Game Data

[Blehm 98]

I know all about NKF's damage modifiers. But celatids just seem to have worse accuracy than that though

[Zombie]

Pumpkinhead Posted on Jun 27 2004, 08:56 PM

Q: Why, in your terror unit table did you quote the TUs as solid numbers when the units' TUs are variable depending on skill-level?

 

eg. You've said that a Celatid's snap shot is 21 (instead of 30%), but this doesn't hold true in the Superhuman skill where 30% of the Celatid's TUs is actually 24.6.

 

I am really sorry for the confusion! Those tables were only meant for the Beginner skill level. I had the other skill levels laying around but decided not to include them due to length. Since you asked about this, I decided to break the data up into basic information and the skill level information. Here are all of the tables including time units and firing accuracy. Just remember that the numbers for "Time Units to Fire" and "Base Chance to Hit" are truncated to the integer!

 

Basic Information
 

[Pumpkinhead]

Do I get any brownie points for explaining this? Probably not, but it is always fun to learn something new about X-COM. Right?

[Zombie]

I also, can never get enough of decent and accurate data! The only way to verify the accuracy is to do it yourself. This requires testing (sometimes lots of it). Some people that play X-COM probably could not give a hoot whether this information was even available. Personally, I become a better player the more knowledge I gather!

 

And I could think of a few other people (including myself) who would also kill for those game docs!

[NKF]

'Knowledge is power.'

 

It can also ruin the game a bit, but knowing what something goes the way it does can be almost as satisfying. Especially on those rare occasions where something ridiculously impossible happens and you know why.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Hmmm I thought I said this in an earlier post. Ahh yes:

Zombie Posted on Jun 27 2004, 08:11 PM

You will not see most of this information anywhere, including the OSG, USG, this website, etc. This is information was compiled by myself for players like you who think that knowledge is power! Use the power to your advantage!

 

Ruin the game?!? Nah, it makes it that much more enjoyable when you know something about it! Sometimes I have a feeling that the game does not know some of the things we found out on this website!!!

[Pumpkinhead]

I've often wondered if the developers are aware of sites like this, and realise how fanatical and obsessive some of us fans really are?

 

If so, I wonder how they feel about the fact that we sift through the workings of their game with a fine-toothed comb? Even if the comb does seem to be missing a few teeth sometimes

 

They're probably sitting back, saying, "I wonder if they'll ever figure out the throwing distance formula?", and laughing at our struggle

[NKF]

Hmm. 'Quality Assurance'.

 

'Nosy bugger' suits me fine.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Pumpkinhead:

 

Sorry to dredge up this topic again, but I was afraid that if I posted in the "Reaper panicked ?" thread that this would get lost in the shuffle and never be seen by the guy who needs it the most!

 

Anyhow, it concerns your (and the OSG's) Points for ground assault actions_. Specifically, it shows that for each X-COM soldier killed, a -20 point deduction is added to your score. This is not true for any soldier killed! The points are higher depending on rank!

 

This is what I got when I killed each rank:

 

Commander: -73 points

Colonel: -62 points

Captain: -38 points

Sergeant: -24 points

Squaddie: -22 points

Rookie: -22 points

 

This should be the same for any skill level you play at. The numbers were found by killing each rank and then dusting-off. The end of mission report gives the points lost but does not mention what rank was killed in the process. So you may add this information to your shopping basket also!

[Pumpkinhead]

Thanks!

[NKF]

These values don't necessarily go by rank. The value of the soldier increases as the soldier gains experience. Basically it keeps track of the worth of the soldier. Never really gets past 70 and a bit though.

 

The soldier's value is only considered if the soldier is killed in combat. You might have different results with different scenarios. Try:

 

1. The soldier is left outside when you evacuate

2. The sodlier is stunned but on the Skyranger when you evacuate

3. The soldier is stunned and blown up with a grenade

4. The soldier is zombified.

5. You concede the base to the aliens without a fight (you'll always get 0 for this one)

6. You evacuate while the soldier is under mind control but in the Skyranger

7. You evacuate after dragging the stunned body of a soldier that was under mind control into the Skyranger

 

It's probably worth testing to see what produces what.

 

- NKF

[JellyfishGreen]

Can't believe I've been ignoring this thread, but I made a table from Zombie's TU data.

 

 Personal Inventory TU Management Table

From/To

Edited July 26, 2004 by JellyfishGreen

[Zombie]

JellyfishGreen:

 

Sorry, somehow those figures got lost in the reams of game data that I have.

Belt to Backpack is 16 TU and,

Backpack to Belt is 12 TU.

Again, I apologize for the missing data, and the table looks good!

 

NKF:

 

I will test out your stunned soldier scenarios tomorrow. Your first setting, the soldier gets left behind when you dust-off, seems extraordinarily obvious. It is called M.I.A.! Any soldiers Missing In Action always count as -20 points! (And I tested this out just the other day by coincidence so it is still fresh in my mind.)

 

Your fourth scenario is the soldier getting zombified. Zombifying removes the soldier from your ranks effectively killing the poor soul. Killing a soldier by zombification yields the same negative value as a simple cut-and-dried death by alien plasma. So, if you would lose -38 points for a Captain being killed (by alien or X-COM hands) you would lose the same amount if the Captain got the claw and turned into a Zombie.

 

NKF Posted on Jul 20 2004, 02:19 AM

These values don't necessarily go by rank. The value of the soldier increases as the soldier gains experience. Basically it keeps track of the worth of the soldier. Never really gets past 70 and a bit though.

 

Are you just guessing here, or is there tangible evidence showing that experience overrides rank in calculating the score? I speculate that you are guessing. And does experience = overall statistics, or missions and kills, or something else entirely? In any case, try this: max out a Colonels statistics. Now kill him. See what score you get. The Colonel is always -62. If his skills were higher than the Commander (or any other soldier for that matter) the score should be -73, but it is not. Missions and kills are also rank dependant. A Colonel with more missions and kills than a Commander (pretty easy to test out - give the Commander an early retirement and keep the Colonel in active duty) will turn up as -62, not -73 as you infer.

[NKF]

Regarding the experience:

 

No, no, if I did that, it wouldn't change the stat that records the value of the soldier, so the soldier would still be worth whatever value the soldier was before.

 

I'll just check my old solo floater base assault savegame. Ah, two colonels. Shigeo and Mikhail.

 

Of the two, Mikhail is one of my best soldiers, he has a value of 62. Shiego Okamoto only has a value of 60.

 

Just another example, in the same game, Danielle, Ed and Yoko. They're all captains. Danielle is by far the longest living of the three, with the most experience, and is worth 56 points. Ed is worth 38 and Yoko is worth 36.

 

Now, rank may have some influence over the scores, as Kevin Webb, the commander has a value of 72, while Mikhail is still the best improved soldier (more hits than Kevin).

 

I'm just saying the soldier's development might influence the value of the soldier. Is all.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Fair enough. I think I have your Solo Floater Base Challenge saved game somewhere, but I cannot find it at the moment. If you could point me in the right direction it would be much obliged!

 

So how are the points figured out for each soldier? Is it a combination of Missions and Kills, or is it based on the statistics of the particular soldier? Obviously, rank does play a role, but what is the underlying factor that makes Danielle higher than Ed?

[NKF]

Wish I could answer that.

 

All I know so far is that Danielle came in a bit after Mikhail and Kevin, while Ed and Yoko are relatively new, but they've all had some experience under their belt.

 

My WWW link will set you right. But here's a direct link anyway:

 

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

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Ok, Pumpkinhead. You may nix-a the points lost for a dead soldier being what I said. I was partially wrong. The points are different depending not only on "experience", but also rank. A newly recruited soldier with no combat experience does actually weigh in at -20 points when killed. This is the only exception. As the rookie gains experience and rank his points are increased accordingly. So the OSG's -20 points is only for a brand spanking new rookie, not a rookie with a mission or two under his belt!

 

I am sorry for the misinformation, but at least we learned something in the process. Right?

[Zombie]

The soldier's value is only considered if the soldier is killed in combat. You might have different results with different scenarios. Try:

 

1. The soldier is left outside when you evacuate

2. The sodlier is stunned but on the Skyranger when you evacuate

3. The soldier is stunned and blown up with a grenade

4. The soldier is zombified.

5. You concede the base to the aliens without a fight (you'll always get 0 for this one)

6. You evacuate while the soldier is under mind control but in the Skyranger

7. You evacuate after dragging the stunned body of a soldier that was under mind control into the Skyranger 

 

It's probably worth testing to see what produces what.

 

- NKF

Ok, I spent an exhaustive few days testing these scenarios out. Why did it take so long? Well, seems as though I did not have a single game with the small launcher researched. The small launcher is necessary to stun regular X-COM soldiers because the Stun Rod will not work against them. The Stun Rod will work if the X-COM soldier is under alien control though.

 

For the following data I did not attempt #5, only numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7. I also thought it would be appropriate to check each scenario out inside and outside the landing craft to make comparisons. Turns out that the number is the same whether the soldier is inside the landing craft when you dust off or outside.

 

1) Soldier left outside when you evacuate. Result: MIA for -20 points. This is a concrete number, and will not change with the rank of a soldier.

 

2) A stunned soldier on or off a landing craft when you evacuate. Result: 0 points. Same deal here, the number is not rank dependant.

 

3) A soldier is stunned and blown up with an explosive blast inside or outside the landing craft. Result: 0 points. Again, this is a fixed number and cannot be changed.

 

6) A soldier under alien control inside or outside the craft when evacuating. Result: MIA for -20 points. Need I say it again? Not rank dependant.

 

7) A soldier under alien control and stunned inside OR outside the landing craft when evacuating. Result: MIA for -20 points.

 

Here are a couple more scenarios that I thought of and tested.

 

8) A soldier that is shot and killed while under alien control inside or outside of the craft when you dust-off. Result: same points as if the soldier is just killed normally. This is rank and skill dependant.

 

9) A soldier under alien control, stunned and blown up with an explosive blast inside or outside the craft when you dust-off. Result: same points as if the soldier was is killed normally. Rank and skill dependant.

 

So put that in your pipe and smoke it!

ps. - I do not endorse smoking in any way!

[Pumpkinhead]

So MIA's are always -20, whereas KIA's are rank/skill-dependant?

[NKF]

You can also toss in: surrendering a base attack without a fight = 0 pts

 

Why? Not entirely sure. The whole base just vanishes without a trace if you surrender. No points lost. Nothing. It just ceases to exist. But if you put up a fight and lose, you'll only lose points for the soldiers lost, but not for the base, non-combat staff, ships, etc.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

So MIA's are always -20, whereas KIA's are rank/skill-dependant?

Yep, you got it buddy! Also, the 0 point scenarios are fixed at 0, and cannot be changed by using a more skilled soldier or officer.

 

As for surrendering an X-COM base without a fight:

 

I have never tried this but my initial presumption was that even if the end of mission report showed a score of 0, the end of month tally would show something was amyss. I assume it gets factored in somewhere, because this was a mistake on your part. On top of this, the one sure way of losing the game is to let the aliens take all your bases out.

 

I don't know. Maybe the game figured you learned your lesson about losing a fully equipped base with weapons, soldiers, engineers, scientists, HWPs and a variety of fighter/landing craft! Why add insult to injury and dump a huge negative score on a player when you understand your mistake!

[Jman4117]

Maybe the fight to the death bit at the start of the mission discourages surrendering. I personally never surrender in base defense. If got 6 guys I still fight it out. I can only lose at most 120 points, and it's possible to win it and save the trouble of making a new one.

[NKF]

Then you get the scenarios where you have eight unarmoured soldiers with standard pistols and rifles, high explosives AND your opponents happen to have superhuman armoured sectopods with them. This happened to me when I was setting up a radar/interceptor outpost. Never thought I'd meet the ethereals that soon, I hadn't even met the Mutons yet, which was why I was so careless with my weapon loadout!

 

Actually, there is one major repercussion. You lost your base. All the money you invested in setting up the base is just wiped clean. All your services in that area will no longer be available (interception, detection, ground assaults). Just having the world governments cover the surrender up and forgetting the incident ever happened is your one blessing. Any soldiers that died during the takeover are accounted for. This leads me to believe that surrendered soldiers aren't just murdered with the shut down of the base. Perhaps they're taken prisoner, but you never get to see them again.

 

You don't lose points though. I watched the area activity scores and there was no dip in the area I was covering. Still ended the month on a very good note - sans my new outpost.

 

But losing a base won't wipe X-Com out as long as ONE base remains. So if your last base is defenceless against the oncoming attackers (no guards), you could still keep playing the game by building a brand new base before the battleship arrives. Then it's just a matter of having enough money to rebuild and not getting shut down due to lack of activity.

 

- NKF

[Blehm 98]

actually, the game doesn't show everything at the debreifing screen. i noticed, it only shows some stuff, but has tons of invisible factors. It looks like you only get 10(or was it 20) points for capturing that etherial commander, but you also get tons of points for it being an etherial commander

[Pumpkinhead]

You get 80pts for capturing an Ethereal Commander alive, whereas you get 40pts for killing it and then 5pts for its corpse.