Suggestions on how to improve the mod

[Dioxine]

Nah, keeping it hidden would be very cheap - after all, if you REALLY want to, it's trivial to do using a calculator (speeds are in Knots, which is - very roughly - 2 km/h). I just don't know if it's feasible to write such code, but hey - I don't use assault calcs in Heroes 3, but it's good there is such a feature

[BetaSpectre]

Treasure maps could be implemented like the Siberia mission, a re searchable mission that only appears once next month each time you research the map.

[khade]

Mostly I don't care about the range or how long it would take to get there, My interest is the estimated time of day... and weather...

How badly could we mess with our 'heroes' with weather?   Now this I know would likely be extremely difficult to code, I leave it to actual coders to determine if it would actually be worth the time and effort or if it's even remotely desirable.

[Dioxine]

No extra code needed for that, just my old magic, weather would depend on texture... cold in arctic, hot in jungle... and by calculating time to get there, you will get the local time when you get there, righto?

[Surrealistik]

Having all shotgun using enemies run AP/slug munitions whenever possible would be for the best; scattershot is worthless.

Also, having scattershot deal concussive and/or stun damage that ignores a certain # and/or % of armour at close ranges might make it more worthwhile (i.e. the kinetic shock/impact/force transfer hurts even if the rounds don't penetrate). Namely, blocked piercing damage gets translated to Concussive and Stun that is then applied against resistances and ignores some portion of armour; the closer the target, the higher % of Piercing that gets translated to Concussive & Stun, and the more armour that's ignored.

Power armour is still going to be completely impervious to scattershot no matter the range, but tactical armour and even carapace armour will not be at close ranges, even if they do significantly reduce its lethality.

[Solarius Scorch]

No extra code needed for that, just my old magic, weather would depend on texture... cold in arctic, hot in jungle... and by calculating time to get there, you will get the local time when you get there, righto?

I know it's doable with the current build, I did the same thing with underwater missions in XCF, but the amount of work is scaring me. You would have to make terrain-specific versions of all armours, right?

I wonder if it can be done on a more general level, per terrain or deployment. OK, I know it's not, but maybe it can be coded in...

[KateMicucci]

Personally I would prefer no updates (like switching on and off different clothing) that require me to waste even more time rearranging inventory between missions than I already do.

[Solarius Scorch]

Personally I would prefer no updates (like switching on and off different clothing) that require me to waste even more time rearranging inventory between missions than I already do.

If Dioxine does it the way I think he does (and how I did it), then it would be completely undetectable for the player. It would be different armours in the ruleset, but you wouldn't see the difference they would look the same and the substitution would be automatic.

[ivandogovich]

Personally I would prefer no updates (like switching on and off different clothing) that require me to waste even more time rearranging inventory between missions than I already do.

Yeah, I dislike even Mansion missions because of this.  Anytime I have to reset inventories, (Mansions, dealing with Mercs, Gaussing up for Supply/Base/Military Craft etc,) is often when I save and stop playing.  I come back to the game when I have the mindset and patience to do the change, then play the mission, then go back to my standard load out.

What I see these environmental penalties doing, is forcing the player to set up more diversified strike forces with their own craft.  Setting up an Arctic team based near the poles.  Maybe its just aircar, or airbus, with appropriate gear. Same for desert, etc.  I already considered doing this for a Mansion only team.

The other option would be to simply pass on missions in problematic environments, or preemptively shooting them down before they get there (making air engagements, possibly more important than before).

[Surrealistik]

Being able to save several gear profiles to each pirate (standard, mansion, arctic, desert, etc) as a quality of life implementation would fix this problem; that leaves only the armour swap to worry about which is much less onerous.

[Arthanor]

Yup, being able to save several templates would be a huge QoL improvement. I think Meridian is looking into it?

Otherwise, once you get hyperwave decoders, it's easy to see if a target is going in the arctic/antarctic/north africa/etc and if you don't like polar or desert terrains, you shoot it down first.

Dedicated teams also makes sense. I haven't done that for mansions because those are tedious, so I take my best team in my biggest craft to try to alleviate the pain of going through all those floors. But I have an anti-mec squad (my psi-weak but otherwise good soldiers) with lasers and HEAT rounds, depending on how the environments are implemented, an "extreme environment team" could make sense too.

Talking about enviros, what happened to the space one? Just for cydonia? I'm still expectantly awaiting raids on space stations

[ivandogovich]

Being able to save several gear profiles to each pirate (standard, mansion, arctic, desert, etc) as a quality of life implementation would fix this problem; that leaves only the armour swap to worry about which is much less onerous.

I think Meridian has multiple Load Out profiles done already? With the FKeys, F1-F12, etc? 
I'm usually not smart enough/too lazy to use those, but I do agree that it might be handy for these.

@Arthanor, I'm pretty sure Space Station missions are still in the works, but are going to require a metric butt-ton of map work to be ready for primetime.  Dioxine has a RL project that is limiting his ability to crank out huge development on the mod, but hopefully will help him keep the power on this winter.

[Surrealistik]

I think Meridian has multiple Load Out profiles done already? With the FKeys, F1-F12, etc? 
I'm usually not smart enough/too lazy to use those, but I do agree that it might be handy for these.

Wait, what? Doesn't not using this feature (if it exists) kind of obviate the point/idea of being lazy? 


Speaking of the Mansion, would 8 gals be enough to handle them on the hardest difficulty without something broken like Ghost/Ragnarok armour, or are there way too many enemies? I sold the Bonaventura hull without knowing wtf it does/is used for (blind run) so I've basically been running a Pachy for the entire game thus far.


Also am I alone in my stance on scattershot?

[Dioxine]

Talking about enviros, what happened to the space one?

Real life happened. I have no time to invest such amounts of work atm since I'm in a middle of a big (and well paid) assignment. I should have more free time from mid-September onwards.

As for Shotguns, extra code isn't worth it IMO. The topic has been beaten to death already, and really, fukk the shotguns (maybe except making the spread pattern less absurddly random). The starting ones are good for Rodeos, and that's enough for me.

[ivandogovich]

Wait, what? Doesn't not using this feature (if it exists) kind of obviate the point/idea of being lazy? 

Actually, I just checked again, and it seems like something being worked on and not yet in the build: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,4747.0.html

and yeah, there is Lazy, and there is LAZY.  As in, I'm in the latter category.

I usually go through and add necessities:  Smoke grenade (primed, on the leg or belt), bandage or Rum (for healing), handle or other close melee weapon, and a blackpowder/etc, on all the gals.  Then I try to match shooters, melee, and throwers to weapons.  This may involve changing out armors to enhance these fighters.  Once I've done that, I don't have real, "standard shooter build" etc.  Often these are different due to carrying capacity and armor available. 

So I haven't gone with Meridian's approach of making universal soldiers:  Everyone gets Defender Armor, an Autogun, a Sniper Rifle, A tech blade, and some grenades, with 3-4 archers as an alternate build.  My crews tend to be more diverse in the equipment deployed, so saving all of these different ones as templates hasn't made as much sense to me.

As far as the Mansion goes, a crew of 8 could do it as a snatch and grab.  Work your way to the treasure rooms and depart.  I would never try to sweep the hole thing with 8, unless you are Very Patient and have Loads of time.