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[Rolan7]

I only noticed relatively recently, but yeah, the soldiers appear back at base (after a delay as if they were just hired, IIRC).  There's a data entry about it, saying they'll "engage emergency measures" or some such.  Maybe I noticed when I accepted losing an interceptor in a previous run, and my Lokks survived.  Losing a fully stocked transport though?  Or more likely, the unique flagship?  naaaaah.

The game heavily encourages throwing all sorts of expensive stuff into the transport "just in case", like LLACs and mortars and all.  Heh, remember when suddenly enemies became much more likely to pick up weapons?  I overlooked a Savvy Girl who decided to pick up a LLAC, that was a !!FUN!! surprise.  Much less fun was a certain "hallway" map where enemy fire is likely to explode your starting pile if you're unlucky...  I was pretty upset when I "won" that one and figured out I'd lost all the good stuff.

I've got a tendency to hoard junk both in my bases and on my transports >.>  I'll finally be making handcannons soon though, so I can stop taking 8 kinds of pistols "just in case" (but also still those light 5-shot SMGs or shotguns for training up weaklings).  Selling all the extra ammo will probably clear up my stores significantly.  But then there are so many rifles which stay more or less relevant for a while...

I don't know if I'm doing especially well, but I'm pretty sure I'm fine.  August of first year and I nearly have a workshop in my second base.  I don't have a lot of margin each month but that just keeps the Sky Ninjas out of my bank account, and I'm growing a pile of useful materials I could sell in a pinch.  Most importantly I have 19 brainers, and they're mostly on individual projects to prevent waste, so I ought to be fine.  I've also been researching weapons directly rather than interrogating prisoners, since the research cost is usually much lower.  I still need to interrogate to get key information though, like Laputa (an exciting reference to UFO:Afterlight!  A satellite arcology, apparently the location of much space commerce)!

[E. Albright]

Wait, what? I mean I know the hardest difficulty has some additional scripted !!FUN!! for a while now, but are there now significant chunks of gated content by difficulty setting?

My understanding is that playing on the 2nd lowest setting gets you all the content. It certainly seems to based on what I've been able to research on that level.

(I've yet to see bunker busters at just shy of 3y in, but as mentioned above I've been avoiding certain progression-affecting techs. At this point I can plot to kidnap the red-eyed brat, but so far she's not done anything to warrant it.)

The game heavily encourages throwing all sorts of expensive stuff into the transport "just in case", like LLACs and mortars and all.

I feel this in my bones. The cost of losing a main transport would be a lot more unpleasant than it should be, and only gets worse as the game progresses...

[EuchreJack]

I've also been researching weapons directly rather than interrogating prisoners, since the research cost is usually much lower.  I still need to interrogate to get key information though, like Laputa (an exciting reference to UFO:Afterlight!  A satellite arcology, apparently the location of much space commerce)!

That is a pretty good research strategy, so that you get "better" info from the prisoners instead of yet another rifle...

[Dostoevsky]

Yeah, here are the specific messages (I only got the first one):

Spoiler: Basically non-spoilers, but still (click to show/hide)

  STR_THREAD_OF_PROPHECY: "Threads of Prophecy Severed"
  STR_THREAD_OF_PROPHECY_DESCRIPTION: "As months pass by, you begin to slowly realize that something is not right with the world. Everything seems easier and brighter than you feared it to be. Nobody else seems to be sharing that feeling with you. Is this only a good dream? What dark secrets remain forever hidden from your eye? You decide you're better off not knowing. In time, it even makes you feel better.{NEWLINE}[Cap'n Kid Limits. +50 Infamy]"
  STR_ENJOYING_THE_DREAM: "Enjoying the Dream?"
  STR_ENJOYING_THE_DREAM_DESCRIPTION: "Cap'n Kidd, dear Cap'n Kidd... I see you're still living in your never-never-land? I would be the last to criticize, but... While you still can defeat the Solar Governor and became a Space Pirate here, while pounding weak enemies into the ground, the reality is so much more exciting! Unlike myself, not even the Shadows can find you here, and there is so much you won't ever learn. Let's meet there, when you're ready to face the Threads of Prophecy. Me, the Night Witch, I'm your secret fan, you know?{NEWLINE}[+50 Infamy]"

So, maybe some of the weirder stuff like the Shadowrealms?

Being locked out of the shadowrealms would not bother me terribly, hah. Mechanically it's kind of an interesting idea but the logistics of doing it (among other things) are much less so.

[Edit: meant to add thanks for the response.]

My understanding is that playing on the 2nd lowest setting gets you all the content. It certainly seems to based on what I've been able to research on that level.

Well that's good, at least. When I last played bunker busters weren't yet a thing, so I guess I have something to look forward to.

[Rolan7]

It has been a while since I even peeked at the Discord, but that's my understanding as well.  2nd difficulty should have all the content.  (There is some extra text for Jack Sparrow, but it looks like predictable "You're going to have a bad time" stuff)

That said, I do consider playing difficulty 3 sometimes.  As I understand, it only changes the number of enemies per map.  That is not necessarily more difficult.  If you can handle the Battlescape keenly enough, it would make the Geoscape a lot easier.

I personally prefer a less enemy-rich Battlescape.  I do wish they had less armor, though, hence playing on Kidd.
so many neato guns
useless
pink pink

It's just so frustrating, like my first time playing Fallout New Vegas and going for SMGs.

[Aoi]

That said, I do consider playing difficulty 3 sometimes.  As I understand, it only changes the number of enemies per map.  That is not necessarily more difficult.  If you can handle the Battlescape keenly enough, it would make the Geoscape a lot easier.

I'd say it actually makes the first 2/3rds of the game easier, since you end up with more resources and hostages per unit time. You can also pack more lethal weaponry since you'll fill up your prison cells from the "safe" captures, instead of having to make more risky plays. On the other hand, because you can just use high powered stuff to blast your way through things instead of aiming for nonlethal takedowns all the time, I end up with lower stats on average.

[Sime]

In my first game,  my peasants had to fight six SMG armed bandits in an open field, armed with only two bow and arrows and a parrot.  We still won.   But then short;y after that everyone and the dog died in a gratuitously violent town rescue mission.   Does it matter if you abort missions in the early game?   

[Mathel]

In my first game,  my peasants had to fight six SMG armed bandits in an open field, armed with only two bow and arrows and a parrot.  We still won.   But then short;y after that everyone and the dog died in a gratuitously violent town rescue mission.   Does it matter if you abort missions in the early game?   

I am guessing you mean Pogroms/Helping Lokk'Nars.

In the early game, it is actually better to not go there than to abort. You lose 100 points from not going, or ~300 points from aborting.

[EuchreJack]

In my first game,  my peasants had to fight six SMG armed bandits in an open field, armed with only two bow and arrows and a parrot.  We still won.   But then short;y after that everyone and the dog died in a gratuitously violent town rescue mission.   Does it matter if you abort missions in the early game?   

I am guessing you mean Pogroms/Helping Lokk'Nars.

In the early game, it is actually better to not go there than to abort. You lose 100 points from not going, or ~300 points from aborting.

Yeah, and if you don't have High Explosives or an RPG, you can't win certain early game town rescue missions.  That Armored Car sucks.

[Mathel]

With luck, you can smash an armored car with a spiked mace. But good luck getting into melee.

[EuchreJack]

With luck, you can smash an armored car with a spiked mace. But good luck getting into melee.

Or Sledgehammer, I'm pretty sure I killed one armored car that way.  But several gals held the hammer before the car went down.

[Rolan7]

I like the spiked mace for that because it bypasses 1/4 armor and does 10% pre-damage.  Anything with pre-damage reassures me that some progress is being made with every hit.  Spiked maces aren't quite available from the start though.
I tend to ignore the hammer except for demolition since enemies will just "deflect the blow" so often, but looks like it bypasses 1/5 armor and does a reliable amount of damage.  I think even tanks will "deflect" it but I hope I'm wrong there.  Takes a lot of TU though.

Explosives like grenades are a classic anti-vehicle because they hit four times on the under-armor, which for cars is a pretty good thing.  Thrown grenades are tricky because of the timing so I try to bring some grenade launchers in backpacks (or better yet, a mortar back at the ship.  Mortar shells are *strong*).

Eventually, Heavy machine guns with PS rounds will bore through a car's armor, and even a battle tank with enough concentration.

In my first game,  my peasants had to fight six SMG armed bandits in an open field, armed with only two bow and arrows and a parrot.  We still won.   But then short;y after that everyone and the dog died in a gratuitously violent town rescue mission.   Does it matter if you abort missions in the early game?

That open field fight might have been the "small bandit camp" that spawns from the start.  It's interesting because you get an extraordinary advantage at night, even using peasants:  The bandits' campfire lets you see them from any distance, while they can't see you until you get close.  Also those ruffians lack the accuracy of church neophytes or the armor of G.Os.  They're hardly worth capturing but the mission is good experience with fine loot for the start of the game.  It might even be an opportunity for reaction training, but I prefer to use animal hunts for that (or using small melee weapons like handle/stun baton).

[Iduno]

With luck, you can smash an armored car with a spiked mace. But good luck getting into melee.

Or Sledgehammer, I'm pretty sure I killed one armored car that way.  But several gals held the hammer before the car went down.

I think I used to know exactly how many of each explosive type it took to beat that, and each team of gals would have something like that number plus 1 in their backpacks, with the most armor-piercing nonlethal weapon I could find equipped.

[E. Albright]

I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm a big fan of Anchors for taking out early armored targets. Sea Transport is a pretty early tech, and doing 1.5*Str melee (aka non-deflectable) damage w/10% pre-damage plus not doing the overkill damage hammers do makes them pretty nice if you have someone who can heft them. They also have a 3x TU, 2 * Str damage range-6 attack, but I've basically never used that. The downside is that they weigh 72, but I almost always have a gal running around with one as soon as someone gets enough strength - and when you have enough strength to carry one, you're looking at 100+ damage. They also train the Joker condemnation, which gives pretty decent stat bonuses...

[sambojin]

While the damage type isn't great for it (armoured cars have 50 cutting resist), you can get a bit of use out of an Ax or Battle Ax if you're really short on weapons and a car shows up early.

80-90%melee accuracy, 14TU/8E, 50+0.1melee+0.7strength cutting damage can sometimes chip through on good rolls, and the Battle Axe gets 0.05 predamage to slowly squeak the armour down a bit.

Certainly not perfect, but they're initial or very early weapons, and between them and bombs you can kill cars with them. Cheap ($250/500) and light (12/11lbs) and not too big (3x1) as well. As always, melee can come through for you, if you don't get shot while getting there. Pretty all-round effective on lots of other things too, excepting the damage type.

https://www.xpiratez.wtf/en-US##STR_BATTLE_AX

(For other stuff you might not have thought of, though they need the right stats: Spears (85% armour, arcing ranged), Flamethrowers (even 20% burn is weird, and they *do* take morale damage), Fire Extinguishers (it's kind of like smoke, and big lights but 10 night vision might blind them with a bit of it), Billhooks (you might just tickle their morale a bit), Officer's Lash (I'm not even going to do the calcs, might not work to daze them), Flame Arrows (hit them from anywhere with ranged arcing, and burn is still weird, might not work), Great Clubs (0.15predamage), War/Hammer (big strength stats) and Molotovs (burn is still weird, but even better with AoEs) can all work occasionally for early game stuff against Armoured Cars.
Spiked Maces, Bombs, Assault Cannons and Hand Cannons probably are best though.)