A thread for little questions

[legionof1]

There are 2 types of pogroms. "Freelance" that occur all game and don't have a penalty, And "alliance" pogroms that start after you unlock the mutant alliance tech and do have a penalty.

That said at the values your stating, it's more likely a case of secret bases, or abundant activity outside your radar coverage.

[Rubber Cannonball]

I've been reading through the last couple years of posts in this forum and I keep seeing questions about negative score surprises at the end of the month.  This is typically in the early game when the player has little radar coverage of the globe.  I think almost all of the people asking haven't been using the graph screens. They must not realize that the graphs for ufo activity for region and country (first two buttons above the upper left corner of the graph) update every 30 minutes just like radar sweeps do.  If any graph changes since the previous 30 minute period, it means there is a ufo there.  If one region graph stops increasing and another graph starts increasing it generally means the ufo has moved to that region.  Now you have an idea what direction the ufo is heading.  If it spends a lot of time in one region, its a good bet that the region is the mission target region.  Ufos typically show up in a random region before heading to its mission region, then zig zag around awhile in the mission region, maybe land, then head off to another random region before disappearing.  Missions tend to have multiple ufos spread out over a month or two before the mission is over.  So even though it probably isn't possible to get to the first or second mission scouting ufos; it should be possible to get a expedition or something there in time to hopefully tackle a landed ufo.  If you get lucky, a country graph will show change and you have a much better idea of where the ufo is.  Some of the high scoring missions are from ufos on the ground for quite a lot of time racking up points.  Other high scoring missions sadly are going to beyond the players ability to do anything about in the early game.

X-piratez has some global missions where I presume each mission ufo goes to random regions but I don't think these rack up too many points (unless one lands and becomes pink site)

I don't remember how often enemy base points get scored but I believe it scores repeatedly over the month so if any region graph keeps scoring every day or so, there probably is a base there.

Surprisingly despite all of the quality of life changes that openxcom has made over the original game, I don't think any have been made to the graphs.  At the beginning of the month they are easier to use since they get reset to 0.  If any move off of 0, it means there is ufo activity in that region or country(depends on which screen is viewed).  It is like having global radar coverage only without the moving red dots on the geoscape.  It would be really nice to have highlighted in some way which graphs have recently changed.  Also it would be nice to have an actual number displayed so that the autistic players wouldn't have to count pixels on 16 graphs (plus turning region graphs on and off to improve graph y-axis resolution) every half hour to check for any ufo activity.    The number is only important as it is the actual score being racked against the player by the ufo activity.  Noting when the numbers change is crucial; its really hard to notice slight changes in graph slope in the middle of the month.

I believe other sources of negative score are readily apparent to the players.  Battlescape mission results show up the "yer activity" graphs.  Skipped pink site penalties probably show up in the ufo activity graphs once the site disappears, but I'm not sure.  Research points might only show up in the actual score graph labeled "Finance".  There is only a couple of negative point researches and I don't think there are any in the early game.

A long time ago in the original game I was able to prevent a few terror sites from occurring in the early game before I had radars everywhere by watching the graphs and sending the starting two interceptors armed with avalanches to shoot down the terror ship before it could reach the city.  It usually took 10 out of the 12 missiles total (3 per mount, 6 per interceptor) and I had to charge in at the end to avoid the last shot always misses bug.  It was also hard to catch the terror ship as it was faster than the interceptors except for a short period when it slowed down.


tldr:  It is possible to use the graphs as a poor man's global radar coverage and do something about ufo activity away from your base before being surprised at the end of the month with a big negative score.

[Thatguysenpai]

Hm I see, so too many secret bases most likely. What a shame, the campaign was going well I thought, but I guess it was doomed from the get-go. Curse you RNGsus.

[Rubber Cannonball]

Not necessarily one enemy base sitting there the whole month may only score about 100-150 points for the month. (estimated from my current game with a merc base that I've been ignoring)  This doesn't count the supply missions to the base which is highly variable.  I've had months with no supply and as many as 4 supply missions in other months.  Also a lot of ufos land when an enemy base is made and they will score typically more that month than the following months the base sits there.  But something like an extraction mission, which can take longer than a month to complete, can rack up quite a lot of points as all the ships land.  I think some land even more than once.  There something like 4 excavators which land (1 every week or two).  These should be relatively easy to find and attack while they are on the ground.  Even a touch and go will at least make them take off and reduce the number of points they score.  Although your starting crew in a mid difficulty level game can handle an excavator.

[BBHood217]

So for some reason, boom fruit has taken over every manufacturing thing that engineered biomatter used to do.  And now, the biomatter is used for absolutely nothing.  Does that mean I should just sell these now?

[Dioxine]

Also it would be nice to have an actual number displayed so that the autistic players wouldn't have to count pixels on 16 graphs (plus turning region graphs on and off to improve graph y-axis resolution) every half hour to check for any ufo activity.  ;

No, I would not take that pleasure away from them There is far too many numbers displayed anyway; the game is far too autist-friendly anyway. I don't intend to give them any more ground. They should try to learn how it is to be normal instead, and how to read analogue displays w/o counting pixels.

[Eddie]

With the new pop up feature, I can imagine some more hand holding for less experianced players.
Pop up when you ignored a mutant alliance progrom "The Mutant alliance is angry with you for not helping. -1000 score"
Pop up if a region is racking up lots of negative score. "We are loosing influence with xxx. We should find out what is going on there before it becomes a problem."

[Poulpiche]

Does anyone know how to get the maiden captive and the tavern cellar mission ?

[Rubber Cannonball]

Oh I just learned there are graph zoom hot keys! (+ and - on the numpad)  For more information on using the graphs for detection, see this thread:

 https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=7130.0

Does anyone know how to get the maiden captive and the tavern cellar mission ?

As for mission spawns, the best ways to get one to spawn is to play the game or to use the quick battle button on the game menu screen. 

Seriously, mission spawning  is mostly RNG.  Some missions spawn until particular techs are researched, other missions after particular techs researched.  How likely a mission may occur can also change as the months go by.  Some missions might never spawn before you win the game.  Other missions are guaranteed to spawn sometime during the game.  Typically, any mission loot item you need to finish the game has multiple sources.

[Poulpiche]

Typically, any mission loot item you need to finish the game has multiple sources.

so I guess you don't know which mission permit to gets them.

I have already unlocked 94% of the bootypedia, I ask it to know if i' haven't missed an essential mission that must appear at the beginning of the game

[Rubber Cannonball]

I don't think either mission is required to get to cydonia, although I'm not sure which mission is captive maiden.  You may need to have someone look at your save game to figure out what you might be missing to finish the game.  I haven't made it to the end game yet, so I doubt I can help you.

[Dioxine]

I have already unlocked 94% of the bootypedia, I ask it to know if i' haven't missed an essential mission that must appear at the beginning of the game

You can never miss sucha a mission completely, it will keep spawning (with some RNG) until you have what you need.

[Rince Wind]

I started my game before necropirates, will they spawn so I can finish the zombie storyline (as far as it is implemented)?
I plan on just changing a mission soonish in the save, because I have never seen them.

[BigDuck]

Hello, mutants.

I manufacture grog to make dollaros. Is it most profitable way, or there is more profitable item to produce?

[Rince Wind]

Early on? No. Later? Yes. Chateau made from apples for example, but apples might run out.