OpenXcom Forum

Modding => Work In Progress => Topic started by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 12:25:15 am

Title: [WIP][TOTAL CONVERSION] UFO: Alien Takeover (old tread)
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 12:25:15 am
EDIT: LATEST UPDATE AND DOWNLOAD IS MOVED HERE: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11769.0.html (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11769.0.html)

I've been working on a expansion mod for a few weeks: "UFO: Alien Takeover".
This is my second mod ever, so I'm far from an expert at modding. The mod includes new items, new soundtracks, new alien missions, a new storyline, new research topics, and more.  It also includes various other mods from the community.

The goal with the mod is to make the game more challenging/interesting tactically (if I will accomplish that or not is another question, but I hope so), longer, harder and different.

Instead of playing as X-Com, you play as common rebel citizens. So in the beginning you have no armor, no weapons, no interceptors, just a kitchen knife and then stuff that can be found in regular stores, like shovels, axes and bandages. As you move on you can use some of the alien weapons recovered in missions, and you will find other groups and dubious gangs to work with.

Here are some images. Please note:
-The mod is far from finished, so a lot will change.
-Some of the sprites are from other mods, and I have not yet asked for permission to use all of them. I will of course do that before I publish the mod.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 12:26:33 am
More images
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 12:28:51 am
More images
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: DracoGriffin on December 10, 2015, 12:34:57 am
Seems interesting.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on December 10, 2015, 12:45:34 am
Yeah, it has the potential to become a cult thing, heavily referencing movies like They're Alive! and generally cool stuff from the 80's (at least I would like something like this).

It's a bit worrying that you start with kitchen utensils as weapons, because it may suggest some really mind-straining things you're supposed to do to make the airsoft be useful. But it may also suggest crazy shit like blowing the aliens up with home-made flamethrowers (Spiders 2) or mincing them with a combine harvester (Evil Aliens - you absolutely have to do this).

So I don't know if my assumptions are correct, nor do I presume to tell you what mod you should make. I just threw in some thoughts and ideas. In short, I'm interested!
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 01:04:34 am
Thanks for the interest!

Quote
It's a bit worrying that you start with kitchen utensils as weapons, because it may suggest some really mind-straining things you're supposed to do to make the airsoft be useful
Good point! I guess I'll just make the Airsoft Pistol unavailable until after normal weapons are available. Its not really needed until after that anyways :)
Only three items are available from the start, so it should not be too confusing.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 01:22:18 am
I have not seen those movies, but the story is set to the 80's and there is kind of a goal to create that kind of a vibe :D
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on December 10, 2015, 01:24:04 am
You should totally watch them, especially Evil Aliens.

Will the first research be "Kitchen-Knife-on-a-Stick"? :)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 01:40:21 am
Maybe I will, alien movies could be inspiring new ideas for the mod.

"Kitchen-Knife-on-a-Stick" would be awesome :D
But a ranged melee weapon is a good idea!

First research (or projects, as its called in the mod) goes like this:

-Rebel meeting
    -Motion Scanner (Motion Scanner)
    -Contact Other Rebel Groups (Solders aka Rebels)
    -Explore local shops (Ax, Shovel, Ground Flare, Tranquilizer, Bandage, Gasoline, Frozen Orangejuice Concentrate)
        -Explore army shop (Combat Knife, Armored Vest)
    -Gang Negotiations
        -Basic Weapon training
             -...and then a lot more
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on December 10, 2015, 01:43:54 am
Hmmm, what are you going to do with Geoscape then? Since your ideas are more for a city than a globe... Hey, how about a spherical city? ...Nevermind.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 01:48:19 am
Will just have to hope that the player does not make the first base in the middle of nowhere  :P
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 02:10:27 am
But yeah, I'm aware that its does not make completely sense to do it that way. What things are called/UFOPedia entries have not been a priority yet, but this could easily be changed to something like "Explore shops in nearby cities" or something.  :)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Hobbes on December 10, 2015, 04:32:26 am
First research (or projects, as its called in the mod) goes like this:

-Rebel meeting
    -Motion Scanner (Motion Scanner)
    -Contact Other Rebel Groups (Solders aka Rebels)
    -Explore local shops (Ax, Shovel, Ground Flare, Tranquilizer, Bandage, Gasoline, Frozen Orangejuice Concentrate)
        -Explore army shop (Combat Knife, Armored Vest)
    -Gang Negotiations
        -Basic Weapon training
             -...and then a lot more

I've been considering a similar Research/Mission structure, where completing research on project A generates missions B, C or D, which then trigger additional missions. Research would be called instead Intelligence or Operations or Planning.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: niculinux on December 10, 2015, 03:42:34 pm
Wow that's gonna be a load of work!!!
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on December 10, 2015, 06:16:27 pm
Wow that's gonna be a load of work!!!

It is always a load of work. :P
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 10, 2015, 09:10:55 pm
I've been considering a similar Research/Mission structure, where completing research on project A generates missions B, C or D, which then trigger additional missions. Research would be called instead Intelligence or Operations or Planning.

Yeah it provides some interesting opportunities!


Wow that's gonna be a load of work!!!

Thats very true :D However, a lot is already done. I am currently working on the last endgame items, and the "research"-tree is pretty much completed. But still there is a lot to do when it comes to balancing, testing, sprites, strings, soundtracks, ++
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 15, 2015, 01:58:41 am
Large UFOs are nice :) (early draft)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 21, 2015, 04:17:35 am
A much cooler version of Alien Abduction! (early draft)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Axebeard on December 21, 2015, 05:10:07 am
Yeah, it has the potential to become a cult thing, heavily referencing movies like They're Alive!

You mean They Live. I like the idea of this mod, I love starting out (and usually remaining) fairly low-tech throughout the game. That's why I've been obsessed with Piratez lately. Hope this mod comes to fruition!
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on December 21, 2015, 06:56:52 pm
You mean They Live.

Sorry, I'm a bit like those web toys which automatically translate a phrase from language A to language B and then back and forth, until both versions are stable (and normally pretty far from the original).

And yeah, this idea is pretty awesome.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 27, 2015, 04:03:12 am
Thanks! Staying low-tech for a long time is definitively the plan. Not until mid game will firearms of some significance available to buy. End game will be more high tech.

The new Abductor (and a few other UFOs, and a ton of other things) are now completed. And this mod is getting larger than first planned. Have even started working on new terrains now (and its super fun :D ):
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: new_civilian on December 27, 2015, 05:22:20 pm
A much cooler version of Alien Abduction! (early draft)

Now that is an awesome idea!  :o  8)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on January 22, 2016, 07:56:25 pm
Some of the stuff I've been working on recently:

Picture 1:
New Battleship variant

Picture 2:
Horror ship
New mapblocks for the farm terrain

Picture 3:
Multiple UFOs in the same mission (kind of)
New terrain
New items

Picture 4:
New type of vehicles (using the scout tank sprites)
Abductor with built-in lights
More new mapblocks for the farm terrain

Picture 5:
A strange new mission with a small Harvester
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: 7Saturn on January 22, 2016, 11:07:10 pm
Seriously: Even if there's not a completed mod, yet, is there a chance you might make these ufos stand alone? They are awesome.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 23, 2016, 05:08:15 am
Agree +1
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: davide on January 23, 2016, 10:21:54 am
Seriously: Even if there's not a completed mod, yet, is there a chance you might make these ufos stand alone? They are awesome.

Yes I am interesting too.
The important is that you do not change tilesets or at least that you rename eventualy changed original files
Thanks
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on January 23, 2016, 08:53:06 pm
Oh yeah, I'd like them for grabbing too!
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Phoenix7786 on January 23, 2016, 09:33:59 pm
Wow this looks ambitious and cool! Color me interested!
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on January 24, 2016, 02:09:09 am
Alright then :D

Was actually already planning to release the battleship variants as a standalone mod. I'm just gonna make one more interior variant and then it will be released.

The other UFO's will need a little more time as they are not yet completed. And I have no skills in creating dogfight images, and that have to be done somehow too.  :-\

Quote
The important is that you do not change tilesets or at least that you rename eventualy changed original files
I don't even know how to do that yet, so that's fine :P
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: hellrazor on January 24, 2016, 09:12:42 am
hm.. interior Battleship variants.

Something i always wanted, but so far didn't had the time to make.

You don't mind if i take a look at them right?
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on January 24, 2016, 07:26:24 pm
You don't mind if i take a look at them right?

Go ahead :)

Nr 1 is the vanilla battleship but with more content/furniture.

Nr 3 is not yet finished.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on February 04, 2016, 03:02:00 am
I wanna improve the mid- and end game Projects (research).

At the moment they are very boring, more than half of the end game Projects are like "advanced grenades deal", "advanced firearm deal", "advanced craft deal" and so on.
Mid game is the same: "Firearm deal", "HWP Deal" and so on. Quite boring.

So I wanna make it more diverse and interesting, like in the early game where its about everything from finding gangs to cooperate with, convincing the public that the alien threat is real, searching for information in a library and searching for useful items in nearby cities.

Unfortunately my imagination is quite bad.

Does anyone have any cool ideas? :)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: hellrazor on February 04, 2016, 09:31:05 am
Go ahead :)

Nr 1 is the vanilla battleship but with more content/furniture.

Nr 3 is not yet finished.

Already absorbed successfully :D

Actually your BS3 Map inspired me to make a interior Battleship Version of my own, turned out to be pretty badass :D
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on February 04, 2016, 10:57:49 pm
Already absorbed successfully :D

Actually your BS3 Map inspired me to make a interior Battleship Version of my own, turned out to be pretty badass :D

Already tried it :D Ill probably use your darkened versions in Alien Takeover actually. Seeing trough walls destroys so much of the fun with exploring new UFO designs.

I wish there was a fix to this problem where the UFOs looked the just like the original ones, and would also deal with not being able to throw grenades next to these walls too.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on March 30, 2016, 11:58:03 pm
Its about time for a update on this project again. Hope it is not too many boring details.
This is the current status of development:

Early game:
Research/projects: Pretty much done.
Items: Almost done, just want to add a couple more items for more diversity
Ufopedia text: Many are done, but many of them lack text or have very bad text. (at some point, someone with better english skills should have a look at this..)
Missions: Done
Testing and balancing: Pretty much done.

Mid game:
Research/projects: More than 50% completed. Have planned a bunch of new research/projects that will be added to make things more interesting.
Items: Done, i think.
Ufopedia text: Most entries are just horrible drafts
Missions: Done
Testing and balancing: Not much done.

End game:
Research/projects: «Going to Mars»-research is completed, but the rest is so boring that I will remove it and start all over again
Items: Have not decided yet if end game will be low tech or high tech. High tech weapons are added, but might then be removed and replaced with other weapons.
Ufopedia text: Most entries are just horrible drafts
Missions: Mostly done.
Testing and balancing: Not much done.


Other:
Graphics: I have made graphics for a bunch of new items. Dogfight and Ufopedia craft images are yet to be done. I would also like to create some new battlescape graphics, like walls and stuff.
Sound: A friend of me is making very awesome music for the mod. Mostly done.
UFOs: 10 new UFO types are added, most of them completely or almost done. Planning to add one or two more.
Aliens: A few extra races have been added (from other mods), want to add 3-4 more.
Terrains: Have created one new terrain, and changed the farm terrain a lot. Alien Base and Base Defense terrains are completely recreated, almost done with the Base Defense maps, half way done with the Alien Base. Still a lot to do on new mars terrain and new terror site terrain. Also planning to add some terrains from other mods.
Crafts: A few new crafts added, including some crafts from other mods. Planning to create a couple more.
Basescape: A few new buildings added, and most vanilla building are completely rebalanced.

Some words about the gameplay:
Powerful weapons are very scarce in this mod. Every heavy plasma clip is worth its weight in gold. This is done by requiring rare items for manufacturing of powerful weapons, and having alien weapons selfdestruct when the aliens die.

Making new types of tactical items (like motion scanner, stun grenade, psi amp etc) have been a priority, so items like the Motion Detector, Time Looper, Airsoft Pistol, Alien Slaves, Stationary Turrent, Tank/Shield, Suicide Bomb and Psi Suit have come to life.


Image 1:
New type of alien base
Altiod aliens (by Duke_Falcon)
Right hand: Psi projector (by Arthanor and Raidau)
Left hand: Time Looper

Image 2:
Craft: Skymaster
UFO: Medium Bomer
And a Sectoid Slave :D
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Countdown on March 31, 2016, 12:09:18 pm
Wow, this looks like a really cool project. I look forward to trying it out. Love the new UFOs hovering in the air.

I wanna improve the mid- and end game Projects (research).

At the moment they are very boring, more than half of the end game Projects are like "advanced grenades deal", "advanced firearm deal", "advanced craft deal" and so on.
Mid game is the same: "Firearm deal", "HWP Deal" and so on. Quite boring.

So I wanna make it more diverse and interesting, like in the early game where its about everything from finding gangs to cooperate with, convincing the public that the alien threat is real, searching for information in a library and searching for useful items in nearby cities.

Unfortunately my imagination is quite bad.

Does anyone have any cool ideas? :)
Rather than researching those items, you could have to do a mission like a raid on a military base to steal the advanced weaponry or have to sneak into some kind of government facility to steal plans for advanced aircraft/HWP. The base could be evil mercenaries or alien sympathizers so you can kill them/steal from them guilt free.

Or maybe you have to rescue a renowned scientist that has been captured by the aliens (so alien mission, except rather than kill everyone you have to stun the scientist (locked away somewhere in the base) and carry him out alive to the green exit area ... better bring some strong soldiers). Then you can "debrief" (research) him back at your base and that will give you the ability to build advanced stuff.

Just spitballing some ideas your way.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: harre on April 01, 2016, 12:27:54 am
Sounds like a cool project. I have no ideas to share though :/ but keep up the good work  8)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Xeno Wiper on April 02, 2016, 01:27:21 am

End game:
Research/projects: «Going to Mars»-research is completed, but the rest is so boring that I will remove it and start all over again
Items: Have not decided yet if end game will be low tech or high tech. High tech weapons are added, but might then be removed and replaced with other weapons.
Ufopedia text: Most entries are just horrible drafts
Missions: Mostly done.
Testing and balancing: Not much done.


A low-tech late game? What research is for?  :P

I mean....how will you do to balance this?
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on April 02, 2016, 06:54:20 pm
Thanks for the feedback!

Rather than researching those items, you could have to do a mission like a raid on a military base to steal the advanced weaponry or have to sneak into some kind of government facility to steal plans for advanced aircraft/HWP. The base could be evil mercenaries or alien sympathizers so you can kill them/steal from them guilt free.

Or maybe you have to rescue a renowned scientist that has been captured by the aliens (so alien mission, except rather than kill everyone you have to stun the scientist (locked away somewhere in the base) and carry him out alive to the green exit area ... better bring some strong soldiers). Then you can "debrief" (research) him back at your base and that will give you the ability to build advanced stuff.

I like the ideas, will definitively add something like that. Thanks!

A low-tech late game? What research is for?  :P

I mean....how will you do to balance this?

Yes, low-tech late game :D Well, you will get powerful weapons, but they are very limited (requiring rare items to produce), or they are up-close weapons, like explosives that are very heavy, melee weapons or weapons with maxrange.
This combined with good tactical items (like alien slaves, that, if you do things the right way, can walk among other aliens without being shot at. Excellent scout!) or psi amps, will make it possible to defeat the end game aliens :)

Also, this mod is meant to be quite difficult, and the gameplay is meant to be a lot more up-close than the vanilla.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on April 05, 2016, 08:29:07 pm
Making the alien base a little less ugly.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on April 06, 2016, 10:22:33 am
Very nice tiles. But these flowers seem a bit out of place :)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: davide on April 07, 2016, 12:50:14 pm
(https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4163.0;attach=21071;image)

How do you think about invert the large first level with the second ?
I mean :

         ++++
|===|===|===|
         ++++
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: davide on April 07, 2016, 12:58:39 pm
Very nice tiles. But these flowers seem a bit out of place :)
maybe you just align those plants on the walls
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on April 07, 2016, 05:17:24 pm
Very nice tiles. But these flowers seem a bit out of place :)
Thanks! Its my first completed tiles. Hmm yeah. I agree :P

How do you think about invert the large first level with the second ?
I mean :

         ++++
|===|===|===|
         ++++

Looks pretty nice! Not sure which one I like better.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on April 07, 2016, 05:27:51 pm
I like the one with bigger middle deck. Makes it look way more balanced and flight-capable.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: ivandogovich on April 07, 2016, 06:56:13 pm
Looks pretty nice! Not sure which one I like better.

Both! Double The Pleasure!
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Countdown on April 08, 2016, 03:13:13 am
For what it's worth, the one with the larger middle level looks more intimidating to me. More enemies on the second level is probably more challenging since you have to fight your way up there first.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on April 29, 2016, 03:58:59 am
So I decided to go for the one with the larger middle deck :P Thanks for the feedback.

Progress report for April:

-Created another new UFO (photo A)
-Started and almost finished new UFO tiles (photo A)
-Started to work on a completely new planet that will replace the earth (photo B)
-Completed the Alien Base terrain, including all the new tiles, routes and maps
-Created or added 3 new human weapons + 1 new alien weapon
-Created a new alien item level = aliens are getting very dangerous in November
-Created one new landing craft
-Created about 20 new "research" projects
-Added 15 new maps from other mods
-Created specific music for specific missions
-Almost completed the new Base Defense terrain
-A lot of minor stuff like bug fixes, tweaks, improved sprites, small "research"-three changes ++

The focus now is to get things ready for a 0.1 release, but that will probably still take a long time.

A couple photos:

[edit: using this post as backup for unreleased / untested updates]
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on May 30, 2016, 05:20:13 pm
Check this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLpZB0k4tg4) out. :) Just something I threw together last night, a video showing different maps, items, audio, etc.

May progress:

-Created new smoke graphics
-Added custom sounds and hit/bullet graphics for some of the alien weapons
-Created three new alien weapons
-Created a couple new UFOs
-Added a couple new alien terror units
-Created a new alien item, added more human weapons, more armor and Trained Rebels
-New alien mission: Alien Extermination. Changed Alien Supply mission
-Pretty much finished mid game "research"
-Balancing, bugfixing, worked on the way to many unfinished parts of the mod (items, graphics, planet etc)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on May 31, 2016, 12:26:09 am
Very nice, look forward to trying this out when it's ready.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: hellrazor on May 31, 2016, 12:39:41 am
Check this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLpZB0k4tg4) out. :) Just something I threw together last night, a video showing different maps, items, audio, etc.

May progress:

-Created new smoke graphics
-Added custom sounds and hit/bullet graphics for some of the alien weapons
-Created three new alien weapons
-Created a couple new UFOs
-Added a couple new alien terror units
-Created a new alien item, added more human weapons, more armor and Trained Rebels
-New alien mission: Alien Extermination. Changed Alien Supply mission
-Pretty much finished mid game "research"
-Balancing, bugfixing, worked on the way to many unfinished parts of the mod (items, graphics, planet etc)

May i inquire about the nature of the Alien Extermination Mission?
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Mr. Quiet on May 31, 2016, 04:55:24 am
Alien Extermination Missions make me think you're sending your operatives into a chryssalid hive to die, but you're supposed to clear it out completely. The invaders like to put them right next to major cities.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on May 31, 2016, 05:27:57 am
Very nice, look forward to trying this out when it's ready.
Thank you :)

May i inquire about the nature of the Alien Extermination Mission?
The Alien Extermination Mission is similar to Alien Terror, but it has 25% execution odds each month and the aliens goal with the mission is to kill as many humans as possible :P Also it does not spawn a terror site, but spawns two UFOs that will only appear in this mission. One of them with aliens equipped with very specific weapons, the other with only one normal alien + a lot of terror units (sometimes zombies), and civilians will spawn on the terrain. So nothing super fancy, but distinctive, and its fun to fight terror units and zombies.

Alien Extermination Missions make me think you're sending your operatives into a chryssalid hive to die
That might happen :D
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on July 27, 2016, 04:36:35 am
Alright, time for an update. A lot of testing, balancing, adding, bugfixing and improving have been done lately. Here's some photos.

Picture 1: A bunch of cew crafts.

Picture 2: Alien Settlement terrain (WIP), and new Thurox aliens.

Picture 3: Some of the stuff that has been improved.

Picture 4: Sectoid Ghost! And new UFOs.

Picture 5: The UFO is shooting at us! Don't mind the horrible graphics, its WIP.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on July 27, 2016, 04:44:49 am
Picture 6: New Cyberdisc

Picture 7: New geoscape stuff
         A: UFO
         B: Our Craft
         C: Alien Settlement
         D: Terror site
         E: Our Craft
         F: Our Base
         G: X-Com Base (has no function unfortunately, just for show)
         H: Alien Base
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Arthanor on July 27, 2016, 06:10:06 am
Ha! The idea to stack cyberdiscs is genius! I'd say maybe 2 thick might be better than 3, but it looks great and dangerous.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 27, 2016, 10:19:06 am
Can you please post some pics without the filter? I can't tell much from this pixel soup.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: davide on September 17, 2016, 12:21:14 am
Cooper, do you thought to release a preview/work in progress of your mod  such as  our great modders XOps (Xeno Operations) , Robin (Apoc), bulletdesigner(Space Marines) , clownagnet (Dune), liberation (Mars) already did ?

thanks



Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on October 12, 2016, 01:33:15 am
Cooper, do you thought to release a preview/work in progress of your mod  such as  our great modders XOps (Xeno Operations) , Robin (Apoc), bulletdesigner(Space Marines) , clownagnet (Dune), liberation (Mars) already did ?

thanks

Its pretty buggy and unfinished still, but why not :) I'll try to release something within a few days maybe, just getting back into this after a long break.
Meanwhile, a couple more photos:
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 15, 2016, 06:46:08 am
I'm still working on this mod, but the progress has unfortunately been pretty slow for a few months now. So since I don't want to wait forever with publishing a WIP of this mod I was thinking to just release what I have today.
Just a question: I'm still on a old nightly, has there been any updates lately (last few months) that will make this mod incompatible in some way?
And is the mod portal working now?
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Meridian on December 15, 2016, 05:39:27 pm
I'm still working on this mod, but the progress has unfortunately been pretty slow for a few months now. So since I don't want to wait forever with publishing a WIP of this mod I was thinking to just release what I have today.
Just a question: I'm still on a old nightly, has there been any updates lately (last few months) that will make this mod incompatible in some way?

A high-level vanilla changelog from January 2016 to November 2016 can be found here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2915.msg75701.html#msg75701

Check if you're using any of the features that were changed.

And is the mod portal working now?

No, unfortunately the mod portal is still completely broken.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 16, 2016, 08:02:53 pm
A high-level vanilla changelog from January 2016 to November 2016 can be found here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2915.msg75701.html#msg75701

Check if you're using any of the features that were changed.
Awesome, thank you. Seems like the mod is updated enough.


Finally, here’s version 0.1 of my strange little mod! Maybe its not so small, but its definitively a bit weird, especially in early game.


What is UFO: Alien Takeover?

UFO: Alien Takeover is a mod for openXCom that I have been working on for over a year on my free time. It adds a new storyline, new weapons, items, aliens, missions, UFOs, terrains, music and more. A lot of the vanilla stuff is also removed, but the game is still a lot longer and larger than vanilla x-com.


Warnings


-The mod is far from completed, so expect some bugs and unfinished stuff (especially ufopaedia articles and some graphics). However it should be possible to play trough the whole mod from start to finish. End game is still very unbalanced, but early and mid game should be fine. (You might want to wait until the mod is more completed)

-The mod is pretty difficult and the two hardest difficulties are not really recommended unless you are insane. Its recommended to use the easiest difficulty unless you are a x-com veteran.

-The music is a bit messed up. Not sure if its because of my computer/installation or something else. Let me know if you experience problems and I’ll fix it ASAP.


! IMPORTANT !

Options that MUST be turned on/off:
-Aggressive retaliation: NO
-Storage limits for recovered items: YES
-UFO extender accuracy: YES
-Alien weapon self-destruction: YES

Other highly recommended options for this mod:
-Autosave: YES (in case of bugs/crashes)
-Live alien sale: NO
-Instant grenades: NO
-Alternate movement methods: YES
-Alien bleeding: YES

It is not recommended to combine this mod with other mods, unless you know what you are doing.


How to install

Simply copy the folder inside the zip file to OpenXCom's /mods folder.  Then go to Options --> Mods and select "UFO: Alien Takeover"

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD (https://www.mediafire.com/file/ika63p3igrsm5ld/UFO_Alien_Takeover.zip)


Hints

-In the first few missions you don’t have any good weapons. Use smoke and stay in groups of at least 3 people to survive.


License information

For the stuff I have made myself – Copyleft: you have the right to freely use, modify, copy, and share on the condition that these rights be granted to all subsequent users or owners. For for non-commercial purposes only. (I would however appreciate if you let me know if you use something, because its fun to see other people use my stuff in their mods :) )

For other included mods: Ask the creator of the mod. You might also find license information for these mods on www.openxcom.com. If you want to use something and don’t know who created it, just ask :)
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on August 04, 2017, 08:27:33 pm
Hey! Nice mod IF it can work.
I tried it and it continually crashes due to incorrect typos,so cooper, if you are still alive in the forums, you should check your ruleset more properly, or I can help you by correcting such errors.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: luke83 on December 27, 2018, 02:38:29 am
Some interesting items in this mod, i may need to download and see what i can use from it, thanks for bringing this zombie post back to life as i would never of find it otherwise.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on January 20, 2019, 02:41:08 pm
Wow, this topic actually have several new posts, would never have thought so two years later.

About the crashes Yataka mentioned:
It was probably due to incompatibility with the nightly version. When I worked on the mod I always made sure to fix the most severe bugs.

And about the mod: Due to a computer crash, and the Media Fire download not working for a long time, the mod is most probably lost :( It's sad as I spent hundreds of hours working on it, and it got at least 80% completed. A friend of me also created music for the mod that was very, very good and fit x-com perfectly. At least there are still pictures!  :-\

But please feel free to copy any ideas from the mod: UFO designs, gameplay ideas, item names, graphics, anything.
And if someone have any other questions about the mod I'd love to answer.  :D
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Solarius Scorch on January 21, 2019, 12:48:24 am
I have a copy of this mod, dated to 16.12.2016. I allowed myself to upload it here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/0fuvxfqsfh3saev/UFO_Alien_Takeover_by_Cooper.zip/file

Cooper, please let me know if you want it removed or something.
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: efrenespartano on January 22, 2019, 03:26:21 am
I still have this mod on my old PC too, I like it very much. I hope it gets an upgrade soon.

It is great to have news of you, Cooper!
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: luke83 on January 22, 2019, 03:29:18 am
Several of his aliens look like they may find there way into my mod, glad thid recourse is available again.

Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on January 25, 2019, 05:16:09 pm
Welcome back, Cooper. 8)
I salute you! :)
Thank you!  :D

I have a copy of this mod, dated to 16.12.2016. I allowed myself to upload it here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/0fuvxfqsfh3saev/UFO_Alien_Takeover_by_Cooper.zip/file

Cooper, please let me know if you want it removed or something.
Thats really awesome!  :D It's even the latest version most likely, or at least very close to it. No need to remove it! :D

I still have this mod on my old PC too, I like it very much. I hope it gets an upgrade soon.

It is great to have news of you, Cooper!
Cool! I might complete it some day, but at the moment it's just not possible for various reasons :( But who knows what might happen in the future..

Several of his aliens look like they may find there way into my mod, glad thid recourse is available again.
I'm really glad that the resources I spent hundreds of hours making can be used in more up to date mods!


So for those who have played this, how far did you get? Was it too difficult in the beginning playing with melee only?
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover v.0.1.1
Post by: Meridian on July 26, 2019, 10:11:05 pm
Updated the ruleset to be able to run on the latest nightly and on OXCE.

Download attached.

PS: big chunks seem to be unfinished or temporarily disabled, definitely a WIP mod
Title: Re: [WIP][EXPANSION]UFO: Alien Takeover v0.1.1
Post by: Cooper on November 10, 2022, 09:44:30 pm
EDIT: LATEST UPDATE AND DOWNLOAD IS MOVED HERE: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11769.0.html (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11769.0.html)

Hello everyone!

So I have finally started working on this again! :D Its really fun having progress on this after so long.

The goal now is to at least make the mod decent enough, meaning no crashes or serious bugs, no unwritten Ufopedia articles, finish all unfinished terrain including final mission, completing other important unfinished stuff, and actually playing trough the whole mod so the mid and end game can get a minimum of balancing.

There is still a LOT left and its not complete enough that I recommend playing it yet, but here is whats new in this new update if you still wanna give it a try:
-Compatibility with the latest nightly
-Bug fixes (bugs that crashed the game)
-Bug fixes (misc)
-Completed Alien Settlement mission (part 1)
-Some new music
-Some balancing
-Misc completing a few things (UFO inner walls for Large Bomber, some Ufopedia text, etc)
-Improved and completed my farm terrain additions
-Finally created proper Warship turrent sprites
-Made the end game research three a little more diverse/interesting
-And a bunch more


About OXCE: The goal is to make this mod compatible with OXCE, as the mod is certainly for experienced players. But before anything I want to complete everything that is game-breaking, such as the end game being almost completely untested. I tried the OXCE compatible version from Meridian, but could not get it working, probably its not compatible anymore with the latest OXCE version.

Linux compatibility: Tested for a few hours, seems to be working fine!
Windows compatibility: Yes
Mac compatibility: Unknown

Edits:

My computer is acting a bit strange, so juuuust in case of a crash I will be putting backups of the most recent version of the mod here regularly. 
Version 0.1.3: Some research balancing, more and better UFOpedia entries, fixed alien animations, added some missing graphics, some graphics improved, and other improvements.
Version 0.1.4: Fixed three terrains where it was sometimes impossible to go places, added Light Homemade Explosives, misc. Testplaying: until 6th of april.
Version 0.1.5: Had a lot of progress on the Aliens Settlement part 2 terrain, improved some UFOpedia entries, balancing, testing, fixed a bug. Testplaying: until 24th of april
Version 0.2.0:  Big smoke rebalancing: Removed vanilla smoke grenade, added Alien Smoke Grenade with limited availability, RCV/Smoke requires Alien Smoke Grenade as ammo. Moved Time Looper to early game and no longer possible to manufacture. Added «Battle Briefing» project topic and a few alien artifacts as starting items in the base. Improved Alien Medkit and Guard Tower sprite. Added going to Mars cutscene. Slightly increased numbers of aliens with melee in early game. Fixed two small terrain bugs. Converted Proxy Cocktail into Homemade Grenade. Difficulty balancing. Removed all proxy grenades from the game. Reduced amount of stun bombs in alien deployments. Improved some strings. Made stuff unique to the mod appear more frequently. Balancing. Misc. Testplaying: until 26th of april.
Version 0.2.1: Completed Alien Settlement part 2 terrain, and almost done with the routes. Improved some strings. Testplaying: until 8th of may.
Version 0.2.2: Completed the Alien Settlement part 2 routes - Alien Settlement mission is now completely done, some improvements to mid game research three, some progress on Mars part 1 terrain, completed Mars part 2, Motion Scanner is now Alien Scanner. Testplaying: until 12th of may.
Version 0.2.3: Some balancing, improved some strings. Testplaying: still until 12th of may.
Version 0.2.4 Fixed fatal bug: broken elerium recovery, improved sprites and strings, some progress on Mars part 1 terrain, Homemade Grenade is now Homemade Explosive Box, balancing, added custom music for Mars, fixed another bug, misc. Testplaying: until 21th of may.
Version 0.2.5: Added new Alien Storage Facility mission+terrain! + Balancing items and deployment and aliens and research, removed Tranquilizer and Landmine because it could be used for cheating, redused likelyhood of Abductor UFOs in jan&feb, changed Warship marker icon, improved several strings, fixed UFO map bug, added Grav-Module extraction also from Waspites, made some of the most powerful alien weapons unusable for humans. Testplaying: until 21th of june
Version 0.2.6: The mod is now accessible for non-veteran players! (but still not beginners) This is done mainly by adding helpful items in the Alien Storage Facility on the easiest difficulty.  Also new: a lot of balancing, improved strings, polished the Alien Storage Facility mission, and fixed semi-fatal bug where items could get lost in some missions. Testplaying: until 3rd of july
Version 0.2.7: Improved some strings, balancing, Settlement Part 1 is no longer almost impossible, fixed a mapbug, misc. Testplaying: until 9th of july
Version 0.2.8: Reduced Storage Facility missions amount from 2 to 1 on easiest difficulty, less ugly Alien Blueprint sprite, removed ufopedia article for abandoned item. Testplaying: until 14th of july
Version 0.2.9: Some nice difficulty balancing, improved strings, created missing UFOpedia images, and a few other misc improvements and completions. Testplaying: until 16th of july
Version 0.2.10: Improved strings, balancing, inventories reworked, small changes to research three, added X-Com rifle, misc. Testplaying: until 5th of august
Version 0.2.11: Making above ground Alien Base tiles a lot prettier, created unique marker icons for Alien Settlement, Warship, Assaulted X-Com Base and Alien Storage Facility, making it easier to understand what some of the early game research leads to, adding helpful information in some UFOpedia articles, fixed bugs, balancing, misc. Testplaying: until 11th of august (mid game)
Version 0.2.12: Added new music for loose game, win game, memorial, and new main menu music. Small map improvements, lot of balancing, some bugfixing, added missing UFOpedia articles and text, increased income from varoius sources so the player has more money, made part of the projects (research) easier to understand,  removed most week aliens after around +- september, completed Assaultship UFO. Testplaying: until 14th of september (mid game)
Version 0.2.13: Alien overhaul: Replaced several aliens graphics with other cooler ones! Fewer TFTD recolored aliens now. Also change some stats and made a couple races a lot more difficult. Added a second terror unit for Theezlins. Also new: Giving some items and research topics cooler names, balancing, misc improvement to the research three, fixed bugs, late game craft balancing, added back Tranquilizer but is now Alien Tranquilizer with limited availability, made alien hybrids available already in early game, misc. Testplaying: until 14th of september (mid game)
Version 0.2.14: Fixed a couple bugs, balancing, worked on mid game ufopedia articles, misc. Testplaying: unti 7th of october (mid game)
Version 0.2.15: Fixed research bug, fixed Sound issue in Linux, music volume adjustments, improved strings, rebalanced and completed the Sectoid Ghost race, give melee to aliens with little ammo, added back missing Magnum and Sniper Rifle, balancing, small changes in Rural and Desert terrain, moved HWP and interceptors to end game, removed Bending Suit, added Multi Armor, and misc! Testplaying: until 17th of october (mid game)
Version 0.2.16: Made Globemaster craft actually useful and moved it to early-ish in the game, almost completed Mars surface terrain, fixed couple bugs, balancing. Testplaying: until 12th of november (mid game)
Version 0.2.17: Added lot of new terrains from the Community Map Pack! Made RCV/knife slightly better and no longer possible to exploit, created handob and floorob for Suicide Bomb, added  possibility to use the best alien weapons in end game, improved some UFOpedia texts, balancing, fixed mapbug, added missing routes in Large Bomber UFO, fixed a couple other bugs, bit prettier sprites for some laser weapons, removed Minigun, warned about slave unit bug in readme, misc. Testplaying: until 17th of december (mid/end game)
Version 0.2.18: A lot of balancing, important improvements to the research three especially in end game, fixed fatal inventory bug and various other bugs, removed chemical thrower smoke and invisibility suit and HWPs, made end game «going to mars/finding headquarters» research series a lot less time-consuming, added some missing ufopedia texts, added alien stun rod in very late game, added back rail weapons and removed gauss. Testplaying (now playing super-fast and cheating a bit): until 4th of may year 2 (end game)
Version 0.2.19: Fixed several nasty bugs and unbalanced stuff in end game. Improved strings, added some missing strings, completed Mars surface terrain, added missing base defense terrain block, drastically reduced manufacture time and space needed to create spaceship, fixed other bugs, misc. Testplaying: until 29th of august year 2 (final mission!)
Version 0.2.20: Improved a couple UFOpedia texts, rebalancing, some tweeks on Mars part 2, change statistics and end game strings to fit the mod, added Adv. Stun Grenade. Testplaying: Complete!
Version 0.2.20b: Updated the readme file
Version 0.2.20c: Fixed inventory string bug, reduced number of aliens in Alien Storage Facility mission on all difficulties except easiest.
Version 0.3.0: Game start in 1980, Improved Alien War mission wave, 12 Knifes in start game instead of 6, Bomber UFOs sometimes land (earlier Bombers never landed), One more Alien Smoke Grenade at start game, Some ruleset cleanup. Removed many discarded items, research, manufacture, etc from the ruleset, Removed many unused files from Resources/, Increase space in Alien Containment from 3 to 5, Performed a spell-check and fixed way to many typos, Improved some UFOpedia texts, Fixed some incorrect information on UFOpedia, Renamed Snaker alien race to Shuman, and Xenomorph to Xaria, New Alien Weapon: Plasma Auto-Disintegrator!, Created proper UFOPedia texts about Thurox, Tigran, Chryssalid Biter and Xaria, Changed dart clips research: its now a lot less dependent on RNG being nice and more about numbers of alien corpses researched, Balanced Dart Rifle Clips damage, Live alien medic getonefree can finally unlock all aliens, not just vanilla aliens, Added missing UFOPedia articles for some alien missions, and improved the texts for the existing ones, Live alien navigator getonefree now leads to all alien missions, Balancing the Alien Torture mission, Added short range Sub Machine Gun to early mid game, Removed "Sister", "Good friend" etc from acquaintances names
Version 0.3.1: Fixed fatal Linux bug (crashed on startup), renamed difficulties to better reflect how difficult the mod is compared to the original, slightly increased amount of aliens on harder difficulties, some testplaying (in Linux), made Funnelhead melee a bit slower and a bit more powerful, bugfix: X-Com are no longer firing at Rebels in base visit missions.

Version 0.3.2:
Misc: Updated the readme-file
Bugfixes: Small Harvesters did not recover Elerium, moved Elerium items in UFOs to the same block as the Power Source in UFOs, fixed terrain bug (unless it
was supposed to look that bad), fixed see-trough bug in some crafts
Balancing: removed alien smoke grenades from most UFOs and added more to Alien Storage Facilities and some small UFOs, made alien smoke grenades lighter, reduced cost of project mangers and organizers, reduce Stalker craft max speed, made early game a little less painful by:
-making alien grenades usable from the start (but availability is still very limited)
-reducing number of items required to get weapon training
-big melee weapons rebalancing (including making melee weapons a little bit more effective)
-increase frequency of alien melee equipment early game
-increased flame throwers blast radius and range by 1 tile
-reduced number of aliens in storage facilities
Graphics: finally added inventory images for rebels!

Version 0.3.3:
Balancing: Increased flame thrower power (blast radius)
Bugfixes: Added back missing UFOintro cutscene music
Completions: Fixed Tigran UFOpedia pictures, completed serveral UFO tiles

Version 0.3.4:
Balancing: Reduce Skyrider maxspeed, alien grenades again require research to use but can be researched and used without basic weapon training (so can still
be used very very early in the game), reduced frequency of Time Loopers in Alien Storage Facilities, made early flame thrower heavier
Bugfixes: Abductor UFOs had some old tiles in battlescape
Completions: Changed Stalker UFOpedia image to one that looks more like it does in the base, added very tiny backstory for the Rebels, started UFO overhaul:
creating some missing interception UFO sprites + balancing stats + improving UFOpedia entries + improved UFOpedia listorder

Version 0.3.5:
Balancing: Increased space in General Stores and Workshop, made Elerium Ball require more elerium, increased chance of X-Com base defense mission, increased all human meelee weapons damage with 5 points, lower difficultyCoefficient on hardest difficulty, aliens can use blasters/grenades from turn 3 instead of turn 2, renamed most difficulties, reduced amount of Alien Smoke Grenades in Explorer UFOs and increased amount in Crop Ship, reduced officespace in administration to 15, increased price of organizers, increased research time a little on mostly early game stuff and reduced research time on late game stuff, increased manufacture cost of "weapons for Vatos Locos", increased in alien fire accuracy + reactions + armour in all difficulties except easiest, removed Alien Storage Facility mission for january in all difficulties except easisest, decreased general funding
Bugfixes: Cropship mission was sometimes spawning in wrong terrain resulting in no UFO spawn in the terrain
Completions: Continued the UFO overhaul - only 4 UFOs left now
Misc: Improved Warship graphics, Large Radar System is now available from start while Base Outpost is not, read-me file overhaul, greatly improved how much damage stairs can take before being destroyed
New stuff: New mission: always 50 % chance that a Terror Missions is replaced by a new Alien Outpost Attack mission to en sure a greater veriety of mission types - this also includes a new terrain based on my rural terrain. Added "Beg For Money" as start game deal.

Version 0.3.6:
Balancing: Reduced Elerium and Alien Alloys sellprice, increased Organizer cost, increased alien fire accuracy on most difficulties, lowered alien armor and increased alien health to make them more unlikely to become unconscious, increased hybrid soldier price, further increased time looper ammo manufacture cost, increased Surgery Laser power and accuracy, removed Sectoid race from early Alien Outpost Attack (was too difficult) and adjusted number of aliens in the mission, increased Time Looper sellprice, increased price of Armored Vest and Combat Armor, reduced amount of good weapons in Alien Storage Facility in all difficulties except easiest, reduced very early game research time a little,
Bugfixes: Fixed spawn point bugs in final mission part 1
Misc: Added back "neighbour" etc in aquaitance names because it was funny
Improvements: Replaced roof tiles in final mission part 1
New stuff: Replaced fly-by Terror Ship that spawned shortly after game is started with the purpose of supporting the feeling of the aliens being superior with a new mission: Alien Hideout. This is just a base constructed by aliens in the first month and is impossible to beat for the first months. Also added new music for briefing and battlescape on some of the most difficult missions.

Version 0.3.7:
Balancing: Fewer aliens with meelee only in early game, made Aquaintances a bit cheaper and Rebels a bit more expensive, increased Time Looper ammo cost yet again, reduced amount of useful/powerful stuff in Alien Storage Facilities once again (except on easy difficulty), changed most Surgery Laser stats, increased Alien Blueprint sellprice
Bugfixes: Fixed small mapbug
Completions: Added missing UFOpedia text
Misc: Changed starting base layout, included less distracting smoke graphics in the mod, updated en_us strings
Improvements: Many improvements to my Rural terrain (and made it appear more frequently), some improvements to Outpost Defense mission terrain
New stuff: RCV/Combat, Alien Proximity Grenade (not used by aliens, only found in storage facilities)

Version 0.3.8:
Balancing: Increased cost of Stun Grenade manufacture, increased Alien proxy grenade power, higher payment when working for CAUS, increased Time Looper sellprice, removed morale boost for wearing armored vest
Bugfixes: Fixed Torch battery and Tranquilizer research bugs,
Misc: Some testplaying in Linux - still seems to work very well, misc
Projects (research): Warn The Public project requirements are now alien weapons + UFO parts + alien grenades + alien corpses in general (one of each) instead of specific UFO parts + corpse, added more items needed for Proof Of Alien Life in storage facilities to minimize
already very small chance of having to look for the items for too long, instead of Black Marked project unlocking three items it now unlocks three projects that unlocks
each item, Hyper Wave Decoders also has a dedicate project topic instead of being unlocked by CAUS project, Armored Vest also needs to be researched separately,
Improvements: Small improvement of Alien Storage Facility terrain, fixed impassable mapblocks in nativeurban terrain,
New stuff: Added Corn Farm terrain (from another mod), Armored Vest are now available in 4 different versions with separate stat-modifiers and colors - encouraging players to have specific armor for certain roles on the battlefield, added UFOpaedia entries for acquaintances and rebels

Version 0.3.9:
Balancing: Alien races around April-June are now a little tougher, alienitemlevels: aliens have more of the dangerous weapons earlier (from May), one less smoke grenade in Crop Ship, increased amount of aliens wearing Toxigun and Plasma Disintegrator to reduce amount of recovered alien clips (Toxigun and Disintegrator cant be used until end game)
Bugfixes: Fixed tu cost etc bugs for Grinder, fixed Alien Base missions not spawning alien bases!, fixed routes bug in an Alien Base mapblock,
Completions: Added missing live alien sale for Tigran, Armoured Floater, Anthropod, Queecher, and Chtonite. Created unique base/dogfight graphics for Globemaster craft, added missing research for Anthropod corpse, created remaining blocks for Alien Bases
Misc: Informing about specific maxrange of Shotgun in UFOpaedia, not displaying craft in Alien Storage Facilities brefing anymore
Improvements: Removed some out of place flowers in Alien Bases, made Alien Base above ground terrain a little prettier

Changelog continues in next post..
Title: Re: [WIP][TOTAL CONVERSION] UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 14, 2022, 06:59:58 pm
Edit: continuing the cangelog in this post as the previous one reached character max limit.

Version 0.3.10:
Balancing: Completely rebalanced the Surgery Laser again, reduced Betharian aliens armor, some changes to mission weights, moved start of retaliation from end game to mid game, mid game aliens are even tougher and more interesting and cool, added Theezlins to the Betharian crew for more variation, reduced chance of the same alien races several months in a row
Bugfixes: Fixed small manufacture listorder bug, fixed fatal bug with Queecher terror unit
Completions: Betharian corpse florob and string, Betharian inventory image
Misc: Reduced power of light homemade explosives so it makes more sense
New stuff: Surgery Laser Battery, three new mixed alien crews (containing already existing aliens)

Version 0.3.11:
Balancing: Give Hybrids lower starting Psi Skill & stamina and higher starting TU & bravery, increased sellprice of alien weapons but lowered sellprice for Plasma Shotgun that was way to high, reduced research time for all live aliens
Bugfixes: Fixed SMG clips not being possible to manufacture
Completions: Added ufopaedia page for Hybrids, added string for SMG project, added colored variants of the Combat Armor just like the Armored Vest got
Misc: Gave hints in ufopedia pages to keep investigating UFO parts
Projects (research): Give Combat Training do not directly unlock items anymore but unlocks research for those items instead
Improvements: Several improvements in which missions can appear when - including removal of possibility for the same mission twice in the same month, removed possibility of the same mapblock spawning twice in Alien Bases, improve and expand Alien History UFOpaedia text

Version 0.3.12:
Balancing: Takes two more days of build time for Alien Containment. Stun Grenade no longer requires Basic Weapon Training.
Bugfixes: Fixed string bug in medkit screen.
Improvements: Small visual improvement of Alien Base terrain (made a building above ground less square).
New stuff: Two new tactical items: Alien Hydrogen Container and Incapacitator! Added Expanded Terror terrain from Hellrazor. New mapblock in Alien Base.

Version 0.3.13:
Balancing: Lower fequency of Settlement Supply missions. More secondary terror units in alien bases, settlements, xcom base, terror ship and terror mission. Improved SMG accuracy.
Bugfixes: Fixed Alien Settlement stage 1 chronotrigger bug, and a couple small terrainbugs.
Completions: Added combat knife sprite to RCV/Combat. Created missing floorsprite for Settlement part 2.
Improvements: Made Alien Settlement stage 1 tiles much prettier. Several minor visual improvement to Alien Settlement stage 2 terrain. Visual improvement of Warship exterior. Removed ugly SMG bulletsprite.

Version 0.4.0: (should be compatible with versions 0.3.X, but you might have to do some research over again)
Balancing: More than I bother to write down, including: More Alien Proxy Grenades in storage facilities. Slight reduction in Organizer price. Lowered Hybrid statcaps on fire, throw, melee and stamina. Increased amount of Plasma Shotguns in alien deployments in most missions making aliens more deadly and making human-usable weapons a little more rare. Made Incapacitator less effective against Chryssalids and Xaria. Removed chance of psionic aliens in the first month. Increased amount of Alien Blueprints in Storages when they are needed for Proof Of Alien Invasion to avoid potentially too slow progress. Increased Winchester clipsize from 4 to 6. Making Base Defense harder by changing routes and spawn points. Increased amount of Alien Medi Kit in alien storages. Made some aliens more vonurable to acid. Reprogrammed Cyberdisk debuff. Increased Alien Surgery availability especially in end game, for laser weapon production. Made Aerials more common for more alien race variation. Dart Rifle buff. Increased Plasma Torch clipsize from 3 to 4. Increased Thurox and Warship Turrent bravery. Increased Plasma Torch power.
Bugfixes: Fixed *extremely* rare bug that would crash the game if a zombie corpse tries to spawn in a downed UFO. Fixed exit tiles bug in Outpost Defense mission. Fixed Stun Grenade not possible to bring on to crafts. Fixed small Base Defense route bugs. Fixed Mind Shield and Hyper Wave Decoder showing each others mapblock in base defense. Fixed Medi-Kit having two manufacture options. Removed chance of late Crop Circle mission spawning in arctic/antarctic. Fixed ruleset bugs that did not nessesarily affect the gameplay. Fixed incorrect info about Psi-Projector in UFOpeaedia. Fixed Altoid Scientist unlocking going to Mars research. Fixed rare bug that crashed the game very late, if two retaiation missions spawned at the same time. Fixed small Adv. Stun Grenade sprite bug. Fixed Aerial graphics bug. Fixed Multi Armour graphical glitch. Fixed rare Elerium recovery bug.
Completions: Alien doors animations. Adding missing strings, and some missing UFOpedia articles. Added UFOpedia images for Betharian aliens and Flying Fortress. And more. Set proper Mind Shield price. Created unique base defense mapblock for Large Hyper Wave Decoder, and generally completed the Base Defence terrain. Added variants of the Power Armor. Added missing research and set price for Laser Defense. Finished battlenuke graphics.
Misc: Created new research tree overview document. Deleted or removed discarded items and UFOpedia articles. A lot of testing and looking for bugs. Adjusted some music volume. Warship: Removed possibility of commander being unavailable upstairs due to blown up floors by increasing floor armour, increased amount of aliens, reduced cheat turn number.
Projects (research): Projects tree overhaul! Removing things that did not make sense, adding new things, changes and additions to the story, moving things around. Too much to mention everything, but one cool thing is: In order to let the player choose their own playstyle as much as possible, the majority of Alien Smoke Grenades in storage facilities and all Alien Smoke Grenades in Explorer UFOs has been replaced with a new item called Alien Gas Mix, that can be used to manufacture Alien Smoke Grenades, Elerium Balls, and more. All alien engineers also carry one Alien Gas Mix for increased supply.
Improvements: A whole lot of misc. Made mapblocks for several facilities in Base Defense a lot less ugly. Laser weapons overhaul: better sprites for Laser Rifle and Guided Laser rifle, and changed stats. Improved Aerial graphics.
New stuff: New background image when using the Alien Scanner. Replaced most landing crafts with brand new ones, that are not just similar versions of the same craft but each with its own features and personality. Added back vanilla pistol and Heavy Cannon. Added possibility to disable self destruction mechanism on blaster bombs. Added possibility to build Operation Center (aka Laboratory) mid game.


-------------

Version 0.2.20 is out! And as I finally have played trough the whole mod and had a LOT of progress in completing and balancing things, it is no longer super unfinished and I no longer advice against playing it! :D 

Early and mid game should be very polished and complete. Only the end game needs some more polishing, but its hopefully pretty balanced as well.

The development of the mod has been crazy fast in the last few weeks, but will now slow down significantly as I have reached my goal to make playing the mod a good experience and complete enough to be definitively playable.

I hope others will have as much fun playing it as I had making it, and I appreciate ANY feedback!  8)

Latest version is attached to the previous post! Read the readme-file before playing!
Title: Re: [WIP][TOTAL CONVERSION] UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: ontherun on December 15, 2022, 01:20:36 pm
all right please some youtube gameplay video?  :P (also update first post, mayne upload on openxcom. mod. io)
Title: Re: [WIP][TOTAL CONVERSION] UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 22, 2022, 01:05:47 am
all right please some youtube gameplay video?  :P (also update first post, mayne upload on openxcom. mod. io)
Here is a quick gameplay / preview video I have put together: https://video.hardlimit.com/w/nqaK84wFUATYB6mgtAXQVz  :)
Title: Re: [WIP][TOTAL CONVERSION] UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: ontherun on December 22, 2022, 05:14:58 pm
Wow that is super!!! Im not sure avout the "time looper" , it's very cheaty, maybe remove from game or one usage per missionallowed?

Startin game time is set in 1120, May i advice to use same as TFTD, that is to say 2040?
Title: Re: [WIP][TOTAL CONVERSION] UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on December 22, 2022, 07:54:25 pm
Wow that is super!!! Im not sure avout the "time looper" , it's very cheaty, maybe remove from game or one usage per missionallowed?

Startin game time is set in 1120, May i advice to use same as TFTD, that is to say 2040?

Thanks :D

I totally understand your concern about the Time Looper, however the ammo is very expensive to manufacture (requires 35 Elerium for each ammo/use, and Elerium will, especially from mid game, be used for a lot of other things too) so you would only use it when it is really needed. You can not manufacture the Time Loopers either, only on a rare occasion find them in Alien Storage Facilities.

I'm actually changing starting year in the next version, because year 1120 seems too far away from what we normally relate to.  Also some of the tech in the mod did not exist in 1120. But its gonna be set to 1980, because the story begins before X-Com var formed, and also I prefer a more retro-vibe.
Title: Re: [WIP][TOTAL CONVERSION] UFO: Alien Takeover
Post by: Cooper on January 27, 2023, 05:35:05 pm
Version 0.3.0 is out!

See this post for changelog: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,4163.msg150527.html#msg150527

Edit: Thank you for 169 downloads on version 0.3.0 :D Version 0.3.1 is now out, see attachment.

Edit: Version 0.3.2 is out! Download is attached to this post: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,4163.msg150527.html#msg150527

EDIT: LATEST UPDATE AND DOWNLOAD IS MOVED HERE: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11769.0.html (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,11769.0.html)