Author Topic: Re: The X-Com Files - 3.2: The Colors of Sin  (Read 1950805 times)

Offline X-Man

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2910 on: October 11, 2019, 12:30:51 pm »
oh... so you can't train them at both same time? that explains a lot...
and how to get your psi guys into proper armor if they don't do regular training?

You can put a soldier both to gym and psi-lab. There is no problem with it :)

thats about what i was going for. problem is just the cost. how do you afford all that?

There is no secret - I'm just complete all the missions which could be completed at all :) As I understand you've missed all covert missions... That's bad, especially about beach missions. Osiron is an important source of money and artifacts in pre-invasion stage of the game. And one more thing... Because I'm playing on 'superhuman', farming of UFOs is the most profitable: even a small scout could bring you 1,5-2kk or even more. The money isn't a problem.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2019, 12:42:22 pm by X-Man »

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2911 on: October 11, 2019, 12:57:28 pm »
Guys, you can use a goddamn helicopter for the Surftime mission. Not to mention the pickup.

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2912 on: October 11, 2019, 03:18:17 pm »
Guys, you can use a goddamn helicopter for the Surftime mission. Not to mention the pickup.

Since the missions that require the Helicopter or the Pickup also use specific weapon subsets, they can be launched from secondary bases.

By the way, why the Pickup is called as such, when it's more of a SUV?

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2913 on: October 11, 2019, 03:21:50 pm »
Looks more like a pickup to me... But I am open to changes here.

Offline LytaRyta

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2914 on: October 11, 2019, 10:04:59 pm »
Since the missions that require the Helicopter or the Pickup also use specific weapon subsets, they can be launched from secondary bases.

By the way, why the Pickup is called as such, when it's more of a SUV?

Pick-up has a such tha little "cargo space", just behind the driver´s (crew) cabin

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2915 on: October 12, 2019, 01:57:49 am »
Pick-up has a such tha little "cargo space", just behind the driver´s (crew) cabin

Yeah, well - maybe SUV would indeed be closer.

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2916 on: October 12, 2019, 03:06:15 am »
Looks more like a pickup to me... But I am open to changes here.

A typical pickup body, even like one with a cargo shell, does have a vertical gap that separates the cabin from the cargo (with shell). The battlescape vehicle doesn't have such gap. Moreover, the renders of the interior appear a single continuous area, thus suggesting it's a SUV and not a Pickup Truck with a shell.

I can't quite pin point which model was used to create the vehicle terrain item, but it comes close to a 1990s Cherokee XJ model. The UFOpedia picture doesn't quite match the image of the battlescape vehicle. So, I'm attaching a image that could replace the UFOpedia one if so desired.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2019, 03:09:13 am by Alex_D »

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2917 on: October 12, 2019, 11:15:48 am »
Love it! Taken.

...so, how should this vehicle be called after all?

Offline LytaRyta

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Re: Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2918 on: October 12, 2019, 04:40:04 pm »
hehe, i strongly recommend took those classic´al Toyota Hilux´es,  yu take

Hilux, Toyota hilux!

Offline LytaRyta

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Re: Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2919 on: October 12, 2019, 04:42:10 pm »
^^  it recommeds 9/10  jihaad´ combatants, / ISIL islamics terrorists

Offline Alex_D

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2920 on: October 12, 2019, 09:22:09 pm »
Love it! Taken.

...so, how should this vehicle be called after all?

Well, the UFOpedia image is from a Jeep Cherokee XJ from late 1990s.  So, a bland name for the string could be "LUXURY-SUV".

However this is a very American vehicle. I don't know if this is iconic enough for the rest of the world.

Alternatively, a Range/Land Rover can be used as well. In fact, I think now that's the vehicle used for the vehicle terrain (Land Rover Defender). So for comparison I attach these as well.



Offline BlackStaff

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2921 on: October 13, 2019, 01:19:20 pm »
I prefer the Land Rover...  ;)

Offline krautbernd

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Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2922 on: October 13, 2019, 03:05:19 pm »
I intended to give this a timeley follow-up, but I haven't been active on the forums the last few days.

Let me explain using a gross exaggeration. Please don't take it as a mockery, I am just trying to illustrate something[...]

So, to summarize: from a technical point of view it would be quite easy to separate this part of the mod and move it outside. Easier than most such things anyway. But from a design perspective, it's simply ridiculous. This is not how you make games, even as an amateur. The reasons are so painfully obvious that I won't even describe them.
Point taken, though the same could be said about the geoscape palette and I only asked you if you would consider it. Would you instead consider putting the whole commendation-stuff in a separate rul-file or at least add comment lines so it's easy to find? Because this is going to be a pain to sort out otherwise.

As for
OK, now we're straight into bullshit territory. X-Com is and has always been precisely about not having much control. If anything, XCF has been too predictable and too controllable, especially for a game about goddamn world conspiracies. I tried to mix things up by randomizing everything, but many such decisions only served to annoy the player (Syndicate hunting anyone?). Now we have way better tools to achieve that[...etc.]

Okay, first off: I can make my soldiers hunt down and kill every civilian on a terror site. I can send a pilot to his doom by going up against a battleship in a helicopter. I let my agents engage alien monstrosities in suits and baseball bats. I have total control over the direction x-com goes in regarding bases, production, research and missions - including when (or if) humanity should be rid of the alien threat for good.

We might have very different definitions of what the word "control" means.

I'm not sure you understand what I was trying to point out. This was about basic game design choices. I explicitely said that random events can be a good addition if they are handled the right way. Telling the player that he lost x points due to a totally random event that he has absolutely no influence on is a bad design choice and is in and of itself not a meaningful gameplay element. You might as well make the notification read "you lost x points because the developer hates your guts". Unless you give the player a reason why they should care that they just lost points the notification/random event is just a distraction from actual gameplay (aka "press okay to continue the game").

Correct me if I'm wrong, but right now every interruption on the geoscape that pop ups is connected to player interaction, direct or indirect: finished research/production, detected UFOs, completed item transfers, training etc.

Random events that do nothing but "punish" the player without a prior action or a way to avoid that negative outcome lack any connection to player interactivety and (as pointed out above and in my prior post) don't add meaningful gameplay.

Gosh, now you're such a drama queen. "Waaah, I lost 50 points, now the game is unplayable!"

You'll notice that this isn't what I said. The point is that you're confronting the player with a meaningless box which that they have to close to continue playing. It doesn't matter if it's 50 points, 150 points or no points - if the player has no influence at all concerning this event you're interrupting gameplay for no good reason. Compare this to how the game doesn't inform you every time you lose points due to alien actions either - just a the end of the month. And those events are actually preventable.

Feedback is great. Good feedback is priceless. Your feedback is and has always been very good. But in this case I think you've built some sort of a model of how the game will look like which is not supported by much evidence and likely off. Why not give it a try first? Lots of people play the GitHub (unreleased) version - it's buggy, but perfectly playable. (Will require the latest OXCE, also unreleased but available from Meridian.)

Again, I'm not stating that introducing random events is bad. I'm telling you to refrain from introducing meaningless interruptions to the game, judging by what you've posted in this thread concerning upcoming gameplay elements. I'd be more than happy to be wrong on this one.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2019, 03:07:05 pm by krautbernd »

Offline LytaRyta

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Re: Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2923 on: October 14, 2019, 12:02:16 am »
^^  ..sometimes, /offen (..well, more usually offten..) you loss in ..game, in life just due unknow reasons.. ~~
« Last Edit: October 14, 2019, 02:42:49 pm by LytaRyta »

Offline krautbernd

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Re: Re: The X-Com Files - 0.9.9e2: Summertime Lovin'
« Reply #2924 on: October 14, 2019, 09:52:20 am »
^^  ..sometimes, /offen (..more usually offten..) you loss in ..game, in life just due unknow reasons.. ~~
unknown != random

I don't know how often I have to point this out. This is not about random events being bad. What I'm trying to illustrate is why random events whose only "real" consequence is that they interrupt game flow is a bad design choice.