Author Topic: [DONE][Suggestion] Bases Preview  (Read 3314 times)

Offline betatester

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[DONE][Suggestion] Bases Preview
« on: January 22, 2020, 12:48:49 pm »
I know it's strange but one of my main pleasure in base defense missions is that at least I can see my base. It should be nice to have a button in bases UI that you can click to see your base in 3D. Maybe with your soldiers in it just like a base defense mission but without ennemies

EDIT: Implemented here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10372.0.html
« Last Edit: February 01, 2023, 05:26:44 pm by Meridian »

Offline Rubber Cannonball

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2020, 08:15:33 pm »
I like your idea!  After playing vanilla or even a mod several times, the player tends to learn and remember the 3D layout of each base facility they use.  Then in the next game played, the player uses that knowledge when planning the layout of his bases from a defense standpoint.  But in playing vanilla or a mod for the first time,  the player has little idea what each facility looks like in 3D until one of his bases is under attack.  It would be nice to be able to see the base 3D layout when deciding where to construct a new facility.  The 3D view would include existing base with the new facility in the player chosen spot prior to commencing construction.

I realize the player can use sources outside of the game (ie strategy guide, wikipedia, etc) to get base layout planning information, but this risks the player being spoiled by coming across things he hasn't seen in the game yet.  Once research unlocks a new facility the player can now use, the player should know the 3D layout of the facility prior to building one especially for these mods that use additional levels with various access points blocked.

After all, one wouldn't build a house without knowing what was on each floor or where the doors and stairways are.

wcho035

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2020, 11:52:22 am »
Can't you do this already in debug mode?

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2020, 04:53:07 pm »
Can't you do this already in debug mode?

I have no idea what you mean.

Anyway, I like the idea in the sense that I have always wanted it myself. But I can't see how to implement it easily, considering that the battlescape is a separate process, also using a different palette. The GUI could be just "M-Click the base", but the transition would probably be heavy.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2020, 12:08:55 am by Solarius Scorch »

Offline Rubber Cannonball

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2020, 07:57:35 pm »
Can't you do this already in debug mode?

I don't know about debug mode, but the player could launch a base defense with quick battle to see the base.  I'm not sure about the best way to do this, but I think one could make a backup of the starting base layout which I think is what is used for quick battle base defense.  Then make a new starting base layout in whatever configuration is desired.  One can easily get all the facility IDs from the quick battle ufopedia since everything is unlocked in quick battle.  Once the layout is completed, use quick battle to see it.  When finished viewing, exit and restore the starting base layout.

Feel free to point out any mistakes or suggest better way as I haven't actually tried this.  I thought about just editing the facility layout in the quick battle save, but I suspect I'll have problems dealing with object and unit location errors if I just edit the facility locations.

Even if this works, I don't expect it to satisfy the desire to have an in-game base preview capability.

Offline betatester

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2020, 02:35:53 am »
Not perfect but what about generating a base preview (kike a base defense but with no enemies  no experience or promotion) asap.

Offline Rubber Cannonball

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2020, 12:49:18 am »
Just learned about this:

the inventory screen in the base is done in oxc with a trick
the screen is part of a battlescape
if you open the inventory in the base "half a battle" is generated in the background and you just make a pre misson weapon assignment
during "pre misson weapon assignment" there cant be armor change because you are on a mission
i got around to that by recreating the pseudo-battle if you change the armor
thats of course not possible with real battles preparation
making armor interchangeable without this workaround is a lot more work

It would seem like it would be possible to do something similar with using part of the battlescape to generate a base preview.  It might be a lot of work though.

Offline Derived

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2020, 01:58:08 am »
You could use this as a mock battle to test out your equipment, at your own risk of course. It would kind of work like as using the base as a firing range. Be careless with shooting and explosives at your own peril.

Otherwise work as a normal battle, ammunition is lost and wounded soldiers have to heal and dead soldiers lost. No experience is gained, as no enemies were hit or killed.

Aborting the mission would produce the normal post-battle-briefing titled e.g. "Live-fire exercise over".

Offline Rubber Cannonball

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2020, 10:23:54 pm »
You could use this as a mock battle to test out your equipment, at your own risk of course. It would kind of work like as using the base as a firing range. Be careless with shooting and explosives at your own peril.

Otherwise work as a normal battle, ammunition is lost and wounded soldiers have to heal and dead soldiers lost. No experience is gained, as no enemies were hit or killed.

Aborting the mission would produce the normal post-battle-briefing titled e.g. "Live-fire exercise over".

I would probably just use quickbattle for this, Derived.  The OP wants something more like Solarius's post:

Anyway, I like the idea in the sense that I have always wanted it myself. But I can't see how to implement it easily, considering that 5he battlescape is a separate process, also using a different palette. The GUI could be just "M-Click the base", but the transition would probably be heavy.

I quoted Falco's post from another thread since it indicated that the soldier inventory in the basescape comes from the battlescape and I presume using the battlescape palette.  Now the battlescape's 3D map of the base may indeed take a couple of seconds to generate in the basescape.  But it would only generate when the user requested it, so I don't think a delay would be much of a problem.  It would also be nice to be able to see the battlescape's 3D map of a facility when deciding where to put it while expanding a base.  Again only when the user requests it through the GUI.

Offline Ethereal

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2020, 02:18:47 am »
My needs are a little simpler.

Meridian, tell me, is it possible to cause an attack on the X-COM base using research?

Online Meridian

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Re: [Suggestion] Bases Preview
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2020, 08:50:35 am »
no