46
Help / How does the Mind Shield work?
« on: December 07, 2017, 06:25:56 am »
I tried looking it up on the UFOPaedia but it does not seem to contain any info about the functionality of the Mind Shield.
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47
Playthroughs / Terror site with no terrorists?
« on: December 06, 2017, 01:00:33 pm »
I just ran an ethereal terror site with only 10 ethereals and no sectopods. I'm on genius difficulty. One of the weirdest things I ever saw!
48
Suggestions / Smart Auto-Equip Algorithm
« on: December 02, 2017, 06:06:44 am »
I came up with an auto-equip algorithm that could equip soldiers in a more intelligent fashion than the default. It'll have a tendency to equip soldiers of different strengths with different weapons, and will put the heavier weapons on the stronger soldiers. You'll get both a variety of weapons and a better fit to the soldiers' strength. Since I don't do programming, I'll post the algorithm here.
Everything defaults to alphabetical order of the STR_ tag if the algorithm doesn't have a higher priority for a different operation.
Initially, the algorithm will create weapon groupings. Two-hand ranged weapons get equipped with their ammo inside, each unit of weapon+ammo is a weapon grouping. One-hand ranged weapons attempt to group with one ammo clip inside plus an off-hand non-weapon (defined as items which aren't weapons but which have at least one of the following functions: medi-kit, motion scanner, mind probe, psi-amp) or a melee weapon. The one-hand ranged weapons are lined up from heaviest to lightest and paired up with the categories of off-hand items, first category heaviest to lightest, second category from heaviest to lightest, etc. until all one-hand ranged weapons are grouped with an off-hand item or there are no off-hand items left to group. Any remaining one-hand ranged weapons group by themselves (with just the one ammo clip inside). Off-hand groups are as follows, ordered from highest to lowest priority:
1.) Off-hand non-weapons, defined as anything that isn't a weapon (not ranged weapon, melee weapon, or grenade) but has at least one of the following functions: medi-kit, mind-probe, motion scanner, psi-amp.
2.) Grenades, defined as anything that can be thrown and then exploded (standard grenade, proximity grenade, thrown: explode on impact).
3.) Melee weapons, defined as anything which deals damage either as melee attack or with ranged attack but with only adjacent range (adjacent-only ranged weapons do not check one vs. two handed status).
4.) Misc. category, includes electro-flares as well as anything from mods that cannot be identified to match one of the other categories (including the primary weapon category described above). This does not include anything that cannot be used due to technology restrictions; those items will never be equipped by the algorithm. It does include items with no function that the algorithm can detect.
5.) Off-hand weapons, defined as any one-hand ranged weapon that isn't the same weapon as the weapon it is being grouped with.
If the ammo is 1 or 2 shots per item, the weapon will group with a second unit of ammo as long as there are any left after all weapons are equipped with ammo. The algorithm does not check if different ammo types for the same weapon have different amounts of ammo, and instead only equips them in alphabetical order of STR_ label, and only checks how much ammo is in the unit that gets equipped.
.
Once all one-hand ranged weapons are paired into weapon groups, all weapon groups are lined up from heaviest to lightest. The soldiers are all lined up from strongest to weakest, with any tie being resolved by choosing from soldier list order. The algorithm begins round zero of equipping soldiers. Each soldier is given an ideal weight for their weapon group, which is 2/3rds of their strength, rounded down. The algorithm attempts to pair the first (strongest) soldier with a weapon group closest to his/her ideal weight, considering 2 points under to be equivalent to 1 point over but preferring underweight over overweight. The algorithm will completely disallow equipping a group with a weight that goes over the soldier's strength. If there are no weapon groups that can be carried by the soldier, all one-hand ranged weapons will attempt to be paired without an off-hand, and if this check fails to equip the soldier with a primary weapon, it will go through all melee weapons, then all grenades. If nothing can be equipped to the soldier without going over their strength, it will give up and refuse to equip this soldier with a primary weapon.
Once the soldier is paired up with a primary weapon (or the check fails), that weapon group is removed from the list and the algorithm moves to the next soldier. Once all soldiers have been passed over for a primary weapon (equipped or not), the algorithm will move onto round one:
Each round from here on out will attempt to equip soldiers from strongest to weakest with one item from one of the following categories, prioritizing category order first and alphabetical STR_ label order second. All weapons that use ammo count the weapon plus one unit of ammo (in the weapon) as one item. They will not count an extra unit of ammo for 1 or 2 shot ammo; that is only done for primary weapons.
1.) backup ammo, one unit of ammo matching the weapon, preferring a type that isn't already in the soldier's inventory
2.) off-hand non-weapon
3.) grenade
4.) melee weapon
5.) misc. category (electro-flare)
6.) off-hand ranged weapon
The algorithm will start at the strongest soldier and attempt to put on an item from category 1. If there are no category 1 items left or none fit within the remaining strength (or if the primary weapon does not use ammo), it will attempt category 2, and so on until a single item is equipped or the algorithm finishes going through all categories. Then it will go to the next strongest soldier, and so on. Once all soldiers have been passed through round one, it will begin round two. This round will do the same, attempting to put on one item from each category in order until one item is equipped.
Once an item from category 1, 4, or 6 is equipped, those will be removed from the list for that soldier. The one exception is for single shot ammo, in which it can equip up to three times from category 1 (five total units of ammunition). For other categories, it will first attempt to equip the soldier with an item from categories for which the number the soldier has been equipped with so far is fewest. For example, if the soldier has already been equipped with a medi-kit but not anything else, it will attempt category 3 first and put category 2 at the end. Also, the algorithm will not equip a soldier with more than 2 of the same grenade, or more than one of the same item of any other kind.
Once round 2 finishes, the algorithm begins round 3, and keeps doing more rounds until a round does not equip a single item to any soldier. Once that happens, the algorithm finishes. It is worth noting that if you include a wide variety of small items with zero weight, or have many small items and very strong soldiers, this algorithm may fill their inventory with a wide variety of stuff, leaving few or no spaces empty.
.
I ran the algorithm through a group of 8 soldiers (by hand) with an assortment of conventional weapons and early tech (including a bit from my mod) to see what they would wind up with. Here are the results, showing soldiers in deployment list order:
Benjamin Kammerer (40 strength, 39 weight)
Primary weapon: autocannon with AP ammo
1.) AC-HE ammo
2.) proximity grenade
3.) motion scanner
Oluwa Ogechi (18 strength, 18 weight)
Primary weapon: laser pistol and stun rod
1.) grenade
2.) motion Scanner
Slavomir Kolesar (35 strength, 33 weight)
Primary weapon: heavy auto-laser
1.) first-aid kit
2.) grenade
Ngozi Anakobe (42 strength, 42 weight)
Primary weapon: rocket launcher with incendiary rocket, backup explosive rocket (STR_LARGE_ROCKET)
1.) smoke rocket
2.) high explosive
Yordan Dragomirov (43 strength, 42 weight)
Primary weapon: rocket launcher with incendiary rocket, backup explosive rocket
1.) smoke rocket
2.) grenade
3.) medi-kit
Ciara O'Brien (21 strength, 21 weight)
Primary weapon: pistol with clip and stun rod
1.) pistol clip
2.) proximity grenade
3.) electro-flare
Marcin Jankowski (30 strength, 29 weight)
Primary weapon: heavy cannon with AP ammo
1.) HC-HE ammo
2.) proximity grenade
Dulcine Busasa (31 strength, 29 weight)
Primary weapon: heavy laser
1.) first-aid kit
2.) grenade
Unequipped items:
Pistol x1 (with clip)
Pistol clip x1
Auto-pistol x2 (with clip)
Auto-pistol clip x2
Rifle clip x2
Rifle x2 (with clip)
Machinegun x2 (with clip)
Machinegun clip x2
Heavy cannon x1 (AP ammo)
HC-HE ammo x3
HC-I ammo x2
Autocannon x1 (AP ammo)
AC-AP ammo x2
AP-HE ammo x3
AC-I ammo x2
Explosive rocket x2
Laser auto-pistol x1
Laser rifle x1
Laser pulse rifle x1
High explosive x3
Proximity grenade x1
Smoke grenade x4
Medi-kit x1
Psi-amp x2
Electro-flare x3
Some final notes:
The equipment loadout isn't pretty, but it's more utilitarian. If you don't know what you're up against, it's not a bad loadout. It maintains a lot of flexibility. You may see some flaws in the loadout, but that's more due to alphabetical order or the equipment selection of the commander. If we assume all of the weapons and other devices are reasonably balanced (and more importantly that the commander only included items which (s)he wishes to use on the mission), then there is no reason to expect the soldier with a pistol and stun rod to be at a disadvantage to someone with only a rifle. They might be at a disadvantage, if they are equipped with a melee weapon but have low time units, or are equipped with a low-accuracy weapon and themselves have low accuracy, but such things are up to the commander to sort out and should not be done by an auto-equip algorithm. You may notice above that the rocket launchers are equipped with incendiary rockets first. This is due to choosing equipment in alphabetical order and this particular case happened in the original game. I don't know if it was done on purpose, but most of the ammo and grenade types are well sorted by alphabetical order. Incendiary rockets are an outlier. AP ammo on heavy/auto cannons being unpopular is due to underpowered AP ammo, and not any problem with that ammo type being first in the list. I'm considering changing my Explosive Rocket from STR_LARGE_ROCKET to STR_EXPLOSIVE_ROCKET to put it ahead of STR_INCENDIARY_ROCKET, but that would cause explosive rockets in older saves to become a defunct item, and I'd have to change it to still be usable without appearing in the purchase list or UFOPedia.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on my algorithm? I'm happy to hear from you and you're welcome to suggest changes though I have no intention of editing the OP to reflect them. I think it would be nice if this or something like it were made into a mod for OpenXcom, and even nicer if it were included as a UFOExtender option in the base game.
Everything defaults to alphabetical order of the STR_ tag if the algorithm doesn't have a higher priority for a different operation.
Initially, the algorithm will create weapon groupings. Two-hand ranged weapons get equipped with their ammo inside, each unit of weapon+ammo is a weapon grouping. One-hand ranged weapons attempt to group with one ammo clip inside plus an off-hand non-weapon (defined as items which aren't weapons but which have at least one of the following functions: medi-kit, motion scanner, mind probe, psi-amp) or a melee weapon. The one-hand ranged weapons are lined up from heaviest to lightest and paired up with the categories of off-hand items, first category heaviest to lightest, second category from heaviest to lightest, etc. until all one-hand ranged weapons are grouped with an off-hand item or there are no off-hand items left to group. Any remaining one-hand ranged weapons group by themselves (with just the one ammo clip inside). Off-hand groups are as follows, ordered from highest to lowest priority:
1.) Off-hand non-weapons, defined as anything that isn't a weapon (not ranged weapon, melee weapon, or grenade) but has at least one of the following functions: medi-kit, mind-probe, motion scanner, psi-amp.
2.) Grenades, defined as anything that can be thrown and then exploded (standard grenade, proximity grenade, thrown: explode on impact).
3.) Melee weapons, defined as anything which deals damage either as melee attack or with ranged attack but with only adjacent range (adjacent-only ranged weapons do not check one vs. two handed status).
4.) Misc. category, includes electro-flares as well as anything from mods that cannot be identified to match one of the other categories (including the primary weapon category described above). This does not include anything that cannot be used due to technology restrictions; those items will never be equipped by the algorithm. It does include items with no function that the algorithm can detect.
5.) Off-hand weapons, defined as any one-hand ranged weapon that isn't the same weapon as the weapon it is being grouped with.
If the ammo is 1 or 2 shots per item, the weapon will group with a second unit of ammo as long as there are any left after all weapons are equipped with ammo. The algorithm does not check if different ammo types for the same weapon have different amounts of ammo, and instead only equips them in alphabetical order of STR_ label, and only checks how much ammo is in the unit that gets equipped.
.
Once all one-hand ranged weapons are paired into weapon groups, all weapon groups are lined up from heaviest to lightest. The soldiers are all lined up from strongest to weakest, with any tie being resolved by choosing from soldier list order. The algorithm begins round zero of equipping soldiers. Each soldier is given an ideal weight for their weapon group, which is 2/3rds of their strength, rounded down. The algorithm attempts to pair the first (strongest) soldier with a weapon group closest to his/her ideal weight, considering 2 points under to be equivalent to 1 point over but preferring underweight over overweight. The algorithm will completely disallow equipping a group with a weight that goes over the soldier's strength. If there are no weapon groups that can be carried by the soldier, all one-hand ranged weapons will attempt to be paired without an off-hand, and if this check fails to equip the soldier with a primary weapon, it will go through all melee weapons, then all grenades. If nothing can be equipped to the soldier without going over their strength, it will give up and refuse to equip this soldier with a primary weapon.
Once the soldier is paired up with a primary weapon (or the check fails), that weapon group is removed from the list and the algorithm moves to the next soldier. Once all soldiers have been passed over for a primary weapon (equipped or not), the algorithm will move onto round one:
Each round from here on out will attempt to equip soldiers from strongest to weakest with one item from one of the following categories, prioritizing category order first and alphabetical STR_ label order second. All weapons that use ammo count the weapon plus one unit of ammo (in the weapon) as one item. They will not count an extra unit of ammo for 1 or 2 shot ammo; that is only done for primary weapons.
1.) backup ammo, one unit of ammo matching the weapon, preferring a type that isn't already in the soldier's inventory
2.) off-hand non-weapon
3.) grenade
4.) melee weapon
5.) misc. category (electro-flare)
6.) off-hand ranged weapon
The algorithm will start at the strongest soldier and attempt to put on an item from category 1. If there are no category 1 items left or none fit within the remaining strength (or if the primary weapon does not use ammo), it will attempt category 2, and so on until a single item is equipped or the algorithm finishes going through all categories. Then it will go to the next strongest soldier, and so on. Once all soldiers have been passed through round one, it will begin round two. This round will do the same, attempting to put on one item from each category in order until one item is equipped.
Once an item from category 1, 4, or 6 is equipped, those will be removed from the list for that soldier. The one exception is for single shot ammo, in which it can equip up to three times from category 1 (five total units of ammunition). For other categories, it will first attempt to equip the soldier with an item from categories for which the number the soldier has been equipped with so far is fewest. For example, if the soldier has already been equipped with a medi-kit but not anything else, it will attempt category 3 first and put category 2 at the end. Also, the algorithm will not equip a soldier with more than 2 of the same grenade, or more than one of the same item of any other kind.
Once round 2 finishes, the algorithm begins round 3, and keeps doing more rounds until a round does not equip a single item to any soldier. Once that happens, the algorithm finishes. It is worth noting that if you include a wide variety of small items with zero weight, or have many small items and very strong soldiers, this algorithm may fill their inventory with a wide variety of stuff, leaving few or no spaces empty.
.
I ran the algorithm through a group of 8 soldiers (by hand) with an assortment of conventional weapons and early tech (including a bit from my mod) to see what they would wind up with. Here are the results, showing soldiers in deployment list order:
Benjamin Kammerer (40 strength, 39 weight)
Primary weapon: autocannon with AP ammo
1.) AC-HE ammo
2.) proximity grenade
3.) motion scanner
Oluwa Ogechi (18 strength, 18 weight)
Primary weapon: laser pistol and stun rod
1.) grenade
2.) motion Scanner
Slavomir Kolesar (35 strength, 33 weight)
Primary weapon: heavy auto-laser
1.) first-aid kit
2.) grenade
Ngozi Anakobe (42 strength, 42 weight)
Primary weapon: rocket launcher with incendiary rocket, backup explosive rocket (STR_LARGE_ROCKET)
1.) smoke rocket
2.) high explosive
Yordan Dragomirov (43 strength, 42 weight)
Primary weapon: rocket launcher with incendiary rocket, backup explosive rocket
1.) smoke rocket
2.) grenade
3.) medi-kit
Ciara O'Brien (21 strength, 21 weight)
Primary weapon: pistol with clip and stun rod
1.) pistol clip
2.) proximity grenade
3.) electro-flare
Marcin Jankowski (30 strength, 29 weight)
Primary weapon: heavy cannon with AP ammo
1.) HC-HE ammo
2.) proximity grenade
Dulcine Busasa (31 strength, 29 weight)
Primary weapon: heavy laser
1.) first-aid kit
2.) grenade
Unequipped items:
Pistol x1 (with clip)
Pistol clip x1
Auto-pistol x2 (with clip)
Auto-pistol clip x2
Rifle clip x2
Rifle x2 (with clip)
Machinegun x2 (with clip)
Machinegun clip x2
Heavy cannon x1 (AP ammo)
HC-HE ammo x3
HC-I ammo x2
Autocannon x1 (AP ammo)
AC-AP ammo x2
AP-HE ammo x3
AC-I ammo x2
Explosive rocket x2
Laser auto-pistol x1
Laser rifle x1
Laser pulse rifle x1
High explosive x3
Proximity grenade x1
Smoke grenade x4
Medi-kit x1
Psi-amp x2
Electro-flare x3
Some final notes:
The equipment loadout isn't pretty, but it's more utilitarian. If you don't know what you're up against, it's not a bad loadout. It maintains a lot of flexibility. You may see some flaws in the loadout, but that's more due to alphabetical order or the equipment selection of the commander. If we assume all of the weapons and other devices are reasonably balanced (and more importantly that the commander only included items which (s)he wishes to use on the mission), then there is no reason to expect the soldier with a pistol and stun rod to be at a disadvantage to someone with only a rifle. They might be at a disadvantage, if they are equipped with a melee weapon but have low time units, or are equipped with a low-accuracy weapon and themselves have low accuracy, but such things are up to the commander to sort out and should not be done by an auto-equip algorithm. You may notice above that the rocket launchers are equipped with incendiary rockets first. This is due to choosing equipment in alphabetical order and this particular case happened in the original game. I don't know if it was done on purpose, but most of the ammo and grenade types are well sorted by alphabetical order. Incendiary rockets are an outlier. AP ammo on heavy/auto cannons being unpopular is due to underpowered AP ammo, and not any problem with that ammo type being first in the list. I'm considering changing my Explosive Rocket from STR_LARGE_ROCKET to STR_EXPLOSIVE_ROCKET to put it ahead of STR_INCENDIARY_ROCKET, but that would cause explosive rockets in older saves to become a defunct item, and I'd have to change it to still be usable without appearing in the purchase list or UFOPedia.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on my algorithm? I'm happy to hear from you and you're welcome to suggest changes though I have no intention of editing the OP to reflect them. I think it would be nice if this or something like it were made into a mod for OpenXcom, and even nicer if it were included as a UFOExtender option in the base game.
49
Offtopic / How come nobody likes my artwork?
« on: November 23, 2017, 04:53:49 am »
Over the last two years or so, I have posted several graphical resources, including a variety of recolors, redesigns, and even some completely original artwork by me. I thought my stuff looked pretty good, but I see others posting artwork and getting WAY more traffic on their threads! I haven't heard any negative feedback or constructive criticism. All I get is ignored.
What am I doing wrong?
Here I will compile most of my graphical works
These two images show many of the handheld weapons in my mod. I redesigned the laser pistol and heavy laser into the red/blue design to look like the laser rifle, and I also put a scope onto the laser rifle. I got the brown lasers from AwesomeGuns.Laser mod, and I altered the brown laser rifle to look less like the red/blue version. The brown plasmas with blue and green lights are from Shadow's Terran Plasma mod, which are themselves slightly modified from Chiko's original designs. I made the blue plasma pistol and heavy plasma by hand, and also altered the plasma rifle a bit and made original blue clip designs for the rifle and pistol.
My mod features new ammunition for all of the handheld cannons and launchers. I redesigned the small rocket into the smoke rocket (the white one with the blue tip) and recycled the small rocket's artwork into the alien rocket, since it already has a color pattern very similar to the alien grenade. I tweaked the incendiary rocket and made a fully original graphic for the fusion rocket (the purple and blue one). I added Alien Explosive ammo to the heavy and auto cannons; it looks sort of like the HE ammo. I added conventional ammo to the blaster launcher: explosive, incendiary, stun, and conventional ammo to the small launcher: explosive, incendiary, and smoke. (The explosive blaster bombs are less powerful than the alien's bombs but also cheaper.)
I built a large workshop graphic based mostly on the small one, and my mod also contains maps for large workshop, general stores, and radar which I made. I made a baseview graphic for the large radar but it's pretty terrible and I hope someone else makes a better one. I'm too lazy to get an image of it but it's basically a flat room with 4 of the small radars hooked up and cords connecting them along the floor.
This is a decent yet slightly dated screenshot of my Lightning. I've really fallen in love with my Lightning redesign, and after using it quite a bit, I really feel that it is on par with the Firestorm--you totally want it at first, but later game ships are definitely better. Though just the same, Firestorms and Lightnings can easily carry you through to the end of the game--they just can't visit Cydonia.
Since this image, I've made a few graphical fixes and I recently added a bunch of graphical resources to my LIGHTNIA.MCD tileset, though I have yet to go through and touch up the ship maps. I'm particularly proud of the work I did to present existing tile pieces at different angles and such:
I didn't just flip or mirror the textures. In most cases, I had to adjust the lighting and in some cases I had to re-align textures and compose things from pieces of other things or build some parts by hand. My ultimate goal was to make everything look like it belongs in the original tileset, like it was made by MicroProse, not me.
I'll finish this post with my sectopod laser:
I gave it a green laser and snagged a distorted laser pistol sound from X-Com Files. One of these surprised me with reaction fire in a map the other day. As easy as it was to make this, I'm quite happy with the result. It resolves the old "Sectopod has laser" debate in one nice neat package.
Last thing I'll say: If you choose to comment on my artwork, please direct your comments to my main mod page: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5543.0.html or to any of my several other relevant threads involving my works. I would ask that we keep this thread about discussing how I can improve my art and/or presentation skills.
What am I doing wrong?
Here I will compile most of my graphical works
These two images show many of the handheld weapons in my mod. I redesigned the laser pistol and heavy laser into the red/blue design to look like the laser rifle, and I also put a scope onto the laser rifle. I got the brown lasers from AwesomeGuns.Laser mod, and I altered the brown laser rifle to look less like the red/blue version. The brown plasmas with blue and green lights are from Shadow's Terran Plasma mod, which are themselves slightly modified from Chiko's original designs. I made the blue plasma pistol and heavy plasma by hand, and also altered the plasma rifle a bit and made original blue clip designs for the rifle and pistol.
My mod features new ammunition for all of the handheld cannons and launchers. I redesigned the small rocket into the smoke rocket (the white one with the blue tip) and recycled the small rocket's artwork into the alien rocket, since it already has a color pattern very similar to the alien grenade. I tweaked the incendiary rocket and made a fully original graphic for the fusion rocket (the purple and blue one). I added Alien Explosive ammo to the heavy and auto cannons; it looks sort of like the HE ammo. I added conventional ammo to the blaster launcher: explosive, incendiary, stun, and conventional ammo to the small launcher: explosive, incendiary, and smoke. (The explosive blaster bombs are less powerful than the alien's bombs but also cheaper.)
I built a large workshop graphic based mostly on the small one, and my mod also contains maps for large workshop, general stores, and radar which I made. I made a baseview graphic for the large radar but it's pretty terrible and I hope someone else makes a better one. I'm too lazy to get an image of it but it's basically a flat room with 4 of the small radars hooked up and cords connecting them along the floor.
This is a decent yet slightly dated screenshot of my Lightning. I've really fallen in love with my Lightning redesign, and after using it quite a bit, I really feel that it is on par with the Firestorm--you totally want it at first, but later game ships are definitely better. Though just the same, Firestorms and Lightnings can easily carry you through to the end of the game--they just can't visit Cydonia.
Since this image, I've made a few graphical fixes and I recently added a bunch of graphical resources to my LIGHTNIA.MCD tileset, though I have yet to go through and touch up the ship maps. I'm particularly proud of the work I did to present existing tile pieces at different angles and such:
- Lightning door both directions, also 2-tile Lightning door
- Purple door imported from Avenger, also with 1-tile variant
- I shifted the position of the Lightning door image to allow it to be placed as a wall piece
- Thin inner walls using Avenger wall textures
- Door for thin wall with X decal
- Stairs going all four directions
- The fourth chair
- Consoles facing all four directions
- 2x2 power source for even-dimension craft
I didn't just flip or mirror the textures. In most cases, I had to adjust the lighting and in some cases I had to re-align textures and compose things from pieces of other things or build some parts by hand. My ultimate goal was to make everything look like it belongs in the original tileset, like it was made by MicroProse, not me.
I'll finish this post with my sectopod laser:
I gave it a green laser and snagged a distorted laser pistol sound from X-Com Files. One of these surprised me with reaction fire in a map the other day. As easy as it was to make this, I'm quite happy with the result. It resolves the old "Sectopod has laser" debate in one nice neat package.
Last thing I'll say: If you choose to comment on my artwork, please direct your comments to my main mod page: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5543.0.html or to any of my several other relevant threads involving my works. I would ask that we keep this thread about discussing how I can improve my art and/or presentation skills.
50
Work In Progress / Change to Reaver's Tanks - new idea for tanks
« on: September 07, 2017, 09:09:42 am »
edit: deprecated topic, do not reply
I'm interested in hearing opinions from all you tank lovers out there, especially anyone who plays using my tank mod. I had a thought for changing the layout of the tanks. It would be a pretty radical change but I think it might improve them overall, so I'd like to hear your guys' thoughts on the matter.
Here's the current tank type setup from both my older standalone mod and my current setup from the megamod:
Original Tank Setup
Guardian Tank
- Higher armor and health, armor is more even on all sides
- Lower time units, reactions, and accuracy
- Weapon has lower damage
- Higher price
Battle Tank
- Same attributes as vanilla tank except slightly improved reactions
- Weapon damage improved a bit in some cases
Assault Tank
- Lower armor and health, armor is more concentrated toward the front
- Higher time units, reactions, and accuracy
- Weapon has very high damage
- Lower price
The new tank setup would involve primarily changing the battle tank by decreasing its damage while increasing its rate of fire, to move it from where it currently stands as a mediocre armor penetrator, toward being a weapon good at taking down the smaller aliens quickly. It would have damage similar to the guardian tank but much better rate of fire and accuracy. I'd leave the assault tank where it is now and possibly change the guardian tank just a bit. I want to make it even less effective as a gunnery platform by decreasing its snap shot accuracy, so it can still cause damage up close, and maybe I'd increase its aimed shot TU cost to justify giving it a decent accuracy.
So I want to hear your guys' thoughts on the change, whether you think it's an improvement or not, or any other suggestions you might have for my tanks. This is one of my oldest modding strategies--I've had the same tank strategy since before I even started using OpenXcom, and I think it's finally time I give it an overhaul.
edit: I've been thinking about it and I think it might not be such a great idea to have a tank that's good at fighting smaller aliens. That's what soldiers already do best. It seems like it could wind up being feature bloat more than anything. The cool aspect of the battle tank is that it is both heavily armored and powerful/armor penetrating at the same time. But what do you guys think?
edit: Another reason to make the change would be so that the laser battle tank could require automatic lasers rather than heavy lasers (which the assault tank requires) and thus spread out the laser tech a bit.
I'm interested in hearing opinions from all you tank lovers out there, especially anyone who plays using my tank mod. I had a thought for changing the layout of the tanks. It would be a pretty radical change but I think it might improve them overall, so I'd like to hear your guys' thoughts on the matter.
Here's the current tank type setup from both my older standalone mod and my current setup from the megamod:
Original Tank Setup
Guardian Tank
- Higher armor and health, armor is more even on all sides
- Lower time units, reactions, and accuracy
- Weapon has lower damage
- Higher price
Battle Tank
- Same attributes as vanilla tank except slightly improved reactions
- Weapon damage improved a bit in some cases
Assault Tank
- Lower armor and health, armor is more concentrated toward the front
- Higher time units, reactions, and accuracy
- Weapon has very high damage
- Lower price
The new tank setup would involve primarily changing the battle tank by decreasing its damage while increasing its rate of fire, to move it from where it currently stands as a mediocre armor penetrator, toward being a weapon good at taking down the smaller aliens quickly. It would have damage similar to the guardian tank but much better rate of fire and accuracy. I'd leave the assault tank where it is now and possibly change the guardian tank just a bit. I want to make it even less effective as a gunnery platform by decreasing its snap shot accuracy, so it can still cause damage up close, and maybe I'd increase its aimed shot TU cost to justify giving it a decent accuracy.
So I want to hear your guys' thoughts on the change, whether you think it's an improvement or not, or any other suggestions you might have for my tanks. This is one of my oldest modding strategies--I've had the same tank strategy since before I even started using OpenXcom, and I think it's finally time I give it an overhaul.
edit: I've been thinking about it and I think it might not be such a great idea to have a tank that's good at fighting smaller aliens. That's what soldiers already do best. It seems like it could wind up being feature bloat more than anything. The cool aspect of the battle tank is that it is both heavily armored and powerful/armor penetrating at the same time. But what do you guys think?
edit: Another reason to make the change would be so that the laser battle tank could require automatic lasers rather than heavy lasers (which the assault tank requires) and thus spread out the laser tech a bit.
51
Work In Progress / [TFTD] Airborne interceptions don't work?
« on: August 14, 2017, 04:18:18 pm »
I tried setting the D.U.P. Head Torpedoes to be usable in the air, but my sub was unable to enter combat in air in the first place, thus negating their use.
How do I make airborne interceptions in TFTD?
How do I make airborne interceptions in TFTD?
52
Suggestions / Disable the fog of war scanning exploit
« on: August 05, 2017, 11:56:59 pm »
In the original X-Com and in TFTD on the battlescape, you could use the selector cuboid to discern the terrain and location of objects in unexplored areas, because the terrain and objects would occlude the selector even if they were unseen. I don't know about others, but I abused this to send blaster bombs around unexplored corners to hit distant targets early on in a mission, such as killing every ethereal leader and commander on the first turn.
OpenXcom preserves this behavior.
In X-Com: Apocalypse, this was disabled, the selector would not be occluded by anything in undiscovered terrain.
I'm asking if there could be an option added to turn off selector box occlusion by unexplored terrain. Normally my solution to such a thing is "don't use the exploit" but I'm so good at doing it that I have to be very careful where I place my selector just to avoid revealing terrain. It could sweep across a segment, being rendered in 3 positions within the blink of an eye and I'd already know exactly which terrain block is in that part of the map, and I can't shut off this ability.
OpenXcom preserves this behavior.
In X-Com: Apocalypse, this was disabled, the selector would not be occluded by anything in undiscovered terrain.
I'm asking if there could be an option added to turn off selector box occlusion by unexplored terrain. Normally my solution to such a thing is "don't use the exploit" but I'm so good at doing it that I have to be very careful where I place my selector just to avoid revealing terrain. It could sweep across a segment, being rendered in 3 positions within the blink of an eye and I'd already know exactly which terrain block is in that part of the map, and I can't shut off this ability.
53
Work In Progress / Radar and Hyper Wave Decoder range are not the same
« on: August 05, 2017, 07:03:03 am »
If a radar facility is set to a range of 2100 or shorter, it is listed as being short range, but if its range is 2101 or longer, it is listed as long range.
If a hyper wave decoder facility is set to a range of 1800 or shorter, it is listed as being short range, but if its range is 1801 or longer, it is listed as long range.
Why are these two values different?
If a hyper wave decoder facility is set to a range of 1800 or shorter, it is listed as being short range, but if its range is 1801 or longer, it is listed as long range.
Why are these two values different?
54
Work In Progress / Give me advice on grenades and smoke
« on: July 31, 2017, 08:08:30 pm »
I grew up playing X-Com without using grenades very often, and never using smoke or proximity grenades. My family members and I perceived them as useless. But I am seeing plenty of players who feel that they are very useful to have in the game.
I want to know if you guys would use these items in the late game if there were powerful versions available. I'm pondering possibly adding some things to my megamod but I am being careful not to add items that won't be popular to use. I don't want excess clutter that just makes item lists longer. Would you guys use these things?
(Keep in mind the mod already includes smoke rocket (start), smoke bomb for small launcher, enhanced alien grenade and enhanced+heavier high explosive.)
1.) Smoke blaster bomb - missile with waypoints that makes a very large cloud of smoke
2.) Autocannon smoke shot (AC has arc shot)
3.) Alien proximity grenade - alien grenade blast power (110) but detonates on proximity
Also, if there is some kind of smoke, proximity, grenade, flare, stun, or other utility item you wish were in the game, describe it here and how you'd use it. Don't worry about balancing the item, leave that to me. Just tell me what you dream of having at your disposal and what you would use often.
I want to know if you guys would use these items in the late game if there were powerful versions available. I'm pondering possibly adding some things to my megamod but I am being careful not to add items that won't be popular to use. I don't want excess clutter that just makes item lists longer. Would you guys use these things?
(Keep in mind the mod already includes smoke rocket (start), smoke bomb for small launcher, enhanced alien grenade and enhanced+heavier high explosive.)
1.) Smoke blaster bomb - missile with waypoints that makes a very large cloud of smoke
2.) Autocannon smoke shot (AC has arc shot)
3.) Alien proximity grenade - alien grenade blast power (110) but detonates on proximity
Also, if there is some kind of smoke, proximity, grenade, flare, stun, or other utility item you wish were in the game, describe it here and how you'd use it. Don't worry about balancing the item, leave that to me. Just tell me what you dream of having at your disposal and what you would use often.
55
The limerick starts with a long line
The next one rhymes with it just fine
Then it all changes
Short rhyme arranges
Finally back to the first rhyme last line
Skyranger lands, first out is the tank
Go forth, it'll be easy I thank
Shots ring out across
Look at what I've lost
Front of the Skyranger is blank
There once was a man from Cydonia
Handsome, his breath smelled of ammonia
Skin grey as the skies
And his big, dark eyes
Go up and shake his hand, why don' ya
The first craft shoots down all that it can see
The next one is just not my cup of tea
Lightning after Firestorm
Is crap my final form?
One starts to wonder about this research tree
Aliens are coming, hide in sewer goo
Get in the poo, your friend can come too
So you look at me
All covered in pee
You wanted a dirty limerick, didn't you?
The next one rhymes with it just fine
Then it all changes
Short rhyme arranges
Finally back to the first rhyme last line
Skyranger lands, first out is the tank
Go forth, it'll be easy I thank
Shots ring out across
Look at what I've lost
Front of the Skyranger is blank
There once was a man from Cydonia
Handsome, his breath smelled of ammonia
Skin grey as the skies
And his big, dark eyes
Go up and shake his hand, why don' ya
The first craft shoots down all that it can see
The next one is just not my cup of tea
Lightning after Firestorm
Is crap my final form?
One starts to wonder about this research tree
Aliens are coming, hide in sewer goo
Get in the poo, your friend can come too
So you look at me
All covered in pee
You wanted a dirty limerick, didn't you?
56
Troubleshooting / [FIXED] Soldiers do not react to shots from behind them
« on: July 28, 2017, 04:31:14 am »
I don't know if this is intended behavior, but I've been noticing that soldiers will not react to shots that hit them from behind. This is contrary to aliens, who will react to shots that hit them from behind. I am fairly certain that this behavior was in the original game, though it could have been difficult to tell given how uncommon it was for a soldier to survive a hit, let alone react to it. But I have soldiers with high reactions fighting aliens with low reactions, and my soldiers will definitely shoot back when they can see the alien, but they will not shoot back at an alien they are facing away from.
Shouldn't X-Com soldiers be able to react to being shot from behind?
Shouldn't X-Com soldiers be able to react to being shot from behind?
57
Work In Progress / [RESOLVED] Do aliens see through more smoke than my soldiers do?
« on: July 28, 2017, 12:28:47 am »
I had thought up until now that the aliens see exactly as far through smoke as my soldiers do, and I recall at least a few times coming through smoke and spotting an alien that doesn't react, as if there is mutual surprise. But I heard someone say that aliens see further through smoke than X-Com units, which I assumed was an illusion due to the darkness of a map. But in full light level I had a snakeman see my soldier when I couldn't see the snakeman, with no obstacles to get in the way of vision.
I can't seem to get a consistent response. Does anyone know the answer for certain?
edit 24 July 2018: the answer is no, rather unequal LOS means that sometimes one unit sees another, and that other cannot see them back.
I can't seem to get a consistent response. Does anyone know the answer for certain?
edit 24 July 2018: the answer is no, rather unequal LOS means that sometimes one unit sees another, and that other cannot see them back.
58
Work In Progress / Can I change the way soldiers gain experience?
« on: July 23, 2017, 05:28:08 am »
I want to make it so that soldiers gain reactions experience not only by using reaction fire, but also any time they successfully suppress fire from an alien who had the time units to use reaction fire, or something like that. I want my soldiers to gain reactions whether they fight aggressively or defensively.
I am also interested in any other information relating to changing the way soldiers gain experience.
I am also interested in any other information relating to changing the way soldiers gain experience.
59
Work In Progress / "We can now research" does not list new technologies
« on: July 23, 2017, 05:15:51 am »
When a new technology is unlocked that I have added, it never alerts the player that it can be researched. It only makes this alert for previously existing technologies. For instance, when I research Blaster Bomb, it unlocks both Fusion Missile and Conventional Blaster Charges, but it says:
We can now research
Fusion Missile
I've had another similar issue: when I capture an alien alive but have no alien containment, it does not give the message that the alien dies unless the alien is captured during a base defense mission or an alien base assault. Any live aliens captured from landed or crashed UFOs do not give the message. I've played several months without an alien containment and this trend has never failed, despite dozens of live aliens at the end of missions.
We can now research
Fusion Missile
Code: [Select]
research:
- name: STR_CONVENTIONAL_BLASTER_CHARGES
listOrder: 1710
cost: 200
points: 16
dependencies:
- STR_BLASTER_BOMBI've had another similar issue: when I capture an alien alive but have no alien containment, it does not give the message that the alien dies unless the alien is captured during a base defense mission or an alien base assault. Any live aliens captured from landed or crashed UFOs do not give the message. I've played several months without an alien containment and this trend has never failed, despite dozens of live aliens at the end of missions.
60
OXCE Support / [Solved] Making more retaliation missions
« on: July 18, 2017, 10:35:06 pm »
I discussed this topic in the past in this thread: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5304.0.html. Now I am returning to tackle it again, this time in OXCE. As I learned from the other thread, I can use OXCE scripting to alter the set of aliens which enter your base during the final assault. I can already make the attacking ship type vary but I'd like to learn how to make the aliens match the ship.
I am a veteran openxcom modder, but I am completely new to OXCE. Can someone walk me through this step by step?
Here's what I have from regular openxcom:
I've been told the missionScripts change wouldn't affect the ship type used in retaliations in response to you shooting alien craft down, so I'm not sure what difficultyRetaliation is for. But whether the chances are 20/80 or 50/50, I know I have successfully gotten terror ships to sometimes (often) attack the base. I couldn't create a separate deployment set for the terror ship, but its crew is very similar to battleship crew so it doesn't really matter.
But I want to add more ship types to the list. If possible I would like to affect their likelihood of spawning from any trigger including (most importantly) shooting down alien craft. But the main thing I want to do is create new deployments based on the craft coming in.
I am a veteran openxcom modder, but I am completely new to OXCE. Can someone walk me through this step by step?
Here's what I have from regular openxcom:
Code: [Select]
alienMissions:
- type: STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION
raceWeights:
0:
STR_SECTOID: 16
STR_SNAKEMAN: 16
STR_ETHEREAL: 16
STR_MUTON: 16
STR_FLOATER: 16
STR_MIXED_OPERATIONS: 10
STR_MIXED_TERROR: 10
- type: STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION_2
points: 0
objective: 4
spawnUfo: STR_TERROR_SHIP
raceWeights:
0:
STR_SECTOID: 16
STR_SNAKEMAN: 16
STR_ETHEREAL: 16
STR_MUTON: 16
STR_FLOATER: 16
STR_MIXED_OPERATIONS: 10
STR_MIXED_TERROR: 10
waves:
- ufo: STR_SMALL_SCOUT
count: 1
trajectory: P8
timer: 3000
- ufo: STR_MEDIUM_SCOUT
count: 2
trajectory: P8
timer: 3000
- ufo: STR_LARGE_SCOUT
count: 3
trajectory: P8
timer: 3000
- ufo: STR_TERROR_SHIP
count: 2
trajectory: P8
timer: 3000
missionScripts:
- type: researchRetaliation
missionWeights:
0:
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION: 10
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION_2: 90
- type: beginnerRetaliation
missionWeights:
0:
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION_2: 100
- type: experiencedRetaliation
missionWeights:
0:
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION: 10
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION_2: 90
- type: veteranRetaliation
missionWeights:
0:
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION: 20
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION_2: 80
- type: geniusRetaliation
missionWeights:
0:
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION: 30
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION_2: 70
- type: superhumanRetaliation
missionWeights:
0:
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION: 40
STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION_2: 60I've been told the missionScripts change wouldn't affect the ship type used in retaliations in response to you shooting alien craft down, so I'm not sure what difficultyRetaliation is for. But whether the chances are 20/80 or 50/50, I know I have successfully gotten terror ships to sometimes (often) attack the base. I couldn't create a separate deployment set for the terror ship, but its crew is very similar to battleship crew so it doesn't really matter.
But I want to add more ship types to the list. If possible I would like to affect their likelihood of spawning from any trigger including (most importantly) shooting down alien craft. But the main thing I want to do is create new deployments based on the craft coming in.