Am I really playing Superhuman?

[wakiki]

So yeah, I started a game on Superhuman and have since read about the Superhuman = Beginner bug.

 

It's seemed to me like the monsters were definitely harder. Sectoids that used to always go down in 1 human pistol/rifle shot now often take 3, floaters resist laser pistol/rifle shots, cyberdiscs take alot more work, etc. Yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm still playing on beginner. I want to confirm that I'm not so it stops bothering me.

 

I recently took down a medium scout with snakemans in it. My men killed two snakemans and the mission ended: 2 aliens killed, 8 alien corpses found. Medium scouts have 3-6 aliens in beginner difficulty, 6-9 on superhuman. Does this mean that I'm definitely on superhuman, or are crash sites computed differently?

 

Here's the source for how many snakemans a medium scout has:

 

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=M...lien_Deployment

Edited July 1, 2011 by wakiki

[[NKF]]

Don't forget that damage has a random roll, so even on beginner a Sectoid soldier can potentially survive several pistol bullets. But yeah on average they do take more damage.

 

Your number of aliens sounds about right. The multi player UFO AAR I'm running and participating in has had a lot of medium scouts in the early to mid portion of the game and very frequently we've had only 2 ~ 3 aliens in the map for shot down medium scouts.

 

But to double check, a good in-game method beyond the alien count is to use a mind probe and compare the alien stats against the values in this page:

 

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Alien_Stats

 

See if the armour levels are half the listed values, as they're always halved on beginner but are normal on all others.

 

- NKF

Edited July 1, 2011 by NKF

[wakiki]

Nope, I'm playing beginner.

 

Grrrr.

 

=[

[yarrow]

mind probe is the simplest

and perhaps fastest method of verifying difficulty level

 

but ...

I was considering other methods, and I guess have found another one

be warned, it is rather strange method, but it works

 

on beginner level, psi strength of 70 is sufficient, to be mind control immune

but on superhuman level, min 80 is required

 

so you can try this way

get only 1 soldier, with 70-79 psi strength

on a 'psi mission' like sectoid base or any ethereal mission

 

and observe

if 70-79 psi strength soldier is mind controlled by sectoid leader or ethereal

you are playing on superhuman

 

I did say it is strange method, right?

 

yarrow

 

PS.

remember that psi attacks are dependant on distance

from attacker to victim, so try to stand close to attacker

( next to attacker if you can )

Edited July 1, 2011 by yarrow

[wakiki]

That method would work, but the mind probe is way faster. I research mind probes after lasers and personal armor 'cause I think they are useful (especially for seeing how many TUs an alien has, not just for finding Navigators).

 

I'm messing with XcomUtil now. I said "N" for all of the options, but I still have Interceptors with Crew space. Sigh. :\

[wakiki]

Got Superhuman running. Score! But the second mission always freezes the game when I start it. Sigh. I guess that's why they made it revert to Beginner in the first place.

 

I guess I'll just keep working on this. :\

[yarrow]

said to all option "N" and still got Iterceptors with crew

thats funny, perhaps some options should be rather Y

 

I use only collectors edition, so I have o problem with difficulty level, but ...

If I remember correctly, someone created a patch for dos version

that fixes difficulty level bug

 

how about startegycore, maybe you should try there?

 

BTW

I would prefer mind probe method too, same as you do

but in XCom, its a good thing to always have a backup plan ... just in case

 

yarrow

[[NKF]]

Sounds like you might be using an older version of XComutil, which does apply some changes without your consent like the extra slots on the Interceptor and Skyranger. The new developer, Bladefirelight, has updated it so that you have better control over what optional modifications it does to the game.

 

But if you just want a plain vanilla fix for the difficulty bug, I actually made one available for the multi-player game I'm running on Strategycore. It's a geoscape.exe replacement for the Dos version. Requires that you've patched the game up to v1.4.

 

You can get it in the discussion thread, at the bottom of the first post:

 

http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/UFO-E...sion-t8802.html

 

It won't stop your save from remaining at beginner level if it has already reverted. You'll need to manually alter the difficulty level yourself, or start a new game. The fix only ensures that the difficulty level is recorded when you save.

 

- NKF

[wakiki]

Thanks NKF! I have it working. And I love not being annoyed by interceptors with optional crew. Word. =]

[wakiki]

It's working NKF, but I have a question:

 

Did you "fix" the fact that grenades don't explode until they hit the ground? I just played a mission and primed high explosives at the beginning, and they exploded in their hands, killing everyone.

 

EDIT: But now that I think about it, I had set one of the timers to go off at the end of the alien's next turn (two turns from then, timer "3") so it must have just been a bug...

Edited July 10, 2011 by wakiki

[yarrow]

follow this:

 

http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Understanding_Grenades

 

yarrow

[[NKF]]

My fix only affects the Geoscape. If your explosives are exploding in their hands then something else is wrong as grenades are only meant to go off when they're on the ground in between turns.

 

Are you using any other patches with the game, or have you modified it in any way? Or was the explosion in conjunction with walking over something, as mentioned in the proximity mine bug bit in the article Yarrow linked?

 

Just running through the possibilities, perhaps the explosion was caused by an alien grenade? The AI is a bit weird in that it uses a gun firing noise for its grenade tosses, so it may have sounded like a missed shot, but it was really a grenade? Just a thought.

 

- NKF

Edited July 11, 2011 by NKF

[wakiki]

Nah, it wasn't any of those. It definitely happened twice in the mission. The first time I primed a HE on someone who was in the 2nd line (i.e., not the front line, so I'm sure she didn't get shot). It exploded in her hands three counts before it should have. Then I primed another HE on someone else underneath the skyranger and that one exploded in his/her hands at the end of the turn -- before any aliens shot -- killing four people.

 

I think I used Proximity Grenades last mission, or maybe I primed grenades and they weren't exploded at the end of the mission. Maybe that messed them up.

 

If I manage to replicate it I will let you know. I'm not using anything other than your patch.

[[NKF]]

I take it you're using Dosbox. Perhaps change the cycles a bit. Either speed it up a little or slow it down. Do this before you start the game, or before launching into a battle. Because Dosbox cannot perfectly emulate the same conditions on all PCs, there are some cycle settings can cause a lot of weird (and often unfair) things to happen with old Dos games.

 

To test your grenade problem, just launch any old mission and bring a selection of grenades with you, save on the first turn and start experimenting. Maybe a 0-turn grenade stuffed in the belt for example. Then end the turn. Then try the same thing with a High Explosive pack - just for peace of mind.

 

Also regarding your grenades going off earlier than they should: don't forget that each tick on the grenade timer is actually worth half a turn, not a full turn. It's not the most intuitive thing in the world - but there you go. The grenade topic Yarrow linked has a fuller explanation.

 

- NKF

Edited July 12, 2011 by NKF

[Ron Wood]

I just finished the game on superhuman and ironman mode. I bought it from steam and forgot to think about patching it?

 

Does anybody know if the steam version has the difficulty bug? I started wondering if it was on beginner as I met ethereals first time in Cydonia (on last mission). And only saw like 2 muton ships in earth. Also, sectopods ( those mech kind robots ) I only met in Cydonia.

[[NKF]]

How early did you attack Cydonia? There is a bit of randomness involved, but aliens have a schedule of when they can start appearing for the first 8 months of the game. See:

 

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=A...pearance_Ratios

 

As for your game being patched or otherwise, I'm not sure whether they fixed the difficulty bug for the Dos executable, but the Windows executable is definitely patched.

 

You can test the difficulty level by using a mind probe and check the armour levels of the aliens. Use the following table as a reference:

 

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Alien_Stats

 

If it's half the number listed in that table, then you're on beginner.

 

Alternately count the number of aliens that you're up against. A terror site on superhuman for example can have something like 18 - 24 aliens on the map. On beginner you'd see 10 - 16.

 

- NKF

Edited September 19, 2011 by NKF

[Ron Wood]

Ahh, floaters had half armour. Quess it was in beginner mode then. Annoying bug.

 

Well, good reason to play it through again.

 

Anybody tried if the game is much harder on french or german language?