XCOM EU Assistance Requested: Revamped Pod Mechanics (LW Compatible)

[raargharg]

Would like to revamp pod mechanics (changes outlined below) and could use any advice / input / leads. Any related mods I could look over, relevant tutorials etc. would be much appreciated.

 

I am completely new to modding this game but have a background in light coding so I'm confident I can get something to work but it's gonna take time and any help / time-savers would be appreciated.

 

Purpose

To eliminate the fear inherent in uncovering Fog of War.

To encourage map awareness through uncovering Fog of War.

To make aggressive flanking play styles viable, rather than leading to death via pod discovery.

To give initiative to the faction that first sees the other.

Add a sense of urgency to combat - you need to lower their numbers before reinforcements arrive.

 

Why

I hate pod mechanics. How do the aliens not know I'm killing their dudes like 100ft away? Why am I so scared to uncover Fog of War? I'm sick of running in to flank-kill that last Muton only to uncover a bunch of Mechtoids ready to slaughter.

 

Changes

1. Pod discovery changed to be probabilistic (dependent on distance) instead of based on LOS only. Sometimes you will see a pod before they can react - encouraging discovering pods before they find you (see below)
2. All pods slowly approach XCOM as soon as any combat begins, similar to how Outsiders call all pods. This is to put heat on the player so they have to act quickly, and to encourage uncovering Fog of War (if you don't see them first, they'll just find you next turn anyway).
3. The movement speed of undiscovered pods must be modified to set a good pace for combat
4. Pod size and strength must be balanced, though being able to shoot at unaware pods may significantly reduce the need for the changes needed to compensate for more aggressive aliens.

 

Result

Every mission is a race against time to knock out the aliens before they overwhelm you. Battlefield awareness becomes vital as you look to find and intercept incoming reinforcements before they find you. An aggressive flanking play style now offers suitable reward, as its previously huge risk (pod discovery) is mitigated and the "wait on overwatch" play style is reduced in efficacy. Overwatch-heavy teams will look to carve a path into the enemy swarm to buy room to fall back into.

Edited November 25, 2014 by raargharg

[raargharg]

2) I think I can change the XComAlienPod CanHearCallAt function to return true for any distance - meaning all pods will always hear the call when an alien dies. I'm hoping I can pretty easily set the call to trigger whenever an alien sees an enemy or is wounded, so that any combat calls all pods. I should be able to make it probabilistic too.

-Unfortunately I have no idea what fDistSqOut < Square(XComGameReplicationInfo(class'Engine'.static.GetCurrentWorldInfo().GRI).m_kGameCore.40.0 * float(64)) is. I think I can replace the bold part with any integer value but I'm not really sure what it's referencing or how.

1) I'm not sure how to add a random function into this to make it probabilistic. When I figure this out (if it's possible, haven't seen any "rolling" in the upk yet), it should be relatively easy to make the probability of calling the pod a function of fDistSqOut

 

3) No idea where pod movement speed is governed yet, but I don't think this'll be too tough

 

- If I can get 1,2,3 working I can probably turn off pod movement on discovery but turn on itchy trigger tentacle to put an advantage in the hands of whoever sees the other first.

Does anyone know if turning off pod movement on discovery a la http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/477/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fxcom%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D477&pUp=1 will still cause them to move / shoot (ITT) if the discovery happens on the alien turn?

[Timbermaw]

Yes, in both cases the aliens just stay there with no cover until the next alien turn.

I agree with you that the pod mechanics are horrible, but i'm afraid i cannot be of much help.

 

I've resorted to playing with no enemy movement after reveleaed and increasing game difficulty.. but i wish more modders would tackle this issue.