[MERGED] Soldier Diaries 1.0

[the_third_curry]

I got the same thing - it seems to be triggered after 3 missions?

That must be it then.

[Shoes]

Awesome feedback :3

And another suggestion is to display the full criteria for receiving the medal on the description ('awarded after serving for 3 months', 'given by killing at least 10 Sectoids', etc.) so that it's easier to figure what a soldier still needs to do to receive that medal.

I thought about this and decided against it. My rationale is that it's less gamey and more realistic (sort of not really ;p) when the commendation sounds like something that could actually be given. On the other hand, the ruleset lays everything bare; if you want to know, you can go look there.

I was thinking about this - sometimes it feels that the squad is showered with medals after a mission.

As the_third_curry said, commendations have 10 levels. What I have coded already but yet to take advantage of, is the ability to "skip" decoration levels, lowering the amount of awards. That is to say, maybe the "kills" commendation will only get 1 bronze star, 2 silver stars and 3 gold stars as it's decorative levels, allowing me to reduce the amount of times it gets reawarded without increasing difficulty. I am considering doing this to all the "odd" commendations, like night terror missions and the like, but keeping the ten levels for all the modular medals, like the gun related or alien related ones.

I got the same thing - it seems to be triggered after 3 missions? 5 missions seems better.

Also, I can't figure out the criteria for the Order of Earth.

Personally I'd also remove the Honor Cross (or whichever) that everyone gets; it feels cheap.

The Military Cross is awarded after 3, 5, 10... missions and the last one is up to 50.

The Order of Earth medal is awarded for completing missions that are considered "important"; mostly non-scout missions and no base defense missions.

The Honor Cross is indeed awarded to everyone, even if they didn't do anything. I could require the soldier to at least be a squaddie to receive it... however a medal that everyone gets isn't special, I agree. I think the rationale behind this one was "not every soldier gets it, only xcom soldiers get it"

The Service Medal is awarded after 3 months, 6, 9, ... up to 30 months of service.

[wsmithjr]

Personally I'd also remove the Honor Cross (or whichever) that everyone gets; it feels cheap.

Yeah, perhaps.  But, it is a common thing for military personnel as far as I understand it.  For example, the American Campaign Medal recognized American military service members who performed military duty in the American Theater of Operations during World War II.  If you're interested, you can find info at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Campaign_Medal.  I'm sure there are hundreds of other medals or campaign ribbons like this throughout military history.

So, I can see on the one hand how it's a little silly because "everybody gets it" but it's cool and it's consistent with military history.

[ibanix]

The Military Cross is awarded after 3, 5, 10... missions and the last one is up to 50.

The Order of Earth medal is awarded for completing missions that are considered "important"; mostly non-scout missions and no base defense missions.

The Honor Cross is indeed awarded to everyone, even if they didn't do anything. I could require the soldier to at least be a squaddie to receive it... however a medal that everyone gets isn't special, I agree. I think the rationale behind this one was "not every soldier gets it, only xcom soldiers get it"

The Service Medal is awarded after 3 months, 6, 9, ... up to 30 months of service.

Thanks for the info. Personally, I'd start the Military Cross at 5 missions instead of 3, and go up from there.

The thing about the Honor Cross is - all of our soldiers ARE xcom soldiers! We never play with any others!

[ibanix]

Maybe turn the Honor Cross into a six-month medal? For fighting the XCOM Campaign. 

[the_third_curry]

Maybe turn the Honor Cross into a six-month medal? For fighting the XCOM Campaign. 

That would create a redundancy with the Service Medal.

Also, doesn't the soldier who took a plasma blast to the face stepping off the Skyranger in their first mission deserve something for their contribution?

[ibanix]

Does he deserve the same medal as everyone else? We've got the Purple Heart for wounded soldiers. Can you make a posthumous medal for dying in the service of XCOM?

[Shoes]

Does he deserve the same medal as everyone else? We've got the Purple Heart for wounded soldiers. Can you make a posthumous medal for dying in the service of XCOM?

Why don't you take a look at the medals of your dead soldiers

[ibanix]

Hah, I just noticed that and was going to comment "whoops".

Suggestion: How about a medal for killing an enemy with a proximity grenade?

[Shoes]

I will add that as a sort of trapper/surprise medal with all thrown explosives detonating on the enemy turn, and fix the Swiftness medal to not count those explosives

[ibanix]

I stole a look at the ruleset, and there are still a few medals I've yet to get anyone to get, but they have higher requirements.

I wouldn't mind a medal for *causing* friendly fire; a Medal of Shame or the like. For humor purposes more than anything.

[Shoes]

Yeah, there are some commendations that are very unlikely to get without trying. Especially beating a mission with only one soldier ;p

I had considered 'demotivational' commendations like that, because those events are notable too, but I am not sure how to make it happen properly. Perhaps instead of a medal they get a skull and crossbones? I am not sure.

[Solarius Scorch]

Skull and bones is too often used in a positive way, for example for counting kills. I think a printed page with a big red X would be better.

[Falko]

how anbout a dunce hat or a fools cap

[Hobbes]

Some of my soldiers aren't getting any Campaign Ribbons (STR_MEDAL_CAMPAIGN_RIBBON_NAME) on regions after reaching the 1st level (5 missions on a region) but other soldiers on the same game are getting them without any problems.

Could this be a bug?