My second video campaign

[Catwalk]

The first video campaign was a lot of fun, and a lot of work. I think I have all the technical stuff sorted out now, as well as further refinement of the rules and mods. I've written down some general guidelines on commentary and when to pause, in order to avoid boring the viewer to death. I'll be keeping the list of videos at the start of this post and update it as I proceed:

 

I have also brushed up on my tactical skills, as I really didn't fare well first time around. Lessons learned:

1) Do NOT cluster soldiers, it's grenade bait

2) Scout obstacles carefully for aliens, they often hide

3) Don't take risks, make a tactical retreat instead when possible if a threat can't be taken out safely

4) Remember the self imposed time limit, it's often necessary to scout actively for the sub and to sprint ahead with a few soldiers in order to keep it from taking off before you enter

 

Changes in bold are new since last version.

 

:CURRENT VERSION:

 

MISC

- All aliens and artifacts set to 0 victory points

- No reloading, barring crashes.

- Punishment and reward system for failing and accomplishing various objectives:

a. All punishment is monetary, done either with an editor or by sacking and rehiring technicians.

b. The first civilian lost on a terror mission costs $10k, the next costs $20k and so on. This means 15 dead civilians will cost you $1.4m and 10 will cost you $550k.

c. Failing an artifact mission costs you $2m. (Too much, too little or just right?)

d. Each synomium device destroyed nets you $3m in cool cash (you aren't allowed to complete these missions, so it compensates the loot otherwise gained)

- Supply ships from alien bases may not be touched (pirating their supply fleet makes it profitable to keep alien bases around).

- Must sell all alien equipment scavenged on missions, may only bring manufactured alien equipment into combat (keep track)

COMBAT

- Soldiers may not MC (panic allowed).

- Automatic night missions used (from XcomUtil).

- Only aimed shots allowed on aliens you can't see (must use the sniper periscope)

- Time limitations on sub missions as follows:

a. A sub will take off after x turns.

b. x is equal to 6 + 3x ship size (very small is 1, small is 2, etc).

c. Crashed subs take 50% longer to take off due to repairs.

d. When a sub has taken off, no more soldiers may enter the sub. If you have no soldiers inside the sub or lose all soldiers inside the sub, you must return to ship and abort mission.

- On alien base and artifact missions, you may only abort the first level during the first 5 turns. After that, your transport has to take off to avoid risking being targeted by an alien sub.

- On the second level of base/artifact missions, you only have 20 turns to destroy the synomium device, and after 30 turns you must abort regardless of where your soldiers are. All remaining soldiers are swarmed by alien reinforcements and die brutally. Since you're in a hurry, you don't have time to run about looting so you may only pick up items which you'll actually be using during the missions.

- You must drop grenades if you're carrying them when the primer is up.

- Only odd primers allowed on grenades, i.e. grenades will blow up after the aliens end their turn.

- A grenade may only be tossed once each turn.

- A weapon may only be fired once per round, if you are wielding two weapons you may fire twice. HJ Cannon firing AP and Gas Cannon firing PH are exempt from this limitation.

- Tanks further lowered to 40 TU and reduced armour, 90 -> 120 health.

- All items moved around in inventory must pass through one hand and you may only load an item you're holding

- Max one item on each shoulder, may only move a shoulder item to the corresponding hand

- All human tech blows up when dropped (no damage)

 

ARMOUR

- Diving Suit strengthened by x2.5 all round

- Plastic Aqua Armour unchanged

- Ion Armour nerfed slightly

- Mag. Ion Armour nerfed considerably

 

WEAPONS

*Misc*

- Gas Cannon no longer fires HE.

- Hydro Jet Cannon no longer fires IE.

- Chemical flare turned into Nuclear Lanterns: Explode immediately, require no priming, do 20 damage, weight of 2, provide light for the remainder of the round.

- Dart Pistols allowed to load PH ammo.

- Priming removed for Dye Grenade.

- Summary of weapon changes:

a. Aimed always takes 50% more TU than Snap.

b. Aimed accuracy nerfed considerably for all weapons, especially pistols.

c. Snap accuracy improved for most weapons, especially pistols.

d. Gas Cannon loses Snap mode, HJ Cannon loses Auto and Aimed mode.

e. Pistol Aimed accuracy set to 40% of Snap accuracy, Rifle Snap accuracy set to 80% of Aimed accuracy.

f. Rifle TU usage set to 150% of Pistol TU usage.

g. Most weapons rebalanced slightly.

*Stats*

 

- Dart Gun: 16 -> 28 AP, 0 -> 24 PH, Snap 75/16, Aimed 30/32, 10 shots AP, 4 shots PH

- Jet Harpoon: 32 -> 42, Snap 52/24, Aimed 65/48, 8 shots

- Gas Cannon: AP 60, IE 60, Aimed 50/40, 6 shots

- Hydro Jet Cannon: AP 40 -> 35, HE 50, Snap 30/20, Aimed 45/50, 15 AP shots, 3 HE shots

- AJ Launcher: SM 80 -> 75, LA 90 -> 120, PH 80 -> 255, Snap 90/60, Aimed 80/75, 1 shot SM/LA, 2 shots for PH)

- Gauss Pistol: 45 -> 40, Auto 35/30, Snap 65/18, Aimed 26/36, 7 shots

- Gauss Rifle: 60 -> 60, Auto 60/50, Snap 44/27, Aimed 55/54, 6 shots

- Gauss Cannon: 75 -> 80, Auto 50/60, Aimed 80/75, 5 shots

- Sonic Pistol: 80 -> 60, Snap 90/24, 36/48, 5 shots

- Sonic Rifle: 95 -> 90, Snap 60/36, Aimed 75/72, 4 shots

- Sonic Cannon: 120 -> 120, Snap 100/60, 3 shots

- DP Launcher: No waypoints, 210 -> 150, Aimed 120/75, 2 shots

- TS Launcher: 120 -> 60, Snap 70/40, Aimed 60/80, 2 shots

- Magna-Blast Grenade: Weight 3 -> 4

- Dye Grenade: 10 -> 60, weight 3 .> 2

- PD Grenade: 70 -> 80, weight 3 -> 6

- Magna-Pack Explosive: 100 -> 160, weight 6 -> 12

- Sonic Pulser: 120 -> 90, weight 3 -> 5

- H2H weapons rebalanced to account for only being allowed to attack once per round.

 

 

ALIENS

*Misc*

- Reducing RE of most aliens by 60%.

- Reducing TA of all armed aliens by 50%.

- Raising TU/HE/RE/FA/TA of all armed aliens according to rank, higher increase for higher rank.

- Reducing MC strength and skill of most aliens by 50%, no reduction for Gillmen, 60% reduction for Tasoths.

- Boosting high ranking Gillmen across the board.

*Stats*

- Hallucinoid Terrorist: 62 -> 100 TU, 90 -> 36 RE

- Calcinite Terrorist: 35 -> 45 front armour, 35 -> 25 rear armour, 75 -> 48 RE, 55 -> 60 HE

- Xarquid Terrorist: 40 -> 60 TU, 50 -> 20 RE

- Deep One Terrorist: 50 -> 70 TU, 35 -> 45 HE, 55 -> 60 RE

- Tentaculat Terrorist: 99-> 80 TU, 100 -> 80 MC strength, 90 -> 24 RE

- Bio-Drone Terrorist: Side and rear armour raised to 25 (same as front), RE 40 -> 20

- Triscene Terrorist: 8 -> 40 under armour, 110 -> 100 side armour, 110 -> 80 rear armour, 69 -> 28 RE

- Aquatoid Soldier: 54 -> 60 TU, 30 -> 33 HE, 63 -> 28 RE, 52 -> 58 FA, 58 -> 32 TA

- Aquatoid Squad Leader: 54 -> 65 TU, 35 -> 36 HE, 63 -> 30 RE, 52 -> 62 FA, 58 -> 35 TA

- Aquatoid Technician: 54 -> 70 TU, 35 -> 39 HE, 63 -> 32 RE, 52 -> 68 FA, 58 -> 38 TA

- Aquatoid Medic: 54 -> 76 TU, 35 -> 42 HE, 63 -> 35 RE, 52 -> 73 FA, 58 -> 41 TA

- Aquatoid Navigator: 54 -> 81 TU, 35 -> 45 HE, 63 -> 38 RE, 52 -> 78 FA, 58 -> 44 TA

- Aquatoid Commander: 54 -> 86 TU, 35 -> 48 HE, 63 -> 40 RE, 52 -> 83 FA, 58 -> 46 TA

- Gill Man Soldier: 40 -> 44 TU, 45 -> 50 HE, 45 -> 20 RE, 45 -> 50 FA, 50 -> 55 TA

- Gill Man Squad Leader: 45 -> 59 TU, 50 -> 66 HE, 45 -> 24 RE, 49 -> 65 FA, 54 -> 59 TA

- Gill Man Technician: 45 -> 72 TU, 55 -> 79 HE, 50 -> 28 RE, 54 -> 77 FA, 58 -> 64 TA

- Gill Man Commander: 50 -> 77 TU, 60 -> 92 HE, 53 -> 33 RE, 58 -> 89 FA, 65 -> 72 TA

- Lobster Man Soldier: 56 -> 62 TU, 90 -> 99 HE, 60 -> 26 RE, 54 -> 59 FA, 62 -> 34 TA

- Lobster Man Squad Leader: 66 -> 79 TU, 110 -> 132 HE, 65 -> 31 RE, 54 -> 65 FA, 62 -> 37 TA

- Lobster Man Technician: 70 -> 91 TU, 115 -> 150 HE, 70 -> 37 RE, 54 -> 70 FA, 62 -> 40 TA

- Lobster Man Navigator: 74 -> 104 TU, 120 -> 168 HE, 75 -> 42 RE, 54 -> 76 FA, 43 TA

- Lobster Man Commander: 76 -> 114 TU, 125 -> 188 HE, 80 -> 48 RE, 54 -> 81 FA, 47 TA

- Tasoth Soldier: 56 -> 62 TU, 125 -> 138 HE, 80 -> 35 RE, 54 -> 59 FA, 62 -> 34 TA

- Tasoth Squad Leader: 66 -> 79, 135 -> 162 HE, 80 -> 38 RE, 65 -> 78 FA, 62 -> 37 TA

 

ECONOMY

*Personnel*

- Soldiers cost $50k and recruitment is subject to the following rules:

a. Keep track of how many soldiers you've recruited in a text file.

b. The first 10 soldiers are at default cost and quality.

c. For the next 20 soldiers, you may only keep 10 (sack the rest immediately)

d. For the next 30 soldiers after that, you may also only keep 10

e. etc

- Scientists cost $20k and recruitment is subject to the following rules:

a. Scientists take 6 days to arrive.

b. May only recruit 10 scientists at a time, must wait for them to arrive before recruiting more.

c. For each 10 scientists you recruit, you must recruit an extra 5 next time you recruit a batch

- Technicians cost $80k, no fancy rules.

*Equipment*

- All non-artefacts have a sale price of 0.

- Purchase price of standard equipment raised across the board by a factor of 4.

- Sale value of alien weapons is reduced across the board by a factor of 2.

*Misc*

- Using the alternative base from XcomUtil.

- Using alternate research from XcomUtil.

- The formula for laboratory and workship efficiency is x / (x + 3) where x is number of laboratories or workshops, the formula says what portion of your scientists or technicians may be utilized at any given time.

 

NAVAL

*Xcom Subs*

- Barracuda: 2600 -> 3000 speed, 800 -> 600 fuel, 2 -> 1 launchers, 0 -> 6 capacity, 120 -> 200 hull.

- Triton: 790 -> 200 speed, 1400 -> 1800 fuel, 0 launchers, 14 capacity, 160 hull.

- Manta: 4600 -> 5400 speed, 30 -> 40 fuel, 2 launchers, 0 -> 4 capacity, 400 hull.

- Hammerhead: 4030 speed -> 1200 speed, 60 -> 80 fuel, 0 launcher, 12 -> 16 capacity, 960 hull.

- Leviathan: 5800 -> 2400 speed, 50 -> 100 fuel, 2 launchers, 26 -> 12 capacity, 1250 hull.

 

*Craft Weapons*

- Craft Gas Cannon: 8 -> 30 range, 25% -> 40% acc, 15 -> 25 dam, speed 200, 200 -> 100 ammo

avg damage: 1000, max damage: 2500, avg damage velocity: 1600, total firing time: 100

- Ajax Launcher: 32 -> 40 range, 70% -> 90% acc, 60 -> 100 dam, speed 24, 6 ammo

avg damage: 600, max damage: 750, avg damage velocity: 2700, total firing time: 50

- DUP Launcher: 50 -> 55 range, 80% -> 50% acc, 110 -> 120 dam, speed 15, 3 -> 9 ammo

avg damage: 540, max damage: 1080, avg damage velocity: 1350, total firing time: 120

[Evil Beejeebers]

What changes have you made to your commentary set-up?

 

here's an idea for you if you let TFTD play it's own sound on your recordings

 

whilst at the same time recording your voice with software like audacity(which is open source) you could then cut the Audio from your recording into audacity on top on your commentary and have both sound and commentary paste the completed mp3 back into your video.

 

I will try and keep up with your video's anyway.

[Catwalk]

I'm a little wary of making things complicated, I was in a world of pain last time around. I have to start/stop/pause a lot, if I have to do that for both video and audio I think that could go wrong easily. But feel free to explain further, I don't know much about technical stuff.

[Catwalk]

As for commentary, I've made these little guidelines:

1) Pause upon entering Geoscape after each battle and at the start of each turn. Don't perform any actions while paused, just assess the situation and make a plan. Then carry it out after unpausing. Skip the equipment phase, briefly display the configuration once done.

2) Focus on explaining the rationale behind decisions, describe plans best possible.

[Catwalk]

I'm home from my trip to Texas and the campaign is underway! First video recorded and uploaded, it can be found

. I decided to stick with CamStudio and simply unplug the speakers in my headset, letting my microphone capture both commentary and game sounds.

 

A few more revisions:

1) Chemical flares no longer auto prime and are strength 45 grenades which you have to prime before throwing them, may only use primer 3

2) Standard grenades are strength 60

3) Halved the speed of all subs

4) Raised Zrrbite victory points to 50 per 100 units (from 10)

5) Lowered sale value of essential sub components (IBA, MN, SC, AP) significantly, sale of these is optional

6) Raised value of non-essential sub components (Learning Arrays and all that other junk)

[Catwalk]

Two more videos posted, things are heating up fast! I erm.... went and killed Bomb Bloke on the first mission

[Zombie]

So much for that idea.

 

Better hire another soldier and rename him Bomb Bloke. He must survive.

 

- Zombie

[Catwalk]

But I made him a solemn promise not to kill him How about hiring his younger sibling Dynamite Dennis?

[Catwalk]

And now I went and lost that mission too... This is turning into a remarkable demonstration of fail. Onwards with campaign 3!

[Civilian]

You made some interesting changes to the weapons, though

 

And with the risk of sounding cruel, I couldn't stop laughing when watching your last video (pt.4). Almost every move you made, every tiny little step was accompanied by death screams of your soldiers. I really pitied you.

 

They clearly made the game harder than the first part, that's for sure.

[Catwalk]

Going to make a few more weapon revisions for next campaign:

 

Ammo (I still don't run out of ammo very often with one extra clip, lowering clip sizes)

- Dart Pistol 10 -> 7, Jet Harpoon 8 -> 6, Gas Cannon 6 -> 5, Gauss Pistol 9 -> 8, Gauss Rifle 7 -> 6, Gauss Cannon 5 -> 4, Sonic Pistol 5 -> 6, Sonic Rifle 4 -> 5, Sonic Cannon 3 -> 4

 

Damage (lowering damage and armour all round, making one shot kills less likely and partial damage more likely)

- Sonic Pistol 60 -> 50, Sonic Rifle 90 -> 75, Sonic Cannon 120 -> 100, Sonic Pulser 90 -> 80, PD Grenade 40 -> 50, MP Explosives 160 -> 150, DP Launcher 150 -> 140

 

Accuracy/TU

- Jet Harpoon Aimed 65/48 -> 60/42, Snap 52/24 -> 45/21, HJ Cannon Snap 30/20 -> 40/20, Gauss Rifle Aimed 60/54 -> 56/48, Snap 44/27 -> 42/24, Sonic Rifle Snap 60/36 -> 80/36

 

Armour (strengthening the player less as the game proceeds, starting him out stronger

- Ion 120/60/60/90/50 -> 90/50/50/75/60, M Ion 90/60/60/50/40 -> 75/50/50/60/60

[Civilian]

One idea for your campaign: What I would change (if I could) about TFTD is the TU's the human soldiers get. The fights and maps in this game are much longer and bigger, giving them more Time Units (at least 50%+) would seriously help to speed things up a bit. Without making them overpowered, as the weapons TU percentages are still the same.

 

edit: Good idea with the armours^

[Catwalk]

I'm not sure how easy it'd be to do that, is there an editor that can change starting stats? However, notice that I'm actually doing the same thing indirectly with much lower TU costs for firing a weapon while only allowing one shot per weapon each round.

 

How do you feel about giving a written commentary only? I much prefer doing commentary after each video, as that allows me to cut away non-essential parts without removing any commentary as well as allowing for more interesting commentary imo as I can analyze what happened (instead of a lot of "oh shit" comments). I could make that commentary in audio as well, if I can figure out how to merge it with the video afterwards.

[Civilian]

Yes, edited videos make sense as they would save you a lot of time. Go for it.

[Bomb Bloke]

My two cents...

 

1) Do not underestimate that crouch button. If a soldier isn't somewhere you know is safe, try to have him on his knees before you end turn. Aliens are far more likely to miss - even at point blank range - if you keep this in mind.

 

Your men actually present a slightly larger profile then any other 1x1 unit in the game, unless crouching (which makes you far smaller then average).

 

2) Slopes are different to flat ground tiles. Trying to shoot a slope directly may give "LOF" errors if another part of the same slope is between the shooter and the target. You CAN aim explosives directly at the ground.

 

3) Smoke doesn't affect accuracy, only length of vision. It's great for sniping out of, but remember, if a given trooper can see an alien, then the smoke isn't protecting that specific trooper any more.

 

4) Never, EVER shoot at a target if there are troopers between you - especially when dealing with rookies. Especially at close range. With rockets. And a wall nearby. Take a few more steps over to the side if you must. Murphy's law is in full effect here.

 

The lower a troop's overall accuracy, the wider his shots can potentially fly. A good marksman may still miss, but at least he won't collect anything within 90 degrees of his field of vision.

 

5) Consider running some guys around the edges of the map. Hopefully they'll be able to snipe in at an angle that's unlikely to hit friendlies, while staying so far back that they won't draw return fire. Easier when you get flying suits, as you can just hover right up and rain down death from above to anywhere on the map.

 

6) While large groups are bad, try not to send lone troopers out. If a scout gets shot, you want to be able to take the killer out that turn, while his TUs are (relatively) low. Sending out men one at a time will see them all slaughtered in single file.

 

7) Don't worry so much about getting an intact USO right off the bat. Your research teams can only handle so much at a time, and sub engines and Zrbite aren't really needed until you've got your basic weapon and armor situations under control. Exploding a sub engine is a great way to soften up the enemy until you've found other ways to level the field.

 

8) I will come back and haunt you.

[NKF]

I would actually recommend crouching as often as possible if only for the benefits it adds to your accuracy. A few TUs spent to multiply overall firing accuracy by 1.15 is quite a nice thing to have.

 

- NKF

[Catwalk]

My two cents...

Uh oh, now you're going to slam my tactics for getting you killed

 

1) Do not underestimate that crouch button. If a soldier isn't somewhere you know is safe, try to have him on his knees before you end turn. Aliens are far more likely to miss - even at point blank range - if you keep this in mind.

 

Your men actually present a slightly larger profile then any other 1x1 unit in the game, unless crouching (which makes you far smaller then average).

Reducing the size of my men is something that I'm admittedly rarely thinking about. Does it really work this well? I should probably do this more often, yeah. Not least because my men are also missing left and right, and I'm limiting myself to one shot per weapon each round on top of that.

2) Slopes are different to flat ground tiles. Trying to shoot a slope directly may give "LOF" errors if another part of the same slope is between the shooter and the target. You CAN aim explosives directly at the ground.

Hmm, not quite following. I thought it was the other way around, that you can aim explosives at slopes but not ground (unless you're elevated)? Please elaborate.

3) Smoke doesn't affect accuracy, only length of vision. It's great for sniping out of, but remember, if a given trooper can see an alien, then the smoke isn't protecting that specific trooper any more.

I still can't wrap my mind around the concept, probably because I don't really feel safe inside smoke because I don't really know how much it limits visibility. I guess I just need to start using them more and getting a feel for it. Is it correct that you can watch farther peering out of smoke than into smoke? And how does smoke combine with reduced lighting?

4) Never, EVER shoot at a target if there are troopers between you - especially when dealing with rookies. Especially at close range. With rockets. And a wall nearby. Take a few more steps over to the side if you must. Murphy's law is in full effect here.

 

The lower a troop's overall accuracy, the wider his shots can potentially fly. A good marksman may still miss, but at least he won't collect anything within 90 degrees of his field of vision.

Lesson learned That mistake was bloody stupid, I think I was focusing too much on enlightened commentary to keep my troops alive.

5) Consider running some guys around the edges of the map. Hopefully they'll be able to snipe in at an angle that's unlikely to hit friendlies, while staying so far back that they won't draw return fire. Easier when you get flying suits, as you can just hover right up and rain down death from above to anywhere on the map.

I'll try this. I didn't worry as much about friendly fire previously, reduced aimed accuracy definitely makes it a bigger concern. I've actually run into the problem more times than this one lately, I don't usually think about sniper positions relative to scout positions.

6) While large groups are bad, try not to send lone troopers out. If a scout gets shot, you want to be able to take the killer out that turn, while his TUs are (relatively) low. Sending out men one at a time will see them all slaughtered in single file.

I'll try to remember to send my scouts out in pairs, I agree that I often miss out on a spotting opportunity when having a scout killed from the dark without being able to spot it that turn.

7) Don't worry so much about getting an intact USO right off the bat. Your research teams can only handle so much at a time, and sub engines and Zrbite aren't really needed until you've got your basic weapon and armor situations under control. Exploding a sub engine is a great way to soften up the enemy until you've found other ways to level the field.

Yeah, I gave up on this. My ego has taken a major bruising from these campaigns

8) I will come back and haunt you.

Deal

[Bomb Bloke]

Hmm, not quite following. I thought it was the other way around, that you can aim explosives at slopes but not ground (unless you're elevated)? Please elaborate.

You can aim 'em at whatever you like - so long as there's nothing between you and the target. Slopes count as "obstacles", so you may not be able to hit a higher slope tile if a lower slope tile is in the way.

 

That is, if a soldier refuses to fire somewhere, assume something is in the way and keep moving the cursor closer and closer to that soldier until he stops complaining and pulls the trigger.

 

I still can't wrap my mind around the concept, probably because I don't really feel safe inside smoke because I don't really know how much it limits visibility. I guess I just need to start using them more and getting a feel for it. Is it correct that you can watch farther peering out of smoke than into smoke? And how does smoke combine with reduced lighting?

Each tile of smoke has a counter attached to it that dictates how many turns it'll last. This ticks down by one every turn, though smoke spreads and will join into denser clouds if there's a lot of it about (though this takes a turn or two).

 

Anyway, if you take this counter and divide it by three, the result is how many tiles of vision that cloud reduces from a unit's line of sight. For example, if you try to look through a cloud of smoke that's got three turns to live, you can see one less tile further then you usually could.

 

If a unit is standing on a specific tile of smoke, then that smoke neither hinders his view, nor does it hinder the alien's view of him. Only smoke between units reduces vision.

 

You cannot tell how long a smoke cloud will live just by looking at it. Even if you take screenshots. But as a general rule, the thicker the stuff looks in a given tile, the longer it'll last there. If smoke has less then three turns to live, it doesn't affect vision range at all. When you detonate something, you end up with lots of smoke clouds, and each tile of the stuff you have to look through lowers visual range further.

 

My battlescape editor is the best way to "view this in action". Press the D button twice, and all tiles of smoke will be changed to numbers indicating exactly how many tiles they hide. You might like to try making a few save games - one with a freshly popped smoke grenade, another a turn later, another a turn later, etc... And check each one to see how effective they are at hiding stuff. F12 takes screenshots.

 

Once a unit has been spotted, smoke effectively becomes useless, because it has no effect on accuracy.

 

As for lighting, each tile has a "darkness" value attached to it that ranges from 0 (perfect light) to 15 (really dark). The magic number here is 9 - if a tile is darker then that, a soldier can't see what's in it. It doesn't matter if the tiles between the soldier and what he's looking at are in darkness, to see it the target only needs to be within his vision range (20 tiles) and the tile it's in needs to have a brightness rating of no more then 9.

 

Light values drop off by one for every tile away from the source. So, soldiers can effectively see nine tiles in any given direction at night - unless there's another light source somewhere within their 20 tile view range.

 

Aliens ignore all lighting and see the full 20 tiles all the time. Like smoke, lighting has no effect on accuracy, only on your ability to spot units.

 

You can view light levels in my battlescape viewer by pressing the D button four times. Check the "numerics" section of the manual for more info on what the other display modes do.

 

So! Smoke is only an advantage because you get to choose when to deploy it (though it's an easy way to have snipers operate from close range without fear of return fire). Lighting never gives you an advantage. If you can see an alien, the alien can always see you (assuming he's facing the right way).