Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!

[JDCollie]

Agree with ave369, I'd also humbly add that the current firing sound (version N4.0.2) for the "rcf carabine" (don't know if it applies the other weapons that share the same ammo, that is to say "rcf clips" ) is quite sucky (emh...)may we get another one for replacement?

Also for "The solar courirer" reports, some kind of newspaper background, see examples here

Edit: "who is who" topic deserves a better background too. Here attached is a "The Who" wallpaper from wallpapersafari.com that might be used as inspiration

How's this sound?

[ontherun]

How's this sound?

@JDCollie: Superrr, thank for you mod! (it is to be used like a normal mod) please, care to change also the one for the "battle rifle" along the musket and the flintlock guns too?

@Dioxine: please might you use JDCollie's ones as a replacement for the current?

Other ideas might be to see pirate outfits arranged as "pirate", "filibuster", "buccaneer" and "corsair", making the "blackhat", "swashbuckler" and "rogue" as stand alone unlockables with early research.

Also a "marauder" outfit for SS would be nice to pair with the "looter" one for the gals. 

[Moltenore]

I would really love to be able to use fire weapons when sieging. Molotovs and flamethrowers are really fine weapons, especialy in the begining of the game, but it's annoys me that it usebale mostly (sometimes even only) in open spaces. I think it supposed to be a substitute for grenades and rocket launchers, but it doesn't work that way when hostile forces are holding a big house. Wooden floor burns the same way as ground, walls are not affected at all, fire spreads very slowly, the smoke isn't really dangerous. Would be my suggestions what to do with that anyway useful? I won't be surprised if game engine won't allow to change that.

[ontherun]

Some other points:

*

5. Smuggler's warehouse raid. Maybe they've got lots of average stuff stockpiled away... or maybe a gem cache?

A very old suggestion but what about it? Conceptually similar to the warehouse assault in openxcom files. Might be unlocked after research topic "contact: smugglers" is completed or as a D Bounty mission. I now there is already "smuggler's lair" that is similar but i was thinking of something more straightforward, whatever.

* What about some kind of revolving rifle?

* Aside the homefront rifle (which resembles AK47) and rcf carabine (M16) might be room for a third black market assault rifle? Something similar to FN FAL, that presumibly would have survived till 2600s, accordig to most-produced firearms in the world. If Solarious agrees might be used the fal from openxcom files? Named ol' autorifle, with a terribile auto mode, as the real fal is

[Arctic]

I'm sure this has been covered before, but how about some item slot night vision goggles? I spend a lot of time putting on and removing night-ops gear and it's kind of lousy anyway. I don't really see why they shouldn't be able to wear night vision goggles with other armors. The existing night-ops suit can be converted into a night-time sneaking outfit, just for its night camo benefits, while moving the night vision to an equippable item.

Ideally it should even be visible on the character models, though that'd probably be quite hard to implement and would at least require OXCE tweaks, I think.

[Solarius Scorch]

I'm sure this has been covered before, but how about some item slot night vision goggles? I spend a lot of time putting on and removing night-ops gear and it's kind of lousy anyway. I don't really see why they shouldn't be able to wear night vision goggles with other armors. The existing night-ops suit can be converted into a night-time sneaking outfit, just for its night camo benefits, while moving the night vision to an equippable item.

Ideally it should even be visible on the character models, though that'd probably be quite hard to implement and would at least require OXCE tweaks, I think.

Can this even be done? Are vision ranges exposed to scripts? I don't think so, but I can't be sure...

[Arctic]

Can this even be done? Are vision ranges exposed to scripts? I don't think so, but I can't be sure...

It'd probably be a very useful engine change if it isn't already possible.

In general, actually, a full depth pass on night fighting. Night battles absolutely suck balls, so the more equipment we have to even the odds, the better, in my opinion. In the early game, I'd like a variety of flashlight options. A head mounted flashlight would be the most basic form of night fighting aid. Throwing magna-flares is a waste of precious TUs and I loathe doing it.

I'm not sure if this would be possible without engine tweaks but I'd really like some sort of illumination parachute flare that could be shot into the air and provide wide area illumination. Perhaps that could be fired out of a 40mm grenade launcher. Ideally, just one should cover a really wide area. Though I can't think of any existing weapons that work like this so I really don't know if it's even remotely possible. Basically I want a very powerful floating light source. Perhaps a floodlight mounted on to a drone?

I also think it's very weird that most interiors have no light sources whatsoever. It'd require a pass to add lanterns to all the different map tiles but this would add a lot of depth to night fighting (you need to stay away from light sources to remain concealed)

If NVGs become a hat slot item (and I think they should become one) there should of course be a wide variety of them. They could be found on enemies as well. And I don't know if it's possible to tweak the vision cone of a unit but ideally different NVGs could limit a unit's vision cone. High end NVGs can grant thermal vision or bonuses to targeting (I'm thinking like the ENVGs, used by the real life US army, which actually highlights detected thermal targets). Then - and this is really getting into wild territory and I don't know how feasible this'd be to implement - early NVGs might rely on IR illumination lamps and increase a unit's visibility against anything with Thermal Vision.

I don't think I've ever seen a turn based strategy game try to even broach the topic of night combat. I think sneaking around without being seen is a fun mechanic.

[ontherun]

Care also to add something from strife? As of now, tt is abandonware, some stuff attached, sourced from (here)

There are also the acolytes sprites that are looking quite interesting.....

[The Martian]

strife? As of now, tt is abandonware

Here is some good news, Strife is not abandoned and is still available on GOG and Steam with a few engine updates.

Strife: Veteran Edition
GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/strife_veteran_edition
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/317040/Strife_Veteran_Edition/

[ontherun]

ahh...ok, thanks for clarification! Hey since xpiratez borrows a lot from anime, care to add dome stuff from trigun too?

@Dioxine: care to add the sten gun to black market? It's incredibly cheap and Aldo Moore ancuebt than the "ghetto gun"...or some tribute from duke nukem 3d..

[Juku121]

I don't think I've ever seen a turn based strategy game try to even broach the topic of night combat.

Not played JA2, I see? Dual suppressed P90s with duck taped barrel extenders on Raven FTW.

[Jimboman]

Not played JA2, I see? Dual suppressed P90s with duck taped barrel extenders on Raven FTW.

JA2 also has three or four types of NV goggles, and with the 'sneaky' feature (ctrl-z) in JA2 1.13 it makes the use of stealth in night missions a lot of fun.

Not a modder or savvy with the things like that, so I don't know how NV equipment could be implemented in Piratez or Xcomfiles.

[ontherun]

actually night vision parameter is already present and it is different from unit to unit, these goggles might be a good idea provider balancing is preserved. I don't think that is necessari, but if are gonna added I'd suggest to have these unlocked by particolar quest or as bounty, eg. onec player gets goblin zaxx's "military supplies"

[RSSwizard]

Was watching 007 The Living Daylights last night and this inspired me to an interesting idea...  Arms Shipments. Other movies like Predator would be inspiration too ("man we really hit the jackpot this time, they almost got across the border with this stuff")

These are Weapons/Equipment packages that you just get standard sets of stuff, with varying degrees of quality or focuses. You pay a real premium for them but they often include pieces that you normally would not be able to get your hands on without alot of elite pre-reqs. For example a couple ES Lasrifles, a Servo Mortar with a bunch of Gas Rounds in a different one, maybe an ATGM in a different package. But each package also includes reasonable assortments of gear or possibly raw components like integrated devices - the idea is you buy a package and get a bunch of grenades, rifles, pistols, smgs, etc etc to outfit a bunch of dudes in a paramilitary and maybe a few of those items are really spicy.

The price would be high enough to make it a considerable thing to work towards. Example...

1 million  (bargain basement tier, just a bunch of normal stuff to arm a militia, but maybe some obscure things too which you cant normally buy that might be deployed in a pogrom).
5 million
12 million
22 million
50 million
150 million (probably has a set of bootleg plasmas in it)

Basically the idea is to let someone else bear those contacts and pay them the tribute to get access to that as a middleman. Krazy Hassan + Jack Favors could be the entry door to making special weapons shipment purchases. A few other indirect Contacts could expand the selection into the higher tiers.

They'd take alot longer to deliver (due to safety, like 15-20 days) and show up as an Item that has to be Disassembled similar to a strongbox.

This is in contrast to the Military Transport enemy mission which is more like a resupply of various palms-up organizations.

Gambling and Old Earth Boxes certainly can provide some early goodies but with an Arms Shipment you secure, with money, what you know you'll be getting.

Hot Protip: there can also be random production so that a few amounts of things or spare goodies might find their way into the crate. Like instead of 2 Lasguns there might be 3, or there just might be a couple adv clips to go with them. Huh, why are some of these Niner Clips red colored with glowing bullet tips... man do you know how illegal this stuff is...

[ontherun]

oh yes, agree!!