Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!

[Tamren]

I saw an interesting idea in the OXCE forum recently regarding the spotter/sniper system. Basically, if an enemy unit is instantly killed or knocked unconscious by a single powerful hit their spotting abilities are negated, preventing the enemy team from knowing where the killer is. That makes perfect sense to me. However Meridian stated that he would only include such a feature if one of the mod authors requested it, so maybe consider the idea if you think it would be a good fit for XPiratez?

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Secondly I think there is room for a mid-tier spear weapon between spear and pike. The spear is highly useful but is considered "crude" and caveman tier, it doesn't even require any tools to manufacture. The Pike is a more refined weapon with a longer range, but is much heavier and slow to attack. My idea would be to add a "Boar Spear" that fits in between the two. In simple terms a boar spear is a spear with a wide triangular blade backed by a crossguard. As with broadhead arrows the idea is to inflict large amounts of tissue/bleeding damage to a charging animal while the crossguard prevents the angry critter from impaling itself down the shaft and giving you the business. Boar spears are not intended to be T2 spears and more of a sidegrade because they have unique drawbacks:

- Has a range 2 thrusting attack and a weaker strike attack that can be used at range 1 with no penalty
- Requires both hands to use (unlike the spear and pike)
- Deals cutting damage instead of stabbing, with a 1.25x armour effectiveness (better for hunting animals than people)
- Accuracy is .4 Melee + .3 Throwing + .3 Strength (not a weapon for novices)
- The thrust attack has a 2.5x reaction disrupt modifier and a high chance of inflicting fatal wounds
- Boar spears are crafted from a regular spear + 3 scrap metal
- 2x6 tiles wide in inventory and weighs 9kg
- Counts as a Medieval weapon instead of a Primal weapon for condemnation purposes
- Boar spears can be researched after you unlock the Monster Hunting tech and research any captured monster, bloodhound/shambler/scorpion/spider etc.

[Tamren]

This is a very minor nitpick but the list of unlocked bounty hunting rewards in the bootypedia is listed in seemingly random order and has other techs interspersed between them like special recruits and the gambler trophy. It would be nice if the list was sorted alphabetically to make it easier to find stuff.

[Tamren]

I've done a few catgirl tourist missions now and I find them unduly frustrating. The missions seem to be set up in the same way, the map is large and your dropship always lands in a corner. The catgirls who you are trying to save are divided equally among every other map corner and surrounded 5-1 or even more by hostile animals. If you are trying to save them all then this map is essentially rigged against you and the only solution would be a teleportation device.

So as a suggestion I think there should be at least a *chance* of having the catgirls spawn in a more defensible position like a house or hilltop, or at the very least spawn all in the same location instead of perfectly divided and spaced among the most difficult to reach locations in a blatantly artificial manner.

As a more comprehensive rework, maybe the mission itself could be changed to be more like the tribal warrior rescue where the catgirls spawn in a single location and you have control over them. That way it's more of a skill issue as to whether or not they survive, you can have them hunker down and wait for rescue or make a break for it towards your dropship and escape.

[Tamren]

I think the description of the Escape Tower mission should be improved a bit. I found it extremely confusing the first time I played it because there was an aircar with locked doors and no way to get in. In hindsight the obvious answer is that you need to break into the aircar using demolition tools. But that wasn't adequately conveyed by the mission briefing or the mission itself.

For instance the mission briefing says the mage is "holed up" inside his escape vehicle, I thought nothing of this sentence, certainly not that it was trying to tell me how to finish the mission. The description for the prepper base mission also uses the phrase "holed up in" and you don't need cutting equipment to get in there. In fact, this is the first time in ANY X-Com or X-Com modded game, including XPiratez itself, that I have ever required cutting tools in order to complete a mission at all.

So I think you should add a line to the mission briefing that spells out the need to break into the aircar through some means like high explosives. I used a fusion torch but I'm pretty sure there are other tools that would work.

[Fugazza]

I think the description of the Escape Tower mission should be improved a bit. I found it extremely confusing the first time I played it because there was an aircar with locked doors and no way to get in. In hindsight the obvious answer is that you need to break into the aircar using demolition tools. But that wasn't adequately conveyed by the mission briefing or the mission itself.

For instance the mission briefing says the mage is "holed up" inside his escape vehicle, I thought nothing of this sentence, certainly not that it was trying to tell me how to finish the mission. The description for the prepper base mission also uses the phrase "holed up in" and you don't need cutting equipment to get in there. In fact, this is the first time in ANY X-Com or X-Com modded game, including XPiratez itself, that I have ever required cutting tools in order to complete a mission at all.

So I think you should add a line to the mission briefing that spells out the need to break into the aircar through some means like high explosives. I used a fusion torch but I'm pretty sure there are other tools that would work.

Yeah, that one is... not very clear. There's two more, I think. The Raynerd one, and the Bank Robbery.

[ontherun]

Some random ideas:

Ok so, why not some lore  inspired from the 1984's "red dawn" movie..or even a spartan subgroup called the wolverines...oh mor Mr Tisdale :'(

Some new enemies, ghost units, a special forces unit alike...that engage cover operations, in our case used by government to search ror criminal coves, in xpiratez case player bases..

And as for the witches quest, maybe add amother one involving a witch hunter, from whom player as to save one...maybe depending in the choices made..

[Tamren]

I've done the escape tower mission a couple times now and I think it could use some improvement.

The current tower is hard to deal with because of the single file stairs. If you want to move multiple units from the bottom to the top you have to repeat a process that goes something like:

1. Tell soldier to move to the top of the tower
2. Tell next soldier to move 1 tile behind the first soldier
3. Tell next soldier to move 1 tile behind the second soldier

And so on. You have to do this multiple turns in a row just to get your soldiers to the top of the tower and you want to move them in exactly the same order each time, clicking on soldiers in descending order and always forcing them to move to the tile just behind the previous soldier. If you do anything else you get a deadlock because the game complains about there being no valid path.

Hence my suggestion is to modify the level geometry of the escape tower to make the stairs two tiles wide, or if not the entire staircase then at least the "flats" between the staircases at the corner. I get that the length of the stairs is supposed to make the map difficult because you are on a timer, but this wouldn't make the ramp any longer. All it does is allow you to move any number of units up the tower each turn simply by clicking on the top. Soldiers will automatically sidestep around each other as they move up the tower and no longer get jammed up in single file.

[Psyentific]

Use flying armors to ascend the escape tower; it's really too much of a pain to bother with otherwise. I like to use a fusion torch to breach the roof and then drop a knockout or hallucinogen grenade inside. It's really not worth the trouble to run a breaching team up all the stairs over the course of a half-dozen turns, but if you fly you can usually be on the roof by turn 6.

[Tamren]

Aye that would be ideal but I don't have any flying armours yet. It just struck me as unnecessarily annoying. If I deal with all of the enemies at ground level immediately, then there is nothing stopping me from just running up the tower, it just takes several turns of tedious clicking to get from the bottom to the top.

[Ultimoos]

Again, that is why you use a flying armor. The feature of this game is getting dressed appropriately for a mission.