Greetings to everyone!
I am just as a big X-COM fan as anyone here
I have played at least 100 hours with X-COM 2 TFTD , did not like UFO defense that much.
I just got it out again but due to a research bug i got stuck, (not the Tasoth Commander one:P)
I was searching for X-COM clones over the internet and i found this site. All i can tell that this project is wonderous. I like it so far. There are some bugs, which i want to report, some of the are annoying like hell, some are less:P
I am using 2.3-Dev Windows version of the game.
I am using an Acer Aspire 5920G notebook for playing
I am going to list the bugs in encountering order.
A:Possible answer to solving, why, how etc....
E: Evaluation of the bug, impacting the gameplay
1: Textures were missing from weapons on solider equipment screen, including soliders
Meaning that only the silouette was visible of the objects.
A: The problem was solved. I reinstalled the game, overwriting the same install, without uninstalling it. I have no idea what caused it so further investigation is required.
E: This bug was annoying at first, but not as much as the next bug:P
2: After Loading a game: The game Crashes
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
Assertion failed
C:\Program Files\UFOAI-2.3-dev\ufo.exe
File: C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\mattn\Des...\cl_ufo.c
Line 321
Expression: ufo-->Mission
For information how your program can cause an assertion failure, see the Visual C++ documentation on asserts
(Press Retry to debug the application - JIT must be enabled)
If i abort the game exits, Retry, the game hangs in a loop and needs to be closed using task manager, ignore has the same effect as abort.
A: According to some people this happens when you save a game, when you have crafts on your map. This hypothesis was confirmed by my experiment, when reloading a previous save and continuing from there did not result in crashes. Possibly a programming error, i have no idea how to solve this one, i am merely a player not a programmer, (at least not on that level
)
E: This is the far most annoying bug that i have encountered i had to restart the game twice because of it. This must be fixed asap.
3: Invulnerable UFO s
As time passes and after missions i cannot shot UFO s down. I tested this with a memory modification tool to increase funds. IE: cheat
. The program only modified money nothing else. I have sent 16 interceptors all fully equipped on a single scout and they all ran out of ammo before shooting it down.
A: It seems to me that this bug appears after the player captures a specific UFO. When i got a scout ship, in a small ufo hangar, i was not able to shoot down most of the scouts. However some of them can be shot down about 10% i would say. The same problem appeared after i got a fighter from a base attack against me:P i could not shoot down fighters. What seems to be interesting that some of the UFO s can be shot down over water. But then no wreck, no research.
E: This bug is a moderate one on the to do list. I will emhasize why. It is rather annoying that you just waste ordinances (ammo) on ships and nothing happens. It also impacts your relationship with countries. They will like you less. This can be quite challenging on hard difficulties, where you cannot lose a lot of reputation. However it seemed to me that even if you chase the ships, you get "some" (not verified) reputation.
4: Stun Rod= Death Rod
I researched stun rod, but instead when attacked with it, one shot did not stun the alien, two shots killed the alien. A marriage made in heaven!
A: I have no idea what i am doing wrong. In X-COM 2 the Thermal Tazer aka Stun Rod made the alien unconcious. It looked just like death the only difference was that if you threw a grenade on the body the alien died. Also if some time passed the alien woke up. If you picked the alien up (meaning his body), there was approximately 20% chance that in the next round it did woke up.
Note: in X-COM1 and X-COM 2 stun rod (thermal tazer) did not have any ammo. This is just a suggestion to make it similar but if you think the game would be imbalanced then keep it this way. However i did not find it how to recharge a rod. If you can then please explain.
Suggestion: You could make it similar so that it would not use ammo. And you could even scientifically explain it: (Due to its size, the Stun rod came with a fusion reactor providing all the electrical charge needed for the use
) or something similar.
E: Unsure. Either i am doing something wrong, and then please explain what i am doing wrong, or this is a serious matter, and prevents the game from being finished.
4: When using the sound wheel adjuster of the notebook to adjust the volume, a message pops up: This is not your turn!
This pops up even on Geospace!
A: No idea. I guess this needs further investigation
E: Minor problem, low priority. Does not affect gameplay only a message.
Other problems, recommendations, suggestions, constructive criticism
:
In this section i would like to talk about things that are not similar in X-Com 2 and i kinda miss them.
These are just ideas, wether you implement them, thats your idea.
When constructing a base all buildings can be built anywhere.
I find this a serious flaw. In X-COM 2 you could only build on the base, next to another building which is already complete.
an example to show what i think about
X= Empty Space
Number= Days To complete the building: radar hospital
S: Structure for example : radar, Hospital, hangar etc...
D: Denial: To not allow building
In this version a base looks like the following
S S14 S7
S1 S12 S6
S4 S04 S12
Imagine that S are buildings and the number represents how many days to come, before the building can operate.
The probem with this, is that you can build up an entire base in a half month, if you have tons of money. you just place all the buildings you need, then wait.
Original Design
S S14 D
S1 D D
D D D
This means that you can only build around those buildings which are completed. So for example if the S is a lab and under it you have a radar building one day to finish, and an antimatter storage next to the lab 14 days to complete you cannot build next to a building that is not yet finished. This means, that creating a base actually takes time, because you can't just place all buildings down and wait to be finished you have to connect them in a way to each other, and extending is only possible to a building which is alredy finished.
I hope it was understandable.
Method of Implentation:
I would either create a reality switch, for those who want this feature, like the geospace, or implement it into hard and very hard or even into normal difficulty campaigns by default.
Remove buildings and preventing those.
I found out this, when i needed more scientists for research but, i constructed my entire base already. I had no space to place down a building. I needed a lab and a living quarters. So i removed two hangars. The funny thing was, that inside those hangars there were two interceptors and i was still allowed to remove them. So i had 5 hangars with 5 crafts, now i have 3 hangars, but still 5 crafts! This should be prevented by a message: "Facitily/Complex/Hangar or whatever in use!" becuase this way one can do the following. Build 20 hangars, buy 20 crafts. remove the 20 hangars and he/she still has 20 crafts! The program only checks hangars when you are buying crafts. It also should check how many hangars you have and how many crafts. If you have equal amount of hangars and crafts, then you should not be able to remove any hangars. If you have more hangars than crafts, then you should be able to remove hangars as long as each craft has its own hangar.
This also works with Personnel. Get 20 living quarters, hire 400 guys, dismantle 20 living quarters, you still have the 400 guys!. It should prevent you from selling or dismantling any building that is in use!
Method of Impementation:
Complete Integration: This should be integrated into the game completely, i think it is cheating!
Ordering and selling delay:
In real life when you order something, or sell something you have to wait till you find a vendor from who you can buy it, or a costumer to sell it to. In the game, however, when you buy something you instantly get it, when you sell something you instantly get the money.
I think that this should be made similarly to base transfer. When you buy something, you actually have to wait, until they transport it to you, and when you are selling you have to transport it away.
The game would be more realistic this way.
I would recommend using a reality switch for implementing this, similary to geospace, under the game tab in options.
Experience to Soldiers:
In previous UFO s , Afterlight, or Aftershock , or Extraterrestrials, cant remember, Soldiers had experience points, besides ranks. When a soldier reached an amount of experiment he recieved extra points which then could be distributed to improve his or her stats.
The result would be, that the player would care more for their soldiers with high experience. Also besides using implants, this would allow for easier handling of the tactical game
Implementation:
Switch or complete integration.
Heads up Display or a simple tactical window for Shooting down UFO s.
In X-COM 1 and 2 , every time a player engaged a UFO/USO a small window popped up, showing the status of the interceptor, the distance of the alien ship from interceptor, the weapon types, their range, graphically displayed, and finally the status of UFO, and the modes of intercepting: Cautious, Normal, Agressive, Depart,
For me, i find it too easy to just send out the fighters to shoot down the UFO and thats it. A mini tactical game for shooting the UFO down is also possible to make the game a little more complex.
Also the lack of information: how much damage did the UFO or your craft suffered, and how much more until it crashes or destroyed.
Personally i find these informations absolutely necessary.
The HUD looked something like this in previous versions.
Alien Ship Cautious Attack
\---------- /
\ / Aggressive Attack
\ /
---------- \ / Standard Attack
Weapon 1 range\ /
weapon ammo \ /-----------------Range of Weapon 2
\ / Weapon 2 ammo
Distance \X/ Your Ship status and damage
This is how an X-Com 1 or 2 interception hud looked like, with the choice of attacks.
Cautious attack meant that your ship only went that close to UFO so that you could fire on it.
Therefore it was possible to shoot down alien ships without getting any damage.
However bigger ships had higher range of attack and therefore damage was inavoidable using conventional weapons.
Standard attack is just simply attacking it.
Aggressive attack meant that continiuously firing at the ship and getting closer and closer to it.
The funny thing was, that the alien ship's pilot sometimes got frightened, and they hit the afterburner button:P
This is the basic principle
I am pretty sure that something similar or more difficult can be designed and implemented for multiple ships.
That would definately make the game more interesting.
The last thing. And I am unsure about this since i never advanced that far in the game.
In X-Com 1 and 2 they had MC, or Mind Control or Molecular Control. You could design aliens who could use this type of attack. In X-Com 1 and 2 aliens could make soldiers panic, and even take control over them if they had weak minds. Since you already implemented Mind as a stat into the game, i guess you could add this too. In the old game, you were required to capture an alien alive, which used these abilities, then you came up with a lab, and finally a device that the soldiers could use, after they trained in the lab.
This would open new possibilites, i am unsure if this is already implemented becuase i never got this far here.
For example in X-com 1 and 2 you could make an alien panic, basically he could not move, or even drop his weapon or control him for one round. What i thougt would be another good idea is to create a skill called paranoia, meaning that the alien would start shooting at anything that moves. This would have its ups and downs of course, because if he is surrounded with aliens then this could be funny, however if the alien is surrounded by soldiers, then it would be bad:P
I am out of Ideas
Thats it. I am pretty sure that you already got bored somewhere halfway through
And finally to thank you guys for making such a nice game. After all, this really has a sentimental value for old players, even with bugs but hey. Once someone said:
"Nothing is perfect"
And i have to agree to that.
Write back about the ideas and suggestions.
