help tracing out playable chryssalid cocooning?

[davidlallen]

OK, I uploaded a new version of the modbuddy zip for further development: (The ...release.zip one is the same but free alien is false)

 

http://jendaveallen.com/Temp/PlayableAdvent0326devel.zip

 

a. Without the mod at all, "dropunit chryssalid 0" (1) makes a unit that can cocoon, (2) burrowing at all, anywhere breaks concealment, (3) can overwatch attack from a burrow

b. With the mod, "dropunit chryssalid 0" (2) can burrow without breaking concealment, because I edit the templates to neutral hostility, but (4) when in a burrow, enemies can clearly see the unit; squad concealment is broken when an enemy approaches the burrowed unit.

c. With the mod, and by creating a PA_chryssalid through the proving ground, (1) no cocooning happens, but (3,4) work the same.

 

So my questions:

=> I am using the same slash ability for PA_chryssalid; why the @#(@#*%% isn't it making cocoons?

=> How can I prevent a burrowed unit (either kind) from breaking squad concealment?

[swinka6666]

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Edited April 27, 2016 by swinka6666

[davidlallen]

For line of sight, vanilla chryssalids have bCanTakeCover=false. I had it true, but the animation expert on the mod (maclimes) said this is a bad idea, because they don't have cover animations. I don't *think* cover is related to breaking concealment. Each action has a "hostility" which can be set offensive to break concealment. This is how I prevented the burrowing action itself from breaking concealment. What I want is patrolling enemies should not spot burrowed chryssalids.

 

For poison, the frustrating part is that my PA_chryssalid has exactly the same four abilities as the vanilla one, there is no setting that I can find at all different between mine and the vanilla. Obviously I need the PA_chryssalid definition to use the character class, and for the new armor coloration done by maclimes. Functionally it seems identical, but no cocoon.

[swinka6666]

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Edited April 27, 2016 by swinka6666

[davidlallen]

 

 

When unit is burrowed, in SightRadius of enemy, in line of sight, with no cover then there may be a problem and concealment is breaking.

That is what I am trying to get: a burrowed unit should never break concealment on its own. If it unburrows to overwatch attack, that should count as a surprise (ie shadowstrike should apply).

[swinka6666]

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Edited April 27, 2016 by swinka6666

[davidlallen]

Ideally I would like a proper ambush. That is, the chryssalid can burrow just out of detection range; if the unit patrols or runs closer, then the chryssalid should be able to unburrow and attack with shadowstrike. If that reveals the rest of the squad, that is OK I guess.

 

By coincidence, a mod "Asset Class" has been released today which contains a sneak tactics skill which mentions decreasing the unit's detection radius. This led me poking through the code and I discovered eStat_DetectionModifier. This appears to do what I want. If I set this to a huge number while the unit is burrowed, then I suppose I will get the effect I am looking for. I can try that out; a persistent stat modifier should be within my limited abilities :-)

 

Still #@$%()$*#% about not getting cocoons.

[swinka6666]

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Edited April 27, 2016 by swinka6666

[davidlallen]

I think I understand what to do for burrow and overwatch. I still have no clue what is wrong for cocoons.

[Lucubration]

Interesting. So one thing I'm seeing as I step through here is that it is trying to spawn a cocoon when the Chryssalid kills someone, and it's passing eTeam_None. When I step into the function that should resolve the team, it ends up disappearing down into XComUnitState.GetTeam(), which is a native function that I can't step into; it returns eTeam_None. It looks like the Chryssalid isn't technically on eTeam_Xcom and I suspect that may cause you some issues with the allegiance of the spawned units.

 

Another thing I'm seeing is that it can't get the cocoon visualizer after it spawns the unit. I'll keep exploring in this area to see if I can't get more information about why it isn't appearing.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Lucubration