User talk:Zaimoni

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Revision as of 04:26, 16 September 2007 by Zaimoni (talk | contribs)
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"Welcome to Base Aleph-NULL in Nigeria. We managed to get the Prince of Darkness off of the base planning committee, so Aleph-NULL is a real base. Base Continuum near Tokyo has just started construction.

And ETA for the first pair of UFOs is 14:30 sharp."

The redeeming feature of putting the first base in Nigeria is...it's nearly antipodal to Hawaii. Very good scummy Interceptor coverage for a single base. [Holes: Half of Australia, the entire Pacific Ocean, parts of Siberia and North America.] The second base completes scummy Interceptor coverage for all land masses of interest.

It's not like there shouldn't be an automatic alarm that goes off when UFO reports start coming in.

Zaimoni -- 9:11AM, 18 July 2006 (CDT)

Exercising The AI

UFO Flight Patterns

Encumbrance (Apocalypse)

Things to remember to do at some point (when work schedule not haywire)

  • probability of MC plane graph (not sure whether to do this manually, or write C++ programs to automate)
  • suite of Python game editing scripts; basically, cover holes in ClarkWehyr and XcomUtil editors. Curses module doesn't exist in Windows port; looks like it targets ncurses, which has not been ported to either Windows or DOS.
    • Base layout: automatically handle radar detection from radars
    • Battlescape saves: help out the AI (turn 1 alien facing, ROUTES.DAT fixups), probably will have to integrate with XcomUtil. Need to research LOS more carefully first.
    • Advanced two-player hotseat (individual visibility support, allow aliens to fire alien weapons, working explosives).
  • Text-console game editor using PDCurses, target platform DOS. Haven't decided whether to go with Digital Mars, or using the HX DOS extender on a Windows console application.

Zaimoni -- 6:29PM, 19 Sept 2006 (CDT)

Some working notes on advanced swap

  • XcomUtil's default visibility hack is workable for the alien side (they're there first). Backup and restore SEEMAP.DAT to handle human visibility. [Done]
  • Need two backups for MISDATA.DAT: human and alien. Alien has all alien tech enabled. [Done.]
  • WGLOB.DAT probably can be automatically fixed when going from alien turn to human turn (backup when alien turn starts, then parse for changes and invert). [Done]
    • May want to do something about turn counters.
  • Autoclosing doors can be dealt with (it appears that whatever closes them in-game is silent). While it would be nice to parse the MCD files, a lookup table of indices by terrain type will work. [Done.]
  • UNITREF.DAT experience counters cannot be automatically fixed for XCOM (they are not incremented in alien turn mode). Theoretically, they should be patched for alien units "just in case" (We have other reasons for backing up UNITREF.DAT).
  • One of the StrategyCore posts mentioned that hacking a Stun Rod into a Chryssalid enabled the native melee attack. Need to check whether this gives the native attack speed (14 TU?)...if so, can automate this directly (leaving only grenades to deal with).
  • Grenades, Alien Grenades, and melee aliens can be enabled as follows (to automate, need an environment that can inject mouse events into XCOM)
    • "anchor" the shooting aliens using various current/recovery energy hack
    • end the turn, then quit.
    • backpatch energy/TU/facing-related values into non-melee aliens
    • or we could just do the lazy thing and directly emulate the exploding grenade.
  • If replacing XcomUtil's SWP function outright:
    • be sure not to repair damaged armor.
    • Fatal wounds can be handled properly ("wraith" problem is from not updating the UNITPOS.DAT entry). Remember to force the health of dead units to 0 to prevent the resurrection bug post-battle.

Note that my local copy of XcomUtil is patched to use COPY /Y ... rather than COPY ...; this prevents waiting for an interactive prompt in a batchfile. [Default behavior doesn't work right in Win2000.] I got this from some thread in the xcomufo forums.

The simpler parts will be implemented in Python.

Prototype batchfiles:

Alienturn.bat 

copy %1\wglob.dat %1\wglob.bak
copy %1\seemap.dat %1\seemap.hum
cd %1
python ..\AlienSWP.py
python ..\AutoClose.py
cd ..
xcomutil %1 SWP WRT
copy %1\misdata.al %1\misdata.dat

Humanturn.bat 

cd %1
python ..\HumanSWP.py
python ..\AutoClose.py
cd ..
xcomutil %1 SWP WRT
copy %1\*.hum %1\*.dat

Zaimoni -- 11:50PM, 16 April 2007 (CDT)

Specs for Soldier.py

  • Batchfile wrapper not designed yet [unclear how many parameters it needs], so just run the Python script from the target game directory. [Why yes, there is a DOS port of Python....]
  • This is a command-line utility. Run without options to get current documentation.
  • options:
    • sort: this globally sorts soldiers according to a customized sort. [Edit the Python comparing function to change the sort. Sort order is my preferred default.] Safe to use...without blasting those IN TRANSIT. Possible extensions: single-stat linear sorting, to facilitate manual renaming of soldiers.

Zaimoni -- 6:29PM, 19 Sept 2006 (CDT)

Testing plans: Doomed to Decline Prices in Apocalypse

...because they don't go up even when completely bought out. Results go into the corresponding XCOMUFO thread, I just don't want to forget what I'm doing.

I got suspicious while experimenting with Sunday Inventory Management. Nothing with a base price of 30 or less went up when I bought them out...a 0% rate of return on the fiat money I parked in them. The following didn't go up

  • vehicle autocannon ammunition (stayed at 5)
  • Lawpistol clips (stayed at 10)
  • M4000 ammunication (stayed at 20)
  • AP autocannon clips (stayed at 30)

Note that more expensive items (e.g., autocannon explosive clips) did twang upwards.

Zaimoni -- 14:58, 27 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Finally completed week 2. Vehicle autocannon ammunition and Lawpistol clips will be tested next; both prices did go down as expected, by 1.

  • Ahem...need to be more careful; lawpistol clips were not testable after all. Worse, I had an attack of perfectionism: it turns out that firing biochemists also fires soldiers.... Restart game, and contemplate command-line utility.

Zaimoni -- 10:13, 05 Aug 2007 (CDT)

Bungled a real-time game strategically (may restart), but did get in some testing.

  • Buying out an item that costs 30, does not cause a price increase. Doing the same for 40, does. Results were consisent for more extreme prices (in both directions). [Ended up doing a doctrine change, so restart. Two LAW pistols as backup for a personal autocannon works very nicely in RT. Too bad there's very little ammunition for LAW pistols.]
  • I was able to make smoke grenades go down from 30 to 29 by selling all of them. Likewise, 2100+ vehicle autocannon rounds appears to be a reliable way to drop the price from 5 to 4. Now, if these are truly irrecoverable....

Zaimoni -- 19:51, 14 Sep 2007 (CDT)

Tactical notes, Apocalypse

  • 10 biochemists...run out of projects near the end of week 2, temporarily. (Stalled by needing an advanced biochemistry lab, really should consider a new base the instant an advanced biochemistry lab is constructable).
  • Jumping into empty space costs 0 TUs for non-flying units. Real-time is not so user-friendly. On the other hand, picking up objects appears to be free in real-time (but picking up live grenades doesn't stop them from detonating).
  • It is unclear whether the martial art of dodging incorrectly aimed large rockets is a skill, or supernatural. On the other hand, kneeling may be a somewhat reliable way of assuring that it takes two large rockets to die rather than one.

Zaimoni -- 23:33, 15 Sep 2007 (CDT)

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