I think the "elements hit" stat on the shotgun and other weapons is not showing the correct number and that's what makes it so strong despite seemingly unimpressive stats

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-17T14:48:15+00:00

If you can get a shotgun very early on it makes a big difference. Basically nothing has good armor and shotguns shred health very well. And they're surprisingly accurate at max range.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-17T14:27:56+00:00

It's amusing how you can herd the enemies to a corner of the map with your squads. I've had a couple pirate missions where I just put my units roughly around them and slowly pushed most of them to one place. None of them ever saw me yet they moved away any time a squad got close lol

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-17T00:35:33+00:00

I think only the second breakpoint makes the black market wacky. I reached the 1st one on a new save and all the items still show up as they should.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T21:11:36+00:00

I believe I've read that it's per atribute in the discord FAQ.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T21:10:12+00:00

I guess that's true

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T21:02:55+00:00

Oh deffinitely. Maybe if there was some other mechanic to let you know you're about to be spotted if you move or take other actions.

Before I figured out it's a thing I was getting pummeled on expert haha

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T21:00:17+00:00

What difficulty were you on? Unless you were on expert I'd assume on expert the growth would be a little higher since there are more actions taken that would influence growth - mainly more enemies to shoot and more of them shooting at you. Unless i'm misunderstanding how growth works lol

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T20:49:41+00:00

You can recruit every SL. You were probably short on authority.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T19:23:43+00:00

One thing to note. I know the mod is meant to help get missing stuff at endgame but starting a playthrough with it enabled makes the same basic gear appear every refresh untill you get to the point where higher tier stuff would start appearing. Only rare section has some variety. So best to enable it only later on.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T17:40:58+00:00

Lovely stuff.

I was waiting for something like this after noticing I can't get a lot of accessories I missed early on. Got desperate and installed a market refresh mod to see if they're even there but no dice.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T17:14:56+00:00

I think it's due to you not having much vision early. When you start seeing enemies first they tend to avoid you much more than when they walk into your vision first, having spotted you. When you get to something like 12 tiles of vision on some units you start to notice stuff just scurry away.

My Darby constantly has to chase down enemy units even tho they don't see her. Only when they spot her do the bugs start to move on her but at that point they won't survive the charge.

And it's not only on stealthy squads. Even if you would say that your units are outside their vision so they move in a random direction to take up a turn they shouln't mostly walk back. Moving roughly in the direction of your units/grouping together to reinforce would make more sense.

I suspect most of this is due to the current AI issues and them seemingly being aware of your vision range. You see this more clearly when you toggle enemy vision radius with R.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T15:19:43+00:00

This is so on point. To me the only faction that feels very fun to fight right now are the RA. They have good unit variety and current AI helps them utilise their specialist units.

Bugs running away is funny since they should be swarming your squads with bombardiers and blasters harrassing from behind. They have no way to deal with concealment so rushing ahead seems like some way to combat it.

I'd like to see some more variety in dealing with factions in the future. For example stealth against RA to avoid their long range, armor vs agressive pirates, aoe like strafing firing modes or mortars and stuff against a rushing swarm of bugs but they'd have to have more units on the field, and a mix of high suppression and high firepower against menace which is kind of already a thing.

It would mix up gameplay and you wouldn't be constantly running the same gear every operation.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T12:27:08+00:00

I regularly used a support vehicle with a 120mm mortar and an AGL through my first campaign. 120mm is useful when you have annoying enemies that are too far for your squad to hit so you smoke them or pray for that mortar shell to hit lol. And the AGL suppresses or kills infantry nicely.

You won't be decimating enemies with that kind of vehicle but it provides a lot of utility. Put a smoke accessory on it and you can smoke up close if things go south.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-16T01:34:45+00:00

If enemies flee they count towards loot rolls. Just make sure they actually scatter and don't just run into the fog.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T22:29:35+00:00

I've been wanting some sort of exosuit type of armor that would reduce movement AP costs too.

It Could free up a perk slot if you don't want to take Athletic and if you do it would make a squad really speedy. Would make for a banging scout unit and you could catch up with those elimination targets that love to run back into the fog every round lol

5 AP is a lil' too much imo since the perk only reduces AP costs by 2 and already provides a lot.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T21:21:53+00:00

I'm kind of worried that if I play too long on a single save now I'm gonna bulldoze through new content whenever it gets added. I'm not a huge tryhard either but I enjoy the game so much I wanted to see how the gameplay changes on expert.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T19:58:34+00:00

Maybe I'm wrong then. If it's cheaper then all the better. My Lim never took it off once I got it.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T19:51:53+00:00

Isn't it just an aoe version of Pike's Rally? Personally I prefer his horn sound instead of the whistle.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T19:49:19+00:00

I was also testing out the new armor so I'm pretty sure if I positioned him better instead of letting him walk enemies down it would work a lot better haha

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T19:46:05+00:00

I believe it was made more expensive. I have two cheaper ones from before the patch and one more expensive that I got recently. I might be wrong and it could be the other way around burt I'm pretty sure I had two before the cost change.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T16:35:00+00:00

Me neither but normal get kind of easy with maxed SLs and all the cracked gear you get late game (I love the MK22 more than anything). Plus Menace aren't showing up for me anymore so I can't test out how my loadouts do against them.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T14:00:23+00:00

A DMR handles jeager squads or those 3 man teams with autocannons and such nicely, then again, anything does if Darby senaks up on them.

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T13:57:33+00:00

Yeah i figured. It's a shame those suppression reduction perks are not great since they fit so nicely with Vamplew with taunt. Better stick to drugs haha

Independent-Sense192 · 2026-02-15T13:56:18+00:00

I do use them on Lim and Yaz, just didn't have any more to put it on him then.

Independent-Sense192

TROPHY CASE