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

[Meridian]

Really Sol? Really? Don't act like kid who thinks that his way it's only right way. You can write abo preferable options to choose but don't force them on people. I like instant grenades, know their advantages and i try not to abuse them. If you are so concerned about cheating you should remove granades and explosives entirely becouse you can cheat with that option turned off to. If someone want to cheat he will find the way anyway beside it's single player game ffs. Let everyone decide for themselves how they want to play. Freedom of choice™

I basically agree with everything you wrote (except the "kid" part), but...
... instant grenades should never have been a user option, they should have been a mod.

We have 99.998% of game mechanics in rulesets and 0.002% in user options... and the only reason is (as far as I can understand) that these options were done very very long ago... before modding was so prominent. If you look at any younger built-in vanilla "tweaks" (e.g. unlimited waypoints, tftd damage, alien pick up weapons, and so on...), they are all done as optional mods, not as user options.

If instant grenades were done this way, we wouldn't be having this discussion...
... I mean there is no difference between "instant grenades and non-instant grenades" vs. "sectoids with 30 hp and sectoids with 60 hp".
And nobody complains that they can't change sectoid's hp via user options...

That said, I'm sure Solarius will be adding (if not added already) instant grenades to his mod... similar to let's say "Black Powder Bombs" in PirateZ... but to balance them out, addition of instant effect will most probably result in removal of some other feature; for example smaller range.

PS: Even the vanilla devs said (multiple times) there are too many user options... and I wouldn't be surprised, if they were all removed in the future and replaced by ruleset... so that we can finally have only real user options in user options... and move all game mechanics to where they belong.

[mumble]

Instant explosives certainly would be nice : molotovs and impact grenades.. and yes, molotovs I could see having a good niche compared to the flare gun, considering it uses throwing, has a wider range of arcs, ect.

...speaking of which, flare gun has terrible accuracy : does that reflect reality? it seems like it cannot shoot straight at all.

[Solarius Scorch]

Yes, exactly what Meridian said... Some options are closely tied to gameplay and therefore should be set by ruleset.

To be honest, I don't know if I'll add Piratez bombs... I might, but no such plans yet.

...speaking of which, flare gun has terrible accuracy : does that reflect reality? it seems like it cannot shoot straight at all.

Well, it's an approximation of the fact that 1) it's inherently inaccurate compared to combat pistols and 2) it's reasonably possibly to simply dodge these flares. Sure, a simplification.

[mrbiasha]

As always a much appreciated update, though not a very big one. And I'm sure that no one will protest if you start to put more work to your modification, but I do hope that you will never start rushing yourself into it. Anything only good while the person doing it enjoys the process.

[JeyP]

No. I write the mod, you play my way. Not because I am hungry for power, but because that's how all games are made. That's why certain things are forbidden in any game. Unless you write your own mod to change it, which takes like 30 seconds, and I'm totally cool with that, but then you will be playing something else.

Besides, you would be surprised how many people just don't read instructions, ever.

This is exacly one of the reasons way mod exist in the first play, people don't want to play in a way someone else force them to play. I would not complain if there no such options already in the game but there are and it's just wrong to block them. Don't treat us or rather me becouse i'm speak only for myself, like monkey that you are obliged to hit with a stick whenever is trying to grab that bannana he likes For you it's 30 sec for me it's 1 hour or more trying to find that option in text files and would rather play the mod in that time. In the end it's your mod and ofcourse you can do whatever you want with it but i would be obliged if you could send me file with unblocked in game options in pm. Thanks.

I basically agree with everything you wrote (except the "kid" part), but...
... instant grenades should never have been a user option, they should have been a mod.

This was just an example i did not mean that he is a kid.

[Solarius Scorch]

This is exacly one of the reasons way mod exist in the first play, people don't want to play in a way someone else force them to play. I would not complain if there no such options already in the game but there are and it's just wrong to block them. Don't treat us or rather me becouse i'm speak only for myself, like monkey that you are obliged to hit with a stick whenever is trying to grab that bannana he likes For you it's 30 sec for me it's 1 hour or more trying to find that option in text files and would rather play the mod in that time. In the end it's your mod and ofcourse you can do whatever you want with it but i would be obliged if you could send me file with unblocked in game options in pm.

You don't have to agree with me, but you should at least read the response. Meridian explained very well why it is so. It is not wrong to block an option, unless setting some armour value for unit X is also wrong.
It's not that I don't want to respond, but honestly, I have no idea what you want from me (apart from writing a cheat mod of some sort, which I can do if you tell me what you want, because I'm such a nice guy).

[Dr.Crowley]

Sol, something weird happened with your post - you words are merged with the quote.

[Solarius Scorch]

Sol, something weird happened with your post - you words are merged with the quote.

Oops, posting from a phone is hard. Thanks!

[mumble]

what prompted the sound change for the hunting rifle?...its a bit wonky, using a grenade launcher sound for a rifle...

[Solarius Scorch]

what prompted the sound change for the hunting rifle?...its a bit wonky, using a grenade launcher sound for a rifle...

Grenade launcher? I thought it was perfect.

I'll check again, because one of us is clearly wrong.

[dessfoxx]

This might be a dumb question, but I can't seem to use my starting gym. Am I missing something? I've played PirateZ, so I'm pretty familiar with the concept, but I can't find a way to train my agents. Attached my save file in case it's needed.

--- posts merged ---

This might be a dumb question, but I can't seem to use my starting gym. Am I missing something? I've played PirateZ, so I'm pretty familiar with the concept, but I can't find a way to train my agents. Attached my save file in case it's needed.

Ok never mind I figured it out. The default training gym for this mod uses the feature for psi-training from vanilla where you can only assign people at the beginning of the month. I switched the option for "psi-training at any-time" and this lets me take people in and out of training at will.
You may want to consider making this option always on for the mod, unless for balancing reasons you don't want to have people cycling there soldiers in and out fluidly.
It also meant I couldn't train anybody for the first month.

[HelmetHair]

Stat accruals from the Gym are not monthly. Cycling in and out is to be expected as you cycle in Rookies and cycle out hard bitten badasses.

I personally began a program of selective hiring for bravery followed by 3 months of gym time. Followed by assignment to a team. I abused the hell out of the Van and flying Mudranger like this....

Step one: Have a shit ton of vans
Step Two: Load vans with badasses and gear
Step Three: Send Vans out to Patrol with at least two per continent.
Step Four:
Step Five: Profit

I'd have teams out for a month at a time coming home to rearm and unload wounded before being placed back out in it. By the time I had something better than MP5s I had over 150 agents in 12+ vans and 5 mudrangers for brush fires and major events. Plus. always keep a free hangar open somewhere so if you have to do an upgrade rearm or drop off loot or wounded you could direct them to the nearest base via transfers rather than half way around the world. Especially important if you have to scrub a mission. Losing fucking DAYS of operation time for a dust off sucks.

Then every so often you hand pick a team of absolute cracker jack nut job ass kickers for a strike team of REALLY hard missions and play merry hell. Missions like Black Lotus Bases or Headquarters where your only real way to win is judicious use of extreme prejudice via HE and HMG. Also remember that you don't have to kill them all to accomplish the mission.

I actually lost a mission with a +700 score because I'd utterly shot the fuck out of so many dudes at CQB dump mag ranges outnumbered 7 to 1.

Good LUCK!

[Eddie]

Why not get helicopters? Military Envoy -> Basic Flight Training -> Helicopter

Or Do you use the radar of the vans to spot Ufos?

Van rent is cheap enough that you can have two per continent, but if you fill them up with agents as well, thier salaries will bankrupt you.

[Solarius Scorch]

You may want to consider making this option always on for the mod, unless for balancing reasons you don't want to have people cycling there soldiers in and out fluidly.

I only blocked options that I consider game-breaking. Training mode is not really that important, so why not let people play as they want?

[dessfoxx]

If you feel it's not important that's fine, but I will just point out that not having that option will leave you at a disadvantage that is quite real, and it certainly was confusing for me when I started the mod, as I didn't know why I couldn't get people training. You also miss out on training for the first month, which isn't huge, but it is a thing. Perhaps at least note it in the mod readme so that others won't be confused by it.