XCOM EU Mod Request: Make the base-attack repeat with increasing difficulty so

[AzzoD]

(Title was cut off, can't edit or delete to fix?)

Mod Request: Make the base-attack repeat with increasing difficulty so the end game is a race instead of a grind.

The beginning of XCOM is a tense race between global panic and alien power escalation. Your ability to split resources to deal with both is tested and every battle, every decision, has huge consequences. When you fall behind you have to press your luck and hope you can pull off next mission with a weak squad. Early game XCOM is exciting and I love every minute of it.

Late game XCOM is a grind. The primary strategic level mechanic is panic.... but panic is irrelevant once you have satellites everywhere. In fact you will likely *never* have a panic raise in the last third of the game since the only way for panic to rise is if you fail a terror mission -- every other mission can be skipped or failed without consequence. You can stare at the alien temple ship and leisurely upgrade all your troops. To me the enjoyment from the early and mid game race is completely lost at this point and I don't even bother finishing the game once my satellites stabilize any more.

Honestly I think fixing this is a big deal and requires some fundamental changes to panic. So let's skip that just kludge a fix for the time being. We already have a base attack event the game. I propose a mod where this attack is repeated with increasing difficulty as the game goes on. The specifics of the difficulty ramp would have to be tested but the general idea is a players should worry about pressing their luck and grinding out upgrades rather than progressing the plot. The second base attack should be harder but possible, but from 3 on they should get to the point where you truly risk losing the game by delaying. The second base attack should probably begin around the time the alien difficulty stops getting harder, and from then on at periodic but unpredictable intervals.

I poked around UE Explorer and if there was a way to edit Unreal Script directly and inject it into the game I'd be willing to dive in. But the process of converting everything to hex and matching the bytecode sizes... that's a bit above my skill level.

Edited November 27, 2013 by AzzoD