PepprmintButler Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 The other day I was playing around with properties and tried adding "robotic" and related to the XCOM soldiers.I ended up doing a whole playthrough with those settings, not exactly knowing what the consequences would be. The balance is certainly not at its best but it works fine.I just finished said playthrough (Classic Ironman), and it was a very fun challenge. I thought maybe some of you would like to try it out or maybe build on the idea. Here are the modifications I made : Cyborg buffs :- All Soldiers are Robotic, meaning they are immune to panic and mind control- All soldiers are immune to poison- All soldiers have the Hardened property, making them more resistant than usual to critical hits (you pretty much never take one)These are the standard props for robots in the game. Up until that point it seems like a big advantage for the player, but... Cyborg weaknesses :- As a consequence, soldiers cannot be revived in any way. Bleeding = Dead unless you can finish the mission in the next 3 turns.- Also, Medikits cannot be used for healing soldiers. (you could probably add the Repair ability to it, but that would be too easy I think)- However, the Repair SHIV ability (and other repair abilities...) work as expected on soldiers.So yeah, it's not only bonuses ! Various balancing :- Cyborgs get two small inventory slots on all armor from Carapace onwards (can carry more)- All classes can use all Rifle type weapons as secondary, up to LPR - not the plasma rifle (same reason)- The support class, having his healing abilities rendered useless, is allowed to carry heavy weapons Early game was tough because I did not have any way to heal soldiers whatsoever. My bodycount got through the roof pretty fast. Of course you don't take crits so sudden deaths are less frequent but every hit you take will make the mission harder (no more hanging back and stitching to wounded before going on with the mission). You also won't see catastrophic panic-killing chains. Less randomness made me feel like I deserved most of the deaths I had. Usually Ironman makes me think twice about making a risky move, then this added to the tension and made me think thrice. Snipers are easier to level up with a rifle in their pocket - that's if they survive of course.Mid-game is easier when you get armor with the second slot, allowing for vests on everyone. Sectoid commanders are rendered moot (which is a bit unfortunate actually). When I realized drone hacking was not useless anymore things got much more manageable when I could get my hands on some. I still had a lot of deaths, many of which surprisingly at the hands of thin men (these guys can aim !)Late game sees the arrival of arc thrower repair, which of course helps significantly. I you thought Ethereals would become useless like the sectoid commanders, think again. They are actually fiercer opponents when they are not using mind control, because they use Rift like there is no tomorrow, and that thing HURTS. I actually preferred them when they mind controlled because then I had one turn to kill them before anyone on my team died... If anyone is interested I can release it with modpatcher, but I'm sure most of the readers of this forum are more than capable to mod this in themselves, balancing as they see fit in the process.I would love to hear ideas on how to improve on the concept or balance it a bit better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierach Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 In other news, after the cyborgs of XCOM defeat the alien menace, they turn on humanity as a whole, having deemed metal and technology vastly superior to the potential of any flesh and psionic abilities. Bad end! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zerothenumber Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 I dig this idea. Starting a new game with cyborgs for the win. Or fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayttaja Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Could the robotic property be added into an armor instead of soldier so you could choose which guys are cyborgs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PepprmintButler Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 Could the robotic property be added into an armor instead of soldier so you could choose which guys are cyborgs? I did not test this. May or may not work, quickest way to know it to try it yourself ! (you'll have to start a mission to see if the properties are applied correctly, there's no menu to check them in the barracks.Please report back :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaerar Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Hmm I smell Syndicate mod :D It'll be closer than EA's attempt!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayttaja Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) I did not test this. May or may not work, quickest way to know it to try it yourself ! (you'll have to start a mission to see if the properties are applied correctly, there's no menu to check them in the barracks.Please report back :)Will do :) Hmm I smell Syndicate mod :D It'll be closer than EA's attempt!!!EXACTLY. It'd be damn sweet if in the future we could make cyborg implant items and maybe somehow make a cyborg soldier panic randomly if his will is too low :) Edited October 19, 2012 by kayttaja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaerar Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Err that sounds like you need a remote hacking device, maybe the Thin Man's plague/poison could be copied and used for that purpose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayttaja Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 (edited) Err that sounds like you need a remote hacking device, maybe the Thin Man's plague/poison could be copied and used for that purpose...Sorry, I explained myself poorly. I meant that if you equip your soldier with implants, he might have momentary freak outs if he "lost too much humanity" like in cyberpunk. I just realized this can easily be achieved by giving a negative willbonus. A good idea thought! I still need to to test the robotic property, I deleted my saves earlier and need to play 'til I get carapace armors, apparently the game registers these changes only when you apply the armor, even adding ap's like grapple didn't work :huh: Edit: As far as I can tell, eCP_ properties don't work in armors, I tried them out with no luck. But hey, thanks to the bright minds here it seems we'll be able to change just about anything soon :) Edited October 20, 2012 by kayttaja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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