Topics

136

Work In Progress / How to make Plasma Beam consume Elerium?

« on: February 15, 2014, 06:32:31 pm »

Hello,

As an attempt to balance aircraft weapons just a little, I tried to make Plasma Beam consume Elerium-115 as ammo. I didn't want to make special clips, I just wanted 1 shot cost 1 Elerium (so fully charging the weapon would take 100 Elerium).

What I have is:

craftWeapons:
  - type: STR_PLASMA_BEAM_UC
    clip: STR_ELERIUM_115
items:
  - type: STR_PLASMA_BEAM
    clipSize: 100

Sadly, whatever I do, it doesn't seem to work. If I have no E-115 on base, it says the cannon cannot be charged; howev er, if I do, no Elerium is used. Changing clipSize to 1 doesn't seem to change anything either.

Now, can Elerium be used as ammo directly? Or do I need to make some sort of big plasma cannon clip?

137

Released Mods / [ALIEN INVENTORY] Item Levels more variability

« on: February 11, 2014, 08:12:42 pm »

This very simple mod makes the aliens retain all three tiers of weapons throughout the game. In the vanilla version, they quickly switch to using exclusively Heavy Plasma Guns, which is kinda monotonous.
Bear in mind that in later months Heavy Plasma still dominates; Plasma Pistols and Plasma Rifles are less common, but they do show up.

An up-to-date version always here: https://www.openxcom.com/mod/item-levels

I realize that this mod is trivial, but still it would benefit those who (like me) would like to see more variability in alien weapons and don't know how to do it themselves. Still, if you think this doesn't deserve being called a "completed mod", feel free to delete/move it.

In the future I might use this mod as a basis for additional alien weapons (hand-held Plasma Cannon anyone?).

EDIT: I've added a Plasma Sniper Rifle to the alien inventory, enjoy!

EDIT: I've decided to drop the Plasma Sniper Rifle from this mod and make it a new one. This mod will be kept clean - just retaining of old weapons (for people who don't want new stuff). For the new version with added weapons, see my Alien Armoury Expanded mod.

138

Released Mods / [WEAPON] Dart Rifle

« on: February 10, 2014, 12:40:53 pm »

This mod adds a new weapon to the Open X-Com game: a dart rifle that shoots tranquillizing darts. It is an attempt on the X-Com's side to develop a ranged non-lethal weapon before Small Launchers come around. It needs to be researched, but the only prerequisite is finished autopsy of any alien. The dart rifle's combat parameters are unimpressive, but hey, at least you don't have to stick this Stun Rod down that Chryssalid's throat any more!



The sprites (Harpoon Gun, naturally) were ripped from TFTD by Dioxine. Not that I couldn't do it myself, mind you.

An up-to-date version always here: https://www.openxcom.com/mod/dart-rifle-mod

EDIT: now with three different clips! Each consecutive one is harder to research and more potent.

EDIT: fixed a research glitch.

EDIT: Added more languages, fixed a manufacturing bug. Update here, because the mod site is still down.

EDIT: Re-uploaded the mod since the old one was clashing. Updated to the new mod system.

139

Work In Progress / Hybrid game

« on: February 05, 2014, 10:10:32 am »

Many people request a "hybrid game" by combining elements of UFO: Enemy Unknown and TFTD. In my opinion, the only way it'd work would be to make a complete merge of these games, also on the level of mechanics and storyline. Basically:

• When a UFO is shot over water, it isn't destroyed; you can recover it with Aquanauts.
• X-Com has both aircraft and subs. Only subs can go on underwater missions, but they can't fly (it's 1999 after all). Therefore you need separate underwater bases for the subs.
• TFTD aliens and UFOs probably wouldn't fly, they're just navy. Otherwise some aliens (Tentaculats, Hallucinoids etc.) would die if the UFO crashes on land.
• What about the ending - would you go for Cydonia, T'leth, or both? This needs to be decided/planned.

To sum up, I'd absolutely love the idea, but it would be quite demanding. Still, I think it's perfectly doable by our team.

140

Released Mods / [ARMOR] Jump Armour

« on: January 31, 2014, 10:09:09 pm »

Jump Armour mod 1.3

Ever since I started playing the original game back in 1997, it has always bothered me that Floaters use compact, efficient anti-gravity units, yet X-Com doesn't use this technology at all, before the Flying Suit anyway (which is irrelevant to Floaters). I thought it would be cool if we could use these devices to our ends instead of selling them for $20000 along with the rest of the corpse. Now, in 2014, I can finally make this dream come true, and share it with all of you!

An up-to-date version always here: https://www.openxcom.com/mod/jump-armour

Jump Armour is a modified Personal Armour with a working Floater anti-gravity unit installed. The tactical advantage gained from its flying capabilities is obvious, even though it offers less protection than the basic design, as it needs to remain light (Floaters aren't massive, and therefore their flying devices aren't very strong). It only costs 3 Alien Alloys instead of 4, but a Floater corpse is also required as a raw material. The research requires Personal Armor, UFO Navigation (as it needs advanced controls) and, naturally, Floater autopsy.

When I was messing around with sprites, I stumbled on Warboy1982's resources, including his green armour (actually a recoloured armour from X-Com: Terror from the Deep). With Warboy's permission, I used his (slightly tweaked) sprites to save myself a lot of work. I think the end result looks decent. Thanks, man!



Please note it's not as extensively tested as it should be (even though it should work fine), so any feedback is much appreciated.

EDIT: Slight technical update, see readme for details.

EDIT: Sprites now combined into a single sheet, using this tool made by Falko. Now it's smaller and hopefully faster.

EDIT: This armour is now featured in Clownagent's Grav Armour mod. It includes my Jump Armour, but also a Grav Module which is just a flying backpack and is available before the Alien Alloys are researched. It also uses IMHO better sprites, more consistent with the Personal Armour design, but if you want the green version, use the Jump Armour graphics.

141

Suggestions / Remember active base when in Geoscape

« on: January 25, 2014, 04:02:04 pm »

I have four X-Com bases: A, B, C, D. I do something in base B, then I leave to the Geoscape screen. But when I click on the "Bases" tab in Geoscape, it always opens base A, not base B.

It would be nice if the game remembered which base was active last, then opened the same base when you click on "Bases". It would save us a lot of clicking, and also some confusion.

Do you think this can be done easily, guys?

142

Released Mods / [WEAPON] Minigun 1.8b

« on: January 24, 2014, 09:06:24 am »

This is my very first project for Open X-Com: a simple weapon mod in the vein of Ryskeliini's works.

It adds a minigun, a human weapon that has a shocking 20 bullet autoshot. While this number may seem totally off the scale, the weapon isn't really overpowered, as the bullets are weak and rather inaccurate; plus the entire thing is heavy and cumbersome as hell. Still, it is fun to mow down trees with hail of ammo, so I hope at least some of you will like it. Also contains a big ammo pack.



All sprites were made by me, although the basic picture was heavily modified from some 3D artwork found on the net (author unknown).

Special thanks to Ryskeliini for his amazing work and providing the weapon sound!

This mod is available on mod.io.

EDIT 1: By popular demand, I added a similar, but lighter version, somewhat based on Warboy's ideas. I don't like the bigob yet, so I'll probably upgrade it soon; for now, enjoy what you have.
Also I admit it was put together in a hurry and not tested as much as I'd like. Please tell me if anything's wrong.

EDIT 2: Added a minigun HWP. For now it looks like the Tank/Cannon, but I'll try to do something about this.

EDIT 3: New sprites for the Light Minigun - courtesy of Wicked Wirtz, who allowed me to use his old X-Com mod: https://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/new-weapons-mod/

EDIT 4: Big changes!

• Added Scatter Laser, which is a "laser minigun". Sprite made by Dioxine, based on Chiko's sprite.
• Nerfed accuracy of all Miniguns by 5.
• Added ammo need for Tank/Minigun (200 bullets max).
• Added Tank/Minigun sprites (new turret).

EDIT 5: Fixes, new translations.

EDIT 6: New upload of the mod, since the old one was clashing with another mod on the page. Updated to the new mod system.

EDIT 7: Now the zip is also here, since reportedly the mod portal is being difficult.

EDIT 8: The portal is dead, dead and dead, so I've moved it the new mod portal (this one is actually good). Long live the king! I also fixed the handobs.