Messages

16

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 17, 2021, 03:37:38 pm »

Due to game engine work process, you need to discover USO by resolver to see his stats. If you discover it with sonar, you will see only size, depth and speed. No matter if nexus watches over that USO later, it will remain sonar-detected. You still have 2% chance to discover uso by nexus itself.

May be worth making this clearer in the UFOpedia blurb. I read it to mean "Nexus means you don't need lots of resolvers". So I never built any resolvers.

Well, not 0 reason, some people like it.

I like the Leviathan too, but (and it's a big but), there's absolutely zero reason to build it currently. By the time it's available I never once needed it. I only had the T-leth mission left to do and it can't even do that.

Put another way: This isn't a case of "it's cool but it'd be nice earlier", this is a case of "it's cool but there was absolutely 0 use for it because it only appeared at the same time as t'leth in the research tree".

They can not train MC-skill,

In that case I'd suggest they shouldn't appear on the MC Training end-of-month thing. Otherwise players will waste valuable slots on them.

But again, great job on the mod.

17

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 17, 2021, 01:29:29 pm »

You need to discover USO with resolver to see his stats.

What do you mean? All the USOs would have been discovered with the Wide Array Sonars at my bases. The Blurb for the Transmission Nexus implies that you only need one Nexus; no need for lots of resolvers:

Code: [Select]

The Synomium technology now serves us for Alien detection purposes. Upgrading our Naval Control Center is the next step. This facility provides detailed info about previously detected USO's across the globe...If it doesn't work across the globe what's the point of the Transmission Nexus as a tech if I would otherwise have lots of Transmission Resolvers?

b) Any soldier you put this through always stays as "Unknown" on MC Training, no matter how many months you do it on them.
c) Their MC stats never show up on the aquanauts stats page.

b,c)soldier must keep training for a month to gain results. Without breaks.
d)Please provide savegame, so i can be calm that it is not a bug.

b / c) I've had tons of soldiers go through MC training and they all show fine. The only ones that don't are the implant ones. See attached save.

d) Even months after I did the implant thing, the units are still susceptible to MC.

Save attached.

Note: The save is from just before launching t-leth. I simply sped through the last game-month ignoring everything (all USOs, base attacks (Why I don't have a Transmission Nexus; it was at one of the lost bases)), and doing absolutely nothing with any of the soldiers. "Dev Malik" for example has been in MC training for 3 full months as the best example, but anyone else in MC Implantation has had at least 1 full month at this point

I struggled with understanding how to use the new MC stuff once I had an MC lab. For one it talks about recruiting "M.C.-Gifted Aquanauts", but it took me a while before I could figure out how to "manufacture" them.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I meant was that it wasn't clear on how to recruit these MC Gifted aquanauts. I figured it out in the end. However most of them were useless and quite a few had MC Strength *worse* than my regulars.

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Leviathan:
Yes, but in Vanillia you *need* to build Leviathan for T'Leth. There's 0 reason to build it here because only Flounder can do T'leth.

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Thermal Shock Bombs: - Maybe. But other way it will be too easy. Or not?

Isn't the point of alien tech to make things easier for the player? Capturing already becomes pretty easy mid-game even with just thermal shock rods because you can have meeleee soldiers dual-wield with lances. All the bombs do is reduce risk, which better armour does anyway. As it stands researching them is entirely superfluous; they're useless to the player.

18

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 17, 2021, 12:44:44 am »

Well this is epic! Great job! 😮

This is so much deeper (ha!) than TFTD; I had no idea what I was getting myself in for! Kudos to all involved. Amazing work.

======

A few issues popped up that I noted down as they happened.

(Possible) mod bugs / quirks.

* When my units inevitably get MC'd and they are still in a group (the triton), they always drop the dye grenade first. This despite every one of them always having an actual explosive grenade on them too.
This is great for me as no damage gets done (and I probably wouldn't be able to complete many missions if they used the explodey one given how they cheat and do units they can't see), but this seems rather... silly.

* Despite having a transmission nexus, probably 70% of the UFO's only have basic info.

* I researched the Jelly Treaty but I'm still seeing Jelly UFO's popping up for the next several months. This includes that huge monstery thing that flies around the GeoScape; that turned up a few months later; I'm assuming it was theirs (no idea what it was). I did later get the Jellyman outpost defence mission and don't think I've seen any since.

* There doesn't seem to be a "Repair Mag Armour" option. This makes losing an aquanaut wearing one of these ridiculously expensive (recycling gets back a fraction of what they cost).

* "Mag Armour" remains appear as "power armour remains" in stores and as "recycle power armour" in manufacturing.

* Alien barge has levels L0, L1, L2 all scrollable but inaccessible to units (no map down there).

* Chainsword and chemical neutraliser target like weapons not melee/medkits.

* (Possibly intentional) Disruptor bomb explosions destroy deployed bioflares.

* I just researched Sonic Manufacturing and now I can produce the Zrbite battery... why would I want this? I assume it's going to be for some of the sonic sub-techs that I don't have yet, but this isn't clear; it has no ufopedia entry that I can tell nor does Sonic Manufacturing mention it. Surely it should only appear when one of them is researched?

* Military base defence against the church; the mini map looks extremely garish. The ground colour is orange and orange stripes! This makes spotting your (yellow) units very difficult, let alone the (also orange!) friendly military units.

* Manufacturing says "Acquire Suppressor" for the "Squeezer"

* Manufacturing says "Acquire Spawner" for the "Breeder"

* STR_HEAVYGILLMAN_COMMANDER and STR_HEAVYAQUATOID_COMMANDER aren't a dependency for STR_LEADER_PLUS, even though the former two have the later in "unlocks".

* Same for STR_MEDIC_PLUS - doesn't have STR_HEAVYAQUATOID_MEDIC in it as a dependency

* T'Leth: I've researched everything (including all aliens/medics, squad leaders, most UFOs/technicians), but my research % is still just 91%. Research completed: 386 (wow!). Looking at the tech tree, it seems the entire Ion tech tree was missed.

* MC Implantation protection bugs:
a) The Aquanauts page keeps saying "In MC Implantation" over a month later.
b) Any soldier you put this through always stays as "Unknown" on MC Training, no matter how many months you do it on them.
c) Their MC stats never show up on the aquanauts stats page.
d) Even months after I did the implant thing, the units are still susceptible to MC.

* The blurb for adv medikit says "can heal more per critical wound treatment". But it still just heals 1 per 10 TU.

* One of the unresearched techs is INTERCEPTOR. "Get free with armored gillman engineer." Except I've defo researched them (the tech tree agrees), and STR_HEAVYGILLMAN_TECHNICIAN doesn't have any interceptor tech as unlocks

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I struggled with understanding how to use the new MC stuff once I had an MC lab. For one it talks about recruiting "M.C.-Gifted Aquanauts", but it took me a while before I could figure out how to "manufacture" them.

----


Typos (UFOPedia):
Alien Interception: "It looks like the alien have start to deploy their own interception crafts [should be 'craft']"
Also: it gives a couple tips about "hunter". Should use another word as "Hunter" is also a USO type name.

Protobiont Physiology: "As [a] side effect of [their] fast growth" - [] are missing.

Balance concerns:
* You spend the entire middle game (all the tasoths) with no effective grenades (unless I missed a tech somewhere).

* Chainsword - the action cost is ridiculously high (60% of max TU) versus a heavy thermal lance (18 TU fixed). Especially given the HTL actually has a higher hit chance too (confirmed by equipping both on the same person). I can do 3 HTL attacks (150 damage) in the same time I can do one Chainsword attack (200 damage) when equipped on a good soldier, *and* each HTL attack has a higher % chance of hitting.

* The Thermal Shock Bomb comes too late in the game to be useful. By the time I've got it I've had everything alive for many months. The only things I've not seen/got yet are Freaks, tricenes, & hellcrabs, and they have 0 effect on the last of those so...

* I acquired a cyborg via manufacturing - the stats look as average as the rest of my fishfood.

* The Displayer/Sonic does less damage (110) than the Turtle/Gauss that you get ages earlier (120).

* Displacer/PWT only does 140 damage versus the actual disrupter which does 210. Given you can stick 7 disruptors on a aquanaut *and* reload during multi-part missions, there's no advantage at all to the displacer edition.

* In the entire game (before T'leth) I only came across 2 Ion Cannons. And no other class of ion weapons at all. That's 117 succesful missions.

* By the time the Leviathan is researched and built it's completely unnecessary. I built mine and immediately had the Flounder under construction as soon as the Lev was finished. I didn't need to do another interception or mission at all at that point; just wait a week then do the final mission.

------

General thoughts:
* Loving the oh-so-deep tech tree.

* The alien barge mission the first time = brilliant. Almost ran out of ammo!

* Great variety of missions.

* Brilliant the alien fighters dynamic. I mean it's annoying as hell, but hey. :-)

* The alien bases spawning surrounding ones is annoying. Taking out a base is a big deal (if only because the missions are very drawn out and time consuming). Making basically respawn for free is tiresome. Especially with the fighter dynamic.

* Sub equipment is nicely done.

* Expansion of the Geo game is great.

Overally, 5*. Amazing job. Hopefully the above lets you iron out a few quirks and make it even more awesome, if that's possible.

19

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 13, 2021, 06:44:48 pm »

Yes, strange indeed. And if i use other soldier or other map cell to stand, then no bug happens.

I suspect the bug is a combination of being at the number of units required to use chainsword, the chainsword itself, and, a bug in how the game itself as to how processes these events. I.e. a very rare set of circumstances.

20

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 13, 2021, 06:42:06 pm »

As this takes place after X-Com: UFO Defence, Personal Armor would make sense.
Even if Elerium is too expensive, Personal Armor just takes Alien Alloys, which are easy to make. Since they are apparently better than steel, they should even be commercialy available, so it Personal Armor from the first game could be made without any prerequisites.

XCom's personal armour does make an appearance as "Carapace armour" in the mod mid-game (far too late to be useful); it seemed to require Inert Elerium for trading (Elerium Exchange tech) which you get from the downed UFO events. Might be worth tweaking this to be a early-game event (you'll also need to tone down the downed-UFO enemies; harpoon guns versus hallucinoids/tentaculets and paladin armour don't work, I dread to think how bad they'd be against Xarquid!).

21

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 13, 2021, 12:47:41 am »

A probably edge-case bug here. Attached save.

1) Select Michiko Okabo (middle of screen in Hybrid Armour).

2) Right-click to open the door.

3) Numerous things happen:

   a) Door opens (good)
   b) Spot the alien (good)
   c) Reserve TU's for Autofire flashes. (possibly zero to two bugs both because neither weapon has autofire and because the action happened anyway)
   d) Room remains black (bug).

-----

There's a second bug too (possibly related to the first). If you change it to Reserve TU for Snapshot, when you try and open the door it pops up "Not Enough Time Units!".
This is a bug because it should actually say STR_TIME_UNITS_RESERVED_FOR_SNAP_SHOT: "Time Units reserved for Snap Shot"

22

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 12, 2021, 06:42:23 pm »

The OXCE version it comes with has a bug... and if you want to get rid of that bug, you can either upgrade, or downgrade, or not abort missions.

Ah, so it's a known bug that has been fixed. That's fine then. Thanks

23

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 12, 2021, 03:38:02 pm »

Upgrade to OXCE 7.1 or downgrade to OXCE 7.0

I may be dense here, but doesn't Twots come with its own OXCE? I know it took me a couple mins to figure out it was entirely stand-alone.

24

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 12, 2021, 12:37:04 pm »

Sorry, can not reproduce. Make sure you using latest mod version though.

Hmmm.

I just downloaded the save (on the off-chance I uploaded the wrong one); removed all my other saves, loaded this one, immediately aborted the mission and... it crashes. Not sure why it's not reproducible.

I'm using the latest (twots_2_50_2.1.zip) from: https://openxcom.mod.io/the-world-of-terrifying-silence - in fact the entire game has been played with that version.

Windows 7.

Also enabled are the stock "Starting Defensive Base" and "Unlimited Waypoints" mods.

25

Released Mods / Re: [TFTD] [Expansion] TWoTS+ Release (v.2.50)

« on: October 11, 2021, 05:21:27 pm »

I had a base defence mission pop up. I immediately aborted, and the game crashed with a seg fault. I have no idea if it's openXcom, CE, or TwoTS, so please pass it up the chain to whichever project if/as applicable.

Attached save reproduces it. TwoTS 2.5. From the log:

[11-10-2021_15-09-42]   [WARN]   No free channels available
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   A fatal error has occurred: Segmentation fault.
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x5b6360 OpenXcom::CrossPlatform::stackTrace(void*)
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x5b71e0 OpenXcom::CrossPlatform::crashDump(void*, std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&)
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x41c7f0 signalLogger(int)
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x9c1bc0 OpenXcom::UfopaediaStartState::think()
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x76e078bc _C_specific_handler
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x76e18080 RtlDecodePointer
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x76e079a0 RtlUnwindEx
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x76e3bc8a KiUserExceptionDispatcher
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x510730 OpenXcom::BattlescapeState::resetUiButton()
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x4f0430 OpenXcom::BattlescapeGame::convertUnit(OpenXcom::BattleUnit*)
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x5366a0 OpenXcom::DebriefingState::prepareDebriefing()
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x53c090 OpenXcom::DebriefingState::init()
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x5ce5b0 OpenXcom::Game::run()
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x41c950 SDL_main
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x9c36f0 console_main
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x9c3810 WinMain
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   ??
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   ??
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x76ce59c0 BaseThreadInitThunk
[11-10-2021_15-11-01]   [FATAL]   0x76e1a540 RtlUserThreadStart
[11-10-2021_15-12-38]   [FATAL]   OpenXcom has crashed: Segmentation fault.

26

Suggestions / Clarify switching to TFTD

« on: September 28, 2021, 07:36:47 pm »

I'd like to suggest it's worth stating somewhere how to switch between UFO to TFTD, or better, changing it to something more intuitive.

Issues with the current system:
* It doesn't follow standard UI precepts. When I changed it to TFTD on the mods page and it changes the mods that are available, I expect this is only saying "these are the mods that should be enabled while you play TFTD". I very definitely don't expect it to also mean "This is also enabling TFTD".
* If I - as someone who's been using computers for as long as XCOM has been around - struggle with this, it follows other users with less computing experience may as well.

The way I expected to do it was on the new-game dialog. Exact same drop-down is fine, just a copy of it there.

27

Troubleshooting / Re: Starting TFTD

« on: September 28, 2021, 07:31:24 pm »

Selecting TFTD from the dropdown menu under mods (see image) should suffice.

Ah, that did it. Thanks, much appreciated.

Very non-obvious though.

28

Troubleshooting / Starting TFTD

« on: September 28, 2021, 01:56:27 pm »

I'm sure this is a very stupid question but... how do you start TFTD?

I have both OpenXCOM (latest nightly), and OpenXCOM CE (latest), and both work fine for UFO but I have no clue how to start a game of TFTD. "New Game" / "New Battlescape" are just for UFO.

I've copied the TFTD files over to both.

In either of them the only place I can see any reference to TFTD is the mods drop-down.

Nothing in the log file suggesting any problems (or any explicit successes either; an entry saying "Successfully loaded data for UFO" / "...TFTD" would be useful for debugging incorrect installs).

And there's nothing on the wiki or getting started pages for these either about it.

What am I missing?