Messages

1

Tactics / Re: Keeping the Nations Happy in 2.4

« on: January 21, 2012, 05:39:15 pm »

edit:
oh, i certainly forgot the demagogic rule: overkill is better than "just about right".
i am going to correct this mistake now.

so, you are not protecting people as fast as you could, which is not as fast as some ordinary construction worker could issue the orders to build those 8 buildings, because you are making a strategic investment that is beyond the comprehension of mere mortals.
indirectly, the strategic investment comes from dead latinos.
so, you are saying that the latinos should not count.
maybe it is because you think that all that the latinos do is carnivals, cutting down rain forests, and growing cocaine anyway, and such investment would be reasonable.
let the latinos die.
then, maybe you would think that dead chinese should count less, because there are so many of them anyway.
what about dead black people, they have strange customs and way of life, they might not count as real humans.
what about dead muslims, they are terrorists anyway.
what about women, they might be inferior, you know, it might be appropriate that they counted as half maybe.
jews would be complicated--on one hand, nazis thought they would make the world a better place by killing jews, on the other hand if it comes to financing, jews might count twice.

i think it is good that you cannot play with this attitude in ufo:ai, at least on very hard level.
and i think that being able to play the game with just one base like in x-com: enemy unknown was an artifact, and ufo:ai is better at least in that point.

Total and utter flame-baiting rubbish!

2

Tactics / Re: Keeping the Nations Happy in 2.4

« on: January 20, 2012, 11:43:51 pm »

@Gren
a base that is meant for protecting-humankind-from-alien-threat has
1) entrance
2) living quarters
3) command center
4) power plant
5) storage
6) radar
7) small hangar
large hangar
how quickly this gets built is very simple math (see screenshot).

looking at your game file, you seem to be quite a builder, lol.
what good is a second base if it is right next to the first one?
and, more importantly, what do you do with all those labs so early in the game?
the aliens are killing civilians with impunity in south america, but phalanx base commander is acting as if it was some kind of a game, or else like some private business of his, trying to build strategically and invest into research.
do you think the nations are stupid and do not understand that?

Well thanks for your words homunculus, but I guess I have a good idea of what a base needs to function and your screen-shot tells me nothing. 

In this campaign, I set up Base 1 (HQ - if you wish) somewhere in the mid-northern area of the Algerian desert and my second base in the Gulf areas (Saudi Arabia/UAE) - are you trying to tell me that these are too close to each other?

I built 3 labs in Base 1 to prepare for all the research that is required... 30 Scientists still make a slow job of their tasks-in-hand.. especially when, at this stage of the campaign, only 25 are available. Are you of the opinion that that is also bad practice?

Perhaps the Aliens are killing civilians elsewhere on the globe, but I am of the opinion that within THIS game, where those areas are out of radar-sight, eye-sight or whatever, it should not have an effect on the success or failure of Phalanx and the campaign, until at least a decent period for the establishment of Phalanx is achieved.
I don't think that your argument here is a valid one, especially when I am advised of activity in a country on the opposite side of the globe to where my first bases are and I have to despatch a drop-ship with crew on a very long trip in answer to the report.

No - I don't believe I play the game thinking that the nations are stupid (tbh - I never gave it a thought  ) but I do understand that this is a game where the player can experience absorbing pleasure in the game's objectives and that a difficulty level should primarily be based around the ferocity of the attackers and mission difficulty - rather than based purely on how or where a base is situated and the progress of the build at any given moment on the calendar.

I am informed (as my save-game reveals) that I have failed and lost the game within something like 9 weeks into the campaign at this level. I have no trouble with my build strategy in Standard level and the Hard level I am seeing some success with atm - so all I am saying is that I believe that the controls for the Very Hard level should be revisited and looked at - and really, it shouldn't be a pre-cursor to invite tongue-in-cheek comments which may be seen to be pointing ridicule - if you have something constructive to add to the thread - then I would really welcome it.

Thank-you for the input anyway. 

3

Mapping / Re: first mapping attempt

« on: January 17, 2012, 05:09:26 pm »

@Gren: Turn off model caching in the options menu to solve that problem. Will we get a new track soon ? 

Thanks MCR - that has also sorted out a problem I was having with the display intermittently freezing. 

A new track... hmm - I have a couple of ideas down which I can develop.. leave that one with me 

4

Mapping / Re: first mapping attempt

« on: January 16, 2012, 08:57:02 pm »

So the longer you play, the more texture slots will get filled. Model caching should be a feature, but unfortunately in combination with MAX_GL_TEXTURES it acts like a bug. 

Would that be the explanation of why I'm regularly seeing this error...

2012/01/16 19:39:59 Total textures: 1024/1024 (max textures: 1024)
2012/01/16 19:39:59 Total texel count (not counting mipmaps): 141485888
2012/01/16 19:39:59 ********************
2012/01/16 19:39:59 ERROR: R_LoadImageData: MAX_GL_TEXTURES hit
2012/01/16 19:39:59 ********************
2012/01/16 19:39:59 Shutdown server: Server crashed.
2012/01/16 19:39:59 Unload the game library
2012/01/16 19:39:59 Disconnecting...
2012/01/16 19:39:59 Client stream was closed
2012/01/16 19:39:59 Used inventory slots after battle: 0

...after playing 'n games? 

Quitting & restarting the game sorts it, but I guess it must be a headache for you developer types..

5

Tactics / Re: Keeping the Nations Happy in 2.4

« on: January 12, 2012, 01:45:10 pm »

Just wondered if there has been anything further with this.

I am trying Very Hard level and still not having too much luck.

Attached savegame opens up at 1659hrs on 30th May 2084.
I have 1 and a half bases. (still building base 02)

Stats show Nation Hapiness levels as:
1 - Mad
3 - Content
1 - Tolerant
2 - Happy
1 - Neutral

I have tried re-loading this save many times to try to move forward.
When Scout appears, send out Saracen and shoot down.
Send out DS and mop up and sell the UFO to a: The Unhappiest Nation and b: the Highest Bidder (in one test case to the lowest bidder) Apart from the Oriental Map error of "Bad Routing Lump" (already reported) when I take on the mission and I have to choose to auto-complete - whatever action I take, as soon as the clock/calendar rolls over to pay-time (1st June - 1 and a half days later) the game ends with the "You've Lost The Game" screen.

6

Discussion / Re: can't research particle beam weapon?

« on: December 16, 2011, 09:49:29 pm »

UFO Theory is prerequisite of UFO - Fighter, without it he couldn't have disassembled the UFO,

-geever

Quite right.. just trying to help.. 

7

Discussion / Re: can't research particle beam weapon?

« on: December 16, 2011, 09:08:31 pm »

Well I'm on 2.4 - not sure what kurja is on.. 

8

Discussion / Re: can't research particle beam weapon?

« on: December 16, 2011, 08:37:09 pm »

The only thing I can think of is that you probably haven't completed research on UFO Theory. It is probably in the list somewhere at one of your bases and according to the Research Tree data, it is a pre-requisite to the research on PBWs. 

9

Discussion / Re: can't research particle beam weapon?

« on: December 16, 2011, 01:44:14 pm »

Well if you have scientists available and labs at the base where the disassembly took place, you should be able to research the weapon.

PBWs appear in my Transfer list ok.. maybe you are at the wrong base?

AFAIK there is nothing to tell you what is being transferred where yet once you have initiated the transfer.. I'm also not sure what development is yet to be done on the transfer system - but you can offer any ideas you might have on it in the Features Requests section.

10

Discussion / Re: can't research particle beam weapon?

« on: December 16, 2011, 10:40:46 am »

Transfer the Particle Beam Weapon to the base where your scientists will do the research.

If you disassemble a ship that is intact, you will extract varying amounts of Antimatter and you need to build a Storage Building at the base where the disassembling takes place, to keep it in. AM Storage Buildings hold a maximum of 1000 units of Antimatter.

Later ship models (new & improved designs) will use this as a fuel.. 

HTH

11

Tactics / Re: Keeping the Nations Happy in 2.4

« on: December 08, 2011, 05:27:09 pm »

Well thanks for the input.
There just may be something in what you say as homunculus starts in a different place too. I must admit I normally start in New Africa - first base towards the west, mainly because I used to love the Harvester desert missions, but there doesn't seem to be quite so many with the latest builds.. maybe I will try again and place the HQ somewhere completely different. 

12

Discussion / Re: Building new bases. Request.

« on: December 07, 2011, 09:09:00 pm »

yeah : )
and also, i don't see a very clear and readily visible indication about a building being an entry point in the case of base attack.
so, a player is supposed to find it out at first base attack that small hangar actually is not an entry point, and restart the game?
because it is less tedious to play the start of game again than to move soldiers through extra buildings for the whole length of the game.
well, yeah, it would have been less tedious in the end, but instead i rather quit altogether.

the whole thing makes me wonder how much the devs actually play the game.
well, maybe they do, maybe they are just enjoying moving soldiers through empty buildings, or something?
not much else comes to mind as a reason for that.
some people might enjoy shooting themselves in the foot, also, and it's their own foot, and no one has to pay, just like ufo:ai is a free game.

Well said.. 

13

Tactics / Re: Keeping the Nations Happy in 2.4

« on: December 07, 2011, 09:03:28 pm »

now i am wondering why you were having trouble, if you say you had few missions, maybe that's just being extremely unlucky or something.
it might mean that, even with the second radar, the aliens were doing their thing outside your radar range most of the time.
and that would be extremely unlucky in my opinion, because in my games, ufos flied around a lot, and eventually ended up in my radar range (looked quite reliable).

I think we can discount the luck element all together, judging by the number of restarts and game reloads in trying to persevere. IIRC, the furthest progress made was just after the end of month 1 and the set up of Base 2 with a couple of Living Quarters builds.

Up to this point, I guess perhaps 5 or 6 missions with the bulk being successful Alien Scout interception and then DS visit.. as stated, firstly selling the wreckage to the highest bidder each time, then subsequently to the unhappiest nation. A few hours on from here, whilst awaiting the next sighting, the game ends because I cannot look after all the nations needs.

If Alien activity is happening outside of my radar area, then there isn't so much I can do about it really..  

14

Tactics / Re: Keeping the Nations Happy in 2.4

« on: December 07, 2011, 11:29:48 am »

I tried Hard and Very Hard levels, but gave up because I couldn't seem to keep the nations happy enough. The game was continually ending whilst I was building and awaiting sightings to engage. Reloading from an earlier save, seemed to change the course of the game slightly, but the outcome was still unavoidable.

The few missions that came along were completed successfully - all manual and alien ships sold to the highest bidder, and in the next attempt, the nation with the lowest level of happiness - there didn't seem to be very much effect between the 2 methods.

Perhaps the difficulty levels should be more geared to the actual mission/conflict with the aliens. Success or failure rate should then be a reflection on the happiness of the nation where the mission took place. I get the feeling that whilst trying to set up your first base(s) there isn't enough mission action to cater for the volatile happiness levels in these early stages?

15

Design / Re: New, minimalistic battlescape HUD with transparency

« on: November 26, 2011, 06:17:15 pm »

Minimal HUD Upgrade making it even more minimalistic

The player now is able to turn the whole deco on/off also for ultra-minimalistic experience.

You're working well MCR.. I just started using it today and it's shining - so much easier to use..