JDCollie

I second the idea that the UFO series is worth looking at for any developer who wants to inject some new life into the XCOM formula. Though I would argue that if you can only look at one, I would personally recommend UFO: Aftershock. Territory expansion, regional interdependency, base building, somewhat deeper global logistics than Afterlight, faction management, multiple enemy groups with different motives and different means of attacking the player's faction, and a plot that is just weird enough to keep you guessing. To be fair though, I love how personnel management is handled in Afterlight. The idea of being forced to bring people who are normally scientists or engineers out into the field is neat, and having unit progression for characters that are usually just a number assigned to a research or manufacturing job brings more life to the game. I love Xenonauts, but man, if you guys took some of the more innovative strategic-layer ideas from the UFO series and mixed them with the already tried and true goods ones you've got . . . oooh, that thought gives me goosebumps.

I believe the alternate weapon textures are already present in the game files. The mod you link just does the legwork for you in renaming the relevant files.

Drat.

I've also noticed that Sebellian weaponsfire feels waaaay more accurate than it did before. I thought it was just my imagination or confirmation bias, but maybe not?

Just a simple question: was the ability to give weapons (aside from rocket launchers) multiple ammo types ever implemented in CE? Thanks!

I downloaded and tried it yesterday; 3 missions without crashes or trouble (well, aside from my troops dying horribly anyway, but that's normal)

Other than the installation issues, how's it work for you?

Here's the other little weapon mod I've been working on: the Pancor Jackhammer Admittedly, it's a bit op, but there isn't much I can do about that without making it completely useless. At least it is fun JDPancor.zip JDPancor.zip

Really? I just had to click the "Install" in the mod manager to get it to work when I installed it from the zip. :\

I mostly mean to illustrate that there are gameplay options for fixing the problems that people have mentioned, rather than simply making manufacturing profitable. Profitable manufacturing simply undermines a core mechanic. Regardless of how you balance it, it will always serve to reduce the importance of defending member nations, and that is something which should never happen. In short, we should give players more tools to do their jobs, rather than making their jobs irrelevant.

I had some of the dudes in Africa with AK's take out a full UFO worth of Caesan in two turns. All I heard was an almost constant stream of burst fire. I never even saw the aliens.

Personally, I think the major problem isn't the necessity of manufacturing, it is the randomness of UFO distribution and the fragility of first month finances. If a player could be guaranteed a minimum number of UFO encounters during the first month, then there is little argument for manufacturing profit, because the organization's failure at that point would be due to the player's failure, which is acceptable. One kind of odd alternative is a vessel like X-Division's AWAC; a mobile radar vessel available from day 1 would allow a player to locate and intercept UFOs even if they get unlucky on first month UFO distribution. Basically, I am against manufacturing profit because it devalues the core failure mechanics of the game. The major arguments for manufacturing profits revolve around providing the player alternatives when the randomization screws them. I'm personally for giving them other tools, rather than simply negating the funding mechanic all together. Also, for those who just want a mechanic for surviving a finance drought, why make manufacturing profitable? Why not just not give the player the one time option of a "Fire Sale" where a large amount of resources are removed, and the player receives a significant finance boost as compensation? That way the core funding mechanics remain valued, but the player still has an option to counter a really unlucky streak.

Just a basic little mod that adds the M24 bolt action rifle to your starting inventory. It has longer range and higher damage than the Precision Rifle, but cannot be fired more than once per turn, and only Aimed fire mode is accurate. (Granted, it is very accurate, but it does cost 70% TUs) Both Snap and Normal fire modes have the same TU cost and accuracy, mostly because I don't know how to have a weapon that only fires in Snap and Aimed modes. Oh well. Does not replace the Precision Rifle. Update: Changed to just two firing modes for the sake of simplicity. JD's Bolt Action Rifle.zip JD's Bolt Action Rifle.zip

That's the version I'm playing; I haven't updated yet

What in the nine hells does it take to kill a Viper Alpha (or whatever the really big vipers are called), and how many hitpoints do they have?