Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N9.7.7 12-Sep-2024 Second Coming

[ivandogovich]

This has twofold impact, which I consider favorable:
- You need actual sources of light, like torches, to lit up the night now;
- In that light-level-5 state, the pirates and their surrounings are somewhat visible now - while staying hidden from day vision.

I love you!  I want to have your children!

[Meridian]

Now we can watch a bunch of black pixels with an arrow on top shoot at another bunch of black pixels with an arrow on top... on a black background.

What a joy!

[Dioxine]

No sir, that's how it was before. Now it's a bunch of dark pixels on a very dark background. Progress!
Also, all Powered Armor has built-in strong lighting if you prefer the ways of the old and don't want to use flares

[Arthanor]

Great news on the night ops! I tended to avoid the night missions so far as it's too annoying to do the fight blind (compared to vanilla where you might as well light up the whole place since ennemies see the same in night or day, so night is an added challenge instead of a whole different gameplay that's not well translated to player perceptions).

Would it also be possible to make enemies glow to that level instead of being completely dark? Not easier to spot, but actually visible-ish in the dark instead of invisible to the player despite having been seen by the gals.

Not stuck, you can do the mission over another month. The files are guaranteed to spawn so if you blow them up, it's your fault. Also this mission is in no way required to finish the game.

Given that it's an enjoyable mission and a good source of otherwise rare-ish loot (power armor parts and high powered weapons including baby nukes), I'm thinking now I should have repeated it a few times! But the risk is pretty high too. Maybe with good psi-gals!

[Dioxine]

Would it also be possible to make enemies glow to that level instead of being completely dark? Not easier to spot, but actually visible-ish in the dark instead of invisible to the player despite having been seen by the gals.

Not sure if it can work, but even if it does - you'd see minute variations in shadow depth wherever an enemy is, spotted or not. So it'd mean an auto-spot up to 40 tiles for someone with sharp eyes, with up to 2 tiles error. Just use an AOE weapon then...

[HelmetHair]

That is real progress, D!

Are all lights still a radius around  a soldier?

Are lights switchable on and off at will yet?

Does illuminating yourself in front of an enemy draw reaction fire?

Are we able to generate a cone of light yet?

This is really exciting.

-HH

[Riph]

avoid the night missions so far as it's too annoying to do the fight blind

Now we can watch a bunch of black pixels with an arrow on top shoot at another bunch of black pixels with an arrow on top.

Where did this idea come from, and why is it so prevalent?  You can cover an entire map in electro flares, leaving a puddle of shadow for your troops to hide in.  The entire mission becomes a breezy-easy shooting gallery, with all the enemies illuminated for the brief seconds they exist before they're torn apart by reaction fire.  Night missions are easier and faster than day missions.


Unrelated note, has anyone been able to research or produce the Astrocaster?  I researched Battle Pipes (which worked fine), and that unlocked the Heavy Metal research.  I did that research, and unusually, I got zero feedback (no Bootypedia screen, no nothing.)  Is the Astrocaster hooked into the research tree at present?

[Dioxine]

Pedia entry got lost in the process for some reason, but you should be able to manufacture it once researched.

[Yankes]

Are we able to generate a cone of light yet?

Crating cone shape is tricky. Biggest problem is that up till now rotation of unit do not affect light or visibility for other units. With directional light it will need to.
Depending how hard it will be to fix all corner cases I could consider implementing it.

Where did this idea come from, and why is it so prevalent?  You can cover an entire map in electro flares, leaving a puddle of shadow for your troops to hide in.  The entire mission becomes a breezy-easy shooting gallery, with all the enemies illuminated for the brief seconds they exist before they're torn apart by reaction fire.  Night missions are easier and faster than day missions.

do you know that OXCE support limited time flares? :>

[HelmetHair]

Crating cone shape is tricky. Biggest problem is that up till now rotation of unit do not affect light or visibility for other units. With directional light it will need to.
Depending how hard it will be to fix all corner cases I could consider implementing it.

This has been one area that X-Com has lacked for a very long time...the humble handheld flashlight.

Would you kindly, pretty please implement this?

Could you define corner cases for me so I understand what you are trying to tell me?

-HH

[Yankes]

This has been one area that X-Com has lacked for a very long time...the humble handheld flashlight.

Would you kindly, pretty please implement this?

Could you define corner cases for me so I understand what you are trying to tell me?

-HH

e.g. We have normal case like you simply turn around your unit. Its easy to handle. Now we can have rotation caused by reaction shoot. It happens elsewhere in code it should be handled too. This is your first corner case. Next what we should do when unit die? Its turn too, I should implement rotation of light in that case too? Would it not look strange and artificial if everyone who die, point its light in one direction?

And probably more situation that need handling that I can recall without analyzing code. Sometimes some "simple things"  could be tip of the iceberg.

[Star_Treasure]

I tried the "Use alt to see the arrows" method. I gave up because I kept tripping over stumps in forest maps. Maybe worth it when you are fighting serious threats, but otherwise it's a waste of time.

[Foxhound634]

I think I am partially to blame... I told Dioxine once that 1.0 needs a proper intro.

Proper intro, as in opening cinematic, or more like tutorial missions?

Also, what's the ETA on 1.0?

[DracoGriffin]

I've been testing the new lighting options, brought by Yankes with his great update. I've reduced the light produced by pirates from 15 to 5 (maximum setting which still counts as being in darkness).
This has twofold impact, which I consider favorable:
- You need actual sources of light, like torches, to lit up the night now;
- In that light-level-5 state, the pirates and their surrounings are somewhat visible now - while staying hidden from day vision.

So looks like my tactic of throwing flares everywhere isn't a bad idea now... especially with "Attack of the Violent Flare Females".

[Dioxine]

Proper intro, as in opening cinematic, or more like tutorial missions?

Also, what's the ETA on 1.0?

Intro = Opening animation.

ETA impossible to ascertain. My IRL job is of a mercenary nature so any long-range plans are impossible to make.