Messages

16

XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N7 16-Dec-2023 Flying Tiger, Hidden Tentacle

« on: April 17, 2024, 10:02:18 pm »

Now, now, catgirls are cool and useful and cute, and I love them, but there's no way in hell I'd consider them on par with ubers, much less better. Sure, they have good vision and combat stats, but they're hard to compare with uber fighting machines who are just as killy and also: Just. Keep. Going.

Ogres are a more serious competition for Gals, and by this point I consider them essential. But I wouldn't say they're that much "better" than Gals.

In my opinion, only Synths are certainly better than Gals (though not in every task). Not counting Chorts and such.

17

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

« on: April 16, 2024, 12:29:38 pm »

Minor bug: human-made laser smg has bulletsprite of a bullet, not beam.

Heh, indeed. Thanks!

18

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.2: The Colors of Sin

« on: April 14, 2024, 09:33:36 pm »

Because right now, I can only do the 'make 0-turn grenades' submod. But there's the argument (supported by several people chiming in and a bunch of gameplay footage) that most players might want this as the default, necessitating changes in XCF itself, and then I'd make the other submod to let those people keep their cake.

Ah, okay, I understand.

Well, it's a hard question. One idea what should be done, if anything, is forcing 0 turn on some of the "classic" grenades, like the basic black grenade. Leaving the timer (annoying or useful, doesn't matter) for more "advanced" explosives. But don't know if it's a good idea, it's just a thought.

If you have information to the contrary, or dislike 0-turn grenades and thus don't want them in the mod, do tell.

On the contrary, I like them. Just never made them.

Warning, rant incoming!

I see and understand your points, but I still disagree. Instant grenades break the flow of battle. It's hard to put into words, but they make the game worse.

19

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.2: The Colors of Sin

« on: April 14, 2024, 11:08:38 am »

Would this be a 'revert to timer-grenades' submod, or a 'make 0-turn grenades' submod? Because the thing here is that so far, evidence suggests people very rarely use timers different from 0. So it would seem to make sense to make a submod for the minority, and have the parent mod cater to the majority.

Up to you. Why ask me? You know best what you want.

Eh, I beg to differ. The big cheat has always been that you can throw grenades across the map, and rookies do it with far, far better accuracy than they can shoot rifles with. This and 'non-instant' grenades have somehow become really ingrained among X-Com players, even to the point of dogma. And that's despite virtually every other squad-level game I've ever played having the equivalent of instant grenades (if it had grenades in the first place, of course). And I've played quite a few.

The cheat lies in that you immediately know if your grenade has eliminated the enemy or not, as opposed to having to wait until next turn. This largely eliminates the need to use shooting weapons (exxcept in buildings and forests), which invalidates the entire X-Com mechanic.

Finally, we already have grenade launchers, which are basically instant grenades with a weight/inventory space tradeoff. So, in a sense, we already have instant grenades, and it's a bit schizophrenic to have to justify instant and non-instant versions at the same time.
[/quote]

Yes, there are intended instant grenades, but they're balanced for this role. Normal grenades are not.

How do I know (or guess) which these are?

You obviously can't, if you don't know the faction/mission, but they are generally very rare (endgame excluded).

20

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

« on: April 14, 2024, 11:02:55 am »

Also, wondering, do you have any tools or scripts like python to automatically scan through your mod and update specific things across the code?

No, I am not a coder. I use "replace all" sometimes (but not often, I want to see what I'm changing).

And how do track and make changes like determining the cost ration for production, manufacturing, income, expense for soldiers, facilities, engineers, weapon damage range balance, etc. or do you just all manually? maybe with an excel spreadsheet?

Yes, I use Excel spreadsheets with formulas for many of these things.

21

XPiratez / Re: Everyday is Caturday Challenge Run

« on: April 13, 2024, 01:46:31 pm »

Here's "my" 2 minutes silly tribute to the LP. Saint Catgirl, deliver us!
(Generated with Stable Diffusion, arthemyComics model)

22

Tools / Re: WORLD.DAT editor by Volutar

« on: April 12, 2024, 02:16:03 pm »

Is it ok for the attachment to cointain what it looks to be an original WORLD.DAT asset? Perhaps replacing it with a dummy WORLD.DAT would be better and let the user copy over the one in their installation.

This is what Volutar distributed in his original release, the archive has not been changed in any way.

I don't think it's an issue, since it's not a resource per se, but I'm not really a person to ask.

EDIT: Added a link to Volutar's original page.

23

Fan-Stuff / Re: Vegetation Earth map

« on: April 12, 2024, 01:16:36 pm »

Since Volutar's link is no longer valid, I have reuploaded the World.dat editor here (with supSuper's permission).

Volutar, if you have an issue with that, please let me know and I will remove it.

24

Tools / WORLD.DAT editor by Volutar

« on: April 12, 2024, 01:15:15 pm »

Reuploading Volutar's excellent tool for editing Geoscape polygons, since his old link is no longer viable.

More details here: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=User:Volutar

25

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 3.2: The Colors of Sin

« on: April 12, 2024, 01:03:25 pm »

A simple solution would be to make an 'official' submod that either removes the timer or puts it back, depending on which population of mod players gets the upper hand.

Feel free to make it, if you like. I would prefer to focus on other stuff myself, but I totally don't mind if someone else does it.

Moreover, I propose adding 'isExplodingInHands: true' to most if not all grenades, to discourage the excessive pre-priming mentioned by psavola in the thread the quoted post came from. As I recall, Solarius isn't a fan of pre-priming, either.

Good initiative. :>

I have a solution. what if both existed?
by that I mean have two grenade types, one is a timer based design, the other is a normal pin based grenade.

I'm against it; that would mean a lot more items just for one option. Substandard design, I'm afraid.

Loving this mod.

Thank you!

I notice these OXC options are disabled / purple:

• Allow Psi-Strength Improvement
• Instant Grenades

Could you expand a little on why they're unavailable?

The first is completely against the established x-Com canon (and would ruin the balance), and the other is a brutish cheat (which ruins the balance even more).

It's kind of disappointing in my current playthrough - I rolled a lot of early soldiers with low PSI strength who have now been on 50+ missions and I'd love a path to salvage them so I don't need to sack half my crew.

Frankly, I don't quite understand the logic behind sacking such soldiers. I've never done this, even in vanilla. Just don't take low psi agents on missions with psionic enemies, there aren't many of them. Also, this is exactly why Blood Boosting exists: to make use of agents who are naturally poor at psionics.
Psi Strength is an important factor which must remain outside of the player's direct control, else all agents will have the same optimal career path.

Also, I really recommend using the Apocalypse-style equipment assignment, it really saves time and helps keep things in order. But it's a matter of taste.

26

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

« on: April 12, 2024, 12:29:32 pm »

Does anyone know what would you need to do to edit the globe land values to enable Easter Island as a land location to build on?  could that be a mod or would the original DOS files need an edit?

You need a program called "worlddat", made by Volutar. Unfortunately the only link to it I could find is dead. I have it, but I'm not sure if it's OK to redistribute it - I will try to find out.

EDIT: Got the permission, you can now find the program here.

27

The X-Com Files / Re: [Submod] Stealth armours

« on: April 12, 2024, 12:20:08 pm »

That is one sexy suit. Is it a separate mod? Where can it be found?

It has been integrated with the main mod and will be featured in the next release.
As always, you can simply download the current unreleased version from https://github.com/SolariusScorch/XComFiles/archive/refs/heads/master.zip - it usually works just fine.

28

XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N7 16-Dec-2023 Flying Tiger, Hidden Tentacle

« on: April 11, 2024, 01:39:01 pm »

Isn't it the option to start training as soon as the soldier is healed?

29

The X-Com Files / Re: [Submod] Stealth armours

« on: April 10, 2024, 08:05:42 pm »

Alright, appreciated. I noticed there's also a new 'Prowler' armour that's also somewhat stealthy. Less than the Shadow Suit, but with better vision and stat boosts.

Yep, bullshit keeps rolling in

30

OXCE Suggestions NEW / [Suggestion] UFO spawned when mission site expires

« on: April 10, 2024, 07:59:08 pm »

I would like to make a request.

The feature:
If a mission site (such as a terror mission) is not resolved by victory (battle won by X-Com) before it expires, or if X-Com loses this battle, a UFO spawns at the same location.
This UFO and its trajectory is defined in alienDeployments.
If the trajectory not specified, the UFO should do the "GTFO into space" manoeuvre.

The justification:
It would expand a modder's tools, allowing for new ways of mission presentation.

A simple example: Alien Abduction. Instead of vanilla, each Abductor now generates a mission site. This mission site (battle) contains the UFO and its crew, as well as some civilians to harass and whatever you want. If you lose this mission, or you don't go at all, it vanishes, spawning an Abductor which then leaves the planet.

Thanks, and I hope that this request is not too silly or anything.