Cydonia or Bust! Kiri's question thread. Game complete!

[BBHood217]

The annoying thing about ethereals is that like in vanilla Xcom, you can't tell apart their high ranking members; that white-robed jerk could be a novice, operator, or coordinator.

Also, no brain?  That's odd.  When I completed my campaign back in version 0.99G1, there was a brain to kill.

[KateMicucci]

A couple of shippings have them, like certain Cutters.

I've shot down five cutters and none had an industrial scanner. Also thought I might find one at a trader base or organ grinder mission but no. Very frustrating that I'm locked out of a lot of good stuff until I find three.

[KiriKaneko]

The annoying thing about ethereals is that like in vanilla Xcom, you can't tell apart their high ranking members; that white-robed jerk could be a novice, operator, or coordinator.

Also, no brain?  That's odd.  When I completed my campaign back in version 0.99G1, there was a brain to kill.

Actually you can tell them apart!

If you click the middle mouse button on them it shows you their portrait, their name, what gun/magic they are using, and if they are bleeding or not! Also if you hold down alt it tells you where they are looking, very good for spotting and shooting enemies who you can somehow see in the black area of the map where you can't work out where they are, what they are, what weapon they are using and where they are looking, just click the middle mouse button or the mouse wheel!

[Marza]

Cutters do sometimes drop industrial scanners.

They may be locked to cutters on a resource extraction mission though, I'm not sure.

[Solarius Scorch]

Cutters do sometimes drop industrial scanners.

They may be locked to cutters on a resource extraction mission though, I'm not sure.

No, it's just RNG. UFOs have a variety of maps, it is random which one is selected.

[KiriKaneko]

Well I'm off now, thanks a lot for all the help with my campaign

I'd like to suggest to Dioxine:
1) Nerf 37mm rifle, IMO it need an increase to 60% TU for snapshot, 90% TU for aimed shot, lower accuracy %s and about 20-40 less damage
2) Nerf the higher end ballistic tier weapons like LAC and Light Cannon, or else buff the laser tier because by the time I unlocked lower end laser guns like las gun, or higher tier like nuclear lasers from russian files they were overshadowed initially by LACC/light cannon and then by 37mm which is available mid game and a solid solution to anything but mercs (which it can still handle currently)
3) Nerf the shadowbat. It's currently a very early game flying fortress. I suggest you change the stairs with slidey doors into an open ramp like the skyranger, and you add ladders under the wings that enemies can climb up to get on top of the wings. This should make it far less effective for camping. You should also increase the resilience of the supports under the wings because I was deliberately shooting them with 37mm/heavy plasma to allow me to see better while I camp
4) Probably should nerf the barracuda as well, I suggest dropping the dodge to 10% and the toughness to 175. I would've used it as my exclusive interceptor if only it could effectively catch sentries, and I kept only one sabre on hand for that (I had a fleet of sabres to take down a silver towers which they failed to do, for all the difference it made I might as well have stuck with the barracudas who performed spectacularly until the end)
5) Put key tech in underwater, space, organ grinder, monster hunting and mansion raids. I did some underwater missions trying to find gems which I never found so it was a waste of time, I did some organ grinders looking for gems which I didnt find either and quit it after I lost one of my elites to a mere ghoul, I did one mansion raid where I basically just sprinted to the roof and evacced immediately, I did monster hunting only in the late game for some training, and I never did a single space mission. I could have skipped every one of these missions, and considering the high risk involved I may as well have. I also only did 1 of the church bounty hunts and never did the gang bounty hunt due to the risk involved and because I really didn't have an incentive to take that kind of a risk. Placing key tech on these missions would have pushed me to do them, as otherwise it's a stronger strategy (especially as an inexperienced player) to skip them
6) Remove early guns from the market (I'd gate the market for them behind back to school) to force players to use primitive tech like bows, javelins and gunpowder weapons. Gunpowder should be available after bows, and chainmail should be available way before tac vests. Otherwise you start off with low grade firearms and research primitive tech that's a big step backwards in terms of tech level, it's like starting with plasma weapons and unlocking the option for ballistic weapons. You could still loot stuff like niners and old carbines from enemies but would be limited to ammo that was looted from them so they would end up few in number. Perhaps gun wielding enemies should not appear for a few months and early missions are raiding tribals equipped with spears, swords, bows and muskets

And that's all really. Great mod, I had tremendous fun playing, good job Dioxine!

[sinisteragent]

Well done on completing the game, I've not even played it during the few weeks it's taken you to do that!

Please don't make the underwater/ghoul/hunting/etc missions mandatory. There is already a LOT of mandatory stuff and I really hate some of those missions. Being forced to do everything would put a sizeable portion of people off. Simply rewarding people who choose to do them with bonuses works fine as it is.

I'm quite happy with primitive guns being available early. You can capture a decent stash of guns early on anyway, being unable to buy them just means dicking about, it doesnt really force players to use earlier tech much, and if they don't like those early weapons they'll resent it anyway. In particular, relying heavily on bows should be a strategic choice, not your only option. Not everyone tries or wants to play for maximum efficiency - I for one use bows and javelins for fun as much as anything else, and I use the flintlock pistols a fair bit even though they're probably the worst gun in the game.

Relatedly, if you nerfed the light cannon I doubt I'd ever use it. It's slow and heavy and not all that accurate, I barely use it as is. However much you fine tune every weapon, with so much in this game, someone's going to find one or two weapons they like to powergame with. Unless it's obviously the Ultimate Weapon (e.g. heavy plasma in UFO, which outdoes everything in almost every way, has no downsides and whose supply is self-sustaining before long), it may not be necessary to prune everything. This is all especially true when you're using one very specific strategy that, while obviously effective, most people would find tremendously boring.

[tylor]

37mm does not seems to be particularly op for me. There i a lot of comparable Gauss guns.
Laser is indeed seem to be kinda weak, though, even Post-Russia nuclear models.

[Ethereal_Medic]

Lasers are designed to counter high armor since many targets don't have much laser resistance.
The 1/3 armorpen is balanced with the low base damage.
Otherwise they would be just better piercing weaponry.

[wolfreal]

Congrats for finishing your campaign!.

[KateMicucci]

I mostly disagree with those suggestions.

1. There are plenty of guns that are just as good as the 37mm. Autos are better for pure reliable damage output, laser/plas is better against mercs, rockets and bombs are better for burst damage. If it was nerfed I'd use one of those other guns. With a nerf as massive as you're proposing I'd definitely NEVER use it.
2. The LACC has never impressed me at all- it's in an awkward middle ground where it's either less accurate, slower or less powerful than the other options available at the same time and so fills no niche well. The LC I've used a lot because it's the most powerful gun besides the slugthrower you can get at that stage of the game, but it only gets off one inaccurate aimed shot a turn and begs for a reaction shot if it fails to kill. The non-heavy lasers like the hydra and lasgun indeed don't really impress me and feel like they're becoming available a little late right now, but they at least fill a role in space missions and would perform decently if there just weren't better options available (smartguns and custom shooty gun filled my longgun needs at that stage this game)

If anything should be nerfed it's a few of the pistols. Between the Super Magnum, Death Blossom HVAP and Mini Cougar there's no reason to use any of the other pistols even with their ammo upgrades.
5. Those missions are annoying because they require equipping and then re-equipping everyone once you're done.
6. With a few exceptions, the very early guns are really not so good- no reason to gate them. Bows are very useful against early low-hp enemies as they can arc and hit a long way away, and javelins I'm still using even pretty far into the game. A maxed gal can pretty easily take out even a Marsec Bodyguard with javelins and I've even taken out a tank using two maxed javelin gals throwing from behind a wall. There is use even for Good Lookin' Rocks alongside early guns. Muskets aren't so hot but they're already much better than they used to be, and even with video game logic it's hard to have them compete favorably with breechloaders. Tac vests are garbage so why should they be behind chainmail?

[HT]

Congrats for finishing the game! I'll be sure to skim through your ntes whenever I feel stuck in my playthrough. 

As for your recommendations, I agree that unlocking the low-tech merchants early is okay, it's part of the campy setting and seeing how melee works, chances are you'll still use primitive weapons anyway in spite of having access to several guns.

Speaking of recommendations, I have one: Why aren't there flame arrows for the Combat Bow? It's identical to the Hunting Bow but better and cheaper, yet the infinitely superior flame arrows aren't seemingly compatible with that one, even though it would make sense (unless I misread the ufopaedia entry and they can be used without issues).

[JustTheDude/CABSHEP]

What is the point in having snapshot for more than a half AP in a weapon that is not a sniper rifle? 37mm Rifle is meant to use with power armor and gals in power armor are poor snipers.

Camping in craft is more about playstyle, than craft or difficulty itself. Only enemies with baby nukes in open areas force to stay in craft. Also sectopod and Boomsaur are dangerous enough. I found myself doing it for more than 6 turn when gauss enemies show up in the night around my airbus.

Don't need to encourage me to do underwater mission. One sunken USO gives enough aqua plastic to fill needs for one-two years, or pay bills once, guarded by crabs, fish or shark people.
Space mission are related to shadowtech haters mission not yet in the game (or only not in 99G5) and I think it's the only way to get syns (I miss more robots and cyborgs in this mod early). Mansions are pain in the ass for me. When I went there for the frist time, on my next playtrough I don't even research it. Organ grinder is kinda pointless. Early on it involves too much risk with that acid, smoke, combustible pipes all over the place, blood hounds, close areas and ghoul bullet sponges, but gives nothing good in exchange for that. Later it is just a mission where you know you don't get any high-tech, or valuable stuff so why bother?
Monsters hunting missions are good source of training and cash early. It's fairly easy, mayby only blood hounds are dangerous. For shambler there is only need for one gal and a molotov.

There is no need to change anything in black market. By the time to research it, its easy to get enough firearms to arm that few gals you have in start.

[BBHood217]

However much you fine tune every weapon, with so much in this game, someone's going to find one or two weapons they like to powergame with.

I swear by lasers in vanilla Xcom, so I did the same here with acceptable results.  If I play another game, I might try out the other guns especially now that I know what they're capable of.

[Martin]

Terror ship should be stronger. Most of the menace class have no problem taking it down even when equipped with primitive weapons (50mm cannon, seagul missiles, 105mm rockets), the ones with innate shields don’t even need repairtime afterwards.