[TFTD] Second Alien War {current stage: leaving the starting line}

[Quinch]

Edit: The mod now has a portal page!
Backup link.

Hi folks. I'm thinking of creating a large mod for TFTD - gradually - and I figured I should probably put out a thread to bounce ideas off y'all.

The idea is similar to Solarius' FMP mod - gradual expansion of weapons, alien races, deployment sites, etc. More graduated research, more value to capturing aliens and so on. A lot of rewrites too, just for the sake of setting, which is where I am now.

Some ideas I have for now -

Shaped charges - rework the proximity mines to have higher damage, but only one square damage radius {making it possible for aliens to step out of range, depending on the placement} and hullbuster charges, likewise with one square radius, high weight {i.e. a rookie would have to drag it along, nevermind throwing} and size and enough power to break through ship walls for alternative entrances.

Also, the usuals, like sniper rifles and shotguns.

One pivotal concept I'm uncertain about is accuracy - it's possible to snipe enemies from one end of the map to another, but it's also possible to miss a point-blank shot. What I'm considering is cranking up the accuracy for all weapons into triple digits, but also forcing much shorter ranges {depending on the weapon role}, which would make close-quarters combat a lot more initiative-based, but also nerf long-range sniping with inappropriate weapons. Thoughts?

[niculinux]

Nice idea, a final mod pack for opentftd would be an ultimate mod! As for accuracy, long range shots may be less accurate than the ones on the earth'surface

edit: huge advantage may also be taken by  browsin around this forum, since it's full of good sprites don't need to create from scratch, only modify. For instance, have a look here and here!! More specifically, that magneto tech featured in the Kyrou-Kai mod has a nice and futuristic design that may fit well in the tftd setting, a weapon tier that may come after the gauss ones. Other futuristic arsenal may found here and here. Also the alloy weapons mod would be fine!

edit: in the end, what about a more "appealing" mod name, eg."open terror from the deep enhanced"? Sry can't think a anymore, my creativity runned out for today

[Quinch]

Hey niculinux, thanks for the interest. The encouragement is nice too!

Anyhoo, the accuracy thing is mainly there for balancing. Also, in case someone else already tried it and had experiences to share, might as well try and avoid any obvious mistakes.

I do plan on hijacking any and all sprites and ideas I can get my grubby webbed paws on {authors willing, of course}, visual arts are not my strong suit, long-winded ramblings are.

As for the mod name, Enhanced seems kind of... generic. I do hope to flesh out the background a bit more, even if it won't affect the gameplay much, or at all, so I opted for a more in-character name for the mod.

Anyway, here's my grand work so far. There's, uh... some ufopedia entries. I moved the alien weapons into the general equipment category, because why split hairs and I wanted a space for X-COM background and history, that's the "X-COM operations" section. I'll flesh that out a bit more, then move on to weapons experiments.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33551029/openXcom/Second%20Alien%20War.zip

[niculinux]

Hey niculinux, thanks for the interest. The encouragement is nice too
[....]

you're welcome! Just a couple of things:it is good practice to post soem screenshots to track progress, may we get st least a pair? second, all updates and links to mod should be put in the first post, again for better tracking progress.

edit: as for name, openTFTD final mod pack may be an option to go, since it will be an ufo/xcom counterpart?

[yrizoud]

One pivotal concept I'm uncertain about is accuracy - it's possible to snipe enemies from one end of the map to another, but it's also possible to miss a point-blank shot. What I'm considering is cranking up the accuracy for all weapons into triple digits, but also forcing much shorter ranges {depending on the weapon role}, which would make close-quarters combat a lot more initiative-based, but also nerf long-range sniping with inappropriate weapons. Thoughts?

maxRange 20 is a handy number to consider, because it matches exactly the visual range of both XCOM and aliens :
- You don't have to advance one tile at a time and try shoot, because the engine will stop your movement at the earliest tile where your soldier gets a visual contact - which coincidentally is the extreme range of your weapon.
- The red icon of "alien sighted" also means you're within shooting distance.
- The alien AI never uses "spotter/sniper" tactic... So, if you set maxRange 20 to all alien weapons, the aliens don't care, but it nerfs what the player can do with the captured weapons.

[Quinch]

I don't mean the maxrange stat, but aim, snap and autorange ones. There wouldn't be a hard limit to weapon range, but an effective one.

[niculinux]

[...]

As for the mod name, Enhanced seems kind of... generic. I do hope to flesh out the background a bit more, even if it won't affect the gameplay much, or at all, so I opted for a more in-character name for the mod.
[...]

How about: xcom: delta force 

Delta force main theme

[Quinch]

X-COM: More Things That Go Boom?

Anyway, I may need to scrap the accuracy overhaul. On the player side, the theory works - different weapons are more suited to different ranges and engagements. The AI, on the other hand, can't really compensate, either with weapons they deploy with, or their use.

[davide]

For the new mod I suggest to you to include the existant new subs

To the original file from Stategic Core I added three mini sub that I found here:
https://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/10426-new-tftd-sub-designs/




The tilesets are:

Code: [Select]

${deps}:UEXT2 UEXT3 UINT1 UINT2 UINT3
files:Alien pack2
TUFO01:${deps}
TUFO02:${deps}
TUFO03:${deps}
end    

${deps}:organic2 grunge1 xbases03 grunge3 grunge2
files:Alien pack1
UFO101:${deps}
UFO102:${deps}
UFO103:${deps}
UFO104:${deps}
UFO105:${deps}
UFO106:${deps}
UFO107:${deps}
UFO108:${deps}
UFO109:${deps}
end    


[davide]

I found some concept sub pictures too:

[Quinch]

And after two weeks, I actually have something to show!

OXC's gauss arsenal has been implemented, though with a lot of rewriting and balance changes. I've also added two new gauss craft weapons, essentially capacity-upgraded versions of Ajax and DUP.

Gauss weapons have also been changed to damage type 1 {armor piercing} from the original 4 [gauss/laser}, both because it makes sense narratively, the only weapons currently using it are store-bought peashooters and because I want to use type 4 for MiB's electric weapons down the line. It also means I'll have to tweak enemy units' armors as a result, though.

There's also a bunch of wordy stuff that doesn't affect the gameplay - some historical background and that sort of stuff. UFOpedia has been rearranged a bit as a result and all weapons, alien and otherwise, have been moved into a single category.

And finally, there's a couple of cheat objects in the mod that I put in just for the sake of testing - you can use them or don't, it's up to you. I think I have the bugs hammered out, so I'm looking forward to actual field testing. If there are weapons you stick with because they're clearly better than others, or ones you don't because you consider them useless, let me know.

[niculinux]

Since tftd is set in the future, futuristic weapin design would fit better, hence i suggest to plunder sprites from dioxine's piratex extended (only "fancy" stuff). Another example may be this post of the dioxine's airlight garage and gifty' garage

[shinr]

Here is a fluff only idea:

USOPaedia pages for the new tech will have shorts excerpts at the beginning in the style of Alpha Centauri quotes (related question: if there is no space for additional text, is it possible to make the text scroll-able or have the page have sub-pages of its own?)

Example (Tentaculat Autopsy):
"When the aquanauts made first contact with this specimen, the terrorist-type auxiliary unit now commonly referred as Tentaculat despite my objections, they initially though it to be specialized in molecular control thanks to its appearance resembling that of a large brain, and the soldiers changed their tactics based on this assumption. The first sign of disaster came when instead of conducting MC attacks, the specimen swam towards them at alarming speed, and before anyone could react it latched onto Ensign Hans with its tentacles before piercing him with what we latter will know as an ovipositor. The Specimen took a disturbing amount of punishment before it expired, and by then it was already too late, for the poor Ensign was already, excuse me for using such a term, "zombified". We were all raised on the Chryssalid horror stories, so I don't have tell you what happened next.
-X-COM Senior Scientist Prokhor Zakharov, "Complied Commentaries on The Second Alien War"

[davide]

Edit: The mod now has a portal page!

Upload failed 

[Ajaxial]

Ohh fantastic! I'd love an "FMP" equivalent for TFTD. Gonna be keeping a close eye on this thread.