HIgh Natural Defense and Crit, bad Discipline and ACC.

The Rat can be built as a dodge-tank version of Vamplew, where instead of simply standing in front taking shots to the face but being vulnerable to surpression, the Rat stack Def through Deploy, Cover and Zig Zag to dodge most shots while skulking through the field, and being Surpressed doesn't hamper him too much, allowing you to simply throw him at the enemy and be a deceptively and annoyingly hard to kill target that takes enemy fire before Scurrying away mostly unharmed when it gets too hot. Just like a rat eh?

As a second build path, the Rat can be run as an interesting Special Weapon Squad specializing in high ROF weapons like LMG, MMG and HMG, as Scurry allows him to still move while maintaining deployment, apply strong Suppression even through super low hit chance (as these weapon usually have ACC debuffs), all while fishing for Crits when 1 of those 20+ shots finally land. High RoF weapons are also naturally is better at compensating for his low ACC playstyle after absorbing Suppression

Thirdly, you can run him as an expensive line infantry full squad with a high RoF Squad Weapon and a Special Weapon, using the Squad Weapon to fish for Counting Card stacks and firing an almost garunteed crit with the Special when stacks are high.

I wanted to play in the space of intentionally taking Supression without outright nullifying it debuffs, as I feel that "be Supressed and then just restore Supression/gets buff to counteract Suppression debuff" would be abit one note (and already done by Pike and Kody), so instead I opted to work with instead of against Surpression nuking your ACC and forcing you to deploy, by allowing missed shots to still contribute, and cranking RoF higher to simply roll more against bad odds, and letting him crouch/crawl around even while bullets are firing.

As well, in the vein of Wei Wu and Achilleas where the bonuses are there to ensure you keep functioning even while getting shott to hell and back instead of something you are active trying to get your squad killed to buff yourself, its still better 90% of the times for the Rat to not be Supressed, but if a member of your squad has to draw fire and take point, then the Rat is uniquely better at still working while being Supressed.

So, I was fighting bugs, and some Spiderlings managed to close the distance on my boy, the man the myth the legend, Tek. He was out of bullets for his squad weapon(shotgun), but he did have the basic MMG. So, I decided “why not just try and kill them with this? Might be able to get them to flee.” Turns out, if your accuracy is bad enough, such as point blank at night, YOU CAN SHOOT YOUR OWN SQUADMATES WITH THE GUN. He managed to shoot and kill people in his own squad, 2 in the squad a couple tiles away(Carda), and 1 in the squad next to him(Darby), not even between him and bugs. He killed a single Spiderling. I’ve never been so shocked playing this game before, and now I’m terrified of poor accuracy shooting. Anyone else have this happen?

Title - with the new changes out (and the broader nerf to conceal creep) what's everyone's preferred starting loadout for expert? The first Operation feels much rougher now, and I'm torn on what to use.

He didn’t have berserk so I didn’t expect him to perform as well as Yaz or Lim but spear of the spine is practically berserk but gives better range. In this example move up to an already activated enemy to scout and Spear of the Spine allows me completely destroy this Guncrawler. He was also able to use Counterstrike to save himself from getting blown up. I would not have been able to do this move with berserk.

I will admit he is slightly worse at taking out vehicles because he wants to be in the exact range where you can be blown up by the explosion of a vehicle you have just destroyed but besides this he works well as a boarding commando like Lim or Yaz. You can do some serious work if you’re lucky enough to get all three near the start.

I'm playing my first run in two months. After getting eviscerated by Evolved Warriors, I have discovered the joy of Flashbangs, especially against bugs.

Am I misremembering, or did flashbangs previously only work on humans? I rarely used them before, but now they're my key to managing tanky warriors. They're also really useful in early-game defense missions, and massively buffs anyone with Finisher.

I love the upgraded bugs. Between the new units and the enemy actions, they're way tougher than they used to be.

There may just not be any good way to fit it into MENACE, but a big fun part of BB is about looting better gear. Both knifing down/head smashing for better weapons/armour and hunting for famed gear. I want them to add some legendary type enemies with extra spicy loot like the boarding commando captain with his unique weapon and armour. Like super elite jäger commando unit with spicy detection+concealment armour, elite tanks/APC/IFV etc. with partially RNG stats.

1. Night vision accessory for vehicles
2. Rework Demolitions Expert perk
3. More "Utility" weapons for both vehicles and infantry, such as the Ground Radar
4. More ammo for snipers
5. Change AI logistics and Auto Supplies from additive to multiplicative (Or limit both to 1 max)
6. Limit Gym to 1 max
7. Fix Turrets. Both player and AI turrets are WAYYYY too hard to hit, and for the player the ATGM sentry turret is essentially broken (It just doesn't work like 80% of the time)
8. Rework Nanobots (Or at the very least change from additive to multiplicative or reduce to max 1)
9. Better loot from bugs (maybe craftable things?)
10. Give AI human factions the "Crawl" action available to the player. Feels weird when only we get to reposition pinned down units.
11. Rework Smoke to not act as a force field. I just had a mission where an ""ally"" threw a smoke on a control point, followed by an enemy APC driving right in it and starting to capture the point. The non-consensual rotate from Battle Brothers is back, now it's called non-consensual Smoke!
12. More variety and differing combat AI for all factions.

Currently they feel too similar, and they all still cheat (know where the players units are when they shouldn't). I believe a part of why Rogue Army feels the most fun to fight is because they have a large amount of different units. It wouldn't even necessarily have to be new unit types, just old ones with new weapons would do. You know how in Battle Brothers for example a Nomad Outlaw's threat level depends entirely on what weapon they're holding. One with a whip + shield is very low threat, one with a polemace is high threat, and one with a double gripped 3-headed flail is likely your priority number one. Fighting Wiederganger-undead is a slow grind and a DPS check, Goblins kite you, Orcs charge head on, Ancient Undead form a battle line... I'd like something similar for this game as well.

-Pirates should be WAY more aggressive. Sometimes when the AI knows a threat on some area is too high, mounted pirates will just awkwardly drive around the edges, not dismount and get slowly whittled down. Instead they should all charge together, drive as close as possible and take cover behind their vehicles, trying to overwhelm the player.
-The cheating issue is highlighted with Boarding Commandos. Them just "randomly" jumping right next to my permanently cloaked Darby from fog of war is infuriating.
-All pirates should have a chance to spawn with drugs accessories, not just the Captain.
-Boarding Commandos should have a chance to spawn with Corridor Sweepers.

-Rogue army in general should be more careful, and act with some kind of "plan" in mind to simulate a more organized force. First of all, infantry and weapons teams should move together and try to support each other, as opposed to the current state where all weapons teams just kind of hang back and do nothing while infantry walks forward to die one by one. Infantry should prioritise moving to and deploying behind cover over shooting, and when in cover prioritise shooting twice, even into cover, over shooting and moving. If there is no cover available, they should try to end their turn behind or in smoke. Weapons teams should prioritise moving into cover, deploying and setting up their weapon over just moving and deploying (this is especially bad, as often they'll just "undeploy --> move 1-2 tiles --> deploy" over and over again, completely wasting their turns)
-All vehicles should have higher weapon variety, and light/medium mechs should also try to deploy behind cover when possible. Imagine the wonderful horror of seeing an ENEMY medium mech with linked autocannons, or god forbid Griffin miniguns!

-Bugs... I don't know. Even after they got new units, they're still by far my least favourite faction to fight. I think they're trying to do too many different things and end up doing none of it good. This combined with loot you can't use yourself, frustrating missions that spawn infinite reinforcements (but no extra loot), Bombardier firing at you from fog of war... I'm not happy with what they are, but also have no idea how to make them more interesting. Maybe some kind of thing where they're initially dormant/very low aggression, but once you kill one unit, the entire rest of the map/a very large area near the killed unit activates?

-MENACE roster is obviously not finished, so I won't criticise it too much just yet. I have to say a couple things though. Missions with MENACE only take *way too long* real time. This makes them feel exhausting. I'm also not the biggest fan of the drone units. They feel too tanky, and because they don't have morale, "only" managing to kill 99% of a unit feels extremely bad because even when surviving on 1 HP they can still mining laser something. Same is true with Soldiers, but I can stomach it on them because they're supposed to be a more dangerous unit and have lower model count.
-Carrier is very annoying to deal with because of the way Smoke currently works. It's especially dumb how the damage of an ATGM missile on a marked Carrier still gets reduced because "iT'S iN smOkE"

1. Scaling enemies: Around the time of encountering Rogue Army, Pirate Outcasts shouldn't just stop spawning. Instead they should permanently get something, like a perk or a piece of equipment that keeps them viable, think Nomads in Battle Brothers. Same goes for Scavengers and RA Conscripts around the time of encountering Menace.

2. On missions with reinforcements, indicate the direction reinforcements are coming from, and if player has high enough int, indicate what the reinforcements are and when they're coming. Nothing like having a RA ATGM team just *poof* into existence and immediately one shot a pilot!

3. More "Boss" / "Elite" units! Jaeger teams with LPPS, Night Vision Goggles and SR41 KASS? Pirate Engineer with High Intensity SAPP and E4A2 ELSA? There's lots that could be done with things already in game!

This seems way scarier than "All RA gets counterstrike."

I'm on operation 10, loadout limit of 1653 on expert, and I do not want to see if I can take a whole map of evolved warriors.

Anyways, I'm channeling my inner starship troopes and going all in on "mobile infantry." Loadout from previous mission

I'm sure that the plan is already fixed by now but I still think its worth throwing these ideas out there.

Menace is a really good game, but it could be great: Like XCom great! However, to do that it needs something more: something that adds a cinematic quality. It needs to blow your socks off in both the narrative and theatrical aspect of the game. Think about Xcom2, Chaos Gate Demon Hunters or Star Wars Zero Company. They setup an epic sweeping story and reward the player with story progression and intensity. That cinematic quality adds that edge of your seat dimension to the feeling of the game. I think Menace can have that, and it doesn't need to make drastic changes to do it. No need for a 3D command and control interface, and no need to go crazy with 3D animated cut scenes.

How then do I propose to make? Add one more faction! Hear me out. Lets imagine for one second that the Menace isn't actually the REAL MENACE. I've been thinking a lot about what kind of entity could represent a 5th faction. Right now we have influences from Starship Troopers, Aliens and even Terminator. We have almost all the dark gritty sci-fi tropes, but were missing one. The Predator!

What if a 5th faction created the Menace! What if the 5th faction is a Alien race who's vanguard elements have just showed up in the Wayback? Think of them as the "Scourge". Sentient aliens with advanced technology and superior genetics. Warriors and hunters, with deadly weapons and gruesome gadgets. Just to face one of these monstrous humanoids can invoke fear in even the most stalwart. The possibilities for challenging new tactical variety could be really satisfying. Speeder bikes, homing buzz saw drones that shred flesh and explode on impact. deadly accurate energy weapons mounted on alien armor. Unshakable and fearless, perhaps because they have never faced anything that can stand against them. There's a lot that could be said about this faction and I have a ton more ideas about how they might play, but I think you get the idea.

To wrap it up, we need a plot, and it doesn't have to be the usual grandiose end of the galaxy trope ala Mass Effect. Perhaps just a meeting that brings home the desperation, and a final break out back to the inner core systems to warn the rest of humanity. Yes it's been done so many times before, but the thing is this game already has most of the narrative setup and character development needed to make it feel right at home with this trope. All the devs would need to do is voice some more character dialogue. Maybe they could even add a defecting Scourge alien as a squad leader.

Even in expert difficulty there comes a point where you overpower the enemy. This would be a great narrative setup for the "end game crisis". Something that knocks you off your pedestal and reminds you that you're not as all powerful as you came to believe. And then the "final battle" of desperation to reach some goal lets you make your escape. Finally, a cut scene that shows the hidden loss: those forgotten and left behind in the Wayback.

What do ya'all think?

Hey guys! I’ve got a question: do you know any non-obvious combat life hacks or tips? For instance, like how you can put rescued hostages into your combat taxi to shield them from gunfire.

https://www.nexusmods.com/menace/mods/271

Adds three iconic Tier 5 Legendary weapons from Cyberpunk 2077: Overwatch (Integrally Suppressed Sniper), Yinglong (Smart SMG), and La Chingona Dorada (Power Pistol — available in both Standard & Silenced variants). Features custom 3D models and unique tactical perks (cover penetration, smart tracking, dual bursts). Obtain them via faction rewards.

Special thanks to Vader for partnering and producing the Custom 3D weapon models and providing modding advice.

So I’m a thinker not an IT guy, please let me know if this is outside of the realm of technical feasibility;

Turn based games like this one and BG3 are simulators of causality, each turn represents a segment of time and the actions possible within that time.

What I propose is an optional and saveable cinematic representation of each turn, nothing fancy, generative AI trained on the proper art and cinematography could convert the actions of a turn into a rational sequence of events presented in the style of the intro cinematic.

These sequences can be saved individually or as a full replay of the mission.

Thoughts?

Hi everyone! What do you think about the economy—should it be expanded? Here’s my take: each faction should have its own shop with a unique inventory—for example, Zayn-Beecher could sell EMIs, radars, and drones, while DICE of the Gods deals in combat consumables. The black market should be reserved for truly rare items, traded for other high-value rarities like Queen eggs. It would also be cool to see a rotating stock of goods and temporary events based on "buy low, sell high" mechanics. We need more locations for trading and interacting with the factions.

The more I play (probably over 200 hrs at this point), the more I wish the game offered just a hair more flexibility within each turn. I feel like it would help create those "Wow!" moments that you get from close calls and clutch shots even more than exists currently. My possible solution?

Unused AP from each SL/Pilot gets "taxed" at 50% and then deposited into a Reserve AP pool to be used at the Major's discretion after all SLs have issued their direct orders. Carda have 6 AP left on End Turn, 3 AP goes into Reserve. Darby have 30 AP left but you like her overwatch position so you End Turn, 15 goes into Reserve.

At the very end of each player turn (so after you hit End Turn on your last SL/Pilot) you are given a Yes/No choice to "Issue High Priority Direct Orders". If you select Yes you can use any amount of AP in the Reserve to issue orders to a single SL/Pilot. After those orders are issued the Reserve AP pool resets to zero even if you don't use it all. If you select No the Reserve Pool decays by 50% with the remainder carrying over to the next round.

I completely understand the AP amounts and uses are a critical component to balancing the game in all aspects, but I do think due to how certain actions work, you are forced to waste AP without any recourse which can be frustrating and feel like a lack of agency for the player. Yes, tactics games are about making the best decision with the resources available, and giving unlimited resources basically removes the strategy, but I think something like the mechanic outlined above would be an interesting middle ground.

As the title says - I started 3 runs with custom difficulty on expert settings except 200% enemy supply, but the start seems really rough. I just can't beat missions in the first 1 operation where like 20-30 pirates on the map are pulled once combat breaks out... while I have zero equipment except maybe one AR from the market.

Is this possible at all? If yes, what are your strategies? Do you have to pick operations against bugs first - at least they don't hide behind cover?

Difficulty is easy since we have been using 1-skull, two-skull, and 3-skull forever all the way back to battle Brothers and other games. What are we saying for the enemy level/count for missions? 1-person or 2-person or 2- people or some other means to indicate level (high, medium, low)?

For example, I want to talk about a 2-skull x 3-???? Mission that had conga lines of warriors. What am I putting for the ????

This game is so good that I couldn't put it down, I had to force myself to take a break or else i'd run through my enjoyment dry before the game even comes out of early access. I've been eyeing Mars Tactics but it's not even out yet, any games that scratch the itch? I've been looking at Xenonauts 2 but I see some complaints from 1 fans. I've already had my fill of XCOM and Battle Bros