Author Topic: Transfer loot from sites  (Read 20259 times)

Offline Man in the Funny Hat

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Transfer loot from sites
« on: August 02, 2013, 06:49:52 pm »
So, as it is when you end a mission all the surviving loot from that mission is instantly available in your base inventory.  Instead, it should all be added as materials IN TRANSIT being transferred to the base, probably with some appreciable delay since one does not disassemble and ship all the alloys from a battleship faster than the skyranger can fly the troops back home.

This also brings to mind the issue of exceeding base storage limits.  It happens because all the weapons and elerium and alloys from sites are instantly added to base inventory.  What I'm thinking is that there should be some manner of penalty for exceeding base storage limits.  Since all that STUFF has to be put somewhere then it has to reduce your living quarters capacity and your efficiency at doing research and manufacturing since the bunkrooms, labs and workshops are then being used to store it all.

Offline Danny

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2013, 07:11:41 pm »
Also if you take a UFO intact and did all the research on the parts.

You should be able to fly it home... XD

Offline moriarty

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2013, 07:40:58 pm »
yep, the stuff should be transferred in another manner. I've suggested this myself (more than once, I'd like to think)... but it appears that this is actually a lot more complex than you would believe.

although, come to think of it, the "transfer" mechanic could simply be used... the loot would simply be added as if it was being transfered from another base... transfer time would be calculated by distance to the receiving base, just like in a regular transfer... @warboy, do you think this would be possible? it would make a lot of sense.

Offline Align

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2013, 07:43:16 pm »
I think of it as pre-orders rather than the stuff being physically present already.
Also if you take a UFO intact and did all the research on the parts.

You should be able to fly it home... XD
I dunno, might not be possible for humans to interface with them, or perhaps they require a fingerprint scan etc. Otherwise we'd be flying around in Battleships.

Offline moriarty

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2013, 08:15:16 pm »
I think of it as pre-orders rather than the stuff being physically present already.

yeah, except that you can use them, like equipping soldiers with it in a base defense, or if you have a second transport... putting the items in "transfer" would make the most sense IMHO.

Offline luke83

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2013, 02:27:33 am »
I am sure we have had this discussion before, to be fair, it was linked to making the Skyranger stay on site for a certain amount of time to gather the goods, thus allowing the aliens to perform more tactics like attacking our troops on the land whilst they gather the UFO parts and trying to intercept our ships.....


I wonder if i can find that old suggestion post, i think it was Daiky that was against the idea....
UPDATE:
Here it is https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,487.0.html
« Last Edit: August 03, 2013, 02:30:37 am by luke83 »

Offline 54x

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2013, 10:34:35 am »
Well at the very least it would make sense to just keep a buffer of items to be added to the relevant base upon the skyranger's return.

Offline moriarty

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2013, 10:53:40 am »
I am sure we have had this discussion before, to be fair, it was linked to making the Skyranger stay on site for a certain amount of time to gather the goods, thus allowing the aliens to perform more tactics like attacking our troops on the land whilst they gather the UFO parts and trying to intercept our ships.....


I wonder if i can find that old suggestion post, i think it was Daiky that was against the idea....
UPDATE:
Here it is https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,487.0.html

to be hones, I think Daiky was right at that point, because the mechanic I was suggesting was way too complicated. but making it a "transfer" should be easy enough, I think - it doesn't make sense that the skyranger transports all the stuff, and the delayed arrival implies that there is some kind of mop-up operation going on behind the scenes without actually bothering the player.


actually, what I'd really like to see is transfers being visible on the geoscape, it would make the globe a little more busy - imagine little dots (of a distinct color, so they can't be confused with xcom or alien craft) buzzing back and forth between your bases, or traveling to your base from somewhere else for stuff you buy... apocalypse had that, with its sophisticated economy model. buy stuff from marsec, and a transport starts at the marsec headquarter and travels to your base... it would make it easier to estimate arrival times, too - just watch the dot... :)

Offline Danny

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2013, 12:34:21 pm »
I dunno, might not be possible for humans to interface with them, or perhaps they require a fingerprint scan etc. Otherwise we'd be flying around in Battleships.

Mindcontrol the last alien and have them fly it... ^^

Offline 54x

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2013, 01:56:50 pm »
to be hones, I think Daiky was right at that point, because the mechanic I was suggesting was way too complicated. but making it a "transfer" should be easy enough, I think - it doesn't make sense that the skyranger transports all the stuff, and the delayed arrival implies that there is some kind of mop-up operation going on behind the scenes without actually bothering the player.


actually, what I'd really like to see is transfers being visible on the geoscape, it would make the globe a little more busy - imagine little dots (of a distinct color, so they can't be confused with xcom or alien craft) buzzing back and forth between your bases, or traveling to your base from somewhere else for stuff you buy... apocalypse had that, with its sophisticated economy model. buy stuff from marsec, and a transport starts at the marsec headquarter and travels to your base... it would make it easier to estimate arrival times, too - just watch the dot... :)

Could also make for some cool geoscape changes like have air superiority missions that can shoot down your transported/recovered goods. :)

Offline luke83

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2013, 02:01:22 pm »
to be hones, I think Daiky was right at that point, because the mechanic I was suggesting was way too complicated. but making it a "transfer" should be easy enough, I think - it doesn't make sense that the skyranger transports all the stuff, and the delayed arrival implies that there is some kind of mop-up operation going on behind the scenes without actually bothering the player.


actually, what I'd really like to see is transfers being visible on the geoscape, it would make the globe a little more busy - imagine little dots (of a distinct color, so they can't be confused with xcom or alien craft) buzzing back and forth between your bases, or traveling to your base from somewhere else for stuff you buy... apocalypse had that, with its sophisticated economy model. buy stuff from marsec, and a transport starts at the marsec headquarter and travels to your base... it would make it easier to estimate arrival times, too - just watch the dot... :)

I still think it would be worth investigating, we just need to work out what can and cant be done and find a programmer who is willing :P

Offline Danny

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2013, 03:27:54 pm »
Though to begin with a you could have a 2nd much slower moving dot on the geoscape (after your returning Skyranger), travelling from the crash/landing site to your base.
Which would be the UFO parts travelling to your base. ^^

Offline xracer

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2013, 06:35:34 am »
I think everyone is on a similar path with this idea.

However adding a whole new transport ship will become tedious for the player, i think it should be done automatically by the system, I like the idea of showing a new blip on the map.

Items carried by the soldiers will be counted for immediate research, renaming item will be picked up by the clean-up crew.

Something like this could work, to get the player more involved.

Once a mission is completed, a cleanup crew is sent to salvage the remain, (optional: the clean up crew could consist of lets say 5 scientist and 5 engineers, with maybe 4 soldiers for defense)
The transport will appear on the globe and will need an escort. as they could be attacked by retaliating aliens. (which creates the possibility of a new mission)
Clean-up time varies depending on the size of the ship (obviously smaller ships will be faster)
after transport on base arrives then all items will be transferred to base.

The player can buy and upgrade transport ships and assign a crew but can't control them directly.
The transport will be deployed from skyranger originating base (or maybe the closest base)

my quick $0.02


Offline luke83

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2013, 09:09:18 am »
I think everyone is on a similar path with this idea.

However adding a whole new transport ship will become tedious for the player, i think it should be done automatically by the system, I like the idea of showing a new blip on the map.

Items carried by the soldiers will be counted for immediate research, renaming item will be picked up by the clean-up crew.

Something like this could work, to get the player more involved.

Once a mission is completed, a cleanup crew is sent to salvage the remain, (optional: the clean up crew could consist of lets say 5 scientist and 5 engineers, with maybe 4 soldiers for defense)
The transport will appear on the globe and will need an escort. as they could be attacked by retaliating aliens. (which creates the possibility of a new mission)
Clean-up time varies depending on the size of the ship (obviously smaller ships will be faster)
after transport on base arrives then all items will be transferred to base.

The player can buy and upgrade transport ships and assign a crew but can't control them directly.
The transport will be deployed from skyranger originating base (or maybe the closest base)

my quick $0.02

I had a slightly different thought on this, i am not stressing over it though.

Cleanup crew should be sent from a secret Government base (maybe several for each government, so aliens can attack their bases also) and all goods should be sent there before being transported back to x-com. This opens up a few new mission types without adding any more micromanagement to the player, anything carried from the battle-scape can go home with them.

 ALso X-com team must stay on site until cleanup crew arrives , this way , if a another alien ship approaches , you can play a Defence mission from within the crashed UFO. IT will also force me not to have only one skyranger team
« Last Edit: August 04, 2013, 09:24:16 am by luke83 »

Offline xracer

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Re: Transfer loot from sites
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2013, 09:39:10 am »
that is not a bad idea, the only problem i see is, how long will they need to wait, and the issue being the autofinish in OXC.

the only thing i don't like is that there is a third party involved, i don't trust the government :) but seriously i think programming that will be a little more complex. I think it should be soemthign that is easy to code, that doesn't add extra micromanagement to the player but it also provides a little more logic to the system.

so we could leave it as a notification

"Our recovery team has taken #number hours to  clean up crash site #number and are now enroute to base #name. Please provide escort" at that time the AI could get an opportunity to blow that transport out of the sky. if successful xcom get nothing or maybe another mission to save the survivors if any.

The goal here will be for the aliens to attempt to prevent xcom from getting more alien resources. it could be done randomly. Just to make it a little more difficult for the player to just get a gazillion heavy plasmas