Messages

106

Suggestions / Re: Research affecting ruleset

« on: November 22, 2013, 04:02:44 am »

As a core game feature, this would add strategic value. However, it doesn't make much sense that aliens suddenly become physically weaker once you find out their weak points. Weapon upgrades would be rather neat, but pretty useless for conventional weapons (bullet-based weapons) since you stick with them for only one month (don't tell me I'm the only one that ditches Rifles and Cannons in February).

EDIT: Weapon upgrades are useful in making the jump between weapon types more gradual. Having improved Heavy Lasers (85 dmg -> 100) would make the jump to Heavy Plasma not seem so wide (100 -> 115 as compared to 85 -> 115).

107

Suggestions / Re: waypoint weapons - limit number of waypoints?

« on: November 22, 2013, 03:55:33 am »

Dancing with the Blaster Launcher was always the best part about it. 

If you assume the Blaster isn't psionically controlled, there doesn't appear to be any mechanism for input of waypoints. Perhaps, the idea is that Blaster operators don't actually punch in any more than one waypoint; the game just allows you to control the Bomb's path (but that'd make the fine ballet abilities of the Blaster unexplainable).

Assuming it IS psionically controlled, imposing a limit would not do much to balance the Blaster Launcher (if that is your goal). I can get by with <5 waypoints.

Unless the waypoint limit is really steep, which isn't a stellar idea either...

108

Suggestions / Re: Breach and Clear

« on: November 16, 2013, 02:28:56 am »

Doesn't have to be stun damage in the traditional sense, just something that'd stop reaction fire.

I like the idea of a flashbang because if you open a door and there is an alien ready w/ reaction fire on the other side, it's almost guaranteed you'll be hit.

Like I said, I'd rather this 'flashbang' not be a sure-fire way to clear a room without taking fire. Either it wouldn't fully drain TUs or be based on chance, preferrably the former. To expand on my previous post, the earlier aliens would be less resistant to "Flash" damage, while later (more potent) units would be nearly immune to the standard X-COM flashbang.

New flashbang types could be researched as, say, derivatives of the Small Launcher projectiles.

109

Suggestions / Re: weapons that can only be used by certain soldiers?

« on: November 15, 2013, 03:22:41 am »

Oh, well, yeah, most of the Suggestions category is assumed to be something included in a mod... silly me.

110

Suggestions / Re: Breach and Clear

« on: November 14, 2013, 04:46:57 am »

I like the idea of what is pretty much a "mini stun bomb". Wonder how hard it'd be to implement direction-based damage reception (as in, if not looking at blast, not affected)?

Would also be interesting if you had no way to really tell if they were stunned (as in by not turning affected units into corpses), to both balance the flashbang's effects and still preserve some element of risk in clearing rooms.

Perhaps it would not have a guaranteed chance to work either, depending on the alien type, rank, whatever, or maybe just plain chance would determine it.

111

Suggestions / Re: weapons that can only be used by certain soldiers?

« on: November 14, 2013, 04:40:37 am »

We still don't really "know" which weapons would be valid for that restriction. We haven't a clue how the Blaster Launcher really operates, we can only infer.

112

Suggestions / Re: TU usage as absolute, not relative

« on: November 14, 2013, 04:38:26 am »

Hybrid costs are interesting, but still having flat costs puts the low TU soldiers at unreasonable disadvantage, just because you don't run very fast doesn't mean you can't shoot just as quickly as someone else. The way TU's work in the game with % costs make it so that anything with a flat TU cost implies movement speed is a factor, like moving soldiers and crouching or even using certain items (not sure why Psi-Amp is fixed cost though), flat TU cost indicate soldier speed while % TU costs indicate the action takes a fixed amount of time in the round.

It takes maybe 3 seconds for a soldier to fire an aimed shot with a rifle but in those 3 seconds soldier A might only be able to run 5m while soldier B might be able to run 10m, and soldier C might be able to run 30m but all those soldiers will still take 3 seconds to fire an aimed shot so %TU costs for shooting is fine with flat TU cost for moving.

On some level I agree with you, but flat cost in my post refers to aiming time, not firing. I don't think the disadvantage would be that steep. Sluggish soldiers or rookies with low TUs will take more time to raise their weapon and align their sights, that sort of thing; whereas comparatively agile soldiers will acquire their target faster.

An unintentional effect I did not note will be that low TU troops will tend to use Auto and Snap more than Aimed since they're % based and therefore less TUs. This basically makes the Aimed Shot the 'best' shot level with high TUs. Shots are supposed to be valuable based on the tactical situation, and not just plain better.

EDIT: No TU solution is perfect. I'd actually like it if many different systems alongside the default one were implemented as advanced options.

113

Suggestions / Re: weapons that can only be used by certain soldiers?

« on: November 10, 2013, 09:35:11 pm »

Imo best thing to implement would be seperate skills for each weapon type; Laser Weapons, Ballistic Weapons, Explosives, Plasma Weapons, etc.

It may work like this:

base Firing Accuracy  x  weapon skill  =  final accuracy

So, a soldier with 114 FAcc, 107 Ballistic Weapons skill, taking an Aimed Shot with a Rifle, would have a final accuracy as follows:
114 (FAcc)  x  1.07 (weapon skill)  x  1.10 (Aimed Shot)  =  134

When it comes to newly discovered weapon types, all soldiers will have low starting values for the weapon type's respective skill.
This means switching to Laser or Plasma will require retraining. Weapon skills will increase a lot faster than normal Firing Accuracy since you don't use the same weapons through the entire game.

With an Explosives skill, it could work the same way, having an effect on Throwing Acc, but also reducing timer precision. So if a soldier with 100 Exp skill primes a nade for 3 turns, it'll explode in exactly 3 turns. But if a soldier with 55 Exp skill does the same, there's a 45% chance (100 - 55) it won't detonate in the turn value specified. It won't be a radical offset, maybe from 3 to 1 or to 5 or something. With this, there's the added danger of a grenade being primed for 2 turns and instead exploding instantly.

This should probably be done in mod form, as it'd change the main game far too much.

EDIT: When I say "soldiers" I mean not just X-COM soldiers, but aliens as well; ergo not all aliens would actively throw grenades, not all aliens would 'snipe', etc, as a result of their lower respective skill level.

114

Suggestions / Re: TU usage as absolute, not relative

« on: November 10, 2013, 08:46:30 pm »

I think the best system would be (and I'm sure this has been posted before) one in which Auto Shots have a high % cost but a low fixed cost (limited by rate of fire, but not much aiming necessary), Snap Shots have a medium % and fixed cost (slight rate of fire handicap, some aiming time), and Aimed Shots have a non-existent % cost but a high fixed cost (the rate of fire of the weapon in question would have a negligible effect if one at all with a carefully aimed shot, but a lot of manual aiming time is necessary).

This is also my first post, hooray!