Determining alien species

[Acid81]

Im pretty certain this is all under XGStrategyAI but exactly where and what determines what types of aliens will be used in what missions and also what types are considered terrorists ?

[johnnylump]

XGStrategyAI >> GetPossibleAliens()

 

AddPossible adds a particular species:

 

AddPossible (Species#, Chance, Pod Type)

 

Species # is based on this enumeration:

 

0 eChar_None,

1 eChar_Civilian,

2 eChar_Soldier,

3 eChar_Tank,

4 eChar_Sectoid,

5 eChar_Floater,

6 eChar_Thinman,

7 eChar_Muton,

8 eChar_Cyberdisc,

9 eChar_SectoidCommander,

10 eChar_FloaterHeavy,

11 eChar_MutonElite,

12 eChar_Ethereal,

13 eChar_Chryssalid,

14 eChar_Zombie,

15 eChar_MutonBerserker,

16 eChar_Sectopod,

17 eChar_Drone,

18 eChar_Outsider,

19 eChar_EtherealUber,

20 eChar_BattleScanner,

21 eChar_MAX

Chance is the 'weight' for that particular alien species in that month. The game adds all the weights and determines a % chance for each alien, so higher weights mean more likely that month.

Pod Type: The game is coded for four pod types: soldiers (0), commanders (1), secondaries (2), and roamers (3).

Don't use roamers or commanders -- roamers don't ever spawn (we tried) -- I think the maps would need roamer spawn points, and they don't have them; commanders are for ships and bases and set elsewhere.

Soldier pods are in abductions, council missions, the alien base, and UFOs.

Secondaries are in terror missions, larger UFOs, and the alien base.

Here are there there are hardcoded alien rosters in missions (like the first mission, the first terror mission, and the thin men in council missions). Those are set in the Determine*Squad functions.

Edited August 28, 2013 by johnnylump

[Acid81]

Thank you for the information.

Lets say i wanted to limit the number of aliens spawned for a secondary pod type for terror missions, any secondary's set for a terror mission would all be set globally ? in other words i really couldnt have one type spawn in numbers of 2 and the other spawn in numbers of 3, all secondary types for this mission would spawn the same amount per pod, correct ?

[johnnylump]

In response to post #8958517. #8960326 is also a reply to the same post.

<div><i>Edit: Cripes, some post from Long War ended up here instead of what I typed. I'll try again:</i></div>
<div> </div>
<div>What you propose is a little tougher. Look through the Determine*Squad functions to get a feel how alien loadouts are constructed.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>arrtypes.additem(0) adds a soldier pod of undetermined size; additem(2) adds a secondary pod instead. You also need a 'total aliens' variable to feed into DistributeAliens, which will spread the aliens evenly across all pods on the mission.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>To have a specific pod with alien type and size, you'll need to do this:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>ksquad.arrtypes.additem(buildpod(2,13,3))</div>
<div> </div>
<div>That will put in a secondary pod of three chryssalids in all missions of that type.</div>

EDIT: Somehow this post is showing up in two threads. How odd. The above refers to some coding question. To follow answers the battlescanner question:

The perk gives you two battlescanners for zero small item spaces.
Edited August 30, 2013 by johnnylump