Post by: Dioxine on January 15, 2014, 04:14:42 pm
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1898.0
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Ingame_zpsb0d4890e.jpg) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Ingame_zpsb0d4890e.jpg.html)
So it's been merely a few days since I've discovered the OpenXcom, and I was delighted to see the impressive moddability of this project, which, combined with UFO's timeless mechanics... well, I'll better get to the point:
I was watching my friend storming an UFO with Ryskeliini's Magnum in one hand and a Stun Rod in the other, and an idea occured to me: what if I could make a mod which converts UFO into a Pirate-themed game? Before you stop reading, forget wooden ships and think more Rogue Trader :) And I realized how many elements of the original are already in place and require only minor tweaking to achieve the desired effect...
So, here are the general, rough ideas so far:
- As a poor, but ambitious Privateer you run an aerospace pirate operation from your Secret Hideout.
- Your goal is to, well, get rich! And when rich enough, you might be even able to seize legitimate, political power...
- You have no funding. The only initial way to earn money is to Plunder!
- You hunt and shoot down civilian vessels, rob them blind and preferably take valuable people alive for ransom or entertainment.
- Your activities generate Terror Points, which allow you to earn Protection Funds (ie funding) from the scared countries.
- In time you might want to tackle high-risk military vessels to plunder technology and advance your pirating ways to higher levels.
- Pick your prey sensibly. Your old boat can take a lot of punishment, but it's really slow. Your fighters can hunt couriers and passenger craft, but they won't be able to stand up to warships! Money is tight and vessels are expensive.
- Eventually, the forces hostile to private enterprise are going to raid your facilities. Prepare a bloodbath for them!
- Be wary of Security Conferences in major cities! If you allow the politicians to soothe the public into a false sense of security, your Protection Funds are going to dwindle! Strike fast and hard and show that accidents can happen to anyone!
- Finally, you are not alone - other privateers might establish their own Hideouts on your turf. Show them who's the boss before they hijack Protection Funds that are rightfully yours!
So far, I've made some graphics for inventory screens:
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/pirate_armors_zps085a0b6e.jpg) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/pirate_armors_zps085a0b6e.jpg.html)
(all of these armors are starting gear, but 2-4 have to be bought and they're expensive)
1. Unarmored
(basic armor set to 20 to provide a real chance of basic weapons to fail to do damage; explosives will be adjusted accordingly)
This default gear offers moral protection at best, but it's weightless and provides +30 Energy and +15 TU boost. 20 armor on all facings.
2. Assassin
Provides only a token increase in protection, but due to advanced electronics it boosts your Firing Accuracy by 5 and Reactions by 15. It also provides a slight Energy and TU boost (+10, +5). The armor increase is decent on the frontal facing, but almost non-existent on other facings.
3. Assault
Slightly better armored and considerably heavier, this armor is equipped with a hoverpack for maximum mobility. It increases your TU's and Energy by 15 both. Improportionally high increase in Bottom armor.
4. Defender
The heaviest and best armored of the lot, but no stat bonuses. Armor is strongest from the front, weakest from the rear and the bottom.
Post by: luke83 on January 15, 2014, 08:00:25 pm
Post by: SupSuper on January 15, 2014, 09:05:25 pm
Post by: xracer on January 15, 2014, 11:13:54 pm
Looks interesting, but I'm not sure leaving your belly exposed makes for effective armor design, though it would explain the XCOM mortality rates. :P
lol
nice idea, would love to see it done
Post by: moriarty on January 16, 2014, 04:00:27 pm
Post by: michal on January 16, 2014, 05:56:35 pm
Looks interesting, but I'm not sure leaving your belly exposed makes for effective armor design, though it would explain the XCOM mortality rates. :P
(https://www.howtogeek.com/geekers/up/sshot500d040b96c6b.jpg)
Post by: Dioxine on January 16, 2014, 08:58:38 pm
This part is of course the silly part, I wanted to learn something about drawing sprites/pixel art and drawing not-fully-clothed women is about the least painful way to do it - I'm drawing a basic sprite for the mod right now, and jeez, 250+ frames is suffering... I'll probably just draw the stationary frames and proceed to develop core mechanics next.
So, on a more serious note - I want to implement factions, or rather fake factions for now - there would be civilians, military, and privateers, but there will be no real interaction between them; Instead, various factions would fly their own types of vessels with their own types of missions and fighting them would have various effects on the funding score and yield various loot and rewards.
I know that these are some big plans, requiring stuff like new vessels... we'll see what comes out of it. In a few days (or weeks) I should have a working test version with new armors and weapons, and hopefully also some budget-made enemies to fight.
EDIT
In between drawing, I worked on more... appropriate... names and ranks system. Here's a sample:
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Names_Sample_zps410140e2.jpg) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Names_Sample_zps410140e2.jpg.html)
EDIT
Canada, and others, be scared! :)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Scared_zpsa17ed9b7.jpg) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Scared_zpsa17ed9b7.jpg.html)
Post by: Solarius Scorch on January 20, 2014, 04:05:57 pm
Open Space Hulk, anyone? ;)
Post by: Greg956 on January 22, 2014, 08:01:37 am
Post by: Dioxine on January 31, 2014, 04:49:25 pm
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen001_zps3429a17d.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen001_zps3429a17d.png.html)
Other than that, it is just making loads of new stuff and graphics - a couple of screenshots:
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen003_zps6ee8c3ee.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen003_zps6ee8c3ee.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen004_zps6c9b929c.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen004_zps6c9b929c.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen007_zps740f9f0d.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen007_zps740f9f0d.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen017_zps2d00e823.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen017_zps2d00e823.png.html)
The game genuinely plays differently now - battlescape-wise it's basically avoid prolonged firefights, use melee or explosives and get to love the Smoke Grenade. Geoscape-wise it's more like - learn to use cannons, as even a single outfit of allmighty Avalanches is going to ruin your monthly budget :3
Post by: kharille on January 31, 2014, 05:45:18 pm
Post by: Dioxine on February 03, 2014, 02:59:17 pm
Post by: SupSuper on February 03, 2014, 05:38:09 pm
I've spent most of the last night overhauling the "factions" (races), now each has their own new sprites. The first playable version should be ready in a week or two; however, I've ran into a hurdle when trying to add new terror units. In short, they deploy unarmed (in the case of tanks, turretless) and I have no idea how to associate a weapon with a terror unit. Is it even possible through the current ruleset? Can anyone help?Terror units (livingWeapon: true) are assigned the weapon with their name on it (race + _WEAPON).
For example, the unit STR_CHRYSSALID_TERRORIST gets the weapon item CHRYSSALID_WEAPON.
Post by: Ran on February 03, 2014, 10:50:12 pm
Keep up the good work, I can't wait to play this mod.
Please show us sprites of your 'enemies' (or rather victims)!
I like the idea that you find out about earth's past during research.
But how do you intend to implement those massive modifications?
I believe this takes a bit more than editing the ruleset - I mean you are basically reversing the game to play the Bad Guys.
What about the original Alien missions and especially Terror Missions?
What will UFOs actually be doing?
Post by: moriarty on February 04, 2014, 12:17:30 am
Terror missions could become some kind of retaliation strikes on friendly "ports" - think "royal navy attacking known pirate hideouts"...
if you break the game's principles down, they are really quite simple, and not at all content-related. give them another name, and they can be anything, really... I love this "piratez"-idea :)
Post by: yrizoud on February 04, 2014, 12:27:01 am
A nice change from a typical recovery mission.
Post by: Dioxine on February 04, 2014, 04:47:23 am
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen022_zps1985d5e8.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen022_zps1985d5e8.png.html)
The Traders' trained dinosaur with incendiary missiles (ripped from tftd) - assigning the weapon worked, however the AI isn't using this unit very clevelry... well, it's just a stupid dinosaur :)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen023_zps2bf64291.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen023_zps2bf64291.png.html)
Traders' Engineer, based on Luke83's sprite;
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen027_zps7a719777.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen027_zps7a719777.png.html)
The unique experience of finding oneself on the other end of a HWP's barrel. And here's the problem: the weapon works when I MC the tank (PSi Str lowered for test purposes), but 1) the engine fails to draw the turret, 2) more puzzlingly, the game crashes when the AI tries to fire the gun (presumably; I have no idea what causes the crash, except it only happens when AI has these tanks, and while I've seen them moving around, I haven't witnessed them being fired by the AI).
Oh, and in the background, Mercenary Commando, based on Warboy's (?) Dark Mutons with added jetpack and a more human-like face (not pictured).
Post by: Mr. Quiet on February 05, 2014, 04:35:47 am
Swabbie is so funny! Can't wait for you to add more dialogue. It'll be most interesting!
Post by: Fox105iwsp on February 06, 2014, 08:48:39 am
The only time I get this is when I forget or deliberately set no turret, like my SWS (The turret is in the wrong place >_< )
Can't wait for your mod, how did you set new enemies for the terrorsite? I would like to make Cult of Sirus/Exhault attacks missions that xcom has to respond to.
Post by: Dioxine on February 09, 2014, 03:55:33 am
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen037_zpsde79f9c4.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen037_zpsde79f9c4.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen038_zpse2907215.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen038_zpse2907215.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen040_zpsc1d68bee.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen040_zpsc1d68bee.png.html)
Post by: Mr. Quiet on February 09, 2014, 11:54:11 pm
Post by: Dioxine on February 10, 2014, 09:55:38 am
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Civ_Male_zps744f251c.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Civ_Male_zps744f251c.gif.html)
Classic Civilian made flesh - here working as a Church of Sirius Neophyte;
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Academy_Security_zps7087434f.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Academy_Security_zps7087434f.gif.html)
Academy's Security Guard;
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Academy_Lt_Armor_zps434fa173.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Academy_Lt_Armor_zps434fa173.gif.html)
Academy's high-ranking member - as of now, Medics, Engineers, Espers (leaders) and VIPs (commanders) are all using it;
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Academy_Civ_zps7087434f.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Academy_Civ_zps7087434f.gif.html)
Academy's low-ranking member.
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Aquaplastic_helmeted_b_zps09c6df0e.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Aquaplastic_helmeted_b_zps09c6df0e.gif.html)
Church's heavy trooper.
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Reverend_zps77064c13.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Reverend_zps77064c13.gif.html)
Church's Reverend - Leader/Commander, not sure as of yet.
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Trader_Rep_zps0768dc3f.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Trader_Rep_zps0768dc3f.gif.html)
Traders' Rep (Leader).
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/Engineer_zpsfc317497.gif) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/Engineer_zpsfc317497.gif.html)
Trader's Engineer.
Post by: Fox105iwsp on February 10, 2014, 02:34:02 pm
Post by: Dioxine on February 12, 2014, 03:51:36 am
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen044_zps11a01fd0.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen044_zps11a01fd0.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen045_zps476748d6.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen045_zps476748d6.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen049_zps88f611ad.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen049_zps88f611ad.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen046_zps297a7348.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen046_zps297a7348.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen048_zps83cef12f.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen048_zps83cef12f.png.html)
Post by: Mr. Quiet on February 12, 2014, 11:25:15 pm
Are you also going to change the color of the ships so they match with the factions? I'm sure this is on your to-do list.
Post by: Dioxine on February 13, 2014, 12:04:53 am
Post by: Mr. Quiet on February 16, 2014, 09:01:35 pm
Post by: robin on February 18, 2014, 03:46:18 pm
Post by: Mr. Quiet on February 18, 2014, 05:02:11 pm
Anyways, I'm dying to see more progress!
Post by: Solarius Scorch on February 19, 2014, 08:38:18 am
Also WHY WON'T THOSE SECURITY GUARDS JUST ^&*#^* DIE WHEN HIT, WHY
Post by: Dioxine on February 21, 2014, 01:16:55 pm
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen086_zps29ddba5b.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen086_zps29ddba5b.png.html)
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen087_zps2e911fbb.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen087_zps2e911fbb.png.html)
Using parts from Luke83's Gangs (arms, male torso). What's more?
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen079_zps11ac2d49.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen079_zps11ac2d49.png.html)
Warboy's Sentinel I stole for this mod now has a deployment map, since here it's a heavy, lumbering gunship that can double as a light transport (capacity: 6 people).
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen083_zps40d53ba7.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen083_zps40d53ba7.png.html)
The ultimate (?) armor suit now done and ready for researching. It's quite insane statwise, but against things like heavy plasma or Reaper's bite, it still only gives about 95% chance of surviving the first hit (with possibly grevious injuries). Chryssalids won't give a damn. Costs well over $2M apiece, including the costs of all the materials you need to assemble, and requires finishing like 20 research topics before being researchable.
(https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff62/max_smirnov/Piratez/screen084_zpsc085b1a8.png) (https://s242.photobucket.com/user/max_smirnov/media/Piratez/screen084_zpsc085b1a8.png.html)
Deployed. The blue/metallic suits here is the penultimate armor tier.
Now I only need to add the Govt. This is a vital part of the mod, since killing govt operatives and shooting down their ships will yield you major negative points (but you can still knock them out and loot them... and more importantly, their ships... you have to weigh immediate finacial gain against monthly score). I can only hope this system works :)
Post by: Fox105iwsp on February 21, 2014, 05:29:33 pm
Post by: Mr. Quiet on February 21, 2014, 10:04:48 pm
Btw, those half naked raiders are gonna be fun to kill. I like that you added a fodder faction, just for easy kills.
Post by: Dioxine on February 23, 2014, 08:56:53 pm
https://www.mediafire.com/download/zu17e3z1rxij5ew/Dioxine_Piratez_Mod_0_5.rar
Full compatibility with further versions will be upheld, so feel free to just downolad and install them mid-campaign to get new stuff (when it appears) and fixes.
Instructions:
1.Rename your Data/SoldierName folder to something else.
2.Dump the contents of the archive into the Data folder.
3.Add Piratez.rul, Piratez_Factions.rul and Piratez_lang.rul to the config file (the last file contains all language data, the first two are split for my own convenience).
4.Preferably use with Luke83's Extra Ufos, but this mod is missing a few files and can cause very occassional crashes (always save before landing, if it crashes, temprorarily disable Luke's mod and reload)
5.Start a new campaign!
Known issues:
- new UFO Interception pictures do not work. Wrong graphic format? If anyone knows what's the problem, let me know.
- enemy tanks are missing turrets, they work fine though
- I couldn't add new deathsounds, no matter the format, they kept crashing the game. Even if I used sounds that worked fine as weapon discharges. Any wise words, OpenXcom gurus?
- Generally do not use Flamethrower down the elevator or through the windows (unless standing next to it). It's an autofire blast weapon, and when such a weapon loses LOS (standing enemy visible -> laying enemy out of LOS), OpenXcom hangs. I have reported the problem but it haven't been fixed yet (afaik).
- the unarmored soldier sprite isn't fully finished yet (when the hands are empty, you can see Xcom sleeves that shouldn't be there)
Any suggestions, upgrades, bug reports and comments are more than welcome!
Post by: Fox105iwsp on February 24, 2014, 12:07:25 am
Post by: Ran on February 24, 2014, 01:27:19 am
That's absolutely fantastic, I feel like back when I was playing UFO for the first time. No Idea what's about to happen. :)
Managed to down an Academy ship and after an hour-long battle my girls had killed 23 heavy armed and armored crewmembers with swords and axes. Reeally tough, just the way I like it.
Two possible issues I encountered:
.) The items "OLD FIGHTER HULL" and "CLOAKING DEVICE" can be purchased, but they have no documentation and I can find them nowhere in my equipment.
.) The Academy ship seems to be missing a wall, the one next to Miss Pantaloons always remains black
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7449/12732058585_d8e4f6d17c_o.jpg)
Build used:
2014_02_23_1921
EDIT: game just crashed in geoscape while I didn't do anything.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7320/12733042853_710a693d98_o.jpg)
Post by: Dioxine on February 24, 2014, 02:53:54 am
I am surprised why the wall remains black - maybe that's because it spawned next to the edge of the map, as it never spawned like this for me. I need to look through its map, I was still learning the trade when I was making it.
Cloaking device and fighter hull - build a hangar then order production of a new ship, you'll find out :) They should be safely stored in your vaults.
Geoscape bug - never encountered it, neither my betatester did. I'll look into it, maybe some mission has wrong parametres or something, and the game crashed when it tried to spawn it... Perhaps the issue is caused by the trajectory of a Fighter, which was made to have stay-on-the-ground timer set to 0... Try reloading and let me know if and when the issue reappears.
If it does, try changing the line in the Piratez_factions.rul from
Code: [Select]
ufoTrajectories:
- id: PX1
groundTimer: 0to
Code: [Select]
ufoTrajectories:
- id: PX1
groundTimer: 10
or any other number that can be divided by 5 (the quantum of time in XCOM world) and let me know if it helped, or at least stopped future crashes. The Fighter is a very recent addition and it might have slipped through the testing...
Post by: Ran on February 24, 2014, 03:24:39 am
Crash is reproducible, see attached savegame.
The error occurs between Jan12-13th and indeed seems to be related to the Fighter trajectory.
Setting groundTimer to 10 seems to do the trick, so far no further crashes.
Maybe you should open a separate Thread for bug reports to keep things tidy.
By the way - why do all countries have cool pirate names - but Canada is just Canada? :P
Post by: Ran on February 25, 2014, 06:06:21 am
No crashes so far in v.0.5.1, but the gunship still has some serious issues.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3716/12762750824_82be51fa7c_o.jpg)
Post by: Fox105iwsp on February 25, 2014, 09:02:36 am
Seemed fine for me, I was deploying my prototype armors to save the girls...
Post by: Ran on February 25, 2014, 07:01:42 pm
So far I encountered three and all had some black walls which would not illuminate.
Post by: Dioxine on February 25, 2014, 09:37:47 pm
Post by: begri on July 17, 2015, 01:51:53 pm
