Re: The X-Com Files - 3.4: Daggers for Hire

[Juku121]

I have all the dagon sorcerer follow-ups completed, I assume you mean messengers of dagon? It says for that will attempt to catch these messengers on land (although I have this completed for quite some time, not seen a mission like this yet)

...I kinda assumed there would be a lot of "deep ones attack village" mission that i remember from Lewis and Ben playthrough but not seen any yet , so i didnt worry so much

Yes, that's the 10 -> 28% per month mission I mentioned. But these are somewhat low chances, so no suprise the RNG isn't cooperating with you.

I've not found much use for it myself, though.

I've seen some people really like the armour-piercing, no-LoS damage, but that was quite a while ago.

The information is not available in-game.

Well, technically it is. But it's quite similar to looking things up on the wiki or in the game files, just without tabbing out of the game.

[psavola]

At least in the playthrough , that was back In 0.9 version.. the sectopods were vulnerable to the staff of heart grip, so it was very effective way to dispatch them from safe distance. Their highly trained+talented psi guys could kill a sectopod with 2 hits from the staff

Sectopods only take 10 % damage from BIO, so I doubt that's very useful for them. Even with max PSI skill and strength the actual damage would still be puny. I suppose something has changed (probably with various damage types) in the meanwhile.

I don't think you need to worry about ways of dealing with Sectopods in a good while.

I also saw the staff used a bit when watching some B&L walkthrough. I suppose a way to inflict damage, do panic or MC without LOS could be useful in some settings, but it drains sanity rather quickly. I've found conventional weapons to be sufficient in most contexts.

[theophilos]

Thanks for replies,

Ok it must have got nerfed long ago, there was also no sanity back then lol they just had a stimmer following them around , but it seemed to make alien bases extremely easy so makes sense it got nerfed

A nice update:

I managed to get promotion 3 with cyberweb portal being taken, the cyberweb "bases" are not so bad! Their attack on a military base was more difficult. I had some newly aquired smart black ops rifles which came in handy , used motion scanners to slowly advance through , and took the portal. Now I have 3 months to research some missiles and planes


1. BTW, does psi defense (on armor) where it does the calculations for psi skill*stuff*stuff, ... does this reduce damage by psi damage such as from ghosts? Or does it only defend against psi attacks like panicking and mind control ?

(In other words, does high psi skill agents take less damage from ghosts which do psi attacks)

2. How does carapace plate work? It seems be just an item but how do I get the benefits? It doesn't seem to count as an armor,  do I just have it in backpack?

[theophilos]

Another q:

How is the advanced intelligene center actually improvemt over original besides more scientists? Is it's purpose simply to have a building thay can have 7 scientists?

Also, I am confused if I'm supposed to build an intel center, then an advanced one? Do I destroy the old one? Do I have both? Do I go straight to building one?

It simply states each base can "only have one intelligejve center or an advanced intelligrjve center" which I take to mean you cannot have both.

[psavola]

(In other words, does high psi skill agents take less damage from ghosts which do psi attacks)

PSK does not reduce amount of PSI damage you take from attacks.

2. How does carapace plate work? It seems be just an item but how do I get the benefits? It doesn't seem to count as an armor,  do I just have it in backpack?

It works like a grenade and it grows on you (I think to you backpack). I never bothered with it myself, the stats seemed unimpressive.

How is the advanced intelligene center actually improvemt over original besides more scientists? Is it's purpose simply to have a building thay can have 7 scientists?

Also, I am confused if I'm supposed to build an intel center, then an advanced one? Do I destroy the old one? Do I have both? Do I go straight to building one?

It simply states each base can "only have one intelligejve center or an advanced intelligrjve center" which I take to mean you cannot have both.

Advanced Intel Center provides space for two more scientists and a better global UFO detection rate. You can build it over the regular one (= upgrade) if you want.

I have never built it myself, in my opinion the high price tag is not worth it. At the stage it's relevant it's more important to build more bases and research capacity in other ways.

[Juku121]

It works like a grenade and it grows on you (I think to you backpack).

Yes, you carry this somewhere on you ( I think it might even work in the agent's hands, but backpack is indeed the usual place; I myself have added a dedicated vest slot for it).

Although I'm not sure it really grows on you, in any sense.

I've never bothered with Carapace plate myself, but the spidersilk vests are pretty nice earlier on. Maybe you can make a grenade magnet by adding carapace to something like the heavy tac suits, IDK.

I managed to get promotion 3 with cyberweb portal being taken, the cyberweb "bases" are not so bad!

Yeah, I was thinking of the extradimensional missions when I wrote 'too hard'. My bad.

BTW, does psi defense (on armor) where it does the calculations for psi skill*stuff*stuff, ... does this reduce damage by psi damage such as from ghosts? Or does it only defend against psi attacks like panicking and mind control ?

Yep, as psavola said.

To expand, 'Psi defence' is not really a stat, it's a replacement formula for vanilla's PST + PSK/5.

It doesn't work on psi damage, since the latter is basically just the name of a damage type. Some enemies might have both better psi defence and high psi resistance, but this is done manually.

[theophilos]

Ok thanks for replies,

Does anyone know any ways to improve performance? I'm on pretty junk laptop but, for example Dr. ALPHA map, it takes a longggg time ti move my troops on the top starting level, it's taken over 20 minutes to walk to other side of map, and then the game drashed when I went to night vision so now I got to do it all over again lol didjt even get to enter the lair

Had similar issue with red dawn HQ, things speed up lower level I go


Edit: I found workaround: if I move troops in a way where they are offscreen while moving, they move much faster not showing animations

[Juku121]

The only surefire ways to improve performance and not just skip visuals I know are to either a) reduce vision range (I play with 30 myself, although not for performance reasons; but this is not simple to do in a comprehensive manner) or b) reduce map sizes (in alienDeployments_XCOMFILES.rul; might not want to do it too much since some maps may not work then).

That includes reducing map height, but most maps are already about as low as they can be. Underground maps are the worst because of this.

[Vakrug]

How does carapace plate work?

For those who wants to delve deeper into magical aspects of this game, I suggest to examine "scripts_XCOMFILES.rul" file inside "user/mods/XComFiles/Ruleset".

[Fiskun1]

Anyone use a Position Marker?
I read the reviews on the forum and realized that few people use this equipment... If anyone is using it, please tell me how to do it most effectively?

[psavola]

Anyone use a Position Marker?
I read the reviews on the forum and realized that few people use this equipment... If anyone is using it, please tell me how to do it most effectively?

Did you find these threads (top 3 answers when searching for 'position marker'), are those suggestions not sufficient? All of these seem to include some explicit suggestions how to use them.

https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11466.msg157415.html#msg157415
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11156.msg153780.html#msg153780
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10460.msg145096.html#msg145096

[Fiskun1]

I read all this, thank you.
Apparently, this device is still of little use...

[Xylon666Darkstar]

They're used for detecting high camo enemies such as BL Assassins.

Additionally, useful for noobie agents on night missions with still poor night vision. Provided, you know how to tactically place and utilize them.

[Chuckebaby]

i fought for many months trying to deal with Sectopods. Plasma is a never ending battle. It just isn't reliable enough for Sectopods.
I found the Portable laser to be the most effective.
I assign 2 or 3 soldiers as specialty units. Their main job is to wipe out Sectopods.

[Fiskun1]

How can you tell which of your agents has already undergone bio-enhancement and which has not? I didn't find this option in the agent filter. In the case of training, this is indicated explicitly, but here it is not very clear.