[Solved] Alien Bases detection ?

[robin]

In my mod the enemies main activity is to build bases, so the mod gameplay relies a lot on the player actively searching for them.
For this reason one of the very first equipment the player can research, is a craft radar that increases the sightRange of the craft, making -on paper-, the detection simpler.
The problem is that the detection change is still lackluster, unless I make the sightRange basically world-wide.  (Vanilla sightRange is already large, so 'm not really making it much bigger, because otherwise it's ridiculous).
Is there something more I can do to make the alien base detection more fast and reliable? This would also help with testing, because without being able to find the bases quickly, it's hard to tell if the mission I designed is working correctly (AKA spawning the base) or not.
Thanks

[Meridian]

The algorithm for base detection is very trivial:
- base needs to be in sight range
- the closer you are the higher the chance is to detect it (once every 10 minutes)
The only moddable parameter is the sight range.

What algorithm would you use if you could choose what you want?

[robin]

I was thinking something "instantaneous", like the detection of UFOs within a craft's radar circle (I'm going to make radarRange and sightRange equal, so the circle is visual a reference for both).
A question I have is: does base detection happens only on patrol or also during flyby?
ufopedia.org says:

In order to discover an alien base, an X-COM craft must patrol within 1500 nm of the base's location.

I'd like the opinion of other modders too, so we can make something useful for everyone.

[Meridian]

Only on patrol.

Going back to testing... for that I can make a debug-mode shortcut for you... and secretly for me too

[robin]

Wait, I'm dumb. I was not setting world-wide sightRange correctly
Now that I did properly, it seems to be sufficient for testing (unless we decide we want something more drastic, and have bases instantly revealed the moment they are created in debug mode).

[robin]

paging for other modders.
anyone interested in a faster/instantaneous alien base detection?

[wcho035]

Like it the way it is. You sent a craft on patrol, a few hours, alien base is reveal.

[ohartenstein23]

Personally I like the fact you have to directly patrol and search for the base, not something that just happens on your way to do something else. The main problem I see is communicating the need to do so to the player, but having regular missions carried out by the base already helps a lot with that.

[robin]

Ok, let's drop this. Maybe I became oversensitive to the detection delay because of testing:
"alright time to test the new mission"
1 second later
"wtf the base hasn't appeared?! the mission doesn't work, whhhyyyyyyaaaaaahh"
Sort of. 

[Nord]

Personally i will be happy if there will be some other mechanic for base discovery, aside from crafts, but i can not formulate what i want directly. Something with completed research maybe?

[Finnik]

it would be cool to have some property in deployment for the base that it can't be revealed with patrolling or if it can be revealed with a monthly report (and maybe it could be cool to unhardcode % of that to define it in deployment). that property can be a composite attribute (a bit map) like 'medikitTargetMatrix' (btw, I like that style of defining rules). and with that also would be very good to have some additional properties for deployments, that were spawned from that base. like you have found the clues to what happening here. and also it would be a useful property for a deployment that it can reveal 1 (2, all?) bases in the same region where deployment was spawned.
As for me, I'd like for Alien Embassy in the XCF would not be possible to detect with patrolling and month report (or have it with a tiny chance), but the only option for reveal it would be to fight through some of the missions it is spawning around it.

pretty unrelated topic - may be revealing the base can trigger some alert window (state) to spawn to inform that player had just found it. it would be cool to have some options for that window in deployment (description, background, and color) 

[The Martian]

Personally i will be happy if there will be some other mechanic for base discovery, aside from crafts, but i can not formulate what i want directly. Something with completed research maybe?

I was going to ask if it was possible to reveal alien bases via a repeatable research topic, however I gather from your post that this is not currently possible.

may be revealing the base can trigger some alert window (state) to spawn to inform that player had just found it. it would be cool to have some options for that window in deployment (description, background, and color) 

That would be interesting.

If the message window is configurable perhaps it could be setup to display the type of base (Which aliens are there) automatically?

[Solarius Scorch]

Patrol only detection makes sense in X-Com. Not so much in Piratez, where you're supposed to use biker gangs who drive around gathering info...

[Meridian]

Only on patrol.

Going back to testing... for that I can make a debug-mode shortcut for you... and secretly for me too

Ctrl+7 in debug mode to reveal all UFOs and alien bases.

[davide]

Patrol only detection makes sense in X-Com. Not so much in Piratez, where you're supposed to use biker gangs who drive around gathering info...

An interrogation of some special prisoner or a data disk recovered in some mission could detect the position of bases or special locations