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LW Projects (...after final version #3)


Zyxpsilon

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As we are getting very near to the Long War final version (formally out of Beta - that is), i certainly feel it's time for this great community of Modders to get together and start planning for supplemental assets (even some new gameplay features - if need be). Fairly sure there are people out there that already have numerous ideas or wishes. This is where a combined force (or a Team) of coders and creative minds could perform what everyone should ever want or ask for.

 

In the spirit of these principles, i'll jump the clock and push the first few pucks behind the goal line(s) ! :wink:

 

Two essential projects (IMHO) deserve to be mentionned initially. They simply are personal concepts of course (at this stage) but still must be revealed now instead of never;

 

#1) LW Pedia:

 

It's been hinted about in other threads and some players have even requested this kind of feature. In general terms, what you'd get is a new "Research Option" that leads to an hybrid set of screens that develop most ingame data & infos. I've already begun work on a sampling method that uses a "centralized" tech-tree surrounded by areas that contain details, combo-lists & quick access buttons... if i can gather enough interests (or serious development partners), i'll share this stuff.

 

#2) CAMPAIGN SUMMARY:

 

Written about elsewhere, also. It goes underneath the "Situation Room" menu and would offer players a bunch of statistics on their current games; ...where, what, when -- sort of. Imagine for a minute that everything that occurs is being tracked down and every relevant info can be displayed at will. Amineri has already hinted that such gimmick could be easy to implement. All is needed is the skillsets and minds to develop it.

 

#3) Anything else you'd be willing to think over!

 

Fire away! I'm listening.

 

 

Yep, that just about sums it all up. Anyone interested by and ready to (honestly & solidly) collaborate into these projects (or more) is officially invited to reply below.

 

Please refer to this pivotal comment by Johnny Lump for a formal trigger and reason to this post; http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/3000764-musings/?p=26601199

 

So..... what are we waiting for ?! Let's go! :D

Edited by Zyxpsilon
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I think EXALT could use more expansion. My favorite idea would be if EXALT were able to show up in an alien operation as a separate team (maybe copy and rework the panic mechanic to make the aliens shoot EXALT and vice versa), but since I know that would be very difficult, I just want them to have more options. XCOM now has 8 classes, and all those classes have different possibilities to result in diverse soldier options, so why is EXALT stuck to one type of soldier per base game class? At least make them have more classes! Same goes for their research. XCOM gets plasma, MECs, psionics, robots, super armor, and zillions of grenades, so why can't EXALT get some expansion to their research options, rather than just lasers and genemods? Give them some more options.

 

EDIT: Actually, that first option doesn't look that hard in the actual code. The targeting seems to be done in XGUnit under AddTargetsInSight, and it just is an array of who is targetable. It seems really simple.

Edited by Krazyguy75
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Alright then...

 

#3) Expanding EXALT !!

 

Duly noted!

 

We'll just have to see what & if that much could be somehow integrated as a secondary gameplay component. My first impression about such a new concept would probably go like this; Ambitious!

 

I'd even add one more simple story-related gimmick to it all -- they'd represent a much higher gear partner to the Aliens, both inside and out of commonly known XCom Covert operations.

Say -- a structured attempt (directly available on the normal strategy layer) at controlling various dynamics of worldwide panic & at gathering many precious resources off the hands of Xcom -- and of Aliens!

 

Thanks for sharing. :wink:

Edited by Zyxpsilon
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Oh, just a little suggestion I brought up a while back and figured I'd mention again: LW devs are always talking about a lack of space, but I'm pretty sure there is no Long War multiplayer. So... why not use the multiplayer code's space for Long War stuff, similarly to DebugAnims? Also lets you utilize a fair amount of resources, from variables to a new ini file with tons of arrays.

 

Pretty sure you haven't done anything with it, though I can't be sure (I uninstalled LW a while back to try some experiments).

 

--- --- ---

 

On an unrelated note, can we please get a button for "Suicide" with mind controlled aliens? I hate waiting for them to become free of mind control so my firing squad can kill them.

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About #2 (Campaign Summary);

 

We're already making fairly good progress in the concept phase. TrackTwo has begun work on a sturdy custom method to simply inject complex Flash elements to any given framework as designed. It's a huge step towards proper (sic-validated context) integration of whatever principles and features we'll like (or hope) to supply for it.

 

Stay tuned! :wink:

Edited by Zyxpsilon
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I'm going to go ahead and toss out an idea -- Auto-resolve of tactical missions.

 

There is already existing code (from vanilla) for SimMission and SimCombat, which we somehow managed to not break in Long War. Currently the only way to enable SimMission is by starting a new campaign with the dev console activated, and selecting a "Strategy/Debug" start.

 

To activate it otherwise, code in UISquadSelect.UpdateButtonHelp() has to be modified :

 

 

    if(GetMgr().Game().m_bDebugStart)
    {
        m_kHelpBar.AddLeftHelp("Sim Missionz", "Icon_BACK_SELECT", OnMouseSimMission);
    }

 

Currently the conditional only triggers when m_bDebugStart is true, which adds a new help button that invokes OnMouseSimMission, which just invokes OnSimMission(), which invokes GetMgr().SimMission(). GetMgr() is retrieving the XGChooseSquadUI class instance. SimMission() primarily creates a new instance of the XGSimCombat class -- yes, there is actually an entire vanilla class dedicated to auto-resolve...

 

The two workhorses of XGSimCombat seem to be SimMission and SimCombat. Note that XGSimCombat has it's own GenerateAliens code that is separate from the code used by Long War to generate aliens for missions.

 

Anyhow, just an idea I thought I'd toss out there :)

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*THAT* would certainly be fun to experiment with. If anything, this sort of automation should reveal a lot of AI secrets and allow for quick monitoring of many tactical events and/or principles (as far as the HUD core activities are concerned).

This sort of alternate feature could also be used to accelerate work in a number of other tricky conditions (aka-BenchMarking) too, btw.

 

Soooooo...

Another Project is now being added -- #4) Tactical Simulator Device!

 

Thanks for sharing such a cool thought.

 

(( PS; Are you willing to actually "produce" it though? )) :wink:

Edited by Zyxpsilon
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I think EXALT could use more expansion. My favorite idea would be if EXALT were able to show up in an alien operation as a separate team (maybe copy and rework the panic mechanic to make the aliens shoot EXALT and vice versa)

 

Hope you don't mind me chirping in, but I guess you'd have to re-populate EXALT's HQ if aliens and EXALT no longer were aligned. Instead, a Sentinel out front, a Warden on the roof and a Paladin out back would be something else... I guess mech units don't have AI built in though?

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Oh, yeah, forgot the whole thing where LW tied aliens and EXALT together more. I never liked that. EXALT were war profiteering in the original, and using the aliens as an opportunity to improve their vision of humanity. They never allied with aliens, and it is implied that they were also abducting and experimenting on aliens (hence their gene mods), and that they weren't planning for aliens to win any more than XCOM, they just view XCOM as a hindrance for world domination afterwards. They're the New World Order. They intend to control the world afterwards, and if XCOM or the aliens interfere, they would be eliminated.

 

Well, even if the aliens and EXALT remain allied, I'd like additional depth to exalt, as right now they were just a gimmick designed to sell XEW.

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