First

What's the backstory for this quest?

Can we hire humans as R&D/perimeter guards?

Does the game have a 'timer' or is it just linear branching?

Does magic C.Org a thing or is not? (Xenonauts made me ask this.)

Will there be a time-between-missions research progress bar, or is it based on a research point system?

Can we get intersex/non-binary C.Orgs?

>>133894
>What's the backstory for this quest?
Most of the backstory is in the OP. Gray City is very prosperous but has paranatural incursions that the government doesn't want people knowing about because people might leave/it could hurt tourism.

The Secret Extermination Command is tasked with eliminating these incursions/threats without the ordinary citizens finding out. Human commanders are put in charge of squads of Constructed Organisms with animal powers, etc.

>Can we hire humans as R&D/perimeter guards?
You have no ability to hire anybody, and aren't in charge of the facility. You just control your team. Your influence could expand later on, though.

>Does the game have a 'timer' or is it just linear branching?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. You're not the only team, so missions you don't take could get taken by another team who will either succeed or fail.

>Does magic C.Org a thing or is not? (Xenonauts made me ask this.)
You can get some units that use magic.

>Will there be a time-between-missions research progress bar, or is it based on a research point system?
You're basically not involved with this directly. Some missions will give the organization essentially research points, and giving things to Lurleen also improve the equipment you have access to.

>Can we get intersex/non-binary C.Orgs?
Anybody could be nonbinary, although they'd still be physically male or female. It is possible for some C.Orgs to be hermaphrodites depending on the animal they're based off of.

Thanks for the questions! Glad you're interested in the quest!

Will there be bread?

I fucking love this quest. I'm a huge XCom fan, so taking that concept and making it playful and silly is A+++ in my book. Also, I think your execution so far is wonderful. <3 This is what Chimera should have been. Thank you!

>>133899
I wanted to go on dates with Torque too. No need to get hyperbolic here.

Glad you're enjoying it, though!

Here's a pastebin with more specific rules explanations/errata

Detailed Rules:
https://pastebin.com/kzA3NyzV

>Reduced damage from all sources as she gains ranks
Wait, does that mean she deals less damage to herself when she self-harms to heal her teammates or voodoo-gutstab her enemies? Does she increase her magic effectiveness to compensate, or do her abilities weaken in effectiveness as her passive abilities make her near-unkillable? Or does she just grow a larger health pool overall?

Some info from discord:

The skill choices after missions are available based on events during the mission. Baetriss was able to take Hit the Dirt because she got hit by explosive damage, and obviously using a weapon gives you a related choice for that weapon. The quest author didn't say how the available two choices are picked from the valid ones, but I'm guessing some have priority over others and the frequency of an event/action matters too. If we pass up a skill choice, we have to unlock it again via actions/events in the next mission.

The Android comes with a laser rifle, cannot be healed with a trauma kit, and upon reaching 0 hp she has no chance to die.

Mother of Horrors can eat corpses to become Gravid offscreen (like, when moving between rooms/maps in a mission), but cannot produce minions offscreen, so if we want more than one Horror per fight we'd have to make one during the fight.

Offering's abilities don't work against mechanical units. She is blind but can 'see' without eyes, yet she still needs line of sight to 'see' units, and is affected by darkness (the explanation is the dark power is stronger in darkness and blocks her mystical sight). She has worse aim than other units as well. Her damage reduction power starts out kindof weak, making her squishier than Fucc is with basic armor.

Improved Command Structure can be triggered between rooms to swap a unit with the reserve unit, but only Casualties can be swapped out during a firefight. I am not sure if the Casualty has to leave the room to make the swap, or if we just can't give them orders anymore and the new unit enters the room from the entrance. Obviously it must be the latter if the unit is dead.

Pistols and SMGs are the same weapon class and thus use the same skill advancement and weapon upgrade purchases.

Some types of C.Orgs have Monstrous Body in the Activation pool; I think this could be an unpleasant surprise, but we can also eventually get weapons and armor for them so it won't make them melee-only in the long run. Notably, if a C.Org has Large Frame, they may have access to Improved Monstrous Body. Baetriss has a version of it in her Activation pool that makes her LONGER instead of bigger.

I have a question! Can equipment be broken by explosive damage? If yes, does that only happen if the unit is gibbed? It looks like the rocket unit from the first room of last mission broke the rocket launcher it was carrying, since it wasn't available in the looting phase.
Can units with special equipment lose their equipment this way? It'd mostly just apply to the Android, I suspect, since that's the only unit that we know of that could survive getting gibbed.

>>134427
She takes less damage from external sources as she ranks up. Her own abilities "ignore most defenses" for her as well, and still deal the same damage to her.

Also don't expect her to ever become "near unkillable" because of it, just significantly less killable than other people who are walking around without armor.

>>134428
To clarify some things:

>Skill choice
Harder-to-unlock ones are always higher priority.

>Android
The android comes with a laser pistol and has some special traits:

She can't be healed with trauma kits (or Offering's magic)
She's immune to a lot of stuff (like poison)
Drugs don't work on her.
If she gets dropped, she always has a 0% chance to die or be injured. She still has the mechanical penalties of getting wounded/casualtied in that she has to spend time getting repaired if she gets busted up, but there's no morale/calm penalty from taking her with half health.
She floats! So, she can do floaty stuff like fall off of stuff or move up onto stuff. I promise there are outdoor maps :v
She's slightly annoying to most roommates.
She can use normal guns and equipment, including armor.

>Offering is blind
It does say she has a penalty to hit with weapons, which is the only mechanical disadvantage to her blindness.

>Improved Command Structure
You can still revive the casualty with a Trauma Kit if they have a trait that lets them do that, so you can temporarily have five people on the map in that instance. But like, you should probably have your about-to-die-person take cover or something.

>equipment destruction
Most of the time, equipment isn't destroyed no matter how a unit is killed. It's mostly relevant for people carrying a lot of explosive ammo who get killed with explosives.

from the thread
>Mother of Horrors has a morale penalty and Offering doesn't!
Expect nearby units to frequently have a calm penalty if you take her on a mission, unless she's just shooting at people.

Mother of Horrors is extremely durable. Her spawn are also hard to hit. On the whole, she is substantially more durable and does significantly more damage than Offering, but can't heal people. Keep in mind that she can also cause enemies to panic.

>>134432
>laser pistol
Well now I feel foolish.

Also I guess we managed to loot one rocket launcher from the last fight! The second rocket unit didn't blow up. I'm sure Fucc will be happy about that.

>Oh, can we ask HQ for some info?
>What is the average mortality rate for C.Orgs?

It varies wildly by squad. I'd say on average one C.Org per mission, but it's usually several missions with no fatalities and then one where the squad wipes, or half gets murdered or something.

>Is there a way for a C.Org to retire to a noncombat role?
A C.Org that reaches Rank 10 can retire from active duty if they request it and their commander permits it.

>Finally, can we like, do some tests on our C.Orgs to find out some basic stats on them like movement speed, aim, and endurance(health)? Even vague information is better than nothing.

So, every C.Org has the same movement, HP, and aim unless they have a trait that specifically references those things (Animal toughness, for instance, or Leggy.)

They also have a Calm stat based on their Morale that can vary pretty wildly after a single mission.

They gain some Aim, a few HP, and a decent Calm bonus whenever they rank up too.

Is that what you're asking about?

>>134460
Yeah that about covers it, thanks.

The rocket launcher has an associated item for reloading... can we give that item to another unit, for safety's sake? If we give multiple units rocket launchers, can we bring only one set of extra rockets?

Does Hit the Dirt trigger if you misfire a rocket launcher? Do the extra rockets detonate if you take explosive damage, no matter how much explosive damage it was?

>The rocket launcher has an associated item for reloading... can we give that item to another unit, for safety's sake?
The associated item is three rockets, although the rocket launcher does start with one in the chamber.
A different unit could carry the three rockets, and either unit could spend an action to reload the launcher. They need to be next to each other to reload it.


>If we give multiple units rocket launchers, can we bring only one set of extra rockets?
You only have one extra rockets item, so you'd need to get a second rocket launcher (or just a second set of rockets) for somebody to equip that item. You could definitely just equip two of the item and not bring two launchers tho.


>Does Hit the Dirt trigger if you misfire a rocket launcher? Do the extra rockets detonate if you take explosive damage, no matter how much explosive damage it was?
Hit the Dirt triggers if the unit takes any explosive damage from any source, so yes. Rockets only detonate if you're Injured or Killed by an explosive.

Oh neat, so we could have a rocket team for faster rocket launcher use. Probably still safest to aim before firing, but if someone else is reloading we'll be able to fire one per round instead of one every 1.5 rounds with half the rounds giving the enemy a chance to move out of the targeted area. A big improvement.
Does this only work if a different unit is carrying the rockets? As in, if unit A has a rocket launcher and the rockets item, can unit B standing next to them grab rockets out of unit A's inventory to reload the launcher, saving unit A an action?

So we're limited to one rockets item per rocket launcher. That's good to know, but I was asking if we could take less rockets. Like, if we have two rocket launchers in the team, could we only bring one set of rockets?

...hmm, seems like most units would run out of rocket ammo partway through a mission and would then have to scavenge a new weapon. That means Ixander is a good rocket unit, though tbh Baetriss is the best choice since she wouldn't have to worry about running out of ammo at all. I'm thinking we could have her aim, fire the rocket, then next turn reload a rocket and Lookout with sniper rifle. Or alternatively, if we're confident the enemy won't move(or Baetriss needs to use an action for something else like moving), we could aim on one turn, then fire a rocket and Lookout on the second turn, getting a free shot with the rifle as the enemy moves into new cover.

So were we in charge of the scarred nurse before the quest started, or were there commanders before us?

Can the commandy one spend time with base personnel when he isn't running a mission or dating the squad?
I think it would be neat if we had an option to send someone to help the nurse, like Mary and Lurleen. Some of our C. Orgs have basic medic training. Maybe they'd even get better at it from interning.

>>134477
The C.Orgs you have now are the only ones you've ever commanded. There are five other teams in the same area you are, and other areas in the facility.

>>134478
You'll be able to send people to hang out with her now that she's appeared and been named.

A few questions.

If we bring the 5th person on a mission, do they get experience same as the rest of the team? Does it depend on whether they swapped in during the mission or not?

The people who're not taken to a mission and stay behind to perform on-site duties, do they get any sort of experience by doing so?

I am contemplating on whether, from experience point of view, it's better to bring the 5th person on a mission or to stay behind.

>>134500
Right now, only 4 people will typically get experience. The backup has to participate in more than half of the mission to get any XP. Likewise for whichever unit gets switched out (if any.)

So five people could get XP if one of your C.Orgs with Animal Toughness is a casualty early on and you trauma kit them back up and keep them in the mission, along with the backup.

I just realized this quest is similar to Animal Crossing in a way.

We fill up the houses/bunks with quirky animal characters, that eventually leave/die/retire. If we foster an especially good relationship with one, we get a picture to remember them by.

I can't believe no one considered combining 10 ARs into a single 10x larger AR.

naileD 2021/03/07(Sun)10:51 No. 134975 ID: 680982
File 161514306647.png - (27.29KB , 662x501 , relationships.png )

Relationships before 3rd mission

>>134975
This is awesome, thanks!

Important Question: What would happen if we did not choose the Terratomorph mission repeatedly? I think our assumption that it would result in an Impossible-difficulty mission that was unskippable is what motivated our thinking.

Petition to either change mission selection or request heavy backup, maybe a bomb escort.

>>135113
I agree, I also want to hear from the author if we have a chance of doing this without loosing anyone.
I also feel like we're being subtly hinted at as to which missions we should take and people have been ignoring it.

I realized that we are getting a lot of benefit from selling/researching weapons looted from humanoid enemies. We should prioritize missions that have those types of enemies.

>>135113
>>135114

So, the intention with raising the difficulty to Nightmare, and only having Hard missions otherwise available, was to subtly point out that you haven't been improving your weapons or armor at all so it was probably a bad idea to pick this mission, especially.

I can't say that the mission is impossible. I'd suggest that it's probably not a good idea to actually fight the thing with your current resources. There will be some things to loot as well, so even if you retreat, it won't be a total wash.

>>135115
Although I didn't mention it in the update, you did salvage 4 ARs, and will get an opportunity to turn those in to Lurleen if you want to.

That came across as the situation getting worse, not the missions outpacing our progress. Also, don’t the plate carriers have to be built separately per unit? That’s ridiculously expensive.

>>135119
It is definitely also getting worse, so that's not an incorrect inference to make. And yeah, it wouldn't be possible for you to have 4 improved plate carriers at this point.

I thought mission difficulty was independent of our progress? Like, wasn't it supposed to indicate how difficult a mission would be if a squad of novices went in with standard equipment?

>>135123
Correct. And all the missions have gotten harder at this point.

...well, that means giving Rockit that arm was massively expensive. We can't do something like that again before we get better equipment. We need at least one set of improved armor, and at least one non-pistol gun upgrade. Though, upgrading pistols is so cheap and works well with the Sidearms upgrade that we may as well do it at some point.

If someone else loses an arm they're just going to have to help out at base for a while.

The problem is that the interface for upgrades does not contrast equally with our empathy. Here, we ignored our research into upgrading weapons and armor in favor of short-term assistance and charity, because our short-term memory meant that we didn't take any real stock into how obsolete our gear was becoming, and how that would result in more C.Org casualties and difficulties in the long run. A big (Warning! Gear is outdated relative to other C.Org cells) tag or (Priority) tag next to priority upgrades would have largely countered this problem.

I guess in any strategy game, there needs to be a balance between empathy and rationality, and we're not getting that because we don't know how or when to say there's an imbalance until we get hurt by the consequences.

Actually, could you add recommendations from base personnel during each upgrade screen?

>>135125
To be fair, Rockit has a little heart on her date status bar now.

>>135126
Balancing between the empathy for your units and their effectiveness in combat is sort of the decision you have to make as commander.

Asking the opinions of your units is always possible though. You should do it on dates!

>>135135
yeah but only 1 heart . . . that's a very long bar!
I honestly feel like everything is so expensive that we won't succeed empathically nor tactically even if we invested everything into one or the other.

it feels a lot like X-com: Enemy Unknown. except you can't reload your game or even start from scratch (if playing ironman)
we're making the best choices we can but are already doomed because of poor long term planning

for example the Terratomorph mission really feels like something that'll game over us if we ignore it too long, but doing the mission is also a bad idea.

Well that went better then expected, that is to say I expected people to try keep going.

>>135138
I think that's a very fair criticism.

I try to not punish decisions too harshly, but I also try to make sure there are substantial consequences for actions.

I would like to think that having a unit die is an inevitability, but so far you've all managed to squeak through.

I updated the C. Orgs relationships table in the wiki but... there is no link to the wiki anywhere in the quest ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Can we see the unlock requirements for skills that we've seen at least once?

Here are my guesses:
MOVE MOVE MOVE(double move has no penalty while using heavy weapon): use a heavy weapon during a mission.
Area Denial(burst fire aoe): use a heavy weapon during a mission and hit multiple targets in one turn?
Hit The Deck! (explosion resistance, but go prone): take explosion damage and live.
Medic(3 uses of medkit): use a medkit.
Nimble (extra CQC dodge): get hit multiple times by CQC attacks.
Presence (ranged calm, adjacent calm is 100% accurate): calm a unit
Shotgun Surgeon (extra damage with guns at point blank): shoot something with a shotgun at point blank? just realized this applies to ALL guns.
Headlong Charge (dodge enemy lookout): move when enemies are visible
Steady (extra damage when aiming): aim then shoot, may require a kill.
Walking Fire (aim bonus after a miss): miss multiple times?
CQC Specialist (melee damage bonus): defeat an enemy in CQC
Heavy Hitter (armor piercing): shoot an enemy with high armor multiple times? kill heavily armored enemies?
Eagle Eye (lookout with sniper rifle costs 1 action instead of 2): kill things with a sniper rifle? might require going on lookout at least once, but Baetriss never went on lookout with the sniper rifle, only with her shotgun.
Tough As Nails (resist panic once, Wounded at 1/3 health instead of 1/2): complete multiple missions without being wounded.
Guts (death/injury resistance): take a large amount of total damage during a mission?
Efficient Stowage (carry an item in addition to heavy weapon ammo): use a lot of heavy weapon ammo during a mission? or use heavy weapons in multiple missions?
Adrenaline High (excitement lasts longer): get excited a lot

MOVE MOVE MOVE(double move has no penalty while using heavy weapon): use a heavy weapon during a mission.
✔️

Area Denial(burst fire aoe): use a heavy weapon during a mission and hit multiple targets in one turn?
>>Use a heavy weapon with burst fire.

Hit The Deck! (explosion resistance, but go prone): take explosion damage and live.
✔️

Medic(3 uses of medkit): use a medkit.
✔️

Nimble (extra CQC dodge): get hit multiple times by CQC attacks.
✔️

Presence (ranged calm, adjacent calm is 100% accurate): calm a unit
✔️

Shotgun Surgeon (extra damage with guns at point blank): shoot something with a shotgun at point blank? just realized this applies to ALL guns.
✔️

Headlong Charge (dodge enemy lookout): move when enemies are visible
>>have a shotgun equipped and not be eligible for anything else/charge an enemy and not be eligible for anything else.

Steady (extra damage when aiming): aim then shoot, may require a kill.
>>Aim and shoot and not be eligible for anything else

Walking Fire (aim bonus after a miss): miss multiple times?
>>Have a 1h/normal gun equipped and not be eligible for anything else

CQC Specialist (melee damage bonus): defeat an enemy in CQC
✔️

Heavy Hitter (armor piercing): shoot an enemy with high armor multiple times? kill heavily armored enemies?
>>Kill heavily-armored enemies. Priority increases based on number killed.

Eagle Eye (lookout with sniper rifle costs 1 action instead of 2): kill things with a sniper rifle? might require going on lookout at least once, but Baetriss never went on lookout with the sniper rifle, only with her shotgun.
>>Bring a sniper rifle and not be eligible for anything else (but high priority against non-sniper-rifle skills)

Tough As Nails (resist panic once, Wounded at 1/3 health instead of 1/2): complete multiple missions without being wounded.
>>Go on multiple consecutive missions without being wounded or made a casualty.

Guts (death/injury resistance): take a large amount of total damage during a mission?
>>Survive a 50%+ death check

Efficient Stowage (carry an item in addition to heavy weapon ammo): use a lot of heavy weapon ammo during a mission? or use heavy weapons in multiple missions?
>>Use a heavy weapon for most of a mission and have at least 1 other Heavy Weapon skill

Adrenaline High (excitement lasts longer): get excited a lot
>>Spend most of a mission excited

>>135294
My bad, "Nimble" is get _missed_ by CQC attacks from enemies, not hit multiple times.

>>135294
>Survive a 50%+ death check
Oh god. Well, we should probably not try to get that one on purpose.

>Bring a sniper rifle and not be eligible for anything else (but high priority against non-sniper-rifle skills)
I guess the high priority overrode CQC Specialist.

Does Cold Weather gear take up the item slot?

Yeah. Just like waterborn, there's a trait that ignores it.

Species List
https://pastebin.com/9hAVppN7

Trait list
https://pastebin.com/3vGGCVjS

so you can make an informed decision about commissioning c.orgs

In case anyone is wondering, yes we can still expand the barracks, we just need the research to be unlocked.
I'm not sure we'll really be able to make use of very many more corgs but we can certainly fill rooms with demons! I suppose the best use of additional corgs would be to get more cold resistant corgs. Right now we can get cold res on Rockit and ViiVeean, though Rockit has Monstrous Body so we might want to avoid activating her until we have some better monstrous weapons. There IS a question of whether our units want to get Monstrous Form or not, though. If any are strongly opposed to it I suppose we can just not activate them.

I agree regarding Monsterous body
we shouldn't make major alterations to their bodies against their will

becoming a monster might seem cool to us, but they may have serious problems with it

Well every time I suggested we try to ask the corgs something it hasn't been used so I think we *can't* communicate directly with our corgs. Except on dates, I guess.

>>135663
On missions they have no way to communicate back with you.

Also, I like the ideas people have been giving about stuff to do at base.

Stuff like trading credits/gene points to other unit commanders is a good idea. Are there anything other people want to do during the base phase that isn't in the strictly-defined options?

Training? Spying on our C.Orgs? Some group activities for the C.Orgs, like a cake baking contest? Maybe some story elements other than the pee bandits?

HQ!!Z0Mwx3ZJZj 2021/06/14(Mon)08:28 No. 135721 ID: 19da02
File 162368452749.jpg - (480.41KB , 2019x1095 , Sexcom Relationship Matrix.jpg )

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_aNWih4yY-6OZX61qVc-5u9JgtALkuwipIYmekmHmF8/edit?usp=sharing
The should-be-current Sexcom Relationship Matrix, now in updatable google doc format!

HQ!!Z0Mwx3ZJZj 2021/06/14(Mon)10:06 No. 135722 ID: 19da02
File 162369039128.jpg - (0.99MB , 2064x1252 , Sexcom Equipment.jpg )

Equipment:
Weapons, Armor and Items all on different sheets.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hMXWpX1d0YY4dijvX7mOLdSWMeBtjNoG1-PTGxuxnno/edit#gid=248897767
The pastebin still has more in-depth rules for everything.

What does the dig action do? Does Improved Diggy Hole let that corg move underground or is it more like, performing the dig action for free at the end of the movement?

>>135723
Performing the dig action for free at any point in their movement, but that lets you burrow sometimes.

So, for instance, if there's diggable terrain, you'd normally have to move up to it, and then dig it (which will move you through/in the diggable terrain, dependng on what it is.)

With improved diggy hole, you can move, move through/in the diggable terrain as part of that move, and then take your second action to do something else.

Here are two examples:

1) There's a fence and the ground is dirt. Digging would move you to the other side of the fence.

2) The entire ground is loose sand.
You can move through the sand by either using the dig action, or just moving with improved diggy hole.

Does that make sense?

>>135725
Oh, so, digging is a special action that generally involves movement as well, and improved diggy hole lets you do it for free.... does that mean in some situations the corg would be able to move further than normal in a single movement if there's digging involved in it?

>>135726
I'm not sure exactly what you mean. If they have diggy hole, they have to use an action and they'll get moved definitely less than if they were just moving over the ground. If they have improved diggy hole, they move at their normal rate of movement and dig through digging materials in their path as part of their movement. If you don't have either one, you can't take a dig action.

If it's an obstacle, like a fence you can dig under, with diggy hole, that's your whole movement, moving from one side to the other. If you don't have enough movement with improved diggy hole to get to the other side, you won't move to the other side of the fence.

>>135727
>If you don't have enough movement with improved diggy hole to get to the other side, you won't move to the other side of the fence.
Ah, that was the part I assumed worked to our advantage with Improved Diggy Hole. Nevermind then.

Please tell me which boy and which girl you want me to draw for chest day!

Baetriss and Noot!

Ixander and ViiVeean

Kayree and Ix.

ixander and kayree

>>135823
Yiann and Baetriss.

Kayree and Ixander!

I haven't read the post but I saw a request on Discord so I vote whatever causes a tie or comes closest to it. Alternatively, Steve shirts, depending on context.

update: I have now read the post and I vote Ixander and Kayree.

Sempai and Joannifer

Can I get a clarification on how Improved Pack Mentality works? It looks like it's Pack Mentality but it applies the buff to the entire group instead of just the unit with the trait. Does it have a penalty when the unit is alone, like the lesser trait? I'd guess it doesn't give penalties to allies when they're not nearby.

Yeah, I need to reword it.

"This troop and all adjacent allies gain a bonus to Calm and Aim as long as they are adjacent."

No penalties unless they'd have both traits.

That sounds really good! Though I suppose in most missions we're spreading out to use cover.

I don't see any species that have both.

>>135664
>anything other people want to do during the base phase that isn't in the strictly-defined options?
Interact with, or even just learn about, the other squads. We've got clues constraining the pee bandit's identity but there's no visible list of suspects for them to be narrowing down.

>>136938
This will definitely be addressed the next base phase.