TFTD mod + house rules

[Catwalk]

I started this a while ago, and it's time to finish it! I hope to achieve the following:

1) More diversity in weapon selection

2) Easier early game

3) Harder mid and end game

4) Nerfing the following tactics: Cannon fodder rookies, scout'n'snipe, grenade uberness

5) Easier for the player to use reactions

6) More variety in economic decisions

 

I'll be doing this mainly through a whole bunch of number tweaks, and to a lesser extent with house rules where a technical solution is not feasible.

[Space Voyager]

What do you mean with diversity in weapon selection? You plan to add new weapons?

[Jman4117]

I'm guessing he means making the existing weapons that tend not to be used actually useful. For instance, the dart gun and hydrojet are totally useless and the jet harpoon and gauss pistol are out as soon as you fight anything with armor.

 

As far as tweaking goes:

1) More diversity in weapon selection

2) Easier early game

3) Harder mid and end game

4) Nerfing the following tactics: Cannon fodder rookies, scout'n'snipe, grenade uberness

5) Easier for the player to use reactions

6) More variety in economic decisions

 

1)When I play, I pretty much use Gas Cannons, Gauss Rifles, Shock Launchers, Blasta and Sonic Cannons and the drills. Jet Harpoons and and Gauss Pistols are only used until I have something that can do more damage. Everything else is pretty much rubbish.

 

2)If possible, make the Hydro-jet and Torpedo so they aren't underwater only and make the Dart Gun more like the Pistol from UFO.

 

3)Nerf the drills (the aliens don't even use them do they?) and nerf the Shock Launcher. Either by changing the damage of the weapons or by changing the resistance that the late game aliens like Tasoths and Lobstermen have to them.

 

4)Not sure how any of this is going to work without hacking the exe. Are the armor values for objects in a file that can be edited? You might could lower the ones for grenades to keep you from stacking them on top of each other.

 

5)Probably by lowering the reactions of the aliens unless there's a way to change the range of stats that your recruits have when hired.

 

6)Depending on whether you want harder or easier, you could adjust the costs of things. Make the things that people normally build for sale less valuable, or change the price of buildings or craft.

[NKF]

The main problem with nerfing scout+snipe is that most players do it unconsciously. See an alien? Shoot with everyone with a line of fire. On the other hand enforcing the rule to walk into visual range (or 'conscious' range, as I'm starting to think of it) and firing would make it more like a spaghetti Western with everyone going 'go for your gun' everytime someone wants to attack someone. If there were an equivalent of seb76's loader for TFTD, you could make use of the ranged weapon mod that makes the choice in weapon and range an important one.

 

Drills - if you want to weaken them, one way is to slow them down. Maybe add 10% - 15% to the usage cost of all the drills. This way you still have strong drills to reward yourself for braving enemy fire to get up close and deliver a strong blow (like the lobstermen), but you can't use it repeatedly in the same turn or on multiple nearby enemies.

 

- NKF

[kyrub]

Hi Catwalk,

If you want to implement any of the hardcoded changes I made to UFO EU in the Icing mod, feel free to ask.

 

You may note the Chrysalid bug as well, which, I'm pretty sure, applies to Tentaculat in the same way. On the other hand, removing the bug would make Tentaculats miss your soldier and way easier to cope with, so you may think twice before you ask. Personnally, I find Tentaculats overly frustrating, almost undefeatable unless you know their spawn location. But the TFTD veterans will probably disagree.

 

Another important way to change the progress-difficulty is noted in this thread.

[Catwalk]

I'm on vacation and forgot all about this subforum

 

In the following, HR means House Rule and M means some kind of modification to game files.

Elaboration on what I'd like to do:

Combat

 

HR - Only one shot per round per weapon (except for reaction fire, of course).

This gives more possibilities to distinguish between weapons, 20% TU vs 40% TU no longer means you get twice as many shots. This applies to drills and stun rods as well.

HR - Only Aimed will be allowed on aliens you can't see.

This changes tactics and weapon selection in a major way, and allows for further distinction of weapons. You'll need a good mix of long-range, skirmish, explosive and melee weapons to suit the situations you encounter. If you equip your troops mainly with good long range weapons (rifles) then you risk being unable to progress fast enough.

HR - Time limitation on sub missions.

After x turns (determined by sub size and whether or not the sub was shot down or landed on its own), the enemy sub "takes off". You may keep fighting, but you may not enter or leave the sub. If you clear the sub, you may "land" it and leave it to fight any aliens which are still outside.

HR - Messing with grenades.

Only odd timers may be used, and grenades must be dropped when the timer expires. This makes grenades difficult to use and rather imprecise, but still potentially useful when you don't have a clear shot. Furthermore, primed grenades may not be relayed. Heavy explosives modded to do a lot more damage, but they may not be thrown.

 

M - Auto-fire for Gauss only.

This gives them a unique role mid-game, as they'll be the best weapon in many situations against all but Lobstermen.

M - Lower ammo for all weapons, especially the strongest ones.

Gauss (8-6-4), (5-4-3). While you can probably still procure enough ammo for your soldiers, they'll be spending a lot more time reloading. I also plan on making reloading a little slower, by requiring the soldier to physically move the clip into his other hand first. If he's carrying something in that hand, he'll be even slower.

M - Better damage for starting weapons.

They're simply not packing enough punch (with the exception of Gas Cannon and maybe Torpedo Launcher) to be remotely useful against anything but Aquatoids.

M - Drill tweaks.

Small drills will cost 10% TU, medium will cost 25% and heavy will cost 50%. Damage will follow a 1:2:3 ratio, making small drills more time efficient but heavy drills more potent since they can only be used once a round. You may even want to equip soldiers with two drills for flexibility and power in close quarters.

M - Accuracy changes.

Snap made far more accurate for most weapons, and Aimed made far less accurate. Pistols will have better Snap accuracy than Rifles, making them useful at skirmish range and for reaction fire. Aimed shots will remain useful as a means of firing at the enemy safely, but it will be grossly time and ammo inefficient.

If possible, make the Hydro-jet and Torpedo so they aren't underwater only and make the Dart Gun more like the Pistol from UFO.

I'm fine with this if it's possible, I won't be able to do it myself. I'm planning on letting the dart gun shoot phosphor rounds so it can double as a flare gun.

Nerf the Shock Launcher. Either by changing the damage of the weapons or by changing the resistance that the late game aliens like Tasoths and Lobstermen have to them.

Shock Launcher will be nerfed in accuracy and TU.

Probably by lowering the reactions of the aliens unless there's a way to change the range of stats that your recruits have when hired.

Yes, alien reactions will be lowered by around 50% across the board. If this is too low, I'll raise it back up a bit. I want reactions tactics to be highly useful since it's also highly risky.

6)Depending on whether you want harder or easier, you could adjust the costs of things. Make the things that people normally build for sale less valuable, or change the price of buildings or craft.

I have a bunch of ideas for this, especially for personnel management. Sales value of alien artifacts will definitely be lowered, it's far too easy to base your economy around loot as is. If the casualty rate on missions is upped a bit and the value of loot is lowered, that will be far more difficult to do.

 

The main problem with nerfing scout+snipe is that most players do it unconsciously. See an alien? Shoot with everyone with a line of fire. On the other hand enforcing the rule to walk into visual range (or 'conscious' range, as I'm starting to think of it) and firing would make it more like a spaghetti Western with everyone going 'go for your gun' everytime someone wants to attack someone. If there were an equivalent of seb76's loader for TFTD, you could make use of the ranged weapon mod that makes the choice in weapon and range an important one.

I think the house rule about aimed shots will work adequately, but I see your point.

 

Hi Catwalk,

If you want to implement any of the hardcoded changes I made to UFO EU in the Icing mod, feel free to ask.

Hey kyrub I promise to get more active again before too long, having a hiatus at the moment. I'm very interested (as always) in coding assistance. AI improvements in particular would be great. Would it be possible to change the civilian scores so the first costs you 10, the next costs you 20 and so on? That way you're encouraged to save the last few still alive, even if you lose a bunch to begin with. In general, it's way too easy to keep your score very high. It would also be nice to fix the bug where infiltration happens at random, regardless of alien missions.

[kyrub]

I think the house rule about aimed shots will work adequately, but I see your point.

The aim necessity could be probably coded, without too much fuss, if you wish.

 

Would it be possible to change the civilian scores so the first costs you 10, the next costs you 20 and so on? That way you're encouraged to save the last few still alive, even if you lose a bunch to begin with.

Very good idea. The equation is:

LostVictoryPoints = - 5x * (x+1) , where x is the number of killed civilians. How should X-com "collateral damage" be counted? Also, keep in mind that with many civilians the score will become tragically high. 12 killed civis give you -780 VPs, 13 gives you -910 VPs.

 

In general, it's way too easy to keep your score very high. It would also be nice to fix the bug where infiltration happens at random, regardless of alien missions.

Check the possibility to increase the alien scoring in Icing, very easy to do, if you wish. Infiltration does not happen at random AFAIK, it just works when the last battleship takes off. I have not seen a good solution for this yet. - BTW, I have fixed all the research bugs, although these are probably very easy to avoid for any TFTD veterans. Still, if you wish them in, no problem.

 

Only one shot per round per weapon (except for reaction fire, of course).

I dislike this one (others are fine). Very strange, cutting off player's choices. Not my cup of tea.

[Catwalk]

The aim necessity could be probably coded, without too much fuss, if you wish.

If this is easy to code I'd love to have it. I'm pondering your grenade changes, I might go with those instead of the rules I'm using.

Re: Civilians.

Very good idea. The equation is:

LostVictoryPoints = - 5x * (x+1) , where x is the number of killed civilians. How should X-com "collateral damage" be counted? Also, keep in mind that with many civilians the score will become tragically high. 12 killed civis give you -780 VPs, 13 gives you -910 VPs.

If it's possible to change how many civilians will appear (say, a fixed 10 per terror mission) we'll be able to keep a check on this.

Check the possibility to increase the alien scoring in Icing, very easy to do, if you wish.

I'll definitely want some of those, would be very interesting. Would it be possible to keep the number of missions fairly low as the game progresses but have them increase in difficulty (sub size and mission objective) instead? I don't want to require the player to do a whole bunch of missions because his score will plummet otherwise, so if we make scoring factors more severe I think we'll need to limit # of missions mid game on.

Infiltration does not happen at random AFAIK, it just works when the last battleship takes off. I have not seen a good solution for this yet. - BTW, I have fixed all the research bugs, although these are probably very easy to avoid for any TFTD veterans. Still, if you wish them in, no problem.

Yeah, I meant they were unrelated to whether or not you shoot down the subs. I really want a way to prevent infiltration. Speaking of which, should sonar listening radius be increased? It feels kind of unfair when stuff is happening on the other side of the globe, and I hate relying on graphs to try to luck into enemy subs.

Re: One shot per weapon per round.

I dislike this one (others are fine). Very strange, cutting off player's choices. Not my cup of tea.

While this may seem to cut off a player's choices, I think it actually allows for more diversity. With this restriction in place, it's possible to make weapons feel and function much more distinctively from each other. As an example, Snap for Dart Gun can be set as low as 15%, making it an excellent scout weapon. You can spend a large amount of TU walking and still fire, or you can use it for a bunch of reaction shots (which will still be unrestricted, of course). And I plan on making the Hydro Jet Cannon semi-automatic in the sense that it'll have a 5% TU cost for Snap shots at low accuracy (with 16 shots per clip), with no restriction on shots per round. If not for this rule, there's not that much difference between a TU improvement and an accuracy improvement, both simply give you more net damage. With this restriction in place (and aimed shots being nerfed big time), you'll really have to adjust your playing style according to what weapons your nearby soldiers are equipped with. I hope you'll come around on this one, it's a lot of fun to play with. It also makes sense to carry two pistols now

[Catwalk]

Forgot a really big coding request: Fixing fire damage and XP. You currently can't get any XP from using fire weapons, and you can do damage to any alien standing in fire simply by shooting a fire weapon anywhere. If both of these could be fixed, it'd be awesome.

 

Also on my wishlist is revising the XP system, which is probably out of reach. It'd be really nice if an alien with x HP gives y XP and that doing z points of damage to it by whatever means gives the soldier x*y/z XP towards the relevant skill. That way you can't hit it 10x with a Dart Gun before finishing it off for tons of XP, or tossing 5-6 low damage grenades around it.