Using eAbility_PsiReflect on an XCOM soldier

[SteelRook]

Apologies if this comes across as a silly question, but can eAbility_PsiReflect be used by an XCOM soldier? I'm messing with armour stats right now and want to try adding a few more unique abilities per type (say, Hardened for Titan) and I wanted to see if I can't give Psi Armour the Etheral ability to reflect projectiles. I'm pretty sure the artwork for this doesn't exist, but if the ability itself works that'll be fine for me. Problem is I can't seem to get it to work at all. I've given eAbility_PsiReflect to a soldier wearing Titan Armour (for testing purposes, it's what I had on hand) and let him get shot to bits by a bunch of Sectoids. He received close to a dozen hits and the ability never triggered.

 

I have to wonder if this is somehow specific to the Ethereals themeselves and won't work on anything else. Which is a pity - I wanted to use a few alien abilities to add some more flair to the game.

[Krazyguy75]

I suspect the eAbility_PsiReflect is only the action that returns the fired projectile, as eAbilities are actives.

 

To properly do this, you'd have to give the perk, which would require something along the lines of Amineri's item reworked item system, which is a lot of modding.

[SteelRook]

Gotcha, so that's not going to happen, then. Pity, that DOES sound like a lot of modding, as I actually looked through that thread :) Way over my head, definitely. Thank you for the explanation.

[Amineri]

Actually, even with the extensive Long War modding, I was still unable to get Psi Reflect to work on XCOM soldiers. The issue is that eAbility_PsiReflect isn't granted as a part of the Ethereal Character, but as a part of the Ethereal's Elder Weapon :

Weapons=( strName="", iType=eItem_ElderWeapon,              ABILITIES[0]=eAbility_PsiLance,       ABILITIES[1]=eAbility_PsiReflect, 

The animation for actually reflecting the projectile back to the firing unit appears to only be present in the Weapon_Elder_SF.upk package. Thus currently it's only possible to get Psi Reflect to work on a unit equipped with that weapon.

 

I would have loved to get Psi Reflect in the expanded Long War psi perk tree, but couldn't figure out how to make it work. The closest I got was getting the ability to trigger and the "Reflected Attack" pop-up, but the projectile wouldn't ever actually be reflected, and the shooting unit wouldn't take damage (because the projectile carries the damage).

 

Sorry the news isn't better ... :(

[Krazyguy75]

Could you equip every soldier with an "invisible" ElderWeapon behind the scenes and just have a second piece of code to remove PsiLance? Similarly to how the Sectopod has its 3 weapons?

[SteelRook]

I would have loved to get Psi Reflect in the expanded Long War psi perk tree, but couldn't figure out how to make it work. The closest I got was getting the ability to trigger and the "Reflected Attack" pop-up, but the projectile wouldn't ever actually be reflected, and the shooting unit wouldn't take damage (because the projectile carries the damage).

 

This reminds me of an old idea I had that I don't know if it could work: Psychic Weapons. I doubt that'll solve the Reflect issue, but it's something I've always be curious about. Psychic Armour enhances psychic potential. What about wheapons that deal more damage the higher your will is and require either Psi Armour or basic Psi Gift to use? Could be a nice "cost" on the thing, especially with "Mind Hates Matter." But yeah, that's off-topic.

 

Generally, not being able to use some of the more unique "stuff" on armour is disappointing. I wanted to make, for instance, Titan have the Hardened stat while Raptor might have that "fly up and land somewhere else on the map" thing that Floaters do and Psi Armour would have the reflect thing, or maybe an extra Psi power or something. I've always wished that XCOM armour sets differed from each other in more profound ways than just stats. Ghost vs. Titan is a great case of "apples vs. oranges" because of the Ghost skill. Mimetic Skin does tend to undermine that, but the point stands. Be nice if this were easy, but if it requires as much work as I've seen you do in other threads then it's WAAAY out of my depth :)