Messages

451

Programming / Centering X-hairs on the minimap

« on: August 03, 2013, 07:47:25 am »

the 1x1px offset was really bothering me, so I tracked down the code and this works:

Battlescape/MiniMapView.cpp, ~line 150+

Code: [Select]

drawLine(centerX - CELL_WIDTH -1, centerY - CELL_HEIGHT -1,
centerX - xOffset -1, centerY - yOffset -1,
color); https:// top left
drawLine(centerX + xOffset -1, centerY - yOffset -1,
centerX + CELL_WIDTH -1, centerY - CELL_HEIGHT -1,
color); https:// top right
drawLine(centerX - CELL_WIDTH -1, centerY + CELL_HEIGHT -1,
centerX - xOffset -1, centerY + yOffset -1,
color); https:// bottom left
drawLine(centerX + CELL_WIDTH -1, centerY + CELL_HEIGHT -1,
centerX + xOffset -1, centerY + yOffset -1,
color); https:// bottom right
If someone with git-fu would like to toss it into a nightly build Pls do. All those "-1"s are yours truly,

452

Open Feedback / Re: Do aliens reserve TUs for reaction fire even when they shouldn't?

« on: August 01, 2013, 07:02:25 am »

i Think there's something wrong with the AI. They are, as you say, far too kind. The reaction fire is deadly; and I like the firing algorithm... but come their turn they stand there like dummies, similar to what I heard about 'overwatch freeze' in the remake. They apparently can't decide what to do when soldiers are watching them

suggestion:
if uninjured, fire at closest/least armored/highest ranking soldier, or throw grenade (do psi if applicable)
if injured, based on 'aggression', run for cover or choose above,


I loved it in the original when they had a clear shot but instead scurried away, it left me thinking "what the... WHAT ARE THEY DOING THAT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN SHOOTING MY DUDES!!1" it was spooky.



Latest: my guys were right around a corner (2nd floor Abductor) from the Floater Leader armed w/ plasma rifle. I snuck a guy in behind him and gave it a stun but it stayed up (and didn't react if poss.). End turn and it floated around the corner, moving only 2 tiles, and then stood there staring at another three of us... gave it another stun & it dropped.

( faceful of hot plasma, pls. _~

453

Open Feedback / Re: questions about stats... and many more

« on: July 31, 2013, 02:55:11 am »

edit your options.cfg in your home directory (or wherever it is) and set "captureMouse" to "true"

woohoo! It works for me with the recent git-build,

454

Open Feedback / Re: Do aliens reserve TUs for reaction fire even when they shouldn't?

« on: July 30, 2013, 04:32:24 pm »

Recent mission: sectoid wasted its turn just standing outside the UFO door (it might well have been injured), doing nothing for its full turn when it could/should have been plugging away at my tank and a solder that were in LoS. (or ducking in the UFO door if injured/low aggression)

just a heads-up; we were def. in a firefight, it injured my tank on *its* previous turn ( ie, not by reaction ). On my turn, I froze my tank and soldier then lobbed a grenade from an unseen location; that's when it likely got injured. Then during its turn it just stood there staring at us, didn't even seem to move. So i lobbed a second grenade...

455

Programming / "TraceAI" in options.Cfg ?

« on: July 29, 2013, 01:51:48 am »

I notice that when creating an options.cfg file, the setting "traceAI" gets written twice. Slightly differently, tho:

traceAI: false
TraceAI: ""


- thought i'd mention it in case it's one of those things... The first appears when the game is loaded and immediately closed; the second appears only after loading a tactical save map, then closed.

( don't want to classify it as a bug, but figure this is the place to speak up. Recent git )



-> did some hunting and, as far as i see, "traceAI" gets set in Engine/Options.cpp, createDefault() with the rest of the config settings, and gets used several times in battle-code. "TraceAI", on the other hand, presently seems confined to only Battlescape\Map.cpp, Map::Map() when a condition is tested.... <- just dabbling there, but it looks like "TraceAI" is obsolete

456

Work In Progress / Re: Enhanced Sectopod

« on: July 28, 2013, 01:20:12 am »

tip about all this: i keep a notepad open in the background while playing. Whenever I get an impression or make a decision about a ruleset change, make a note of it. Then go through the list and try to implement them after each session

for me, this really cuts down on egregious errors, and over time a give&take 'balance' just seems to appear.

457

Work In Progress / Re: Enhanced Sectopod

« on: July 27, 2013, 04:37:41 pm »

At one point, there were 3 of them bunched up and I threw 5 Alien Grenades in the middle of them (instant explode), and they didn't even care.  But, yeah, those high stats were pretty painful, especially the reactions

uh, before I striked ~50% above, i did some math:

BL, 185 * 0.65 - 96 = ~24 pts.
AG, 90 * 0.8 - 90 = n/a

i'm just kinda making those figures up ( ave.damage * he-resistance - underarmor = damage ). Note that HE does 50-150% ave.dam. At best i figure a standard alien grenade can do 18 pts damage to yer local Sectopod, with about a 70% no damage at all.

Edit: in the original each square took damage. Wouldn't surprise me if this is ironed out in oXc and dam is applied only once.

What are your thoughts on balancing them with the Heavy Laser?  I did bring 2 in my battle (every one else had laser rifles along with their plasma weapons which is probably not a good idea for the future), and they can bring them down, but it takes about 2-4 shots to do so.  I turned my Heavy Laser into more of a Laser Sniper System to follow up from the conventional Sniper Rifle mod:

  - type: STR_HEAVY_LASER
    power: 85
    damageType: 4
    accuracySnap: 70
    accuracyAimed: 170
    tuSnap: 33
    tuAimed: 75

I've been relatively happy with them.  At least there's a reason to use them now.

Laser rifles could be pretty good if you're getting side & rear shots. I've boosted my Heavy lasers to take on the frontal armor ( i could stand dropping it a half-dozen pts. ) but partly balanced this against TUs. I notice we both increased accuracy

  - type: STR_HEAVY_LASER
    weight: 19
    power: 122
    damageType: 4
    accuracySnap: 72
    accuracyAimed: 107
    tuSnap: 40
    tuAimed: 66

plasma is useless & just gets somebody killed

BTW, what does alien "aggression" stat do?  I believe I read that "intelligence" is how long the unit remembers where you are, but have no idea about "aggression".

The only thing i can say for sure about aggression is that in the original, a value of "2" got them trotting out the UFO door on turn 20. I assume in oXc it might determine something like how quickly they run for cover when injured...

458

Work In Progress / Re: Enhanced Sectopod

« on: July 27, 2013, 08:07:22 am »

great idea. But i think they'd have to be coded as new alien races, even if their names stayed the same and only the colors and their stats change

 


Or... can these pseudo-ranks be created and deployed in the ruleset ...?

459

Work In Progress / Re: Enhanced Sectopod

« on: July 27, 2013, 07:37:26 am »

frontArmor: 153
sideArmor: 137
rearArmor: 116
underArmor: 96
damageModifier:
- 1.0 #none
- 0.86 #ap
- 0.43 #in
- 0.65 #he
- 1.43 #laser
- 0.87 #plasma
- 0.0 #stun
- 0.7 #melee
- 1.0 #acid
- 0.0 #smoke

tu: 62
stamina: 90
health: 105
bravery: 110
reactions: 64
firing: 60
throwing: 0
strength: 90
psiStrength: 200
psiSkill: 0
melee: 80

intelligence: 4
aggression: 2

- type: SECTOPOD_WEAPON
power: 123
damageType: 5
accuracyAuto: 47
accuracySnap: 86
accuracyAimed: 119
tuAuto: 46
tuSnap: 37
tuAimed: 67


- am using these stats w/ Genius multipliers. Nothing very special, I like to just nudge things and haven't gotten to alien tu/stamina/reactions/firing yet. The point to keep in mind, though, is balancing it against your Heavy Laser etc! (and i will pull out early if i forget to bring one two).

Reactions & FA strike me as the big two, but i myself wouldna like to go as high as 80/100...


if BlasterLauncher power is lowered to 185, these guys survive direct hits ~50% a lot

460

Open Feedback / Re: *gasp* It's so beautiful!

« on: July 26, 2013, 11:22:50 pm »

/heh

i think i'll push it back up to "2"

461

Open Feedback / Re: *gasp* It's so beautiful!

« on: July 26, 2013, 03:16:12 pm »

you know ... the more i look into C++

I wonder why they didn't hire you guys for the xcom remake; oh yeah, those dacqueris on Maui would have tasted bitter.


still a few quirks but oXc just stuns me, Tu!!

- threw an HE pack into the center of an urban warehouse to flush 'em out: blew a hole in the roof

462

Suggestions / Re: Kneeling

« on: July 25, 2013, 12:30:22 am »

i guess it could alternate between (a) standing soldier and (b) kneeling soldier

same hues, same res. A slightly less complicated option is simply draw a highlight of some sort around the button, perhaps the appearance of it depressed yeh.


heck, i'd be happy with hot pink "KNEELING" flashing up in the corner when the soldier is selected ( uh no, not really )


Edit: I just noticed there's already a standing figure for inventory. So, an alternate to depressing the button could be to just ghost it blank.

(or change the inventory icon to a rifle or something..)

/anyway, am thinking too much about this.

463

Suggestions / Re: Kneeling

« on: July 24, 2013, 03:05:11 pm »

I wonder if an overlay can be added to the UI. The button has a standing figure on the left and a kneeling one on the right; perhaps ghost out the figure that represents a soldier's current pose, 'melting' it somewhat into the tan hues of the button itself. This'd leave the dark figure more noticeable, meaning "push button, do that"

464

Troubleshooting / Re: Elerium issue

« on: July 22, 2013, 11:23:55 am »

i suggest you download one of the recent git-builds. I got my first dose of Elerium recently and it showed on the mission summary, tho you might have to start a new game

465

Work In Progress / Re: Geoscape menu

« on: July 21, 2013, 07:43:56 am »

bingo.

- copied english.geo (and englishuk.geo) to my xcom/geodata folder, renamed them to lang1.dat (and lang2.dat) and let BB's toolkit 'convmisc' turn them to .Gifs. Edit*. 'convmisc' them back to .Dat files, then copy them back into oxc/Language and rename them back to english.geo (& englishuk.geo)

* then save Gif as type87a ( non interlaced )



presenting, 0xC w/ modified Geoscape panel