Battlescape development

[kkmic]

The terrain selection part of the battlescape generation is now unhardcoded and moved to the ruleset. [...] it's another small step towards TFTD and more moddability.

Cool!

[winterheart]

snuck this in while no one was looking:

Nice. It is possible show number of required TUs while hovering cursor over terrain (like in Jagged Alliance 2)?

[Volutar]

Before hovering numbers, hovering path should be implemented (with some delay for exmaple). It is possible.

[pmprog]

Or could just display the number of TUs when the path preview becomes active; then if and when an auto-path-preview hover goes in, the TUs will be available too

[54x]

So the yellow is for movement that can't be completed with the current shot reservation?

If so that's pretty neat. Also, thanks for using a different enough hue for colourblindness- I usually can't tell green from yellow in some games where they use very bright greens and yellows.

[Warboy1982]

gonna start updating this a bit, as it seems to have stagnated.

so: recent feature additions:

Aliens will now shoot at and destroy base modules if left unchecked. fully destroyed base modules will be removed from the base at the end of battle. any facilities that become disconnected from the access lift will also be destroyed. any destroyed modules will have their contents destroyed as well, not including personnel.
for map makers: for a facility to be considered "destructible" by the engine, it must have an "object" on the top floor whose MCD has byte 60 set. go here for more information on what this means if you're unsure.

Range Based Accuracy has been renamed to UFO Extender Accuracy, and has been brought back in-line with the original method. the major difference is that i've set the values on a per-weapon basis rather than a global variable for all weapons. i've also expanded on this a little to provide a "minimum effective distance" that works much the same way, except in reverse: the closer the target beyond the minimum range, the higher the accuracy penalty.
the minimum and aimed shot ranges will come into effect regardless of whether the setting is enabled. by default these ranges are 0 and 200 respectively, so with default settings, nothing will change, but should you decide to add a modded item that DOES have these defined as real values, you will get the intended effect. (i have sniper rifles and shotguns in mind)
if you're having trouble understanding exactly what all these numbers mean, UFO extender accuracy comes with a real-time accuracy display on your aiming cursor, so you can easily get an idea of the in-game effects.

[Tarvis]

I like the change, but whew, that's harsh! Couldn't it be something where disconnected modules become turned into a build queue with 0 time to complete? That way you get them back as soon as the connecting module is rebuilt. It doesn't make much sense to completely destroy a large section just because it got blocked off. (especially since aliens spawn in the access lift so might be inclined to destroy that first)

So I know you said personnel are kept, but what happens? Do you then have more personnel than you are technically able to handle? Will this not cause problems elsewhere?

What about equipped items? Will those be magically lost at the end of the battle if you lose all storage modules?

[Warboy1982]

items aren't destroyed, your storage merely goes into overflow, and any incoming item transfers end up at the dead letter office.
the same happens with personnel regarding living quarters; you go into overflow, and any incoming scientist or engineer transfers go to the dead letter office.

if your workshop is destroyed, you will have engineers taken off projects until the number still assigned is equal to the left over amount of space available. if this causes 0 engineers on a given project, that project will be lost. the same goes for laboratories and psi training facilities.

if you lose a hangar, you also lose the craft contained within it. all the items at your base will be represented on the battlescape, and recovered at the end. so whether you lose them or not depends entirely on what happens in the course of the battle.

the access lift cannot be destroyed by any means. it contains no objects on the second floor with byte 60, and it cannot become disconnected from itself. hangars, living quarters, storage modules, and probably a couple of others likewise lack any "integral" objects, and as such cannot be directly destroyed by aliens. (disconnection rules still apply though)

[Tarvis]

I see. Also, I hadn't realized this was actually a vanilla game mechanic (it never happened to me!) so that is interesting.

[Warboy1982]

I see. Also, I hadn't realized this was actually a vanilla game mechanic (it never happened to me!) so that is interesting.

hence why this was added despite the current feature freeze.

[kkmic]

for a facility to be considered "destructible" by the engine, it must have an "object" on the top floor whose MCD has byte 60 set.

Why only on the top floor? To make them harder to reach by the aliens?

[Align]

and any incoming item transfers end up at the dead letter office.

Does this mean that from the player perspective they're lost forever?

It's neat to see the accuracy by the crosshair now, but I'm not sure what exactly it means.
I fired a laser rifle at a spot just barely at 0% range, and one of the six shots ended up hitting the wall there, so I'm guessing we have a cone of fire determined by the accuracy of the weapon and soldier, allowing a theoretical chance of hitting no matter what, whereas >0% accuracy gives a chance to hit directly, ignoring the usual cone of fire rule?

[redv]

It's neat to see the accuracy by the crosshair now, but I'm not sure what exactly it means.

For calculation of shooting, uses two different algorithms. One of them used for calculating trajectory of hit. Second of them used for calculating trajectory of miss. But, even if was selected second algorithm, you still have the chance to hit (yes, I'm not mistaken)))

This number not shows you real probability of hitting. This number just shows you chance to selection the first algorithm.

Your real chance to hit significantly higher.

[SupSuper]

Why only on the top floor? To make them harder to reach by the aliens?

It's just how the facility maps are designed, the bottom floor is just corridors, the top floor has the actual facility. See here for more details: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Base_Defense#Destruction_Of_Base_Facilities

[Shoes]

it refers to a unit type, rank is defined by that. also, what sailors? we only have males and females here in ufo defense.
i merely added the capacity to define the civilians according to the terrain set.

I was wondering if that definition would go into the ruleset or be accessible some how. I am always thinking about my stat tracking mod ;p Perhaps it would tell you how many sailors and fat cats you killed, instead of a blank "civilian"