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

[Solarius Scorch]

Could Hummer description state that it is not a transport for undercover missions?

OK, done.

[mumble]

Is the sporting rifle supposed to be a high powered air rifle, or a fancy ruger 10/22?

Either way, I really don't think it should cost 3 grand : both of these can be bought for less than 300$ in my own town. And of course, earlier in 1998, they would be even less. These things are cheaper than pretty much all pistols but a hipoint 9mm.

if it is indeed an air rifle, can you make the shots weightless? The pellets for those things really are TINY, to the point a tin of 200 shots is about as heavy as a rifle round.

[Solarius Scorch]

Is the sporting rifle supposed to be a high powered air rifle, or a fancy ruger 10/22?

More like the latter.

Either way, I really don't think it should cost 3 grand : both of these can be bought for less than 300$ in my own town. And of course, earlier in 1998, they would be even less. These things are cheaper than pretty much all pistols but a hipoint 9mm.

Yeah, and a sniper rifle would realistically cost ten times as much as in XCF.

if it is indeed an air rifle, can you make the shots weightless? The pellets for those things really are TINY, to the point a tin of 200 shots is about as heavy as a rifle round.

Even if it was, it would be very unwise to assign weight zero to an item... It would cause much weirdness. (Even weight 2 is borderline inadequate, with how far can you throw it.)

[mumble]

I getcha when you say "fancy sniper rifle" but its STILL a 10/22. an ak47 is very similar in accuracy parameters, more reliable, better calibur, costs more steel, has more machining, but costs less IIRC.

Keep in mind, a decked out 10/22 cost around 700$. Default 10/22 is around 150, and a custom stock, mag, barrel, scope, and receiver are all probably under 600$.  Sure, it might be fancy, but its still 22LR, which is very easy to manufacture for compared to a 7.62, as the tolerances are stupidly forgiving.

I guess id just ask for you to show me a custom 22 rifle over 2k, because I don't think they exist =) I've seen people turn a hipoint into a custom pistol which performs better than a 1911, but the cost STILL never exceeds 1500 for total costs

Speaking of throwing, can items change how they effect being thrown? I expect a clip would be easier to throw farther than some other larger item with the same weight.... and obviously a low weight item would have a little less range than a featherweight item. Density has a big influence on an item to be flung long distances.

[Solarius Scorch]

Let me repeat: I'm not going to discuss pricing in XCF. Just no. And that's because it's always been completely fictional in X-Com, and making it more realistic wouldn't be a good idea.
Remember that your resources come from the Council. Some of it is the money they pay you, but it's not all; they also cover much of your expenses.

As for throwing ranges, AFAIK it's impossible to set them per item. You can only change throwing accuracy.

[ohartenstein23]

About the throwing ranges, the only way to "set" them is to define the weight of the item.

[khade]

If it helps, I always considered the pricing to be a mix of 'traditional' government waste, bribes and the money being as much favors as actual cash.

[tkzv]

Can there be "Prisoners" and "Caged animals" filters in sell/sack screen?

[mumble]

I just found out a nasty thing about CQC... friendly fire.

I was arresting an exalt suspect, who had an ax, and I had 3 dudes outside the warehouse, another with a sporting rifle on watch

2 guys with pistols and tazers, another with a shotgun. Gambled on overwatch being enough to protect me

Guy runs up, and overwatch fires once hes in melee range, and he pushes the agents pistol over to shoot the other agent in the gut, and another bullet into the ceiling. Another guy shot him, incapping him. The agent who got shot survived, I was just glad it wasn't a shotgun blast, because that would of been a mess! Also, is there a way to drastically lower accuracy of thrown off shots? Seems a little odd shots always go straight up or to the side, when a violent melee should make it extremely unpredictable...

Both survived obviously, but this gave me a nasty idea for black lotus : what about giving warriors, or even ninjas, some sort of drugged smoke bombs? Something to lower reactions, lower energy on hit, and deal stun damage. Obviously far less smoke than a traditional smoke grenade, but enough to blind someone on a direct hit, and impeed their next turn. Then they would have an opportunity to attack, and would fit with the trickery nature of them.

On another note, I had an idea for opening up more obscure quests : maybe a contact for a group is ID'd (a police officer, politician, gang member, ect) and verified for being aware of a case, but uncooperative, and xcom is sent in to nab them? Would be interesting for opening up stuff with hybrids or other groups

Also, using the sniper code, is it possible to give high level red dawn mortars to fire? I think it would be interesting to have a mortar guy with a backup pistol (but can AI have a 2 handed weapon, and a backup gun?) firing shells with poor accuracy with a spotter giving information over radio. And it would fit the militaristic tactics of the group.

[Solarius Scorch]

Can there be "Prisoners" and "Caged animals" filters in sell/sack screen?

Yes, I can do that. I plan to anyway.

Both survived obviously, but this gave me a nasty idea for black lotus : what about giving warriors, or even ninjas, some sort of drugged smoke bombs? Something to lower reactions, lower energy on hit, and deal stun damage. Obviously far less smoke than a traditional smoke grenade, but enough to blind someone on a direct hit, and impeed their next turn. Then they would have an opportunity to attack, and would fit with the trickery nature of them.

I'm all for such toys, but I don't think it's doable right now to a satisfactory degree. If someone says otherwise, please elaborate how.

On another note, I had an idea for opening up more obscure quests : maybe a contact for a group is ID'd (a police officer, politician, gang member, ect) and verified for being aware of a case, but uncooperative, and xcom is sent in to nab them? Would be interesting for opening up stuff with hybrids or other groups

Can you explain? You think something like the apprehension missions?

Also, using the sniper code, is it possible to give high level red dawn mortars to fire? I think it would be interesting to have a mortar guy with a backup pistol (but can AI have a 2 handed weapon, and a backup gun?) firing shells with poor accuracy with a spotter giving information over radio. And it would fit the militaristic tactics of the group.

I think it should work, but first I want to make sure the system works correctly.

[mumble]

Very similar to the apprehension mission, except perhaps a little private security, a steep  cost for killing the VIP, and slight cost for killing security. They aren't criminal cultists, after all, so gunning a mayor down in the street will look very bad.

So yeah, a lot like apprehension, but harder on the player, and with different leads.

[Solarius Scorch]

Very similar to the apprehension mission, except perhaps a little private security, a steep  cost for killing the VIP, and slight cost for killing security. They aren't criminal cultists, after all, so gunning a mayor down in the street will look very bad.

So yeah, a lot like apprehension, but harder on the player, and with different leads.

Yeah, I keep adding such low-cost missions all the time. So you can expect more things like this.

Also, today I have added categories to all items - corpses, captives, treasure, etc. So at least this one is fulfilled.

EDIT:
Version 0.7.2 has been released.
- Expanded item categories for better Geoscape use.
- New caves mapblock (by Dioxine).
- Blasters cost more Elerium.
- Fixed spotter/sniper code.
- Fixed underwater gear.
- Fixed some visual glitches on maps.
- Minor fixes.

[mumble]

I just noticed you added black people to exalt : which solved that one lore problem (in my opinion) so I appreciate that. Though it seems corpses retain the same skin color.

Is there any way to fix this? Also applies to chosen of dagon as well.

[Solarius Scorch]

Is there any way to fix this? Also applies to chosen of dagon as well.

First of all, it primarily applies to X-Com agents. Nobody has ever mentioned this, though.

Can something be done about it? Probably not, unless maybe with scripts.

[mumble]

Guess I never noticed it with agents, odd 

By the way, now that the AI for "civilians" is different, military assistance missions are amazing! They actually feel like a pretty rad experience, and aren't total slaughters!

Seeing military gun down zombies in the dark while others are hacked down by vampires is amazing, and really gives the vibe of military calling you in for a look while they do (some) of the heavy lifting.

my only complaint is that military personnel dying takes away far too many points. They are MILITARY personnel after all, they sign up for that stuff, so I think their death value should be half, or even a third just so those missions aren't a total failure in terms of points just because people die.