XCOM EU Alternative Resource allocation methods

[Jeffman12]

So, accruing cash hasn't been a problem for me, this has led to quite a few developments that feel pretty early game to me.

I find, however, that I am low on Alloy all of the time, the alloy needed to develop new technologies always trumps the alloy I allocate to producing equipment, and this has led to some stupidly preventable deaths. A single crit from one of those crystal dudes in a downed ship killed a sgt who was at full health with nano-weave. I have quite a few unused resources, currently I have two Sat-Nexus structures and the additional nav-computers are piling up, but despite all these successful ship raids, I'm still low on alloy.

 

I notice there seems to be native support for purchasing goods from the grey market, yet you can't, so a simple solution to this problem would be to add items to a world inventory that you can buy. I'm sure some military action has yielded scraps other than just XCOM's encounters.

 

Preferably, to keep with the game's overall vibe, I'd like to see a way to convert alien hardware into alloy or weapon components, maybe even convert weapons into weapon components. This, I think would yield more than you get from a single weapon on the field, but less than it takes to create a weapon. So on and so forth. To make things interesting, something could be added where hardware has a chance of failure, so it just becomes a damaged version. This could then be converted with a lower yield or sold off.

[ProjectVRD]

I noticed that on a mission for an undamaged large UFO I only got about 200 alien alloys, compare that to a small UFO and the number seemed to be very low.

[FMod]

The amount of alloys you get from undamaged (landed) UFOs is determined by this block in the exe:

UFOAlloys=30	;eShip_UFOSmallScout
UFOAlloys=60	;eShip_UFOLargeScout
UFOAlloys=80	;eShip_UFOAbductor
UFOAlloys=100	;eShip_UFOSupply
UFOAlloys=130	;eShip_UFOBattle
UFOAlloys=60	;eShip_UFOEthereal

It is then multiplied by 2 (ALLOY_UFO_BALANCE) or by 2.5 on Easy.

 

For UFO that have been shot down, it is then multiplied by a random number between 0.5 and 0.9:

MIN_WRECKED_ALLOYS=0.5
MAX_WRECKED_ALLOYS=0.9

 

I personally always found myself having enough alloys for what I needed, and not enough weapon fragments, even on Classic. That's playing with Second Wave, Marathon.

 

I notice there seems to be native support for purchasing goods from the grey market, yet you can't, so a simple solution to this problem would be to add items to a world inventory that you can buy.

Hmm. What evidence of such a support have you seen?

I might try and look, but so far it appears that there is none, you can only sell.

[Jeffman12]

Well, I haven't looked at the code, but I meant graphically and the way selling works seems like it'd be easily reversible, so the gray market would come with a certain quantity pre-"bought" items that you could move into your inventory with a negative payout.

 

Also, I play on normal, I'm not quite that big a sissy. ;)

Edited November 30, 2012 by Jeffman12

[FMod]

Ah. If we had source code, it would be easy to implement. So far it's at best almost impossible, more likely impossible. Since there's no way to introduce functionality that isn't already there.