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[Aoi]

I got Sci Books from a Gnome (I got several from very aggressive expeditioning before I studied all the regions, and I delayed reading expedition reports so I could keep expeditioning longer - plus I had a gnome wander in from the desert), so I've already got Libraries, but yeah, Pogroms feel more managable than they used to - I'm either more experienced or they got toned down. I want to say there's another reason besides Pogroms that I've always delayed them, but I can't think of what it would be - I think it's just a deep-rooted aversion to Pogroms from back when they were worse.

I usually skip expedition entirely-- I had a lousy track record with getting anything notable out of them. Instead, I took all the way to challenging Zaxx to capture my gnome... and, gallingly enough, I finally got Cinderella Project on the same day.

Which leaves me trying to remember... Is there ANY point to going out of my way to avoid joining the Mutant Alliance since pogroms aren't a problem? Because I've already grabbed about 20 techs off the gnome, and I still have roughly a 1/30 chance of getting Sci Books... orz.

Not that I can think of, at least.

Which was a giant waste of time and effort, woo!

I honestly think that part of the reason Pogroms are more manageable than when I got set in my ways may be b/c of the OXC modding drama a year or three ago that forced Piratez to get a bunch of new maps - the new ones aren't as painful to wade through. Map design is one of those things that's easy to forget about, but that makes an outsized difference in mission difficulty.

The old maps were from Hobbes map pack (this one i think : https://openxcom.mod.io/terrain-pack )
Hobbes produced some very detailled realistic-looking large maps, but because of the amount of details they were difficult to navigate, without bug hunt it was indeed a pain to find the last lost enemy AI.

I am so glad that godawful tenement with the 40+ apartments, including a bunch of 1-tile nooks, was removed. If I recall the mission correctly, I think it was replaced by a much more navigable map that has four 4-story buildings, but they only have 3 rooms or so each. On the downside, I'm now trying to keep myself from throwing my hands up in frustration on the Ghoul maps and big multi-floor 'village' maps, often occupied by Ratmen and Necropirates. The latter shouldn't be nearly as problematic as it looks, but I still usually spend 10+ turns poking my head into corners looking for the last stray dog.

[E. Albright]

As a savescummer, I have no shame in doing a quicksave and popping into debug mode to see where a skulker is skulking if I can't find something and we're not to bughunt mode yet. The game takes long enough already w/o aimlessly wandering big, convoluted maps.

[Dostoevsky]

I am so glad that godawful tenement with the 40+ apartments, including a bunch of 1-tile nooks, was removed.

Hah, I was going to mention this map if nobody else was.

I still think pogroms can be pretty rough early on with some bad luck (thinking namely of the occasional humanist RPG pointed at your exit doors). And of course mercenaries.

[Aoi]

I still think pogroms can be pretty rough early on with some bad luck (thinking namely of the occasional humanist RPG pointed at your exit doors). And of course mercenaries.

Early on, certainly... thankfully, my gals are past the time they're bashing up armored cars with hammers, and now they're the ones terrorizing others with them.

Do mercenaries even show up that early on (unless you're beelining progression advancing tech)? I didn't see my first merc (or reticulan, for that matter) until early 2026.

...I'm also almost positive that Ninja HQ evolves too-- it started out being just near me, and now my base is practically inside its detection radius. 

[Dostoevsky]

Do mercenaries even show up that early on (unless you're beelining progression advancing tech)? I didn't see my first merc (or reticulan, for that matter) until early 2026.

If I recall right there are two separate types of pogrom; you can tell which is which based on the score penalty for not doing it. The lesser one only picks from 'minor' factions like Humanists or Spartans, while the greater one can be any faction, including e.g. mercs. And it's possible to get a 'major' pogrom early on, if not especially likely. I think I once had a mercenary pogrom in March of the first year or something like that? I just noped on out, of course... might have knocked out and dragged a single with merc with me, hah.

[E. Albright]

The ninja HQ evolves. My game is about the same place as yours and its detection radius doubled just a little bit ago. I still feel like I can mostly ignore it since I can shoot up APCs with an undetectable Jellyfish, but Asia suddenly feels a whole lot more menacing to deal with.

I've seen mercs incredibly early on, but it's rare. I've always had the impression that out-of-depth (to use roguelike lingo) craft will occassionally show up... though I have a bad enough sense of versioning that I could remembering some very Bad Old Days. I'm nearly certain I've seen mercs in the first two months on a playthrough where I then didn't see them again until the next year or later. I 100% know I've run into reticulans the first month, as well as stranded catgirls and I wanna say smugglers. It's quite uncommon, and won't be in pogroms, though.

[E. Albright]

If I recall right there are two separate types of pogrom; you can tell which is which based on the score penalty for not doing it.

I was under the impression that the higher penalty was for pogroms once you joined the MA.

Right there with ya on Gank'n'Run, though. That's usually my first two or three encounters with Merc and MarSec craft. Land the van (b/c I always still seem to be in the van when I first see them), pop out and have 4 or 5 people fire a shot or two at the closest merc, then have the last person run out and grab them/their loot and hoof it back to the van to flee.

[Aoi]

Point of reference, I haven't joined the MA yet, but just got a pogrom with a -100 penalty with Deep Ones, in 2602. Four lobstermen too, but they went down pretty easy to 14mm car fire... and hand to hand combat with a spear I picked up off the ground.

[E. Albright]

I wanna say the MA pogrom penalty is 500?

I've been using barbaric axes or great clubs to kill lobstermen. In past games my normal designated gal with a grav harness and an anchor would smack them down, but I've been sticking to actual melee weapons this game. Anything that does choking works well too - they're very vulnerable to it.

[Dostoevsky]

-100 is definitely the minor variant.

Taking a glance into the ruleset... looks like I'm wrong about getting major ones pre-MA. Only 'minor' factions without MA contact established.

Spoiler: Ruleset stuff (click to show/hide)

To be specific, for the minor: bandits, spartans, humanists either mobs or troops, deep ones, and doomfolk.

For the major, there's a version with a mission with the above potentials and chances of mercs or stargods. There's also a terror mission that is potentially guild, sectoid, church, raider, humanists, or spartans.

[Rolan7]

I'm almost positive the MA pogrom penalty is a full -1000.  You can still lose a bit more by landing-and-taking-off, but it's close-ish.  May as well try to nab a single mercenary, I love when there's an engineer near the landing point.

[Rince Wind]

Mercs have very good resistances against bullets, but fall quite easily once you can field decent lasers. Most fun I had against mercs is with a gal in Furiosa Armor with a Blood Axe. Their low bio resistance means that she gets lots of TU back when attacking them and she can basically take out everyone that is not flying in one turn if you are a bit lucky with their placement.

Fun fact about the pogroms: The basic ones can still appear after arming the mutants to make the MA pogroms go away.

[Robsoie]

Tested Landspeeders as transport vehicle for my space marines to change from my Drop Pods and Rhinos

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And it's quite good, the 2 landspeeders are hoovering at 1 tile of altitude and every position is a firing position, making it an excellent sniper platform.
Of course, each position is a bit exposed, but with some good snipers you should be able to clear the insertion zone on the 1st turn to pave the way for disembarking on the next turn.

the altitude while being perfect to get sniping advantage may be a problem after you send your marines to clear the area but meet too strong enemies for your troops, because you'll have to move through the elevators (1 on each side of a landspeeder) to back get into the vehicle, making you lose some precious TU, that you may miss to save everyone in a fast retreat

[Dostoevsky]

Those are pretty slick oldcom graphics.

[Robsoie]

Indeed, some people are amazing at pixel art and there are plenty of very nice sprites in 40k/rosigma.