Messages

61

Tactics / Re: Your Tactics

« on: June 27, 2008, 10:18:15 pm »

Sorry, I did not catch how reaction fire was relevant to what I was saying?  I was talking about inferior combination of accuracy and damage which was brought up earlier.

Thank you for the reminder - yes, I am aware of multiple reaction fire modes and do use them.

62

Feature Requests / Re: Request: Headshot mode for sniper rifles

« on: June 27, 2008, 08:25:39 pm »

At a risk of sounding like a woos - this is why I won't play on "very hard" - anything hit in a head with a 20 mm round is bound to be missing significant part of the head.  this planet or the next, it is just hard to imagine them walking around with large chunks of head missing.

Just like the (alleged) true story abour a lawyer questioning a doc:
was the patient alive?
No. 
Did you check for respiration?
No. 
Did you check for pulse? Body temperature? 
No and No. 
How could you know they were not alive, then? 
Their brain was in a jar, being weighed on the coroner's scales. 
So, could the patient have been alive, since you did not check for vital signs? 
Well, I suppose he could have been practicing law somewhere...

63

Tactics / Re: Your Tactics

« on: June 27, 2008, 08:19:38 pm »

Nevasith, that is probably a pretty good idea.  Unless the Assault skill is way better, the SMG is probably the better weapon, since Assault Rifle is mediocre at high range at best.

64

Tactics / Re: Your Tactics

« on: June 27, 2008, 06:50:56 pm »

EchizenR - two 4-man teams is exactly how I tend to split them.  The only thing I do is make sure that GL guys carry SMG's as well - if they need to clear a house, it is handy.  Plus, once I discover gas grenades, they give up GL and use their now-developed HE skill to lob gas greandes a lot, while SMG becomes primary weapon.

The MG and, eventually, HL are both very good weapons.  Sniper - no comment.  The assault rifles bridges the gap between high range and close range.  As you said, it can shoot from afar, or clear rooms as needed.  Once laser rifles (eventually particle rifles) come in - that assault skill is great.

65

Offtopic / Re: News Story - UFOs in real life

« on: June 26, 2008, 11:47:06 pm »

just as an example what *might* fit the bill...  ball lightning, darn near mythical...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

is it even close?

66

Offtopic / Re: News Story - UFOs in real life

« on: June 26, 2008, 10:40:37 pm »

TrashMan,

This is the realm of philosophy of reasoning and many a thesis was written on this - I do not intend to offer one here.     The validity of your experience was never a question.  That there are multiple observers and the fact that you are an expert in aviation does add objectivity.  All but rules out a halucination  , that sort of thing.  Just kidding!

The trouble is that the human eye is not a good observation tool.  Mainly, on the account of being attached to the brain which is subjective by it's very nature.  What can be said with certainty, is that you all saw something and saw it move.  Size, shape, speed, distance too - forget about planet of origin - all can only approximated by eye which is fooled easily enough. 


I guess I do not doubt that you saw something remarkable, it is just I doubt that it was piloted by little green men.  I would bet on something Earth-created and, ultimately, explainable. 

67

Feature Requests / Re: Auto-reload for Auto-shooters ?

« on: June 26, 2008, 10:32:02 pm »

In my opinion reloading is a minor-enough thing that it does not need to be automated.  How often do you have the same soldier reload more than once during a battle?  Hardly ever in my case...

68

Discussion / Re: Dual Wielding Pistols?

« on: June 26, 2008, 10:30:08 pm »

Dual-wielding RL's - now that is badass!

69

Feature Requests / Re: No entrance in new bases.

« on: June 26, 2008, 06:34:57 pm »

nah.  our soldiers can crawl in and out of ventilation shafts.  Dragging the science quipment down those shafts is a b@tch, though

70

Offtopic / Re: News Story - UFOs in real life

« on: June 26, 2008, 05:39:44 pm »

Like I said - I keep an open mind that there is plenty out there we (as a species) do not understand. 

As someone with scientific training, I am with BTAxis - until they land and ask to see my dealer leader, I will look for a simpler explanation.  Okkam's Razor - look for the simplest answer.  Off the top of my head, I'll much more easily believe that our gov. is testing an unmanned craft with weird flight angles.  But honestly - what can one say?  You tell us you know your aircraft and it did not move like one. 

Either your eyes deceived you somehow or, indeed, it was not (human) aircraft at all.

71

Tactics / Re: Use of flamethrower

« on: June 26, 2008, 05:31:07 pm »

Aiki-knight,

I am pretty sure you're thinking WWII-Korean war hand-held weapons.  You are absolutely right, close range only, bunker-cookers.  The 200ft is something that is designed to support advancing infuntry.  Think 60s-70s.  I recall reading that Soviets had one (on a BMP) and the NATO forces must have too.  A psychological weapon as much as anything else - supposed to make the enemy wet their pants and anandon otherwise defensible trenches.

72

Discussion / Re: Dual Wielding Pistols?

« on: June 26, 2008, 05:27:57 pm »

Jagger, are you serious?  There is a situation where it is legal to fire one, but not two weapons?  Wow.

I imagine, aiming with two (even recoil-less) weapons at the same time is damn near impossible.  So, penalty to accuracy in dual mode?

Do we really need it?  I'd vote to keep this fire mode pretty low on dev priority list.

73

Offtopic / Re: News Story - UFOs in real life

« on: June 26, 2008, 12:51:37 am »

Well, we clearly cannot dispute someone's experience - the trouble is that experience itself is not objective.  Human organs are just not very precise measuring sintruments, to say nothing of the mind that, effectively, filters the data.  You saw what you saw - that's a fact.  Now, what to call it - I would be rather conservative in that.

Just one example.  NOT RELEVANT TO ANYONE'S EXPERIENCE.  An F18 can do a "180" turn in the space of 400 feet - it just corners that tight.  I may be off by 100 feet or so, but this is a fact, open source, and seen at airshows.  All laws of physics fuly observed.  While performing a maneuver, the wings are vertical, left one points straight down, right one points straight up - that is what I saw.  And, as you can imagine, it took no time at all.  Oh, and the whole thing was done at about 40 feet above ground.  Flew in, turn on it's side, wipped around, was gone.  Got a quick view of the underbelly and bleeding ears.

So, imagine me observing same from a few miles away, at night, the forward lights turned on on the fighter (no clue if it actually has any).  What would I see: a lit object moving left to right and a split second later moving right to left, the way it came.  From a few miles away in the dark I would not be able to tell that the object is now 400 feet further away from me.  It would look to me like a violation of conservation of momentum - like it stopped and just flew back.  yea, there is a small issue of a deafening roar of the engines as it did it.  No idea how far I'd have to be not to notice it.  Just a thought...

74

Feature Requests / Re: Starting formation, why?

« on: June 25, 2008, 05:55:59 pm »

I with you on that, Sirg - starting inside the craft is realistic.  Getting out of he ship and to nearest cover is among the most dangerous parts of real missions, as well as a beatch in UFO:EU.  If the aliens are their first, they get to lay some deadly traps.  I know I love to take them down just as they get out of the scout.

75

Discussion / Re: The Necromancy

« on: June 25, 2008, 05:51:55 pm »

Sirg,

I don't see much point in continuing the debate - we have expressed our views and there is little else to be gained.  It was certainly never my intention to detract from game option by adding science content.  I was, in fact, trying to put plausible science behind the game's sci-fi gear.  It was the very real (though not hand-held) minigun that I was opposed to.

Medikits: while they do provide a hell of an edge, I think they are somewhat too powerful in their present incarnation - soldier is at 2 HP and 2-3 heals later are at full health and need no recovery at the hospital?  I think the UFO:EU had a more realistic behavior of medikits - they stop the HP loss, recover some of the stat loss, but the soldier is still very much a walking wounded.