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

[the nomad]

To be honest, I am perfectly content with the numbers of enemies in the missions, even in small maps like those Cult of Apocalypse gatherings. At first I also got frustrated and ranted about how unfair and untactical it is, but really it is still tactical, you just need different tactics. Now you have to prioritize dangerous enemies, like those rocket launcher or chaingun guys, bring more medkits because you surely will get hit, use more flashbangs, etc.

If the maps were bigger then it would require again different tactics. I am content with whatever comes, as long as it is possible.

I also have no quarrel with the current sniper-spotter mechanics, I didn't have much problem with it unless I used smoke grenades in missions which include a lot of snipers and thermal vision guys (like Red Dawn bases), but that's just me of course.

[Mitra Lightbringer]

To be honest, I am perfectly content with the numbers of enemies in the missions, even in small maps like those Cult of Apocalypse gatherings. At first I also got frustrated and ranted about how unfair and untactical it is, but really it is still tactical, you just need different tactics. Now you have to prioritize dangerous enemies, like those rocket launcher or chaingun guys, bring more medkits because you surely will get hit, use more flashbangs, etc.

If the maps were bigger then it would require again different tactics. I am content with whatever comes, as long as it is possible.

Gatherings are not the issue. The town cleansing or whatever is. There are too many units on too large map, rewards for victory are garbage, since there are no useful prisoners or equipment, and score is, well, let's just say that 2 civvies spawn it the same room as the shotgun guy, and cult usually kills at least 10 people in the first turn. But the worst part is how long Cult+Cleaners turns last. I have Ryzen 3600 and I still need to wait at least about 2-5 minutes. Naturally, cows are only useful ally in the game. I honestly think it's worth it to shoot the cleaners yourself, so you feel like you did a good deed, and the turns go faster. You ain't gonna get any score out of the mission anyway.

[Fomka]

...But the worst part is how long Cult+Cleaners turns last. I have Ryzen 3600 and I still need to wait at least about 2-5 minutes.

Maybe setting Fire Speed and AI Movement Speed to max will help?

[the nomad]

Gatherings are not the issue. The town cleansing or whatever is. There are too many units on too large map, rewards for victory are garbage, since there are no useful prisoners or equipment, and score is, well, let's just say that 2 civvies spawn it the same room as the shotgun guy, and cult usually kills at least 10 people in the first turn. But the worst part is how long Cult+Cleaners turns last. I have Ryzen 3600 and I still need to wait at least about 2-5 minutes. Naturally, cows are only useful ally in the game. I honestly think it's worth it to shoot the cleaners yourself, so you feel like you did a good deed, and the turns go faster. You ain't gonna get any score out of the mission anyway.

Oh I can't argue about the length of the turns, it is a bit annoying yes. Best you can do is what Fomka suggested.

[Thunderwing280]

For the Lunar core mission which colour ethereal do you have to capture?

[Empiro]

I also have no quarrel with the current sniper-spotter mechanics, I didn't have much problem with it unless I used smoke grenades in missions which include a lot of snipers and thermal vision guys (like Red Dawn bases), but that's just me of course.

Red Dawn do not actually have thermal vision on any of their soldiers. The night vision is also a piddling 11 for their top tier troops. What they do have is a lot of snipers, and because they automatically spot any of your soldiers that hit any of theirs, it makes them seem like they have really good night vision and thermal vision, even when they don't.

That source of confusion is why I dislike the sniper mechanic in its current state so much.

[ErikPhantom]

Hello, I've been having difficulties installing and running the mod.

I've done as the readme/video guide says, and the files from the XcomFiles archive I downloaded from the first post in this thread are in my [MainXcomFilesFolder]/user/mods, but while there is an "X-com Files" dropdown sub-menu in the in-game mod menu (from the start screen), within it are only the Cyrillic Names and Dark Geoscape for me to turn on, no X-com Files itself.

I'm fairly certain it's not activated automatically, as the video showed that when active it should say "X-com Files Ver.XXX" instead of "OpenXcom Ver.XXX" on the main menu.

I pretty sure I did everything as it said, since the parts I don't really care about are there, but the actual MOD isn't?

The instructions might be outdated or something, so what am I missing/doing wrong?

Edit: Oh, also, the MODS menu the video shows in the options menu appears to instead be FOLDERS, but the Mods option from the main menu itself seems to work, which is what I am talking about above. So that's probably the issue, but the video is quite old so that might have just been changed.

[Mathel]

In the "Base game" dropdown menu in mods, there should be the options:
UFO: Enemy unknown
X-COM: Terror From the Deep
X-Com Files
(One of the first two might be missing, if you do not have the files for it installed, but you have to have at least 1 of them for OXCE to run.)

As long as the X-Com Files is the one selected when you click OK, the mod will be on. Cyrillic Names and Dark Geoscape are submods.

[ErikPhantom]

In the "Base game" dropdown menu in mods, there should be the options:


As long as the X-Com Files is the one selected when you click OK, the mod will be on. Cyrillic Names and Dark Geoscape are submods.

Ahhhh, I thought they were just dropdowns to deal with each individually, not to also set the chosen one to be active.

Thank you very much.

[Solarius Scorch]

Guys, I know the last release was in December, and over 3 months have passed already. But I assure you that I am working hard on the mod and not stopping. It's just that the next release is very time consuming, so I hope you understand.

For the brave there is always the GitHub option. It is updated daily. It seems to work fine, only some translations may be missing, and of course there is WIP stuff in it.

[HT]

I guess I'll give the github version a try then. It seems you're going for broke, completing at least one arc or getting very close to it. Also, new stuff as usual,

Spoiler:

such as being able to "recruit" these bats you find from time to time

[the nomad]

Guys, I know the last release was in December, and over 3 months have passed already. But I assure you that I am working hard on the mod and not stopping. It's just that the next release is very time consuming, so I hope you understand.

For the brave there is always the GitHub option. It is updated daily. It seems to work fine, only some translations may be missing, and of course there is WIP stuff in it.

Hey Scorch, will the new update affect the pre-invasion gameplay much? I am going to restart and if it does affect it I will wait.

We are happy to wait by the way, that only means another awesome update is coming

[Mrvex]

From other mods i know, silence is the mark of progress.

Though, regarding of if it changes early game i have doubts, UAC isnt early game stuff, neither is Proteanism.
Zephyr serum though might be a game changing consumable, but nothing warranting a full restart.
Carapace plating (webwear against concussive damage) does change the early game somewhat, but nothing worthy of a full restart

[Solarius Scorch]

Well I modified some general stuff like training efficiency, so early game is also affected. But I don't think it makes sense to restart the campaign.


EDIT:
Finally, version 1.8 has been released!

- Updated to the newest OXCE.
- New agent type: X-Com Shadowbat.
- New advanced agent type: Protean.
- 9 new events.
- New units: Black Sun Victor, Pinky Demon, Hell Baron, Dr. Alpha (all graphics mostly by Dioxine).
- New weapons: Quillbow (concept by Grit, sprites by Brain_322), BFG (graphics by Bloax), Stun Spear.
- New missions: UAC Moon Base Landing (in cooperation with Brain_322), The Island of Dr. Alpha.
- New Dossier: Dr. Alpha.
- New terrains: UAC Moon Lab, Dark Storm Mountain (collab with Brain_322).
- New maps for the Mummy Settlement.
- New items: Carapace Plate, Zephyr Serum (concept by Grit, script by Meridian).
- New Juggernaut sprites (by Wolverin).
- Improved Pancor Jackhammer sprite (by Brain_322).
- Improved handobs for the M-16, Plasma Rifle, Laser Rifle and Turbolaser Sniper Rifle (by Brain_322).
- New Animal Pen sprite (by Brain_322).
- New article: Alien Colonies.
- Rebuilt alien embassies into alien colonies (easier to get in, but can't reclaim the country).
- Removed some Hybrid/ADVENT missions as they no longer fit the concept.
- Aliens can now react in multiple ways to shooting down UFOs.
- Medium zombie infestations are slightly more common.
- Tweaked crashed UFO mission chances.
- Decreased number of enemies on low difficulties.
- Changed Coven's reward to Protean tech.
- Smaller maps for Hell Cruise with Dr. Hadriex and Osiron Cruise Liner.
- Smaller maps on smallest monster hunts.
- Water pools slow you down.
- Incendiary weapons damage TUs (reaction shots are less likely).
- Rifles rebalance.
- Decreased the Reactions balance for the BlackOps Auto-Sniper Rifle.
- Lessened the penalty on Smart Shotgun for 1-handed shooting.
- Napalm Grenade can now be examined if you find one, but its manufacturing restrictions remain unchanged.
- Improved terrain damage on both cutters.
- G11 is now a revived weapon.
- Modified Synthmuscles tech tree and you can now get them from Osiron crates.
- Removed inventory from dogs and rats.
- Added abort penalties on some missions.
- Changed some mission despawn penalties.
- The Weapon Self Destruction option is no longer locked (feel free to suffer if you like).
- Animal training no longer yields monster teeth.
- Interrogating units which you can extract armor from now also gives you their armor.
- Training caps increased.
- Added Black Sun Stormtrooper descriptions.
- Added Spitter armor variants.
- Linked rank-related armor variants to Ufopaedia articles.
- Better Congo and Senegal flags (by Kato).
- Fixed Floater's grav device color (thanks The Martian).
- Swapped BlackOps LMG and BlackOps Assault LMG sprites.
- Syndicate Monster Lab graphic improvements (by Brain_322).
- Fixed some inconsistencies between weapon types and commendations.
- Fixed training speed.
- Fixed a bug where you could build multiple Advanced HQs.
- Fixed an inconsistency in corpse recovery between X-Com Cyberdisc and Alien Laser Turret.
- Fixed Flying Suit production being too easy.
- Added missing extra effects on alien turrets and Sectopods.
- Fixed MiB Strikeship map.
- Fixed some Ufopedia entries.
- Minor fixes (many thanks to Emil J. Schroeder for tracking down literally dozens of small issues!).

Remember to update your OXCE!

[HT]

Yay, it's finally here!
Speaking of: Perhaps this has been fixed already, but I noticed some of the EXALT units, particularly Goons, have visual bugs on their paper-dolls seen in the Battlescape. Sadly I cannot provide pics right now, but I believe they had a weird, glitched green thing where their secondary weapon should be (usually it happened when they had a pistol and something else in the other hand).
Cool, early flying scouts!
BFG was already a thing in Piratez, I suppose the graphic was copy-pasted, unless it's slightly different.
Island of Dr. Alpha... Aka, not-Moreau?
I'm not sure what do you mean with "aliens reacting in different ways". Can they destroy your bases by missile strikes ala Piratez or not yet?
I also already built multiple HQs in the same base. Will this prevent me from updating them to Advanced HQs once I update?
Also, as for the revived weapons: I haven't tried much yet, but IMO there's the issue that by the time you unlock them, you're probably close enough to unlock Black Ops guns, which makes most of them redundant.
The only possible exception might be the Pancor Shotgun. The grenade-launching rifle seems cool on paper, but it's too heavy and lacks an aimed mode IIRC.