Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N10 24-Nov-2024 Aurora's Dawn

[thevideogameraptorboggle]

May we get an update on the progress of the next update? I'm assuming you need to redraw all those tilesets that you borrowed, is that close to completion?

[wolfreal]

There should be a disclaimer in every mod page that says "it will be done when it's done"

I think it will take at least some more months until we have news about new versions. And I trust it will be amazing. Taking this time will give Dio a lot of new perspective. And K2/K3 are going to be one of the most tested versions of the mod. We will surely see some very interesting changes.

[BigDuck]

Hello all.

<del>

This is a wrong thread for little questions, sorry.

[assclapper420]

And you should refrain from trolling. Since I assume you're intelligent enough to not spew such gibberish while being serious about it.

Edit:
Following answer is adressed not to the poster (since from my years of experience, trying sane dialogue in such situation never works) but to explain the issue to everyone else. A little history first: instant grenades was a later modification of the vanilla game. A modification that was hilariously OP in vanilla (esp. regarding smoke grenades), but that's not even the major point; it can still work in a mod built around it, and it was maybe interesting in pre-OXC days, where adding NEW weapons or minute-modification of existing ones was very hard.

The point is, that since from the start I had superior OXC tools to add as many weapons as I wished, I found full conversion to instant grenades as an uninteresting avenue of modifying the base game, since it's eliminating some of the tactical variety, giving nothing in return (the arcing, instant explosion effect can be produced in different ways, without the need to cut off the option of delayed effect). And last I checked, all OXC built-in mods to XCOM mechanics are voluntary, not compulsory.

Then, a (largely needless) mental experiment:
1. Assume we made all grenades instant.
2. This leads to immediate and major increase of their power, while limiting tactical options (like drop n' run).
3. The latter is a permanent loss, but the former still needs to be adressed.
4. This would be adressed with nerfs to their power and/or accuracy and/or speed.
5. Resulting in tactical options being even more curtailed, not to mean several types of grenades would be superflous to already-existing instant explosives.
6. Alternatively, if step 4) is not taken, it would boil down to classical "louder, bigger, faster, dumber".

Thank god you aren't letting these foos convince you. I'll never understand why the XCOM community is so anal about their instant grenades.

[JustTheDude/CABSHEP]

Thank god you aren't letting these foos convince you. I'll never understand why the XCOM community is so anal about their instant grenades.

Whats the deal anyway with having issue how mod handles it? In Piratez you have shit from both worlds. Both instant nades like molotov, or black powder bombs, or stick grenades, but you also have non-instant nades.

Where do you guys have problem? Both sides should be satisfied.

[georg7490]

Question 1: I've got a problem with the battle mission...

I've researced the communication with ES (EuroSindicate?). ES can now sell to me some more improoved laser guns, like HeavyLaserES, ImpulseGunES and so on. ES told me that they will require my assistance, like doing some battle missions for them, they say the first mission will be available after a mounth. When the time have come - the 1st ES mission dot appeared on the map. It is written in the mission description something like I should bring my soldiers to the mission only by walk (no ships) and 'kill all enemy units there' and all types of armor are allowed, except Tanks. Well, specially for that mission I've ordered Expedition-1 unit - it's written that it's moving by foots, like walking on the ground, I assigned about 10 soldiers "on board" and send Expedition-1 to that 1st ES mission by foots. All seems to be normal, right?

I've completed it several times by several different ways (each time loaded on a map and "landed" on different\new battle location) but in the end of the mission I've constantly got MINUSes in scores for almost EVERY actions I made.

Spoiler:

1st string is about how many enemies got killed =42 and MINUS 1142 scores for doing that.
2nd string is about how many corpses were searced =7 and MINUS 105 scores for doing that.
3rd string is about how many hostages were taken =1 and MINUS 50 scores for doing that.
and it is MINUS 1330 in total.

What am I done wrong? Maybe it's a bug? Or a mistake in the mission description or translation?

Question 2: In classic UFO it is 6*6 buildins available to build on any base. In the XPirates mod appeared A LOT more types of buildings. I wander - is there any way to add some more space to the bases? Like to made it at least 7*7?
p.s. I can see no such option (expand the base space) available in the game. Please don't tell me how it's wrong and how you satisfied with 6*6 bases - I respect your opinion, but don't want to offtopic - I only ask you to share a method if you know\guess how to do it: like applying another mod compatible with XPirates (for classic UFO it's interesting to expant a base space too), or changing resources\files\cfg...

[Ves]

As i understand it after concluding the Eurosyndicate deal you will be asked to do some shady business which is not entirely in your interest. In those missions you are basically fighting the Mutant Alliance, meaning those people which you are usually trying to protect during pogroms and your gals are mutants as well. So there are big public relations consequences for doing these missions. The score malus is intended that way.
Approaching by foot in my understanding means that the mission layout includes no ship, but you are able land nearby using a ship.

Can't say much about your second question, though 

[JustTheDude/CABSHEP]

Read the research topics leading to Eurosyndicate deal again. I don't know if it is a translation error, but there should be clearly written that taking the deal will result in missions that will give you big ammount of negative infamy even if successfull.

Base size isn't really a mod thing. Its not new sprite, or a bit of text, its engine thing. Since to this day we don't have this, one could imagine its either impossible, or nearly impossible to the point nobody is willing to do so much work.

[legionof1]

Yeah the spread of base facilities being overwhelming to available base tiles is intentional design. Use the fact that you have 7 others. This isn't vanilla where you have 1 full base and 6.5 radar stations.

[Ethereal_Medic]

@ georg7490

The EuroSyndicate mission is exactly designed this way to do a huge negative infamy slap into your account.
Afterall you get access to POWERFUL LASER WEAPONRY and you can buy as many as you can affort and endless numbers of clips as well.

Laser weapons are powerful and beat most modern armors thanks to 33,3% armor penetration. You bought yourself into the contract, now make good use of it.
Later in the techtree you can perform a special project to get yourself out of the deal (no longer doing the missions for them) and still maintain the access to the laser weapon shop.

[georg7490]

So there are big public relations consequences for doing these missions. The score malus is intended that way.

Actually, I've started\completed that 1st ES mission in about 26th of the current mounts, so I just skipped all other events to reach the payday on a start of a next mounth and you know what - everybody quite happy about me... everybody, except ES... I just did a good job for ES. WTF? That was the main thing that troubled my understanding.

Spoiler:

Ok, maybe, just maybe -  I did something bad to ES previously in that mounth? I don't really remember ALL the battles in time period from the start of that mounth till that 1st ES mission on day 26th. Sometimes I can catch a random ship landed on a ground nearby, but i still don't have a decoding waves or whatever to scan some expanded information about ships (race\union, ship type, destanation or mission info). So it is possible that I caught an ES ship or even ships on the ground previously and separated them from their lives & goods, like a good pirate, but maybe I just forgot about it or didn't even mention\knew that it was ES ship this time... That theory could expain that bad ES mounth score issue.
But what if not? If that was not happened, then what? Why ES might be angree on me EVEN if I made a good job for ES and (version) did not make them suffer from me previosly?

Approaching by foot in my understanding means that the mission layout includes no ship, but you are able land nearby using a ship.

Yes... but why it started from INSIDE the whole levels of a randome building?

Spoiler:

Well, I was surprised while few experiments on that mission about the fact, that when once I landed there on 1 of my flying ships to that mission - it started normally - as usual for that type of mission - inside the building... But why, actually?
The soldiers respawn point was not in the ships, but after "walking by foots" from the ship to the... inside the building? Srsly? Is that somekind of secret swat tactic? Why on Earth they all landed on a ship nearby, then walked by foots to the mission town and, when they entered the town - the first thing they did is entered the randome building and ocupied all levels of it including the roof? And sometimes the enemies were respawned inside the closest building to my soldier's bulding... And they start the war of buildings, high explosives throwings in windows, simetimes I've just completly destroyed that whole building and buried enemies under ruins with a rain of big booms.
I believe it is more logical to make a respawn poing on that mission type for Player's soldiers NOT INSIDE the building, but somewhere on the streets, or even before the outpost with enemy guardians on the entrance to the perimeter, or anyrhing more logically based version - anything is better than to start from inside the building I suppose.
p.s. also - any other respawn point will allow tanks.

Oh, and 1 more thing - about naked soldiers inside a tank...

Spoiler:

I was just wandering what will happen if I'd try to take on that mission some support units, like 4*rpg-tanks, which are actually restricted for that mission, mostly just because the desidion to make a respawn point INSIDE a bulding, tanks will not fit\move inside a living\dining rooms.
I was surprised that when the mission started - all soldiers that were WEARING the armor type like 4*rpg-tanks - are respawned absolutly naked.
Ok, I see the programming logic: if the armor is restricted - then take it off, but if there is no any armor on a soldier - than apply the default skin, the defauld skin for a soldier without any armor is a NAKED BODY.
But there is no realistic logic in that gameplay desidion. That simply means that the auther of the mod wants to say to a player that all the soldiers inside all the tanks (which needs a crew\operators) in that game - are sitting inside their tanks being completly naked. Why? I still did not mention in ufopedia not a single word about a reason why on Earth all tank pilots need to be naked inside a tank to operate it. And I hope that I will never find an article about such rubish, like a try to explain in humoristical way that bug (error) like a fiture (option).
I rly suggest to redesign that organisation of "wearing" a tank as an ordinary armor.
I think it is more natural to ADD A SECOND ARMOR CLASS - assign it on a separate button somewhere near the ordinary armor button.
Also, even if it is a deep future and single pilot tanks are quite possible, I believe that the classic idea of a tank is - a collective armor. Which means that it might need more crew to controll that single tank unit: a driver, a gun aimer, a commander, or more exotic specialisations which suits to tanks of future, like a reloader which reloads a tank gun with a power of magic spells or whatever, no need in shells, just feed the reloader sourcer and bring to him fresh virgins\victims\vegitables to restore his magical powers ^_^
That way you can keep a classical armor menu and create a new aremor menu, which will allow soldiers
1st- to wear some light armor types to fit inside
2nd - to assign a soldier or even several soldiers (which are already wearing allowed\fittable\compact armor) to a single tank unit.
Also - it will allow to disembarg the tank operator\operators from any tank not only in game eqipment menu, but even on a battlefield. That would be so cool, realistic and handy, for example - when the tank will be dammaged or out of shells\energy or even tank is ok but a player will need the tank crew to leave the tank to fit\enter the building door or other small passages.

I know, I know, a lot of hard work, nobody wants it, but I belive that when you doing something rly cool, valuable, right thing - it's not a work, it is a happiness of life, right? So go and happily do it, i don't want to hear reasons why it is impossible, all is possible when you trually want it. ^_^

[JustTheDude/CABSHEP]

ES missions are not tied to ES "country" score (I think). If big factions do something on their teritory, they are not pleased from your work.
After all, you can't "immerse" yourself into the world too much. Its still a mod that works on +20 years old engine. Most things have to work on top of what original Xcom was.

Doing work for ES gives negative score, if you do that on ES teritory, govts from that region won't be happy. I guess you can explain via bootypedia article that all govts don't work together. Thats why govts attack you despite the fact you are big secret allies. Those who give you those missions work against Mutant Alliance (another of your big allies that is also present in ES region). Govts hate big factions approved by Star Gods, while the Mutant Alliance doesn't seem to be one as its a loose organisation of... Mutants. And mutants are hated both by "pureblood" humans (however such status can be achieved by wealth and status, not really needing to be of "pure" blood) and Big Factions.

In short: Those who give you those ES missions might not be the ones who "pay your bills".

Why gals start inside a house? Well... Its the basis of urban combat. Where else they are supposed to start to not be exposed to enemy fire? Gals most likely land somewhere fairly near, hide and leave the ship and then go by foot to some building to wait for an ambush.

Regarding tanks: Gals are gals. They are not disciplined military, they do what they want. For example they also wear power armor over a naked body. They also walk naked around hideout. It is implied that both tanks and armored cars are very compact. Gals barerly fit inside armored cars and they can't fit inside a tank. Anything other than a t-shirt and panties would only restrain movement even more.
Gals skin also is as strong as light plastic armor vest for humans, so why would they need armor inside?

Why would such small vehicles require more than one person to operate? They are not full scale. 2x2 means that only 4 people could stand next to each other hugging themselfs on the same spot as tank does.

Many of the things you speak of are straight up impossible. Again, its a mod to an old game. You can't assign more than one "soldier" to one type of armor. Tanks work as armor because its the only way they can work with operator who is also a "soldier". You can't spawn friendly units on the battlefield. Game is hardcoded to only allow spawn enemy units and its done only because mod uses chryssalid zombie mechanic of dying and spawning new unit on top.

[vadracas]

Quick question for my personal gameplay as I understand that Dioxine does not like having this option enabled, where is the ruleset file that forces options to be on/off, I would like to turn the UFO landing alert option to true but can't find it.

[Ashghan]

Piratez_Globals.rul
Look for: fixedUserOptions:

[vadracas]

Much thanks