Messages

1

Discussion / Shooting TUs

« on: June 21, 2014, 01:21:39 pm »

I was just playing a mission when I started thinking of shooting TU cost mechanics. I gave it a little thought and would like to see what other players think about it.

Taking, as an example, a soldier armed with a plasma rifle with a clear LOS to an alien, the shooting stats were:
Aimed Shot (16 TUs): 76%
Full Auto (16 TUs): 39%
3-round burst (12 TUs): 50%
Snap shot (8 TUs): 65%

Looking at this numbers made me wonder why the big differences in shooting time (because that is what TUs reflect) between a snap shot and a 3-round burst. The latter thakes 50% more time to execute! Is it really reasonable to think that a 3-shot action takes 50% more time than a snap shot? If we just think of the actual time the gun is shooting, than yes! But here (as I see it) TUs reflect the total time from getting the gun ready, aiming and taking the shot, and in this case the time the gun is actually shooting (when compared to the total time) is negligible! My point is, that maybe the TU shooting cost should just reflect the time it takes to get the shot ready, which can be reasonably reduced to an aiming time (I think).

That said, I was wondering if it would make sense to have a slightly different shooting mechanincs. Basically it would be split into two parts: the aiming time and shooting mode. While the former would increase accuracy (at the expenses of extra TUs), the latter would reduce it but allow for more shots (we can think of recoil effect here). This way we could think of a total of six shooting modes when combining the two parts (of course some guns could have some limitations like, for example: sniper rifles only have the 1-shot mode, shotguns only snap, etc...):

• aimed 1-shot
• aimed 3-round burst
• aimed full-burst
• snap 1-shot
• snap 3-round burst: hit and run
• snap full-burst

Some people might argue that with this setup everybody would just opt for full-auto or snap-shot, but I think it would all depend on the penalties. For example, full-auto mode should greatly affect accuracy and only really make sense at relatively close range, when the player must be absolutely sure to kill the alien (or the soldier will die on the next turn). This setup would make even more sense with the reaction fire system. In battle, if a soldier is really reacting to a sudden enemy, we won't just shoot 1 round He is more likely to shoot out a burst (maybe even a full-burst if in panic) to make sure he hits the enemy (or at least scares him away).

How can this be implemented? I think it can be done relatively easy: an extra button to set the shooting mode (full-auto, 3-round burst and 1-round shot) and the current shooting menu would just present the two aiming types (aimed or snap). This way the player can easily select the aiming and shooting modes, while also allowing for different reaction shooting modes (the soldier would always use a snap shot witht the currently selected shooting mode).

2

Discussion / Re: Some ideas on 2.5

« on: June 18, 2014, 11:24:49 pm »

but they should still have some impact on demage (laser weapons) or accuracy (bullet weapons)... but to change this... well i think its very close to imposible.

I don't think so... the idea here would be to just improve gameplay a bit, without all the work of making every single object destructible.  If an object is solid/thick enough that it would have an effect on damage or accuracy, then I'd just leave it as is. As I see it, this would only apply to those objects that in reality do not present a barrier to shots: bushes, curtains, spaced wooden fences, folding screens (in the asian scenario), ...

3

Discussion / Re: Some ideas on 2.5

« on: June 18, 2014, 10:11:24 pm »

*** CENTER ON SOLDIERS
What I mean is a shortkey to just select the soldier without centering on them... Sometimes I just want to move a soldier to a place already on screen; so I just want to select it (without centering) and tell it to move...

*** VISIBLE ALIENS/CIVILIANS
The problem is that right now you only have a count of the total visible aliens (seen by all squad members) but don't know which aliens (not even how many) are visible to a particular soldier. In other words, when your soldiers see an alien you have no idea of who is actually seeing it and can shoot. You have to select each soldier and go to the alien and see if the aiming is red or green. If you have more than one alien it can quickly become quite tedious...

*** UNDESTRUCTIBLE OBJECTS
yes, and like I said I understand that most objects cannot be destructible, and that was why I was wondering if it was possible to just make them "transparent" to shots... like smoke (or windows but without the broken window part)! This way you could still shoot through them but there was no need to model destroyed objects and such.

*** SHOOTING/COVER
But is the actual muzzle height (standing and crouched) standard? If so, it would be possible to have a list of all objects where you could cover while crouched and shoot standing.

4

Discussion / Re: Some ideas on 2.5

« on: June 18, 2014, 07:55:08 pm »

Just out of curiosity, from the top 5 "issues" is there any that falls into the "not possible" category? It's just I think those would really make a difference in the gameplay...

In the meantime I'll try to see how things work and if I can help in any way.

Thanks for the tip on confirming movement orders...

5

Discussion / Some ideas on 2.5

« on: June 17, 2014, 10:08:07 pm »

First of all, let me just congratulate all the devs. UFO:AI is pretty nice and each new version comes with substantial improvements!

I've played 2.4 for a little bit (since it was the table version) but as 2.5 gets close to being stable too, I decided to take look at it. Generally I must say it is considerable better than 2.4, but I feel there are still some relatively simple things that could be implemented that IMHO would considerably improve gameplay:

*** CENTER ON SOLDIERS
- Why is that pressing a number (soldiers shortkey) selects AND centers on the soldier? It's annoying having to constantly move the map arround just because the shortkey automatically centers on the soldier. I suggest that pressing it selects the soldier if he is not selected. If he is already selected, than centers on the soldier.

*** VISIBLE ALIENS/CIVILIANS
- Another issue I find frustrating is never knowing which aliens/civilians a soldier can actually see. Is there a way to show them on the map. Just showing the red/blue lines again (when an alien or civilian is first seen) would be a big improvement!

*** ENCUMBRANCE
Having an encumbrance factor in the game is, I think, an excelent addition to 2.5 but I feel right now it is a bit simplistic. Nevertheless, this as already been discussed elsewhere (http://ufoai.org/forum/index.php/topic,7319)

*** UNDESTRUCTIBLE OBJECTS
- I understand that for practical reasons not all objects can be destructible in the maps, but I was wondering if a little tweak would be possible: to make them "invisible" to shooting! This came to me when playing the bungalow map where the house is surrounded by a wooden fence that, although just wood, resists all shots! I think this shouldn't be too difficult to implement and it could be extended to other "soft" objects: wood fences, tree canopies, bushes, ...

*** SHOOTING/COVER
- A bit related to the previous issue, is it possible to shoot over fences/walls/obstacles when standing? In the bungalow scenario I just mentioned, it was impossible to shoot over the fence even when standing....

*** SOLDIER ORDER IN SQUAD
- For me is easier if the soldier types are always in the same positions (e.g. close combat on 1 and 2; snipers on 7 and 8 ). Would it be possible to add an option to change soldiers order in the squad? right now you can do it by removing and re-assigning soldiers but i think it would be nicer if you had some way to directly change soldier's order in the squad.

*** CRASHED UFOs
- One of the few things I liked better in 2.4 was that the crashed UFO missions actually had a crashed UFO! It actually doesn't change the game much but is kinda nice to see it... Were they removed on purpose? Also, I totally agree with another thread that crashed UFO mission should have a probability of starting with dead aliens. This could even be the same as the UFO condition: if the UFO condition is at 25% (meaning, pretty destroyed) the aliens would only have a 25% chance of crash landing alive.

*** BUNGALOW map
- A minor suggestion to the bungalow map: add more surrounding space. Right now the player starts too close to the house and there is no time to scout the terrain since the aliens are all inside the house and start imediately shooting

*** CIVILIANS
- Civilians are supposed to run away from aliens and towards PHALANX soldiers. You kinda see that now (although not always), but I'd suggest that they effectively leave the map if they reach a map border, like if they managed to escape...

======================================================================

I also have a couple more suggestions but I believe they may be a bit more complicated to implement.

*** ALIEN OBJECTIVES
- In different missions, aliens should have different spawning strategies and weapons. So, for example, a UFO crash would be more defensive (aliens move less and are barricaded/hiding all close together) with standard/assault/ligther weapons (could also depend on UFO type), where on a terror mission aliens would be more offensive (spread through the map destroying/killing everything in sight) and with more destrucitve weapons (grenades, launchers, explosives, etc...); and when aliens attack a base they'd be actively searching for the soldiers (instead of wondering arround) and carrying heavy weapons (plasma rifles/blasters).

*** UNDO MOVEMENT
- Sometimes you make a mistake and click the wrong place. Would it be possible to allow to undo the last movement?

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Windows / Re: Missing resolution?

« on: June 17, 2014, 08:52:46 pm »

Yes, same thing happened to me!
How can I change the resolution manually?

thanks