Topics

1

The X-Com Files / Promotion II

« on: October 27, 2023, 11:54:00 pm »

One thing I'd like to see improved is the progression to Promotion II. I think Promotion II is when X-Com Files really kicks off, but it's highly dependent on luck / randomness. In both my last 2 games, I basically stalled out before getting Promotion II, and almost ran out of things to research. It feels like the Cult Network and the Cool Alien gadget requirements are the most problematic requirements.

In my current game, I literally had 0 EXALT Safehouse missions until December, even though I got EXALT researched in January or February (lots of boring cult apprehension missions for EXALT though). I'm not sure what's the best way to fix this, but perhaps guaranteeing Safehouse missions after a certain month could help.

In a different game, I couldn't for the life of me fulfill Cool Alien Gadget until around the same time. I think Cool Alien Gadget is particularly kind of problematic. I get the intent -- you get something cool in your stores, and you want to hire a chief researcher to study all this cool stuff. However, the requirements for researching almost all of the items in the list either directly or indirectly depends on having the Lab, which requires having the researcher in the first place. 95% of the time you end up researching a PsiClone, which is closely related to the EXALT Safehouse requirement, and the item itself is hardly that cool.

I thought it's the case that in the latest OXCE versions, it's possible to check your base stores for specific items? Perhaps it's possible to check your base stores for a "cool item" (excluding PsiClones, as they're not that cool), and from that, generate an event that gives you the "Cool Alien Gadget" tech, kind of like how you have the character intros at the beginning of the game? The "hire researcher" task could be made more expensive to compensate for not having to research the item itself.

2

Suggestions / UI addition: Remaining TUs when pressing ALT

« on: September 22, 2023, 08:01:51 am »

Here's a QoL / time saving idea I've been kicking around. I'm pretty knowledgeable myself when it comes to writing software, so it might be something I take a stab at if folks think it could help.

Basically when pressing ALT, in addition to showing facing, also draw a small bubble above each of your soldiers, which shows approximate remaining TUs. My mock-up below shows what I mean. The color coding should be something like green: >=50% TUs, Yellow 4-49% TUs, Red < 4 TUs (basically no time to do any movement). The bubble should also be partially filled based on remaining TUs (e.g. a half bubble means 50% TUs)

I think it can really help save time if you're looking for a soldier with TUs to fire at an enemy without resorting to clicking on each of them.

Bonus: when holding ALT, also show the TU bubbles of off-screen soldiers on the edges of the screen. This can help you when you're checking to see if anyone still has TUs remaining before the end of the turn.

3

The X-Com Files / Does anyone else love the early game ?

« on: September 19, 2023, 09:57:19 am »

Is there anyone else here who absolutely loves the early game stuff and prefers it to the late game stuff? For me, arresting cultists, shooting a bunch of zombies, and occasionally encountering that tough alien with just a handful of agents using mostly conventional firearms is really fun and intriguing. I just find it fresh and exciting to be working as a shadowy organization to uncover what's hidden. Everything also just has an air of believability to it all.

I actually would love to stay behind the scenes, and keep doing clandestine operations all the while X-Com the military organization is fighting an interstellar war against the alien threat.

Later on, you're traversing into the bottom of the ocean, going to Dimension X, dealing with the underground lizard-people, all while fighting off aliens in your advanced hybrid alien craft and wielding a multitude of sci-fi weapons and armor. That's cool and all, yet it's still not as compelling as the early stuff.

4

OXCE Support Y-scripts / [Answered] Any way to tell what facing was hit?

« on: January 08, 2021, 10:18:58 am »

Like in the way of debug logs or so on (I don't mind reading off a text file log or something)? I've been playing X-Com and various mods on and off for many years, but since playing the latest OXCE with X-Com Files, I feel like my soldiers' side armors are getting hit way more when I'm facing the target (even when it's zero-offset directly in front). Just being slightly higher than the enemy (1 elevation higher, but many tiles away) results in the under armor getting hit often.

I'm aware that at times, your sides can get hit even when getting shot from the front, but I feel that lately, it happens way more often than it used to. I also realize that there's a certain amount of confirmation bias at play here (if I get hit but don't get hurt, it probably hit the front armor, and it wouldn't have damaged the armor, so I can't tell where it hit). Still, it'd be nice to be able to see and confirm this. If there isn't a way yet, but it can be done with a relatively simple script, I can probably figure it out if someone points me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

5

Open Feedback / Aliens too passive?

« on: January 16, 2014, 03:56:06 am »

Hi all, I've been playing the nightly build (1/11 build), and one thing I've noticed is that the aliens barely do anything at the strategic level.

I've played all the way to June at the veteran difficulty, and it seems like the only thing I encounter are Floater scout UFOs. I see Sectoids now and then (scouts mostly), had one Snakeman terror mission, and 0 encounters with Mutons whatsoever.

Other than a Floater battleship on retaliation mission that flies around Asia (not very close to my base), I think I've only seen 2 medium sized UFOs (abductor class). In addition, I think I've only seen a UFO landed once (and it took off before I could assault it).

Pretty much the only missions I see aliens doing are research, abduction and terror. I haven't seen a single UFO on infiltration or base (might have been one on harvest, but not sure). I took a look at my save games, and it pretty much bears out what I said above -- nothing but sectoid and floater research/abduction/retaliation missions and 1 snakeman terror mission.

Maybe I've been just lucky to not get tons of infiltration and other missions, but it just feels like in the original X-Com the aliens are way more aggressive (or at least diverse) with their mission types. Basically, in my game, I'm bored -- I've researched almost everything, but barely have any elerium to build stuff, and I haven't even had the chance to capture a psionic sectoid to start my psi project.