2.4 vs 2.3.1 (Newbies/2.2/2.3 holdouts must read!!!)

[Kobura]

The difference is ASTOUNDING. 2.3.1, broken reaction fire, eh graphics, 3D worldview got a nice facelift from last time I played (can't remember when exactly), tons more maps from when I last played which is really nice

ok. ok. I played that for the past couple days, then decided I'd stick 2.4 somewhere else so it's newness and dev-state-ness wouldn't wreck my carefully pieced together saves

holy crap, never going back. The particle effects are **GORGEOUS**. Seeing a flurry of tracers from the machinegun is seriously like a religious experience. Explosions are EXPLOSIONS. The aliens screeching on hit and death is an amazing touch. Hits actually register with bloodsplatter or noise or accurate tracer impacts or all three!

Also reaction fire seems to WORK. I set up a bunch of snipers covering the advance to a Harvester, certain they wouldn't do anything as aliens strolled among my forces with Kerrblades... but no. One Taman showed his head for just an instant, then a bloodspider moved a little further than the Taman had (this was my first mission, I was a little O_o at a bloodspider already), and the two shots that rang out seemed aimed at the Spider but one hit and killed the Taman. Excellent.

And an Assault Rifle that can autofire!! Finally. These changes seem amazing! I literally almost melted like so much Inferno'd alien when I saw all the changes. And the alternate HUD isn't completely disorienting either (though the arrows for weapon hands is a poor touch)

A few notes: The HUD seems rather set on each soldier, and changing to another one has a delay when displaying the second soldier's stats, this is somewhat disorienting. Generally seems to be minor issues with the alternate HUD when switching displayed soldiers, ie if the initial selected is crouching and you switch by any means to one not crouching, the image updates the skin but not the pose. Also the crouch/notcrouch buttons don't seem to update correctly on the alterHUD, when swapped from crouching to not crouching as noted above the "Crouch" button was still depressed, selected, highlighted (with all those gorgeous graphics) but when I thought "Oh I'll just click Stand" the second previously standing soldier crouched, but the Stand button was highlighted. Disorienting but likely a minor fix.

Seriously. The difference is night and day. Don't even bother 2.3.1, go straight for 2.4!!!!! (I'm only in for a couple missions so far so can't comment on stability but it's an alpha/beta game anyway so)

[Brettie-C]

Newbie here, where can i get 2.4 because 2.3 keeps going unresponsive on loading maps even out of fullscreen

[Kobura]

http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=2830.645

But I still recommend making your video changes, then hitting back, CLOSING OUT OF THE GAME, reloading it, then trying the battlespace. You're describing a common 2.3.1 symptom IIRC.

[Brettie-C]

ok thanks, nice to know people help each other.

[Kobura]

You won't get any harping on "Go search" from me :p

Unless of course it's a super-common question that I know a thread was recently answered for

Or I don't KNOW the answer :p

I wish I could help this project more.

[Destructavator]

I wish I could help this project more.

Actually, there's plenty you can do, even if you don't have coding (programming) or modeling skills.

Mapping is always an area where we could use some help, our map editor is also under constant development and isn't very hard to learn how to use (no modeling or graphic design skills are really needed to use it).  We have mapping tutorials, although I'm not quite sure how up-to-date they are.

If map-making doesn't interest you, it certainly doesn't help to have more people testing stuff for bugs and reporting them.

BTW, welcome to the project and the forum (both of you).

[Kobura]

Appreciated. I'm an autodiagnostician (read: sorta hypocondriac ish though unfortunately a significant number of my suspicions are founded) and the medically-aware life taught me to be a religious quality controller of my own body, which extends outwards.

So I notice things and am eager to share them. Speaking of which there was a weird occurrence on one of the maps where a bloodspider was ricocheting in place in a tile (I think after striking one of my d00ds but not sure) which I revealed after it was adjacent to a soldier. The unit was incapable of being shot, I didn't test grenades. Those *BEAUTIFUL* particle effects from my LMG went right through its square despite an advertised high chance to hit, repeated with several full TU-bars of SMG and some sniper shots.

I didn't take screens and didn't let it carry over a turn or try explosives, but figured it was worth something to know. One of the jungle crash levels.

[Brettie-C]

Well im doing a graphics design course at college atm and am quite talented at creating things from scratch. Would this be any help with the project?

I adore xcom and ufo games and played nearly all the RTS versions so helping with this would be rather satisfying.

[Destructavator]

Well im doing a graphics design course at college atm and am quite talented at creating things from scratch. Would this be any help with the project?

I adore xcom and ufo games and played nearly all the RTS versions so helping with this would be rather satisfying.

Yes!  We can always use more artwork, both 2D and 3D (modeling), as well as textures for building maps and other stuff.  We can accept such contributions exported from almost any common program, whether you use commercial stuff (Photo-shop, Maya, 3DS, etc.) or the free ones (Gimp, Blender, etc.).

I've also been hoping that at some point someone with skills in video editing would come along, so I could work with them on in-game videos for the intro, parts of the plot, etc.  I personally have a registered copy of Terragen 2 Deep with Animation that I'm still learning how to use, although I don't have enough stuff (3D models of buildings, cities, trees, etc.) to import into it for most of the video clip ideas I've had.  I've been using Corel Videostudio software along with Blender's animation features, although I don't have any access to the real high-end stuff (like the multi-thousand dollar packages Adobe makes).

[Brettie-C]

At college i use 3D studio, i could show you a piece of my work if you want as i have a piece of work that was entered into a competition

:EDIT: also ive just realised i cud show you all the work ive done at college. i can log onto my college server and collect it all

[Kobura]

I have another 3D modeller graduate friend I'm going to recommend to the project to expose her ability. Something to put on the resume' :]

[Sarin]

Bit back on topic. Do 2.4 (current dev version) present any significant gameplay difference from 2.3, like new items, research, aliens etc.? I noticed a couple new maps, I hope it's not all...

[Kobura]

The weapons are different. Straight up for instance, the Assault Rifle offers an 18-TU Full-Auto, and the Snap Shot is 8TU (I seem to remember it being 9, but that might've been the em rifle too)

There are different things. UGVs are NOT implemented (correct me if I'm wrong!!!) but some of their parts are available to buy and I'd assume it's a dead feature right now so don't waste money on it.

I haven't even researched lasers yet so I'm not the best to ask. I dislike warping time too hard so the game stretches out long for me.

*EDIT* it's also worth noting that, not sure about it depending on difficulty, but soldiers seem to start SIGNIFICANTLY more capable. Like all my available options are "Competent" (ranging in the 30s) and some are "Proficient" (low 40s) in things. They still have average (20s) and a couple mediocre (10s) but by and large soldiers are actually able to hit shit. Also they improve at a noticeable but still not terribly speedy rate, generally just much better as far as being able to hit barns with scoped match/military-grade rifles. An immensely positive change from 2.3.1 and 2.4

[Sarin]

I did notice that in 2.4, soldier starting stats are considerably improved. It is possible now to select only soldiers with 40+ mind, 30+ accuracy and speed. But I wanna know if there is something truly new, since I got in quite annoying part of game now, and don't wanna continue unless there will be something new.

[Lisander]

Well, I noticed the game is much more easier than 2.3.1. Ten missions after the start of the campaing, i have the same squad of soldiers. No one was KIA. They look ealthier now, and can endure a couple of plasma pistol shots before falling, even unarmored or with the combat armour.