Messages

91

Offtopic / Dealing with Psionics Before Labs

« on: October 18, 2014, 01:37:58 pm »

It is so painful to face psionic attacks before you get some training and screening through labs. Well in fact even with that, your soldiers still can be panicked or mind controlled (Is there any limit point from where you become invulnerable to psionic attacks? I don't know such thing) if you are just unlucky    But it's much easier to deal with compared to the Sectoid Base Defense Mission in January.

Some people say Cyberdisks are the problem, but they are not that hard if you know what to do. The problem is rather the steady stream of psionic attacks. Even when none of them can see you, they somehow manage to abuse MC and panicking, several times in just one turn. Without tank, it is almost impossible to beat them in the early January unless you got lucky so that none of your heavy-weapon-wielding guys got MCed. You cannot even grab the rocket launcher: I dare you. It is too risky if you've decided not to abuse save/load since one single shot can kill more than half of your troops.

So I just wanted to ask other players about how you deal with psionic attacks in the early games without adding useful mods that can effectively counteract against it. Any useful strategies?

92

Open Feedback / Re: I need some mod suggestions!

« on: October 18, 2014, 04:23:48 am »

Thanks everyone. I've spent a lot of time doing this and that, optimizing my strategy etc. Here are some thoughts of mine:

(1) Just dropping of the smoke grenade worked fine, but I'm pretty much sure one needs a more fundamental remedy of this problem. Indeed, some rookies keep dying. Sometimes it's funny because the map is quite large but all the enemies are just in front of the craft (almost always in terror missions: don't know why). Haven't used any craft mod(thanks, Arthanor! I'll try that later after finishing this) though.

(2) I've got a new record for a barrage of successive reaction fires triggered by just one step outside of the craft. The target was a rocket launcher tank and 4 sectoids got 12 shots on it. The tank luckily survived with 28 hp  . It was a night mission for crashed UFO.

(3) I was testing the infamous 'Superhuman January Base Defense' trigger, and I concluded that without save/load there is no consistent way of defending the base successfully. It is because of the MC. Cyberdisks are dangerous but with a proper strategy, one can deal with it. But MC just depends on random factors, and just one single successful MC can kill bunch of allies, which is too much in January (and of course, in superhuman difficulty). They seemed to continuously use MC even when none of them was able to see my troops, so I really couldn't do much about it. One of my soldiers got a steady stream of MC so I left him with a room where aliens couldn't see, but he still got psionic disturbance afterwards. Too much luck involved in here, so it is inconsistent.

(4) I've seen a lot complimenting the commendation mod. I'll also try it

93

Open Feedback / Re: Is it possible?

« on: October 18, 2014, 04:03:22 am »

That's one hell of a soldier. I'm sure his father would be proud of him.

94

Open Feedback / Re: I need some mod suggestions!

« on: October 14, 2014, 11:49:47 am »

Thanks a lot XOps! I think that is a really nice setup for starting modded games.

I will also try that smoke grenade trick when there are too many enemies right out there. Still funny since the best strategy you can take is sometimes just to pass to the next turn without firing any shot even though you see plenty of them...

95

Open Feedback / Re: I need some mod suggestions!

« on: October 14, 2014, 03:55:18 am »

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions. It's really amazing to see this variety of mods in one game

Installed the Nighty version and all the mods seem to work well.

The first is: Really try smoke grenades in a grenade launcher. Since the explosion is instant (instead of waiting until you press next turn), it blocks line of sight immediately so the aliens already don't see you when the time comes for reaction fire. It is REALLY useful.
The second is: Alternate crafts. In the XCom Armoury Expanded, I have two more advanced version of the skyranger with side doors. They allow you to check the sides for aliens before disembarking and more easily get everyone out on first turn so they can shoot the aliens. Of course, you'll want to use the instant smoke for the side entrances too, if aliens cover them. It's a trade-off between more avenues of attacks and being more exposed.

I've had a quick look over the grenade launcher. I think it can also be used purely as a (strong) weapon so a bit worried it is overpowered. Maybe I should look for some new crafts that have side doors or something. Since you do not recommend the XCom Armoury Expanded mod, I think I should find a few seperate mods out there.

For more diversity without any changes to the game mechanics you can try either the new maps of the Terrain Pack and/or encountering mixed crews of the original aliens during missions. The Terrain Pack adds about 15 new terrains, to complement the existing ones on the UFO missions and Terror Sites, using new and reworked sprites and over 700 maps. There's also an separate ruleset that adds new alien missions.
The Alien Remix adds the possibility of mixed crews that can be composed of 2, 3 or even more of the alien races. The mixed crews's composition will follow the game's introduction of the new races.

Those mods look very promising. Doubt if those will be compatible with the mods I'm trying to use (Yet more UFOS). Maybe I have to try them seperately.

96

Open Feedback / Re: I need some mod suggestions!

« on: October 13, 2014, 01:28:05 pm »

Thank you so much for your kind explanation. I'm very impressed.

I think I have to go for the Alien Armoury Expanded and Yet More UFOs mod first. I've wanted to get the Real Vision mod too, but I'm using a laptop so a bit worried that the computer will be sluggish. And I think it doesn't offer fog of war, and (I know I'm asking too much but) a nightvision goggle, please! I had used some of those when I was in the army two years ago. It is very cumbersome but anyway better than your bare eye, so lowering your TUs by equipping it or giving aliens some flashbangs will balance it(nightvision+flashbangs=lol). Well, I think this topic should go to somewhere else, though.

By the way, I guess XCom Armoury Expanded mod is an ongoing project, right? (not available right now)

Overall, the best combination of mods for a "still close to vanilla" experience is no doubt the Final Mod Pack. A megamod combining a lot of mods into one and making sure everything is compatible. If you want a new experience, Piratez really delivers. It's pretty much a whole new game with the same engine.

I'll definitely try those after finishing one more superhuman round with the aformentioned mods.

I don't think there is anything mod-wise that controls the number of aliens at the exit of your craft, unfortunately. You do use smoke grenades, right? And even more useful, grab a mod with grenade launchers, fire a smoke grenade and it will explode instantly, allowing you to move now instead of waiting a turn. Or turn on the option for instant grenades and use regular smoke grenades (but that's a bit more weird).

  I really wish there was some kind of mod to handle this. I use a bunch of those smoke grenades but sometimes you cannot help being shot and watch four soldiers at the front being killed purely by reaction fires in the very first round... That ain't good. Even throwing flares or smoke grenades cause reaction fires, so when there are like 3 cyberdiscs right in front of you, you get a whole barrage of plasmas... It is as if the da** pilot deliberately lands in the worst place. What kind of operation is that..? Maybe I have to try the smoke launcher.

For the psionics, thanks for your recommendation! I think I have to make the TU cost somewhat higher. Is the TU cost the absolute cost or % cost? (I think it is not %). Also, is there a way to define the maximum distance in the ruleset?

I really hope one day many of those mods become a part of the official Openxcom.

[edited: I also wish I could retrieve all items of the dead soldiers. Especially the armors... they love armors so much that they die with it and refuse to take it off...]

97

Open Feedback / I need some mod suggestions!

« on: October 12, 2014, 05:00:11 pm »

Hello! I've only recently been suggested to play x-com series, and found out that this openxcom is just so brilliant! Thanks a lot for keeping up with this kind of great game.
 
I'm enjoying this game a lot, and found out there are some mods on this forum. I have several questions, and need some suggestions about mods.

1. Are all of those mods compatible with each other? I think it would not since it's practically impossible to test all of those combinations about recent mods. It would be nice if there is some kind of confirmed combination that others can safely use, though.

2. I'm looking for two relevant mods (or ways to modify the game), though I'm interested in all kinds of mods here:
- A mod which prevents too many enemies spawning right in front of/next to your ship. I'm playing at superhuman difficulty without that much problem, but I think it's too cheesy to face all those creatures right in front of the ship. It's not challenging: it's rather stressful. I want to strategically challenge the enemies rather than being forced to sacrifice some of my soldiers.
- Somewhat reduced psionic power. This problem is greatly amplified by the above problem. Enemies are right in front of you, so one of your soldier got mind controlled and the mission ends at the turn 2. The loss is too much and heartbreaking (my precious soldiers... oh god...). And also, I do not want my soldier to do the same thing against aliens since it makes the game too easy. I tried the psionic line of fire mod, but then it becomes a too weak threat...
  [Edited: Found out that there is a mod that as it was in XCOMUTIL, only XCOM soldiers suffer from psionic LOS. Any other suggestions?]
- [Editied] Also, Is there any mod where you can focus on the sight of your soldiers? If you visit a place once, then it just becomes 'explored' so you cannot know exactly how far and exactly where your soldiers can cover. 

3. Maybe you can suggest your best combinations of mods (or settings) to me. Always welcomed