OpenXcom Forum

OpenXcom => Suggestions => Topic started by: Cooper on October 19, 2015, 06:20:36 pm

Title: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Cooper on October 19, 2015, 06:20:36 pm
Hello!

Since the game gets a little boring after psi-amps and blaster launchers are researched, it would be nice to limit the power of theese weapons. I know there are made some mods that limits the psi-amp, I even made one myself that requiers line of sight to use it (but still allows you to use the mind probe from anywhere).

About the blaster launcher.. If we only where allowed to bring one, or maybe two, to a fight, it would not be that OP. Is there any way to limit the number of a spesific item allowed onboard a craft?
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Arthanor on October 19, 2015, 06:38:07 pm
The only thing you can limit on a per craft basis is HWPs, so you could technically make blasters only useable by HWPs, and then you'd have a maximum of one per skyranger and .. 2? 4? per avengers. Not quite what you are looking for, but the best approximation I can come up with.

Otherwise.. self-restraint isn't good enough? :P
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Cooper on October 19, 2015, 07:34:39 pm
self-restraint... nah, that sounds to hard :P

I like your idea! If it would require a HWP it could take up the space of four soldiers, and that would be much more balanced. Number of blaster bombs in each tank can also be quite limited.

Anyone made a blaster-launcher tank mod yet?
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 19, 2015, 07:48:02 pm
(https://www.ufopaedia.org/images/3/31/Hovertank_launcher.png)

Just make it as strong as the BL if you want. :)
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Cooper on October 19, 2015, 08:16:11 pm
Oh, yeah, the hovertank launcher.. I totally forgot about that one!  :o

Cool. I'll just remove the blaster-launcher and do a little fine-tuning and then I'm happy :)
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: mrxian on October 19, 2015, 08:57:53 pm
I'd personally just edit the blaster launcher to either only have two waypoints, or function similar to a more powerful rocket launcher.

The idea of a guided missile is fun and awesome early on, but it really breaks the game - especially with shooting at enemies you (or the aliens) don't really know are present.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 19, 2015, 09:34:09 pm
I wish it had a number of waypoints related to your psi power. It'll make things a bit less silly, and will take away some of your psi-amps.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Arthanor on October 19, 2015, 09:56:57 pm
Well, you could make using it require psi-skill, couldn't you? It's not that much better (it's quick to train someone), but it's a step in the right direction..

Setting the number of waypoints (or in OXCE making it a function of psi-skill/power) would be very interesting.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 19, 2015, 10:12:48 pm
Well, you could make using it require psi-skill, couldn't you? It's not that much better (it's quick to train someone), but it's a step in the right direction..

True, though the actual effect would be minimal, since once you have the vodoo sch- I mean the lab...

Setting the number of waypoints (or in OXCE making it a function of psi-skill/power) would be very interesting.

Yes, I think I have requested it.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Cooper on October 20, 2015, 01:17:58 am
Only two waypoints or requiering psi-skill would help. Setting the number of waypoints would be difficult then? How about requiering psi-skill, is there any ruleset for this? I cant find it anywhere.

Making it extreamly heavy is a also a step in the right direction!
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 20, 2015, 01:44:23 am
Making it extreamly heavy is a also a step in the right direction!

No, sorry but most aliens won't be able to use it then.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Cooper on October 20, 2015, 02:30:31 am
No, sorry but most aliens won't be able to use it then.

Ohh..Damn. Would it work if we had two different kinds of blaster-launchers, identically, but the one x-com uses is way heavier? And the alien blaster-launcher would just not be possible to use for x-com.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: mrxian on October 20, 2015, 01:39:10 pm
Maybe a solution would be to have seperate blaster launchers for the aliens and the humans. You'd obviously have to research gun and ammo first, but after that you can only use blaster launchers you crafted yourself. That way, you can more easily control the supply of ammo for them, since you could make them expensive and lengthy to create.
I'm sure commanders would think twice about launching a blaster bomb if the damn thing cost 50 elerium to make.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 20, 2015, 01:47:26 pm
50 Elerium is enough to fly a non-aerodynamic vessel at intercontinental distances. I think it would make waaaaay to big a boom to be used as a hand weapon.

And I'm not really seeing the separate BLs for X-Com and aliens. Aliens are humanoid and there's no way for the aliens to prevent humans from using alien weapons. (Security measures like DNA sensors or whatever are easily disabled by X-Com engineers.)
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Cooper on October 20, 2015, 06:55:56 pm
Maybe the excuse could be that the alien blaster launcher requierd some spesial kind of psionic skills not availible to humans, for guiding the missile. And then our scientists could find a way around this problem, making our own version of the weapon.

Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: mrxian on October 20, 2015, 10:30:07 pm
You can justify it in a number of ways.

My point was that you can more easily control the availability and value of blaster bombs if you have to craft them.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: hellrazor on October 25, 2015, 05:22:45 am
Maybe the excuse could be that the alien blaster launcher requierd some spesial kind of psionic skills not availible to humans, for guiding the missile. And then our scientists could find a way around this problem, making our own version of the weapon.

Some aliens do not even have psionic skills to begin with.

I would actually welcome a lmitation of the waypoints to 9, as it was in the Dos Version. This to some degree limits the use of the Blaster Launchers.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 25, 2015, 12:05:28 pm
I would actually welcome a lmitation of the waypoints to 9, as it was in the Dos Version. This to some degree limits the use of the Blaster Launchers.

Yep, you could no longer print a line of 150 waypoints one next to another.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: hellrazor on October 25, 2015, 03:39:40 pm
Yep, you could no longer print a line of 150 waypoints one next to another.

Well at the moment you can in closed quarters like X-Com or Alien Bases let your Blaster dude sit at the spawnpoint,
and fire across the entire Map, since you are not limited in setting waypoints.

In the Dos Version you had to carefully plan when using Blaster Launchers, since you only had a limited number of waypoints, so you had
to keep your Blasterdudes in a central position behind your troops no matter what.
At the current moment you can just let them sit at the spawning point.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Dioxine on October 25, 2015, 04:45:47 pm
And with just 9 waypoints, you needed to actually leave some space between waypoints, so there was an actual risk of hitting an obstacle when operating in tight quarters. Now the weapon's accuracy is irrelevant (ie. is dependant not on soldier's skill, but on tedium of setting dozens of waypoints).
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: XOps on October 26, 2015, 05:42:23 am
I'm all for adding a waypoint limit. It would be awesome if the number of waypoints could be defined in the ruleset. That way a blaster launcher limited to 9 waypoints can only be mostly game breaking instead of completely game breaking. :)
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: hellrazor on October 28, 2015, 07:40:33 am
And with just 9 waypoints, you needed to actually leave some space between waypoints, so there was an actual risk of hitting an obstacle when operating in tight quarters. Now the weapon's accuracy is irrelevant (ie. is dependant not on soldier's skill, but on tedium of setting dozens of waypoints).

My thoughts excactly. (uhhh i am agreeing with Dioxine on something, thats a new one :D)
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Eddie on December 02, 2015, 01:36:32 am
Is it possible to limit the flight distance of the blaster bomb? Have it detonate a little bit beyond visual range, so the operator needs to be at the frontline. Aliens won't have a problem with that as they only fire at stuff they can see.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Yankes on December 02, 2015, 01:41:55 am
Right now in extended you can nerf damage if you fly too far.
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: Firestorm on December 05, 2015, 04:59:01 am
Yep, you could no longer print a line of 150 waypoints one next to another.

Do people actually do that?  I don't even release a NORMAL weapon unless I have at least a very strong suspicion that there's a target in the impact area, let along a high-value one like a blaster bomb.  If I have a weapon that capable of mass destruction, I want to make sure I use every gram of that "mass" I can, like for those BIG kills, either one or two very serious threats, or a dozen smaller ones....
Title: Re: Any way to limit the amount of blaster launchers in a craft?
Post by: DeltaEpsilon on December 05, 2015, 08:44:12 pm
Quote
Is it possible to limit the flight distance of the blaster bomb? Have it detonate a little bit beyond visual range, so the operator needs to be at the frontline. Aliens won't have a problem with that as they only fire at stuff they can see.
Seems incorrect. Aliens can fire at any of your soldiers if any alien sees at least one of them.