Re: The X-Com Files - 3.3: Mysteries Ancient And New

[justaround]

My sincere apologies for bothering you with more walls of text to read - I assure you, they're not an awesome fun to write either but it's all for the sake of the neverending thorough testing:

UAC weapons. They're weird. The organization is some official one you can later make a proper relations with but there's actually no contact I recall for getting in touch with them to get official "regular weapons" stock. There probably should be something for it, but all UAC weapons for some reasons are in the hands of Cult of Apocalypse (which is weird, as theyr'e usually just ragtag of various subcultures - why would they need space-capable weaponry?) and it's from them that I had to get any before researching them and their acquisition.

On top of that, certain items of their type are also questionable. UAC and MAGMA SMGs seem kinda pointless - they have two-hand requirement of a full-scale rifle, but are bulkier and heavier than pistols while not dealing much more damage at any distance, barring very inaccurate auto. Maybe making them more like BlackOps SMG would be good? Also, a tiny inconsistency, naming BlackOps Sub-Machine Gun as such makes it not listed when one looks for "SMG". I also like BlackOps SMG shot graphic and sound implying that by default it's short bursts of fire - maybe same could be implied (with modification) to all SMGs? Or even make them behave like UAC rifles which indeed shoot in bursts only (3x30 damage)? Though I wouldn't mind single-shot-fire in either as well - is it possible to provide the weapon with different shot sounds/graphics depending on firemode used?

Some ufopedia entries indeed are too big. Which is a shame. For example, VSS Vintorez rifle seems to have description go out of bounds with no way to scroll the text I could find. Scrolling of the text would be awesome, by the way, to add all the fluff to various reports we'd like to have - but I understand it's more of a thing Extended creators would have to make.

Osprey probably shouldn't depend on all cult operations tech. I was flying around in skyrangers and with personal armor-clad troopers before getting operations of every cult/gang. Which isn't a bad thing on its own (non-linearity!) but kinda makes the vehicle useless.

I keep getting stunned hybrid drones but at the end of the mission I only get them in wrecked versions. Can't I just reprogram non-destroyed drone intead of rebuilding it from remains of one?

Generally, since hybrids use just new approach and tech of normal human materials, it'd be nice to have a project allowing XCOM to reproduce all their stuff without needing to scavenge any base parts.

Also, sometimes wrecks of cyberweb robots don't seem to register among loot, I don't know why.

Enemies keep getting better weapons, Cult of Apocalypse runs around with UAC stuff and miniguns. Maybe as I improve my weapons, council salvagers, regular military and police could also get better stuff. Could be a research topic that allow some (human) weapons and armors to be spread with peacekeeping forces, at tiny bit of council dislike due to some councilmen prefering such technology to be strictly controlled (as is with sharing tritanium ammo tech with MAGMA). Later in the game policemen still run around with glocks, risking lives even against stuff like oversized rats and spiders (another reason to make those kinds of creatures slightly weaker against bullets, perhaps?) while gangsters get military-grade full auto weapons at times. And while I understand that average policeman may not be permitted to get something really good if it's not an emergency, military action or council salvagers battling some group would probably require getting the best the army/council should be able to offer them after few years and regular gangbangers getting the good stuff.

Tech tree viewer topics could also use some fluff if possible. Usually there's plenty of free space, being able to add a line of text summing up what the tech was meant to be ("This is request from MAGMA to be provided with X tech in return for access to special items catalogue of theirs", for example) would be helpful if possible.

Female tomb guardian supposedly uses biochemicals to control zombies, vampire knight uses empathic abilities (not sure if empathy should fit - just call it innate, specialized psychic/psionic ability dependant either on the host, on the parasite or on combination of them). Standarizing them to use one, same method (I suggest psychic/psionic abilities as they seem the theme in general and more fitting for all-distance control in various environments than some pheromones) would be good. Also, if both are conscious and sentient, couldn't it be possible to perhaps ally with some, even if only through some unique/rare special mission? I understand not every friendly creature would qualify for permanent position like hybrids, some are just too inhuman and with no cloaking ability to hide among humans but armor-clad zombies (vampires) should at least be able to provide some support in some missions.

No matter how awesomely resistant and whatever is the material, unless it also doesn't have some superpowers (and it doesn't) and merely just bashes things when fashioned into a blunt weapon, shogg cudgel shouldn't deal more damage than average, human club (hell, it probably should deal less damage than some - and certainly NOT what it does). Same for the most of the rest of shogg weapons (though knives seem merely comparable to regular ones and a heavy maul is probably heavy no matter the quality of workmanship). I understand it's to make regular workers dangerous but they're workers, they shouldn't be dangerous to sci-fi armor decked, super trained agents. Please leave that to higher, better equipped classes in shogg society - the fact they have tough carapace withstanding military-grade rounds is enough of a balance for basic peons.

Enemies in a shutdown ufo really are surprisingly sturdy. There's a huge, smoking hole in the hull, the ship likely was slamming into ground with quite some force - but almost whole crew is up and running at full efficiency, it seems. Talk about hi-tech airbags and seatbelts.

Would be nice if attacked base wouldn't be immediately lost without agents inside but would make some of the NPC take whatever weapons are in the storage. Or even that there'd be non-agent guards (NPCs generated in numberd depending on total crew quarters size, perhaps, or simply hireable like engineers but cheaper than agents and using their own weapons adjusted to current X-com level of tech or even upgradeable through various technologies and expenses together with the idea of improved salvagers, army and whatnot listed above?)

A small, but very welcome addition - Skymarshall would really use another set of door in the middle of the hull. It's elongated skyraider, to hold more troopers but it has only same number of exits, making deploying the agents and establishing a defensive perimeter without any congestion bothersome. Moving the wheels attached to the wings a tile further away from any doors (as they block exit in one direction) would also help this issue.

Underground locations are a pain. Not only/merely in strategic sense but due to how enemies get often stuck in some crevices of rock unconnected to anything. Helluva hard to get to them even when going through rock, assuming one knows where they are (the automatically activated bug hunt mode is VERY useful here, thank you - without it I'd be probably too frustrated to finish some missions). Maybe make sure it's more interconnected, with wider corridors? Lowering weapon resistance of rock so regular multilauncher or whatnot rockets can damage those walls more reliably would also help.

Lizard trap mentions scorpoid bandits. Never heard of them before. Who did we plan to hire, again?
Edit: Oh joy, I got some mission about an attack on some palace which was full of scorpoids. Fun thing, too, because I never seen any before, only feral lobstermen which are their palette original. Probably could use some work here - actual missions establishing contact and preparing the rebellions. Also, after this mission I at last could research reptoid ship - kinda gatey too, I should probably be able to research those much earlier given how many I secured from aquatoids.

Why can I produce alien laser rifle? Humans have their own (can also produce just regular "laser rifle"), they're not aliens!

I Invented advanced underwater warfare, still got crappy small sub for basic underwater missions like the USO one (underwater ship with a few aquatoids).

Also, the same mission seems to have no chance of getting a squad leader. As is the case of most other alien ships - often it's usually bunch of soldiers, navigators and engineers. Shouldn't a squad leader be in, well, every squad bigger than just a couple of enemies?

Tech tree viewer leads to some text overspill (open the picture separately/use most browsers' "show image" option if it seems cut):

Spoiler:

Certain techs/interrogations do not mash up captured enemies into a group properly (2x red ops soldiers):

Spoiler:

Panicked vampire knight picked up a weapon it shouldn't know how to use well, yet alone like a professional soldier:

Spoiler:

Probably hard to modify the creature to not pick it up at all (though if possible, please do) but even if it does, it shouldn't shoot or at least shoot well (very low firing accuracy). Also, speaking of those vampire knights - it may be the mission with them that had policemen rather than military, despite knights usually fighting military (though in both cases, even with my support, the military/police gets almost completely obliterated).

That's it for now. Once again, I apologize for the wall of text and I remind you that it's just findings and thoughts shared as suggestions, hoping to fix and improved various bits of the game. So, thanks again for your work and till, possibly, next time (since there's quite some more content for me to go through and possibly for various issues associated with it).

[Zain]

Having lots of fun with this mod! Thank you! Just discovered this last week...in fact it's my first xcom mod.

My playstyle has been playing on very easy, with some soft savescumming (basically loading if I fail a mission, saving if I can complete it regardless of losses).

I am 20 months in, I've terminated Exalt, Dagon, Black Lotus and working on the Red Dawn HQ at the moment...I've seen some hybrid/magmas and one alien party, haven't seen any landings yet. Haven't done any underwater things yet, I remember the Church of Dagon and Messengers of Dagon being related to underwater stuff but it never seems to have materialised.

I really love the gameplay variety between all the factions, you also really nailed investigation/lore building aspects...I'm constantly pulled with how the story and gameplay evolves as I research things.

I have almost no complaints, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the alien game has changed.

If I were to sum up some of the things I would really like to see being adjusted, it would be:

-Inventory Adjustments

I LOVE the massive weapon variety, but I feel like I've been using BlackOps Pistols for the whole game due to their fantastic damage/TUcost/accuracy/weight.

-More prominent underwater content

The thing that excited me the most about this mod was how it felt like it was fusing XCOM EU and TFTD, and while I've seen tons of assets being used from TFTD I feel like that expectation wasn't quite met. Submarine tech, underwater weapons, underwater zones, etc. I've read there is some underwater content, but after 20+ months all I've seen is some surface tilesets and some enemies. I would love to at least have some base facilities that focus on underwater content, or maybe building a base that focuses on that specifically.

Can't wait for 1.0!

[justaround]

while I've seen tons of assets being used from TFTD I feel like that expectation wasn't quite met. Submarine tech, underwater weapons, underwater zones, etc. I've read there is some underwater content, but after 20+ months all I've seen is some surface tilesets and some enemies. I would love to at least have some base facilities that focus on underwater content, or maybe building a base that focuses on that specifically.

Then you're in for a treat. You just didn't see the underwater content you've read about yet. There are proper missions with agents coming in a submarine and scuba gear. Not overwhelmingly different from regualr gameplay minus allowed equipment, but still quite a bit of the TFTD vibe.

Just a bit of shame that there seems to be not much of an improvement to their gear so there's still place for improvement here - more armors, XCOM-made underwater warfare weapons (a weird thing we don't get any special recipes for those with relevant underwater operations technologies) would be welcome.

[tkzv]

Generally, since hybrids use just new approach and tech of normal human materials, it'd be nice to have a project allowing XCOM to reproduce all their stuff without needing to scavenge any base parts.

I second that

No matter how awesomely resistant and whatever is the material, unless it also doesn't have some superpowers (and it doesn't) and merely just bashes things when fashioned into a blunt weapon, shogg cudgel shouldn't deal more damage than average, human club (hell, it probably should deal less damage than some - and certainly NOT what it does). Same for the most of the rest of shogg weapons (though knives seem merely comparable to regular ones and a heavy maul is probably heavy no matter the quality of workmanship).

Aren't they psionically empowered?

Enemies in a shutdown ufo really are surprisingly sturdy. There's a huge, smoking hole in the hull, the ship likely was slamming into ground with quite some force - but almost whole crew is up and running at full efficiency, it seems. Talk about hi-tech airbags and seatbelts.

The UFO landed mostly intact, and all the damage and deaths have been caused by damaged engines exploding. And intact UFOs compensate great accelerations with artificial gravity.
 

Certain techs/interrogations do not mash up captured enemies into a group properly (2x red ops soldiers):

Male and female captives appear as 2 separate research items.

Panicked vampire knight picked up a weapon it shouldn't know how to use well, yet alone like a professional soldier:
Probably hard to modify the creature to not pick it up at all (though if possible, please do) but even if it does, it shouldn't shoot or at least shoot well (very low firing accuracy). Also, speaking of those vampire knights - it may be the mission with them that had policemen rather than military, despite knights usually fighting military (though in both cases, even with my support, the military/police gets almost completely obliterated).

Right now vampire knights have firing accuracy 40, same as ghoul soldiers and below ghoul warriors (53). Ghouls do use firearms. Guess, the bosses try to stay on par with their subordinates' subordinates, even if they prefer melee weapons.

I am 20 months in, I've terminated Exalt, Dagon, Black Lotus and working on the Red Dawn HQ at the moment...I've seen some hybrid/magmas and one alien party, haven't seen any landings yet. Haven't done any underwater things yet, I remember the Church of Dagon and Messengers of Dagon being related to underwater stuff but it never seems to have materialised.

...

The thing that excited me the most about this mod was how it felt like it was fusing XCOM EU and TFTD, and while I've seen tons of assets being used from TFTD I feel like that expectation wasn't quite met. Submarine tech, underwater weapons, underwater zones, etc. I've read there is some underwater content, but after 20+ months all I've seen is some surface tilesets and some enemies. I would love to at least have some base facilities that focus on underwater content, or maybe building a base that focuses on that specifically.

Have you interrogated a live Deep One? It's required to unlock the underwater arc. Before you end Church of Dagon, you can capture them during "Soul Harvest"/"DAGON ATTACKS VILLAGE!" mission (maybe some others too). With the church terminated they still appear in occasional "Deep Ones Rituals"/"DEEP ONES ATTACK!" mission. You need an Alien Containment to keep them alive. To build a containment, you need a chain of researches that starts with Deep One or Sectoid corpse.

Personally, I'm unsatisfied with the underwater arc so far. It's too short and too straightforward. There's no underwater bases (which I find an improvement) and you don't keep any subs at your bases -- you borrow them for each mission.

However, it's not finished yet. Tasoth factory and Atlantis temple are no longer the end.

[Zain]

Have you interrogated a live Deep One? It's required to unlock the underwater arc. Before you end Church of Dagon, you can capture them during "Soul Harvest"/"DAGON ATTACKS VILLAGE!" mission (maybe some others too). With the church terminated they still appear in occasional "Deep Ones Rituals"/"DEEP ONES ATTACK!" mission. You need an Alien Containment to keep them alive. To build a containment, you need a chain of researches that starts with Deep One or Sectoid corpse.

Personally, I'm unsatisfied with the underwater arc so far. It's too short and too straightforward. There's no underwater bases (which I find an improvement) and you don't keep any subs at your bases -- you borrow them for each mission.

However, it's not finished yet. Tasoth factory and Atlantis temple are no longer the end.

Ah, I took down the church before even unlocking the alien containment, I was enjoying stumbling onto the tech trees too much to consciously unlock it.

Don't get me wrong, there are some things of TFTD that I absolutely detest (enemy pixel hunting in large maps, multi-staged missions) but the gear/underwater missions/music/enemy variety was really nice and interesting, I would love it if the mod absorbed as much of that as possible.

As a side note, I absolutely love the enemies surrendering feature. I had PTSD playing the osiris cruiseline hijack mission but thankfully the mission ends after you get the majority of the enemies down so it doesn't turn into a pixel hunt fest.

[tkzv]

I was enjoying stumbling onto the tech trees too much to consciously unlock it.

So was I. But on my first playthrough in the 1st UFO mission I went to great lengths to capture as many Sectoids as possible -- chased one engineer all over the map with electric clubs. And then they all died Thus, I focused on that direction of research and built a containment around summer. Then I got "Soul Harvest" and found that a) Deep Ones may take a lot of time to bleed to death, and b) They die without a containment. For some reason I decided not to replay the mission with a different team. But next month I got another Soul Harvest.

Anyway, Deep Ones will appear again even without Church of Dagon. Dart pistols work fine against them.

the gear/underwater missions/music/enemy variety was really nice and interesting, I would love it if the mod absorbed as much of that as possible.

Same here. Until recently the post-Church Dagon arc looked short and finalized, nowhere to expand, hence the dissatisfaction. But now it continues as "deep undersea", which doesn't have a visible goal yet.

[justaround]

To address those two points:

Aren't they psionically empowered?

Neither description, nor stats used for performing with the weapon nor the description of wielders themsevles suggests anything of such kind. So I'd risk claiming that no, they're not psionically empowered at all.

The UFO landed mostly intact, and all the damage and deaths have been caused by damaged engines exploding. And intact UFOs compensate great accelerations with artificial gravity.

Aren't according to the lore itself the whole artificial gravity generation a function of the engines (which are now destroyed)? I can understand the hull being mostly intact due to superior alien materials and engineering but the passengers should have far higher risk of being bloody gibs - between the crash itself where they'd be spread over that superstrong hull, the explosion which, given it's elerium-115 that powers the craft - should be pretty huge and deadly to life on board and the hole itself which means explosive decompression (we got that IRL with regular planes - can be pretty deadly as well) I can only think of alien mcguffin and simple gameplay consideration that'd prevent the aliens from being killed wholesale, consistently, with very rare survivors being heavily injured - but that I do not advocate.

At the same time, I wouldn't mind it if the wrecks would be much less intact upon crash to generate less loot, but so should be the passengers for it to be believable. Right now it indeed does look more like they not even crash-landed but just landed, with the only dead crewmen being the result of immediate vicinity to the explosion itself.

[Solarius Scorch]

I'm back from my holiday leave! Sorry for the wait, but at least I've done a lot of modding!

Latest build has the "Floater Legionnaire Autopsy" research topic available from the start, even those there is no Floater Legionnaire corpse in the inventory.  Don't know why no one has said anything about it yet.

I think I've only really fixed it after the last release. I also think this bug will persist in a save even after the mod is fine.
In short, I'm doing a lot of thinking and not enough knowing.

Hi I love your mod and i would like to suggest you a type of mission:  "Sneaky INFILTRATION", basically you have to infiltrate to a civilian complex to steal data(or else, even kidnap someone) . No deadly weapons allowed, it focus much more on stealth, it would be interesting to have more equipment to allow you to succeed (armor to improve stealth but debuff other parameters, for balance.)

keep up with the good work.

Many thanks! There are already several such missions, like for example the League Apprehension, but the upcoming release will have a new mission which is more about what youi wrote. (Mission name: Industrial Investigation. You pose as factory workers and can only take industrial tools, no weapons.)[/quote]

Hello. It's not a problem. I udnerstand that not only people may be busy, those posts of mine may be daunting.

Eh, it's not your posts specifically, I haven't checked the forum at all for almost two weeks. I've been sightseeing... and modding.

I am thankful for Krautbernd's input as well, though I hope you've checked those bits they answered as well as some answers are only partial - and while I don't require you to answer those I want to make sure you did check them out.

Don't worry, I read everything with care. But answering in full takes a lot of time, and sometimes I prefer to keep it short... I need that time to mod, as I have a real job too.

No, it's not, I actually like the fluff so it's not my issue either. I just would like to have it underlined as something that actually impacts the works of the council and my organization. Even one more fluff entry coming with any dossier that "Such information, while only tangentially connected to our work, will make the council slightly more favorable in our monthly performance reviews." would do.

So, If I'm not mistaken, basically you mean that the dossiers should be better described as a concept. I have added your sentence to the Dossiers article, hoepfully this will help.

That being said, I'd avoid going too far with references. Mention of Xenonauts organization was fun (though it'd be good to have missions to retrieve some of their equipment and data from various caches and other such places) but STALKER's Strelok was a bit on the nose with very random "carries metallic objects on him".

I'm trying, but the dossiers (and especially the staff inputs) are little areas where I cut myself some slack. Sorry, I need an outlet for the silliness too! But seriously, I personally think a bit of comedy is needed, even if it's bad shout out comedy. It's a writing decision.

Also, it'd be good to stick to one style of presentation - some are real pictures, some are clearly 3D models and of various quality at that.

I agree, but I assure you I've done my best. There simple aren't enough appropriate pics on the internet. When possible, I'm aiming for the "pseudoreaslistic Photoshop" approach (digital paintings).

It's fine, as long as it gets assuredly researched by minimal-sized research team the closest midnight report comes around.

In most cases yes.

But I don't mind mechanics at all, merely stats, which can be adjusted so while they'll take mechanics into account, on average they'll ensure the enemies will be less bulletproof when repeatedly hit or hit with a weapon that deals seemingly unavoidable damage (like explosives).

Most units in the game are sturdier than normal humans, so I think it's fair.
Anyway, show me a game which does it realistically... When I played Dragon Age, I attacked a normal guy with a zweihander and took away a third of his health. This turned out to be a consistent effect of attacking someone with a two-handed sword, using a strong attack. In X-Com Files it would be unthinkable.
I never returned to that game, by the way. So as you see, these things bother me too. But in XCF I think it's okay.

Alright, though that may be something for you to consider to add in the basic "weird creature sighted" mission. A ghost.

Sure, that's basically obvious.

Sure, understood, but then there are two issues - one is the researcher presenting it as a new concept while it's theoretical merely representation of things that are already happening (in which case they should simply say that it's not equations but some sort of effect caused by trained subconscious mind of a psionic-able individual affected by an effort of conscious will) otherwise it's like explaining to a person that using a gun or even a toilet depends on solving a set of complex equations - sure, it does in that context, but it doesn't really help. The second is that it ties it more with a body/brain mechanic than with any paranormal ability.

Well... Yes, but still I fail to see what is wrong with the article. I mean, using psi is basically the same thing as using a toilet...

True, but that's why I prsented it in such particular way - making sure it's merely a tool a psionics able individuals can use well, we don't phase out current stun weapons at all, but provide alternative for some of the characters.

OK, maybe at a later time. I can't spend too much time adding alternative paths and so on to everything, even though I'd love to. Let me finish the big stuff first.

That's the problem. In my campaign they were shown up among ufopedia artifacts despite me not even researching psiclones themselves. Thus, reporting it as a bug.

Wait, how could you see X-Com Psiclones without havcing researched Psiclones? X-Com Psiclones require Psiclones and Metapsychology. Or did I change it after the last rlease?

Sure. I am thinking of adjusting mission descriptions depending on what enemies spawn. When I click detail, I'd like to know if what was seen was some single big creature (spawning single fenrir wolf, a shambler etc), many oversized animals (rats, spiders, scorpions, beetles), diseased humanoid or humanoids (zombie, with distinction whether it's a single one or a group of them) or some absolutely alien creatures (muckstars, abominations).

Possible, but only partailly. And there are some hints already, for the biggest and smallest groups.

Speaking of muckstars.
Muckstars move with a sound of someone slurping something through a straw. Please, no slurping muckstars. They levitate, like some drones and floaters. Long enough round and the slurping grows really bothersome.

I don't want to give them the standard hovering sound, it's way too technical. But I'm open to other sounds.

I understand, though again - I think just making the value low enough that it'll be done after several hours waiting for the closest midnight report would be enough.

It usually is.

But, isn't a mistake a mistake even when Gollop commits it? I mean, part of OpenXCOM isn't to merely make the game work on new OS, but to fix many things Gollop left messed up since as great as the guy's contribution is, he's still human. Anyway, it's really up to you as like I've said, the issue isn't big. The difference is realyl simple and immediately understood once you google it - clip is a little strip you put cartridges ("bullets") on, magazine is the box with the cartridges you put into the gun (sometimes already having that strip). Generally, skimming through this will explain it all.

Hmm, but what is the difference between the "box" and the "strip"? In shape only?
The website you linked shows both, but to me they look the same, only the magazine is enclosed. I've skimmed through the article, read about he springs and whatnot, but I honestly can't name a single person I know who would understand the difference and also I'm not going to spend hours on fixing it. And then more hours to do the Polish version. And force every single translator to do this work too. It's not worth it.
Also, after a brief check, I think English is the only language which distincts between the two...

But.. wait. Isn't the fact that you working on things you've planned earlier actually meaning that you're polishing/building/improving things now? Why "maybe someday" then? I am confused.

I meant to say that I'm focusing on building the big arcs which have been planned years ago. Sometimes I polish the stuff which has already been done, but only when I feel it is necessary or because I feel like it. I certainly don't plan to start any new big arcs.

I fully understand, but even making more use of those inbuilt, toggleable suit lights feature Krautbernd mentions that's already in game would be fully satisfying. Currently nothing seems to really use them to degree even as great as what I can achieve by having my cellphone screen lit up - I understand regular suits, kevlar vests and leather coats may not have those, but exosuits, actual sci-fi armors etc all could have inbuilt toggleable light and have it comparable with actual flashlight. Also, still, flashlights could use price reduction. Even really quality ones don't cost as much as a proper gun IRL

Sadly, this doesn't work like this. The toggle is global, so you can't turn the lights on for one agent and not all of them. This IMO kills the idea on the tactical level.

True, but it's kinda mine as well! Currently there's no consistency and agents often grab items at random. They will grab human sacrifice and dead farmers corpses but won't do anything with them (first is sellable for a lot fo cash for some reason, the other you have to pay a lot of cash to get rid of despite already being penalized in cash by the council) but won't do the same with random corpses in spider infested mines or other civilian corpses, they will grab bones and skulls (some will net you a bit of cash, some you have to actually pay, again, to get rid of which is kinda weird and unfair) but won't grab those leather bags filled with whatever or piles of gore. Generally, it's all inconsistent and makes no sense.

Er...
Human sacrifices are recoverable to give you a monetary reward.
Farmer corpses are recoverable to give you a monetary penalty.
Random corpses are of no interest to you, so why force the micromanagement on the player. (This was actually hard to do and required some tricky new code.)
Bones and such are there because... well, you can't just leave them lying around... Isn't this natural? (Also lol at the "unfairness" of burying a bone for $100. Seriously?)

The fact it's kinda arbitrarily unfair.
Most of the corpses council takes care of, some they for whatever reason - like aforementioned sacrifices - are even valuable. But then at random, council cleaners go on a strike and declare you have to grab and take a corpse of random farmer with you, then pay out of your own pocket to get rid of it despite the fact that the farmer dying is already penalizing you (negative points in mission review and thus council performance review at the end of the month). Such nuisance is unfair and may be even seen as insulting. Plus, again, lack of consistency. Either the council members are professionals or they're not working at all - they should clean any corpses and remains not directly connected to the case and important as some clue or material for XCOM operations. Again, exactly as how you wrote it:

Short answer: life in unfair. XCF was never meant to ber fair. I don't like fair games, they feel artificial and hand-holdy. Sorry, it's how I roll.
On the flip side, I only do unfair stuff that is minor and inconsequential. I don't approve of trolling players.
Who physically takes care of the corpses is irrelevant. (Of course the agents don't normally do that.)

Where I'd like to kindly ask, maybe the line should be drawn at regular corpses that cannot be studied or other such remains that are just regular pieces of bone and whatnot of no practical value? Especially when they're arbitrarily "this corpse of some regular guy we will buy off you for a ton of money but that one, nuh-uh, I dislike their face, we will only let you get rid of if you pay us a ton of money".

I don't get which ones you refer to... I need more info.

Yes, it shouldn't, which is why I mention it! Maybe it was my mistake because I know there are separate missions for police and for military (though questionably, some of them, like the one with vampire knights, it should be military taking care of). Will report again if I'll stumble upon mission name-police/army mismatch?

But from my experience these missions work correctly, I've seen both the police and the military on many occasions. I honestly don't think it's a bug, but if you encounter it, please let me know.

True. I prefer to think of them as an employer, potentially reluctant at that.

It's a pretty favourable view. At least half of it wants you dead, a vocal minority tries to sell you as the best thing since sliced bread, and the rest doesn't care.
These people literally rule the world, it's all politics to them.

But they generally are pleased with my progress at least in some direction and are paying me more for it, so probably ensuring that data directly related to my work is not hidden, especially when I get Promotion III making me a global defense initiative - would benefit them as well.

It's... complicated. I don't really want to go into details here, because spoilers and such.

Aforementioned third (last?) one? It's a nitpick, just a matter fo taste - I'd just like to have the global aspect of it underlined.

I wanted to preserve the "UFO Defense" title as a homage.

Is that a challenge? 

No!

But the thing is, you CAN do it! At least in case of research, some of the gating is absolutely unnecessary and doesn't even exist in the base game! For example, one require tomb guardians to research vampire knight and then related topics. But they're all sentient, able to talk and so one should just be able to interrogate either the moment they get them, with same results and an access to various techs. Given I got myself vampire knights literally in-game years before stumbling upon a tomb guardian first, shouldn't I be able to just interrogate those vampire knights? If it's meant to be gated, maybe a tech requiring interrogation of both tomb guadian and a vampire knight would do (though I don't see why - sure, it may skip some content but one type of monster isn't weaker than the other so the right to interrogate them is won freely)?

Theoretically yes, but interrogating a random type is not enough to build a model.
I could bloat the game by spending weeks on creating all sorts of interconnections between researches, fluff told by Tomb Guardians, special conditions for advanced Zombie missions etc., but come on... Let's not get ridiculous.

Also, why "vampire knight"? They're zombies, so even if it's just a nickname, not actual categorization of the monster, it's kinda misleading.

Why the hell not? How are we supposed to categorize them, Life Form #1543?

Anyway, such fluidity seems to be gated in other places as well. For example, some military-grade equipment I can use, other requires certain promotion despite being worse and outdated in comparison to modern stuff while being civilian-grade (you can legally buy it in certain countries IRL without additional permits).

Irrelevant. Also explained ad nauseam.

[Solarius Scorch]

(continued - character limit exceeded)

Same with alien tech. Sonic weapons and plasma ones I got long before working with laser (I believe the first ever alien whom I killed that dropped a plasma pistol). But it's again, years in game, with my men running around in cyber armors and flying in alien-tech-adjusted Skymarshals together with their psionic field hybrid compatriots fighting mutons, cyberdiscs and whatnot and those sonic and plasma guns still just rot in my storage. I mean, I got those weapons, I got them long time ago, shouldn't I be able to at least research them somewhat? I understand if I'd get a red-tape fluff of insufficient gear allowance from the council or other such stuff if I am not meant to use them but I fought aliens using them and got them fairly, sometimes at the price of lives - so it is balanced that I'd get to use them as well, at least after getting Promotion III.

Plasma weapons research has nothing to do with your status with the Council, it's based solely on theoretical tech.

So yeah, a lot of it can be made less gated/more fluid. From such tech and gear considerations, to stuff like interrogations, where I understand sometimes only specific type of alien possess specific knowledge, but the interrogation times and results are sometimes very inconsistent (some enemies take much longer to interrogate than others, very similar ones who shouldn't be more resistant etc).

I admit research times are still imperfect. I change them around all the time.

But.. it is very easy to do. Even I can do it, just let me turn currently-blocked option "Retain interrogate aliens" (which leaves their dead bodies after interrogation) on in advanced options!

I honestly can't remember why it was blocked, I must have had a reason. Most likely economy.
But I don't want to imply that all interrogated aliens end up vivisected. It was fine in vanilla, but here it's much less straightforward.
Just get a damn corpse, it's way easier.

True, and I think it's awesome thing you've done - I'd just hope for more such stuff at all stages of the game, sometimes even as a goal of some small mission, even if it's not vital to pushing the plot forward

I will do my best to deliver.

Sure - looking forward to it! But like I've ranted earlier, a lot of linearity could be simply improved by not gating various things. Mixing improvement of that with various balancing (better weapons much more expensive to stock with ammo, some weapons good but cannot be made, only scavenged, some better in one stat but worse in the other) should take care of it as well!

I will keep it in mind.

It's not as much tree viewer as some things that do not appear in various places but should. Most item/people listings in workshop on 'info' middle-click does not tell me what are the stats of the item (giving me ufopedia item entry) but provides me with a topic and requirements as if I'd left-click the same item. I cannot check info in base information > stores on any item or personnel. I'd like to be able to see what information is left to be extracted from some captured gangster/cultist/alien outside of actually choosing them as a research topic for interrogation.

These are engine issues, I have no control over these. I suggest posting ideas on the OXCE+ thread.

But.. it is very easy to do. Even I can do it, just let me turn currently-blocked option "Retain interrogate aliens" (which leaves their dead bodies after interrogation) on in advanced options!

I honestly can't remember why it was blocked, I must have had a reason. Most likely economy.
But I don't want to imply that all interrogated aliens end up vivisected. It was fine in vanilla, but here it's much less straightforward.
Just get a damn corpse, it's way easier.

True, and I think it's awesome thing you've done - I'd just hope for more such stuff at all stages of the game, sometimes even as a goal of some small mission, even if it's not vital to pushing the plot forward

I will do my best to deliver.

Sure - looking forward to it! But like I've ranted earlier, a lot of linearity could be simply improved by not gating various things. Mixing improvement of that with various balancing (better weapons much more expensive to stock with ammo, some weapons good but cannot be made, only scavenged, some better in one stat but worse in the other) should take care of it as well!

I will keep it in mind.

It's not as much tree viewer as some things that do not appear in various places but should. Most item/people listings in workshop on 'info' middle-click does not tell me what are the stats of the item (giving me ufopedia item entry) but provides me with a topic and requirements as if I'd left-click the same item. I cannot check info in base information > stores on any item or personnel. I'd like to be able to see what information is left to be extracted from some captured gangster/cultist/alien outside of actually choosing them as a research topic for interrogation.

These are engine issues, I have no control over these. I suggest posting ideas on the OXCE+ thread.

My sincere apologies for bothering you with more walls of text to read - I assure you, they're not an awesome fun to write either but it's all for the sake of the neverending thorough testing:

It's OK, I have a free evening.

UAC weapons. They're weird. The organization is some official one you can later make a proper relations with but there's actually no contact I recall for getting in touch with them to get official "regular weapons" stock. There probably should be something for it, but all UAC weapons for some reasons are in the hands of Cult of Apocalypse (which is weird, as theyr'e usually just ragtag of various subcultures - why would they need space-capable weaponry?) and it's from them that I had to get any before researching them and their acquisition.

All will be explained in due time!
(Hopefully.)

On top of that, certain items of their type are also questionable. UAC and MAGMA SMGs seem kinda pointless - they have two-hand requirement of a full-scale rifle, but are bulkier and heavier than pistols while not dealing much more damage at any distance, barring very inaccurate auto. Maybe making them more like BlackOps SMG would be good?

UAC has no SMG. O_O
M.A.G.M.A. has one, but it's completely incomparable to BlackOps.

Also, I don't think there is one weapon I which hasn't been characterized as "useless" by someone.

Also, a tiny inconsistency, naming BlackOps Sub-Machine Gun as such makes it not listed when one looks for "SMG". I also like BlackOps SMG shot graphic and sound implying that by default it's short bursts of fire - maybe same could be implied (with modification) to all SMGs? Or even make them behave like UAC rifles which indeed shoot in bursts only (3x30 damage)? Though I wouldn't mind single-shot-fire in either as well - is it possible to provide the weapon with different shot sounds/graphics depending on firemode used?

good point on the BlackOps SMG, it's kinda inconsistent. Fixed.
SMGs are different, there are at least 3 SMG classes... It works as intended.

Some ufopedia entries indeed are too big. Which is a shame. For example, VSS Vintorez rifle seems to have description go out of bounds with no way to scroll the text I could find. Scrolling of the text would be awesome, by the way, to add all the fluff to various reports we'd like to have - but I understand it's more of a thing Extended creators would have to make.

I'm working on these texts, they suddenly became too big after the damage/accuracy formulas were added.

Osprey probably shouldn't depend on all cult operations tech. I was flying around in skyrangers and with personal armor-clad troopers before getting operations of every cult/gang. Which isn't a bad thing on its own (non-linearity!) but kinda makes the vehicle useless.

Depends on the campaign. And the Council is not very reasonable.

I keep getting stunned hybrid drones but at the end of the mission I only get them in wrecked versions. Can't I just reprogram non-destroyed drone intead of rebuilding it from remains of one?

Hmm, I'll check why they die. I think they shouldn't.

Generally, since hybrids use just new approach and tech of normal human materials, it'd be nice to have a project allowing XCOM to reproduce all their stuff without needing to scavenge any base parts.

you can reproduce at least bmost of it... Anything in particular that is missing and doesn't make any sense?

Also, sometimes wrecks of cyberweb robots don't seem to register among loot, I don't know why.

I know why: because robots don't require prison cells. It's a minor issue I can't fix and don't want to bother Meridian about.

Enemies keep getting better weapons, Cult of Apocalypse runs around with UAC stuff and miniguns. Maybe as I improve my weapons, council salvagers, regular military and police could also get better stuff. Could be a research topic that allow some (human) weapons and armors to be spread with peacekeeping forces, at tiny bit of council dislike due to some councilmen prefering such technology to be strictly controlled (as is with sharing tritanium ammo tech with MAGMA).

Great idea. But please show me how to do this with this engine logic.

Tech tree viewer topics could also use some fluff if possible. Usually there's plenty of free space, being able to add a line of text summing up what the tech was meant to be ("This is request from MAGMA to be provided with X tech in return for access to special items catalogue of theirs", for example) would be helpful if possible.

Please contact Meridian with tech tree viewer suggestions, it's not a mod thing.

Female tomb guardian supposedly uses biochemicals to control zombies, vampire knight uses empathic abilities (not sure if empathy should fit - just call it innate, specialized psychic/psionic ability dependant either on the host, on the parasite or on combination of them). Standarizing them to use one, same method (I suggest psychic/psionic abilities as they seem the theme in general and more fitting for all-distance control in various environments than some pheromones) would be good.

It's always a mix of these (as is tyhe case with other life forms - they generally depend on multiple channels for communication). But the Guardians don't have psi abilities, even over other Zombies, they rely on simpler methods.

Also, if both are conscious and sentient, couldn't it be possible to perhaps ally with some, even if only through some unique/rare special mission? I understand not every friendly creature would qualify for permanent position like hybrids, some are just too inhuman and with no cloaking ability to hide among humans but armor-clad zombies (vampires) should at least be able to provide some support in some missions.

Theoretically yes, but... just finish this arc.

No matter how awesomely resistant and whatever is the material, unless it also doesn't have some superpowers (and it doesn't) and merely just bashes things when fashioned into a blunt weapon, shogg cudgel shouldn't deal more damage than average, human club (hell, it probably should deal less damage than some - and certainly NOT what it does). Same for the most of the rest of shogg weapons (though knives seem merely comparable to regular ones and a heavy maul is probably heavy no matter the quality of workmanship). I understand it's to make regular workers dangerous but they're workers, they shouldn't be dangerous to sci-fi armor decked, super trained agents. Please leave that to higher, better equipped classes in shogg society - the fact they have tough carapace withstanding military-grade rounds is enough of a balance for basic peons.

It's Reptoid magic!

Enemies in a shutdown ufo really are surprisingly sturdy. There's a huge, smoking hole in the hull, the ship likely was slamming into ground with quite some force - but almost whole crew is up and running at full efficiency, it seems. Talk about hi-tech airbags and seatbelts.

Which shutdown UFO? The only on I recall is the Dimension X wreck, but from the context it can't be about this one.

Would be nice if attacked base wouldn't be immediately lost without agents inside but would make some of the NPC take whatever weapons are in the storage. Or even that there'd be non-agent guards (NPCs generated in numberd depending on total crew quarters size, perhaps, or simply hireable like engineers but cheaper than agents and using their own weapons adjusted to current X-com level of tech or even upgradeable through various technologies and expenses together with the idea of improved salvagers, army and whatnot listed above?)

It would also be great if we had some representation of agents' social life around the base, like in The Sims. (No kidding - I've always wanted that.) But this is X-Com and we're working with X-Com mechanics only... sorry, but these ideas are as incompatible with the engine as the agents dating.

A small, but very welcome addition - Skymarshall would really use another set of door in the middle of the hull. It's elongated skyraider, to hold more troopers but it has only same number of exits, making deploying the agents and establishing a defensive perimeter without any congestion bothersome. Moving the wheels attached to the wings a tile further away from any doors (as they block exit in one direction) would also help this issue.

It would be good... Too good.
Also, it's a plane, not a train.

Underground locations are a pain. Not only/merely in strategic sense but due to how enemies get often stuck in some crevices of rock unconnected to anything. Helluva hard to get to them even when going through rock, assuming one knows where they are (the automatically activated bug hunt mode is VERY useful here, thank you - without it I'd be probably too frustrated to finish some missions). Maybe make sure it's more interconnected, with wider corridors? Lowering weapon resistance of rock so regular multilauncher or whatnot rockets can damage those walls more reliably would also help.

I feel your pain and I keep working with the caves to make them nicer. In small steps.
But... soft rock? This, from such an avid defender or realism?

Lizard trap mentions scorpoid bandits. Never heard of them before. Who did we plan to hire, again?
Edit: Oh joy, I got some mission about an attack on some palace which was full of scorpoids. Fun thing, too, because I never seen any before, only feral lobstermen which are their palette original. Probably could use some work here - actual missions establishing contact and preparing the rebellions. Also, after this mission I at last could research reptoid ship - kinda gatey too, I should probably be able to research those much earlier given how many I secured from aquatoids.

I didn't want to spend too much time on this. Maybe later.

Why can I produce alien laser rifle? Humans have their own (can also produce just regular "laser rifle"), they're not aliens!

Because it's a Cydonian design, as opposed to other (human) lasers.

[Solarius Scorch]

(continued - character limit exceeded)

I Invented advanced underwater warfare, still got crappy small sub for basic underwater missions like the USO one (underwater ship with a few aquatoids).

This depends on the mission, not the research. In short, technical limitations.

Also, the same mission seems to have no chance of getting a squad leader. As is the case of most other alien ships - often it's usually bunch of soldiers, navigators and engineers. Shouldn't a squad leader be in, well, every squad bigger than just a couple of enemies?

That USO only has soldiers and navigators.

Tech tree viewer leads to some text overspill (open the picture separately/use most browsers' "show image" option if it seems cut):

Yep, it's a bug. I think you have an outdated version.

Certain techs/interrogations do not mash up captured enemies into a group properly (2x red ops soldiers):

They're of different genders, hence the two items. (But they yield the same results.)

Panicked vampire knight picked up a weapon it shouldn't know how to use well, yet alone like a professional soldier:

Probably hard to modify the creature to not pick it up at all (though if possible, please do) but even if it does, it shouldn't shoot or at least shoot well (very low firing accuracy).

They probably train with the crossbows. But more importantly, they are superhuman beings - and still they only have 40 accuracy, which is less than your shittiest rookie.

That's it for now. Once again, I apologize for the wall of text and I remind you that it's just findings and thoughts shared as suggestions, hoping to fix and improved various bits of the game. So, thanks again for your work and till, possibly, next time (since there's quite some more content for me to go through and possibly for various issues associated with it).

Thanks for the detailed post! I hope I've answered to a satisfactory effect (I skipped some stuff, still took me 2 hours lol).
A new version is coming soon, I hope you will like it!

Having lots of fun with this mod! Thank you! Just discovered this last week...in fact it's my first xcom mod.

Hello and welcome!

My playstyle has been playing on very easy, with some soft savescumming (basically loading if I fail a mission, saving if I can complete it regardless of losses).

X-Com Files is a relatively difficult mod, so no need to feel ashamed about savescumming a little, especially if you are not an X-Com veteran.
Still, I recommend playing at least on the second difficulty, as the easiest is just cheaty (all enemies have their armours halved). But it's up to you, I left Novice in for a reason.

I am 20 months in, I've terminated Exalt, Dagon, Black Lotus and working on the Red Dawn HQ at the moment...I've seen some hybrid/magmas and one alien party, haven't seen any landings yet. Haven't done any underwater things yet, I remember the Church of Dagon and Messengers of Dagon being related to underwater stuff but it never seems to have materialised.

You are doing very well!

I really love the gameplay variety between all the factions, you also really nailed investigation/lore building aspects...I'm constantly pulled with how the story and gameplay evolves as I research things.

Good to hear!

If I were to sum up some of the things I would really like to see being adjusted, it would be:

I LOVE the massive weapon variety, but I feel like I've been using BlackOps Pistols for the whole game due to their fantastic damage/TUcost/accuracy/weight.

Understandable. But 1) they aren't that easy to get, 2) they are supposed to be better than the standard guns since they're hi-tech (and expensive), 3) not everyone thinks they're the best. I personally think they're fine as they are, but it depends on your playstyle a lot.

The thing that excited me the most about this mod was how it felt like it was fusing XCOM EU and TFTD, and while I've seen tons of assets being used from TFTD I feel like that expectation wasn't quite met. Submarine tech, underwater weapons, underwater zones, etc. I've read there is some underwater content, but after 20+ months all I've seen is some surface tilesets and some enemies. I would love to at least have some base facilities that focus on underwater content, or maybe building a base that focuses on that specifically.

Nothing like that yet, but the underwater arc is growing steadily. Helrica helped a lot with adding more stuff.

Can't wait for 1.0!

This will take a while.

[tkzv]

To address those two points:Neither description, nor stats used for performing with the weapon nor the description of wielders themsevles suggests anything of such kind. So I'd risk claiming that no, they're not psionically empowered at all.

Then it was some other Shogg melee weapon.

Aren't according to the lore itself the whole artificial gravity generation a function of the engines (which are now destroyed)?

Yes. And if missiles are repelled by some sort of force field, that should also be the engines' job.
So, the engines start malfunctioning after too many hits. The crew tries to land. By quickly accelerating toward the surface, and then quickly decelerating. There's a chance an already damaged engine will explode from such treatment. But whether it would explode before completely stopping the ship or after, depends largely on the engine design. Thus it's possible for the ship to land intact, save for the engine itself.

This explanation does not explain why ships that decelerate above water always sink. If you have any texts from the official manuals that contradicts it, I'd be glad to see it.

[MK12]

I found missing tech. Zrbite tank didnt give me zrbite after extract(previous ver). What name of this research in save?
This tank only appear once. I cant get another 1.

[Solarius Scorch]

I found missing tech. Zrbite tank didnt give me zrbite after extract(previous ver). What name of this research in save?
This tank only appear once. I cant get another 1.

Nothing changed here. But fine, I will make it so you don't lose the Zrbite - it doesn't make sense.

[justaround]

Here I come again, this time just to address stuff we already talked about. You can sight with relief, no additional stuff to report (yet ). To limit the size further, stuff which I just acknowledge or have nothing to add about I simply not quoted - but rest assured, the message only may appear stern because of less thanks, your work is still appreciated

Don't worry, I read everything with care. But answering in full takes a lot of time, and sometimes I prefer to keep it short... I need that time to mod, as I have a real job too.

Fully understandable. As long as they address my admittedly longish reports - short answers are fine.

Anyway, show me a game which does it realistically...

Is that another challenge? As a roguelike and indie game player I could think of a title or two
But I agree, we don't need fully realistic lethability, the point is...

I never returned to that game, by the way. So as you see, these things bother me too. But in XCF I think it's okay.

...that in XCF in general it IS okay, I'd just like some basic creatures slightly less durable for the sake of underlining progression of the world and relative strength between NPCs. When I see a cop who has to empty half a magazine from his gun to kill a rat, scorpion or some other spider, it just looks plain silly and kills the point of the cop being there - if only for immersion - in the first place. The same underwhelming experience is when I get some supposedly militar-grade awesome gun and it still doesn't do noticeably more against basic enemies.

Same with various other effects regarding armor of some enemies. I once did a test and it turned out that in case of some more armored enemies a dart gun has such a bad penetration that for my brawny agents it's easier to literally punch the same character into a knockout.

Well... Yes, but still I fail to see what is wrong with the article. I mean, using psi is basically the same thing as using a toilet...

Isn't your answer kinda a good explanation in itself how certain representations may be misleading in what's a scientist's report? The same way (I am willing to hope given your work so far) you'd rather avoid writing "Commander, we managed to potty-train our operatives into psionic abilities. They now can do number one and number two, and even wipe afterwards as like if it's magic!" to actually not make people think it's literal toilet training that gives them abilities, so I think we should avoid abstrct explanation of doing math, especially since it's just a hypothesis that could as well apply to anything else, like the toilet use we mentioned and thus doesn't provide anything useful to explain the psychic abilities.

We do keep the discussion about what's a pretty minor thing though

OK, maybe at a later time. I can't spend too much time adding alternative paths and so on to everything, even though I'd love to. Let me finish the big stuff first.

Fully understandable.

Wait, how could you see X-Com Psiclones without havcing researched Psiclones? X-Com Psiclones require Psiclones and Metapsychology. Or did I change it after the last rlease?

Again, no idea, it does seem weird and thus it's why I report it as a potential bug

Possible, but only partailly. And there are some hints already, for the biggest and smallest groups.

I'd be fine with it being partial and vague. I'd just like to know the biggest differences in strange life missions so I know I can send, say, a pickup truck rather than a skymarshall full of blaster-totting cyber armor-clad shock troopers halfway around the world because people have seen just a single big scorpion.

I don't want to give them the standard hovering sound, it's way too technical. But I'm open to other sounds.

Some ambient tone/white noise, perhaps?

Hmm, but what is the difference between the "box" and the "strip"? In shape only?

Well.. what obviously the very words suggest - one is an enclosed box with cartridges (bullets) inside, the other a strip to which the bullets are connected. Sometimes the strip even lands in the box, too!

And then more hours to do the Polish version. And force every single translator to do this work too. It's not worth it.
Also, after a brief check, I think English is the only language which distincts between the two...

Exactly, it shouldn't be a problem and in most cases translators wouldn't have much of any additional work, like in case of Polish you mention, where as far I know it's indeed only one, more "modern" (and thus more fitting majority of situations) term - "magazynek".

Sadly, this doesn't work like this. The toggle is global, so you can't turn the lights on for one agent and not all of them. This IMO kills the idea on the tactical level.

Why? I don't recall it using any TU, so it can be turned on even temporarily and then disabled before end of the turn. Sure, it's not the ideal way but it allows adding proper strength suit lights without compromising tactical decisions - everyone's happy.

Er...
Human sacrifices are recoverable to give you a monetary reward.
Farmer corpses are recoverable to give you a monetary penalty.
Random corpses are of no interest to you, so why force the micromanagement on the player. (This was actually hard to do and required some tricky new code.)
Bones and such are there because... well, you can't just leave them lying around... Isn't this natural? (Also lol at the "unfairness" of burying a bone for $100. Seriously?)

Yes, and I claim it's not only inconsistent but needlessly gamey and kinda killing th immersion of other, more developed parts. Sure, we could also make agents pick up levitating coins a'la Mario to get them cash or whatnot but it'd be kinda similar (even if more noticeable) kind of immersion breaking. Acquisition of corpses should be only for the sake of research, due to their other practical value (disassembly at manufacturing) or due to their worth as items of extraterrestrial origin that grey/black market should be interested in. The same way XCOM isn't interested in random civilian corpses, surf boards, empty beer bottles etc it shouldn't be interested in random bones, farmer corpses and similar and leave them to council cleaners or whoever is cleaning the action scene after the battle (I did assume it's the cleaners because otherwise - what IS their job?).

There's just so many more and better ways to provide monetary gain - including some of the stuff you've already added, like actual piles of cash, fancy items, documents and artifacts! No need to go cheap corpse route. I also think that adding items just to penalize players when they're already penalized, for example, for letting that farmer become a corpse in the first place - is kind of trolling and even simply encouragement that the player shouldn't give a crap about items you've took time to add, and just burn them all during the round to avoid penalties.

Short answer: life in unfair. XCF was never meant to ber fair. I don't like fair games, they feel artificial and hand-holdy. Sorry, it's how I roll.
On the flip side, I only do unfair stuff that is minor and inconsequential. I don't approve of trolling players.

I'd risk making distinction between just and fair. Certain unfairness is to be expected in the game in big part guided by RNG - and I am okay with that, again - as a roguelike player I know games much more hardcore and brutal in their randomness than XCOM and even enjoy some of them. As long as it's justified I think it's alright and it's the lack of consistency and the arbitrary aspect of it that seems unjust with the farmer corpses and similar "hah, you found an item and in reward we'll screw you over with a penalty and more clicking in getting rid of it for not even token financial gain as it takes space in your storage/end of the mission screen" that may not be big, but is kinda trolling you mention opposing.

Indeed, it's not huge, I fully agree - and I doubt anyone's games were vitally impacted by having to pay to get rid of some farmer's corpse. But it's still kind of like flipping a bird to the player at the end of the mission and may spoil the mood when the mission was already hard won at considerable sacrifices and negative score that will penalize the player during monthly report.

I don't get which ones you refer to... I need more info.

Pretty much the ones I already refered to.

I honestly don't think it's a bug, but if you encounter it, please let me know.

Will do!

It's a pretty favourable view. At least half of it wants you dead, a vocal minority tries to sell you as the best thing since sliced bread, and the rest doesn't care.
These people literally rule the world, it's all politics to them.

I guess that in big part it's so, though I like to think they still have to maintain facade of support - after all, it has to explain giving me more cash for providing results and offering effective resistance gainst aliens. Not to mention fluff when the council does reward me and provides me with benefits, info, data (recovered the mothballed fighter jet not long ago - it's not much and I probably won't unpack it anytime soon since it's already way behind my squadron of sentinel fighters - but it's a nice, immersive gimmick I really appreciate!)

It's... complicated. I don't really want to go into details here, because spoilers and such.

I think I know which spoiler you have in mind and yeah - I took it into account! Some genuine support has to be there, even if reluctant and only getting in favorable position for the spoiler-related stuff. If the council would be directly oppossed to the XCOM initiative, they'd undermine themselves.

I wanted to preserve the "UFO Defense" title as a homage.

I guess I can understand that. But may I suggest that the homage be moved onto some other fluff element? By the time we get that title it's already outdated and even outright laughtably silly as many of the unidentified flying objects are well identified and the organisation deals with plenty of stuff beside flying objects and their passengers.

No!

Darn! Well, let me know if you'll change your mind - knowing some indie and even outright niche games (and even contributing to the development of some of them myself), I may be able to set you up if you'd look for something unique

Theoretically yes, but interrogating a random type is not enough to build a model.
I could bloat the game by spending weeks on creating all sorts of interconnections between researches, fluff told by Tomb Guardians, special conditions for advanced Zombie missions etc., but come on... Let's not get ridiculous.

I cannot fully commit myself yet but if you'd like and could spot me with a design document of any sort of current research interconnectedness, I could look at it in the future and try work out something here without bothering you with it in any way short of actually implementing it. I already somewhat contribute to some games and like most people - have also certain responsibilities IRL - but I don't mind giving to the project as per completely voluntary, all-rights-go-to-you work. As these walls of text hopefully prove

Why the hell not? How are we supposed to categorize them, Life Form #1543?

Nah, zombie is fine. It's just a matter of consistency. If it's zombies, then advanced zombies are still zombies. Zombie Knight, Zombie Tomb Guardian, Zombie Queen sound alright too. If one needs to underline how much advanced they are to regular zombies, that may be done in the description (and it already is, nearly all of them do underline how those vampires are more brainy, their bodies work better etc) - but currently, it may confuse some players why are they fighting zombies and suddenly vampires, which are very different type of creature normally in most fantastic subgenres.

Plasma weapons research has nothing to do with your status with the Council, it's based solely on theoretical tech.

I assume so, yes, the point being that maybe some access to it or relevant tech could be shuffled around because you get items gathering dust in the storage in-game years before being able to really research them. I mean, desperate fight for humanity's survival, we have those super weapons that would really help save so many lives lying around and we cannot even figure out how to use them, yet alone produce anything based on them?

I actually don't ask to be able to go fully plasma straight away - it's just it's a bit silly they're treated as if they'd not exist at all for so, so long, as is in case of sonic weapons. Even some sort of preliminary research that simply would tell me "hey, we cannot make our own (yet) but if you want and can scavenge enough of it - here's the trigger and here's the battery release - give it to our agents" would be great!

But I don't want to imply that all interrogated aliens end up vivisected. It was fine in vanilla, but here it's much less straightforward.

I do recall you having certain qualms about it in the past, but in the end it did end pretty straightforward - currently everyone and everything that can be stunned, interrogated and leave a corpse can also be dissected and things that cannot be dissected don't leave a corpse in the first place.

Just get a damn corpse, it's way easier.

But that's the issue that started this part of the whole exchange! I blame my post being so long the mind expunges their content from the memory.
To remind, the issue is that sometimes I am forced to either get the enemy alive or dead because said enemy is so rare I often cannot get both for a long, long time or, if RNG is not favorable - may be theoretically unattainable at all (again, despite being in the latter part of the game with sci-fi blaster guns and whatnot, there are creatures I only seen once and many of those I did see more than once often took in-game years between sightings). If I go the harder, more demanding and often risky way of getting them alive - I shouldn't sacrifice a chance to get the corpse for that, is all I am saying.

UAC has no SMG. O_O

What.

Spoiler:

The gig is up! In reality I'm your associate from the future/alternate dimension, here to help you introduce changes and improvements lack of which you would regret when reminiscing in your old age! Ohohoh!

(continued in the next post though something's fishy as I used two different online character counters and the whole past wasn't over 20000 even when whitespace was taken into account)

[justaround]

I know why: because robots don't require prison cells. It's a minor issue I can't fix and don't want to bother Meridian about.

But why I can sometimes get both their wrecks and stunned versions? 

Great idea. But please show me how to do this with this engine logic.

Hmm.. alright. It'd be a bit hacky, but I guess we could use the same system that introduces new/better equipped aliens, at least as far as I think it works. Even just making variation of the missions dependant on techs already discovered would work. For example, pretech it spawns a mission with some zombies and regular military, but after discovering that tech it blocks that particular mission but activates possibility of it's carbon copy - except in that copy, the soldier spawn with upgraded equipment.

Which shutdown UFO?

Whoops, a typo. I meant any generic shot down UFO.

But this is X-Com and we're working with X-Com mechanics only... sorry, but these ideas are as incompatible with the engine as the agents dating.

Why? It could probably be hacked in the way vehicle battlescape turrets or those upgraded soldiers could be. Simply have base map spawn armed council security NPCs the way some town maps spawn civilians - and we're set. Probably one of them would have to be non-NPC though, some sort of security captain as I suspect with all-NPC crew the mission would end immediately.

It would be good... Too good.
Also, it's a plane, not a train.

Come on, don't be like that! Millions of dollars of research went into it, hours upon hours of labwork and my scientists give me already old skyraider with a longer hull?
Some more doors and other such bits in improved skyraider brothers wouldn't be that much of an improvement in a combat but would show that all this cash and time went into some basic field data-stemming improvements!

But... soft rock? This, from such an avid defender or realism?

Believability!
Plus, it's realistic that an average rocket that can take out a tank can also crumble a section of a rock wall!

Certainly it'd help in situations like this one:

Spoiler:

..where this time it's not enemies that were stuck in rock but my whole craft. There seems like a 1-tile wide passage on the northern side which shouldn't need widening, but it was still a no-go for a pathfinding, practically making me stuck at the craft in the very beginning of the mission.

Because it's a Cydonian design, as opposed to other (human) lasers.

Yes, but.. I'm not a Cydonian (or am I?) and it has no advantage over any other designs. If it's admitted to general use there's also no reason why the researcher would suggest making fully human model. And it would also mean that I should be able to make all other alien weapons of similar complexity rather than human ones because they're all Cydonian models! Consistency, woo!

Once again, thank you for your work and till later (yes, potentially more walls of text, I know it's scary, bear me with me please!).