Messages

91

Released Mods / Re: [WEAPON] Terran Plasma Weapons

« on: March 29, 2014, 02:32:14 am »

Any plans to implement a sniper weapon?  Haven't tried the mod yet, but that's the first thing I thought of but maybe it's not really needed depending on weapon balance.  Looking forward to trying it out.

92

Released Mods / Re: Tyran_nick's mods

« on: September 20, 2013, 05:08:20 am »

I took the Sentinel that somebody had done and turned it into something similar to this. However I also added a monthly upkeep for the ship just like the normal interceptor. I wonder if the lack of upkeep does too much harm to the financial game balance?  Maybe not in the case of this version as a single ship can't really replace an interceptor for general duty. Something to think about. I'll give this a look when I get a chance. Thanks for the work on it.

93

Released Mods / Re: Tyran_nick's mods

« on: August 22, 2013, 09:31:37 pm »

Just noticed that the new research topics are not showing up with the correct titles in the game.  The Mass Accelerator Weapons technology shows up on the research screen as STR_MASS_ACCELERATOR_WEAPONS.  This happens to other mods as well, so it could be an artifact of the recent source updates.

94

Work In Progress / Re: UFO upgrades

« on: August 16, 2013, 06:15:24 am »

Next set is built but not tested, do you want to save me the time and do the testing for me?

Sure, I'd be happy to test ... except I can't for the next two weeks as I'm away for work.  But, would be happy to fiddle with them when I get a chance.

I dunno about some of these, the original made a point of having every ship have the power sources in the exact center of the UFO, or equidistant from it when there's several. Which made sense since elerium generates anti-gravity waves and you'd want that affecting the center of gravity evenly lest your ship get snapped in half by conflicting forces.

They were also generally kept out of the way, to the side of the main corridors, presumably so they wouldn't get caught in crossfire so much, but alien ergonomics certainly aren't flawless...

Well, yeah.  I didn't/don't think much about the physics of the things.  I just like the variety and having different situations to deal with each time rather than assaulting the exact same ship for the 100th time this month.

95

Work In Progress / Re: Weaker psychics ruleset-does it actually exist?

« on: August 15, 2013, 02:25:19 pm »

Can't you change this in the ruleset under soldiers/maxstats/psiStrength?

96

Work In Progress / Re: UFO upgrades

« on: August 15, 2013, 08:17:55 am »

I believe there is a "hole" in one of the inner walls on one of your Large Scouts.  When you open the door, you can see into the center room.  Maybe it's intentional, but it doesn't look like it should be.

Thanks.  Really enjoy the variety in the ships and looking forward to when you can complete the set.

97

Suggestions / Re: Damage/AoE as separated values in Ruleset?

« on: August 15, 2013, 06:25:25 am »

Cool.  Thanks for the help.

98

Suggestions / Re: Damage/AoE as separated values in Ruleset?

« on: August 14, 2013, 07:40:59 am »

What's the default blast radius for a Stun Bomb?  It isn't defined in the ruleset as far as I can tell.

Thanks.

99

Playthroughs / Re: Lets Play Open Xcom with RANGED ACCURACY TURNED ON... MOTHER OF GOD!

« on: August 12, 2013, 07:01:47 am »

Watched a bunch of your videos including the base defense.  To be honest, I can't watch any more because I get motion sick watching them.  Too much bouncing around.  I'm sure the scrolling issue doesn't help that.  That problem will go away if you upgrade to a nightly build of the game.  I had the problem with 0.9 also.

You don't help yourself any by not paying more attention to the equip screen at the beginning of a mission.  Aside from having too much junk laying around, you consistently equip soldiers with weapons without ammo, or overload your soldiers.  A badly overloaded soldier is a dead soldier, unless they just never make it to the battle, which is the other likely outcome.  I can understand that takes a lot of time, so perhaps you could do it off-camera if you're trying to save air time.

FWIW, there were no Blaster Launchers present at the base defense.  What you identified as  a Blaster Launcher was actually a Small Launcher.  In OXC, I've seen aliens kill more of themselves with Blaster Bombs than my own soldiers, but that or more Cyberdiscs probably would have been a world of pain.  While I set up my bases similarly, I actually am starting to believe it makes base defenses too easy.  I can generally easily defend a base with 10 rookies given a similar setup.  Also, the lack of psi was also likely due to 0.9.  Psi is more dangerous in the recent nightly builds.

FWIW

100

Released Mods / Re: Tyran_nick's mods

« on: August 10, 2013, 06:07:35 pm »

As suggested, two simple rulesets that will remove plasma weapons from the game:

• NoPlasma.rul: Xcom can no longer research plasma technology. Since we do not understand how to use the weapons their price is reduced to 1/3. Good luck...
• NoPlasmaMass.rul: Same as above, but removes plasma dependencies from mass weapons. Human tech replaces need for plasma, but you will need to use elerium like there is no tomorrow!

Great. Thanks.  I couldn't think outside the box enough to figure out how to do it.  I was kind of thinking you'd need to research the entire plasma tree to understand how to do the Mass Accelerator weapons, but perhaps my idea is too severe of a requirement.  As for the high Elerium usage, I had been fiddling with changing the plasma cannons to use Elerium as a fuel anyway, so that works for me.

I'm useless with graphics.  Any chance to re-work the Hovertank/Plasma turret graphic to use the Mass Accelerator cannon?  Can use the same graphic in the interim but it'd be nice to have a new one.

As for the Lightning, it's nice.  I'm not sure the similarity to the Firestorm is much of an issue.  Yes, it's very similar in the base display but that doesn't affect anything.  When accessing it for equipping/loading/intercepting, you use menus with the name, not the graphics, so I don't see it as much of a problem.  However, adjusting the geoscape display would probably be a challenge.  Truth be told, I don't think I've ever used a Lightning anyway, aside from initial curiosity.  Now, if in the process it was made more tank friendly, then it'd hold more appeal to me.

101

Released Mods / Re: Tyran_nick's mods

« on: August 09, 2013, 07:52:28 am »

Firestorm is very cool.  Thanks.

What do you think about making Plasma weapons unusable by X-Com (if it's even possible)?  Wondering if it would really muck things up too much.

102

Open Feedback / Re: Alien/Sectoid Psi attacks

« on: August 09, 2013, 07:46:51 am »

here's my Ruleset, as is.

uhm, Ethereals to start psi. personally I abort ethereal missions until I have psi. Recently i figured i'd be a hero and do a medium ethereal scout -- i did it, but then they pounded one of my bases. They also have a base set up in China and there's no prospect of taking it out..............

I mean, sure they can be taken out; but losses would be 'unacceptable'

Thanks.  Always interesting to see other ideas.  Gave me a few ideas of my own.

103

Open Feedback / Re: Alien/Sectoid Psi attacks

« on: August 09, 2013, 01:49:23 am »

After trying it for mid-game, I ended up strengthening aliens still more (caveat: i'm not fond of psi..). Here's some examples i'm using:


- type: STR_ETHEREAL_COMMANDER
  psiStrength: 137
  psiSkill: 39
- type: STR_ETHEREAL_SOLDIER
  psiStrength: 97
  psiSkill: 37
- type: STR_SECTOID_COMMANDER
  psiStrength: 109
  psiSkill: 42
- type: STR_SECTOID_SOLDIER
  psiStrength: 57
  psiSkill: 0
- type: STR_SNAKEMAN_ENGINEER
  psiStrength: 85
  psiSkill: 0

I'm really interested in trying this out.  Do you have a ruleset of all the stat changes you've made or a table of the values?  Also, what do you think about requiring an Ethereal to start the Psi research rather than a Sectoid Leader?  Maybe the 2 changes combined would nerf it too much?  Thanks.

104

Open Feedback / Re: X-Com reaction fire mechanics

« on: August 09, 2013, 01:39:49 am »

I think reaction fire got rewritten since 0.9, but don't know if the triggering in itself was affected.

It's definitely possible to set up a bunch of guys to guard a door and have them shoot whatever comes out before it can move, just did it myself twice in a row on the same turn with a pair of Reactions 40-50 rookies.

However, keep in mind that if the alien that pops out has high Reactions and/or most of its TUs left, it'll STILL get the jump on your guys, so reaction fire becomes more unlikely as the aliens become better.

Good to hear.  It makes sense that the stronger aliens would get the drop on us.  I can understand the Muton going in and gunning down a soldier, but if you have several soldiers guarding the door, my question is why the surviving soldiers didn't return fire.  Maybe that could be explained if the other rookies had too low of a Reaction stat even though they had full TUs available.

Thanks.

105

Open Feedback / Re: X-Com reaction fire mechanics

« on: August 08, 2013, 02:48:03 pm »

I haven't been able to set up the original scenario, but I did start a new game with the latest build and in the first terror mission, I did get reaction shots on Reapers trying to approach me and the like armed with Laser Pistols.  So, it's not like I don't see any reaction fire; I'm just wondering if it's something peculiar to the type of situation indicated above.  I'm wondering if it's pointless to guard doorways like that and need to come up with some different tactics.  Or, maybe things have significantly changed since 0.9 and now it is more effective.

Thanks.