A thread for little questions

[Daenen]

A question for people familiar with the recent releases, specifically the Sky Ninja bases.
At what point should I be looking to destroy these bases and any any hints or tips for taking them out? How much time pressure is there to destroy them apart from the negative monthly score they accrue?

I played through the early game years ago in older releases and really enjoyed it, so have some familiarity with the beginning research tree and weapons etc. But I never progressed much past joining the Mutant Alliance and tackling pogroms, unlocking the first codex ships. Problem being I would at some point run out of time to play, later update OpenXcom, then have to update my X-Piratez to a newer compatible release and end up starting a new game  :'(

For context, I'm currently mid July of the first year on John Silver and am doing fine money-wise. Scaled up to 18 brainers (starting lab, personal lab, sickbay) so research is ticking along well. Taken out a few raider ships without much problem and have just unlocked Krazy Hanna, so now have access to some explosive toys like Mortar, RPG etc.

Current standard equipment for my gals is a mix of:
Warrior / Tac Vest
Bayonet Homefront Rifles / Ol' Rifles for sharpshooters
Combat Shotguns
Confederate Eagles
Sabers
Black Powder Bombs / HE Grenades / Molotovs
 
However my first attempt at attacking the smallest of the two bases I can see via an expedition was a disaster:

8 gals with the above gear, plus a mortar with 4 or 5 shells and two RPG's with 3 rounds each between them. On starting the map there were about 6-8 gun turrets surrounding the area, plus 4 or so visible Ninjas. Whilst I was able to run everyone into a bunker and take out a couple of additional Ninjas there, trying to destroy the turrets on later turns would get my gals shredded. The RPG's didn't seem to have enough power to take out a turret in a single shot, or I was just getting bad RNG on the damage rolls. Then the gal who fired it would get minced by return fire. The mortar could take one out in a single shot, but because it had to be exposed to get the right firing arc, couldn't reposition and fire in a single shot etc, the gal using it pretty much had a death sentence. If they weren't killed by a turret then they'd catch a few grenades from flying Ninjas instead.

So I'm wondering if I should just ignore the bases for now until I have better armor and weapons. Or if a brute force approach would work. Ie breach base defenses with a ship if I can. More gals = more explosives and dakka = I win? Currently the only craft weapons I have access to are 25mm cannons from Hanna though.
I haven't tried using a convoy instead of an expedition as I assume that would be attacked like other craft.
Other thought is to just load everybody up with a mortar and try to take out as many turrets as possible on the first combat round.

[Iazo]

RPG is puny vs those turrets.

They need specialized equipment (EMP grenades) dropped by the ninjas, or specialist pirate equipment: ACID shells, Chem Grenades, SC Canonballs, or cars loaded with RR.

Turrets have 50% thv, and sniper behaviour so neither smoke nor distance are effective at stopping them firing, but indirect fire is.

[ivandogovich]

The Ninja Airfields are a hard nut to crack, but there is a benefit to getting them before they grow into a Base.  This is generally August/Sept earliest if not playing JS. 
When I tackled/scummed my way through an afld assault in August, I also used Fire Extinguishers liberally to screen my troops.  Recoilless Rifles and mortars were good helpful for turrets.  Bring any decent lasers you have for the shielded Ninjas.  Assault Lasers and Lasguns recommended here.

All that said, there is always the option of leaving them be and coming back later when you have tanks and good armor, etc.  I may do that in my current run. 

I am ending August and have a decent Airgame, though I haven't splashed any Migs.  I've got a Scarab with Bioplasma Generator that is helping me down Ninja APCs when they spawn.  You can get an Airspeeder which is faster than the Migs, and use it to get the Migs to scramble, then out run them.  Once they have landed, they won't scramble again for about 2 weeks.  This is enough time to get your convoy in etc.

[Daenen]

Many thanks! I haven't actually researched the RPG yet (just bought a couple in prep for the assault) so if the turrets are too tanky for them that makes sense. I just assumed it would be a step above the 60 concussive Black Power bombs etc and might do the job. Mortar is 120 from memory.
No real laser weapons either I'm afraid. Think I have one Hydra Laser that was part of the early progrom I fought to get a LMG and unlock Hanna. Only others are the pistol and shotgun I can buy from Smugglers which I doubt would cut it.

Baiting out the Ninja air in order to land a larger craft is a great idea, although would require some investment on my part. I only just unlocked codex (Grey) and went for Shadowbat as my first craft to increase my mission troop numbers. So yeah would need to switch the old Airbus out for something else.
Waiting another month to improve my air situation and maybe getting some more tech could be for the best.

One additional query - what does ThV refer to? Thermal Vision? That's just a guess, but it seems to be X-Piratez or OpenXcom specific, and I've failed to find anywhere on a wiki page it's spelled out. There's some pages for piratez specific enemies that list ThV values, but that's all I could find.

[Solarius Scorch]

ThV refers to the heatVision flag on some armours. To quote the ruleset reference:

Allows seeing better through smoke. Percentage (0-100%) value defining how much smoke is ignored.

[Daenen]

Ahh, so not much point in smoke then like Iazo mentioned. Cheers.

[Iazo]

If you must use concussive, and want a decent chance of oneshotting them (though by no means guaranteed), you have to be looking at Rocket Launcher DP rockets AT LEAST.

Everything below(RPG, UAC launcher, standard mortar, panzerfaust even are too puny).

If you MUST use low power explosives, you are better off trying to use crates of violence. They're not very effective, but thay're about as effective as panzerfaust against those turrets.

[legionof1]

Ahh, so not much point in smoke then like Iazo mentioned. Cheers.

the smoke is less for the turrets, and more to limit the horde of goons accuracy while you get the turrets dealt with. While the turrets wont be much affected it still keeps alot of incoming from being effective against the initial exposed position. -50% accuracy if the shooter doesn't spot its own target is a big deal for non sniper guns.

[Ragshak]

Is there a way to open bootypedia from workshop panel by clicking listed item?

[Patooka]

Just out of curiosity, what type of missions do tomb guardians show up?

[Earthquake]

Just out of curiosity, what type of missions do tomb guardians show up?

In late game, when you have forth client - Wiz Biz, and mission is to destroy 3 zombie pyramids.

[Patooka]

In late game, when you have forth client - Wiz Biz, and mission is to destroy 3 zombie pyramids.

I've done that mission several times, and have never seen them.

[Warzameg]

If you finish the mission too quickly, you won't see them.  Try leaving a few zombies alive and waiting several turns.

[Psyentific]

there's usually one or two inside the pyramids by the time i finish pushing across the map, removing the top, remembering who brought the bombs, etc.

[Earthquake]

I've done that mission several times, and have never seen them.

You need wait at least 5th turn to see them.
First pyramid spawn more zombies, then there will spawn "turrets" on top of pyramids. And only after that there will spawn crypt guard.