[WEAPON] Alternate Weapon Tech

[BBHood217]

This simple mod was inspired by XcomUtil's Alternate Laser Tech option which altered laser and plasma weapons to make the game challenging or at least different.  This does largely the same thing but with my own changes.

To install it, just put the attached file into the data\Ruleset folder and enable it in the game.  Because this modifies laser, plasma, and fusion research, manufacture, and items, it might not be compatible with other mods that also change them.

Here's a list of changes:
- Most laser weapons now require elerium to manufacture, with some also needing alien alloys.
- Plasma research progression is now similar to laser research.  That means you must research the plasma pistol (and clip) first before you can research the rifle, then the heavy, and then the craft cannon (and then the defenses but who uses those?).
- Plasma guns, blaster launcher, and hovertanks now take twice as long to manufacture, and the three researched craft weapons (laser cannon, plasma cannon, fusion ball launcher) take 5 times as long.
- Heavy laser now does 120 damage and has improved accuracy.  It's really just XcomUtil's Improved Heavy Laser implemented here because hey, it's elerium-powered now.
- Heavy plasma now does 130 damage, but no longer has auto shot (heresy!).  It's practically TFTD's sonic cannon, but without the really stupid TU cost.
- Laser cannon range is now 34, plasma cannon range is now 40, and fusion ball launcher can now hold 4 fusion balls.  Basically, I just used the example from the wiki

This should make the strategic and economic game much more challenging... hopefully.  Any and all testing and feedback is welcome, to make sure everything works right and everything's balanced.  Download it either from the attachment on this post or on the Mod Portal here:
https://www.openxcom.com/mod/alternate-weapon-tech

And that's about it.  Enjoy

[ivandogovich]

Really nice sounding balance here.

One of the trends I perceive in a lot of mods, is: "Hey this would be cool, and awesome! Lets add it!"  ... with the effect of introducing somethings that can be overpowered and upset game balance.   Many mods in effect, make the game easier... when  it probably doesn't need that.  I actually look for mods that make things a little more challenging.

Anyway, great work here. 

Cheers, Ivan

[XCOMFan419]

If I wanted elerium lasers, I would download the Elerium Laser Weapons mod by Roxis

Everything else in this mod sounds good though. I might try it out later.
Might.

[Solarius Scorch]

I added Elerium to materials required for lasers too.

[XCOMFan419]

I like what roxis did. Didn't change the lasers (though going the XCOM 2012 approach and using Alien Alloys to build laser rifles is okay) but added Elerium Lasers. More powerful and heavier, I believe.

If laser weapons are going to be elerium powered, then I might as well just skip them and use Plasma weapons. Probably a lot cheaper than spending precious elerium on a laser weapon.

[Roxis231]

I like what roxis did. Didn't change the lasers (though going the XCOM 2012 approach and using Alien Alloys to build laser rifles is okay) but added Elerium Lasers. More powerful and heavier, I believe.

Acttualy my mod makes them 15-50% more powerful and slower to use (more TU's) but no change in weight.  I've also updated it to now have tanks, by the way.  You might want to check it out, It might give you some more ideas. (if you have any sugestions or ideas about how to improve my graphics - please let me know, I really suck at drawing.)

[BBHood217]

Everything seems to check out.  The research change is working okay, and heavy plasma is as deadly as ever (only now you and the aliens can't fire three shots right in someone's face).

I'm starting to wonder if I should upload this to the mod portal, though.  This mod is admittedly rather minor; there aren't any new maps or sprites or whatever, just a bunch of changed numbers.  And judging from the download count, it's not popular either.  I guess not a lot of people used XcomUtil's Alternate Laser Tech option, after all.

So I guess for now, the attachment on the first post is the only place to download this mod.

[ivandogovich]

I wouldn't take the download numbers here as a good indicator.  If you are confident of the mod, I would upload it to the mod site.  I believe that users are far more likely to DL from there, than here in this forum.  Someone looking for an extra challenge / twist to the game, may find your mod just the ticket.

Cheers, Ivan

[XCOMFan419]

Everything seems to check out.  The research change is working okay, and heavy plasma is as deadly as ever (only now you and the aliens can't fire three shots right in someone's face).

I'm starting to wonder if I should upload this to the mod portal, though.  This mod is admittedly rather minor; there aren't any new maps or sprites or whatever, just a bunch of changed numbers.  And judging from the download count, it's not popular either.  I guess not a lot of people used XcomUtil's Alternate Laser Tech option, after all.

So I guess for now, the attachment on the first post is the only place to download this mod.

That's what I first thought with Tanks, Drones, Sectopods? Oh My! It had near to 0 downloads on the forum.

Uploaded it two weeks ago to the mod site and now it has 102 total downloads for both V.051 and V.06. So there are a lot of people who are willing to download practically any mod on the modsite.

[BBHood217]

Alright, you guys convinced me.  So I made my Mod Portal debut

First post has been edited with the link to the mod there.

[BBHood217]

I wrote up a metadata file for this because eh why not.  No changes or updates otherwise, because getting it to run in the nightly is just as simple as renaming the mod's "data" folder to "Alternate Weapon Tech" or something anyway

[Solarius Scorch]

I wrote up a metadata file for this because eh why not.  No changes or updates otherwise, because getting it to run in the nightly is just as simple as renaming the mod's "data" folder to "Alternate Weapon Tech" or something anyway

Well, if you don't mind me saying this, for non-modders it's probably more that they would dare to do... If I were you, I would repackage the thing - it's 1 minute of work.

[BBHood217]

Well, more like 10 minutes of work while I figured out the mod site's interface again.

Regardless, the repackaging is done.  It now conforms to nightly standards, but otherwise it's still 1.0 because there's really no change to the mod itself.

Enjoy