TrollofReason

Who mods their game and still plays the tutorial, letting Captain Cardigan force them into a serious botch-job?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

I just downloaded the modding tool linked above, am going to work out how to use it, and begin work on my own mod as was suggested. I also have other ideas, and hopefully the tool provided to me will allow that to be realized. In addition to the above, I also hope to implement: Increasing the number of times an LMG-type weapon can be fired per turn, as well as increasing the number of times LMG-type weapons can be fired before a reload. Removing the bulls*** to-aim penalties of certain enemies, and instead giving them soak modifiers, because heavy armor doesn't make you harder to hit, just harder to take down. Imagine hammering away and having 5 points of your damage with each hit do nothing against a Sectopod. Giving the heavier types of armor their own default soak and anti-critical bonus. Adding or enhancing natural aim-based defensive bonuses and more HP to certain enemies. I shouldn't laugh when I see a Crysalid, I SHOULD be crapping my pants even when I'm toting around plasma weapons. Turning the Alloy Cannon into a 5th tier rifle-type weapon, because I find it hard to believe that no one in this day and age with any knowledge of history, science, or engineering hasn't heard of a Gauss field linear accelerator. Games should not try to pull off science fiction bulls*** by assuming that you, the player, are stupid. I hate that. Getting all of this to balance itself out, for a richer, better, funner gaming experience.

I'll look into that, and I'm hoping that you're right in that it won't be so bad. I mean, if I can get the game to work smoothly on my old XP clunker, then... I just hope I'm not too tech inept for this. Still, one can hold out hope that some enterprising, and far more skillful user will see this and go, "This is a good idea, and it'll be easy!"

I'm a believer that a game needs to be as smoothly flowing as possible. At no time should I have a little siren in my head screaming "this is cow plop!" That said, however, both the S.C.O.P.E and Nano Fiber Vests cause so loud a cacophony that sometimes I have to put the game down and stop playing it so I can come back without a sour taste in my mouth after being forced to swallow yet another artificial "hard choice" the game is trying to feed me. In short, I think that both of these technologies should be Foundry Projects that enhance all body armors (and perhaps even confer a scaling bonus), and all weapons (with, again, a scaling bonus, maybe?). I don't even use NFVs because the bonus isn't worth a backpack slot, and I don't know why something that is mounted on the soldier's weapon is stored in their backpack. Before someone cries foul and says "but it's for balance!" then the Foundry Project can make you pay out the butt to implement it; 250 monies should about do it for each project, and THEN add a cost modifier to each weapon and armor that isn't standard Body Armor. If an NFV costs 20 monies, then add that 20 monies to a suit of new Carapace Armor when the foundry project is completed. Same should be true with the SCOPE. A high up-front cost, and then afterward the bonus is applied to all existing inventory but anything new will be more expensive. I don't think this would be hard to implement, since the Foundry already changes things. You'd just have to make sure to remove or cause instances of nation requests involving these items to not pop up anymore. Oh, and as for the scaling NFV bonuses? I think they should be tied to armor quality as well as visible bulkiness. Body Armor gets the +2hp bonus standard for a total of +3hp Carapace Armor gets a scaled +4hp bonus for a total of +8, but to offset the extreme HP bonus, cost increase as if you were actually carrying a NFV is actually tripled. This can be due to the costs associated with producing such thick padding with this high-cost material, making early construction of Carapace a priority as any future suits will be 60 monies more expensive down the line. Which further increases the importance of keeping your squad alive and not losing them to poor tactics and strategy. And I don't think that's a bad thing. Skeleton Suits actually only gets a +1hp bonus, totaling out at +4, but due to increased machining to keep the weight down, the cost increase remains the same at an additional 20 monies for a new suit. Titan Armor, likewise, only receives +1hp for a total of +11hp, but unlike the skeleton suit, this is more due to the armor's use of ultra-dense Alien Alloys for deflection as opposed to projectile/energy-absorbing padding, so the cost increase is halved to 10 monies. Archangel Armor gets the standard +2hp (+10hp total), and standard cost (20 monies) increase due to a more extensive use of the lightweight fiber padding to reduce weight and facilitate flight. Ghost Armor gets a +3hp bonus for a total of +9hp, and a doubled (40 monies) cost increase due to extensive, precision-placed padding to reduce weight and increase mobility while keeping the armor as quiet to wear as possible. Psi Armor also gets a +3hp bonus with an exact +9hp total, and for many of the same reasons as above so the cost increase is likewise doubled at 40 monies. As for SCOPE bonuses, they should be more dynamic as well as scaling, but unlike the armor cost increases should remain the same across the board at 20 monies. First off, no pistols except for Plasma Pistols which are big enough to be SMGs, should get the standard +10 aim, +10% crit chance. Second, all rifles should get a +15 aim bonus, +5% critcal bonus after the relevant follow-up Foundry Project. Shotguns get only a +5 aim bonus, but they do get a whopping +25% crit chance bonus. Sniper Rifles get a +25 aim bonus, but do not benefit from the Improved S.C.O.P.E Foundry Project. Why? Because the Sniper's own training more than his weapon confers the chances he's going to strike something soft. Whether or not the sniper will shoot a Berzerker in its eye piece, turning its brain to steaming offal with a plasma bolt is up to him. Not his already deadly-accurate weapon. LMGs should get the standard +10 aim and +10% crit chance bonus. Think it's worth doing? I hope I've flesh the idea out enough.

I was about to make my own thread suggesting this. A longer-ranged, more damaging man-portable laser cannon (because lasers do, indeed, cause things to explode when they're big enough) with a reduced blast radius. Call it the Laser Blaster. Hell, one could even keep the Shredder Rocket effect by replacing it with something called "Heat Beam" or whatever. A lower-intensity blast that does less damage, but disrupts and weakens armor by partially melting it, scrambling many of the more exotic molecular tweaks in the alien armoring technology. As for why it's single-use? Well, there is no more efficient means of storage energy than in a chemical form. That's why gasoline is so useful, it's a lot of power in a small space. That said, you can't "recharge" gasoline, can you? Once you release its energy by burning it, it's essentially worthless. The same can be true of a laser cannon pack able to be used by a person. You can't just strap a jet-portable generator onto someone's back. They couldn't move after that. Just give them a can of power and watch the aliens explode. It'd be more a side-grade to the rocket launcher, because the blast radius would only be 1 square (with an increase to 2 squares with Danger Zone, halving it for this proposed weapon), but the damage would be more intense. Something like 12-15 for the regular laser blast, and 6-8 for the heat beam. It could have, even, a longer range than the Blaster Launcher, that way the eventual switch to the more advanced and devastating weapon would be a far more strategic choice instead of a straight-up "it's better, I have to have this." It would also allow for something that this game woefully lacks - heavy fire support, despite having a Heavy infantry class.

Difficulty settings in games are often, well, not good. People either don't explain what's so different in each of the modes, or they try to be clever or funny instead of helpful. Which makes the general lack of control doubly annoying. I hope that what I'm proposing won't be too difficult because I'd REALLY like it to see it modded into the game. I want there to be a difficulty control panel that actually can affect how difficult or easy certain aspects of the game will become. For example! A few people (old XCOM vets among them) hate the so-called Classic difficulty setting. Not because it makes the game more challenging, but how it makes the game more challenging by giving the aliens attack and defenses bonuses from thin air. They like how the alien health is increased, and how the economy is less forgiving. In fact, they really like that, but they also really hate the out-of-their-butt bonuses the enemies get. So... Why not be able to turn it off? Why not be able to increase or decrease Council funding you get each month by a certain percentage, while increasing or decreasing the number of Council Requests you get to (hopefully) offset the altered funding rates? Why can't I select that the aliens get more health. (A Chyrsalid with 8hp doesn't scare me much, but 16?! Oh frag, I had better be prepared to handle this, or expect a lot of pain in a short amount of time. Sorry, nearby civilians, but it's Shredder Rocket time.) Why can't I get two or three, or even FOUR Terror Missions in a month? The potential for increased resources and reduced global panic is there, but I also get an increased potential to lose my elites to injury and death. Imagine having to fight through the streets of Paris, staring down a Sectopod with nothing but rookies in Carapace armor and Assault Rifles because I had invested so much into my crack team of 6 Colonels lost in the last assault to another Sectopod. That would be incredible! That would force me to actually consider backing down and losing a member nation because I dun' messed up, and now I don't want to lose what little I have left. Sorry, France, but the Earth is bigger than you and it's counting on me! That is what I would love to be possible, do you see now? I want to be able to tell a story like: of real hard choices, not the artificial ones the current game is shoving down our throats. We should be allowed to modify the following: Alien health Alien defense bonus alien attack bonus UFO frequency UFO severity - How quickly will we see a Battleship without story progression, and how often both before and after the story trigger will we see them? Council funding Council Request frequency Council Request rewards Abduction frequency Abduction severity - How many places are abductions taking place in? This could limit rewards, but offset itself with reduced panic in potential trouble spots continent-wise. Abduction rewards - ONLY 2 SCIENTISTS?! Yes, only 2 Scientists, and increased panic in Africa. Enjoy! Terror frequency - I'll miss you, France. Well, okay, not really. Research/Foundry speed Base Facility construction time - HIRE MOAR 'DOZERS! Satellite construction time - 21 days is an artificial hindrance. Rocketry and what is needed to launch a satellite is too well understood for a clandestine organization with access to RESOURCES OF THE PLANET AND IT'S OWN IN-HOUSE TEAM OF ENGINEERS AND HEAVY INDUSTRY not to put a light rocket and satellite together in a week or less. Item cost - A Nano Fiber Vest costs 30 monies now? Since when? Engineer impact - A Laser Rifle costs 30 monies at 12 Engineers. And you're telling me that they cost 28 monies at 30?! I could go on, but this is a good place to maybe start in actually customizing the difficulty of the game. Again, I hope it won't be too involved, just a few modifications to some background calculations in how the game manages quantifiable values. Which the game does on its own anyway with the existing difficulty selections.