Messages

16

Suggestions / Re: hit angle and armor side

« on: November 09, 2021, 08:42:55 pm »

I should note IRL there are alot of caveats to armor protection.  For example with real life hard plates 'edge hits' are considered less reliable than hits closer towards the center with ceramic armor so the chances of perforation could go up (or the round ricochets off the edge and perhaps hits your limb or an area NOT covered by armor.) - RL side armor panels also tend to be lower protection than front or back plates to reduce bulk and range of motion (front and back plates ARE of roughly equal mass though IIRC - that is intended to balance the load, although you could assume that if other things are worn on the back they could substitute and offer *different* protection.)

FWIW IRL 'angle' impacts have a harder time penetrating armor than perpendicular hits (same principle as sloped armor) but this is balanced out by the fact that 'real' armor also has far less coverage than in game (rifle plates just protect the upper chest and mostly the vitals) - also until relatively recently helmets usually offer somewhat less protection than torso plates to boot - meaning that head shots could almost always be considered dangerous (by blunt trauma even if the round doesn't perforate.) - so I tend to think things balance out when abstraction comes into play.  I'll take weakened side armor over 'reality' I think.

17

Suggestions / Re: I wish I could call airstrikes down.

« on: November 09, 2021, 08:15:36 pm »

haven't played UNEXCOM yet (plan to!) but this could be.. interesting in some mods.   Take X-Piratez.   280-490 would And given that 280-490 would be in the range of a baby nuke (or worse).... yeah.  I could see definite downsides to that.   You might need something like a 'jammer' that enables opponents that increased the odds of the attack to 'miss' or perhaps reduce damage (it lands further away, and fewer people are in the kill/casaulty radius... unless its cluster munitions.)

You could also see certain UFOs or other craft (say using VLS) using 'point defense' missiles in an offensive role during missions (something like the US Navy Sea Sparrow on their destroyers) as a form of impromptu artilley.

If we extended the point defense analogy further you could assume that craft can also mount some 'point defense' turrets that might double as antipersonnel weapons.   The 40K mod and X-Piratez have vehicles that come with turrets and your bases (and enemy bases) can have turret defenses.   That might offer some protection during deployment (like assault) for your own people but it would also change the dynamics of assaulting targets (bases and larger UFOs especially.)  And a new way to proliferate both more explosions and higher casualty counts.

18

The X-Com Files / Re: Equipment idea - Megaphone

« on: November 09, 2021, 07:52:17 pm »

Just started playing this one again (second time trying it) to take a break from X-Piratez (still haven't tried the last few updates because I'm still on 10.7 and don't want to reset just yet) so this little feature was nicely timed.  I'll give it a try and see what happens and if anything comes up I'll drop a note.

And thank you for this little submod!

19

The X-Com Files / Re: Weapon Suggestion: Gyrojets?

« on: November 09, 2021, 02:10:08 am »

Gyrojets had problems apart from manufacturing issues.   A big problem is that the velocity on exiting the barrel is low and doesn't reach optimal speed until some ~10m (for the gyrojet pistol.)    That greatly impairs lethality at close ranges (for pistols) and can adversely affect external ballistics (accuracy) given that low initial speed.    From what I understand thats why gyrojets have never taken off even though some proposals to revive the concept exist online.

The closest I could imagine you get to gyrojets (or emulating bolters) would be with the lower-caliber grenade launchers like the old XM-25 25mm grenade launcher, the 20mm off the OICW, or the Neopup PAW-20, a semi-auto 20mm Grenade launcher or the Barret XM-109 25mm 'payload rifle'.   You might imagine that such weapons could evolve into 'grenade pistols' and compact RPG weapons in the 20-25mm range, as well as being a homage to Flash-Gordon style 'rocket pistols' or something like a bolter.   

Comparable weapons in X-piratez might be the Spitfire or LACC (or a pistol variant of both).   You might conceive of a standalone weapon that resembles the PAW-20 and uses an OICW clip for example (or just borrow the LACC or Spitfire above.)

Of course, krautbernd made a good point.  There's already so many weapons that we are saturated with choice and not much reason to use many of them except personal preference.. so why add more?   There are ways you might address this (stat based power/accuracy bonuses like in XCF or XP for example) but that would still require someone to do the work (including balancing.)

There's far, far more exotic or gimmicky weapons that have been invented than just gyrojets (SPIW or the Steyr ACR, the TExtron Poly-Case telescope rifle in the ongoing NGSW trials, etc.) but it would still run into the same problems.   

Also nitpick:  Bolters aren't really gyrojets.  Gyrojets are smoothbore and have those ports in the side of the gun to allow pressure to escape.   Bolters don't have side ports, and are rifled (there's a cutaway from the 3rd edition core rules on one of the wikis and it specifies that the storm bolter in question used a rifled barrel.) 

20

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

« on: November 09, 2021, 01:28:21 am »

Ah, that would explain it, then. Thank you. However, it still doesn't make sense to me that a suit of armour should be heavier and bulkier (but offering the same protection), just by adding night vision goggles. Wouldn't it make more sense for it just to have the combined drawbacks as the armoured vest and the NightOps armour? Ie., -5, -5 and -10 to TU, stamina and reactions respectively.

Although I have to say, stamina has never been remotely an issue for me in Xcom-Files, not even with rookies.

Military NVG can easily weigh 1-2 lbs depending on design and configuration (older tend to be heavier, but even modern 'lightweight' ones can be close to a pound and that's just for optics covering one eye.   On top of that I'm pretty sure that OXCE 'weight' isn't just mass (whether in lbs or kg) given that a Glock 18 weighs '3' yet IRL weighs about .94 kg (pistol weight with a loaded magazine)

Assuming one weight unit was ~300 grams approximately, a 'weight' 10 vest will weigh 3 kg, and a weight 8 vest would weigh 2.4 kg.     600 grams or so would be plausible for NVG especially circa late 90s or early 2000s.