[EXPANSION]Hardmode Expansion -- General Feedback Thread

[niculinux]

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Samuel Beckett

Thanks hellrazor, may abofe the post before the last here? Actually the most limited aspect is there are no simple-to-use image editing programs in linux to preserve the 256 palette, but i may be wron. Please for linux technical knowledge post here. Peraphs may drop in IRC se gather some more info, thanks again, don't know if i will have spare time though.

[SIMON BAILIE]

Just did the first mission there with armored sectopods, boy what a mission.

Spoiler:

Found out that they can survive a direct hit from H/E's @ 200 damage, blaster bombs and heavy proximity mines. Though they do take a fair bit of damage and usually don't survive a second hit or at least not a second direct hit in the rear. The only other weapon I found that would do any damage to them was hits from plasma sniper rifle(elerium rounds) though it was best to hit them in the rear again. Had one sectopod survive a direct H/E and 4 plasma sniper hits but per the mind probe he only had 10 health left. Still researching heavy plasmas atm as I'm trying to concentrate the majority of my researchers on getting the psi amp. I was lucky there that there were only 2 or 3 ethereal soldiers involved in crashed muton elite terror ship. Any advice apart from praying for a lot of luck?

Meant to ask are you considering the mod I saw there recently involving spitting Chrysallids for v0.94? That would make Snakemen terror sites even nastier.

[hellrazor]

Just did the first mission there with armored sectopods, boy what a mission.

I hope you had fun there

Spoiler:

Found out that they can survive a direct hit from H/E's @ 200 damage, blaster bombs and heavy proximity mines. Though they do take a fair bit of damage and usually don't survive a second hit or at least not a second direct hit in the rear. The only other weapon I found that would do any damage to them was hits from plasma sniper rifle(elerium rounds) though it was best to hit them in the rear again. Had one sectopod survive a direct H/E and 4 plasma sniper hits but per the mind probe he only had 10 health left. Still researching heavy plasmas atm as I'm trying to concentrate the majority of my researchers on getting the psi amp. I was lucky there that there were only 2 or 3 ethereal soldiers involved in crashed muton elite terror ship. Any advice apart from praying for a lot of luck?

Well, they are supposed to be units to kick your ass, so if you had trouble with them, they did their Job well. ;P

Spoiler:

They do not have any HE resistence, i presume you got some bad Damage rolls there. I actually modified its Armor stats a little bit, i did this already a few days ago, to keep pressing the player into flanking this unit. Plasma Shotguns in the back are a pretty good and safe bet, especially with Elerium Clips and Autoshots. Alloy Sword on a str maxed Soldier should also be a good way to kill them. Plasma Sniper Rifle of course in the back also works, i you can flank them or make them turn around.

Code: [Select]

  - type: ARMORED_SECTOPOD_ARMOR
    spriteSheet: ARMORED_SECTOPOD.PCK
    allowInv: false
    corpseBattle:
      - ARMORED_SECTOPOD_CORPSE_1
      - ARMORED_SECTOPOD_CORPSE_2
      - ARMORED_SECTOPOD_CORPSE_3
      - ARMORED_SECTOPOD_CORPSE_4
    corpseGeo: STR_ARMORED_SECTOPOD_CORPSE
    frontArmor: 160
    sideArmor: 150
    rearArmor: 100
    underArmor: 90
    drawingRoutine: 5
    size: 2
    damageModifier:
      - 1.0
      - 0.0
      - 1.0
      - 0.8
      - 1.0
      - 0.8
      - 1.0
      - 1.0
      - 1.0
      - 0.0
    loftempsSet: [ 92, 89, 90, 91 ]

I also modified its weapon stats, to make it more dangerous.

Code: [Select]

  - type: ARMORED_SECTOPOD_WEAPON
    weight: 3
    bigSprite: -2
    floorSprite: 31
    handSprite: 104
    fireSound: 11
    hitSound: 19
    hitAnimation: 56
    power: 115
    damageType: 5
    accuracyAuto: 50
    accuracySnap: 75
    accuracyAimed: 110
    tuAuto: 35
    tuSnap: 30
    tuAimed: 60
    battleType: 1
    fixedWeapon: true
    invWidth: 2
    invHeight: 3
    clipSize: -1
    bulletSprite: 8
    recover: false
    autoShots: 5
    listOrder: 11401
As you can see i increased the Damage by 15 points, so it is equal to a Heavy Plasma, it also can now Fire Autoburst with 5 Shots. And i will implement research, which allows you to "hack" and "reprogram" those units, if you can capture them "alive".

Meant to ask are you considering the mod I saw there recently involving spitting Chrysallids for v0.94? That would make Snakemen terror sites even nastier.

I told if i put this unit in they will only be present on the Final Mission on Cydonia. I do have to think about some cool sprites first, already organized all the normal Chryssalid ones, but didn't had the time to do anything with them, at the moment they are low priority.

[Alex_D]

Hellrazor, thanks for the 0.93b!

Spoiler:

By the way, plasma beam cannons are still 52 range   I suppose their range will be cut to 42 in version 0.94

It seems something is still funny with the research in my campaign. I have researched everything and there is no trace of the UFO-like X-Com craft (so no Avenger, no Cydonia mission). See my attached save. What else could I have been missing in research?

Spoiler:

So far I have all the prerequisites for STR_NEW_FIGHTER_TRANSPORTER_UNLOCK_1 and STR_NEW_FIGHTER_TRANSPORTER_UNLOCK_2, that's it all seven types of engineers and navigators, plus all four types of medics.

I guess the update of a while ago still have some ripple effects on the campaign.

[hellrazor]

Hellrazor, thanks for the 0.93b!

Spoiler:

By the way, plasma beam cannons are still 52 range   I suppose their range will be cut to 42 in version 0.94

It seems something is still funny with the research in my campaign. I have researched everything and there is no trace of the UFO-like X-Com craft (so no Avenger, no Cydonia mission). See my attached save. What else could I have been missing in research?

Spoiler:

So far I have all the prerequisites for STR_NEW_FIGHTER_TRANSPORTER_UNLOCK_1 and STR_NEW_FIGHTER_TRANSPORTER_UNLOCK_2, that's it all seven types of engineers and navigators, plus all four types of medics.

I guess the update of a while ago still have some ripple effects on the campaign.

You somehow managed to research all the Engineer and Navigators, but never got the UFO Construction before doing so.
I fixed your savegame, by removing all the Engineers and Navigators you have already researched. They will now show up again and are researchable.
I don't really understand how this happened, since i can research those guys multiple times without any Problems.
And so far noone else has reported a issue of this kind to me.
Maybe this really was a glitch which happened while upgrading or it was simply because you researched all the Enginners and Navigators, before you researched UFO Construction,
but even then, those Engineers and Navigators still had unlocks to go for.
Were you able to research Engineers and Navigators multiple times at all?

Attached is the fixed savegame, HF on the Cydonia Mission.

[Alex_D]

You somehow managed to research all the Engineer and Navigators, but never got the UFO Construction before doing so.

I have the habit to test games in unexpected ways

I fixed your savegame, by removing all the Engineers and Navigators you have already researched. They will now show up again and are researchable.

Thanks for the savegame, now I see I can re-research these guys. It will take some in-game time to do so. Did you just remove the "discovered"  entries for these aliens?

I don't really understand how this happened, since i can research those guys multiple times without any Problems.
And so far noone else has reported a issue of this kind to me.
Were you able to research Engineers and Navigators multiple times at all?

Yes, I think I researched these navigators and engineers a few times each until they didn't showed up anymore, but I recall going through most if not all of them earlier, maybe before the update to 0.92 or so. My last alien researched I think was the Gazer Commander. No screen came up. But this one was in version 0.93b.

[hellrazor]

I have the habit to test games in unexpected ways
Thanks for the savegame, now I see I can re-research these guys. It will take some in-game time to do so. Did you just remove the "discovered"  entries for these aliens?

Yes i did only remove those.

Yes, I think I researched these navigators and engineers a few times each until they didn't showed up anymore, but I recall going through most if not all of them earlier, maybe before the update to 0.92 or so. My last alien researched I think was the Gazer Commander. No screen came up. But this one was in version 0.93b.

Just di some fun and killed a whole Group of Armored Sectopods with 1 Soldier and a Alloy Sword Pretty effective ^^

[Alex_D]

Yes i did only remove those.

Got some woes, but moving forward.

Spoiler:

After researching all of the engineers and navigators, I got the first two crafts, but the trigger for the Avenger research was still not there, so I deleted the four medics (!) and finally after re-researching them I got the ultimate craft. I saw the empty screens for the three avenger unlocks.

I think that's it. I'll report to you how the final battle went

Edit: The final battle was

Spoiler:

up to the stature of the name. The gigantic brain level map was really hard, especially with this deadly combination of these super-elite mutons and the ethereals. Essentially my best psi-capable troops barely did a dent. The end it was a plasma-shotgun-and-blaster-fest, hopping from room to room to find where in the depths was the brain chamber. It was not your standard kill all aliens and win by default, it was hide and fire.

[hellrazor]

Got some woes, but moving forward.

Spoiler:

After researching all of the engineers and navigators, I got the first two crafts, but the trigger for the Avenger research was still not there, so I deleted the four medics (!) and finally after re-researching them I got the ultimate craft. I saw the empty screens for the three avenger unlocks.

I think that's it. I'll report to you how the final battle went

I guess you somehow manged to break my research tree, but that is somehow good, so i can come up with some ways to prevent something like this happening in the future. Those empty strings you saw, this happens only when "fix" things in the research usually you do not see them at all.
It may also have been a inconsistency in your savegame while upgrading, several times. It is hard to trae something like this properly down. I only wanna say that in the upcoming new Version i will prevent what you did

Spoiler:

skipping Laser and going straight for Plasma

a little bit, also by putting in the Special Missions and triggering them by research might also help.
Can't wait on your Final battle report.

Edit: The final battle was

Spoiler:

up to the stature of the name. The gigantic brain level map was really hard, especially with this deadly combination of these super-elite mutons and the ethereals. Essentially my best psi-capable troops barely did a dent. The end it was a plasma-shotgun-and-blaster-fest, hopping from room to room to find where in the depths was the brain chamber. It was not your standard kill all aliens and win by default, it was hide and fire.

No complains about my blue walking toys?

I am glad that it was indeed hard, i will play around and optimize the Mapscript a little bit and also maybe add some more Modules especially for the last stage. I am not sure if it is a good idea to put in a medium second stage, since this would really put a huge dent on what the player has for the final mission. Maybe some sort of Mission were you need to reach the exitpoint and flee before the aliens hordes and try to reach 1 objective (destroy something) and then move towards the exit.

Any further feedback would really be appreciated.
(That the economy is basically broken, because of too much money i already now and i think i took good care ofit, but it needs proper testing).

[SIMON BAILIE]

It just shows that you can't take the stated accuracy for granted as a sure shot, in my current mission I missed a waspite with an aimed shot "stated accuracy" of 169%, most annoying so my next troop lobbed an alien grenade on it and that put the nonsense out of him. This must be the biggest stated accuracy I've ever missed with. The troop in question is maxed out on firing accuracy @ 121, was using a plasma sniper rifle and had the other hand free but was about 30 squares from the target. Even worse I reloaded with save scumming and same thing happened, just wanted to see what would happen as I accepted reluctantly that it was just a very rare miss under these circumstances. Unfortunately I wouldn't have had line of fire if I'd kneeled but the stated accuracy would have been 194%. I have rarely seen stated accuracies over 200% so I'm wondering just for future note is there a percentage of over 100% where these misses are impossible or does the chance of such misses just get smaller and smaller with there always being a mathematical chance you'll miss no matter what the stated accuracy says.

[Warboy1982]

you can miss with 5000% accuracy and hit with 0%.

[SIMON BAILIE]

Thanks Warboy, I now know from your clarification that there isn't a guaranteed hit though occurances like this should be incredibly rare.

[Solarius Scorch]

I'd like to add that from my observations, the percentage counter tends to be unreliable when shooting through partial cover, for example a tree or when the target in on the roof. It often shows 100%+, but the bullet hits the obstacle anyway.

[hellrazor]

Jeah it sometimes does that.

But there also situations were your proned to miss, despite of good accuracy.
Put a soldier on a hill and try to fire at a lien behind the ufo, even thou you have a Line of Sight (LOS),
your Line of Fire(LOF) doesn't take this into account and you will miss no matter what.

There are also random occasions, when you fire from a elevated position, for example hovering at level 6 in a flying suit and shooting again a alien behind the ufo, you do have clear LOS but your LOF will not correspond towards this.
On of the biggest "errors" so to say which can happen due to the way the game calculates a shoot, starting with the source and the destination points and line between them.

Maybe Warboy can shed some light into this, because i would wish, that if i have a LOS and a LOF that i can hit and kill the target.

[Alex_D]

I guess you somehow manged to break my research tree, but that is somehow good, so i can come up with some ways to prevent something like this happening in the future.

Feedback is the least I can do after so much work a mod creator has put into the game we love.

No complains about my blue walking toys?

Not much except when my soldiers were inside the Blaster blast radius

Spoiler:

By the time they showed up I had already mastered the Blaster Bomb and/or the Plasma Elerium Shotgun. They were effective against these beam firing bipedal toys. If they had a secondary weapon such as a Blaster launcher, then things would be different as more brown pants would need re-issuing for my soldiers.

Any further feedback would really be appreciated.

I'm including the last three important savegames: 1. Just before taking off to Cydonia; 2. Just before going to the Brain level; 3. Just before shooting the Brain.

Spoiler:

My mistake was to bring those useless alloy tanks. They were all dead within a few turns at the Pyramids level. Instead, for the space, I could have brought 4x4=16 useless rookies. They can scout more .

At the end, the tactics were to go about into small groups of two or three, basically not engaging unless they were face-to-face, or crossfired. Blasters and Shotguns all the way, a blaster for long distance, a point-blank shotgun burst for close combat.

In the final level, those super-elite mutons were the most annoying (in a good way). I kind of got used to destroying the Ethereals and their blue mechanical pets during base or wreckage assaults on Earth, but, boy, these mutons could take, in some cases, a shotgun blast auto fire from 2 tiles over, and then turn around and return fire! Blasters were the only choice left, and even that direct hits only. Some soldiers ran out of ammo and had to reload from whatever items survived on the ground.

Looking forward to play it again in the near future.