johnnylump Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 Default satellite build frenzy is a total game killer for me. Along with nerfing the nexus, I've put the research modifier up to 15 (instead of 6.66); this forces construction of labs to upgrade soldiers' weapons and armor before the more powerful aliens arrive (which appears to be on a set schedule). My first playthrough with this I gave up when heavy floaters arrived and I was still on lasers and carapace. For what it's worth, here's my full list of changes. This is meant to be played on impossible. Compared to the base game, sold alien stuff is of greater importance. In addition, the long injury recovery times requires you to build more than just an A-team. Panic doesn't build up as fast, but moving the mid and late plot along takes a while. The changelist:Soldiers- Player starts with 15 soldiers; barracks capacity is reduced to 50.- Increased XP for promotion by between 10 and 50 percent. For higher ranks, the increase is greater.- Soldiers have impossible-level HP (3 base) but all armors provide 1 additional hp over normal. (So a kevlar soldier has 5 hp)- Injury recovery time significantly longer for wounds (I've seen as high as 50 days for a soldier with 1 hp remaining)- If playing with "not created equally" the range of possible stats is narrowed from default- Officer Training School abilities costs and requirements changed. They generally cost more, and require minimum ranks more commensurate with their power. Squad Size II is now available at lieutenant, as achieving captain rank takes much longer.- Days to repair SHIVS increased (but not as much as soldier healing).- Soldiers cost $5 to hire instead of $15.- Psionic Gift is more rare. UFO and Interceptions- More UFOs should be visible; you will find them in the air somewhat more often.- Interceptor repair time increased vastly (up to a month or more). You can always dump a badly damaged one and pay to replace it, of course.- Damaged UFOs provide less alloys and elerium to compenstate for all the UFOs you'll be shooting down.- Player has three days to investigate crashed UFOs (instead of 2)- Interceptors cost $80 each Missions- Typical abduction scientist and engineer rewards reduced (to encourage more labs and workshops).- Council missions should occur somewhat more often. Research- Research time for all projects more than doubled.- Research time for plot-oriented advances after arc thrower significantly increased above that.- Plasma Cannon research time increased. Construction and Engineering- All base construction (including excavation) and non-instant engineering projects take twice as long and cost twice as much. Elerium and alloy requirements remain unchanged. Maintenance is normal cost.- Thermal and Elerium power facilities provide 5 more power each.- Satellite Uplinks now only support one satellite, instead of two. The bonus for multiple adjacent uplinks remains in effect.- Satellite Nexuses now only support two satellites, instead of four. They are marginally cheaper.- Labs and Workshops are available from the start of the game and are relatively cheaper (than they would be if costs hadn't been doubled).- Labs are more effective in reducing research times. Funding- Base monthly income is $100, instead of 50 on impossible.- Gray market sales are doubled in value.- China, UK, Germany, France, South Africa, Egypt, Mexico and Japan's monthly contributions increased; Canada, Argentina and Nigeria's decreased. Panic- Un-defeated abductions raise country panic by 2, but 0 elsewhere on the continent.- Defeated abductions lower country panic by 2 instead of 3.- Defeating the alien base lowers worldwide panic by 1 instead of 2.- All countries start with one panic, except one with two (representing the Alien first strike depicted in the intro). Combat- Rocket launcher range almost doubled- Battle scanner throw range almost doubled- Soldiers will now usually seek cover and hunker down when panicked, rather than firing.- Most aliens shoot at base aim and critical chances.- Sectoids have 3 hit points.- Floaters' mobility has been increased.- Heavy Floaters mobility has been increased.- Outsiders have 10 hit points instead of 5.- The king Ethereal is a lot tougher.- Zombies will move more slowly but have more hit points.- Heavy Floaters and Drone corpses provide fewer alloys and elerium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakous79 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Very nice. Do you plan to release it as mod? Also how do you double rocket launcher range please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnylump Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 (edited) Very nice. Do you plan to release it as mod? Also how do you double rocket launcher range please? Release: I certainly can; it's all just defaultgamecore changes -- I would like to play it a few more times first. Rocket Launcher: In this line, I changed iRange from 27 to 50. Seems like it's flying further. Weapons=(iType=eItem_RocketLauncher, ... iRange=50 ... ) Edited December 2, 2012 by johnnylump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakous79 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 (edited) The increase doesn't work for me. Measured the range and it is 18 tiles +1 heavy is standing at. 19 total. Edited December 2, 2012 by Drakous79 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnylump Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 The increase doesn't work for me. Measured the range and it is 18 tiles +1 heavy is standing at. 19 total. You're correct; it sure seemed like I was getting more range out of the rocket, but I guess I wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingHigh10000000 Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) So, is there any way to just outright force the aliens to do more abduction missions every month? I've set my game so that only one abduction mission happens at a time, because I hate the idea of having to kick two countries to the curb because XCOM was too cheap to buy an extra Skyranger or two, but of course that leaves me staring at a very empty geoscape for a majority of the month, with no panic increase of any kind, since as was pointed out before, setting the UFO limit higher doesn't cause a drastic change. Edited December 7, 2012 by FlyingHigh10000000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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