Re: The X-Com Files - 3.5: Whispers In The Dark

[HT]

(Not sure how balanced they would be against other ranged stun weapons, though...)

Make it a researchable clip that uses Elerium Batteries to produce greater electric shocks with more power and less weight, translating into a special magazine that requires Elerium to build that does more damage, can shoot 4 times, has better range and weights less.

In terms of effectiveness it would be behind the Stun Launcher, the ultimate non-lethal weapon. There are better options in the Power Mace and Stun Rods, but these require melee, which makes the improved Heavy Taser better until the endgame.

The dart guns are okay too, but they take ages to build and don't work against zombies and machines, so it should be okay.

[krautbernd]

Yeah, I think this would be an option. Maybe also something inbetween, like a magazine that uses alien alloys to at least make it lighter/easier to carry?

Something totally unrelated - I just noticed that the Abomination Entity is housed in the animal pen? Is this intended? Swarmids for example use alien containment - as far as I can tell abominations are even more alien, seeing how they can simply transform other lifeforms into more abominations. What exactely are the cages x-com uses to contain animals made out of?

I just imagined x-com some poor council member visiting x-com to inspect the base:

"And here is our animal containment facility. We're currently housing a werewolf and a werecat, a giant frog, some kind of direwolf and a larger-than-normal scorpion. Also there's this extradimensional entity that transforms other living beings into more of itself. We're calling it Frederick. The reason there's two of them right now is that the last council member got too close to the cage."

[Solarius Scorch]

Make it a researchable clip that uses Elerium Batteries to produce greater electric shocks with more power and less weight, translating into a special magazine that requires Elerium to build that does more damage, can shoot 4 times, has better range and weights less.

Maybe without increasing the power, for alance reasons (also because the weapon remains the same).

In terms of effectiveness it would be behind the Stun Launcher, the ultimate non-lethal weapon. There are better options in the Power Mace and Stun Rods, but these require melee, which makes the improved Heavy Taser better until the endgame.

The Stun Launcher? But it has nothing to do with the Stun Launcher, tech wise! The Taser Cannon is still electric, even if powered by E-115.

So long story short, I'll put it on the list.

Something totally unrelated - I just noticed that the Abomination Entity is housed in the animal pen? Is this intended? Swarmids for example use alien containment - as far as I can tell abominations are even more alien, seeing how they can simply transform other lifeforms into more abominations. What exactely are the cages x-com uses to contain animals made out of?

A very good point! Fixing.

I just imagined x-com some poor council member visiting x-com to inspect the base:

"And here is our animal containment facility. We're currently housing a werewolf and a werecat, a giant frog, some kind of direwolf and a larger-than-normal scorpion. Also there's this extradimensional entity that transforms other living beings into more of itself. We're calling it Frederick. The reason there's two of them right now is that the last council member got too close to the cage."

Priceless!

[HT]

Maybe without increasing the power, for alance reasons (also because the weapon remains the same).

To be fair, special ammo for many guns does increase the power of the gun itself. IE: Any weapon's standard ammo vs the armor alloy version.

Speaking of: Alien Alloy Ammo (aka AAA) sounds better than Tritanium Ammo. Give us AAA back, please!   

The Stun Launcher? But it has nothing to do with the Stun Launcher, tech wise! The Taser Cannon is still electric, even if powered by E-115.

I know they're unrelated tech-wise, but it is the natural progression of sorts. The Stun Launcher is the best non-lethal weapon, or at least better than the Taser Cannon.

Priceless!

Could be remade into a Staff Input event.

[Solarius Scorch]

To be fair, special ammo for many guns does increase the power of the gun itself. IE: Any weapon's standard ammo vs the armor alloy version.

You don't say?

Speaking of: Alien Alloy Ammo (aka AAA) sounds better than Tritanium Ammo. Give us AAA back, please!   

Sorry, with how prevalent it became, it's hard to call it alien any more... But the more immediate reason was that it sounds really goddamn dumb. Maybe not so much in English, which is very forgiving to cringe, but this mod isn't just in English.

I know they're unrelated tech-wise, but it is the natural progression of sorts.

No, they're not natural, it's a total ass pull. Like, "inventing horse riding requires seafaring because both are means of transportation".

The Stun Launcher is the best non-lethal weapon, or at least better than the Taser Cannon.

Could be remade into a Staff Input event.

Yeah, I made a note.

[Doc]

Tritanium sounds better to my English ears as well. It's fair to call something an Alien Alloy when first discovered, but after it's been researched, mass produced and incorporated into a variety of earth made technologies it would be weird to keep calling them that.

[anothrgamer1234]

Out of curiosity, which arc will be the next one to get an expansion? Cult of Apocalypse seems like it's got some of the infrastructure needed for its final part given the references to that "Doom Portal" in the code, but since Shogg is one of the big three threats mentioned in Summary Report #3 it seems just as likely it's going to be completed first.

Also, another unrelated question: is the Black Sun the man behind the man for the Syndicate? Its entry did say that it used the Syndicate as a proxy, but I'm not sure if that meant they were allies or something else.

[Solarius Scorch]

Out of curiosity, which arc will be the next one to get an expansion? Cult of Apocalypse seems like it's got some of the infrastructure needed for its final part given the references to that "Doom Portal" in the code, but since Shogg is one of the big three threats mentioned in Summary Report #3 it seems just as likely it's going to be completed first.

Frankly, probably none. With 1.5 I mostly focus on various long due changes, like weapons using proper ammo, adding some stuff for which I had the resources for a long time, adding some Pedia pages, boring rebalances, fixing minor glitches. Useful work, but most of it not very flashy.

I would like to make at least one new mission though, since a release with no new missions feels lame. Hopefully something with the Cult of Apocalypse and UAC.

Also, another unrelated question: is the Black Sun the man behind the man for the Syndicate? Its entry did say that it used the Syndicate as a proxy, but I'm not sure if that meant they were allies or something else.

Well, that's hard spoiler territory.

Spoiler:

Yes, the Syndicate is a proxy organization to the Black Sun. Syndicate people aren't Black Sun members though, and most don't even know of its existence.

[anothrgamer1234]

Frankly, probably none. With 1.5 I mostly focus on various long due changes, like weapons using proper ammo, adding some stuff for which I had the resources for a long time, adding some Pedia pages, boring rebalances, fixing minor glitches. Useful work, but most of it not very flashy.

I would like to make at least one new mission though, since a release with no new missions feels lame. Hopefully something with the Cult of Apocalypse and UAC.

Well, that's hard spoiler territory.

Spoiler:

Yes, the Syndicate is a proxy organization to the Black Sun. Syndicate people aren't Black Sun members though, and most don't even know of its existence.

Yeah, I suspected that something was up with the UAC given that the Cult of Apocalypse uses their weapons almost exclusively, and seeing that it's already got Doom references throughout you may as well play with that angle too. The sprites for a bunch of Doom enemies in X-Com should already be floating around thanks to Piratez- why not improve on what Piratez has and throw in things like Mancubus and the Arch-Vile? If you also need a boss-type one, there's always the Cyberdemon too.

Spoiler:

Yeah, that rambling about "subhumanity"in the final testament sounded like the type of thing a Nazi would talk about, lunar or otherwise. Was that written by someone in their organization or is the Syndicate run by entirely different aliens?

[Solarius Scorch]

Yeah, I suspected that something was up with the UAC given that the Cult of Apocalypse uses their weapons almost exclusively, and seeing that it's already got Doom references throughout you may as well play with that angle too.

Yes, that's the idea since the beginning.

The sprites for a bunch of Doom enemies in X-Com should already be floating around thanks to Piratez- why not improve on what Piratez has and throw in things like Mancubus and the Arch-Vile? If you also need a boss-type one, there's always the Cyberdemon too.

Mancubi are too big, Arch-Viles resurrect units which is not doable AFAIK, and well, I don't have the sprites.

Spoiler:

Yeah, that rambling about "subhumanity"in the final testament sounded like the type of thing a Nazi would talk about, lunar or otherwise. Was that written by someone in their organization or is the Syndicate run by entirely different aliens?

The Syndicate

Spoiler:

is not run by any aliens. It's actually hostile to them, though it never comes up in the mod

.

[anothrgamer1234]

Yes, that's the idea since the beginning.

Mancubi are too big, Arch-Viles resurrect units which is not doable AFAIK, and well, I don't have the sprites.

The Syndicate

Spoiler:

is not run by any aliens. It's actually hostile to them, though it never comes up in the mod

.

What about Revenants or Arachnotrons? As for Arch-viles, I guess you could have them just stick to AoE fire attacks, nobody would blame you for watering them down. And now that I think of it, the Bug-Eyed Ghost sprite does look an awful lot like the Pain Elemental- shouldn't take long to tweak it for that purpose, I think.

Spoiler:

That explains why the Syndicate gives you the embassy key, I guess.

[RolandVasko]

To be fair, special ammo for many guns does increase the power of the gun itself. IE: Any weapon's standard ammo vs the armor alloy version.

Speaking of: Alien Alloy Ammo (aka AAA) sounds better than Tritanium Ammo. Give us AAA back, please!   

hehe, it´s sounds like *AAA-Auto advertisement!  

[Solarius Scorch]

What about Revenants or Arachnotrons? As for Arch-viles, I guess you could have them just stick to AoE fire attacks, nobody would blame you for watering them down. And now that I think of it, the Bug-Eyed Ghost sprite does look an awful lot like the Pain Elemental- shouldn't take long to tweak it for that purpose, I think.

I'm not that great with Doom lore. But well, anything is possible. For now I am not planning on adding any Doom stuff soon (I have plenty of other stuff to do), but if the time comes, then it's entirely possible.

[tarkalak]

There is another issue with car batteries (and any other chemical batteries). You can't just dump all that energy at once, even if you short circuit them. The chemical reaction needs time to happen. You would actually need capacitors for that. And the problem with capacitors is, that they can't store a lot of energy.

Perhaps the 'clip' is actually a smaller chemical battery, custom made by X-Com, and a massive bank of capacitors.
The battery could store more energy than you need to do two shots, but the two shots are all that fits into the capacitors, and they would need too long to recharge. The battery would then be there just to keep them topped off.

No, you don't need large capacitors.
From the wiki of Ignition coil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignition_coil

An ignition coil (also called a spark coil) is an induction coil in an automobile's ignition system that transforms the battery's low voltage to the thousands of volts needed to create an electric spark in the spark plugs to ignite the fuel.

So a taser powered by car battery and ignition coil can do dozens of high voltage hits. Hitting a normal human with the full power will likely kill him on the spot, but we can imagine that the agent controls the output with some knob.

As for the delivery method, I assume it is the same for the normal taser: a bunch of wires with arrow heads are launched at the target and make contact. An arc lightning will hit the closest uninsulated surface - usually the agent holding this contraption unless he wears protective gear. In the later case it will arc to the ground.

So yeah if you want to be realistic the Taser Cannon is way too underpowered (either in power or in number of hits per battery) for what we could do with the 90's technology.

I am not complaining actually, hitting that Black Lotus Avatar with it was very satisfying. 

[krautbernd]

On to the nitpicking...

No, you don't need large capacitors[...]

Voltage != Current

You would need some kind of reservoir provided the battery is supposed to be depleted after only two hits, and you'd need some big gauge wires to transfer that current or the wire would simply evaporate (if we're talking car batteries or similar).

As for the delivery method, I assume it is the same for the normal taser: a bunch of wires with arrow heads are launched at the target and make contact. An arc lightning will hit the closest uninsulated surface - usually the agent holding this contraption unless he wears protective gear. In the later case it will arc to the ground.

There's a reason tasers don't have "a bunch" of wires, but only two - you want that voltage across the target, not across the target and the ground. One is positve, the other negative. The wires are insulted to prevent shorts during/after firing.