Author Topic: Stop the Grind  (Read 4075 times)

Offline Zharkov

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Stop the Grind
« on: May 09, 2017, 04:20:02 pm »
Although Piratez Extended offers more variety than any game I ever played (and it is not even finished yet), I sometimes become bored, playing the same mission over and over again. This is especially bothersome when it clear to me, that the opponent has no chance to win and a very low chance of even injuring your gals. And gathering the amount of resources needed for the final mission and keeping up your standing gets grindy.
The surrender mechanic is an outstanding feature, helps a lot and fits the lore very good. Still, I sometimes wish for an auto-resolve mechanic. Then I think about the ways auto-resolve is implemented in other games a very few good examples come to mind. Most often every unit's capabilities are represented by one value, completely ignoring the interaction between units and their strength and weaknesses in different scenarios and against different enemies. One of the better examples that comes to mind is the newest Master of Orion, which apparently uses some kind of actual simulation. I am not really qualified to judge, but it seems to me an unreasonable amount of work to implement such a feature for OpenXcom, that might not even work out as desired. 
Nevertheless, I wondered if there are other approaches to solve this issue. I thought that maybe an extended surrender was feasible. For example, if you have won a mission type several times without losses, all enemies surrender immediately. Or - I think especially fitting for Piratez - if you are infamous enough, some missions start by the opponents offering you a lump of cash if you just leave them alone.

Offline Ethereal_Medic

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Re: Stop the Grind
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2017, 04:25:11 pm »
I guess you talk about the hellerium capsule grind for conquerer?

It's huge and takes quite a while.
In that time you have the 'choice' to go for crash-sites and missions OR just shoot down crackdowns and stuff and keep producing tools and capsules for cydonia.

Maybe you need to 'train' your 32 personal for the final showdown? That's best to do right here right now because the enemies can't do shit to your troops and you can take your time to train firing/melee/throwing to your hearts content.

Auto-resolve looks like a great feature to auto-win crash-sites like fighters/sentries and other minor missions.
If you want to auto-win, just go for debug and press ctrl-k. = You win :3

Offline BetaSpectre

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Re: Stop the Grind
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2017, 05:01:33 am »
What you can do is go to the top of a building with a team of rifle gals, then just press turn 99 times.

If your gals shoot enough you'll kill just about anything. It's actually entertaining to watch instead of playing sometimes.

Offline karadoc

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Re: Stop the Grind
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2017, 08:55:49 am »
I haven't found the grind to be a problem.

It's true that there comes a point in the game where most of the missions are trivially easy due to your overwhelming strength on the ground; but at that point of the game you're likely to also have great economic power in the geoscape as well. You simply don't need to bother with the minor missions. You don't need the resources that you get from them, because they're just a small fraction of what you can produce in your base.

So if you don't like the easy missions; just skip them. The only thing you really miss out on is maybe a couple of points of stats training if you haven't already maxed out. (And if the missions are so easy, then you probably don't need those stat points anyway!)

Offline Ethereal_Medic

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Re: Stop the Grind
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2017, 12:37:45 pm »
Can't have enough max acc./str./stamina and v-power/v-skill.

Better to boat your 32 (or 36) best crackmarines to fight Cydonia.
Afterall: If you screw up Cydonia Phase 1 or Phase 2... your campaign is ded.

Offline Zharkov

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Re: Stop the Grind
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2017, 08:26:57 pm »
If you want to auto-win, just go for debug and press ctrl-k. = You win :3

Such a solution doesn't feel right. And why does it say "Influenza bacterium dispersed"? Influenza is caused by a virus!

Offline Ethereal_Medic

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Re: Stop the Grind
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2017, 08:33:30 pm »
It's the fastest way and nearly nets the same solution like moving every single crackmarine you got, shot shit because you don't need slaves and get some stats.
Doing the debug magic, you only lose out on the stats if you don't need those anymore.

500 capsules would be less problematic if the manufacturing time for a single item gets reduced or the cost adjusted.
You can even buy a single capsule for 3,4m from the blackmarket if you feel pressured.

If you don't feel for it and got everything your heart desires, just reset and play a new campaign and pick a different codex/difficulty.