kabill

Yeah, I forgot to indicate that in the OP and your interpretation of the files is correct. There's two reasons why I have increased it. Firstly, I (unlike everyone else, apparently) have a strong fondness for more damage randomisation. I think it might be a verisimilitude thing: real bullets vary considerably in their effects depending on where they hit. But secondly, it's also important regarding armour. More damage randomisation allows for unusually high-damage attacks which are effective against armoured targets, while less damage randomisation makes this less of a feature. While that might seem like it's primarily a disadvantage, given that aliens now make extensive use of armour as well so it works both ways. In other words, it hasn't been changed arbitrarily and it's not something that I'm inclined to change. That said, I've been testing the mod on Veteran rather than Insane so I don't know what it's like in that context. (If it was possible, I'd be happy with a roll-twice-take-mean system for damage so that spikes are possible but less likely. But it isn't.) Ooo! Yes please

I'd say that three bases are optimal: 1 main base and two radar/interception bases. Anything more is expensive and doesn't really add to your capabilities. It can be useful to build a lab or two in one of the other bases later in the game (since research projects are shared across all bases and so you'll save some space in your main strike base). But in the main I'd plan for three and build more in the late game if you need them. Depending on how good you are at the air combat game, I would say three at a minimum and more if you need them. I usually have 2 Foxtrots in each base and on Condor (upgrades to a Corsair when they become available) which is enough to deal with most UFOs. You won't necessarily drop them all with that few due to reload/rearm times but it's a good baseline on which you can build more if funds/resources are available. There are very few new building unlocks - most building improvements upgrade existing facilities instead. So I wouldn't worry about saving space. Luck depending, I'd expect to lose a country at the end of the third month and if not then definitely at the end of the forth. That's on Veteran difficulty though; not sure about Normal. It also supposes you have three bases up and running by the end of the third month too. The only answer you need to know is: not you.

Ugh, sorry, that's what I get for mot reading all the way through to the end. Never mind.

Nor did I, until I posted that message before. And given the amount of time I spent working on UFOs when this would have been really useful, I'm slightly sad about that fact. Might be useful if/when I redo Enhanced Crash Sites and Fire in the Hole though.

Probably worth uploading the Campaign save game so someone else can check it out.

It's actually not that difficult, I think. The only issue of any significance is the fact that the map editor won't be able to display the new UFO types (I assume, unless llunak is planning on updating the map editor too?) so it will be necessary to place new UFOs on maps via .xml edits instead. This could mostly be worked around by adding a UFO of a similar size via the map editor and just replacing it in the .xml file, though.

I suppose you could temporarily change the image used by the spectre to a blank transparent one then change it back afterwards. Clunky but I guess not much more than having to delete it from the submap.

Basically, map/submap editing. I'd quite like to make a random pack for the tropical tileset as its ideally suited for that format. But making submaps for it can be time consuming. So if you had some time and willingness producing some submaps would be super-helpful. I can provide details if you're interested.

Yeah, just unrar. All the mod manager does is unzip things anyway.

Do you mean, how can you make them transparent while working within the submap editor? If so, you can't. You can only delete them and replace them as the last thing you do.

What's the problem, exactly? (Also, if you are a Steam user switching to the XCE branch will include a copy of this map pack by default, I think).

There's been some discussions behind the scenes of doing something with this. But there's possibly some XCE work to be done first.

Flamethrower: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13199-Vanilla-1-59-and-XCE-Kabill-s-Flame-Thrower?p=150900#post150900 Comments are welcome as it will need a balance pass.

Kabill's Flame Thrower Features: Adds a new flamethrower weapon to the Xenonaut arsenal for burning out the alien invaders in close quarters. Known Issues: There are no known issues with this mod. However, it is currently in playtest and could do with some rebalancing, probably to make it stronger. Comments, as always, welcome. --- Download: Kabill's Flame Thrower --- Install Instructions: NOTE - THE MOD IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON STEAM. IT WILL BE ONCE I HAVE GIVEN IT A BALANCE PASS AND MADE SURE IT IS POLISHED. To install, either: 1) Unpack the zip file into assets/mods; or 2) Install using the mod manager in the Xenonauts game launcher Alternatively, for Steam users, you can install the mod via Steam Workshop. However you install the mod, make sure you set it to 'active' in the mod manager. Uninstall Instructions: To uninstall, either: 1) Delete the mod's folder from assets/mods; or 2) Uninstall using the mod manager in the Xenonauts game launcher If you installed using Steam Workshop, you should also unsubscribe from the mod (otherwise it will keep re-downloading). Note that simply unsubscribing from the mod will not delete it; you must also delete the mod using one of the above methods.

Cool! Look forward to seeing what you end up making.

Hmm, yes, I'd not thought about it in the context of the shooting changes in XCE. Might have an experiment and see what happens, anyway.

Colossus armour isn't possible as there's no unit sprites for it any more. A flame thrower is more plausible. Mikhail, when he was making his Magnum-nauts mod, made flamethrowers as a shot range burst-fire weapon which would spam shots with a small area of effect and produce fire. It's not perfect, but it's probably better than any alternative. Maybe I'll have a look at it some time.

Appreciated, thanks! Ugh, yes. I completely forgot about starting loadouts. Will sort that out for final release. I suspect you'd probably get used to the two images when you've played for a while. Certainly I don't have any trouble telling them apart. However, the only reason I have for not using the AK47 is that I'm not personally a fan of it. But that's not really a good reason for not using it and it would certainly be helpful to have more clearly distinct ammo clips and unit sprites. So I think I'll make that change for the final version.

Have just tried this and it seems to work. Set up a new UFO submap and copied the contents from another submap. Copied a map and edited the spawn points to match the test copy. And added an entry to airplanes.xml (just to be sure). Using the quickbattle function I was able to load a map which seemed to be precisely as I would have expected it to be. So looks like it's up and running.

That's a bug. I remember it being an issue when Mikhail was making his Magnum-nauts mod The hypothesis at the time was that it's caused in some way by armour mitigation but we might have disproved that somehow. But yes, definitely a bug.

Just tried the new .exe and maptypes file with both an existing and new game and it seems to be working fine (put maptypes.xml in your XCE mod folder). Haven't tested to see whether it works adding new UFO types in yet as I've not time to sort a map out though.

Don't know what the soldier stats are like in X-Division, but I wouldn't call 70 Accuracy average. But in any case, a soldier with 70 Accuracy isn't by any means sure of a hit - the difference between a 30% chance of missing and a 5% chance of missing isn't insubstantial (see calculations below). Remember that the sniper rifle can also take a normal shot with the same level of accuracy and same TU cost. In other words, when taking single shots the sniper rifle is just a better weapon than the assault rifle. So the only time that the sniper rifle 'loses' is in an instance when you would have preferred to take a burst shot instead (and, in reverse, the assault rifle only 'loses' when you take a single shot). In practice, I've found this to be a reasonable trade-off. But then, I'm also playing in the context of a mod which increases sight ranges which makes longer-range engagements more common (and therefore single shots more useful) as it's more difficult to close on a target for close-range burst damage. (With all this said, I'd say x1.5 damage for the sniper rifle is probably about right in an otherwise more vanillary combat system. That's enough to be noticeable but also maintains multiple hits as the main way of causing serious damage to targets.) Shot accuracy, before modifiers, is calculated as: Soldier Accuracy x %Weapon Accuracy. So a soldier with 60 Accuracy shooting with a Accuracy 50 shot has 60 * 50% = 30% chance to hit. So weapons with Accuracy of 10 shouldn't have better than a 10% chance to hit at most (range modifiers notwithstanding). If you're getting something different to that, it sounds like a bug. (An exception can be made for close-range shooting since shots will scatter into the target anyway and would produce what you're describing).

IMPORTANT NOTE: This mod has been released for playtesting. Content-wise it is 100% complete and there are no game-breaking bugs that I am aware of. However, there may be some minor issues with parts of the tech-tree and there will be some balancing work to be done. As such, do not use this mod if you cannot tolerate some minor problems. Overview: Tactical armouries is a GC overhaul. It revamps the weapon tech-trees by revising existing weapons, adding a few extra ones such that each tier has unique strengths. It also makes some important changes to ground combat more generally, the most significant being extended sight and engagement ranges (from 18 tiles to 24 tiles) and an elongated short-range distance (from 5 tiles to 12). There are also some changes to to the geoscape too, specifically in how 'unlimited' items like aircraft and vehicle weapons are accessed - rather than unlocking immediately after the requisite tech is completed, you must also complete a manufacturing project. Link: Kabill's Tactical Armouries v1.0 Features: This list is probably not complete, as it's a while since I started making this mod so might miss some details. But anyway: - Revised weapon tech-trees: Each weapon tier has its own strengths, resulting in asymmetric weapon upgrades. The ballistic tier is basically the same as vanilla with a broad spread of different capabilities. Laser weapons are comparably more accurate and have high damage values but lack automatic fire, making them strong in long-range engagements but less strong in close-quarters. MAG weapons (which now occupy the third tier) have comparable levels of damage to ballistic weapons but an enhanced rate of fire when bursts are used and have good armour penetration making them effective against armoured targets. Finally, plasma weapons have very high damage but low ammunition counts and only limited burst-fire options. - Armoured aliens: Rather than higher-tier aliens getting large bonuses to HP, they now get only moderate HP buffs but instead gain increasingly more effective armour. Caesans, Sebillians and Wraiths are lightly armoured, Harridans moderately armoured and Androns, Drones and Praetors heavily armoured. - Revised alien stats: more generally, alien stats have been revised somewhat to factor in armour changes. Overall there have not been large changes to most races but Androns are generally less strong than they used to be as a result of their very high armour values. I've also changed some of the AI values to, for example, encourage aliens to use higher ground more often. - Combat ranges: units have a sight range of 24 tiles rather than the vanilla 18 tiles and weapon ranges have been adjusted accordingly. Furthermore, short range bonuses start to apply at 12 tiles rather than the vanilla 5, gaining +4 to hit for every tile within that distance. - Suppression: Weapons can now suppress beyond their maximum effective range, although their effectiveness doing so is reduced the further beyond range you are shooting (like accuracy drop-off). Furthermore, armour no longer subtracts its value from suppression damage done but instead reduces it by a proportion. For example, previously Jackal armour reduced suppression damage by 25 points; now it reduces suppression damage by 25% instead. This allows for smoother suppression values and allows heavily armoured soldiers/aliens to actually be suppressed. - TU costs: TU costs for crouching and for moving items in the inventory screen have all be revised upwards. This has been primarily to discourage weapon-swapping and/or to encourage forward planning with in-hand items. - Grenade costs: the cost of throwing a grenade when a soldier has a two-handed weapon in hand is a fair amount higher. As much, most soldiers can only move a few tiles and throw a grenade. This is to encourage pistol use as this penalty is not applied when a soldier has a free hand. Dedicated grenadiers are now therefore a thing. - Smaller pistols: On a related note, pistols are no longer enormous hand-cannons, occupying a 2x1 space in a soldier's inventory rather than a 3x2 space. It is now therefore possible to carry a sidearm without filling a soldier's entire belt. - Revised carrying capacity: Soldier's max carrying weight is down significantly from vanilla. This is to encourage a greater level of discretion when equipping soldiers and to produce meaningful consequences for loading weaker soldiers with heavy armour and weapons beyond their inability to carry as many grenades. Accordingly, the mod reverts a recent XCE change that applied the overburden penalty after calculating TUs needed to shoot rather than after. - Heavier shields: Relatedly, combat shields now weight something in the region of what they weigh in real life and therefore will burden most soldiers at least slightly unless they carry very little else. Assault shields, however, have the advantage of being a lot lighter. - Making 'unlimited' items: All items which became unlimited when unlocked in the vanilla game now require a manufacturing project to be completed before doing so. Some (vehicle weapons and aircraft cannons) are manufactured individually, although my feeling on this is that it's not well balanced and I am thinking of possibly revising it. - Manufacturing resources: All weapons now require alien power cells to manufacture. Alien power cells are the ammo clips used by aliens during ground combat. To support this change, alien weapons no longer sell for anything: in lore, these weapons are stripped for parts to be used in manufacturing projects and this is represented by the number of power cells in store. You therefore have full control over whether you keep cells for making into weapons or whether you sell them for cash instead. Note that there are other resource costs for weapons as well - generally alloy costs are down (but up on some projects for balance) and some items require alenium as well. - Manufacturing for profit: weapons can be built and sold for a cash profit. It's a disputed topic, but so far as I am concerned if you have the resources to waste building things for sale then why not. - Revised soldier stats: Soldier stats generally start a little higher (between 40 and 70) but are capped as a maximum of 80 (so no more super soldiers). This makes soldier losses less painful and veterans less overwhelming (if you get any - I have yet to see a maxed-out soldier!). Also, TUs only increase 1 point per mission rather than 2; TUs are good and don't need double-speed progression. - Revised wounds and healing: Mortal wounds now do only one damage per turn but are more likely to occur. Furthermore, the healing limit of medikits and advanced medikits has been cut to 10 for basic and 25 for advanced. This is to make medikits, especially advanced medikits, more valuable. - Predator Overhaul: Predator armour no longer uses conventional Xenonaut heavy weapons but has it's own set of super-heavy weapons at each tier. These super-heavy weapons cannot be reloaded in the field. Accordingly, it is possible to equip a predator weapon on each arm, albeit with a small movement penalty. This also allows you to mix weapon types, for example, by equipping a twin-linked laser cannon as a primary weapon but also equipping a rocket launcher for AoE attacks. - Armoured Assault: This mod also includes all the changes in my Armoured Assault mod, adjusted in line with the changes in this mod. So basically, better or distinct vehicles with a range of different weapons that can be equipped. Still no secondary weapons, sorry. I think that's it. Compatibility: This mod is compatible with all my other mods and has provision built in to ensure that it works with Cybernetic Armour and Fire in the Hole. As the mod includes Armoured Assault already, however, do not use that mod with this. Feedback Requests: I'm releasing this mod for playtesting. Therefore, I would appreciate any comments or feedback people have. From my initial playtest a few months ago, my impression was that the game was somewhat harder than vanilla but it's been so long since I played vanilla that it might be the base game and I didn't realise. I'm also playing with loads of other mods so there might be some interaction. So other people's comments would be helpful. Things I especially would like comments on: - Weapon balance (both within and between tiers); - Economy balance (especially with the changes to 'unlimited' items); - Does the tech-tree make sense (I don't think it quite does at the moment but I'd be interested to see what other people think); - Alien stats (especially armour and AI); - And anything else! Lastly, apologies that the information here is a bit messy. If you have any questions (e.g. weapon stats) just ask. At some point I'll rewrite all this to get it more coherent but I'm hoping this will do for now. Acknowledgements: The mod uses Lt Parsons' True Laser Beam mod for laser weapons. It also uses some images someone else made for laser weapons but I can't for the life of me remember who or find the page where they were posted. If anyone recognizes them and can help me out there, I'd much appreciate it! (Otherwise I'll have a more detailed look at some point in the future).

I don't know much about X-Division and its weapons so this may or may not be useful. But here's how I've 'solved' the problem of assault vs. precision rifle in a mod I'm currently testing: The assault rifle has two aim levels: snap (30% TU, 50% Acc.) and normal (60% TU, 100% Acc.). It also has burst mode (45% TU, 25% Acc.). The precision rifle has three aim levels: snap (30% TU, 50% Acc.), normal (60% TU, 100% Acc.) and aimed (90% TU, 150% Acc.). It has no burst mode but 20% more damage than the assault rifle and a longer effective range. These stats, although there's quite a lot of overlap, make for fairly different weapons. Used to take single shots, the precision rifle is better as it has higher damage and effective aim while it can also be used to take high-accuracy shots which the assault rifle cannot. However, the assault rifle's burst fire makes it much more effective at close range as the shot-range bonuses make it likely that the shooter will score multiple hits. Furthermore, while burst fire might not be effective for damage at longer ranges, it's effective for suppression while the precision rifle isn't. I've found this to be pretty balanced. In situations where I need long-range shooting I notice when I don't have precision rifles in the squad; likewise while precision rifles are not useless in close quarters situations I definitely miss not having assault rifles. The important point, I think, is that the per-bullet damage isn't very different between the two: the precision rifle is slightly more powerful but not by a great deal by any means. The weapons are distinguished by their fire modes instead. As such - and repeating the caveat that I know nothing about X-Divisions weapons - if you have sufficiently different fire-modes for the different weapons I suspect somewhere in the region of x1.5 regular rifle damage is probably more than enough.

In theory the chances of this happening should be very small, as the aliens choose which base to attack based on the amount of time it has been in play. But I don't disagree - it would be nice if there was a grace period of, say, 15 days before a base could be attacked (15 days is enough time to finish construction and build a living quarters to house a garrison).