Plasma Weapons

[thothkins]

the way that I read Chris' quote

For the whole alien weapon thing, I've made them usuable because I want players to have access to some kind of lootable weapon if they find themselves completely out of ammo for their soldiers. It's a gameplay thing.

involved making the weapons usable.

I've made them usuable

It doesn't say anything about not keeping them.

I'm fine with picking the weapons up and using them. It's the not keeping them bit that's clunking for me.

Now, that may well be another gameplay decision too, but I've only got that one quote there. :-)

The way I read it is that not keeping them is what's creating the hole. You're having to justify getting rid of something. Keeping them prevents any hole in the first place. There's possibly an ammo issue, but to me that's much more minor than the game fudge.

[Gorlom]

Yes, I've noticed you have worked that angle pretty hard. (as you must have felt that I was pulling in the oposite direction)

in the quote

For the whole alien weapon thing, I've made them usuable because I want players to have access to some kind of lootable weapon if they find themselves completely out of ammo for their soldiers. It's a gameplay thing. I'm not going to rewrite the entire Xenopedia to fill in every small plot hole, as you'll always be able to find more of them if you look hard enough and I think we've done a fairly good job of keeping the story and universe generally believable so you'll have to turn a blind eye to the few instances where it's not possible without tying ourselves in knots.

Chris is talking about altering the Xenopedia entry to plug the hole, not changeing the mechanic. He is also saying that we have to accept things (or "turn a blind eye") the way they are currently implemented.

I really can't read his post in any other way then that he has no intention of us ever getting to keep the alien weaponry. (and the plasma pistol entry only adds to that with the previously referenced phrase about only using them during emergencies)

Most likely similar to how you can't find any evidence that you should not be able to keep the weapons as standard equipment.

We just can't understand each others point of view can we?

Edited May 7, 2012 by Gorlom

[Gauddlike]

the way that I read Chris' quote

involved making the weapons usable. It doesn't say anything about not keeping them.

Also doesn't mention keeping them.

That is the way it is supposed to work, that is the way it does work.

If you want to change that then you are entering mod territory.

Shouldn't be too hard to tweak your game files into having them available in the base.

[thothkins]

He is also saying that we have to accept things (or "turn a blind eye") the way they are currently implemented.

Yup, it looks as though it's just going to be one of those things. Still, I'm much happier I at least raised it now, rather than sit here with a finished product saying "hey, the game's screwing me over there!"

It's also good to have a pretty robust forum to bat ideas back and forth in.

[Gauddlike]

Never know, Chris may change his mind later into beta as he will already have all the sprites for those weapons so why not make more use of them.

[thothkins]

fingers crossed and another reason why it's good to raise these things. You just never know.

[Gauddlike]

Wouldn't be the first time Chris has been swayed by someone on the forum.

[Gorlom]

Crossing fingers for no swaying! ^^ (in this case)

[erutan]

I rather like the way it is now, though it took a while to get used to. In a pinch you can use these weapons, but they're less than ideal and you can get a taste of what they're like while looking forward to making your own.

Given multiple types of aliens handle these so ergonomics have to be semi-unviversal and you should be able to work out some hack for reloading them based on UFO evidence, etc, one can argue against it, but I think it adds to that value of "hey we are making our own weapons that kick ass" rather than just duplicating some alien design.

It's also just a game - there's no way we could understand and manufacture such advanced technology in weeks.

[thothkins]

Given multiple types of aliens handle these so ergonomics have to be semi-unviversal and you should be able to work out some hack for reloading them based on UFO evidence, etc, one can argue against it, but I think it adds to that value of "hey we are making our own weapons that kick ass" rather than just duplicating some alien design.

It's also just a game - there's no way we could understand and manufacture such advanced technology in weeks.

totally with you on the fun of creating your own reverse engineered weapons. I much prefer that too. Also agree that there's no way that Xenonauts shouldvbe able to modify the dropped plasma weaponry in any way, without lengthy R&D

It's really just a point about the game forcing you to sell the weapons, I have an issue with. Since they are there, I'd have preferred to have the option of using them and still have to do R&D in order to make something you can actually use accurately and move a couple of squares in a single turn.

It seemed like an unecessary forced thing with me.

[erutan]

My first reaction was really negative as well... but in the end managing combat, bases, personnel funding, etc is more fun than selling stockpiles of loot, and autoselling the stuff makes it that much more exciting when you CAN make your own + frees up time for the micromanaging parts of the game that are more rewarding.

[thothkins]

My first reaction was really negative as well

well, it's nice to know I'm not a lone voice in the wilderness. At least for a while anyway :-)

[Gauddlike]

I don't actually mind either way.

Neither option would make me wish the other had been chosen.