Combined mod

[Tycus]

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 - first second 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.

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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.

Edited November 28, 2013 by Tycus