playable advent mod: details, feedback

[davidlallen]

New version up on nexus, on steam shortly. See post #1 for overview, post #3 for detailed release notes.

 

Now with Andromedons!

 

Also, I would really like feedback on the story mission concept here:

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

[Zurgnunus]

Hmm, i downloaded the update but cant find the andromedon, is it just me?

[davidlallen]

@ zurg, did you download from nexus or steam? If from nexus, please confirm you have the April 5 version. Do you have the other aliens? Did you set FREE_ALIEN for all of them? (Or else you need the autopsy plus two corpses).

[Zurgnunus]

i got the version from the steam, i even redownloaded it, set free alien( already did the autopsy so it wouldn even be necessary), no luck.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Zurgnunus

[davidlallen]

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. I have added this to post #1.

[Zurgnunus]

Really? Hmm that's bad, i will try it out and tell you the results

[Zurgnunus]

It worked! Andromedon working like a charm, my fav by far! Great job!

[gaultesian]

I have the MEC mission allowed for my new campaign, and I can't wait to tell you how it goes. Even if no one likes the thought of finding an errant MEC as the storyline for the MEC acquisition I am going to probably like it because:

 

1. I like MEC's...I think you all got that impression already

2. I like new missions

 

The new mission aspect is what thrills me....having something new to sink your teeth into is a good thing in XCOM.

 

Cheers, and I also cannot wait to try out the Andromedon.

[DeathDraco137]

Have to say this is my favorite mod for Xcom 2 by far, and I can't wait till its finished (but will because good things come to those that wait). I just had some ideas I thought might help though I have no modding experience so maybe they won't.

 

1. Love the Viper and her abilities as they are are lovely and fit her perfectly. My only problem is the coloring because you can only have so many different combinations of black (at least looks like that on my computer) and one other color for the scales. I was wondering though if its possible to fit the black section of her scales as the skin color for the unit since her secondary scales (her stripes, belly, and face) are put down as her primary armor color and her actual armor is put down as her secondary armor. I know as it stands there aren't a lot of color variations under skin color, but I know there is a mod both on steam and nexus that opens up armor colors under skin colors, so maybe that modder will help his username on steam is carmau.

 

2. Now everyone here probably has had some issue with the bigger units (Berserker, Muton, Andromedon) where when they level up they can't pick the perk they want because the model is in the way. Now the only solution so far (the easy one anyway or at least I think is probably the easier way) would be to shrink them, but I'm sure no one really wants smaller units. I was curious though if there was a way to get the soldier display to appear in front of the soldiers rather than behind them. That way we can actually pick what perks we want for all our alien troops, and still have our proper sized troops. After all the problem seems to be that the model of the aliens/soldier is on a layer above the customization/loadout/abilities display.

 

3. Now I know its not a problem now and I can't think of any perk options for our future powerhouses the Sectopod and Gatekeeper, but we all know there are going to be balancing issues for them as they are already powerful units as they are in the game, and adding a level up perk system to them, and possibly being able to use utility items will no doubt make player owned Gatekeepers and Sectopods extremely powerful to the point that people might just use them to steamroll through every mission. Now I was thinking maybe instead of having the full 8 or so sized perk tree that all the other aliens, and soldiers have, maybe give them a shorter perk tree (sort of how the leader mod by LongWar has a five perk tree for when you make a soldier a squad leader) to allow a certain amount of customizing their skills to the player's style, but avoid giving them a massive amount of powerhouse abilities. Also I was thinking in the case of the Sectopod whether you shrink the perk tree or not that the Sectopods that the player makes start as a sort of protoype Sectopod that starts off weaker than the alien's sectopod, but as it gains experience and levels up that it eventually becomes as powerful or more powerful (hopefully not by too much) than the alien Sectopods.

 

4. Also while I haven't played with Chryssalids yet myself (don't fit lore wise to me but to each their own), and I don't know if you guys have been working with the cocoons or not but I was thinking maybe having the Chryssalids skill trees diverge into one being focused around their burrowing ability (like you guys have already been talking about), and one focused around spawning. In my opinion it fits because whenever I face the new Chryssalids I'm worried only about their burrowing and possibly turning my soldiers into baby factories. I was even thinking in the spawn tree their could be an ability that would boost how many baby Chryssalids, but maybe become a limited use or spawn weaker babies. That's if you guys would implement the cocoons anyway on player Chryssalids, and if you do could many knock it down to one spawn for players as to avoid people swarming the map with theirs legion.

 

5. Then there are Archons. Now they haven't been implemented yet but I was thinking for their perk trees that when they are implemented the trees could be one focused around the Archon becoming a singular super soldier alien that stood well on its own (maybe include perks that improve their battle frenzy on themselves, and maybe add more missiles to the Flying Pinions ability or make the exiting missiles better), and one tree focused around them being a sort of leader for the squad (perks that either passively help nearby squad mates, or have to be activated. Maybe even have a perk that when Battle Frenzy becomes active nearby squad mates get the benefits of the ability as well, and maybe a perk that causes flying pinions to add a sort of marked effect to enemies it locks on).

 

6. Again more ideas on aliens not in the mod yet, this time the Sectoid. I was thinking for this little guy he could have a perk trees with one causing him to be a nightmare inducing psionic, and the other making him a psionic support to the other squadmates (like they were back in EU/EW). The one tree could make his mindspin cause damage (sort of like the one perk for Insanity), give him a small AoE zombie reanimate (small though as not to compete with the Gatekeeper), and even cause his zombies to become slightly better. Whle the other tree could have psi perks like Inspire, or a call back to the mind link perk of there's from EU/EW (I know the modder for the Sectoid Commader mod did this in a way their username seems to be Farkyrie on Steam).

 

Well that's my two cents for you guys, wish I had mod experience so I could help, but maybe my ideas will help. I also apologize ahead of time if this seems poorly written I can write fanfiction pretty nicely but I can't seem to write comments or forum entries for hell.

Edited April 8, 2016 by DeathDraco137

[koopakidshyguy]

The Gatekeeper I've tentatively set up will have its abilities tied to leveling up (Captain would be capable of Gateway, starting perk would be Consume, everything between would be a choice between psionic buffs and offense, along with some territory control). Essentially, the idea I'm working with for late game aliens (and will soon go back and change the andromedons to, as they are OP at the moment) is make them equivalent to the aliens at Major or Captain (they will have more abilities, but shouldn't get any stronger statwise), then everything else gives them a little edge . I personally would like squaddie aliens of all species at all levels to be equivalent to other squaddie human classes, but that's really not feasible considering the price and effort gone through to obtain aliens, so the best we can shoot for is that their later leveling is equivalent to the other classes.

 

I've been able to access abilities on the level up screen by using the keyboard to select options, but this is definitely a temporary solution. Having the text be seen through aliens is easier said than done, and wouldn't really solve the problem as clicking on them would still just rotate the aliens, if I understand the set-up correctly. Perhaps an armor with an invisible model that could be switched to, but that sounds really janky now that I think about it.