A thread for little questions

[RSSwizard]

@RSSwizard
To be able to research Mystery Box you need to have "Pers. Study" service (provided by Personal Labs or Study Room) in the same base. Casinos are PITA to build (because drastic Red Chip shortage, which I had to solve with a Mint)

Had the extra labs thing, but it still wasn't there.
Also a red chips shortage? Personally ive got an enormous amount of them and theyre hard to sell. Because I Ex: Money Purse and Bag Of Cash to get blue chips to play. I often have to sell down thousands of red chips at a time.

And yeah I make an absolute fortune off dumping blue chips into the slot machine. Ive had more Zortium and Neutronium coupons come up than a statistical pirate can count. And I dont think it came muchfrom the copper or iron coupon redemptions either.

Would you believe I made it to month 18 without researching the Hideout Search Orders? I only just noticed because I hit another ambulance and it was still generating that item. Maybe thats why the GDX prison hasn't spawned yet. Is the prison necessary for something or can I just skip the Dr. X plot arc?   I wanna get rid of my airvan.

[Darkseedx]

Those circles when you build a new hideout are they possible radar ranges because I cannot figure out how to get to the 5th circle.

Is the Hyperwave decoder the last radar?

[Apocca]

I think voodoo skill is not trained with the school. You only see progress you made during tactical battles.
Anyone who used voodoo for the first time will get their voodoo skill revealed which is the initial +40 you sometimes see in the school.

[Nilex]

@RSSwizard
I believe the X-prison is its own separate branch, not necessary for endgame. But it's a pretty cool story line and gives you various decent items depending on choice. The battle with Dr.X is also pretty original. Btw for Casino you need just under 8k red coins. I might have accumulated enough to build one had I extracted every single treasure item but after a while I lost interest and opted to directly sell for pure cash. Btw you can transform one $50 000 Obsidian Chip into 225 million worth of Red Chips with the Mint but the labor is so intensive you'd likely finish the game before even one transformation is complete (just my impression).

@Darkseedx
circles are possible radars, yes. 5th circle tech you get via later bounty prize (Alenium, from Goblin Zaxx). New radar does not provide Hyperwave functionality sadly, just regular radar but at max possible range currently and its own little set of pros and cons. One could build both and sacrifice one plot space but so far I'm sticking with HW only. I pretty much have all but 90% of the Pacific covered and no need for more coverage.

[ZoA]

I think voodoo skill is not trained with the school. You only see progress you made during tactical battles.
Anyone who used voodoo for the first time will get their voodoo skill revealed which is the initial +40 you sometimes see in the school.

I'm fairly certain that voodoo school does train voodoo skill, but only for gals that have ad least some points in voodoo skill to begin with. From what I have observed gals with 0 voodoo skill stay at 0 indefinitely regardless of the time spent in voodoo school, but gals that  have voodoo skill > 0 gain more voodoo skill  even when I don't take them on any missions and they just sit in a base.

I'm not sure if this is undocumented but intended feature or if it is a bug, and if it was always so or if it was introduced only in recent patches. I certainly can't find anything in www.xpiratez.wtf or Dioxin's patch notes that would exsplane what i can see game doing with voodoo skill training.

[RolandVasko]

How i wCould even beat that Silver Towers Ship ?

[Nilex]

Someone with exact same problem mentioned using anti-shield missiles (Medusa I guess) to take down its shields proved successful. I just encountered my first one and had to let him go because I was totally unprepared. It easily took down my 4x2 LasCannon armed Nightmares. Even by savescumming the fight itself I couldn't penetrate the shields.

[ZoA]

To correct my earlier post after some more testing I got instance where Powers of Seduction increased voodoo skill of a gal with voodoo skill at 0. It seems previously I had long string of bad XP rolls that made me think Powers of Seduction no longer gives voodoo skill experience.

TL-DR: Can confirm Seductress outfit still useful for training voodoo skill.

[RSSwizard]

How wCould i even beat that Silver Towers Ship ?

Its not a balanced encounter. Its kinda like a persona game bonus boss, pretty much a easter egg deal. Ive heard you have to use as much anti-shield stuff as you can and even then you'll probably have to reload the battle several times until you get high dice rolls on the damage.

[legionof1]

Those circles when you build a new hideout are they possible radar ranges because I cannot figure out how to get to the 5th circle.

Is the Hyperwave decoder the last radar?

There is one further special kind, but it lacks the decoder function in exchange for large range and other base functions. It requires specially obtained resources so dont expect to have many.

I'm fairly certain that voodoo school does train voodoo skill, but only for gals that have ad least some points in voodoo skill to begin with. From what I have observed gals with 0 voodoo skill stay at 0 indefinitely regardless of the time spent in voodoo school, but gals that  have voodoo skill > 0 gain more voodoo skill  even when I don't take them on any missions and they just sit in a base.

I'm not sure if this is undocumented but intended feature or if it is a bug, and if it was always so or if it was introduced only in recent patches. I certainly can't find anything in www.xpiratez.wtf or Dioxin's patch notes that would exsplane what i can see game doing with voodoo skill training.

School does train skill, the weirdness described is a symptom of the optional advanced setting "Psionic training at any time". If you have this option disabled a unit must be in training for a full calendar month(1st to 1st) to get any benefits as was the case in vanilla Xcom. With it enabled you only need a month of consecutive days rather then being forced to conform to the calendar.

Psi training is a special case in that when you start the process it gives the unit a big chunk of negative XP which is then erased over the month at which point the unit is set to full XP possible. It functions like this so that every unit will always receive maximum benefit regardless of stats on entry or unit type, and still always takes the full months time regardless of option setting.

Its not a balanced encounter. Its kinda like a persona game bonus boss, pretty much a easter egg deal. Ive heard you have to use as much anti-shield stuff as you can and even then you'll probably have to reload the battle several times until you get high dice rolls on the damage.

Silver towers is defiantly a Boss Battle. It intended as a means of last resort to have a shot a a Star God VIP and from him the Star God code key for Cydonia. You need as many Tesla cannons as you can get on target at once(Sabers with x4 are a good pick), and then a secondary means once the shield is down.
Medusas can help but you can't pack nuff to break the shield due to its hefty in battle regen rate. There is no combination of craft that can load nuff Medusas to break the shield in one sortie and still have ammo for the hull.

Conventional wisdom is to ignore them and get the key from one of the other routes. Star god base, Star god Crackdowns, and Rare version of the "Falcon" smuggler, all provide an shot at the code key. If none of these have happened you can build up for a towers encounter specifically to end the game sooner since towers are more frequent in the late game then any of the other routes.

[ZoA]

Psi training is a special case in that when you start the process it gives the unit a big chunk of negative XP which is then erased over the month at which point the unit is set to full XP possible. It functions like this so that every unit will always receive maximum benefit regardless of stats on entry or unit type, and still always takes the full months time regardless of option setting.

TY for the explanation Legionof1. You are a treasure.

[thomas the train]

So i've tried googling this and the search function on this forum brought up lots of things about the research itself.   I might be searching with the wrong term.

But What exactly does choosing a Man's touch lock you out of?    I saw an older post say that it just locks you out of directly recruiting Gals/stronger versions of Gals (And in return Gals are superior just locked you out of a bit of hiring men). 

Looking at the tech tree a bit more there's various super woman upgrades, does choosing a man's touch lock you out of that as well?    Will i get different building modules and such depending on route, or is it mostly the same just instead of directly recruiting Gals i have to rely on RNG and rescuing/kidnapping them?

[Nilex]

@thomas
I was stuck investigating and deciding the same thing for quite some time. As a completionist it's a nightmare scenario. To get the most out of the choice picks Gals, that's the short answer. It locks out fewest things and Slave Soldiers can be recruited in heaps bit later on so it doesn't feel like a wrong choice. The only thing I can remember choosing Gals disables is TRUCKS vessel along with few SS specific research and some goodies. Nothing to worry about as Gals got you covered with superior alternatives. The choice I guess is intended as bragging rights as it increases difficulty (I'd say tedium) in addition to one you started with. Gals can be recruited via Men path too but only at fraction (around 1 per month) of regular speed (unlimited basically). Will they still have super upgrades available I don't know, sorry.

If you wish to really go in-depth I suggest thoroughly investigating ?We Need Male Touch? to see what leads/disables what, as I'm sure nobody is crazy enough to keep an up-to-date list. Online BootyPedia is up-to-date however as it's auto-updated when new patch deploys, so it's an accurate source albeit an involved one.

[legionof1]

The male path only locks out the first 2 tiers of buyable gals, hands and warriors. So it while it may be delayed and more expensive you still end up with unlimited gals in the long run. Even early on you have plenty of presented chances to get more gals from events and early encounters like gal distress calls, red lantern villa, ect. Also Glamor recruitment and freaks remain unaltered, so even so your not completely locked out of buys. 

Given how sturdy the gals tend to be, careful play leads to very few deaths of there kind. Lots of injury time can become a problem because the pool of gals can be limited, but you can always sub in the more expendable SS and peasants. SS and peasants are not actually bad units, merely vanilla xcom agent level, gals just happen to be superhuman in a world with a very small fraction of superhuman opponents.

As far as gear lockouts, those are very minimal, Male route misses out on one mid game flying armor which some people swear by for a certain set of encounters. In compensation they get Trucks craft, an extra training for SS. All the other differences are just tech order timeing, Some things are lower teir for male then gals like operator armor for SS.

At least at present you end up in much the same place regardless of route once your out of say the first 18 months or so. That may change someday but it will be a very slow process, late game. and major choices are like 5% or less complete.   

[Nilex]

Does anyone know where I can find the Technocracy datapad or the tome of life?

I was on the lookout ever since you posted but then forgot where you posted it I so I couldn't answer you back...

Technocracy Datapad #1 is found on a downed HK-117. Mission itself is easy but the air battle was quite hard when I first encountered it. I waited until Lascannons since I hate using missiles. Following research leads to stoppage of further missile attacks altogether but since they're tied to datapad research one shouldn't be able to lock oneself out. Kinda surprising you missed it (maybe item generation is too RNG) since missile attacks and preceding HK-117 patrols were abundant AF. Thank God they can be disabled forever!

Tome of Life I have yet to find. Will dump the update here when I do. UPDATE: It is found on 3rd stage of Winter Palace assault (currently final part of Aurora's Plot set of missions). This could be a 1-time-only mission after you beat 2nd stage, and 3rd stage is optional even, potentially locking you out. Btw 3rd stage would easily be the worst mission ever designed (of all games) had OXCE's AI algorithm wouldn't actively seek you out. ToL better be f-ing worth it!

Far too late for you in particular so I'm only answering coz question is bound to come up again and this forum has good enough search function to spit this answer out.