Tone it down a bit?

[127Tom]

Can you tone down the missions a tad? It's like I get bombarded with missions. Even with 5 bases
I constantly have send out my vans here and there. At one point I had like 6 missions at the same time. Also your research tree is a mess, way too much crap that leads nowhere.
It's also confusing with the missions: Am I supposed to take every dude alive even though I have taken the same cult mission 40 times? I get really tired of taking down suspect alive
if it's no purpose to it.
Like all openXCom mods it lacks direction and balance.

[Juku121]

Doubt any toning down is going to happen. Some form of this relentless mission slog with an overreliance on randomness has been in the mod since forever, and has occasionally been criticised here and in other places around the interwebs.

You can change this for yourself by editing the mission script file and either lowering the chances or just removing some of the repeat entries. Alternatively, look into your save each month and delete what you don't like.


Of course, the "six missions at the same time" thing is more the fault of the vans, which are excessively slow. At least one car might be advisable until you get better transports.


Capturing enemies alive is a good habit to get into, since (if nothing else) it's practice for upcoming harder enemies (some of whom you do need to capture an unholy amount of times to progress), and you can always ransom your prisoners for a bit of cash. Quite a bit in some cases. Plus some more score than just killing them, if you need that.


'Pointless' research is kind of a reward in and of itself, a look into the XCF world of alien and other conspiracies. Not for everyone, certainly, but it's what makes X-Com Files into X-Com Files and not another, closer-to-vanilla mod.

[Chuckebaby]

I can see both sides of this argument. I don't think you conveyed your suggestions well though, seemed more like a complaint list.
But I do respect where you're coming from. I had a similar feeling the first time I played this mod. I felt overwhelmed, like it should come with a disclaimer "Pay close attention to detail/It is a must".

The game is also 10X times more fun when playing it the second, third, fourth time.

My advice is, if you need direction ask questions. Asking for the mod to be changed because your flustered won't help. It may lead to some positive changes but ask smaller questions to get you through current problems.

EDIT:
Juku nailed it. Modding the save game files is really easy. A free text editor will get the job done.

[127Tom]

Yeah, good points. I do enjoy the mod, it's just the mission carpet bombarding I hate.
I now have helicopters so I can get around quicker. But the game is still a pain in the **** with stuff constantly happening. Like I just hit the timer and there is always a message, missioin, research etc.

How do you edit how many missions that will pop up? I am not very good at this hehe

[Juku121]

Find missionScripts_XCOMFILES.rul in whatever location you put the mod into, search for 'executionOdds', cut down the values for those you dislike seeing too much, or maybe just halve all of them. Many of the names are easily recognisable, but some might require cross-referencing with Language/[YourLanguage].yml. You could also just straight up delete some of those with multiple entries, e.g. CultApprehensionLotus4-CultApprehensionLotus7 to halve the BL starter missions.

Since there are over 700 'executionOdds' entries, that might take a while. Perhaps focus only on those you recognise as occurring entirely too often.


Alternatively, you could just edit your save on the first of each month, look for 'alienMissions:' and delete those blocks that seem annoying.


Any non-formatting text editor is fine (i.e. not Word or similar). Notepad++ is popular.

[Chuckebaby]

Another vote for Notepad ++
I'm gonna be totally honest, I never modded a game file in my life until I began playing X com files.
I am not a pro by any means but the people in this group have helped me a lot. I had no idea what I was looking for when I opened my first save game file. It was a little overwhelming.

But after a while you begin to get more experienced. Then you'll begin looking at Rulesets, understanding how the gears of this game work. It's so basic and primitive but yet very fascinating.

Alien missions in the save game file will be way down after your bases inventory, research, etc. Any questions just ask.

EDIT: And always: Save as with the text editor. never overwrite your original save game file. Save as will create a duplicate when you load the game. If you thought playing this game was fun, editing save game files is almost just as thrilling.

[Empiro]

I agree the tech tree is really complex, so make sure you're using the middle click to see what the research leads to and what requirements there are. Also use the research browser to see if the guys you're capturing have any more topics. A lot of the Dossiers are just backstory / points, but some of them do lead to unique missions or research options.

In the early game, you generally need only 1 guy of each tier to advance to the next stage.

I wouldn't tweak the mission spawn numbers however. It's fine to skip missions, but if you don't get the missions you need to spawn, it's very easy to get stuck in research.

One thing I don't understand is how/why you have 5 bases but you're still sending out vans. It sounds like you might not be doing the right research that unlocks faster/better transports.