UFO: Extraterrestrials TB game

[lightbane]

Thanks for the mods! Really the bman's mod adds a fuckton of new elements (some that were necessary, like a kill count for each soldier ), however, I have not found yet the Unimod one except in russian forums, and sadly I don't know the russian language...

In any case, another question: what exactly the crouching action does? I suppose it helps your soldiers to cover themselves better, but there is a really visible change between a crouched soldier and another that isn't (about stats like accuracy or probability for enemy fire to miss)?

 

[Tails]

Now, UFO 2 is coming and Bman's features will be added. Awesome !

Somehow I can't believe that this game will be half good as original X-Com, even with Bman's features.

Are strategy games with strong RPG elements your cup of tea?

Yeah, riiight.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

however, I have not found yet the Unimod one except in russian forums, and sadly I don't know the russian language

There's a way to turn it in english, here :

http://www.ufogr.com/ufoet/eng/faq.html

Global install being here :

http://www.ufogr.com/ufoet/eng/installation.html

In any case, another question: what exactly the crouching action does? I suppose it helps your soldiers to cover themselves better, but there is a really visible change between a crouched soldier and another that isn't (about stats like accuracy or probability for enemy fire to miss)?

It probably makes them a bit harder to hit and it definitely improves their accuracy (easy to check by looking at the "% to hit" increase when crouching).

Somehow I can't believe that this game will be half good as original X-Com, even with Bman's features.

Half as good would still beat the crap out of most games. Anyway, I think you're being too harsh, the first game with Bman installed is not as good as X-com, but still better than half as good.

 

[Tails]

Half as good would still beat the crap out of most games. Anyway, I think you're being too harsh, the first game with Bman installed is not as good as X-com, but still better than half as good.

Lonely Vazdru, I'm more harsh towards the way game was done, especially after that hype dev team talk in some interviews. To be honest I didn't try it with mods, only played vanilla for some time, then switched back to Enemy Unknown.

Btw. lets say that in future I like to try out this game again - so is Bman mod better for start or that GF-UniMod? I heard that second one is similar like Bmans, just have more stuff added.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Btw. lets say that in future I like to try out this game again - so is Bman mod better for start or that GF-UniMod? I heard that second one is similar like Bmans, just have more stuff added.

Bman is easy to install and doesn't seem to have many bugs left. Except for some rare instances it's pretty crash free. And as I said, all parameters are easy to change or turn off completely while "in game".

Unimod on the other hand, seems more messy. It includes Bman and adds a lot more but there's no clear list of added features. It's still in development so bugs are more frequent. And finally there seems to be severe balance issues. I didn't feel like trying it yet. But I probably will later.

As far as I could see, Bman seemed more easy and "user-friendly" to go with for a start. That's why I chose it.

played vanilla for some time, then switched back to Enemy Unknown.

Even vanilla is worth finishing, but I can't say that I really blame you. :wink:

 

[karnot]

X-Com : Enemy Unknown with Extender mod. Go play it. NOW.

 

[Tails]

Thanks for advice Lonely Vazdru I borrowed today from friend Extraterrestrials and trying vanilla (again) with second patch for now.

Current thoughts: Soldiers aiming is so silly (as I remembered it) even on closed ranges that I just :facepalm: all the time. Even a child could throw grenade to enemy that is very close (few grids) or shoot him somehow. Still, funny is how after one level up soldiers can easily hit any target... great balance.
Desert Spirit Vehicle is completely useless and has the same I shot worse then blind person attitude. I'm considering to scrap it for extra 4 soldiers, maybe they achieve something more.
Again, GUI is as worse then in X-Com, but good that there are keys assigned to shooting and crouching. Lack of reserving action points for shots (aimed etc.) is the biggest step down currently.

If someone finds X-Com battle-scape GUI & soldiers aiming frustrating or silly , then vanilla Extraterrestrials beats it in every way.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Lack of reserving action points for shots (aimed etc.) is the biggest step down currently.

Having to watch every step to keep just enough action points for reaction shots is really annoying indeed, but Bman mod fixes it by re-introducing the old X-com buttons for reserved shots.

Desert Spirit Vehicle is completely useless and has the same I shot worse then blind person attitude.

Tanks in this game are mainly useful for scouting and absorbing enemy shots. They don't pack a lot of punch, neither are they really accurate (untill you get the Anaconda). But their high armour and action points make them great scouts. This being said, four more soldiers can be more useful. Depends on your playstyle. I don't use them much myself, except in the early game.

It's true that this game is not as good as X-com, no game is, not even JA2, but Bman mod really improves it. Except for the "20 soldiers max in main base only" which really sucks. Having only one "real" base in the whole game is really frustrating.

 

[Sputnik]

Why would anyone play UFO:ET without the Bman's mod? I just don't get it, unless you are a masochist of some sort. It adds/fixes so much absolutely essential stuff that it is just ridiculous. With Bman's, UFO:ET comes closest to X-COM since, well, X-COM.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I re-installed this after playing the recent Firaxis abortion.

Found the UNIMOD page but i'm not sure it's fully compatible with the gold version as they say as a lot of features seem to overlap.
Did anyone try it recently and can confirm it is ?

Gold version (B-man mod's was integrated) adds a lot of QoL improvements (like colors showing where to stop for the selected shooting mode) but having aliens on the team is appealing...
If it's unbalanced, i guess i can restrain myself to one or two and as i'm playing on max difficulty but only with "improved AI", there still 4 more AI improvements ahead.

 

[Darth Canoli]

So, i used the link from my previous post and added unimod, some options are missing from B-Man's mod but it looks like they're the ones overlapping with some UNIMOD new features so that answers my concerns.

Also, i'm not sure there was a superhuman difficulty settings in the Gold version, there is one now with UNIMOD.
And here i am, starting a superhuman /improved AI run with most options enabled, not sure if the performance fix ones are still relevant but i did enable some just in case.

I'll probably revert back to animated fire/smoke though, the alternative is really weird looking, like someone threw up ...

Some hints to install it

• Remove GOLD from the game's install folder name because you're going to run 5 patches so it's either that or copy paste the game's directory path.
• You have to right click the patches and run them on admin mode even if you have admin rights.

Unimod fixed the geoscape! it's moving like in the original, the vanilla arrows thing was the weirdest thing.

Besides that, nothing much except you start with 2M more (3M total) but with an empty base, you'll have to recruit soldiers, scientists, buy weapons, aircrafts and aircraft weapons.

Also, you can add aliens from the original UFO and set their spawn rate, you'll be able to recruit some later.

 

[Darth Canoli]

There's also something weird worth mentioning.

• Your saves will be incompatible if you change the compatibility mode of the game exe.
• Don't change the options you can't change in-game from the menu because your saves will be incompatible (at least the combat ones)
• Mostly, choose your options wisely, try them if you must, and if you have some adjustments to make, don't linger because you might have to start a new game.

Got one crash to desktop, i was waiting for a combat alien ship to get as close as possible from my secondary base to launch two interceptors (they flee otherwise and they're faster), they were so close the fire rate was crazy and the game crashed ...



Aside from that, i'm having a blast, only 3 casualties in 4 ground missions, including a terror (2 casualties from this one), they already turned one nation against me, i suppose there is an alien base too, i guess i'm a bit rusty, superhuman difficulty is no joke.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Also got two crashes while in tactical combat, second time, i reloaded and it crashed again, i think it happens when an alien get stunned during the computer's turn (walking through a "stunning cloud" from a rocket launcher).

Some weird hit boxes on the cyberdisc (that one isn't news) and on the slime-like monsters, apparently, you can only hit them from one direction but once they're hit once, it works from any side ...

Enabling the original UFO monsters was a mistake, cyberdiscs are a real pain early on and if it wasn't enough, you get some mutons quite early, i added them on uncommon and there is 3-4 of them every mission, more during a terror.
They're far more difficult to deal with since with UNIMOD, carrying capacity reduces your max Time Units as soon as you're getting above 50%, which is fast, fully equipped soldiers are all between 80 and 100% early on, they're wimps and they get 55 UT max, which turns into 47 once equipped ...