"Volunteer" doesn't make much sense to me amongst the theme of the other ranks, either as the first rank or as a unique rank for "The Volunteer" (who doesn't really volunteer, seeing as you chose them, lol)
While using agent ranks has some justification, I think basing the ranks off of actual special forces is ideal. Using the ranks of secret special forces would be better, but those ranks are, unfortunately, secret. Delta Force is probably the best known but still largely secret special forces, and it's ranks aren't known. However, SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU) is probably the next most secretive known special forces, and its ranks are known.
I based the ranks closely those ranks. However, some liberties were taken. First, the rank names were shortened to fit the UI. Further, there are only 6 known ranks of this secretive SEAL Team. So I had to stretch them out to the 8 ranks game requires. Third, I wanted it roughly fit the rank symbology in the nTex mod by Neonin I also use. I am generally happy with what I came up, but less so as the ranks rise.
As for psi ranks, first I believe this mod's treatment of Volunteer is a mistake, and unfortunately not a light one. It was the main reason I made my own custom ranks. Due to the ingame narrative, Volunteer has to be the last psi rank. It just has to be. For the other three ranks, I think military special forces would treat psionics as just another ancillary vocation and apply rankings similar cyber warfare, radar, and nuclear enlisted.
You have to remember this is XCOM, not the regular military. There is absolutely no way the soldiers we are going to send to fight an asymmetrical war against the Aliens are going to be anywhere below E-5, O-3, or GS-10, in their respective units. XCOM is probably less than 300 strong; only room for humanity's best. There is also however the possibility that they keep their current rank, but also attain a secondary unique XCOM rank starting as a XCOM Recruit or XCOM Squaddie, because no matter what unit you came from you are brand new to XCOM and the War against the Aliens. I can only imagine the endless safety briefs and death by powerpoint during XCOMs Initiation.
Well, original X-Com series disagrees and I really preferred the old ranking system. Google it out, it was amazing and made perfect sense (in super short: rank =/= combat stats).
This isn't the original X-Com. Maybe you hadn't noticed. Original X-Com was far more imbalanced and random with it's statistic handouts on rank up, which was stupid and wrong. It wasn't even slightly close to perfect.
Actually, the ranks do make sense. Colonels are the highest rank that (most) soldiers can be and still be out on the battlefield. True, they may still do desk jobs and oversee operations, but they can be out in the field. Now, if the max rank were, say, General, then it wouldn't make sense, since Generals are hardly ever on the battlefield.
Still though, it's nice to see someone make a mod that makes the ranks a little more consistent, rather than a Sergeant immediately jumping to Lieutenant.
Well, you're kind of correct, but not really. Yes, Colonels do go the battlefield, but no army or special unit in existence or history has ever made a squad of only Colonels. Or only officers, for that matter.
Iunno if someone told you this but officers can be on the frontlines, just not as high as some of the ranks allow. Certainly not captain, but maybe a lower rank.
For those of you trying to use this with the new Enemy Unknown Expansion:
First, you will need to do this manually, so go to your installation folder: Windows (C/program files (x86 or x64)/steam/steamapps/common/Xcom enemy unknown and then go through the XcomGame folder to Localization and then into INT. Find your "XComGame.int" file, hit CTRL+F and search for "[XGTacticalGameCoreNativeBase]" which is your ranks. Edit the ranks in quotations as you please, then highlight and copy that entire segment there from [XGTacticalGameCoreNativeBase] to m_strDaySuffix=. Save the edited file (don't click "save as" just "save") and then copy the XComGame.int file you just edited.
Now go to Documents/My Games/Xcom - Enemy Unknown/XcomGame and create the folder "localization" and then "INT" inside localization. Go into INT and paste the file. Your changes will now function in-game. If you ever have trouble with further DLC or patches, just delete the edited XComGame.int from those folders you created and repeat the process with the updated XComGame.int file in your game's installation folder, which won't contain your edits anymore. You can just copy+paste the ranks column by itself and shouldn't have problems, so feel free to keep a backup somewhere just to save the ranks.
You got it all right, but instead of going to Documents/My Games/Xcom - Enemy Unknown/XcomGame, you have to go for Documents/My Games/Xcom - Enemy within/XcomGame folder. Now there create the folder "localization" and then "INT" inside.
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Though I did change my Psi Ranks to..
- None
- Inductee
- Operative
- Specialist
- Avatar
"Volunteer" doesn't make much sense to me amongst the theme of the other ranks, either as the first rank or as a unique rank for "The Volunteer" (who doesn't really volunteer, seeing as you chose them, lol)
i used to wrong rank names here and in xcom 2
I based the ranks closely those ranks. However, some liberties were taken. First, the rank names were shortened to fit the UI. Further, there are only 6 known ranks of this secretive SEAL Team. So I had to stretch them out to the 8 ranks game requires. Third, I wanted it roughly fit the rank symbology in the nTex mod by Neonin I also use. I am generally happy with what I came up, but less so as the ranks rise.
As for psi ranks, first I believe this mod's treatment of Volunteer is a mistake, and unfortunately not a light one. It was the main reason I made my own custom ranks. Due to the ingame narrative, Volunteer has to be the last psi rank. It just has to be. For the other three ranks, I think military special forces would treat psionics as just another ancillary vocation and apply rankings similar cyber warfare, radar, and nuclear enlisted.
Here is what I used:
[XGTacticalGameCoreNativeBase]
m_aRankNames[0]="Recruit"
m_aRankNames[1]="Operator, 3rd"
m_aRankNames[2]="Operator, 2nd"
m_aRankNames[3]="Operator, 1st"
m_aRankNames[4]="Junior Chief"
m_aRankNames[5]="Senior Chief"
m_aRankNames[6]="Master Chief"
m_aRankNames[7]="Command Chief"
m_aRankAbbr[0]="Recr."
m_aRankAbbr[1]="O3"
m_aRankAbbr[2]="O2"
m_aRankAbbr[3]="O1"
m_aRankAbbr[4]="JCO"
m_aRankAbbr[5]="SCO"
m_aRankAbbr[6]="MCO"
m_aRankAbbr[7]="CCO"
m_aPsiRankNames[0]="None"
m_aPsiRankNames[1]="Apprentice"
m_aPsiRankNames[2]="Technician"
m_aPsiRankNames[3]="Specialist"
m_aPsiRankNames[4]="Volunteer"
m_aPsiRankAbbr[0]="None"
m_aPsiRankAbbr[1]="App."
m_aPsiRankAbbr[2]="Tech."
m_aPsiRankAbbr[3]="Spec."
m_aPsiRankAbbr[4]="Vol."
m_strYearSuffix=
m_strMonthSuffix=
m_strDaySuffix=
[XGTacticalGameCoreNativeBase]
m_aRankNames[0]="Agent Recruit"
m_aRankNames[1]="Agent"
m_aRankNames[2]="Leading Agent"
m_aRankNames[3]="Senior Agent"
m_aRankNames[4]="Operative 2nd Class"
m_aRankNames[5]="Operative, 1st Class"
m_aRankNames[6]="Leading Operative"
m_aRankNames[7]="Senior Operative"
; NOTE TO LOCALIZERS:
; VERY IMPORTANT THAT THESE ARE NOT MORE THAN 4 CHARACTERS - sbatista
m_aRankAbbr[0]="AR"
m_aRankAbbr[1]="AG"
m_aRankAbbr[2]="LA"
m_aRankAbbr[3]="SA"
m_aRankAbbr[4]="O2"
m_aRankAbbr[5]="O1"
m_aRankAbbr[6]="LO"
m_aRankAbbr[7]="SO"
m_aPsiRankNames[0]="None"
m_aPsiRankNames[1]="Trainee"
m_aPsiRankNames[2]="Specialist 1"
m_aPsiRankNames[3]="Specialist 2"
m_aPsiRankNames[4]="Volunteer"
m_aPsiRankAbbr[0]="None"
m_aPsiRankAbbr[1]="Trne."
m_aPsiRankAbbr[2]="Spc.1"
m_aPsiRankAbbr[3]="Spc.2"
m_aPsiRankAbbr[4]="Vol."
m_strYearSuffix=
m_strMonthSuffix=
m_strDaySuffix=
But you know the best part about mods? You don't have to use them if you don't want to!
Still though, it's nice to see someone make a mod that makes the ranks a little more consistent, rather than a Sergeant immediately jumping to Lieutenant.
First, you will need to do this manually, so go to your installation folder: Windows (C
Now go to Documents/My Games/Xcom - Enemy Unknown/XcomGame and create the folder "localization" and then "INT" inside localization. Go into INT and paste the file. Your changes will now function in-game. If you ever have trouble with further DLC or patches, just delete the edited XComGame.int from those folders you created and repeat the process with the updated XComGame.int file in your game's installation folder, which won't contain your edits anymore. You can just copy+paste the ranks column by itself and shouldn't have problems, so feel free to keep a backup somewhere just to save the ranks.