[DONE][Suggestion] New Battle: ability to select globe texture

[PaddyCom]

Greetings everyone! I decided to jump back into OXC(E) after a while. I'm a very casual player. Been playing New Battle mode on and off for a few years. So, I recently got this again and decided to see how my favorite mod (Xcom Files) has come along. Anyways, I did encounter what I believe to be an issue with the terrain selection in New Battle. I'm using the "Brutal AI" version of OXCE, Xcom Files, and a few addons.

Certain missions ALWAYS force the moon terrain (even though that shouldn't be the case). I narrowed down the "problem" to the alienDeployments rul file. I'm not an advanced modder or anything like that, I just did some quick ctrl+f 

I've described my issue here in the XCF GitHub (And also, on the mod.io page of XCF). I'm not allowed to post external links, so you can check those comments out.

Anyways, Solarius replied to my comment (on the mod.io page) and said:
"No, because it's not a bug. It's a limitation related to how terrain is selected in the proper campaign (from the globe texture) which won't be fixed."

So, with all of that in mind, would it be possible to make New Battle select a terrain from this globe texture? I'm trying to manually add the terrains to the .rul file, but it's extremely tedious and quite confusing.

Furthermore, here are some more suggestions for possibly improving upon the skirmish mode:

1. Add avatar selection to skirmish mode (right now, I have to open the battle.cfg and figure out who looks like what and modify each one, it's quite annoying doing it that way.)
2. Ability to add more than 30 soldiers. Again, doable via the battle.cfg, but very annoying. Maybe a button that "adds" a random soldier to the roster or something like that.
3. Here's a possible bug report related to ranking up after a mission (it's an "Issue" on the OXC GitHub)
To reproduce the bug:
Start a new battle mission (anything will do)
Finish it.
The end result screen will show your units gained a +1, 2, 3, or more in certain stats (TU, HP, etc.)
Take those same units to another mission (or the same one).
You'll notice the stats remain the same and haven't gone up as they're supposed to.

Apologies if I posted in the wrong topic. It's my first time here. Feel free to move the topic if it's in the wrong place. But please don't move it to the Rejected area 

I don't really have any desire to play a campaign because I'm not too great at or fond of the micromanagement and air combat aspects of XCOM (even the new ones). I hope you'll understand and consider the people who play Skirmish mode.

Thank you.

[Meridian]

Anyways, Solarius replied to my comment (on the mod.io page) and said:
"No, because it's not a bug. It's a limitation related to how terrain is selected in the proper campaign (from the globe texture) which won't be fixed."

So, with all of that in mind, would it be possible to make New Battle select a terrain from this globe texture? I'm trying to manually add the terrains to the .rul file, but it's extremely tedious and quite confusing.

There is no globe in the New Battle mode, so there is also no globe texture.

1. Add avatar selection to skirmish mode (right now, I have to open the battle.cfg and figure out who looks like what and modify each one, it's quite annoying doing it that way.)
2. Ability to add more than 30 soldiers. Again, doable via the battle.cfg, but very annoying. Maybe a button that "adds" a random soldier to the roster or something like that.

You can create your dream team in the real campaign and copy it to New Battle mode.
But I guess that's not what you're after.

3. Here's a possible bug report related to ranking up after a mission (it's an "Issue" on the OXC GitHub)
To reproduce the bug:
Start a new battle mission (anything will do)
Finish it.
The end result screen will show your units gained a +1, 2, 3, or more in certain stats (TU, HP, etc.)
Take those same units to another mission (or the same one).
You'll notice the stats remain the same and haven't gone up as they're supposed to.

That's a feature, not a bug.
New Battle is a single mission simulator, when it's over, nothing is remembered.

[PaddyCom]

@Meridian

So, how will I be able to play those missions that force the moon terrain? Isn't there some kind of quick-fix or workaround you can make to get it working?
Oh, so the "ranking up" is just visual. Ah, interesting.

[Solarius Scorch]

@Meridian

So, how will I be able to play those missions that force the moon terrain? Isn't there some kind of quick-fix or workaround you can make to get it working?

I'm not Meridian, but I recommend playing around with the alienDeployments_XCOMFILES.rul file. Find the mission which interests you and change

Code: [Select]

    terrains:
      - MOON

to something else (for example MOON to FOREST).

[PaddyCom]

I'm not Meridian, but I recommend playing around with the alienDeployments_XCOMFILES.rul file. Find the mission which interests you and change

Code: [Select]

    terrains:
      - MOON

to something else (for example MOON to FOREST).

I'll look into that. Is there a list of terrains I can refer to? It'd make things easier.

[Solarius Scorch]

I'll look into that. Is there a list of terrains I can refer to? It'd make things easier.

Yes, in terrains_XCOMFILES.rul.

[PaddyCom]

There is no globe in the New Battle mode, so there is also no globe texture.

@Meridian
I should've replied earlier. I think I figured out a way to get past this (I'm no coder, so you'll have to tell me if it's possible or not). What if we could initiate our New Battles from within the Geoscape (on a new campaign). That would theoretically enable the globe texture, thus allowing selection of the correct terrains! Also, it'd be good for the New Battle mode- it'll also add the other features I suggested like ranking up, avatar changing, etc. It's definitely doable, right? Of course, it'll be separate from your main campaign stats- everything will be unlocked/available for use, you can add soldiers, and so on.

@Solarius Scorch
Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Meridian]

Everything is doable.

Not everything is in scope of OpenXcom though.
(New Battle is a well-defined feature, which has been stable for years now, I'd need a good reason to "completely" change it).

[PaddyCom]

Everything is doable.

Not everything is in scope of OpenXcom though.
(New Battle is a well-defined feature, which has been stable for years now, I'd need a good reason to "completely" change it).

The fact that certain missions are breaking isn't a good enough reason? It's a well-defined feature, sure, but it has so much more potential to be better. I believe that integrating it into the campaign/Geoscape would be a good first step.

[yergnoor]

Of everything proposed, I would only support the free choice of any of the world map territories. But not through showing the globe, but just choosing one of the territories listed in terrains.rul.
In normal mode everything would work the same way as now, but next to the selection of terrain would be added a button (I think there is a place there), which would switch to a free choice of terrains from terrains.rul.
Still, the main purpose of quick battle is to test missions in different conditions, but since there are missions in the mods in which the terrain for battle can not be selected, it is better to give this opportunity.

[PaddyCom]

Of everything proposed, I would only support the free choice of any of the world map territories. But not through showing the globe, but just choosing one of the territories listed in terrains.rul.
In normal mode everything would work the same way as now, but next to the selection of terrain would be added a button (I think there is a place there), which would switch to a free choice of terrains from terrains.rul.
Still, the main purpose of quick battle is to test missions in different conditions, but since there are missions in the mods in which the terrain for battle can not be selected, it is better to give this opportunity.

That sounds fair. As time goes on, I suspect that more mod authors will switch to the "generic globe texture" to choose terrains for missions. So, it'd be wise to address this issue sooner rather than later.

[Meridian]

Yes, that can be done.

[Solarius Scorch]

Actually, it would be helpful for me as well, for testing missions which depend on global textures.

[PaddyCom]

^ Ah, goody! As for the other suggestions, editing the battle.cfg file isn't too hard, just have to mind the whitespaces and make sure everything goes where it's supposed to go. But are the 30 soldiers in New Battle a hard cap because of technical limitations?

[Meridian]

No, you can have any number of soldiers there.
The game just generates 30 at the beginning (or when you press Randomize button).