UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Translations (OpenXcom)

2015-09-06T16:26:39Z

Trigger: Created page with "Re pluralizations, how does the engine know whether to pick 'few' or 'other', for instance? These rules have to be defined somewhere too. --~~~~"

Re pluralizations, how does the engine know whether to pick 'few' or 'other', for instance? These rules have to be defined somewhere too.
--[[User:Trigger|Trigger]] ([[User talk:Trigger|talk]]) 12:26, 6 September 2015 (EDT)

Translations (OpenXcom)

2015-09-06T16:24:36Z

Trigger:

Like [[GeoScape String Files|the original]], OpenXcom supports translation of all ingame strings. However, the format has been changed to make it easier to edit, maintain and add support for Unicode. Currently the easiest way to translate is to use the [https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/openxcom/ Transifex web site].

== Guidelines ==
* Preserve the original structure: Don't change text inside {} tags and keep any spaces, uppercases, etc. that the original string has, unless you have a good reason not to.
* Be consistent: Don't make the text look schizophrenic, stick to one style throughout. If a word has multiple translations, choose one and stick with it. If working with multiple translators, be sure to work this out before-hand. Transifex has handy [https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/openxcom/glossary/l/en_US/ Glossary tool] for that. During translation you will receive highlights for known words.
* Don't use automatic translations: We're not robots. Only use them to assist you. I recommend [http://www.linguee.com/ Linguee] since it uses real translations.
* Review your work: Again, we're not robots and make mistakes every now and then. Don't forget to use a spellchecker.
* Pay attention to length: while most of the interface is fairly roomy (eg. Ufopaedia screens), some elements just can't fit a lot of words into a tight 320x200 screen (eg. columned lists). Remember you can test your translation ingame by downloading the file to your Language folder.

== Graphics ==

Sadly a translator's job isn't just replacing strings. Sometimes you also need to have a little bit of artistry. The game uses bitmap fonts to display text. These fonts are limited with Latin extended, Greek, and Cyrillic alphabets. If your language has new characters that it doesn't support, you'll have to add [[font collection (OpenXcom)|them in yourself]] and create it as [[mods (OpenXcom)|mod]].

== Testing ==

To test your translations in-game you just need to put them in the ''Data\Language'' folder. You can get the latest translations directly from Transifex by clicking the resource name. They are also available in the Git builds. If you need to check how much room you have for a string, you can enable ''debugUi'' in your ''options.cfg'' to see the text boxes in-game.

== Format ==

Language files are stored in YAML format (UTF-8). Here's a typical language file:

<pre>
en-US:
STR_AVENGER_UFOPEDIA: "TRANSPORTER AND COMBAT SPACECRAFT. THE ULTIMATE REPLICATION OF ALIEN TECHNOLOGY."
STR_INTERCEPTOR_UFOPEDIA: "COMBAT AIRCRAFT WITH DUAL PULSE DETONATION ENGINES AND SPECIALLY SHIELDED ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS. THE BEST AVAILABLE EARTH BASED TECHNOLOGY."
STR_LIGHTNING_UFOPEDIA: "TRANSPORTER AND COMBAT CRAFT. A CRUDE BUT EFFECTIVE REPLICATION OF ALIEN PROPULSION SYSTEMS."
STR_SKYRANGER_UFOPEDIA: "TROOP TRANSPORTER. THE FASTEST OF ITS KIND, WITH VERTICAL TAKE OFF AND LANDING (V.T.O.L.) CAPABILITY."
STR_FIRESTORM_UFOPEDIA: "COMBAT CRAFT. THIS ONE-MAN FIGHTER REPLICATES THE CLASSIC ALIEN FLYING SAUCER DESIGN, WITH CENTRAL PROPULSION UNIT."
...
</pre>

The first line contains the [http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/language-identifiers.html IETF language tag] (same as the filename). The rest of the text are just key-string pairs, separated by linebreaks. Language files are placed in the ''Data\Language'' folder and have the .yml extension.

==Special cases==
=== Pluralization ===

Some strings have different forms depending on the associated number {N}, for example "1 day" and "2 days". Different languages have different pluralization rules (See [http://cldr.unicode.org/index/cldr-spec/plural-rules Unicode Language Plural Rules] for the reference), you can ignore the cases that don't apply to your language as they won't be used by the game. Otherwise you should provide all plural forms needed for your language.

For example, if you are translating OpenXcom to Czech, en-US.yml for English have these lines:

<code>
STR_DAY:
one: "{N} day"
other: "{N} days"
</code>

As we can see, English has only 2 plural forms, ''one'' and ''other''. But Czech has 3 plural forms: ''one'' ("1 den"), ''few'' ("2 dny") and ''other'' ("5 dní"). Therefore, the cz.yml file should look like this:

<code>
STR_DAY:
one: "{N} den"
few: "{N} dny"
other: "{N} dní"
</code>

The OpenXcom engine will choose the correct plural form, based on the digit (''{N}'').

=== Gender-specific messages ===
Again, some languages have messages, that differ for male or female character. For example, in Russian we have two variants of "''<Soldier name> has Panicked''": "''<Soldier name> запаниковал''" (for male character) and "''<Soldier name> запаниковала''" (for female character). For this case we have two strings with _MALE and _FEMALE suffixes:

<code>
STR_HAS_PANICKED_MALE: "{0}{NEWLINE}запаниковал"
STR_HAS_PANICKED_FEMALE: "{0}{NEWLINE}запаниковала"
</code>

If your language doesn't have such features, just provide for both strings same translation. Otherwise, fill male and female messages accordingly their suffixes.

== External Links ==

* [http://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/board,6.0.html Translations forum]

[[Category:OpenXcom]]

Economics

2015-09-06T14:20:00Z

Trigger:

Money will be a major factor in your fight against the aliens, as with most things in the real world, there is little that you can't achieve with the judicious application of a huge pile of cash. The '''economics''' of your situation come down to a few major sources of income, and a somewhat larger number of costs.

==Income==
There are three key ways in which you can accumulate more money for your organisation.

===Council===
The first source of proper income, and your only one right at the start of the game is the initial [[Country Funding]] you have been given to get your organisation off the ground. This will get paid to you at the end of each month, and to retain – and increase – this funding you will need to keep your paymasters happy, either by keeping the UFOs off their front lawn, or by causing them to crash down on top it.

Country funding can remain an important revenue stream for most of the game, although towards the end you may well find yourself dreading the end of the month as the amount of funding you are getting dwindles compared to your growing monthly costs.

===UFO Recovery missions===
Although you will want to keep a fair amount of the items recovered from UFOs for your own use, there are many private buyers who are willing to pay out large amounts to get their hands on this new technology. As you progress towards your task of defeating the aliens, [[UFO Recovery Values]] tend to rise steadily, and are a very important revenue source. You do have to pay attention to not [[Buying/Selling/Transferring#UFO_Recoverable_Prices|selling]] alien items that you will later want, as manufacturing them yourself is often significantly more expensive than the sale value of the item.

===Sale of Manufactured goods===
As well as being essential to produce some key pieces of technology that you have [[research]]ed, your [[manufacturing]] teams can also be extremely [[Manufacturing Profitability|profitable]] once they are up and running. It will take some seed capital, and some work from your eggheads, to get things going, but once you do it can be a very key part of your financial stability, as private buyers are also willing to [[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|purchase]] many of the items you will become able to produce.

Be wary of falling into the END OF THE MONTH trap when your Monthly Expenditures are greater than your Funding Council Income. Here's an example: Your manufacturing plants generate $30,000,000 a month, your Funding Countries income is $10,000,000, bringing in a total of $40,000,000. However, your monthly maintainence is $20,000,000. It would look as if you make a neat $20,000,000 a month, right? However, what happens if your cash balance at the last hour of the month is $1,000,000 and you have no items that you can sell? The new month, your starting cash will be -$9,000,000. This will greatly worry the Funding Nations, who will discontinue X-com if you are negative cash for another month. Also, perhaps more importantly, you will be unable to start any new manufacturing, and thus your entire manufacturing line is halted. So no $30,000,000 from manufacturing this month. How to deal with $10,000,000 income and $20,000,000 maintainence then? ... you had better hope the aliens come fast and furious to give you booty to sell!

This end of the month trap usually occurs when starting up a large scale manufacturing operation. Usually, there will be a huge surplus of money and spare alien guns, which can be sold, allowing construction of many manufacturing modules and hiring Engineers. Then more aliens come, and more tech is sold off, more engineers are hired. Eventually, the end of the month comes, and suddenly you realize that you have bitten off more than you can chew.

==Expenditures==
There a few different ways to spend all that money you are accumulating, some of which will be very important at certain parts of the game, and not so at others.

===Base Expansion===
Both the creation of new bases, and the expansion of existing ones with new [[Base Facilities|facilities]] makes up a fairly large proportion of your overall expenses, particular for the first part of the game.

===Base Maintenance===
Each base you build, and each facility within that base increases the monthly cost you will have to pay to cover your base [[maintenance costs]]. While not a huge chunk of your expenditures, it is a constant drain to be aware of. Don't build facilities that you don't need yet, however always remember to consider the long lead times that some facilities have.

===Salaries===
All your base [[Hiring/firing|personnel]] – scientists, engineers and soldiers – and any [[Interceptor]]s or [[Skyranger]]s you are renting will cost a fixed amount of money every month to stop them quitting your employ, or being repossessed. Don't these people know there's a war going on?

===Equipment===
Equipment is usually not a major cost, simply because the technology available for you to [[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|purchase]] mostly is limited in application, and you rapidly become able to produce or acquire much better items for yourself. However, some items remain useful throughout the duration of the game, and keeping a steady stock of ammunition for the cheaper heavy weapons can be expensive.

===Manufacturing Material Costs===
While at certain times in the game manufacturing can be very profitable, it will also be essential to make items that have no resale value, such as the Avenger. Be well aware of the costs of the items you are making for your own use, to ensure they are worth the money you are spending on them. Also be aware of the exotic materials used up in the goods you are making, both from an opportunity cost standpoint (you could have sold those [[Alien Alloys]] instead of using them to make something, so they effectively increase the cost of anything that uses them up), and also particularly for [[Elerium-115]], some materials can be very tough to replace when you have used them up.

== Exploits and Bugs ==
* [[Exploits]]
**[[ExploitsA#Free_Manufacturing|Free Manufacturing]]
**[[ExploitsA#Free_Wages|Free Wages]]
*[[Known_Bugs|Bugs]]
**[[Known_Bugs#Sticky_Craft_Transfer_Fee_glitch|Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch]]  '''(Bad!)
**[[Known_Bugs#Transfer_Limit_cash_eater|Transfer Limit cash eater]]  ''(pretty rare)

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]