Topics

1

Bugs in older version (2.3.1) / Raptor dropship @ +City map

« on: November 18, 2010, 05:07:39 pm »

When starting the +City map, if the dropship is a Raptor,
the first soldier has a strange initial position (under one of the engines)
which doesn't allow him\her to move (in ANY direction), unless crouched.

So this is not a bug in the code, but a (probably) unintentional "bug" in the map design, hence should be fixed.

2

Bugs in older version (2.3.1) / Thrown Monomolecular Blade

« on: November 18, 2010, 04:57:25 pm »

When killing an enemy with a thrown mono-molecular blade,
the blade itself and the dead enemy's equipment disappear.

I think there are in fact two separate bugs here:

• The blade disappears, probably because it's coded as having a single round (when thrown), and is deplete-able, exactly like the plasma blade.
• The enemy's equipment disappears instead of appearing over its body.

(I've opened a ticket on the bugtracker).

3

Discussion / Most advanced technology in v2.3

« on: November 14, 2010, 02:27:57 pm »

I've played to the point of discovering an alien base, and:
That mission is awesome. Great textures, very nice map design, and devious placement of enemies...
Wonderful work!

However...
I was a little disappointed to find out that this is where the game currently ends (in v2.3).
No complaints there, of course, as the game is still far from finished.

The thing is, I was happy to see a major tech leap on the aliens' side (particle cannons and heavy needler),
but sadly, after completing the raid, I can't continue playing in order to use these weapons myself.

Question is:
Should I continue playing (without raiding the alien base) until these weapons are introduced in regular missions?
Will they? Or do they only appear in the alien base mission, as a teaser?

Also on that subject:
It looks as though alien weaponry is randomized for each mission,
from a list of available technology (which is expanded at a predetermined pace).

If this is correct, which source file(s) can I modify in order to control this?
By "this" I mean both mechanisms:
1. The random equipment generation, and
2. The scheduling for addition of new weapons to the list.

Thanks.

4

Bugs in older version (2.3.1) / Plasma Blades & the Equip screen

« on: November 11, 2010, 04:50:19 pm »

When equipping plasma blades they appear as "depleted" (with red highlight).
However, when in battle, they look and function properly.
Just strange...

This is in v2.3, stable release.

I'll open a bug report on the tracker if it happens for other people too,
so I'll need like 2-3 replies to make sure. Thanks.  =)

EDIT: Fixed a minor typo.

5

Bugs in older version (2.3.1) / Calculation of TUs for movement - erroneous (sometimes)

« on: October 30, 2010, 02:51:14 am »

I've noticed that sometimes the calculation of TUs required for movement is erroneous.
Please see the attached screenshots for the easy graphic explanation.

I could only determine for sure that it happened on movement that:

• would exhaust all the remaining TUs,
• starts from standing-up position, and ends in one,
• happens on the maps: Africa, +city (the 7-story parking lot), in certain areas of the map.

Short explanation:

• When hovering over the target spot for moving, the calculation states the movement would require all of the actor's TUs. e.g. 32/32.
• However, after moving to that spot, it's clear that some TUs haven't been spent (and not due to reservation). e.g. 2/32.
• The remaining TUs can be spent normally.
• If the calculation is done "manually" : 2*<x adjacent tiles> + 3*<y diagonal tiles> : then it's evident that the initial calculation was mistaken, so the remaining TUs are correct behavior.

Attached:

• Example images, taken from the "Africa" map. View them in order (1,2,3), to illustrate the point under discussion.
• A savegame just before the mission starts.

BTW, this should be a low priority bug (IMO) since eventually the bug misleads the player, but doesn't cause actual harm.
TUs are eventually spent correctly.


EDIT: my attachments worked fine, so I removed a request for advice on adding images to the post...

6

Feature Requests / Aircrafts' Particle Weapons - Missing feature \ bug ?

« on: October 29, 2010, 07:14:14 am »

This is sort of a revival to this post by Another Guy.

I wish to refer to his following points:

1.

(b) Add some temporary (unlimited) ammo for Particle Beam Weapon...

I've noticed that aircrafts' particle guns run out of ammo (and fairly quickly, too).
This came as a surprise, since the weapon is described as having no ammunition, and as using electricity generated by the anti-matter driven engine.
So logically, as long as the ship can fly, the cannon is supposed to be able to shoot. Doesn't it?

Basically I'm saying that either:

• Particle guns don't need ammo, hence never run out of it, as long as the aircraft can fly; or:
• Particle guns should have a specific type and amount of ammo.

2.

(c) Remove the -20% penaltys from Particle Beam Weapon...

Does the speed penalty result from the weight of the weapon, or due to it's "kick"?

• It would seem that on such heavy aircrafts (the hull being made of "alien materials") the cannon's weight would be negligible.
• The weapons' "kick" should probably be compensated for, by the engine (and advanced electronics, which the craft surely has).
  Even so, the weapon doesn't fire during the whole flight, so this probably isn't the source for speed reduction anyway...

So I agree with the OP: The penalty is too great.

(Unless this is a well-thought-of tweak for balancing - which I doubt, since it renders most interceptors useless as the OP had mentioned).

7

Bugs in older version (2.3.1) / Dead alien corpses, and storage

« on: October 26, 2010, 01:45:08 am »

On the "stable 2.3" version it seems that I'm accumulating a huge amount of alien corpses,
which are useless after researching a single corpse of each species.

I can't find a way to get rid of them, and I think they're filling up my storage.
I'm not 100% certain this is a bug, but it looks suspicious due to the following reason:

I keep the same equipment in each of my bases (up to small variations in ammunition amounts),
but it's evident that the older bases have less storage room left.
I only started investigating this problem when I received a message,
saying my production is halted due to lack of storage space (around 7 months into the game).

Note:
I've found past reports on this problem, but they were all very old (for previous releases) and went unanswered as well.

8

Feature Requests / alt HUD + misc.

« on: October 23, 2010, 08:35:29 pm »

Hi,
I've been playing the last 3 or 4 stable releases, and keep coming back for more.  Loving it.  =)

I have some suggestions which I haven't seen before, as far as I know;
I've spent the last ~45 minutes searching the forums, so forgive me if I'm mistaken here.

With 2.3 I've started playing with the alternative HUD, which is far superior to the original (no offense meant to its designer).
However, I'd like to suggest some improvements:

1. Inconsistent information bars:
    The order of Health-TUs-Morale bars is inconsistent between the detailed actor view,
    and the little actor shortcuts at the bottom.
    I think this is needlessly confusing, and should be aligned together.
    I personally like the order in the little actor shortcuts: Morale-Health-TUs.

2. The "use item" button for activating a weapon\medkit\whatever is too small, and possibly useless.
    In my opinion, it would be far better if, instead, clicking the image of the item itself
    (which is much bigger) would open the same context menu (aimed shot\snap shot\throw\heal\etc.).

3. Switch to main hand\offhand buttons:
   I almost always pan right, accidentally, when trying to switch to the offhand view,
   in order to throw a grenade or use a medkit. This is rather annoying, and could be fixed easily:
   Simply switch the positions of the "switch hand" buttons with the "available ammo in clip" number,
   since the latter never needs to be clicked on.
   Also, consider replacing the current two-arrows button(s) with one toggle button, which simply switches view to the OTHER hand.

4. Move the two "reserve TUs" buttons (for shooting, and for crouching) to a dedicated GUI panel.
   I'm saying TWO because I don't think the RF reservation belongs there.

5. Still on TU reservation:
   When I save TUs for a certain action, it's logical to allow this action.
   Instead, I have to reserve TUs for an aimed shot, for example,
   walk to where I want to, then un-reserve the TUs, then shoot.
   I'd expect to be able to just perform the aimed shot if that's what I reserved TUs for,
   even if it would drain my remaining TUs to 0.

Non-HUD suggestion:

6. Hit or miss?
   It's difficult to determine if a shot missed, or hit (especially with plasma rifles, IMO).
   It would be nice to use a multi-line message (for the case of multiple victims) to inform the player, that
   "<actor name> has been hit".
   BTW, this is consistent with military training, where a soldier learns to identify his\her hits and missed quickly...
   Anyway, this should apply to both sides (if I hit an alien, or an alien hits my actors).

7. Weapons range:
   It's kind of frustrating when, for example, a plasma pistol kicks my arse from 150 meters,
   after I've read its research description, and learned its shots are (supposedly) useless in this range.
   I was wondering whether it is a bug, missing feature, or simply meant to stay that way?

8. Grenades
   Bring back the incendiary grenades. Please!
   It's frustrating to read about how the aliens' armor is good against everything but cooking,
   and not being able to buy\produce incendiary grenades.
   You can keep the useless smoke grenades in the cellar, though.   =)


I hope you'd find this input useful.

Thanks for a great game so far!