Topics

106

Released Mods / [UFO] Reaver's Ground Weapons (Featuring Shadow's Terran Plasma!)

« on: December 23, 2015, 03:39:19 pm »

Mod page: https://www.openxcom.com/mod/reaver-039-s-ground-weapons


Latest Version: 1.1.7
Details and download in reply #3


This mod adjusts the firing accuracy and time unit costs of the weapons as well as their power in slight ways, and then adds several new weapons, primarily including automatic weapons.  The three weapon lines (conventional, laser, and plasma) now all have two pistols, two rifles, and two heavies--one automatic and the other semi-auto. The semi-auto rifles retain an auto shot but it has poor accuracy, while the semi pistols and heavies do not have auto shot.

I've also added a few new ammunition types to your arsenal:
Alien Rockets - after researching alien grenades, you can upgrade your rocket launcher's power significantly
Fusion Rockets - after researching blaster bombs, you can build an extremely powerful rocket

In addition to this, you can manufacture conventional-payload ammunition for both the Small Launcher and the Blaster Launcher.

Aliens use only the semi-automatic weapons, so they're less likely to use auto shots on you, but beware because the power of the Heavy Plasma and Plasma Pistol have been increased!



Shadow's Terran Plasma Weapons
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,1710.0.html

Shadow released a neat little mod adding Chiko's graphics to the plasma weapons as well as forcing the player to manufacture human-designed variants in order to use them. This makes it significantly more difficult to equip your squad with plasma.

I have incorporated his mod into the plus version of this mod, with a few changes and a twist: you must spend alien plasma weapons in the manufacturing process for terran plasma weapons. Automatic weapons are more expensive: you must spend 2 alien plasma weapons to get 1 automatic weapon. I also used my own values on weapon attributes, sell/manufacture costs, etc. The automatic plasma weapons keep the old graphics, making them look unique from the other plasma weapons, which is nice. In my mod, the terran plasma weapons have the same attributes as the alien plasma weapons.





Some other notable changes:
Manufacturing costs have been tweaked in keeping with my new manufacturing profit model. This will match my other Reaver's X mods.
All of the semi-automatic pistols have been buffed significantly.
The laser weapons are all very accurate but have a lower fire rate. The laser rifle's aimed shot is incredibly accurate.
The heavy weapons have all had their power increased, especially the heavy laser.
The small launcher has a very low snap shot time unit cost, making it possible to fire three times in one turn. The ammunition for it is now cheaper and lighter.

----------

Update carrying some changes:

#   1.0.1: fixed Incendiary Bomb language file discrepancy
#   1.0.2: changed Small Launcher to one handed
#   1.0.3: fixed small launcher ammunition damage types
#   1.1.0: player cannot manufacture alien launchers or their alien ammo
#         terran plasma weapons can be built without researching clips
#         added CanadianBeaver's laser artwork for automatic lasers (awesomeguns-laser)
#   1.1.1: added original art for the laser pistol and heavy laser (RedBlueLasers)
#         gave the laser rifle art a scope
#   1.1.2: reduced laser pistols' aimed shot TU cost and accuracy
#         reduced the plasma pistols' aimed shot TU cost and increased the accuracy
#   1.1.3: added ufopedia entries for alien and fusion rockets
#   1.1.4: fixed heavy laser floorob to look more like the bigob

Most important changes: aside from adding more art made by myself and CanadianBeaver, I've done bug fixes, balance tweaks, and made the small launcher one-handed. Make sure you try it out! I've tried to keep the base version (GWeapons) updated, but it may have bugs. The bonus art version (GWeaponsPlus) is what I have put the most time into polishing.

107

Programming / One little bug

« on: December 23, 2015, 07:56:16 am »

I don't know where to submit bug reports, but this is a tiny bug that is easily reproduced, confirmed, and fixed.


Bug:
In the battlescape, centering on an alien target (using the flashing red [1] button on the side of the screen) actually centers you onto the square to the upper left of the square the alien is in.

108

Work In Progress / [SOLVED] How do I eliminate a research dependency?

« on: December 13, 2015, 12:13:06 pm »

I am trying to make a mod that removes the laser pistol and laser rifle dependency on their respective research projects, and instead causes the laser weapons research project to unlock both of them.

If I give them STR_LASER_WEAPONS as a manufacturing dependency, it simply adds that one to the dependency list but they still need STR_LASER_PISTOL or STR_LASER_RIFLE research to be completed.

If I set STR_LASER_WEAPONS to unlock STR_LASER_PISTOL and STR_LASER_RIFLE, it unlocks the research projects, as in it makes them available to begin researching.

If I set the research projects' cost to 0, they still appear in the list and must be researched for 1 day.


How do I make the ruleset do what I want?

109

Work In Progress / How do I edit battlescape item recovery values?

« on: December 11, 2015, 10:36:37 am »

I want to change how many alien alloys or elerium I get back from a mission. I know that each elerium unit is recovered for 50 elerium, and each alien alloy tile (on a UFO) is recovered for 1/10th of an alien alloy. How do I edit these values, say, to make power sources give 25 elerium, and alien alloy tiles recover for 1/5th of an alien alloy?

110

Work In Progress / Alien Reactions: can I limit how many time units they can spend?

« on: December 09, 2015, 05:10:22 am »

Current way reactions work: the reacting unit makes a calculation based on its own reactions (reduced according to remaining time units) against the reactions of the moving unit (reduced according to the moving unit's remaining time units). If the reacting unit gets a high enough die roll after adjusting for everybody's reactions and time units, it will react.

What happens after that is that the reacting unit will always select a snap shot, but can continue making snap shots until it runs out of time units or the unit it is reacting to is dead.


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

What I want to happen: when the reacting unit makes a reaction shot, it re-calculates its remaining time units and re-rolls the die before making a second reaction shot. As it now has fewer time units remaining, it will have a smaller chance of reacting.

This will make it possible for a unit with a high reactions attribute to make a "safe shot" with a fast-firing weapon, and spend very few time units in order to potentially hit an enemy unit such that the enemy won't be able to react with more than one shot since the moving unit's reactions and remaining time unit composite will be too high for the reacting unit's remaining time units and reaction score composite to be able to fire again after the first shot. It'll make it so that aliens won't fire three shots at you as soon as they see you, unless you have low time units and/or reactions.

Can this be done?

edit: This is how the game is already. It doesn't seem like it because the aliens have obscenely high reactions.

111

Work In Progress / Is it possible to make a small hangar?

« on: December 09, 2015, 01:26:01 am »

Would it be possible to make a small (1x1) hangar facility which can only allow certain aircraft? This would allow easier operation of smaller, cheaper aircraft which could allow you to get your new bases into minimum operational capacity sooner.

112

Released Mods / [UFO] [AIRCRAFT] Reaver's Armada - expanded craft selection, more choices

« on: December 04, 2015, 12:32:42 pm »

Mod page: https://www.openxcom.com/mod/reaver-039-s-armada

In this mod I have expanded the game's aircraft to a total of sixteen craft, eight of which can be purchased at the start of the game and the other eight are unlocked through research and are manufactured by X-Com. This mod changes the original craft through a combination of tweaks and splitting them into more types.


LATEST VERSION: 1.3.2
Scroll to Reply #9 for info and download.


Changes
The Interceptor has been nerfed by being split into the swift Interceptor and the powerful Punisher. The original interceptor's best attributes have been spread across these two craft: the new Interceptor carries its speed and range, while the Punisher has its 2 weapon slots and damage capacity. I have tested these craft and they are still quite capable of shooting down alien craft, but you'll have to think strategically in order to pull it off.

The old Skyranger is split into the new Skyranger and the Custodian. The new Skyranger is faster than the old one but carries a smaller fighting force. The Custodian is slower than the old Skyranger but carries an even larger force and features multiple craft exits. This gives you some choices right in the beginning so you can pick a troop transport that meets your needs.

After you complete research in UFO Construction, you will be presented with two options: New Fighter Craft or New Transport Craft. This lets you choose between getting the Firestorm or Lightning first. Furthermore, both craft are capable of both interceptions and carrying troops, though the Firestorm is a far better interceptor and the Lightning is a far better transport. This allows you to just build one craft and save yourself some time and hangars.

The Firestorm now carries 4 soldiers or a tank, and the Lightning carries 16 soldiers or up to 4 tanks. Both craft place the troops on ground level at the start of the mission, facing in all directions. This kind of start gets combat moving much earlier in the mission and can potentially be more dangerous but many times it can actually save the lives of your troops. I find this Lightning to my liking, but there are plenty of other troop transport options to choose from if you don't like it.

The Avenger is nerfed much like the Interceptor by being split into two craft: the Avenger and the Vanquisher. The new Avenger keeps the old Avenger's interception capabilities and is researched after the Firestorm. It is also a capable troop transport, carrying a force slightly larger than the new Skyranger. The Vanquisher keeps the old Avenger's transport capacity but moves a bit slower than the Firestorm so it's not the best interception craft. Still, these ultimate craft are much more capable all-around than the more streamlined Firestorm and Lightning, so you can still feel free to only build one of these and it should provide you with everything you need in a ship.


Everything, except of course patrolling functions.


New Conventional Craft
Three of the craft added are patrol craft, and these are able to remain in the air for a long time while also featuring an extended radar detect range. The Sparrow is a long-range patrol craft that can reach the other side of the globe and still have plenty of fuel remaining when it gets there. It has a wider radar range than the Albatross. The Albatross is a slow-moving patrol craft that can remain in the air for up to a week. It has a higher chance of detecting UFOs than the Sparrow does.

The Stormstrike is a light troop transport that moves almost as fast as an Interceptor and carries 4 soldiers, but can't carry a tank. This craft is very useful for catching landed UFOs if you don't want to give them a chance to run away before you get there.

The Marauder is a slow, medium-range interception craft which is a lot more durable than a Punisher. These can be useful for taking out some of the larger craft early in the game, though it can be tricky to catch anything with one. I wanted to give this ship a third weapon but it was too much trouble to use OpenXcom Extended just for one thing. One neat thing about the Marauder is that it can carry 2 soldiers, so if you like to shoot down a craft and go to the crash site immediately, this ship can do that.

New Alien Technology Craft
All of these craft are unlocked through advanced research. They have multiple prerequisites, so just keep researching and you will eventually get them. Research engineers.

The Stalker is an alien-tech patrol craft which moves faster than the Lightning but can patrol as long as the Albatross and doesn't use fuel any faster while moving. It costs far less Elerium to refuel than other Elerium craft, though it still can get expensive if you keep this craft in the air all the time. It has a better radar suite than either the Sparrow or Albatross.

The Heracles is a heavy-duty troop transport able to carry 32 soldiers or 8 tanks, and features a wide exit ramp. If you ever felt that 26 unit slots wasn't enough, then this is the craft for you. It is the slowest of all alien-tech craft but still faster than any conventional craft, and it costs a lot of elerium to run.

The Starstreak is a tiny, lightweight craft that moves much faster than even the Avenger, making it able to outrun even the fastest alien craft by a large margin. With two weapons, it is a highly capable interception craft, though it is a bit fragile. It is also cheap to build.

The Assassin merges the Avenger and Vanquisher into one craft for both jobs, being both a fast and strong interceptor and a heavy troop transport. It is weaker than the old avenger in both roles, but still very capable if that's the kind of ship you want. It is conceivable that you could eventually build an Assassin and get rid of all your other ships, as you would never need anything else.


Pictures

The Lightning splays your troops out for a quick exit:




The Custodian features two exits in the rear, allowing troops to exit more quickly:



Albatross radar range compared to base ship radar range:




Starting Base Changes
In the mod folder is a sub-folder called 'startingBase' which contains rulesets for changing the starting base. If you wish to use it, you must move the files into the main mod folder. I recommend using it, but it changes more parts of the game, so there is a higher chance of conflicts with other mods.

With these changes, the starting base will have a fourth hangar, and you start with one of each: Interceptor, Punisher, Skyranger, and Custodian. You'll have more funds to start with and countries will pay more, this is to cover the increased cost of using all these ships. You can use these funds to expand quickly early on, making multiple bases and lots of hangars. I have also tweaked the starting equipment.

This change to the starting base is compatible with all of my published mods and is going to be included in some of them as well.


Localization: EN-US

113

Work In Progress / What's up with the age-old Chryssalid time unit bug?

« on: December 02, 2015, 08:40:20 am »

edit: This bug has been confirmed to not happen in openxcom, but perhaps it happened in the original game. Further info: if a chryssalid runs out of time units while attacking a soldier and hasn't killed them yet, the soldier is turned into a zombie anyway. This happens even if the chryssalid has failed to inflict any damage.

Chryssalids appear to not spend any time units to attack. Now most of the time they attack a soldier, they get em in 1-2 hits, but it's not uncommon to see them need 5+ hits to succeed, which they will happily do even if they had to cross a large portion of the map to get to you. This has happened since the beginning and is present in all versions of the game, including OpenXcom. I am fairly certain it isn't intended, especially as I see in the ruleset for the Chryssalid weapon that it has a time unit cost of 15--whether this is an amount or percentage matters little as the Chryssalid has 110 time units.

Is there a reason this isn't fixed?


example: A Chryssalid spent a minimum of 68 time units to approach one of my soldiers (given its erratic movement pattern probably more like 80) and then attacked 8 times before succeeding. If it was counting time unit expenditure, it should have stopped attacking early, like after the second hit.

114

Work In Progress / How do I write a rule to overwrite the old rule?

« on: December 02, 2015, 07:33:50 am »

How do I define a piece of a mod ruleset as replacing the base ruleset, or define it as not replacing it?


Here's some things I am trying to do:

1.) make added items appear in specific positions on the list, rather than at the end (like in the buy list)
2.) cause a portion of the base ruleset to not be read at all (say I don't want a specific research project to show up at all)

115

Work In Progress / Reaver's Expanded Craft Featuring Fast-Deploy Lightning

« on: November 30, 2015, 12:56:17 pm »

I'm working on a mod that expands your craft options into 16 total craft from 4 categories.

The iconic Interceptor has been nerfed by being split into two craft, one which maintains the old speed and range, and the other which has the impressive toughness and weapons capacity. The Skyranger has also been split into two options: one faster with a smaller capacity and one slower with a larger capacity. Alternate craft include patrol craft which can help you keep track of what the aliens are doing, as well as other interception or transport options.

I wanted to make some of these craft carry 3 weapon mounts, but I couldn't be bothered to learn Openxcom Extended. This makes the Marauder somewhat useless, though it still sports improved hit points (150) and can carry 2 soldiers whereas the Punisher carries only 1 and the Interceptor cannot carry soldiers.

Most of the craft have some capacity for ground combat and I've made a ground map for each one using blocks from the other craft. I do not have any new graphics in this mod, so there's a lot of re-using ship models and it can get a bit confusing if you use multiple ship types that have the same models.

When you research UFO Construction, you will get the research options for both Firestorm and Lightning, so you can research whichever of the two you want more. Researching Firestorm (New Fighter Craft) unlocks Avenger (Ultimate Fighter Craft), while researching Lightning (New Transport Craft) unlocks Vanquisher (Ultimate Transport Craft). Since all four can perform both interceptions and ground missions, you can select one line and skip the other entirely if you like.

The Avenger, Vanquisher, Stalker, Heracles, Starstreak, and Assassin are all able to take you to Cydonia provided you have researched it. The Starstreak only carries one soldier, though, so I don't know why you'd use that one...

The last four ships are unlocked by researching Mind Shield plus various UFO designs. I had intended to make them into mind-shielded craft but without changing alien AI they already ignore your craft anyway, so it wouldn't even make a difference. So the mind-shielded thing exists only in their UFOPedia entries as flavor text.








Starter Craft
Interceptor - weaker and carries only one weapon but maintains the incredible speed and range of the old Interceptor.
Punisher - slower and shorter range but still quite able to catch UFOs in the early game.
Skyranger - faster than old Skyranger, carries 10 soldiers.
Custodian - slower than old Skyranger, but can carry up to 18 soldiers.

Alternate Purchase Craft
Sparrow - fast, long-range patrol craft with wide range radar which can patrol for hours on the far side of the Earth.
Albatross - slow, mobile radar unit that does not have to refuel very often.
Stormstrike - ultra-fast troop transport faster than the Punisher, carries 4 soldiers.
Marauder - slower but more powerful interception craft.

Alien Technology Craft
Firestorm - added capacity for 4 soldiers or 1 tank - Firestorm and Lightning now cost less Elerium to fuel.
Lightning - expanded to carry 16 soldiers or 4 tanks, splays troops out on the ground for rapid deployment.
Avenger - keeps the interception attributes of the old Avenger but carries only 12 soldiers.
Vanquisher - slower and weaker than Avenger but carries the full 26 troop complement.

Alternate Alien Technology Craft
Stalker - patrol craft that can remain in the air for a long time but travels fast, costs far less Elerium to refuel than other craft.
Heracles - behemoth transport that can carry 32 soldiers or 8 tanks, slowest alien tech craft and costs a lot of Elerium for fuel.
Starstreak - super fast craft that can reach 9600 knots, carries 2 weapons but has low hit points (300).
Assassin - midway between Avenger and Vanquisher, carries the old Skyranger troop loadout.



Let me know what you guys think! I'm also open to suggestions and if you want to provide artwork I might put it into the mod. More pictures and a download will become available as I complete the mod.

116

Work In Progress / [SOLVED] Aircraft fitting 3 or 4 weapons - where did that mod go?

« on: November 29, 2015, 01:10:28 am »

So Yankes built a mod that allows aircraft to fit 4 weapons. The forum post is here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2425.0.html

My question is does anyone have the mod or know where I can find it? The link in the forum post doesn't work: https://github.com/Yankes/OpenXcom/tree/MoreCraftWeapons

117

Released Mods / Reaver's Tanks - Guardian and Assault tanks

« on: November 28, 2015, 04:43:53 pm »

Mod page: https://www.openxcom.com/mod/-tanks-reaver-039-s-tanks

Video showing the tanks in action: https://youtu.be/PzLoMC3VFb4

This mod does not add any new graphics, but simply splits up the existing tanks into three varieties:
Guardian tanks: strong armor and a weak weapon; lower accuracy, time units, and reactions
Battle tanks: almost the same as before; reactions are slightly improved, some weapons hit harder, and aimed shots are much more accurate
Assault tanks: weaker armor but a very powerful weapon; higher accuracy, time units, and reactions



The mod gives you a Guardian, Battle, and Assault version of every kind of tank. You can purchase the cannon or rocket types right away from the store. The cannon battle tank hits a lot harder now, making it a more useful choice as a starting tank. The cannon assault tank can be used to take out mutons or other heavily-armored units if you don't have any laser weapons yet.

Guardian tanks are very durable and are great for drawing enemy fire and hiding your troops behind. If it's the first thing off your craft it'll tend to survive being shot at, and can get those pesky first-turn reactions out of the way without any losses. Guardian tank armor is both stronger and more even, so it doesn't make much difference whether it gets hit from the front, the back, or even underneath. The tank's low reaction stat makes aliens more likely to react to its movements.

Assault tanks have a very accurate aimed shot. Their armor is weaker but also less even. It is weakest in the back and strongest in the front, so as long as it takes all its hits in the front it should usually be okay. The higher reaction stat on these tanks isn't going to put your soldiers to shame but it can help protect the tank from reaction fire or you can reserve time units and let it fire on the aliens' turn.

Researching the Laser Rifle unlocks the Laser Guardian Tank, Heavy Laser unlocks the Laser Battle Tank, and Laser Cannon unlocks the Laser Assault Tank. This way you can get some laser tank going earlier if you like, but you have to put in some good laser research to get that beast mode laser on the assault tank. It'll drop a sectopod in one hit more often than not.
In version 2.x forward, you research Laser Weapons to get the Laser Guardian Tank, and Heavy Laser Weapons to get the Laser Battle and Assault Tank. You must also research alien alloys for these tanks.

Hovertanks are now unlocked with research into UFO Construction, you do not have to research New Fighter Craft to build them.

The plasma tanks are unlocked similarly to the laser tanks, each one to a different plasma weapon you research. Now with all this making weapons more powerful, I wound up with a plasma weapon that was more powerful than there was much point to have, so I altered it into a faster-firing variant. Now the plasma turrets deal less damage per hit but have a lower time unit cost to fire and auto shot capability.

The fusion missile tanks are all unlocked at once with the Fusion Missile research. The guardian fusion tank maintains the old weak 140 damage but has the explosion radius greatly reduced. It blows up an area about as big as the assault rocket tank, but its damage is significantly higher. The battle tank's missile is like the PWT Launcher in TFTD and will blow more than a neat little hole in the side of a UFO. The assault tank's missile is too powerful and you shouldn't use it. Really. I mean it. Don't even make one of those. It's not worth it. You have stuff to live for.



Version 2.0 release:
Several changes, some small and some important, detailed in Reply #2 below.

Version 1.1 release:
Changed Assault Hovertank (Plasma) hit points from 90 to 60
Added listOrder rule so that all tanks list in correct order with everything else

118

Work In Progress / Fuel hacks and tips needed

« on: November 27, 2015, 12:59:52 pm »

I am looking for any advice regarding altering the way craft spend fuel.

I know one trick already: craft consume 1 unit of conventional fuel per 10 minutes per 100 knots rounded down. This means that the Skyranger which has a top speed of 760 knots will spend 7 fuel per 10 minutes when in flight, and 3 per 10 minutes while patrolling. This gives the Skyranger a significantly greater range than a craft with the same amount of fuel but a speed of 600 knots, even though both would patrol for the same length of time. You can use this knowledge to set speeds strategically to increase or decrease a craft's fuel efficiency somewhat. This doesn't work for Elerium craft as they spend 1 fuel (1/5th Elerium-115) per 10 minutes regardless of speed, and patrolling will not reduce this.


I am looking for some other ways to alter fuel usage:
1.) increase or decrease a craft's patrol velocity or the percentage of max velocity at which it patrols
2.) increase or decrease the craft's fuel usage rate, especially for Elerium craft
3.) increase or decrease the amount of fuel a craft gets per unit of Elerium-115
4.) alter the rate at which a craft refuels

If you have solutions to any of these, or know anything else useful about craft fuel, please share!

119

Playthroughs / X-Com Weak Interceptor/Transport Challenge

« on: December 14, 2014, 09:24:15 pm »

The challenge is to finish the game using only very weak interceptors and transports. You may want to download my Firestorm/Lightning modification:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mv95deijvc14rh8/ReaversXcom_Firestorm_Lightning.rul?dl=0
and place it in the openxcom/data/Ruleset folder.
Then get:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g23j8dtjlycxnw0/LIGHTNIN.MAP?dl=0 special map for Lightning
https://www.dropbox.com/s/15ahli4t8yzsvv9/LIGHFIRE.MAP?dl=0 special map for Firestorm
and place those in the openxcom/data/MAPS folder (backup your lightning map first). Then once in game, find "ReaversXcom Firestorm Lightning" in the mods list and turn it on.
But you don't have to use this for the challenge.

pics of the maps: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=3204.0



When you start a new game, you can only use 1 weapon per Interceptor and you can only load your Skyranger with either 4 soldiers or 1 tank. If you used my mod, you can research and use the Firestorm or Lightning, but there's one catch: You may only use the Lightning for interception, and you may only use the Firestorm for landing parties. You may not use the Avenger for anything other than going to Cydonia, and you can only bring 4 soldiers or 1 tank.

Feel free to use any of the other mods I put in the forum link above.

Let me know what you think if/when you decide to try this challenge!

120

Released Mods / Reaver's Mods: Firestorm/Lightning + Guardian/Assault tanks (with pics!)

« on: December 12, 2014, 01:04:22 am »

I've got two primary mods to showcase here plus two more I'll throw in at the end. These mods support Spanish, French, and Japanese localizations.

edit 18-Jun-2017: these mods are old and buggy. Search similar terms to find my newer and much better mods. I only support English localizations currently, but I would be happy to have translators help me add more.

Firestorm and Lightning mod (I need a good name for this one!)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mv95deijvc14rh8/ReaversXcom_Firestorm_Lightning.rul?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g23j8dtjlycxnw0/LIGHTNIN.MAP?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/15ahli4t8yzsvv9/LIGHFIRE.MAP?dl=0



With this mod, once you complete research in UFO Construction, you may begin research on either the Firestorm -or- the Lightning (New Transport Craft). You must research both to unlock the Avenger, but either one of them can satisfy your needs for a long time. Both ships are capable as both a fighter and a transport, but the Firestorm's transport capabilities are limited to taking on small crash sites, while the Lightning's one weapon slot and lower speed make it less effective at air combat.

I've altered the Lightning's map to be a far more effective troop transport. Changes include:
1.) it can now hold up to 16 soldiers or 4 tanks
2.) four 2x2 exit compartments for rapid deployment, all units ground level and facing outward
3.) takes up a 20x20 map section and gives your squad plenty of room for deployment

In addition to this, I built a map for the Firestorm:
1.) holds 4 soldiers or 1 tank (tank buff in mod below makes 1 tank more viable)
2.) 10x10 map section with a pretty open starting point





Guardian and Assault Tanks
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n5yinkkc6yodod/ReaversXcom_Guardian%2BAssault_Tanks.rul?dl=0

This mod adds variation among existing tanks:

Cannon Tank: now a guardian tank, it keeps its already weak weapon and has reduced time units along with stronger armor and far more health.

Rocket Tank: now an assault tank, the rockets have been buffed a bit, along with the shot time unit costs reduced slightly. The tank has improved time units, accuracy and reactions, with armor reduced. Health increased a bit. Aimed shot is highly accurate.

Laser Tank: "battle tank" keeps old armor, time unit and accuracy values. Weapon adjusted a bit, power increased greatly. Tank health also increased a lot. Reactions increased slightly.


Plasma Hovertank: assault tank, reduced armor but still higher than cannon tank, with same health as rocket tank. Weapon power greatly increased, can now penetrate UFO walls. Highly accurate aimed shots, snap shots left the same as before (better naturally because of the tank's improved accuracy).

Launcher Hovertank: guardian tank, increased armor and health, extremely durable. Fusion missile damage left the same (it wasn't very high) with explosion radius reduced to minimize collateral damage. Now holds 12 missiles, missile manufacture costs greatly reduced. Can fire 2 missiles per turn.


edit: I just got through playing a game of X-Com with all of my mods installed (I tweaked them as I went). I completed the lower portion of Cydonia with nothing but two launcher hovertanks and a laser cannon tank. While the launcher tanks were capable of taking out multiple weak aliens per hit, even chryssalids (which are weak to HE) often survived a direct hit. In the end, their saving grace was their armor more than anything else, and I probably got lucky because twice aliens killed themselves trying to use blasters on my tanks.




Guardian tanks: I improved the health of all of the tanks, but especially the guardian tanks. They are extremely effective in drawing enemy fire and protecting your troops from harm. With their low reactions, aliens are much more likely to fire at them. They also make a great place to hide behind for cover. These advantages are balanced out by the slower movement speed and weak weapon. Early on, you can complete missions with just a cannon tank as it is virtually immune to plasma pistols, but it can take too long to finish off enemies to do well without support once aliens start using larger weaponry. The fusion hovertank can do alright solo in the late game, but may destroy all of the stuff you wanted to take home. Also, even heavy plasmas will wear it out over time even though they can't take it out in a single shot.

Assault tanks: these are not designed to sustain heavy fire. Rather than protect your troops, these tanks are built for destruction. The rocket tank has its best armor by far in the front, so one way to keep it alive is always face the direction of incoming fire. It is highly vulnerable from the rear.


I plan to add a few more tanks to the lineup, as soon as someone can show me how to edit the art files:
Alloy Tank/Cannon - after research Alien Alloys - more armor+slightly faster rate of fire
Alloy Tank/Rocket Launcher - after research Alien Alloys - more armor+slightly faster rate of fire (can fire 3 rockets per turn)
Alloy Tank/Laser Cannon - after research in Alien Alloys and Laser Cannon - more armor+slightly faster rate of fire
Alloy Tank/Plasma Cannon - after research in Alien Alloys and Plasma Cannon - stats like Alloy Tank/Rocket Launcher but with plasma cannon
Alloy Tank/Fusion Launcher - after research in Alien Alloys and Fusion Launcher - stats like Alloy Tank/Cannon but with fusion missiles
Hovertank/Cannon - after research in UFO Construction - stats like Hovertank/Fusion Launcher but with improved cannon
Hovertank/Rocket Launcher - after research in UFO Construction - stats like Hovertank/Plasma but with improved rockets
Hovertank/Laser Cannon - stats midway between Hovertank/Plasma and Hovertank/Launcher and uses improved laser











Small Launcher Bombs
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6gbn3sg7u5kdtd8/ReaversXcom_Small_Launcher_Bombs.rul?dl=0
edit: I made an edit to the file, allowing the bombs to show up in the ufopaedia. Please re-download if you have an older version.

This mod improves small launchers by adding three new types of bombs. The aliens will never use the new bomb types against you, rather, you have the option to manufacture them as soon as you complete research on the stun bomb. They're slightly cheaper but still require 1 Elerium. Unfortunately, they do not as yet look any different from the stun bombs.

1.) new bombs: explosive, smoke, and incendiary
2.) bomb power reduced from 90 to 80
3.) bomb weight reduced from 3 to 2
4.) small launcher snap shot time units greatly reduced; a soldier with at least 60 time units can fire and reload twice in one turn

Pic showing usage:





Reaver's Minor Tweaks
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5aook7ff5nouezo/ReaversXcom_Minor_Tweaks.rul?dl=0

A mod that adjusts a few imbalances in the game:

1.) General Stores storage increased from 50 to 100
2.) Stingray missile accuracy increased from 70% to 90% (higher than Avalanche)
3.) Laser Cannon range increased to 36km (a bit higher than Stingray, outranges large scout)
4.) Plasma Beam ammo reduced from 100 to 25 - more reason to use other weapon types but still the best end-game weapon
5.) Laser Rifle weight increased from 8 to 10, still lighter than other rifles after you consider ammo
6.) Heavy Laser damage increased to 100 and aimed shot accuracy to 95 - weaker buff than the XcomUtil Improved Heavy Laser mod
7.) Grenade power increased from 50 to 70 (matches proximity grenade)
8.) Alien Grenade weight reduced from 3 to 2 - it's less of an explosive upgrade but lighter instead so you can throw it further
9.) High Explosive power increased from 110 to 210 - slightly higher than XcomUtil High Explosive Damage mod and high enough to make a hole in UFO armor big enough for a tank to pass through
10.) Heavy Plasma nerfed: size increased to 0.3 and weight to 14 (like a Heavy Cannon), less accurate and with longer time unit costs. Auto shot costs 55% time units. Power increased from 115 to 125, and ammo reduced from 35 to 18. Clip weight increased to 5.
11.) Sectopods now shoot plasma (originally their weapon counted as laser, and Open Xcom preserves this)

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Here's an additional tank tweak I just made:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/76fpmeqjlq5gror/ReaversXcom_Guardian%2BAssault_Tanks_2.rul?dl=0

This one is basically the same as the above Guardian/Assault tank mod, but cuts all damage received in half and then lowers armor values by more than half. Health is lowered by half or less. The end result is that shots are more likely to get through a tank's armor yet less likely to deal severe damage to them. This makes their survival depend less on what weapon is being used against them and more on how many times they get hit. Plasma Pistols still won't hurt tanks significantly.

If you use this mod, make sure you have the first tank mod disabled.