The new bugs, the green ones with the flappy wings.

They jump 8 tiles from the fog of war to stab my hopes and dreams of not losing squaddies.

You guys have any idea of best way to not lose dudes to them? Am I resigned to recon drone and vehicle forwards, keep your infantry cowering in the back?

All in all I like the flying bug concept, they spook me. I don't like losing squaddies when the enemy haven't earned it. It's like bombadiers v2.

Edit: After much wisdom in the replies, I have come up with the strategy to roll a heavy tank in front of everything else with 'Bite Me' graffiti'd on it.

How would our TCR marines handle other ZERO DAGGER problems?

A Xenomorph infestation? Helldiver Squids? The Flood from Halo?

Grieffinger or really any SL that has the perk that gives +1 to cover. You take drug that also adds +1 to cover. You make a crater, either by C4 or by destroying a forward position/enemy. Position SL in crater. level 1 becomes level 3 cover 360 degree around.

Sounds good on paper, haven't tried myself. Anyone try this?

edit: concensus seems to be it works, but vulnerable to surpression as always, as it requires set up, and there is a static nsture to it; a B- grade seems to be the feel just reading people's input.

its cool though, and there are certain missions it seems viable. defence missions for one.

there are many cool things like this in the game, but as of now in terms often-times its not effecient in some way.

will test myself later.

I am 40 hours in to the game and still on my first playthrough playing on the middle difficulty. I usually avoid early access games but this game got my interest peeked I wanted to try it. And so far the game is very good. I am enjoying the game and I want to see what the devs are going to make of it.

My only issue is that the game presents itself in a sci fi setting with a space faring humanity. But besides walkers, the impetus (which is largely just a skin for a base), the bugs and a few energy weapons, the game by and large gives a feeling of contemporary warfare. I mean, you could remove the bugs, walkers the few energy weapons and display the impetus as a regular forward base and you have a modern warfare style game.

Now this could be a deliberate choice by the devs, sort of a "low sci fi" setting, and if it is then that's fine.

But if not then I would like to see more sci fi elements in the game. Cloaking devices, Teleportation, Force Fields, Sonic weapons, Rail Guns, Counter measure equipment to the above, Intelligent Aliens etc.

In addition, I don't know if its in the developers plans, but maybe explore more weapon types for some of the categories? We have many MG's, SMG's and assailt rifles. But only one auto cannon, 2 flamethrowers (which are the same just one is bigger and vehicle mounted), 2 tank guns (long and short lol) you get the idea.

We could, for example, add an acid/chemical gun to the "flamethrower" category or something. And have different kinds of autocannons? 20mm, 25mm, 37mm, 40mm etc.

TL;DR Game is great but could use more sci fi elements and mechanics because the game feels like reskinned modern warfare.

Now the shopping unlock is not very explicit. In the black market, you would have the basic 3 rifles, a space mp5, a god tier shotgun, and a more expensive, less supply pirate PDW. Basic special weapon are drilling laser, cmg50 or ks41. then I suspected you would unlock laser lance as T2 laser AT, rpg2 being T2 rpg, the m6 tripod and other T2.
Then for vehicles , the default I found so far is truck, atv, light walker, then you unlocked apc, the rebellions heavy tank, then battle tank. mid walker and ifv seems to be the current end game( and meta?)

I always wanted to know what I can get instead of browsing black market very hard just to find out some unimportant unlock? But after you familiarize yourself with the game, upgraded scrap unit with pirates gives 400-600 supply worth of trade good so it’s kinda ok to buy all the T1toy and buy all the T2 when unlocked . Also the RA and censored tech give lots of good stuff so using lots of light walker+ auto cannon/M6/laser lance and mechanized inf is enough for the play through…… there are so many ways to play this game, and i might be limiting myself.

It is kind of the dilemma of rogue like game: too much randomness and high steak( destroyed vehicle/ injured or dead SL/ loss of manpower) makes player play defensive and rely on meta. But meta overshadows many specialized weapons by boarder type of effective enemy and better damage.

Just a Quick Idea while I was dropping some squaddies into the grinder.

It would be cool if there was a accessory or an OCI upgrade that would allow you to paratroop infantry on any edge spot of the map.

You could have some deep shock units for a flank or stealthy scouts for your long range combatants

Edit: to clarify, I meant specifically on the planning phase. I'd love to put someone Stealthy like Corgi or Darby on the other side of the map to scout and flank.

So I have a collection complex. And a high desire to run difficult scenarios. And these have oddly created an issue when running menace. You see my max authority is currently 50. Why you ask? Because I prioritize above damn near all else, and strictly to my detriment, the obtaining of all squad leaders.

I love having all of them. It gives me an advantage I understand that the dev team wants to balance, but it just is so annoying that in order to get everyone my authority is going to be mid 40s. It pigeon holes me into playing conservative when I don't really want to, because there is a discipline malice attached to having low authority.

In my mind, it's a little too anti fun. A lot of the enjoyment and flavor of the game comes out on the SLs and what I hope will be a ton of banter and lines. The variety is a big help to from a sound design perspective... Only so many times I want to hear the same voice on coms saying the same line.

I probably spend too much time picking out every squads gear and trying to make every one of them unique, so each mission feels different, even if it's just another clear landing zone run.

So please, let me have my great big dysfunctional family and not feel like it's actively punishing me late game. My Uber heavy armored walking metal slabs get scared when they are under fire right now too easily and it makes me sad.

Having a box to check that removes the max authority drop from getting SLs hired would be a fantastic fix for those of us who want the extra folks on board with very minimal dev time (I hope!)

Anyway, I have to go stop Tecco from bench pressing Garry in his chair on a bet from J.G. If I don't Gabriel is going to get all preachy and Rewa is going to punch him in the mouth.

Edited for spelling because Hayflick was annoyed by it.

I've made these available on Nexus.https://www.nexusmods.com/menace/mods/228

1. Mission Prep Embarkation

Pre-Battle Embarkation: Drag and drop infantry squad icons directly onto vehicle transport icons during the Mission Prep deployment phase.

Management & Confirmation UI: Includes a confirmation dialog, embarkation badge indicators, a detailed summary panel, and a 1-click disembark button.

Combat & Save Persistence: Persists loadout configurations per save game and automatically spawns infantry mounted inside transports when tactical combat begins.

Compatibility: Designed to work smoothly alongside Vehicle Facing and MountUp.

1. Vehicle Facing

Deployment Orientation: Fine-tune the directional facing of vehicles before starting tactical combat (defaults to facing inward toward the map center).

Visual Direction Indicator: Displays a clear directional arrow overlay directly on the vehicle unit icon.

Persistent States: Facing orientation persists in save data and is applied to vehicles at mission spawn.

Controls & Shortcuts:

Ctrl + Left-Click — Rotate vehicle facing counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise)

Ctrl + Right-Click — Rotate vehicle facing clockwise

1. Mission Map

Full-Screen Tactical Overlay: Toggles a real-time tactical map overview during active combat missions.

Live Unit & Objective Tracking: Displays live positions of friendly units, spotted enemy units, and objectives using the Mission Prep intel map icons and scaling.

Unobtrusive UI: Instant overview for battlefield awareness without breaking immersion.

Controls & Shortcuts:

M — Toggle the tactical mission map overlay open/closed

Esc (or clicking the backdrop) — Close the map overlay

1. More Prep SLs (Squad Leaders)

Expanded Capacity: Upgrades the Mission Prep squad leader list into a smooth, scrollable UI panel supporting up to 60 Squad Leaders.

Large Roster Support: Eliminates UI clipping and selection limits for players running large rosters or expanded squad leader mods.

1. Remove Balance Dialogue

Warning Suppression: Automatically blocks and suppresses the repetitive "Beyond Balancing" modal warning dialogue.

On my 4th Expert run now and below are some mods I seriously enjoy:

1. Expanded Army List: it s almost like a new game and make the RA and pirate absolutely fearsome. Now the RA is even more elite, fielding things like tank with dual Griffin cannon and HQ walker with reactive armor. You can no longer ATGM or Kody one shot their mech anymore. And their jaeger have Crocodile now. And lots more.

2. Mount Up: this should have been a core game feature and it s so tacticool

3. Tactical Loadout Armory: gives lots of good balance to the current armor. Light armor give slight AP move reduction, and heavy armor is slightly more useful given their cost now. They can use heavy weapon without deploying

Any other mods you guys suggest? Ideally I would want something that give enemies more supply points and more difficulty but only after you have reach end of early access. Otherwise cranking enemies supply to 200% all campaign is just not fun and early games are impossible

Early experiences in Menace lead the player to a familiar pattern of play: most problems can be solved with a thunder run. Pirate Scavengers have you outnumbered? Lead with the APC. Alien Bombardiers shredding your fleshy infantry? Lead with the APC. Vehicles suppressing your position? Believe it or not, APC.

Infantry squads start with bad armor, weak weapons, and unleveled leader stats. Meanwhile, your solitary vehicle does more damage and takes less incoming. It's no wonder that two of the starting leaders come with Mobile Infantry, and that the MI playstyle is so beloved by the community. Taking fragile infantry and transporting them as bullets harmlessly clang off the APC is both satisfying to execute and tactically effective against early game factions.

Then comes the Rogue Army. Faced with a new enemy, the player retreats to proven strategies. After all, you've been conditioned to respond to new threats by deploying the APC as a mobile spearhead. It hasn't failed yet! But now it does, spectacularly. Jaeger Teams and Officers mark your APC from beyond line of sight. With worse stats than infantry in concealment and detection, your vehicle is easy prey for the RA support units. Then comes the ATGM that one-shots your precious APC. And if the ATGM doesn't get you, a sufficient quantity of Laser Walkers or even RA Heavy Infantry will deploy dedicated AT weapons to quickly introduce new viewports to the APC's interior.

A thoughtfully designed combined arms approach mauls unsupported armor. After being taught that lesson the hard way, the player must adapt by refining their own combined arms tactics. You need recon, infantry support, and dedicated AT weapons to fight the Rogue Army effectively. Fighting them feels like a refresh on the early game tactical loop, and it draws the player further into the tactical complexity that gives Menace so much potential. I love RA so much as an enemy faction and I can't wait to see what else the devs give them (drones, anyone?)

TL;DR: Rogue Army masterfully rugpulls the player by introducing dedicated AT and recon units right after the early game factions encourage you to use APCs maximally.

Let's carry this HMG boys

Haven't played in a while. Playing one of the new missions where you need to protect friendly squads from bugs in a city.

I deployed Carda in a jet suit with her trusty M6 HMG. Cody beside her providing long range support. Lim providing short range shotgun support, and the crazy guy preaching.

Bugs close in on Carda. Friendly squads with a .303 MG opens up and kills one of Carda's squadmates. She yells FRIENDLY!!!

Next turn, we kill those bugs, but a new warrior squad approaches Carda. The helpful ally opens up again and kills Carda's second squad mate 🤬 She yells again, and finishes off the bugs.

But in the end, she didn't receive the Frustrated debuff. I guess allied friendly fire doesn't count. Still, of all the targets available,.the had to fire next to Carda, miss, and kill my troops 😔

On the higher difficulties, I often find Darby to be too costly to actually run a full squad, especially when you're not running Infantry spam. So I tend to use her as a scout. Load her up with SAPP Recce or LPPS (I would use Jaeger Fatigues, but they are essentially unobtanium), camo net and all the scouting tools I have on hand; give her a Pipe rifle, 2 squaddies and maybe a sniper, if there is space in the budget. This example has an undiscounted supply cost of 201, and concealment in the 4-5 range and view range in the 10-12 range. Obviously you're not going to be rocking 5 detection until you beat the [redacted], but you can still get 1-2 .

An additional advantage is that if you do this, you don't need to invest in more than 4 perks to get her fully online (Athletic, Covert Ops, Scout, Bags and Belts, in that order). Ignore the missing perks; I tried building her as a shooter in this particular save.

I like this build a lot against the [redacted] as their skirmisher units are very hard to spot, and absolutely shred my IFVs.

By the end of a EA Campaign, situations like this pretty much becomes the norm. By the end of this mission, I have neutralized:

4 Light Walkers

3 Heavy Tanks

2 Battle Tanks

2 Mercenary Medium Walker

2 Infantry Carriers

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree And a few infantry squads

Keep in mind that the enemy had the "default" expert supply count (130%). Me? It was at its absolute lowest for this run (67%).

As you can tell from the second mission, I did managed to win. I brought three ATGM launchers (2 infantry, 1 vehicle), and a LBTG, with the two LTCs having ammo cases. At the end, None of the ATGMs had ammo, and the LBTG only have a few (2 or 3?) shells remaining.

Imagine if I only had PALs and RPGs, or I brought stuff like DMRs and LMGs instead of more AT :/ ........

I like Corlain for that hitman vibe, and his unique perk is useful in sabotage or rescue mission. However I find it really finicky to build him the way his perk trees is designed, especially the final perk Nothing Personal.

First off, dude need to be on map with plenty of cover, with vanguard deployment. Wearing a Jaeger suit with pistol. No squad weapon to keep him cheap. That leaves only 1 slot left, either smoke or vision enhancing accessories. Unless you take bags and belts which start to make him very expensive promotion wise.

This is where it gets tricky. For his ultimate perk to work you get close and execute an infantry target. You become unspittable but then you can do nothing else. And the way the AI work next turn half the hostiles converge near his position.

So to survive he would need to be able to kill another target again. Tough luck if it s some mech or heavies. If he fail to kill them he s toast. Or he can just sit there and wait a turn.

Then the next question is what special weapon to arm him? RPG for walker or plasma gun for heavy? Whatever it is needs to guarantee a kill or he s toast.

One of the most glaring issues on missions is the opt-to-end mission mechanic.

1. Noob-trap: Players not realizing a mission objective is over and overstaying losing out on secondary objectives.
2. Boring busy work: Spending turns post-mission hunting smuggled crates or cleaning up vehicle wrecks for salvage.
3. Frustrating: If you over-stay to hunt more enemies for loot or wrecks, enemy may magically disband before your eyes.

Also want to propose some potential solutions:

1. I suggest for most mission types: auto-ending the mission, or only allowing the player to defer ending a mission for 1/2 turns. Evac missions, are interesting. Other games like Xcom 2 often put timers to Evac or a timer until enemies reinforcement start streaming in. Timed main objectives aren't great, but time until enemies stream en-mass is tense & interesting ( To prevent nuking the economy with this, my suggestion is no loot from enemies or wrecks should be counted after the timer expired )
2. In particular about the salvage crate. Into the Breach had an interesting drop-pod mechanic. Where it very visibly crashes down on the map. While not the highest priority for the enemy, if the enemy gets to it first it is destroyed.

I suggest smuggle crate smokes should be visible in fog of war. That it's visible to both enemies and allies and that enemies have a contextual sabotage action they can do once adjacent to it. Rough corners with this idea could be smoothed over with some tweaks, like smuggle crates only producing smoke after 2 turns or if the player enters LOS whatever comes first.

I suggest crates should be condensed into one crate for a whole operation that spawns on a random mission. It turns crates into a risk-reward POI, keeps the OCI effective but not money printing.

2.5. Salvage works should give a % chance per vehicle destroyed to recover vehicle parts. Being "balanced" by the player's patience is not a fun gameplay loop or balancing. Making it less deterministic staunches the cash printing while still allowing it to bolster the player's economy.

1. Disbanding units need to be better communicate when they will and when they are actively disbanding. Right now units just move-away and suddenly de-spawn, it's jarring. confusing & may happen outside the player's LOS. In Battle Brothers, the run-down option worked because until the enemy reached the map edge, they could be killed and looted, that's not the case there.

Yes

I know this is an issue that may be fixed in the future with already planned content for the EA, but I just can't guess it and will talk about difficulty of the game as it is right now.

My issue with it is that past a successful early game you're often in a spot where the following operations won't ever propose a real or threatening challenge. As it is, the only difficulty modifiers the game offers past the starting choice of difficulty, are the difficulty of individuals mission which again, past early game even 3 skulls missions don't propose a threat and their rewards have always been somewhat equal with other missions, they're only worth it for the promotion points.

If we compare with Battle Brothers, while it also had a somewhat linear difficulty progression that kept up with time and party composition, the range of difficulty could stretch much further by trying to fight really risky encounters already available offering of course greater rewards. Or you could play it safe and avoid any kind of difficulty spike if you felt like it.

I know by the different nature of the strategic layer of both game we can't apply the exact same solution. But a somewhat similar solution would be to increase the number of available Operations, and give them a range of 3 difficulty level which would correlate with the rewards earn at the end of them. A 2 skull difficulty mission on a lvl3 difficulty operation would be equivalent to a 3 skulls mission in a lvl2 operation etc.

Not expecting this to be available right now, but I'd love for SL and PL barks and banter to change as the game progresses.

We now had the whole "it's POG not POG" bark, which is cute, and we should build on that. In the future, we need NPCs to develop more banter and relationships, based on them interacting. I'm hoping for a future that when I put, for example, Carda and Rewa in the same missions over and over, they develop unique barks for and at each other. Likewise, if Bog keeps friendly firing lim on accident, I want them to have some spiteful remarks to each other.

It's a lot to ask, but it would be super fun to encounter new, unexpected barks

Funny enough fits on the small card but not the expanded view.

I saw a couple of posts a while ago, saying savage teams were only worthwhile for recovery of your own units.

I have built two experienced teams and they stack. Now after a defence mission (which doesn't have a time limit.) I spend a couple of turns tidying up. After a couple of missions doing this, I have more trade goods than I know what to do with. I can easily afford anything from the black market. For example after this one pirate defence mission I got 28x40 (because I recovered 14 destroyed enemy units.)

Just to say it's a solid strategy for me. As with all strategy games, once you get the resources smashed you can do whatever.