UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:DIRECT.DAT

2008-02-26T10:48:27Z

Fubar: This file is useful...

'''Direct.dat is useful for checking if a tactical game loaded from a saved tactical game or not.
'''
The direct.dat file as well as saveinfo.dat can be used at the start of a tactical mission to determine if the mission was
loaded from a savegame or if it is a new tactical mission. This is done (assuming you are using a batch program or xcomutil
or both) by deleting direct.dat after a tactical mission so it will not be there when you check for its existence at the
start of the next tactical (unless it is a savegame), this way direct.dat will only be found when it's a savegame, as it's
only created upon loading a saved tactical.

Saveinfo.dat has the savegame name (GAME_XX) added into the file if tactical
is being loaded from a savegame, if it is a new tactical, no name is added, and the file is shorter. -Fubar

Talk:DIRECT.DAT

2008-02-26T10:35:43Z

Fubar: This file is useful for checking if current tactical game is a saved tactical mission or a new one...

The direct.dat file as well as saveinfo.dat can be used at the start of a tactical mission to determine if the mission was loaded from a savegame or if it is a new tactical mission. This is done [assuming you are using a batch program or xcomutil or both] by deleting direct.dat after a tactical mission so it will not be there when you check for its existence at the start of the next tactical (unless it is a savegame), this way direct.dat will only be found when it's a savegame, as it's only created upon loading a saved tactical. Saveinfo.dat has the savegame name (GAME_XX) added into the file if tactical is being loaded from a savegame, if it is a new tactical, no name is added, and the file is shorter. These are useful. -Fubar

Talk:XcomUtil

2008-02-11T01:44:06Z

Fubar: SDUMP

== Misc ==
There's still a lot more stuff that could be added here. Also, I've never used some of the flags mentioned, especially those concerning Geoscape/Game executable. More info from those who have used them would be nice.

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 07:56, 9 Nov 2005 (PST)

== Difficulty Bug ==

are there any standalone patches the fix the difficulty bug, or does one just copy over the geoscape.exe file to a new Xcom folder once its patched by using XcomUtil 9becuase of no other alternatives... as you can see, I'm not a fan of it).

I don't know about any patches that fix the difficulty bug. BladefireLight has made a patch that changes the craft back to their original configuration. It can be found [http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8656 here at the XcomUtil forums]

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 18:59, 9 Nov 2005 (PST)

----

The difficulty bug is only found in XCOM 1.0, and is fixed with the XCOM 1.4 patch, isn't it?

---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 20:16, 9 Nov 2005 (PST)

Unfortunately, no. For the PC, the difficutly bug is only officially fixed in the Windows port - or as I like to call it, 1.4ce.

P. S, it also pays to look at the header whenever posting anything onto the wiki to see if your cookies have let you down and your automatic login setting has been unchecked. This avoids your handle from turning into a mere user IP.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

== Backups of .rmp files ==
Hey, I wrote up a thingo about the patched geoscape.exe. I'm not sure about the edited Xcom base tiles though, i guess the backups would be called XBASE##.XCU, and the edited, corrected tiles would be XBASE##.MAP. I'm not sure on this because there are *.RMP files within the MAPS folder. Has anyone played around with cutting and pasting things and found out which ones to move to a new fresh install of the game? Thx [[User:EsTeR|EsTeR]]

----

The RMP files are the files used by the AI and I don't think XcomUtil changes those, so the backup .xcu files are the older .map files.

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]]

[[User:EsTeR|EsTeR]]: Ok, i'll look into it. Just always thought that RMP go in the routes folder, and maps in maps folder. Yet, there seems to be both types in the maps folder. I guess i'll have a play when i swap puters to fire up Xcom1.

== Is there an X-COM mod editor? ==

Is there something out there that lets people do their own mods to the game, such as changing/adding/removing weapons, technology trees, graphics, etc?

----

There's at least one editor that allow to change the weapons: http://www.jennana.com/projects/xcomed.php.
As for the graphics/maps the only way to do it is manually.

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 18:18, 13 January 2007 (PST)

== RMP files ==

Xcomutil does modify the rmp files when generating ship layouts. it just backs up all of them by default.

--[[User:BladeFireLight|BladeFireLight]] 21:50, 15 January 2007 (PST)

== end of development ==

Should we note that Scott has oficialy stated he will no longer be deloping xcomutil?

--[[User:BladeFireLight|BladeFireLight]] 21:53, 15 January 2007 (PST)

Done.

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 07:28, 16 January 2007 (PST)

== New development ==
Where do we write to discuss new development? In particular, I just found out that the EQL flag to generate an equipment list can only be done on turn 1 -- and it took me a couple of turns moving equipment around inside the craft before I had everyone at the right cargo level (no one overloaded).
--[[User:Keybounce|Keybounce]] 00:31, 12 July 2007 (PDT)
:: You can try here at these forums [http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showforum=79| XCOMUFO], most of us have accounts there as well. [[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 12:09, 16 July 2007 (PDT)

== Re-setting the ships to the default stats (dead simple) ==

Concerning the "But I don't want some features" section - this is a very strange and roundabout way to do this. Just edit the XComUtil.cfg! Scott T. Jones's comments give enough information for anyone to figure it out (even me!)

Perhaps the following text (or something like it) could be added to the actual page:

Opening XComUtil.cfg with any text editor, from lines 548 through 580 you will find the default stats and weapons for all X-Com ships in UFO (and in TFTD as well).

Note that these are the DEFAULT stats. So for example, the Skyranger class assault transport has no weapons hardpoint, and the Interceptor (a high performance plasma-stealth V/STOL MiG interceptor prototype with pulse-detonation engines, perhaps?) can of course NOT carry any troops, equipment or HWPs!!!!

Skipping over the section titled Default Ship Terrain, we come down to the ship and weapon stats that the game actually uses i.e. from lines 615 through 630, you find the UFO stats

and you can see that the Skyranger has a hardpoint, and the Interceptor (absurdly) has a transport capacity similar to a Mi-24.

To fix this, simply edit these numbers. I use the default values, which are given in lines 548 through 580. Then you just re-run XcuSetup.bat.

Happy gaming!

Hey does anyone know where to get some more complete instructions for SDUMP? particularly the syntax of the PATCH ans MERGE features. Scott's page has a bad link to the documentation, and no examples of the above and the "sdump ???" is kinda cryptic and lacks examples. I am trying to patch missdat\uniref.dat with new aliens (appending new records).

--[[User:Teukros|Teukros]] 12:26, 16 December 2007 (PST)

Talk:Blaster Launcher

2007-10-26T08:22:18Z

Fubar: New section: For best results...

Does anyone know the firing stats for the reaction-fired blaster? How much time it takes, and how accurate the shot is? --[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]] 10:42, 10 December 2005 (PST)

== Warning Label ==

Warning messages on a blaster launcher: "Warning, not responsible for loss of limbs, life, or familiy members through use of this device. Not to be taken orally. Some assembly required. Elerium not included. Do not operate without parental supervision. Do not use as a hairdryer. Not to be used as a toothpick. Blaster bombs sold seperately. Do not use while under the influence of alchohol or other drugs. Do not launch without setting waypoints. Not to be used as a flotation device. Do not dismantle Blaster Bombs. Hazard can be resulted from inproper use. Warning: Do not drop Blaster Bombs. Spontaneous detonation of Blaster Bombs can occur as a result of, but not limited to, the following: Impact, dissasembly, random bad luck, radiation, plasma fire, laser fire, and improper use or misuse. Blaster Bombs not to be used as a football. Not to be used on random animals including, but not limited to, gophers, pigeons, hippopotami, stray dogs or cats, cockroaches, forum posters, forum admins, or lone unarmed sectoid soldiers."

This has been Alitorious's sig for some time on StrategyCore. I thought it deserved to be saved. - JFG

== Oops ==

anyone ever had a blaster bomb accident? well i was using my avenger as a command post thinking well blaster bombs never miss their mark. firing them from the back of the ship(inside). everything was going smooth, had good equipment lots of high ranks with high psi ability until a damn blaster bomb clipped the doorway and killed all but one inside, including my commander who had been through 143 missions with roughly 100 kills. she was the shit as far as elite troops go. well yea.......blaster bombs are OUTSIDE toys now. -- Munkeylord on StrategyCore - pasted by [[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 07:25, 19 May 2006 (PDT)

== Two handed weapon? ==

Just wondering if anyone knows whether Blaster Launchers are counted as two handed weapons for the purposes of determining accuracy? I seem to notice that they are more accurate if I don't have a spare Bomb in one hands - but that may just be coincidence. - Majick

----

I've tested their accuracy a bit, by hacking the Firing Accuracy of a soldier carrying one. I had the soldier fire it in a straight line back and forth across the battlefield, and even with 100% accuracy, the bomb would still sometimes miss its waypoints. (It even smacked into the ground once, yikes!) With 5% accuracy, the bomb seemed to miss its waypoints just as often.

Blaster Launchers have an inherent 120% accuracy, so I don't know if FA is used in the waypoint code at all. Maybe it's used for Blaster reaction fire -- which is something you Don't Want anyway.

--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 10:39, 27 June 2006 (PDT)

----

Do Blaster Launchers kills yield experience?--[[User:Trotsky|Trotsky]] 22:30, 2 July 2006 (PDT)

----

Yes. It's the same as any other area effect weapon. One 'hit' per enemy unit caught in the blast area. Unfortunately, because it almost always kills the target(s) in an instant, you're going to get a lot less combat experience than what you would have obtained were you have fired on the enemy unit with a lower powered weapon.

It's for game balance. You get a lot more experience killing an enemy by emptying your pistol magazine than you do with a single shot from a blaster launcher, see?

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

----

Don't get me wrong, I hoped it gave no experience at all!--[[User:Trotsky|Trotsky]] 23:52, 2 July 2006 (PDT)

----

Nor I - and this coming from one who enjoys using High Explosives as if they were standard grenades.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

== Graphic ==

[[Image:bb_explosion.gif]] This is a little too fast of an animation to be visually pleasing. Anyone want to edit this to insert more frame delay?

- JFG

----

[[Image:bb_explosion2.gif]] This is about as slow as I can get it before the image becomes too jerky.

- [[User:Bomb_Bloke|Bomb Bloke]]

== For best results... ==

Do not take this medication on an empty stomach, may impair your ability to drive a car or operate machinery... and...

<i>ALWAYS</i> Have your soldier/hovertank<i>(less important)</i> facing <i>EXACTLY</i> at the first waypoint. The bombs seem to begin moving toward the first waypoint <i>BEFORE they leave the launcher</i>, so if you are facing backwards, the bomb will go backwards in the launcher and bust you in the grill, sending your nads sailing thru your nearby squad members and into neighboring counties. If you are not <i>quite</i> lined up, the offset seems to promote drifting. I find that the BB usually flies flawlessly when the soldier is exactly facing the 1st waypoint. I add an "aligner" waypoint first if I don't have enough TUs to pivot the soldier. I also add this first "aligner" point if I want the bomb to go up or down from my position (buy not <i>straight</i> up or down), as this also helps prevent drifting. Bottom line, the first waypoint should line up exactly with your launcher. Do it for your nads and grill, and the safety of the rest your squad (from your flying nads and grill). Some versions of Xcom may vary, I have CE. - Fubar

Blaster Launcher

2007-10-26T07:13:30Z

Fubar: /* Drift */

This man-portable total destruction device is the heaviest weapon alien artifact you'll discover. It fires the football-shaped [[Blaster Bomb]] which can hover and route through up to nine programmable waypoints before detonating on impact with a small explosion. 'Small' being a relative term for battlefield nuclear weapons. A safety radius of 10-20 meters is a good guideline. Blaster Bombs are ''outside'' toys, and can generally be relied upon to kill anything unlucky enough to be hit by them (and anything nearby). Although the weapon can only fire one shot before requiring a reload, one shot is usually enough.

Researching the Launcher and it's ammo allows you to research the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]] and [[Hovertank/Launcher]] projects.

== Stats ==
<b>Blaster Launcher:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS35.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 16
*TUs:
**Aimed: 80% (Accuracy 120%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $90,000 for parts, 1,200 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $144,000</td></tr></table>

<b>Blaster Bomb:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS36.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 200 High Explosive
*Ammo: 1
*Size: 2 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $8,000 for parts, 220 Engineer Hours, 3 Elerium
*Sell Price: $17,028</td></tr></table>

BB [[explosions]] have an 11 tile radius. A soldier on the 11th tile can still be '''killed''' as BB's do average 90 points damage '''at the edge''' of the explosion.

'''NOTE''': Though the [[UFOpaedia]] states that the blaster launcher costs 80% of your TUs to fire, this is in fact incorrect. It only costs 66% to use the launch command. The 80% only applies to the blaster launcher's 'aimed shot', which is disabled when the 'launch' command is enabled. The launch command is a completely different firing mode entirely.

== Usage ==
* Use left clicks to set up to 9 waypoints. Two are the recommended minimum. To guarantee detonation, the last two waypoints should guide the bomb towards something solid such as a wall or floor. Right clicks will unset the last waypoint you set.
* The [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]] fusion ball is fired by the top-most section of the hovertank (the upper left corner when viewed via the overhead map).
* A bomb fired from within the [[Skyranger]] cannot be relied upon to cleanly exit the craft. Firing from the lip of the craft ''may'' be safe, especially if you angle your first waypoint away from the edge adjacent to the firer: if you're on the left side of the craft, angle your first waypoint to the right, and vice-versa.
* Similarly, it appears to be impossible to fire a Blaster Bomb from inside an [[Avenger]]. On the CE (Windows) version of the game, there appears to be a pink door covering the rear of the craft that the Blaster Bomb hits every time. Curiously, units can walk through this "door" and the explosion damage from the Blaster Bomb detonating also goes through the door and will kill any unit within range on the outside of the craft.
* In the CE (Windows) version of the game, attempting to fire a Blaster Bomb along an absolutely vertical path (as opposed to on an angle) results in it flying south instead. Aliens will still set vertical waypoints however, often killing themselves as a result.
* If it somehow misses a waypoint (via the above method or drift), a bomb will restart its path from the correct waypoint if it later passes it or if it flies off the edge of the map (so long as there are two or more waypoints remaining).
* Soldiers do not need to face targets or waypoints when firing. <i>Eh? I'm sure a soldier will turn to face the correct direction when he fires, same as if any other weapon was used! - BB</i> <i>*I have found (in CE Version) that facing more than 90 degrees from your first waypoint (opposite is worst) will usually result in instant detonation, this sometimes kills aliens who attempt to fire these as they sometimes don't come "about face" before firing. - Fubar</i>
* Blaster Bombs can break open a single section of '''UFO outer hulls''' (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). They will carry through with enough power to detonate the nav modules on the other side of the hull, if you hit north or west sides. See [[Explosions#When_Is_a_Wall_not_a_Wall|Explosions: When Is a Wall not a Wall]]. This is not true of shells fired from the [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]]

== Tactics ==
Aim for large, open areas first to maximize the effects of your blasts. If you want to send a shell into a UFO, first punch open the bridge, then send a shell into that section of the craft to ensure you destroy the highest ranking aliens.

When using BBs for base defense, remember that it is possible to destroy your own base with them! Use waypoints to hit the rear side of your (indestructible) entry lift (this helps to avoid destroying adjacent modules), then send another through the resulting hole to nuke the lift contents. Now nuke the (also indestructible) hangars. Be careful of the effects of drift whenever firing through a narrow area.

Units can only hold so many Blaster Bombs. However, because just about any target can be hit from anywhere, there's no real need for the launcher units to move about. Hence one tactic is to have them stand on top of a large supply of ammo, as opposed to having them carry the extra bombs with them.

== Drift ==
Blaster Bombs will often veer slightly off course as they travel, regardless of your units' firing accuracy stat. If it strikes an object (such as a wall, unit, or even the floor) before reaching the next waypoint, it will explode. The waste of a perfectly good bomb aside, a misfire could result in the decimation of your own squad.

Set the bomb's path through the air if possible. There's nothing to hit up there, so even if it does drift, this won't stop it from ultimately hitting the target. Remember to avoid setting waypoints directly above or below each other if using the CE version.

Drift can result in waypoints being missed completely. For this reason, it pays to set multiple waypoints around the final target. If you can, send the bomb up in the air, then dunk the bomb back down again - even if it misses your actual target, it'll detonate when it hits the ground. Be sure, however, that it explodes on the same map level as its intended target, as explosive damage does not carry over to other levels.

Drift is particularly dangerous when firing in narrow corridors, such as those found in bases. In order to avoid this, don't allow the bombs path to cross a tile that has a wall in it. Without benefit of a diagram, the best way to explain this is to say that waypoints should be set as south-easterly as possible (as walls tend to be placed in the northern or western most tiles). Also, try to enforce 90° turns.

Try to always have your soldier <i>exactly</i> facing the first waypoint position (turn soldier or set 1st point accordingly), to reduce the chances of BB drift.

== Safe Practise ==
Because of the indirect-fire nature of the Blaster Launcher, Launcher-armed soldiers need not be on your squad's front line. Ideally, Launcher-armed units should be kept out of the line of fire to prevent them from using reaction fire, which could result in the death of several friendly units, including the unit carrying the launcher.

While the Blaster Bomb is an awesome tool in your fight against the aliens, it is still originally their weapon, and there are times when it will be used against you. Alien units will only carry them during a base defense/offense mission or if deployed on [[Battleship]]s. During these missions, soldiers caught out in the open are wise to crouch (true of any situation). A BB shot directly at a crouching soldier on a level course will simply fly harmlessly over their head, (hopefully) detonating at a distance.

If an alien is carrying a blaster launcher, you can prevent it from shooting by having your soldiers move right up next to it. The AI, though generally stupid, does have some sense of self preservation and will not fire a blaster launcher at a close range target. Just remember that units further away may still be fired on. This strategy only works on aliens with blasters and grenades, and only applies to UFO and TFTD. The aliens in X-Com Apocalypse are a tad psychotic when it comes to explosives.

Finally, when facing psionic Sectoid Leaders/Commanders or Ethereals, DO NOT give a blaster launcher to a soldier susceptable to mind control or panic attacks.

== Dud Shells ==
Sometimes you will get into a situation where your blaster launcher cannot be loaded with a new shell. When you examine the weapon, you'll find that it's still loaded, but will have 0 rounds. In order to use the blaster again, the empty shell must be unloaded.

This situation occurs whenever you attempt to fire the blaster launcher with only 1 waypoint. A blaster launcher fired by way of reaction fire (see next section) will also leave a dud shell behind, as it's technically a 1-waypoint attack. If you set multiple waypoints but the bomb explodes before it reaches its first waypoint, this will also create a dud.

Note that the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO has rectified this problem to a certain extent. You no longer get a dud shell when:

# You fire the blaster with reaction fire
# You use a 1-waypoint attack and the blaster bomb misses its target and flies off the map. You will still get the empty shell if the fusion ball hits something and explodes.

Dud shells do not come back to base with you at the end of a mission.

== Avoiding Reaction Fire ==
* In case it's not obvious, reaction-fired blasters are generally a bad thing. There is no chance to guide them, so they fly straight forward, and your soldiers will gladly fire at a target a few paces away. Unless the target is far away and the shot is very accurate, you can expect several friendly casualties. Keep your blaster units out of the line of sight of the enemy, and/or with weapons unloaded until needed. It may be sufficient to have them face away from the combat zone.
* After a shot is spent via reaction fire, the empty casing "dud" must be unloaded before using again. This bug has been fixed in the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO and no longer occurs except with normal one-waypoint shots.
* The time to reaction-fire a blaster is significantly less than the time it takes to normally shoot one.
* One trick to avoid accidentally using a blaster launcher during attacks of opportunity is to keep your blaster unloaded and only load it when you need to use it. You cannot fire an empty weapon. This works for [[Rocket Launcher]]s and [[Small Launcher]]s as well.
* An even better trick is to arm another weapon in the other hand and set it as the [[active weapon]] (that is, visible in the soldiers hands) before ending the turn. You will only switch over to the blaster launcher once the active weapon runs out of ammo (which will never happen if it is a [[Laser Pistol]] or [[Laser Rifle|Rifle]]) .

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Blaster Launcher

2007-10-26T06:36:20Z

Fubar: /* Drift */

This man-portable total destruction device is the heaviest weapon alien artifact you'll discover. It fires the football-shaped [[Blaster Bomb]] which can hover and route through up to nine programmable waypoints before detonating on impact with a small explosion. 'Small' being a relative term for battlefield nuclear weapons. A safety radius of 10-20 meters is a good guideline. Blaster Bombs are ''outside'' toys, and can generally be relied upon to kill anything unlucky enough to be hit by them (and anything nearby). Although the weapon can only fire one shot before requiring a reload, one shot is usually enough.

Researching the Launcher and it's ammo allows you to research the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]] and [[Hovertank/Launcher]] projects.

== Stats ==
<b>Blaster Launcher:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS35.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 16
*TUs:
**Aimed: 80% (Accuracy 120%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $90,000 for parts, 1,200 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $144,000</td></tr></table>

<b>Blaster Bomb:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS36.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 200 High Explosive
*Ammo: 1
*Size: 2 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $8,000 for parts, 220 Engineer Hours, 3 Elerium
*Sell Price: $17,028</td></tr></table>

BB [[explosions]] have an 11 tile radius. A soldier on the 11th tile can still be '''killed''' as BB's do average 90 points damage '''at the edge''' of the explosion.

'''NOTE''': Though the [[UFOpaedia]] states that the blaster launcher costs 80% of your TUs to fire, this is in fact incorrect. It only costs 66% to use the launch command. The 80% only applies to the blaster launcher's 'aimed shot', which is disabled when the 'launch' command is enabled. The launch command is a completely different firing mode entirely.

== Usage ==
* Use left clicks to set up to 9 waypoints. Two are the recommended minimum. To guarantee detonation, the last two waypoints should guide the bomb towards something solid such as a wall or floor. Right clicks will unset the last waypoint you set.
* The [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]] fusion ball is fired by the top-most section of the hovertank (the upper left corner when viewed via the overhead map).
* A bomb fired from within the [[Skyranger]] cannot be relied upon to cleanly exit the craft. Firing from the lip of the craft ''may'' be safe, especially if you angle your first waypoint away from the edge adjacent to the firer: if you're on the left side of the craft, angle your first waypoint to the right, and vice-versa.
* Similarly, it appears to be impossible to fire a Blaster Bomb from inside an [[Avenger]]. On the CE (Windows) version of the game, there appears to be a pink door covering the rear of the craft that the Blaster Bomb hits every time. Curiously, units can walk through this "door" and the explosion damage from the Blaster Bomb detonating also goes through the door and will kill any unit within range on the outside of the craft.
* In the CE (Windows) version of the game, attempting to fire a Blaster Bomb along an absolutely vertical path (as opposed to on an angle) results in it flying south instead. Aliens will still set vertical waypoints however, often killing themselves as a result.
* If it somehow misses a waypoint (via the above method or drift), a bomb will restart its path from the correct waypoint if it later passes it or if it flies off the edge of the map (so long as there are two or more waypoints remaining).
* Soldiers do not need to face targets or waypoints when firing. <i>Eh? I'm sure a soldier will turn to face the correct direction when he fires, same as if any other weapon was used! - BB</i> <i>*I have found (in CE Version) that facing more than 90 degrees from your first waypoint (opposite is worst) will usually result in instant detonation, this sometimes kills aliens who attempt to fire these as they sometimes don't come "about face" before firing. - Fubar</i>
* Blaster Bombs can break open a single section of '''UFO outer hulls''' (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). They will carry through with enough power to detonate the nav modules on the other side of the hull, if you hit north or west sides. See [[Explosions#When_Is_a_Wall_not_a_Wall|Explosions: When Is a Wall not a Wall]]. This is not true of shells fired from the [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]]

== Tactics ==
Aim for large, open areas first to maximize the effects of your blasts. If you want to send a shell into a UFO, first punch open the bridge, then send a shell into that section of the craft to ensure you destroy the highest ranking aliens.

When using BBs for base defense, remember that it is possible to destroy your own base with them! Use waypoints to hit the rear side of your (indestructible) entry lift (this helps to avoid destroying adjacent modules), then send another through the resulting hole to nuke the lift contents. Now nuke the (also indestructible) hangars. Be careful of the effects of drift whenever firing through a narrow area.

Units can only hold so many Blaster Bombs. However, because just about any target can be hit from anywhere, there's no real need for the launcher units to move about. Hence one tactic is to have them stand on top of a large supply of ammo, as opposed to having them carry the extra bombs with them.

== Drift ==
Blaster Bombs will often veer slightly off course as they travel, regardless of your units' firing accuracy stat. If it strikes an object (such as a wall, unit, or even the floor) before reaching the next waypoint, it will explode. The waste of a perfectly good bomb aside, a misfire could result in the decimation of your own squad.

Set the bomb's path through the air if possible. There's nothing to hit up there, so even if it does drift, this won't stop it from ultimately hitting the target. Remember to avoid setting waypoints directly above or below each other if using the CE version.

Drift can result in waypoints being missed completely. For this reason, it pays to set multiple waypoints around the final target. If you can, send the bomb up in the air, then dunk the bomb back down again - even if it misses your actual target, it'll detonate when it hits the ground. Be sure, however, that it explodes on the same map level as its intended target, as explosive damage does not carry over to other levels.

Drift is particularly dangerous when firing in narrow corridors, such as those found in bases. In order to avoid this, don't allow the bombs path to cross a tile that has a wall in it. Without benefit of a diagram, the best way to explain this is to say that waypoints should be set as south-easterly as possible (as walls tend to be placed in the northern or western most tiles). Also, try to enforce 90° turns.

Turn your soldier to directly face the first intended waypoint position, then set your waypoints, to reduce the chances of drift (or unintended instant detonation).

== Safe Practise ==
Because of the indirect-fire nature of the Blaster Launcher, Launcher-armed soldiers need not be on your squad's front line. Ideally, Launcher-armed units should be kept out of the line of fire to prevent them from using reaction fire, which could result in the death of several friendly units, including the unit carrying the launcher.

While the Blaster Bomb is an awesome tool in your fight against the aliens, it is still originally their weapon, and there are times when it will be used against you. Alien units will only carry them during a base defense/offense mission or if deployed on [[Battleship]]s. During these missions, soldiers caught out in the open are wise to crouch (true of any situation). A BB shot directly at a crouching soldier on a level course will simply fly harmlessly over their head, (hopefully) detonating at a distance.

If an alien is carrying a blaster launcher, you can prevent it from shooting by having your soldiers move right up next to it. The AI, though generally stupid, does have some sense of self preservation and will not fire a blaster launcher at a close range target. Just remember that units further away may still be fired on. This strategy only works on aliens with blasters and grenades, and only applies to UFO and TFTD. The aliens in X-Com Apocalypse are a tad psychotic when it comes to explosives.

Finally, when facing psionic Sectoid Leaders/Commanders or Ethereals, DO NOT give a blaster launcher to a soldier susceptable to mind control or panic attacks.

== Dud Shells ==
Sometimes you will get into a situation where your blaster launcher cannot be loaded with a new shell. When you examine the weapon, you'll find that it's still loaded, but will have 0 rounds. In order to use the blaster again, the empty shell must be unloaded.

This situation occurs whenever you attempt to fire the blaster launcher with only 1 waypoint. A blaster launcher fired by way of reaction fire (see next section) will also leave a dud shell behind, as it's technically a 1-waypoint attack. If you set multiple waypoints but the bomb explodes before it reaches its first waypoint, this will also create a dud.

Note that the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO has rectified this problem to a certain extent. You no longer get a dud shell when:

# You fire the blaster with reaction fire
# You use a 1-waypoint attack and the blaster bomb misses its target and flies off the map. You will still get the empty shell if the fusion ball hits something and explodes.

Dud shells do not come back to base with you at the end of a mission.

== Avoiding Reaction Fire ==
* In case it's not obvious, reaction-fired blasters are generally a bad thing. There is no chance to guide them, so they fly straight forward, and your soldiers will gladly fire at a target a few paces away. Unless the target is far away and the shot is very accurate, you can expect several friendly casualties. Keep your blaster units out of the line of sight of the enemy, and/or with weapons unloaded until needed. It may be sufficient to have them face away from the combat zone.
* After a shot is spent via reaction fire, the empty casing "dud" must be unloaded before using again. This bug has been fixed in the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO and no longer occurs except with normal one-waypoint shots.
* The time to reaction-fire a blaster is significantly less than the time it takes to normally shoot one.
* One trick to avoid accidentally using a blaster launcher during attacks of opportunity is to keep your blaster unloaded and only load it when you need to use it. You cannot fire an empty weapon. This works for [[Rocket Launcher]]s and [[Small Launcher]]s as well.
* An even better trick is to arm another weapon in the other hand and set it as the [[active weapon]] (that is, visible in the soldiers hands) before ending the turn. You will only switch over to the blaster launcher once the active weapon runs out of ammo (which will never happen if it is a [[Laser Pistol]] or [[Laser Rifle|Rifle]]) .

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Blaster Launcher

2007-10-26T03:16:41Z

Fubar: /* Usage */

This man-portable total destruction device is the heaviest weapon alien artifact you'll discover. It fires the football-shaped [[Blaster Bomb]] which can hover and route through up to nine programmable waypoints before detonating on impact with a small explosion. 'Small' being a relative term for battlefield nuclear weapons. A safety radius of 10-20 meters is a good guideline. Blaster Bombs are ''outside'' toys, and can generally be relied upon to kill anything unlucky enough to be hit by them (and anything nearby). Although the weapon can only fire one shot before requiring a reload, one shot is usually enough.

Researching the Launcher and it's ammo allows you to research the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]] and [[Hovertank/Launcher]] projects.

== Stats ==
<b>Blaster Launcher:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS35.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 16
*TUs:
**Aimed: 80% (Accuracy 120%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $90,000 for parts, 1,200 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $144,000</td></tr></table>

<b>Blaster Bomb:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS36.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 200 High Explosive
*Ammo: 1
*Size: 2 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $8,000 for parts, 220 Engineer Hours, 3 Elerium
*Sell Price: $17,028</td></tr></table>

BB [[explosions]] have an 11 tile radius. A soldier on the 11th tile can still be '''killed''' as BB's do average 90 points damage '''at the edge''' of the explosion.

'''NOTE''': Though the [[UFOpaedia]] states that the blaster launcher costs 80% of your TUs to fire, this is in fact incorrect. It only costs 66% to use the launch command. The 80% only applies to the blaster launcher's 'aimed shot', which is disabled when the 'launch' command is enabled. The launch command is a completely different firing mode entirely.

== Usage ==
* Use left clicks to set up to 9 waypoints. Two are the recommended minimum. To guarantee detonation, the last two waypoints should guide the bomb towards something solid such as a wall or floor. Right clicks will unset the last waypoint you set.
* The [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]] fusion ball is fired by the top-most section of the hovertank (the upper left corner when viewed via the overhead map).
* A bomb fired from within the [[Skyranger]] cannot be relied upon to cleanly exit the craft. Firing from the lip of the craft ''may'' be safe, especially if you angle your first waypoint away from the edge adjacent to the firer: if you're on the left side of the craft, angle your first waypoint to the right, and vice-versa.
* Similarly, it appears to be impossible to fire a Blaster Bomb from inside an [[Avenger]]. On the CE (Windows) version of the game, there appears to be a pink door covering the rear of the craft that the Blaster Bomb hits every time. Curiously, units can walk through this "door" and the explosion damage from the Blaster Bomb detonating also goes through the door and will kill any unit within range on the outside of the craft.
* In the CE (Windows) version of the game, attempting to fire a Blaster Bomb along an absolutely vertical path (as opposed to on an angle) results in it flying south instead. Aliens will still set vertical waypoints however, often killing themselves as a result.
* If it somehow misses a waypoint (via the above method or drift), a bomb will restart its path from the correct waypoint if it later passes it or if it flies off the edge of the map (so long as there are two or more waypoints remaining).
* Soldiers do not need to face targets or waypoints when firing. <i>Eh? I'm sure a soldier will turn to face the correct direction when he fires, same as if any other weapon was used! - BB</i> <i>*I have found (in CE Version) that facing more than 90 degrees from your first waypoint (opposite is worst) will usually result in instant detonation, this sometimes kills aliens who attempt to fire these as they sometimes don't come "about face" before firing. - Fubar</i>
* BB's can break open a single section of '''UFO outer hulls''' (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). They will carry through with enough power to detonate the nav modules on the other side of the hull, if you hit north or west sides. See [[Explosions#When_Is_a_Wall_not_a_Wall]]. This is not true of shells fired from the [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]]

== Tactics ==
Aim for large, open areas first to maximize the effects of your blasts. If you want to send a shell into a UFO, first punch open the bridge, then send a shell into that section of the craft to ensure you destroy the highest ranking aliens.

When using BBs for base defense, remember that it is possible to destroy your own base with them! Use waypoints to hit the rear side of your (indestructible) entry lift (this helps to avoid destroying adjacent modules), then send another through the resulting hole to nuke the lift contents. Now nuke the (also indestructible) hangars. Be careful of the effects of drift whenever firing through a narrow area.

Units can only hold so many Blaster Bombs. However, because just about any target can be hit from anywhere, there's no real need for the launcher units to move about. Hence one tactic is to have them stand on top of a large supply of ammo, as opposed to having them carry the extra bombs with them.

== Drift ==
Blaster Bombs will often veer slightly off course as they travel, regardless of your units' firing accuracy stat. If it strikes an object (such as a wall, unit, or even the floor) before reaching the next waypoint, it will explode. The waste of a perfectly good bomb aside, a misfire could result in the decimation of your own squad.

Set the bomb's path through the air if possible. There's nothing to hit up there, so even if it does drift, this won't stop it from ultimately hitting the target. Remember to avoid setting waypoints directly above or below each other if using the CE version.

Drift can result in waypoints being missed completely. For this reason, it pays to set multiple waypoints around the final target. If you can, send the bomb up in the air, then dunk the bomb back down again - even if it misses your actual target, it'll detonate when it hits the ground. Be sure, however, that it explodes on the same map level as its intended target, as explosive damage does not carry over to other levels.

Drift is particularly dangerous when firing in narrow corridors, such as those found in bases. In order to avoid this, don't allow the bombs path to cross a tile that has a wall in it. Without benefit of a diagram, the best way to explain this is to say that waypoints should be set as south-easterly as possible (as walls tend to be placed in the northern or western most tiles). Also, try to enforce 90° turns.

== Safe Practise ==
Because of the indirect-fire nature of the Blaster Launcher, Launcher-armed soldiers need not be on your squad's front line. Ideally, Launcher-armed units should be kept out of the line of fire to prevent them from using reaction fire, which could result in the death of several friendly units, including the unit carrying the launcher.

While the Blaster Bomb is an awesome tool in your fight against the aliens, it is still originally their weapon, and there are times when it will be used against you. Alien units will only carry them during a base defense/offense mission or if deployed on [[Battleship]]s. During these missions, soldiers caught out in the open are wise to crouch (true of any situation). A BB shot directly at a crouching soldier on a level course will simply fly harmlessly over their head, (hopefully) detonating at a distance.

If an alien is carrying a blaster launcher, you can prevent it from shooting by having your soldiers move right up next to it. The AI, though generally stupid, does have some sense of self preservation and will not fire a blaster launcher at a close range target. Just remember that units further away may still be fired on. This strategy only works on aliens with blasters and grenades, and only applies to UFO and TFTD. The aliens in X-Com Apocalypse are a tad psychotic when it comes to explosives.

Finally, when facing psionic Sectoid Leaders/Commanders or Ethereals, DO NOT give a blaster launcher to a soldier susceptable to mind control or panic attacks.

== Dud Shells ==
Sometimes you will get into a situation where your blaster launcher cannot be loaded with a new shell. When you examine the weapon, you'll find that it's still loaded, but will have 0 rounds. In order to use the blaster again, the empty shell must be unloaded.

This situation occurs whenever you attempt to fire the blaster launcher with only 1 waypoint. A blaster launcher fired by way of reaction fire (see next section) will also leave a dud shell behind, as it's technically a 1-waypoint attack. If you set multiple waypoints but the bomb explodes before it reaches its first waypoint, this will also create a dud.

Note that the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO has rectified this problem to a certain extent. You no longer get a dud shell when:

# You fire the blaster with reaction fire
# You use a 1-waypoint attack and the blaster bomb misses its target and flies off the map. You will still get the empty shell if the fusion ball hits something and explodes.

Dud shells do not come back to base with you at the end of a mission.

== Avoiding Reaction Fire ==
* In case it's not obvious, reaction-fired blasters are generally a bad thing. There is no chance to guide them, so they fly straight forward, and your soldiers will gladly fire at a target a few paces away. Unless the target is far away and the shot is very accurate, you can expect several friendly casualties. Keep your blaster units out of the line of sight of the enemy, and/or with weapons unloaded until needed. It may be sufficient to have them face away from the combat zone.
* After a shot is spent via reaction fire, the empty casing "dud" must be unloaded before using again. This bug has been fixed in the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO and no longer occurs except with normal one-waypoint shots.
* The time to reaction-fire a blaster is significantly less than the time it takes to normally shoot one.
* One trick to avoid accidentally using a blaster launcher during attacks of opportunity is to keep your blaster unloaded and only load it when you need to use it. You cannot fire an empty weapon. This works for [[Rocket Launcher]]s and [[Small Launcher]]s as well.
* An even better trick is to arm another weapon in the other hand and set it as the [[active weapon]] (that is, visible in the soldiers hands) before ending the turn. You will only switch over to the blaster launcher once the active weapon runs out of ammo (which will never happen if it is a [[Laser Pistol]] or [[Laser Rifle|Rifle]]) .

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Talk:UIGLOB.DAT

2007-10-25T07:46:01Z

Fubar: /* 0x06 */

Could some of those offsets also be the next number for XCom Crafts? (Interceptor, Firestorm, Skyranger, Lightning, Avenger) Still leaves 2 unknowns though...
Too lazy to test this myself right now
--[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 14:11, 2 March 2007 (PST)

Comparing a couple of saves early and a few months in I can assume that 0x0C is Skyranger (its 2 on a new game, 4 on one where i have 3 of them), 0x12 is the Interceptor count (its 3 in new game, 9 where I had 8 at one point), 0x0E is Lightning which I built only one of, 0x10 is still one - the first Avenger is still in production in that save), 0x14 is Firestorm which I have two of in the late save.

Just leaves 0x06 (always 0 that I have seen) and 0x08 - 01 in the game in early February, 07 in the game in about July from the number of monthly scores inserted. Ground Assaults? I think those number differently to UFO Recovery missions, and it would be about the right number; my new game, I have shot them all down so far, so that also fits being 01 still, in the later game I have had a few ground assaults, 6 sounds about right, and with its location seems a good option.

Hmm, as four of the the first five are alien missions, and its sandwiched in between seems most likely to be another alien mission type - but unlike the rest its zero at the start, not 1. The only thing left I can think of is XCOM base attacks. Do those get a number? Its been a very long time since I got attacked in my base, and it would take some time to work out how to hack the aliens into doing it I imagine, depending on how well that part of the files is known already(in ACTS.DAT I think?).

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 14:54, 2 March 2007 (PST)

Something to check - at the end of the month the extra score might be 400/16 = 25 per happy country.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 14:59, 2 March 2007 (PST)

But that cant be right - because their happiness is based on the score, so that would be a self reference. Per country still could be the key - maybe if you outscored the Alien activity (using that local xcom + (total xcom/10) vs local alien + (total alien/5) calculation that was posted elsewhere as working out whether the countries are happy with your actions.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 15:02, 2 March 2007 (PST)

: Yeah I think the ground assaults as well as the recoveries get the same number as the UFO involved. 0x06 could be a pad byte and is never used. I'm glad you did this, it would have taken me some time to set up the saves and all. --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 15:05, 2 March 2007 (PST)

::Havent seen any padding elsewhere. Could be something that go removed late on in development maybe and they didnt want to reset the offsets of the rest of the file in various places in code, so maybe. Of course need to confirm the order of Alien Terror/Alien Bases is correct, because it based on one test where I saw them different atm and thought I remembered which I had done 2 and 3 respectively of, but probably want to confirm that. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 15:19, 2 March 2007 (PST)

You might try editing [[MISSIONS.DAT]] and setting it to a retal, shoot it down and they should keep sending more after you. --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 15:08, 2 March 2007 (PST)

Will check that out at some point, still only understand a quarter of the save files so far, and I am behind in translating the ones I know to my analysis program as well so it can decode them all automatically for me when needed.
--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 15:19, 2 March 2007 (PST)

What are you using for analysis? I have made some Python modules for nearly all the known file formats if they could be of help. [[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 10:40, 3 March 2007 (PST)

Just a VB program I knocked up in a few hours, it tracks the various save directories and notices when a new save is made and will (if asked to) automatically update on screen either the complete analysis of a file (usually too much information to be useful) or compare the differences between two selected files (all of which can be set fixed, or to dynamically detect the newest/oldest/second newest files as desired). --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 14:35, 3 March 2007 (PST)

== 0x06 ==

I was working on tracking down the "Minimized Interceptor Bug" and found that 0x06 in UIGLOB.DAT was different in my current (bugged) save game when compared to an older (non-bugged) save game. Long story short, I believe that 0x06 is NOT the next XCOM Base assault number (it didn't make sense for it to start counting at 0 anyway?) but I believe it is the current number of minimized Interceptor windows. Can someone else please confirm this for sure? I'm going to edit the main page with a note to see this discussion. Feel free to change it back if it's incorrect.

PS- I was able to edit 0x06 from 01 to 00, the minimized interceptor icon disappeared, but my interceptor continued on to the target, landed and was able to begin the mission successfully.

No crash on exit from the ground mission?