A thread for little questions

[RSSwizard]

My main base is plagued by repeated missile strikes.
I have multiple other hideouts already running, but it still pisses me off.
What can I do to stop them comming? Rush certain research/mission?
What base defenses are best counter to missile attacks?

its a cheat but in one of the mod ruleset files you can add an option that goes like AI Destroy Facilities = false, check out the options in default xcom ruleset. No base facilities will ever be destroyed again (missile strikes mean nothing).

I'm personally against missile strikes being a dynamic in the game at all, the base is too far underground to be damaged, it'd only be useful for a full strength nuclear explosion in the kilotons range or worse.

oh check it out, picrel, every time I shoot down something or get a mission id like I  save and go into the save file and set the countdown remainder to an obscene high value like 30 million seconds so they stick around ad-infinitium. The reason is I usually like just doing the management part of the game and like to go on a number of missions when I wanna get around to that, its a time waster (game) so I like to have a plethora of missions available and I don't like missing out on anything. The ninja base seems to supply an endless killing (capturing) ground for ninja apcs.

[Nalca]

My main base is plagued by repeated missile strikes.
I have multiple other hideouts already running, but it still pisses me off.
What can I do to stop them comming? Rush certain research/mission?
What base defenses are best counter to missile attacks?

Multiples cannon defenses.
Also work inside the base, against base invasion and tedious base defense missions.

[Starmute]

How much infamy do I lose when I do not defend the locknars or mutant pogrums?


It seems like I'm losing a awful lot. Can I just land there and run to lose less?

[Dispector]

How much infamy do I lose when I do not defend the locknars or mutant pogrums?


It seems like I'm losing a awful lot. Can I just land there and run to lose less?

100 for missing a pogrom, unless you have an agreement with a Mutant Alliance. Then it is 1000.

100 for missing a Lokk'naar protection. Later on there will be a variation of this mission that will cost you 250.

As far as I remember, despawn penalty is shown on the mission screen when you choose it from the Geoscape.

In other words, nothing much unless you commit to protecting them. You may want to put off these types of missions because pogroms are insanely difficult when you try them in the first couple of months, and Lokk'naar protection pushes the plot forward, and again, you may not be ready for it yet.

On the other hand, you will have to take these missions sooner or later for the same reason - otherwise the plot won't progress further.

[Starmute]

Another question:

As I'm totally new (kinda going into it blind)

Is the catgirl recruitment harder than gals are superior or are they about the same?  (I'm finding that catgirls are kicking ass in the early game in night missions)

second question kinda related:

How much do catgirls cost (recruitment wise)

[Amoebka]

IMO, catgirls are a harder route, and gals are the easiest one in general.
The main issue with catgirls is that not only do they have very low max HP, their armors are bad as well - less protection, harder to unlock, overpriced. In the early game stealth works and catgirls are great. Later, every enemy will have maphack (also known as sniper-spotter for some reason), so you WILL get shot and grenaded. Catgirls just can't survive that. They are great specialist units, but you can't have an entire squad of them, unless you want to have half of them dead every mission.
Catgirl outlaws you get from the cat path are 30k apiece. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it really adds up in the early game, especially since they are much easier to lose than gals.

[Solarius Scorch]

Actually, I think cats in Ironcat armours (exclusive to the catgirl path) are decent infantry and can survive quite a bit. But in general it's as Amoebka said, cats are fragile.

[Amoebka]

I mean, when do you usually get ironcat, second summer? At that point everything is already running around with lasers, rending guns, plasma and whatnot. A new player going in blind is probably going to unlock it even later than that, because the requirements are, to put it lightly, counterintuitive.

If you just compare ironcat to peasant legion armor (unlocked ~6 months earlier and ~8 times cheaper to manufacture), it's very telling.

[Solarius Scorch]

Maybe so, but there's little point in making such comparisons, different paths have different strengths.

And also, I never said this stage comes early. Yeah, you gotta work for that.

[Dispector]

IMO, catgirls are a harder route, and gals are the easiest one in general.
The main issue with catgirls is that not only do they have very low max HP, their armors are bad as well - less protection, harder to unlock, overpriced. In the early game stealth works and catgirls are great. Later, every enemy will have maphack (also known as sniper-spotter for some reason), so you WILL get shot and grenaded. Catgirls just can't survive that. They are great specialist units, but you can't have an entire squad of them, unless you want to have half of them dead every mission.
Catgirl outlaws you get from the cat path are 30k apiece. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it really adds up in the early game, especially since they are much easier to lose than gals.

How exactly do Sniper/Spotter traits work? I reread the related articles from Bootypedia every time I reach the moment in my campaign when enemies start consistently shooting/throwing explosives/firing rockets at me out of nowhere, but I am still not sure I get it right. Does it mean that every time a Spotter sees any of my soldiers (or is killed by one of them), all enemies having a "Sniper" trait will see this soldier for the set number of turns and be able to shoot at her wherever she is and wherever she goes? Even if it is night, there is no direct line of sight and she is half a map away in the middle of a cloud of smoke?

[zombieguy223]

How exactly do Sniper/Spotter traits work? I reread the related articles from Bootypedia every time I reach the moment in my campaign when enemies start consistently shooting/throwing explosives/firing rockets at me out of nowhere, but I am still not sure I get it right. Does it mean that every time a Spotter sees any of my soldiers (or is killed by one of them), all enemies having a "Sniper" trait will see this soldier for the set number of turns and be able to shoot at her wherever she is and wherever she goes? Even if it is night, there is no direct line of sight and she is half a map away in the middle of a cloud of smoke?

There's more detailed discussion elsewhere on the forum, you can use the search function to find that, but the general idea is that when Spotters see or are attacked by any of your units they mark that unit for a certain number of turns (1 to infinite depending on the spotter 'rank', Basic to Master). Snipers have a random chance each turn of deciding to attack any marked unit they have line of fire to with either direct fire guns or thrown grenades, the chance increases with the sniper 'rank', Basic to Master.

Important notes are that directly shooting a spotter WILL ALWAYS mark the attacker, regardless of if the spotter dies or even takes damage. Hitting a spotter with indirect attacks, such as grenade splash damage, may or may not trigger a mark. Testing was inconclusive, but seems to indicate that splash damage from beyond 1 tile of the impact point does not trigger a mark. Snipers DO NOT need vision of a marked unit to attack them, just valid line of fire.

[Amoebka]

Even if it is night, there is no direct line of sight and she is half a map away in the middle of a cloud of smoke?

Yes, once you are spotted, it doesn't matter if you move, smoke up, etc. For shooting they at least take the no-LOS penalty. For grenades, there's no penalty, so they will land grenades from 60 tiles away perfectly below your feet. I've recently done a ninja airfield, and had literally 19 grenades thrown at me from out of LOS on enemy turn 1.

Forget about doing tactics in this turn-based tactics game. It's hard cover or nothing.

[Solarius Scorch]

For grenades, there's no penalty

AFAIK no. Grenades also observe the no-LOS penalty. They're still pretty accurate when used by ninjas.

[John___Doe]

Snipers do not need a line of fire to snipe a spotted target. They will lob grenades at units fully behind cover.

[Juku121]

Grenades also observe the no-LOS penalty.

I recall that grenades also have a hard cap on how many tiles they can stray from the target, so any significant enough penalty will pretty soon hit that cap, and several penalties stack poorly.