genMissionType questions

[robin]

alien base alienDeployment define a genMissionType to generate supply missions.

1 -- can i set a terror-like mission to be generated instead of supply?

2 -- also genMissionType seems to be set up to have multiple mission types, so for example i could have
    genMission:
      STR_ALIEN_SUPPLY: 10
      STR_ALIEN_SOMETHINGELSE: 10
      ...and so on....
right?

3 -- in missionSripts i can't mix 'regular' alien missions with terror-like missions: does genMissionType abide to the same rules or can i mix them (provided answer to question 1 is true)?

thanks

[Hobbes]

I was the one who suggested this feature to the devs

alien base alienDeployment define a genMissionType to generate supply missions.

1 -- can i set a terror-like mission to be generated instead of supply?

You can but it won't work: the UFOs will be generated but the terror site will never be launched. This is because the game determines the city target for terror missions at the beginning of the month, and alien missions generated through bases can be spawned any time on the month.

2 -- also genMissionType seems to be set up to have multiple mission types, so for example i could have
    genMission:
      STR_ALIEN_SUPPLY: 10
      STR_ALIEN_SOMETHINGELSE: 10
      ...and so on....
right?

Yes

3 -- in missionSripts i can't mix 'regular' alien missions with terror-like missions: does genMissionType abide to the same rules or can i mix them (provided answer to question 1 is true)?

thanks

Same as in missionScripts

[robin]

You can but it won't work: the UFOs will be generated but the terror site will never be launched. This is because the game determines the city target for terror missions at the beginning of the month, and alien missions generated through bases can be spawned any time on the month.

aaawww i see, thanks.
the idea was to have alien bases disguised as dimensional gates, and spawning all the alien missions out of them. i wasn't sure i could balance that but it made sense
setting up your missions schedule is hard.

[Hobbes]

aaawww i see, thanks.
the idea was to have alien bases disguised as dimensional gates, and spawning all the alien missions out of them. i wasn't sure i could balance that but it made sense
setting up your missions schedule is hard.

It would be easier if it was possible to determine when the game executes missionScripts since it is hardcoded to run only at the beginning of the month. Using genMissionType can be used for certain missions as a way around this, but it has also some perils. If you set an alien base to generate other alien bases this is what can happen after some months (from one of my test runs):



What you can do with the Dimensional Gates is to combine both: some missions are only generated through missionScripts, one of those being Gate Generation, which places gates throughout the world that can only generate Abductions/Infiltrations/Harvest/etc. And every month a new gate is placed on Geoscape. The issue though is that the Gates can be ground assaulted.

[Solarius Scorch]

Not really on topic, but perhaps this "bases spawning other bases" mechanics could be a way to simulate spread of some kind of epidemics, for example a zombie apocalypse that starts small but quickly intensifies... Although my first thought was the Biomass form UFO: Aftermath.

[yrizoud]

Your planet seems to have caught alien pox 

[Hobbes]

Not really on topic, but perhaps this "bases spawning other bases" mechanics could be a way to simulate spread of some kind of epidemics, for example a zombie apocalypse that starts small but quickly intensifies... Although my first thought was the Biomass form UFO: Aftermath.

It is the mechanic I have planned for the Terminator total conversion. Skynet's missionScript generates Terminator bases around the globe which then generate missions or even more bases to continue the machine expansion. Leave Terminator bases unchecked and they'll multiply over the entire region where they're placed.

[Solarius Scorch]

It is the mechanic I have planned for the Terminator total conversion. Skynet's missionScript generates Terminator bases around the globe which then generate missions or even more bases to continue the machine expansion. Leave Terminator bases unchecked and they'll multiply over the entire region where they're placed.

Ooooh, a machine plague! That fits too well.

[Hobbes]

Ooooh, a machine plague! That fits too well.

Skynet infecting the world with a virus called machine bases

My idea is for Skynet (aka missionScript) to create each month a new Factory in a world region. Each Factory then produces secondary bases with specific missions like Hunter Killer (Retaliation), Workcamp (Abductions/Harvest) or Infiltrator (Infiltration). Unless you destroy the Factory soon you risk finding the whole region already overrun by Skynet, and there will be plenty of HKs hunting for any places you place in the region (Resistance transports have much less range).

[Nord]

It would be easier if it was possible to determine when the game executes missionScripts since it is hardcoded to run only at the beginning of the month.

Sorry, if offtopic, but if missionscripts runs once per month, how to make a mission spawn more than once? Make duplicate mission types? Odd..

[Hobbes]

Sorry, if offtopic, but if missionscripts runs once per month, how to make a mission spawn more than once? Make duplicate mission types? Odd..

One way is to make duplicate mission types, if you want 2 Terror Missions each month, as an example.

Another way which was made possible with genMissionType is that bases can now generate any missions instead of, or in addition to Supply. There's a frequency setting associated with genMissionType which determines the daily odds of a base generating a mission (for Supply it is set for 6%, so on average you'll see a Supply mission each month) - if you increase those odds the base should generate more than 1 mission per month.

[robin]

Not really on topic, but perhaps this "bases spawning other bases" mechanics could be a way to simulate spread of some kind of epidemics, for example a zombie apocalypse that starts small but quickly intensifies.

i wanted to do this too to simulate chryssalids spreading

[Nord]

It can become nightmare, IF player has no flysuits. Else it is just annoyng.

[ohartenstein23]

i wanted to do this too to simulate chryssalids spreading

Bughunts... bughunts everywhere...

[Hobbes]

It can become nightmare, IF player has no flysuits. Else it is just annoyng.

Or if the map consists of caves and corridors with no upper levels available for flying.