aliens

Author Topic: Mixed bag of suggestions  (Read 6513 times)

Offline Viaro

  • Sergeant
  • **
  • Posts: 19
    • View Profile
Mixed bag of suggestions
« on: August 06, 2013, 03:04:48 pm »
1) A way to check whether I can hit an alien without shooting to test. Situation A: I crouch, find out I have line of fire after shooting. All good. Situation B: I crouch, find out I don't have line of fire, get back up, move forward to get line of fire, and don't have any TU's left. Unhappy. Situation C: To avoid situation B, I crouch before shooting less often. Unhappy.

2) Are tanks unmanned drones? Remote controlled? I've only used a tank once, and it didn't seem like it used a pilot. Also, the tank didn't seem to have the same pathfinding system as soldiers. It may be cool to require one of your soldiers to man the tank. Not sure if tanks improve with experience, probably not if a drone, which is good. But if manned by one of your soldiers, that soldier could gain experience. Not sure whether this would be better...you decide.

3) I think grenades do, what other weapon types automatically destroy the targets items on a killing shot? Is it automatic, or is there a % chance? The option for alien weapons to auto-self-destruct isn't my preference. I would rather have a percent chance for each item to be destroyed, based on the weapon/damage type and the item type. Damage from rockets will have a higher % chance to destroy items than from lasers. Armor will require a lower % roll to destroy than weapons or items in backpack. I don't know how easy/hard this would be to mod in, and I don't know how much of this is already being done, but it sounds a lot more interesting than automatic and universal self-destructing. It would also apply to your own soldiers from alien attacks, which is lacking even with alien weapon auto-destruct.

4) First a question: how does having both hands filled work? If they are both 1-hand weapons, do they both fire at the same time with accuracy penalties, or separately with accuracy penalties? What if one is a weapon and one is an item, like ammo or a scanner? What if one is a ranged and one a melee weapon? From my observations, I haven't lost accuracy by having ammo or scanners or melee weapons in the off-hand with a ranged weapon in the other. The ranged weapon should be penalized though, because I assume if you have one hand free you would use it to steady your aim. Even think of it as a bonus rather than a penalty. Yes, make it a bonus. You get bonus accuracy by having a free hand to steady your aim with, like crouching betters your aim. Is this already in place? I think that two-handed guns already have better accuracy than one handed, so it is consistent with that - two hands always has better accuracy.

~ Viaro

Offline Danny

  • Colonel
  • ****
  • Posts: 204
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2013, 03:17:54 pm »
Most of these seem more like questions then suggestions... XD

2. Tanks are remote controlled off site...
3. You're thinking of the new Xcom... Items do not get destroyed in inventory only on the ground.
4. One handed weapons fire equally good from either hand (I think) but only one hand at a time. Only when you have a two handed weapon and you have both hands full do you get an accuracy penalty. ;)

Offline Viaro

  • Sergeant
  • **
  • Posts: 19
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2013, 05:07:28 pm »
Thanks for answering my questions anyway :P You answered 2 & 4.

I still want to know what people think of suggestions 1 & 3.

Offline kkmic

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 582
  • Undefined
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2013, 06:26:24 pm »
1. There is not such an option. The game could theoretically do something like changing the reticule colour to indicate if you can hit a target when standing and/or crouching (I'm thinking about greying out the upper half if you can't hit it while standing and the bottom half if you can't hit it while crouching). You do know that there is a "force fire" option that will allow you to fire even if there is no line of fire.

2. "But if manned by one of your soldiers[...]" considering that you order your soldier's EVERY action (except reaction fire), it wouldn't make much sens t have the tank piloted by one of your men :), though I would like to see stats improved on tanks as even machines are improved by their creators over time, depending on the battlefield result (OK, maybe only X-Com manufactured tanks, as the bought one probably don't use open source software for control :) )

3. That option can be disabled

Offline Danny

  • Colonel
  • ****
  • Posts: 204
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2013, 06:29:50 pm »
Thanks for answering my questions anyway :P You answered 2 & 4.

I still want to know what people think of suggestions 1 & 3.

I did answer 3... :\

Offline Viaro

  • Sergeant
  • **
  • Posts: 19
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2013, 07:21:46 pm »
1) I know about force fire, but the point is that my soldier should know whether he has a line of fire before firing.

2) Hmm, I haven't used tanks much at all, so my thoughts may be based on false misconceptions.

3) Danny, you answered it, but I still want other people to discuss it :)

3) kkmic, yes, and I have auto-destruct for alien weapons disabled. My main point is suggesting an alternative that is broader and more interesting to me.

Offline Mr. Quiet

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 523
  • Likes: Quiet things. Dislikes: Loud things.
    • View Profile
    • =Open_X_Com= Mods
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2013, 09:33:14 pm »
1. If you've played or watched a Let's Play of Xenonauts, they have an ugly way of showing if you have line of sight. The way we should do it is as kkmic said. Show a different color on the crosshair when pointing at the alien, and have it say "No Shot!" over the crosshair if you can't see the target. "No Clear Shot!" meaning you can see the target, but you have a very high chance of missing the shot because of those damn corners!

2. You, as the CO of X-COM takes control of all the tanks, to take advantage of all your Operatives on the field. It's either you, or someone in your base controlling them by satellite. I wonder if the aliens would shoot down all your satellites. So having a base in a sat would be rape.

3. When a grenade or any explosion takes out an alien, If they took overkill damage, the body disappears with the items they were carrying. Overkill might be that the alien takes 200% damage, as in an alien with 50 HP taking 100 damage. If it's still laying on the floor, you get the corpse and the items they carry. Seems good to me :) I just wish aliens can pick up Alien Grenades or Blaster Launchers from an alien corpse and attempt to use them. Alien items don't self-destruct unless you're playing on the UFO Extender or XCOM2013. I do like the idea of items getting damaged in your pack when you take a hit and survive. The item doesn't disappear, it'll just show that it's been damaged and the stats might be a little reduced. If you have damaged items or weapons, when the mission is over, they go back to normal. This way it only affects the Battlescape.

Offline Viaro

  • Sergeant
  • **
  • Posts: 19
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2013, 05:40:11 am »
1) OH! Now I understand what kkmic was saying. It sounds like it would work well. Very elegant solution, kkmic, well done.

2) I see. That makes sense.

3) I didn't know how it worked. The way overkill damage removes all items and the corpse is good. I guess it doesn't need to differentiate what type of damage was taken. It might be simpler to have damaged items not work for the rest of the mission, and return to normal afterwards.

Maybe have damage brackets. If the damage received is 0-20, then there is an X% chance that a random item is damaged and no longer works for the rest of the mission. If 21-50, then Y%. If 50-100, then Z%. Etc. Or maybe it affects HOW MANY items are damaged. From 0-50 damage, none. From 51-100, one item. From 101-150, two items. From 151-200, three items. A combination of the two? Too convoluted?

Obviously, armor doesn't count, as it is damaged first and could affect the total damage used for the equation.

Offline Mr. Quiet

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 523
  • Likes: Quiet things. Dislikes: Loud things.
    • View Profile
    • =Open_X_Com= Mods
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2013, 11:38:18 am »
Just a thought, but it might not be fun to add damaged and broken items and weapons, because if you end up with a broken rifle, how the heck are you gonna shoot? Your operative might as well be dead. No fun in that :(

Offline Danny

  • Colonel
  • ****
  • Posts: 204
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2013, 01:05:19 pm »
Just a thought, but it might not be fun to add damaged and broken items and weapons, because if you end up with a broken rifle, how the heck are you gonna shoot? Your operative might as well be dead. No fun in that :(

Maybe if Xcom troopers get a punch as melee option... Would be funny trying to punch a big Muton... XD

Offline Viaro

  • Sergeant
  • **
  • Posts: 19
    • View Profile
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2013, 12:28:46 am »
WeOwnTheNight, thank you for reminding me of that really important detail. If it's not fun, there isn't any point.

Though, what if it you are able to damage alien's weapons before you can kill them. Your soldiers will be impaired, but the aliens just as often. Also, you can carry extra weapons, and go back to ship. The aliens won't have as much preparedness. So it would be fun for both  you and the alien to lose your weapons, but then HA! You pull out a laser pistol and whup the alien. It could be fun? Maybe not as fun as the simpler lack of it though.


Offline moriarty

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1421
    • View Profile
    • Luke's OX mod site
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2013, 09:40:32 am »
aliens that lose their main weapon will probably be more likely to use their grenades. just sayin'... :D

Offline luke83

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 1558
    • View Profile
    • openxcommods
Re: Mixed bag of suggestions
« Reply #12 on: August 08, 2013, 09:46:41 am »
WeOwnTheNight, thank you for reminding me of that really important detail. If it's not fun, there isn't any point.

Though, what if it you are able to damage alien's weapons before you can kill them. Your soldiers will be impaired, but the aliens just as often. Also, you can carry extra weapons, and go back to ship. The aliens won't have as much preparedness. So it would be fun for both  you and the alien to lose your weapons, but then HA! You pull out a laser pistol and whup the alien. It could be fun? Maybe not as fun as the simpler lack of it though.

Weapons that can be damaged would be nice for some future Mods i am thinking about but thats because it would be more of a FANTASY game
« Last Edit: August 08, 2013, 09:49:23 am by luke83 »