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

[the nomad]

Got a problem. My ex-Knockout Grenades, while vanished, still take place in inventory. Not a big problem as I will just dump the invisible bombs on the ground in a mission though.

[Emden]

Hello,

thank you for such great mod and breathtaking update 2.2.

At the moment I have doubts regarding external turrets mechanics on Terror Ship, Troop Ship, Battleship and Cruiser. The enemy gets 100% map control right from the beginning of the mission, because UFO turrets fire can reach any map corner. And its even worse if mission map has flat terrain. In that case single place to cover is behind the X-Com ship.

As example. I'm in the late game now and own Avenger ship, which has a single exit ramp. The mission was landed Battleship site. Unfortunately, Avenger exit ramp was positioned in Battleships direction. And my agents were butchered by Battleship turrets. Each turret can fire 20 times per turn   After 30 minutes of save/load conveyor I was forced to abandon the mission.

Even for late game stage, turrets are difficult to counter. And in case of middle game stage a player can forget about Battleship, Cruiser, Terror Ship missions.

I would suggest to add Avenger more exit points or to change UFO turrets mechanic.

[Fomka]

Did not encounter that turrets myself I must nevertheless say: "Good! Aliens show real firepower now!"
And some missions have to be abandoned.

PS. Aliens ingame are well equipped but do not show teamwork, therefore they do not show real firepower. X-COM shows, even with basic weaponry: when whole squad concentrates fire on one target, even an armored Gazer can be downed (with about 8 Incendiary grenades). That is what I mean with "real firepower".

PPS. Have wandered around the wiki recently. Can someone explain what AH-6 LITTLE BIRD helicopter can do with its 4 guns and 2 pilots? What are those guns? They have some "Type: 8", but I do not know, what does it mean (machineguns have type = 1, if I understand the wiki correctly, but type = 8 is a mistery). Where those types can be looked at, please?

PPPS. As for single exit problem of the Avenger -- did you consider using other aircraft? I was amazed seeing Skymarshall on a battlefield. It has 3 exits, two of them are with autoclosing doors and the last one, the widest, is covered. Kitsune is also very protected.

[Lysandus]

Hey, i'm new to this mod. Played for some time, but still at the beginning, and i reach a sort of road block. I get to the army monster hunt missions (or better said the monster army hunt, because the army gets completely wrecked everytime), and i'm encountering those heavily armored zombies with swords. Seems like none of my weapons hurt them, making that scenario basically unwinnable every time. What should i research in order to get some decent weapons? I don't think any of my weapons have any armor piercing capabilities.

Also, i have a more general question. All those cult apprehension missions and the random monster reports are starting to get a little old. Without spoiling too much, can someone tell me if they'll stop appearing at some point? I find it would be extremely tedious later in the game when i have a full blown alien invasion on my hands, AND random "kill 32 spiders" missions popping up all the time.

[Juku121]

Vampire Knights are something like two tiers above most other enemies at that point in the game. People have discussed the care and feeding murdering and mutilation of VKs several times. e.g. here. Fire seems to be the most accessible option.

The four basic cults can and should be terminated around the time the invasion proper starts, both to progress and to avoid some nastiness. Monsters will also be cut down a lot via certain research. OTOH, many of these creepy-crawlies are like candy dispensers later on: you get free training, money from corpses/specimens, and occasionally resources (chupacabra farming ).

32 spiders are tedious though. The monotonicity of early-game missions is probably the most common complaint about the mod, especially outside the more invested fanbase here and on Discord.

My personal (partial) solution was to make all cryptids into Leeroys. Monster missions became more tense and much shorter, i.e. more fun. Can't do much about the others except hope Solarius spices things up sometime, but he's been focused on non-early game as of late.

Well, that and not play on any of the difficulties that inflate enemy counts.

[ForIHaveTastedTheFungus]

Ok, so I had to make an account just to say this, but being able to research cheaper flashlight procurement made me laugh hard. Great addition, love the mod and am loving the new version!

[Mr. Mister]

While you could argue that such lights should be toggable, the engine doesn't allow for this.

You've probably given this a lot of thought alreaedy, but just in case - does the engine support remote-controlled doors? As in, if the tile (actually the tile edge° an adjacent agent has to face to open a door needs to be where the door is or not.

Because if you can make remote-controlled doors, AND doors block light, you could simply place 'light switches' inside a vehicle that operate invisible yet light-blocking doors place right on the vehicle's light sources.

[Solarius Scorch]

@Solarius Scorch

Using saves from 2.1 for version 2.2 I noticed something interesting. Research titled do not share tech tritanium/alien gardens/elerium battery can be researched after I already shared that tech with corporation. If I research those technologies/reports/decisions after already sharing them, will it have any negative consequences on me ?

Hmm, probably nothing bad will happen. you may experience some weird logic though (like someone denouncing you for doing something you haven't done).

I seem to be having a problem when activating the XFiles Names mod.

Sorry, no idea what that mod is. Best ask the author.

Holy crap. It is indeed a big update, adding things to a lot of different aspects of the game. Many thanks Scorch, and all the others contributed to it!

Working good so far. At first it gave me an error launching the game about a ruleset but it worked on second try for some reason. I was also in a Black Lotus safehouse in my latest save and it kept crashing when I ended the turn, I had to abort it but all the new missions I did are working right.

Never, ever update in battlescape.

all right thanks! @Solarious: might the gigant spider corpses made a some more flat on the ground? Hell i was shooting on a corpse!!

A totally normal thing for a beginner monster hunter.

I guess I could make it flatter, but I kind like it this way...

Got a problem. My ex-Knockout Grenades, while vanished, still take place in inventory. Not a big problem as I will just dump the invisible bombs on the ground in a mission though.

That's weird... In the worst case you can empty your inventory with the "remove all" button.

thank you for such great mod and breathtaking update 2.2.

You're very much welcome.

At the moment I have doubts regarding external turrets mechanics on Terror Ship, Troop Ship, Battleship and Cruiser. The enemy gets 100% map control right from the beginning of the mission, because UFO turrets fire can reach any map corner. And its even worse if mission map has flat terrain. In that case single place to cover is behind the X-Com ship.

As example. I'm in the late game now and own Avenger ship, which has a single exit ramp. The mission was landed Battleship site. Unfortunately, Avenger exit ramp was positioned in Battleships direction. And my agents were butchered by Battleship turrets. Each turret can fire 20 times per turn   After 30 minutes of save/load conveyor I was forced to abandon the mission.

Even for late game stage, turrets are difficult to counter. And in case of middle game stage a player can forget about Battleship, Cruiser, Terror Ship missions.

I would suggest to add Avenger more exit points or to change UFO turrets mechanic.

I am not changing the turret mechanics, because there isn't much I can do - either the turrets are there or not.
Late game Alien Terrors were kinda trivial, so I added these turrets to make them a little bit more challenging. Sure, in flat terrain the turrets are pretty powerful, but there are many ways to deal with them, starting with shrapnel rockets and ending with mind controlling some soldier...
What I will probably do is add a "light" version of Alien Terror, with a smaller alien crew and a different UFO, and make the regular terror more rare/later. We'll see.

Did not encounter that turrets myself I must nevertheless say: "Good! Aliens show real firepower now!"
And some missions have to be abandoned.

Yeah, goes without saying.

PS. Aliens ingame are well equipped but do not show teamwork, therefore they do not show real firepower. X-COM shows, even with basic weaponry: when whole squad concentrates fire on one target, even an armored Gazer can be downed (with about 8 Incendiary grenades). That is what I mean with "real firepower".

Actually, I gave the aliens as much "teamwork" as possible (which means sniper/spotter). Most human enemies don't even have that!

PPS. Have wandered around the wiki recently. Can someone explain what AH-6 LITTLE BIRD helicopter can do with its 4 guns and 2 pilots? What are those guns? They have some "Type: 8", but I do not know, what does it mean (machineguns have type = 1, if I understand the wiki correctly, but type = 8 is a mistery). Where those types can be looked at, please?

Type 8 is for very small craft weapons which are the same as some infantry heavy weapons - for example the M-60, the RPG, etc. You liteally attach a handgun to your craft (the Little Bird or the Humvee) and use it in air combat (not ground combat, sorry lol).
And what to shoot with them? Enemy cars, convoys, helicopters...

Ok, so I had to make an account just to say this, but being able to research cheaper flashlight procurement made me laugh hard. Great addition, love the mod and am loving the new version!

Thanks, and cool nick there, Mr. Zakharov.

You've probably given this a lot of thought alreaedy, but just in case - does the engine support remote-controlled doors? As in, if the tile (actually the tile edge° an adjacent agent has to face to open a door needs to be where the door is or not.

Because if you can make remote-controlled doors, AND doors block light, you could simply place 'light switches' inside a vehicle that operate invisible yet light-blocking doors place right on the vehicle's light sources.

Nope, sorry. If it was possible, I'd probably use it...

[Lysandus]

Hey there. I come with another newb question. I'm still pretty much at the beginning. I've been using the HUMVEE for a while, and just now i notice that it has a weapon slot, and on the battlescape there is a visible machine gun on top of the car. Is there a way i can add a usable machine gun to the HUMVEE? In the army missions i'm seeing they have an armored car that has quite a powerful machine gun and i imagine such a thing can be very helpful in those cult outpost or base missions, where it's just my 5 guys vs a shitload of enemy troops. That mounted machine gun could make those missions a little less grueling.

[Solarius Scorch]

Hey there. I come with another newb question. I'm still pretty much at the beginning. I've been using the HUMVEE for a while, and just now i notice that it has a weapon slot, and on the battlescape there is a visible machine gun on top of the car. Is there a way i can add a usable machine gun to the HUMVEE? In the army missions i'm seeing they have an armored car that has quite a powerful machine gun and i imagine such a thing can be very helpful in those cult outpost or base missions, where it's just my 5 guys vs a shitload of enemy troops. That mounted machine gun could make those missions a little less grueling.

Certainly not in battle. I don't have a way for such a weapon to require a human operator, so it's a no-go. Besides, it would trivialize some missions, giving the Humvee an unintended boost.

But in the upcoming version 2.3, you will be able to put some infantry weapons in this slot, like a machine gun or the RPG, etc. To be used in vehicle combat only, of course.

[coorta88]

Are there any plans regarding UFOs that crash into sea during combat ? It seems strange to me that with entire crew of ship dead due to drowning, there would be no attempts to salvage what remained of UFO. I know probably large part of UFO components should be worthless due to influence of salt water - but you should be able to at least gain alien alloys and perhaps some part of crew equipment that should be waterproof (maybe various alien tools, grenades) and of course corpses of crew.

Another thing, which probably is not that much important but still, if I shot down USO over the sea is it not possible to create assault on USO mission ?

[coorta88]

I forgot to add to creators of this mod (sorry for my forgetfullness) - thank you very much for your work on this excellent mod  .

Are there any plans regarding alien embassy and hybrid clinic missions ? I hope that they can be used in combination with MiB faction as those missions were good. Maybe alien embassy mission could be unique one time mission tied to dealing with MiB faction ?

And are there any planned research topic regarding alien plans for earth (since currently we already know what is not plan of aliens for earth - which makes current bad ending outro not very relevant) - since at least ethereal knights and grandmaster should know something ? The same thing could be done for Tleth aliens and maybe explaing why they are active after destruction of tassoth factory.

[Fomka]

Did not encounter that turrets myself I must nevertheless say: "Good! Aliens show real firepower now!"

Had encountered a battleship with alien cyberwatch turrets. It was fun to crack that nut! Used about 10 reloads and finally made it. EMP grenades helped a lot (grenade sniping must be included into the Olympics) as well as a lucky placement of my skymarshall. Lost only one unit -- lasertank -- destroyed by a single hit from a turret.

Thanks for the turrets, they add much to the gameplay.

[Solarius Scorch]

Are there any plans regarding UFOs that crash into sea during combat ? It seems strange to me that with entire crew of ship dead due to drowning, there would be no attempts to salvage what remained of UFO. I know probably large part of UFO components should be worthless due to influence of salt water - but you should be able to at least gain alien alloys and perhaps some part of crew equipment that should be waterproof (maybe various alien tools, grenades) and of course corpses of crew.

Not planned. I gave it lots of thought and ultimately decided that it would be an great amount of work for a disputable effect:
- Oceans would have to be replaced with water testures (they're empty now) - difficult and perhaps ugly;
- What happens with enemies shot over water? Can they survive? They have to, else looting UFOs would become trivial; but this means making undferwater variants of all enemies using flying vehicles, which is a bit too much both in terms of work and design;
- What weapons would enemies use underwater? Most of their stuff wouldn't work, so I'd have to remove it from such a deployment (and only then), and I don't know how to do this, and also give them some replacement tech (what kind???) which wouldn't appear normally (so where was it stored before the crash?).

Another thing, which probably is not that much important but still, if I shot down USO over the sea is it not possible to create assault on USO mission ?

Yes, currently it's impossible - the UFO simply disappears. But at least you get its full value in points, as opposed to 50% in a land crash (I think).

I forgot to add to creators of this mod (sorry for my forgetfullness) - thank you very much for your work on this excellent mod  .

Glad you like it!

Are there any plans regarding alien embassy and hybrid clinic missions ? I hope that they can be used in combination with MiB faction as those missions were good. Maybe alien embassy mission could be unique one time mission tied to dealing with MiB faction ?

Not exactly; these missions were not as much removed as went to a separate mod, From the Ashes, by Finnik (still in production). But also the plot didn't fit the XCF lore, so frankly I'm glad they are gone.
But having said that, yes, there will be new missions with both MiBs and hybrids where they stir all kinds of trouble.

And are there any planned research topic regarding alien plans for earth (since currently we already know what is not plan of aliens for earth - which makes current bad ending outro not very relevant) - since at least ethereal knights and grandmaster should know something ? The same thing could be done for Tleth aliens and maybe explaing why they are active after destruction of tassoth factory.

I'm slowly adding such lore. The outro is not wrong, but I agree it can use some more details.
Once I get to working on the Cydonia arc (right now it's pretty close to vanilla), there will be more info, I think.

Had encountered a battleship with alien cyberwatch turrets. It was fun to crack that nut! Used about 10 reloads and finally made it. EMP grenades helped a lot (grenade sniping must be included into the Olympics) as well as a lucky placement of my skymarshall. Lost only one unit -- lasertank -- destroyed by a single hit from a turret.

Thanks for the turrets, they add much to the gameplay.

Really good to hear!

[coorta88]

@Solarius Scorch

Thanks for reply but I think we misunderstood each other. What I meant that if UFO crashes into sea you should be able to salvage something out of it (if you have some relevant topic researched - maybe expanded council salvage corpse which could be researched after sea guard was researched). This could be done via generated events on geo map at the end of month (if game can track which UFO and of which class crashes into sea) not as tactical mission (as you are correct that 99% percent of enemies would simply drown by the time your transport aircraft arrives and plasma/laser weapons are unsable under waves so such mission would not make much sense).