Messages

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.4: Daggers for Hire

« on: November 12, 2024, 05:04:54 am »

I just finished a strange illogical mission. The office of the league representatives.



The mission is espionage, without weapons and armor. All enemies are armed with firearms. I killed everyone, got a +400 rating. For the fact that there were corpses, I received a -1000 rating. Did the corpses have to be dismembered right in the middle of the mission? Something is wrong here.

There are a number of missions like this, where you are being sent to silence civilians. The shady governments you are working for want the alien threat to be covered up, but they don't like it if you kill civilians to keep their secrets. 

...I think you can use the flare gun to dispose of bodies and cover up what you did, but don't quote me on that.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.4: Daggers for Hire

« on: November 12, 2024, 05:02:27 am »

Pardon me if I am out of touch, but did anything change about smoke? The last time I played was six months ago, and I have now updated OpenX and XFiles. On my first EXALT outpost mission, I found myself constantly shot up while in smoke and unable to see the enemy. I don't remember this being at all the case before.

Nothing is listed in the Xfiles changelog either. I don't know if the engine changed, or if I just forgot how things really were.

edit: yeah I think I just forgot how brutal sniper/spotter mechanics are and how smoke is counterproductive against it

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 15, 2024, 10:56:31 pm »

Leave a live grenade on them if you want them dead.
Leave a primed mine on them if you want them to not cause trouble.

The second one allows the opportunity to capture if they do not wake up.

Wait that's genius

I'm always paranoid about stunning animals because you can't handcuff them. Now I can take their bodies to tomorrow and then have an extra mine just in case.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 13, 2024, 11:15:31 pm »

I can't believe Cultist Lives Matter took off. smh

I should remark that the one use case where I occasionally pick up a sniper rifle is if there's an enemy with something long ranged like a grenade launcher I want to snipe off, or the collateral damage of a heavy machine gun is too dangerous.

I do really like how, game design wise, the explosive missile thingie in outposts gives a good reason to watch your fires. It's pretty safe to dynamite down the top levels and HMG fire *usually* won't hit the missile, but you have to balance the use of overwhelming firepower against the cash briefcases you'll explode if you hit the wrong thing.

I mean, my risk/reward calculus still generally favors dumping HMG rounds into buildings until they look like Swiss cheese, but it is a nice touch. A game is a series of interesting choices, and that is indeed an interesting choice.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 13, 2024, 09:06:50 pm »

You can simply target the tile the body is on. To make sure the shot hits the body, move the shooter to the tile itself (which you have to if there's a wall next to it, otherwise the shots will hit the wall).
In OXCE units lying down are treated just like other units and not like objects, so all the armour and damage calculations will apply.

To clarify, I'm asking if I can target a unit on the ground with melee.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 13, 2024, 05:41:32 am »

Shotgun/CAWS is very good against lightly armored enemies with short and medium distances. However, you also need weapons that can also damage heavier armored foes.

It is a bit unexpected to see HMG advocated for long distance, because I have thought it ill suited specifically for that purpose. I'd rather see a case for it in short distance (spray firing) or medium distances, especially with huge crowds of enemies (e.g. zombies) . Though against zombies, until you get CAWS, double shotguns are also very good (with sawed-offs as backup weapons if the enemies get too close).

I have always used sniper rifles for long distances, even medium distances. Again, due to the amount of damage they give and the armor penetration (can damage even heavily armored enemies), at the point when you agents have 90+ firing accuracy. But even those are not always needed, because with human enemies you usually want to avoid triggering spotter/sniper mechanic, so you don't even want direct hits to enemy spotter units. So in many cases you rather want a grenade launcher to cause splash damage or throw grenades yourself.

My reasoning behind using the HMG for long range is that I don't really want to shoot at things at long range at all. I want the HMG for large amounts of short to medium range firepower, and I happen to use it against long-ranged enemies because I don't bother to use any other long ranged weapons.

I also never remember who is a scout tbh.

edit:

also, on a unrelated note, is there a way to beat an unconscious man on the ground with stun batons? or do you have to taze/handcuff them.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 13, 2024, 05:37:04 am »

The most optimal early-game strategy I have found is to rush the captures of all first-level cultists, researching the first level cults (and Basic Operations) and going for Intelligence Center, and build it asap (you can use a corridor as a placeholder to skip 6 days off the construction). Then you can hire 5 additional scientists. Go for Bio Lab after it ASAP or if you fail to capture all the cultists, do it before the Intelligence Center (or restart).

This way, you should be able to start building Intelligence center in Feb/Mar 1997 timeframe and can hire the 5 scientists at the start of March or April 1997. Biolab will follow very soon after.

This way you triple your initial research capacity quickly (at the latest in April/May/June 1997) and can start focusing on other, 'real' research. Trying to do much real research with 5 scientists would cripple upgrading your research capacity. With 15 scientists you can and should also milk all the cultists all they know about dossiers, get all the staff input, etc. The next research capacity upgrades are costlier and you can defer them for a bit (science lab and/or intel/bio labs on second base).  With 15 scientists you can progress all the useful research quickly and also get very good score from dossiers on the side. Getting good scores this way will also slowly start ramping up your council funding.

I've also been wondering if I should get a secondary research base early. I was building the bio/intel labs in my first base, but if the HQ provides the research ability anyways, maybe I might as well locate the researchers in a secondary base and save room in the primary hub. The main annoyance with that is that the bodies and research material would primarily be in the first base.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 11, 2024, 12:47:09 pm »

I also wonder if it's worth grinding dossiers for score early. I normally don't lack for score and research days are precious, but maybe more score means more funding for more labs.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 11, 2024, 12:24:39 pm »

I see, thanks. About when do you need radars up, btw? I have been getting them too early.

On an unrelated note, I'm not a big fan of the BO auto sniper. I've been relying on HMG for long/medium ranged fires, and shotgun/CAWS for shorter ranged clearance. The auto sniper is more maneuverable and you can guarantee a hit on a distant target, but I've honestly not really needed or wanted accurate long ranged precision fires.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

« on: June 11, 2024, 12:33:46 am »

Wait, how do you get pulse weapons early?

After getting kevlar the first month, I usually get H&K and Shotguns for a couple months, then eventually upgrade to HMG backed by BlackOp weapons. I haven't gotten pulse weapons the first year.

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Open Feedback / How Much Score For Max Funding Change?

« on: June 10, 2024, 01:34:12 am »

My understanding is that if countries are satisfied or angry, they will change their funding from 5-20%. Therefore if you have enough score to proc an increase, you don't really need more score.

About what score level is that, assuming that there's nothing that interferes with individual country opinion? 1000? 1500?

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.9: The Empire Strikes Back

« on: May 11, 2023, 09:09:38 am »

Ty!

It seems safe to build corridors from access tunnels...probably. I will be very sad if I lose a base but that's xcom, baby.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.9: The Empire Strikes Back

« on: May 10, 2023, 03:45:32 am »

btw, is there a quick way to check whether a base facility can be destroyed in a Base Defense?

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.9: The Empire Strikes Back

« on: May 07, 2023, 10:38:52 am »

Don't you get to handcuff them with space alloy shackles? Zombies have crazy strength and will bust your measly Earth cuffs.

fair, I didn't realize they were like 80 strength, that's a fair cop

I agree with psavola and juku here on the intel center description.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The OpenXcom Files: Tips and Tricks!

« on: May 02, 2023, 11:08:43 am »

Being rather casualty averse on my SH run, I've found myself *not* rushing biolabs, and instead focusing on kevlar and then getting Helicopters for my first real transport. (I don't bother with vans.) As a result, I haven't been bothering to spend the money on Dragonflies, given that it's only a 6->8 capacity increase.

Though I dunno, the next upgrade along the Skyranger path doesn't come for a long time, and Osprey is a dead-end research, which is more of a concern because I've delayed research.

Also, goddamn, shotguns with baton rounds are amazing. Love it.