playable advent mod: details, feedback

[wiredgutter]

Personally I really prefer just the MEC, so my suggestions will be in favor of him. My main issue with him is how tossing a grenade makes his rifle disappear. Is it possible to substitute the mini missile animation when throwing instead of tossing a grenade?

 

Also, his main weapon is a bit lacklaster when compared to gauss and plasma weaponry; v 0.5 had a decently balanced rifle and also one mod slot. Perhaps reverting to that would make him more desireable?

 

 

[centagon]

Enjoying the mod! Vipers are a fantastic addition which adds a completely new angle of play, which is great. Mostly though, I just use them for crowd control, disabling pesky targets in deep cover.

 

A few suggestions:

• I see that you're making viper as a viable 'scouting' ranger alternative which is fine, although at that rate, it would make most sense as well give them a shotgun since they're fighting in close quarters.
• Poison spit just isn't that useful, especially since it doesn't deal direct damage (afaik, gas grenade does, which makes it strictly better), and many of the enemies that are susceptible to it are leashable and bindable by tongue whip anyway so it gets quickly swapped out for other items. Otherwise, I think Viper is in a really good spot.
• A custom perk to allow longer reach on tongue whip would be great.

 

• MECs are not so good. They're not all that much tankier although since they can't take cover, WAR suit works great on them, since they are sensible cover for your squad. But honestly, that's a lot of deadweight until endgame before they become viable as a tank. It would be better to give them the WAR-suit ability passively (since they're huge anyway), and somehow let us upgrade their armor padding (blast armor's 1 single armor point isn't going to do anything). Maybe give them a progressively stronger blast padding bonus, or more ranks to it.
• Their MAG cannon isn't replacable, isn't upgradable with mods, has poor accuracy, gains little bonus for close range and does very poor damage. This needs to be improvable either through perks or equipment.
• As already suggested, faster/instant healing on avenger is a must. This is critical to making MECs add a new playstyle like the Viper does, because even if tank-strats are fun and viable, it won't work if it isn't sustainable because you have 10 MECs all critically wounded. (Remember that healing times are longer at higher difficulty)
• Upgrades to the micromissiles are necessary. 3 Damage, tiny AOE that doesn't scale in the late game is kind of useless. Instead of overlapping it too much with grenadier, the artillery perk tree should focus on buffing the missile capacity. If grenadiers are 3 big AOE, long range grenades, MECs should be characterized by dozens of tiny grenades, and they should gain the Salvo perk relatively early on. This goes well with their 'front line' role, where they can shred armor with multiple attacks (but deal low damage) and have enough explosives to open up buildings and cover without completely decimating squads like the grenadiers do.

 

• Are Chryssalids able to burrow? And do they poison? If so, then they release a cocoon, right? Would the cocoon be under player allegiance?

 

 

Not sure, but is it possible that the AWC can assign a perk to an alien that's already part of it's class skill set? In the current public build, I think I had the AWC give me a skill that I was supposed to learn later on. Might want to check AWC rulesets.

Edited March 8, 2016 by centagon

[davidlallen]

This is great feedback, keep it coming!

 

I'm not sure how to fix animation problems like the disappearing MEC gun, or another report that when mutons or vipers throw, their heads turn inside out. But at least I can list them all, and hopefully if somebody who knows about animations comes by, they can help. I've updated post 2 with these details.

 

Viper: I agree poison spit should be penetrating, having it affect shield first is weird. I wasn't actually thinking of them as short range fighters. I find it weird how long their tongue is already. I've added some more mobility and sneaking abilities in the prerelease, so hopefully the "hit and run" aspect will be more visible.

 

MEC: I'll check out the relative damage of the mag cannon and microgrenades. Balancing these classes will be tricky since they start as rookies in the midgame. I did try to balance their armor and hitpoints, so they start equal to midlevel armored soldiers, and at level cap they match heavily armored soldiers. (You can see these details in post #2, feedback requested.) In the prerelease version, aliens can't wear armor, and for the mec, I plan a whole bunch of damage reduction abilities. Hopefully that will make it tanky enough.

 

Chryssalid: The animations are definitely weird; half the time on a move, the game freezes for 10 sec and then the unit appears at the destination. Curiously, the slash can target *self* and civilians, which I believe I can fix. (The code says it cannot target *squadmates* but it doesn't prevent self.) Burrow does work, but it's hard to use offensively; I am thinking of a "run and gun" variant called "run and burrow". You run a long distance and burrow, and then get a surprise attack, sort of like a prox mine only with claws. I haven't gotten cocoon to occur yet, but I'm afraid if it does, the babies will come up as enemies.

Edited March 8, 2016 by davidlallen

[funnyhalo1]

Animations are being worked on by a separate animator Sgtcal10 has contacted. I won't post their name or put any of their work on here without their permission though. They already have a mod up involving animations with Vipers; That's how Sgtcal10 got into contact with them.

Edited March 8, 2016 by funnyhalo1

[davidlallen]

Yes, that certainly protects their identity, because there are many mods which have updated the viper animations :-)

[DarkAnsem]

Yes, that certainly protects their identity, because there are many mods which have updated the viper animations :-)

 

I already understood :P

[funnyhalo1]

Yes, that certainly protects their identity, because there are many mods which have updated the viper animations :-)

 

 

Really? His is still the only one? I had figured by now...

 

>.>____<.<

[davidlallen]

This mod was published yesterday (with proper credit for the original idea):

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom2/mods/473/?

 

Maybe we can merge the mods.

[hunterkiller33]

Hey, guys. I'm liking the newly proposed stats for the aliens. The viper stats feel more fitting (And personally, I tend to have the viper and MEC before most of my troops are sergeants cause I go straight for the Proving grounds just to get one. I love the suggestion of having the proving grounds mission be a retrieval rather than a clone, costing intel instead of corpses.

 

One thing I might suggest is giving Chryssalids a high defense, and no ability to utilize cover. That can help with some of the weirdness I noticed while using them. Like the hunkered viper, they go ridged in cover and tend to freeze up. I highly suggest that you give them at minimum defense equal to low cover, while providing small bonuses on level up. I would also shy away from heavy armor, as they are Blitz attackers. The skills you have on them look good for that.

 

For the Vipers, give them the HAXs because they were meant to have a high degree of intelligence. Vipers are smart, and should probably be as tech savvy as a specialist since they are going to be more familiar with the systems involved. I like the idea of the Molt ability, and I think it should cost a single action. I would like to see Chainshot or dead eye in the perk tree, because they feel pretty good on the character back in v0.5. One thing I suggested on the mod page was perhaps an upgrade from poison spit to Acid spit late game, to give them a bit of shredding power. As others have suggested, I think their dodge skill should improve over time.

 

Between Chryssalids or Vipers, I think one should get regenerate, if that is possible. Nothing too crazy, but one or two points a turn, and reduced med bay time would be pretty good.

 

For Mutons, I like the perks you have laid out for them. They are quite fitting. Perhaps one thing you could do is add in some of the Perks from the Centurion mod or the Rage or Battle Frenzy perks for a melee focused Muton. I would suggest trying something other than implacable in one of the three skill trees. It feels too common, being in not one, but four skill trees including the ranger. Try not to have too much overlap.

 

One issue I am seeing is just how tough some of these guys are, however. Unless you are planning on restricting Mutons from using armor and vests, They should not be allowed to develop such high health and inbuilt defense. By colonel level, the Mutons will have double the health of most humans, before any armor is added, where as the MEC, while being robotic, has built in Dodge instead of armor or defense. The Muton so overshadows most soldiers in his durability that you might as well just use Mutons, specialists and a Psi trooper by the end game

 

If its possible, I would like to see the ability to change some colors on the models to help differentiate our aliens from theirs, and late game upgrades to all of their weapons that makes their original guns comparable to the Plasma tech counter parts. Perhaps as a Proving Grounds Project. The Mec heavy weapon was pretty nice.

[hunterkiller33]

Oh, and I think only the Viper and Chryssalid should have increasing mobility. MECs should be tanky, not lanky