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Author Topic: Alien Missions questions  (Read 8024 times)

Offline tnarg

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Alien Missions questions
« on: June 27, 2014, 01:13:07 pm »
What counts as a complete Alien Missions mission.

I can see that some Alien Missions have points for the aliens what works out if they get those points?
For the alien retaliation if you shoot down all the scouts the battle ship cant find the base? How is that done?

Is there any way to stop future wave if the first waves are killed?

Offline kkmic

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Re: Alien Missions questions
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2014, 01:33:57 pm »
You actions have an impact on the behavior of the UFOs, at least for some of the missions, like the Alien Retaliation mission.

Quote from: Ufopaedia article
If you shoot down the retaliation scouts, the next scout to appear in the patrol will be delayed by a random amount of time. However, the type of UFO may be upgraded to make it more difficult for you to shoot down. As alien mission have a set time frame for them to be completed, they will eventually abort the retaliation mission if the scouts are delayed long enough.

You can check out all the missions on their Ufopaedia page.

Offline Hobbes

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Re: Alien Missions questions
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2014, 01:54:18 pm »
Try also checking the Scoring page for info about the scores and the MISSIONS.DAT for how UFO missions are generated on the original game (although the info here is incomplete and there are differences between it and OpenXCom).

Offline tnarg

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Re: Alien Missions questions
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2014, 02:37:48 pm »
So looking at the rule set for harvest missions:

waves
SMALL_SCOUT dose not land dose not score any mission points (but will score the normle ufo flying points)
SMALL_SCOUT lands once score 30 mission points?
MEDIUM_SCOUT lands once scores 30 mission points?
LARGE_SCOUT dose not land dose not score any mission points
LARGE_SCOUT lands once scores 30 mission points?
HARVESTER  lands twice scores 30 mission points each time?
HARVESTER  lands twice scores 30 mission points each time?
BATTLESHIP lands once scores 30 mission points?

You actions have an impact on the behavior of the UFOs, at least for some of the missions, like the Alien Retaliation mission.
Is this incoded in the ruleset anywhere?

Quote from: Ufopaedia article
However, the type of UFO may be upgraded to make it more difficult for you to shoot down.
Is this something I need to take into account when adding new UFOs or missions?

Offline Hobbes

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Re: Alien Missions questions
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2014, 03:26:00 pm »
So looking at the rule set for harvest missions:

waves
SMALL_SCOUT dose not land dose not score any mission points (but will score the normle ufo flying points)
SMALL_SCOUT lands once score 30 mission points?
MEDIUM_SCOUT lands once scores 30 mission points?
LARGE_SCOUT dose not land dose not score any mission points
LARGE_SCOUT lands once scores 30 mission points?
HARVESTER  lands twice scores 30 mission points each time?
HARVESTER  lands twice scores 30 mission points each time?
BATTLESHIP lands once scores 30 mission points?
Is this incoded in the ruleset anywhere?
Is this something I need to take into account when adding new UFOs or missions?

I've been looking at the code that deals with missions on OXC since there are differences between it and the original game but it isn't clear to me yet (the devs need to clear this one up). On the OG you'd get negative score for each minute a UFO was on the air and landed, plus if the UFO completed its mission (i.e. landed and took off) then you'd get the additional negative score listed above.

Offline Warboy1982

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Re: Alien Missions questions
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2014, 03:31:39 pm »
there is no dynamic upgrading of crafts, it's a set progression, that you can see in the retaliation mission definition. they seem to be being deliberately vague about this in the ufopaedia article. no, it's not something you need to take into account.

your actions having an effect on other missions is based on the wave timers. shooting down a UFO increases the delay before the next wave. no it's not in the ruleset.

there aren't differences in the missions, the aliens score points every minute the ufo is in the air just as in the original, and this negatively impacts your score.

Offline Hobbes

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Re: Alien Missions questions
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2014, 03:37:44 pm »
there is no dynamic upgrading of crafts, it's a set progression, that you can see in the retaliation mission definition. they seem to be being deliberately vague about this in the ufopaedia article. no, it's not something you need to take into account.

your actions having an effect on other missions is based on the wave timers. shooting down a UFO increases the delay before the next wave. no it's not in the ruleset.

there aren't differences in the missions, the aliens score points every minute the ufo is in the air just as in the original, and this negatively impacts your score.

Warboy1982, have you checked this post and the previous one to it? I've been looking at the code, and there's still a lot I have figured out, but there seems to be a few differences between the OG and how UFO generation is handed in OXC.

Also, could you tell me the place in the code where the score penalties for flying UFOs or unattended Terror Sites are defined? I've been trying to find it for the past hour.

Offline Warboy1982

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Re: Alien Missions questions
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2014, 12:47:18 am »
yes, i have, and no, there aren't.

addActivityAlien() is the function you should look for.