A thread for little questions

[Nilex]

Damn in all this time using it I never noticed that, only TU recovery. And I've swept whole maps clean (like them sprawling academy outposts) many times before. I even looked into earlier versions thinking the Skull may have been nerfed but nope. Looks like demons being meatier than anything else out there really exacerbated the behavior so thanks for clearing that up.

[Yirtimd2]

Guys when next update? I just want to start a new game while not missing any new content.

[legionof1]

SOON tm, as always.

[Nilex]

You don't have to update.
And if you can't resist, unless you speed-run there's only a small chance you would finish before the next update hits. Simply accept it's gonna happen, like it has 5 times during my own playthrough. Can't say new content messed up with my in-game plans in any way, on the contrary it added flavor and improved gameplay each time. It's really fun to play a game as it's being worked on by a smart dev, especially as complex as this one. Give in to your temptations.

Btw Cydonia is a double stager in XPZ, right?

[username]

Damn in all this time using it I never noticed that, only TU recovery. And I've swept whole maps clean (like them sprawling academy outposts) many times before. I even looked into earlier versions thinking the Skull may have been nerfed but nope. Looks like demons being meatier than anything else out there really exacerbated the behavior so thanks for clearing that up.

Well, it's only 5% damage, so if you're using it on weenies like Academy students, it probably gets rounded down to 0. Why are you using Chort on a non-lethal mission like an Academy raid is unclear to me, though...if you kill them all, you get nothing and the entire exercise was pointless!

Btw Cydonia is a double stager in XPZ, right?

It was a double-stager in the original X-Com, too, and that apparently hasn't changed. It's basically the same mission.

So I have a different question: What's the story with the really arbitrary list of weapons that can and can't be used in space? I can use a baseball bat in space, even though this really shouldn't be very effective because the act of swinging it would send me into an uncontrolled spin and striking an opponent with it would similarly not produce particularly impressive results because without gravity to hold an opponent in place, he would just recoil away and take far less damage...but I can't use a gun in space, even though there's physically nothing preventing me from doing this? The list of space-usable weapons seems rather arbitrary.

[legionof1]

Mostly early punk sci-fi rules. Guns no work in space cause no air, but lasers and EM slugthrowers are fine.

While you can IRL shoot a powder driven gun in space there are a number of additional tolerances and quirks to account for to pull it off, which most weapons in the arsenal simply can't manage. You can make bullets without the need for the realtivly tiny amount of reaction surface they have with normal atmosphere, but that either demands you make vacuum sealed cases with the right air/propellant mix or use rocket engine style propellants with the oxidizer included. Or do the cheap hack and fire a burst from within a pressurized vessel like a spare suit, but this trick only last a few seconds.

Also the above is discounting any heat/cooling expansion problems in fine tolerance moving parts, near earth orbit has about 220 degrees Celsius variance between sun and shade. we have problems getting guns to be smooth within half that on earth. Granted the other gun types aside from the steller empire ones should also fall victim to this too.

[Nilex]

Why are you using Chort on a non-lethal mission like an Academy raid is unclear to me

I'm basically done with everything since months ago, but these little personal goals come up all the time so while waiting for that I exert vengeance on everyone. Chort is universally fun and its special attack levels up two interesting condemnations which makes it even powerful. Forgot how the mission is called but it has dozen Academy buildings all over the map so Chort is a perfect bulldozer there. And there's no particular reason not to bring everyone, the more the merrier, both us and them.

So I have a different question: What's the story with the really arbitrary list of weapons that can and can't be used in space?

Comes down to balance between realism and gameplay/engine restrictions with a dash of artistic freedom I suppose. If anything powder weapons would be equally if not more unwieldy in space than melee ones. If you are having trouble in ship equipment screen because of that reason, there's is a "0-G" category to see what you can use once up there to avoid nasty surprises.

[username]

Mostly early punk sci-fi rules. Guns no work in space cause no air, but lasers and EM slugthrowers are fine.

But rounds have their own oxidizer and will fire just fine in vacuum. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of this rule, guns have always worked fine in space and we've known this since the 50s.

but that either demands you make vacuum sealed cases with the right air/propellant mix or use rocket engine style propellants with the oxidizer included.

Gun cartridges are already sealed and contain their own oxidizer already. Pretty much any modern firearm will fire in space without any difficulty, and will most likely work better in space since it will be devoid of any atmospheric drag issues. This point is sort of also voided when you can use those weapons just fine on Mars, which similarly lacks oxygen, and probably on the Moon when the Blacksun Base gets added, which lacks atmosphere entirely.

Also the above is discounting any heat/cooling expansion problems in fine tolerance moving parts, near earth orbit has about 220 degrees Celsius variance between sun and shade.

Heating and cooling issues in space won't really make any difference: The equipment will not be exposed to direct sunlight for extended durations as it will either be in the dropship, or in a very brief action. Space is otherwise a really good insulator, so nothing will get cold anytime soon. In fact, there are already guns in space. Russians bring guns into space as standard kit, and have even test-fired them. They work fine.

Comes down to balance between realism and gameplay/engine restrictions with a dash of artistic freedom I suppose. If anything powder weapons would be equally if not more unwieldy in space than melee ones.

Well, you'd obviously have difficulty wielding the blackpowder weapons in space, but every regular modern-ish gun should work just fine. I'm not sure what the game balance constraints would be, since most of those weapons are worse than the ones that are allowed in space. I can incinerate people with a PLASMA CANNON in space, but I can't shoot them with my regular pistol. It's certainly not because of recoil issues, because the recoil from firing a gun wouldn't spin you THAT badly and we can fire a HEAVY RAILGUN in space, which would kick way worse.

If you are having trouble in ship equipment screen because of that reason, there's is a "0-G" category to see what you can use once up there to avoid nasty surprises.

I'm aware of the category, it's just that the list strikes me as very arbitrary and random.

[mikmac]

Honestly any amount of losses is fine, so long as you can sustain them at the rate you take em. Once your out of the early stages you can flat out buy or train perfectly functional replacements without it even really impacting your economy.

i think the most ive ever seen in the first year was like 80, and the player still won in the end. Fewer losses is of course better, but even significant losses so long as the don't happen all at once are survivable. Even a whole ships worth so long as you have some roster depth is manageable.

80!! Sheesh. Ill try to avoid that. 
Anyhoo, I started a game on "john silver" and considered sneakpeeking in the savefile to see if id get a good start, but decided against it to not ruin the fun. Got a hero day three!
What are the odds for that? He proceeded to get nuked by a zombie first mission. Brutal!!!

[RSSwizard]

Does the Persuadatron actually work?
It says the power on it is supposed to be really high, but of all the tries ive used it there's 0 Effect on even the softest of civilians.
It also clearly says its a flat skill and unaffected by Psi powers.

[Nilex]

I'd also like to know. Have had same experience as RSSwiz before I finally deciding to sell all 8 I enthusiastically bought in vain.

Wasn't able to find anything conclusive in rules but analysis screen shows only 20% panic accuracy and whole 0% for MC. Along with acc drop-off from online BP it seems its max effective range is only 3-4 tiles? Meaning if the target doesn't RNG panic on its turn it's gonna have a field day on whoever is standing next to him. It doesn't even train any skill. Maybe the real goal is to persuade the player in buying it? Worked pretty well on me, hehe.

[username]

Does the Persuadatron actually work?
It says the power on it is supposed to be really high, but of all the tries ive used it there's 0 Effect on even the softest of civilians.

Clearly not, since you tried it yourself and it didn't do anything. I suspect it mostly exists as a prereqisite unlock so you can't just buy the thing you actually want outright. There's a lot of dubious prizes like that, that you have to buy just so you can get the actual useful items. Which you wouldn't know about if you hadn't known that you have to buy this useless thing first.

[MemoryTAS]

Persuadotron is one of the last prizes in the bank chain iirc, check to see if there's a range penalty of sorts.

[RSSwizard]

Maybe the real goal is to persuade the player in buying it? Worked pretty well on me, hehe.

Well I bought ONE of them.
Funny that I actually bought several Holosuits because they're just that good (night time).
But over the course of several missions the Persuatatron just didn't do anything whatsoever. And if it has a supposed flat skill of 50% like it says it ought to be pretty good at it.

(as for holosuit, you can wrangle an entire megapol dropshop with a single gal at night with a magum and smart bullets. They can get lucky on you or if you step into a lit area, but id regularly take out all of them including the enforcers and apemen without taking a single attack from em. Just gotta bring the distilled rum or you can run out of pep by accident)

[username]

(as for holosuit, you can wrangle an entire megapol dropshop with a single gal at night with a magum and smart bullets. They can get lucky on you or if you step into a lit area, but id regularly take out all of them including the enforcers and apemen without taking a single attack from em.

That's probably not the approach I would have chosen because killing them all gets you no slaves, but I wonder if this technique can be adapted. I usually only authorize lethal force on targets that have no slavery value and very little ransom value.