Gauddlike

I think the equip screen stats were originally taken from the weapons.xml file while the properties the weapon has when fired in ground combat was set in weapons_gc.xml. No idea why the same file couldn't be used for both though, maybe keeping the information separate helps loading times as unnecessarily large files are avoided?

Why not just move the two settings you want to use from set2 and 3 down to set1 and 2? Snap shot is just a name adopted from the OG to represent firing a shot quickly with low accuracy, it doesn't necessarily mean a weapon has to have those properties on the lowest AP tier. You could even reverse them if you want, to emphasise that the specific weapon is supposed to be used for more accurate fire and less accurate shots are secondary. So set1 has 100 accuracy for 50 TU and set2 is 75 accuracy for 40 TU for example.

Does the lower of the two buttons remove the soldier from the rotation so you can easily identify soldiers you have already finished with?

Depending on what you want to adjust you need to look at psionicpowers_gc.xml for the powers settings or aiprops.xml for the TU costs and which aliens have which powers and at what strength.

Is this any different to just having those values set on each ammunition type in weapons_gc as they are currently? If you load the default ammunition then the weapon does the default damage, if you reload to ammo2 then the weapon does the damage of ammo2. The only real change seems to be moving the suppression values to the ammunition from the weapon which is a good idea, similar to one I proposed during development. Support for multiple ammo types is dodgy for anything but rockets though so that could be looked at. Modifiers to weapon specific stats like range, clipsize, reactions, or recoil might be nice though.

I am toying with having either the battleship or dreadnought class ship much smaller but with more weapons and higher rank crew rather than continually increasing their size physical size as the challenge. Most alien vessels have multiple roles, outside of the interceptors and bombers. I see it as an alien ship that has the non combat parts left out and is purely focused on military actions. Most other ships have science sections or space reserved for transporting cargo. The front line combat vessel doesn't need to bother with this.

You might want to consider testing out the new tile atlas system. It is a test run to try and cure similar issues others have had. http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/11234-New-tile-atlases-for-testing%21

No Sebillian has any armour at all according to the files. It sounds like you may just have been unlucky with the rng for damage variation that time. The first thing I would try would be to reduce the damage variation and see if that has an effect on the situation for you. I don't really like the +/- 50% personally, I think it is too wide a range. Try knocking it down to 20% or so and see if the problems persist.

I noticed one problem with having multiple facings of UFOs. Things like engines and weapon batteries don't have alternate facings for when the ship is turned round.

I just placed the ufo_hull folder in the tiles/ufo folder and placed them as normal. I agree that it makes more sense to just come up with new UFO sizes as the current ones are mainly set by the size of the external areas rather than the requirements of internal space. I was just curious how others were planning on making their sample UFOs so we could at least have some similarities to compare them more easily. I am going to have a go at making a few different light scouts and scouts and see how scale works there. Just noticed how much that light scout I threw together looks like an OG Avenger... *edit* The roof is just placed on the next level up, remember to put it at layer 0 so your troops can walk on it. Also add at least one extra level so you can jump up when you have the tech. Here is basically the same image but using the rounded walls. I think I prefer to combine them.

Currently the UFO submap sizes are: Light Scout - 8x14 Scout - 15x18 Corvette 18x20 Landing Ship - 23x21 Cruiser - 30x26 Carrier - 14x49 Battleship - 30x36 Should we try to stick to those so the modular craft can slot straight into the current maps? Remember that if we make different facings for some craft, particularly the light scout and carrier, then new maps would be required anyway. Personally I think squaring off most of them would be a good idea so different facings could share the same submap more easily. It wouldn't make much difference either as most are pretty close to square. The new wall tiles definitely bring back memories of the OG UFOs. This is a light scout just to have a look at the walls, using version two. Version one walls are rounded, there are also blending tiles to link them so you could use a combination.

Thanks for supplying these, makes life much easier trying to envision how the modular craft could look. Would it be possible to request any other variations if they seem useful? Not that I have any requests atm, just curious.

Yeah but I still don't think it's a good idea. If we are looking at new designs no need to copy potential problems from the old ones.

It is now a large number of the finest disposable plastic handled razors ever made!

If there is a popular mod then there is a good chance it could get picked up which is why I always suggest people try either making a mod if it is possible or put an actual request in the proper place for mod support. If enough people ask for some coding support then it is more likely to be added. If someone makes an engineer transfer mod and lots of people use it then it is more likely that it could be rolled into the official game at some point. If people feel strongly about something, no matter how big or small a change, then it is worth bringing up in the proper place. It is not really appropriate to derail other peoples threads like this though when the thread is not about how things could/should have been but a simple request for information on how to do something in the current system, if it is possible. As the original question has been answered there is not really anything else to say on this subject.

I would start by finding a submap that definitely has this problem and then try that one first otherwise you may spend your time adjusting submaps only to find that it doesn't fix the problem because the engine has a hard cap on how many levels it shows and the submaps have just been built too close to that cap. Easiest way to edit it might be to load up the submap editor, open the submap and just click on add level. Then just save it and it is done. It should be possible to do it manually I think. Open the submap spectre xml file and add a new <level> section with the right number of <row> entries but it would be a lot more complicated.

I only have registered user and premium pre-order available so left it on premium. Never been important enough to worry about in comparison with the other stuff going on.

The thread is not about how it should work but about how it does work. Hence the reason I posted about a way to recreate the function of the transfer within the current system. I could have gone on for a couple of pages about how I think the system should have been implemented, the gameplay benefits it could have had, how the UI should have looked etc etc but it wouldn't really have changed anything and my point would have still been the same. You can fire your current engineers just before they get paid then spend that saved cash rehiring at your new base after wages have been paid out to simulate a transfer. You could ask solver if the functionality could be added to the source code so that you could make it as a mod if it is important to you. I wouldn't mind it being possible but it doesn't really matter to me either way.

You pay your staff a month in advance. If you fire them just before the end of the month then rehire at the new base after the start of the new month it is functionally no different to transferring them.

For aircraft recovery you would be able to have a research item, for example Basic alien Interceptors, that allowed you to retrofit that specific alien aircraft type. That would unlock a production job that allowed you to start building retrofitted alien interceptors using a recovered interceptor as a material. The recovered item would just be a stored item until you used your new found knowledge to convert it into something that you could use. I don't know if that would prevent you building up large stocks before the research unlocked though, or even if that would be a problem. Which sizes of craft you could take would depend on how you want the game balanced really but limiting it to scouts at the largest would work best with current map types.

Personally I would leave at least one tile between the access door and the edge of the submap, just in case something gets randomly placed along that edge and blocks it off. I know you should be able to breach the walls but aliens shouldn't have to rely on that just to get out from a bad parking space

Yep if I could code anything past a badly made 'Hello World' I would have tried to get access just so I could fix that one annoyance

Think I have only really needed to speak to one person about keeping civil in the last few years so shouldn't come up too often.

I don't know how the game works with regard to submap levels but if the submap was built to the maximum possible height then it doesn't leave anywhere for the soldiers to go to get above the roof level. It would need to be tested to see if the UI worked with taller submaps I guess. You could try loading up the problem submaps and adding a couple of levels above the roof to allow buzzards to fly up. It could be that the submap doesn't have enough levels added or that the game doesn't support enough levels to make it possible.

Definitely worth mentioning and for some the pellet bursts not incrementing the ammunition by the actual number of bullets fired is likely not a problem but I feel it is a big enough issue to mention as it does not work the same way as burst fire on other weapons, for example the assault rifle. Just mentioned it as something else to bear in mind if you plan on using that method in a mod.