Adding more scouts and less fightercraft

[Max_Caine]

One of the most common complaints is too many fightercraft. I originally thought this was due to AirSuperiority, but that isn't quite true - it's more due to Research and Scout missions being the most likely to happen, and those missions featuring fightercraft quite prominently. I've noticed that in these two missions heavy fighters and interceptors will either spawn after a certain point (Scout) or always spawn (Research). Personally I think both these mission types are better suited to scouts, but with a possible escort after the ticker rises (to reflect that the admirals of the alien fleet are going to start protecting their scouts more effectively). Otherwise a wave is likely to just have 3-4 heavy fighters with a splash of corvette or landing craft to add flavour. I therefore propose these changes.

To AM_Scout:

A change to Escort Chance is needed...

<Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0">

<Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Escort chance</Data></Cell>

<Cell ss:StyleID="s64"><Data ss:Type="Number">1000</Data></Cell>

</Row>

There's currently no escort for a scout mission. Setting it to 1000 reflects that at that point in time, the admirals of the alien fleet will notice all their crashed scouts and start assigning escort craft to them to protect them.

<Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0">

<Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">m:airplane.alien.lightscout</Data></Cell>

<Cell ss:StyleID="s64"><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell>

</Row>

Scout missions start off with light scouts....

<Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0">

<Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">m:airplane.alien.scout</Data></Cell>

<Cell ss:StyleID="s64"><Data ss:Type="Number">1000</Data></Cell>

</Row>

And progress to normal scouts quite quickly. Then we add the escorts

<Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0">

<Cell ss:StyleID="s24"><Data ss:Type="String">e:airplane.alien.fighter</Data></Cell>

<Cell ss:StyleID="s23"><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell>

</Row>

<Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0">

<Cell ss:StyleID="s24"><Data ss:Type="String">e:airplane.alien.heavyfighter</Data></Cell>

<Cell ss:StyleID="s23"><Data ss:Type="Number">1200</Data></Cell>

</Row>

This is cut and pasted almost directly from AM_AirSuperiority - I've just changed the ticker point for heavy fighters. It seems a natural enough progression, without being too heavy. And that's all for this one.

To AM_Research:

Change Escort Chance, as I'm adding an escort...

<Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0">

<Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Escort chance</Data></Cell>

<Cell ss:StyleID="s64"><Data ss:Type="Number">500</Data></Cell>

</Row>

Then with the m:airplane.alien.fighter and .heavyfighter, delete those and cut and paste the escort data from above.

EDIT: I've been trying for a while to get escorts for scouts to appear, and I'm not succeeding. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT 2: I forgot that the Scout missions don't start till the ticker hits 800. Fixed that.

Edited July 7, 2012 by Max_Caine

[Mordachai]

How far into the game (roughly) is 800, 1000 and 1200 respectivly? Just asking out of curiousity since I've reached the end of July and have a serious amount of fighters. The first terror mission is around the corner, but I guess that might be on a different timer.

[Max_Caine]

It depends on your game. The ticker increases by a small amount every in-game minute, but it also increases by a larger amount for certain types of ufo missions (research and scout especially) and also increases when ufos are on the map anyway. I found the 800 mark was reached for me 2 months in. And the ticker is a "master timer". All the ufo missions run off the ticker, and ufo escalation is also dependant on it as well.

[Jossis]

Are you setting this to a portable mod, for the mod installer?