Autopsies from living aliens. Deeper X-COM base.

[tkzv]

Modern medical technology, and even the technology of late 1990s do not require a dead body to understand how it worked. At least on the crude level of X-COM autopsy reports. MRT, X-ray, some probing, some syringes... Unpleasant, not good for health, but unlikely to be fatal, even to frail Ethereals.

There can be some research item, possibly a special lab, that would allow to get autopsy reports from studying living specimens. It can be a purely Earth invention, like lasers, or something derived from alien medical technology (Abductor ship, "alien surgery", cloning...).

Has anybody tried that?


Does the engine allow to make some X-COM base facilities go deeper? If yes, then alien alloys, for example, could unlock 4-floor base modules with double volume.

Deeper living quarters, labs and workshops would house twice as many people. Deep stores would have double capacity. Deeper radars can have 3 times as much electronics crammed under the same dishes, which would mean 3 times more power and something like 70% higher detection chance. Hangars and rocket launchers would not benefit from this, since they need the area, which doesn't change. Don't know about shields.

Has anybody tried this?

[ohartenstein23]

Both of these are easy mods that just require some resources - the first could be simply requiring a facility (needs OXCE+) to 'manufacture' a corpse out of a live alien, or produce a different item to research that gives autopsy data. You could probably even have the manufacturing project return the live alien, depending on what flavor you want.

For the deeper base facilities, you have to edit the facilities maps to make them taller/deeper, and increase the height of the deployment data - Piratez, for example, has a base 4 tiles tall instead of 2.  Just make your basic facilities only take the top two levels of the maps. Or you could use some OXCE+ code if you didn't want to do much map editing.

[tkzv]

Both of these are easy mods that just require some resources - the first could be simply requiring a facility (needs OXCE+) to 'manufacture' a corpse out of a live alien,

I think, it can work even simpler. Each autopsy can be researched from an item (corpse) or given by studying another item (live alien) if "Non-invasive study" has been discovered.

or produce a different item to research that gives autopsy data. You could probably even have the manufacturing project return the live alien, depending on what flavor you want.

For the deeper base facilities, you have to edit the facilities maps to make them taller/deeper, and increase the height of the deployment data - Piratez, for example, has a base 4 tiles tall instead of 2.  Just make your basic facilities only take the top two levels of the maps. Or you could use some OXCE+ code if you didn't want to do much map editing.

Thanks for the link, but I'd rather edit the maps. Would I have to edit every standard base facility too?

I created this topic to see if anybody has tried that before.

[ohartenstein23]

Yes, you would have to edit all the maps - the base defense maps are all only 2 tiles tall, so if you try to make the base any deeper without editing, the standard facilities will be placed on the lowest floor by default.

[tkzv]

How about this?

Code: [Select]

research:
  - name: STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
    points: 150
    dependencies:
      - STR_ALIEN_SURGERY
      - STR_EXAMINATION_ROOM
  - name: STR_EXAMINATION_ROOM
    unlocks:
      - STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
  - name: STR_ALIEN_SURGERY
    unlocks:
      - STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
  - name: STR_SECTOID
    getOneFreeProtected:
      STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY:
        - STR_SECTOID_CORPSE
Researching "Alien Surgery" and "Examination Room" allows to research a new invention "Non-invasice study". If it is available, then researching any Sectoid also gives a research as from a Sectoid corpse. Am I correct?

[ohartenstein23]

You'd have to test it, but I think you'd have to put the getOneFreeProtected on the individual live sectoid research topics, the STR_SECTOID topic is unlocked once you research any sectoid, so if you interrogate a sectoid before researching the surgery/examination rooms, you won't be able to use this to get the autopsy.  Also, since STR_SECTOID doesn't have an associate item necessary for the research, giving it a getOneFree would allow you to research it from the beginning of the game, regardless of dependencies - this is a quirk of the research code.

[Hobbes]

How about this?

Code: [Select]

    getOneFreeProtected:

Is this OXCE?

[ohartenstein23]

Is this OXCE?

Yep, Solarius Scorch requested it so that he could gate certain getOneFree techs behind a dependency - for example, you might get a little bit from interrogating the first sectoid you come across, but can get much more once you've learned about their language.

[tkzv]

You'd have to test it, but I think you'd have to put the getOneFreeProtected on the individual live sectoid research topics, the STR_SECTOID topic is unlocked once you research any sectoid, so if you interrogate a sectoid before researching the surgery/examination rooms, you won't be able to use this to get the autopsy.  Also, since STR_SECTOID doesn't have an associate item necessary for the research, giving it a getOneFree would allow you to research it from the beginning of the game, regardless of dependencies - this is a quirk of the research code.

I simplified the conditions: the only prerequisite for now is surgery:

Code: [Select]

items:
  - type: STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
    weight: 0
    invWidth: 1
    invHeight: 1

Code: [Select]

research:
  - name: STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
    points: 150
    dependencies:
      - STR_ALIEN_SURGERY
  - name: STR_ALIEN_SURGERY
    unlocks:
      - STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
  - name: STR_SECTOID
    getOneFreeProtected:
      STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY:
        - STR_SECTOID_CORPSE

Code: [Select]

ufopaedia:
  - id: STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
    type_id: 8
    section: STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH_UC
    requires:
      - STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY
    text: STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY_UFOPEDIA
I started a new game, added STR_NONINVASIVE_STUDY to the "discovered:" section of the savefile.
The corresponding topic "Non-invasive Study of Aliens" does appear in Ufopaedia (correct),
but no more research topics appeared beside lasers, motion scanner and med-kit (correct).
When I researched a sectoid soldier, I and got nothing extra.(incorrect)

Then I restarted, added STR_ALIEN_SURGERY item to the store and researched it. "Non-invasive Study of Aliens" was given for free, without research,(incorrect)
but did not appear after the research finished.(incorrect)

What did I do wrong?

P.S.: Replacing "dependencies:" with "requires:" didn't help. Now researching surgery does not give NIS (correct) but doesn't allow to research it (incorrect).