Messages

31

Released Mods / [CRAFT] Firestorm Restyle

« on: October 26, 2013, 02:37:40 am »

Localised for: English (UK), English (US), Español (AL), Español (ES)

Since I've always sort of disliked the plain, rather unimaginative saucer aspect of the default Firestorm, I decided to restyle it to give it a more advanced Terran look. Had to redo the UFOpedia entry text to accommodate the new design, and following the line of other craft, the base sprite takes some liberties when it comes to colours: I chose the Avenger's colour scheme for the Firestorm's new look.

Download the attached package, extract it to your OpenXcom's data folder and enable the FirestormRestyle ruleset in options.cfg. Enjoy!

32

Programming / Re: Look out the window

« on: October 25, 2013, 08:21:01 pm »

Thing is, there's no visible windows on the Skyranger, aside from the canopy.

33

Suggestions / Re: Prevent automatic success of alien bases and alien infiltration missions.

« on: October 25, 2013, 03:37:25 am »

I'm against the reversal of alien pacts. A nation who has allied itself with the aliens has been deeply infiltrated in critical levels, and cannot be considered trustworthy anymore.

However, I'm in favour of being able to stop Alien Infiltration missions in any phase. If X-COM can't pull that off, they deserve to suffer the consequences.

34

Troubleshooting / Re: no opportunity fire

« on: October 24, 2013, 08:16:04 pm »

Yeah, keep in mind X-COM soldiers tend to have average reactions, if that, and having less than full TUs only exacerbates that disadvantage.

35

Released Mods / Re: Sir, the arms dealer has arrived.

« on: October 22, 2013, 08:27:31 pm »

NICE! You seem to have a good grasp of X-COM's isometrics.

I would love you forever if you could mod the standard tracked chassis to be wheeled (say, 3 or 4 wheels on each side) instead, but I realize multi-tile unit graphics are a whole other ball game.

36

Troubleshooting / Re: Problem with modding the starting base inventory

« on: October 22, 2013, 04:12:13 pm »

Unfortunately, in my experience, it's as haphazard as you describe, moriarty. Sometimes only including new values to the modded ruleset works, and sometimes you need to copy over the whole type, including the stuff you didn't touch.

In a few cases of my own, I had modded:

1) ...the Psi-Amp to use 60% TUs instead of 25 fixed TUs (changing flatRate to false in the process). The result was soldiers somehow never having enough TUs to use the item. SupSuper tested it recently and it seemed to work correctly, so it might've been fixed. I preferred to stick to a flatRate of 40 TUs.
2) ...the power of the Hovertank/Plasma's plasma cannon, and added an auto-shot to the Heavy Laser. In both instances, the bullet sprite disappeared. That was fixed in a very recent build. Oddly enough, I had tweaked the damage of the Hovertank/Launcher's Fusion Bomb, and the projectile never vanished.
3) ...the minimum psiStrength and psiSkill for X-COM soldiers (for less sacking micromanagement and easy screening, respectively). Having left all the other stats untouched, they generated in wild amounts, positive and negative, in the hundreds or thousands. I solved the issue copying over the whole soldier generation block, with all the minimums, maximums and caps, just in case.

37

Suggestions / Re: Timer on terror missions

« on: October 21, 2013, 04:11:48 pm »

only transport ships can target terror sites

I'd refine that a bit, since otherwise it goes against the game's mechanic that any craft can target anything: make it so that the disappearance timer only makes its exception when targeted by a transport. You could still target it with fighter craft, but the site would vanish if its duration was up even if there was an interceptor flying towards it.

38

Open Feedback / Re: Alien sight range annoyance

« on: October 20, 2013, 11:42:29 pm »

There's still something off about the edge of sight range as of git_master_2013_10_20_0856.

Could maybe try to experimentally reduce alien sight from 20 to 19 tiles and see how it affects things?

Sight ranges could also be externalized to the ruleset to allow for some soft modding.

39

Suggestions / Re: Timer on terror missions

« on: October 20, 2013, 08:36:57 pm »

Now, if you want to program out that exploit I'd say what needs to happen is this:
First, you CANNOT target the terror site with an interceptor or other craft that can't carry troops.  If you try then you should get a popup that tells you so: "Hey dummy, there's nothing for you to shoot down here.  You need to send troops - and the clock is ticking!"
Second, the VERY FIRST craft that you do legitimately target the terror site with is the ONLY craft that you can target the terror site with.  If you then give that craft an alternate order, sending it home, giving it a new target, etc. the terror site immediately disappears.  This would be the way you want to enforce that clock.  Once you target the site the clock is stopped and the terror site will wait for your troops imminent arrival (whenever that will be) but if you then VOID that by changing your mind... you lose.  Thus you CAN still delay sending troops instantly and TRY to time it for daylight, but once you do start for it you're committed and can't keep it live indefinitely.
Third, you can still theoretically exploit this just a LITTLE bit.  For example, a possibility I thought of is this: A terror site pops up.  You target it with a skyranger that will be coming from the other side of the globe.  That stops the timer, but you can still get there EARLIER with a different troop ship, either something that travels faster or that is launched from a closer base to get there first.  The terror site will be handled by the first troops to actually arrive, but the TIMER is stopped by the first craft to target it and the arrival of that first craft then acts as the "final countdown" to the site disappearing if not reached sooner.

A simpler way would be to let the game keep calculating the hourly terror site disappearing chance, but put the effect on hold as long as the site is targeted by a transport craft. That means the game could decide the site is due for disappearance, but that would only happen if the transport gets new orders.

40

Suggestions / Re: Timer on terror missions

« on: October 20, 2013, 06:59:11 am »

I know there's already a timer for disappearance, but it's very long and is frozen once you've launched. I know I can wait about four-five hours before even thinking about launching a skyranger and I'll get there in time, sometimes almost a day after it started. The timer idea is that you have 4-5 hours including time the skyranger takes to get there,

You also have to keep in mind this might be crippling in the early game, when you just don't have the funds to maintain multiple bases and thrice as many Skyrangers and their corresponding squads. If it's a rather quiet January/February and you missed a terror site because it was on the other side of the world and you couldn't get there in 4-5 hours, it could be a serious blow to your standing with the funding council. Randomly find yourself in the same situation again and you're done for.

41

Suggestions / Re: Timer on terror missions

« on: October 20, 2013, 06:24:42 am »

As it stands, ever since the original, terror sites already disappear within hours (unless they're targeted by an aircraft, but that's not something I exploit). It's very dangerous to try and wait for an optimal launch window given you risk the mission disappearing, and being imposed a hefty 1000-point penalty.

I'm really opposed to a trickling penalty like you describe as an advanced option. However, if it would mainly just force you to maintain multiple skyranger squads and their corresponding equipment and logistical needs, then I'm not sure it would add anything to the game but micromanagement.

42

Released Mods / Re: Sir, the arms dealer has arrived.

« on: October 19, 2013, 10:28:01 pm »

I had toyed with the idea of a wheeled recon "LWP", with more TUs and less armour than the tracked chassis. Probably somewhat cheaper, too. Unfortunately, I was discouraged by the complexity of modding multi-tile unit graphics. Not to mention the fact I'm not all that good at drawing stuff from scratch.

43

Work In Progress / Re: Can I change the position of an item in the Manufacture menu?

« on: October 19, 2013, 09:49:31 pm »

Bump.

Is there any way we can get a listing of all the "LISTORDER" positions for modding?

I second that, since it's often necessary to know where's what to give a listOrder to something you created.

44

Offtopic / Re: beginner's question

« on: October 19, 2013, 09:31:11 pm »

Personally, I've modded the Heavy Laser to give it a 40% accuracy, 40% TUs auto-shot option. I felt it was missing.

45

Open Feedback / Re: Alien sight range annoyance

« on: October 19, 2013, 04:22:04 pm »

Perhaps, we are talking about issue like this: https://openxcom.org/bugs/openxcom/issues/332

Coincidentally, I was in a forest mission as well, taking cover among trees, and the firing Sectoid was close to a hillside when I spotted it a turn later.

Might be related!