Tactics (Piratez)
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Damage type details from forum
Weapons have 2 ways of mitigating Armor
Armor effectiveness (denoted as Armor ±X%) ignores or adds some percentage of armor
EG. Fuso sword has armor +40%, so if the target has 50 armor damage is reduced by 70. Spear has armor -20% so the same target would reduce damage by 40.
Armor damage means that some percentage of the damage dealt will be done to armour first, removing it for all subsequent attacks.
EG. Hammer has armor damage 10%. If the hammer hits for 60 damage, it also removes up to 6 armor from the target. Armor damage happens before the target takes damage.
Piercing - Standard Armor Piercing from vanilla. Basic ballistic rounds you would find in conventional weapons. Rifles have a slight bit of armor negation with this (-15%), and because this is a common early form of damage, many higher tier enemies have in built resistances to it (I'm looking at you, Mercs). All piercing weapons that have a base of 60+ damage deal armor damage
Cutting. Almost always on melee or thrown weapons: Axes, Swords, Throwing Knives etc. Usually very solid damage in its Melee form, and often scales up in thrown form with throwing skill (more skilled archers get more damage, etc). Usually a solid early damage type as most enemies don't have extra resistances to it. (This is actually one type Mercs are more responsive to).
Concussive - High Explosive from Vanilla, but some melee weapons use it as well. Great for terrain damage. Often useful as bombs that use it hit the under armor of the targetted unit. Does carry some secondary stun effects, but in practice is more likely to kill targets if it overcomes their armor than stun them. Higher tier enemies are often resistant to this, but as with anything, apply it enough, and you may still get effects.
Daze - Stun damage. Knocks enemies unconscious. With OpenXcom Extended, the waters become a bit more muddied here, as weapons can have a primary damage type and secondary damage effects. For example, the Handle is primary Daze/Stun with secondary lethal effects. This means that as damage scales up with your strong gals, you may sometimes kill a target you were trying to stun with a handle. Also, some targets are immune to Daze/Stun damage. Another mechanic in OXCE allows other weapons that are designed for incapacitating enemies. These are often listed as "Plasma" damage in the Bootypedia, but they have extremely minor lethal damage and 4x stun damage. These are often later in the game.
Choking - Smoke from Vanilla. Please note that almost all units that don't have environmental filters (masked helmets, etc) take 4X damage from smoke as compared to vanilla. You can see this in your own gal's base stats. Does stun damage over time. Now, throw in OXCE mixes on assorted weapons as mentioned above in Daze, and you can get Smoke type weapons that also do significant Lethal damage (to health) or pain (often to Morale) or even to energy and time units. Most early Choking stuff is just smoke though.
Chem - Same as Acid from vanilla (ie Celatid spit). In XPirateZ almost always degrades armor, usually adds pain (Morale damage) and has good Terrain Destruction effects.
Plasma - Plasma from vanilla. " sometimes plasma damage is stun (cattle prod, tazogun?)" - See explanation in Daze above. Most enemies will respond to doses of plasma as very few are resistant to it. However, access to good plasma weapons for the player can be fairly limited for sometime. Proper plasma weapons (non-stun) do armor damage by default
Laser - Laser from Vanilla. This ignores 1/3 Armor so it can be useful against armored enemies. Again, not easy to get a hold of early on.
Burn - Incendiary damage from vanilla. Completely ignores armor and does 5-10 damage, only affected by resistance. If a target is hit Fire will almost always damage the target. If the target is set on fire from being hit or starting its turn on a tile on fire, it will continue to take damage from the flames for up to 5 turns. Some units are immune, while others are very vulnerable (Academy Drones). Large units take damage for each square affected.
Special - This is listed and is a rare damage type applied via Voodoo(Psi) weapons. Has varied effects ie, stun, morale, tu, energy, armor damage, in addition to possible lethal damage.
Cold - A weather effect of environmental conditions, causes energy drain on player units wearing little or nothing. (Bikinis are bad in the Arctic). At 200% weakness or higher, deals HP damage
Heat - Another weather effect: Causes stun on units that might overheat in Jungles or Desert.
Acid Rain - Damages armor, and morale and causes stun
Extra Damage (Lethal) - Does that percentage of damage as lethal damage. Eg. Fistycuffs (extra lethal damage 35%) hits for 20 stun, it also does 7 hp damage.
Extra Pain - Does damage to Morale. Pain resistance and immunity don't actually reduce pain damage, but instead increase the amount of stun recovered each turn.
Reactions Disrupt - Reduces current TU of unit, so reduces chance of reaction fire
Shock (System Shock)- Weapons do some amount of stun damage as well. The default is 0-50% of the damage dealt. A weapon with Shock x3 would do 0-150% stun damage. eg. If hammer hits for 60 damage, it does 0-90 stun as well
Cold embrace of death - If a unit has 3x more stun damage than current health, it loses 1 hp a turn. If it has 6x more damage, it loses 2 hp a turn.
Note: you can see out of the windows in your Airbus, you can crouch to avoid enemies seeing or attacking you!
Tactical Tips from decrypted data discs and the BootyPedia itself:
General Tactics
005 || The placement of your spare ammo does matter. The TU cost of reloading is increased by the cost of moving ammunition to you hand (as much as 10 if it's in your backpack). You will avoid paying extra TUs only if the spare ammo is in your free hand.
010 || Diversify your weapons.
014 || Armor is only useful to those who get hit.
019 || Cover saves lives. Ending your move in the open is the surest ticket to the other world. Hide at least 1 tile away from a corner for maximum safety. When going under a low ceiling, kneel to see elevated enemies and be able to throw bombs further away. Standing on corpses brings bad luck.
020 || Don't panic: any explosive can be unprimed. To do that, drag the bomb over the 'unload' button, just like you'd unload a weapon. This operation costs 25% of your TUs.
031 || If you remain unseen, you cannot be killed.
032 || Only the fools rush in. Always check your surroundings and avoid disembarking on Turn 1.
056 || When someone moves, attacks or throws, a reaction check is called. There is no random factor: the Reaction scores of both fighters are multiplied by their current TU's. If the defender has a higher score, they're permitted an attack of opportunity, which can be only a Melee attack or a Snap Shot.
070 || Resistances are sometimes far more important than armor values.
106 || Some items, like ammo clips and bandages are consumed when used. After the battle, all charges of all remaining items are tallied up and stacked to fully refill as many items as possible. All excess charges will normally be lost (depending on game options).
Quality of Life
037 || Tired of all the hassle with daily dressing up in all that equipment and agonizing before the mirror? Can't ever seem to find pieces of the stuff you want to wear?In the equip screen, you can use Quicksave hotkey (F5) to save current soldier's equipment as a custom template. You can load any of your custom templates by pressing the Quickload key (F9). You can also use [Q]uicksearch button to find things, but you gotta know their names.
Melee
MELEE - Summary || Melee weapons are characterized by high and dependable damage (50-150% damage roll), however using them effectively requires skilled Hands. Pay close attention to their stats, as weapons useless for a weakling might be deadly in the hands of a strong warrior; this is especially important considering the wild range of skills presented by newly hired Hands. Muscles, math and bold action are the keys to success; overconfidence and lack of tactical acumen will lead to many a funeral.
003 || Come at them from the back. It will reduce any Melee Dodge they might have by a half (attacks from the flank reduce it by 1/4th).
009 || No matter how good you think your armor is, if you're presenting your backside to the enemy, you're asking for it. Even the best armor is usually much more vulnerable from the back, and your melee dodge is the worst there as well.
011 || Strong and skilled melee fighters can destroy anything.
013 || Do not underestimate skilled, but weak melee fighters. Many of the lighter melee weapons inflict damage based rather on Skill than Strenght, and they're much less tiring to use (melee weapon's swing Energy cost equals 2/3rds of its Weight, rounded down). High Reactions will allow for a frontal charge without being shot at. Thus, a fast skirmisher will sometimes be more effective than a bulky warrior.
040 || Using a two-handed weapon single-handedly usually incurs a 50% accuracy penalty (33% for melee weapons).However, some weapons (indicated by the red 2-handedness marker) are either too heavy, too intricate or otherwise impossible to use when your off-hand is full.
Ranged
016 || Normal autofire range is 11 tiles. The chance to hit drops by 2% per every tile after that.
033 || Kneeling usually increases your hit chance by 20%.
040 || Using a two-handed weapon single-handedly usually incurs a 50% accuracy penalty (33% for melee weapons).However, some weapons (indicated by the red 2-handedness marker) are either too heavy, too intricate or otherwise impossible to use when your off-hand is full.
PISTOLS - Summary || The main advantage of pistols is that they suffer no accuracy penalty when your other hand is occupied. They're also fairly accurate, shoot very fast and fit the quickdraw (QD) slot. The main disadvantages are: limited accurate range, lowish damage and reduced accuracy bonus from kneeling (just +10%). We now understand how cased ammunition works and we'll be able to reproduce it, once we have a proper Workshop."
SHOTGUNS - Summary || "Shotguns have the highest close-range accuracy of all guns, although their accurate range is severely limited. They usually fire pellet munitions which have huge damage potential, but spread very randomly and are completely useless against armored targets."
BOWS - Summary || "Bows shoot with an arcing trajectory, which makes them very useful in dense terrain (but not in the forest, where the tree canopies are a major issue). The Throwing skill commands both accuracy and a large part of bow damage, so don't expect good results from anyone with Throwing below 50; however, experienced soldiers can inflict fairly heavy damage using bows. High Stamina is also essential for an archer, since the larger bows put a major drain on it. Bows don't get any accuracy bonus from kneeling, and shooting them costs a fixed amount of TUs, so make use of your mobility. Arrows often inflict less damage to enemy Health than expected, so don't rely on them in 1 vs 1 situations."
SMGS - Summary || "Two-handed SMGs and, partially, Carbines fall under this category. These weapons have higher volume of fire than Rifles, as well as faster aiming, usually allowing them to fire two aimed shots per turn. They often have reduced single-handed use penalty (per gun description). Thus they're particularly good at delivering high amounts of pain at medium ranges."
RIFLES - Summary || "Rifles are the most average weapons of all, and most dependable, even if they don't shine in any single aspect. All rifles have two general advantages:> Unlimited Aimed Shot range;> 15% Armor Penetration with Piercing munitions (Firearms only). This does include machineguns and sniper rifles (but not chainguns), as long as they don't get any bonus damage based on soldier's stats (Rifles that get such a bonus are excluded as well)."
SNIPER - Summary || "The most common characteristics among these weapons are slow firing rates and a serious influence of shooter's skill on the damage inflicted. This means potential damage far exceeding that of normal rifles. 'True' sniper rifles are governed by Firing^2 * 0.01 skill, making them almost useless for warriors of Firing below circa 75."
HEAVY WEAPONS - Summary || "Heavy weapons are not simply heavy, but they often require forethought to use properly. When planning to use one, be sure to check if you're strong enough, if the weapon doesn't get a major accuracy bonus when used from a kneeling position, if it requires offhand to be free (a red '2' in Inventory) and how punishing are TU costs of its attacks.A study of how these are built seems crucial to making our own heavy weapons."
EXPLOSIVES - Summary || "Explosives never fail to provide fun. If exploded directly on someone, they attack the under armor, which is usually the thinnest; they also do quad damage vs. large units. Blast usually weakens by 10 per tile, but eg. Fire inflicts full damage within the whole area. >Launched. These use some kind of a launcher and explode on contact.>Thrown. Much like the former but require no launcher. >Fused. They explode after a set number of half-turns (0 is after your current turn, 1 is after the next enemy turn, 2 is after your next turn etc). Prime, then Throw or drop.>Proximity. When primed, they explode when a target enters or leaves a 1-tile radius."
Damage
006 || All Piercing weapons of 60+ Power will always cause some armor damage. Even more armor damage is caused by Plasma weapons, regardless of their Power (but electric weapons that cause Plasma damage do not count).
015 || Maximum level of stun damage is four times the max health, so it might be worth it to inflict extra stun on a fallen enemy. On the other hand, it also means everyone can be revived... sooner or later. Stun also causes Energy drain, so don't be surprised that a freshly woken Gal has little Energy...
021 || Cutting damage, inflicted by weapons like knives and bows, causes very little extra Stun damage (half as much as bullets).However, such weapons sometimes can cause Reactions Disrupt or Extra Pain, which inflict, respectively, TU and Morale damage proportional to HP damage caused.
022 || Certain underhanded monsters (usually the tentacled ones and witches, or, worst case, tentacled witches) will use attacks based on Special damage, that usually also destroy armor. Resistance to Special damage will be the key in dealing with them, which usually means the less clothing, the better. Bringing along stims is also recommended.
023 || Chem can melt your opponent right out of their armor. All chem weapons cause armor damage equal to 0-20% of their Power, before armor's defense is even considered, unless otherwise stated in the Pedia. This makes subsequent shots more effective. The effect stacks with armor damage caused by any penetrating hits, if applicable. Chem also causes moderate Morale damage.
028 || Lethal weapons cause so-called System Shock damage, which is extra stun damage, normally equal to 0-50% of HP damage inflicted. If a weapon description says, eg. 'Shock x3' it means 0-150% Stun in addition to Health damage. Some enemies to which normal biology doesn't apply, mainly robotic ones, are immune to System Shock damage. However, stun weapons, based on electricity or radiation (working against Laser or Plasma resistance), ignore that immunity. Other weapons do that only if their description states so.
039 || Pain Resistance increases the innate Stun recovery by 50%, while Pain Immunity doubles it. This not only helps to withstand more whipping, it also helps to keep fighting when heavily wounded. Normally, when a person drops below 75% Health, they stop recovering Stun damage and start to accumulate it instead. Pain Resistance effectively moves that threshold to 50%, while Immunity - to 37%. Armors and races with special Stun recovery rules override these formulas completely.
045 || Death is your most faithful friend. Anyone whose Stun level is thrice or more their current HP will start to slowly pass into its cold embraces. The rate is 1 HP per turn, but doubles when Stun level is 6x your current health etc. (possible only if you're wounded). Keep the wounded hydrated and don't leave them to exposure!
047 || Daze is a type of damage caused by unarmed attacks, as well as clubs, handles, rubber bullets etc. Its' primary effect is Stun, but it often causes extra lethal damage (percentile means how much compared to Stun). Attacks with magical energies often use Daze damage type as well but are sometimes straight deadly. Daze usually doesn't affect robots or zombies.
062 || Eyes can deceive you. Sometimes you can't shoot what you see, or can shoot what you don't see. Ctrl+Click to force fire (doesn't work for Arcing weapons).
080 || Do not underestimate fire, as it ignores all normal armor, no matter how thick, and causes massive Morale loss. A target hit by fire takes 5-10 damage, modified by its Fire Resistance. 2x2 targets take quadruple damage. Additional fire hit is dealt every turn the target is burning (which can last up to 5 turns). Fire damage never deals Fatal Wounds. Some enemies might be immune to fire, but those who aren't, will eventually succumb to it - especially since Flamers cause multiple hits.
Combat Morale
041 || Morale influences defense against black magics. One who's scared becomes an easier prey to evil spells. On the other hand, one with Morale above 70 is more defiant to these sinister powers.
046 || Experiencing comrades' deaths and being subjected to evil magics will instantly decrease Morale. The lower the Bravery, the higher the loss - someone who has Bravery 90 is twice as susceptible as someone with Bravery 100, one with Bravery 80 - thrice etc. Losing one's nerves can occur if Morale is below 50 - the closer to zero, the higher the chance.
083 || The presence of an officer on a mission reduces all morale losses and boosts all morale increases by 10 to 25%, depending on their rank (only the highest one alive counts). The highest rank modifies these values by 50%. However, the death of an officer also means a more severe morale hit than death of a mere soldier, up to 175% of the normal value. Remember that the enemies are also affected by these rules - so strike right in the heart.
092 || Being nice sometimes mostly benefits the benefactor. Each use of any item capable of healing gives the user +5 Morale, whether or not it actually helps.
Movement
002 || Be wary of your encumbrance, as it could really slow you down. If the carried weight surpasses soldier's Strength, you will have less TU's available, and unlike TU penalties incurred by armor, it can even make it impossible to fire weapons. However a soldier can pick up any weight and suffer no ill-effects if the weight is dropped before the end of turn.
024 || Running is faster than walking, but you won't automatically stop upon seeing an enemy, allowing them an immediate Reactions check.
093 || High Stamina is important in battle, because Energy is used for moving, throwing, melee and magical attacks - eventually you will lose your breath. Sprinting (CTRL+move) will allow you to run faster, but will burn through any amount of Energy rather quickly. You can alleviate the problem a bit by dressing as lightly as possible, but real endurance can be achieved only through training. The Energy recovered per turn is normally equal to 10 + one quarter of the current Health.
Healing
026 || The gals will be hurting when wounded, whether you like it or not! Health damage does not only reduce combat skills, it also affects Stun and Energy recovery. When you're seriously wounded, you will be suffering constant Stun damage. This affects all human-like creatures.
107 || Our mutant bodies are able to quickly regenerate any form of non-lethal injury, so we can be smooth and ready for more adventure again, but it won't happen overnight. The healing might take anywhere from 0.5 to 1.5 times as many days as the amount of HPs an injured warrior was missing. So be a good sis and don't forget to heal as much as you can before ending a mission, since early treatment can greatly reduce the duration of the painful recovery process.
Training
004 || What constitutes beauty is often a complicated matter, but here we simply sum it up as 'beefness'. Beefness, or physical ability is broken into stats: Strength, Health, TUs (speed) and Energy (Stamina). To increase beefness (and thus beauty), you need to train; the lower a stat, the faster it's likely to increase. Working out surely gets you there, but it requires effort. And there is a more fun way: combat. Hitting enemies with ranged and melee weapons or casting magic will not only influence related skills, but also gradually increase your beefness (and thus beauty).
029 || The basic method of training Bravery is to use medikits (alcohol and drugs don't count). It can also be gained from piloting. However, some gals insist that swagging about without much, or any, apparel on is the best way of building confidence.
030 || The main combat Skills are Firing, Throwing, and Melee. Some unusual weapons use unusual combinations of skills and even flat numbers. Such weapons will have a 'SKILL: xxx' entry in their descriptions. To make heads and tails of this, you only need to remember that weapon's accuracies (Aimed, Snap etc.) are displayed for effective Skill = 100.
055 || To train Reactions, you need either to fire opportunity shots, or hit enemies with fast melee weapons (costing 12 or less TUs to use).
064 || No mastery without training. No discipline without meaning. No real pleasure without any of them.
Environment
058 || There is nothing shameful about the human body, yet there's a time and a place for everything. For example, swimming naked results in taking less Stun damage per turn than in a swimsuit.
060 || Underwater environment modifies resistances to several types of damage. Concussive damage becomes extremely dangerous, being modified x1.5, while Piercing, Fire, Daze and Cutting all deal 20-30% less damage. These values are already accounted for in aquatic armors' descriptions.
Air Combat
012 || The approach speed in dogfight is constant and equals 1 km per 4 seconds; when equipped with short-range weapons, you might take as many as 10 enemy blasts before getting into engagement range. Some enemies may flee instead of fighting, as long as the Max Speed of their craft exceeds that of your interceptor.
027 || You can switch craft's weapons off and on by clicking their icons during an air battle.
038 || Runts will work really hard to get your ships back into shape, but it's not an easy matter to repair such a large hull in the tight, hot confines of an underground hangar. The normal repair rate is 1 Hit Point per hour, so it might take even 10 days to repair a heavily damaged craft.
048 || The 'Ramming Speed' attack setting will increase firing rates of some weapons, most notably guided missiles and, to a lesser extent, big guns.
049 || The 'Fuel' rating of a craft corresponds directly with its range. It is calculated differently for crafts that use physical fuel, like Chemicals or Hellerium; they have 20x as much range as battery-powered crafts with the same Fuel rating. Fuel is replenished at a rate of 1 fuel item / hour. 1 fuel item gives a lot of fuel for small craft, but much less for large ones (equal to 'Mileage' rating).
050 || Craft's Acceleration score governs how rapidly it can disengage from dogfight. Score up to 2 means half speed, 6-8: x1.5, and 9+ double speed."
051 || Warships should be attacked by multiple craft. Up to 4 interceptors can be used in a single combat.
052 || An airborne weapon causes 50-100% of its stated damage upon a successful hit.
053 || The chances to hit a target in air combat are influenced by the size of the target. The number provided in the weapon entry is the chance to hit a Medium target.Very Small have a to-hit modifier of 75%, while Small - 87.5%.Large targets have a modifier of 125%. Very Large are trivial to hit with a modifier of 200%.
VooDoo
041 || Morale influences defense against black magics. One who's scared becomes an easier prey to evil spells. On the other hand, one with Morale above 70 is more defiant to these sinister powers.
081 || Witchery Guide. >The base accuracy of a VooDoo attack is equal to 2% of caster's Mastery (Power*Skill) +25. It drops by 2 per every tile of distance. >Efficiency changes that base accuracy; eg. Efficiency of 50% means that accuracy is halved. >Difficulty of a VooDoo attack ranges from v. hard (+0 Accuracy) to v. easy (+40 Accuracy). >V. Defense (Power + Skill/5) decreases effective accuracy. If they're equal, the chance to succeed is 0. If accuracy is 200 higher than defense, success is guaranteed.
101 || Even if your VooDoo is weak, keep using it. The progress made in school is steady but very slow.
General Esoteric Wisdom
007 || If you can't get enough plundering, make a break every few hours. Savour the anticipation, protect your sanity and let your body regenerate.
008 || Discretion is the better part of valour.
017 || Dragons might eat you, but they might not.
018 || Greed kills. Don't stuff your mouth with more than you can swallow.
035 || Every paradise has its snake. Read between the verses.
042 || No Pain, No Pleasure. No Train, No Treasure!
054 || Never do it alone. A pair is much better. Four makes a party.
064 || No mastery without training. No discipline without meaning. No triumph without loss. No real pleasure without any of them.
086 || Only Mun Tzu could a Tank and 4 Gals at the same time.