[COMPILATION] Final Mod Pack (FMP)

[Slaughter]

So today there was some disturbance in some top-of-the-world town called Borrow, I think in Kwanada. Seems like Illegal Aliens were causing some terror amongst the townsfolk.

So I arrived there and it was a great multicultural festival. The entire sectoid empire decided to show up. Some rowdy disturbance, I could hear the townsfolk screaming from miles away. The illegals decided to show me what they learned of our culture so they shot fireworks and weapon hail salutes. Saddly, they don't understand our traditions and fired weird incendiary rockets and plasma at me instead of at the sky. I showed them why this was a bad idea but they persisted.

The ilegals had a large mob, and my Skyranger was placed between a lot of buildings, so the aliens mobbed me to the point I could barely get out without being shot. It was a enriching experience! So enriching my squad suffered Diversity Overload! Had eventually to abort and let the local authorities deal with it.

End of month: Like -500 or -700.

Also China liked the Diversity to much they signed a pact with the Aliens. Granted, alien activity there was through the roof and I had no base nearby, but I thought China was more hardcore than that!

I should have heard my aunt - she was right, CHINESE ARE NOT HUMAN: CONFIRMED!


Plans for next month (April):
- Stun more aliens for loot
- Get more alien alloys for ammo
- Make more alloy bullets.
- Phase out Interceptors, build Ravens.
- Upgrade Skyranger to Skymarshal so I can get 2 extra troopers on deck.
- Get money from alien loot so I can buy more Engineers. My poor twenty engineers are overworked from day to night making alien alloys (I ran out of them, never saw that happen), stun rods and motion detectors.
- Research Heavy Cannon (its not available at start in FMF), Alloy Vest and Tac Sniper Rifle, they may provide the edge I need in Terror Missions.
- Interrogate these aliens I got in containment (I got some soldiers, two Navigators and a Engineer sitting pretty there)
- Recruit more soldiers for my second base's garrison
- Send superfluous Riflemen and Snipers to Freedom Fortress (X-COM North America) to be part of the garrisons. Snipers rarely die anyway. Too much good sniper fags in fact, I would rather have some more useless rookies to be part of the UFO Breach Teams and strong dudes to carry Heavy Weaponry (Grenade Launcher, Autocannon, Rocket Launcher, Flamer, Minigun, etc).

Did you bring some PSI lightning rods?  ie. soldiers with Weak PSI, to take the brunt of the enemy's mind attacks?  Just give them stun rods and medikits so they won't hurt anyone.

I think Psi bait/lightning rods are a gamey tactic.

--- posts merged by Solarius Scorch ---

LOL went to a grounded UFO and there were weirdos with guns there. Human, I guess, they looked weird. Then the   psi puppet threater began.

Featuring: Rookie with HE-loaded Autocannon.

The show was short, but it was a blast.

Result: Four wounded survivors, a lot of precious STUFF destroyed.

New X-COM ground rule: No more HE-loaded autocannons on the Skyranger.

[wortkarg]

- use psi-rods (the soldiers, that are the primary psi attack targets are the ones, who have the lowest psi strength)
- use a lot of smoke grenades (1-2 between your soldiers and aliens to break the line of sight). If they are not seeing you, they can't shoot at you. Smoke is useless if you have not enough of it, it's either 100% effective or 100% useless. You can still shot, if one of your scouts sees the aliens. It's a huge advantage.
- use dogs/scout tanks as scouts (i prefer the dogs, because they are 5x cheaper and can bite the alien ass )
- use rookies with low stats as secondary scouts (cannon fodder).
- don't hurry, let the aliens come to you and spend their TUs (you can stay in the skymarshall for the first turn and use the motion scanner afterwards)
- weapons (example for 12 soldiers): 2 rocket launchers (large rockets), 2 grenade launchers (or auto-cannons), 2 sniper rifles, 1 flamethrower, 5 assault rifles. Magnum is good as secondary weapon.
- use the HE-ammo carefully, because you can destroy the corpses/items that you can sell
- capturing live aliens is very important (commanders, leaders, engineers, navigators, medics). Use stun rods.
- avoid the night fights, if possible (if ufo crash lands, you can wait till morning)
- use electro-flares in the night fights
- use strafe left/right function (ctrl-click). If you trigger the reaction fire, your front armour can save you (front armour is better as left/right armour).
- research alloy ammo and personal armor ASAP
- switch to Skymarshall ASAP
- switch to Raven ASAP
- use avalanche launchers as craft weapons
- manufacture items for profit (motion scanner, then alien laser rifle)
- you will need 100-150 scientists and as much as possible engineers (manufacture for profit). I usually have 150 engineers in the main base and 250 in the secondary bases
- i usually have 3 mind shields per base (only secondary bases)
- use a good base layout (see Ufopedia: Base Layout Strategy)

Spoiler:

- don't sell floater/muton/cyberdisc corpses, you will need them later (you can sell some floaters, if you have too many)
- your primary research targets are:
  * psi lab / psi-amp
  * flying armour
  * Rail Weapons

I would strongly recommend the Let's play from Meridian (Youtube: Let's play OpenXcom FMP HD)

[hellrazor]

Ey Solarius,
i hope that the further explanations about the Mapfiles were helpful for you.

Also i you have any UFO Maps which need a small overwork please let me know. (as mentioned in the PM)

[gix]

Hi, Solarius
The stormtrooper armor shall appear in ufopaedia only when it's research is completed. As now, it appears when it's research is available:
research:

  - name: STR_STORMTROOPER_ARMOR
    cost: 220
    points: 10
    listOrder: 2810
    dependencies:
      - STR_POWER_SUIT
      - STR_GRAVMODULE_ARMOR

ufopaedia: current, corrected:

  - id: STR_STORMTROOPER_ARMOR_UC
    type_id: 5
    requires:
     - STR_POWER_SUIT
      - STR_GRAVMODULE_ARMOR
      - STR_STORMTROOPER_ARMOR
    section: STR_WEAPONS_AND_EQUIPMENT
    text: STR_STORMTROOPER_ARMOR_UFOPEDIA
    listOrder: 1810

[Solarius Scorch]

Thanks, it was some old code. Fixed.

[new_civilian]

Just have to tell you that the Juggernaut armor is my favourite piece of armor mod ever! Thanks for all your hard work!

[Solarius Scorch]

Just have to tell you that the Juggernaut armor is my favourite piece of armor mod ever! Thanks for all your hard work!

Thanks! The battlesprite was made by jackstraw2323, I only made the doll (with Dioxine's enormous help).

[Glademist]

So. After reworking my battle strategy i claimed all continents in November. Discovered and trained a deadly squad with Psionics. And since then was loosing only one or two soldiers per missions due to me being dumb. The mod made the game so so much enjoyable.

I might switch to TFTD dmg calculations since it feels weird that the weapons do no damage from time to time. But how i was happy when i survived a plasma blast at the start of the game, yeah. I am being cocky now with Flying suits and Psi-Amps. Another bonus from Psi-Amps is capturing of aliens and i ditched all Stun items.

I wanted to perhaps note if Stun grenade works as intended? There is usually need to deploy 3-4 to stun a Sectoid. I think it needs a buff. Or i used it wrong. Stun rods - didnt use, to dangerous for my soldiers. Dart guns. Meh i lost a ton of soldiers to reaction fire after hitting with a Dart Gun failing to incapacitate. But yeh i can imagine a "wounded tiger". He doesnt fall to ground instantly as well.

As for the crafts. The Fuel capacity in number feels really weird. What kind of unit is it anyway? I mean when building a Tormentor after Thunderstorm the fuel difference is almost terrifying. But it still has global coverage. Might we update the desription somehow? Is it hours in flight? Maybe update it with something like "Continental reach" or "Global reach" or "Patrol craft reach". Sorry i am just writing what i think "bothers me". It did in original version too. Meh i still remember my dissapointment with Firestorm. Alien technology and meh range. One can see the UFOs flying indefinitely almost.

Anyway, great mod once again.

p.s. *still didnt meet Mutons or Ethereals in November.

[Solarius Scorch]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'll think about the stun grenades, but it's likely you were just unlucky.

As for the fuel, I don't really comprehend this system myself. Anyway, it's not my system, it's an X-Com thing.

[Keybounce]

I have just discovered this.

Do you have any docs on what is included in this mod pack? The OP just points to a bunch of threads and then states that they are now defunct, and this is the only valid thread; there was no wiki or other doc link in the OP.

[Solarius Scorch]

I have just discovered this.

Do you have any docs on what is included in this mod pack? The OP just points to a bunch of threads and then states that they are now defunct, and this is the only valid thread; there was no wiki or other doc link in the OP.

Yup, used content with credits is available both in the readme file and on the mod portal.

[wortkarg]

I have a question. In Meridian's Lets Play i have seen many MiB missions, but i get only floaters, snakemans etc. (november), no MiB, no mutons. I rarely see some alien races (chtonites, chryssalids etc.) but very often floaters and snakemans (sometimes sectoids, anthropods, spitters, gazers or hybrids). Have i missed something?

Do you have any docs on what is included in this mod pack? The OP just points to a bunch of threads and then states that they are now defunct, and this is the only valid thread; there was no wiki or other doc link in the OP.

Additionally I would recommend using the Debug Mode (Ctrl-D), that unlocks all articles in the Ufopedia.

[Solarius Scorch]

I have a question. In Meridian's Lets Play i have seen many MiB missions, but i get only floaters, snakemans etc. (november), no MiB, no mutons. I rarely see some alien races (chtonites, chryssalids etc.) but very often floaters and snakemans (sometimes sectoids, anthropods, spitters, gazers or hybrids). Have i missed something?

Unlikely, it's just a matter of randomness. There are many races/factions, so you just don't get to see some for a long time.

Additionally I would recommend using the Debug Mode (Ctrl-D), that unlocks all articles in the Ufopedia.

Sure, you can do that (if it doesn't work, make sure you have debug set as "true" in the config). But it's up to you if you want to spoil it to yourself

[gix]

Hi, Solarius
Don't know if it's on purpose, but ufopaedia and manufacture for STR_HOVERTANK_LAUNCHER:

ufopaedia:
  - id: STR_HOVERTANK_LAUNCHER
    type_id: 3
    section: STR_HEAVY_WEAPONS_PLATFORMS
    weapon: STR_ROCKET_LAUNCHER
    requires:
      - STR_UFO_CONSTRUCTION
    text: STR_HOVERTANK_LAUNCHER_UFOPEDIA

And:

manufacture:
  - name: STR_HOVERTANK_LAUNCHER
    category: STR_HEAVY_WEAPONS_PLATFORM
    requires:
      - STR_FUSION_MISSILE
      - STR_UFO_CONSTRUCTION
    space: 30
    time: 1200
    cost: 900000
    requiredItems:
      STR_ALIEN_ALLOYS: 20
      STR_ELERIUM_115: 20

Don't think we want the ufopaedia entry before uncovering the fusion missile(or at least when the fusion missile prerequisites for research are met)...

[Solarius Scorch]

Good catch, thanks.