A thread for little questions

[rezaf]

How are you supposed to deal with heavily armored enemies?

I guess I'm still in the somewhat early game (just researched back to school a couple of months ago) and my main base got invaded by a force lead by a guild master. I fired away at him for turns at an end (eventually I resorted to savescumming to see if it was at all possible to defeat him) but zero f*cks were given by him. I tried the laser shotgun thing, the hydra laser, what AP specialized weapons I have such as the CAWS, I tried hurling explosives that leveled the room he was in, I tried firing anti tank rockets at him ... without him being impressed in the slightest fashion.
In the end, I looked in the savefile and saw he has in excess of a hundred armor, and despite also trying supposedly armor damaging stuff such as acid and stuff at him, it didn't seem to budge from it's maximum value.
This must've been rebalanced since I last played the game, since I cannot recall having such huge issues with them guys ... how am I supposed to save my base?

[Solarius Scorch]

I tried the laser shotgun thing, the hydra laser, what AP specialized weapons I have such as the CAWS, I tried hurling explosives that leveled the room he was in, I tried firing anti tank rockets at him ... without him being impressed in the slightest fashion.

I can't even see on your list the most basic and obvious weapon: melee. I understand you've certainly tried axes ansd such (who wouldn't), but it's strange you got no results...

[rezaf]

It isn't really that easy to get toe to toe with a guildmaster without being shot to pieces in the approach, but I did try some melee weapons. However, I shipped most of the low-tech stuff to a storage base, so I don't currently have the likes of axes at hand any longer.
An axe will hurt an enemy who shrugs off a bazooka without breaking a sweat?

[Dioxine]

Using AP weapons on him is pointless as long as his shields are up.

[BBHood217]

Which heavy craft weapon is better, the plasma beam or the obliterator cannon?

[cc]

Which heavy craft weapon is better, the plasma beam or the obliterator cannon?

I'm not that far in this playthrough - in past versions I went with Plama Beam as allrounder. The cut-off for enemy craft armor was around 15. And for the heavily armored targets I used Avalanche/Implosion Bombs.

[legionof1]

It isn't really that easy to get toe to toe with a guildmaster without being shot to pieces in the approach, but I did try some melee weapons. However, I shipped most of the low-tech stuff to a storage base, so I don't currently have the likes of axes at hand any longer.
An axe will hurt an enemy who shrugs off a bazooka without breaking a sweat?

There are 2 key things to keep in mind when fighting things like guildmasters, that have both significant shields and high armor. Shields need to be removed first before you can deal with the underlying armor and this is most efficiently done by shotguns(highest dmg for TU spent) or emp grenades(250% dmg). Once you have knocked down the shields, then you can apply armor destruction. Make sure the "glow" animation is gone before you try the armor breakers or they are just wasted.

Another noteworthy things about shields is that Bio type damage bypasses them and usually has significant armor penetration. A gal with good stats can kill guildmaster and such in a few hits with the poison dagger. Impalers are also very effective.

Other more mundane high power melee can do the job if you get rear hits with high stat gals. Early on the spear and pike would be most effective followed by axes.

[rezaf]

There are 2 key things to keep in mind when fighting things like guildmasters, that have both significant shields and high armor. Shields need to be removed first before you can deal with the underlying armor and this is most efficiently done by shotguns(highest dmg for TU spent) or emp grenades(250% dmg). Once you have knocked down the shields, then you can apply armor destruction. Make sure the "glow" animation is gone before you try the armor breakers or they are just wasted.

Another noteworthy things about shields is that Bio type damage bypasses them and usually has significant armor penetration. A gal with good stats can kill guildmaster and such in a few hits with the poison dagger. Impalers are also very effective.

Other more mundane high power melee can do the job if you get rear hits with high stat gals. Early on the spear and pike would be most effective followed by axes.

I did try to whittle away the shields, but I cannot be absolutely sure. I think I'm going to have to fall back to an earlier save and be better prepared.
Thank you very much for the tips, very much appreciated.

[legionof1]

At least in the case of the guild master he has 250 initial shield and regens 50 a turn. So if you dont get him in one turn, which is fairly likely, you will need to reapply your shield stripper of choice again each turn.

[rezaf]

What's it with the ridiculously low ranges of most transports? They are so low they're borderline useless.
300 for the Skyranger? 210 for the Deliverator? 320 for the Metallo that looks like an interstellar transport? Really?
At this pace, why not just make them stuff you can build in your base next to the Workshop and Power Station?
Surely I'm missing something here...

[Zippicus]

What's it with the ridiculously low ranges of most transports? They are so low they're borderline useless.
300 for the Skyranger? 210 for the Deliverator? 320 for the Metallo that looks like an interstellar transport? Really?
At this pace, why not just make them stuff you can build in your base next to the Workshop and Power Station?

Not sure on the Skyranger, but the Deliveratior and Metallo both have global reach.  I can't look at the bootypedia right now but I think you're missing 0's on the end of those numbers.

[ohartenstein23]

What's it with the ridiculously low ranges of most transports? They are so low they're borderline useless.
300 for the Skyranger? 210 for the Deliverator? 320 for the Metallo that looks like an interstellar transport? Really?

Do you know what these "range" units mean?  Or have you actually tried these transports?  I can guarantee you that these are not ridiculously low; they use a different formula for maximum flight range since they require an item to refuel as compared to the battery-powered craft.

Edit: These numbers are correct, they just mean something different than what you are assuming they mean.  And before you ask, this will be changed/fixed fairly soon, just had a discussion about it today.

[rezaf]

Not sure on the Skyranger, but the Deliveratior and Metallo both have global reach.  I can't look at the bootypedia right now but I think you're missing 0's on the end of those numbers.

I'm not, have a look yourself. From how I understand the addendum on ohartenstein's post, it might be a bug, though.

Do you know what these "range" units mean?  Or have you actually tried these transports?  I can guarantee you that these are not ridiculously low; they use a different formula for maximum flight range since they require an item to refuel as compared to the battery-powered craft.

Do I know what "range" means?

[ S ] the distance that a vehicle or aircraft can travel without having to stop for more fuel:
short-/medium-/long-range airliners

Seriously, though - that's obviously what I was missing, that range doesn't mean range in this case. No, I haven't acquired any of those craft yet, I'm still at a point in the game where I have to put some serious consideration in what to purchase. Thanks for the clarification, I will not numbers let me be discouraged from getting one of these asap.

Edit: These numbers are correct, they just mean something different than what you are assuming they mean.  And before you ask, this will be changed/fixed fairly soon, just had a discussion about it today.

That's great to hear, I think I'm not the only one that might be confused by this way of presenting things.

Thanks again for the head's up, much appreciated.

[Dioxine]

Yeah if a craft uses fuel item, the range means something wholly different than when it doesn't. Metallo can actually circle the globe several times.

[boylobster]

Hey, I hope this is an appropriate place to ask this: Hyperwave Decoder? From what I can tell, no Mutant Alliance missions = no Library = no Hyperwave Decoder = no idea what all the red blips are = no shooting anything down. 

Per some advice I read early on in a Reddit thread, I avoided researching Mutant Alliance for the first year of the game because I didn't want to incur a penalty from ignoring pogroms, but now that I've researched it, I'm realizing that I only get missions from Jack, not Zaxx or the Alliance, and it seems that without something happening with the Alliance, there won't be any Libraries, without which many things will not progress. Is that right, or am I missing something?

Basically, I think I'm approaching getting stuck in game because I can't get to Libraries, but I've no idea how that happens and I don't get any job offers from the Mutant Alliance. Did I bork my game somehow? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!!