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For the 40,000th post, I'll agree that the air game sucks, but defend that it's not nearly as difficult or fiddly as it's made out to be.
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Jul 5, 2015 03:12
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Dunno if I'll ever do anything with it, but I'm trying to learn how to mod the tech tree so I can make it shorter and less dumb as the first step in building a shorter Long War experience. The current tech tree is absolutely stupid, entirely too cross linked and full of tiny incremental boosts designed to support a 100+ hour campaign. Long War seems built around circular design decisions. In order to give more time to make each tech tier and item bloat feel distinct in useful they upped the mission count and slowed down progress, but now they need more items to bridge the gaps created by a dragged out campaign so they tacked on more techs and item bloat. The armor chain goes Alien Materials -> Improved Body Armor -> Advanced Body Armor -> Mobile Power Armor (req Elerium) -> Advanced Power Armor (req. Alien Power Systems (req. Alien Computers)) -> Antigrav (req. Alien Propulsion (req. Advanced Aerospace (req. Experimental Warfare))). And then theres Stealth Armor, Vortex Armor and the MEC line (Alien Biocybernetics -> Improved Combat Exoskeletons -> Heavy/Mobile Exos) in addition to that! Thats too many loving techs and iterations on armor. Its needless complexity and 'options' for the sake of having more stuff. By comparison, vanilla EW went Alien Materials -> Carapace Armor -> Titan Armor (req. Elerium (req. Alien Power)) -> Archangel (req. New Fighter Craft (req. Alien Navigation)). Skeleton Armor was useful but completely optional and the only additional tech needed for MECs was Meld. A lot of the LW tech tree feels like it suffers from needless bloat. I get that more options allow more playstyles, but the thing is many techs aren't presented as options but as necessary links in the upgrade chain. In vanilla I have the option to research skeleton suits. If I don't want to, I don't have to, its truly optional. In LW every single tech in the chain is non-optional, with the possible exception of Antigrav at the end if you don't like flying (why do you hate fun?). LW does this for the weapon trees too. If you want EMP you need to go through all the tiers, even if you never build a beam or pulse weapon. Why? If you want to go Beam -> Pulse you still need Adv. Gauss at some point if you ever want to use Proxi mines or MEC grenades, because those are tacked on there for some reason (I know the reason, muh realisms, but realism should always take a backseat to game design). The psi and genemod trees also suffer heavily from gated techs. The entire LW tech tree is just one confusing bloated mess. I want to try and condense down the tech trees into something more straightforward and less insane, with either true choices between tech paths or completely optional techs for cool but non-essential stuff. I really think the strength of XCOM is in replayability, not in single long rear end campaigns with REALISMS. If I ever manage that, Id go about retooling the air game (no crits!) and maybe tweaking the classes a little bit. Apparently undoing the EXALT trail of tears and getting back the multiple countries per clue only takes uncommenting a few lines somewhere, so thats nice. Also I'd love to be able to make the Gollop Chamber work like it does in vanilla again to get rid of psi grinding forever.
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Jul 5, 2015 04:31
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I'm liking the change to Reaper Rounds from ballistic/gauss and only working against organics to beam/pulse and working against everything. A Pulse Rifle with a Reaper Pack and Scope or Neural Gunlink feels like a strong combo build for Infantry, Assaults and Scouts even if you haven't been taking +crit perks. Also, I can't believe I didn't realize the best use for Command until today: use it to get your covert operative into the extraction zone.
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Jul 5, 2015 04:33
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Not a Step posted:Dunno if I'll ever do anything with it, but I'm trying to learn how to mod the tech tree so I can make it shorter and less dumb as the first step in building a shorter Long War experience. The current tech tree is absolutely stupid, entirely too cross linked and full of tiny incremental boosts designed to support a 100+ hour campaign. Long War seems built around circular design decisions. In order to give more time to make each tech tier and item bloat feel distinct in useful they upped the mission count and slowed down progress, but now they need more items to bridge the gaps created by a dragged out campaign so they tacked on more techs and item bloat. Honestly I actually feel like, confusing though it can be, the LW tech tree can even be a bit short, especially in dynamic war where you barely have a three months between weapon trees.
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Jul 5, 2015 05:00
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Cat Army 
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amanasleep posted:For the 40,000th post, I'll agree that the air game sucks, but defend that it's not nearly as difficult or fiddly as it's made out to be. Its the one thing that made me uninstall Long war. I love the items, the classes, pretty much everything, but its simply too much of a bother to care about RNG planes on my squad tacticts game.
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Jul 5, 2015 05:10
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What if the RNG planes were snakes. And had tits.
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Jul 5, 2015 05:38
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Is there an ini file to make the drop teams bigger?
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Jul 5, 2015 06:06
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My gunner just flushed a cyberdisk for 13 
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Jul 5, 2015 06:07
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dyzzy posted:My gunner just flushed a cyberdisk for 13 Is Flush actually not garbage now?
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Jul 5, 2015 06:20
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The bonus damage from HEAT isn't reduced by Flush. 
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Jul 5, 2015 06:35
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Onmi posted:Is Flush actually not garbage now?
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Jul 5, 2015 07:28
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Onmi posted:Is Flush actually not garbage now? The way LW spread out its subclasses and perk trees, flush is a) not in competition with a no-brainer like rapid fire in EW and b) more attractive since it can be paired wit HEAT on a gunner, as people mentioned. Also since LW shuffles things a bit and you get flying enemies from day 1 the bonus accuracy is very handy.
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Jul 5, 2015 07:38
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Flush is cool, but holo-targeting is awesome as well, an aim bonus for everyone against an enemy? Yes Please.
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Jul 5, 2015 07:51
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GlyphGryph posted:So anyone up here for making a mod? It will be awesome. Basically, it will be Long War but;
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Jul 5, 2015 09:16
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At this point, having played both and wanting to just go back to a simpler alien-stomping standard, I'd probably go back to regular EW, except for a few major things that LW adds, like random mission spawns, improvements to certain skills and items, and all the bug fixes. Plus, more minor stuff like studying UFOs (and seeing their damage) and the more developed MEC systems. I wish LW were more modular, but to be fair, it's already hugely so. It would just need to be completely modular so I could get the item and mission variety but go back to the old mission/weapon/class scales.
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Jul 5, 2015 09:43
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amanasleep posted:For the 40,000th post, I'll agree that the air game sucks, but defend that it's not nearly as difficult or fiddly as it's made out to be. And once again we come back to the idea that just because you insist on something and/or it is technically possible to pull something off in LW (in a vacuum, as you generally tend to speak), doesn't mean that it's a good idea. Or that it's fun, or that it's not feature bloat, or that it's not fiddly. Seriously, every regular in this thread knows you're our primary LW apologist. By now, I could probably construct with moderate accuracy most objections you would put forward in response to someone making a rational observation about a flaw in Long War. This thread's general consensus is still "You should give LW a shot unless it sounds just completely loving godawful to you, and honestly if it does we still encourage you to try it out with a heavily modded ini," even despite those flaws. And there are a loving lot of them, starting with the ideas which you yourself have put forward that 'everything is fine if you just Don't Get Shot,' and how 'there's a small item counter for everything, you just have to anticipate what you're going to face on a mission without any information whatsoever while you're putting together your squad.' The mod is great for mild (I put myself towards this end of the spectrum) to full-on tactical shooter grognards, and honestly with the basic Goon ini to remove the lion's share of the utter and complete bullshit which drives many players away from LW, played on Normal, it's loving great for folks who are burned the gently caress out on Enemy Within but would like to still murder the poo poo out of some space invaders. That's fine, that's loving fine, there's absolutely no goddamn need for anyone to white-knight all of its obvious, glaring flaws. Also, for the rest of you:  anyone who doesn't like Long War Engineers should try modding ienvironmentdamage on all the grenades back up to vanilla levels. I've occasionally been able to take out UFO walls and debris with a lucky Sapper frag, and basically always with a Sapper alien grenade. It's (at least for me?) a mod about opening up a shitton more options in the Shooty Mans game, which is why it's so egregious that LW's core philosophy is "It's harder/more random and thus frustrating all the time because gently caress you."Vib Rib posted:I wish LW were more modular, but to be fair, it's already hugely so. It would just need to be completely modular so I could get the item and mission variety but go back to the old mission/weapon/class scales. This kind of poo poo is why I've never gotten into modding; anything I could possibly want to do would be substantially more complex because I would want it to be fully modular. I mean, unless it was some goofy poo poo like the All Trees Are Hands mod for Skyrim. e: vvvv I just don't feel like I'm somehow obligated to not call people on their bullshit, when they've reiterated it so many times. Also, I would follow Swolefordtoid through the very gates of hell, as long as he (it?) doesn't get tits. Bonus points for a ludicrously-exaggerated codpiece. LonsomeSon fucked around with this message at 10:54 on Jul 5, 2015 |
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Jul 5, 2015 10:26
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why is so much time spent debating whether or not people's opinions on a mod are correct, when we could be posting snake tits or the latest alien hybrids
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Jul 5, 2015 10:47
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yowza
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Jul 5, 2015 10:53
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I wish I could work out how to strip a lot of the RNG out of Long War, specifically the air game crits, the +/- 20% damage ranges on weapons and the explosives RNG damage + falloff range. I like a *lot* of what Long War brings to the table, like the extensive bug fixes and the extra soldier classes, but I hate the RNG shoehorned in every goddamn place, small item bandaids for everything, and the length of the campaign. Also I really wish the devs had bent the difficulty curve in the other way. Players who take massive losses should see a reduction in alien ferocity, while those who consistently do well should see the difficulty ramped up to match them. The bonus research mechanic desperately needs a negative sign attached to it, with positive research being given to the aliens only for player mission successes. It even makes narrative sense, which I know is something a lot of LW players put stock in, because XCOM is really more about an alien obstacle course than an invasion. Theres a reason they don't just uncloak the temple ship and drop five battleships on Earth day 1. I was already going to buy XCOM 2 Day 1, but I might be convinced to preorder if they give me Bradford sweater wearing aliens. Also the Bradford sweater would be the best thing ever to buy, someone more dedicated than I am tell me its for sale somewhere and link it, TIA
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Jul 5, 2015 10:54
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Coolguye posted:Baldur's Gate also got a novelization. It's not a big deal. A subsection of people will like it (how large a subsection depends upon the quality of the writing) but most people will simply ignore it and keep playing with their virtual GI Joes. In BG's case basically nobody paid attention to it because the story of BG isn't exactly captivating to begin with and the writer managed to make it even less interesting by casting the main character (normally a created PC) as an incredibly one-dimensional Lawful Good Human Fighter. The author also barely followed the story from the very first page of the very first chapter and changed a lot of characters into barely one-dimensional cut outs, if he wasn't changing them entirely (see: Khalid and Jaheira). The BG novels are some of the worst-written adaptations around. I think the author even admitted that he didn't know anything about the game beyond the broad strokes of it and just wrote parts of the novels influenced by what he saw on TV. They're kind of bizarre, really. However, Greg Keyes did some really good B5 novels (specifically, that of a near future Earth dealing with telepaths suddenly appearing in the populace), so, the XCom novel could be pretty slick if it's a similar style.
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Jul 5, 2015 10:58
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DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:why is so much time spent debating whether or not people's opinions on a mod are correct, when we could be posting snake tits or the latest alien hybrids Please don't spoil endgame content.
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Jul 5, 2015 11:13
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Anyone here played Enemy? It was refreshing to go back to an openly voxel-based game with TUs, but without a research meta-game I found it very hard to actually differentiate my tactics from anyone else's for way too long.
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Jul 5, 2015 14:30
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Edit: nevermind
MrBims fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Jul 5, 2015 |
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Jul 5, 2015 14:52
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RoanHorse posted:Anyone here played Enemy? It was refreshing to go back to an openly voxel-based game with TUs, but without a research meta-game I found it very hard to actually differentiate my tactics from anyone else's for way too long. Can we get a link? That is one of the least searchable games this side of "Video Game".
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Jul 5, 2015 15:34
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http://store.steampowered.com/app/339570/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1 It's a minecraft jagged alliance/og xcom type dealy. TU based squad combat that is currently terrible balanced to favor thrown weapons and magic.
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Jul 5, 2015 16:18
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From the weird fanart megathread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRuz-Yf70Dk OP material imho
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Jul 5, 2015 16:27
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Milky Moor posted:The author also barely followed the story from the very first page of the very first chapter and changed a lot of characters into barely one-dimensional cut outs, if he wasn't changing them entirely (see: Khalid and Jaheira). The BG novels are some of the worst-written adaptations around. I think the author even admitted that he didn't know anything about the game beyond the broad strokes of it and just wrote parts of the novels influenced by what he saw on TV. They're kind of bizarre, really. There were a few official XCOM short stories/novella back in the day IIRC? I remember three in particular that were at least decent. One ended with a guy getting mind controlled and nearly blowing up the Avenger and the entire squad with a Blaster Bomb launcher. That was very authentic to the source material. Vengarr fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Jul 5, 2015 |
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Jul 5, 2015 16:32
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From reddit: http://gfycat.com/InsignificantAmusingAzurevasesponge (higher res than a snakelady's tits)
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Jul 5, 2015 19:19
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dyzzy posted:From reddit: http://gfycat.com/InsignificantAmusingAzurevasesponge (higher res than a snakelady's tits) That's the poo poo  is made for.
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Jul 5, 2015 19:31
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Why are his health bars green?
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Jul 5, 2015 20:31
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I think it's a colorblind mod?dyzzy posted:From reddit: http://gfycat.com/InsignificantAmusingAzurevasesponge (higher res than a snakelady's tits) The gently caress happened there? The rocket was nowhere near the car that exploded. Does LW increase the aoe beyond the sphere for some reason?
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Jul 5, 2015 20:35
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Wouldn't use it myself, though sometimes it is a little hard to see the armor/wound hp pips. e: I think he got incredibly unlucky on his rocket's damage roll. The car was barely on the edge of the AoE and still got hit with 500 environmental damage causing an instand detonation.
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Jul 5, 2015 20:35
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Lunethex posted:Why are his health bars green? You can change the color of health and armor bars with this patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/503/
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Jul 5, 2015 20:35
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Brainamp posted:The gently caress happened there? The rocket was nowhere near the car that exploded. Does LW increase the aoe beyond the sphere for some reason?
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Jul 5, 2015 21:13
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Brainamp posted:The gently caress happened there? The rocket was nowhere near the car that exploded. Does LW increase the aoe beyond the sphere for some reason? lamp post
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Jul 5, 2015 21:34
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DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:why is so much time spent debating whether or not people's opinions on a mod are correct, when we could be posting snake tits or the latest alien hybrids mods?
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Jul 5, 2015 22:03
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Decrepus posted:mods? Yeah, you can make a mod for that. 
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Jul 5, 2015 22:59
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You know until today I didn't think I wanted a mod that replaced sectoids with bradford's model. You've really opened my eyes, thread.
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Jul 5, 2015 23:08
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bradford's model, sectoid animations bradfords scampering around the map and clicking urgently at one another   mind merge takes the form of a second sweater
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Jul 5, 2015 23:15
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DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:mind merge takes the form of a second sweater Change animation color to green, center on the chest instead of the head. Boom.
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Jul 5, 2015 23:18
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