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Messages - Bananas_Akimbo

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1
The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« on: May 19, 2021, 04:04:42 am »
Is it intentional, that building the Virtualized Headquarters over the Headquarters, still costs the full 4,000,000$? The building time is reduced as expected, but not the money cost.

2
The X-Com Files / Re: 1.8 Feedback
« on: April 13, 2021, 07:21:12 pm »
The ufopedia mentions knocking someone's gun away, rather than grabbing it and the illustration, even if it is from a very silly movie, brings that point across nicely. The way, that cqc plays out on the battlescape also looks much more like just knocking the gun away. You don't need any strength at all to mess up somebody's aim. It is surpisingly easy to miss a man-sized target even from point-blank range. The defender only needs to be faster than the shooter and give the weapon a slight push. Of course the game is totally exaggerating, when it shows the shooter spinning around up to 180 degrees. I understand, that the mechanic has to be visually communicated to the player somehow but that is a bit much.
Anyway, grabbing an enemy or their weapon makes a lot less sense to me from a gameplay perspective. Why would the defender let go between every shot? The attacker would first have to free himself before being able to take aim again. Also none of this would even be possible to begin with, if the defender doesn't have a free hand.
I guess it could be cool to have grappling and even disarming mechanics in the game, but the amount of complexity we have already is sufficient for me.

3
The X-Com Files / Re: 1.8 Feedback
« on: April 02, 2021, 05:04:01 pm »
Quote
It seems we get new content but the pacing is still the same as many, many versions ago, which makes it easy to skip by some of content. Extending the early game phase, requiring some more time to get each promotion and pushing the date of official beginning of alien invasion back may help there.

Eh? Why? I don't get what you're getting at. Why would I want to do that?

I could be wrong, but I think what he means, is that with every update we get more and more stuff to research but not more time to actually perform the research in. The concern is, that you will be less prepared once the invasion comes because you couldn't complete key research in time, because the new research took too much of your time. This is something, that I have contemplated myself. I don't know, if it actually plays out that way, though. Haven't played enough.

Even if that really is a problem, I still don't like the suggested solution of pushing back the invasion date. It's already taking a really long time to get to (what is supposed to be) the meat of the game. Other solutions would be shortening research times (don't like it, research times are already unrealistically short), reducing cost/upkeep of scientists/labs (slightly less unrealistic than previous option, maybe) or reducing costs of other stuff or increasing early income (more loot in early missions), so that the player can spend more on research.

4
The X-Com Files / Re: Beach mission swimsuits
« on: March 28, 2021, 10:51:34 am »
Could it be, that you're thinking of Piratez?

5
The X-Com Files / Re: [submod]X-com Files Alternative Art
« on: February 23, 2021, 06:13:19 am »
One of my main problems with big mods such as XCF is the lack of a consistent, unified artstyle, so I welcome any large-scale undertaking to create new graphics.

I've only looked at the example pictures of your submod and I really like the dossiers and vehicles. Very consistent looking. The other ones are okay but there's more room for improvement.
On the other hand everything has less of that old X-COM feeling. I will probably try your mod, once I get around to continue playing (someday).


6
The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files online Wiki
« on: February 21, 2021, 08:06:46 am »
I have one question regarding commendations: where can I check the conditions for them the trigger (like how many pistols kills do I need to get level 5 "gunslinger", etc.)
Look at the rulesets. commendations.rul has the info you want. The names there often differ from the names ingame, though. When in doubt, look at soldierbonuses.rul, which lists the effects of all commendations.

I also made a long post about commendations and other stuff a while back. Maybe it contains some useful bits for you. It might be slightly outdated, though. I haven't played in months.
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,8463.0.html

7
I will not have the time to watch a playthrough of this game, even if you edit it down a lot. Still, here are some thoughts.

Zoom level: People, who haven't played the game, need to be able to recognize what's going on, so don't zoom out too far. Consider mobile viewers. 1.5x zoom should be fine I think.

Walk and shot speed: Similar consideration. Probably start out with a lower speed, than what you personally play with. Increase speed a bit later on, once you have more agents and enemies in missions.

Music: Definetely leave it in, the soundtrack is essential to the atmosphere. Just not too loud. Only turn off the music, if you decide to make a lot of edits close together, because constantly skipping music is jarring.


Now the most difficult topic: Editing.
Personally, I like heavily edited gameplay videos. Time is valuable. I already have more media I want to consume, than I could do in 10 lifetimes. Aside from my personal tastes, I'm pretty sure, that the vast majority of viewers will quickly get burnt out from watching the umpteenth monster hunt and just skip ahead.
On the other hand, editing is work. Cutting out big segments is easy, but little nuggets of good entertainment and valuble information will often be hidden in otherwise boring missions and base management.

For me, Beagle's Ironman Impossible series is still the gold standard of how to record and edit a campaign in a game like this. As concise as possible, without missing too many important things (not to mention the humour, but that's an entirely different topic).
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXctaw5JGF4LcidFVdkQMV1tc2DfC8x3D
You will most likely not want to go that far, though. Beagle himself stopped doing it like this after a short while, because the work was too much for him, leaving the series incomplete. And that is the reason, why most professional youtubers either upload mostly unedited footage or hire an editor.

Anyway, my suggestions, if you don't decide to upload an unedited campaign:
The further you get into the game, the more you will want to cut out stuff, which you have done a dozen times before already, and that is neither important or interesting. Stuff like: Micromanaging your storage; transferring items; most manufacturing; stocking your crafts; any lengthy decision making, for which you don't have any comments; enemy turns, if they take a long time and you don't see any activity (like often happens in terror missions); searching for the last enemy; even entire missions, if you've done them before and nothing interesting happens. Just the result screens will suffice in such cases. And maybe a single highlight or two, if there are any. Definetly always show, when a soldier dies or gets badly injured.

Recording your voice in the editing phase instead of while playing, will make the editing process much easier, while not taking much more time. That way you only have to decide, what pieces of gameplay to cut out and not worry, if you said something important at the time. You will have to rewatch all of your recorded footage anyway, when deciding where to make cuts. Just comment on the gameplay while taking notes. Of course this is also a stylistic choice and might not fit you.




Also, mistakes are more entertaining for the viewer, than a perfect run, in a game like this. Unless the mistakes are a result of not knowing the game mechanics. So don't be a perfectionist. Losing is fun!


Edit: There's one thing I forgot about the music: Most of it is copyrighted. The Youtube bots typically disregard videogame soundtracks, otherwise Let's Plays etc. would be impossible without getting into trouble. But XCF doesn't just borrow music from other games but also from other sources. THING.ogg and FRO_PSY.ogg belong in this group. But I don't know the origins of all of the tracks and I am not aware, if Solarius has documented this anywhere.
So, playing the music in some of the levels could lead to receiving a copyright strike, which then could lead to demonetization of the video. Possibly deletion? I don't know iof Youtube still does that.

8
The X-Com Files / Re: Minor changes
« on: January 28, 2021, 06:11:37 pm »
I didn't expect, that you would be able to build a ship that quickly. Looks pretty good.

If I may suggest improvements to the outer shape: In case this is still supoosed to be some kind of cruise ship, it should definately have a larger superstructure. Especially the dining area should be of sufficient size. Maybe simply get rid of the gap in the middle? Also, a cruise ship would have a lot more windows and bigger ones. I suggest using the larger rectangular windows not just on the bridge, but on the whole ship.

9
The X-Com Files / Re: Minor changes
« on: January 26, 2021, 04:35:35 pm »
I like the map on the whole, but maybe it's too big for this particular mission. I could use the original TFTD map instead (either the upper or lower deck), but it would feel a bit illogical to ignore half of the ship. The best solution would be to make a whole smaller ship, but it's not an easy thing to do.
One way to shorten the ship missions without making big changes to the layout, would be to simply erase some of the stairs and/or lifts, thereby restricting access to the different decks a bit more. That way you don't have to split up your team so much and you can advance more aggressively. It would also make the hunt for the last few enemies easier. In fact, the whole mission would become easier, due to fewer nasty surprises happening. Not ideal, but I could live with that.
Also, the map would be slightly less realistic that way, but realism often gets in the way of good level design.

10
The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 1.7: Market Corrections
« on: January 12, 2021, 12:53:25 am »
I don't know how serious you are about weapon realism, but I just found out about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EORd-c8EEc

Bows and crossbows don't actually work underwater. The bow limbs get slowed down so much by the water, that barely any energy is transferred into the arrow/bolt.

11
The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste
« on: December 09, 2020, 12:33:32 am »
I did do that and it still wouldn't allow me to build it, I even completed previously initiated interrogations but that didn't do it either, I don't know what I'm missing.

I attached my save if you would be so kind as to check, sorry for any inconvenience, and thank you :)
Ah yes, I've been in the same situation before.
The HQ also gives 25 storage space, which isn't mentioned in the description text. Your storage is almost full, that's the problem.

12
The X-Com Files / Re: Interrogating Natasha Morozova
« on: November 16, 2020, 03:22:25 am »
Nope. You have only one chance of capturing her, so the game is lenient and the difference between getting her alive or dead is negligible. Same with Lo-Wo and Gertrude and maybe others. The important thing here is the loot. Her custom VSS is a pretty useful sniper rifle, especially in covert missions.

13
The X-Com Files / Re: Is there a way to change soldier's stats?
« on: November 15, 2020, 07:58:46 pm »
Editing the save file works fine for me. Even when I try screwy stuff like having 'initialStats' higher than 'currentStats'.

What excatly did you do?

14
The X-Com Files / Re: Too much research...
« on: November 11, 2020, 10:30:44 pm »
Mundane items such as the pitchfork typically don't lead to any further research (besides aquisition of the same item). You only get the benefit of knowing their stats and getting some score through research. On the other hand, such items also tend to be very quick to research. It is up to you.

I always wait until I have some more scientists, before tackling these topics. In the beginning, even a single research day spent on non-essential stuff is unattractive to me.

15
The X-Com Files / Re: Vampire Knights
« on: November 08, 2020, 03:35:56 pm »
Well, in that case you can still access the full ufopedia in-game by starting a New Battle and pressing 'u'.

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