Re: The X-Com Files - 3.5: Whispers In The Dark

[Juku121]

No it was an agent. Not an AI unit.

Were any of them actually Kyberi?

I wonder if I could have had time to meet with the agent, or was it originally intended?

No, you were doomed from the start.

[theophilos]

Hello sometimes I see people recommend to leave abort missions

For example, I also saw in the yogscast playthrough years ago, they landed and aborted many missions but didn't take point loss unless civilians

Sometimes when I abort missions I get a hefty abort mission negative, while in other missions there is only maybe civilian dying negative. Is there a way to know which missions are skippable? Generally I try to do all missions

[Fiskun1]

I also try to complete all the missions, but sometimes I have to retreat, which makes the game even more interesting.
Note that if you don't complete a mission, you are usually told that the case is not closed. Probably, such missions receive some kind of penalty - it would be logical.

[Juku121]

Mission abort score penalty is (always? haven't checked everything) lower than despawn score penalty. The latter you can see when you click on a mission marker, so if it looks bad, it's worth trying to go there even if you're certain you won't be able to do the mission. If the despawn score is peanuts, go ahead and ignore it if you wish.

Civilian deaths do skew this calculus a bit.

AFAIK, 'case is not closed' is just a string - there's no general mechanic for continuing the 'case'. While theoretically, one could do this on a mission-by-mission basis, I don't recall anything like that existing in the mod.

[Chuckebaby]

Were any of them actually Kyberi?

That's what I can't figure out, how to get them Kyberi :-)

There's no such thing as skull plate. For what it's worth, at least a few implant installations have worked just fine for me (obviously must have med bay for any of them).

Sorry, meant Skull jack.

You mean Sickbay/Advanced sick bay ? or maybe there is a Medbay I missed ?

EDIT: Yup, research never popped for medbay

[Juku121]

That's what I can't figure out, how to get them Kyberi

Complete the Cyberweb arc.

You mean Sickbay/Advanced sick bay ? or maybe there is a Medbay I missed ?

No, these two are what you need.

[Fiskun1]

No, you were doomed from the start.

My second mission to meet the agent was radically different.
Now they wrote to me that the agent is on site and needs to be escorted to the vehicle. The map was just like the first time. There was no ambush.
I did not see anyone and made exactly one turn, after which the mission ended - I received one prisoner (apparently, this was the same agent). In addition, I got some junk and... $100,000 + $500,000 . Probably, this agent robbed one of the Cults

[krautbernd]

My second mission to meet the agent was radically different.
Now they wrote to me that the agent is on site and needs to be escorted to the vehicle. The map was just like the first time. There was no ambush.
I did not see anyone and made exactly one turn, after which the mission ended - I received one prisoner (apparently, this was the same agent). In addition, I got some junk and... $100,000 + $500,000 . Probably, this agent robbed one of the Cults

Yes, "Meet the informant" missions are basically all different mission sites named the same way so you have no way of knowing which one was actually spawned. They all have the same spawn chance and research triggers, so it's essentially random which one you get.

[theophilos]

The intelligence center states "you won't be able to research intelligence projects without this lab (or an HQ) present "

Why does it say "or an hq"? Does it mean this facility is nit necessary on your hq base?

I am also confused on what exactly it does and how to tell if a tech requires the building to research. Will you be able to assign researches but it won't make progress?

For example, MIB has been taking a long time to interrogate, abd I wonder if it's because I have no intelligence center on main base

[psavola]

The intelligence center states "you won't be able to research intelligence projects without this lab (or an HQ) present "

Why does it say "or an hq"? Does it mean this facility is nit necessary on your hq base?

HQ provides the function "Intel Lab", so the text is correct. It is needed for interrogations (and a few other things). It is still useful to build an intel lab, because you get the additional scientists.

I am also confused on what exactly it does and how to tell if a tech requires the building to research. Will you be able to assign researches but it won't make progress?

For example, MIB has been taking a long time to interrogate, abd I wonder if it's because I have no intelligence center on main base

"Intel Lab" facility just allows you to research somethings you otherwise couldn't research. It doesn't speed things up at all.

If you are curious, here's the list where it's needed: https://xcf.trigramreactor.net/master/article/INTLAB

When deciding what to research it is advisable to also take into account how much work it takes. MIB agents require 180 scientist days, while for example Black Lotus Footmen only 10 days. You can see the difficulty with symbols ".", "-", "=" and "#" which correspond to how difficult it is (from the easiest to the more difficult). In the beginning I wouldn't waste the precious research capacity to MIB agents.

[theophilos]

HQ provides the function "Intel Lab", so the text is correct. It is needed for interrogations (and a few other things). It is still useful to build an intel lab, because you get the additional scientists.

"Intel Lab" facility just allows you to research somethings you otherwise couldn't research. It doesn't speed things up at all.

If you are curious, here's the list where it's needed: https://xcf.trigramreactor.net/master/article/INTLAB

When deciding what to research it is advisable to also take into account how much work it takes. MIB agents require 180 scientist days, while for example Black Lotus Footmen only 10 days. You can see the difficulty with symbols ".", "-", "=" and "#" which correspond to how difficult it is (from the easiest to the more difficult). In the beginning I wouldn't waste the precious research capacity to MIB agents.

ohhh ok makes sense now

Does canceling a research project make it start over when started again? I have had a single guy on the MIB guy for awhile , but afraid to cancel it in case it makes me start from scratch again lol

Also I never noticed those symbols, I will have to look out for them, are they on the extra info screen of the techs?

[Juku121]

Yes, cancelling a project wipes out all progress. Researching the same thing in several bases doesn't stack, either. X-Com believes in competitive research.

The scientist-day estimators are visible in the Tech Tree Viewer (MMB). Note that these are only estimations, the actual cost of the project can be 50%-150% of that, decided when you click on the 'START PROJECT' button.

[krautbernd]

Does canceling a research project make it start over when started again? I have had a single guy on the MIB guy for awhile , but afraid to cancel it in case it makes me start from scratch again lol

Instead of cancelling you can also simply assign 0 scientists to the project, that way you don't lose any progress.

[theophilos]

1998 arrived and I jist got science lab, but no osprey yet.

A manor appeared , but it seems difficult go get close and I hear they are difficult

Shpuld I ignore it until osprey ?

[Juku121]

Osprey can be researched without a proper lab, although it's probably a pain to do that due to its research time.

Manor air defences can be diverted if that's what you're having trouble with. Or killed off, but you likely don't have actual interceptors with weapons worth the name yet.

If it's still a baby manor, it'll only get worse, so better get it when it's still young. Baby manors can be identified by them having no actual aircraft (fixed wing or rotary) serving as interceptors. Even if there are rotating blades involved, it's still a young manor and should be killed off before it grows worse.

Manors are not that bad, depending on your difficulty level and tolerance for reloading. If you want to have no margin for mistakes, it can be a bit hard. But a Dragonfly's worth of troops and a reload or two can absolutely take a manor, at least a tier 1-2 manor, especially if it's one without enemies who have grenade launchers (or Deep Ones Gillmen)