[DONE] Alt Inventory mgmt improvement

[Meridian]

A couple of 'bugs' or rather something more mild - loose ties/exploits/inconveniences.

1. Apoc equipment system.
When you equip people from base's Soldiers screen, IF a soldier is onboard craft, the game fails to move the equipment you have just given to that soldier onboard craft, therefore your changes are not put in effect. Therefore you're forced to take all the crew off the ships, which is a lot of extra clicking...

Well, that was not part of the "minimum" proposal: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10452.msg145360.html#msg145360
(The game moves equipment only if a soldier is added to a craft or removed from a craft.)
EDIT: and also when Craft Equipment GUI is opened, it tries to add what's missing

Anyway, even if it was requested, it can't be done without changing a lot internally.

What I can do though, is remove all soldiers from all craft before entering the Inventory, remember where they were assigned, and try to assign them back after leaving the Inventory.
This should work in an average case, but of course there are corner cases:
- if you increase anyone's armor size from 1x1 to 2x2 while in the Inventory, all saved "soldier deployment previews" on all craft will be reset
- if the armor change will be in conflict with craft limits after leaving the Inventory (e.g. allowed number of small units, allowed number of large units, etc.) the game will NOT assign a soldier back and silently ignore it (no info popup for the player)

Is this acceptable?

[Dioxine]

Definitely acceptable. These issues sound like tiny kinks compared to the amount of extra moves you have to go through now before every mission.

[Meridian]

Definitely acceptable. These issues sound like tiny kinks compared to the amount of extra moves you have to go through now before every mission.

OK, it will be done for the next version.

Btw. in the meantime, as a workaround, you can also open the Craft Equipment GUI, which will try to add missing items. It's also some extra clicks, but less than removing and adding all soldiers.

[Dioxine]

I'll better make my request extra clear to avoid misunderstandings: the current situation where game 'forgets' any changes to equipment you make from 'inside craft' is actually good and convenient. I'd only like for the base screen equipment (Soldiers -> 'I' key) to 'remember' changes even if soldier is atm onboard some craft (or as you explained, to remove soldiers from crafts when this menu is opened and reassign when it's closed).

[Meridian]

I'll better make my request extra clear to avoid misunderstandings: the current situation where game 'forgets' any changes to equipment you make from 'inside craft' is actually good and convenient.

this confused me

what do you mean by 'inside craft' ? do you mean 'during battlescape' ?

I'd only like for the base screen equipment (Soldiers -> 'I' key) to 'remember' changes even if soldier is atm onboard some craft (or as you explained, to remove soldiers from crafts when this menu is opened and reassign when it's closed).

this is clear
(and yes, I only plan to do this and nothing else)

[Dioxine]

what do you mean by 'inside craft' ? do you mean 'during battlescape' ?

I meant 'during battlescape', yes (including when craft is on base, through craft equipping menu - although I was hearing suggestions that this, too, should be affected by the change: a player wants to use Apoc equipping menu, but wants to see only soldiers inside the craft to not get confused, so goes to craft equipment menu and wants the changes to be saved as well - that is, soldiers removed and put back together automatically, as you said. However I'm not 100% convinced this should be the case).

[Meridian]

I meant 'during battlescape', yes (including when craft is on base, through craft equipping menu - although I was hearing suggestions that this, too, should be affected by the change: a player wants to use Apoc equipping menu, but wants to see only soldiers inside the craft to not get confused, so goes to craft equipment menu and wants the changes to be saved as well - that is, soldiers removed and put back together automatically, as you said. However I'm not 100% convinced this should be the case).

sigh, please let's not mix even more things together

"during battlescape" and "on base" are for me two absolute opposites, so the statement above just confused me even more


Let's try a different approach, I will try to describe what I will change and what I will not change:

I will change:

1. Equipment in geoscape, via Base > Soldiers > Inventory
(with the soldier on/off trick to allow changes of the items loaded on the craft too)

I will NOT change:

2. Equipment in geoscape, via Base > Crafts > Inventory
(this stays as is, changes of items equipped on the soldiers are remembered, changes of items loaded on the craft are not possible) -- Side note: yes, there is a suggestion from karadoc, that this could also allow equipping stuff that is not on craft... but this is a bigger change, and cannot be done only by putting soldiers on/off craft. Let's keep this suggestion separate for now: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10998.0.html

3. Equipment in battlescape (i.e. during a mission)
(also stays as is, changes on soldiers are NOT remembered, changes of items on craft are not possible)

[Dioxine]

Then we are in full agreement, as it turns out. Thank you.

[Scamps]

- if you increase anyone's armor size from 1x1 to 2x2 while in the Inventory, all saved "soldier deployment previews" on all craft will be reset

Am I reading it right that you can change armor from base inventory screen, not craft soldier list, nor soldier card?
If so, how?

[N7Kopper]

OK, it will be done for the next version.

Btw. in the meantime, as a workaround, you can also open the Craft Equipment GUI, which will try to add missing items. It's also some extra clicks, but less than removing and adding all soldiers.

Yeah, that little nuance tripped me up in my last playthrough too. I ended up killing the game process in the Battlescape equip screen (because Ironman) once I realised that Bradford left my meticulous equipment layout on the bloody floor next to the buffet table rather than putting it on the Skyranger. Your proposal sounds like a good backend way of fixing things. (Aside from the soldier size thing, but that's such an edge case and doesn't efffect UFO or TFTD at all - and honestly seems like a more reasonable thing to ask modders to warn against in their UFOpedias)

[Meridian]

done