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Author Topic: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!  (Read 394749 times)

Offline Tamren

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1050 on: October 26, 2024, 11:02:26 am »
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?

--

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.

Offline Tamren

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1051 on: October 27, 2024, 01:13:32 pm »
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.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2024, 01:16:18 pm by Tamren »

Offline Tamren

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1052 on: November 02, 2024, 06:57:37 am »
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.

Offline Tamren

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1053 on: November 02, 2024, 08:26:02 am »
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.

Offline Fugazza

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1054 on: November 02, 2024, 09:28:59 am »
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.

Offline ontherun

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1055 on: November 03, 2024, 01:23:09 am »

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..


Offline Tamren

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1056 on: November 09, 2024, 12:37:16 pm »
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.
« Last Edit: November 09, 2024, 12:38:59 pm by Tamren »

Offline Psyentific

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1057 on: November 09, 2024, 12:56:56 pm »
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 dozen turns, but if you fly you can usually be on the roof by turn 6.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2024, 10:09:53 pm by Psyentific »

Offline Tamren

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1058 on: November 09, 2024, 01:49:53 pm »
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.

Offline Ultimoos

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1059 on: November 09, 2024, 04:55:53 pm »
Again, that is why you use a flying armor. The feature of this game is getting dressed appropriately for a mission.

Offline Carcer

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1060 on: November 22, 2024, 08:09:58 pm »
I was sad to see you can't recruit lamia, they're female mutants with an innate spit attack and their description could mean they're melee focused.

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1061 on: November 22, 2024, 10:11:38 pm »
I was sad to see you can't recruit lamia, they're female mutants with an innate spit attack and their description could mean they're melee focused.

There are plans to include them, but graphic assets are a big issue.

Offline Carcer

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1062 on: November 22, 2024, 11:58:26 pm »
Thats great, but yeah I can see you'd have to create everything from scratch.

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1063 on: November 23, 2024, 06:12:37 pm »
Thats great, but yeah I can see you'd have to create everything from scratch.

Osobist and I made some graphics for them, but definitely not enough for even rudimentary release.

If someone is willing to help, then it would be welcome.

Offline Tamren

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Re: Stuff I'd love to see in XPiratez!
« Reply #1064 on: Today at 02:56:29 am »
I read in several places that vehicles having distinct types/sizes and hangars having different capacities is planned but won't be complete for a long while yet. Still, the possibility inspired a few thoughts, so here are some ideas that crossed my mind, in no particular order:

- Standard hangars can contain one Wide craft like a convoy or menace, two Narrow craft like aircars, four small craft like humvees and necrofighters, or a combination of Narrow and Small. Small craft are further subdivided into several types, vehicles, hand and foot.
- Vehicles have a moderate maintenance footprint and so can only be parked in a proper hangar space, things like humvees and necroplanes.
- Hand type craft are small personal vehicles like motorcycles or sportscars, as well as in hangars they can sometimes be parked in storage buildings.
- Foot type craft are simply groups of gals moving and hitchhiking on foot without vehicles of their own. They are the most flexible type of craft and can be based out of hangars, vaults, living quarters, burrows and potentially other structures with sufficient floor space.
- The Base Lift can always host one Foot type craft, so you are never without a basic interception option no matter how primitive your base is.
- New base structure: Garage. A garage is a 1x1 structure that can store one small craft of any type (usually a vehicle). A garage cannot be invaded by enemies because it has no vehicle lift, but for the same reason it requires the base to have at least one hangar before you can build one.
- New base structure: Small Hangar. Small hangars are 1x1 and can only fit one small craft, but are otherwise identical in form and function to full sized hangars including the ability to be invaded. Small hangars require a moderate amount of engineering knowledge to miniaturize all of the required hangar infrastructure.
- New base structure: Cavern. Caverns are essentially the burrow equivalent of a vault, instead of providing living space for crew and beasts they can support one Hand or Foot type craft and have a higher storage capacity. Since they rely on the base lift to move craft to the surface, Caverns cannot be invaded by enemies.
- New base structure: Tunnel. Tunnels are just that, tunnels. A simple X junction three tiles wide that allows traffic to pass through into other parts of the base. Tunnels can be constructed quickly but are vulnerable to missile strikes and very likely to collapse into rubble, hence they are mostly intended for initial base construction. Tunnels give a bonus to construction speed when converting them into other facilities, especially security tunnels.
- New craft type: Mounted Hunting Party. A hunting party composed entirely of mounted soldiers, the mounts increase the land speed of the party and can carry additional supplies increasing the crew capacity. As with normal hunting parties they are undetectable. There are different types of hunting party with various speed profiles depending on what mounts are used, some of which can participate in combat. Mounted hunting parties count as a Foot type craft but uniquely require additional space in the form of burrows or beast dens in order to store the mounts.
- Intercepting a roving band or other "foot" enemy with a Hand or Foot type craft on the geoscape could result in a tactical mission instead of a dogfight.
- For added mission variety, introduce a rare chance (5-10% would suffice) to disable enemy small craft like hoverbikes and black helicopters and create a crash site instead of destroying them every time.

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In summary these ideas are all about giving the player options. Most of the vehicles in the xpiratez roster have niche uses but aren't worth using in general because they take up a whole hangar space each. If hangars could be subdivided into smaller plots and vehicles stored in facilities other than hangars, this expands the roster of useful vehicles dramatically. Now your starting airbus can share the hangar with a small interceptor like a helicopter, freeing up the second hangar for other vehicles. Any base with a bit of floor space could maintain an expedition to patrol the local continent, explore areas your radar cannot reach, or check out the occaisional aquatic mission. Any base with a bit of cargo space could maintain a sportscar to participate in land races, or a biker patrol to respond to minor local threats like bandit campsights, without having to break out the skyranger for every last little mission.

There are benefits for logistics as well. After a successful mission craft always return to their home base, which might take several days for slower ground vehicles. Having more craft slots could let you ship a vehicle to a base closer to the mission site and then launch from there which shortens the return journey. If every base has at least one Foot slot you can park your garrisson soldiers into a hunting party as a set squad. This squad can be sent on missions to the local area to clean up minor missions, or they can be shipped to another base taking all of their crew and equipment with them as a single unit. This is far easier than it would be to ship a craft, it's crew and equipment separately as individual items through the transfer screen.