[X:CE v0.25+] You Can't Take the Sky From Me - A Hard-Mode Air Combat Mod

[kabill]

You Can't Take the Sky From Me - A Hard-Mode Air Combat Mod

EDIT - 18/08/2018

I have recently been re-uploading all my mods here, in case anyone still wants to use them and can't access them through Steam Workshop.  This mod has not been re-uploaded.  There's some discussion of this in the thread but, in short, it never did what I wanted it to be able to do and once you learned how to beat it, it was just a longer and more stressful version of the vanilla game.  I have therefore made the decision for the mod to be depricated.  But I will leave the thread here for curiosity's sake.

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Inspired by Max_Caine's Flying Circus mod, You Can't Take the Sky From Me is an overhaul of the air combat game which makes it: 1) much harder; and 2) much more skill based. This mod is *not* recommended if you find vanilla air combat difficult. You won't enjoy it.

Features:

- Long range air combat: All weapons have had their ranges adjusted up significantly so that aircraft engage each other at a longer range. Significantly, however, Xenonaut air-to-air weapons tend to have *less* range than the alien weapons, making it difficult to avoid drawing fire in combat.

- Narrow fields of fire: Player weapons have had their field of fire reduced and therefore require much more accuracy on the player's part to get a lock. Rolling - either on your part or the aliens - will most often break your lock, meaning you need to choose your approaches carefully if you want to use missiles to attack with.

- Durable UFOs and More Ammunition: UFOs have had their durability increased significantly. In addition to this, however, player weapons carry much more ammo. Combats therefore take significantly longer than in vanilla as it requires more hits to down a UFO.

- Skill first: Overall, the damage-dealing ability of aircraft gas been increased significantly. As such, the maximum damage that an aircraft can do is much less important in terms of your ability to shoot down a UFO. Instead, skill is more important, with higher damage weapons reducing the amount of skill needed to defeat a UFO by reducing the number of hits needed and doing damage more quickly, thus minimizing the amount of fire you take in return.

- Foxtrot Overhaul: The Foxtrot has been overhauled significantly. Like other aircraft, they can now roll such that they have a means to defend themselves. However, Torpedoes have had their range reduced significantly such that they have a *shorter* range than missiles. Foxtrots must therefore use their speed to close in on a UFO to deliver their high-damage payloads, rather than destroying everything from afar.

- UFO Overhaul: All the UFOs have been given a substantial array of new weapons to make the more of a threat. Larger UFOs also make use of anti-missile defenses, making missile strikes less effective against them.

Work in Progress:

I've tested this mod up to ~mid November so far and am happy with the difficulty. I welcome any comments or feedback though as I'm certain some balance tweaks are going to be required.

Acknowledgements:

- Thanks to Max_Caine, who although was not involved in making this mod nevertheless inspired a lot of the stuff in it through his Flying Circus mod.

- Solver and llunak for source code changes which made this mod work better (and in one instance, at all!)

Download:

X:CE 0.25 and later: You Can't Take the Sky From Me (last updated 10/08/2014)

ONLY COMPATIBLE WITH XENONAUTS: COMMUNITY EDITION MOD v0.25 or later

Install Instructions

To install, simply unpack the download in your assets/mods directory.

Uninstall Instructions

To uninstall, simply delete the unpacked file in the mods/ directory.

Compatibility:

Because this mod uses the mod-loading function, it is compatible with any other mods. I wouldn't recommend combining it with other air combat mods, though, as they're almost certainly not going to work well together.

Appendix:

Air battle vs. 3 alien fighters:

[video=youtube;loBMezQ4Bjo]

[kabill]

Air battle vs. Corvette

[video=youtube;qFOEluhc_yc]

[kabill]

Air battle vs. Light Scout:

[video=youtube;jgVRBxA5BXs]

[kabill]

Air battle vs. Scout:

[video=youtube;z-Z_s3-1nsM]

[Crazyduck123]

I've been watching this mod for a while now - not only have you succeeded in magnifying the arcade-esque playability elements of Xenonauts, but you've also successfully played to the realism camp by providing jets with appreciable quantities of ordinance, along with rendering alien vessels capable of traveling at near-light speed along with surviving the rigours of hypersonic re-entries actually tough; compliments!

Adding physical skill elements (just an opinion) to the Foxtrot is also a wonderful trait - unfortunately the (vanilla) sniper-esque role of the 'trot had previously reduced the enjoyment factor; along with the realisation that torpedoes could fill all manner of sidewinder-derivitive niches when fired appropriately. You've truly added to Goldhawk's work, dude.

[kabill]

Thanks for the comments, that's very kind. The issue of Foxtrots and Torpedoes I do think is key like you say, although at the same time enough people find the air game challenging that on balance I'd say it's a good thing that the vanilla game works like that.

As an aside, I need to do a new run-through of tests of this mod. X:CE 0.26 introduced some air combat AI changes which will possibly make this mod too hard at the moment.

[llunak]

I was wondering when you'd notice .

[kabill]

I was wondering when you'd notice .

Well, when I tried it with 0.25 (with the AI targeting AI buffed to full as I was playing on Veteran) it was actually fine. I'd got to the point where I could quite effectively win through kiting using this mod, so breaking that with the target shifting was spot on.

The key 'problem' is removal of target-leading. Not only does it mean you can't mislead the UFOs, but it also seems to make the better at turning. So a couple of Light Scouts I tried when 0.26 just obliterated me. Those aren't complaints (I like the changes), but the mod was balanced assuming target-leading was valid so I really need to check whether the mod still works.

Out of wonder, are you planning any further air combat AI alterations? It would be useful to know if so, as I'll avoid updating if you're planning on more work (no point rebalancing for the current system and then having to do it again for another).

[llunak]

No plans for near future, although there's still something in my todo for somewhen later.

[kabill]

Cool, thanks.

[MortuusSum]

X:CE 0.26 introduced some air combat AI changes which will possibly make this mod too hard at the moment.

According to above the OP was last edited July 31st. Has this mod been updated to deal with UFO AI in 0.26? Sorry to bother you.

[kabill]

No, sorry, it hasn't yet. Need to set aside some time to look at it properly. Although I've just had a thought about a cure that would be pretty simple. Might have a quick look tomorrow and see if it works.

[MortuusSum]

No, sorry, it hasn't yet. Need to set aside some time to look at it properly. Although I've just had a thought about a cure that would be pretty simple. Might have a quick look tomorrow and see if it works.

Cool, thanks. I was just asking because I'm just starting a new playthrough now and looking at mods I haven't used before.

[kabill]

Update: Some balance changes for 0.26 air combat AI.

Changelog (v1.1):

- Narrowed field of fire on Light Scout and all alien interceptors to account for better AI targeting.

- Reduced rate of fire of alien weapons very slightly again to account for better targeting.

- Implemented target shifting AI for UFOs. Based on game difficulty, UFOs have a chance to change their target when another aircraft is threatening them.

[silencer]

In general I like the idea of this mod. I am continuously thinking about using it, but I don't like artificial difficulty. While I agree on reducing cannons arc, I don't like the reduced missile cone of fire at least not by that much. I also don't like the ultra nerf of torpedoes.

I also have a question about Corsair balance. Did you increase ammo for it? Condors / Foxtrots / Maruders have more missiles now, so should Corsairs get more ammo (or you have gave him 4 cannons).

Have you also reduced fuel usage in combat? Since it takes longer, you will use more rolls, afterburners, fuel consumption might be a issue.

What about auto reslove? Have you adjusted the weights? Or "disabled" autoresolve. By disable I mean any encounter except Fury has 0% auto resolve.

[kabill]

While I agree on reducing cannons arc, I don't like the reduced missile cone of fire at least not by that much. I also don't like the ultra nerf of torpedoes.

The reason why the firing arc for missiles is reduced is to add skill to their use.

In vanilla, the wide arc of missiles means that you can maintain a lock even when you roll to avoid incoming fire. As such, as soon as you're in range with missiles you can fire them and there's basically nothing the target can do.

In contrast, with a narrow field of fire rolling more or less forces a lock-break. As such, attempting to use missiles in the face of incoming enemy fire is very difficult (and if the target can roll, more or less impossible). This requires you to approach from the side or rear of the target instead where you're not being forced to roll to avoid fire. (Alternatively, you can tank the damage to get a missile launch instead, but obviously has the cost of getting hit!).

As for the torpedo 'nerf' - they're still better than light missiles, they're just not 'I win' buttons. The torpedoes in vanilla are one of the major reasons why the air game isn't very difficult or interesting, because they allow you to kill almost anything with no risk. But with a short range, they require some involvement from the player.

I also have a question about Corsair balance. Did you increase ammo for it? Condors / Foxtrots / Maruders have more missiles now, so should Corsairs get more ammo (or you have gave him 4 cannons).

Corsairs have the same loadout as in vanilla. However, all cannon weapons were adjusted in line with missiles so the firepower of the Corsair relative to other aircraft is comparable to vanilla. Furthermore, since missiles are harder to use in this mod, and since many UFOs have anti-missile defenses of some kind or another, the utility of two cannons over cannon+missiles is probably greater than in vanilla (but I've not given this part of the mod an extensive test).

Have you also reduced fuel usage in combat? Since it takes longer, you will use more rolls, afterburners, fuel consumption might be a issue.

I haven't made any changes in this regard, but in practice I've not found it to be problematic. You definitely do use more fuel - I find myself using afterburners a lot - but I can't say I can recall many instances where I've been forced out of combat due to fuel issues.

What about auto reslove? Have you adjusted the weights? Or "disabled" autoresolve. By disable I mean any encounter except Fury has 0% auto resolve.

No changes to autoresolve at the moment. The reason for this is that I didn't want to alter it until I had a very good idea of what the win probabilities are. Furthermore, if you're using this mod I assume you're interested in the air combat minigame and therefore not very interested in autoresolving, so I haven't made it a priority.

[MortuusSum]

The download link just downloads an empty .zip folder.

[kabill]

Ugh, thanks. Updated so that the file actually contains the mod, now.

[silencer]

So, aliens have counter measures, that is 1 nerf towards torpedoes, lower range - nerf number 2, lower arc, nerf number 3, but you get more missiles. That's 3:1 in balance department. I think that missiles should have at least 2x arc of cannons. If torpedoes have such a low range they should be called mini-nukes

[kabill]

For sure, I wasn't denying that torpedoes had been nerfed. My point was that they remain powerful in spite of that nerf.

Also, for what it's worth, missiles already have almost double the arc of cannons (3 degrees vs 5 degrees). In my experience that does more or less precisely what I want it to do.

(Complete aside, but as part of a larger mod I'd be interested in exploring more diverse air combat weapons. Air weapon upgrades work basically the same as in vanilla here, but it would be cool to have a mix of things with different ranges, firing arcs, lock time and so on.)

[silencer]

Oh.. looks so thin, that I haven't noticed the difference.

[azzim]

I have try this in XCE 0.26 on insane level. Few things - my already existed Foxtrot appeard with 1 avalanche missle on right wing and second avalanche in place of cannon. I've been able to change this for cannon but on the left wing there was an empty place and after selecting this to load missle I have CTD always. When i build a new one foxtrot - the problem didn't show. The other things that in XCE 0.26 on insane level fighting a corvette or bomber ship with 2 fighter escorts is immpossible!!!

[kabill]

Probably best not to install this mod mid-game, as it will cause issues like you describe. I'd recommend starting a new game if you want to use this mod.

Regarding difficulty, yes I suspect those fights are especially hard. Personally, I'm not sure that'd a bad thing, though. You don't have to do those air battles if they're too difficult, and you might find with better tech they become manageable.

[azzim]

I think that is too hard - aliens has their BIG FoF in Your mod and they are able to firing and locking missiles even after they made roll - human fighters are loosing their small FoF too quickly and this is not realistic. I know that is for making playing with this mod more challanging but in my opinion You gave aliens a little bit too much - player hasn't got ability to make for himself "mass production" to replace lost fighters...The second thing is that missiles are to easy losing targets when comes to fight with alien escort fighters - they are too often miss even when I fire second missile 2-3 seconds after first one while staying on target and locking him. Enemy is making roll and avoiding my first one and the second one is not hitting too much often or enemy has time to make another roll -this for vannilla was probably to make some balance in air combat but in Your mod (with lots of heavy fire and extremally LoF that You gave to aliens) it is a death sentence

[azzim]

And please know that I am only saying this in my opinion - I am no modder and I have a lots of respect for You and for the others guys who are trying to make this game better with their mods and hard work.