New comer, a summary of changes available ?

[coze]

Long time x-com fan here. I was just checking my vanilla X-Com Ufo Defense on steam, and learned about open x-com when checking for updates / Mac OS compatible version.

I was considering checking, but too lazy to setup, but after I saw shotgun and grenade launcher mods, I was totally sold !

My initial impressions are very positive, thanks for the great work guys !

I was little bit worried if the new merchandise would be overpowered, but after slaughtering half of my team with ill placed shots in my first terror mission, I knew that I was at the right place

I have a question though, I noticed that there are some default installed mods. Is there a list of differences to the default version ? bug fixes ? enhancements ? features ?

I noticed in my first terror mission, I got 6 cyberdiscs (maybe more) on veteran. And they were in a very strong position around my landing point, they setup a perfect ambush, I never could get out of my ship. it was the first month, so my most advanced weaponry was a couple of laser pistols. I wonder if the difficulty was raised a little bit ? And was the Alien AI re vamped to include more sophisticated tactics ?

[Countdown]

A lot of the differences/bug fixes/features are laid out in the Wiki: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Differences_to_X-COM_(OpenXcom)

Are you using 1.0 or the Nightlies? Definitely use the Nightlies. There are a ton of updates/fixes from 1.0.

As far as the difficulty goes, it hasn't be changed from the original game, but you might be aware, there was a bug in the original game which made it so no matter what difficulty you chose, it switched to Beginner after the first mission. So if you were playing with this bug in the past you'll notice the game is a lot harder because it's actually staying on the correct difficulty setting.

And on the alien AI, one of the devs just posted about this in another thread so I'll paste his quote:

i have access to decompiled and annotated source code from the original game and TFTD (both from the windows collector's edition) and i can assure you with confidence that the AI in openxcom is as close to the original's as i can get it. i personally spent over six months making sure every single function was fully understood and replicated as accurately as possible. The most noticeable changes were related to pathfinding, more specifically the AI no longer tries to move to inaccessible locations, and can plot routes to given destinations more intelligently. the former of these results in less aliens standing completely still in the open for the entire game while they try to pathfind somewhere they can't reach, and the latter results in less aliens getting stuck in closets because they want to move west but the door is to the east. i guess i would put the differences you are noticing down to this, but i would make the argument that "this is probably what the original AI would have done, if not for those issues" ...

... i know it's already been stated, but i can assure you that the alien stats are identical to the original game's, as was pointed out, if your original game didn't have these stats on those aliens at that difficulty level, then it was undoubtedly affected by the difficulty reset bug.

[yrizoud]

Note that there are lots of discrete shortcuts which makes the game more comfortable, for example :
- in base menus : RIGHT-click +/- buttons to set the amount to max/zero (ex : put all scientists/engineer on a project in a single click)
- during battle and inventory : TAB and SHIFT to select next/previous unit
- during battle : mouse wheel to choose a vertical layer.

[coze]

A lot of the differences/bug fixes/features are laid out in the Wiki: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Differences_to_X-COM_(OpenXcom)

WOOOOW, that's a long list of bugs ! Sadly, I remember encountering / sidestepping most !  Great to know they are all handled !

Are you using 1.0 or the Nightlies? Definitely use the Nightlies. There are a ton of updates/fixes from 1.0.

I'm using 1.0, which runs good enough. I'll check the nightlies later on.

As far as the difficulty goes, it hasn't be changed from the original game, but you might be aware, there was a bug in the original game which made it so no matter what difficulty you chose, it switched to Beginner after the first mission.

OMG that explains a lot ! I can't believe the original shipped with this bug !

Thanks for the info !

[coze]

Note that there are lots of discrete shortcuts which makes the game more comfortable, for example :
- in base menus : RIGHT-click +/- buttons to set the amount to max/zero (ex : put all scientists/engineer on a project in a single click)
- during battle and inventory : TAB and SHIFT to select next/previous unit
- during battle : mouse wheel to choose a vertical layer.

Yup, I noticed them. Visual layer improvements + mouse wheel support is a god send ! Makes the game much easier to play !