brainstorming: abilities for playable mec and viper?

[davidlallen]

So, there is this mod, written by sgtcal10:

http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom2/mods/392/?

 

Right now the MEC and viper are playable, but they don't have good abilities. Their ability tree is just a copy of grenadier, which does not work well. I am starting to help out on this mod, with his permission, and I would like to get some ideas on the following topic.

 

What abilities should playable MECs and Vipers have?

 

For both, they should be able to use "conceal". Since they look just like real vipers and MECs, they should be able to pass themselves off as regular advent troopers just going about their routines. Maybe multiple uses on a cooldown.

 

The viper in the current mod has its grab and bind abilities even as a rookie. The same for the MEC shoulder launcher and its superjump ability. Should those only be granted at a higher level? (The MEC, both normally and in this mod, cannot climb ladders, but it can superjump up to a balcony.)

 

For MEC, if it is still partly connected to the Advent communications network, maybe it should be able to hack, only without a gremlin. Also maybe it should be able to take over other robotic units temporarily, or stun them. Maybe something like "overclock" which grants extra mobility for one turn, or "predictive targeting" that adds aim for one turn.

 

What else would be fun, and thematic for these unit types?

 

 

[Azworai]

Viper's poison spit, for one. Perhaps a melee 'bite' using those fangs, if it doesn't already have that. Honestly, The existing viper abilities alone make them enticing options. Maybe an ability to harden its scales, granting armor/defense. Perhaps an ability to 'molt' it's skin to shed maladies like acid/burning, or leave behind a 'copy' that functions like a mimic beacon temporarily.

 

For the MEC, Gaining/granting shield would be cool.

[davidlallen]

Ooh, I like "molt". Viper already has a melee attack, "bind", which is actually separate from its range attack, "grab". They both end up the same way.

 

Shield can be a good option for MEC. Which ones of the XCOM:EW MEC abilities would fit, that aren't already granted by EXO/WAR suit?

[Azworai]

Overdrive; Firing doesn't end your turn

Absorption Field; Any hit that does more damage than 33% of the MEC's maximum health is reduced to that number.

Reactive Plating; gets a free shot back at the first enemy who attacks the MEC each turn, provided there's enough ammo to do so.

Advanced Fire Control; removes the accuracy penalty on Overwatch.

Damage control; When damaged, all further damage that turn is reduced by 2.

Vitalpoint Targeting; bonus damage against autopsied targets

 

Also was the perks each MEC based on their previous class.

Assault granted damage reduction from any source within 4 tiles of the MEC

Heavy debuffed the aim of the nearest visible enemy and removed their chance to critically hit.

Sniper essentially got what is now Steady Hands in the Sharpshooter's Sniper line

Support got Distortion Field, which increased the defense value of nearby allies who are in cover. (I always thought this one was kindof silly, since it encouraged bunching up to have all the cover destroyed by explosives while your team got shredded... but eh!

 

Edit Note: All MEC's also received a perk to grant them reduced chance to be crit in general,

• Reduces the chance of suffering a critical hit by 60%.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Azworai

[davidlallen]

I don't know why I put this in the troubleshooting section, that was stupid. Locally, I have created skill trees and stat progression for the viper and mec. I can't think of two good skills per level, in fact so far I can't think of even 7 different useful skills.

 

So far, the viper skill tree is: Poison Spit, Stealth, Implacable, Run and Gun, Deep Cover, Ever Vigilant, Return Fire. The stat progression is roughly +1 HP, +3 dodge, and +1 mobility per level, so they have a pretty good dodge and really high mobility at Colonel level.

 

The mec skill tree is: Steady Hands, Blast Padding, Suppression, Holotargeting, Deadeye, Kill Zone, Saturation Fire. The stat progression is roughly +1 HP, and +1 strength per level.

 

I'll try to make some new skills like molt, damage control, and some others. Any contributions welcome.

[Azworai]

Well, I did throw a good bit of ideas there. I could possibly come up with others as well if I really worked at it. I'm much better with concepts than implementation... I suck at scripting. x.x

[sgtcal10]

Hey excellent ideas !

[Feelx234]

I don't know why I put this in the troubleshooting section, that was stupid. Locally, I have created skill trees and stat progression for the viper and mec. I can't think of two good skills per level, in fact so far I can't think of even 7 different useful skills.

 

So far, the viper skill tree is: Poison Spit, Stealth, Implacable, Run and Gun, Deep Cover, Ever Vigilant, Return Fire. The stat progression is roughly +1 HP, +3 dodge, and +1 mobility per level, so they have a pretty good dodge and really high mobility at Colonel level.

 

The mec skill tree is: Steady Hands, Blast Padding, Suppression, Holotargeting, Deadeye, Kill Zone, Saturation Fire. The stat progression is roughly +1 HP, and +1 strength per level.

 

I'll try to make some new skills like molt, damage control, and some others. Any contributions welcome.

 

For molt you could try to look in how the hazmat vest works and maybe copy paste a lot from there.

 

[Lucubration]

I don't know why I put this in the troubleshooting section, that was stupid. Locally, I have created skill trees and stat progression for the viper and mec. I can't think of two good skills per level, in fact so far I can't think of even 7 different useful skills.

 

So far, the viper skill tree is: Poison Spit, Stealth, Implacable, Run and Gun, Deep Cover, Ever Vigilant, Return Fire. The stat progression is roughly +1 HP, +3 dodge, and +1 mobility per level, so they have a pretty good dodge and really high mobility at Colonel level.

 

The mec skill tree is: Steady Hands, Blast Padding, Suppression, Holotargeting, Deadeye, Kill Zone, Saturation Fire. The stat progression is roughly +1 HP, and +1 strength per level.

 

I'll try to make some new skills like molt, damage control, and some others. Any contributions welcome.

 

I hate to say it, but MEC is going to be our easiest task here. The LW team already made a bunch of fairly robust examples of skill trees for us to draw on. We could even make several classes of MEC to build if we want to make them more specialized in their roles.

 

For the Viper, since Ever Vigilant and Deep Cover are probably going to conflict mechanically, you may want to make sure they wind up together on one of the ranks in the perk tree.

 

Here's some other perk ideas for them:

Lightning Reflexes

Ink Spray: Spit a smoke grenade-like effect on the field -or- Blinding Spit: Disorient enemy/enemies like a flashbang

Hardened Scales: +3 armor

Mesmerize: Will stat challenge an organic enemy for disorient or mind control.

Get Me Over There - Grapple with tongue.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Lucubration

[davidlallen]

Do you want to take a crack at making the abilities? If you make, for example, PA_ViperAbility.uc and/or PA_MecAbility.uc with the definitions, then we can easily change XComClassData.ini to use them.

 

Also, we could use some brainpower on poison spit. Although I added the ability, it doesn't work. It seems there is a grenade in the viper loadout, WP_Viper_PoisonSpit. But simply adding that to the playable viper's loadout is not enough. There must be something else that is needed.

Edited February 28, 2016 by davidlallen