Tips and Tricks from Reddit

I wanted to use the wiki here to capture some insightful tips from a discussion on Reddit here. (IvanDogovich)

From DracoGriffin

For easy money (this is not intended, to be honest): tech to Heavy Flamer and manufacture Heavy Flamer Clips for insane amounts of money.

Early Game: Slow and steady wins the race; you don't need to respond to every ship. Watch out for Govt ships/units; these will grant negative scores. Mid Game: Two main goals here are the "Hyperwave Decoder" and ensuring maximum radar coverage (you may want to devote a base with just hangars for Spy Zeppelins to get any uncovered areas). Afterwards, better interceptors to handle the larger ships and better armor for survivability. Weapon research is not important since you can use nearly 100% of weapons from enemies; you'll only run low on ammo clips. Question from Moon_Dew:
 * Strategy Layer: You want to expand radar coverage and Spy Zeppelins are great for this until you have the income to expand your base. Don't try to overreach with research; this game isn't meant to rush through research like vanilla X-COM. Try for "custom" weapons to give to high accuracy/reactions Gals; otherwise stick with melee and pick up enemy weapons when killed.
 * Tactical Layer: Smoke grenades are great; always try to flank or swarm units if you can. Don't be afraid to toss Molotovs & Black Powder Bombs (although prisoners are great for ransom/research, this isn't the time unless you have the enemy pinned).
 * Strategy Layer: First expansion should be to boost your alcohol production (X-Grog or Finely Distilled Rum). Further expansions should mainly be radar bases until you can get Stills up and continue alcohol production for money. Try to capture any important looking enemies (the rare looking ones basically) as they can be VERY VERY VERY rare sometimes.
 * Tactical Layer: Improved armour (better NV, flying capability, so on) should greatly increase your chances at tackling some of the "harder" factions, like the Star Gods or Mercenaries. Try to spread damage types around your Gals; don't focus only on Piercing/Cutting, try to get Incendiary, Acid, Plasma, etc.

What kind of ships should I focus on raiding first? Also, do I need hangers for Spy Zeppelins?

Answer from DracoGriffin:

Major targets should be any landed ships; even Govt ships if you can, for the loot (weapons, hostages, fuel, plastasteel) and supplement research.

In terms of intercepting ships; anything that has more than two floors is probably going to wreck your ships until you get better interceptors. It's much better to try to trail them, hoping for them to land, than to engage and have long repair times (although you can still launch damaged if you have the fuel and appropriate Addon activated). The only way you'll know for sure what to attack is once you get Hyperwave Decoder up and running.

Prior to that, researching ship documentation (can be researched quickly) or interrogating prisoners (longer, but usually get a few things unlocked) to learn about ships is VERY helpful (cross-examine with View UFO button on ship interception and minimize to check Bootypedia).

Yes, you need hangars for Spy Zeppelins; the great thing is expanding bases are MUCH MUCH cheaper than vanilla XCOM and maintenance isn't super high until you have more advanced craft/staff (Access Lift/Hangars are pretty cheap).

Question from Moon_Dew:

At what point can I participate in fighting off a pogrom? And what kind of rewards and penalties should I expect from a winning that type of mission? Also, you have guides for early and mid game, what about late game?

Answer from DracoGriffin:

Pogrom is no different than a Terror mission in vanilla X-COM.

If you ignore it, expect a HUGE negative score. Always best to respond and see what type of enemies are there: Spartans/Academy/Guild are the "easy" tier, Raiders/Church are the "moderate" tier, Star Gods/Mercenaries "difficult" tier. If you don't think you can handle it, just abort.

Definitely bring as many grenades as you can and the strongest weapons all of your gals can carry (for example, low strength Gals should carry Gauss Pistols) as you want to be able to kill as many enemies as quick as possible. Be prepared for terror units: some are wimpy, but some are very strong.

For late game: VooDoo isn't required but it can be fun, make sure to get the best armor (it'll say as much in the Bootypedia entry), try to capture faction leaders to "unlock" end-game. Win the game. There's really no tips here as you shouldn't be having much trouble with anything now, it's just getting to the late-game can take 2+ in-game years to even get to. (Average playthrough is about 3-5 in-game years, depending on luck with factions, sustaining economy and score to avoid losing).

Question from Moon_Dew:

How can I tell which ships are Govt ships?

Answer from DracoGriffin:

Same way you can identify police vehicles: red/blue lights.

However, not ALL Govt have these identifiers, but the more common ones do.

Question from Eklectus:

Don't you need a Govt Guard to get helmeted armour? Also, is there a tech tree?

Answer from DracoGriffin:

Not exclusively but they are generally more common (can also get from Explorers, Pest Control Managers, Stormtroopers), however it heavily depends on what factions you get per month (factions are randomly selected each month, along with Ship Mission types).

If any tech tree exists, it'd be nigh-impossible to comprehend. Sadly, that's where one fault I've found with X-PirateZ is some random techs can lead you to VERY important research topics. (Hyperwave Targeter, I'm looking at you!)

For research tips: research "custom" weapons (like "Custom Shooty Gun" and the like) as they generally branch off. Try to spread research around (3-5 Brainers a topic, depending on how many you have); most of the "best" stuff is buried underneath faction-related topics.

Question from Eklectus:

So can you point me in the right direction? Last game ran aground since I've assaulted a few Academy bases and got away with a Gauss/Lasgun Arsenal and wrecked whatever they threw at me, meanwhile trying to research this awesome tech...until I ran out of ammo. Researching the weapons didn't help, all I got was Bootypedia entries. Can you point me towards the key topics?

Answer from DracoGriffin:

You need to do Interrogations (relies on Manufacture for "Broken" enemies), as well as totally random things like Small Launcher. If unlock Power Station, you should be really close to being able to make Laser clips.

Honestly, if you have access to a Bozar, that's pretty lethal. Death Blossom SMG is another solid use, Military Shotguns lasted me soooo long too. Arena Fireball Launcher works great too, especially on night maps but relies on a bit of "luck" research to unlock.

If you've encountered Smugglers, there's a chance one of their ships will have some fairly decent infinite ammo Laser guns: "Snuffy", "Splatty", etc. Some of my soldiers carry those for the Laser damage type.

My current dumbfun tactic is throwing smoke everywhere then running a dog to find enemies and I run up with Gals to stun them with Electro-Whips.

You probably haven't researched enough "custom" weapons like I was saying in my first post. ;)

Prior to those, some good starter weapons (after you hijack a few ships) are Military Shotguns and Blackmarch SMGs. (Military Shotguns for your low Firing gals for the boosted Acc%, and Blackmarch SMGs for your high Firing/Reactions gals for the long-range sniping.