You tell your little 'Brawler' bitches that those who don't use guns can still die from them and that they are grade 'A' Prime pieces of fuckflesh and you're not risking them getting too many marks on their smoking hot bodies. That, and that you have a whip!
Then give them all a rifle--regardless of how low their ranged combat is--and let them get their increases from crits, and buy a lot of thirty-ought rounds. Lots. That and combat armor and they're a valuable asset to your team, get them Durasteel asap too. They will be more effective than you seem to think and get better every week from crits.
In my estimation melee should merely supplement your tactics, everyone should fire at least a rifle until everyone on their side with a rifle, auto-rifle, coil or plasma gun is down. Then close and finish them off with swords or katanas, except for the ones with low Ranged Combat still--keep them firing the rifles for target practice. Thirty-ought ammo is cheap.
Try it this way from the very beginning sometime and see just how fast your regulars get better and how relatively effective they are despite starting with ranged combats of about 15. That's with the thirty-ought, don't use anything else outside the first day or so when you don't have enough rifles yet. Handguns and shotguns are pretty much worthless against anything armored, and only the armored targets are going to give you a problem after the first few days.
You've got to be willing to try to charm them even when your chances are low, say 25-35%. When I say 'charm' I mean specifically 'affect'-->'compliment' then 'beauty'/'sex appeal'/'intelligence' as well as 'encourage.' Those failures don't hurt you and with an upgraded house your gains will stay with you even if you fail two or three times as often as you succeed. Just keep at it and don't go pissing them off if you don't have the high manip/charm to get away with it at first.
Frigid/Perverted: They're standoffish at first until they know you well and then go 'all in' to your benefit. Not that unusual really, I've known chicks like that.
Lots of combat will solve the money and respect problems you appear to have sometimes. That means you clear the board as soon as possible and you keep it clear. You'll have to wait a little to take out the Space Hulk, the Black Gunner and Guardsmen with the mind thingy and the Highwaymen of Darkmere, but once you have two or three of Ayden/Space Marine/Black Guardsmen you can take those down regularly too. Always keep Stokke Hill and the Fort off Marston Avenue clear.
I've not seen a level six bounty in the 212 I've done, but in my experience you can start taking out the level fours and even fives once you have the Space Marine. Sometimes it's just one guy; You having at least three rifles, an auto rifle and coilgun can pretty much ensure you'll just about execute them before they have a chance to fire. Even with Durasteel they'll only get one or two shots.
If you can't make 450 a day, you're not trying hard enough. Keep that board clear--especially Stokke Hills.
lol! Pretty sure they don't listen to me.
"... those who don't use guns can still die from them"---True of any weapon, including knives & swords.
Crits----in case you've forgotten, are quite random (I've seen 1 person get several, while another does many fights & gets NONE!) Not AT ALL a reliable way to train anybody.
I think you mean "DuraPLATE" ,
not durasteel. As mentioned (another post) many things get easier once you have 1500 Infl, *AND* some $$$ [12k+? ]
Obviously, you're big on *Ranged*----let me tell you what I'm big on: ***ACCURACY***! Eg, if someone has 70 Melee, & 20 Range, I don't care what kind of gun they have, they're going to MISS! a LOT!
Anybody who
MISSES most of the time, is only good for 1 thing: MEATSHIELD. (if you're lucky, if you're UNlucky, another story.
I do try to give the "R" people "practice" ---but again, & I cannot emphasize this enough:
*CRITICAL HITS* are LUCK! [& when they do come, they often go to those who already have decent stats & need them the LEAST! lol]
BTW some "R" start @ 10. (I have some of those) if u don't train, it'd take 10x Crit just to get to 20! (~200+ days!)
+ Hopefully you have enough XP to know that Rifle/MG have penalites for R too low. [increases Misses]
Personally, i'd rather have (given the choice) a Pistol *HIT*, than a Rifle/MG MISS.
"Frigid/Perverted: ....."----Just an example of 1 Problem: "practice Caress" to get CHARM XP, doesn't work w them. [really, REALLY hard to hi enuf to do anything w (LOW CH)
BTW----sidenote: ANSEL (Range---RIFLE) seemed to get hit a lot, while 2 (out of 3) Melee Rarely do, so again, the whole R/M thing is very weak if you look @ who *REALLY* takes most of the damage.
[REMEMBER: CB = better, armor, but *LESS* (big hit!) to Dex, so more likely get hit by M enemies]
(Probably the whole "LUCK" thing?)
I'd rather have the extra armor and increase dex. Not having the best armor costs you in tendstims every single hit--think about it. I do the quest to get tendstims down soon after I have the Space Marine and at least one other who can fire a coilgun efficiently (RC ~80).
I do all the investments as soon as possible after I get combat armor, except the one that hurts slavegirl happiness, I blow those guys away. Note that for the Caravans that means I need two top-tier mercs first, so not immediately.
Yes, sometimes--especially in the beginning--I had to bribe for information. Oh, well, I just netted a little less. However I found the more I carassed my slavegirls, the more willing people were to giving me information for free. Thus I made slut-cuddling into the official sport of Halidor for a while, having my cake and eating it too by cutting expenses while enjoying my slaves and making them happier too. Win, win, win! The synergy there was inspiring.
I don't have the money problems you have because I play differently than you. I'm not bullshitting, your melee-first combat style costs you bigtime in tendstims. I often don't even get anyone take a double-digit hit, that's what wasting their big guns (rifle or better) before they have a chance to fire, or fire more than once, achieves when you wear the best armor. Most of my battles are essentially executions after the first week or so. Sometimes they get some luck, for example in my recent test run for your benefit I had Juno and Michelle both taken down by consecutive crossbow crits, figure the odds. But shit happens, I'll get those points back eventually and we still won the fight.
There is no substitute for absolute victory with minimal risk. Imagine being one of your soldiers, wouldn't you want a boss who thought that way?
"...I'd rather have the extra armor and increase dex."----you have to be *REALLY* really careful. Except for leather, CB makes DEX take a *HUGE* hit [& early game your/their DEX isn't that high anyway!] so you *REALLY* can't have both:
EITHER extra AR (& LOW Dex),
*OR*, higher Dex, & less Ar. [Until 1500 Infl / --$ WEAVE]
I've been debating about doing the "I do the quest to get tendstims down" [Can't rem the NAME!] -----Just tried, & SUCCEEDED [hey finally got that 1500 INFL!] @ the docks----u know, 4x CB AR [what were u saying about how great it was?] & 3 (or 4?) MG?
"I've not seen a level six bounty in the 212 I've done, but in my experience you can start taking out the level fours and even fives once you have the Space Marine. Sometimes it's just one guy; You having at least three rifles, an auto rifle and coilgun can pretty much ensure you'll just about execute them before they have a chance to fire. Even with Durasteel they'll only get one or two shots."--- The ones that kicked my butt b4, weren't even lvl6 (4-5?)
BUT they had:
-4 Enemies (not just 1!)
-DURAPLATE
-Either MG or Coil. (never saw 2 coil, but even 1 C & 3 MG are *ROYAL* pain early on!)
Does that sound like a level 4? 5?
+ of course, they *ALL* had good skills, where most of my crew sucked... (AR don't help much if u can't HIT!)
I think I need to be more careful of the "unknowns" (Bounties)
Or, is the Level # most important thing?
--->> It's not just about the "Bounty," it's "How good (AR/Skill/weapons) are their CREW?
"There is no substitute for absolute victory with minimal risk. Imagine being one of your soldiers, wouldn't you want a boss who thought that way?"----Oh, I certainly agree here,
but *EXACTLY* how that plays out, varies a LOT---$/skills/LUCK/etc (training take time, EVERYTHING cost $...)