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

[termidor]

Well apparently my post wasn't register, some quick question/comments

What is the reason damage rolls/damage bonus/sprays are different in some very similar weapons ie lack of consistency? Example melee weapons like the machete, hunting rifle 0-200 vs bolt action, damage bost in Fn fal and Hk G11, Pkm and Minimi  having one shot snaps while Mg 3 and M240 have 2 etc...

I think two firing formulas need to be revised/reworked: Thorwn weapons like knifes and ninja stars being a guarantee hit at close ranges with not that high thrown skills, and the bravery+ acc^2 formula in some snipers (why do you need to be brave to shoot a sniper rifle? )

Ligth cannon, after the introduction of the OICW , seem very useless even with all the ammo types, due to low accuracy and not great weigth efficiency.

[Solarius Scorch]

Well apparently my post wasn't register, some quick question/comments

What is the reason damage rolls/damage bonus/sprays are different in some very similar weapons ie lack of consistency? Example melee weapons like the machete, hunting rifle 0-200 vs bolt action, damage bost in Fn fal and Hk G11, Pkm and Minimi  having one shot snaps while Mg 3 and M240 have 2 etc...

I think two firing formulas need to be revised/reworked: Thorwn weapons like knifes and ninja stars being a guarantee hit at close ranges with not that high thrown skills, and the bravery+ acc^2 formula in some snipers (why do you need to be brave to shoot a sniper rifle? )

Ligth cannon, after the introduction of the OICW , seem very useless even with all the ammo types, due to low accuracy and not great weigth efficiency.

Your post was made just fine, although it was grossly off-topic and I moved it here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10789.0.html

[Juku121]

Well, this is kinda silly. That guy can start his own demolition company with zero initial expenses.


Also, it kinda bugs me that Aquatoids in downed subs are dual-wielding Sonic pistols and Aqua-plastic axes. Seems kinda... un-Aquatoid to me. Then again, the little fuckers would carry around drills almost as big as themselves back in TFTD and we all love Sectoids toting plasma guns larger than themselves, so what do I know.

[Moth_Of_Decay]

It might be a good idea to create an archive of submods or just things explicitly compatible for ease of reference, and to ensure they don't vanish into the void. The mod that lets you start in 1994 for example isn't on the io site for example.

[Solarius Scorch]

Also, it kinda bugs me that Aquatoids in downed subs are dual-wielding Sonic pistols and Aqua-plastic axes. Seems kinda... un-Aquatoid to me. Then again, the little fuckers would carry around drills almost as big as themselves back in TFTD and we all love Sectoids toting plasma guns larger than themselves, so what do I know.

Yeah it's a bit weird, I just never got around to making custom deployments for USOs, since they're so rare anyway. Maybe some day - it's not a big deal, but there are thousands of such small deals at every corner.

It might be a good idea to create an archive of submods or just things explicitly compatible for ease of reference, and to ensure they don't vanish into the void. The mod that lets you start in 1994 for example isn't on the io site for example.

I guess it'd be good, yeah. Also for me. But I'm not the one to do it, since I don't even follow these things very regularly.

[Vakrug]

Are Aquatoids even able to do melee? When I stormed sunked Cruiser with Aquatoids I tried to hit them with stun sticks. I was confident, that if I stand right next to an enemy unit, then this enemy unit can only react with melee attacks. But those little green men fired instead (with predictable results)! I believe this could only happen with units not capable to do melee (like hybrid drones). Is that true?

[Solarius Scorch]

Are Aquatoids even able to do melee? When I stormed sunked Cruiser with Aquatoids I tried to hit them with stun sticks. I was confident, that if I stand right next to an enemy unit, then this enemy unit can only react with melee attacks. But those little green men fired instead (with predictable results)! I believe this could only happen with units not capable to do melee (like hybrid drones). Is that true?

Yes, they can use melee. Why this one didn't in this particular situation I cannot say... Maybe no TUs to slash, but enough to shoot?

[Mathel]

Are Aquatoids even able to do melee? When I stormed sunked Cruiser with Aquatoids I tried to hit them with stun sticks. I was confident, that if I stand right next to an enemy unit, then this enemy unit can only react with melee attacks. But those little green men fired instead (with predictable results)! I believe this could only happen with units not capable to do melee (like hybrid drones). Is that true?

The way it works is that melee has priority if the reacter has a melee weapon equipped. For humans, an empty hand is considered a melee weapon. I don't know if aquatoid empty hand is a melee weapon, but if it had two pistols, then it didn't even have that. With no melee weapon available, it's only option was to shoot.

[zx_79]

As this is my first post, big thanks for this marvellous work, I`ve been positively taken by the game after trying the X-Files. Can`t imagine going back to vanilla! Please clarify something for me:

1. Where do I get the Tritanium Matrix? Being in dire need of Alien Alloys for the improved lab, I only encountered a couple of small scouts up until now, and the wiki says it just *exists* and is required to be researched, but no possible sources provided. I coooould go back to 2.5 where it wasn`t needed to research the foundry, but still.

2. Same tier "Master of %weapon%" and "Bane of %race%" commendations do not stack, with only one of each tier being applied, thus the soldier can actually decrease stats with new kills - say, racking 100 Zombies to get tier 6 will cancel out the existing tier 6 from 100 cultists, so -2 for three relevant stats, despite being technically more experienced. Would be a welcome change if that is possible.

Couple UI/Quality of Life suggestions:

1. To reveal commendation progress counter somewhere, probably on personal files page. Like, if clicking soldier`s Trooper award details, aside from stat bonus provided, also see "current count is X, next level is on Y".

1.1. To add number of kills with weapon to the damage tooltip shown when Alt is pressed in Inventory screen. Saves the player from going to Agent List, then Files > Combat to see which weapon the soldier progressed with and memorizing who gets what gun.

1.2. To get the same info - damage and kill count - also for an unarmed attack when Alt is pressed on the empty hand.

2. To keep currently equipped items on the squad selection "Preview" screen, to be able to quickly see potential accuracy and TU cost for all fire modes available not having to bring the gun in actual combat and then find out you don`t shoot it really well. Or Alt-Tab to the wiki, do calculations manually and memorize everything.

Thanks again!

[Solarius Scorch]

As this is my first post, big thanks for this marvellous work, I`ve been positively taken by the game after trying the X-Files. Can`t imagine going back to vanilla!

Thank you!

1. Where do I get the Tritanium Matrix? Being in dire need of Alien Alloys for the improved lab, I only encountered a couple of small scouts up until now, and the wiki says it just *exists* and is required to be researched, but no possible sources provided. I coooould go back to 2.5 where it wasn`t needed to research the foundry, but still.

Finding this is not an easy matter now. Also it's a spoiler, so I'll hide it just in case:

Spoiler:

Alien Colonies (big bases) and MiB Bases.

2. Same tier "Master of %weapon%" and "Bane of %race%" commendations do not stack, with only one of each tier being applied, thus the soldier can actually decrease stats with new kills - say, racking 100 Zombies to get tier 6 will cancel out the existing tier 6 from 100 cultists, so -2 for three relevant stats, despite being technically more experienced. Would be a welcome change if that is possible.

1. To reveal commendation progress counter somewhere, probably on personal files page. Like, if clicking soldier`s Trooper award details, aside from stat bonus provided, also see "current count is X, next level is on Y".

1.1. To add number of kills with weapon to the damage tooltip shown when Alt is pressed in Inventory screen. Saves the player from going to Agent List, then Files > Combat to see which weapon the soldier progressed with and memorizing who gets what gun.

1.2. To get the same info - damage and kill count - also for an unarmed attack when Alt is pressed on the empty hand.

2. To keep currently equipped items on the squad selection "Preview" screen, to be able to quickly see potential accuracy and TU cost for all fire modes available not having to bring the gun in actual combat and then find out you don`t shoot it really well. Or Alt-Tab to the wiki, do calculations manually and memorize everything.

All these are entirely on the game code side, not the mod code side. Please contact OXCE developers to discuss such matters. The relevant subforum is here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/board,22.0.html

[Vakrug]

Maybe no TUs to slash, but enough to shoot?

After more playing (not XCOM Files, but it looks like this is vanilla problem) I came to conclusion that reaction shooting gets priority over melee if reaction shot takes less TU then melee attack. This can happen if a unit has low total TU, since TU to fire is in percentage and melee TU is scalar. If "melee gets priority over shooting" is some kind an official rule, then this looks like a bug. Sadly I cannot provide a save file, because it is pretty rare problem and when that happens it is already too late. May be I will be able to capture this situation someday and report that...

[termidor]

So, I'm missing something or is blood boosting just plain worse than X com bio-enhament ? You get very similar stats gain with the two but Blood boosting completely tanks sanity and bravery + leaving an agent unusable for 48 days (whoa !) + blocking other transformation. Is there anything more beyond the stats gain and the 1 extra day visibility (which also seems very situational)?

[Mrvex]

One thing i noticed (After like.... 5-6 campaigns of this mod) in armoured vests description, it says it provides protection against shrapnel and explosives, but it doesnt actually do the latter, it has no concussive protection.

[Juku121]

The vest does provide 12 points of armour against explosives.



On Blood Boosting, only basic agents are eligible for Bio-Enhancement. If you've cyborged them already, too bad. Blood Boosting has no such limitation.

You can also get both at the same time. Blood Boosting is a tradeoff against Martial Arts Training, Gun Kata and Dagonization, not Bio-Enhancement.

Blood Boosting:

• +5 TU
  
• Blood Plasma instead of Psiclones.
  
• A little bit cheaper and takes vastly longer.
  

Martial Arts Training, Gun Kata and Dagonization:

• + 10 Firing Accuracy
  
• +5 Throwing Accuracy
  
• +5 Melee Accuracy
  
• +1 Armour
  
• -10 Sanity
  

IMO, this is in no way a good tradeoff unless you need some disposable buffed agents now, and the long treatment time means this will never be a case.

Maybe Solarius forgot that recoveryTime is not in hours. Or maybe it's another thing that makes sense to him from a fluff POV, but doesn't translate well into gameplay.

[Advancement]

What are requirments for Kyberism and Helix Psion?
None of my agent can use this transformation.