[COMPILATION] Final Mod Pack (FMP)

[pilot00]

Are these Ethereals really that hardcore? I thought I only bumped their psi stats a little. Let's see:

I told you so a few pages back, that makes 3 of us now (though I havent played the latest version). You either overdid it a bit or there is something wrong

To reiterate: I finished the game because I turned Psi line of sight on (only for that mission) and that is AFTER I reloaded before I launched the mission and turn psi STR training to max out my soldiers, which turns psi useless all things considered and still I had soldiers when facing multiple etherials succumbing with 1-2 attacks.

EDIT: From what I understand you want to have a faction of head honchos been able to melt brains correct? Might I suggest you simulate that by having one distinct guy as the leader with such psi ability?Or two. And tune a bit the rest. No need to make them on par with the others just tone them down a bit.

[trinibwoy]

Am i wrong for not really wanting this changed? I am actually looking forward to having the final frustratingly brutal romp with the Elite of the Elite....actually be a final frustratingly brutal romp with the Elite of the Elite.
The "boss level" should feel like a boss level, no? One where you just barely scrape through through sheer skill/strength of will (and all that other heroic crap).
As i have not played Cydonia yet, my opinion is subject to change tho lol

[pilot00]

Am i wrong for not really wanting this changed? I am actually looking forward to having the final frustratingly brutal romp with the Elite of the Elite....actually be a final frustratingly brutal romp with the Elite of the Elite.
The "boss level" should feel like a boss level, no? One where you just barely scrape through through sheer skill/strength of will (and all that other heroic crap).
As i have not played Cydonia yet, my opinion is subject to change tho lol

There is no right or wrong, there are opinions

Is there a right or wrong comment on which food tastes better for example?

However I think this comment by Harald_Gray:

So why bother with selecting, training and equiping my soldiers when I've had to kill all aliens but one with HWPs? And why design a stage in a way that turns all the player's soldiers from assets into liabilities?

Summarises the whole "issue" if you call it as such.

EDIT: Also the difficulty level is already increased because that level combines the Etherials (weather moded or not) with another iconic favorite enemy of X-Com that induces nightmares...

EDIT2: Speaking of Mars/Cydonia, does anybody find it odd that nobody of the moders has added the fabled face on the stage 1 map?

-----Looks at Solarius way for a moment and then wistless inoccently.....-----

[Solarius Scorch]

That face would be a tad too big to be shown. I'm quite sure the original authors would do it in the first place...

Anyway, 1.5.1 is uploaded.

• Enemies should pick up weapons now.
• Trimmed the mod by removing unchanged vanilla maps.
• Fixed the super-secret mission sprite and toned down The Order members.
• Updated the Spanish and German translation (thanks Arrakis69ct and Buscher).
• Updated Hobbes' Terrain Pack to the newest version. Fixed Lab Ship map (by Hellrazor).

[pilot00]

That face would be a tad too big to be shown. I'm quite sure the original authors would do it in the first place...

Map size cannot be modified or some of the Pyramids deleted? I believe there are more than 5. Anyways it was just a suggestion.

[myk002]

Awesome!  Thanks for the fixed lab ship too, I was getting annoyed by shots through the foor when I was approaching the ship.

I know everyone knows where to go, but when you release a new version, it might make it more convenient for people if you add in a link to https://www.openxcom.com/mod/final-mod-pack

btw, typo in the install instructions in the "which options should I use" section:

You don't have to you it, but it's recommended.

[Solarius Scorch]

Map size cannot be modified or some of the Pyramids deleted? I believe there are more than 5. Anyways it was just a suggestion.

But it's a whole big mountain! That would be some map... We'll think about it.

btw, typo in the install instructions in the "which options should I use" section:

Oops

[pilot00]

But it's a whole big mountain! That would be some map... We'll think about it.

A man is entitled to his deams even if they never come true right?

[NuclearStudent]

Scotch, have you considered increasing the amount of stun damage smoke does? that would make the Hazmat armour more useful, and add a little more time pressure (as it stands, hanging around in smoke has almost never been a big deal).

edit: scotch lol. The finest single-malt Scotch.

[Solarius Scorch]

A man is entitled to his deams even if they never come true right?

Right, right.

Scotch, have you considered increasing the amount of stun damage smoke does? that would make the Hazmat armour more useful, and add a little more time pressure (as it stands, hanging around in smoke has almost never been a big deal).

edit: scotch lol. The finest single-malt Scotch.

Lol.
Yeah, it's possible be drastically decreasing all non-helmeted armours' smoke res to 400% or so, like  Dioxine did in Piratez. I'm not sure I want it, well maybe.

[Harald_Gray]

Okay, so I've run some numbers on that Cydonia mission and I'm afraid we're  running into those formulas you've avoided, Solarius. The reason is that unlike most of other things in xcom, psi effects are notably non-linear. I'll give you the results:

Psi Str 85 and skill 80 give psi attack strength 136. Psi defense for a soldier with those same numbers is 101 which, assuming a distance of 25,  gives the ethereal 62.5% chance of mind control. Even a hypothetical psi str 100 / skill 100 soldier has psi defense 120, leading to roughly 28.6% chance of being mindcontrolled (again, assuming distance of 25; the probability goes up when you get closer to the mindcontroller).

Multiply these numbers by the number of psi attacks the ethereals dish out and we get exactly the effects we're observing. So many soldiers get mindcontrolled that it is better to block them to prevent them from moving where they'd likely get killed and to only use HWPs to kill enough aliens to make it relatively safe to use one's soldiers again.

[Dioxine]

It boils down to basic formulas...

Defense is dependent on Psi Str + 1/5*Psi Skill
Attack is dependent on Psi Str * Psi Skill

So the defense raises in a linear fashion, while attack raises exponentially. That's why you have to be very careful when assigning such values (and also why 100/100 soldiers/ethereals are absolute monsters in attack but wimps in defense against each other).

Maybe you just were doing it wrong, Harald. Instead of taking any chances of getting MC'ed, go full aggressive, scout with tanks as much as you can and MC every Ethereal, giving them no chance to retaliate with their own attacks (as they have never seen any of you soldiers) Not saying that such a mission is much fun, either - but at least you'd have to enact a radical, unusual tactic

[Harald_Gray]

Maybe you just were doing it wrong, Harald. Instead of taking any chances of getting MC'ed, go full aggressive, scout with tanks as much as you can and MC every Ethereal, giving them no chance to retaliate with their own attacks (as they have never seen any of you soldiers) Not saying that such a mission is much fun, either - but at least you'd have to enact a radical, unusual tactic

I've MCed my way through Cydonia so many times (though not in any of the latest versions of FMP) that this time I've decided to attack even though I haven't researched psi-amps yet. As you've mentioned, the game becomes somewhat boring once you've researched psi-amps anyway.

Plus I'm not sure this tactic would've worked as the toughest mind-controllers are unlikely to wander near deployment zones.

[Dioxine]

Hehe right there's really nothing radical in spamming MC Too bad this mission forces you to do this. I'm trying to balance Psi-amps for my mod as well, and I think you either have to give them a finite range, or drastically incrase power loss over distance. And be really careful with allowing anyone really high psi scores, as the attack becomes invariably dominant over defence.

[GrandSirThebus]

I feel a little selfish in asking, but...

I was wondering when you would be adding in my new railgun sprites, as I put a lot of love into them and I'm quite proud of them. But if you if you like the old ones better, maybe I could try to spruce them up for you? It's just they look rough to me and it's a bit embarrassing.

Or possibly the old and new ones could be used for two different weapon types?