Meridian, your most recent addition (sequential getOneFree) reminds me of my request for additional prerequisites of getOneFree items.
I understand that putting a request right after you delivered a nice new feature may seem a little... thankless... But I guess it's a good moment to bring back this idea. The reason is simple: I need it, and badly.
What exactly is it about? I think I never managed to convey the idea properly. So let my try again. This is what I need:
- name: STR_SOME_ALIEN
getOneFree:
- STR_RESEARCH_ONE
- STR_RESEARCH_TWO
- STR_RESEARCH_THREE
- STR_RESEARCH_FOUR
- STR_RESEARCH_FIVE # requires STR_UFO_POWER_SOURCE
- STR_RESEARCH_SIX # requires STR_UFO_POWER_SOURCE
- STR_RESEARCH_SEVEN # requires STR_UFO_NAVIGATION
- STR_RESEARCH_EIGHT # requires STR_MUTON_AUTOPSY and STR_BATTLESHIP
As you can guess:
- Researches 1 - 4 work as normal.
- Researches 5 - 6 can only be picked if you have STR_UFO_POWER_SOURCE. If you don't have it, the game never picks it. If you have no other getOneFree available (all are researched), you cannot research this item until you get STR_UFO_POWER_SOURCE.
- Similarly, research 7 can only be picked if you have STR_UFO_NAVIGATION.
- Research 8 - same, but with two prerequisites, not one.
Inb4 1. This is a n00btrap, like the TFTD tech tree! What if you research all getOneFree before you research the prerequisite? You won't even know you can research the item again when you finally get the prerequisite!
Answer: yes, it's a potential problem, if you plan your mod carelessly. I am confident in my abilities to not screw the player over, though.
The most obvious methods include:
- Don't hide critical stuff behind this.
- Don't do it on rare items.
- Give it to a number of items.
- All of the above.
TL;DR, I'll manage.
Inb4 2. Why do something like this at all? It is so convoluted! Why would anyone need that?
Okay, let me finally explain why I need it! The truth is, it is not for gameplay purposes like balance or difficulty management; it is because of story/fluff elements. And no, nothing to do with RPG-like ideas.
My idea for X-Com Files was mostly inspired by the new XCom: among the nameless scientists, workers and janitors you have several named characters, like Dr. Vansen or Bradford. Their function is mostly to author reports specific to their field, and also to act as prerequisites for certain researches. The latter idea works because you only start with four people (Quartermaster, Chief Accountant, Intelligence Officer and Chief Medical Officer), and you can recruit another four during your campaign (Military Envoy, Chief Scientist, Xenologist and Chief Engineer).
A typical article from a staff member looks like this:
But that's not all! These characters also have a special kind of "research reports" that essentially have no value other than (poor) entertainment. For example this:
Well... the truth is, it's not just for fun, it's also to make interrogations more random. These "staff input" reports are always getOneFrees from interrogations, to make them more varied and unpredictable.
This is a typical research item from X-Com Files:
- name: STR_SYNDICATE_AGENT
requiresBaseFunc: [INTLAB]
cost: 10
points: 10
needItem: true
destroyItem: true
unlocks:
- STR_SYNDICATE
getOneFree:
- STR_PISTOL
- STR_SMG
- STR_BLACKOPS_SHOTGUN
- STR_BLACKOPS_MAGNUM
- STR_DOSSIER_ILYA_DOLVICH
- STR_DOSSIER_HARLEY_STONE
- STR_DOSSIER_IVAN_VASLOV
- STR_DOSSIER_TERRENCE_LOCKHART
- STR_DOSSIER_ERNIE_LLOYD_SOBATKA
- STR_DOSSIER_CARLOS_TANAKA
- STR_DOSSIER_ELIAS_SEPPA
- STR_DOSSIER_OWEN_HOFFER
- STR_DOSSIER_KIM_HARWELL
- STR_DOSSIER_MONICA_GRUMMANN
- STR_DOSSIER_TYVARIUS_STIENBURG
- STR_DOSSIER_GERTRUDE_ELLISON
- STR_DOSSIER_HENRY_GARRISON
- STR_STAFF_001
- STR_STAFF_002
- STR_STAFF_003
- STR_STAFF_007
- STR_STAFF_008
- STR_STAFF_009
- STR_STAFF_010
- STR_STAFF_012
As you can see, this individual can give you three types of getOneFree: 1) weapons, 2) dossiers on various enemy agents and 3) staff input articles. Weapons give you weapon knowledge (and associated points), dossiers give you fluff articles (and associated points) and staff inputs are there only for entertainment or just frustration. Please don't judge me, sometimes modding is also about weird crap like that.
Now, we finally get to the point. Each staff input has, obviously, a staff member who is the author of the message. But please remember that half of these people are recruited at some later point in the game. This means that I have to be extra careful: a prisoner should never give a staff input article from someone who wasn't even recruited yet! This means that I can only give such getOneFrees to prisoners that I am 100% sure can only be caught after this particular person was recruited. And this is a bit of a bummer, since most factions appear regardless of whether you have recruited a particular person or not; otherwise it would be a terribly artificial limitation. So I have very little articles from the recruitable people, and they can only be found on a small number of specific prisoners that I know can only appear when these guys are already present. Das ist die ganze Sache.
Perhaps you will say that this reason is too insubstantial to invest the effort in it, as it doesn't influence tactical game at all. I would understand that. But I also consider this feature - I mean, the recruitable people and the staff input articles - as core X-Com Files feature; it was planned something like two years ago and I still consider it very important to the mod (for the same reason I appreciate and love the Solar Courier in Piratez, many articles for which I wrote myself). Therefore I would deeply appreciate a possibility to only allow certain getOneFree items to be researched if you already have a prerequisite - in this case, a person recruited. And of course, it would probably have various other uses too.
Please consider this option.
