61
Discussion / Discord server
« Last post by hay207 on October 25, 2020, 06:27:59 pm »Hi guys, how about a discord server, to revive game?
News:
New board
Recent Posts
62
Bugs in stable version (2.5) / Re: No Text when starting in Windows 10
« Last post by Gu-Doc on October 24, 2020, 11:39:18 pm »Ok,I have the same problem
I tried loading set s_language en from the console, and that didn't change anything.
Of note, I did some looking around, and in the config.cfg (attached- don't think there's anything personal in there besides my name) is a line reading 'set s_language "en" a'.
Attached is the console log from after I manually tried the set s_language en from console.
Of note, there are a lot of "no translation for xxxx.txt" at the end of the log - don't know if that's significant or not...
Thank you for taking the time to look into this. I had somewhat given up, which resulted in my delayed response. Now I know you're working on it, I'll be paying much more attention.
----------- parse msgids -----------
2020/10/25 00:28:55 18 msgid files
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for ufo_carrier_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for ufo_gunboat_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for ufo_ripper_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for ufo_mothership_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for irc_motd
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for mail_ufocarrier
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for victory_condition_fueldump
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for mission_briefing_mansion
2020/10/25 00:28:55 no translation for victory_condition_mansion
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for ugv_phoenix_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for ugv_ares_w_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for ugv_chaingun_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for ugv_chaingun_belt_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for ugv_weapon_autocannon_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for ugv_weapon_autocannon_pre_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for vhs_assault_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for xaw95_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for bombkit1_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for chaingun_txt
2020/10/25 00:28:56 no translation for encased_plasma_txt
63
Bugs in development version (2.6-dev) / Re: Happiness calculation must have changed in the player's favor at some point
« Last post by anonymissimus on September 22, 2020, 04:22:29 pm »Well, it is the result of commit
8679ae58a7e12f0fbf18e3776a090373c98b5a20 (2018-02-15)
The changes were originally motivated by a bug reported by me (bug 5543).
Now my problem is: No matter how many civilians died, as long as the mission is won, performanceAlien is high enough to get a happiness gain anyway because of this victoryBonusPerAlien = 0.1. While this is not really a bug, it makes the campaign a lot easier. In particular, there is no need to actively try to save civilians in difficult missions, it's enough to wait in smoke, scout every turn and kill if some alien shows up. This generally will kill most or all civilians, but it doesn't matter much anymore, see above.
I think performanceAlien should be normalized similar to performanceCivilian, which can never be lower than -0.5 even if they're all dead, so that it is insufficient to only win the mission.
8679ae58a7e12f0fbf18e3776a090373c98b5a20 (2018-02-15)
The changes were originally motivated by a bug reported by me (bug 5543).
Now my problem is: No matter how many civilians died, as long as the mission is won, performanceAlien is high enough to get a happiness gain anyway because of this victoryBonusPerAlien = 0.1. While this is not really a bug, it makes the campaign a lot easier. In particular, there is no need to actively try to save civilians in difficult missions, it's enough to wait in smoke, scout every turn and kill if some alien shows up. This generally will kill most or all civilians, but it doesn't matter much anymore, see above.
I think performanceAlien should be normalized similar to performanceCivilian, which can never be lower than -0.5 even if they're all dead, so that it is insufficient to only win the mission.
64
Bugs in development version (2.6-dev) / Happiness calculation must have changed in the player's favor at some point
« Last post by anonymissimus on September 13, 2020, 10:34:35 pm »I just won some mission with 1 out of 8 civilians surviving. I remember that such an outcome used to reduce nation happiness. It was 3/8 that was needed for avoiding happiness loss. The game got a good deal easier here it seems. It may be an in intended change of course. Perhaps it's also important that it was a crashed UFO mission, as they work differently (e.g. they don't reduce happiness at midnight). (Perhaps my memory stems from non-crashed UFO missions ?)
As a result, I managed to reach maximum happiness late July already. I recall that this is some months earlier than it used to be.
As a result, I managed to reach maximum happiness late July already. I recall that this is some months earlier than it used to be.
65
Tactics / Re: Survival problem using smoke - enemy attack without spotting.
« Last post by anonymissimus on September 13, 2020, 10:21:32 pm »Aliens can shoot at a soldier by chance if they attempt to hit a civilian or soldier outside of smoke and that soldier happens to be in line of fire. It never occurred to me that aliens are able to attack soldiers inside of smoke, they need a line of vision to be able to attack. It only may happen if they move right besides the target (typically using a plasma blade), or the target is (seems to be) behind smoke, rather than in it.
I also use latest master btw.
I also use latest master btw.
66
Tactics / Re: Survival problem using smoke - enemy attack without spotting.
« Last post by nick87720z on September 13, 2020, 11:02:56 am »Quote
I always put valuable soldiers right into smoke no matter how they cry about it.I did not mention in situation description, that soldiers stay in smoke, as it's in topic title. It's exactly about cases when attacked soldiers are in smoke. When played very hard at slightly earlier revision, I don't remember anyone in smoke being attacked without previously spotted by someone (if someone can seem me in smoke, I'm likely to see him if he is in scope of whomever he sees).
I'm not sure, how screenshots could help... may be videos could. Or... well, if only I made battlescape projection then added text comments. Could try next time (hope, these static maps are available for skirmish).
As for effectiveness of RF, it's situational. There are exactly two enemy types, against whom RF is good (sometimes only good):
- All melee-only enemies (either bloodspider or blade without sidearm/grenade available). This is good case to set high-TU RF mode, depending on minimal distance, enemy can make from nearest uncovered point to attack range for closest enemy.
- Hovernets at low range. Since they have only one firemode, for 16TU, they are also convenient target. Both during attack (I was able once to do 2 3x AR bursts with hiding/unhiding after each) and for RF - if no other enemies are expected, it's essential to set rifleman to 16x RF mode and shotgunner... two shots are enough in begining, but he's better to not miss, so besides having support, they walk with popguns for first time (4TU with still ability to somehow damage bloodspiders and not bad precision makes it best CC trainee weapon).
I always play to never lose anyone. Moreover at very hard
. Sometimes it's too unclear, who are to be targed by enemy.67
Tactics / Re: Survival problem using smoke - enemy attack without spotting.
« Last post by anonymissimus on September 12, 2020, 12:34:18 am »To be honest, I have problems imagining the depicted situations. Perhaps some (or a lot of small) screenshots could help.
Aliens try to hide behind corners and such when they fire on you, in an attempt to disable your reaction fire, and also move behind cover after their shot. Perhaps that's what you experience ?
On very hard, you generally can't use reaction fire, basically. Because even if you hit, the attacker still doesn't die from it, which very likely means your soldier is dead. This is because the damage (both inflicted and received) is vastly scaled in favour of the aliens. So, one loss, but still no kill. Not good enough, you'll lose.
I always put valuable soldiers right into smoke no matter how they cry about it. Generally, the mission is over before the stun damage comes into affect. The only really useful reaction fire situation is a plasma blaster, as its ball generally insta-kills a sheevar that comes running. But only cannon fodder soldiers can take on this risk.
Aliens try to hide behind corners and such when they fire on you, in an attempt to disable your reaction fire, and also move behind cover after their shot. Perhaps that's what you experience ?
On very hard, you generally can't use reaction fire, basically. Because even if you hit, the attacker still doesn't die from it, which very likely means your soldier is dead. This is because the damage (both inflicted and received) is vastly scaled in favour of the aliens. So, one loss, but still no kill. Not good enough, you'll lose.
I always put valuable soldiers right into smoke no matter how they cry about it. Generally, the mission is over before the stun damage comes into affect. The only really useful reaction fire situation is a plasma blaster, as its ball generally insta-kills a sheevar that comes running. But only cannon fodder soldiers can take on this risk.
68
Tactics / Survival problem using smoke - enemy attack without spotting.
« Last post by nick87720z on September 04, 2020, 02:57:50 pm »Previous times I successfuly used smoke to prevent enemy attacking soldier without getting right to next tile near him. At such distance units are usually spoted if in field of view (3 squares in front of my soldier, side squares are out). As result, enemy could not attack without reaction fire. Of course if enemy did not split spotter/attacker roles between different units.
Now I try latest July master commit (build near of mid-august), finally decided to master very hard level. I'm not sure, is it due to difficulty or code change (probably regression), but at least in some cases none of my soldiers spoted anyone (no even dedicated spotter) before being attacked. Smoke definitely works even if soldier stays at last covered tile before open area (otherwise reaction fire would be triggered from there too).
Examples (usually with shevaar, though could be with tamans too):
1. At mansion with panic room defense objective, minimal version (no garden part, spawning near underground far entrance).
- Two soldiers, one sabot-shotgunner with bomberman approaching underground service transport entrance in main building, shevaar is wondering inside. Those men are staying so, that full slope width is in fov (even if enemy passed behind, there would be spotting message with camera movement). People where attacked when slightly more than half of slope length remained, shevaar still was inside. Noone was ever spoted. I'm just not sure if attacker got close. On next round I discovered possible attacker (one shevaar outside) at side upstair (spoted with men, approaching main entrance). No way shevaar could do it if approached where could be spoted.
1.1. Same, but with armored taman with plasma rifle, this time it did not move after shot, yet it was right near of jalousie gates. Both cases - there is no dedicated spotter.
1.2. Other case on same mission - two men approaching to farthest (service non-underground) entrance. Again shevaar. Men stoped behind protrusion from side wall, before light column and car. One right behind protrusion, second near. Shevaar ended at other side of protrusion, right in inner corner, still trying to fire - probably to second one. Though this time line of fire reliably crossed protrusion.
2. Military bunker map. Several man approaching left entrance (ground level). Sabot-shotgunner in middle of corridor (3 tiles wide), filled by smoke. By some reason only 2 tiles wide part was filled. Two more man ended up right befind that part: sniper, who made two shots to shevaar inside (at entrance to baracks at left). Shotgunner, from seating missed 4 shots, left last for reaction fire (it was expert-level, but distance was maximum for sabot shotgun). Shotgunner was several tiles back from entrance corridor end. I don't know, who was target, but that shotgunner got hit, than that shevaar fall to sleep closest to split wall, leading to lift. There was shevaar in room, pretty able to shoot and hide remaining soldiers (that highly wanted sniper), but it only ended closer to barrack door.
Now I try latest July master commit (build near of mid-august), finally decided to master very hard level. I'm not sure, is it due to difficulty or code change (probably regression), but at least in some cases none of my soldiers spoted anyone (no even dedicated spotter) before being attacked. Smoke definitely works even if soldier stays at last covered tile before open area (otherwise reaction fire would be triggered from there too).
Examples (usually with shevaar, though could be with tamans too):
1. At mansion with panic room defense objective, minimal version (no garden part, spawning near underground far entrance).
- Two soldiers, one sabot-shotgunner with bomberman approaching underground service transport entrance in main building, shevaar is wondering inside. Those men are staying so, that full slope width is in fov (even if enemy passed behind, there would be spotting message with camera movement). People where attacked when slightly more than half of slope length remained, shevaar still was inside. Noone was ever spoted. I'm just not sure if attacker got close. On next round I discovered possible attacker (one shevaar outside) at side upstair (spoted with men, approaching main entrance). No way shevaar could do it if approached where could be spoted.
1.1. Same, but with armored taman with plasma rifle, this time it did not move after shot, yet it was right near of jalousie gates. Both cases - there is no dedicated spotter.
1.2. Other case on same mission - two men approaching to farthest (service non-underground) entrance. Again shevaar. Men stoped behind protrusion from side wall, before light column and car. One right behind protrusion, second near. Shevaar ended at other side of protrusion, right in inner corner, still trying to fire - probably to second one. Though this time line of fire reliably crossed protrusion.
2. Military bunker map. Several man approaching left entrance (ground level). Sabot-shotgunner in middle of corridor (3 tiles wide), filled by smoke. By some reason only 2 tiles wide part was filled. Two more man ended up right befind that part: sniper, who made two shots to shevaar inside (at entrance to baracks at left). Shotgunner, from seating missed 4 shots, left last for reaction fire (it was expert-level, but distance was maximum for sabot shotgun). Shotgunner was several tiles back from entrance corridor end. I don't know, who was target, but that shotgunner got hit, than that shevaar fall to sleep closest to split wall, leading to lift. There was shevaar in room, pretty able to shoot and hide remaining soldiers (that highly wanted sniper), but it only ended closer to barrack door.
69
Coding / Re: Using cmake to setup build env
« Last post by anonymissimus on August 28, 2020, 08:21:29 pm »That probably means that in debug mode, we should define some flag that we don'tYes, I found it. We should add_definitions(-DDEBUG). I've submitted a patch:
https://ufoai.org/bugs/ufoalieninvasion/issues/5748
70
Design / Re: RE: Weapon Proposals[1st Post-nub-INCOMPLETE]
« Last post by nick87720z on August 28, 2020, 07:33:10 pm »I begin to think, that they don't even read topics, saying about new weapons, new ammo or any changes in caption, like my own .
Just some rationale to enhance above:
It's clear that up to 2050 world could move further towads "human" weapons using as low as possible calibers. But at least when Phalanx project is started (begining of gameplay), it's should be clear, that more effective weapons could be discovered in near past. Lower caliber means not only weaker rounds but also less acceleration force (thus anti-armor effect).
- Using rifle caliber (lower than pistol's standard cal) took place during WWII. With lower caliber - could be some spy weapon, for hidden target kill (should avoid even some clothes, not only armor), but choosing such as best anti-alien weapon in the world (sic) by dedicated anti-alien company looks rather funny (may be taman eye could suffer from that). So, 8mm or 9mm, possibly with subcaliber darts (later plasma bullet) is necessary.
- .50cal assault rifle (there is known real world implementation) could be great as heavy assault rifle (as with needlers).
- Light Machinegun (that one with 5.56mm caliber) - needs higher ROF than assault rifle.
- 7.62mm (RW general purpose) machinegun could take role of heavier machinegun (again as with needlers).
- Choosing semi-auto only variant for shotgun looks not enough, we already have (in RW) full-auto shotguns. Riot shotgun could be full-auto weapon with some burst modes (3x, 5x).
- Oh, and low-cal pistol _Must_ have burst fire mode in order to be rated as anti-alien weapon.
- Pistol shotgun must be able to use all ammo, usable by riot shotgun. With slugs it could be better pistol variant. Finally it's not supposed to be shooted in gangsta style, so such weapon must have special butt, usable for heavy one-hand weapons (same for auto-pistol).
- Also heavier machinegun could just have even higher ROF, probably be revolver gun. 3-barreled XM is too unrealistic for game, pursuing realism. At least it must get rid of electric motor. Making it revolver gun, with balanced automatics and powerful muzzle brake (using full exhaust separation after bullet pass via dedicated gas engine) would make such MG usable in man-portable role.
- Oh, just for multibarrel - 4-barrel 20mm electric-driven... avia cannon. Seriously? Devil knows, how phalanx could mark it as best anti-alien weapon in 2049. Even RW USA uses 30mm 7-barrel as really best anti-tank weapon for it's as famous fighter-bomber. It could be not worst if could get rid of electric motor (it would need more power for 4 barrels than it's now for 6 or 7 of them). Looks funny side by side with 20mm anti-material SR, chosen by phalanx as only (and world best) sniper weapon.
- There could be one- or two-barrel (gast) version with higher caliber, enough to take medium-weight weapon role. Could be same minirockets, but still with more ammo and precision.
All earth bullet/projectile weapon could have additional ammo types.
- "alien" subcaliber darts from alien materials. If coilgun choose it for it's ammo type, then why not try it for everything else. Also good for railgun. It would be great upgrade after alien materials are researched, before plasma bullets and coilgun are available.
- Coilgun looks better choice for antimatter rounds than railgun, due to (audibly) even softer projectile start. Also it could fire full-caliber explosive rounds (lower caliber than for GL). Plasma blade bullet would be ideal for such precise round launcher (unlike grenade launcher).
- Alien needlers could use with minimal changes any other ammo, designed at earth. Auto-coilgun, serving as more advanced replacement for machineguns.
By the way... Laser and plasma wounds should not bleed. Yet cyber organisms could also bleed (from hydroulic systems) and malfunction (in form of reduced speed).
.Just some rationale to enhance above:
It's clear that up to 2050 world could move further towads "human" weapons using as low as possible calibers. But at least when Phalanx project is started (begining of gameplay), it's should be clear, that more effective weapons could be discovered in near past. Lower caliber means not only weaker rounds but also less acceleration force (thus anti-armor effect).
- Using rifle caliber (lower than pistol's standard cal) took place during WWII. With lower caliber - could be some spy weapon, for hidden target kill (should avoid even some clothes, not only armor), but choosing such as best anti-alien weapon in the world (sic) by dedicated anti-alien company looks rather funny (may be taman eye could suffer from that). So, 8mm or 9mm, possibly with subcaliber darts (later plasma bullet) is necessary.
- .50cal assault rifle (there is known real world implementation) could be great as heavy assault rifle (as with needlers).
- Light Machinegun (that one with 5.56mm caliber) - needs higher ROF than assault rifle.
- 7.62mm (RW general purpose) machinegun could take role of heavier machinegun (again as with needlers).
- Choosing semi-auto only variant for shotgun looks not enough, we already have (in RW) full-auto shotguns. Riot shotgun could be full-auto weapon with some burst modes (3x, 5x).
- Oh, and low-cal pistol _Must_ have burst fire mode in order to be rated as anti-alien weapon.
- Pistol shotgun must be able to use all ammo, usable by riot shotgun. With slugs it could be better pistol variant. Finally it's not supposed to be shooted in gangsta style, so such weapon must have special butt, usable for heavy one-hand weapons (same for auto-pistol).
- Also heavier machinegun could just have even higher ROF, probably be revolver gun. 3-barreled XM is too unrealistic for game, pursuing realism. At least it must get rid of electric motor. Making it revolver gun, with balanced automatics and powerful muzzle brake (using full exhaust separation after bullet pass via dedicated gas engine) would make such MG usable in man-portable role.
- Oh, just for multibarrel - 4-barrel 20mm electric-driven... avia cannon. Seriously? Devil knows, how phalanx could mark it as best anti-alien weapon in 2049. Even RW USA uses 30mm 7-barrel as really best anti-tank weapon for it's as famous fighter-bomber. It could be not worst if could get rid of electric motor (it would need more power for 4 barrels than it's now for 6 or 7 of them). Looks funny side by side with 20mm anti-material SR, chosen by phalanx as only (and world best) sniper weapon.
- There could be one- or two-barrel (gast) version with higher caliber, enough to take medium-weight weapon role. Could be same minirockets, but still with more ammo and precision.
All earth bullet/projectile weapon could have additional ammo types.
- "alien" subcaliber darts from alien materials. If coilgun choose it for it's ammo type, then why not try it for everything else. Also good for railgun. It would be great upgrade after alien materials are researched, before plasma bullets and coilgun are available.
- Coilgun looks better choice for antimatter rounds than railgun, due to (audibly) even softer projectile start. Also it could fire full-caliber explosive rounds (lower caliber than for GL). Plasma blade bullet would be ideal for such precise round launcher (unlike grenade launcher).
- Alien needlers could use with minimal changes any other ammo, designed at earth. Auto-coilgun, serving as more advanced replacement for machineguns.
By the way... Laser and plasma wounds should not bleed. Yet cyber organisms could also bleed (from hydroulic systems) and malfunction (in form of reduced speed).