playable advent mod: details, feedback

[Azworai]

It is pretty common for junk to build up in the ini files. Try deleting them. You will only lose your graphics settings. Also, in the log file do you see any lines like "davea debug"? If the mod is being skipped then there won't be any.

Any specific ini folders I should be deleting? Graphics settings are negligible issue for me, but I'm unsure specifically what you're wanting deleted.

[davidlallen]

This is a very common suggestion. Please delete My Documents/My Games/XCOM2/XComGame/Config/*.ini.

[davidlallen]

@ nagel,

 

 

I feel as though the Vipers should have 'class' theming based on types of snakes...Similar considerations should be probably applied to other units(MECs are Advent Grenadiers, etc.)

I agree. Today the viper focus is "hit and run"; each left side ability is "hit" and each right side ability is "run". For MEC, there is tank and artillery. I specifically want to avoid making a 1:1 correspondence between the aliens and existing classes. The interesting challenge is to make each alien do something *new*. So the viper has a lot more mobility and spying capability, and the mec tank is supposed to have more survivability.

[davidlallen]

@ hunter,

 

 

Some people have simply suggested changing around the cost of the foundry projects and rewriting the description so that you are sending out retrieval teams to pickup a Viper looking to defect to XCOM. It could cost intel and captain corpses

That's an interesting idea. Having a different type of cost is easy enough. But, if it is a defector, then what triggers the availability of the project, and why would it be in the proving grounds? Today it is clear enough that once you figure out how to clone them from the autopsy, you can build them, and the proving ground seems like a good place to put that.

 

I would like to experiment with missions, so a viper could be a mission reward. But, the rewards are so random, I don't want to put that in the way of somebody who wants to get a viper but the mission reward never happens to come up. Is there a good way to present this?

 

I think several people including myself are using "tank" in the World Of Warcraft sense, rather than the strict military sense. A WOW tank is supposed to keep the attention (aggro) of all the enemies and survive all the damage, so that the other glass cannon team members can deal damage. To make the role unique, I want it to be successful at attracting and taking damage, so I'm going to hold off on giving it bigger guns. I will make the damage more configurable via the ini file. If people want it higher and they find only damage makes the unit valuable, then later I can change the defaults.

Edited March 18, 2016 by davidlallen

[Azworai]

Sorry for all the simple/silly questions, but delete the contents of the entire folder, or? As for a Log file, I have not seen a log file, but I'm also running the game normally, not through debug.

[davidlallen]

Yes, delete all the ini files. The log file is: My Documents/My Games/XCOM2/XComGame/Logs/Launch.log. This is only written if you set the game launch options (right click in steam library) to include -log.

[Azworai]

Deleting the files didn't fix the issue with the aliens not set to free. Will see about them set to free once company leaves. No dice on that either. Might need to run a game with less mods to minimize conflict risk. I do have several mods which affect the Proving Ground, though I had thought they were all just adding code, not altering existing code.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Azworai

[AurenKarach]

I love this mod, but I think I can give some useful advice and I'd like to chip in.

First thing first: the acquisition method. There's been lots of discussion on whether you should be able to clone the aliens, or they should defect. Obviously this is a non-issue for MECs, because Shen builds them, and I believe we are just anticipating what the DLC "Shen's last gift" will make available anyways.

But for the other alien species?

While the idea of defectors is appealing, I believe it's problematic and ultimately unsustainable from a canonic perspective. Let me explain why - spoilers ahead.

 

First of all, from XCOM EU we all know that the aliens have some sort of implants that connect them psionically to the Ethereals. They are part of a "collective", essentially a hive mind. This poses an obstacle to rebellion, because you don't really have individuals thinking for themselves.

In the final mission of XCOM 2, the Elders also claimed that this submission to the Collective is voluntary, as the aliens we fight understand that the Elders are just trying to save life in the galaxy from a terrifying, omnicidal threat that (it is my assumption) likely detects psionic energy and destroys beings that advance too much (I still believe someone should make a Mass Effect/XCOM mashup, but that's another story xD). Which means, even if you did have aliens that think individually, you'd have a hard time convincing them that siding with you is for the best.

 

Then there are problems with the individual species. During the Temple Ship assault, the Uber Ethereal described the Thin Man (and thus the Viper) as a being of exceptional loyalty, and easily adapted (genetically, I assume) to serve their needs. This is basically serving us a cloning-indoctrination scenario on a silver plate: the genetic material of the Viper is easily modified and, once it's created some form of imprinting, it's a loyal species, which means you can breed your own and have them staunchily supportive of your cause, but for the same reason makes it unlikely that they would ever defect.

 

The Mutons are tribal by nature, which is why in XCOM EU they used to operate in pods and buff each other with blood calls. They are more independent in XCOM 2, especially as the Uber Ethereal implied in EU that the Mutons weren't exactly smart, but I still have trouble believing a Muton that independently decides to switch sides. Once again breeding them seems more plausible to me: their loyalty lies with the tribe, and XCOM will be that tribe, and their dim intellect will prevent understanding of the imperative the Ethereals are operating under. In-game they do need some unique abilities however, because right now they quickly become useless. I'd suggest a tree based on buffing and debuffing, mixing blood call, intimidate and other similar abilities, and a tree based on infantry combat similar to what we had in Long War: light them up, sentinel, executioner, basically a precise, deadly mid-range trooper that focuses on overwatch and volume of fire.

 

Berserkers and Chryssalids are among my favourite aliens ever, but they are far more challenging. The Berserkers are so pumped full of drugs that I doubt they can even speak, let alone decide to defect. Breeding them also doesn't strike me as too convincing: without a psionic network dominating their minds, will they be able to tell friend from foe?

I believe this gives us an opening for an interesting Berserker tree however. Imagine that Tygan starts growing Berserker puppies, right? Without a psionic network to tame them, they are extremely hard to control on the battlefield. As the Berserker levels up, you have a choice between two trees:

 

the first tree, "hybrid", sees Tygan and co implant the Berserkers with chips that increase their mental acuity, and reduce the amount of drugs that are pumped in their systems. This makes the Berserkers less deadly, i.e. they have less mobility, do less melee damage and don't rage, but it makes them smarter, which allows them perks like phantom - super useful for not breaking concealment as soon as they move - more defense against enemy attacks with perks like tactical sense, more dodge etc.

 

The second tree, "frenzied", leaves the Berserker in its base condition: stupid and pumped full of drugs. Without psionic control, this makes the Berserker extremely difficult to handle on the battlefield, but also extremely lethal: it breaks concealment as soon as it moves, of course, and maybe we could bring back "bloodlust", having it charge against any enemy that wounds him. However he has more HP and the base melee damage is far higher - and when it rages, it provides a buff to the entire squad, releasing hormones, a bit like the gene mod for the adrenal gland in XCOM EW.

 

And now we come to my little darling, the Chryssalid. A Chryssalid defecting is impossible because they're not really sentient - they're more like animals. They have been uplifted, sure, but they use no tools and I expect the only thing giving them a focus and direction is the psionic network. So we'd have to breed them and implant them.

 

As awesome as it is, I can see many people struggle to find a good tactical role for it. I think the "terror/trapper" division is essentially good: so they have lightning reflexes as a basic perk. Then with trapper, they get run and burrow, they get implacable, which allows them to dash, kill, and then retreat away from the frontline. They get perhaps blademaster, poison, close combat specialist at melee range. It would be cool to bring back "implant", so that any humanoid enemy killed by one of our chryssalids comes back as a zombie in our service, but I'm not sure whether it's doable.

The other perk tree, "terror", could strike chaos among the enemy lines: if we can trigger the animation of the Chryssalid roaring (because that roar is genuinely terrifying), then it can sort of work like insanity does, but broken up at different ranks. So a squaddie Chryssalid roars and causes aim penalties, then disorient, then panic, and then it starts boosting the squad, so that it's interchangeable with the Berserker without the malus of being so uncontrollable.

HOWEVER here comes the big idea: to keep the Chryssalid relevant late game, and genuinely make the player want to have it on the team, we should bring back one of the best features of Long War and have XCOM be able to breed a CHRYSSALID QUEEN.

 

This Chryssalid would be Berserker-sized, with a monster amount of HP and bonus perks like hardened, shadowstep, increased movement/will, conceal, shadow dash/shadow veil from the Rogue Class mod, regeneration and a devastating melee attack. It should be resource-intensive, so you don't have more than one or two in your whole barracks, but bring a genuine tactical advantage to the battlefield.

 

Also for the guy making the textures... please bring back the Lid's glowing eyes! xD

 

Hope I was of some help with this. ^^

[Maclimes]

 

Also for the guy making the textures... please bring back the Lid's glowing eyes! xD

 

Good news: That's already on my plate. Probably won't be in the next update, but soon.

[AurenKarach]

So cool!