Messages

1

Design / Re: Base defense cameras, spotting aliens.

« on: October 12, 2012, 10:44:40 pm »

This has been asked a lot of times. The most recent answer seems to be "someday" which is open source developer codeword for "when somebody goes and does it".

2

Feature Requests / Re: IR-goggles

« on: October 12, 2012, 10:06:16 pm »

Scanning (or detection) has good implementation in UFO:Aftermath. In case of detection without clear sight question sign was shown in supposed place.

Seeing throw walls is possible but not with IR. Nowadays many researchers are studying 1THz radiowaves for that. Also there is technique to see using passive radar as detector of deflected signal and several WiFi access point as signal source (or any other sourse, WiFi useful for cops ). Also there is similar device for search alive humans under fallen buildings after earthquake - by detecting signal change due to heartbeat. Also there are several reports about reconstructing image from behind corner using scattered light.

So, we just can say that our IR-goggles in fact use that all. However strange that soldier have to use TU for that every turn. More naturally whould be use TUs to switch on and off. On - means seeing throw walls but short distance, off - normal vision maybe a bit improved compared to soldier without them.

Alternatively, the goggles could use a sonar imaging device to "see" through walls. The denser they are or the further they are from you, the more inaccurate the scan gets and you might not pick the guy up. Or your device says it's 2 meters to the left of where it actually is. Naturally they can't tell you what exactly is on the other side, at least not from more than a couple of meters afar.

Or they could use an amalgation of all the techs to get a more varied scope of scans, and possibly better accuracy.


Ps. Long time no see, UFO:AI!

3

Design / Re: Aliens shouldn't get major improvements in technonlogy so fast

« on: July 10, 2012, 10:15:46 pm »

What version are you playing? While I admit that I haven't tried the newest version yet thanks to lack of time, last I checked it takes them ages to get anywhere in their tech tree. While I'm researching Alien Theory and plasma weapons out of boredom with Bolters, all lasers and nanocomposite ready, they seemingly still lack consistent supply of better weapons, as their most common troop type is still armorless taman with pistols and kerrblades. This on normal difficulty.

4

Offtopic / Re: What should i play now?

« on: July 10, 2012, 11:08:29 am »

If you do go with JA2, I strongly recommend installing the 1.13 mod. A lot of upgrades to the gameplay and tons of new guns (almost literally).

5

Design / Re: storyline question: Why is phalanx a secret organization?

« on: May 11, 2012, 06:56:46 pm »

I always thought it was more for security reasons than anything else. You know how the USA kept denying the existence of the NSA for a long time and how they still stop people from taking pictures of NSA, CIA and FBI offices? Most likely it's just to stop the possible alien infiltrators from recovering anything useful to use against PHALANX.

6

Design / Re: I miss for X-Com: Apocalypse

« on: May 11, 2012, 06:51:25 pm »

Doesn't really fit the setting IMO. PHALANX is not a corporate organization, but a UN one. The only real 'competitors' are national/supranational militaries, which I don't think would really want to compete with PHALANX (but they really should have more to do with the game, right now they are there as civilians, background stories and red shirts).

7

Feature Requests / Re: Supressive Fire

« on: May 11, 2012, 06:43:47 pm »

While copying might be frowned upon, just use JA 2 1.13 method: every near-hit bullet, especially automatic fire, has a chance of forcing crouch and removing 1-2 TUs.

8

Discussion / Re: how smoke nades work?

« on: May 11, 2012, 06:39:27 pm »

Note that the Shevaar aliens supposedly can see in infrared, according to the autopsy report anyway. So, they should be able to see you even through walls, not to mention some measly smoke. I have no idea how the AI handles smoke though. I mean, do the aliens know they can shoot through smoke, and that it's not hard material like walls, even if both block line of sight?

Note that actually infra-red goggles can't really look behind even the thinnest of walls. A sheet of glass blocks IR and a thick smoke would block IR most certainly.

9

Discussion / Re: Feedback and impressions after 1 campaign

« on: February 24, 2012, 06:11:41 pm »

Even with FTL travel, I can hardly imagine resources can be transported where they are needed for free. They may get there in an instant, but it will still need a substantial amount of energy to operate any such drive. Otherwise they could just transfer every soldier and every piece of equipment from their home world onto earth surface in a matter of seconds, completely surprising us and oblitering any hopes or chances of defending ourselfs or merely surviving, and be home in time for lunch. That would make for a fairly boring game.
So I think they would have a need to establish and over time improve some kind of supply chain. It's not even merely a matter of transporting goods and vessels, but also setting up their equivalents of field hospitals, maintenance facilities, probably even entertainment and recreational facilities close to the front lines.
It also fits the fluff. Why else would their presence grow stronger and more threatening over time? Obviously for balancing reasons, but try putting that in the UFOpedia

Note that they have already done a massive attack, many in fact (though all could conceivably be part of a single operation). IMO, there is another way to understand the situation and explain the Sorting Algorithm of Evil, other than a simple supply problem.

Simply put, we beat 'em. You might call it a Pyrrhic Victory and you'd be at least somewhat right but we did beat them. Their main armies and the best/'best' guys are dead from the massive defences we managed to mount. What you are fighting at the start are the b-companies and the maintenance guys and such, haphazardly equipped and sent to try and do what the main invasions were supposed and failed to do. Then the better guys 'finally' start rolling in and you see the armored and better armed guys, doing what they'd now consider a better strategy: squad-based "covert actions" and small missions, exactly the kind of stuff PHALANX would be perfect at countering.
Why not do another big invasion? We proved already that we are capable of forcing them to retreat and we have prepared the whole time they announced themselves. Doing another one after they've recovered the capability would be suicidal, as we would be much better prepared on a global scale too (I seriously doubt PHALANX keeps its research to itself).

10

Tactics / Re: *SPOILERS* Weapon Analysis

« on: January 28, 2012, 11:32:33 am »

Amongst some other changes for after 2.4, I am considering changing the Plasma Blaster to a close-skill weapon with high damage, very low accuracy, to be a kind of shotgun-like mid-game weapon for close specialists.

Thoughts?

Sounds like a neat thing for my close combat guys. I just hope that by very low accuracy you don't mean that it will be nearly impossible to hit anything with it. Suppose that it fires like a shotgun and accuracy per 'pellet' is low, however, it sounds much better.

Flashbangs were reported to be working so they will make into 2.4. About smoke grenade, uh.. it needs the whole Visibility system to be implemented...

-geever

More as a temporary means to that end rather than the final choice, but would it be possible to create a temporary 'wall' that obstructs visibility and laser/particle fire while allowing movement and contempory weapons fire?

11

Discussion / Re: Feedback and impressions after 1 campaign

« on: January 27, 2012, 08:46:12 pm »

Since your post is long, I'll be putting up responses as edits to this post as I get them.

Your idea that weapons are not in actual tiers and are more or less just differing ones is basically correct but requires a lot of balancing to get to that point. For example, terrestial lasers are just about perfect as all-arounders (especially rifles), more than normal bullet weapons (assault rifles) as you might suspect. Decent damage, decent clip capacity and excellent accuracy even with bad stats makes them good for grunts and short-to-long assaulters. Plasma rifles, the basic alien weapons, OTOH, have so crappy accuracy that even in their short effective range they don't get much hits, making them rarely used. It's the same for bolter rifle (rail gun, another pure terrestial weapon). Its basic idea is that of a crossed medium range sniper and assault rifle but it lacks the crucial accuracy of snipers, so it usually lacks users.
After that things start to get a bit more complicated. Terrestial stun laser mixes things up a bit along with CHOKE grenades (stun gas). Coilguns are a snipers dream come true but are bloody expensive for upkeep and backpack space. Alien particle weapons are more or less upgraded lasers but are even more expensive to upkeep, what with it being impossible to manufacture ammo for them. During all this time, you also get upgraded plasma grenades both for throwing and launcher as well as (supposed to get, waiting for implementation IIRC) a new antimatter rocket for that launcher. Aaaand most will still stay with lasers. They're just that all-around.
Also, regarding the rock-paper-scissors, armour values should also have a part at this, with some armour doing an excellent job with one type while some other with another type, as well as alien species-specific resistances. So, the idea is there, it just requires a lot of work to get the best of it.

---

It makes sense that alien weapons and equipment are researched seperately, as that part is more or less exactly what you suggested about retrofitting and figuring out what does what in the stuff. In addition, right now it also works as an reverse-engineering project. Regarding this, it might make more sense if the similar weapon types are grouped under one reverse-engineering project that opens up once at least one weapon is 'retrofitted' that will allow manufacturing of the weapon types in question (after they're studied, of course).
Particle weapons are kind-of included in this already, as the seperate project regarding their ammo supply creates this sort of gap in their usage.

---

All of the research you propose here (detection, alloys, propellant) is included in the game. After dismantling/disassembling a UFO, the parts in question open up for research and confer the bonuses you proposed (their detection method improves radar range, propellant allows for human-build antimatter craft and the alloys just open up a lot of nifty possibilities).

---

Not much to say here, but just in case I want to point out that you can not make money in UFO:AI through manufacturing. Selling stuff will either always come with a loss or it was hauled off from the field, in which case there's no (monetary) cost to it.

12

Discussion / Re: Some rant about ufopaedia texts

« on: January 07, 2012, 12:13:45 am »

All of those things are.. things. And when you store them... you do it in some place. For example, in a house. Storehouse. Haha. Really basic concept, you don't need a lot words to describe it because everything is obvious from the name.

Objection!
The concept is basic but what about tactical information? Many games tend to display pretty much any military storage facility or container as full of nitroglyserin ready to go off with a first bullet. Would you have guessed that a storage facility is a low priority target and the player could unload a whole clip of grenades without worrying too much?

Emmm, what? Storage facility is a description of a warehouse for a video game, that text in your link is a description of standard operating procedures for arms room in a real military. I don't see the connection. In fact, there should be no connection, if we want to make a fun game.

Objection!
Hard sci-fi (the genre UFO:AI is intended to be) usually means that stuff is kept as realistic as possible to ground the game into reality, while keeping the intended story possible. In other words, there could, if not should, very well be a connection between the two texts, since the in-game description is more or less the fictional counterpart of the real life SOP.

*quote*
JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE, THE ALIENS ARE AT THE DOOR, GRAB THE ALL STORAGE SPACE YOU "CAN GET", FIGHT FOR IT IF YOU MUST, AND STORE THOSE HUGE PILES OF AMMUNITION THAT WERE LAYING OUTSIDE THE STORAGE FACILITY FOR SOME REASON EVEN THO THAT'S THE ONLY PLACE WHERE WE STORE IT, CAUSE WE TOTALLY GONNA FIGHT THOSE ALIENS WITH OUR GUNS THAT REQUIRE AMMUNITION!!! GOD BLESS HUMANITY AND OUR RIGHT TO GET ALL THE STORAGE SPACE WE CAN WHILE UNDER ALIEN INVASION!!!

Hold it!
(Okay I stop using these. I've been playing Ace Attorney a bit too much.)
You do realize that the text reminds/means that the player should keep enough storages around so they won't run out of space when stockpiling supplies? Right now it's not that much of problem, since deliveries are instantaneous, but in the future buying stuff is supposed to happen with delays, so buying more ammo at the last minute won't cut it.

13

Feature Requests / Re: Training Room

« on: November 18, 2011, 02:37:01 am »

Wait, you can train them with the laptop?

Sorry, I meant the map screen.

14

Feature Requests / Re: Training Room

« on: November 17, 2011, 02:40:00 am »

Wasn't really thinking of anything quite so elaborate Ich... perhaps an extra tab on the Employees page of a base labelled 'Training' and maybe an option to commit soldiers to training on one of the skills for short period. Once committed, the Soldier is not available for other duties, like missions or base defence. Something like this may cut down selection time too at each month-end when your new recruits come on-line. 

Sounds a lot like Jagged Alliance 2's training system while in the map screen.

15

Mapping / Re: My first map tile! Help please!

« on: November 06, 2011, 01:12:06 am »

I made myself some simple brushes to represent some "for sale", "for rent" signs. Do you think they would be accepted?

IIRC there can't be readable text anywhere on maps, otherwise translation would be a huge pain in the ass. If there isn't any clear text, OTOH, they get a free pass.