Topics

1

Discussion / Last news post was April 2018 -- Has development stopped? :(

« on: April 21, 2019, 04:50:43 pm »

Last news post was April 2018 -- Has development stopped?

I started following this game back in 2009 or so. I even made an extensive review about it back in 2012: http://imbacore.blogspot.com/2012/03/downloadable-pc-full-version-freeware_6555.html.

It would be a sad day for a lot of people if development has stopped.

2

Offtopic / How to Record, Edit, and Compress Let's Plays and Other Video Game Playthroughs

« on: January 04, 2015, 05:14:47 pm »

Hello guys,

I made this video, "How to Record, Edit, and Compress Let's Plays and Other Video Game Playthroughs":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw0SfrJK6lQ

And for a sample game, I used UFO: Alien Invasion. I hope this will drive up awareness of this game among fellow gamers. I also added a link pointing to this game's homepage in the description box.

Happy gaming!

3

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

« on: August 19, 2014, 06:46:35 pm »

I need help on the “fire at the ground” option. The Options menu has Shift bound as the default button. Well, I pressed shift once and let my rocket launcher guy fire, but the HE round didn’t hit the spot where I wanted it to hit. Instead, it flew past the target and the alien near the spot where I wanted it to detonate.

Here's the part in my video that confuses me:

http://youtu.be/MtDJ1JXcRQ4?t=26m33s

4

Discussion / Character customization - any plans?

« on: July 30, 2014, 06:30:51 am »

I think this is a missed opportunity that XCOM: Enemy Unknown fully capitalized upon. Seven months before Firaxis' game released I wrote this about UFO: AI:

For a military game wherein statistics play an important role, I’m surprised that the game developers haven’t introduced systems for players to immediately recognize who is who at a glance in large maps. I’ve taken it upon myself to use the game’s (non-functional) camouflage scheme to clothe soldiers in different uniforms to spot who is who; hence in my games, elites go out in arctic garb, rookies in urban, and competent and proficient troopers in jungle and desert camo respectively.

If the developers had implemented a system wherein players could apply color schemes or rank stripes to the soldiers’ armor it would have been so much better. I suppose this is asking too much as this game is freeware but think about what THQ is doing with its Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine video game---the skin DLCs aren’t selling like pancakes but they are selling! Customization appeals strongly to a wide player base, not just strategy gamers. I’m very confident that capitalizing on customization would give this game a solid boost in terms of gameplay and user-friendliness.

I think adding various doodads like different helmets or torso armor would go a long way to improving this game.

Of course I'm not a programmer so I don't know how feasible this is. I'm just throwing this out there because the devs might be interested in tackling this aspect.

5

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

« on: July 30, 2014, 06:25:52 am »

^Subject.

6

Windows / Ambient Occusion?

« on: July 21, 2014, 11:20:16 am »

This might seem to be asking too much but I'm just curious, does this game's engine support ambient occlusion? If so, how do we enable it? I've noticed that in curves (the characters' legs for example) there's too little shadow (at least in the "Equip Soldiers" menu) resulting in the models not really feeling as real as they should be.

I've noticed that ambient lighting works fine though; during impact, grenades do wash the victims in stark color values --- deep shadows and brilliant lighting effects do swathe the models just fine. I'm wondering if this impressive work can be applied to the models when viewing them via the Base Management UI.


Edit: Typos.

7

Tactics / Reaction Fire Explained

« on: July 20, 2014, 06:17:23 pm »

[Important questions have been underlined.]

So I'm making a Let's Play UFO: Alien invasion v2.5 series and in the third video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00CnV8FDhn4



at 27:30, my sniper didn't fire. I grew confused and searched the forums. I came upon this very helpful post by ShipIt:

http://ufoai.org/forum/index.php/topic,7028.msg56152.html#msg56152

So as I understand it, if the reaction fire of a sniper costs 20 TUs, the aliens can basically do a waltz (5 TUs), conduct the Imperial March (10 TUs), and then do a pirouette (6 TUs) before my sniper can fire?

Joke aside though, do the aliens have to consume more than (or equal? please confirm) 20 TUs in front of my sniper (that is, my sniper can see them) before he gets to fire his reaction shot?

If yes, then that's reaction fire explained and I've nailed how the system works.

If not, could someone please explain it? So far in the searches I've made only ShipIt's explanation is clear as day.

Also, how do I set which firemode the soldiers use as their reaction fire? The same button I use for firemode on my turn? Please confirm this. Thanks!

8

Discussion / My Let's Play UFO: Alien Invasion 2.5 Series

« on: July 15, 2014, 05:31:53 am »

[UPDATED: January 3, 2015: Added Part 8.]

[UPDATED: Aug 27, 2014: Added the link to Part 5; added Part 7.]

[UPDATED: Aug 20, 2014: Added the link to Part 5; added Part 6.]

Hello Ildamos here. I tried logging in but found that due to inactivity the past two years, my account has been deactivated.

I was that dude who made a UFO: Alien Invasion review that Mattn featured on the front page years ago.

Anyway, I finally made a Let's Play on my YouTube channel as I'm pretty excited about the new game mechanics and the awesome new character models (they look a bit like ODSTs but hey, in this world parallelisms are inevitable so it's no really a major issue). Here's what I made so far:

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Part 1 - Prepping the Dropship - Where we equip our soldiers, assign tags, buy equipment, and task our scientists to research Continuous Wave Laser Operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc0Hnd2INes

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Part 2 - FIRST BLOOD!! - Where we finish equipping our warbirds, shoot down a UFO, land in an area separate from the crash site, and take down three aliens who are killing civilians. More than two of our troops sustained serious wounds in the exchange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVC6ljvf4AE

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Part 3 - More Meat for the Grinder -  Where we swap out wounded soldiers for fresh ones and land on the crash site where we shot down that UFO in Part 2. Killed four aliens in this round but not without a sniper taking a shot. One PHALANX operative --- an assault soldier got wounded gravely. He exchanged several shots with an alien though, taking it down but nearly dying --- 3 hit points left!! --- in the process.

SKIP TO 12:40 IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ME FIDDLING WITH MY TROOPS' INVENTORIES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00CnV8FDhn4

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Part 4 - Where we foil the plans of a trio of aliens, explain the new reaction fire (overwatch) system in v2.5 (skip to 12:41 for the explanation), confirm the reaction fire by showering a Taman with a hail of lead from SMG-toting troops, and make it back to base without incurring a casualty. 

SKIP TO 11:21 IF YOU WANT TO SEE INSTANT ACTION.

Skip to 12:41 for the in-depth explanation about how reaction fire works in version 2.5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvQs-7YpGQ&feature=youtu.be

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Part 5 - Where we down several UFOs with our good ol' trusty stiletto interceptor and take down a UFO landing party with 0 casualties---and 0 civilians rescued. In this video we start using smoke grenades to great effect.


SKIP TO 23:58 IF YOU WANT TO SEE INSTANT ACTION.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB4Fw21yLSE

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Part 6 - Where a horrible accident leads to the demise of assault trooper Flip Parson. In this clip we also build a new base, research the Aerial Laser Cannon, and take out four Tamans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtDJ1JXcRQ4

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Part 7 - Where we make the necessary arrangements needed to make our Oceania base operable. (This video deals with logistics; might be a bit boring for some.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBPq7szcMTs

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Part 8 - Tunnel Rats! - Where we install a missile battery to our main base, find out that we need more time---and 100,000 credits---to make our Oceania base fully operational, and embark on a seek-and-destroy op to kill the survivors of a downed UFO. Here we spend a LOT of time hunting down Tamans who've taken refuge inside a massive underground complex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crKs8zS1YA8

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Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8z5KevvdJP1cN5ePFe_HMgXQGsH8Nc5G

I will be adding more in the days ahead.

Even after all these years, this game is still awesome.