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Author Topic: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez  (Read 22715 times)

SQman

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Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« on: August 12, 2019, 05:11:14 am »


Suffer not a scurvy dog to live.

You may ask "SQman, what happened to X-Com Files?", and you would be right to wonder. There are two versions:

Reality:
I got bored of it. I actually realized the think that I was missing was the alien multitool that I had set to auto-sell, but that's not the point. The thing is, for that moment I've finished most plotlines with only few ends to tie up, and the rest of the game was just good old UFO hunting. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's hardly the most exciting thing.

In-universe:
X-Com has never recovered a multitool in good condition. The etherals have realised that humanity had dealt with most obstacles without learning the secrets of alien technology, and anxious about what would happen if X-Com agents got their hands on plasma weaponry they decided to end the experiment prematurely, sending an elite muton assault squad to Guy Fieri HQ in Nepal. After the resulting slaughter the whole X-Com chain of command fell apart, causing the remaining soldiers to scatter and be hunted down soon after.

The Council attempted to negotiate hoping to prevent the annihilation of humanity, however they were not alone in that, and perhaps they were the ones that mattered the least. MiBs and Reptoids helped to strike a deal with the invaders, one that was not optimal, but was better than the option of Earth getting cracked open to extract minerals from its core - Earth and the solar system would become a part of the star empire of the ethereals. From that moment Earth had new rulers - the Gods from the Sky.




I'm still not a good player, so I'd appreciate a little help deciding what research topics are important, what items are good etc.

You may claim a pirate, be it a gal, a peasant, a slave, a Lokk'naar, or a dog. Gals have the highest life expectancy, while dogs and bloodhounds tend to die quickly with me.

Spoiler: Classes (click to show/hide)


Dossier 1: Escaped Lunatics

There's gonna be a lot of spoilered stuff since I need to introduce and analyze stuff. Don't worry, there should be less of this in the future.

Spoiler: Story (click to show/hide)
What have we learned?
-We were test subject in the Academy's secret lab, but since we lift they couldn't stop us from stealing a car and just flying away.
-There is Doctor X. We don't know much about her, but she cared about us, at least in a way. That may or may not be a good thing depending on who you ask.
-We've found a good hole to hide in thanks to a violet-eyed woman in our cap'n's dream, as weird as it sounds.
-World is in shambles.
-Mutants, villagers and governments really don't like Star Gods (whatever they are) and their lackeys, and may even consider paying us if we make some racket. A particular kind of racket.

There are some questions to be answered, that's true, but right now we have decisions that need to be taken immediately, like difficulty.



I'm good at video games, but I'm a pusspuss. Blackbeard it is!



Our hideout is located in the middle of Romanica, a South European power.



We've named the base Port Fantastic after John Port, port marine, the hero of local folk legends. Those wacky Romans and their wacky stories.

Spoiler: Me and the Gals (click to show/hide)

Our crew is decent, not a single useless lubba. Could have used some more strength in the crew, but you can't have it all, I guess.

The available equipment also needs to be reviewed:

Spoiler: Tools of our trade (click to show/hide)

Now that we have that behind us we can start for real.



First the important thing - booze. Moonshine is a stamina-restoring item that agal can use on herself. A mighty useful thing to have, especially for a melee or throwing oriented hand.



Picked research topics at random. The meeting can wait for now.



Immediately a very small shipping has appeared on our radar. I bet it's them scurvy dogs from the Academy. We may have no cannons, but we can follow them until they get tired of running around.



And here we are, on a farm of some description. Academicians probably came down to resupply, but they will soon learn how bad of an idea that was. Their Airbus is visible from our position. Let's wait a turn and...



Platinum Star raised her club and brought it down on the Academy nurse's head with a loud "ORA". The academician fell to the ground unconscious after which the mutant gal scurried back into the airbus.



Red Magician ran around the bus to survey the area. This turned out to be a good idea, because there was an another nurse skulking behind in the shadow. Magician gave a sign to the pirates, and while they didn't know what she meant, they've decided that it would be a good call to send somebod out.
Purple Hermit looked around the corner and noticed the target. Being a little out of shape she decided to shoot instead of tiring herself out. The flintlock ball hit the nurse killing her near instantly.



The Cap'n, Chariot and Experience proceeded to the enemy craft. Peeking from behind the hedge, Silver Chariot has noticed an academy nurse brandishing a ball bat. Jokes on the nurse - we only have figurative balls, no literal ones.




Oh, so you can just whack someone over the head with this thing. That was a rookie mistake on our part, but our brave cap'n made us even by shooting the nurse with a musket.



Experience has entered the enemy bus. It's a more comfortable model than ours, but it lacks back door that are so useful for shooting fools.



Speaking of fools, Gold Experience has found one. The nurse revealed her position when she hit our commando with a laser blast from her pocket las-charger.



She probably didn't expect that Red Magician was waiting nearby with a molotov's cocktail in hand. After having fiery fury unleashed on her, the nurse stopped struggling and let us kidnap her.



Yarr harr! We've showed them land lubbers that these waters... this sky is not a safe haven for their kind.



Uber gals gain experience faster than them purebloods, leading to skills being increased by 11 for more chumpy hands. We do need more stamina, that's one thing that I can confirm for sure.



We've sold the ship engine. Later in the game we could use it for making our own crafts or extracting hellerium, but right now it's an easy way to get quick money.
Most veggies also got sold. Last time I played I had a lot of deep one meat and no wheat for making pies, so we should stockpile on that at least.
Stun baton and las-charger will be useful for study and maybe later use.
The credit chips were quickly exchanged for hard cash. Not like we're in a position to make an account in one of them banks that land lubbers use. At least the chips are so convenient that people are willing to exchange them at 1:1 rate.

[Couldn't fit it all in one post]

SQman

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2019, 05:11:46 am »



Immediately after we got back from the loot recovery an anonymous source had informed us about a temple in bumfuck nowhere, Eurasian Autonomy. It ain't one of them inner city cathedrals, but we can still grab some serious swag. Well, Experience and Chariot are wounded and not ready for a fight, so this may prove to be problematic.



Spoiler: Recruitment posters (click to show/hide)

Now we're able to replenish our ranks. Kinda. Peasants are human women, much weaker than ubers, but also much cheaper in maintenance. They start with worse stats, improve slowly, and peak at a lower point. There are some ways to improve their usefulness and survivability, but as we can get them now we shouldn't expect amazing feats from them.

Now we should call a meeting to figure out what this is all about. Stumbling in the dark is not the most efficient way to operate.



Here we are, the small temple that's supposed to make us rich. The gals are clad in warm furs to keep them comfortable in Eurasian cold. Unfortunately those clothes impede movement a bit, making it harder to run and shoot.



The welcoming commitee is already here, even if somewhat unprepared. The tough girl near our meeting spot and the sharp guy on the hill are unarmed civilians; it's a bad idea to hurt them. The lad in green is an altar boy that we also shouldn't really be killing. He's got a gun though, so we may be forced to indulge in some mutant-on-child brutality.



I've had our parrot fly up and check for more enemies. There is another altar boy with a small revolver, and an unarmed thug around the corner. Worse threats wait for us inside, no doubt about this.



First turn is best spent cowering in some dark place so we don't trigger reaction shots. Not like a kid could hit us from a pocket gun at this range, but you never know.



Oh my, a man dressed in white with a big shotgun, whatever shall we do?



Cross Fire Hurricane from Red Magician proves to be successful despite 52% accuracy. That's what you get for trying to flank us with a gun that's too big for your feeble human arms.



While the idea of pacifying civilians seems tempting, there is nothing more important than neutralizing immediate threats. The altar boy got a taste of my flintlock pistol from a range that I usually don't feel comfortable shooting a flintlock pistol at.



This is the usual effect of getting hit with a Molotov's cocktail.



Let's get a move on and try to take out that boy on the hill. The leather jacket woman got a minor concussion from Platinum Star's handle, but other than that she's fine, I swear.



The altar boy thought he could just get closer with no consequences. Purple Hermit may not be the best gunna, but at this range her shotgun couldn't miss. Poor kid, if only we appeared a few mission later I would have had enough energy to run up to him and whack him on the head.



Meanwhile Magician is going the other way entirely. She manhandled the burning guy, took his shotgun...



And called the parrot for threat assessment. There seem to be no immediate threats inside, but I know better.



Star also did some manhandling. Shrine maidens are pretty much non-combatants, but they are still a part of Church hierarchy. Whips that they carry are not very dangerous, being more about special effects that I don't remember right now.



There were immediate threats inside the temple after all! Magician whacked the unfortunate acolyte after the parrot opened the door for her. How does a parrot open doors? Space magic would be my guess.



The priest, the head honcho of this temple has appeared before us. He's got a double-barrelled shotgun, incredibly deadly at close range. We've gotta deal with it somehow.



Shit, that was a poor throw! I wnated to set that guy on fire, but I'm not as good a tossa as Magician.



Seems like the priest was out there to retrieve the sharp guy. A rich donator perhaps? This our parrot won't tell us.




Bad decisions all around! While I trust Magician to overpower a young boy, Hermit and I are kinda exposed to a priest and a neophyte with shotguns. Platinum Star is having a small tussle with a teenage hooligan, but that doesn't really matter.



Magician and Star were okay, but I had to go for a desperate move. The priest can now easily blast my face off or I may block the shot. I've already shot him with my pistol, so he should get a penalty for his rolls, right?



Got him! I wasn't planning on taking him alive, but here we go. Now if the neophyte doesn't shit his pants we'll have just one armed target to pacify.



Like this. Thanks, Hermit.



Star might have killed a sharp guy with a reaction shot. Welp, that's a shame. At least none of our gals got wounded in this mission.



The loot, however, is not shameful. We've got a plenty of credit chips, purses and bags of money, expensive wine, and some trash to sell.
There was, of course a lot of prisoners to question. We can't figure out the world on our own after all.
Oh, and those fancy new weapons! Double-barreled shotgun, holdout pistol, heavy shotgun, HE grenade. None of this is really fancy, admittedly.

Spoiler: Taiga News (click to show/hide)



Spoiler: Jacktown, Romanica (click to show/hide)

We can now buy stuff! I've immediately ordered some ammo, torches, and most importantly ol' revolvers. I hate flintlock pistols, especially when none of the gals is good at shooting.



There is this thing too. It's a stronger yet harder to use version of the shiv. We're not buying this, of course.



Eh, ratmen are already looking for our base. I absolutely despise roving bands, mostly because destroying a whole swarm takes a lot of ammo.



Here come our new recruits, all complete garbaggio. We can somewhat increase their stats by giving them repurposed tribal clothing, also known as the hunter clothes.






There are two roads shotguns can take: convenient weapon for close encounters, useful in buildings and for ambushing, usually fast and poor at dealing with armor; and wanna-be heavy weapons with good damage, range and accuracy, impaired by high TU usage, also bad at penetrating armor.
Heavy shotgun falls into the second category, of course. It's good against unarmored targets, even the bigger ones. Not my favorite gun, but it's satisfying to use.




There was something very small on the radar and it landed. Unfortunately it's necropirates, enemies we can't win against just yet, especially at night. Perfect time to test out our escape maneuver.



Oh.



Whatever, there's another landed Academy Airbus for us to take apart. Those engines, they are everything that a budding pirate band needs.



A nurse with a vrmint rifle was trying to ambush us at point-blank range. Platinum Star whacked her twice so we can take her with us.



And another one! And another one! Another one was revolvered by Red Magician. That was a pathetic performance from the Academy, it's gotta be said.



We, on the other hand, have recovered notoriety we've lost by letting necropirates slaughter innocent mutants.



Spoiler: All that glitters (click to show/hide)

For now jewelery is just a good cash fodder. I have no idea why I chose to reasearch this.



Dr. X cares about us more than she cares about her assistants, aww. I think researching this will stop spawning search parties with this item and start sending parties searching for our base instead. Those won't be much more menacing, really.




Sailor uniforms don't provide any additional defense, are a liability in cold environments, and don't give as much extra stamina as tribal clothes or nudity, but at least gals get extra 5 TUs. Improved exp gain is probably this outfit's main point. We're makin' 10 of these.



Let's break it down, shall we?

-The extractor can get us some hellerium with some runtpower. Selling it is more profitable than selling moonshine.
-Still makes us said moonshine.
-Armored vaults are a storehouse and a reliable SAM launcher put together.
-We don't have many choices when it comes to expanding our base just yet.
-We don't have to demolish simple facilities before buildong more advanced versions in their place.
-Menacing hull is important.

Got it, cute runt lady. In the end you said nothing I didn't know already, but I appreciate your enthusiasm.



Wait a minute, can we renegotiate those numbers? No? Damn, that ain't gucci. Now I'm not sure if it's just me or is it a very clear hint to keep the crew small, with plenty of non-uber members.

That brings us to the next question: what do we want our crew to look like? We can put a 'no boyz allowed' sign by the main entrance, or we can be inclusive and all this stuff. The first options will give us an unlimited supply of uber gals, while the second options will force us to diversify while allowing us to make a better use of human crew members. What do y'all say?

Darkening Kaos

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2019, 06:16:26 am »

   I'm in, SQ.
   Name: Keep the descriptive first part of the name and add Kaos.
   Load-out: a hunting rifle, something to bash others with in CQC, and grog for self-administered bravery-boosting.
   No complicated story of motivation, just a Gal with good eyes that likes to shoot stuff, or bash it if it gets too close.
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So! Failed to make peace, war looms, kill the infidels... what are our plans for the weekend?
The Giant Moles in the caverns of my current fort breed like crazy, even while regularly being decimated by other beasts entering them...

Il Palazzo

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2019, 07:57:54 am »

I'mma gonna claim a runna. Give 'er a cutlass once you can. Name: Scurvy Sin.
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SQman

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2019, 02:24:54 pm »

A very short update, not even a full dossier:

Dossier 1 attachment 1: Diverging paths



Welp, the Academy haven't leaned crap from our last two encounters; they still fly those Airbuses around like they own the place. The first thing we'll do today will be beating up some nurses. This one's got a varmint rifle and wecould take her out right now. First turn should always be skipped if possible, so let's not take the nurse out just yet.



The second turn was full of revolver fire and some occasional whacking courtesy of Gold Experience.



Oh my, Jen Shoot has killed her first person! It's always such a pleasure seeing a pureblood gal grow up so fast. Granted, it was just a short-range powder bomb toss, but everybody's gotta start somewhere.



The last nurse was sniping from across the lake. She got two lucky hits on Experience causing three fatal wounds. Finally Star managed to kill her. I thought gals were supposed to see better in the dark!



Spoiler: Academy nurse (click to show/hide)

Nurses are the lowest in Academy ranks, mostly seen in early missions and with sub-par equipment. They are probably not even supposed to take part in combat and they were after us only because Dr. X couldn't get the operation officially approved.



Spoiler: Academy nurse pt.2 (click to show/hide)



Brainers can easily drain us dry if we're not careful, that's something to keep in mind.



Oh, right. I'd like to hear what people think about this. Let lads in? Keep lads out?

Il Palazzo

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2019, 02:35:37 pm »

Gals are superior!
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Rince Wind

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2019, 03:00:20 pm »

The descendants of the various winds are mutated and ready to join.
Rina Wind is the first to arrive. She would like to go commando ... ehh ... be a commando. If pistol+melee is commando.

Gals are superiour, if only to have enough gals to dwarf people.
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EuchreJack

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2019, 03:26:31 pm »

Gals rule, Boyz drool.
EuchreJill, at your service.  High reaction fire please (it's the hardest to increase, he he he).

Rince Wind

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2019, 04:18:02 pm »

No, just use melee weapons which cost 12 TU or less to use. Easy for Gals.
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Happerry

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #9 on: August 12, 2019, 04:50:53 pm »

I'll join as a gal please, name of Happy Happens. As for gals verses guys, I'll vote for guys just because I haven't done that yet and it'd be interesting seeing what's behind it. Though it looks like I'll be outvoted on that.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2019, 05:03:55 am by Happerry »
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Forenia Forever!
GENERATION 11: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

Darkening Kaos

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #10 on: August 12, 2019, 07:46:26 pm »

     Gals rool, 100%
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So! Failed to make peace, war looms, kill the infidels... what are our plans for the weekend?
The Giant Moles in the caverns of my current fort breed like crazy, even while regularly being decimated by other beasts entering them...

Iduno

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #11 on: August 12, 2019, 08:34:28 pm »

Most veggies also got sold. Last time I played I had a lot of deep one meat and no wheat for making pies, so we should stockpile on that at least.
Stun baton and las-charger will be useful for study and maybe later use.

You can center-click things in the fence screen (or elsewhere) to find out if it's useful for anything. "No dependencies" means you can sell it. You also might want to right-click to see if it can be researched for anything useful.

Stun batons are handles, except faster and they ignore some armor. Also, faster means that they train reaction as well as melee. And they ignore enough armor that you can take down mid-game enemies, including various security guards, with them.

Also, I'm at 3 bases with 8-21 gals at them, and haven't gotten a baroness yet. By the time you get the more expensive units, you can afford them.

If you're not already good at the game, slave soldiers, peasants, and other males are a liability. Also, from Dioxine's comments, that's 100% intentional.

I'll take a gal with a pistol and stun baton/whip -> electro lasso. Whips aren't great until you get throwing levelled up a bit, but then they're real nice until you start seeing armor commonly.

And it looks like sailor gear is a weaker swimsuit/bikini/gym suit? I've never used them. Love gym suit for new gals, though.

Edit: Oh, and stun batons also ignore 25% of armor, which is why they can handle most enemies.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2019, 09:59:42 pm by Iduno »
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EuchreJack

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2019, 01:34:01 am »

Sailor gear is nice for the XP bonus.  It's good for those Gimme missions like the Watchtower one.

Iduno

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2019, 11:24:54 am »

Sailor gear is nice for the XP bonus.  It's good for those Gimme missions like the Watchtower one.

Right. It's +5, where gym suit is +15 I think? I believe bikini and swimsuit add more than 5 as well. They also all add TUs. I'd have to look to see if all except sailor add stress to help train bravery as well.
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Rince Wind

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Re: Port Fantastic - X-Piratez
« Reply #14 on: August 13, 2019, 01:16:28 pm »

You can also carry more stuff. I never use Bikini/Swimsuit unless the gal has really low strength.
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