing between you and the loot, than between you and then between you and the exit. That's not really a cat burglar's way.. When I read up on the mission, I immediately thought I would bring as many people as possible, especially since you are restrained to pretty basic tools.

I think I'll dress all the gals in skimpy outfits and they'll get in as a troupe of exotic dancers Although being the maid crew for the new shift is a decent enough cover, I feel like my gals are a bit burly for maids.

[new_civilian]

Isn't the Bonny able to go on those missions too? I'm surprised you guys are trying it with such small crews.

True, but I did not have more people at hand, the rest was wounded...
Like I said, my gal team was not really ready.

Oh and of course it helps to have a second craft so that the equipment can be split up easier. 

[Dioxine]

Take any crew size and craft freely, if the craft is too large, you'll be notified and forbidden to start mission

@Civilian: Ret Lasgun is 1x3, not 1x2 lol Also the thief armor is not an assault armor, it's thief armor with insane carrying capacity and bonus TU & Reactions to run with the loot, hence it has to have debiliating penalties in other areas not to be the Armor to End All Armors The only secondary function it has is a flamethrower trooper. I'm actually very pleased that you tried all-thief outfit and failed - the armor is just right then!

[new_civilian]

Yeah, I guess I have to adapt my tactics and strategy...

And the reticulan lasgun is 1x3?    Oh, ok....

[bluberd]

Isn't the Bonny able to go on those missions too? I'm surprised you guys are trying it with such small crews.

Yes, Bonaventura works in there, but I am not the biggest fan of this vessel - it has no closing hatch - I like to drop granades and then hide back behind doors. I also sold Bonny to have a free hangar for Thunderhorse (leaving me with Nightmare and Crab and a Mansion mission fading out after ~10 days, which was longer than the manufacture of new craft).
Also, once you sell Bonny, there is no way to buy it back, no matter the price you are willing to pay. Earlier in the game, when I realised Bonny was the only craft with a roof hatch and Deliverator nor the Crab have it, I loaded back my older save.
Now I can manufacture Thunderhorse which is nice, but I'm not sure if I will like the tactical setup of hatches. I really love Kraken - the front hatch gives you nice and safe/easly defendable space to unload troops, while the top gives you nice sniper/hmg shooting platform.
I also like small groups - 6 gals is a very flexible team - you get 2 assault teams of two, sniper and a squad support weapon(HMG in my case). 8 gals in Kraken are nice addition when you start to use mindprobe and a second heavy hitter always helps.
More than 10 is usually a crowd for me, I like dynamic movement.

[new_civilian]

I just got the Eurosyndicate LaserPistol in my campaign. It does less damage than the Gauss Pistol, but is still strong enough for any of those lightly-armoured guys on a Mansion Mission. It has the benefit of faster firing, better accuracy and more ammo. What's there not to like?

Gonna test it on my next Mansion run, NOW I am really prepared. ES Laspistols, shock'a'fists, hellerium grenades, mushroom beer, finely distilled rum, thief armour and some nurses. And of course the mighty parrot of doom 

Interestingly the game seems to know I'm ready... No Mansion mission appears! 

[Arthanor]

My first mansion just popped up! Now I'm preparing for it.

As we speak, pistols are being shipped from my storage base to the main base, gals are passing tests to see if they are best suited for pipes, daggers or barbed daggers, and for handles or fistycuffs, and runts are busy making barbed daggers (never bothered..), ammo (I don't keep pistol ammo, since I don't use pistols much) and bombs.

I've also tried it and managed to start the mission without issues (except crazy amounts of lag, which I blame on not having upgraded to the new vision scheme).

Now my few questions:
- Where, except the ruleset, do I see which armors can be taken to the mansion?
- Where can I see what maid armor does? (I assume it's light, no protection and no slots, but knowing would be better).
- Why do you guys rate parrots for mansion raids? It feels like something where you clear room by room and don't need to advance much. An extra gal for kills/stuns/heals/loot seems better than a parrot for scouting since there won't be that much open space where a fast flying scout is most helpful.

[ivandogovich]

Now my few questions:
- Where, except the ruleset, do I see which armors can be taken to the mansion?
- Where can I see what maid armor does? (I assume it's light, no protection and no slots, but knowing would be better).
- Why do you guys rate parrots for mansion raids? It feels like something where you clear room by room and don't need to advance much. An extra gal for kills/stuns/heals/loot seems better than a parrot for scouting since there won't be that much open space where a fast flying scout is most helpful.

1 - not sure.  Mission prep? New Battle?  This would be great to add to the bootypedia.
2 - https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Armor_%28Piratez%29

[Dioxine]

It's right there in the frikken mission description when you research it. Too vague? Well sorry, it ain't a game for kids. Sorry Arthanor but let's be sensible here, describing everything down to a T would equal the player with a monkey, or the game with an excel sheet.
Maid outfit can be researched randomly, there are also maid outfit sets in the Mansion to loot and research. Some faith god damn it.

[Arthanor]

Well, I love the challenge of prepping for new, different missions, which is why I love the idea of new enviros and the special missions they enable. You get to take armors and weapons you wouldn't otherwise to try to rise to the new challenge posed by a different map and enemies. But I am one of those weirdos that are very methodical in equipping crews and organizing, so I like to know, even though I do understand that some stuff needs to be unknown. Please take the questions more as a sign of over excitement at the opportunity to take on this cool new mission than criticizing, Dioxine.

I did overlook the list of available armors in the research topic, my bad. It popped a while ago, I read it, then I forgot about it. I think I mentioned earlier I have a goldfish memory? I really do..

Regarding maid outfit, I find it odd that you don't know what it does before going in, but I guess it's because you grab them once in and figure it out then. That does make it a lot more awkward to prepare for your first mission though, especially since you don't really want to leave stuff on the floor. But I guess if you do manage to subdue everything, then you get your loot back any ways.

[Dioxine]

I'm not offended, just these sort of requests are made very, very often... and I do a hell of a lot of work to appease them, which is never enough (I even marked mansion invasions topic with exclamation marks for an easier find). But my approach to modding is to support experiment on player's part. Raid a Mansion, grab what you can, learn what you can and escape. This will be the real lesson, since, well - how could your Brainers figure everything out in advance? Some things can only be learned in battle!

Then you can go in for real when the Mansion spawns again (about 30% chance each month afair).

[Arthanor]

Fair enough! It's funny how the availability of guides and wikis on the web has taken out our willingness to experiment in games, which is exactly why I play Piratez (I don't know everything! it's like discovering XCom again! ), even though I still get annoyed when I don't know everything..!

So I think I am done with my Mansion prep. I'm putting it up here for a "critique". Random notes:
1- I am in June of year 1, so quite low tech
2- I try to avoid the wiki or fishing in the ruleset, so some things are unknown (like what maid outfit does)..
3 - The mansion site remains around for a while, which is great as you get to actually prepare for it. That increases the feeling of "something big"
4 - From my quick tests, the new vision code helps A LOT with performance
5 - I use the advanced motion scanner. In a mansion, that thing is gonna be AWESOME (but given the 10 levels, it's probably going to paint blip boxes everywhere.

My preparation:
Step 1: gather all pistols in main base (I don't use them much generally, they were in the training or storage bases)

Step 2: all brainers on thieving gear (It's made for Mansion missions, better get it before going!)

Step 3: Pipes, barbed or normal daggers?

Spoiler:

Dagger:  75%/7 ; 20 + 0.2*S + 0.2*M
BDagger: 70%/8 ; 20 + 0.4*S + 0.1*M
Pipe:    75%/8 ; 20 + 0.6*S

0.1*M > 0.2*S
=> M > 2*S

Pipes are better damage than either daggers provided your strength is greater than half your melee. Since strength is much easier to train, that's the case for pretty much everyone on my crew. Pipes galores! (and you might stun something accidentally once in a while, yay!)

Step 4: Ranged weapons:
good Throwing > Fuso or ninja?

Spoiler:

Fuso: 24 TUs
50T: 53%/23
60T: 77%/32
70T: 1/44
80T: 1/58
Ninja: 18TUs (2/3!)
50T: 63%/15
60T: 90%/22
70T: 1/30
80T: 1/38

=> Fuso for >60T
=> Ninja for >50T and no armor
I never use ninja stars, but in this case, it looks worth it: 16 shots for 2x1, compared to 5 with knives, and similar damage/TUs on low armor targets.

Otherwise, which pistol?
Clockwork:   29, 50%/28% & 3 shots -> 50% of 2-3 hits at 100 Firing = for better damage on low armors than any pistol I have. Fast unloads so pretty manoeuvrable. Annoying reloads and small clips.
Magnum/Chem: 44, 65%/35% & 95%/45% -> armor sniper, only got a few...
Eagle:       37, 50%/20% & 80%/36% -> good accuracy, decent damage
SMG/Chem:    24, 40%/24% & 45%/18% & 60%/30% & 4 shots -> Up close damage and armor reduction

Step 5: Fistycuffs or handles?

Spoiler:

Fisty:  1.35*( 0+0.6*S+0.2*M)
Handle: 1.15*(10+0.2*S+0.4*B

Damage:
1.35*(0+0.6*S+0.2*M) > 1.15*(10+0.2*S+0.4*B)
1.17*(0.6*S+0.2*M) > 10+0.2*S+0.4*B
0.7*S+0.24*M > 0.2*S+0.4*B
=> 0.5*S+0.24*M > 0.4*B

Hit:
0.65*M > 0.70*(M/3+65)
0.65*M > 0.24*M+46
0.40*M > 46
=> M > 115

If half your strength + a quarter of your melee is more than 40% (2/5) of your bravery, take fistycuffs. Handles are great for not risking to kill VIPs though.. So basically take some of each depending on bravery... Nothing new...

Step 6: Get thieving armor (yay!)

Spoiler:

Bad for melee (-20 M)
Bad for shooting (-30 F)
OK for throwing (-10 T)
28/25 carry space & +20 weight!!
OK for running (-20 Stam, 100% stam regen)

=> Works for throwing gals! (knives, bombs, ninja stars, etc. Lots of space for loot and throwables)

Step 7: RESEARCH!!
Concentrate brainers on:
- Poisons & Acids (Acid Flasks!)
- Chem grenade (for chem munitions...)
- Chem munitions (for SMG & Magnum Acid, see above)

Step 8: Random spartan crash recovery with newb team on skyranger (SO SLOW..!)
(Meaning: try and keep your best gals healthy while prepping to get the A team in the mission!)

Step 7: What to trow?

Spoiler:

Molotovs: Inc/55%
BFB:  60/60%
Acid: 50/36% *0-20 armor damage <- armor debuff & FAST
Frag: 65+Prime/Throw <- Grenade chain
WP:   60+Prime/Throw <- FIRE!!
Chem: 40+Prime/Throw <- AoE armor debuff (all sides?!)

Mostly black fire bombs, some acid flasks on great throwers, and frag grenades for longer range fights

Step 8: Other stuff?
- Aye-phones
- Small medipacks (5 heals in 1x1 slot)
- First aid kits (not as good, but buyable...)
- Vodka (for VIPs)
- Rum (for gals! great to self-medicate if isolated)

Step 9: Crew
- No "sniper" (high F, no R) since close quarters
- No parrots: Need to kill and carry loot
- Close quarters mean reactions is key

Step 10: Roles:
High Throwing: Thieves (lots of throwing stuff)
High Firing and Reactions: Cover fire (Magnums & Clockwork, Akimbo style)
High Melee and Reactions: Frontlines (Pipes/Daggers + SMG)