aliens

Author Topic: Re: The X-Com Files - 3.2: The Colors of Sin  (Read 1951261 times)

Offline krautbernd

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2355 on: March 06, 2019, 10:33:27 pm »
I... guess it's possible, if your agent is stupidly strong.
They don't need to be though. The guy with 47 strength can reliably break interior walls in 3-4 swings, and the one with 60 strength breaks outer walls in 5-10.

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2356 on: March 06, 2019, 10:38:07 pm »
They don't need to be though. The guy with 47 strength can reliably break interior walls in 3-4 swings, and the one with 60 strength breaks outer walls in 5-10.

Outer walls have armour 100 (inner walls, mostly 80). The pickaxe does 20+ 1/2 Strength damage, but since it's an anti-terrain weapon, it deals +50% to tiles. The effect is... rather devastating on a good roll.
Is this a problem? I am not sure.

Offline krautbernd

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2357 on: March 06, 2019, 11:04:58 pm »
It's just that i was under the impression that the fusion torch was the tool of choice to breach UFO hulls.

Any reason i should use it over the pickaxe, which is cheaper, lighter, smaller, available earlier and without specialized research and doesn't require any ammunition? Sure, it might not be quite as reliable, but once you train up your agents it's more than capable of doing the job.

Kind of odd that you need a blaster bomb or a pick axe to breach otherwise indestructible UFO hulls.

I guess it's not a problem if you don't actively use it to breach UFOs, but knowing that you can is kind of immersion breaking (at least for me, as always ymmv).
« Last Edit: March 06, 2019, 11:08:42 pm by krautbernd »

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2358 on: March 07, 2019, 08:59:45 pm »
Well... Yes, but what can I do? Double the UFO hull values?
Hell, maybe I should.

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2359 on: March 07, 2019, 11:45:37 pm »
As for breaching UFOs, and walls or roofs in general. I wonder if somebody has ever modded some sort of explosive (1x1?) that would blow just a hole (and nothing else) on a wall, or the roof of a building, without causing any other damage around. Like the Fusion Torch but in explosive form (with a radius of 1 or less). This way units can gain entrance without a mess.

UFO walls, by being of an exotic material, can resist several attempts. Earth buildings can probably take in one blow.

If not, maybe I can try to mod one.

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2360 on: March 08, 2019, 12:26:18 am »
As for breaching UFOs, and walls or roofs in general. I wonder if somebody has ever modded some sort of explosive (1x1?) that would blow just a hole (and nothing else) on a wall, or the roof of a building, without causing any other damage around. Like the Fusion Torch but in explosive form (with a radius of 1 or less). This way units can gain entrance without a mess.

UFO walls, by being of an exotic material, can resist several attempts. Earth buildings can probably take in one blow.

If not, maybe I can try to mod one.

It's been done even in vanilla X-Com (XCOMUTIL did this to hi-ex).

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2361 on: March 08, 2019, 02:19:23 am »
It's been done even in vanilla X-Com (XCOMUTIL did this to hi-ex).

What's the equivalent in XCF?

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2362 on: March 08, 2019, 02:26:46 pm »
Sorry, equivalent of what? If you mean the high explosive, it's basically unchanged from vanilla, except for generic changes on all explosives (like the overkill).
If you mean XCOMUTIL, it's a mod for the original X-Com, unrelated to the OXC.

Offline Jimboman

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2363 on: March 08, 2019, 03:52:25 pm »
What's the equivalent in XCF?

I don't know about Xcomfiles, but the latest version of Piratez has the Plamsa Breaching Charge.  Haven't used it on ship hulls, but it it's great for breaking into bank vaults!

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2364 on: March 08, 2019, 10:15:38 pm »
Sorry, equivalent of what? If you mean the high explosive, it's basically unchanged from vanilla, except for generic changes on all explosives (like the overkill).

Something like what Jimboman described for Piratez. I haven't played the latest version yet, thus I cannot comment.

As per this article, breaching in real life operations can be done in mainly four ways: 1. Mechanical (a hammer or pickaxe); 2. Ballistic (shot it with something); 3. Thermal (cut it with a flame, like the plasma cutter); and 4. Explosives (anything with a bang).

On the latter is where this post is all about. It would be like an explosive, cannot be thrown (to explode), small size, and the explosion is very small in range. In XCF: Dynamite and High Explosive are too powerful in the sense they damage many other tiles. In RL they would be classified as large demolition charges. Small demolition charges IRL are designed to make holes into doors, walls with minimal damage, usually contact explosives.

In OXCE, as far as I know, explosions affect all tiles around the explosion area, like an circle (or sphere), not in a cone shape, like these concentrated contact charges.

Maybe I'll test something (maybe based on what Dioxine's Piratez uses) and post it here for peer review.

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2365 on: March 08, 2019, 11:49:01 pm »
But that's also what XCOMUTIL did: make the Hi-Ex stronger, but decreased its radius. :)

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2366 on: March 09, 2019, 12:09:12 am »
But that's also what XCOMUTIL did: make the Hi-Ex stronger, but decreased its radius. :)

My memory of XCOMUTIL is fragile, I didn't recall that feature :P

Something else. My favorite explosive is actually the Tritanium Charge (or the blue High Explosive). Very useful for ambushing unsuspecting Cult of Apoc members that wonder too close to the landing craft :D. Yet the FloorOb (and also the HandOb?) of this explosive still shows the Red High Explosive. So I have a OCD attack every time :)
Maybe I can create a fix for the mod on this particular item?

EDIT: Attached two files for the Alloy Shrapnel Charge.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2019, 08:36:37 am by Alex_D »

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2367 on: March 09, 2019, 03:04:14 pm »
Fantastic job! It's in.
As for the UFO breacher, I am still thinking about how to refactor all this and whether I should strengthen the walls themselves...

And anyway, 0.9.8h is out.

- New Geoscape and menu theme (by Panzerschlag).
- New Staff Input (by Mumble).
- New weapons: Galil, MG-3 (both by Alex D), Tritanium Grenade.
- Added panic and berserk sounds for all human and hybrid units, as well as chupacabras and shamblers.
- Added paperdoll for: Black Lotus Avatar (by Dioxine).
- Added floorob and handob to the Tritanium Shrapnel Charge (by Alex D).
- Black Lotus Avatar has a force shield now, and a custom death sound.
- Rebalanced the Scatter Laser and the Incinerator.
- Increased Stun costs on the Multi-Phased Psi-amp.
- Cultist loot redone: now it is hidden in containers, openable at the base.
- Shooting down UFOs now results in more angry UFOs, not base retaliations (you still get base assaults from standard monthly rolls).
- Merged the "Earth Lore" section into "Reports" and created a new section "Containers".
- Fixed the Hybrid Controllers mission spawn.
- Fixed some map properties (asbestos grass, one door in the skyscrapper, car spawning in the bathroom).
- Fixed the Psi-Amp handob.
- Fixed the Minotaur floorob.
- Minor fixes.

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2368 on: March 10, 2019, 01:14:56 am »
Thanks for the featuring my images.
By the way, would you considering changing the floorops of the shadowbat? The current one looks like a rifle was left on the floor. I got confused so many times, walking one of my units to pick it up.  :)
I made one that resembles more the item's bigobs.

Offline Lohland

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.8: X-Cool
« Reply #2369 on: March 10, 2019, 12:39:09 pm »
And what happened to the last three options