Bugs, crashes, typos & bad taste

[Barth Gimble]

Ilya must be a cousin of Ivan and Igor Dolvich from Jagged Alliance.

[Stoddard]

Ilya must be a cousin of Ivan and Igor Dolvich from Jagged Alliance.

Now the mod only needs Hamous and his ice cream truck and it would be perfect.

[tkzv]

Ilya must be a cousin of Ivan and Igor Dolvich from Jagged Alliance.

Thanks for explaining the reference

[Barth Gimble]

Now the mod only needs Hamous and his ice cream truck and it would be perfect.

That truck is at least a two-seater, so Flo would be a good choice to ride around with him while they hunt for aliens. "Spilling blood from these cursed spiders, HOW MUCH MORE CAN I BE EXPECTED TO DO?!"

I saw one more bug while playing today. On the Cult of Apocalypse prison riot map, on the third floor of the prison, there's a large bathroom with a checkered tile floor. The long wall of this room (nearest the room full of bookshelves or vending machines) is not solid, and people can walk right through the wall there.

[Solarius Scorch]

Yeah, that Cyrillic text is the whole point.

2) I just took down a Cyberweb lair for the first time in my v0.9.5 game and something weird happened that didn't occur while I was playing the previous version. Since my people are investigators rather than soldiers, I try to make arrests or capture things alive (at least, the first time I meet them) rather than destroy. My agents took down the Cyberweb scientist and his robots with Electric prods. Upon ending the mission, I got a screen that said "Alien Containment Limits Exceeded," but there were no entities listed as available for transfer to another base. Presumably this was something about the robots, and happened because the base the agents came from doesn't have alien containment. Anyway, this didn't happen in the last game when taking down Cyberweb robots.

Yes, it's a side effect of the robots not having a dedicated prison type. It is harmless, though can be confusing.

Now the mod only needs Hamous and his ice cream truck and it would be perfect.

What can I say? Warboy submitted Ilya, so you can submit Hamous
...Actually I made this a long time ago:

I saw one more bug while playing today. On the Cult of Apocalypse prison riot map, on the third floor of the prison, there's a large bathroom with a checkered tile floor. The long wall of this room (nearest the room full of bookshelves or vending machines) is not solid, and people can walk right through the wall there.

Thanks! Fixed.

[tkzv]

What can I say? Warboy submitted Ilya, so you can submit Hamous
...Actually I made this a long time ago:

For undercover missions?

[BTAxis]

More stuff. Not that much, because my campaign is at a bit of a standstill with no new research coming in.
All of the below applies to the 09-27 WIP version.


Strings:
- The following string appears to be missing: STR_POWER_ARMOR
- STR_MESSAGE_FROM_MAGMA_TERRAMITE_UFOPEDIA: "type of material" would be better as just "material". "new better" could use a comma.
- STR_LARGE_ALIEN_DRONE_UFOPEDIA: Suggest rephrasing "Its only weakness is against melee weapons" as "Its only weakness is a vulnerability to melee weapons".
- STR_COELACANTH_ARMOR_UFOPEDIA: "against bullets" should be "to bullets".
- STR_ANCIENT_ZOMBIES_UFOPEDIA: "with non-Zombies" should be "against non-Zombies". "appeared on the surface" would be better as "has appeared on the surface".
- STR_MESSAGE_FROM_MAGMA_POWER_ARMOR_UFOPEDIA: "piece of machine" should be "piece of machinery".
- STR_POWER_ARMOR_UFOPEDIA: "by licensed M.A.G.M.A. service" would be better as "by licensed M.A.G.M.A. technicians". "maintainance" should be "maintenance" at minimum, but I suggest "maintenance fee".
- STR_COUNCIL_POWER_CHAIN_UFOPEDIA: This article is much too long for the screen. I've attempted to rewrite it. I had to prune it considerably, but at least it fits: "The organizations serving the Council can be divided into two basic categories:{NEWLINE}The 'technical' category includes global institutions such the World Bank. These organizations are expected to ensure that global order is maintained. Their affairs are generally not discussed during Council sessions and they are only monitored for results. Each of them is supervised by a Council High Commissar and audited by other High Commissars.{NEWLINE}Then there is the 'political' category. These organizations, while often much smaller than some 'technicals', determine the political balance of power. Such organizations work to harm big factions that are oppositely aligned while benefiting their allies. As such, they are viciously contested and fought over.{NEWLINE}We are in the second category. We have many enemies, even on the Council itself, but we also enjoy a lot of leeway for mistakes."
- STR_GIANT_SPIDER_ALLOY_UFOPEDIA: "the master of unexpected attack" would be better as "a master of the unexpected attack".
- STR_CEREBREAL_AUTOPSY_UFOPEDIA: "typical alien race" would be better as just "typical alien". "different to" should be "different than those of".
- STR_BLASTER_MULTI_LAUNCHER_UFOPEDIA: "of alien invaders" would be better as "of the alien invaders".
- STR_SONIC_PISTOL_UFOPEDIA: "accuracy drops quickly over a distance of 14" would be better as "accuracy drops quickly at distances greater than 14", because the former would mean that accuracy becomes 0 at distance 14.
- STR_SONIC_PULSER_UFOPEDIA: "using magnetic microdrive" should be "using a magnetic microdrive".
- STR_PSYCHEMICALS_UFOPEDIA: Suggest rephrasing "Its role is supposedly making" as "Its purpose is supposedly to make".
- STR_SONIC_BLASTA_RIFLE_UFOPEDIA: "super conductor amplifier" would be better as "superconductive amplifier". "is relatively low effective range" should be "is a relatively low effective range".


Rest:
- The Aqua-Plastic Suit 'pedia entry is available prior to being researched.
- Underwater missions only list Diving Suits and Coelacanths as valid armor, but other armors are allowed as well, such as the Power Armor and the Synthsuit.
- The Flame Spider article claims it often explodes upon death, but I've never seen this happen.
- The Plasma Sniper Rifle Clip does not have the standard plasma features like setting things on fire or getting 2 damage rolls. Oversight or intentional?
- The Fusion Torch should maybe block both hands, because cutting a hole in a wall is no problem even wielding it with just one hand.
- The Shogg Blade claims it's "too heavy for use by normal humans", but it only weighs 14, which is pretty doable. It also claims it is effective against armor, but it has no bonuses against armor at all.
- Perhaps the Blaster Multi-Bombs should be producible, because they don't seem much different than the regular Blaster Bombs.
- The Ancient Mummy Matriarch is never recovered even if it survives the Ancient Mummy Abode mission.
- Given that the Jarhead interrogation unlocks both the Jarhead Combat Analysis and the Jarhead Pretender Analysis, consider arranging the Jarhead missions so you always get a mission with Pretenders first.
- I don't think the non-Pretender Jarheads should bleed.
- It is possible to pass through any of the the Stormfist's diagonal walls.
- The built-in weapon of the MAGMA Chainsawbot is misaligned.

[Solarius Scorch]

Thanks for your diligent work, as always!

I fixed the strings, except the STR_COUNCIL_POWER_CHAIN_UFOPEDIA, because I've done it already. Your version is better, but I still have some doubts about which one is more informative.
Here is my (brutally mangled) version:

There are two main categories of organizations serving the Council. The first category are referred to as 'technical' and covers global administration; for example, the World Bank. These organizations are expected to do their thing efficiently to ensure that the global order is maintained. Their affairs are generally not discussed during Council sessions, they are only monitored for results. Each of them is supervised by a High Commissar (a member of their inner circle of the Council but not one of the actual deciders) and audited by other High Commissars. The other category is often called 'political'. These organizations, while often smaller than some 'technicals', are considered to be a part of political struggle. Such entities are harming certain big factions while others profit from them, so they are viciously contested and fought over. As you probably guessed, we are in the second category: promoted by some part of the Council, but to the detriment of some other factions. This is why we have so many enemies and stupid obstacles; but also this is why we enjoy so much leeway in our mistakes.

- The Aqua-Plastic Suit 'pedia entry is available prior to being researched.

The silliest kind of bug. Fixed.

- Underwater missions only list Diving Suits and Coelacanths as valid armor, but other armors are allowed as well, such as the Power Armor and the Synthsuit.

I need to talk to Meridian about this, but I think that's before these other armours don't have underwater Ufopaedia pages.

- The Flame Spider article claims it often explodes upon death, but I've never seen this happen.

Well, it should ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The ruleset looks fine... I should test it.

- The Plasma Sniper Rifle Clip does not have the standard plasma features like setting things on fire or getting 2 damage rolls. Oversight or intentional?

Oversight. The properties were defined twice. Fixed.

- The Fusion Torch should maybe block both hands, because cutting a hole in a wall is no problem even wielding it with just one hand.

Good idea. Changed.

- The Shogg Blade claims it's "too heavy for use by normal humans", but it only weighs 14, which is pretty doable. It also claims it is effective against armor, but it has no bonuses against armor at all.

It's much heavier than other similar weapons. I changed the description to "his short sword is too heavy for comfortable use by normal humans".
It ha no bonuses against armour, but no penalties either, as opposed to most bladed weapons.

- Perhaps the Blaster Multi-Bombs should be producible, because they don't seem much different than the regular Blaster Bombs.

Yeah, agreed.

- The Ancient Mummy Matriarch is never recovered even if it survives the Ancient Mummy Abode mission.

...And this is a critical fail. Thank you for noticing this. Fixed; you can hack the Ancient Matriarch into your save now.

- Given that the Jarhead interrogation unlocks both the Jarhead Combat Analysis and the Jarhead Pretender Analysis, consider arranging the Jarhead missions so you always get a mission with Pretenders first.

This is a royal pain, are you sure it is necessary?

- I don't think the non-Pretender Jarheads should bleed.

Debatable, but I've decided that since they have pretty normal brains, then they are susceptible to trauma. I'm not sure how much sense it makes from a medical perspective.

- It is possible to pass through any of the the Stormfist's diagonal walls.

Huh, weird - this map is like 4 years old. Will fix it in a moment.

- The built-in weapon of the MAGMA Chainsawbot is misaligned.

Fixed.

----

Thanks a lot!

[tkzv]

Debatable, but I've decided that since they have pretty normal brains, then they are susceptible to trauma. I'm not sure how much sense it makes from a medical perspective.

If there's a living human brain, it needs some fluid to circulate inside it — bringing oxygen and nutrients and taking away waste products. Shielding those pipelines outside the jar shouldn't be too hard, but if they are damaged, they'd bleed, weakening and eventually killing the cyborg.

[BTAxis]

This is a royal pain, are you sure it is necessary?

Nope. It was just an idea because I was surprised to find the Pretender articles in my 'pedia despite never having seen one. It's a papercut at worst and a non-issue by any means.

[Barth Gimble]

I just got an "explore Dimension X" mission for the first time, and have two suggestions.

a) The briefing for the first part of the mission says make your way to the surface, but I was initially confused (like I said, first time and all). I needed a moment to figure out I was supposed to go to the brown exit grids, which aren't on the top level of the map (surface) at all. Maybe add this to the briefing-- "make your way to the surface using the brown exit grids," or something like that.

b) After the mission, the little debriefing about scientists exploring a new world was very close to completely illegible because the light blue text is superimposed over an image with a light blue sky. Trying to read this really strained my eyes, maybe a better solution could be found (change text to dark color, or use a different image).

...And this is a critical fail. Thank you for noticing this. Fixed; you can hack the Ancient Matriarch into your save now.

I haven't got this far yet, but if it does come up, what would I need to do to make the fix? I've piddled around changing a few things while playing, so I'm comfortable editing the game's text files even though I don't know what most them do.

Thanks.

[Solarius Scorch]

a) The briefing for the first part of the mission says make your way to the surface, but I was initially confused (like I said, first time and all). I needed a moment to figure out I was supposed to go to the brown exit grids, which aren't on the top level of the map (surface) at all. Maybe add this to the briefing-- "make your way to the surface using the brown exit grids," or something like that.

Good point. I added this to the text.

b) After the mission, the little debriefing about scientists exploring a new world was very close to completely illegible because the light blue text is superimposed over an image with a light blue sky. Trying to read this really strained my eyes, maybe a better solution could be found (change text to dark color, or use a different image).

I know, but I'm inept with this and can't get it right.

I haven't got this far yet, but if it does come up, what would I need to do to make the fix? I've piddled around changing a few things while playing, so I'm comfortable editing the game's text files even though I don't know what most them do.

In units_XCOMFILES.rul, under STR_ANCIENT_MUMMY_MATRIARCH, the entry is, if I recall:

Code: [Select]

    civilianRecoveryType: STR_ANCIENT_MUMMY
while it should be:

Code: [Select]

    civilianRecoveryType: STR_ANCIENT_MUMMY_MATRIARCH

[Barth Gimble]

If it's hard to change the text color on that Dimension X debrief, a different solution would be pretty easy. You could edit the image instead. Just select the top left corner where the text appears, and either fill it with a dark solid color or darken (burn) the existing colors there. That would make a nice inset frame for contrasting with the text, while leaving everything else the same.

I have one other question. My best air interceptor at the moment is Thunderstorm, though I also have Ravens and Interceptors. I researched craft laser cannon and have one, but I can't use it on any of these planes. Also, I'm not able to purchase any ammo for the laser cannon. All these things were also the same in my previous game that I abandoned. Will this craft weapon be useful in the future, and does it require ammunition?

[Niewiem]

You need beam weapon slot for laser canon and it does not require ammunition

[Barth Gimble]

Thanks for clearing that up.

Something weird just happened, but maybe I just didn't understand rather than it being a bug. I got a mission where the Syndicate was attacking a reactor guarded by Magma troops, and recovered "encrypted data reel." The research result for this item said:

"This tape, recovered from the old archives, is encoded. To decipher it, we require a special code developed by the UNIT organization."

But the item disappeared from my base inventory after researching it, so I don't have it anymore. Seems like I would need it to have someone decode, and also "UNIT" seemed like maybe it was some kind of placeholder text rather than anything I've heard of.