aliens

Author Topic: Suggestions on how to improve the mod  (Read 238717 times)

Offline Meridian

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 8597
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #225 on: June 03, 2016, 07:43:56 pm »
All except alphabetical sort are done.
Btw. alphabetical sort will be superseded by "quick searcher box" some time in the future.

A quick preview attached.

I am adding this to:
- new research
- new manufacture
- ufopedia
- stores
- buy/purchase
- sell/sack
- equip craft
- inventory
- maybe memorial ?

Did I forget something?
« Last Edit: June 03, 2016, 08:55:46 pm by Meridian »

Offline ivandogovich

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2381
  • X-Com Afficionado
    • View Profile
    • Ivan Dogovich Youtube
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #226 on: June 03, 2016, 09:14:12 pm »
A quick preview attached.

I am adding this to:
- new research
- new manufacture
- ufopedia
- stores
- buy/purchase
- sell/sack
- equip craft
- inventory
- maybe memorial ?

Did I forget something?

OMG!  I want to have your Children!

Offline AncientSion

  • Colonel
  • ****
  • Posts: 106
  • Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant.
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #227 on: June 03, 2016, 09:29:56 pm »
Yeah, that is really a huge QoL.

Offline DracoGriffin

  • Colonel
  • ****
  • Posts: 302
    • View Profile
    • Steam: DracoGriffin
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #228 on: June 04, 2016, 01:26:38 am »
Wow these improvements are insanely good, Meridian.

Offline Meridian

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 8597
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #229 on: June 04, 2016, 12:14:42 pm »
So, it's finished.

There is a global switch to turn quick search on or off by default.
I will leave the default on TRUE for now, so that people will notice it...
... but I like to have it turned off, because it doesn't look sexy yet.

Even if it is turned off, you can easily toggle it on the GUI (hotkey Q); and it will even be automatically focused in this case... so you can just start typing.
If you toggle again, the search will be cleared and hidden.

Search is case-insensitive for English letters... for international you will unfortunately have to enter correct case when searching.

Search is not at every letter... it was too disturbing for me... so the search applies only after you press ENTER.

The very first search (of items) may take a little bit longer (about 1 second) until all translations are cached... but after that it will be instant.

Remaining screenshots attached.

Offline karadoc

  • Colonel
  • ****
  • Posts: 230
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #230 on: June 05, 2016, 02:08:38 am »
I'm really looking forward to that search feature. I presume it will be included in the next version of the mod, and I guess that the next version isn't far way. So I'll wait. But this feature does make me think that maybe I should set up my computer for compiling the source code, so that I can get this kind of thing early and perhaps contribute some improvements of my own.

Offline Arthanor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2488
  • XCom Armoury Quartermaster
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #231 on: June 05, 2016, 06:18:03 am »
Compiling is not that hard, and definitely opens up some nice options, even if only to tailor the game to what you like. I use Meridian's version, but the advanced scanner from OXHA and some of my own tweaks (ex.: I just finished re-adding reactions to the list of shown stats and moving the ammo around so it's not in the way of the long-ish list of stats).

Meridian: I noticed a lot of weird empty space in the inventory "floor loot pile" of the new version when equipping gals on the Bonny. The althrithm seems to pack the first "page" really well, the a few gaps in the 2nd, and a lot of empty in the 3rd.

Offline Arthanor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2488
  • XCom Armoury Quartermaster
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #232 on: June 06, 2016, 01:58:35 am »
I am still using Fuso Knives for close range work. In fact, I don't see how they could completely drop off my inventory. Little, especially as easily accessible, beats ~1% of throwing^2 once throwing is 70+ (ie 49+ damage), especially since that's also more than 100% accuracy! But I'm not here to say they're too good (although I think they were balanced for a version of Piratez where 70+ throwing was MUCH harder to achieve than now.. let alone 90+). The knives made me think about throwing weapons in general.

Ninja Stars, Fuso Knives and Javelins all have a maximum range. Either they work 100% or they don't. Which seems odd. For some reason, I often find myself in situations where, if the enemy were one tile close, I'd destroy them with a few 100% snapshots of 50+ damage, but since they are one tile too far, I can't do anything. Most weapons have accuracy drop offs so the transition is smoother, but not these. It'd even make sense to have the current ridiculous accuracies you can get off 70+ throwing skill: You can hit better further!

But.. since these weapons are really good (well, actually.. only the knives are) and I am suggesting to buff them further, we need to consider some balance. And here comes another function of OXCE that, to my knowledge, is little used: Range based power decrease. Yup, you can hit a fly on the head half the map away, but air drag slowed down the knife so much that the fly shrugs it off... So I'd suggest:

1 - Change maxRange to aimRange and add a snapRange which is a bit lower
2 - Add accuracy dropoff of 5%/tile
3 - Add power dropoff of ... well I don't know.. since I don't understand how OXCE does it. It says: "power RangeReduction: 0.0 #how much power a bullet loses per tile". So that's an absolute number? Or a %? In other words, if I set it to 1, is the weapon loosing: 100%/tile? 1 damage/tile? 1% per tile? Either way, I think something like 5-10%/tile, depending on weapons, would work pretty well. Given #2, it would still be possible to hit more than the current range, but the weapon would stop being good (drop to 50% of damage) at about 10-5 tiles beyond the effective range, regardless of the owner's skill.

As a balance factor for bows (which scale WAY too well compared to guns), something similar could be good too.

Edit: Another thing that bugs me: Bladed weapons and added armors. For the cutlass, it makes sense to get increased armor affect since it is a slashing weapon, however, longswords should fare better since they are able to stab and there are techniques to deal with an armored opponent when using them (they are weapons of the knight era, not of gunfire and low armor like the cutlass) and techblades, being a further development, should suffer even less. For a cutlass at +20% armor, I'd suggest +10% for longswords and 5% for techblades.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2016, 02:05:21 am by Arthanor »

Offline Rince Wind

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 572
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #233 on: June 06, 2016, 09:58:28 am »
Even in the knight era longswords were not made to fight properly armoured foes. If you are up against a guy in plate, you'd use a warhammer or a mace or a polearm if at all possible. I think + armour makes sense, as it is still mainly a slashing weapon, it is not a weapon specialising in anti armour warfare.

Offline Meridian

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 8597
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #234 on: June 06, 2016, 10:05:58 am »
Meridian: I noticed a lot of weird empty space in the inventory "floor loot pile" of the new version when equipping gals on the Bonny. The althrithm seems to pack the first "page" really well, the a few gaps in the 2nd, and a lot of empty in the 3rd.

I don't see anything like that.
Can you give me a save, a screenshot and a few steps to reproduce?

Offline Arthanor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2488
  • XCom Armoury Quartermaster
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #235 on: June 06, 2016, 07:04:24 pm »
Even in the knight era longswords were not made to fight properly armoured foes. If you are up against a guy in plate, you'd use a warhammer or a mace or a polearm if at all possible. I think + armour makes sense, as it is still mainly a slashing weapon, it is not a weapon specialising in anti armour warfare.

I am well aware of other weapons being better against armor. I suggested the spiked mace in the first place just for that. My point is not that a longsword is an anti-armor weapon, but that it is better at dealing with armor than a cutlass, whereas the current implementation makes it worse.

I don't see anything like that.
Can you give me a save, a screenshot and a few steps to reproduce?

I've attached a (quick) save and screenshots of my inventory. Just go in the first base and check the equipment on the thunderhorse there. I'll check my compilation as well, in case my few tweaks are messing something up, but the only thing I touched in the inventory is display stats..

Thanks for checking!
« Last Edit: June 06, 2016, 07:08:54 pm by Arthanor »

Offline Meridian

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 8597
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #236 on: June 06, 2016, 07:26:23 pm »
It looks fine when I open it.

HOWEVER, after clicking on the "show next page" button for a longer time, every now and then I also get some weird display with lots of empty space... maybe once in 20 scrolls.

I don't see any obvious issue with the code, I'll ask Stian... maybe I am putting the filtering in the wrong place.

Offline Arthanor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2488
  • XCom Armoury Quartermaster
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #237 on: June 06, 2016, 08:00:21 pm »
That's weird... I am using old/crappy computers (8 years old laptop and.. acer notebook), maybe it could be a memory thing? I run out of memory from step 1, I always have the issue. You only run out after a while?

Offline Meridian

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 8597
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #238 on: June 15, 2016, 08:45:34 pm »
Should be fixed now.

Also added quick search to Transfers UI.

Offline khade

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 509
    • View Profile
Re: Suggestions on how to improve the mod
« Reply #239 on: June 16, 2016, 06:24:16 am »
I had an idea while at work, the starting tech doesn't really have a sniper gun, and there is an option: the long rifle, a rifled muzzle loader, compared to the other options it's very accurate, but it requires a special touch when reloading, so longer reload, it is very long, so it's heavier, as a sniper it would have to only have aimed shot and would take a lot of TU to fire.  I don't know if it should have bonus damage from accuracy, but if it's accurate enough, the 29 damage that the flintlock balls do is likely to work well enough.