OpenXcom Forum
OpenXcom => Suggestions => Topic started by: krakp on February 16, 2024, 10:19:05 pm
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I was considering the following challenge:
Imagine you are starting your XCOM game on the 1st of Jan 1999 with:
- zero dollars
- A base only with the bare minimum:
-- an access lift
-- general stores with some weapons (probably like in the vanilla game)
-- a single hangar with Skyranger
-- Living Quarters with 8 soldiers (like in the vanilla game)
-- and nothing else (no scientists, no engineers, no workshop, no lab, no Interceptors, no Radar, etc.)
- zero funding from the countries throughout the whole game.
I can imagine this to be an interesting challenge:
- it will take you probably some 2 months to actually get to the "vanilla base" you normally get on day #1
- during this time you will need to fight only using the "legacy" weapons
- every month end you will need to put some cash aside for maintenance
- because you develop slower, when the harder aliens start arriving, you may still be "technologically challenged"
- since your cash only comes from UFOs, you will probably not avoid any missions....
- at the beginning you are missing so many things that you will need to spend every cent wisely..... Losing 2 tanks in a mission may mean that you barely get even after selling all the alien artifacts....
Has this kind of challenge every been discussed here? It could be a nice approach for the ones that do not necessarily want a different research tree and new aliens, but still would want to "struggle" a bit with vanilla XCOM.
What would it take to have it? Would it be a mod? Or another option on the start screen? Anyone willing to configure it? I am not a modder, but it would appear to me that this is not a difficult task :-).
Thanks and cheers!
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What would it take to have it? Would it be a mod? Or another option on the start screen? Anyone willing to configure it? I am not a modder, but it would appear to me that this is not a difficult task :-).
Around 1 hour time. Yes. No. Probably. Yes.
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Mod attached.
EDIT: use the updated version 1.1 few posts below
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Wow - thanks Meridian :-) this was lightning quick.
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Somehow did not quite work out - the game started with
-$544000
It looks like the setting "funds" in the 3-vars.rul did not really work out (I guess you chose it to "balance out" the maintenance cost of the first month). Or can I be that I need to update my build? I am an BOXCE 7.11.1 8.2.0
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I researched this a bit more and it seems I do not get any pop-up on start (this is what this eventScripts is for, right?). No pop-up obviously means no 544k of additional funds that would move me to zero.
Do I need to enable these eventScripts somewhere?
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OK - the pop-up does arrive. But only after 1 hour :-). At 13:00. I guess this is "by design", right? Not a big issue but slightly confusing the first time you play it.
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Can you actually start a game and progress with 0 engineer and scientist, if you can’t hire them? As a challenge?
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Of course you can 😊. You just need to track a UFO, complete a mission and sell the loot. And then spend the $$ the way you want.
That's the actual point of this challenge - UFOs are the only source of your income.
On top of this, starting with a barebone base makes it even more of a challenge since you get probably 1-2 months of a handicap. So all the complaints about the early Plasma and Psi ownership are immediately gone. I would assume that with aggressive looting and proper planning you may get the technology just in time for the tough aliens to arrive. Or maybe even not? That's the challenge 😁
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Attaching the updated mod with a bit polished strings (so that they properly fit in all the screens) and a bit "nicer" base (living quarters under the general stores to make the base easier to defend).
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Please zip it with something else than the default Windows ZIP tool, anything else (winrar, 7z, linux zip, ...).
OXCE ZIP loader doesn't support windows zip tool file structure.
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7 zipped attached (again - this is 99% just your file - I only shortened some strings and changed the base layout minimally - so I am even feeling bad putting my name there - the credit goes all to you!).
Could you maybe quickly comment on my question from yest? Any way to have the game really start with the pop-up rather then have it after 1h?
OK - the pop-up does arrive. But only after 1 hour :-). At 13:00. I guess this is "by design", right? Not a big issue but slightly confusing the first time you play it.
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7 zipped attached (again - this is 99% just you file - I only shortened some strings and changed the base layout minimally - so I am even feeling bad putting my name there - the credit goes all to you!).
No need to feel bad, I don't need credit for anything I made or helped make.
Could you maybe quickly comment on my question from yest? Any way to have the game really start with the pop-up rather then have it after 1h?
There is currently no way to pop up an event sooner than 60 minutes after it is generated.
https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)#Events
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I actually went through this table yesterday hoping to find a setting to adjust it.
But I totally missed this one:
timer Number of minutes (after generation) after which the event should pop up. Minimum is 60. Should be a multiple of 30.
So the situation is 100% clear - the 1h delay is by design and we'll need to live with it. It is indeed just a bit confusing to see the cash start in minus - practically this 1h makes no difference to the playability or to the challenge. Thanks again Meridian for making it happen (so quickly :-)).
As soon as i am done with my first challenge (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11792.0.html), I am going to try out this one. Cheers!