13 replies to this topic

[Space Voyager]

Are you a cat? Mouse, elephant, amoeba? Doesn't matter - as long as you're playing OpenXcom! Please post your thoughts. Especially interested in optional features and settings!

[Jman4117]

Well I've played around with the ubuntu package build of it (june 2013, I think) and I like it. Only thing I don't really like is some minor mouse quirks like having to right click to get rid of the targeting cursor before going to the next guy and the scrolling on the battlescape being a little wonky when trying to hit the edge of the window exactly. Other than that I've seen some neat things with the AI that I don't remember from the original. The aliens don't appear to be using the normal pathing nodes and they will actually retreat into cover between turns.

I played around with the instant battles from the main menu and I sent in a laser tank and some guys with flying suits and I landed right next to the farmhouse with the stairs to the roof. Had an alien with a plasma rifle make my life hell before I finally managed to take him out. He was moving around far enough back that I couldn't get an angle on him without flying up to his level and getting shot up. He was moving up near the edge to fire then retreating on his turn. After killing the flyer I sent up to deal with him, he jumped off the back side and flanked my tank and destroyed it. Then I got together about 3 guys, went around the building and offed him. The game immediately went to the debriefing because this was a small scout and that was the only alien.

Next mission I had a blaster tank so totally cleaned house with 7 aliens killed and no losses. Also had new AI behavior, but the massive explosion radius stopped my rookies from getting slaughtered facing those bastards.

[Space Voyager]

Wow, is this really our first encounter with OXC? Thanks, Jman, this reads like a big AI improvement. Scary!

Have you checked any additional mods for OXC? I can't bring myself to play the originals any more, just too tedious.

[Jman4117]

The base game has a lot of options that appear to mimic UFOExtender and xcomutil. Haven't tried anything beyond turning the options on and off there.

[Jman4117]

Last night before bed I played around with another instant battle. This time it was on a mountain map with Sneaky AI enabled. I tossed out my smokes and got 4 unarmored guys around the ramp as per usual X-com disembark procedure. Seems the smoke helps the aliens just as much as it does you when you're in it and they aren't because an alien walked all the way up to one of my guys and gunned him down at point blank range and he didn't see him coming at him. Then the guy next to him didn't see the alien and it was only 90 degrees around the landing gear from him..not sure if that's a bug or not. He had to move a tile over and turn to see the alien. Auto shot brought said alien down. Then next turn I got a plasma autoshot from about 15 tiles away into the smoke. That guy dies. After this I keep everyone looking out from the ramp and saving TUs for reaction fire to take that bastard out wherever he pops up because he's moving in and out from behind hills and taking pot shots. Luckily we get him before he gets us. After this, I order the rookie to scout around the west side of the battlefield and practice his strafing maneuvers. He comes up on an alien that's hiding behind the UFO but isn't facing him. He opens up with an autoshot, hits the alien once, alien returns with an autoshot of his own but misses, rookie finishes him off in another volley. Then the force moves on the UFO and camps the door and the last alien pops out wanting to know what happened to his buddy. *BLAUW!* A laser rifle autoshot sails into the doorway and drops him. Mission accomplished!

Observations:
Smoke seems to be less effective as cover in this game. Sometimes the aliens can see you when you can't see them. I don't know if this is the AI exploiting things and moving in a way your soldiers can't see or if it's meant to do that.

Something that appears to be a line of sight bug with the landing gear. Can't see right through it and use it as cover like in the original game. Might also be related to the smoke.

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[Jman4117]

Well I've played through nearly an entire game of it in my free time. I don't even bother with smoke grenades anymore because it definitely appears to only effect my vision and not the aliens one bit. Also, I've only got 150 total elerium from 9 intact power cores in 7 months of gameplay. They must have different levels of damage for crashed UFOs compared to the original because all intact reactors had 50 elerium unless you went in with explosives and blew it up yourself.

[Space Voyager]

I award you a medal for a true old-time strategy games enthusiast. Seriously, you have played through a lot of iconic games of old and, what is even better, you told us about it. So, THANK YOU. Also... don't stop.

Now, OXC. I love the AI change you described. Have you looked into modifications? I hear there are some available.

[Jman4117]

Haven't figured out how to do mods yet. I've just played with settings that are in the advanced options like range based accuracy, sneaky ai, and all that. I think the only thing I didn't turn on was the one where any UFO can find you base, not just the scouting missions they send out to find you. A lot of the xcomutil and extender stuff is enabled like remembering your loadouts, showing your stats on the equip screen, and allowing you to reorder troops on the skyranger. Sadly, they didn't do things like the automatic heavy laser and my favorite: dropship interceptors!

Also had my first exp with a snakeman terror mission. The sneaky AI makes for some seriously evil chryssalids that sneak around behind buildings to flank you from behind.

[Jman4117]

Been playing again, this time with Final Mod Pack. Basically it takes superhuman and makes it longer and harder since you have to get multiple things from battleships and bases along with alien leaders to unlock things like laser weapons, that also require ammo. You can use some of the captured tech like alien laser rifles, and the standard laser and gauss equipment from the Men in Black, but you can't build more clips until you start taking down leaders and engineers to interrogate. Also has hybrids and that cover alien from the original game that wasn't actually in it!

[silencer_pl]

Might want go check out X-Piratez after that. I'm pretty sure this will take you the rest of your life.

[Jman4117]

Yeah, that's another one, but probably too  much nudity for here.

[Space Voyager]

silencer_pl, on 25 May 2020 - 10:06 PM, said:

Might want go check out X-Piratez after that. I'm pretty sure this will take you the rest of your life.

Looks really interesting, though for the life of me I wouldn't be able to play a game with the original X-COM tactical system. Ever again.

Jman4117, on 26 May 2020 - 02:24 AM, said:

Yeah, that's another one, but probably too  much nudity for here.

I'm willing to take that risk.

[silencer_pl]

Jman4117, on 26 May 2020 - 02:24 AM, said:

Yeah, that's another one, but probably too  much nudity for here.

Nudity is only in the piratezpedia (except the nude "armor") which not necessarily has to be presented, and it's not in every entry.

[NKF]

Hey, there's plenty of nudity in the classic X-Com games. Granted none of it human.