[MERGED] Soldier Diaries 1.0

[Shoes]

I am able to reproduce a silly bug where two soldiers have x amount kills with a rifle, but only one of them is being properly awarded for it. I think they're both related.

The modular medals were a puzzle to put together, so I sort of ... quietly hoped nobody would notice..

It's a thing that needs to be looked into. Once it's fixed, your guys will be awarded their medals properly.

[Hobbes]

I am able to reproduce a silly bug where two soldiers have x amount kills with a rifle, but only one of them is being properly awarded for it. I think they're both related.

The modular medals were a puzzle to put together, so I sort of ... quietly hoped nobody would notice..

It's a thing that needs to be looked into. Once it's fixed, your guys will be awarded their medals properly.

Well, this is happening a lot on my current game since I'm trying to get as many commendations as possible for my Commander and I've noticed it happening so far with awards related with regions, weapons and alien races.

And I have two or more soldiers having anyone of the previous awards but a third soldier won't receive it.

[ibanix]

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?

I have something similar, where my guys will ONLY get North American Campaign ribbons. They never seem to get them for anywhere else.

[Hobbes]

I have something similar, where my guys will ONLY get North American Campaign ribbons. They never seem to get them for anywhere else.

I have plenty of Southeast Asia ribbons to trade...

[ibanix]

I just took out an alien base and was surprised not to get medals for it. That's a pretty huge accomplishment, I think a medal is in order.

[Shoes]

I just took out an alien base and was surprised not to get medals for it. That's a pretty huge accomplishment, I think a medal is in order.

Huh, you're right there isn't one. I will rectify this shortly :3

In your experiences, would you guys say that modular commendations (the ones that are specific to weapons, aliens, regions, etc) are being awarded correctly _once_, but it is not being awarded correctly for a second level same soldier or for a first level second soldier? Any data on how this fails to be awarded would help me focus my search through the logic!

[ibanix]

Well, for me, the bronze pins are working correctly; but the <area> Campaign medals have only triggered for North America, yet I've done missions just about everywhere.

[Hobbes]

Huh, you're right there isn't one. I will rectify this shortly :3

In your experiences, would you guys say that modular commendations (the ones that are specific to weapons, aliens, regions, etc) are being awarded correctly _once_, but it is not being awarded correctly for a second level same soldier or for a first level second soldier? Any data on how this fails to be awarded would help me focus my search through the logic!

This may help... these are the stats of my top soldier.




If I'm deducing correctly, he should have 1 award for Chryssalids, Mutons and Sectoids, and 4 awards for Floaters and Snakemen, plus being both proficient with Heavy Plasma and Rocket Launcher. From the second pic he should have campaign ribbons for Australasia, SE Asia and Europe.

These are his actual commendations:

[ibanix]

'Improvisation' ? How do you get THAT kill type?

[Shoes]

'Improvisation' ? How do you get THAT kill type?

When you improvise It is interpreted by the source as any kill not from a weapon. Cyberdisk deaths, barrels, gas tanks, etc.

Would you be able to post your save somewhere Hobbes? Even a link to pastebin. That way I can tweak the logic, win a quick match and see if you get the mission medals you should have.

[Hobbes]

When you improvise It is interpreted by the source as any kill not from a weapon. Cyberdisk deaths, barrels, gas tanks, etc.

Would you be able to post your save somewhere Hobbes? Even a link to pastebin. That way I can tweak the logic, win a quick match and see if you get the mission medals you should have.

Saved Game

Try the above link.

[Hobbes]

Meanwhile a little more feedback that came to my mind yesterday.

This mod is great for recording a soldier's history and the commendations so far work like collecting cards - I'm trying to get as many as possible for my elite squad.

There seems to be also two types of commendations - the ones you get by doing regular actions (reaching certain numbers for killing aliens, missions on areas, using specific weapons) and the ones you get by doing crazy and/or risky stuff (Man Of Steel, Black Cross, Iron Man, Star of Value, etc.). However all of these medals are given automatically upon certain conditions and none is given directly by the player.

So, what may be interesting to explore would be:
* Separate better the proficiency commendations from the medals for exceptional actions.
* One thing that would help would be if it's possible to give ranks for the commendations list order, so that exceptional medals are always on top. If I have a soldier that has earned Man Of Steel, that award is much more satisfying to look at than nearly all others and I shouldn't need to scroll down the list to see it.
* Another idea would be to have different screens from both proficiency commendations and exceptional medals. You'd use the commendations screen to keep track of a soldier's progress (which this mod is tailor made to do so) and the medals screen to enjoy the crazy/heroic stuff he/she has done. It would be also nice that the medal's info includes details of the mission where it was earned.
* Finally add the possibility of the player awarding specific medals to soldiers. While playing I sometimes wanted to give a soldier an additional medal because he/she did actions that although not recorded made a significant contribution.

Another suggestion, of a graphical nature: it might look better if the commendations have a border (see attached pic) or if more different colors are used because when some ribbons are next to the other and have similar colors it completely makes them lose their individual shape.

[Shoes]

I like those borders, especially with the changing colors! That would actually be pretty painless to try, because I can mod the star pin things to have a border and be done. No need to mod the individual sprites.

Differentiating between commendations is not a bad idea, I will look into being able to list them in some order. One way of sort of differentiating between "good" and "better" commendations would be through name, where "Citations" are so-so, "medals" are good, "stars" are great. I don't see myself adding a new screen for the two categories of awards just because of how little space I have to work with.

Being able to award medals yourself to soldiers would be cool, but would require almost everything to be coded. Hardly anything I've written so far could be reused. Too bad, because I know that there are some things that just can't be commended with the use of computer logic! I am interested in the idea of awarding commendations to "you", the commander, though.

[ibanix]

I second the borders.

[Hobbes]

I like those borders, especially with the changing colors! That would actually be pretty painless to try, because I can mod the star pin things to have a border and be done. No need to mod the individual sprites.

I have already edited the .png files to include the borders. I tried first doing it with the stars but I found out that if there's no star (1st award) the border will not be displayed.

I am interested in the idea of awarding commendations to "you", the commander, though.

What kinda of criteria you'll use?