Hire new soldiers/scientists/engineers

[syntax error]

I think the hire system must be changed.

In Xcom UFO defense and TFTD, we can hire all the soldiers we want, we just have to manage our money to pay their salaries.

Why could we hire new soldiers because we ve won the last battle? It's weird. We are supposed to be an elite team working for UN, so, if we need more guys, hire them, that's all.

[jhcook1999]

It's supposed to be a trust issue, the countries no longer trust you as much, so not as many people are willing to signup.  I haven't played too far into the game, (as builing a second base with a hanger of any type will crash the game), but I do know that you start out with some pathetic people.  When you think about that, it's kinda realistic in the fact that, only the desperate people out there are trying to be employed by you....... But then again, that really goes against the background story of the Phalanx employing the most intellegent and best engineers out there.

[syntax error]

If human kind has to fight against alien, i am pretty sure that a lot of people will want to be Xcom like soldiers. Look at the US Army, they fight for nothingaround the world but they hire thousands of citizens every years.

I was playing to Xcom 1 in 1995 with 400 soldiers, so i feel a bit ridiculous with my 8 low skills women...

[bart]

I think that having poorly skilled soldiers is a good game mechanic, and you really want soldiers to start bad so they can get better over the game.

 The 'fluff' (story) stuff would be that you get basic soldiers/ scientists/ workers that have no Alien related skills, and then the build their anti-Alien soldiery, their Alien artifact reverse engineering, and Alien device building skills.

I think a lot of people are thrown by the word 'pathetic', as people don't like to think of anything of theirs as 'pathetic'. Starting the scale higher would probably make people happier. I would suggest a scale along the lines of "Aquainted"; "Familiar"; "Skilled"; "Adept"; "Masterfull"; "Phenomenal" would be a sliding scale that would make people happier.

A new soldier is "aquainted" with his weapons, a slightly better scientist is "familiar" with his tasks, a worker can be "skilled" after a lot of time in high tech manufacture, etc. It shows a base level of training, and also shwos the achievable progression.

[Elbenfreund]

well, this has been discussed several times now i think, so i will limit myselft to summerise it once more. (all that follows is taken from the forum, so if im wrong, than because of that   - if im right, you could have find out on your own  )

--why do elite soldiers have bad stats--

besides for quite obviouse reasons those stats are relative to alien statistics. In story terms: no matter how fuckin elite, earths elite is ... aliens still are better. The good news is, under the extreme pressure to save the world and getting the best training and equipment your foce has at least the oportunity to become as good as the aliens are.

--why are human rescources limited--

once again, game design is quite clear. story wise the reason in simply because (as mentioned before) PHALANX takes only the very best. and those are always limited on earth
so even a accuracity skill of 65 is better than 98% of worlds foces bring in. and there is no use to let non-elite scientists research alien artifacts. even if you can get 100 of them instead of 1 elite one, they wont do the trick


ok, hope that helped to make sense. after all its just for the story. game mechanic wise those limitations seem quite reasonable and self explaining to me.

about the "terms" related to skill levels, you might be right and some cosmetic changes might be helpfull. not to hard to implement through i guess. maybe some more suggestions (mabye even a complete hirachy of labels?) would be a nice contribution

enjoy ufo:ai: Eric.


EDIT: i just realiesed that we got you here with rc5, so let me say a warm welcome on ufo:ai forums

[HaJo]

--why are human rescources limited--

It is "just" the missing (=not yet coded) scroll-buttons on the hire- and equip-screens.
And the not-yet-working transfer-button.
And perhaps some more management-functions...
Nothing a few days of coding couldn't fix...  :roll:

[bart]

(mabye even a complete hirachy of labels?) would be a nice contribution

enjoy ufo:ai: Eric.


EDIT: i just realiesed that we got you here with rc5, so let me say a warm welcome on ufo:ai forums

Sure thing, that is what I was trying to offer. How many terms do we need to come up with? Ten? Hope I can help.

[Elbenfreund]

It is "just" the missing (=not yet coded) scroll-buttons on the hire- and equip-screens.

that is one point, but there is also a _wanted_  limitation of soldiers etc. as it seems to depend on countries happinies how many personal they dedicate to your organisation. so: yeah. this button would be lovly to have, but would not explain the general limitations to PHALANX (esp. in the beginning of the game)

Sure thing, that is what I was trying to offer. How many terms do we need to come up with? Ten? Hope I can help.

thats what i hoped for I will try to find out and post here as soon as i know. meanwhile 10 should be a good start for sure thanks in advance

[EDIT]
ok, there seem to be exactly 10 "steps", but it looks like ufo:ai doesnt make a difference concerning professions right now. so i should be done in 2 mins to change the terms but may require some bigger efforts to distinct between different professsions.

eric

[bart]

Ten skills getting better each time

"Basic", "Aquainted"; "Qualified"; "Familiar"; "Able"; "Skilled"; "Adept"; "Superb";"Masterfull"; "Phenomenal".

I have also made these generic to any skill, so you would not have to code up three lists. If you wish, I could do three lists for each type - would we need a fourth for medics?

[sirg]

Yes, I like the idea of changing some "ranks". Surely, none wants a "patethic" soldier in an elite squad. So, the "patethic", "poor" and "very poor" should be replaced with something else.

I don't think that "qualified" or "adept" are good for reflecting speed or strength, the actual ranks are ok, but maybe there should start from average or poor.

I would like soldiers with better stats, or at least excelent with a particular skill and average/poor with others. Something like one skill starting from "good" and the rest "average"/"poor"

One issue: after the hire list has 19 men, you can't browse for others. This isn't right!

[Winter]

The skill levels will be renamed. We've already decided on the new naming system, and tried to keep it as similar to the old as possible to ease the translation burden.

Here it is:

Poor
Mediocre
Competent
Good
Very Good
Proficient
Highly Proficient
Excellent
Outstanding
Superhuman

Regards,
Winter

[sirg]

Winter, I noticed the skill levels are from 0 to 255 or at least that is my impression. Can you tell us the ranges for each level and how a soldier gets better with a certain skill? E.g. "mediocre" is from 60 to 75, "competent" from 76 to 100, etc. What bonuses has a soldier as gets better with skills?

Other question, do the aliens use the same skills and levels as the soldiers, or they have superhuman skill levels? (some shoot with the plasma rifle from 10 miles and still hit)  :roll:

[Elbenfreund]

One issue: after the hire list has 19 men, you can't browse for others. This isn't right!

this has been discussed several times now please see regarding threads.

eric.

[BTAxis]

I feel "Proficient" isn't much of a step up from "Very Good", though. I would rename "Competent", "Good" and "Very Good" to "Average", "Above Average" and "Good", but I realize there are other concerns here.

[Winter]

I feel "Proficient" isn't much of a step up from "Very Good", though. I would rename "Competent", "Good" and "Very Good" to "Average", "Above Average" and "Good", but I realize there are other concerns here.

Right now we're considering switching places for "Proficient" and "Very Good", so "Proficient" would come before "Very Good". I'm starting to think it would be an improvement.

Regards,
Winter