Terrains and Depths

[Hobbes]

I've been wondering if there's any relation in the game between the depths of the missions and the type of terrain you might encounter.

The TFTD map shows at least 4 types of different depth (however XComutil allows you only to chose 3 depths plus land) and there seems to be no visible relation between them and the different terrains (coral, Atlantis, sunk plane, seabed, etc.)

However I have a suspicion that there might be a relationship. Has anyone done any detective work into this?

[BladeFireLight]

According to scott t jones their is no relation what so ever.. the depth might be related to the world tile's (he is looking in to that now) but the terrains are completly random. That is why xcomutil has the random terrain option. some of the terrains are verry rare.

[Hobbes]

Well, if you look at a chart of the ocean basins there's some correlation between the geoscape and reality regarding the several depths, although the programmers had to make a lot of adaptations.

Using Xcomutil i've been experimenting with the depth level for the same terrain and it seems that it changes the light conditions on the tactical screen (and sometimes it tells you that the site is too deep for your craft to access it when intercepting USOs).

It could be as well that the terrains come by randomness but in that case there must be a mechanism on the gameplay (either depth or something else) that determines the probabilities for the appearance of a specific terrain.

Statistically, if it was completely random I'd think that we'd see more of the rare terrains and sometimes be fighting a lot of times in Atlantis, as an example. The fact that they rarely appear (like mountains or artic on UFO) could mean that there's a specific factor on the game that regulates when they appear.

[BladeFireLight]

it's more a weighted random as scott explains it.

 

I have wonderd if the posibilities had anyting to do with terratories.

 

xcomutil only uses 3 of the 4 depts becaus the 4th is not actualy used by tactical.. it's only used by the interceptions to deturmin if your craft can engage.

 

and yes the light level is a direct result of the depth.

 

If the exact reason on how geoscape chooses can be found it might be posible to do true hybrid games. by maping some worldmap tiles to UFO terrains and some to TFTD terrains.

[usmarox]

I always thought the mission terrain was linked to the area in which the sub was shot down. If you look at the seabed, it isn't homologous...there's a load of different textures. I believed that the relationship was somehow between the seabed texture and the terrain.

 

If you want a "quick 'n dirty" proof, start a new game of TFTD. Place your base in the Norwegian Sea...a centimetre or so above Scotland works quite well. Play it out for a few interceptions. The crashed subs in that area will mostly be in the "Underwater Base" tileset.

 

Start another new game. As before, but place your base in the Sea of Japan/Yellow Sea. You'll then get an inordinately high number of "Atlantis" missions.

 

This is with the version of TFTD that shipped in the "Unknown Terror" package - if you have a different version, YMMV. But from this it seems to me that there's a definite deterministic link between the two.

[Zombie]

I suppose this is the best place for this so here it goes. Sometimes when you send out a Barracuda to intercept a USO the USO dives down too deep and immediately a screen comes up saying:

 

This site is too deep

Returning to base

I mean, WTF! Every time this happens my Barracuda heads back to base and as soon as I (MANUALLY) select the target, the USO gets back into intercept range! Why not have an option to continue following the USO? Stupid.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

I can't remember, but does TFTD automatically throw you out of the interception if the USO changes depths while you were in standoff range with a minimised intercept window? That's the closest thing you get to follow without interception.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

I can't remember, but does TFTD automatically throw you out of the interception if the USO changes depths while you were in standoff range with a minimised intercept window? That's the closest thing you get to follow without interception.

The game probably would dump you out of intercept range if the USO switched depths (I never saw this happen though). But I did find the depth setting in craft.dat which allowed me to manually "tweak" the USO. Gotta love it. It can't get away now!

 

- Zombie