Wulf2k

True, which is why the speedrunning is almost incidental to what I'd hope to see. I dunno, maybe I'm hoping there's more to the game engine than there is, but reading some of the old threads about the underlying mechanics of the game made me think that there'd be some neat things to show. Like shooting through things that look solid, or getting hit by 20 bullets but taking 0 damage due to the low damage rolls, etc. Maybe a run showing everything from http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Exploits Re-reading the exploits section, I'm not seeing much that would actually translate well to watching, especially if you didn't already know what was going on. Ah well, it was just a random idea.

With a TAS, that's controllable. Figure out when/how it checks the random number generator, then just start your research 2 frames later or whatever affects it, so it picks the optimal research timer. A dirty TAS could be done pretty quickly (quickly wouldn't get you perfect, but 'perfect enough') I think. Figure out your goals, play it loose, and just re-record around the actions that really matter. If you want a certain UFO to spawn, figure out what needs to be done differently to affect that, reload and retry till you get the right one. If you're fighting an alien and get shot, reload the state, wait another frame, retry, etc. It's like abusing save games with less hassle, with the main difference being that the random number generator will always give the same result for the same actions on the same frame. Now, I've seen a few people here talking about the underlying mechanics/memory/programming etc. So I imagine with what they know, they could manipulate that to show off some of the more amazing aspects of the gameplay.

Granted, the arcade games are flashier, but I think it could be pretty amazing on a more subtle level for anybody familiar with the game. I mean, there's the "cheating without exactly cheating" method of playing, where you get the perfect amount of scientists to research things at exactly the perfect rate, and manipulate exactly the perfect alien captures, etc, to beat Cydonia the quickest. Have the minimum number of guys with pistols take the minimum number of turns to take out superior forces. The time watching the Geoscape would be nonexistent because you could do it at 24 hour speed. This run would be more for finding out the theoretical "perfect game". Or you could go for the "anti-perfect game" run. See how badly you can send your men to the slaughter, yet still win each battle with a single man alive at the end holding a stun gun. Or have him knocked unconscious with a grenade that kills the last enemy. Whatever. Anyway, just throwing those out there. I know those aren't the most interesting things that can be done, but I also know there are others out there that are far more creative than I. Seeing all the various glitches and tricks pulled together into some sort of perfectly controlled showcase run, whatever the objective, would be pretty neat. Er, I thought I was on the EU board, so ignore the Cydonia reference, but the same idea applies =]

http://tasvideos.org/WelcomeToTASVideos.html Dosbox supports re-recording nowadays, so I was wondering if anybody here had ever considered TASing any of the X-Coms. Some of the technical knowledge you guys have would mean you could show off some pretty interesting ways of beating it, if you had full re-recording capabilities and knowledge of how it handles the RNG.

I've tried to avoid grenades, mostly based on the fear that their throwing accuracy is anything like their shooting accuracy. Are grenades safe enough to use with rookies, or do they have a tendency to throw them at their feet or bounce them off the wall rather than down a hallway? Also, I started out using tanks but stopped using them after a few attempts where I was low on cash, and couldn't afford to keep replacing them. I should probably start bringing them along again. Do the mutual surprise rules work in reverse? If it's the alien's turn and he sees me at the same time that I see him, will I not fire back? If they can see any of my guys, will none of my guys reaction fire?

So, last night I was assaulting an alien base and things were going well. It was my first base assault, 2 months in or so, and I had all 8 of my squad loaded up with laser rifles and personal armour. Things started off pretty good, with me clearing about 80% of the floater base without a single casualty. One of my guys even survived a grenade going off beside him. Then, I swear I pissed off the John McClane of the floaters and the base was Nakatomi Plaza.... This single floater took out one group of three guys first, with nobody landing a shot on him. He then moved onto my squad of two, killing one guy from around the corner, then reaction firing the other guy as he came around. The final three met a similar fate. My guys weren't the best of the best, but they weren't pure rookies either. I saved and called it a night after that. Now some people might say I should have reloaded and tried it again, but damnit, they earned that one. So, are there any tactics you guys use for alien base assaults that minimizes the damage one super-alien can do? Having my team spread out like that with so much area to cover makes it harder. I probably should've brought the maximum amount of guys, but I'd only been using 8 up to that point because downed UFOs get tedious with more than 8 soldiers. Also, new here, hi, etc.