Hello Szmind. May you please confirm this mod is integrated into LW Rebalance (for Long War)? Reason I ask is that I could not find that mention there, and the integration might be partial, similar to MiniMods into LWR. If not completely integrated, will it work as intended if simply installed over LWR? TYVM for the clarification.
I confirm that it's integrated into LWR. It had been integrated before this mod was released - hence the lack of notice on LWR page - this mod is rather a rip-off from LWR. However, LWR has also its own, additional mechanics regarding activation of pods. Don't install this on top of LWR - you would break your LWR installation.
Hello, I'm coming from your SHIV mod, I have installed a lot of your other mods as they are quality work.
- Question For the scamper portion of the mod is there a way you can install without the help of PatcherGUI?
PatcherGUI is a bit more in depth and complicated than what I am willing to mess with and from what the posts say it may no longer work. I only want the scamper portion of the mod and just need help with the application of the Revealmod.txt
I like the idea of this mod a lot. But after trying it out for a while I am finding it too often unfun to play. I'm regularly getting chain pulls that activate the entire map (or nearly) and hardly get away from the initial landing zone. Basically getting locked into a defensive crouch within a turn or two in as the entire map descends on my position, at times including multiple activated and out of sight line mechtoids, cyberdisks and outsiders which are immediately lethal if not well-prepared for. I'm often never even able to push far into many maps and spend the entire time trying to suppress and overwatch spam from the same position that is a few steps from the landing zone.
I don't know what the solution would be. What happy medium would work in bringing more aliens online in and avoiding the absurdity of aliens seeing their friends fighting and not joining in without having every map getting regularly chain activated and forcing a retreat into pure defensive gameplay repeatedly. Which is what I've been experiencing far more often than not. Again I really like the idea of this. But in practice for me it is making the gameplay significantly more restricted and prone to overwatch camping and thus less fun.
Perhaps having only one extra pod able to be pulled and then function is disabled for a few turns to provide breathing room. Or perhaps it only works at half sight radius to limit its reach deeper into the maps. While admittedly less realistic it would be a gameplay compromise to keep multiple/full activations from happening as often.
Or maybe the pods don't actually activate but start moving towards the fight at normal patrol speed so as to at least not have them already active and immediately lethal when they do get within sight radius of your units. They move towards the fight but aren't actually activated themselves until they come into sight radius, as it normally works. This would give at least some breathing room to maneuver while also making clear that enemies are on their way and multiple activations are incoming if immediate threats aren't dealt with aggressively. But also some of the absurdity of non-activated aliens just going about their business or standing around while their friends a dozen tiles away are clearing fighting and dying.
Maybe even have options to adjust all these parameters, to tune it how we like it.
Anyway, love the idea of the mod and it seems to function as indicated without bugs. It just be more interesting for me if it was more adjustable in options and parameters.
Thanks for in-depth feedback. To be honest I am myself not fond of any of the ideas implemented in this mods' collection - you raised the reasons :) I have created it "on commision" for UCross (author of LW Rebalance). It works well in LW Rebalance due to other mechanics and balance adjustments implemented. However, I found it worth of separate release for non-LWR players hence there it is.
Yet - I have a suggestion for you. There is this MiniMods Collection (by me, lol) which includes Abduction map manager (just abduction though) where you can set which maps can hold swarming/heavy alien activity. This may help situations where you activate 20 aliens on the gas station....
HI. I want to give bailout move only for one sildier - the one who activated new pod. As I see, I have to replace (or put contionue lines for other soldiers) this
foreach DynamicActors(class 'XGUnit', kUnit) {
Possibly via HEX editing, even without Cooking RevealMod.u ... But I don't know how I can identify WHO activated new pod... Can you help me.
Also about Run and Gun linking - there is
function bool HasRunAndGun() { local array<XGAbility_Targeted> arrAbilities;
so inserting something like this: //line 255: if (!( kUnit.GetAbilitiesOfType(arrAbilities, eAbility_RunAndGun).Length) ) { bAddPoint = false; } will do the trick
Please, contact me on priv on Discord: szmind#7068. Will be much easier to chat about this. If you do not have an account on Discord, create it - the app runs from browser, so you do not need to install anything. Or you can use the invite link Shrek modding center
Yaro13 did not give any sign of life since then. Either he gave up or succeeded on his own :) Anyway, I did not dig into it myself. But it is doable. I will try to make it live. An update after 3 years would be refreshing. Though it is not a very popular mod. Add the mod to tracking list and stay tuned.
Thanks for the response, szmind. I can understand how this mod would be considered unpopular, and the more I thought about it and continued my LW campaign, the more I side with the fact the mod doesn't add value I once thought it did. Yes, I did a complete 180. :D
Your current mini-mod and mod manager projects provide more value to LW/R and deserve all the resources you can spare. All the best to you on those and future LW/R projects. Can't wait to see what you come up with next.
I like it! Played 3 months of a new heavily modded ironman impossible campaign until my save game got corrupted. What I can tell from 40+ missions:
It works. It keeps you busy. Terror missions can be harder, when all enemies get activated on a small map and each pod kills 1 civ per turn.
It feel real. On a large landed I had a cryssalid/zombie and outsiders pod combo activation. That was exciting.
Regarding cryssalids: Sometimes the freeze. Not sure if that was due to this mod, but they didn't charge for 2-3 turns after they got activated.
Overall - if you need more of a challenge or want more targets - give this mod a try. Mission might be a bit quicker overall because you don't have go looking for enemies everytime.
Man this look awesome. Surely it would work in my current long war save ?
Another question; would you recommend some minor tweaks to adjust difficulty ? Or the fact that you no longer need to worry about wandering into inactives pods make up for the larger number of ennemies you face at the same time ?
The mod works with ongoing save. You will experience the mechanics which you have chosen immediately after loading a mission.
As for difficulty ajdustments suit yourself :) I agree that small maps and overall LW pod size settings are not compatible with the "swarm reveal" mechanics. All the features were developed for LW Rebalance and just exposed separately. Keep in mind that you can choose which features to use.
Thanks for the reply. I will eventually try LWR but I'll try this mod with my current LW save first. I'll adjust settings like I can on the fly if I find myself overwhelmed.
Have you ever thought about "linking" the bonus with the ability "run and gun"? For example to give additional move only to the stormtrooper trying to flank (with "run and gun" and after pod reveal)? Or decrease the radius of vision to 14m when you activate the "run and gun"?
Radius of vision is pretty much non-moddable cause it is largely handled by native code (inaccessible). Run and Gun link - hmm. Interesting. On the other hand that sole ability has been causing most problems to get it compatible with bailout move so I believe tracktwo was happy to get it working at all as it is:) I will take a look at his code cause the idea is tempting.
May be it is possible to give extra move for active soldier if eEffect_RunAndGun active (on pod reveal). Or block pod reveal code at all when RunAndGun is active.
This looks very interesting. I was looking for ways to increase the challenge by adding something like second wave option ITT or Green Fog but this one is the most interesting one yet. Maybe this one + ITT?
23 comments
Don't install this on top of LWR - you would break your LWR installation.
- Question
For the scamper portion of the mod is there a way you can install without the help of PatcherGUI?
PatcherGUI is a bit more in depth and complicated than what I am willing to mess with and from what the posts say it may no longer work. I only want the scamper portion of the mod and just need help with the application of the Revealmod.txt
Thanks Szmind
I don't know what the solution would be. What happy medium would work in bringing more aliens online in and avoiding the absurdity of aliens seeing their friends fighting and not joining in without having every map getting regularly chain activated and forcing a retreat into pure defensive gameplay repeatedly. Which is what I've been experiencing far more often than not. Again I really like the idea of this. But in practice for me it is making the gameplay significantly more restricted and prone to overwatch camping and thus less fun.
Perhaps having only one extra pod able to be pulled and then function is disabled for a few turns to provide breathing room. Or perhaps it only works at half sight radius to limit its reach deeper into the maps. While admittedly less realistic it would be a gameplay compromise to keep multiple/full activations from happening as often.
Or maybe the pods don't actually activate but start moving towards the fight at normal patrol speed so as to at least not have them already active and immediately lethal when they do get within sight radius of your units. They move towards the fight but aren't actually activated themselves until they come into sight radius, as it normally works. This would give at least some breathing room to maneuver while also making clear that enemies are on their way and multiple activations are incoming if immediate threats aren't dealt with aggressively. But also some of the absurdity of non-activated aliens just going about their business or standing around while their friends a dozen tiles away are clearing fighting and dying.
Maybe even have options to adjust all these parameters, to tune it how we like it.
Anyway, love the idea of the mod and it seems to function as indicated without bugs. It just be more interesting for me if it was more adjustable in options and parameters.
Yet - I have a suggestion for you. There is this MiniMods Collection (by me, lol) which includes Abduction map manager (just abduction though) where you can set which maps can hold swarming/heavy alien activity. This may help situations where you activate 20 aliens on the gas station....
I want to give bailout move only for one sildier - the one who activated new pod. As I see, I have to replace (or put contionue lines for other soldiers) this
foreach DynamicActors(class 'XGUnit', kUnit) {
Possibly via HEX editing, even without Cooking RevealMod.u ... But I don't know how I can identify WHO activated new pod... Can you help me.
Also about Run and Gun linking - there is
function bool HasRunAndGun()
{
local array<XGAbility_Targeted> arrAbilities;
m_kUnit.GetAbilitiesOfType(arrAbilities, eAbility_RunAndGun);
return arrAbilities.Length > 0;
}
so inserting something like this:
//line 255:
if (!( kUnit.GetAbilitiesOfType(arrAbilities, eAbility_RunAndGun).Length) ) {
bAddPoint = false;
}
will do the trick
Is this version available for download?
Thanks.
Your current mini-mod and mod manager projects provide more value to LW/R and deserve all the resources you can spare. All the best to you on those and future LW/R projects. Can't wait to see what you come up with next.
Cheers!
It works. It keeps you busy. Terror missions can be harder, when all enemies get activated on a small map and each pod kills 1 civ per turn.
It feel real. On a large landed I had a cryssalid/zombie and outsiders pod combo activation. That was exciting.
Regarding cryssalids: Sometimes the freeze. Not sure if that was due to this mod, but they didn't charge for 2-3 turns after they got activated.
Overall - if you need more of a challenge or want more targets - give this mod a try. Mission might be a bit quicker overall because you don't have go looking for enemies everytime.
Another question; would you recommend some minor tweaks to adjust difficulty ? Or the fact that you no longer need to worry about wandering into inactives pods make up for the larger number of ennemies you face at the same time ?
As for difficulty ajdustments suit yourself :) I agree that small maps and overall LW pod size settings are not compatible with the "swarm reveal" mechanics. All the features were developed for LW Rebalance and just exposed separately. Keep in mind that you can choose which features to use.