Status Update: August 2016 news

Most updates of FOT Redux have occurred in the summer. Unfortunately I didn't get much time to work on the game this summer, so a new version is some ways off (next summer, probably). I have done some things, however. Here's what I have so far for a future version 1.4 release:

GENERAL GAME
--Bugfixes: Reactivated forgotten "double" firing mode for double-barrelled shotgun and sawed-off shotgun. These weapons are more dangerous now in the early missions-- and keep in mind, many enemies are armed with them.
--Bugfixes: Eliminated possibility of silly exploit where automated turrets can die from drug overdoses.
--Bugfixes: Changed merchant Special Encounters to eliminate silly exploit of killing the merchant with a drug overdose without turning the guards hostile.
--Modifications: Increased the number of EMP shotgun shells available in the game world by around fifteen percent. I'm reluctant to increase quantities of this highly effective ammo, but it's really not feasible to pursue robot random encounters without more of it in the game world.
--Modifications: Made a new type of 40mm plasma grenade ammo. These rare items are never sold by the Quartermaster, but small quantities were added to loot locations around the game world. Their intended purpose is to be better than regular explosive grenades when fighting robots.
--Modifications: I'm now pretty sure all 6mm weapons have been removed from the game world (Preoria in particular still had some stuff), so the last "safety bits" of 6mm ammo were removed from the Quartermaster list. I was thinking about replacing the item image now used by 7mm ammo with the image formerly used by 6mm ammo, but didn't do so at this time to avoid potential confusion for players. Comments are welcome on the issue.
--Modifications: Six bonus items were added to secret spots in the game world. Like the "Elixir" found at the Gas Station Special Encounter in the original game, each of these items raises one character statistic by one point. They work like drugs, except the effect is permanent. These items are meant to be used when your favorite soldier is just shy of the requirements for some desired perk, but you'll have to search hard to find them. I'll give you some hints: one can be found somewhere in Freeport (Mission 2), another can be found somewhere in Jefferson (Mission 10), and the other four are found in Special Encounters. The two in the missions were added to already present secret containers in those missions, and the ones in the Special Encounters were added to new hidden containers.

RECRUITS
--Modifications: Recruit Vindi lost one character point from Luck and gained one point in Charisma. Her primary attraction compared to some of the other heavy weapons soldiers was meant to be an ease of taking the Divine Favor perk at higher levels, but she didn't have enough Charisma to reasonably have a chance at this.

BUNKERS
--Bugfixes: In Bunker Three, Mayor Hillary was intended to appear after the completion of Mission 8, but instead she was present immediately upon entering the bunker for the first time.

OSCEOLLA
--Modifications: In Redux 1.2 I said Toccamotta and Roshambo should no longer be hostile after eliminating Gammorin, but this was not the case under all conditions.
--Gameplay Note: Under some conditions, a change I made in Redux 1.2 may express bugs that were always present in the mission but previously unlikely to be noticed. In the original game, all the mutants on the map surface were deactivated when Gammorin died. I decreased the number of player indexes affected, because we have so many players who are fond of looting every last bullet on every map. The most common style of play here is probably to eliminate almost all enemies on the map, but strictly speaking that is not the mission objective. If one approaches the mission by the book, and heads directly underground to assassinate Gammorin right off (probably using the tunnel on the southern edge of the map), then at least ten mutants will remain on the surface to harass the player-characters on their way back out of the complex. This can be a problem, because it offers a chance for the expression of the old "invisible enemies attack player" bug that formerly afflicted the St Louis mission when attacking the mutant base there. The bottom line is, if you approach the mission in a true commando style and go directly for the objective, just take care on your way back to the exit grid and leave by the same route you used to enter the complex. Due to an unfixable bug in the game engine itself, npcs on deactivated player indexes that are hostile to the player's team will attack anyway in turn-based combat (hence the name, "invisible enemies attack bug").

Not much to get excited about, but it's a start.

Bug-fixing is now at the tweaking stage, but marginal improvements in that area will continue as I become aware of any remaining problems that are fixable. In general, future versions of FOT Redux will be focused on adding new (more, better) content.

In the next version, Super Mutant recruits will be significantly redesigned. I already have a number of ideas about how I want to make them more useful (better AG, better Big Guns skills), but haven't yet completed editing them. Suggestions from players who like to use (or would like to use) Super Mutant recruits are welcome. Deathclaw recruits will also benefit from some revisions.

Do we need more than one robot recruit? I don't really think so, but if you have ideas, please tell me about it.

What I think players will find to be a fairly intriguing new mission is about 65 percent finished. It's a large map of a multi-elevation canyon area, with caves and a prewar storage depot set inside a mountain. The gameplay purpose is to give the player a chance to earn (tough battles will occur) more weapons and ammo with which to fight the robots (as supplies remain rather tight in the current iteration of the game). This will probably be used as a Special Encounter. In theory it would also work well as a replacement for one of the Reaver missions cut from the original game (13, 14, 18, and 20), but without any multimedia support (voice-acting from General Dekker for a brief and debrief) I'm diffident about using it that way.

I'll also be adding more articles to terminals in the bunkers. In particular, I'll be writing a pseudo-history to better explain why the player-character's Eastern BOS faction broke off from the original Brotherhood, giving the whys and hows of the ways their philosophy of using and sharing technology to improve the world of today differs from the stingy attitude of the California BOS.

Above all, FOT Redux is for the players, and suggestions are welcomed. If there's something you've always wanted to see in the game, tell me about it. Maybe your idea is plausible and maybe not, but you'll never know unless you propose it.