Messages

76

Work In Progress / Re: [MAPS] YetMoreUFOs!

« on: October 29, 2014, 12:39:08 pm »

Beautiful. Love this mod a lot: those who want to play as much as vanilla or want a radical change alike can be satisfied Keep going, sir.

77

Work In Progress / Re: [Crafts][Weapons] XCom Armoury Expanded - v1.01 !!

« on: October 29, 2014, 12:36:06 pm »

Glad that I was also not using HWPs that much I wish the craft and HWP problems won't bother you for long.

78

Work In Progress / Re: [Crafts][Weapons] XCom Armoury Expanded - v1.01 !!

« on: October 26, 2014, 08:21:25 am »

Removing the Sniper Rifles are probably a bad move for the mod. Not the modder personally, as they can remove that, but the mod in general. It would be a better move to let modders do as they wish at their discretion.

Yes, indeed. I agree on you. So that was definitely not my suggestion for this mod. Just my personal messing playing with this mod 

Secondly, the tank manufacturing is kinda BS. In the Vanilla game, the non-hovering researched tanks typically took 25 manufacturing spaces. I would imagine that a more close-to-home manufacturing project would be at most 15 spaces, and at least 10, IMO.

I agree... 25 is really a huge amount of space, especially at the early part of the game. Not sure what would be the optimal space, though.

And to answer TaxxiDriver's last question, no it isn't possible IIRC. Each HWP weapon only has one ammo type, but with the new two weapons thing it's the closest thing we'll get to something like that.

Well, then I expect the second best thing will come out soon!

79

Work In Progress / Re: [Crafts][Weapons] XCom Armoury Expanded - v1.01 !!

« on: October 26, 2014, 07:42:46 am »

I'm also playing with this mod and trying to modify it to my taste Mostly about adjusting the subtle damage or armor and stuff (not good at adding new things).

What I did was the following:

(1) I let the tank cannon and tank rocket launcher be able to be purchased in an ordinary way, too. In the early games, I thought that the required 25 size for assembling a tank can be overwhelming so I also let the option to buy them, not manufacturing only.

(2) Removed 'sniper rifle' class weapons and modified the hierarchy of weapon types. The general hierarchy became standard -> gauss -> de-gauss -> laser -> e-laser -> plasma -> blaster.
     The intention was to boost the damage of weapons as their hierarchy goes up, but to lower the accuracy (except the fact that accuracy peak is achieved in gauss & de-gauss class) so that only those competent commandors who managed to maintain a lot of experienced soldiers can have a great advantage as time goes by (for example, in my modification heavy plasma do not have auto shots, weighted 18, and accuracy of snap shot and aim shot is 45 and 80 each).
     But the relationship between weapon types do not strictly follow this hierarchy: For example, I retained the notion that gauss weapons deal more damage but laser weapons use less TUs for shooting. But in general (hopefully) as time goes by, laser weapons will do a better job if agents are experienced enough.
     The reason I put gauss weapons a bit before the laser ones was because (1) it fits well to the above hierarchy (2) I'm trying to make Aliens also have some laser weapons in the early months but not gauss weapons (anyway gauss weapons seemed to me more like 'earthbound' weapons). (3) currently there seems to be no way of defining new damage type and gauss weapons deal AP damage, so it seemed to me logical to think gauss weapons as an upgraded version of standard issues.
     The reason I removed sniper class weapons was to make this effect stronger (to prevent less competent commandors to just issue a bunch of sniper rifles to rookies, thus making the game more challenging). Especially with UFOextender Accuracy mode, anyway most of your shots will be a snap or aimed shot, so I found little reason to maintain them(though they look very cool...).
     Well, all of these are just explaining what I'm doing, that's all

And my personal suggestions are:

(1) How about filling out all the possible HWP combinations? For example, what about a plain cannon with a hovertank hull? There are some missing combinations (plain laser hovertank, plain gauss hovertank, cannon alloy tank) and I think giving the complete option to mix weapons and hulls would be a nice feature. (More fun!)

(2) How about combining the Sectopod HWP mod? I'm actually thinking of the most fun HWP hierarchy as this: normal -> alloy -> hover OR sectopod hwp. Also, I'm waiting for your dual-weapon HWP I've seen Crypto has made the battle tank mod where battle tank can shoot cannons as well as rockets.

(3) Is it possible to prepare 2 types of ammos for a given HWP? (not duel-weapon HWP but just giving 2 types of ammos for a HWP). It would be great if rocket launcher HWPs can also choose a stronger rockets.

Good job, indeed. I'm enjoying this mod a lot.

80

Open Feedback / Re: Several Questions in XCOM

« on: October 25, 2014, 09:43:17 am »

Thanks for the info. Those rulesets have so much useful information...

81

Offtopic / Re: Dealing with Psionics Before Labs

« on: October 25, 2014, 09:40:37 am »

Indeed, many of my thoughts don't seem to work just manipulating the rulesets. I'm now being slowly accustomed to using rulesets 

I think your approach can be quite effective and also doable. Still the chance of significant loss by MC exists but I think the amount of stability by adapting your method is great and it wouldn't harm the original atmosphere of the game.

82

Released Mods / Re: [ALIEN INVENTORY] [WEAPON] Alien Armoury Expanded

« on: October 25, 2014, 09:40:21 am »

Thank you so much! I was rather surprised that I can add more loadouts continuously without much effort based on your mod. Very flexible 

83

Open Feedback / Re: Several Questions in XCOM

« on: October 25, 2014, 06:31:11 am »

Thanks everyone I wish I could check the psi training more comfortably when I use the psi training mod.

For the UFO landing, the only case I could guarantee the ship would not land was when the UFO was for retaliation mission. It just goes to one of your base straight or roams around the base few hours then leaves. Other than that, I don't have a clue yet. Maybe I should just play more games...

[Edited]

One more question suddenly arised: does the UFOextender Accuracy mod also affect the accuracy of aliens?

84

Released Mods / Re: [ALIEN INVENTORY] [WEAPON] Alien Armoury Expanded

« on: October 25, 2014, 06:24:55 am »

Hello~ I have some questions about technical part of this mod.

(1) My first question is about itemSets value in the ruleset. According to UFOpedia ruleset page, the value has three item lists each corresponding to 3 alien technology level. And you seemed to have inserted the 4th technology level, am I right? (I'm a noob so I really don't understand exactly the mechnism of these rulesets yet). So is it possible to add 5th item list as well corresponding to the 5th technology level and so one just adding some strings in the ruleset like you did? Or should I have to handle some inner structure of the game itself before I can keep adding the alien weaponry like this?

(2) AlienArmouryExpanded_UFOs.rul seems to add more UFOs. Can I use your mod with Yet More UFOs mod or any other mods that add more UFOs or alien missions?

Thanks.

85

Fan-Stuff / Re: How to defy logic in OpenXCOM

« on: October 24, 2014, 01:13:51 pm »

Haha this is great 

86

Fan-Stuff / Re: Which mods/settings to make late game more difficult?

« on: October 24, 2014, 01:11:43 pm »

This actually involves the critical question how one would see this game.

My characterization of this game (the ideal setting of this game) is that it should get tougher every month so you really have to do anything to send decent agents to Cydonia before you lose the game. But as you have said, this game does the exact opposite since while agents become incredibly more powerful each month, the power of aliens remain relatively constant.

The biggest threat in my opinion is the period where ethereals start to come out, and that wihout psionic LOS mod: it's because psionic attack is based on probability, so no matter what you do you have some chance that one of your soldier will do something that you probably don't like  . And if the Cydonia mission were so hard that you really cannot win the mission with just only rookies, the loss of experienced soldiers at the ethereal missions would have been the real threat to many commandors.

Well, anyway here are some thoughts of mine:

(1) Turn on the aggressive retaliation mission mod: I haven't used this one before though. You can loot a lot from the mission so I'm a bit doubtful that this would make the game more challenging. But what can I say is that the chance that you'll lose your newly built base would be quite high (if the alien ship goes into a base with no soldier, then the base is just lost  ). Maybe this is just too stressful? I don't know... Anyone have tried this?

(2) Change the ruleset to your taste: 100% accuracy for aliens, increased hit points etc

(3) Find or Make a mod that makes the game harder as you progress: This can also be done by slightly modifying the ruleset. For example, make aliens that come late much stronger (sectoid, floater -> snakesman -> muton -> ethereal: am I right?). There is also a mod that changes the order of sectopods and cyberdisks (of course, sectopods got nerfed).
     I doubt if there is a mod to control the frequencies of UFOs, but if there is, you can use it to make it really hard to get a positive score in late months (so many UFOs so some of them will accomplish their missions, thus getting points). I also think Russia cannot be infiltrated, but if there is a mod that even Russia can be infiltrated by aliens and forcing you to lose when you lose every country by aliens, I think it would be also a great option 

By the way, how can I disable the guided shooting of blaster launcher? I also think that's too much so want to know how to disable it 

87

Fan-Stuff / Re: X-com inspired Open General mod

« on: October 24, 2014, 12:40:49 pm »

Wow, it really looks impressive. I've always wanted to play Panzer General series but couldn't decide where should I start. Can you give me some advice? Then later I might look for this mod.

88

Open Feedback / Several Questions in XCOM

« on: October 24, 2014, 12:38:23 pm »

(1) Can't I assign armors at base defense mission? I was a bit baffled since I had a bunch of armors in my base but didn't assign them before the mission so I was just forced to fight without any armors... I think since armors are not the 'items' which you can pick up in the battlefield, I cannot assign armors, right?

(2) Is there any pattern with UFO movement esp. regarding if they will land at least one time or just go away without landing? I want the intact Elerium as much as possible of course!

(3) Is there any convenient way to check the psionic training? They do not automatically tell you when they finished the training (and got increased psi-skill level). It would be also great if I can see how long the agents were in the pionic lab.

Thanks 

89

Offtopic / Re: Dealing with Psionics Before Labs

« on: October 24, 2014, 11:44:01 am »

I'm facing Sectoids and Discs right now in my LP. 

My troopers are woefully under-equipped as the assault team in on the  'Ranger heading to Europe.  Yup, battle armor, better weapons etc.  Because of my challenge rules, I have no long guns: pistols/grenades/melee only.  (That also means no tanks though I do have a scout drone).

Current base loadout: 15 soldiers in pajamas, 4 pistols, 5-6 stunrods, 5 HE packs, and about a dozen each grenades and proxie grenades.  Good times.

I've watched the LP and you did a great job! That was actually my first time watching someone really using the stun rod to disks. And I also didn't know that it can take as much as 3 stun rods... That's not good!

Psionic Line of Fire makes a whole lot of sense and a big difference. But it changes gameplay a lot too and although I think it is for the better, it feels like there should be other alternatives.

Regarding aliens picking up weapons, they will only pick up weapons dropped in their turn, to prevent the player from "baiting" aliens by throwing weapons on the ground. That means if you drop your troopers' weapons in your turn, they will not pick them up. It's a bit gamey, but so is being able to MC anyone anywhere..

I wish there was a way to limit the range of psi-amps. When I tried I could not get it to work. I suspect it is possible in the nightly though, as I think Dioxine is using that. Although since you mentioned not using mods to solve the issue, that's of no help either.

Oh, I didn't know the exact mechanism of the 'Alien Pickup' mod. Thanks 
I strongly agree that it would have been much better if there is a way to handle the psi balance problem. In my game I came up to May and now I found out that one of my excellent soldiers had only 1 psi strength (yes, just 1. I was surprised how the XCOM can be this cruel). The thing is, it wasn't even a bit of a problem though since so far I haven't got any psi attack due to the psi LOS mod...

Here are my several thoughts about it:

(1) Limiting the psi LOS: For example, sectoids(including ethereals and XCOM agents from now on) can only cast MC to a SPECIFIC target when one of any sectoids can see THAT specific target. MC can still be cast to the target who has the weakest psi strength AMONG those who can be witnessed by other sectoids(this of course wouldn't hold for XCOM agents).

(2) LOS connecting requirement: Sectoids can cast MC if and only if there is a sequence of sectoids <s1, s2, ..., sn> such that s_i can see s_i+1 (s1 is the MC caster here).

(3) Safety Net: All possible ways to prevent the battle from being ended too soon because of a single MCed soildier throwing grenades or something. This also holds for aliens (preventing spamming MC in the first turn and having all aliens MCed).
     For example, showing a message after psi attacks who received the psi attack (like the message showing who god panicked). And making MC successful only after the target got psi attacks for at least two consecutive turns (at the first turn of psi attack an alien or a soldier can only be panicked or berzerked. Next turn, it can be MCed). Or maybe the formula 'panicked or berzerked+psi attack(next turn)=MC(with certain probability)' can be used.
     The idea is to spare a room of period so that you can to something about the psi-attacked soldier, ultimately making the system more stable. With the above rule, still berzerked soldier is incredibly dangerous anyway. Hopefully, one might find a good compromise between the conditions.

(4) Other stuff: Consuming a large amount of energy for casting MC

The reason I really want to handle the psi system is because personally, there is nothing more frightning than watching your soldiers getting psi attacks from nowhere and getting panicked. It really makes a huge scary mood into the game, so it's good. But I think the current psi system is in some cases just too much...

Meanwhile I'll also play games with psi LOS mod on: as cjones has said, I think I had paid enough dues for it 

90

Offtopic / Re: Dealing with Psionics Before Labs

« on: October 18, 2014, 07:25:33 pm »

Thanks for all the useful information. There are always a lot of things to learn

It's really frustrating that they can actually cast MC even though none of them can see me. I've checked this when I was on a base defense mission. It's really too much, I think. Especially in January, you don't have any prior knowledge gained from previous missions, and if you fail the base defense mission then it's bye-bye! And as far as I know, only commanders cast MC but in base defense mission there are tons of them! On the other hand, after you've built those labs and trained soldiers, the strong guys would resist MC so strongly that you would rather make them not to use MC for challenge's purpose. I think it's really hard to balance it (I'm not a good at moding right now, unfortunately). 

I've seen that stun rod is effective against cyberdisks from X-COM Wiki but couldn't dare it! Sectoids+Cyberdisks combination is indeed too much strong. By the way it's strange since I've never heard of 'stunning' machines...

Seperating weapon and ammunition is indeed a very clever idea! I actually turn on the 'Alien Pickup Weapon' mod to make it more challenging, but I don't think MCed soldiers can pick up weapons other than plasma rifles or stuff like that (according to the corresponding ruleset). I'll try that later.

Well, the reason I got this nerved is that, in my previous game the graph showed that there is some UFO activity in Austrailia, and while my Skyranger went into there with Interceptors, the retaliation ship got into my base... I had only 7 soldiers with 1 cannon tank (I deliberately bought cannon tank for this). I was almost able to clear them out but failed by a close call 

Guess I have to drink some beer. Life is tough.