The Newbie Guide

[Eddie]

I didn't realize that about pistols, though, but maybe I was just using the cruddier ones.  There are a lot of pretty awful pistols.

Pretty much all the bounty prize pistols are good. Top tier are magnum, silver snake and precision pistol. Second tier is then silenced pistol, heavy pistol and nerf laspistol. Honorable mention to the handcannon. And the black adder is really good for it's size, perfect for infested cellar missions.

Occasions where I don't go for one of these pistols is when I need more ammo. The bording gun is my choice then. Or when the soldier has shitty aim, then it's the RCF carbine for long range.
If long range is not needed, shotguns are usually the best pick (in buckshot or AP flavor, depending on enemy).

[Dakkdakk]

+1 for adding notes on leather whips. They're an excellent way to train throwing (and reactions, IIRC) early on. You can easily stun most unarmored enemies with 1-3 whips, you can use it at a distance of 2 tiles, and its pretty accurate. Also, since its technically a ranged weapon, you can whip downed enemies on the ground for extra skill gains, and to make sure they get to the ~ghostyface~ state of which they won't normally recover and will end up dying after a good amount of turns pass.

One extra tip: try to get data on the nations of the world (some are necessary for some  important research, like rogue fields, death realms, fuso), capture and research enemies like tough girls, savvy girls, guild reps and drifters, as they tend to give data on nations. Government docs are also pretty good for this. You can also pay for expeditions as a sure-fire way of getting that kind of research, with the added benefits of getting expedition caches.

Extra tip +1 of flaming doom: flamethrowers are fun. Fire damage negates reactions, lights up maps and damages morale like crazy, causes a good deal of stun and will set people on fire, dealing health and stun damage over time unless your target happens to be highly resistant to it, that is. Just don't do it to anyone you really want to capture, since I don't think there's a way to actualy put out the fire other than waiting it out. Unfortunely it falls off in usefulness against most late game stuff since pretty much everyone who is seriously armored is also highly resistant (or immune) to fire, and since most flamethrowers fire in an arc, it won't work well during base raids.

Extra extra +2 tip of watery wetness: don't ignore underwater missions once you start getting them, even if you have to go skinny dipping. Get yourself some gals (gals have pretty big lungs under those boobs) 2 or 3 oxygen tanks from the market (just have one gal carry one tank and service the others), some crossbows and bolts and some melee weapons, then go murder all the fish/underwater zombies. The reason for this is that you can potentially find yourself a crashed USO from t'leth (an alien sub) and get yourself LOADS of aqua plastics, an otherwise rare and expensive resource that is used in lots of useful midgame stuff.
Fish are pathetic and are unlikely to even damage naked gals, and zombies are sitting ducks against anything that can move on the Z axis, just go to them, stab a few times then go up one Z level and they can't touch you. Worst case scenario you'll run into sharkmen, troglodytes and evil psychic jellyfish, so if you see any of those, just run away, since its not worth the effort unless you're properly equipped, specially if you see the jellyfish, seriously, just run.

Super extra phallic tip of shootyness: don't ditch your starting assault cannon. Its actualy a powerful and versatile weapon that can load different kinds of ammo, allowing it to be useful against almost anything. Give it to a gal with lots of shooting skill and she can murder most enemies from afar. It stays relevant well into the game even after you get grenade launchers and auto cannons due to the ammo variety and ease of production.

[Solarius Scorch]

I don't think there's a way to actualy put out the fire other than waiting it out.

How about using a *gasp* Fire Extinguisher?

[Dakkdakk]

Pffft, what am I, some sort of health and safety inspector?

[Greep]

Whipping downed enemies is genius that I never thought of, I guess the thought that cruddy manacles existed made me forget there might be other options.  I will get to updating the good soonish based on feedback.

Yeah also re: the assault cannon. Not sure if this is still in the random pool, but I remember you used to randomly get chem balls from gambling, and those just wreck stuff.  Edit: looks like acid and poison balls.

[Dakkdakk]

Yea, you can get random assault cannon ammo from gambling, and you can craft them pretty early on if you get the animal poison research, which is now much easier to get due to a random event.

Also, here's another tidbit: Since you can now get small ship engines from nurse ships, you can sell those to make a quick buck real early in the game when you're hurting for money and still haven't got to X-Grog. You can research it, sure, but you won't be able to do anything with them until you get a fair bit deeper into the game, and they're worth a fair bit.

Another thing: don't ignore your starting chainsaw, it doenst cost all that many AP to use, and it can be dodged, but if you use it from behind, its basically a one hit kill against basically anything that isn't armored, meaning its an excellent way to take out zombies early on, and anything it doesnt kill, it will wound badly, causing loads of bleeding and shock. Later on you'll get access to rippers (the one handed chainsaws from fallout) and heavy chainsaws, which are exactly that. Give those to a gal with lots of energy, TUs and melee skill and you can butcher anything less armored up to church warmaidens, just don't try to use them against lobstermen..

[Greep]

Was testing bows out before making adjustments to the guide.  I actually tried out poison bows and found them lacking, like even a decent 60 throwing newbie gal sometimes takes even 3-4 shots to take out a highwayman. 

Seems the main problem is you need like 80+ throwing for them to get to the point where they're truly great, but actually training throwing early game is a PITA. Shotguns/melee/grenades are massively better than anything else since you don't really need skills to be effective, and grenades don't really train throwing much since they're so effective heh.  It doesn't help that martial arts trains throwing only +5, and armor only gives melee. 

So I guess if you want to go that path you've got to intentionally whip dudes over and over for exp :/  But I can see how they'd be useful for hostages later on if you actually work with them.

Anyways, I'm going to try out playing a game focusing more on throwing, sounds like the shotguns kinda sap experience into the less useful firing skill even if they're super effective.

[RetroJL]

Don't forget alot of early armors give throwing/melee bonuses.  Scale mail gives +10 and has the slots to hold a few stacks of arrows/axes and plenty of grenades.  Rogue gives +5 as well.  A gal with skill 60-70 throw can one-shot a GO with a throwing axe easy. 

Don't forget that arrows arc.  This allows your archer to fire safely from cover most times.  Admittedly, the initial bow and arrows is lacking in raw damage at start.  One point of note if bows have a set TU cost to fire, so you can get ALOT of arrows off with a fast gal.

I guess the point I'd make is that Throwing skill and weapons are a valid choice, but require the same level of commitment as a gal focused on shooting or melee.  Plus, late game the same gal can be given a gun and make a really REALLY good grenadier.   Sidenote:  The Electric Lasso is a great item to aim for if you are aiming for hostages. 

[Greep]

Yeah, I suppose the best way to ease your way into throwing would be to have some shotgun/melee "shock troopers" in heavier armor,  supported by some squishier dudes going all out into throwing with clothing who can run up and whip for hostages as needed or throwing axe in a pinch.  It's mainly just dudes running into buildings or going to ratman rodeos/monster hunts who need armor anyways.  So basically, specialize gal into either the main primitive weapons role, or into firing.

Edit:  Seems like barbaiasn (S) is a good excuse to train throwing. Used to use pistols, but given the -10 firing malus, sounds like javelins, axes in the pocket, and a fistycuff make for a good setup.

But man dear LORD regular hunting bow ammo is so bad.  I'm failing to kill a single hoe with a whole party when one shotgun blast is all I need xD

[Eddie]

Was testing bows out before making adjustments to the guide.  I actually tried out poison bows and found them lacking, like even a decent 60 throwing newbie gal sometimes takes even 3-4 shots to take out a highwayman.

That seems to be comparable to a grenade then, no? With 60 throwing skill, you would need on average two tries to get the grenade on target, and you can throw one grenade per round. The hunting bow is accurate enough that you can land 2 hits per round, so that's the same two rounds you would need to take down the target. But you get a lot more throwing xp with the bow because you get more hits. Throwing trains quite fast when you use it, and even low skill gals can hit stuff from a safe distance.
With a high throwing skill and the right outfit, you can take out 2-3 highwaymen per round at 25 tiles distance. A good outfit to wear for a bow gal is the gym suit. Bows have flat tu use, so high tu lets you shoot more often. And you give her grenades as well. Bow for single targets, grenades for mutliple targets. You can even put throwing axes on the belt for short range, and you have kung fu for melee. That setup trains throwing in no time and is effective at all ranges.

A strong point of the poison arrows is also the reaction disrupt, combined with the fact that a hunting bow uses snap shot. A hunting bow can reaction fire, which throwing axes and javelins can't. The reaction disrupt means if you reaction fire on someone, they most likely stop dead where you hit them followed by more reaction fire, because each shot drains their tu. That's pretty useful to keep your gals safe during enemy turn.

[Rubber Cannonball]

A good outfit to wear for a bow gal is the gym suit. Bows have flat tu use, so high tu lets you shoot more often.

Just thought I would add that bow use burns energy, but gym suits recover it much faster (140% recover rate)  Watch out for the cold environments though.

[Greep]

Updated some of the guide (bit of research, necropirates, weapons).

Playing some more, I've found a happy medium is simply replacing the handle with a leather whip once gals get to a decent melee experience level when I know I'll be dealing with civilians, and keeping the shotgun.  So even though capturing is slightly more difficult, I've still got trusty ol' kill everything in sight when I need it.  Kinda disappointed non-poison arrows suck so much, but not much you can do really.

Seems like you don't even really need to heal ghosted enemies with a water jug either.  Since the whip is super gradual ,taking them just to the brink usually ensures they stay alive.  Sometimes they even just barely recover :O  Will have to test that out some more.

Edit:  Alright, in a new game now that I'm actually leveling throwing intentionally, it's paying off, the range of bows is getting quite good and I can throw down some light and surprise daze everyone in an area.  Got super lucky and got some poison arrows via gambling early, and having two of these gals is really helping in certain areas, like the lighted areas in warehouse wars.  Whipping dudes while they're down is also letting me capture almost everyone in situations I normally wouldn't bother.

But it definitely does take much more dedication than firing/melee to level up.

Edit: seems to be a weird bug where if the downed enemy is near a wall you just continually whip the wall.  Can fix it by simply picking the enemy up and moving it at least.

[Ashghan]

Edit: seems to be a weird bug where if the downed enemy is near a wall you just continually whip the wall.  Can fix it by simply picking the enemy up and moving it at least.

It's an engine limitation in regards to the order of objects on a targeted tile. The walls are a priority over ground (and the game does not differentiate if there is anything else on the floor or not). There is no workaround that would leave the option to shoot walls intact. Similar issue is with multiple bodies (items) on a tile - you can shoot only the topmost one.

[Rince Wind]

The fire arrows are really good. Not for killing stuff directly, but for providing a small light in the night so your other gals can then shoot the enemies there. You can also use it as a scouting tool and just liberally shoot flaming arrows to where enemies might be.

[Rubber Cannonball]

It's an engine limitation in regards to the order of objects on a targeted tile. The walls are a priority over ground (and the game does not differentiate if there is anything else on the floor or not). There is no workaround that would leave the option to shoot walls intact. Similar issue is with multiple bodies (items) on a tile - you can shoot only the topmost one.

If I shoot at an enemy through a chain link fence that is part of the same tile the enemy is standing on, am I highly likely to hit the fence instead of the enemy since the game assumes I'm targetting the fence?