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Messages - Edrick

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31
Suggestions / Re: SHIELDS. A new take on the old problem.
« on: September 17, 2014, 05:14:19 pm »
Well, I support the shield idea. Many, many possibilities.
And, come to think of it, lasguns, plas(tas)teel, shields, somebody around here is a big fan of Dune?

32
Suggestions / Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« on: September 12, 2014, 04:57:45 pm »
Well, I'd love to see a Dieselpunk/Diesel Weird War mod from you, Dioxine ;)


33
Suggestions / Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« on: September 08, 2014, 02:34:10 pm »
I must admit, the "Alien Prohibition Agency" sounds groovie. Of course, shady organizations dealing with aliens in the 20's will invariably steer to Cthulhu Mythos-esque aliens. But, hey, didn't the police carry out a raid in Innsmouth at the end of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"? Now imagine X-Com fighting against Deep One hordes and Shoggoths in urban terrain. Sounds good to me.

The "special mission" idea presents an immediate problem: what if my craft gets downed by enemy UFO fire? Game over? Only way I can think of this working would be if there were no UFOs, or they were inoffensive.

And how stupid not to think of that before. Zeppelins. The aerial capability problem is solved with zeppelins. Make the game happen in 1912. Certain German Zeppelins in 1916 could reach speeds up to 103 km/h. Boost that speed a bit and the problem is solved -only that the protected area by a X-Com base would be a lot less. That requires setting several bases across the world to offer decent coverage. And UFOs would have to adapt to these low speeds as well. And aerial combat with a Zeppelin would be impossible. So, either slow and inoffensive UFOs, no UFOs at all (they land as soon as they spawn, remain so for days and then disappear, simulating the landing of a Martian cylinder) or ditch realism altogether and get Skyranger-speeded, ironclad airships.

34
Suggestions / [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« on: September 08, 2014, 12:16:42 pm »
I don’t know if anybody has suggested this before, but here I go.

My suggestion is to make an X-Com mod in which the events of the game take place in 1898, or sometime before the Great War, maybe with some (we’re not talking to stick gears and goggles to everything, we’re talking serious) Steampunk. 

Instead of boasting assault rifles and laser weaponry, the 1898 X-Com soldiers begin the game with single-action revolvers and lever-action rifles (think Colt 1851 Navy revolvers and Winchester rifles) and, as research progresses, they adopt double-barreled shotguns, double-action revolvers and semiautomatic pistols (Webley Mark IV or VI revolvers and Mauser C96, Steyr 1912 or Luger P08 pistols), bolt-action rifles and semiautomatic ones (Gewehr 98 and Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 rifles), lever-action and bullpup shotguns (Winchester 1887 and the Winchester 1897 Trench Gun). For the strongest troopers, machine guns from the era (Maxim, Vickers, Lewis and Hotchkiss MGs. It is impossible for a single man to carry and fire those, but it’s either that or parapets acting as unmovable HWPs) and mortars (also weighing a ton).

HWPs are armoured cars or tanks of that era (something like a shortened Mark British tanks) flamethrowers and gas throwers (as HWPs, essentially wheeled, 2-ton canisters or even as “backpack” canisters for your heavies) or even howitzers from the time (significantly “snubbed” to fit the 2x2 tile space). For more advanced guns, Tesla-esque stuff or adapting the Heat-Ray from Wells’ Tripods or rayguns and whatnot.

Armor, in the form of your basic coveralls, full WWI soldier outfit, which provides very slight protection and, mainly, a bonus to Bravery, bullet-proof vests (I think they were developed in the 1920s, so they fit in context) and some kind of Steampunk or early Dieselpunk power armour.

As other equipment, possibly the very rifles I mentioned before, bayoneted (as in, they get a Snap Shot, an Aimed Shot and a “hit” command, but that limited and unlimited ammo thing sounds odd. Whatever.), cattle prods, to capture aliens (no idea if they were in use at that time), cavalry and officer swords (Drive me closer, I want to hit them with my sword!), and your standard daggers and grenades, in many fun shapes and sizes, baseball bats for the lulz, field medical kits, flares...

On the alien side, instead of our well-known Sectiods and Ethereals, the X-Com-nauts (or whatever) fight against the Hither and Thither people (from the Lieutenant Gullivar Jones book), the Barsoomians (the John Carter saga), be it on foot, mounted in their steeds or with their steeds doubling as Reapers, the Tripods from Wells’ War of the Worlds, the Selenites from The First Men on the Moon and/or from the early film A Trip to The Moon, and the Séronis from Out of the Silent Planet (and whose description mysteriously resembles the race the Tripods use as food... coincidence?). If I’m not mistaken, I recall the Séronis having some kind of “telekinetic powers”, so there you got your Psionics and your new Ethereals. I’m not an expert on science fiction of that time, so I’m sure many other alien races could be found. Pre-Soviet or early Soviet sci-fi come to mind. 

How would the interception and troop deployment mechanics? No idea. While airborne warfare began in WWI, paratroopers or airborne troop carriers were not used until WWII. Maybe the aliens arrive instead crashing in cylinders, like in the War of the Worlds. So, you only get Alien Bases (crash sites) and Terror Sites (crash site in a city). Just an (unlikely) option.

I haven’t the slightest idea about pixel art or programming or OXC’s engine, so effectively this is just a sterile idea. I’ll leave it here, waiting for a benevolent soul to come...

35
Released Mods / Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.83 - 06 Sep
« on: September 07, 2014, 04:51:46 pm »
I must say I like the game more and more after each update. However...
- Bug: using version 0.83 with the latest nightly build, I get palette problems in any battle: everything is purple and black-coloured. Strangest of all, it seems this only happens in the area near my ship.
- Moar bugs: the game crashes when I try to do anything with Large Living Quarters or Large Vaults, that is, trying to look at their Bootypaedia entries or building them. Only thing I can do fine is researching LLQ, but there is a crash as well when clicking View Report.
- Sprites: while I adore the sprite changes on laser guns, I think the Heavy Plasma Pistol sprite looks like a Plasma Holdout sprite, and not like the “most powerful handgun in the universe”.
- Sprites: the Electro-Sword sprite could be improved by working on the Tesla Cleaver sprite from Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. While that game is a disgrace to the Fallout name, at least it might have a reason for existing.
- Sprites: Again, the Vibro-blade looks... odd. Possibly working on the Ripper sprite from Fallout (either the FO1/2 or the FO3/NV should do the trick).
- Sprites: Stun Grenade. A base to work towards could be the Plasma Grenade from Fallout 2. It looks something like a flashbang, doesn’t it?
- New item: Recreational Drugs (AKA heroin shot). Smugglers carry’em, useless for your crew (they are recreational drugs, not combat) and sellable for a pretty penny. Sprite could be the Empty Hypodermic from Fallout 2.
- Weapon balance: why adding Aimed Shots which are lousy anyways to inaccurate weapons, like the Holdout or the Spraygun? Weren’t it simpler before when you only got Snap Shots?
- Bootypaedia: when will we get a text for the Star God Coordinator entry? Aren’t our minds ready for the revelation yet? ;)
- In-game world questions: what the hell is an Ethereal doing on a Smuggler ship! Ethereals give me nightmares and you put them side-by-side with Han Solo? Is it a rouge Star God, or Smugglers are really controlled by Star Gods or... ? Also, how do Psionics work in-world? As, you learn about VooDoo from an Esper and magically you get a bunch of VooDoo doctors, Gandalf-esque, knocking to your door looking for employment, magically equipped with blueprints to build labs for them? It sounds a bit too random to me.

36
Released Mods / Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.82 - 25 Aug
« on: September 01, 2014, 02:29:06 pm »
What is the progress on the next faction for Piratez? And, it's going to be the Tribal Deep Ones like you said? :D
Also, no non-combat personnel on Pogroms? What are you trying to do, slaughter my whole squad or making them abandon Muties to their luck? Rambling aside, it seems very logical, and adds more variety (when all factions are finished I swear this mod is going to burst out of sheer content).

37
Released Mods / Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.81 - 16 Aug
« on: August 25, 2014, 11:59:42 am »
ORLY? Women dressed in furry suits, serving their Smuggler masters, armed with katanas and out for my blood? Call it some variation of Rule 38.

Yeah, about Smugglers. Will the Smuggler Captain finally get his Mauser C96? And, while at it, why not give him a .223 Pistol/Deckard's Gun? You could get them in Fallout, why not Piratez (besides, Harrison Ford gets to keep his weapons after each film, now, doesn't he? ;) )

38
Released Mods / Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.81 - 16 Aug
« on: August 18, 2014, 10:34:41 pm »
I'd personally go with Deep Ones (if Deep Ones are also accompanied by Gillmen, Lobstermen and Tasoths). They look the ones with most interesting mechanics: how are supposed to interact with them without ships? By raiding their villages?

39
Released Mods / Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.8 - 9 Aug
« on: August 15, 2014, 07:02:12 pm »
Yeah, I agree on using the Ryskellini Taser Pistol as an alternative to the Dart Rifle and implementing as well the Machete, Katana, Scimitar, Halberd... The  problem is giving all of them some use, instead of all being generic copies of the Cutlass.

And the SMG is really useless. Do I want to spray the battlefield with bullets? I’ll use a Spraygun. Do I want to hit something from afar with a one-handed weapon? I’ll use a Revolver. Do I want to blast something from point-blank range with a one-handed weapon? I’ll use a Sawed-Off. Do I want to hit armored enemies with the acid bullets? I’m better off using a Handcannon. I’m not saying to remove it (there have to be bad guns as well), but I’m just remarking how useless it is. Well, even more things:

- Can we get a “true” Plasma Sniper Rifle, with stats more akin to the Laser Sniper Rifle (Snuffy?) or the Sniper Gauss than to the LPG?

- Also, Scatter Laser. Laser shotgun, on the nuclear-powered, ammunition-less guns department.

- Plasma weapons don’t have a “spray all the battlefield with bullets” weapon. Firearms have HMG and Minigun, Lasers have Fatty, but plasma? Could we get something on the lines of a Plasma HMG? Either of the Plasma Blaster sprites from Solarius Scorch’s Alien Armoury Expanded mod could fit the bill.

- I fell in love with that concept of Sectoid tribes and TFTD aliens inhabiting abandoned coastal areas. I don’t know what were you thinking about, but I immediately thought of villages made of small houses or huts, with strange idols in open areas and strange paintings on the walls. These “tribal” Sectoids paint themselves with red curve patterns and their remaining UFOs (rusty Small Scouts that they could salvage or take from the aliens before being abandoned). About TFTD scum, I also imagined villages or old cities (like City terrain on Terror Sites, but more decayed), with equally strange idols (but different, remember these worship their own Sea Gods) and paintings on walls. So, on that, two questions: when will we approximately get this and how are we “supposed” to visit Sectoid or TFTD villages? Following their rusty Small Scouts to their villages, which count as (either undetectable) bases using radically different terrain? And, what about having Tribal Sectoids chanting in their rituals some strange numbers and words that, upon live interrogation, turn out to be the coordinates to Cydonia?

- Expanding on the Tribal Sectoid thing, thinking about their weaponry, I thought of implementing spears, both for mah crew and for the poor tribals. And, would it be possible to implement a spear with melee, both accuracy and strength-dependant damage AND a throwable option (like Molotovs or Stick Grenades), dealing armor-piercing non-blast damage? Because having “spears” and “throwing spears” as different weapons sounds really anticlimactic.

- The stun grenade sprite looks somewhat clunky. No offence meant, I’m just comparing the average sprite with the top-notch pixel art of the rest of the mod. Possible replacements are the sprite from Murmur’s Stun Grenade mod, the Chemical Flare Ufopaedia sprite from TFTD or, if possible, working on the sprite of the Concussion Grenade from a PC game called Risk of Rain, made by Hopoo Games.

Let’s see what other fellow captains think about this.

40
Released Mods / Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.8 - 9 Aug
« on: August 13, 2014, 05:00:04 pm »
Couple (not-so) quick things:

- Having the Humanist Magneto-Plasma Gun, could we get (if it isn’t already there) the basic MP40 (called Humanist SMG, or something like that) as a counterpart? I mean, we have the Tommy and Laser Tommy, why not MP40 and Plasma MP40?

- Also, could we get an improved version of the Proximity Grenade? Something as simple as a beefed-up one: a Proximity Mine, or something on the lines of that. The UFOPaedia sprite of the Particle Disturbance Grenade from TFTD looks something like a mine.

- Something very minor and very personal: I liked the old Naval Gun Paedia sprite over the new one. Is there any chance to get it back?

- What about incorporating TFTD aliens in the roster? This could be done in many ways: in a “subtle” way, accompanying the existing factions, like Boomosaurus go with Traders. For example, Bio-Drones could be the Church’s version of Cyberdiscs and they could be revered as idols. The other option is incorporating them as a faction of their own: maybe the Martians begin to see the Pirate crew as a threat by, let’s say, June, and they send a signal to awaken their aquatic counterparts (the Deep Gods, Other Gods, or something), who begin appearing with their own UFOs and are out for your blood. Or perhaps, when the Martians defeated X-COM and conquered Earth, they split the local governments between those who were “already” there: humans (the Provincial Govts, who pay you protection money) and their TFTD buddies, who now rule the countries which don’t provide any money. All this would be a nice excuse to incorporate Sonic weapons, defences, craft guns, and even TFTD alien tech: maybe they use their own UFOs (straight from TFTD USOs), with their own tech: Aqua Plastics, Magnetic Navigation and Ion-Beam Accelerators, etc. Imagine all the research tree possibilities. Maybe the Avenger would require TFTD USO tech to be built. (and, if TFTD baddies make it to Piratez, could their H. P. Lovecraft vibes  get beefed up? As in Lovecraft-esque Bootypaedia entries, or in changing the alien names, for example, Tasoths being referred as Abominations or Eldritch Abominations)

-I was thinking about a Smuggler faction, not yielding much difference in your monthly report, flying weak but fast UFOs, and being easy targets on ground with various loot (money, relatively nice guns, lots of booze bottles, booty to sell... Come to think of it, why not make an object consisting on a 2x2 wooden box with booze inside, which can be either sold or passed through the workshop to get the alcohol inside? These boxes could be carried by Raiders or these Smugglers). Anyways, Raiders are similar to this, so yeah.

I hope you can consider all these ideas!

41
Released Mods / Re: [TOTAL CONVERSION] The Piratez Mod - 0.8 - 9 Aug
« on: August 10, 2014, 10:53:59 pm »
I must say I’m eager to play v 0.8, with the new weapons and armor and stuff. This mod is awesome. Well, some extra ideas here:

- Holdout Laser. “This gun can fit anywhere, even in the middle of your... belt. And a single shot is more than enough to melt your brains off. Well, maybe two.” Cheap, moderately-damaging, buyable laser pistol.

- Stone, as a 1-dollar-worth grenade or “grenade” (like pipe grenade or Molotov cocktail), with non-blast concussive damage or ranged, strength-dependant damage. Come on, Metal Slug commandos are deadly when replacing grenades by stones. Why not my hearty crew? (for climate-ish purposes/joke weapon?)

- Two-handed, double-barrelled shotgun. Buyable, far more accurate than any other shotgun, and could get acidic shells with decent power (somewhere in the thirties?). Early, you can only get acid shots for the SMG and the Domestic Shotgun, and both are crappy weapons with very low damage.

- Laser/Neon bow (à la Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon). “Welcome to the future, baby.” Also, are these Rambo-style explosive arrows you talked about possible? (together with a decent bow and not that toy bow thing that only deals 5 damage).

- Nerfing Ethereals. Seriously, how I am supposed to deal with a map full of mass-mind-controlling bastards that one-shot me with their plasma bolts? Either nerfing their psionic powers, their numbers or replacing some of them with aliens from the base game (Sectoids, for example, who in-context go with their Ethereal masters to deal with the menial work).

Nuff’said. Keep this up!

42
About 0.78, yeah, I tried it and, while the Merc Commando for hire is a great idea, it only works in “New Battle”, but trying to buy one of them sets the amount to “-21474” and doesn’t buy anything (and that “punch” thing for Mercs is kind of illogical. That $255.000 fee doesn’t include even a measly Assault Rifle? And, anyways, if I can spare that much money for a Merc, I can spare some little change for a weapon, e.g. a Hammer) And X-Bow doesn’t have Bootypaedia entry, so I don’t have any idea whether it is a good weapon for mah hearty crew.

About hostage armor recovery: if I understood what you were saying, it sounds like a great idea. Passing hostages through the Workshop nets you their armor “as is”, but you lose the prisoner. This would only be available with “armoured” enemies: Academy and Trader Securities, Humanist Stormtroopers, Govt Enforcers and Elite Soldiers and Trader Bodyguards. The Securities, Stormtrooper  and Govts would net you Security Carapace Armor (the purple “normal” variant, without recolourings or fancy helmets) and only the latter, Human Powered Armor. Perhaps Church Zealots could also fit in there, giving you Church Zealot Armor, or also Govt Elite Soldiers could give you that “Uber Carapace Armor” they wear (which could get a Bootypaedia entry, while we’re at it. By the way, which is the criteria to give an enemy armor a Bootypaedia entry or not?). On the other hand, for example, the robes Academicians wear offer no protection value, so a live Academician can only be sold or researched for info, or the suits Mercenaries wear are custom-tailored for each, so the only way of getting armor from them is killing them and crafting Synthsuits.

The dilemma would be: do I go the easy way and blast the heck out of that Trader Security and, with four corpses, I can make a TAC Suit, or do I try to get him alive and either pass him through the Workshop, getting me a Carapace Armor (superior to TAC Suit), or sell him back to the Traders and save to buy something else, e.g. Defender Armor (superior to Carapace Armor). I don’t know how all that would affect balance (especially crafting Assault Armours and Annihilator Suits). Also, implementing new types of armor would suppose a lot of sprite work.
About easily lootable jetpacks: nice idea! I don’t know how do you exactly plan to implement this, but you could also make the jetpacks from Raider Buzzards lootable as well. Please?

Off to play 0.79.

43
Dear Dioxine:
Thank you very much for answering my previous post, point by point. It makes me feel, you know, in contact, with whomever is making the mod, instead of being an unreachable triple A company.
Well, more stuff. This time, Bootypaedia mistakes and more questions. I’ve indicated mistakes in most entries by writing in caps the correct word that should be there. Oh, and all this is from my experience in V 0.77, as I haven’t had the occasion yet to try 0.78.
-Minigun doesn’t have the period in the last sentence.
-Plasma Blunderbuss doesn’t have the period. Either this, or the description is something of a placeholder (which could possibly be)
-Shoulder Launcher “It sits on A soldier’s shoulder and...”
-Smoke Grenade “... combat situations.  Use with care...” (2 spaces between dot and Use?)
-Bandages, Field Surgery Kit and Finely Distilled Rum say “X HP healed per Wound” but Nano-Surgery kit says “X HP healed per wound” (without capitalising wound).  Plus, X-Grog says “X Health per Wound”. Plus, FSK and NSK don’t say how many healing uses you have.
-VooDoo Rod “Terror: FILLS the mind...”
-Electro-flare “...it is thrown.  This will...” (2 spaces between dot and This?)
-Laboratory “...we have the tools TO invent”...
-Hangar “...by ANY other vessel” / “by other vesselS”
-The Academicians “In practice, they scout mutant comMunities” (the comma is also missing)
-Academy Esper “... like reading PEOPLE’S mind...”
-Traders Security “...paid to protect the cargo and and they will...” (and is repeated)
-Traders Engineer “... in somewhat influenTial positions...”
-Traders Bodyguard “... elite Trader HENCHMEN...”
-Inconsistencies with capitalising “the” in “the Church” (Neophyte entry doesn’t, but Zealot, Beastmaster and Cardinal ones do)
-The Star Gods “...otherwise they’d probably KILL us all...”
-Star God Guardian “...not really a god, just a muscle man...” (at least to me, it feels like it needs a that comma, which isn’t there in the original entry)
-Traders Guildmaster entry is in plural (Traders), but Death or Glory entry refers to him in singular (Trader Guildmaster).
-Base Supply “WHEREVER exists...”
-Mercenary Contract doesn’t capitalise “The mercenaries” or “frigates” (for example, Base Supply does capitalise Frigate)

And, aside from Bootypaedia stuff, there are still some things that bug me:
- Which is the canon explanation not to rip suits of Security Carapace Armor or Powered Armor from alive and captured Securities or Bodyguards? I know I won’t ever get this (it would be broooooooken as hell), that’s why I ask why instead of requesting to implement this feature.
- Tamed Boomosaurus, please? You have done that with Reapers, and it would give Boomers some usefulness aside from selling.
- Something very minor: changing the name of the TAC Suit in the Fence screen to “TAC Suit” instead of being listed as “Personal Armor”.
- In the Prison Cells prisoner list, changing the “Alien” column heading to “Prisoner”, or something like that.
- Some sprite problems. I don’t know if it’s a problem of my display settings, but some of the “Old Fighter Hull” text line is partially out of screen. This also happens with some frames in the ending, and, in the Geoscape, in the “Tear of the Goddess” city in India: the T and the last S are not visible.
- After researching (mainly weapons), when clicking “view reports”, it sometimes takes me to the weapon’s Bootypaedia page, but sometimes doesn’t. This event seems linked to weapons: with some it will always bring the info, with some, it will never.
- Some colour problems. The palette goes funky for a moment sometimes, when exiting an Ironman save, or whenever my ships return to the base with more booty than the total Vault capacity and I’m forced to sell some of it (the Storage Space Exceeded pop-up in the Geoscape)
- When setting up a “New Battle”, the tech level indicator is in the left end of the screen. Does that mean we’re fighting with sticks and stones? ;)
- Commercials. I can accept Humanists and Dark Ones as some kind of Easter Egg or crossover with little in-game plot consistency, but Commercials? No Bootypaedia entry for them as a faction, strange mix of armed and anachronistic Air Sailors with traditional sailor clothing, unarmed humans and Trader Security. What are they, some kind of business working for the Traders? Entrepreneurs who are allowed to travel around the globe? Entrepreneurs who aren't allowed to travel around the globe and are, in practice, smugglers or illegal traders? Is there any good reason not to merge them entirely with the Traders? And, come to think of it, why doesn’t the Academy have “hostesses” as well (or are these the Academicians themselves?)
- Getting enemies to use some weapons otherwise only found in the black market (if they don’t already, I’m just talking from what I’ve seen) Mainly thinking of Raiders, they could make use of the Heavy Machine Gun, the Heavy and Combat Shotguns, Hunting Laser, Grenade Launcher, RPG and Anti-Tank SSRL, Fusion Torch, and Rail Driver (well, maybe not this last one, as it could potentially kill in a single shot a Juggernaut from the front and an Annihilator from the back). Also, Govts could get EuroSyndicate guns.
- Nobody else in the world uses “standard” ships like mah hearty crew do, but instead ALL use UFOs? Even Raiders? Can we get minor factions like Raiders, Commercials or Humanists to use some ships similar (not necessarily identical) to the Pirate ones? (Bonaventura and Skyranger, mainly, as the other ones require research) Also, I think you said you were working on it, but will we one day get lootable craft weapons? And, would it be possible to configure enemy aircraft to use other weapon types (cannons, rockets, missiles) instead of the standard “beam” weapon that varies in range and power from craft to craft?
- Could I request three wishes from the Sprite Fairy? A “minimised” and base sprite for the Drakkar (to differentiate it from the Avenger), a Dog of War base sprite that is symmetrical (if it isn’t, because I have heavy doubts over if it is symmetrical or not: in base, it looks asymmetrical, but closely looking at the sprite in the Piratez folder doesn’t let me distinguish between craft and shadow) and a different Electro-Sword sprite, akin to a lightsaber or a Beamsword from Super Smash Bros Brawl? (I asked for this before, but I’ll make a nuisance of myself by repeating it in hopes of the Fairy reading this)
- The Bonaventura doesn’t look at all like the sprite from the base or the image from the paedia. My ideas are:
1) Adding a cockpit. The Avenger one perhaps looks the most similar to the sprite?
2) Adding a row of tiles between the 2x2 hole and the part where the Bonaventura begins to widen (behind the flight of steps), so it would be 11 tiles long from the exiting ramp to the wall with the black-ish thingy gizmo and correspond with the long and sleek sprite from the base. I am a terrible communicator, so I don’t know if I made myself clear enough. (maybe by adding the cockpit it gains enough length to look more alike the base sprite)
3) Adding wings, fins and thrusters to the rear. Fins and thrusters can be directly ripped from the Skyranger (maybe thrusters need to be one tile shorter?).  The wings, basing on the Skyranger ones and with some sprite work could be made rectangular instead of triangular.
4) Giving the whole hull a good cape of green paint, with red stripes and such. Maybe changing the hull tiles by the Skyranger ones (more sleek and curved) in the first floor and the Small Scout UFO ones for the second floor. That would give the Bonaventura a curvy and dynamic look instead of the blocky one.
Maybe all this sprite-ripping would require giving a 180 spin to the Bonaventura so it points the cockpit at the bottom-left corner of the screen? Plus, this would allow using the Skyranger ramp instead of two flights of stairs.
Alternatively, changing the base sprite or ignoring me and my rants altogether would work marvels.
And, while we’re at it, could I request a sniping position atop the Bonaventura? It would be as simple as adding a flight of stairs somewhere on the second floor and an opening in the ceiling (akin to access to building roofs), or two red lift levels in the tile just before the flights of stairs leading to the second floor.
Again, thank you for reading the whole thing, for answering (I guess you will), sorry for that language I write in that’s similar to English and for the long post.

44
Dear Dioxine:
I must say I’m enjoying this mod immensely, far more than the base X-COM game. I have nearly reached the end of the game, and, basing on my experience, I would like to leave some suggestions. I have no idea of X-COM’s code and inner workings, nor on weapon balance or pixel-art, so I’m talking from total and complete ignorance.

-Male models for my hearty crew. I don’t know if this has already been thought about, or not, but I asked. And I could perfectly deal with my manly crew being called Mistresses and Pirate Queens.

- A Laser Tommy Gun (similar to Fallout New Vegas’s Laser RCW). A low-end laser weapon which still boasts a 50-round magazine and fires in 5-round bursts, made from a Tommy Gun and some laser weapons and/or superconductive wire. Al Capone would be proud.

- Again, like in Fallout (2), another low-end self-charging laser weapon: a Solar Scorcher. A pistol dealing laser-based damage, with slightly higher damage than the Self-Charging Laser Pistol, but only works in daylight missions.

- Make the Ol’ Revolver boast a 6-shoot magazine. That extra bullet really bugs me, even knowing that 7-shoots (and more) are not uncommon in real life.

- Incorporate something on the lines of a semiautomatic carbine (maybe a lever-action rifle?), lacking auto-shot, buyable, and to fill the role of a “general issue” weapon early in the game. Unless the early-game fun is in that there is no really standard-issue weapon.

- A P-90, or “Advanced Submachine Gun”. An upgrade from the Spraygun, falling into the “Advanced Firearms” department. Also, that machine pistol from the Men In Black mod.

-  More non-accuracy and non-strength melee weapons, akin to the Ball Bat. I don’t know, cricket bats, golf clubs, wrenches, crowbars, tire irons, spears, a katana (please, make this lsst one true) I’m sure someone else has far better ideas than I do. Perhaps transferring that role to “hand” weapons, like the Shock-a-Fist, and giving it some younger brothers: brass knuckles, spiked knuckles, a boxing glove with stun damage, or a “Power-Fist” thingy, like Fallout.

- A couple younger brothers for the Electro-Whip: leather Whip, nine-tails, metal whip, spiked whip, all boasting a multi-tile range. I don’t know if they should deal “kill” or stun damage, but hey, if Simon Belmont can kill Dracula with a whip, you can do the same with puny pureblood humans.

- Make some “human” enemies use melee weapons. Church Neophytes or Zealots, or Raiders could possibly make use of them.

- To make “Humanists” (aka Nazis) of some use, give Humanist Leaders these shiny swords the Nazi Party gave to their officers? (googling “nazi sword” should show you what I’m referring to) Yer hearty crew would look really flash with one of these, and they could fetch a pretty penny in the black market (if prices for these are so high these days, imagine the spectacular raise of Nazi Sword prices in 586 years.) Also, looting Stielhandgranaten from Humanists, or even their uniforms from their corpses, instead of the useless “Human Booty”.

- A new damage type: Pulse/EMP. Maybe only in the form of grenades or explosives, or also available in new ammo types or entirely new weapons. Useless against anything but Sectopods, Cyberdiscs and other robotic units.

- Rebalancing the UFO detection mechanics. Once one acquires the Hyper-Wave Decoder in the first 2-3 months, things become far too simple. If more base facilities can be added, some other detection system as a step towards HWD could be incorporated. Maybe beginning only with “manual observation” systems (Small Observatory and Large Observatory, with telescopes and swabbies screaming “UFO ahoy!”), buffing up both Radars and HWD costs and making these available only through research (Small Radar takes HWD’s place in the research tree, Large Radar immediately after Small Radar and setting HWD further into the research tree). Or incorporating the Standard Sonar and Wide Array Sonar from TFTD as more expensive and more effective variants of radars, available after some research, and making HWD also more expensive and requiring more lab work. If no new facilities are possible, push the HWD into some dark corner in the research tree and raise its costs.

- Being able to do more thingies with my Gauss Weapons. Gauss HWPs, Gauss base Defences and Gauss Cannon for aircraft from TFTD.

- Incorporating Sonic tech from TFTD. Pistol, Blasta Rifle, Cannon, Pulser, aircraft Oscillator, base Defences, and maybe Disruptor Pulse Launchers and Thermal Shock Launchers. Maybe the Church could use as a unit the Bio-Drones from TFTD, whom they revere as idols, and research on those opens up the whole Sonic research path. Maybe even Bio-Drone corpses can be “looted” and used as HWPs by regenerating the brain using Regeneration Chambers and patching the carcass up with Plastasteel.

- Again from TFTD, melee weapons: Thermal Tazer, Vibro Blade, Thermic Lance, and Heavy Thermic Lance. These also remember me of the incredibly bad-ass Thermic Lance from Fallout: New Vegas.

- A brighter variant of the electro-flare. The Chemical Flare from TFTD sure could fill that role. And I mean the sprite from the TFTD Ufopaedia, not the one from the inventory (which is now used by Combat Drugs).

- Restricting access to the mission in Cydonia, requiring soldiers to wear some kind of life support armour: an astronaut suit (derived from these suits Beastmasters wear, perhaps?) or making the armours from TFTD (Plastic Aqua Armour, Ion Armour, Magnetic Ion Armour) double as astronaut suits. Where to put all this in the research tree is beyond me, through.

- Moar booty. I would like to see something beyond the Silver, Gold and Obsidian Chips. Maybe more types of chips (1,000 or 2,000, to be carried frequently by lowly Raiders, and 10,000 to be commonplace on most enemies). Maybe even finding extra only-for-sell objects in enemy inventories? For example, Church Members could actively carry these “holy” books, “holy” symbols and “holy” artefacts you mention, retrievable and sellable. I imagine Church Cardinals to carry 3x2 sized, antique and valuable versions of the “holy” books. Think of Gutenberg Bibles, or the Codex Sinaiticus, for example.

Now, there are some mods around which look really interesting. I don’t know which problems could you run into, but, if possible, I believe these should make nice additions.

- https://www.openxcom.com/mod/ryskeliinis-guns-n-gadgets-1st-pack. Adding  the Scout Drone, a 1-tile HWP, with no weapons (except maybe self-destruct, or that smoke launcher, though it could be quite broken in gameplay terms) and that Tazer. I see that some of the weapons of that mod are already in Piratez, so I don’t see any problem in adding these two.

- https://www.openxcom.com/mod/combat-knife. This combat knife is a must.

- https://www.openxcom.com/mod/mass-accelerator-weapons. Weapons which outclass even plasma, to see some variety in the endgame? Count me in.

- https://www.openxcom.com/mod/heat-ray-weapons. These middle-tier weapons look quite interesting, maybe to be used by Raiders? Honestly, I have rarely seen a Raider crew carrying anything but laser weapons. Some little variety there?

Well,  I think this is all. I’m off to try Version 0.77. I apologise for my bad Engrish and for the long, long, looooooong post.
Keep up the awesome work, and have a nice day.

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Another potential bug: I've been whacking at some Dark Ones, Demons, Imps and Hell Barons with Elerium Maces, charged with Stun Coils. But when mind-controlling them later, it reveals that no srun damage is being dealt at all.
This, or they are unstunnable and I'm a fool.

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