[ALIEN INVENTORY] [WEAPON] Alien Armoury Expanded

[Solarius Scorch]

Sadly, loadouts are done by ship/mission, not by race.
I would like to decrease the amount of Heavy Plasmas for Sectoids - the gun is as big as them! - and give better equipment to Mutons, but it doesn't work that way... We technically could exclude some races from some missions and create new, similar UFOs for them, with a different loadout, but that's 1) plenty of work, 2) too removed from vanilla IMO, 3) doesn't work perfectly, as shown by Dioxine's efforts and experiments with the PirateZ mod.

And Mutons are hardcore enough. As long as you use UFO Extender accuracy (say goodbye to autofire spam) and do not have Psionics (which I believe can be made harder with today's build, but I haven't tested it yet).

[Solarius Scorch]

Hey everyone, and especially Louis,

I have a big request: could you please test this version for me? I need a secondary opinion.

This is the Alien Armoury Expanded mod, but it's smaller; I removed everything I thought can be removed. The reason is to make it more friendly to other mods, and secondarily to just make it smaller. I just need to make sure I didn't remove too much

Of course I'll be testing it myself, but the more, the better.

[civilian]

Thanks! I like it too, even more so since I learned a lot doing this.
Let me suggest using the Plasma Beam Mod too.

Now, time for a question from me: do you think I should add some new UFOs to this ruleset, or it is beyond the scope of this mod?
I could make another mod of course, but since UFO designs include alien inventory loadouts, I would have to make two versions: one for this mod, one for vanilla. And that's neither elegant nor convenient.

Thanks, I am using the Plasma Beam mod ever since it was released 

About the new Ufos... well no, I think that is stuff for a bigger mod, maybe even only for a Total Conversion.

[Solarius Scorch]

Thanks, I am using the Plasma Beam mod ever since it was released 

About the new Ufos... well no, I think that is stuff for a bigger mod, maybe even only for a Total Conversion.

Total Conversion is a bit much, I just wanted to add a bunch of more UFO maps for greater variability.

And I would also prefer to release it separately, but as I said, then it would be incompatible with either vanilla game or Alien Armoury Extended... Unless perhaps I'll make a separate ruleset in the same mod? I honestly don't know what people would prefer.

[LouisdeFuines]

My proposal:
Implement new UFOs to ArmouryExpanded.

I don`t think, there is anyone here, having problems with MORE Ufos.

But didn`t TurkishSwede show well, you can have a separate mod for mor UFO designs?

[Solarius Scorch]

Thanks for the input. More is welcome - it's not like I'll start coding it tonight... (Probably.)

But didn`t TurkishSwede show well, you can have a separate mod for mor UFO designs?

That's not exactly the same thing. TurkishSwede (and Luke before him) didn't add new UFO's, only new maps for the same old ones. This means they didn't have to create new missions, crews etc. Entirely new UFOs require all this stuff.

[LouisdeFuines]

Ah, you didn`t say, you`re planning completely new UFOs....

That would be even more appreciated, but is a huge task: New pics for the interception screen, new entrys EVERYWHERE.....

I`m curious, what you`ll do...

[Solarius Scorch]

Ah, you didn`t say, you`re planning completely new UFOs....

That would be even more appreciated, but is a huge task: New pics for the interception screen, new entrys EVERYWHERE.....

I`m curious, what you`ll do...

The maps are the biggest challenge; maybe making the right trajectories, since I'm not sure how. But it's not hard really, I just need the time.

[LouisdeFuines]

Hey, on a terror mission I found a Sectoid with the plasma blaster. Was this intended?

Thought, this should only occur on battle-ships and alien bases?

[Solarius Scorch]

Hey, on a terror mission I found a Sectoid with the plasma blaster. Was this intended?

Thought, this should only occur on battle-ships and alien bases?

It's possible for an Engineer, but the chances are very small.

[yrizoud]

I have played 4 game months with this mod.
I researched the sniper as soon as I could. Even if I kept it in reserve at first, I was glad to have a few ones aboard on my first terror mission : 3 reapers in direct sight of the skyranger, with 3 more a few tiles away.

Both weapons are very dangerous in alien hands. The first time I saw a Plasma blaster, it's in an Alien base, a floater tried to shoot across a window at a very steep angle, and blew himself up. The second time, an other floater (I assume) missed one of my front men, the shot flew across half the map and exploded in a starting room, killing one of my men and wounding 2 others. 

The plasma sniper unlocks the plasma (ship) beam, at first I thought it was "too good" because when once I can use the sniper beam, I don't feel the need to use any of the others plasma weapons. But after all, this acts as an alternative to the heavy plasma : In early game, I always try to research one heavy weapon even if I don't use it immediately. It's because I was first a TFTD player, and when the Lobster men first attack, if you don't have the big guns ready, you're screwed.

[LouisdeFuines]

Erm.............Solarius?

Is that true? The sniper rifle unlock the plasma beam without the need to research every plasma weapon???

[Solarius Scorch]

I have played 4 game months with this mod.
I researched the sniper as soon as I could. Even if I kept it in reserve at first, I was glad to have a few ones aboard on my first terror mission : 3 reapers in direct sight of the skyranger, with 3 more a few tiles away.

Both weapons are very dangerous in alien hands. The first time I saw a Plasma blaster, it's in an Alien base, a floater tried to shoot across a window at a very steep angle, and blew himself up. The second time, an other floater (I assume) missed one of my front men, the shot flew across half the map and exploded in a starting room, killing one of my men and wounding 2 others. 

Ouch.

That first floater must've been funny though! I've usually only seen Plasma Blasters employed by Ethereals in my own base, blowing up my tanks like there's no tomorrow.

The plasma sniper unlocks the plasma (ship) beam, at first I thought it was "too good" because when once I can use the sniper beam, I don't feel the need to use any of the others plasma weapons. But after all, this acts as an alternative to the heavy plasma : In early game, I always try to research one heavy weapon even if I don't use it immediately. It's because I was first a TFTD player, and when the Lobster men first attack, if you don't have the big guns ready, you're screwed.

Erm.............Solarius?

Is that true? The sniper rifle unlock the plasma beam without the need to research every plasma weapon???

You never had to research every plasma weapon, either Plasma Rifle or Heavy Plasma was required. I just tested this in an unmodded game. So, I figured both new weapons should give access to the Plasma Cannon too.

[civilian]

The Blaster is one weapon!  Once they are introduced in the battlescape I suddenly had regained much more respect for Floaters, they are very dangerous when using those, a blaster shot from above will ruin your day for sure 

[Solarius Scorch]

The Blaster is one weapon!  Once they are introduced in the battlescape I suddenly had regained much more respect for Floaters, they are very dangerous when using those, a blaster shot from above will ruin your day for sure 

Glad you're, uh, "enjoying" the addition.

But now, an update! I actually went and added that plasma shotgun, but... it's a pistol. A very big pistol.

The new version is in the opening post. I will update it to the mod site when it's available again.

Feedback appreciated, since I haven't really tested it at all.