So ... I ran out of stuff to research. What now?

[rezaf]

Well, what the title says. I never thought it possible ... but yeah, it's April 2603 and I've got nothing left to research.
If I get lucky in my loot, I can still do the occasional decrypted data disc, but that's about all that's left.
Captured enemies, Gun Almanachs, Government Papers ... all appearently exhausted.
I've got some plasma (and a few other) weapons left unresearched, but they spawn no projects (yet).

I dunno if I broke something on the geoscape somehow, but everything is eerily quiet. Well, not really, there's lots of traffic, but it's always the same types.
The church keeps doing sway government missions in south america, but none of the governments there are paying protection money anyway, the last dropped out half a year ago.
They also do the occasional base supply, since they have two bases left there (I kept them around to have something to fall back on in case of a bad month - but my last three months were ~10000 scorewise).
The guild (I think) is doing survey missions in australasia and very rarely, the star gods do some peacekeeping mission - even capturing new star gods spawns no research projects though.
Then there's the occasional civilian mission (disregarding that I already researched the stop targetting civilian traffic thing) ... and that's about it.

On the event side, the most common left is Warehouse Wars, very unfrequently there's a mutant pogrom, the last were of star gods and mercenaries. Managed to win both, but no new research.

Am I supposed to capture some specific type of enemy? Especially with the star gods, this is extremely difficult, since this mod lacks potent stun - I have a few small launchers, but can't research them nor build additional ammo. And stun batons, stasis grenades and cattleprods do jack shit in most cases.

What am I to do?

[Dioxine]

Am I supposed to capture some specific type of enemy? Especially with the star gods, this is extremely difficult, since this mod lacks potent stun

You are so very wrong. You've just got no access to it, or overlooked it. But yes - captures are the key to unlocking new stuff. Especially the difficult ones.

[nrafield]

There are technologies which unlock tech tiers which unlock a new slew of research projects  for you to progress through.  If I were to hazard a guess, you have researched Back to School, but can't research School Graduation, which unlocks the new tech, as you lack Advanced Chemistry, and you need Toxigun for that, but they don't seem to ever appear.

You can also get info on Toxigun from pest control managers, decrypted data disks, ghouls, or guild engineers. Getting it from ghouls would be the easiest if they ever appear, although they are really annoying to capture alive. Pest control managers never appear, data disks have a ton of other info you will unlock first, and so do guild engineers, who also are the best slaves in the game you can get and you should not waste the for research.

There should probably be an easier way to get that research. In my own game which has been continuing for 2 years I've researched literally every prerequisite for School Graduation besides Toxigun. Ghouls and Pest Control Managers simply never appeared for me.

If that is not where you are stuck, check the tech tree for technologies you need to unlock further tech trees there: https://techtreeviewer.byethost9.com/ Back to School > School Graduation > Higher Studies

[rezaf]

You are so very wrong. You've just got no access to it, or overlooked it. But yes - captures are the key to unlocking new stuff. Especially the difficult ones.

Well, at THIS point I am right. Thing is, I just find it strange that there are so many things you have lying around for ages before you can research them. I captured a small launcher in one of my first missions, back when I was still sporting muskets and whatnot. I haven't been able to research it for years now - that's a bit weird and confusing, don't you agree?
Anyway, right now I lack the means to easily capture beefy enemies. What do you suggest I do?

There are technologies which unlock tech tiers which unlock a new slew of research projects  for you to progress through.  If I were to hazard a guess, you have researched Back to School, but can't research School Graduation, which unlocks the new tech, as you lack Advanced Chemistry, and you need Toxigun for that, but they don't seem to ever appear.

I can't find School Graduation, so it seems you hazard-guessed right. I do hovever have Toxigun researched.
I think I lack Heavy Machinery Training, for which I, in turn, lack Power Armor Parts. I just never found any. That isn't even capture related, right?

Thanks!

[Meridian]

Anyway, right now I lack the means to easily capture beefy enemies. What do you suggest I do?

If you have Plate Mail with shield, just use that.
If not, Cattle Prod will do as well... maybe with a little help of Flasks o'Acid.
If not, carry Vodka on every soldier and just stabilize enemies stunned by pure chance (this happens quite often, in 3 years you should have had hundreds of such cases) so they don't bleed to death.

[nrafield]

Power Armor parts are pretty easy to find. You can either get them as drops from dead or strip them from living enemies that you rob or enslave which look like they are wearing a powersuit. Like Marsec Bodyguards which wear that Power Armor from original X-COM which makes them look hilarious.

Anyway if you want to capture enemies without reducing their Armor, I recommend Hammers. It is somewhat dangerous, but if you can get a single hit in, heavily armored enemies usually immediately drop, and more often still alive than not.

I'm not sure if you get power armor parts from dead enemies, or if it depends on you clearing the map, or if they are actually hidden in the ships somewhere, but if you capture one alive and rob or enslave him, you'll get some 100%. Only problem - you'll have to capture two enemies because you have to interrogate one first to enslave or rob them!

[rezaf]

Well, that's at least a lead.
None of the enemies I actually researched allow me to rob power armor parts, it's all personal armor parts.
So how do I find a Marsec Bodyguard?
I listed all mission types I get in the OP.

Btw., why is it that nobody but the church builds new bases? That normal?

[Solarius Scorch]

I'm not sure if you get power armor parts from dead enemies

Yes you can, though I think not as many.

So how do I find a Marsec Bodyguard?

Pogroms, gunships, bases.

Btw., why is it that nobody but the church builds new bases? That normal?

Nothing extraordinary.

[Arthanor]

In my game, nobody but mercs builds bases. Farming supply ship ain't a breeze, even with a specialized laser/plasma/chem crew.

Every power unit you kill gives you one power armor part. You also get only one from enslaving enemies (I think it should be more, they're wearing the thing and it's mostly intact!). You're lucky that you don't have to capture anything in power armor yet.

For capturing beefy enemies, load up on chem ammo for shotgun type weapons. Shoot at a given side of the unit a couple times and you will dissolve the armor. (The gung-ho way is to autoshot, the careful way is to snap shot and use a mind probe to make sure you don't kill the target). Once armor is down to manageable levels (40?), move in with your favourite melee stun. Hell, I think it's even possible to stun stuff with knuckles and a maxed out gal (or at worst with only a little chem tebderizing).

This mod has plenty of very strong stun weapons, and plenty of more than decent alternatives for the crafty. The trick is stunning enemies immune to stun damage.. but there are tools for that too.

[ivandogovich]

Hi rezaf!  I'm in the same situation that you are, just a bit further ahead.  I ran out of techs near the end of year two, and I'm gated behind Academy Espers, as I've only gotten lower level missions, and the big vips: Guildmaster, Provost, etc.  I have a Guild base nearby and I need to raid it a few times to get the Guildmasters that I need, but with the Esper and others, I'm out of luck.

The main challenge that we are facing is that mission generation is strictly Randomly Generated.  We end up waiting years for the right factions at the right levels to appear to give us those critical technological unlocks.   And that is just an unfortunate part of the game engine.  There is no adaptive difficulty level, nor adaptive mission generation which would allow for the needed factions to be spawned in convenient orders for the players.

The average game length because of this is 5-6 years in game iirc.

[Arthanor]

Yup, when you encounter a faction, you need to milk them of all you can get out of them.

I met reticulans and thought I got everything, but I am missing one autopsy (mechtoid; I even captured and interrogated one bugger), now I can't research whichever gate tech I'm missing (higher studies? Grad school? Can't remember) and I'm paying 36 brainerz to do nothing...

[nrafield]

Hi rezaf!  I'm in the same situation that you are, just a bit further ahead.  I ran out of techs near the end of year two, and I'm gated behind Academy Espers, as I've only gotten lower level missions, and the big vips: Guildmaster, Provost, etc.  I have a Guild base nearby and I need to raid it a few times to get the Guildmasters that I need, but with the Esper and others, I'm out of luck.

The main challenge that we are facing is that mission generation is strictly Randomly Generated.  We end up waiting years for the right factions at the right levels to appear to give us those critical technological unlocks.   And that is just an unfortunate part of the game engine.  There is no adaptive difficulty level, nor adaptive mission generation which would allow for the needed factions to be spawned in convenient orders for the players.

The average game length because of this is 5-6 years in game iirc.

There's always a way to make it easier.  The "Stop targetting Civillian traffic" research was a good addition in this regard. It might be possible to add another research like that, one that makes Scouts, Runabouts, and other small ships spawn less so you can spend more time in combat with superior ships. But that might be a tad masochistic.

[Arthanor]

I don't think that's possible exactly as you say. Enemy missions have a set selection of ships to fly. One option would be to stop certain missions altogether to replace them with only "endgame" missions. Something like "Open War" where you have become a real problem and the main factions have decided to take you out. That's like being ISIL with the global powers out for you: not manageable long term, but it would increase the number of VIPs (Guildmasters, Provosts, Cardinals, Star Gods) flying around. So you either wait out the rng and slowly capture them, or go to war, fight and get them then strike out at the governor before you get taken out (like the original XCom fight!). Or you just churn out tanks, make money and buy the VIPs from the mercs...

Talking about buying your way out: how about buying reverend, espers and reps for a smaller sum? Those can be frustratingly rare sometimes (like Ivan, I've seen very few espers: 2 in 3 years. I made sure to capture both).

[nrafield]

Well, in any case I think Toxiguns may merit a way to more easily get them - I recall seeing posts where someone else was complaining about not having them for research.  And I've never seen a Pest Control Manager before, do they even exist? And how do you tell them apart from Team Leaders and Marsec Operatives anyway?

[Arthanor]

Treader PCMs are in Mansion missions and on terror sites. They used to be more common when there were fewer factions for early pogroms, then went to near extinct but mansions brought them back (~1 mansion every few months * 3 years / 3 factions should enable you to face a trader mansion at least once).

To me, the toxigun is not a problem. Engineers are quite common for trader crews, you can find the gun on some units (medics I think?), you can get it from disks, you can get it from PCMs, that's not bad. The tech I am after being 1 autopsy of 1 faction is much harder to find, although since it comes as a requirement later, you should have encountered it by then (no idea what I did with the corpse I had...).