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

[ohartenstein23]

It was my first mission with the Dragonfly, so I had plenty of dakka to keep the agents alive.  No deaths, and 31 zombie corpses!

Edit: Aaaaand dangit, cult base just a few miles out of Dragonfly range, and my nearby base was just built, no hangars yet.  Van time!

[mrbiasha]

Next version hopefully tomorrow. I've been delayed by working on goddamn space battles with Dioxine.

And I'm telling you, this is the most exciting thing I've ever done for X-Com.

OH MY, THIS IS SPACE MISSION

ur mad guys, ur really mad and doing mad things and I like them so much

though XPiratez is a bit too much total conversion to my taste it includes so many cool features

[Solarius Scorch]

Update on the dogs issue: they also crash the game if I try entering their inventory.

I'm starting to think these stupid mutts aren't worth the trouble.

[Meridian]

Update on the dogs issue: they also crash the game if I try entering their inventory.

I'm starting to think these stupid mutts aren't worth the trouble.

Don't give up. If it's something engine can't handle, I can help with that...

[Solarius Scorch]

Don't give up. If it's something engine can't handle, I can help with that...

Thanks. Well, I made some progress, the only problem left is that the avatar portrait remains human, even if I change the armorForAvatar flag to STR_DOGE_ARMOR - which is a dog picture. I have no idea why, so in the end I changed the coordinates so it only shows the black background.
Also I had many problems with multiple dog armours (not being able to change back, strings not displayed, etc.), but for now I've decided to just leave it; I've never been particularly convinced about putting armours on dogs anyway. (Though I suppose US army does this kind of thing.)

[Arthanor]

Well, sorry I couldn't help, I was pretty busy today. Good to see that you have solved most problems.

For some reason I don't have "avatar instead of ranks" in the executable I tested the mod on, so I can't help with that :/ I'll try to have a look within the next few days if you don't manage to fix it. But it does seem like defining the "armorForAvatar" should do it, so I don't know...

[ohartenstein23]

Did you ever get any further on the above-ground bases idea?  I'm interested in making a mod that has above-ground bases, but I haven't made any progress other than replacing the dirt filled-in area with empty space.

[Solarius Scorch]

Did you ever get any further on the above-ground bases idea?  I'm interested in making a mod that has above-ground bases, but I haven't made any progress other than replacing the dirt filled-in area with empty space.

Sadly not yet, because there is a number of serious technical problems with it.
Most importantly, the base tileset is already almost full, and making a surface area would require many more tiles.
Secondly, the surface would be independent of global texture, which means it would always look the same - either in a jungle or on an ice field. Not a deal breaker, since you can just make it all concrete and asphalt, but it wouldn't be too easy to make it look good.
Finally, while you can add a surface level to the base map blocks, you can't have surface buildings and independent underground buildings - if you want to build underground, you have to demolish the one above it. I find it rather sad, but it also causes logistic problems, like making sure all underground buildings are accessible without giving each building a separate entry from the surface.

[ohartenstein23]

I mostly wanted to be able to have the unfilled tiles draw from the global texture, or at least get the day/night shade, but this puts more of a damper on things.  Thanks for the reply anyways.

Edit:  Oh, and dang are these cult bases tough.  I can't even really get out of the Dragonfly!

[Solarius Scorch]

I mostly wanted to be able to have the unfilled tiles draw from the global texture, or at least get the day/night shade, but this puts more of a damper on things.  Thanks for the reply anyways.

If you manage to make some kind of progress here, please let me know.

Edit:  Oh, and dang are these cult bases tough.  I can't even really get out of the Dragonfly!

Heh, I just tried to do it with a van... I thought I'll manage by night, but I lost a Commissar and another soldier straight away to well-placed EXALT officers and had to put the pedal to the metal.

EDIT: I've decided to decrease some low-ranking enemies' Bravery, since they are pretty much immune to surrendering otherwise.

[ohartenstein23]

I could take a look at writing an engine edit so that shade: -1 on the base alienDeployment takes the global shade level...  The other stuff, I don't know yet.

I'm on try #3 on the EXALT base - first one, my pilot put me down with the ramp facing the base, number two almost had it all exterminated, then ran an unlucky corner into an enforcer's knife.  This one the Master was nice enough to run out front where I could grab him, now I just want to kill all the rest to make them pay for the two good agents I lost so far.

[dorsidwarf]

I've never had an enemy surrender myself, they just charge into automatic weapons fire with knives and get mowed down.
But I've neveractually there was one where we spawned surrounded on all sides and had to run for it after my best agent nearly bought the farm had trouble with the cult bases if I use the van rather than the car - its just a matter of the number of agents, and hence volume of fire, you can insert into the site.

[Solarius Scorch]

Version 0.4.1 is online.

Changelog:

- Dogs are soldiers now (not HWPs). No special dog armours yet, because the engine is acting up (read: I have no idea what I'm doing).
- New mini-icons for armor types in the craft UI (graphics by Dioxine and Juku).
- Updated the camouflage engine for Meridian's new code.
- Added new Red Dawn unit: Pioneer.
- Added X-Com Psiclone.
- Added a few new Desert and Grassland Desert blocks.
- Added Tundra Desert terrain.
- Decreased Bravery on some weaker human enemies.
- Gauss Pistol fires faster.
- Smaller Rail clips.
- Fixed a critical crash with Homicidal Maniac missions.
- Fixed wrong ratios and unlock times for Alien Terror races.
- Fixed an error in the COMRCURBAN16 map.
- Fixed a small error in the XBASS_09 map.
- Fixed a small error in the DAWNURBAN12 map AGAIN.

EDIT: There's a crash on one new unit, please use a hotfix from this post.

[dorsidwarf]

Does anyone have a tactical method of fighting chupacabra? They're horrendous, they can run from the maximum view range of your guys (at which 90% of your soldiers miss every shot) to melee range in 1 turn, or at the most 2, and then insta-kill Your Dudes. I've begun just immediately abandoning any mission with them, they're that nasty (especially as the second monster after zombies)

[Dioxine]

They cannot attack you from outside maximum view range, which is 40 tiles; their charging range is about 25 maximum. In early game, I use .45s to fight them (good long range acc for a pistol), with shotguns as backup to ensure a kill from close range. Also, if the terrain is too dangerous, I abort. The general rule is, abort if you're not sure what'll happen. The only reason I try these missions even early game is that there are usually only 1 to 3 Chupacabras on a map.