Larry Burstyn

I looked at the modding discussion area and nowhere did I find a hint at a solution to my produce item and crash problem. Now my eyes hurt and I'm no closer to finding an answer. Maybe I need something in the manufacture xml of the item than the stock item line...but I have no idea as to what is missing. In 2010 i had a incident with my left eye. My retina tore free and covered the part of the eye that sees details. I've had two retina surgeries but I never got back the ability of the left eye to read text...so my right eye does ALL the work...it gets tired and gives me pain (headaches and eye strain). With my left eye everything is badly distorted.

Need some help. Like to change the X-Division balance a little but have run into some problems. 1. Like to delay the start of the phases but cannot find where that is controlled. My eyes are not so good so looking at lots of text hurts after a few minutes. 2. Added a new manufacture and it crashes when the item is finished being produced. The item being produced is already in the item.xml. I added to research.xml (unlock manufacture) and it allows me to "produce" the item (it shows up in the Engineers to do list)..added needed changes to string.xml to say what is needed to produce and what is produced. When the item is produced the game stalls and then crashes to desktop. This is entirely for myself since I get so frustrated when my forces are wiped out when the new phase begins and all my weapons are useless. And I have not produced enough of the new weapons to outfit my soldiers better than the LOCALS. I will not be uploading my changes anywhere or sharing it with anyone.

But the town itself was KNOWN to the locals. They like many who worked in the "town" did not know what was going on but knew it had something to do with the war effort. But the point I made had nothing to do with what the local HUMAN population knew or did not know but what the Aliens know. A helicopter flying around a "empty" area is much more visible (from space) than a 18 wheel truck--especially if the road is partially or completely hidden from aerial observations..or "spy" satellites. The base built just outside of Colorado Springs was known to the locals and probably the Russians due to their spy network inside the USA but not to most of the world until the entrance of the base was made known by the popular Star Gate TV show. I lived there when I was a kid and everyone knew that they were building something there--I knew because MY Dad was in charge of the computers being installed (I did not know what my Dad did at the time but knew he worked for DOD--and found out when I got my security clearance). The base itself was built to SURVIVE and continue working even if hit by a ONE Megaton Nuclear missile. Even had equipment there to dig their way out if the entrance collapsed. And I got caught by the bases outer defense screen mountain climbing Cheyenne Mountain. Boy did I get grounded--for climbing without safety equipment and climbing without letting anyone know what I was doing and being told to stop climbing .

I'll guarantee you that they did not deliver an Atlas rocket via helicopter or in parts.

When a UFO attacks your base there is a read out of it's ground based defense firing at the UFO. As each unit fires it says whether it hits or misses (make sense) but the rest does not. Further on the hit/miss line if it's a hit there is a number (which I assume is some sort of damage done which is usually meaningless since I have no idea how many points the UFO starts with)...and a percentage which makes no sense at all to me. Example....line says miss then further to the right it has 0(75%). What does the 75% mean???? The first unit to fire always seems to miss. Later another unit fires and it says hit then further to the it has 1134(25%). What does the 25% mean??

Using your chopper to haul supplies does not make sense to me either. Especially since ground transportation is cheaper and more able to hide from surveillance. They will be looking for your chopper but a lone truck (even an 18 wheeler) will not be so obvious. How do you think they built the Atlas base in the first place?

Congrats. Have a nice honeymoon and don't worry about us...we'll do fine without you for a couple of weeks. HAVE FUN. I noticed you did not state where you are going...hope it is all you wanted.

I personally don't like the idea of psionic powers of any kind. But if it is going to be used it should be rare and hard to use or fail a LOT.

How about night vision devices for humans tending to even the night battles. Might even be a researched item to get improvements. I like the panic idea...especially for non-combatant aliens.

The problem I have with just one base is that if the enemy finds it a penetrating nuke will end the resistance immediately. Or a siege by a "stronger" enemy will eventually end the resistance.

Top down or side view really does not matter if it is not implemented in such a way as to make the game interesting to play. A GREAT idea can be implemented badly to the point where the players say ugh...not playing this any more and telling my friends it's a terrible game. And a not so great idea can be implemented so well that the players are happy to play the game more than once. Example: watching a progress chart can be and probably will be boring but not if other things need doing at the same time--so that you do something else (like plan other research while the sneaky mission is progressing) and when you come back the chart has nearly completed... Even in a fantasy game things must have a "realistic" feel within that fantasy realm. (example a novice magic user casting a spell that instantly kills all his well experienced and much stronger opponents without any preparations or study).

The blue rifle image is unnecessary as the rifle is shown in the bottom right square.

I like the UI Sheepy designed. I like a LOT of information. Questions/Comments: What function do the two whole silhouettes serve? I think we all know what humans look like and the picture of the alien's face shows more than the silhouette. Bottom right has overwatch listed twice?? The alien orange heads could be smaller without the loss of information as could the facial portraits .

I am reminded that a lot of equipment today is multi-purpose. Like a grenade launcher/rifle combination weapon our seals sometimes carry. Having many different single purpose weapons is old and outdated.

Cannot remember but was the Atlas a liquid or solid fuel missile....if liquid you would need tanks to store the fuel safely. If solid the fuel would be getting dangerous by now and the missile would have been removed and destroyed before it exploded--making a worthless hole in the ground or endangering anyone nearby. Some old Atlas missile silos and surrounding areas have been sold to private individuals (after the missile, controllers, fuel and other stuff have been removed). I've seen designs and pictures of the old bases as they were right after being sold and how the new owners have modified the silos. Up until they were sold the US government had hired guards to protect the silos from others squatting on the silos.