Messages

1

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

« on: September 26, 2023, 06:31:19 pm »

It can't be available earlier, because its entire point is to give the player a reward for researching Advanced Optics. Making it more valuable is possible, but right now I can't see any benefits it could logically have (it's still a hunting rifle, uses the same ammo).

Instead of scoped hunting rifle - or in addition to this - would it be feasible to have an advanced optic for the actual sniper rifles?

Depending on what's possible with OXCE, one could either go for
a) an additional advanced optic to be added to existing sniper rifles (improving the aim, for example) (not sure this is easily doable with OXCE), or
b) an advanced manufacturable sniper rifle with advanced optics, which would be an improvement over purchaseable sniper rifles; this or these could use the same vanilla clips as their purchaseable counterpart. (But not tactical sniper rifle, it sucks if you actually want to move as well and use a snap shot.)

2

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 23, 2023, 04:14:49 pm »

Anyone use a Position Marker?
I read the reviews on the forum and realized that few people use this equipment... If anyone is using it, please tell me how to do it most effectively?

Did you find these threads (top 3 answers when searching for 'position marker'), are those suggestions not sufficient? All of these seem to include some explicit suggestions how to use them.

https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11466.msg157415.html#msg157415
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11156.msg153780.html#msg153780
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10460.msg145096.html#msg145096

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 23, 2023, 06:55:09 am »

(In other words, does high psi skill agents take less damage from ghosts which do psi attacks)

PSK does not reduce amount of PSI damage you take from attacks.

2. How does carapace plate work? It seems be just an item but how do I get the benefits? It doesn't seem to count as an armor,  do I just have it in backpack?

It works like a grenade and it grows on you (I think to you backpack). I never bothered with it myself, the stats seemed unimpressive.

How is the advanced intelligene center actually improvemt over original besides more scientists? Is it's purpose simply to have a building thay can have 7 scientists?

Also, I am confused if I'm supposed to build an intel center, then an advanced one? Do I destroy the old one? Do I have both? Do I go straight to building one?

It simply states each base can "only have one intelligejve center or an advanced intelligrjve center" which I take to mean you cannot have both.

Advanced Intel Center provides space for two more scientists and a better global UFO detection rate. You can build it over the regular one (= upgrade) if you want.

I have never built it myself, in my opinion the high price tag is not worth it. At the stage it's relevant it's more important to build more bases and research capacity in other ways.

4

The X-Com Files / Re: How can I play this without feeling like I rush the game?

« on: September 22, 2023, 07:15:39 pm »

Essentially everything in X-COM mission/arc scripts is based on defining missions that happen on a monthly basis. This naturally leads to a ramp-up that's defined in the number of months since the start. While it would be technically possible to design a system where for example game difficulty or similar factors would affect the ramp-up speed, this would lead to a lot of duplicated rulesets which would be a maintenance nightmare.

I also doubt there is much demand for a general "scaling factor" as a new OXCE feature for many reasons; for mod authors it would be very difficult to test the balance of the mod with all the different combinations.

What would be technically feasible is making more missions dependent on the research and other progress (such as the existence of a particular base facility, as a measurement stick of your progress) instead of the progress of time. This would be exploitable by the users. And also appears to be the opposite what SS as the mod author wants. So I wouldn't hold your breath.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 22, 2023, 07:03:07 pm »

At least in the playthrough , that was back In 0.9 version.. the sectopods were vulnerable to the staff of heart grip, so it was very effective way to dispatch them from safe distance. Their highly trained+talented psi guys could kill a sectopod with 2 hits from the staff

Sectopods only take 10 % damage from BIO, so I doubt that's very useful for them. Even with max PSI skill and strength the actual damage would still be puny. I suppose something has changed (probably with various damage types) in the meanwhile.

I don't think you need to worry about ways of dealing with Sectopods in a good while.

I also saw the staff used a bit when watching some B&L walkthrough. I suppose a way to inflict damage, do panic or MC without LOS could be useful in some settings, but it drains sanity rather quickly. I've found conventional weapons to be sufficient in most contexts.

6

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 22, 2023, 06:58:58 am »

does that mean, its only lookable by going to the wiki website, or by looking at files for the game? (that is to say, is it listed nowhere in-game)

The information is not available in-game.

Also, I researched the staff of heart grip and using staff of heart grip, but I can only throw it, is there a different button I am supposed to be using to use it?

Is it still really good against those one giant alien monsters with the huge armor?

'Using' article says: "By trial and (often painful) error, we finally managed to uncover the secret of how to operate the Staff of Heart Grip. To use it properly, one should not think of it as a weapon, but as a delicate instrument of dark mystic arts which requires attunement and dedication. It is therefore only suitable for trained psions.". Using it for anything other than throwing requires PSI skill, which you apparently don't have yet.

It ignores armor and causes BIO damage, so I guess in the right hands (good PSI strength and skill) it could be useful in some contexts. I've not found much use for it myself, though.

7

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 22, 2023, 04:31:43 am »

Is there a way to know which aliens, or if hybrids, can see through smoke?

Look for "heatVision" (percentage) in the rulesets or the wiki. psiVision also indirectly leads to the same I think. You'll find all these definions in armors_XCOMFILES.rul.

Various aliens have some degree of either. Hybrids only have psiVision 3, i.e. not very much.

8

The X-Com Files / Re: Does anyone else love the early game ?

« on: September 19, 2023, 11:40:30 am »

I personally have always liked early and mid-game best. You usually have multiple paths to progress and you need to decide what you focus on with limited resources, and the randomness aspect might also affect your choices. Your soldiers are weak and are still developing, and its nice to train them and see their progress. You can still survive some casualties if you play ironman (like I usually do), but this has a much higher cost in later game.  I think this has been very well done in XCF, in contrast to vanilla UFO or TFTD, where the early-game period is very short. The mid-game part (until some point in late 1999 I suppose) is also in my opinion quite interesting.

Late game with maxed soldiers and equipment is usually more or less grinding most of the same missions over and over again (though as you don't care about points that much at that point, you could usually just shoot down UFOs and not recover them). I quite often get bored with the game at that point, but I doubt that's really easily fixable. My main suggestion here is, however, that this period of the game should not be excessively stretched out or be depedent on RNG. After you've obtained essentially everything, the campaign should be over soon.

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The X-Com Files / Re: Is Cult of Apocalypse supposed to have 50 to 100+ enemies spawn?

« on: September 19, 2023, 09:46:53 am »

Nearby spawns are one of the challenges of the game. You'll definitely want to go out on these missions at night, so that when you eliminate the nearby spawns, you don't get reaction fired by over a dozen other enemies. Then you progress gradually by throwing out flares. Using this tactic these missions have been very easy even with the maximum number of spawns (SH). The only thing you really need to watch out for is that some of those enemies have explosives that they can throw out at you. So you'll need to be careful not to let them get too close and/or see you.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 15, 2023, 05:50:09 am »

"ALEAYS WATCH THE SKIES"

I have this "technology" but I don't remember seeing what it said. But I also can't seem to find it in my ufopedia

Is there a way to view it or what is it's purpose? Or where can i find it again

It has no entry and serves no purpose at all (except open up a locked extra staff message for interrogation).

Another question: in the Vincent Decker mission I managed to capture 2 MIB scientists and 1 MIB enforcer , but I took heavy losses

It is mid 1998, im wondering without spoiling too much, would it be a mistake to try to research MIB tree ans possibly hit "effects game progression" for some them? Or are these techs abd presumably missions it might unlock meant for more end game period  , with no real benefit to earlier game

In mid-1998, it should be OK to research the MIB tree. Personally I have always delayed it quite a bit, because interrogating MIBs is research-wise very expensive and I've wanted to get most of the topics from cheaper sources.

Some better MIBs are a good source for, for example, scavenging better armors that you would usually not have access to at that point. It helps to have ghost-arc tech to be able to stun them comfortably.

11

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 14, 2023, 08:33:27 pm »

In the first ghost mission (Asylum Apparitions) the only annoying thing is that you have to guard and/or pile up the bug-eye ghosts after stunning them. Otherwise they wake up and wander around and you'll never figure out where the last enemies still are.

Almost all the ghosts in the mod are mostly harmless, and you may want to intentionally use lousy weapons against them for training purposes (for example, shoot with regular weapons for FA and reactions, or use knives instead of ELECTRIC or grenades) after you have dealt with the real threats. The main exception are the poltergeists. Ancient sea ghosts can also hurt you.

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

« on: September 13, 2023, 09:27:43 pm »

I just realized that .308 sniper rifle is an excellent weapon if the agent has reasonable firing accuracy and decent bravery, even better than BO sniper rifle in some contexts (the main benefit of BO sniper rifle being able to shoot two snap shots if you don't do much else - kneeling and high accuracy makes even this roughly 100% accuracy).

Especially because it doesn't have minimum range dropoff, like the rest of sniper rifles (Mosin, Bolt, Nitro and such are probably intentionally not such kind of sniper rifles, though some of the choices here might be a bit illogical) so you can also shoot without an accuracy penalty in close quarters as well. The omission of min range is probably an oversight.

As an aside, scoped hunting rifle seems to be completely obsolete by the point that you could get it (bio-exo, advanced optics, manufacture in the workshop). If you really wanted it to be a viable option, it should be available much earlier or have some other significant benefit.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 12, 2023, 09:06:14 am »

Bio-Exo Suit is relatively early armor that has good protection against CUTTING. Heavy tactical suit is roughly as good, but also better against other damage types. I

What you need depends on the point when you do the HQ mission and which kind of tactic you employ (I strongly encourage not going out to wander around for at least 20 turns, if not more).

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 06, 2023, 10:18:56 am »

How to destroy Lobsters? Firearms don't help...

They are very vulnerable to CHOKE (e.g. gas grenades), so that's a reliable and and easy way if you came across them on land. They are also vulnerable to ELECTRIC and WARP, and CUTTING is also ok. PSI is also good, because the weapons usually ignore armor. So, in underwater the options are more limited, but prodding with a stun rod or blasting with a ghost weapon would be fine, as well as a good strike with a battle-axe or katana.

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The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.1: Lights in The Sky

« on: September 05, 2023, 07:45:02 pm »

I assume Psiclones are more plentiful now? I used to hoard them, since there are several things you need them for (Gun Kata x number of soldiers and Skulljacks, mainly) and Solarius was stingier with the rewards a while ago.

Speaking of Gun Kata vs Skulljack. What is actually Skulljack useful for? It seemed rather useless (LOS panic or MC), though I suppose you could use it to train PSK and rookies' secondary stats. Based on Juku's comments, I also skipped Gun Kata and have sold out all the Psiclones. I suppose I'll have to start doing Gun Katas from now on, given that the boost of 10/15 FA, 5 RE seems like a good tradeoff for 10 sanity.

Wrt earlier discussion, I suppose I could see some benefit of going to manors repeatedly for training purposes, to just shoot the visible enemies on turn 1, then abort immediately. Then there would be no risk of grenades, you'll just have to watch out for grenade launchers. This would be a very similar technique as some used for TFTD: go for the alien base, see if there is a visible alien, everyone PSI-amps it, then you exit on turn 1. Repeat ad infinitum, and fairly soon you have fully maxed out secondary stats and as a bonus some PSK.