XCOM EU De-Nerfing Chryssalids

[Tomberculosis]

It seems to me that Chryssalids are the biggest casualty of the move away from TUs in the new XCOM. Formerly they were capable of decimating your entire team if well placed, since they had an absurdly high number of TUs and a melee attack that only took like 15 or so to use. I don't think that we should necessarily go back entirely to the way they were before, but under the new system they seem to pose very little danger at all. As long as your soldier it outside of their (admittedly rather large) initial move radius, they can't hurt you. This makes those little buggers significantly less scary in the new one. I've been brainstorming a bit about how to fix this, and I've come up with some possible solutions. No ideas about how feasible these might be to implement, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to put them out here as potential ideas fodder for people more talented with mods than I.

 

• Idea 1: Give the Chryssalid some sort of leap attack. This would give it a slightly larger range of attack, and it also makes sense in-universe, since Chryssalids are leaping everywhere all the time - why wouldn't they leap to attack someone who wasn't right next to them. This could also allow them to attack Archangel soldiers, although admittedly that's not really a huge concern during the parts of the game where you see Chyssalids most frequently. (As a side note, I'd love to have this in multiplayer, as it would make the Chyssalid way more useful as a scout, but obviously that's a whole other ballpark.)
   
  
• Idea 2: Let the Chyssalid attack after sprinting. Basically, give them a permanent run'n'gun.
   
  
• Idea 3: Make the Chryssalid's attack not count as an action. (Similar to turning on Ghost Mode or Flight Mode.) I'm honestly rather scared of this idea, but I also rather like it, mainly because it would return the ability to kill multiple members of a squad in one turn. This could potentially be combined with idea #2 for real masochists.
  

I love the new XCOM, but I was incredibly disappointed with the way that Chryssalids got nerfed. What do you guys think of these suggestions?

[BGBailen]

This is an easy fix. By modding the XComGame.exe, you can alter the health, damage and mobility parameters of all the enemies.

 

It might sound difficult, but it's not at all.

 

-google and download resource hacker

-open XComGame.exe with the hacker

-navigate to RCData->1020->1033 in the hacker

-the top most portion of the config file contains base armor/weapon/character parameters.

-find the line for chryssalids, look for iDamage, iHealth and iMobility

-change to your liking

-damage and health are straight-forward. 1 point in dmg adds 1 point to base dmg, 1 point in health adds 1 health bar

-as for mobility, I believe the active distance(in which an entity could still take an action) is roughly half the total

-compile, save and play

Edited October 28, 2012 by BGBailen

[babyjebu5]

I love that you want to make the most frightening alien in the game even more frightening! (in my humble opinion, those aliens always get priority due to the multiplicative zombie/chryssalid effect)

 

I can see that they have some room for improvement, but I don't like the mutant crackhead chryssalids you want to create! Nonetheless, I like some of your idea for making them more like the original aliens..

• Idea 1: Give the Chryssalid some sort of leap attack. This would give it a slightly larger range of attack, and it also makes sense in-universe, since Chryssalids are leaping everywhere all the time - why wouldn't they leap to attack someone who wasn't right next to them. This could also allow them to attack Archangel soldiers, although admittedly that's not really a huge concern during the parts of the game where you see Chyssalids most frequently. (As a side note, I'd love to have this in multiplayer, as it would make the Chyssalid way more useful as a scout, but obviously that's a whole other ballpark.)
   
  
• Idea 2: Let the Chyssalid attack after sprinting. Basically, give them a permanent run'n'gun.
   
  
• Idea 3: Make the Chryssalid's attack not count as an action. (Similar to turning on Ghost Mode or Flight Mode.) I'm honestly rather scared of this idea, but I also rather like it, mainly because it would return the ability to kill multiple members of a squad in one turn. This could potentially be combined with idea #2 for real masochists.
  

I love the new XCOM, but I was incredibly disappointed with the way that Chryssalids got nerfed. What do you guys think of these suggestions?

 

1. If the leap attack covers slightly less ground than a movement, and is usable only once a turn. This at least won't break them by giving them Run n Gun.

 

2. OMGWTFXCOMBBQ! Too much to do this without balance. Considering their mobility rate in the vanilla game, I would reduce that by a decent amount if they could move twice and attack every turn. like the idea of them moving as far as my troops and getting Run n Gun, but not without some balance to keep it survivable with good tactics.

 

3. I love this idea: I could get behind giving them the heavy's Bullet Swarm ability, usable with melee attacks and the leap attack (leap attack only once a turn). Heck, give em Rapid Fire while you are at it. Then it could attack, and leap to another target within range. Or attack, then move to cover. Or maul the crap out of someone (with Rapid Fire) who didn't move when the mutant crackhead zombie spider alien ran up in their face.

 

:turned: Frickin scary.

[PepprmintButler]

I'm with OP. I stopped being scared of Chyssalids pretty quickly ; the spawning hordes of zombies thing is actually the most difficult thing about it. As single enemies (or even 3-packs) they're actually very manageable. Of course they're still a handful at first encounter and maybe a few after that. Which makes me think, when we (hopefully) get modding tools that allow to actually add stuff in instead of just replacing values, I'd love to see an Elite Chryssalid alien in late game, with the enhancements being discussed, while still having the vanilla Chryssalid as it is for the early/mid game.

 

 

I love the leap attack thing. Technically I think it could be based on the Berserker's Bull Rush ability, that would not be too difficult provided we can modify its AI so that it uses it correctly. That's how I would try to do it anyway.

The free attack thing I think is kind of silly. That means insta-death if they come close, regardless of how many hp you have and dice rolls, because it would just keep attacking until you're dead...

Giving them a run-and-gun equivalent means they would systematically get a bite on someone unless you have half your team on overwatch. I mean, there are few cases when 2 chryssalid moves won't get them from reveal position to biting range of someone in your squad.

Leapers all the way ! (...to our nightmares)

[Nubshiggurath]

They stop being scary once you have an in the zone sniper or assaults with the "fire at close enemy regardless of overwatch" perk. I would recommend the following things:

 

1. Increase HP - Simple buff, if they are two shottable instead of one that is better
   
2. Increase their sight radius and turn off the animation for em - So they get triggered sooner and have more chances of infecting civilians
   
3. Change offscreen civ. infection rate to 100% - I believe Impossible already has higher infection rates anyway
   

 

Imo we should use the infection mechanism to have real hoards of chryssalids attack during a terror mission.

[Ferenczy]

Agreed...they definetly need to be "ohmygod,ohmygod, we're gonna die man!" scary...

 

On a simular note...i think Outsiders should be more powerfull/scarier also...read someone made them into mini bosses...might do the same in my game

[FlyingHigh10000000]

The infection rate in Impossible is set to 1 in the ini, meaning that every offscreen kill results in a zombie. Just set it to 1 for all difficulties using modpatcher, and you've got 1/3 of the equation. Increasing HP is just as easy, also being in the ini.(Though honestly, in the original X-com, at least on Expert, Chryssalids seem to love dying from one heavy plasma shot, so giving them /too/ many HP is silly.) As for sight radius, from what I understand, increasing anything's sight radius past 27 results in crashes. Edited October 30, 2012 by FlyingHigh10000000

[FirebrandXL]

I dont see the need for a Chryssalid buff.

 

I my X-Com version they are modded to 10 HP (original is 8 hp ) and i play on impossible.

 

That means i always meet 3 of them at the same time.

To kill one in one shot i need a sniper critical or 3 hits with a assault rifle or 2 hits with everything better.

 

They can jump up and down buildings and spawn endless waves of zombies by infecting the civilians.

 

If i dont kill them all 3 in a lucky move in one turn, one will defenitly reach one of my soldiers and just rape him...

 

So i think they are really tough enemies until you get Alloy Cannon and Plasma Sniper.

Edited October 31, 2012 by FirebrandXL

[InsufferableSmartypants]

I love that you want to make the most frightening alien in the game even more frightening! (in my humble opinion, those aliens always get priority due to the multiplicative zombie/chryssalid effect)

 

*Shudder*

 

Chryssalids scare the bajeezus out of me. On impossible difficulty, everything is dangerous, but when I see a Chryssalid, I shoot it over anything else, except maybe a Sectopod.

 

Maybe.

[Nubshiggurath]

I realized my new impression of Chryssies is skewed by the "flanked or non-covered units get 100 crit chance" second wave option being enabled. It really makes them little pussies cause they obviously ignore cover.