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

[Mathel]

I think there should be a large penalty.
However, if the penalty is large enough that you can't do well that month, then for the rest of the month, you have a free pass on any terror missions (And any other missions that are risky for minimal reward). They are merely point loss and you are going to be deep in the negative either way.

What if the penalty was let's say 30k, but instead of it being applied all at once, it would be done by 15k immediately and 15k by event in 30days? So you can still have positive score this month and you can still have positive score the next month, but it is possible to fail both and lose.

The event could say something like "The council is still unhappy about you revealing critical secrets last month and it will take a lot to impress them."

[Juku121]

That's a pretty good idea! You could even have the events continue for longer than a month, since 15k is still quite a lot in the earlier phases of the game.

[Solarius Scorch]

You could also go with something like Red Dawn suppliers + Promo II. Not everything in the inventory goes through the red tape, you know.

You know, this sounds like a good plan. I'll think about it.

After translating a lot of this game I have some random observations/opinions about style, prose and information layout to share.
(...)

First of all, thanks for completing the monumental task of translating the mod. It's not something an ordinary person would do!

Secondly, thank you for the review. I can't comment much at this point, but I accept both the good and the bad. I listen to the criticism and I do improve things at time.

After having a mission in the desert, citizens vs monsters who decide to charge out of their african mudhuts to face scorpions. One thing hit me when i heard the satisfying crunch as my soldier smashed one with his fist.

One thing hit me... couldnt carapace plate be made from Scorpion bodies too ?

Potentially yes, but it would be really complicated to do. Since the scorpion armour is muhc lighter than a beetle's, I think it's fine as it is. (I'd like to add some other bonus from scorpions instead.)

After hitting some MAGMA-related stuff again, I really wish things like "The Council is livid, -500 points" were more impactful. 500 points are peanuts, one good mission gives as much. Something like 10-20k would be more appropriate, so if you do anything that pisses your handlers off, you fail the month and could possibly even lose the game if you get too cheeky and go for it twice in a row.

The points are more like a slap on the wrist, the real penalties happen later with some events etc.

Anyway, the game doesn't operate on such scales... Also, what Krautbernd said.

What if the penalty was let's say 30k, but instead of it being applied all at once, it would be done by 15k immediately and 15k by event in 30days? So you can still have positive score this month and you can still have positive score the next month, but it is possible to fail both and lose.

Not sure if it can be done... I am sceptical, but maybe?

[Juku121]

Not sure if it can be done... I am sceptical, but maybe?

Couldn't you have a series of auto-toggling researches that enable the events? The event grants a new research topic that disables itself and enables a new event, until the last one just disables everything?

[krautbernd]

Not sure if it can be done... I am sceptical, but maybe?

As far as I can tell you'd still run into the same problems - i.e. no real way to tell how "good" or "bad" progression for the player has been, and what might be considered a "trivial" point penalty to some might be (automatically) game-ending for others. Again, if there was some way to scale penalties to actual player scores this might be doable in a sane way, but right now you'd have to be guessing - which I don't think is a good approach to a mechanic that is potentially game-ending.

[Juku121]

As far as I can tell you'd still run into the same problems - i.e. no real way to tell how "good" or "bad" progression for the player has been

Why is it a problem? Most other mechanics don't scale with player progress. If anything, it's the opposite. Unmanaged cults causing extra infiltration, vampires running roughshod over early-game teams, the infamous 'two agents and car went missing', CoA jumping you with advanced weapons and a shitton of cultists if you pick the 'wrong' research, the alien timetable not depending on what you do... Having this be a decision that leads to a bad end wouldn't exactly be an outlier. So you don't pick this option until you can handle it, same as with a lot of other things. Infiltration is worse because the player has zero control over it and can at best mitigate the results, but here the decision and consequences are theirs.

Since you need two months of bad score, warn the player with an event that if they do it again, the project might get terminated. Should be enough to get the message across, and actually make the Council scary.

[Mathel]

Not sure if it can be done... I am sceptical, but maybe?

I did some research. Apparently, it could not be done with a set delay from the research, but could be guaranteed to happen next month and never again.

As far as I can tell you'd still run into the same problems - i.e. no real way to tell how "good" or "bad" progression for the player has been, and what might be considered a "trivial" point penalty to some might be (automatically) game-ending for others. Again, if there was some way to scale penalties to actual player scores this might be doable in a sane way, but right now you'd have to be guessing - which I don't think is a good approach to a mechanic that is potentially game-ending.

Not really. It could be scaled to the least power the player can have when they trigger it, which I expect is about when the stuff provided in return is relevant.
Sure, if you research Share Tritanium Ammo when you are already using Plasma, the penalty will be meaningless. So will Tritanium ammo for the various M.A.G.M.A guns.

[Solarius Scorch]

Version 2.0 is out.

2.0:
- New weapons: Var Assault Cannon (sprites by Brain_322), Hoe (sprite by Mister X), USAS-12.
- New ammo: Taser Bioelectric Shock Clip.
- New item: Jar of Gray Goo.
- New armors: Mongorn Anzug (sprites by Brain_322), X-Com Liquidator.
- New units: Osiron Fixer (sprites by Brain_322), Asmodean Cobra (autopsy picture by Brain_322).
- New mission: Osiron Hacienda.
- New facility: Tritanium Foundry (required for making Tritanium, needs Alien Power Systems).
- New agent nationality: Saudi Arabia (flag by Kato).
- 1 new event.
- 12 cult intercepted message events (by Helrica).
- New lore articles.
- Added 30x30 maps to most basic terrains.
- New Island Urban block (by Dioxine).
- 4 new Jungle maps (collab with Dioxine).
- Sand slows you down, unless you can slither.
- Streamlined and wrapped up the Shogg arc.
- Disassembling some alien machines yields more resources.
- New Bullfrog death sound.
- Muckstars are easier to hit in melee.
- Sectopod Laser Cannon renamed to Sectopod Laser Repeater, now has autoshot x4.
- Thrasher no longer has Fire Spraying.
- Fire Extinguisher has area of effect again.
- Rat attack scales with Strength.
- Pike missiles are stronger and cheaper.
- Remaining starting cults become more active after 01.01.1999.
- Overhauled sailors' equipment.
- Relaxed Sanity cost on Zombie missions.
- Chemtrails mission includes a Hybrid Supervisor.
- Illegal Requisition Files can sometimes be found on cult hideouts.
- Sick Bay available more easily.
- Turbolasers require optronic parts.
- Added Ufopaedia pages for drone weapons.
- New Advanced Lab sprite (by Brain_322).
- Proper flag on bank/government buildings (by Brain_322).
- Improved graphics for some ranked aliens and the Mummy (by The Martian).
- Updated graphics for some Sectoid variants (by Brain_322).
- Better Dog Cybersuit sprite (by Brain_322).
- Proper Red Dawn Sailor bigob (by Brain_322).
- New Advanced Rocket Launcher design (by Brain_322).
- Sprites New BlackOps Smart Rifle handob and floorob (by Brain_322).
- New Laser Rifle floorob (by Brain_322).
- New Sniper Rifle and Gas Cannon bigobs (by Brain_322).
- New UAC Rifle handob (by Brain_322).
- New HWP Smoke Projector sprites (by Brain_322).
- Medical Supplies graphics differ by quality (by Brain_322).
- Proper Aqua-Plastics Suit sprite for hybrids (by Brain_322).
- Proper Synthsuit icon.
- Syndicate Agent death animation fix (by Brain_322).
- Fixed Alien Brain recovery from the alien orbital station.
- Fixed NightOps camo.
- Fixed Viper costs.
- Fixed selling costs of some items to avoid endless money on Beginner.
- Fixed MiB Executor Ufopaedia picture.
- Various terrain fixes (by Dioxine).
- Minor fixes.


Some notes:
- Your M83 Barrett rifles and ammo will disappear, sorry.
- A new nationality was added, so all nationalities after it (alphabetically) are moved by 1. This will result in wrong flags in some cases. You can fix it easily yourselves by clicking on the flag.

[Mrvex]

Jar of Grey Goo ? Is that some sort of new grenade you can toss at enemies so they get dismantled by a swarm of nanobots ?

[RolandVasko]

( @Solarius )

hi i just got the idea on the next version´ title  -   *There are the things between Eearth and Heaven"

what do you think?

[RolandVasko]

- Your M83 Barrett rifles and ammo will disappear, sorry.

  why

it was 1 of my most favourites heavy sniper guns

[mercy]

2.0:
[..]
- Streamlined and wrapped up the Shogg arc.

Main page says: Shogg: 72%
Does it reflect current state of Shogg?

[HinterDemGlas]

Congratulations on the big 2!

- Your M83 Barrett rifles and ammo will disappear, sorry.

  why

it was 1 of my most favourites heavy sniper guns

You may find it's still there, "downgraded" slightly... if only in name.

[Marrik]

Is 2.0 savegame-compatible with 1.9?

Also, what happened to the M83 Barretts? Were they removed entirely? And if so, why?

[Progger]

Also, what happened to the M83 Barretts? Were they removed entirely? And if so, why?

https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,8870.msg140842.html#msg140842
You can replace STR_M83_BARETT to STR_M82_BARETT in save file and you won't lose it.