Messages

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The X-Com Files / Re: [submod] XCom Files Arsenal Additions (ver 0.8.1b Anarchic Anachronism)

« on: April 03, 2023, 10:38:04 pm »

Heyo mono - you probably already know this, but I figured I'd post anyhow. I happened to grab the master branch from your github the other day, and noticed the nanorifle and haunted hotel mission are both missing some important tags. Notably proper descriptions, but also the nanorifle needs to have it's research dependencies fixed. Currently it shows up as STR_Nanorifle (along with it's ammunition) in the buy menu at the very start of a new campaign. I got confused bumbling around thinking the haunted hotel was something from the ghost-themed 2.7 XCF update, and spent like two hours trying to figure out why it was showing up as STR_HAUNTED_HOTEL (etc) a few months into my new 2.8 run.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: April 03, 2023, 10:31:32 pm »

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction - turned out to just be the arsenal additions mod. Looks like the github master version has a few differences from the older version I had pulled from the io page ages ago, and I was bumbling about assuming it was something else since the haunted hotel mission type didn't exist previously.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: April 02, 2023, 05:07:11 pm »

Recently started playing 2.8 with a couple of sub-mods. Noticed there was an item in the buy menu titled STR_NANORIFLE (or something like that) and after a few months I had a STR_HAUNTED_HOTEL mission show up with equally missing info. How does one go about debugging this sort of thing and finding the cause? Apologies if this is ultra-basic stuff, but I'm not a modder myself.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.7: Spectral Entities

« on: January 05, 2023, 11:23:07 pm »

I had many similar ideas, not realized due to what the engine allowed back then. Now it would be easier to do (albeit still hacky; see the "an unshakable enemy hidden in an inaccessible location" clause), but I think having a whole mission with a battle map would be awkward. I'd rather have a fe3ature where you simply fly there and there's a popup with description, like an event; but I don't think this is viable. This is why I made some events.

Would it be cool with you if I start a thread theory-crafting new mission ideas? I think exploring various gimmicky ideas would be an interesting and potentially fruitful discussion, but I don't want to clog up this thread or come off as a backseat dev.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.7: Spectral Entities

« on: January 03, 2023, 10:49:16 am »

I've been thinking about the relative lack of "Files" in the mod, and about how more espionage or investigation style missions might be incorporated within the limits of the X-COM Engine. Here are some ideas I thought I'd share:

#1) "Evidence Interception" - Using the time limit mechanic of the crop circles you could create a mission without any enemies.* Limited to a civilian vehicle the agents have to explore the area which is littered with various objects, find what they think is most important, and haul it back to the escape vehicle before authorities show up.

*If the game engine requires enemies, an unshakable enemy hidden in an inaccessible location would get the job done.

You might vary up the score possibilities by having one particular item that - if you leave without it - you suffer a point penalty. Or alternatively taking certain useful items (like briefcases of cash) could offer an early game temptation at the cost of score.

One interesting possibility would be raiding a police warehouse, where the time limit is represented by hostile police units showing up as "Reinforcements" - which obviously you get penalized for killing should you end up in a shootout.


#2) "Deep Cover Operation" - Using the camouflage mechanic we could potentially emulate an actual disguise by making the agent essentially invisible to the enemies. If it is possible to alter the visibility levels dynamically, certain actions might reduce the effectiveness of the "camouflage" which represents the enemy becoming suspicious of your actions.

Kind of riffing off the "Find the Item" style mission I described above, if picking up an item would "Drop the Disguise" you could create an interesting scenario where the player has to figure out where to position their agents for the best chance at escaping once their cover is blown, etc.

Anyhow - these were just two ideas I had. This mod has always pushed the limits of what I imagined XCOM could do, and finding new ways to explore the investigative side of the concept would be cool as hell. _{(Or maybe I just want undercover jobs that cannot be solved by hitting a cultist with a wrench.)}

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The X-Com Files / Re: question about Abeba Tewolde

« on: December 05, 2022, 04:01:04 am »

This isn't an answer to your question - but this subject makes me realize that having more special VIP dossier capture missions early in the game would be a really good addition. I never get seem to get any until the cults are pretty much defeated, and in an earlier version of the mod I literally encountered some of the missions AFTER their associated cult had been wiped out.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.6: Paranormal Activity

« on: October 03, 2022, 07:55:35 am »

It might be a good idea to create an archive of submods or just things explicitly compatible for ease of reference, and to ensure they don't vanish into the void. The mod that lets you start in 1994 for example isn't on the io site for example.

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The X-Com Files / Re: [submod] XCom Files Arsenal Additions (ver 0.8b Anarchic Anachronism)

« on: October 03, 2022, 04:45:26 am »

Any idea when we might get that update? I'm tempted to hold off playing 2.6 until this is ready. (I simply cannot live without my anti-tank rifles!)

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The X-Com Files / Advice on speeding things along?

« on: October 02, 2022, 05:11:27 am »

Blah, whenever I sit down to play this mod I find myself spending hours on crop circles and other minor missions that are way below my group's skill level. I'm aware that I could ignore them, but I get paranoid about my score and usually need the experience as my campaigns turn into meat grinders. I was wondering how other people dealt with them. Kind of hard to get to the late game when you are chasing down beetle #38 somewhere in a jungle.

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The X-Com Files / Re: [submod] XCom Files Arsenal Additions (ver 0.8b Anarchic Anachronism)

« on: September 17, 2022, 12:12:00 pm »

I'm so happy this mod hasn't been abandoned!

On a really odd note, I've been running this mod on XCF 2.5 for quite some time now and haven't had any crashes, startup errors, etc. The only thing I've encountered is a single armor item had a messed up name, but that hasn't actually impacted my game as far as I can tell. I wonder if there is something odd about my setup. I will say that I haven't gotten into the late game and am playing with a few other adjacent mods, so it's entirely possible I'll encounter some game-breaking bugs later on.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Any special requirements to make gauss weapons?

« on: July 30, 2022, 12:32:04 am »

Why? Unless you literally score a headshot that doesn't make sense, given that the aim of the weapons is specifically not to dazzle (i.e. wide unfocused beam) but to kill. You wouldn't want to dump all your energy over a wide area (i.e. whole body) but focus it.

The slightest glint from a high powered laser is enough to cause permanent eye damage way before they are strong enough to be a rifle. If the laser technology in XCOM is strong enough to punch through flesh, the batteries are certainly powerful enough to create an instantly blinding zone of fuck-you-in-particular.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Any special requirements to make gauss weapons?

« on: July 29, 2022, 02:02:43 pm »

Oof, that was a trip. Sent a crew to a hybrid embassy base, snatched an engineer and ran away. Engineer led me to UFO power, which gives me Mass Drivers... and I presume once that is complete I'll finally be on to Gauss! My goal is to have a crew outfitted with Gauss before the alien invasion proper, which is certainly looking possible right now.

On the subject of esoteric weapons having special effects - Lasers should blind the targets similar to a flashbang. (Yeah, in real life the blindness would be permanent but Aliens I guess.)

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The X-Com Files / Re: Minor changes

« on: July 29, 2022, 08:48:08 am »

I think there is a space for having both large and small maps. I'd be a bit sad to see the larger maps entirely removed, even if they can be intense. However I wouldn't mind whatsoever if the smaller boat was the "standard" version and the larger version was a less common "major mission" version.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Any special requirements to make gauss weapons?

« on: July 29, 2022, 07:56:08 am »

I find it somewhat sad how much the esoteric weapons get sidelined, given that the BlackOps stuff with improved ammunition feels so "meh" in the context of a sci-fi game full of weird paranromal stuff. However I am absolutely sleeping on Psi weapons in the early game, and I need to actually get into that. I just feel so weird about like... actually using flame gloves and such when I could just give someone another gun.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.5: Silent Run

« on: July 29, 2022, 04:27:10 am »

I must have been getting awful luck with damage rolls, because those things were NOT going down. I'll keep the fire weapons in mind next time I see them and hope for the best.