UFO Aftershock: Comments and Questions

[HFK]

First, some comments:

 

I'm impressed, really impressed, with this game. There are some obvious weaknesses (first and foremost: bugginess), but it is one of the most ambitious games I've played in a very long time, and certainly a worthy successor (at least in spirit) to the old XCom: Enemy Unknown and TFTD classics. I cut my teeth on TFTD and spent many a night from dusk to dawn playing it. I've played all of the succesors, including Apocalypse, and that aberration of a space-sim pawned-off as part of the XCom series. More recently I've been playing Aftermath, which I bought immediatly upon release a couple of years ago, but lost interest in rather quickly. About two weeks ago I loaded it up again, and have been enjoying it a bit, although lamenting it's inadequacy compared to it's grand-daddy/s.

 

I played the demo of Aftershock immediately after it's release, but I wasn't terribly impressed. However, while doing a bit of reading on some forums, and in some reviews, I thought I'd investigate further, and so I ordered a copy from Amazon last week. I'm hooked: it's a great game, and the folks behind it should be highly praised for a brilliant effort. Yes it's flawed, but it's still brilliant. I haven't enjoyed a strategy game of this sort since TFTD. Unfortunately, I find that, 11 years after my TFTD all-nighters, I can no longer stay awake untill dawn on bug hunts: my eyes just won't stay open, despite the great fun.

 

Now, some questions:

 

1. in Tactical: can items be passed directly from unit to unit without the need to drop them on the ground?

 

2. I have problems with Psionic view. Long ago, when I played the demo (on a previous PC with a different graphics card) the psionic view worked. It doesn't work now: I can enter it, but it's black and white, and the terrain doesn't move as I move the mouse, although I can see the soldiers's images move back and forth across the screen as I move my cursor from one edge of the screen to the next. The unit's selection circles multiply, like smoke rings, or trails, as I move the cursor. I have an NVidia 7800 GTX with the latest drivers. I run the game with all the bells and whistles turned on (and it looks great). I've tried running minimum, but the Psionic screen remains broken, no matter the tweak I give the in-game graphics settings.

 

3. I'm enjoying Chang, a unit that's been trained as a Commando. However, I'm a bit irritated with the way he interacts with moving targets. If I direct him to run towards an enemy that is moving towards him and then cut with the Samurai Sword he inevitably passes by the enemy on the way towards the original goal I've set for him, and once there the enemy is out of range. I understand that this is an inevitable consequence of this sort of game, but is there any way to mitigate the issue? Or do I just have to slow down to the slowest speed and then assign attack positions in anticipation of where the enemy and Chang might intersect one another?

 

4. How do I make a screenshot?

 

5. Chang, the Commando I mentioned above, doesn't appear to be getting credit for his kills. He does gain points, but his Squad/Career screen Kill stats don't always reflect kills that he's made. Is this because he kills with his sword? Or does it take some time after a mission to update that screen? BTW, I have verified that he has killed the enemies in question: they're not merely unconscious, and their death isn't caused by other units.

 

6. Perhaps related: Chang doesn't (always?) get credit for kills in the post-mission Stats screen, but the entry there is "best Shooter" and he kills with a sword.

 

BTW, I have noticed two bugs that were temporary, or at least seem to be:

 

1. The agility/dexterity swap of stats for humans between Diplomacy and Squad. That seemed consistent, but is now gone.

 

2. Another temporary bug, and in the Diplomacy screens as well: Psionic recruitment. Soon after starting the game I noticed serious bugs when recruiting Psionics: many (all) of the stats had "DEBUG_LEVEL" in them rather than their normal name, and a Psionic could not be purchased, although several were available (the "Recruit" button just didn't work). Sometimes the stats were OK, but the Psionics still couldn't be recruited (or even selected). THat bug has vanished too. Odd.

 

Yes, I have the game fully patched (1.2 is the latest, I think)

 

Thanks for your help.

[HFK]

Figured out the Psi View problem. Solution here.