Messages

1

Discussion / Re: Funny personnel names

« on: January 24, 2015, 05:05:49 am »

We all speak different languages here at PHALANX, so it's not always clear that some names look funny. I wouldn't know that your sample is funny, if you hadn't said
As for me, combinations like "Japanese/Chinese first name + Russian last name" sound pretty comically: "Rui Karasev" or "Mao Petrov". IRL they are almost impossible. Ok, maybe in 2084...
Such absurd combinations can provide ideas for naming soldiers, however. I like them.

2

Discussion / Choosing the best soldier

« on: September 27, 2014, 11:31:21 am »

The question is simple. The actual firing accuracy depends on 2 parameters: soldier's accuracy statistic and his partial weapon type skill. So, who will be the best sniper?
Soldier A: accuracy=35, sniper=42.
Soldier B: accuracy=42, sniper=35.

3

Discussion / Re: Recruits

« on: September 27, 2014, 10:42:24 am »

Still, a little bit more random variety might be useful. Now they are almost all the same and completely interchangeable as recruits.

If my memory serves me right, I saw a way to change stats of new soldiers somewhere at this forum. Someone complained that recruits are too weak and wanted to raise their parameters. He was said that it may be changed in one of the game files. Unfortunately, I don't remember the details. I'll try to find that topic. If you find it first, let me know: I wish recruits to be more different too.

EDIT:
Got it! It's a user-modifiable thing. See in modding instrustions.
http://ufoai.org/forum/index.php/topic,6780.0.html

4

Discussion / Re: Balancing smoke grenades

« on: September 27, 2014, 10:26:25 am »

...Anyone in the first layer of smoke falls between "obscured" and  "clear sight": still can be acquired from the outside, and partial obscurement doesn't interrupt RF timing but is targetted badly...

And someone in the second layer of smoke does the same, but is tageted even more badly, and so on: the deeper into smoke, the more badly. IMHO it's almost the same mechanism of applying a penalty to every shot which doesn't have a clear sight - however slightly impoved.

To be honest, I don't quite understand why you contend that's not how optics works.

In general, I suggest there are 2 sides of this "smoke coverage problem":
1) how somebody in smoke cloud must be visible (or not), and
2) how he must be targeted.
And the easiest way is to penalize both.
Something like that...

"Clairvoyance" can spoil everything, of course.

5

Discussion / Re: Does adding a second missile battery in the same base improve its fire rate?

« on: September 26, 2014, 02:35:39 pm »

What does "A second missile battery" mean? Does it mean building a new facility on the base? Or is it possible to add several launchers into one existing facility?

6

Discussion / Re: Balancing smoke grenades

« on: September 26, 2014, 02:23:06 pm »

Just another one idea about smoke. Probably the most "realistic", but I don't imagine whether it is difficult to implement.
What if smoke could be semi-transparent? If there is only 1 square of smoke on LOS then an object has, say, 75% probability to be spotted. 2 smoke squares on LOS means 50% to see it. 3 squares - 25%, and only 4 squares of smoke make you totally invisible.

7

Bugs in stable version (2.5) / Re: suspected bugs related to XVI

« on: September 17, 2014, 10:41:00 am »

The change is in the C++ source code. You need to update and recompile your checkout. If this means nothing to you, you need to wait for an updated release.

I thought as much. I know what is "recompile", but since I'm not experienced in software development, this way is not for me. Have to wait. 

Thanks for the explanation, anyway.

8

Bugs in stable version (2.5) / Re: suspected bugs related to XVI

« on: September 16, 2014, 02:08:06 pm »

It is now fixed in source code only, but not in downloadable install package of 2.5. Right?
The ufoai-2.5-win32.exe at SourceForge is dated 2014-04-13...

Is it possible to edit something in savegame file to get to normal geoscape view? Or maybe switch XVI map mode via the console?

9

Bugs in stable version (2.5) / Re: cannot enter playername

« on: September 07, 2014, 07:40:27 am »

Wait, is the game takes by default my Windows' username?
It's in Russian, though.

Must it be in english letters?

I confirm - there is a kind of bug here. My Windows' username is Russian too, and I encountered this problem in stable 2.5 probably the same day as you did As far as I remember, the solution I found was: do not edit name in that window, just press Ok. The username may be changed later in game settings without hanging the game. Cyrillic letters are supported too. Suggest the problem is related to that first username dialog, not codepage itself.

In fact, our usernames don't affect the singleplayer game because are never mentioned in it.

10

Tactics / Re: "Hit the ground" option (Shift + fire)

« on: September 07, 2014, 07:03:18 am »

Pressing "shift" key for several times allows to cycle targeting higher or lower than default. Is there any real use of this feature? Maybe for shooting at enemies who are partially in cover?