I Invented A New Game Mode

[Whitewashed]

I don't know if anyone else has done this before but I started a new kind of game to make things more interesting. Uncreatively I call it hardcore mode

 

The thing is that you can't use any alien tech, only the things that can be bought and manufactured human tech. This means that the alien grenades, plasma weapons, small launcher, blaster bomb all are unusable. Things that aren't pure alien tech but rather human tech based on alien materia such as the armours and psi amp, hoover tanks and new craft can be used though.

 

So far I'm doing pretty well with the laser rifles but when the mutons start coming and the most powerful weapon against them will be heavy laser, things will get interesting!

 

EDIT: I will also have to capture the live aliens using the stun rod now...

Edited February 14, 2004 by Whitewashed

[Black Dash]

That's great!! Personaly i suck a bit at X-Com, but the game is so great that i can't let it go. That mode can be very good for those who think thenselves as champions of th game already. Heheh... must be fun seeing X-com trying to catch a mutton with a stut rod while he shoots plasma bullets.

[mamutas]

STJones has invented many game modes, including the one you mentioned.

[[NKF]]

Hmm, at one time, I played the battlescape missions entirely with grenades, one laser pistol (only for getting enemies off the ground) and a variety of armour (mostly personal armour, with a sprinkling of power armour for the officers). Oh, and a stun-rod for capturing research critical aliens (1 navigator, 1 leader (or commander), 1 commander).

 

I never had too many alien grenades, as I went through those pretty fast. My best weapons were the proximity mines and high explosives. Even the standard grenade is quite powerful as well when used against low-armour enemies.

 

I played all the way up to a point just after I met up with the ethereals, then stopped playing. Well, it wasn't entirely because I didn't want to face them, I was being distracted with another game at the time. (superhuman sectopods can take a generous beating)

 

Anyway, I was actually amazed at how far I could get with such equipment. Granted, I was forced to make a few tactical retreats once I'd run out of grenades (I refused to use the las. pistol for anything but targets that are levitating in the air). Money was no problem even though I was destroying most of the loot that could have been picked up in the field. I also lost a few squads and one or two Skyrangers. But hey, it was a lot of fun - and somewhat educational as well.

 

You have got to love this game. There's a good variety of ways you can play it and still get along just fine.

 

I later tried a similar campaign but with a new twist. I played entirely with rocket launchers. Again, I stopped shortly after meeting the ethereals. I was blowing up sectopods left and right (with the occasional tactical retreat because I'd run out of rockets). It was no fun anymore. You really just have to watch out for making mistakes, as large rockets make really big bangs!

 

- NKF

 

P. S: This is actually the same as what's being suggested in this thread. Only minus the guns.

Edited February 14, 2004 by NKF

[[stewart]]

NKF as I recall you listed a number of challenges at XTC. Would you be so kind as present them to our members here.

[[NKF]]

Hmm? Oh, sure.

 

Here's the first one I put up: The Solo-Floater-Base-Assualt-With-Pistol-And-Handful-of-Grenades scenario:

 

http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/xchal/challenge.html

 

The challenge spans the duration of a single mission and not an entire campaign. The name says it all, really. Just take a soldier in, arm him or her with a pistol (of your choice) and maybe some grenades, and take on a floater base. You can also try taking on a floater battleship if you don't have a floater base. You don't need to grab the savegame I've provided and can use one of your own.

 

And finally (I don't have that many), the more recent Play from Scratch scenario.

 

http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/xchal/scratch.html

 

You'll need to grab the savegame. This one can be played as a proper campaign, though the objectives are more immediate. Get your facilities up and running and try to attain self sufficiency without going bankrupt. However, you are not getting any montetary assistance from any of the earth governments (they've all defected), and on top of that, you start off with no base, no staff, no equipment, nothing. Except cash. Your funds are almost double the usual amount you get when you start a normal game to compensate for these heavy drawbacks. You will almost always get negative marks for the first month, but don't worry, you can still go on. Even though there are no supporting countries, X-Com can get shut down in the usual ways (via bankruptcy, or having negative scores several months in a row).

 

Anyone grabbing the savegames I've provided for either challenge, please note that they're all in superhuman (unless specified). If you want it to be on an easier setting, you can use XComutil to change the difficulty levels.

 

Have fun.

 

- NKF

[Hexeon]

Don't you lose the game if the majority of the countries defect, regardless of your financial standing & scores?

[[stewart]]

Nope I've lost them all but Russia (the biggest country in the world). BTW has anyone ever lost Russia. Also, I've said it before I'll say it again, I've gotten countries back.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Hax0r!

 

I've never gotten countries back.

[Black Dash]

I've never lost one since i load very often...

[[NKF]]

You do lose if a major number of countries defect at the end of the month, but seeing as there are no more countries that'll defect, the game will proceed.

 

What I'm saying is, you only get a chance at being sacked at the time the countries pull out. Not after.

 

Nevertheless, this does not mean you can slack off and let the aliens build up their activity points! Far from it. It just means you can let the occasional infiltrator go without any serious repercussions (as I said, there's nothing left to infiltrate). The aliens are dumb enough to infiltrate a country that has already been infiltrated even in the normal game.

 

- NKF

Edited February 17, 2004 by NKF

[Whitewashed]

How do you get infiltrated countries back?

[Lord FoX]

good question.....how do you get infiltrated countries back? cud be useful info....

 

tho the best way wud be never lose it in the first place surely......

[[dipstick]]

I haven't got the USA back - and I just pulled a 7000+ score

[Cpl. Facehugger]

You can't get countries back. Unless you count Stewart.

[Jonaleth Irenicus]

And Stewart probably goes up to the country and says something like: "Look, we know the aliens gave you the weapons and such, but behold OUR FLYING SUIT!!!".

 

What, you didn't see the "buy back country with advanced X-Com tech" button at the funding screen?

 

Your fault entirely...

[centurion]

You can't get countries back. Unless you count Stewart.

court, no?

[calebsgrant]

EDIT: I will also have to capture the live aliens using the stun rod now...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Recently I stunned a Muton navigator with a stun rod. It took five tries with two soldiers. I had to sneak up on it and nail it from behind a few times.

[[stewart]]

Some unlucky fellow at XTC, it might be Zombie actually, is actually trying to figure out how to get countries back he's playing the same sequence of months over and over and over again. How have I gotten countries back? I had assumed it was because I kept my monthly scores very high but (I really forget who it was) tried that and nothing. So, in fact, it might be random.

[[stewart]]

Yep it was Zombie all right; he's a hard working fellow. Here is the thread at XTC.

[Zombie]

I frequently use the Stun Rod on Mutons. For the most part, it will take two or three pokes to knock one out. Every once and a while I have been able to stun a Muton with one jab.

 

From my Damage Modifier Tests over at the StrategyCore forums, I found that the Stun Rod does 65 for its average damage. Compare that against the Stun Bomb which does 90. Not too shabby!

 

Stun Rod: Min - 0, Ave - 65, Max - 130

Stun Bomb: Min - 0, Ave - 90, Max - 180

 

The reason why it might take multiple pokes with the Stun Rod is because there is an equal chance of damaging an alien for a number anywhere in the range. Sometimes you might get a very low number, while other times you might get higher stun numbers. It just depends on the roll of the dice!

[Zombie]

Some unlucky fellow at XTC, it might be Zombie actually, is actually trying to figure out how to get countries back he's playing the same sequence of months over and over and over again.  How have I gotten countries back?  I had assumed it was because I kept my monthly scores very high but (I really forget who it was) tried that and nothing.  So, in fact, it might be random.

 

Indeed, I am the idiot doing those tests.

 

Just to keep everyone up-to-date on what has transpired since my last post in that thread: I have managed to keep my monthly score above at least 10,000 points for 10 months straight. Still no luck in getting China to re-sign back with X-COM forces.

 

For my tests, I was using the PlayStation version of X-COM. That version (along with X-COM CE, and the Amiga) were on the market well after the initial release of UFO Enemy Unknown on DOS. Since stewart has the original DOS version, I'm thinking that the subsequent versions had this "flaw" removed.

 

Getting a country to switch back under the DOS version may be random, but then again, it might have to do with impressing the country that turned. Unfortunately, I do not have this version to do any tests on it to find out for sure. Hopefully, ebay has an old copy for sale sometime!

[wakiki]

Could it have anything to do with how many countries have defected? Just a guess. For instance, if 5 countries have defected, perhaps you have a 5x higher chance each high scoring month to get them back? If you are still doing those tests, I would suggest that you try it with more than just China having joined the aliens

[Zombie]

If anything, there would be 5x less of a chance if more countries turned. It stands to reason that if more countries defected, it would be tougher to get any one of them back. Doesn't really matter though, because right now I have about 7 countries (besides China) which sided with the aliens, and still no luck.

 

According to quantifier's notes (who had countries return back), both India and South Africa switched back to X-COM at the same time. But the version he was using was the old DOS. I'm playing with the CE, and Playstation. I still think that the programmers did a bit of "tweaking" to these, before "re-releasing" the game for sale under these ports. Most likely, getting countries to switch back using these versions would be impossible.

[wakiki]

Ahh okay. The way I figured it, if each country had a a percentage N% of returning after each month that you had a high score, then the more countries that had defected, the more likely that one or more would return. (like, if 5 countries had 1% chance that would be a 5% chance, etc.) Of course, if they simply removed it, then ah well.

 

EDITL Another question. How does Lord FoX have 0 posts?

Edited March 10, 2005 by wakiki

[Quantifier]

It is correct, I got India and South Africa back at the same time, but on the other hand, I lost them at the same time. That may be the cause.

 

Also, it was with old (non patched) version when I originally played that campaign, and savegames (I still have them) were created by this version. They were somehow corrupted, because I was loading them with both v1.2 (back then for playing) and v1.4 (now, for tests) and countries were going away on June and getting back on December every year .

 

Just now i was checking it once more. I loaded savegame from November 2000 into 1.4 version, waited one month, and... still zero! They didn't come back this time!

Edited March 10, 2005 by quantifier

[Waxie]

When I play it I only use the Laser Rifle find it has the best aiming accuracy of all the weapons except the weapon you can pick the selections how to fly (forgot the name cause it's a long time ago since I've seen it )

[[NKF]]

Blaster launcher. But the accuracy for the blaster is highly dependant on your ability to plot waypoints that ensure that the bomb doesn't clip a wall or whatever as it travels - and it does tend to drift sideways when it goes from waypoint to waypoint.

 

Actually, the best aiming weapon is the rocket launcher. At 115%. The next best are the the heavy plasma, small launcher and standard rifle, all with 110% aimed accuracy. The laser rifle's at 100% - but it's faster! The others only get 1 aimed shot while the laser rifle gets 2.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

I hate to make this another Blaster Bomb thread, but here it goes:

 

The game actually gives an aimed accuracy for the Blaster Launcher: 120%. I mean, that accuracy has to play a role in your chance to hit a target, not just your ability to set those waypoints in the first place.

 

"Normal" ranged weapons have a base chance to hit dependent not only upon the accuracy of the weapon, but also the accuracy of the soldier firing that weapon. For instance, if a soldier having a firing accuracy of 60% fires an aimed shot from a Rocket Launcher (having a weapon accuracy of 115%), the base chance to hit the target would be 0.60 * 115 = 69% (you could also use 1.15 * 60; that’s the same number). Distance will also play a role in your soldier's ability to hit a target. Double the distance, and you should see half the accuracy.

 

Obviously, the 120% the game gives is not for overall chance to hit, as waypoints are involved. What I think is that the game uses that 120% weapon accuracy to determine if the bomb will reach the next waypoint successfully. Say a soldier has a firing accuracy of 60%. 0.60 * 120 = 72%. That is the base chance to make it to the next target without drifting due to distance. The greater the distance between successive waypoints; the greater the chance that the bomb will “drift”. Indeed, I have noticed that larger waypoint distances correlate to lower accuracy.

[[NKF]]

I'm leaning towards the 120% accuracy modifier for waypoint to waypoint calculations myself.

 

Let's go give it a try on a 0 accuracy soldier (easiest is to just get a 'X-Com' Chryssalid) and see what wackiness emerges from this.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

I don't know if you had any time to run some trials yourself NKF, but I messed around with the Blaster Launcher for a couple of days.

 

Found a Snakeman Battleship and killed all the aliens except for three. I saved a Snakeman Soldier to keep the mission from ending, another Snakeman Soldier whose FA had been reduced to 5% via wounds, and a normal Chryssalid. I let the Chryssalid turn one of my soldiers into a zombie, MC'd the zombie and shot it until it changed into a Chryssalid with 0% FA. Now I gave the 5% FA Snakeman and the 0% FA Chryssalid a Blaster Launcher with 4 bombs. Let the testing begin!

 

For each trial, I had the bomb travel down a long corridoor fashioned from my soldiers. I also set the waypoint at different distances: 5 tiles, 10 tiles, 15 tiles, 20 tiles and diagonally across the map on level 3.

 

For the shorter distances between 0 and 10 tiles in length, the bomb rarely drifted much from it's predetermined flight-path. That didn't surprise me much. For longer distances between 10 and 20 tiles in length, the bomb occasionally drifted enough to hit an unlucky soldier. Still, with 0% FA for that X-COM Chryssalid, the bomb should have been flying all over the place. Instead, very few shots actually drifted. Same for the 5% FA Snakeman Soldier. The diagional shots across the map never drifted more than a half of a tile either.

 

Me thinks some tests with a soldier having a FA of 125%, and a 0% FA soldier is in order. That way, I can compare them side-to-side. There should be a difference between the two. If not, then it's possible that there is a random factor involved in drift between waypoints, rather than simple firing accuracies.

[[NKF]]

My initial observation was, and I quote "eh, no difference at all..."

 

I thought the bomb would go wild as you said, but my waypoint plotting was just as inaccurate as it normally is with a high FA soldier.

 

But you know me, my sample sizes tend to be a lot smaller than the ones you gather.

 

- NKF

[espritcrafter]

Black Ops and Radioactive Elerium - Scratch mode and "xenophobe" mode.

 

After a few months of alien assaults, unknown forces and organizations form the X-Com forces. As an underground force, they have no operation boundaries. Having no nation backing them, however, limits their access to highly trained personnel and available resources.

 

A few free lance scientists, engineers, and soldiers were initially obtained by X-Com. Their genetic information were then extracted and stored. Using this information, personnel can be reproduced for a cost. The process isn't fully mastered and while personnel are duplicates, they are not identical in ability. The clone is then fed information and "memories" directly into their brain through a neuro-link process (think Matrix). Energy consumed by information feeding is considerable, attributing for most of the clone's cost. Soldiers, who require less information feeding due to their occupation, end up being cheaper than their other two counterparts. Previous knowledge of alien technology and human advances in the cloning field allows for clones to be produced relatively cheaply. The energy required for information feeding, however, is very high. Being so, clones are kept in storage until there is sufficient energy to activate the pseudo human and perform information feeds.

 

Elerium powered weapons, in this version of the game at least, generate a radioactive field that produces diverse effects on the body due to exposure. Prolonged exposure, even in small amounts, has lethal results. Being so, anything that has unshielded elerium components are banned from use. This includes plasma clips, bombs, and mind probes. Power suits require elerium for production, but do not require elerium for operation. Vehicle components have shielded elerium energy sources. Tanks are considered vehicles.

 

As an underground entity, currency is of limited use to X-Com. X-Com technology based equipment is secretly traded with the world's nations and warlords for essential materials and resources. Alien technology, however, is branded as too dangerous for trade. Instead, they are recycled for construction materials or broken down in order to convert into energy, which they seem particularly efficient for. It is not an unusual practice to produce alien weapons and then modify them to produce high energy outputs. The recycled materials and energy gained from modifying alien equipment for energy production, breaking them down afterwards to use as energy fuel, and the recycling of the remaining components is greater in total yield than needed to produce them. Alien corpses, which is probably the only exception when dealing with alien objects, are either sold to the curious few who are able to pay premium prices, or the corpses are broken down for... various... purposes.