Little Mod V4

[Sathra]

Can't believe no-one told me vehicles have 150 HP. Fixed now, along with alien bases and terror missions having a higher score for success. So now you can choose to do the terror ship for the loots, or the terror mission for the kudos.

And bases are hard, but have good (score) rewards!

So the download of V4.1 has been updated. Save compatible, but it can take a mission or two for the vehicle health to refresh.

[Beanchilla]

Sathra your mod looks amazing. I'm determined to beat my veteran run before trying it out but thanks for making it and updating it.

[Sathra]

[Sathra]

Oh, if users of the mod could give a little story about how a mission went (not Light Scouts) that would be helpful. How did it flow, tactics you used, weapons and armour you were equipped with. All helpful.

[steelwarrior]

Hey Sathra - you will see in my newly started LP series - which one is the right place to download the update? The first downlaodlinkj (V4) or the second (4.1)? Thanks as always for your great help!

[cody522]

Hey how am I supposed to install this mod? From the game launcher I use the modding tools option to install the zip file of this mod, but that doesn't seem to change my game.

I'd love to try this mod seeing how the game is unbalanced when it comes to finances.

Edited June 8, 2013 by cody522

[Pinetree]

Kinda, if you dump the files straight from the Xtended Background mod over the top of my mod it'll work, but a bunch of stuff won't have names (due to strings.xml changes I made). You could copy the changes either from my strings.xml or the Xtended's strings.xml, but either way there would be some work involved.

The changes from background mods would probably be stuff listed under 'experience' if you do a 'find' (ctrl-F) search.

Yup, search for "experience" and 'regiment'. In my next release I'll add two files called regiments.xml and experience.xml which are the slices of strings.xml I have changed.Every time I update my mod I overwrite the stock regiments and experience with these files. People then can copy and paste these into other modded strings.xml files so they can use Xtended Soldiers with ones like this one.

[Sathra]

Hey Sathra - you will see in my newly started LP series - which one is the right place to download the update? The first downlaodlinkj (V4) or the second (4.1)? Thanks as always for your great help!

4.1 is the most recent, with the escalation slowdown and manufacture time changes.

[Jonlissla]

When you try to build a Corsair the game crashes.

I have the 4.1 version, and then downloaded the same updated one and overwrote the old files. My vehicles still have 60 hitpoints though so I'm thinking of restarting to see if the problem persists.

[Sathra]

Ah, thankyou. I'll try some stuff out to see what's going on.

[Sathra]

Ah, manufactures.xml doesn't like (OR) clauses. Oh well, was a nice idea.

Okay fixed. Also some more research bug fixes (officer interrogation now shows the correct report, and base facilities should show and unlock properly, assuming base cores can be captured).

Anyways, there is now a hard limit to how many of each craft you can manufacture, since they can only use one type of power core.

[Sathra]

Oh wait, I know how I can do it. How does the idea of unlocking an 'advanced' version of a craft with the next tier of power cores sound to people. So you could build Corsairs with an Alien Power Source, or an Advanced Corsair with an Alien Reactor.

And should the 'Advanced' versions have better stats (health/armour/speed, etc) or just be a cludge to allow to manufacture with a different power core (but otherwise the same as the basic version)?

Third option is to have a 'conversion' manufacture. This one would allow you to convert a Reactor to a Power Source (and a higher level core to a Reactor with a different manufacture). Or convert them to a 'craft' core which would be used by all craft.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Sathra

[Remmy2112]

If the Alien Reactor is the same size or smaller than a Alien Power Source yet is more powerful then the craft should probably at least get a speed boost from having more power available to engines. On the opposite end you could instead increase health and/or armor because the new powerplant would allow the craft to reach the same speed while weighing more, allowing for more armor plating or shoring up the most vital parts and electronics. There should be a difference in stats but it should not be something massive.

[Sathra]

Its about twice the size. I was very tempted to allow conversion of alien power cores to a universal 'power core' that's used for all craft, but I couldn't get it to make more than one from a single item.

So the next version will have Advanced versions of Corsairs and Marauders.

Oh, and updated V4.1 with manufacture costs being shown when selecting an item to manufacture.

[globalizer]

Thank you for your great job. Please go on!

[Solver]

Initial impressions on the mod are very positive (playing on the Steam version) but it's giving me a bad case of the mission-end problem. After killing the last alien it takes upwards to 3 minutes to get the report screen. No idea if related to the mod at all.

[Sathra]

I'm not sure either, it seems to be random for me how long it takes for the report screen to show.

[Sathra]

Good news, figured out how to have the cost of building a base shown. Bad news, you have to try to place a base for it to be shown (its above the 'enter base name' field).

[Sathra]

Updated the mod again. Electroshock grenades don't have insane builds time anymore, HP is less accurate in bust mode, Base naming field shows cost.

Link here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1fcs82xzng014q/Sathra%27s%20Mod%20V4.1.zip

Next version of the mod will be a different file (V4.1.2) and include Adv craft. Or Power Core construction, since I think I've just figured out how to have multiple items from a single project.

I shall flip a coin, unless someone gives their opinion.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Sathra

[Sathra]

AHAHAHAHA! *mad scientist laughter* IT WORKS!

Next version will be V5 and include Power Core construction, new/rewritten Xenopedia reports and what V4.1.2 now adds to the mod.

Multiple construction.

Create a 'single' grenade (it'll say 0/1 for example) will produce 3 grenades when it finishes. For rockets, its 2. Cash and to a lesser degree resource costs have been modified to fit. It'll tell you how many it'll produce in the manufacturing description box.

Should be save-game compatible, as it is for me.

Link here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wq116p1wjqrez5z/Sathra%27s%20Mod%20V4.1.2.zip

[steelwarrior]

Cool Sathra,

thanks and downloading ;-)

[Sathra]

I must admit, I did a little victory dance after working out how to have multiple products from a single project.

[Naresh]

Made an account just to say how much I love this mod, at first I thought the TU costs were a little on the low side, but realising I can now move and shoot, or get off 2 bursts a round made me happy.

Just finished a mission where my chinook was surrounded by -5-6 aliens with rapid fire guns while I had only just got jackal armour and 1 laser rifle, I got completely slaughtered on turn 2, there was nowhere to hide

One point I'd like to make is the accuracy of the sniper rifle, it doesn't seem worth taking at the moment, as if I move, I have rubbish aim, and most of the time aliens are behind cover so I only get between 1-7% chance to hit, and if I move for a better shot I get stung with the accuracy penalty...

Also, I noticed the hunter could only take about 3 shots in the unmodded version, but can withstand more like 10-15 in this mod, that's quite a big increase and I was wondering why.

[Sathra]

You have to think about how to engage with the sniper rifles. Cover is really good (as it should be, or you'll get slaughtered), so there's two places sniper rifles are good. Extreme long range shots to smack an alien that's out of cover, or simply blow up the cover, then kill it. Rockets ahoy! (also most mid-game aliens can survive a frag rocket to the face). Its also extremely good at suppression, so you can use it for that. And lastly, the shown hit chance is wrong alot, or chances under 10% hit absurdly often (1 in 4/5).

Starting with a bunch of aliens nearby is hard, but you can use smoke, careful target selection (closest targets, and targets with heavy plasmas first), and simply using the chinook to break line of sight. Also, if you can't kill it, suppress it (rockets, sniper rifles and hits with rifles work well). They can't shoot as much if they are suppressed, which can save lives. Stuff saving the civilians, your troops are worth more and completing the mission is a huge score boost (might make civvies worth more dead next version, might not).

Hunter survival: Simple answer? It has armour now. Pretty good armour, though it get worn down by multiple shots (I think a shot has to damage to degrade armour). Armour is directional, so if you're tanking plasma pistol shots from the front it can survive quite well. Take a couple plasma rifle shots from behind and you're gonna bring wreckage home. A heavy plasma rifle can wreck it pretty easily (at least it should).

[Sathra]

Oh, and aliens will shoot pretty often from outside their weapon's effective range, reducing the damage it does. So that could be behind the mystery of Hunter survival.