Tycus
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Posts posted by Tycus
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@Krazyguy75
"1. Sorry, what was your solution again?"
<..>Onto EXALT relays: imho they should just disable reinforcements of EXALT troops for couple of turns (so player would still have some incentive to hack those arrays, and have time to deal with current situation or prepare for next wave; and hack effects would be not as debilitating for EXALT troops)
"2. There is a difference between, as I said, the discovery movement, and as you said, an actual turn. They can immediately go after you if they discovery you during your turn, but if they wander into your sight, that costs them a turn. However, that is a half action (either overwatch or movement) rather than a full turn (move and fire)" - they actually get free action upon discovery, or when patrolling and full 2 action turn, but because of this AI restraint most aliens just skip rest of their turn/ their last action point, so it can be hardly noticeable, because only non-offensive action (other than movement) aliens can take is Mind Merge, Repair or Life leech: can be especially noticeable on chryssalids, which can run to you like across half of the map; at least this how it worked in EU, so unless they changed(*fixed*) it in EW it should still be the same.
"8. I don't recall, sorry. It may have just been speculation on how it might work that I'm remembering" - ok, then.
"9. Ah, I did the same thing, and yeah, they barely touched it, only using it twice in an entire campaign. Still don't know what made it trigger, it seemed to happen when 4 or more of my guys were in sight and some were overwatched and others were hunkered behind full cover. I don't expect them to know how to use all abilities, but they certainly have some ability to use specific ones. I save cheesed to save my life against them, 3 MC'd guys at any one time..." - I believe this happened because of quite common AI bug (when use of any abilities sectoids naturally posses have so low chances of success, so theirs usual abilities got filtered out because of negative AI score, and only action left for them to take is use of this new ability, that you have generously given them :thumbsup:
"10. Bullet swarm is passive. It's whether they'll utilize it well that requires testing" - aliens can totally use it (I have given that ability for Muton Elites, so they were shooting twice); just cannot use it very well (like shoot, then hide), because AI unaware of aliens having it - so it was like them shooting, then "hey, I can still shoot once more" and then shoot again; really it all depends on AI scores of those shots.
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@Krazyguy75
"Howsabout we give exalt the skin mod that locates cloaked people on their snipers?" - it would fit on their Elite Operatives better, I think, but I highly doubt, that AI can make intelligent use of it, unless this mod autoreveals cloaked units (has anybody tested that in multiplayer?) - so yeah, this totally can work.
<..>
"1. Yeah, that's an if possible" - I think my solution is a bit better (and lot easier to implement)
"2. That'd lead to rediculous amounts of death, as they'd shred you in the first turn by flanking your people before you could react. A solution I pose is to let them count as dashing when they enter, letting them have a higher chance of dodging initial overwatch. Could even give operatives Lightning Reflexes)" - actually, I don't believe that gonna happen (besides, don't leave your guys in easily flankable position), because AI is sort of restrained against taking offensive action versus XCOM troopers on their reveal turn (like when patrol of aliens stumble into you on aliens turn, worst they can do is enter overwatch, but I'm not 100% sure about it, so we will have to test it). Also, overwatch shots against dashing units actually have same penalty as normal ones (tooltip is a lie). And LR are overrated (especially in my mod because of reaction fire, and that is another reason I'm not particularly afraid of flanking action).
<..>
"8 (the second one =P). I could've sworn I'd seen something on that" - may I ask were?
"9. Yeah, that's a stretch goal. However, certain abilities can be used by AI that they wouldn't have normally (EX: MindControl (the player version of PsiControl) worked when I gave it to Sectoids, to the point where they spammed it)" - strange (it could not be that easy), I remember giving Sectoids Psi-panic and they were not using it, because use of Psi abilities require special Psi flag on a unit, and there is special sub-routine AI function, that controls use of all Psi abilities for all alien types.
"10. The AI is far more robust than many people give it credit for. It can handle most new passives that I've given it so far. But we'd need to test it" - yes, passive (also count automatic ones, like "Ready for Anything" perk) abilities is not a problem, like at all; it is active (that do require some sort of input before use) that AI generally cannot utilize - unless you replace one active ability with another and tweak use of new one.
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<..>
Also, aforementioned counters to some of XCOM's stuff. At the very least they should be able to throw some battlescanners around...though depending on how hard it would get the AI to do that it might be easier to just nerf Mimetic Skin. :/
Already planned that in my mod, because how it works now just bugs me - I propose to change conceal-reveal mechanic of mimetic skin to be something like that: get revealed by any movement and weapon fire, get conceled on entering high cover, if not flanked and stay concealed, unless moving again or firing weapon.
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<..>
1. I'd make the comm arrays make them blind, if possible, so each unit is only aware of what it sees. - not gonna happen, because of AI,
2. As previously stated, treat new exalt troopers as newly discovered pods, allowing them to take cover or enter overwatch. - not just that, I would like to allow them actual turn
3. Boost their gene mods. If possible, I'd give them some random alien abilities at late game, to show how far they are willing to go (10% chance of Thin Man plague, anyone?) - new ablities - yes, some of more obsucre alien abilities - maybe, thin man posion and alike - no, just no
4. WHY DO THEY NOT HAVE PLASMA?! - +1 on that
5. Upgrade their armor late game. - maybe
6. Make the EXALT home base attack much, much harder (increase # of units per pod to 9, trigger every pod at start of the map. With above upgrades, should be hard) - pretty good idea
7. Possibly give EXALT MECS (extremely rare chance) - that is hardly possible to do
8. Give their operatives shotguns. - too bad there is no separate model of EXALT shotgun
8. Add Squad Sight to their elite snipers. (WARNING: WOULD CAUSE EVERY POD OF SNIPERS TO ACTIVATE SIMULTANEOUSLY) - no, it does not work like that (at least in EU it was), because I have given Cyberdiscs Squadsight, and they will activate normally; also LoS blockers;
9. Add Run & Gun to their elite operatives (no guarantee they'll use it, though) - hardly possible, because AI generally can't handle new active abilities;
10. Add Bullet Swarm to their elite heavies. - hmm, I'll give a try for this one, don't know if AI code robust is enough to handle it.
That'd make them a lot like facing an evil version of yourself - that was a general idea behind EXALT faction.
Edit: got ninja'd here.
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<..>
First, I want to disable communication relays effect of breaking down EXALT operatives weapon. In seems ridiculous and leaves them no chance to fight back. Second, I want them to enter the map and start shooting at the same turn, not sit and wait until XCOM soldiers pick them one-by-one.
Totally agree with both statements. It seems that not just EXALT operatives are sort of weak (even their so called "Elites", which can hardly reach lieutenant rank level of your own troops), their missions were designed in such way to make EXALT even less of a threat to the player.
Onto EXALT relays: imho they should just disable reinforcements of EXALT troops for couple of turns (so player would still have some incentive to hack those arrays, and have time to deal with current situation or prepare for next wave; and hack effects would be not as debilitating for EXALT troops)
Second suggestion is spot on: it wiil allow them to take cover (they often enter map and stay in positions with no cover), and at least have chance to do something.
Also I will most definitely buff them in my mod (and I mean not just simple stat adjustments, but will grant them new set of abilities as well; I haven't checked their AI yet to see if they can use new active abilities). But I like to have them: they can be very distinct threat to player - squad-sight sniping or sudden rocket delivery is quite unique threat (and gives XCOM soldiers a bit of their own treatment, hehe)
As for strategic level it is nice to have secondary mechanism of delivering problems for player (be it panic increase, research sabotage or plain credit theft), it can help to add some pressure mid-to late game. Of course, current mechanic has to be rebalanced (but I need to do some research on this before posting suggestions).
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@Dubious
What I was referring to is "Individual Item Changes" section, which has no info (even for previous version of XCOM:EU, not like it matters now). Basically it was required to disable specific exclusion preventing making Smoke Grenade an item - outdated code:XComStrategyGame.upk >> XGFacility_Lockers.GetLockerItems
The surrounding hex code is: (this is unique)
16 25 16 07 7E 03 9A 00 06 2D 00 00 2C 56 16 06 6F 04 07 AF 03
change to: (also unique)
16 25 16 07 7E 03 9A 00 06 2D 00 00 2C C3 16 06 6F 04 07 AF 03Battlescanners don't seem to have similar exclusion, and I really don't know about other two items.
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<..>
Now that I know how to change variables into static array variables, I can likely turn iStructureReq into iStructureReq[16] or so, enabling the storing of multiple perks per item. The other issue to resolve would be setting the perks for each item -- in the prior implementation I hacked it into the XGItemTree.BuildItems call.Exactly how many perks can be granted via this new method? (3 should be enough, I think). Good luck on resolving second issue, though. Btw, about smokes and battlescanners: it is perks granting items, not other way around (there is no "Smoke Grenade" or "Battlescanner" perks in perk trees in my mod; anyway, I should wait for updated Extended Perk Trees mod before I really need worry about that :tongue:).
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I remember this one, too bad I implemented this in last huge update of my mod, which was kinda broken (crash at launch of tactical mission), and I even don't know was it success or not. And link to wiki is broken, fixed: http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Additional_Items_Mod_XCOM:EU_-_2012
It is shame that article on wiki is still unupdated. Btw, any plans for updating that mod for EW? I would like to give MEC weapons some unigue perks, to make them more different and versatile, and not just straight upgrade; also is it even possible to grant several perks with single item?
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For the sake of brevity, I didn't add that there are some specially coded exceptions, one of which is that Gunslinger is not available to Heavy or MEC.
Oh, ok then.
<..>
Even though currently none of the MEC perks are on the random list, there is nothing preventing MECs from participating in Training Roulette if they had such perks added to their list or if their MEC perks were added to the random list.Well, in theory MEC trooper perks were specifically designed and balanced for MECs, hence the exception. I just did a quick check, and with possible exceptions of Corporal (Automated Threat Assessment and Advanced Fire Control) and Colonel (Absorption Fields and Reactive Targeting Sensors) level ones rest are most likely tied to MECs themselves (such as in animations and effects, similarly to weapon-specific perks).
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<..>
For vanilla EW here is the list:
RandomPerks=ePerk_Aggression RandomPerks=ePerk_TacticalSense RandomPerks=ePerk_LightningReflexes RandomPerks=ePerk_Flush RandomPerks=ePerk_BringEmOn RandomPerks=ePerk_CloseCombatSpecialist RandomPerks=ePerk_ExtraConditioning RandomPerks=ePerk_Resilience RandomPerks=ePerk_BulletSwarm RandomPerks=ePerk_TracerBeams RandomPerks=ePerk_HEATAmmo RandomPerks=ePerk_RapidReaction RandomPerks=ePerk_Grenadier RandomPerks=ePerk_WillToSurvive RandomPerks=ePerk_DamnGoodGround RandomPerks=ePerk_Gunslinger RandomPerks=ePerk_BattleScanner RandomPerks=ePerk_Executioner RandomPerks=ePerk_Opportunist RandomPerks=ePerk_LowProfile RandomPerks=ePerk_Sprinter RandomPerks=ePerk_CoveringFire RandomPerks=ePerk_FieldMedic RandomPerks=ePerk_Revive RandomPerks=ePerk_DeepPockets RandomPerks=ePerk_Savior RandomPerks=ePerk_Sentinel RandomPerks=ePerk_FocusedSuppression
This list should be on FAQ about Second Wave options, and with exception of one minor design oversight (Gunslinger for Heavy, anyone?) is actually pretty fun to play with.
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MECs are already pretty strong but don't necessarily synergize well with psionics. Narratively I imagine the reason that Mectoids get the shield is because they are psionic creatures.
Actually, MECs are not that good (especially on higher difficulties). And about Mectoids: normal Sectoids go in overdrive mode (their biology and implants), when mind-merged, same applies to mechanized version, so shield can be result of both psionic and technological advancements (as Sectoids themselves are not that powerful psionics).
I'm kind of trying to plan around a middle ground between:
1) Vanilla EW -- gene-mod soldiers have unlimited access to psionics, allowing crazy super-soldiers
2) Mind vs Matter SW option -- gene-mods and psionics are completely separate
Concept would be to create 5 psi ranks to correspond to the 5 gene-mods possible. The sum of psi rank + NumGeneMods can't exceed ... say ... 5. So the Volunteer would have to be non-gene-modded, but it would allow for partial mixtures of psionics and gene-mods. Soldiers that don't test positive for psionics can be gene-modded as much as desired.
That is actually pretty solid concept.
About the battlescanners/smoke grenades... I saw the following new config data in the DGC.ini :
PerkWeapons=(ePerk=ePerk_SmokeBomb,eWeapon=eItem_SmokeGrenade) PerkWeapons=(ePerk=ePerk_BattleScanner,eWeapon=eItem_BattleScanner)
but I'm not totally sure how it works yet. I suspect that it causes a soldier with a perk to be loaded out with an item. However I'm not sure if this is just for pawn display or for actual game effects.
So it looks like some testing needs to be done :wink: .
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<..>
Current plan would have the following:
1) Perks can be assigned to multiple classes - yes
2) Up to 3 perks per rank, configurable via DGC.ini - and yes
3) Number of perks per rank also configurable via DGC.ini (down to 0 perks if desired) - :thumbsup:
4) Won't break Training Roulette SW option
5) Will display all perks after Squaddie perk is chosen (nice)
6) Will allow for addition of smoke grenade and battlescanner items - (:awesome:)
7) Allow for additional psi ranks above 4 (4 is Volunteer in Vanilla)
<..>
Regarding the expansion of the psi ranks, I'm thinking of possibilities such as adding Mind Merge, Greater Mind Merge, Psi Lance and perhaps other abilities. Also perhaps abilities such as Bloodcall and Intimidate.Also thinking that perhaps MECs could be given psi abilities, but would have a different set possible. In particular MEC psi training would allow them to generate a shield (like how Mechtoids do) when receiving a Mind Merge.
Regarding psi - nice ideas (especially regarding MECs, since gene-modded soldiers can get psi on top of their awesome abilities, but MECs get nothing, kinda unfair). Btw, I hope implementing battlescanners and smoke grenades as items would be easier this time :wink: .
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Hi everyone, I'm back in modding XCOM (there was RL issues, then moved onto other projects and some other stuff), but with this new expansion out I will continue work on this mod, and hopefully port over most of functionality included. Also because of changes brought by expansion some previous issues just don't matter anymore, and it will be released in functional alpha state (once its ready).
Update 1 {23.11.13}: ok, I finished my Ironman Impossible test run (so I would know about what I would want to change and how it will work out in my mod). It took me quite some time to formulate my impressions about this new game mechanic and changes they have made to XCOM. Here is mini-review (which then grew in process; warning: wall of text under a spoiler)
Game definitely now is harder (a lot), but still has inverted difficulty curve (ie incredibly hard at start of the game, then gets increasingly easier over time). I got this feeling, that devs at Firaxis not quite understand, what makes game tick, and how to properly handle balance, it just not genre they are best at (imho).
Take for example, perk changes:
Sniper - Snapshot vs Squadsight - crappy perk vs amazing one, so instead of making more viable choice they nerfed Squadsight so hard it is useless now, and crappy perk is tiny bit less crappy,
Opportunist vs Executioner - because of nerf - no Squasight-crit overwatches
In the Zone vs Double Tap - no crits - no kills, Double Tap is better choice now.
Gunslinger vs Damn Good Ground - everyone still picks DGG, because of def bonus, and defense means so much in this game.
As result, not just this balance change limits further choices, Snipers got badly nerfed as class (because previously interclass balance was handled by unique capabilities each class has - Heavies have their Rockets, Assaults have their Run-n-Gun, and Snipers have Squadsight, and Support... well, they were medics (obviously interclass balance was less than stellar in vanilla, but at least we had three combat-capable classes and medics, which is fairly ok game-wise)
Heavies are mostly untouched, which is both good and bad (because Heavies got one of most controversial perk trees in vanilla), except nerf to HEAT Ammo (about which I don't care, since this perk was completely removed in my mod).
Supports - now Deep Pockets grants one additional use of use-limited items, which is ok, I think (they should have totally made this a new perk), but this change limits flexibility of Supports
Assaults - mostly unchanged as well (they have best perks imo, I have used them a lot to improve other class perk trees in my mod, and aliens got quite a few of those as well). However, I got mixed feeling about change to Close and Personal - now its is a bit trolly perk (move, shoot, and hide back), but Lightning Reflexes is still mandatory on Impossible, so yeah.
General changes:
Increased research times - yes, finally those Laboratories are useful, but they still failing onto inverted difficulty curve, so carapace armor research takes more than two weeks, but later in game titan one takes like four days (yeah) , and Engineers are still mandatory to get to progress on Impossible.
Increased XP for promotions - hard to get early promotions to corporal-sergeant, bit easier to get lieutenant-captain, after that just don't care about them anymore, so still inverted. Oh, and they seem to fix amount of aim and HP bonus for ranking up, so your soldiers are now less superhuman with rank up (but they still gain a bit too much HP, imo). But armor is not improved to compensate for this, so increase in difficulty.
Ok, now take a look at new stuff:
Meld: personally I find this mechanic a horrible game design (and a bit too much game-y for my taste). It is lazy solution to force players to certain gameplay style, it is so much worse on impossible, because only time-based mission in vanilla was Bomb Disposal Council missions, which were aptly named "Squad Disposal" missions. Now every non-Council mission is ersatz Bomb Disposal, have a good time ( :devil: - devs).
New enemies: Seekers - a bit too balanced enemies, given me no problems what-so-ever, and only one time managed to get to strangle one of my troops (because whole team epically failed 5 overwatch shots). And then bioelectric skin FTW.
Mectoids - well, they suffer from inverted difficulty problem, because by time you have to encounter them you have either already lost or steamrolling game.
Gene-mods:
Hyper Reactive Pupils vs Depth Perception - in order to get benefit from first one you have to miss (and you really do not want to miss shots on Impossible), so DP ftw (also, my tactics usually utilize height advantage by default so my soldiers will miss less).
Muscle Fiber Density vs Adaptive Bone Marrow - choice is obvious here, because in order to benefit from second one your armor must breached and it is only 2 HP per turn (there is exactly one soldier in my roster, that has this mod - Zhang (because of his abnormally high HP), and Muscle Fiber Density allows you to get anywhere you want - gain height advantage, bypass ground obstacles (such as trucks) - vertical mobility is good, enough said.
Secondary Heart vs Adrenal Neurosympathy - SH feels like mandatory choice here (you really do not want to lose your precious highly experienced veterans on impossible + no Will lost on being critically wounded) and this ersatz Blood Call is not cutting edge here (relatively small radius, does not affect allies below of user, activates once per 5 turns, lasts only one turn and you have to kill enemy via weapon fire - just too many conditions to be useful) Upd: somebody said, that it require LoS as well, but has some sort of awesome radius, so I have to check this.
Neural Feedback vs Neural Damping - again, choice is obvious -
firstsecond time encounter with 3 Sectoid Commanders on landed UFO, they were like insta mind control my MEC trooper (99 will Colonel Rank, +20 will from MEC-3 Paladin, +10 Will council medal, 129 Will total; actually I recall only one failed MC attempt, and 6 or 7 succesful ones), so Neural Feedback is not cutting edge here again (+immunity to panic from Neural Damping - yes,please).And finally two most broken mods (because they allow some most cheesy tactics) - Bioeletric Skin and Mimetic Skin; to Mimetic Skin I refer to as ninja-mod - grab one assault (even Squaddie will suffice), put this mod on him/her, then dash like crazy towards Meld from high cover to high cover (been regularly utilizing Run-n-Gun to ninja-cap Meld), after Meld is secured, rest of team has all time in the world to clear map, so then run as ninja-scout for team (squadsight snipers now are most thankful), occasionally putting shotgun/arcthrower for good use. And Bioelectricity mod (I call it sensor-mod) - discover aliens unactivated and greet them with rocket/grenade/blaster launcher charge, plan successful assaults on insides of buildings/UFOs, troll discovered enemies with Electro Pulse from outside and do other crazy stuff; also added immunity for strangulation and auto-reveal of cloaked enemies is just icing on cake here).
Oh, and you can combine all of above not just with regular abilities your soldiers have, but with psionic powers as well, which allows you to create some seriously OP super-soldiers.
MECs and MEC troopers:
Compared to gene-mods MECs are not as awesome (I consider be them a bit UP at this moment; they really do need some love). No psionics, no gene-mods and half XP for kills for them is unfair already, but no inventory and no backup weapon, combined with low ammo storage on main weapon is what makes me really sad. Their (relatively) higher HP is no big deal, considering they cannot take cover and fire/poison immunity comes useful only in very specific cases. Also their perk tree is not as amazing as one would expect, and among inherited perks some are less useful than others. And tactical subsystems offer no great choice either. And MEC suits cost quite a lot, and subsystems cannot be swapped (unlike Gene Mods),
Ok, lets start with inherited perks:
Body Shield (Heavy) - I consider this most useful of inherited perks, -20 Aim and no crit from closest enemy is awesome (is best if there is only one enemy)
Platform Stability (Sniper) - +10 Aim +10 Crit , if not moved is good, especially if MEC trooper has Overdrive as well, but it's usefulness highly situational
Distortion Field (Support) - +10 Defense for allies in cover is good, too bad radius is a bit small, and usually the only MEC in team is geared towards other role than supporting squad.
Shock Absorbent Armor (Assault) - -33% to incoming damage is good (on paper), too bad enemy has to be within spitting distance of your MEC in order to benefit from this perk (-33% damage of almost guaranteed hit (and possible crit) - good job on this one)
MEC trooper perks:
Collateral damage - spends all ammunition(if no upgrades), removes cover, deals scratch damage - obviously useful at removing cover or making new entrances/exits, or when you need to deal guaranteed small amount of damage (when capturing aliens, or finishing them off). It has its uses, but later in game it is just meh (unlike all other Squaddie Perk choices, but MEC makes up for this one with inherited perks).
Advanced Fire Control vs Automated Threat Assessment - both are good, but I like Advanced Fire Control more, because MEC weapons tend to deal a fair bit of damage (if hits) and will one-shot some enemies (good synergy with next one perk), and improving defense from pathetic to slightly less pathetic on Impossible is no go (best defense is nobody shooting at you, not a roulette with very low and low chances).
Vital Point Targeting vs Damage Control - guaranteed +2 Damage vs autopsied enemies (99% of all enemies you would be fighting) vs +2 DR after taking damage for 2 turns (so first hit would still deal full damage, and in order to benefit from this perk you must be taking even more hits (and more damage) within 2 turn period; exposing MEC like that could very easily lead to untimely MEC trooper death, so no, thanks, but I'll pass up this one). Honestly, I think, there is should be upgrade in foundry, that permanently does that, or maybe even as secondary effect of Shaped Armor project.
Jetboot Module vs One for All - jetboots offer same mobility improvement as Muscle Fiber Density gene-mod, and it is even more important for MEC, since MEC cannot climb on ladders or pipes to the roof, and have no armor choices or upgrades to otherwise reach it, so it is must have, and ability to become high-cover element - it is like asking for a grenade or something, on top of taking out of your MEC; honestly I think this ability should be like default ability of MEC, not lieutenant rank one
Repair Servos vs Expanded Storage - yay yet another set of lackluster abilities, Repair Servos - heal 2 HP every turn, and can heal up to whole 6 HP (good for repairing scratch damage on 21-26 HP MEC) vs Expanded Storage, which gives +1 charge to Restorative Mist, Grenade and Proximity Mine Launchers and +50% base ammo for main gun (it stacks with Ammo Conservation project). Choice is obvious, and both of this abilities along with Jetboots could have been upgrades to MEC itself, not a pilot perks (can I actually refer to MEC trooper as a pilot; well, certainly interface is highly unusual, but MECs could still be categorized as mini-mecha, but closer definition of them is interchangeable cyberbody).
Overdrive - ersatz Bulletswarm here, nothing new, still awesome.
Absorption Fields vs Reactive Targeting Sensors - 33% of maximum health of 26 HP MEC is 8,58, rounded 9 and only weapons that can deal this much damage is Sectopod Chest Cannon or crit from Heavy plasma, so it is useful only making devastating hits slightly less devastating, and Reactive Targeting Sensors basically additional overwatch shot on anybody, who shot MEC first (regardless of hit or miss), so guess which one I would chose :tongue:. Upd: somebody wrote in chat that 33% HP threshold counted of suit HP, not total HP, and with damage control low-level high-ranked MECs have better survivability vs devastating shots, if that is the case this perk is so broken.
Tactical subsystems:
Flamethrower vs Kinetic Strike Module - so flamethrower which deals 6 damage (9 upgraded), has only 2 charges vs kinetic strike module, which deals 12(18 if upgraded), has no charges/no cooldowns, upgrade allows its use like bulletswarm (2 strikes per turn), and gives mobility bonus (and mobility is so important in this game) - choice again is obvious (been rocket-punching Sectopods for lulz and win, as upgraded KSM is most damaging single-action weapon XCOM has in its disposal)
Restorative Mist vs Grenade Launcher - Mist has only 1(2) charges, which can heal up to 6 HP (if medikits were upgraded) in rather small AoE, vs Grenade Launcher, which has 2(3) grenades (uses regular (alien if project upgrade) grenades, which can be delivered on Bombardier-like distance.
Electro Pulse vs Proximity Mine Launcher - Pulse has rather small AoE, deals pathetic (for late game, that is) 5 damage, disable robotic units for total of one turn, and has 3 turns cooldown, only good things about this are unlimited charges, guaranteed damage to targets, and no damage to cover; compared to Proximity Mine Launcher - which has AoE and range similar to rocket, hold 2(3) charges, and deals 8 damage. The bad (or good) thing is that it is a mine, which must be triggered by aliens in order to deal damage, but on other hand you can carefully lay out trap for unsuspecting aliens.
All in all, MEC troopers feels like fairly well balanced (like just another class) addition, but are overshadowed by gene-mod awesomeness (and OP'dness). Btw, there is real good synergy between fully ranked up (and fully upgraded) Supports (4 Medikit +10 HP charges and 3 +6 HP Arc Thrower Charges; 58 HP of heal is nothing to sneeze at; or even 66, if MEC got "duct tape" medal) and MECs (obviously MEC must survive to benefit from all this healing).
New items:
Most of new items are either crap or suffer from "too awesome to use" syndrome.
Reaper Rounds - horrible, horrible item (and idea) +20% crit vs organic targets, doubles range penalty, affects only conventional weapons - and for this p.o.s. I must sacrifice precious small items slot?
Respirator Implant - immunity to poison and strangulation, adds + 2 HP, so it effectively replaces Nano-fiber vest; generally not bad item but the description just freaks me out :sweat:;
Flashbang Grenade - -50% to Aim and Movement is good, but it just costs too much; if only this could be available in unlimited amount (like Frag Grenades);
Gas Grenade - finally there is some use for all those thinmen corpses (beside Medikit Project and selling out), but again is a bit too much costly cash-wise;
Needle Grenade - finally a grenade which behaves like fragmentation grenade, not high explosive one, too bad it uses Chryssalid corpses, which I need for Chitin Plating, and there is just not enough Chryssalid corpses for both (here I am, complaining about lack of chryssalids, it is a shame we could not carry all those corpses from bombed village);
Mimic Beacon - well, I guess it may have its uses, but there is simply just not enough item slots to carry such highly situational items;
Ghost Grenade - mass ghosting ftw; too bad it costs an arm and a leg to produce one (don't liked idea anyway)
One of most biggest disappointments in this expansion was this new EXALT faction, I was most unimpressed by their troops (even less with so called "elite" EXALT operatives, which have extreme gene-mods story-wise), and their missions (most likely they suffer from inverted difficulty curve, as they appear mid-game and you already most likely have laser+carapace by then, so their missions are just cakewalk), but honestly those guys really could be improved. Now they are just nuisance, that has to be dealt with, not a threat at any level (strategic and tactical).
Now, changes for aliens. The most massive change is that OP perk Reinforce Armor, that gives 50% damage reduction to Sectopod (which has 25 HP). Yes, in my mod Sectopod had 50 HP, so one could say they are technically the same, but that is wrong assumption, because of rounding of incoming damage, and heal from drones are twice as effective on armored one. Also, in my mod despite lack of HEAT ammo (which got nerfed anyway) Sectopod had no crazy defense bonus, and my improved skill trees allowed for soldiers to bring some serious firepower to the field. And there were some other changes to aliens, but they might be just too minor to really pay attention to them, and of course, the usual Impossible craziness with cheat-like bonus to aim, crit, defense and HP for all aliens. Combined with general increase of difficulty devs might have overdone this one, because right now Impossible earns its name. Technically, you can still win this, but it must be perfect run on tactical missions (which already require INSANE amount of luck) and get lucky run economy wise (like getting easy council requests and well-timed missions first couple of month, no bad mission like Squad Disposal mission first month after first abduction and no other screw ups later in game - like UFO showing up during rearming of interceptor and such). It looks like devs have not checked numbers for Impossible difficulty, they just throw bunch of difficulty modifiers everywhere and have not counted cumulative effects for this changes, like at all (this all applies for perfect run playthrough, of course you can win game half-assed, like losing countries and soldiers, but I don't really like that, when player has no control about win or defeat). Besides, it is not really fun to play game with mechanical disadvantages like that - too much randomness, and you cannot rely on luck all the time. Here is the thing - there is good randomness in game and there is bad, there is difference between those two.
I definitely liked the improved AI, but whoever thought, that it would be brilliant idea to teleport activated aliens, which are outside player's view, deserves to get shot, stabbed and burned to death. This teleports are so immersion and game-breaking (game freeze, when AI tries to teleport mind-controlled MEC) and game still has glitchy LoS re-calculations, as by breaking window, opening door, or destroying part of wall you sometimes get some sort of "glimpse" of vision through roof and walls, and this "glimpse" can totally activate aliens, invisible LoS breakers or faulty LoS for units on different elevation levels (like railings on Observatory map).
Oh, also this cheesy "fix" for panicked soldiers shooting their comrades? So instead of tweaking targeting code (like modders did) they added Aim penalty for panicked soldiers, so they will less likely hit your troopers (or anyone else for that matter), but still hitting comrades is much more likely because of Aim range bonus. Good job on this one, devs.
Customizable Zhang - I still cannot give him a helmet, so fail.
Reduced beginners VOs - they should have disable those increasingly annoying VOs ins base (when everyone introduces themselves, and annoying reminders like "Commander, to mission control room" and such.
New helmets and deco options are nice, but gene-modded soldiers getting sleeveless Shoulder O'Bag pack instead of normal armor options is bad, luckily it has been already modded.
Customizable soldiers voice - nice addition, but it has been suggested on this forum at least twice (at different times).
Medals, almost forgot about those. It is actually nice addition to the game, but they are too few far and between to make any significant impact on gameplay. Lets take a quick look at them:
Urban Combat Badge - +5 defense, when in cover or +5 Aim against enemies in full cover - choice is obvious here, +5 Aim vs High Cover not gonna cut it, and +5 def working all the time (if you are out of cover and being shot at - you are either already dead or a MEC; easiest unlock - complete urban map mission, like it not possible not get it. Max amount: 4
Defender's Medal - never panic on ally getting wounded or killed vs +2 HP healed via Medikit or Restorative Mist; second option is so good on MECs; however it has worst unlock condition - to get soldier killed. Max amount: 3
International Service Cross - +2 Will per different nationality in the squad or +2 Aim per continent bonus XCOM has earned: choice here depends on progress with those bonuses, as different nationalities in Squad so much easier to get. Fairly easy unlock, but highly situational: visit 3 different continents on a missions.Max amount: 2
Council Medal of Honor - +10 Aim and Critical Chance if not within 7 tiles of an allied unit vs +1 Aim and +1 Will for each mission without any soldier deaths (to a maximum of +10 each); so either get instant bonus, but with limiting condition or steadily gain bonus when you win missions with no loss; choice here really depends on tactics used, since I usually run my squad tight (except occasional ninja-capping), so I chose slow progress one; also these last 2 medals are only way to improve your MECs Aim, as they have no access to scopes; pretty easy unlock for completing council missions Max amount: 2
Star of Terra - entire squad receives +5 Will and +5 Defense in battle. Robotic units only receive the defensive bonus vs all soldiers in the squad at Lieutenant rank or lower receive +25% XP for completing missions; so a good bonus vs fairly weak one, another obvious choice here. Unlock: win Base Defense Mission (which was getting too much hype anyway). Max amount: 1
So some bonuses need to rebalanced, Defender's Medal Unlock condition changed (or fixed), and we totally need more medals.
New missions are good, as well we finally got some new maps (24, not counting reuses) +creative reuse of previous ones, which is nice, but we really need even more maps (around 240 maps total, not counting reuses, because this is like lower limit on how many maps will not appear repetitive).
All in all, expansion is pretty good (but if I were reviewer I would recommend getting game on Steam sale, as it costs bit much for what it has to offer), but I am more agitated by the fact, that this expansion bring us new cracks in game's code, which modders like Amineri can exploit to create some new and possibly even more awesome stuff (which I likely use :happy:)
Right now I am struggling with lack of ideas on how to remove (or improve) this horrible meld collection mechanic for my mod, as it clashes with principles of gameplay in my mod badly; besides most of missions (in my mod) already take 6-10 turns in average (depends on a map), my record is 2 turn win on a graveyard map (big one) and will rarely go beyond 20 turns (unless player chooses to do so), except for missions like Battleship assault.
And, of course, I'm waiting for updates to some existing mods (which my mod incorporates). I may even look into some of them myself, but my modding skills got rusty, so don't expect quick results.
Update 2 {28.11.13): fixed minor typos and added minor updates to review above. Right now I am still collecting statistical data about how game is played right now, and what might need some fixing, looking out for some ideas how to solve few balance issues in my mod and check out for neat features, that can provide a good addition to it: also I do some re-evaluation of changes I might do (usually by means of imaginary thought experiment, helped by mundane calculations :geek:). Also it looks like I need to do updates myself for some features my mod already incorporate (and by coincidence resurrect some nice mods (modlets?), that are buried somewhere on this forum); it is good, that I might have some experience on this - have been updating some features since patch 1 (like disappearing corpses or disabling panicked friendly fire, before Toolbox was even created); skipped patch 2 entirely (since it was not fixing anything useful anyway, but new damage calculation system would ruin my mod; good, that they seem to revert for old system in expansion), but was forced to update for Slingshot DLC; however, most of advanced features were added on patch 4, and latest additions were not even tested properly, so wish me luck on this uneasy task.
[/line]Now this is just great: forums start to lag and give same bs errors (504 Gateway time-out, database driver error etc.), and wiki is down (again); this is why I hate, when people post links to wiki (it is never up, when needed); and when progress on my mod is being delayed by something like that this whole instability thing just aggravates me a lot.
Sigh.
I'll guess I have to endure this (again!) and just make local back-up copies of anything I might need.
P.S.: next update will be on new post, where I hope to share some workable code for updated features.
-
I'm fine with perk once per class tree as well (actually, I could not remember any mod, which used that feature :unsure:). But it will still allow multi-class perks as well as up to 3 perk choices per rank, right?
-
9) Will Sentinel and Rapid Reaction net you a max of 3 reaction shots?I'm not 100% on this, but I think that Sentinel + Rapid Reaction can provide up to 4 reaction shots. Rapid Reaction provides up to 2 shots for each reaction shot (but both shots at a single enemy). Sentinel allows 2 reaction shots at 2 different enemies.
I think the combo would work like : 1st reaction shot (if it hits you get a second reaction shot from Rapid Reaction, at the same enemy). 2nd (or 3rd) reaction shot from Sentinel (if it hits you get a 3rd or 4th reaction shot from Rapid Reaction).
No, maximum 2 reaction shots via Sentinel and Rapid Reaction possible: either 2 shots on same target: 1st shot must hit (Rapid Reaction), or 2 shots on different targets (Sentinel). Also, I believe, code, which is called during normal Overwatch Reaction shots is mutually exclusive for those perks.
This was discussed, tested and verified several times on this forum earlier.
-
Yes, game checks for such files "just in case", so nothing to worry about. I accidentally found out this, when I was trying to do "lazy" backup in folder inside CookedPCConsole folder; however I have not experimented with this little feature (ie which file will actually load) and simply moved backup files elsewhere, so feel free to share results.
-
That way I can restore and apply mods on functional level in this kind of situation.... I guess you could do it in reverse by exporting your existing functions, and then open a backup of the upk-file and export the originals to have both versions. Then you can replace all functions (worst case) with originals and apply them one by one until you find the one causing the crash.
Without a debugging IDE to set breakpoints or step through code, we kind of have to go back to old-school debugging mechanisms.
I generally use a mix of two things:
1) Adding / removing function hex changes to resolve which specific hex change is causing the problem (very rarely I see a side effect or combination of two changes causing a problem)
<..>
Once I've isolated which hex replacement is causing the crash (step 1), you have to dig in and figure out which section of the function is causing it (step 2).
That was the plan. I was only asking if there is any way to narrow list of suspects, so to speak, so I don't have to go through every single change (there is a lot of them). Because in process of updating one of my latest experimental additions I realized that game does not crash (hang up) until incorrect part of code is called, so by knowing which functions is called in a moment I described earlier and by knowing what parts have been modified I can track it down to what exactly causing the crash.
<..> or forgetting to modify the header offset (decimal byte 41-44) which should always point to address of 53 token +1This is most likely, as sometimes I replace the function (complete with correct header and all), then do a minor adjustment to modded function, but forget to update the header. Of course, I do not completely exclude other reason (broken jump offsets), as while I modify and keep track of jump offsets in modded part of function I may *accidentally* break jump offsets (which I have missed) in unmodded part (done some changes like that before your tool was available).
Btw, could be anything helpful in a log file?
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UPDATE:
Well, I have some good news, some bad, and then some...mixed (to put it mildly).
The good: last week at Sunday I have finished adding features to my mod (almost all of wait list and some more).
The bad: still no progress on UFO selection. However, I *might* have resolved item charges issue (*not tested if works as intended*), which for anyone familiar with jump-offsets is fairly easy task and can be done under half-hour, I believe. And I wasted almost a week resolving that; there is silver lining to this, as I now understand this whole jump-offset business, and by looking back I wonder how I could have missed such obvious solution (must have been brain-block or something :rolleyes:).
The ugly: BUGS!!! Bugs everywhere! Now I am on general bug hunt within my mod: as it turns out, I failed to make regular back-ups and checks for each feature I've added/changed, so basically I have to rebuild (and test) my mod from scratch, which could be quite tedious and bothersome task, as estimated total sum of upk changes made so far could easily go up to a hundred (I splitted my mod into 18 semi-separate modules, each with multiple functional upk changes).
So as soon as I am through initial test run (in which I fix all obvious/game-breaking bugs) - my mod is out. I believe, between UFO selection and Alien Bases there is no major features left for me to add, so after those (if ever) would be added, I call it complete. After that only minor features/tweaks and fixes be added, and, of course, balance polishing.
However, I am a bit wary to give exact ETA of my mod release, as I have ever-decreasing time to work on my mod (due to RL reasons).
I wonder, if there any guide or something on bug hunting? Or can somebody give me some tips on a subject? (or better, join me on the ride :wink:)
So, lets say, game crashes during tactical mission start (after pressing launch button/before skyranger cutscene) - any particular part of code I should look after?
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Now the Ethereal Uber should have Vengeance shots for the non-deflected attacks (of course, there were other changes, but this is my favorite; hopefully vengeance works with the Elder Weapon).
Very unlikely, because Vengeance force unit to take reaction shot against attacker, and it seems like Elder Weapon cannot do overwatch/reaction shots at all. Or any shots at all. While Psi-Lance is treated like normal shot (hit percentages affected by cover and all), but ultimately is an ability of Ethereal itself (ie character ability), and Elder Weapon is needed to launch those Psi-Lances in similar way, how Heavy needs his rocket lancher to fire rockets.
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Is it possible to do this?
Yes, done it already. Have you not seen code in my mod thread? (here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1033516-combined-mod/?p=8469823). But it is working only for passive perks, as AI cannot use new active abilities )
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<...>
1) Alien base defeat cinematic plays -- should it play for every alien base mission, or only the first?
<...>
I'll figure out some way to trigger item 2 but not 3, but what do people think about the narrative? In general each alien base mission and freeing a country is a kind of significant event, but not sure if the cinematic should play each time. I set up the base reveal cinematic to play only the first time, so I'm inclined to do the same here.First time only is good enough (it will be in line of other cinematic cutscenes - first UFO shotdown, first Terror mission etc).
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Use option 1, of course. I always thought it was kind of lame, that outsiders were removed from game after base assault mission (as already number of alien types in game are too few, imho).
And making skeleton key not spendable would be sort of imbalancing (practically free and unlimited base assaults).
Option 1 is easier for the player and easier to code, but option 1 is intriguing me. I'm just not sure if it's crossing the line into "too much"Option 1 (making more skeleton keys) is only logical solution, why it would be crossing line too much?
If you go with number 1, any modder would have to ensure that outsiders can be encountered somewhat regularly after the first base mission. I believe they are eliminated from the game in vanilla.
I have foreseen this whole "issue" (which I do not believe to be any real "issue" at all) from start.
Besides, you can always make option 2 later (for those, who does not like outsiders :wink:).
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This is awesome! Finally we got the possible tie-in of storyline and actual gameplay (because I know of several cases on Ironman Impossible playthroughs, when player does NOT assault the base, until nothing is left to research, then does base assault mission, unlocks few techs and psi, rushes them (because is nothing left to do), shoots down Overseer and so on, basically it becomes race to final credits :rolleyes:). End result that flow of storyline is kind of broken, certain tech is made useless (Hyperwave Relay, because player gets it at the point, when it does not matter anymore), and player probably has to level up new soldiers, if he wants psionics and all. Also panic decrease as result of base assault is kind of wasted as well. This happens, because there is no real reason (besides plot advancement) to research outsider shard and do base assault mission.
And you are proposing solution to this kind of behavior, so player actually would be motivated to get relevant research and assault alien base mid-game. I am pretty sure, that by tinkering with panic values it is possible to ensure that at least one country leaves XCOM on first/second month (could be several countries as well).
And we even can limit, how much Alien Base Assaults player can do at once (by requiring several outsider shards to make skeleton key). Only possible setback I foresee in lack of said outsiders, as game replaces command squad on UFOs after said Alien Base Assault mission (that can be easily solved by changing supporting aliens in Sectoid Commander pod to Outsider; this way they indeed become "linked" :wink:). That leads to some interesting balancing possibilities (and now I need to run numbers on this).
Also, regaining lost countries :thumbsup:.
I will be looking forward to see progress on this.
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Recently I found myself in need of very specific modlet, that will allow to change, which UFO types are doing missions. The reason is stated in my mod thread: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1033516-combined-mod/?p=8511520 (for anyone interested). Anyway, what exactly I mean by statement above:
Introduction (you can skip this part, if you already know, how missions work):
Abductions (and terror) use next system: first, there is UFO created, that flies to scout target (usually Large Scout /Battleship in case of terror; that can be changed), if that UFO is shot down, then mission there is canceled in case of abduction or not in case of terror (it also can be changed for both cases to either result); and there is number of UFOs that fly around with no particular mission, and can land (depends on "require interception" chance in DGC.ini); also only way to landed UFO mission to happen. And there is satellite hunter: if player completely ignores UFO (ie no interception attempt), Battleship(Large Scout in first months) (that can be changed too) comes down and tries to take out satellite (there is chance of satellite survival, if player upgraded them to stealth satellites in Foundry; in vanilla; chances of satellite (both normal and stealth) survival can be set in DGC.ini).
Now I flesh out, what exactly I want to do:
- determine, which types of ships take roles of scout and abductor in abduction missions depending on in-game time passed (ie, first two month small scout scouting for abductions and large scouts doing them; next it will large scout and abductor; after upgrade to abductor and supply barge);
- likewise, for terror mission (first four month supply barge is doing scouting, after that battleship);
- same for satellite hunter ship, but with optional behavior change: vanilla mechanic on its behavior always seemed a bit counterintuitive for me - why would they send satellite hunter in case if you not interfered (regardless of reasons) with their business? much more logical would be something like this: you not bother their ships, they not bother your satellites - you take down their mission UFO and they send out in retaliation satellite hunter; this way it is up to player to escalate conflict or not, just one more of those decisions to make (obviously there should not be retaliation on hunter takedown, so taking out satellite hunter remains a valid option).
And one more thing: I also would like to make detection of mission UFOs and retaliation chance based (to add good bit of randomness).
This way a powerful and flexible tool to handle balance in strategic part of game would be created (would help greatly in resolving any strategic balance concerns in any mod with conjunction of already existing tools and methods).
Anyway, this is all information I have gathered on this topic so far:
All ships on missions are determined in single function: XGStrategyAI BuildObjectives (not to confuse with BuildObjective), and this function looks like:
function BuildObjectives()
{
BuildObjective(1, false);
AddUFOMission(1, 1, 4, 0, -1, 7);
BuildObjective(3, false);
AddUFOMission(3, 1, 4, 4, -1, 7);
BuildObjective(2, false);
AddUFOMission(2, 1, 4, 2, -1, 7);
BuildObjective(4, false);
AddUFOMission(4, 1, 5, 7, -1, 1);
BuildObjective(0, false);
AddUFOMission(0, 10, 4, 0, -1, 5);
BuildObjective(5, true);
AddUFOMission(5, 1, 5, 0, 500, 1);
AddUFOMission(5, 3, 6, 5, 0, 0);
BuildObjective(6, false);
AddUFOMission(6, 9, 7, 4, 100, 3);
AddUFOMission(6, 20, 8, 5, 0, 7);
BuildObjective(7, true);
AddUFOMission(7, 1, 9, 1, 100, 0);
AddUFOMission(7, 4, 9, 5, 0, 3);
//return;
}However, satellite hunter is determined elsewhere (and probably don't count as "mission UFO" by game definition of it). Functions, that are responsible for satellite hunter: function ShouldHunt:
function bool ShouldHunt(XComGame.XGGameData.EShipType eUFO, XComGame.XGGameData.ECountry eTarget, XGStrategyActor.EUFOMissionResult eResult)
{
// End:0x16
if(eUFO == 9)
{
return false;
}
// End:0x2C
if(eResult != 1)
{
return false;
}
// End:0x55
if(Game().GetDifficulty() >= 3)
{
return true;
}
// End:0x6B
if(eUFO == 8 )
{
return false;
}
// End:0xBC
if((Game().GetDifficulty() <= 1) && HQ().m_arrSatellites.Length <= 2)
{
return false;
}
return true;
//return ReturnValue;
}Also there is sort of time selection tied to difficulty level, which ship takes role of satellite hunter in function AddHuntTarget:
function AddHuntTarget(XComGame.XGGameData.ECountry eTargetCountry)
{
local XComGame.XGGameData.EShipType eHunter;
local int iMonthCutoff;
// End:0x18
if(IsCountryBeingHunted(eTargetCountry))
{
return;
}
// End:0x4D
if(Game().GetDifficulty() <= 1)
{
iMonthCutoff = 3;
}
// End:0x8E
else
{
// End:0x83
if(Game().GetDifficulty() == 2)
{
iMonthCutoff = 2;
}
// End:0x8E
else
{
iMonthCutoff = 1;
}
}
// End:0xB5
if((GetMonth()) >= iMonthCutoff)
{
eHunter = 8;
}
// End:0xC1
else
{
eHunter = 5;
}
AIAddNewObjective(4, Rand(5), HQ().m_arrSatellites[HQ().GetSatellite(eTargetCountry)].v2Loc, eTargetCountry,, eHunter);
//return;
}And there is this one interesting function AddUFOMission (which is interesting, because it looks like this only other function, than BuildObjectives function, that can assign ship type for mission; other functions handling missions, and use BuildObjectives function to determine ships for them); also I think that this function is not used in vanilla at all; probably leftover from earlier versions/testing. What it looks like:
function AddUFOMission(XGStrategyActor.EAlienObjective eObjective, int iStartDate, XComGame.XGGameData.EShipType eUFO, XGStrategyActor.EUFOMission eMission, int iMissionRadius, int iRandomDays)
{
m_arrTObjectives[eObjective].arrStartDates.AddItem(iStartDate);
m_arrTObjectives[eObjective].arrUFOs.AddItem(eUFO);
m_arrTObjectives[eObjective].arrMissions.AddItem(eMission);
m_arrTObjectives[eObjective].arrRadii.AddItem(iMissionRadius);
// End:0xEC
if(ISCONTROLLED())
{
iRandomDays = 0;
}
m_arrTObjectives[eObjective].arrRandDays.AddItem(iRandomDays);
//return;
}Also, I managed to find, that this issue was discussed earlier on this forum in thread "Storms over former XCOM members | Controlling abductions" (link to discussion page: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/849122-storms-over-former-xcom-members-controlling-abductions/page-7?hl=%20armor%20%20penetration)
So I would be glad for anyone help on this.
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I hate to be bringer of bad news, but mod is being frozen until further notice.
While I managed to successfully (more or less) implement reworked cover, implementing certain perks-as-items happen to get across severe issue. Basically, code that lies on wiki is customized (for Long War) version, that is also not mod-friendly (I asked Amineri directly about the issue, and she said that changes I need require complete rewrite of function in question, but she has no time nor inclination to do that, and obviously, I cannot do that myself yet).
Also another issue remaining is terribly repetitive (ergo boring) and disbalancing UFO grind mid-to-late game (one of earlier changes, that I have made to my mod, was increasing number of abduction mission to 5 per month (to apply pressure via panic early) and making UFOs on missions visible to player, so it would be possible to mitigate effect by taking out said UFOs. While early in-game this works as intended, starting from third month and later game becomes horrible grind of large scout UFOs (that are preceding abductions and are trivial to take down at this point in-game). That could be resolved be dynamic UFO selection on missions (here link to R&D thread: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1043023-r-d-dynamic-ufo-selection), along (not instead) with other changes (like changing UFO's and interceptor's characteristics or allowing overdamaged UFOs explode mid-flight).
I have already incorporated lots of features into my mod (that can be found on this forum), and scheduled some more, but without those two issues resolved I cannot release my mod (which still has no official name).
Here is short list of both:
Mine changes from start:
DGC.ini changes (and all, that is possible in XTGC); will shift to actual DGC.ini in future
Used someone's else code:
Toolbox fixes
Enhanced perk tree (complete with modlets unlocking Bulletswarm and DoubleTap)
every non air war feature from "Long War upk changes" thread (by johnnylump)every non-duplicated in "Long War upk changes" feature from "Interesting UPK stuff I have found" thread (by Black Alpha)
Fragments Friendly Explosives (updated for patch 4)
Squadsight aim penalty+reworked cover
Revive bug fix and optional boost
+Customizable Zhang and customization options (tester request)
Mine adjusted and tested addition:
Visible UFos on mission (from Long War upk changes thread)+Mass abductions
Alien perksNot created equal (SW option fix)
Mine experimental additions:
Activating aliens (still being tested)
Will-to-chance of critical wounds (compatible with both Revive boost and No lose will from Toolbox)+several custom fixes (made by me) for certain aliens types
List of future additions:
All countries contribute modlet
Explosives random damage
Explosives random radiusRandomized Environmental Damage
New function for damage randomization (from R&D Damage Mods thread)Unlocked rush construction
Harder Volunteer Requirement
SW fixed Hidden Potential (in progress following tutorial)In-decision:
Mod- Explosions destroy corpsesAdditional Options for SHIV Customization
-------------------------------
AI bug hunt (probably a must have)
AI Improvement (lot of fixes)Many features/changes are not listed individually, but are referred in this list by threads, in which they can be found or are referred as in packages. This is why this is short list :wink:.
Anyway, I am asking any experienced coder for help with first issue. Here is link to wiki: http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Additional_Items_Mod_XCOM:EU_-_2012 (original mod), function in question:
function UpdateItemCharges()
{
// End:0x98
if((m_kCharacter.m_kChar.aUpgrades[48] & 1) > 0)
{
SetMediKitCharges((3 * GetInventory().GetNumItems(76)) + (2 * GetInventory().GetNumItems(90)));
}
// End:0xE8
else
{
SetMediKitCharges(GetInventory().GetNumItems(76) + GetInventory().GetNumItems(90));
}
// End:0x11C
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(93))
{
SetRockets(2);
}
// End:0x128
else
{
SetRockets(1);
}
// End:0x159
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(22))
{
SetShredderRockets(1);
}
// End:0x1A2
if((m_kCharacter.m_kChar.aUpgrades[8] & 1) > 0)
{
SetBattleScannerCharges(2);
}
// End:0x201
if(GetInventory().GetNumItems(99) > 0)
{
SetBattleScannerCharges(m_iBattleScanners + GetInventory().GetNumItems(99));
}
// End:0x24A
if((m_kCharacter.m_kChar.aUpgrades[44] & 1) > 0)
{
SetSmokeGrenadeCharges(1);
}
// End:0x2A9
if(GetInventory().GetNumItems(86) > 0)
{
SetSmokeGrenadeCharges(m_iSmokeGrenades + GetInventory().GetNumItems(86));
}
// End:0x2E5
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(92))
{
SetSmokeGrenadeCharges(2 * m_iSmokeGrenades);
}
// End:0x36D
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(24))
{
SetFragGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(85) * 2);
SetAlienGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(88) * 2);
}
// End:0x3C5
else
{
SetFragGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(85));
SetAlienGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(88));
}
SetGhostCharges(4);
SetArcThrowerCharges(GetInventory().GetNumItems(80));
// End:0x439
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(103))
{
SetArcThrowerCharges(4 * m_iArcThrowerCharges);
}
//return;
}original decompiled code:, what it should look like:
function UpdateItemCharges()
{
// End:0x98
if((m_kCharacter.m_kChar.aUpgrades[48] & 1) > 0)
{
SetMediKitCharges((3 * GetInventory().GetNumItems(76)) + (2 * GetInventory().GetNumItems(90)));
}
// End:0xE8
else
{
SetMediKitCharges(GetInventory().GetNumItems(76) + GetInventory().GetNumItems(90));
}
// End:0x11C
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(93))
{
SetRockets(2);
}
// End:0x128
else
{
SetRockets(1);
}
// End:0x159
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(22))
{
SetShredderRockets(1);
}
// End:0x1A2
if((m_kCharacter.m_kChar.aUpgrades[8] & 1) > 0)
{
SetBattleScannerCharges(2);
}
// End:0x201
if(GetInventory().GetNumItems(99) > 0)
{
SetBattleScannerCharges(m_iBattleScanners + (2*GetInventory().GetNumItems(99)));
}
// End:0x24A
if((m_kCharacter.m_kChar.aUpgrades[44] & 1) > 0)
{
SetSmokeGrenadeCharges(1);
}
// End:0x2A9
if(GetInventory().GetNumItems(86) > 0)
{
SetSmokeGrenadeCharges(m_iSmokeGrenades + (2*GetInventory().GetNumItems(86)));
}
// End:0x2E5
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(24))
{
SetSmokeGrenadeCharges(2 * m_iSmokeGrenades);
}
// End:0x36D
if(GetCharacter().HasUpgrade(24))
{
SetFragGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(85) * 2);
SetAlienGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(88) * 2);
}
// End:0x3C5
else
{
SetFragGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(85));
SetAlienGrenades(GetInventory().GetNumItems(88));
}
SetGhostCharges(4);
SetArcThrowerCharges(GetInventory().GetNumItems(80)*4);
// End:0x439
//return;
}Edit: I decided to continue work on mod anyway (by adding features from wait list), but mod will not be released, until both stated above issues are not resolved.
Modding EXALT
in Enemy Unknown
Posted · Edited by Tycus
Wait, did I just get ninja'd here again? (because I have already like explained that; there is definitely something going wrong on this forum for me)
Wow, that sounds like pretty awesome idea, though I would like to limit sectoids psi-abilities to low-level ones, like Psi-Panic (because we already have sectoid commander for high-level ones).