Messages

31

The X-Com Files / Re: Month 0 mission scripts

« on: July 12, 2023, 08:39:18 pm »

More missions on the map - more choice of which ones to do and thus more control. It's not ideal, but it is what it is.

If anything this equals less control because you are forcing players to drop missions. There is no real "choice" here because you have no control over when and what missions spawn, nor does the player have knowledge regarding future mission spawns.
If a player is prevented from attending a newly spawned mission because of a prior mission spawn there isn't a valid choice being made. What you are referring to here is an illusion of choice that does not actually benefit the player because you can't retroactively pick out missions you want to attend or not.

My impression is that you can explain this by not increased cultist activity, but increased X-Com detection due to getting handed all the leads from precursor orgs/Council factions/whoever.

It's not like I haven't gone over this regarding lore/head canon friendly explanations. The thing is that the missions don't actually reflect this because they behave like regular newly spawned missions, not ongoing stuff you are catching on to. It simply isn't consistent with with subsequent months.

This is by no means game breaking or anything, but it does stand out for me (and apparently others as well).

32

The X-Com Files / Re: Month 0 mission scripts

« on: July 11, 2023, 11:39:45 pm »

Hmm, do you mean to say that there are more missions now because of new missions being introduced?

I honestly can't recall any early game missions being added since 2.3 (and they weren't super early either - I mean stuff like Cult Street Fighting).

I think I might I have used "early game" a bit too broadly here, I think what I noticed were two different things - the effect of more missions in general and the early game scripting "issues". Especially CoE/ghost hunt missions seem to spawn quite often for me.

We can argue whether this is jarring or the opposite, hardly noticeable, but I can't recall any "swamping" in early game, much less frustration. I understand that people have varied level of experience, but what's so frustrating about having more opportunities? In the worst case you'll just skip some missions, it won't end you.

This is a combination of "no actual control" over missions, not enough feedback regarding the impact of missing missions and being presented with mission spawns that are impossible to reach in time. I guess my dislike for this is partly down to the mechanics that FtA has introduced, which actually gives the player some agency instead of passively waiting for missions to pop up.
 
Like OP I also find the difference between the first month and second month a bit jarring, because there really isn't any reason or explanation why the cults/monsters/etc postpone their december activities to january just as the player takes over as commander. Why the inconsistency?

33

The X-Com Files / Re: Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: July 10, 2023, 06:00:38 pm »

Well, now that it has been pointed out I'd like to add that I also felt that something was a bit off with the games I've started in more recent versions. I found the prior number of missions early game a bit more reasonable tbh. And as much as I like the additional content I think it would be more...enjoyable...for players - especially new ones - if you weren't swamped in missions in the first months. I think staggering them out more would be reasonable.

Yes, strictly speaking it might make that much of a difference point wise, but that might not be obvious for players that aren't veterans. Being swamped with more missions than you can possibly adress is first and foremost frustrating and honestly I don't consider it good game design.

34

The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: July 06, 2023, 08:05:09 pm »

Understandable, I just found myself struggling for space. I'll think about it.

Aren't there already entries which take up more than the screen actually allows and which take "advantage" of the scrolling feature? Just paste the requirements onto the end. I don't think people really mind (at least I don't) as long as the requirements are listed/accessible somewhere in-game.

35

The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: July 06, 2023, 05:10:07 pm »

Yeah, and I also found some cases where it works, but it took some time... Which is why I still think this feature isn't compatible with XCF.

I don't really care about mmb "compatibility", but what I would appreciate is if the ufopedia articles would actually list all of the requirements for transformations. Right now (still on 2.8, so thits might have changed) these are only listed for the low-end/early transformations, but not for most of the later ones (Helix Psion, Helix Knight, Kyberism etc.).

36

The X-Com Files / Re: How can I play this without feeling like I rush the game?

« on: June 12, 2023, 08:29:59 pm »

No offense, but I think your playstyle is fundamentally incompatible with how the mod is structured, so the easiest solutions would be to change your playstyle to adress the issues you are facing. "Affects game progression" doesn't mean you aree being gated off from research. You will have more than enough opportunities to research items/captives/etc even if you don't research them immediately. You can postpone most non-progression related research, but you can not indefinitely postpone research that is critical for (early) progression.

If that is not an option I see multiple approaches to this, unfortunately all of them would involve editing game or save files. While playing on beginner would make battlescape missions easier I am not sure it would make tackling bases any more fun, nor would it prevent larger craft from being intercepted. Still, playing on beginner would be preferable becasue you are likely going to be outmatched anyway.

If you simply want to postpone the invasion (and cut down on cult spawns and other missions) you can reset the number of elapsed months in your savegame via "monthsPassed: " every new month and essentially stretch out the game. Note that this likely isn't going to work with your ongoing game, as it will not despawn cult bases.

If the bases are what is giving you trouble you can delete under "alienBases:" in your save game. Note that this is likely only a stopgap measure and the bases will keep spawning unless you terminate the cults. It will also not net you any positive score, it will only cut down on the points the aliens score.

If countries being unhappy is your main concern you can also modify points for xcom and alien activity in your save under "activityXcom:" and "activityAlien:" on a per-country basis.

If you are mainly missing funds you can edit them too under "funds:".

Note that for all of these the most recent value (the one for the ongoing month) is listed at the bottom.

If you simply want to reset the negative score warning set "warned:" to "false".



If research speed / Number of topics are the problem you could decrease the points required for certain topics in research_XCOMFILES.rul or you could increase the number of lab space facilites provide in facilities_XCOMFILES.rul (look for "labs:"). Overall I don't think there is a convenient or straight-forward to achieve what you are asking for, simply because the mod isn't designed for "laid back" kind of play, at least not early on when you're missing most of the transports, armors, equipment etc.

It gets better as you progress, but shutting down the cults and getting promo II/III as fast as possible is pretty much mandatory, otherwise you will get swamped in cult bases, as you experienced.

37

The X-Com Files / Re: [MOD] MedBay

« on: June 09, 2023, 04:44:48 pm »

Any use for otherwise junk items would be fine, but I was thinking more along the lines of existing facilities. Currently the improved lab requires elerium and alloys, and the advanced lab requires elerium as well as power sources and navigation. Given how plentiful elerium is and what other uses it already has this seems a bit redundant, especially for the advanced lab (as elerium is already used for constructing power sources), and both navigation and power sources already have other uses. It's also not quite clear to me what purpose all that raw elerium serves.

I think alien multitools and alloy welders might be of better use, given that we are working with alien tech. Lore-wise, trying to reverse-engineer this tech might be a lot easier if X-COM had the tools used to maintain said tech, wouldn't it? The sensorium (and PSI amp as far as items are concernded) is another example where the building materials approximately match the in-game lore/use of the facility. None of these materials are really all that rare to impact player progression, but they add a lore-friendly use for them to make them more than junk items. Large workshops / Tritanium Matrix might be additional facilities that might make use of alloy welders.

38

The X-Com Files / Re: [MOD] MedBay

« on: June 07, 2023, 11:02:27 pm »

EDIT: Integration with the main mod complete. The only change I made was decreasing research time, since you need to research all its components separately anyway.

Yay I did a contribution

Do you have any plans on integrating more uses for what are otherwise "junk" items? I think at least the multitool and welder could be meaningfully integrated into other advanced facilities. Or at least have some additional use beside being one-time research objects.

39

The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: June 01, 2023, 06:18:08 pm »

Managed to generate something similiar, but it did take quite a few tries:



As far as I can tell the problem is that the "air vent/duct" from the lab tile is not in line up (and does not connect) with those of the other tiles. This combined with the "air shaft" location of the T-Tile leads to the junction with the spawn point being cut off. Either align the shaft of the lab tile "correctly" or add/move the air shaft on the T-Tile so it connects to the rest of the vent/shaft network.

Misaligned shafts from lab:


Move/place additional air shaft on T-Tile:

40

The X-Com Files / Re: Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

« on: June 01, 2023, 05:42:42 pm »

I can't recall a single case where some part of this map would be unavailable, and that would be a major problem, so excuse me for being a bit sceptical. I simply need an example to examine.

Under certain circumstances DARKSTORMMOUNTAIN_ALPHA  can generate inaccessbile areas:





The reason this usually doesn't happen is because two blocks (or rather a 2x2 block and a 1x1 block and any map block with a junction and alien spawn point) need to be generated in very specific positions (e.g. at the map edge, the 2x2 block in to the south of it). Forcing the game to spawn said blocks (the "lab" and the "t-shaped junction") makes this reproducible. Given my limited knowledge regarding map generation the blocks in question are (probably) STORMMOUNTAIN03 and STORMMOUNTAIN09 or whatever map file "blocks [03]" and "blocks [09]" equate to.

41

The X-Com Files / Re: [MOD] MedBay

« on: May 29, 2023, 02:37:02 pm »

I'm not disputing this, I just personally find it confusing and not user friendly. I wouldn't be able to tell one from another if randomly asked. And to be honest I have no idea how to translate it into any other language I know (even "sick bay" was pretty hard to find in any dictionary, making it very niche).

I hate to make this argument, since it's your work and I am trying to change as little as possible out of respect; but I just can't see this working, sorry.

I already gave you permission to use the mod, you can rename the facility however you like - this was just in reply to Juku's "but the sickbay also doesn't cover XYZ".

Will phycological counselling include Restoring some sanity ?

Nah, it would cut into living quarters' territory. We can't have a bonus, only the facility with the highest Sanity recovery counts. (If someone knows a solution, please let me know.)

You mean for the advanced sick bay? Yeah, I have no issues with this.

42

The X-Com Files / Re: [MOD] Recruitment Office

« on: May 29, 2023, 12:24:19 am »

Not missing, but one too many actually - MULTIEXO is one of my other mods. Fixed version attached, thanks for reporting.

Changelog

1.03:

- removed invalid armor definition

43

The X-Com Files / Re: [MOD] MedBay

« on: May 27, 2023, 10:09:40 pm »

Well, Sickbay doesn't really encompass the bio-enhancement, either. And the rest is some sort of regeneration one way or the other.

"Advanced X" is just so... unimaginative.

Anyway, I guess it's up to Solarius what he'll go with in the end.

"Sick Bay" is commonly used to refer to navy hospitals and medical facilities on and offshore, and Medbay is commonly used in SciFi to refer to such facilities on spacecraft. Hence why the mod and the facility is called such - essentially a more advanced version of the sickbay, which is exactely what it is supposed to be.

"Advanced X" is in-line with other facilites or items such as the Advanced HQ or Advanced Laboratory, Advanced Healing Spray etc. I don't see anything wrong with using "non-imaginative" language when it isn't needed and fittingly describes what the facility is suppsoed to represent.

44

The X-Com Files / Re: [MOD] MedBay

« on: May 27, 2023, 09:36:22 pm »

Honestly I'd prefer something like "Improved Sickbay" or "Advanced Sickbay" (as with the science laboratories) if you want to keep this as an upgrade to the normal sickbay. "Regeneration Chamber" doesn't really encompass everything that the facility is meant to provide.

45

The X-Com Files / Re: [MOD] MedBay

« on: May 27, 2023, 12:43:15 am »

Looks interesting, I wouldn't be against adding this to the main mod if you're okay with it.

Sure, go ahead.

Attached is an updated version with a new base sprite (be advised that my paint skills suck), the medbay now also requires the sickbay as prior research and can built over the sickbay.

Changelog

1.01:

- requires sickbay research
- can be built over sickbay
- new sprite