Just finished 2.3 (destroyed 1. base) - a bit of feedback

[j4l]

you are right - i've commited the patch - thanks

https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/ufoai/changeset/27930

np, im glad i could help

nice beginner mistake anyway 

[Duke]

I'm disinclined to allow this, because it would mean standing in the corner of a map and firing at a wall for an hour would get you experience. In short, it's exploitable. If you could check if the player was actually trying to hit an enemy, it might work, though.

Of course I agree with you regarding exploits. But I was under the impression that 'fired' is only increased when targeting an alien. I'll recheck that.

[BTAxis]

Well, it shouldn't be, because weapons like grenades and rockets can be fired at a position rather than an actor to take advantage of the splash damage.

[Duke]

Checked it. My impression was wrong. Would make it a little more complicated. And I didn't even think about grenades and such.

[thetruegentleman]

You would need a lot of ammo to fire at the wall for an hour. In all honesty, it would be easier just to cheat and change the value than it would be to give artificial accuracy by shooting the wall. The point I'm trying to make is that you can't worry too much about what can be exploited, cheaters will do whatever they want anyway. 

[Destructavator]

One thing that concerns me is how soldiers could get experience just for being on a mission even if they hide in the back of the dropship the whole time.

There is a possible fix for this though, in the future:  At some point when a "safe zone" is implemented around the dropship for aborting missions and not losing certain soldiers, perhaps soldiers that go on a mission but never leave the safe zone and never shoot any aliens that approach the craft (as it does make sense to leave one or two guarding the dropship) could get no experience whatsoever for the mission.

[Bartleby]

One thing that concerns me is how soldiers could get experience just for being on a mission even if they hide in the back of the dropship the whole time.

a) briefing, flight and the stress of a possible fight ARE a difference compared to sitting in a base.....
b) dont make things too complicated (in that case i would always move every soldier a bit... i like the idea that they get some but not much experience (but i would never shoot 100 times a wall.... ammo is expensive ^^)).

[Viento]

Just a small note: Staying inside the craft isn't really safe. I got shot in there many times. Often your dropship is the only available cover (if your pilot chose a bad landing zone). So I think it's not necessary to introduce "no experience"-zones around the dropship because its not really secure even in the last corner of it. =)

Andy - who has often been pinned down in his own dropship by tons of enemy fire.  

[Destructavator]

Hmmm...

In light of that, as a side note, perhaps the RMA system for deciding map tiles needs to be improved/tweaked a little, so that the game changes or re-computes the map tiles if the dropship and alien craft initially end up right next to each other.

[Viento]

@Destructavator: Of course this solution would be even better.

Andy

[Duke]

@BTAxis:
Could we cover grenades and such by saying "if the grenade was thrown at a place within say 3 or 5 tiles of an enemy" ?
If there is an alien around, the actor is at least endangered at bit.

[Destructavator]

@BTAxis:
Could we cover grenades and such by saying "if the grenade was thrown at a place within say 3 or 5 tiles of an enemy" ?
If there is an alien around, the actor is at least endangered at bit.

I almost agree with that, but I'd say where it detonates, not where it first hits the ground from being thrown.  I've tested some missions where on the right surface (road/street in particular), my soldiers can fling grenades at aliens that bounce and skitter all the way to the other end of the map, across multiple RMA tiles!  (Let's see if I can beat that gutterball...  Ha! Strike!  Whoops, wrong game...)   

[Duke]

Good point The point of detonation is the better approach. But it might be more difficult to catch codewise, not sure.