Messages

46

XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99G1 - 25 May - Evasive Maneuvers

« on: June 18, 2017, 09:05:39 am »

I've heard people talking about early game problems with scores; but I've never seen that myself in multiple playthroughs.

In my current game, I spotted an enemy base on the second month (which I've not attempted to attack, because I'd get slaughtered). But my scores have big very large and positive every month. I've noticed what appear to be 'peacekeeping' missions with frigates and a battleship; which I obviously can't deal with... but my scores have been very strong.

So I'm kind of curious and puzzled as to what's going on with people's games where the scores are negative. What unlucky event are they getting? Or what is it about their play that's not giving them the points they need?

I can think of one thing I do that pumps up my score a lot, and maybe others don't do this. I invest heavily in research in the early game at the start of each month; pretty much spending everything I have on brainers and barracks for them to live. Research does give a lot of points... so maybe that's why I've never seen a negative score. (And now that high scores result in bonus money, brainers can fund most of their own wages with the bonus money...)

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XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99G1 - 25 May - Evasive Maneuvers

« on: June 11, 2017, 02:48:50 am »

I'm curious about the balance around the timing of *the mutant alliance* tech. In previous versions you could activate the mutant alliance pretty early and easily just through research. But now it's locked behind the alliance favours item, for which the player must wait a long time (as far as I can tell).

I'm in August of the first year in my current playthrough. I have three bases and pretty good tech. I'm finding it interesting that 'back to school' is blocking my tech advance - forcing me to use lower level tech. For example, I'd usually just skip building dojos and go straight for the luxury spa; but this time I've just go no idea how long I'll have to wait for that spa, so I'm building a couple of dojos. Similarly with overcharged radars. Usually I might just build one or two, but this time I'm putting them in all bases because I can't get decoders. I'm expecting there to be a significant leap in possibilities when I finally do get access to the mutant alliance...

So, I think it's interesting and fun; but I'm curious about whether this bottleneck a deliberate design feature. And since I'm still behind the bottleneck, it isn't clear to me how long it will last or how much control I have to get past it. I can think of a few things I've done wrong that could have slowed me down significantly in terms of the mutant alliance; but I'm kind of curious about what players are _expected_ to get access to it.

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XPiratez / Re: Why not instant grenades?

« on: June 06, 2017, 12:42:33 pm »

Yeah, the old hot-potato grenade trick is still viable, and still just as ridiculous as ever. It's such a gamey thing to do. I mean, it works fine in terms of balance and strategy; but it's completely bogus in terms of realism.

"Here, I primed the grenade for zero and dropped it at your feet. Now you throw it to Indiana Seasnail, and she'll throw it at the enemies."

--

As an aside, it's worth noting that weapons like the mortar are in the same balance-space as grenades, in that they are long range arcing trajectory explosives.

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XPiratez / Re: Why not instant grenades?

« on: June 05, 2017, 12:15:22 pm »

It's for balance reasons. Instant grenades are _far_ more powerful than timed (end-of-turn) grenades. xPiratez includes both instant and timed grenades, and is balanced accordingly. So if you enable the instant grenades option, you mess up the balance. It will make grenades far more powerful than they were intended, and it will make the game's built-in instant grenades next to worthless in comparison.

If you don't care about the balance of grenades, go ahead and use the option; but just know that you'll be playing an easier version of the game, and you'll be using tactics which were intended to be difficult / impossible.

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XPiratez / Re: Bugs & Crash Reports

« on: May 29, 2017, 02:29:09 pm »

Code issue, reported to Yankes: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2915.msg83582.html#msg83582

I mentioned a potential fix in there, but I don't know if it is correct... so I'd wait for what Yankes says.

Thanks for looking into it. What you said in the other thread sounds reasonable. ie. it sounds like someone needs to clarify what that function is actually meant to do before the bug is fixed - because currently that function is weird.

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XPiratez / Re: Bugs & Crash Reports

« on: May 28, 2017, 09:24:16 am »

The attached save get endless "hidden movement" the end of this turn.

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XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99G - 9 May - Close Combat Carnage

« on: May 19, 2017, 04:57:38 pm »

I'm more than willing to give you my honest feedback.
The core game is completely fine and it's a wonderful experience each time I start from scratch. Just the corner cases and specific techtree features that can make your blood boil.

How do make Destructor work? Do you carry mutant meat with you to nullify the HP burn for each use?
Guess you got realy lucky with cacodemon spawns, I rolled 4x Hell's Keep for my Imp. Probes so I got none. Is it realy worth spending your gems for a destructor in comparision to a Bio-Suit?

Have you tried using Destructor? It doesn't mention it in the description, but it actually has some seriously powerful built-in health regen (as long as you have high enough voodoo power).

Destructor gals are fast, flying, and can regen quickly from severe wounds... and they can one-shot-kill anything in the game. It's a pretty good outfit. Just try not to kill your own team with reaction-fire...

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XPiratez / Re: Stuff learned about X-Com 2 (vanilla)

« on: May 15, 2017, 02:53:03 pm »

I find the whole mechanics of 'pods' being 'activated' a bit weird in the x-com reboot games. It feels like a forced an unnatural solution to a non-existent problem.

54

XPiratez / Re: Stop the Grind

« on: May 12, 2017, 08:55:49 am »

I haven't found the grind to be a problem.

It's true that there comes a point in the game where most of the missions are trivially easy due to your overwhelming strength on the ground; but at that point of the game you're likely to also have great economic power in the geoscape as well. You simply don't need to bother with the minor missions. You don't need the resources that you get from them, because they're just a small fraction of what you can produce in your base.

So if you don't like the easy missions; just skip them. The only thing you really miss out on is maybe a couple of points of stats training if you haven't already maxed out. (And if the missions are so easy, then you probably don't need those stat points anyway!)

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XPiratez / Re: Bugs & Crash Reports

« on: March 19, 2017, 04:55:28 am »

I wanted to be able to continue playing my game, so I took the time to debug this problem. I've identified the problem, and posted a patch which fixes it. I was posting on Discord as I worked through it. For reference, here's what I said on Discord:

I've opened it in a debugger, and found that it's caused by a recursive infinite loop inside SavedGame::getDependableResearchBasic
That function calls itself; and in this case it just continues to call itself indefinitely. I'm not yet sure what the function is meant to do, so I don't have a solution yet.
My best guess at the moment is that there is a tech which either lists itself as a prerequisite, or lists itself as an unlock.
Ok.. On second examination it might be a bit more complex. It could be a few different techs which list each other as unlocks. Obviously we could work out which techs are the problem by looking at what I'm researching the in save, but I think it's better to just fix the problem in the exe.
I've got an easy fix in mind. I'll post it in a minute.
ok. Done
Check this out, @Meridian

https://github.com/karadoc/OpenXcom/commit/ff1dfdf9728dab6bd41882548d2768a804b9b600

Code: [Select]

GitHub
Fixed infinite loop bug in SavedGame::getDependableResearchBasic...
Loops of techs which unlock each other would previously cause this function to recursively call itself indefinitely. Techs which mutually unlock each other should now work correctly without problems.


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XPiratez / Re: Bugs & Crash Reports

« on: March 19, 2017, 02:12:13 am »

Using v0.99 F4,

The game hangs (becomes unresponsive and must be forced to close) at the end of the day on my current save. I don't have any strong guesses for what is causing it, but I suppose it's probably something to do with research (since that's a significant thing that happens at the end of each day).

Save attached.

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XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99F.1 - 13 Feb - Slave Wars

« on: February 13, 2017, 01:12:08 pm »

Yes it's in the same place. How could it end up on the roof if you just infiltrated? Keep a spare ship if you don't like micro.

I think the potential mystery of how the equipment could be on the roof is pretty minor compared to how a band of uber maids with las-pistols and sawn-off shotguns got into the building undetected. How did their big pile of additional weapons and equipment get into the building anyway? If it was on the roof, I'd just presume that the gals carried only their infiltration equipment and the pile on the roof was dropped down after at the start of the 'attack' phase of the infiltration. Besides, doesn't one of the team usually start near the roof anyway?

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XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.99F.1 - 13 Feb - Slave Wars

« on: February 13, 2017, 11:46:04 am »

I have one concern about the timed mansion missions...    Is the equipment pile still somewhere deep in the mansion? Or has it been moved to one of the evac points?

Because if the spare equipment is still just at some random place, then that could be a real drag. It would necessitate micromanaging what equipment you bring in the craft on the mission; and unwary players may find that the lose more than they gain because they lost their spare equipment.

I personally just don't want to have to unequip and reequip my craft every time I do a mansion mission.

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XPiratez / Re: [MOD] PG13 Version (Less NSFW) 99F.22

« on: February 10, 2017, 08:43:02 am »

I'd like for a mod like this to be bundled with the game, alongside the Naughty mod.

I don't think I'd use it myself, but I do think it would broaden the appeal of the game (as long as it is easy enough and obvious enough for interested people to turn it on).

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XPiratez / Re: Opportunity to get X-COM: UFO Defence for free

« on: January 31, 2017, 10:31:22 am »

Free is good; but I passed this time because I'd rather not link my Steam account to my Humble Bundle account. I like to keep things separate. I've passed on free offers like this before; and passed on similar GOG connect deals and stuff like that. I suppose one of these days I'll probably cave to the power of free stuff... but I do like things kept separate.

In this case, I already own a couple of copies of UFO: Enemy Unknown anyway.