playable advent mod: details, feedback

[davidlallen]

Updated April 5, 2016

 

Now with Andromedons! Also an optional MEC story mission.

(If you do not see the Andromedon but you see the others, you probably need to load a game, which did not have a previous version of the mod activated.)

 

This mod allows you to train a number of the Advent alien troops to fight for you. Currently it supports MEC, Viper, Chryssalid, Muton, Berserker and Andromedon. The MEC and Viper have well defined and unique roles, supported by custom abilities. The viper makes an excellent infiltrator, and the MEC is designed to take enemy fire while allowing other squadmates to get kills. The ini file allows extensive customization of the custom abilities and weapon damage; please see the extensive comments in XComPlayableAdvent.ini.

 

To train each alien race, you must complete the corresponding autopsy. Then, a Proving Grounds project will allow you to add individual alien soldiers to your barracks. If you just want to get the troops to play around, you can make recruitment free of cost in the ini file.

 

In the future, we will improve the unique abilities of the playable chryssalid, and then other aliens. There are no plans to support the humanoid Advent units; use Dor's Armor Mod for the armors.

 

Please join the discussion in the nexus thread:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/3879390-playable-advent-mod-details-feedback/

See post #2 for the current unit ability trees and post #3 for detailed release notes.

 

For details on the optional MEC story mission, see this thread at nexus:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/3983220-story-mission-for-playable-advent-mec-discussion-and-feedback/

 

Credits

 

* Main implementation and all aliens unless noted below: davidlallen

* Original concept, mec and viper prototype: sgtcal10

* 3D modeling and animation: maclimes

* Berserker, release czar: Kriiden (funnyhalo1 @ nexus)

* Andromedon: koopakidsadguy @ nexus

* Advisors: lucubration for abilities, vectorprime for modeling, RealityMachina for missions, others at nexus and /r/xcom2mods

Edited April 6, 2016 by davidlallen

[davidlallen]

This is the current status of the playable advent units, with all the stats, current abilities and any known bugs.

 

Bugs affecting all units

* Alien armors sometimes are unequipped, in which case you can re-equip them

* Alien armors are sometimes missing from the locker, so you cannot simply re-equip; use the console command "givealienarmor" to fix this.

* Cannot rescue civilians (arguably this is not a bug, why would they trust you?)
* If any of the aliens use a skulljack, the game hangs due to a missing animation.

 

MEC

Theme: tank (bullet sponge) or artillery

Level HP Dodge Mobility Tank(left) Artillery(right)
Squaddie 8 24 13 Jiffy Lube Jiffy Lube
Corporal 9 28 14 Damage Control Steady Hands
Sergeant 11 32 14 Blast Padding Shredder
Lieutenant 12 36 15 Regenerate Deadeye
Captain 13 40 16 Suppression Hail of Bullets
Major 15 44 16 Draw Fire Ever Vigilant
Colonel 16 48 17 Demolition Saturation Fire

 

Custom abilities
* Draw Fire: hacks advent network to mark self as priority target (applies "marked" effect)

* Reinforced Armor (available with power armor) has a heavy weapon slot

* Jiffy Lube: MECs heal 400% faster on Avenger (thanks to the mod "Its just a scratch" by kelnor277)
* Damage Control: MECs regenerate two damage points per turn
* Regenerate: heals damage like a medikit, but also restores all shredded armor
* Micro missiles and mag cannon weapons, including a second tier when you get plasma rifle technology
* Cannot climb, but can jump several stories

 

Known bugs
* Animation: after throwing grenade, his rifle disappears (cosmetic only). Opening doors looks silly.

 

Viper

Theme: hit and run, extra attacks and movement

Level HP Dodge Mobility Hit(left) Run(right)
Squaddie 8 24 13 Tongue Pull Tongue Pull
Corporal 9 28 14 Enhanced Spit Molt
Sergeant 11 32 14 Covering Fire Slither
Lieutenant 12 36 15 Ever Vigilant Blend In
Captain 13 40 16 Implacable Quickdraw
Major 15 44 16 Untouchable Shadowstep
Colonel 16 48 17 Rapid Fire Run and Gun

 

Custom abilities
* Inherent melee attack "Bind" and Poison spit
* Molt: use this after moving through fire or acid to remove the damage over time

* Enhanced spit: adds damage and other effects to spit; configurable in the ini file
* Slither: adds a lot to mobility and defense for two turns, cooldown four turns
* Blend In: reskin of "conceal" ability to go back into concealed status

 

Known bugs
* Animation: tongue sticks up in many animations; tail straight down when rope dropping or firing weapon

 

Chryssalid

Theme: melee sprinter

Level HP Armor Mobility Skill
Squaddie 8 1 12 Implacable
Corporal 9 1 13 Shadowstep
Sergeant 10 1 14 Deep Cover
Lieutenant 11 2 14 Blademaster
Captain 12 2 15 Blast Padding
Major 13 2 16 Run and Gun
Colonel 14 3 16 Untouchable

 

Custom abilities:
* None yet
* Intentionally cannot perform operations such as opening doors or carrying bodies
* Planned: unknown; maybe, choose between stat advances for each level?

 

Known bugs
* Burrowing does not break concealment; but being burrowed does not prevent line of sight
* Melee slash does apply parthenogenic poison, but does not produce a cocoon
* Should not have a utility slot
* Animation: does not move at all in skyranger; does not climb rope down or up at mission start or finish (teleports to ground)

 

Muton

Theme: momentum and firepower, keep moving and do damage

Level HP Armor Strength Momentum(left) Firepower(right)
Squaddie 10 1 73 Counterattack Counterattack
Corporal 12 1 76 Suppression ReturnFire
Sergeant 13 2 79 Execute Blademaster
Lieutenant 15 2 82 Implacable Shredder
Captain 16 2 85 RunAndGun Demolition
Major 17 2 88 Untouchable Saturation Fire
Colonel 19 3 91 Serial Rupture

 

Custom abilities:
* Inherent melee attack Bayonet, includes alien rifle
* No specific plans

 

Known bugs
* Animation: face squished in skyranger; too large in loadout and squad select scenes; no climbing animation

Edited March 26, 2016 by davidlallen

[davidlallen]

Release notes for April 5, 2016 release

 

* Andromedon project now available in the proving ground! Implemented by koopakidshyguy @ nexus. Uses the same ability tree and stat progression as the Muton.

 

* New story mission added for mec. The mission is disabled by default; see this thread for details:

 

* Increased viper base dodge from 20% to 30%, increased stat progression from +4% per level to +5%. At max level their dodge is now 65%.

 

* Sorry, no improvements to the other units or animations in this release.

 

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Release notes for March 26, 2016 release -- more exciting features with !

 

All aliens
* Sometimes the aliens' armor is replaced with human armor. If the right armor is not available in the loadout locker, use the console command: givealienarmor, then look in the locker again. We are still trying to understand exactly how the armor disappears.
* All aliens can carry bodies, can be carried, and can be revived. Chryssalids cannot carry or be carried; Mecs cannot be carried or revived. Expect the animations to be weird because of the size difference.
* For Mec, Viper and Chryssalid, configured "silent" voice pack by default.

 

Mec specific
! New ability: Draw Fire, applies "Marked" effect to self to attract enemy fire. Use this to protect exposed squadmates. Does not yet apply proper red diamond target visualization.
! A new schematic Reinforced Mec Armor is available after you research power armor. This armor has a new look, and has a heavy weapon slot. Any heavy weapon can go here.
! Secondary armor color now available. Now you can make that pink and lime green mec you always wanted.
* Changes to top part of tank ability tree: was Shield Wall, Overvolt, Saturation Fire; is now Suppression, Draw Fire, Demolition.
* Decreased damage of tier 2 missiles, but it has very high radius and very high environmental damage. You can configure this in the ini file.
* Tier 1 cannon has one attachment. Tier 2 cannon has two attachments, slightly less damage, and is available with plasma rifle technology (was gauss in previous release).

 

Viper specific
! Cool squad walk-on, walk-off animations
! Secondary armor color now available
* Added +20 aim to Tongue Pull
* Still looking for feedback on configurable damage of "Enhanced Spit"; see the ini file for available settings
* Still looking for more suggestions for unique abilities

 

Chryssalid specific
! Cool squad walk-on, walk-off animations
! Primary and secondary armor colors now available
! You can now set any alien voice pack using the AUTOMATIC_VOICE setting in the ini file.
* A burrowed chryssalid will now unburrow and "overwatch" attack any enemy in range. Note, although burrowing does not break concealment, *being* burrowed does not prevent line of sight. That is, while concealed, you can burrow; but if a patrolling enemy passes nearby, the whole team is revealed before the "overwatch" attack.
* Parthenogenic poison is now enabled, but still does not work. Units killed by the poison simply disappear, and no cocoon appears. There is hope, because "dropunit chryssalid 0" creates a friendly chryssalid, which can cause cocoons, and the hatched chryssalids are friendly.

 

Muton and Berserker: Sorry, no changes yet.

 

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Release notes for March 19, 2016 release -- more exciting features with !

 

All aliens
! By default, new aliens join at a level one lower than your best soldier; change this in the ini file if you prefer rookies.
! Fixed bug(s) where aliens could wear human armor.
! Improved icons by zyxpsilon: full color icons for alien armor; ability buttons; better class icons.
* Cost for the proving ground project is configurable in the ini file, including the required number of corpses.
* Each alien proving ground project can be disabled in the ini file if it doesn't fit your headcanon.
* Raised flanking crit percentage from 33 to 50, matching XCom soldiers.
* Aliens (except Chryssalid) can now pick up and drop bodies. The animations clearly weren't designed for that.

 

Mec specific
! Primary armor color is now configurable.
* The mec can now speak. You can assign a voice, or set AUTOMATIC_VOICE in the ini file.
* New ability "Regenerate" which is equal to a medikit, plus full armor heal (undoes shred damage).
* Added Shieldwall (high cover) and Overvolt (smaller version of sectopod lightning field)
* More damage output: tier 2 cannon now available at gauss weapon technology; boosted plasma launcher damage
* Damage and aim for each mec weapon is adjustable in the ini file if you want more damage output
* Attachments for nonstandard weapons are challenging, so I removed the attachment slots.

 

Viper specific
! Primary armor color is now configurable.
* The viper can now speak. You can assign a voice, or set AUTOMATIC_VOICE in the ini file.
* Enhanced spit ability: does extra damage/mobility/aim above normal spit and can disorient
* Tongue aim, normal spit damage, and enhanced spit effects all configurable in the ini file
* Now picks up best XCom weapon and grenade; the Advent custom weapon is not available
* Minor changes to ability tree: remove quickdraw, move implacable to run tree, add guardian in hit tree

Edited April 6, 2016 by davidlallen

[sgtcal10]

Thanks again david

[DarkAnsem]

all understandable except the Chryssalid not being able to spawn new ones.

 

Is the avatar eventually planned?

 

Props for creating "innate" abilities, like for the Muton or the Viper.

[davidlallen]

I've never let an enemy Chryssalid kill any of my troops yet so I am not positive how this works normally. The playable Chryssalid has the same slashing attack and poison effect; the playable one might even already work the same way. Let's try.

Edited March 7, 2016 by davidlallen

[funnyhalo1]

Davidallen. Kriiden here,

 

When I last talked to Sgtcal10, he did say zombies were in and working, but I'm not so sure. Could be a bug. I'll confirm next time I talk to him, if you don't.

 

Edit 1: I am also encountering an overwatch bug, but that could be from mod conflicts. Unsure right now. None of my soldiers are starting with the overwatch ability. =P

 

Edit 2: Bug apparently fixed. Note to self: Do not run this mod with second wave options mods (90% certain this is what caused the conflict)

 

Edit: 3 Bug apparently not fixed. If anyone else runs into this, let me know. As of right now, I have to figure out which mod to disable.

 

Edit 4: I give up. >.>. Running the game in debug dev console strat mode, and couldn't reproduce the bug. However, after I take ten minutes to see if the bug reproduces regularly in a normal campaign, it does. >.>.

Edited March 7, 2016 by funnyhalo1

[Vicius]

Great work on getting this going, guys!

 

Going to give it a try on my next campaign to see how they feel balance-wise as individual soldiers.

 

I realize you guys have a lot on your plate before getting to do this sort of thing, but I would suggest the following mechanic to keep the mod more immersive and balanced:

 

Instead of cloning, how about giving Psi Troopers an additional ability, that they learn once they finish training domination. Call it brainwash or something along those lines, and it would be a permanent domination (as opposed to regular domination which only lasts for the mission). This ability would act like domination during the mission, although with a lower chance to succeed. Once the mission is over, if the brainwashed alien is alive (and evac'd, if necessary), then it gets added to the roster. Then make a hard limit for aliens in the roster, like 1 brainwashed alien per psi trooper and/or every time you field a brainwashed alien, the psi trooper who brainwashed them must also be present (and if the associated psi trooper dies, the alien goes back to being hostile).

 

This would both balance the aliens out to only be obtainable more towards mid-game, where they won't completely outclass your regular soldiers and be a better reason for why aliens would be fighting alongside XCOM in the first place.

 

The MECs could still remain buildable and spammable, however. The only thing I would change about MECs is their wound mechanics, making them require supplies but also a lot less time to get back into working order than organic soldiers (example 1/4 of MEC building price + 1/4 days of recovery equivalent of what would be a normal soldiers light wounds, if the MEC gets lightly wounded, 1/3 for regular wounds, 1/2 for gravely wounded).

Edited March 7, 2016 by Vicius

[davidlallen]

Thanks for the feedback! A number of people have suggested in different places that these soldiers should appear only after being captured on the tactical map. I agree that's a good idea but it is much harder to implement. A proving ground project which requires some materials, like corpses, is much easier. Maybe we can improve the "lore" write-ups of these projects; what do you think?

 

We definitely plan to experiment with mec healing. I am thinking of a utility item, a repair kit which would operate like a medikit. I definitely plan a self-repair ability similar to the stasis vest. If possible, we will do something to make mecs heal faster on the Avenger, maybe even instantly heal by spending supplies or another mec corpse. For healing on the Avenger, we need to figure out where to put any new button, so that players won't miss it.

 

I'm interested in hearing from players who have used these troops in their campaigns. Because they require the autopsy and corpses, they definitely aren't early game. I am actually concerned that since they appear as rookies, they may actually be *under* powered.

[Krazyguy75]

Personally, I think that you should have a threshold, where, rather than all aliens being able to rank up to colonel, aliens have a starting rank based on their species. So Vipers and MECs would be Squaddie aliens, but Mutons would be around Sergeant Rank, and Andromedons at around Captain or so when they are added, with Sectopods being 2 soldiers slots in the avenger (-1 squad size, basically) and a starting rank of colonel, as... well... they're Sectopods.