Zeno

Thinking out loud... What if HWPs were set to require a specific facility -- like aircraft require a hanger -- so each defense facility can store one HWP and none can be stored in general storage? They take up some space so that would free up some general storage, but more importantly it would give each defense facility a specific type of HWP it could store -- plasma tank only in plasma defense, fusion ball tank only in fusion ball defense, laser tank only in laser defense, and have the cannon and rocket tanks both able to be stored in missile defense facilities. Thank you for the years/decades of work on XCOM!

Thanks, Hobbes! I started over after a few months in-game in order to work through a few more personal modifications, and it's now working quite well. I'm in May 1999 with 68 soldiers lost, 16 successful and 5 failed missions, 194 aliens killed and 45 captured, and 26 friendly fire kills (amusingly the most dangerous enemy is "Friendly" due to overuse of explosives, the only early weapon capable of damaging some aliens in my modified game). The research changes are pretty tough so I have four dedicated research bases this time, and have gotten through 16 technologies so far -- including Psi-Labs due to a lucky early Sectoid Leader capture in a January base attack. My changes to alien psionic strength should keep psionic soldiers from being too overpowered, but if it's too easy I can increase alien defenses some more (I want psionic soldiers to have a chance of success with most alien types, but with Ethereals and a few others impossible to panic or mind control and Sectoids extremely difficult except for the highest-skilled psionic soldiers). Area 51 looks awesome and I think I'm going to try it on my next play. I read that Hardmode Expansion also includes new enemies and surprises -- in addition to making the game harder -- how does Area 51 compare to Hardmode Expansion for new and interesting content? Making the game harder isn't my primary goal anymore; I've done that with my own changes and love that I have to try my best to succeed, but having expanded challenges to overcome and more things to do would be fun. Base Defense Facilities are one area I haven't been able to make more fun. I put research requirements in so Laser Defense is required before Plasma, and Plasma before Fusion Ball, to encourage maybe building the earlier defense modules. I also lowered the accuracy of Fusion Ball Defense to make it less reliable, but that just means more facilities are required to raise the chance of success. Even so, base defense -- the act of shooting at an attacking battleship -- is boring. If it's successful, the aliens come again and there's no reward other than a delayed attack. If it's unsuccessful, the aliens come in and it's lots of aliens, planned defenses with chokepoints, and risk of losing the base making it a fairly exciting mission...but the base defense facilities are effectively useless except to delay the inevitable attack. I've built them specifically because I don't think my soldiers would succeed against Chryssalids with their current technology so the delay might prevent an early base loss until I have advanced weapons...but later, I kind of think the defense facilities are a waste of space. I'd get more use out of an extra living quarters and storage facility so I can add more soldiers and HWPs for the inevitable defense required whenever a base is found. I read through the OpenXcom forum and didn't see much there for changes. Adding radar capabilities or storage to the defense modules make them more useful, but that starts to take away the advantages of other modules. Playing with the hit chance and defense strength numbers just change the formula for calculating the optimal number of defense facilities, and still doesn't make them more fun (I can make them at or near 100% effective but that removes the fun of base defense, and I can make them less effective but that just makes them less useful to build). I like the idea of having them reduce the number of aliens that come in or automatically shooting at alien UFOs that fly close to the base, but those options discussed on the OpenXcom forums were shot down pretty quickly as impossible to do based on how the executable code was written (and the OpenXcom developers were pretty adamant about not wanting to make those things possible to easily modify). Do you have any suggestions on how I could make base defense facilities a little more interesting, fun, and not useless? Some things I considered: - add 100% UFO detection in a short range, about the range of an XCOM craft, for Missile Defenses to make one a nice addition to early bases before HyperWave Decoders are available, but that still makes more than one pretty useless and doesn't help more advanced facilities (which are more likely to be built after HyperWave Decoders) - add some storage space, but I'm torn here -- add too much and they just replace General Stores except that they can be destroyed (making them a bit risky if they are destroyed and cause neighboring facilities to collapse); add too little and they remain inferior to General Stores so wouldn't change how I play - add a bit of workshop and/or laboratory space, or even living space, but I wouldn't want to make them better than the dedicated facilities so again that wouldn't change how I play -- I'd rather just build the dedicated facilities - I don't want to make them capable of training psionic soldiers, housing aircraft, incarcerating aliens,or replacing any of the boolean values for advanced base facilities (grav shield, mind shield, hyperwave decoder, access lift)

NKF, wanted to follow up and say you're absolutely right about the latest nightly -- OpenXcom 1.0 is not worth downloading compared to the update. Two of the mods -- Area 51 and XFiles -- sound like they expand gameplay without removing what made the original fun, but I decided to stick with the original for now (and XFiles in particular is pretty incomplete according to the forum). The Hardmode Expansion mod might be worth playing too. Actually, instead of OpenXcom, I decided to go with the OpenXcom Expanded + mod, which is based on a fairly recent "nightly" and adds some extra options. Some things I love: - Tons of options to enable with just a click, including a bunch from XcomUtil and UFO Extender. - I love the radar detection range lines for bases and ships; such a small change makes a subtle but significant improvement in appearance and gameplay! - Removal of the 80-item limit, and the unit limits, and having storage/alien containment facilities that actually work correctly...keeping lean is such a habit that bringing extra stuff on missions feels kind of bizarre, like I can actually have a ship loaded with equipment and decide (on mission start) what to use based on the opposition. I haven't had a base/retaliation mission yet but I think the change will be an incredible enhancement there. - I also like that I can enable Aliens getting wounds, and giving them the ability to pick up weapons, with a single click enabling those. (I read some posts with disagreements on these options but I think they should've been implemented in the original). I've decided the weapon range of 50-150%, instead of 0-200%, is also a nice option. - Being able to set manufacturing to automatically sell things is another great, subtle feature. I love micromanaging (everyone who loves XCOM pretty much has to love micromanaging) but it's nice to have that option to set-and-forget when I don't need to manufacture specific equipment for using. - The graphics. The graphic options are actually rendered better than the original, while still being the original graphics. Lots of fun graphic options too (CRT and Curvature were awesome to see -- annoying to actually use, but cool that they're an option). I ended up using the default OpenXcom shader/smoothing effects as they looked best to me, while still capturing the feel of the original. - Gameplay speed is perfect. I like most everything slower so I can see each thing that happens, like a board game or chess match. The original game had optional adjustments, but some things would go way too fast on modern computers even with the slowest options set. Some things I miss: - XComUtil included the ability to randomize UFOs that had crashed or landed. It sometimes worked, and when it did it was pretty cool...but it was also buggy. I'd like to see that again someday. - XComUtil included the ability to gain research help from captured aliens, but I couldn't find that option or a way to edit it into OpenXcom (other than giving free research for interrogating an alien, which would be too powerful if overused). - XComUtil included the ability to sort soldiers globally. The sorting capabilities in OpenXcom are a significant improvement over the original (which didn't have it at all) but with XComUtil I could sort all the soldiers at all the bases with one batch file against a saved game. It required exiting the game and running the batch file, but was still fast and easy compared to organizing soldiers at each base separately. Editing changes was simple once I got the hang of the .rul files. I did all the changes I made through hex editing 10+ years ago, and most changes took minutes instead of hours. Plus I was able to add a few other fun things: - Added more civilians in Terror missions, and added a few civilians running around in other missions. Boosted civilian running speed to add to the chaos. Also reduced the score value of civilians so my change in frequency doesn't result in too high/low scores for those missions. - Added more aliens, and more potential variety of aliens on missions. - Changed alien equipment for more variety, and all alien technologies available from the start (blaster bombs on a day 3 crash site was a fun experience...for me, not my soldiers...). - Changed how soon new alien races might appear, and increased late-game variation so it's not as likely to be the same alien race over and over. - Boosted alien stats across the board, and significantly increased psi strength on aliens so they're less likely to be mind controlled or panicked. Also results in higher-strength psi attacks from aliens, making psionics scarier. Also gave all Sectoids some psi skill, so early Sectoid missions are harder. - Changed weapon stats (alien weapons boosted, earth weapons degraded, some equipment made much heavier) and made armor stronger on aliens and soldiers so getting one-shot-killed while wearing armor is much less likely (but still possible from heavy plasmas and blaster bombs). Also made power armor stronger than flying armor, so both are viable depending on what's desired for a mission. - Increased initial and monthly funding from countries, because I like having lots of money to play with and making country funding more essential than manufacturing for generating income.This also offsets the difficulty, since losing entire teams and Skyrangers can happen in the first month now (which would be pretty much game-ending without funds to replace them). - Tripled manufacturing times and increased all research 10x, to slow down the pace of the game (my favorite part of the game is early/mid game, so this extends that fun for me). - Changed soldier order and facing on all ships. Seems to work just like XcomUtil, but took a couple tries to get right. Only tested on the Skyranger so far but should work on the other ships (even if it requires a few adjustments). - Recreated my massive statstring logic from XcomUtil, which only took a couple times to get right using OpenXcom semantics. This was the most time-consuming change though because I couldn't just cut and paste (the language and logic is different, but equally powerful). Talking hundreds of lines here. So far I'm in game date March 14, 1999. I've lost 29 soldiers so far (8 to friendly fire), failed 4 out of 13 missions, killed 70 aliens and captured 13, spent over $200M, and have only completed research on laser weapons and laser pistols (but just hired a bunch of scientists in two dedicated research bases, so should start getting more technologies in a month or two). And that's another thing I love in OpenXcom -- the statistics and soldier memorial screens, and other little extra-detail screens after missions. I know OpenXcom isn't the original game, and that the executable code has been entirely replaced in an attempt to mimic the gameplay experience. But the developers, and all the modders, have done a phenomenal job here. I feel like I'm playing the original game, with most XcomUtil features I liked plus my own hacks, and with what seems to be fewer bugs, more stability (absolutely no crashes so far), better UI, and tiny, subtle tweaks to gameplay that make it better without making it different. I'll have to play a few more game months to see how things go in future missions, but so far, this has become my favorite version of one of my favorite games. And from what I've read on the mods, Area 51 especially, it looks like there's potentially even *better* versions to try out in the future!

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Thanks for the tip -- I downloaded 1.0 and the latest nightly to try them both, along with each of the latest mods. Will skip the major conversion mods for now but I'm amazed what they have accomplished. I thought I'd miss XcomUtil but it seems a lot is replicated. I'm still playing with all the options. The 2012 game looks good, but the more I read about it, the more I realized I just wanted to play the original. Might be nostalgia, but my gaming time is so limited I'd rather just play what I love.

I've been away for a long time, but recently got an itch to shoot some sectoids...unfortunately, it seems getting my Windows CE version of X-COM: Enemy Unknown (aka UFO Defense, the game from 1994 not the game from 2012) working on 64-bit Windows 10 is more of a challenge than I expected. I saw some mods have gotten it to work -- any hints on how to get vanilla unmodded X-COM working, preferably without setting up a dual-boot OS or changing to the DOS version/DOSBox? EDIT: Okay, so I've been away long enough that OpenXCOM is brand new to me. It worked brilliantly for starting X-COM in Windows 10 and appears smoother than I remember running on XP a decade ago. Plus, the options, bug fixes, and UI enhancements are really impressive. Looks like I've got a decade's worth of new mods to browse, and some experimentation to see if I can get my personal revisions to work... I know there are new games but something always draws me back to the classics, eventually.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've logged on... Anyway, I got to thinking about XCOM when I signed up to back Reaper's Combat Assault Vehicle (CAV) Kickstarter: It's not XCOM, and it's not a computer game, but it is sci-fi and has big stompy robots (some of which could be giant versions of Sectopods). The figures are modifiable (most come in 4 pieces -- 2 arms, body, and legs) and are interchangable. They can be used in games other than CAV, too (*cough* Battletech *cough*)... Okay, time for me to read through some of the forum posts over the past couple years...

I haven't been here in a few years, but started to get a little XCOM itch a few days ago...and reading your post reminded me of my own customized game. Thanks to your ideas, I've made a few tweaks, and I'm now playing again (only January 6th; a long way to go...). Nice to be back in the command chair, though. I've also been reading through the Wiki and some of the old posts--surprising how much has been discovered in the past five years! My first mission, shot down a small UFO then went in with my 8 starters. Lost 5 exiting the Skyranger, 1 went berserk, the remaining two called "Abort!" and took off. Have a new contingent of soldiers now; hopefully these recruits will have a bit more combat prowess... Time to go shoot some sectoids!

I haven't gotten that exact same error, but I have had more than a few "assert_fatal" errors loading from saved tactical games (games saved during the squad-based missions instead of in geoscape mode). These errors always shut down Windows completely--they auto-rebooted my machine. My only solution is to save the game A LOT. Some of these errors will kill your game before you even start loading--if a saved game is corrupted, it can give you one of those "assert_fatal" errors just looking at the list of saved games. If this occurs, you then have the unlucky task of trying to guess which saved game is corrupted, find and delete it using Windows Explorer, then launch the game and hope for the best. I did have luck once editing a saved game file, but it was only partially successful--it loaded, but was corrupted every time I saved it later. Someone with more knowledge of the files may be able to hack their way to recover a corrupted game. My advice is to save just before your squad's helicoptor reaches a mission, and save many times (in separate files) during a mission. Just to be safe, save many times in separate files in the geoscape mode, too. After you've gotten through a few game-days, then delete the oldest saves to clear up your saved game directory. Good luck... --Zeno

A bit off-topic, as I haven't seen the movie yet. But the smartcar-chase tangent reminded me of a movie from a couple years ago, "Ong-Bak". It's a martial-arts action movie set in modern-day Thailand, and has a car chase scene. But it isn't cars. It's Tuk-Tuks! Tuk-tuks are 3-wheeled little go-cart type machines powered with (loud) motorcycle engines, designed to carry passengers in the back seat. They don't go fast, but they weave pretty well, if you're careful not to roll over... --Zeno

Interesting thread, this. Advanced AI is a complex field in computing, and not really conceivable in computer games. Think about it-- Chess is a simple game in that there are a limited number of possible moves permitted in any turn. Yet it took, what, 2 super computers and decades of work to beat the top human player? When you have a computer game with hundreds of possible moves, any sort of advanced computer behavior becomes impossible due to the exponential growth in cause/effect calcuations. Humans have innately reasonable "guesses" and react intelligently based on experience. Computers don't have these advantages; every decision is based on calculations. Advanced AI uses case modeling and pattern-learning logic, but it is still a far cry from human capability. The best AI we might be able to hope for is something based on expert systems. Expert systems rely on the accumulated knowledge of humans in a particular subject, put into a data warehouse with optimized search/retrieval algorithms. This is still outside the scope of computer games; however, an automated database with cause/effect pattern analysis and a number of scripted responses based on human players could conceivably appear to be "better" AI. I would love to see some advances in this field, but I think business deadlines and market competition make it unreasonable to expect from computer games. This is one reason why multiplayer-capability is demanded by most game players. Once a human figures out the game AI, the game becomes unchallenging. Multiplayer capability allows a game to have much longer playability. ------ Something to consider: Instead of advanced AI, games are often shipped with scripted behaviors. Rather than demanding developers to spend months making good scripts, games could be shipped (as some are) with good-quality script editors. This allows humans to make the scripts better, allows communities to grow around script-writing, and improves the game over time as the scripts are improved. As game developers learn the advantages of open source code, or providing professional modding tools, I think we'll find improvements in not just AI, but many aspects of gaming. --Zeno

Thanks Slaughter! I have a modded X-COM: UFO game I've been itching to get back into, but probably won't have time until July. I also picked up Aftermath for the first time; hope to try it out. I love all the tactics discussion that has gone on for UFO! I'm happy new things are still being discovered, and that the "new" series hasn't wiped out the old. I'm also thrilled that there are new players! It's good to be back, and I'm looking forward to being able to contribute again in the near future... --Zeno

Interesting thread; always did like tactics discussions. teklor, have you had any difficulties with psi-wielding aliens (ethereals or sectoid leaders/commanders)? There's a few specific strategy discussions on them. As for another basic tactic at the start of the game--use your soldiers with rank. Regardless of a soldier's various attributes, rank brings a special ability to calm the nerves of other soldiers. Often, especially with a group of 14 rookies, the losses come from poor morale--a few soldiers die, and the rest freak out and kill each other. To mitigate this, keep one high-ranked soldier well-protected (perhaps left in the transport) to maintain morale. You can then use 13 rookies to accomplish the mission without worrying as much about morale. The 13 rookies, if they survive, will become higher-rank, with better skills and better morale. Note that if the one high-ranked guy dies, all 13 rookies could panic. If you have a choice, try to use soldiers with high bravery. Once you get a team of soldiers with rank (all at least Squaddies) you will find them much more capable in missions. Some of your Squaddies may become even better soldiers than some of your officers--don't use rank as the only measure of a soldier's ability. You need at least 30 soldiers to get someone with the rank of "XCOM Commander" (the highest rank available). Some strategists here will recommend hiring exactly 30 soldiers--no more, no less--and using these 30 in every mission until the end of the game (thereby creating a team of "supersoldiers"). You can replace anyone killed in action, and when you have psi-labs, replace anyone with low psi-strength. Others, like me, like to hire as many soldiers as I can afford (up to the maximum of 250) and keep them spread out among my bases. I burn through rookies until I get 250 soldiers with rank. Squaddies are worth their monthly cost. Dead rookies cost nothing. --Zeno

Hi RiskyX; welcome back! I'm hopping on your thread to announce my own return after one year. Work took over my life for a couple months, then I had a job change, then started negotiations for additional work, then had simultaneous full-time jobs. In two weeks, I will drop one of my two jobs and go back to a "normal" work-week. Actually, I'll take a long-overdue vacation first. But I plan, if all goes well, to be back in the X-COM forums. --Zeno

UFO Aftermath is finally out in Thailand! It's about time... So how many years have I been waiting for this? (sorry to steal your words Bomb Bloke, but I just couldn't think of a better way to put it) --Zeno

Okay FullAuto, back on topic, as you said. Having not seen the BIA game, how much homosexual innuendo do you see outside of the small unit you control? (er...no pun intended) I mean, is it everywhere in the game--as if everyone who fought in WWII was gay? Or is it just your special forces unit, including the protagonist, who seem to display such tendancies? I suppose it's *possible*, though unlikely, that there could've been a small group of homosexual men who all signed on to the same unit, specifically so that they could disguise their preferences from the rest of the military. You said it's a Yankee game, and homosexuality in the 1940s US military was...um...punished. Often quite severely. So if the game shows a homosexual unit trying to keep a low profile, yet still do a good job as a professional military unit, it could be an interesting premise for a WWII simulation. If the game tries to show homosexuality as a normal or accepted part of WWII soldiering in the US, then it's taking a fictional view of history, and is probably politically motivated. That's not to say homosexuals weren't in the military. They certainly were. But it was not "acceptable" or open in any way--not on a large scale. It was, however, common for Yankee soldiers to make homosexual innuendos to each other in a joking manner. The difference between the rifle and the gun, for example. Or calling the man in the next bunk "my old lady". Or going to the showers with a "shower buddy". Or taking compromising pictures of a couple passed-out drunk men. ------ So how much of the game is joking? How much is real homosexuality, but only among a few soldiers? And how much is actual, honest, no-holds-barred homosexuality displayed casually as a normal part of military life--in complete opposition to history? --Zeno

Yeah, ethics classes. I don't teach them. But they do, indeed, exist. I think they're supposed to teach you to be honest in the professional world. Because if you're not, and people know you're not, then they won't want to do business with you. It's also important for academics, engineers, and scientists--you know, so you don't fake medical research results or create ship engines that explode. Personally, I think ethics classes are a waste. Showing why and how dishonesty can hurt you should be part of the normal teaching in courses. For example, if you have a programming course, you should learn error-trapping techniques, have intensive error-trapping as part of the requirements for your programs, and learn why fault tolerance is extremely important in certain applications. A generic, all-purpose "ethics" class doesn't get the point across to students. Also, the name, "ethics class," automatically makes students think "sleep through the moral preachings of the self-inflated lecturer, and get an A by vomiting out reports saying everyone should be good." --Zeno

Who? What? (sorry, couldn't resist) --Zeno

That would always be me. Next poster will LOVE reading long forum posts. --Zeno

FullAuto, I don't want to go into a lot of detail. Basically, I have had very good feedback from my students. Many of the students who failed my classes have told me that they appreciate my fairness, because they knew they hadn't done any work to pass. They seemed to respect the fact that I did fail them, because they were simply passed on by other teachers. The students have little respect for teachers that were "nice" and always passed them--though they did *like* the other teachers, which is an entirely different thing. A majority of my failing students talked to me, saying that they will work to pass the class next time (or at least they would if they had me again, which they won't). The students who received poor grades due to cheating have also come forward, many saying that this is the first time a teacher has actually tried to enforce the often-mouthed words, "don't cheat." Overwhelmingly, my students say that the grades, for the first time in their lives, reflect a reality of who did the work, versus who did not. Some of the low scoring students admit it grudgingly, though. The students describe me as one of their favorite teachers (and a large minority as their favorite). This is not because of my grading system or anti-cheating policy. The reasons they say it are immaterial--but the fact remains that, despite having the lowest average course grade and the highest number of students caught cheating on the final exam...it has done nothing to damage my reputation as a lecturer. In other words, I've had a successful year of teaching. Now, I'm not a brilliant teacher, and I've made plenty of mistakes. But it does feel good to know I've made a difference, and motivated some students to learn when they otherwise wouldn't have bothered. It feels very good to know that my efforts to reduce cheating, while largely unsuccessful, were respected by the students. Of course, reducing cheating was only a very small part of my job. I didn't teach "ethics" classes or anything. My choice to enforce anti-cheating policies was a practical decision, designed simply to encourage the students to learn my course material. There are many more important aspects to my courses that encourage learning--however, if students are able to cheat easily, then these "more important aspects" are made irrelevant. Anyway, I have learned a great deal about cheating, and the motivations behind it. ------ So now that I'm no longer a teacher, does anyone have any job openings for me? --Zeno

Don't all the people bleed green in German versions? Anyway, I for one refuse to believe that video games encourage warfare, or desensitize people to war and death. It's a game, and if the person can't differentiate between fantasy and reality, then they have a problem outside the existence of the game. If a child has a sick imagination and plays with plastic toy soldiers, painting red spots on the broken ones or melting some of them, does the child grow up to be a ruthless killer? No, because the child knows it's fake. If a child has a sick imagination and ties cats to fan belts, cuts off dog tongues, and puts gerbils in a microwave, then the child has a *problem* and needs *help*. ------ That said, parents should know the content of a game because it is a parent's decision whether and when their child is mature enough to view certain material. If a parent wants to be proactive about such things, that is. ------ I'm not really into modern history wargames anyway. I play some historic archaic wargames because I like the tactics involved with maneuver and counter before firearms became standard issue. As for blood and gore, I really don't think anything about it in a video game. My imagination supplies it if it's not there, and if it is, I'm not put off by it. I play games for the quality of the game itself. Brothers in Arms sounds like one I'll pass on. I never got into Medal of Honor, either. --Zeno

Oh man...do you remember that horrible one where they rhymed a list of the various food stuff they have? Gods, I hate the thought of how much TV I must've watched to still be able to recall it... Bigmacfillet-o-fishquarterpounderfrenchfries... I blame you, sir roosio, for sticking that into my head. Damn you! (j/k) --Zeno

It's a revival for me, anyway. I never played HOMM 4 after hearing the criticisms about bugs; they released the game with multiplayer not working at all. HOMM 4 was initially released, but unplayable, in 2001 (if I recall correctly). I don't know when or if the patches ever fixed everything. ------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT: No, I'm wrong--it was released early 2002. ------------------------------------------------------------- HOMM 3 was good, but multiplayer strategies were formulaic. Follow specific tactics to maximize power, and then annihilate your enemies before they're at your level. I enjoyed HOMM 3's better AI--the single player game was good. HOMM 2 was the best in the series, in my opinion. The AI was incompetent, but you could boost its chances by increasing its resources. More importantly, the multiplayer game was challenging right to the end--it was entirely possible for a player to "come back from certain defeat" with a little luck and a lot of strategizing. HOMM 1 was, well, the precursor to HOMM 2. And that's all. ------ I'll look forward to HOMM 5. If they release it as a playable game, continue to build on previous successful implementations, and most importantly, balance the strategic elements for both multiplayer and single player...then it could definitely earn one of the coveted spaces on my hard drive. --Zeno

The NationStates thing looks amusing, and I like your country's description...not so nice to visit, and I wouldn't want to live there! ------ I almost posted some "real life" stuff regarding teaching in general and the results of my efforts to stop cheating specifically. Then I realized you all have better things to do than read more of my unedited babble. ------ Matri, stop reading, and go work on your paper. --Zeno

True, true... Still, you're on the right track. If you can take the fluff out of long reports, then you already know about writing. I tend to write very long reports, then cut half the stuff out because it's repetitive. (I don't do that with forum posts or e-mails, which is why they grow and grow and grow...) In the future, when you're working, you'll be asked to write reports every now and again. No one wants to read fluff. You'll probably, if you're lucky, be working in a field you enjoy--such as a mathematics or programming-based position. Your ability to write short, clear-cut explanations will be a valuable asset. Believe it or not, fluff is also bad in theoretical political reports. So, if you can, and if you have the time, try to write 2000 words of non-fluff. You said you don't like theoretical subjects, so approach it with a practical, analytical mind. Political theory pretends to be logical, using logical arguments--so look at politics and history with your logical mind, then decide whether a certain argument (or a historical decision) is a logical solution. Think how you would decide differently in the same situation. No, it's not applied mathematics. It requires some creative thought, like programming a unique solution or solving a complex mathematical proof. Think of it this way--it can be valuable to learn a bit about how society tries to make order out of chaos. At least you can be a more informed voter, and understanding politics in government helps when learning management, teamwork, and workplace "politics". ------ Your course sounds really annoying, though. No lectures or tutorials? Just thrown in with a study guide? A theoretical class like this one just begs for classroom discussion, debate sessions, and applied roleplaying of various scenarios. If you're just told to read some stuff, and vomit out results in assignments... Blah. You must have zero motivation to actually learn any of this. The role of a teacher is often motivational, trying to make the subject appealing or applicable to the students' lives. Without that, your stuck with self-learning...which works fine for people who are interested, or those who are working in the field and are required to learn it for job security. But just to throw a book at a student, and tell them to do some assignments because it's required... Blah. ------ If you want to get through the rest of the course with a little less pain and frustration, you might try finding a good politically-based movie or book. Fiction is good--anything that has political situations written in a compelling way, designed to engage the reader/watcher. It might not be something you like, but it might at least grab your attention and interest long enough to make the class seem more relevant or interesting. Good luck... --Zeno