Messages

1

Suggestions / Incendiary / phosphorous ammunition boost

« on: December 03, 2024, 07:44:53 pm »

I have never used phosphorous ammunition in vanilla, and I don't suspect many others have bothered with them either. They do almost zero damage, even to unarmoured civilians. Testing in TFTD, I tried giving my dudes 500% vulnerability to phosphorous attacks, then launched a PH torpedo in a full Triton - this managed to kill about 30-40% of the crew in one hit. It seems like this is the bare minimum vulnerability unarmoured creatures should have to the stuff.

Going through the rule files, I see that whenever there's a difference between resistance to PH and resistance to regular fire, PH resistance is usually higher. There's the hallucinoid which has a particular vulnerability to PH at 70%, but that's still practically nothing. The PH torpedo is said to deal 80 damage, but this pertains to area of effect rather than damage dealt - none of my dudes in my above example had as much as 80 HP, and most survived even with 500% vulnerability (they all croaked on the subsequent turn, though).

And sure, incendiary deals damage over multiple turns, but so long as creatures are still able to function normally for all those turns, what is the point? And certainly, anything below 2.0 (200%) damage modifier is perfectly negligible. But what are people's thoughts on this? What would strike a good balance?

2

Suggestions / Re: [REQUEST] Purchasable items have countries of origin and a max quantity/month

« on: November 28, 2024, 12:58:17 pm »

If a country ino the list is controlled by aliens you cannot buy anything from it

Or make it a lot more expensive, since you'll have to source it via different countries / black markets.

3

Suggestions / Re: Aquanaut Armor

« on: November 27, 2024, 11:00:27 am »

I think it would be a bit odd walking around in full deep sea diving gear on the surface. I think they should rather have different armour on land. You know, dress for the weather.

4

Suggestions / Re: TFTD - dye grenades

« on: November 26, 2024, 07:37:19 am »

Newbie question btw: why in TFTD dyed area have same movement penalty as mudded after generic explosions? Does this makes water denser?

Not denser as such, but I always rationalised it as having to move a bit more carefully because you cannot see where you're going. Well, you can see where your dudes are going, but they can't.

As for aziza's post, while it may be perceived as somewhat confrontational, I'm sure he didn't mean to step on any toes. And he does have a point (and as the thread starter I am, of course, completely unbiased). Old timers especially might like the nostalgia of playing XCOM as it originally was, warts and all. Most other improvements by OpenXCOM can be turned on/off in the mods menu, so it does feel a bit odd that this particular change should be forced. And Steam/DosBox are really not an option on modern systems, as the scroll speed makes it practically unplayable - in DosBox you can slow it down, but it will never be as it was on a good old 486.

Also, the ufopaedia entry is simply not correct: "Dye Grenades are to all intents and purposes, useless. Arguably not a bug, but it should not have survived basic playtesting. Weak weapons (eg Dart Gun) are one thing, but Dye Grenades are pointless because they never generate enough of a screen to block visibility. The best they would do is reduce alien visual range from 20 to 17. There would be a strong case to fix the strength of the Dye 'explosion' upward from 10 to 60 (like the Smoke Grenade) or at least 30-40."

As one can see from aziza's screenshots, they provide plenty cover - you just got to give them a little time, which is only realistic. It's not a bug, it's not an oversight. The fact that there is a spread dynamic tells us this was an intended feature.

Oh, and by the way, damage=60 means it reaches maximum spread immediately. At any lower setting I take it the dye will take 1-4 turns to spread to this level. Is there a way to modify this? Maximum range, turns to reach said range... As far as I'm aware, the dye grenade is the only item that has this dynamic at all. Fires certainly don't seem to spread the same way.

5

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: November 18, 2021, 09:27:21 pm »

Took them from alien dead bodies, of course. :-)
Just as sonic weapons and other alien stuff.

But I haven't encountered any aliens with vibro weapons yet. I got the research option from a calcinite autopsy, which is how it was in vanilla - and gives the impression that it's alien-inspired human tech.

Well, so long as the non-manufacturability is a feature, not a bug, I'm satisfied

6

Open Feedback / Re: Selecting which weapon is active for reaction fire

« on: November 18, 2021, 09:23:04 pm »

By "dart rifle" I meant "jet harpoon", I apologise.

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Open Feedback / Re: Selecting which weapon is active for reaction fire

« on: November 18, 2021, 08:03:02 pm »

I don't have OpenXcom 1.0 (it's 7 years old!)

I tested both OpenXcom Extended 7.0 and OpenXcom Extended 7.0.19... and they both work fine.
There hasn't been any change in that part of the code for years.

Please don't make me upload more video proofs.

If you want to continue this (very likely pointless) discussion, please provide some evidence.

I edited my post with new info before you replied.

8

Open Feedback / Re: Selecting which weapon is active for reaction fire

« on: November 18, 2021, 07:04:31 pm »

Ok, I'm back home.
These are the versions I have:

OpenXcom 1.0 (older than I realised)
OpenXcom Extended 7.0
OpenXcom Extended 7.019

Anyway, it seems to be the case only for certain item combos. I tested TWoTS, for example, and with a dart autogun and a dart rifle there was no change. With an X-rifle and a thermal tazer, however, the visuals did change. So I don't know what the deal is, really.

9

Open Feedback / Re: Selecting which weapon is active for reaction fire

« on: November 18, 2021, 05:57:13 pm »

What the...! I tested with three different versions - an older one with OpenXcom, and two (presumably different) versions of OpenXcom Extended. I noticed it first playing TWoTS, then tested in X-Com Files, then vanilla TFtD with the same result. I'll have to re-test this.

10

Open Feedback / Re: Selecting which weapon is active for reaction fire

« on: November 18, 2021, 05:16:34 pm »

Ok, let's say an agent holds a rifle in one hand and a stun rod in the other The graphical representation in the battlescape in OpenXcom will always be the rifle - or maybe it's always the item in the right hand? Anyway, in the original, the graphical representation in the battlescape will always be the item you clicked last. Not the inventory screen, but the isometric view where the action takes place. So if I don't want my dude to reaction fire with his rifle (because friendly fire isn't so friendly), I could L-click on the stun rod (and then R-click to deselect), and then he would be shown as wielding the stun rod instead. This is not the case in OpenXcom. No matter which weapon I click or use, it will not change the visuals. And I also kind of doubt it will affect which weapon is used for reaction fire. This is what's different from the original.

11

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: November 18, 2021, 11:59:37 am »

Ok, another one:

The vibro weapons - I can research them, but cannot manufacture or buy them. In the manufacture file these weapons are marked for deletion from the vanilla ruleset, but no information is added to replace the vanilla. Removing the delete references did not work. How does one get to acquire the vibro blade, thermic lance and heavy thermic lance?

12

Open Feedback / Selecting which weapon is active for reaction fire

« on: November 18, 2021, 11:16:24 am »

I've just noticed it now that it is always the primary weapon which is visible on my dudes. But in the original UFO and TFtD, if you clicked on the item in the off hand, that item became the visible one - and the one which was used for subsequent reaction fire. Was it a conscious decision to change this for OpenXcom?

13

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: November 18, 2021, 01:23:19 am »

I'm not sure but I think that is the gimmick weapon made for ClosetYeti's TWoTS Let's Play series. He has a recurring character named Axe who does only melee and dies a lot. The axe was supposedly just a thermal tazer with a unique graphic and text.

If you want to make an item available for purchase, you have to set a non-zero costBuy. If there is anything listed under requiresBuy, then you will need to have completed research projects matching all string names in that list in order to be allowed to purchase the weapon.

CostBuy - that's what was missing! The axe is a pretty pointless addition to the X-Com shop, I admit, but it makes me happy 

14

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: November 15, 2021, 09:38:53 am »

I've just built my first Cormorant, but it seems it can only be equipped with cannon. Fine, but there are no cannons available to purchase. Isn't the craft gas cannon supposed to be available from the beginning? Looking through the research file, I can find no reference to it at all.

The craft weapons file lists CRAFT_GAS_CANNON, but the research file does not. The only work-around I know how to do is to give the Cormorant the same weapons options as the Barracuda.
Edit: actually, that didn't work either, and I have no idea why.

It seems an oversight that I'm able to research a craft way before I'm able to research suitable weapons for it. And how was I to know that the craft I was researching couldn't mount the weapons I had stockpiled. As it is, since I couldn't possibly know ahead of time that the Cormorant was a tiny little drone, I have wasted about half a month's worth of research, not to mention the money that went into the project. Since the craft gas cannon is such a crappy weapon anyway, I see no reason why it shouldn't be unlocked together with the Cormorant.

15

Released Mods / Re: X-Chronicles Release, v.0.99.1

« on: November 14, 2021, 04:29:58 pm »

Well, colour me tickled. I'm trying this out as soon as I have the time.