Line #97 VideoGame/Piratez


1	-->''Legends say once the Earth was ruled by humans, and there were no mutants at all. Even if such tall tales are true, it is all long gone. Nowadays the planet is just a distant periphery of the huge stellar Empire, ruled by the Star Gods. A poor backwater with corrupt government and brainwashed population, rife with crime - and opportunity. Mutants and outcasts like us are not loved by anyone, so we choose infamy over their sick and unjust order. They may call us pirates and criminals but it's better to die free than live for others.''
2	-->-- an extract from the '''[[EncyclopediaExposita Bootypedia]]'''
3
4	''The Piratez Mod'' is a total conversion mod for [[http://openxcom.org/ OpenXcom]].
5
6	The story is set in the far future, six hundred years after the so-called First Alien War (the events of [[VideoGame/UFOEnemyUnknown the original X-Com game]]), which in this continuum was also the last: the Earth lost. The aliens subjugated the human population, thwarting all resistance using countries who allied with them, and turned most survivors into subjects, slaves, or [[BodyHorror worse]]. Our planet was turned into a fringe world of the immeasurable stellar empire, inhabited not only by humans, but primarily by all sorts of mutants, aliens and monsters, watched over by the mysterious Star Gods. Even though there are semi-autonomous countries on Earth, they have their hands too full to form any sort of coherent rebellion; and when they don't, they are more interested in plotting against each other than opposing their alien masters.
7
8	The player takes control on a freshly formed band of female Ubers - a stronger, more resilient [[HumanSubspecies variant]] of regular humans - who decide to become rich and powerful criminals upon having found an abandoned hidden underground base of uncertain origins (possibly established by X-Com itself) after escaping from a research facility. First motivated by greed and anger, they gradually become (at least partially) freedom fighters, striking against the alien oppressors and their human lackeys, as well as protecting defenseless mutant communities and striking deals with local governments, who are not happy with being occupied. No matter the ideals or lack thereof, the game is mostly about looting, killing and enslaving, with a good dose of humor ranging from goofy to black - sometimes simultaneously.
9
10	The mod is available for free [[http://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3626.0.html here]].
11	----
12	!!The mod provides examples of the following:
13
14	* AfterTheEnd: The story takes place many years after a lost game of the first X-Com, and most humans have been turned into mutants. In fact, all of your pirates are [[BackgroundMagicField technically]] mutants too, and terror missions are replaced by pogroms against mutants.
15	* AKA47:
16	** The M3 submachinegun (a.k.a. the Grease Gun) is the "Spraygun".
17	** The AK-47 is the "Homefront Rifle".
18	** The M-16 is the "RCF Carbine".
19	** The Colt .45 is known as the "Manstopper".
20	** The Desert Eagle is named "Confederate Eagle".
21	** The [=MP5=] SMG is Blackmarch SMG (Blackmarch being a country roughly overlapping with today's Germany).
22	* AliensAreBastards: Downplayed compared to the original game; the aliens ''were'' bastards and came as conquerers, and earth is now their backwater colony, but most of the ''active'' aggression you face falls under HumansAreBastards instead; additionally, some of the other alien races who have been colonized by the Star Gods can serve as allies. Played straighter with some of the lingering terror from the depths enemies and other pockets of alien monstrosity left on earth.
23	* AmazonBrigade: Your pirates are initially all women. You face an early choice in the course of your research as to whether to welcome men into the gang or to maintain as an all-women outfit; choosing to open up your hiring blocks you from being able to hire basic Uber gals from the market, but lets you purchase unlimited numbers of male Slave Soldiers.
24	* AmbiguousGender: Reticulans and their Bugeye relatives are generally of uncertain gender - as lampshaded in the bugeye armor descriptions, which are generally confused as to the gender of the bugeye they're describing.
25	* AnchorsAway: Unsurprisingly. They're bloody heavy and unwieldy, but hit hard when swung. You can also swing them like a melee weapon or by the chain; the latter is slower but gives a few tiles of range, and also lets you throw it at walls to try to batter them down.
26	* AncientEgypt: The Theban Tyranny is... suspiciously in line with the popular trope. Its mysterious ruler even assumed the name of [[UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII Cleopatra]].
27	* AntiHero: Your hired crew in general (as opposed to the initial 6). While they may make half-assed attempts to paint themselves as freedom fighters, they're mostly in it for the loot and the thrill.
28	* ApocalypticLog: You can find records of the history of X-Com's fight and its aftermath by researching old-earth books or by interrogating people knowledgeable about the past. Needless to say, given the game's premise, the histories don't end well for humanity.
29	* ArbitraryGunPower: Downplayed when it comes to pistols vs. rifles; since the game's paper-doll equipment for troops means that inventory size matters (making it easier for them to be stowed in quick-to-draw-from areas as a sidearm), smaller guns can be realistically lower-power than larger ones while still being useful, and all guns do damage based on the caliber of their ammunition. Played straight, however, between guns of the same category - each gun has statistics that are carefully-chosen to ensure that none obsolete any others that are anywhere remotely close to it in terms of accessibility.
30	* ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: What's the best solution to deal with a heavy laser wielding trooper in a powered armor? Hit them with your sword! (Or better a [[CarryABigStick hammer]].) A decent blade powered by Uber muscles will crack through armor more effectively than all but the heaviest of firearms.
31	* AwesomeButImpractical: At one point, you get the ability to build tanks. Not the automated track drones, or even the automated flying drones; you can build real tanks the size of troop transport, with huge cannons and anti-gravity engines. Unfortunately, being a SkyPirate, you have no practical need for them as weapons, as they are horribly slow when compared to supersonic aircraft you normally hunt. ''Selling them for money'', on the other hand, is BoringButPractical; if you wish, researching them allows you to switch from the exciting but unpredictable income from piracy to making most of your money as an arms supplier manufacturing and selling tanks.
32	* AxCrazy: Some enemies may qualify, like the Dark One axemen, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential but it's mostly the pirates themselves]].
33	* BackgroundMagicField: Ubers hail from areas of heightened Hellerium radiation levels. These areas, simply known as 'the Zones', allow for much more intense metabolism, and therefore are filled with all sorts of exotic life (primarily huge monsters).
34	* BadFuture: Crystallized from the original game's loss scenario, Piratez's basic premise is that X-Com lost and the alien invaders won.
35	* BadassBiker: Now available in the form of a "Vessel" that represents up to 13 of your jolly band riding to battle on motorcycles. Uber Gals and Slave Soldiers can double up on the trope with theme-appropriate Ganger and Punk biker outfits, as can Lokk'naar, who make up for their small stature by augmenting their own Punk outfits with ''nasty'' chain whips.
36	* TheBeastmaster: Represented by a Church unit of the same name, commanding [[DemonicSpiders Chryssalids]] and [[PoisonIsCorrosive Celatids]]. Also applicable to the protagonists, who can use animals like [[HeroicDog dogs]], [[PirateParrot parrots]] or [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking mutated Reapers]]. Finally, you have the Ratmeister robes, a special armor for your Lokk'naar followers that comes equipped with a magic rod that can summon giant rats into battle as scouts.
37	* BlackComedy: The game doesn't shy from mentioning the less optimistic aspects of being occupied by tyrannical aliens and their human subordinates, often going into satire regarding real politics and social issues. Despite the themes (oppression, racism, colonialism etc.), it's still fairly light humor.
38	* BlackMarket: Where goods like weapons, aircraft parts or [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking hair bleach]] are bought and sold.
39	* BlessedWithSuck: Ubers are stronger and more resilient than any other race, they also learn super fast. These perks however are a result of their adaptation to metabolize [[PowerSource Hellerium 511]] which they need to intake at regular intervals (either by living in a Hellerium-irradiated area or by eating it), else they get sick and (usually) die.
40	** According to the WordOfGod, Ubers with Hellerium deprivation that do not die get [[{{Moe}} lolified]]. Their appearance is quite misleading, since they are generally older, experienced adventurers who managed to survive far from home for years.
41	* BoozeBasedBuff:
42	** Alcohol can serve as a substitute for a medkit, with the added bonus that someone can drink booze unaided, as opposed to medkits which can't be self-applied.
43	** Mushroom Beer is an actual buff, though it has... side effects.
44	* BoundAndGagged: The sorry state of girls which need to be rescued from brothels, slave rooms or other places of mistreatment.
45	* BrainInAJar: [[spoiler:The Solar Governor.]]
46	* BreastPlate: Some of the lighter outfits do this, most notably the Tac Vest, which is basically a one-piece Kevlar swimsuit. Other armors do cover less, but most of those actually don't offer any armor benefits at all. Your girls are mutants, after all, and a naked Uber's tough mutant skin leaves her still better armored than most purebloods.
47	* TheCaper: The "Mansion of Anguish". Your team is to "conduct reconnaissance" (an excuse to wear maid's outfits) in a seemingly [[http://i.imgur.com/CJ7y4SL.png never-ending mansion]].
48	* CarryABigStick: One of your starting weapons is a nice sledgehammer. Once upon a time this was a very strong (but slow) early melee weapon, but the addition of the enemy getting an evade check makes it chancy to try to sledgehammer them anywhere but in the back lest your swing go wild and smash someone standing next to you. Hammers are still pretty close to the top of the food chain for busting down walls until you get access to better tools like Pickaxes and Fusion Torches.
49	* CatFolk: Represented by Catgirls, they are an alien race, possibly from the planet [[VideoGame/MasterOfOrion Fieras]].
50	* ChainsawGood:
51	** Some weapons added by the mod, of course. They don't scale all that well with your soldier's stats like other weapons do and they are kind of bad against armor, but early on there's very little that can survive an encounter with one and they don't exhaust you badly or require a sky-high strength to use.
52	** An actual name of one researchable tech.
53	* ChaoticNeutral: Though not very deeply examined, your crew's attitude (as expressed by your aide) is best described as Type 1.
54	* ChurchMilitant: The Church of Sirius (former Cult of Sirius) faction fanatically worships the Star Gods. They come complete with elite Reverends and Cardinals.
55	** This is also a bit of subversion, considering that [[spoiler:the higher ranks of the Church consider Star Gods flawed and there's a fair amount of cynicism regarding their position.]]
56	* ChurchOfHappyology: The Hubbologists, from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', appear here as an extremely rare enemy type; as in that game, they're a thinly-veiled parody of Scientologists.
57	* CivilWar: Between the two factions of [[spoiler:{{Precursors}}]].
58	* ClothingDamage:
59	** An effect of the Cyclops weapon; it primarily destroys armor and clothes.
60	** There is also a weaker subvariant of the Defender armor, the Damaged Defender armor, which can only be acquired when a girl wearing Defender armor gets shot down.
61	** Several other effects will erode the armor value of whatever they hit. A strike from a very powerful Piercing round will damage armor, as will acid blasts, bites from some animals, and the like.
62	* CommonplaceRare:
63	** Apples. You need large amounts of them to make the most profitable early-game good, and will need more as you scale up production; and they can only be found at random, not purchased or grown yourself. While you ''can'' sometimes find them in large numbers, doing so is entirely up to the RNG, and even if you're lucky you're still certain to run short of them if you expand rapidly.
64	** Smelly rags. While they have almost no value, you need them for a few specific things, and they can't be purchased or intentionally acquired in any way, only found at random. There's even an event that hangs a lampshade on this by having the captain, frustrated at having a project that needs one for too long, grab a random rag and ask if it will do.
65	* CrapsackWorld: The aliens have conquered Earth, humans are mostly dead or mutated, and the rest serves the Star Gods. Oh, and pretty much every faction is busy plotting against everyone else. Or doing mutant pogroms.
66	* {{Crossover}}: While most enemies are original and can be considered a logical result of the alien occupation, you may also encounter a faction composed from creatures from [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom]].
67	* DeathDealer: Magic cards are an ''incredibly'' powerful mid-range weapon for gals with high throwing skills and at least a little voodoo. They're tiny (so they easily fit in a pocket), can be thrown four at a time, and one deck has a whopping 52 shots.
68	* DeathWorld: Earth from the sheer amount of insane factions and enemies on it. How dangerous is Earth these days? The actual Demons from [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom]] can barely establish a foot hold on it.
69	* DelinquentHair: A portion of the pirates have extravagant, multi-colored hair. Most hairstyles are tamer than this, but usually still quite punkish.
70	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "This round changes the Rocket Launcher into what is quite possibly (...) the world's largest handheld shotgun in the world."
71	* {{Determinator}}: Anyone with Bravery 50 or higher will always recover from combat stress after a while, no matter how little morale they have. Slave Soldiers are also unusually stoic in that their Morale does not constantly drift in the direction of their Bravery; in practical terms, this means that even low-Bravery Soldiers lack the tendency to start going nuts on long missions without action.
72	* DisposableSexWorker: Averted. Hos are considered ordinary citizens, and, therefore, you'll get an infamy penalty for killing them, even as enemies. As one of the level descriptions put it, killing civilians in general makes the public think that you "lack class."
73	* DividedStatesOfAmerica: The former USA are divided into several large countries. [[CrapsackWorld None of them a nice place to live.]]
74	* DoAnythingSoldier: Played straight for gals as per the X-Com tradition. Downplayed somewhat for some of the secondary races; while you ''can'' use them in a wide variety of roles if you really want to, it's very obvious that Bugeyes are best suited to be voodoo support, while Lokk'narr and Gnomes are generally best suited to be pilots.
75	* DressedToPlunder: A standard female pirate uniform is available to wear.
76	* EliteMook: Trader Bodyguards, wearing goddamn power armors, which are basically immune to small arms fire.
77	* EncyclopediaExposita: The Bootypedia, a browsable collection of reports on various items, enemies and the world in general, submitted by your brainers after the appropriate tech is researched.
78	* EveryoneIsArmed: Everyone. Even the [[HawaiianShirtedTourist jolly tourist guy]] wearing shorts will try to shoot you to death. In a major departure from the base game, even the innocent civilians that show up on Mutant Pogroms and Lokk'narr Village missions are now armed and fully capable of fighting back, though the effectiveness depends heavily on how nasty the opposition is.
79	* {{Expy}}: The farther you get into the game the more the Gals start resembling the [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Freebooterz Orks from Warhammer.]] Including the [[spoiler: the fact the Girls have something similar to a Waaagh field. The Brainers are almost scared when they realize this.]]. [[PirateBooty Also their love of plunder and loot.]]
80	* ExtremeOmnivore: Our heroines' Apocalyptic Cuisine includes meals like fried Reaper innards, Star God brain or Deep One pie. They clearly despise cannibalism, though.
81	* FantasticRacism: Pureblood humans vs. mutants, especially those not from a stable strain. And vice versa.
82	* FishPeople: Descendants of the Gillmen from ''X-Com: Terror from the Deep'' who live in not-so-ancient pyramids in absurd numbers.
83	* FrenchMaidOutfit: One of the few ways to get into the Endless Mansion.
84	* FutureImperfect: Your Gals can find an old laser disc with [[Music/KnightsOfCydonia Knights Of Cydonia]] on it. Naturally they mistake it for a historical record of mankind's last stand against the Stellar Empire.
85	* GenericanEmpire: Here called Stellar Empire.
86	* UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy: Heavily referenced, especially in the authorities. Your starting weapons are cutlasses and blackpowder weapons.
87	* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Catgirls, who have randomly colored skin.
88	* HalfHumanHybrid: Literal hybrids, who are of human and Sectoid origin. Possibly lamias, too.
89	* HappinessInSlavery: None of the slaves you acquired rebel or even complain. However they are paid 10,000 dollars a month, and given living conditions usually far better than what they had before, making them most likely slaves in name only.
90	* HealingPotion: A whole range of them, mostly based on alcohol mixed with E-511 radioactive residue. Not usually quite as effective or portable as expensive purpose-built medical gear, but pour enough booze into or onto someone and they'll be alright. Booze also has the significant advantage of being easily chugged by oneself, while all other methods of stopping bleeding need a friend to apply them for you.
91	* HeroAntagonist: Quite possibly the Jillsville folk, particularly Sky Ninjas. They appear to be as unhappy with the state of things as you, and they are said to worship spirits of light. However, religious and philosophical differences prevent you and them from ending the hostilities. In fact, they are the yang to your yin, which is the whole point of the general mindset of your culture.
92	* HulkSpeak: Sometimes invoked by the Bootypedia articles, presumably as self-irony on the otherwise well-spoken Brainer part. (''Soylent not good. Meat good.'')
93	* HumanAliens: The [[CatGirl Catpeople]], despite looking more human than many mutants, are actually full-fledged aliens.
94	* HumanSubspecies: Stable mutant strains, whose members have similar mutations and are able to reproduce to make more specimen. The most popular ones are ubers (in most regards superhumans, though less psionically gifted and a bit brutish in posture), lamias (half-humans, half-snakes), hybrids (humans with Sectoid characteristics) and ratlings (small humanoids). Other mutants are also considered their own kind by the general population, even though they are wildly different from one another.
95	* HumansAreBastards: Well, the three main enemy factions are purely human, who turn out to be very eager to help the oppressors.
96	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Even moreso than the original ''X-COM'', weapons are even more inaccurate and spray even more bullets all over the place, forcing you to either get close with shotguns and melee weapons, or scrounge up enough money for hunting rifles.
97	* IncrediblyLamePun: Sometimes invoked [[RuleOfFunny just for fun]].
98	** Description of a stunning club called 'handle': ''As the name implies, its purpose is to handle people.''
99	** The entire briefing to the Warehouse Wars mission: ''The omnipotent Traders run a warehouse in this area. If we 'ware' to strike it, we could turn their wares into warez. Dem dogs in guild colors are free targets to show off our prowess, but we can take some wh... wenches alive as warez too. Be-ware of them Guild Security, they're mighta be just oxen in armor, but that armor makes them very resistant to shotguns and lo-end pistols. Better to catch them un-a-wares and backstab 'em. [[LampshadeHanging Pun!]]''
100	* JetPack: A must have in almost any pirating party. Also used by some enemies.
101	* KillItWithFire: Represented by flamethrowers, Molotov cocktails and Willy Petes (phosphorous grenades). Best way to deal with heavily armored vehicles and medium-armored soldiers with a ton of health. Doesn't work on [[PowerArmor power armors]], though.
102	* LandDownUnder: Australia is called Death Realms here. Apparently, even in this universe, its wildlife is considered particularly nasty.
103	* LastOfHisKind: Zander, The Last [[spoiler:Knight of Cydonia]].
104	* LesYay:
105	** Somewhat implied between the Captain and the chief Brainer.
106	** Heavily implied between the Captain and [[spoiler:Dr. X]]. In fact, more recent versions make overt by giving you the option to ''marry'' her.
107	** [[spoiler:Dr. X]] and her former lover.
108	* LethalJokeWeapon: Several of the weapons are ridiculous but still extremely effective if used right. There's even an achievement, "Joker", for killing a large number of enemies with them.
109	** The anchor. Weighs so much only the strongest characters can even carry it (and even they won't be able to be able to carry anything else), can only be swung on its chain to hit enemies at close-medium range, is terrible in melee, costs most of your action points to swing just once... but it only requires strength, no skill, and does such absurd damage that it can take out even late-game heavily-armored enemies in one hit provided you get close enough to use it, making it a valuable emergency button if you run into them earlier than you expected. It also uses no ammo, while most ranged weapons capable of piercing heavy armor cost a ton per shot.
110	* LittlePeople: Ratlings. These guys heavily resemble the Boggies from ''Literature/BoredOfTheRings'': they are lazy and violent, preferring thievery and organized crime to hard work. The leader of a Ratling village is called a "Baggins", because he sits on a bag full of loot. Even other mutants hate them and occasionally organize "Ratman Rodeos", that is, raids at their villages to kill the little buggers and take their ill-gotten fortunes.
111	* MadeASlave: The sad fate of those prisoners that you don't want to sell for ransom. Not only do you get bonus storing space for each slave, you can even build a mining ship and use them as forced labor! That said, being enslaved by your gang is considered a step up for some of the people who wind up in your prison cells, particularly those who wind up as Slave Lashers.
112	* MadeOfExplodium: Trees in metallized forests being a prime example. They also drop explosive fruit that can be used as improvised grenades.
113	* MagneticWeapons: Fairly well represented, most notably Gauss weapons.
114	* MasterOfIllusion:
115	** The entire race of Star Gods, collectively. They are invisible, have attacks that bypass armor and are generally designed to be as confusing and hard to attack as possible. The Star Gods are the Ethereals, the master race from the original X-COM, they were infamous for their ability to mess with your minds even back then, and now they took several new levels in this skill.
116	** The player can be this via the Illusion school of voodoo, at least if they follow the Grey or Gold codices, which master it.
117	* MedalOfDishonor: Among the "Condemnations" your gals can receive is the "Sleeping Beauty" Condemnation. This marks "The dubious act of passing out frequently during battle". There's also one for [[ShootTheHostage killing people you were supposed to be protecting]], and one for being frequently shot by your own teammates.
118	* MedievalStasis: 600 years have passed since the war, yet Earth technology has stagnated. [[JustifiedTrope Star Gods put a lot of effort to ensure this happens.]]
119	* MegaCorp:
120	** The Traders Guild, in a way. They effectively control trade between the semi-autonomous states, since they're given freedom of movement around the planet. They also seem to possess significant industrial potential, as well as a whole army of well-trained mercenaries.
121	** The Eurosyndicate is a more straight example, although it's way less present in the game.
122	* MindControlDevice: The Voodoo Rod.
123	* MistressAndServantBoy: Implied with the Altar Boys who are enslaved... er, repurposed as "squires" by the protagonists.
124	* MookHorrorShow: An indirect case with the 'The Attack Of Violent Flare Females' article in the [[PropagandaMachine Solar Courier]], which covers a typical raid mission observed from the enemy perspective. It focuses on how scary and overwhelming the pirates are, but also lampshades the typical player behavior of throwing light sources at random all over the place, which makes sense from the tactical perspective but probably looks puzzling in-universe.
125	* MundaneMadeAwesome: The description for the Guild Stapler does this to ''stapling'':
126	-->"As the saying goes, from the deepest ocean to the furthest space colony, wherever the man goes, after him goes the stapling."
127	* {{Mutants}}: You and your allies, as well as some of your enemies. Most Earthlings really, if you count the [[HumanSubspecies stable strains]].
128	* NavelDeepNeckline: The Witch Doctor "armor" has a plunging neckline.
129	* ANaziByAnyOtherName:
130	** Taken to a comical extent with the Humanist faction, a human-supremacist group that holds mutant pogroms, dresses in what looks like Nazi uniforms, inexplicably wields World War II-era German weaponry, has leaders who all look exactly identical to Adolf Hitler, and flies ships shaped like ''giant swastikas''.
131	** This game also has the Spartans, modeled on the American right-wing militias, who are... not much different from the Humanists. They also practice mutant pogroms, live in an authoritarian militarist society by outdated social mores.
132	* NintendoHard: To begin with, you don't get any decent weapons or interceptors to shoot down ships with for a very long time, you initially rely on melee weapons and pirate wave attacks, you face tough enemies like Reapers immediately, even the top-tier armor is still pretty thin, etc.
133	* NoArcInArchery: Averted. Not only do bows have an arc, you can even abuse it to shoot over obstacles and hit enemies the firing pirate can't see as long as you have a spotter. On the other hand, this makes bows and arcing shots like Assault Cannons less useful indoors or in woods, where the ceiling or tree canopies restrict your firing arc.
134	* NubileSavage: Your Hands are quite savage, and many research topics make reference to their tendency toward sexual excess. Tribal Armor, which is effectively a nod to this trope, is also one of the only armor types that can be purchased from the earliest parts of the game.
135	* TheNudifier: Cyclops' natural weapon.
136	* OlderThanTheyLook: Hellerium-depraved Ubers are small and cute, but in fact they are usually older and wiser than your average, big Ubers.
137	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: And stolen from VideoGame/{{Doom}}.
138	* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: Although the game mostly avoids the term ''goblins'', they seem to not only be called this (at least sometimes), but they seem to be pretty widespread around the planet. The most obvious goblin group is the Lokk'Naar tribe, which is the most immediate contact for the pirates. It is unclear if they are related to the Ratmen, or ''if they are mutants at all'' (as opposed to being an extraterrestrial race, for example). There is a mention that they were created by dragons, but it is unclear what that means.
139	* [[{{Pirate}} Pirates]]: Of the relatively positive sort, though their victims may disagree.
140	* PirateGirl: Everyone in your crew.
141	* ThePowerOfRock: A high-level equivalent of the Battle Flag is a badass guitar. Its main function is to boost Time Units of nearby characters.
142	* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: The aptly named Disc O' Death.
143	* {{Precursors}}: Heavily referenced by the Cult of Sirius as well as Deep Ones; presumably they were the ones to seed life on Earth, or at least direct its development since some point in time. It turns out that [[spoiler:the BrainInAJar on Mars and other similar specimen in the galaxy are the Precursors' direct descendants who abandoned their physical bodies as a mean of adaptation to a great war against the Inciters. Moreover, the ruler of T'leth is also a Precursor, but one with its body still intact.]]
144	* PurpleIsPowerful: It is the color of [[spoiler:The Well-Wisher, a mysterious guide representing Shadowsrealm]].
145	* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Your initial crew consists of runaway experiments who decided to stick together. While you can employ professional soldiers later, much of your new hires will be random volunteers and rescuees of varied backgrounds and profiles.
146	* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Applies to every enemy faction, and in practice to your pirates too. In addition to that, several weapons have damage scaling that increases with the wielder's rank.
147	* RatMen: The Rat People, an in-universe urban legend. Not to be confused with Ratmen, who are just a short and mischievous - and very real - variation of humans.
148	* RatStomp: One early-game quest has you sending your gals into the basement of a tavern to, you guessed it, kill some giant rats.
149	* RealityWarper: [[spoiler: The Brainers come to the conclusion that the Gals are actually warping reality with their powers as that's the only way they could have progressed so fast when everyone else was stuck for centuries with no progress.]]
150	* RedEyesTakeWarning: Referenced [[Main/LampshadeHanging verbatim]] in an article about princess Aurora, who has red eyes and poses significant danger to your operation.
151	* SchizoTech: Particularly visible between the various countries, some of which are clearly in CyberPunk age (The Eurosyndicate), while others have fallen to DarkAges (Fuso).
152	* ShockAndAwe: One of the late-game weapons is a hand-held Tesla Coil, and you've got plenty of other options in various flavors of electro-whip, stun rod, and cattle prod.
153	* ShootingSuperman: Due to AI limitations, your enemies will stupidly try to shoot your tanks using simple pistols, shotguns loaded with buckshot, etc.
154	* ShoutOut:
155	** ''Franchise/StarWars'': Much of the Smugglers faction references the Millennium Falcon, with the leader modelled after Han Solo, the engineers somewhat resembling Wookies and [[spoiler:Public Enemy being a shout out to Obi-Wan]], especially how he appears in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l58DwSWk3e0 Star Wars Gangsta Rap 3]].
156	** ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': There's a rare faction called Dark Ones that is entirely composed of Doom creatures. Their place in the world is ambiguous at best, but possibly linked to psionics.
157	** [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Lovecraftian themes]]: Deep Ones being the most glaring example, maintaining similar references from ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep''.
158	** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': Some weapon names, most notably the lasgun and the chainsword. Also the race of ratlings.
159	** ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': One researchable tech is named so; it leads to a mining facility and to pickaxe weapons, which are exceptionally good at bashing through walls.
160	** ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'': The entire description of the chainsaw says: ''Groovie''.
161	** Music/BlackSabbath: The description of the Boarding Gun: ''Heavy bolts of lead/Make his victims full of dread!''
162	** {{Music/ChicksOnSpeed}}: The Kaltes-Klares "mineral water" (of the addictive kind, presumably amphetamine or similar) is a reference to the song "Kaltes Klares Wasser".
163	** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': The Bossar is a direct reference to the Bozar, a similarly awesome rifle in the franchise.
164	** ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'': The Lokk'Naar tribe is named after Loc-Nar, the BigBad gem of the film. The Lokk'Naar tribe however is docile, practical and rather helpful, if greedy; [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial there is absolutely no possibility that they are somehow linked to ]] [[CosmicEntity some ominous,]] [[EldritchAbomination pangalactic force]], [[TemptingFate right]]?
165	** ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': The Magical Girl; her Soul Gem looks identical to Homura's. Also, one avatar looks very much like Madoka herself.
166	** ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': One possible Lokk'Naar surname is "Trashboat".
167	** ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'': One of the avatars is clearly modeled after Hatsune Miku.
168	** ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': You start the game with a Tiny Drill which seemingly has no purpose. Later in game, it turns out that [[spoiler:it can be combined with the Menacing Hull waiting in your hangar, resulting in one of four possible designs of the Menace class warship]]. Also, the description of the ''final'' warship required to start the final mission in the normal manner says that it can "pierce the heavens."
169	** ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'': The "Raynerd must survive" mission.
170	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'': A title you can attain after a freakishly successful month is literally Freakazoid.
171	** ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'': The Cobra Staff weapon is reminiscent of the Serpent Staff used by the Cleric in the original ''Hexen'', including having both a melee and a ranged mode.
172	** ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': One avatar looks much like Saber, and another one like Rin.
173	** ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'': After researching Gnome Origins: "Your Brainer has now the Paranoid trait. It does not have any effect on her research efficiency, though."
174	** ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'': The Academy is led by Provost Zakharina, an obvious reference to Provost Zakharov.
175	** ''Music/JohnnyCash'': The description of "Ol' Revolver" quotes ''Devil’s Right Hand'' verbatim, but attributes it to "traditional", since in the setting the song is seven hundred years old.
176	** ''Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome'': The Masterblaster outfit, which is a unique combination of two units: an Ogre and a Gnome.
177	** ''VideoGame/AmongUs'': The Moongoose outfit (by name and design).
178	** ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxyTrilogy'': The Space Towel item. "When all seems lost, just grab onto it and read what it says! You'll be surprised how useful it can be. A best-selling item amongst smart people all over the Galaxy - just like the famous Hitchhiker's Guide says! Now in elegant black! Can be yours for a low, low price!"
179	* [[SkyPirate Sky Pirates]]: You, of course; most of your piracy involves shooting down aircraft and looting the wreckage.
180	* SnakePeople: The race of lamias. They are stronger and tougher than humans, though not exactly bright.
181	* SpacePolice: The Space Rangers Corps. Not directly present in the game (yet), but you can find some of their standard issue equipment. Which rocks.
182	* SquishyWizard:
183	** No Gal will ever actually be ''squishy'' by human standards - even completely naked, their skin is as tough as basic human armor - but since they gain bonuses to Voodoo when wearing less, Voodoo-focused Gals tend to be comparatively much more lightly-armored than others. Endgame armor can avert this using things like forcefields (especially for the Grey Codex, which specializes in destructive voodoo users), but all forcefields are critically weak to at least one type of damage, and even the best such armor is notably more flimsy than comparable endgame armor for weapon-focused gals.
184	** Played straighter with the Bugeyes, who are natural master psychics but extremely fragile (and who lack access to any sort of serious armor that would help with this.)
185	* {{Stripperriffic}}: Armor tends to cover some of the upper body, but as little of the lower body as possible. Some armors go even further, and you can eventually use force-circuitry technology to build ultra-skimpy armors that cover almost nothing on the body but project defensive forcefields instead. And this is before you get into the SquishyWizard "armor" for voodoo-focused gals, where exposing as much flesh as possible is often the point.
186	* SuicideAttack: Anybody can do it by carrying a primed explosive; at the end of the phase, the explosives will go off. It's possible to, for example, start an Attack Dog or three with armed Satchel Charges during a base defense mission and to rush them into close contact with enemies before the bombs go off.
187	* SuperSoldier: Several candidates, but primarily the Mercs. No matter who you are, they are tougher, stronger, faster, meaner and better equipped than you.
188	* TalkLikeAPirate: Implemented in every part of the game possible, including the UI itself. For example, "OK" and "Cancel" are replaced by "YARRR!" and "BEGONE!"
189	* TankGoodness: If you get a tank early, it'll be really helpful. Unsurprisingly, tanks are also troublesome enemies; even a basic Armored Car is a terrifying opponent for how early they can show up, between their toughness, extreme movement speed, and powerful machine gun turrets.
190	* ThoseWackyNazis: A minor enemy faction. They fly in swastika-shaped [=UFOs=].
191	* TimedMission:
192	** Supply Ships blow up after a (random within a certain range) number of turns, forcing you to step on it and finish the mission quickly, or lose the entire precious cargo (along with any pirates who happen to be on board).
193	** From version 0.95 onwards, the mod features "combat stress", which is represented by the crew members losing some morale each turn, depending on their Bravery stat and armor worn. If several turns pass and you don't kill anyone (killing enemies boosts morale), the most weak-willed of your girls may start losing it.
194	*** Alleviated in the next version, where morale gradually becomes equal to Bravery, but still may create a time limit for the girls with low Bravery (because their morale will finally drop to 10 or 20 and they'll start panicking).
195	* TooAwesomeToUse:
196	** Baby Nukes, which can only be found on certain difficult missions (and ''obviously [[MemeticMutation do not exist]]).
197	** The Raygun you start with is a powerful energy pistol, but you only have a few batteries for it, and they're difficult to find or reproduce.
198	** Pretty much any decent weapon in the early game.
199	* UnderTheSea: Get wet and get some treasure! (Also die horribly from a Deep One's ballista, because you can't see underwater anywhere as well as actual underwater races.)
200	* {{Unobtainium}}: The Hellerium-511 element. It powers most advanced tech, from pistols to spaceships, and does not naturally occur on Earth. Hellerium distribution is one of the most important means of Star Gods' control over the planet.
201	* VichyEarth: The planet was conquered long ago, and the various power blocs only continue to exert authority at the whim of the Star Gods. Not all humans are bastards, though: the game penalizes you if you kill or even capture government employees, workers and most civilians. They are honest folks that have nothing to do with the VichyEarth regime. The global factions, however, have everything to do with it, and they are your main enemies.
202	* WalkThePlank:
203	** When your girls are underperformers, this is the final solution. It's unclear if this should be taken literally or if it's just slang for being kicked out.
204	** Your ultimate fate if you lose the campaign due to poor management.
205	* WeHaveReserves: Dead pirates are going to be a fact of life, because despite their physical superiority it's going to be a while before you can get guns worth a damn and armor that's tougher than the bare skin of your mutant girls. However, it's much less crippling than it was in the original XCOM, because you can construct training facilities capable of churning out moderately-experienced replacements at a steady clip, meaning that past a certain point you should never wind up being forced into fielding fumble-fingered rookies.
206	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Star Gods are an ultimate example, as their grand plan is to create "the brightest possible future; (...) a perfect, eternal, beautiful galaxy". This end goal justifies any means to them, and they consider anyone who opposes it in self-defense to be barbaric and short-sighted.
207	* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Because hiring Runts is way easier than buying complex machinery. Also the wiki jokes that the reason Slaves expands your storage space is by them standing around and holding objects all day, freeing up some shelves.
208	* WizardBeard: The Human Mage, unsurprisingly.
209	* XtremeKoolLetterz: Right there in the title.

Context VideoGame / Piratez